《Versatile: Alternate World》 Chapter 1 - Beginning After deciphering an ancient manuscript that leads to the development of a ck Technology that was currently hidden in the past, the scientists and the governments of the whole world joint forces to remake the technology. All experts are all involved in its development which leads to opening up a world that only exists mostly in games, movies, and novels. Virtual Reality The technology that many people thought to be an inessible thing, became a real deal. Many people were reluctant to try it first so before the usage of Virtual Reality is fully tested to be implemented, it was first used as a trial run in the form of an online game. Alternate World The game is first introduced to be yed by people. However, to y it, people had to pay lots of money that is why it''s only exclusive to people who has the money to burn at first. You can say that it was a beta test. But it was not exactly a beta test either since the release attracted millions of yers already making it as the officialunch of the game. After a month, the tests were produced and the Alternate World is technically safe to y it was even known as beneficial to the human body, that is why it became a wide topic. The game in the trial run is first to run in a capsule cabin called Reality Verse by the scientists, and those people who have no money can''t use them. However, after a month, the Reality Verse is upgraded and became a tattoo that can be marked in your left wrist, making it so that you can ess the game conveniently everywhere you are. After this event, the game became the top game yed by the people. Furthermore, people can exchange the money you earned in the game in real money and vice versa, causing the whole world to enter the game in hopes to earn money. What the government liked is the fact that magic is now essible just by ying the game. It can build up your body like you just used the gym. It''s an excellent game that is also considered as a ce for people to use. Wars are also made in the game, causing the world to be much more peaceful. Crime plummeted to 3% due to this. Disputes between countries are resolved in battles in the game, which made the real wars disappear in the face of the world, instead, reced by Virtual Wars. After 15 years almost every people in the world has ess to the game. After 25 years, the game continued to expand that almost all people consider living in that world than in this real world, however, due to the limited ess of the game with only a month-long of ess without logging out as the limit. Therefore, it was still not possible, however, it made the world benefit a lot. Instead of people holding properties in the real world, they prefer to use it in the game instead. The people who first yed the game are one of the luckiest to be the pirs of the game. Of course, I am one of them. Although I am not an expert, I was considered as one of the top yers. However, to be one, I have to endure years of humiliation that I made to temper myself to create my future. I am already 42 years old this year. My name is Manato Tsukasa. Although I am old at that age, due to me. being one of the yers, I am younger in my body than when you look at my age. People have mistaken me as a 20-year-old guy, well, most people are. They say that old age is already achievable like how people in wuxia novels did. I heard that a 90-year-old guy looks like a 24 years old guy. There was even a rumor that one of the beautiful actresses is already age 80 this year but they looked like the same as they did in their prime. Anyway, back to me. Today is thest day of my single life. Tomorrow, I will say goodbye to my single status and will be officially married. I was so happy that I hoped to celebrate it with my parents but they died early due to depression. I was all alone in my life, not a single friend after they all died forplicated reasons. I experienced every single hardship in my life. When I was in the real world, I was bullied and humiliated. But I did not back down. In the game, I was killed and killed relentlessly, but I made it as my motivation and I raise from the ashes and start a new life. I regarded real humans as nothing while I regarded NPCs as my family. Indeed, the NPCs are much more human to me. I lived a solitary life, all alone, only the NPCs apanying me. But due to this, I managed to make myself rich without wasting any money on others. I don''t need anybody else and thought that I will continue bing one but I was mistaken Last year, I met my fiancee, Akari Takazuchi. Also known as Scarlet Snow in the game, a level 219 and an Elementalist with a leveled up ss named Pyromancer, a ss that focused on me skills and weakens the other elements. Our fate intertwined when she became one of my teammates in an Insane Level Boss Raid. I was a level 500 at that time and a Magic Knight with a leveled up ss Elemental Master. After that, we became friends and party with each other wherever we go until the day that I asked her to be my girlfriend. When she epts, I was the happiest guy at that time. After 10 months of the rtionship, I finally proposed to her in the game in which she also epted bing my fiancee. It took several months to prepare my marriage with her because I wanted to make it the grandest marriage that will happen. And tomorrow will be the day of our marriage. I can''t wait for the day of my marriage to arrive. I logged out of the game and opened my eyes. I am inside my room in the mansion I designed myself. This mansion will be my love nest with Akari after our marriage. I took out my tuxedo and checked it for any inconsistencies. I am much excited than usual. Just as I was going to return my tuxedo to my cab, sounds suddenly nged outside. I quickly became cautious. I revolved my power and reinforced my hands. In case of trouble, I can quickly apprehend this person. I checked the front door and noticed that it was forced open. I am sure of it since every single detail is already burned in my mind. I have an eidetic memory and that would be impossible for me to get mistaken. Someone has indeed sneaked in, but I am sure that it''s not theft. I was ready to strike out anytime for any person but I did not anticipate it. Pu! I coughed out blood. I regted my mana and I quickly noticed that I was paralyzed and poisoned. I quickly fell into the floor. Struggled to more. I made all of my effort to turn around and block the iing dagger. STAB! The dagger pierced my hand. However, I did not cry out in pain. Instead, I frowned. Pain is nothing as I experienced it countless of times. I focused my all and tightened my muscles to grip the dagger still in my left hand that I used to block her attack. However, what made me surprised is the person who is currently stabbing me right now. It''s not a burr or an ordinary assassin. It was my fiancee... Akari Takazuchi... "Akari? Why... are you... doing this?!" I struggled. Instead of being forced, she grinned sinisterly and continued to yank out the dagger out of my hand. "Hi, are you surprised?" Akari smiled, but a smile that I don''t like to see. A sadistic smile. Not a sense of guilt and pity registered in her face. I tried struggling but the poison is slowly bing active. Akari still did not stop and continue to yank out the dagger on my hand. "Did you think that I was serious about our rtionship? Of course not! It was all an act! Who would want to marry someone like you who has no family nor friends? You are just a solitary and lonely guy. Do you think I would waste my time spending it with you? No way!" Akari yanked the dagger sessfully. I clenched my teeth and cast [Sudden Strength]. Before Akari can even strike, I backflipped twice, away from her. Although I am paralyzed, I can move if I cast [Sudden Strength] and temporarily suppress it. I used [Cheetah Dash] to close the gap between Akari and me before casting another skill called [Feint]. Akari did not get to retaliate immediately and before she can even react, my [Feint] sessfully taken effect and I strike her nape. She fell, but she quickly backed away and disappeared in the shadows. I just did not expect to have her consciousness intact even though I strike her nape. However, I know she is injured but I can''t stay in my mansion with her around. She must be injured so she won''t be able to strike. I need to expel the poison in my body and to that safely is to take it out outside. At least, the public can still find me and help me. I tore out a piece of my shirt and use it to suppress the bleeding in my hand before I dash outside the mansion. I need to expel my poison out. Although I was pained a lot by the sudden betrayal, I can''t just abandon everything. And I am not a person who easily forgets grudges. I clenched my teeth and cast [Silent Dash] to go away from the ce. I can''t let myself die here just yet... Chapter 2 - Return I dashed out into the streets. I frowned seeing that the ce is so dested. Looks like I made a bad choice of moving out from Tokyo a few years back. The streets are pretty dested. Not a single person is around to help me. Even cars are rarelying this way. I am running around to find anyone else when I heard something while passing an alley. "Help...me..." My hearing is much clearer and fine which made me able to hear it. I stopped and checked back the alley where the voice came from. Just as I was peeking, I saw an old man who seemed to be matured enough to be counted as a geezer is raising his bloody hand. Anyone will get afraid if anyone sees this situation where a bloody man is pleading help in an alley. However, I have seen much horror than what a normal person has seen. That is why I did not retreat or run away and instead rushed to the side of the old man. Although my situation is bad, it can be solved by expelling the poison. The older man is much in a worse state than me. From the looks of it, he is shot several times in his body. It was already a miracle he is still alive. Even though people made their bodies tougher in the game, they still die when someone used a gun on them. This older man is bleeding a lot, and he is clutching his bleeding stomach with his bleeding hands. His forehead is also bleeding, might be a blunt force that made him injured in his head. He will surely die due to blood loss if he can''t be treated immediately. "Old man! What happened! Let me help you go to the hospital! I was also going there anyway!" I said to him and looked at his face. However, I was taken aback when I saw his face. I can''t be wrong with it. My Eidetic Memory still did not fail me and I am sure I recognized this person and if I am not wrong, this particr man is pretty famous. Tojiro Akisame... He is the creator of the game Alternate World with joint forces of work with Nobuhiko Kasahuchi. He was considered as an enigma because he has hidden until ten years ago as he revealed himself alongside with Nobuhiko Kasaguchi. They were known as the genius who made the game that changed the world and his appearance in the public is marked in history as one of the most historical events in the world. I wanted to meet this old man, but I did not expect that I would meet him, however, it was in an awful way. "No need kid... I won''t live long... however, you can still do it..."Tojiro muttered. I lean him into the wall. He coughed a bit and looked at me. "I have followed your progress in the game... and if not for those things, you might have already surpassed the pirs of the gamers." I can''t believe my ears. Did he follow my journey? Seriously? All of those things that happened to me are all seen by Tojiro? "You have the potential... however, I can see you are also in a predicament right? Then... are you willing to return to the past... and remake your future?" Tojiro asked. As soon as he said that, all of the events in the past 25 years passed by in a timepse version. All of them are events that I wanted to change but I have no power to do it. Now, Tojiro is giving me a chance. Of course, everything that happened to me will be rewritten. However, I have the chance to redo it all. "If I have to, I want to return in time and redo all of this stupid sh*t that happened in my life," I said to him honestly. I wanted to save everyone important to me. "In that case, are you willing to return in time, 25 years earlier?" Tojiro asked, his eyes glowed. I am still wondering how he can talk while in that situation but I don''t pay attention to it. "I want to if I can..." I said. "What if I tell you that all your choices might affect the whole world and your future? If you changed a certain event, the future will be not the same future you might know..." Tojiro said but I stopped him midway. "That is why I am changing the future right? I am a bit afraid but I am willing to take a stake," I said to him. "I see, then... ept this," Tojiro pulled out something in his pocket and suddenly injects my Reality Verse in my hand. I jolted a bit, but it was quick. "What was that?" I asked. "A small gift. And a few things that will be unlocked once you reached its hidden perquisites. Those will be useful once you return. Also, choose the Versatile ss. That gift will help you in your quest," Tojiro said. I mentally take note of that. "Also, do not take the Alternate World as a mere game. Treat it as another reality. Remember that," Tojiro said to me before he coughed out blood. "Akisame-san!" I hold him down. "Looks like my time is almost up. Young one, use this," he pulled out a small square device that has a red circle on it. "Push that button to send you back to the past. It''s usable only once and that will be broken once you used it," Tojiro said and coughed out blood again. "Looks like its finally my time... kid... remember, change the past. Do not make the same mistakes..." Tojiro said before he took hisst breath. "Akisame-san!" However, he is already turning cold. He died. Just as I was a bit stunned on all the things, I coughed out blood. This is bad, the poison has spread out to my body! I looked into the device that Tojiro has given to me. If I use this, will I go back? Before I can push it, I was knocked down hard. I struggled and look at the one who knocked me down. It was Akari, but this time, she is not alone, a familiar person appeared in my view. "Kazuki!" "Hey there Manato, you seemed to get pathetic more than usual!" Kazukiughed as he looked at me. "Did you do this?" I asked him. "Hmm, since you are going to die, then let me say a few tidbits then. Basically, yes. Even that old man behind you is also my doing. Now that he is dead, I can finally take over on the game''s control," Kazuki said. I trembled. So he killed Tojiro for the sake of taking over the game? This is not something I expected. "Then... why involve me?!" I gritted my teeth. "Hmm, its because you are a nuisance? Oh, and by the way, even if Akari-chan and you get married, it''s not going to work, since she is already a married woman and mother of my two children," Kazuki grinned. Akari smiled and kissed Kazuki in the lips in front of me. I trembled in agitation. All of the memories we made together shed back in my mind and all of them got crushed in my memory one by one. However, I can''t forget them. I have an Eidetic Memory, it will be forever imprinted in my mind. This b*tch, she was fooling me?! So she was the Assassin that Kazuki Sakatsushi married. The news is rather unclear, that is why I don''t know. But now I know. I clenched my teeth. She just used all my feelings. She might beughing behind her back when I proposed. She was already married to the guild leader of the top 1 guild, Burning Dragon, Scarlet Sword. No wonder their names have both Scarlet, its because they have a connection. I was a fool that I did not notice it immediately. I clenched my fist while holding the cube that Tojiro gave me. You two are just in bad luck that you meet me. I won''t ept my death. I will make the two of you suffer. "Since you are already dying, let me do the pleasure of killing you then," Kazuki raised his pistol and aimed it to me. However, instead of frowning, I grinned instead and raised my middle finger on him. "F*ck you and your ancestors! I hope that you and that bitch will rot in hell in the next life!" This angered Kazuki and pulled the trigger. Before Kazuki can fully pull the trigger, I already pushed the button to my transfer. Bang! Kazuki stopped while his hands holding the pistol is still raised in the air. He bullet hit the floor instead of a living person. "F*ck! He escaped! Men! Look for him! And bring him to me! Dead or alive!" However, I pity him, he won''t be finding me anymore... ... "Geh!" I was awakened as I felt my forehead hit the floor. Oh f*ck, my head hurts. What the heck... Then, I realized, why did I fall in my bed? I was in the streets and I was already lying on the floor, how can I still fall? Also. howe it hurts? A fall like this is nothing to my tempered body. I rubbed my eyes and get up. I squinted my eyes and realized that this ce is pretty familiar. And I was right, it was indeed my old room! I rushed into the mirror and checked my face and body. When I checked, the face I saw is not the face I have 25 years ago. It was the 17-year-old me facing me in the mirror. I checked the calendar and checked the date. My eyes teared up... "I finally made it back..." I muttered. "I made it back!" I shouted again, while tears are streaming down my face. I returned to the past. I finally returned to the past! I stare into my room and I was immediately filled with nostalgia. The posters of the animes I loved to watch, the notebooks, the desk filled with manga and Light Novels, even my gaming PC is still alive. The smartphone is also alive and not the traditional Holographic Phone that I was using in the past. I seeded in returning! I checked my wrist for the Reality Verse tattoo and for some reason, I can feel something different on my wrist. I still remembered that Tojiro injected me something but I have no idea what it was. I shrugged off on it and checked the date again and nodded. Today is the day the Reality Verse will be on sale and the day the game will beunched! I check on the smartphone on the time and saw that it was still 2 am. It was still too early, no wonder it was so dark outside. So it was still early, but that is not a problem, and besides, I am no longer sleepy. I performed basic push-ups, sit-ups, curl-ups, and a few jumping jacks. As expected, my body is still weak and I can''t properly finish the sets. My body is not athletic at all, so this might be the case. Well, I will surely recover my normal fit of the body in a few days so I am not worried. I am not I. a rush. After doing the very tiresome exercise, I rested a bit. I should be practicing my skills up but since my body is not yet exposed in Reality Verse, I can''t activate it yet so that would have to wait. I quickly go to my desk and formted the n to take a free Reality Verseter. I heard that there was a special event to take a free Reality Verse but I am not sure about it. There was a giveaway but I did not know about it in the past timeline so I did not get to be one of the lucky ones. But this time that I returned in the past, I will be able to take that item and ess Alternate World. This time, I won''t make the same mistakes again. Chapter 3 - Tattoo Its 5:00 A.M and I am already full after eating breakfast. The good thing is that I still inherited the ability to cook which gave me no problems at all. It''s still pretty early but I need to go to the Reality Verse Company building. I checked my money and a measly 5,000 yen is in my wallet. It''s barely enough for a week and fare for the cab, back and forth. ... Forget it, I have a bike, I can ride it instead. Thepany is not that far anyway. After wearing my grey hoodie shirt, and my ck pants and ck shoes, I am ready to go. I started pedaling to quickly reach thepany as soon as possible. ... It took me 10 minutes to reach the ce. It was still empty since the opening times is still 7 in the morning. I already heard about the event. And I want to nab the free reality verse. I am sorry for the person who was about to get it in the past timeline. In this timeline, I will be the one to nab it. I parked my bicycle on the side. I am not afraid or would get stolen since its a cheap bike, no one would have the interest to steal it. I stood in front of the door of thepany and patiently waited. The people who have camped to buy the Reality Verse very early have camped on hotels or in their cars. It was a rule by the Reality Versepany that they should stay away from thepany''s vicinity and wait patiently, therefore, they decided to camp out. They are just waiting for anyone who dares to go before they will also proceed to buy the machine itself. And that signal is me. If I sessfully go out with the Reality Verse, then they would immediately rush forward. I focused my mind a bit and tried to sense everything in my surroundings. Although I still have no proper practice in this body, I can still do a bit of it. As I focus myself, I sensed every eye staring at me, either by normal eyes or through binocrs. These guys are ready to strikeout. My mind is focused on my surroundings that is why I immediately sensed that someone else is there beside me standing in the entrance. Its a girl wearing a striped shirt and skinny jeans. She is well proportioned in every aspect and she is pretty. However, I am not attracted to her, I looked at her on my peripheral eye view and checked her. I also recognized her. She is Harmless Sparrow, or to be exact, Rika Tsukinara. She is a Magic Knight with a leveled up ss Sorcerer Knight in the past timeline. She is the guild leader of the guild, Blue Sky. Since she is here first, then it means that she is the first person to nab a free Reality Verse. She looked at me and eximed as she looked at me. "Wow! Someone is much earlier than me!" Rika said as she looked at me. "Uh... is there a problem?" I asked. "Nope, nothing at all. But it was a rare urrence for someone to beat me up in terms of the earliest person in every aspect. And you beat me up on it!" Rika said. "..." Rika is quite talkative. She started talking and I had no choice o respond a bit. A few hourster, someone appeared on the door. Another person who I admired. I was taken aback when I saw this old man in front of the doors. "Eh? Two people? I did not expect two would arrive here early!" the old manughed. I trembled in excitement. This old man is none other than Nobuhiko Kasaguchi! The partner that Tojiro Akisame partnered in making Alternate World! Who would have thought that I can meet this guy here! Before they can sense my excitement(In which they surely didn''t), I remained my confused look like Rika did. "Eh? Is it wrong?" Rika asked. "Of course not! You two are pretty lucky! You two availed to get our promo immediately!" Nobuhiko said as he smiled at us. "Promo?" I asked. "Yes. Promo, you two are here to buy Reality Verse right? Then you two will be able to avail of the machine much earlier! And what is more, it''s free!" Nobuhiko smiled. I grin inwardly, I was right. The early bird gets the worm, but this time, it was two birds with one stone. One event and two lucky winners get it. This time, I already changed the future big time on this one. Rika was surprised and excitedly look at Nobuhiko. "Really? It''s free? Without paying a single yen?" Rika asked. "Yes, not a single yen. You two arrived early so you two would be considered as the lucky first customers of ours! Come, let''s get in and process the transaction immediately," Nobuhiko said and opened the doors open. We entered the hall and Nobuhiko led us to the staff room. straight to theboratory. "Wee to the Reality Verse Nexus Facilities. Since t the two of you are our first customers, you two will be the first people to get the tattoo version of the Reality Verse," Nobuhiko said. "Tattoo Version? There is such a thing? Howe we didn''t hear it? I thought its a capsule cabin!" Rika was confused. "Indeed, it was a capsule cabin, but we already have the finished product of the portable version of the Reality Verse. This is the Nexus version of the Reality Verse. We had proven and tested it. The two of you will be the two lucky people that get to earn the tattoo the earliest. The capsule cabin is the prototype and people need to use it for a month before switching to tattoo," Nobuhiko exined. "I see, so that is the case, then give me the tattoo then," I said and reached out my left wrist. Nobuhiko is surprised but he quickly nodded. "Of course, time is money. However, the two of you need to sign an agreement. This tattoo has a 100% synchronization with your character while the capsule only has 89% percent. That means the two of you will be much more advanced than the others. That is why this agreement is needed to sign so that you two won''t say this to others until the time hase," Nobuhiko exined. "Is that so? Then let''s sign it immediately! I can''t wait!" Rika said. "Excellent!" Nobuhiko pped his hands and handed us two papers to sign. We signed up the papers and Nobuhiko quickly led us to the tattoo area. The tattoo is the moreplicated technology than the capsule cabin. However, it was more portable and can be activated wherever you are. I am in luck that we don''t need to upgrade the capsule cabin after a month. I directly got straight to get the final version of the Reality Verse immediately. The process is fast and we finished immediately. Tattoo Reality Verse has different designs, with four kinds; the dragon, the turtle, the tiger, and the bird. Of course, I choose the tiger tattoo as my tattoo look just like how I have my first tattoo in the past timeline. Rika and I left thepany. I admired the tattoo in my wrist and nodded. The tattoo is back. It''s like I didn''t return in time. Rika approached me. "Hey, we didn''t properly introduce ourselves, my name is Rika Tsukinara. Let''s be friends!" Rika said and put her hands for a handshake. I epted her handshake and nodded. "Manato Tsukasa, nice to meet you," I said and exchanged handshakes. Before Rika can say anything, I grab my bike and pulled my hood over my head before anyone from the people camping out can find info from me. It would be a bad thing for me if they knew I got Reality Verse Nexus for free. I quickly pedaled away from the vicinity without looking back. "Ah..." Rika is left behind with a surprised look on her face. "Am I ugly?" Rika touched her face. ... I pedaled straight to the market but stopped in the bank to withdraw money. I checked my bnce and only have a remaining 10,000 yen in my bank. I sighed and decided to withdraw 6,000 yen. This amount of money can only buy a few amount of vegetables. I sighed, I am a real poor bloke. I headed straight to the market and bought a few vegetables with a cheap amount and a few instant noodles. In the end, I need to resort to eating instant noodles. I sighed with the amount of food I managed to buy, this would be enough for only three days. I facepalmed myself and sighed. I am so used to the life of a rich man that I forgot that I used to be a poor guy. My parents monthly send me money from Nagoya as I study here in Tokyo. However, that stopped when they died when I was 19 years old. Therefore, I had to rely on the Alternate World money I get. But it was also not an easy time. This time, I won''t be a poor bloke, I will work hard and earn money immediately. I returned home at around 3 in the afternoon. I stopped in front of my house. The house is not bad. You can say that it was a huge and grand house. It has two floors, and a veranda to sit back and rx whenever the sky in the night is fine. Anyone is willing to live here if they wanted to. But I know that I am the only one living in this house. That means I am solo living here. Its quite a lonely life but I am used to it. I haven''t taken lunch yet so I quickly boiled water and cut a few spring onions to add into my cup ramen. It took me 5 minutes before I managed to eat it and fill my grumbling stomach. After stuffing myself, I return to my room and locked the whole house. I stare at my tiger tattoo in my hands. So nostalgic. Now that I am ready, I will be diving into the game. I am ready to change my destiny. Chapter 4 - Versatile I consider myself lucky since I got the Nexus version of Reality Verse. In reality, to use this, you need to pay 3 million yen. Although for rich people its a small amount, poor people like me are not that rich to be able to fork out that money. If I indeed have money, I might have gotten the capsule cabin version instead of the Nexus version. The tattoo in my wrist is ready to use. We are instructed how to use this ck technology but I who have returned 25 years in the future are already quite aware of this item itself. Iy down into the bed and closed my eyes before I focused myself to enter the Alternate World. A mechanized voice rang in my mind after I sessfully entered the game. "Initializing Data..." Initializing Complete. Scanning the body... Scanning Complete. Extracting the Package... Extractingplete. The package will be avable to the user once he enters the game. The host will be sent to the avatar creation room in three seconds. Please stand by..." A package? I was bewildered at first but I decided to disregard it for now. I still can''t look at what it was since I still need to create my avatar. 3 2 1 I opened my eyes and I was transported to the avatar creation room. I am facing the familiar throne room. Its been a while since I have returned here. It was a very long time indeed. Before me is a woman with a goddess-like face. Her golden locks of hair are waving as the wind blows. Her ears are pointed and she is wearing a green gown that is seen as the usual dress for royalties. What is more, are the majestic wings she had that looks like they are emitting rainbow colors once radiated with sunlight. Queen Titania The queen of fairies and the wife of Oberon, the king of fairies and pixies. As usual, she is responsible for handing out the info to create your character. However, you can still see her in the game in thetter parts. She is a level 500 NPC that resides in the legendarynd of fairies. If you want to meet her again, you just need to be a level 500 yer. "Wee brave warrior, wee to the world of Alternate world. Please state your name," Titania said and a panel appeared in front of me in the qwerty keyboard. I quickly typed "deheart" in the name. In the past timeline, I chose Relinquished Knight but I felt its not a good name for me so I decided to change it. It''s not a good name anyway. "deheart, is that correct?" "Yes" "Your gender is male. You can''t change it unless you want to be a woman," Titania red at me. "Don''t re at me, I am a straight guy, I don''t have a habit of crossdressing," I quickly said. In Alternate World, you can''t freely choose your gender. If you answered in that earlier sentence that "I want to be a girl", Titania will cast a magic skill that you are still a guy and can only wear girl''s equipment. In short, you are stuck in a crossdressing look. The women are a bit fine and they looked good instead if they choose to wear guy clothes. The men demanded gender equality but Titania emerged and give them a middle finger. I think she will appear againter to scold those guys. "Good. Then please select the race you want to use. Remember that once you choose your race, you can''t reset your race again until you get the chance of a free reset coupon. If you want to choose another race, you need to start from scratch and pay 100 thousand yen. Your bank ount is already connected so it will be automatically deducted once you choose to do so," Titania exined. The policy did not change I see. This policy is meant to restrict yers from keeping on making and resetting the characters they are ying. I scanned the race and found out that you only have two choices. Human and Elf. From what I can remember, the other races will be unlocked once the expansion is underway which will be a monthter. The races only affect your appearance, not the stats, so even if you choose the elf race, you can''t hope to have your HP be so big. I quickly choose Human and my body quickly got enveloped in white light. "Human Race, is that correct?" "Yes!" "Please select the ss you want to use. Just like the race, you can''t choose again once you confirmed the ss you selected. The same rules applied and the only way to reset your ss is to reset your entire progress. Please choose carefully," Titania said. I scanned the sses avable this time around and look at them one by one. Swordsman - uses brute strength to fight against enemies. It can be considered as the easiest ss in the game. Weapon: Shortswords and Long Swords Samurai - simr to swordsman but has a more lethal arsenal and yers who prefer agility-strength ss, this ss is for you. Weapon: Katana Alchemist: A ss that specializes in making potions and can control matter in their own will. Known for support and can change from support-offensive depending on the ystyle. Weapon: Hook Chain Ninja - specializes in agility and ambush. They are master in blending in the night. It has a high critical hit but low in strength, however, the agility is top notch and has an arsenal of different skills to escape or kill. Weapon: Kunai Assassin - unlike Ninjas, they prefer to stealth and attack in frontal. Their strikes are decisive and they can deal with high damages. Weapon: Dagger Hunter - The archers in the game. They have high agility and can blend into nature if they will. Weapon: Bow/Crossbow Cleric - the priests in the game. They are purely Support types and they have weak attack power. Women yers usually use this ss but men are also free to choose. Their primary use is to heal and give buffs to the whole party. Weapon: Ceremonial Staff Pdin - the main tanker in the game. yers who love to deal with attacks and facing head-on or just mere masochists, this ss is for you. ss will have to use both hands and mastery will need to be very high as the party''s safety hangs in this ss. They can self-buff. Weapon: Spear and Shield Holy Knight - a ss simr to Cleric. They can heal but they are not so great like how a cleric does. Draws thebat power of the holy light and vanquishes evil forces using the sword. Weapon: Greatswords Magic Knight - a ss that can control magic and blends the magic attacks on their sword strikes. Bnced in terms of attacks and intelligence. Weapon: Magic Sword Magician - the magic users of the game. They had low health but ispensated with their high magic attacks and multiple magic. Excels in long-rangebat. Weapon: Staff Fighter - the ss that specializes in martial arts. They use their fists and legs to attack enemies. They follow the rules of nature and temper their bodies by striking their enemies with their bare hands. Weapon: Knuckles Gunslinger - gun users in the game. They are not a good sniper like the Hunters but they excel in fighting semi range and close range. They have high agility and high critical hits but they somehow had a downfall in strength. Weapon: Gun Druid -mands the animals to do their bidding. Has a high affinity of taming monsters easily. It can transform from human form to animal form whenever necessary. Weapon: Bo staffs Berserkers - the strongest warriors in the game. They purely rely on brute force and brute force only. They have high attacks and sometimes sacrifices their defenses to raise their attacks. They are slow but they have high health and almost rivals the pdin, but they have pretty low defense. Weapon: Ax or Hammer Versatile: the jack of all trades, master of none. A ss that specialized in all sses mentioned above and can learn their skills. They can equip any items that only the other sses can equip. Their stats are bnced and they don''t excel in anything. yers who im as master of all the sses are wee to try this ss out. The only downside to this ss is that it consumes twice the amount of experience that other yers gained, making them the slowest yers to gain a level. yers who hated grinding are meant to avoid this ss. Weapon: All weapons I scratched my head. I am an expert in all sses but I am a master in Magic Knight ss. However, Tojiro clearly stated that I need to y the game in a Versatile ss to fully use my potential. I am not afraid of the exp penalty that the versatile faces because I have my means to cover up with it. But I am afraid of the future that holds. If I choose this ss, the future will be changed entirely and I might have a new viewpoint due to this choice. After hesitating a bit, I decided to choose the Versatile ss. I choose to believe what Tojiro said to me. "Versatile, are you certain?" "Yes!" "Do you want to keep your face simr to the face in the real world?" I hesitated a bit but then I decided that there is no point on slight alteration. "Keep it!" "Thank you for all your response," Titania raises her hands and I was enveloped in a white light once again, but this time, I was covered wholly in white light. "Your body will be automatically generated in the starting town. Please enjoy your stay in the Alternate World." And with that, my vision is engulfed in white and I can''t see anything. In the past timeline, I still remembered that I panicked when that happened that is why I was so embarrassed at that time because Titaniaughed at me due to that. I did not panic this time and let things go. After a few seconds, my body materialized and my vision slowly gets adjusted until it stabilized. I raised my hands and clenched my fist. Indeed, I returned to the Alternate World. The beginning of my journey once again. Chapter 5 - Arrival I run around the square for testing. And after getting familiarized with the body, I looked around the ce. It is the same ce in the past. The starting point, Mining Town. There are already thousands of yers around the town which is quite normal. Today is the beginning of the game-opening anyway so this amount is still small. I think they are stuck in Sooner orter, it will get crowded immediately. Before I get stuck from the crowd, I decided to keep away and go to the entrance of the town first, in case that the volume of people gets too harsh. I wanted to record the spectacle of the guys protesting for gender equalityter but first, I need to gather the necessary items. I opened my stats and look at my stats panel. Name: deheart Level 0 EXP: 0/1000 HP: 200/200 MP: 100/100 Attributes: STR: Very Poor AGI: Very Poor DEX: Very Poor END: Very Poor INT: Very Poor AP left to spend: 10 Title: None Skills: None SP left to spend: 50 Equipment: Head: None Upper Body: Normal Shirt Lower Body: Normal Pants Shoes: Normal Boots Gloves: None Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: None As expected, I need 1000 experience to raise my level to level 1. Normal yers will only need 500 exp to level up, while mine needed a double amount. I sighed and decided to look at my attributes. My attributes are allbeled as very poor. To raise all of my stats, I need to use Ability Points or AP to level up every attribute. Very Poor attribute has an AP bar that needs to be filled with AP. There are 9 levels of attributes. 1.Very Poor 2. Poor 3. Fair 4. Good 5. Very Good 6. Excellent 7. Expert 8. Master 9. Perfect Mastery In this case, to level up Very Poor Stat to Poor, you need to spend 100 AP to it to raise it to Poor stat. It might be a bit bad looking but its normal for all. I checked every stats, AP bar and I have seen that all of them have 5 AP expended to them, making me good to go with 95 AP to spend. You can earn 10 AP every level up which is pretty small. There is a level 1000 level cap from what I can remember in this game so the stats can be raised easily to Good around to Very Good in level 200 or more. It''s already a very strong start if you managed to have a single stat in Very Good. However, if you want to raise it to Perfect Mastery, then you need to work hard, find quests that reward AP and spend it. Anyway, as stats raised from one level to another, the AP bar limit will also increase. These attributes are just an additional thing. Once you level up, your attack power will raise depending on your weapon. Same with the armor. Add the amount of stats in your weapon and armor in your stat and you will end up getting strong, of course, those stats will revert to normal once you remove those equipments. That is why yers prefer to gain weapons and armor than to farm for AP. It is much more practical to be overgeared, but for real experts, gaining AP is much better. Even if you don''t have any weapon as long as your stats are high, you can beat up enemies barehanded. I also checked my skills. This time, the skill trees from different sses are divided. I am aware of how to raise your skills. yers have a Skill Point or SP. Gaining them are rather easy, just keep on using skills again and again on that ss to gain SP. Of course, the amount of SP gained is random that is why yers tend to keep on using skills or attack monsters to gain SP. Furthermore, yers can earn 10 free sp to use every level up. In my case, every ss SP is divided into their respective skill trees and can only be spent in that specific skill tree. Only the Free SP gained from level up can be freely spent on every ss. I nodded and checked my inventory. Inventory is divided into pockets. Equipment pocket, scrolls pocket, consumable pocket, misceneous pocket, and key items pocket. Every pocket has 300 slots. Equipment pockets houses the weapons and armor, scrolls pocket houses scrolls and contracts. It also stores nk paper and map fragments. Consumable Pocket is housing the potions, food, magic items and any kind of consumable items. Misceneous pocket houses the ingredients, monster parts and any kind of items that are neither consumable or can be equipped. Thest is the Key Items pocket. This is the ce where important items are stored and cannot be dropped whatever you do, except if there is a statement that it will drop in death. 300 slots are not enough. Most yers tend to say that 300 slots are so many, but inter parts of the game, 300 slots are very small. Of course, you can expand your inventory with special items. I checked my Equipment pockets. There, I saw all of the default armor and default weapons. They all have weak attributes so I disregarded them for now. The scroll pocket is empty, while the consumable pocket has two items. 9 small Hp potions and also 9 small MP potions. [Small Hp potion] Duration: Instant Type: Consumable Effect: Heals 100 amount of HP upon consumption. Note: This potion tastes sweet but it''s just a small amount. [Small MP potion] Duration: Instant Type: Consumable Effect: Heals 50 amount of MP upon consumption. Note: This potion tasted like sh*t, but what can you do, you needed it. I shrugged on these items, they are the same potions, nothing changed. I checked the others but they are all empty, except the key items pocket. I saw a chest on the slot. I was curious about it so I checked it out. [Tojiro''s Last Will] Type: Treasure Chest Note: Contain''s Tojiro Akisame''sst item. It was so vague so I decided to open the chest up. Ding! "You obtained a God Tier weapon, Versatile Weapon!" Huh? Did I just obtained something interesting? I quickly moved to the Equipment Pocket and checked what weapon it was. There is a slot in with a question mark image on it. Is this a versatile weapon? I clicked the weapon to check its stats. "Versatile Weapon" Weapon Level: 0 Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +10 AGI: +10 DEX: +10 END: +10 INT: +10 Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: None Chapter 6 - Death I squinted my eyes on the weapon and indeed it was a God Tier weapon. However, unlike other people, I did not jump for joy or get excited like crazy. I just remained calm. Just by looking at the stats, they are just in. But it was a rare thing to see a weapon with stats that can enhance the stats of the user too in all attributes and not focused on one. I pondered a bit and remembered all the rank of the items like weapons, armors, and essories. From what I can remember, they are ranked from Scrap, Normal, Rare, Very Rare, Unique, Legendary, Heroic and God Tier. Most of themon are Normal and Rare weapons. Very Rare and Unique are normally dropped by bosses while Legendary are dropped only whenever certain quests arepleted which only urs once. Heroic weapons are known for the heritage and they can only be obtained if someone managed to pass their trials. God tier is said to be dropped by god level NPCs but those are just rumors. In reality, God Tier weapons are not that kind of easy to get weapon. In my past timeline, only one weapon in God Tier rank appeared and it was forged by the legendary cksmith that time following the event of the demon invasion and it was used to ward off the demons. In my eyes, this weapon might be a God Tier one, it is still a weapon. And from the looks of it, the reason it was considered god tier is due to its two skills. [Devour] allows the weapon itself to "eat" and make the weapon itself as its own. It was simr to amalgamation but without the risk of failure. Furthermore, this weapon can gain more skills if it devours lots of weapons and artifacts. The other one is something I have not seen before. I have read one in the novel, The Kings Avatar that the MC''s weapon can change form, however, I have not seen any weapon that can change form and is very specific for Versatiles. Versatiles are known as copycats, in short, they can mimic any battle styles of other sses and they also don''t have any weapon restriction. yers who choose Versatile will start with a sword and it is up to the yer in which style he will use for the battle after obtaining different weapons. However, it was so troublesome since Versatile yers can''t switch out weapons immediately. They had to manually unequip a weapon and equip another. This weapon is exactly the solution for that, however, why did I only see it today? Is it because Tojiro specifically made it? Now that I think about it, Tojiro said that I need to be a Versatile to fully enjoy his gift, its because it''s meant for a Versatile ss. This weapon is also bound to me, I can''t drop, trade or sell this weapon. But it doesn''t matter much. I closed the stats first and I did not bother to learn any skills or equip any weapon. I n to do something first and make use of a bug first. For 5 years, I suffered and were stuck on level 10 for that long in the game. Because before I can even reach the threshold of level 11, I am killed again and again for many times, causing me to return to level 0. Of course, it was not a technique to earn more AP. Once you level up again on a level you dropped after dying, you would not gain AP at all so it is a useless tactic. However, yers always resorted to "PKing" or yer Killing here. It was because the yer who killed another yer will gain the experience lost by the yer. It was like easy exp farming without going personally to the hostile areas. Some yers keep on dying due to this and they were called "Fodders". I was one of those "fodders" and I was oppressed a lot. This is the so-called "payment" in exchange for the cost of buying Reality Verse and for ying Alternate World. Death is painful in the game. It was like you are killed again and again in real life. Sometimes, they will inflict trauma on your body in real life. Many of my oldrades that time became crazy after bing "Fodders". Of course, I almost went crazy like them but I have a higher mental fortitude than them. Although I experienced death several times in the game, I grew ustomed to it in the end, unlike my otherrades who eventually quit ying the game for good after dying 100 times or less than that. I survived and managed to discover a secret on death. And it was a very hidden title that no one has earned yet and cannot be earned by the others anymore, making me the official one obtaining it. This very secret is the main thing I want to get it this time around. These things would be really handy to me. I left Mining Town and quickly made my way to the clearing where the monsters around level 1 are spawning. There are already lots of yers killing monsters here and there, they are even fighting for one if they saw one. All of them are wearing the shabby armor and wielding a shabby weapon based on their ss. Well, my outfit is much shabbier than theirs. I didn''t equip the armor and weapon yet, so you can say I am weaponless right now. The clearing is not my destination and besides, the monsters here are weak and even if you beat them up barehanded, you can still kill a few amounts of them. Dying here is pretty much rare. Only those who are very reckless or airhead people die in that beginner area. My destination is the Silent Forest. And I am nning to repeatedly get killed here. In Alternate World, once a yer dies, they are immediately sent to the Cathedral where yers respawn. Thest town or city you are in before you die would be your checkpoint and of course, your armor and weapons'' durability plummet, level and exp decreases and money also drop. That is the basic death in this game and if you are overkilled, you might have a chance to drop the items in your inventory. However, there is one bug that the yer killers who killed me several times discovered. Its a ce where the body of the yer does not disappear and sent to the cathedral. In those circumstances, it only urs if the dead yers died in a dungeon with a party, but it is not possible in a neutral area like this. That is why this one is considered as a bug. No one reported it though. Not so many yers stayed in this ce after all and only beginners are usually around so it was not looked upon. [yer discovered Silent Forest] After the system announcement, I carefully tread my path. Most monsters here are level 5 and the highest leveled yer this time around is still level 2. It is pure suicide for yers to head here. And for me, I am doing it on purpose. The Silent Forest has an area where monsters do not dwell too much, so I used that path. It''s easy to track if you have memorized this ce. I have been wandering here in the past timeline for 1 year. This ce is something I was so familiar that even if I close my eyes, I can still see where I am going. It didn''t take me long before I arrived at the ursed bugged area. I prepared myself and look around. Just my presence caused the appearance of monsters. I counted six of them. Red Wolf Level 5 HP: 1000/1000 Attribute: Beast The Red Wolf attacked and raised its paw, mming it to my body. -521 Red digits appeared and one thing registered in my mind. PAIN! If this is real life, I would be puking lots of blood but since this is just a game, I did not puke out blood but my vision quickly turned colorless and the Log quickly updated my status. [You died! Respawning 10 seconds] Respawn time only appear once your body is transported to the cathedral. However, my body did not disappear like how it does. My body remained and big digits counting down above my dead body. 3 2 1 Just as the cooldown disappeared, another three digits appeared above my head. -600 critical! Before I knew it, I fell once again and the respawn time appeared again. Chapter 7 - Title I do not know how long have I been reviving and dying again and again without halting at all. If I have a very weak mind foundation, I would surely be crazy about this insane thing I am doing. Dying a hundred times is too taxing in the mind. It was like your head is being pounded by thousands of hammers and pricked with thousands of needles. It was a very unpleasant and horrible experience. This thing that I am doing is much more horrible than in the past. I am destined to get PKed every 3 days while I have done so many deaths in just a day. I can feel my soul separating from my avatar as the pain continues to linger. My death stockpiled and it''s not like I was proud of my death counter. It''s one of the most horrible deaths... When I was almost on the verge of snapping out, a system announcement rang in my head. [Requirements for the Title: Death''s Favorite has been achieved. Awarding the Title to yer: deheart] My senses once again returned. This title is the very first title I received after continuously dying. The respawn time once again moves while I checked the title. [Death''s Favorite] Type: Unique Title How to achieve: Die 500 times Info: Increases the SP gained randomly whenever a monster is sessfully killed. Every level up, the owner of the title will have an additional 3 AP. In battle, it has a 0.01% chance of inflicting instant death to the enemy engaging in a fight. Effect continues even if not equipped. Note: Death is not someone that you can easily meet. Although she is a beauty, she is also akin to disaster. After your "fantastic" achievement, Death herself has taken a liking to you... Are you sure that you want to court death? Or are you just enjoying the feeling of dying? The note makes me want to puke blood. Are you serious? I am not courting death! I am here for the benefits! Not for a woman! Seriously guys, don''t be a horny bunch of bastards! Just because I returned in time I can get any girl I want? There is no forever! Also, I am not a pervert masochistic person! I don''t enjoy this one bit! I decided to calm down. I never expected that I have achieved that many deaths without realizing it. When my timer once again finished ticking, before my body can move, I was killed once again. I groaned after another wave of pain and suffering engulfs my own body. I swear that I am not doing this again. Only onest title and I am done with this sh*t... I focused myself a lot so that the pain in my body won''tst that long but in the end... it''s still f*cking painful! I don''t like the feeling of dying again and again. It was like I was being tormented without end. Howe I don''t remember having this kind of experience... I think dying and dying without rest will kill me this time. A few more hours slowly passed and I slowly get to feel bad as time passes by. I feel sh*t... Ooooh please... let it end... I have regeretted everything... I will never want to experience it again... Just like when I was about to give up hope, another system announcement rang in my ears and a panel of notification appeared. [Requirements for the Title: Memento Mori has been achieved. Awarding the title to yer: deheart] All of the energy that escaped earlier from my body from the relentless death returned like a drain sucking in all of the power in the air that escaped. Memento Mori! As soon as I recovered, the countdown of my respawn timer hits zero and the Red Wolves nearby quickly gave an attack to me. Earlier, I was just letting them kill me. Now, I need to escape! Hu! I quickly made a quick backflip and made a run for it. Although Red Wolves are fast, they don''t chase too much and they will stop chasing once the enemy is 10 meters away from their area. And as usual, the wolves didn''t bother with me after crossing the 10-meter boundary. It was weird behavior for a wolf but maybe it was designed to be like that, I guess. I didn''t bother wasting my time in the Silent Forest and sprinted away, tracing back the area where I passed by earlier. ... After reaching the entrance of the forest, I checked the newly acquired title. [Memento Mori] Type: Unique Title Method to Achieve: Die 1000 times without anyone casting revive Info: Doubles the Experience you received. Includes Exp rewards and monster kills. Also doubles the exp the user gained every time an ex job managed to gain exp. It can be used and stacked with other effects even if not equipped. Note: "Remember that we are mortal and we must ept death since it''s our inevitable destination. You died again and again without being revived by magic but revived by your own. I rubbed my eyes a bit. Did I got crossed-eyed earlier? But I think it''s very different from what I remember in my past timeline. When I checked again, it was indeed not the same info in my past timeline. Although the effect did not decrease or increase in this version, something else is added. In my past timeline, when I gained this title, I can get double exp gain by killing monsters only, but in this timeline, there is an additional method and that is trough requests too. For example, youpleted a quest which rewards you with 5,000 exp uponpletion, with the effect of Memento Mori title, it will turn 10,000 exp. If that is the case, it was like gaining a double exp cheat in every event. What is more, ex jobs also level faster too once you have the Memento Mori skill. I still can''t see the connection to how it changed. This is not my doing. There might be a problem with how I obtained the titles so it was so different than I remembered. I nodded and sighed, there are just a few changes in the system. It is not following the normal script. anymore... Chapter 8 - Equipment There are only two titles obtainable in dying again and again so I did not bother staying for another beating from the monsters. If I stayed for another round, I am now unsure whether I will survive or not. My head barely recovered so I don''t want to seek death once more. After reaching the entrance of the Silent Forest, I opened my inventory and equipped all of the armor inside. After the severe amount of death that I experienced, my shirt, pants and shoes were reduced to dust after losing all of their durability. Luckily, it was a bugged area and my items inside my inventory did not fell after a thousand deaths. I checked my avatar''s body and the only thing that my avatar left wearing is the indestructible boxer shorts. These shorts are invulnerable but of course, you can remove them if you want. However, I don''t want to walk stark naked. I am not a nudist... I double check the stats of the equipment I got before equipping them. Since the Memento Mori has a different info, I might as well check my first equipment if they ever have different structure than what I remembered. [Beginner Hood] Type: Head Equipment Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: All sses Stats: END: 3 INT: 1 Note: These are basic hoods by beginner adventurers. Nothing noteworthy to say. Durability: 100/100 [Beginner Shirt] Type: Upper Body Equipment Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: All sses Stats: END: 5 AGI: 1 Note: These are basic shirts by beginner adventurers. Nothing noteworthy to say. Durability: 100/100 [Beginner Pants] Type: Lower Body Equipment Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: All sses Stats: END: 3 AGI: 5 Note: These are basic pants by beginner adventurers. Nothing noteworthy to say. Durability: 100/100 [Beginner Shoes] Type: Shoes Equipment Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: All sses Stats: AGI: 5 Note: These are basic shoes by beginner adventurers. Nothing noteworthy to say. Durability: 100/100 [Beginner Gloves] Type: Gloves Equipment Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: All sses Stats: DEX: 5 Note: These are basic gloves by beginner adventurers. Nothing noteworthy to say. Durability: 100/100 Tch, there are no changes. My expectations were crushed. In the end, I decided to equip them, at least my attributes will rise up. ... After doing all the equipping job, I opened my stats panel and spend the attribute points. I only have 10 points of attribute so I have no choice but to spend 2 points to all attributes. Every ss has a different amount of AP spent in their sses. For example, if you choose the ss, Berserker, STR Attribute, the AP bar on it would appear like this: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 10/100] All ss has different build and Versatile ss is also an another build. IT follows the bnced path. Most sses would have an attribute with more AP in the very beginning while there would be at least a single stat with avery small amount of AP spent or without a single one given to it in the first ce. That is why the free 10 AP is for those yers who are unsatisfied seeing a zero value on their stat. My ss are all filled and what is more, every stat has an equal 5 AP spent on them in the very beginning. Since I spent 2 AP on every stats, they are all on figure 7. But since I have equipped my armors, a few of my stats were immediately added together. Name: deheart Level 0 EXP: 0/1000 HP: 320/320 MP: 110/110 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 7/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 18/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 12/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 18/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 8/100] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: None SP left to spend: 50 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Upper Body: Beginner Shirt Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: None If I unequip all of my armor, the stats would return back to 7 since those stats are known only as armor bonus, not permanent bonus. Only by spending AP would make my stats permanent. My HP and MP also have grown especially the HP with a 120 growth. From 200 HP to 320 HP. The reason is due to the END stat. This stat is also known as Endurance and it influences the defense value of the yer and especially the HP. Every 2 AP raised on the END stat, my HP''s maximum value would be risen to 20. Since the stat has risen with 13 AP not counting the 5 AP beforehand, it has risen my HP to 320. On my MP, mana will only grow 10 per 2 AP spent on the INT stat, therefore my MP has risen from 100 to 110. The stats are not soplicated once you get the hang of it. After being satisfied by it, I looked at my weapons. I still have trouble on which weapon to equip. I pondered a bit before I decided to equip the Versatile Weapon. I am not too sure about it though since I might attract the whole lot of people if they discovered my weapon is a God Tier weapon. I would attract a bunch of other yers that would be vying for this weapon. However, to my surprise, the form of the God Tier Weapon, the Versatile Weapon is...in. Yes, its a in look simr to the Beginner Sword in my inventory. The only difference is the words engraved on its de near its hilt. "GREED AND GLUTTONY" Greed and gluttony, two of the seven deadly sins. What is the meaning of this? Is this a weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins series? I have heard in the past timeline of a legend about the appearance of the God Tier Weapon series called the Seven Deadly Sins Weapons. However, I did not hear anyone obtaining a single one so it remained as a legend and it was not counted as the discovered God Tier Weapons. So, does this mean, my weapon is one of the series? But why two sins? It should only be representing one sin since I heard that the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series has seven weapons representing every sin. This weapon of mine contain two sins at a time...so mysterious... I shook my head and decided to test out its devour ability first. I am getting curious on how this weapon devours other weapons. I have not seen it in my past timeline so lets try it out here and now. "Devour!" [Please select an item to devour] And my eyes saw the panel of my inventory pop up and saw that the Beginner sword appeared on it. I clicked it and it suddenly materialized in front of me and floated in the air. What is more, my Versatile Weapon seems ready to devour as a huge ck red shadow appeared on my weapon and emits a huge amount of energy. This red shadow looked like a drooling dragon. As it saw the weapon floating in the air, it drooled and licked its mouth. [Are you sure to continue this process? The weapon you selected cannot be retrieved again once you continue] Yes/No I clicked yes and when I finished doing so, it was like the click became a signal for my weapon. Before I knew it, the red shadow opened it''s mouth and swallows down the sword like it was a simple bread stick. When the Versatile Weapon devours the weapon, a panel about the status of my weapon appeared again in front of me. Somehow, it showed a few changes. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 0 [Exp: 50/100] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +12 AGI: +10 DEX: +12 END: +10 INT: +10 Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. Can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that holds tremendous power but it end up in the hands of the mortal. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: None My eyes squinted on the stats. The STR and DEX stat has risen from 10 to 12. Did it grow due to the weapon devouring the Beginner Sword? Also, there is already an exp bar below the weapon level. I did not notice it before but there was indeed a weapon level. Most weapons don''t have level unless they undergo Amalgamation process which only cksmiths can perform. Amalgamation process involves the main weapon and sub weapon. The main weapon will use the sub weapon to strengthen itself. Stats will be risen exponentially once it reaches a certain level. And since [Devour] skill is counted as amalgamation, did I just get a weapon that can perform free Amalgamation? Since that is the case, I decided to look for my stats again. Name: deheart Level 0 EXP: 0/1000 HP: 420/420 MP: 160/160 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 19/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 28/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 24/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 28/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 18/100] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: None SP left to spend: 50 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Upper Body: Beginner Shirt Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon Chapter 9 - Hunting Well, what do you know, all of my stats jumped up to two digits. These kind of stats only appears around level 5 above yers. Who would have thought that a level 0 yer like me can get a lot of boost? However, I knew that its temporary stats. If I unequip most of my equipment, I am still a weak guy. If I want to change the future, I had to level up to level 5 at the end of the day. But first, I had to try out another function of the Versatile Weapon. That is the Change Form. I am really curious on the function and I want to see it for myself how it works. I made sure that no one is around. I even tried sensing anyone and after learning that no one is around, I decided to try it out. "Change Form!" [yer cannot ess the skill because you shouted the skill. Please use it via mentalmand] Wow, that was strange. Most skills needs to be shouted to use. Only a few skills are good to be used via mentalmand and most of them are higher tiered skills. So this skill is one of the higher tiered magic huh? I mentally conjured the skill and all of a sudden, my surroundings seems to be in slow mode, however, even me is in slow mode. Also, a slide show panel appeared on my eyes. There was a statement above it that these panels are not visible to other yers and only I can see it whenever I ess the skill. Well, that is good to know. The panels are all containing a weapon form. My mind noticed the Magic Sword and before I can change my mind, everything returned to normal speed and my weapon formed into the blink of an eye. The normal sword turned into a magic sword! Normal Swords and Magic Swords has a different look and yers can immediately notice it. Magic Swords has a big green orb embedded on the de near the point of the sword while swords that Swordsmen sses don''t have them. Therefore, anyone can notice the very differences in one look. The Versatile Weapon''s look changed. It turned into a Magic Sword. Just like the usual, it looks like the beginner magic sword. I check my mana if there is a loss on mana and sighed in relief after seeing none was consumed. This skill is not mana consumer skill. I also noticed that it has no cool down. This is a good thing! I tried to check the other weapons and this time, I tried thinking of Guns. The panel quickly flipped to the twin guns and before I knew it, the weapon changed too. I never expected to see that the weapon is divided into two. I thought I would only get one gun. I tried checking out the other weapons and they also turned out great. I trained on them and found out that they are easy to use. Only the bow is a bit hard to use. I am nor too urate in it. There are a few panels that the weapon has with but they are marked with question marks. I don''t know how many question marks are there because I can''t ess the remaining panels after trying to bypass the first question marked panel. From my guess, this marks were only going to appear once a new ss appear which would be happening in the future. Looks like Versatile Weapon will be really handy in the future. I looked into my level and nodded. I have been staying in level 0 for too long, I need to start doing the job of leveling. First I have to go to the clearing. While on the way, the rain started pouring down. Weather systems are random in this ce but it really affects the behaviors of various NPCs. For example, there are less NPCs outside the town once a rain started pouring down. Even the time is also different. Morning, Afternoon and Evening are all different times and they also affect NPC behavior. There are some secret NPCs that only appear on various time of the day. I remembered most of them and in fact, I have met most of them, however, most secret NPCs in Mining Town are just for the sake of the yers getting stronger for the crossing. Before yers can ess the main gate, they had to be level 10 yers and gain the token to allow ess to the gate where it leads to the Resurgia Capital, where the adventure truly begins. There is no rush leveling up, I am not vying for the top spot. What I want is to get stronger. Take quests that offers SP or AP would do good. Also obtain different amount of armors and weapons for my weapon to eat. If I want to get stronger, I would have to rely on this weapon. Looks like I won''t be selling my armor once I get a better one. I did not go to level 1 monsters. Although they are weak, they yield to little Exp and I needed lots of it. Besides, those monsters are being killed left and right for beginner quests. Its a waste of time to take them since most of the quests in Mining Town only revolves in newbies exining things and stuff therefore I don''t need to take them. I headed into the farther clearing. There are a few yers challenging the area and most of them are solo yers so I decided to look for monsters. The monsters here are level 3. Although the yers of level 0 will surely hoe trouble killing one monster here, with my stats that are equal to level 5 yers, I don''t need to get nervous. I pulled out my sword and ready myself. My n for today is to kill a few monsters. Once they drop a few equipment, I will immediately have the chance to equip weapons without letting other yers suspect that I have a weird weapon. I stayed in Swordsman sword. At least, I will have to get the SP grow for the swordsman ss. I am vying for a passive and a single active skill but its not worth to use the Free SP so I want to earn a few. And by killing the monsters, I will also gain exp. Killing two birds with one stone. Since there are only a few yers in this area, the monsters here are a bit numerous. I saw a Lizard with long tongue aiming to attack me so I didn''t waste my time and check it out. [Grass Lizard] Level 3 HP: 140/140 Attributes: Beast Ha! I shed the sword into the Grass Lizard. -20 Well, it was indeed big damage for a yer around level 0. yers who are level zero usually have attack values around 5-7 damage depending on the stat they have. Of course if the stat of their STR almost reached the star simr to mine, this value is nothing, however, focusing on one stat is not good. A goof bnce stat would help. Before the Grass Lizard can react, I shed another one to the Green Lizard. -21 Two strikes and I chipped off 41 HP on this monster. Killing it is just a few matter of time. The Grass Lizard snarled and attack. Of course I did not stayed on my ground and dogged. Unlike the old MMORPG inputers, you have the control in your body. Your body''s agility is in fact useful here. The DEX stat help a lot on getting a fast movement in your footwork, allowing you to dodge efficiently without falling down. It also raised the small percentage of inflicting critical hits so the higher the stat, the higher the chance of escape maneuver and the higher chance to inflict criticals. Of course, to fully use the potential of the DEX stat, one has to expend on the AGI stat that would help a lot on your swift movements and swift attacks too. Swift attacks with high chances of dealing Critical, isn''t that scary? That is why, Ninjas and Assassins has a high DEX and AGI stats. But, in the end, this is not really has the same principles. I squinted my eyes when the Green Lizard opens its mouth and throws out its long, sticky tongue out. I quickly dodged it on the side but I did not really go to far from the tongue. As soon as the tonguended into the ground where I stood earlier, I quickly moved my sword to the tongue and give a hard slice. It all happened in just a few seconds and before the green Lizard can close its stinky mouth, I managed to get close and lunge my sword into the mouth of the lizard. Kacha! Blood spluttered out of the Green Lizard as the sword pierced through its body. I twisted the sword and pulled it out, putting the lizard down, lifeless. After that attack, the red numbers appeared above the dead body of the lizard. -99 -Grass Lizard was killed sessfully. -Got Sticky Tongue -Got 3 copper(Additional 3 copper for performing Instant Kill) -Got 100 EXP(Additional +100 EXP for performing Instant Kill)(Title Effects activated, 200 Bonus EXP earned) -Got 5 Swordsman ss SP(Title Effects activated, 5 Bonus Swordsman ss SP earned) Instant Kill is a unique thing in the game. Monsters here in the game has a certain realism and that is the certain weak spots. Monsters here have weak spots and if exposed and attacked properly and brutally, Instant Kills are invoked. Grass Lizards are not weak, but it requires a lot of time to properly grasp the thing I have done. Even if someone tried it, they might fail to do it properly like I did. They can''t me me, I was stuck in level 10 back to level 0 for a year. Of course, this monsters would my only prey to kill. For killing those monsters everyday, I get a lot of tricks to level up faster. Instant kills reward yers extra experience if performed. Although it is pretty hard to do so, performing Instant Kills on Grass Lizards would easily make me level up to 2. As usual, the effects of Memento Mori kicked in. Since I got a total of 200 EXP, I also got an additional 200 EXP which is what the title do. Doubles the EXP earned. If I got 200, it will be 400 instead. Making me 600 EXP more to rise up to level 1. Since that is the case, I will be performing instant Kills. Leveling would be easier like that then. Chapter 10 - Stats [Congrattions! Your Level has risen from 0 to 1!] -Got 10 AP( Additional 3 AP due to the title''s effect) -Got 10 SP After killing the third Grass Lizard, I finally managed to hit level 1. The efficiency of my leveling speed makes me a bit not used to it. With my previous ss, this slow leveling is just too hard to deal with. However, more benefitses from the slow, therefore, I need to take it slow, fretting and rushing on it won''t do me good. With the Instant kills being activated, I only need to kill three of them. However, since I have risen a level, I would need to acquire a lot of EXP the higher my level goes. I checked my stat and decided to spend my newly earned AP. The SP will have to wait once I get into the inn. This time around, I spent 3 AP on STR, and 3 AP on AGI. 2 AP for the DEX and also 5 AP for the INT. I didn''t put any on the END though since most equipment raises END stat. I won''t be needing any additional health and defense for now. I want to focus on my speed and strength alongside with my magic skills. If possible, I want to be a magician swordsman, a ystylebination of Magician and Magic Knight. That is why, I want to focus on raising my mana first so that I can sustain my power to keep on using magic skills. I stare into my stat and felt that its still a bit weak at the moment. Name: deheart Level 1 EXP: 200/5000 HP: 420/420 MP: 180/180 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 22/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 31/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 26/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 28/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 23/100] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: None SP left to spend: 60 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Upper Body: Beginner Shirt Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon As expected, Versatile ss has a very high exp intake. After getting to level 1, I already need to get 5000 amount of exp just to level to level 2. Its quite a big amount of penalty. In Normal yers, once reaching the level 1 threshold, would only need 1000 experience. This penalty is indeed troublesome to my development and grinding would be a troublesome thing. If I want to earn bigger amount of exp, I had to challenge enemies several levels higher than me or else I would begging behind. Well I can still keep on killing these Grass Lizard for a while until I reach level 2 in which I need to attack enemies with around level 5 so that I can level up faster. The yers around are getting more and more around here. Looks like they hit level 3 already and are ready to deal with this lizards. I had to quickly kill these guys and level up. Sooner orter, there will be quarrels about yers kill-stealing. I don''t want to be involve on that. I spotted three grass lizards in a distance. I didn''t just stand in ce and quickly darted towards the beasts and directly appeared in front of the monsters. With my high AGIbining with DEX stat and my own ability to dash forward properly, doing that feat is normal. I quickly swing my sword to the three simultaneously. SWISH SWISH SWISH -41 -40 -53 CRITICAL! Oh, a critical! Looks like the DEX stat is already giving a slight chances of triggering criticals. I quickly squinted my eyes and focused my eyesight on the three lizard simultaneously. These monsters are dumb and as long as an attack is issued, they would immediately attack too. They quickly spat out their slimy tongues out which is the signal I am waiting for. With a light step on the ground, I quickly spun my sword apanied by spinning my feet on the ground to counter block the iing tongue. With the force that on my feet, I used it to propel forward to the three grass lizards and slice them in a horizontal sweep. This ability is not a skill, its a swordsmanship stance I used frequently in my past timeline to slice multiple enemies in a single swing. Slicing their open mouths to their main bodies, the three grass lizards'' bodies were each sliced cleanly in half, instant killing them. -Grass Lizard sessfully killed. -Got Sticky Tongue -Got Green Armor -Got 3 copper (Additional 3 copper for performing Instant Kill) -Got 100 EXP (Additional 100 EXP for performing Instant Kill)(Title effects activated, 200 Bonus EXP earned) -Got 5 Swordsman ss SP(Title Effects activated, 5 Bonus Swordsman ss SP earned) -Grass Lizard sessfully killed. -Got Sticky Tongue -Got 3 copper (Additional 3 copper for performing Instant Kill) -Got 100 EXP (Additional 100 EXP for performing Instant Kill)(Title effects activated, 200 Bonus EXP earned) -Got 5 Swordsman ss SP(Title Effects activated, 5 Bonus Swordsman ss SP earned) - Got... ... Messages appeared one by one and my exp bar quickly rose to 1400 fast enough which made me happy. Still, I need to find a few enemies and I can''t just show off my abilities to slice enemies like that. If other yers find me odd, I might get targeted by strong yers and I can''t fight them off yet with my level this small. I had to look for a single Grass Lizard to kill rather than a cluster of them. This would be troublesome. I was surprised when I check the log that I managed to obtain an armor. I checked it immediately if this is useful. [Green Armor] Type: Armor Equipment Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at level 2 Equippable by: All sses Stats END: 7 AGI: 2 Note: Used by adventurers who preferred crawling in the grass to catch monsters off guard. ... Around thirty minutes of hunting the Grass Lizards, I managed to reach level 2 at longst. I didn''t spend the AP for now and decided to just go to another ce to level up. However, my character is quite tired already. I always disregard this problem in the past since I have a higher level but since I was still level 2, disregarding this feeling is just too painful. My avatar is hungry! To make the game a bit more realistic, yers had to look for the bar of the hunger and thirst. Disregarding it would lead to [Weakened] state in your character and your damages inflicted to enemies are going to end up halve. Well, this system is usually being ignored if you have high levels anyway. Eating a few food can alleviate hunger and thirst already, but if you are still this low leveled, you will need to go to the inn to eat. Looking at the amount of copper coins at the moment, I guess I really have too or I would be having a hard time. I would also like to waste my SP and learn a few skills. The next monsters I had to kill are no longer easy to kill like the Grass Lizards anymore. Of course, I had a trusty inn to get along with, and this inn has been my very ownpanion for many years especially during the many downfall in my life that I have experienced and even though they are just an NPC, they have been a very good friend to me like a real person. This NPC I am talking about is not an ordinary NPC. The existence of this NPC is also connected to a quest that involves early ess to the capital. If that is the case, I will be triggering it since it will be the very first hidden quest in the game. And I want to be the first person to trigger that. Chapter 11 - Lily I headed to the residential area of the town. The old and worn out tavern is the ce where I first found the NPC I am looking for. Entering the tavern, I saw a woman around the age of 30, in the plump side but not that fat, just chubby. This is Lily. I still remember that time when the poll poprity of kindest NPCs in the game, Lily is ranked second, much lower than the Priestess of Kamikaze Continent. Its not an exaggeration that she is a kind woman. In fact, she really is considered as mother figure in the game. If you get into her good side, it was like having a best friend/mother in one. During my darkest times of my life, Lily became the light that helped me find the way to my darkest world. She became my friend and became one of her patrons in the past who always cries after telling the tale. I want to trigger the escort quest of Lily. The tavern in Mining Town is in shambles and business is slow for her here so she decided to move to the capital. This was the first hidden quest in the game. If you escort her, it would be a Hard Level Quest since you had to deal with the Gate Guardian that every yer need to deal every level 10, its considered as a bit hard if you don''t know what you are doing. Fortunately, I am aware of the danger and the difficulty of he test. I won''t be trying to ept a quest like this if it is beyond my ability. The tavern is not so well known and I only see a few yers eating so I guess, business is indeed slow here. I approached the counter and sit on one of the chairs avable. "One Cheese Fondue and Lemon C Ma''am," I said to her. She looked around and smiled. "Oh, a new face. Are you new here? Wait...you have he yer tag, so I guess you are an adventurer and you just started today right?" Lily asked. "Yes, I am indeed an adventurer and I just started today. I was hungry and I was told by some people that this ce has a good food and they even gave me a list of good food," I said as an alibi. Lily is the first NPC I have interacted this time so the knowledge of the food came directly from my past experience. "Aha! You won''t be disappointed! My food and drinks are all delicious and even nobles eat here so you can be sure that the quality of the food I serve is in high quality in a cheap price. My name is Lily, I am the tavern owner of this ce. Just wait a minute, I will be preparing your food in a jiffy," Lily smiled and headed to the kitchen. I nodded and smiled at her. Lily did not change at all and I am d that she is not affected by the changes. Since I know that it would take a few more minutes before I can eat the food, I opened my stats panel and decided to go to the skill trees. I have earned 31 SP for the Swordsman ss. Whenever an exquisite movement is done, SP are usually given out immediately so I must have done a very good amount of movements to gain this much. Of course, the [Death''s Favorite] title also gave a good amount of help. I checked for the Skill tree of Swordsman and saw that only Five Tiers are still essible. Well, that is understandable since unlocking the sixth to tenth tiers needed you to be around level 50 while beyond that would need you to be a level 100 yer and has undergone the Job ss Up. The skill tree is being listed by tier and the price of them to unlock. But I only looked for the 1st Tier and 2nd Tier. The 3rd tier is very expensive and I might need a few grinding session before I can earn a few. Swordsman SP: 31 Free SP: 70 1st Tier 1.Triple sh(Active) - 5 SP 2. Shockwave Thrust(Active)-10 SP 3. Berserk (Active)- 10 SP 4. Reversal Swing(Active) -17 SP 5. Crescent sh (Active) -20 SP 2nd Tier 1. Sixfold sh (Active) - learned [Triple sh] and 10 SP 2.Vibration Thrust (Active) - learned [Shockwave sh] and 20 SP 3. Sword Concentration (Active)-21 SP 4.Sharpness I (Passive) - 20 SP 5. Boomerang sh (Active) -30 SP I clicked to the Triple sh. Although I have seen this skill several times, I am not an expert on Swordsman skills so I have to check its function. [Triple sh] 1st Tier Cool down: 1 minute Mana Cost: 20 MP Info: sh three tines into the enemy with great power. Has 5% chance of releasing a fourth sh. Note: Basic of the basic swordsmanship. All swordsman should be able to use this skill. Well, its just 5 SP. Besides, [Sixfold sh] is quite good. I have seen it before. So before I can get the [Sixfold sh], I had to learn [Triple sh] first. The second skill I was targeting the most in the Swordsman ss is the skill [Berserk]. Although Berserker ss has a Berserk skill too, but its different and its called [Rampage] and unlike [Berserk] the yer using the skill can''t be controlled during the duration and will attack friend or foe. It was strong but its pretty dangerous so I don''t have to learn it. [Berserk] is much different though. [Berserk] 1st Tier Cool down: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 50 MP Info: Raises the attack and critical ratio for 100% percent. However, defense is reduced to 50% Note: Most angry women fuming in anger usually enters that state. Well, this is the skill I am looking for. After purchasing the skill, I closed the panel of the swordsman ss and opened the Magician ss Skill Tree. Since I have not used any things that involve magicians, I did not earn any magician SP yet. Therefore, the only thing I can spend is the Free SP themselves. Just like the Swordsman ss, the Magician ss Tree is also limited to the first three tiers. Since I have limited SP at the moment, I decided to just use this chance to earn only 1st Tier Magic. 2nd Tier magic is a bit on the expensive side and I will just go on buying one if I have the Magician SP already. Magician SP: 0. Free SP: 70 1st Tier 1. Basic Fireball (Active) - 5 SP 2. Ice Prison (Active) - 5 SP 3. Shocking Lightning (Active) - 7 SP 4. Muddy Water (Active) - 7 SP 5. Frigid Wind (Active) - 10 SP Hmm, from the looks of it, the magic skills are a bit more on the cheap side. Well, they are not that strongpared to their 2nd tier counterpart but they can be considered as good spells for beginners. I can''t be choosers you know. Since I have other spells I want to buy, I only decided to buy the three skills above, [Basic Fireball], [Ice Prison], and [Shocking Lightning]. [Basic Fireball] 1st Tier Cool down: 30 seconds Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Releases a palm size fireball towards an enemy. Can be used in short ranges or long ranges depending on y style. Note: Very Basic Magic that Magicians needed to learn to light up campfires easily. [Ice Prison] 1st Tier Cool down: 30 Seconds Mana Cost: 20 MP Info: Releases an Ice Attack to encase enemies. Has a 30% chance to immobilize enemies for 30 seconds. Note: Basic Magic that Magicians needed to learn to Ice up fishes and juices easily. [Shocking Lightning] 1st Tier Cool down: 30 Seconds Mana Cost: 20 MP Info: Releases a small arc of lightning that can damage foes. Has 10% chance of inflicting Paralysis to enemies. Note: Basic Magic that magicians needed to learn to recharge their gadgets and gizmos aplenty. Uh... these notes makes me want to face palm myself. This skills are pretty awesome but when ites to notes, it turns out very inferior. Anyways, before I can even move to the next skill tree, Lily once again returned while carrying a te a mug to me. Just from the smell, I can tell that its the Cheese Fondue that I ordered. "Here you go boy! Cheese Fondue and Lemon C! I will take the paymentter, enjoy your meal!" Although its a game, you can smell in the game and it is much better than those food seen in real life. Not that I am discriminating the real food but the food in the game are just top ss. What is more, they can really fill your stomach in real life. The Reality Verse did not divulge how they did it especially through the tattoo version as they said that its some kind of trade secret and can be considered as a ck technology added for the convenience. Eating in the game is equivalent to snack time in real world. Many tried to guess and replicate the food system that the Reality Verse did but no one seeded until the time I returned back on time, so I can''t exin how they did it. Well, I also stopped wondering. It would just make my head ache if I think about it too much. Its not that I care about it anyway. I look around the tavern of Lily. Unlike her tavern in the Capital, this tavern is truly dpidated and the ceilings are peeling out. Its not a good looking ce at all right now. "Looks like business is slow," I said to Lily. "Yeah, its getting slower this past few days and even though you yers started appearing, the business is still slow so I am thinking of closing this ce down," Lily sighed. "You are going to move? Where?"I asked. "In the capital. I am looking for an escort to go with my family to move out into the capital to hire. But unluckily, I still have yet to find one," Lily said. My eyes lit up. This is a sign. "Then, since you are looking for an escort, I will volunteer myself to go then," I said to Lily. "You will go? Well, I can hire you but I want proof that you can really protect us from enemies on the road. Fetch me 10 whole bodies of Gray Wolf then. If you managed to do so and bring it to me around two hours, then that would be settled, the escort role would be yours," Lily said. [deheart activated the hidden chain Quest Moving Out. Would you like to ept the quest?] Chapter 12 - Skills [deheart activated the hidden chain Quest Moving Out. Would you like to ept the quest?] Its a hidden quest, why would I decline it? I quickly epted the quest without hesitation. [Moving out] Quest 1 out of 3 Type: Hidden Quest Info: The tavern owner, Lily is nning to move out in the capital. To prove that you are strong enough to protect her and her family on the road, she needs proof and you need to kill ten Gray Wolves and bring their whole body in two hours. Duration: 2:00:00 Gray Wolf Body: 0/10 Difficulty: Medium Rmended level: Levels 4-5 Rewards: ??? As usual, the rewards are question marks. Hidden Quests are hiding the rewards since it is not following the trend of the normal quests. Your performance in the quest will measure the appropriate reward for you. If you did poorly, then you would be paid poorly too and vice versa. I gobbled out all of the food in the te and chug down the Lemon C. "I will be back. I won''t disappoint you," I said to her. "Alright then! I will be expecting you!" Lily said. I did not dare to waste time and run back to the Silent Forest. I have a quest with time limit, that is why I had to quickly do it. Although my speed is not that fast, it didn''t take me too long to reach the Silent Forest again. In the entrance of Silent Forest, I opened my stat panel and decided to spent all the AP I got during my leveling. Name: deheart Level 2 EXP: 400/10000 HP: 420/420 MP: 180/180 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 22/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 31/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 26/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 28/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 23/100] AP left to spend: 13 Title: Memento Mori Skills: None SP left to spend: 43 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Upper Body: Beginner Shirt Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon Since my AGI is the highest stat at the moment, I would spend my AP this time in INT. I need big amount of MP to unleash magic skills faster and increase its power to kill enemies. Since I am fighting enemies with higher levels and high AGI, I need to be fast and decisive in battle. I can''t slow myself down. After a moment of hesitation, I decided to spend 5 AP in INT, 5 AP in STR, and 3 in END to raise my HP and defense. Name: deheart Level 2 EXP: 400/10000 HP: 440/440 MP: 210/210 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 27/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 31/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 26/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 31/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 28/100] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: None SP left to spend: 43 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Upper Body: Beginner Shirt Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon Since that is the case already, with my AGI and END now both equal in numbers, I decided to waste the remaining free SP in movement skills. Ninja ss excels in speed skills. Since I really need them, I had to spend my SP here. I was surprised to see the skill tree of Ninja''s 1st Tier consists of 10 skills. Ninja SP: 0 Free SP: 43 1st Tier 1. Smoke Bomb (Active) - 5 SP 2. Silent Sprint (Active) - 10 SP 3. Poison Kunai (Passive) - 20 SP 4. Kunai Rain (Active) - 20 SP 5. Enhanced Vision (Passive) - 25 SP 6. Breathless Running (Active) - 25 SP 7. Giant Shuriken (Active) - 20 SP 8. Caltrop Bombs (Active) - 15 SP 9. Illusionary Team (Active) - 10 SP 10. Forest of the Bamboo Realm - 50 SP There are lots of skills for movement in the Ninja''s skill tree and many of it enhances your running time more. Of course, there re skills for killing enemies but I have no use for them right now. I picked up the Silent Sprint and Breathless Running leaving me with 8 Free SP. Now I am a poor bloke. But I don''t need to cry for it, its not necessary since I can earn SP forter. Now that all of the tasks isplete, I will need to go and begin the hunt. The two hours is running. I swing my Versatile Weapon and with a single thought, the weapon changed from a sword into a staff. I n to raise the SP of Magician this time. I stepped into the Silent Forest once more and noticed that there are a few yers already hunting here. Most are in party. I guess, they have leveled up around level 4 already to hunt here. I can find the Gray Wolves deeper in the forest where I just died. I also remembered that there is a Wandering Elite in the area. Monsters are divided into Normal and Elite. Elite are monsters simr to the normal ones with slight alteration like their color, size and skills. They give bigger exp than normal so they are hunted by yers. I did not meet the Elite version of the gray wolf so I think I might have a chance to meet that guy today. I just stepped into the territory of the Gray Wolves again when I saw that the Wolves once again gathered into the area, baring their sharp teeth to me, ready to attack. [Gray Wolves] Level 5 HP: 5000/5000 Attribute: Beast I did not back away and stand my ground and goes into a stance to attack. The Gray Wolves started circling around me like their prey. I patiently waited for them to attack because attacking them first might trigger counterattack which is hard to dodge and hard to deflect. It also hurt a lot if you got hit. I better try to dodge it as soon as possible. "GRAWR!" The wolves started to get dangerous and started attacking. I rolled away before raising my staff into the nearest wolf. "Basic Fireball!" SU! A palm sized fireball shot out from the tip of the staff, hitting the nearest wolf. Bang! -100 Crap, what a pitiful damage. I dodged once again and gritted my teeth. The amount of expertise needed to avoid the attacks would end me up having a hard time. Chapter 13 - Wolf The damage is so pitiful! The level gap is too huge for me to handle. But I guess I had to make do and do it one step at a time. First is to exhaust my mana against the enemy I hit with [Basic Fireball]. I stood in the ground and aimed my staff to the wolf I hit earlier. Unlike its other brethren, the one I hit with skill earlier had a burnt fur, making it different and easy to spot. "[Shocking Lightning!]" Zap! -112 The Gray Wolf staggered from its momentum and fell. I looked into the log and found out the reason. -Inflicted Paralysis! The damage might be small but I managed to deal with the Gray Wolf to endure paralysis! Paralysissts for 10 minutes or lower depending on the enemy. When the other wolves rushed forward, I did not hesitate and m my palms to the ground. "[Ice Prison!]" A huge chunk of ice encased the area in front of me. Two wolves were impaled by the [Ice Prison]''s sharp tip, causing two red damages on its HP appear. -326 -400 Critical! The others were hesitant to approach so before they can react, I changed my weapon back to a sword and run forward. I have two skills earlier from the Ninja ss. [Silent Sprint] 1st Tier Cool down: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 30 MP Info: Allows the user to run with sprint without decreasing its stamina for 2 minutes. Also, footsteps that alert enemies will be temporarily muted during the duration of the skill. Note: A secret art by Ninja to run without giving any sound. Try running while your hands in the back and feel the Ninja run. [Breathless Breathing] 1st Tier Cool down: 7 minutes Mana Cost: 70 MP Info: You can continue running without running out of breath. Also works when swimming, making the stamina infinite for 5 minutes. Note: Used by Ninjas to breathe underwater and to run away for escaping. Usually used for spying enemies, but sometimes used to peek at girls in a hot spring or pool and to run away from the scene as soon as possible. Disregarding the note, I don''t really need to care what is going to happen and I quickly rush towards the paralyzed wolf while they are still upied from the ice, I arrived next to the Gray Wolf and activated a skill above its head. "Triple sh!" The triple sh is strong since the attack was done in the head that is very vulnerable for them, however, the damage is still a bit pitiable to see. -231 -219 -220 The HP of the wolf fell to 4,118 but its still a huge amount and the other wolves started to recover one by one which is a bad news for me. My MP fell to critical levels. I have been using skills causing it to fall. However, I never did any recovery things for it to return to full bar. I only discovered this trick in the past timeline after dying again and again in the past timeline. Due to me being so poor, I had to save my money always to the Online Bank in the game. Therefore, I had no money to spare just to buy any Potions to recover my MP. For the HP, I had to rely on Healing Fountains found on neutral areas to heal. I thought that it was a burden but I discovered that due to my repeated exhaustion of mana and HP, my recovery seems getting faster. My MP turned out to recover in a fast pace, recovering at first with 20 MP per second to 50 MP per second. I experimented on it and discovered hat repeated exhaustion of mana increases the recovery probability of my character. No one mentioned this in the game and most of them relies on Mana Potions a lot to recover. Therefore, I decided to just stay quiet about it. I am not a person who loved to share it to the world. I just left my MP in critical levels. I will train again my MP to recover as fast as how my MP recovers in the past timeline. Right now it only recovers for 1 MP per second which is pretty slow. If I keep on exhausting my MP, sooner orter, it will recover fast enough to fill my MP bar back to its full glory. "Grawr!" The paralyzed wolf recovered before I was able to give a proper blow after the [Triple sh]. The others also managed to recover and quickly surrounded me. I counted seven of them and bared their fangs to me. I did not falter and maintained extreme vignce towards my enemies. Just like the real wolves in the real world, the wolves in Alternate World works in packs and also attack in pack. In short, they can coordinate themselves properly if you suck atbat. Newbie yers will have trouble fighting against a group of enemies like this. One of the smaller wolves attacked me on my blind spot. However, I already know where it will attack, unlike a human, these beasts are predictable. I counterattacked which the wolf did not expect me to do. Since all of its guard were down and the wolf is in attack mode, death only awaits the small wolf. Swish... The sword did not just scratch the wolf that attacked, I managed to lop off the head of the wolf and kill it in one go! Instant Kill! My eyes lit up. I did not fight Gray Wolves before because I was assigned to fight the Red Wolves. But I never expected that the way to kill Gray Wolves is just simr to how you kill a Red Wolf. Red Wolves are bigger but slower. However, they have high defense and dangerous attacks. Meanwhile, Gray Wolves are more on Agility. I don''t know whether they have high attack. I did not dare to get hit to avoid myself getting one hit kill. My HP is just pitiful so its not a good thing to get hit by these guys but who would have thought that their instant kill method is just within my grasp? -Gray Wolf sessfully killed. -Gray Fur Acquired -Wolf Fang Acquired -Wolf Fang Dagger Acquired -Got 1000 EXP (Additional 500 EXP for performing Instant Kill)(Additional 300 EXP for killing a higher leveled enemy)(Title Effects activated, 1800 bonus EXP acquired.) -Got 10 Magician SP, 10 Swordsman SP Yes! Just a single Gray Wolf and my EXP bar already reached 4000! I already need 6000 EXP to level up to level 3 and I still have a few wolves to kill. This is a good opportunity to catch up in level. I continue to stay in position waiting for the attack. Despite onerade is fallen, the enemy did not back off. Instead, their eyes are on Berserk State. Red eyes are the main thing you need to look out for to see if they are in berserk state. However, they shouldn''t be in berserk state yet, unless... "Awooooo!" An ear piercing howl reverberated in the surroundings. The howl''s pressure is huge, causing me to involuntarily shook. This is not a normal howling from a normal enemy, it came from an Elite monster no doubt! The wolves attacked me simultaneously. Even though the pressure of an Elite is big, I already encountered much heavier pressures from enemies in the past. This is nothing. Every wolf that tried to attack me did not managed to evade my counter attack which is lopping off their heads. -Congrattions! You leveled up from 2 to 3. -Got 10 AP(Title effect activated, 3 Bonus AP acquired. -Got 10 SP -Got... Several notifications appeared one by one on my interface. However, I have no time to consider looking for it, there are still a few enemies trying to attack me. Swing here, swing there, kill here, kill there. Every attack is meaningful and not a single one is wasted. My mana also managed to get full once more but I did not dare waste it for now. I have an enemy that is Elite Grade, I think I have to keep unleashing my skills against it to conquer it. sh! As thest Gray Wolf is killed, I saw another four wolves apanied by a white-furred Wolf. I check its name and grinned. [Pure White Wolf] Level 5 Elite Monster HP:5,000/5,000 Attribute: Beast The Elite Monster has finally appeared! Chapter 14 - Elite I have faced countless of Elite Monsters before and this should be the first time I would be facing one since I returned to the past. Elite Monsters are highly sought to be killed. Not only due to their rare drops, gold drop and Exp gain, but due to their value in terms of quests requirement. For example, since Lily has given me a quest that involves Gray Wolves, I should be handling Gray Wolves. However, since the Pure White Wolf is a hybrid version of Gray Wolf, it can be counted as a Gray Wolf if brought. What is more, once you give it in a quest, your reward from the quest is going to rise up a lot. I killed 7 Gray Wolves already and only needed 3 of them. There are four Gray Wolves in them with the Pure White Wolf as the pack leader. Killing the pack leader will cause the remaining wolves to flee. I can''t afford to let them flee though. I changed my weapon into a magic sword. The style of the magic sword is just different from normal sword but its a sword that I have familiarized for many years. My mastery of Magic Swords cannot be duplicated in this timeline. The Pure White Wolf is more cautious andmanded the other Gray Wolves to attack. I did not mind them attacking me. In fact, I want them to attack first. The Gray Wolves started to pounce me simultaneously. This might be the trick that the Pure White Wolf can do to bring me down. Unfortunately, that was a huge mistake on the Pure White Wolf''s behalf. Underestimating me is a huge mistake. I crouch low before stabbing the Magic Sword into the air before swinging my it in a circr way. The Gray Wolves, still in the air, cannot hope to dodge the attack, and before they knew it, they died after their heads are lopped off. My system notification lit up once more, saying that I leveled up from level 3 to level 4. Leveling up from level 3 to level 4 is already a blessing. The Pure White Wolf''s eyes glow red. After itsckeys died, it enters berserk state. This time, unlike Gray Wolves in which I can perform Instant Kill easily, Pure White Wolf is a bit difficult to do. Not only because its an Elite Monster but its size is quite different in terms of the Gray Wolf size. I prepared myself while observing its methods so that I can properly prepare my sword. Without warning, it darted off towards me, And I can only guard in time. -120 Ouch. Even though I guarded, damage still managed to prate my defense. That means the Pure White Wolf has pure strength apanied by its speed. I did not falter and back flipped away from the Pure White Wolf before I raised my hand, aiming at the wolf. "[Basic Fireball]!" Bang! -94 The damage is pitiful despite the berserk state of the monster where they increase their attack but their defense plummet. If this wolf did not even go berserk, perhaps my damage would count around 40-50. However, damage is damage. Luckily, Beast Monsters do not have a healing property skill, which means it won''t heal its damage. Killing it via small attacks can still be done. The Pure White Wolf just brushed off the fire on its fur and once again charged towards me while brandishing its sharp fangs. "Just go down will you?!" I gritted my teeth and perform a counterattack. I tried lopping its neck off but it only managed to graze its neck. However the damage is quite good. -231Critical! I managed tond a critical attack just by performing a counterattack. Its already looking good for me. "[Shocking Lightning]!" An arc of electricity shot out of my hands and hits the Pure White Wolf. However, it was clear that the damage is pretty minimal and it just brushed off the attack. I sprinted away, though I did not use the power of the [Silent Sprint]. I just sprinted while trying to get ahead of the Pure White Wolf attacking me. With its strong legs, just by running won''t do. I stopped and ready the sword in which, also the exact time the Pure White Wolf attacked and tried to pounce me. With a quick movement, I swing the sword with pure force before I managed to sh the Pure White Wolf with deep severity. Blood spurt our from the wound of the wolf and it howled in pain. -124 -Inflicted with Bleeding(Minor). Target will lose 20 HP per second for 3 minutes. I sessfully inflicted the wolf with Bleeding. That would help me chip off the HP of the wolf for a while. I nce at the cool down of the [Basic Fireball] and [Shocking Lightning]. Seeing that they are now avable to use, I quickly move to take distance of the wolf. "[Basic Fireball]!" This time, I shot it to its face and before it can even take a look on what is happening, I already closed the gap of my distance to the wolf. Also, I already changed my weapon to a normal sword. Time to unleash my skill. "[Triple sh!]" Of course, the [Triple sh] is apanied with normal attacks. With it trying to recover from the magic attack earlier, I already grasp its attack pattern. The Pure White Wolf raised its paw, but I am faster than the wolf. I swing the sword and in a split second, I managed to severe its paw. "Grawr!" The wolf roared out in pain and fell into the ground. However, I have no time to give sympathy to it. Before the wolf can escape from my grasp, I changed my weapon into an ax and used all my strength to give it to the swing. "Die for me!" I swung the ax down to it''s neck like an executioner giving a death sentence to the target. Chop! The attack was intense that the head of the Pure White a wolf toppled down in the distance. -Pure White Wolf sessfully killed! -You have killed an Elite Monster, awarding 10 AP. -Got White Fur x2 -Got White w x5 -Got White Fur Wolf Mask -Got 10,000 EXP( Got 10,000 EXP for performing Instant Kill)(Got 1000 Exp for killing a higher leveled Monster!)(Title Effects Activated, 21,000 Bonus EXP) -Got 30 Swordsman SP, 30 Magician SP, 30 Magic Knight SP, 30 Berserker SP. -Congrattions , You leveled up from 4 to 5. -Got 10 AP(Title Effects Activated, 3 Bonus AP acquired.) -Got 10 SP -Congrattions, You leveled up from 5 to 6. -Got 10 AP(Title Effects Activated, 3 Bonus AP acquired.) -Got 10 SP -Got the Title: Elite yer The series of notification rang one by one in the log. I never expected that I would level up twice with just that amount of battle. The battle. Well, its also due to the effects of Memento Mori. If not for it, I would not level up this fast. A notification appeared in my view after all those logs appeared. [You are the first yer to kill an Elite Monster in the whole world! This will be recorded in Hall Of Fame. Do you want to announce the whole world your name? The whole world will know your name and NPCs will think a bit highly of you. You can cancel it but the announcement will still rang out.] Announce/Do not Announce Ah, its a world wide announcement. This thing is famous. or death seeking yers. Those who dares to announce themselves are always targeted by other yers unless you are a strong yer. Of course, I have no intention showing my name in public even in game. I don''t want to be famous for these announcements. I selected the "Do not Announce" option. I n to stick in the shadows and not attract other''s attention. Although this announcement will be attracting many factions of yers, it would take a while for yers to find out who it was. [Worldwide Announcement: Congrattions to Unknown yer for being the first yer to kill an Elite Monster in the Whole World! Awarding 100 Fame Points] Well, that went quite well. I also got 100 Fame Points easily. If I raise my Fame, it would help me a lot befriending NPCs easily. I opened my Inventory and activated its Spatial Skill. For me to bring these bodies of Gray Wolves whole, I had to use this ability of my inventory. I swiftly gathered them all without leaving a single piece behind. Even the decapitated heads are not spared. Another panel appeared in front of me. [Pure White Wolf will respawn in 1 week duration. Please wait for this duration before facing it again.] I nodded, every Elite Monsters needs a long time before they respawn. Its not my problem now though, and I won''t be challenging this monster again. I will be giving it to other people next week. I swiped the panel away from my face and resumed to my choir. After doing so, I noticed one item in my bag which made me rather curious. [White Fur Wolf Mask] Tier: Very Rare Tier Type: Mask Equipment AGI: 10 DEX: 10 INT: 10 Info: A mask that covers the whole face with a wolf with white fur. If you wear this, your appearance will be hidden and your hair will turn to white as long as this item is equipped. This mask can also hides your scent to any kind of wolves and won''t attack on sight. Note: This mask makes you look awesome and at the same time makes you look like a werewolf too. Oh! I saw this in the past timeline. From what I can remember, it was sold in an auction as a mask type equipment. Many thought it was useless but this would be useful entering the hostile territory of Werewolves and befriend them instead. I managed to get know its power when someone I know managed to own it. Although its stats are a bit low, its effect to mask your scent from wolves can be considered as a good effect already. Although there is no Mask Equipment slot avable in your avatar panel, it would appear once you equip a mask type equipment. I really need one right now though since I didn''t use the slight alteration option when creating my avatar. At least I can hide my real identity in real life. I equip it and felt my face appear ratherfortable and nice to wear. Its like your face is covered with soft fur. I didn''t have time to check with my stat panel this time because the time is running out from the hidden quest. If I keep on dillydallying here, I would really fail the quest. I quickly returned, sprinting away from the forest. ... The whole gamingmunity of Alternate World were shaken from the sudden announcement. Someone managed to find and kill the First Elite Monster that some yers did not managed to find. "F*ck! Did someone already managed to meet and kill an Elite?! I can''t believe it! Its just the first day!" "Its not a bug in the announcements right? Somebody really did managed to kill an Elite? Did one of the experts on other games imed this achievement?" "No. Even if they did, they still need to prove that they really killed the Elite. It would be a total embarrassment if they failed to do it!" Many discussions erupted as yers tried to guess whoever managed to kill the elite, however most of their guesses are off as the real person who managed to get the reward is already running in haste to reach the tavern immediately before his quest time limit runs out. Chapter 15 - Rest With the help of [Silent Sprint] and [Breathless Running], I managed to arrive into the tavern barely. I pant hard due to the no rest running and sprinting that I did just now. Even though its a game, its still freaking hard for me to do it. And if I did run in real life, it is practically a torture. However, I did not mind any hardships I experienced in the game right now. Running for a few kilometers without stopping can be considered as a training in real world. Just as the scientists and doctors says, a single day workout here in the game is equivalent to a week of exercise for a whole day without rest. So its not a mystery if I managed to run a few kilometers without breaking a sweat in the future. I opened the door and panted a lot in the counter. Luckily, the tavern is empty and only Lily is currently there. If there are someone else in there, I would be totally embarassed and I would be willing to run into a hole to hide. "Hey there, you came back early! Let me guess, you are that person who managed to kill an Elite Monster right?" Lily grinned. I nodded but I have no time to answer via voice. With my breathing making me so tired to speak, I can''t do it at all and only managed to nod. "Let me see the carcasses of those Gray Wolves I ordered you to bring then, follow me," Lily said to me and beckons me to follow her behind. I tried calming myself down before I followed Lily. There was an empty warehouse on the far end so I was free to show out the carcasses. With a click, all of the carcasses from the Gray Wolves and the Pure White Wolf came out. "Waah! Its really the Pure White Wolf! You managed to kill it!? And from the looks of it, you didn''t have any people helping you kill this monster down. Does that mean you killed it alone?" Lily looked at me with surprise. "Yes...However, can you give me some water... I feel like I was about to copse..." I said with a pale look in my face. "Ah! Sorry! I forgot to give ypu water! I was just too excited on your achievement! You are really something! And since you exceed my expectation, my quest for you isplete. You will be a good choice as my guard into the city. If possible, are you capable of escorting me and my family to the Capital?" Lily asked. "Of course. That is why I have undertaken this quest is due to the fact that I want to escort you and your family to the Capital," I said to her. Of course, I can''t let this up, this is a good chance to get to the capital with a reward of a quest. "Alright then, since you are so tired from your adventure, I shall let you sleep into the inn and rest there. Don''t worry, its free of charge. Of course, the reward is also a different matter, here you go then!" Lily smiled and handed out a small sack to me. -[Moving Out] Quest 1 out of 3 is sessfullypleted! -Got 10,000 EXP (Overachievement achieved. Rewarding 10,000 EXP for finishing the quest with perfect performance!)(Title Effects Activated, 20,000 EXP acquired) -Got 20 Gold - Congrattions for leveling up from 6 to 7. -Got 10 AP (Title Effects Activated, 3 Bonus AP acquired.) -Got 10 SP. I was surprised. I leveled up again? I managed to level up in 7 whole new levels in just a half day? Well, if not for the [Memento Mori] I won''t have be able to level up fast enough. I am not surprised. Although my ss is the slowest and hardest to level ss, I am not someone who challenge same level mobs and challenges monsters higher leveled than me. Its understandable. If not for the tiredness I felt, I would be totally celebrating a lot in this achievement of mine. Lily led me to the inn next to her tavern and paid for my fee for a day. Lily runs a tavern here in Mining Town but she will run a Tavern and Inn in the capital so its not going to be a wonder to me if she opens an inn. She just didn''t opened one here since there is already an inn here in the Mining Town. After I managed to obtain the key to my room in the inn, I rushed towards the room, opened it, and hop towards the bed. Ahhh~ The bed in the game is still as soft andfortable as a real bed too. But I don''t want to keep on staying in the game for too long. After securing the room, I aloowed my avatar to enter [Rest Mode] so that it can recover and logged out of the game. My consciousness felt like it was sucked by force before I manage to feel the familiar room again. ... I opened my eyes and saw the familiar ceiling. "I am back..." I stretched my arm in the air and sighed. I tried standing up but I felt my legs trembling. It is fatigued. Although I did not really run in the real world, due to the mysterious effect of the game, whatever things you do in the game can be also considered as your own experience in the real world too. I sighed in disappointment. This body is still not well trained enough to handle such pain in the body but I don''t really have a choice. I don''t want to start veryte in meditation and building up my body''s foundation. I need to properly do it on my own. Since my legs are still sore, I didn''t force to get up. Instead, I decided to awaken my mana. I learned this in the past via meditation process after the discovery that a human has atent mana hidden in their body and by ying the game, the mana in their body will awaken which would be enough catalyst to use magic in the real world. ording to the study, as long as a normal human entered the Alternate World, their mana that remains dormant will suddenly stir out causing the phenomenon of "Overleak" in which the mana in the body that humans never used and remained dormant to awaken, causing its phenomenon. To control it, humans have to "meditate" to control the mana. Since I had already the advantage of being the first person to know this method, I don''t have to wait for the discovery of the mana usage to practice. I don''t want to studyte like in the past. Now that I have the knowledge, I will practice it up and before the research appear, my mastery in usage of mana already exceeded from the others. Meditation can be done in every position, you can remain standing,ying down on your back or on your face, sitting cross-legged, or sitting normally, it doesn''t really matter as long as you arefortable with your position. Since my legs still feel a bit sore, I decided to just remainying in the bed and closed my eyes. I tried sensing my mana in my body. When I first started, it took me a few days to master the way to sense the mana properly in your body. Since I don''t need to practice anymore, I can just do it immediately. In a few minutes of trying to sense it, I finally sense a weak link of mana circting in my body. I didn''t bother letting it go and started controling it. Since I just awaken my mana, the mana pool in my body is considered to be "shallow" in this stages and if I wanted to make it deeper, I need to y the game and practice after. That is the only way to make the mana increase. I revolved the mana cirction on my hands, eyes, legs and ears. These four areas are the most basic ces to allow the mana to flow freely. If these ces are already fine with the mana, certain magic and skills can now be used in the real world using these areas. After doing a minor practice, I stopped doing so. Because of the "shallow" mana pool of mine, I will just exhaust it if I continue to practice. I need to wait for a few days to do it again. With my meditation done, I felt more tired than the usual. Since it made me more tired than usual, I decided to rest and sleep. I have to earn gold fast enough tomorrow and earn real money immediately. I can''t just wait myself to die in this ce and get stagnant. ... The next day, I felt energized and full of vigor. I don''t feel bad at all and the soreness of my feet are no longer causing trouble to me. With everything on it good, I started doing work outs for a while and after feeling hungry, I decided to eat breakfast. Since my only breakfast is instant ramen, I only eat ramen...but this won''tst long. I contacted my parents in Kyoto to ask their situation over there and after making sure that they are still fine, I hang up on the call. I made my choirs first before going back to my room and closed my eyes. Its time to y and dive back to Alternate World. ... With me logging in to my ount, when I wake up, I am still lying in the bed of the inn and my body is already the body of my avatar, deheart. I waved my hands a bit and after getting famrized on the feeling again, I sit up on my bed and open the stats panel. Since the time that I leveled into 3 until I reached level 7, I did not managed to open my stat panel at all due to the several thingsing forth around that made me busy. Name: deheart Level 7 EXP: 1000/30000 HP: 440/440 MP: 260/260 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 27/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 41/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 36/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 31/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 38/100] AP left to spend: 75 Title: Memento Mori Skills: Click to Open the Skill Trees SP left to spend: 58 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Beginner Shirt Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon There are many things I did not managed to do when I rushed out. Due to my panic, I did not managed to equip the [Green Armor] that I got from thest time. However, its still a good thing I did not equip it yet in the battle against the wolves. The [Beginner Shirt] is running out of durability due to the skirmishes that we have donest time. I opened my inventory and decided to equip the [Green Armor] for now. Since I have no proper armor at the moment, this would do for now. Then, I opened the new title that I acquired, [Elite Killer]. Unlike Memento Mori and Death''s Favorite, this title won''t take effect unless equipped. [Elite Killer] Type: Rare Title Method to Achieve: Kill an Elite Info: +500 attack power against Elite Monsters Note: You achieved the achievement most adventurers only dream. One step to be a strong and legendary figure in the history. As usual, nothing changed. This title can be obtained by anyone who managed to kill an Elite monster so there is no point to hide it at all. However, it was somehow disappointing. I don''t usually have the chance to meet an Elite Monster and if I managed to see one, it would be in a very rare asions. This title''s effect is a bit useless for me, I wanted it to change into +500 STR or something simr to that. My hopes are crushed. I look at my AP. Just looking at it made me awe. This amount is very good to see. Spending it would really help me a lot to raise my strength. However, I had to n it out. I scratched my head on which stat is the best to spend these AP. Chapter 16 - Night Although these stats are just numbers in this game, this helps too if you want to increase your strength in reality. Since your body in the game copes up on the stats of your body, the real body will also try to catch up due to the brain keeping an active role to help your main body. I think it has something to do with the tattoo. Since this tattoo of mine can have a 100% synchronization to my avatar, I can feel what can be feel what can be felt by my avatar. Now then, what stats should I increase? My STR is the lowest at the moment while the AGI is the highest. The DEX, END and INT are all on the average side. My first goal is to be strong in reality so that the troubles I experienced in the past and the trouble that would happen in this new future can be solved. If that is the case, STR would be the best. If you want to excel in stealth, DEX would be the stat you need and if you want your decision making faster than usual, INT would be the best. If you want to be strong in bodily defense, END would suffice and if you want to be fast in your feet, the AGI stat would be the best bet. In the end, most of the stats are all necessary for my improvement. Since my AGI is the highest at the moment, my speed in real world also doubles. However, I don''t want to be necessarily fast in the meantime. Therefore, I have decided to spend 20 AP on STR, 10 on DEX, 20 on END, 20 on INT and 5 on AGI, revealing my new stats once again. Name: deheart Level 7 EXP: 1000/30000 HP: 640/640 MP: 350/350 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 47/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 47/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 46/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 53/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 58/100] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: Click to Open the Skill Trees SP left to spend: 58 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: None Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon My STR and AGI are now equal but it became the lower stats left along with my DEX due to the rise of numbers in my END and INT. It was a bit overwhelming in terms of INT since it became my highest stat which is seconded by my END, however, I don''t mind this at all. In fact I was happy. This amount of stats are not something that a level 7 yer possess right now. Most of their stats should have a single high stat around 50 or more while their other stat falls in around 30 or less, which is unlike to my stats, almost all stats are equal to each other. I closed my stat panel and rose up from the bed. I stretched my arms and turned to look at my weapon, the Versatile Weapon. I got two items to feed on this weapon which is a dagger and the old [Beginner Armor] I just unequipped earlier. However, I decided to withhold them at the moment. My overall stats are getting higher than usual and it might attract unnecessary attention to other yers. I don''t want to garner more people interested in my skills and equipment by this. This can be used to selling for extra goldter but it would be useful for devour. Anyway, I would decide thatter. I stare outside the window and noticed that the sky is dark. Ah... that is right, whenever its morning in the real world, its evening in the game world and vice versa. The streets below are still lively with a few yers wandering around and many NPC vigers doing their own business. NPCs works like real humans. They sleep in the evening and works during morning. Of course, there are a few NPCs that are only interactable at night. Therefore, it was something that yers think as very realistic but a problem in their real life day to day work which is a pretty bad situation for yers who don''t have time in the morning but pretty active at night. There are many stalls of food too and a few stalls selling equipment but I think it looks like a night bazaar in the game from what I can remember. I tilted my head before immediately finding my goal for the day. During morning, bazaars are not avable and they are only interactable at night. yers who usually ys at night always miss the bazaar that is why they miss the good stuffs. Bazaars are avable every city and towns in the game. They hold very many things limited only at the Night Bazaar. Also, with the bazaar, you can sometimes purchase discounts and the like everywhere. Every kind of thing sold in the game, equipment, food, pets and evenpanions are avable in the game. When I saypanions, they are more simr to "ves" if it was about a world of fantasy. The only thing different about them is that they are more like "free ves". They are not bound in contract and deals with different kind of works. The only problem on this one is that they are totally costly, not to mention that they also siphon a bit of your exp when fighting enemies. Imagine ying Pokemon with one of your backup Pokemon holding EXP share. I don''t usually rmend to get one for the moment. They are good once you reach level 100 but this early? Forget it at the moment. I don''t have much money at the moment and with only the 20 gold from the quest of Lily and a few copper coins amounting a few hundred, I sighed in dissatisfaction, I can''t buy anything at the bazaar for now and farming for money would be helpful. I exited the inn and started moving towards the mines. Mining town is indeed a mining town since its near of caves. Its only deserted with yers though since the enemies here at most are level 7 above. The enemies here has decent EXP drop but has an excellent money and equipment drop rate for yers around level 7 to level 10. The monsters here are Imps who drops lots of copper coins and slime who drops equipment. There are lots of them at the moment due to theck of yers at Night time and the amount of yers who actually reach the level of 7. Moreover, with monsters more active at night, money drop is doubled usually, so this is a good time to farm money and buy something good in the bazaar. [yer has discovered Mining Tunnel Cave] I pull out the Versatile Weapon and changed it to Ceremonial Staff. Although this weapon usually have a low damage output, we are talking about the game changer weapon, Versatile Weapon. It didn''t follow the normal type version of the weapon and still follows the same damage. This is a good time to earn enough SP for the Cleric ss. The imps working just outside the cave tunnel noticed me immediately. They looked at me with weird looks and growled. After doing so, their eyes reddened and frantically rush towards me one by one, while brandishing their dingy and rusty pickaxe that sooner orter, will crumble to pieces. [Mining Imps] Level 7 HP: 1000/1000 Type: Humanoid With swift thwack on the abdomen of the iing imp, I inflicted damage to the iing imp. The nearby imp were also near but I can''t unleash another attack in a short time so I made a kick. -230 -100 The kick managed to deal 100 damage. My STR really have grown. I didn''t stop my movement and dodged the iing pickaxe being thrown at me. Of course, I am not just all dodge, I also do a quick swing on the imps. Even though its not a de weapon, the damage still deals like a de weapon. With my sessful thwacks being hit but the very first imp that I rained with swings and thwacks, it didn''t managed to stand up again and strings of logs appeared on my vision. -Mining Imp sessfully killed. -Got 1000 EXP(Title Effect Activated 1000 EXP acquired) -Got 105 copper -Got 10 Cleric SP Hmm, not bad, 105 copper already. Although this monster gave out copper drop, a few monsters do not drop money at all since their drops are much expensive, for example, the Gray Wolves that I have killed. They didn''t drop a single copper at all when I killed them. There are some monsters who drops coppers but they don''t keep on dropping one, like the Grass Lizards. These imps though are much better in money making. Since no other yer is farming at all, I continue to farm around here. If there are other yers here already, they will instantly monopolize this ce like its theirs and obtain the loot. Before that happens, I have to finish my farming session. I continue bearing up most of the imps and with severe beating, they died with bodies being covered with bruises and pumps of injuries. The ceremonial staff sure is dangerous if you got beaten by it. After a few minutes of intense farming in this area by beating up these guys one by one, I managed to earn around 2,000 copper and if converted to silver, it would be 20 silver all in all. Copper coins need to reach 100 coins to be 1 silver, 100 silver is also required to get 1 gold coin. Of course, it can be converted to real money. The only thing that is epted as money to be converted as real money is gold only of course, silver and copper are useless. 1 gold coin is equivalent to 100 yen. Very small amount if you ask me, but if yers are very good at money making in the game, then earning a single gold is easy and the other gold will fall to your hands and you can exchange it to money. I have 20 gold coins here and a few coppers that if converted to silver, will immediately be a good amount of money to use to buy in Bazaar. However, I am not yet done. After clearing the imps on the very entrance, I entered the tunnel and just not too far on the center, is a slime. Magic is pretty effective to them so why would you use your weapon to kill slimes? The magic will do. Time to hunt for equipments! Chapter 17 - Necklaces Unlike the imps that attack in groups, the slimes do not cluster together and they are a bit more on the disgusting side. They don''t look like a jelly but they looked like some puddle of mid that is moving around. You might even think that you have seen a walking sh*t around. I scanned the stats of the slime to make sure that none of them are Elite. Sometimes, some normal enemy looks like a normal monster. If I know there will be one, I would immediately hunt it out. [Blob Slime] Level 7 HP: 1000/1000 Attribute: Slime Well, I was disappointed seeing not a single Elite. Well, that is not necessary. I am here to hunt equipment anyway. "[Basic Fireball!]" "[Shocking Lightning!]" "[Ice Prison!]" The three skills were simultaneously released on three slimes. Since its magic and my INT is much higher than normal, the slimes died immediately showing four digits damage with red color on it. -1120 -1032 -1019 A one hit kill huh? I am not surprised but I liked what came from the logs. -Blob Slime sessfully killed. -Got 1000 Exp(Title Effects activated, 1000 Exp Acquired -1 copper coin gained. -Got Copper Ne x1 -Got Copper Ne x1 -Got Slime Residue x2 -Blob Slime... The log repeated the notification three times after killing the three slimes. All of the three dropped [Copper Ne] in which two are normal and one is rare tier. I checked the Rare Tier ne andpared it to the Normal Tier. [Copper Ne] Type: Ne Equipment Tier: Normal Tier Equippable at level 6 Equippable by: All sses Stats: INT: 11 Note: A ne so shabby looking that jewelers never gave it a second nce. Only a few people dares to wear it. Durability: 200/200 [Copper Ne] Type: Ne Equipment Tier: Rare Tier Equippable at level: 6 Equippable by : All sses Stat: AGI: 3 INT: 16 Special Effect: Light Feet - Swiftly increase the movement speed twice the amount of your speed. Note: A ne so shabby looking that jewelers never gave it a second nce. Only a few people dares to wear it. Durability: 200/200 An extra effect huh. Well, that was nice. This ne will suffice for now by myself. However, I did not equip it yet. I am not in a hasty mood to do it so I store it on my inventory. I can sell it to a cksmithter for a few amount of copper coins. I repeated the hunt on either the Imps or the Blob Slimes. The EXP they gave are too pitiful so I did not really think much on how much I earned. I stare at the counter of my Copper Coins as it increase slowly every kill. I also check my bag a few times and saw that I was already housing at least 40 Copper Nes. Only the rare tier earlier were the different one since most of them are all Normal Tier. I did not bother too much on it and decided to hunt a few more slimes to kill to raise the amount of Copper Ne to 51 pieces. It didn''t take me too long before I got 51 of them. And during that time, I managed to get the second Rare Tier ne with the same stat and extra skill on it. That was lucky enough. I stopped hunting and returned to the Mining Town and go to the cksmith. There are two cksmiths on shift and an apprentice attending the store. They are different depending on the times of the day. Opening the door, I saw that the cksmith is on the counter and busy at counting a few of those equipment being sold by one of the yer who has a ss of a Samurai based from his katana and the kimono garb on his body. From the looks of it, he is selling a Normal Tier Crude Bastard Sword that is normally dropped by level 5 Rat Pests. "Hmmm, the quality is not bad, but not good either. I can sell it for a few price but I doubt someone will buy this. At most, I will just use this for smelting or amalgamation. This won''t sell that much. At least 200 copper each," the cksmith said. "200 copper? Can''t this get raised for a few copper?" the samurai asked. "Unfortunately, this weapon is not a good quality so its price would be low. I can''t just give you a bigger price easily. I would go lose a lot if I sold you with a high price," the cksmith said. The samurai hesitated a bit and he decided to give up and just let the cksmith do the transaction. He only have 4 of those bastard sword so he got 800 copper. The samurai sighed and dejectedly left the cksmith while the cksmith looked at me. "What is your business here kid?" the cksmith asked. I approached and looked around a bit before I stated what I want. "I want to sell 49 copper Nes in full condition and Normal Tier." The cksmith were surprised but he quicklyposed himself. "Show me your wares!" He said to me. With a wave in my hands, the 49 Copper Nes appeared in the counter and I made sure that only the Normal Tier nes are on the table. The Rare Tier [Copper Ne] is still in my inventory. The cksmith is surprised again and checks the items one by one with curious eyes. After doing a few inspections, he finally looked at me with bewildered expression. "How the heck did you get this many ne?!" the cksmith was very shocked. "I hunt a few [Blob Slimes] earlier and they dropped these. I had no use for them so I am selling these," I said to him. "Honestly speaking kid, these nes are cheap and don''t sell much. Furthermore, they are easily dropped by slimes so its another downside. I hope you can understand me. I have a hard time smelting these items since they aren''t weapons that can be easily amalgamated to the other weapons. Therefore, I can only offer 50 copper coins per ne," the cksmith raised his palm up. "Unfortunately sir, that is just a small amount. They are not items that lost durability. Furthermore, this item isn''t necessarily needed to be smelted for the weapons like sword. They can be used to make arrowheads and bullets for Hunters and Gunslingers so its not a waste. You didn''t try smelting it to make it like that, no?" I said while raising my eyebrows to him. "Arrowheads and Bullets? Hey! Why I didn''t try that? There are lots of other customers looking for a good amount of bullets and arrows at this time. Maybe that would work. Boy, let me try it. I will buy one and try making an arrowhead. If I liked the quality, I would buy everything!" the cksmith proposed. "Alright," I nodded and hands out one of the ne and he quickly rush towards the forge and started the smelting process. I was aware that cksmiths has not used this method before. In the very future, these nes would fork high amount of money due to the fact that it would be a necessary ingredient to make items for bullets and arrowheads. Since they didn''t try it yet, then that would be a bit of time. It didn''t take too long before the cksmith emerge again from the forge with a smile on his face. "Kid, you really helped me solve my problem in arrowheads and bullets! Since you solved it, I would be willing to buy this bulk in 3 silver per ne!" "Deal!" I nodded in satisfaction. 3 silver is quite good enough for me. Since I have sold the 49 nes for 147 silver, I was very satisfied. I walked out the cksmith shop and decided to head out to the bazaar. I can now find something to buy. For the ne in rare tier, I had something else in mind. Chapter 18 - Dolly After I sold the [Copper Nes], I headed immediately to the Bazaar. Even though its Night Time in the game, its a very lively and busy ce like it was not going to enter a sleep and rest at all. The vendors are busy attending anfd attracting yers and NPCs alike to buy their wares. Of course, the vendors alsoposed of yers and NPCs. Although this is the second day of the game beingunched in the whole world, the yers who prefer the [Merchant] Ex Job is already many. From what I can see, most [Merchant] yers who usually run their own stores are not the adventurer type and do not have the talent inbat, therefore, they choose the easy alternative. Ex Jobs or Extra Job to be precise are the professions a yer can take after getting their main profession. For example, a cleric can choose to y the merchant type and earn money by using the buy and sell method. The usual yers doing these are yers who want to gain experience in the game so that they can handle their very own business fluidly in the real world. Not only the [Merchant] profession is avable. There are countless of Ex Jobs that I know of and utilizes the talent of the yer in many ways. Of course, yers can take more than one Ex Job. For example, if you took the [Merchant] Ex Job, you can also choose another Ex Job like Processer and cksmith. Depending on the yer, it really depends on them. Ex Jobs can also level yers who choosed this kind of profession. For the equality of all, you can choose two methods of leveling up, for nonbatant yers, they will have to convert into [Ex Job Experience]. Not only they gain experience on the particr Ex Job, their level will also grow and they can also add stats. Forbatant yers like me, even though I can get the Ex Job professions, my method of exp is alwaysbat. You cannot change your choice for a month if you choose either of the choices so it was needed to think hard before responding. I am fine with it, leveling in Ex Jobs are a bit slow anyway. I looked around the stalls of every NPCs and even yers'' stalls for a merchandise to buy. I might manage to find something I wanted to. This Bazaar is different from the General Store. Although the goods are fixed and the daily necessities of a yer are easily sold in General Store, a Bazaar has no fixed item sold. It was always random and most are sold in limited stocks. One stall suddenly got me fixated on a girl arguing with an NPC. I think I know what is going on but I decided to listen first, going there too gung-ho is rude. I might be wrong so I should listen a bit first. "Why can''t I buy this? It is said to be 200 copper but when I handed you 2 silver, you didn''t even ept it. Didn''t the convertion ratio is 100:1? 100 copper is equivalent to 1 silver right? So why can''t I buy it in?!" the girl with a violet hair waving and a pointy ear said while holding a bracelet. Based on how the bracelet looks, it is the [Shiny Copper Bracelet]. "Although it was equivalent, I don''t handle silvers in this bazaar. So if I say copper, then pay 100 copper, not 2 silver." the old man stubbornly said. The girl still wanted to argue but was immediately cutted off by my sudden appearance when I decided to decided to intervene. This type of idiocy will only lead to a bigger problem if she continued doing on arguing. "Hey girl, stop it, the rules are something to be abided. Don''t keep insisting," I frowned. Her back was facing at me so she didn''t noticed my approach. She was extremely surprised when I suddenly spoke. "Ah? Someone else is here?" the girl looked at me but she stopped on my mask. "Man with a Mission?(1)" My face twitched. Although my style was indeed simr to that band, this wolf headed mask is much different since its pure white unlike those masks that they wear which has a grey pattern on its forehead. But I was also surprised and taken aback when I saw this person in front of me. Someone who is no longer present during the past timeline due to an unprecedented event. Riko Akusabe. She died after a car crash a yearter. She is also one of the yers in the game that I consider as my friend and trusty buddy along with another guy. The only thing is her unprecedented death that happened after she had a fight with her parents in regards to marriage. Right now, I am facing her avatar in game, Dolly. She looked at me with anger and curiousity, but I quickly turned to the store owner. "Sorry esteemed sir, this friend of mine did not know the policy and she had just experienced the bazaar so she hasn''t known it yet," I said and paid 200 copper to him. "Oh, is that so, then that would be reasonable. Just properly exin the rules next time so that she won''t get into trouble to guys who are more hot-tempered than me," the old man NPC running the store said and handed the bracelet. "Thank you, I will do that," I said and epted the bracelet. Dolly was surprised and before she can recover, I handed out the [Shiny Copper Bracelet] to her. She was baffled when I have given it to her though. I dragged her a bit far from the store and stopped when we are no longer into the area of the store. "Listen, in the Bazaar, its running in a different manner. Be it NPC or yer, they follow this rule," I said to her. "What rule is this anyway? Even though I have enough money to buy this essory..." "You see, the merchants only epts coins depending on them. If they ept copper like that old man earlier, he won''t be epting other currency, be it gold or silver." "HA?! What absurd rule is that?" Dolly was annoyed. "Don''t ask me, I am just a yer, not a developer of the game," I shrugged. After that, I moved back to the crowded street once again. "W-wait! What about the payment?" Dolly asked. I waved my hand and looked back to her coolly. "I will be taking it soon, I am sure we will be meeting again." And after saying that, I disappeared in the sea of people. Of course I mean it, since she is my friend and I don''t want her to meet the same end she did in the past timeline, I would be trying my best to also alter her very death. And if I have done that, I will be saving two lives. Chapter 19 - Tamer鈥檚 Stall I wandered about on the small bazaar in Mining Town. Unlike the capital with big ce to held the Bazaar every night, the bazaar in this ce is very small. I sighed inwardly. If I didn''t ept Lily''s quest, I would be stuck in this ce for a few days before I could activate the tform. Since this quest involves of passing through the passageway, I had to find a good item or something to ready up. I have already checked most stalls but I end up disappointed. These ce is or worth to buy items with. I would rather hunt than waste my money on this items. I was about to walk away when I noticed a tent different from the bazaar stalls. And from the looks of it, no one has noticed this tent being held up yet. I grew curious due to their symbol above their tent. A violet colored Magic Circle and a chain that looks the same as those taming chains used to tame monsters. I suddenly grew curious about it. How cone I didn''t noticed this one before? I had always been in the Mining Vige vicinity for quite a while due to my dropped level every death. And of course, I have already memorized the stalls here but I never saw this stall here before. Perhaps it appeared when I was nor shopping that time? Since my curiosity grows stronger on it, I decided to enter the strange stall. As I entered, the familiar smell of beasts appeared and filled my nostrils. What is more, the sounds of the pets shrieking is very strong inside. I think they have casted a silence magic or this stall''s materials are very magical to contain magic power to conceal the sounds it gave when you are inside. As I wondered a bit, a teenager and a bulky built man with ck beard and moustache appeared in the direction of the cries of the monsters. "Oh? A customer!" I thought no one would gain interest to my wares!" the bulky guy said as he smiled and happily approached me. The teenager guy nodded and just stood on the side. From the looks of it, he is waiting for orders from the bulky guy. "What do you sell here?" I asked, even though I knew what they are selling here. "We are currently selling Pet Supplies, Pet food, Chain Of Taming and of course, pets!" he proudly said. "I see, however, I have no idea what are they for. Its the first time I have heard of those terms," I said. Though that was an obvious lie. I don''t want to be someone to look suspicious all of a sudden for my knowledge. "In that case, I will be exining the purpose of pets. Unlike Companions that act as ves that divides your exp so that they will also level up, Pets has their own exp bar and even if they didn''t fight, as long as they are on your possession, they would be automatically gaining exp whenever their master battles. "There are two things to do to gain pets. One is to tame an existing monster. Monsters that are avable to be tamed are those Beast Types and Insect Types. Humanoid Types like undead and goblins are not falling in the category of tameable. "To tame a monster, you need an item to do that. [Chain of Taming] would be that item I am talking about. Of course you can purchase that item to any shop specializing in pets. In that case, it would be this stall. However, its a pretty dangerous process and to tame a monster 100%, you need to lower its health in 5%. Of course, [Chain of Taming] can only be used three times to a single monster and if the three times chance failed, then the monster cannot be tamed." "The second thing to do is buy an egg or find an egg in the wild. Of course, if you buy it here, it would be a mystery pet unlike if you found an egg on a nest of a monster. It would be like a Gacha game for you. It would take a few days before it will hatch once a yer like you can get an egg. Out of the two options, egg raising is more tedious since you still have to take care of the baby monster after birth, however, it would be easier and safer to do. Taming a monster takes time to gain its recognition while pet monsters hatched from eggs can immediately establish loyalty immediately. And that is all there is. The Pet supplies are like their equipment and of course, pet food which is already very obvious," the bulky guy exined. "Hmmm, I get the gist of it, however, how many pets does an individual can keep?" I asked. "Ah, normally, you yers can only have a maximum 7 pets but since you are my very first visitor in this stall, then I will tell you a secret. You can increase the maximum 7 slots for pets indifinitely." Hearing this, my ears perked up. This method is not avable in my past timeline and this is a new info on me. "A secret?" "Yes, actually, pet selling is a slow business. Most of us vendors only rely on the [Chain of Taming] to be sold since most of the yers tend to just catch their own pets than buy them. And that business would also go to a halt once most customers managed to own 7 pets. Therefore, this method was born. For us tamers, taming is life, and we also want to get lots of pets to increase our manpower. But that limit made us have a hard time dealing with. Therefore this was invented by the Master of Tamers." He pulled out a chain simr to the [Chain of Taming] and ce it on the counter. However, unlike the former that has a golden luster of color, this chain is colored silver. I checked it out to know its uses. [Pet Slot Relinquish Chain] Type: Consumable Info: An item used to increase a pet slot limit. Once used, 2 empty pet slots would immediately be unlocked. Can be used until the individual''s pet slot reached 100 slots. Consumed immediately once used. Note: This thing is pretty expensive. So if you want it, you need to work your *ss off. Price: 1,000,000 gold My eyes grew wide! 100 slots! Thinking about 100 slots makes it hard for me to process everything. Think about it, a yer who has 100 pet monsters to help you side by side in a battle, ying solo wouldn''t be a problem! What is more, 100 slots are very many already and having 7 should be enough for a yer. Raising 100 slots to tame monsters is quite hard! The only thing that made me sunk is the price. For a game breaking item to exist, a game breaking price is also necessary. This item is a freaking 1,000,000 gold coins! Not copper or silver but gold! That is already a big money in the real world! But still, I am impressed! This item is very good indeed! The only thing is that its very expensive and you can only buy a bulk on this item in thete game where gold will be verymon. "...This is pretty expensive," I frowned. "Of course its expensive! Just like the [Bag Expansion Coupons], this item also increases limit. And to limit people who can have 100 slots, it was made like this!" the bulky guy said. I agree to that though. If this item is cheap, then in no time, the 100 limit pet slot is already widespread to all. It would be very chaotic. "I know you can''t afford the [Pet Slot Relinquish Chain], I am sure you can afford buying a [Chain of Taming]! We sell it for 10 silver," he said. I pondered a bit on the situation. I am aware of the danger posed in taming. And in taming, your very chances is too low and those three chances is pretty hard to save up. This isn''t pokemon that as long as you have enough pokeballs in your arsenal, you can use them all to catch a monster. Therefore, I wanted an easy method. I am not in a hurry to earn a pet but having an early one would be good. "Do you have the Gacha thing you said earlier?" I asked. The bulky man was surprised but he immediatelyposed himself. "We have and one chance cost 100 silver. Do you want to try it?" he asked. Well, nothing will go wrong. Its not like there are weak pets, just weak masters. "Then let me have a single try then." The bulky man was immediately moved to tears. Looks like this is their very first transaction ever. "Thank you very much! Guy! Bring the eggs here!" The teenager he called Guy nodded and returned to where they came from. After a while, he returned carrying a table with wheels carrying a tray full of eggs. Each of them are simr to a chicken egg but slightly bigger. Honestly, I am not a person who is very lucky. But I will be happy despite the bad luck I will get in choosing an egg. I paid the transaction and proceeded on choosing an egg. "Anyway boss, what monster will hatch on these eggs? " I asked. "I don''t really know. Actually, the supplier of eggs never told us what eggs are delivered butmonly, they would be normal beasts like Rabbits, Cats or Dogs depending on the beast." I nodded. Honestly, I was surprised in the past timeline to know cats, rabbits and dogs can hatch in an egg. But then I remembered that this ce do not follow themonsense so I decided to drop it. Now I looked into the eggs. It would be good to hatch a bird type or any kind of flying type monster for me to use to scout in the skies easily. But then, I noticed the very center egg to shook. I thought I was just imagining things but the egg in the center was indeed shaking a bit. However, the owner seems not to notice this so I decided to choose the center since it is making a move. In that case, that would be very easy to hatch an egg that would hatch anytime now. "I will choose this," I pointed into the center egg. "Alright then!" the bulky guy said and Guy quickly did his job. After that, the egg was brought to me and this time, it was contained in a portable incubator. Below it has the days that it needs to hatch. There is 15 days on it disyed so that means it would hatch during the 15th day. I also bought three packets of pet food for 3 silver. I left the ce and stored the egg into my inventory. I would be waiting for 15 days this time. And of course, I was excited. This would be really good if I managed to hatch something good for 100 silver. Chapter 20 - Preparation I decided to try and level up for a few more times while fighting against enemies enraged by the night. I have to use the high powered sses like Berserker and Samurai to destroy enemies. In the end, I only leveled up for 3 levels. Name: deheart Level 10 EXP: 450/40000 HP: 700/700 MP: 470/470 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 57/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 57/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 53/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 58/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 82/100] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: Click to Open the Skill Trees SP left to spend: 88 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: Copper Ne Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon With the addition of my weapon''s stat and the stats of my armor, alongside with the AP earned every level, I felt so lightheaded this time. It might be due to my high intelligence that can cause my mind to process faster than usual. I also managed to level to level 10 after a few times of grinding before the time is almost morning in the game as dawn is almost there. I logged out on the game and decided to eat lunch. Although I can eat food in the game, I still feel the food in the real world more appetizing and I am not that too addicted in the game so why not? Addiction in game is not even a good thing anyway. I returned to the game a few minutes after eating and continue to check things out. I checked my money and sighed. Copper: 2,051 Silver: 49 Gold: 20 The amount of my money is pitiful. Although I killed many monsters, they drop too small amount of money, most of the time, Copper and amounting around 5-10 depending on the monster and if higher leveled and vicious enough, they sometimes drop silver. Of course, I have a few equipment that I managed to loot on the monsters I killed but most of them are just random little armor. They have small stats and they are not worth to be devoured by my Versatile Sword. I already equipped the rare ne [Copper Ne], boosting my INT and raising my mana a lot. Just by looking at it, it was clear that my INT would be the first stat that would reach the 100 points. But I am still quite amazed that my abilities has risen a lot so far. After leveling to level 10, I am sure to properly handle the [Moving Out] quest of Lily. What I need right now is to wait for Lily''s family to move out. And with a lot of time to spare, I didn''t waste my time and open my skill tree. Swordsman Learned Skills 1. Triple sh(1st Tier)(Active) 2. Berserk (1st River)(Active) Magician Learned Skills 1. Basic Fireball (1st Tier)(Active) 2. Ice Prison (1st Tier)(Active) 3. Shocking Lightning (1st Tier)(Active) Ninja Learned Skills 1. Silent Sprint(1st Tier)(Active) 2. Breathless Running (1st Tier)(Active) I have a few Free SP at the moment on many sses after using their respective weapons. As long as I use a respective weapon, the SP earned are all dependant on that ss. So if I smack a monster with the sword, I would get a free SP on that ss. Of course, skills also help to gain Free SP. That is why, its still pretty good despite me changing different weapons. I checked every ss'' Free SP I got at the meantime. Swordsman: 150 Samurai: 100 Alchemist: 0 Ninja: 55 Assassin: 0 Hunter: 0 Cleric: 40 Pdin: 0 Holy Knight: 0 Magic Knight: 120 Magician: 125 Fighter: 0 Gunslinger: 0 Druid: 0 Berserker: 170 I managed to earn a lot on specific sses especially the Berserker which overwhelmed the other sses in SP. If I want to survive by solo in the quest, I had to prepare. I opened straight to the Cleric ss. Although I have options, a Cleric Skill is something that I prefer to use than potions. Opening the skill panel, I have seen lots of variety of skills. Most for giving buffs and giving health. I also noticed that not only the Cleric a support but an important role in the game. If I managed to properly use my skills, then wouldn''t I be immortal if I have healing skills? Well, that is just delusion thinking. Healmand always has a good advantage if you have them, and cool down would also be a problem. Opening the skill tree on the Cleric, I was surprised to see the first tier to contain only support skills like giving buff. I know that they are mostly support due to them being amon skill used by clerics in battle in the past timeline. Of course, there are passives too. Cleric SP: 40 Free SP: 88 1st Tier 1. Minor Blessing (Active) - 10 SP 2. Miracle Regeneration (Active) - 10 SP 3. Dispel (Active) - 15 SP 4. Holy Body (Passive) - 20 SP 5. Heal (Active) - 25 SP 6. Maiden Tears (Passive) - 30 SP 7. Minor Curse Dispel (Active) - 30 SP 8. Resucitation (Active) -50 SP 9. Blessing After Drought (Active) -55 SP 10. Miraculous Nursing (Passive) - 55 SP The 1st tier is already containing ridiculous amount of skills. No wonder the yers in the past timeline only can use [Minor Blessing] or [Miracle Regeneration] before. It was due to the expensive amount of necessary SP needed to purchase the skills. There are some skills I was having interest in but they are still expensive at the moment. Therefore, I decided to purchase the more important skills necessary. First skill I purchased is the important skill that most yers need in party that is why Clerics with this skill is widely needed during low leveled times. [Resucitation] 1st Tier Cooldown: N/A Mana Cost: 100 MP Info: Resurrects an incapacitated or dead target back to life with 10 HP left on their health. Note: Did you think Clerics in the past used the CPR and mouth to mouth method to resucitate most people?! Wrong! Dream on Kid! I think this system is thinking that I was pervert or what. Anyways, having an instant skill to resurrect a yer is advantageous to me. Because when the timees, I can use it on my battles. Since the Cleric SP arecking at the moment, my only choice to spend at the moment is the Free SP, leaving me with 38 Free SP left. Of course, I did not forget the most important skill at the moment. [Heal] 1st Tier Cooldown: 1 minute and 30 seconds Mana Cost: 20 MP Info: Heals 100 HP to the target or the caster itself. Cannot heal with more than one target at once. Note: Much more potent than potion. Of course, the caster will have to rely on drinking sh*t tasting potion to recover mana. Somehow, I think the system is much more rude than thest time I remember. This remarks are to insulting or humiliating. But all is well as long as I can heal by myself than relying on potions. That way, recovery won''t take too long. But I am left with 15 SP for the Cleric ss. How pitiful. Swordsman skills are still mediocre so I did not choose any despite the amount of SP I have at the moment. In the Samurai, I think I have a few skill I am interested in but not at the moment. Maybe I will be choosing soon but not now. In the Ninja, the amount of SP earned is too pitiful. Unlike when fighting using the weapon assigned of that ss or using skills for defeating enemies, the skills for movements can barely give any SP. Therefore, even though I used a lot of that skills, its not enough to gain enough. Guess I have to grind more. I looked at my Magic Knight SP and got excited on the skills. I admit that I was more biased in terms of the Magic Knight ss than the other ss. I choose this ss in my past timeline so I am more well versed in this ss than any other. The knowledge I got are all information I memorized from different experiences and a lot of guides published in the inte and by memorizing them all, my brain contained the almanac of the game all in my head. But the knowledge of the Magic Knight is much more overwhelming in my mind. Opening the skill tree of the Magic Knight, I realized that most skills are expensive than the original amount needed to unlock a skill. Magic Knight SP: 120 Free SP: 38 1st Tier 1. ming Sword: (Active) - 10 SP 2. Ice Sword: (Active) - 10 SP 3. Earth Sword (Active) - 10 SP 4. Lightning Sword (Active) - 10 SP 5. Air Void Sword (Active) - 10 SP 6. Earth Fissure ( Active) - 25 SP 7. Lava Geyser (Active) -30 SP 8. Mana Sucking Body: ( Passive) -50 SP 9. Freezing sh: (Active) - 50 SP 2nd Tier 1. zing Sword (Active) - 20 SP, ming Sword learned 2. Freezing Sword (Active) - 20 SP, Ice Sword Learned 3. Terra Sword (Active) - 20 SP, Earth Sword Learned 4. Volt Sword (Active) - 20 SP, Lightning Sword Learned 5. Gale Void Sword (Active) - 20 SP, Air Void Sword learned 6. Earth Splitter (Active) - 40 SP, Earth Fissure learned 7. Icicle sh (Active) - 100 SP 8. Anti-Magic Body (Passive) -100 SP 9. Lesser Physical Body (Passive) -100 SP Most of the skills in 1st and 2nd tierposed of skills that allowed to enchant the weapon of the user. But most of them are necessary for me and none of them are useless. Since I have 120 SP for the Magic Knight so lets spend them. ming Sword 1st Tier Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Imbues the weapon with fire element. During the duration of the skill, all normal attacks are containing me damage. Unless another enchantment skill is cast on the sword, the skill willst and cannot be cancelled until the end of the duration. Note: Burn, Burn Baby! Ice Sword 1st Tier Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Imbues the weapon with ice element. During the duration of the skill, all normal attacks are containing ice damage. Unless another enchantment skill is cast on the sword, the skill willst and cannot be cancelled until the end of the duration. Note: Ice, Ice Baby! Earth Sword 1st Tier Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Imbues the weapon with Earth element. During the duration of the skill, all normal attacks are containing Earth damage. Unless another enchantment skill is cast on the sword, the skill willst and cannot be cancelled until the end of the duration. Note: Rock hard, my boy! Lightning Sword 1st Tier Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Imbues the weapon with Electric element. During the duration of the skill, all normal attacks are containing Electric damage. Unless another enchantment skill is cast on the sword, the skill willst and cannot be cancelled until the end of the duration. Note: You are electrifyingly good boy! Air Void Sword 1st Tier Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Imbues the weapon with Wind element. During the duration of the skill, all normal attacks are containing Wind damage. Unless another enchantment skill is cast on the sword, the skill willst and cannot be cancelled until the end of the duration. Note: The air is heavy in your presence! Earth Fissure 1st Tier Cooldown: 5 minutes Mana Cost: 200 MP Info: Strikes the surface with a magic sword. Sends a strong power that causes a strong tremor into the ground, splitting the ground and damaging enemies in range. The stronger the enemy, the bigger the damage. Can cause Daze with 10% chance. Note: Can I split a melon using this? I was really excited to use these skills. Without using magic, I can cause magic damage by normal shes. This is the best method especially if you need the magic damage badly but youck the ample amount of mana. The Magician and the Berserker sses can wait at the moment. Having too many skills might confuse me. I had to properly practice most of the skills so that I can properlly utilize my strategy. After the eventful skill choosing, I waited in front of the tavern to open. ... ck! I noticed that the door for the tavern is already open and a petite teenage girl wearing a traditional Maid outfit appeared and goes out the door. She was surprised to see me when she opened it since she did not expect anyone to be waiting. The girl wears the ck and white uniform with a headband of blue and white frills. Of course, she is also wearing a pure white apron and ckce stockings that fits perfectly on her slender white legs apanied by her shiny ck shoes. Her skirt is in knee level so it doesn''t look to sexy but her body alone is already nice looking and many guys might drool at her. Her face is also totally eye catching that any prettydy will have a hard timepeting with her in prettinesspetition. "Ah? Who are you?" the girl in maid outfit asked. "I am deheart. ording to Lily-san, I am appointed to help escort her and her family to the gate," I said. "Oh, so you are my partner in the battle today. Let me introduce myself. I am Lina, the Battle Maid and Lily''s daughter. Since mother has employed you, this would be a good way for safe crossing. I hope you won''t be a burden to me," she said. "I won''t," I said and smiled. She still didn''t change, Lina is my previous Battle Maid in the past and became one of mypanions until the very end. Since I have met her today, I will work hard to recruit her again. Chapter 21 - Moving Out I entered with Lina inside the tavern. Just like the usual tavernst time I visited, its still so empty that I think this ce is just so lonely. Lily and her two little kids are already packing their items on their bags. There were lots of items that were quite packed in every bag so I guess they won''t be leaving anything in this ce. So they won''t be taking control of this ce? What a waste but I can''t just say it to them. Its their decision to abandon this ce. Lina also helped in the packing but she can barely lift up a single baggage in which I had to help her so that she won''t fall over. Lily appreciated the help despite the fact that its not part of my job. There was a cart outside with two horses pulling it where all her belongings were packed. It was a beat up cart showing how poor they were after the slow business of the tavern. After everything is packed on the cart, Lily nodded and positioned herself as the coachman. "Are you going to ride with us?" Lily asked. I shook my head," No, I can''t properly defend this cart if I ride inside, that is why I will be walking to defend." "I see. Then please help us on this escorting job then." DING! [Moving Out Part 2] Quest 2 out of 3 Type: Hidden Quest Info: Now that you have proven your strength, escort the cart out to the capital. Prevent the damage of the cart until you reach the gate. Cart''s Durability: 1,000/1,000 Difficulty: Hard Rmended Levels: 8-9 Rewards: ??? So the part two quest has arrived. I sheathed my weapon and walked alongside the cart. Lina is inside the cart therefore, I was the only one walking that seemed to guard the moving cart. yers are staring at me with confusion but I did not really care about it. Why do I need to care about their reactions? After walking with the cart, we arrived at the Neutral Ground that connects the Mining Town and the capital. This ce didn''t change at all, it is filled with monsters. However, since the ce is neutral, monsters are not going to attack unless they are provoked. But not all of them are same as the Neutral Monsters. "Monsters!" Lily shouted. I already noticed it and have seen this monster before. Its the usual easy monster to kill around level 6 above. [TangleWeed] Level 9 HP: 5000/5000 Attribute: nt These monsters are always hostile to NPCs and yers. Therefore it was totally dangerous to pass this area without anyone escorting you. Of course, yers who are strong or NPCs that are strong enough won''t be having a problem. I don''t have problems either so I immediately move to the battle stance and pulled out my weapon. Lily also moved out to the cart and pulled out her whip. I can see in her whip that its battered enough. I don''t really know why she still uses that whip although its durability is getting lower. No wonder when I met her in the past timeline, she only has a battered kitchen knife as a weapon. It was clear that she has no money at the moment to buy a recement. "Lina, can you please look out into the cart? I will be the one to deal with this TangleWeeds." Lina looked at me with surprise but she nodded. I smiled and pulled out my Versatile Weapon in Magic Sword form. "ming Sword!'' The Magic Sword immediately glows red and mes licked the surface. I dashed forward and aimed my palm to the TangleWeed. "Basic Fireball!" -1247! With my INT high enough, magic damage gets stronger too. The TangleWeed flinched but it used its roots to dig on the ground and in just that small moment, another group of TangleWeed appeared on each side of the first TangleWeed. "Multiplying huh...no matter, you all are just a bunch of EXP bags for me!" With a quick dash, I stopped momentarily into the front of the three TangleWeed and waved the zing magic sword twice horizontally before making a backflip to move away. -3000 -3000 -3000 The three TangleWeeds burned and almost shriveled. The first one almost died but it tried to counterattack. Of course it missed after I backflipped. Before the TangleWeed can once again summon another TangleWeed, I dashed forward again. Since I was near, the dash is just too short, allowing me to give a forced horizontal swing to the three figures. -TangleWeed sessfully killed. -Got Dried Vine x5 -Got Dried Leaves x3 -Got 4000 EXP(Title Effects Activated, 4000 bonus acquired) -Got 5 Magician SP, 5 Magic Knight -TangleWeed... ... The notifications appeared one by one and gave me a good amount of Exp. The cart continued to move forward after the killing the TangleWeeds. This time, Lina did not returned to the cart and instead, move alongside the cart. The monsters seems wary about me and the cart, therefore, when the cart reached around the ce where the monsters are hiding, some would immediately hide away. Some just stayed and stares at us with curious eyes. Of course, if those monsters don''t attack, there is no reason to attack them. I don''t seek death and the quest did not say to kill monsters, it merely states to defend the cart. If I did try to attack the monsters only watching, I am just courting trouble. "Umm, deheart isn''t it?" Lina moved on my side. "Yeah, what is it?" I looked at her but still have the alertness heightened in case of attacks. "Why you didn''t kill those monsters on the side of the road? Aren''t you a yer?" Lina asked. "Huh? Why would I kill them? They are not attacking the cart, why would I do that?" I looked at Lina with confusion. "Ah? Aren''t yers greedy on killing monsters? You all goes to length to challenge monsters to earn money and EXP." I scratched my head in confusion. So that is what NPCs view us huh? "Nope, I am not one of those guys. If those monsters are not hostile, I won''t be killing any of them. But if they tried attacking like those TangleWeeds earlier, I won''t hesitate to attack." Lina showed a surprised expression but her gaze diverted to the front. "Enemies!" I looked and frowned seeing human enemies. In exact way, these are bandits. They aremon NPCs that are hostile to yers and NPCs. Killing them do not impose with penalty in killing NPCs. But unlike monsters, bandits can be reasoned out and they can be befriended. But in this case, I don''t like the look of these guys, if I want to befriend a bandit, I would befriend someone who are much less thug looking. I didn''t bother looking at their levels. Just by looking at thesenky bandits, they are around level 9 to 10 but they are weak. "Hand over your goods and the women!" thenky bandit in the middle demanded. I squinted my eyes but still remained unmoved. Lina was ready to attack but she was anxiously looking at me on why I did not attack. "Really? You think I will obediently hand them over to you all lot?" I grinned at them. "You sure are cocky brat. You think I am afraid of you newbie? We had ransacked caravans and different carts passing so why would be afraid of a mere adventurer and a sexy maid?" the other thief licked his lips. "Bah, why waste my breath with you lot, just go scram," I said and stab the ground with my Versatile Weapon in Magic Sword form. "Earth Fissure!" As soon as I activated the skill, the ground rumbled like there were an earthquake and the bandits stumbled. They did not notice my approach with my zing sword on my hand. Chapter 22 - Gate Guardian Before the bandits can even recover from the assault of the [Earth Fissure], I was able to get into a close range. Although killing them would always ensure a good amount of reward, capturing them is much better as it yields higher rewards, a title when a certain number of bandits are captured and fame from NPCs which leads to cheaper goods when buying items. To avoid killing them, I changed my ming Magic Sword into a Brass Knuckle that is usually used by Fighter ss and engaged them into a fist fight while still stunned from the attack earlier. With a swift move, I released a punch to the diaphragm of all bandits causing them to fall over and fall down, incapacitated. "Lina! Give me a rope to tie them down!" Lina nodded and took a few meters long rope and gave it to me. With that said, I tied up the five bandits one by one and load them to the cart. Lily and her kids were surprised to see the bandits being loaded. "You are not killing them?"Lily asked. "Nah, they should pay the price of doing crimes from the guards. I am not an executioner so let the guards handle them," I said. Of course, the real objective in my mind is to hand them and collect a much better amount of reward. Why kill for a hefty amount of reward if there is a better alternative? The journey is a bit safe and it didn''t even live up to the Hard Difficulty on the quest but I know that it won''t be too long before the real danger appears. The ground rumbles and the cart has to stop or else the cart will stumble down. The horses were also frightened if not for Lina calming them down. I was certain that the Hard missiones in this part. The mission never fails to say the danger level unless you are someone who can still unleash your prowess despite the difficulty. "Boy, what is going on? Is it an earthquake?" Lily hugged her children due to the tremors. "No, I don''t think so, the shaking is only urring here. We are almost in the capital and they should have rung the bell if it is. That means something else produced this disturbance!" I said calmly. I have known what caused this disturbance but telling them is not something I have to do anyway. This is just a game. The tremors slowly stopped, allowing us to continue. But then, just as we are nearing the very end of the trail, reaching the gates of the capital, an enormous boulder blocks the way. "A boulder? This isn''t presentst time!" Lina said as she stares at the boulder with a frown on her face. "Did it fell during the tremors earlier? How long before it will get removed?" Lily stares at the boulder with a worried look. I unsheathed my Versatile Weapon in the form of a Hammer and looks at the NPCs. "Please step back! This isn''t a boulder!" Before the cart can move away, the ce shook again. This time the ''boulder'' moved and extract out a big arm made of rock and waved it to our direction. I didn''t waste my time and changed the Hammer to Shield and Spear from the Pdin weapon repertoire and tried blocking the arm. Of course, with the massive arm attacking, the damage is tremendous even when I was defending. -350! Half of my health were chipped off immediately. If I was a bit slow and received the damage head on without any weapon, I had died already, squashed in its rock fist. And since I survived, the quest log updated. Quest Updated! [Moving Out Part 3] activated! [Moving Out Part 3] Quest 3 out of 3 Type: Hidden Quest Info: You managed to sessfully defend the cart from attacks but the Guardian of the Gate that has been slumbering for many years has awaken. Defeat the Gate Guardian and protect the cart. Cart''s Durability: 1,000/1,000 Difficulty: Hard Rmended levels: 9-10 Rewards: ??? The rmended levels also rose! From level 8 to 9 turned to 9 to 10! I am not going to take this one easily. I am aware of the Gate Guardian''s prowess as I faced this guy in the past timeline, which is everyone''s requirement to enter the Capital. Of course, I am not excepted in this task. The only thing is that this Gate Guardian is a bit weaker than the usual Gate Guardian faced by many yers to enter. Gate Guardian[Mini-Boss] Level 10 HP: 30,000/30,000 Attribute: Earth, Humanoid When I say that early ess to the Gate Guardian battle, this is what I am talking about. To trigger the battle and to sessfully awaken the guardian, yers facing it must be around level 15 above to trigger its awakening. If you are lower leveled than that, you can''t trigger its awakening at all and will continue to be a rock. This only applies on yers who have yet to step foot on the capital. Once a yer already challenged and defeated the Gate Guardian, you cane and go in this road without any obstruction from any rock. This time, I was challenging a weaker version of the Gate Guardian. The original health of the Gate Guardian at level 15 is 50,000 HP which is a bit higher than now. But I did not try to let my own guard down. This Gate Guardian is still strong and I don''t dare to take it lightly, and besides, I have to protect the Cart with the others too. That is the reason its in Hard difficulty. "Lina! Steer the cart away from it before it attacks the cart! I will defeat it as soon as possible!" I shouted on Lina. "But what about you?!" Lina panicked. From the looks on her face, she had never faced a single monster this big. "I will be fine! [Heal]!" I raised my arm and shouted [Heal], causing me to get enveloped into a green light and my HP recovered with 100 HP. The Gate Guardian slowly rose above as the ''boulder'' form earlier slowly became a big rock golem. Its a tall one around 8 to 9 feet tall and since a person with a height like me who is only around 5''9, I am practically an ant figure on it. I didn''t bother changing my weapon and charge using my spear while the shield is raised. Although I know it won''t do much, at least my defense is a bit high. [Heal] magic''s cooldown is done so I cast it again to recover my lost health. I only need 150 HP left to recover to return to my usual HP. When I got closer, I changed my weapon again into a Hammer and swings it hard into its leg. I didn''t forget to aim my arm and release a magic. "[Basic Fireball]!" -121 -99 The damage are pitiful but its alright. Battles against the Gate Guardians are considered long and hard especially when you are in a solo battle therefore, its normal to have small damages. At least, my hammer deals a decent amount of damage. The Gate Guardian swings its arm around. Despite its size, its very agile and quickly gave a punch to my direction. I quickly rolled away and aimed my arm to the arm of the Gate Guardian. "[Ice Prison]!" The arm of the Gate Guardian immediately got covered into the ice but it didn''t take too much effort for the Gate Guardian to break free from the ice. BANG! It raised its free arm and hits its ice covered arm, breaking it off. Well, I don''t expect it to hold off the Gate Guardian. I was just using it for buying time. I changed my weapon into a Hook Chain and throw it to the same spot where I hit the Gate Guardian earlier. -125 The damage rose a bit which made me grin. The strategy is still the same and it didn''t even changed at all. The Gate Guardian rushes towards my location again while its arms raised in the air. I changed my weapon back into a hammer again and slide off from the Gate Guardian, avoiding the attack that the Gate Guardian aimed on me. Of course, the same spot in its leg where I hit it is open, which allowed me to hit it again with another swing. BANG! -200! The damage rose exponentially, and before I left the area of its legs, I raised my arm again and hit it with magic. "[Basic Fireball]!" -200 As soon as the magic hit, I saw a glimpse of its rock get cracked on the same spot that I hit with. My attacks are working! But before I can even give another attack, Lina attacks using a crossbow on the Gate Guardian, causing the attention of that guy to shift on Lina and the cart. "Idiot!" I gritted my teeth. She took the agrro which I built up to avoid the cart from being targeted. Lina was also stunned by the turned of events. She quickly steers the car away but before she can go far, the Gate Guardian mmed its fist into the ground and a massive rock formation covers the whole ce, enclosing the cart back without being able to escape. "Lina! I told you steer away the cart! Not participate in the battle! Now you all are in danger! Dammit, don''t attack it again! Let me grab the aggro and whenever the Gate Guardian attacks, steer away!" I gritted my teeth in agitation. My ns are ruined but I have to do this. I changed my weapon again and decided to try that technique again that I have done in the past timeline. Maybe this will work on the Gate Guardian. But it is unsure whether it will be effective. I will just have to get close enough. Chapter 23 - Earth Fissure Due to the agrro that Lina build up from shooting the Gate Guardian, it turned as a real trouble for me. This game really throws you off in an unexpected way since I did not even expect that Lina would try to help me on the assault. This is another unnned "Leeroy Jenkins" situation but I don''t want to end up killed this time like how Leeroy messed it up. I don''t want to show up in the town''s cathedral after all the trouble I went through to activate this hidden quest. I also don''t want to lose a few stat points on my stats due to my death. I waved my weapon in the air and moved into the Present Arms(1) stance. "[Berserk]!" To build agrro easily, I had to activate [Berserk] which cuts off my defense badly to raise my attack temporarily. I have yet to fill in the downside of the effects of [Berserk] so I have to risk myself on this. That is why I said earlier that this is a very tricky and dangerous n since the Gate Guardian can also one hit kill me if I am not defending, what will happen to me if if I got hit with this low defense state? Maybe I will get squashed to death instead? The Gate Guardian chases the cart as it is fixated to destroy the cart without fail. Now that the cart can''t go too far, it would be very hard for the cart to keep on avoiding the attacks of this rock. Lina was quick though and used her own ability to get the cart to run faster. "[Haste]! [Minor eleration]! [Speed Up]!" Lina cast the skill simultaneously and swiftly controlled and steered the horses. With the speed pushing forward, the distance of the Gate Guardian and the cart allowed Lina to maneuver easily. The buff might have increased the speed of the cart but I fear that the passengers in the cart is already getting dizzy. If I want to stop this madness, beating the Gate Guardian is the only method to do so. Since Lina is working her best to get out of the pursuer''s sight, I also need to do my job. "[Breathless Running]! [Silent Sprint]!" With simultaneous activation, I can run indefinitely during the duration of [Breathless Running] since [Silent Sprint] is a verypatible skillbination in the Ninja ss to continue running without losing a single breath. [Silent Sprint] 1st Tier Cooldown: 3 minutes Duration: Stamina Depletion Mana Cost: 50 MP Info: Allows the user to run in any terrain without making any kind of sound that can attract enemies. Rmended to use for closing in unsuspecting targets. Note: Try using this skill with a "Naruto Run" pose on this! [Breathless Running] 1st Tier Cooldown: 20 minutes Duration: 2 minutes Mana Cost: 200 MP Info: Allows the user to sprint without consuming stamina bar. Note: Just like swimming, you breathe via mouth. I changed my Versatile Weapon into a normal sword and sprinted forward, chasing the running Gate Guardian before the duration of the [Breathless Running] disappears. When I was around 5 meters from the Gate Guardian, I aimed my free hand into the ground I am running into. "[Ice Prison]!'' Ice Prison can be used as a normal ice projectile attack like the [Basic Fireball] that can freeze the ground. Ice covered the ground I am running into, making it turn slippery. With that, I can slide towards the Gate Guardian like I was skating. The [Ice Prison] formed a ramp at the very end of the ice covered ground, which seems to be pointing to the running Gate Guardian. I slide faster and faster until I reached the very end. With the momentum on the run getting built up, I made use of it to let me slide and send me to the air. "Graaah!" I dashed forward while on the ice, causing me to propel towards the ramp. Like a person on skateboard, I was hurled up in the air as I passed into the ramp. With the momentum of my dash, I was sent into the sky, above the Gate Guardian. While in the air, I made a battle stance and sent an attack on my sword. "[Triple sh]!" The force caused by the [Triple sh] send me further towards the Gate Guardian in the air, allowing me to close the gap. In a quick motion, I changed my weapon into a Magic Sword and quickly waved it up as I strike towards the head of the Gate Guardian. "[Ice Sword]!" -217 Critical! After doing a damage, I clung into its head. I quickly stabilized the agrro back to me as the Gate Guardian''s attention returned to me and abandoned its attention from the cart. But I have no time to y around and drag the battle any longer. Before anyone can see my method on defeating the Gate Guardian, I will be doing it without showing it to others. I strike one of the cracks on the Gate Guardian''s head and grip the Magic Sword tightly. "[Earth Fissure]!" As soon as I cast the skill, the sword vibrated hard, causing my hands go numb. I was about to get my grip loosen a bit but I didn''t let go whatever happens. The Gate Guardian berserked and wildly swings its arms around. I did not lose my grip and just cling into the sword. It didn''t take too long before a series of cracks appeared on the surface of the Gate Guardian. It didn''t take long before the Gate Guardian breaks off and exploded, causing the rocks to fly all around the ce. ------- Footnotes: 1. Present Arms - a stance simr to a salute using the gun or sword in military. With the sword (usually carried by officers and, in some cases, warrant officers), the present arms is identical to that of the salute at the halt. The sword is first moved up to a position called the recover (the de is vertical, turned to the left, with the tip uppermost, and the hilt in front of the face before the mouth), before being lowered smoothly to the front, in line with the right shoulder, with the hilt resting behind the thigh, de edge to the left, and the tip approximately 30 cm from the ground. When themand for rifles to be shouldered is given (shoulder - ARMS), this process is reversed. Chapter 24 - Battle Maid Lina -Gate Guardian sessfully killed! -You have killed a Mini Boss! Awarding 10 AP! -Got Crumbled Rock x10 -Got Golem Core x1 -Got ck Rock x2 -Got Rock Armor -Got 500,000 Exp(Got 100,000 Exp for performing Instant Kill!)(Title Effects Activated, 600,000 Exp Received) -Got 100 Swordsman SP, 100 Magician SP, 50 Ninja SP, 50 Pdin SP, 100 Cleric SP, 150 Magic Knight SP -Congrattions! You have leveled up... ... -Congrattions! You have leveled up from level 20 to 21! -Got 10 AP (Additional 3 AP due to Title''s Effects -Got 10 SP My eyes almost bulged out seeing the notifications! From level 10 to level 21! That is a huge leap I tell you that! Gaining that much experience is so big! Well, I killed it in solo and I have an exp double effect so I am not that surprised. But seeing how much AP I have gained caused me to get happy. 191 AP! I can finally raise a few of my stats into a new tier! I also gained 110 Free SP but its a bit small, but nah, I am notining. I also got an armor called Rock Armor but I was disappointed on its stats. [Rock Armor] Type: Armor Equipment Rarity: Rare Tier Equippable at level 15 Equippable by: All sses Stats: END: 25 AGI -100 Info: An armor made by the toughest rocks in the world. It greatly enhances armor but greatly decreases AGI too much that anyone getting this won''t dare to equip it. Note: Try carrying a rock everyday in your body that weighed a few tons and you will also experience that feeling when wearing this. If I equip this, I would be very slow which wouldn''t help me at all. I groaned and just left it in my backpack. Despite the fact that it was the first Rare tier armor I got, its very bad due to it decreasing a stat ability. Inded safely into the ground by jumping on falling rocks that came from the Gate Guardian and with great reflexes, I came out unharmed. These falling parts of the Gate Guardian can kill you if you are not careful that is why I am making sure that no debris will fall on my head. After my safending, I did not waste time and checked to Lina and Lily on the cart. The cart was visibly shaken but not a single part of the ce is broken though so I sighed in relief. Everyone inside the cart are visibly shaken, even the bandits were dizzy. But they are fine however. "Are you all alright?" I asked them. "Yeah, we are fine and did not sustain any damages thankfully. But we are shaken on the chase at the moment. We wanted to rest for a while though," Lily said as she rubbed the backs of her children. Lina approached me and bowed down. "I am sorry for interrupting the battle you did earlier! I just wanted to help but I never expected I wouldplicate matters! I apologize for my mistake!" Lina said. I was taken aback though since I have not experienced an NPC apologize to me. But I am not an unreasonable guy. Since she apologized, I will ept it. "No worries. Its not too bad and I am not angry about it. But I want you to remember that acting rashly can ruin everyone''s ns like earlier, luckily to you, nothing serious happened. But next time, you need to discuss to everyone on your n to avoid the anger of the others," I said seriously. Lina did not raise her head yet and still bow herself down but this time, she had given an unexpected offer that I was about to do in the future once I earned a few amount of friendship points to her. "Please teach me your ways! I will be willing to learn your methods!" "Ah?" I am surprised. It took me a lot of time before I managed to snap out of it. "Follow me? But I am not even that good in the fight. What can I possibly teach you though?" I looked at her in confusion. Its still so early and I have not gained any friendship points from her, howe she is now willing to be one of my follower? "You might be a beginner right now, but I am sure you will be a great warrior one day. I hope you agree to my selfish request. I am willing to undergo intense training to gain favors for you! Please ept me as your disciple!" As she said that, a panel appeared on my interface. [Battle Maid Lina begs you to be her master. ept her as a follower? Note: Her Friendship Points will drop to 0 if you decline." Will you ept her?"] (Yes/ No) I sighed but I smiled. This thing had made me satisfied since it saved me a lot of time working on her friendship points to trigger this part. Besides, Lina is one of the best follower I have in the past timeline so why not? I quickly clicked Yes. -Congrattions! Battle Maid Lina is now your follower! - As your follower, she will also gain the same amount of EXP your receive even not in battle. She will also benefit on the title effects currently active. Your exp is not divided to her so you can still enjoy the game. I nodded and closed the interface. I looked at her and smiled. "Alright. Since you became my disciple, you will work hard to get better in your ability to fight. But I am not too strict. Just be sure that you can learn much on it." "Yes master!" Lina smiled. After that, I escorted them again for a few more while before we finally arrived to the capital. The capital where I can start and do all of the things the game is offering. I wee myself in the capital. Chapter 25 - The Capital Lily and the rest managed to arrive safely into the capital with the aid of me who killed most enemies that tried to block our way. I managed to get the car to around 90% durability which is understandable due to the fact that the Gate Guardian earlier had almost wrecked it and if not for my hard work and with Lina''s magic, this cart would be no longer intact and the quest will end in failure. Before we can even enter the very main gate of the capital where the guards are doing the inspection, we can already see the very long line of caravans, carts and people in the gate asking for permission to enter. The cart was thest one in the line so I think it would take some time, still, seeing the amount of people trying to get in the Capital, makes me amazed to the fact that none these caravans are real people but only NPCs. Even though this is amon urrence for me since I have already seen these sceneries in the past timeline, but it never failed to amaze me. The inspection did not take too long. Some new people also line up behind us too so we are no longer thest people trying to enter the capital. It didn''t take a few minutes before our turn for inspection is already here. The guards checked the inside of the cart and saw that bandits that I tied up earlier. The guard was surprised and I can really see in his face that he heightened his alertness towards us. "Who are these tied up individuals?" the guard asked Lily. "They are bandits that we have met while we are on our way to the capital. Our escort were the one who subdued them and since he doesn''t want them to die, he refrained on killing them and decided to just bring them into the capital and hand them to the guards," Lily exined. The guard was still unsure so he asked for backup that seems to be working on the bandit suppression board that posts wanted lists. When thetter arrived and checked the identities of the guys I tied up he grinned and nodded. "Indeed, these guys are notorious bandits. They became a real pain from the caravans and other traveling merchants since they really loved to ambush and sometimes kill their targets for money. I even heard they kidnap women but I am not too sure about it. Good thing they are finally captured. We will be happy to take them away and let them work into the mines for 50 years," the guard said to Lily. Then he looked at me and patted my shoulder. "You have done a great deed kid,e to the barrackster for the reward. Since you have done a good job on capturing them, it would be inappropriate for us to not give a reward on you," the guard smiled and pulled the bandits tied up. I can see in the bandits faces the grim look on their faces and a few of them already lost their color and they are now pale. After that small ruckus, we are allowed to enter the Capital at longst. As soon as my feet step beyond the gate, a notification appeared on my interface. -yer deheart have discovered Kingdom of Resurgia, The Capital. [Announcement: You are the first yer in the whole world to enter the Capital at the moment. Would you like to announce your achievement? Your deeds will be posted into the Hall of Fame.] Announce/Decline I pushed the decline button on my interface. [Warning: If you decline, the Announcement would not ur and the Hall of Fame spot for your name will be void and null. Are you sure you want to proceed?] Yes/No I didn''t hesitate and pushed the Yes button. [Congrattions to you for bing the First yer to enter the Capital. From here on out, the official game is going to start and many of the systems that are unavable in the Beginner town will now be avable. For your efforts, you are awarded 10 AP. Since you have not decided to announce your mighty arrival into the world, a unique title is unlocked!] Eh? I was surprised! I did not expect to earn a title just by rejecting the announcement from urring. It was certainly a surprise and since I did not earn this in the past, I didn''t expect anything out on it. [Famous Incognito] Type: Unique Title Effect: Your stats and other details that can be seen by other yers would be hidden whenever a yer tried to check your stats without your permission. Can be stacked with other title effects and the effects will remain even if the title is not equipped. Note: You are insanely infamous! How did you do that? I was surprised. A title to hide the information? Looks like I managed to snag a very handy title. yers will always managed to get some sort of artifact or item that allows them to check the info and stats of the user. Most of the time, they are in the possession of yer killers that is why, having this title really saved my *ss this time. I would have nothing to worry about yers trying to check my stats. After entering the capital, Lily got off the cart and smiled as she approached me. "You did a good job from protecting us! Although there was a snag earlier but it didn''t really have much things done though so its alright. I have managed to get a good escort like you. If you are not our escort, maybe we are already a goner right now," Lily said. "Ahahaha, its nothing really. I am even sure that there are other individuals who are stronger than me so I am quite ttered by your praise," I said to her. "No, no, you did a good job so don''t degrade yourself. Anyway, here is your reward. Although its only a small amount of money, I will throw in something else for your hard work." Lily moved back to her cart and it seems she had already got her children to take out the necessary items that they will be rewarding me. She returned while carrying a piece of clothing and a sack of coins. The piece of clothing seems familiar but I don''t see much of it yet so I am not sure. "Here is your reward, boy. You earned it so don''t be shy and take it!" Lily hands me the coins and the cloth. -50 gold coins received. -50 silver coins received. -50 bronze coins received. -Cape of Hiding received. I tilted my head. No wonder this piece of clothing is familiar. It was because I have seen this item before. But I never owned it so I have no idea what is the stats of this item and at that time that I have seen this, it was being sold in an auction so I don''t have any idea what are the effects and why it is called the cape of hiding. [Cape of Hiding] Type: Cape Equipment Rarity: Very Rare Equippable at: Level 15 Equippable by: All sses Stat: AGI: 10 INT: 10 Special: [Blessed in the Dark] - the wearer will gain +100 dark attribute to all of its attacks during Night Time. Can also make the user invisible as long as the user is stands still for 30 seconds on a dark area. The effect will be cancelled if the user steps into an illuminated area or if the user attacks or detected. Info: A cape created by a talented craftsman that is created from the best materials that came from monsters who are the master of hiding. Blends you good in the dark. Note: We work in the dark to serve the light, you get my gist of it right? Durability: 1000/1000 Wow, no wonder it was sold in an expensive price in the past. This item is very useful to me! Who would have thought I would easily gain this item without difficulty? I bowed down at Lily and equipped the cape. It evenes with a hoodie and since it is not an armor type, it doesn''t conflict on my current clothing right now. "Thank you very much. I will take care of this gift." "Hahaha, so polite. Don''t mention it. Anyway, we will get going. Since Lina will being with you on your journey then I would be going without her. Take care of her though, young man! She tends to be clumsy but she is a good kid," Lily grinned while Lina pouted hearing the remark. "Don''t worry. I will help her be a strong warrior that can protect her family in the future." "Heh, I will be expecting it. Well, see you and visit the tavern sometime if you are free!" Lily said and steered the horses to pull the cart away. The mission aplished message from the quest appeared after that. I earned 2000 EXP but its currently small so it didn''t really move my EXP bar much. After bidding farewell, we decided to take the money in the barracks. It didn''t take us long to get the money. I was able to get 500 gold coins as a reward. My eyes glittered on it, but I can''t be greedy. I am not the only one who subdued the bandits anyway so why keep the reward solo? I divided the gold to Lina and Lina was surprised. "Master? What is this?" Lina asked. "It''s your share of reward. You helped me subdue the bandits so its okay to give you these," and I handed out the bag of money containing 250 gold. "But these is a big amount of money! I can''t ept it!" Lina insisted. "Alright, since you insist, lets spend this on your equipment instead. Let''s look for a cksmith this time," I said to her. Lina did not get to speak since she can''t refute my words. I did want to look for a cksmith since I need to reprocess the Rock Armor to let it be usable to me and not be a burden item. Besides, I have something else I want to get. And I know ''that'' cksmith will do it. Chapter 26 - The Blacksmith Has Fallen We wandered around the Capital. Apparently, this is the first time Lina visited this ce. Although I have memorized all of the passages, quests that can be received and all hidden items in this area, I decided to take LIna around while moving to the cksmith that I know in the past. Lina was pretty grateful to me and her loyalty grew in a small amount which I was satisfied. There are some things that seemed new to me but I think it was due to the fact that yers had never touched this ce yet and changes are still not present. And if those things that I noticed disappeared, then that means that the yers had already hold on to the changes in the capital. Lina was curious and points here and there on stores and other things, which is fun in pretty ways despite the very fact that I am apanying an NPC in the game. However, despite that very fact, I ignored it and enjoyed it every second. I did not have the luxury to let Lina enjoy this much in my past life so at least in this lifetime, Lina can enjoy the world she was born in and take an adventure with me. The Capital is huge but with having a fun and nice stroll on the streets, we did not realize that we are nearing our very destination of the cksmith store itself. We stopped in front of the broken signage of a cksmith shop. Many yers disregard this ce because of the fact that this ce is simr to abandoned buildings in the game where not a single soul is present and you can only see garbage. The only thing is that this ce is not that ce because it is actually a shop of one of the best cksmiths in the game, which can be on par with the other imperial cksmiths and has the very chance to be one of the legendary cksmiths given that she is given a good material and herziness do not hit off easily. "Is this the ce you are talking about?" Lina asked. Looks like she noticed that it looks abandoned. "Yeah, I heard that a cksmith lives here, so lets try our luck here," I said to her. "But it looks like it was abandoned..." Lina said and frowned. I just smiled at her and knocked the door three times. To avoid angering any NPCs, you need to knock the door three times. And if they did not respond, you are free to go inside. That is the basic rule in this ce. Offending the NPCs is not a good thing if you want tost for a few days in the capital before you offend more NPCs in the game. ... ... ... "Umm, I think there isn''t anyone here," Lina said to me. "Then lets get inside the door then," I said to her and pushed it open. Lina hesitated but she eventually followed me inside. What made me surprised is that someone has fallen into the ground, face first without any case of moving at all. ''Master! Someone has copsed!" Lina pointed immediately to the girl that I noticed. I approached the woman and noticed that this girl has a red hair and she smells like coal. I did not notice the hair color of her hair because its dark but when I managed to see it clearly, it was actually the cksmith that I was looking for and I can''t be wrong with it because her appearance in the past timeline and her appearance today is very simr. The only thing is that I have not triggered this quest before. Before I can react though, a quest panel appeared to my interface. [Copsed cksmith] Type: Hidden Quest Info: After entering a seemingly abandoned ce turned out to be a cksmith shop and you find the very cksmith of the shop copsed in her store. Cure her by letting her drink 5 mana potions and 5 health potions. Progress: Small Mana Potions: 0/5 Small Health Potions: 0/5 Difficulty: Very Easy Rmended Levels: None Rewards: ??? Woah, what timing. 5 small mana and health potions? What a coincidence! I still have them in my inventory! With a quick flick of my hand, a health potion appeared in my hand. "Lina, get a cold and wet towel to wipe off into her forehead. She seems to be overheating," I ordered. "Okay!" Lina did not hesitate and moved somewhere. Meanwhile, I moved the girl to face me rather than facing the floor. And I was not wrong indeed, the person that copsed is indeed the cksmith I was looking for, Almira. From the looks of it, she copsed due to over exhaustion. Lina returned carrying a basin of cold water and a wet towel soaked on the water. I opened the Small Health Potion''s cap and tilted Almira''s head up and supported her to drink the potion. Her lips were dry which seems like she had been like this for many hours or days if worse. "Pass me the towel," I said to Lina in which she immediately did and passed me a wet and very cold towel. With the towel, I wiped her sweat and her forehead. To cool her down to her normal temperature, that should be done. After a few wipe, I flicked my hands and a small mana potion bottle appeared on my hands. Just like the health potion, I opened the cap but I shake it a bit. Unlike the sweet taste of the Health Potion, Mana Potion tastes horrible. Many yers prefer to turn off their taste function during potion drinking because of the fact that it really is a very bad taste that anyone will be having a hard time doing again. However, since I am letting an NPC drink potion, to avoid the problem of bad aftertaste, I decided to use the Mana and Health Potion blend. To avoid the bad taste of the Mana Potion, first is to drink a health potion of any size. After that, drink a mana potion which is shaken a bit. Usually, this is done easily with those two but with the fact that I am dealing with 5 potions of each kind, I had to do it. After letting the potion down on her throat, I flicked my fingers again and ess another one of the Mana Potion and downed her with it. Lina shivered seeing me down the unconscious Almira with the sh*t tasting Mana Potion. From her expression, she had indeed drank a bottle of this in the past and from her expression, I think that she has no good memory on it. Not that I can me her about it. I can see a reaction already in Almira''s face but that is actually not enough. I flicked my hands and ess the Health Potion again. Letting her drink all mana potions in one go would really leave a very bad after taste in her mouth which I want to avoid at all cost. I let her down the whole bottle in her mouth before I wiped her with the wet towel again. Her temperature is returning back to normal but she hasn''t regained her consciousness. I flicked my hand again and this time, its another mana potion. I opened it and let her down the bottle''s contents again without pausing. Even me disgust a bit on this. Mana Potions taste so bad so how the heck did this quest is triggered and I did not even know that Almira was like this. I sighed and pulled out the remaining bottles of Mana Potion and Health potion and downed her all of the Mana Potion in her mouth before I poured all of the other Health potions on her mouth. When thest potion was consumed by her, she suddenly opened her eyes and she gave out a furious look on her face. "F*ck, who allowed me to eat sh*t?!" Chapter 27 - Blacksmith Almira Almira''s action and words caused us to fall back out from her. She seemed to be in a foul mood after drinking several bottles of potions. Well, I would also be mad if someone else would let me drink the mana potion that taste like sh*t without my permission. But it was the quest so what can I do? "Who the heck allowed to drink me this sh*tty liquid?! Gaah! I don''t like the aftertaste!" Almira clutches her neck as she tried to vomit out the potion. "..." Lina and I were too speechless seeing her react like this. I can say her reaction is normal but it was just something that exceeded a bit. Lina turned her face towards us two and red at me who is currently holding the bottle of small health potion. Her wrath were instead faced towards me. "I... I can exin!" ... After a few seconds...I was left beaten ck and blue with an HP of 1 in the bar. Lina whipped out a Health Potion to help me recover my health. The events were too fast that I can''t even see what she did to me. All I remember is that she whipped out a hammer for forging and within the small timespan, I was beaten immediately that my HP almost fell to zero. She was "considerate" enough to leave a single HP in my health bar. I was too weak and hurt to move and if not for Lina, I would be a goner. The potion that Lina has given me is small that is why it only replenished a small amount. However, that was enough for me to move properly. I healed myself using [Heal] before looking at Almira who is already calm and collected. But I can still sense the anger on her face. "What are you still doing here?! Get out of here or I will beat you up again!" Almira pointed me the hammer she was holding. I unconsciously made a step back but I did not continue doing so and stood still at her. "I am sorry for letting you drink the foul tasting recovery potions without your knowledge but I did it so for the sake of you waking up. We found you unconscious at that time and we had no idea what to do except to let you drink potions. You still did not get any signs of waking up after drinking a few so I decided to give you more which allowed you to recover... and beat me up..." I exined but shook a bit on thetter part. Almira was taken aback from my revtion and she retracted her hand that holds the hammer and sighed. "Ah, that must be me due to exhaustion. Well, you had my gratitude but I was still in a bad mood due to the taste of the potions you let me drink. Anyway, what brings you here? And how the heck did you know that this ce is a cksmith shop? As I can see, the front of the shop is missing of the signboard and I don''t have any shelves of weapons to disy most of them," Almira looked at me and Lina as she seemed to be trying to look at us with interest. "I heard from one of the customers I made a quest with to rmend me in this ce. He said that the ce looked like the same viger buildings in the Capital, with only the exception of the me carved on the upper part of the doorway," I exined to her though the person I got the quest who told me about Almira is clearly a lie because I already knew it in the past. "Oh, a past customer might be the one who allowed you to go here. Anyways, thank you for doing so. In exchange, I will allow you to request me a single thing to forge or repair at the moment though this is just a single time. Next time, you need to pay," Almira said. As soon as she said that, thepletion panel appeared in my view. [Copsed cksmith] questpleted! Reward: Free One time service by Almira the cksmith. I was surprised and happy at the same time. I prepared to waste my gold for Almira''s service this time but I think to think I would get to ask Almira for a free service like this! I didn''t hesitate and pull out in my inventory the [Rock Armor] out and handed it to Almira. "In that case, can you help with me equip this armor without the penalty of minus agility?" Almira''s eyes glowed seeing the armor. "Wow, a rare tier! And it is around an ancient age! This would help me in my art! Alright kid, you got me there, I would help you with that but in that case, I want you to hunt Rock Devils and gather 30 pieces of [Melting Coal] from them so that I can melt the armor a bit and refurnished the look of this armor. I will also reward you on that so don''t worry about it." [Melting Coal] Type: Normal Quest Info: The cksmith Almira agreed to your request but you need to gather 30 pieces of Melting Coal that can be harvested from the Rock Devils on the vicinity of the Capital. Progress: Melting Coal Collected: 0/30 Difficulty: Normal Reward: Battle Maid Armor II 100 copper and 1000 Exp Battle Maid Armor? Isn''t this the armor that Lina is currently wearing? I was about to ask for an upgrade of the armor in a different service but who would have thought that by just entering a quest like this, I would get to have Lina get her armor upgraded and gain a small amount of money and Exp at the same time! "If you managed to collect those things, I would be d to upgrade your Battle Maid''s armor for free too. What do you say? Wanna do it?" Almira asked. I nodded and epted the quest for her. Almira grinned and move towards the forging room. "Now go and collect it before I change my mind, boy!" Almira said and disappears in the darkness of the room. Chapter 28 - Guild Token Its been 2 hours since me and Lina started hunting for [Melting Coal] but we only managed to collect 10 of them. We reached the point where we end up killing all of the Rock Devils in the surrounding and weck targets to kill anymore. "I am so tired..." Linazily sat down into a tree stump as she rested. "You are not the only one, these [Melting Coals] are proven to be too hard to collect..." I lean into a tree and sighed. This is the first time I got this quest and [Melting Coals] are indeed the drops of Rock Devils but for the heck, I never expected the drop rate of the [Melting Coals] are very low because I saw [Melting Coals] as useless materials so the usual type for me is to sell them straight to the cksmiths. If I had known that the drop rate is way too low, I wouldn''t bother collecting the amount. I watched as I waited for the monsters to spawn again. "Master! I think I got something!" Lina said to me as she is checking her inventory. yers and Followers do not share inventory and they will act as your personal stash carrier since they have a lot of bag spaces than yers. Inventory is always shared by the followers to the yers and if they have to earn money, they can ask their master if the items in the inventory are something you want to sell. Of course, you can choose which of them are going to be sold in the market and those items you can keep. Its all in your doing. But it was a bit strange for Lina to call out for me when she found something. Usually, she will respond like this to me in the past timeline whenever we found something interesting. I moved towards Lina and looked for what she is saying that she got. What she just got made me open my mouth with wide eyes. Holy sh*t! Is this a true item I am seeing? From what I can remember, the first of this kind was sold for 10,000 gold! Doesn''t that mean it was a bit amount of money if I can sell this? "Master, do you recognize what this is?" Lina asked. "Yeah, of course! I can''t believe we are the first people to get our hands on this item!" I said and checked its description to make sure it was the real deal. [Guild Token] Usage: Once Effect: Creates a Guild. You need to register to the HQ first to establish your guild. Info: A token randomly received from monsters. It was said to be an item that are said to be one of the best blessings the gods had given to man though we are unsure if that is the truth due to the fact that an appearance of this one would cause trouble wherever you go. Note: This is made of real gold, I tell you! System Note: This is the first Guild Token received in the game in the whole world. Using it will cause an activation to the creation of a guild. The first guild token will always be the first and cannot be reced by any kind of Guild Token. Price: ???? This is one of the highly demanded item in the game. The Guild Token can be dropped randomly by monsters with only 1% chance of dropping from monsters which is very low. Once yers appeared here, I would be really happy to sell this item. At least, I can earn money easily. "Are we going to use it Master?" Lina asked. "No, we are selling itter, let me hold on it at the moment. Besides, making a guild is not a priority of mine. It was not even included in my ns. So we will use this item to gain lots of goldter on. Are you okay with that Lina?" I asked. "Oh, of course. I don''t exactly mind at all!" Lina nodded. I transferred the Guild Token into my inventory. "Actually Master, that was not the only one of the guild tokens I got at the moment. There are three more guild tokens I noticed earlier in my inventory. Do you want to take them too?" Lina asked innocently. I was taken aback by what she just said. WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?! "SHOW ME!" ... The guild tokens were really not just amounting to one but four all in all! Who would have thought that I would be the first person to managed and get too many Guild Tokens in luck despite the fact that I have no intention in making a guild. Well, its not a problem because I can get rich for it. The reason I don''t want to get into a guild is the fact that I had no intention on making one and second is that making one costs lots of resources and sharing materials and equipments for the guild is a hassle. What is worse, I really hate the fact that spies from other guilds infiltrate your guild just to make a sabotage in your guild which is troublesome for me. I would rather go solo than deal with that problems. The only thing that I was confused is the fact that four consecutive guild tokens appeared so early. Just how did that happen anyway? "Master! The Rock Devils had spawned already!" Lina said to me. I nodded and pull out my sword that I immediately changed into a Hook and Chain. I am hunting for [Melting Coals] but all I got are a lot of Guild Tokens. I am notining though because a single one can be sold in the auction for many yen or gold if used properly. I wonder if there are more of those tokens here being dropped. I would be real happy to sell it for a hefty sum rather than using it. At least, money will be a secure one now. The Rock Devils growled as their body is glowing red. "Hey, bastards! Ready to rumble again?" I swung around my Hook and Chain around, ready to attack. The Rock Devils did not really understand my taunt but in just that taunt, they mindlessly charge towards me. "Lina! Sync with my movements! If I attack, go make a follow up! Got it?" "Yes Master!" "Alright! Turn them into coal and burn them to the furnace!" Chapter 29 - Blacksmithing "Ice Prison!" As soon as the ice magic encased the Rock Devil, it immediately died and dropped a hook and chain weapon with thest [Melting Coal] that I needed toplete the quest of Almira. "Alright. Good work Lina. You can rest now. We managed to collect all of the materials we need. We shall go back to the Capital then," I said to Lina before putting the weapon and the [Melting Coal] into my inventory. "Congrattions Master. Who would have thought that we would undergo a hellish job like this," Lina said as she picked up the other dropped items from the other Rock Devils that didn''t drop the [Melting Coal]. "Yeah, the drop rate of the [Melting Coal] is unbelievably low. If I knew it, we would have purchased the Dropps Potion that can enhance the drop rate of anything for a fixed amount of time. Still, we don''t need to cry over it now since we already got what wee here for," I shrugged it and chuckled. We walked back to the Capital. While on the way, Lina and I strike a conversation while walking. It was strange though that I was having fun talking with Lina who was an NPCpanion and not a real human than the people I teamed up in the past timeline. For me, the NPCs in this game are more human to me than real yers. With the conversation with Lina, we didn''t realize that we have already arrived into the gate of the Capital. We only got aware when the voices of the NPCs echoes in the area selling this and that. "Oh, we have already arrived? Our conversation is getting interesting I did not notice," I said to Lina. Lina also chuckled as she, also did not realized that we have already arrived in the gates. We pass to the gates and saw the crowded streets full of NPCs. Of course, there are still no yers here. "Let me check your inventory first Lina. If we want to travel further and get stronger in the process, we need money. I will task you to sell the weapons and materials left on your inventory to the shops. Don''t worry too much and sell them alright?" "I understand Master," and she waited for me to finish what I am doing. There are some good weapons with decent stats so those weapons are being put inside my bag and the other weapons are all left to the inventory. There are also material drops avable and many of them are usefulter on in the game once I managed to get the necessary recipes and the corresponding EX jobs. Of course, not all of them are useful so those items that can be useful, I took them with me while the others are all left in the inventory. After that, I handed back the inventory to Lina again. "Alright, sell them then and go to the cksmith shopter alright?" I ordered Lina. "As youmand Master." Lina bowed down and headed to the nearest market and disappeared into the crowd. Since Lina is currently on an errand by me, I headed to the cksmith shop alone. I know Almira would be pissed off because we took a lot of time to take all of the materials she need. I am just hoping that she wouldn''t be enraged by my tardiness. When I opened the door and saw Almira currently sipping tea in her table, I almost step back a bit. I knew Almira''s temper and she is not someone easy to please and I hope she is not mad at me. "You took your damn time, kid. Although I am a patient person, you shouldn''t bother being so tardy in my presence because I don''t like frequent tardiness. I prefer to be early so I hope you would also do that, got it? I will let your deed slide for now but the next time, I won''t be merciful anymore. Got it boy? Good, now hand those [Melting Coals] I need over or you won''t get the reward and the armor you had made me work with." I shivered hearing her warning. Although I am a man, and had faced countless of monsters, Almira''s rage is something else that I can''t retaliate with. If she is someone to mess with, you won''t be able to see the next sunrise again. "I am sorry! It won''t happen again!" I said and put out from my inventory all of the [Melting Coals] that I got. "Mmm, you did a good job. Now where is your follower? This reward is not for you and is more fitted to your follower since she is a battle maid. You on the other hand is a man so I can''t imagine you wearing a maid outfit, its a bit gross. The money can be given but the outfit would wait until she arrive," Almira said to me. As soon as she finished saying that, Lina arrived in a very timely manner. "Master I am back. We managed to earn 121 copper and 20 silver from all of the items that I sold,"Lina said before her focus shifted to Almira. Almira grinned and nodded. "Mmm, this girl is quite early unlike her master. As soon as I was looking at you, you arrived immediately unlike your master who was just taking his precious time," Almira said as she clicked her tongue and shook her head. Of course, Lina had no idea what is going on with her. "Master? What is going on?" Lina asked me with confusion. "Umm, follow Almira first. Take the reward from the quest..." Lina tilted her head before she nodded. Almira and Lina walked towards the changing room. I know that they will be taking a bit of time so I decided to look around the ce. Although I have already done many things in this shop in the past timeline, I made a new one here again. I checked most of her weapons disyed in the weapon racks. These weapons are remarkable so I was not shocked to see most of the weapons existing in the racks are most Very Rare Tier weapons while only a few weapons are on the Rare Tier weapons. I did not even see which ce has the Normal Tiered once. Most of them are higher tiered weapons. I was browsing a bit more when I stumble into a book in the study table of Almira. I was sure there is no book in this table in the past so howe there is one here now? I swiped my hands into the book. I was surprised instead when I saw that an interface appeared on my vision and the book''s effect. [Beginner Guide to cksmithing Vol. 1] Type: ExJob Book Usage: When the user reads the book, the EX Job "cksmith" will be unlocked and you can start learning recipes about cksmithing. Info: A book written by a very strong cksmith who sadly died after long age in the past. His techniques are a bit different but easy to follow. Anyone who practices the art of cksmithing will earn a bit of mastery when read. Notes: Is this book still interesting? Chapter 30 - Blacksmith Book A cksmithing book? I have not seen this for ages. This book had never been the best alternative to Ex Job awakening aside from the arduous quests in-game by different master NPCs. This book is a shortcut! It''s not dropped by a boss or a monster! It was sitting on the table of Almira! However, I am not a thief and even though Almira is an NPC, taking the book without her permission still counts as stealing. Almira''s favorability will drop immensely if you take this book. Although this item appears to be a consumable one, I am not hungry to take one into my inventory. Being greedy doesn''t give any good benefits at all. I shrug the book away and just let it continue to sit on the table. I am not taking it. I looked around the store for a piece of good equipment but most of them are too expensive that I decided to just drop off the n to buy one. It didn''t take too long before Lina and Almira appeared again from the dressing room. Lina is wearing the upgraded Battle Maid Armor and even though it is the same Battle Maid Armor that she is wearing, it appears to be bulkier than the original one. And from the silver Battle Maid Armor color in the past that Lina is wearing, it was reced with Gold te with red engravings on the side. It was very clear that Almira''s handiwork excel a lot in terms of details and quality. I am very satisfied with it. Lina turned around and looked at me with a bashful look. "Does it suit me? I feel like it is not a good outfit at all," Lina sighed. "No, you are wrong. It''s pretty and suits you well. The bulkiness just makes you more having the air of danger with you. Isn''t that better?" Iplimented her. Lina''s eyes light up after saying those words. "You are right Master! With the new defense of this armor, defending myself against attacks from monsters would be a nice change! I can take more blows than ever!" Lina gets enthusiastic. "Although I wanted to give her a weapon, it''s not part of the agreement so I decided to just drop it off. If you want to get her a weapon, buy it from me for 10,000 gold. I would be generous to give you a bit of a discount of 1 gold so you will only pay 9,999 gold instead. And from what I can see, that money is still nowhere near your budget so I will hold it off at the moment," Almira nonchntly said. My lips twitched hearing the discount. Wow, you are giving us a discount but only one gold, that was like a 0.001% discount alright? I think it would be much better if I buy it whole since the difference is just a single gold, but she is right. That money is nowhere yet near our budget. Even if I sell all of my equipment except the Versatile Weapon, I still won''t be able to get the amount of money to buy the whip of Almira, not even close. "I would think about it. I will be holding on that offer then in the future," I said to her in which Lina quickly retorted. "Master!? Why did promise? That is not something we can afford and besides! The price is too expensive! We can already buy different kinds of food, clothing, and potions and spare equipment! The weapon is unnecessary!" Linained. "Why not? It''s also a piece of equipment like Almira''s works and having one that is dropped by monsters is a far cry in terms of quality that Almira can currently produce you know?" "I..." Lina tried to retort but for some reason, she had no idea what to say to defend her ims. "Now, now, stop with the bickering, I have to get to work now that the [Melting Coal] is already in my hands," Almira said as she shooed us away. "Umm, I want to ask something..." I asked Almira. "Hmmm? Alright, make it quick if you want your armor to get finished in time," Almira looked at me with her serious face look. "I saw the book about the cksmithing on your table. It looks interesting and I wanted to try it on how to m the forging hammer on the hot iron from the forge." "Your point is?" Almira''s eyebrow rises. "I want to be your apprentice..." I quickly said. "I refuse..." Almira quickly dismisses my approach. "But..." "I am too busy and having an apprentice is a very hassling one. Since you have stumbled to my book, then take it. It''s not like I needed that book anyway so it''s better to just give it to anyone who wants it or needs it. Since you wanted to have one, then go ahead and take that book. It''s useless to me because almost all of my knowledge in cksmithing is already mastered. If you want to be a cksmith badly then go and study using that book alright?" Almira waves her hands and enters her forging room. I was left baffled. Almira did not actually covet the book but is currently just let the book gather and collect dust? She gave me the book just like that? Does that mean I can just take on and unlock the cksmith Ex Job? cksmithing is one of the Ex Jobs I unlocked in the past timeline and I have a bit of mastery on it. Since I am a versatile now, I am quite sure being a cksmith would further help me with the method of making the proper armor for me in the future which is only the Versatile yer like can only wear. Since that is the case, I did not bother to get nice and say no to the reward. Since she had given her permission to use the book, then I won''t be generous to say no to her offer. I take the book and opened it. As soon as I opened it, the basic rules of the cksmithing Ex Job quickly flooded my head. I am not scared though because that is the normal process. Although I already know what will happen next, I am still excited about doing the Ex Job sessful. The message I am waiting for quickly arrived in my interface. [cksmithing has been unlocked. You can now create weapons using your very own imagination and make simple equipment. Keep on making weapons and doing other stuff, to earn and to rise from the top of the world.] Chapter 31 - Missed Call Lina and I decided to hit up the day. After the troublesome parts of acquiring [Melting Coal], we decided to stop the grinding for the time being. Lina and I headed straight to the inn of Lily. Lily is already open and just started operating her business. "Hey, it''s you! deheart right?" Lily wiped her hands to the apron she is wearing and weed me when I entered the inn. Lina gave a kiss to her mother''s cheek before she headed straight to the back room. "Any room avable at the moment?" "A room eh? Of course, we just opened so of course, we still have no tenants at the moment. You want to have a room?" Lily asked. "Yeah. I am tired of getting monsters'' materials left and right," I said and pushed a gold coin. "Our inn''s room cost 10 silvers a day with free breakfast. How many days?" "Spend it all. I n to stick around the capital for now," I said to her and smiled. "Mmm, a week and three days worth of stay, here is your key, the room is on the veryst door of the third floor. Please enjoy your stay," Lily smiled and took the gold coin away. I nodded and climbed the stairs. The inn''s design did not change at all from what I can remember and although it''s a deste ce at the moment,ter on, once the yers started to defeat the Gate Guardian and reach the capital, this ce will get full-packed in no time. At least I should take my slot first before I ran out of one. After walking a bit, I reached thest room on the third floor. After inserting the key, I opened the door and looked around the room. Simple but presentable, nice andfy. Even though it''s a game, the ce was like one of the best ces to rest. I sat on the bed and feel the softness of the quilt and the pillow. I get the urge to rest but I decided not to at the moment. I opened the stat panel and stare at my stats. Ever since I defeated the Gate Guardian, I have not spent all of the points of my AP. Name: deheart Level 21 EXP: 150,730/175,000 HP: 700/700 MP: 470/470 Attributes: STR: Very Poor [ap bar: 57/100] AGI: Very Poor [ap bar: 57/100] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 53/100] END: Very Poor [ap bar: 58/100] INT: Very Poor [ap bar: 82/100] AP left to spend: 191 Title: Memento Mori Skills: Click to Open the Skill Trees SP left to spend: 148 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: Copper Ne Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon Now, I have more AP to spent and actually, I am having trouble with it. This is just troublesome and I can''t think of a proper way to distribute it. Either way, one or two of my stats would go from Very Poor stat to Poor but I have no idea which stat is better to upgrade at the moment. My STR would be nice, but I am not a strength-stat guy and most of the time rely on magic which would make me want to raise the INT stat. However, I also like to be sneaky and fast in weapon handling which is what the DEX holds for. But I also want to be fast to escape unbeatable enemies which make AGI stat needed, however, I also want to be durable and strong enough tost blows from the enemy which will make the END necessary too. I am having a headache about what to do. "Shiet, should I make a bnced stat build?" I mumbled. After hesitating, I decided that even though I needed to waste AP, it wouldn''t do good if I don''t spend it. It would be a waste right? So I decided to put 20 AP to all stats. That way, all of them are bnced in distribution. However, that made the INT as the highest stat I have at the moment. From Very Poor to Poor stat. It''s AP bar also increased from 100 to 150. The other stats are also running towards the Poor stat now too. But herees the decision. What is left is the 91 AP left and its an odd number which means I can''t continue doing the 20 stat distribution. I need to sacrifice a single stat. Since the INT stat is the highest at the moment, I have to exclude it from my selection. I can spend another 20 stat on the remaining stat but what about the odd 9 AP? After the even distribution, I end up almost leveling all stat to Poor stat. Wait... if I spend it properly, will I have all stats on Poor? Wait, that is not possible. There would be one stat that would need to remain in Very Poor at the moment. But what would be the best stat to letg behind the rest? I decided to make a few minutes of choices before I decided to just have the DEX sacrificed. Besides, the DEX stat is my lowest at the moment. Name: deheart Level 21 EXP: 150,730/175,000 HP: 2100/2100 MP: 1570/1570 Attributes: STR: Poor [ap bar: 0/150] AGI: Poor [ap bar: 0/150] DEX: Very Poor [ap bar: 94/100] END: Poor [ap bar: 0/150] INT: Poor [ap bar: 2/150] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: Click to Open the Skill Trees SP left to spend: 148 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: Copper Ne Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon As soon as I confirmed the stats, a panel appeared on my interface. "[Congrattions to you to get your END and INT stats reach the Poor Tier. Awarding 1000 HP and 1000 MP to your maximum HP and MP]" I grinned seeing the development. It was quite a sight. With this amount, I think I am ready to tackle the first dungeon and unlock its Abyss Mode. Should I get itter? Maybe tomorrow. It''s too harsh for me to continue when I am this tired. After spending a few hours, I decided to log out. ... Opening my eyes, I once again found myselfying on the bed. I stood up and check the time. It''s almost 1 pm. No wonder I am hungry, I have not taken my lunch yet. I opened my phone and check if there are any calls or text and I saw 20 missed calls. I was surprised because I rarely call or text to others, why is there too much missed calls? I opened the Call Register and check who called me and found out that it was father. I furrowed my eyebrows as I try to remember what is going on. I don''t remember this happening in the past timeline. I tried remembering what event is this but for some reason, I don''t remember this one happening. "Wait, did the future already changed? I have not triggered many severe changes directly to my family at the moment but what is now actually happening?" I wondered a bit before I decided to dial father. The phone rang a bit and after a while, it was answered. "Hello, father?" "Manato! Damn, why can''t you be contacted in thest few hours? I thought there is something that happened to you!" Father''s voice sounded worried. "I''m sorry, I forgot my phone in my room when I was out. I just got back home so I decided to dial back. What is going on? Is there any urgent matter going on?" I asked. "There is something I need to tell you. Your mother is in an ident. She is ina right now..." Chapter 32 - Resolution My brain froze for a moment. Mother is in aa? What did just actually happen?! What the hell happened to her? Why do I have no idea what is going on out here? Howe I have not experienced this kind of event in the past timeline?! Did the future messed up? But I have not truly messed anything connected to my parents yet! I am not yet ready to tackle the case of mother and father that is why I am more focused on the game right now to earn money and use it forter use! But why did it also affect the oue? "What happened to Mother?! Is she okay?" "No, she had acquired a very severe trauma in the head that caused a blood clot in her brain. We will be having to spend lots of money to help remove the blood clot on her head. Also, ording to the doctor, although removing the blood clot can reduce the danger, she will still remain in aa and they had no idea how long she will be in that state, they even stated that she might have gotten amnesia if the ident had shaken her brain too much," Father exined. Just from the tone of Father''s voice, he is very depressed. I cursed under my breath. Just when I thought everything is settled and I can finally save my parents from problems, it came to this. In my past timeline, Mother had not experienced this event but howe she did? Did I trigger something that I shouldn''t? No, I think that is impossible. Although I have done a few things, it all just revolves around the game and the people on the game, not the people outside of it. "What exactly caused Mother to get hospitalized?" Father was silent at first before he sighed deeply and started revealing the event. "I am not sure about this either. I only heard about the incident from the police when I was called by them after your Mother got caught in the ident. ording to the statements of the people who have seen the ident, a speeding car moved so fast that it didn''t stop despite the traffic light turning red. And unfortunately, your mother is currently crossing the road and before she can react, she was caught by the speeding car and was sent flying in the air. It was a hit and run because the car did not stop speeding, leaving your mom falling to the ground and bleeding. If not for the people on the surroundings, your mom..." Father did not manage to say it as he burst out in tears on the other side of the line. I clench my fist as I imagine mother helpless on the road with the car speeding away. The f*cking driver, I would be ready to kill if I ever knew he or she is the one who crashed and almost killed my mother. "How much is the money needed for Mother''s operation? I will be visiting there as soon as possible," "No, you just need to stay there in Tokyo and continue your studies. Don''t worry about us here and we will manage. You shouldn''t trouble yourself too much. (Sir, your wife can now be visited.) Alright, I will be visiting. Manato, just focus and stop thinking about us. You had a ss next month. You should focus on that instead, I will hang up now," after that, the beep of the phone resounds on the other side. I sighed and shook my head. As usual, Father is so secretive just like in the past timeline. If not for their neighbors, I would not be able to know their current state in the past. I would have managed to save them from the trouble. I sat down to my bed and began circting my magic inside my body and tried to strengthen all of the parts in my body and help my parents out in this predicament. Since money is going to be a necessity right now, I had to grind for gold and the best one to do that is to go to the dungeon and solo clear the ce. That way, I can monopolize all the gold and equipment. ... After cooking lunch and eating, I did not bother going out and decided to log back to the game. The more time I waste, the more severe it would be the problem of Father and Mother. I don''t want to have my parents go to a loan shark and ask for a huge amount of money. I decided to put money as the first goal this time around. What is my purpose in returning in time if I still fail to save my parents? "Log-in. Establish Connection!" ... After waking up, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon out. There are also different kinds of weapons on my inventory that I pulled out from Lina''s inventory for the sake of amalgamation of the Versatile Weapon. I am still unsure about the changes that the Versatile Weapon will go once I used all of the weapons to get devoured. I checked first the stat of my Versatile Weapon to double-check the growth it will getter once the devouring process is done. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 0 [Exp: 50/100] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +12 AGI: +10 DEX: +12 END: +10 INT: +10 Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: None Laying down all the weapons, I did not hesitate to let them get devoured by the weapon. I held the Versatile weapon and pointed it to all of the weapons. "Devour!" As soon as I said that, the Versatile Weapon suddenly drooled and the ck-red shadow of the sword reappeared and with one fell swoop, devoured all the weapon without leaving a single piece behind. The Versatile Weapon shook a bit before it convulses as a strong amount of energy seems to be sucked in towards the weapon. I had to hold it with two hands just to avoid it from getting away from my grasp. Good thing it didn''tst too long. The weapon became still after that and it had changed its form of a weapon with engravings of red marks and a few runes are now present on the hilt. Aside from that, nothing else. I did not check the attributes of the weapons I let the weapon devoured because I am more focused on the result. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 2 [Exp: 121/1000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +20 AGI: +15 DEX: +21 END: +18 INT: +19 Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: None A new skill has been unlocked huh, that wille in handy in mobs. I will get to earn an HP and heal bit by bit if I am wounded. Not bad. The stats had also grown a bit which is nice too. Although the weapon had grown tremendously and it had risen to level 2, I am not happy too much. With my mother''s problem I am facing today, I had to earn a tremendous amount of gold and exchange it to real money which would be a hard and treacherous road. I wanted to get stronger as soon as possible but I can''t just abandon my parents. I had to do something as soon as possible. A possible way to earn money in a short amount of time except the game. Then, I remembered the Guild Tokens... The Guild Tokens are widely coveted by users to build their guild and present them to headquarters. Selling them into the auction would be sufficient enough. I have no use of them anyway and guilds are a nuisance enough. I have a different thing that I am nning than making a guild, which is much more proficient and much more easy to trust. However, that would just be in the future. First is to go to the Headquarters, take the quest to open the dungeon and earn money. After shaking the weapon a bit, I checked my stats once again. Since there are changes due to the stat raise of Versatile Weapon, there would be changes bound to happen. Name: deheart Level 21 EXP: 150,730/175,000 HP: 2180/2180 MP: 1600/1600 Attributes: STR: Poor [ap bar: 8/150] AGI: Poor [ap bar: 5/150] DEX: Poor [ap bar: 3/150] END: Poor [ap bar: 8/150] INT: Poor [ap bar: 11/150] AP left to spend: 0 Title: Memento Mori Skills: Click to Open the Skill Trees SP left to spend: 148 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Body: Beginner Pants Shoes: Beginner Boots Gloves: Beginner Gloves Ne: Copper Ne Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon Aside from the small growth of my HP and MP, and a few stat growth, nothing else changed. Quite a small one. I sighed and stood up. I had to grind for money. Since yers have yet to get past the Gate Guardian, I would just wait for a bit and just go to unlock the dungeon. I left the inn without Lina. She would be sleeping at the moment and I don''t n to disturb her yet. This is my own problem, I can handle it alone. No one will be able to help me and no one dares to stand in my way for this. For my mother, I will do everything to save her life. And for the person responsible for my mother''s hit and run ident, just you wait, I will be asking for a repayment soon. Just you wait... Chapter 33 - Headquarters I arrived in front of the Headquarters. This Headquarters is the Main Branch in the Resurgia Continent and one of thergest Headquarters in the game. The Headquarters Building is much bigger and grander than the castle of the Capital itself which makes this ce the Castle of Capital since the main castle pales inparison to the Headquarters. The Headquarters is the ce in the game that would get crowded as soon as yers managed to reach the Capital which would be soon. And if I want to continue my n and earn money as soon as possible, I had to take my chances here immediately. This ce exists for the sake of Adventurers and Heroes alike to form their alliances, subjugate monsters, and making guilds. This ce is the sole ce that those transactions ur, which includes the opening of Dungeons. Dungeons are simr to the dungeons in online games in RPG games inputers where there are mobs and treasures inside. Strategy and teamwork are usually necessary and as always, dungeons are the ce where bosses are staying. Unlike field bosses that spawn for limited time or events time only, Dungeon bosses always appear on the very end of the dungeon. Beating the boss yields money and treasure which many yers wanted to have. The Headquarters is not crowded at the moment because the yers are not yet able to pass through the Gate Guardian yet. Only NPC warriors looking for quests to fulfill are there for now which is a bit nice pace of changepared to what I always see in the past timeline where conflict and chaos are always present. I am already aware of which NPC is handling the quests to open the Dungeons. Walking in the counters, I approached a girl wearing the blue and white blouse uniform of Female Headquarters worker and a beret of white and blue is sitting on the counter and currently reading papers and stuff. She has sses in her eyes and her hair is currently braided on both sides which makes her look like the typical counter nerd girl. This girl is the one handling the dungeon quests, Simona. "Umm, excuse me," I sat down the chair opposite to the counter and grab her attention by speaking first. "Oh, someone is here. What can I help you with?" Simona asked. "I want to look for Simona. I heard she is the one who should I call if I want to ask for passes for the dungeon," I said to make her get to introduce herself. "Well, you are looking at the one and only Simona of the headquarters. It''s true that I am the one you need to find if you want to get a pass to unlock and enter the dungeons. However, we are strict here and we don''t allow guys like you to partake in solo ventures unless you are in a team. Where are your party members? I need a total of three guys to tally up and make the pass," Simona quickly mentioned the party members in which I don''t have. "None." "Pardon?" Simona looked at me with a bit shocked looked on her face while adjusting her sses and leaning a bit to hear what I am saying. "I said I have no party members. I am nning to go on solo." When Simona heard that, she was taken aback and did not know what to do. She tapped her finger on the counter before she once again started speaking. "I can''t allow to release a pass on you. This matter is dangerous." "You didn''t even ask which dungeon I am nning to register with pass anyway." "I don''t need to. It''s a clear rule and we can''t easily disobey it. We don''t want precious lives to disappear just because we allowed to give a pass to someone who is not capable or just utterly full of themselves. We want to avoid casualty in the minimum so please, if you want to ess the quest of getting the pass, then, please find another set of party members." "I don''t need them and I don''t n to go with party members. I can handle it alone." "Still..." "Issue me a quest which allows me to get the pass for the Cave of Purgatory. I can handle myself I will show you." Simona did not expect me to say those words. Well, I already made a move to hastily trigger the quest because I don''t want to waste time anymore. Simona sighed. "You were a hasty individual you know that? Well, I have no choice. If you want to get the pass even in solo then I will issue this quest to you. Don''t me me if you undergo a troublesome situation alright?" Simona warned before a panel of quest appeared in my interface. "Proving Strength" Type: Hidden Quest Info: Simona gave you a chance to get a pass for a dungeon despite going in solo which should be against the rules of the Headquarters. However, due to your unyielding spirit, she gave up and assigned you to a battle that gives you the right to obtain a pass. Of course, it''s not that simple. Obtain the Moss Shell of Moss-Ind Turtle, Poison Sac of the Green Spider Queen and Nose Ring from the Berserk Minotaur. Do this in solo and avoid asking help even with NPCs. Requirements: Moss Shell obtained: 0/1 Poison Sac obtained: 0/1 Nose Ring obtained: 0/1 Restriction: Must be on Solo. Getting help of any sort would result in Quest Failure. Buying the material would also result in Quest Failure. Difficulty: Very Hard Level Requirement: ??? Rewards: ??? Do you want to ept the quest? This quest cannot be triggered again if you decline or failed on it. Yes/No Looks like the rumors in the past were right. You can still get a pass even in solo and the quest for that is one heck of a hard one but with also ridiculous rewards if you really did manage toplete it. Also, the three monster targets are also my targets. These monsters are field Bosses! Unlike Dungeon Bosses, Field Bosses are one of the hardest to get the chance of killing. It''s not because it''s hard to kill but due to the rarity of times you can encounter it alive. Most of the time, once a yer spotted the boss in the field, the others would also swarm and kill the monster causing it to be a bit rare if you see one. The quest is very hard too, but since I am still the only person in the Capital, I can get the materials no problem. However, my only enemy this time is time itself. If I want to get the materials without being overtaken from other yers who might manage to get in the Capital vicinity, I have to hurry and deal with enemies as soon as possible. I clicked yes and nodded. "I will be back after gathering the materials," before I walk away. Simona was left on her counter still a bit stunned on what I am currently going to do. Chapter 34 - Green Spider Queen (1) [yer has discovered Spider''s Lair] The air is pungent of unknown smell. The ce is also full of cobwebs and bones on the ground. I am not surprised because the ce is the natural territory of the spiders. Newbie yers would have trouble grinding here because this ce is crawling with spiders and they always have the chance to get inflicted in poison whenever they attack. I am aware of the danger but I am not worried because I already learned one of the skills of the Cleric that deals with special conditions like [Poison]. [Dispel] 1st Tier Cooldown: 60 seconds Mana Cost: 150 MP Info: Removes [Poison], [Paralysis], [Burn], [Blind], and [Sleep] Special Conditions. Level it up to remove more Special Conditions. Note: If removing things like that in real life happens, hospitals might be no longer needed. I agree with the note. And although the skill [Dispel] can already remove lots of Special Conditions, it''s not yet the very limit of the skill. Once it''s upgraded, I can remove more Special Conditions like [Petrify] and [Seal]. I don''t need to remove most of those kinds in the early game so I am not in a rush to upgrade this skill though. I did not bother walking too noisily in this ce because I don''t want the spiders to get attracted to my location which is pretty troublesome due to the abilities of the spiders to quickly horde a yer in just a matter of seconds. I made extra care of not stepping on any cobwebs because the spiders will also be triggered to rush to me if I did. My target is the Green Spider Queen which is an area boss. I don''t want to waste too much energy if I am going to fight against an area boss in solo. I know the power of this monster so I am not going to take it lightly even if my level is higher than that monster since it should be an area boss of level 10. I saw a yer in level 20 get killed by this monster. Luckily, my footsteps are already silent and the monsters did not bother with my presence too much which is good for me. In no time, I already arrived on itsir. [Warning: You are entering a dangerous ce. Enter at your own risk. Danger Level: 2 STARS] I disregard the warning and continue to walk forward their. Soon, the figure of the boss appeared on my vision. "It''s been a while, my queen." The Green Spider Queen stood up and it revealed it''s humongous stature. Its body is half woman on the head till it''s waist and half spider in its bottom half which makes it a bit weird looking in my opinion. Although this monster has a humanoid upper body, unlike other humanoid monsters in the game, this one can''t speak and has only a consciousness of a monster. I draw out my weapon and ready myself for a strike. I scanned first its HP to make sure that this boss has the same HP in the past timeline. [Green Spider Queen] Area Boss Level 10 HP: 500,000/500,000 Attribute: Insect, Humanoid, Poison I did not bother with whoever gets the first strike. I only care about the winner in the end. Seeing that I did not bother to go and give a strike, the Green Spider Queen shoots out its web towards me. The web shot out too slow for me that I can see it''s trajectory. I rolled away and held my hand out and aimed it to the boss. "[Basic Fireball]!" After shooting out, I changed the Versatile Weapon into a gun and after the [Basic Fireball] shot out from my hands, I followed it with bullets from the gun. BANG BANG BANG BANG! The Green Spider Queen wailed in pain as my attacks hit its humongous body. It quickly followed an AOE attack. It started conjuring a cloud above its head. I recognized the attack immediately. It''s the Acid Rain which inflicts continuous damage for 30 seconds and has a 70% chance of getting the [Poison] Special Condition. "F*ck, it''s already starting to show its power this early?!" but I did not panic. I started running behind the boss to avoid the AOE attack that it''s nning to cast. The main weakness of the boss'' AOE''s range is that it made the back of the boss safe from the attack. My problem is that it''s going to keep on moving if it noticed someone is hiding on its butt. "Roar!" The boss seems offended that I am hiding on its butt but I don''t care. It''s not even a proper woman if you look at it carefully. The boss started moving. Of course, I did not go idle and also followed the boss'' butt without stopping. After a minute of charging the huge dark clouds above its head, it stopped moving and released the Acid rain immediately. The surrounding area started melting. Since the boss is currently immobile while releasing the rain, I did not bother being nice. "[Berserk]!" My whole body started getting red and my strength is climbing more and more but I also felt that my defense is dwindling thin too. Without wasting time, I change Versatile Weapon into an Ax. Holding the ax with a strong grip, I swing it down to the butt of the boss. -10,000! Critical! -9,200! ... My damage is greatly amplified with my Berserk State. Within a small timespan, I managed to chip off 100,000 HP on the boss. My Berserk State and my level made a lot of nice help for chipping the health of this boss. The boss did not remain in its immobile state and struck down the ground hard. Spikes started appearing on the ground and since I just move to the side when I notice the spikes starting to appear near my foot. But I underestimated the size of the spike and it managed to graze my arm causing me damage too. -2000! -Inflicted [Poison]! You will lose 10 HP per second! Drink an Antidote! That was almost AlL my HP! Due to my Berserk State, my attack might have increased a lot but it reduces my defenses a lot. So if I am not in Berserk State, I would not receive this much damage in the first ce! Another strike and I am dead! What is more, I am inflicted with [Poison]! "[Heal]! [Dispel]!" My HP might have healed with 100 HP after the heal but it''s not enough. I have to wait a minute and 30 seconds for the [Heal] skill to finish its cooldown. My Hp is not yet able to heal over time with 1HP because my training with it is not yet able to activate that buff. I have to deal with it for now and increase my chances of Healing 1HP per second. The Berserk State did notst too long and after my Hp healed after casting [Heal], the time the [Berserk] ended arrived too. My Defense Value is back to normal again. The Green Spider Queen spat out poison in my direction. I don''t want to bother dying this way and I might fail the quest if I died. Due to this, I decided to use my usual ss which is the Magic Knight. Since I have been one almost all my life, the mastery of that ss is normal. The Green Spider Queen is seeing the critical levels of my HP so it decided to unleash its power harshly. It started shooting Poison out like a Gatling Gun. The way it shoots out poison is very fast that I have to sprint madly too. "[Silent Sprint]! [Breathless Breathing]!" I started running madly. I don''t care if I have to dash around and drag the battle too long, as long as my HP doesn''t hit zero, I have a chance. "[ming Sword]!" It''s now or never. Kill it or die here. Chapter 35 - Green Spider Queen (2) The boss is quite eager to kill me. It made a continuous strike by spitting out poison in bullet speed towards my direction. I am not tired enough to stop running but if this drags on, the boss will call itsckeys and I would need to kill them first before I can strike the queen. Usually, I am not having trouble killing the Green Spider Queen in the past timeline. It was due to the fact that their is open for the public and any yers can strike and kill this monster. Of course, I have participated in killing an Area Boss and most of the time, I can focus all my attacks on the boss without bothering with its attacks because there is always a tanker to deal with the damage and kite the boss around, giving the attacker chance to kill the boss without much problem. But since I am working alone, I had to deal with this monster alone. Besides, if I killed this monster with apanion or a yer, I can''tplete the quest. Good thing, the boss stopped the attacks. But I know that it only has a small allowance. I had to take the chance and attack this guy and chip off the HP of this enemy as fast as possible. "I hope you stay in ce my queen, I can''t properly take the measurements of your body if you keep on moving like this you know?" I said to the boss. Of course, the boss did not like what I said and stomped its long hairy legs of a spider. shing hard, the boss managed to feel the heat of my sword and it growled in pain after I strike it out. -4,700! Since the Berserk State is already done, my damage fell abruptly causing me to only attack with 4,000 to 5,000 damage. But that is already plentiful to me. I don''t mind having to kill this monster with this amount of damage every hit. But I also know that the boss won''t be so kind enough to stay put and allow me to hit its body as much as I like without retaliating. The boss howled and stomped its hairy legs into the ground. It''s about to use its spike skill that almost killed me in one shot! "I won''t let you! [Earth Fissure]!" If the boss is using the ground to initiate an attack, I will also use the ground to stop the attack. And from my guess, the [Earth Fissure] is much stronger than the Spikes skill of the boss because the boss halted and its attacks were also interrupted. Did I managed to stun the boss? Anyway, I had to quickly attack this guy. "[Shocking Lightning]! [Basic Fireball]!" The attacks managed to hit the boss without a problem. I also noticed that the skill [Heal]''s cooldown is already over. "[Heal]!" With that, my HP managed to reach back to 1000 which will be good enough tost as long as I don''t get to be hit by any debuffs and any strong attacks with damage over time. I hate those kinds of things the most if they hit me hard. The Green Spider Queen once again recovered and roared. I changed my weapon into a Hook and Chain. Since this weapon can allow me to pull myself towards the boss. It''s like Pudge but in reverse style. I throw the weapon and attach it before I allowed myself to get carried away with the hook to close my gap with the boss. The boss did not get to react when I got close. With only a few centimeters on the boss, time to deal with this monster. I know this style is something I used against the Gate Guardian but if I want to finish this monster down, I had to kill this monster via this method. I changed my weapon back to the Magic Sword and slide underneath the abdomen of the boss. ording to the forums, the softest part of the Green Spider Queen is under its abdomen. Striking it would be really lethal and if you want to perform an instant kill, just strike this ce and use your strongest skill. "Oryaaaaa!" With a cry, I stab the sword to the abdomen of the Green Spider Queen. Green liquid started pouring out of it''s wound. I don''t want to take a bath with a green liquid full of nasty guts of a monster. I am not that mad to do that. I made a sliding strike on its abdomen and caused a very big wound on it. I held my sword hard before casting the skill. But this time, I did not use the [Earth Fissure] skill. There are other ways to deal with damage to this boss. And since it almost killed me with one strike, I shall show this boss who is much cooler from the two of us. "It''s nice to meet you my queen, but I have matters to attend to. This is my gift for you, an Eternal Winter! [Ice Prison]!" I made sure that the attack will be produced on the sword. As soon as I shouted the skill, the ice started to freeze the whole body of the boss. It''s expression started to get contorted in pain before it became an affixed expression. It didn''t take long before the announcement urred. -Green Spider Queen sessfully killed. - Poison Sac(Quest Item) obtained. -Spider Eyes x8 obtained -Poison Jaws x1 obtained. -Spear of Acid obtained -Got 2000 EXP(Additional 1000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Lower EXP gain due to the yer having high level)(Title Effects activated, 3000 EXP acquired) -Got 100 Magic Knight SP, 100 Magician SP, 100 Cleric SP, 100 Berserker SP, 100 Ninja SP, 100 Alchemist SP. -Got 10 AP for killing an Area Boss Another announcement appeared on my interface. "[You sessfully killed an Area Boss! This is the first time the Area boss is killed in the whole world. Do you want to announce to the world your achievement? Your name will be recorded in our rankings! Declining will forfeit the announcement but will retain the rewards] ept/Decline I have no intention to build up my public fame because I have a much better n and besides, I don''t want to attract attention while I was gathering money. I already know the downside of bing famous and I have learned from that. I won''t do it again. I pressed Decline. "[You declined the public announcement. You will receive a Unique Title: Secret Hero! +100 Fame and +1000 Reputation to Resurgia''s Capital''s residents!] Another secret title? I did not hear this one. Maybe because I did not manage to decline any kind of announcement simr to this in the past? Maybe so. What made me a bit ted is the +1000 reputation to Resurgia''s Capital. This will allow me to get enough purchases cheap. I should just buy a few potions since I can''t always predict all of the oues of the battle. If I ever run into trouble just like earlier, I might not be able to survive if I have no recovery items. I was just organizing my bag when my interface once again opened. "[Your egg is starting to hatch. Please take the egg out and be ready for the hatchling to wee the world.]" Chapter 36 - New Hatchling "[Your egg is starting to hatch. Please take the egg out and be ready for the hatchling to wee the world.]" The system made me surprised. I almost forgot that I have the egg with me. I was too preupied with everything concerning my mother. The egg I got from the Monster Trader, now that I think about it is something I already thought to be a weak monster pet. Since this did not happen in the past timeline, I don''t expect anything. But a normal weak monster can be strong once it levels up. I opened the Pet Interface and took out the egg incubator containing the egg with utmost care. One wrong move and this egg would never hatch. The egg is moving and seems to be ready to emerge out of its eggshell. I am not sure what monster hatch in this egg but if I remember right, egg gachas like this always give out a horse, pony, or a dog. Though it looks weird for animals like horses and dogs toe out of an egg, it''s what the Egg Gachas being designed. I have no idea with them because I never tried egg gachas. I just tried on a whim with it though. After a few moments, the eggshell started to crack and glow which made me wonder in excitement. In lotteries, it''s either you get a weak monster or get a very strong monster from this egg gacha. In a few moments, the egg fully cracked out and the creature inside emerged. It was a monster that looked like an eagle but with a lion''s body. I checked the name of the creature that hatched and opened my eyes wide. "Name: Not yet named Species: Gryphon Level: 0 Tier: Legendary Status: Newborn(Happy)(Note: Newborns cannot fight yet. They can''t earn exp too in Newborn state. They need to be 10 days old to get exp) HP:5000/5000 MP: 3000/3000 Stats: STR: 99 AGI: 99 DEX: 99 END: 99 INT: 99 Skills: Level 0: Air Wing: Conjures magical wings out of mana that summons gusts of wind. Enemies in a 100-meter radius get 500-1500 HP damage. The further the enemy is, the lesser the damage dealt. Cooldown: 10 minutes Skills: Locked (Level 10) Info: Gryphons are mystical creatures that soar the skies that said to be a creature with head, talons, and wings of an eagle with a lion''s body. Riding on one of these creatures would make you one of the lucky people to ride on one. Owner: deheart Did I just hit a jackpot this time?! A griffin?! Damn! Who would have thought I would get a pet, mount, and flying mount all in one? This Gryphon is only avable in taming and if I remember right, Gryphon is a level 100 Wild Boss that appears every Moonsoon Season in the game. I am in luck! I opened the interface of renaming the pet and change it to Leona. My eyes fell into the stats and I did not expect that Leona''s stats are all 99. Although pets'' stats are not simr to yers, as long as they have arge number of numbers on each stats, it''s very clear that they have strong stats. For Leona to have 99 stats without leveling yet, it''s something only legendary pets can get. ording to the forums in the past, newborn pets need to be outside for 10 days straight and cannot be recalled yet unless they pass the 10-day mark. During that time period, they would either eat or sleep so don''t expect them to fight so soon for you. Leona ps her tiny wings andnded straight to my head and rubbed itself to my hair. From the looks of it, I am being imprinted as the parent which is something most animals do to the first creature they saw first. Although Leona can''t help yet, I am already happy enough to get Leona. I had to train Leona to act as my personal mount andter,panions in battle. It would be a good thing to have a pet to watch your back whenever trouble arises. Leona looked like a small helpless chick to me but with her body of a lion, I am wondering if I call it a chick or a cub. ¡­ The hatching egg event went over so soon but I am not disappointed by the result. If I want to earn money as soon as possible, I need apanion that didn''t care about money and Leona is perfect for that role because of her as an NPC and also because she is strong enough to help me beat bosses and gain money as soon as possible. With the [Poison Sac] already in my possession, I only need to get the [Moss Shell] and [Nose Ring] toplete the quest. [Moss Shell] involves an underwater boss so I have to skip on that for now and I will have to deal with thetter one. [Nose Ring] which from the word itself, is an item that can be obtained by pulling the ring of the Minotaur''s nose ring. Of course, this [Nose Ring] is something only bosses have. They don''t get dropped from normal monsters so this item is something that you can only obtain from a boss. After confirming everything, I departed from the ce and continue my steps to go to the next boss. ¡­ [yer has discovered an area: Minotaur''s Lane] An expanse of green grass is sprawled out of the ce and the greenery is something only the unpolluted Earth can replicate. Though the meadow looks beautiful, it doesn''t mean it''s peaceful. A quick look and you will see that the area is full of monsters that look like a humanoid bull. [Lesser Minotaur] Level 12 HP: 1000/1000 Attribute: Humanoid/ Beast These monsters are much weaker than the spiders. They can only be equipped with crude stone hammers that can barely be used for attacking. Well, they are still the lesser minotaurs. There is a much bigger one. [Greater Minotaur] Level 15 HP: 3000/3000 Attribute: Humanoid/ Beast This time, these Minotaurs are much tougher than the lesser ones. They are also well equipped since they wear leather vests and equipped with Iron Hammers. They also wear helmets that make them look like Viking helmets. Still, they are not my target, although they have the Minotaur on their names, they are not the one I am looking for. In the Spider''s Lair, I can quickly avoidbat, here, you can''t and will be spotted immediately. The Minotaurs might be burly but their eyes and ears are much more sensitive especially the hooves of these creatures. Only a few meters from them and they will immediately notice and attract their aggro. If I want to find the enemy I am looking for, clearing the whole Minotaur''s Lane will be my only choice. Chapter 37 - Colossal Berserk Minotaur -2000! -Lesser Minotaur sessfully killed. -Got 100 Exp(Title Effects activated, 100 Exp acquired) -1 copper coin received. -Got Crude Hammer I got a weapon this time. Checking on it, it is simr to its name. Very crude. [Crude Hammer] Type: Hammer Equipment Tier: Normal Tier Equippable at level 12 Equippable by: Berserker and Versatile Stats: STR: 20 AGI: -20 Note: A very crude weapon. Useful only in the first swing, after that, it''s entirely useless. Durability: 1/1 The [Crude Hammer] is strong but it''s a downside is that it deducts AGI by 20 and it onlysts for one swing which makes me wonder how the Lesser Minotaurs are able to deal damage continuously with this crude weapon. I stashed it to my bag. I will use it as forging materialter on. After that, I walked away as I search for the Boss. Unlike most Field Bosses who stay in their ces, this boss is quite hard to pinpoint because of the habit of this boss to walk around the ce so if you want to find the boss, you need to look for it around the ce. I spotted a [Greater Minotaur] in the distance that has not seen me yet. Before it can even spot me, I made a preemptive attack on the monster using the Hook and Chain version of Versatile Weapon. Thunk! -500 The damage was blocked by the [Greater Minotaur] easily but with my high level and high STR, high and imprable defense by lower leveled monsters is not enough to stop me. I pull myself closer to the [Greater Minotaur] and quickly changed into an ax. With the momentum of me getting closer to the monster, the strength backed up with my swing is strong enough against the monster to deny the defense. BANG! -5000! Critical! -Greater Minotaur sessfully killed. -Got 500 Exp(Title Effects activated, 500 Exp acquired) Meh, another mediocre reward. I disappointedly looked on the other side. The monsters in Minotaur''sne are either too weak or just in that they don''t really need to be killed via skills because it''s just overkill for them. Basic hits are fine for them. Their rewards are also boring and they barely drop 1 copper. All I can say is that these monsters'' drops are almost useless, except the money and the experience which can slightly help me though only a little bit. I almost cleared the whole field of minotaurs and their respawn rate is too slow, however, I have not seen the boss that I am looking for. I usually see the boss easily in the past timeline. Do I have to trigger something to allow the boss to appear here in the field? Then, before I can even scratch my head, I felt a strong tremor that caused me to almost get stumbled to the ground. "That must be the big guy! Walking a few more distance, the rumblings on the ground started to get stronger. This is only the sign that you are getting near the boss you are looking for. If the rumblings are almost enough to cause you to jump, then the boss is just nearby on your location. Readying the weapon, my eyes quickly scanned the surroundings for the boss. Anytime now, this monster will appear and will try tearing down the whole ce once it spotted me. I can feel the rumblings getting near. Leona is still floating near me and all of a sudden, it shrieked and quickly flew to my back to hide. The enemy is spotted already. It''s humongous frame blocked the whole sunlight which is already something I am used seeing. A buffalo looking giant, a medium-sized ring on its nose and its hair is being tied down to a braided form. It wears armor but not a metal made one but leather made. It has two red horns protruding on its head with its red hair. Its big eyes is white and his every breath releases smoke every inhale and exhale like it was currently using a cigar. It''s carrying a metal made spiked club that looks menacing and painful if itnds somewhere in your body. Although it''s upper and lower body is covered with armor, it''s feet is not. Only the hooves are left. [Colossal Berserk Minotaur] Area Boss Level 15 HP: 100,000/100,000 Type: Humanoid Giant, Beast I grinned. It''s finally here! "[Basic Fireball]!" I know that the spell is weak but it''s to provoke the boss. I wanted to make sure that it will get its attention fully on me. The boss is a colossal monster, almost 9 to 10 feet. But even with its size, it''s not something that cannot be killed, instead, in my opinion, it''s pretty weak which makes it an enemy easily getting killed. Of course, I am not saying that any yer can kill this with solo. Although it has low defenses, it has a tremendous attack power that can kill a level 20 in two hits. This guy is pretty neat in attack power which would prove to be a headache for those yers who has small defense value in their characters. "ROOOOOAAAAAAR!" The Colossal Berserk Minotaur roared and stomped its hooves to the ground before charging mindlessly to my direction. I already anticipated the attack and did a temporary barrier. "[Ice Prison]!" After casting that, I rolled away and quickly give a repeated sh from the Versatile Weapon''s Magic Sword form on its feet. -1000 -950 -985 With my level higher than the boss, my attacks are much fatal. The Colossal Berserk Minotaur noticed me immediately causing it to raise the leg I was attacking and goes int the act of stomping me down. I rolled forward before attacking the other leg. The HP of the boss quickly fell half in a few minutes of the sh. Levels make the battle''s tide go easier. Of course, I had to dodge the blows of the boss. Due to its size, it has a hard time striking me down that is quite quick and nimble whenever it attacks. One reason I decided to clear the whole ce with the minotaurs is due to one of the special skills that the boss has. The Colossal Berserk Minotaur put down its spiked club and roar loudly that it reverberated to the whole surroundings. The trees shook and the grasses sway. This is skill is called "[Call of the Wild]" which has an effect to call surrounding Minotaurs to do help him with it''s bidding. This skill is rather dangerous if you didn''t clear out the ce. Unfortunately for the boss, the Minotaurs are all wiped out earlier so that skill is just useless. The Colossal Berserk Minotaur looked around and scratched its head. Howe no one arrives by my call? The boss once again roared loudly but not a single minotaur came. I grinned looking at the boss that is very helpless. While he was doing his skill earlier, I already attacked the boss repeatedly and reduced it''s HP to 2000 HP. Only a few more attacks left and the boss will die. Before the boss could activate its dying skill, I activated my ming Sword and strike the boss in a swift manner. And in the final attack, I changed my weapon into a spear and as the boss looked in my direction, his eyes greet the tip of my spear. Chapter 38 - Their Arrival FWOOOO~ The air got pierced through and the speed of the spear that I have thrown made a "fwoo" sound. The Colossal Berserk Minotaur did not get to have time to blink or dodge away. The spearnded to the right eye of the boss. ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRR! The minotaur roared in pain as he dropped his weapon and clutching his bleeding eye with both his hands. I quickly recall the spear in my hands. It''s one of the passive of Pdins'' named [Spear Recall] which allowed Pdins to use spear as Javelins and recall them as they please. Unlike other passives, of other sses that are needed to be purchased, this one doesn''t need to get purchased at all. Also, Versatile ss is also able to use the passive so it''s quite convenient if your priority of using spears. That attack alone is not enough. But his fatal point is pretty unguarded which is his abdomen. I used to conduct several amounts of research and strategy on this guy in the past on how to defeat and kill him without suffering against too many attacksing from this boss. Soon, I found out that his abdomen is the very weak spot once when an Alchemist yer and a Berserker user managed to take down the boss and hit his abdomen. However, it gets hard after discovering the weakness of the guy because the boss would start covering his abdomen and would be having a hard time dealing with a decent amount of damage. And the main strategy is to blind his eyes. If you want to utilize an easy kill, blinding his two eyes would be viable but that only goes well with team battles. Blinding his two eyes do not end well for solo ying because the boss would start mming the whole ce, activating the skill, [Earth Tremors] that deals with a knockdown effect and huge amounts of damage and without any healers to back me up, I am going to fail. That is why I have to deal with the decisive strike right now. I changed my spear into a Magic Sword and run forward towards the boss who is still clutching his blinded eye. Every step is calcted and every movement of the boss is within my grasp. As soon as my momentum builds in my whole movement, it''s time to end the battle. Since the boss is much bigger, I still needed to climb on the guy and with my momentum from running built up, I used that force to give myself a lift. PU! I leap like I am wearing springs on both legs of mine allowing me to go high up until around the abdomen of the boss. The momentum is limited and it further limits the remaining power in it while I am up in the air, therefore, I had to make something that will allow me to move and lunge into the boss'' abdomen. I aimed my right hand on my back and gritted my teeth. This would take a bit of mastery. "[Basic Fireball!]" The force of the spell allowed me to move forward. This is enough for me to force myself forward and lunge. I put all of my force to the sword and it allowed me to pierce the abdomen like it was a piece of butter with my sword as the hot knife. Time to do the finishing touch. "[Earth Fissure!]" A strong wave of energy started building up on the inside of the abdomen of the Colossal Berserk Minotaur. It didn''t take me too long before the boss''s face twitch and blood started leaking out of his orifices. I detached myself from the boss and quickly activated all of the speed-enhancing skills I have in my arsenal. As soon as the boss started coughing, he knelt down into the ground and his remaining free hand clutches on his stomach. Before he can even roar, his whole body exploded. The gore would be too much if it is with a team fight but since I was alone, I can manage to see this scene without puking out. -Colossal Berserk Minotaur sessfully killed. -Nose Ring(Quest Item) obtained. -Bullhorn x2 Obtained -Broken Leather Armor Piece x9 obtained. -Rusty Iron Club obtained. -Got 2500 EXP(Additional 1000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Lower EXP gain due to the yer having high level)[Title Effects Activated, 3500 EXP acquired) -Got 100 Magic Knight SP, 100 Pdin SP, 100 Magician SP, 50 Ninja SP, 50 Cleric SP. -Got 10 AP for killing an Area Boss. I sat down into the grass and sighed. After the boss died and his guts sttered on the ground, it slowly disappeared after. I sighed in relief. One more left and I would be able to finish the quest. Just as I was resting, a notification appeared in my interface. "Several yers already arrived in the Capital. Since the number of people that appeared and entered the city meet the prerequisites, Auction Hall, Arena, and Tower of Challenge is now avable for use!" I was baffled. Exceeded the amount? Doesn''t that mean, around 100 people? Isn''t that too many? It has been a few days since the game started. These people should not be here yet. At least a few more weeks after the game''s opening but howe they are already here? Is this another change in reality that I am not expecting at all?! I quickly stood up and checked the people who entered the Capital since you can check who are the people who managed to enter first in the top 100 yers. My name is in there so this would also disy the names of the others. As soon as I check the list, I was stunned to see Harmless Sparrow on the list and a few yers that are obviously the core members of the guild that Harmless Sparrow is building in the future. I am able to see who is Harmless Sparrow in real-life and there is no wonder why she is strong. Its because she got the same equipment as me. And although she is a girl, she is one of the best yers in the game as a Magic Knight. She is quite good at it and she views me as one of herpetitors for bing the best Magic Knight yer in the game. Now that the yers are in for the ride, I am now in trouble as thest boss I am hunting might get interrupted and steal-killed by other yers. I have to hurry or else, I would miss the dungeon quest from Simona in which I am trying to avoid. Chapter 39 - Hasty Killing Wasting not a single second, I made my way to the Swan Lake located southwest to the Capital. It is the home of the level 20 monsters that are mostly swan species. But the only monster that did not belong to the swan category is the field boss. Of course, before you can fight the boss, you need first to make the turtle angry. The turtle is hidden in theke and most of the time, only it''s back is exposed to the surface. If you want to challenge this boss, you have to provoke this monster up. It would take a bit of time to defeat the boss because out of all the bosses I have faced today, the Moss-Ind Turtle has the most defense. The boss is very famous for Pdins and because the boss drops a good material for shield making and also drops a shield that ranges from Very Rare to Unique Rarity. But that is what I needed right now. I really need to kill this boss as soon as I can. [yer has discovered a new location: Swan Lake] I looked around the surroundings, scanning for any yers that might be a hindrance to my boss hunting. Luckily, this ce is deste from yers but full of monsters. Unlike most wild areas, the monsters around here neutral and as long as you won''t attack them, they won''t be attacking you either. This is a good thing for me because I wanted to go straight to the point instead of killing mobs first. As soon as I reach the edge of theke, I can see in the middle of theke that an ind covered in moss is currently showing. This ind won''t show any kind of stats because it would be scanned as an ind. But I don''t have much problem provoking this monster, only one of the sses can really provoke it on the early game and that would be the alchemist. My weapon changed into Hook and Chain in quick session. I whirled around the hook for quite a while as I pinpoint the shell opening of the ind. I circled on theke for quite a bit until I saw a dark spot on the water from what I can see on the surface. As soon as I found what I am looking for, I released the hook and chain into the dark spot of the water. As soon as the hook and chain reached the dark spot of the water, I grip the chain and with all strength on it, I poured it hard and pull the chain. I already expected that the turtle would be heavy but it''s just too much for me. The heaviness is just as heavy but this not too difficult for me. "[Berserk]!" My strength had risen exponentially, allowing me to move the ind with ease this time. The ind shook and before the chain gets out of the hole, the monster already appeared. "ROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRR!" [Warning: Swan Lake Guardian: Moss-Ind Turtle has been provoked! yers around the area need to gather and kill the guardian before it goes on a rampage!] Sh*t, this function was triggered! There is only a 1 in 500 chance to trigger that notification but f*ck, I am so lucky... [Swan Lake Guardian: Moss-Ind Turtle] Level 25 HP: 490,999/500,000 Attribute: Water, Beast I bet the nearby yers would immediately move here hearing a boss spawned. I am so screwed on this. But I can''t let other yers steal-kill or evennd a single hit to this monster at all or it would be a quest failure. For f*ck sake, I don''t want to do this but I have to deal as much damage as much as possible. With a quick swirl on my hook, I once again strike the turtle with this hook but this time, on the head of the turtle. After that, I retracted the chain, dragging me along with it towards the boss. As soon as my body propelled towards the boss, I quickly change my weapon into a Greataxe this time. With a quick spin in my body, I released a strong strike on the head of the boss. -2,000 What a crappy damage but I am not giving up. Since [Berserk] is still up in the game, I didn''t stop yet and raised my Greataxe once more to the boss like I was cutting a tree. Since the Greataxe version of the Versatile Weapon is weightless, the attacks are still as fast as the frequency of swinging a stick to the face of the boss. -2000 -2000 -2000 The damages are consistent two thousand but with just a little amount it won''t destroy this boss for quite a while. I remembered that this boss has a certain weakness that can be exploited and can be used to kill it as fast as possible but I don''t have the ess to that unfortunately because I rarely hunt this boss in the past timeline. I regretted that I never have enough time to check the info in killing this boss as fast as possible. It was really a curse that I managed to trigger the announcement as soon as I provoked the boss. The [Berserk] effect will onlyst for another 2 minutes but that is just a short amount of time and killing this huge *ss boss with that time limit is just not something I can do in a short amount of time. The boss submerged itself into the water as fast as possible and drag me along with the guy. I quickly activated [Breathless Breathing]. Aside from the effect of making the stamina infinite for 5 minutes, I canst underwater for 5 minutes too which is convenient for me that I managed to learn that skill first. The turtle submerged itself deeper into theke, with the intention to drown me. Of course, the turtle would need to wait for 5 minutes first before I die. I raised my Greataxe once more and hit the boss'' head once again. I may not be able tost for this guy''s attacks, I won''t be dying that easily. I transform the weapon into a magic sword once more. Although this would be risky to deal with, it is my only choice for now. I should have bought a few bombs to deal with damage against this monster but I doubt I would be able to do so. I hold the face of the boss with my hands and although this would also damage me, as long as the HP of the boss would be dealt with, I would be satisfied too. "[Shocking Lightning]!" BZZZZZT The turtle quickly shook as electricity started flowing. Of course, the turtle is not the only one suffering. My HP is steadily decreasing too. The turtle made a roar that caused my ears to get a bit of ringing. The turtle did not manage tost long underwater with the torture the turtle is getting, and it decided to return to the top of the shore. But before the turtle can even deal enough distance to the ground, I strike the Magic Sword into the neck of the turtle and before the turtle can reach the ce, I executed the attack. "[Earth Fissure]!" The turtle wailed underwater and shook. It started releasing blood on its eyes and mouth like how the Colossal Berserk Minotaur didst time. ''Please work!'' The HP of the boss rapidly fell and it didn''t take a few minutes before the whole body of the boss exploded and theke made a strong wave that made the bottom of theke visible for a minute. I look down at that time and I seemed to spot a shiny object down theke but with my distance and the distance of the object very far from each other, I can''t get a real clear view of it. But what made me happy is the notification. [Swan Lake Guardian: Moss-Ind Turtle has been sessfully killed] Chapter 40 - Blue Sky Guild -Swan Lake Guardian: Moss Ind Turtle has been sessfully killed! -Got 5000 EXP(Additional 2000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Additional 1000 EXP for killing a higher level enemy)(Title effects Activated, 8000 EXP gained) -10 gold coins received -Got Moss Shell (Quest Item). -Got Tainted Blue Shield -Got Turtle Meat x10 -Got 100 Magic Knight SP, 50 Ninja SP, 50 Alchemist SP, 100 Magician SP, 100 Berserker SP, 50 Swordsman SP. -Got 10 AP for killing an area boss. [Congrattions! Your level has risen from 21 to 22!] -Got 10 AP(Additional 3 AP due to title''s effect -Got 10 SP Oh? I didn''t expect to level up as soon as possible. Well, it is understandable because I have killed three Field Bosses straight and also killed a few mobs on the way, with the Memento Mori''s effect too, my level has risen. But enough of that, not too far away from the location where Inded, a bunch of yers that seem to be looking for the boss in the announcement. They are surveying the area for any sign of the boss. Before I can even move, one of the yers spotted me from afar. "Look. There is someone in here... wait, is that a wolf? But that guy seems human! Is that an NPC here?" the Gunslinger who spotted me said. One of the pdins in the group who seemed to manage to observe me a bit notice the green diamond above me. "No, that guy has a green indicator. That means he is a yer," the pdinmented. ''Crap... I shouldn''t have lingered here any longer...'' Without waiting for them to get closer, I quickly fled the area. These people would be trouble if they found out I killed the boss they are looking for. But while running in a certain direction. I bump into another yer. THUMP! Ugh, as soon as I fall down, I quickly made a backflip and sprinted to another direction! "Wait! Stop!" As if I have time to stop. I don''t even care whoever that person I bumped was. But I was certain that was not a man, because I bump into something soft. It was not a monster either because it has a human build and if I recall, the person shouted. So I am certain that it was a woman. Still, I have no time to get perverted ideas. I am an old man in the past timeline, I can''t keep on fantasizing young people even though I have returned to my young self! I sped up my running but I felt a hook and chain quickly entangles me. And before I knew it, I was pulled on by the yer who used that. But before the yer managed to get to close, I quickly pulled out my weapon and hastily changed it into a gun and fired. "What?!" the other yers who were spectating were astonished. Did they saw a gun earlier? Why did they remember that it was a sword before? I step out of the way and aimed the gun to the yer who pulled me with a Hook and Chain. Soon enough, a bunch of other yers gathered in the area. I can still run away but I can''t outrun everyone. They have assassins, and ninjas with them that excels in chasing yers, and apanied by Hunters and Druids, I wouldn''t be able to escape. "What the heck all of you want?" I looked at them with hostility though it''s not obvious on my face because I am wearing a wolf mask. "Why the heck are you running? It was like you don''t want to see other people at all!" one of the Samurai furrowed his eyebrows. "Did you do something you don''t want us to know?" one of the cleric asked. I did not answer any of their questions but remained vignt about their actions. I am not going to tell them any info for them. The others were still asking when one of the girls with Magic Knight armor and sword on her back approached me. I clicked my tongue. The person who approached me is none other than Harmless Sparrow. So in other words, these people gathered are all Harmless Sparrow''s soon to be guild members of Blue Sky. Harmless Sparrow is one of the best Magic Knight users in the game and used the Scarlet Knight profession for the Magic Knight. I only see her a couple of times and sometimes, she would even challenge me to spar between Magic Knights. I know that she was strong but we are always on par and not even able to know who will win because we are always on a tie. But now, it is a different story because I already changed ss. Harmless Sparrow looked at me with curiosity. "You seemed familiar but with your mask on the way, I don''t know who you are. Have we met before?" Although Harmless Sparrow is pretty, I am not interested in her even a little bit. She had a persistent attitude that I hated sometimes because it gets on my nerves every time she tried doing those repetitive things. "This is the first time that we have met and please excuse me, I still have urgent matters to do," I said to them. Harmless Sparrow smiled a bit but after a while, I saw her eyebrows furrow. "H-how?!" Harmless Sparrow was a bit stunned for some reason. Then, I realized what she was doing. "You bastard, you tried peeking to my status window without asking for my permission! That is invading privacy!" I shouted at her. Peeking on others'' stat windows without the permission of the owner is considered as a vition because it was not supposed to be done if the yer being peeked out does not agree to the other party looking at their windows. Luckily, I have a title that blocks those people who tried doing underhanded things. "I..." Harmless Sparrow is guilty. "You arrogant whelp! How dare you say that to our future guild leader!?" a Holy Knight appeared and pulls out his greatsword. "I can say what I want. And besides, she is the one who caused me to curse at her. She tried to peek at my stat window without asking!" I retorted. "Shut up. You should be proud that our gorgeous guild leader is willing to check your Status Window without you begging for her to do so. It is something that no one can get easily." "HA! I am not some sort of hobbyist who likes random people peeking at my personal ounts. If you want to, let your guild leader do that to you, without telling you, what will you feel?" "Of course I would be happy. Our guild leader initiated to check our status without us showing it to her," the holy knight answered. I facepalmed myself hearing this. Now that I remember, this is Shining Star, one of the top 10 Holy Knight yers in the game. He is famous for his shameless words that he usually spouts. I only heard only about him about his deeds of doing this and that in the past timeline and I did not expect that he would be really what they describe. "Tch, bunch of weird people, I still have things to do so I will be leaving." Shining Star stopped me immediately. "Before you go, have you spotted any big monsters around here?" "I''m sorry but I am just passing by. If you want, go search for that monster." "You are not here looking for the boss during the announcement?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "No, I am here for the quest. I am not interested in your hunt. I will leave you all in your hunt. Have a good day." And with that, I quickly fled from the scene before they notice the traces of battle earlier that I have done. Chapter 41 - Rewards I didn''t bother looking back. I made my way out and quickly returned to the Capital as soon as I can and goes back to the Headquarters. I sighed in relief when the Blue Sky guild no longer followed me. After a while, I look around the Headquarters. There are no yers yet around here. I bet, they haven''t checked this ce yet. And since they didn''t check this ce, my secret on opening a dungeon will remain as a secret for now. When the chair is vacant, I moved and sit down to the chair and faced Simona. "Oh, you are back so soon! How is it, did you get into a snag or something?" Simona asked, smirking. "No, I don''t think I run into a snag. Just a bit of trouble but not so serious. I managed toplete the quest you entrusted me with." Simona showed a look of surprise when I said that but she quickly recovers and smiled. "Show me the materials that you have gathered then," Simona said and pulls out a box under the table. I pull out the three items dropped by the bosses into the box one by one. And after doing so, I looked at Simona. Simona furrowed her eyebrows and inspected the materials one by one. Her eyebrows furrowed every time she inspects the materials. She would start nodding like she has learned something from the materials I brought. After a while, she put down the materials back to the box and nodded. "Seems like you are stating the truth. All of the materials are authentic and they are not shown to be from the market either. They are freshly dropped by the bosses I tasked you to kill. Not bad. Imend you with that." "Well, I don''t really need you tomend me or anything. I just wanted to have the pass to open the dungeon. "Hmm, in that case, you will be getting the key to the Dungeon of the Purgatorium. You can either choose which difficulty you want the dungeon to spawn. But I suggest you go to the first and familiarize yourself to the surroundings and enemies before going to the highest difficulty. It would be bad if you die inside a dungeon. Most of the time, you will lose all of your progress for the day and a few of your equipment." "I see, I will take note of that." "I marked the location of the dungeon. You can enter as you please on the dungeon but be careful as always, alright?" "No worries." Simona nodded and goes to the backroom before she gave me a key with bizarre design. I have not seen this item before but after reading the description, you would really know what it was really. No wonder I don''t have any idea what key this was until Simona stated it for me. "Thank you very much for the ess. I shall get going now." "Wait up kid, your reward is not enough or you want the reward that much only. What is your call kid?" Simona smiled? "A reward? I thought this is the reward. It is not the only reward I can get?" I asked her, pretending. "Of course, if we give you that only, it would be a very unfair trade and we wouldn''t do that at all. So please ept the reward. It is for you." And an interface appeared on my vision. -Proving Strength questplete! -Got 100 gold -Got 5 bottles of Red potions of Elixir -Got Raderay Ore x10 -Got Smelting Manuals Chapter I-IV -10000 EXP acquired(Title Effects activated, 10000 Exp received) -50 AP received. I was surprised to see so many rewards! This quest is so generous! The Red potion of elixir can cure your Hp to full and your special conditions like paralysis and poisons are treated by this potion. And there are 5 pieces of that. How lucky! The other rewards are also nice. Raderay ore is one of the hard ores in the game that can be used to craft armours. Besides the fact that they are sturdy and durable, they are light to wear that is why yers who gained one would immediately go to a cksmith to process the whole ores quickly. Thest one is the Smelting Book Chapter I-IV. yers with cksmith Ex-Job can benefit a lot on this book. This book can increase the knowledge of the yer reading this about smelting. The higher the understanding of the yer to the book, the higher the ability that can be learned after reading the book. And after using the book, it would be a good thing to be sold to other aspiring cksmiths too. It was really something to in sync with my n since I n to get enough knowledge for cksmithing as soon as possible. The exp and gold given are also good and the AP I receive are also a lot. Which means this would be a really good way for me to earn money and exchange it for real yen. All my efforts did not go to waste. Hard work always pays off for the people who worked a lot. I thanked Simona and pocketed all of the rewards. I had many items in my inventory and most of them are junk. This wouldter go to the stomach of my sword as they devour them. And I also have a few SP and AP not yet used. I think I would be using them as soon as possible. Also, I will be going to the auction house soon. The Guild Tokens would be something I would be using to be sold off as soon as possible. The money would cane rushing in if I make my cards yed right. Or else the problem would backfire to me. But I am not afraid. I have an NPCpanion and now a new Pet to help me in the battles. And although they are still weaker than me, I can manage to have them. I will lead them to victory and grow stronger to a ce where strength is the only thing that matters the most. Chapter 42 - Hungry I just arrived at the inn when I saw the time on my interface. 10:00 PM? Damn, it''s already evening. Well, I am hunting almost a day now so I am quite sure that it would take a while, but I did not expect it would be thiste. I have not eaten anything yet and I have yet to cook food either. Damn it, I didn''t expect this. Entering my room, I quickly log out of the game without checking on my stats. I have to bnce my game life and normal life or it will cause chaos. ... Once I opened my eyes, my room is really dark, not a single speck of light is present in my room. And... my stomach is rumbling. I wanted to eat something but I am currently tired of cooking all by myself. I have spare money so I guess I will be eating in the Night Market for now. Hope this would help me relieve my hunger. Of course, I didn''t forget to process my whole body''s power. But I find it hard to do anything due to the hunger I am feeling. I shake my head in dismay. Perhaps, only by filling this stomach of mine, I can process the bad feeling I keep on feeling right now. ... The streets of Tokyo are quite bustling despite the darkness in the night. Different kinds of people are walking here and there with different destinations. What pissed me off is the people I keep meeting. All of them are couples and most of them are showing affection that I find to be cringey. Might be because of the betrayal I have experienced, I am so bitter on other couples. I don''t mind these couples staring at me with weird looks whenever I re at them. I just don''t like it seeing them go lovey-dovey. After walking for quite some time, I saw a ramen stall on the streets. There are no customers here at the moment which makes me happy because I don''t have to wait in line but kind of lonely because besides the cook, no one else is eating aside from me. I sat on one of the stools and ordered. "One Special Ramen please." "Alright, how many bowls boy?" "Give me two, I am hungry." "Alright, wait for a while," the cook said. I waited for the ramen and while waiting, I pull out my phone and ess the forum of the Alternate World. Without me on the game, the forum is the ce to check the progress of the ce. The first thing that I have seen in the forum is the news about the Blue Sky guild that managed to break and reach the Capital first in the world. I was interested because I clearly entered the ce first. I did not expect these people really think that they have been the first guys who managed to enter the Capital. User 1: Looks like they managed to break the record again! The first was the Elengarde Game and now they are now making their names in Alternate World too! User 2: Indeed, these guys are one of the expert yers of the game. It can''t be changed at all. It is the truth. User 3: But I am wondering why I didn''t hear any kind of notification. They should be able to show a notification for breaking through the Capital first right? User 1: Now that you mention it, the notification did not show any kind of info about their achievement. User 2: Might be because they have hidden their achievement? User 4: I doubt it. I have known the Blue Sky guild for quite some time since the Elengarde game and they have announced everything they have achieved. This is the first time I have not heard any announcementing from them. User 1: Isn''t that strange? User 5: Guys, I have found something interesting! User 4: Interesting? User 5: Actually, my little brother is one of the guild members of Blue Sky. He said that there was actually no announcement that they are the first yers who arrived at the ce. That means that the Blue Sky guild is not the first people to break through the Capital. User 1: If that is the case, why I did not hear any announcements? User 3: Isn''t it obvious? The first yer who entered the Capital did not announce his or her arrival. That means Blue Sky is not the first! ... The discussions went on and on and although the conversation became really hot, I did not bother reading them more. "Special Ramen, first serving is here sir!" the cook said and slides the bowl of hot ramen to me. I nodded and grabbed the bowl. I don''t care about the discussions right now. The only thing I want right now is for my stomach to go full. The taste of the ramen still tastes good here. I can''t believe I can taste this food again. I should ask my friends to hang out with me if I get the chance. Now that I mention it, sses will start a week from now. My game time would be limited for quite some time but I don''t mind it, at least I will be meeting my dear friends that I lost in the past. Since I know their oue, I would do my best to detour them from that fate. And I will make sure that the dead-end future of my friends would never arrive in this timeline. I was busy devouring the food in my bowl when I heard a voice beside me. "I will order one Special Ramen." "How many bowls you want missy?" "A single bowl only, thank you," "Coming right up." I look at the person beside me who ordered a simr ramen order of mine and I was surprised to see this girl. Just what is the odds of meeting her here? The woman who got the tattoo is also eating ramen next to me, Rika Tsukinara, aka Harmless Sparrow! Chapter 43 - Wanna Join My Guild? This woman, why do I always cross paths with her always? Did she transformed as my tail without me knowing? Heck, she seemed to be my shadow already. She pops out of nowhere and I can''t seem to expect when or where she would appear. She already meet me twice in the real world and has messed up my ns in the game world... wait, is she my stalker? But that isn''t it. I am not so handsome to be chased by a beautiful girl like her. So, is it a coincidence? Howe she is eating in this ce even though she is a rich girl. She had yet to notice me so I decided to just eat silently. I still have a single bowl left and I am sure that sooner orter, she would notice my existence. I can''t just leave despite this because I want to eat more. I am still hungry... I slurp down the noodles calmly. From the looks of it, she has not discovered my identity yet in the game. It is not yet time for me to reveal my real identity in the real world to anyone until I get strong enough, and that includes Rika. However, she might be of use to me in terms of my money grinding. Since she has yet to gain Guild Tokens, I have no doubt that she would be happy enough to buy the token. As time goes by, Guild Tokens would be a bit easy to get so I have to make my move. Once I go back home, I will be visiting the Auction and sell the Guild Tokens. That way, I can get easy money to give to my mother''s operation. Rika looked beside her and quickly noticed my presence. She gasped when she saw me which is a bit of an exaggeration, I guess. My face is not that surprising. "Oh my, you are the one who came with me that time!" Rika eximed. I looked at her and tilted my head. "Do I know you by chance?" I asked dumbly. That way, she won''t be suspicious of me remembering her considering I ignored herst time. Rika seems surprised to my response but she didn''t respond on it in a negative way. "You know! That girlst time on thepany of the Reality Verse?" she said to me, smiling. I will be spouting lies for now I guess. "Sorry, I have no recollection on your face. I don''t really remember you." It was an awkward silence between us two and I don''t n to break that awkwardness at all. I may act like a dick right now but that is for the best. Rika sighed in disappointment but she is a person who never gives up easily. She still initiated a conversation with me which made me wonder why she is so eager in doing so. "Well, if you don''t know me at all, we can know each other, my name is Rika Tsukinara. I also t the game like you, what is your name?" I look at her in surprise. She really wants me to know her? Oh well, no harm done, I can introduce myself to her. "My name is Manato Tsukasa." "Oh, that is great! You are ying the game too, right? Since you also ordered the Reality Verse. Do you y alone or with your friends?" "I am ying in solo right now and I have no ns to y in a team for now. I might change my decisionter on but for now, I guess not. Why are you asking me that question?" I looked at her in confusion. Does that mean... "Oh, then are you nning to join a guild? There are lots of benefits in joining one you know, like meeting new friends-" "I don''t have any intention in making friends for now, so spare me with that talk," I said and slurp down thest bit of noodles in my bowl and put it on the counter. "The second bowl please." The cook nodded and prepared the second bowl without further ado and as soon as he was done, he put it on the counter and slide it softly on to my side."Here you go." "You are eating that much? Isn''t the specialbo, bigger than the normalbo?" Rika asked. "I am hungry. This is the normal amount of food I eat every day." Rika looked at the big bowl of food in my hands and the small bowl in her hands. She broke out in sweat seeing the amount of food entering my mouth in a fast manner. I slurp a bit of the noodles and gulp down the food in my mouth. "So? What about this guild that you are saying?" "Oh, you see, I am making my own guild in the game. Although it has not yet been formed because wecked the necessary item for guild making, it won''t be long before we acquire the necessary things needed for the game. Being in a guild has a lot of perks you know?" "Of course, I know," I said to her. Indeed, Guilds have good perks, especially for beginner yers. Like most online games inputer, the guilds formed in Alternate World also has perks besides the gathering of different people. yers under the name of a guild will be able to receive these perks. -yers in a guild will be able to ess Guild Quests that contains easy and nice quests that give out rewards. -Guilds can establish a hideout or base to use. Once the Guild reaches level 2 or 3, the guild base can also be converted into a castle. -A yer staying on a guild base for 2 hours even during the time the yer log-out, can gain a buff that gives +100 additional HP for 5 hours and doubles exp gain, item drop, and gold drop for the same duration. -Guilds can dere war to other guilds and can even conquer territories. Of course, aside from the first option, everything is essible in-game even in solo, in which no one knows yet except me. Still, I want to hear why she is bringing this up on me. "Then, let me ask you. Even though I don''t know if you are a good yer or not, will you join my guild?" Chapter 44 - Passives Join Blue Sky Guild? If I was the same guy in the past timeline, then I won''t hesitate to take the opportunity to grab it. However, now that I know what is going to happen and the benefits and perks of guilds, I already know what I will answer. "No thanks. I have no interest in being bind down by others even in the game. I want to be free so let me be on my own for now, alright?" Rika looked at me in a confused look. My rejection must havee in a bad time since I didn''t think twice about my response but I have to be blunt or else, she won''t stop asking me about it. "You should think more about it for a bit you know? It''s not that bad if you join one," Rika persuaded. "Thanks for the invitation, but I already made up my mind. Besides, I don''t really have any care in guilds at all," I said and drank all the contents of the bowl and put the chopsticks above the bowl and p my hands together. "Thanks for the food." I left immediately after doing so. I don''t want to hear the nagging of Rika for a while and if I keep on staying there for quite a while, I would be getting crazy listening to her exnations here and there. I already nned out everything in my mind and messing that n right now would just destroy the pathway my n has. I returned home by walking. I didn''t bother tomute, because I want to spot any bad people harassing others in the streets but man, it is not easy to find one. I might be crazy for asking to find trouble like this in the streets but I just wanted to know how strong I am and fighting against thugs or molesting guys are the best targets. But bad luck is on my side, finding any people in the streets like that is hard. I guess I should just stick on the training for now in the game rather than look for trouble here. Around 11:30 P.M, there are hardly lit up windows in the neighborhood. I guess they are asleep already. I arrived back home and locked the doors and windows to make sure no one is going to sneak inside. I also check the kitchen for any kinds of plugs left in the sockets. After making sure everything is alright, I returned to my room and trained my mana channeling in my body. Although it is a bit slow, it is progressing as expected for me. After that, I decided to log back in the game. As soon as I log back in, I found myself back in the game. Since I am free this time, I can check and distribute the AP and SP I have umted for a few days already. I click my status and my current stats appeared. ... Name: deheart Level: 22 Exp: 22,750/ 195,000 HP: 2,180/2,180 MP: 1600/1600 Attributes: STR: Poor [AP bar: 8/150] AGI: Poor [Ap bar: 5/150] DEX: Poor [AP bar: 3/150] END: Poor [AP bar: 8/150] INT: Poor [AP bar: 11/150] Title: Memento Mori AP: 83 SP: 148 Equipment: Head: Beginner Hood(Partially Damaged) Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Body: Beginner Pants(Partially Damaged) Shoes: Beginner Shoes(Partially Damaged) Gloves: Beginner Gloves(Partially Damaged) Ne: Copper Ne Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon ... I immediately noticed that most of my armors with Beginner in their names are now Partially Damaged. The usage of the items that are partially damaged would be reduced for at least 10% on what was the total value it should have. Luckily, due to my hunt for the bosses, I have many equipment spares that can be used by me. Since I was a Versatile, I can equip anything even armors so I have no problem getting any weapons and armors to use. Opening my inventory, I saw different kinds of armor that I have looted from the enemies that I have killed during the battle of the three bosses. Many of them aremon but some of them are rare. I pull out the needed pieces of equipment to rece the current equipment of mine. ------ [Hood of Unity] Type: Head Equipment Rarity: Rare Tier Equippable at level 19 Equippable by: Assassin, Hunter, Versatile Stats: END: 10 INT: 2 DEX: 5 Special: Heals wearer''s HP with 10 every 10-second interval Note: A hood that usually looks cool on you when worn. Used by revolutionaries in the past to signify unity. Durability: 200/200 [Warrior ted Pants] Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at level 22 Equippable by: Swordsman, Pdin, Berserker, and Versatile Stats: END: 15 Note: Pants that are usually used by squires to defend their knees and avoid the so-called "arrow in the knee" Durability: 300/300 [Sabaton Leather Boots] Rarity: Normal Tier Equippable at level 15 Equippable by: Swordsman, Versatile Stats: END: 10 AGI: 10 Note: A leather version of the Sabaton Shoes. Made to be tough like the Sabaton Shoes butfortable enough like a Leather Boots do. Durability: 250/250 [Bronze Cestus] Rarity: Rare Tier Equippable at Level 20 Equippable by: Swordsman, Berserker, Magic Knight, Versatile Stats: STR: 5 DEX: 10 Special: Unarmed Combat - You can now fight against enemies using your fists. Note: A medieval version of Brass Knuckles. Since it is made in bronze, you are sure to get at least a single tooth from your enemy. Durability: 250/250 ... There are different equipment left on my inventory but all of the equipment I brought out are the better equipment I have at the moment. As soon as I get to practice cksmithing, then I would have no problem creating armors and other pieces of equipment that would be well suited for my ystyle. I can''t just keep on using different kinds of equipment because bncing out my stats are just sh*t with these. After equipping them, I also spent the AP I have been umting for these past few days. With all the enemies I have killed, the AP is now a lot with 83. I need to have more strength and speed as well as the mana. Therefore, I spent 20 AP on my STR, 20 AP on my AGI, and 20 AP on my INT. Since my END is more buffed after equipping many equipment that yields an END bonus, I decided to spent 12 AP on DEX and 11 AP on the END. Name: deheart Level: 22 Exp: 22,750/ 195,000 HP: 2,580/2,580 MP: 1710/1710 Attributes: STR: Poor [AP bar: 33/150] AGI: Poor [Ap bar: 25/150] DEX: Poor [AP bar: 25/150] END: Poor [AP bar: 48/150] INT: Poor [AP bar: 32/150] Title: Memento Mori AP: 0 SP: 148 Equipment: Head: Hood of Unity Face: White Fur Wolf Mask Upper Body: Green Armor Lower Warrior ted Pants Shoes: Sabaton Leather Boots Gloves: Bronze Cestus Ne: Copper Ne Left Arm: None Right Arm: None Ring: None Weapon: Versatile Weapon Well, that was good, and I never expected that my END would end up as the highest stat I would have at the moment. Not that I wasining about it, I am just surprised. After that, I check the SPs I gained these past few days. With 148 Free SP, I have plenty to use alongside the individual ss SP I obtained, it''s already overwhelming. Checking the ss SP, it was quite a sight indeed. Swordsman: 385 Samurai: 100 Alchemist: 150 Ninja: 305 Assassin: 0 Hunter: 0 Cleric: 265 Pdin: 150 Holy Knight: 0 Magic Knight: 530 Magician: 560 Fighter: 0 Gunslinger: 0 Druid: 0 Berserker: 400 Wow, that''s a lot of SP! I never knew that I would be able to get lots of SP on many sses! I only have a few sses I have no SP with but that can be solved by just the Free SP. Now I don''t have problems with shortages on SP for a specific skill. I first checked the Swordsman skills. It''s been a while since I used learned one. Swordsman SP: 385 Free SP: 148 1st Tier 1.Triple sh(Active) - 5 SP 2. Shockwave Thrust(Active)-10 SP 3. Berserk (Active)- 10 SP 4. Reversal Swing(Active) -17 SP 5. Crescent sh (Active) -20 SP 2nd Tier 1. Sixfold sh (Active) - learned [Triple sh] and 10 SP 2. Vibration Thrust (Active) - learned [Shockwave sh] and 20 SP 3. Sword Concentration (Active)-21 SP 4.Sharpness I (Passive) - 20 SP 5. Boomerang sh (Active) -30 SP I clicked first on the skill Sharpness I. [Sharpness I] 2nd Tier Passive Info: Increases basic sword attack damage. Has a chance to trigger a 10% chance of Critical hit. Note: You don''t need to use a whetstone with this! Well, not bad. In that case, a magic sword, longsword, and shortswords all applies to this passive. Without thinking twice, I click and learn the passive without hesitation. That is the only passive at the moment in the 2nd tier. Most of them are in the 3rd tier and they are a bit longer too. 3rd Tier 1. Dismemberment (Passive) - 30 SP 2. Charge sh (Active) - 25 SP 3. Sharpness II (Passive)- learned [Sharpness I] and 70 SP 4. Light Decapitation (Active) - 100 SP 5. Parry (Passive) - 100 SP 6. Light Poison (Passive) - 100 SP 7. Sword Aura (Passive) - 150 SP 8. Six-Sword Strike (Active) -100 SP The 3rd Tier has more skills than the first two tiers. Also, aside from the first two skills, the rest are so costly that by learning three of them would exhaust all of my Swordsman SP immediately. Let''s check all the passives for now. [Dismemberment] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Has a slight chance to Dismember limbs on enemies using basic attacks. It only works when wielding de weapons. Note: Useful if you want to easily cut some pork chops. [Sharpness II] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Increases basic sword attack damage. Has a chance to trigger a 20% chance of Critical hit and 10% bleeding chance. Note: Grindstones are no longer needed! [Parry] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Has a 30% chance of sessful blocking attacks. Magic Attacks cannot be parried and only activates against Physical attacks Note: If you don''t have a shield, use Parry! [Light Poison] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Basic Attacks can cause light poison that deals 10 damage for 10 seconds. Poison stacks 10 and every stack increases the poison damage for another 10. Note: If you want to poison a drink, just dip your sword on your coffee [Sword Aura] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Once you go under attacks against enemies, Sword Aura activates every 20 seconds andsts for 5 seconds. Increases attack power of you and your allies. Note: If you have no sword, grab one of your auras and use it.(I guess). Chapter 45 - Auction House I had so many Sp right now that I don''t even know what to use to spend them all in passives. After all, passives don''t need to be used as they are automatically implemented in the system after being learned. My only problem with the passives is that they are just too expensive. I always prefer to let the passives learned around the middle levels because they are insanely expensive than the active skills. After learning a few of the Swordsman passives, I hovered straight to the passives on the Samurai ss. With only 100 SP, I think I can only buy a few of them. I skimmed and saw two passives that seems to be needed to use other skills of the Samurai ss and a must-have passives. [Iai Stance] 1st Tier Passive Info: Enables the user to use skills that are in need to be in Quick Draw stance. The user will immediately be able to use the skill once this is learned. Info: Learn the way of Iaijutsu in just one click. [Batou Stance] 1st Tier Passive Info: Enables the user to efficiently sh through enemies and enables the usage of Batou Stance skills. Note: This is a different way of shing enemies in a noob motion. Learn how to efficiently cut a melon. These two seems quite good if you want to learn all of the skills involving these stance. No wonder most samurai ss yers have different styles of attacking. They are either on a quickdraw form or in just in a drawn-out sword which is the mostmon stance. It might be due to the skills. I bought them because they are not expensive, they cost 5 Sp only which seems to be quite a different way of the amount I usually see in passives skills. Maybe because they are very necessary skills? Whatever it was, I am not quite sure. I am not entirely familiar with the samurai skills so I don''t have many thoughts about it. Before I can even click the next skill tree, an announcement appeared on my interface. [Good day yers! An auction will begin in 5 hours of game time. Everyone who has something to sell or interested to participate in the bidding is wee!] Oh? The Auction house is finally in operation? Looks like I am now in for a good time. I hovered a bit on other sses and clicked all of the skills marked as passives on my skills and closed my skill panel after without reading any of those new ss skills I got. I can check themter, this thing is much more of an importance than my skill since it involves my ie. ... The Auction House is something that many yers anticipated to open. It''s because of the items that the Auction house is selling. Not only that, they sell equipment with Rare and Very Rare tiers on them and sometimes, you can spot Uniques too which is something many anticipated to win. Since it is still the beginning of the game''sunch, it is impossible for yers to buy higher tier items except for Rare Tiers. Their main focus is to find the Guild Token first. Usually, a guild token is always sold in that ce. If that was the case, they would easily find it here. As soon as I arrived in the vicinity of the Auction House, I saw a crowd of yers in the vicinity. It looks like many yers already managed to enter the capital and defeated their respective Gate Guardians. I apud them for doing that fast. But I don''t really care, what I am targeting right now is to earn that money with these useless tokens. Of course, I didn''t go to the entrance. Not so many people knew about this but for people who want to sell something secretly, just go to the backdoor of the Auction house. This thing is confidential so I would be able to enter the backdoor without problems. As soon as I entered the ce, some of the staff immediately noticed me. With quick and professional movements, they approached me and smiled. "Oh, sir, this is not for customers entrance sir, you got the wrong way," the female staff said with a smile. "No worries, I am not buying. I came here to sell something that yourpany might be interested in buying. Can you tell me where is your boss?" The staff was about to say something but when she saw me sh out the token, she was taken aback and quickly changed her attitude. "Pleasee in, wait for our boss a bit, I am sure he will be delighted to see what sort of item you have brought to us today." And with that, my entry is sessful. Just by showing an item that gives a significant amount of money for the auction house is something that the staff would immediately take notice immediately especially if it is one of the most needed items by yers in the very beginning. It didn''t take too long for the boss to arrive. The boss of the auction house did not change at all. A youngster who still looked like a newbie businessman only to be known as one of the greatest NPC tycoons in the game, Tress. Tress looked around and when he saw me, he smiled and quickly approached me with a dignified manner. "Looks like what my staff said is true. Are you sure you want to sell the Guild token to us? No one has ever obtained the first token before and you are the first guy I ever heard about to earn a Guild Token. Shouldn''t you use it for yourself?" "I am not interested in making a guild. It onlyplicates my way of doing things and I am satisfied with my life right now. A guild would only ruin the peacefulness of my mind." "Ha, looks like you are not a people person. I like that. Well, I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tress, the head and the boss of the Auction House situated in the Capital. Pleased to make your acquaintance sir..." "Just call me deheart." "I see, Sir deheart. Can you please show me the token please?" With a flick on my fingers, a Guild Token appeared and throw it to Tress who skillfully caught it with two fingers. He adjusted his sses and take a look into the item before nodding in approval. "This thing is legitimate and not a fake one. This is the real deal Guild Token that we are looking for. This would fetch a lot of money. And since this one would really sell, I will issue that we take 10,000 gold for this token''s profit while the rest would be yours." "Can''t you take it a bit lower?" [Haggling failed. Your rtionship with the target is not close enough to get the desired result] "I am sorry Sir deheart, we can''t have something easily haggled. We are losing money if we did it so I can''t possibly grant what you wanted to do." It looks like a fail. Without the passive unique skill [Haggle] that Merchant ex Jobs has, you will easily fail the haggling and you won''t get the result that you wanted. Oh well, worth a try I guess. "Alright, but that is not the only Token I am selling right now. Would another token be good to sell?" "What do you mean?" Tress''s face is full of confusion. I quickly pull out the two remaining guild tokens as soon as he asked that. The other token is stored inside my inventory. I have a quest to use this token for. "What the f*ck..." Tress cursed as he saw the glittering tokens present in the table. Chapter 46 - While Everyone Is In The Auction, I Will Go Raid Some Dungeons I really wanted tough at Tress''s reaction when I showed him the tokens I possess at the moment. If the video recording feature is already implemented here, I wouldn''t hesitate to capture this moment. Too bad that the feature is yet to be implemented until the second expansion to Sandurk which would take at least a month. Tress still did not expect what he was seeing. He keeps on rubbing his eyes repeatedly if he was just seeing things but what he is seeing right now is real. "C-check them if they are real, I need to know that I am not just seeing things," Tress said to one of his staff. The staff was quick to adapt to the situation and quickly checked the authenticity of my tokens. The staff were quite professional in terms of speed in their authenticating because a few secondster, the report came in. "Sir, the tokens are 100% authentically legit. They are not fake and they are all ready to be used." Although Tress is a virtual character, he wiped off his sweat and smiled at me. "Mr. deheart seems to be a very important man that I didn''t recognize immediately. Since you have already decided on selling these tokens, I would be willing to only take 5,000 gold per token needed for this. In return, I would like to put these tokens into the bidding section on today''s highlights, what do you say?" "Sure, no problem." And with that, I struck the deal with Tress. Although those tokens are extremely useless for me, I already expected that money woulde flowing in sooner orter. Guild tokens are extremely coveted by others and a single one would be one of the talks in the game from tycoons. After signing everything with Tress, I quickly made my way out before anyone from the crowd notices the backdoor that I just used. During this early in the game, no one knows the backdoor yet and if someone did discover this backdoor would immediately shrug on it and will think that it''s for the staff''s use. I didn''t stay near the crowd. Instead, I just took a seat on a bench nearby and looked around the yers getting in there. With the announcement of the Auction opening, many of the yers under big guilds frantically started clearing their own respective Gate Guardians before they managed to enter the capital. Most of the yers in the area are most level 10 to level 13 and based on the equipment that they are currently wearing, it was clear that many of them just rushed the mini-boss without preparing since most of them are already wearing the 1 durability left equipment while some already lost their weapons. Welp, who cares, I am not here for them, I am here for their money. While observing, I saw Dolly on the crowd. Looks like she managed to get in here just fine. As expected of an expert magician. From the looks of it, she solo the Gate Guardian which ismendable. I won''t be surprised if she keeps on going solo. She is someone who is worth recruiting to my party in the future and if I want her future to change, I will need to intervene in the very future. She is not someone who needs to die, she is someone who deserved to live. Still, it is not yet the right time to do it. She still needs to grow alone for now and I still have a few things I need to aplish alone for now. Soon enough, the whole auction house is filled with yers. It is like watching a scene from a flea market. As soon as I am sure that everyone is now busy in the auction, I left the ce and waited for the result especially in the inte blog that would be exploding with discussions soon... ... Without anything to do much, I decided to go and raid the Lesser Purgatory. With everyone busy in the auction, it is time for me to raid some dungeon while everyone''s eyes are busy on the auction. It is a great distraction for me who wanted to do some things secretly and this is the great timing. I summoned Leona out and she started pping her small wings. She is still weak and small at the moment but once I get her high leveled, she would be a dominating pet of all time. I just need to let her get stronger as soon as I can. Since I was about to go on a dungeon, I have to be prepared. I opened the Follower tab in my menu and clicked on Lina''s profile and called her. Every follower NPC can be called via this functionality and is very good atmunicating an NPC in a very far ce. The call''s ringing sound from the other line continued for a while before Lina answered. "Hello, master?" "Are you free for today?" "I don''t have any job to do today and I am free at the moment. Is there a problem master?" "No, I am hoping that you would agree to go with me and raid a dungeon right now. If you want to level up fast, this would be the best method for me to do to help you." "Ah, that would be great, wait for me. Where should we meet Master?" "Meet me in the Crossroads of the Starlight Forest. I will be waiting for you in the signpost. And please buy 20 Extra Large Advance Health Potions and 20 Extra Large Advance Mana Potions. I will send you the money there so you don''t have to worry about the cost alright? The change would be yours to pocket as a fee for this." "Advanced Health and Mana Potions? Those things are expensive!" "Don''t worry about it too much and yeah, also buy the Water Molotov in the Alchemy shop. We will be dealing with some fire type enemiester on. Buy at least 100 pieces." After that, I ended the call and send the necessary money via currency transfer. With all the money in my purse, buying those things is just like buying peanuts to me in the game. Chapter 47 - Lesser Purgatory Part 1 Just like in many RPG games, Alternate World has a Dungeon. Although you can hunt monsters and bosses in open fields, they are just not as profitable as dungeon monsters. For example, if Open Field mobs drop 10 bronze to 10 silver coins and a slight amount of decent weapon inmon to rare ranks, dungeon mobs are always dropping bronze, silver, and gold in a decent amount. The very minimum bronze coins you can get from a dungeon monster is 100 bronze. The only thing is that the dungeon is pretty limited. Once a dungeon is cleared, you need to wait for its respawn time to refresh the mobs which are usually around 1 day to 1 week depending on how good is the dungeon is. That is why, whenever a dungeon spawned, yers would really fight to get a slot to the raid. Unfortunately for them, I would be taking the loot for myself for now. Let them have their fun in spending real money. I waited for Lina to arrive in the Starlight forest. I asionally saw a few small mobs but all of them became food for Leona. Although she can''t fight yet, she can eat dead mobs that are not harvested so she still earns EXP even without fighting. Many have thought that pets needed to be 10 days old to earn EXP but there is a loophole that pet owners managed to discover. Anytime they let the carcass of the dead monsters gets eaten by the pet, they can see that their pets can earn EXP. So even in the early hatchling of the monster, even without the ability to fight yet, by eating, my pet would level and will be helpful once everything is okay for my pet to fight. Now, she is currently level 6. Her stats have also grown too but since I can''t decide which growth stat she would choose, there is nothing I can do but watch which stats grew. Name: Leona Species: Gryphon Level: 6 Tier: Legendary Status: Newborn(Full)(Note: Newborns cannot fight yet. They can''t earn EXP too in Newborn state. They need 10 days old to get Exp.) HP: 5500/5500 MP: 3500/3500 Stats: STR: 107 AGI: 103 DEX: 105 END: 100 INT: 102 Skills: Level 0: Air Wing: Conjures magical wings out of mana that summons gusts of wind. Enemies in a 100-meter radius get 1000-500 HP damage. The further the enemy is, the lesser the damage dealt. Cooldown: 10 minutes Skills: Locked (Level 10) Info: Gryphons are mystical creatures that soar the skies that said to be a creature with head, talons, and wings of an eagle with a lion''s body. Riding on one of these creatures would make you one of the lucky people to ride on one. Owner: deheart Lots of her stats have grown. It is also impossible for Leona to gain stat points easily like this so my guess is that Leona can gain stat points from the carcasses she eats. It would be really convenient to do so. It didn''t take too long for Lina to arrive into the Crossroads of the Starlight Forest. She handed me the potions and I quickly counted them. Since all of the potions that I asked Lina to bring is here, time to raid and clear the Lesser Purgatory as soon as possible. "Lina, have you ever ventured on the Lesser Purgatory before?" I asked. "Unfortunately, that was beyond my level at that time. If I ventured in the dungeon, I will be easily overwhelmed by monsters," she answered. "I mean, you have not raided this ce with your other Battle Maidrades?" Battle Maids are mercenary NPCs in Alternate World. They either go on raids from time to time and they sometimes help human yers kill bosses in the dungeons if they ever meet one while being on patrol. They are considered as one of the essentialpanions to find in a dungeon such as this one. However, I never expected Lina to have no experience in clearing dungeons like the Lesser Purgatory. "I was only part in monster subjugation quests like hunting wolves and spiders in the forests. Bigger missions like this one is not part of my job." I never expected to know this. In my past life, Lina might be the lowest level Battle Maid that apanied me but she was able to clear dungeons with some of the highest and strongest Battle Maids in their faction. It looks like she was being underestimated and she didn''t manage to shine much until the time I managed to help her. As soon as we entered the dungeon''s entrance, the prompt of choosing the difficulty of the dungeon appeared. However, to ess the different difficulty in this dungeon, you need to beat the normal mode first. Normal mode is the easiest mode you can get in this game. There are 5 difficulties unlockable in each clearing. Normal, Hard, Hell, Insane and Abyssmal. The higher the difficulty is, the bigger the rewards given and titles you can receive are very awesome too. As someone who managed to clear the Abyssmal mode of this dungeon before since I am pretty much stuck in this dungeon, I am pretty much able to memorize every nook and secrets of the dungeon whatever difficulty it was. On top of that, I can clear them solo. With the amount of time the bidding will happen, it is enough time for me to clear up to Hell mode. In Insane mode, I might need a little bit more of time to clear it properly. [yer has discovered a Dungeon: Lesser Purgatory] [Title: Dungeon Finder has been awarded.] A title that I am very familiar with. This title is always given to all yers who get to see the dungeons for the first time. It is not that bad but not a good title to use. It''s effect only gives an additional 500 HP. It might be a good title for beginners but not for me. It''s not even stackable to other titles and you need to equip it for the title''s effect to apply. The interface appeared before me and shows me the difficulties. I press the Normal difficulty immediately since all of the other options are greyed out. I nce at Lina and decided to talk to her. "Are you ready to deal with the monsters inside this dungeon? This will be the first time you will be entering a dungeon. You can back out for now but you will miss the Exp given." "No worries master. As a Battle Maid, I will be fine whatever monster tried to attack us. I will never back down." I nodded and pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it into a Magic Sword. "Then let''s get started." Chapter 48 - Lesser Purgatory Part 2 The atmosphere around the Lesser Purgatory dungeon is a bit hot but it''s tolerable. If I get to the next difficulty like in hard mode above, the hotness of the ce will increase. Oh, I also forgot, although you can''t enter the dungeon more than once, it will be only applicable if it is the same difficulty. If you choose a different difficulty from the first run, you can enter the dungeon again. For example, if you enter the normal difficulty at first, you can''t enter the dungeon if you still picked the normal difficulty but you can enter it if you choose other difficulties other than the normal difficulty. And it the rule will continue, in short, you can enter the dungeon once every difficulty until the respawn of the dungeon''s mobs. Dwelling further from the entrance, I kind of miss this ce. Ever since I managed to get away from the game oppression happening to me, I have not entered this ce for a long time. The whole ce was now so nostalgic. The entireyout of the ce did not change and still looked the same from what I remembered. Although it wasbeled as Lesser Purgatory, it doesn''t look like a purgatory itself. It was more like an abandoned mansion though it will change once you enter the Abyss difficulty though that will be forter. The walls look like those walls with high-ss wallpapers seen in 5-star hotels however, they are a bit moldy and once you try touching the wall, you will burn your skin. You will actually get a lingering pain for a slight time but it can be cured using the potions that heal burns. I memorized the ce and the surprise tactics that the monsters do here so before they can do a surprise, I changed my Versatile Weapon into a gun and shoot on the corner of the wall. BANG! -Got 1000 EXP(Additional 1000 EXP for Instant Kill) (Title Effects Activated, 2000 EXP gained) -Got 10 Gunslinger AP The enemies here are mediocre and with my level, the mobs here would be a real breeze. "Is there an enemy master?"Lina asked. "Yeah. I have seen it sneaking so I gave it a surprise." I nce into the monster''s carcass and looked at its name. [Fire Imp] Level 10 HP: 0/2,300 Attributes: Beast, Fire I was right, the Fire Imps. These monsters easily swarm if they are left inrge numbers, therefore, killing them before they can strike is the way to avoid unnecessary trouble. Leona licked her beaks and looks at me. I nodded at her and my pet quickly dives in to eat the monster''s carcass. I don''t see any notification but I saw Leona''s Exp bar grew a little bit. Since there are no enemies around, Imanded them to follow. "Let''s go." Lina nodded and we continued forth. On the corridor, the monsters quickly saw us and screamed before dashing towards us. Lina quickly raised her whip and whacked it to the Fire Imps. Leona also did the job of fighting some but most of her work are devouring the monster''s carcass. The drops are also worthless at the moment but they can be useful if processed using alchemy so I let all of them inside the inventory. The monsters are easy to kill and since they are lower in level than me, they just suffer to critical hits and one hit attacks. Since my weapon, the versatile weapon maintains it''s attack power despite changing to a different form, the power it holds when it was a sword or bow didn''t change when it changed into a gun. It didn''t take us around 5 minutes to clear the whole ce before we reach the boss room. In normal mode, the boss room is something easy to finish. You can basically stand and attack the boss without worrying about the iing attacks if your level is the same as my level. Lina looked at the boss room''s door with wariness written on her face. "Are you scared at the boss?" I asked. "Of course, master. This is the first time I will be fighting a boss directly." "Did you forget that you have fought against the Gate Guardian? It was much more difficult to beat up the Gate Guardian than the boss here." "Huh? You are joking right?" "Why would I joke?" I grinned and pushed open the door. With a creaking sound from the door, the light slowly enters the dark chamber of the boss room. If you are a first-timer, you would feel nervous on this one especially that it is a virtual reality game and not in front of your PC or game console. I entered the boss room while Lina followed suit. She is very cautious that a slight movement and sound in the surroundings make her leap out. I flick the Versatile weapon and change it from gun to Magic Sword. I am more well-versed in fighting this boss in Magic Sword so I will stick to that. "Just stay on the sidelines for now Lina. Heal once in a while so that my HP won''t go down to critical levels. Don''t attack the boss at all, just focus on healing me, understand?" "Yes, master!" Lina sounded enthusiastic after she heard that she will be in charge of the healing. "Also, keep Leona here at the moment. Just let here near after the defeat of the boss. Okay?" "Alright master, you don''t have to worry." After giving the final instructions, I moved to the center of the boss room. Unless you go to this area of the room, the boss won''t move so it will be safe in the meantime. As soon as my feet touched the hard floor at the very center of the room, the torches started to glow with red mes and the throne of the monster appeared before me. On a throne that is made by bones, a knight d with ck armor is currently sitting on it with the sword that looked like a menacing item on its right hand that is currently acting like it is its cane. Upon noticing me, the boss stood up from its throne and wave its sword in the air. I keep on seeing this move of the boss every time I enter this room. The onlyughable thing is that he might look menacing but his attacks are just simr to pricks in thorns for me. [Hellspawn Knight King] Level 10 HP: 10,000/10,000 Attribute: Dark, Demon, Undead, Humanoid As soon as the name and HP appeared, that signals that I can now attack the boss without hesitation. I swing my magic sword and rush forward. The boss has a long name so I will keep on calling him boss. As I swing my sword, the boss also swings his sword in my direction. PENG! I grinned in anticipation. The strength of the boss is still the same without any changes. However, I have already changed and since my ss is no longer the same in the past, my tactic to finish this dungeon is also fast enough too. I raised my free hand and grab the head of the boss and activated one of my skills. "DISPEL!" Chapter 49 - Lesser Purgatory Part 3 Any healing spell like Dispel can kill the boss but no one knows that yet except me. They might have an idea of it but they would usually just do the normal beating up the monster using force. When the boss died, it didn''t drop anything much. But I got the title that is received by the first person who gets to clear a dungeon first in the whole game server. And since this game is worldwide running in a worldwide server, that means I am the first one to ever earn the title. [Title: Dungeon Cleaner has been awarded] However, just like the first title I received after I discovered the dungeon, this title is a bit worthless and I don''t need to equip it. After that, I beckon Leona and Lina. Leona quickly munches towards the boss'' remaining body and ate it in one swoop. "What are we going to do now master?" Lina asked. "We will get out, and get in once again." "Huh?" I can see Lina''s confusion. It was very well known to everyone including the NPCs that once a dungeon is cleared, you can only enter once but who said we are going to enter the Normal Difficulty? When we arrived outside, I entered again and a prompt to enter the dungeon appeared with the Normal Difficulty greyed out and has a countdown timer. However, the other difficulty, the Hard Mode is now avable for selection. "Uh...Master? Are you sure we will proceed to the Hard Difficulty? I heard from my fellow Battle Maidpanions that Normal and Hard Difficulty has arge amount of rise in difficulty. This might cause us to get killed inside the dungeon!" "I know, that is why we are challenging it." As soon as I selected the Hard difficulty, the entrance of the dungeon started to get hotter and the color of the entrance is starting to have a darker color of red. More specifically, it shifted from the normal looking one to a sinister-looking dungeon. Anyone in the early stages would be having second thoughts of going if they see this new atmosphere. Even Lina shook when she saw the changes happening. "Let''s go. The auction won''tst forever, we need to finish this dungeon diving as soon as possible." Despite Lina''s urges to retreat, with me as her master, she can''t do anything but to follow me inside. Apanying Leona, we entered the now hotter dungeon and the beginning of our challenge. The difficulty will just spike up in here. As soon as we entered the entrance, the humid... no, it''s not humid, it is hellishly hot air damp into our skin and even though it is virtual reality, the hotness in feeling is real and I have forgotten the surroundings here to be like this. I may be able to withstand the heat before but since I returned to my past body, that means that I am back to square one where my body is not ustomed to the hotness. "Master! This ce is so hot!" "I know, I have underestimated the hotness of the mes in this difficulty. Have I known this, we would have brought an air conditioning powder to allow us to cool down." Leona seems fine despite being a bird covered with fur and feathers. Maybe she is resistant to the heat. As we moved in, the whole ce that looked like it was a mansion before became a burningnd of hell. It no longer resembles the mansion anymore. And anyone who just cleared the Normal Mode will see the difference immediately. The second change that urred that I already anticipated are the enemies. As soon as we arrived not too far in the entrance, the Fire Imps appeared and now looked bigger and they wear Leather armors now and they are now equipping decent spears. Which means they are now posing a threat at me and everyone following me. [Fire Imp] Level 25 HP: 30,000/30,000 Attribute: Beast, Fire "Lina! At arms! Protect Leona at all costs!" "Roger!" If they are wielding a spear, then a sword will be their nemesis. My reflexes remained the same and as soon as I hit the range of the spear, I quickly slide through them and sliced on their feet using the sword. [Passive: Light Poison Activated!] Nice, the passive activated! This is one of the passives I learnedst time, the Light Poison. although it is not a high chance, there are always some times that you really need even the slightest amount of damage from the poison buff just to win. Since they are continuous and stackable for a small period of time, this passive is pretty helpful finish rip apart the HP of the enemy slowly but surely. Lina also did a decent job in attacking but she is much on focus towards protecting Leona. After all, Leona is not yet able to fight since she is still in her infant stage. With Lina more on the defensive side than offense, I have to deal with all the finishing blows to kill them all. It is not easy dealing attacks on them since they move very fast. I raise the sword and stab the ground with the tip before activating the Magic Knight skill, Earth Fissure. As the ground shook beneath the Fire Imps, I quickly moved behind them and strike their napes using the sword with one swing. As soon as the Fire Imps got them, the damage appeared above their heads in red colors and all of them fell into the ground and drops loot that are all materials. After picking them up, Leona quickly rush forward and started gobbling up the monsters to her mouth. Since Leona is not a picky eater, it only took a small amount of time before the corpses were gone. Just as I was about to proceed, huge tremors urred and I almost fell. It was not my Earth Fissure since they don''t produce aftershocks. Only one enemy is capable of shaking the ground by just walking. The sword is not enough to deal with them, I still remember that they don''t easily have much damage if swords are used. But when I have a teammate once who has a Berserker ss, they managed to rip off the muscles these monsters have. The Versatile Weapon glowed and changed into an ax. Hammers are good, but I want to rip some flesh, not bash them, therefore, I choose the ded weapon that Berserkers are able to wield. The ax. "Lina, stay away from me for a while. This uing battle will be messy and I will just ask help for healing. Just do it like how it urred on the Boss Room battle earlier." "But I didn''t do anything in there!" "Exactly," I said and noticed that the monsters are now a few more distance on my location. [Barbarian Giant Ogre] Level 30 HP: 100,000/100,000 Attribute: Monster, Dark, Nature Their levels are higher than mine, and their HP is a whopping 100k. They hit hard and they are unforgiving. Also, they are also in advantage in terms of numbers. There are 5 of them which means if their HP isbined, it will be 500k. These factors make my blood boil, I miss this feeling of danger and thrill. With the disadvantage on me, I grinned in delight. "COME! LET''S HAVE A BATTLE TO DEATH! LET ME RIP YOU TO PIECES!" Chapter 50 - Lesser Purgatory Part 4 Provoked by my voice, the Berserker Giant Ogres stomped the ground as they march towards my direction. I know that I am in a clear disadvantage against these monsters but who said I can''t fight them? My body might be the lesser version of my old self but that doesn''t mean I have forgotten all of my moves and skillset. I just needed to be careful against them since they are stronger and they are also higher in terms of levels. But who said that levels matter here? It''s just a little bit of factor in this game, what matters are your skills. When the Berserker Giant Ogres are now a few meters away from me, I didn''t hesitate to charge while the ax is in my hands, ready to rip off shreds of flesh. "HUMAN! EAT! EAT!!" The ogres roared and started running when they saw me. Despite their big sizes, they move he fast. But that doesn''t mean I would be running away. My experience is enough to deal with them in a critical way. I don''t really need to keep my eyes on them since they are just mad monsters but they have swift movements. Besides, I don''t want to die early. I don''t want to tarnish my record with a single death. "Master!" Lina shouted before she released a spell that can cause a Slow and a curse, from what I can remember, that skill was called Hex, a spell of the ss Magician andter, in summoners and Witches. As soon as the Berserker Giant Ogres started to slow down in movement, I raised my ax and swing it on the nearest Achilles Tendon of the nearest ogre. No matter how hard these monsters were and how big they are, they always have those weaknesses that allow yers to exploit if they ever find it. As for these monsters, their sizes are their weakness and the vital point to easily dispatch them is to hit their Achilles Tendon. With the axcking the same weight that the real axes have, it didn''t hinder my speed and I was able to deal higher damage using them. The ogres were trying to stomp me t but due to my fast movement, I have no problem dodging them. Plus, if they are about to stomp me, I just shed their soles with the ax and they are sure to stop their movement to stomp. "GRAB SMALL HUMAN! GRAB FOOD!" "ARGH! HUMAN FOOD, SWIFT! KILL!" My damages are now noticeable since I didn''t stop my attacks. They might have 100,000 HP, that was a small amount if their damages are continuous thanks to Lina''s Hex and to my attacks. Still, that doesn''t mean I can dodge all of their attacks. Some of them like the shockwaves from their feet cause damage but it is not really a threat since I can easily heal them. The problem is the sudden and surprise attacks. They are too fast and they sometimes give a spook attack that I really hated the most. "ARGH!" one of the ogres fell down after cutting deeply on his Achilles Tendon. They might be hard and muscle monsters but that doesn''t mean their tendons are protected by muscles. With the Ax, it didn''t really matter, with a sh, their flesh will be torn open. When one of the ogres fell, I quickly run towards its head and rush towards his eyes. Before the ogre can react, the ax is swinging straight to the ogre''s eyes. Also, who said I am done? I quickly get out of the way from the area as the ogre stomped his hands to the ground. Before he can fully stand, I headed straight to his nape and raise the ax. The part of the ogre that can cause an instant kill is the nape. Kind of like the anime with giants right? But that is not really the case, most monsters have the nape as their weakness and even humans can die with their nape damaged. "DIE!" I swing down the ax and sliced his nape. Although it bounced a bit, it didn''t really stop the de from the second swing around. As soon as I did that, the interface appeared and the experience quickly appeared. However, I have no time to celebrate with 4 more ogres still on the loose. "Lina! Cast one more Hex!" I shouted. "Got it! Lina quickly released another Hex spell. If not for the Hex''s slow debuff and the continuous damage overtime against enemies, I would be having trouble too. Looks like I did the right thing to bring Lina along. Although she is not a great fighter at the moment, her support skills can easily deal with helpful skirmishes to kill enemies slowly. "One down, four more to go!" The ogres started to emit severe bloodlust on the surroundings. It is an unavoidable effect from these guys, the bloodlust upgrade. Once a monster of the same species died, they will emit strong bloodlust which has the effect of stronger attacks. But the good thing about this is that they might have increased their attacks but their defenses drastically fell due to that. It was a kind of demerit. Usually, during team battles, the tank will suffer a lot of beatings on this one and the healer will suffer a lot of healing troubles because she or he needs to keep the DPS alive while also keeping the tank healthy and strong. With the mana of healers being constantly drained alongside the cooldowns, team fights on hard mode will need two or more healers, two tanks and hard-hitting DPS. After a few swings, another one fell. As soon as I hit the second one''s nape, their defenses drastically fell and their attacks had all tremendously increased. I can feel their damage is too strong now since the minor damage that the shockwaves from their feet can cause half of my HP bar gone in one shockwave. It was a frightening amount of damage for monsters like them. "Master! Heal!" Lina throws a Healing Sanctuary, one of the expendable items for healing that allows any yers inside the sanctuary to heal over time. They are good recement from healerscking mana but they are rare. But that doesn''t mean I would be stingy, besides if I get to higher levels, I won''t be needing this kind of item anymore. "Thanks, Lina!" I shouted. Their HP are all below 20,000 due to the continuous Hex damage they receive and due to the bleeding effect they keep on receiving, the monsters are about to fall in a few more skirmishes. Now, I am ready to destroy them all. Time to get serious this time. "Battle Stance, Partial Deployment! Bloodserker!" Chapter 51 - Lesser Purgatory Part 5 Bloodserker, this is a semi-passive skill for Berserkers. It''s in the category of semi-passive because of its ability to give effects despite not activated and used. When in idle status, Bloodserker gives additional attack power to the user the lower the health is. But when you activated the skill, you will gain an increased damage buff status and increase of critical rate in exchange for 100 HP per second. It''s a dangerous skill but it is worth it because of the ability of the Bloodserker when it''s idle. It is still in effect even when you activate it. Also, there is the full deployment and partial deployment. In full deployment, you will gain the increased damage, increased critical rate, double damage in one attack, no mana usage, and 60-second invulnerability to damage in exchange for 1,000 HP per second while partial deployment only cost 100 HP and the increased damage and critical rate. Berserkers benefit a lot on this skill since the Berserkers are one of the sses with the Highest HP pools. 1,000 HP per second is nothing for Berserkers but for me who still has an HP pool of around 2,000, in two seconds, I am dead without getting the benefit of 60-second invulnerability. Because the healing skill of Lina is still in effect, the HP loss is constantly being healed while the Hp loss also continues to drain my HP. I didn''t waste my time and attacked the ogres before my HP goes to critical levels where they can easily hit me once and kill me. -10,000! Critical -10,000! Critical -20,500! Critical ... The numbers look pleasing in the eyes if not for the 100 HP I lost every second. Since the active effect of Bloodserker keeps sapping my HP, it won''t be long before my HP will go down to critical numbers. The good thing is that I am using this chance to take them all down while my HP is also falling. "Master! Your HP is rapidly declining! My healing magic can''t catch up to the HP you are losing!" "Just keep on healing me and don''t forget to cast Hex once the effect on the monsters disappeared!" I shouted. Although I have the extrarge potions I asked Lina to buy, I am saving them for the mini-boss battle and the boss battle forter which has ridiculous HP and Bloodserker full deployment will be in need to be activated soon. It took me two minutes to take down the remaining ogres allowing me to level up to 24, raising my level twice. Still, my HP is miserable after the battle with only 600 HP left. Despite the level up heal, it didn''t really matter if your HP keeps on losing and I leveled up twice after killing the third and fourth ogres. The fifth only gave a little bit amount of EXP which did not make my level reach 25 which would have allowed myself to get patched up easily. "Master, are you alright?" Lina asked as she gave me an intermediate potion to drink. "I am fine, I am just a little bit dizzy," I said and shook my head a bit. Losing too much HP in the game can cause dizziness in reality to add an effect on the blood loss. This game just put the reality and games altogether. It''s just a little bit annoying though. "Should we rest a bit?" Lina asked. "Yeah, let''s do that. Besides, Leona needs to gobble up those corpses." As soon as I said that, Leona nodded and quickly flew towards the corpses and started eating. I am not surprised as to why Leona can keep on eating without stopping despite gobbling monsters'' carcass with bigger sizes than her. All of the meat she eats immediately converts to EXP allowing her to keep on consuming them without the feeling of getting full. She will only get full if she ate actual food items. I sit down a little bit and feel sore in my body. I need to train up my real body soon so that my muscles can catch up from the movements I do in the game. If only my body in the past is also transported here in the past, sadly, it is my untrained body so I have no choice. "Master, I know this is a bit rude to ask but why won''t you go to a party with others?" "We are at the same party right?" I looked at her with a confused face. "I mean, go with other adventurers like you. I heard adventurers liked to band together when they go to dungeons. Why are you doing it in solo? And you even challenged the Normal and Hard Mode at the same time." "Oh? You noticed that? I never expected you to find out that I am avoiding others." "Your actions are easily predictable and I am quite aware of it. The only thing is that I am wondering why you are doing so. Isn''t it better if you team up with them?" "You have yet to see the cruel side of these people. Maybe I will be trusting other people in the future but that doesn''t change the fact that I will continue to avoid them." Lina looked at me, surprised by my remarks, however, she did not voice out her disagreement. She just looked away from me and decided to stay quiet. I shrugged it off and wait for Leona. As for the drops from the ogres, I won''t be checking them yet but I know I got lots of good drops. It didn''t take too long for Leona to devour all ogre''s body and she leveled up finally to level 2 despite not getting experience in battles yet. "Let''s get going guys, we are not yet in the middle of the dungeon." ... Our journey inside the dungeon is fine, and the monsters are manageable. I also managed to hit level 25 after killing a group of Hell Hounds. The mobs are easy to kill but the Elite monsters are a bit tricky. Still, with my past experience of repeated hunting, I don''t really need to think hard on the strategies to fight them. When we reached the middle of the dungeon, the mini-boss finally appeared. And this time, the mini-boss is the boss in Normal Mode. As soon as the boss appeared in my vision, the boss stood up and growl. "The heck? You again?! You are not satisfied with the Normal Mode earlier and challenge the Hard Mode? You are looking forward to beating up my ass again right? RIGHT? No way man, once a day is enough, it''s a tough job being a boss! Don''t make it harder for me!" Me: ... Lina: ... What... this talking back is not in the past, right? Chapter 52 - Lesser Purgatory Part 6 "Ah...master? Am I seeing things? That boss was not talking when in the normal mode right? Why is it talking now and is currentlyining?" "AM I NOT ALLOWED TO COMPLAIN?!" the boss was like begging to us. This is the first time for me to experience this kind. I have seen countless NPCs talk like real humans and some humanoid bosses can talk like real people, this boss in the Lesser Purgatory was not the boss that talks. It usually just roars, groan and shout loudly. This is the first time for me to encounter this boss to talk and also to tantlyin about a yer. "Isn''t your job always like this? Why are youining now?" "I might notin if you are not doing some brutal stuff on me! You even have your pet eat my remains back in the normal mode! Did you really think it is an easy time for me to deal with that?" I felt pity for this boss but if don''t beat up this boss, then what should I even do? "So you want me to go back? No way, we came here this far and not proceeding towards our goal is just not fine for us. Its either you step back and let us pass, or we will whoop up that *ss of yours. We are in a hurry so it would be nice if you just step aside so that we can go on." "F*cker! I would be really in trouble if I let you pass without a fight but heck my body is sore all over and now I have to deal with it? Agh, stupid rules of the world, why can''t I even defy this sh*t?" he facepalmed himself and groaned. "Can''t you just step aside if you don''t want to fight? What is the point if you hated doing it? Why not just follow me and beat the one who caused you like this, what do you say?" I joked since there is no way this guy will follow, it is just for provoking this big guy. "Huh? You will really do that? Then let me in on that!" I was not expecting his answer and I was also not expecting the prompt that appeared to my interface. [A boss has decided to follow you. ept at the party? You cannot decline this request.] [Yes/F*cking Yes] Wait, wait. What the heck is going on, is this a bug? Wait, if this is a bug, it breaks the game literally! A boss following a yer is not yet achieved even in my past life! And if you say what about the tamed beasts, those are different ones since it is needed to use items for taming to do so and only applies on beasts type monsters that can be tamed otherwise everything fails. Then what the heck is going on? I didn''t use any item for taming and I don''t think this game has the charisma trait to cause this kind of boss to ept my proposal. In short, this is definitely a bug. Still, with the prompt showing me to choose yes since there is no "No" option and was reced by another yes with just the addition of f*cking. I decided to press Yes this time and if this is a game-breaking bug, the developers would surely notice it and will quickly repair the data. However, that didn''t happen. [The nameless Boss is asking for you to bestow him a name. Please type the name of the entity.] This is just simr to naming a pet when you just obtained one but heck, this is not a pet, this is a freaking boss. I quickly typed As on his name since he looks like one to me and also he is big. As soon as I confirm the name, another prompt appeared. [For the sake of not breaking the system, the stats of the As will be reduced to half of the original stats and the level will also be reduced to level 1] Then that means, the boss actually became one of the NPCs I canmand? Aside from Leona and Lina, this boss is not counted in my ns! "Oh, it looks like the system forcibly weakened me as punishment. And from the looks of it, I can''t fight for today and will only be avable tomorrow. This ursed system bullies me a lot. Oh well, since I followed you, you better not feed me again on your pet alright?" And as soon as he said that, he disappeared and his name appeared on mypanion slot and has a status beside his name. "What was that all about master?" Lina scratched her head in confusion. "Honestly¡­ I also don''t have any idea either." ¡­ I didn''t have enough time to ponder. When I look at my ount''s gold, I have found a lot of gold amounting to 12 million. From the looks of it, the bidding of the first Guild Token was very intense and since many yers with huge backing wanted the first guild ever to be made in the entire game, many arepeting and most of them came from different parts of the world. Since the game''s yers are not that huge yet, most of the yers who are in the bidding right now are the hugepanies backing yers since they know that investing here would be really good. Since the auction is in the climax already, it won''t be long before the auction ends. I have to finish the Hard Mode as soon as possible. I will have to postpone the venture in Insane, Hell and Abysmal mode for now but I will be back in those levels to get one material I need to start my forging Ex Job and create my own armor soon. I didn''t bother to care much about As'' situation. I can just figure it out forter and I am not in a rush to know it. Besides, the game did not see it as a bug so I will notin about it. When I step into the middle of the circle of the boss room, the next path opened and even though I did not defeat the boss, it still gave me the EXP I will get and a few drops like the gold and the other materials dropped by the boss. I may have got a good thing here but I doubt I will be going to have an easy time. Thest boss is one of the troublesome monsters that can spawn and cause debuffs to the yer. And in abysmal mode, this boss is just the second mini-boss. Chapter 53 - Clear The progress inside the dungeon is much easier thanks to my knowledge of the dungeon''syout and the enemies are just measly mobs helping me get my level rise from level 25 to now level 29 which is one more level left to reach level 30. It takes a little bit more effort for me to get that level. Lina also hit level 28 too. "Master, I reached level 28 now," she informed. "Oh, nice. Then you can learn a few more skills now?" I asked her. "There is one skill that I am eyeing for but 1 skill point short at the moment." "A skill? Is it an offensive or a passive skill?" "It''s a passive master." "Can you show me the stats of that passive?" She opened her status window and shared the info on her skill. [Inspirational Aura of a Saint] 2nd Tier Passive Info: Increases the attack power and defense power of the surrounding allies when entering a battle. Healing effectiveness increased to 5% and Critical Chances increased to 10%. Effects cannot be applied to yourself. Note: You inspire, you support, but more importantly, you protect! SP cost: 10 Ah! The skill that only Lina possesses in the entire game! I remembered this passive before since this is the only skill that allows anyone near her to gain lots of bonuses. It is not that strong but having buffs like this while entering battle is a big factor if you want to defeat certain bosses because a critical attack can sometimes save you from a predicament situation. Too bad for Lina since she does not share the double SP from my title or else, she would have no problem in gaining the skill immediately. I pat her head in response and smiled. "Quite a good eye you got there Lina. I really rmend that one. With your role as a supporting back liner, you will be able to easily gain other''s respect. It can help you a lot since it doesn''t need to be cast by the user and it was passive so this will immediately turn on the effect as soon as we enter a battle. I give a go signal for you to learn it." "Understood master!" Lina said happily. Leona is also getting ready to be an adult too and if she is now an adult, she can now participate in battles too and will be a huge gain of power in the future. Now that we are getting stronger as we dwell deeper into the dungeon, we finally arrived into the final door which the dungeon boss is resting. This time, it is a Necromancer. There is a good bug in this boss battle that can be exploited until the expansion event where they fixed the bug. It can be a very good bug to raise your level fast enough that your level will be really high already and one of the reasons I rushed into this dungeon is due to this bug. We entered the dungeon door and the gloomy atmosphere of the ce alongside with the skulls and skeletons scattered on the floor, the whole ce looks like a graveyard of some sort. I ready the Versatile weapon in my hand and the boss emerged from the darkness crying out a foreign word that I have no idea what it means. "---------------!" "Lina! Prepare yourself!" "Yes, master!" [Necromancer of Hell] Level 35 HP: 130,000/130,000 Attribute: Dark, Undead It''s HP is pretty low for a boss and many yers who face this boss for the first time underestimated and mocked this boss for it''s low HP and for how low it''s defense has. But as soon as they managed to damage the boss, the boss will undergo a 1-minute attack invulnerability and summon skeleton monsters. In hard mode, this boss will summon 50 skeletons with 10,000 HP every 5 minutes but the amount multiplies once you challenge it on the next mode. Now herees the leveling bug. Although the enemies are undead, they are not vulnerable to Healing Spells and status restoring skills like Dispel so healing them will only heal them literally. Many yers will not be able to defeat the 50 skeleton horde immediately but they are easily defeated if you know their weak point. Each skeleton has a vulnerable chest and unless destroyed, the enemy will rise back up after dying causing an infinite loop of killing the same monster. As for the bug, every time you kill a skeleton, you will receive experience and it is a lot of experience given. Due to the trait of the Necromancer of Hell to summon another batch of 50 after 5 skeletons were left on the field, the experience earned is also a lot. The bug only works as long as you are still under level 50 and you have not killed the Necromancer of Hell yet. You just needed to fight the skeletons again and again until your level reaches level 50. "Alright then! Let''s suck this monster dry and kill them all over and over!" For some reason, the boss seems afraid of me after that, and Lina and I leveled up to level 50 without much hitch. The boss was immediately killed without much trouble after that. When I deal with the final blow, the confirmation status appeared on my interface. [Lesser Purgatory: Hard Mode has been cleared! yer deheart can now ess the Insane difficulty] [Due to your deeds, you were awarded the title: HARD? THAT''S EASY!] [You are the first yer toplete the dungeon in the whole world. Would you like to announce your name?] Yes/No As usual, I clicked the No option and quickly checked the title. [HARD? THAT''S EASY!] Type: Elite Title How to Achieve: Clear a Hard Difficulty dungeon Effect: Gets a 10% chance of double gold drop. Effect can be stacked even when the title is not equipped. I felt happy now since this title is one of the titles that can be earned by anyone with a stackable effect like the Memento Mori and the Death''s Favorite. Also, a chance to gain double gold is a very nice perk this early in the game, therefore, I am quite happy. A lot of gold is a very good thing for me who needed money as soon as possible. Before I was able to gainposure, another interface appeared before me. [Congrattions! You were awarded the Title: Early Billionaire Tycoon] Huh? I don''t remember getting a title before in the past. So I immediately check the info of the title. [Early Billionaire Tycoon] Type: Unique Title How to acquire: Gain 1 Billion Gold without doing a real money transaction to buy gold and gain it before the First Expansion Patch. Effect: Gains the Double Gold Buff. Your purchases in all stores are now 10% less and you can sell items with 10% gold gain. Note: Rich! You are rich! Man, I am jealous! Treat me with a hamburger, please! Huh? 1 billion gold? I don''t remember getting that much money this early. Therefore, I decided to check the gold. I am not really sure now so I decided to check it if I am just mistaken. 1B. That is the only mark in my gold which means, I got 1 Billion Gold in my ount! A freaking 1 Billion gold! I am a billionaire in the game now! Chapter 54 - The Establishment Of The Guilds While Manato was still busy inside the dungeon, in the auction, the whole venue started to erupt in chaos when the first Guild Token appeared. When the attendant carried the container of the Guild Token, the auctioneer started to exin the content. "Now, every one of you must have heard of the rumor of the first Guild Token in this auction. We are happy to announce that the rumor is true and the first Guild Token is still in our hands. The first-ever Guild Token that exists in the whole wide world!" the auctioneer said and signals the attendant to open the container. The gold token that everyone wanted to own finally appeared before their eyes. Hearing that and seeing the token before them, the whole venue exploded inmotion as the yers suddenly went on the hype. "As you all know, the first guild that will exist will be a very prestigious one as they will be able to get the guild manor existing in the middle of the city. They will be able to create a strong foundation already and the title "The Godfathers" will be granted to the members of the guild! Now, for the awaited bidding, we will start the bidding amount to 10,000 gold coins!" Everyone who is backed up and ready to bid millions of gold suddenly got the urge to shout, "SO CHEAP!" However, the first one to break the ice is none other than Harmless Sparrow. "150,000 gold!" Hearing this, the guild leaders started to bid too. "200,000 Gold!" "500,000 gold!" "625,000 gold!" The whole venue was totally in chaos as the yers keep on outbidding theirpetitors. If Manato was here in the venue, he would be really amazed by the enthusiasm of the yers for a mere guild token that he does not find any value of. Finally, the whole situation escted to the point that the first guild token was now very expensive that many other yers who wanted to get the Guild Token for themselves cannot bid anymore because of the ridiculous amount of money the pool already has and they can''t pay it if they try to bid on it. However, not all gave up, three guild leaders are still trying to outbid each other. It was Harmless Sparrow, ck Hue, and the person that almost killed Manato in the past, Kazuki, also known by his IGN, Kaisar. Kaisar is the one dominating the three guild leaders since he quickly bid 500 million gold. It was an insane amount of gold and not only that, it is a very insane amount that even the auctioneer was stunned and can''t speak that much. The amount earlier was just 1 million gold but it skyrocketed to 500 million gold all of a sudden. Kaisar looked smug as he looked at the twopetitors. ck Hue shook his head in dismay, meaning he withdraws on the battle. Kaisar was celebrating inwardly when Harmless Sparrow raised her hand. "600 million" Kaisar was not sure whether she was bluffing or not but he can''t let her get the first guild token since it might be the only guild token avable until the first expansion which he knows will ur in a few months where the guild tokens will be now a widespread item. His budget is 2 Billion but he can''t afford to spend more than that because it will not be a good idea to spend it without even knowing the oue yet. But he is quite sure he will secure the token in this attempt now. He raised his hands and gave in his final bid. "1 billion." The whole auction room went quiet. Even the auctioneer can''t respond and Harmless Sparrow has to withdraw the bid. The auctioneer quickly recovered from his stunned stupor and quickly announced it. "1 Billion, going once, going twice..." He looked around if there is anyone but he doubts there will be anyone else willing to outbid his offer so he ms the gavel. "The First Guild token is now yours! You can now use it immediately after payment." Kaisar was so excited that he paid immediately and grab the Guild Token and rushed out of the auction house, not knowing what happened next. Inside the auction house, all the yers were just a little bit stunned for this because he rushed out of the ce without even bothering to say anything to the others. It was like he was rushing to get the title and the guild immediately. "Uh... alright, let''s move on to the next product..." the auctioneer said. The yers seemed a little bit sad and devoid of enthusiasm but the auctioneer smiled. "Why everyone is so glum? That was the first guild token, you won''t try to bid on the second one?" When all of the yers heard it, they were stunned. "Huh? Two tokens? What is the meaning of this?" Harmless Sparrow looked at the auctioneer in confusion. "Although I said that there is a guild token here, I never said there is only one guild token avable. We still have this and another one stock left so anyone else ready to bid this can start now." Before the bidding canmence, the global announcement appeared causing them to stare to it and listen. "Congrattions to the Guild Burning Dragon for bing the first guild in the whole world! Being the first guild built, the Guild House is awarded to the Burning Dragon as their personal ce to ce their guild. Title, "The Godfathers" can now be granted to anyone who joins Burning Dragon Guild!" Many of the online yers who heard this immediately rushed to the guild of the Burning Dragon to gain the approval to join the first guild and get to the glory that the guild is receiving right now. However, it was clear that the spotlight won''tst long. Kaisar might think that his guild is the only one guild built in the server alone without anyone topete with him but he will soon find it hard because the guilds that will bepeting with him are now also built. Chapter 55 - Money For My Mother I never expected that the number of gold coins I will receive after the auction would amount to a billion! Just who the heck of an idiot waste this much money to a useless item like the Guild Token? But thanks to that idiot, I can now afford to pay the expenses for the treatment of my mother. "Master, are we going home for today?" Lina asked. "Yeah, let''s go back. I am also exhausted, let''s continue the dungeon diving at ater date." After we left the dungeon, I headed back straight to my room in the inn and checked the amount of money I am going to convert into real cash. Just like how I was in the past, money makes me giddy because it is a very straightforward important item in the whole world. Even if people are using different abilities already in the real world, money still makes the world go round and the second currency that makes people want is the gold currency in the game itself. All in all, I have 1,005,250,000 gold added to my original amount of gold that is merely a little bit due to my purchase of potions. In the end, I never managed to use much of the potions due to many factors that made my battles easier. I will take my time to manage my statter and choose to prioritize the money for now. Due to the amount of gold, I am not sure whether I have to convert all of this gold to money. If I did, my father would suspect me of doing something illegal or anything. However, I also realize that even if I just give him enough money to pay for my mother''s hospital bills, he will still suspect me since he is pretty sharp at things like this. We are poor and I don''t have a job yet so how to exin this stuff? Nah, I have nothing to lose if I told my father about the game. Besides, there are many games right now that have tournaments and stuff that earns money if you win, maybe I should use that alibi since my father knows that I y games. He might ept that alibi in the first ce. 1 billion gold is 500 trillion yen which is a very astronomical amount. Whoever gained this much of money in the real world to buy the gold coins is wasting too much money. Paying this much means the person is very desperate to gain the guild token to build the guild. If I remember right, the reward for the first guild built in the whole world is the guild building in the center of the city which contains a daily dungeon that refreshes every day, and every Christmas, a raid boss appears. Also, the members of the guild will be able to obtain a title that will be awarded to the yers who are in the guild though that title will be removed if you left the guild. From what I can recall, the first guild managed to procure lots of applicants since it was the only guild at the moment. Manypanies that wanted to sponsor the guild also gathered there bing the biggest guild in the game. I didn''t know who the first guild is at this time since I have yet to y the game at this time but I can now learn the first guild if I just listen to the announcement. I was waiting and it didn''t fail me. The announcement red in the air and grinned when I heard and saw the guild that became the first guild existing in this game. "Congrattions to the guild, Burning Dragon for bing the first guild in the whole world! Being the first guild built, the Guild House is awarded to the Burning Dragon as their personal ce to ce their guild. Title, "The Godfathers" can now be granted to anyone who joins Burning Dragon Guild!" Burning Dragon guild eh? Who would have thought that the person who almost killed me in the past timeline is the person who will be giving so much gold? I am not surprised he can pull this act and get the guild up immediately. Instead of hating him, Iughed at his actions. It was a veryughable attempt that I am quite happy with that. He might have thought that the only guild token in the whole game is the one he just bought. He might have gotten all that token but he will be not taking all the participants of his guild now, I am quite sure that there will be two additional guilds going to sprung out after the announcement since the first 10 guilds in the whole world will be announced. 5 out of 10 came from Japan while the others are from the other parts of the world. Soon, the two announcements on the new guilds appeared again. I can imagine Kazuki''s reaction seeing the two new guild announcements. He might have gotten all the best rewards from being the first guild made but that doesn''t mean he can dominate the game now with the appearance of the two new guilds that will bepeting very hard in the future. "Congrattions to the guild, Blue Sky for bing the second guild in the whole world!" "Congrattions to the guild, Aqua Blood Alliance for bing the third guild in the whole world!" The announcements on thetter two are just simple congrattions and since they still have no guild house, they are a bit behind from the Burning Dragon guild since they already obtained a house for their guild as a reward but I am quite sure that the two big guilds have no problem procuring the bases for their guilds in a short time so they will be able to catch up on Kazuki in a short while. I am quite curious about what face Kazuki is making right now seeing the twopetitors popping out of nowhere even though he secured the first token. But I am not going to find out, I am just happy he blew up his money and ended up as my money now. If the auction house did not ask for any kind ofpensation to sell the tokens, the amount of gold I earned might be really big. But that is alright already. I mean, having a billion of gold is already amazing. I decided to make it small for now and converted 20 thousand gold which amounts to 10 million yen. For a person like me who is poor, getting 10 million yen is something I can only dream untilter on but I managed to earn it in just the blink of an eye. After the transaction, I log out of the game and appeared once again into my room. I stretched my body and checked my phone. And the bank has already sent the notification of the sessful deposit of money in my ount. With the confirmation, I essed my ount online and sent 3 million to my dad''s bank ount while I saved the rest. The reason I held the remaining money, for now, is simple. The people that the loanshark my father loaned with are devious guys. They will try to extort money from him and will escte having 20 million yen as their debt which they shouldn''t have. The money I am saving is for me to get a private investigator to investigate the loan shark. I am quite sure something fishy is going on with them and I am going to stop them before it can repeat all of the things that urred in my past timeline. I won''t let it happen again. Chapter 56 - Buying A House There are many things I have to n out for the future. If I want to deviate my future to a new one, I have to put out the n details that might ur if I did a particr thing. Still, my whole life in the future is all rted to the game, so there isn''t much for me to change. My only reason for doing many things is for the sake of my mother and father. They are my only family and when I lost them in my past timeline, my whole world fell apart and if not for my true friends supporting me, then I would have not managed to recover. Not only my parents are the only important people in my life that ended in a tragic fate due to myck of interaction with them. My two friends are also an aspect of my life that I cannot let to disappear. They are the people who helped me when I was too down in the gutter and helped me rise up back again. One of my friend, Dolly, is already ying the game and I met her just the other day. She has decent growth at the moment since she is just taking her pace in the game without any pressure like mine. However, she is part of my n. She helped me a lot in the past timeline and this time around, I will be helping her since I gained a kickstart. Now, to begin with, I have to buy a house. A bigger house than this. In the future, this house will be confiscated by the loansharks. I am not going to defend this house being taken because I want my family to move into a bigger house than this. It is also a good n to fool the loansharks and think that this is our only house. Another reason I want to buy a new bigger house is to have good housing that will act as my base operation in the future. If I want to bring down thepany of Kazuki, I have to make sure to be on the top and recruit my trusted allies to bring him down. I am aware that even though I can be a one-man army, I am also aware of the strength of Kazuki and his guild. I don''t want to get defeated again. I moved into my PC and started to browse around on houses being sold around. There is one website showing lots being sold with already houses in it. I made sure that the ce is peaceful, full of nature and greenery, and of course, the ce is devoid of any kind of crime. However, I didn''t see any kind of thing that is good enough for my references so I decided to scout in several ces to find a good house or a big lot. If the house sold is small but the lot is huge, there is no problem with making the house from your own money yourself. Since I am already too rich, why not waste money like water? In the end, I failed to find a good spot to buy. It was hard to look for a good ce to convert as your ce and most of them have small lots so I have to decline. I was about to go home when one of the real estate salespeople approached me. "Sir, we found a good ce that matched your preferences," she said. My ears perked up when I heard that. "Where is that?" ... I was surprised to see what the realtor said to me. The ce she was talking about is a big house on the hill. It was said to be an abandoned house being sold by the original owner since they are moving to America. The house might look gorgeous but it also looks so menacing in the distance that you will think of it as a haunted house. However, it was indeed a good ce. The ce might be in need of cleaning and it is also a bit in a secluded area in Tokyo rather than the usual noisy streets so it really fit my descriptions. The Realtor gave me the keys earlier to check the house. Honestly, the house looks so creepy, and just by looking at it, you might shiver in fear and will have to think twice about buying it. No wonder no one bought it even though the ce is really good. With a loud clunk in the door, the old doors opened after I used the key on it. Many people would be afraid of entering the ce but I don''t think I will. I have seen much scarier sh*t in Alternate World so this ce is just like a theme park attraction for me. However, I am on high alert. I may have not recovered most of my former strength in the past but I have already managed to integrate a few of my senses from the game to real life. What made me alert is that I am quite sure that the ce is not "abandoned". The ce is clearly showing signs of someone else living in this ce. Some of the items inside the house is showing signs and markings that confirms the existence of people living here before. And I will guess that these people currently using this abandoned house are the ones scaring the other people. The traces are so tantly shown but anyone who does not check much of the things here would not notice that the house they are entering is a ce where someone is currently upying, though they are upying it illegally. I walk around the ce and inspect the walls and floors. So far, for an abandoned mansion like this, it looks like it is well maintained. Still, it has some rough and broken edges which might be due to the age of the house and it needs renovation. The living room has furniture and I can tell that some of it is antique. Looks like the old owner of this house didn''t bother to take these things with them. But hey, that is a plus for me. This house is cheap and not so many things are needed to renovate so I can save a lot of money. As I was exploring the house, my ears perked up when I heard a movement upstairs. From the sound of it, it looks like it was a tant disturbance to instill fear. However, that failed to invoke any fear in me. After experiencing many things and almost death, things so minor like this fails to invoke the feeling of fear in myself. Another ruckus started once again. Without hesitation, I followed the sound and saw a broken old ceramic te. From what I can tell on the te, it was already broken due to the rough edges of the broken te that clearly don''t look like it broke down just now. This is a prop from my guess. I have already managed to get my focus in Alternate World and I still remember how to do it. Maybe I should use it to check on this guy? Then something fast passed by me and disappeared once again. Seeing that the "inhabitants" here want to scare me away by hiding and causing mischief, shall we y hide and seek then? Chapter 57 - Illegal Occupants I sharpened my senses as I try to locate the people trying to get rid of me from the house. My senses are still weak and can only do a little bit of checking around so when I noticed a movement just on my back, I did not hesitate to chase on it and grab whoever it was. "Whaaaa!" I was surprised since it was a girl''s scream, more importantly, it sounded so young so my guess is that this is a kid. I can''t see her face since she is wearing a mask but based on her height, I can assume that she is a 9-year-old girl though I am not sure since looks and height can deceive people believing that they are young but in reality, they are much older than you. She tried to bite me but I transferred her to my other hand while holding the back of her shirt''s cor. Due to this, she has to try and shake herself off from me. "Brother, help me! Let me go!" Her scream is loud and it echoes around the ce. Her words earlier confirmed that she has an aplice. Since her scream is resounding around the mansion, I doubt her brother would abandon her. Much easier for me to see her aplice without doing anything. It didn''t take too long before the brother arrived running down from the second floor. It was quite a sight to see him rush down the stairs only to trip and fall on a few steps. Still, he didn''t stop and stood up and aimed me his pellet gun to me. "Release my sister!" He was a courageous guy. He is still a bit younger than me but I can tell his age to be around 13 to 14 years old. He has shriveled long brown hair and his body is so thin that I can tell that this guy is not eating properly. But to see him aim me a pellet gun makes me surprised. Some people won''t bother saving anyone if they can save their own *ss despite the captured victims were their own sibling or parent. To see someone try to save her without knowing the danger makes me deduce he is a good and responsible brother. I didn''t bother to keep the little girl in my hands and let her go. When she was free, she immediately runs towards his brother and hid behind him. I am not the person who extorts others, especially on kids. I came here to buy the house, not to extort homeless people. But that doesn''t mean I would be lenient here. "Who are you two and what the heck are you doing in this house?!" His sister hid behind him even more while he steeled his nerves and aimed the pellet gun on me. "This is our house! You are trespassing here!" "Oh? You are telling me I am the trespasser? Isn''t that you two?" I said and revealed the keys to the mansion. "Huh? The keys?" The guy was stunned. "Yeah. Since I have the key and the permission of the realtor to check the house, it is not trespassing. In fact, the two of you are the ones considered as trespassers!" The two shook but the boy did not falter. "This is now our house! We won''t allow anyone else takes this house from us!" I grinned and looked at him with a re. "Really? Even if you are beaten ck and blue?" The boy gulped but he didn''t bother taking the pellet gun away from me. Instead, he keeps on aiming it to me. Then the girl removed her mask and I finally saw her. To my surprise, I saw her brother''s eyes are defective due to the white color of her retina, which means she is blind. "Don''t bully my brother!" I was taken aback and was a bit guilty. But I was also amazed by the little girl. She might be blind but if she did not take off her mask, I would assume she has good eyesight. She can run around the ce without much problem which is somewhat unbelievable for someone who is blind. "Mister, please, I beg you, we need a house to live in. This house is the only ce we can use to stay and I don''t want my sister to go back to the streets. She is blind and I am still a kid. No ce will take me to work and I can''t let me and my sister go to the orphanage because it is quite sure that they would separate me and my sister. Please, mister. Just please let us live in this ce," the boy said and almost cried though he is holding it. I felt bad for the kids. He has lots of points in regards to their current situation. Still, I want this house, but that would result in them losing their home. I am aware now on what to do but I am not even sure whether I will do this. But heck I took pity on them and decided toe up with a proposition. "I am not going to care about it because I am buying this house. Which means you have to go out of this house. I am quite sure many of the people that will know this would be d to put the two of you to the orphanage. However, I have a proposition for you. If you disagree, then I will just withdraw the offer and you all are kicked out from here forever." "Proposition?" He looked at me in confusion. "If you want to have your sister live in good housing, then I will hire you as a caretaker of my house. Along with your sister too, you two will work for me. Of course, you will earn money and I will give you free meals and free lodging in exchange. I am not a cruel person. What do you say? If you don''t ept this, then I will not hesitate to take back my offer." "I will ept! We will ept your offer!" The boy immediately said. I nodded and looked at the two of them. Somehow, they looked familiar but I can''t pinpoint exactly who they looked like. Therefore, I decided to ask their names. "So, what are your names?" "I am Akira and this is my sister, Sora." Akira and Sora? Aren''t they the legendary mercenaries in Alternate World? From what I heard, they became rich after ying Alternate World using the public capsules that allow the yers who can''t afford to buy a capsule and rings for the Alternate World y the game. To think that I would meet them here! Chapter 58 - Did You Sell Drugs?! Mercenaries are the yers who are being hired by beginners and also other pro yers to apany their employers for different kinds of things that their employers wanted them to do like hunting monsters to gather different materials, leveling their employers, and many other things that happen in the game. Sora and Akira are one of the best mercenaries that are nicknamed as the "Legendary Mercenary Siblings." They are very high leveled yers and they provide the gathering and leveling jobs but the most proficient they are in are tanking and magic DPS. Sora, despite being a woman picked the tank job, Pdin. When she ssed up, she chooses the Iron Fortress, a ss with the highest HP and defense values in the game. The only downside of this ss is that, in exchange for defense and HP, the user has to sacrifice their attack power for that, therefore, she can''t act alone. That''s where Akiraes in. Akira is the main DPS of the two. His first-ss is Magician but when he ranked up, he chooses the hardest to get a job namely the Archmagus. Archmagus ss is a ss that specializes in AOE magic and burst magic skills, making them the best ss in terms of farming monsters in one fell swoop. What is more astonishing is that Akira did not spend any stat points on his stats other than his INT and DEX which in result, his casting speed is really fast that most spells he uses onlysts for a maximum of 10 second which normally needs 20 or more seconds to cast and a minimum of 3 seconds. His burst of power from his magic is also quite insane. His only downside is that he is a ss cannon. Without any stats in END and other stats, his defensive capabilities are really low. The reason they are legendary is that they are sopatible as partners with their sses. They fill up each other''s weaknesses and downsides which allows them to be really strong yers. They also became rich after ying the games for so long. I am not mistaken, no wonder they looked familiar it turns out they were the two people I have met before in the past timeline. When I was struggling to fight against a certain boss after managing to defect on the guild that keeps on killing me for EXP, they came in to help me and they also gave me a chance to raise my level too for free. I own a lot of thanks to them because I managed to start back again due to their efforts. Now that they are still younglings and not yet yers of the game, why not try to help them get stronger very soon? If I recall right, the public usage of the gaming console for the Alternate World is still 6 months away. What if they started early? Will their achievements be more dominant than in the past timeline? "Say, are you two interested in ying video games?" I asked. The two were surprised by my question but Akira answered immediately. "If we can ever y one, we would definitely do. But due to our state, I doubt we can still enjoy ying one." "I see, then I will allow you to y one soon, if you two are ready,e to this address tomorrow and I will wait for the two of you," I said and handed them a card with my address and phone number written on it. The reason I have a calling card like this is for some asions that I want to hand them something like a calling card. I have been doing it in the past so it became a habit. "Okay then!" Akira enthusiastically took the card. I don''t know why Akira easily trusted me though, while I can easily understand why Sora is still not trying to speak to me and still hides from his brother''s back. For me, it is a better reaction Sora have shown to me since I am not someone they should have trusted immediately, but eh, who cares now, it has been taken. ... After finalizing all of the expenses and paying for the mansion, I have finally owned the mansion for five hundred thousand yen since it was being sold cheaply by the owner. I was ecstatic about it since I got the thing cheaply without paying a veryrge amount of money. Renovating the ce would also be easy too since there is already an existing foundation, it doesn''t need too much effort to restore the ce. Of course, this purchase was a secret from my parents. They have no idea I have already bought a house in case the situation gets a little bit worse. That way, the scammers won''t have any knowledge about this one. When I returned home, my father called me on my old phone and started to barrage me with questions. "Son, are you the one who sent me money? There are no other people who will send money to my ount other than your mother and you. How did you get so much money?! Are you selling drugs or doing some illegal stuff without us knowing?!" "What the hell, dad. I don''t do illegal drugs and for the love of myself, I don''t want to go to jail just for the sake of money!" "Then how the heck did you get the money? Selling your kidney?" "DAD!" "Seriously son, how did you get to have so much money all of a sudden? I don''t even know what you did just to get money!" "It is one of the prize pool in one of the games I am ying if you win. I managed to win the grand prize and it is the amount of money you see in your ount. Whatever is happening over there, you can now pay for mother''s expenses without spending your time for overtime. Use it for mother, okay?" We talked a bit more than that and I asked my father how Mother is already. The good thing is that my mother is already healthy enough and she will wake up soon enough after a few more days of rest. The situation is fine on their side, allowing me to sigh in peace, knowing my mother is now in a stable condition. After a lengthy call, I hang up after saying goodbye to my father. When everything was over, I cleared up everything in my schedule and check the inte for the situation. I was surprised to see that the first guild, the Burning Dragon is nning to clear the Lesser Purgatory. Seeing this, I was enraged. He is nning to take my first clear?! The let me p it in his face that I am not going to let him do it! Chapter 59 - The Fourth Skill Of The Versatile Weapon The moment I log back to the game, I didn''t head straight to the dungeon. I checked the status of the boss I managed to getst time. If his cooldown for usage is already over, I can summon him and get him to help me clear the dungeon. Unfortunately, he still needs at least 4 hours before his cooldown disappears. But that was already expected since it was a boss monster before. If it was a monster of normal rarities like the mobs seen on the outskirts of town and in forests and other ces, their cooldown would have been over a few hours ago. I still have lots of money in my ount and I am not in a shortage of gold. So why am I trying hard to steal the first clear of the first dungeon? For me, Kazuki is not someone whom you should let grow for the future. If his future sess is slowly getting impended, then it would be a good stall time before he can even get stronger allowing me to overpower him. I can kill him in real life, just that, I am not a killer and fall to grace like what he did. I still hold my conscience in killing a person. Of course, things are different in the game. If I can see him somewhere on the outskirts, or he is in his vulnerable state, I won''t hesitate to do it. Stop his growth as slow as possible and let him suffer before he gets strong. Though I doubt I can do that especially that he is still under the limelight of attention. Alright, let''s go back to the topic. In my past timeline, it was indeed, the Burning Dragon Guild who managed to gain the first clear of the Abyss difficulty of Lesser Purgatory. ording to the posts, it was announced in the whole server who managed to get the first clear. It was a piece of very big news for everyone at that time due to how it was the first Abyss difficulty cleared during that time. It was not an easy feat to clear the Abyss difficulty during the early times where the levels of the yers are still low and when the Burning Dragon managed to do it, it made the wholemunity explode with conversations about the exploit. The Burning Dragon guild became so famous that it allowed them to rise up from the ranks and since they were the first guild, they managed to have a good startup. Now that there are two other guilds besides him in this timeline, he might be anxious and wanted to get the title of taking the Abyss difficulty of the dungeon. Although the title was not really that much, it is considered a very good title especially for yers who still have no idea how to get a single title. I head out straight to the auction house this time. With so many golds to spare, I think I have something to do to get my stats to bolster up significantly. Using the [Devour] skill of the Versatile weapon. The auction house is not that crowded today since the better items that were showcased yesterday were all sold out and only a few items that are procured by some yers with some rare stats are now being sold. Of course, this ce is still good at procuring beginner items like weapons with additional effects. When I arrived, I saw Tress in the counter writing on paper and processing some things. When he saw me, he quickly greeted me. "Good day, Mr. deheart, did you receive the money safely?" "Yes. It was an overwhelming amount but it is safe in my pockets." "What can we do for you right now? I will just remind you that the auction is already over." "I know about that. I came here to buy some weapons with stats and skill effects." "Is there any specific of the stats and skills you are looking for? What kind of weapon are you trying to take?" Tress asked as he prepares a paper. "Anything is fine. I don''t even care which weapon, sword, canes, bow, anything will do as long as they have additional stats and skill effects." "Alright, how many? Are you trying to amalgamate a weapon?" "Yeah, something like that. Just give me at least 30 pieces of them if it is avable," I said even though it is not the real case. "Alright, wait for a bit. Then we will get the best weapons we can get. Please wait in the lobby for a bit," Tress said and bowed down before he proceeds to go to the supply room and started giving orders to his workers. I waited patiently as I look at the yers browsing. For some reason, they are looking at me with awe. I just remembered I am still wearing the wolf mask which made me look like a monster. If not for the yer mark above my head, they would mistake me as a monster. I can guess that they also want to ask me where I got this item but they seemed to have trouble doing since I look intimidating. There is nothing interesting going on while I was waiting. Tress came back a few minutester with a few workers carrying crates of weapons in their hands. "We managed to procure 30 pieces of weapons you requested. You can take them now." I handed the necessary amount of gold and pushed every weapon inside my inventory. After saying goodbye, I headed back to the inn and locked my room. I already checked the Dragon Guild and they are still in preparation phase. I still have time to prepare. Pulling out the Versatile Weapon, I started to select which weapon to devour. Since I can pick out all pieces of equipment selected at once, I clicked all 30 pieces of weapons in my inventory. They have random stats so I am not sure how much of stats will be added. There are also weapons in my bag which are all dropped from the monsters I killed before but these are not really a priority to devour. "DEVOUR!" [Notice: Devouring weapons with unique stats and skills. Requirements for the third skill of the Versatile Weapon met. Third Skill will be unlocked after the process. Proceed?] YES/NO I blinked seeing the interface. The third skill? It didn''t show me any requirements to unlock the skill so why now? Although I am surprised, I proceed to the process. I am not expecting anything so that I won''t get disappointed in case the skill is a total disappointment. When I clicked Yes, the shadow once again appeared on the sword and started drooling. The weapons I clicked appeared before me and in a single sweep, the shadow ate all the weapons and another interface appeared in front of my face. [Skill Extraction unlocked.] [Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on it can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit of skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon.] Chapter 60 - Skill Extraction This was totally unexpected. Based on my knowledge, I have not heard of any skills simr to this. If there''s any if it existed before, it would be limited to a few skills to be extracted. But seeing something like this without a limit, isn''t this going to be overpowered? As the Versatile Weapon started to devour the weapons one at a time, the interface keeps popping out in front of my face and I didn''t expect it to ur. After a few stacking pop-ups, it stopped when it reached the 30th. I inhaled deeply first, before inspecting the interface. The first interface is the first one I saw and I can''t switch to others so I have to ept or decline this to proceed to the next. [Detected skills to be extracted 1. Bloodlust: Every Basic Attack will cause a 1% hp lifesteal to the enemies. 2.Regeneration: Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. Warning: Only one skill can be selected. A repeated skill will enhance the effect of the first skill.] Skill 1/Skill 2 I was conflicted. These two skills are nice and useful. Bloodlust in case you are in a pinch while Regeneration if you are easily running out of mana. However, what do I really need right now? After a bit of thinking, I choose Regeneration as the skill to be extracted since the skill Bloodlust is quitemon in weapon drops so I have many chances to improve it. I also don''t need to have a lifesteal for now since I can still fight strong enemies without relying on it. On the other hand, mana regeneration is quite rare. For mana reliant sses like Magicians and Clerics, this skill is a must to get. When I clicked the skill, the interface disappeared and a new interface appeared saying that it seeded. I spent my entire time checking the skills. Aside from the first interface, the other skills on the remaining interfaces are low-quality skills so they are not really worth mentioning and some of them are repeated skills, allowing me to level up some of them in the process. When the devouring process ended, the Versatile Weapon seemed to be satisfied with the weapons I let it devour. I opened the information panel of my weapon and checked the new stats pf the weapon. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 5 [Exp: 500/2000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +50 AGI: +41 DEX: +76 END: +45 INT: +60 Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff to the enemies. The probability will increase every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase every level. Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on it can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit of skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: None I was just haphazardly selecting random skills but who would have thought the skills I selected were all now strong skills after devour! Especially the Mana Conservation skill. 1-second cooldown reduction is already a great thing in Alternate World. Many items that have a cooldown reduction talent will never exceed the 0.9-second cooldown reduction no matter how hard you try. Skills with long cooldowns benefit a lot on this. Not to mention that the skills that need insane mana can now be used without worrying about your mana from decreasing a lot. Add the Physical Pration and Defense Reduction. I am never this happy to get a lot of benefits just by devouring some items! The stats of the Versatile Weapon also increased. I expected it to increase a lot dramatically but I am notining though. The stats showing is already good enough and I don''t want to be greedy. As for the third special skill of the Versatile Weapon, isn''t this just too OP? I am even wondering if the system will nerf this thing. But isn''t the existence of this weapon already an anomaly? If that was the case, this weapon might be really this awesome. With the weapon ready, I head out of the inn, and once again, moved my feet towards the dungeon, this time, I am alone without anypanion. I didn''t even bother to take out Leona. She will need to rest for a while since a few days from now, she will grow into a full adult. While I was on my way to the dungeon, I found several yers now camping around the dungeon entrance. I am a bit awestruck on the number of yers trying to capture the moment of the raiding party of Kazuki. The dungeon entrance is yet to show any signs of people inside so, I assume the yers that will apany Kazuki have yet toe. I have no items that will allow me to go invisible but it wouldn''t hurt to show off, besides, my name cannot be seen due to the effect of my title. Besides, my face cannot be seen and the only thing they will know is my wolf mask. As I approach the crowd, many yers are talking to each other. "Wanna bet how many minutes or hours they will clear the dungeon?" "How about you give me 10 gold for guessing it right?" "Nah man, too little, just give me 20 and we are good to go." "I hope I can get into the Burning Dragon guild. Having a title must be nice." "You should be someone who will be strong enough to stand side by side with them though. From the looks of you, I doubt you will be epted." The yers were doing more plenty of talks, but I am not interested in listening to them, so I proceed to the entrance of the dungeon. Then just as I was about to enter the Insane Mode, the yers noticed me. "Hey! What the heck are you doing?!" I look at the yer shouting and frowned though they cannot see my expression, I produced a sound of annoyance. "Hey, you have to respond when someone is talking! You ungrateful bastard." This guy... I don''t even know this guy and he dares to talk to me like he was some sort of superior? I don''t know man, seems legit to me but I can tell that he is still a newbie based on his clothes and weapon. I ignored him and continue to ess the dungeon and clicked Insane difficulty. The other yers cannot see the difficulty I selected so they will think I ess the Normal Mode. Before I can finish and enter, the group of Kazuki arrived with weapons that I can tell are purchased from the local cksmith, not the cksmith Almira since the quality of the weapons they are using is too mediocre. This time, I saw Kazuki face to face with him now. I gritted my teeth and wanted to beat him up right now but the time is not right yet. The time is not yet ripe. But if it is ready and good for the picking, I won''t hesitate to reap it. Chapter 61 - Lesser Purgatory - Insane Difficulty Cutting the bud while it is still young is not easy here. I am still weak and iparable to Kazuki. Even with the amount of money that I will be able to possess after I exchange the gold in my inventory, I won''t be able to rival the amount that Kazuki''s family possesses. I won''t be able to defend myself if his family will try to hunt me and my family. In short, I am still vulnerable. I am just biding my time and building up all the pieces I can use for me to fight against Kazuki. And when the dayes, death is just mercy for him... So even though I am trying to slice him up in front of this crowd of yers, I held back and calmed myself. As expected, Kazuki is the first one to approach and assess the situation. "Who are you?" Kazuki asked as he eyed me from head to toe. I didn''t respond to his question. That will add a little bit of mysterious air in my persona right now. Instead, I confirmed the selection of the insane difficulty on the dungeon. As soon as I did that, the whole air of the dungeon entrance started to get too hot. I am already familiar with it though, this is the nostalgic feeling from thest time I entered the ce. This time, the portal did not appear behind me, but it appeared below my feet. I am used to it but to those who do not, they will freak out. "Sh*t! Is that some sort of an event?!" "Capture a video man! It looks so epic!" "Can someone check the website if there is an event or something that is happening right now?" "Dude that was sick! If not for the yer icon in his head, I would mistake him as an NPC or something!" "Wait, can you check who is that guy?" "Lemme check...oh, it says I cannot do that. It was blocked! I can''t even send a friend request!" "A bugged yer?" "That shouldn''t be. The devs would definitely fix it right away. Should we report it?" "Let''s try, oh..." "What is it?" "It says he is not a bugged yer and he is certainly not cheating either. He is following the game properly! But what the heck..." I grinned by myself. So I am not a bugged yer. I almost got nervous about that one. If the devs would find out my ridiculously strong weapon and my titles, I might be revoked back to level 1. Still, I don''t want to waste my time. I red at Kazuki onest time and send out a bloodlust in the air. Kazuki shivered from the feeling and unconsciously stepped back himself. I will let him bask in glory first but I will make sure to make him suffer after that. A prompt appeared before my eyes. [Enter the dungeon? Warning, this is the Insane Difficulty dungeon. This is not a dungeon for the weak of the heart and it is rmended to form a party to clear it, are you sure you want to enter the dungeon anyway?] Yes/No Without hesitation, I clicked the Yes. Without waiting for Kazuki''s reaction, my body descended to the portal, leaving them with unanswered questions. ... As soon as I descended, I am falling to the ground. When I entered the first time, I am screaming because of this fall. Everyone won''t expect this if this is their first time but for me, this is just the norm and part of the difficulty of this node. I pull out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a crossbow. Why I changed it to a crossbow? From my experience, the crossbow is much stronger especially in this situation than the original bow. The gun is much stronger than the crossbow but the aim of guns is a tad bit lower than bow and crossbow in an aerial battle. A bow or a crossbow is the most rmended weapon or you can ask a yer who has a Hunter ss to apany you especially if you are entering the Insane difficulty of Lesser Purgatory. [Wyverns of Hell] Level 30 HP: 20,000/20,000 Attributes: Beast, Fire I saw 20 of theming in my direction ready to bare their jaws to me. Also, this is your first hurdle in Insane difficulty; aerialbat. During my past timeline, the insane difficulty is one of the mostmon topics in the game. Solo yers aremon in the game so when they were faced with the Insane difficulty, they immediately felt the hurdles of a Solo yer. Many tried making a walkthrough on this one, even live-streaming the dungeon while in solo but only ended up getting whooped in the actualbat. In the end, they decided to stop doing any solo... until I cleared it alone. Yes, I cleared this dungeon in solo mode in the first timeline. Of course, my achievement was immediately overshadowed when Kazuki did the same and cleared the dungeon in solo too. It was drastic poprity for a popr guy and a person who is nothing. As the wyverns came close, I aimed and nock the arrow that appears every time you are about to shoot. I didn''t shoot immediately, I know my aiming in a bow is terrible so I rely more on the crossbow because I have experience in using one before, therefore, I amfortable using it. Also, crossbows have a higher hit rate and attack speed than bows. When I locked my focus on the wyvern, I release the arrow from my bow. THUD! -Got 5000 EXP(Additional 5000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Title Effects Activated, 10000 EXP gained) -Got 10 Hunter AP "That''s one," I muttered and nock the crossbow once more. I am not worried about the height I am falling into, because I cannd easily without any problem in this situation. I will just have to dispose of every wyvern as soon as possible. -Got 5000 EXP(Additional 5000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Title Effects Activated, 10000 EXP gained) -Got 10 Hunter AP "Two..." -Got 5000 EXP(Additional 5000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Title Effects Activated, 10000 EXP gained) -Got 10 Hunter AP "Three" I repeated every action and every shot, a wyvern fell down too. In just a matter of minutes, all wyverns ended up dead allowing me to gain a lot of experience. If only they drop items and gold then everything would be perfect, unfortunately, they don''t drop anything and just gives EXP. Veryme for a monster whose only purpose is to annoy the yers that entered the dungeon, increasing the difficulty innding. After a few seconds of clearing the wyverns, I finally seend tond into my feet and start fighting. I memorized the best area tond into to avoid any surprise attacks. One of the tricks in this dungeon is the surprise attacks. Enemies here are so mischievous and cunning that they will hide and wait for the right opportunity to stab your back defenseless. Spotting the spot, it didn''t take me long tond safely, and to do that, you have to aim your feet to the ground, not your head. Mistakes of newbies and first-timers in this dungeon are that they willnd head first. It was a big mistake and will instead cost you your life in this dungeon. Anotherme way to die in this dungeon. I quickly changed the Versatile Weapon''s form into a Magic Sword. Because in the surroundings, silhouettes of dozen... no hundreds of monsters are starting to gather in my location. Chapter 62 - Horde In the first two difficulties, the yers would only meet the enemies as they proceed further into the dungeon. However, in this situation, they will start gathering up. If you are in a party, you can immediately gather your bearings as your tank will be the first one to quickly act as the decoy and absorb the damage, meanwhile in solo, especially when you are first-timer, you won''t be able to get on your bearings before you get overwhelmed by the enemies. I am quite prepared for what will happen so before the first attack will ur, I transformed my Versatile Weapon into a Magic Sword and immediately swing it to my back. "SQUEAK!" -You dealt 10,000 damage! Critical! A big rat with ming fur was the one who received it. Although the attack was critical, it didn''t kill the monster in one hit. The damage is not enough to kill it in one hit. [Hellfire Rat] Level 30 HP: 7,500/17,500 Attributes; Beast, Fire Not only this enemy, but there are also others and some of them are undead and ghost attribute monsters. [Burning Soul] Level 30 HP: 15,000/15,000 Attributes: Ghost, Fire [Suffering Damned Corpse] Level 35 HP: 25,000/25,000 Attributes: Undead, Fire Not only that, but there is also a need to avoid the mini-boss'' attacks that are added on the fry of this annoying mob. [Skeleton King](Mini-Boss) Level 40 HP: 100,000/100,000 Attributes: Undead, Knight, Fire The Mini-Boss hits hard and is the bane against Tanks. Therefore, tost longer against the horde, you need to defeat the Mini-Boss. Killing the mini-boss also stops the spawning of the mobs endlessly. For those who n to finish the dungeon in the least time possible, it is rmended to kill the mini-boss first so that you won''t get held up with the smaller mobs. The longer the fight is, the more exhausted you will be. And since I am nning to beat the time that Kazuki and the party are trying to aplish, which I have rough estimation, I will have to defeat this boss in the least time possible due to my knowledge in the past timeline. I slice and rush forward to the Mini-boss. Just killing it will stop the spawning of the smaller mobs allowing me to fight it without worrying for endless monsters pouring here and there. The Skeleton King, despite being a skeleton packs a whole lot of defense. Hitting it with brute force is not enough to destroy and kill it. You need strategy and defense pration to immediately dispose of it before you are overwhelmed with the smaller mobs. AOE attacks and magic skills also work well with the boss. Healing and Holy Magic do not work with this boss so spamming healing magic or any kind of magic that involves healing won''t work. It can only be killed with brute force. The small mobs are in the way and will always try to block your way to the Mini-Boss. "Get out of my way!" Swinging my Magic Sword, I hit them and throw them aside whenever the chances present themselves. The hit the smaller mobs received are not enough to kill them but will reduce a little bit of their HP. Reducing their HP like this is enough because killing them will only multiply the number of enemies trying to stop you. When I got near the Skeleton King, I changed my weapon to shield and spear, the weapon of choice of the Pdins, the main tankers. I am fine with the Magic Sword but I want to also raise the AP of the Pdin so that I can learn some skills for the ss like a few passives it possesses. "GRAAAAAAHHHH!" The Skeleton King pounded its rusty armor using its greatsword before hitting me. Of course, I blocked it with a shield. The attack is very strong and I barely managed to block it but thanks to my expertise in handling this boss allowed me to reduce the strength of the attack. After the greatsword attack, I gripped the spear and poke the Skeleton King''s armor. If the Versatile Weapon has the ability to reduce some defense of the monster, then I can at least reduce this mini-boss'' defense. -Inflicted 3,250 damage. Defense was reduced by 5% for 30 seconds. The 30% chance activated! When the debuff activated, I quickly changed the shield and spear into a hammer and quickly bash the Mini-Boss with it. BANG! -Inflicted 10,000 damage! CRITICAL! Defense was reduced by 5% for 30 seconds. Another stack which means the defense of the Mini-Boss has reduced to 10%. And based from the damage inflicted aside from the critical hit, I am sure the defense pration activated, allowing me to inflict more damage. The HP of the Mini-Boss will notst at this rate if the skills of the Versatile Weapon continue to activate. But the mobs are starting to gather now. To avoid being ganged up, I retreated from the boss and let the mobs follow me away from the boss. The Mini-Boss has slow movement and will only attack whenever you are in his 2-meter range. If he is far from you, he won''t bother to follow you. I kite around the mobs to make sure they won''t be gathering around the Mini-Boss. It was sessful and the mobs followed me and ready to clobber me. I didn''t bother hitting them since I already hit them earlier too much and if I hit them again, they will die, causing a new spawn of enemies multiplied by two and I don''t want that many hindrances to appear. Dodging every mob and enduring their attacks that reduce my HP bar slowly, I drink potions whenever I get low in health before I continue. After a few seconds, I managed to shake off the mobs. Back to the boss again but this time, I used another strategy. Instead of shield block, I decided to rush using the hammer instead of changing it to shield. Why? Because the enemies in Alternate World are somewhat sentient and can remember strategies did to them. If you keep repeating the same pattern, twice, the enemy will remember this and will immediately use a new way to counter your strategy, destroying it on the process. While heading to the 2-meter distance of the Mini-Boss, I activated [Berserk] immediately, raising my attack power tremendously but reducing my defense too much now that the Versatile Weapon has now the ability to enhance the power of the Berserk Status and also reduce your defense further. "EAT THIS!" Swinging the hammer with all my strength on the Skeleton King''s skull, I expected the defense to fall further but I didn''t expect to hear a sound when the hammer struck the skull. CRACK! I paused and saw the Skeleton King crumble to dust after that and the interface showed me the notification. -Got 25,000 EXP(Additional 25,000 EXP for Instant Kill)(Additional 5,000 EXP for killing a Mini-Boss)(Title Effects activated, 55,000 EXP gained) -Got 15 Pdin AP -Got 30 Berserker AP [Congrattions! You were awarded the title: Skullshatterer!] [Skullshatterer] Type: Unique Title How to acquire: Inflict 500,000 exact damage to the Skeleton King while hitting the weakness which is the head. Effect: Basic attacks and skills has 2% chance to inflict stun that wouldst for 5 seconds. The effect cannot be stacked. The effect continues even if not equipped. Note: You smash heads like melons easily, now, are you willing to smash eggs too? ---- A/N: Someone asked me if all the unique titles that Manato obtains in the game continue its effect despite not equipped. Well, the answer to that is no. As you recall his title [Early Billionaire Tycoon], despite being a Unique Title,cks the "Effect continues even if not equipped" description on its effect. Which means it needs to be equipped to activate. In the future chapters, there will be simr Titles that willck that description. So don''t immediately assume that all his Unique titles will immediately have an effect even if he didn''t equip the same title. As for the stats of Manato, I noticed that many of youin about showing his stats panel frequently so I decided to remove it for now. I will reveal it from time to time to show his progress but I won''t be bothering to show it all the time because you are reading a story, not a statistical novel. On the side of killing Kazuki early to avoid future trouble, don''t worry, we will reach that part but let''s not be too hasty. Remember that death is just mercy for people like Kazuki, so why don''t you enjoy his pain first in theter chapters? Muahahahaha, isn''t that much better? Taste revenge to it''s finest. Anyways, good day to all and happy reading. Chapter 63 - The NPC In The Insane Level Dungeon Another unique title? This is the first time I have encountered this title and I have not heard of this before even in my past timeline so this is new to me. Just from what the description says, I have a 2% chance of inflicting stun whenever I attack using basic and skills. 2% chance is a very small amountpared to many skills like Shield Bash in Pdins that has a 50% chance to inflict a stun and will increase to 100% once your ss changes to Holy Defender. But this ability is something that can be considered overpowered. 2% chance to proc a stun on enemies is just too small but considering how frequent you do basic attacks and skills, it is a bit good to be true. Pdins can only stun if they use their specific skills that can inflict a stun while with this talent, you have a 2% chance to inflict a stun even if the skill you use does not have any kind of ability to inflict any kind of stun like this. I sighed and shrugged it. Even though it has a good chance to proc in unexpected times, it is still not that reliable so I will not really give it a big deal. But hey, I am thankful for this, I don''t ignore free stuff like this. After clearing the remaining mobs in the area, I proceed to the next ce. I was expecting the Undead Trolls which is quite annoying at times but what I saw is not what I expected. Before me is a towering guy wielding a sword that is quite nice to look with intricate designs that I can tell that looks simr to those fantasy games with OP swords in thete game. On the ground are the chopped pieces of the Undead Trolls that I was expecting to fight. I scratched my head in confusion. I have not heard of this kind of scene here before. Is this some sort of new patch scene during the very early release? Or is this something that I failed to trigger in my past timeline but I managed to trigger in this timeline? The guy is facing his back so I can''t really see who is the person. But I can tell that this guy is an NPC. The NPC indicator above his head proves it but I am not recalling any NPC with this kind of weapon and stature. Thest troll that is crawling on the ground died when the guy stomped its face with his shoes. I was just looking at the guy when he turned around and point his sword. I was surprised to see that this guy''s head is just a skull! No features at all except that it is a skull. You can say he looks simr to the Skull Knight in the manga Berserk, the only thing is that he iscking the horse and he would really look simr to that guy. "Hooo, a human eh, it looks like you are toote to kill these trolls. These guys are my prey so I am no giving any." "Are you an enemy?!" I asked while ready to pull use my Versatile Weapon and use any kind of form to attack this guy if things go awry. "Rx, human. I may be like this but I don''t have any intention to fight humans. I feed on monsters like this so you can rx that I won''t do anything to attack you. But this is the first time I saw a human in this realm though. What are you doing here?" "I am here to clear this ce. Its been gued with monsters here and there and I want to remove them here." "Are you trying to get stronger? Then where are yourpanions? Humans rarely go alone unless they have a reason." "I have a reason and I can''t tell you that." "Ha, I have no business knowing your reasons. But you are clearly someone who wouldn''t care about your life. I can sense Death''s Power on you." Death''s Power? Is he talking about the [Death''s Favorite] title? "If that woman really did acknowledge you, then you are not a bad guy. You and I have the same objective so why not team up with me? The battle will be much easier for you if you help me clear this dungeon." It is definitely a huge help but I want to prove to myself and to Kazuki that I can beat this dungeon without any help. This offer might be good but I am not someone like that. This will be basically cheating. "I''m sorry. But I want to prove to myself I can clear this floor alone without any external help from others like my familiars or even for you. I apologize if I am sounding arrogant but I wanted to do it alone." The skull guy looked at me with his hollow eyes, like it is scrutinizing me to the depths of my soul. I have experienced many things in the past so the pressure he released is not really something that would cause me to bend weakly. "Interesting... Very well. If you are really that confident, then take this and fill it with the souls of the enemies. Once you managed to fill it and clear everything in this dungeon, then I will recognize your strength." After saying that, a panel interface containing mission details appeared. [Recognition from the Lich] Type: Unique/Story Quest Info: The Knight Lich King has seen a great potential from you, perhaps due to the [Death''s Favorite] title you have or may be due to your bravery. You are tasked to clear the dungeon alone without any help and fill a certain ball of crystal with the souls of the enemies and return to him after. Progress: Souls stored: 0/200 Dungeon Cleared: 0/1 Difficulty: ??? Rmended Levels: ??? Rewards: ??? Do you want to ept the quest? This quest cannot be abandoned once epted. Yes/No A unique quest?! For real? Just who is this Knight Lich King to be part of a story quest? My luck is overflowing right now! Chapter 64 - The Quest Of Gathering Souls "Take this Orb of the Souls with you and gather the souls of the enemies you have in. Since you are fighting alone, you are very vulnerable to enemies but seeing you so confident, I will be expecting good things from you," the Knight Lich King said. [You got "Orb of the Souls"(Quest Item)] [Orb of the Souls(Quest Item)] Description: An item given by the mysterious Knight Lich King that tasked you to collect the souls of the monsters killed in the dungeon. It emits a cold chill in the skin when touched and will glow bright red once it consumes enough souls. "Don''t fail me, boy. I expect great things from you," after that, he disappeared in thin air. As soon as the Knight Lich King disappeared, an interface appeared before me. "Warning: If you die in this quest or log out in the middle of the game, the quest will automatically fail and you will face punishment. Please proceed carefully." I almost cursed to the message in the interface. Who would have thought I would be epting a punishment quest?! A punishment quest is one of the gimmick quests in the game. These particr quests have conditions you need to follow while doing the main quest that is given. If you failed to follow the protocol of the quest like this one where it prevents you to die while performing the mission, you will receive a punishment that will be decided by the NPC that issued the quest. From what I can remember, there should be at least the reduction of stats punishment and less experience debuff. But the most troublesome of the punishment is the 1-month ban and the 1-year ban which stops you to y the game, making you miss many events. I also heard that there was a punishment that deletes your in-game character permanently. It was a really harsh punishment and one guy experienced it. I am just hoping that this quest is not that kind of quest. Even though I am confident that I will easily clear this dungeon, there is something that might change in the enemies in this difficulty due to the addition of the Knight Lich King''s appearance. I have to be cautious about it. The Knight Lich King is absent and nonexistent in the previous timeline so I am not sure who this NPC was. I''ve been idle for a bit now. I have to start doing the work. The next area I was about to visit is the Graveyard of the Damned which is one of the popted areas of monsters in the Insane Mode of the Lesser Purgatory, making it the best ce to gather the souls needed for the Orb of the Souls. While going to the destination, the enemies are also appearing slowly especially the Skeleton Goblins which always act in groups. [Skeleton Goblin] Level 40 HP: 15,000/15,000 Attributes: Undead These enemies are weak, they are weak to physical attacks and will easily die if you strike their heads with blunt weapons. They only pose a threat because they are numerous and they are good at attacking as a group which will prove to be annoying to many yers. "Here we go again," I sighed. Honestly, they are an annoying bunch. The skeleton goblinsunched an attack with their short swords and shields equipped. I have trouble with these bunch because their AI is able to predict yer movements. As soon as I changed my weapon into a Hammer and swing it to the majority of skeleton goblins gathered, one of the skeleton goblins with the shield quickly deployed itself to the ce where the hammer will fall. BANG! -16,000 The message of the kill appeared on my interface but it is only one kill. However, I didn''t counterattack because I already predicted the attack. Quickly changing the Hammer into a Shield and Spear, I immediately deployed the shield in front of me. PANG! PANG! PANG! Arrows rained down upon me and the melee Skeleton Goblins jumped behind me with their short swords in their bony hands. Before the Skeleton Goblins can reach my body, I twirled the spear in my hands and spin it to the enemies, deflecting them to the attacks. If this was just a Magic Sword, I would have a hard time doing a simultaneous action while also defending. Good thing, the Versatile Weapon can change without maintaining its form allowing me to performbos. As soon as the goblins are deflected, I charge the shield to the other Skeleton goblins before changing the form into a hammer once again. They might be annoying and good at team fights but they are slow. While they are still trying to recover from my counter, I already deal with damage to them. That took care of them. I thought that only creatures like the zombies and evil beasts are counted to the soul count but the skeleton goblins were also counted. After my initialbat and annihtion of the Skeleton Goblin''s group, I managed to get 35 souls. If that was the case, then getting the 200 souls will be an easy task. It will only involve destroying the dungeon''s boss and killing every single mob. Arriving the Graveyard of the Damned, the zombies quickly took notice of me and started running at full speed. They don''t walk slowly like the zombies in George Romero''s films, they run like marathon athletes. They pose a little threat this time because they are lumped together which means AOE attacks will be very useful in this situation. However, my instincts immediately kicked in. Without thinking twice, I raised my Versatile Weapon and turned it into a sword. KLANG! I managed to block the attack but... [You received 4,951 damage!] The amount of damage I received made me feel cold in my body. ''I almost died!'' My current HP is around 5,000 since I have yet to put the stat points. Which means I am only one hit away before I die here. I immediately backed off from my current position and pulled out a potion that would immediately bring me back to full health. But what the heck did hit me?! If I didn''t raise my Versatile Weapon instinctively, I would have died back then. And even if I managed to block it, a residue of the force that the attack made caused me to receive damage which means the enemy that attacked me is capable of ignoring defense values. But what enemy would be able to ignore defense in this dungeon? There was no enemy that can do that in here! Even the bosses don''t ignore defense and can be easily defeated by tanks with good DPS back up! If there was an enemy that ignores defense, then Tanky yers would just be walking piece of metal to these enemies that can ignore defense! I changed my weapon into a Magic Sword and stab it to the ground. With the zombiesing here, I have to make sure that the enemy that attacked me earlier can''t just blend into the horde of zombies. "Earth Fissure!" As the ground cracked and shook causing the zombies to fall to the crack and die, I survey the area quickly to check any odd movements. I can''t afford that enemy to kill me with one hit. Even if I am now back to full health, having an enemy that can attack and ignore defensive values is worrisome. Imagine having a full defense that can block any attack even those that are caused by bosses like dragons only to be killed in one hit because their attacks don''t bother to notice your defense. It was like you are stripped off your armor and was attacked without mercy in your body. Then, I noticed a very fast movement not that far from my position. It was swift enough that I can only see a blur on the movement. Since I am not able to see any movement, I will have to rely on my natural instincts. I also hope that I can trigger the passive skill, Parry. But I also hope that the attack is not a magical attack but a physical one to trigger it. The attack earlier that caused 4k damage on me is very fast that I can''t easily determine if the attack is a magic power or just in physical one. When the shadowy blur that attacked me managed to get close, I gritted my teeth and countered the attack. When my sword and the attack hit with each other, I managed to deflect it but it still managed to cause me 2,000 damage. And the Parry did not even trigger which is unfortunate. But it was alright, I managed to find the identity of the assant. [Shadow Assassin] Level ??? HP: ???/??? Trait: ??? Chapter 65 - The Shadow Assassin Part 1 I almost broke to sweat seeing it. Shadow Assassin. Another enemy that did not exist in the previous timeline too and what is worst in this situation, it has a higher level than me, probably 50 levels higher than mine since even the traits in its description arebeled in question marks. Enemies with higher levels than you are able to hide it''s level and HP values but that doesn''t mean they can hide their traits. However, that will be different if the enemy before you is in another realm in level than you. Even the attributes are also going to bebeled with question marks making you unaware of what their weakness will be. The Shadow Assassin disappeared once again and I think it blended once more with the zombies. Since I only lost around 2,000 HP, I only cast Heal on myself so that I can keep my supply of potions intact. I gritted my teeth in frustration. I am too naive to call this game simr to the game I yed in the past timeline. Sure, they are made by the samepany and they have many things that have been present just like in the past timeline that I know but there are also plenty of things I have no idea about. Even this monster is something I have yet to see before in my past timeline. The Game has shown changes... With all my decisions and all of my new movements done in the game that I have not done in the past timeline, it might have triggered lots of mechanisms that were not triggered before. I am too naive. This game is not the same game I yed before. I may have started a new game but this is a new reality, not the same one I lived before. It just shows me that if I have started new here, I have to start from scratch and don''t just rely on my past knowledge. A new experience and a new battle. This is my new life. I don''t want it to be the same as my past timeline. I decided to retreat in a safe distance and opened my skill tree panel. Without hesitation, I head straight to the Magician skills and sort all the skills to only disy the AOE magic skills avable. There are two skills that caught my eye and both of them are 100 SP. I have limited SP at the moment from leveling but I am thankful for the SP that I can earn every time I use skills of that ss. Due to that, I can learn these two skills without much problem. The two skills are [Hellfire] and [Rain of Bolts]. [Hellfire] 5th Tier Active Cooldown: 2 minutes and 60 seconds Duration: 1 minute Mana Cost: 2,000 MP Info: Cast a sea of mes to the targeted area in a circr area. Explodes upon contact on the ground or the target and will inflict magic damage. Will be able to inflict continuous damage on enemies that are inside the targeted area for a full 1 minute. Notes: I want to hold a Barbecue Party! [Rain of Bolts] 5th Tier Active Cooldown: 2 minutes Duration: 1 minute Mana Cost: 2,500 MP Info: Will produce a cloud above the targeted area that will release lightning bolts continuously for 1 minute in the targeted area. Any enemies on the targeted area will suffer burst damage and will also have a chance to be inflicted with [Paralyze] and [Slow]. Notes: It''s raining lightning! Hallelujah! Just perfect. These two skills are all AOE attacks and have the lowest cooldowns in all AOE skills that the magician possesses in post-ss up. I don''t have much problem with the zombies if they are just pure zombies but the fact that the Shadow Assassin still exists out there, blending in with the other enemies, makes it hard to predict where to block the attack. If I want to survive against the Shadow Assassin''s attacks and live through another day, I have to get rid of the zombie hindrances. Of course, those two skills are not enough and since my MP is just a mediocre amount and not something that can easily spam out spells, I need a passive that will allow me to get Mp faster and will enhance the recovery of it. There are 5 passives that allow me to enhance and get more mana. They are from the Magic Knight, Magician, Cleric, and Druid sses. The first one is the Passive of the Magic Knight, [Mana Sucking Body] which costs 50 SP. [Mana Sucking Body] 1st Tier Passive Info: Enhances the body to handle the mana in the surroundings and absorb it. Will enhance the recovery of the mana by 1000 MP every minute. Has a 50% chance to recover mana whenever you kill enemies. Basic attacks will also be able to drain 10 MP per hit. This passive is very overpowered in the early parts of the game especially if you are around level 50 to 60 since most Magic Knight yers have around 2,000 to 3,000 MP which is a tad bit lower ifpared with Magicians and Clerics MP but was a little bit higher if youpare it to the Druids. 1000 MP per minute is already quite insane since Magic Knights rely too much on their skills that have a consumption. However, this is not enough. To keep up with the amount of MP consumption the two skills use, I have to learn another passive which is this time, from the Cleric. Clerics are the second ss that has the highest MP since the Magician ss beats them. Clerics need MP so that they can spam healing spells to their allies and ensure survivability because Clerics'' main purpose is to heal, their MP recovery should be really fast to make sure that they won''t be running out of MP in a crucial situation. This passive will double the amount of mana I will recover in a minute, simr to the [Mana Sucking Body]. [Holy Body] 2nd Tier Passive Info: A body dedicated to the gods. A pure and untainted body that can immediately recover the power to heal others. It will enhance the MP recovery by 1000 MP per minute. Has a 50% chance to recover MP after casting a spell once. Notes: Your body can be used as a model sculpture. ...I will just ignore the Notes. They are sometimes dumb. I bought the skills as fast as I can and after making sure that they are now avable for use, the zombies are also nearing my location. I can also see the blur of the Shadow Assassin on the move. Since I can cast the spells of Magicians while my weapon is the same, I can immediately block off the attacks of the Shadow Assassin and retaliate immediately. It''s either me or the Shadow Assassin will die. And I don''t want the former to happen. Chapter 66 - The Shadow Assassin Part 2 As usual, the Shadow Assassin managed to hide its presence with the zombies. I did not have the Enhanced Perception skill that will be added in the Expansion Patch so I have no means to determine the exact location of the Shadow Assassin but to be reliant on my senses. To pull out the Shadow Assassin and force it to go out and stop blending in is to defeat all the zombies. The limit of the zombies going to spawn would be around 200 and I have defeated some around 50 from my previous attacks. Therefore, there would be around 150 more to defeat. "Hellfire!" The iing horde of undead was immediately put into ming suffering from my skill. All of the enemies that passed by on the targeted area that were not part of the first victims of the assault also suffered damage. "Rain of Bolts!" A cloud simr to a cumulonimbus cloud appeared above the targeted area and the zombies passing by did not bother to notice it. Before they can even get out of the targeted area, lightning bolts rained down like there was a thunderstorm urring in that particr ce. The zombies who are too brittle in burst damage like the [Rain of Bolts] immediately disintegrated. In one particr group, the zombies disintegrated, leaving the slowed Shadow Assassin that got caught by the lightning bolts. "Ha! You are not going to get away this time! Don''t make my job hard!" I did not wait for the Shadow Assassin toe close. With his terrifying ignore defense attacks, that will be troublesome if the Shadow Assassin manage to proc a critical while he managed to ignore my defense values. I just have to be preemptive enough and destroy him first. He is not the only one with the ability to ignore defense. When I managed to get close to the Shadow Assassin, I immediately swing the Versatile Weapon in the form of the Magic Sword. "ming Sword!" The de of the Versatile Weapon immediately got covered into mes. I may not be able to damage him that hard due to the difference of levels, at least I can give him enough pressure that would cause him to back off and stop in the meantime. The difference between intelligent enemies like the Shadow Assassin is that they can attack and will also retreat if needed to do so unlike the normal enemies like the normal monsters I usually farm to get experience. In short, you need an actual strategy like you are in a real battle to take down an enemy and not just stand there and let all the damage soak in. As the de of the Versatile Weapon is getting near, the Shadow Assassin immediately showed its prowess. like a real warrior. As soon as the de is inches away from his neck, he immediately raised his dagger and blocked the sword using it. KLANG! Normal yers would panic when they will saw this counter but to me, this is nothing. As the de of my weapon and his weapon collide, I immediately grinned. "You are dead!" The Shadow Assassin''s eyes that were only shown slightly on the shadowy look on his face grew bigger in surprise. The Magic Sword that I used to attack him suddenly changed looks and turns into a familiar-looking short weapon. The gun form of the Versatile Weapon which is, in this case, is a revolver. "I don''t know if this will give a lot of damage but at least I can show you some surprise like how you did earlier, motherf*cker." And with that, I point the muzzle of the gun to the surprised Shadow Assassin and pulled the trigger. BANG! The Shadow Assassin''s face exploded when the bullet pierces. I was not sure if the damage is big but I saw the body of the Shadow Assassin fell to the ground and slowly disintegrate. I will be used to it if the enemy is a normal mob but I am confused. Did I just kill it that easily? The remaining zombies are still a threat so I killed them all. The fight was very easy after the main threat that the Shadow Assassin possess disappeared. It was really anticlimactic but I am not sure what happened. The single bullet I shot earlier is not enough to cause an Instant Kill and I am quite sure that I can''t instant kill the Shadow Assassin without knowing it''s weakness. I don''t even know its traits so how would I be able to kill it? After killing all the zombies, a notification appeared in my interface all of a sudden. [You havepleted the secret Challenge Quest (Kill the Assassin). As a reward for the quest, you can choose to activate one of the five effects for the duration of the Dungeon diving.] 1. Increase the drop rates and gold earned from killing monsters to 100%. 2. Skill Cooldowns are removed. 3. Experience gained and Skill mastery is increased to 100%. 4. The defense of all enemies are reduced to 100% and they will have 50% less attack power. 5. Clearing this difficulty will also clear the remaining difficulty of this dungeon that is left uncleared. (Rewards and first clear of the other difficulties will also be carried along.) Uh? Secret Challenge Quest? That is the first time I heard of that. There is no such thing in my past timeline before, is this also one of the few changes that appeared? Never mind that, the most important thing is the reward of the Secret Challenge Quest! This is quite the reward I have seen so far! However, I can only select one. It was like a starting perk but you can only select one. I was tempted to get all of them but I can''t be too greedy. All of them are good but thest one catches my attention. A perk that will allow me to mark the next difficulties as cleared and all the rewards for clearing the corresponding difficulties can also be obtained? Isn''t that convenient for my situation? I really don''t have much need for the experience and items obtained in the harder difficulties. I just needed to obtain the first clear other than that, there is no need for me to get it. On the other hand, the others are all good too. The 2nd perk is quite good, having a no cooldown skill allows me to spam a lot of skills without a problem. But then, I decided to weigh down the benefits on the perks. All of them are good but there are two perks that really marked as something I will consider getting, the 2nd option and the 5th option. It was quite hard for me to decided but since time is running, I decided to use the most convenient of all. If I want to steal the first clear from that guy, then I have to choose this perk. Although I am hesitating, I clicked the 5th option. The benefits of the 5th option outweigh the benefits you can get on the 2nd option since the second option will only be useful in this dungeon and after that, I will be struggling in the next difficulty. With this perk, I will easily cheese out everything. Stealing the first clear of the Abyss difficulty without clearing it, that has a nice ring to it. Chapter 67 - The Player Wearing The Wolf Mask While Manato is clearing the Insane Difficulty, the party of Kazuki managed to clear the Normal Difficulty without much trouble. Still, the yers around the dungeon are not talking about the exploits of the Kazuki and his guild members. They were more in a heated discussion on the identity of the yer wearing the wolf mask. [Did anyone of you guys know or even see that yer in wolf mask before? Any kind of achievements? Or anything at all?] [Dude, this guy is totally secretive! I have not seen any kind of yer like him! There are no records of him at all and if I search him on the inte, nothinges up!] [I frequently see him in town but I am not sure how strong he was or how high his level is. I don''t even know his ss!] [Maybe he was a swordsman? Swordsman is very popr right now] [Who cares about that! What we have to know is how he managed to enter the dungeon easily? Didn''t the Headquarters forbid yers to enter unless you earn the right to enter this dungeon right?] [That is simple my friend. He already obtained the approval of the Headquarters. There is no suchplicated reason for that.] [Then howe his way of entering the dungeon is different? The Burning Dragon entered the dungeon entrance while that guy in the wolf mask fell into the ground. Did he really entered the dungeon that way?] While they were chatting, the Burning Dragon guild already emerged once again from the entrance. Butpared to the time they entered the dungeon and the time they managed to get out, the whole squad is in low HP and most of them have broken weapons and armor. The only one who has a decent look is Kazuki but he is also low in HP but a little bit higher than everyone. "You have all messed up, failures! That boss is easy to defeat if everyone did not mess up!" Kazuki shouted. "It is all the tanks'' fault! They didn''t control the aggro too much that the attention of the boss is still locked on us mages that deal the highest damage!" the female mage near Kazuki immediately med the tanks that have the most broken armor and equipment. "Hey b*tch, you shut up. I lost the armor I just purchasedst week due to the boss. It is not our fault the battlests that long. You mages who should be giving burst and magic damage on bosses did not fulfill their roles!" the tank that seems to be the lead tank growled. "What did you just say?! Did you really think we didn''t give our best releasing AOE magic attacks to those bosses? We keep on spamming them as soon as their cooldown is done! Ungrateful? If all of you tanks had better gears and higher defense, those damages won''t be fatal enough to deplete our HP and your HP!" The bickering continues and the leader, Kazuki did not even say anything. The other yers seeing this did not know what to do with the situation happening to the group while some decided to record it and post it to the social media for the yers of Alternate World to know. "Enough." The bickering yers eventually stopped when they heard Kazuki said that. "There is no point crying to our failed attempt. Let''s just go back to the guild and prepare for a new n. We won''t be able to finish anything if we left everything chaotic." The other yers who were around were amazed by the decision of the guild master. "As expected of a guild master, he can actually do a good call when to push through a dungeon dive or not. He can even say Something good to stop his guildmates from bickering!" "Meh, everyone can do that. But I would say that they are bing more arrogant. Just because they have managed to grab hold of the first title to be released in a guild doesn''t mean they can easily beat up the whole dungeon like a piece of cake." Just as they continue talking to the group of Kazuki, the dungeon''s entrance glow bright red and a fiery hot air poured out of it causing the yers near it back off in a distance. The other onlookers looked confused. Someone ising out of the dungeon? Since the group of the Burning Dragon Guild has already escaped, then who is the one exiting? "Ah! Its the guy wearing the wolf mask!" Everyone''s attention shifted from Kazuki''s group towards the yer wearing the Wolf Mask. Unlike the state that the Burning Dragon''s guild, the yer wearing the Wolf Mask has no significant changes in his armor, and his weapon which is a hammer is still intact. The yers were eager to ask the yer in a wolf mask when their interface popped out all of a sudden. "[Lesser Purgatory''s difficulties have been conquered. All of the difficulties are now unlocked for everyone to challenge. However, first, clear rewards will no longer be distributed to anyone who managed to clear the dungeon even the Abyss Difficulty as they are already imed. Please enjoy the double EXP gain and increased weapon and material drop rates in the dungeon. For 3 days, the dungeon will be avable to all yers to be cleared without limit as a celebration for the dungeon conquering!]" As soon as the yers have read this from their interface, the yers immediately celebrated and started forming parties, forgetting the yer wearing the Wolf Mask. Although everyone in the area is celebrating, Kazuki is not. ''The first clear of the Abyss Difficulty has been cleared? It can''t be. That has to be a mistake, yeah, no doubt about it, this was a mistake! No one should have cleared it yet! Who is it?!'' Then, he noticed the yer in the wolf mask, silently standing from afar, staring at him. At this point, his anger has reached the boiling point. When this guy exit the dungeon, the prompt appeared all of a sudden. If that was the case, since no one else exits the dungeon, it was possible that the culprit of stealing the first clear from him is none other than the guy in a wolf mask. "You!" Kazuki was about to dash towards the guy but thetter did not wait for him to attack and disappeared, leaving the despairing Kazuki. His first attempt to get famous has now been revoked from him and that will not be thest one. Chapter 68 - The First Clear And The First Patch The very slight confrontation ended with Kazuki failing to follow me, I immediately returned to the inn. With themunity of yers focused on the Lesser Purgatory dungeon, it was quite clear that I would be the gossip of many yers. But that is still good enough since I managed to steal the first clear that Kazuki is aiming for. After the attack against the Shadow Assassin, the whole dungeon became too easy for me to clear, and defeating the final boss is just a trivial matter that it didn''t take too much time allowing me to clear the dungeon to an earlier time. Entering the inn, the yers who were just chatting and discussing things and strategies were stunned when I opened the door. "The yer wearing the Wolf Mask? He is residing here?" "Holy sh*t! I saw him on the Livestream of a yer on the inte! He seemed to enter the dungeon alone!" "I heard that he entered the other way around instead of the traditional one?" "ording to my searches. He entered the Insane Difficulty of the Lesser Purgatory that is why he has a different scene of entering it. One of the yers from Overseas servers said so and they have not cleared it yet." "But what about the opening of the dungeon to the public with rewards? Isn''t that clearing the Abyss Mode reward? ording to the official guidebook, once a dungeon is cleared until the very difficult difficulty, the system will allow all yers with ess to the specifics can enjoy the reward of clearing the dungeon. That means the Abyss Difficulty has indeed been conquered!" "Damn! Isn''t that the first in the world? I heard the other countries'' yers can''t even get past the Insane Difficulty!" Many of the yers started talking about the reward given from the dungeon and also how did it happen but I don''t have the obligation to give out any info so while they are currently busy, I made myself scurry back to my room. After changing my gear to normal clothes, I checked all of the titles I obtained so far because I didn''t check it before. Overall, I have gained 4 new titles. 2 has no effect while the other 2 have effects with one that is specifically useful only in the Lesser Purgatory dungeon. 1. [Dungeon Conqueror: Lesser Purgatory] Type: Normal Title How to Acquire: Clear all of the Lesser Purgatory Dungeon''s difficulty levels Effect: None Note: You have proven that you can conquer dungeons! Now, are you going to conquer some girls too? 2.[The One Who Does Not Need Companions] Type: Unique Title How to Acquire: Clear all difficulties in any dungeons alone without getting any party members(NPC familiars not counted) Effect: Gives 100 additional damage to enemies whenever you have no party members avable. Note: Forever Alone! T_T 3. [The Purgatory Abyss Explorer] Type: Rare Title How to Acquire: Acquire the First Clear of the Lesser Purgatory Dungeon, Abyss Difficulty Effect: Gains an additional 10% exp and 10% extra gold, exclusive only on the Lesser Purgatory Dungeon. Note: To you, Purgatory is just another ce to hold a pic with your friends if you have one. 4. [World''s First Clear] Type: Unique Title How to acquire: Clear the first Dungeon first in the whole world. Effect: None Note: Sorry to disappoint you but even though this title is unique to you, it is just a useless piece of words without any effects to help you with your journey. The note on the 4th title is quite savage but also true. For me who has gathered many unique titles with effects that I can use even though I did not equip them, this title is merely something I can only say to be part of my collection. The design of this title is most likely just for bragging purposes. I am quite disappointed though. This title is something that you need to work hard to get and then you only end up getting a title without giving any kind of help on your character? That was just a bunch of bullcrap especially for me who didn''t like to brag. This title is being seen very highly by many yers but what is the real point? This is just a very weak title that now that I have known the effect, this title holds just so little significance that I find it hard to believe Kazuki became famous and strong in the game just because of a useless title, but to me, this doesn''t make any sense. As for the quest that the skeleton lich has given to me, it seems I have to visit the Level 50 hostile zone, Marsnds of the Damned. It would take me a few in-game days to reach that ce and since the Teleport Hall will not yet be implemented until the First Expansion, I have to walk or ride a horse or pet to reach it. That quest would have to wait I guess. I was about to close the interface when a pop up appeared on my interface. "Attention yers. Due to the rising poprity of Alternate World, we will be conducting maintenance and feature patching to the game. The servers will be down for about 24 hours and the maintenance will begin in 10 minutes. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please check the website of Alternate World to check the new patch. We advise the yers to log out to avoid losing any weapons and items acquired right now. If the yer is still inside the game during the final minutes before the maintenance urs, we will be forcing everyone left behind to force log out from the game. Aspensation, we will be sending rewards after the maintenance to all yers. Have a good day" Oh? Is that time to get the first patch? I felt happy hearing that. From what I remember, the new patch is now going to add the Feature Ex Jobs properly. They will be adding lots of Ex Jobs for yers to discover to keep yers ying the game however they liked it. That means it would be the perfect time to pick cksmithing back again. Also, since yers can have multiple Ex Jobs, I am guessing I will be picking up the Chef and Farmer Ex Jobs too. Because in the near future, these two Ex Jobs will be popr and will cause the age of Tasty Foods in the game to dominate. In short, those foods that you can only see in video games, anime, and digital books and the ingredients that they contain will now be possible to be made and harvest in this game after this patch. I was deprived of picking the Chef Ex Job before because the guild leader wanted cksmiths to only focus on it. Now that I mastered cksmith in my past timeline, it is time for me to try out the Chef Ex Job and make foods for myself. Let''s set aside my revenge, for now, I also want to have some fun for myself. Chapter 69 - Prelude Of Trouble Due to the maintenance of the patch, all yers of Alternate World are forced to log out. Since the maintenance willst until tomorrow in the afternoon, I have plenty of time to do things for my life. After taking dinner, washing the tes, and having a shower, I returned to my room and boot up myputer. Although its already midnight, I still don''t feel that sleepy and I am quite sure the people on the inte are all lively and chaotic. Checking my mails for important things, I realized that the bills are piling up and since its about time for payments, the bills have sent their notice of bills and the amount we need to pay. If it was back then in the past timeline, I would have to work and grind hard in the game just to earn enough money to pay the bills. It looks like my job for tomorrow will be about paying bills. Without much difference to the rest of the mails, I browsed the Alternate World''s website and chat group forums. Seeing the thumbnails of videos posted on the website, it was quite clear that I caught the sight of every yer. My wolf mask suddenly became too iconic to everyone. I may be trying to be low key, but that doesn''t mean I can avoid it. With my actions, I am quite sure that yers are going to keep their eyes on me. But without knowing my real name due to the effect of the mask, it would take them a lot of time to know me fully. It is enough as long as my real identity in real life will not be revealed. There were also the cases around the ims of Kazuki in the game''s gossip corner. Due to him publicizing his actions and failing to do it, the yers now look at him with doubts. The controversy around the failure of teamwork to the other guild members that were caught in the tape was also a very hot topic that I bet Kazuki is fuming in anger right now knowing his behavior. Without anything new aside from the patch''s notes for the update on the game, I turned off myputer and turn in for the day. ... The next day, I was awoken by the sound of the ringing phone ring loudly that the sound pierced to my room. I scratched my head as I hurry towards the phone and picked it up. "Hello? Tsukasa Residence." "Manato, it''s me, your mother has now awakened from hera! She is currently being checked by the doctor right now," Father''s voice weed my ears as soon as I put my ear into the phone''s receiver. I can tell from his voice his joy on Mother''s awakening. "Really? Is she in a stable state now?" I asked. "I think so. The doctor has yet to give me any status yet but based on what I see, she is now recuperating." "Can I speak to her?" I asked Father. Honestly, I haven''t heard my mother''s voice ever since I returned from the past. I missed my parents but since I talk with Father all the time, I don''t feel the loneliness much. However, I still have no chance to talk to her and due to the ident, it stopped me frommunicating with her. "Today might not be a good idea, son. Your mother is still trying to regain her control in her body and she still can barely move so I think you can talk to her tomorrow once she is now able to recuperate a significant amount of rest," Father said. "I understand that Father. Also, Father, don''t hesitate to ask me for some money if you are in a tight spot. I still have a good amount left in my ount after winning a few more Esports tournament." "No, Manato, don''t worry. The amount of money you sent is enough. That is your money and looking for money is my job. You should focus more on what you do and prepare for the school in the next 2 weeks. I suggest you only use your cash prize for your studies and fees for the school and some of your needs over there. There is no need for you to send any money. In fact, I should be the one sending money to you. But due to the situation of your mother, I can''t afford to send you money to pay for school fees." "I understand. Send my regards to mom. I hope I can talk to her tomorrow." After the call, I put the phone back and sighed. Looks like Mother''s situation is alright now. If only I can use Heal in the real world already then Mother doesn''t need to keep herself on the bed. Preparing myself for today, I have two agenda to do. One is hiring a private investigator to investigate about my mother''s ident. I smell something wrong with that one event so I can''t just ignore it. The second one is the sibling mercenaries. I can''t let them go stagnant with their talents so I have to cultivate them early. I can''t also let Kazuki take them in the future. They will bolster his strength faster if that was the case. Just as I thought this will be going to be a peaceful day, I received a call from someone on my phone. It was quite a trouble that seeing the name registered on the screen wants me to throw away the phone. But I refuse to do this since my phone is precious. I don''t want it to be wasted from such trivial matters. I hesitated at first but I have nothing much to do so I answered it. "Hey there Manato, you still alive eh? How are you doing man?" the voice of the familiar young man''s voice echoed in my ears. "What do you want so early in the morning huh? I am still sleepy so be quick with your sh*t," I said. "Damn, you got a savage tongue now arent you? You have grown some spine! Still, that is not what I came here for," he said. I sighed. I don''t think I will forget what they did to me in the past timeline. The guy who invited me to his guild, only to be used as a farmable yer that once reaches a certain level, will immediately trim me back to level 0. It was them that started to ruin my life. "Have you heard of the game Alternate World? I want you as part of my battle to dominate the rankings!" Chapter 70 - Threat "You talking about that virtual reality game?" I asked. Although I asked even though I knew it already, I can''t make myself reveal I am already ying it so that they won''t suspect it. "Of course! Since the game needs to use the machine called Reality Verse, it is not your ordinary game! You can''t ess it on your trashy PC!" I grit my teeth in anger. This guy is Teruyama Shinozaki, one of my bullies at school when I was just a timid guy. Although they looked like they are so buddy-buddy with me, they are in fact looking for a way to make me suffer humiliation and they are silently brewing things that would make me be theughingstock of the group. I already know that before but due to myck of courage before, I am always obeying what they wanted to do. But that changes now. I am not the same Manato you like to bully. Therefore, let''s y what you are scheming, sh*tty bastard. "Oi man, I am just telling the truth. Your PC is trashy and outdated so just sell it to the junkyard and buy a new one! Oh, I forgot that you are poor you can''t afford to buy a new one! Oh dang, if that was the case, you won''t be able to afford the Reality Verse too! This machine is not for the poor!" "So what do you want? You just called me on the phone to talk sh*t huh?" "Ho~, now you have the balls to talk back huh? Let''s move on for now and I will deal with your behaviorter. Anyways, as I was saying, I want you to join me ying this game!" "How can I y this game of yours if the machine you are talking about is expensive? You already said I can''t afford it." "Heh, of course, you can''t since you are poor as f*ck but here I am, your knight in shining armor will save you from your predicament! I have an offer to give you that I know you won''t hesitate to ept it!" "Offer? What kind of offer are you talking about?" I asked with fake ignorance. "Recently, I bought 5 Reality Verse Cabins. Since there is a spare one, why don''t you use the other one? You don''t need to pay for some money just to y this game, you can say that I am letting you y for free, but in exchange, you will team up with me!" If this was the same as before, I will be awed by his offer. Being a person who likes online games, the offer was something as a dreame true. However, if I have known that they would instead use me as cannon fodder, I would have instead waited for the release of the public Reality Verse Cabins instead of epting his offer. "This..." I grinned while sounding like I am hesitating. "What are you hesitating for? It''s a deal that you cannot take from others! This will be a one time deal! If you don''t ept it, then I won''t be bothering to let you use it even if you beg for it!" Hearing that, I want to burst intoughter. Beg for the Reality Verse Cabin? I have a more useful Reality Verse with a much higher synchronization rate than the cabin one. I don''t need to ask for it since I can already tell that mine is much superior to his. "Then, if that was the case, I will not-" before I can even finish what I want to say, he immediately answered enthusiastically. "Great! Thene over here so that you can start ying with us! There is maintenance going on but you can create an ount for now!" "Hey, listen you knucklehead. Who said I am epting a shady offer from you?! I never said I am epting that sh*t and happily y the game. I am not sure what you lot are nning but I won''t fall for it. That machine of yours can rot there and I still won''t ept it. So just leave me alone. I am not interested." The other line was silent for a bit before I heardughter. "Heh, you really have balls now huh? You don''t sound the same as you before. But hey, I am not going to forget what you just said just now. Once school is back, I will not hesitate to call the others and beat you to a pulp! You have forsaken the offer I am giving to you then I won''t be merciful to you." "Heh, that sounds like you indeed. Full of threat but only worth of small words. Then go ahead. I will be waiting for that day. I am not going to escape your sh*thead." PAK! The sound of mming can be heard on the other line which means I sessfully managed to piss the bastard off. I put down the phone andughed a lot from what happened. It was one of the things I have not nned but doing it in impromptu was too great. If only I have done this before, I would have not suffered from their hands. Hearing his threat, I know they will be doing what he just said. But he was weaker than me right now. If he dared to ask his buddies and beat me up, it will just be a reverse uno card for them. After my preparations, I left home and headed straight to a detective agency. I immediately asked a detective to investigate the matter with my parents. Even though I am not really aware of the things my parents are undergoing right now, I am quite sure they are currently being held in the neck by the loan sharks or maybe a huge family. I want to know who are the enemies before I canunch my counter-attack and n for my actions. With that matter done, I headed back to the mansion I just bought. It''s time to make a makeover to the mercenary siblings. Chapter 71 - Encounter Arriving on the mansion, I found the mansion clean and tidy now. It is not as dirty as before, even the cobwebs found in the ceiling are gone. The floors are also mopped and scrubbed that they can be a recement to mirrors due to how shiny it is. I even thought I hired a janitor to clean the ce up overnight. The two siblings are currently in the bathroom to wash their dirty clothes that got dirty from cleaning. "Akira? Sora! Are you two both in here?" I shouted. The two came out from the bathroom with bubbles still in their hands as they go and meet with me. "Sorry that we didn''t notice youe in, sir. We are currently washing our dirty clothes in the bathroom so please forgive us," Akira said. "No worries. I am not angry. In fact, I was amazed by the two of you. I never said that you two should clean the house but you did it involuntarily. I am quite happy with that." "Ah... thank you, sir..." Sora said in a shy voice. "Alright, just leave those clothes, for now, we will be shopping today. You can''t keep on wearing those clothes that can be resembled into rags so wear these clothes that I have brought earlier." Then I hand them the clothes I picked out earlier beforeing here. I am quite aware of what clothes they liked to wear especially during the time they became famous so finding clothes they will wear is not a problem. "WAH! Sir, these are too expensive! We can''t wear these clothes!" Akira said and hurriedly put the clothes back to the bag that contained them. "Now, now, don''t be like that. Wear them or I will be angry. It''s not like I am not giving them to you guys. They are meant to be used and worn and I can''t wear them since they are in small sizes and one is for the girls so just go ahead and wear them. Those clothes are all for the two of you. Don''t be shy and just wear them." The two were hesitant but in the end, after my constant nagging, they agreed to wear the clothes. Akira is wearing a ck hoodie shirt with a ck and white symmetry color on it. If he became a proper teenager in two years, this hoodie would be his trademark. On the other hand, Sora wears jeans and a pink and white shirt apanied by a blue zer. She also has a vacation hat to apany her attire. Although she might look a bit weird in these clothes for now, if she has grown to be a fine teenager, she will look adorable. After I managed to let them wear the clothes, its time for us to hit the road and go and buy the Reality Verse. I still didn''t buy a car so I am stuck with a taxi. Besides, I still don''t have a driving license. I am not sure if thepany has already developed more of the tattoo version of the Reality Verse. Honestly, I don''t want them to start on the cabin version due to its low synchronization rate. However, if theycked it, then I will have to buy the cabin one instead. As soon as we arrived, the people going in and out of the building are not as many as the first day of release of the game. But this crowd is still considered as many and you might even think it was a market for bargain products because of the people walking by. "Where are we, sir?" Akira looked around awkwardly. "We are going to buy some game consoles. Although you can''t y it right now, you can y itter this afternoon." "Can I y it with my brother?" Sora asked. "Of course. It will be the two of you ying together." "Um, sir... why are you so kind to us? We are just illegal upants in your house..." Akira asked. Honestly, I helped them because they are the future Mercenary Duo but there is a small amount of guilt in there that tells me that if I was in this situation, I would be totally helpless and a little help can actually change lives. Also, the other thing is that I don''t have any idea where to spend all of the money. I already donated to many orphanages and many kinds of ces that offer help to others but I still haven''t even spent half of my money that I also felt troubled. I grinned and looked at them, "There is no particr reason at all. Just treat it as a sort of help to push you all upstarts to sess." When we arrived at the counter, the female employee on the counter recognized me. "Oh! You are one of those lucky guys right? We treat you guys as VIP here so don''t hesitate to talk with us." "VIP? Why though? I just managed to get chosen along, why did I receive treatment like this?" it came to me as a surprise. "That''s what the manager said to us. Anyways, what can we help you today?" "Ah, yes. Actually, I want to ask if the second version of the reality verse, you know, the secret one is still avable?" "The secret one? Oh, you mean "that?" Then please get inside. You need to ask Mr. manager for the details," she said and led me to the area where I was led before and managed to get the tattoo version of the Reality Verse. "Can I also let them in? They are the ones that will be using it the Reality Verse." "Oh, yes. That is fine as well. As long as they are yourpanions then we will not pry. Pleasee in, the manager is waiting." "Thank you." After that, I led Akira and Sora to the room where the Reality Verse are being produced and the tattoo version is marked. I am still not able to get inside fully into the room when I saw the familiar figure that helped me reach this situation and saved my life giving me a second chance to stop repeating my old life. "Tojiro Akisame!" Chapter 72 - The Past And Present The person and the reason I am now back to the past, Tojiro Akisame is currently standing before us. Unlike his ragged and poor appearance before, he looked like a rich businessman right now while wearing a white coat and red necktie. Even his pants are white, I must say he likes wearing white¡­ When we approach, he looked at us and smiled widely. "Oh, wee, wee. I heard a VIP arrived, you must be the one right?" "I was not informed that I would be treated as a VIP once I arrive." "Well, we give priorities to the first people using the tattoo version of Reality Verse. They are the people who will allow us to adjust data and gather things that would help us create a better gaming experience for everyone. So for guys like you, it is just the right thing to give you VIP privilege," Tojiro said. "Is that so? Then, can you tell me what are the perks of being a VIP?" "We always develop better things for the Reality Verse and we n to add more functions to it in the future. If it was released, you will have free ess to it too. Also, if you want to buy a cabin version of the Reality Verse for gifting purposes, we will be giving you a discount. You will also receive updates about the game''s systems too so you can say that you may act like a beta tester or something on the game." Hmm, that would be great. In the future, more addons for the Reality Verse will be added and the tattoo version is not an exemption to that. Having them as a freebie instead of paying for them is quite a big advantage for me. Those things cost a lot of money. "If that was the case, I am looking forward to it. But I came here for another reason and the girl on the counter said that you might have an answer to that." "Oh, you mean extra tattoo Reality Verse other than the ones we have given out? We still have 4 pieces extra but why do you want them?" then his eyesnded to Akira and Sora behind my back. "Oh, I see. Well, if they are someone you can trust and since the contract did not say about letting children forbidden to use the tattoo Reality Verse, this can be done. Let my aides help them. You already know the protocol of the tattoo right, then let''s get into it." I nodded. And turned to the two kids. "Follow those two on that machine, you can have the game after getting this kind of tattoo like this one in my arm." "I hate pain..." Sora said and hid behind her brother''s back. "Don''t worry about it, Sora. This one does not hurt, it will take just a bit before it will be done. You don''t have to worry about it too much." Akira clenched his fist and looked at me with a resolute face. "I will protect my sister. So if you deceive us, you will pay." "Don''t worry about it, you can do that if I ever deceived you." After convincing the two, they were led by the aides of Tojiro to the marking area. On the other hand, Tojiro led me to his office and took a seat to his chair. "Have a seat, Manato-kun." Grabbing the chair, Tojiro started speaking. "Looks like everything is fine and you have done some good things that you didn''t do in the past. Imend you with your efforts." "Huh? Pardon?" I was a bit startled by what he just said. "Haha, don''t be too surprised. The past me have already traveled back in time and look at me, I am back to my former self." "Wait...so that means..." "Yes, I also sent myself back to the past." "Then, why did you also sent me back to the past? You can change your past by yourself if you already know many things already." "Ha, I will tell you a secret. I have already done time traveling 20 times and every oue is the same..." When I heard how many times he time traveled, I was stunned. I didn''t expect him to have done it that many times. But why did he say every oue he gets is the same? "You must be wondering why I keep getting the same oue right? Well, I also have no idea. Even though I have changed many things and many possible causes for the oue to stay the same, it still has little to no impact to the future. This time travel that I have done is the 21st time I have returned to the past, but this is the first time that many things have changed for the best that has not urred at all before. And you know who caused that, it was you." Indeed I have changed a lot of things that would deem to be trouble for me but did it really impact that much? I have not seen some obvious changes. "And I am d you did some things to slow down the rise of Kazuki. I have tried interfering with his growth by myself but it was proven ineffective. Now that you became the one who changes history, I will help you change it. I didn''t make a mistake helping you there at that time." "So does that mean that those events were all nned by you?" "Yeah. The oue from my past timeline is the same as always, so before I die, I already time traveled back in the past. I just hoped that you will do the best thing you have to do and also hoped that you still remember anything." "Can you tell me what is the reason for Kazuki dealing with you? Also, why is he also trying to kill me? He even used his wife as someone to help the gears running that time." "You will be able to find out yourself. I can''t divulge much info about it. But it will happen soon. And it is best for you to find it yourself than saying it here, that way, it would be thrilling right?" I don''t really know what Tojiro is nning about but one thing is sure, he is the key for me to change my past and change also the set to stone future. Chapter 73 - The New Patch It didn''t take that long before the tattoos were applied to Akira and Sora. Tojiro did not say anything additional either so I did not bother to ask any rifications especially when he kept on saying I should find out everything by myself. Although I was prepared to pay, Tojiro decided to just let it be free like how I get mine too since I was the one doing so and to also acquire more specifics on the tattoo version of the Reality Verse. Apparently, Tojiro is adding many things in the game and in the Reality Verse that is not present in the other timeline so that he can change what will happen in the very future. Since I have great capabilities in adapting to new features, he decided that it would be good for me to adapt and use the new changes to my own use. And before we depart, he gave me additional info. "Try to get all skills of the sses the Versatile ss can use to the max. Don''t leave a single skill behind. This will help you in the very future. It is also the reason I have asked youst time to choose the Versatile ss instead of retaining your Magic Knight ss. I still can''t tell you much but that way, I can help you get prepared. You already obtained what was necessary to do that so I don''t need to say much now. Anyways, good luck and don''t do the same mistakes I made." I nodded and bid farewell after that. And to think Tojiro is much of a veteran time traveler already, he might have suffered a lot since he said that he all experienced failure. But because he is too tough, he is still going there strong despite the countless failures and retries. If I can help change his and my destiny, then I will give everything I got to change it. "Big bro, are you alright?" Sora asked. "Huh?" the voice of Sora made me stop daydreaming. "You are dazed for quite a while. I don''t know what happened to you. Sora might be blind but she can feel something change in the people around her so even if you look calm, you can''t escape Sora''s radar on things like that," Akira said. "Ah, don''t worry, I just have something in my mind. It''s nothing major. Anyways, are you two hungry? Let''s grab some chow before we go shopping for appliances and some furniture. We also need to buy the two of you some clothes." "Huh?! No! These clothes are enough! And the tattoo game system something that has been given to us must have cost a lot of fortune!" Akira immediately hooked his head to stop me from doing so. "No, no. Don''t worry, I got this. You two don''t have to worry about anything," I said and hailed a taxi. I wanted to buy a car already but it''s not yet time for me to get one since I have yet to earn a license. I will be able to get a license next year after my birthday and it won''t be that long. We took lunch in a not so fancy restaurant. I choose this restaurant because they don''t bother to be extravagant with their food but rather, they want the customers to be feeling full in their stomachs rather than having minuscule ssy food that barely reduces your hunger and quite expensive too. "Big bro, can we y the game you are talking about once we go back home?" Sora asked. I just noticed now but she was now calling me "Big Bro" which I am not against it. "Yeah. I already yed the game so once you entered the game, I will help you reach certain levels so that you can get into the game faster," I said. "No, I appreciate it but we would rather do it ourselves. I believe the effort is much better than being carried simply. Where is the fun in learning if we just passed through it without effort?" Akira said to me as he disagreed with what I just said. "Well, you have a point. Carrying the two of you in the game by a higher leveled guy will just take the fun away from you and even if you are high leveled enough doesn''t mean you are strong already. This game prefers to show real efforts instead of stats alone. yers with efforts, equipment, and level with them are one of the strongest people in the game." To think that even before they get to feel and y the game for real, they already have an idea and some gist on what is good and gives fun in the game. Indeed, what Akira said is true. "Alright. Then good luck ying the game. Also, I suggest you don''t join any guild right now. They might be beneficial to you in terms of growth but just ignore it and focus with just the two of you ying the game. Ignore guild invitations." "Thanks for the advice." We talked more about Alternate World''s mechanics and things that should be taken note with so that they won''t have trouble much since they don''t want to get carried that easily by strong yers. They are quite good at listening and I am quite sure that they will follow my advice. They are siblings after all. After that, we started shopping for furniture, appliances and other necessary things for the house. I also bought some clothes for the two of them too. I asked them if they want to go to school this next school year but they declined and said that it was better for them to just work. Due to their decision, I decided to hire a tutor for them in the future once everything is settled. Even if they don''t want to go to school, homeschooling can also help them achieved the basic degrees of education. I hired movers to help install and transport all of the equipment and furniture I bought into the mansion. There are many things to be supervised on this one so, in the meantime, I would spend the night in the mansion for now. Since there are plenty of rooms in the mansion, I assigned the two siblings to their own respective rooms. They keep on refusing me but I managed to let them agree. I also choose my own room in the meantime and even though the only furniture inside this room is a cab,mpshade, a dresser, and bed, that is enough since I will be only staying for a single night. After dinner, I returned to my new room. I already instructed Akira and Sora on how to operate the tattoos in their hands so that they can ess the game without me supervising them. After doing those, it''s also my time to log back to the game. The maintenance should be done after that amount of time. ... When I opened my eyes, I was back in my room inside the inn. The sun outside is shining brightlypared to the sun in the real world. "Welp, it''s good to be back but let me see the new patch first. If Tojiro-san said was true, there might be some changes to the changelog." Opening the interface, there were lots of changes in it, that includes the career button and the EX jobs. The skills panel also has a new button and that is the Combo system that I didn''t see before. I didn''t wander that long on the buttons and checked the changelog immediately. "Thank you for ying Alternate World. Here is thetest info added prior to the maintenance for the 0.001 patch. -Career and the Career interface have been added to the main menu. [Career is the hobby of a yer. Whatever the hobby of the yer is whether you want to paint or grow a garden as a gardener, you can choose it here. It is not a necessity for the yers to choose career but this is an alternative route to those who don''t like to fight against monsters and just wanted to y the game for fun but didn''t want to fall behind in levels.] -EX jobs and the EX job Quests are now implemented and the button to ess it is now avable in the main menu. yers above level 20 will be eligible to use it. [Ex jobs are the Secondary sses of the yer with the only difference that you can have more than one Ex Job avable. Unlike a career where you can activate it anytime, you have to ept the quest to activate the Ex job you want to activate.] -Training Reality Chamber is now avable for use. [Training Reality Chamber can be essed in the main menu. The sole purpose of this feature is to allow yers to train themselves inside this chamber. No experience can be obtained here and you can only do practice your moves here. Mp will be fully recovered after 10 seconds of inactivity of the yer as long as they are inside the chamber] -Combo system is also implemented and will be avable for all yers once they pass level 20. [Combo system is a series of the predetermined skills of a yer''s ss used consecutively. The deployment of the skills in order will be avable to be edited and can be used to perform a massivebo in one go without the yer trying to figure out what to use next. PVP and PK battles will prove this system useful] -PVP and ARENA BATTLES are now avable. yers who have arrived the Capital can now ess this. -10 Major Cities added in this patch for the preparation of the First Expansion event in the future. Side quests and guild quests that involve the new cities are now added. List of Cities added: 1. Caracoba City 2. Beetshak City 3. Ys 4. Lifeless City 5. Floating City of Laputa 6. Land der Feen 7. Obsidian Mines 8. Fantasy Ind City 9. El Dorado 10. Sea of the Endless Storm Chapter 74 - EX Job: Blacksmith Part 1 I didn''t expect the 10 beginner cities would be released before the first expansion. From what I can remember, they only released those ten cities after the first expansion. Looks like Tojiro did change some things and did some advance update for that reason. Honestly, I find it good instead of ruining what I remember. Now that the EX jobs are now implemented for us yers, then we would be able to perform jobs like merchants, chefs, and cksmiths. I am nning to get the chef Ex Job first but since I am not yet into the Muffin town where the EX job acquisition mission is located, I would first get the cksmith job since cksmith Almira is currently the best one to learn it with. Also, from what I experienced before, Almira''s weapon crafts are definitely one of the best in the world. Of course, she would be able to dominate all cksmiths if she can create Mythical Weapons. If she can do that easily, she would definitely be able topete against the divine cksmiths only the gods are capable of getting a weapon from them. Almira already knows me and although our rtionship status is merely acquaintances, I know what item can help raise her friendliness to me because I am the one who obtained it and has given it to Almira to advance her into Mythical cksmith. First off is to y one of the Field Bosses in the middle of the starting vige and the Capital. I rushed in the Capital so I missed ying it but that doesn''t matter much since this boss is not that popr with yers since beginners would have trouble killing it and other yers who managed to reach the capital will not bother to kill it. Besides, it was quite hard to kill this boss due to its insane defense values so it was just left out by other yers since its not that worth of the time. But this boss drops one of the legendary quest items that have a 100% drop rate, however, not all can see its worth due to its disguise, and yers with cksmith ability can restore it to its former glory without a problem. Now that I have checked and confirmed the changelog, its time to get working and get the job done as soon as possible. Time is not on my side and the more time I waste, the more chances I might be losing every second. Lina was currently helping out her mother in the counter and serves food for the NPCs. Lina is still underdeveloped from my perspective and fighting another boss like the one I am trying to hunt is going to be a good thing however, from the looks of it, she was currently busy. But it doesn''t hurt to ask. Approaching the counter, Lina immediately noticed me and smiled awkwardly. "Master, I am sorry, I am quite busy at the moment. Whatever you have to do right now, I can only say I have to skip since some sort of problem popped out in our business." "Problem?" "Lately, a mercenary loanshark group lend money to myte father. However, he didn''t manage to pay it in time due to his sudden death after a heart attack. We didn''t know anything about this since our father didn''t say anything and just only knew right now after those guys showed upst time and asked my mother for some payment." When I heard this, I was surprised again. The storyline of Lina was now altered. She shouldn''t have some debt and she would never have one inherited from histe father. She only suffers setbacks from being a battle maid without much worth but that is not something that would cause something to trigger a debt story. Maybe this was another additional storyline for Lina? Just as I was thinking about it, my interface glowed and showed me a quest acquisition. Tale Quest [Lina''s family was now owing money from a mercenary loansharks group due to the debt that was left alone by Lina''ste father. Investigate the situation about the Mercenary Loan Shark and find out what was really necessary. Go to cksmith Almira and ask for some info.] Objective: Gather information about the Mercenary Loanshark Group 0/1 Reward: Ingot of the Stars, Grimoire of cksmithing Advanced Version Ingot of the Stars! The item I literally need to take from the boss that I mentioned! Although it was not a very valuable item, it was a quest item for Almira since she gets a breakthrough from that Item alone. And to think she was connected to the quest of Lina isn''t this a coincidence a bit too convenient for me? Or this was some sort of plot devised by Tojiro? Whatever it was, this is not too bad to pass by. "Can you tell me more about this Mercenary Group? If they are loansharks, they should be widely well known by everyone right?" "Indeed master. They were quite notorious in doing so and after a fewints, I also heard that they do some shady stuff for those people who can''t pay and worse, those people will be sold as a ve instead." "So the reason you are working is to immediately earn the quota needed for the debt payment right? How much is it?" "ording to them, Father borrowed 20 gold coins from them. Since it been a few years since the death of Father, the debt inted and the number of gold coins needed is now 1000 gold coins!" I gasped hearing that. Isn''t that a bit too expensive? 20 gold coins and if it doubles in payment every month or every year, it is not going to inte that much unless they have some sort of agreement on what to do with the intion of the money borrowed after not paying it. I take out a pouch full of gold coins and put it on Lina''s hands. "Use this as you see fit. Don''t pressure yourselves. Just leave this matter to me." Chapter 75 - Ex Job: Blacksmith Part 2 Since the quest requested for me to go and visit Almira, I really have to do it toplete it. The connection of this loan shark guys seems to be something I have already known but I am still specting. The quest that I triggered from Lina did not ur before in the past timeline which might be due to some of the perquisites needed to trigger the quest that I have not done before or it was recently added by Tojiro. Either of them is possible but I don''t think it is not necessary to do so. Since Lina can''t move away from her work on the counter, I have to face the quest alone. It would be nice if Almira is with me so that she could level up too and catch up to my level but I guess it''s not going to happen for now. I left the inn and moved straight to Almira''s smithy. There are some yers who seemed to recognize me but I don''t think I need to reveal myself much in here. Going into stealth, I hid myself in broad daylight and started to move. ... Almira''s smithy. As usual, it doesn''t look like a smithy, in fact it looks like it was abandoned by the owner due to how bad the front of the store is. It is not a wonder if yers didn''t really notice the cksmith''s smithy at all in the past unless a quest redirected them to this ce. Since I have the permission of Almira to get inside without any problem, I didn''t bother to knock and just entered the shop. As soon as I entered the shop, the sound of the hammer mming down on a metal and the smell of metal and smoke weed my nose and ears. Nothing changed inside her store ever since we visited herst time. The only changes are the new rows of armor and some maces and axes disyed on the racks and armor stands. I was about to inspect the armors when I heard her voice. "Looks like you are back again. What do you want? If you are just visiting then just go bother other stores, I have no time to mingle and chat with others right now since I was too busy at the moment," Almira shouted from the forging room. If normal yers who are easily offended by words alone, they would storm outside already. But not for me who already knows the way Almira talks and how her behaviour works. I entered her forging room and saw her inspecting a battle hammer. Judging from the exterior look of the battle hammer, it would be a rare type grade weapon at best but knowing Almira, she will just call it as trash. "I can call the guards and just file trespassing of property against you, you know that?" Almira said while still looking at the battle hammer''s quality properly. "Well, if you really did, you shouldn''t have built a smithy shop if that is what you will do every time a customer enters your store," I said to her. "Good point but are you really a customer? Because I don''t entertain window shopping people at all and it also has no point since that doesn''t yield money and it was just a waste of energy if you ask me." "No worries, I came to buy things too. And don''t worry about the money, I have plenty to use." "I see, then go ahead and pick up your choice. It didn''t matter much to me." "Well then, I want to buy 20 stacks(99 pieces) of Bronze Ingot, 20 stacks of Iron Ingot, and 20 stacks of Silver Ingot. Add 10 bottles of refinement powder too." Almira raise her head and look at me with stern eyes. "Why are you buying ingots here? This isn''t your normal market where adventurers like you sell ingots blindly. If you want to buy them, go fetch them in other smithies instead." "No can do. I know that you don''t buy low quality ores here and ingots processed from those ores don''t really work well as materials for smithing since they have a higher chance to break. The ingots that were produced here were much more higher quality than in regr markets and much more ideal for making armor and weapons with higher chance to pull a higher rarity weapon after forging." Almira smirked when she heard this and put down the battle hammer to the anvil and looked at me with her piercing gaze. "I see that you have done some of your homework. Indeed, I sell higher quality ingots here in my shop and they have stockpiled for how many years here already that I am tired of wasting them for trial and error since I rarely have error works here right now. But I don''t sell cheap things. Higher quality ingots costs more than what a normal Ingot do. Are you really sure you can afford it?" Without saying a word, I tossed on the table the exact amount of gold necessary for buying all those ingots I mentioned since I already calcted and already know how much I will be able needed to pay. "...Well, I guess you are not just unting, I will take that, then go and take the ingots you have already ordered," Almira said as she nce at the bag of gold without inspecting it and snap her fingers and the ingots that I ordered appeared before me. Grinning from ear to ear, I take all the ingots and store them into my inventory. Despite being useless to me for now, they will be useful once the Ex Job of cksmithing is activated. "Since I bought something, I have a question for you. Do you know the Loan sharks that are currently on the prowl and charging money to people in higher rates right now?" "Oh, you mean those bunch of ugly bastards who are all talk and nothing to show? Yeah, I do, in fact, I just managed to get rid of them not too long ago. They even offered me some "good offers" for me to deal with if I am interested seeing that I have a trashy looking smithy here." "I see. So you can confirm that they are somewhat shady or suspicious to talk with?" I asked. "They are all just a bunch of scammers that are just there for money and not caring for the well being of the others. If you are looking for them, go head to the Silverdrider Pub, they are currently heading there." When she said that, the quest interface immediately updates the information about the Loan shark incident. [Talk to the leader of the loan sharks and decide their fate.] Chapter 76 - Choose Their Fate First Part Something must be wrong with my eyes. Did I just read something wrong? Not believing on the words that the quest line has given me, I rubbed my eyes to make sure I did not just read it wrong. "Are you an idiot? You can''t get blind in this world you know and if you do, that is a status ailment already. You are seeing it right," Almira said. Of course I know. Forgetting something is hard for me who has an eidetic memory. What Almira said is true. If you are blind in the real world, you will gain a vision in the game world which is why I also suggested this to Sora who is blind. That way, she can at least see even though it was just a game. However, that was not the case with my situation. "Choose their Fate" is something I rarely encounter in quest lines and if there is one, your actions will be ounted to the fate of the said person and the quest''s oue would either continue or end after the choice. You can say that it has a simr aspect with Visual Novels where every choice has a route it will follow. As for this quest, I didn''t expect it to contain one. Usually, "choose their fate" option only appears in characters where important factors and characters are involved. As for side quests, there are also some but that was due to the indecision of the requester''s that the fate of a target will fall to the yer. Is this some sort of test? Will my rewards and progress to the quest will be affected? There are many possible things that will happen with this option and not just limited to the preprogrammed one. ording to what Tojiro''s team said in the interview involving this function, it was to make the yers "make their own stories" and not just watch a story that is already programmed by developers. "Oh yeah, I sold the ingots to you but what are you going to do with them? From what I can see from you, you are yet to be a full fledged cksmith like me. Are you trying to resell them?" "Nope, they are precious ingots after all. I will be asking you to ept me as your disciple for smithing." "Huh? And did you think that by buying lots of ingots from me you will get a chance to get me ept you as my disciple?" "Of course not. I am quite aware of how far you are as a master in cksmithing and asking you like that without much contribution, I am not going to be worth your time so I wait for my next visit. I will bring something that will make you ept me as your disciple." "Hmph, you wish. I don''t know what your n is but I don''t really care. As long as you don''t take too much of my time from forging then it would be fine I guess. And I am not courteous so whatever you are going to give me, then I will ept it. Now scram if you are done with your business here, you are interrupting my forging business," Almira said before she returned to her forge and continue her ongoing work. Leaving Almira''s smithy, my next destination are those loan sharks. I have seen them before and I can say that they are pretty tough nuts to crack and they are not just some motley crew that has nothing much to do. But I am not that familiar with all of their information so I am quite grasping the straws here in exchange of knowing something new. The rooftops are much ideal for unimpeded movement, more easier and faster to reach from one ce to another without relying on a mount and a vehicle than in the road. Also, it enhances my parkour skills too without risking myself in the real world to try it. PA! Landing into the roof, a new vantage view to the surroundings appeared before my eyes. It was much more better indeed to move and run around. I opened my mini map, put a marker to where I am going to go which would be the base of the Loan Shark Mercenaries and immediately departed. ... It took me 10 minutes game time to reach my destination and from the looks of it, the base was located near the slums of the Capital. Houses are dpidated, rats and trash are scattered around the ce, thugs and other people who are up to no good also gathered up in here causing the slums to be a sort ofwless area in the Capital. Here, you can enterbat with other yers without being noticed by the guards. It''s an area where those things ur so it is quite special for those yers who like to start some yer killings. I didn''t move down immediately and just observe the surroundings below the roof at first. Since I was in stealth, it was much harder for the NPCs to notice me up here and yers who are lurking around doesn''t keep on looking above the roof because most of them would be fixated around their surroundings so that they can immediately react. After a short while of observing, I immediately notice a group of people in mercenary clothes go to some people in the slums and started to discuss something. In further observation, I realized they were what I was looking for. The warriors don''t look the same as what I remember before but that is not the case much. Within those group, one particr man seems to be the one holding the authority of everything in the group as he is the one who talks to the people and orders his men around. He is the only one who stands out from the crowd of the mercenaries too. Unlike the fellows that apanied him, this guy is wielding two big axes that are hanging behind his back. Judging from the looks of the weapon, it was around the Rare Tier which is kind of unusual for a mob yer like him. Looks like I found the man I was looking for. Still, I didn''t rush and attack. I assessed the situation first on why I have to choose their fate. There are plenty of reasons why you have to choose their fate. There must be some special circumstances that revolves around them that you need to be the judge, the jury and the executioner on them. It gives you test in your morales on what to do if you are in the situation. Then, I saw a few NPC kids running on the street bump into one of the guys who areckey to the axe guy. The bump must be strong since theckey was taken by surprise and the kid fell down to the ground. "Pestering kids, do you all want to die? How dare you bump into me?!" "I''m sorry mister! It won''t happen again!" the boy who bumped into the guy said shaking to his boots. "It won''t happen again because I will cut off your legs!" the guy pulled out his sword and raise it to the little kid. The kid burst into tears and started crying loudly but this guy didn''t feel perturbed by it. Just when I thought I have to step in, the guy with the axe immediately dashed towards the direction of the guy and shed the guy''s arm before he can swing it down. "How shameless of you to raise your hands to innocent people. I didn''t hire you to be a bandit so don''t act like one." Chapter 77 - Choose Their Fate Second Part That was a surprising turn of events. Is there some sort of insider thing with the members of the loan shark people? That was an interesting part that I may have neglected if I was a yer wgo will immediately challenge the target without investigating and analyzing the problem and the root cause behind it. Luckily, due to my experience before on "Choose their Fate" quests, I am not in a hurry to finish it. In fact, I have to go slow and analyze the situation more. After the incident with theckey, the group left and the guy who got angry from the kids who identally bumped into him were "cleaned" up. He is now cold and no longer breathing, which made me smirk. The leader of this loan sharks are someone capable and quite strong. His decision to "clean and uproot the cause" was quite smart of him. Of course they didn''t just leave the cold corpse of theckey. They carried it along with them. To think their boss is very wild, dangerous and easy to be offended, I will not be surprised having several of them carrying corpses around the ce though I wanted to avoid that though. Observing the road they are using, I can see that they are getting near to where the Silverdrider Pub is but that is not something they would do to reach, The leader started entering stores and stopping on stalls collecting money on the owners currently attending the stores. At first, I was expecting some of these store owners to beg and cry for an extension for their debts but for some reason, that didn''t happen and instead, I saw them pay without second thought. It was quite puzzling to see this. Usually, loan sharks are quite a big trouble to people who are in dire need of money. They usually appear when you needed money and will charge you hefty amount of money once the deadline for the debt is due. Seeing them readily pay them money made me think again on my next actions. While they were on the way to the Silverdrider Pub, the group also did some detour around and continue to collect money on the way. All of the store owners did not hesitate to give them money. After careful observation, I found out that the store owners did not even have any fear or hesitation on their faces and bodynguage. NPCs might not be human but they possess human traits which normally manifest to normal people which is why the reading the bodynguage from them works well too. It didn''t take them long before they finally arrived into their destination. The same Silverdrider Pub that NPCs with notorious deeds and questionable things gather. In the near future, it will be also the ce where illegal transactions of items are sold and exchanged. Some of the insider info and bounty contracts will be also essible here. Of course that will be in the future and has nothing to do with me right now. In the end, not a single store owner begged, initiated a fight and do something that will be against the loan sharks. So far, everything was peaceful. It was like it was not even a loan shark I am dealing with. "Why do I feel like something is amiss?" I muttered to myself. "Choose their Fate" quests are quite annoying. It has many endings and has many branching futures depending on your actions. You canpare it with visual novel with routes and selections of endings but with only a limited action and precise thinking on what oue you are aiming for since this quests are once only. They cannot be repeated to see what happened in the other route. In short, you are stuck on what ending you get. And of course, the better the ending, the more generous the reward given. Sometimes it is more rewarding than normal quests so yers who are well versed with "Choose their Fate" quests will make sure to gather up all kinds of info on the quest before they will decide what will be the oue. And I am one of them. Entering the Silverdrider Pub right now is just in stupid. The info I got is not enough for me to proceed and I am quite sure something much more is within the quest. Just when I was still trying to think on what to do to gather intel, a few yers that have not change in the slightest appeared in my line of sight. "Those guys!" I saw 4 yers who are all without a doubt, my old guild members in the past timeline. They are also the guys who called me earlier this morning. None other than Teruyama and his gang. I never expected to see these guys here already. Perhaps it was due to the power of money since you can buy a starter pack using real money to power level up to 20 and pass by the Gate Guardian without hitch after the patch was given out. New yers who wanted to go directly to the capital without farming in the beginner vige for a while will be very happy to purchase that pack. It was a guaranteed level 20 after purchasing it with some freebies like weapons with some random stats and a few items that are rarely dropped by monsters. Does luck really gets me in favor today? Why am I so lucky? Seeing these guys right now is one of what I am trying to do but since they are still beginners, it was not worth to go back to the beginner vige and camp kill them all. But seeing them use the power of money to progress faster, I can''t wait to show them the power of hard work against yers who uses the power of money to progress. Looks like Lina''s quest and the cksmithing will have to wait, I have to let them taste the bitter taste of karma first. And I can''t rest yet if I can''t deliver the rightful punishment they deserved after bullying me in the real world and alternate world. That is just how far they can go... Chapter 78 - Choose Their Fate Third Part Teruyama''s gear is all around level 20 and those are what featured in the online shop. The others are clearly still wearing what the starter equipment they had after entering the game which means they are easy pickings. I am not a professional in terms of doing PK before since I was the one being killed all the time by them. However, in exchange for that painful experience, I learned the trade of doing the right way so that you can benefit from PK a lot. Of course, I don''t have to resort to doing something like that just to raise my level. I just need to go in a dungeon and clear it rather than doing some killing on other yers. One of the things that I learned to push the yer''s level back to level 0 is to revive the yer and kill them again. Repeat the process and they will eventually fall to level 0. Many PK yers will invite a Cleric to their party to revive the target before the main damage dealer will deal with another big damage before the yer can react and dies again. Many yers started toin about this system and it got fixed a yearter. However, since that is not yet fixed in this timeline, then I will let them taste the painful karma that I have built up in the past timeline. I am not some saint that will forget what they have done to me even though the current them are innocent. Since they were still in the streets while I am still on the rooftops, they have yet to notice my presence stalking to them. They were happily chatting with each other. I can''t hear them properly but I am assuming that they are going to ept a quest in town to get some killing done. Around 3 minutester, they have epted a quest from the local meat seller to collect a bunch of Buffalung Meat which is a level 15 monster in the neutral area. yers are not that many here since most of the yers are challenging the dungeon of Lesser Purgatory due to the free entry given out by my reward. These guys are beginners so I presume they are still trying to learn the ropes of ying the game. When they left the Capital, I followed them silently while keeping my distance from them. After arriving, they started to hunt the Buffalung which are neutral monsters and will attack only if attacked by yers. Their movements are too noobish and quite weak. It took them a few minutes to defeat one of the Buffalung that can be defeated with a few shes or shots. I waited for them to finish their hunt before I pull out my Versatile Weapon and transform it into a bow. They are still discussing their drops and loot while I immediately opened the skill panel for the Hunter ss and purchased the skill [Trueshot- Head] and [Trueshot-Leg]. [Trueshot ¨C Head] 2nd Tier Mana Cost - 100 MP Cooldown: 30 seconds Description: Releases a homing arrow into the target. Arrow will always hit the head of the target and deals a heavy amount of true damage depending on the range. The further the target is, the higher the damage, but it will lower the hit rate of the arrow and has a chance of missing. Has a 70% chance of reducing 50% armor defense of the target and induce a 5-second stun. Note: This can also be used to sent cheat answers to your seatmate so that your professor won''t notice during exams. Of course, your seatmate will suffer a head bleeding wound first which in turn will catch your professor''s attention. Still better than nothing. [Trueshot ¨C Leg] 2nd Tier Mana Cost ¨C 100 MP Cooldown: 30 seconds Description: Releases a homing arrow into the target. The arrow will always hit the leg of the target and stuns the target. Will immediately inflict a 10-second debuff [Movement Nullification] which renders the target''s movements. It also has a 30% chance to inflict [Bleed] to the target. Note: Useful enough during marathons especially if you are about to be overtaken by enemies. Of course, if you do so, you are automatically disqualified. These two skills are enough for me to disable them to the extent. They are still lower level so the [Trueshot ¨C Head] will immediately kill them. The [Trueshot ¨C Leg] is just a backup in case someone wanted to escape and leave their teammates. After all, I can''t let them leave alive. Concealing myself, I climb the nearby tree with a very clear vantage point to them and test the bow. With the bow in perfect state, I pull the string of the arrow and aim it to the first guy nearest to me. In just a matter of seconds, the bow materialized an arrow and appeared. Without hesitation, I used the [Trueshot ¨C Head]. Aim, nock, fire! SU! The yer that I targeted first was their Cleric. And since Clerics has the lowest defense out of all the yers in their group who areposed of a Swordsman, Assassin, Pdin, and Cleric. The cleric died and will revive again for 5 minutes in the Cathedral if left alone. 5 minutes is enough for me to disable all of them. Since the [Trueshot ¨C Head] has a 30-second cooldown, I have to wait a little bit. On the other hand, Teruyama and his remaining allies were surprised. "What the hell? Sat-chin is down!" the Pdin shouted. "Somebody is attacking us! It''s a yer performing a PK! We have to be alert! The enemy must be nearby!" Teruyama who is the Swordsman on their group said, reassuring his teammates. "Who shot us? I don''t see any enemy in the vicinity!" the Pdin trembled despite being the tank. "Let me check the bushes and trees, I can conceal myself and avoid the enemy attacks due to my ss," the assassin said. Indeed, Assassins are capable of doing that but not for me. I am quite familiar with Assassin''s ss because I usually deal with them before and I already mastered how to counter them easily. [Shadow Concealment], an Assassin and Ninja skill is needed to be channeled with 30-second chants first to use. This skill will allow the user to disappear insight from the enemy and will be immune to damage during the first attacks. It will reset it''s concealment effect once the user attacks. He was still channeling the skill, and of course, I don''t think I will allow him to do that. I aim, nock, and fire! Since the other skill is still in cooldown, the leg one should do the trick to him. The assassin was immediately inflicted with [Stun] and [ Movement Nullification]. And before he can recover, I shoot out 5 arrows consecutively to his chest, causing him to fall and die. This time, the group fell into a panic. The cooldown of my skill was over already and before they can run away, I shot again and this time, killed the Pdin in one shot once more. The only guy left is Teruyama and he is too scared to move. After all, this isn''t simr to video games where you can just watch your character die. You are now directly involved in your character so whatever happened to your character, whether they bleed or got poisoned, the yers controlling them will feel it and experience the agony that their characters feel. Teruyama was scared but he didn''t want to die just yet. Since the yers who have died from PK will drop their equipment after death, Teruyama stuffed them all into his inventory and started to escape. But who said he can escape? SU! And Teruyama fell, dropping the equipment of his teammates. I grinned seeing their dead bodies on the ground. And if they think they can survive, then that is where they are wrong. The punishment game has only just begun. "Let me have some fun with you guys, shall we?" Chapter 79 - Choose Their Fate Fourth Part The bodies of the four did not disappear since they will linger around for 5 minutes after death. yers dying in neutral and chaotic areas and has not been revived will wander in a ghost-like state, they can see what is happening but they can''t interact nor interfere with what will happen to their bodies after death. So even if I throw their bodies into any bodies of water, throw it to the rampaging monsters somewhere in the chaotic area or even do something (censored), you can''t do anything about it unless someone will revive them. I am merciful enough to spare their bodies to suffer in trouble like drowning but I am not that merciful enough to let them go just like that. After all, what is the point of killing them if they just suffer something minor such as death? Their equipment is all floating after it dropped from their deaths. The equipment that Teruyama picked up earlier was also dropped after his death with the addition of his own equipment which is his armor. They might not have good stats but hey, they are good fodders to raise the level of my Versatile Weapon if it devours them. Maybe their weapons also have some good effects that I may have not known. After all, I only y for free and did not waste any money to get good equipment. After picking them up and storing them all inside my inventory, it is time to revive them and experience a loop. The first one I revived is the Cleric due to the shorter time left on his time to be sent to the cathedral. That way, once he dies again, his timer is reset back to 5 minutes again. Once the cleric was revived, the cleric was confused at first on what happened, however, before he can even speak and say something, I already brought down the sword to him, slicing him in half. [Congrattions! Your level has risen from 50 to 51] Hmm, I managed to break into level 40 without a hitch. No wonder many people wanted to just go on PK rather than go and kill monsters. I already reached level 50 after clearing the Insane level of Lesser Purgatory and a little bit closer to level 55 If I also challenged Abyss Mode, I must be already level 58 or level 59 by now. But who cares about it. Levels are easy to acquire, revenge is not easy to do. It''s all about the timing. This time around, the cleric''s weapon dropped. It is one of the beginner weapons that can be bought with real money which is in other words, this is a weapon with unique structure and stats. It might even have a skill I can extract. Just like the rest, it was stored inside my inventory. I repeated all of the steps again and again to the other yers including Teruyama. I think I have killed them for around 20 rounds already and from what I can see from their levels, they have fallen back to level 0 already. However, that doesn''t mean I am done with them yet. There is a type of PK that was categorized as an "overkill" by yers due to how brutal it was and how pitiful the target will be. The reason it was called overkill even for the PK yers is due to how excessive it was. yers who will get Pked will eventually drop all their equipment they are wearing including the weapons. Even their levels will also drop back to zero. Of course, that is not the end. As long as they keep on dying even though the equipment they are wearing were already dropped, something will always drop and that will be the items inside their inventory. In some cases, even the quest items that they are currently finishing will also drop. Not only that, if they still keep on dying despite losing all the items left on their inventory, but the drops also won''t stop. The next thing that will drop is gold. The misfortune of the yer that have undertaken that overkill method will only get to cry since nothing will be left in their belongings, including the boxer shorts or the underwear they are wearing. Reviving Teruyama again, he is already not wearing anything and he is crying already. "Please, man! Whoever you are, please spare us already! We are already naked and our items already in your inventory! Our level already plummeted to level zero! Can you at least spare us and let us go?" I don''t know what Teruyama is thinking right now but seeing his reaction, it was clear he was already in despair and his out of his wits already. I paused for a while and thought for his proposal in a fake way to let him have hope but who said I will let any of them go? Before I can even say anything, Teruyama started to run away from me. I grinned because he was quite cocky to think he can escape. Before he can even run far enough, I already changed my weapon into a Hook and Chain. Without saying a word, I throw the hook to the running Teruyama and wrap him with it. "You just made a mistake of escaping. I was thinking to let you go but I changed my mind. DIE!" Gripping the chain in my hands, I lift the chain attached to Teruyama like a whip and m him down to the ground. BANG! Since his HP is just too small after revival and the bonus HP and defense from armors are also gone, just mming him to the ground immediately killed him. And in the end, they keep on begging for me to stop but I already have no intention of doing so, As long as they still drop money, they can''t escape. ... Around 5 hourster, the four of them are all dried up from resources, gold, and items. Not a single gold was left for them. The gains are not that big and my name is red as hell but my revenge has been exacted by now. And if they n to strike me to take revenge in the future, they are wee to try. Now that it was done, I opened my inventory and pulled out the Crime Cleansing Potion. It costs 10,000 gold but it was worth it. I still have 20 bottles inside my inventory. If they still n to take revenge at me, they are wee to try but that doesn''t mean I will be merciful either. Since my side job is done, time to resume the quest. I leave the corpses to their fate whether they will continue to y or not. It is up to them... Chapter 80 - Choose Their Fate Fifth Part The time where the yer wearing a wolf mask disappear in the forest, is also the time the 4 yers who have experienced death several times heave a sigh of relief. However, they are now faced with a problem. Since they are a party, they can still whisper and chat with each other. Normally, ghosts can''t talk to any yers except if they are in the same party. They can only regain their ability to speak again once they are revived or they have returned to the town''s cathedral. "Guys, should we revive back in the capital?" Teruyama asked. "Damn, I don''t think I will. I mean, you want to be embarrassed by the masses after going out of the cathedral naked?! Not me!" the Pdin said. "Indeed! You know that we don''t even have our underwear since it also dropped when we were killed earlier. If this game is really realistic as it was said, then we won''t get any underwear at all even if we respawn!" the assassin said. "F*ck that guy. Just who was he? Why did he kill us out of nowhere? Did we offend him in any way?!" the cleric was confused. "Are you dumb? PK yers don''t need enmities and reasons from us just to kill us! If we are yers that have been sighted by him, he or she will be sure to do it!" the pdin retorted from the cleric''s thoughts. "Alright, alright, we don''t need to argue about that stuff. If anyone is fine, we can just go revive again in the cathedral. Even without underwear, we can at least buy new clothes and equipment in stores," Teruyama said and waited for the cooldown of their revival. 3 2 1 0 As soon as the countdown hit zero, their naked bodies on the ground started glowing and started to break down into particles before every particle disappear and dissipated into the air. ... Teruyama opened his eyes and before he can even stand up, he was immediately pinned down to the ground by someone and he heard a deep voice of someone who somehow, exudes a lot of authority. "These exhibitionists adventurers are a disgrace! Guards! Bring these exhibitionists to prison and imprison them for 3 days!" Teruyama was not sure what is happening until his interface pops up a message. [You are sent to jail! Imprisonment willst for 3 days in real-time. Logging out will be prohibited in the duration of imprisonment. Nutrient supply in the cabin will be supplied to the user to avoid health problems.] Teruyama who is still unsure of what is going on was now carried by the guardians who are known to deliver justice and beat up the crime. Teruyama is not the only one, the other 3 yers are also carried and will suffer in prison for 3 days, cold and naked without any ability to log out. ... After leaving, I returned to my post of observation for the quest but this time, I don''t need to do it on the rooftop. These guys are inside the pub after all and observing them in the rooftop is pointless. Entering it will be the only way for me to observe the ce. Opening the door to the pub, a flying dagger came flying past my head. It''s not really a good idea to get inside this ce without reflexes and any protection in the head and body. Its not a problem to me but newbies will definitely be injured and worse, will die if careless enough. Entering the venue by myself did not solve the trouble inside. I witnessed a rumble of two sides inside. I don''t know how the owner of Silverdrider Pub can handle all the damages on his property every day but this riot is an everyday urrence. When one chair came flying towards my direction, I immediately reacted and sliced it with my weapon in quick session before kicking the two pieces back to the person who tosses the chair in my direction. BANG! The guy who throws the chair did not expect the chair to return to him and in two pieces at that. The two pieces are enough to cause him to pass out. Still, even with that spectacle, the people did not stop in their fighting. There are plenty of vacant chairs to upy since most of them are fighting. If there are people fighting, there are also spectators too. One of the chairs that are vacant is the chair beside the leader of the Loan Shark Mercenaries who was currently drinking beer without even bothering to watch the fight, unlike the others who are betting and cheering on the fighters. As soon as I upied the chair, I raised my hand to catch the attention of the bartender attending. As a veteran in this pub, specialties are easy to order here and even those things that only patrons know, I know all of them. "Give me one Riddance in a tankard." The bartender was surprised but he immediately processed my request. "It''s been a few years since someone ordered that and only the patrons who are frequent here know that drink. This is the first time I saw you here, mister. Did someone tell you this specialty before?" the bartender asked. "One adventurer told me about it. He even replicated it before," I bluffed. "I see. But hey, our drink is the authentic one. I bet this one will be much better than the copycat one." While the bartender was mixing the drink, the leader of the mercenaries look at me and frowned. "Someone who wears a wolf mask like you is indeed a neer but from the way you move and act the moment you entered the pub is already someone from a person who frequently stays in this chaotic ce," he said in his husky voice. "Chaotic ces like this is something I am used to. This is not the first time I am in this situation." "Huh, so you actually knew your stuff. And based on your voice, you are quite young. What brings you here?" This guy is someone indeed a man who goes straight to the point. Well, no point talking out in circles. "You run the loan shark mercenaries right? A client of mine isining about a debt they have no idea existed before. Are you the one responsible for it? If you are up for exining, then I am willing to listen but if you are hostile, I will not hesitate to deal with you right here and now." Chapter 81 - Showdown He didn''t respond to my question but he just remained on his chair and continues to sip on his beer. He was real casual about it until he stood up. "If you are really sent by someone due to debt, then you have to prove to me you are sensible enough for me to listen in. I don''t believe in pure words alone. Show me your worth," and immediately throws the empty tankard in my direction. I calmly catch the tankard and put it back to the counter. "I won''t be paying if there will be any damaged items in our fight." He grabs the handle of his broadsword from his back and nodded at me. "If there were any damaged items, just put it on my tab." "Well, that is reassuring, then I won''t hold back," I said to him and pulls out my Versatile Weapon which is in the form of the magic sword. If the fight gets ugly, I won''t hesitate to switch the Versatile Weapon''s form and counterattack. There was no sort of signal for the beginning of the battle. The two of us made a move and wielding our weapons, we started the sh. BANG! PENG! Our weapons shed with each other, ready tond a wound to one another. In the view of the other''s they can only see sparks and blurred movements around but to us, every single swing and movement of the other are all tracked and monitored. And with another swing, the two deflected both of their attacks causing them to drop back a little bit. "Not bad for someone younger than me. It takes a lot of strength just to deflect my broadsword and you easily managed to do so," he said as he wipes the dust off his shoulder from our skirmish. "ttery won''t get you that far old man, but your strikes are also something I rarely encounter in my battles. You are a good opponent and I won''t deny that." After the exchange of words, we continue our attacks on each other. His attacks were quite harsh and strong and firmly holding the versatile weapon barely managed to hold out on his strikes which makes him quite a troublesome foe. However, that doesn''t mean I am losing. His broadsword is much biggerpare to the magic sword version of the Versatile Sword I am wielding but by no means it was superior. It has ws and I immediately take note to it in the brief second of our encounter. Its design is simr to the level 70 broadsword used by Holy Knights but it has the same pattern of the longsword used by the Swordsman ss. The Holy Knight''s broadsword is meant to be used as part of blessing channeling spells that Holy Knights use for support instead of offensive purposes. If it wasbined with the Swordsman weapon which is for purely offensive purposes, then it will be somewhat disastrous. In short, this particr weapon can be as lethal and strong like the sword used by Swordsman but can be as slow as the broadsword used by the Holy Knights. Its bigger size is meant to be used as intimidation to enemies to stay back but it will also not hold back its punches once itnded to an enemy. He started to swing again his sword but this time, he is charging energy on its hilt, and based on its attacks, that was a clear st Skewer, a Swordsman 6th tier skill. It can be quite destructive during PVP and one of the essential skills that Swordsman needed for reducing the defense of bosses. But to see him use it on an enclosed space means he really has the confidence in blowing me away. Fortunately for me, it was a trivial matter. Before the sword can fully charge itself, I already whisk my sword in the side and directly rush head-on to him. To the onlookers, the way I charge on him while he was charging his attack is suicide but to me, it was all calcted. The st Skewer finally got fully charged when I arrived in front of him and I am currently on the st range of his skill. If you are an easily panicked yer, you will die immediately. "BLAST SKEWER!" The broadsword he was carrying that is fully charged with energy already became a huge sma broadsword and m down straight to me. BANG! A severe explosion from the st Skewer immediately followed and this time, all the people fighting at each other earlier just realized the separate battle happening on their side. "Holy sh*t! Did he got caught on it?" one of the onlookers who is already watching our battle did not follow our movements quite a bit which is why he didn''t see me move to the side. The leader frowned seeing the st area devoid of my injured body. He was about to look around and see where I have gone into when he felt the cold and hard de of the Versatile Weapon touch his neck. "I win," I said while smiling. He sighed but he didn''t attack and get angry, instead, he smiled and said, "Well yed, boy." ... The battle was quite short and quick but all of the onlookers were shocked by the oue of the battle. Based on their reactions and their gossips, the leader of the loanshark mercenary group is a formidable person. He was a warrior with strong power and strength that back up his reputation. He was quite strong that many challengers are not going to easily make aeback against his attacks. They are stunned to see him defeated by someone easily in a duel. However, from the looks of this guy, he isn''t disappointed, in fact, he looks happier than upset about his loss. Since the first floor of the pub is destroyed and in chaos from our earlier battle, the leader leads me to the second floor which reveals to me as a ce for gambling. But due to the main "fun"monly urs on the ground floor, there are lesser people here and the only people I saw here are those gamblers ying poker and mahjong on their respective tables. "Since you have proven yourself as someone whom I can talk with, let''s start the introductions first. I am Hyde Draugh, leader of the Loanshark Mercenary Group. What is your name and who is your client?" "I am called deheart and the client I am representing right now is the wife of Daniel Marlow. ording to her, she didn''t know that Daniel has a debt left before he died." When Hyde heard the name Daniel Marlow, he frowned and looked at me seriously. "That is impossible. The debt of Daniel Marlow has long been paid before he even died. I have not issued any kind of charge at his wife with a nonexistent debt," he said. I checked Hyde''s bodynguage if he was lying but I find himposed and calm, and he doesn''t show any signs of lying. Even expert liars can still be found easily if observed with bodynguage but from the way he behaves and talks, he is not lying indeed. "Daniel Marlow''s wife has been approached by one of your men and asked for a charge of the existing debt of Daniel after he died. He imed to be in your group so that lead me here to you." He sighed and he looked at me dejectedly. "Looks like another framing sh*t urred again. However, you came right in time. Did Daniel''s wife already paid the debt?" he asked. "ording to her daughter, they are not able to do it due to theck of funds to pay for it." "Then, help me with this. These fake debts have been on the risetely and many people who already paid for their debts are now once again being charged. I have gotten a handful of it and now it reaches the peak. If you are looking for a chance to relieve your clients from a debt they shouldn''t have, then assist me to find the person behind this." After that, the interface updated the quest of Lina. [Fake Debt] Description: It was revealed that the debt is already nonexistent ording to Hyde which means this came from someone who knows Hyde and his group. Help Hyde catch the perpetrator and choose their fate. Objective: Catch the perpetrator Reward: ??? and Max Reputation to Hyde Draugh. Chapter 82 - Leona鈥檚 Growth There is no other choice for me but to ept it. To think a side quest like this had some sort of hidden story path to follow. Other yers would immediately challenge him or assassinate him if they ever get a chance. Luckily for me, it didn''te to that and I managed to uncover a clue. "Did you just say earlier that this is not the first time you have encountered usations like this before?" "Yeah. This is not the first time. It startedst month when I came back from a week-long mission from the guild. I may have been running the loansharking business but I am not someone who will literally f*ck up my customers. It''s more like a money lending business but has a higher interest rate. Since my methods are not legal, my business is also a loansharking business still. But that doesn''t mean I resort to extreme methods. For people to ask money for me again, I will make sure to help them and get a bit higher interest rate in return. There are many people who have a debt in me managed to pay them off after a few months, allowing them to be able to breathe easy with my interest rate. I have a good reputation in this business and I am well known by many vigers secretly due to this. But it plummeted a bit after those false ims about debts that have been paid already to exist again and trouble the client just like your client''s situation," Hyde exined. "So you want me to help in finding this culprit then?" "If you are free and willing to do so, then yes." "I see. Then, I will assist you. If this will solve the problem of my client, I will surely help." "Then, monitor Daniel''s Wife for now and wait. If he was nning to collect the nonexistent debt from them, then the perpetrator will surely appear. That will be our time to strike. Of course, I am not asking you to do this for free. If we sessfully captured the perpetrator of this frame-up, I will reward you for what its worth." ... After a lengthy discussion on how to capture the culprit of this incident, I left the pub and recollect my thoughts about this matter. It is now tangled up and I have managed to dig deeper into this case. To think Hyde is just another victim in this quest. I am amazed by how the developers and writers managed to do this stuff. It was like they already programmed everyone to do their parts without any hassle. I was on the way back to the inn so that I can already set up on how to catch the culprit when my interface has a notification on it. When I clicked the notification, I found out it was a notification from Leona. Currently, Leona is still an infant and cannot level yet. But due to the tricks, I did to advance her level without having her in adult form caused her to go into slumber for a few days. I lost track of days for her growth due to the ovepping things happening after the patch. I just realized that today is the day she will undergo the Adult growth ceremony. Since this matter is not yet viable for me to reveal in public yet due to how enormous a gryphon is, it will only cause panic to the NPCs around instead of awe and praises. Gryphon is a boss in this game after all and letting one appear will just cause the guards to attack and the whole popce to panic and cause chaos. ... [You have discovered Sn Hignds] It''s not that far from the Capital and the area is quiet due to the level 30 to 40 monsters lingering in here and since yers are not that high of a level yet, farming in this ce and I am already high enough level to kill the mobs here, its a perfect ce for me to hide Leona and let her grow up without any disturbance to anyone. "Leona, its time for you to awaken!" Unsealing her from the pet space where pets are contained, she suddenly emerged flying with her wings. She flew so fast that it created a small gust of wind in the surroundings and most of the monsters nearby who are just in neutral status against me are immediately killed. I am unaffected since I was the owner of Leona. Even my party members and NPC followers will also be unaffected by it if I have one right now but everyone outside of that will be immediately blown away and if they managed to hold themselves on the ground. "What the hell..." I muttered as I stare at Leona. My expectations of Leona''s size would be around the size of a pickup truck but what I am seeing right now is Leona in a size simr to a truck. She was big, no, big is an understatement. She is huge. Leona''s size is much biggerpared to the normal gryphon you can encounter in the mountainous areas. The boss version of the Gryphon is just a far cry in terms of the size of Leona. Even I didn''t expect the size of Leona toe into this. After flying for a while, Leona returned andnded in front of me. After that, her panel popped out. "Name: Leona Species: Queen Gryphon Level: 0 Tier: Mythical Status: Adult(Happy) HP:15000/15000 MP: 13000/13000 Stats: STR: 200 AGI: 200 DEX: 200 END: 200 INT: 200 Skills: Racial Skill: Griffin call: Issues a strong cry that can summon griffins to help with the fight. Summoned Griffins willst for 10 minutes and will attack enemies automatically. Cooldown: N/A Level 0: Air Wing: Conjures magical wings out of mana that summons gusts of wind. Enemies in a 100-meter radius get 500-1500 HP damage. The further the enemy is, the lesser the damage dealt. Cooldown: 10 minutes Skills: Locked (Level 10) Info: Gryphons are mystical creatures that soar the skies that said to be a creature with head, talons, and wings of an eagle with a lion''s body. Riding on one of these creatures would make you one of the lucky people to ride on one. Updated info: After eating different monster corpses and cores as a baby, a normal gryphon baby breaks through the level of a Queen Gryphon that canmand griffins and leads them to do its bidding. Owner: deheart I rubbed my eyes when I read the stats panel and the tier of Leona. Leona as a baby is just a legendary tier but now that she became an adult, she has transcended that limit and became mythical! Her species also changed from Gryphon to Queen Gryphon which is the first time I have heard of. Aside from that, she also gained 10,000 points on her HP and MP which is already high. Her level was also reset back to zero despite gaining quite a lot of levels when she was still a baby after I let her devour enemy corpses. Still, her stats are pretty high for a level zero! 200 Stat points are already absurd, but when you see all of the stat points of her stats are in 200, it was already too strong for a level zero pet! Isn''t it too broken? Chapter 83 - Atlas And Leona My only thoughts on having a pet before is for mounts and if possible, apanion monster to y monsters only. However, what I got is thebination of both requirements I wanted to have from a pet and what is more, it exceeded to what is actually necessary. That means having a pet with overpowered stats even in level 0 will only get stronger and stronger in the future. If Leona got stronger, doesn''t that mean Leona can pass as a boss? Speaking of bosses, As would be already summonable now after he became part of my main force. I just wanted to see if As is still strong even though his stats was nerfed due to how things would be broken if he remained to have those stats even though I am controlling him now. "Come out As." As appeared after calling and he is still the same ck armored guy that I have defeated back then but this time, he is no longer exuding a very murderous aura that yers feel after facing him in a dungeon. I guess it is one of the affected things on his nerf. "Master, you called?" As'' deep voice is enough to give me impression on him. "Yeah, since I managed to forge a contract with you the other day, I want to see what you are capable of in this form. A mock batlle I must say," and pointed on Leona who tilted her head as she looked on As. "I see. Then I will show you what I am worth with, master. If I can take revenge against the rules in this world and even "that god", then I won''t hesitate to obey your orders." Opening the interface, I checked As'' panel to check his stats. With Leona''s stats being so overpowered despite being a level 0 is what makes me worried that the battle will be a one-sided one with the other not able to retaliate.As might be one level higher than Leona but if the stats is not enough to topple the other, the level is nothing but numbers. That being said, As is a boss before and if his stats are nerfed, it might have affected his stats and might be considered as a mediocre one if he is nerfed a lot. Name: As Species: Abyssmal Warrior of Purgatory Level: 1 Tier: Legendary Status: Content HP: 10,000/10,000 MP: N/A Stats: STR: 250 AGI: 126 DEX: 132 END: 400 INT: 75 Skills: Racial Skill: Damage Absorber: The more damage the skill user gets, the more powerful the attacks gets. All the damage can be stored and released for a strong attack that can deal AOE damage. Damage values depends on how much damage was received. Level 1: Warmonger(Active): The power to inspire allies and increase their output power avable. Within the next 2 minutes, all surrounding friendly units will get additional damage against enemies. Cooldown: 5 minutes Level 1: United we Stand, Divided I will still Stand(Passive): Increases the power of the user the more he/she was in a disadvantage. The more allies he has, the more powerful this skill gets and if was used while being alone will also increase it further. Level 1: Undying Will(Passive): the lower the HP of the user, the higher the defense and attack will be. Healing effects will be reduced to 50% but HP self regeneration will increase to 10%. Level 1: Sword of the Abyss: Swings the sword of purgatory to enemies and deal a massive amount of damage that has a 50% chance of inflicting poison, paralysis, confusion, burn and freeze debuff. Damage depends on how high the HP of the enemy is currently. Cooldown: 5 minutes Skills: Locked until level 10 Info: A proud warrior that hailed on the purgatory. Was previously a strong warrior that died after war and umted all sorts of power while his body is rotting. He might be a bit of a musclehead but he is a loyalpanion and will never betray someone''s trust just to fulfill their own desires. Master: deheart I never expected that his skills would be also quite high enough especially his END or endurance which exceeds the values even for Leona with 200 stat values on all stats. His only downside is that most of his stats are below 200 aside from the STR. His INT stat is the worst though due to how low it was with a whooping 75. But then, I can tell that his stat build is simr to warriors. INT stat is close to useless for a warrior. As for theck of MP for him, his skills aren''t mana reliant and does not need to be one since they are all physical and only two of them are active while the two are passives. Still, reading all of his skills, I can tell that As works well with morepanions so the more friendly units with him, the more powerful he gets and even if he is alone, he can still be very dangerous. Even with his stats focusing more on damage and endurance, that doens''t mean he cannot contend against Leona. When everything was sorted out, I let the two face each other. Since Leona is an intelligent creature, it didn''t take a lot of exining to her what they will be doing right now. As for As, I have to keep him under control. If he will be stronger the more disadvantageous he was, then he will have be more dangerous the lower his HP will be so I decided to let them stop fighting once one of their HP values fall below 50%. "Alright, begin the battle." BANG! The two didn''t waste any time and shed immediately. As was the first to strike but Leona immediately blocked using her talons and also shed with As using her ws that can easily rip off flesh. The sword of As is also acting strong and did not even fell behind in terms of rawpower. But in case of disadvantage, it was clear that As is in disadvantage. His speed is lower than Leona and even though he is tough in terms of defense, Leona''s speed allows herself to attack As relentlessly without As the chance to strike back. Leona is clearly good in using the hit and run tactics. Still, I did not forget that As works best in a disadvantage. The more he was in disadvantage, the better his situation will be in battles. I clearly monitored their HP values so that they won''t fall beyond the 50% and to make sure that if one of them fall that far, then I will immediately stop their battle. As'' HP has been chipped away but only a slight amount than Leona and even though Leona was able to chip HP for quite a while, it is not really that much. It might be due to the defense values of As that her attacks might be connecting but only deals a little bit of damage. "That hurts a bit huh," As muttered before swinging his huge sword to Leona. SWISH! It''s just a single sh but it chip off 10% of Leona''s Hp. "CAAAAWWWW!" Leona cried and all of a sudden, countless of Gryphons appeared beside Leona and started to dash down to As without even caring if they are going to hit the sword or not. SWISH SWISH SWISH The gryphons fly like arrows towards As and his HP slowly fell dramatically making As fall back and defend tp avoid being attacked repeatedly. But he didn''t fall back and surrendered, instead, he braced himself and started to parry all the iing gryphons by attacking them using the blunt part of his sword and using the gryphons that unfortunately got attacked. They became projectiles and was used against Leona. I was surprised by their actions. There are nomands issued to both of them yet they exhibit quite a good amount of fight. I continue to monitor them and saw that their HP are both 50% and now they will be reducing it further. "STOP!" The two halted their attacks and I sighed in relief. Luckily, As didn''t attack Leona using his Sword of Abyss skill and he also didn''t fire out the damage he received. If he did, it would be so destructive and Leona might die causing for her to recover for 3 days to replenish her health back. "What is the verdict, master? Did I do well?" As asked. Even Leona is looking at me expectantly. I nodded at them and said, "Yeah, the two of you are great. If the two of you leveled up more and gained more skills, the two of you will be more powerful." "Master, can I suggest something?" As asked. "Huh? Yeah, sure." "Can I ride your Gryphon and fight as one? As a knight, having a steed to use is one of our dreams. Ick a horse to ride but a gryphon will be a better one. Since your gryphon is quite strong, we can vanquish monsters faster if webined our strength." The idea that As gave me didn''t fall to my mind until he suggested it to me. I didn''t know of two NPC charactersbining together would produce a new unit unless its from a different game since they do exist. But this one seems rather like equipping a new mount like a yer would. Still, the idea is noty bad and nothing will go wrong if it didn''t make any kind of changes. "Are you okay with this Leona?" Leona was intelligent enough to understand me and just nodded when I asked her about it. Since Leona didn''t make any objections to what I asked, I allowed the two to do so. As bowed down in gratitude to me. "Thank you for allowing me to do so." As soon as he said that, a prompt in my interface appeared and what was disyed is not something that I have expected. [Two of your Followers are about to form a pact. This will result to a new battle style to them and if together in battle, will be able to create pact attacks. Will you allow to do so?] Yes/No Chapter 84 - Dark Griffin Knight Clicking the "no" option would bring the wrath of the two so I clicked yes. [Processing... Processingplete. Dark Griffin Knight sessfullypleted the pact. The two can still be categorized as different individuals but as long as they act together, they will be called Dark Griffin Knight.] Name: As and Leona Species: Dark Griffin Knight Level: 1 Tier: Mythical Status: Proud HP: 150,000/150,000 MP: N/A Stats: STR: 600 AGI: 600 DEX: 600 END: 600 INT: 600 Skills: Special Trait: Individualism(Passive): Leona and As are two different beings and will gain experience together which is leveling as one. Once they are not fused to each other, their level, stats, and other skills will be divided into each other. Special Trait: Splice: Can separate and canbine with each other whenever they please. Racial Skill: Under the Dome: Conjures the darkness around the ce and converge it into one ce, creating a temporary Dome that will encase enemies for 2 minutes and deal strong burst AOE damage inside the temporary dome that ignores defense values. Cooldown: 30 minutes Level 1: Ray of Darkness(Active): Leona will release a ray of the dark beam from her mouth to the target, piercing their defense values and destroying any kind of defense skill. Cooldown: 1 Minute Level 1: Cursed Sword of Doom(Active): As will gather all dark power on his sword to increase physical attack, physical defense, magical attack, magical defense and deal AOE damage to the enemies in range. Reduces 100,000 HP points every usage of the skill as a demerit. Demerit points will increase the higher the level. Skills locked until level 10 Info: As the warrior of darkness managed to get the amount in a mythical realm, his strength has risen exponentially that any enemies that will try to attack will never be able to see the next morning. Although he hails in the darkness, he is not against working for the good and the light. A loyal servant and a trustworthy warrior. Master: deheart This was kind of unexpected to my part. Seeing the fusion was a sess, it was rather troublesome even for me. Looking at the stats of the two, it was now locked to 600. That was already so high and if they attacked me with just a flick on Leona''s wings, it will immediately reduce my HP to a whopping zero. Isn''t this making everything broken? Their stats would definitely garner the attention of everyone! My n to slowly rise in strength will immediately be exposed to these broken stats! What is more, two of their skills, the racial and the first skill is already dangerous. The two skills are both AOE and what is more, they ignore defense values. That means, even if you wear the sturdiest shields and armors, as long as it hits, it will hit and will never miss and those shields will never be useful when facing against the attacks. They can be useful in the future especially in raids but this early will just cause everyone to immediately notice my progress. If I want them to easily forget me, I would rather keep my achievements in minimal. The clearing of the Lesser Purgatory already attracted a few people''s attention and if I add another shocking scene, this will nail my notoriety and I don''t want that. It is not yet the exact time to show off. After asking a few questions on As and Leona, I finally managed to get the gist of them. For now, they will be only called out individually rather than calling them both at the moment. Leveling them up is a priority for the future bosses to help me in ying them. Recalling them back, I realized that it''s almost sunset here in the game world. ording to what I learned from Lina''s mother, the guy who issued the fake debt to them wille this afternoon. If that is the case, that guy will be there any moment. Since Leona and As can still be called individually, I call Leona once again and asked her to send me near the Capital. ... As soon as I arrived, I already saw Hyde in a nearby alley near the inn. Even though his ss is clearly not an Assassin or a Ninja, he managed to enter the stealth state. I am already ustomed to spotting stealth state yers in the past timeline so finding Hyde is already easy enough for me. Still, I didn''t call him out. Calling him out will cancel the stealth so no need to do it. Finding a better ce to maintain my scope of surveince, I immediately spotted a few guys which are clearly dressed as mercenaryckeys of Hyde. The only thing is that they are too simr to a bandit group than a mercenary group. First, they don''t carry axes and longswords that those guys of Hyde carry. Instead, they are carrying maces and daggers. Why I am saying they are not in Hyde''s Group? Because his mercenaries are more on power and offense. All of Hyde''s men are carrying either a shield and sword, longsword, axes, and longbows but I never see any of them using any maces and daggers. Second, the group I am seeing now has a magician with them. Magicians are a rare ss in mercenary groups. You can even say that a magician doing the mercenary job is another different story. They might be feasible if they are adventurers but a mercenary group? Nope, not can do. Definitely not possible. One, mercenaries are more on brawl and fulfilling odd jobs. They are called warriors for hire. If they ever be one, they would be dead already due to how mercenaries ept jobs and how theyck the support sses needed for the magicians to stay efficient in battle. That means the magician with them is someone they must have hired or if they are their teammates, these guys are not mercenaries, to begin with. Walking a little bit further, I saw more groups simr to the first one group I spotted. Their eyes are all focused on the inn of Lina and her mother which means this is something the so-called mercenary will doter on in case something he nned on will not work. Then, a young man with a haughty appearance alongside with someone who looks like a noble appeared on the street. Most people give way to them and run away once they passed by. Some of the stores they are going to pass by immediately closed their business. From the looks of it, I found my targets or should I say, targets... Chapter 85 - Assassination I am not proficient in silent assassinations before but I certainly have experience in sabotage. If only I can do that right now, they won''t see what ising for them. Too bad the ss known for the sabotage and traps specialized experts, Saboteurs are not yet implemented yet and will only be avable after the First Expansion that will be happening next week. Observing these guys, I can easily tell that they are indeed what you call the "scums". Even Hyde who seemed like a mafia member doesn''t have the vibe they are exuding out of their bodies. But I don''t think I will just lightly challenge this guy. NPCs in Alternate World are strong and if you are not careful and skilled enough, the NPCs can easily kill you if they wanted to. Even with my high stats and weapon skills, that is not a certainty for me to be able to kill them since they hit hard and these kinds of guys have some sort of dirty tricks like paralysis and other stuff to cause you to freeze and can be killed easily. There is already a n in my head that is already ready to execute but I need more time and preparation. If only the skill irvoyance which is a skill given to all sses is avable, I have a better option for listening and spying on them. Too bad that it is simr to the Saboteur ss, they are only released after the First Expansion due to its primary usage in theter maps. My abilities are too limited at the moment. Since spying to those guys are not possible at the moment, I decided to just focus on the deployed shady guys on the streets. Different from those guys before, these people are easy to dispose of. Even without assassination abilities, I can easily snipe them from where I was hiding and they won''t even notice whates from their deaths. This quest is needed to be cleared perfectly or I might not receive the reward for activating the Ex job cksmith. The other rewards are also unknown so I am enticed to fulfill all of the necessary objectives just toplete this thing. But since the only option is to confront the perpetrator, that might be the only way for me to finish it. If that was the case, defeating all of these guys here might or might not increase the probability of my rewards. These guys are randomly stationed in different ces and most of them are not strategic at all meaning that if one team is wiped out, the other team will not even notice their disappearance. You can say it is kind of pointless but it was still the same a formation for them. Of course, I am notining. In fact, this was the perfect opportunity to ruin their team n. Gun is good in long-range battles but the sound that it releases every shot is troublesome and will allow the others to notice where it came from, so what is the alternative for stealth shots? That will be the bow and arrow of the Hunter ss. It''s not a problem of the gunner ss until they can go and choose a new ss branch of the gunner which would be the Sniper. But for now, the silent long-range ss, for now, is still the Hunter ss. The necessary skills to immediately defeat a group of enemies is also purchased. After all, if I want to wipe them out without anyone noticing, I have to immediately kill them all in one go. I did not hastily move and take my kills. One wrong move and every one of them will notice me. I also don''t want to hit an innocent NPC. My influence might drop a lot if I do so and the guards will definitely capture me and put me in jail for doing so which I don''t want to happen while the quest is ongoing. Scouting on the surroundings, two groups are secluded to the other groups and have a smaller amount of peoplepared to the ones near the shop. Might be their purpose is just for the lookout for enemies. Since that is the case, these two groups immediately became my targets. Using the rooftops to silently move to the two groups, I target the group upon the north part. They were not expecting anything to happen around them so they are toox on their movements which are pretty ideal for me. I nock my bow and activated the Hunter skill, [Rapid Shooting], allowing me to shoot arrows continuously. Since the Versatile Weapon is a weapon that can transform anything, arrows can materialize as soon as the string of the bow is nocked and it was being used to aim an enemy, saving the time on pulling an arrow out of the container to reload, which is perfect for [Rapid Shooting]. SHUSHUSHUSHUSHUSHU The arrows quickly left the bow and silently pierced through the heads of the adventurers. Because they were hit in the head which is a vital organ with the additional damage to the sneak attack, HP parameters did not manage to trigger and they immediately died. Of course, I have no idea if the [Death''s Favorite] special effect was triggered but if it was, they were killed twice I guess. "6 down, 7 more to go." Still using the rooftops, I silently move to the second secluded group. I made sure no one would notice me at all by using [Stealth] skill that is avable in the skill tree of Ninja and Assassin ss. Once I managed to get into position, I waited for the cooldown of the [Rapid Shooting] to finish since it needs 1 minute and 30 seconds before it can be used again. As soon as the cooldown refreshed, I didn''t bother to leave it alone and immediately used [Rapid Shooting] to the adventurers with quick session. And due to the ability of [Stealth] that allows the yer who is under its influence to inflict a critical hit, the first one immediately died without any realization of his death. The arrows followed up and before the others can react, the arrowhead manages to pierce their brains, immediately killing them. Getting rid of the second group allowed me to lessen the danger the enemies possess once they start tomand an attackter. Since I can''t openly make trouble for these enemies located in the open field, I have to wait for them to eventually move before taking them all down since their circumstances are different. Then, the door on the shop burst open and the nobleman earlier flew outside followed by the guy who wasbeled as the impostor. The next one toe outside is Lina who is currently fuming in rage. "Motherf*ckers! Did you really think we are that easy to fool just because we are poor?! You bastards are the trash of the society! If you think you guys can scam money on us, then be sure to have money to pay in Healing Sanctuaries because I will be breaking every single bone of yours!" Lina once again cracks her whip to the ground causing the two to tremble. "F*ck! Looks like we are in for a fight," the impostor then looked behind him and tilted his head, which means it is a signal for battle. And as expected, those guys stationed in the streets pulled out their weapons, and their grins on their faces are menacing. But like hell, I would let them do whatever they want. Since they are too weak, I nock my bow and release a barrage of arrows to the adventurers without even bothering if they hit or not. I didn''t use [Rapid Shooting] this time but [Homing Arrows] that allows me to shoot arrows that can immediately hit targets without targeting them. As long as they are not friendlies, they will not be able to escape the arrows. SHU SHU SHU SHU SHU SHU The targets fell one by one as the arrows hit them. And this time around too, I saw Hyde appear from his hiding spot and begin his assault to the adventurers too using his sword. Despite the heaviness of the sword he was using, he was able to swing it around like a shortsword without much effort and hack through the adventurers that tried to attack him. "Hey, this isn''t what was nned!" the guy who looks like a noble profusely sweat as he looks at the adventurers fall one by one. "This isn''t what I had in mind! I also didn''t expect that weak looking maid is a monstrous individual! Let''s get out of here before we got caught up in the crossfire!" I can''t hear these guys talk but lipreading is easy and since this game is easily able to replicate even the lips of the NPCs talking the right words, lip reading is easy to analyze here. After confirming that they will be running away, I immediately changed my weapon to a Staff and released one of the skills I learned before in case something came up. "Creeping Paralysis!" ZAP! The two fleeing guys didn''t expect it and before they can take a single step, the paralysis kicks in and the two shivered and fell to the ground with a struggling face marked on their faces. Normal [Paralyze] skill is a single target and a tier 1 skill of the Magicians. However, [Creeping Paralysis] is an AOE skill that can paralyze multiple entities in one cast, the bad side of this one is that it is a bit weaker in terms of Paralysis powerpared to the normal [Paralyze] skill. So when they got paralyzed, they were lucky enough to barely feel pain from [Creeping Paralysis]. I didn''t kill them off because I knew that Hyde would interrogate them. Killing them might result in the mission to lessen its progress. And after finishing off the rest of the adventurers, Hyde finally approached the two paralyzed guys. Lina did not bother to leave the doorway of the store to protect her mother at all. If nothing goes wrong, I will be able toplete the quest immediately and get the reward for finishing the quest. Chapter 86 - Quest Complete "Let me go f*ckers!" the guy who presents himself as one of the loansharks immediately got beaten to a pulp by Hyde as we capture and interrogate him and the noble-looking guy for information. "I can cut off your tongue if you keep on screaming you bastard, I mean it and I never give out jokes of any kind," Hyde red at him and pulls out a knife from his pocket. Lina''s mother is confused when she saw Hyde. "Why are you here Hyde? I thought yourckey is going to ask for payment for our debts which is your business but why are you beating him up?" "Ah, that is not true because your so-called debt is nonexistent. Your husband might have died a long time ago but he didn''t even leave behind a debt to you two to suffer and pay for his stead. The "debt" this guy is saying is quite a bogus. It was already paid before he passed away." Lina frowned and pulls out her whip again and ready to whack the bogus guy but Hyde stopped her. "You can do whatever you want with himter but I need him to be energetic for now to be able to extract info about a personal matter." "I won''t say anything!" "Hoho? Are you sure about that? We will see how you will fareter. But I will save you for thest," Hyde said before he shifted his attention to the noble-looking guy. "Are you going to interrogate him too?" I asked Hyde. "This guy is one of the corrupt nobles I have contact with before. He is quite greedy when ites to money and he will do whatever it takes to squeeze money to individuals. If he was involved, this case might not be the only one but countless others too. This means someone is behind this for him to personally do a lowly work like scamming people with fake debts. Much worse, they are trying to frame my humble sideline business." I can understand his sentiments but is there someone out there gonna do something of an borate work like this just to frame his business and stain his reputation? In the end, Hyde called hisckeys and carried the two somewhere away from there. He also ordered his men to dispose of the bodies of the adventurers and report it to the guild to make a catalog of the names of the fallen adventurers for their family to im. "The situation is now back to normal and I see that you are also quite good in sneaky fighting. Not that I am judging you in it since I also did it earlier," Hyde said. "You really deserved to be a called one of the strongest mercenaries in the Capital. Those swings are precise and decisive. Dealing with enemies is easily done by you." " Ha, don''t just call me strongest, I may be strong but I am far from the strongest in this world, in fact, you are much stronger in terms of raw strength. Even if I go all out inbat against you, I might barely manage to do a decent fight against your skills and I can tell that what you are right now is a half baked warrior and has yet to mature. It would be great to help you achieve that glory." Before I can even respond, the interface popped up on my face which made me surprised as I didn''t expect it to appear without warning. [Rtionship with Hyde has risen to Lifetime Ally! You can now ask Hyde to go in a quest with you once a week to fight for you. Aside from that, you will also have the disposal of Hyde''s mercenaries to fight for you too.] After that, the interface exined the system on reputation since I triggered it but the knowledge is no longer necessary to me after skimming since nothing changed from its content. Normal yers would only get to trigger this whenever they keep on fulfilling minor quests to normal folks in town. Every time yers finish a quest, interact with the NPCs, or do minor tasks for them, it results in growth in reputation and rtionship to them. Of course, it also works in reverse too, the more you insult, hurt or destroy their properties, your reputation and rtionship with them will also fall to negative. Since I got this reputation and rtionship to Hyde due to the quest, it was easily maxed without much problem and I can immediately enjoy the privilege of bing an ally to Hyde. [Lifetime Ally] is the highest level of reputation to an NPC, every kind of perks will be received once you get to be friends with an NPC either from shop discounts or free repair of weapons.[Respectable Customer] is the level of recognition to you, minor perks can now be enjoyed. [Friend] is the normal level of intimacy to NPCs, neutral to everything, no perks but the NPC is already friendly. [Stranger] and [Acquaintance] are the same level, the former is disyed if the NPC does not know you, and thetter will be disyed once the NPC knows you already but you have yet to establish any friendly measures. Now if those are good, the reputation will also fall and will also show the displeasure of the NPCs to you once these appeared to them. [Disgusted] is the lower form of displeasure on you, they will still interact with you but they will barely talk to you, and you are limited to a conversation with them. [Enemy] will be disyed if they no longer care if you are a yer or not, they will always be angry at you even if you do good deeds for them. [Eternal Enemy] will appear if they will no longer just show their disgust at you but show hostility and will either attack you on sight or outright beat you to a pulp. The addition of the alliance with Hyde further increases my strength in future battles. If I am going to offend many yers in the future and I have fewer allies to gain support on, then getting NPC allies is the way to go. After our conversation, Hyde left with hisckeys, leaving me and Lina alongside with her mother. "Thank you, master. It looks like everything is now good and no longer causing conflict. And I am surprised that you are here when the false debt collector arrived," Lina said. "Nah, you are one of my allies, if you are in trouble, I would make sure I will help you with it." "Ah, that''s right master, that guy earlier dropped a bag of materials when I kicked him out of the store. I already picked it up but I have not seen these items before. Maybe you know them?" Lina hands over a bag full of misceneous items and the interface name of it pop up, [A scammer''s stash] Opening the bag, I was surprised to see the materials inside. It didn''t only contain the necessary item I needed to give Almira to start the quest for the cksmith apprenticeship, there were also items you can say that only drop from World Bosses! Is this the reward of the quest?!m Chapter 87 - First Job Ex Aside from the ore, I needed for the quest, another familiar and precious ore is added in here. [Adamantite] A precious ore that is said to be so rare that many people thought it was just a legend until one is found. Armors, weapons, tools, and other metal works made from this material are well sought and will fetch an extremely high price. A failure work of metallurgy from a piece of ore of this will result in a Legendary Grade. Although the Adamantite is a mythical metal alongside the Orichalcum and Mythril and does not exist in the real world, in Alternate World, these metals exist and they are one of the most sought materials by yers due to how rare, valuable and expensive it was. Just from its description, a failed material can be sold to millions of gold and its grade will literally be Legendary Grade or higher depending on how less the failure of the item is. Although I got the item I needed, Ingot of the Stars, the Adamantite is one of the best items I held in my entire life including my past timeline. I only heard this item and thought it was just an urban legend. Who would have thought I would be getting one of the ores? The others are also good items but they are not as valuable as the Adamantite and I can only tell that they are rare items but they can be easily obtained in higher levels so it didn''t spark much attention on me. After checking out the contents of the bag and confirming the quest on Lina ispleted, I helped Lina and her mother to fix the door of the inn before heading to Almira''s cksmith shop. Aside from the materials, I also managed to improve my rtionship with Lina and her mother. Lina''s favorability with me also drastically rose which is quite good considering that raising rtionship points to NPCs is hard. When I arrived in front of her shop, I noticed the signboard on her shop is disyed "close" but due to my high rtionship points with Almira, entering it despite being close is still a usible thing to do. Entering the shop, Almira is currently resting and reading a book about advanced metallurgy techniques. Even when taking a break, she only thinks about smithing. "Oh? I heard you already solved the matter of yours..." Almira said without raising her head. "Yeah, your tip was helpful, and thanks for providing the info." "Yeah, yeah, I don''t really care. However, I am confused as to why you are here, you can clearly see the sign above the doorway that my shop is closed right? Why are you still here? You know that I don''t sell as long as I am close." "Well, I am not here to buy but to give an item for you to appraise since I got it identally," I said and pulled from my inventory the Ingot of the Stars. Almira who was just as chill as ice earlier pukes out the tea on her mouth and stood up in shock. "Ingot of the Stars! You obtained a valuable item from that troublesome monster in theke?!" Almira''s eyes are glowing as she grabs the Ingot of the Stars on the table. "I was just as surprised as you, you know? It looks like a metal ore but this is the first time of me to see a twinkling ore, so my first decision is to get it appraised to someone who knows their stuff." "Hehehe, kid, you have gone and asked the right person. In fact, I will make this worthwhile for you. I can purchase this metal and take it off your hands if you wanted to." "Well, if you want to get this item, then I don''t want money but I want you to teach me cksmithing. I want to learn how to make weapons on my own!" Almira was surprised by my demand but she calmed down immediately and started to discuss the reward. "cksmithing eh? Are you sure you wanted to? Bing a cksmith is tedious and very hard work. I can teach you how to do cksmithing but you need to persevere because I am a strict teacher, is that possible for you to endure?" Almira grinned. "I have plenty of strict teachers in my life so adding another one is not a problem at all." "If you are really determined, then I will make sure you will learn great things from me." Then, the interface popped up in front of my face. [Almira is offering herself to be your cksmith Mentor. epting her offer will allow the yer to unlock the Ex Job: cksmith. Your cksmith experience gained from doing cksmith work will also be doubled due to the mentorship you have with Almira. ept her offer?] [Yes/No] Why would I say no? I immediately clicked yes. "And with that, you are now my apprentice. Come here every day and I will test your aptitude tomorrow in cksmithing so that I can easily teach you things you have yet to know." "I understand." "Oh and don''t forget these things. They will be your starting tools kid, and I challenge you to create these normal cksmith tools into advanced versions. Of course, you need to do this after you are assessed by your abilities but hey, you can start already. You can read this book if you want to learn the basics thoroughly." She passed down a small bag and book to me and the items I received popped up in my interface. -[cksmith''s Hammer] obtained. -[Tongs] obtained. -[Starter Molds] obtained. -[cksmithing Beginner''s Guide Book] obtained. "I won''t be giving every tool needed. If you wanted to get more tools, feel free to buy in other stores or in my store. It doesn''t matter to me. What matters is the work of the person, not the materials and tools used, as long as it can make the things done without much problem then its fine. Anyways, you can go back to where you wanted to go, I won''t be teaching today because I am exhausted,e back in here tomorrow alright?" "Thank you very much!" I left Almira to rest after that and looked at the new message that popped up in my interface. [Congrattions, your Ex Job: cksmith is now activated. You can now create metal works and other things involving cksmithing. Making things rted to cksmithing will raise your level of expertise in this job. The higher your level is, the more things you can make. Creating your own customized equipment is now in your hands! Create and build wonderful things!] Finally, it is time to create weapons to feed to my Versatile Weapon. And once I reached my old level before in the alternate timeline, I will try to create my own armor made from the Adamantite. I can''t wait for that day toe. Chapter 88 - Janus(A Filler ) I decided to log out after the quest since it is about to hit to 3 am already and I don''t want to have lesser time to sleep this time around. Since it''s prettyte, I decided to see the siblings if they already logged out of the game. Entering the room, they already have logged out of the game and I think it was still recent since the two are still trying to adapt again to their surroundings after experiencing the Alternate World. When Akira noticed me enter the room, he smiled and rush towards me like a little kid. "Big brother! That game is awesome! Everything looked so real and every action we do seems like we really do move around the real world!" Akira excitedly said. "Is that big brother, brother?" Sora asked as she tries to walk slowly and trace her surroundings. "Yeah! It''s Big brother!" Akira said and helped Sorae near to me. "How are the things back in the game? Did the two of you enjoyed it?" I asked. "Big brother! This is the best present you ever gave to us. Even though we are not your siblings or even a rtive, you helped us and even gave us ess to a game. Due to this game, I gained the chance to experience to see things I didn''t have a chance to see during my childhood. I am truly grateful and we will be in your debt. We will work hard to repay you for your kindness," Sora kneels on the ground and started shedding tears from her closed eyes. "Oy, oy! Don''t kneel, please. You don''t need to repay me at all. Guarding this mansion and cleaning it is enough and those gaming tattoos I bought for the two of you are for free. As for paying me, don''t worry too much about it. It is not even necessary. Anyways, I am just checking if you two have logged out from the game. It is time to sleep. Good night to both of you. Tell me if you two have arrived in the Capital alright?" "Okay! Good night big brother!" ... After closing the door, I sighed and wiped off the sweat on my forehead. Getting called "big brother" all of a sudden is just making me nervous since I am an only child and dealing with children is not something I am good at, but it feels good to be called like that though. Since it is prettyte, I decided to return to my room, not to sleep but to control my own mana in my body. Once the first expansiones in, sleeping for real will be harder to do so since you will have topete for first clears and bosses left and right in the new continent. If you want to gain more chances to get them all, sleeping will be a lesser priority. Of course, I am not saying that sleeping is useless. It is necessary but to make sure your body remains healthy, getting your mana flow better will allow you to stop worrying about sleep because the mana will just rejuvenate your body better than sleeping. Practicing it in advance will allow me to survive sleepless nights without getting any fatigue. I spent the night controlling my mana and made my body ustomed to the flowing mana. The next day, my body felt refreshed despite not sleeping that night. If I keep it up, sleeping would be an optional action for me in the future. I made breakfast which made the two sleepyheads awaken and rush to the kitchen. While eating, we started to discuss things in the game that they have little to no understanding. I also gave them advice on getting a faster way to level up and to also avoid joining a guild so early. Since I have to go back to my old home, I instruct them to just clean the house and do some chores before going back to y. I also gave them some money for expenses and if they have something to buy, they won''t have a problem with it. Leaving the mansion, I sighed at the weather. Since 2 in the morning, the rain is still pouring down from the sky, creating the gloomy and cold morning. I rarely see any taxi passing by and if there is one, it would be either they are full or they are not taking passengers since they have to go back home. I made a little jog towards the nearest convenience store to buy an umbre since I didn''t bring one with me and the mansioncks it. Entering the convenience store''s door, I was weed with a familiar ng on his Japanese. "Wee! Ah..." the person on the counter said and was stunned to see who came in. Likewise, I was surprised who it was. "Janus?" "Manato, my man! It''s been a while! How are you? You are out of contact for a few months man and Riko is trying to call you for a while so that we get to hang out!" "Sorry about that bro, I just wanted to take a break from things which made me a bit disconnected to you guys. But don''t worry too much, we will be hanging out again this new term," I said. Janus Mcgrey, one of my few friends and also an American student who just transferredst year. He was an exchange student here at first but after having a few sses, he decided that he will continue his studies here instead of going back to America after three months. Although he was an American, he has less masculinity than what I always imagine American students look. He might be a bit masculine but that was due to the time to time workout he does every morning. "Are you going to buy something Manato? I can''t really go in idle talking while working ya'' know?" "Ah, right. Give me an umbre please." "One umbre, alright please wait a bit." Janus didn''t go to the rack behind him to get an umbre, but go directly to the coffee dispenser and pour a cup of coffee before going back to the rack and take one umbre. "One umbre and a cup of coffee." "Uh... I didn''t order coffee." "No worries man, its on the house. Just pay for the umbre though." As I took out my money, I started asking questions on him since there are no people lining up and it isn''t busy since most people inside the convenience store are just chilling in there or just waiting for the rain to stop. "It''s rare for you to be working in the convenience store. You have lots of money to use, why work?" "Haha, indeed, I shouldn''t be working here but because I am bored and I want some new experiences to ur in my life, I am here trying out the life of a worker in a convenience store. Though I would rather have to work somewhere less stressful like an inte cafe or something," Janus said. "Is that so? Why are you not going to work on one? You can y games while working and that is much better you know?" "Nah,puters are slowly getting phased out due to the new gaming cabin, the Reality Verse now usually getting the poprity. Also, its much better for me to work with the people for the future and to increase my ability to socialize to others." "That is your choice though." "Alright man, here is the umbre, I can''t talk now but be sure to chatter. Be sure to also respond to Riko. She will be pissed a lot with you if you keep on ignoring her messages." ... Leaving the convenience store, I sighed in relief to see Janus again. Since Janus died in the past timeline after Riko died in an ident, I have to make sure that he will survive and also get to enjoy life rather than die. Maybe its time to establish contact with Riko again. I already have a connection with her via her avatar in the game, "Dolly" and strengthening my bond with her might allow me to alter the future. The rain is getting heavier and from the looks of it, this heavy rain is not going to stop anytime soon. "What a gloomy day it is today..." .... On the other hand, while Manato isining about the rain, Kazuki is now being scolded by his dad. "You said you will be able to obtain dominance in this new game and invest our money in a bigger market. You also said that you can monopolize the supply of rare materials since you are certain that you will be able to establish your guild first and get most of the yers to go to your guild. But what is happening now?! From what I can see in the forums, your guild is now in an intensepetition against two other guilds! Now where is this thing you promised that you will be monopolizing all of the supplies?!" a stern man in a business coat shouted to Kazuki who was standing in front of his table. You can see on this man that he has the air of being greedy. "It is just a mishap in my n, father. The two guilds are not as popr as my guild''s poprity due to the fact that I managed to obtain the first guild title and was announced to the whole world. They might have obtained guild tokens too but they still a bitte to establish their dominance. In no time, the Burning Dragon Guild will be crushing those guilds down, " Kazuki said. "Don''t just give empty words, make actions too. You even failed to acquire a first clear on a simple dungeon and was even taken by an unknown individual! If you want me to get me to acknowledge you, be sure to show results!" "...Yes, father," Kazuki said before he left the room. Kazuki might be calm in front of his father but after he left his sight, he grits his teeth and bite his nails in frustration. "Just you wait, old man. I will make you eat your words. You will definitely acknowledge me. And if I do, I will make sure that you will not be able to stop me." Chapter 89 - Plan To Buy A House Although I managed to return home using an umbre, I am still wet from it due to the strong heavy winds apanied by heavy rainfall. Good thing I came home faster before I am soaked from head to toe. After drying myself, I peeked outside to check if the rain has calmed down. Too bad that the rain is still pouring down hard and from the looks of it, only indoor activities for now. I have nothing much to do today here so I decided to go back to the Alternate World and decided to level up my cksmithing Proficiency. The higher my proficiency in cksmithing, the bigger chances for me to create higher leveled weapons. With the materials I purchased from Almira, I will have things to practice things. However, practicing the cksmithing on an inn is a bad idea, besides the cramped room, I will need a spacious area for me to move around and to process the metals. This only means one thing to my situation right now. I NEED A HOUSE. Since I just decided to stay in the inn, I neglected the housing system. Now that I needed a forging area for cksmithing needs, I needed to buy a house. During the past timeline, I was too invested in getting stronger that I didn''t bother to buy one of my own. I usually just borrow forge in cksmith shops or even the forge of Almira just to forge things. Besides, a house in this game is also as expensive as hell. One of the most expensive houses I have heard of costs 5 million gold but I am quite sure there are more expensive houses out there, I''m just not really much informed about it due to how I am so poor that time and whenever I got enough gold to spare, I would immediately exchange it for real money so most of the time, I am broke. But things are different now. Since I am swimming in gold due to the guild tokens sold in the auction, I have so much gold to spare to afford expensive houses. Of course, I needed a house that can be installed or already has a built-in forge. And since my expertise fell in this area, I should be asking someone who knows things like this. ... "Buying a house? Ah yes, you can purchase a house ownership certificate in the Adventurers'' Guild. Registering a house to get a certificate is being done there so if you are nning to purchase a house, go to the Adventurers'' Guild and look for the Real Estate Agent is there which is located on the fourth floor of the Adventurers'' Guild. I didn''t know the actual process though, I am sorry about that Master," Lina said as I asked her where to do the deed. "Adventurers'' guild eh? I didn''t notice that before..." "Are you going to buy your own house, Master?" "Yeah. I can''t perform cksmithing inside the inn and I don''t like to spend much money to borrow a forge. That is why I want to buy a house and install a forge inside to privately do some smithing." "I heard a mansion would be a good house you needed if you ever want to install like a forge, Master. Maybe you should ask for some rmendations too to narrow down your search for the ideal house." "Mmm, I will remember that. Thanks for answering my questions." "I should be apanying you for this one but I am currently busy at the moment so I can''t do so for now. I will make up the time I missed by apanying you to a quest or dungeon diving next time," Lina bowed as she apologizes to me. "It''s alright. What you said to me is already helpful." After leaving the inn, I immediately headed to the Adventurers'' Guild. During my past timeline days, to immediately gain lots of gold, silver, and copper coins without farming all day, I always go in here and pick quests every day. To think I am so oblivious that the Real Estate Agent that handles the housing system is also stationed here. Looks like there are still some things I am quite ignorant especially those things that I have overlooked in my past timeline due to how busy and rigorous my routine every day. Now that I have a more rxed and easy life, I can now explore and learn more about these things. The Adventurers Guild is a building located in every town and city in Alternate World. They act as the main ce to find quests, turn in finished quests, register as an adventurer, guild formation, requesting some requests to other yers, and more. For those who wanted quick buck and experience, this ce is the best one to pick especially if you are tired of farming over and over without any much luck on getting gold and experience. As expected, when I entered the Adventurers Guild, the whole ce is packed with yers. There are many yers gathered around the bulletin board where requests and NPC quests are issued. On the tables, yers upied the ce and currently discuss many things with their party members on strategies and other stuff. There are 5 floors in every Adventurers Guild and these floors are all upied by different receptionists that handle different things. The ground floor is the busiest receptionist because they handle the requests and turning in quests on yers every day. The second floor handles the yers who wanted to request help to other yers making a new quest posted to the bulletin board. It is the second busiest floor after the ground floor though it is not as hectic as thetter. The third floor handles the guild creation and the adventurers'' shop where yers who managed to gain lots of contribution points can spend them in this shop. As for the fourth floor, I don''t think I have visited it before since the furthest I entered the building is the third floor and ording to the other people, the fifth floor is the meeting room and break room of all the staff of the Adventurers'' Guild so unless you have some business with the Guild Master, you are off-limits to the fifth floor. Since Lina said that the Real Estate Agent is located on the fourth floor, it is time for me to visit and see what it looks like. Just like the other floors, this ce is also the same as the counter and the receptionist. The only difference this time aroundpared to the other floors is that this ce is devoid of yers. The only person you can see here is the receptionist herself who is currently sleeping and no one else. I can''t me her for sleeping on the reception table. With the level of the yers and most tycoons are not bothering for luxury yet like houses, this floor would be empty. Approaching the table, she immediately stood up from her slumber and made a defensive stance. "Guild Master! I swear that I am not sleeping while on duty!" The action she made got me baffled. It was all sudden for her to act like that while I was approaching that I instinctively grab the versatile weapon, ready to parry whatever is iing. She quickly realized what she was doing and blushed profusely before covering her face in embarrassment. "AAAAHHHHH! I AM SO SCREWED! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WITH MY JOB!" She quickly fixed her hair and her stature before she awkwardly returned to her job. "Wee, adventurer, what can I do for you?" Although the situation is a bit awkward, I don''t think it is necessary for me to dwell forever on what happened. I immediately ignored what happened earlier and quickly go straight to the point. "I am here to look for a good house to purchase. Are you the Real Estate Agent?" "Yes. My name is Ina and I am the one in charge of registering people''s certificates when they purchase a house. Do you perhaps have a preference you wanted for your house? Like for example, near the sea?" "Nah, it sounds good but I am here for practical use and not for vacation. Is there any house avable big enough for me to install a forge, workshop, and pharmacy at the same time? It''s preferable for me if it is located in this continent," I said. Some houses that fit my criteria might be located on the other continents that are unessible for now and by saying it, I might be able to narrow down the search. She was surprised when she heard my preferences before she answered. "There are houses avable but they are all located on other continents. However, we have one that is avable but..." "But?" "But it was infested by the undead and a lich. It was a mansion that is sold and avable to be bought but due to the undead and lich living in there, we are forced to lessen the amount needed to be paid on the property and we also issue a clearing quest there to anyone who wanted to buy the property." When I heard the description, I think I know that ce. I heard it before but I did not participate in it. If I remember it right, the mansion she was talking about is their of the Great Necromancer Lich. From what I can remember, this quest became a raid due to how difficult to kill the Great Necromancer has be. The reward was too great that it became the talk after the incident. "Can you tell me more about it?" "I will show you the house I am talking about first if you are interested," Ina said before she shows a photo of it. It was not just a house, it is a mansion. Big enough for a whole guild to live in, to be honest. And the price is just 100,000 gold. Looking at the other houses, which has the range of 250,000 gold to 1M gold, this is just too cheap. But due to the quest issued, this might cause the cost of the house to fall so low despite being a high-end mansion. "This mansion is big enough to fill all your preferences. It also has a basement too which is good. The only problem is that this ce is infested by the undead and a lich which is why, if you wanted to get this house, you better kill the monsters first to make sure it became habitable. Of course, the price will remain the same after it was cleared. But we will only allow you to buy it after clearing its vicinity." Seeing a rare opportunity looks like I hit another jackpot this time around. Why would I let it go? "I will buy this mansion. Please give me a request to clear the location." Chapter 90 - Clear The Mansion The request is quite simple this time around. [Clear the Mansion] Description: The mansion is too cheap due to the infestation of the undead inside and due to the influence of a lich living in there. Liberating the area will make the ce great again. Objective: Clear the area Rewards: Mansion avable for purchase, 50,000 EXP, and ??? The rewards look good, 50,000 exp is already a lot and with the question marks, it would mean a good reward is also avable for the picking. If that was not enough, the undead and the lich is another different monsters that might drop items and equipment, alongside with coins and experience, those things are a lot of bonus to expect. Since the enemy is a lich and from my past life is also a Necromancer, farming here would be a really good idea. I waited until around afternoon game time to head in the ce. I also made sure to bring Lina with me this time which is excellent because it''s her free time around the afternoon which coincides with the time I wanted to tackle the quest. During the afternoon, undead creatures get a little bit stronger but they drop better items and bigger amount of experiences. The effect intensifies during the night and the effect will get nerfed a lot during the daytime, making them weak and vulnerable in the daytime. It is something I discovered personally and I made a guide like this in the past timeline to those who wanted to grind levels and gold until a certain threshold. I experimented andpared things during daytime and nighttime which made me able to notice the difference of the undead during certain phases of the day. Most yers just disregard the undead creatures as weak but get overwhelmed especially if they are under the night sky. "Master, shouldn''t we be killing these monsters during daytime for easy clear? Why are we doing the job during the afternoon?" Lina asked. "We will be grinding levels, Lina. Since your level is not that high yet, it would be great if you get your level high. Besides, there is a necromancer who will constantly summon the undead monsters so the monsters in question won''t run out. Isn''t that a great way to grind levels until we can''t gain levels anymore?" When I said that, Lina was baffled and confused. Since she was confused, I exined to her the rule of killing undead monsters to make them profitable and worth to farm. "As expected of Master, even the slight changes in the monster''s trait is also part of your methods. I honestly don''t have any idea that it was the case," Lina said with a newfound motivation in her eyes. We are just around the path towards the mansion but the negative energy being released around the area is totally heavy. The nts around the ce start to wither due to the miasma while the trees on the nearest vicinity have already withered and died, leaving their trunks that once show their glory during the early days remaining standing around. The undead that prowls around the area is also quitemon and even though we are still far from the mansion, the undead already reached this far. "I will let you take care of the individual undead first. Once they are gathered in groups, I will be participating," I said. "Okay, Master!" Lina took out her whip and quickly made her move towards the undead monsters. I already told her to target the undead on their heads to kill them immediately so when she executed the actions, she was a killing machine with the whip. It didn''t take that much time before we arrived at the gates of the mansion where all the undead monsters are gathered. Checking Lina''s level, she managed to raise her level to level 60 immediately despite hunting a few scattered undead around. What if she kills most of the undead inside? She will immediately hit level 100! Unfortunately, that won''t be happening since I needed to clear it today and pass the confirmation tomorrow. If I want to grind here a lot, I have to do it before the deadline. Aside from that, the amount of undead gathered on the gate is just too much. Getting inside is almost hard without getting suffocated from the undead. "What shall we do about this Master? The amount of the undead monsters are just too much for the two of us!" "No worries about that. If we can''t handle them all on our own, we will call for help!" SNAP! I snap my fingers and the two forces I keep a secret to all yers appeared and answered my call. "Master, we have arrived!" As said as he bows down in front of me. Lina did not expect their sudden appearance that she quickly readies her whip. "What the...?" "Rx Lina, have you forgotten about them? Those are Leona and As, you know, during that time when we are dungeon diving?" "Ah? Leona and As?! But they didn''t look the same! Are they still the same guys I sawst week? Howe there are so many changes already?!" "Don''t underestimate the power of fusion and leveling up!" Leona is already focused on the undead wriggling their frail dead arms to the gate while trying to reach out to us. "Master looks like I am sensing a strong aura in this area thatmands these filthy monsters. Are these the reasons you called us here?" "Yes. But my reason that I summoned the two of you here is to increase your levels. Killing the mastermind will just destroy your chances to raise your level and increase your strength. It would be a good idea to test your skills here as much as you want until dawn." "Hmm, killing these weaklings might not prove to be a challenge but I also wanted to get stronger to get revenge to that "god" as fast as possible. I also wanted to test my new powers too so this is a perfect opportunity. Very well, I will do that." Leona doesn''t mind either. Due to that, we started the clearing operation. Of course, this is not considered clearing. It is more like grinding. Lina is able to sufficiently kill the undead one after another and the bigger and dangerous undead versions were all smashed and killed by As and Leona without sparing them. Since they are mypanions, they all share experience points with m,e and with the help of my title Memento Mori, it allowed me to help these guys quickly gain experience. Aside from that, I decided to raise my proficiency in the Cleric ss. Since I will be focusing more on assault sses, support sses like the Cleric will be hard to gain SP. Since I am almost useless in this fight due to how most of the enemies are more likely killed by As, Leona, and Lina, raising my proficiency in Cleric ss will fetch me a lot of SP which increased further due to the help of Death''s Favorite''s effect. The progress visibly slowed down when we reached around nighttime. It was normal since most of the undead monsters will start to get stronger, making them more resilient against attacks than before. However, despite therge difficulty spike, it didn''t hinder that much on our progress except that it slows us down a little bit. "I never expected that the undead would be able to get stronger like this. So this must be the effect of the darkness eh? Looks like I underestimated them a little bit. This may not be a bad thing," As said as he continues to pound the undead left and right. Leona seems to have no problem with them and just blows them around using the wind and cut them up with wind des. Lina kills also significantly slowed down too after the undead got stronger but she is still able to kill lots of them without any problem. My Cleric SP is now around 543 after the constant usage of skills for the cleric. Later on, I will be spending them on the passive skills of the cleric that will allow me to gain arger amount of recovery power as well as my skills in recovering others might surpass the potions. The battle continues until I saw the time in-game that shows that the sun is about to rise. Aside from that, the lich that has been the one summoning the undead seems to be fed up from summoning endless undead which ends up being grounded to dust by the three. "You trespassers dared to disturb my domain! You are all prepared to die!" Chapter 91 - Necromancer Lich The lich that has been living in the mansion has finally appeared. ording to what I heard about the raid that urred here in the past timeline, this lich necromancer can summon a whole battalion of undead in one go. Aside from that, he has the ability to make the undead immune to the effects of the sunlight, allowing them to fight like it was nighttime. To the yers, it would be just an absolute nightmare. Aside from that, not only the normal undead has the possibility of being summoned, some elite undead and mini-bosses are also called which can result in the monsters to congest with the monsters. This caused a lot of trouble during the raid due to the mini-bosses and the elite messing up the strategies, making the raid one of the longest. And due to that incident, many yers have learned the lesson to not underestimate the undead hordes and the necromancer type enemies. Now that I am the one clearing it instead of the original clearers, I don''t think they will learn to stop underestimating the undead hordes, but that is not my problem. They can learn somewhere about it instead. To be honest, if I am alone in this battle, it would take me a lot of time and effort just to get rid of these monsters. I may know how to deal with them effectively but that doesn''t mean I can kill them all without any difficulty. Luckily for me, As, Leona, and Lina are both with me to clear the undead and close the gap with the necromancer. "Trespassers shall never leave alive! Guards! Kill them all!" He raises his staff that looks simr to those staves used by shaman goblins up in the air and called upon a group of undead elite monsters out of the ground. [Undying Guard] Level 70 HP: 100,000/100,000 Trait: Undead No wonder many yers struggled on the raid. In just one summoning cast, 10 of these guys appeared. Aside from that, they are not the only guards that got summoned. [Elite Undying Guard] Level 90 Elite Monster HP: 350,000/350,000 Trait: Undead Elite monsters are also summoned. Not just one but a dozen of them. Any yer who did not anticipate to face elite monsters will get killed as they are much stronger than normal mobs. I already hit level 80 during the battle against the fake adventurers which means I have weaker attacks and lower levelspared to the elite monster but that doesn''t mean I have a lower chance of killing them. After all, I have the ability to insta-kill them. Still, I don''t want to rely on that. I may have managed to proc the instant death against some monsters but I haven''t managed to do that against major enemies like these. Still, that doesn''t mean my instant death effect from my title is non-existent. If luck reallyes in, I can trigger it. We can''t also forget that my Versatile weapon has many effects and they just don''t make me stronger, they also heal me slightly due to the Lifesteal effect. Since the enemies are all undead, time to change to the Holy Knight ss. I rarely showcase the Holy Knight ss. Aside from being a semi-tank and self-buffer that can sustain itself in fights, they shine the most against undead enemies. Their skills are all involved in fighting evil beings after all. Two skills are already unlocked for me when I essed the Holy Knight skill and that is one passive skill and one active skill. [Pure Holy Body] 1st Tier Passive Info: (This passive is only limited to the Holy Knight ss) The user will be immune to any curse effects received from evil-trait enemies and undead-trait enemies. Half of the damage dealt by any undead and evil enemies will be converted to MP or HP values randomly. Notes: Are you showering the Holy Water every day to be this pure and holy? Let me try it too! [Cross of Light] 1st Tier Active Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 100 MP Info: Summons a giant cross-shaped light on the area selected and deals 1000 holy damage(additional 1000 damage increase to every level of the user). Undead ss enemies have a 0.1% chance of getting purified once they are hit by the attack. This skill is unavable during PVP. Notes: Imagine poking the tip of that cross to someone''s butt... mmm that is nasty That is the first time I read those notes in the skill and honestly, I want to ask the guys behind the skill creations if they are just trying to be witty or just to piss off the yers reading them. Anyways, the [Pure Holy Body] is only usable if I equip a weapon that is for Holy Knights only which is the Greatsword. Once I changed the Versatile Weapon to a greatsword, I managed to activate the passive skill. Aside from that, the [Cross of Light] is just too strong. The higher the level of the yer is, the stronger the damage it inflicts to the enemies which are pretty effective against the undead and evil monsters. For example, in my situation, if I cast the [Cross of Light] against the enemies, the damage I will be inflicting will be 81,000 due to my level being 80 which is multiplied to 1000, with the addition of the original 1000 damage. And this skill is not a single target skill but an AOE skill. The only downside of this skill is that it has a long cooldown for a beginner skill and it is only limited to killing mobs. But I am quite aware that if this skill is released in PVP, the Holy Knight ss will be really broken in one-shotting enemies using this skill. The note would be real if you use it to a yer which will be a real overkill. I just didn''t understand why the raid in the past timeline became hard if they can use this skill against the monsters. Maybe there are no party members with the Holy Knight ss avable? It''s possible but quite unlikely. It was a mystery for me since this skill is too overpowered. If lots of Holy Knights with mid-levels around 50 attack at once using this skill, inflicting huge damage will just be too easy. Did those guys in the past timeline did not bother to use it due to its beginner tier? No idea at all. As and Leona are doing decent damage against these guards but these enemies are also resilient enough. Lina also managed to chip off lots of HP to many enemies but her damage is the lowest of them all. "Lina, don''t get too close to them, and don''t let any attacks from thend to you! These guys have nasty damage if they hit!" "Yes, master!" "Same with the two of you, Leona and As! Just because you guys are strong, doesn''t mean you can just charge in on them! Don''t be too rash with your actions!" "Don''t worry about that. We know these guys are not that easy to deal with and our levels are still lower than them. But that doesn''t mean we will just back off!" Due to the help of Lina, Leona, and As, the elite monsters and the other undead enemies away from me as I make sure the [Cross of Light] will hit the necromancer too. Chapter 92 - Discovery [Congrattions on killing the Unique Boss, (Necromancer Lich).] [Since this boss is exclusive and can only be defeated once, this will not be announced in public.] -Got... -Got... I was surprised by the pop-ups when I released the [Cross of Light] to the necromancer. I am quite sure that the skill''s damage is not enough to kill the boss. But seeing the pop-ups of the kill notification, it means the boss died after being struck from the skill. The undead surrounding the ce started to dissipate like dust and the dark energy swirling around the mansion slowly clears up. The [Clear the Mansion] quest also glow which means the quest is finally done and can now be confirmed back to the Adventurers'' Guild. Still, it is questionable that I managed to kill a boss that has to be raided by multiple yers just to kill the boss in the past. I am expecting a more epic fight but it ended quickly so to clear up my confusion, I decided to check the Log of the battle. This way, I would be able to check what urred after the battle. I have seen many Holy Knight use the skill [Cross of Light] in bosses many times and although they are not well sought as the Pdin ss which is the main tank in the game, they are still needed in a boss battle due to their insane capability to tank and deal damage alternately. Basically, they are the tank-DPSbination ss which can rece the damage dealers and tanks if they are injured and need to fall back. They also have the self-heal skill simr to the Pdin''s [Shield of Healing] only that they heal only themselves instead of healing the others, opposite of a Pdin. yers dubbed the Holy Knight as a "Selfish ss" due to the skill effects that only apply self buffs. Still, they can''t deny that a Holy Knight is also a useful ss. Casting the [Cross of Light] while the Necromancer is busy is tough. I never expected that I needed to aim three indicators at the same time and these indicators are not fixed making it a little bit tricky. However, as a former Magic Knight ss yer, an indicator like this is nothing to me. With quick and precision, I ced the indicators in strategic ces. The front of the necromancer, the back of the necromancer, and the undead horde. Every [Cross of Light] cross that falls in the sky has a slight dy every time one falls. So if the Necromancer Lich managed to dodge the first cross, there is a high chance that the necromancer will retreat backward. As for the possibility for this guy to move sideways, well, that is already covered as I will be the one personally dealing with it alongside As, Leona, and Lina. "[Cross of Light]!" Three arcs of light appeared and at lightning speed, the lights fell one by one to the ground. The Necromancer who saw the first light immediately teleported to the back. However, just as hends at his location to dodge the first light, he didn''t expect the second light will suddenly fall to where he was standing. "AAAAAHHHHHHH! CURSED HUMAN!" BANG! The necromancer lich was immediately pierced by the [Cross of Light]. Due to the damage output that I managed to release in one go, I see the HP of the Necromancer Lich whittled down to the half bar. "ursed human! You will pay for this with your life! DIE!" Raising his staff, another summoning circle appeared again raising more undead in the vicinity. "Master, can we end this immediately? This is getting annoying, really," As said as he scratched his helmet. "Well, it''s time, and it''s getting troublesome too. Don''t prolong it that much alright? We will be supporting in the backlines." "Yes, master. Partner! Let''s go!" As immediately climb up on Leona''s back and the two started their rampage. I decided to just chill out and look at the mansion. It might look old but it was still in a very good condition despite being controlled by the undead and a lich. Aside from that, this ce looks ideal for my future purposes. Just as I was still in the middle of reminiscing, a notification popped up with the selection of Yes and No. [You killed the one-time boss, Necromancer Lich.] [Since this boss is exclusive and can only be defeated once only, this will not be announced in the World] -Got... -Got... The stream of rewards came flowing into my inventory and my exp bar slowly got filled up. It was surprising for me to see the pop-ups though since I am quite sure that my [Cross of Light] is not enough to deal one-hit damage to the boss. It might be more logical if the Necromancer Lich has a little bit of Hp left on his health bar but getting it empty? Not a chance. Lina and As were also confused seeing the tough boss suddenly fell to the ground and dissipated to dust. "What did just happen?" Lina scratches her head when she saw the undead around her starts to fall one by one and disintegrate into the air as ashes. "The boss died just like that? I thought I can make that boss as my sparring partner... Damn it, it was too weak..." As said with disappointment on his face. "Now, now, As. The boss might be weak but there are still other bosses that we will be facing in the future. That one is nothing to be mentioned," I said to As. I calmly looked back on the log of my attacks to see what happened that caused it the boss to die. A boss that was almost not killed for how many hours were killed easily by me. When I looked at thest entry, I was surprised since it is not raw damage that killed the boss but the extra ability of my title, [Death''s Favorite]. -Cross of Light hit the Necromancer Lich. Dealing ?????? damage. [Death''s Favorite] effect activated. Instant Death triggered. -... I have seen the ability of [Death''s Favorite] to instantly kill enemies. The log will always show lots of question marks once the effect was invoked which is natural since the damage dealt cannot be measured easily to instantly kill a monster. But usually, I can only trigger the increased death chance while fighting mobs before so seeing the effect on action against a boss make me remember that this effect can be really useful and useless at times. The undead that wanders around the mansion copsed one by one and bing ashes as soon as their bones fall to the ground. The darkness that envelopes the mansion is also slowly getting brighter and theyout of the mansion slowly appeared in my vision. After a few minutes, the whole ce was now devoid of dead bodies and walking dead. It is now a ce where I can finally use it. "Master, should we get inside the mansion? If a monster is living here until now, we can be sure that there will be things to loot here right?" I nodded in response to Lina. Just as she said, this mansion will not be devoid of any loot. If I am not wrong, the inside of the mansion contains the loot. Since I cleared it, there is nothing wrong with getting this loot right? The guild would never be the one to own it since I am the one who killed the enemies here. Chapter 93 - Basement After securing that every undead around us have disipated to dust, we headed to the entrance of the mansion. Since the Necromancer Lich came out from here, the door was open, allowing us enough ess to the interior. "Wow, this mansion is big. Even my whole house cannot bepared to the living room of this house!" Lina said as she admire the whole ce. Since the dark energy swirling around the ce has dissipated already, the mansion is not as grim as before. It just has the feel of loneliness vibe in it due to how long it has been since someone lived here. And even if the Necromancer Lich is living here before, it was clear that the lich did not bother to improve anything here. The interior has no furniture so I didn''t have to worry about any sort of repair. There are also many rooms but since I don''t really have much any idea how the house system in Alternate World due to how I don''t have a house in the past timeline in the game and how I ignore its mechanics before, I am currently not sure. The only thing I know is that if you have a house, you can install a smithy, a pharmacy and any kind of thing that has a rtion to your EX-job, other than that, I am clueless. There are many rooms present in this house. After going around them for one visit, I already remembered everywhere of the ce which will be perfect for me to avoid getting lost here. After all, I will be purchasing this ce. "Master! I found something! Come here quick!" Lina shouted somewhere around the middle room out of the 10 rooms line up together. "You found something?" I asked as I open the door. There, I saw Lina squatting on the carpet as she removes it on the floor, revealing a trapdoor. "A basement huh? This should be normal for a mansion though so I am not surprised," I said and checked the handle if I can open it. It was easily opened so my guess is that the Necromancer Lich have surely used this ce before seeing some traces of being used on its hinges. "Let''s check this ce out." We descended to the basement. With Lina using her fire magic to illuminate the way, we slowly descended to our destination. Maybe after purchasing this mansion I have to ask someone to install lights here in this basement''s stairs to allow the people descending towards the basement have ess to light despitecking the ability to use magic like swordsmen sses. Arriving the basement, I saw that it was a study room and a pharmacy room since I saw a pharmacy installed already. If you have a pharmacy, portable pharmacy or any kind in your house, you can easily use this chance to create potions and the like. The pharmacy is also kind of free way of experimenting medicine and some other stuff since the Ex-job Pharmacist does not just rely on the existing recipes given by NPCs, they are free to experiment time. Usually, if it is a failure, if you are a cksmith, the material of the weapon will be destroyed after it gained a failure tag. In pharmacist EX-Job, any items crafter here can be easily consumed. Of course, the failure potions made are also possible to consume but due to the "Failure" status, the effects intended will never work, and will grant you a random debuff or buff depending on how bad the failure is. I also checked the books scattered on the table and on the floor and one of it catches my eye. Something popped up after picking up the first book I held in my hands. [Book of Necromancy] Type: ss and Skill book Usage: Can be used indifinitely. Effect: Reading this book will unlock an additional skill tree consisting the Necromancer ss skills plus additional 20 SP. Restriction of ss usage: None It was a totally unexpected even for me. It is a skill book! No, this is a ss Book + Skillbook that will allow you to unlock thess tree the skill book possess. Even if you are a Swordsman, mage or any kind of ss as long as you have the book''s ss tree of that Job, you can still use it for versatile purposes. But that was not the real reason I am excited about. Necromancy ss have yet to be released since it is scheduled to be released after the release of the First Patch, the Sandurk Expansion pack which include other sses. I have yet to hear a future ss to be released very early in the form of a Skill book and this is the first time for me to encounter one even in my past life. [Would you like to use the [Book of Necromancy]? This skill book cannot be recovered after this action.] Yes/No Necromancer ss can be considered as a one man army but they are not that overpowered as everyone thinks of. They might be able to summon undead and control monsters but they cannot continue to control them. Once you stop your control on the undead, the undead you are using will immediately crumble to dust. During the release of this ss, some new yers who thought this ss can dominate the game choose this ss since they wanted to rise above immediately from others by thinking the ss is simr to a certain guy who managed to solo almost everything due to his army of shadows. If you know what I mean, then I won''t say anymore since that is another novel and that we might get mentioned. Anyways, the yers who choose the ss and ended up to be disappointed by how the ss operates,ined to the creators of the game. However, they became theughingstock of the gamingmunity due to how immature they were and were immediately struck down before they can spread toxicity to themunity of yers. Still, I admit the Necromancer ss is pretty much considered as a ss meant for yers who like to fight with inexhaustible army against bosses. Too bad that the yers can''t fully grasp its full power since the developers said this would make the bnce of the game break and all the yers might convert to Necromancer only world which would break the meta. This is a new ss tree so if it is avable, I won''t hesitate to take it. [Congrattions! You have achieved the title, [More Advanced than Beta Testers]! [Necromancy] Skill Tree has been added to your skill tree!] A new title again? And a title I have yet to hear and see. I am curious so I decided to check this out. I am pretty sure the title is also Unique. [More Advanced than Beta Testers] Type: Unique Title Method to achieve: Unlock an unreleased ss skill tree. Info: Increases the luck of finding Skill books and experience books on loots. Effect increases if the user managed to unlock another ss unreleased on the current patch. The effect can be used and stacked with other effects even if not equipped. Note: You are the first yer who managed to y the game first before the Beta Testers. Of course you are not a beta tester but you managed to get something a beta tester did not get yet, so are you a beta tester now? Have you outyed the beta testers that are also outying the normal yers? I don''t know, don''t ask me. It''s confusing. Chapter 94 - The Announcement I am surprised by the title''s effect. Skill books are rare kinds of items in this game. Even though they exist, few people have seen and managed to get a drop of one. Every ss has its ss Trees that they can invest SP to unlock the corresponding skills they wanted to invest in. All skills avable in the game are already in the ss tree but what is the purpose of the Skill Books? Every skill books have a skill that can be learned. Of course, it would be pointless if the skill is already in your ss tree right? Then the answer is no. All skill books can be learned by any ss in the game. If the Versatile has the skills of all sses already attached to their skill tree, it is unfair, right? That is where the skill bookse in. For example, a gunslinger found a [Heal] skill book from one of the drops. If the gunslinger decided to use the skill book, the [Heal] skill inside the skill book will immediately be learned by the gunslinger. And despite being a gunslinger, they can use Heal if they invest in it even if they are not a cleric ss. But due to how it will be overpowered if abused, the drop rates of the skill book became too scarce that seeing one from the drops is considered as a very good sign of good luck and the yers would never stop to look at you in admiration. If this title is what truly what described here, then finding skill books in the future will be a piece of cake. If I wascking money, and the effect of the title works, I will probably sell all of the skill books I will be receiving in the future. But since I am notcking money at the moment, I don''t have any idea what to use the skill books. Selling skill books is also not a good idea. Since the skill books are considered rare in this game, gaining ess to the limited ss skills of other sses. The game will never be bnced again. "Master?" Lina looked at me with a confused face. "Ah, don''t worry. Did you find anything else?" "I found a few books of research. From the looks of the content, they were all handwritten which I presume that the Necromancer Lich earlier is the author of these books. There are also a few shelves here containing ingredients and other stuff contained inside some bottles. There was a chest full of fresh medicinal herbs too." The medicinal herbs inside the box were indeed fresh when I checked it out. Most of them are for making antidote potions and poison potions too. But the most herbs I found inside are all ingredients for making Hallucination Potion. Thinking about it, I heard from the report of the raid against the necromancer lich that they have suffered from hallucination magic many times which is why some of the DPS is easily killed. To think the Necromancer would use it instead. If I arrive in this ce a little bitter, it might be a different story and we must be still fighting against the boss until now. The books were all experiments of the Necromancer. Since I am not so studious enough, I decided to stash it and read itter on instead. Aside from those things, nothing more has been found. So I decided to go back to the guild and report the quest. ... It was a long process after the report. They didn''t believe me at first but I immediately brought out the staff the Lich is carrying to prove everything. A few more things of here and there before I managed to purchase the mansion. Since I have to get the papers after three days for official ownership of the house, I still have to wait. Just as I was about to log out of the game, I saw a mail on my empty mailbox. I still have no friends on my friend list so it is not from a friend. Checking the sender, I realized that it was the administrator sending an announcement. [We are proud of all the yers of Alternate World and thank you for keeping themunity lively. Now, we will be sending thetest news of the game for the new uing content to expand the game. Please check it on our website! Thank you, adventurers.] An uing content eh? Is there anything that happened in the past timeline that I don''t remember? Does my eidetic forget things? I don''t think there was a release at all during this time. Maybe it is an innovation that changed a little bit which I am not aware of. ... The first thing I do after logging out of the game is to turn on myputer and check the situation. I didn''t expect that what I see right now is real. [Scheduled release of the event," The Sandurk Continent.] Chapter 95 - Meeting Dolly Once More Another change again. To see the Sandurk Expansion announced already, things are going too fast. But I am not surprised. With Tojiro, he might have done this to rush my growth. The faster I am going to develop, the easier for me to get stronger, foiling the future that is set to stone. Since things are changing fast, I decided to read the info about the expansion. I already know the expansion pack''s content and what is in store for the yers but if things are getting faster than what was the intended time, it only meant for me to improvise my n. [The Sandurk Expansion pack will now unlock another continent to explore, dungeons to explore, monsters to y, towns and cities to visit, and a new race to meet. Plus, 4 new sses will be arriving soon. So if you want to change sses, this is your chance to consider these new sses! Aside from that, new yers can choose two new races to choose aside from the usual human, and elf races. Old yers who wanted to choose a new race will, of course, needed to pay. The details of these new sses and new races will be confidential until the release so please tune in! Aside from that, we will be performing a raid party recruitment tomorrow. Only 15 yers will be allowed selected till the end so fight for your rank! For yers below level 20, they will receive double Exp gain from killing mobs and performing quests! This service will stop once the yer went past level 20. Also, the level cap of 100 will increase to level 150. For all the participants who want to enter the raid, please gather into the [The Falls of the End]. A mission will be given to all participants and if you fail, you will lose the chance to win a spot. Please be aware that only 15 yers are eligible and the yers announced cannot be reced by any means. We will be releasing further patch notes once the system update is underway, so please stay tuned!] ... Oh, nothing much changed except the number of yers eligible to be one of the pioneers of the new dungeon. During the past timeline, the number was lesser with only 10 yers. Looks like Tojiro decided to change the amount because from what I heard and see in videos of the yers who were eligible for the exploration, the raid that urred is just too much for 10 yers. As for the new sses, one of the new sses is the necromancer which I just obtained earlier. I won''t specte on the new sses that will be released but if I am correct, it would be the Saboteur, Cannoneer, and Chronomancer. These four sses would be the sses that have the highest chances of being released due to the nature of the Sandurk Continent. Though I am not sure since it might be different. Seeing the new details on the patch, I returned to the game once more. Since the expansion is much earlier than expected, I have to make some changes to my ns. The first step I needed to do is to farm some herbs and monster parts. Due to the videos that I have seen before on the raid that urred on the Sandurk Continent, certain potions will be necessary. Not only that, I needed to secure a spot for the 15 required yers. If I didn''t manage to participate in this raid in my past timeline, then I have to participate in this timeline. One of the ingredients needed for my potion making is a group dungeon. Different from the Lesser Purgatory dungeon that is a Normal Dungeon, a group dungeon is designed to meet up with other yers. You cannot perform the dungeon if you are alone. The minimum amount of yers needed to enter the dungeon is two while the maximum is ten which is why solo yers like me will be forced to form a party if we wanted to enter. The other difference of this dungeon is that it is an open dungeon. Unlike the Normal Dungeon where the path is predetermined, monsters were spawning in the exact amount with a boss at the very end, the Group Dungeon is considered as the tower dungeon where you can kill monsters on that floor before proceeding to the next floor. In Resurgia Continent, this is the Tower Dungeon, the Sandurk Continent also has one too. You can also say that this ce is considered as a tower to test your limits. This dungeon is infinite and every ten floors, a boss will spawn. Not only that, as you ascend or descend on this kind of dungeon, the monsters spawning will also be getting stronger. My preparations areplete and without wasting my time, I head off to the group dungeon and hope to find a good party to join in. ... Outside the Group dungeon is considered by many yers as the lobby for finding yers. Due to the nature of restricting yers from entering the dungeon''s entrance in solo, everyone has to find a party or a partner to get inside the dungeon. ... "We need two Clerics! Any decent Cleric yer will do! One Rare drop will be given out per yer!" "We need a pdin and another long-range DPS! Please apply if you are interested!" "Recruiting some pretty girls who know how to y! Guys are not allowed to join so f*ck off!" "Need party members! Any ss will do!" "Requesting support!" ... The lobby is quite noisy. But I am quite sure someone will be recruiting me since the ss I am portraying right now is the Pdin. Even if they try to check my profile secretly, it won''t work so hiding my mastery in sses will allow me to get my job done without anyone exploiting my abilities. "Hey! You are a Pdin right?" It was a familiar voice that I can''t forget in my past timeline started to speak behind me. We meet earlier during the Night Bazaar and the person I am trying to save in her future demise. Dolly. "Ah yes, I am a pdin, you can see in my equipment right?" I turned around and she was surprised. "Oh! You are the one who helped me in the bazaarst time! I didn''t think I will meet you here!" "Ah, the girl who was trying to haggle to the vendor." "Forget that one, hahaha. Anyway, we are looking for a tank in our party. Since you are a Pdin, will you be willing to join?" "How many yers are you in there?" "6 yers already. You will be the seventh and our final party member if you join. Are you interested?" Chapter 96 - Dungeon Diving "You want me to do the tanking? Are you sure? You have not seen me fight yet so why are you recruiting me?" I asked. "As long as you are a tank and just block the damage, everything is fine, and leave it to the DPS to do the work!" Dolly said. The other members of Dolly''s party approached. From the looks of their equipment, they are indeed full of DPS and support already. They are nowcking for a tank. Their teamposition is: DPS: Swordsman, Gunslinger Support: Two Clerics Semi-Support: Alchemist Magic Damage: Magician I can say that they have a goodposition of the team. Swordsman is the main DPS and once they needed to heal or do some mana regeneration, the Gunslinger can support and alternatively, can be switched with the Alchemist and work into the offensive role. The magician will do magic damage against enemies who are too weak against the magic attack and quite resistant to physical attacks. The alchemist will be the main buffer and debuffer of the group depending on how well this alchemist performs since the Alchemist ss can either switch to the physical role to support role. Having two clerics is also good too. One should focus on the heal while the other one will be in charge of the Status Ailment problems and resurrection. They can also do it alternately if they run intocking mana or low health. Now to perfect this team, all they need is a good tank. As for their levels, their lowest level is 25 and the biggest level is 32. I don''t want topare myself to them since I have the help of the titles that willpensate for my slow leveling. "What is your current level? Can I see your status?" Dolly asked and started to fiddle on the options to see my status. However... [Status cannot be viewed] "Huh? Did it bug out? Why can''t I see your status?" I shrugged and smiled inwardly. If she saw me smiling, she would be creeped out. Luckily, my mask hides my face. "Just leave it at that. There are times that this happens, don''t worry too much about it." "Is that so? Then you should report it to the developers. If that bug persists, it will be troublesome." She led me to her group. Males dominate the party with only two girls with us, the first cleric and Dolly. The others are all guys. "Wee back, so is this the one?" the swordsman asked and started to eye my equipment. "Yeah, he is an acquaintance. He is a tank and since you guys didn''t specify much on the requirements, I brought him to fill ourst spot! You don''t have to worry too much about him." "If he can properly do the tanking job then I won''t mind it. So, shall we get going? We can''t afford to lose every second talking idly. Let''s get to business and do some grinding and boss pummeling," the swordsman said and led the group to the entrance where an elf is guarding the entrance. "I don''t know if these entric people are friendly, to begin with. They have been giving orders here and there to me who was looking for a team to clear the tower dungeon." "These guys are not your usual teammates?" I asked. "I y solo since my friends seemed to have not enough money to buy the Reality Verse Cabin. They are random party I just found when I was looking for one." A random party huh? I usually tend to avoid random parties before when entering this ce. I would rather go to a party with someone I knew or tag along with some people whom I am acquainted with. Doing a random party is very troublesome especially if you are a beginner. These guys she was with are also clearly troublesome people. I won''t be surprised if they start to reveal their true colors once a good drop appears since the Tower Dungeon permits yer killings. ... After paying the toll for entering, we immediately form into formation. Dolly was currently in the very back line while I was ced in the very front of the group. I didn''t do any attacks, just provoke the monsters to attack me then let the DPS and magician do the work. If I steal the kill since I can easily kill the mobs, these guys would be furious and will immediately show their true colors. I don''t want that to happen so early. If they wanted to benefit from us, then I should also milk them dry of their efforts. After all, defeating monsters and leveling up is a very troublesome thing. We continue the clearing and managed to clear the first floor. If I was the leader and the groups'' party members have low levels topete in the next floors'' mobs, then I would climb up the second floor before returning to the first floor since the monsters will immediately respawn. Aside from that, no other yers will meet up in a single ce since all yers that entered the dungeon will be separated in other ces. However, it is not my call to say this nor I would benefit from telling this random stranger that I am suspecting. The journey has been pleasant so far, I managed to get myself lots of ingredients for the potions I needed to craft and I also have the monopolization of the grass drops. This group is not interested in these ingredients. Finally, we arrived on the seventh floor. The danger also scales around too and the mobs are starting to get actual damage to me. The DPS also did their work properly but I already notice that the Gunslinger is slowly positioning himself near Dolly. Since Gunslingers has high burst damage and Magicians are quite squishy in physical damage, a single burst from a gunslinger will immediately reduce the HP of the magician to zero. Not only that, the female and male healers are too biased in healing. Most of the time in parties, the Cleric will need to prioritize their healing on the tank and only do the healing to the other members if they are damaged. But in my situation, the clerics didn''t care and just heal the Swordsman despite the swordsman''s HP is quite full while I already lost lots of HP. But the more they do this, the more they are trying to make sure the enemies will not suspect anything on their doings. Since it hase to this, I will wait for this bunch of random guys to show up what they wanted to see. As for Dolly, I don''t think she has understood many things at all. But let''s leave it at that at other time Chapter 97 - Left Behind Our runs has finally reach the focal point where the attacks of our DPS is now getting weaker and the enemies are getting stronger and growing in numbers when we arrived floor 11. From what I can remember, yers around level 30 below tend to avoid going up above level 10 due to how insane the damage and numbers of enemies which can easily crush a level 30 tank with full armor of Rare Equipment. And since yers normally has no ess to Rare Equipment due to how low the droprate of the rarity in lower leveled towns in Resurgia, most yers only have at least one or none at all and will most likely have normal rarities. I can tell the rumors in the past timeline are true. Even though I went past the level 30 and already level 45, my equipment are mediocre and has the minimum level of 30 to equip it which means it is weaker setpared to my level. If the announcement of the patch is not yet here, I would have managed to level my cksmithing skill, create a decent armor and get myself ready to the selection. But since it has changed already, I don''t think I will be able to do that anymore which means I have to improvise my n. After a few assault of the monsters, we managed to find a ce in this floor where monsters are not spawning. "Let''s get some rest guys and recover your HP and MP, we can''t afford to get wiped out in here," the swordsman said. Everyone sighed in relief as they took out their potions and chug the contents. It might be just a game but exhaustion is also applied here like how it happens in the real world where you do a lot of things, you also get tired, here in this world, you will also get tired and to recover your tiredness, resting will help. Everyone started to talk with each other while resting. On the other hand, I didn''t bother to do so and just stand guard. Of course, I made sure to observe the others. Ever since the moves of these guys since floor 8 have caught my attention, I am keeping an eye to them. Their moves are clear as day and I am sure they are nning something.while waiting for the right opportunity. Newbie yers will not suspect a thing on them but to someone who always gets fooled before on these kinds of teams allowed me to build up the way to effectively catch these guys and deal with them. "How many drops are currently in our possession?" the swordsman asked. "We have at least 6 pieces of rare equipment, and 31 pieces of normal equipment. The monsters also managed to drop 75,000 silvers too," the male cleric said. "Wow, that''s a lot of rare equipment! Also, the normal equipment will fetch a lot of prices once sold to the shop!" Dolly said excitedly. "Of course. We worked hard for it, so that is already normal," the female cleric said in a stoic face. "But proceeding to the next floor is going to be hard especially the enemies are too hard now to deal with. Should we still proceed further on?" the gunslinger asked. "It all depends on the situation. Since it is still viable to fight against the monsters, it would be better to grab a few more equipment before returning, what do you all say?" the swordsman suggested. The others immediately approved. I didn''t voice out my intention but it was clear as day that they don''t care about my opinion seeing that they did not even bother to ask me who is the one tanking so it is better to shut my mouth up and just wait for what they wanted to do. ... The rest is short but enough to refill everyone''s stamina to work. We continue to do the farm and kill enemies left and right. Although it is not as efficient as before, we can still do the battles properly. Soon, we managed to break through the enemies and finally saw the Gate, leading us to the next floor. Just as we are about to get into the gate, a rumbling sound ured and shook the cavern we are currently in. "What is going on?!" the male cleric asked as he frantically try to keep his stance firm. They didn''t know this one but I am surely remembering this phenomenon since I am a frequent yer in the tower dungeon. This is the sign that the Featured boss in this tower has finally awoken. But to think it will spawn in floor 11, it was definitely a surprise. A loud roar echoes throughout the area as we finally saw the boss has finally spawned. [Labyrinth Monster] Level 45 HP: ????/???? MP:????/???? The [Labyrinth Monster] is considered as one of the hardest beginner bosses present in the current patch. Although it is not considered as the strongest beginner boss, it is one of the trickiest to defeat since it has a lot of gimmicks in its arsenal. In our current team, I am quite sure that these guys won''t be able to deal much damage against it. If I fight this one, it would take some time before I can defeat it. It is not impossible to solo but it is taxing job to kill an enemy. "Tank, get ready to tank the damage! Dolly, be sure to release heavy magic! We will be dealing with a boss this time!" the swordsman said in a serious tone. I didn''t respond but I cast [Taunt] and ready my shield to the attack of the boss. Dolly immediately goes into action. "Ice Prison!" The boss immediately got provoked and since my Taunt is strong, the boss immediately shifted its attention to me and attack. BANG! The attack hit my shield but the damage is not big enough for me to die yet. Dolly released magic skills left and right but now that we are dealing with the boss, I suddenly realized that the others did not attack. As I was about to turn and see what these guys are doing, my interface pop up in front of me and showed me a message. Even Dolly received it. [YOU ARE KICKED IN THE PARTY] When I look back, I saw Blue lights dissipate which means one thing, those guys have teleported. Since they didn''t provoke the boss, they can easily teleport back to the first floor and escape. On the other hand, we will not be able to escape if the boss has already been taunted. "What?! They kicked me in the party?!" Dolly panicked. "Don''t worry, you are not the only one," I said and showed her the interface showing the message. "They ran away with the loot and gold?! And leave us dealing with the boss!? They want us to die?" "Precisely, yes," I calmly said. "If that is the case, howe you are still calm?!" Dolly is already in the verge of tears. "Of course. As a tank, I have to keep myself calm or else, things will not go well. Since it is only the two of us are left, ept my invitation, we will beat up this boss and get back our loot." Didn''t expect that kind of betrayal. I thought they will be backstabbing us while farming enemies but to think they will do the boss to do the job of killing us, that is a smart move for them. However, that doesn''t mean the n they cook will work especially if they are dealing with me. I will let them enjoy their triumphant escape and betrayal, for now... First before escaping the floor is to kill the Labyrinth Monster. "Do you even know what you are saying? We don''t have enough DPS! We also have no healer! How can we deal with this boss? "I already got that covered. Come forth, As!" A magic circle appeared before us and before the attack of the Labyrinth Monster hits us, As appeared and blocked the attack. I flick the shield and spear and it transformed into a Ceremonial Staff which is the weapon for a cleric. "What is going on?!" Dolly was stunned on what she was seeing. As for me, I moved to the nearby Shield-bearer Orc that we killed earlier who is on par of a mini boss.It has a tanky defense so the ability to tank attacks is enough for this guy to handle. I looked at my skill interface and stare into the skill I have spent my SP earlier which cost me 35 SP just to upgrade to the skill that can still be learned on Level 45. [Raise the Dead V] 5th tier Mana Cost: 2,000 MP Cooldown: 5 seconds Description: Raise a dead monster that will follow the bidding to the summoner. Can be used for summoning more than one undead with a maximum of 10 undead. The monster will have the stats of the summoner and willst for 1 hour. After the duration, the undead will crumble and fall to dust. Notes: A really good skill for people who has no friends but wanted to go out and have some fun with other people. It''s your birthday but no one greeting you? Raise a few undead and hit the bar to go on a drinking party. How does that sound? Celebrate it with your true undead friends, that might feel better. Looks like the new ss that I learned will be a good addition. I move aside and grinned while staring at the boss fighting against As. Looks like this is the proper time to impersonate the original person who usually do this. Fans of that particr novel, I salute you fellowrade. "ARISE." Chapter 98 - Labyrinth Monster "ARISE." The Shield-Bearer Orc''s skin started to rot rapidly and fall to the ground. Not only the skin, but the flesh also started to melt like water and it didn''tst long before it fell to the ground. When the skeleton and its shield that was attached to its body was left behind, the eyeball socket with missing eyeballs started to glow green. Green colored mes started to envelop the skeleton and it caused the normal Shield-Bearer Orc to transform into an undead. When the Shield-Bearer Orc finally regained its footing and is now back to fight, the interface now disys the status of the Shield-Bearer Orc. Name: None Race: Shield-Bearer Orc Level: ??? HP: 7,000/7,000 (30 minutes left) MP: 1,000/1,000 Attributes: STR: Good AGI: Poor DEX: Poor END: Excellent INT: Poor Skills: Shield Bash ¨C Bash an enemy using the shield and inflict damage to the enemy. Taunt ¨C Releases a howl that will provoke the surrounding enemies to only attack you. Roar of the Wild ¨C inflicts fear and paralysis to surrounding foes. Has arge chance of failing. Will deal with a minimal amount of damage. Iron Body ¨C increases the resistance against all elements and attack types by 100% for 1 minute. The skills of the orc are quite enough for fulfilling the tank role. Also, since undead units are weak to holy magic, I added an undead-specific healing magic which is the [Heal the Rotten] to make sure this orc willst until the end of the duration. "Undead? A ck knight? What the hell is going on?!" Dolly almost freaked out seeing the towering Shield-Bearer Orc. "I will exinter, please focus on the boss. If we don''t kill this bastard, we will die immediately due to how strong this guy is, don''t worry about this undead and focus on the boss always." Despite her confusion, sheplied and started chanting on a spell. Now that Dolly is good to go, Imanded the undead via themand interface where I can control the movement of the undead and its skills. Activating the Taunt, the undead started howling and m down the shield to the ground. The Labyrinth Monster who was aiming at me howled and directed its attention to the Shield-Bearer Orc. Now that it directed its attention to my undead, it''s time for us to release the attacks. As released a few shes to the Labyrinth Monster in quick session before stopping to avoid the aggro from passing through him. Dolly also managed to finish her casting time and pointed her wand to the boss. "AQUA BLAST!" I didn''t bother to help with the attacks because I assumed the role of the Cleric. Clerics might have offensive magic skills but those are for the solo battles since Clerics in Alternate World does not need a team to farm monsters and level up. However, this is just situational skills and it is much better for Clerics who are in a party to just focus on healing teammates. Participating in battles will just waste your energy and mana so it is much more inclined that Clerics should just go to full support mode instead of semi-support and semi-assault type. When the Labyrinth Monster released an AOE attack, everyone got damaged including me. Since the damage is the physical type, Dolly''s HP fell to 45% due to how magicians have a low defense against physical attacks. I don''t need much healing since Cleric Stats don''t apply to me, As also doesn''t need some healing so I only directed my healing spell to Dolly. Whenever the [Taunt]''s effect disappeared, I make sure that Dolly does not attack the Labyrinth Monster while it is in cooldown. Bosses will tend to get a lot of aggro on attacks from magic type sses like Magicians. Magic Knights are also one of them that can attract lots of aggro in boss fights but since that ss has a decent defense, magicians are much at a disadvantage that is why whenever the boss managed to break free from the [Taunt], only the melee DPS has the right to attack it. The Labyrinth Monster is quite predictable and due to it being the first boss appearing in the Tower Dungeon, it is quite weak. But like I said earlier, beginners will have trouble fighting against this kind of boss. It was quite sturdy at first but the HP slowly fell to criticals due to the relentless attacks from Dolly and As. Despite the boss releasing multiple AOE attacks, due to my potent heal and good decision making, the boss fell without leaving a single casualty. Even the undead Shield-Bearer Orc did not suffer too much damage. -Labyrinth Monster was sessfully killed! -Got Labyrinth Moss x7 -Got Unknown Matter x5 -Got 100,000 EXP( Title Effects activated, 100,000 bonus EXP) -Got 10 Pdin Exp, 15 Necromancer Exp, and 15 Cleric SP I got materials from the boss we killed and the equipment that the boss dropped is scattered on the floor. If you go on solo, all the dropped equipment of the mobs killed will immediately be sent to your inventory while if you have a party member, it will automatically fall on the floor. There are 5 pieces of equipment on the floor. Since Dolly did not even bother to look at the loot, I decided to check them all, one by one. [Staff of Tranquility] Tier: Rare Tier Type: Staff Equippable at level 30 Equippable by: Cleric INT: 35 Special: Cooling Peace - Decreases casting time by 1.5 seconds Info: A staff meant to be used as a symbol of tranquility and peace. Now it is just amon staff by higher mages. Note: Peace was never an option!! Durability: 1000/1000 [Savage Armor of the Wastnd] Tier: Normal Tier Type: Upper Equipment Equippable at level 32 Equippable by: All DEX: 14 END: 21 Info: A piece of armor usually worn by bandits. Designed to ease movements and to increase defense slightly. Note: Perfect clothes for savage people. Durability: 1000/1000 [Ring of Fire] Tier: Normal Tier Type: Ring Equipment Equippable at level 31 Equippable by: All sses INT: 40 Info: The mass-produced version of the original [Ring of Fire]. Due to it being a replica, it doesn''t really have any other purpose aside from jewelry. Note: Do not mistake this for the Pacific Ocean, that is different. Go back to school if that is what you think first. Durability: 750/750 [Gun of Donovan] Tier: Rare Tier Type: Gun Equipment Equippable at level 35 Equippable by: Gunslingers STR: 34 DEX: 30 Special: Point-nk Bullet ¨C every bullet released by the gun has a chance to inflict a Critical Hit to the target. Info: A gun that was owned by Donovan the Sherrif. This gun has felled countless criminals after trying to escape from Donovan''s justice. Note: Standard issue gun. Nothing to be noted here. [Bamboo pole] Tier: Normal Tier Type: Bo staff Equipment Equippable at level 32 Equippable by: Druids STR: 15 INT: 27 Info: A bamboo pole freshly cut from the bamboo forest. Nothing to be noted from this. It is just in bamboo. Note: Good for whacking *ssholes once in a while. I don''t think I like any of this equipment. Although the critical attacks of the gun are nice, it isn''t really necessary so you can say it is pretty niche. I think I will be keeping the [Gun of Donovan] instead and give the rest to Dolly since I don''t think I will be needing the money and devouring it would just be a waste of time. I was about to send the equipment to Dolly when she suddenly looked at me. "If I am not mistaken, you are the one who soloed the dungeon Lesser Purgatory and stole the first clear of that dungeon right?!" Oh crap, I was found out. Chapter 99 - Tip (Slight Filler ) I have known Riko for a lot of years already. And I know that she is quite a sharp one in terms of her intuitions. But to think she immediately noticed who I am immediately just by showing some of my trump cards, that is quite a spectacle already. "Are you the guy who stole the first clear from the Burning Dragon Guild? I heard from the videos and theories of the people on the inte before that a yer wearing a wolf mask is the one who appeared before the clearing notification appeared. There are only a few yers wearing Wolf Masks since some of them drop randomly from the wolves. But you are the only one I have seen so far who wears a white wolf mask. Therefore, you must be the one and only." "Haha, there are others who wear the same mask as me you know? You just didn''t see them yet." What I said is real. This might have dropped from an Elite Monster but that doesn''t mean it won''t drop to other yers. Masks are currently ignored or most of the time sold cheaply due to how it has low stats. There are other face essories with better statspared to masks but since wolf masks are fairlymon, no one would be surprised at how you look in your mask. This mask is not even that striking except for the soft fur it has and the white color of it which is rare since most wolf maskse in brown and grey color. "I don''t think other yers are wearing a wolf mask has an ability like you. Aside from that, you have some summons and the other thing is the ss change. You are clearly a Pdin before but you suddenly changed to a Cleric and started to do a support role. Not only that, the skill you use to raise the dead, if that is a rare skill, then it only means one thing. You are strong enough to solo a dungeon." "Hmm, so what? If I am the one, what will you do?" "There is only one thing to ask for. How did you get so strong? Can you give me tips? Should I invest my SP in active skills or passive skills? Should I change armor or gears?" Her questions are tackled already in beginners'' guide published on the inte. Aside from that, Versatile ss gamey is different from her ss. "A magician benefits more on magic power skills and passives. Focus on raising your passives and buy the magic skill you think you will likely keep on using. That way, you won''t have any regrets." My advice works on all sses except Versatile. Many of you have wondered why I keep on picking up active skills before and ignoring most of my passives. That is because, if I wanted to earn faster SP, I have to either use a skill of that ss or use their weapons. Since I can earn SP much fasterpared to all sses, I don''t have a problem with spending my SP but that doesn''t mean it can''t go slow. If I have no title that can earn me more SP, I would be everywhere day and night farming SP to raise my skills. I also forgot to tell this but Versatile has a normal passive called [Experience Gain Mastery] which can gain SP to upgrade skills of any ss the Versatile uses every kill. Since they have many skill trees, the Versatile will never survive if they rely on just level up SP given which is 10. Other yer''s skills cost way lower than Versatile ss skills which is why they can afford to pay it. To make up for this, they can earn SP whenever they kill monsters. Normal weapon usage of a certain ss will certainly fetch a small amount of SP, but using ss skills will work well on farming SP for skills. I have discussed it with a versatile yer before so I know how it works. Versatile ss can gain 3 SP or less already from killing a single mob whenever they use basic attacks. Most of the time, it has a gain of 0 or 1 SP while the gain when you are using magic spells, techniques, and other skills that involved that ss will earn more SP around 30 or less SP every kill depending on how the SP drops frequently, which is why if you are ying a Versatile ss, pick active skills first before passives. If other sses have this passive and title effect, they will be able to max all their skills in no time due to this since their skills and before they can even reach the max level, they will no longer have any use to the SP they will earn in the future which will break the game. I wanted to earn more SP immediately so until recently I ignored the passive skills to gain faster SP I can use.to buy new skills like passives. That is why I ignored the passive at first. It was for the sake of earning more skill points to spend. I talked on Dolly a lot more while picking up some drops. I already have seen her enthusiasm and I wanted her to get stronger so, in the future, I can change the future once again... I exined to her many of the skills that are going to be likely the most used magic spells in the game and how to go on solo in many battles in the future. She talked with me about various things about the game and she never expected the Versatile ss can be this powerful. "So your ss is Versatile. I heard versatile is the worst ss in terms of beginner yers. Even veterans say it has a confusing system. Then how can you be this overpowered?" "No need for me to answer that." .... We finished the salvage and gained a significant amount of materials and other things like food ingredients and weapons. Compared to the measly amount we managed to collect from the monsters and got stolen by those thieving bastards, the amount we lost cannot bepared to what we possess right now. We have a much bigger resource gained than them. Since we don''t want to continue to the next floor, we teleported back to the entrance. The boss drops a lot of equipment and some gold. Time to discuss how to split everything. "Are you sure you wanted to sell this staff? It has a much more powerpared to your weapon." "No worries, this current staff I am using is still good enough. Just take the items you wanted to get and sell the rest. I wanted the money." "Alright. I will send you the gold after this." "Okay then. Since we survived here, I will log out first because I am getting hungry. Let''s go as a party again next time alright? I will add you as a friend." "If the situation is good, I willply. Happy eating," I respond and epted her request. She waved goodbye and she logged out. I on the other hand grinned and happily went somewhere yers gather to rx in town. I have some people I need to screw on. "Time to teach the thieves that left us for dead. They will regret doing those actions in front of me. It is time to purge and send someone to the exhibitionist jail. ... Author''s note: I decided to put a little filler chapter here since the will be the 100th chapter milestone after so long. It will also mark the end of Arc 1, so to all the people reading this, I am grateful for the support. I will continue to improve my writing and I will work hard to increase the updates. Since my editing process on ChatGroup for Magicians is almost done, I will not be that busy anymore and can focus on this one. So please be patient everyone and thank you for reading! Chapter 100 - Update Patch (Epilogue Of Arc 1) Due to the countless betrayals that I have been getting in my life before, another worthless betrayal like this is too shallow. However, as someone who hated betrayal, again and again, I am no longer allowing tolerance of something like this anymore. They needed to experience who they are trying to mess with. Teleportation stones that can be used anytime in the Tower Dungeons like the one they used are designed to escape on foes you cannot kill without dying. I didn''t bring one because I am confident in my skills and escaping is not a real problem for me. I was also confident that most yers carry these in case they needed to escape in the tower dungeon. Never expected they will backstab instead. But that is fine. That way, I already knew they are not to be trusted and if I saw them again, I will either beat them up or beat them up. Since it took a little bit of time when we are fighting against the boss, I know that they are already further away from the tower dungeon but that doesn''t mean they already arrived on town. After all, the portals are not yet activated until the second patch is applied. There are many yers around and although I wanted to summon Leona out for a ride, I will be gathering lots of attention from the people so it is better to go on foot. I know they only have to choices to go after the dungeon. The safest one for them is the nearby town since they will be in a neutral town and guards will capture you and put you to jail if two yers fight except if they initiated a duel which is considered not a vition. The second one is the traveling caravan merchant. If they are really in dire need to change the items they got into gold, this is their first stop. Based on the probability, they will be exchanging our loot with gold already in the traveling caravan merchant. With the topography of the ce already memorized in my mind, reaching the caravan in shortcuts is easy. After a few twists and turns around, I finally arrived on the caravan, and not too far from my location, I found those bastards that left us inside the tower dungeon to die. I am a little bit far from them but that is not a problem. Activating the ability, [Stealth], I draw the Versatile Weapon and changed it to bow and arrow. Making sure that my range is good enough to avoid missing, I nock the bowstring and aimed into the squishiest member of them all, the female cleric. I noticed it earlier that she has a lower defensepared to the male cleric due to how fast her HP falls when some sort of attack fell on herpared to the male where it didn''t fall much. That only means her armor is weakerpared to the male one. [TRUESHOT!] SU! The swift arrowbined with the 100% critical strike attack once you attack while under stealth, arrived at the female cleric. [You have attacked a yer in a chaotic zone. You are now a red yer.] [You attacked Shino. CRITICAL! Dealt 10,000 damage!] The damage is insane. Aside from level discrepancy, the armor she is wearing and the critical chance from the [Stealth] caused me to deal that much damage. It is overkill. Due to the amount of damage, the female cleric''s head burst and her body fell to the ground. Her party members didn''t expect everything to happen as they are busy chatting with each other. "One down. No one is escaping my sight!" The gore factor in this game is close to reality rather than censorship. If body parts were cut off in this world, they will be cut out and will not disappear. Decapitation and dismemberment are also not censored here so if they died that way, they will also appear that way until they resurrect to the Cathedral. There are some censorship settings avable but I doubt many of the yers here have turned that on unless they can''t stand the gore level. Her party members are now on high alert as they looked around at who attacked them. They haven''t noticed me yet so before they can see me, I nock the bow once again, aimed at the male cleric, and shoot. [Legshot]! The male cleric who was casting [Revive] to the female cleric who just died screamed in pain as the arrow hit his knee. He took an arrow to his knee. That alone reduced his HP to half and since the [Legshot] is meant for disabling enemies, I was surprised by how low their defense stats are. The next attack nailed the coffin on the male cleric and followed the female cleric to the cathedral. The swordsman panicked seeing the healer the two healers died. "What is going on? Who is killing us?! Find the enemy!" When the swordsman said that, I saw a yer who was not part of the party earlier appear to be helping them. It was an assassin ss yer. It was rather weird why there is someone new to the group but who cares now? If someone new helps them, then I won''t be merciful either to let them go. The assassin nodded and immediately entered [Stealth]. When I saw my own [Stealth]''s cooldown has already finished, I also entered [Stealth] and changed my Versatile Weapon into a Katana because, why not? My eyes already tracked the Assassin and I just waited for the right opportunity to strike. Based on the Assassin''s movement, it was quite clear that it is a novice in this ss due to the predictable movements of this yer. An expert in the Assassin ss will move fast and will never try to slow down like he is doing now. Surveying the surroundings is indeed a move you needed to do to find the enemy but as an Assassin, you needed to be quick on your feet. He passed by on my position without knowing that I am here. Without making a sound, I unsuspectingly moved behind him and stab the Katana to his neck. His [Stealth] disappeared alongside mine but I managed to create a critical hit on the enemy. Aside from that, since I caught him by surprise, he was immediately killed as his HP melted to zero. With force, I pull the katana up, slicing the head of the assassin, sending him to the cathedral. Picking up his dead body, I will now present myself to them. I don''t want to dilly dally on this one. If I amte, their bodies will disappear and I can''t perform my looting. The swordsman thought the assassin earlier returned when he was stunned to see me and the dead body of the assassin. "W-what? We left you behind in the dungeon! You shouldn''t be here!" the swordsman pointed his sword in my direction. "You all talk, just attack already," I mumbled before lunging myself to the swordsman. He managed to block the sword but I didn''t bother much and kicked him on his balls before swinging the katana to his neck. "[Decapitation]!" [Decapitation] 1st Tier Active Cooldown: 3 seconds Duration: Instantaneous Mana Cost: 90 MP Info: Samurai skill that can only be used if the intended target point is the neck of the victim. Deals 50% damage to human and humanoid enemies and has arge chance to decapitate the target, inducing instant death. Can be blocked. Monsters attacked by this skill will also have the same chance to decapitate the target but the damage will be lesser depending on the defense value of the monster. Notes: You are cutting heads like vegetables! Honestly, that is creepy. You are a walking guillotine. Tier 1 skill of the Samurai, [Decapitation] is a skill that can easily inflictrge critical damage to human enemies. Aside from that, if the enemy is not prepared, you can perform a decapitation and do the kill in a really brutal way. The swordsman who did not get to properly retaliate died after his head separated from his body. That was quite gruesome. "DIE!" The alchemist who was also one of the teammates of the swordsman throws the chain and hook on me. But that is a futile attempt to defeat me. Catching the hook hetches towards me, I immediately pull him towards my direction and once again performed the skill, [Decapitation]. Because the skill [Decapitation] is almost instantaneous with only a slight dy that will allow yers to block it, the alchemist did not manage to react as his head separated from his body. I turn to the other side and saw the Gunslinger who is terrified of what is happening. After dropping the body of the alchemist, I started walking towards him. Terrified, he aims his gun in my direction. "Don''t approach me! I will pull the trigger!" When I heard his threat, I chuckled at how useless it was. "No worries. Your death is painless. Not only that, I will make sure it is instant and you won''t feel any pain. Aside from that, why get afraid of death? This is just a game. Once you die, you just needed to resurrect to the Cathedral. Just don''t make me angry." BANG! BANG! He pulled the triggers on his guns but I easily deflected them using my katana. After all, it is not the first time I faced a gunslinger. "I told you didn''t I? Just don''t make me angry and everything will be fine. However, since you already provoke me, I won''t be merciful..." "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" ... 3 hourster... Ipletely robbed them of all of their belongings, not even the underwear is spared. That will allow them to stop trolling on people and leaving them to their fates or backstabbing them. As for the bodies, I throw them to the nearby Lava Pit to immediately reset the waiting time for their resurrection time and they will immediately be awake on the Cathedral. But of course, they will face penalties like imprisonment due to exhibitionism. But that will be a good thing for them as they will be given the basic clothes again after imprisonment. They only have to find how to get their weapons. After the incident, I checked the loot they dropped but I sighed as they all converted all the weapons they have acquired from the battle earlier into gold coins. Seeing the amount I got from them, I asked the merchant how much the group earlier earned after selling the items and he mentioned that they managed to get around 1,000 gold. Greed does not do anything well. They have plenty of items in their belongings but most are nothing important for me, but for them, it is an important thing. The only valuable thing I found in there is a weapon with a rank of [Scrap] and an [Cook] EX Job scroll. [Cook] EX Job is the apprentice version of [Chef] EX Job. If you wanted to be a [Chef], you need to be a [Cook] first. As for this scrap tier weapon, it will be useful for my cksmithing sideline. Sending the half amount of money to Dolly, I returned to my mansion by riding on Leona. As Inded on the ground and arrived at my mansion, the system announcements rang out in the whole ce. I can easily recognize it as Queen Titania''s voice. [Thank you for ying Alternate World. Please log out on the server within 5 minutes to avoid data and progress loss. We will be performing an update of the patch. Maintenance willst for 5 hours so please avoid logging in while the patch is ongoing. Rewards will be given out to all the yers aspensation. Thank you and have a good day.] So it was the update. To think the time for the first expansion will be released this early. Still, I am excited about it. Seeing that there will be new features avable. I am looking forward to it. ... Meanwhile, somewhere in the Alternate World where it was not yet essible to all yers, an old man appeared before the tree of Ygdrassil. The fireflies gathering around the tree started to flicker and a gather around the man like it was guiding it. "How are you faring now?" the old man asked. "..." the person he was talking with is a girl who was covered in a bright light, which is what making her hard to see what she looked like. "Yes. I know the wait is over, your suffering will no longer continue. Just wait for a little bit more. It will happen soon." ... A/N: Hello guys. Finally, the first arc is done and I am thanking everyone following this novel. Despite my slow updates because of some health issues, IRL problems, and other circumstances that dyed my updates, it was quite a sight to see many people still reading this even with plotholes as clear as day due to some parts that I forgot lol. Anyways, for those old readers of the first unrevised version of Versatile, many of you might have already know what will happen but I will change a few things here and there. There will be new characters that will be appearing in the next arc. And yes, the revenge plot will now ignite starting in this arc. I just dyed it as long as possible since it is quite early to do it but now that I have established many points already, the ride will finally begin. Chapter 101 - Prologue: A Typical Morning After the servers shut down for maintenance, Kazuki opened his cabin out and emerged out of it. After farming for a bit, he just didn''t feel right after everything. Although he is holding the spot of the number one guild at the moment in Alternate World, it''s not as good as he imagined it would be due to the appearance of the two other guilds that are not part of his n. His frustration was fueled further when a guy with a mask wolf stole his first clear that he tried so hard to earn and even organize a raid party just for the sake of getting the first clear as soon as possible. But it was all sent to drain when this wolf mask-wearing yer stole all his achievements. What is more, it looked like it was a solo achievement since when the yer who went out of the dungeon is alone, he already suspected that he is doing a solo y because if it was a team, he would have been able to pull out at least one member with him like a healer or any long-range yers, but there is none for him. "Just who is this masked man? Did he solo the dungeon and destroyed my remaining ns?" Wiping off the sweat on his body, he looked into the night sky as he decided to revise the n he firstid out. ... Morning... The sun has yet to rise in the sky but I don''t want to stay cooped up in my room all day. After all, exercise will help the body get strong. There is no point staying cooped up in my room and browse on the inte while waiting for the update of Alternate World toe to pass. "Phew, my body seems to be getting used to the routine now," I mumbled to myself as I opened the water bottle I purchased on the nearby vending machine. Even though it is still cold, the sweat in my body kept on flowing out as I make sure my body receives enough heat with the help of the mana in my body to regte heat. "Let''s continue." ... The workout routine I devised ended after the time arrived at 5 o''clock. It was a good workout but it is quite rigorous and for this body I have, it will be difficult to cope up without the help of mana regtion, or else it will be more painful than the result. If I want to exact my revenge and get stronger in the real world, training and exercise are the way to go alongside with proper diet too. After the workout, I went to the mall and went to the electronics and gadgets store. My smartphone is not yet outdated but this will be one after two years after the poprity of the new phone known as the Holographic Phone or HoloPhone. Not only it is much portable since it is now holographic, but it is also a great tool partner for yers of Alternate World. With its partnership with Reality Verse, it will be one of the popr phones used by everyone. Since it is already out, why not purchase it in advance? I have no shortage of money due to the "generous" donation of Kazuki so the cost of the HoloPhone does not faze me. I also bought two additional HoloPhones for Akira and Sora as they will be helpful. Getting the HoloPhone after my purchase, I secured one of the necessities of every Alternate World yers. Why this is a necessity? It is due to the programs it has that will certainly ease the burden of bncing out your real-life and game life. One of the features is to monitor your health and body condition. Every time you enter the Alternate World, the HoloPhone will record and monitor the changes in your body including the increase of your body''s prowess and strength. The second one is that it is now possible to create a phone call inside the Alternate World and the real world. You can choose to do the voice call or video call depending on you as long as the recipient is using the HoloPhone. The third is the ability to ess the stats panel, skill tree panel, and inventory of your Alternate World ount. It also has the ess to the Virtual Auction House, allowing people to use it even when they are outside and inside the Alternate World. If the person is blind like Sora, it will immediately convert its programs to assist the blind user to be able to use it without using the eyes. I didn''t see it personally but I have seen reviews from users who are blind in real life that this feature is incredibly helpful for them. Thest feature is the money conversion. Unlike the first time, where I have to enter the game just to convert the gold coins into real money in the real world, I can choose to do that here using the HoloPhone wherever you are located in the real world. Since Alternate World is still not essible, linking my ount will have to wait for a while. There are still 12 hours left before the update is done so I still have plenty of things to do. When I got back home, Akira and Sora are currently watching T.V... wait it''s only Akira since Sora is only listening. "I''m home!" The moment I said that the two then hop off from the sofa and went to the front door. "Wee back big brother!" Sora said with a smile. "Wee back. Why did you go to the grocery even when the refrigerator is currently full?" Akira asked as he saw the bags of groceries in my hands. "Ha, even if there are tons of food on the refrigerator, it is better to stock up food and supplies. Besides, most of the things I bought this time are non-perishable so that we can have a variety of choices of what to eat in case we getzy eating food. Now, help me carry the bags to the kitchen." "Sure," Akira said and take some of the grocery bags. "I am sorry I can''t help carrying the bags since I am blind." "No worries. I understand that." Once the abilities developed in the real world, I will try to learn the spell [Restore]. If possible, I want to heal Sora''s blindness without resorting to operation. [Restore] can help in restoring illnesses like this. This spell is something I didn''t learn since most of the yers who managed to get to practice and learn this spell in real life are clerics and Pdins only. However, since I am a Versatile ss, that is not a problem. RING! RING! RING! A phone call? From whom? I don''t think I am expecting any right now since my parents have calledst time. Picking up the phone, I answered it and wondered who is the one calling. "Hello?" "Hello, Manato! You still alive yeah?" Huh? This is Janus. How did he get thendline number of our house? "You might have been wondering how I got thendline number right?" "I was about to ask you about that." "Haha, well, someone wanted to speak to you." "Who is it?" "(It''s your turn now, speak your mind to him, hahaha)" Janus''s voice echoed in the background and someone took the receiver away from him. "MANATO YOU BASTARD!" That voice almost made me want to throw the phone away but I managed to hold myself back. Just from hearing her voice, it is very clear this is Dolly or Riko Akusabe in real life. "Riko?!" "Ah, so you still know me! I thought you already forgotten me and just forget our friendship and all! Don''t you have a phone or anything or are you just toozy to unblock your messaging apps?" "Sorry, sorry. I just didn''t have the luxury to use it from time to time." "Sorry, my ass! I will speak my mind to you just you wait!" Then, the call ended as she ms down the phone creating a ringing sound. "What a wild girl..." I shook my head as I grin at Riko''s antics. She still never change. She is still like a monster when getting angry. Just as I was about to go straight to the kitchen, I suddenly felt shivers in my body as I hear fast footsteps approaching the doorstep. "ORA ORA ORA ORA! DORYAAAAAA!" BANG! CRACK! BOOM! The closed wooden front door of my house was immediately removed from the hinges after a "monster" came in. Riko just destroyed my front door literally after she performed a charged jump kick on it. I sighed in disbelief, this will be the 30th time she has destroyed our front door. ----- A/N: Hello guys, sorry for the dy of the Volume 2 release. I just wanted to have some rest for a while and gather some ideas for the novel so I decided to take a short break. However, thanks for the wait. Volume 2 is finally going to begin. Thank you for reading as always. Chapter 102 - Offer Riko is my childhood friend and once a neighbor before they moved houses due to the nature of her father''s work. Still, it was a good thing her father asked her to remain in our school during that time so that she will not get behind on the lessons instead of transferring so she remained here while living with her aunt and cousins. Before she moved in, she would always do some drop kick or the mostmon charged kick like she did earlier which is to run in the great distance before kicking with full force the front door. If I remember right in this timeline, this will be her 30th time kicking our front door. "Hey! What the hell Riko! This is not your house, why are you kicking the door!?" Janus sweats as this is his first time seeing Riko''s violent tendencies. "It''s not my house so it is fine~ Don''t think too much about it," Riko grinned. "The hell with "Don''t think too much about it!" You smashed the front door again to pieces for the 30th time! What the hell do you think our door, some sort of dummy you can kick without problem?!" "Shut up and take my money!" Riko pulled out her wallet and hand it to me without hesitation. I scratch my head and take it before she changes her mind back. There is no way I am paying for this, especially since I didn''t break it but this gal did. Now that I think about it, she would be perfect to be a Berserker or a Fighter since her strength will be a real good factor in this. I bet she can one-shot bosses using her dropkick alone. "Now that you have taken my money, give me an exnation on why you blocked my messages? Is that even a good thing to do to your friend, huh?!" I facepalmed myself. This has been also part of my past timeline but it was easily dismissed since I have too much trouble and I needed the money that time which made me a little bit serious. However, in this timeline, I am no longer troubled by money. What alibi will I be able to use this time? "My phone is broken after my phone identally got wetst time so I have not been able to make any mobile operations and unblocked you." "I smell some lying words in there, sniff," Riko looked at me with a frown on her face. She is meticulously looking at me with a gaze that seems to be ready to pierce the soul. Just then, Sora appeared from the kitchen alongside Akira helping her walk around without bumping into walls. "Big brother? What is going on? Why is it so noisy just now?" When Sora started speaking, Riko who was fixated on me for lying suddenly shifted her attention to Sora. Immediately, her gears changed from angry berserk gori to fangirl. "Waaahh! She is so cute! Manato! I didn''t know you have a sibling! You didn''t tell me all these years!" I scratch my head and sighed. "She is not my sibling. That boy over there is her brother, not me. She is just calling me Big Brother for honorifics. Don''t jump to conclusions." "A big sister acquaintance of Big Brother? Hello, I am Sora, this is my brother Akira. Nice to meet you!" I swear my eyes did not deceive me as I notice that Riko''s eyes went to heart shape earlier. "Kyaaaah!~ What an adorable littledy! You should have told me earlier, Manato~" ... It took me and Janus a few tries before Riko stop herself from fangirl mode. I can only shake my head at her since she is like this ever since we are kids. Whenever she spotted one cute girl around the age of 12 or below, she quickly squeals and immediately goes to fangirl mode. The good thing is that she only activates this kind of behavior if the person in question is someone acquaintance of her friends or anyone close to her. If she does this to strangers, I don''t know if she will bebeled as a molester or a pedophile. Akira took her sister back to their room to avoid Riko for now since she won''t calm down if Sora is still within her line of sight. "There, you have already unblocked me. Next time, you should ask Janus to contact me so that I know. It is different before since we are no longer neighbors so I can''t check you whenever I wanted to. You might be doing things that can harm your body so I can''t just rx easily," Riko said as she retrieves her phone from me who borrowed it to unblock her messages. I didn''t use the HoloPhone yet since they will not believe I bought it especially since the HoloPhone is expensive. "Yeah, yeah. Don''t be such a worrywart, I am not someone who disregards my health." "Alright then, since I am already here, I am going to ask if you still y games Manato. I know your family''s situation so you might be busy right now but I will ask anyway." "I still y games. I don''t think I will be able to stop ying games at all. Why do you ask?" "Have you heard of Alternate World?" Riko asked. My ears perked up when I heard her say it. Just like in the past timeline, she also did this before. "Indeed I have. The VR MMORPG was released by thepany Reality Verse. I am informed about it." "Are you currently ying the game?" Janus seems interested in our conversation. If I remember right, he will start ying after the update. "Idiot! You already know that Manato has money problems right now so how can he afford a Reality Verse Cabin?" "Ah, f*ck, I am sorry about that Manato, I forgot about your situation." "No worries about it." "If that is the case, you should y the game. I still have a spare cabin that I can give out to you. It was a spare one from my uncle since he sent one after we have bought ours which leads to this cabin not used since we already have ours," Riko exined. "Huh? Do you have a spare Reality Verse Cabin? Why you didn''t say so? I should have asked for it!" Janus said as his eyes sparkle when he heard that Riko is giving it for free. After all, Reality Verse Cabins are expensive. "You are rich as hell, Janus, you can buy it yourself. Anyways, if you are interested in this Manato, you can have the extra cabin. This game supports game currency conversion to real money. It might help you with your problem!" Riko also presented me with the option to y it in the past timeline. However, I declined due to the situation and I don''t want to disappoint my parents before so I declined it before. If I didn''t decline it before, I might have not been used by other people and managed to earn money properly. Maybe things might have taken to an interesting turn if that was the choice I have chosen. I might have not been humiliated so badly by the bullies and became cannon fodder. "Ha, I am sorry Riko but I don''t think I have the luxury to y right now. You can give it to Janus instead. He will appreciate it," I smiled. "But..." Riko wanted to change my decision but I press on further. "It doesn''t matter much, Riko. I am too busy anyway so it would be better for Janus to y." "..." Riko became disappointed. "Are you sure Manato? Reality Verse Cabins are expensive so using one is a blessing indeed," Janus is also surprised by my decision. "I appreciate the thought, however, I am still saving to buy a cabin for the game. I don''t want to ask for help." Lying is not my best forte but I have to do it. If I wanted my ns to work, I have to wait for two months before I can reveal myself to the two of you in the game. Chapter 103 - Update Complete I chatted with Janus and Riko for a little while until lunchtime. After they have lunch, they went home and persuaded me to y Alternate World for onest time. As usual, I declined Riko''s proposal. If I didn''t n ahead of time and didn''t get lucky on getting the tattoo version of Reality Verse, this should be my second option even though I will bete for a bit, I can easily catch up to things. But I am thankful I managed to get one in advance. As for telling my real identity to them, that can wait. It is not yet the right time to tell her my identity. But in due time, I will be revealing it to her unless she notices and uncovers my disguise easily since she can be sharp at times. Now, I think I have to order a new set of doors. In case shees again, the new door will never be safe. ... Around 5 pm, the Reality Verse tattoo sent out a pop-up message in front of me that the Alternate World Update is finally done and entering the game is now possible. I informed the twins about the update and both of them also received the pop-up. I allowed them ess to the game after taking dinner early so that they can start grinding. As for me, I decided to write things I have to do once I enter the game. There are several factors I needed to do and one of them is to obtain the rights to be one of the pioneers of the Sandurk Region, the new unlocked region which will be essible after the Pioneer Expedition quest takes ce. The first thing I have to do, get one of the slots for the expedition. The second is to produce my armors, equipment to feed for my Versatile Weapon, and supply like high health potions and high mana potions alongside with antidotes and the likes that can help remove the status debuff. Thest is to immediately master the new sses. If the sses are added, that means the Versatile ss will immediately have ess to the ss tree. When I managed to finalize everything, I eat dinner and check the twins in their bedroom. Seeing the orbs of light above their beds, that means they already log back inside the game. Making sure that everything is fine, I returned to my room and entered the game. ... [Wee back, deheart] Opening my eyes, I woke up in my bed inside the mansion. I opened my status and noticed 3 messages notice in my mail. Opening it are 3 mail sent by the developers aspensation for the maintenance and as wee gift for the first expansion. [Are you sure you want to open all sealed mails? This action cannot be undone.] "Yes" -Sealed mail of Compensation opened. -Obtained 100 bronze, 100 silver, and 100 gold -Obtained 100 High Health Potions -Obtained 100 High Mana Potions -Obtained 100 SP and 10 AP. -Dev''s gift opened -Obtained Armor of Healing Light -Obtained Orb of Strength I -Obtained Orb of Agility I -Obtained Orb of Dexterity I -Obtained Orb of Endurance I -Obtained Orb of Intelligence I -??? opened -Versatile Weapon Upgrade Quest I frowned when I saw thest mail that opened. Versatile Weapon Upgrade Quest? This is new... I checked the inventory and tried opening it but... [Unable to ess. Requirements not met.] Requirements? What requirements?! I tried clicking it, again and again, to check what the heck is the requirements and unfortunately, it doesn''t disy anything for me to see what are the requirements which made me frustrated. Because I can''t do anything on this, I have to store it for now until I get to fulfill its invisible requirements. Although it was good to see it, I am just disappointed since I can''t ess it. Now moving on to the next feature. They have added the Orbs. It was not added in the changelog but seeing it implemented, will tremendously help yers. These things can be used to socket in armor or weapon to increase their initial stats. As for the orbs, they can be obtained randomly when fighting against some mobs and they will drop with random stats. After confirming, the next thing I opened is the skill tree panel. And just like what I expected, the new ss tree has finally been added. And my first guess during the announcements of the sses is correct, the ss trees added to my ss panel is the Cannoneer, Saboteur, and Chronomancer. Since the Necromancer ss tree has been added to my ss, it is no longer needed to be activated twice which is why only the three arebeled "NEW" in the ss trees. Cannoneer is a nuker ss. It can dish out AOE damages on enemies and one of the sses that have a slower fire rate than Gunners but has the highest damage in terms of AOE firepower. This ss will be one of the sses usually hired during Guild Wars as they can deal with damages to users using AOE. They might be slow attackers but they are not meant to be underestimated. The Saboteur is a semi- DPS-Support ss. People think this is a subss and kind of weak since other sses excel the most on skills the Saboteur has. However, they are one of the most needed sses in expedition quests and dungeon diving. They also act like assassins as they have one of the deadliest weapons in the game. The toolbox and the double sword, swords that can be used like a spear and dual des as they can be attached and detached by each other. What is more, the wire that helps the detachment and attachment of the two swords is a weapon used for swift decapitation. They are not to be messed with because before they can see you, you will be dead already. Chronomancers are one of the support sses. This is the ss that can slow enemies using a spell, increase the attack speed and agility of a user, and can also decrease the attack speed of enemies. The slow ability they have also had the effect of damage over time, which means the moment you are slowed down, you will immediately damage the enemy. The higher your attack power is, the higher damage the slow inflicts. It is killing them softly. After checking the changes, I decided to go and gather materials on the market immediately for raising the masteries of cksmithing and Medicine levels. The higher my levels are the higher chances of finishing the product without failure. The selection for the pioneers for the Sandurk Expedition will be performed tomorrow, in real-world time so my time to prepare for the necessities I will need in the next region will be easily done. I was about to depart when a voice call suddenly stops me from my tracks. "Someone is calling? It must be Dolly." She is my only friend in the game for now so it was evident who will be calling me other than her. It would be weird if someone else did since you can''t call anyone except if you are a friend of the user. You can do whisper to a user you are not friended with, but who will do that while I am here inside the mansion? I confirmed the call and it was indeed Dolly. "Hello? What''s up?" I asked. "Hey there, deheart. Are you free today? I am going to a dungeon right now and I need someone to help me clear it." "A dungeon? What dungeon is this?" "Underground Cave of Gold is what it says." Underground Cave of Gold?! Damn! That is a stroke of good luck! If she is inviting me, I won''t hesitate to go too. This dungeon is a treasure trove for yers with the ability to mine! Not only you can mine gold here, one of the rarest jewels, Diamond is also a mineral I can mine here which can be used to make high stats pieces of jewelry like rings and brooches. If that is the case, this is an offer I will not hesitate to ept! Chapter 104 - Time To Mine For yers who wanted to get rich quickly, Underground Cave of Gold is your main choice. Right now, it is a hidden dungeon but since Dolly already said that she is in the Underground Cave of Gold, that only means that she discovered the dungeon. There was no announcement in the system so that means she hid it like I usually do. I can''t pass up this moment. Getting Gold Ingots during the first mining will yield a lot here. Gold ingots can be used to forge good weapons and armor along with some nes and other essories. I don''t n to sell them but to use them for my own to increase my stats and damage output. With the help of Leona, I arrived at the nearest ce where the Underground Cave of Gold is located. I didn''t drop directly to the ce of the dungeon as it may attract other yers nearby. The ce Inded into is a hidden ce I am quite familiar with which is why I am confident enough it is safe to use this ce as mynding point. There are still no yers on the road to Underground Cave of Gold''s vicinity which means many yers right now might be testing the new sses and checking the changes of the game. "deheart! Over here~" Dolly is waving at me in front of the entrance to the Underground Cave of Gold. "Is this the dungeon entrance you mentioned?" "Yes. I wanted to clear this dungeon while other yers have not discovered it yet." "You got the confirmation that you are the first one to discover the dungeon?" "Uhuh, but I don''t want to share it with others since I might get backstabbed once more." "Then why did you contact me?" "I can tell that you are not going to do the same as those other yers. You are strong enough and you have no intention to abandon teammates. Besides, you might have already beat me up in the beginning since you can solo dungeons right? My presence will be a hindrance if you are one of those backstabbing yers." "Heh, you are indeed a strange one. But thanks for inviting me to this dungeon raid. Let''s get inside and check it out. Add me to your party." After forming a party with her, we went inside. Entering the dungeon entrance, the notification appeared before me, [You have discovered the dungeon; Underground Cave of Gold] [Underground Cave of Gold] Difficulty: Medium Level range: 50-90 "I checked the main entrance only and did note deeper. However, I can easily tell there are enemies in the far distance," Dolly said. "Let''s continue then. We can begin our raid once the difficulty of the dungeon pops out. We don''t have to worry too much about it." Dolly nodded and we proceed carefully. I already knew theyout of the dungeon but where is the fun if I use that? Exploring the ce while it is undiscovered is one of the best things to do in dungeons. The feeling of exploring the unknown is nice and not knowing what will happen is also a good experience. Not too far from the main entrance, two cave slimes appeared, eating an ore vein. [Cave Slimes] Level 50 HP: 10,000/10,000 MP: 1000/1000 Attributes: Slime, Metal Element Unlike weak slimes, Cave slimes are annoying. They are not as easy to defeat enemies and if you are unprepared, they will melt your defense and armor before you can react, and will immediately suffer. "Dolly, hit them with me magic. They don''t easily die with physical attacks and most elements except fire magic are resistant against these monsters." "Okay!" Dolly immediately invoked Fire Plume to the Cave Slimes. She has quick casting skills so she immediately released magic before the slimes can notice. -Dolly dealt 5,348 damage. -Dolly dealt 7, 540 damage. ... She continues to release it and before the Cave Slimes can even counterattack, it died. Unfortunately, they don''t drop anything. They are well known to drop Iron Ingot if killed so I am disappointed it didn''t drop. However, we are still in luck as an ore vein is avable. "Can we stay here a bit? I can''t afford to pass up the opportunity in mining the ores," I asked Dolly. "I am not in a hurry so do whatever you needed to." Getting Dolly''s permission, I pulled out the pickaxe in my inventory and started mining. It would have been nice if the Versatile Weapon can transform into a pickaxe but that is not possible as there is no Miner ss in the game. Besides, Pickaxes are part of consumables. Once the durability of the pickaxe is gone, it is gone forever and cannot be repaired so to get the most in one pickaxe, you need to be a master in using one. TINK! An ingot fell. I can''t tell what ingot it was until it will be processed so I have no idea what dropped though I hope they are gold. TINK TINK TINK! Ingots keep on dropping on the vein for quite a while until it got exhausted. The vein''s supply of ingot will be replenished tomorrow so once it is out, I have to find a new vein. After thest ingot dropped, a pop up appeared. [Your Mining skill has risen from level 0 to level 1] Finally, it leveled. Mining skill affects the number of ingots dropped and the amount of durability a pickaxe will consume. The higher your level, the lesser durability is consumed every strike of the ore vein. If my level is higher, every strike I make will allow me to obtain 2 ingots in one strike and it will increase the higher it is. "You are done with the mining?" "Yeah. I got at least 12 ingots. Want me to split it?" "No thanks, deheart. I am not a cksmith and I don''t n on bing one so you can keep it," Dolly said. "Are you sure?" "Yeah. I am not interested in it." "If that is the case, all the loot from the monsters here except if they drop ingots and ores, all belongs to you. How does that sound?" I proposed. "Huh? Isn''t that too unfair?" "Nah, you can have the drops. I am not greedy enough." Compared to the ingots, the drops on this dungeon does not excite me. The ingots will be a good source of materials for me to use to create weapons so getting the drops are not necessary for me. We met a few more Cave Slimes on the way but Dolly took care of all of them. We finally arrived at the main ce for the dungeon to reveal itself. The moment we stepped into the boundary, the difficulty setting appeared before us. "The Hard, Hell, and Abyss modes are locked. Only Easy and Normal are here," Dolly said as she tried to click Hell Mode. "We need to clear the Normal Mode to unlock Hard Mode, then clear Hard Mode to unlock Hell Mode and clear Hell Mode to unlock Abyss Mode." "Seriously?" "Let''s go to Normal Mode for now. " Dolly sighed before she agreed. "After clearing the Normal Mode, let''s clear the next levels. I want to challenge Hell Mode as soon as possible." Chapter 105 - Exploration [You have chosen the Normal Difficulty] Normal difficulty is easy enough and even if I close my eyes. As a person who hunts here almost every day to farm materials during the past timeline, this is just a little cakewalk for me. The moment we continue to the path of the cave, Cave Spiders and Cave Goblins appeared, snarling at us. They are very many that the cave''s ground is covered by them. The good thing is that they have low HP [Cave Spider] Lv 50 HP: 3,000/3,000 MP: 100/100 Attributes: Insect, Poison [Cave Goblin] Lv 60 HP: 9,000/9,000 MP: 0/0 Attributes: Humanoid "Use an AOE spell!" I shouted. "Meteor Strike!" Meteor Strike is a good choice of AOE magic against enemies. It has no cast time, and it doesn''t consume too much mana with the addition of elemental and burn damage making it a good spell for picking small fries with small HP that only relies on numbers. I do not need to use AOE attacks, normal attacks are enough just for me. One bullet from my Versatile Weapon and it already inflicts 10k damage. I can just do some rapid shooting and I will still be fine. "Wow, your basic attacks are powerful! I wish a magician''s staff can also inflict that much damage..." Dolly pouted. "Magicians rely more on spells and magic attacks. They have a bigger pool of manapared to melee units, that is why they have lower physical attacks for that reason." "I also wanted to be able to use magic and physical attack just like how you are doing it..." "That is impossible... If your ss is Versatile, you might be able to do so, but you have a magician ss, you can only rely on magic all the time." Dolly sighed, "I should have chosen a Berserker ss or the Fighter ss instead of Magician. It''s toote for me to change since I already invested a lot in my Magician ss and it is a waste to start over from scratch." It was a good thing she didn''t have any thoughts of changing sses since the ss change will be avable for free during the release of new sses. If she ever changed ss, it will be a disaster for both yers and monsters. We proceed further and before we reached the next area, we found 3 veins of ore. One can produce a raw ingot like the one earlier while the two remaining veins produce an ore that can be processed alongside the ingot to know what it might be as they tend to give out the diamond or raw metals. Since Dolly did not reject me to mine the veins, I started harvesting them one by one. I was a quick miner and efficient enough that one strike can produce one ingot or ore from the veins. If my mining level is a bit higher, I would have been able to get more of them but I can only level them slowly. [Your mining level has risen from level 1 to level 2] Alright, my mining skill has leveled. It might be slow but that is good enough rather than nothing. When the veins of ores and ingots ran out of materials to release, I have already gathered 15 ingots and 19 ores. As expected, they are one of the best sources of raw materials. I just hoped once they are processed they will turn out great instead of turning into scrap metals. Dolly and I continue to move and reached a certain area where it was a crossroad. One of the roads leads to a treasure room, the other into a boss room and the other is a road where a miniboss will spawn and a unique mini-game will ur where you need to whack the ores around to deal damage to the miniboss. The miniboss cannot be defeated and will flee after a certain amount of damage is dealt with. It is a very generous minigame for ore farmers and ingot farmers. "It''s a crossroad..." Dolly said as she tries to determine which ce is better to choose. "It must be one of those ces where it leads to a treasure room or a trap room. We can check it out one by one if you wanted to, there might be goodies at the very end of the tunnels. Shall we?" "Did you just say treasure?!" "Uh... yes?" "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s check out the treasures right away! We can''t afford to waste our time!" and without waiting for me, she darted straight into the whack-an-ore mini-game room. "Hey! Wait up!" I chase Dolly until the end of the room. There should be enemies when I pass by but not a single one is left behind. Looking into the log, she has already defeated the enemies blocking on the road. This is the first time I have seen Dolly been so greedy with treasures. Or she just hid it so well in the past timeline as she is already quite fully equipped that timepared to right now where her gear is not that much as they can all be bought in the cksmith shop. Arriving at the mini-boss room, Dolly is already wondering when 8 sets of ore veins appeared in front of her. "What is going on here, deheart? I can''t seem to proceed here since these ore veins are blocking my progress." "Damn! Get down!" I rush forward and pull down Dolly into the ground as aserbeam suddenly emerges from the center of our front. If Dolly did not manage to duck before theserbeam attacked, her HP might have melted down into butter immediately. "Wah! That''s dangerous!" Dolly hesitated to stand back up after the incident. "Are you alright?" "Don''t worry, I didn''t get hit by theserbeam however, that was a scary experience! Just what did attack us?" "Let me see first," I said and peek at the mini-boss. [Whack-an-Ore Master] [Miniboss] LV ??? HP: ????/???? MP: 10/100 Attribute: ???? As expected, it has a question mark health, level, and attribute. Only its mana is measurable which is a measly 100. However, that 100 mana is easily charging up, and once it gets back to the full 100, it will immediately release theser beam. Not too far from our feet is the hammer which is specifically used for pounding down the ores. "Are you ready Dolly? We are going to do some whack-a-mole game to defeat an enemy. It''s hammer time." Chapter 106 - Whack-an-Ore "Hammer time?" "Ahem, use this," I pick up the little hammer on the side. "You just said whack-a-mole right? I think I can do that," Dolly took the hammer from my hands and held it tight. I observed the boss for any changes on the mana and it is already at 50. Once it reaches 100, it will release the beam again. "Hit the ores immediately before that boss on the distance attacks again!" "Okay!" Dolly raises the hammer and brings it down to the ore with full force. BANG! -Dolly dealt 10,000 damage. Seeing her damage output, Dolly immediately repeated her actions. BANG! BANG! BANG! Every time she brings down the hammer to the ores, different kinds of raw ore materials drops out of the ore veins. Since she didn''t care about the ores at all, I am the one picking it up. The moment I saw the mana of the boss reach 100, I immediately pull down Dolly to the ground. "What?!" "The boss will release theserbeam once again, if you don''t want your health to diminish, then get down!" SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEE- Theser beamsted for 10 seconds before it disappeared once again. The moment it stopped, I took the hammer from Dolly''s hands. "Hey! That''s my hammer!" "Let me try, its not your hammer." As soon as the hammer is now in my hands, I started hammering down the ore veins without blinking. BANG BANG BANG BANG! The benefits of a person who has done this for two years of his life already know how good it will be to smash those ores to deal damage. -you dealt 10,000 damage -you dealt 10,000 damage -you dealt 10,000 damage The boss started screaming after the continuous damage and the moment the mana of the boss started to reach back the 100 number, the boss screamed and this time around, two beams ofsers appeared. "Dodge it!" It was a quickser beam that if you are just one secondte, could lead to a fatal mistake. "Is there any other way to defeat it? The HP bar of the boss isbeled question mark. How can we defeat it and drain its HP?" "We don''t need to worry too much. It will eventually go down." As the enemy stopped attacking, I started hammering once more without hesitation. The one I am more focused on is the number of ores and ingots dropping since the vein drops both ingots and ores. Then, the moment of truth finally came, as soon as I hit it with another bang in the hammer, the boss is already invulnerable. [The Whack-an-Ore has entered the invulnerable state. Attack damage will be reduced to zero] The moment it will go invulnerable is also the time to rush the hammering. Once it enters the invulnerable state, it onlysts for a few moments before the boss will escape and the mini-game will end. So if you wanted to get the ores during thest minute, then you need to hasten your hammering to the ores. BANG BANG BANG BANG Although I am doing hasty hammer strikes on the ore veins, I am precisely hitting them with all my might. The ores are a waste if it ended up gone after losing the chance to do ast-minute hammer strike. [The Whack-an-Ore is now losing its edge. It is now escaping] With thest strike on the ore, the mini-boss also disappeared after breaking down into white light. [The Whack-an-Ore has escaped] "Huh!? It escaped!" Dolly panicked seeing the mini-boss disappear right before her eyes. All of the ores that I have been hitting with the hammer also disappeared one by one, leaving only the drops that I have yet to pick up. "No! The boss has escaped!" Dolly was about to weep. "Hush, that mini-boss cannot be killed. It was also just a mini-boss which means you don''t need to weep about it. The real boss is not yet killed. Also, it''s not a loss, look over there, a treasure box-" Dolly did not even let me finish the sentence and she was already in front of the treasure box. Without even bothering to ask me, she opened it and an item appeared before her. I have no idea what she got but based on her expression, it must be a good item. "Wow! This is one of the best items I got so far!" Dolly rejoiced as she took the item she got from the treasure chest to her inventory. "Can I see it?" "Sure!" Dolly is in a good mood and immediately shows the item she got. It was the staff used for Magician sses. [Staff of Punishment] Type: Staff Equipment Rarity: Very Rare Equippable at Level 50 Equippable by: Magicians STR: +15 AGI: +12 INT: + 40 Special Skills (Only Usable if the Equipment is equipped) Palm of Punishment: A skill that allows the user to inflict a pierce AOE damage to enemies. Has a 10% chance to ignore armor and defense buffs. It also can get elemental damage if the user used elemental type magic before using this skill. (This skill can be mastered and extracted.) Type: Active MP: 550 Cooldown: 10 minutes Mastery: 0% (Once the skill is mastered, it can be learned by the user) Aura of a Sadist: Increases the damage the user can inflict to enemy unit the more damage the user has inflicted to the enemy unit. Has a chance to inflict Berserk state to the enemy unit. Type: Passive Info: This weapon was used as a weapon to punish criminals in the past. It has been bathed in the blood causing it to gain enough power to be deemed as a terrifying weapon. Note: If you were a Masochist, you will love this weapon''s power to inflict pain~ Although the stats except the INT stat are mediocre, the skills it contains are not to be underestimated especially the [Palm of Punishment] skill. A mastery skill is one of those skills that is currently exclusive to the weapon itself but can be learned and used by the user even if the weapon is no longer equipped, though that only applies if you have reached it on 100% mastery. Although it is a shame the passive skill it has cannot be extracted, it is also a good one to have. "That was a good weapon, good job finding it," I nodded at her and closed the panel. "I also got this key on the treasure box too," Dolly said and disyed the key''s details. [Underground Key of Hidden Catb] Type: Key Info: A key that can open to the Hidden Area of the Dungeon, Underground Hidden Catb] I frowned when I saw the key she mentioned. This is the first time I have heard of this item. Even in the past timeline, this did not appear at all. Is it a new item perhaps? Chapter 107 - Treasure Room Underground Key of Hidden Catb. In my previous timeline, this ce and this key never appeared before. There are no records of it by the yers or even any data from the developers that this ce existed. I am very familiar of the Underground Cave of Gold''s structure like the it is the back of my hand. There is no way I will miss any hidden passage here. So, does that mean this key is another addition to the game that did not appear during the first timeline? "Are you okay deheart? You seemed to be shaken?" "Ah, don''t worry. I was just shocked to see this key. If this key is indeed a key to ess a hidden area, that means clearing the hidden area will give us good chance of good loot and good boss drops. We have to find the hidden area to ess it though." "If that is really the case here, that means we are quite in luck! Let''s get going!" As expected, Dolly is quite passionate and excited in finding new areas unexplored by others. She is always like this before so it was to be expected that she will act like this hearing it will be a hidden area. With everything else cleared in the mini-boss room, we went back to the crossroads. The mini-boss room is situated in the northern part of the crossroad. Which means that the boss room and the treasure are on either west and east roads. The two rooms usually exchange ces every time someone enters the road so it would be different everytime. Only the north part do not change and still remains the mini-boss room. If Dolly''s luck continues, she will be able to reach the treasure room but if her luck is a bit bad, it will be the boss room. Either of those are fine as we can just go backtrack since we have to find the hidden area too. "Lets go to the west road! I feel like our luck is going to be good!" Dolly said. "Alright then, its the east road we go!" "Huh? W-wait! I said west road! Hey! Wait for me!" ... I wanted tough at the luck of Dolly. Once she choose a road, it is always a good choice to choose the opposite direction. It kinda became my habit in the past timeline since if you also choose the road of her choosing, you will end up in bad luck. When we arrived in the end of the east road, we arrived into the treasury where the treasures are being kept. Dolly''s bad luck is indeed real. "Wow! Treasure!!" Dolly immediately dive into the pile of treasure. I''m rxed for a bit but I suddenly felt a chill in my body. I usually feel this whenever I was under the challenge of enemies in a dungeon that I just challenged for the first time. Whenever a dangerous situation is about to ur, I will feel it without fail. Quickly pulling out the Versatile Weapon and transform its form to Spear and Shield, I made a decision in split-second. "Undying Soul! Ultimate Defense! Provoke!" [Undying Soul] is one of the Necromancer''s active skills. It allows the user to undergo invicinble state for 30 seconds. It has a 15-minute cooldown but this is a worth it skill if you are a tank. Too bad it was in the Necromancer''s Skill Tree so only the Versatile ss can truly benefit of its effects as Necromancers will have lower chance to use it due to the summons that will allow the user to just stand in the backline andmand the summons to attack though this can be considered as a failsafe. [Ultimate Defense] is one of the go through by Pdins as this will enhance their tanking capabilities. It will raise your defense to 200% for 50 seconds, allowing you to catch all the damages dealt on you with only minimum blows. It has a 5 minute cooldown so it cannot be considered as broken skill since you can''t spam it. Another set of the Pdin''s skills is [Taunt] and [Provoke]. [Taunt] is the basic Tier 1 skill that can allow users to attract the aggro of the enemy monster and will allow the other party members to attack. The reason it is different from [Provoke], is that it can only draw the aggro of one enemy and its effect is targetable which means that you can choose an enemy that will take the agrro to you alone. This skill is pretty handy on boss fights where the boss can call different enemies to confuse yers, allowing it to do its job without problem. If the tank caught the agrro of the boss alone, the monsters will be much easier for the team. On the other hand, [Provoke] is a Tier 2 skill that allows the user to get the attention of all enemies in the surroundings to attack the user. Unlike [Taunt] where it is targetable, this one does not and will immediately take effect to all enemies. The good thing is that, it will only allow the enemies to attack you with physical basic attacks for 30 seconds, making it a good deal if the enemy is a magic type user as they have to get closer to deal basic attacks. It also has a chance to cause an enemy to go Berserk for 1% which is a little bit risky since Berserk-inflicted enemies will have stronger damage to inflict, but sharp decrease to defense. They are also forced to just do basic attacks so it is kind of perfect skill for [Provoke]. The reason I used [Provoke] this time is because I have no idea how many enemies are there. I am more into testing the waters how many will attack me due to the skill. BANG BANG BANG! -You suffered 999,999 damage. -You suffered 999,999 damage. -You suffered 999,999 damage. -You survived fatal damage due to the effects of [Undying Soul]. Someone indeed attacked me. Though I am no longer surprised. If there was a new item like the key, some features on the dungeon is also going to manifest in this ce too. In my past timeline, this treasure trove is not even part of the hostile area. The only thing is that... what the hell are these amount of damages dealt on me?! Isn''t this a one hit kill damage already and those are just basic attacks since I used [Provoke]! "deheart! It''s an enemy! [Ice Arrows]!" Dolly was quick on her response and immediately fired magic spell to the enemy that attacked me. [Ice Arrows] is a tier 2 magic spell with no casting time and has only 10 second cooldown. It doesn''t deal too much damage but it inflicts a debuff, "Frostbite" where the enemy inflicted with it will deal 200 fixed damage for the duration of the debuff and will suffer slow movements. It is not for pure damage but to debuff enemies instead. Since the enemy was debuffed, I finally get a glimpse of the enemy. [Leprechaun] Lv: ??? HP: ???/??? MP: ???/??? Attributes: Humanoid, Evil Being Question Marks?! Not even bosses and raid bosses have that HP and levelbeled in question marks except for those bosses that will escape immediately like the Whack-an-Ore. However, what is this?! We never asked for this! Chapter 108 - Leprechaun Part 1 I was seriously dead earlier if I didn''t cast [Undying Soul] earlier but hell with this. This amount of damage is too broken! Who did this kind of function?! "deheart! It''s a boss monster!" Dolly said and pointed her staff to the Leprechaun. "No, that is not a boss monster. I think that is one of those anomalies in the system." If the PC games before having bugs in the game which will be reported to the developer to immediately be fixed. Usually, bugs like that can either ruin the game or either make your progress a lot smoother than usual. In Alternate World, anomalies are the bugs. They are called Anomalies by themunity as it is one of the most troublesome things in the game. They have bug-like damage, bugged defense, or unlimited lives. Just like the pc games, they are also fixed but it takes a little bit of time before they can be fully removed. In this case, once the monster appeared, it is now being under the control of the Reality Verse team to remove it from the program. So until the program is done with it, we only have one choice but to run. Meeting it head-on is not even a choice, it is only applicable if you wanted to suffer. "Dolly! Go back to the crossroads! You will die if you get real close!" Without hesitation, she runs back to the crossroads. On the other hand, I remained in the area to stall the boss. I already changed my weapon from a spear and shield to a pocket watch. The pocket watch is the main weapon of Chronomancer. They might look like things that can''t hurt enemies but pocket watches can be used to inflict psychic damage to the enemies, that they are not just for looking the time but also to fight against enemies. Since it can kill me in one hit even with my [Absolute Defense] and I still suffered that much consistent damage, I decided to abandon the tank type ss and go to the debuff focused ss. I tried doing basic attacks using the psychic attacks of the Chronomancer ss but I was surprised by what I saw on the logs. -You inflicted 0 damage. -You inflicted 0 damage. -You inflicted 0 damage. Zero damage is big proof that this enemy is an anomaly. It cannot be damaged, it can inflict too much damage and has question marks stats. In short, I am screwed if this monster continues to attack. While watching the movements of the Leprechaun still under the slow debuff state, I immediately opened the skill tree panel and choose the Chronomancer ss. I have lots of SP I have not used yet so I didn''t hesitate to purchase the slow skills that I remember to be beneficial to the Chronomancer ss in quick session. [Time Hollow] 1st Tier Active Cooldown: 15 seconds Duration: 8 seconds Mana Cost: 10 MP Info: Basic attacks will now inflict slow debuff to enemies attacked for 2 seconds. This effect willst for 8 seconds. The slow debuff can stack 2x and every time the slow debuff is inflicted, the slow debuff duration''s 2 seconds will return to the beginning, refreshing the count back to 2. Note: Slow Motion those big jugs for the best viewing experience. [Wave of Time] 2nd Tier Passive Info: Every Slow Debuff inflicted on the enemy has a 1% chance to reduce the cooldown time of skills currently under cooldown. Note: What if you can use this to reduce the time you always gette to school or work? Does that sound appealing? [Stopwatch] 2nd Tier Active Cooldown: 10 minutes Duration: 10 seconds Mana Cost: 55 MP Info: Stops the enemy from moving for 10 seconds. Boss enemies are also included in the target. Note: What will you do if you can stop the time? Remember, no horny. [Timebomb] 3rd Tier Active Cooldown: 2 minutes Duration: Instant Mana Cost: 150 MP Info: Gains a bomb that will explode within 2 seconds after thrown. Inflicts defense reduction debuff and slow debuff. Can be used 3x before it goes into skill cooldown. Note: Imagine if your rm clock is a bomb and you are a heavy sleeper, I am quite sure you toasted by now. [Essence of Time] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Every time a slow debuff is inflicted, it has a chance to reduce the defense of the enemy and will inflict 200 fixed damage while the enemy is inflicted with slow debuff. Note: The more time passes by, the older you be. So remember to celebrate your birthday sometimes so that we can get free food too. All of these skills are good but that doesn''t mean this will help my predicament. It can dy instead but I am hoping that these dys will allow me to buy time enough for the team to notice our situation. The Leprechaun started shaking the pouches on his belt, which is overflowing with gold. He looks like a goblin but he is properly dressed and has a tall hat. It has gold teeth so I guess that this boss is one of the meant enemies here in the past timeline, but maybe due to the bug, it was removed from the game permanently. For some reason, the Leprechaun is still really angry despite us leaving the treasury already. It still followed us and is snarling. It was a good thing for us that the Leprechaun is not lunging at us like most bosses do or else, one attack of this guy will spell my doom. "deheart! What are we going to do?!" Dolly panicked. Looks like she also saw the log of the invincible status the Leprechaun has. "We can''t do anything about it. Either we die here or we manage to outy and outlive the boss until the time it will be removed from the patch. I activate [Time Hollow] immediately. Although this is just an enhanced version of your basic attacks, the slow debuff is already good enough, and if you add the passive effect of [Essence of Time] where you can inflict reduce defense debuff and can also inflict 200 fixed damage while the enemy is currently suffering from Slow status. It is a perfect way to deal enough damage even as a support. -Leprechaun was affected by slow for 2 seconds. -Leprechaun was affected by slow for 2 seconds -Time Essence inflicts 0 damage to the Leprechaun. ... It looks like things are not working well. However, giving up is not part of my vocabry! I refuse to die just yet. Chapter 109 - Leprechaun Part 2 Due to the help of the slow effect from the [Time Hollow]''s effect, the attacks of the Leprechaun is manageable enough for us to dodge. However, I still can''t deny we are still in a situation of danger here. "deheart, what if we just log-out? That way, the monster will disappear after we log back in," Dolly suggested. "You sounded like it was an easy and simple solution. While you are in a dungeon, logging out is not possible until the dungeon is cleared. So even if we wanted to, we really can''t." Dolly opened her interface and check the logout button to see it grayed out. "Ugh, you are right. So what you are saying we should just let ourselves get killed by this monster?" "It is also bad but is our only way out if this guy is not removed sooner orter. We will suffer exp loss, and some of our items will drop. Aside from that, we will also lose a level and our stats will be deducted depending on how many levels we have lost." "I changed my mind, let''s persevere and survive." That''s pretty quick. However, it is our only choice. Doing the easy way is not the better choice as always. We keep on circling the dungeon walls and dodging the attacks is our only choice. If only my instant death passive works, it wouldn''t be this hard. However, it only works in chances, so the chance of triggering it is pretty much minimal. Besides, will it ever work on an anomaly? "Hey deheart, what if we use the gold of the Leprechaun and lead it to a trap? Do you think we can do that?" Lead it to a trap? Why did I not think about that? Since the Leprechaun is always trying to protect its gold, it will always be on the lookout for the gold it has on itsir. Also, if there is a gold coin missing, even one gold, the leprechaun will not stop until all the gold is retrieved. I opened my skill tree and quickly purchased some of the skills that I will be going to use in the "[Stopwatch]!" The Leprechaun who is trying to catch us suddenly stopped from its tracks. 10 seconds is enough for me to formte the n immediately. "Let''s get the n started!" "Right!" With the Leprechaun stalled in the crossroads, we went back to the treasure room. This time around, I changed my weapon into the Double Swords. If setting traps and killing enemies the creative way is what you are looking for, the Saboteur ss is the main go for you. Earlier, I picked a few skills of the Saboteur ss to slow down the Leprechaun''s advance once the 10-second effect of the [Stopwatch] goes off. [Blueprint Materialization] 1st Tier Active Cooldown: Instant Duration: Optional Mana Cost: Optional Info: Creates a blueprint that can create traps and sabotage machines ording to the user''s wishes. Depending on howplicated the traps is, the damage it can cause to the enemy, the duration of the trap and the mana cost may increase or decrease. Throwing the finished blueprint into the ground will immediately materialize the trap. Depending on the space of the area where the blueprint is thrown, the trap or machine in the blueprint might not materialize. Note: Oh yes, it''s alling together~ [Invisible Thread] 1st Tier Active Cooldown: Instant Duration: Optional Mana Cost: Optional Info: Creates invisible thread that can be attached anywhere to be a tripwire, a deadly web trap, or to be used as it is for strangling enemies. The longer the wire used, the higher the mana cost after the usage. The user can set how long will the thread remains. Note: Remember those guys tripping around the ce even on an unobstructed road? Yeah, it must be these wire''s fault. [Criminal Minds] 3rd Tier Passive Info: Traps and sabotage machines will be 20% more effective and fewer chances to break when the traps are activated. Additional debuffs of the traps gain an additional 10 seconds duration. Note: Hehe, just ording to keikaku. [Toolbox] 3rd Tier Active Cooldown: Instant Duration: Optional Mana Cost: Optional Info: Can add additional debuff effect to the traps and machines created by [Blueprint Materialization]. Has an optional effect to repair the damaged trap. Note: Sugar, spice, and everything nice, are all mixed in here, don''t forget the chemical X too. These 4 skills are the most essential skills for a Saboteur, ording to one of my Saboteurpanions, these three skills will be the most used skills for a saboteur, that you might not even want to look at the other skills as these four can be considered as aplete package. As a saboteur, you need to have a big imagination, that is just your only limit when creating traps. Even if you don''t have the imagination, you will get to have that imagination the longer you are exposed to it. The moment we pass in the hallway, I immediately activated [Invisible Thread] to attach it to the walls. They might not be able to damage the Leprechaun, however, it doesn''t mean it will not be able to stall the Leprechaun. Filling the hallway with the [Invisible Thread], I moved on to the next trap. "[Blueprint Materialization]!" Saboteur yers are always quick onying out traps especially when going to the dungeon. I remember during the past timeline''s dungeon raid I made with some yers have struck quite a lot in my head that I still remember it until now. With my eidetic memory, there is no way I will forget the way they activate their skills, create the trap in a few seconds, and theny them down. I may not be a Saboteur before but thanks to the experience and observing skills, I immediately replicated it. KA-CHA! The first trap is a little bit sloppy but I managed to make it. It was not hard to create a trap. There are two ways to create a trap using [Blueprint Materialization]. First is the slow creation where you will painstakingly make the Blueprint. Most of the time, Saboteur yers tend to keep a few blueprints for them. Since the skill doesn''t have a cooldown, creating them is easy. However, they are only exclusive to the saboteur ss so they can''t sell the traps. But the second trap is no longer hard. After getting a grasp of it for the first time, then things will change the second time around. One trap after another, I created them in the hallway up until the treasure trove. Death pit, snapping and bear traps, log trap, and many more are all lined up in the hallway, all with a debuff that can inflict slow, daze, and paralyze. The mountain of gold is also the ce where I will make a trap that will allow me to stop the Leprechaun for good. I made them all beyond the 10 seconds which means the enemy is alreadying in from the invisible thread. Or much nearer. Thest stand against the invincible Leprechaun is about to begin. Chapter 110 - Leprechaun Part 3 "Are you sure we will survive this ordeal? I mean, I am okay losing a few levels but it''s also a bit of a letdown since I will lose lots of days progress if I die," Dolly looked restless. "At least we give a fight against it rather than nothing at all. It''s much better if we survive this and outlive the enemy. It will be a great experience," I said to her. "Ugh, I feel like we are in a horror movie where the killer already had us on the corner..." Dolly said as she anxiously stares into the hallway we came from. She is not wrong though. Most horror-sher movies always have these parts where the protagonists will be having a contest against the killer who will be able to go out as the winner. As for our situation, we are the helpless victims while the Leprechaun is the killer. Still, that doesn''t mean I will not fight. I am not just going to roll over and die. Not like this. Thest trap that involves the gold of the Leprechaun is not considered as a trap as it is more like a construction scaffolding. However, I made sure that it is a ce where climbing is hard, and reaching the top will be a hard thing. Since we are just aiming for the stalling time, I am quite confident that this will work in our favor. -you have inflicted 0 damage! Critical! Additional 0 damage! That is a little bit on the bug. You have inflicted a critical, but it is also zero. Looks like the system is still calcting properly but due to the circumstances of the enemy, it is not working as intended causing things like this to appear. -your trap has suffered 9999 damage! -you inflicted 0 damage! Leprechaun is now inflicted with Paralysis for 10 seconds! Traps have high HP bars to ensure that it will not be destroyed immediately, however, that is going to suffer a lot if the enemy can deal lots of damage in one go, which means my trap willst only with a maximum of two attacks since most of the traps I have created right now are all having a 10k HP. Seeing it suffer 9999 damage, it still has one health which means it can still trigger one more time before it will be destroyed. I quickly drafted the final trap''s quirks and its tricks that will allow the Leprechaun to have a hard time. "Done! Dolly, get out of there for a moment, I will now proceed to the final trap!" "All right!" After rolling the blueprint, I throw it to the ground immediately. "[Materialize]!" The blueprint glows and a golden light emerged from it. In just a blink of an eye, the tform I designed, the quirks it will possess is also here. Not only that, all the gold that the Leprechaun is keeping is now on the very top of the trap I made. "A scaffolding?" Dolly frowned when she saw what appeared on the blueprint. "Now grab in my neck since we will be going up." "Huh?" Dolly was surprised by what I just said. "Hurry up! If I don''t do it, we will be toote to reach the top if we just use the normal way of reaching the top tform! I will take the shortest way!" "Ah, okay! Don''t drop me okay?!" "Just hold on tight!" Once Dolly gets a firm hold on my neck, and I already secured her properly, I activated [Silent Sprint] and [Breathless Running] to make sure my stamina canst while climbing up as I will be expending more stamina to climb up more than usual since I am carrying someone. "Hup!" As someone who has done this before in my past timeline, it isn''t that hard. Dolly already closed her eyes and cling tightly to me to the point that she was about to rip the skin in my neck if she used her nails to use as the anchor for her tight grip. It took me a minute before we arrived at the very top. "You can let go now," I said to Dolly. "Is it alright now? I am a little bit terrified of heights..." "Don''t worry, it isn''t that scary." She let go of my painful neck and opened her eyes. She then nodded in satisfaction seeing our tform. "Good thing you added rails at the very top tform we are in! We won''t worry about falling!" "Yeah, that is for safety purposes." "It was an innovative tform but it seems like I have seen this design before." Of course, she will. This tform is based on the arcade form of Donkey Kong. I yed one game before this game in an emtor on the pc since most of the arcade machines of this game are limited and most of them are now being collected by antique and game collectors so it is now rare to see one. We didn''t get to discuss the Donkey Kong game for now since the Leprechaun has arrived in the room. His body has been under quite the torture on my traps but since he is under invincibility state, it was like small dirt on him. The Leprechaun looked around the ce and noticed his gold has disappeared from where it was ced before. To make sure the Leprechaun will see us, I activated [Provoke] on him. The moment the Leprechaun looked up into our position, his ck pupils has transformed into blood red. He roared and pulled out the hammer on his small bag which I presume to be his hammer that he usually uses to make shoes. "Where is my Gold!? Greedy bastards shall die!" Hearing that, I grinned and gives him the middle finger. "If you want your gold, thene and climb up here and reim it back!" The Leprechaun is now pissed and he didn''t hesitate to walk onto the tform. For those familiar with Donkey Kong, our roles have now reversed. Since I am at the top of the tform, I am Donkey kong in this situation while the Leprechaun is the yer. Now, it is time to torment the Leprechaun. "Eat this!" The Leprechaun who was busy climbing didn''t notice the iing barrels. The moment he managed to notice, the barrels are already on his face and m straight to his body. Bang! -You inflicted 0 damage! The Leprechaun has suffered Dizziness! The Leprechaun will have trouble moving around after this for 10 seconds! "Hahaha! If you want to get the gold back, then climb here to the top and defeat us!" Chapter 111 - Leprechaun Last Part(Part 4) "Give back my gold!" The Leprechaun is trying to get the gold back but its efforts are in vain as the traps Iid out to keep on activating, resetting the progress of the Leprechaun who is in the middle of climbing the tform. Although most of the traps are non-lethal, it is a series of frustrating traps that will reset all of your progress when climbing up to the tform. "Is this going to be alright? Won''t our supplies be limited?" "Don''t worry, I made sure everything will be wless." I have covered the obvious weaknesses of the Donkey Kong tform to make sure everything is wless. The first one is the supplies of barrels. Normally in the Donkey Kong arcade game, barrels are used by the antagonist to be trouble to the yer which is in turn, needed to be dodged by them to avoid losing life points. On my asion, the Leprechaun is not capable of getting damage from the barrels so all I can do is just stall this big guy. The Barrels I have designed are all containing grease and it will be released once the barrels get in contact with the Leprechaun''s body or it either falls to the ground. Also, the moment the barrels is destroyed, it will immediately respawn on my side, allowing me to throw another barrel at the Leprechaun. The second one is the durability of the tform itself. Due to the Leprechaun''s damage, it is pretty dangerous for the leprechaun to beat it up and destroy it. However, I designed the tform to be repairable from the top tform with minimal effort. It cost me a lot of mana to build this but it''s worth it. That way, if the Leprechaun started attacking the tform, I can just repair it without going down. "Gold! Give me back my gold!" "Try and take it from us!" I shouted to the boss before rolling the next barrel of grease to the Leprechaun. By now, the leprechaun is now having a hard time trying to get past the ground floor tform. The traps prepared for him to reach the top have not yet activated since he is stuck on the ground, always slipping on the grease the barrels release. I can tell the frustration of the boss trying to climb up the tform, only to slide back to the beginning. He keeps on screaming every time he crawls from the ground back to the tform then returns to the ground once again as he slides from the grease. As the Leprechaun keeps on trying to climb, his hat fell from his head andnded on the ground. The moment itnded, a message appeared on my interface. [The Leprechaun''s hat fell from the Leprechaun! Invincibility buff removed! The Leprechaun will now be vulnerable to damage! Damage output is also back to normal] "Wait, what?!" So that means the cause of his surreal damage and invincibility is due to the Leprechaun Hat?! I am just wasting resources on trapping him?! To be sure, I checked his stats once more. [Leprechaun] Lv: 1 HP:20/20 MP:20/20 Attributes: Humanoid, Evil Being The previous question marks are nowbeled correctly and I wanted to curse since this boss is so pitiful that even smacking him with bare hands will kill him immediately! I was still checking what changes he has currently when the log disyed another message. -you inflicted 100 damage to the Leprechaun. -you have killed the Leprechaun! -got... "..." I am speechless. This already made me feel like an idiot. In just a single slip, the boss died... and here I am, thinking it was an anomaly when in truth, it was just a gimmick to fight the greedy individuals. I felt so useless... The rewards of the boss kill is also quite bad. 1 gold and 1 exp. ... It took me a bit of time before I get to fully recover on that one. I almost died from that enemy and it just ended in a single slip on the grease. "Soooo, does that mean the gold here will be our main reward?" "Yes, there are no rewards for us here except the pile of gold. If you wanted, you can retrieve it, I am tired from the battle so you do the honors of doing the loot. We can''t pick up the whole gold and only the system will give the rewards for us." "Aww, that sucks, but what can we do? Okay then, let''s get looting!" Dolly put her hands on the gold and an interface appeared before her. She clicked it and the rewards started to roll like in slots. When it stopped, Dolly was surprised. Not only that but I am also surprised. The rewards is not gold or a items but a skill, and a passive one at that. [The Curse of Midas] Type: Passive Info: Enemies killed has a 0.1% chance of converting their bodies to gold. Increases in effect if another user with this passive is nearby or a party member. Note: ~And everything, everything, everything you touch is gold, gold, gold~ A passive skill I never heard before. What is more, the enemies we killed has a chance to be converted to gold! Although the rate of the trigger chance is too small, a passive that converts gold will immediately gather yers asking how the skill was obtained since most yers here are earning gold to convert into real money. No one would say this is a bad skill since this is obviously very good. I understand the trigger chance is low due to how overpowered this skill will be if it has a higher trigger chance. But it said here that if there is someone who has the same skill as me nearby or a party member, then the trigger effect will also increase. "Dolly what loot did you get?" "It''s a passive skill named [The Curse of Midas]. Nothing else." "We have the same reward?" I kind of expected it since the skill description is telling that someone with a simr skill will have the effect of the passive increase. Isn''t this too much of a coincidence? Chapter 112 - Blacksmithing Stat Grinding When we fought against the boss of the dungeon, it felt underwhelming and was immediately defeated without even putting out a fight. It dropped a few things but they were all not useful to me so Dolly took all the loot in the end. I am not oing empty handed since I got a lot of ores and raw ingots just needed to be processed so that they will be sed properly as raw materials ready for forging. When we got outside the dungeon, Dolly decided ton say goodbye for now. "Let''s challenge the other levels of the dungeon sometime, but right now, I want to log out since I felt tired from all the bosses that attacked us today. I will be back a little bitter after rest." "Okay then, see you around." After a short farewell, I went back to my mansion by riding on Leona''s back. When I was finishing the quest rted to the mansion, I managed to let them build me a forge for me to use. With that, I have no need to visit on Almira''s cksmith shop unless I needed to resupply. I already have all the supply I needed for the cksmithing process to convert the raw ingots and raw ores to raw materials ready to be smelted. The moment I arrived on the forge, the first thing I did is to heat up the forge which will allow me to smelt the outer areas of the ores and ingots to reveal them what it is after. While waiting for the forge to fully heat up, I pulled out the raw ingots and raw ores out of my inventory and putting them on the material crates. All in all, I got 120 raw ingots and 70 raw ores. It was all good amount for making a decent amount of items depending on the things I wanted to make. But first, what I needed to do is to level up my cksmithing skills. cksmithing has three stats that will level the more you make things with the process of cksmithing. The three skills are smelting, hammering and produce. Smelting stat goes higher the more you smelt materials on the forge, the higher the level, the lower chance of wasting the material smelted and the higher chance to create a high rank smelted material alongside with the probability of increased smelted item production. On the other hand, the hammering stat goes the higher the more times you hammer a material during forging process. Out of the three stats, this stat has the fastest growth and easiest to level. The higher the level of the hammering stat, the lower chance of creating weapons with low durability. It''s quite important to take the hammering seriously if you don''t want your weapon to end up very fragile, though it is not a problem since it is the easiest to level out of the three. Finally, thest stat is the Produce. This is the slowest out of all the three stats to level. It only increases every time you managed to produce anything from the forge. Though it is justifiable to have it to be the slowest to level since this stat is the main thing that affects the oue rarity of the weapons and armors created. The higher leveled it is, the higher chances to produce rare, very rare or even epic and legendary though I am not sure if you can ever reach beyond the realm of forging which will allow you to create mythical weapons. In my past life, I only got to the point of being able to create epic rarity items with consistent records. I didn''t get to the point of reaching to the pinnacle of being able to forge legendary items so I am a bit behind in the knowledge on it. Now, first of all, smelting is the first thing. Instead of using the ores and ingots immediately, I used normal iron ingots smelted. I have at least 500 pieces of them here and they are all cannon fodder for the smelting. When I started smelting, a few of the iron ingots smelted are destroyed, causing it to fail to be a final smelted product. It is the result of having low smelting level. I didn''t feel bad about the failure and continue doing the smelting job for at least around 15 minutes. Since smelting here is much fasterpared in real life it isn''t thar long. In the end, I only got 323 sessful smelted materials while the rest were already ruined. I didn''t mind that but the result this time is my smelting level rising to level 19. It is already way beyond the level of the lower chance of failure which is level 15 so I am a bit happy that the 500 pieces of iron ingots didn''te to waste. Now, herees the hammering and producing process. This one takes a lot longer than the first since I have to keep the things going. It took me around 5 hours to finish the 323 smelted materials to create weapons from them though I only managed to create 161 Iron Swords with normal rarity and 162 failed product. From the process, I managed to level my hammering stat to level 30 and Produce Stat to level 9. Out of all the times I produce things, it only managed to reach level 9. The borderline stat where you can create rare items is around level 10. It''s a little bit disappointing that the Produce stat did not even get to the level 10 milestone. Now, with all the swords on the ground, I pulled out the Versatile Weapon.There is no point selling them as they don''t fetch that much price. It would be better to let them be fodder to level up my Versatile weapon. "[Devour]!" The Versatile Weapon slowly changed form into the same devouring form and swallowed all the metal swords on the floor. It only took a few seconds before all of them were swallowed. I check the data and see a bit of change. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level 2 [Exp: 282: 1000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +181 AGI: +15 DEX: +21 END: 18 INT: 19 Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff to the enemies. The probability will increase every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase every level. Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on it can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit of skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Certain conditions not met, unable to read the second note Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: N/A Chapter 113 - Pioneers Of Sandurk: Part 1 I was expecting a less amount of stat added like around 10 or 20 but to have all of those Iron Swords converted into 1 STR is kinda broken. If I keep on feeding my Versatile Weapon a lot of Iron Swords, will my Versatile Weapon be able to hit the maximum stat level? Checking my inventory, I still have a few Iron Swords dropped when killing some enemies namely the skeletons They drop a few amounts of Iron Swords alongside the Rusty Iron Sword that is not considered as a weapon but just a trash item to fill your inventory so it''s not a wonder why I have them and disposing of them is only possible by smelting them into the forge to create scrap iron. It''s not even possible to feed it to the Versatile Weapon since it disyed not applicable before. I pulled out 50 pieces of Iron Swords, most of the drops I got are all Rusty Iron Swords from the skeletons so this is a bit a littlepared to the amount of Rusty Iron Swords I got. After putting them back on the table, I held the Versatile Weapon again and put the tip in front of the pile of Iron Swords. "[Devour]!" The Versatile Weapon revealed its monstrous look and appeared like a dragon before it opened its wide mouth and swallowed the sword. Contrary to what I am expecting, the Versatile Weapon vomited some of the Iron Swords. After that, a panel appeared before me. [The Versatile Weapon is now satiated with the item, [Iron Sword] and will no longer devour any weapon of this kind.] "Huh, and I thought there is no limit to the weapon''s hunger. I guess they will also limit it." Counting the remaining Iron Swords on the table, there are only 11 pieces left out of 50 pieces that I allowed the Versatile Weapon to devour. I check the stats of the weapon to see the changes. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level 2 [Exp: 321/1000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at level 0 Equippable by: Versatile STR: +220 AGI: +15 DEX: +21 END: 18 INT: 19 Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be devoured. Devouring a weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form: - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal - normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Certain conditions are not met, unable to read the second note Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: N/A It has grown to reach 220 STR! If that is the case, does that mean every 200 pieces of a weapon or armor, the Versatile Weapon will stop eating the same item after getting 200 pieces devoured? Is that their method of limitation? No wonder this weapon has the attribute sin of gluttony, it has a great amount of power to devour almost anything if not for its limitation. Then, something came to my mind, what if my weapon managed to devour the original Sin of Gluttony Weapon? Getting that would be a hassle but if my weapon managed to get stronger, then that will bepletely worth it. I don''t n to feed the Versatile Weapon another batch of weapons for now. I don''t know if it has a limit to its eating habits. If it has, then I should just look for stronger weapons for the Versatile Weapon to devour instead of cheap weapons like the Iron Sword. With things done with my weapon, I started working for my armor. Because my cksmithing skills are still too low to properly create a decent armor, I have to give up temporarily to ensure that the final armor I will be making is good and has a superb quality. Rushing things will not do any good except disaster and I have to avoid that. The materials are also troublesome to gather so instead of wasting my time creating my ideal armor in the early levels which will also result in wasting precious materials, its much better to raise them in Sandurk where materials for faster leveling the cksmithing is plentiful and with high quality. Next is the potion brewing. Before I went ahead and create my first chemical x variant potion, I opened the skill tree tab and went to the Alchemist Skill Tree. Alchemist are considered as support-dps as they are also able to inflict fast damage using the weapon, Hook and Chain. They might be squishy and not as tanky as normal swordsman ss, their debuff inflicting skills are top notch and this is the ranked first ss that can inflict severe poison followed by Ninja and Assassin. Also this ss has a good support passive for the EX ss Apothecary, the promoted version of Pharmacist. And that is my reason why I came here. [Apothecary Master] 2nd Tier Passive Info: Crafting potions and other items rted to Pharmacist and Apothecary ex-ss will allow the user to receive 10 mastery points regardless of the rarity of the product. Failure rate will also decrease the higher the level of the user''s ex-job stat. Note: Does creating juice counts? After purchasing the passive, I pulled out the herbs I managed to harvest while exploring since random herbs grow in forests, dungeons and just on the side of the road. There is no need for me to purchase them as Health Potion ingredients are easy to acquire. Potion Brewing takes me back because it is the only way for me to acquire potions in the past timeline during my early days due to theck of gold that a bottle of potion that only cost 5 copper is too expensive for me. [Small HP Potion] Duration: Instant Type: Consumable Effect: Heals 100 amount of HP upon consumption. Note: This potion tastes sweet but it''s just a small amount. [Small MP Potion] Duration: Instant Type: Consumable Effect: Heals 50 amount of MP upon consumption. Note: This potion tasted like sh*t, but what can you do, you needed it. It was much easier than cksmithing. I wonder why I didn''t stick to this job before and choose cksmithing instead. This ex-job is much easier, profit is always rolling and ingredients are cheap in the market and easy to acquire. ... 4 hourster, I managed to create 200 pieces of Large MP Potion and Large HP Potion. I also have a little bit of a leftover ingredients which is going to be used in the future so I will be saving them up. I equipped my old gear and finished my preparation. Time to snatch one spot for the Sandurk Exploration. Chapter 114 - Pioneers Of Sandurk: Part 2 Dolly is one of the Pioneers of Sandurk in my past timeline so I am sure she will also be qualified in this round too. Harmless Sparrow is also one of the pioneers, which means there are at least two people capable of doing strongeback in raids. The others are quite weaker than the usual but because they participated in the event and managed to get the spot, they also gained quite a fame and reputation after the raid. Since I want to participate in this raid as I have not entered the game yet when this raid started before, I made sure to note things I needed for the raid. Although I didn''t get better armors yet, my current armor is able to hold its fight so I don''t need to worry too much on it, besides, my Versatile Weapon stat is alreadyparable to a level 65 rare weapon. It''s not much of a problem at all for me. The venue is the forest of Laxusio, a level 40 neutral area where Giant Sloths resides. And if you want to participate on the selection of Pioneers, you have to go into this ce and kill Giant Sloths which are level 40 beast type monsters and harvest 30 Giant Sloth ws. They are harvested in carcasses so they don''t drop unless you harvest resources from the monsters you killed. This will also serve as a tutorial for skinning and harvesting resources from monster carcass since most of Sandurk''s monsters will have to be gutted and skinned in order to get the specific items in some quests and harvesting resources from the carcass is a new feature. I didn''t went to use Leona this time but used my own stamina. Some of the hidden passives can now be earned right now and getting them is quite good that they also affect you in real world. If you get the passive of runner, you will get more stamina, you won''t get tired so easily and in the real world, running will no longer be as exhausting as before. This is also one the passives I have been aiming to get ever since the update but since Dolly invited me to the Underground Cave of Gold, I have to do this right now. To get this passive, I have to continue running without stopping for 30 minutes without switching to walking and even if your stamina bar is no longer filled. Using skills like [Breathless Running] is not applicable so if you used that skill while you are in the middle of trying to get the passive, your progress will reset. yers will have to give up if they can''tst 30 minutes of no stamina in the game while running. This is only achievable if you keep on running in the real world and trained your lungs and the muscles on your leg. Skipping that will be resulting for you to have an impossible mission to receive the passive. Running continuously is really troublesome in the game, even your avatar will have trouble to continue as time went on. Running without stamina will also worsen your avatar''s mood and debuffs will appear on your status, causing you to be vulnerable to many things if you are not careful enough which is why this is a disregarded method by yers as they are afraid to get debuffed a lot and it is too much just for something like that. But that is not a problem to me, as these debuffs can be cleansed by improving your mood. I pulled out one item in my inventory for preparation of this run. I purchased this one in the shop for the sake of getting the passive. [Energy Drink] Type: Consumable Effect: Increase your maximum stamina to 200 for 1 hour. Info: A drink that is known for extending the limits of your body to allow to do extra work. The effects has asting effects which is popr to people who needs to binge watch a movie or they have to do an overnight gaming since the teammate keeps on saying "one more match". Not for infants, this is not a substitute for breast milk, please consult your doctor for more info. Note: POOOOWWWWWEEEEERRRRR! In a Can! A yer''s stamina only has 100 as maximum and will onlyst for 30 seconds when used for running continuously. But, this will change if you drink this item, allowing you to gain another 30 seconds worth of stamina. This is pretty useful for yers who will have to rely on stamina to make sure they stay alive or for yers who has the strategies that needed to use stamina. I opened the can and gulped down the contents inside. Tastes like sh*t¡­ damn it. [Maximum Stamina has increased to 200 for 1 hour] Now, it is time to run! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Around 5 minutes, as expected, things are harder to do and running is now very hard as my body seems to refuse on moving. It was also like this in the past timeline so I am not surprised by this that the fatigue umtion is getting crazy. Debuffs already appeared on my status and I am not happy about it as the debuffs I got are few of the worst debuffs in the game, though it is not life-threathening by itself, it will be dangerous if you face a monster. [Defense Values reduced to zero for 1 hour] [Heat Stroke reduces your HP to 50%] [Healing Amount is reduced to 0 from potions and healing skills] [Stamina Degradation reduces stamina recovery to 0] [Movement Speed reduced to 50%] If not for the passive that I am aiming, I won''t be needlessly going to suffer like this. Also, I am in quite a bad spot. If I get surrounded by enemies, one strike will kill me so before I should get killed, I have to kill the enemy to survive since my Defense value has dropped down to nonexistent already. Luckily, fortune seems to have smiled on me. There are no enemies at all while I am on the way, which made me a little bit happy. However, my happiness is short lived as a giant web is blocking my way, alongside the big enemy on the web. [Poison Spider Queen] [Area Boss] Level 70 HP: 300,000/300,000 MP: 10,000/10,000 Attributes: Insect, Humanoid, Magic, Poison For me to meet the area boss on the way, it sucks for life. Chapter 115 - Pioneers Of Sandurk Part 3 (Battle Against The Poison Spider Queen) What a tough luck I have, besides the debuffs and theck of stamina I have right now, I cannot stop running too since the learning time for the passive is not yet done so if I stopped running, I will have to begin right back at the very beginning to learn it. And since this Area boss also decided to appear here, it means that I am in a very f*cked up situation. The Poison Spider Queen is a humanoid boss with the body of a woman in her head up to her waist, though the rest below is a spider''s body part. She randomly spawns in the Forest of Laxusio and mainly preys on Giant Sloths which is her primary main source of food. Other than that, she also preys on humans. Using her very beautiful face and body, she will lure her victim to help her on her from her troubles. People who are not aware of this will be killed and eaten by her. She is big but that doesn''t mean she is slow. She is a very fast hunter and if you don''t know what you are doing against her, she will be devouring you without fail. Aside from her fast movements, she is also a deadly hunter. Her poison is quite lethal that it will reduce 100 HP per second and has once inflicted, healing effects would degrade to 50% so when someone healed you while the poison is in your body, you will only benefit the half amount of the healing. Now the real problemes in. Since I already noticed the Poison Spider Queen toote, I am already on her radar and escaping will only result on of the boss chasing me. There is only one way since escape is impossible in my state and that is to fight while running constantly. It''s not that bad but since I can enlist the help of Leona and As out, it will be real easy but it will be a pain since the Poison Spider Queen will always and ALWAYS going to lock into her target and she will not stop until the target is dead. Because I am the first one to appear on her vision, I am already a locked on target. "Leona! As! Help me out here!" Summoning the two, they came out as one and immediately charge forward towards the Poison Spider Queen. On the other hand, since I am in too much danger if I go near, I have to y the range and support role this time around to make sure Leona and As will be able to survive the battle. The Poison Spider Queen awakens and she she started screaming. [Poison Spider Queen released a shrill cry, reducing defense for 2 minutes.] [Poison Spider Queen dealt 1,000 damage] Shrill Cry is the first and only skill the Poison Spider Queen will use once she was provoked. It usually just deal reduced defense for 2 minutes but due to my nonexistent defense, I received a damage. Leona and As attacked with consistency, running and attacking to avoid theshes of the monster. Aside from that, one of the titles that I noticed to have taken effect constantly is the title, [The One Who Does Not Need Companions] since everytime the two attacked, an additional 100 damage is added. Surprisingly enough, the damage of Leona and As is quite alright when dealing with the boss but it is to be expected. They can reach 5k damage but that''s it, and it won''t further increase to that. This boss will always have the strongest defense whenever she is in her web''s vicinity, allowing her to be too thick to defeat. But I already have those covered. If they keep on attacking, the boss will be down in no time. However, I am running out of time so I will have to deal with the boss the faster way. The two will keep the boss busy and despite the locked on trigger of the boss unto me, that doesn''t mean she will keep her attacks at me especially if the two will also harass you. The moment she focuses on the two, I have a momentary chance to burn the web. "[Fireball!]" FWOOSH! [Poison Spider Queen''s web is damaged. Reduces the defense of the Poison Spider Queen to 80%] The moment that message, the Poison Spider Queen redirect its attention to its web and immediately run back to it to start the repair. "Leona! As! Don''t let her apporach her web!" "Yes Master!" "SQUAAAAAAA!" As soon as the boss started to run, As raised his sword and Leona released a sharp cry. The ground shook and a huge dome of darkness appeared, swallowing the boss whole. I immediately identified the skill and it was the racial skill, Under the Dome. The moment the boss was covered in the dome, she also meet her doom. -Dark Griffin Knight has dealt 100,000 damage. -Dark Griffin Knight has dealt 100,000 damage. -Dark Griffin Knight has dealt 100,000 damage. -Poison Spider Queen was sessfully killed! -you have defeated an Area Boss for the first time! Awarding 10 AP! -got Thread of Poison x10 -got Poison Sac x1 -got Poison Fang Dagger x1 -got Jeweled Insect Egg x1(a/n: Remember this one guys) -Got 1,500,000 EXP(Title Effects activated! 1,500,000 exp received) -Got 10 Druid SP(a/n: this is added since Leona is a pet and Druids benefit from using pets in fights). I no longer leveled up even with that amount of EXP received. In my current level, level 49, reaching level 50 will take me a while and from my estimation, I will hit level 50 once I reach Sandurk. The penalties in Versatile ss is now starting to be more obvious. But I have no time to worry about that and since I still have to get to the venue, I continue my meticulous running routine without knowing that one of the loot I got from the boss has started moving inside my inventory. Chapter 116 - Pioneers Of Sandurk Part 4 [You have learned a hidden passive: Endless Marathon] [Endless Marathon] Type: Passive Info: Increases your maximum stamina permanently to 50 per level. Enhances the recovery of stamina to 5 stamina bar per second. Note: Not even the crazy people will try this. You are already out of your mind. After running for 30 minutes, I finally received the notification. The moment it appeared, I stopped running andy down on the ground. Finally, I can rest and remove my debuffspletely. I didn''t expect to be able to receive it since even though I am so close to the goal, I am also a sliver away from giving up. Good thing I didn''t and persevered. The effect of the passive is quite good. yers will always have the same maximum stamina in their stats from their creation until to their level-ups and it will not change values. However, the moment you obtain this passive, max stamina will immediately increase by 50 every level up. For some yers, stamina is not that useful aside from using various actions that will consume them. However, to me who already know, the importance of it needed it. It might not be that useful in early levels but it will be useful in future battles as stamina consumption will instead drain you down especially in raids. Since Sandurk will show the yers the first taste of raids, this passive will show its strength. After a few minutes of resting, I stood up and looked at my debuffs which has finally disappeared after their timers have gone down. I can hear the cascading flow of water not too far from my location which means the meeting area is just around the corner. Following the sound of the water, I arrived at my destination where yers who are interested in going to Sandurk first has arrived. [yer has discovered The Falls of the End] The majestic sight of the falls is quite something as it will never exist in the real world. This huge falls is from a floating ind above the skies which is still inessible for now. However, due to this falls situated in the Battle of Re'' takhat''ha where the demon, Re'' takhat''ha fought to the death with an Archangel that ended up in a draw, due to their deaths, Their bodies have solidified in this ce and has been seen as an attraction. Adding the falls, their dead bodies that didn''t rot have already been undergoing the terraforming process which is now allowing monsters to live. Due to that, the ce is now known as the [The Falls of the End] to keep the history alive. Now, enough of that history talk. Currently, people are already bustling in this ce and from the looks of it, everyone in here is rearing up to take one slot of the Pioneers. Of course, I am one of them. Looking around, I saw many familiar faces and one of them is Harmless Sparrow. I don''t n to meet up with her for now, so let''s just ignore her. I also spotted Kazuki in the crowd but since I don''t want to garner attention with him which will allow him to remember me, I decided to just ignore him for now. Dolly is also among the crowd of yers and she spotted me first before I spotted her location, allowing her to call me preemptively. "Hey! You idiot, I have been trying to contact you via chat but you didn''t respond. What is going on and you can''t even respond to one chat?" I just remembered that before I started acquiring the passive, I mute and turned the chat to private, causing her messages to meet a wall. It''s not intentional but that doesn''t mean I am ignoring her. "Ah, sorry. I didn''t turn on the chat since I am doing something that needed my entire concentration dedicated to it to seed." Dolly looked unconvinced and raise her left eyebrow while staring daggers at me before she sighed and shrugged. "Alright, I will ept your dull response for now. But since you are here, you will still know what I typed on my message so just listen instead. Maybe we should go and team up with each other during the selection. They will be selecting 15 people to be one of the title bearers right? Then that means we can freely team up to do this!" "Are you sure about that? What if they decided to pick us to a sort of method that needed us to go on solo?" "Then we will not attack each other and will help each other indirectly if that happens!" I scratch my head at Dolly''s confidence. If I have her confidence back then in the previous timeline, maybe I might have changed quite a bit of my destiny in a much earlier state. No wonder Dolly is one of the pioneers before because she is quite resourceful of her surroundings that even uses the others for mutual benefit. While Dolly insisted on her n, one figure approaches us and I was rmed to see Harmless Sparrow on the way, walking elegantly. Unlike her previous armor when the game started she has already equipped quite good equipment for a yer who has already challenged a few dungeons. "I happen to hear your conversation and the topic got me interested! Can I join in?" I knew it. "Wah! Harmless Sparrow- sama! I am one of your fans! I can''t believe a small-time yer like me would get to see the chance to talk side by side with my idol!" Dolly activated her fangirl mode. Harmless Sparrow looked at me and bowed a little bit before she started talking with Dolly. Fortunately, she seemed to have forgotten me since I faded out from the high rankers quickly, allowing my prestige and some of my famous achievements buried by others. Based on her behavior in the past timeline, I predict that she will be tagging with us. If my assumption is correct, Harmless Sparrow might be Dolly''s partner during the past timeline hence their sess to acquire the title. It took a few more minutes before Titania appeared in the middle of the ce. The moment she appeared, everyone started getting giddy while some turned on the recording function of their cameras for streaming. "[Wee yers from another world. I am Titania and I am in charge to determine the yers who will gain the title of [Pioneers of Sandurk]. To everyone present, thank you for waiting. We will begin the selection. The process of selection will be Elimination. In short, you guys will have to kill each other until 15 people are left behind. Chapter 117 - Pioneers Of Sandurk Part 5 The yers were surprised when they heard the method of yer selection for the title of "Pioneer of Sandurk". From what I can tell, most of the yers here have never killed another yer by using the PK system. Even in duels and arena, you can only reduce an enemy''s HP to a minimum of 1 for you to win. So when Titania said that it will be a battle royale, many are anxious. Dolly did not shake hearing that so maybe she isn''t afraid at all. Harmless Sparrow smiled only andugh hearing that. "I never expected the goddess to choose a unique method like this for selection!" "Uh, there are many cases of this trope in anime and movies, so there is no reason for us to be surprised. We should instead be worried on how to continue surviving and secure a slot for the event," Dolly said. "Dolly is right. Unlike monsters with predictable movements, yers don''t have a fixed moveset especially in the early days like this. They would sometimes adapt new tactics to defeat others so we needed to be always careful," I said to her. "Nonesense! Most yers here are either trying too hard to show their dominance, only to fail miserably. Its much better to deal with them before they can do any kind of damage to you." The yers were surprised when they heard Titania''s method of selection. To many, they thought they will have to hunt monsters and fill some quests as fast as possible before the others but it was not. As for me, I am not surprised but I already expected it since I am quite familiar on Titania''s ways and attitude. I would be more surprised if she didn''t choose this kind of method. I kind of understand why Titania used this method. I heard during the first raid that urred on Sandurk and was one of the exclusive raids that only the Pioneers are able to join in, the battle was the hardest and surprising ones in the Sandurk expedition. If the yers that time has leveled up a lot higher, they would have cleared it without much problem. So in other words, those who cannot handle normal yers in a battle royale will never be able to survive long in the Sandurk Expedition and will have to grind to gain levels and do the raid. Many yers are looking anxious as they looked around each other. I can tell that they are afraid to be the ones to get eliminated the moment the battle begins. Well, I am not anxious at all. Just a little bit excited since my original target of my revenge is currently with us. I can''t wait to begin. Dolly was quite determined and swings her rod for few while. Harmless Sparrow nodded like she understood what will happen next. "It will be a thrilling fight soon, we should get ourselves ready! Remember to back up any of us having a hard time against an enemy alright?" Harmless Sparrow said. "Sure!" Dolly happilyplied. Pulling out my weapon, everyone also pull out their weapons, ready to engage in battle. "Thest 15 people standing will be the yers that will gain ess to the next region immediately and will be awarded with the title. Now, let the killings begin!" The moment she said that, an assassin immediately attacks, stabbing the person in front of him dead. And the battle begins as the yers started dealing with the attacks and try to take the position. I didn''t bother to care on the very small fries who keep trying to attack me. The moment they do so, they immediately disappear like bubble in my radar and their names will appear to have eliminated and I will continue the fight. Soon, my eyesnded on the target yer, Kazuki. "HUP!" With a spin, holding the Versatile Weapon in my hand, I swing it hard to his neck. It was in the form of a Staff before but the moment it was about tond into his neck, I immediately changed it to a katana and before he can even defend from the attack... SLASH! -(Title Effects Activated! Instant Kill!) My katana prated his neck and his head came off flying. (System Announcement: Kaisar has been eliminated!) Some of Kaisar''s subordinates who went with him were stunned when they heard the announcement. Before they can react, some of the yers who wanted to get a kill immediately strike to the opportunity and just like that, 7 yers were immediately eliminated. Dolly didn''t have much problem dealing the enemies and with a few magic spells of tier 2, she immediately dispose most of the attackers. Harmless Sparrow is also gracefully fighting too without much problem that she didn''t need to even bother using skills and just kill using the basic attacks in quick session. I also did quick kills on my own and the battle royale didn''tst that long for everyone to struggle with. Before everyone can fully struggle, Titania raised her hands and a warning appeared on our interface. [You cannot fight in a peaceful zone] It looks like we are already done. Bodies of various yers who were killed in different manners were scattered all over the ground. If this is a real life situation, this is already a very troublesome matter and police will surely be rmed and will do everything to capture the one doing it. "It looks like the battle has already concluded without much problem." I looked around me and confirmed Dolly and Harmless Sparrow to be safe and still standing. As for Kazuki''s group, no one survived and the most humiliating part is his death as he was the very first guy to be eliminated without effort in the battle. "Congrattions to everyone left standing among all the yers who participated the Battle Royale. Now that you all have proven to be outstanding yers, you are now all Pioneers of the Sandurk Region. The expedition will begin tomorrow morning. Please prepare until tomorrow as you guys will be temporarily cannot be able to return to the Capital once you arrive Sandurk." I grinned and mentally celebrated. Things will start to be interesting. Chapter 118 - Pioneers Of Sandurk Part 6 After the battle royale between the yers, we have been thinned down to 15 yers and I managed to remain as one of the yers, allowing me to qualify as one of them. As for the original qualifiers in the past timeline, 4 yers are already out. Yep, those guys who arerades in arms of Kazuki and of course, thetter himself. I disposed him first during the very beginning of the battle, allowing me to lessen the yers who was trying to take a spot. I might changed a big event''s course of history by kicking out one of the first clearers but I am satisfied by what I have done. If I let him live, he will get stronger in the future, might as well cripple him slowly to slow his progress. "Since all of you are the ones left behind from all of the yers fighting at each other, all of you are qualified to go to the new continent, Sandurk. By now, everyone should have received their titles right?" Titania looked at us as notifications and the panels appeared right in front of our faces. [Pioneer of Sandurk] Type: Unique Title How to Achieve: Qualify as one of the Top 15 pioneers in the First Expansion Info: The badge and proof of your qualifications to join the strong. Gain +25 Favorability to all Neutral and Friendly inhabitants of Sandurk permanently. With this title, your favorability will never go down to zero unless you side with enemies or tantly making enemies out of the inhabitants. Note: Explore the vast world using your feet, not just using the [Redacted] Maps to say that you have gone in there even though you are just scrolling on yourputer or phone. I never know about the main effect of the title since I am not one of the pioneers in the past timeline but ording to the rumors, it was pretty good as it was a unique title and its effects are permanent even if you don''t equip. And when I saw the +25 Favorability, I almost celebrated about it. Why? It is because of this that will allow us to lessen the burden of the situation. With 25 favorability as a bonus, the total bonus to all inhabitants in Sandurk will have a 75 favorability to you, allowing you to be viewed by them as a friend and will allow you to get some discounts in purchases if it is avable. Not only that, due to this effect, faborability will never go down to negative numbers due to failing a few quests or something simr like event mechanics that will sometimes reduce your favorability as part of the quests. Unless you make enemies with the inhabitants forcefully, they will not view you as someone dangerous. Since this is a set to the stone effect, grinding favorability n will now be skipped and I can go directly to the next part. Titania continued. "Although we have given you all this title, that doesn''t mean this title is for cosmetics only, as pioneers, you guys will be the first to explore the unchartednds of Sandurk, help the inhabitants and link the Sandurk to the Resurgia Continent. This will be your main task." Another panel appeared before us, stating a new quest. [The Job of a Pioneer] Type: Grand Quest Info: You are one of the pioneers of the continent Sandurk. For the sake of smooth sailing and for all the inhabitants of Resurgia Continent get an ess to the Continent of Sandurk, your grand task is to connect the two foreignnds and bring peace to the people and denizens of the two continent! Reward: Will depend on your contribution. Holy sh*t! A grand quest! I am shaking in excitement! Who would have thought I have to go back in time just to receive one grand quest! If the people in the past timeline have known this, they would be going crazy in envy. Yes, I have not received a single Grand Quest before. The biggest events I know and have participated before, the RAIDS and System Storyline quests are not even close topete against a Grand Quest. Grand Quests are known to be the biggest chain quests that will reward yers legendary rarity weapons, items so limited that yers will covet and try to bid for it if it was avable in auctions, reputation points, lots of gold, and many others. It is unknown how to get the grand quests as some needed to have very, very strict requirements that you need to aplish to get them. And to think the first expansion is a Grand quest, this is just insane for me. Some of the things I have seen in the news of someone clearing the Grand Quest is the ownership of a dungeon only the owner and selected yers of choice of the owner can enter. It was heard that rare materials and equips dropped here are all unique rank. There is even a chance of obtaining a Legendary Pets here too which is why, getting the chance of clearing the Grand Quests is equivalent to striking a lottery as the rewards will surely get you rich. "We will be giving out the Teleportation Scrolls tomorrow. You can all find them inside your inventory. We will be giving you guys the freedom on when you will go teleport in that region though please remember that this scroll will expire if not used in the duration of 24 hours. So if I were you, prepare for all the things you needed to be done, before using it as you guys won''t be able to return to this continent until the quest is done." The other yers left started discussing with each other about it. Titania smiled before she give out her farewells. "That will be all for today. I will be watching all of you. May you all find victory against your enemies." After herst words, she disappeared, leaving behind the golden particles in the air. As for me, title has finally been secured! Chapter 119 - Pioneers Of Sandurk Part 7 With the ticket to Sandurk secured, the remaining yers went back to whatever they are doing before they participated in the selection. "What are you guys going to do?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "I will go log out for now since I still have something to do back home," Dolly said to Harmless Sparrow. "Well, in that case, let me send you a message. Since we arerades in arms after the selection, it''s a good idea to stay in contact with each other!" Harmless Sparrow proposed. "I don''t mind. I will be d to ept it." Then, after she sent the request to Dolly and thetter epted it, she turns to look at me. "What about you?" "I have to go to the market and buy some necessities for the expedition then log out after." "Is that so? Then let''s get to be friends with each other before we go separate ways!" She sent me a friend request but I decided to decline it. "It''s fine. You don''t need to waste your time sending me a friend request. I always turn the call function of the friend''s slots anyways so I don''t think you can even use it to call me." "Uh..." Harmless Sparrow is speechless. "Hey, deheart, what are you doing denying her like that?" "I don''t see any kind of problem with that, is there?" "Don''t worry about it, Dolly. It''s fine if he didn''t ept it. Anyways, let''s meet againter?" "Sure!" Dolly happily said. We bid farewell to each other before going separate ways. The reason I didn''t bother to ept the friend request of Harmless Sparrow is that she is currently famous right now and will gain much recognition from the people. I don''t necessarily need her help but I am not going to need it. It might be rude behavior but if I wanted to avoid messing up with the timeline too much, then having Harmless Sparrow interact less on me, the closer her achievements in the other timeline will be in the current. Just like what I said to Harmless Sparrow, I headed to the market to buy some materials I needed for the expedition. The materials I needed are not the the materials for making potions but for making magic scrolls. The magic scrolls are expendable items any yers can use even with the difference of ss. The effects of the magic scrolls depends on the contents of the scroll whether it is an offensive magic skill, defensive magic skill, or even recovery skills. The most popr scrolls are the teleportation scrolls and the recovery scrolls that can invoke healing skills when used. Of course, to be able to craft magic scrolls, you need to acquire the EX Job quest of Scribe and to acquire it, you need to arrive in Sandurk. Also, the special paper material needed to create the scrolls, the Papyrus, are only dropped and can be bought only in Sandurk and nowhere else, making it a priority for any yers wanting to craft a magic scroll. The other materials for beginner scrolls are on sale in any market since it is amon ingredient which is why, even if there is no papyrus for sale, the ingredients exist. Now, its only a waiting game until the teleport scroll to Sandurk arrives. ... While Manato is busy preparing before departing to Sandurk, the first guy who got eliminated in the event wrecked his room and punched the wall using his fists until it starts to bleed. "Why! Why is everything not working ording to n?! I should have not been killed that easily! WHY!" He grabs the phone and saw that the others have texted him. He brought all the people he could think as his trusty assistants from the guild toplete the event and secure a seat to the expedition with only limited yers applicable to participate. Unfortunately for him, he was the first one to drop out after the beginning of the battle. It was a single strike and he still remembered that his high HP fell immediately to zero without being able to see who killed him. "Let''s see who else managed to get the ticket to participate." He opened his phone and read the messages from the others. However, what he didn''t expect to see is the messages of everyone''s messages. -Screw you Kazuki! If you didn''t die immediately, we would have managed to remain in the game! -You just locked us out on this opportunity! I shouldn''t have bothered going with your n and just stick to normal farming! All of the messages he got are all curses and angry sentences from his party members. Reading all of those, he grip the phone hard before mming it on the floor and frantically stomping it in anger. "I can''t ept this. I CAN''T ACCEPT THIS OUTCOME!" He punched the wall again and despite the pain he felt, his anger is much more overwhelming everything. "Ah... that''s right. I remember now... That yer who killed me... is also the yer who stole my first clear of the dungeon! He is the bugger who keeps on foiling my ns!" With his eyes burning in anger, he clenched his fist and grinned like a maniac. "I WILL MAKE SURE YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET YOUR PEACEFUL GAMING BACK AGAIN!" ... Once I logged out from the game, I checked the status of the siblings using the holophone as I can see whether they are still ying or not by checking the Holophone''s connection to the Reality Verse. Seeing that the two are still ying, I decided to leave them alone for now. I wanted to jog and check out the effect of the passive and see what changed in my body. However, the moment I opened the door, I saw a guy appear on the door. He was a little bit taller than me and looks a little bit like a doctor. He is squinting his eye and looked at me in the eye. Behind him is someone in a wheelchair. I can''t see who the person is as this guy is blocking the entire view for me to check who it was. "Are you perhaps, the new owner of this house?" Chapter 120 - Pandora A car stops in front of Manato''s house. This isn''t Manato''s car and this is not the property from someone who knew Manato too. They don''t even know Manato; in fact, they are not even an acquaintance of him or even a slight connection with them are nonexistent so who are they, and why are they stopping in front of Manato''s house? Inside the car is a guy wearing formal clothes like a business-oriented man though he looks kind of more like a geek. Beside him is a girl who is holding a marker and a sketchbook. Although she is not wearing sses like the geeky guy, anyone can see the simrities in their faces which is normal since the two of them are siblings. "Sis, are you okay right now? Does your body no longer ache like usual?" The girl beside smile and took her sketchbook, flipping through the pages before showing the "I am Okay" words to him. "Well, that is good. We just needed to persuade the owner of this house to relinquish the ownership of the house in exchange of paying double the amount he or she paid it for. We can''t afford to dy your recovery and this house is the ideal spot for your rapid recovery." The girl looked worried and she started started scribbling on her sketchbook. [What if the owner refuse?] The geeky guy shook his head and smiled as he pat her head. "I will keep doing an offer to make sure he do so. I will do everything to cure you on your illness and even if I lose a lot of money, as long as you recover, I am happy." She smiled lightly though she still looks worried. After their conversation, the geeky guy went outside of the car and took out the wheelchair from the backpartment of the car and helped the girl went outside the car. After that, he fix the way his suit looks before hitting the doorbell of the mansion... ... I was about to go out of the mansion to test out the effects of the passives when the doorbell rang. I am not expecting any kind of visitors and no one from my acquaintances know this ce yet so its also impossible. Opening the front door, a geeky man is currently standing outside the door and behind him is someone who is sitting in a wheelchair. I am not sure who they are and this is the first time I have seen them too as they are not someone I know or meet in the past timeline. "Hello, young man. Are you the resident of this mansion? Can you fetch me the owner of this ce?" Although I am confused, I answered him. " I am the owner of this mansion. What can I do for you?" "Oh? You are the owner of this ce?" "Yeah, I bought it." "Well, in that case, this will be much easier. I am Tachibana Suhei and the one in the wheelchair is my sister Pandora. I wanted to buy this mansion from you, I will double the amount you used to buy this ce, how about that? My offer is good enough and you won''t even suffer losses. In fact, I will also pay all of the expenses you spent for this mansion too." Relinquish the mansion''s ownership? Although his offer is very tempting, I am not in dire need of money and I still have too much money I still haven''t spent and converted into japanese yen. "No. I bought this ce and I refuse to move. I like this ce and I refuse to vacate this ce." This ce is a good ce for me and I am sure the siblings would also refuse to also move. The position of the house is also a potential post for mana gathering once I can stabilize my mana flow. Aside from that, it is surrounded in nature, allowing me to easily synchronize with nature stabilization in thr future. Relinquishing this ce in exchange for money is a big loss for me and I would be fool to let this ce go. "Huh? Is there something wrong with my offer? I will add more if you want." "Money is not an issue actually. I have more money than I can spend so I don''t think I am in need of too much money. I just refuse to vacate this ce." "Can you please reconsider? I desperately need to do so." I frowned when I heard this. This ce is indeed bought before in the past but I don''t remember anyone coveting this ce that much like this guy. "Is there any reason I need to know why you wanted this ce so badly? I might reconsider if I hear your reason." "Alright. My sister is in the middle of recuperating from her disease that just cured her body from it. The problem is that she is not able to recuperate properly on ces in the city. Her illness might return if nothing is done to it. The doctor rmended this ce as one of the possible locations I can cure my sister and because the other ces are too far for us, we have no choice but to make sure that we can get this ce for us to use as her house as she was recuperating." I look into the girl in the wheelchair named Pandora. I can tell the simrities of the two but Pandora has a very bright white hair color while Suhei has a darkish grey. She is quite pretty but her skin is so pale that I can immediately tell it is not her natural color. She looks like she has an albinism but she seems to be different from that condition. "She can''t walk?" "Yes. Before she was even diagnosed from her illness, she cannot walk and she spent most of her time in her wheelchair. Also, she is a mute. She can understand what we are saying and can hear us clearly but she can''t speak." I tried probing her mana circuits in her body and noticed that most of it is currently not in a good shape. And seeing that her brother is currently desperately trying to find her sister a good house fo her to recuperate, he is even willing to pay lots of money to buy this mansion from me. Although I pity her, I am not that soft. Which is why, I decided toe up a small decision. "I have an offer for you and maybe we might both agree with this. What do you say, want to hear me out?" Chapter 121 - Offer And Departure He looked serious when I offered a chance to choose an option I am giving out. I don''t trust him yet but let see what happens next if he does so. "There are two offers I can give you for me to allow you guys to live here." "Two choices? What choices are these? If I agree with the choices, then you got a deal." "Alright. As I still don''t trust you, I will ask you to choose between these two. The first choice is for you to send your sister here and let her live here and I won''t charge money. However, you guys will have limited ess to the facilities and you cannot fully utilize whatever things are currently being installed in this house. You guys will have to ask me for anything to do here." "That... that offer is a little bit bad for us. Although it''s free, I wanted my sister to have the freedom she can get. What about the second offer?" "Hmm, I thought you would agree since it is free but since you seem to be dissatisfied with the offer, therefore, I will give you another offer. This time, I will allow you to live here for a fee. In short, you guys will be able to live here with rent. You guys will have freedom on what to do but you are restricted to some parts of the house unless I consent it like my room. You guys will pay me monthly for 100,000 yen per month. How is that?" "100,000 yen for a month? So cheap! Are you sure about that?!" I thought he would interject hearing my price but I guess rich people have no care for prices if they can afford it. "So what is it?" "Of course it is the second option. Although I can''t buy this house, as long as my sister can move around freely, then that is alright." "Are you going to move right away?" I asked him. "No. We still have a few things to process. We will be moving the day after tomorrow. Also, can you please prepare the room for my sister at least? It will be a little bit hard for her to do it by herself." "No problem. I was about to do that. Then, see you again soon." Suhei smiled before he goes back to the car with his sister in tow. Before they went inside, I saw the girl looked at me and smiled. I nodded in response before she disappeared behind the tinted ss of the car. The car went ahead on its way while I was left wondering why they choose this mansion. Although the ce is a good ce for recovery, I don''t think anyone knows that yet. I was suspicious of that at first but since I can''t confirm it yet, I have to shrug it off and continue to what I am supposed to do. ... In the car, Suhei has a relieved look on his face. Pandora tug her brother''s sleeve and showed the words on her sketchbook to him. (Did Brother secured the house?) Suhei pat Pandora''s head and smiled. "More or less, sis. One thing is sure, you can now slowly recover from your injury once you get to move into the mansion." Pandora smiled and started writing on the sketchbook before showing it to him again. "He has already " awakened". His "soul" is the color of greenish-red." "I see. So this must be fate huh..." .... Although I was dyed by Suhei''s sudden arrival, I was able to properly train my leg''s physical prowess. With this, the foundation of my legs will now be able to withstand the first magic I can easily learn, which is the Enhanced Agility. If I want to learn Quick Dash and Cheetah Dash, this is the very first step to solidify my legs. Thankfully, it works well which stabilized my natural foundation of early body enhancement. The first step is finallyplete and I am still a few months early before I learned this step before in my past timeline. With the remaining period, I will be able to develop my body a lot morepared to thest one. ... It''s a bitte when my holophone notified me that the siblings already logged out of their games. Maybe I could use this opportunity to use my new ability? Breathe in... Breathe out... "Fuu..." [Enhanced Agility!] The sudden changes on my legs immediately kick in. I felt my legs go light, and with that feeling still lingering in my legs, I started running... Little did I know that it would cause a little hot ofmotion in the neighborhood about an unknown entity running at full speed around the streets around the afternoon. They have hypothesized it must be some sort of paranormal being but I don''t know this rumor yet at that time. With my enhanced speed, I arrived back at the mansion in just 3 minutes without breaking a sweat. I should be able to arrive here while riding on a transport vehicle for around 7 to 8 minutes but to think I would arrive this fast, is indeed a much better way of transport. I also feel like I became the sh for a while. "Woah! Brother, I saw you speeding from afar! What was that?!" Akira looked excited the moment I entered the doorway. "Shh, that''s a secret. However, if you guys will be good guys, I will tell you guys." "I didn''t see it but if brother said that you look awesome, I will believe him!" Sora who cannot see smiled as she tries to agree on what her brother saw. "Haha, it''s better if you didn''t see it, it''s a little bit embarrassing. Anyways, how is everything going on your side? Did you guys have fun in the game?" "Ah! Yes, brother! Just earlier we just cleared the Gate Guardian with just the two of us!" "Impressive! Now that you guys have already cleared the Gate Guardian, then you guys can ess the dungeons at longst! What are your levels right now?" "Brother is level 15 currently while I am level 14. We are nning to hit level 20 before we hit the first dungeon to be safe," Sora said happily. "That is a good decision. I would suggest you guys grind levels near the graveyard mansion not too far from the first dungeon. It''s not that hard and if you guys hit the enemies on their heads, those monsters will easily die. Some enemies are headless but just hit their hearts. Also, I will allow you guys to stay at my house near the Graveyard Mansion, that way, you guys don''t need to waste your gold on Potions. I will lift the restrictions to the two of you so that you can ess it in and out of it. How does that sound?" "Brother already purchased a house?! That''s cool! I heard houses are pretty much expensive so maybe we will have a long time saving up before we can purchase our own houses," Akira said as he waited for my opinion. "Just save them up for now. The houses being offered right now are not that great but in a few months, some good choices will appear and they are a bit cheaper since you have to clear a few quests for it to be unlocked." "Got it!" We have dinner together while still discussing with them what they should do for proficient leveling. The guide that I just told them is all my previous experiences and calctions to immediately gain levels as fast as possible. Since I have to go to Sandurk, I can''t apany them yet. But once the Sandurk expedition is over, then it will be a good time to train them for the future so that they can stand up all by themselves with solid foundations and regain their former status as "The legendary mercenary siblings". Once the day is over, the two returned to their room so that they can continue on their grind. As for me, the scroll for the Sandurk Expedition should already be in my inventory. Now, the first step to conquer Sandurk is in progress! Chapter 122 - Desert Merchant Tezach "Wee back, yer deheart!" I spawned back to my mansion the moment I log back into the game. Since I promised the two siblings to allow them to use the mansion as a temporary settlement while farming some levels in the area, I modified the permission levels of my mansion. yers who owned a house would be able to modify the permission levels of the house on whoever will be able to get inside it. If they are not listed to the permitted yers, even if they fire a cannon to breach in, they will have no means of getting inside, making the houses as one of the safest ces in the game for a yer who owns it and whoever are permitted to get in. After setting up the permission, I opened my inventory and checked the scrolls pocket. And just as expected, the scroll of teleportation appeared before me. [Scroll of Teleportation: Waypoint(Sandurk Teleportation Portal) Type: Scroll Usage: Instant Use Information: A scroll that creates a waypoint from the current location of the user to the current portal located on Sandurk. Note: This is your one way ticket to Sandurk. Be proud to be a Pioneer! Seeing the scroll in my inventory, it left me with great joy and a sense of aplishment. Since all of my preparations areplete even though I am going to experience a new memory that is not present in the past timeline, I am kind of excited to know what kind of things I will be able to experience. I took it out of my inventory and it materialize in my hands. I open it up and immediately tore the scroll into two. Arge magic circle for teleportation appeared on my feet and a panel of notification appeared. [You will be teleported to Sandurk Region. This is a one way teleportation and you cannot return to Resurgia continent until the portal is repaired, proceed?] [Yes/No] (Note: If you click no, the torn scroll will be restored back to the inventory.) Without hesitation, I clicked yes and the teleportation started to get warmer which is a very familiar feeling to me. And I was swallowed in a very bright light whichsted for 30 seconds. When the bright light faded and the color of the surroundings returned, I stood on the monumental structure that is made from both rock and metal. It was the Ancient Teleportation Device that has been non-functional after the raid boss appeared, which stops us from teleporting back to the Resurgia Continent. The surroundings is hot since Sandurk is a continent of deserts though it is much cooler in towns and citiespared to the neutral and hostile zones where the hotness varies. Also, when I have arrived, the panel of notification appeared before me. Sandurk Quests Tutorial 1 [Wee to Sandurk Continent!] Type: Tutorial Quest Reward: Desert Cloak, Hot Weather Resistance Potion Information: Wee to Sandurk Continent, Pioneer! As a new individual in this unknown continent, this is the chain quests that allows you to familiarize the new things you can find in this continent that isn''t present or not exined properly back in your starting continent! Objective: -Talk to the Desert Merchant Tezach This is a mandatory quest, which means I can''t decline it. But who would decline it? But reading the name Desert Merchant Tezach, I think this isn''t something I need to rejoice with. I have a different feeling about him but I should continue, maybe he will be different this time. I didn''t wait for anyone even Dolly and Harmless Sparrow and went on ahead on the quest. The sooner I am done, the better allowing me to gain more chances to sightsee around the ce before I tackle the main pioneer quest to restore the teleportation machine. Desert Merchant Tezach is a brown goblin carrying arge bag of goods alongside with his cart that contains various trinkets. I remember him as a shrewd merchant and has a bad reputation for overpriced goods. However, he is one of the merchants who sells different trinkets everyday and has a chance to sell some good and rare items that are very hard toe by as they only drop with bad chances. So it is rmended to check his stash once in a while to see what he is selling. Because of Tezach''s easy to spot cart and big bag behind him, he is easily spotted currently sitting on the side of the road, while eating some dumpling. He is alsoying down some trinkets he is selling which means I came at right time when he is selling things. He only sell things on certain times in a day so many yers who wanted to check on Tezach''s goods would need to write a detailed time when he will sell things. I approach him and crouch down to check his goods. Tezach is a jolly fellow so there is no need for you to feel bad at him unless you have a very low reputation and friendship points on him which will cause him to get angry at you. "Hey there, new face! All of my goods are in top quality! You won''t feel bad buying goods on me!" Tezach said. "Oh, good morning. I am a new guy in this ce and I still don''t know what is going on in this ce. Do you know any sort of tricks I needed to know while in this continent?" "Is that so? Are you one of the rumored Pioneer that the goddess Titania is talking about?" "Yes. That''s right." "Ohohoho, then you just talked to the one of the best owners that sells quality goods! I am Tezach, many knows me as the Desert Merchant Tezach, but hey! Since you are polite even though I am goblin, you can just call me Tezach without honorifics!" -Friendship points of Tezach has risen. Looks like he is still a very good guy to talk to. "I am surprised you don''t talk like most goblins talk with the "chiik-chiik" sound." "Hahaha, living in the human society for too long allowed me to take on the habit of speaking properly and get that kind of way to talk out of my system. It is much better in business if you know how to talk properly after all." "Is that so? Then do you have any rmendations for me to get while I am here? Since this is the first time I have gone in this ce, maybe you have some thing you can introduce to me." "Good! I know two things you needed in this continent to avoid having heat strokes which is an insane debuff. You can''t keep on functioning if you are hit with it and it cannot be removed if you are under the hot sun in the desert! These two items are the best for you!" He pulls out the two items out from his bag and throw it in front of me. It is the Desert Cloak and the Hot Weather Resistance Potion. "These two are the best sellers! Desert Cloaks are items you can use to cover yourself while traversing the deserts! You will have less problems traversing the hot sands with this equipment as it lowers the effects of desert winds and the desert heat." I pick up the item and inspected it, in case something changed from it. [Desert Cloak] Type: Consumable Item Info: This cloak is one of the essential items you needed if you wanted to cross the desert by foot. With this, you will gain [Desert Wind Resistance] which prevents lowering your uracy and [Desert Heat Resistance] which will lower your chances to increase your stamina usage and water consumption. Onlyst for 12 in-game hours. Note: Do not use this as a piece of cloth to wear over your naked body. You will be captured by the guards andbel you a "shameless exhibitionist" Seeing the description is still the same, I nodded and take it with me, putting it in my inventory. "Next one is the potion you might need, but not apulsory one! If you have high heat resistance, then don''t bother to drink this as you don''t need it anymore. But hey, since you are still a beginner one in this ce, I doubt you have high heat resistance trait with you or your equipment canst with that. With the [Hot Weather Resistance Potion], you will feel the less heat and will feel a little bit cooler temporarily once you drink this." I grab the potion and also checked its description. [Hot Weather Resistance Potion] Type: Consumable Item Info: A potion made out of different kinds of cactus juices that can cool your body once taken. It allows you to be immune to Heat Stroke debuff for 12 hours. Note: Mmm... Tastes like Cactus Juice... wait... what does a cactus juice tastes like?! These two are indeed the real deal. The quest did not tell any lies and Tezach didn''t scam me. "Those two items is necessary if you wanted to venture outside the town or cities in Sandurk without any problem." "Thanks for the items!" "Oy, wait for a moment, who said those things are free? Business is business mate, there is no way I will be giving out these things for free you know?! The total cost is 5 gold!" F*ck, I knew it. Although this is a quest for tutorial, it is just an over pricing as always. In other stores, Desert cloak is 2 copper coins and Hot Weather Resistance Potions only costs 3 copper coins. If I wanted to continue the quests chain, I have to buy this overpriced goods! Screw this goblin! Chapter 123 - First Task Of A Pioneer [Quest Completed!] This tutorial quest is greedy, I have indeed earned a few beginner items I needed to get a good chance to survive in the deserts and neutral zones of Sandurk but I lost a good amount of gold for items that only cost a few coppers and silvers. Even if I am already rich, that doesn''t mean I have to use all of my money, I can easily blow it up if I spend it. It''s much easier to spend money than to earn them. I checked Tezach''s wares for today but he only sells crap so I didn''t bother to purchase anything as they are expensive as hell despite beingmon things found and dropped by monsters. They might look rare at first but once you have farmed at least a few times, you will realize that they are justmon stuff you can earn if you kill monsters. After a few whiles, I was disappointed and decided to leave for now. He doesn''t have the necessary things I wanted to get and I doubt I can get ess to his secret stash yet with how I am still an acquaintance to him. Afterpleting the first chain, I continue to finish the chains of tutorial quests. Except for Tezach''s quest, the others are tutorial quests on what to do in certain situations in Sandurk and even though I know them by heart, I still followed it. It took me at least 30 minutes before I finish the chain quests, rewarding me 5 mysterious scrolls as a final reward. [Mysterious Scroll] Type: Normal Item Usage: Instant Info: A mysterious scroll that when used, will allow you to choose a scroll of your choice. Note: ording to the legends, one man has mixed his porn illustration in one of his scrolls being sold in the market. In an attempt to hide it, he cast magic that causes every single scroll to be mysterious and will only appear in its true form once used by the caster. If you are into treasure hunting, this is a good treasure for you, a man of culture. Although I find it ridiculous on the note of the Mysterious Scroll, it was a true story, and, if you stumble upon the scroll containing his "work", a secret and one-time quest will appear. I have some doubts to earn that quest before because it sounded ridiculous but as in the past timeline, it did ur. I still remember that time when the person who found it streamed the encounter live. The yer has a scribe ex job with him and likes to create scrolls and sell them so he is very likely to find the secretpared to other yers. He gained an exclusive Ex-job that time that involves mastery and additional benefits in creating scrolls making him one of the best distributors of scrolls at that time. He wasn''t famous because he is strong in the game but due to his ability to create a variety of scrolls depending on what the job needed. Although that secret quest and job are interesting, I am not that interested in taking it away from him. Once thest tutorial quest has been done, and orange quest log appeared in front of my screen. Pioneer''s Responsibility [A Pioneer''s Task I] Type: Pioneer Questline Objective: Get an audience with the Queen of Sandurk. Info: As the very first Pioneer to arrive in thisnd, your task is to get an audience to the Queen of Sandurk and get the information regarding the newnds you have stepped in. Note: The Queen is sexy, and a waifu material. The society of men approves. Oh, the queen of Sandurk. Damn, to think meeting her is the first task. This is going to be a little troublesome right now. Once I close the panel of the new quest, I received an item from the chain quests. [Medal of Pioneer] Type: Quest Item Info: A badge given to a pioneer as a method of identification. With this item, you can use this to get an ess to some limited areas guarded by NPCs to proceed to a Pioneer Quest. Will not work if there is no pioneer quest epted. Bound to: deheart Ah! Sweet! Just as what I needed! With this, I can easily ess the pce without triggering the quest needed to enter the pce. If the quest for entering the pce is triggered, I won''t be able to finish this questline as a pioneer as that quest needed you to get an ess to the next continent and that won''t be applied in this game until 5 months has passed by. Anyways, I went ahead and went to the castle gates of Sandurk, and as expected as a normal guy, the guards immediately stopped me from moving by blocking their spears on my way. "HALT! Beyond this point is the property of the royal family! Anyone who steps inside without permission will be sent to prison immediately!" one of the two guards said. "I like to get an appointment to the queen. Here is a medal of identification. I was told we would just need to show this if to the guards to get an audience to the queen," I said and showed them the medal. "Can you hand it over? We would like to confirm if it is a legitimate [Medal of Pioneer]." I handed it to the guard and he started inspecting the medal from the front and back before he returned the medal back to me. "We apologize for stopping you, Pioneer. We just wanted to ensure the safety of the royal family. I will write a small message for you to get a private meeting with the queen." The first guard went ahead inside the castle while I was led by the second guard on their little rest house for me to wait for the first guard''s news. He didn''t take too long before he returned carrying a seal of the royalty that will allow me to ess the Royal Chambers. "A maid is waiting for you once you enter the castle. Follow her to meet the queen." I thanked the guard and went ahead inside. Just like what the guard told me, a maid is indeed waiting for my arrival and the moment I stepped inside the castle, the maid bows down and greets me. "The queen is waiting on the guest room, please follow me." ---- A/N: I apologize to everyone who are waiting for the next update of the novel. I know I am already way behind of what I should have updated already but I am so busy with some IRL stuff especially in my new job. My only time I can update is only during veryte at night around 12 midnight to 3 in the morning without sleep and I barely can stay awake for that, postponing my updates most of the time. I will try to upload a few more chapters if I can today but I can''t promise it. Still, thank you for patiently waiting. Chapter 124 - The Queen It was not in my n to immediately gain an audience to the queen. After all, it would be a good idea to befriend her if you are already well equipped and has already explored most of the map of Sandurk as she has some of the insane quests avable that I can rank them as a way to reach the end game. Not only that, once you get to befriend her and she will treat you like family, you can trigger one of the Legendary Quests that leads you to find the Heroic Tier Weapons, Cadeusus and the Scepter of Titania. The former is a weapon for Clerics and thetter is for Magicians. It is a good weapon and if you seed on obtaining them, you will be one of the famous yers to the NPCs as obtaining those weapons will grant yourge amount of reputation and influence. yers who will bete to obtain will not despair as the quest line will change and will allow the yers who didn''t earn the original to earn the replica. Not only that, the replicas are unique tier and isparable to the original, only a lot weaker though. But those who want to at least gets stronger, this quest line is a very good choice to join end game yers. I am not worried about those things that a new yer should be worried about since not only do I know the quest lines and every location quests are being held, I can also fly in those locations without getting harmed by the other enemies and will allow me to breeze everything. Someone else took those weapons out and be famous, however, I am not a saint to allow them to get the Heroic weapons. I needed them the most to get ahead of my enemies and surpass them before they can establish their own reputation. If I obtain them, getting influence and reputation is now a breeze and there is a chance the Versatile Weapon is hungry enough to eat them. I have been wondering what will happen if I feed the Versatile Weapon a Heroic tier weapon. Maybe the stats will jump up really high if it was fed with one. Passing through the grand hallway covered in gold and silver, I arrived into a grand door. The two guards bow to me before pushing the big doors open. "Her Majesty, the queen is waiting for you, Pioneer." I nodded in response before heading inside the throne room. The grand throne room is very luxurious to the eyes as the pirs are covered in gold and silver while the floor is decorated with gems. Many might say that the queen is boasting but that isn''t the case. She is showing off her power and her abundant resources to anyone who enter the throne room to intimidate anyone who is a potential enemy. But this is an old view to me, I don''t feel anything on it anymore. Proceeding the throne room, servants lined up carryingrge fans with gold designs in them and is slowly pping them as I get near the throne room. I slowly stopped when I am around 7 meters away from the throne as it is the how you give respect to the queen. Guards stand tall in front of the throne room and carriesrgences and shield. These guards are Kapar and Lakris, personal guards of the queen. I fought with them in the past and they are not someone to be underestimated as they can easily dispose you if you are not careful. On the throne room, the covers that hides the queen slowly opened by the servants and the queen appeared before me. If yers adds a tierlist to the prettiest and sexiest girls in the game, the queen will be part of the tierlist though she can''t beat the first spot that has been taken by the Goddess, Titania but she holds a very stable spot in second ce and it''s not an exaggeration. She wears a ck regal robe with gold and silver which is patterned exquisitely to emphasize her sexy and voluptuous body. She gives out a very mature aura and natural sexiness that even a straight woman will fall head over heels for her. I did not bow and face the queen, I just stood there and greeted. This might look like I was disrespecting the royalty but I know the behavior of the Queen the most. I do not need to be formal. "Greetings, Your Majesty. I am one of the Pioneers who were sent by the Goddess, Titania to solve the problem of the Sandurk Continent." The queen yawned as shezily chew a grape given by a servant to her. She slowly look into my direction and she was surprised to see me not even bothering to give respect to her. "Huh, it seems like the Pioneer that came to us is somewhat a disrespectful one," she said while yawning. "I don''t do any pleasantries as this is clearly the first time I talked to you. If you wanted me to talk to you respectfully, then it should be earned first." The queenposes her posture on her throne and stare at me, scrutinizing my every movements. "Young man, I gave you ten points for that. To think someone understood what I wanted the people to do." [Your Friendship with Queen Tanya has risen] As expected, this is how you raise Queen Tanya''s Friendship points. "I heard that the situation in Sandurk right now is a little bitplicated that you have to manually control the situation to avoid the crisis from getting worse," I said, starting the topic. "Yes. Situation with the other borders of Sandurk is getting worse as time goes by. It is getting troublesome for me that reports of the situation is getting piled up from all my vassals. The demons and the monsters invading is also a big problem already and now, a huge dragon of darkness has taken arge portion of the Sandurknds." "Dragon of Darkness?" "This dragon recently appeared outside of our bordersst month. It was seen to have destroyed a forest that was a main source of lumber and some specialties in Sandurk. It was a big blow to the nearest city situated to the forest and they have to move and to avoid the wrath of the dragon." "Since this is our matter of concern, we would not be just letting an outsider do the solution of our problem but we are in very dire need of help. We needed the fighters that were chosen by the Goddess, Titania." "If you wanted my services, I will be willing to give my services as long as it is reasonable. It is the duty of a Pioneer after all," I answered. "I see. You must be very strong for the goddess to choose you. If that is the case, prove it to me that you are able to satisfy the needs we currently needed." Then, a quest panel appeared before me, detailing my quest for the queen." Pioneer''s Responsibility [A Pioneer''s Task II] Type: Pioneer Questline Objective: Survive the attacks of Queen Tanya and her soldiers for Three Hours. Note: I don''t know, you seemed royally screwed this time. Penalty: Upon your Death, Queen Tanya''s Friendship rating will drop to -100 and the next questlines will be set to Nightmare difficulty. Chapter 125 - The Battle Inside The Royal Palace I almost choked when I read the penalty if I failed. That is an insane penalty and that applies to my quests line only! Not only that, the reputation of the Queen that I just earned will also disappear and will be negative, which is already akin to a hostile rtionship with her! Also, as someone who has experienced fighting against her, she is one hell of an annoying enemy. She can keep her distance from you and still keep you busy throughout the fight like nothing. Aside from that, her skills are all able to do defense break and deal true damage so if you are someone with high defense and can almost handle usual attacks due to your high defenses, the Queen will just shred it to pieces and beat you up. And since I am fighting against her and the knights, I have to ask As for some help in this one. I opened my summoning tab to summon As out, only to see the following message when I try to do so. [Unavable during the Quest Duration] Not only on As but on Leona''s summoning page too. "Oh, I almost forgot, you cannot summon anyone to help you out on this one. If you have pets orpanions, they have to sit this battle out." My chances of winning this battle are now lower since I can''t use my summons to deal with the mobs while I focus on Queen Tanya. However, it is not impossible to win this, but it is very hard to achieve. I am on my own in this battle. Queen Tanya flicks her fingers and a scepter materializes on her hands. Once itpletes solidifying, she taps the ground using the staff twice, creating a three-circle magic circle beneath it. Once she did all of those, countless magic circles appeared on the ground and several types of heavily armed soldiers pop out of nowhere. She waves her wand one more time and observers, eyeball creatures that act as a video camera in this world appeared above us. "It would be exciting for my people to see what is happening right now right? This will give them some insight on how strong the Pioneer is!" Ugh, great. I didn''t think her attitude to film many things using the Observer will be activated in our fight. If I lose in this battle, not only my friendship with Queen Tanya plummet, the attitude of the NPCs might also change. "Survive Pioneer and we will lend our aid to the battle!" Since I can''t summon anyone and my necromancy skills are not practical in this ce since there are no dead people or monsters to use, I am going to be alone in this battle. Lancers with shields started charging towards my location and they pointed their spears at me. "Ice Prison!" BAM! Their legs froze allowing me to gain the advantage of it and changed my weapon to a dual gun. They were not frozenpletely since they have frozen debuff resistance. They just got frozen in their legs but that is not enough to hold them for long. Pulling the trigger, bullets rained down on the firstncer''s head, only for the HP of the enemy to fell a tiny fraction of it. I am not surprised that they can withstand attacks like that, their armor is quite strong to deal with so they are not something you can just handle. "[Berserk!]" I howled as Bloodlust enveloped my body and my vision glowed red due to the berserk status to activate in my body. It might be a good idea to increase my attack using [Berserk] but that doesn''t mean it has no downside. My attack might sharply rise but my defense values suffer since the demerit for increasing the damage sharply is sharply decreasing my defense values. In other words, I exchanged my toughness to increase the deadly power of my attacks. I know this adds to my vulnerability in my situation but that doesn''t mean I am helpless already. As someone who already lived through a second life, this is only the beginning. Once the [Berserk] status activated, I changed my weapon to the Knuckles. yers have yet to learn thisbo but Monks and Alchemists work well together in the game. Alchemists are not only capable of pulling enemies, inflicting debuffs to enemies, and crafting potions, they also have the capabilities to inflict buffs and debuffs to an ally. This specificbo with Alchemist and Monk is something identally discovered by a Monk yer in the past who was inflicted with Berserk Status by the Alchemist in a PVP. Alchemist is a good PVP ss due to how they can toy their enemies with paralysis, poison, and many other debuffs while being pulled around in random directions due to the Hook and Chain weapon. And believe it or not, the Alchemist is one of the sses that dominate the PVP and the Arena of the game. The alchemist wanted to lower his defenses sharply so he used Berserk on the monk. But this action backfired as the Berserk Status indeed lower his defenses values but it ramps up the attack values of the monk. And as trivia, Monks has the second-highest attack values on their basic attacks since Berserkers takes the first ce. So if you ramp it up like that, think what will happen to the enemy? The alchemist died in one normalbo due to the attack values that exceeded the HP value of the Alchemist. It ended up the win of the monk. My ss might not be a monk but it is a ss that can replicate a ss itself once a weapon of that ss is equipped. The moment the armored soldier attacks with their spears, I dodged them and created a close distance to the soldier. Once the distanced closed together and the soldier''s attack missed, I took the chance to counter with a punch on the side of the armor followed by a punch on the chest te. Once the soldier''s head closed in, I executed the final move. "Taste this not-so-serious punch!" Bang! The head of the soldier exploded and his body disappeared. I am not worried that an NPC died from that attack. The soldiers I am fighting are just summons of Queen Tanya''s power. I was prepared for the oue but all I can say is that this attack is just too overkill! Another warrior started to approach and just like the first knight, I repeated thebo which resulted to the deaths of the knights in just a short time. Queen Tanya stood up from her throne and grinned. "It looks like my knights are not enough and can''t even handle you. I guess it is time for me to attack?" she grinned and her wand transforms into a big scythe. Now she has revealed her other ss which will be released in the future. The Reaper ss, the ss that specializes in Harvesting Lives. Chapter 126 - How To Survive A Reaper Queen First Half I have personally experienced thee attacks before in Reaper form and I didn''tst 10 seconds even when my level that time is level 159. Right now, my goal is to survive as it is impossible to defeat her. She has all the plot armors that would prevent you from defeating her. Even if I am capable of switching out weapons and has a God-Tier weapon, there is still no way I can defeat her and that is 100% assured. But I am not going to just lose since I only need to survive. I need to hold out as long as I can. She didn''t speak after that and conjured ck chains out in the air. I quickly back off from where I was standing and changed my weapon into a gun before rapidly firing bullets in her direction. "Is that all you got?!" she spins her scythe in front of her and deflected every single bullet iing before she faded to the shadow and appeared before me while the scythe she was wielding is raised, high up in the air." I rolled over far from her before she brought down the scythe down to where I was before. BOOM! The floor exploded the moment the scythe touched the ground. It wasn''t her attack but a mine I nted which is one of the abilities of the ss, Saboteur. However, that barely gives a scratch out of her skin and I knew about it. Smoke also got released with the explosion as I added a smokescreen in the mine, to momentarily disrupt her vision for a few seconds. "Cheap tricks!" she didn''t even falter and got surprised by the explosion and just spins her scythe to remove all of the smoke enveloping her surroundings. That''s when I took my chance and proceed to sh her with my Magic Sword imbued with mes using the skill [ming Sword]. PENG! "Interesting!" she grinned and deflected my attack in a single flick. -1000 damage received! I gritted my teeth before consuming one intermediate health potion. Even a single deflect is enough to chip my health to semi-critical levels. If that damage earlier procs a critical, my health would be reduced more than a half and another hit would have reduced all of my health to zero. She didn''t say any monologue and taps the ground once more, causing countless chains to pop up from the air andunches towards me. I didn''t think twice and changed my weapon into a shield and spear and started to tank out her skills. "That is a unique weapon you have there! But is it unique enough to stand up against me?" She quickly spins her scythe rapidly, and a ck aura of wind appeared and quickly hit my shield. I was almost knocked back from the attack but I managed to hold it up. But the pressure that my shield is trying to endure is too strong that just gripping the shield makes my hand tremble and had a hard time holding it steadily. Thankfully, with all of the things I have endured in the past, this is nothing, and enduring it is only momentary. Just like how I suspected, the skill duration of her skill did notst long but she quickly attacked after the skill duration, which leaves me no choice but to keep in defending. "What''s wrong?! Come on! Give it all you''ve got and attack me! Don''t just keep defending and attack!" I didn''t fall for her taunts. She likes to taunt a lot and once you get taunted by her words, she will shred you to pieces without a second thought about it. As the attacks of the queen get harder to deal with and each defends no longer works as my Health Bar is slowly decreasing every hit she makes, I have to make a distance from her. Flicking my spear, I transformed it to a Hook and Chain to use it as a grappling hook before my shield disappearspletely. As the hook and chain materialized, I throw the hook to the ceiling and attach it to the scaffolding and let it pull myself up to the ceiling, avoiding the Queen''s barrage of attacks. Of course, I am not safe above. It is only an evasive maneuver and not something I can exploit to attack her as she can easily take down flying foes with her chains. "Ha! Do you think you can escape? That isn''t possible for me!" She waved her scythe upward and heavy ck energy materialized and came out from her scythe, it quickly flew towards my direction after it was fired from the scythe. I barely dodged it due to therge area of damage it inflicted on the ceiling. Anyone who didn''t know about the structure of the pce would think that the ceiling will copse but someone who is very familiar with it like me did not get shocked when I saw the broken ceiling restructure itself back to its former appearance. After dodging that, I jump from the scaffolding and changed my weapon into the magic sword, and ignited it using the [ming Sword] ability. She turned around and blocked it off with her scythe before deflecting me. "Ugh!" I was sent flying and crashed to the wall, reducing almost all of my HP. Thankfully, not all of my HP got drained. Before I was able to move, she appeared and raised her scythe. Her scythe extends and it became a toothed maw of des before it fell down to its target. I quickly went off from where I crashed and dodged away before pulling out a potion and drank it, allowing me to regain my lost HP. The problem is that my armor has already reduced half of its durability and one more simr attack will reduce all of my armor to dust. "Are you sure you are a Pioneer sent by the goddess? From the looks of it, you are far too weak!" Queen Tanya said while sighing. "You are just too strong for me topete, your majesty. However, I am not going to go down without a fight. Even if you try to beat me down, I am not going to just stay still and die! My life and my reputation are at stake here!" I answered while gripping the Versatile Weapon. "Heh, I like that determination! Then, be sure to survive for another five minutes because I will be unleashing my full power!" A pop-up appeared again and this time, the questline updated. Pioneer''s Responsibility [A Pioneer''s Task II] Type: Pioneer Questline Objective Updated: Survive the Attacks of Queen Tanya[Unleashed] for five minutes. Penalty: Upon your Death, Queen Tanya''s Friendship rating will drop to -100 and the next questlines will be set to Nightmare difficulty. I almost want to curse hearing what she just said and smash the pop-up that appeared before me. Her full power is enough to obliterate a whole army of enemies and she can easily destroy the Raid Boss with her attacks. I have seen it personally and that is not a scale of power I can easilypete with. This might be the longest 5-minute gamey I might experience in my whole life. Chapter 127 - How To Survive A Reaper Queen Second Half Queen Tanya is merciless and even to her friends, as long as it is a battle, she will not hold back. Her scythe started to emit heavy dark energy that the pressure from it is getting stronger. She spins it around and the scythe''s maw started to drip ck liquid which means it has already reached the 100% synchronization of power that Queen Tanya has injected into it. She taps the ground using the tip of the Scythe''s maw which then resulted in several ck chains appearing in the ground like spikes. They were rapidly appearing from the ground that I have to dodge multiple times to evade thempletely. I changed my weapon to a staff and used it to channel magic spells and rapidly release spells in session since the damage is amplified if I use the right equipment to use the magic or skill. "[Ice Prison]! [Shocking Lightning]!" "That won''t work!" she waved her scythe towards my direction and all the spells I used were backfired towards me. Thankfully, the backfire damage isn''t that impactful as they reflected on her actions. However, the armor I am wearing no longer can endure the brunt of damage it receives from Queen Tanya and it breaks to pieces. It was a good thing I didn''t wear any valuable armor yet as I am nning to create my armor from scratch myself but this leaves me in a vulnerable spot as I was left wearing are the regr clothes you wear once you enter the game. They spawn once your armor broke though they won''t spawn if your armor dropped when you are killed. This only works if you are still alive but the armor''s durability is reduced to zero. I may have survived the backfire but I am going to be so dead if I don''t mitigate things before it gets very worse. I quickly equipped my trash armor that I have been keeping in my inventory as a material for armor smithing once I get the ores but I have no choice but to use them. I will die in one hit without wearing a single piece of armor. While I was equipping my armor, Queen Tanya attacked again, this time, her Scythe''s de extended, and a deep hollow roar that seemingly came out from the depths of hell bellows the maw and she swings it towards my direction. I leap from the maw but Queen Tanya is known for being clever in attacks. That dodge I make is not going to be sufficient to dodge her attacks. The moment I was in the air, ck chains immediately darted out from her hands and tried to attack me. I already predicted it and have already changed my weapon to Shield and Spear before holding the damage out. But her attacks are too strong that even my shield can''t handle the full impact of her chains which resulted in my body sent flying once again. "Hey, Pioneer. Is it just me, or are you not trying at all? Likee on, show me what you got! Don''t kick the bucket yet! You are the first guy who took the brunt of my attacks and managed to live! We still have 4 minutes left so endure it!" "Don''t worry, I am not done yet!" I wiped off the dust in my face and stood up from the rubble and switched to my Bow and Arrow weapon and shot [Trueshot] among the other arrows before switching it to guns and switched positions. Queen Tanya did not underestimate my abilities and did not catch it head-on. Instead, she attacks the arrows I fired instead of catching them head-on as most enemies do. However, she has no time to destroy all of the arrows and she has to dodge them. I took this chance to attack and fired a barrage of bullets in her direction while she is busy dodging all of the arrows I fired off previously. But those bullets I fired only grazed her skin and did not even damage her. I even looked at the damage counter how much damage she received from the bullets. She stopped for a bit but she stood up again after being hit by a barrage of bullets. -you inflicted 1 damage! -you inflicted 1 damage! -Critical! You inflicted 1 damage! ... The string of words on the damage is just a list of 1 damage. Even the critical damages are just a string of 1 damage. I can''t even move past the 1 damage tier. I also caught sight around the near end of the string of 1 damage a longer message. -The [Death''s Favorite] exclusive effect activated! Instant Kill! -Queen Tanya''s ability, [Death''s Disciple] activated! All skills rted to Death will be nulled! I never expected the instant kill effect with low chances of [Death''s Favorite] will proc in my battle against Queen Tanya but what I didn''t expect more is to see something that can nullify the effect of the instant kill! I saw an ability or passive effect that can nullify instant kill in the game even in the past since even bosses are vulnerable to it. Queen Tanya was also surprised and grinned as the darkness being released from her scythe started to get more intense. "Ha! To think I will meet someone other than me who is acquainted with the Goddess of Death! That is something I never expected!" Her attacks intensify and the attacks started to get harder to block and parry those attacks. Heck, even dodging them is not an easy task as it is simr to dodging a homing missile that will track you till the ends of the Earth. "I know I am a disciple of the Goddess of Death but I have never seen someone to have been able to catch her sights. It seems you have done something to allow her to bestow her blessings to you. However, as a queen and a proud disciple of the Goddess of Death, I will not just stay and acknowledge you as same as me. Therefore, prove it that you are capable of handling her power!" Chains erupted from the ground and bind my whole body. -You have been inflicted with Poison(Extreme). You will lose 200 HP every 5 seconds during the duration of the skill. -You have been inflicted with Skill Seal(Extreme). All skills will be unusable for 5 minutes. -You have been inflicted with Bind(Extreme). You will be unable to move for the duration of the skill. -You have been inflicted with Mana Drain(Extreme). You will lose 500 MP every 5 seconds during the duration of the skill while the caster will gain 500 MP every second. I grit my teeth in my situation. I still have around 3 minutes left before I will be able to clear this, but I guess I won''t survive with all of the debuffs inflicted on me. I have seen Queen Tanya used this skill before but she has a lot of disadvantage on this ability. She can indeed inflict these debuffs in one go but she is also vulnerable as she can''t attack while she is using the skill. It was good for me since she can''t attack me while the skill is active. The bad thing for me is the poison and Mana Drain. They are both in Extreme status meaning they are the strongest types and they are not to be ignored. "I admit you are strong. However, you are still far too weak for me that I have to struggle going easy on you to avoid you from getting killed in the process. I am just going easy on you and yet you are still unable to handle the pressure of my weak attacks and abilities. You have yet to begin your hardship so I can understand that. But if you can''t handle this much, I don''t think you are worthy to gain my help." Chapter 128 - Disciple Of Death Dying is not scary as it allows you to rest and lift off all of your burdens for the rest of your life. Of course, there are two ways of dying, dying from old age and the other way around where you die due to some reason. It was a concept that is peaceful and has to be embraced eventually by every single person in this world and yet, many are afraid to die. Because they are afraid to let go of all this world''s physical possessions and other reasons many don''t want to let go. Although this kind of philosophy works in the real world as well, in this game, there are two deities who both govern Life and Death and both of them go in this same name. The Goddess of Life is one of the popr goddesses in the game as she is the one who governs life and blessings that aremonly known by yers as the holy buffs. Also, the shrines that heal yers in some areas where you need to explore and cathedrals that allow the dead yers to spawn back to life are all to praise the goddess. If the Goddess of Life is popr, the Goddess of Death is the opposite. Due to her ability to take life, many didn''t like her. They would constantlybel her as the evil that causes chaos in humanity. Since I have yed the game, I am fully aware of her and she is not a bad goddess. She is the one who helps ease all the yers in death and lore, she guides people back to the shrine of Life so that they can regain back their lives. As the only goddess capable of traversing the world of death, she is not in any way, associated with evil enemies. It was only due to her ability that many people are trying to lump her into the evil enemies hence why many NPCs have a bad look at her and her disciples. But to see someone as the Disciple of Death, and the Queen of Sandurk at that, it is quite a surprise. Now that she wanted to test whether I am the one who is worthy of the Goddess''s attention, she is trying to defeat me immediately. But, as a yer who has already dueled her, this tactic is nothing. Despite the countless debuffs along with the power to stop me from moving, it doesn''t mean I am in a hopeless situation. SMASH! A bottle of blue liquid dropped to the ground and the liquid inside started to emit smoke around my body. It was only a split second but the effects of the smoke worked wonderfully. -All Status Ailments have been cured. As soon as the message appeared, I immediately swing my sword and cut off all of the chains before pulling out another intermediate potion and chug it down to thest drop. "Huh, so you got a Cleansing Smoke Bottle to counter my debuffs, impressive," Queen Tanya said as she withdraws her scythe from the ground after the attempts to defeat me using the chains were foiled. As for how I was able to use the item without being able to move, taking items from the inventory is not affected by debuffs. Many yers tend to forget that they can get items from the inventory as long as they are still alive or conscious. The only time this function won''t work is if you are afflicted with Petrification and if you lose all of your HP and died. As for the Cleansing Smoke Bottle, it is one of the best AOE Debuff Cleansing potions avable in the game. It is not used by drinking, instead, you use it by throwing it to the ground which in turn, it will turn the liquid into a cloud of smoke that will in turn heal any sort of debuff no matter how strong it is. But it also has a downside, the more yers getting healed, the weaker the effect of the potion do. Since I am the only one who is healed, all of the debuffs that was inflicted to me by Queen Tanya was easily dispelled. The potion is not something I crafted yet since I needed toe here in Sandurk to procure items to create it. That bottle was only a lucky find I found on the scammy merchant earlier which costs me 100,000 gold. Considering that this potion will only be sold for 10,000 gold normally, I know I got scammed 90,000 gold but that doesn''t mean it isn''t worth. It just saved my life just now. Now that I am free, I only need to hold on for another 1 minute before the trial is over. However, Queen Tanya will not just stand there and do nothing. She will do her best to eliminate me immediately without holding back. And since 1 minute is enough for me tost this long, it is time to stop using range and constant dodging. I wave out the Versatile Weapon and change it to a spear and shield once more. Putting the shield in front of me and the spear beside it, I dashed forward towards Queen Tanya and immediately push the spear forward to her. "That won''t work!" she quickly parried spear I used to stop it from reaching her body. However, that was enough for me to find an opportunity. "[Shield Bash]!" BANG! Queen Tanya did not see iting and was immediately sent flying. -You have dealt 100 damage! -You inflicted Stun (Mild) to Queen Tanya! The damage is pitiful but what I really want to proc is the stun as that is more useful than the damage knowing that she is someone with massive defense and insane lifesteal capabilities. So [Shield Bash] might be weak in terms of damage but this is enough to be used as something to stall enemies whenever needed. Once she was stunned, I quickly changed my weapon to a bow and waited for the stun to disperse. Since it was just mild stun, the stun will onlyst for 5 seconds but that is enough to change my Versatile weapon into another form. Once the transformation has changed my shield and spear to bow and arrow, I fired a [Trueshot-Leg] arrow to her direction and even without aiming the arrow to her leg, I didn''t have to worry since it is a homing one. No matter how inurate you are in shooting and you are bad at FPS shooters, this arrow will never miss and will always hit the knee of the enemy. You can say that this is the bane of the knights which will force most of them to retire to the countryside after taking an arrow to their knees. The moment Queen Tanya recovers from her stun, she realized she was restricted to movements due to the [Movement Nullification] that allowed me to stop her on her tracks. Queen Tanya gritted her teeth. Although she has great healing capabilities due to her lifesteal powers, that doesn''t mean she has the ability to cleanse debuffs. Reaper ss has no skill to counter debuffs and heal them. So even if she is capable of dealing massive damage, that doesn''t mean she can easily escape them. "Pretty clever, but that doesn''t mean I can''t attack you when you are far away!" She taps her scythe to the ground once before waving it in the air. The maw that has been looking too ferocious has finally revealed its fangs and extended with flexibility. With the time limit almost over, she is now using all of the quick things that can burst down my health in one go. "[GRAND MAW OF DEATH!]" And before the maw of the scythe reach my body, the mission in my quest board has changed topleted. I sighed in relief before my body was swallowed by the [Grand Maw of Death], reducing all my health to zero. -You have died. Chapter 129 - Capture The West Desert (I) I died after I cleared the quest. Many might see it as pathetic as I didn''t get to hold out the queen''sst attack and died but there is nothing wrong with that, especially that I have received blessings after I died many times. I thought I would have to wait out for a few minutes before I can spawn back and return to meet Queen Tanya but then a light pierces the dimension of the dead where yers will be temporarily stored while they are waiting for the cooldown of their character''s death. This only happens if someone from the outside like your teammate casts a revival spell or someone else used an item. If this light appears here, that means I am being pulled out from the area of the dead and in the process of being revived. "I don''t think there is any yer who will revive me yet. I am quite sure many of the other Pioneers are exploring the Sandurk region or have yet to log back in. Harmless Sparrow and Dolly are also not possible as they are not capable of entering the castle and personally revive me. Also, the two of them have no ability to revive me as they are not even a Cleric or a Holy Knight. So who is the one reviving me right now?" I muttered as I waited for the light to engulf the surroundings. I blinked again after the blinding light engulfs the whole ce and realized I was back in the Pce interior. And as expected, the wrecked ce before while we are fighting are already fixed back to their respective ces without any signs that someone has initiated a fight here and someone died. Now that I am revived, I looked around and only saw the two guards and Queen Tanya who is now back to her throne while her attendants are attending her. "Your majesty, did you just revive me?" I asked her. "Yes. Although you are still not on par to challenge me yet, I have fun fighting against you. Even though you are at a clear disadvantage, you still managed toplete my task for you which is already quite impressive. You might have died at the end of the fight but it is understandable and I won''t be mocking you on it. And since you passed the test, the first reward I have to give you is a free revival without any penalties." "If that is how you view this person who is standing before you then I am quite pleased by your evaluation. However, I would like to wish one more thing for you, your majesty." "Speak." "In the future, once I get stronger, I would like to ask for a rematch. Today, I will treat it as my loss, but I won''t ept it since I am still weak, that is why please grant me this wish." Queen Tanya grinned and beforeughing loudly. "Hahaha, amusing! This is the first time someone asked me to have a rematch. Out of all the people who fought against me, you are the only guy who asked for a rematch in the future. Interesting... interesting indeed! Very well! Since you insist, it is my win this time, however, prove to me that you will grow and get stronger than I can fight you with my full strength in the future! I will be waiting!" -You have received special recognition from Queen Tanya! You will now be able to freely visit Queen Tanya and get quests from her! -You have received the Exclusive Title [Queen''s Rival] and Unique Title, [Worthy Opponent]! -Your reputation to the whole Sandurk Continent''s friendly towns and NPCs has increased! I was surprised as I am not expecting to get two titles, and a big reputation boost to the whole Sandurk Continent in just one go. I just stated I wanted to duel Queen Tanya again as she is one of the strongest characters in the game and having a chance to duel with her will prove a challenge. I didn''t expect I will gain much more rewards than I expected! What is very good to me, I also gained the reputation to enter and exit the pce without any issues from the guards! This was an early treat since I thought I have to grind quests to gain this kind of reputation but this is definitely a good plus! "Since you have gained my recognition that you are indeed capable of handling the situations, I decided to dispatch you on a mission to capture a ce that has been overtaken by the demons and monsters. I will dispatch you to the West Desert and I will task you to capture back the West Desert and set the first captured area as a foothold to increase the morale of the soldiers. But be warned, the enemies in that ce are strong. My soldiers are having a struggle on this and have a hard time capturing back the ce. However, if you are determined, you might be able to take it back. I can''t go there and personally take care of the problem as I also have to protect the capital from the grasp of the invading demons and also to slow down the advance of the Dragon of Darkness but since you are able to go toe on toe with me, there is no way you will have trouble clearing that ce. Will you ept my quest for you?" A pop-up appeared before me showing mytest quest. Pioneer''s Responsibility [Capture the West Desert] Type: Pioneer Questline Objective: Set up the foothold of the people of Sandurk and capture back the West Desert that has been overrun by demons and monsters. Note: Have you yed enough strategy games to do this or will you do all the tasks alone? It is up to you. Will you ept the Quest? Yes/No I epted the yes button and nodded at Queen Tanya. "Yes, I will do so." "Good, I expect good news from you. Don''t disappoint me, my rival." I bowed again before leaving the pce to go out and do the questline. Although these events are not in the first timeline, I will make sure that even without the help of my past experiences to help ease out all of the questlines in this mission, I will make sure that I will clear this with pride. Now is the time to climb up to the pinnacle of strength in this game starting today! Chapter 130 - Capture The West Desert (II) -Congrattions! Your level has risen from 97 to 98! After farming for materials for the equipment that I am about to create, my level is 2 levels less to reach level 100 where I can receive the Job advancement Quest of the Versatile ss which is called the Versatile Jack. Out of all the sses, only the Versatile ss has one job advancement while the others will have either different advancement ss they can choose from. But I am not in a hurry to reach level 100, that is just not my priority and I am guessing I am going to hit level 100 before the raid boss is killed. The amount of exp I receive from the quest is enough to fill in the high amount of exp I needed just to level up. But it would be a different topic once I reach level 100, I don''t think I will be leveling up as fast as right now. I opened my inventory and check out all of the materials I farmed from the enemies. Seeing the three digits on the bottom of those items, I am now satisfied and ready to start creating my own armor. Since my first task is to capture the West Desert, I have to go to the first town of West Desert that has not been captured by the enemies which will be the town of Araya. It is not the only reason why I went to Araya Town. Araya Town has a smithy that allows yers to use it for a certain amount of gold. Most cksmiths do not do that and will just demand that they will be the ones who will do it. I doubt there are fellow Pioneers on Araya Town just yet so I summoned Leona and flew directly over there. Of course, the NPCs will fear Leona as she is a gryphon so rather thannding into the town directly, Inded just outside the town where the NPCs won''t see Leonanding on the ground and the surrounding area won''t be affected by Leona''s ps. ... The security of Araya Town is tight as the guards manually inspect everyone who enters. They are not this strict in the past timeline. It might be like this today because of the Dragon of Darkness and its underlings but once the raid boss died, I doubt the security would be still this strict. "Halt, state your business in this town traveler," the guard said after blocking my path with his spear. I pull out the document I received from the queen that she handed me before I left the pce for easy ess to the towns in the West Desert. The protocols and security are very tight that they will not let anyone in so easily without any valid reason. Of course, I could just show the Pioneer Badge I received from the Goddess Titania to get ess, but this document is much more convincing, so I choose it over the badge. The guard read the document and upon finishing it, he bowed down to me and retracted the spear. "I apologize for the dy, Pioneer-sama. We have to do this to ensure the safety of our town and its citizens." "It''s alright. Nothing harm was done and you are just doing your job. Continue the good work!" "Thank you for understanding." -The Captain of Araya Town Guards has a huge impression of you. You can now receive quests from him. Heh, good manners will always help me through this situation, now I don''t need to have trouble farming another batch of a reputation for the Araya Town Guard. Their help will be needed in the future. Entering the town, NPCs are walking around the town and most of them wear anxious faces. From the looks of it, everyone in here is fearing the situation of the West Desert. The situation must be worse than I thought. Araya Town''s structure is differentpared to the past timeline, the buildings here look old but they don''t look out of cepared to the past timeline where there are many buildings with different kinds of looks but withmon patches that are very noticeable. Also, some of the buildings I am seeing right now are not avable in the past timeline so my guess is that during the past timeline''s events, the invasion of demons has already gone worse and almost destroyed this town hence for the different kind of buildings missing in the past timeline. I headed immediately to the smithy and saw a dwarf hammering a greatsword on the anvil. The workshop building is also not that big and it seems like the second floor in the past timeline has not yet been built here yet. "Hello, is this the Gobrun Smithy? I heard this ce allows normal people to handle their own forging things here," I asked the dwarf to get his attention. "Yes, this is the one you are looking for. Are you perhaps going to use the smithy right now?" the dwarf asked as he stopped hammering the greatsword and wipe off the grime and dirt on his hands to his apron. "Yes. I have to make something for myself and I needed to use a smithy to create it." "Well, you havee to the right ce. However, it is not in very great shape so I apologize if some of the tools there are not that good as expected. We lost a ton of things when the monsters arrived and most of the tools we used before were left behind on ourst smithy that was destroyed." "It doesn''t matter as long as I can use the forge and the anvil, those two are good enough." "If those tools are what you are seeking, then they are in good condition. My name is Gobrun and I am the smithy owner. Come follow me, kid." Gobrun then put aside his work and led me towards the smithy workshop that can be used by anyone as long as you have the money. Entering the building, the workshop''s interior is very wide like how it was in the past timeline, the only difference is that there were limited forges here. In the past timeline, this floor houses 5 forges with their own smithy tools for yers to simultaneously use while right now, there is only one forge and the tools are clearly not in a good condition. The only good conditioned things in here are the anvil and the forge itself. "Is this ce good enough kid? I am a bit sorry that this ce is so run down." "Do not worry, as I said earlier, those things are enough. How much for a whole day?" "Use it as much as you like, the smithy might be in bad shape and needs necessary tools but I feel like I am scamming you if I let you use this ce by paying me even if the state of this forge is terrible." "No, I will pay. If I don''t pay, how would this ce improve? I will be using this ce in the next few days so I wanted this condition to improve even just a little bit. So state your price." "..." the dwarf was speechless and sighed. "You can just pay me how much you like to pay in gold. I don''t know how much I will charge you with this run-down ce but if you decide to pay, then pay what you can pay then." After that, he left the ce as he still needed to finish the orders he needed for the soldiers to use. I grinned and crack my knuckles for a bit and started stretching. Alright, time to work. The first project would be the hammer that I will be using for forging! After all, how can you forge a weapon without a hammer? Chapter 131 - Capture The West Desert (III) The hammer I will be using is a custom-made hammer that I created in free crafting, which means this hammer is a unique one that only I can create and will not be replicated by anyone unless I give out the recipe and the procedure to create it. I opened the blueprint creator in the cksmith interface and draw the n of the hammer. With my eidetic memory, the hammer is already imprinted in my mind and I can create a blueprint of it as long as I remember how to make it and if my materials are enough. It only took me 2 minutes to finish the blueprint. It is a very simple design but it is sturdy enough that it canst for ten thousand uses without repairing it. Once the blueprint is done, I pulled out all of the materials needed and throw them into the forge to smelt them into processed materials. Most of the materials needed to create the hammer are needed to be smelted or else the quality of the hammer won''t be good enough and will break immediately. While the smelting process is currently ongoing, I went ahead and work on the materials that are not added to the forge to smelt since they needed to be done manually. It took me some trial and error in the past to get things right and after doing so, I created the best hammer in my opinion for forging. After the materials were done smelting and I was about done with thest materials, I brought out the mold for the hammer, started processing all the smelted materials into one, and put it back on the forge. Since they are already smelted, it took only a few minutes before they became molten liquid. I put some gold powder which I pulverized earlier and put it on the molten liquid to finalize it before pouring it into the mold. "Whew, now herees the hard part." The smelting part was the easiest part of making this, now herees the hard part. Since this ce has no decent hammer and the hammer avable is just so beat up looking, I can estimate it onlysting for two uses and once they are used up, this hammer will be reduced to dust and cannot be repaired. The molten liquid cooled off a little bit, enough to solidify its shape. I didn''t let it cool downpletely and took it out from the mold before putting it back to the forge and heat it back up. It sure is troublesome but it was just the way forging goes. Once it is heated up, I took it out and started hammering to shape it up and toughen it up. If it cools back again, I repeated the same action again and again. It took me around 2 hours before the hammer was done. And after the hammer materialized, I received a pop-up of a new title that I received for creating something. However, I have no time to check it out. The title I received when I asked for a rematch on Queen Tanya is also unchecked. Maybe I will take a look at it a little bitter. Closing the pop-ups, I check the stats of the hammer to see if it has different stats from my first hammer in the past timeline. [deheart''s (Unnamed Hammer)] Type: Ex-job Equipment, cksmith Exclusive Rarity: Normal Equippable at level 0 Equippable by: yers with Ex-Job cksmith Effects: 1. Increase the chance of sess in crafting equipment to 3% and great sess to 0.1% 2. Chances of producing a rarity above Rare are increased to 0.01%. 3. When using this hammer on repairs, you have a 1% chance to fully repair the item without consuming any ore. Info: A hammer that was made by a beginner cksmith. It has the potential to be a legendary hammer but since the creator is just a beginner, it only ends up as a normal forging hammer. Can be upgraded. Note: If you bonk this to someone who doesn''t make sense, you will have a 100% chance to get sent to the grave much earlier. Durability: 1000/1000 The quality is normal which is understandable considering that my cksmithing level is still too low. However, the effects are already good despite being a hammer made at a beginner level. What I like about this is that I can upgrade the hammer and increase its rarity. That is what makes this good. Since the hammer is ready, I started to work with my armor and raise my cksmith proficiency. I am a seasoned cksmith in the game and I suffered a lot because of this profession in the past due to the exploitation of those bastards but at least, it allowed me to umte enough experiences to know the tips and tricks of making things with cksmithing. 5 hours in the real world passed by so quickly and days in the game also progressed quite well too when I finished up all of the armor I am going to use for the quest in capturing the West Desert. --------------------------------------- [demail Armor] Rarity: Rare Tier Type: Upper Body Equipment Equippable at level 75 Equippable by: Swordsman, Samurai, Pdin, Holy Knight, Magic Knight, Berserkers, Versatile Stats: DEX: 15 END: 90 Effect: 1. Stack Defense(I) - Every 10 seconds, Defense will increase to 0.1% and can stack up to 10 stacks. Every damage taken will reduce the stack. Consuming thest stack will cause the yer to be invincible to a single strike. 2. Damage Reflect(I) - 0.1% of damage dealt on the user physically will be reflected into the attacker. Info: An armor made of bones and small spikes meant to damage anyone who is confident enough to strike the wearer. The harder you hit the wearer of the armor, the more damage you receive. Note: You f*cker, are you turning into a sea urchin or something? Durability: 3000/3000 ------------------------------------ ded Cestus Gloves Type: Gloves Equipment Rarity: Rare Tier Equippable at Level 75 Equippable by: Swordsman, Samurai, Pdin, Holy Knight, Magic Knight, Fighter, Berserkers, Versatile Stats: STR: 10 END: 45 Effect: 1. Hit the Face of the Bastard! -if used as a weapon, can inflict a stun thatsts for 2 seconds. Only works on small mobs with a lower level than you and has a 20% chance to stun and can inflict Blindness for 5 seconds if used against yers. Info: A normal glove that has been converted into a glove that can inflict serious damage in a fistfight. It is only useful once in a while but it certainly can save your life in a pinch. Note: Afraid of the dentist? Let me punch you real quick and your problem is solved. Durability: 2000/2000 -------------------------------------- [Swiftness Leg Armor Pants] Type: Lower Body Equipment Rarity: Rare Tier Equippable at Level 75 Equippable by: Swordsman, Samurai, Pdin, Holy Knight, Magic Knight, Berserkers, Versatile Stats: AGI: 45 END: 32 DEX: 10 Info: Reduces its defenses to increase the swift movement of the wearer. Despite low defenses, isn''t it much better if you are quick on your feet and can dodge attacks instead? Note: Imagine you are so quick, the arrow meant for your knee misses. Durability: 2500/2500 ------------------------------------ I didn''t make any shoes since the shoes are much more on the alley of the Tailor Ex Job. The shoes made using the cksmithing are quite ufortable I don''t think I will bother creating one even if it has a very good amount of defense and perks. What use are they if your experience in using it makes you so ufortable it is much better to go barefoot instead? Also, the failure creations that I made are all loaded straight to the Versatile Weapon. I thought it will level up a lot due to the amount of armor it has eaten but it barely even raise the experience bar it has. I didn''t stop crafting the armors until I received a Rare Rarity. Half of my resources are already gone down the drain. I stretch my arms and legs after that and I feel a bit tired. I would like to rest but I think it is not yet time to do so. The enemies might start attacking already in the west desert. With things ready already and I am geared up, it is time to recapture the West Desert from the enemies. Chapter 132 - Capture The West Desert (IV) -Congrattions! You have leveled up from level 99 to level 100! I wipe away my sweat as I didn''t realize my level has risen to this extent already. And take note that I didn''t intentionally farm my level to level 100, I became one due to the number of monsters attacking me on sight while I am on the way to the vige that the West Desert''s troops and the Queen''s Troops were gathered for the subjugation and remation after asking the soldiers stationed on the previous vige. Apparently, that was the only holding line left to defend the West Desert and all of the people who needed to be evacuated are all located in that ce while the carriage is constantly transferring them back to the safer vige. Due to the constant attacks, the transfer halted as this will endanger everyone''s life. However, I didn''t expect this kind of frequency that most of the people are talking about, this is just ridiculous. "What the hell? Why is it so frequent? Is it due to the event that the attacks get this frequent and violent?" I mumbled to myself. My exp gain stopped growing as I am too high level already. The enemies might be hard but they barely make my exp bar move after they are killed. The Versatile ss is now showing its stagnation in leveling. It won''t be long before everyone caught up to my level before I can even raise my level to level 101. Thankfully, I arrived in the vige. I should have arrived much sooner if not for the enemies that keep on appearing and interfering with my trip to the vige. I can''t summon my summons too due to how troublesome it will be if the NPCs mistook me as an enemymanding the monsters even though it was my own summons and has nothing to do with the monsters that are spawning in the area. Unlike in PC MMORPG genres where you can summon your pet everywhere and anytime, here you can''t do just that. Sure you can if you want to lessen your reputation and branded as an enemy by the NPCs, banning you from entering towns and viges. Anyways, I already expected the worse in the vige but it was much worse than I expected. All of the buildings and houses are wrecked to the point you can only tell it was a house before due to the remaining skeletal structure left behind on it. The rest thatpletes the houses or buildings are either reduced to rubble while some are just nothing but those skeletal structures left behind. The mostmon thing I have seen in the vige though are tents. I don''t think I have seen any solid building left behind except tents. Just looking at it makes me feel a bit sad. Not only the buildings look battered up but also the people. Except for the soldiers who are geared up, the normal popce of the vige does not look good since most of them are just wearing rags. The situation is much more dire than necessary. Approaching the gate, the guards immediately stopped me from entering, simr to the first vige, and blocked my way. "State your business," the guard said in a very stern voice. I pull out the same letter I showed the previous guard and he immediately let me go inside the moment he sees the royal seal stamped at the bottom of the letter. It was quick and the guard didn''t bother to verify if it is real or not. He just let me in without any hesitation. But I am fine with that, less hassle, easy ess, and no problem. My quest did not specify anything except that I need to recapture the West Desert back from the demons and support the human army to drive them away. There is no specific way toplete it. It doesn''t give any sort of info like asking an NPC to get their trust to fully do this. However, I needed some info rted to the demons which is why I have to meet the captain of the army stationed here. I was looking for the tent of the captain when a message appeared in my inbox. Opening it revealed to be a Video Call. I opened it and answered her call. "What''s up?" I asked. "Where are you? We just arrived in Sandurk with Harmless Sparrow. Are you already in Sandurk?" "Yeah. I already proceed to the quest. You guys will have to do the quests yourselves for now since my quest is not possible to be shared and it is a solo quest. I am in the West Desert''s vige camp." "You already arrived that far? I underestimated you a lot I think. If you can''t apany us, then we will just progress in the quest as fast as we can so that we can catch up to you then." "Alright. If you guys haven''t started doing the first quest, be sure to not be ripped off by the goblin. Just take the quest''s items and go. Don''t bother to buy the other items he sells, they can be found in regr shops and they are much cheaper if bought. Be sure to also try bargaining with him. Don''t let him get away with your money." "Is that so? Then we will remember that." "Alright, good luckpleting it." After our conversation, I was about to go to the captain''s tent when an NPC soldier started shouting. "Please evacuate immediately! We spotted a horde of monsters and an Elitemander monster, Moro the One-eyed Giant!" My eyes lit up. Moro the One-Eyed Giant! That monster is a boss monster in one dungeon in Sandurk. Moro the One-eyed Giant is already a zombie in that dungeon though but if I am assuming this right, the Moro right now is a living boss and not a zombified version of his. This means I can at least get a good chance to get a good drop from him if he was killed! After all, his zombified version drops generous rewards, what would go wrong against fighting his living counterpart? I quickly went to the soldier to inquire about it. "Where is the horde right now?" I asked. "Not too far from here. In around 5 minutes, they will be here already and I don''t think we will be able to guard this ce anymore. We will focus on evacuating the people instead of fighting the horde." After that, the soldier returned to the evacuation process. I grinned seeing this and quickly rush out of the vige. And just like what the soldier said, the horde of demons and monsters are marching down. A towering Giant is also on the very front of the horde which means that is Moro. I am already far enough and already in a good distance from the vige and the horde ising in quick. I summoned Leona and Titan out. "My liege, your orders?" Titan bowed down after he was summoned. "Rip and Tear. Leave none of those creatures alive! Do not hold back." When Titan heard this, his aura started emitting intense bloodlust and he pulls out his greatsword. "Thank you, my liege. Well then, time to quench my thirst!" Titan then brandishes his greatsword out and released a heavy roar. I also pulled out my weapon and transformed it into a cannon. This will be a good chance to test its firepower. "Time to harvest the resources before us!" Chapter 133 - Capture The West Desert (V) Moro is quite a hassle in his zombified form and I have no idea how strong Moro is while he was alive. However, there is nothing impossible if you try hard enough. The horde seems to have not noticed us as they are still not even bothered to look at us and just charge up ahead. "Heh, bastards, you won''t even know what hit you after this. [Mortar Cannon st]!" BOOM! A deafening explosion released from my cannon and a hot and fiery cannonball escaped from it, exploding in the sky. However, upon exploding, it didn''t go to waste, and instead, it got divided into smaller pellets turning into something simr to grapeshots. The grapeshot attack was enough to reduce the frontline and every small monster among them. My attack was enough for them to stop in their tracks. However, that is not enough for me to stop the attacks. "Rip them down to pieces As!" "Understood Master!" As waves his sword and roared inducing fear in the creatures that were about to attack. The bigger monsters roared back and rush towards As to attack him only to meet his de and get sliced to pieces. It was quite chaotic on As''s side as he quickly kills enemies without batting an eye at them. He decimated everything in his path and wasughing like a maniac. The messages on his kills flooded on my interface that I have to hide it to avoid cluttering too much. On the other hand, Moro didn''t expect As to appear and decimate every single demon and monster he brought along in one single sweep. "Bastard! You are interfering with my attacks! Get out of our way or die!" He was about to chase As when I shot a cannon shell right into his butt causing him to roar in pain as soon as it got shoved into his arse. The cannonball seems to have hurt his butt too much since his attention switches from As back to me. "WHO THE F*CK JUST SHOVED UP A ROCK INTO MY BUTT?!" I couldn''t help butugh at his remark. As expected, he also has some degree of intelligence in his brain. "RIGHT HERE, BIG GUY! Do you like my present? It will guarantee to clean up the excess dirt on your butthole that you would be very grateful to me after doing so! It is a one-time offer and I might as well throw in a special offer of lifetime cleaning using that for only 999 billion gold! It was a very good offer with 1 gold discount from its original price of 1 trillion gold!" "YOU BASTARD, THAT IS DAYLIGHT ROBBERY AND THE F*CK, THIS IS NOT A GOOD SERVICE! I WOULD RATHER USE GRASS AS MY WIPES THAN USE THOSE OFFERS OF YOURS!" "You think? Then have some of this too as an addition! Cannon Massage!" Considering that my Versatile Weapon is not a real cannon and is just acting like one, doing rapid-fire attacks using the cannon form is nothing. You will see a cannon that fires mortar shells with a rate of fire simr to a normal pistol. Although it isn''t as rapidpared to a machine gun''s rate of fire, considering the reload times and the normal rate of fire a cannon and mortar have, this is already fast enough and anyone who would see this would scream in terror. Imagine a cannon that can sink a ship do a rapid-fire, what would you do? "GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Moro has to cover himself and distance himself away from me due to the intense attacks of my cannon. I don''t just say what I want, I also have to do it. "Take more of this!" I reload the cannon and this time, I load up exploding cannonballs simr to the cannonball earlier that wiped out the frontline of monster horde but I didn''t use the same exploding cannonball. This one will explode upon contact to a target. As Moro continuously block the cannonballs from his direction, one particr cannonball suddenly hit his face and before he can react, it exploded and a small part of his flesh was torn after. "GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" His HP went red immediately that is why I stopped. I didn''t realize it at first but he is about to enter the berserk state. I made it too much. I also think my level is a little bit too high for me to be able to reduce his HP without even noticing. "I will not forgive you for ruining my face!" He stomps the ground and his body erupts into mes, his face that has been torn off with the cannon has been also stripped off and was reced by his skull covered in mes. I also then noticed that his health bar that has been reduced to critical levels has recovered and it also grow multiple times. Now it is multiple bars of HP. "Looks like I messed it up huh," I grinned. Not because of fear but because of the excitement. Unlike the battle against the leprechaun without the faintest idea on how to kill it was different. Since the enemy this time is just harder to defeat but not invincible, I am itching for some real challenge. "Hehe, if it was a battle you want, its a battle you will get!" I mmed down the cannon to the ground before changing it to a magic sword. Using the weapon I am really familiar with, there is no reason for me to not be able to go one on one with him." His ming club started to get bigger and spikes grew on its surface. After that, he started swinging the club to my direction. I quickly dodge but I didn''t evade the clubpletely but used it as a timing to properly get a hold on it. The moment my feetnded to the club, I activated the [Frozen Sword] skill and stab his burning hand. Smoke started rising from the sword as it''s frozen de starts to melt. Many might find it foolish since Ice is weak against the fire and I used it against him. "That is useless! You won''t be able to kill me like that!" "We will see if that is what will happen!" As steam rises, I casually wave my hand as I activate the Alchemist special ability for crafting items and potions. "[Condensation]!" before aiming that skill to the vaporized ice from my sword. When itnded, water appeared and quickly extinguished his mes in the arms. "Now, would you rather burn or would you rather turn to charcoal early?" Chapter 134 - Capture The West Desert (VI) Moro''s ming body is massive and it is quite enough to destroy a small town in mere seconds. No wonder the first pioneers in the past timeline had a hard time dealing with Moro. With his two phases of berserk, it would be a very hard one even for them especially since they are not just facing Moro but also the horde that he brought along. I only managed to breeze out the horde due to the help of As also due to the intense firepower the cannon form of my Versatile Weapon has. Using the Magic Sword form of the Versatile Weapon, I started to slice up into his ming arm and every time steam appears, I would immediately use [Condensation] and make a temporary rain. It allowed me to cool down the ming body of Moro bit by bit. Of course, that doesn''t mean he won''t retaliate. When I was halfway through his arm, he quickly tries to swat me t like a mosquito or insect. He is giant but he is quite fast. Also, even though his body is getting rotten and his face is only showing down a skull, that doesn''t mean he is easily broken. I choose the timing and before his handnded on where I was, I jump to his swatting hand and switch a ce to attack next. Landing on his burning arm is hard. Aside from the pain of being burned, it also stings a lot just by being in his arm for a few seconds. That is why, if I want to survive as long as I can while whittling his defenses and HP bar, I have to chip away all of his parts just like how he was in his skeletal form. "HA!" One single swing from my sword and flesh on his forefinger separated from the main hand, effectively cutting off one of his fingers. After doing the deed, I went down from his ming hand immediately and chug down a bottle of intermediate health potion. He tried to recover his ming finger that was cut off to regenerate it back and attach it again but I didn''t allow him to do so as I st it with my cannon from Versatile Weapon. It only has a little bit of lifespan so destroying it would disable his regeneration. "Cursed Human!" he stomps his foot to the ground creating a small Earthquake which is an attempt to make me stumble down to the ground in which he will stomp me immediately the moment I fall down. But to someone who is very knowledgeable on his moveset, that is just nothing but child''s y to me. "MASTER! ATLAS IS HERE TO HELP!" "Good! Since you have done your job, we have onest enemy to take down! I think you can handle this guy without problem, I presume?" "ATLAS IS STRONG! A FLAMING GIANT IS JUST A GIANT CHARCOAL TO ME!" As a former boss, As is quite formidable. Despite easily bullied when he was just a little boss in a dungeon, that doesn''t mean he needs to stagnate in a dungeon. For someone as strong as As, he has yet to meet his limits, and facing Moro is a good way for him to learn techniques and gain experience to fight and get stronger. "Listen As, although he is a giant, he is fast. He can attack without slowing down so be careful if he is about to try swatting you down, he is not just going to let you waltz in and bonk him with your sword. You need to strategize and be sure to attack him with safety in mind! The higher your HP is, the better we can take him down easily!'' "I will coordinate on Master''s attacks so that we can incapacitate him as fast as we can. From what I can see, his eye sockets on his head are the one with the weakness." "Indeed. That is a good and astute observation. Moro''s weakness is his eyes in this form. I can''t use the cannonballs to shoot it down as the cannonballs disintegrate before it gets near. However, melee weapons can easily deal with it. Our goal is to destroy his arms and cripple his legs before hitting his head once and for all. Can you handle this?" "Of course, Master!" "I will handle the left arm, you handle the right!" As followed my orders and focused on the right arm. Although Moro is a very destructive guy, that doesn''t mean he has no weakness. As a one-eyed giant, he might have a massive eye but he can only do so with only one eye, which means he can attack one point but leave an opening on the blindside. This tactic is usually the easiest way to take down Moro in the past. Seeing most of his movesets are just simr to his zombified version, I don''t think we needed to deviate from this n. Since Moro''s target is none other than me, As can freely deal with his right hand while I deal with his left hand. "You make me angrier human! You will make for a nice meal once I capture and kill you!" "Try it!" Moro quickly ms his palms to the ground, trying to smash me to smithereens using the rapid attacks on his palms. However, this speed is nothing for me, and evading them is just a daily routine for me in the past, I know how to adjust my movements just to dodge off your attacks. When Moro is busy with me, As already arrived on Moro''s shoulders. Before Moro can even react, As slices his shoulder and cuts off the arm dangling on it in a swift manner. "AAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!" Moro screamed in pain as his left arm fell to the ground. I didn''t waste my time and rapidly attacked the fallen arm before Moro can recover from the pain and destroy it. As also attacked it so before Moro can even take time to find where his dismembered arm went, it was already gone for good. Chapter 135 - Capture The West Desert (VII) The guards and the Female Captain, Ivona already finished the evacuation of the citizens. The guards already predicted that the horde will arrive in just a few minutes but it''s already 30 minutes and the horde has yet to arrive. "Are you sure the horde is already approaching the town and will arrive in just a few minutes left? How many minutes are we even talking about? It''s already been half an hour and yet the horde you are talking about is not yet here. Are you somewhat doing a joke or something, scout?" "There is no way I would be mistaken, Captain. I already estimated their distance while I was on guard duty before I reported and conducted an evacuation," the scout said. "Then howe there are no sightings of the horde breaking in the vige?" "Ah, I think "that" guy earlier has something to do with it." "What? "That" guy?" Captain Ivona furrowed her eyebrows. "Yes, Captain. Someone asked me earlier what is happening and when I told him about it, he immediately rushes towards the direction where the horde was. I tried to stop him but he sprinted quickly and I have no choice but to continue the evacuation than to follow him." Captain Ivona grips her sword and her gun tightly as she decided to dere amand. "Follow me and bring the mortars and siege cannons. We will be meeting up with the horde head-on and if you see a monstering straight to the vige, shoot it without hesitation!" "YES SIR!" ... ... While the soldiers and the captain are ready to face what danger was currently threatening the vige, As and I are enjoying our new toy, the One-Eyed Giant, Moro who is now kneeling on the ground while he no longer has his two arms. His left leg has been also dismembered by As and the only functional leg left behind is his right leg that has been bombarded with cannonballs by my Versatile Weapon in the cannon form. Moro still has 3 full HP bar out of the 5 HP bars he has when he started fighting against me and activated his berserk form. "HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO THE GREAT MORO!" Moro growled as he tried his best to remain up from the ground while using his right leg to support himself. "It just sucks to be you, giant charcoal meeting my master. Also, I didn''t expect doing this slow torture to be somewhat getting fun!" As said and stabs the leg of Moro with his sword causing the roar of Moro to echo loudly that it is producing a very weak shockwave. As continues to stab Moro''s remaining leg until it separated from his body and he fell facefirst to the ground, creating a mini Earthquake around the vicinity. I didn''t waste the opportunity and destroyed his dismembered leg, leaving his torso alone. "I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU HUMANS FOR CAUSING MY WHOLE BODY TO FEEL PAINNNN! IF YOU WANT ME DEAD, I WILL DRAG YOU ALL WITH ME!" Moro screamed and I quickly notice the changes in Moro''s body heat and the mes on his body started to boil and it seemingly releases a very deadly liquid. It looks like his blood has been transformed intova. "As! He is going to erupt! Get back!" As was quick and appeared beside me. As soon as I see him arrive next to me, I change my cannon and changed it to a spear and shield and m down the shield right in front of me. I also pull out a bottle of Advance Mana Potion and bit its cork to open it before firmly holding the shield and cast a skill. "[Domain of the Shield]!" VOOOOOMMMMM! My shield glows and it duplicates itself, creating a domain of shields around us. It surrounded us with multiple transparent shields and covered the whole area around us. SWOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHH! BOOOOOM! Moro''s body exploded and my shield took the brunt of the force. The moment the wave hits the shield, heavy pressure quickly builds up on my body and is currently trying to crush me down. The heat is also quite strong that even with the [Domain of the Shield]''s ability to make the caster invincible for the duration of the skill, the heat from the attack is enough to slowly whittle down my HP bit by bit. Thankfully, the explosion didn''tst long and it stopped but the heat remains in the surroundings so I have to drink potions to recover. I also have to drink some Mana Potion since I ran out of mana after using the [Domain of the Shield]. This skill is a very good skill to cast invincibility to the whole party but it has a very big downside and it is not rmended to use unless it is forst resort. Once the skill was cast, the skill will remain active until the user manually stops it or the user runs out of mana. After the skill was used, the user will be inflicted with Fatigue and Sickness debuff that would greatly reduce your maximum health, defense, and attack. You will also gain increased damage taken debuff. Not only that, the skill is not really good as your teammate cannot attack as long as they are inside the domain, making it impractical. The debuffs are also a type that cannot be healed and needed to wait for a few minutes before they will disappear. In dungeon runs, this is only used by a party if the enemy will try to self-destruct just like how Moro did. Losing your tank in a battle is very bad so if you used this skill to tank a little damage, your team is dead before the tank can even recover. Thankfully, Moro is dead. His self-destruct attack was meant to wipe out everyone in the vicinity around him but thankfully, we survived. As helped me get back up to my feet as I feel sluggish and heavy due to the debuff. However, I am quite sure that I won this time, seeing all the loot on Moro''s ashes. From the color of the loot, most of the items here are all in Very Rare rarity. It was a jackpot. Chapter 136 - Capture The West Desert (VIII) The guards who were assembled just outside the vige suddenly heard a loud boom sound and an intense heat in the air suddenly sweeps in and stops their advance. "What the heck is going on?!" the soldiers can even barely stand the heat. Captain Ivona who is much strongerpared to the guards also felt the intense heating from somewhere and although she can withstand its heat, it is certainly very unpleasant to the skin that she has to hide on a wall along with her soldiers. It took a few minutes before the hot air that surrounds the area disappeared and the air returned to normal. Everyone went out from their hiding spots and felt their skin as if they are scalded by the hot air. Some have minor burns while those who are much stronger only felt hot but not injured. Captain Ivona thenmands her men to march forward and look for the sign of the horde. "Strange, the horde is nowhere in sight," the scout who ryed the info to Captain Ivona scratches his head after finding out that the horde of monsters that wasing is missing and nowhere to be found. "Did you lie to us?" Captain Ivona asked in a stern voice. "No captain. Even if you torture me to death, I will still say the same thing." They continue to walk a bit more and noticed the markings of blood present on the sand. It was not the red bloodmonly seen but the green and blue colored ones in which the only creatures that possess them are demons and monsters. "Scouts, check-up ahead of us and report once you all see something strange," Captain Ivona ordered. The two scouts saluted before they went out to check what is happening in the distance. A few minutester, only one scout returned and ryed what they have seen. "Reporting in, Captain. We discovered where the horde went but they are no longer alive. They are all dead and have either been shed to pieces or smashed to smithereens." "Where is the other guy who came with you? Why is he not here?" Captain Ivona asked. "He went ahead further because he noticed something smoking not too far from our location. He just asked me to get some backup in case things get hairy." "Alright then, lead the way," Captain Ivona said and followed the scouts to where they found the bodies. They didn''t arrive at the area yet when the smell of disgusting and putrid air emanated to her nose, causing her to cover her nose and mouth as she can also somewhat taste the disgusting air for some reason. Pushing onward, they arrive at the sight, and all the monsters'' dead bodies are piled up. Captain Ivona frowned and she looked at the wounds of the monsters. "It seems like the weapon used is a greatsword or simr to it. But what I am a bit not sure how a single person can do so much ughter." While Captain Ivona was busy analyzing the remains of the dead monsters, the other scout who didn''te back along with the other guy appeared running. "Captain! Reporting in! I found the one who caused this ughter not too far from us! He is currently lying on the sand weakened with a big armored guy who is guarding him and keeps his sword pointed to every being that came too close!" "Call the others to follow me, we will be going to meet the one who annihted the threat." The other scout nodded and went back to ry the message while the other scout led Captain Ivona towards the smoke. As they got closer to where the smoke is rising, the heat is also rising, which allowed Captain Ivona to piece together where the explosion of heat centered. When they reached the area, what Captain Ivona saw is a huge skull and skeletal remains of a giant with only one eye socket. ... Although I feel heavy all over my body after using the [Domain of the Shield], I can still move around without much problem. I already picked up all the loot that was dropped from the body of Moro but I felt so heavy and fatigued to even move around. I ordered As to stand guard while I rest due to the bacsh. If I don''t rest, I might get thrown out of the Reality Verse before I can evenplete the game. It didn''t take long before I saw someone approaching my location. Based on how she was wearing, I assume she is the captain the soldiers were talking about. "HUMAN! DON''T YOU DARE APPROACH OR MY BLADE WILL HIT YOU!" The captain quickly draws out her sword but she didn''t attack immediately. I tap As''s back and stopped him from doing anything. "Stop it As. They are not an enemy. Put down your sword." As was hesitant but he followed my orders and put away his sword. The captain nodded in response and sheathed her sword again before approaching. "I presume you are the one who annihted the demons who were about to attack the vige?" "It''s not only me who defended the vige, my bud here helped me take the threats down. If I was the only one, I would be overwhelmed and easily get killed by them all." The captain looked at As while thetter also looked at her with his eyes glowing under his helmet. "I couldn''t care less if he is a being of the darkness or not as long as he helped to defend the vige and keep everything and everyone safe, then he has my gratitude for that, and also to you as well. We may have arrivedte but I will introduce myself. I am the Captain of the 10th battalion, Ivona Yasezeva. As the captain tasked to defend the vige, I owe you guys a great deal of gratitude. Please follow us and we will have to treat your wounds." "Much appreciated." Ivona looked at the skeletal remains of Moro and nodded before she looked at me and smiled. "It looks like we don''t need to perform a raid to the hideout of the demons anymore to kill their leader since we have in the one who is controlling the West Desert." Once Ivona said those words, the quest log finally updated. [Mission Aplished] Chapter 137 - Capture The West Desert (Final) I called back As after I received help from the soldiers and Captain Ivona. They escorted me back to their tents and gave me some potions to heal and although they are inferiorpared to the potions that I crafted, I won''t say no to free stuff. Thankfully, the aftereffects caused by the [Domain of the Shield] have lessened and only the [Fatigue] debuff is left behind which will disappear after another 10 minutes. I can now move without feeling burdened. "So, all of the invading forces were killed by you and your summon? You must be blessed by the goddesses to be able to do a feat like that. Even if the one who wiped out most of the enemies is your summon, it only represents that the owner is also a force to reckon with." "I don''t think I am blessed with the goddesses but I was indeed chosen by Titania to help solve the problem in this continent," I said before I show the badge that confirms my identity as a Pioneer. "A Pioneer! Praise the goddesses and they finally granted our wishes!" Captain Ivona eximed with her eyes shining. "The Queen sent me here to reim the territory surrounding the West Desert. Since I defeated Moro, defeating the small batches of demons and monsters who upied the residential areas of the West Desert will be a breeze." "Yes. I already deployed some of my troops to take out the monster encampments. Since most encampments are easy to take out, we will not have any trouble destroying them. Moro is the main threat of wiping them out so now that he is dead, we can now take back this ce and mark it as one of the sessful captures." "Are you going to report to the queen about this?" I asked. Then, someone from the outside of the tent answered my question. It belongs to someone I just mentioned. Captain Ivona bowed down as Queen Tanya went inside the tent. "Your Majesty. I didn''t know you are here in West Desert.'' "I just arrived, raise your head, Captain. I came here without notifying anyone so you can say it is a surprise visit. Anyways, I never expected deheart to quickly take care of the quest I just gave him. Most impressive indeed, as expected of my rival!" "It is nothing, your majesty. I just did what I can to finish this problem as soon as possible. If we keep dawdling and keeping everything slow, we might be toote and the enemy might be already too strong for us to handle. I don''t want the monsters to easily gain the upper hand and overwhelm us." "You are exactly right deheart. That is one of the things I wanted to mention after I heard you defeated the one who holds control in West Desert. I just received a notice on my soldiers in the Southern Oasis that the monster who holds the area captive by monsters is on the move. It was a monster living in the water and seems to be hesitant to leave and just let the monsters do the bidding of this leader. I want you to capture this area next." My ears perked up when I heard about the next area I will be capturing. Southern Oasis is the area where I can obtain papyrus which is a necessary material I needed if I wanted to use scrolls. Not only that, if my assumption is correct, the boss here is another one who has risen as a corpse by a necromancer like how Moro did in the past. Serbal, the Jaw Lord. This boss is also one of the enemies I have fought in the past in which I would rate to be one of those bosses I hate to fight against. I fought against his corpse a few times but I didn''t bother to kill this boss repeatedly like how I did kill Moro in the past. What I am eyeing out is not the drops I would get for killing Serbal but the one reason why Serbal won''t leave the Southern Oasis. There at the bottom of the Oasis is the chamber Serbal hid the treasure he was guarding, the Ring of Aquanious, a legendary rarity ring and one of those items with a handy function. Once a user wears the Ring of Aquanious, they will gain the ability to breathe underwater. If I want to prepare for the future continents the game will release in the future, this ring will be a fine addition that will help me ease my future ns. "If the next movement of the enemies is on the Southern Oasis, I will move there and make sure the Southern Oasis will be back in the human hands." "I will be looking forward to thepletion of this. You are going to y a very big role in this battle, deheart. Don''t disappoint me,'' Queen Tanya said and tap my shoulder. That is also the time the quest log updated for me. Pioneer''s Responsibility [Capture the Southern Oasis] Type: Pioneer Questline Objective: With the foothold of the humans established after the sessful capture of the West Desert, it is time to continue and capture the next ce where the movements of the enemies are now getting apparent. Defeat the monster ruling the ce and rebuild the foothold of the humans. Note: Desert is not just full of sand, the water also exists here. However, this is the most brutal ce in the desert as all beings including the humans are fighting the battle royale to grab the opportunity to drink a single cup of water in this oasis. Will you ept this Quest? Yes/No Without hesitation, I pushed the Yes button, epting the quest. ... After a full day inside the game, I went out of the Reality Verse and log out. As soon as I get myself out of the game, the fatigue that has been umting on my body after ying transferred here in the real world. I groaned as I try to channel the remaining mana in my body to stabilize the stress level I am feeling. I soon realized that something changed in my body. Am I this buffed up before I entered the Reality Verse? Chapter 138 - Manifestation Of Ability (Mini ) There is no way I would be wrong. I am not this buff earlier. I know how my body looks and how it feels. I also know that the Reality Verse has the same concept of allowing yourself to train in the game but I am quite sure that you don''t get this buffed up in just one day. So howe my body is like this already? Since there are some changes in my body that I didn''t realize, I went to the bathroom and check my body in the mirror. Taking off the shirt, the first thing my hands inspected is my abdomen. Before, it was just one simple abdomen without any sort of muscle I can brag on others. Now, six-pack abs appeared and formed my formless abdomen. I touched my abs for confirmation if this was real and to my surprise, it was indeed real and it feels simr to how an ab was developed in the gym by conducting exercises. Although I am working out, I just recently started and there is no way my abdomen would be this developed especially since this body of mine still can''t handle too much strainpared to my body in the past timeline. My biceps are also considerably bulkier and more tonedpared to mynky-looking arm before. I didn''t experience this kind of thing in the past timeline and even if I y in the game and do rough things inside, it also takes some time before your body will be this toned. ''Is this perhaps the effect of the Reality Verse Nexus?'' The cabin Reality Verse does not really impact much in your body and it took so much time before I managed to see differences in my body. However, the pace of my development when I used the Nexus version is quite different. That''s when I get some sort of idea. If my progression is fasterpared to the past timeline, does that mean I can now manifest my first ability that is not simr to the speed abilities? Channeling my mana in my arms, I also find out that it is much more fluidpared to yesterday. It was like normal water flowing freely in and out of your body. Confirming the fluidity of my mana flow, I visioned my mana to transform its form and incorporate the ability it has. CRACKLE! BZZZZZT! I opened my eyes and my smile grew wide when electricity is now flowing out of my hands. I silently raised my hands in the air and started dancing after the first manifestation of my ability. To think my n of training my whole body for a year will be cut a lot, this only gives me the chance to master different abilities and develop more skills that will be a handy tool for my future. ... Somewhere in an unknown room, Tojiro stares at the monitor of theputer that was disying the status of Manato''s body and whatever things are currently undergoing on it. Tojiro''s AI program appeared on the monitor and with a jolly movement, hovered on the screen, covering whatever status Manato has. "It seems the guy you are risking everything with has finally developed his ability! Isn''t this a great change and a great differencepared to all of the records you have done in your different timelines?" "I don''t want to overthink too much about it. It is just too early to assume this will be a sessful attempt but I have high expectations of him." "You seemed to be confident that everything will change now, Tojiro," Tojiro''s AI said as he noticed the confident look on him. "One small change can actually impact greatly on everything, in stories and folktales, naturally even this change will also happen in real life. He has yet to know about this. He is my only shot of seeding." Chapter 139 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (I) After eating breakfast with the siblings and learning all of their escapades in the game, I went back to my room and logged back into the game to continue the quest of Queen Tanya and get to drive out Serbal''s demons and monsters also y Serbal too. When I log back in, I materialized inside the inn of the vige where I rested my character before I log out. As soon as I regain control of my body, emails appeared in my inbox, and some missed callsing from Dolly. The dates of the missed calls happened during the time I logged out from the game to rest. Since she was already online, I decided to call her already and check up on what is the ruckus and why she called me so many times. After waiting for a bit, her face appeared on the screen. "Hey, deheart! What is going on? Why you didn''t respond to my calls?" "I was offline during the time you called. Why don''t you check if I was online or not so that you won''t me me for something I didn''t know, got that?" "Huh? You were offline?" Dolly looked puzzled. "Seriously, you didn''t check did you?" "I didn''t." "..." "Okay, okay. It is my fault so don''t be angry. Anyway, what I am trying to ask you over is an SOS for help. We needed some help over here on our side. We can''t do this all by ourselves!" "You guys are adults now and there are also other yers who also share the same quests with us which will help you guysplete some of the quests without my help." "Seriously deheart, these other yers are all bastards and selfish pricks! They are just here to level up and explore the map instead ofpleting the game! They said that they never wanted to do any questing for a while." I sighed at this problem and I read it on the forum about the questline and raid of the Sandurk being overly hard due to the ipetence of the yers who participated and due to theck of manpower, the enemy became too strong and if not for Queen Tanya''s interference, the Sandurk Continent will be a goner. Never would I have thought that those rumors on the inte during that time were indeed real. If my assumption is correct, the Sandurk region might not be in bad shape if the raid quest was done correctly like how it should have been and has beenpleted before the enemy became much stronger. "Alright, if the quest you guys are undertaking is not that troublesome to handle and can bepleted without a problem, I might give some help on you guys." "Good to know! Anyways, our quest is to annihte both tribes that are camping in Southern Oasis and weaken the troops of Serbal the Jaw Lord." Huh, it was a very good thing but I guess my struggle against Serbal won''t be my burden alone since I hate fighting against him by myself. Their quest line is tied to my quest line so I guess they are lucky I am also on the way to y Serbal. "You guys should be thankful since my questline involves killing Serbal. If you guys are on the way to destroy their troops, you just called the right guy to do the job. Of course, this is not a job for free. I will be taking at least two drops from the elite enemies or bosses if we encountered one like mine. The rest of the drops are all yours, even the money is something I don''t need so you guys can also take that too." "That is fine too. We don''t expect to get things for free so we already expected it." "Okay, sit tight. I will being there in a jiffy. Where are you guys right now?" "We are just outside the tribe of the lizardmen with red skin. The leader of the tribe leading them is Beraka and he is currently wielding a spear with electric currents on his hands." "Noted. Wait for me over there. You guys can provoke them but don''t touch the harder enemies. If things get tough, be sure to retreat." Before Dolly can respond or say anything, I ended the call and went out of the inn. Outside of the vige, the soldiers are already doing some reconstruction of the vige knowing that the demon threat in West Desert is already gone for good. The vigers who saw me walk past by are all cheering and greeting me. Some are even approaching and shakes my hand saying their gratitude to me. It was fun and a bit heartwarming to receive some gratitude. Many of the children started calling me the Wolfhead Hero and although the parents were scolding their children about it, I didn''t mind because I indeed have a wolf head mask in my head, it is pretty urate but to be called a hero by the kids, it feels kind of awkward. Not only do I receive praise but I also received some items like cookies and some other items like potions. Cookies and food items came from the little kids and they are already something I look forward to eating. Since this game stimtes your taste buds too, I can taste the cookies without a problem alongside the solution to my hunger problem if I ever feel hungry. I went outside the vige to leave using Leona but I saw Captain Ivona and Queen Tanya waiting for me outside. "Hey there, Wolf Head Hero!" Queen Tanya waved her hand as I went out of the vige exit. "Huh? Queen Tanya, Captain Ivona, why are you guys here?" "We are just saying our farewells for now since you are going to the Southern Oasis. Even though we didn''t help much on this, we still feel indebted to you since you destroyed Moro without our help. At least, even with the farewells, you can feel our support too." "I appreciate the gesture. And really guys, you already helped me a lot by evacuating the vigers which is already a good thing since if my attacks failed, I can rest assured that the vigers will be safe." Captain Ivona smiled and she stood straight and salute. "On behalf of all the knights stationed here, we honor deheart for all the heroic act he has done to this vige. Since you are departing towards a new danger, we send the blessing of good fortune to your adventure. May the Gods guide you in your journey!" "As for me, I will be joining you go to the Southern Oasis. Are you fine with that?" Queen Tanya proudly grinned. "As someone who defeated me inbat, I am quite ted for you to join me in this. However, I may ask, why are you alone going to Southern Desert? Where are your escorts?" "Escorts? Ha! Escorts are unnecessary for me! And I like adventures that I can do. If I can do it myself, why bother other people?" "You have a point, so I won''t argue with it," Iughed. "Anyways, are you going? I will being with you." "Yes. But we are not going to walk." "Huh? Are we going to ride a carriage?" Queen Tanya looked puzzled. "I have a much greater onepared to a carriage. Leona!" When I called her name, Leona got summoned in the sky and she roared that even the Queen was stunned by the appearance of Leona. "No way! The legendary Gryphon of the myths and legends is still alive?!" Chapter 140 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (II) Leona who appeared out of thin air and has been flying majestically caused Queen Tanya''s shock. "Is what I am seeing is real? The legendary Gryphon that has been passed down to the legends as a mythical beast is a steed of yours?!" "Yes. I was lucky to get her when she was still a baby so she is quite attached to me. She will obey mymands without hesitation. Though I usually allow her to think by herself. Now, let''s get going. We shouldn''t just slow our progress because of Leona." I added Queen Tanya to my party. Even though they are just NPCs, you can invite them into the party like a follower as Lina does. This way, Leona will also allow Queen Tanya to ride her back. Leona slowly descended from the sky andnded in front of us. I climbed up Leona''s back before helping Queen Tanya climb on her back. "Wow, although I have already have experienced riding on some flying beasts, the feeling of riding your steed is quite another feeling altogether. I am a little bit jealous..." "Haha, it''s alright your majesty. There will be a time where a more majestic and legendary than Leona will appear. If that is the case, maybe you should try to tame it." "Impossible. Many monsters tend to be afraid of me so unless the steed of my liking will willingly submit, there is no way they will follow me." I can''t me the monsters though. Queen Tanya is vicious enough that any enemy who stands in her way will either flee or die on her hands without leaving a single bone and dust on the ground that signifies that they exist before. We bid farewell to Captain Ivona who got surprised but quickly recovered from it. ... Due to the speed of Leona, we didn''t take too long to arrive at Southern Oasis, and just like what the reports that the NPCs gave to me, the Southern Oasis is indeed crawling with different enemies. We already passed through the soldiers'' encampment and it was too far from the main core of Southern Oasis which only means the situation in this ce is much worse than in the West Desert. "Are we not going to head straight to the soldiers'' encampment?" Queen Tanya asked. "Somepanions are asking for my help on lowering the morale of Serbal''s troops and weakening the offensive power of the enemies. Since this request of theirs also coincide with the request I needed to do, I decided to head straight here." "Well, that is indeed a good point but isn''t it better to ask for help from other people? Like for example, the soldiers as stallers for the smaller mobs so that the battle against the main enemy is much easier to deal with." "It was a good tactic but we are going to lose some soldiers in the process. If we just attack without their help, the casualty is much less. The soldiers will be a much better distraction once the battle against the ruler of this area is much better. They should take the time to increase their offense and defense so that the battle won''t be full of casualty." "You are quite knowledgeable in tactics, I see. You would make a fine general if you are just one of us." "Thank you for acknowledging my abilities, however, I am a free guy and will not allow the responsibility to take me out from trouble. I would rather stay like this than staying rusty due to a responsibility shoved to me." "That is a real shame. But what you just said is right. If I was as free as you, I wouldn''t be stuck on the throne governing and defending my people but I would be out there adventuring and discovering secrets unknown. However, I have the responsibility so I can''t just abandon it just to pursue my hobby and dreams." I kind of sympathize with Queen Tanya''s backstory but I can''t do anything about it. Ever since she was a kid, she is already royal blood and she has the responsibility to seed the throne whether she likes it or not. While I was thinking about Queen Tanya''s life, Leona is slowly descending and I noticed not too far from us is the tribe of lizardmen. Not too far from us is Harmless Sparrow and Dolly attacking the lizardmen. Their party is quite bad since there is no healer and both of them are damage dealers. Once they lose health, they will have to rely on their own health regeneration or quickly drink a potion to mitigate the HP reduction every time the enemy attacks. "Dolly, Sparrow! The backup has arrived! Add me to your party quickly!" Dolly quickly opened the interface and sent a party invite. Since I was already at a party with Queen Tanya, the party merge appeared and I allowed it to happen. This way, even if I attack the enemies, my party members will be fine and will not receive any damages from my attacks. I looked at Queen Tanya and she grinned as I nodded in response. Without thinking twice, I jumped off Leona''s back and changed my weapon into a hammer, and charged it in mid-air. As for Queen Tanya, she used her ability in her Magician Ability Tree, [Levitation], and slowly descended in the air while materializing her giant scythe. I can tell she is itching for a fight. The twodies who were fighting desperately against the swarm of lizardmen heaved a sigh of relief and quickly unleashed all of their attacks against the enemies. Before I descended, I swing the hammer down to the ground, creating a shockwave that made a shockwave that stuns every lizardman in the nearby vicinity. "Let the bloodbath begin!" Queen Tanya grinned like a crazy and swings herrge bloody scythe at the enemies, killing them in one hit. Dolly and Harmless Sparrow were stunned seeing how Queen Tanya did the one-hit kill against multiple enemies. I changed my weapon into a dagger and attacked the enemies who didn''t get caught on Queen Tanya''s scythe. I looked at the two dazed girls and snapped their daze and bring them back to reality. "Oy, don''t just dawdle there! Go!" Chapter 141 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (III) The sudden appearance of Leona caused a stir and a sense of fear to the lizardmen who didn''t anticipate our arrival. This caused another sense of panic and lowering their morale due to how Queen Tanya obliterated the enemies who were just about to attack. As for those who managed to survive like those lizardmen I just stunned using my charged hammer, they were not sure what to do and have been trying to escape the battle. "You have arrived! And you brought a backup too!" Harmless Sparrow said as soon as she recovered from her shock after our sudden arrival. "Gosh, deheart. If you have said so earlier that you will arrive in this grandiose and shy way, we might have been able to prepare for that and avoided the shock altogether!" Dolly pouted. "Seriously, if an enemy bossnded here all of sudden, then the two of you would be floating in the cathedral already! Be sure to be aware of the surroundings too sometimes and respond to anything unusual things that suddenly appear, you guys are lucky that it was my pet that arrived and not some random boss that just randomly spawned and messes your day," I said to them. Although that is possible to happen while you are in a quest, it is very rare and usually, if that happened, yers will immediately flock to the appearance site of the boss and before anyone can react and the ones that will attack the earliest might be the ones who will receive the best drops as they will have the priority to receive the loot since most of the time, this boss ying thing in a random map will just be an auto distribution of loot every time. "Hey now, cowards! Come out! If you lizardmen are all tough beings thene out and fight back!" Queen Tanyaughed maniacally as she taunts the lizardmen causing many of them to be taunted and she happily ys them down. "By the way, deheart? Who is that scythe-wielding woman whonded down with you? I don''t think I have seen her among the pioneers who have been chosen by the goddess Titania," Harmless Sparrow asked when she noticed Queen Tanya mowing down the enemies like nothing. "Askter, we have some pressing matters we need to attend to!" Just like what I said, the enemies has started to pour out from the camp. Dolly quickly cast a spell to deal AOE magic spell, while Harmless Sparrow deal damage to the enemies while keeping the enemies away from Dolly. On the other hand, I changed my weapon to a Ceremonial Staff and started healing the two. I didn''t heal Queen Tanya since she can easily gain back her lost health if she ever lost some due to her passive [Life-Taker] and [Offering to the Dead] in which the former can allow the user to heal half the max HP of the enemy killed while thetter allows the user to regenerate health by dealing damage to the enemy. The higher the damage dealt to enemies, the same amount will be healed to her. So if you think you can defeat her by stalling and drinking potions, you will ran out of potions to drink before you can even chip away at least 1% of her HP bar. After giving the two of them the [Regeneration] buff, I switched into a dagger and quickly deal sneak damage andst hit killing the lizardmen who didn''t die yet. Quick, silent and fatal. Those words best describes my efficiency. Still, no matter how many I killed, the EXP bar still hasn''t moved from 0% which means I am getting very slow exp gain even with the buff of the party where you can gain 10% more experience if you are in a party. This only means the toll of the Versatile ss has finally taken hold. "Sh*t, the boss has appeared!" Harmless Sparrow muttered as she dispose thest enemy near her. I also stopped attacking and looked towards the location of the enemy and saw a hulking lizardman, wearing bulky gold armor, has a double-edged great axe as a weapon and has a crab as a steed. I frowned at the sight of this enemy since this is clearly not Beraka. Beraka wields the spear imbued with Electric energy and from what I remember on Beraka, he doesn''t wear an armor but relies on his red scales that he is so proud to boast about due to how durable it was. "F*ck, that is clearly not Beraka! Get back!" With features like that, there is no way I would be wrong, this boss that just appeared on Beraka''s camp is none other than the tribe leader of the yellow camp and the boss of his own camp, Golgoch. Dolly and Harmless Sparrow quickly retreated and frowned. "What is going on? ording to the viges we just visited, Beraka should be the easiest to defeat out of the two enemies! Howe it is Golgoch who appeared?!" Dolly is now feeling distressed seeing the oue. Just as Dolly and Harmless Sparrow feel the pressure exuded by Golgoch, another lizardman who is wielding a spear and has red scale also appeared and is now standing side by side by Golgoch. "Ha, its not just Golgoch that we need to worry about, Beraka is already here to make our day worse," Iughed dryly. Queen Tanya rejoined us and grinned seeing the two bosses who appeared on the area. "Would you look at that, the main dishes have finally arrived at longst after serving us with just appetizers and other stuff so nd!" Beraka smirked and stares at us with a condescending vibe and started speaking. "You lot seems to have gone crazy, attacking the camp while we are in the middle of joining the alliance. It seems we have new heads we can use to decorate the pikes, soldiers!" Beraka said as he rally his lizardmen tribe. "..." Golgoch remained silent but the gaze from his helmet is strong enough to feel pressure. Since there is no way we can escape this, things will get more interesting right now. Chapter 142 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (IV) Due to the unexpected appearance of Golgoch, the quest log of Dolly and Harmless Sparrow updated based on the current predicament. Since the quest cannot be shared, I didn''t see the content of their quest. "Seriously? Do we have to defeat those two toplete the quest?! Isn''t that impossible?!" Dolly is now feeling confused and worried seeing the new quest log for them. "Are you girls serious? You worried about them defeating you gals? They are just a bunch of weaklings so why get worried about them? Just whack them with the magic spells you got and if you guys run out of mana to use, then use your weapons to whack their skulls down!" Queen Tanya said without batting an eye. The two didn''t expect Queen Tanya''s words. Iughed dryly and exined it to them. "You guys should get used to it, her words might be brutal as hell but she can back up everything she just said with her actions." "What the hell, are you serious with this deheart?" Dolly felt it was ridiculous right from the very beginning. "No time toin, guys! They areing!" Golgoch is charging at us with his double-edged ax and ms it down to the ground causing shockwaves that travel towards us on the ground. We quickly dodged it but the girls didn''t anticipate the next attack that came from Beraka who is acting as the support of Golgoch who is acting as the main tank. The lightning attack that was hurled towards Dolly and Harmless Sparrow was strong enough that they were stunned after the attacknded on them. "Ack! We can''t move!" I didn''t wait for their stun to went off and cast the spell of the cleric [Cleanse] and also used [Heal] on them, allowing them to move again before they get hit by Golgoch who was about to smash them to a pulp. "Keep sharp guys! We can''t afford you guys to die here!" I shouted to them. "Thanks for the save!" Harmless Sparrow said before she imbued her weapon with Fire Element. "Damn you! You dare hit a girl, I will turn you to a barbecue lizard!" Dolly extends both hands and conjured two fireballs on her hands and repeatedly unleashes them at the two lizardmen Beraka has to avoid the fireball as he will explode into mes once he gets hit on it, though it is the opposite on Golgoch as he faces them head-on without care for them. "Don''t waste your mana on Golgoch! Focus the barrage on Beraka instead!" I shouted. Queen Tanya is taking care of the minions so we can''t rely on her to do damage against the enemies. "Taste the lightning bolt from Master Serbal''s might!" Beraka raises his spear and a bolt of lightning suddenly strikes down to his spear, imbuing it with electricity. To someone busy against the minions to bother on Beraka, stopping him from getting his weapon getting strong is not possible, however, it is different for us. "As if I will let you!" I moved forward and sliced on Beraka''s hands, causing him to drop the weapon he was trying to charge with lightning. The moment my weapon cut off Beraka''s hands, my Versatile Weapon suddenly started shing, and the button of the [Devour] suddenly appeared. ''This kind of thing is possible?!'' I grinned inwardly and before Beraka can grab his chopped-off hand, I execute themand to my Versatile Weapon. "[DEVOUR]!" My Versatile Weapon started wriggling and its dark aura emerged and its dragon-like shadow emerged. "What is that thing?!" Beraka didn''t expect the appearance of the dragon-like shadow out of thin air. [ROAAAAAAAAARRRRR!] In one single swoop, it suddenly opened its mouth and took a bite on the hand that was just recently cut off from the arms of Beraka. In just a split second it separated from him, it also took that long for it to disappear forever alongside the spear that he prized the most. It was a very unexpected thing since my Versatile Weapon didn''t just devour the weapon alone but also the dismembered hands of Beraka. My weapon burps before it returned to its normal unconscious state. "My arm! Give me back my arm and spear!" Beraka shouted as his face is in despair after witnessing them disappear in one go. "Finder''s keepers! If you let the damn thing go, then I will be picking it up and it is officially mine." Due to his shock, he didn''t notice someone behind him has already sneaked in. Before he can even react, a ming sword sessfully tore through his scales that he is taking a pride in. "W-what?" "Golgoch is busy fighting with the scythe woman and my friend so I took the liberty of taking the bounty from your head," Harmless Sparrow then pushed the Burning Sword to his chest and pulled it upwards. His HP is falling rapidly and once it was drained and reduced to zero, Harmless Sparrow cut Beraka''s body in half. I am still surprised by the realism of this game that the monster''s guts are shown without any sensor. "Now we only have Golgoch to kill," Harmless Sparrow said. ... Golgoch is also having a hard time against the two. If he targets the Magician, the Scythe Wielding woman will immediately destroy and melt his armor like nothing. If he focuses his target on the Scythe Wielder, he is more likely to die since fighting head-on with her is clear suicide. He is in a dilemma. "I came here to bolster my power to raise my abilities and kill Beraka once I get stronger. But what is this... why am I being pushed back?!" His helm fell after a fireball hit his broken helm revealing his face. He growled to the two but the scythe wielder just grinned and swings the scythe into his head. It took him a few seconds to realize what just happened to him and why his vision suddenly tumbles upside down as he saw his body remaining still on the ground while his head fell to the ground. "Subjugation Complete," Queen Tanya said as she took the soul of Golgoch out of his lifeless body. Chapter 143 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (V) When we arrive at the battleground where Queen Tanya and Dolly were fighting against Golgoch, we have witnessed how Golgoch''s armor was torn to pieces like paper by Queen Tanya. It didn''t take too long for him to fall though he managed to fight back but eventually got overwhelmed by the immense power of Queen Tanya while Beraka was not even able to fight back after his arm and weapon got devoured by my weapon and his body got sliced in half. The quest panels on Harmless Sparrow popped up after Golgoch''sst health bar went down to zero, which means their quest to destroy the camp is also done. Since Queen Tanya dealt with the smaller mobs, there are no stragglers or escapees after the leaders died so, in the end, it was all good for us. "WOW! What insane damage! I don''t think my damage can cause that much wreckage on a boss and tear them apart like paper!" Dolly''s eyes glow as she looks at Queen Tanya''s graceful but domineering looks as herrge scythe slowly disappears. "Heh, those bastards are nothing to me, they can''t think of me as someone easily destroyed. They should experience that first and we will see if they can even do the same thing to me." "Damn, I want to be like you! How can I be strong like you, ma''am!" Dolly said with a look of admiration in her eyes. Queen Tanya looks smug as she rubs her nose as she felt so good being praised. For someone who knows Queen Tanya for so long, this kind of behavior she reveals to yers allowed many yers to like her easygoing personality, and even though she was just an NPC like any other character in the game, she has made so many connections to many yers in the past that many yers who choose to ally with Queen Tanya and befriend her to the very highest level allowed many yers to gain arge amount of boon and benefits every time they are in the kingdom. Harmless Sparrow proceeds to pick up the loots in the area. There were so many drops from the dead lizard that she doesn''t know where to bring the other things. She took those drops she can use before picking up every loot she can find and can fit on her inventory until she can no longer fit anything. "Oi, Dolly. Go pick up what you can pick up, everything here is things we can use or sell for extra gold, we can''t afford to waste anything here!" Harmless Sparrow said, to nag off Dolly from Queen Tanya and to also make her move her butt off and do the looting process before other yers arrive and will try to get a hold of the loot. "You should also pick up your loot deheart. There are so many things that I don''t think we can bring them all with us. I already pick up all the items I wanted to take while the other slots of my inventory are all filled with misceneous things I can sell or trade to others for extra gold." "Don''t mind if I do," I nodded and looked at Queen Tanya. "Nope, I don''t need those trinkets. I will leave them all to you guys," Queen Tanya said. Dolly happily took all she needed and also stuffed all of the items she can put in her inventory as things she will use to sell. Even with ourbined inventory of us three, the amount of loot left behind is so much that we still leave lots of them behind. "From the looks of it, we have to abandon the rest of the things here. We can''t bring them along with us. We can''t be too greedy and we should be giving them to others then," Harmless Sparrow said as she looks at the heaps of loot we collected and felt a bit disappointed that we can''t take it back with us. "Hey, deheart. I have seen your weapon earlier ate the weapon of Beraka earlier, maybe it can dispose of all of the trinkets left behind here? It would be a waste to give it to others who didn''t do the work," Queen Tanya suggested. The two girls looked into my way and were also looking at me with interest. "Yes, it can. But is it alright? It isn''t my loot in the first ce," I looked at Harmless Sparrow and Dolly. "It is fine, since you guys arrived as backup, you all deserve something to get. And since this will just be a waste to leave out and give it to yers who didn''t help if you can dispose of it by yourself, we would be d you do so," Harmless Sparrow said. "I also don''t mind it. I got all the things I wanted and the rest of the trinkets here are useless to me. Also, I wanted to also see up close the way your weapon does that thing that looks like a dragon! It looks really cool!" Since they gave the permission without problem on doing so, then I don''t mind revealing them the devour ability of my weapon though I won''t be revealing the usage of this and will just say a bit of a lie. Even if they are my allies, I also have to keep a secret about it. It is not a wise thing to reveal everything to someone even if it was a very good friend or family of yours. It mighte back at you and might be potential trouble in the future so a white lie is a must and a necessary way to keep them from inspecting it. Pulling out my Versatile Weapon in sword form, I aimed it on the stack of materials. A pop-up appeared before me. [Devour these items in one go? Versatile Weapon will gain an additional 4 abilities and 2 passive talents. Would you like to continue?] Yes/No Chapter 144 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (VI) 4 active abilities and 2 passive? Isn''t that a bit too much? I don''t know how many abilities does my Versatile Weapon can hold but getting 6 skills at once is not too normal even if they are just drops! I also checked the drops and most of them are not even that good and don''t have any abilities that might help my weapon to obtain any so howe? I hesitated a bit since if I choose yes, all the abilities it gains might clump all slots that my weapon might have and it would be not good if I can''t overwrite them if I needed them reced but those skills are also tempting and I am wondering what skills they are going to be. In the end, I decided to choose yes. If I got really unlucky and I can''t remove the skills and passives, I will have no other choice left but to just keep them. As soon as I confirm yes, my Versatile Weapon''s shadowy dragon form appeared once more and this time, it has a massive red streak on its head like some sort of tribal marking. It didn''t have anything simr to this before so I was a bit surprised by it. I also remembered during thest devour that this shadowy dragon form of my Versatile Weapon doesn''t have any kind of red streak before, just pure ck. I am not too sure but I decided to ignore it and just let the Devouring processmence. "[Devour]!" The shadowy dragon opened its huge mouth and in one swoop, the stack of weapons disappeared and the Versatile Weapon started shaking wildly. I thought it was going to explode or something at first but it stopped doing that after a few seconds and stabilized. "Wow! This weapon is very cool! For some reason, I wanted to get at least one of those! Where can you get this weapon deheart?! Is it something you need to buy using real money?!" Dolly asked with her eyes glowing like jewels due to her excitement. "From the looks of it, this one is a Unique Weapon. You won''t find any kind of weapon simr to this whatever you do so if you wanted to know if it exists anywhere, my say is that this is will be the one and only weapon avable in the whole world," Queen Tanya said. Dolly pouted as she didn''t expect things wouldn''t be as easy as she has thought before. "So, are we done here? I don''t think there are any enemies left behind for us to kill except if there is any secret boss that doesn''t exist." "Don''t worry deheart, we are done and the quest just needed to be reported to the captain so that we can be done in here. There are no more other requirements for us toplete it." I sighed in relief and called back Leona who was hovering in the air. Once again, Dolly''s eyes grow wide as she saw another one that she marvels at. "A GRYPHON! A GRYPHON! THIS IS INSANE! HOW ARE YOU HOGGING ALL THE ITEMS AND EPIC PETS WITH YOU, BLADEHEART? ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE NOT PAYING MONEY TO GAIN THIS STUFF?" I scratch my head after hearing those from Dolly. Even Harmless Sparrow''s eyebrows rise up. She is one of those yers that have not paid single real money to get herself this strong. Of course, in exception with the Guild Tokens as she is using real money to bid against other yers who also needed the token. Other than that, she has to grind for her gear and farm them on monsters or buy them in cksmith shops. "Sigh, let''s just ride on Leona and I will answer everything I did while we are going to our destination." ... Wended just outside the outpost made by the soldiers. Queen Tanya just stayed behind because she didn''t want the soldiers of the Southern Oasis to see her and this will cause much trouble for her to leave since they are devoted protectors to the queen, they will prohibit her to fight again if she did. I also presented to stay behind so that I can discuss some things with Queen Tanya. The two went ahead to the town to report their findings and their sessful raid against Beraka and Golgoch. "Why did you deny it to your friends all of the origin of your sword? I can tell that it is beyond Unique Item though I can''t measure it. But for some reason, I can''tprehend what you just did." "They are still not ready for this item yet. And even if they ask where I managed to get it, I can only give out vague answers. Not only that but I prefer to keep this a secret from everyone except those who can sense the uniqueness of this weapon like you. As for Leona, I don''t think they also need to know either." "That is your choice and I will respect that. Anyways, I will be resting here on Leona''s back for a bit. After unleashing some of my abilities, I think I exerted too much due to overexcitement. Just wake me up if we are going to depart already alright?" "No problem." Queen Tanya then lie down and took a nap. Since she is resting, I took out my Versatile Weapon and decided to check up on the changes of my weapon after the devouring process. I am curious about the new skills I received. And I didn''t expect what I just saw. [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 9 [EXP: 1509/9000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +320 AGI: +214 DEX: +278 END: +201 INT: +263 Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff to the enemies. The probability will increase every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase every level. Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuff [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Certain conditions not met, unable to read the second note Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: N/A Chapter 145 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (VII) This is broken. I have not seen a weapon with this many stats enhancement and abilities and all of them are going to be really broken in thete game where the small passives like this stack up and will umte in battle. The longer the battle is, the stronger you be. Not only that, but the stats increase of the weapon is also quiterge that it jumped from two-digit into three-digit. The stat it has right now is simr to weapons that only level 110 to 120 yers can wield. All weapons below level 100 have only two digits in their stats and it does not affect the other stats that much except for either the INT stat if the ss is from the magic-wielding ss or the STR if it was used by physical ss users. If there is someone who will see this weapon, they might think I am hacking with these many abilities it has stacked up. The two passives I earned from the devouring process are [Electric Defense Reduction] and [Mana Regeneration] since they trigger only in normal attacks. The others based on their description needed to be used as a skill exclusive. All of them are broken and if it is used in Arena, I am unkible if the passives keep on triggering. Just by these alone, I can only say that this is an absolute win for me. My eyes wandered towards the veryst skill, [Iplete Rhongomyniad]. This is clearly associated with the heroic spear in the game, Rhongomyniad which is one of the three heroic weapons that is associated with King Arthur, the other two are the Carnwennan and the famous Excalibur. Since this was iplete, it might upgrade its effects if I discover the other conditions to unlock it. There is no other info on how to unlock it so maybe I might encounter it, thepletion of this ability is going to appear. Also, despite the massive setback, this ability gives since it cuts off half of the user''s HP, having an ability that inflicts True Damage is just too strong. There are only a few abilities that can deal true damage and two of the main sses have the most ess to True Damage skills, the Hunter and Gunslinger. I was still musing with the weapons when the two girls arrived from reporting their quest to the NPC. "We are back! How is everything? Did anything happen while we are gone?" Dolly asked. "Nope, nothing happened. It''s quiet as ever. So how did the report go?" "The soldiers are now preparing for an all-out attack against Serbal after finding out the alliance of the two enemies that we just killed. They fear that Serbal is already plotting something while the human camps are being attacked by enemies every day," Harmless Sparrow answered. "When are they going to proceed andunch the attack?" "Tomorrow, at night. They will use the night as a way to defeat Serbal," Harmless Sparrow said. "Are they idiots or just not in their right mind?" Queen Tanya suddenly went up and yelled right next to me that I was startled. "Is there something wrong...umm... what was her name again deheart?" "Call me Tanya. Anyways, the guards are just careless with this n of theirs. They will just be sending the soldiers to their pointless death. Don''t they know that the lizardmen have better mobility and eyesight when it is dark already? Don''t they learn this while they are in the training academies?! Those fools!" Queen Tanya is fuming in anger. "Then, am I thinking right on what you are thinking right now?" I asked Queen Tanya. "If you are a simr battle junkie like me, you already know the answer. Tell me, did they already gave you two some quest on what to do in the meantime?" "Not yet. ording to the captain, we need toe back here tomorrow to receive our quest. We will be resting after our battle ording to him since tomorrow will be the decisive battle," Dolly answered. "Good. Then we should proceed with the n!" "n? What n?" Harmless Sparrow is confused. "What she meant is that we will attack the tribe preemptively," I said to the two girls so that they understand better what Queen Tanya is implying to do. "Huh?! Isn''t that going to be too hard?" "Heh, don''t you girls worry. With me here, we will not be having a hard time, and defeating Serbal will not be a big problem!" Queen Tanya proudly dered. "To be honest, I like her idea, Sparrow. Beating Serbal before the army will be a very good feat! Also, this will be an interesting challenge too!" Dolly is already excited. "I can see the appeal but are we strong enough to handle all of the enemies? I heard from the soldiers that the center point of the enemy''s camp is the surroundings of Serbal''sir. What if we get overwhelmed?" Harmless Sparrow is cautious about the n. "That is not going to be a problem. Don''t worry girls, we are much more reliablepared to the soldiers who are just doing a suicide preparation instead of defeating the enemy. Besides, deheart is here and his steed. With them, we won''t be having trouble against the enemies and might be able to fell them all in one swoop!" I am amazed by how Queen Tanya is much more enthusiasticpared to the yers themselves to y Serbal. Even I had my doubts since Serbal might fight differently than in my past timeline. He is also known for being a coward for he will make sure that he won''t be the target of the attacks and will just let the enemies swarm the yers. He will then barrage the yers with debuffs and magic damage that will sometimes result in party annihtion. Still, that doesn''t change the fact that Queen Tanya is with us, and with her, the victory against Serbal is already an assured win. This will further bring thepletion of these Pioneer Quests to a close. And to make sure that all of my possible enemies will not be able to retaliate, this is the only way to get stronger. Fight and force your way against your enemies. It is a kill or be killed. "Alright, hop on gals. We will depart and defeat Serbal and reim the Southern Oasis from the grasp of the enemies!" Chapter 146 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (VIII) "Wow! This feels like you are inside an airne but the air is stronger! I can''t believe you can enjoy this kind of luxury, deheart! If I were you, I would ride on Leona every day and visit different parts of the game''sndscape!" Dolly said as she tries to look below Leona. "Be careful trying to look below, once you fall, it will be difficult to catch you and if you are unlucky enough, you will fall to your death and Leona will not be able to save you from death," I reminded her. Dolly quickly stopped trying to peek below since she also didn''t want to die from falling from Leona''s back. "But I have to admit, deheart. Even though the game has just started, your gear seems to be already simr to those end-game items I saw on the cash shop. Are you sure you didn''t use the money to buy some gear and pushed yourself to the limit like this?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Nope. Based on the stats alone on the weapons and gears that are sold on the cash shop, they are inferior to these. Those things in the cash shop are just there to give some of those yers who pay for money feel superior for a bit. But in reality, they still needed some things to further get their equipment much better. Also, as yers level up, the armors they bought will be underwhelming in stats once upgradedpared to the armor or weapon that was obtained from drops and can be equipped by their corresponding levels. These gears would be much scrap and ingredients for enhancement in the end so it is not even worth the money to buy it," I exined. "Whew! Good thing I didn''t buy any of those things in the cash shop. The designs are awful and I don''t think it even suits me," Dolly said. "So if the clothes and other equipment in the cash shop are fashionable and look trendy, you would buy it regardless of the stats and level limit they need to use it?" "..." I knew it, if it looks cool and trendy, she won''t hesitate to buy it even though the visuals are just pure cosmetics and has nothing to do with the strong ability of the item. I can only say that she is just wasting her money on it, but I am not the one deciding on her spending habits. If she likes it, then she can buy it. No one would stop her to do it. Queen Tanya wanted to continue her nap so she decided to sleep before we arrived in the Central Area of the Southern Oasis where Serbal and the other enemies are staying. I thought I could meditate for a bit before we arrived at the subjugation location, but suddenly, I received a direct message from Harmless Sparrow. "Hey deheart, can I ask something in private? Let''s just chat in this method so that no one will know what we are talking about." "Sure, ask away." "I have been curious since the two of you joined the party but, can you tell me who Tanya really is? I don''t think I have seen her before alongside the Pioneers that can enter Sandurk Continent before other yers can. I try to check her status via the party screen but it just shows an error that I don''t know what is causing it." I frowned when I saw this and my brain automatically tries to find and construct a solid alibi to say to her. Although it is unnecessary to do it since I don''t need to hide her identity, I don''t think it is proper for me to be the one to reveal her real identity to others. "I don''t think you are asking the right person about that matter. If you want to delve deeper into her identity, why don''t you ask her? I don''t have much to tell you except that we are good acquaintances." "...I see. So it is a very confidential matter that you won''t divulge further on this one. Alright. I don''t have any reason to push it out of your mouth since I was just trying to satisfy my curiosity. But if you change your mind and you want to tell me more, you can talk to me." It looks like I just dodged a bullet. Thankfully, she wasn''t that curious and is not the same as Dolly who would pester you nonstop until you tell her what she needed to know. However, I don''t think I needed to tell her anything. She will know sooner orter since Queen Tanya has to rally the troops to fight against the final raid boss. "Lads, we are nearing the Central Area of the oasis! I am seeing multiple movements of demons and monsters! There are also multiple sentry towers up ahead!" Queen Tanya alerted us. Hearing Queen Tanya''s warning, I went near Queen Tanya''s spot and also spotted what she just ryed. The two girls also approached and peek out curiously. "That''s a lot of enemies! Are we going to be able to get to the main boss like this?! We won''t be able to clear this area today with just the four of us!" Harmless Sparrow said. "Hold your horses, guys. Who said we are going to charge in without thinning the horde of monsters ahead of us?" I dered and pulled out my weapon and transformed it into a cannon. For some reason, the cannon from my Versatile Weapon changed with a form that is somewhat different from its previous form. However, I didn''t move into the details on it and aimed it at the sentry tower that first locked into my eye. "Dolly, fire off your strongest AOE attack and target those towers. Don''t worry if it is a long cooldown spell or if it consumes a lot of mana. We just needed to damage the sentry tower enough or much better if we can at least destroy it." "Alright!" Dolly quickly assumed the position and started chanting the spell for the AOE magic. Since the AOE magic, which deals quite arge radius of the area has long incantations and needs to be spoken orally to perform, magicians needed to either ambush the enemy using it, be protected by tanks while chanting, or use it like how Dolly is doing it. "How about me deheart? I don''t have any long-range magic or skill that can be fired as far as the two of you!" Harmless Sparrow asked as she is holding the hilt of her sword. "Wait when we are nearing the ground. You two with Tanya will be the ones charging to beat up the other attackers. Beat them up as soon as wend!" "Alright!" Harmless Sparrow said as she readied herself. "YES! YES! YES! This is the kind of fight I am looking forward to!" Queen Tanya grinned as she materializes her big scythe. As for me, I aimed the cannon at the Sentry Tower that looks eerily creepy. As to why I need to take it out first is that this building is capable of detecting our presence while we are in the vicinity of the tower. Invisibility and other camouge spells or effects a yer has active, won''t work against the sentry tower and will rip out those buffs off of you. With them, the enemies will be also buffed if those towers are still standing. Destroying them will not only reduce their advantage against us, they will also be less threatening. So, breaking them all down to pieces is a must. "BLOW THEM UP!" Chapter 147 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (IX) "My lord!" Amia appeared before the big serpent which has its body encircled on a glowing crystal ball in the middle. When the serpent saw themia, his head slowly lowers down and went to level it to themia to face her. "What is it, are you trying to interrupt the sacred ritual and ruin it?" "No, my lord. I am just here to ry that we have a few intruders who are attacking your domain. What should we do about them, my lord?" "Intruders? Isn''t that the job of everyone in my domain to eliminate them? How many are we even talking about?" "We spotted 4 of them and they are currently at the top of a flying gryphon." "A gryphon? The legendary beast that has been believed to be a species that exists since the beginning of time? Aren''t they supposed to be extinct?" "I have no idea about it, my lord. All I know is that they are currently attacking the domain." "Then eliminate them, they are only 4 intruders, and killing them won''t be a big problem to everyone in my domain. The numbers of my vassals are enough to destroy them. If there is nothing else, then leave since you are interrupting the sacred ritual!" "Yes, my lord!" themia felt terrified from the exuded aura her lord released. She didn''t want to be killed due to the wrath of her lord for disturbing him from performing his ritual. However, the moment themia returned, half of the domain that the snake is being proud of is already burning in mes as four figures are seen destroying the ce slowly but surely. ... "That''s 325! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Queen Tanya is enjoying the ughter that I am not sure who is the real monster here. The three of us are doing fine with our kills while Queen Tanya is racking up all of the kills she can do and just straight up destroys the camps and other settlements of the lizardmen and other reptilian creatures that are defending their domain. "Damn, Tanya is really killing it with all of those attacks of hers! How can I get stronger like her anyways? I also want to be like her!" Dolly said as she also sts off a few enemies using her AOE damage. "Nope, you are too far apart in terms of damage, Dolly-san. Tanya seems more of a berserker in terms of her assault power but yeah, it helps more than she is here and decimating all of the enemies without a care, that way we can focus on the enemies we can defeat easily," Harmless Sparrow said. "Yes, you are still too low leveled topete with her, if the two of you sh off, I bet you will be dead before you can even do anything," I added. "Hmph. Just the two of you wait, I will make sure to be strong enough that I don''t need to use magic to defeat enemies and can just be defeated using my bare hands alone!" "...Isn''t that going to be a brawler''s specialty? But you are a magician," Harmless Sparrow looked at Dolly. "Don''t sweat the details! Anyways, another armed enemy ising!" I only smiled at what Dolly just said. She indeed managed to do what she just dered earlier in the past timeline. However, before she became famous for doing that, she died so all of those are all drained and went with her to the grave. The attacks of the enemies and the amount of them approaching us are getting harder and harder too. Thankfully, the buff that they should be enjoying right now due to the Sentry towers is already stripped off from them after we destroyed them earlier before wended and attacked the ce. Then, I heard a loud gong sound resound everywhere. The reptilians started to get stronger all of a sudden and their weapons started glowing too. "Careful about them right now guys. It seems Serbal has given out his blessings and buffs their attacks! Don''t underestimate them anymore!" The two nodded and proceed to eliminate the enemies one by one. Queen Tanya is still doing what she is doing and seems unaffected from all of the attacks that are buffed by Serbal. As expected, she is just a walking DPS tank. Then, we suddenly felt shaking on the ground, and the reptilian creatures were now celebrating. "Kuark is here! We will win this with him leading this war!" Kuark appears with a big halberd on his hands and is currently riding a big alligator and is slowly marching towards our location. However, the morale of the reptilian that has been boosted due to the appearance of Kuark immediately plummeted. "Oy, get out of the way! You are just a big chunk of meat!" Queen Tanya shouted as she swings her scythe to Kuark''s neck and before thetter can react, his head separated from his body. Not only Kuark but also the alligator he was riding on was not spared and got killed along. The death of Kuark was so sudden to everyone that they didn''t expect it to happen before they can even rally themselves to fight. As the reptilians were still stunned from the sudden death of Kuark, the three of us used the opportunity to rack up some kills. With the sudden realization hits the reptilians, they no longer have any courage to fight and started fleeing in all directions. "Alright, it looks like we have taken care of most of the reptilians here, all we need to do left is to reach Serbal''sir and confront the main boss in this ce!" Dolly happily said as she picks up all the loot that was dropped. The attack to the domain of Serbal juststed for around 3 hours in-game and with the help of Queen Tanya who just ravaged the whole ce with her scythe, we just got rid of the troublesome aspect of this attack. All that is left is to beat Serbal and reim the treasure that he is guarding. Chapter 148 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (X) The Oasis that was once the pride and joy of the humans living in Southern Oasis has been polluted with a putrid smell and the sand is also littered with scales that smell weird for some reason. It was like a mixture of rotten fish and wet rotten garbage that has not been put outside to dry in the sun. "Great, what a smelly ce this is. A very thorough and troublesome cleaning is needed for this ce to get rid of the putrid smell," Queen Tanya said while rubbing her nose. "If cleaning is one of the quests avable, I don''t think I will be partaking in that particr quest if possible," Dolly said. "I don''t think we have to partake in that. Our main mission is to eliminate all of the demons and monsters that are inhabiting the former human viges and cities in Sandurk. We also have to deal with the one who caused all of this to happen," I said. "That''s right. The captains are already talking about it earlier that the dragon that caused all of this trouble in Sandurk is making its move after the defeat of one of the generals of the monsters," Harmless Sparrow agreed. "You girls should know that deheart here is the one who defeated that general. He soloed that one and didn''t have any help from the soldiers," Queen Tanya revealed. "Well, we already saw what deheart can do, and seeing his weapon only makes it more natural so I am only a bit surprised but it was expected," Dolly shrugged. After all, she has personally seen the feats during the time we were trapped by the Leprechaunst time. "Really?! Did he manage to solo a boss alone? Isn''t that really hard especially right now that the bosses we have defeated so far also have the small mobs that we have to kill and interrupt your battle with the bosses?" "Yep. If it wasn''t due to deheart managing to kill one of the big bosses, the battle against them would be hard. After the first death of the One-Eyed Giant, Moro, these allowed the monsters and demons to feel threatened once again," Queen Tanya exined. As the girls continue their conversation, we arrive at the oasis. There, arge snake is currently inhabiting the water. The depth of the oasis is nothingpared to the size of the snake. It was too big that you can say that our size is pretty much insignificantpared to the boss. "What the f*ck? Isn''t this enemy too big even for us?! How can we even defeat this guy with thisrge body? We will just deal insignificant damage!" I pulled out my weapon and changed it to a hammer and looked at them. "I will take over from here, you three should support me on this battle instead and stay out of the main range of the boss." Opening my inventory, I took out a few bottles of potions and hand them to the three. "This is the main n, to make sure you guys gained contribution to the boss battle, hit the boss once and escape the range of the boss before I take the aggro that was directed to the three of you. Once I sessfully took the aggro, the three of you would use the potion every 50 seconds alternately. Dolly would throw one potion to the boss first, then 50 seconds after Dolly has thrown the potion, Sparrow would do next, then another 50 seconds and Tanya would do it again. After another 50 seconds, the cycle repeats once again. The DPS would be me and I will try to whittle down his HP." The three received the potions and they got bewildered when they saw the potion. "What potion did you got Tanya and Sparrow? I got Potion of Weakening with me and it is in 99 stacks," Dolly asked. "Potion of the Cursed One," Tanya answered. "Potion of the Four Pain," Harmless Sparrow said. "We just needed to throw this to the boss? Isn''t this the same as provoking the enemy using this one?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Nope, unless you deal damage on a monster or boss, the boss won''t bother to attack you and if ever the boss will try to do that stunt, I will taunt it to attack me instead. You guys don''t need to worry about it." "Heh, interesting, then, we will get ready and you signal us when to attack," Harmless Sparrow said. "Attack!" I shouted. "That soon?!" Queen Tanya didn''t hesitate and throw her weapon at the boss and it dealt damage, causing its name to appear and his HP bar to be visible. Queen Tanya''s weapon that she has thrown returned to her like a boomerang so she didn''t need to pick it up. [Serbal, the Serpent of the Desert] HP: 29,985,320/30,000,000 Trait: Beast, Poison, Demon The two girls were stunned when they saw the amount of HP has. It was a lot and they didn''t expect it. Maybe this is their first time seeing those numbers. "Don''t falter girls! Go and deal some damage to Serbal!" After hearing my voice, the two nodded and fired off their ranged attacks. After their attacks, Serbal slowly turned around and looked in our direction, his red eyes glow and his voice echoes in the surroundings. "Who dares disrupt the sacred ritual to the point of attacking me?!" Serbal then opened his mouth and fired off a huge fireball. I didn''t waste my time dawdling and swing my hammer to the fireball, which causes it to bounce back and returned to him. BANG! "Now, Dolly! Throw the potion!" "Yes!" Dolly throws the potion bottle. It breaks upon contact and it emits some smoke after it made contact. I quickly made a run around the oasis and started looking at some statues around the Oasis. This strategy is something I developed after fighting Serbal many times in the past since the Serbal boss battle is one of the memorial quests that can be reyed. It was a popr spot for farming Snake Scales for strengthening armors in the past timeline so I am quite familiar with Serbal. If we want to defeat Serbal, we need to destroy the statues that are holding his treasure of his in ce and steal it from him before he goes to berserk mode. Because if we reduce his HP too much before the treasure was taken and he goes to berserk mode, everyone here will die. Chapter 149 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (XI) It is viable to ask Queen Tanya to fight against Serbal but I didn''t want to risk Quest Failure. Since she is an NPC, she is not counted as a yer and also a follower since she didn''t have a contract with me simr to Lina. I heard of a simr situation where a yer asked the NPC to defeat the enemy. The NPC defeated the enemy but it was not counted as his clearance and he failed the quest because the boss that he cleared is a one-time spawn. So instead of taking the rewards, the NPC gained them instead. It might be a bit harder but it isn''t that much since the three of them will keep on throwing the potions I prepared beforehand. Those potions were meant to be used to Serbal if I meet him as a boss but never expected him to be one of the main bosses to beat toplete the Pioneer Quest. "Just perfect!" Spotting one of the statues, I charge up my hammer''s strike and in one swing, I made a crack a little bit on its surface. The statues are too sturdy to destroy so it is not so easily destroyed and reduced to rubble. CRACK! Serbal who is still looking around to find me after I caught the attack meant for the girls when he spotted me next to the statue as I continue to break it!" "You dare break my property!?" Serbal then raised his tail and ms it in my direction. I swing my hammer to the ground and changed it to a cannon beforeunching one shot out of it. The recoil was strong enough that before Serbal''s tail can even hit me, I am already out of his range. BOOM! When Serbal took out his tail, the statue that I just cracked earlier is no longer standing and was reduced to dust and rubble. "Oy, big snake! Thanks for destroying one of my objectives! It really helps a lot and you just reduced the time I needed to break one!" Serbal roared and his eyes glow red. The ground suddenly shook and earth spires appeared on the ground. I quickly dodged them all since I am already aware of Serbal''s tactics of attacks. Harmless Sparrow throws a bottle of the potion I gave her to Serbal just like I asked her to and the potion did its effects upon hit. Serbal is fuming in anger as heshes out. While he is still busyshing out in the surroundings and hopes he can break me, I shoot out the Cannon and it hit squarely to his eyes. BANG! As usual, that didn''t do anything useful, it chipped away some of his HP but it didn''t do much. "Die! Little human! You will be paying for disturbing the sacred ritual with your life!" Serbal then lunge towards me and since he is long, his body didn''t move much and only a small part of his body only managed to move. Despite that, the length of his "small part of his body''s length" and his head is long enough that I didn''t hesitate to run away from him the moment he lunges his face towards my location. His tworge fangs and the smaller saw teeth of his will make anyone scream in fear as he follows you around. He also does a constant mouth snap every time you get near his mouth. To other sses, this is a troublesome thing but for me who has all the abilities of all the sses in one character, there is no need for me to panic. "Taste this and see what will happen!" "What?!" The moment Serbal snapped his mouth shut also destroyed the thing that I have just thrown in. "ARGGHHH! IT STINGS!" Serbal squirmed and roared as his body started to ingest what I have just thrown inside his mouth. I grinned after my experimental potion vial is tested to a boss and seeing its effective effects, I can assure myself that this potion is not a waste. I look at the vial in my hands which contains violet liquid that is viscous enough you will mistake it as a jelly. It is an experimental potion that I developed in the past but did not test or properly used since I managed toe up with the idea during the time I was about to get married. It was just a mixture of poisonous items in the game with the addition of Mana Potion and a few herbs that strengthens the effects of a potion, I created a lethal potion that has the effects Now that Serbal is currently squirming in pain and is currently thrashing around due to the pain, he also stopped from chasing me, allowing me to freely do the necessary thing. "ARGH! PUNY HUMAN! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!" This boss is quite whiny. But that is enough to stall time for me so that I can destroy the statues and easily finish him off after since I will be having trouble fighting against him without destroying the statues and stealing the treasure he was guarding. "deheart?! Should we give you some assistance? It seems Serbal is going berserk!" Dolly is looking worried. "No worries, just continue throwing those potions!" I shouted. The second statue is immediately spotted. I didn''t take my precious time trying to hammer it down. I know that Serbal will no longer tolerate my normal movements after he recovers from the poison in his mouth. I quickly activated my skills, physical and magical skills and directed all attacks towards the statue while adding basic attacks. It took 10 seconds of skill spam burst to the statue for it to break to pieces. I made sure to bust it down as soon as possible. CRACKLE! The treasure that Serbal is protecting is currently showing signs of cracking and electric sparks started to manifest around it. "ARGH! MY TREASURE! ARGHHH!" Serbal screamed but he is still suffering from the poison I just gave him. I was about to go to thest statue since there are only three statues that holds the treasure of Serbal but before I get there, Queen Tanya throws her weapon to the statue and in just one hit, the statue was reduced to rubble. "That should take care of the problem!" Queen Tanya said. I nodded and dropped 5 smokescreen bombs around Serbal. Even snakes can''t see in the smoke. After all of the restraints are broken, the treasure can now be taken. Once the treasure is in my hands, Serbal will also enter the berserk mode and his final stage where you no longer can stall time for him and you need to kill him for real this time around. Chapter 150 - The Southern Oasis And The Treasure Of Serbal (XII) Serbal''s berserk mode is just terrifying but not impossible to defeat. He might be stronger than when he wasn''t in his berserk state but he is in a much worse situation and is in a very vulnerable state. Since Serbal is a big snake, his movements are mostly AOE and will do a single target type of attack from time to time. Honestly, he was pretty predictable. But he is a dangerous enemy and I am not going to say he is easy to defeat. So, what is the difference between destroying the three statues and stealing his treasurespared to the ones where the treasure and the statues are not harmed? The difference is the berserk state of Serbal. If you didn''t destroy the statues and steal his treasure, once he enters berserk mode, his agility and defense are drastically increased and his attacks hit like a truck and I suspect that he gains a buff of [Ignore Defense] since he can destroy a tank with a SS rank in END stat in one single hit. I can''t just confirm it because before we even get to confirm if he has a buff, we are already dead as we are wiped out by his AOE. As for the berserk state of Serbal when his statues are all broken and his treasure is stolen, his defense drastically decreased, his attacks are now survivable and will not inflict a one-hit kill and his movements are a bit sluggish. I prepared my weapon and ready myself for Serbal''s attacks. I need to finish this one as soon as possible before he can recover from this state since this temporary vulnerability of his is not permanent and will disappear after a few minutes. "MY TREASURE! GIVE ME BACK MY TREASURE!" Serbal opened his mouth and tried to swallow me whole. Of course, that is not going to happen. "I have a better one for you! Take this one and digest this!" My weapon changed form, turned into a cannon, and fired off a cannonball straight from his mouth. "GRAAAAAHHH!" Serbal retreated his head and used his tail to attack instead. However, I already expected the attack, changed my weapon to a sword, and deflected the iing tail. Once his tail is deflected, I changed my weapon into the Chronomancer''s weapon, the Pocket Watch. I didn''t have any skills on the Chronomancer ss just yet since I focused more on those ss that has skills that can dish out some burst damages. But I didn''t forget the Chronomancer ss. I opened the skill tree and pick out one of the skills that can slow the enemy''s movements and one passive that increases its effects. [Time Eater] 2nd Tier Active Skill Cooldown: 3 minutes Mana Cost: 1000 MP for casting, additional usage will cost 50 MP per 5 seconds. Duration: Unlimited(As long as the supply of mana is sufficient) Info: Slows down the environment of the enemy, reducing the movement speed and defenses of the enemy by 50% while inflicting true damage over time. The effect will be maintained as long as the mana is sufficient, otherwise, the skill will end. Note: If only you have this ability, you won''t be worried about gettingte for school. [Cuckoo''s Clock] 1st Tier Passive Info: Every basic attack will add a [Cuckoo Time] stack to yourself. Stacks up to 10. Every [Cuckoo Time] stack increases the damage of slow inflicting skills and increases the slow duration debuff to the enemies an additional 5 seconds. Note: Runningte? Use an rm clock. Still runningte? Use an rm on your phone or watch. Not effective? Sleep next to a mother clock. You still got upte? Then eat a clock, you bastard. The moment those skills are now part of my skill tree, I immediately attacked with my basic attacks, and the moment I got one stack of [Cuckoo Time], I immediately cast [Time Eater], allowing me to slow down Serbal. Once he got slowed down, I changed my weapon into a katana and grab on Serbal''s body. Due to his scales, it is easier to climb up on Serbal''s body. While the [Time Eater] is active, my mana slowly drains up and my head is currently suffering from a headache as this is the side-effect of excessive mana usage, however, everything around Serbal seems like locked from a time stop. I rushed towards the head area of Serbal since my MP won''tst with the immense amount of MP [Time Eater] and even if I drink a Mana Potion, it will only dy a bit of my mana drain but that won''tst long. I need to finish this as fast as I can. When I reached the neck of Serbal, I chug down a bottle of Mana Potion and grip the katana as I estimate the attack part on where my skill willnd. If I estimated it wrong even once, the attack will fail and I will have to wait for a cooldown. Once my estimation is done, I immediately swing my katana before my mana reaches zero and performed an execution following the activation of the skill. "[Decapitation]!" SWISH! One swing is enough to sh the neck of Serbal. In a split second of performing [Decapitation], the huge snake that is terrorizing the whole Southern Oasis was killed. How did I kill Serbal in one swing? It is simple and calcted. The first reason is Serbal is currently under the state of Berserk and since I stole his treasure and destroyed his three statues, it isn''t strange for him to have a lower defense since that would be his demerit once he loses those statues. The second reason is the bottles of potions I have given to the three girls. Those potions work at reducing stats for a brief amount of time. The effects don''t stack if used simultaneously but they will stack and will remain active as long as the target is still alive if it was used the same way I told the girls to do it. So the moment they continue to throw those potions, to Serbal, his stats will continue to drop and death is close to inevitable. The third reason for Serbal''s quick kill is due to the effects of [Time Eater]. Since it reduces the defenses of the enemy under the influence of [Time Eater], the defenses of Serbal have already dropped too much that his defense might have already fallen close to zero if not full zero. Thest reason is due to the skill [Decapitation]. This skill works effectively if used on the neck of the target and will cause the instant kill if it was fatal and strong enough. Since Serbal has already had a nonexistent defense and [Decapitation] can kill the enemy if it is perfect enough, it would make a lot of sense why Serbal died in one swing. "Subjugation Complete!" as I sheathed the sword and confirm thepletion of the quest. Chapter 151 - The Southern Oasis Crisis And The Treasure Of Serbal (XIII) (Final Part) The death of Serbal is also the feast of Leona. The moment Serbal''s head separated from his body, Leona immediately dived in and grab Serbal''s head for her to eat. As expected of Leona who was a glutton since she was a baby, even a boss is not safe. The two girls sighed in relief and sit on the sand. "Even though we are not the one fighting, but that was nerve-wracking! I don''t think I can do something by myself like that!" Dolly muttered as she breathes deeply. "The immersion is just too great. Even the bosses seem to look like real-life kaijus. And I am sure that was one of those kinds, there are more much terrifying things out there right?" Harmless Sparrow nce at Queen Tanya. "Yep, there are lots of those monsters around, not only Serbal." Due to the realism of Alternate World, every monster looks like a real-life monster and that includes the bosses who all have different looks and can be ugly or just downright cursed to look at. Serbal''s body also didn''t escape Leona''s eyes and in the end, she consumed it leaving those big bones alone. If only I can store the corpses I raise from the dead, rather than leaving them to proton where they die, I would already have some of the most dangerous summon in the game and surprising yers with them during PVP or even during PK if necessary. Too bad, the game isn''t designed like that. If it did, Necromancer is a pretty broken ss since they can just revive bosses, keep them at their disposal and use it whenever they like. My head is still throbbing a bit from the loss of mana. Even though I got the mana reduction passive in my Versatile Weapon, the passive only deducts the amount of the mana needed to conjure a certain skill so in the case of [Time Eater], the amount of mana that I needed to activate the skill will be reduced based on the percentage of reduction on the passive but that''s it. The 50 mp that will be deducted every 5 seconds will not be affected by the passive so it is going to tax a lot to the yer After I rested with the others, we walk towards the chest that appeared after Serbal died. After making sure the chest is not something that has a trap inside that will be triggered once opened, I let Dolly do the honors of opening it since I still remember many times in the past that whenever Dolly opens the chests dropped by bosses, there will always be bound to be something unexpected or valuable. "Are you sure I will be the one who needs to open the chest? You did all the trouble of killing the boss so I think you have the most right to open this one," Dolly was hesitant. "Don''t worry about it, really. Besides, you guys also did something so it is alright to open it." "Alright, in that case, I will rely on my luck to get something good!" CLACK! A bright gold glow appeared after the chest is opened which means something inside of it is already in the tier of Very Rare or higher. As expected of Dolly, her luck is still something to be reckoned with. Dolly who was entranced by the golden glowing from the chest took out the contents one by one. Three weapons Chronomancer, Samurai, and Magician''s weapon forms. 5 armor, 3 for the knight sses like the magic knight, swordsman, and other sses that specialize in using physical attack. Although Magic Knight has a specialty in magic, it is a ss considered to be part of the knight sses. As for the remaining two, these are clothes for all magic-oriented sses. I don''t care about those armors since I can make my own armor and I don''t like the random stats too and the weapons are going to be fodders if given to me anyway so I am going to give them to the two. There are also raw materials that are lucrative materials I can use for forging and alchemy but that is not the one I am attracted to. Thest item brought out and has been the one glowing the entire time is a ring. "Wow, not bad! That is a very cool-looking ring!" Queen Tanya said as she took notice of the ring. She inspected the ring and nodded to herself. "This is quite a good find. I bet this could sell quite a hefty price if you put it to an auction. And if you use it, it also gives you quite a good amount of benefits so this is quite a lucky find indeed!" Queen Tanya said. Queen Tanya is quite knowledgeable about pieces of jewelry. In the past timeline, she even has a few jewelry item sets given out to some yers that she conjured herself. She is also quite proficient in blessing cursed pieces of jewelry too so if she is saying this is good in just a nce without looking at its stats, then this is a genuinely good item indeed. "If that is the case, dheart should get this one since this is the best drop here right?" Dolly then hands it over. Harmless Sparrow nodded though her eyes are fixated on one of the armor on the drops so I guess she is not even interested in the ring but the armor instead. After confirming all the drops, I distributed the loot to everyone. Queen Tanya obviously declined it, while Dolly and Harmless Sparrow received the other loot, especially the equipment that ispatible with their ss. The other items were a bonus and I just gave it to them since they don''t have any interesting skills I can extract and the stats are mediocrepared to my weapon. As for the materials, they didn''t bother to take it since they still have yet to choose an EX ss they wanted. Since I am the only one who has the use of these materials, I received them automatically. Dolly and Harmless Sparrow bid farewell to us since they will have to log out and rest so it was Queen Tanya left behind with me to apany me back to her castle. "Your friends are quite interesting I must say, they are a little bit unique and has their own distinct personality but I must say that they are those people that will never betray you. I am quite sure of it." I smiled a little bit after hearing what Queen Tanya said about them. Although Harmless Sparrow is certainly just tagging along, I can also guarantee that she is a person I can trust since she also helped me in the past timeline though, during that time, she has a tight schedule with all the things happening in her guild. If she is free from the burden in the past timeline, maybe we are still friends andpanions in arms. Just as we are about to depart, a carrier falcon appeared and hover above Queen Tanya. "Oh? It looks like some sort of urgent message from the castle has arrived," Queen Tanya then stretch her hands and the falconnded on her bracer. As expected, there is a letter attached to the falcon''s feet. Queen Tanya removes the letter and feeds the falcon with some treats before sending it away. She opened the letter and read the contents. While reading, her face frowned, and shook her head after she was done reading all of the contents. "It looks like the other bosses that took the other areas have also died due to the other Pioneers too. Due to that, the dragon that seems to be in deep slumber has finally made its move and is currently moving towards the castle." Oh? I didn''t expect the other pioneers to bepetent. Maybe because the whole Hell mode didn''t happen so the bosses managed to be easy targets to the others. However, that is beneficial to me. The sooner the Pioneer Questlines are done, the better. "Should we go back to your castle, Your Majesty?" "Yes. We need to get back. I will also require your help regarding this one. I will also fetch a summon order to call all the Pioneers to gather in the castle. Since the dragon is now on the move, it is time for the final battle." Chapter 152 - The Last Stand (I) The movement of the demons and the dragon is expected especially if the bosses that have taken hold of a human settlement have been defeated, the enemies will already be aware of it. Since the bosses already died, this is obviously the time the final boss will make its appearance and will make its move. It will make sure that all of the people and adventurers who defeated all of the bosses die. I am kinda excited by this new development and how fast the pace of the first expansion quest is progressing. Unlike in the past timeline where the yers who participated in the quest has to endure everything for two weeks that many of those said yers made a rant on the inte about it. I am not really familiar with the details but someone did mess up during a quest which affected the difficulty of the uing quests. It didn''t get specified but many of the pioneers were ming that person for why they were stuck in Sandurk Region for two weeks. Since the final boss is already showing signs of movement even though we are still on the third day of the Pioneer Questline, that means the extra difficulty that the yers suffered in the past timeline did not ur in this one. But did I change anything for this to happen? Maybe there is but I am not aware of it since I didn''t experience the first timeline''s Sandurk Expansion Pioneer quests. Maybe even my presence here changed what was about to happen in the past timeline. I dropped off Queen Tanya at the castle. Although the guards are rmed due to the appearance of Leona, they drop their guard when they saw Queen Tanya on Leona''s back. Queen Tanya looked at us after shended on her balcony. "Come back here tomorrow. I need you to prepare for thest stand against thest enemy. Unlike the bosses that have been killed, the dragon will be the challenge and I am not going to be able to participate in the battle as I will be defending the frontlines along with my soldiers." "Don''t worry, Your Majesty. That is why we are sent here by the goddess. We are not just going to stop after everything happened. Thest battle will be a big test and I can''t wait to test my de against the dragon." "Heh, as expected of my rival," Queen Tanya smiled. We bid farewell and I left the pce and decided to do the final preparations. I opened my inventory and took out the ring that I got from the loot. I have yet to look at its stats so that I can fully understand if there is something that can be done with this ring. Also, I have yet to see the treasure of Serbal that I just stole, which was also important since it was also considered as a chest drop too. First, the ring. The golden glow of the ring and its intricate design of a serpent coiled around the ring made it look pretty rad. Opening the stat panel, I finally understood why Queen Tanya said this ring is quite a good drop. [Ring of the Serpent](Partially Broken) Type: Ring Equipment Rarity: Very Rare Equippable at Level 80 Equippable by: All sses STR: 100 DEX: 100 INT: 100 Skills: (Requirements not met) Info: A ring that is said to be the long-lost ring of the Serpent God. After it was stolen by Serbal, the former power it holds is now diminishing. Now that it is partially broken, its former powers are sealed and it''s only a normal-looking ring that holds a little bit of its remnant power. Note: This ring can still be repaired if you meet with a certain individual in this world. Restriction: Bound upon Equipping the ring Durability: 1000/1000 Once I check its stats, another panel appeared containing a quest. I didn''t do any quest and Queen Tanya have yet to give a quest about the Dragon so what is this now? [Repairing the Ring of the Serpent] 1 out of the 30 quests Type: Legacy Quest Difficulty: Hell Rewards: ??? Info: After defeating Serbal, the Ring of the Serpentnded on your hands. Due to Serbal''s actions, the ring lost its former powers and glory. Since you regained the ring, it is time to unseal its former power and regain its former glory. Because you defeated the ones who stole the ring, you are tasked to find clues that can lead you to the Serpent God. Duration: No time limit I almost got choked when I was reading the questline. It was a legacy quest! The quests that are too hard to find and are the types of quests that are chained from one quest to another. At the very end of the quest, you will get a piece of legendary legacy equipment, a variant form of Legendary Tier Equipment normally dropped by bosses and the world bosses. Not only that but it is also tied to certain lore or legend in the game that might be connected to something big and are potentially game changers due to how these quests implement something new to the game once it is cleared by someone. However, this is a quest type that involves too much hard work, luck, and patience. You need to invest a lot of time just to finish it. And the quests are all really hard toplete. However, this is a great blessing. Since this ring is ranked as Very Rare, once it is repaired, it has the potential to be a legendary Legacy Equipment, and it is a ring to boot! Rings are one of the best types of items in the game as you can equip ten rings at once. They can be put in all of your fingers and they give massive boosts to items. Since you can equip ten rings, you have the choice to equip one weak ring that has a powerful effect and the rest are rings with good stats. Unlike weapons and armor, this will give much leeway to have the freedom to keep using a low leveled item due to its effects. Indeed, this was a really great find! Thank you Dolly for your luck! You are still the best! After calming down, I took out the treasure of Serbal. I heard the treasure inside can make the user be able to breathe underwater. Since I was the one who stole it, I can get myself an item that will allow me to swim underwater without the fear of drowning! Since the treasure is looking like a crystal ball, the only way for me to open it is by injecting lots of mana inside. I grab the item and a prompt pops out the moment I hold the crystal ball in my hands. [Inject Mana to the ??? Crystal Ball?] Yes/No I picked yes and all of a sudden, my mana is being sucked inside the treasure. I prepared a mana potion and drink it as I got drained by the item with mana. As the treasure continues to suck my mana, the treasure is now showing cracks on its surface. The cracks are getting bigger as time passes and when I chug down the 40th mana potion which tastes like sh*t as always, the treasure appeared before me and my eyes go wide when I saw the "treasure." It isn''t an item, it is a young boy with the ears of an elf though I doubt this is an elf due to the wings on its back. One ck and one white. Chapter 153 - The Last Stand (II) That''s weird. I am quite sure that the treasure of Serbal is an item, not a child. And besides, this kid seems to be from the mixed breed of the angel and fallen race. The Angel race is self-exnatory as they are the beings with halos on their heads and have white wings and are usually capable of unleashing divine abilities and Light Attribute. They are basically what you call the holy beings in the game and are said to be always associated with the gods and goddesses though it is still not clear. The fallen race, on the other hand, is the same as the Angel race, but they do not have the ability to wield the holy abilities and can only use dark elements and dark magic. They are also called the Outcasts as they are not wee to themunity of the angel race and will be ostracized by them. So I was wondering howe there is one who is of mixed race. It is an obvious taboo to the two races and I am quite sure that they would try to get rid of this little kid before he grows. "But howe Serbal is the one carrying this kid? Is he trying to eat this kid? Or is he trying to do something else?" Although I am disappointed by the oue and the treasure is not what I have expected, I decided to ask Queen Tanya for some info about this and flew back to the pce. ... "This kid... so he pops out from the treasure you stole from Serbal?" Queen Tanya observed the kid in my arms who is still sleeping. "Yes, that is correct, Your Majesty. I don''t know what to do about this kid since I expected the treasure to be an item and not a kid." "Indeed. I would also be at a loss if I got this kid instead of a reward. However, I am not that knowledgeable about the angel race and the fallen race. I have not seen any of their kind here in Sandurk and I doubt this kid is a native here in Sandurk. Based on his clothes and his race, I can assume he came from the Luminous Continent. That is the only ce I can think of his origins. As for how he arrived here in the Sandurk region is a mystery for me so I don''t think I can answer your question about him." "I see. But I am an adventurer and I don''t think I will be able to keep him with me. There is not a single ce I can put him if I am going to keep him for now." "Unfortunately for you, I also can''t ept this kid in my pce. I am not experienced in taking care of a kid and I don''t think I can even properly give him some education once he grows up. So instead of letting him stagnant in my care, it might be better if he is in your care instead." Looks like Queen Tanya is not a good help. But I have no other NPC I can ask help with on raising this kid and although Lina is a good choice to help, I am not yet capable of going back to Resurgia Continent as long as the quest of the Pioneers is still ongoing so I am on a bind here. Then, As suddenly peeks out of the dimension which made me surprised since he can now go out of the dimension without being called out by me. I don''t see it as a bad thing, it just proves that As is getting stronger every day. "I overheard your conversation, Master. Since he is a being of mixed races, I believe you can enlist this little kid as a familiar like me. He still has yet to reach adulthood so enlisting him as a familiar will work and you can put him to the familiar dimension alongside me." "Is it safe for him? I mean, he is not simr to you, As. Also, do you know how to babysit a kid?" "Don''t underestimate me, Master. I have kids when I am still alive in the past and I still retain those memories taking care of them. You don''t have to worry anything about taking care of a single kid with me," As proudly said. Queen Tanya ps as she looked at As. "Wow, I am impressed! Your summon is quite capable!" "Of course, I am an elite. I may be rugged and scary to look at but I am dependable when taking care of kids. Since this little kid is still unconscious, it wouldn''t be a big problem for me to watch over him." "Alright. You convince me." Putting the kid on a table, I performed the contract and finished finalizing him. When I finished the contract on him, the name that appears on the menu as my familiar, he appears to have no name. Since he is still not awake, I didn''t bother to give him a name like I was giving a name to a pet without his permission. Getting the permission of someone is essential if you want to bestow them a name or if they have a name already. That is amon courtesy. Since Queen Tanya is busy issuingmands to the people, I bid farewell once again and left the pce after. Now that I am a little bit tired, I decided to log out for a bit to grab some chow. I need to get myself ready so that the raid will go smoothly and will not end in a big disaster. When my senses returned, it was already dark outside and it is currently 9 in the evening already. I didn''t realize I am ying for quite a while already. Rubbing my stomach which is empty, I shook my head and went to go to the kitchen. The two siblings are currently ying so I didn''t disturb them and grabbed some chow in the kitchen. While cooking, I received a text message on my holophone. Checking the number, I found out it was from Suhei. "Good evening Manato-kun. We will be moving tomorrow at 8:00 A.M. I am just reminding you about this since you might be surprised if we didn''t mention our arrival tomorrow. See you again tomorrow!" Looks like things will no longer be the same tomorrow especially we have new residents now. I just hope that they are not going to affect my ns in the future. Chapter 154 - The Last Stand (III) Morning arrived. I managed to rest for a bit at night but and now I am refreshed and ready to start the new day. Since Pandora and Suhei are about to move today, I asked the siblings to clean up the two rooms on the second floor, the room near the balcony and the room next to it. Since Pandora has to stay indoors most of the time due to her illness, she will be frequent on the balcony. There are only a few things to do in the rooms and the siblings only just needed to clean up some specks of dust and clear up some of the clutter. Other than that, nothing much to do except arrange and put up the necessities in the room. I also helped them a little bit but there isn''t much to get busy into. "Big brother, I heard there will be a broadcast about the Pioneer Quest battle since the progress is now in the final stages. Are you going to appear there?" Sora asked. "A broadcast?" "Yes, brother. yers of Alternate World can view the stream inside the game and those who have no ess to the game yet can also see the live stream with their phones orputers too as social media will also broadcast it. So even though I am blind in real life, I can watch big brother while we are inside the game!" "Heh, of course, big brother will be there. You guys will be proud of me if I appear in the broadcast! Tune on itter!" "Are the enemies in Sandurk hard like what the other yers said? Some of the people in towns keep gossiping about the enemies in Sandurk are said to be really strongpared to the monsters in Resurgia Continent," Akira asked. I rubbed my chin as I try to recall if they are hard or not for beginners like the siblings. "Not really, you can just treat Sandurk as the mid-game type of ce. Not too hard but not too easy either. If Sandurk became avable for all yers, I suggest that you need to be around level 75 or above to have a decent experience. The gear doesn''t matter much so don''t worry about it." "Got it. We are in level 60 already and we will try to push our levels to 70 soon." "How about gears and equipment?" "It is fine, Big Brother. We got a full gear of Rare Tier Equipment already. They have decent stats but if we get better gear, we will exchange them since they are pretty much receable," Sora said. "Once the Pioneer Quests are over, I will apany you guys to a good ce to level up in Resurgia, maybe even in Sandurk and I will carry you guys until the two of you can handle the dangers of Sandurk. If things go well during the final phase of the battle in Sandurk, maybe we can finish it much earlier." "Promise us that, Big Brother. I also can''t wait to fight with you!" Akira grinned as he expresses his excitement. Then, the doorbell rings. "Looks like the two moving in these rooms are here." "Let me get the door," Akira said and run towards the doorway, opening it. Pandora and Suhei are both in the doorway, with the former in a wheelchair while carrying a small handbag, while Suhei is currently the one moving the wheelchair of Pandora. "Good morning, Manato-kun. I hope we are not disturbing anything due to our arrival," Suhei said. "No worries, we were just preparing the rooms for you guys. You guys are free to settle down and arrange your rooms whenever you like." "Well, that was a little bit convenient. Thanks for letting us know we are weed. Anyways, I hope we get along just fine until my sister recovers," Suhei said and extended his hands. "Wee aboard." We helped them carry their luggage, however, they only dropped off the luggage and said that they will have to go to the hospital and check up on Pandora''s health. Because no one from us in this household will always be outside, I handed the extra spare key of the mansion to enter the house without us. That way, they would not stay outside the door and wait till someone opens the door which is pretty unlikely especially during the afternoon since we will be ying Alternate World during that time, and it will be shameful to let them stay like that. They left after putting all of their baggage to their rooms. We invite them for breakfast but they declined since they are already behind the schedule of the checkup so I didn''t bother to hold them any longer. ... When I went back to my room after breakfast, I check up the stream that Sora told me earlier. I also remembered something happened like this in the past timeline and it was ridiculed because of how noobish the yers handle the final boss that they have to rely on Queen Tanya to defeat it. Although many ridiculed the event, they praised some of the yers who give out their all during that time. Harmless Sparrow is one of them since she managed to rue quite a good amount of influence after. Since the situation is different, maybe the raid will be a breeze this time. Opening the details for the live stream, I found out that the Nexus Company themselves are the one who did this. Though it is logical since no other yers aside from the Pioneers are capable of ying in Sandurk Continent right now so even if we have reporter yers in the game who wants to stream the event raid, they can''t do anything about it and they won''t get any special privileges either to enter the new continent without being a Pioneer. Looking at thements, many of the yerbase are excited on the new things in Sandurk and what things they can do in this region. The stream is scheduled this afternoon which means they will be starting to do the live stream during the morning in the game. Knowing this, I am eager to show off my abilities in the masses. Now that I am ready to power up with all the resources in the game, ying in incognito is no longer a good option. Time to show all the yers what I can do. Chapter 155 - The Last Stand (IV) [Wee Back, deheart] The same robotic voice echoed in my ears the moment my body materialized on the world. It is still nighttime in the game, which means I still have time to gather the papyrus for the scrolls. Since Serbal is dead in Southern Oasis and there is still no one who is farming Papyrus, I can solo harvest all papyrus currently avable in the area and use it myself. If yers discover the papyrus to be one of the most useful things to harvest for making scrolls, harvesting one in this area would be war. With Leona, I managed to arrive at the exact area where the nt Papyrus grows. Just looking at the abundant amount of papyrus in here made me want to jump around in joy and celebrate this find. After all, during the past timeline, yers who want to harvest papyrus spawn camp on this area and will wait for new sprouts to grow which means if you also want to get a single sprout, then you need to also spawn camp here. "I really appreciate having my memory retained and for me to discover this ce in the past timeline. And I really appreciate getting here first." Of course, there are enemies here too. [Swamp Eater] Lv: 74 HP: 20,000/20,000 Type: Water, nt For a mob monster, the 20k hp is quite small. However, it is normal because they are quite annoying to handle and it justifies how small the HP of this guy is. For level 74 monsters, they usually have around 40k or more depending on their type. "Leona, go and have a snack with the wrigglers. Don''t hold back." Leona immediately dived to the ground and grab 5 Swamp Eater in one go. She didn''t just swallow them in one go but chomped it first, draining their HP to zero before they were all swallowed. She repeated the process before all of the Swamp Eaters were exterminated. I hated dealing with them so, with Leona''s help, I didn''t have to deal with their annoying attacks. I pulled out my weapon before jumping off Leona. Unlike in the past timeline where this ce is very barren from greenery, the ce right now is full of those missing greens. Without yers spawn camping here, this ce is pretty peaceful. "Alright, time to farm some weeds." ... It took me a few minutes before I managed to gather all of the Papyrus nts. I didn''t process them right away as I have other things I needed to do before they be papyrus material for the scrolls. [Papyrus Stalk] Type: Material Info: Stalks of the Papyrus nt. It is the material used to get [Papyrus Paper], a vital item needed to create [Scrolls]. Note: Weed time! I waited for a while before the new papyrus sprouts up. It only took 5 minutes before they grow and mature which is why they are easy to farm. I gather a few of the new sprouts before I am satisfied and left. While in the air, I grab a few of the stalks I cut down using my weapon and process them one by one. Not to be a papyrus paper but to be a papyrus seed. Because I knew the situation that will happen in the future, I don''t want to keep on going to the Papyrus farming area because of that same reason. [Papyrus Seed] Type: Seed/Farming Material Info: Seed of the Papyrus nt. nt it to the ground and you can start growing it in your own backyard. Note: The first step to begin your weed farm! Although this doesn''t look like a "weed" to me, it is indeed simr to one. Anyways, with the seeds in my hands, I won''t have any problem starting the farm of papyrus. Alright, time to make a papyrus paper. Processing it using the usual item process that is usually used for disassembling weapons to materials. Every yer can use it anytime and anywhere so no one would say processing things is hard or it costs money because it does not cost anything and you don''t even need to rent a facility just to process it. The processing is fast and I don''t think I needed too much time and materials to umte lots of papyrus paper. One stalk is enough to receive 10 papyrus paper. And one papyrus paper is enough to create a scroll. I am good to go with the number of stalks I have and I will still have extra stalks to spare. After around 30 minutes of processing them, I already got 100 pieces of papyrus paper. This amount is good enough for me to get a good amount of spell scrolls I can use in times of emergencies especially if I use Time Eater where my mana is just draining very fast. ... With Leona''s flight speed, it only took a few minutes before I arrived at the pce of Queen Tanya. The scrolls came out nicely and are ready to be used forter. Now, I just needed to meet with the other Pioneers. "Wee deheart. You arrived too early. It seems you are excited," Queen Tanya said while rxing on her throne. "Of course. It isn''t every day I get to fight against a big monster. The other bosses are just not that exciting while the others were killed before I can even confront them." "True. If only I get to join you guys, I will be quite satisfied. However, I have the duty to be the guardian of Sandurk and protect the citizens first and it is needed for me since I am the queen. If it wasn''t for that, I would be with you guys in the frontlines." "I can understand that but as the queen, the people''s needs are your first priority and you cannot change that even if you say it is your duty to fight the monster. The other officials will just stop you from going instead and they fear you will die and leave everything behind." "Ha! What a joke. I am not that easily killed by these bastards. Anyways, I need to prepare myself. It seems the other pioneers are here and I need to wee them." I nodded and was about to move to the audience area when Queen Tanya stopped me. "Stay there, deheart. Don''t join them. I will be assigning you as the leader of the operation to take down the dragon. And since you are the leader, they will need to see you face to face." "Me? The Leader?!" "Yes, as the pioneer who holds the highest sess rate and has the 100% soldier survival rate. You also took down 2 of the leaders leading the demon and monster hordes, all by yourself. With that performance, you are fit to be the leader of this subjugation and raid against the dragon. You earned this position." Chapter 156 - The Last Stand (V) Queen Tanya''s words were true. Since I didn''t require the help of the soldiers to fight against the bosses, no one died and I managed to kill the bosses without the help of the other pioneers which resulted in a high amount of contribution to the queen''s soldiers and the kingdom. This means I have the right to lead the operation due to how well I did in the past battles. And since Queen Tanya assigned me to this, that means she holds high regard for me. No wonder she seems proud when I took down Serbal, she is just already testing me if I am worthy to be her rival and to at least represent her on the battlefield. Just like what Queen Tanya said, the pioneers arrived one by one. Dolly and Harmless Sparrow also entered the audience room and were surprised when they saw Queen Tanya on the throne and they are looking at me with their faces showing a question "why is Tanya sitting on the throne?!" The pioneers are all good yers though there are some I don''t think I heard of their abilities. Especially the guy who looks like a ninja. His hairstyle looks like he is a protagonist from hentai since his bangs cover his eyes. However, I don''t criticize him. He has some sort of mystery from him and he emits an air of expertise on him. Although my first impressions are sometimes wrong, I am certain about this guy. "Wee to the 14 pioneers who are meeting me today. I am the 15th Royal Queen of Sandurk, Tanya Orsia the guardian and the queen that overseers the whole Sandurk Continent. I will be the one issuing amand to everyone about the final battle." I can see the shock on Dolly and Harmless Sparrow''s faces. After all, we just teamed up with Queen Tanya and she didn''t reveal she was royalty at all. Since I also didn''t say anything, they didn''t have the slightest clue about Queen Tanya''s identity. "Now that the situation is already moving to its final phase, the pioneers are now tasked to fight against the dragon that brings the whole Sandurk region in chaos. Since the leaders that are leading the demonic and monster battalions, I am expecting quite a lot from the Pioneers who have dealt with the situation the moment they arrived as soon as possible." The yers below were starting to discuss it among themselves. Then, one of the female yers pointed out to me. "I remember him as one of the Pioneer yers who got the recognition from Titania. Howe he is not here with us? What is he doing over there?" she asked. Queen Tanya chuckled at the question. "Hahaha, of course, he is one of the Pioneers. However, he holds the highest contribution and has a 100% soldier survival rate. He has the right to be up here." The other yers were surprised when they heard about it but the girl is still not convinced. "Howe? We have to fight the bosses with the soldiers and having a 100% soldier survival rate is just close to impossible! Also, I don''t think I have seen him before fighting the other bosses or take quests. Howe he still got the highest contribution?" "Jokes on you, he did fight the bosses and he did not fight with the soldiers, he defeated them solo, although you can say that one of the bosses he killed is a coborative effort, he still technically killed it with his own hands since hispanions did not fight alongside him but were just giving support on the distance. Also, regarding the quests, he received the quests directly from me, so he didn''t need to go to the soldiers andmanders to get the quest. He just needed to enter the pce and ask me for a quest. Simple as that." The girl did not get to have aeback with the exnation of Queen Tanya. After all, her statement is pretty solid and as the one who oversees the whole operation, she can easily overrule everything especially the part where I don''t take quests from the NPCs. "Also, since he holds the highest position out of all the Pioneers, I tasked him to lead the Pioneers to fight against the Dragon of Darkness and lead you to victory. Remember, you guys are the only people who will be facing the cataclysmic threat as the soldiers will be busy defending the horde of the demons and monsters while I am going to be the final barrier against the dragon should you all fail which is the worst-case scenario." The Pioneers aside from Dolly, Harmless Sparrow, and the ninja guy suddenly got enraged by this. "Why is he the one? Isn''t that kind of unfair?!" "We also did our best! Even though we didn''t have the same contribution or amount of soldier survivability rate, we also have the chance to get the leadership!" "I think you are just favoring him! He has not proven his worth yet! I don''t even think he can win against us in PVP!" The yers started voicing out their opinion on why I am not qualified and also they wanted a fair and square selection which is pretty dumb I want tough at their arguments. All of a sudden, Queen Tanya stood up from her throne and released the same aura of death which is pretty heavy to people who are not ustomed to it. I am fine with it since I always feel them whenever you fight a dark attribute boss and it gets much worse especially in the level 150 above bosses and this mechanic is prettymon on raid bosses. Also, the intensity alone is simr to the bloodlust she released during ourst batter so I am not affected by it in the slightest. When the aura went out of Queen Tanya''s body, everyone in the audience including Dolly and Harmless Sparrow was forced to fall to the ground with their bodies pressed down on the floor. Even the guards were forced to force on that position and they have to endure it. "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Queen Tanya smirked. "This alone proves his superiority to all of you. If you guys can''t even handle the same amount of bloodlust and remain standing like him, then there is no point asking who will be the leader. I can kill you all right here right now and you guys won''t be able to fight back unlike him who managed to handle this and managed to fight back." Chapter 157 - The Last Stand (VI) Queen Tanya is asserting dominance like her usual thing. It was not even that amount of dominance she was exerting normally but the soft kind and yet all of them were lying on the floor with their faces nted t. It took a while before Queen Tanya released her pressure. Still, even though the pressure was released, most of them are too weak to stand up while the stronger ones are able to slowly stand up like Dolly and Harmless Sparrow. The ninja guy also managed to stand up and two others including the female earlier who questioned my abilities. "I apologized for doing that without warning especially to my friends who were also among the people who got almost crushed by my pressure. But Imend those people who managed to stand back up after my aura was released. Seeing some still have not recovered from the attack I just made just means you are all still too weak to handle leadership. All I can say is that you shouldn''t boast about your achievements like you are the most superior. It is okay to be proud and boast it to other people but that doesn''t mean you need to impose that to be forceful on what you are boasting." She returned to her throne and nce at the struggling people before she shook her head. "I am a bit disappointed in some of you. But I have no choice since you are all chosen by the goddess. But if I was her, I would personally handpick all of the participants in this raid. Well, whatever, the meeting about the details about the subjugation will begin shortly. Use this chance to at least recover from your sorry state, talk to others or choose whether you guys will participate in the raid or not." Many of the Pioneers were speechless and didn''t have any rebuttal on Queen Tanya''s rant about them. In the end, they decided to keep quiet rather than continue to bicker with Queen Tanya even though they know that they have no chance to say any words that will be able to improve their reputation to her. After a few minutes, some of Queen Tanya''s assistants appeared and handed some papers containing detailed ns about the subjugation process. I even receive my own copy from them. "Did everyone got their own copies? Good. Now let''s begin. Since the Dragon of Darkness will be attacking, it will use itsmand tounch an assault on the human settlements and viges. If the assault isplete and sessful, the monsters will attack the city and a bloody battle will ur. Since the monsters and demons will beckingmands from leaders which you pioneers killed, they will be in a disorganized state and will attack ording to their instincts, making their movements predictable. Since we already know that the numbers of the enemies will be massive and it might count as a horde, all of our soldiers will be deployed to the viges and human settlements to be on the guard and be the first to intercept the horde. If the guards will be fighting against the horde of monsters, that means there will be no guards or soldiers that will be assisting the Pioneers to fight. Now, here is the task of the pioneers. Since the soldiers will be busy in the defense, the pioneers will not help to defend against the attack but will be responsible to fight the Dragon. With deheart''s leadership, the attack will be organized and will be done while the defense against the horde is happening." "So our task is to defeat the dragon before it can march towards the human settlements and kill all the people?" one of the pioneers asked. "Yes, that is right. If you guys fail, the Sandurk region will be done for and I have to make my own move to defend." The other pioneers gulped while the others who seem to have experience in raids are calm and are listening quietly. The difference is pretty drastic. "Because the situation is not in our favor, the division of forces is pretty big and the burden the pioneers will handle is pretty big, I will be giving some of my abilities to everyone so that everyone will have a fighting chance. Did everyone remember the feeling you guys felt after I released my aura? Things will be much worse once you face the dragon. Since I tested this to everyone and you guys showed unsatisfactory results, I have to give out some of my blessings to at least fend off that problem that might prove fatal." She waves her hands for a bit before she snapped them. The moment she snapped those fingers, a ck aura enveloped our body and panels appeared showing the buff that was applied to us. -[Immunity to Fear] applied. The fear debuff will be ineffective to the users who have this buff. -[Immunity to Taunt] applied. Taunt status inflicted by an outside force aside from the user will be dispelled. -[Blessing of the Death God] applied. Instant Death will be nullified. Any skills inflicted to the user with an effect of Instant Death will be immediately nullified. The buffs she gave are pretty straightforward but this is useful especially thest buff. From what I heard in the past timeline, the yers who faced against the boss has no blessing of that sort because of the conflict done by the yers towards the NPCs which resulted in theck of blessings given. They suffered so many deaths and the healers were burdened on reviving them again and again due to the instant death skill used by the dragon. "The blessing I just gave are buffs that can at least stop the trouble everyone might have during the battle against the dragon. They might be simple but they can at least stop the annoying trouble everyone might experience during the subjugation." Queen Tanya is still discussing things when the messenger falcon that I saw while we are in Southern Oasis appeared once more andnded on Queen Tanya''s throne. She gave the falcon some meat treats before she grabs the letter on its feet and started reading it. After a few seconds, she sighed and turned to look at us. "Pioneers. It seems the time hase for everyone to show their worth. The dragon is now approaching and will reach this ce in 2 hours if not defeated. The demons and monsters are also attacking now. Make haste." "Huh? 2 hours!? How can we get to the dragon as soon as possible?" the female warrior asked and she panicked a little bit. "Don''t worry, deheart here will handle the transport to the dragon since it walking will just not be enough for everyone to reach the dragon on time and by the time you arrived, everyone will be exhausted. deheart, if you please. Things are dire and we need your steed." "Understood. Everyone follow me outside." Queen Tanya stopped us for a bit. "Everyone, may the tides of destiny guide you to the proper path." ... After that, I headed outside the castle and went to the open field where there are no obstacles that will trouble us. The yers who were not sure what will happen looked at me with confusion while Dolly and Harmless Sparrow already knows what Queen Tanya meant by "transport". "What are we going to do now?" the other yers asked. "Please wait a bit." I put my two fingers on my mouth and whistled. It wasn''t loud but the sound traveled quite a distance. Everyone is looking around, waiting for something to happen until they hear Leona''s cry up in the air. They quickly pointed out the iing Leona at high speed. Leonanded on the ground and everyone is stunned. "We will be heading to the dragon using my gryphon to arrive as soon as possible. She can fly very fast if she flies full speed and we will arrive at our intended location in just a few minutes." "A gryphon?! Is this a pay-to-win pet or something?! Howe I didn''t see this on the store?" "No, this was not avable in the store. I don''t see any options that we can obtain a pet too if we pay money. Maybe it is an event-only exclusive pet that is avable during this quest and can only be summoned by a captain?" "Maybe that is the case!" I wanted to reveal to them that Leona is mine and not being given out in the event but I decided not to do so because it would be great to see their reactions once they knew it was mine all along. Harmless Sparrow and Dolly are the first to climb up since they are already familiar with Leona. They patted her head first before riding on her back. "Everyone else should climb up too since we are running out of time. Also hold tight because if someone fell while we are going to the Dragon, I won''t bother picking them back up. It''s going to be a bumpy ride!" Chapter 158 - The Last Stand (VII) The sky is bing darker the farther we move away from the castle. The ground is also swarming with monsters. The other yers were looking at the ground and were not sure whether to be terrified or to be excited. "Careful looking down there, remember that if you fall to the ground, I will not rescue you." Hearing my cautionary warning, they retreated from the edge of Leona even though they want to see the situation below. With all the noisesing below, anyone who is curious enough would be tempted to look at the edge. "I never knew that the person who helped us defeat the boss we are tasked to kill and also helped us defeat Serbal. We never suspected Queen Tanya to be a real queen and is currently the ruler of Sandurk! Howe you managed to have her help out in the battle?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Oh, I also want to know that! You seemed very close with her even though she was an NPC! I never knew you can do that with NPCs and befriend them like people!" Dolly added. "You guys didn''t care much about the friendship levels whenever you interact on an NPC, aren''t you?" "I notice that feature but I don''t usually care about it. So does that mean it has something to do with that feature to have at least this kind of friendship to an NPC?" Harmless Sparrow opened her menu and started to tinker on something. "That is the one. It is the main reason for the NPCs attitude to you. If it is the negative numbers on them, that means they are hostile and don''t want to do anything to you. If it is zero, they are in a neutral state and will interact with you like how you two just met before, and the more it rises, the more the NPC will be familiar with you and will talk casually too." "So that is how you did it and you did many quests from her which raised her favorability with you. Damn, I wish I knew that sooner!" Dolly said. yers always tend to just ignore the favorability meter. They always thought it was just a meter to raise to a certain degree so that they get a quest or get discounts in shops whenever they buy but it is a meter of how your friendship is going in with the NPCs. If you have no friends in real life, then at least you got some friends in the game. While the Pioneers epted me as the leader, some don''t think of me as one and they are still stealing nces at me with resentment look in their eyes. But who cares about that, this game has plenty of those yers and it would be weird if you don''t see crybabies and whining yers for not being able to get whatever they want. I look up at the sky and the swirling darkness we have just seen in the distance is now right in front of us. The dragon is also slowly marching towards the capital along with the monsters and demons walking beside the gargantuan beast. "Sh*t! That is too big! Are we sure that we can take down that dragon with just these numbers?!" one of the tank yers said. "Believe that we can get this done without dying! We have to show the queen that we are strong enough!" a warrior said. The others just went silent and just continue to stare at the situation below. After all, it is a boss, and treating it like a normal boss in the game is just not applicable as the normal bosses are very clear that they are quite weak. Raid bosses, on the other hand, has a veryrge amount of chunky health bars and a very chunky amount of defense that even I shouldn''t scoff it off. "Leona, drop a bit lower on the ground, we will be attacking here on out." Leona lowered her flight height until it was almost near the dragon''s head. "The warriors who can deal quick high damage will have to go down by either jumping or wait until Leonands on the ground. The rest will have to just go down once Leona already settled down to the ground." "Huh? Why are we going to jump? Isn''t that''s just asking to dive to the dragon''s mouth and die?!" the warrior from earlier retorted. "Idiot, he means to jump up in the air and do an aerial strike. I have done this once in a battle and I must say that it is a very good damage-dealing attack. It also inflicts AOE damage so if we are in a high elevation like this and the enemy is not suspecting anything from below, dealing damage immediately is a good thing," the sole berserker in the pioneers said. He is a famous berserker during the past timeline and he has done some significant feats by himself too. He is known in the past timeline as the Wandering Berserker, Bloodaxe. "You think I would just randomly believe you? What if you are one of the people here who wants to reduce the numbers of the people just to get the loot of the boss once it is dead?!" I shook my head on his reasons and decided to make my move. "Since some of you are reluctant, then I will be the one who will perform it. Those who also know how to do it should follow suit too. I know some are paranoid but I am not going to let anyone die here meaninglessly just like what you mentioned. After all, we need our strength together to take down the dragon as my strength alone is not enough. This is a raid battle and that means this is going to be a group battle, doing selfish things will not be tolerated!" I pulled out my sword and enchant it to mes before jumping off Leona''s back. With a quick maneuver, I spin twice beforending on the dragon with my me attack. -You have dealt 10,541 damage! After the quick maneuver, Inded on the ground after hitting the boss. I look up and the other warriors also jumped down with their weapons. Due to the continuous attacks, the dragon of darkness roared in pain as it tries to evade the new attacks. "Good, it''s working!" the other warriors said. "Don''t let your guards down! We have yet to reach its final phase yet! Get ready to deal more damage to the dragon''s body!" Bloodaxe shouted. Leonanded and the remaining yers also jumped down and joined the fray. Now that everyone is on the battlefield, I recall Leona once more since Leona is still unsuited to fight against a dragon. "Tank rolled yers,e forward and take the brunt force of the attack! Make sure everyone has taken defensive maneuvers already and do not block the attack with just a shield without any buffs from your skills! That will be suicide!" The tanks quickly swing their shields and drop them to the ground and cast their defensive skills. "Magic-oriented sses and range sses like the Hunters! Stay on the third row of the battlefield! If possible, just use the final range that your skills can reach and stay there! Cast your spells and help each other in case things don''t go well! Make sure to deal lots of damage!" The magicians stood their ground and started chanting their own spells one by one. The range units like the gunslingers and hunters also did their job and shoot the boss. The magicians then raise their staffs and pointed to the boss which then started to glow with different colors before it fires off and started hitting the Dragon of Darkness. "Healers! Provide healing spells on everyone! [Recovery] and [Heal] will be good too! Don''t let the tanks get their health to 50%! Maintain them always in 60% or higher numbers! If there are also alchemists, be sure to throw your buff potions to the warriors and magic enhancement potions to the magicians! Be the secondary healer if the healers are still in cooldown!" Everyone did what I just told them and performed well. Even though it was a clusterf*ck during the meeting with Queen Tanya, I guess some of these nutjobs have actually good coordination with yers too and knows how to follow instructions. "Alright, warrior sses! We are the DPS of this group! Since we are only a few people who are fighters, do not hold back and waste your mana in skills! Go all out and deal with this dragon as soon as possible!" Our sudden attacks caused the Dragon of Darkness to roar in pain and radiate ck mes from its body. It started to stomp on the ground and tried to squish as to pieces. "Do not bother to take the hit from their legs! Dodge and get away from them!" If I did everything right and the team doesn''t f*ck everything up, then thest stand against the dragon who brings forth cmity won''t be that bad. Chapter 159 - The Last Stand (VIII) The dragon''s attacks hit like a truck as the normal w attacks it does can even shred the health of our tanks to critical levels. If not for the healers helping out, they wouldn''tst. I made an experiment on how the dragon would do its attacks, how long it does the dragon do its stomps and special attacks, and how random it will do its ck fire breath and its other attacks. I calcted them while also organizing the Pioneers to do the damage and defend whenever the dragon attacks. "Hold off on that side! Tanks defend! Do not break off formation!" I shouted. After giving an order, I took a nce at the boss'' name and HP remaining. [Dirac, the Dragon of Darkness] Level: ??? Raid Boss HP: 823,000x24/1,000,000x25 Type: Dragon, Dark, Fire, Beast The HP of the dragon is 1,000,000, however, once the 1,000,000 HP is gone, it will return to another 1,000,000 HP. Why? Because the boss has 25 HP bars, all are 1,000,000 HP. The boss will undergo a change every time its HP was drained to zero, a Break Bar to be exact. That is why we needed to always be careful once we get to reduce its HP, who knows what kind of gimmick the boss will pull the moment an HP bar was reduced to zero. "Range attackers, fire at will!" The magic users and the long-range sses begin shooting beams and arrows alongside rapid bullets flying towards the dragon. "Melee fighters, coordinate with me, once I started to attack, proceed to attack as well. Retreat once you have done your damage and reduce your distance with the boss so that no one from us will attract the aggro of the boss. This will ease up the burden of the healers while still capable of unleashing damage to the enemy!" "Roger that!" Thankfully, despite their transgressions earlier in the castle, they still follow my orders and did not just act on their own. Although I spot a few of them reluctant to follow my lead, most are doing fine with mymands and there are no mishaps. Even the fire that the dragon breathes out after a few seconds of no attack interval and has the most devastating damage is manageable. When the health of the dragon, it suddenly opened its wings wide and the tips of its wings started to glow just like how it does whenever it is about to fire off its fire breath. "Sh*t! Tanks! Cast [Damage Absorption] and [Invincibility] then move behind us to protect the mages and healers! Healers! Use your strongest healing skill that canst for a few seconds and will allow continuous heals in set intervals! If you don''t have them, use the most potent healing spell you guys have! Alchemist! Use [Smoke Bottle] to everyone! Warriors! Move forward and reduce the remaining HP of the boss while it is charging! It will be targeting everyone in the backline so let''s take this chance to reduce one of its HP bars!" The others agreed to this as well and went ahead to begin the attacks. The dragon then released his attack, containingser beams as ck as its wings apanied by its usual fire breath that immediately bombarded to the tanks. As expected, the attack was meant to the Range units who deals quite a huge amount of damage to the boss. Then, one of the tanks, who is a Pdin with a level 88 gear on him, invoke a skill on his own. "[Counter and Reflect]!" His shield glows red and the moment the ck beam hit his shield, he moved a bit forward and the beam that was fired off bounced back to the boss, inducing a self damage to the boss. [Counter and Reflect] is a Pdin skill that allows the user to counter attacks that hits the shield directly and return the attack to the one who caused it, physically or magical way. It is usually used by Pdins as a skill for emergency scenarios since the skill has a long cooldown of 4 minutes. However, the long cooldown is justified due to how strong it was if done properly. The effect changed when used in PVP and that will be the only time the [Counter and Reflect] to have a reduced cooldown from 4 minutes to 2 minutes. However, the damaged was nerfed to make sure the skill won''t be a broken one that makes every Pdin user to one shot all enemies using this. Now here is the effect of [Counter and Reflect]. Once an attacknds on the shield of a Pdin who used [Counter and Reflect], the attack thatnded to the pdin would be absorbed and will not inflict any sort of damage to the shield user. Once the attack was finalized, the user can then fight back and use the force of the attack was fully absorbed, it can be fired back to the user of the skill. Of course, this skill can only be used against the one who inflicted the attack. The attack fails if you use the attack to another person or enemy who didn''t do the attack and the charge will be deemed invalid. The good thing about this skill is not just the temporary attack absorption but the effect of the skill once the absorbed attack is released to the enemy. Instead of firing off a small fraction of energy to the boss depending on how strong the attack, the absorbed attack will be fired off with double firepower it usually have. If exined inyman terms, if the damage absorbs can inflict 1000 damage, once it is fired back to the attacker, the damage inflicted will be 2000 instead. The moment that tank used it, the attack immediately reduced the second bar to zero and the next bar was reduced to 500,000. The dragon was stunned by the attack and slumped to the ground. "Now is the time! Fire all of you got!" The magicians and range users immediately cast off their strongest range attacks. The colors flying from their staff is quite a sight that anyone seeing it would be really amazed since they looks like fireworks and due to how dark the sky is currently with only a bit of light to be seen, this showed up quite simr to a fireworks disy. "All melee attackers! Unleashed your rage!" I shouted to rally up everyone. "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!" Everyone shouted in unison. Everyone did their attacks rapidly, Harmless Sparrow unleashed her deadly attacks one swing at a time, Bloodaxe swings his ax like a true berserker whileughing, heck, even the ninja is doing his best and managed to inflict [Bleed(Extreme)] to the boss. Though it wasn''t as good as how many debuffs I inflicted on the stunned dragon. Since my Versatile Weapon has a chance to inflict [Defense Reduction] and [Corrode] in my basic attacks, the moment it procs to me, the attacks dealt by everyone became too strong that the stunned dragon''s HP fell off the moment we continue our attack. The Dragon once again recovered after our frenzy but it was enough to inflict enough damage and remove 5 HP bars as a result. "Return to the formation! Do not attack the boss right now! It might unleash its attacks in the process if you continue doing so! Retreat!" I ordered. Since the tanks are not yet in their position, we are in a tough spot if the boss recovered while we are near it. The boss will immediately squish us to death if that was the case. I thought everything will be fine but as expected, there are those who are stubborn and just f*cked up that ruins the strategy of a solid and effective n. 2 of the warriors, one which I managed to recognize to be one of the yers who wanted to also be the leader and quite the whiny guy remained alongside another warrior. From what I observed with the other warrior, I have never seen him before so I don''t recognize him. "Oy! What are you guys still doing there! Retreat already!" Bloodaxe shouted. "Why would I retreat?! We are dealing quite juicy damage already, we should just continue the pressure and reduce the health of this big boy and we will be done in the process!" I scratch my head at how idiot this bastard is. The reason I want everyone to retreat is due to its new state. Since every time it got its HP bar reduced, there is a chance it will go on rampage mode all of a sudden. We just attacked furiously earlier since we took advantage of the stunned state of the boss, however, now that the boss recovered, things will not be the same as earlier. Since I retreated from the battle, the [Defense Reduction] and [Corrode] debuff already reach its time to fade, allowing the state of the Dragon to return to its normal state. Then, a panel appeared out from our interface. [Diract the Dragon of Darkness entered the state of Frenzy! Please retreat from the area as soon as possible for 1 minute!]. Frenzy is the state a Raid Boss undergoes when a certain break bar number got taken to zero. During this state, the boss will be invincible, and its attacks will be all deal critical damage, and most importantly, they all deal true damage. It onlysts a minute or higher but the main strategy to that is to immediately escape from the area the moment the boss activates Frenzy mode, because no matter how Chunky and hard your armor and shields are, they arepletely useless to a boss who is under Frenzy mode. Chapter 160 - The Last Stand (IX) If there are yers who obey the leader of the group or those whomand them, there are also yers who are thick-headed and will try to go and do other things that they think will be done betterpared to the one leading themand. As a result? They end up in big trouble. The two guys who were left behind were immediately reduced to ashes and even their bodies were nowhere to be found. I can only do a facepalm on their stubbornness. Do they think they can kill the boss just by staying near the boss and repeat the attacks? Gimmicks like that are not useful against the boss as they will adapt to the fighting style of the enemy and will try to find a countermeasure against that. Even I would die if I stay there even if I use my defensive skills. "Damn! They ruined the n!" Bloodaxe gritted his teeth. After all, from what I heard about him in the past timeline, he prioritizes the safety of everyone rather than rely on sacrifices. Now that someone died, he is not sure what to say. "Don''t worry, I already formted a second n to stand up against the dragon in case any yer fell or ditch us and our progress won''t change that much." "You already have a worst-case scenario n nned out? Well, I''ll be damned. No wonder the queen has chosen you as the leader," Bloodaxe said. All of us continue to run away at a distance from the dragon. The rampage of Dirac, the Dragon of Darkness is too violent that the mes surge out from the ground every roar of the dragon and the heatwave can be felt not too far away. "Since we lost two guys, then I have no choice but to rely on something else." I pulled out the scrolls in my pocket. "What are you nning to do?" Harmless Sparrow looked at me in confusion. "Since you can say that I am the one responsible for the deaths of the two, I decided to fight like two guys. It will be hard but it will be manageable. As I said earlier, the strat will remain the same, the only change will be my new role. Although confusion can be seen in their faces, I am doing this to deal with the loss of a member of the raiding party. One member loss can prove to be fatal if it bes worse, so before that happens, I have to immediately implement this new strat away. The dragon stopped its rampage meaning it is time for us to continue the pressure against the dragon. We returned to the ce where the dragon stopped moving and saw the aftermath of its little rampage. "Holy sh*t, no wonder we needed to retreat immediately, If we stayed here, we will be ashes no matter how tough our defenses are!" Harmless Sparrow said. "Resume the attacks! Just like earlier, we have to deal with him but we have to be careful every time the boss is about to lose a bar of their HP. We might not know what bar it will undergo the same manner again. If we don''t want to get vaporize, be sure to be always observant of the surroundings and the mannerisms of the dragon!" "ROGER!" Everyone returned to their formations and although we are nowcking two people with the melee DPS doesn''t mean we are going to be f*cked up. After all, this part of my ystyle has never been lost yet. If only this is possible in Arena, I might have dominated the arena in the past timeline. Too bad, this is not an allowed method in Arena since Scrolls are considered "Broken" in arena fights. The dragon sweeps its tail again but this time, I didn''t let the tanks block it. Instead, I opened a scroll that contains the spell, [Holy Ray]. Since Dirac has an attribute of Dark, light element magic is very effective against any enemies that have the dark attribute. When the tail made contact with the [Holy Ray], the skin of the dragon suddenly melted and the skeleton on its tail suddenly appeared. The dragon roared loudly and ms the tail to the ground. The tail that has been reduced to the skeleton form became brittle and was reduced to pieces the moment itnded on the ground. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" some of the magician yers didn''t expect me to pull out something like that. After all, [Holy Ray] is a Tier 5 skill of the Holy Knight''s ss Change, Bishop of Light. It is quite the skill that can deal a huge amount of Light Damage, it is only second of the strongest light skill of the Bishop of Light, the [Hama]. The dragon roared in pain, as the skill already melted quite a big amount of flesh from the boss. "While the boss is still trying to recover from the attack I made, everyone should start dealing damage!" The magicians did as I told, the tanks ready their defenses in case an attack will suddenly break out. "Why you didn''t use that earlier? That attack earlier was very effective against the boss!" Bloodaxeined. "Haha, of course, I wouldn''t use it. After all, if I spammed it and keep it using against the dragon, how would you guys get a contribution on killing the boss? In the end, I will have the highest contribution and the drops that will be dropped might end up as mine as well." Because the Scrolls I created are those abilities that should only be avable to high leveled yers, once I use these scrolls on a boss fight, they would end up dead before I knew it and the yers will startining again about how overpowered I am and how I hoard all of the drops because I got all of the contribution defeating the boss. This way everyone progresses into the game without hindrance. After all, they didn''t do anything to me in the past timeline. The only people who I want to screw up their progress are Kazuki and everyone who mocked and beat me up in the past. Dirac''s Hp rapidly fell and in about a few minutes of repeating the attacks, we are now in the final phase of the boss. The moment its HP reached thest bar, the dark dragon summoned a dark abyss behind which suddenly envelopes its whole body. A sudden ominous feeling looms around us and the ground started to shake and a panel appeared before us. [Dirac''s health is in critical mode. Due to his desperate attempt to defeat everyone in the process, he decided to summon the abyss contract realm and cover his body with it. Hold out for 10 minutes and your win will surely be guaranteed!] I didn''t expect to see this and will be experiencing it again. In raid battles, once the boss''s HP was reduced to thest bar, the boss will either undergo these forms which ur in different bosses; they will go berserk, they will be stunned and their defenses will be reduced to a certain extent, buffs will be applied and thest and the nastiest of them all is the time stalling trial. The info on how to win is iplete in the info but the boss will undergo an invincible state and will inflict true damage to their enemies during that 10 minutes. And since the boss will deal true damage, the tanks are useless now and no one will be able to withstand it. "Everyone! Don''t let the boss hit you! No matter what is going to happen, do not block the attack! Ready your potions and do not die! We need to hold off for 10 minutes to win! Tanks, remember that do not block or attack the boss! Just hold up to 10 minutes and be patient! Go and focus on the attacks and dodge them to avoid getting squashed to death!" Since I got everyone in my side, everyone nodded and followed my order. After all, someone lost their chances to gain contribution the moment they died earlier. They didn''t want to die and lose the equipment that will drop once they die. The dragon''s attacks are all random, it will either stomp its feet, p its wings hard until it creates a mini-tornado, fire off ck mes randomly and use its mes on the ground to burn random ces on the ground. All of these attacks have the big potential to obliterate anyone caught in this and die. Not even a potion can save you from this. However, I don''t know if we canst that long, seeing that the attacks that are happening are pretty brutal and some of the yers are not too sure if they can even dodge those. "Master, how about you use that one skill your Versatile Weapon that has unlocked after devouring many things? You know, the [Iplete Rhongomyniad]? Maybe you should test it out?" As whispered in my ear. Chapter 161 - The Last Stand (X) (Final Part) The [Iplete Rhongomyniad]? If I remember correctly, it deals true damage to an enemy without using mana but using your health as the means to cast it. However, that''s about it. True damage doesn''t mean you will be able to prate its invincibility. So even if I fire it off, it will be useless. "Why do I have to use it? It is pretty useless against the boss who is under the effects of invincibility! Firing this off is useless and I would just waste my health in the process and I won''t do any kind of damage at all!" "Just fire it, master, trust me. I know what will happen. Since it is iplete, the info given out too is iplete. Just trust me on this one." I am a little bit hesitant about firing it. I don''t know the consequences of losing half the health by firing the skill. After all, some skills like the [Domain of the Shield] make you invulnerable and tired to move after using the skill. If this skill is broken to the point of ignoring invincibility, what does this cost? My whole health? "I will think about it." We have to remain in the vicinity of the boss while the fight is happening because the boss will refill all of its HP bars once we went away from its range. So if we wanted to keep it from itsst bar, we have to stay in its range and suffer dodging the attacks. The other yers are dodging every beam of attacks the dragon did, causing the ground full of ming holes that will never die down. The longer the battle drags out, the more the mes will soon fill the whole battlefield and everyone in this ce will soon be trapped in one ce. No one will be able to move away in that ce due to the mes everywhere. No wonder the goal in the final phase is to survive until it stops its rampage because it is thest stand. If you managed to hold out against all of the dragon''s attacks, survive the burning mes that were burning on the ground that gets filled everywhere the longer the battlests, it is our win. "Everyone! Avoid the mes! Even the mes on the ground, you can''t step on them or you will die!" I shouted. Of course, they know that, however, that was just a normal thing to remind them. After all, some yers will be absent-minded and will step on thatnd mine. The yers didn''t care much about the mes as it was easy to dodge. However, they soon realized that the mes they are dodging umted the longer the rampage urred. It has been 3 minutes but the battlefield is already filled halfway and only small patches of the ground are left behind for us. "Stick together everyone! It will be disastrous if we don''t stick together, we will be isted from each other if this happens!" The dragon continued to fire and every time the beam is about to fire off on us, we dodge together. However, the more we dodge, ourst stand is also getting bleaker. "Sh*t! Are we going to die in the process? Are we going to die instead ofpleting the final quest?!" Dolly panicked. I also didn''t expect this too. To think we are being put in a tight spot too. "Magicians, try to use water magic on the mes! We have to extinguish the mes!" Bloodaxe shouted. The magicians quickly tried to use their magic abilities to the mes only for the water to evaporate and got extinguished the moment it hits the mes. It is not optimal and doesn''t work. "SH*T! LEADER, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING THAT WE CAN DO IN THIS SITUATION?!" F*ck, no wonder in the past timeline, the raid failed. This was a quest where our hope to kill the boss is not on sight but we will die instead. If that is the case, Queen Tanya''s prowess is the only way, which is why it was a piece of big news that Queen Tanya killed the Raid boss,pleting the pioneering quest. "Master! Fire it off! That is the only way for this to end as soon as possible, trust me on this! That is the only way to survive on this battlefield!" As continues to persuade me. Now that we are on a limited patch ofnd, we are already f*cked up if we don''t try it. I have no choice and this is the only way. I wanted to get this chance to win and not just die. I am not going to allow the predetermined route of this world to ruin me and destroy my streak of winning. F*ck it, let''s do this! I went to do my stance and pointed my sword at the dragon. "deheart? What are you doing?!" Harmless Sparrow didn''t expect me to enter in battle stance. After all, we cannot attack the boss since it was invincible. The others were also not sure what I was doing. However, this is a do-or-die situation. "[Partial Deployment!]" I shouted since this was the main way to activate it. The moment I spout those words, my weapon suddenly got enveloped in bright white light, however, there are some parts of the light that has a tinge of darkness on it. Maybe it was due to the fact that the skill I was using is iplete. My weapon is also turning into a glowing spear, it is pure white but the more the white appears, a tinge of dark color appears. The energy also started to umte that even the mes in the surroundings waver due to the force. The other yers watch with awe at what is happening. Not only they frowned, but the dragon also noticed my actions and its mouth started to show signs of a fire breath being brewed. But I didn''t flinch and continue finishing the umtion of energy. The moment that I can fire the skill soon appeared and I didn''t wait for that dragon to fire the fire breath to us first. It''s us or the dragon who will die here. [Devour the World, RHONGOMYNIAD!]" The umted energy being stored on my weapon just now started to get heavy and at that moment, I fired off the strongest attack I made in my entire life including the past timeline. FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- A deaf-inducing sound was produced and the beam was fired off towards the dragon. My body also felt all the pain the moment I fired it, I think my arm holding the weapon has been wounded to the extent that one more hit, will fall off from my body. I also saw my HP bar got reduced to 1 HP at a time rapidly until it slowly got drained until I only have half of my HP left as it remained even though the skill I used is still firing off. The noise was too loud that it was the only thing I can hear while I am firing off the Rhongomyniad. When the light fades and my weapon returned to normal, my whole body trembled as I kneel on the ground after my legs felt like jelly after. The mes that were covering the whole ce disappeared but were reced with long crater-like damage on the ground, made by my Rhongomyniad skill. That is not the only thing. The dragon that was having its rampage is now dead after firing off the skill. The moment it was fired, the head of the dragon evaporated, leaving not a single trace of flesh and blood. The body fell to the ground and a big thud allowed every yer to confirm it is dead. Then, the Quest Complete panel appeared in from of us. All the yers jumped in joy the moment those words appear. Because the subjugation isplete. I sighed in relief, however, my consciousness is slowly dimming and before I can celebrate, I passed out. "...deheart! No! He is down!" "de... art!" ... I opened my eyes and found out that I was no longer on the battlefield. However, I saw a different ce, a big tree that looks so ancient I can tell that it is some sort of special tree. I have not yet seen this tree in the past timeline but howe I am seeing this? What is happening? Approaching the tree for a few steps then blocked me with a girl. She is wearing a white kimono and her hair is also white. She is closing her eyes and I can''t see the color of her eyes either. However, my eyes wandered to the box she was holding in her arms. For some reason, I am sensing something on that box. I wanted to see more but I didn''t manage to do so the moment the surroundings start to warp and the girl in the white kimono smiled. She just stared at me without saying anything and despite my efforts to remain was all in vain. Chapter 162 - Savior Of Sandurk The gaming world who watched the Livestream of Sandurk''s final phase raid was shocked at what happened in the game. After all, the boss who was still doing its rampage was killed in one blow using a unique-looking skill. Many yers tried to research the skill that the yer masked with a wolf head used during the battle that obliterated the raid boss. However, the database has no info about it and no one knows how he used it. Some of the yers are now aware of deheart and how strong he was after the live stream. Knowing this, they wanted to know the stats of this person and they n to use a scan magic tool to know his stats and gather up info on how he became so strong and make it public, not knowing that this action is useless as his info is automatically blocked. Although many yers wanted to know what kind of equipment he got, many of the yers were amazed by deheart''s leadership. After all, that raid has a close zero casualties. They didn''t count the casualty of the two yers because they knew that they disobeyed deheart and did things they wanted to do which caused their own demise. deheart is not at fault with that. However, not only deheart who got famous in the incident. User11: DAMN! Queen Tanya is so hot! And sexy too! I want her to step on me! User232: Rule 34 artist will surely be creating many "cultured things" right now, I better check it out. User43: I thought I wouldn''t be attracted to the NPCs in the game, she just proved it wrong! User 102: I can''t wait to visit the Sandurk Continent! Looks like I have a goal now and that is to meet with Queen Tanya. I will then ask her to marry me! ... The inte is such a truly scary ce. ... When deheart copsed after using the Iplete Rhongomyniad, the yers helped deheart to lean on a rock. Since only deheart has control over Leona, they have to stay in this area. Since deheart was out, Bloodaxe decided to take the role as the temporary leader for a while. "Everyone who are not busy at the moment should gather up the loot, I will be overseeing who wants to apany me to grab the loot and help me carry them in here. We need to be fair and square about the loot and do not just grab it unless the real leader wakes up. Those who are tired and wanted to rest, please stay here and guard him until he wakes up." The other yers agreed too. After all, if not for deheart, they will not be able to win and kill the dragon. They will be toasted to crisp before they can leave the area alive. Harmless Sparrow and Dolly stayed behind along with some of the magicians and tanks. After all, they are the most battered up during the fight. "What happened to him? After he fired off that strong attack earlier, he copsed all of a sudden. I am not near him when that happened and you Sparrow is the nearest who have seen what happened. Can you tell me what exactly urred that lead us to this one?" Dolly asked. "I am not sure either, the only thing I noticed is that his arm that is holding his weapon seems to be melting due to the skill. After he fired it off, he lost consciousness without warning. So I also don''t have any idea. It is also not the mana weakening that I experienced before when I used excessive mana in one usage since I didn''t copsed but felt so fatigued after so I think it has some sort of simrities." "Is that so? Maybe we should see if deheart is alright? I mean, we should at least remove his wolf head mask and see if he is still conscious or in a true bad shape," Dolly suggested. "I don''t think we can remove his mask. After all, that is also an equipment of his. It would be rude to him if we remove it without his permission!" Harmless Sparrow was against the idea. "We wouldn''t know what happened to him if we don''t do something. Lets just try to remove it and look at his state. Don''t worry, I am not really interested in looking at his real face or anything," Dolly said. "Did you really think I will be convinced? No, Dolly. I know you must be curious on what he really looks like but please, we have to respect his decision for hiding his face and not just use this chance to unmask him while he is down. Just keep it intact and let him remove it by himself in the future." "Khh, alright fine. But admit it that you also want to see what is behind his mask right? RIGHT?" Harmless Sparrow just evaded her stare and started whistling. During that time, Bloodaxe and the others arrived carrying big crates full of gold, weapons, essories, armor and many other things. There are at least 5 crates containing full of treasures. "We are back. Look at all the phat loot we got! Every yer who participated in the raid till the end will receive a loot!" one of the warriors said. Everyone in the group showed smiles on their faces seeing the loot that was in the crates. No one would be left out with the amount of loot avable and no one willin they didn''t get anything because the loot is enough for everybody. "Hold your itchy hands guys. I know you are all incited with the loot just before our eyes but please hold it up. Until our leader wokes up, no one is touching the loot, understand!?" The yers who are now eager to dive to the loot, stood aback the moment Bloodaxe stood in between their way to the loot. They wanted to facepalm after forgetting what Bloodaxe said earlier. "As I said earlier, we don''t have the rights to take the loot just yet. We may have contributed a lot in the fight but that doesn''t mean we did thest hit against the boss, our leader did. So unless he wakes up, the loot should stay put! If you guys have trouble understanding that and still wanted to get into the loot, then you have to get past through me before you get to hold one yourselves!" The yers has no say about it, after all Bloodaxe is a truly terrifying yer. He can defeat any yer no matter how many ganged up on him. After all, as a Berserker ss yer who also has the same name as Eric Bloodaxe, the king of Northrumbria, he is not just an ordinary yer that anyone can mess with unless they have the ability to go toe to toe with him. In the end, no one step up. Bloodaxe nodded and decided to head over to where deheart is leaning on. "How is he doing?" Bloodaxe asked. "He is breathing but he hasn''t woken up yet. His arm on the other hand is also in very bad shape after firing off that skill earlier. We already tried to let him drink a potion but it seems to do nothing at all," Harmless Sparrow exined. "I see, so it is a self harming skill. It has a very strong firepower but it also needs some sort of catalyst as an equal measure to at least cast the skill. That is not surprising since Berserker ss also have those kinds of skills too. However, this is the first time I have witnessed a very powerful skill that could induce a yer to faint in the game. He wasn''t logged out so he must be fine and the system detected he didn''t need to be forced out of the game yet. He will wake up soon enough." "Have you seen someone who also got into this state?" Dolly asked. "Nope. Not at all. However, there are some simr incident happenedst time. They didn''t faint but they got simr injuries too. The game is just too realistic that overusing your power also has the advantage and disadvantage. It clearly took some notes on how someone should be after using so much mana and how a yer would be after using a very strong skill. It is very understandable and very realistic that it is kind of scary." Bloodaxe noticed deheart''s weapon and saw that despite him being under the unconscious state, his wounded hand didn''t let the weapon go from his grasp. He tried to take out the sword from deheart''s hands so that his injuries won''t get much severe damage just by gripping his weapon. However, the moment his hands made contact with deheart''s weapon, a strange force suddenly zaps his hand and he was forced to retract his hands. He grinned as he rubs his zapped hands. "It looks like I found someone really interesting." Chapter 163 - Leads My head is throbbing a little bit when I woke up. As I look around the ce, I wondered where I am. My head is in a bit of a woozy state but everything is still fresh in my mind. Strangely, something seems to be missing in my memory, and despite having an eidetic memory, I have a vague feeling that I don''t remember the gap in my memories. It was some sort of memory while I was unconscious but strangely, I cannot remember it no matter how hard I try to recall the matter. I stood up from the unfamiliar bed and rubbed my eyes. I quickly realized I am still in the game. So when I fired off the Iplete Rhongomyniad, my body and consciousness are still intact which deemed the system to keep me in the game without forcefully logging me out. I check if my weapon is still equipped and didn''t melt after firing off the Iplete Rhongomyniad and got relieved once I saw the Versatile Sword is still intact and still on its sheath. But then I noticed the arm that wielded the Versatile Weapon before firing it. I hold it with both hands but my left hand is the most dominant holder of the weapon. I am surprised when I saw the burn marks on my left arm. It was like it got scorched so badly in the grill. "[Full Restoration]." The healing magic immediately fixed the scar in my hands. I understood why it remained like this since no healers have ess to [Full Restoration] just yet. Now that I am back in tip-top shape, I decided to look around and tried to remember where I was. But my train of thought was interrupted when Queen Tanya and my friends entered the room. I was even surprised when I saw Bloodaxe among them. "Oh, it looks like the Hero has awakened. It looks like another further observation of his condition is now unnecessary since he already woke up from being unconscious!" Queen Tanya said as she entered the room. "deheart!" everyone rushed towards my position. "Are you alright? Howe you copsed after using that skill while fighting the final boss? Howe you just acted on your own?" Harmless Sparrow asked and checked up my wounds. "You big dummy! Next time you do something like that, you should have told us so that we can prepare in case things like copsing urred! If the boss didn''t die from your attack and you copsed after using it, we are in a royal screwed-up situation!" Dolly said. I can only scratch my head. Since we are desperate to win, I decided to use that even ignoring the consequences of my actions. "Now, now, enough of that. What is done, is done. Don''t keep dwelling on it. Anyways, everyone is eagerly waiting for your awakening. Your decision is the only thing they needed for the distribution of the loot. Bloodaxe here stopped them from getting the rewards since you are the actual leader and your decision is the most crucial one to them," Queen Tanya said. "Damn, really?! How long did I pass out?" I asked. "Not that long, around one hour and 30 minutes only in my estimation after the battle against the final boss." It was a pain in the neck to do this and honestly, I am not interested in the loot. After all, I have the cksmith Ex-job, and creating items and armors by myself with good quality is good enough for me. Besides, they are going to be useless if my level is already high enough that their stats are iparable to my current armor and my future clothes and essories. "Bloodaxe right?" I looked at Bloodaxe who was just quiet the whole time. "Yes. We fought together earlier." "Yeah, of course, I know. Anyways, since you acted as the leader, might as well continue doing so. I relinquish the status of being the leader. I also give you all the rights to distribute the loot to other yers who participated in the final battle. Just cross me out from the yers who needed to get the items since I am not interested in the loot." Everyone in the room didn''t expect my response about it. Even Queen Tanya was shocked when she heard my response. "Are you serious about what you are saying deheart? You are giving up your loot to others? Isn''t that a huge waste?" Queen Tanya is more confused about it than anyone else because she probably thinks I will demand to get the best rewards. After all, I am the one who ys the final boss without bing a sacrifice for Queen Tanya to make her move. "As I said earlier, those gears and items are not something I will be interested in. And it would be a waste if I receive those, it would be better to give them to everyone else aside from me who needed those items. I don''t think I needed it anyway." Bloodaxe wanted to argue but Harmless Sparrow stooped him and shook her head. "If he said he didn''t want it, that is absolute. Let''s just follow his wishes instead." He sighed and gave up from the notion after. "Fine. I will go ahead and distribute the items based on the contributions of everyone." Bloodaxe, Harmless Sparrow, and Dolly left the room since they also needed to get their share of the loot. The only one left behind was Queen Tanya and me. "It seems you are more than what meets the eye, deheart. To think you have a fragment of the power of the Rhongomyniad in your weapon and managed to unleash it without dying especially since it is iplete. Maybe you have the bloodline of thete King Arthur?" "I don''t think I have. However, I know his legends. I also know that the Rhongomyniad is one of King Arthur''s weapons alongside two other weapons that was said to hold so much power." Queen Tanya smiled and continue the topic. "Based on your reaction, it seems you are interested in King Arthur''s weapons." "I am interested indeed, Your Majesty. After all, I needed to know how toplete the Iplete Rhongomyniad and things rted to King Arthur and the original Rhongomyniad might at least give a reaction on how to unlock its fullest potential." "I see. Many people dismiss King Arthur''s legend as just a mere fantasy that happened a long time ago and was written for fun purposes and for kids to be inspired to be strong and kind like King Arthur. However, I might have some clue on King Arthur and how you might be able to receive more info regarding him. Interested? I bet you arepared to the loot that was dropped by Dirac, the dragon of darkness." A pop-up appeared on my screen and I didn''t expect to see the prompt that I have heard in the past timeline that was achieved by someone who received the Excalibur. This time, it was not that person who received the quest but me. [Warning, this is a Heroic Quest Line. This quest is extremely hard and failing one single questline will dismiss the rest of the quest chain immediately. Are you prepared to embark and use this chance to learn more about this matter? Declining this quest will make this quest disappear to you and this will be avable to other yers instead.] Yes/ No Are you kidding? Why would I decline this? I pressed "Yes" and the current pop-up closed and another appeared after pressing "Yes". [Heroic Questline: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table] Initiate the questline? (You can dy this if you are still not ready yet) Yes/ No I press yes. There is no time limit anyway and I am aware of how hard the questline is. epting it can be considered as a side quest for me. "So you are indeed interested. That''s a good choice and I think you are also the one qualified that I think we are waiting for to take on this one." "Me?" "Yes. Out of all the people who are an adventurer like you, only you showed so much potential. Although it is a diamond in the rough, we can say you already exceeded everyone who was being eyed upon your''s truly." "So what is the deal with this anyway?" I asked. "Alright, let''s begin. During ourst excavation trip in one of the destroyed ruins, one diary mentioned this and many were not convinced but wait, there is more. During the expedition, they found the same weapon that King Arthur wielded before into the stone b like how King Arthur pulled it in the past. We heard it was returned to thedy in theke after King Arthur died however, the weapon was clearly just the same in the stone b and what is currently happening. The first task assigned to you would be to scout the area and secure its perimeters, find relevant information, and gather the clues regarding the sword whether the Excalibur is real or just a hoax." Chapter 164 - Celebration Day The day of the demon invasion and the looming war against them havee to pass and people are now gathering outside the castle to witness Queen Tanya''s speech. After all, if not for her leadership and her tireless work to keep Sandurk intact, they wouldn''t be celebrating right now. I received Queen Tanya''s exclusive quest about King Arthur''s weapons though only Excalibur is confirmed to be the one mentioned in this quest. However, having a single quest involving the owner of multiple heroic weapons is already good. If I am extremely lucky and thorough on this quest, who knows I might get the chance to obtain another clue to find either the Rhongomyniad or the Carnwhennan. Receiving the quest this early means I already maxed out Queen Tanya''s level of friendship. If I have not maxed it out, why would she give me the info about the heroic weapons which are considered as one of the end game weapons, unique to any yer who obtains them? As for the supposed yer who should have received the weapon in the future, I am sorry but I will be taking this sword from your future hands. I don''t have enmity feelings for you, in fact, I don''t even know you. Queen Tanya went ahead to prepare for her speech. As for my fellow Pioneers, they are now very happy and are all smiles after the battle. It was like no conflict that urred earlier when I was assigned as a leader happened. But hey, all is good, it also ends well and no hard feelings for one another. "deheart, you good now? Not feeling any unusual headaches or something?" Dolly asked who approached. She is now wearing a ck Mage Robe of Demise, a Very Rare robe that only drops from the enemies. Receiving that robe means she will have a much easier time casting spells since this reduces casting time, reduces mana usage, and improves mana recovery. "No problems here, I am fine and well," I answered. "That is good. You are the star of the show today, it would be sad if the star of the celebration is currently recuperating. Even if it is a game, our characters also need to recuperate if it is bad for their health," Harmless Sparrow said. "I know, I know. I am quite aware of that so you don''t need to be worried about it." I walked around the castle grounds and the yers who saw me started to greet me as we have known for many years. I am not so cold-hearted to ignore those so I also responded to them though only a bit and I didn''t bother to talk with them to get closer to them. Their treatment is now too differentpared to earlier. As for the two warriors who died, since they have at least small contributions, they were also given a reward through the reward they received are the bottom of the list of the luxurious drops. Basically, the fodder weapons aremonly dropped by other monsters, and if they are in high tier, good for them. They also received materials though I doubt they will get any good things from it and the highest probability of them selling this to the auction or just on the market is very highpared to them using them on something to craft items and whatnot. I look around the area and realized that I didn''t see the ninja. It seems like he didn''t exist at all. He was one of those fast-hitting melee users I saw in this game even in the past timeline. However, I am assuming he already logged out so I didn''t bother to know whether he already got out of the game early or he was just not here and was using some sort of jutsu something something that allows him to vanish in thin air despite being still there. The balcony up above Queen Tanya''s castle is also where she will be announcing her speech forter. Just being up here allows you to see the whole city that the castle governs. It is one of the best ces to visit in the game to do some sightseeing and act like a tourist. Below are the crowd waiting for Queen Tanya''s appearance and to also begin her speech. They are holding banners, flowers and anything that they can use for celebration. It is quite nice to see people who love the one who rules them over. If only all rulers in the world are like her who are dependable and think for the people, we won''t have any problems with them in the first ce. Around 5 minutester, Queen Tanya appeared wearing her traditional Sandurk Gold Royal Garb in which I remember to be made from the silk of the Spider of Gold in which it weaves webs made of gold to customers who have potential. Then the one tailor will start making clothes out of those webs. The girls especially Dolly were so surprised and started flocking on Queen Tanya who happily showed off her Sandurk Gold Royal Garb. It seems while I was unconscious, the girls are already making friends with her. As for the boys, they can only stare in awe at Queen Tanya from afar. They can''t say anything and try to approach since the girls will start staring with daggers on them. However, I can tell that they are blushing while seeing Queen Tanya, after all, she is one of the prettiest and hottest girls in the game. She politely excused herself from the girls as she slowly walks towards the balcony and calmly smiled as everyone below her started to quiet down to listen to the queen. "It has been a while since we have received peace in this continent. Due to the conflict the demons always bring, Sandurk became one of the most dangerous continents in the world. However, I made sure that the people living in thisnd will never be in danger as long as I am around. I may not be a very good ruler in terms of business and whatnot that involves money, and the only thing I knew is to fight. Who would have thought that a battle junkie like me would end up bing the queen of the continent where I grew up my whole life. Maybe it was faith. After my ruling was established, many things changed. However, the danger still looms and the threat the demons brought was always destroying the bnce of this ce. However, with the efforts of everyone, the threat looming in this continent has nowe to pass. If not for the pioneers, I was prepared to do a much more drastic method to protect everyone. This speech is an announcement meant for the Pioneers who ended the threat. We will treat you all with utmost importance that all of the Pioneers of Sandurk are going to feel wee and will be weed anytime in Sandurk!" The moment the crowd below pped, notifications appeared on the screen. [You have acquired the following titles 1. Pioneers of Sandurk 2. The Leader of the Saviors.] Two titles as expected. It is not surprising since I didn''t receive a title after defeating the Dragon of Darkness. It would be weird if no one receives any from the game after clearing an entire raid that contains cataclysmic circumstances if it got wrong. "The pioneers who helped us from another continent are one of the reasons that the safety of Sandurk is in pretty good shape. Without them, the entire operations of winning the war are close to minimal. Without them, we are still in danger right now. Please consider them as a friend, because without them, you would have all be stuck on the looming threat of Sandurk. Now, I want to address a different matter which is regarding-" Queen Tanya stopped talking when a very fast dagger suddenly darts in the air, towards her. However, before the knife cannd on her, she catches it and grabs the de using her two fingers. As she inspects the dagger, she smiled and continue talking. "I want to address to all the people who hated me. If you guys are trying to kill me by using borate weapons, or just inly hating me for no other reasons, don''t use sneak attacks because it is just too weak and borate I got boring on it already. Next time, be sure to challenge me face to face and I would be sure that you won''t regret challenging me." After saying that, she flicked her hands holding the dagger earlier and in just a matter of seconds, one man fell as his head was pierced by the dagger. When he fell, everyone cheered. "I am not a brutal person but if you just try to provoke me by trying to kill me, I won''t hesitate to throw it back to you without f*cks given." The crowd cheered after that, and they started to throw the flowers in the air. "Today is the liberation of Sandurk from the demonic forces! To celebrate this day, I will officially make this particr day to be the day we are free from the threat! As a gift for the Pioneers, here it is!" SNAP! Queen Tanya snapped her fingers and the teleport stone that was inactive since we arrived here lit up, indicating Sandurk being open to everyone who is not a pioneer. "Everyone! We wee you to Sandurk!" Chapter 165 - Return To Resurgia The yers celebrated the opening of Sandurk. Anyone would feel delighted especially if another ce to explore opened up. Not only that, but it also means more quests, more monsters, and more gear to discover. For yers, exploring and obtaining items is one of the necessary things in the game. The pioneers participated in the party, even Harmless Sparrow and Dolly are partying with the others and are eating delicious food. However, I have no time for celebrations. It is just a temporary side of fun and I am not finding parties as a fun activity. I would rather use the time I used partying toplete quests and clear dungeons. That way, my time is much more well spent instead. "Are you sure you are not going to participate? You are the star of the party after all," Queen Tanya asked while sipping her wine. "I am sorry, your majesty. But I am not a party person. I would rather go and find a monster to kill than to vibe with others in music and festivities." "Hmm, I see. Well, I can''t change your mind if that is your decision. I am not just going to hold you here by force if you don''t like it. I will allow you to leave for the party. However, be sure toe back here from time to time. I might have some odd jobs you might like toplete." "I will your majesty. I am indebted to you after all." Queen Tanya nodded and raised her chalice full of wine as an act that sends me off. I bowed and left quietly without informing Harmless Sparrow or Dolly. Just as I was about to go to the teleportation stone, Bloodaxe called out to me who was outside in the castle. "Yo, leader, or should I say deheart, right? Where are you going?" I was surprised by his call since I didn''t expect anyone to be calling me out here after slipping out of the party. "I am going back to Resurgia. I need to do some matters now that the Pioneer Quests are done. You, what are you doing here? I thought you would be with the others in the party." "Nah, I don''t like loud and crowded ces like parties. They are just too ufortable for me even if it is in the game," he answered as he sips the wine in his wine ss. "If there is nothing more, I will need to get going." An alert popped out of my menu and when I checked it, Bloodaxe sent a friend request to me. I epted his request since there is no need for me to decline a request. After epting, I left the castle after our exchange and went to the Teleportation Stone that was recently activated after our sessful subjugation against Dirac, the Dragon of Darkness. The Teleportation Stone is a marvel as it looks mystical with all the runes covering its bluish-green diamond shape gem floating in the air. If this was present in the real world, many scientists and other people will try to study this thing. Thankfully, this is just part of the design in the game so I don''t need to worry about them. Before I can approach the Teleportation stone, I went to the stall beside it. Basically, that ce acts as the booth for the users of the teleportation stone. This is to make sure there are no multiple people who have different destinations teleports together. After all, the stone can only teleport in one location so it isn''t the problem of the stone if it teleports you somewhere you didn''t want to be teleported into or the destination of the yer who was with you activating it first. The blue-haired girl with green eyes smiled and bowed the moment I approached the booth. I am also not surprised she called me by my name despite being our first encounter. With my name being broadcasted by NPCs around Sandurk, it will be strange if she didn''t know me. "Wee Pioneer deheart to the Sandurk Teleportation Stone! Are you going to teleport somewhere?" "Yes. I need to go back to Resurgia." "Alright, here is your ticket. Don''t worry, it is free of charge. Once you present it to the guard of the Teleportation Stone, you will be able to use the teleportation stone to go to your desired location. Do you need some exnation on how to use the stone?" I shook my head. "No need." "Well then, have a good day and good luck in your journeys! We hope to see you again!" Since the teleportation stone is still new and no one has yet to use it, I am the first guy who will be using the stone. As a pioneer of Sandurk, I am also the pioneer of using the reactivated stone too." Once I handed the ticket to the guard, I went into the stone and touched it with my left hand. The cold yet warm surface of the stone is somewhat a weird mixture of feeling that seems good to the touch or not. "Teleport! Resurgia Continent, The Capital!" The Stone glows brightly and the runes that were on the surface of the stone pops out and encircled around the stone. Then, a magic circle appeared beneath my feet, spinning like crazy and swallowed me in bright light. And the split-second bright light disappeared and the desert surrounding Sandurk was reced with the usual square of The Capital of Resurgia. The yers who were nearby were not expecting the teleportation stone to glow. After all, it is still unusable until recently. "Holy sh*t! Isn''t that the guy who one-shots the dragon in the live stream?! The yer wearing a wolf head?" "Oh yeah, your right! He just appeared out of nowhere! Isn''t he still in Sandurk?" "The teleportation Stone was activated in Sandurk, maybe that is the reason why the teleportation stone is now in operational mode, and yers can now use it!" "If that is the case, I won''t hesitate to use it and travel to Sandurk! I heard it has a good amount of challenge and enemies to kill based on the Pioneer battles!" "I can''t wait! I will try to go to the castle and ask Queen Tanya to step on me!" ... I left the teleportation stone calmly. Even though I got popr from the live stream due to my act of killing the final boss in one shot during the final phase, that doesn''t mean I am already popr with everyone. This is a game where yers seek glory and recognition. Not a ce where you can gather followers for being an idol or something unless that is what you are nning to do. My assumption is that the yers will use my achievement as something they needed to surpass. Thankfully, I am not famous enough to be called a celebrity by the yers and can only garner nces from other people. There might be some who recognize me but they do not approach which is good. I prefer my peaceful life of unobstructed peace rather than something like chaotic fans gathering around you. The first thing I do when I went back to Resurgia is visiting my first follower, Lina. I didn''t bring her with me when I went to Sandurk since she still has some of her family matters but I hope everything is fine now. Arriving at the inn her mother was previously running, the inn that looks like a normal one became a grand ssy inn that I have mistaken for a small hotel in the streets. If not for the old signboard used by the old inn, I won''t be able to recognize this ce. It didn''t be like this in the past timeline which makes me a little bit confused when I saw it. Entering the inn, the ce was now organized and the interior does not look like a tavern interior anymore but looks like a proper inn now. The dining hall is filled with yers both male and female with their parties, happily chatting with each other. From the looks of it, the few days I was gone in Sandurk, things have already changed for the better for Lina''s parents. I quickly spotted Lina who was collecting the dishes left behind on the table. She still wears her usual battle maid outfit and her weapon is still attached behind her back but I can also tell she has gotten a bit stronger too. "Hey, Lina." When Lina heard me, she was surprised to see me, but the surprised look immediately changed to happiness and happily approached me. "Master! You are back! Congrattions onpleting the Pioneer Quests in Sandurk! And look! Our inn has progressed a lot due to your help! If not for you, this inn would never be looking like this!" I pat her head and smiled inside the mask. For someone who is an NPC, she feels much more human than an actual human. "I am back." Chapter 166 - Dungeon Stealing (I) The Inn became bustling after I left for Sandurk after Lina work hard to maintain many aspects of the business to make it a bit more sessful but I guess she managed to use the knowledge I gave her before I left and used it to get the store''s condition improved. Since I have no work for Lina just yet, I didn''t disturb her since she is still working. We just talk for a bit and decided to leave after our reunion. We will meet again if I needed her helpter on. First, I have to go back to my mansion. I entrusted my mansion to the siblings and they report to me asionally about the happenings in my mansion and the surrounding area. Thankfully, it seems everything is fine and dandy. In fact, the darkness that seems to linger around the mansion has lessened quite a lot that I can barely notice if I didn''t try to look for it. When I arrived, I noticed the two people currently sweeping the courtyard of the mansion. This time, I didn''t need to ask who these two are. Even just by looking at their in-game avatar, I can already tell that they are the mercenary siblings. Their faces are identical to their face configuration in the past timeline. The only different thing from them is their clothes and items they are currently wearing. Since it is still in the early game, their iconic looks that made them famous in the past timeline are still missing. "Hey, guys. Looks like you two are cleaning up diligently." The two who have not seen my in-game avatar yet immediately sprang up and take arms. "Who are you?! What are you doing here!?" Akira asked while using the broom as his weapon. Sora is also using her broom but it was like she was going to use it as a staff, not a weapon to bonk other people. "Chill guys, it is me," I said and pull out my wolf head mask. Since I didn''t alter my face, there is no way they won''t recognize me. "AH!" Akira dropped the broom the moment he saw my face. Sora who has not seen my face yet her entire life was confused about why her brother suddenly dropped his broom. "Brother Manato! You are finally here!" Akira immediately heads towards me with an excited look on his mature face in the game. "Brother Manato?!" Sora who just realized who I was, also dropped her broom and headed towards me. "Why you didn''t say anything that you would already be back home? We would have prepared something for your arrival," Akira said. "Haha, no worries. This is my mansion and you guys don''t need to do that just so you can wee me. Taking care of the mansion while I''m gone is already enough. You guys even cleared up some of the dark remnants of the undead in this area too." "Yeah, we did. It was a good hunt since some areas around the mansion still have thoseirs of undead that spawns undead monsters. We used some of our gold to buy materials to make a small entrance in theseirs so that we can use them as a ce we can farm things since they drop some [Dark Essence], [Bone of Darkness], and a few others that can be used to craft Dark Mist Bombs!" Sora said. "You guys already got the recipe to create Dark Mist Bomb?" I asked. The recipe is one of the most sought recipes by some yers since they can create Dark Mist Bomb which is a consumable item that once used against an enemy with Light Attribute, can create a weakening and poisoning effect on them. If used against a neutral element or any element that is not associated with the light element, they will get a debuff [Curse(Minor)] whichsts for 30 seconds. "Yeah. We got lucky when it dropped from a Skeleton General that spawned in one of theirs. We used your crafting table inside the mansion to create the bombs and used them on the Wisps dungeon. They were pretty effective and we managed to clear it in just a few minutes after entering. From what I remember, we were the record holder of the fastest clear of the Wisp Dungeon," Akira exined. "You guys are really good at this. Since you guys are always trying to clear some dungeons, how about you guyse with meter? I will be taking care of the dungeons and try to clear them and get their fastest clears too. What do you guys think?" "Of course we would be epting that! Having an extra hand to help us in dungeon clearing will also help us gain more levels!" Sora said and was very excited by this notion. "What are your levels by the way? We can find some dungeons that suited your levels and we can all enter there without being barred by the level restriction." "I am level 80 while my brother is level 79," Sora answered. Their levels are very high and I was not expecting them to get to that level in just a few weeks of ying. But I can understand why they are not barred by the extra EXP needed to level like the Versatile ss. They only have the neutral exp gain so even if I farm experience in the same level as them and started simrly with them even in solo, they will win in the race since they will level up firstpared to me who has that penalty of the extra amount of EXP needed to level up. They also yed almost the whole day, every day that makes their exp levels very high is understandable. "So around Level 80 then. If Akira is about to level up, I have a dungeon in mind that will allow Akira to level up to 80 after clearing it. Are you guys up for that?" "Of course! By the way, Brother. We didn''t use our names as our in-game names so please use them while we are inside the game. Is that alright?" Akira asked. "That is alright. It is natural we use our in-game names to call each other while we are here in the game. It helps us hide our real identities in real life. You guys should also call me by my in-game name too which is deheart. Don''t call me brother while we are in the game. We are allrades in arms here." "Hehe, alright deheart, nice to meet you! We will introduce ourselves! I am Iron and this is Topaz, my little sister. We are d to be working with you!" "Iron and Topaz?" I didn''t expect them to use those names since they are no longer using their previous names in the past timeline. But that didn''t matter much. If they didn''t use those names, then let''s forget about those names and use their current ones. "I call myself Iron because I wanted to be as hard as an Iron that will allow me to defend my sister against anything. As for my sister, she used Topaz as her name since she was born in November and since Topaz was the associated birthstone in November, that is what she calls herself," Akira exined which I will now call Iron. I will also call Sora as Topaz too. "Oh, that is fine. I will be counting on you two. Since we will be working out together, this is my first gift to you guys," I said before pulling out the scrolls I made back in the Sandurk Continent. I didn''t get to use the scrolls during the battle since that was thest resort item I wanted to use if the yers during the subjugation are all bad at fighting the enemy. Thankfully, I never got to use it because everyone in the raid is all good yers that I didn''t need to forcefully use them. "Aren''t these things that are sold in the auction with a hefty amount of price for one single paper?!" Topaz couldn''t believe her eyes on what she was seeing. "You mean those 2,000,000 million gold as the starting bet? Are you kidding?! Howe you have so many of these deheart?" Iron asked with the incredulity on his face shown. "Yep, that is the one. The reason why they are so expensive is that the recipe to make them is not yet avable to the yers and it is one of the useful things you can use during a fight especially if you run out of mana to cast spells. Even yers who are not using magic skills can use them if they have these scrolls. You guys won''t go wrong with this." "And you are giving us these for free?! Isn''t this pretty expensive? You can sell this at a very hefty price and you will never get hungry again!" Iron eximed. "You guys can do whatever you want with those. However, I won''t be trying to hold them right now. Since Sandurk''s borders have finally been open to everyone, this thing will be amon thing in the future too. However, this will still fetch quite a good price so if you guys wanted to sell this, you will earn quite a hefty amount too. However, I want you guys to use them, we will need them in this specific dungeon to clear it as fast as possible." Chapter 167 - Dungeon Stealing (II) There were some dungeons in Resurgia that are worth farming for materials and some drops. And then there are those that are Kazuki''s guild''s target to clear and monopolize. I listed at least ten dungeons that are going to be qualified to be on the list. I have ignored Kazuki for quite a while after he failed to gain a position during the Pioneer quests and I bet that he already cleared a few of those 10 target dungeons with his guild members. But I am certain he hasn''t cleared all of them yet even though he has a lot of time. These dungeons are very unforgiving in parties withrge numbers. They don''t just allow yers in and out without giving them a real challenge. Kazuki only managed to clear these dungeons in the past timeline in 4 months after monopolizing them. If he is still as slowpoke as before, I have found a dungeon he will have a hard time clearing but a great find for us who needed a quick clear and quick grab of materials and experience. I don''t need to clear these dungeons since they are practically useless to me. They don''t yield much gold and their materials are not that valuable either and only those who are in the guild will find the value of the drops here. But since I am here to screw up the day of Kazuki, I won''t hesitate to grab the opportunity to screw up his perfect ns and already nned out dungeon clearance. We will be doing a dungeon steal. I know you have not done anything wrong to me yet in this timeline but I am not going to wait and let you do your nse to fruition. "We are now ready, deheart. Are we going now?" Iron asked. "Not yet, we still have one member who has yet to arrive. Once she arrives, we will be departing immediately. We can''t afford the other yers to get the first clear of these dungeons first. And we will be going to clear it as soon as possible that it will be close to impossible for the other yers to rece our records." "Who is this person, deheart? Do we know him perhaps?" Topaz asked. "Maybe you met her once or twice during your endeavors and adventure but I am not sure so I won''t specte about it." While we are talking, thest member that we needed toplete our team has finally arrived. "Sorry Master for being a bitte, I still have some things to attend to the inn for a bit before I went ahead," Lina said while wearing her Battle Maid uniform. I also noticed that her weapon has changed from a sword to a morning star. It was a huge morning star that you would be afraid to be hit on it and die from the spikes protruding on the metal balls." "Holy crap, that is huge!" Iron eximed when he saw the morning star on Lina''s hands. If it was my first time seeing her use that, I would be surprised too, after all, if this exists in the real world, swinging this to someone would instantly kill them too. "Nice to meet you two, I am Lina. The Battle Maid Follower of Master deheart, and I will be apanying Master and everyone else on clearing some dungeons." "d to have you onboard!" Topaz smiled after seeing a fellow female at the party. I gave them some of the gears that are my spares in my inventory and some are drops I picked up in Sandurk Continent. They ended up properly geared up to tackle the dungeon and I can tell this is going to be an easy clear with them. I also gave Lina some armor to equip too. But I didn''t rece her weapon. Just from a nce, her weapon is already strong enough that recing it wouldn''t sit right. I also hand her some scrolls to use too. "Remember that you guys should not hesitate to use those scrolls up. If we want the fastest clear without attacking the enemies physically, we can kill them using the scrolls. Achieving victory without doing much sounds good." I whistled using my fingers and Leona appeared in the air. The two who have not seen Leona were so surprised that the two of them eximed when they met her descending to the ground. "Master, is it just me, or Leona has gotten fatter than thest time I met her?" Lina tilted her head. "Haha, I don''t know but maybe she did. She ate lots of things while we are in Sandurk so maybe this gal has be so plump." Leona ps her wings in annoyance. I can tell she was angry when I call her fat. "Guys, get up there on Leona''s back. We will be using the air to go to the dungeons we needed to clear as soon as possible." The two excitedly climb up on Leona''s back. Once they are nowfortable, Lina also climbs up. I also noticed that the Morning Star of Lina has changed to a smaller one and the ball of spikes that has a very nasty look earlier has now turned into a spikeless ball. So the weapon has its change form too. "Let''s depart and clear some of those dungeons!" ... Kazuki is busy drafting some of his ns for the uing dungeon clearing in one of the level 80 dungeons he already has his eyes on. Due to the situation where he got disqualified in the Pioneer selection, he decided to use this time to manage the guild as he can''t just lose against the other guilds. He already conquered 4 of the 10 dungeons he was eyeing upon andy im on them as his guild''s private dungeon to use. He was a bit proud of the achievement and he also grinned at the situation his guild members were in. Since he imed the dungeons as his guild''s property, anyone who is not part of the guild is either chased away or killed by being ganged up on by the yers from his guild that are lying in wait in the dungeon. Since he was rich enough, he uses his gold to pay for the fines of the members who managed to kill a yer who tried to trespass and give some rewards to that particr yer. As a result, the yers who were camping in the dungeon doors are now being hunted by these guild members to gain a bonus from him. He was quite happy to be controlling the dungeons that are essentials to everyone. "Guild Leader!" one of the yers who is someone who has very good handling with enemies and has earned the role of First Officer on their guild. He raises his head and looks at his First Officer''s face who seems to be panicking. "What are the matter and you have to rush here like a chicken being poured with hot water?" "Never mind that Guild Leader! The target dungeon that we are aiming to clear once you are done drafting your ns has been raided!" "Someone raided it? Then, did everyone took care of the raiders?" Kazuki asked while calmly writing his drafts. "No, Guild Leader. They were wiped out the moment the raiders appeared. As of now, they are already clearing the dungeon!" "Hmph, I am not worried. The dungeon is pretty hard and will need some coordination and careful nning to clear. I doubt the raiders can clear it without running to problems," he smiled while imagining the oue the raiders found themselves at the moment they try to challenge the dungeon. However, his smile froze when an announcement was announced in the air. [A group of 4 people sessfully raided and gained the first clear after defeating the final boss of the Dungeon of the Ex-Machina! Clear time: 3 minutes and 47 seconds! This will be recorded in the Hall of fame!] Kazuki stood up from his chair the moment he heard about the achievement. Not only the first clear but the raiders also took first ce to the record. And the speed of clearing the dungeon is close to impossible to do! "Who are these raiders anyway?" "I don''t know, Guild Master. ording to the ones killed, there were no eyewitnesses left behind to tell the tale of who were those people who killed them!" Kazuki shook his head. If the target dungeon he was eyeing is already cleared, then there is no point creating a draft about it. He will just focus on the other dungeons. Just like the dungeon that was raided by unknown people, he already sent some members of the guild to watch out for the dangers in the dungeons and also to get rid of the guards of the dungeons. He was about to begin writing his next draft for the next dungeon when another announcement made him drop his mouth. The next dungeon he was eyeing next was immediately cleared and just like earlier, it was cleared at an unimaginable speed. Chapter 168 - Dungeon Stealing (III) Kazuki rumpled his hair for quite a while. In just an hour, 5 out of his 6 target dungeons have been cleared and it was just a minute clear without much effort, leaving them with no possibility to clear the dungeon''s best clearance. Not only that, he lost the chance to im those dungeons as the personal dungeons for his guild. "How the f*ck does these raiders kill the guards we ced in the dungeon entrance and clear the dungeons like it was nothing for them? And under 5 minutes?! Did they do some cheating or something?" "ording to the response from the customer service of the game after we reported them as cheaters, they already confirmed that they are not cheating and was using legitimate way to clear the dungeons they were in." Kazuki has no more patience in what is happening and decided he would take action on this. Since thest dungeon he was guarding is still not showing any signs of being attacked and is the farthest dungeonspared to the other dungeons, he is sure the raiders are not yet there. He opened his guild announcement. Every yer in his guild will be able to read this once he publishes it and he made sure to make this announcement enticing for everyone in his guild that they won''t hesitate to rush towards the venue just to get the award. [Everyone in the guild who are not busy/free/ has nothing to do should help to guard the dungeon, [Graveyard of the Corrupted Dryads]. We will be expecting raiders nning to raid the dungeon and im its first clear and fastest clear time. Those who will be able to kill the raiders or even kill a single one of them will receive one from the following of their choice. (2 million Gold, Level 80 Very Rare Set of any ss, Experience potions supply that willst for a month). That day, the Burning Dragon guild members became too hyped that everyone who has read the announcement didn''t hesitate to rush towards the aforementioned dungeon and waited for the dungeon entrance. This will be a hot topic but not because of how fast they were deployed but because of a different reason. ... "How many do you think were positioned there, Lina? Can you at least estimate their numbers?" I asked Lina after we arrived near the entrance of thest dungeon that Kazuki is eyeing to clear, [Graveyard of the Corrupted Dryads]. "Hmm, my estimation is that they are around 70 or more. That is my rough calction of their numbers," Lina answered. "Wow, their guild leader was finally taking things to the extreme, they are already deploying so many yers in one dungeon!" Topaz said after seeing the number of yers gathered at the entrance of the [Graveyard of the Corrupted Dryads]. "Isn''t this going to be a real problem? We don''t have much problem in previous dungeons since they are small in numbers and they were pretty weak. But now, they already ramp up their numbers a lot and some are fully equipped and some are quite a money spender! I don''t think our way to get there will be much easier now," Iron said after observing the situation. "Yes. Our usual strategy won''t work anymore but that doesn''t mean we won''t be able to win. I already anticipated that their guild leader will do this kind of trick to bar us from clearing the dungeon." "You already formted a n, Master?" Lina asked. "Of course. And I am confident enough we can pull this off just like before. I won''t n to lose on sheer numbers." I entered [Stealth] state and jump towards the nearest tree. Afternding on the branch quietly, the rest is much easier. Inded near the yers but no one noticed my stealth state. It looks like no one has a very high perceptive sense to notice my presence in the area. The yers are busy talking to each other while looking around for anyone suspicious. I can tell that their way of guarding the entrance is half-hearted and they are not dedicated to the job. They are very easy to deal with. I opened my skill tab and checked out most of the Saboteur ss skills I have learned so far. All of them are sufficient and I don''t need to learn any skills to perform the task easily. Using the [Blueprint Materialization], I made an borate but easy to trigger a trap that one wrong move and everyone in this area will not be safe from it. After the making of the most borate trap that anyone can create, I lightly throw the blueprint to the ground and it materialized immediately. Since it needed to be activated, I didn''t have to worry about activating the trap at the wrong time. Once the trap was already in ce, I also used the [Invisible Wire] all around the ce. Since my mana regeneration and mana consumption is pretty much broken, no matter how long the thread I use, the amount of mana consumed is not a problem and I can recover it in just a few seconds of staying still. I don''t know if the yers are just too blind to see me or my ability to go into [Stealth] mode is very professional that I can work into a spy agency and be the "Ghost Employee". Deploying everything was just too smooth that I wanted to grin at my evilness. Once everything is in ce and are ready, I returned to Leona by doing the same jumps I did earlier to go down. "Are you done, deheart? Just what were you doing earlier below?" Iron asked. "Just deploying sabotage n that they will not forget," I grinned and pulled out a small popping firecracker, an item that is used to lure enemies to the sounds. Once it is thrown to the ground, it will produce a popping sound that will entice any enemy to investigate the sound and in turn will allow you to do the stealth kill. POP! CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE! The sound was too loud that everyone at the entrance of the dungeon immediately pulled out their weapons from where they were putting them. However, the moment they did, my trap sprang up. The ground that they were previously standing on suddenly opened like a big mouth and swallowed every single yer standing in the area. Those who managed to notice it in time also tried to escape by dashing out. However, before they can fully dash out, a thread blocks their way, canceling their dash, and knock them back. However, once they get knocked, they will go straight to my trap without escape. Once every one of the yers fell to the trap, my little trap activated again and closed. When it did, my status immediately turns to red. However, I am the only one who can see my red status, Iron and Topaz will not be able to see it due to the effect of my title, [Famous Incognito]. Unless I show them the status intentionally, they won''t be able to see it. I opened my inventory and drank the Crime Cleansing Potion and grinned. "PK, COMPLETE!" All 70+ yers who were waiting for our arrival were crushed to death by my trap. The trap that I deployed has a condition to activate that will activate only once a yer pulls out their weapon or ready them to battle stance. The ground will open up, revealing a small hole enough for all of them to fall into. There are no spikes or anything that will kill them once they fall. However, I never said they won''t die once they are on the ground. Since the ground was forcefully opened, the ground that split apart is still there. Once the trap closes, the ground will return to normal. Since there are also yers underneath, the moment they will be caught in the trap, they will be crushed to their deaths. No matter how tough your defense, how high your HP, or how you cast a skill that will make you invincible, the moment the trap closes, they will be dead, no one will survive. Now, we are open to clear thest dungeon that Kazuki has his eyes on. "Let''s proceed before backup arrived, shall we?" ... The gaming forums exploded when the members of the Burning Dragon guild were annihted without them knowing who the assants are. The other yers were also not expecting someone will fight against the Burning Dragon like this. Since the other guilds that were created alongside Burning Dragon declined their involvement in the situation, everyone easily guessed that the yer who is causing these attacks are a group that is not affiliated with any of the guilds. A video about the situation appeared too which was filmed by one of the yers who were killed from the trap that deheart made was posted. That day, the Burning Dragon suffered a big defeat that humiliated the Guild Leader to the point of going berserk around his guild office. It also rose to the question that many yers started to specte. "Who are these yers capable of making a huge guild fell to its knees in just a few hours?" Chapter 169 - Graveyard Of The Corrupted Dryads Entering the dungeon, we didn''t waste our time and cleared it in the fastest time possible that even if Kazuki and the others wanted to clear it, they can''t just im it as their own as they can''t even take the clear time as their own. It is a general rule to all yers that if they managed to make a record of their fastest clear time on a specific dungeon and it remains uncleared by others, then that only means they can im it as theirs. So if the clear time is ours and not Kazuki''s or his guild members, they can''t just openly im it as the other yers would fight against them just to get inside the dungeon and gain its chances to be entered normally by everyone else. [Congrattions for being the first yers to clear the [Graveyard of the Corrupted Dryads]!] Iron and Topaz are all smiles after clearing dungeons to dungeons. "Damn, I can''t believe there is a way to speedrun these dungeons without any usage of bugs or exploits!" Iron said as he was picking up the loot he likes on the ground. "It is hardly a speedrun, it was aplete ownership of the dungeon, brother!" Topaz corrected his brother. "No, we are not going toy ownership of the dungeons we cleared, Topaz. These dungeons are open to all yers who wanted to y, not for just specific people. And since these dungeons are not simr to theirs of undead and skeletons near the mansion, it is different to these natural dungeons that manifested before our arrival in this game. They don''t belong to anyone and any yer should at least get a chance to clear it by themselves." Yes, my reason for clearing these dungeons are not just for the humiliation of Kazuki and preventing his guild from iming the dungeon as theirs. It is for every yers will have an equal rights to at least clear the dungeon by themselves without the necessity to go through someone just to clear it. My thoughts were interrupted when Lina stopped me from daydreaming and pulled me back from reality. "Master, it seems I found something peculiar among the boss drops. I can''t see its attributes but I can tell that it is a unique item. Can you inspect its properties?" Lina handed a small pouch of seeds ced in a tattered bag. It doesn''t look like seeds that will grow into crops as the pouch doesn''t have any signs that it would be a seed crop. Any seed crop that is dropped by enemies will always be inside a small pouch with a mark of what kind of crop you would expect if you nt it on the ground. The moment I touched the seed, a notification appeared and the notification is not only limited to me but also to Iron and Topaz who were surprised by the sudden appearance of the pop-up notification. [Hidden Main Quest] [The Fall and Rise of the Dryads] Info: A long time ago, after the war of the gods urred, the dryads were once the protectors of the forest and were the main guardian of the sacred tree, Ygdrassil. However, due to the strong darkness that corrupted many forests in the past, the dryads that were protecting the forests were corrupted, giving birth to the Corrupted Dryads that are now polluting the forests. To avoid the destruction of the forests and to at least mitigate the spread of darkness to the Ygdrassil, the remaining dryads who were able to resist the corruption decided to bury the remaining corrupted dryads to a sealed ce where they can prevent the spread of darkness. However, as a result of isting the corrupted dryads, the remaining dryads were forced to enter into a slumber just to recover their powers. Its been centuries since it urred and it seems the corrupted dryads has finally been getting rid of their corruption. The seed in the hands of the adventurers are still young but they are the future of the dryads. Seek out the head of the dryads, Leto and asked her how to restore the dryads'' might.] Reward: ??? Hidden Main Quest? There is something like that?! From what I know, only the Main Quests and side quests are avable in the game and I truly believe that was always the case. The Main Quest has already started and some parts of the main quest is rted to the Pioneer Quests though thetter can be said to be an exclusive one time event with raid and a newnd to explore as a bonus unlike Main Quest where the lore of the world progress instead. Now what is a Hidden Main Quest? That is something I don''t know. I never encountered a Hidden Main Quest in the past timeline and I also didn''t hear anything about anyone getting a questbeled as Hidden Main Quest. So, is this some sort of hidden side of the main quest where a hidden side of the game''s storyline is revealed? Maybe so. Now here is what makes my interest piqued. The quest info mentioned Leto, the Grand Dryad Protector. She is an important character in the main quest as she has the connection to the Ygdrassil. I also know that the dryad''s are getting weaker and Leto is struggling to keep her powers intact due to the declining numbers of the dryad''s existing in this world. So if we consider this quest as a part of the main quest, is this the hidden part where someone help restore the power of the dryads and help them recover their lost power back to their prime? "deheart! Just look at this! A hidden Main Quest! Did you also received it sis?" Iron asked. "Yeah, I did. It was very sudden so I didn''t expect anything about it and thought it was just the usual notification." "We can''t underestimate this quest guys. I never heard of Hidden Main Quest before and having this appear after we obtain a specific item dropped in the dungeon, I think there is still something we need to reconsider." "Is this about revealing the Hidden Main Quest to everyone in the game?" Topaz asked. "Yes. Since it is part of the main scenario, this might be a huge part of the main story''s story flow. Those who have already started the main quest line might be in big trouble if we don''t tell them about this." "Is that a wise decision, deheart? I don''t think it is. It is a hidden mission though so I think we can keep it quiet to everyone until we clear it without any problem? Some yers will definitely want to steal this quest for themselves." "..." I also thought about it. Since Main scenario is a mandatory story chapter, everyone in the game will know of it eventually, however, we didn''t hear anything about the Hidden Main Quest from triggering. If it is simr to the Main Quest, they will disy the situation as always to all the yers and they everyone will gain ess to the main quest. However, it was clear they didn''t do it. The only people who knows this quest is avable are us. "I think we should refrain of making this matter public. As much as the Hidden Main Quest is connected to the main quests, we also didn''t have any signs it will be simr to that. The rewards are in question mark so if we clear it, there will be a good surprise for us in here." I inspected the seeds in my hands. It didn''t show anything useful and only shows the ???bel on them. If that was the case, we still have not acquired the necessary requirements to view it''s information. Even if we try to brute force to examine the seed, there is nothing we can do if we can''t do it. "Are we going to proceed with the quest, deheart?" Iron asked. "Yes. We should. If the lore is the real deal, there is a chance that Leto''s powers will awaken and will grant the areas around the dungeons as blessed and part of her authority. We should take advantage of this to also raise the rtionship with Leto." The others nodded. Lina also bowee down after discovering the seed. "Where did you find this seed anyway, Lina?" "It was one of the drops of the corrupted dryad that we just killed earlier. It didn''t drop from the boss so my guess is that a random mob has this seed and will only drop with chances only." I scratch my head for a little bit. This situation is a bit simr to the situation of the Guild Tokens before. Lina was the one who managed to gather three Guild Tokens. Now, she is also the one who managed to discover something rted to the main quest. Is this some sort of coincidence or there is a force behind it all? Maybe I still don''t have the slightest idea of Lina''s capability after all. Chapter 170 - News And Updates The siblings logged out after clearing the dungeon. Although we did all the dungeons a speedrun clear, it made them hungry and exhausted so they decided to log out from the game to get some grub. As for me, I don''t think I am hungry or in need of rest. I have lots of things to catch up on after the battle in Sandurk ended and my sessful foiling Kazuki''s n is also done. Since we are no longer going to fight a dungeon for today, I sent Lina back to the inn and returned to my mansion to do some of the things I didn''t do for quite a while. And that would be opening my stats. Despite my several leveling up and reaching level 100, I didn''t open my stat for quite a while and didn''t invest in the AP at all. My SP is also stockpiled that I have not spent them to upgrade some of the basic skills that I have been using for quite a while. Maybe it is time to spend them thoroughly. Name: deheart Level: 100 EXP: 91/500,000(Note: exp growth will be multiplied by 2 after reaching level 100. Once you level up again, it will be 1,000,000 then multiplied by another 2, so on and so forth) HP: 30,420/30,420 MP: 18,600/18,600 Attributes: STR: Good [AP:34/250] AGI: Fair [AP:94/200] DEX: Fair [AP: 132/200] END: Fair [AP: 51/200] INT: Fair [AP: 121/200] Title: Savior of Sandurk AP left: 1590 SP: 1200 I noticed the note next to my level. I didn''t expect to see the note on it and the ridiculous amount of EXP needed to level up in the future. Before, whenever I level up, the maximum exp needed to level up only increases by 5000 per level but now it is multiplied. No wonder I needed a ton of exp just to level up and it is not a joke. So if I reach level 103, I will need to get 4 million exp. Once I leveled up again, the 4 million number will reach 8 million?! Isn''t this just total insanity?! The amount of EXP I needed is just too massive I don''t think I will be able to escape level hell in this case! No wonder the Versatile ss sucks once it reaches level 100 beyond. The grind just to level up is more hellishpared to the grind necessary to level up in normal sses. Did I just dig my own grave by seeing my stats? As for the stats, due to the high ramp of AP added to my stats with my Versatile Weapon alone, I have not spent any of my AP at all. Now that I think about it, the Versatile Weaponpensates for my level''s cons. Since I won''t be able to level up frequently with the amount of exp needed just to increase a single level, AP gain will also be stagnant and the stats I gain from armor and essories along with some titles are too limited to increase my stats. Meaning, I can''t tackle harder enemies with the stats I have. If not for the massive stats gain my Versatile Weapon have, I would have been too weakpared to my level especially that I have yet to spend my AP. I would have died in the Sandurk region if not for the Versatile Weapon. "Damn, to think the Versatile Weapon would save my ass for this level mechanic the Versatile ss has." Now that I have seen the importance of stat gain of the Versatile Weapon, the only means I have to increase my stats more is to feed Versatile Weapon with more weapons, armor, and other stuff. That way, the increase would help me clear up things. After all, the level is just a number and will not reflect much on the performance of your ability to fight and the stats of your equipment. The level is just there to measure how hard you have worked so far. It is not even needed to enter a dungeon. The only time you needed to enter a dungeon at a specific level is just below 20. After that, you are free to enter the dungeons no matter what your level is. I have used so many skills from different sses that I have stacked up quite an amount already. The title''s effect also doubled up my SP gain every time I get some, which allows me to get more SP to use to buy skills I can use in battle. I hardly have to spend the original SP I gain every level up due to the amount of individual ss SP stack I have right now. F*ck, to think neglecting my stats panel for quite a while would turn out to be a hassle. Now that I have actually seen it, I think I needed to take a small break in the game and rest for a while. I don''t have any urgent quest toplete and the Secret Main Quest is not a timed one so we can just take our time to do it in the future. F*ck my stats panel, I will invest the AP I gotter and just forget about it. Logging out will help me cool my head and do it forter. ... Returning to reality, I immediately dive to my bed and close my eyes. I made my choice to return in the past but it seems my journey for revenge will be a very long one. I can''t also focus alone in the game, I also needed to prepare myself in real life and get myself prepared too. I needed to progress my body as soon as possible and regain back the usual state of my body back in the past timeline so that I can at least gain the ability to fight back especially that sses will soon begin again. I will be nning to graduate early so that I can focus on the game a lot more. With all the knowledge inside my head for the next couple of school years, even if I wanted to ace the school works, I can easily do that without a problem and still get the highest honors which will be useless in the future since the game will be the center of everything in the future that your degree earned in the school doesn''t matter anymore and the ability to work is the one much measured by everyone to do the job. You have a degree in your school and you have the highest honors but you suck at this job? Then you can''t have this job. You are good in your hands, you can be a carpenter, a plumber, an astronaut, a doctor, or a teacher? You are hired. And with theing of magic in this world in a few years, things will change a lot. Right, I think it is time to ask the private investigator about my parents'' situation. It''s been a few weeks since thest time I heard of them. My father still has no news to ry about Mother''s situation which means she is still in aa. I am just waiting for his update but I think there is no update at all from him which means I have to do things on my own and do my own job to work out in this situation. Money is not a problem, and I am willing to spend them if I can get closure to this case. Grabbing my Holophone, I contact the investigator I hired to work on my parents'' case and decided to find out the progress of his work. "Hello. Are there any updates regarding what I let you work at?" I asked the moment he picked "Yes. I have yet to contact you because I have been gathering a few more conclusive pieces of evidence since I didn''t expect things to be so big andplicated. Your parents were entangled to a very big sh*t that it will take the effort, time, and money just to remove them from this particr web." "What do you mean?" "It seems a group that your father was in during his high school days were out to take revenge against him. It seems your father did something for them to be really angry that they wanted to deal with your father personally. This group and your father did not meet until the time your parents needed money and decided to get money from a loanshark which was managed by the group that was out to get your father. It seems your father has yet to know about this as he was still oblivious. Not only that. I also found some evidence that your Mother''s hit and run ident was not just some sort of ident that randomly happened and your mother was the unfortunate one to receive it. It was a nned-out ident that was meant to take down your mother to upset your father." I clench my fist hearing this. It seems not only Kazuki is my target for revenge. A group also wanted to join the f*cking fray. Chapter 171 - Perpetrators And Materialization I already suspected something was amiss but never expected it to be this big. And for Father to have a past with these groups only to meet them again in the future is just proof that this is just a small world we lived in. "Are there any clues about the ones who have nned this?" I asked the investigator. ?? "As of now, I have possible leads but I didn''t have concrete evidence that pinpoints them as the main culprits. There is already one that I have already confirmed to be one of the responsible. Do you want to know who this person is?" "There is no need to dy about the identity of that f*cker or whoever that person was. I want to know their names." "Well then. Have you heard of the Amakano family?" "I heard of them. They hold a big business of food processing goods and one of the family who has control over the quantity of food being distributed to many stores in Nagoya." "Yep, that''s the one. As you can see, the female head of the family, Amakano Fuyumi is your father''s ex-girlfriend in the past. I don''t have the info about why they decided to split up but I managed to gather some info that Fuyumi is very obsessed with your father to the point of stalking him and monitoring all of his movements all around. Maybe it was discovered by your father and that must be the reason why they split up but it was just spection since it would be indeed creepy to have a stalker even if she is your girlfriend or boyfriend. That is just spection on why they split up but I already confirmed that she is one of the culprits that caused the ident of your mother." "Does this woman still harbor feelings for my father?!" "Yes. As a matter of fact, she is still stalking him now. She seemed to bear a huge hatred against your mother which is why she tried to kill your mother. Due to this, I think the other people involved decided to use her stalking tendencies to give a big blow against your father." While listening to the investigator in the other line, I started taking notes about Amakano Fuyumi. To think the other people who hated my father used the yandere tendencies of Amakano Fuyumi to strike against my father. They are indeed quite smart. "Although we can confirm her as one of the people who are involved in your mother''s case, we can''t sue them because she immediately used the power of the money to erase the traces that she was involved in this case. She also didn''t show up to reveal herself to your father too which means she still has no ns on meeting up again with your father until she managed to eliminate your mother for good." I scratch my head as this was indeed gettingplicated. So not only those people who hate father are involved but also someone who loves him very much that she would kill for it. "I am still investigating about the other people involved and are just trying to gather decisive clues that they are the ones who did it. They have hidden quite a lot of clues that will show that they are involved with your father. Even though they can easily kill your father and mother easily and use their money, they seemed to be trying to make your father suffer a lot and despair." So that was what happened. Although the ident didn''t happen in the past, this same thing happened before which drove my father to kill himself after my mother died fromplications and some sickness that I think was bogus because I find it quite suspicious in the past. My mother suddenly died despite being very healthy when I visited her before in the hospital due to her sickness. Maybe those bastards are also going to try and do something too which will cause the death of my mother in this timeline too. "Thank you for the info. Please continue the investigation. The money is not an issue so do what you can do." I hang up the call after that and stare at the notebook with the notes I scribbled about the name of one of the perpetrators. It seems like this is not the time for me to just stay idle and do anything in the background by supporting my parents. It is not a reliable tactic especially after knowing that there are some bastards who are willing to do some things just to bring ruin to people they hate even if they needed to drag other people to this. "I needed to get stronger and I needed to fight back to protect my parents in all of this web of conspiracies." My anger is boiling and I am not holding back. Just when I was trying to control my anger, I suddenly felt the itch. It was not an itch caused by being bitten by a mosquito or an ant, it was an urge to do something. Channeling my mana in my left hand, I stretch it out and my eyes grew wide. A familiar-looking sword appeared in my hands as it slowly materialized. When the materialization wasplete, my hands started shaking when I saw the finished product of the materialization. "The Versatile Weapon..." In the past timeline, not only the magic skills can be materialized in the real world, even some items in the game can be materialized in the real world. The very prominent to materialize are the weapons. However, the materialization process takes time to perfect and it can onlyst for a short time due to how high of mana intake it uses just to materialize something in one go especially during the beginning. But seeing the Versatile Weapon materialize right before my eyes, I think my anger allowed me to developed the materialization faster than expected. Raising the weapon up in the air, I didn''t expect it to appear just how exactly it looks in the game. Now, does this one can already change form? I tried to focus on doing it but I think it still isn''t the time since before I can actually try to change the weapon''s form, my nose started to bleed. One thing is for sure, I am able to materialize my weapon in this world now. I am no longer stuck to only using magic. If I want to fight in closebat, I can just materialize my weapon and deal with things my own way. Then I realized that maybe the way the materialization happened after my anger about the enemies of my parents reached the peak. Maybe it was a sign that if I want to solve the case of my parents with brute force rather than using the power of money. Looking at the sinister-looking Versatile Weapon in my hands, I think it is time for me to take the matter in my hands and dig deep to protect my family from them. If they think they are the only people who are fine killing a few, I won''t hesitate to also do the same to the people involved. I grab my holophone once again and decided to call my father. I need to make things clear with him. I dematerialized my Versatile Weapon while waiting for my father to pick up the phone. Soon, he picked it up and started speaking. I noticed his voice became raspypared to thest call. It was like he has a cold or a cough. "Father, how is it going over there? It''s been a while since you called and I was also busy which is why it took quite some time before I get to call." "Oh...it is just you Manato..." my father sighed in relief. "What''s wrong father? Is something the matter?" "No... there is nothing wrong. Don''t worry about it." His response is a bit suspicious. It seems he was expecting a call from someone that made him nervous. Not only that, I can tell from his voice the stress levels he was suffering. However, I didn''t ask him about it just yet. "How is Mother doing so far? Did she already wake up from thea?" "Sigh... she still hasn''t regained her consciousness or showing signs of waking up. The doctors said that her vitals are fine but something is wrong since she was perfectly healthy but she is still not showing any signs of waking up." If only my mother''s head got a big injury in the head for her to remain in aa seems to be more legit and believable. However, for Mother''s situation, it is somewhat a big mystery as to why she still hasn''t woken up even though she didn''t suffer any head trauma from the ident. She should have already regained consciousness. Now that this matter is over, I decided to start confronting my father. He is the only one who can answer my questions. "Father, you are hiding something from me, aren''t you?" Chapter 172 - A Date With Pandora (I) My father was quite a secretive guy and he tends to solo everything like the problem he has right now. However, he is quite weak in terms of confrontation. Once someone knows he is lying or anything simr, he will immediately spill out the beans. He can''t hold a secret for very long. "So you knew huh..." my father sighed on the other line. ?? "Do you want to tell me something that I don''t know father?" "Not now, son. I know I have lots of secrets but I am not going to involve you in this matter. This is my mess and I am going to solve it by myself." "Father! Don''t just -" before I can finish what I was about to say, he dropped the line and only the dial tone remained. I sighed and shook my head. I never expected my father to be quite stubborn to the point he won''t even divulge the things I wanted to know. I also can''t go to Nagoya right now since sses are just around the corner. And even though I wanted to help, he is the one who wanted to decline that help. It looks like I have to do things my own way. Since I already have the ability to use magic and materialize my weapon, the next thing I have to do is to learn the ability to teleport. Teleporting in the game was fine since you can do it with the Teleportation stones found in towns and cities. However, if I want to use that ability here in the real world, I need at least a ce where I can safely teleport to Nagoya and then teleport back to Tokyo without a problem. It would be a big problem if I got teleported to a random ce. I need to get an anchor where it will serve as a safe ce for me to teleport and use the chance to transfer from Nagoya to Tokyo without going into public transport. That''s it, next n is to buy a house that will act as an anchor for me in Nagoya. A ce where I can teleport whenever I needed to. .... I went out of my room after and saw Pandora with the siblings on the kitchen table. Suhei is the one cooking food with the ingredients in the fridge. "Oh, you guys are back?" I casually went to the kitchen and went to the fridge. "Is that you, Manato-kun? Come and join us for dinner! I just cooked a few dishes I know how to cook. There is plenty enough for every one of us!" Suhei said. "Is that curry?" I asked. It smells good and I can already tell my mouth is salivating. "Yep, to be precise, it is chicken curry. Come and dig in before it gets cold! Don''t be shy, the ingredients I used are yours after all." "Then don''t mind if I also joined in," I said with a smile and grab a te and spoon I especially use only if I am going to eat curry. The siblings were too busy to even greet me and just stuff food in their mouths. Even Sora who is blind urately eats the curry with the same speed her brother does. She seemed to be getting used to her ability to sense more things after ying the game. After all, if your senses get really high, even if you close your eyes, you can precisely "see" without seeing things. "Don''t rush eating guys, there is still plenty of food to go, you guys won''t be running out of it soon so eat at your own pace," Suhei said. "But this curry is just too good! It''s almost on par with Brother''s cooking! Are you perhaps a chef too?" Akira asked while he keeps on stuffing his face with food. "Haha, I appreciate thepliment but I am not a chef, I am just an ordinary guy capable of cooking things since I was the one taking care of my sister. There is no way I would disregard my cooking ability. I even wasted quite a lot of ingredients when I was just starting out in the past to get this kind of taste," Suhei said. "You didn''t join a cooking ss?" I asked. "Nope. The time I would spend attending such lessons would be much better if I use it for working and earning money. I can just practice cooking by watching videos on the inte, that way, I don''t have to pay a fee to any instructor. Besides, I only cook so that we can eat some decent meal, not for professional take of cooking." I understand what Suhei meant, instead of trying to learn from someone, why not practice by yourself? There is always an alternative to everything to learn it by yourself. "Anyway, Manato. Are you perhaps free tomorrow?" Suhei asked. "I don''t have particr ns but I have something to do in the afternoon. What is it?" "Well, that is good enough. Can I ask a favor to go with my sister tomorrow? She wanted to visit some ces around Tokyo but she has no one to apany her tomorrow. I can''t join her since I have to deal with some things at work." "Huh?" "It''s alright if you can''t go. I will just find someone else to go to tomorrow. It is unreasonable for me to ask you some favor even though we barely know each other," Suhei smiled. "Ah, if it is just about apanying Pandora around Tokyo, then that is fine. I will ept. Besides, I have somewhere to go tomorrow, I can just bring her along with me." "Really? If that is the case, I will pay you for the trouble then." "Uh, no. There is no need for you to go that far, I am fine apanying her without getting any payment. Just save it up instead of spending it as a sry for me for looking out for her." "Are you sure? I am already intruding to your time," Suhei wanted to insist but I declined him about it. "As I said earlier, there is no need to pay me. I am quite fine with apanying her. You can rest assured your sister will be safe and sound with me tomorrow." Suhei sighed and smiled. "If that is the case, then please take care of her while I am not with her. I will be giving you some pocket money too for the expense of the trip. You don''t need to waste a single coin to enjoy some things. Don''t decline this one, since this is for my sister anyway. Also, you will just apany her during the morning so if you have something to do during the afternoon, you don''t need to cancel it." I looked at Pandora and she was already holding her sketchbook with her words, "I look forward to our trip together." In the end, I was going to apany Suhei''s sister, Pandora. It doesn''t conflict with the schedule of ying the game. Besides, I also n to rest during the morning to at least organize my thoughts for a bit. With all the stress I have in many things, I needed to rx, and walking around in Tokyo and visiting ces would be a good way to rx and get rid of the bad vibes. After our dinner, I returned to my room. I asked the two if they n to y the game once they return to their room but they declined and said they wanted to rest early. I opened the pc and browsed around the Alternate World''s forums to check on thetest happenings in the game. The very first topic that appeared when I browsed, is the raid that the siblings and I made to piss off Kazuki and take his chances of iming the dungeons as his own. It was rowdy and many of the yers who have known the way of Kazuki''s guild trying to block some yers who wanted to clear it. Some of the yers who are a bit knowledgeable exined why Kazuki''s n to own the dungeons was foiled by our raid. Due to this, many of the yers who wanted to clear the dungeons before but were chased or killed by the yers camping outside the dungeon''s entrance appeared and also stated how this treatment happened to them. Many yers who are not in a guild poured support on the raiders who managed to reim the dungeons by setting a record that is close to impossible to surpass. They also bash and dissing off on Kazuki''s guild and the members. Some of the yers were also confused as to why we didn''t stay and also make im on the dungeon since we cleared it the fastest. We can have the dungeon as our personal dungeon too just like how Kazuki wanted it to happen. They apuded whoever the raiders are and gave thanks to them even without knowing them to be us and treated us with quite a cheer by the people in the game. Now that Kazuki is now in trouble with this, I will be able to halt his growth for a little bit. This way, I can do what I needed to do before he can do things he needed to do. Chapter 173 - A Date With Pandora (II) I logged back to the game, but I crafted a few dupe weapons in the forge to increase my cksmith Ex Job''s level. So far, I managed to raise it to level 2 after a few hammering. It takes time to level an Ex Job but it didn''t matter much since the level is tied to your proficiency in creating high rarity items. The higher your level is, the more you can easily craft unique or even Legendary weapons. Your repair rate in weapons also increases and at higher levels, you also have a chance to use lesser materials to craft things. I made sure to create a lot of rare weapons to feed my Versatile Weapon forter on. As for the lower rarity weapons, I throw them back into the forge and reforge them again to at least gain a new weapon with higher rarity. It took me quite a deal of time so I didn''t get any quests or dungeon clear done during that time, I only forge weapons until I logged out to rest. As for the devouring process, I will perform it the next time I log back in. I have to rest early so that I can wake up early tomorrow. ?? ... ... The rm clock is ring so hard on my nightstand I had to smack it off so that it can shut up and I can finally go back to sleep. However, it only caused the rm clock to re louder than before, forcing me to wake up despite my body''s protest and the urge to go back to bed. So much for waking up early if I can''t even fight the urge to lie down again and catch some Zs again. I need to change this and discipline myself or I can''t just get out of the cycle like this and I might end up breaking this rm clock that keeps on waking me up in the morning that served me since I was an elementary grade student. I pick up my rm clock and turned its ring sound off. I also checked if there are any damages from smacking it off the nightstand. Thankfully, the rm clock is still fine and even though I smacked it hard, it didn''t break or even have a crack or dent on it. Maybe I should nickname it as my ''invincible clock''. ... After taking a bath, I went out of my room and went to the kitchen to start cooking food. As someone who is very fond of food, I need to practice a lot to get a very good cooking skill that restaurant food is inferior to mine. I got interested in cooking after knowing that cooking food in Alternate World has the same system and preparation with only the assisting info appearing on your process to cook which only made it easier but if youpare it in the real world, it is the same. If you are a good cook in the real world, you can earn a living in the game and cook food for NPCs and yers alike even if you don''t fight as most yers do. I am also nning to take on the test to get the chance to gain the Chef Ex Job. But that would take a while so I will have to practice my cooking skills in real life. One of the doors opened a few minutester and spits out Suhei wearing his usual business suit. "Oh? You woke up early, Manato. Didn''t expect to see you here this early." "I usually wake up early to cook food for the kids. Today is not an exception especially since there are now two additional upants." "Well, gee. I thought we have to cook for our food, I didn''t think you would also include us. In that case, I will give you money as an additional fee for letting us stay here for free. That way, you won''t have problem buying ingredients that will be used to serve our food. I am thankful for cooking food for us." "No worries. We are all board mates here, no need to be so shy," I said to at least break the little barrier with us. "Also, I didn''t expect you to be a good cook, Manato. The smell is very enticing. My cooking skillsst night were put to shame immediately, hahaha." "No worries. Your foodst night was also quite good so no worries about the taste of the food, I also approved of it." A few momentster, the other doors opened and spits out the others. Suhei helped Pandora and pushed her wheelchair to go to the dining table. ["Good Morning Everyone!"] Pandora raises her sketchbook, greeting everyone. "Good morning, Brother Manato, Brother Suhei, and Sis Pandora," Sora greets us with a sleepy look on her face. "Is the food ready yet?" Akira''s eyes sparkle when he saw me cooking in the kitchen. This glutton. "Morning Pandora, Sora, and Akira. Food is almost done so please wait for a bit," I greeted back and answered Akira''s question while focusing my eyes on the pan toplete thest omelette rice I just made and put it on the tes. "Your cooking skills are getting better and better, brother!" Akira said while rubbing his hands like a fly. "Seriously, I won''t give you extra serving just because you praise my cooking. I am already aware of that, so go and eat your food and stop bootlicking me." "Damn, that trick didn''t work too," Akira clicked his tongue but he still stares at the food with great anticipation on it. The breakfast became quite noisy but fun for the first time with the addition of Suhei and Pandora on the table. And to be honest, I felt a nostalgia for my family in which my mother and father were beside me whenever we eat breakfast and dinner at the dining table. I swear, once everything is resolved, I will reunite my family and make sure they are going to live a better life in this lifetime. ... After we had our breakfast, Suhei handed me his credit card to use for the expenses in our travels forter. "I will be entrusting you with my sister alright? I won''t forgive you if something terrible happened to her." "Don''t worry about it, Suhei. Your sister is safe in my hands and I will hand her back to you the same as you entrusted her to me right now." "I will take your word man. Please take care of her, also, if it isn''t inconvenient for you, at least be friends with her." "Alright, I will do that." "Then, see you guyster. Enjoy the trip around Tokyo guys." We wave goodbye to Suhei''s car that speeds away after saying goodbye. After that, Pandora went back to her room to prepare her clothes and to prepare the things she will be bringing with us forter. "Are you sure you guys won''te with us?" I asked Akira. "We are good, Brother. Besides, Sora told mest night she wanted to grindter in the game so I think we won''t have much time to do toe along." "Is that so? Then be sure to clean the house and finish washing the dishes before going to y alright? Lock the doors once you guys are about to y. Don''t worry about me, I have a key in my possession so be sure to lock the doors alright?" "Noted!" I also went back to my room and wear my casual clothes. I am not handsome so I made sure that my clothes would at least make up for my looks. I also wanted to be at least presentable beside Pandora who was a clear contrast to me. When I went out of my room and went down the stairs, I didn''t expect to see Pandora in her casual outfit. She was wearing a blue casual women''s zer with a red shirt inside the zer. Her long, white skirt is also quite eye-catching. Even though she is just wearing simple clothes, I never expected her to make it good in the eyes. She can easily pass the model test in some fashion magazines by standing and posing like a model. As someone who has seen plenty of women in the past timeline, I thought I would be already immune to the charms of a woman. Ever since I was betrayed by Akari, my stance towards other girls became more neutralpared to the past. However, it seems that isn''t true at all. Just seeing Pandora just like this made my steel heart melt for a bit and I admit, I got attracted to her. I won''t be denying it even though I almost vowed that I won''t get attracted to other women ever again. ["Are you done? Let''s go!"] Pandora raises her sketchbook. I nodded and held the wheelchair as we went out to go out to visit some ces in Tokyo. You can say this is a date. Chapter 174 - A Date With Pandora (III) A very fine day for everyone to go out. It hasn''t been long since I went out of the house but to me, it feels like I was always outside the whole time. With the Alternate World''s realistic settings to make the yer feel everything like they went outside despite being inside their room the whole time. However, I thought we would be walking around tourists spots and look around various historical sites while doing some sightseeing and picture taking. Instead of doing those activities, the first thing that Pandora wanted to do was to go to Akiba. ?? ["What''s wrong?"] "Nope, nothing. I just thought of something. You don''t need to worry." The very first ce we went as Pandora''s request while we went outside for the first time is to go to a manga cafe in Akiba. And she chooses the one with a private room that has an inte connection, games, and manga avable for anyone to use. "Um, are you sure your brother would not be angry on this one? This is a manga cafe and ording to your brother, you will be doing some sightseeing. However, this is not exactly sightseeing but leisure and rxation in a manga cafe and upied one of the private rooms!" ["Don''t worry about it! Brother permitted me to go wherever I want so you don''t need to be so rmed about going here."] I am not against her going to a manga cafe. In fact, I am d she has chosen somewhere where I won''t use too much energy to expend just to enjoy the manga and different things avable inside the cafe. Not only that but this is a good chance for me to do some meditation or browse on the browser for anything rted to the Alternate World. With Pandora upied and absorbed in the manga she was reading, it felt like I was alone in the room. I can''t expect Pandora to speak especially since she was mute and I don''t think she will engage in conversation or anything so I decided to pull out my phone and browse for some things about the Alternate World. But it ended up as my mistake. Many things found online like some guides about clearing a specific ce or guides on finding certain things are allmon knowledge for me. The forums are also quite a dumpster fire that I would rather stay away from that forum as much as I can. In the end, I was left bored as hell. The manga avable here are also mangas I already read in the past, heck I even know their time ofpletion and their endings. Sure, there are some that seem to be in an indefinite hiatus but most of the stories here are all I have read before. Since Pandora is busy with the manga, I decided to boot up the game console attached to the television. Then, I spotted the old VR helmet usually used before the development of the Reality Verse. It was one of the gadgets in the past where we can be the character in the game ourselves and move like our characters. I checked the games avable in the console and I found one of those FPS games with zombies as enemies. Since it would take quite some time to finish the main story, I decided to y the endless mode instead. As someone who is quite proficient in this game, I wanted to check if my proficiency is still quite good. I have skills in Alternate World that can easily kill enemies even if they are not hit in fatal points but this game is quite different as killing the zombies would need you to hit the head of the zombie with any weapon of your choice. However, my expertise in the past timeline is the dual pistols. I quit ying on this in the past timeline but I still remember the fun times I had with it. When the game begins, I rapidly use the gun and shoot the enemies that appear in my vision. Since walking is automatic, I can just focus on shooting enemies and reloading. BANG! BANG! BANG! ... I no longer have any idea how long was I have been ying the game. Since this was endless, the enemies spawning are also endless. All I know right now is I am on wave 2,499 and was about to reach wave 2,500 There is also no miss and mybo isn''t broken just yet. I am still in full health and I am quite in the mood. The amount of zombies spawning left and right is also quite a pain to look at since they already crowd the whole screen. It was quite a feat that I didn''t know I had. I just keep on shooting and shooting. There are no zombies spared and every bullet hits an undead. However, the game mode that I thought to be endless was in fact, has an end. After clearing the 2,499 and 2,500 waves, the game ends and returns to the menu. My high score was also recorded and didn''t expect to see it so high. It was the highest score I received in the game and I also managed to beat myst record in the previous timeline. As for my ability to fight using two guns are still as sharp as ever, in fact, it is already improved. Knowing this, fighting as a gunslinger will not be a problem for me. Removing the VR helmet, I was met with several stares from an amazed worker wearing a maid outfit and Pandora who was pping vigorously. I didn''t expect that I have audiences in the battle. "Sir! Are you a yer in Alternate World perhaps?!" I didn''t expect the maid to suddenly get excited and asked me a question I didn''t expect to be questioned. "H-huh? What are you talking about?" I asked since he just came in all of a sudden so I was surprised. "I saw your gamey earlier and for some reason, I get the vibes on your way to fight in that game to have a simr ystyle as a gunslinger in Alternate World so maybe perhaps you are also a yer?" There is no point for me to deny I am a yer of Alternate World. There is no need for me to keep it hidden from anyone. Sooner orter, I will also reveal to my friends I am ying the game too so why would I say that I am not? "Yes, I y Alternate World. Why are you asking?" "Uhm... can we y together sometime?! I am a level 45 gunslinger. The skills that you used earlier were quite cool and I wanted to learn how you can fight like that when I fight!" "Is that so? Then tell me your ID name, I would add you once I get back in the game." "Okay, I am KaoroKoko! Will you tell me yours?" "I apologize but it should be a surprise forter. I don'' want to blow my cover after all," I smiled. Then someone shouted on the counter outside. "Hey, Kaoru! What the hell are you doing in there?! Get back to work or I will deduct your sry this month!" "Ah! I aming! Hey, don''t forget alright? Let''s meet up again in the game!" She left after saying that after leaving our bill. It seems our time is already due than the time that Pandora paid. "Should I extend the time or should we go somewhere else?" ["No need, I am hungry anyway. Let''s go somewhere we can eat food! Do you have any rmendations?"] Food huh? I looked at the time and it was indeed lunch time already. No wonder I also felt hungry after ying. "Alright, I have a good ce that I can rmend." A ce I will always rmend and a ce I miss in the past timeline. The only ce that I can consider as a ce where I can be myself and let out all my grief. ... ["An izakaya?"] "No worries, this might be an izakaya but they serve good food and deserts even in the morning and lunchtime. I am a patron here before so I will rmend this ce to anyone who wanted to eat something good. We entered the establishment and the different aroma of food lingered in the air. I already see Pandora salivating from the smell alone already. "POPS!" The middle-aged man at the counter of the izakaya looked in my direction with a stern look at first but when he saw my face, his face lit up and he gives a heartyugh. "Manato, my boy! It''s been a while since yourst visit! How are you now?" He grinned and tap my shoulder. "I am fine thanks, Pops. I just have no time to visit because of some matters but I already miss your cooking. So I hope you will still wee me even though I rarelye here now." "Haha, what are you, a stranger? Don''t be, you are practically my son that is not rted to me, so how would I not wee you? Anyway, who is this prettyss with you? Is she your girl?" When Pops said that, someone else shouted on the table in the inner room of the Izakaya. "What?! Manato has a girlfriend already?!" Chapter 175 - A Date Gone Wrong (I) Those voices in the inner room of the izakaya are both familiar voices. "Are those two here, pops?" ?? "Yes, they arrived not too long ago and ordered the "usual". They are also in the usual spot too. You can go there with her since it is a big room anyway." "Thanks pops, oh, and also, bring us two of the usual and two servings of the specialty too. Please double the usual servings for my food while keep the second te the normal serving since it is for her. Add some of the tops on the specialty too." "No green peppers right? Got it, please wait for a bit." After ordering the food for both of us, I push Pandora''s wheelchair and went through the tables, and went into the closed rooms. Although it is not really closed, there are walls that separate you from the other customers of the izakaya and it is useful if you want to have it if you are drinking with your friends. I remembered Pops remodeled the Izakaya to be much bigger and easier to move around due to the booming business. It has the feels of the same izakaya but it is much easier to move aroundpared to the time Pops did not renovate the ce. So if youpare it to the normal izakaya, this ce would look like a small eatery instead. As expected, the usual spot where we usually eat is upied by two individuals I already know much. "Yo! I tried to contact you but somehow but the kids in your house said that you are out. Who would have thought you would be with a girl? That is kind of unexpected especially since it is you, Manato!" Janus said while grinning from ear to ear. "Damn, you scored a pretty girl like me, boy! Good job! As your first female friend who watched you grow from a snotty boy to a full-blown man, I am proud of you!" Riko grinned and raises a mug of pineapple juice up in the air while giving a thumbs up. "PROUD MY *SS! I am not dating Pandora, Riko, we are just friends and her brother entrusted me to take care of her for the time being." "Eh, so she is Pandora? Hey there, Pandora! I am Riko and this guy here is Janus. We are Manato''s friends ever since we are kids. Is this guy here treating you right? He can be an *sshole sometimes so please bear with him please." "Yep, the name''s Janus! You can call me Janus! Yep, that is also my nickname! Very unique right?!" Janus grinned but Riko throws a water bottle to Janus'' head, causing him to fall from his chair and slump into the floor. Not only that, the water bottle sticks for a few seconds on his face before it fell to the floor and leaving the red face of Janus with the shape of the water bottle imprinted on his face. ["Hello! My name is Pandora. Manato is nice to me and he treats me nice. You guys don''t need to worry."] When Pandora raise her sketchbook after writing, Riko didn''t expect to know her situation while Janus managed to recover from the attack Riko made and returned. "Don''t be surprised guys. She is mute and she had some sickness that I have no idea what since her brother won''t tell me. So if you guys want tomunicate with her, be gentle with your voices, even though she is not deaf but we should be considerate to her and stop being so loud once in a while especially you, Janus." "Hey! Why me? Riko is also a-" Janus did not finish his sentence when he spotted Riko smile and the rib bone she was holding was snapped into two. I can only shake my head on Janus to stop what he was saying because it will only cost him half of his life if he continues. "Well, who cares if she is a mute? She is still fine and can stillmunicate to us and that is a good way! Don''t worry about this boys, girl. With me here, these boys will receive a bonk if they misbehave." We stayed silent as we don''t want to suffer from the hands of Riko. We still wanted to live. "E-ehem...Alright, Manato and Pandora should join us for lunch, we just started eating so you guys can still join us, the more, the merrier!" Janus said to change the topic. "That''s the n. Besides, Pandora still hasn''t eaten the food made by Pops. It would be great if she also eat some good food made by him. We just ordered back there and I bet it is almost done." And as expected, Pops appeared and has a big tray of food in the te. Not only that but he also brought the dessert that I ordered for me and for Pandora who hasn''t tasted the food. "Wow, Manato, have your appetite increased again? Isn''t this double the amount of food you usually eat whenever we go here?" Janus was surprised. "As I am a growing man, my food intake will also increase. That is nothing to be surprised about," I said. "Call that bullcrap, I am also a growing man but I don''t think I eat that much to be honest?" Janus was confused. "Did you really think you and Manato has the same stomach, Janus? Your appetite is quite pitiful so you should learn on Manato''s example! Look at you, you are so skinny I can blow you away from here with just one flick!" Riko said. "Yes, yes, don''t worry, I will eat a lot. Pops, another serving for my food!" Janus almost went to panic after hearing what Riko just said. Our lunch became quite a good time and even Pandora who was not part of our circle of friends and just joined recently became quite a buddy to Riko already. And she was delighted that the food that Pops cooks are up to her tastes. We are still busy chatting and eating when all of a sudden, we heard a few screams ringing out inside the izakaya. "OH? THIS AREA IS QUITE SPACIOUS AND GOOD TO DO SO WHILE THE OTHERS WILL DEAL WITH THE BANK. MY PLAN IS GORGEOUS AS ALWAYS THAT I DON''T THINK I WILL FAIL ON THIS ONE! HAHAHA!" My eyes squinted when I heard of the voice. I may not be in this situation before but I still remember what this situation was. It was the robbery of a local bank and the jewelry stores nearby. It was a huge event since not only does this particr group did robbed the whole area, but they also take the whole street here and all the establishments and people who were there during that time were captured as hostage. I also remembered that Riko gained a massive injury on her head after she was bashed in the head by one of the members. Thankfully, she was able to survive but she was bedridden for a week due to the injury. This incident also caused Pops to stop cooking for good due to his arm injury after the boss of this syndicate tried to take the store by force but Pops stops him which enraged him and caused him to harm Pops which ended the career of Pops as a cook of an izakaya. Yes, the syndicate group, Freedom Sky. Their name was quite the opposite and I heard that this was the biggest hostage taking and robbery done in this area for the longest time. It took two days for the situation to be resolved. I didn''t expect this situation to happen while I am with Pandora! I can hear the sound of an arrogant man dering something and doing some monologue like some sort of guy who owns the world or something. I only heard his voice in the television and he was currently using a megaphone that time so his voice is a bit different than what I remember but I can stillpare them and they are almost identical. "Oy, what do you think you are doing, young man?!" Pops'' voice can be heard. "Hey, someone is making trouble inside the Izakaya! The f*ck is going on?" Janus frowned. "That''s it, these bastards just ruined my appetite. I will talk to them," Riko stood up but then, someone came into our room and a few thug men holding some guns appeared. "Hey, boss! I think I found a great bounty today! Look here! She is a looker right?" the thug then grinned with his disgusting smile. His eyes were locked straight to Pandora. Due to this, Riko can''t hold it anymore and grab the nearest object she can grab and hurl it towards the bastard thug. What she just throw is the frying pan used to fry the rib meat that they ordered. The frying pan that was known for being used to cook food, is now used as a weapon. Not only that, it was so effective that before the bastard thug can even react, one of his teeth fell from his mouth and his nose bleed the moment the frying pannded on his face. "You bastard! If there is anyone allowed to lewd Pandora, that previledge would only be applicable only to me! Your free trial of living has finally expired!" Chapter 176 - A Date Gone Wrong (II) The unfortunate thug who singlehandedly receive the brunt force from Riko''s throw immediately fainted after the frying pannded on his face. It was a one-hit KO that I don''t know what will happen to Riko if she ever receives the ability to use magic. Riko died before the development of magic was developed so she didn''t experience the things I experienced. However, if she ever received the power of that, that frying pan earlier would be able to kill the thug without any chances that he will survive. He will die on the spot. The other thugs who came along with the thug who fainted immediately took arms and pull out their guns and started aiming at us. Riko is still hot-blooded and wanted to rush in but Janus stopped her. ?? "The f*ck, Riko! Do you think you have superpowers that will allow you to be safe from bullets or deflect them? You are not a sponge that can take so many hits and still be fine! Don''t be ridiculous and hold yourself before you die from being stupid!" Janus said with an angry tone. "Don''t stop me Janus! These bastards should know that even though they are armed to the teeth, as long as they are in the wrong, I will not hesitate to raise my hands and deal with them to let them know that we are not afraid of them!" I stopped her too since it is risky enough. I don''t want her to get injured or dig her grave earlier than expected. "Calm down Riko. Tactics and timing are important, striking them when the time is right is the most ideal way," I whispered. "You are not helping Manato!" Janus protested "Although I wanted to rush in head-on, I still like that. Alright, you convinced me, Manato," the aggressive Riko calmed down and put down the things she was already ready to use to attack. "What are you guys whispering at?! Raise your hands or else we will put holes in your foreheads!" "WHAT''S WITH THE RUCKUS HERE, BASTARDS?!" the leader of the gang appeared and was pissed looking at us and his thugs. "The woman over there just caused rookie to faint! She is willing to hurt us and beat us up after we spotted a woman you might like to y with boss!" the thug who threatened us said. The boss of the group looked at the two girls behind us and grinned with an evil look on his face. "YOU GUYS HAVE GOOD EYES. NOT ONLY WE WILL BE SWIMMING IN MONEY TONIGHT BUT WE WILL BE ABLE TO ENJOY SOME GOOD STUFF TONIGHT WITH THESE BOUNTIES. ALRIGHT, TAKE THOSE IMPS DOWN AND HAUL THE BOUNTIES IN!" I gritted my teeth and was about to summon my weapon when someone came into our rescue and that is Pops carrying a cleaver on his right hand and a metal skewer used to grill meat on his left hand. "You bastards sully this izakaya and now you all are trying to abduct women? You bastards a disgrace to the human race!" Pops was already ready to fight back but he didn''t. He was just using those as a way to threaten them. However, these bastards seem like they are not going to even let go of Pops from that. The boss of the group grinned like crazy and raised his hands. "KILL THIS BASTARD!" I gritted my teeth and can no longer hold it. Who cares if my friends will see me use powers in public and who cares if anyone knows I can use abilities? If it can save someone important to me, then I would dly use it. "Now you guys should be the one to die!" I jumped in between Pops and the thugs and materialized my Versatile Weapon. I didn''t wait for another second to pass and the moment the Versatile Weapon is ready and is in my hands, I changed it to a shield and spear and blocked all the iing bullets that were meant for Pops. PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPANG! All the bullets that were meant to kill Pops, I caught and blocked them all using the shield. Once the guns run out of bullets to shoot, I flick the bullet shells on my shield and raise my hands to zap their hands, causing them to release the guns in their hands and temporarily paralyzing them. "RESTRAIN THEM NOW!" Riko immediately went to the leader and hit his neck, causing him to pass out. I took care of the other guy and the guy who threatened us earlier by bashing them with my shield on the face which also caused them to pass out. The other two were subdued by Pops and Janus, allowing us to stop them from the attacks and allowing us from dealing a casualty and deal the least possible injury to these guys. As much I want to deal with them, I can''t do it because even if we kill them in self-defense, we will be charged with murder instead. This was thew in Japan. Pops asked his wife to fetch a rope and we tied up them all to stop them from moving and do something nasty. Even those who were unconscious were tied up. "Khhh... If I can only beat them up in the process, then I will make sure that these guys needed to prepare life insurance." "You can''t do anything about it Riko. If we don''t abide by thew, we will be charged with murder, and even if the criminals will be the ones who needed to be punished, we will also be punished along. It would be a real bad thing. Maybe if this was in US, you can do that but since everything is strict here, better abide by the rules to avoid trouble," Janus exined. "Tch," Riko clicks her tongue while watching the criminals tied up. The wife of Pops already called the police and asked to bring a few people to deal with the gang. In a matter of minutes, the police arrived and the criminals were handed. As for the robbery, due to the arrival of the police much earlier than expected, the hostage-taking that was about to happen here didn''t ur since the people immediately escaped before they get captured. Of course, it failed and everyone was detained. Before we were questioned by the police, I asked everyone to stay quiet about what happened and how I managed to disarm them all. Since they were trustworthy enough, I told them about my ability. They didn''t hesitate to agree on that and didn''t bother to ask me about it. I quickly made an alibi that everyone can quickly adapt in their story so that the testimonies won''t be inconsistent. As for the other customers, no one saw the whole incident because they don''t want to be in trouble and was just hiding in different corners of the izakaya and are waiting for the rescue to arrive. After the incident, the police asked us what happened and how we managed to capture them. Since we didn''t kill any of them, they apuded our efforts of capturing one of the notorious syndicates that deal too much trouble around for thest few weeks. Riko also got away from further trouble after she revealed that those guys were threatening us so she decided to use full force to deal with the guy. Since the guy that Riko assaulted was only injured on his mouth and has a nosebleed, the police epted the testimony. I checked up on Pandora and realized that Pandora was calm all the time without even showing any signs of panic on her face. "Wow, you are so brave, Pandora! To think you didn''t get fazed even when those bastards already threatened us!" Janus said. ["Because I believe everyone can do it and will protect everyone so I just keep myself calm all the time."] Pandora said using her sketchbook. "Ah! That''s right! You bastard Manato! I didn''t expect it to be you!" Yep, if it is Riko, she is very sharp about it. However, I have to deny it and act as if I am not aware of everything that I already knew she was Dolly. "W-what are you talking about?!" "Don''t deny, Manato. You used some sort of weapon earlier and it just materialized out of thin air. Based on the design, it looks like a shield in Alternate World." "Alternate World? You mean the VR full dive game, Riko?" Janus asked. "Yes. And there was one person who has that kind of shield design from all the yers who used shields before. Also, the stance you made when you used the shield is very simr. In fact, I can tell that it was not just simr but identical. Tell me, did I hit the spot? deheart?" Riko grinned. "What the f*ck? How did you know I was deheart?" I asked though honestly, I want to apud myself for being a good actor. Maybe I will get an award if it was how genuine my acting was. "I knew it. This is me, Dolly. You bastard, to think the guy who is the strongest yer in Alternate World is none other than you, Manato!" Chapter 177 - Explanation And Tutorial (I) I already know that sooner orter, Riko will find out my real identity. However, I didn''t expect it to be this soon. I wanted to conceal it for a bit but due to the situation that urred, it can''t be helped at all. "Manato, can you also exin how you can materialize your weapon even though we are not in the game? I am quite sure that the shield you materialized is the shield you used during the battle in Sandurk." ?? "Huh? How did you know it was my shield? I don''t think I have seen you in the game before?" though, in reality, I already know which character is her. I just have to act like I don''t know to make sure that my acting is believable. "Oh, that''s right. I know you but you don''t know my character in the game. In that case, let me introduce myself, remember the magician you apanied together with Harmless Sparrow? Yep, that''s me alright. The one who is always excited about what shenanigans you will pull out and likes to ruffle the feather of your pet." "Dolly? That was you? But you are so different in the game... In real life you are so viol-" I did not finish what I was about to say when I realized what I was about to say. I almost dug my own grave there. "What was that you are about to say?" "I mean, you don''t act like yourself when you are in the game. You sometimes leak it out if you are seeing something for the first time but most of the time, you are in serious mode." "Ah, that. Well, I also wanted to be a cool magician so I wanted to at least portray myself as one in the game. Anyway, what''s with that materialization stuff I am asking about? Don''t you dare change the topic!" "Sigh, let''s go to my house, we needed to talk in private. Besides, I also need to bring Pandora back home since his brother is going back home around 2 in the afternoon." "Hey, hey! Can I join in?" Janus pipes in. "Huh? But you are not an Alternate World yer, why would you join us? You won''t understand what we are talking about," Riko said. "You saidst time that you have a free cabin to use right? Then I will borrow that one to y, so if you guys are going to talk about the game, then I will alsoe along and at least listen to learn something on what the game does." "You do have a point. Let''s go now since the Police will bother us again if we keep on staying here with more questions," Riko said. We went to Pops to say our farewells. After all, out of all the customers in Pop''s Izakaya, we are the only one left. "Pops, we will be on our way, it is unfortunate that your business has to deal with those thugs earlier but I hope it doesn''t ruin the business," Janus said. "Don''t worry, they might be scared due to the situation from earlier but I don''t think it will cause my business to lose that much." Pandora pulls out her sketchbook and showed her message to Pops. ["Thanks for the food, Pops. I wille again in the future."] "Thanks, youngdy. You are wee inside in the future and I will make sure to give discounts." "What about us Pops?!" Janus chimed in once again. "You are a regr here and you don''t need discounts either since I will be on the verge of bankruptcy if I ever tried that trick on you." "Oof, but I don''t eat that much..." "Bye Pops. We will visit again sometime," I said as we went outside the izakaya. "You guys should also be careful too! Trouble is always looking around and we can''t be too sure anymore who are good people and those who are not." Riko has a car and since our destination is my mansion, we all got inside her car. She didn''t drive and instead let Janus drive. Janus has a driver''s license so I am not afraid of any ident happening if Janus is the one driving. "So, what''s the deal of your ability?" "I recently manifested on this one after ying Alternate World for a whole day. After logging out, I suddenly felt the urge to do some of those 7th-grade syndrome poses and identally found out I can materialize my weapon and use it like how I use it in the game." "So in short, you got an awakening after you wanted to do some cringe poses?" Riko asked while grinning. "Don''t call that cringy! It is a form of art that only cultured people can understand. You are still not cultured much, go back to school, you are still wet in your ears," Janus said with an enlightened look on his face. "Bruh, we are just thinking the same thing!" I grinned and we did our high five ps with style. "Ugh...seriously guys..." Riko can only shake her head. It took a while before we arrived back in the mansion. I sent Pandora to her room when she said that she was sleepy after all of themotions that urred earlier which is kind of understandable. Since we just ate lunch, I just gave the two of them a can of c each. "Can you show it again? Although we have seen it before, it was in the midst of a dangerous situation so we couldn''t concentrate on how you did it," Riko said. "That''s fine," I said before materializing my Versatile weapon into a gun and spin it on my index finger for quite a while before holding them properly. "Holy sh*t, for real? Didn''t you use a shield before?!" Janus was surprised. "My weapon can change form depending on what I wanted it to appear to look like. If I wanted it to be a sword, I can do that in a few seconds," and with a spin in my finger, the two guns joined together and became a ck sword that looks demonic. "That was so epic! Man, I also wanted to y Alternate World and do things as you do," Janus said. "Unfortunately, this weapon is exclusive only for me and can be only used for me. In fact, this weapon is the only one existing in the game. And besides, my ss can easily use it. If it was you, I am sure you will be stuck on a weapon exclusive to your ss too," I exined. "So it is a weapon simr to Heroic tier then?" Riko asked. "Yes." "If that is the case that you are the only one who can use it and can change your choice of weapon, that means you choose the worst ss of all in the game?" "I won''t call it the worse but it is the hardest to manage out of all sses out in the game. Those who don''t have the patience to grind will have trouble using this ss." "What are you guys talking about?" Janus looked confused. "Ah, I forgot that you have not yed the game yet, so I will exin it. There are 19 sses in the game every yer can choose during the creation of your character. Of course, they will add new sses in the future too so the number of sses will also increase. Last update, the game added three sses for yers to choose from. Now, out of all those 19 sses, one can copy the rest of the 18 sses." "Copy all of the 18 sses? Isn''t that overpowered?" "Yes. That ss is called Versatile. In many cases, this ss is overpowered as this gave the yer the free will to choose which ss he or she wanted to use for the gamey and the versatility to use multiple sses in one attack like using magic and swordsmanship in one and most of the time, their ss is also the one who can benefit the most whenever a new ss was added since they don''t need to undergo a ss change process to do it. However, even though it is overpowered, it also has a catch," Riko exined. "I will continue exining this since I am the one who has the most knowledge with the ss. Just like what Riko said, there is a catch. Out of all the sses in the game, the Versatile ss has the slowest leveling pace. It was not because the ss has a lower exp gain but due to how much exp was needed to level up. The spike of the necessary amount of EXP needed is just too big that anyone who hates grinding in the game would cry tears of blood." "And you are saying you choose this ss for yourself?! Isn''t that just in torture Manato?" "It depends on how you y in the game. After all, this game is a "grinding and farming hell." Chapter 178 - Explanation And Tutorial (II) "The game is not just purebat and pure PVP. All yers can enjoy the game like if you want to be a cksmith, you can be one. If you want to create food, there is that too. Want to invent machines and different items? The Inventor ex job is avable too and many more. There is no limit to how many ways you can y the game so I am not worried about the leveling thing. I am not obsessed with getting the highest level anyway." "May I ask your level right now, Manato? I just became level 89 during thest battle against the boss so I am wondering what is your current level." ?? "Level 100," I immediately replied. This caused the two who taught leveling is hard for a Versatile. "Wha? Level 100?! Isn''t that really high already? There are only a few people who hit level 100 and as a Versatile ss, that is just absurd!" "The level requirement spike is really high to break it through level 101. All I can say is that I needed more than what a normal yer needed to break the barrier of level 100 and proceed to the next level. Also, with all things needed to be explored in the game, I don''t think farming experience is hard at all." "You can say that because you like grinding. For those people who don''t like grinding, that is just pure hell. But I am not a guy who cares about levels, I want to take everything leisurely and take what the game offers." Janus stopped and started thinking for a bit. Since he was in his own mode, I look back at Riko and decided to tell her about the ability to use magic. That way, I can at least give her a basic idea of this. Not only that, if I ever fail her to stop from the path where she was going to die, then get the ability to use magic might be my only emergency option for her to remain safe. "Riko, since you are curious about how I gained the ability, then I will help you awaken yours. Since you have already yed the game for quite a while, then I can help you with it. That is if you wanted to." "I can also use magic?!" Riko''s eyes gleamed up. "In theory yes. I have not done this and I am assuming this only so don''t expect you would also gain the ability to use magic like me." "Even if it is just a theory, I will not lose anything if I try it. Help me awaken it!" I grinned since I finally got Riko to agree. Although it was not on my n to introduce her to this, I might be able to at least change a small fraction of the future that will happen. Besides, awakening them is not a problem because this is how someone should also awaken their abilities if ever they have difficulties achieving that on their own. SNAP! My forefinger lit up due to the mana I conjured and cover in my hands. It is a small amount but this amount is enough to start a mana cirction to a body that has yet to awaken itstent mana. With mana injected into someone, their mana will also trigger its awakening, helping them gain the ability to use magic. "It''s done." After the awakening process, I can sense that Riko''stent mana has finally awakened and is now flowing in her body. It was still weak but if she trains it, it won''t be long before it is dense enough for her to properly use magic without a problem. "Your mana has finally been released from its shackles and is now ready to be trained." "Are you sure, Manato? I don''t think anything changed aside from the time you did something that caused a tingling sensation." "Yes. Your body has already been awakened. You still haven''t properly controlled your mana yet that is why you still can''t feel it and you still think nothing happened. You also can''t use magic yet since your mana is still unstable. Try to meditate and let the mana flow into your body and make it like it is part of your body since you were born." "I don''t really get it but I think I needed to train like a monk or something?" "No, not exactly. You only needed to meditate and try to keep the mana in control. If you don''t..." "If I don''t...? Gulp..." "If you don''t train... then nothing will happen. You can''t use your magic and anything fancy like how I do. Nothing at all. What... are you expecting something else?" "Huh? That''s it? Nothing fancy like power will leak out and goes berserk or something?" "Are you on drugs or something? That only happens in cultivation novels and other stuff, why are youparing them with this?" "Ugh...boring. I want some challenge or something." I can only shake my head. Riko really likes to find thrill even if it is something dangerous or not. "Riko!" Janus opened his eyes and immediately calls out to Riko. "Whoa, slow down there. I am sitting right next to you, you don''t need to shout," Riko then pushed Janus slightly away from her since he just gets too close. "Whoops, sorry. Anyways, I wanted to y this game right now. I heard it is good but I have zero savings to buy the cabin. So if you want to let me borrow the cabin, I will happily take it!" "Yeah, I can do that. However, are you sure you will be alright? The Cabin might be heavy but it is expensive. Some people will surely try to take the cabin off of your hands especially where you were living right now." "Of course I can''t y there. I need to find a new ce to live in. That ce is just full of trouble I don''t want to get involved in. That is why I will have to ask Manato I will crash here for a while." "Wait, what?!" I was taken aback and didn''t expect what Janus was saying. "What do you mean you will "crash" here for a while?!" "Exactly what I just said. I will be living here for a while until I get a good ce to transfer. I alsock enough money to rent and I heard Alternate World has a currency exchange, in that case, I will try making money in the game then!" "Did I say I agreed?!" "Just let him be, Manato. I was honestly helping him find a good apartment but without luck since most of the apartments that are vacant are either very inconvenient or rather apanied with trouble. Your mansion doesn''t have many neighbors and is a pretty developed area. Also, this house is pretty big that this is ce is not noisy enough. You need to at least bring him in and give some noise to this ce. It would be too creepy if you don''t." "Seriously?" "Pretty please, Manato. You are the only one I can ask for help. Riko already helped me and I can''t obviously crash in her house especially with her parents there. I also can''t find a good ce to rent either so if I don''t find a ce to crash for the night, then I would be sleeping in the streets as a result." I scratch my head since this is not what I expected. Janus eventually found a good ce to rent with the help of Riko during this time so I am quite sure he would still be able to find the ce he needed to be, however, a little point suddenly emerged in my mind. If Janus is just near me, then his suicide will be thwarted as a result in the future due to the change of things that will lead to that scene in the future. Also, I am not someone who would just abandon someone. Janus is one of the friends I would trust in my secret and will watch my back without hesitation. Just like Riko, I want him to also live peacefully and happily. He is too young to die. "Fine, fine. You can use that room on the second floor at the very end of the hallway." "You serious Manato?! Really! Holy sh*t! I am so happy right now I can kiss you!" "F*CK! GET OFF ME! I don''t swing that way! You are giving me the creeps!" "Damn, that was just a figure of speech man, chill. I don''t want to sully my lips too, I want to get a kiss on a beautiful gal. In fact, I won''t min kissing Riko right now since she helped me a lot." "You can kiss goodbye to your lips if you do that, pervert." I can only grin after seeing this scene with them. It''s been so long that I feel so old already. Thest time I was with them in the past timeline was when I was mourning in front of their coffins. Chapter 179 - Explanation And Tutorial (III) That very same day, Janus moved his things to the mansion and Riko called some movers to transport the Reality Verse Cabin to my house. I may be rich but I am still far from the kind of Riko who can just call on her phone and the job is done. My phone only has contacts with my friends and family and nothing more. "I want to see your cabin Manato! Since we will be ying together, I wanted to see how wonderful the cabin looks before mine arrives." ?? "Cabin? I don''t have one." The two looked at me with weird gazes after I said that. But it is understandable. "I don''t own a Reality Verse Cabin since the one I got is the upgraded version of the Reality Verse, the Reality Verse Nexus." I showed them the tattoo of the White Tiger that signifies the presence of the Reality Verse. "Using this, I can ess the game without needing to go inside the cabin and use it. I can use the cabin anytime, anywhere I wanted. Heck, I can even log in to the game right now without any problem at all." "Reality Verse Nexus? Howe I didn''t hear it?" "Of course you won''t since it was the reward of the people who bought the cabin first. They got an easy upgrade from the cabin to a tattoo immediately." "An upgrade? So that means we can also upgrade ours?" "ording to the higher-ups of the Nexuspany, the tattoo version will be avable once it is announced. It won''t be avable for now but once they say that it is ready to be distributed, yers who previously bought a cabin will have the chance to get the cabin upgraded into a tattoo version." "Damn, the design looks badass. I want to also have something like that soon. But since I am just borrowing the cabin, I will have to y hard to buy my own cabin and use it," Janus said. "Then, how about you join us? Since Manato is already level 100, we can tackle some hard bosses and we can start farming your experience and gold much earlier. We can carry you to reach a high level immediately." "I disagree with that Riko. As someone who yed the game and experience the game, I can say that carrying someone to a certain level will only bring the carried yer to more harm than good." "Why?" Riko asked. "Alternate World is a game where your achievements are rewarded and hard work is also rewarded. What if you got carried? Did you have a goodbat experience? In my opinion, no. A level is only a number but actualbat experience is the real deal. Even in PVP, if you are high leveled, have good gear and good weapons but have sh*t tier of level in fighting? Then a level 1 yer equipped with a beginner sword good at fighting enemies will beat the sh*t out of you without any problem." "Now that I think about it, the level doesn''t matter in the arena. Even healers can defeat yers with just a few attacks despite being a healer," Riko said. "Yes, even a healer can defeat a yer without experience. So in my opinion, we will apany Janus in leveling since parties have a boost in exp gain but we will just support him if needed. He will be the one dealing the necessary damage to defeat enemies," I suggested. "That sounds nice. It would be boring if I y and get a high leveled character without any experience." I am not lying about my opinion. In the past timeline, many rich yers who arete at the game and wanted to reach a high level and flex hire mercenary yers to power boost them. That was the job of Iron and Topaz in the past timeline and gain money from those kinds ofmissions. They thought it would be easy if they have good gear, a good amount of level, and a good amount of stats to handle the enemies, but no. Many of them died after tackling some bosses and they didn''tst long and usually get demoted to level 1 after repeated dying. It is kinda funny and sad at the same time. A few minutester, the cabin arrives and Janus''s eyes were fixated on the cabin. The cabin looks like a cryogenic capsule but has a smaller build and the yer who will use it will need to sit down inside. It looked like a small room which is why it was called a Cabin and not a capsule. After all, it doesn''t have the shape of a capsule either. "Are you sure I can y the game for free by using this? Aren''t this expensive Riko?" Janus asked. "Yes it is expensive as hell but since my parents do not see it expensive and see it as a small expenditure, you can say I have no problem letting someone else use it, it will only gather dust in the storage room since no one will be using it since Manato don''t need it anymore. I didn''t give it to you immediately either since your home is not that trustworthy. Now that you are in a ce where you can just forget things and get to work without a problem, I am allowing you to use it. If you want, you can also buy it for me, with a discount of course. It will never be free since there is no such thing as free lunch. Even friends needed to pay." "That''s fine. I don''t expect to receive things for free and that is the life I learned while living alone. I need to work hard on it." The instation was easily done so when it was finally done, Riko decided to leave. "I will be going home now guys. Since Janus will be ying, I will be going home to ess my ount. I also wanted to have a simr console like you Manato but I guess I have to wait for the announcement for them to upgrade the cabins. Until then, I can only y at home." We bid farewell to Riko after that and I let Janus arrange his things first. It only took a few minutes since he has only a few things with him and most of them are just essentials needed when you are living alone. When he was done, Janus decided to start ying. "After the tutorial, search for the name "deheart" and send a message. I will send a friend request and will jointer. I will be the one contacting Riko after." "Alright," Janus said before closing his eyes and begin to dive into the game. "Time to y the game again." ... ... [Wee Back, deheart] I appeared in the workshop where I was smithing during thest time. Since I left after getting bored creating fodder weapons, I left many of those fodder weapons on the floor, making my workshop a little messy. Taking all of the fodder weapons and putting them near the forge, the workshop that was a little bit messy is now cleaned up a bit. Though I think I needed time to at least look for a new way for me to make the workshop better in the future. "Right, my stats. I can''t just forget about the stats I gained without realizing it. Because I was toozy to open my stats tab, all of the stat points left are also left without any use. Until I distribute them, they will be useless... "Looks like I have to manually distribute them. After all, I will be having a hard time leveling with the amount of exp needed to level up. My onlypanion that can help amplify my damage and mybat prowess is my stats. Just as I was about to distribute the undistributed stat points, an unknown yer started chatting with me. Turns out, it was Janus. He named his character Hagane. I sent a friend request which he immediately epts. ----------------------- Hagane: Are you there? This is me, Janus. I just finished the tutorial, where are you? deheart: Are you in the beginner town right now or did you went out and started hunting? Hagane: I am in the neutral area outside the town right now and hunting some rats and lizards. There are lots of beginner yers here so I am not alone in killing the mobs. deheart: What ss did you choose? Hagane: I choose the Pdin of course. Out of all the sses here, the Pdin is the one that focuses on defense more so I decided to choose it. deheart: Pdins might be primarily on the defensive side but they are good hitters too. If you decided to use the Pdin and wanted to go on the defensive mode, make sure to spend your stats on END and STR. Don''t spend them on other stats just yet. Once you get more than one stat point gained every level up, then use the extra ones on other stats, the INT would be the third option to your priority. DEX and AGI would also be good but they are not that impactful on Pdins so ignore them for now. Hagane: Alright, done. deheart: Just farm like usual and decline any other party invites from others. A Pdin is one of the most popr sses that would be likely flocked by beginner yers in the first town so don''t hesitate to decline them. I will be right there. After that, I close the chat and sighed. It looks like his motivation in the past timeline and the current life is not that different. Chapter 180 - Explanation And Tutorial (IV) Hagane has enough time to level up to around 7 before I arrived in the area so I decided to take care of my stats first before I finish things. With all the bonus stats I receive from clearing bosses and getting some first achievements that I no longer paid attention to, it is time to clear out the amount of them and properly distribute them. Name: deheart ?? Level: 100 EXP: 91/500,000 HP: 30,420/30,420 MP: 18,600/18,600 Attributes: STR: Good [AP:34/250] AGI: Fair [AP:94/200] DEX: Fair [AP: 132/200] END: Fair [AP: 51/200] INT: Fair [AP: 121/200] Title: Savior of Sandurk AP left: 1590 SP: 1200 My HP is very high right now since I reached the Fair level of my stats. Usually, yers who are HP reliant like the Pdin and Holy Knight have a very high END which also means they have high HP. However, they also have to bnce out which stat they would spend after the END. After all, what''s the point of having too much HP if you can only deal at least 1 damage. As for my MP, it is the same amount a magician in level 100 has or a bit lower. With how many enemies there are in the game, magicians will use skill spam to dominate in the battle so a high pool of mana is a good way to get your magic done. Of course, the higher your mana pool, the faster the recovery rate should be. The stats I have right now isparable to a normal level 100 yer with bnced-out stats and good equipment. However, my stats are abnormal as they are all contributed by the Versatile Weapon which has the most stats given out. Even if I don''t wear armor, my defense is veryrge already and I can already tank just fine. As for my unspent stats, this should be the amount I received from all of the level-ups and other bonuses I receive every time I get something new like a title, a first kill, or something like that. But I didn''t realize that I already saved up this much already. My stats have no problems at all even if I don''t spend the extra points due to how my stat is quite a normal thing to look at in the game especially if you are level 100 already and equipped with high-end weapons and armors. However, if I add my unspent stat points, the bnce will not appear and my strength would appear as level 120 or more already despite the fact that my original level has yet to break to the barrier in between level 100 and 101. A few secondster, I shook my head and grinned before distributing the AP to my stats. Who cares about what the yers think. They don''t know my level and that is enough mystery to cover how strong I am already. I distributed the extra AP to all my stats evenly. I didn''t focus on one stat as the Versatile ss benefits on all stats without any setbacks so why would I focus on one stat? In the end, two stats arrived from the threshold of Very Good already and that is the STR and DEX. No wonder I can easily proc criticals without a problem. My DEX is the second highest stat out of all the stats I have, recing the INT stats that holds the second ce of the highest leveled stat in the game. As for the other stats, I already received more stats than necessary. Name: deheart Level: 100 EXP: 91/500,000 HP: 63,600/63,600 MP: 34,500/34,500 Attributes: STR: Very Good [AP:102/300] AGI: Good [AP:212/250] DEX: Very Good [AP: 0/300] END: Good[AP: 169/250] INT: Good [AP: 239/250] Title: Savior of Sandurk AP left: 0 SP: 1200 I wanted tough seeing my HP and MP numbers. In level 100 standards, this is already cheating. Apanied with high defense, yers will barely scratch me with the amount of HP I have. The only threat I have are those yers that can easily handle high HP and high defense targets and deal with them as soon as possible. Not only that, even though I am already this tanky and my HP is almost near to reach the amount of 100,000, bosses can easily deal plenty of damage especially those who are beyond level 100. This much defense can be easily shredded by the bosses. "Damn, I don''t know if I am the strongest tank in the game right now or just buffed enough that I can defeat bosses barehanded. I am satisfied with the result. That way, my revenge of taking down Kazuki and his guild will be much easier now. In fact, with the stats I have right now, I can conduct a guild war against them all by myself already. Hah, looks like my next course of action to deal with Kazuki is humiliating him with the guild war. What kind of face will he make once he gets challenged by a single yer? Can''t wait to see his reaction. As for the SP, I will be postponing that one for now. Skills are not easy to choose and with all the sses at my disposal, I need to find out the skills that will be beneficial to me in the future and I would need to slow down and think carefully. Iron and Topaz are out hunting right now so I didn''t bother to disturb them. They need to grow by themselves instead of sticking to me every time. If they would keep on sticking with me, their abilities would easily stagnate. Then, I received a mail. It was from Dolly. Dolly: Hey, I am already here, pick me up already. deheart: Alright, alright. Wait for a little bit. Stretching my body and checking if my equipment is in optimal condition, I summoned Leona and went to Dolly''s location to pick her up. ... Janus, now in his game character named Hagane, is currently busy hunting enemies one by one. With the help of the exp potion, he managed to already reach level 7 from hunting. He is not struggling from the game''s difficulty since it was manageable. However, he didn''t expect that the ss he has chosen is one of the most sought types of sses being looked out upon by yers. There are lots of yers that were currently sending invites and friend requests since he was a tank and some needed one to raid the newly sprung beginner dungeon. However, since Manato keeps on saying to him to not ept any requests, he decided to just let the requests pile up in his inbox. He didn''t even bother to ept some friend requests to fully avoid them. However, there are just too many yers trying to drag him from his peaceful farming. "Party with me, please. Don''t worry, I will treat you to foodter after this," one female?-looking yer said. However, for him who is always exposed to many things and knows many different things in life, he already knows that the yer is a GIRL. Guy In Real Life. "THOTS BEGONE! I don''t need to party with you guys. I already received invitations from others and already epted one so I don''t need to ept anymore invitations for party formation!" The cutesy-looking girl? earlier then clicks HER? tongue and looked at Hagane and spits in front of him. "Tch, what a f*cker." Hagane sighed in relief. Due to the trade of his hobbies, he can easily spot who is just pretending like a girl but was actually a big guy inside. It was a good thing he did not fall for the obvious trap. Since deheart already asks him to wait for him, he keeps on looking at his message from time to time to find out if he is already near or not. PING! deheart messaged which is why he immediately stopped what he was doing and looked around to look for the in-game character of Manato. However, he didn''t see any signs of Manato or Riko anywhere. He can easily distinguish a yer with high levels and those who do not have any levels just yet. But there is none. Then, deheart messaged again. deheart: Oy, the dumbass wearing a beginner shield and beginner spear, stop looking around and look up instead. Thepanions have arrived. "Look up?" Hagane looked up and realized that the clouds are getting darker as time goes by. Then, the clouds started to part away and reveal arge bird-like creature. Behind the creature are two yers who have a good amount of gear equipped. "Yo, defender, stop dawdling there and get moving! We have to fight some good monsters we are tracking for quite a while. Let''s go and climb already!" The yers around me didn''t expect to see a few old-time gamerse back to the beginning town where yers of all kinds gather. Chapter 181 - Explanation And Tutorial (V) The appearance of two fully geared yers along with a tamed pet made the newer yers feel in awe just by looking at us when Dolly and I arrived on the scene. If this happened in aputer MMO, our entrance wouldn''t be this dramatic and will just ur like a typical yer arriving in the beginner''s area. With the new perspective on things, it gives a heavier impact on the newer yers. "Holy crap, isn''t he the one who finished off the boss in the final area? Also, that girl he was apanying with, that was the magician that annihtes many enemies using her magic during thest battle!" one of the spectators said. ?? "Woah! Is that a pet you can mount?! Is there any simr pet avable in the store for us to buy for real money?!" "Idiot, if I remember correctly from what I read in some guides, the pets can only be obtained in methods like buying an egg and hatching it, getting an egg from somewhere else like in a nest is also viable and thest is the usage of taming and using some items used for taming a specific monster. If it was avable, many yers who spend money in the very beginning would already be riding on their mounts right now!" That''s when the other yers also voiced out their reactions after seeing us. It caused everyone in the area to gather just to see us. "Isn''t this simr to the feeling of being a celebrity?" Dolly grinned. "Poprity is cool but it is annoying. Of course, this attention is temporary so we don''t need to concern ourselves with them all." Hagane climbed on Leona''s back but with difficulty due to the weight of his armor and shield. Still, he managed to climb up and get out of the eyes of the others. "Holy sh*t, Manato! You are the one who cleared the Sandurk expedition! Howe you didn''t say so and throw a party with your friends? Isn''t this enough to call for a celebration?" "Meh, that is a waste of time. Also, call me deheart while we are in the game and I will also use the names you guys have chosen. It would be best to avoid using real names to at least protect our privacy," I reminded Hagane. "Yes, it would be troublesome for anyone knowing our names in real life. It would be fine if the guys who knew are real acquaintances but there are also different matters that might escte especially if there are yers who are ready to do anything once you provoke them," Dolly said. "Oops, apologies guys, I am just so overwhelmed by everything that I am still processing how cool this ce looks like. Forgive me." "Apology epted. So now, let''s get to where we should raise your level for the next couple of minutes," I said and pat Leona as a signal that we need to fly away. "Is it a dungeon?" "Nope, it is a normal field but it is a Hostile field area which means every monster seen here will attack and will not just wander off unless you attacked first. Our target for you is to level up and reach level 15 here. If we are lucky, we might even get you some decent equipment that will be still useful up until level 25 and level 30 depending on how lucky you are with its stats and rarity." ... We arrived in the Lycanthropeir where the enemies have lower defense values but have a very high attack and have a very high crit rate. As someone who has gained info about this ce in the past allowed me to know why this ce is a good farming spot to level up to 15. This hostile field is a very troublesome ce especially for those yers with sses that is very weak in terms of defense like for example, a magician. They might have high firepower but they can''t immediatelyunch their abilities in rapid session since most of the time, the lycans will attack, thus causing interruption to the casting. This is why, even if this ce is a good ce to hunt for beginners, it is also quite troublesome to hunt here without a party. If not careful enough, their ws will greet you and harvest your life. "If the attacks are high, then howe I need to hunt here? Isn''t that going suicide?" "No. As a pdin, you have the highest defensive values out of all the sses since your ss relies on some stats. Even though your ss specializes in defensive methods and their defense values are off the charts, the pdin ss can still deal with quite a pack of punch. With your stats for defense is very high, tanking the lycans would be a breeze to a pdin. Not only they can solo the farming process in the lycansir but also gain `experience in fighting especially for first-timers." "I remembered that I almost got defeated here without a tank yer in here to catch the attacks for me. It was the worst area for squishy sses like me," Dolly said recalling her experiences. "So, I will be fighting these guys alone?" "Basically yes and no. You will fight alone but we will do support. Dolly will provide support if you are in danger and I will be in charge of healing you and giving minor buffs. We might not help killing monsters but we are helping on the sidelines. After all, fighting them with our levels will just one-shot them with just a p in their faces," I said. "Makes sense. Alright, let''s do this!" ... Hagane worked quite well and even though he still messes up sometimes, he has lived up to have a good defense and his attack power is also quite capable despite being a pdin. In just a few hours of fighting with a beginner shield and beginner sword, he climbed up to level 13 and finally gained the hang of being a tank in Alternate World. "TWO MORE LEVELS LEFT!" Hagane said and as he continues to fight, the more he can unleash the ability to fight. "It''s getting rather boring right now actually. Don''t we have anything better to do other than supporting him? I am also itching to fight monsters too!" "Be patient Dolly. Our turns wille soon so wait for a bit. Hagane will be able to win that much already. We just needed to be patient and deal with it." Then, a different Lycan appeared and this time, it is a bigger monster and has a bigger buildpared to the lycans that Hagane has been killing so far. "Woah, Woah, what the f*ck is that?!" " A hostile zone boss. You will see them periodically while exploring this area. To be precise, once you hunted enough enemies, a boss will appear and they are well sought by many yers because the items and equipment they drop are guaranteed to be rare or above rarities, and sometimes, they even yield some goods that will be very beneficial on production sses." "So in short, this boss is a very good source of exp, gold, and items?" Hagane licked his lips. "Yep, that''s basically it. Do you want to retreat?" "Me? No! We fight!" [Werewolf] Level 25 (Hostile Zone Boss) HP: 300,000/300,000 Attributes: Beast, Darkness, Humanoid Not that strong and a bit weaker indeed. The HP pool is also quite smallpared to some zone bosses. However, not that it has a small amount of HP for a boss doesn''t mean it is an easy kill. If they have some low attributes in certain areas, that only means the stats they have are perfectly bnced. In the [Werewolf] boss, if their HP and defense are low, then that means their attacks are just strong enough. I grab a potion of Strengthening and Stone of Defense Potion before throwing them to Hagane. "Wow! Thanks for the buff, man!" Hagane said. The werewolf slowly walks out in the darkness and released its sharp ws. The moment he saw Hagane, he roared and run towards Hagane. But for Hagane, he used this chance to also attack. "[Shield Bash]!" BANG! The werewolf took the brunt force of the [Shield Bash] in its head and due to that, the werewolf was stunned for a few seconds. With this chance, he started to pierce the werewolf multiple times and stabbing it, slowly reducing his HP. When the werewolf was about to recover, Hagane immediately retreated and waited for another attack to take head-on. "Change your decision this time Hagane, don''t just tank them and expect to still stop the enemy like how you just did earlier. Attack while it is fresh!" "Well, that is alright then! [Shield Crash]! BANG! The attacks that Hagane made are not that big but it was indeed quite a strong way to do it, however, the battle is not just over immediately. Hagane attacked the werewolf relentlessly and this time, he did it so fast. "AWWWOOOOOOO!" The Werewolf''s white fur started to show symbols of red and other things. If that happens, only one this is sure, the boss has entered 100% rage mode. And for a tank like Hagane, this will be a very dangerous situation. Chapter 182 - I May Be A Healer But... The werewolf battle took a few minutes before it was killed. We are thankful that the area is not popted with yers due to the number of newbie yers venturing outside the lower leveled zones. Basically, the area we are farming is a ce where higher leveled yers that graduated from being a newbie will try to get some exploration done. Of course, this ce is skippable for many and would just skip directly to another area with very good drops, has an easier-to-kill mob, and yers always roaming about. It is also understandable that there are a lower amount of people in the area due to how most yers right now are either in mid 50 above and most yers are more on investing time in a certain area where good drops appear and are helpful. Hagane struggled for a bit but his tenacity, defense, and his dedication allowed him to y the boss without our help. I just gave him some pointers on how to defeat it without too much step-by-step way to kill it. Aside from that, he also didn''t get a heal from me since his HP is still a half bar. He didn''t even have the [Heal] ability a pdin usually has just yet but still he managed to deal with the boss with only basic equipment. ?? "Holy sh*t! That was the most intense battle and workout I have done my whole life! I thought I was going to die!" "I don''t think you will since even if you died, I would have already revived you once again and bring you back to full health after. You will still be able to fight back again." "That is good to hear, and thankfully, I don''t need it," Hagane said. "So, did you level up? What items did you get?" Dolly asked. Hagane looked into the drops and picked all of them up. Since there are no enemies, he climbs up to Leona''s back and shows the drops to us. "These are all the drops that fell after the boss died. There are some stuff that looked cool but I don''t know if they are indeed useful since some things looked cool but useless." Dolly looked into the drops and she identifies one of the items. I also identified it as a ne. "This one is good. I suggest you wear it then sell it. You can sell it in the future once you get better gear. You can look at this deheart," then Dolly handed the ne to me. [Werewolf Ne] Type: Ne Equipment Rarity: Rare Tier Equippable at: Level 10 Equippable by: All sses AGI: 12 DEX: 21 Skill: 1. Move like a Wolf (Active) - enhances the user''s running speed and dodging speed. Info: A ne made from the remains of the werewolf''s victims. It is usually made crudely but those with a presentable look are made by some of the highly intelligent werewolves. Note: Isn''t that just fishbone?! What kind of fashion sense do you have to wear a fishbone?! I would have understood if it was normal bones since those can be used as nes but fishbone? This time around, I am not going to criticize the note but apud you for stating the very obvious question the moment you have seen the item. This is a f*cking fishbone. A fishbone from a big fish and has been made into a ne. It looks ridiculous and it looks ufortable to wear. It was like you ate a fish and you find the bone that was left behind the fish kind of a waste to throw away so you made it into a ne. Even though the ability looks useful, I won''t be using this crap. Just by looking at it, I might even get pierced by one of its sharp points. "You want this?" I asked Hagane. After all, I am not the one wearing the ne but him. "Design-wise, it is a big flop. As for the effects, it''s a bit of a meh and useless for me?" Hagane tilted his head. "Do you want it?" "You can have it, I am not going to wear something that would make me look ridiculous," Hagane said. "You sure? This looks like cool and has a useful effect..." Dolly said and grab the ne from my hands. "I doubt your fashion sense in the past when I apanied you in shopping. Now I am very sure your fashion sense is quite weird. If you like it, you can have it," Hagane said. "Nope, I already have a good ne, why would I rece this one?" she said and pulled out her ne that is a level 74 ne, Tear of the Mermaid that is dropped by sea monsters in Resurgia. "Then, this one is in the sell category. I doubt this will sell in the auction so let''s just sell this on the normal shop," I said. "There are also some materials but I don''t know their usage yet. As for thest item, it is equipment and it is a pair of shoes." He pulls out a pair of shoes and thankfully, it is a normal pair. I check its stats and nodded. It is only basic stats and it is a normal gear, however, this is definitely much betterpared to the fishbone ne earlier. The items that were dropped are not that good but not that great either. In the end, the drops were on a little bit of a bad side. The only good thing that happened after it was killed was that Hagane leveled up from 15 to level 17. "Your level is now manageable. Let''s go raid some dungeons then and collect some items too to rece your beginner gear." "That would be cool. Let''s do this!" Hagane was excited. "Are we going to fight around this time?" Dolly looked at me with anticipation. "Yes. This time, you need to participate since you are not that high leveled and can still contend with some dungeons. As for me, I would make everything overkill so I will just watch on the sidelines." We are about to go away when I hear gunshots and screaming nearby. If this is the real world, people would need to start running or calling the police but since this is just a game, there is no need to do that. "F*ckers! Come and get me!" Then, a yer came out from the forest. It was a male yer and he is holding a staff used by a cleric. His outfit too is a robe which means this guy is a cleric. When he reach our ce, he stopped and catches his breath. He also looked at us and gives a thumbs up all of a sudden. "Hey, guys! You can be my witness for today alright? I need some proof that I am innocent in this matter and they choose the wrong person to chase!" Then, a few secondster, a group of yers with red tags appeared. One of them is a gunslinger which means the gunshots earlier and the screams were caused by this guy. The group also noticed us and their eyes lit up the moment they saw us. "Holy sh*t, we are in luck! Look at those big shots! We will be able to loot a good amount of items today! We can also deal with that damnable healer too. It is a good thing we chased him all the way here!" I want tough seeing them look at us hungrily. Based on their equipment, they are only around level 20 above. I can flick them out of their existence and will not even bother with them. In fact, their attacks might even appear as just 1 due to my defense. "Hey, hey. Who said you can drag these innocent yers to your shenanigans? I am your target, right? Then go ahead and attack me! Don''t keep me waiting bastards!" The yers who were all PK yers grit their teeth in anger. "You f*cker, you are definitely digging your grave. Do you want these losers to help you? Ha, fine! We will dly grab the goodies out!" "Oops? Who said they will also participate in the battle? They might be here but they are just spectators! They don''t need to be involved in this ridiculous fight!" "HA! You think a healer can even do anything to us?" "Hmph. Don''t look down on me that much. You guys will regret it. I may be a healer ss yer but who said I can''t whoop an ass?" "Woah, is he serious? Aren''t healers only for support?" Hagane asked. "Haha, you have not seen real PVP in this game right? Then maybe you will be able to witness one today. It isn''t that bad and it is definitely an interesting concept to watch. If this healer has indeed a good fighting style, you won''t see a healer the same way again." Chapter 183 - The Way Back Home (I) The red yers started their attacks on the Cleric with the intent to kill him in a few hits. But from the attacks of the red yers, none of themnded to the cleric who has quick reflexes and good footing that allows him to dodge the enemies trying to kill him. The moment they missed, the Cleric dash towards the main healer and swing his staff to the face of the female cleric of the red named yers. ?? PA! The female cleric staggered after the staffnded on her face. Once she staggered, the cleric that is being attacked spins his staff and stabs the ground with its tip. "[Caduceus]!" A huge staff with two serpents coiled on the handle of the staff materialized and the cleric that was just trying to recover from the staggering state immediately died. The female yer got squashed by the skill. "What was that?" Hagane was astonished by the skill. "The first tier offensive type skill of a cleric, [Caduceus]. It is a single target skill that has a 15 seconds cooldown and 5 seconds casting time. It deals damage to enemies in exchange for the HP. It does deal significant damage but not that much. Of course, if it is upgraded to a certain extent, the attack power will be big and it will be an AOE skill." "I don''t understand the principle of that skill. Also, how did he managed to kill the enemy cleric in just a few attacks?" Dolly asked. "From what I observed, the cleric that was killed was poorly equipped in the armor department which must be the main reason the [Caduceus] one-shot kill the cleric. Also, he hit the cleric with the staff earlier. Even if it isn''t much, it was also damaged and we can only assume the cleric has low health allowing him to kill the yer in one shot," I exined. The cleric heals himself after using the [Caduceus] and faces the others. "I don''t mind you guyse together at once!" When the pk yers heard this, they were provoked. "You bastard! Don''t get cocky! Boys! Let''s get him!" His taunting words made the poor bastards attack. In my experience, I already know what he is about to do. Cleric rarely fights alone and usually is backed up by other yers in fights. However, a cleric can handle things on their own and can fight just fine without any outside help from other yers. "[Regeneration]!" He raised his hands and his body was enveloped with a green aura and he is constantly healing small bits of HP every second. After that, he rushes head-on to the enemies and started smacking the enemies with the staff. Every smack he did leaves a small white mark on them, which was invisible to the enemies'' eyes but visible to the non-targets. The attacks of the enemies managed tond a hit on him but he was not injured much and he didn''t lose too much health. "You people serious? Howe you guys are pretty sloppy? Attack him all out!" The cleric grinned and he raises his staff in the air before stabbing it on the ground like how he did when he cast [Caduceus] earlier. "Repent to all of your sins! [Holy Smite]!" It was just a momentary scene but the marks left behind by the small attacks done earlier by the cleric started to glow brightly. In that split second of the activation, spikes of light appeared on their body, piercing them. Two yers died after the activation. The three remaining yers were still alive but they were almost incapacitated. "Damn, it looks like my calctions were a bit wrong in there since there are still three survivors," the cleric shook his head and approached the three dying yers. "You bastard..." the guy who seems to be leading the red yers grumbled though he is having a hard time moving especially with a sharp light piercing his chest. "You are the bastard one, bastard of the bastard. You dare mess with my quest and ruin the Main Quest that I have epted? You really have a death wish do you?!" "F*ck... you are just a cleric... howe you are much capable of killing us..." "Because you guys are all dumbf*cks who think healers can''t kill. Now, go to the cathedral and pay for your crimes," he said before stomping the yer with his boots several times. In a few stomps, the yer died as his body slowly turned into a digitized corpse. He did the same to the other yers who remained alive after the [Holy Smite], eliminating the yers who think they are the strongest yers. "Significant bastards ruining my quests, what a load of crap." After picking up the loot of the red yers he killed, he looked at us and grinned. "Did you guys enjoyed the show?" "I have a question though," I stood up from Leona''s back. "Shoot." "Why you didn''t revive and kill them again for the max profit of earning some drops from them? They are red yers so they have a 100% equipment drop rate once they die." "Not worth it and a waste of time and mana. Besides, I am doing some quests but these bastards just hijacked my main quest and pretty much ruined my progress," the cleric said. "Wait, wait... you are running the main quest right now?!" Dolly was shocked. "Yeah. I received one after some chain quests in the area and some vigers I talked to. It just popped up after, so yeah." From his tone, he didn''t know the importance of the main quest just yet. "Have you ever thought about how your quest is something really rare right now? You are now one of the main scenario clearers already!" Dolly seems to be so giddy after finding someone who seems to have no idea what quest is he currently doing. "Not really? I mean, this is the main quest right? I think everyone can also y the main quest since it is the main scenario of the game." "Looks like you still think this a normal MMORPG game like the old days. Unfortunately, it is not. The quest you have right now is very coveted by many yers due to the fame and money they can receive for having the main quest done. Main scenario quests or main quests are not for everyone and only those who managed to trigger the certain quest can be the only one who can finish it unless he or she shares it with someone. yers who arepleting main quests are called the Main Scenario clearers, or just clearers for short." "The hell? So you are saying this quest is super valuable I have the possibility to get famous because of it?!" "Yes. Main Quests explores the lore and the state of the game progresses due to this, affecting many things depending on the main quest''s progress. If an NPC dies, then all quests rted to that NPC will also disappear or new ones will appear concerning their death. Different oues happen." "Lucky you! The main quest is something everyone wanted to do to get quite famous to the yer base and get sponsored by some other yers." Contrary to our expectation of him celebrating his acquisition of the quest, he fell silent and looked at the quest log. After fiddling for a bit, he looked up to us and asked something that caused Dolly to get shocked. "Howe I can''t abandon the quest? I am trying to find the "Abandon Quest" button but it seems to be missing. Do you guys know how to do it?" "HUH? WHY?" "I hate getting into the spotlight and getting famous from the main quest is not ideal to me either. I would rather y without the eyes of the public on me." His question was indeed something that caught Dolly off guard. But this is not my first time encountering it. Some just hated how the Main Quest is very difficult or just in annoying due to how long it was just to finish the scenario. "The main scenario quests are not possible to be abandoned unless you failed on it. Of course, failing the main scenario quest doesn''t mean you can escape on the quest. Most of the time, whenever you failed, the main quests update and you will be stuck on another main quest." "The f*ck? You serious or just joking?" "I am not joking." "Then, I have to clear this by myself and get discovered by others and get exposed to media tforms?! The hell with that! I just wanted a peaceful life in gaming! I don''t need to be famous!" "But I have a method for you to avoid the other yers to know you are ying the main quest. This way, the yers who are looking for the main quests yers would be having trouble who was the first yer who discovered it." "You have a method?!" "Yep. And that is basically sharing the quest to other yers and clear the quest before the quest bes a bigger problem that will attract the eyes of those yers who are looking for other main quests scattered in the game. Are you willing to share the quest? We will be happy to continue the quest with you as soon as possible." When Dolly and Hagane heard this, they got speechless on my offer all of a sudden. Isn''t this just ttery talk just to get the chance to participate in the main quest?! Chapter 184 - The Way Back Home (II) The cleric went silent for a bit but answered after a few seconds. It seems like this healer just thought of it for a second beforeing to a decision. "Alright, if you suggest it like that, then help me clear this one. I wanted to get rid of this quest as soon as possible and it seems you guys are strong enough to handle this quest too." ?? "That''s fine. Let''s get right into it." The cleric opened his quest tab and shared the quest, allowing the three of us to see the quest panel. [The Way Back Home] Type: Main Quest Rewards: ??? Info: During the war of the demons, a few elves were killed in the process after the invasion of the monsters. Due to the situation, half of the elve''s poption was wiped out. During the war, a family of green goblins discovered a child of an elf. Unlike the normal goblins found in many tribes killing people and molesting women, these goblins refuse to do it and were living in the mountains away from the normal tribes. Adopting the child, they found out that this kid was being searched by the demons and the other goblins are now trying to track the family. Objective: Help the Goblin Family protect the child and escort her back to the hands of the elves. Warning: This is a very long quest. You might have to sacrifice your time in mundane tasks to finish the quest. The difficulty of the quest also increases every time an objective waspleted. This is a shared quest. Are you sure you want to participate in the quest? YES/NO Damn, out of all the main quests he received, it is one of the quests that involves heavily fighting different kinds of enemies and are usually encountered around level 110 areas. In short, if you are at a low level, this quest is a nightmare for you. I heard that this quest is one of the quests that will invoke the war in Resurgia once the progress reaches the climax. It was supposed to happen a few monthster once the next continent will be released. However, I don''t think it will since I am the one who will be clearing it. From what I can also remember, the more yer you have with this, the better the sess of the quest. It is a very difficult quest and preparation is the key for this quest. I look at mypanions after reading the contents of the quest. After all, this quest is very hard and if they wanted to back out, they have to do it while they have not epted the quest just yet. "Are you guys sure about this? I am fine since I don''t need to farm exp that much right now while you guys still needed to do it," I nced at Hagane and Dolly who were still reading the quest. "Are you joking, deheart? I am not going to chicken out on this one. This quest is quite long so that means I can enjoy the story more! Of course, I am in!" And she clicked yes. "I might be a beginner but knowing the story is also good. Also, it said here that there will be enemies so doesn''t that mean more enemies to kill? Free EXP! I am in!" and Hagane also epted. I scratch my head after their decision but that''s what they want, I won''t stop them. I also clicked yes on my quest tab and the main quest appeared on my quest tab as the very first quest due to the priority of the main quest is undeniably strong. "Alright, since you guys epted the quest, I will introduce myself. I am called Chase. I am a cleric but I am nning to use the cleric as an offensive ss rather than support and wanted to show everyone that a cleric can be a frontline too." "That''s a good ambition. I am called deheart, these two are Dolly and Hagane. The gryphon that we are riding right now is Leona, thank you for having us on board on the quest." "You must be the yer who cleared the Sandurk expedition. I heard a lot from you in many forums discussing the Sandurk continent about how you managed to finish the quest." "Yep, that''s me," I confirmed. "Well, that is good. Now I am more confident of getting rid of this quest sessfully than failing it." "Should we trigger the quest already? Once we trigger the quest, we won''t be able to back out already," I asked. "Let''s do this! What are we waiting for?" I helped Chase climb to Leona''s back and we departed to arrive at the location to trigger the quest. Once this begins, we have to finish the quest until the end, and our performance will determine the oue of the Resurgia continent. I can even say that this main quest has a simr structure to the Sandurk Pioneer quest. The only difference is that this quest is not counted as a Pioneer quest. The quest mark appeared on the level 67 peaceful area map of the mountain top of the Caldaripa Mountains. Now I have a basic idea of where the quest marker is marking. Since I am familiar with the ce, I didn''t have a hard time finding the actual location that was indicated on the map. Wended near the area to avoid spooking out the NPC goblins. After all, ording to the quest, they are in hiding from the demon army so they will be really on alert if they have seen a flying creature. When we arrived, the ce has a different look than what I remembered in the past timeline but there are the usual traces I have seen before. There are only a few things added which made me a little bit confused about how it looked before. It is clear that the ce is currently inhabited by someonepared to before. The location is a secluded area of the forest. It was a hut located in a thicket that anyone who has a bird''s eye view would have trouble finding it and even the ones on thend will also have trouble finding due to how the camouge of the area was applied. We just step into the territory and a crossbow flew past us. It was a clear warning shot since it didn''t hit any of us but the tree alone behind us. It was a warning to anyone who trespasses the ce. "We mean no harm. We are just travelers passing by!" I shouted. The hut in the thicket opened its window and someone peeked inside. It was not visible to many but for someone who can spot something so easily in the distance, it was not a problem. Soon, the door opened and a male goblin appeared carrying a crossbow. "A goblin carrying a crossbow?" Dolly was surprised. Even I was surprised too. Goblins rarely use long-range weapons and usually, they are using clubs, shields, daggers, and staff. They either use melee attacks or fight using magic as shamans. "Who are you, humans?! Are you all sent from the human kingdom to exterminate the extra species of the demonkind living in these areas?!" I made the others quiet down and take over to do the talking. With my experience in talking with NPCs, I already know and grasp how to make them speak. In short, I mastered how to spout bullsh*t. "We are just passing by and we are looking for a ce to camp out for the night. Did we disturb something?" The male goblin looked at me and lowered down his weapon. "Oh, it was the [Savior of Sandurk]. I heard of you when you defeated the demon army in Sandurk continent. I didn''t expect to see you here. I apologize for being rude." I was surprised to see that my reputation as the [Savior of Sandurk] was acknowledged by an NPC outside Sandurk Continent. Also, it looks like my reputation for clearing the Sandurk Pioneer quest helps alleviate the tension between us and the goblin. Time to keep my oratory skills done. "You know me?" "Of course. I am trying to learn all the movements regarding the demon army. That way, I can n out if my family needed to evacuate or not. We are in a difficult position because both the humans and the demons are hunting us." "Hunting you?" "Let''s postpone the talk. Come inside my humble abode. You guys are looking for a ce to crash the night right? Then this ce is ideal." "Then we appreciate the kind offer and we will ept it wholeheartedly." After that, I signal the others to follow me. Entering the hut, we didn''t expect that the hut was just a front and the house interior itself was underground. We didn''t even need to worry about our sizes, the cave was big enough for us. "Wow, this ce is quite clean and a good ce to livepared to the normal goblin camps!" Chase said. "Yeah, this ce reminds me of our camp out when I was a kid back in my home country!" Hagane said. "The goblin camps are normally smelly and dirty to mask the smell of the camp and let the monsters avoid the camp due to the stinky smell. That is a normal tactic that many goblins do to avoid predators. I hate the dirty smells and I wanted to clean. So here it is, the ce is much more presentable." While he was speaking, his wife appeared while carrying a kid that is not a goblin simr to them. However, I was surprised to see the child. Because the Child that they are carrying is the Priestess of the Stars, one of the youngest NPC that will be the most important character and will also participate in the Main Quest that will ur much, muchter which is called the Hell Rising. Chapter 185 - The Way Back Home (III) The Priestess of the Stars is the youngest priestess that guards Resurgia against the demon invasion. She yed the biggest role in the demon invasion that will ur a few yearster once three of the continents that are still not yet released are unlocked and their Pioneer quests arepleted. Once those requirements are satisfied, the demon invasion will begin and the continents will be plunged into chaos and the neutral monsters in the forests will be reced with demons. Until the demon invasion is stopped, the monsters that will appear in different ces will not return to normal. The priestess of the stars is the one who purified thend and will be the one who will defend the Resurgia Continent. The reason why I have identified the baby as the young priestess is due to the blue diamond marks on her two cheeks and her forehead. It was unique marks that appear when a person is destined to be the priestess and everyone who has the marks has the unique cements of the blue diamonds on their face. The Priestess of the Stars'' blue diamond marks are the same cement as the baby and I can''t mistake it since I am part of the yers who participated in the war and I have interacted with the Priestess of the stars before. She is also the one who exined the reasoning behind the markings on every priestess. Now, to trigger the beginning of the main quest, I quickly activated my best acting abilities. "Eh? An elf baby?" The goblin couple suddenly pursed their lips and put their forefinger in front of their lips, gesturing me to stay silent. "Hush, adventurer. We can''t afford the demons to hear about this. It is too risky and dangerous for this kid and for us to mention it publicly will allow the enemies to appear here. You know that these bloody bastards have the sharpest ears and will certainly f*ck you up if you did something that irks them." "The demons? Are they looking for this baby in particr?" Hagane asked. "Yes. They are looking for her as she is the main priority to be killed by the demons toplete the job." "Howe you know about this? Are you part of the demon army before? I heard that the info about the missions and the tasks of the demons are confidential to themselves." "...Please don''t kill us. We already defected from the demon army to protect the kid from harm. We may be goblins but we are also parents, our instinct to protect the young just made us defect from the army," the mother goblin said. "We apologize if we did something rude. And yes, rest assured that we will not do anything that will harm you guys. We don''t discriminate against other races and kill them without any reason. Please tell us the circumstances so that we can at least have the gist of the situation." However, we were stopped when an intruder suddenly appeared and destroyed the door. "Looks like these little bastards have finally been found," the demon who seemed like an important figure grinned and grab the neck of the male goblin. "Adventurers... help my wife and the child escape!" The demon squeezes the neck of the goblin tightly and thetter is struggling from the tight grip. "DEAR!" the female goblin wanted to help the other goblin but Dolly stopped her. "Don''t. You will be caught in the crossfire. Don''t worry, we will save her." My glow up when the demon appeared before us. As he grips the neck of the male goblin, I didn''t hesitate to attack the enemy. Holding the handle of the Versatile Weapon, I changed it into a katana and pulled out the de in a very fast motion, that even if it is done in slow motion, it would still appear as a blur and performed a draw-cut technique or the iaido stance. Swift as the wind, the demon didn''t realize it until his hands that has been strangling the male goblin were separated from his arm. SPLAAASSSHHH! Blue blood means a higher up demon. And since the waterfall- I mean the fountain of blood being released from the cut, that confirms that this demon is indeed a big shot in the demon world. "HUH?" It was a split second attack that it seems like I didn''t do anything other than hold the sword''s hilt. However, it is already shown that I just didn''t hold the hilt, I already pulled out the katana out of the scabbard, sliced through his arm swiftly and returned it like nothing. My practice of katana in the local dojo in the past and doing a quick draw practice for how many years did not go to waste. My skills might be a bit rusty but that doesn''t mean I already forgot the discipline through it. The demon''s blue eyes glow and looked at me with a serious look on his face. The male goblin was able to escape and remove the hand that is currently choking him. The demon grab his dismembered hand and looked at it. "Did you just do this to me?" and raise his dismembered hand. I did not respond using words but instead, kicked him on the stomach with all my might. BANG! That kick was full force already but I felt like I just kicked a ball made of metal. My legs hurts and is currently numb. Still, I managed to send him flying. "Guys, protect the couple and the kid. I have to intercept this guy over here. I will summon Leona and As to help so please keep them safe." "Alright, deheart. Be careful out there." I nodded and face the demon head on. "Hahaha! Foolish human, you think you are so powerful to try and fight against me?" the demon dashes forward and attacked me with a ck energy magicing from his hands. I quickly dodged it and rolled away from the demon. I also realized that the hands I just severed are now back on his arm. "It looks like I attacked at the wrong time. But that''s basically it, I don''t think I needed to fight a human defending a couple who is part of the demon army. You are nothing to me." I didn''t respond and immediately attacked him with flurry of blows from my katana. Both Iaido stance and Battou stance to attack the enemy. The demon grinned while blocking my attacks, but his smile slowly turned to annoyance to anger. "What the f*ck are you doing human?!" "I am just attacking, what about it?" I am not tired from swinging the katana a lot of times. The grueling hours of practice of the katana during my childhood days is not evenparable to what I am doing right now, so if he is already having a hard time catching up to the attacks I am giving him, that only means he is not even worth to fight against. "It''s time to stop this," the demon said and tried to catch my katana''s de. He even transformed his left hand like a metal one to catch it. But he was mistaken. "Foolish..." SWISH! One clean cut, and the whole left arm that transformed to catch it was already dismembered. Once the arm was dismembered, I didn''t waste more time and crouch, and sweep below to cut off his feet. "Agh!" The demon fell hard to the ground and the only limb left on him is his right hand, which is currently trying to support his body to stand back up. He also tried to grab his legs back, probably to reattach them back to his body, but I am not someone who would give an enemy a chance to fight back and immediately stab his back with the katana. "AAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" As for his feet, I conjured an [Ice Prison] on them, and finished it with a [Fireball]. In split seconds, they were turned to ashes. "NOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU- AAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" He screamed all out with everything on his lungs as I move the katana slowly from his body and continue to slice it through. I just stopped a bit when it is near his heart. "No, not like this, I am too young to die!" the demon begged. However, when ites to demons who came looking to destroy a family, nothinges close than reversing the role. He was about to turn around to look at me to beg for mercy. However, I am not too merciful to enemies like this guy. He will just be a big hindrance and that would ruin the progress of the game. Even if I am not the one finishig the quest in the past timeline, doesn''t mean I have to mess up with the progress. I will make sure toplete this." "PLEASE! I WILL GIVE ANYTHING SO THAT YOU CAN JUST SPARE MY LIFE!" "Anything? Really?" "YES, YES, I WILL GIVE ANYTHING!" "Well then, I will be taking your head." And an arc of blue blood went up in the air, signifying how a yer ended the life of a demon. Chapter 186 - The Way Back Home (IV) "Manato, treat the sword as an extension to your body. The whole sword is your arm and the tip of the de is your hands. This is not just a normal discipline when handling a katana but the principle to use a sword in a fight. Because in a fight to the death with only a katana in your hands, the two of you must be one to survive." "No matter if the katana is inside the sheathe or outside the sheathe, it doesn''t change the fact that it is a lethal weapon. Swing the katana if necessary only. Do not just blindly do it." The master in the dojo that taught me to fight using a katana is just an old man in my neighborhood when I was still 7 years old. Since I do kendo before, I am always practicing my swings every time. This caught the eyes of an old man with a dojo inside his home. He doesn''t have any students because he doesn''t ept any even though the dojo is meant for practice. I always see him carrying a small wooden sword in his waist. I even thought he was a real-life battousai when I meet him once in his dojo. However, when he saw my form while practicing my kendo, he asked me if I want to learn a much-advanced form of swordy aside from what I learned in my kendo lessons. Since I was still a kid during that time, I am intrigued and I wanted to earn a chance to gain much more knowledge with the sword so I epted blindly. That''s the beginning of the old man training me with the way of the sword, the discipline of using one, and how to wield a real de. He helped me practice with a real de, allowing me to have knowledge in using swords and katanas. He also said that even though I practice the way of the katana, all ded weapons work the same way as the katana, just a little alteration to the way I handle it and everything will work the same. He died a few years after that. His family moved after his burial so I no longer have any news from his family. However, I didn''t get to properly utilize it to the fullest in the past timeline. I mostly ignored the principle of using the discipline and just use the sword the way it was done. To think that I would have a chance to use the katana and its disciplines in a battle and use it to my advantage. Right now, the de of the katana just imed a life. And although it was a virtual life, it is still a life I wasted. I flick my katana to the side and wipe the de with my sleeves before returning it to the sheath. That''s when I realized that I am too sloppy with my way of using the katana. I wasted a wide swing to fully decapitate the bastard demon. If I was back then, this would just be done in a single silent swipe without a spill of blood. It looks like I still needed some practice again. -Congrattions on killing Rank #8 High Demon Lucas! -Got 10,000 gold -Got 105,000 EXP(Title Effects Activated, 105,000 bonus exp earned) -Got 10 Samurai SP(Title Effects Activated, 10 additional Samurai SP earned) [You are the first yer to kill a High Demon! Would you like to disy your achievement and share it with the world?] Yes/No "NO." -Received a Unique Title: The First Demon yer [The First Demon yer] Type: Unique Title How to Obtain: Obtain the first kill against a High Demon. Effect: Obtain a special buff that increases the damage done against demon-type enemies and decreases damage received from demon-type enemies. Certain demons will immediately be hostile while some demons will be in awe at you. Effects continue even if not equipped. Note: Do you have a move like "kaminari no kokyu" or "mizu no kokyu"? The body of the demon immediately disintegrated and everything returned to dust. However, his body left a ck orb. [Orb of the Demon] Type: Item Info: An item left behind after the death of a demon. Many said this was once the demon''s heart while some believed it was the core the demons keep in their bodies to keep themselves strong. Though everything was just spection and there is no real definition and real usage of this thing. Note: This thing looks like tapioca pearl. Gather them in a cup and put milk and ta-dah! You made bubble tea! Enjoy the drink! Just like the note said while ignoring the remark, this orb looks like a tapioca pearl minus the stickiness. I don''t have a usage for it but since this came from the demon that I just killed, I decided to keep it inside my inventory. Who knows if I will be needing them in the future. After the showdown, I went to where the others are using the map and tracker of the quest. When I arrived, there were dead bodies of different monsters and some demons just fading a few moments after I arrived. "Everyone alright?" I asked. "I almost died! F*ck, if not for Chase keeping me alive while Dolly continuously kills the enemies, I would have been dead already! These monsters can shred my armor to pieces!" Hagane cried. "Your equipment is too low leveled and you are still underleveled from this kind of situation. You will easily get wrecked!" Chase said. "I just leveled a few times after the attacks and thankfully, I managed to survive without dying!" "Whew, damn, this quest indeed is hardcore. The demons arrive not in waves but all at once. If not for some of my AOE skills and for Leona''s help, I would have already been overwhelmed by them. The three of us can''t handle the number of enemies earlier!" Dolly said while trying to catch her breath. "Are they all safe?" I asked. "Yes. Leona keeps them safe and besides that, the male goblin is also quite a fighter and managed to handle most of the flying enemies that were out of Leona''s range since they just hover above her back. His wife and the kids are all safe too so we don''t need to worry about them too much." The three picked up the loot dropped from the demons and some enemies while I climb up to Leona''s back and checked the goblins and the baby. My worries faded when I saw the female goblin cast [Holy Shield] on the baby priestess. On the other hand, the male goblin was a bit wounded but still standing after the fight. I can tell that he struggled against the enemies too due to the number of wounds he received but I guess he didn''t have much after hepleted it without my help. "Have some potion old man. Don''t worry, this works like wonders on wounds." "Thanks, young man," the male goblin said and opened the bottle of HP potion and chug down the contents in one go. "Where is the demon that is chasing us?" the female goblin asked. "I already killed him. There is no one left behind to chase you guys," I said to them. "As expected of the [Savior of Sandurk], you did the job many heroes failed to do. However, the troubles are far from over. Things are now safe? I doubt it. Those bastards wanted to get their hands on the baby and they also want us dead after deserting the army so I am quite sure that these bastards will now be on high alert. This ce will no longer help us secure the life we had. We will need to find a new ce to settle down," the male goblin said. "But where are we going to settle down? Things are more hectic everywhere and the human kingdoms are not hospitable against us either. I doubt anyone would be willing to ept us," the female goblin gave a valid point and the male goblin was forced to think about what he needed to do to keep everything alive. On the other hand, I think the previous timeline caused the female priestess, adopted parents, the goblins were meant to die today. A scripted death meant to make the plot progress and a cliche plot. However, because I interfered with the death of the male and female goblin, the result ended with them still alive and kicking. The entire story of the escort is now different than in the past timeline due to the altered timing. So if the situation of the quest in the past changed drastically in the very beginning already, then why not further change the things happening? There is nothing wrong with intervening with the main quest storyline as this was going to affect everything with our involvement and not just some sort of cutscene in the game. "If you people are fine with me, I am offering a temporary shelter in my mansion. I can give shelter and protection to all of you while the demons are looking for you guys." The goblins looked at me with surprise. Even the three who were picking up loot on the ground looked at me with surprise too. Chapter 187 - The Way Back Home (V) The Demon Barracks, near the location of deheart and the others. Themander demon that is currently doing some of the ns to take over the surrounding viges is currently doing some work on the n when a few demons approached. "Sir, we lost contact with the troops of High Demon Lucas. We also lost contact with High Demon Lucas a few moments after the former signal was lost." Themander looked at the reporting demons and stop what he is currently doing and grab a bottle of blood wine on the table, chugging the contents down without a care. "...So he was taken out. Which means that area is a ce of interest. If Lucas was killed, have you all tracked where his orb of life went?" "We did. Currently, it was in the possession of his killer and he is keeping it with him." "Looks like those immortal yers have finally taken hold of our n to take over Resurgia continent. That only means that the means to finish things is not in a good way possible." "Do you have a n, sir?" "Yes, of course. However, we have to be patient and n our things. After all, immortal yers that suddenly arrived in this world are the prophesized saviors of this world. Our only option to be able to properly eliminate the possibility of them winning is by killing the real inhabitants of this world. The yers might be killed but they are immortal and blessed by the Goddess of Death to return to life. That only means we have to tread our decisions properly so that we can carry out our lord''s n. If the immortal yers have no more to protect, they don''t have any reason either to keep fighting. ... "Hey, deheart, tell me the specifics! I need to also get a house too! I wanted to decorate my own mansion too!" Dolly kept on begging for me to tell her how I got it. "How many times did I tell you that I received it from the Realty Agent in the Headquarters! You have been there, right? You should have already known that the Realty Agent is also situated there!" "No." "I bet Dolly was busy killing monsters that she didn''t know the HQ has any sort of employees there," Hagane took a wild guess. "How did you know?!" "Holy sh*t, I nailed it..." Hagane facepalmed. "As I said earlier, it was a quest from the Realty Agent. She tasked me to kill the enemies in a mansion and if I did, I will be able to get ownership of the ce. So yeah, I got the mansion and it is good as new for me." I scratch my head after exining it again and again. I took a nce at the goblins not too far from us. The kids cuddled near their mother while the father goblin is currently gripping his crossbow tight. From the way he is alert, he is trying his best to keep an eye on the surroundings for any possible attacks from the demons. Being in the demon frontline, this guy might have developed alertness on the battlefield where every enemy will kill them all. From my understanding, if they are yers, the male goblin would be a Hunter, while the female goblin would be a cleric. After seeing her use holy magicst time, I can assume that is the light attribute to the power of the monsters. I know this since the spell she just usedst time is not possible for a cleric to use and the only people I have seen to have used that kind of ability are the monsters with sentience. Also, this is the first time I have seen a goblin who has these sses. In all my battles against enemies like goblins that are hostile and part of the demon army, most of them are warriors and the bigger ones would be either a tank or a berserker hobgoblin. As for the weaker goblins but has the ability to use mana, they are always seen as goblin shaman and nothing more than that. So seeing a Hunter ss and cleric ss goblins are new to me. I spotted my mansion in the distance. It was a sore thumb in a forest so I am not mistaken about what I am seeing. "We are almost there. Don''t worry, that ce is safe for everyone even for your kids. You guys don''t need to worry about the demonsing to invade my home anytime soon." "Well, that is good news," the male goblin said. He nces at his wife and smiled. He is really worried about the safety of his family. I can see him sigh in relief after I told him those words. "Are you talking about that mansion that has a creepy atmosphere over there, deheart?" Dolly asked. "Yes. You got a problem with that?" "None at all. Just from the area alone, this ce is already a good ce for peaceful living away from your neighbors. If there is any ce like this in the city, I would dly live there as long as it is not haunted by any ghosts," Dolly said. "You have a great mansion as your house in the real world, why would you want to live away from the neighbors?!" Hagane started to bicker with Dolly again. "Ha, you don''t understand. Being rich doesn''t mean you are privileged enough to enjoy anything! The neighbors in my house are all annoying so I would dly move to another ce to avoid seeing those neighbors!" "You guys know each other in real life, huh? No wonder you guys are so close even though this Pdin is so low level. Normal yers wouldn''t bat an eye on lower leveled yers right now," Chase said. "That''s right, Hagane. So you are lucky to have us to help you to grind some levels and teach you the ways. If it was other people, I doubt you will get the same treatment. You would be very lucky if you got those kinds of people." We continue to converse with each other until we arrived at the mansion. Leona slowlynded on the ground and we finally are safe to go down. The little goblins were hesitant to jump at first but when they saw their father jump off Leona''s back, they also followed suit. His wife also went down from Leona''s back but she did so carefully so that the kid won''t cry. "For now, this will be your home until things finally settle down. It is not a bad ce, far from the city and closes yet not fully inside the forest. It is also a bit sinister in the surroundings that the demons might also be thinking twice to go here." "I can feel the darkness surrounding the area. Although minimal I can feel it," the female goblin said. "Oh, you must have detected those littleirs that produce skeletons and some undead creatures around. I left them behind on purpose as a good way to earn experience from killing them. Since they spawn infinitely as long as their exists, farming the enemy for experience in battle is quite easy." "There are farming spots here near your area, deheart?" Hagane asked. "Yeah. Level 20 and level 50irs. They spawn enemies with those levels. So if you wanted to grind levels, I suggest attacking the level 20 enemies, as they are much easier to defeatpared to the level 50irs but they are a decent amount of experience so if you want an easy to kill mobs to level up to twenty, then go to theirs. Just be sure that you don''t kill theirs and only the skeletons so that their will continue to produce enemies," I exined. "Don''t the enemies get overwhelming if left alone?" Chase asked. "Not at all. Once they reach the maximum of 15 undead perir, they will stop producing new undead and no more enemies will spawn as long as it is 15 undead. Once one undead died, their will immediately produce another one so you can say it is an endless farming." "Damn, that is nice, let me farm in the meantime!" Hagane said before walking off to find air. "Me too! Hey! Wait for me!" I ignored the two and went escorted the family of the goblins inside. Inside the mansion are Topaz and Iron currently resting, they were on guard against the goblins at first but when they saw meing in, they didn''t do anything and just smiled at them. Then, I heard some metal nging on the forge. I have not allowed anyone to enter the house yet aside from the siblings or if they have anyone who they allowed inside. However, it is pretty unlikely since the siblings always y by their partner and rarely y with other people. So who is the one hammering currently on my forge? "Oh? It looks like my apprentice has finally arrived. Good job on the forge, kid," a certain redhead who sounds like she was always tired appeared on the forge carrying the hammer used for smithing. "Almira-sensei?!" Chapter 188 - The Way Back Home (VI) Almira, the master cksmith appeared in my mansion currently smithing a weapon on the anvil. "Are you not happy to see me? You have been famous in Sandurk Region and yet you didn''t even inform your mentor about your achievement? Isn''t that kinda cold for someone who begged me to be my apprentice?" "Ah...errr... just kinda busy with all the things happening all around that I am quite upied to even visit everyone to tell about my exploits. And besides, my actions are not good enough to be called as something I can be proud of." Almira smirked and continue hammering the mold weapon on the hammer. "That''s right. Be humble and don''t brag about your exploits. It is the most logical way since you might have just lucked out this time. What about next time though? Will you be able to do that again? The future cannot be seen unless you are a seer or a person with the ability to peek into the future. People will imprint in their minds that you can do anything just because of one achievement. Push more and break through your limits. If you are confident already, then you are indeed good to brag about those achievements of yours." "It isn''t like you to drop such a cheesy sentence, master," I joked on Almira. "Oh, shut up. I am only stating the obvious so it is up to you to decide." Almira sure likes to be poetic but gets bashful once she drops such things obviously. "By the way, master. You don''t usually leave your workshop, howe you are here in my mansion? Is it due to the results that urred in Sandurk?" "Huh? I am not interested in your exploits out there in Sandurk or wherever. I am here to assign you to a quest since you are my apprentice and you have the qualifications to do this. Since I know you would be busy, I decided to visit your home to directly drop the message. I am quite sure you would be here in your mansion after quite a while even if you are busy with some stuff." "A new quest?" "Yep. The elf folks are currently asking me to help them forge the ballista arrows they are about to use since they have predicted that the demons are on the move. They wanted to make sure that the incident that urred during thest years won''t happen again." Just when I was about to say something in regards to the quest, the male goblin appeared and chimed into our conversation, and stole the spotlight. "Did you just say the "elf folks"?" the male goblin appeared out of nowhere that even the most unfazed woman in Resurgia Almira was surprised by his sudden appearance. "Eh? Who is this guy? A goblin? Howe a goblin is inside your home deheart?" "Ah, let me exin," the goblin volunteered on exining things. During his exnation, I learned that his name is Garo, and that was the time I learned of his name. I didn''t ask for his name in an attempt to keep his trust in me as high as I can and waited for him to voluntarily reveal his name to me. And this conversation alone revealed it. He also exined things on Almira for a bit which are all info I currently know. "I see, so you wanted to send back the baby that has is being hunted by the demon army to the elves so that she can get the protection she needed from the Yggdrassil Tree Essence huh? So can I see the child? I know a few folks from the elf folks so that we will know who is the right elf we can give her back." "Sure. Aru, can youe here for a sec?" "Coming dear," the female goblin who was known as Aru appeared while carrying the little baby in her hands. "Maybe we should move to a different area to talk? The forge is quite dark and bad for the health of the kid." "I agree with that. Let''s go to the living room," I said. The two goblins nodded and followed us to the living room. There, Aru shows the Priestess to Almira. And as expected of the most unfazed person, she is not shocked after seeing the kid. "No wonder this kid is being chased by the demons. She is one of the descendants of the Priestess and from the pattern on her face, I can tell that she is the priestess of the stars. Now I understood the fear of the demons to the baby and why they are relentlessly hunting you. It is a good strategy to the demons'' side." "What do you mean?" Garo asked. "It seems you don''t know about the priestesses right since you just said that you guys are in the demon army''s frontline which means you guys are cannon fodder. It is normal not to disclose this info to others. However, since you have already defected from the demon army and you are currently taking care of a priestess, then it is only your right to know this info. Are you ready?" "Yes. I promised her parents that we will protect her until ourst breath." "Good. Priestesses are known for their immense power of Holy Magic. They are able to cast high-tier magic that most of the time, only deities can use. Not only that, due to their ability to cast Holy Magic, they are the defenders of the Resurgia continent against demon threats. With their abilities, they can easily defend the entire continent with their powers alone. Each one of them is a pir to create the barrier to protect Resurgia continent. If one of the priestesses dies, then the whole barrier will also copse. "From the kid alone, once she grows up and gets to understand the situation, maybe around 5 to 6 years old, she will be able to awaken her holy abilities and she will be tasked to be one of the defenders of Resurgia from being taken over by the demons," Almira exined. Garo was speechless after the exnation. From the look on his face, he didn''t expect the kid''s role in the demon battle will be very big. "I am not scaring you with the responsibilities of a parent to a child that is destined to do something big in the future. I am just saying this so that you will know what will happen to her in the future and to also prepare her for the best path she needed to take." ... After a few hours of discussing things, Almira left the mansion as she has to go back to her forge to sleep. Without any orders to create, she is in a good mood for a rest. As for Garo, he is just silent and is currently pondering on the situation. "So that is why the demons keep searching for her and are the main priority to be taken instead of us. I find it kinda strange too since they went to always take the baby as a priority and take us down as thest one. So she is always the one who is the most needed piece to finish their n. Once she is dead before she gets to be a lethal weapon that can potentially kill them, they would do the preemptive action to kill the baby that was destined to do the things before she can even do something." "Are you going to back out and deny it? I can take the responsibility," I offered, The male goblin was startled when I give him the option and looked down. Aru rubbed Garo''s back to calm him down. After all, so much information is being processed and if I am in his shoes, I would also be confused whether to continue the fight or abandon everything and go back where it used to be. "I know that the option you just gave me is really enticing and will also alleviate our problems with the demons that are constantly trying to kill us. However, I started this war, I should be responsible enough to finish things my own way. I will see this thing until the very end. I won''t just stay still and keep denying the situation. I will protect this child." Garo stood from his seat and grips his fists very tight. "So please, [Savior of Sandurk], please train me and help me get stronger to help protect her. Even if she is not my real daughter, I needed to do this as a parent. So please, help me get the chance to fight back against the enemies without bing a burden." All of a sudden, a panel appeared before me and the panel contained a notification about Garo which caused me to be surprised. [Elite Goblin Garo wanted to pledge allegiance to you. Would you like to ept him? He will be part of yourpanions and will be capable of fighting with you in the future.] Yes/No Chapter 189 - The Way Back Home (VII) "Do not think of the game as just a simple game. Everything here works the same in the real world. So think of the game like it was an extension to the real world that was just being digitized. Don''t think... feel it!" Those words rang true. It was the words of Dolly in the past timeline before she died. She was the one who helped me from the slump when I was being enved by my so-called "guildmates" in the game to pay for the usage of the Reality Verse cabin that I used to get into the game in the past timeline. Who would have thought that a friend of mine would be more willing to help me get back up rather than milk me for my unfortunate life? That''s when I know that the game is not just a normal game that is being used as a way to earn quick money just by gaming. Now that Goro reminded me of these things, I will make sure that he is not just going to be a goblin that has no future other than being fodder to the yers for experience. I will make sure that he is going to be a good follower and will make sure he will be indispensable forter. I pressed epted Goro''s plead to be my follower. Now, just like Lina, he will be capable of receiving the blessing from me and be strongerpared to the time he was not my follower. "Thank you for epting me, my lord. Although I am just a lowly goblin, I will do my best to be strong and be useful to you." "I don''t need a useful subordinate. Even if you are not strong, as long as you are my subordinate, nothing will change. As long as you got my back, then I have nothing more to say." After epting Goro as my subordinate, I nce at the quest panel that Almira gave to me. It was a sub-quest to the main quest due to the connection of the two quests'' objectives, the main quest about delivering the baby priestess of the stars to the elf folks while Almira''s quest is about the help needed by the elf folk to create the Ballista. From what I remember, the ballista that Almira mentioned is one of the holy artifacts that were used in the past war. If I remember correctly, there are 5 ballistae in the elf vige that have been erected on their walls. It was so big that you cannot miss it. I even remembered that they fired off a yer from the ballista during the demon attack to unleash an AOE attack. It was a big event and it was live-streamed so it is the scene that is stuck in my head once the ballista is mentioned. Due to how long it has been and the people who do the maintenance to the weapon are long gone already, it became a heritage weapon and was only honored time and time again. Now that the demon attacks are looming, the ballistae are back to the main spotlight and it was not a wonder they wanted to repair it before the demons arrive. I looked at Goro and saw that hecks proper equipment. Most of his equipment which I guess to be from when he was still in the demon army is quite shabby that even a level 10 yer can easily break and prate. It was very outdated. "First, let''s get you geared up Goro. I have seen you use a crossbow but is that your main weapon? I can make any kind of weapon so tell me anything so that I can create something that is suitable for you during the fight." "Although I use a crossbow, I am not a Hunter ss. I was forced to be a hunter to make sure I will be able to survive and retreat in battle. I don''t want to be killed as fodder as I am not even that loyal to the demon lord for me toy down my life to protect his life. My original ss is Magic Knight." "Wait what? Magic Knight? A goblin can be a magic knight too?" I was surprised. There are no magic knight goblins in the past so I don''t even know about this. "It''s natural you don''t know. I hid it since this was abnormal to goblins too. Once they are born, they are either gifted the ss of a warrior, berserker, or shaman. There are also rare cases of Cleric like my wife do but it was in extremely rare cases. As for me, I am born with this ss. It was so unique that my parents told me to keep it quiet and be a warrior instead. I will be discriminated against due to my ability so I have to do it." I see. An abnormal case. If he managed to be really strong and managed to at least fight like a normal goblin using his ss, he would be really strong and I would guess he would be either an elite monster or maybe a miniboss if he ever got developed. Thank goodness that he became mypanion. As a former Magic Knight yer, I can finally impart some of my knowledge to someone. Knowing that he is a magic knight, I have a perfect weapon that I have already forged before. It was inside my inventory and I n to sell it along with some of the weapons to gain a few more gold but I guess it won''t be happening anymore as I will be giving this to him. "Here, take this sword. It is a sword I made specialized for the Magic Knight ss and they will surely pack a punch once your magic knight capabilities will be unleashed." "But my abilities as a Magic Knight is limited as I am mostly using a crossbow that my growth as a Magic Knight has declined." "It is not a problem. We can just grind that forter. You will basically start a clean te. If you want to help your family, then use this chance to gain an understanding of your abilities. Later, we will depart to the elf folks to check out the situation of the ballistae and also to find the parents of the baby." "...I will do as youmand." Pulling out in my inventory, the sword I made appeared in my hands. NPCs can equip weapons regardless of level so even if this weapon is restricted to be wielded to level 90 yers, I give it to Goro as he can unleash the potential with it as he is a Magic Knight. It is a shame if his abilities won''t be utilized due to how poor the weapons he has, that is why I made sure that I will be giving him an item that will be one of his signature weapons in the future. [Efreetta] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: Unique Equippable at Level 90 Equippable by Magic Knight STR: 200 AGI: 163 DEX: 100 Skills: 1. de of Unwavering mes - allows the user to imbue the de with fire elemental power. Enemies being attacked with imbued fire elemental will receive continuous burn damage thatsts for 2 seconds. 2. Sharpness Enhancement: For a limited amount of time, critical rate, critical damage, and attack damage will increase. The effectsts for 1 minute and has a cooldown of 2 minutes. Info: A de made from monsters made of fire and magma. Its mes are too hot that a specialized scabbard must be made just to contain its undying me. Note: Portable Lighter. Number 1 survival tool in the wild. Can also be used as a grill to cook meat. However, why does this looks like a barbecue stick only in a form of a sword? Durability: 2000/2000 ... The family of Goro finally moved into my mansion. Since they are still trying to cope up, I decided to let them stay here for a bit. Dolly also wanted to rest for a bit so she logged out for now. I messaged Hagane that I will also be logging out in the meantime to eat dinner. He didn''t mind me logging out, he only told me to be sure that I will be leaving food for himter on. Logging out of the game, I immediately went to the kitchen to cook food for everyone. I saw Suhei in the living room with Pandora but it seems he was busy since he was on hisptop and doing something. He didn''t even realize that I went out of my room to cook. Pandora smiled when she saw me and went back to ying games on her phone. Since the siblings and Janus are currently ying the game and Suhei and Pandora are not eating yet, I ate my dinner alone. After eating, I check on my father about my mother. The situation is still the same though my mother''s condition is getting better as herplexion has finally returned to colorpared to before. Once I get to develop [Heal], I will go to Nagoya and heal Mother and also deal with the problem of those f*ckers who are trying to ruin my parents. Eating dinner is done and there''s nothing left to do so I immediately returned to the game. Honestly, the events at home are so uneventful I only follow certain routines. But I am sure this routine will be broken once the school year starts. Chapter 190 - The Way Back Home (VIII) I waited for Dolly to log back into the game. Hagane also logged out a few minutes after I log back in to take his dinner. Chase also logged out to do the same as Hagane. Since I am the only one that is currently avable, I didn''t proceed to do the quest. Checking all the quest logs, I have plenty of story-rted quests that are currently pending. I wanted to clear them all in one go but sometimes, these quests are hard toplete. Not only it doesn''t give any marker to where you need to find the objective but it is rmended to keep on exploring all around the game''s unlocked areas and interacting with monsters or NPC to trigger them. The questline sometimes gives clues that will allow you to narrow down where you need to look however, it is sometimes in cryptic wordings that will make you have a headache thinking what the quest really meant. Out of all the quests that I have right now, one is not yet possible toplete which is the legacy quest of the ring that I received from the battle against Serbal. If this was restored, this will allow me to breathe underwater without drowning and will be useful for exploring underwater and the hostiles seas of Aquanious. Not only the quest specifies me to go to the Aquanious Continent which will be released 6 months after the Sandurk Region is released but it also needed me to make contact with the Aquanious Ruler. As for the others, I needed toplete a certain objective that is unknown or I have toplete a prerequisite quest to ess it. So out of all the quests that I canplete, this main quest, the quest that Almira handed to me, and the trace to find the Excalibur which is connected to this main quest since the spirit of the owner of Excalibur will appear during the demon invasion. Since I am not sure of the main content of the quest, I decided to create multiple potions and scrolls. With multiple people in the team, two of who are underleveled, it will be a bit difficult if we get to face a very strong enemy. Hagane would be the first to die and even my skills will not be able to save him except if I revive him again. To make sure that everyone in the team will be able to survive in case the enemies are too strong to handle on their current level, I made a few potions to use and a few scrolls containing defensive spells that will negate damage for one use. "Master..." The voice of As rang in my head. "What is it?" "The child that you receive from the egg that you stole from Serbal has finally awakened. It is confused at his currently making a fuss around here and is trying to know what is going on." "What is he doing right now?" "He was currently fascinated to Leona. It looks like this is the first time he has seen a gryphon despite being a race with wings and specialize in flying." "Bring him out. It would be morefortable for him to get out of the summons '' area." "Acknowledged." In a few seconds, As carried the young angel out of the summons'' portal. "Where are you sending me?!" the voice of the scared angel entered my ears for the first time. "Don''t worry, my master is not a scary person as long as you are not some rare creature or some treasure that is shiny enough that can yield gold when sold. "The f*ck are you talking about, As? I don''t think I am like that." "Sheesh, alright master if you insist but I will not change my views on you." Damn, As sees me as a greedy bastard. But I think there is partly a real part of those, I just deny it since I don''t go crazy if I found something like that. The kid went out from the portal and even though he was struggling to escape from As who is currently holding his shirt, he can''t overpower the size of As and his grip unless he rips off his clothes which I doubt he will do so. "Don''t bother escaping. If you try escaping, I would simply recall you and you will return to the summons'' area." "You can do that As?" "Of course Master. Since I used a pseudo method to bring him in, I can control whether he can go out of the summons'' area or not. If I needed to do it, I can recall him right here, right now even if you don''t give themand." "Wow, that is scary but that method is indeed good enough." I approached the angel kid and he slowly backs away from me. "Hehe, that''s right, don''t just dare to approach me as I approach you, you should get scared..." "Master, your acting is some, make a more believable one instead," Asmented. "Shush, As. I am having fun here and you are ruining the fun." "Wha... who are you... Aren''t you human? Aren''t humans extinct in this world already?!" My ears perked up when he said that humans are extinct in this world. As someone who likes the lore in fantasy games and novels, the lore of this world is pretty much expansive. Apparently, a few centuries ago after the great cataclysm that wrecked the whole world caused human existence to be wiped out from the whole world. It was believed by many beings who managed to survive the cataclysm due to how they disappeared after. I still remember that there were a few elves who have written some books about the fall and rise of the human race after the cataclysm. It was believed at first that the humans have been erased from existence but after a few centuries, the humans appeared again and this time, they came back a lot more developed that allowed the restoration of the human race back in this world. The other races thought that they are trying to imitate the legacy of the human race but it seems they did not and they were the legitimate human race. It was then revealed to the other races that humanity managed to survive in a hiding underground and kept themselves hidden from the eyes of other races. It was also revealed that the dwarves helped the humans to restore their former glory after the war, allowing humanity to return to the face of the world with the other races. So this kid seems to be during the time where all races besides the human race were roaming the face of the world after the great cataclysm. It seems Serbal took this kid during that time and keep him encased in the shell until the time I removed him out of his restraint. "Times have changed kid. Humans are now back and they are not an extinct species. We are as tough as those random weeds and we refuse to just die. So I am sorry to disappoint but we are not yet dead." The angel boy was startled by what I just revealed. It must have been a great shock for him if my assumption earlier was indeed correct. "You are joking, right? Your species are already extinct. I doubt your species will be able to recover after you guys were killed from the cataclysm!" "Master. I think this kid is yet to be convinced that the humans have returned to the surface after your species were thought to be extinct already." "Yeah. He is quite stubborn. Please recall him again. He needed time to adapt to his current situation. If you can, you can also educate him a bit, As." "As you wish," As said and the kid who just woke up was being sucked into the summons'' area. "Wait! Agh! What are you doing?! Let me go!" He didn''t get to fight back even if he keeps his ck and white wings pping to escape from the portal. It sucked him before he can get even a single reaction. So this situation seems to be going to be a quest a bitter on if he learned the truth about this world. A few momentster, Dolly logged back in and a bit of an intervalter, Hagane and Chase also logged back in. "Did something happen while we were eating dinner deheart?" Dolly asked. "Nope, there''s nothing happening right now. However, since everyone is here, there is going to be something happening indeed." "Are we going to proceed with the quest now?" Hagane was excited. "Yes, we will now begin the journey to the elf folks and finish the quest. Our goal for today is to finish the main quest as soon as possible. We will also need to make sure our quest will be the ideal ending we needed to do. The ending of this quest will also determine the world, so let''s do our best and achieve the best conclusion possible." Chapter 191 - The Way Back Home (IX) Everyone has logged back into the game after taking their in real-life business, ready to tackle the main quests. "Looks like you guys are back and ready to kick some things done. Are you guys ready and prepared to do some quest clearing?" I asked. "Of course. I won''t be on this ride if I am not interested in the lore of the main quest. When are we going to start?" Dolly asked. "After this strategic meeting. We have two underleveled characters with us, one healer and one tank, both essential to our party. If this quest is hard, the monsters will just shred through them without a problem so we need to at least buff them up to survive a little bit longer than needed." "We are fine. As long as there are monsters, it won''t be a problem fighting against them!" Chase proudly puffed up his chest. "I know you can handle a few enemies higher leveled than yourself but that doesn''t mean you can easily finish this quest with your level alone. It is necessary to also have your level on par with the enemy so that you are good to handle the enemies. It would be best to be careful than to charge without a n." "I agree this time. Since I am still very underleveled even if I managed to hit level 20, this is still not that optimal," Hagane agreed to me. "Well? What''s the n?" "Since this is an exploration type and not a dungeon attack, we have no idea what enemies will appear. So you two, take these." I handed them some items that will increase their stats for a bit that is equipable at level 20 above. For Chase, I gave him a Ceremonial Staff that is much betterpared to his current ceremonial staff. I can''t give him an armor of any kind since their equipment for armor is made by tailors since a Cleric can only equip a robe like magicians do. I have yet to acquire the Tailor Ex Job so I can only hand him a weapon. As for Hagane, I handed him a full set of armor and a spear and shield that can raise the defenses of Hagane for a short while. Out of the two, Hagane has the most things receivedpared to Chase. "I apologize Chase that you only got a weapon. I don''t have an ex job tailor to create armor for you so I can only give you the weapon I forged," I apologized to Chase. "Hey, man. No worries. The armor I am wearing is all good anyway and I doubt I would be recing it soon. It has an extra healing effect if equipped so I will continue using it. As for the staff, yes, I will definitely use it. This one is much betterpared to my old staff," Chase said while admiring the "Are you sure you are giving this for free deheart? Isn''t equipment profitable?" "Nah, I don''t need to sell it and besides it is not worth selling to other yers. It is only good for the meantime for you but I bet you will have to change a new equipment once you reach a few more levels since that won''t be enough until you reach theter levels." "What about me, deheart? Are you forgeting about me?" Dolly approached while having her two hands held out to me. "Shuddup, you already have the best equipment at the moment. Don''t be too greedy," I answered. "Stingy..." Dolly pouted. "Alright, take this too guys. Since the two of you are underleveled, this will be really necessary to ensure the survival of the two of you. Dolly, take some too. You are squishy enough so take some too just in case." "What''s this?" Dolly shakes the little bottle containing the defensive potions. "Defensive potions. It will raise your resistance to attacks from enemies in a certain amount. It will be enough to handle some attacks from the enemies and will allow you to survive with 1 HP after being hit by a fatal attack." "Wow, this will indeed be real handy!" Dolly took a few bottles and put it inside her inventory. "Now that everyone is good to go, let''s go. We will go on foot this time around so that these two will also get some levels along the way. Riding Leona will give no benefits to these two," I said. "Alright! Let''s get going!" everyone enthusiastically shouted while raising their hands in the air. "Oy, don''t forget the Goro and the baby, we needed them for this quest." ... We left Goro''s wife and his children in the mansion since it would be much safer if they are inside. With the protective measures against monsters that are not allowed inside the mansion will not be able to enter the mansion at all. As for the baby and Goro, they have to be with us so that the quest will be triggered normally. Without them, the quest might not proceed further or the quest will have a different route as nned. I bought a cart and a horse to carry the baby who is being held by Dolly as Goro is also fighting with the two yers. He needs to get stronger so it is normal for him to be also here. So far, the road to the Elf Folks is manageable and easy to do. With the enemies being handled by the two newbie yers and a Magic Knight goblin. Dolly and I had nothing to do but to keep ourselves vignt and keep the baby safe. "I thought the enemies will be harder to deal with but it seems everything is manageable and easy to do. I think this will be a very smooth run in my opinion!" Chase happily said while whacking a wolf with his ceremonial staff. "Don''t jinx it Chase! We might get in trouble if you do so!" Hagane said. "You believe in that? I don''t think that will happen as the monsters here are manageable and not that strong. If ever it happens, I think there are only 0.01 percent chance that we will get ambushed!" I pull out the Versatile Weapon and put myself in front of the two squabbling yers. "Head''s up! We got somepany." Ahead of us are a group of Orcs. These pig monsters are considered to be normal mobs but these mobs are around level 50 and above and hit like a truck if you didn''t block or dodge its attacks. They can easily kill these two if they are not careful enough. "You guys should give me support buffs. These guys are still too much for the two of you to handle." "Huh? Are those orcs?" "Yep. They hit like a truck and with the current levels of the two of you, this enemy will not be forgiving enough and one flick from their fingers and the two of you are dead." "What the hell?" the two slowly backs out. "Here theye! Cast the buffs!" To make sure they get an exp contribution from the kills, they need to cast some buffs, spells, or ranged attacks depending on their avable attacks. Since only one of them can do a ranged attack and one of them is melee specialized, they have to rely on me to kill the orcs efficiently. Not only will they earn exp, they will also be able to level up a bit faster than expected since the enemies are higher leveled than them. Killing a few of them will yield multiple amount of experience that will allow them to level up. If only my title works to them too, then it will be much easier for them to reach level 50 in no time using this strat. "[Defense Aura!]" Hagane m down his shield and a blue aura engulfed my body like I was wearing some sort of stic armor. "[Regeneration]!" another buff came in and this time it will allow me to keep healing for small amounts for a few minutes. Although the effects are still not as potent as necessary, the HP healed every second for me is 20. However, this is enough requirements for them to gain contribution EXP even if they did not kill the enemy. The orcs have noticed our approach and the one who seemed to be their leader pointed out on us and charges forward wielding rusty axes. "Holy sh*t, I can feel the sound of their footsteps just a few miles away! Holy sh*t!" Chase seems to be in a panic. "Focus guys. Even though you guys are not going to be the ones fighting, it is still necessary for the two of you to be careful. Enemies might nk us in the rear! Get yourselves ready! Goro, help me clear them up! Don''t get killed! They might be a bit slow but they are not dumb!" "Yes, Master!" Goro then lit up his sword into an electro buffed sword, manifesting the energy of electricity. He simply swipes in front of him and a crescent electro sh was released from his sword. "I know you guys are orcs and are part of the alliance with the goblins to support the demon lord. However, I already decided to serve a human lord and side with humanity. If my master wishes, then all of you will need to die!" It isn''t unheard of for a goblin to be strong and overpowered. However, today is the mark of the day that the strongest goblin living in the world will be engraved to everyone. Chapter 192 - The Way Back Home (X) In the Alternate World, it is unheard of a goblin capable of wielding magic and swordsmanship in one go. It was not going to happen together since it is an unwritten rule that goblins who have an affinity to magic has to be goblin shamans and those who have insane physical capabilities should be warriors and hobgoblin warriors. But due to my interference with the growth of Goro and his new choice of equipment, his capabilities to fight changed too. The orcs seem confused from the battle style of Goro. After all, the Orcs look down on goblins due to the sheer difference of strength between the two species. However, they didn''t expect a goblin to be capable of overpowering them in a battle in which they are also in advantage, whether it is in numbers or in sheer strength. "Master!" Goro took a nce at me and we both nodded to each other. I changed my weapon to the magic sword and imbued my weapon with Ice Element. As for Goro, he changed his magic sword element to a Fire element and synchronize my attack with his. "[Elemental Swirl Strike]!" The orcs were encased in huge chunks of ice, incapable of moving from where they are. And as Goro''s sword also hit, the mes engulfed the ice in one go, creating a melting pain to the enemies. It was so effective that those enemies who are a bit weaker than the main leader did not survive in just that elementalbination. "Holy sh*t! Isn''t that illegal for a goblin to have the ability to use a Magic Knight skill?!" Chase didn''t expect how Goro moves. "Isn''t that normal? I don''t think it is strange though?" Hagane looked at Chase with a questioning look. "That''s because you have yet to y the game that much and learn about the usual mechanics of the game. If you did, you will know that most goblins don''t have the same fighting style as this one. They would be divided into the one who uses physical abilities and magical abilities. No goblin can use both without any problem. This one has the unique way of choosing it!" The biggest orc which seems to be acting as the leader of the orcs were thest one standing from all of them. Not a single one from the lesser orcs has survived the assault. The surviving orc may have survived the attack but he was already suffering a terrible injury that he cannot fight anymore. Before Goro can unleash the finishing blow, the orc runs away from us. "Damn, he got away!" Goro was prepared to chase him but I stopped him. "Wait, I will use a ranged attack instead. We don''t know if he will lead us to a trap instead. It''s better to be careful on it." I changed my sword into a dual wield gun and aim it at the fleeing orc. I have one skill from the Versatile Weapon that I wanted to try but didn''t have any chance to properly use it. The [Russian Roullete]. BANG! A single bullet made the Orc fall to the ground. However, it wasn''t a kill since the bullet is not that strong to instantly kill the orc unless my title procs its instant death effects. Goro went to the orc and inspected the suffering orc. "It''s currently in a paralyzed state. I don''t think he will be able to move for a while after this." "Paralyze huh..." I mumbled to myself. I am thinking of getting the orc a curse or poison debuff but it was the paralyze debuff instead which means the effects are just random and won''t be affected by the user''s wishes on which debuff will be applied. "You can kill the guy. I don''t think I needed to do the final blow with him. This way, you get much stronger." Goro didn''t even hesitate and stab his sword at the back of the orc''s head, killing it instantly. This means Goro no longer looks at the other monsters that are allied to the goblin race as an ally and will not hesitate to kill one now. "Let''s get back. There might be some orc patrols around here. We would be dyed more if they appeared. Let''s get going before we get caught by them." ... Our little journey towards the elf folks has finallye close. With the asional kills from the enemies on the road, Chase and Hagane managed to reach level 35 after the joint help of my abilities and Goro. As for Goro, he was previously level 50 when we started traveling and after the travels, he gained 2 levels. [Elf Folk Vige has been discovered. +100 reputation to all yers who discovered the ce] "Wow, even though I am just sitting here just babysitting, I managed to receive a reputation!" Dolly was ecstatic. After all, she knows the importance of reputation. "What''s the usage of this reputation stuff? Is this something that influences the behavior of an NPC to you?" Hagane asked. "Somewhat, yes. But I am not sure about the real function of it. ording to some yers, reputation seems to affect how famous you are to some NPC like the lords of some viges or some shops. I am not entirely sure since I don''t have much to prove my im." I didn''t exin them to them. They needed to be the ones to discover what is the use of reputation. Where is the fun of it if I keep on telling things I know without them discovering it? It is like ying a game with a walkthrough step by step. There are a few elf folks guarding in the vige. And as expected of the elves, they are all blonde and wears green-colored clothes. Most of them have a bow and arrow as a weapon which means most of them are Hunter sses. "Halt! State your business humans," the elf guard stopped us from advancing the elf folk vige. "We are seeking the vige chief of the elf folks. We are here to deliver a baby of an elf folk couple who have died from the hands of the demons. This baby was the only survivor." The two elf guards looked at each other and silently nodded. "Can we inspect and see if the baby is real and you are not just making something up?" "Sure," I agreed and beckoned Goro who is currently illtaking the baby from Dolly''s arms. The elf folk guards look at the baby and they gave us a meaningful look. "We will take the baby and we will make sure the baby will be delivered to the Vige Chief." The guards then try to take the baby from Goro''s hands, however, I stopped Goro from doing so and move him away from the guards. "What are you doing?" the guard was confused. "I don''t know why but you two have suspicious vibes. I don''t think we can entrust the baby to the two of you," I said. "Very sus indeed," Chase and Hagane nodded to each other. "Hand the baby over or you won''t get away from this," the guard gave a threat. "How about.... No?" "Then we have no choice but to capture you all. GUARDS!" That''s the moment we immediately retreated. Dolly quickly maneuvered the horse of the carriage and we quickly ride the carriage. The elf folk gave chase while shooting at us. However, we managed to deflect them thanks to Hagane''s preemptive casting of a defensive skill that allows the arrows to temporarily target his shield. I look at the notification that popped up from our interface. [The Elf folk are now hostile to you. You will be attacked on sight.] "Master? How did you know they are acting suspicious?" Goro asked. "Based on how weird they act, they don''t seem like noble like and they seemed to have no elegance in them unlike how they usually are. Not only that, elf folks are said to be weing to other people unless they are enemies." "Yep, you are right. Elf folks are not like that and your choice of running away from that ce after you notice the suspicious behavior of them are the right one." That''s when I notice someone else were in our carriage. Hagane was so shocked he fell from his seat. "Hagane, be careful! Don''t shake the carriage so much! I can''t control the carriage if you shake it!" "Sorry! I am just shocked. It won''t happen again!" I immediately pull out my weapon and changed it to a gun. It is the easiest to use and has a quick attackpared to a sword. "Don''t be rmed. I am not here to make enemies," the elf said and pull off his hood off. His hood revealed it to be an elf folk. However, he is a bit old. "Huh? An elf folk?! Aren''t the elf folk hostile?!" Chase immediately heightened his guard up. "Rx, rx. I am not the same as them. Those guys are somewhat influenced in dark energy so they are currently in a very bad way. I will introduce myself as the current Vige elder of the elf folk. However, due to the incident, I would have to say that my status as the elder will not be effective until the situation has been cleared out." Chapter 193 - The Way Back Home (XI) The elder of the Elf folk do not look like an elder which is expected but seeing him fleeing with us means he is not part of the conspiracy of the other elf folks who gave chase to us. "Are you sure you are not part of them?" "They are part of the elf folk before but they no longer care anymore. In their case, they are on the descent to madness and from what I can tell, they cannot be saved anymore. They epted the blood of the demons and have elected a new elder to lead them. The other elf folks that didn''t want to be one were killed by the current elder of that ce. I have evacuated everyone who is not part of the alliance of the demon by teleporting them out." "No wonder they didn''t hesitate to attack us after talking a few things," I mumbled. "So it seems that the daughter of my daughter is the one you guys have with you?" he then pointed out the baby in Goro''s arms. "Huh? How did you know?" Goro was surprised. "We elves have connections to our family so of course, anyone who is in our bloodline, we can easily detect if they are one of my family or not. We also know whether someone died from far away or not. I already know beforehand that my daughter is dead but she gave birth so I am also aware of her baby. I can detect her baby from the baby that you are carrying. I can also tell that the baby is a girl based on the mana that she releases in her body." I silently agree with this guy and acknowledged him as the real deal. Aside from that, his face is resembling the Priestess once she grows up. Her resemnce to this elder is uncanny, It was like I am watching at her older male version of herself. "May I see my granddaughter?" Goro looked at me and is currently hesitant to do so. But I nodded to him, which means I am allowing the elf guy to see his granddaughter. Goro then removes the hood that is covering the baby and handed the baby to him. The old man receives the baby and just by looking at the baby, his tears slowly fell to his eyes. "When my daughter was born in this world, she was also this small. And to think she died before me and leave her daughter helpless in this world." He then looked at the Goro and to me with sincere eyes and handed back his granddaughter to us. "I will entrust my granddaughter to you for now. If my granddaughter will be with us, she will also be caught up in the trouble I am facing and will be in danger. Please, help my granddaughter to grow up like a normal child." "Why?" I asked. "Due to the influence of the demons, it would be best to remove the influenced people from this world. They not only wanted to destroy Resurgia and the other continents but also let the demons ran rampant in this world. To make sure their ns will at least be dyed, I needed to kill them all even though it was like killing the people who were part of my family in the past." I see. So if we ept this, he will be nning to fight against them and try to resolve this on his own. But for me, I don''t ept this and just abandon him from the enemies. Also, this is not the time to just ignore the free exp killing the enemies. "How about we help with this so that you won''t be forced to kill your kin. We are humans and one of us is a goblin and we are not affiliated or connected in any way with the elf folks. This is a good way to stop you from at least tarnishing your hands from killing what you consider as kin." "What? You people don''t need to go that far for the elf folk. This is our problem and I don''t n to drag the other races in this war." Dolly chimed in, not wanting As he said that, every one of us received a notification to the questline. [The Main Quest''s description has been updated] [The Way Back Home] Info: The baby was sessfully delivered to the elder of the elf folk, however, things were not as bright as they seemed to be. The elf folk tribe that was originally weing to people has been revealed to be converted to elves who are now influenced by the demons and are now part of the demon army. To reduce the threat and to erase the marks of the demon to the elf folk, you are given a task to eliminate the elf folk. Warning: Due to the danger of this quest, it was heavily rmended to do it silently. Rmended to have a Saboteur at the party. Objectives: Kill the acting leader: 0/1 Destroy the demon hearts located in the elf folk vige: 0/10 Sabotage the Warning Bells: 0/5 Kill the Elf folks: 0/80 Warning: This is a very long quest. You might have to sacrifice your time in mundane tasks to finish the quest. The difficulty of the quest also increases every time an objective waspleted. Reward: ??? Increased hostility to demon folk supporting the demon lord and some NPCs. Failure: The quest will begin an alternative way. The difficulty will be reduced but the rewards and the ending of the quest will be drastically different. ... I didn''t expect to see a familiar quest reward. Increasing the hostility of certain NPCs and demon folk. Honestly, this is a double edge quest. You never know which NPC will bear hostility to you once you have done this quest but due to the random chance, a friend NPC might go hostile to you after this so if you have done something like befriending the NPC before this quest but ended up finishing this, despite the influences and friend status an NPC has on you, once they increase their hostility, they will increase more instead. "Is this safe to ept deheart? One of the rewards is increased hostility to the demon folk and some NPC. I don''t know which NPC it was but isn''t this risky?" Dolly asked. "A bit risky yes, but not to the point it was very hard to handle. However, it seems it was a job meant for me alone. You guys would have to sit on the sidelines on this one." "I hate to admit it but I am into stealth at all. What is the point of doing stealth if you can just burn everything in mes and walk away as nothing happened?" "Are you some kind of insane maniac who would just randomly throw a fireball to a vige and burn it then call it a day?! Besides, I don''t think you can even do that! You don''t even shout "EXPLOSION!" You are not even Megu-" before Hagane can say anything, a fireballnded straight to his face. I can only shake my head from their antics. "Come on guys, be quiet when making some ruckus. We don''t want enemies toe out. Also, please keep your eye on the road, Dolly. I know you know how to ride a horse since you were a kid and were already expert on it but remember that you are also pulling a cart with you." "I know, I know. I won''t do it again," Dolly muttered The elder elf sighed from all the ruckus we are making but he didn''t stop us. Once we quieted down, he started speaking again. "Alright. Since you are all willing to help me with the task, I will be giving brief info about the situation. Getting inside blindly will automatically kill you. That is why I suggested a Saboteur. However, none of you guys is a saboteur at all. Most of you are allbatants and one healer." "Actually, I can be a Saboteur. I am a Versatile." "Oh, a Versatile ss. Interesting. Then, in short, you are the one who will be handling my quest?" "Yes. None of the others are capable of changing sses easily. I am also well versed on how a Saboteur works so you don''t have to worry if I mess up." "Well, that is good to know. Let''s get into the camp where we are grouped. I made sure toyer the ce with magic to avoid detection from anyone. So if you guys needed to get in, please follow my directions so that we won''t get lost." ... After a few in-game hours, we finally arrived on a huge rock in the mountain a bit farther than the elf folk vige. "Here we are," he said before snapping his fingers. The moment he did, the rock disappeared and the mountain became a forest, and there, a few small cabins were erected. You can say it was a mini vige with a poorly created house at the moment. "Wee to the temporary refuge are of the elves who have not joined the demon lord." Chapter 194 - The Way Back Home (XII) The camp of the elves who managed to be teleported away by the vige elder was staying in a hidden area that the vige elder made to make sure that the elves who sided from the demons would not be able to detect them and harm any of them out here. "Why do I see most of them are just females? I only spotted a few males around here," Hagane asked. It looks like his eyes caught the number ratio difference of the two genders of the elves in the camp. "I only managed to get a few of the men toe with me and teleported due to how limited the time I had with me to gather them all. Not only that, since most of the men are hunters, they are the very first people that were converted, so if my assumption is correct, almost all of the men are now under the influence of the demon blood." While we are discussing it, a young elf girl appeared. She seems like she is a hunter at a young age already due to her outfit being the uniform of the hunters in Elf folks. She also has a bow and quiver with 4 arrows inside. I also spotted that she is using wind boots, level 85 boots that have a property to make the wearer capable of using less stamina from jumping and can walk temporarily in the wind for a few seconds though it was like some sort of double jump. She looks like a 9-year-old girl to me but since elves live longer and they age differentlypared to humans, she must be around 100 or more years old. "Gust, I told you to apany your mother," the elder said. "But Uncle! My father is still out there! I don''t believe my father to join them! He is against the demons and is openly hating on them so howe he would be joining the enemies he despises the most?" The elder did not say anything and just remained quiet. The girl named Gust looked at us and approached us. "Are you all adventurers? Please rescue my father from the enemies. I am sure that he was not one of those that have been converted to the enemies. He would never do that and he would rather die than help the enemies. Please rescue him and anyone who is still alive!" "Gust! Don''t ask for the impossible! The new elder of that vige will not spare anyone just like that! He is a devil incarnate already and I can be sure he is going to also convert your father to his own henchmen!" "I refuse to believe that! I am sure he is still alive there! Please adventurers! Whoever from you all are going back to the vige to confront them, please, save my father and everyone else who refuses to be one with the demons! Please, I beg you..." I looked at the main quest and saw that another objective was added, however, there is a timer and it wasbeled as optional. 5 hours in-game time. However, the timer is not paused, but it is currently running. The moment the new objective was added, the timer started ticking. [Rescue unturned Elf folks: 0/20 (Time remaining: 4 hours and 59 minutes left) The elder can only shake his head. " Come on, let''s get inside my tent. You too should alsoe in, Gust. We will discuss everything as fast as we can since we will be tight on time and there are lots of things to discuss." Inside his tent, is a big table with a map on top of it with colored rocks which seems to be the markings he used. Based on the map, it was a wholeyout map of the elf folk vige. "Let me give you quick pointers. One of the main things you need to watch out for is the Demon Hearts. For some unknown reason, these hearts are usually found in theirs of demon camps. It is what the demons call the "power battery" since they can store their powers and use them as they see fit. I don''t have any idea of what their real purpose is but they are sure nasty enough. Just to be safe, you needed to destroy all of them. I already marked out some of the hearts that are in the open field but I am sure some of them are hidden in in sight so it is up to you to discover where they were located. "Now there are also the warning bells. When it was still a normal vige, we use that if there is any sort of trouble and use that for alerting everyone in the camp. However, this is now going to be used for alerting intruders. If you are found by one individual but don''t want to alert the whole vige, then sabotaging the bells will be your best bet to stop them from doing so." "I think I got the gist of it," I nodded and took a nce at the map to imprint the mapyout in my mind. "Now, since Gust wanted you to rescue anyone who has yet to turn into an enemy, then bring this artifact I use to determine whether someone is under demon influence or not. This artifact is also capable of detecting hidden things hidden in in sight. In short, any illusion will be unsafe from this artifact. This way, you can see whether they are demons in disguise. They can also detect lies. Whenever someone tries to lie, they will have red smokeing out from their mouth. Use it to cull anyone who wanted to ruin everything." -Received Artifact of Absolute Truth. Note: The artifact of Absolute truth will destroy all illusions of any kind and reveals the real truth. You can also detect lies from others too. Use this mechanic to finish the quest. "Since you will be the only one who will be going to this quest, I will be giving a new quest to the others who are not with him. Now, go. We are racing against time so please make haste." "I understand." Before I went, Gust stopped me and gave me a ne. "Give that to my father. His name is Wind. If he saw that ne, I know that he will know what it was." "Alright." I immediately departed and summoned Leona not too far from the campsite and headed to the vige. With Leona, the speed of arrival from the campsite to the vige is really big. I managed to reach the ce in a few minutes. "Damn, to think the vige has been turned like this... no wonder the vige chief is so adamant in killing them all. All of the elves here are no longer elves but are abomination elves that are far from what they were in the past." "I don''t see any difference master. Does that mean the artifact you have is indeed working?" As asked while he was still inside the summons'' area. "Yeah, it seems it is working just fine. I don''t see any difference when we were at the campsite so I thought I needed to do something for it to function but even though I didn''t do anything just yet but here it is, I can see the things that have changed in the vige." "Do you need help for the cleanup master? I can do an easy clean-up with them." "Maybeter against the final boss, right now, I have to do this alone." Recalling Leona, the next step isnding at the nearest tree. While I managed tond on the tree, I also activated [Stealth] and ready everything. Since this is going to be an infiltration mission, the first thing I needed to do is do some sabotage ns and some traps to deal with everyone. With so many elf folks that I needed to kill, I have to be very stealthy in killing them all. It is not going to be an easy thing to do since this will be a very lengthy mission. The vige is very big and just based on theyout, the targets would be either in one ce or they might be scattered around. "Let''s get the work going." There are two patrolling guardsing in and are currently talking nonsense. They no longer resemble normal elf folk but are demons already with the remnant of their elf faces. If I don''t have the artifact, I will still be seeing them as real elves. Quickly making a trap, I used the normal pitfall trap and moving walls trap like how I did with the yers from Burning Dragon''s guild but this time, it was a quick and simple trap. This will only take a little time. I waited for the trap to spring up and the moment it did, the two guards fell and tried to scream. However, since this is a quick trap, the trap was also fast too. The moment they fell is also the moment the trap closes. The action will now begin. Progress: Acting Leader killed: 0/1 Elf folks killed: 2/80. Demon Hearts destroyed: 0/10 Warning Bells sabotaged: 0/5 Unturned Elf Folks rescued: 0/20 (Time remaining: 4 hours and 48 minutes left) Chapter 195 - The Way Back Home (XIII) "Are there any signs of the group carrying the target baby our lord requires to acquire?" one of the elves currently sitting on top of the walls asked. "I don''t know. They suddenly disappeared after a few moments. It seems they have already noticed us." "Damn, those humans are indeed sharp. Not only that but I heard one of the deserters are also with them." "Oh, you mean the goblin. Yes, it was true he was with them. I personally saw that filthy goblin with them and this time, he has formal armor It seems he decided to join forces with the humans. The nerve of that bastard." As they were talking about the recent events, one of them saw something on the ground. Since they were up above the walls of the vige, they have vantage points on what was on the ground. "Hey, isn''t that..." he pointed it out and the other elf also noticed what he just saw. "Let''s go and take a look. I needed some backup." The two leap above the walls into the branches of the trees than to the ground. There, they managed to confirm a few bodies on the ground. It was some of their fellow guards." "Sh*t! They are all dead! Quick! Inform the others!" the one who inspected the corpse ordered to the other. However, he received no response from the other guy. He turned to look why he didn''t respond and saw that hisrade''s head was no longer there on its neck, only his body remained standing. "What the..." before he can even say anything, his vision suddenly gets haywire as if he was hurled by something. He rolled to the ground for a while and turned to look at what happened. He wanted to get up but then realized that he cannot do that anymore. He saw his body was also there currently crouching, but missing his head. That''s when he realized he didn''t get hurled away, his head was decapitated instead. ... "Who would have thought taking out the dead bodies of the two guards from earlier would be capable of killing all of the other guards who are currently on the walls?" Due to their nature of inspecting things first before giving out a warning, I used this to my advantage to attract the guards and alert them to dead bodies. They were too effective that all of the guards on the walls were killed in the process. After creating another pitfall, I tossed all of the dead bodies of the elves and closed them, effectively burying them. Too bad, I can''t loot them. Their equipment is too poor and even if I did loot them, they are just too useless that they are even not worth being fed to my Versatile Weapon. Not only that, they don''t drop anything aside from Experience points which are pretty small that it only amounts to 1,000 exp per kill. It was not worth it but since it was just a quest, I didn''t mind how small the amount I receive, as long as the main quest progress, that is enough for me. Now that the guards are gone, time to eradicate the others. Climbing and scaling the wooden walls of the elven vige is not hard and even though they are spikes, they don''t pose any threat to me that I can easily dodge them by simply avoiding them. They are not thatplicated and they are just a log with a sharpened end. Many of the elves are asleep in their homes, which makes this much easier. The only one who is still awake is all of the soldiers outside. I scouted first the area where the elves were positioned and mentally remember them. It took me a few jumps from the roofs before I managed toplete my survey. Currently, there are 16 people still alive and are still outside the vige. Aside from that, the hearts that the elder mentioned and one of my targets toplete the quest are also some of the things I also scouted. From what the elder marked on the map, all of the marks have a heart. However, he missed a few of them since they were hidden in in sight. Most of them are outside the vige while I spotted one heart currently inside a building. It was a wooden building and has two guards in the doorway, while the inside is the heart that has been hidden. It was pretty obvious since these hearts pulsates every time and it releases some sort of miasma every time it is in its inted state. The building that was guarded by two elves is currently releasing it periodically. They can hide it from others but not for me. As for the elves that have been captured, I have no idea where they are. They might be somewhere deeper in the vige but other than that, I still have no idea where they are located. Only exploring this ce fully will allow me to see where the other elves are. With every single target scanned down, time to begin the ughter. The very first victim I targeted is those less inconspicuous from the others, which is the one near the shed. Two of the elves are currently moving some boxes which are some of the supplies. I spotted a few boxes with weapons and some of them are food supplies. Under stealth, I headed to the shed and the two are almost done with their work. Without hesitation, I ran straight to them and pulled out my twin dagger and pulled them off together, releasing the chains and making it simr to a nunchuck. Grabbing both ends of the dagger, the moment the two elves made a space between them, I stab the two of their chest at lightning speed, ripping their hearts out in the process. Before they can even process what was happening, they are already dead. Confirming the kill, I throw another blueprint for another pitfall and let the two corpses get swallowed from the pitfall and die. Double dead and also a measure to make sure the corpse is not pretending to be a corpse. Another two bodies disposed of, next! (The following executions are REDACTED from this file) Thest elf who is currently outside the vige is finally disposed of. Even the guards on the hidden heart were not spared and were also killed by me. My psychopath side is showing and I don''t want it to show up more. Maybe I should lessen my tendencies by watching rxing videos next time. Killing too many individuals just increases my brutality. But I think I have to release that psychopath side of mine. After all, I am now on the next part which is killing the sleeping elves who are now part of the demons. Just because I killed the guards outside doesn''t mean all the other inhabitants who are not guards are going to be some pipsqueaks. Before I will do the deed, I went to the bells and destroyed them before they can be used by anything or anyone. They will no longer be used for alerting the others, and they are just shards that used to be in a form of a bell. Next, I made some traps using the saboteur blueprints and created some sabotage gadgets that will allow me to easily destroy the hearts in one go. Since the Saboteur ss can create anything that can be considered as a tool for sabotage or traps, creating C4 charges is as easy as it can be counted as a sabotage tool. Not only they do not exist in this world, they are also hard to notice especially if you put them on a messy-looking area like the hearts. That way, even if someone looks at the hearts, they would still have a hard time finding it. I made sure to add a lot of them to the hearts and made sure all of them will detonate in one go. Not only that, these c4 charges will be capable of unleashing severed explosive pyro damage that will burn the hearts to cinders then to ashes. "Damn, after creating so many C4 charges for all 10 hearts, even with the MP reduction buffs, it doesn''t seem to be enough to cover up with all of these blueprints to materialize them all." "GAAAAAHHH!" Then, I heard a scream somewhere. It was a loud scream so I can''t mistake it as something I imagined. It ising somewhere in these buildings. Then, I noticed my quest tab is blinking like crazy. Opening it, one of the quest objectives, namely, the rescue of the unturned elves, is causing the beeps in my quest tab. That''s when I noticed the red number 20. The amount of elves I needed to rescue is 20. However, that 20 is getting distorted and turning into static. "Sh*t, no!" I started running on the streets and trying to pinpoint the scream. "AAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!" After that loud scream, the number that was previously 20 has be 19. Progress: Acting Leader Killed: 0/1 Elf folks killed: 28/80 Demon Hearts destroyed: 0/10 Warning Bells Sabotaged: 5/5 Unturned Elf folks rescued: 0/19 (Time remaining: 3 hours and 24 minutes left) Chapter 196 - The Way Back Home (XIV) One hostage died and is no longer part of the objective. I didn''t expect the killing of the hostages would ur ahead of time. Even though there is still time left behind to rescue them, it seems the timer was never meant to be a "timer before they will be executed", instead, it turned out to be a "timer of them being executed." If I dawdle any longer, everyone would die before I can kill everyone there. "Damn it!" I may be rushing here and there around the buildings but I am making sure I am still under stealth and still focusing on my surroundings. I don''t want to get discovered by anyone and fail this quest after all the work of disposing of the elves. "Master, I detect a demonic presence simr to mine when I am still a boss in a dungeon just northwest of our position. Not only that, I am sensing a few untainted individuals too," As said. "You can detect demon presences, As?" I was surprised since he didn''t have a skill that can detect demonic presences. "Yes, Master. I just realized it when you were creating traps to prepare for the destruction of the demon hearts. I didn''t expect that I can easily tell apart the demonic and non-demonic beings. I thought it was just some sort of fluke that I can detect them at first but now I am quite certain I can detect them." "Then that is good! Now lead the way in which ce you detected it!" "Got it, Master!" Due to the detection ability that As has, I managed to find the ce where the elves were being tortured and killed. The number 19 is starting to shake too when I just arrived. However, I can''t just rush in. After all, I needed to keep my job as a person in charge of the sabotage to remain anonymous to all the enemies. The ce where the captured elves were taken was currently in a small building made of bricks. Out of all the houses here, this is the only ce with a house made of bricks. I don''t see any openings either which means this was meant to store something not alive. This ce was meant for killing them all until they were going to submit to the demons. Checking the door, it was locked and seems to need a special key. However, I don''t have any key to open it. "Damn, it''s locked." "What are we going to do Master? I can go and search the surrounding houses for a key," As proposed. "No need." "Huh?" "What''s the point of a saboteur ss if a simple lock stops their progress? Honestly, that is a pretty absurd thing," I grinned and create a blueprint. A noiseless bomb. It is not destructive enough to kill people but it can destroy doors whatever it was made and whether it needs a special lock or not. After creating the blueprint, I throw the blueprint into the ground and the bomb materialized. "Even though the saboteur ss can be considered as support, I can''t deny that creating bombs like this makes me feel like going full explosion run." Inspecting the door for a bit and analyzed how it will open, took a bit of time before I attach it to the door. "Are you sure this will work, Master? It seems ineffective to me," Asments. "Don''t worry. You haven''t seen anything yet!" Once the bomb was attached, I went to the side and press the trigger. The explosion urred but as expected, it didn''t create a sound. It just released a bit of smoke, opening the door sessfully. "Nice!" I grinned before checking the main entrance for any possible traps once the door is opened, Thankfully, it seems those things are not avable. There were some parts that looks suspicious at first but then I realized that they were illusions and the gem already filtered them out automatically, erasing the illusion. "You said earlier that there is one demon among the untainted ones right?" "Yes, Master. To be precise, one dead, 19 living beings untainted and a demon tainted one." "So there is an impostor among us?" "We don''t really know." "Let''s get them before they have another dead person with them." The building is big but it is empty. However, due to the illusions being filtered automatically in my eyes, the illusion to cover the basement was rendered useless. Entering the basement reveals a very putrid smell of rotten smell. "What a wonderful smell we have in." "Are you being sarcastic there, Master? Even I can smell that rotten smell. That is not even considered wonderful." Slowly descending the basement, it revealed a lot of dead bodies. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be the bodies of both demons and some elves. Most of them are already rotten that they are the cause of the very bad smell. "Can you pinpoint in which area they were in? The basement is pretty expanse and dark. I don''t have the luxury and time to search for them all." "There, go straight from here then turn left. The life force of them is visible to me." I nodded and went to the location that As instructed. Pulling out the Versatile Weapon, I am ready to assault whoever is causing this amount of bodies scattered all around. Arrival at the area, I saw some wounded elves and a few elves fighting a very big demon with multiple teeth showing. Some of the elves are trying to stall the monster but any second now and the monster will break free from being stalled. I changed my weapon into a dagger and immediately leap into action. The moment the demon raised its body to break free from the elves, I took the chance and stab the soft part of his underbelly and slice it down until the very end of the demon''s body. Due to how deep I did the slice, the guts and blood of the demon were released from the torn belly. The other elves also took action and started thrashing the guts of the demon. It took them a few seconds before they found the heart and rip it off from the guts. "SKRRREEEEEEEE!!" The demon released a shrill cry before it breathed itsst. Its stiff body lost its life after. Due to the demon''s death, the elves fighting against it finally dropped their weapons and fall to the ground, huffing and puffing from the attack. "The demon is finally dead!" the elves started screaming as they celebrated. Due to the noise, they are making, I stopped their celebration. "I am sorry to say but the celebration is going to be short-lived for a while. I know you guys are having a hard time against the demons but it isn''t time to celebrate just yet. You guys needed to get out of here first." The elves stopped their celebration and faces me, holding their weapons tight. "You are the one who killed the demon earlier, but I have only seen you today. Who are you?! Are you an aplice to the demons?" one of the elves asked. "He smells like a human! But he also has the scent of wolves too." "Please put down your weapons, I mean no harm. I came here to rescue everyone as a request from a kid named Gust and the first elder of the elf folk vige." One man perks up his ears when he heard Gust''s name. "Gust? You have seen my daughter?! How is she? Is she safe and sound?" he frantically asked. "Are you Sir Wind perhaps?" "Yes, my name is Wind. How did you know?" "Your daughter handed this ne to me to ry it to you. She said you know what to do with it," I said before handing out the ne that Gust has given for Wind to receive." "This is indeed Gust''s ne! So you are here to rescue us!" "Yes. I was here to destroy the demon hearts and kill the new leader leading this ce but your daughter requested me to also rescue you since you were also captured by the enemy. The elves were stunned when they heard what I came here for. "The current elder is too strong and he is impossible to kill! You cannot defeat the guy!" one of the elves said. "If it is moving, it can be killed. There is no such thing as an immortal bastard. Now, let''s stop dawdling, we need to get out of here as soon as possible since this ce will get more chaotic once I started facing the main enemy." "Then, let''s get out as soon as possible," Wind said. "Wait. There is one thing I am tasked to do in here too and I needed to finish it," I said. "Huh? What is it? Is there still anything left?" "Yes," before stabbing wind in the head with my sword, cleaving his head in half. The elves then stopped the moment I did it. The sword didn''t let Wind survive and immediately died. Chapter 197 - The Way Back Home (XV) All of the elves were shocked by what I just did. It was very unexpected for me to suddenly betray them. "Scumbag! You are trying to kill us all along!" the other elves immediately took arms. I didn''t respond to them and just finished the execution to Wind, effectively killing him in the process. His body fell to the ground and was already lifeless, after all, he was killed before he can react and right to the fatal spot. "Let''s kill him,rades! He is the only one! He can''t overpower us alone!" the elf who is screaming rallies hisrades to fight. "Wait, look at Wind''s body!" one of the elves near the body of Wind pointed at his broken body. "What do you mean...? They turned to look at the dead body and saw the changes happening. It wasn''t a gore scene that was done to an elf''s body, but a gore from the dead body of a demon in an elf''s clothing. "It seems you guys have been deceived by the demons and nted one impostor among yourselves so that you guys would doubt everyone else. Once the seed of doubt has been nted, he can just pretend he didn''t know anything and will start to kill everyone else. It seems he also wanted to find out where the others are held too. So before we move to the next phase, I disposed of him immediately before things could get messy," I exined and grab the loot that the demon guy dropped. As expected, it was another meh. I didn''t forget to grab the ne back from him too as it is not his real property. "So it was actually a demon we have been following inside this prison? Not the actual Wind?!" they didn''t expect the twist that happened to them. It was not part of their n to let a demon lead them. "So where is the actual Wind?! He was imprisoned with us when we rebelled against the acting elder! Did he got killed by the impostor?!" "No. He wasn''t killed. He was just out ofmission and he was hidden by this demon in this basement. Follow me." The elves followed my lead. I am also following the lead of As who was helping me where the original guy was held as he can also detect all the living beings in this basement. "We are here." In front of us is arge cocoon-like structure attached to the basement walls. "This thing is Wind?" the elves were skeptical. "I know you guys are skeptical but don''t worry, this is just a shell, not the real body. He was inside. Let me get him out." Pulling my Versatile Weapon and changing the weapon into a sword, I sliced through the thick shell. A viscous yellow-colored liquid emerged from the thing. It was a little bit disgusting at first but I can''t just stop and let the poor guy remain inside this disgusting thing. Creating a bigger cut, the liquid inside started to pour out from the inside. It didn''t take long before the liquid was drained a male elf appeared inside, currently passed out. "WIND!" the elves immediately rush towards the unconscious elf and removed him from the cocoon. They didn''t even mind how disgusting it was and just continue to pull his body out. One of the elves immediately cast healing magic to the unconscious elf while the others shake him to wake up. "We don''t have much time, carry him out of here. Soon, this will ce will be chaotic and I don''t want you guys to get caught up in the trouble that is brewing in this ce." "What are you going to do?!" "I still have to make sure that the current leader is killed or else, the enemies will overwhelm all of the elves in the process. I have to do this to ensure no one will suffer anymore. The exit is open and all the guards have been killed. Just be silent when going through the houses, the other elves are still alive and I have yet to eliminate them." "You n to kill everyone here?" "Yes, it was the task that the previous elder wanted to do to make sure that the spawn of the demons will not further spread. All the elves that epted the blood of the demon will be killed without exception. If they can''t be killed, they will be vectors of bing a new demon instead and we don''t want that to happen." The elves were skeptical of the mass genocide act towards the elves who epted the blood of the demon but they also don''t want the influence of the demons to spread. In the end, they gave up. "Alright. We will head to the camp. Thank you for saving us and for saving Wind from the enemy." I nodded. Also, I didn''t forget to let Wind wear the ne to his neck. It was one of the requirements that the daughter of Wind gave to me from saving his father. "Now go, time is not on our side." They nodded and immediately exit the basement. I also saw them carry the other elf body I found earlier who I suspect to be the one who died. They didn''t leave him alone in the basement and carried him along with them. I check the mission tab and finally saw the save the unturned elves crossed out with the 19 number filling the zero number from before. The timer also disappeared. "Good, I think it is time to make this vige dance in fire." I went out of the basement and added some bombs to the basement too. After all, the demons seem to be in there too. I don''t know if they will still appear but it will be a big danger if they did. As for the houses, I didn''t bother to kill them one by one. All the buildings in the vige aside from the house that the vige elder lived in were ced with bombs. I made sure to fill them all with bombs. Once the bombs were ced, I evacuated the vige to make sure I won''t get caught by the explosion. Even my body is not immune to the damage of the explosion. I am not that omnipotent to ignore the damage of explosions caused by my device. I look back at the vige for onest time and pull out the trigger. "Let''s fly high bastards. Burn in hell." CLICK! A defeating explosion urred as the bombs I ced simultaneously exploded the same time I pushed the trigger. It shook the ground and the dark night turned red from the mes the explosion made. I also heard the screams and wails of different elves, trying to get out from the mes but due to how mmable the materials of the houses were, the mes only burned brighter and stronger, toasting them all to a crisp. I look at the quest tab and saw the numbers are skyrocketing to the top. It only took a few minutes until thest elf contaminated from the demon blood has been killed. Not a single one was left alive. Except for the leader. I am quite sure he won''t just die from the explosion but I made sure that his household will also suffer some casualties from the explosion. That way, he will be injured, and fighting against this bastard would be much easier than fighting him at his full force. "GAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I heard a loud scream from the vige. There is only one more person or demon left alive from the explosion and that is none other than the acting leader who reced the previous elf leader from the position. "Finally, you are now out from your nest." The screams are in clear agony. Even if he didn''t die, he was too injured to just endure the pain he was feeling right now. "WHOEVER YOU ARE! WHOEVER KILLED ALL MY BRETHREN! COME OUT AND FACE MY FURY! YOU BASTARD YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM ME!" I can only chuckle at what he just said. If he can find me easily, why wouldn''t he just shoot out his fury like what he proims? Isn''t that much easier? Anyways, I don''t n to fight him face to face. I am a cunning bastard that would rather do some dirty tactics to win rather than do an honorable thing against an enemy and lose. That is just not a good idea. With my Versatile Weapon in my hand, I change its form into a cannon and set it up like a mortar. He keeps screaming all his lungs trying to find me but I don''t think he can do that. A little bit of adjustment and I have a good angle to shoot the cannon. There is no need to be merciful to an enemy. "Catch this and let''s see whether you can survive." BOOM! The cannon shot its cannonballs. Yes, cannonballs, I did not just load one cannonball, but multiple. After all, a cannoneer ss can load 5 cannonballs in one go and release them in one go with a single cannonball enough to bust a wall to pieces. Chapter 198 - The Way Back Home (Final) The death of the elder was a bit brutal. Who wouldn''t die after catching multiple cannonballs? He might be able to handle one cannonball to block but multiple cannonballs? Good luck surviving that without being turned to meat paste. Of course, as someone who makes sure the enemy is dead already, I went back to the vige, waited for the mes to die down before going back inside, and head straight to where the cannonballsnded. When I arrived at where he was standing before, the only thing left behind from his body is a severed hand and feet while the rest of his body is crushed to paste. All I can say is that he only has a little bit left from his body. I checked my quest tab and saw that all of the quest objectives are crossed out. However, there is still some part of the vige I haven''t explored. The house is out of the question already and I already double-checked whether there are any survivors or not. Also, there is only one more building that has yet to be explored yet and is still intact from the explosion. That would be the residence of the current elder. After checking around the intact buildings, the only point of interest left in the house of the elder that I left to investigatest. His house was much more developedpared to the other elves. Not only his house has concrete and metal infrastructure, but it also seems like it has been renovated to suit the needs of the current elder. There are many traces that suggest this was just a pure wooden house in the past. Inside the house, I saw some things that are usually found to be dropped from demon enemies and some bosses too. To be precise, it was the broken materials that demons usually drop. This time, it is currently inside the house of the elder. There are some curious things too but they are not worth investigating. However, I spotted one item that triggered the hidden sequence of the quest. The moment I grab the little book situated along with the broken materials, the quest tab blinked and a new objective appeared and wasbeled "Hidden" -obtain the diary of the demon elf elder to trigger the hidden sequence. The moment it appeared, it also crossed itself out which means this is an optional objective but if it was hidden, there is something that is quite an important detail that I might have missed if I didn''t obtain it. Either a bit of information or a new series of questions might pop up in the process. Heck, there might be an optional quest that will ur that is also an optional thing toplete. There are just so many possibilities. This was a diary of the demon elder so maybe there are some things that I might have missed if I didn''t investigate this ce. I opened the diary and started reading the entries. ... "DAY 70 We have already conquered the elf vige and managed to convert half of the town''s popce into demon followers. Once the remaining elves are captured, the n to resurrect the demon princess would be a sess." "DAY 74 The previous elder was very good at hiding his tracks and has been able to erase every single piece of evidence that the people who escaped with him are in the forest. I already asked some experienced elves who have been converted as a demon followers to scout the whole forest but 4 days have passed and no other traces I can take." "DAY 80 It looks like I have to give up on the notion to find the other vigers who escaped. They are under the protection of that elder and I can''t easily defeat him. Not only that but there are also some elves that have been able to resist the power of the demon blood. I have to throw them into the pit of the hungry demon elves who failed to synchronize to the demon blood. I doubt they will be able to survive down there. That way, even if they didn''t get to ept the blood, they are now good enough to awaken the demon princess." "Day 84 The demon hearts has finally materialized. I already got to solidify 10 of them. Once they are fully developed, they can now do the rampage to the forest and convert everything into a ce demons can bepatible. That way, the sess to wake up the demon princess would increase to 100 percent. I can''t fail this now!" ... That was thest entry of the diary. I checked the remaining nk pages of the diary if there is anything left for me to digest but aside from a string of numbers and letters, it seems there is nothing left for me to know other than what I just read just now. But then, something came up after I closed the diary. ... Optional Quest [The Way Back Home: Demon Princess] Objective: Locate the Demon Princess Info: After defeating the elder who was actually a demon, his diary contained "demon princess" in his notes. It seems the numbers and notes on his diary are the coordinates of where the demon princess was located. Reward: None Note: This quest is purely optional and rejecting or epting this quest won''t affect the main quest''s oue. In short, if you arezy as f*ck and tend to just skip the story, then don''t bother epting this. It is just a waste of time. ... The note seems to be so angry against the story skippers in many games huh. I can understand the guy behind it but there are just some parts in some games that the cutscenes and story are just not on your taste or just too much of cringe for you to watch. Skipping might be optional but it is also necessary at certain times. However, as someone who likes to get deeper into the lore, why not check this thing out? I am more curious about who is this demon princess. After all, this individual was never mentioned at all in the entire storyline of the demons and the other races. It was like the demon princess was deleted from the main sequence after a certain chain of events which resulted in her data being erased. As a guy who likes to delve deeper, I can''t miss this chance. "ACCEPT!" The quest appeared on my quest tab and a quest marker appeared on my digital map, allowing me to know in which area was the ce the demon princess was held. "Huh? Isn''t this the abandoned ruins near the vige of the elf folks?" I realized after the map pointed out the coordinates properly since I don''t have a single idea how to read one, seeing it marked out on the map made it easier. The ruins are one of the confusingbyrinths in the game. I heard from one of the yers who documented every single walkthrough on how to pass through thebyrinth. I still remember them since he also made a video walkthrough on it. However, one thing happened after he cracked thest puzzle of thebyrinth. What was waiting for him underground was... Nothing. There was nothing underground but just a normal room that didn''t appear to have any secret boss or anything that is good to be a point of interest to investigate. I still remember how frustrated and angry he was after all of the puzzles and stuff he had to solve just to arrive in a ce where there was nothing in it. However, this quest particrly pointed to this ce as the ce where the demon princess was located. So that means the yer in the past timeline should have met the demon princess if he solved the puzzle and also have this quest with him. I can only grin at his misfortune and wasted effort andugh at my own luck. "Thank you for sharing the walkthrough in the past timeline bro, now your effort has now a usage and not just some useless one." I went out of the house and survey the area onest time. After making sure nothing is left for me to investigate, I summoned Leona and we departed towards the ruins. ... The nameless ruins, one of the ces where the mystery was revolving and curiosity will have to be at its finest to make sure the whole ce will be solved and to ess the bottom of the ruins. My eyes have been closed for a very long time and I have no idea how long has it been since I was like this. However, one thing is for sure. If someone managed to find me on this endless hide and seek, I will have to eventually awaken. If, if only... CREAK... For the first time in my life in these ruins, this must be the first time I will be able to witness the light. That day is also the day I have opened my eyes once again. Chapter 199 - The Demon Princess The huge deste ruins were situated out of the wastnd not too far from the forest and the elf folk''s vige. In the past timeline, it was the main topic on what is the main purpose of the ruins. Since the ce is just full of puzzles and abyrinth maze but no monsters to kill made themunity theorizes the main purpose of the ce. When it was conquered and found out the bottom of thebyrinth is just an empty room without anything even a singlemon chest that contains the mostmon items made the yers who were invested in solving the puzzle got angry and said that the time and effort they did for cracking all of the puzzles are just a big waste of time. It was kind of pitiful since their efforts were not even rewarded. Who would have thought that the main purpose of the ruins was the tomb of the demon princess that is not even mentioned ever in any of the main stories and this secret quest is the first time the demon princess was ever mentioned. So that means, this princess was forgotten over the course of the story. Since the solution of all the puzzles was already in my mind, I didn''t need to wack my brains just to solve them. The only problem is the ruins and thebyrinth structure inside. Yes, there are 20 puzzles to solve to proceed to thest floor but with the solutions all printed in my head, that isn''t a problem at all. The main problem that made this ce time-consuming is the changing hallways and different ces that would suddenly shift while you are walking. It is very frustrating especially if you are bad at directions since this will further cause you to get lost. Even I who has an eidetic memory will have one or two troubles along the way. It is frustrating to some extent. ... Around 2 hourster, I finally cracked thest puzzle. If I didn''t know the solutions to the puzzles beforehand, I might have been stuck in the 4th puzzle to the 10th puzzle since even with solutions, it took me a few retries before I managed to solve it due to how tricky some of its mechanics just to trigger the lock from opening. Thank goodness I am now able to break through thest puzzle. Descending on the long staircase that appeared after thest puzzle crumbled, As appeared from my summons area. I didn''t forbid him and allowed him to descend the stairs with me. "Master, I sense a great dread at the end of these stairs." "Is it the same as those times when you detect a demon?" I asked. "Twice the intensity, Master. It seems not only does the energy of dark matter really strong down there, it seems to be sealed." "Sealed huh... maybe due to the fact that the demon princess was asleep that is why you sense the dark energy to be "sealed"? That might be the main reason you seemed to feel the power of it differently." "Perhaps, Master. Unlike the usual demon aura that I detect, this dark energy seems to be much more chaotic and destructive. Be careful Master, even I can''t guarantee your safety in this dungeon if somethinges up unexpectedly." "Don''t worry, I can handle things on my own and I am a tough nut to crack, I won''t be broken that easily." As we arrive at the bottom of the stairs, the same room where the stream in the past timeline visited appeared before my eyes and I can tell that the intricate design of this ce is much differentpared to some dungeons I have seen so far. This ce is made so intricately I have a hard time believing that this ce doesn''t have a purpose. Not only that but the feeling of heaviness is also getting more intense here too. It seems like you are experiencing an increased amount of gravity while in the area alone. "Master, be careful, there seems to be something in here that I can''t pinpoint. Be vignt and keep your guard up." As looks around the ce and observing the situation. Meanwhile, I look around the ce and started looking for the mechanism that will reveal where the demon princess was located. If it wasn''t here when we arrive, then it must be a hidden mechanism that is easy to dismiss as a design of the ce rather than a trigger to the hidden ce. While investigating the pirs, all of a sudden, a flying weapon came straight to me and you can only react to it in split second. Thankfully, due to my training in katana, it wasn''t troubling at all to block it. PENG! The weapon was deflected and it went straight to the wall, destroying itpletely. The walls broke down, and a hidden chamber appeared. "The f*ck?" "Master, there was a hidden chamber in the walls." "I can see that and it seems like it was a deliberate attempt to hide this ce since I never suspected this ce to have a room behind it." "Not only that, Master. The dread that I am feeling since we came down from the stairs seems toe from this area. Since the feeling earlier seems to circle down in this room, it seems the hidden room has a way to disguise the aura of the chaotic energy on where it wasing from." "Let''s investigate it right away." Entering the room, the heaviness I felt since earlier intensified and I can barely move around due to how heavy the feeling I got. But it was enough for me to get inside and investigate the new area. The room is small but it was enough to house the coffin inside the room. Not only the coffin but there is also a little altar without any sort of items ced on it. More like it was a sacrificial altar, only a miniature version. "As, can you tell me if you have seen this kind of altar before?" As approached and investigated the altar closely. It took him quite a while before he answered my question. "This altar is called the Basin of Blood. It was meant to use as an altar to offer blood. I saw it once in some of the demon realms but it was only for the sake of offerings and nothing else. This one seems modified to channel through something in which this case has the Basin of Blood connected to the coffin." "So, that means inside the coffin is most likely the demon princess?" "It might be possible." After getting the confirmation on the real usage of the Basin of Blood, I went to the coffin and started my inspection of it. Sliding the lid, the cover of the coffin slightly moved. "Ah, it opened." "Might as well open itpletely. Don''t worry, Master. I can be your shield if something happens." I nodded and slowly push open the lid of the coffin. It took me a few moments before the coffin lid was removedpletely. THUD! All of a sudden, the Basin of Blood suddenly glows red and the empty basin started to fill with blood suddenly even though I didn''t see any kind of connection on where the blood might havee from. The inside of the coffin is obscure and still quite hard to distinguish. Due to the Basin of Blood suddenly filling blood, I have a bad feeling about the coffin''s contents. I pull out my weapon and assumed the fighting stance. It was not a good idea to open the lid. If I have known the basin would start to fill with blood and flow towards the coffin, I wouldn''t be opening this cover lid. However, what''s done is done. "Get ready, As. I might need your help against this one." "I am always ready, Master," As said before pulling his weapon out of thin air. Then I sensed movement inside the coffin. It was subtle but it seems whatever is inside the coffin is getting the hang of it and is trying to get out. Soon, the one inside the coffin stood up from the coffin. A girl with white hair, ck clothes that seem very close to gothic lolita. She was also a bit taller than an average girl and she is quite pale. "Master, she is filled with dark energy. It seems she is the demon princess that we are looking for." I prepare my weapon in case she started attacking. "Where... am I? What is going on?" "She seemed to have no idea what is happening, Master. It seems during her slumber, she was unaware why she was put to sleep." "Why is she put to sleep anyway?" "I''m afraid I have no idea about that, Master. I just heard of her today after you got that demon''s diary so don''t ask me about it. We are both in the dark here." The girl looked at us and rubbed her eyes. "Are you two my new followers? Where are the others? Howe my whole body is so sore?" That moment was also the day the demon princess was resurrected. Chapter 200 - Arc 2 Epilogue The demon princess awakens. The day she awakened is also the day of her relevance in the main story. "As, have you seen this woman from before when you are still part of the demon army and rule a dungeon?" "No Master. Even though she is called the demon princess, it seems she is not someone famous or well known even to the lesser demons, so even if you ask me, I don''t think I can answer your question about her." The demon princess seems to catch up on what we are talking about and she slowly goes out from the coffinpletely. She wobbles a bit, maybe an aftereffect of being asleep for how long it has been. "What do you mean I am not famous in the demon realm? I am the one and only demon princess. There is no way no one knows about me!" She tried to impose her strong aura. However, the moment she did, I only felt a very pitiful amount that even a level 1 slime can beat. And here, she looks so proud of her achievement which is a bitughable and pitiful. "Now, you must have recognized my awesomeness right?" the demon princess shows her smug face. ''Master, I think she is getting delusional,'' As whispered. ''I think so too. However, just keep it down and just ride on her antics, that way we could know what she will be up to or if she is a threat to us.'' "What are you two whispering at? Tell me, how long have I been asleep? Did Death-sama won the war against the Life God?" My ears perked up and my eyebrows creased when I heard about it. Death and Life? Aren''t they the main divine beings that have been ruling this world since ancient times? I only read some bits of it in the lore, but ording to the info, you canpare Death and Life as Zeus and Hades in Greek Mythology. They are both siblings but they govern different realms. I already know Death since I have her titles and not only her titles but also have an ally that is affiliated to her directly. She was a kind god that rules the afterlife. She is the one who eases the souls of the dead. She is also the judge of the sinners and makes sure that every soul who deserves to rest after the trouble in their lifetime will get it and will deliver punishment to the ones who don''t deserve it. Of course, Death was not loved by all. Most of the popce worship Life, the god that governs life and the being that breathes the life of the world. You can also say she is the mother of all gods that many people know today and she was the origin of the magic that revolves around the world. People worship her especially if they wanted to be blessed with a good life, abundant blessings, and many more. However, there is one thing that irks me about Life. Unlike Death who values every life in this world, whether you are alive or dead, Life does not care about the entities who have died. Once the life that she bestowed is extinguished, she will not care about it anymore. She would rather create a new living being rather than save an existing being. It was during thest time I yed the game in the past timeline I have known about this but the shrines that yers revive are not a shrine connected to the goddess, Life, but was due to the help of Death who makes the effort to revive everyone. But I am already one of the so-called people who believe in the Goddess of Death. She might be the one who governs death and the afterlife but so what? If she was, then that means your soul would be in good hands after your death. You will be ensured to live a good afterlife after your death especially if you are a righteous person. However, this is the first time I heard about the war between the two gods. They are siblings and they govern different parts of the realms and different kinds of things so why would they go to war is something I am not sure of. So why does the demon princess talking like it happened before? "Hey, answer me. You are a human so you must have know who won after the war?" I shook my head and sheathed my weapon. "Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about. The only war I know is the demonkind against all the other races that live in this world. "What are you talking about? The demon kind is not like that. Sure that we are strong but why would we make a conflict like that? Isn''t that rather kind of pointless?" "Pointless? No, demon princess-" "Don''t call me demon princess. Although I am a princess, it is a bit of a drag to call me one. Call me by my name. It''s Lucia. Remember that, human, and stop referring to me as the demon princess. It is a bit of a drag." "Alright, Lucia. You must have been asleep for too long that you didn''t know the transgression of your race but you should already know. The demons and the other races views your kind as a threat to the world." "What?! Are you insane? Are you telling me, my people have all be barbarians?!" "I don''t know about you but your kind has been doing any kind of atrocities. Aside from that, if I didn''t find the diary of the demon I just killed earlier, you might have not awakened from your deep slumber." "You killed one of my kind? Why? What kind of things did my kind deserves such cruelty?" This time, As was the one who answered and took over. "Princess Lucia. Although I don''t recognize you as a demon, I can feel your presence as one of the demons and you seemed to have the pureblood of a demon. I am As, one of the generals that serves the demons before. However, due to some fateful encounters, I meet my master. And my master is saying the right thing. The demons are now doing atrocities. They are now invading different kinds ofnds and kill other races for their own benefit. The demon that we killed earlier that my master mentioned has murdered the elf kind and hijacked their vige. He was also preparing sacrifices to awaken you, using the blood of the elves that were killed and he collected." When Lucia heard this, her face looks grim and she seems like she was about to puke. "Blood of the elves? What kind of abomination do they think I was? Even if they offer countless lives to me, I won''t awaken from drinking that! Instead, I would be the enemy of the elves if I do so!" As continues to exin many things that he knew about the demons and the current movement of the demons. The more he exined, the more the despair in the eyes of the demon princess. "No, I refuse to believe this..." I shook my head. It looks like she can''t ept the things that happened after she awakened. I don''t know from which era she came from but I am sure that it was the time where all the races were all allies and are currently on good terms. "In that case, if you still can''t believe what As just mentioned, then it is better if we show it to you directly? After all, seeing is believing." Lucia looked at me and she resolutely stood up. "Of course, I wille along. I am the proud demon princess, if my kind is doing something outrageous, then it is my job as the first princess to straighten the crooked ways of my people!" A panel appeared before me and I didn''t expect to see another one. [The Demon Princess Lucia wants to be yourpanion. Will you ept? (Warning: epting her will cause some changes in your character and the main story''s progress will alter its course. Are you sure you will ept her?)] Yes/No Alter my character and also alter the course of the main storyline? What is going on? I am so confused. However, I do not want to miss this hidden storyline. Since the demon princess was not present in the past timeline, I think it is time for me to dive into the hidden side of the story. I press Yes. -Demon Princess Lucia has now be yourpanion. All the title effects you have will now be on effect to her. -Your allegiance to the goddess of Death has increased. She is now aware of your presence. You received the blessings of Death. You will be capable of resurrecting to full health without the usage of the skill [Ressurection] and the item [ Revival Pill]. -Unique Title: The Long Slumber has been unlocked. -Racial Skill switch. You can now freely switch to a demonkind and human. -Exclusive skill, Oath of Blood has been added to your skill tree. -The Goddess of Life is now watching you. ... End of Arc 2 Chapter 201 - [Bonus ] The Demon Princess Before Her Slumber War of the two gods has been raging for a while. Even the followers who were the main cause of the war are now doing their own wars and fighting among each other. It wasn''t even that long since the war erupted but it seems the world has been divided and war is now inevitable. "Your highness! The supporters of the goddess of Life are now charging and they are on the way to the throne room! It is getting dangerous right now!" The current demon king, the 12th of the pureblood demon in the bloodline, Qoudelio opened his eyes, after hearing the situation inside the castle. As someone who favors the goddess of death, he is quite sure he and his family will be dragged into the battle of the two factions who are not going to just let go and forgive and forget the situation. It''s a kill or be killed war. He look at his daughter who was grooming his familiar, Byakko, and sighed. If not for this stupid war, he would have had good enough time to have fun with his family and take care of his daughter. Due to the recent amount of trouble being brewed by the enemies, his time being spent on his daughter and wife has lessened a lot. He hated it but he cannot just turn a blind eye to the situation and run away. As a king, he has to face everything. Lucia, the princess that was grooming Byakko looked at her father who was looking at her, and smiled. Although her father spends lesser time with her motherpared to the past, she understands that he can''t shirk away from the duty of being the king of the demons. It is the talk in the whole kingdom and the danger looming due to the war is making the king anxious and not sure what to do. Qoudelio stood up from his throne and approached Lucia, rubbing her hair along with Byakko. "Lucia, I know that you are waiting for me to spend time with you today but it seems I can''t do that. With all the trouble happening in our kingdom, I have to make moves on the situation so that matters will not get worse than they ever did already." "I know, Father. I know you don''t have enough time for us due to the war happening but I hope that you don''t push yourself too much. You might be a king but you are not invincible. You also need a rest too." "I know. But I have to sacrifice rest if I want the kingdom to at least get the peace it has to win. So that you and your mother will live a peaceful life even in these chaotic times." They were still talking with each other when a demon guard barges inside the room and was hastily running towards the king. "Your majesty! The enemies areing this way! Please evacuate already! We will block your escape! Please save your daughter and the others!" Qoudelio gritted his teeth and snap his hands. The soldiers in the vicinity glow in red, overflowing with power. "You are all my loyal guards, followers of the Goddess of Death, and my beloved friends. Please, if possible,e back alive." The soldiers grinned and gave onest salute to the king of the demons. "We will not disappoint you, your majesty!" Qoudelio then turns to his summon and carries his daughter in his arms. "Byakko, let''s go. Let''s visit my wife." Byakko, the white tiger of the West opened his eyes and stood up. "If it is urgent, then let''s not waste time." "Thanks," Qoudelio said before they departed. As for the soldiers, they might have said that they won''t disappoint the king of demons to survive and return with him, but that day, they managed to fulfill theirst mission. However, that is thest mission that they will everplete. .... Byakko''s speed is expected as one who governs the lightning, Byakko''s speed cannot be underestimated. They arrived in the residence where the queen of the demons resides. Due to some reasons, the queen onlyes to the demon castle only in certain asions. Usually, she stays at home to take matters done in her own house. It wasn''t unusual at all and she prefers it that way and only let Qoudelio deal with the matters that he alone can handle without a problem. Riots and vandalism started to ur left and right around the ce. It was a miracle that the residence was still intact and there are still no mobs of enemies rushing in. "Caroline! Are you there?" Qoudelio''s voice was shaking a bit but he is making sure that he is not showing any signs of weakness. "Mom!" Lucia also called. They heard a few noises upstairs, however, there are no confirmation that it was Caroline who was making it. "Damn it!" Qoudelio quickly rushes upstairs and even skips a few steps allowing him to reach the 2nd floor of the mansion in a matter of seconds. He heightened his senses and waved his hands. "REND!" The walls suddenly break apart and even though it looked like it broke apart, it looks more like it moved apart following themand of Qoudelio. Every obstacle seems to have a mind on its own and moved away from Qoudelio''s path as he rushes towards the room where his wife usually stays during the day. The door that was closed senses Qoudelio''s approaching figure and didn''t hesitate to open it even though Qoudelio didn''t touch the doorknob or even the door just yet. It just opened on its own. Inside, an unknown assant was currently choking Caroline on the wall while Caroline is fighting her best to struggle from the attack of the unknown assant. Due to the surprise of the assant from the sudden opening of the door, the grip on Caroline''s neck loosened a bit allowing Caroline to catch her breath and use this chance to fight back. "BIND!" The assant didn''t expect his target to move and was caught off guard. The [Bind] quicklynded on the assant, stopping him from doing any further damage to Caroline. He flew away from the queen of demons and was immediately pinned to the walls. "You must be tired from living if you are assaulting my wife!" Qoudelio swiftly filled the gap between him and the assant and stab his chest with his bare hands. He didn''t pierce through the heart of the assant, he grab it and hold it in his hands. "W...wait!" the assant tried to plead, but it seems the demon king has finally run out of mercy to spare. "TWIST!" The assant suddenly felt a wild pang of pain on his chest where his heart was. However, it was not just normal chest pain. The heart that Qoudelio currently is gripping suddenly deformed from its normal form and started twisting in a different manner, causing blood to burst out from his mouth. And it looks like not only his heart is being twisted. His eyes started to roll on his eye sockets, and his nose started to release blood. His screams are blood-curdling for a moment before he burst into pieces of guts and blood. Qoudelio then cast cleaning magic cleaning himself from the filth of the explosion of the assant and immediately went to his wife who was still holding her neck due to the recent choking. "Caroline, are you alright? Where are the maids and the guards?" "They were all dead... Cough... they were killed before they can do anything and targeted mest since I was here and was currently doing some of my things. I only found out that everyone is dead when I asked for help." "Sh*t, I was almost toote. Thankfully, you are safe now. We will be evacuating to the shrine. The situation is no longer something I can easily handle. I have to evacuate you and Lucia to avoid the situation." "What about you?" "Don''t worry, I will being too." "Where is Lucia?" "She is with Byakko. Don''t worry, she was in safe hands. Now let''s go before those supporters of the Goddess of Life arrives. I don''t know what to do anymore if we met them again. I might resort again to a violent approach if this continues." Caroline nodded and immediately went out with Qoudelio. Lucia and Caroline hugged when they met and quickly departed with Byakko towards the shrine. Thest bastion of hope that Qoudelio made as ast resort to escape the enemies. He didn''t expect he would be using this facility for the purpose it was intended. With the speed of Byakko, they managed to arrive at the shrine. However, the fast they arrived at the shrine, the faster the enemies also followed them and surrounded them in the shrine. "Give it up demon king! We know that you and your family are devoted to the Goddess of Death. Since your beliefs were against the Goddess of Life, we havee here, in the name of the Goddess of Life to relinquish the life that she bestowed from you and your family and surrender!" Qoudelio gritted his teeth and guarded his daughter and wife. "You will face me first before you can touch my family!" "DAD!" Lucia tried to stop her father but before she could do so, she was pushed by her mother to the middle of the shrine. All of a sudden, Lucia was encased in a coffin. Thest moment she saw her mom is when she smiled after pushing her there. "DAD! MOM! NO! LET ME OUT OF HERE!" she continued to bang the lid of the coffin and tried her best to push it off. "BYAKKO! HELP!" However, her screams were all in naught. Then, extreme drowsiness hits her. She tried her best to keep her consciousness awake. However, it seems the one that caused her to feel so drowsy is just too strong for her to handle. Before she can even fight back, her consciousness denies her what is about to happen next. "Mom... Dad..." and before she knew it, she was engulfed in endless darkness. And that was the beginning of her long slumber in which no one knew when she will awaken again. Chapter 202 - Arc 3 Prologue "A long time ago, during the time where the gods dwell together with man, a conflict urred with the two primordial gods, the goddess of life and the goddess of death. It was an unknown conflict that no one knows who started the conflict. However, the followers of the Goddess of Life are all ming the Goddess of Death though there are no shreds of evidence that she was the one who did it. Even the followers of the Goddess of Life had no idea what the conflict was and were just blindly siding to the goddess they believe in the most. The Goddess of Death decided to silently take the matter so that there will be no more conflict. However, the followers of the Goddess of Life oppressing the Goddess of Death''s followers and using them of colluding with the power of darkness to bring forth evil in this world, which finally triggered the irk of the Goddess who governs the realm of the dead. Using her abilities as one of the primordial gods, she helped her followers to defend themselves and to fight back against the followers of the Goddess of Life. As much as she hates conflict, the conflict itself visited and messed up everything. She has no choice but to help her disciples at least fight back. However, it seems that the Goddess of Life saw this as something of a rebellion from her sister. Since the Goddess of Death is not someone who does the initiative and is usually just a passive one. She didn''t expect that the usual silent and passive sister of hers would take the initiative to help her followers. The Goddess of Life always views herself as the superior sister of the two which is why she is angered by the stance and action of her sister. Instead of talking to her passive sister who didn''t take the initiative to fight but goes on the defensive, she didn''t hesitate to wage war with her sister. Thus, the beginning of the war of the two Primordial Gods also causes the beginning of the division of the races." ... After the long exnation, Lucia asked for water since she was talking nonstop for a while. As automatically give her a bottle of water that came from my bag of supplies. I was eating some food to replenish my hunger and thirst after the battles and to alleviate my fatigue for a bit while we are going back to the elf camp. "Do you mean this war was so huge that it should have been recorded in history? Howe there are no such records existing today? I only know a handful of history about it and most of it is from the Goddess of Life''s story and her deeds she has done since the very beginning." "Indeed that was the strange thing! If a war urred, no matter how big or small it was, it will and will always be recorded by the people, either humans, demons, or even the other races like elves, dwarves, and even the angels! There is no way it was just forgotten and buried of depths of time!" "I apologize if you find this offensive princess, but even you were not in the records. Many of the demons were not aware of you or any of your ancestors that you also talked about earlier. I highly doubt the integrity of your stories. Also, the thing that you keep insisting that the demon race was a good race, I don''t think I can believe that easily. Even before I met Master from our battles, the demons has already been this dangerous and monstrous already. They are not some peaceful beings that would easily join humans and other races as their allies," As said, doubting the story of Lucia. "Then, can you exin howe you are already an ally of him if demons do not usually treat the other races as allies?" "That..." As suddenly went speechless. I think he remembered the time when I defeated him repeatedly in different difficulties. It might have made a big trauma to him. "Ah, forget it. I am going to prove that I am not lying. Since Master is someone who is traveling around the world, there must be a sign that the war happened and there was also the time where the demons were all friendly and ally to every race at one point!" I look down and saw the camp is near already. It was a bit of a long flight from the ruins but it didn''t take too long for me. There is no time limit to the quest anyway and I can turn in the quest anytime I like. But I don''t want to dy things any further. Besides, I have to also contact the others. They are doing their own basic thing right now so I am not going to just ditch them. "Princess, I know you just awaken but I want you to go into my summons'' area with As. As you may know, most races hate the demon race. So if you show yourself right now, it wouldn''t be a good idea and might cause you trouble." "The summons'' area?" "It is a ce where all the summons, pets, and other entities that I have a connection with stay. There are some exceptions but most of the time, everyone goes there. Don''t worry about it princess, you still can see everything that is happening while we are in the summons area. It is also a good thing to be inside since you can treat it as watching a scene unfold in your eyes without doing anything." "That''s cool and all but are you sure it is safe? I won''t die if I enter the ce?" Lucia was reluctant. "No worries, Princess. No one dies entering that ce. It might be a pocket dimension for Master but we can consider it as our own home since we can get anything we wanted there. We can build our own ce and create our own paradise if Master does not need our help. It was a good ce for rxation." As said, describing what the summon''s area was. I didn''t know that is a thing in the summon''s area. Damn, I wanted to also experience something simr but I know that is just close to impossible. Lucia stops for thought before she reluctantly agreed. "Alright, you convinced me. Then bring me inside this area. If the other races saw me, they might also get angry at you," Lucia said while blushing a bit. It seems she wanted to try the things that As said which made her embarrassed to say that she was excited to experience it. "Alright." I recalled the two of them and I pat Leona tond nearby. After all, I don''t casually show Leona to other races unless necessary. After that, I started walking towards the camp. When I arrived, it seems that the people there are currently discussing things with the other elves who I rescued in the basement. I also spotted my party on the side and was just observing the situation. The very first to notice me as I pass through his illusion easily. It wasn''t a problem with the treasure that he gave to me. It was all possible. "You are back!" the elves that I rescued all went to me. "How is everyone? Did you guys recuperate and reunited with your families?" I asked. "Thanks to you, we managed to safely escape from hellish things the demons did to us. If not for your help, we would have already died from the trouble," one of the elves said. My party also rushed towards my side and happily weed me. "Damn, you came back and alive! I thought you wouldn''tst against the enemies that these guys told that you were facing there!" Hagane said tapping my back. "I also wanted to do a ughter with some enemies but I guess I can''t do that. Such a pity," Dolly said. "It might not be as troublesome as the quest he did but our alternate quest is also troublesome with only you as the highest leveled yer! We struggled to fight and if Goro didn''t help, we would all be dead before you managed to kill the boss!" Chase said. Goro only smiled while keeping a distance from the noisy crowd. It seems like he was letting the priestess sleep. "Don''t bother Goro for now, deheart. The baby is having trouble right now and Goro is keeping his best to keep the baby stable," Dolly said. "What is going on? Did something happen?" I asked. "You should ask the elder what happened. He will fill you out on what urred. Besides, you will also be reporting the result of your quest so I suggest you do so," Dolly added. The elder approached me and bowed down to me. "Since you have returned, I assumed you have already defeated the demon that upied the vige?" "Yes. Here is the proof," then I throw out the drops that came from the elder who assumed the role of the previous elder forcefully. The elder took the proof and examined it carefully. "This is indeed his. In behalf of everyone you saved, I thank you for liberating our vige from the presence of the demons." Chapter 203 - The Priestess Of The Stars The elves did not hold any sort of celebration from the news, instead, they started to gather the female elves and started to create a piece of solemn music that somehow blends with nature. The harmony synchronizes with every blow of the wind. "What are they doing deheart? I know you read many books and I think you also know some of it with the elves'' traditions," Dolly asked. It looks like Dolly is very interested in the rituals and traditions of the elf folks. "No idea. This is the first time I have seen them do this." I am telling the truth about this one. I am not too involved with the elf folk in the past timeline. Sure, I have some interaction with them from time to time but that was due to the quests. Compared to the time I have spent with the dwarves, merfolk, and harpies in the past timeline, the time I have interacted with the elves can be counted and measured easily. So even these kinds of behavior from them is new to me. The elder approached us and watch the ritual with us as he started exining what is happening. "This is the ritual to bless and guide the departed to the afterlife peacefully. Although we no longer treat the people who joined the demons as our kind, we still don''t forget to send their souls to the afterlife so that at least, their souls get a lighter punishment once they reach the afterlife. It is also a way to remember those who have fallen. I know this was rare to see since we rarely do it too. Due to the longevity of the elf folk, unless we die from war or any source that doesn''t involve the natural causes, we rarely held any sort of ritual like this," the elder said as he close his eyes to feel the breeze blowing. "Makes sense. Elf folks are said to be semi-immortal due to the fact that they live too long enough that they can reach almost an eternity and they will still continue to live," Goro said. "Is that so? Then, there are no deaths in elf folks with natural causes or of old ages?" Dolly asked. "Not necessarily. Compared to what Goro said earlier, elf folks are not immortal. Our race might live longerpared to other races but that doesn''t mean we are immortal. There are some rare cases of some elf folk bing so old yet they still retain the same way they do when they were still young. Some grow old too and not only the humans." The ritual continued for a few while until the sun rises. The elves dispersed after the ritual and the elder faces us. "To all of you adventurers, we thank you for everything. The demons might be capable of doing things that we cannot do but we will continue to live. We might have lost a lot but we will be able to move again given the time." Goro stepped forward, carrying the baby. "Elder, I will be giving back your granddaughter. I am just the foster parent of her and I can''t be with her as an actual parent since I am a goblin. It would be right to get her with you." The elder smiled and pat Goro''s shoulder. "Goro, being a parent is not defined on what race or what you are. Even if the child and the acting parent are not the same race, that does not change the fact that you are a parent. If youpare the two of us, you are the most qualified to be her parent. I am just an old elf that has to take care of the vige and rebuilding it again. Besides, I am still not ready to face my granddaughter after failing to protect her parents. It would be better for you to continue taking care of her. I know I sounded like an irresponsible rtive but I can''t deny that I can''t be a good parent that would be capable of racing her. As you can see, I no longer have a wife after she died from the war against the demons. I don''t want another one of my family to die from the demons. If they are with me, they might end up dead instead. Please, I plead that you raise the child of my child in my stead." Goro fell silent. He stares at the child as the child smiles at him. He looks up to the elder. "If that is the case, then I will do that in one condition," Goro said with a stern look on his face. "A condition?" the elder frowned. "Since her parents died, I have no idea what her name is. Even though her parents have bestowed a name for her, I don''t have any clue about what it was. They didn''t give any sort of info on what her name is. As her rtive, at least, bestow her a name on behalf of her real parents. I have only called her as the "baby" ever since." The elder smiled as he held his hand to receive the baby from Goro. He looks at the gentle face of the baby and admires it. "She looks like her mother when she was still a baby like her. I still remember the time when I held her mother for the first time in the past, it was like a fleeting dream for me but something that I can''t just forget. And although the genes of her mother is the one dominating, I can''t deny she possesses the eyes of her father. Gentle but has a little bit of sharpness. You who no longer possess a name, as one of the acting rtive, today is the day you will be born, and today, you will not be just a nameless baby, you who possess the destiny to read the stars, I will name you Hoshi. (A/N: Hoshi means "star" in Japan) The moment her name was bestowed, the surroundings started to glow and the air started to swirl around the baby. "What is going on?!" Goro panicked. "I don''t know either!" the vige elder was also not sure what is happening. Dolly and the others quickly took arms in case some enemy found out and the baby was the target. The baby suddenly floated out of the hands of the elder and we were suddenly not able to move. It was like we are watching a cutscene where we can''t intervene in what is happening. "As, Princess Lucia? Can you move and help out?" I tried to ask mypanions. "Master, just like you, we can''t move either!" As said. "I know this one, you guys don''t panic," Lucia said in a calm voice. "You know what is happening to the baby, Lucia?" I asked. "Yes. From the looks of her, she is a future priestess. This phenomenon happens whenever a person was bestowed the right to inherit the title of a priestess. She will be capable of using her priestess powers after this phenomenon. Just keep calm, nothing bad will happen." We watch the scene unfold. Hoshi remained in the air for a while until a female apparition of ck color appeared and hold her in her arms. We are not capable of moving and even though the others wanted to move, it seems they can''t do anything to do what they wanted. "The Goddess of Death! The Goddess of Death bestowed the baby with her blessings! I can''t believe this!" I didn''t expect it. To be honest, even though I yed the game for too long and have met a few of the gods that interact with the yers, I have not seen the Goddess of Death yet. I have seen the Goddess of Life before during one of the events and I can say she exudes the aura of a goddess herself. However, when you look at the Goddess of Death, she seemed to bring death in her presence alone. The presence was very heavy. The figure of the Goddess of Death slightly kissed the baby before her figure slowly disappears. Hoshi slowly descends and Goro quickly catches her before shepletelynds on the ground. "What was that earlier?" Hagane is clearly sweating. "A dark shadowy female figure just kissed the baby. Did she get cursed or something?" Chase wasn''t sure either. The elder who was stunned from the scene earlier close his eyes and sp his fingers. "Thank you Goddess of Death for bestowing a blessing to the baby." "The Goddess of Death?" Dolly was confused. I answered her question to alleviate her confusion. "She was one of the two primordial gods in this world. Her sister and her counterpart are the Goddess of Life. She, on the other hand, is called the Goddess of Death, she governs the afterlife, thend of the dead, and the souls of the dead. It seems like she bestowed a blessing to Hoshi directly. Which might make Hoshi the priestess of death." I didn''t expect this development, instead of bing the destined priestess of the stars, she became the priestess of death. This no longer follows the original storyline! Does that mean this was part of the altering timeline the warning earlier from epting Lucia as my follower talking about? Chapter 204 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (I) The encounter with the elf folk was over. Due to certain events, Hoshi, the Priestess of the Stars in my past timeline received a blessing from the Goddess of Death. It was a different blessingpared to in the past and now I have no idea what her ability is due to how the abilities of the priestess reflect depending on which god or goddess blessed them. The main quest ended but it seems that it was not the real end as the main quest wasbeled as pending in the quest tab. It is a natural thing to happen especially if the quest needs time to progress. Since Hoshi is still a baby, I am quite sure it was connected to that which is why the pending status. I am fine with that, that way, I can prepare a much better way to do things in quest in the future. I also inquire the elder about the repairing of the Ballista and he admitted that he did ask to have someone fix them. However, due to the wreck of the vige, he will have to postpone the quest for now and will issue it again once the vige is back to its usual look. Due to the incident, he will have the remaining elf folk in the vige remain in the current area so that the demons will have no clue where they relocated at the moment. They will return once it is a bit more peaceful. Since the quest was done, we returned to the mansion riding Leona. On the way, we talked about my experiences during the battle in the vige and the experiences of the group during the time I was on the solo quest. For them, it was a boss battle with an errand quest. Honestly, it was much easier for thempared to mine. I checked Goro''s level after the boss battle since they apany them during the battle. I still remember him in level 64 when I left for the vige. When I checked again, I was surprised to see him at level 73 already. That was a lot of experience gain he got there. But it was not surprising, with the buff from my title that receives twice the experience received, it is natural for Goro to get a lot of experiencepared to others. All of my followers can level this fast as long as they are my follower or familiar or even a pet. It wouldn''t take long for every follower of mine to reach level 100 and perhaps, even outlevel me in the process. Speaking of level, I didn''t know what level Lucia was. Back when we meet Lucia, she was too weak and insignificant that even if she was the demon princess, As can''t feel the usual pressure he feels when facing demons who have a domineering aura. "Oh? Are you going to check my stats?" Lucia asked. "I was also curious about her stats. For a demon princess, she felt a bit... weak?" "Huh? Are you insulting me? Do you know who you are talking to? I am Lucia, the demon princess. I have defeated multiple enemies in the past with my father. Hunted several dragons and y different kinds of monsters. Do you still think I am weak? I am not a pushover!" From the looks of it, she is not lying, however, shecks the presence of a demon princess that is usually having dark energy or an overwhelming aura. If she kills dragons and big enemies, is she just hiding her true power? Opening the stat panel for Lucia, I was surprised by what I just saw. Even Lucia was surprised since she can also see her stats while in the summons'' area. It was not something she expected as far as she wanted to see it. "Why am I in level 0?! What is going on?!" "Level 0 is usually to those who have no experience in the world or just born. Usually, a person or a creature will gain a level in their lifetime. Even nobatants will have a level though not as high as the adventurers and monsters, it is still not on level 0. I might have understood if you are on level 1 but level 0? Isn''t that starting from scratch?" "Why... what is going on?!" I checked her stats further and I can say that she is indeed back from scratch. Her stats were all for a level 0 Magician. I checked her skills and saw that all of them are empty. Not a single skill. She has a skill tree and she has a free 1 Skill point enough to unlock a 1 SP cost skill but that was it. "Not only my level but my stats and my skills too?!" "Hey! What are you doing?!" As voice was surprised. "It''s obvious! I need to cast my skills! I don''t believe they just disappear like that! [HELLFIRE]! [CATASTHROPHE STORM]! [SPIRE OF DARKNESS]!" Although I can''t see anything, I can hear anything that is happening inside the summons'' area. The fact that Lucia already shouted the skills and nothing urred means her character has been under the reset mode. "This is not possible! What happened to me!" ... The summons'' area became chaotic as Luciains about how she became a level 0. As for mypanions, they logged out of the game as they wanted to go to sleep already especially due to how tired they were after the quests. I also decided to log out. Since Lucia was still throwing a tantrum on what happened to her, I let As deal with her for the time being. Once I log out of the game, I pull a small traveling bag out of my closet and pack some clothes inside. Due to my increasing worries about my parents in Nagoya, I am now ready to go to Nagoya, visit my parents, and at the same time, set up a teleport portal for me to use as a way to jump across Nagoya to Tokyo as fast as I can. To prepare for this, I started making a teleport waypoint inside my room. It was easy to make since it only needs a bit of blood, an object that would be inconspicuous and easy to hide, and also a good source of mana that will be undisturbed. I already have a good ce to make that stuff. It was a small wardrobe where I can enter inside and hide. It has some of my jackets hanging but other than that, it was bare and good to use as a medium for teleportation. It was the most inconspicuous thing inside my room that will not be disturbed at all by any means. As for the mana source, I don''t need to look for that. Since the mansion was built in an area where the mana was naturally urring and existing, creating a teleport waypoint is not even a problem. Now that it was set up perfectly, all I needed to do is to reach Nagoya, find a safe ce to create another waypoint and I am set. But first, I need to buy a car. .... The next morning, I immediately went to buy a car. I didn''t bother to buy the most expensive car but just bought a simple, ck sedan. I have a driver''s license already due to a part-time job I took before I yed the game. I took it so that I am qualified for the part-time job. As expected, I was right to take an early test and get an early driver''s license. After a few test drives, I was satisfied with the result so the ck sedan became officially my car. Why buy an expensive car if they serve the same purpose as the less extravagant car? I do not like to boast and I don''t use the car often so this is just a good purchase. I also can''t believe I already have a car at this age. It took me a few years before I can even afford a second-hand car. To think in this timeline, I don''t own a second-hand car anymore but a brand new sedan that I owned? It is indeed great to taste the fruit of your ownbor. Nagoya is not that far from Tokyo however, it will take at least around 4 hours before I will reach Nagoya from Tokyo using the car. If I use a train, it will take me at most half a day if there are some problems. I already visited Nagoya before in the past timeline since my parents were buried in Nagoya so whenever I wanted to visit my parents, I have to drive from Tokyo to Nagoya just to visit them. This time though is not a simple visitation. I will prevent them from prematurely dying. I am not just going to wait until the worsees to worst. It would be already toote if I do so. "Wait for me, Mom, Dad. Whoever bastards are trying to cause problems for the two of you, they will have to pay." Chapter 205 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (II) The road to Nagoya is peaceful and there are fewer cars passing by which made the drive a lot smoother. For the next couple of hours traveling, I didn''t encounter any problem that wouldpromise the time I traveled to Nagoya. Although Nagoya is not as popted as Tokyo, it is still one of the busy ces in Japan with so many business opportunities. That is why my mother and father decided to use this chance to grab a business. I heard that they made a restaurant that serves fresh fish and other services involving fish. Fish is quite a good business since it is a fresh serving and my father is quite good at cooking. In the past timeline, I am also not sure how my parents got bankrupt after. They even said to me before that the business was good when they just opened. They even said that they have patrons before but slowly but surely, the patrons disappeared and the business begins to undergo its downfall. I refuse to believe the business was not good. Someone must have plotted this. If the ident of my mother was due to someone else, then the downfall of the business was also due to someone else too. Right now, the business is in the middle of debt and losing its customers slowly like what happened in the past timeline. With the road clear from traffic and dys, I managed to arrive in Nagoya a lot earlier than expected. The first I did was not visit my parents but secure a house that is good to use as a ce to make a teleport waypoint. It is much better to find a house to buy as soon as possible. There might be someone who will buy it and I don''t want to risk losing them. There might be a potential house that has the same affinity as my mansion in Tokyo where it was built around a ce full of natural mana. There were a lot of realtor businesses around and it seems they arepeting which businesses will be capable of selling the most houses. Even though there are a lot of them, I don''t really care if the house was crappy and dirty or even if it is expensive as hell. With the amount of money I possess, it didn''t matter if I waste a lot of money. I can still earn it without a problem and my stash is still overflowing from it. The first one I choose is the biggest realtorpany out of all of them. They tend to have the best ces to sell and most of the time they have the most amodating services to those who are looking for a house to buy. However, I didn''t expect that even in realtor businesses in which the realtors themselves wanted to impress the buyer, there are also those crappypanies. "Huh? A house? Are you sure you are buying?" a woman that has the looks of a model asked me. Apparently, this woman is a realtor and it seems she is looking down at me. "Of course, I need a ce to live here in Nagoya. Isn''t it obvious that I would buy a house if I was in a realtor business like this?" "Hmph, from the looks of you, you seem like a student. Isn''t it better to look for an apartment rather than a house? Besides, I don''t think you can afford the prices of our houses that much." "Don''t worry, I am not just staying here for a short time so I am in need of something I can use for the permanent purpose of staying in Nagoya. And you don''t need to be worried about my budget, it is big enough." "Tch... alright, here are the catalog of our houses, look for one and just tell me if you are done." After that, she haphazardly throw the catalog into the table and left her post. I look at the time and it seems like it was their lunchtime break. However, this was just a big disgrace of leaving a customer behind and take lunch without even saying anything. However, I am in need of a house, I don''t care if she has a bad personality, I need to buy a house. I wanted to ask her some questions about the details of the house but this b*tch actually decided to talk to her other coworkers without even caring about my inquiries. If she wanted to eat lunch, can''t she just eat at her table? It wasn''t that much clutter and I do not mind her eating if she is really hungry. But this treatment? It is a big straight F to me. I tried calling for her but she would just look and the other workers would start giggling. I hold back my urge to materialize my weapon and just bash them with a shield in the face to ruin their makeup. Because they are too much in the bad service, I decided that even if the house I am looking for is in their ce, it would be no longer part of my business, I would rather look for somewhere else, this is not just the only realtor business in the area. I m the catalog and left the building. It is best if a business like this gets the lesson they deserve for treating customers like nothing. The next realtor business I checked this time is another woman but this time, she was a mature woman, has an air of professionalism, and has a friendly air with her. "Wee! Are you looking for an apartment sir?" she asked. "Uh, no. I am looking for a house to live in here in Nagoya." "A permanent house huh? Are there any specifics of a ce you want? We have a variety of categories and it would be great to narrow it down so that you can easily find the house you wanted." Good, I was right at the point, this woman is good at handling the customerspared to the other one I just visited. "Hmm, I don''t have demanding specifics but it would be great if the house is not that far from the city and is in a ce where I can rx." "Do you have a range of price on your budget right now?" "No worries, I have a big budget. Just let me see the ces that would fit the category, whether it is a small house, a mansion, or a small apartment." "Oh, then here are your choices, you can look at them and see which ces seem to fit your tastes. We can also visit them if you wanted a live checkup on these ces." "That''s good to know!" I started checking on the ces and out of the whole bunch of ces she showed to me, two caught my eye. One is just a medium-size house which is a prettymon one around Japan and another mansion. Although it caught my eye, the mansion seems to be a bit unattractive to me. But there is something that seems to be keeping me pull into it but I have no idea what it was. It was just in the photo too so this got me weirded out. "Can we visit these two?" I asked and gave her the picture of the two houses. "Ah, alright sir. However, you might have to wait for a bit, I want to go to have some lunch for now so I wanted to close the business for a while. I will have to eat in the nearest eatery since I don''t bring any lunch. "Oh, is that so? Then let me apany you and I will also take my lunch too. This way, we can discuss the houses in detail. You might have some insights regarding the two so I would like to discuss them." "Hmm, that is good too. Actually, I wanted to give you some warning about one of them." "A warning?" "We can talk a bitter, lets go, I am already starving." ... The eatery she mentioned is the convenience store. It seems like she is on a tight budget that she has to spend less money just to buy food. Since I felt sorry for her only buying one onigiri for lunch, I decided to buy her one lunchbox set the convenience store sell. She insists to decline but I also insist that she epts the food. In the end, she epted it and she keeps on thanking me. "Alright, now let''s discuss things. You mentioned earlier that there is something wrong with one of the ces I picked. Is something the matter? Which one of the two?" "The mansion one. This ce is one of the ces that seems to put on a curse on anyone who lives here. This is one of our oldest houses that we wanted to sell but cannot be sold easily since the moment the people who bought the property move in, the next day, they will move out and will return the property to us. They said it was "cursed" or "haunted." My ears perked up. Looks like I found my target. Chapter 206 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (III) One of the signs a ce has a possibility to possess natural mana is the manifestation of paranormal entities. It was a verymon urrence and I notice this before. Once a ce is being manifested by spirits, it is either a ce full of mana or it was the ce that the paranormal was attached with causing the ce to develop mana in the process. The two choices are both win-win situations to me. So if what the Realtor said is true, then this would be the most ideal ce to set up the teleportation portal. "Are you sure you wanted to go to that ce? Even us would feel a bit troubled if things get a bit worse than necessary. We don''t want to endanger the lives of our customers so if the rumors are true, it would be best if you don''t check it out." "Don''t worry, things like this will make me more interested further. If you are worried, then just leave me the address and I will visit it myself." The realtor was a bit reluctant but since I was determined, she gave in and give the address to me. It was not that far from the Yagoto Cemetery, thergest cemetery in Nagoya. Now I am not surprised the ce gets haunted, the reason might not be connected but it is a very high chance it was. After eating lunch, I bid farewell to the realtor and told her I will be back if I wanted to buy it. I also told her to prepare the papers in case I will take them. There is a very high chance that this will be the ce I will be choosing. The realtor keeps on giving me warnings but since I am confident enough, I departed and went to the mansion that was said to be haunted. It was a 10-minute drive from the convenience store. I even passed by the Yagoto Cemetery before I reach the house. It was just really near to the cemetery. I wonder why does this mansion was made in this ce if the ce is near the cemetery. Most people will be discouraged to buy one house near the vicinity unless they want some sort of a house that would be a memorial gathering house of some families especially if it was the anniversary of death. Does that mean this mansion was meant to be sold for such a purpose? Parking my car near the mansion, my body felt the chills. But it was due to the excessive mana in the ce. After training my body and also awakening my abilities, I am quite sensitive to mana and can easily detect it. So even if normal people will only feel the chills, I will detect both the chills and the mana it exudes out. "Damn, the mana is too thick. Which paranormal entity might have caused this stuff?" Entering the gate, I felt like the whole ce is trying to pressure me. Due to this, I think the entity here is a malevolent one. Malevolent spirits are not just a bad thing to have, they are dangerous. I quickly materialize my weapon and assumed a battle stance. Although I seem like I am an exorcist right now, I don''t know how to exorcise a spirit. I surveyed the outside of the mansion and I am grinning from ear to ear. This mansion is indeed a natural ce that is producing mana. So any entity who stays here for quite some time, whether they are malevolent or not, they would get really strong here and will make themselves territorial if they felt threatened. "Heh, this vibe I am getting, this is pretty simr when I clear my current mansion against the undead and corpses. The only thing different is that there are no monsters around to kill." Since the purpose of this visitation is to check whether I would like to purchase the ce or not, I was also given the key to the mansion and check out what it looks like inside. With the outside of the mansion surveyed, the next ce to check is the interior of the mansion itself. CLICK! The door opens and the dust that has been umting in nearby areas started floating above the air. It seems like this ce was cleaned up outside but the inside is not. Maybe due to the malevolent energy surrounding the ce, the people who regrly clean here are terrified to even clean the ce up. The interior of the house is quite normal though it is less extravagantpared to the mansion I bought in Tokyo. It is still ssy for a Japanese house but it is not that ssy that anyone would catch the attention of someone. Somehow, the malevolent energy seems to spread out a lot the moment I entered. And although I know there won''t be an enemy that will dive out to me to kill me, the ce is unsettling. Now I can understand why the people that tried to live here decided to back out after staying here for a night. Anyone who has no iron gut would be scared shitless here. The first-floor survey is done and there are no abnormal things happening at all. Aside from the cold air blowing from time to time, there isn''t much incident that would make me say that made me terrified. But things started to escte when I started climbing up the stairs to the second floor. "My movement is getting sluggish as I keep climbing up. It seems like something else is currently holding me back from moving. Is this somehow the cause of the entity of the house trying to keep me away from this ce?" As I mumbled those, the pressure was reduced a bit before returning to its usual pressure. "...so that is how you respond huh, f*ck..." Since the pressure is just trying to force me to go out, I decided to fight back literally. You might not have a body for me to hit my weapon with but at least you might get affected by magic spells. I retract the Versatile Weapon and dematerialized it, and in exchange, conjure the electricity on my palms. "There is no such thing as ghosts in my vocabry! Go and toast yourself!" I m my palms to the floor and the second floor was engulfed in electric shock. Since there is no one in this mansion, I won''t be hitting any innocent individuals here. Just the jerk who keeps trying to scare me and torment me with the pressure. My mana has been tremendously increased so doing something like this is nothing. "YELP!" When I heard a sound, I stopped my electric shock and locate the location where the sound of some kind of pained dog. I know there are no dogs around here since I can detect if there are any individual or a creature around the ce. I also made sure that my attack earlier would only hit no one else. So it must be the ethereal creature that has been causing the ruckus. Besides, after doing that, the pressure disappeared. "Finally, this prankster paranormal entity is caught!" I kicked one of the doors open after detecting something different on the fifth door in the second room. Materializing my Versatile Weapon, what appears before me is a big teddy bear. Yep, a teddy bear. It is a lifesize teddy bear. What is weird is that the teddy bear is the only thing present in the room, nothing else but this huge teddy bear. "Ah sh*t, here we go again." BANG! I attacked the teddy bear and all of a sudden, the bear defended. "I knew it, you are the entity that has been causing trouble with me since I arrived in this mansion." PENG! We exchange a flurry of blows before I backtrack. The teddy bear is also backtracking before assuming a fighting stance once again. "I thought you would be an easy opponent, but it seems like I found a very worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!" The teddy bear made the move first and we started trading blows once again. It was just pure physical though I materialize the form of Versatile Weapon into a knuckle. Even though the teddy bear seems to be made from soft material, its flurry of attacks is painful and felt like a real punch. But with my strengthened body, I am capable of catching all of its blows head-on without sumbing to injuries. We exchanged punches and kicks for a few hours. I don''t know how long until the two of us fall down, huffing and puffing out of tiredness. "That was the best fistfight I have done in my whole life." The teddy bear also nodded and we justy there for a while. "How about a truce. For a fighter like you, it would be a shame if we don''t fight like this for some time, it would be great!" The teddy bear nodded and we both sped our hands. That day, I made a friend that I wouldn''t imagine I would get in my whole life. I just befriended a paranormal entity. Chapter 207 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (IV) Due to the exchange of fist with the teddy bear whom I haveter known to be the ghost that resides in the mansion, I got a new friend who shares the same hobby as me. Fighting. It wasn''t just an exchange that is usually done, it was a heart-to-heart exchange between the living and the dead. That is not an everyday urrence. Due to this, I decided that this is the perfect ce. Not only does the ce ideal for making a teleport waypoint, but apanion was also a plus. Not the expected oue but it is a wee one. Since the teddy bear decided to stay there for a while, I left the mansion and promised the ghost that I will be back once I have finalized the mansion''s purchase. After that, I went back to the Realtor''s office again. "HUH? ARE YOU SURE YOU WILL BE TAKING THAT MANSION?!" the realtor was too shocked that she raised her voice. "Uh... it''s not that big of a shocker and uh...please lower your voice, everyone is looking at you." "No, no. Are you sure? Did you even check the mansion?! Aren''t you creeped out or anything?" "Of course I went in. I can''t just see the outside and dere that I want it. Besides, the ghost was friendly and we arepatible, you don''t need to be worried about it." "Huh?" the realtor was shocked. "Anyway, let''s get the papers signed. It''s getting dark and I still have some things I needed to do." Since the papers of that mansion were not asplicated as the others, the purchase was over in a sh. Finally securing a ce to create the teleport waypoint, it''s time to pay a visit to Father and Mother. I have dyed it for too long. ... Halfway through the hospital where my mother was staying, rain poured down hard. There was no forecast for the rain so it was very unexpected it would suddenly cause a huge downpour. Thankfully, it wasn''t that strong of rain that the visibility of my car would diminish a lot. I arrived a few minutester. Now, all I need to know is the room where Mother was staying. Father didn''t say anything about the room number on which room she was staying and all I can do is just manually find it. The first thing to do is to ask the nurse station. "Excuse me, do you know which room does Tsukasa Miyako was staying in?" I asked in the nurse station. "What is your rtionship with the patient, sir?" the nurse on the nurse station asked. "I am her son, Tsukasa Manato." The nurse starts typing on herputer and after a while, she nodded and gave me a number and a Visitor pass. "The number is where your mother was staying. It is good that you are visiting. Most of the time, your father is not around and when he was, he is full of bruises. We tried to help him patch up his wounds but he always declines. It would be best to talk with your father on this." "Thank you for sharing." I left the nurse station and went to the room of my mother with a grim look on my face. So father is always not around with Mother and when he is with her, he was covered in bruises like he was in a fight or something? Is this why Father reluctant to say anything to me about the situation due to that reason?! When I arrived, a nurse was currently checking the dextrose and the temperature of my mother. Other than her, no one else is around. I tried to detect if there is anyone in the bathroom but it seems only the nurse and mother was inside the whole time. Where is father? That is the first thing that dropped into my mind. Where did Father go? I opened the door and the nurse didn''t expect my entrance. "Oh, are you a visitor of Mrs. Tsukasa?" "Yeah, I am her son. The nurse station already gave me a visitor''s card, so don''t worry about it." "Thank goodness someone is finally here," the nurse said, looking with a sigh of relief. "Huh? What do you mean? Isn''t father the one staying here to watch mom? Is there something wrong?" I asked. "Well, your mother is just all alone here in this room and if not for the nurses helping her and some of our caregivers, her condition might have worsened. As for your father, he didn''t visit for a week already." My eyebrows creased when she said my father has not visited Mother for a week. "What do you mean a week? I called him a few days ago and he said that mother is fine. He was not here the whole time when I called him?!" "I don''t know what is going on between you two but yes, we are hundred percent sure that your fatherst visited on Monday. It''s already the second Tuesday since your father left so we are also 100 percent sure of thest time he visited." "...I didn''t know that but thanks for the info. Appreciated it." The nurse then left the room and I was left alone with my unconscious mom. I look closely at my mom and I saw a few of the wounds from her incident. She has lots of cuts on her body and there are some bruises. The impact of the crash was too strong, that it caused her to go into aa. I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth. The people who did this are going to get into big trouble for messing with me and my parents. "Just you wait, bastards. You guys might have theugh for today but it will always be mystugh." After a few hours of staying inside, I left mother''s room and decided to pay for all the expenses of my mother here in the hospital. I am sure Father hasn''t paid yet so why not solve it once and for all? Since I can''t stay in the hospital room since I am just a visitor and not the guardian, I have limited time inside without my father, and besides, I still have some packages I needed to get the new house muchfortable and also to set up the teleport waypoint. Although it would be great to stay with her since my father is still nowhere to be found, I also need to finish all the things I needed to do when I came to Nagoya. The first was to buy furniture and since the selections and delivery is fast, I managed to buy enough appliances to fill the new mansion. It might not be my main house, but that ce was still considered as my ce, and living in a house without anything except a huge teddy bear would be a bit disappointing. I may not stay here for a while, but it would be a great way to use as a good ce to crash the night if I am in this ce. With the movers, I managed to save a lot of time arranging all the stuff I bought. Ah, and for the ghost, I asked him to calm down and not exude any sort of heavy pressure on them. Thankfully, the ghost was reasonable and I managed to set up the second homepletely. I can also tell the ghost was very happy since I also installed a mini gym in one of the wide rooms. With the ghost very happy about the training and fighting, it would make sense to set up a mini-gym of some sort. Once the preparations are done for the day, I went to my room in this new mansion and created a small portal that was simr to the first portal I made. However, this one is not hidden like back in my room. This one? It is revealed. I created a small ritual and activated the new teleport waypoint. The waypoint was sessfully established when the portal I made started glowing. It is now operational and I can now transfer from Nagoya to Tokyo and vice versa. "Alright time to test it." Touching the portal and channeling my mana on the teleport waypoint, a sh suddenly covered my whole body and in split second, I appeared once again inside my room in Tokyo. "Finally, the teleport waypoint was deployed sessfully!" I used the teleport waypoint again and returned to Nagoya once more. I have a few things I needed to finish. One is to find my father. With him missing for a week already is not a normal thing anymore. This is something much more serious and I wanted to know what is happening to him. There are two possibilities here. First would be my father going to work to earn more money to pay for the fee on my mother so until now, he is not there but this point is a bit farfetched. As for thest one, would be something that he was involved with the bastards that seems connected to the trouble my father was currently in. Chapter 208 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (V) Evening. After eating dinner and calling Akira that I won''t be able toe back home and to let everyone in the house know, I am now going to roll out my search for Father. I have no clue where he was but I have an idea where I would search for clues about him. The first stop is Mother and Father''s house. I may have not personally visited their house, but I know the address in case I would like to visit them. It was a 30-minute ride from my new mansion. Rain is still pouring hard but that didn''t stop me from going to their house. When I arrived in the area, I noticed that the lights inside the house of my father is on and I hear some people inside. Due to my suspicion of it, I take a precaution and parked my car far from the house so that the people inside won''t find out about my arrival and they won''t suspect it. It was like there are some ruckus due to how noisy they were inside. It didn''t sound like they are having fun inside so I doubt it was some sort of gathering. Not only that but I feel like the things inside the house have been raided by someone. I tried to listen to whoever they are. If they are someone who Father invited, much better. But if they are not, then I have to tread carefully. "Have you found anything yet?" "No. The bastard hid it very carefully. Go upstairs, maybe he hid it up there!" Thankfully, it was the right call for me to tread carefully. These bastards are trespassers on my father''s house! Materializing my weapon, I sneak inside the yard of my father''s house and observe the situation from there. Since the people inside were pretty loud, I managed to estimate how many of them were inside the house. 3 people upstairs and 2 on the first floor ''What the hell are they doing here? Are they trying to find something in possession from my father?'' Whatever they are trying to find, I can''t afford them to get it. I do not want tomit a crime but I will make sure that they will regret doing it. I am not really good at sneaking in real life and I have no ability to help with that so I have to be really sneaky. I managed to enter the room sessfully without a sound. My estimation was correct about two people on the ground floor. They were currently busy looking at the pile of things on the drawers on the ground floor making it too messy. When the other one was looking away from the other, I took this chance and zap the other with high voltage skill from my hands. It only took a second before he was knocked out unconscious. The other one looked back and was surprised when he saw the other guy emitting smoke. "Hey bud! What hap-guh!!" before the other guy can even approach the electrocuted guy, he was also zapped by electricity. It didn''t take him long before he also passed out. I made sure that it isn''t lethal but enough for them to get knocked out. I have to gather information from them. "Two down," I mumbled before going upstairs. With all the clutter around, it is easy to hide and blend in to the surroundings. Since there are three people upstairs, I have to take them out in one go or move as fast as I can and take them down before they can react. But how should I approach? If I have the ability of the Saboteur ss, I can justy out a trap and wait for them to trigger it but I am in reality and the saboteur ss skills are all existing only in the game. Sure I can use their weapon but I have no ess to their skills. CRASH! "Wha?! What''s going on?!" "Power outtage?! F*ck! Summon out your shlight man!" "I didn''t bring it today! I thought we wouldn''t be using it today!" "Agh, bastard. You really ruin the day huh, find a shlight and get back here. We need to find what we are looking for as soon as possible. The neighborhood might notice our presence here and we can''t afford to get discovered. Go!" It was surprising for me but the intruders too were not prepared for that since the whole surroundings fade to ck and their voices started to panic. It seems that we have a brownout. Maybe due to the lightning strike that crashed somewhere, the flow of electricity is interrupted. I grinned since fortune has blessed me for this opportunity. For someone who can easily feel the surroundings without opening my eyes, this is a very ideal situation for me. I changed my weapon into a Bo staff and feel my surroundings in a whole. When I spotted them in their current location, I quickly made my move and strike. With one of them gone to find a shlight, makes this much easier. THWACK! THWACK! Quick and swift, another two were down. A few secondster, I saw the light of the shlight shing. It seems the other guy who was tasked to fetch a shlight managed to acquire on in one of the rooms. "I found a shlight guys. Guys?" I grinned when he found out the other guys were missing. It only took me a second carrying their unconscious bodies away from where they were before. So it looks like they disappeared. "Guys? What the hell? Where are you guys?! F*CK! What is happening?!" The guy with the shlight is in the state of panic. Any sane person will also do the same after your buddies disappear in just a few seconds after you just went to a room for a few seconds to grab a shlight and in the next moment, they are gone. "Bro, don''t scare man. You know that I am not that good in horror and jumpscares. Please, stop pranking me." However, the man only heard the pitter patter sound of the rain in the roof and the wind blowing outside, making the surroundings more ominous than normal. Other than that, he didn''t hear anything else nor even the voices of the people he was looking for. Based on his reaction, he is not sure what to do, making him to vulnerable on ambush. His hands are shaking too much while gripping the shlight. As much as I wanted to scare him, I decided to not do it. I am in a hurry to find father. The sooner this is done, the better. As the guy was still looking for hisrades around, I sneak behind him and before he can turn around, the hard Bo staff meet his face, effectively knocking him out of his consciousness. After taking care of them, I look around for a rope and a few duct tape before tying them up. I also checked their clothes for any sort of items that they might use to escape or anything. I didn''t find any sort of clue but I got a hold of their phones. The problem though is that I have no clue on what the passwords of these phones since the screen was encrypted with a password. If I can put the password, I can ess the contents of their phone. Too bad, I have no skill in hacking so I all I can do is to make this guys spit out the password or just get rid of it and find what they were looking for. I grab one random intruder and pour a bottle of water on his face, effectively waking him up. Although it is dark, it didn''t matter much and he can still hear my voice. "What are the intentions of you and your fellow intruders have to intrude in this ce?" "Wha? Who are...(crack)... AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" "Who said you can ask a question? I am the one who will ask a question and the only thing you need to do is answer it. Simple and straightforward," I said to him after releasing one of his fingers that I just bend to break. "Kh... I don''t know what you (crack)... GAAAAAHHH!" "We can do this all day, you have 10 fingers and 10 toes, 2 are already broken, there are still 18 left to break, so are you going to answer or not?" "Just kill m-(CRACK)eeeeaaaugggghhhh!" "It''s too soon for you to die and if you wish to die so badly, go ahead, you are wee to jump off the cliff ory yourself on the road. Don''t drag me on your bullcrap, I don''t want to soil my hands." CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK! All 10 fingers of him was already broken but the guy was tenacious. However, I can see that he is now releasing saliva. It seems like he is almost on his very limit. "Since all your fingers are broken, how about we proceed to the toes?" "Okay, okay! I will talk! Spare me! Just don''t break my toes, please have mercy!" Chapter 209 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (VI) These bastards were too tight-lipped. Although the first guy did say something, it is not something I didn''t know so the info he gave was pretty much useless. The only useful thing I got was the tip they have for what they were currently looking for. I managed to get rid of them by smacking the back of their heads, knocking them out effectively. They have a 50-50 chance they will wake upter with their memories intact but I made sure that they will also pay for what they did. I didn''t bother to call the police due to the reason of breaking their fingers. This will cause me to be questioned by the police in the end. I decided to throw them into the heap of a trash dump in the neighborhood and made sure to cover them with garbage. They cannot say who I was since they also don''t know my real identity. They can only try to guess who I was. Now, the thing that my father was hiding was a random box that seems to hold something important for the people who infiltrated my father''s house. I don''t have any info on what it was but I can guess where it was hidden. As someone who knows my father really well, I know of his habits regarding hiding things. I went into his room. Moved the bed away and count the number of tile floors from the wall 4 times horizontal then 5 times vertical. Once I stopped counting, I knock on the veryst tile I counted. TONK TONK The knock was hollow and it moved a bit. I grinned as my father''s habit of hiding things never changed. Taking off the tile, there was indeed an item underneath it. A small little box, it is very small that I can say it looks like a box for the ring used in weddings. "I thought it would be a very big thing I needed to find, but why is it so small than expected?" I mumbled to myself. I pick up the small box and inspected it. I tried shaking it but it doesn''t give any rattling sound or anything. I even tried to perceive what is inside but it seems like I can''t see anything. Due to my curiosity, I opened the box. I thought there will be nothing inside but it seems like I was wrong since there was a USB sh drive inside. The reason why it is not shaking is due to it being covered in protective foam, allowing it to stay put inside the box, and even if you shake it, it wouldn''t do anything. "A sh drive? Is this the reason why my father is being hunted right now by these bastards and are now harming even my mother who was not even involved?" If this was indeed the main reason, does that mean, this sh drive contained something that those bastards wanted? After finding the sh drive, I went into my car, pull out my HoloPhone and ess the sh drive. Since the HoloPhone can now act as aptop orputer to read the sh drives, I didn''t need toe back home or go to an inte cafe to check the contents inside. The HoloPhone can do it just fine. "Huh? What the f*ck? Isn''t these porn videos?!" I scroll around the contents of the sh drive and the contents inside were all porn videos. Some of them are even on a folder while some of them that have thetest date is just sitting outside the organized folders. However, I am quite suspicious about this thing. I know that he would still watch one if he needed to but to collect these to this extent is suspicious. I am suspicious about this so I decided to check around the folder and browsed all the videos inside the folders. Due to the number of files, I have to scroll a lot just to look at it. I also didn''t expect the size of the sh drive is 125 GB. With all of these videos, I doubt all of these things are lewd videos. Then, I stumbled on one folder on one of the folders containing the forbidden content. It was suspicious since the title is only numbers. But then, I realized, it is not just numbers, it was a date. The date was just the verytest. Opening it, what I found was a list of names of people. I also saw a few scenes but it was not something I understand. I also thought that was the end of the video but it seems not. It faded to ck but the video is still ying and there are still at least five minutes left on it. I doubt this video a lot so I fast forward for a bit and things suddenly get interesting. It was the video of someone killing someone else. "Is this the reason why Father was being chased? Because of him being a witness of a crime?!" This is a huge scoop. And due to this, my father is being hunted right now. But who are these people? Only father knows who they are but since the next clue is found, the next move I need to make is to find father. It''s already toote for me to continue looking for him so I decided to return home and rest. It is also needed for me to at least recover my brain from thinking too hard. That is enough action for the day. ... The ghost in the mansion was currently in the gym converted room. The ghost was truly enjoying the gym since it has been working out using the teddy bear. I have not seen anyone who has a dedication like this ghost. Even though the ghost no longer has a real body, as long as there is a way, it can really do whatever it wanted. With the ghost busy, I have no one to disturb me in my room. I still have plenty of things I needed to do. Although I yed the game for a bit, the abilities I obtained are not yet on par back in the past timeline and I can say that I am still a newbie on it and I can''t do anything about it. The only thing I can do is keep powering myself up, keep myself strong in the game and keep on training. Because I am worried about what Lucia would do in the game while I was gone, I decided to log back to the game for a small-time. This way, I can at least have fun for a bit even under stressful times. [Wee Back, deheart] The first thing that my ears weed me after logging back in is Lucia''s voice. "You! How long are you going to be gone? I waited for you for quite a while! Howe you just appeared right now? I needed to recover my levels and abilities so that I can find my parents and prepare against the Goddess of Life!" "Calm down, Master needed to rest too sometimes. You can''t just force him to do things that you wanted to do without considering his feelings!" "But... but my levels..." "It is not a problem. Master can allow you to return to your previous level a lot faster so be patient about it. You don''t need to rush him to do it," As said. "Don''t worry Lucia, we will be hunting today, let''s raise that level of yours." The mansion is empty and everyone was offline which means everyone is not ying the game right now, and Goro and his family are all sound asleep in the room I assigned them, allowing me to summon Lucia out without any problem. "Do you have a weapon to fight enemies, Lucia? With your state right now, you won''t be able to do anything against the enemies we will be fighting." "I don''t. My weapon was left behind when I fell asleep. I need a new weapon to use." Since Lucia needed a new weapon, I pull out one of the Very Rare Staff that I was nning to sell forter. And even though it can only be equipped by yers at level 80 above, NPCs and followers bypass this rule and they can equip it without any problem. "Use this. It might be inferior to what you were using in the past, but I don''t have any better weapons you can use at the moment. If I get a good weapon, I will give it to you in the future." Lucia inspected the weapon and nodded in response. This is good enough. It might not be on par with my previous weapon but this works quite well for a beginner weapon. Let''s hunt and raise my level!" The entire night was spent with Lucia leveling back to her normal level. Although she has to work hard again, it seems like she will do whatever it takes to get back what was lost from her. As for me, my search for my father will have to continue tomorrow once the sun rises. Chapter 210 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (VII) I left the game after I leveled up Lucia to level 30. Contrary to her levels, she has indeed a destructive power capable of being called a mini-boss even on her current level. When she managed to obtain her second skill which is [Swirling me], a skill only magician yers who undergo the job ss upgrade Scarlet Mage can acquire, she became more progressive and was now capable of dishing out AOE attacks in which she no longer needs to get my help just to fight level 50 enemies. Although she was reluctant about stopping, she didn''t stop me and was happy that she already got one of the skills she previously used. Her potential is much bigger and if she grows much stronger, she might be able to go head to head with Queen Tanya in full power. After leaving the game, I started to train my mana once more. I am trying to rapidly develop my abilities one by one since I am nning to learn the healing magic that would help my mother get rid of what she was suffering right now. Healing magic is differentpared to other magic that can be learned in the real world. In the past timeline, most people who have Healing Magic are those who yed as a Cleric, Holy Knight, and Pdins as they are capable of using magic in the game, those magic skills are the first to master. As for the other sses, they can still learn it but it is a much slower processpared to yers who started out as a cleric. As for me, it is a bit slow but I am on the verge of learning it. I wonder why it is so hard to learn healing magicpared tobat magic skills. Maybe due to how its effects can change many things if mastered? My abilities are getting stronger day by day though far from my usual self in the past timeline, it is still strong enough that I can be even called a superhuman among humans now. Too bad I still can''t do some healing and everything would be really good. I took a deep breath before I opened my palm and a cold wave of air blows from my palm. It looks like I managed to develop the Ice element ability alongside the electricity. I wanted to get the fire element but it seems I still can''t just take the shortcut and has to properly train it. "This is good for cooling hot coffee in the morning." ... The day goes on as usual. I visited Mother and ask the nurses about the situation. Thankfully, she is fine and I can rx about it. They still have not seen Father either so getting clues from them would be a waste of time. There are two ces I needed to go to right now and the current points of interest for me which are Loashark''s ce where they conduct their business and the currently closed business of my parents. I know that they might not lead to any helpful clues but since this trip is for the purpose of helping my parents get out of the predicament, I have to do it. The very first step would be the closed business of my father. I know this would yield little to no result but I needed to at least investigate. With Father always making me keep in the dark, I have to do all of the work alone. Relying on the detective alone will also not help much and I can''t just wait on the sidelines and watch my parents die in the process. It took me a while to reach the ce where the business was built. As expected of it, the business is closed and the shutter has a poster with a "FOR LEASE" sign. The business is already out and no longer operating. Father said the business is fine but seeing the state of the ce, it is apparent that the business was closed for quite a while already. There is no way the business is functioning like usual. "Oh? Are you nning to look for the owner of this ce?" An olddy''s voice suddenly started speaking behind me. It seems she noticed me staring at the "FOR LEASE" sign so she think I was going to do some business. I turned around and saw an olddy with her cane in her hands and is currently smiling. She doesn''t look like someone who would suddenlysh out so I didn''t mind her talking to me. She might be even the owner of this ce. "Uh, sorry, I am not here to do that. I am just going to ask if you know the previous one who leased this ce before?" "Hmm? You mean the guy who runs a small restaurant that is dedicated to serving fresh fish to sell and has so many debts from the loan sharks and has been pestered by them every single day?" the olddy scratches her chin. My eyebrows frowned. "Pardon? Debts from the loan sharks?" "Yeah, that guy''s food was really good to eat and I even enjoyed a serving from him but these loan sharks are the ones causing many people to lose the appetite to eat there. They keep pestering him to pay which causes them to chase away the current customers and also the potential customers. Such a shame really." "Do you recognize some of the loan sharks here that have visited this ce before?" "I am not too keen on faces of them but I remember one of them. It''s just in the neighborhood. It''s the local loan shark business and is pretty much the ce some people run into so that they can borrow money. If you are looking for them, you can go to their business site. If I remember correctly, they are open right now." "Thank you for the information." "I can tell that you are rted to the man who was harassed by the loan sharks. You resembled him a lot if only a younger one. Whatever is going on, take care of him alright? He is getting thinner and thinner and I am kinda worried about him." I nodded in response. Although I didn''t confirm what she said to me was true, she has genuinely feel worried about my father''s situation. I bid farewell to her and left to go to the loan sharks. I hated loan sharks for these reasons alone. If the customer who borrowed the money fail to pay even for a single day, they would quickly start acting like they needed to harass the person so much just to pay. They are too much of a scammy business and they are troublesome. With the directions, the olddy gave to me on where the loan sharks she saw before were, I arrived at the location of the business. As expected, there are lots of thugs in the area. It''s not actually deserted but the ce is full of thugs from wherever you look. It was like they are currently hanging out in here. If it was me before, I wouldn''t hesitate to turn back and leave the area before the thugs can even notice my presence. But that is not something I would do right now. If possible, I wanted to avoid a fight. I don''t want to risk killing others right now. It would be great if they can at least hear me out and at least contribute a bit to find where my Father was. As soon as I step out of the car and started approaching the building where the operation of the business was, the eyes of all the thugs in the vicinity started to focus on me. Like they scrutinize your entire being, printing your whole body to their minds and ready to pounce like an animal ready to deal with something very nasty. Typical thugs. Entering the building, the people inside were some people who look like they are in a professional business but with some sort of thug air in them. "A new customer, wee, wee. How may I help you, dear sir?" a bespectacled man responded to me as I approach the table. "I am not here to borrow money. I need information about my Father." "Your Father? Oh...I see. So you are his son. Wonderful, that saves me the time looking for you since your father seems to have gone to hiding. Boys, get him." The thugs who were allzing about in the office stood up and started to do their move. It seems these bastards seem to have no time to listen to my story. I didn''t even mention my Father''s name and it seems he already figured out whose child I was. "I know that you are innocent on this but business is a business kid. If you want tost long in this business, then you have to do whatever it takes to finish what you just started." The thugs started to encircle me, carrying their weapons. They don''t have bloodlust on them but they are willing to do some work. However, it is unfortunate. "In business, you should know who you should face with. Who knows, maybe they are the ones who will cause your downfall," I said before assuming abat stance. Bring it on you bastards, let''s see how the Ice deals things to people like you guys. Chapter 211 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (VIII) If the situation outside can be seen by an outsider, it seems there is somemotion inside. Due to the tinted sses of the building, it is hard to see what is happening so if anyone would hear themotion, they wouldn''t care about what is happening at all. But inside, it is total chaos, and everyone inside is fighting. CRASH! One thug was sent flying to the shelf crashing all of the contents on that shelf and destroying them. Chairs and tables are also not safe and some of the chairs are already broken and are now good only for firewood. "What''s wrong guys?! I thought all of you would hand my ass on me and humiliate me? Howe even though all of you are overwhelming in number, no one is still capable of bringing me down?" I taunt all of them toe at once. "Don''t be cocky you bastard! You haven''t seen anything from us just yet!" The thugs were like zombies, ready to pounce and grab the opportunity of you defenseless. I defend one attacker, another attacker will take advantage of my open and guardless back. But to someone who has experience in battles, both in the past timeline and the current lifetime, these people are just a joke. One thug tried to attack me with a chair right straight to the face. I am currently defending on a few guys holding pipes so it was hard to immediately guard against him. So in this case, if I can''t guard, I will just use the one I am guarding against to guard against the iing one. BANG! The poor bastard immediately fainted the moment the chair hits, allowing me to change my target and repeat the process if necessary. My fists and shoes are enough, I don''t need to materialize my Versatile Weapon to get the advantage. "Useless bastards! You guys are losing to one guy! Beat him up!" the one who ordered to beat me up is now furious. "But boss, he is so fast and he beat up multiple people at once! He is too strong to handle!" "F*ck!" the boss shook his head and pulls out a pistol from his shelf. "If you can''t beat a bastard like him with a fist, then use a gun to silence injure him, and cripple him!" Ha, seriously. These guys are allughable. I grab a random thug near me and hurl him straight to the guy holding a gun. Before the boss can even pull the trigger of the gun, the other guy mmed straight to his face. The gun fell from his hands which I immediately grab before anyone else could. The boss quickly stood up, only to see his gun getting dismantled to pieces. "I don''t know about you, but I can win any fistfight like this without relying on a gun, you bastard." ... ... ... The fight did not take long. Although they are thugs, they don''t have any stood a chance with mybat capabilities. The people who can are those who are professional in fighting or those who are also capable of fighting head-on with me. Other than that, the thugs are justughable obstacles. I ended up tying everyone up and taking a photograph of them. After doing so, I approached the boss that pulls out the gun before and p him a few times to wake him up. "Waugh...?!" he was too surprised when he saw my face up close staring at him menacingly. He tried to move but then realized that he was tied up in a rope. "Untie me!" "Heh, you think I am stupid? As someone who just came to talk and discuss the debt of my father, you guys are the absolute pieces of garbage. If I am not well versed in fighting then I would be dead before I knew it. This is why it is not encouraged to use a loan shark business as a ce to borrow money. You f*ckers are causing the people who can pay money cannot pay it and live a miserable life." "Then what about us?! Did you think money grows on trees?!" "If you know that it is hard to earn money, then why did you keep sending thugs to the business of my father? Did you really think my father can earn money if the thugs you are sending to his business establishment chases away his customers? It is still you and your thug''s fault that my father can''t pay!" "Just you wait till I get out of my bindings..." "And what, call someone to assassinate me? So be it. Now that you are helpless, tell me, where is my father?" "Huh? Do you think I am the police that is responsible for looking for the missing people?! You are barking the wrong tree!" "Did you think I would ask you this question if I know where he was? You guys are one of the responsible for why my father became like this. If that is the case, isn''t this exactly the same thing as your fault?" "Heh, I am not responsible for why your father is missing. However, he might be missing due to the Katakura Family. Those guys have some serious grudge against your father. You can visit them if you wanted to. They are pretty famous around in this area so I doubt you will get lost finding them. As for me, I wouldn''t stoop so low on kidnapping him. I needed his money, not him himself." He got a point about that part. He just needed the money, so why would he kidnap him? That would make him not being able to pay anymore. "Anyways, how much is the debt of my father?" "Heh, what? You will pay?" I p his face and asked again while holding his hair. "Answer my question or you will go bald." "5 million yen! That''s the amount your father needed to pay me!" After hearing the exact amount, I pull out my wallet, and grab the money amounting to 5 million yen and present it to his face. "Do you see this? Now consider it paid," I said before throwing it in the air like confetti. I left the building after that. The thugs outside who did not participate in the rumble inside were no longer looking so menacing to me anymore. In fact, they look like they didn''t care anymore and seem to be pretending that they didn''t see me. What a hrious bunch. ... With the next clue obtained, I drive the car once again and drove to the Katakura Mansion. I saw the Katakura Mansion a few times since it is near the mansion I just bought and I can pass by on it. We are basically neighbors so I don''t need to know where it was located. Compared to the other ces I visited, for some unknown reason, this ce is being gued with energy so heavy, it kind of reminds me of the miasma emitted by the undead and skeletons. It was heavy and quite annoying. Does the undead are also spreading around here too? That is impossible so I didn''t bother. I scanned the area and I saw that there are plenty of guards inside. Due to my limited mastery of the scanning, I can''t urately find out how many of them were inside. "Damn, what is the better approach on this? If I infiltrated this ce, I would bebeled as an intruder. While if I try to interact with them normally, there is a chance they will not go and see me since I don''t have an appointment with them. They might even turn hostile if they find out I am the son of the person they hated the most. It is not easy to do it. As I was contemting what should I do, I spotted someone also snooping around the mansion. It was a hooded person so I do not know who the person is. All I saw is that the person was currently writing something in his notebook while looking at the walls that surround the yard of the mansion. "Am I not the only one who is trying to find ess to this house?" I mumbled to myself. Seeing the guy, I think I can ask him for a way to enter the ce. This guy looks like he was snooping around here for quite some time. Although suspicious, I need something suspicious right now that is rted to the Katakura Mansion''s inhabitants. I approach the guy quietly. He was so engrossed in taking notes so he didn''t notice me approaching. Or maybe my stealth was activated and he didn''t notice me. Either way, he didn''t see meing. "Umm, hello? What are you doing? Are you snooping around too?" This caused the person snooping around to get shocked and jump away in fright. "Sh*t, are you from the Katakura family?! Did I just got spotted?!" Confirmed, this person is also snooping around. Good. I can now ask for questions about her. Hope that this will allow me to find clues about my father''s disappearance. It might do well too if I find my father inside." Chapter 212 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (IX) It must havee as a surprise for this hooded person for me to approach. But he did not flee automatically when I talked to the hooded guy. He took a few steps away from me while scrutinizing me from head to toe and is currently judging me whether I am a friend or a foe. "Who are you, are you a goon of this family?!" "Wait, wait! Don''t worry, I am not. If you are here to snoop around, then we have the same objective as I am also doing it!" "Hmm? You are snooping around the property of the Katakura Family too? Do you have some business with these coldhearted people?" "I don''t know who they are but ording to the clues I pieced together, I need to meet with them." "Fat chance man. I mean, they are not as easy to meet as some people proim they are. In fact, they are one of the elusive families you will ever know around these parts. If you want to meet them, you need to have a stroke of fair luck to get at least one of their family to meet you in public." "That elusive? What are they even doing to be this elusive?" "Hush, we can''t talk with that here,e with me, unless you want to get caught by them that is." ... We drove away from the Katakura residence and went to a small apartment not that far from the Katakura Residence. I temporarily rented a room here so that I can easily do what I am trying to do to the Katakura''s. His room is on the second floor and after we stopped in the veryst room, he pulls out his key and opened the door. "Come in, it might not be a big ce and not asfy as normal rooms but I can''t help it, this ce is where I am keeping my operations." I entered the apartment and the first thing I smell is the strong smell of ink. It isn''t just a smell where a bottle of ink spilled, it was like the whole ce has been painted with ink. It is very strong even for my nose. After removing my shoes and entering the interior, I saw different photos on the wall and there are pins with yarns attached to it, and pins them on the photos, that seem to connect like lines. It was simr to how detectives and police do track criminals and those who are aplices of the mastermind. There are also different amounts of papers on the table and they are all filled with different things that contain different information. "Are you somehow a detective?" I asked. "No. I am not a detective, I am just a father looking for his daughter," he said before pulling off the hoodie that is hiding his face. It was a man in his mid-30s, a bit rough look on his face, but it hides a gentle look that many people won''t easily notice. I have seen plenty of yers in Alternate World who has a face like him who acts like a ruffian but was actually a father figure. "You are not a detective? Then what is this flowchart with photographs of some people?" "They are people I suspected to be connected to the disappearance of my daughter. That includes some of the Katakura''s. I investigated them for two weeks already." "You find something on them?" "Not that much but I manage to get a few insider info and gather a few that I can solidify the ims. Although it is not enough, I think it will be a good thing for me on my case and to nail the final coffin on finding where my daughter was." He went to the coffee machine and pour coffee beans inside and started to brew them. "How about you? If you are snooping around, you must have some reason why you would do that?" "I am on the trail on the disappearance of my father. After finding clues and talking to the people who were acquainted with my father, the final part is currently with the Katakura family. He currently has a feud with them so I don''t know whether they do have a connection to his disappearance or not." "It depends. Katakura family is currently one who operates an underground faction of syndicate around. I don''t know the details but they are slowly turning into a mafia. I also heard nasty rumors that they are somewhat involved in various disappearances of some people around the area. It was not proven buttely, I have seen plenty of posters of missing people. I am now doubting whether the people are just trying to stay quiet so that the Katakura family won''t disturb them." Oh, I have indeed noticed those posters. I didn''t pay attention to it since I am more focused on my goals is but now that he brought it up, I have noticed what he is saying about missing people. "Do you have any means of secret entry to the mansion?" I asked. "If I do have one, I would be already breaching the security of these people. However, I don''t have one. The Katakura family''s property is full of guards and I think they are in always constant rounds. I doubt entering the ce will yield good results. Though I have indeed some ns." "Oh?" I was intrigued. "I have seen a few parts of the walls of the ce that seemed to be on the weak side of the defense. I am not saying they are part of the easy ess. I doubt it will happen but it is the weakest part. If anyone wanted to sneak in, that ce has the highest chance of sess for anyone to be undetected." "You got my attention, please continue." ... ... Due to the guy, I managed to acquire quite a good amount of ways to break inside the ce. If there are chances that my father is in there, then my only way to check on it is to break inside. With valuable info, I decided that this is the time I needed to find my father. If the rumors are correct, then my father must be inside. I don''t believe he will flee from the debt and leave my mother alone. After the n was formted, I decided that the best way to perform this is indeed nighttime as it is the perfect way to keep yourself anonymous. ''The back of the Katakura Mansion has lighter security. Although it is lighter, it is still not an easy task to get in. That ce is being guarded by wolf dogs. Highly trained dogs that would rip apart any of the intruders. Although this is not as hard as the humans, the dogs still pose quite a big threat. They can rip you apart if you move wrongly.'' I can''t find a good way to say that it is not easy to deal with dogs as they are noisy and can attract others. However, that''s when I realized why he said that dogs are much easierpared to humans. Since the dogs are much sensitive to intruders, they wouldn''t hesitate to bark and since they are wolfdogs, they can easily tear your body down to pieces. But, not if they are being silenced. Due to this suggestion of his, I have an idea to infiltrate the ce. Nighttime. It is raining likest night, however, the rain is not as heavypared before so this rain won''t cover my movement. Wearing a ck skull hoodie with a skull mask toplete the attire, I climb the walls and stood atop of them. I made sure to scan from time to time in case some enemies wille. There are two big dog houses safe from the rain. Though this is no longer looking like a normal dog house, the dog houses are way too huge for a normal dog house for a wolfdog. Although Wolf dogs are big dogs, they are not that big to have this dog house. It was like a mini house that you can make a small room to sleep at night. A human can curl inside it and can still fit a few more people inside. Now that I managed to take a good close look, there were two ck hairy creatures inside. It was very ck, like jet ck darkness. However, they are moving and are currently sleeping inside their respective dog houses. For some unknown reason, I find the two dogs to be simr to a creature in Alternate World, the Chimera hybrid. They are level 125 elite monsters and can be found deep in the jungle of Sandurk and they are sometimes spotted in Resurgia. ording to the lore, they are the failed creation of a certain scientist out frombining human and animal. Due to how the abomination happened, the Chimera Hybrid is born. However, I have a bad feeling about these two. My suspicions are sometimes wrong but I have a strong feeling that this is not the case for me this time. These two "Wolfdogs" are not just normal wolf dogs. I am no longer taking this infiltration lightly and materialize my weapon. Chapter 213 - Nagoya Trip Of Madness (X) Chimera Hybrids are known for being an elite monster that needed to be killed multiple times due to how it has multiple hearts. Despite being an elite monster, it was treated by most yers as a mini-boss due to how you need to kill it multiple times just for it to die and how it changes attack pattern every time you killed it. I haven''t seen the monster in this timeline yet as I have yet to explore Sandurk a lot more but seeing the Chimera Hybrid in the real world seems different. Once my Versatile Weapon is materialized, I carefully assess my situation. If this is a real Chimera Hybrid or not, I need to make sure that a battle will be as silent as possible. I am still praying it is not a real Chimera Hybrid and just looks like one since it is dark and the darkness is ying tricks on my eyes. However, the more I stare at the two creatures sleeping, the more I find them looking like a real Chimera Hybrid. I gritted my teeth seeing them both. I am afraid that they have done something simr to the lore and origins of a Chimera Hybrid in the Alternate World. In the game, they are created from abducted humans and were created to fuse on other monsters, creatures, and even other humans, creating an abomination like the Chimera Hybrid. I am scared of what I am imagining. Since the Katakura family is being connected to the various disappearances of some people in the area. If that is the case, isn''t this just not a coincidence? Pointing my Versatile Weapon into the two beings sleeping, the ck shadow that devours the weapons every time I said "DEVOUR"mand to the Versatile Weapon appeared. I am not surprised that the ck shadow still appears since it is the main ability of the weapon but seeing it react on the two creature only mean one thing. The two creatures are looking like a portion of delicious food to the Versatile Weapon. It is already proven that the Versatile Weapon can devour other things besides weapons sincest time, I caused the Versatile Weapon to devour an arm that was severed and was still attached to the weapon. But this is the first time I have seen it appear voluntarily to a creature that is not a weapon. "You want to devour those two?" For some reason, the ck shadow nodded like it understood what I just said. It even showed its ck tongue and its ck saliva dripping from its mouth. I do not want to feed the Versatile Weapon with strange things but I think I will make an exception of that for today. "DEVOUR!" My ck shadow appeared like a dragon and opened its big mouth. The two creature that resembles the Chimera Hybrid seems to have awakened and moved out of their dog houses. However, the moment they went out, is the moment the ck Shadow of my Versatile Weapon moved and swallow the two in one go. Before they can yelp, it was swallowed and disappeared to the void of the stomach of the ck Shadow of my Versatile Weapon. It sighed and puffed out its mouth before retracting itself back to the weapon and disappeared. "Holy crap, what did this dragon just did?" The two creatures disappeared before they can even make any sound. Will it make any sort of changes to my weapon? I don''t know since I can''t check the stats of the Versatile Weapon in the real world. But that has taken care of the two things that I am reluctant to approach. Now, I am free to move around. Infiltration sess. The first thing I did is check if there are any surveince cameras around. It would be a pain if there are one and I am seen infiltrating. The enemies might be alerted and will immediately try to beat me up. I would rather avoid that. After making sure that there are no surveince cameras, I looked around the yard to see any of the potential enemies that might be around. Since I have scanned plenty of the security around, I needed to make sure my infiltration is sessful. There are plenty of areas that have no security but there are also parts where the security seems to be overflowing with people. After a bit of checking the nearest area to sneak into, one of the sides of the mansion is defenseless and has a window that I can sneak in. I made sure that there are no one around before I check inside the window. Seeing that the room inside is empty and there are no people or anything that can trigger my presence, I proceed to further infiltrate the mansion using the window. Thankfully, the window is a sliding-type window allowing me to get in without breaking it. Inside the mansion, it is quite spacious and a bit dark for some unknown reason. It didn''t look like a mansion meant for people who are rich. It was like it was abandoned for quite some time due to how less maintained the ce is. Cobwebs and dust are umted in the ceilings and the floor. The room I was in doesn''t have a door and is directly connected to the hallway outside. With the ease of entering, I survey the hallways for any guards roaming around. Thankfully, it seems like the mansion''s interior has no guards present. I don''t detect anyone patrolling the perimeter meaning the only area with tight security is currently the one outside. The owner seems to be really confident with the security outside that there is no more security assigned inside. But that is advantageous for me. Without the security to detect my movements, I can freely look around the ce and check what is going on inside the mansion and why it is somewhat differentpared to the other mansions. There is no need for me to do sightseeing around and only did the exploration process. I need to find clues regarding the disappearance of my father as soon as possible. As I explore the corridors of the mansion, I realized that the interior of the mansion was bigger than expectedpared to when you look outside. It was like the outside of the mansion was just an illusion to the eyes and the interior is what it really looks like. Then, I suddenly heard some screams, cries, andughter somewhere. The cries and screams are full of pain and seem to be from a man while theughter ising from a woman. However, theughter is not just a burst of normalughter but theughter that seems to being from someone who has an evil scheme or deed done sessfully. I slowly descend to the ground floor and noticed that the ce is no longer looking like it isn''t a mansion. This looks like a facility or an asylum. Aside from the dark atmosphere, the rooms have doors made of metal and they seemed to look simr to the asylum''s doors. Most rooms are locked so I have no way of entering them. But now I am quite sure that the ce is not a normal mansion. "The Katakura family''s residence is not a normal ce. It seems to be hiding something nasty." I started to explore the ce when all of a sudden, all of the doors on the ground floor opened and different creatures appeared from them. All of them seemed to havee from a nightmare or looking like a monster from the games. Just from a nce, I can tell that they are not friendlies and all of them are hostiles. None of them seems to have rational minds and they are all not humans or even humanoid ones. They are all looking like monsters and they started to speak gibberish sounds. As soon as they saw me, they started to attack like hostiles. Due to this, I materialize my weapon once again and attack the attacking creatures, making sure to kill them in the process. They were moving so fast that I have to make sure that all of my attacks are fatal and can kill the creatures in one, swift strike. They tried to overwhelm me but due to my mastery of keeping myself away from being overwhelmed by enemies, I managed to kill most creatures. As for the rest of the other creatures, they flee the moment my killing spree killed most of the creatures in the field. After a few minutes, I stopped swinging my Versatile Weapon and looked around me. The dead bodies of the creatures are just too much and they are all scattered all around the ce. "Just what the f*ck is going on?!" "You want to know what is going on? You are a brave one to breach this ce and kill the creatures contained in the cell. Normal people that managed to enter here are all killed before they can react. This is the first time someone else managed to survive the wave of the attacks and killed almost all of the creatures here," a woman started speaking who responded to my gripes on the situation. I raise my guard up and look at the source of the talking woman. I didn''t expect myself to take a step back to see who was speaking. "Now, now, don''t be afraid. Out of all the creatures in this ce, I am one of the most sentient of them all and I don''t eat humans. I am a picky eater after all." It was not a human currently speaking, but a big ck cat that is the same size as a leopard and has wings. Chapter 214 - How Mad The World Is "Don''t raise your guard on me. Even though I am looking like this, I am not going to harm you. Besides, it seems you also know some strange arts too. If that is the case, you are not going to be in danger at all." Currently, I am following the big ck cat that appeared earlier after fighting against the abominations that suddenly appeared earlier. "Tell me, what are those things?" I asked the ck cat. "You can call me Kurai human, also, if you are asking about those things that you killed earlier, then they are the remnants of the experiments done to them. They are one of the things that have been constantly under experiments in the past and when they can no longer handle it, their bodies break down, making what you are currently seeing on them right now." "Experiments?" "Yes, they should be previously a normal, either a rat, a rabbit, cat, or a dog depending on the experiments. However, there are also some asions that the experiments do not just range on animals, but also on humans too." "So are you saying among the monsters I killed, there are some that were previously a human?" "Nope. Those things are just from animals. As for the humans, they are on another scale and they mutated differentlypared to the monsters you just beat up. Don''t worry, you haven''t killed any person just yet." "Just yet?" "We don''t know whether you will be killing one. Almost all of the mutated creatures are hostile to living creatures especially a human. It is a rare instance for an experimented creature to remain its sanity after all of the torment it got." "Like you?" "Yes. In my case, I didn''t suffer much from the experimentations and managed to keep myself sane. However, some are not as strong-minded as me. They might have already broken down as soon as the experiment begins." "Who is doing these horrible things? Why is this person doing this?" "I am afraid I don''t know. I just managed to escape right now due to you triggering the trap that was meant to capture the one who just entered the premises without any sort of approval to the higher one. But if it was approved, there is no way I would be walking around right now." We continue to walk on the hallway that seems to lead deeper into the "facility" that this mansion hides. "Where are we going now?" "I am not too familiar with this ce but I have passed by here a few times back then when I was still being experimented. I am just leading you to the deepest area since it seems like you are looking for something rted to this facility." I didn''t respond to Kurai since my real goal is to find my father. Although it is not part of my goal to look for the situation of the mansion''s facility, this is something that has taken my attention. To think that experimentation on living beings, converting them to monstrous things is happening in real life. I thought it was just a plot in movies, novels, and even in games just to make an antagonist or a monster for the climax part but it seems like I was wrong. As we dwell deeper, I heard the scream that I heard earlier. This time, it is louder and it ising in this ce. "What''s going on?" "It seems like it is in the process of making some experiments on a poor victim. I didn''t expect that they would still keep on doing that wretched way." "Should we save them?" I look at Kurai. "If I would be the one to be the one on the say, I won''t do it. It is risky, dangerous, and most likely, the person you are going to save will no longer be someone you can save." Kurai is right. Even if you can try to save all of them, that doesn''t mean you can save them without anyplications or even setbacks. "Let''s proceed further." As we move to the next hallway, a swarm of those failed things appeared once again but this time, they are already out when we arrived. The moment the swarm noticed us, they started to get hostile and they begin their attack. Seeing the situation, I quickly materialize the Versatile Weapon and start attacking the creatures thate to me. As for Kurai, it seems like Kurai is not affected by the attacks. "The creatures here do not view me as a living being and they already differentiate me as one of them so instead of attacking me, they will focus all on you so I can''t do anything to help you with it." "Damn, you got a good way to screw people up huh?" I gritted my teeth as I mumbled up the situation. With the monsters appearing one by one, I quickly have to dispose of them all and release them from their suffering. With my Versatile Weapon quickly disposing of all of them, I managed to clear and send all of the experimented creatures to the afterlife. KISHAAAA! The creatures are all relentless and I am getting troubled with them. It was like they are trying to undergo suicide and die in my hands. They are desperate for death. Just as I continue to dispose all of them, a tall humanoid appeared, with some distorted parts on the guy''s face. "Be careful boy, that is a human who turned into a monster. From the looks of hisplexion and status, it is no longer possible for us to save him from things. The only thing that would relieve him from that position is his own death." The creature still features the same thing as a human. However, his sanity is gone and his body is ready to burst. He is now showing hostile eyes towards me, which means he is going to be a dangerous creature for anyone. One kill and you are dead. And from the looks of it, hecks the same way Kurai does. As soon as I cut down thest small creature, it started to move and it is now going into me, with its distorted expression. "Watch out! It is in for the kill!" Kurai warned. Knowing it will attack mindlessly, I decided to fully use the tactic and kill the enemies on sight. I changed my weapon into katana form and in one swift strike, I decapitated the creature, killing it instantly. Flicking the de to the side, the blood dyed the katana de. I look at the dead body of the failed experiment and silently pray for the soul of the poor guy. We continue to move on the facility. And this time, we got into a much bigger scale of the situation. The Katakura family''s mansion is not a normal mansion, or a mansion converted asylum. It is the definition of madness. Only people who are ready to keep mixing and experimenting all by themselves. The creatures are still appearing wherever I look. "Howe there are so many of these things? It was like they are mass-produced?!" "I don''t know the details but I heard that they are trial runs for the experimentations. They needed a smaller one to test out some experiments and try to see the reactions before they perform it on a bigger individual. Since these guys are all here appearing and are alling small, I must say that these unfortunate souls are all experiments gone wrong." Now I am piecing together that the Katakura family had something to do with the disappearance of the people around. I am also fearing that my father might be also one of the victims. Though I am hoping that is not the case here, it has a very big possibility that my father has also gotten involved in this mess since the loan sharks said that the Katakura Family had some sort of feud with my father. As we move deeper and deeper, a person suddenly appeared, wearing ab coat and is currently pushing a cart with a cage being pushed. There is something inside the cage though I can''t see it fully due to the cloth that was being covered on it. The scientist was startled when he saw me approaching along with Kurai. "Huh?! What the hell?! An intruder managed to push this far?!" Seeing me continue to approach, he decided to run. However, I am not someone who will just pass the chance to question someone especially if he is affiliated with this facility. BANG! BANG! I shoot his two legs, disabling his ability to walk in the process. "Don''t you dare run away, I am not done with you just yet. Answer my questions before I run out of patience and shoot this gun straight to your brain." "I don''t care if you shoot that to my brain! I won''t tell you, anything intruder!" BANG! "AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" the scientist cried as I shot his leg once again. "Now, talk. Just so you know, I can do this all day.. Tell me the details, full and detailed enough." Chapter 215 - Collection Of Rotten Body Parts "I will not talk even if you kill me!" the scientist is very resolute. BANG! Another bullet pierced his leg. He screamed again due to the pain but he didn''t yield. "Looks like a bullet is not enough to make you speak, then, how about this?" The scientist was expecting something painful but I do not tolerate him for not speaking even though it is painful. I need answers, not silence. Gathering my mana on my hands, I slowly convert it to a magic spell that I had just recently learned and injected it into the guy''s leg. "Huh?! What are you doing?" "You refuse to speak while in pain so I will torture you instead. See this?" then I slowly raise a frozen human leg. "A human leg that is... frozen?! Wait, what have you done to my leg?!" "You didn''t notice it right? You didn''t even notice that one of your legs is no longer in its proper ce." Nervously, the scientist look at the area where his leg was supposed to be. And there, what was left behind are fragments of frozen blood and flesh from his leg. His leg senses were numbed before it was cut off from his body. "Now, will you tell me what is going on or I am going to slowly remove this? I know the anxiety you will feel once this begins, you will not feel pain but after, what? Well, let''s just say that you will see your body parts melt alongside the ice. And who knows which part I would create a frozen version? Is it this one?" I proceed to hold his left arm and he started to freak out. "Maybe this one? Or this one? Or..." then my eyes fixated on his head. "I will talk! I will talk! Please don''t torture me anymore!" "Speak!" He started to tell the reason for the ce bing a research facility and making grotesque and failed experiments. The head of the Katakura family is getting older and he didn''t want to get old, so he decided to find a way to cure old age. That''s when he started to experiment with a lot of things regarding the human body, just to attain immortality and a young body. "Just to attain immortality he wasted a lot of things and lives for a shitty way to find immortality!? What bullshittry is he trying to create?!" "Please, I already told you everything, please let me go!" "I will keep my promise, go and nevere back!" The scientist quickly crawl to the floor and escaped. "You are just letting him go? He is one of the main lead researchers here and has been brutal to many things." "I am letting him go but who said I am letting him live?" "Huh?" Kurai didn''t understand what I was talking about. ... The scientist crawl a lot faster than he ever crawled his whole life. Now that one of his legs has been severed without him feeling it, he has no choice but to continue to crawl and find a ce where he can contact the higher-ups about the intruder. "It is your mistake that you let me go alive, heh!" When he managed to arrive in a safe area, he pull out his phone in the pocket of hisb gown. He already felt his phone but he didn''t understand what is happening when he can''t grasp it. "What is going on?" as he removed his hands from his pockets, he was scared when he saw his hands is no longer looking like one and looks more like a block of ice. Soon, he felt coldness on his body like never been before. It was so cold that he felt like he was inside a refrigerator. Despite the ce being hot enough to melt a block of ice in a few minutes, he felt like he is from a different ce. "What... what...is going...on...? He tried to move his body but realized that his movement slowed down, and it also significantly made all his body stiff. He can''t move. Due to his movement restriction, he uses his eyes to look at what is happening to his body. To his horror, big chunks of ice are starting to appear on his body. Not just white ice. but blood-red eyes. Soon, even his eyes started to get stiff and it didn''t take long before every single part of him was frozen. After a few seconds, his whole body exploded and all the ice scattered all over the ce. Due to the heat of the area, the ice slowly melted, leaving nothing behind as a result. ... I continue to walk further with Kurai in the facility. Due to how deep we are already, there is no way we are still above ground. Most likely, we are underground. But the design of this ce is amazing, you think you are walking in a straight line but in reality, you are descending to the ce without noticing it. I look up and can see that we have indeed descended. If not for the way this ce was designed, you might have already known that you are descending. Soon, I smell something disgusting in the air all of a sudden. There was a very bad smell that I can''t pinpoint but it is pretty bad I want to puke. "Looks like we are near the "Collection of Rotten Body Parts" and where it was held," Kurai said without even being bothered by the smell despite being a big feline that has a lot more sensitive nose than me. "Collection of what?" "Collection of Rotten Body Parts. Although it is not the official name since I don''t know, I call it like that due to its appearance and its disgusting smell. You will understand once we arrive at its special containment cell. It is a big ce so we will not miss it." We continue walking and more wails of other creatures started to get frequent. Not only that but the smell is just getting nastier that I don''t know whether it is indeed from a rotten piece of meat or just in rotten thingsbined together. Then, it appeared before me. Now I understood why Kurai called it the "Collection of Rotten Body Parts." It was indeed a heap of rotten body parts of a human being. However, this is an abomination. He seems like a huge arena of a football field. He was so big that you will think it was a pile of rotten body parts but you will notice that it is moving and all of the body parts are all part of the body of the creature. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Another scream of a man reached my ears. However, this time, I have finally known where it wasing from. It was not from a person being abused or being experimented on. It came from the creature that we call Collection of Rotten Body Parts. "I still remember how horrendous this person became before he turned into a monstrosity like this. He was supposed to be the experiment that meant regrowing lost limbs. At first, they thought it was a sess due to how he regenerated after his limbs were cut off. However, the regenerated body parts didn''t stop regenerating and continue to regenerate new body parts. Not only that, the older body parts that were generated started to rot really fast that no one would believe that those body parts were growing from his body for just a few days." "So you mean, this guy is immortal?" "I don''t know. However, all I know is that once he is cut down, he will regenerate and will continue to produce a sh*tload of body parts that will slowly rot and increase the smell of the rotten. So basically, you can call him an immortal." No wonder his screams seem to feel full of sorrow and pain. This is not a good way for him to live. "Due to that regeneration, whenever the excess parts of his body grow, they grow twice the amount cut. Although the severed limbs will not do anything, they will still smell rotten and in the very end, it getsbined with them." He keeps on wailing and it looks like he is too heavy to move even though there were no binds that hold him, he seems to be not moving and just keeps on wailing in pain. Despite the smell, I don''t think I can''t stand this creature to continue to exist like this. Sure he is pitiful but he still needs to perish. It is only the logical way to do it for him. He needs to stop his own suffering and ept death. "I will kill this collection of rotten body parts." "Huh? You think you will be able to kill him?" "I don''t know but I am thinking of something that has a possibility of him dying. Since he keeps on regenerating, he needs to be killed before he can even regenerate," I said, considering all of my options. "Are you serious? Do you think it is an easy feat at killing creatures like this? I have indeed seen your prowess and dispatching the rejects and the failed subjects are a breeze to you. But are you capable of doing it?" I grinned and nced at Kurai.. "I won''t be Death''s favorite if I can''t do a simple thing such as this." Chapter 216 - There Is No Such Thing As Immortality The Collection of Rotten Body Parts might be huge but I am not sure whether it is hostile or not. With its limited movement and strange body, it is unclear whether this one will be capable of an attack or will just remain in its neutral state. "I know you are confident in killing the Collection of Rotten Body Parts but I think you needed to reconsider doing it. Not only will this cause trouble but you might also die!" "Don''t worry, I can handle myself." After that, I slowly descended to the Collection of Rotten Body Part''s chamber. The smell is just too strong I can definitely puke here if I don''t get ustomed to it soon. The Collection of Rotten Body Parts is moving slightly but it was just a normal shift of his position and that''s it. Due to how big he was, I think he didn''t even notice me here. Whoever this man was, this guy has suffered too long already. I wanted to use my ability from where I am standing but my current pool of mana is differentpared to my pool of mana in the game. Although the passive effects of the Versatile Weapon seem to also take effect while in the real world, the amount of mana of what I am about to do is not something I will cough at. Even with the reduced mana usage, it will take a lot to fully kill this poor guy and I might end up dehydrated from mana which I wanted to avoid. If I want to inflict a fatal way to kill him, I need to reach where his main body in the past was supposed to be before he became a monstrosity. If his main body is killed, every single part of this body will also die. There is no such thing as immortality. Nothingsts for eternity. Especially if you are a human,sting forever is a curse. not a blessing. No one deserves eternal suffering as he does. "GUUUUUURRRRRR..." From the looks of it, this guy lost his ability to speak after a long time. He lost his human rationality and he is now simr to a mindless creature. His mind seems much worse than a slime right now. I climb the rotten body parts of his. Legs, arms, more legs, and more arms, it is a neverending pile of his body parts. But since his body parts seem to have rotted already in the very bottom parts, the only parts left behind are those still strong allowing me to keep on climbing. It may smell disgusting but there is no choice about that. After a few minutes of climbing up, I managed to find the main body in this pile of rotten human parts of his body. His main body looked like he was suspended by something in the air, the only thing is that all of those things that make him suspended in the air are growing in his body. Since he became so big, my guess is that even his limbs also grow some limbs on them despite not being the right ce to regenerate. His hair is also getting thick and long which is why it looks like he has grown some kind of hair in his body parts. I stood at his back for a bit and silently mutter a prayer. After that, I changed my Versatile Weapon into a staff to increase the potency of the magic I am about to do. "You might have suffered for quite a long time, but today, everything will end now. Goodbye man, I hope in your next life you will return to your human form." I tap his back twice with my staff and channeled my mana to the tip. Soon, his body started to emit cold air. Even the parts I was standing on are getting colder too. The process happening to him is simr to how I performed an execution to the scientist guy earlier who died somewhere, but this time, I have to control it since the body of this guy is not just going to experience the same thing as the scientist. The mana being consumed is lesser than normal so my capacity of magic used is also enough to perform the execution cleanly. "URRRRGGGHHHH GURRRR... GRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" He started screaming when the ice started to spread out of his body and his skin is starting to produce ice particles. As I increased the intensity, the ice appearing is also getting bigger and bigger. I released a bit of mana before retracting the versatile weapon and retreating away from the main body. The mana I left behind will act as the main battery to continue the spell. As the ice continues to get bigger, the ice is also spreading. Without waiting for it, I jump away from the main body and used the Versatile Weapon transformed into a Hook and Chain and grab the nearest foothold where I came from. I climb and witnessed the situation. His screams are echoing the facility as the ice from his body slowly invades the main body. It is also spreading to the other parts of his body until it stops midway from spreading. However, even though it is no longer spreading, the ice spikes are also getting bigger. Then... BOOOOOMMMMMMM! Like a TNT ignited and like a volcano that just erupted, the main body of the Collection of Rotten Body Parts also exploded to pieces. Nothing was left behind from his main body and everything else that was covered with ice before. The only thing left behind is the humongous part of his body that has been growing for quite a while now. After the explosion, the movement of the limbs also disappeared. Not only that but I also noticed that the body parts that were previously looking alive and full of energy are now simr to rotten nts. It seems like it started to wither after the main source of things that caused them to keep regenerating disappeared. "You really did it!" Kurai said looking excited. "Why do seem so excited?" "I am just happy that someone like him who has been suffering for quite a while has finally taken his rest. He deserved it after spending for around 20 years like that." Now that I think about it, Kurai seems to be well versed in everything around here. He doesn''t look simr to those guys that I have encountered so far. "What are you really Kurai?" "Huh?" Kurai looked at me in surprise. "For someone who has been experimented, you seemed to be so calm that it seems like it is off or something." Before Kurai can answer, someone else answered it. "Because she is the first experiment in this facility to ever exist, the Alpha of all creations, she is the very first sessful creature I have made and made significant contributions to my research!" A scientist who looks like he is in 21 years of age approached us and wears a very sadistic-looking smile on his face. "It''s Dr. Katakura!" Kurai eximed. Katakura... so he was the one who caused all of this mess and made this ce just to contain all of his research about immortality. "Oh, looks like my Alpha still remembers me despite being left all alone on the ground floor to rot. But it is outside my calctions for you to be here and managed to breach out from your cell. So this man must be the one causing the ruckus around these parts." "So you are the bastard doing ridiculous as these research for immortality huh, what a bastard to even include normal people in your crazy research. If you want to research immortality, you shouldn''t have included others like this!" "Huh. What do you even understand in immortality? Do you already attain the state of immortality for you to speak like that? Surely, I doubt you do understand it. For someone as narrowminded as you, it wouldn''t be a surprise that you would be surprised how necessary immortality was for the human evolution." "BAH! Immortality this, the immortality that! I don''t care about it! Do I look like I care about your sentiments about it?!" "Silence, fool. Do you dare call my research useless?! Immortality is the peak of human evolution! With it, we will never need to die, we wouldn''t need to suffer from sickness and we will never worry about anything! This is what a paradise is for! Immortality is going to be a blessing to the world and due to my contributions, I will be able to keep living forever!" "Huh? So you are saying that because of your stupid belief in immortality, you decided to ruin other''s lives and make them these monstrosities? Instead of a blessing, immortality is a curse! Follow the rules of nature since you are just a damn human!" Dr. Katakuraugh and grinned menacingly. "It seems like a stubborn one is much more ready to die. If that is the case, I will not include you in the people who will be immortal!" and he started to bulk up his body like some sort of muscr student. "Pfft.. Who needs it, definitely not me." Chapter 217 - Immortality Or Eternity First Half As far as history goes, there are people who seek immortality to preserve their own life, legacy and live forever. Although no one has achieved the feat of obtaining it, there are some who almost managed to do so and as time goes by, the only thing that they wish for is their death. There is only one thing that is left for them and that would be their regret seeing all of their loved ones die one by one and seeing all the things changing while you remain unchanged. It is a solitary and lonely life. However, from the looks of this guy, he wanted to get immortality, so that he can rule over the world or something simr. Although I would say that is a very brilliant n even though it is somewhat evil, it isn''t much that genius feat. And if he is trying to say this is for the sake of humanity, immortality is not needed. In fact, it will be a real problem instead of all people in the world are immortal. Soon enough, this world will be too overpopted and there wille a time where there will be no more space for a person to walk since all ces are upied by a person. The mad scientist, Dr. Katakura frowned while I grin at him for declining his ideals of everyone bing an immortal. "Why? Why are you rejecting the blessing of bing an immortal? Isn''t it everyone''s wish to live forever?" "Well, I won''t deny that some people wanted to live forever, but that is not something everyone wishes. More like it is an optional thing. I am not saying it is a necessity to be an immortal but for me, it is a bit wrong for a person to a God''s work. Rather, you should just let nature do its own course. Manipting it and acting like a god for your own inconveniences is just one bad thing." "Hmph, so you want to die that badly?" "No, I still wanted to live. However, I am more satisfied to live a life that I can be proud of and leave this world with a significant contribution. Living forever is not a life I prefer." "I don''t know what you are talking about but I am pissed at your philosophy. It''s so hypocritical enough that I want to puke." "Your study to immortality is not wrong. However, your method to do it is wrong. Like real wrong. You should turn yourself to the police and confess your crimes!" "Hmph, then you have to die here. You don''t want immortality, then just go and die!" he then pulls out a pistol from hisb gown and aimed it at me. He quickly pulled the trigger to shoot me dead. PENG! Dr. Katakura frowned when a metallic sound caused his bullet to disappear. "I see. You have been so corrupted you no longer regard human life as precious. Seeing you have a gun in your arsenal means that you are ready to kill anytime and anywhere. Then, if that is the case, I will not hold back either." "A weapon...?" Dr. Katakura looked at the thing on my hand. He frowned when it was revealed to be a sword. "Huh. So ordinary individual has ess to things like that huh? Then, I would rather shoot you as fast as I can to kill you then. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! PENG PENG PENG PENG PENG PENG! He frowned when even those fast bullets did not hit me. I grinned at him and waved my shield which I transformed my sword into. I can hit a few bullets but I don''t want to risk my life doing stunts like that in real life. This is not a game and I only have one life. "What now? Aren''t you ready to kill me? What are you doing? Just waving the gun without any way to kill me?!" "YOU!" He started to shoot at me in a frenzy. I block all of them before deflecting one bullet back to him. The reflected bullet hits his right shoulder and he staggers. However, he didn''t bleed. I frowned at him after that. "I see. So you already achieved the immortality you are seeking for." "Indeed. And now, due to this, I cannot-" BANG! I shoot his head with my gun. He immediately fell to the ground but he stood up and groaned. The bullet passed through his brain but it seems his regeneration is at a much faster ratepared to the Corpse of Rotten Body Parts. "Damn you, not only a sword, but you also have a shield and a gun?! So you havee here to kill me?!" "Not really. I came here to look for my missing father but now that I saw how you work, I decided that you don''t deserve the life you have right now." BANG! I repeated shooting him but he keepsing back. "Whatever you do, even if you shoot me a lot of times, I won''t die! I am immortal!" BANG! "I don''t care if you are an immortal. In fact, I am d you are not dying since I can practice doing some headshots. You are a pretty useful shooting buddy." BANG! BANG! BANG! This continued for quite a few minutes. Dr. Katakura can''t retaliate since every time a bullet enters his head, he keeps on falling down to the ground andy t. He keepsughing that he won''t die but after around 200 shots, there are now changes regarding his face. From the looks of it, he didn''t notice it just yet. "I see. Even if you are an immortal, no matter how many times you regenerate, there will be some time that your body regeneration will mess up. This immortality of yours is not even a full one." "What are you saying?" "Can''t you even feel your face? It is a mess. You seemed to be oblivious to pain now that you can''t even notice changes on your body anymore." He then hold his face and then realize how different it was right now. "What have you done?!" "Why are you ming me? Your body can''t keep up with the damage I am inflicting on you so it seems they are now messing up with your face right now. ept it now that your immortality is not a sess but full of bugs and failures. You either need to fix it or abandon itpletely." "NO! I refuse to believe this!" he started to w his face with his hands and although it started to bleed, it seems like his body is absorbing the blood making it dry up as soon as it flows out. He screams in agony and it seems like he is getting crazy. BANG! His body fell to the ground but he no longer move like how he stood up after being shot by my gun. Now, he justy down there, unmoving. "Is he dead?" Kurai was about to approach his body but I stopped her. "Don''t. His body is not dead yet. Since he achieved immortality, it won''t kill him that easily." "Then, why is he not moving?" I didn''t answer and just prepare myself for whatever is going to happen. To someone who has an unstable mind and has something like immortality, there is always something unexpected that will happen if you let your guard down. He slowly stood up once again but now I can see that his head is no longer like a normal head. His head became an elongated one. It was like his head became a liquid for a small amount of time and after a few seconds, it suddenly solidifies before it can return to its original shape. "This isn''t the fault of my immortality, this your fault you f*cking b*stard! If not for you, I will not be like this!" He then started charging at me like a crazed man. I didn''t shoot him this time and kicked him in the face. It still feels like I kicked a face but it was somewhat of a different feel. After he staggered, I changed the gun into a shield and quickly bash his face multiple times. "I know you won''t die but I know how to bring some kind of eternal suffering to someone like you who will not die." I repeated bashing his head with the shield. There should be blood every time I bash his head but it seems like his immortality is making itself useful and stop his blood from flowing uncontrolled. "While we are at it, I need to know if you are involved in the disappearance of my father, Tsukasa Katsuragi." "Heh, that bastard? I don''t know where he is right now but I am sure that he should be suffering in hell right now." My eyes squinted and grab his cor before bashing his head once again with my shield. "Heh heh heh... even if you beat me up, you won''t kill me and you won''t know any more information from me about your damnable father. He should rot in hell instead!" "Who told you to yammer so much?" before I cut off his head. Chapter 218 - Immortality Or Eternity Second Half His body shrieked when his head and body separated. It was like his body tried to grab the decapitated head and attach it back but I didn''t allow it to do it. Before itnded on the ground, I made a finger gun on my fingers and channel my mana, shooting out freezing magic to the head, causing it to freeze like an ice chunk. It was frozen and the moment itnded on the ground, I shot another magic but this time, I used the overloadedponent of the electric element and shoot it to the frozen head. The head was so fragile that it didn''t even remain frozen for long and exploded to pieces. "Is he dead now?!" Kurai frowned as she saw everything happened before her eyes. "I don''t think so," I said and nce at the headless body. This body might have been missing a head but it''s still alive and well that I can still feel its body functions still doing well. I was about to do something with the body of Dr. Katakura too but I was surprised when it suddenly shakes wildly that I have to retreat from the body and halt what I was originally nning to do. "What is happening?!" Kurai''s fur is standing up meaning she is in a state of panic seeing what is happening on Dr. Katakura''s body. Seeing the abnormality, I didn''t wait and see what will happen to the body and started to do some action and try to stop it from whatever it was about to do. I transformed my weapon back into a staff and cast the ice magic to the body. But I didn''t expect it to dodge and continue its wriggling movement on the other side. I tried it again but it only repeated the actions that I have to repeat a lot of times but none hits. "What the f*ck, howe I keep on missing despite my predictions?!" I grit my teeth as I look at the body dodging all of my attacks. I am quite sure that they will hit but they didn''t and just hit the floor. Then, the body of Dr. Katakura started to wriggle hard and the skin started to expand like something was about to break through the skin. It was like looking at a corpse that is currently acting as a nest for a baby alien or monster. It looks disgusting. "Maybe you should just cut it down?" Kurai suggested. "Good point, there is no need to use magic if I can just cut him to pieces!" Changing my versatile weapon into a katana, I quickly close my distance to the body and perform my iaido draw stance and I closed my eyes to remember all of the teachings and all of the practices I did for the katana. It might have dulled from not practicing the technique but I can still do the half-*ssed version of it. "[Thousand Petal Cut]!" SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SLASH! I shed in the air while my eyes are closed. CLINK! Once the attack was done, I return the katana to the scabbard and I slowly opened my eyes. I didn''t expect to cut the body down to pieces but it was revealed to me that I have indeed sessfully finished cutting the body to pieces. The body was cut to pieces. "Wow! How did you do that?!" I didn''t answer. Although I didplete it wlessly, I suddenly felt the pang of bacsh pain from doing it. It was like I have done something that I shouldn''t have done carelessly. Since the bastard seems to be still alive, quickly cast a spell on the remains and freeze them all. I can''t risk it so it is better for these to disappearpletely. CRACK! BANG! They freeze and exploded like popcorn after a few seconds of being frozen. I sighed as the situation was finally over. Although there is not really a dangerous monster I have faced and Dr. Katakura did not even prove his immortality for too long, I have to still find my father. I left after the battle with Kurai to dwell deeper but then, I suddenly felt an extreme bloodlust that I can feel it seeping on my skin. "Did you really think I will die by your petty abilities? Remember that I am an immortal being! Even if you kill me multiple times, I will regenerate and regenerate again and again!" The two of us looked back and saw a lump of flesh slowly forming and making shape behind us. "These f*cking monstrosity, so he can still regenerate out of nothingness even after being sliced to pieces and reduced to bits of ice?" Lumps of flesh, blood and other kinds of tissues gather like it was being formed andbined together and as soon as they were done, they started to return to the main body. "My body is immortal, and death is not on my vocabry. Your efforts are futile!" Then, I realized, the lump of flesh is not forming into a human being, instead, it seems to be forming into some sort of monstrosity. A pile of flesh that seems to be looking like a sludge of meat. "Eh? What is happening to my body?! To my perfect body?! Why am I looking like this?! What have you done to my body!?" Based on his reaction, his transformation to this abomination means he didn''t n to look like this. I thought he did n it to defeat and kill me but my assumptions are wrong. He might have not died from my attacks and still managed to regenerated, preventing his death, but it seems like it is not progressing smoothly. Seeing him still regenerating, I started to cut him down repeatedly while releasing cold energy and inserting it into his body every sh. And as expected, he keeps on regenerating. However, I didn''t stop and continue my ability to manifest and just keep on inserting the ice element. "Dr. Katakura, have you ever thought of eternity?" "Eternity? Hah! Immortality can always attain eternity! As someone who lives long enough, you can say an immortal can live for eternity!" "It seems you have not understood the real meaning of eternity, you bastard. It seems I have to teach you what it was really so be ready to listen and make your nonexistent brain imprint this knowledge!" "Ha! A mere mortal has no means of understanding what eternity means! You are not qualified to say it to me!" SNAP! The fleshy meat of the immortal body of Dr. Katakura started to produce Ice crystals on his skin. "So you are trying to do the same thing to my body again? It''s useless, as someone who can regenerate, again and again, you will not be able to dispose of me!" "Who said I am going to do it again to you? I am just seasoning you with something cold. You would taste and feel nd if you stay like that. It would be better to get rid of pathogens that live in hot ces." "Huh? What are you talking about?" I pointed the Versatile Weapon into Dr. Katakura''s regenerating body. "You want to experience eternity right? Then, experience the first-hand meaning of eternity." My versatile weapon started to wriggle and in a few seconds, a ck shadowy figure appeared on my weapon. "Just as you know, true eternity lies beyond what you can just experience if you are immortal. Eternity is the memories of the important people to you. You might not be here in this world after your death but your legacy is what will be passed down for eternity to your ancestors. However, since you have a different taste of eternity, then I will also present you something too. Eternal Punishment. DEVOUR!" "Whatever you are nning to do, you won''t seed!" The shadowy dragon figure appeared and opened its mouth. It then bites the abomination that is Dr.Katakura and started to savor him to pieces. GWARRKK! Dr. Katakura disappeared after my versatile weapon swallowed him. He couldn''t survive it due to how my versatile weapon devoured him to pieces. Not only that, it seems that some parts of his body are not worth keeping that my weapon throws some parts of it. "If you managed to live for eternity, then celebrate your eternity to death." And due to that, Dr. Katakura disappeared from this world. As for the stomach of my Versatile Weapon, it seems like any living being swallowed by the Versatile weapon is automatically killed. Immortal or not immortal, once swallowed by my weapon, you would either reduce to nothingness and dust. So, does that mean this is all over? No, for me, it is not yet done. My father is still not around but I can now search for him far and wide. I refuse to believe he is in this mansion. However, there is only one thing I need to do and that is to get rid of this ce and make this ce great again. "Let''s go Kurai.. He already achieved the way to eternity." Chapter 219 - Healing Magic (The following chapter contains brutal depictions of cruelty. Read at your own risk.) With Dr. Katakura''s permanent death, we proceed further and deeper into the undergroundboratory in search of my father. Although Dr. Katakura denies the allegations of his involvement with the disappearance of my father, I am still not convinced he was not involved at all. The only way for me to confirm my suspicion is to dwell deeper in this ce. Since this ce still continues a lot deeper than where we are, my only choice is to explore further. Then, we arrived in a grand hall where noises of different people are currently cheering. It was an odd cheer since we are in a dark undergroundboratory where different hostile creatures that are the result of mad experiments dwell. But why are there some cheering voices? "Do you know this ce Kurai?" I asked. "No. This is the first time I have visited this ce. I am not familiar with this area as I have not reached this far when the doctors lead me somewhere. I can''t help you with this one, I am sorry," Kurai said. "No worries. I am just trying to know whether you know something about this ce." Kurai has no idea either so it is only up to me to know what is going on in this ce. I stare at the big door of this room. It is quite big that it is taller than me. It is also very wide that this door resembles a door in a theater. The cheering seems to get louder and louder that I am not sure anymore. Since I am unsure of whatever is happening inside and my intuition is making me want to open this door, I decided to follow the urge and kick it open. BANG! Therge door was forcefully opened and the scene before me made my blood boil. What I am seeing is a theater-looking ce, a lot of men and women holding opera sses or theater binocrs, while admiring the situation happening on the stage. What was happening on the stage is what makes my blood boil. A woman who was stripped naked and was strapped all in fours was currently squirming and screaming as a man wearing a mask on his face was holding an electric hand saw. From the looks of it, he was about to use it on the girl but was interrupted with my intentional way of barging in. "Who are you and why are you interrupting the show?!" the one holding a microphone frowned and is trying to know why I suddenly caused a ruckus. However, I didn''t say anything and materialize my weapon. In the split second, before it fully materializes, the form of the Versatile Weapon changed into a hook and chain and before anyone can react, I throw the hook to the man holding an electric hand saw and pulled him towards me. He was startled so he didn''t get a chance to stop my attack and was immediately dragged by my hook and chain. He was still in the middle of being pulled when I changed the form of the weapon again while he is about to reach me. "You all disgust me." SWISH! One cut and his life were over. His head separated from the body and was sent flying straight to the crowd. The severed headnded on a woman who was not paying attention to the ruckus and was still focused on the stage. She was startled when somethingnded on herp and why everyone around her suddenly started screaming. She took off her theater binocrs and looked at the thing thatnded on herp, revealing the decapitated head of the man holding the hand saw earlier. "EEEEEKKKK!" The people around went into a frenzy and they all tried to go out of the room. However, before they can even escape, a big ck cat appeared before them, ready to pounce on anyone ready to escape. "You bastards, will not live past until today! I will now warrant all of you the death sentence!" A split second passed by and countless different heads were lopped off in split second. The rage of a young man, which is currently me who lost control of my bearings, killed people without care whether they are male or female as long as they are inside the ce and enjoying what is happening. Kurai can only watch as the massacre urred. In a few seconds, of screams and cries for help, the theater is no longer noisy and a single person was left behind standing. That''s me. I left the Master of Ceremonies alive as I need someone to exin to me what is happening. However, he seemed too terrified and seemed to have already gone crazy from what he just witnessed. Seeing him useless, I changed my weapon into a gun and shoot him in the head. Once the situation was over, I materialized my weapon and rushed towards the naked woman that was strapped over the metal tform. If my assumption is correct, they are about to skin her alive or even cut off part of her body as a means of twisted entertainment for them. Once she was free from her shackles, she cried hugging me, shivering in fear. I grab the patient gown that I assume to be her clothes before she was strapped on the tform and cover her naked body. "Don''t worry, you are safe now." "P-please, save the others as well..." she cried. I nodded and look at the side. I saw a small tform simr to the one that the naked girl was strapped on. On it is also a woman in her 30s. However, it seems I am toote for that since she is already dead. She will not survive with how they skinned her alive. There are also pile of dead bodies in the area too. I can only shake my head seeing the scene before me. I didn''t arrive much earlier and failed to save them. I return to the shivering girl since she knows where the others are. "Lead me to the others who have not yet been tortured." Although she is still shivering, she stood up and beckons me to follow her. When I arrived at the back, I saw her rush into another girl who is currently on a table. I shook my head seeing her limbs were cut and was barely attached to her body. She is still alive but due to the severe blood loss from her wounds, she is dying. I can''t bear to look at her like this. This forces me to forcefully visualize the healing magic and allow my consciousness to awaken. Although I am not sure if this is how it was to awaken the healing magic, I have to do it. I forcefully use my mana to awaken my healing abilities. This is not an easy feat but I have to do it. If this magic can save her, then I have to do it. Just to make sure that she can still survive. "KHHH! AAAAAGGGHHHH!" Burning pain suddenly crawl on my arm. It was so painful that I am ready to shake it off but for some reason, I can''t. However, I forcefully do it and aimed my hands at the dying girl. "HEAL!" A bright green light appeared before my eyes and engulfed the dying girl. I concentrated and made sure that my mana can prate her body and repair the tissues destroyed and reattach them to where they rightfully belong. It took a few minutes before her body stopped glowing and when she emerged again, all of her limbs that were dangling or cut off were back again to normal. It was as if it was attached like glue. The dying girl lost consciousness but she was still alive. The other girl cried as she hugged the girl who was dying before. Although I am tired, my eyes wandered around the areas and looked at the cages containing people with bindings on them. The majority of them are female and some children. But there are also some men inside of them. One of them is the most familiar man and the one I am looking for. My father was among them, tied up, and was currently inside the cage-like livestock ready to be ughtered. I wanted to go to my father but it seems like my consciousness is failing me too. Due to me forcefully awakening and learning aplicated spell that I have not learned naturally, it caused a lot of bacsh to me. And even though I learned it, the "punishment" for doing it in force is losing all of my bearings on what is happening. Thest thing I knew is my body copsing on the floor and the voice of Kurai calling to me.. However, it was only a faint call that I no longer know if she was still calling me or not. Chapter 220 - Unfinished Business (I) It''s the same dream again. I keep on forgetting this dream whenever I wake up but whenever I see it, I remember it again for some unknown reason. It was like it is purposely done for me so that I can only ess this dream whenever I pass out. I don''t recall this dream urring whenever I sleep normally so the conclusion I got is that this dream only visits me during the time I pass out for any reason possible. But still, even if I keep on dreaming this dream, I still have no means to find the real meaning of this since I will just forget it once I wake up. The girl would look at me and lightly smile before I will wake up from the dream. What a strange dream that was. ... My eyes slowly open as I feel my surroundings moving. If I remember correctly, I definitely copsed due to me forcefully awakening my ability of healing magic. Who would have thought it would be a really terrible way to learn it forcefully. I wander my eyes around the area around me and notice a few unknown people sitting side by side on both my side where I was lying down, male and female who were covered in white nket. Among them is my father. When he noticed me waking up, he stood up from where he was sitting and immediately went to my side. "Manato! You are awake! Are you alright? Do you feel anything bad on your body?" "Father? Where are we?" I rub my eyes as my eyesight is still not that clear since I just woke up. "We are inside an ambnce. The police have rescued us and we are going to the hospital for some checkups." I rose up from where I was lying and looked around. We are inside an ambnce. The people currently in here are those who were inside the cages when I met them. I just took a nce at them before I copsed but I remember some of their faces so I can''t be wrong. "Did the police say anything? Regarding this incident?" I asked. "Not yet. They are going to ask us some questions once the check-up is done." "Father, this is a big mess you have gotten into. You need to exin things to me after this on why you are involved in these troublesome things." "Yes, yes. I know. Don''t worry, Manato." ... We were sent to the hospital like what my father said to me and all of us undergo a full body check-up. Since I didn''t suffer any serious damage, I managed to go out immediately. And since I am the one who is not originally a victim but "a trespasser who managed to witness a crime, the police immediately questioned me. And yes, they also questioned me about the real situation on what happened to the "guests" and why all of them are dead and has been brutally killed. From the looks of it, they didn''t suspect me as the murderer of them. Not only that, they cannot pinpoint me as the murderer of them all since they don''t have any pieces of evidence and they don''t have any physical form of what the weapon used. There are two kinds of wounds inflicted on the people in that theater and that is the katana and the gun. Since my alibi is that I managed to explore this ce in an ident, I managed to dodge away all of the situations and they also thanked me for passing through the ce and finding out the victims. If not for me exploring the ce, the missing people will be forever missing without any closure on where they are. At the end of the day, the only ones who will be left to the hospital after the checkups are all of the victims so that counseling and rehabilitation to their mind since all the happenings that urred in theboratory might induce severe trauma to victims. I am not qualified since I am not a victim but I am wee to join if I feel something weird too. The victims will not be allowed to leave the hospital for two days and visitation will be unavable for the day for them. They will be allowed to be visited by other people after a day to ensure that they are now stable. I went straight home. Although I learned the healing magic, I think I have to put the healing session with my mother on hold for a day. Since I forcefully awaken my healing abilities, I don''t want it to go wrong once I perform the healing. To ensure that it is now safe to be used, I will have to slowly digest all of the things needed to do to fully stabilize it. If I do it outside of the game, stabilization will take a few days or more. I cannot wait for that, so I will have to stabilize it by ying the game. This will allow me toprehend the healing magic and fully master it and also bring out its full potential since the game is the only one capable of doing that. ... With my father still not out, and my mother still in aa, I can only go home this time. When I arrived again inside the mansion, the teddy bear ghost is still inside the room and is currently doing some exercise. Since it doesn''t need food and sleep, the teddy bear ghost seems to be using this opportunity to grow stronger. I doubt I can disturb this guy and I don''t have any reason to disturb him so I went to the kitchen and eat some grub that I prepared in the afternoon. After eating, I went to my bedroom and closed my eyes before diving into the game world. ... [Wee Back, deheart.] I have plenty of unfinished business in the game. But I am going to finish one quest that I put on hold back when I was still under level 60. The quest that I received from the Lich King. It was a unique quest and I can''t just abandon it. Why did I put it on hold? Well, the Marsnds of the damned, the ce where the skeletons and various undead lifeforms are formed is one of the troublesome ces to enter. It might bebeled as a level 50 area, but in reality, you need to be more than that level to fully survive the ce without getting killed from time to time. Not only does the ce crawling with skeletons, but they are also crawling with zombies and necromancers. There is also a small chance to see a Level 150 boss here and it is one of the main reasons why this ce is being avoided by newbies. Also, yers who will just blindly waltz into the Marsnds of the Damned will suffer -50 HP reduction per second and 10% corroding defense debuff just by exploring the ce. The 10% corroding defense debuff can be handled a bit easier, but the -50 Hp reduction per second is harsh. In just a few minutes in the Marsnds, a yer with 20,000 HP can easily reach a 1 HP state while in this Marsnds if they march in there without prior knowledge of the ce. "Master, are you going somewhere today?" As asked. "Is something the matter?" "You see, Lucia is too intent on fighting today. When you returned, she was now preparing to gear up for a fight." "Yes, we will be heading somewhere. Keep Lucia prepared, you also prepare too. In case there is an emergency, we can fight them." After that, I went to Goro and Lina to apany me in this battle. I need all the help I can get. I also need someone to help me, for example, a DPS. Although I can hit a lot of damage and mypanions can also deal lots of damage, I am just making sure that I won''t have trouble in the Marsnds of the Damned. An additional DPS would help plenty with this. Opening the friend lists, only one is currently online and that is Dolly. I hit the voice call for her and she didn''t hesitate to pick it up. ... deheart: Dolly, are you free for today? Dolly: Yeah, I am. I am just practicing my cooking ex job right now and currently epting some quests rted to getting recipes. Why do you ask? Are we going to fight something? Where? If it was on point, bring me along! deheart: Uh... yeah. We are most likely going to fight an enemy. Since you agreed, then I will be... Dolly: Don''t bother. I am already in the vicinity of your mansion! deheart: Huh? So fast?! I terminated the call when I heard a knock. I don''t want my door toe flying too in the game world so I quickly opened the door. "When are we going to depart?" she asked while smiling. "Bruh...." I facepalmed myself. Are you that bloodthirsty for battle? Chapter 221 - Unfinished Business (II) After fetching Lina from her work, we started the preparations to depart to the Marsnds of the Damned. Despite being a level 50 area, due to the reason that the ce is almost unexplorable, most monsters here are over level 50 and some might even reach level 90 or more depending on their kind. That is why there are entities like the Lich King appearing. From my intel in the past timeline, only one pce where a strong NPC resides. Although he is an undead, he is known to help yers that wander around the Marsnds of the Damned. He is also the reason why some yers managed to find a workaround to explore the ce. I never met the Lich King in the past timeline since I didn''t visit this ce. This ce was crawling with different monsters strong enough to beat me so I didn''t choose to wander around here. When I got strong enough and fully equipped, I rarely go to Resurgia anymore so I didn''t have a chance to properly explore the ce. Still, I am already familiar with theyout of the ce. With the help of the streamers in the past timeline who streamed the whole exploration process of the Marsnd, I am aware of what things to expect here. We are about to depart when the siblings also logged in to the game. "Big brother! Where are you going today? Are you going to a dungeon clearing today?" Iron asked. "Oh, it''s you two. I thought you two are already asleep since it is alreadyte in the evening." "Nah, we already got plenty of rest since we finished our tasks and there is nothing to do so we sleep for a bit. Now that we are energized, we decided to y the game," Topaz answered. "I see. Well, we are going to explore a ce this time around. We won''t be clearing a dungeon but there is a possibility to find a strong enemy right now. What do you want to do guys? Will you apany us to our destination?" "Looks fun! Sure, why not?" Iron readily agreed. "Me too! Bring me along!" "Sure, sure. Though may I ask where Hagane is? He should be online on times like this." "Ah, he already told us that he will be back at 6 in the morning since he will be on evening duty at where he was working. He won''t be able to y for today." "I see. Then get geared up guys. We will be doing some on-foot exploration, we can''t use Leona''s ability to fly in our destination so we will have to walk on it." "Alright, no problem, big brother. We will be ready in a few minutes. Please wait for us. We will fetch our equipment." I nodded and we continue our final preparations. When we are done on our side''s preparations, Iron and Topaz''s preparations are also done. "Everyone ready? Let''s get going!" "I am excited now, more than ever! So where are we going that we require to walk instead of flying?" Dolly asked. "Do you know the Marsnds of the Damned? That is our destination right now." "Huh? Marsnds of the Damned? Isn''t that the ce with very brutal environmental hazards in the game? What are we going to do there?" "I have a quest toplete there. Also, there is a big chance we will meet a boss. That is why I asked you guys toe along with me. If we sessfully manage to meet it, we can immediately take the first clear of this boss since the ce is not yet explored by any yer." "Well, that is fine, but do you have any idea on how to counter the hazard of that ce? I heard from some yers that the ce is very brutal and most yers will give up halfway," Dolly scratches her chin. "Of course I have a counter for that. I won''t just waltz into the ce with the danger or else, we will be having a bad time." After our initial discussion, we make our way to the Marsnds of the Damned. It is not that far from the mansion so it will only take a few minutes of walking before we will arrive at the destination. ... Our arrival to the Marsnds of the Damned also weed us with a message regarding the ce. [Your party discovered the Marsnds of the Damned.] [This is the first ce where environmental hazards will be introduced. Debuffs will immediately take effect the moment you enter the Marsnds of the Damned. There must be some way to counter and stop this debuff from destroying your body] "Let''s stop here guys, if we proceed further, we will be hit by a very nasty debuff that anyone will not like at all." "We know about this one but is it that serious? Can''t we just remove it using [Refresh] or [Cure All]?" Iron asked. "Unfortunately, this debuff cannot be removed once you are in the corresponding area where the debuff will take ce. The debuff can only be removed once you also leave and your status will return to normal. So if you guys don''t want to suffer, we have to stop here and receive the counter for that nasty debuff." I opened my inventory and pull out a few bottles containing a blue liquid that shines radiantly when you raise it up in the sunlight. After that, I also materialize my summons and mypanions along. "deheart? You have a newpanion with you?" Dolly noticed Lucia who is currently talking with As. "Ah yeah. As you can see, she the lost demon princess." "Oooh... the demon princess... Wait... a demon? You mean the same as those Demons you are tasked to defeat during the quest of the elf folk?!" Dolly couldn''t believe it. "It would be more precise to say that she is the ancestor of the demons. Yes, she was one of the demons but she is not responsible for the behavior of the demons so in any case, please treat her with care, she is not bad at all. Also, the two of you have some bits of simrities to your behavior so I am sure you two might get along." Dolly''s eyes lit up. "If that is the case, I would definitely talk to herter on! Anyways, what are these things you are handing us? You even given out some to your summons andpanions." "Isn''t this the "Holy Water" that the church is giving out?" Lina said as she shakes the liquid inside the bottle. "Oh? You recognize this, Lina?" "Yes, Master. This bottle is a regr holy item given to all people who wanted to serve the church and live on its teachings. This is also an item sold by the church to cure Curses and other stuff involving dark matter," Lina exined. "Yep, this is the one. However, I didn''t buy this one from the Church. After all, the church only allows one bottle per person unless it is pretty necessary for that person to have multiple bottles. I made this one." "Is that possible? I heard that they gather the water from a special fountain where the goddess of Life blessed it, allowing people to use it for cleansing," Lina examined the bottle again. "But whichever side you look at this liquid, this is the exact same liquid the church gives out!" "Well, the secret is that this "Holy Water" can be created by anyone as long as someone knows how to do it. However, we will take too much time if I exin it, for now, drink it so that we can counter the effects of the Marsnds of the Damned." Everyone nodded and drank the Holy Water. I also opened the cap of the bottle and drank the contents inside. [Holy Water is consumed. For the next 24 hours, your body will be immune to curse types debuffs and environmental hazards.] "Huh? It works this way too?" Lina was surprised. The others are also surprised too. The mostmon conception of usage to the Holy Water is to pour it to the affected part, not drink it. So when they drank the holy water, it is natural for them to have this reaction. "Alright, let''s proceed." Now that we are immune to the environmental hazards of the Marsnds of the Damned, our problem now is how to deal with multiple undead enemies. We didn''t find any undead on our way but as we move deeper and deeper into the woods, the undead monsters are now appearing frequently. Only after 30 minutes of exploration, we are now being bombarded by countless of enemies. "Guys! Watch our nks! We can''t afford to get overrun! Dolly and Topaz, prepare your magic spells! Lucia, you also prepare your AOE skills! The rest, hold and protect the magicians while they are casting their spells!" I raise my arm and cast [Heal] on the undead enemies, immediately decimating the ones that are affected by [Heal]. But the amount of undead that is attacking us is too abnormal though I already anticipated it, it is still too much. "Once everyone has finished off their casting, prepare to break through the horde! Let''s go!" Why are we wasting our time killing some undead beings? Because ording to the sources I have in the past, this is one of the requirements to awaken the boss.. Once we reach the ce where the Lich King currently resides, we will have enough kills to summon the boss that resides in this Marsnd. Chapter 222 - Unfinished Business (III): Necromancer Legacy All of our magicians started to chant their spells as the horde of skeletons and the zombies started to pile up. "Are you guys done yet?! I am having a hard time dealing with these bastards! Urgh!" Iron shouted as he bashes a few of the skeletons with his shield, breaking them to pieces. "Almost there! Hang in there guys!" I provided support to everyone by healing them and also casting [Heal] on enemies, which is very potent against the undead enemies. I also summoned a few skeletons since the Marsnds of the Damned is a ce full of those corpses, ready to be reanimated on my own but they are far too weakpared to the skeletons that naturally spawn in here. Also, I can''t join in unleashing heavy magic too with the other magicians as those spells are also needed some casting time, and just like them, I have to focus on it so that it can be unleashed and I cannot be interrupted. Since weck healing support with Hagane currently not offline, I have to fill that spot and take the role of supporter medic and a support DPS from time to time. "We are ready guys! We can unleash the st as soon as you signal us!" Dolly shouted. I look at them and the other two are also ready to unleash the st too. "Alright! Defenders, clear from the st point! Once we st through, run into the trail of the spells!" Everyone nodded and the three released their spells to the bunch of zombies and skeletons, causing them to explode and clear off the way for us. BOOM! It was a very fast kill, allowing to clear out the whole road and free of enemies. Our chance finally presented itself. "Let''s go, let''s go! Disregard those enemies on the side and focus on defeating the ones that try to block our way!" Everyone started running and if an undead or a skeleton tried to block or spawn right in front of us, anyone from us would immediately deflect them away from the road and continue to move. Then, not too far from us, I saw a mansion not too far us. There is a small wet marsh that would slow our movement speed if we proceed but since it is water and soil, creating the marsnds dividing the marsnd and the mansion, I found a way to cross it safely and reach the mansion. "Let me through guys! I will freeze the marsh so that we can proceed!" The others allowed me to proceed first. When I arrived, I quickly cast the [Freeze] magic and started to freeze a small pathway to the marsh. "Alright! Go!" Seeing the ice pathway I made from the marsh''s mud, they quickly make their way towards the mansion using the ice pathway. The skeletons and zombies are just behind us and are all chasing us. There is no way to defeat them without staying there for days so the only way for us is to escape the ce. With the help of the ice bridge, everyone managed to cross safely. Seeing them managed to cross the marsh without sinking to its murky mud, I also cross the ice path. But I didn''t just cross it, I also started to melt the ice bridge I passed by. That way, the zombies and skeletons would get stuck in the murky mud. Due to that, the skeletons didn''t even manage to arrive at the mansion and sink right into the mud. Despite not showing intelligence, the skeletons seem to be aware that they can''t chase us anymore so after the first batch fall into the murky mud, they all give up and return to where they came from before. "Looks like they all give up now," I sighed in relief. "Ugh... if only I can get all of my abilities, I would have taken care of all of them in one go! Damn it!" Lucia is frustrated. "Don''t worry, we will have plenty of time raising your level so be patient." "Yes, yes. I know, it''s just a little bit frustrating. Don''t worry about me." I look around the mansion''s surroundings. From what I remembered during the video, this mansion is a safe haven area since monsters won''t spawn or even approach this ce, officially making this ce an area where yers can rest after fighting against the undead. Not only that, it seems all of the damages you have incurred from any battle, will heal while staying here. It is a great ce to rest. "What is this ce, Master?" As asked while caressing a pir with strange engravings on it. For the first time, he is fascinated looking around the ce even though he usually has no interest in things that is rted to architecture so even he, was surprised at how fascinated he was in here. "I don''t know. This is the first time I have arrived here due to the help of everyone so I am also not sure either," I answered. The exploration team in the past timeline also explored this ce but it was simr to a church in its interior. There''s nothing inside the mansion but broken things that already decayed due to its old age. Aside from that, there are also skeletons that were embedded on the walls. But they do note out so it is safe to say they are just decorations. Still, my exploration senses wanted to dive deep here, and see it for myself. It does not beat real-time exploration other than an exploration done only by watching a video. "Let''s take a look inside and see for ourselves." Everyone nodded and we went into the mansion''s door, opening it. A smell of dust wafted through the air and some sort of antique smell weed us. Simr to what the video in the past timeline, everything here looks exactly the same. But as soon as I fully entered the mansion, a notification popped out on my interface. [Necromancer Legacy] [One of your professions, Necromancer has been detected. Legacy quest for the Necromancer ss has been unlocked. Completing the Legacy Quest will allow you to upgrade your Necromancer job into Overlord of the Dead. Your main ss, Versatile will not be affected by this change.] ept the Legacy Quest? Yes/No Before I can even properly understand what is happening, a familiar voice resounded over the mansion. "It seems you have finallye, young man. And it seems you have also collected quite a number of souls than expected. Not bad, not bad at all." Everyone immediately went to high alert when they heard someone''s voice. "An enemy?!" Dolly immediately went to battle stance, ready to conjure magic. "Everyone, do not panic. I am not an enemy. I came here with no ill intention. Please lower your guards," the owner of the voice appeared from the grand staircase in front of us, descending like a gentleman. "Ah! Isn''t that guy the Lich King we met on that dungeon dive we had, Master?" Lina immediately noticed. "Oh, it looks like you still remember me, huh? Good, good. You score 10 points to me," he said before he arrived, allowing everyone who have not seen him finally sees who was talking. "A lich?! That is a very powerful entity! We are no match for him!" Goro didn''t expect to see a lich with a domineering aura like the Lich King so I guess he is afraid. "Wee everyone. I am known as the Knight Lich King by everyone even though I am not even a king. I am just a normal knight who managed to get the ability to be a lich. Whoever dubbed me with a title like King this must be dumb enough to mistake me as one. But I am not going to keep ostracizing whoever gave me this title. It seems like you guys have stumbled here huh?" "Although we stumbled here, we are also not just randomly exploring since my target is to find you in the Marsnds of the Damned andplete the quest." "Yes, I know you are here for that. But, what took you so long though? It''s been a while since west met. I even thought you gave up on the quest," the Knight Lich King said with a sad tone. "Uh... if you just stayed there, I might have already aplished tasks there too but you disappeared after clearing the quest. Since you are a Lich, I assume you are here and I am right." "You know this undead guy, deheart? Is he a monster or something?" she asked, "No... this is one of the first story-rted quests I received during the beginning. He is the NPC that has given me the quest." "You must be one of hispanions. I greet you, youngdy. I may look like this but I am not a harmful individual. I don''t kill people without any reasonable reason. Besides, your friend here who received my quest is pretty strong now, I don''t think I can easily harm you with him here. Not only that, but some people here are also pretty strong." "An intelligent NPC? That''s amazing! You are like Queen Tanya!" "Oh? Queen Tanya? She is finally a queen huh? I didn''t expect that development!" I frowned when I heard the Knight Lich King said that, does he have some sort of connection to Queen Tanya that I am not aware of? Chapter 223 - Unfinished Business (IV): Necromancer Legacy Part 2 Even though I am very curious about what connection he has with Queen Tanya, I can''t dy my main purpose of looking for him. I hand over the orb that he tasked me to fill with souls I have defeated. I also didn''t know that all of the racked-up kills for the past few days would also add up on the soul counter of the orb since I didn''t observe it before. However, when I already handed the item to him, instead of its luster white color after it was filled with souls, it is now color red and the orb is heavy to carry in your hand. It is now of simr weight to a bowling ball. "Good, despite the amount of time you spent to deliver this orb back to me, I am satisfied that it is filled to the brim. This will be good sustenance that wouldst for a century for me," the Knight Lich King said. "Sustenance?" Dolly looked confused. Lucia immediately exined it to Dolly. "Most of the Lich would crave for the flesh of a living creature. Eating a living creature would enhance their powers to some extent. However, there are some who eat souls only and it seems Mr. Knight Lich King here has his sustenance focused on souls." "This youngdy exined it right. As for the kind of soul I eat, I am not picky and would eat anything. As for how I capture souls, I use these orbs to contain them. However, this one that your friend has given to me is one that only captures the souls of monsters. If he ever killed a human, it won''t be captured and ced inside." "So that means that the quest is done?" Dolly asked. "Not so fast, youngdy. I can see in your eyes that you desire to fight and some of you possess them as well. As a matter of fact, I have a request that involves beating up something." Dolly''s ears perk up. The siblings also perked up when they heard that they are going to fight someone. I can only shake my head, seeing all of them seem really eager to start a fight without any reason. This request is a joint request that I will be giving to you all. Even though this youngd here is the one who received it, you all also deserve to have a fair share of it too." SNAP! The Knight Lich King snapped his fingers and a notification panel appeared to all of my yerpanions. But I didn''t receive anything. "Wow! Another story quest!" Dolly eximed. "Holy sh*t! A story quest?! Isn''t the story quests hard to trigger?!" While the others celebrate, the Lich King turned to face me. "I originally intended to give you a Necromancer ss skill book to use to unlock it on your versatile ss but it seems you managed to obtain one on your own without my help. Therefore, this time, the reward for giving me the orb is to obtain the Necromancer Legacy. However, due to the amount of time that passed by, the Necromancer Legacy is almost ready to be reduced to pieces. So I decided to use this task for you toplete it and repair it for your own usage. You already epted the quest, although it should be disyed as a Legacy quest for you, this can also count as simr to their own story quests so you shouldn''t be rmed. Now, take this from me andplete it." [Received "Tome of the Necromancer Legacy" Iplete Version] "As for how to make itplete again, some parts of it involve killing a few of the necromancers here in the Marsnds of the Damned." "Necromancers?" I frowned. Necromancers are called in the game summoners when faced as enemies. They appear in the past timeline''s all-out war campaign as one of the bosses in the game. Though they are rtively weak, they are pretty much annoying since they can infinitely summon monsters that are on par or above your level. To stop the madness they bring, you need to kill them before they can amass an army of the dead. Otherwise, you will be going to fight head-on against a tireless army of the dead. "How many undead am I going to fight against toplete the entire legacy?" "You can keep track of the progress of the Legacy''spletion. See that skull design on the top of the book?" I turn to look at the book and saw that there is indeed a white skull embedded in it. It was a clear white color that seems to fill in something. "Once that skull is fully color ck, then the legacy isplete and you can learn the contents inside." As soon as he said those, he slowly disappeared. "Now that I have given you some tasks, I will not be staying here any longer. Go andplete it. I won''t be giving a time limit this time soplete it however you like itpleted. Report them back here once you have done so. Until then, farewell everyone." And with that, he disappeared, without leaving a single trace. But the others seem more focused on what mission they got. "Care to tell me what your missions guys?" I asked. "Oh, we are tasked to destroy the 12 necromancers and their ultimate summons. The only problem is that we have to track them all to find them." Now I see what the Lich King said that their questline coincides with mine. Because the quest targets are also my targets. Thankfully, I know which guys are they talking about and all of them are already present in the current patch. We can start hunting them all now. One just resides in this Marsnds of the Damned. "Wanna start breaking one of these necromancers? One of them just resides here in this forest and you can say that it is a warm-up before facing the other necromancers." "Alright, spit it out, deheart, where is this necromancer bastard? Let''s get on with it!" "Follow me, guys. I have an idea where this necromancer is living currently." Yes, even though I didn''t know where it was exactly, with the help of the stream in the past, I am know how to find their of this necromancer. The marsh stopped bing a marsh and just turned into a dark forest, it was so dark I have to ask Lina to cast [Light re] to light up the surroundings around us. "Howe you know some of these things, deheart? I am not even sure where you are getting these kinds of info and how you managed to get some secret things done," Dolly looked at me with her strange stare. The siblings also nodded in response. "Exploration and talking to NPCs will always give you subtle hints on some things. Even books might even contain some things you wanted to know and where to find them all." "Ugh, seriously? I came here to y, not to study. Meh, if you are knowledgeable enough, I will not bother to learn. I will just ask you for info and you can be my personal dictionary or encyclopedia," Dolly grinned. "You need to study or you will flunk in the exams again. Next time, Janus and I won''t be there to bail you out." "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, is that the ce you are saying that we will be facing the first necromancer?" Dolly changed the subject immediately and pointed it out in front of us. You can''t see it much in the darkness but there is a bit of silhouette of the structures there that you can make out in the darkness. "Alright, prepare guys. We don''t know what kind of things waiting for us there." Everyone nodded and they started gripping their weapons up. We slowly proceed to the ce and keep ourselves keen on the surroundings in case an ambush suddenly stops us on tracks. Luckily, there are none but we are not sure next time so we needed to be always high on guard. Our arrival to the ruins seems to have ignited the guardian of the ruins and it suddenly started to make tremors on the surroundings. "Prepare guys! We have an enemy!" I shouted. "Enemy sighted! It''s a Puppet Executor!" Topaz shouted. A huge flying enemy appeared before us. It was a puppet but it has arms that look like that of a mantis. However, they spin around, looking like rotating des and it has a menacing skull face. For a puppet, it looks like a skeleton undead to me. [Puppet Executor] Mini-Boss, First Phase Level 100 HP: 2,500,000/2,500,000 Type: Puppet, Machine The HP is big enough and not only that, it has multiple phases. For a Mini-Boss, it seems like it is not just going to keep us on edge, it is also intent on eliminating us. "Get ready to get into the battle! We are having multiple phases of the battle against this boss! Prepare your potions and engage!" The mini raid has begun. Chapter 224 - The Guardian And The First Necromancer (I) VRRRRRRRRR! The sharp rotating des of the Puppet Executor started to rotate at a very fast speed. They rotate so fast that the leaves that were just drifting in the wind were reduced to dust in just a blink of an eye. TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKT! The weird machine sound echoed the silent forest as it floated above us. "Attack long-range magicians!" Topaz, Dolly, and Lucia immediately attacked with their magic spells and bombarded the Puppet Executor with different magic attacks. But the attacks seem to only just bounce back. Not only that, the Puppet Executor is now enraged. It suddenly dived and attacked. Since the girls are the ones who attacked, they are the ones immediately marked as targets. "[Taunting Stance of the Stone Defender]!" PENG! The Pupper Executor immediately changed target from the girls into Iron who immediately stopped the attack. "Now! Melee attackers and magicians, bombard it with attacks while the skill of Iron is still on duration! We can''t afford to lose this chance!" Everyone nodded and they started to hit it multiple times with their weapons. The highest damage dealer out of all of us is me with As being the next hard-hitting DPS. The rest are dealing a bit of minor damage to the enemy since they have no equipment with a defense pierce stat. "Guys! The skill is about to end!" Iron said while struggling from the pressure of the attack. Sparks fly out from the shield and the rotating des of the Puppet Executor, ready to slice Iron in half if he failed to defend. "I got you covered!" I quicklye to the aid of Iron the moment his skills went to cooldown. Iron used his shield to deflect the rotating des of the Puppet Executor. With that small timing of releasing the contact, I used this chance to take the ce of Iron and Ignited my sword to mes. "Get lost!" SWISH! One of the des was chipped that the Puppet Executor stopped one of his rotating des and retreated. "It''s trying to recover its wounds!" Lucia shouted. "Quick chase it!" Dolly said ready to chase it. "No need, wait for a bit guys! I will do something!" I changed my Versatile Weapon''s form and changed it to a Hook and Chain and hook the Puppet Executor. As long as it can be hooked, I can pull it using the Hook and Chain. CLANK! The retreating Puppet Executor stopped on its tracks before it can even get away the moment the hook suddenly entangles itself to its body. TKTKTKTKT! The Puppet Executor struggled and tried to pull away, however, I am not that weak to not be able to hold my ground. "Now! Hit it with long-range attacks while it is still busy trying to pull itself away!" "Alright!" the girls nodded and started to channel their strongest sting magic spells. I also didn''t just wait for the others to their attacks to finish channeling, I keep on pulling the Puppet Executor while it was busy trying to cut the chain of my weapon. From what I know, the rotating des of Puppet Executor can reduce the durability of any weapon ites in contact with. It can reduce a brand new sword or shield to dust the moment it loses all of its durability, leaving a yer offenseless or defenseless depending on what was reduced to dust. However, in my situation and with my weapon, my situation is different due to the Versatile Weapon having no durability to call. Even if it is being hit by an attack that can reduce the durability of any weapon, I won''t have to worry about it. I continue to pull it towards us so that everyone else can also attack. After pulling a bit more, I managed to pull it to the maximum range that Lina and Goro can reach. They started their attacks too and didn''t even pause to take a break. They are all intent on reducing its health to itsst part. I didn''t stop and continue to pull the Puppet Executor and everyone else who are all melee attackers are now capable of dealing with their attacks. The Puppet executor''s mind seems really simple. Once an enemy attacked it directly, it will focus on that person until the enemy is subdued. Too bad, it seems like its focus is now broken since my weapon will not be reduced to dust no matter how much the Puppet Executor tries. With the continuous attacks of my allies, it didn''t take too long before the health that was very high before started to crumble. But with everyone determined to bring it down, didn''t stop falling from critical to zero. KRKKKKKKKK! BZZZZTTTT! The puppet executor started to crumble like pottery and it stopped moving. "Did we kill it?" Lina goes on the defensive. "Nope, not yet. That was its first phase, if that is the case, there is a second phase! Don''t rx and keep your guards up!" We back away for a bit when we saw the crumbled pieces of the puppet executor move a bit despite being already killed. It didn''t take a full minute before the crumbled pieces floated and became a cuboid with arge saw on the middle of it. [Stone Cutting Puppet] Mini Boss (Second Phase) Level 100 HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000 Type: Machine Seeing the second phase, it seems like this is not thest transformation of the execution puppet, now named the Stone Cutting Puppet. "It changed shape! This is the first time I have seen a boss that can change form once it goes to the second phase!" Topaz said. With how they keep adventuring with her brother and going to dungeons, she has encountered plenty of bosses with phases. But just like she said, I didn''t expect to see Resurgia Continent possess a boss, no it is a mini-boss to be capable of changing forms once killed ones and move to the next phase. These types of bosses only appear in the new regions, including Sandurk. Also, it seems like this is the first time I am seeing this boss. I have made a mistake about this since the Execution Puppet is also a mini-boss but from what I remember, the execution puppet is known to only have two phases. I didn''t fight one myself since these bosses are mostly seen in Resurgia and I didn''t explore much on Resurgia. I only read through them in guides. But if this is the case, does that mean, this Execution Puppet is a hybrid one with multiple phases once killed? ZOOOM! In a blink of an eye, the Stone Cutter Puppet disappeared from where it was before and reappeared above our heads. It was so sudden that the others were almostte to dodge. I pushed some of them away but I was caught by it and one of my feet was not spared and got cut. "deheart!" "Don''t worry about me! st it with magic and make sure to hit the core that is currently revealed on the center!" Everyone nodded and started to fire at the enemy. Seeing what happened earlier, they are now cautious on what will happen next or what attack pattern will it do. I grab my severed leg and cast [Regeneration] on it. In a few seconds, it was reattached back to my body. The torn clothes are also regenerated too which is convenient for me. But it has suffered some durability loss too. Looks like I also need to learn Sewing next time. But first... We have to deal with this bastard. ... Somewhere... 12 seats circling around a big skull of a dragon started to rattle one by one and as if it suddenly phased out, the 12 empty seats before suddenly became upied by 12 hooded people. "It seems someone has chosen to make trouble on yourir, First," the hooded guy with a ne with three-finger bones hanging on them said while chuckling at the hooded guy with one bone finger ne hanging on his neck. "Yes. However, it seems they are struggling with my creation that I just finished creatingst month," the guy they called First said who has the one bone finger ne. "Ohoho, so your study in necromancy has finallye to fruition and you used your creativity to test it if it is indeed well enough is absolute madness! I like what you are thinking!" another hooded guy with 6 bone finger ne said while caressing his beard. "Yes. And it seems they are indeed struggling. Soon, they will struggle on this matter and my theory and testing will bepleted. Once the results are done, I can finally contribute to resurrecting the deceased Dark Dragon Lord." "Indeed, now that almost all of us are done with the preparations, maybe we should also prepare for our contributions to begin the process to resurrect our dark lord, hmm?" "From the looks of it, you are already nning on how to bring the world to darkness soon, Twelve?" "Yes, Eight. The rise of necromancy will soon be heard by the whole world. This world will soon fear the "walking corpses". Since we will make sure this world will be full of the dead.. What a paradise it must be!" a young man stood up from the chair, revealing his ne with 12 finger bones hanging on them. Chapter 225 - The Guardian And The First Necromancer (II) Whenpared to the first phase of the Execution Puppet, the Stone Cutter Puppet is much faster and much more capable of dodging attacks. I didn''t expect it to get harder than before. The videos of suppressing the second phase of the Execution Puppet are easy for the yers who streamed it in the past so howe it was much harder now? It was like it was being controlled by a yer and was purposely toying with us. "Girl''s don''t waste your mana for now. It looks like this guy is just purposely causing bait signs for you guys to waste your mana-consuming spells. Don''t bother doing it and just use basic long-range attacks!" The magicians nodded. They quickly change their attacks to small magic orbs that are known as basic long-range attacks for magicians and clerics. That is one of the advantages of magicians and clerics in battles, they can perform both melee and long-range attacks, and those attacks deal magic damage. Not only that, their basic attacks recover mana every time their basic attacks deal damage to enemies. So with this enemy that is good at dodging attacks, it is much better to recover some of the lost mana and make sure to find a good opportunity to deal surefire damage. I already choose my weapon form into a cannon and shoot it, but due to how fast it can move, the cannonballs did not even make any scratches to the boss due to it missing. I also tried the other weapons like the gun and bow and arrow but they deal minor damage that even if we attack it for the whole day, it will only have a small amount of health bar chipped off. Due to this, I started to think of a better n on how to deal with it. The first is to observe its new attack patterns. The Stone Cutter puppet can attack mid-air and canunch both ranged de attacks and melee de attacks. The ranged attack is much easier to escape with but the melee one is hard to predict due to its ability to teleport around. And from what I can see, the weak point of this boss is none other than the little core that can be found in its center whenever it started to spin its des. It is hidden most of the time. The attacks of the des are mostly simr to the first phase, but this time, it is much stronger and bigger than before. So if the des graze a part of the armor or weapon, they will surely lose a bit of durability without exception. I also see a few ways it can grind something to dust. During its few attacks, there are some small shrubs that get caught on its attacks. Whenever the des roll, the shrubs immediately get turned into pieces of dust. This further solidifies the theory that the attacks are also capable of dealing a one-hit kill to a yer if not careful enough. "The rest of us, deal damage to the Stone Cutter Puppet whenever you can while making sure that they won''t target the magicians! Don''t worry about the damage you take, I will heal you all so don''t panic!" "Yes!" WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The Stone Cutter Puppet floats up above the air and all of a sudden reveals more des from the middle of the cuboid. More des, more trouble. "Oh sh*t..." even Iron who is usuallyposed on any kind of battle cursed. The core on its center suddenly glows golden, making the Stone Cutter Puppet looks like a cuboidntern. But what was unexpected are the rising skeletons spawning on the ground. "Sh*t, it is summoning some minions!" I grit my teeth and change my weapon into knuckles. It was not my first time using knuckles as a weapon since I used them in real life, but it seems like I am still notfortable using them. However, this is the most optimal weapon right now. "HUP!" I dashed forward and quickly made my way to the spawning skeletons. Before the skeletons can fully emerge from the ground, I punched them back to where they belong, canceling their spawning process. I repeated doing this to the others as well. Then, my eyes saw that the others were just looking at me. "Guys! What are you doing?! Go and attack the mini-boss while I am dealing with these skeleton bastards! Don''t waste your time just staring at me!" "Sorry!" After that, they started to find ways to fight off the Stone Cutter Puppet that was floating and rotating its des. As for the others who have no method to deal with any long-range, they decided to help me dealing with the skeletons. No matter how fast I break some of them, it is not fast enough to deal with all of them. After 2 minutes, the cuboid stopped rotating and returned to its usual form. The skeletons also stopped spawning and we managed to get rid of the rest. "This bastard is hard to deal damage with. Half of us are only capable of melee damage and our long-range attackers are not even that useful when using basic attacks only. They have to use their attack spells to get big damage but this boss is capable of dodging them easily. This is much stressful than fighting against bosses found in dungeons, at least they don''t have many gimmicks on their kit!" Iron said frustrated since his usefulness is limited. "Master. It seems like we have to do something about this. With the mini-boss constantly flying around, ground units like us have trouble hitting it once. I propose we have to go to higher ground and deal with it while flying," As suggested. A higher ground huh, if we need to get to the higher ground and are still capable of fighting against it, we have to be capable of flying or have a good mount capable of flying. I have Leona with me but her size is biggerpared to the size of the open area where she can fly freely due to the number of trees. Then something struck me. Perhaps... "Guys, let''s lure the boss. I have a n." "Care to exin?" Dolly asked. "I will exin while we lure it, we can''t just keep ourselves standing here. Iron, trigger your taunting skill and run with us!" "Alright, Brother!" Iron raised his shield and raise it up in the air. A thumping sound can be heard on his shield several times. While the thumping sound can be heard, the Stone Cutter Puppet started to face in our direction and made its machine sound. VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR... "Alright, I already attracted its attention! Now what?" "RUN!" And I started running followed by my followers. "Hey! Wait for us!" Dolly and the others also started running. And as expected, the Stone Cutter Puppet followed us with its whirring sounding from the rotating des. All of the trees that the Stone Cutter Puppet passed by were all reduced to dust as it acted like a sawmill. reducing all of the logs to dust. "Holy, sh*t, holy sh*t!!!" Iron cursed more as he is the veryst guy being chased. As a fully armored guy, his Agility ispromised a lot in exchange for defense. To help him with his predicament, I opened my skill panel, opened the skill tree of the Alchemist, and selected the Tier 2 ability before purchasing it. I held out my hand and a bottle of red liquid appeared on my hands before throwing it to Iron. CRASH! "Huh?" Iron didn''t expect something to crash on his armor. But then, he felt lighter in movement and he quickly managed to catch up from the rest of us. He then saw an alert on his interface which must be the notice for receiving the buff. "What did you just throw earlier, deheart?" "It''s one of the abilities of the Alchemist ss, [Bottle of Haste]. With its name, you can already guess its effects. Since we are already running fast, I don''t need to throw a few bottles to us, only Iron needs it since his agility is pretty much nonexistent with his heavy armor." We continue to let the Stone Cutter Pupper chase us while we lead the former around the ruins where trees were growing. "So what is the real reason you want us to do this?" Dolly asked. "See how the boss is destroying the trees on the path and reducing them to a pile of dust? That is our key. That way, we can use an aerial fight against this guy." Dolly quickly realized my intentions and grinned, now motivated to run. As an athletic girl that does marathons at school, she does not get easily tired. We did multipleps around the ruins until arge amount of the forest around the ruins was reduced to dust. Now, the moon that shines in the sky is now inly shining up above the sky. "Alright! Time to fight back! We are now going in for the kill!" In a single snap, Leona appeared in the sky and swoop down the Stone Cutter Puppet down to the ground. Chapter 226 - The Guardian And The First Necromancer (III) Leona''s appearance quickly turned the tables between us and the Stone Cutter Puppet. Before, the Stone Cutter Puppet is just menacing at us above the air, ready to strike us down in a few seconds. However, now that Leona prevents it from flying up high since Leona strikes it down the moment it rises up in the air. With the trees gone, Leona''s mobility in the air is greatly increased allowing her to fly and dart around without any problem. Now that it was struck down by Leona, we quickly rush towards the Stone Cutter Puppet and quickly deal continuous damage to its core. Lucia grinned and was the main lead on magic damage dealt with the boss. With her me spells hitting second by second, the high Hp of the Stone Cutter Puppet quickly went down. When it hit the 500,000 Hp threshold, the Stone Cutter Puppet undergoes a berserk and a limited time immunity to all attacks. "Don''t hit it right now! It is going berserk! Our attacks will not connect right now!" It started to frantically attack us though it was always foiled with Leona holding it back from attacking, in the end, the temporary immunity expired and our attacks are once again dealing damage again. "Nuke this guy up! Don''t let it stand back up!" 400,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 100,000 The HP of the Stone Cutter Puppet is being reduced minute by minute and it didn''t take long before its cuboid body is reduced to junk and its core is now fully exposed. We are about to destroy the core when a notification appeared before me. [The Core of the Guardian is pulsating a tremendous amount of energy. Perhaps if extracted, it will grant a brand new ability. Will you devour the Core of the Guardian?] Yes/No The core can be devoured? I didn''t expect it to be devoured. But if my theory is correct, this core will activate again if I leave it be. Seeing it with still another phase after the second one, it will surely revive again if I didn''t do anything to the core. After all, for every golem, the core is the main weakness. Once the core is removed, it is good as just a heavy pile of junk. I want to proceed into the First Necromancer so instead of waiting for it to resurrect again into a new form, I clicked yes, and the ck shadow-like dragon appeared again, salivating to the core. Also, I noticed that the ck shadow-like dragon form of the Versatile Weapon seems to have grown more...physical? I can''t figure it out since I clearly remember when I first tried out the [Devour] function of the Versatile Weapon, it is clearly just a shadow-like figure, more closely looking simr to a cloud of smoke. Maybe this was gaining flesh due to all of the flesh it has eaten? It even ate Dr. Katakura before in the real world so maybe this was the reason it got some sort of flesh? It might be the case but I am not sure. The dragon opened its mouth widely and swallow the core whole. It glow a bit for a sign of its resurrection, but that golden light was immediately swallowed by the endless darkness that is the stomach of the creature of the Versatile Weapon. Then, the status of the item that was eaten appeared before me. [Core of the Guardian] Digestion time: 48 hours Possible amount of skills extracted: 5 skills Stats that will increase after the digestion: All stats This is new. Usually, whenever it swallows anything, it doesn''t need to digest anything and will swallow anything in seconds. Now, it needs to digest a whole core? But I am notining about it. I am just surprised that this is happening now. As for the junk the core left behind, it was turned to dust after losing the mainponent that made it alive. After the confirmation of its death, everyone was rewarded with experience points and the drops fell to the ground. I didn''t bother with the drops and went to the ruins. There are no more signs of any puppets that may be guarding the whole ce. Meaning, our way to the First Necromancer is now open. However, there is still that dark presence I am sensing. However, it is faint and I can''t fully detect it. "deheart! Come on! Don''t you want to see the loot?" "Keep it, I don''t need it. Come here everyone once you all have gathered what you wanted on the loot." I keep trying to find the source of this dread in the air but I can''t pinpoint it out. It was like concentrating around somewhere but there is also a bit of something that keeps it from spreading far and wide. It was like an intentional suppression. Even after everyone finished gathering all the loot, I still couldn''t figure out where the heck is the cause of what I am sensing. "What are you doing deheart?" Dolly asked. "I don''t know but can you feel the heavy dread in the air?" Dolly then concentrated her senses and she slowly frowns. "What is this? This is very heavy..." "So I am not the only one who can feel the dread." Lucia approached us. "It''s because you guys have not developed the dark eye ability. However, I am impressed that you guys managed to even detect it. Here, let me share my ability with everyone. SNAP! Lucia''s snap suddenly changed what we are seeing. The whole ruins that were made of concrete before were changed into a pile of skeletons and the ruined cave was actually a mouth of a giant skull. The others were stunned when they saw the sudden changes. "What the hell? Is this what you were seeing since earlier? Is this why the sudden appearance of the skeletons earlier too?" "Yes. From the mass of skeletons that made the ground, that machine earlier can summon multiple of them at the same time without any problem." I cursed under my breath for not seeing this. So this is might be the main ability of the first necromancer. And with this, his arsenal of the dead army is going to be a troublesome thing. If the outside of the ruins is already like this, then what about the inside of it? Isn''t it going to be much worse than the outside? Since I have the ability to raise the dead as a necromancer, maybe I can use this chance to summon a few myself? I put my palm to the ground and mentally focused on the summoning of the dead. And it didn''t take much time before I managed to find a suitable candidate to be summoned. I also look for a few more to summon but I only found 5 possible candidates to be summoned. With all of them found, I conjured the spell and resurrected the skeletons out. In just a few seconds, the skeletons appeared before me, standing before me with their green eyes. It seems that is the only way I can differentiate which skeleton is the one I summoned and those that were summoned by the enemy. "You have a necromancer skill, deheart?" Dolly didn''t expect to see me perform necromancy. "Oh, this is the first time you see me use necromancy right? Yeah, I have them. It was an advanced skill that is only avable for me. The necromancer ss is not yet released so there is no one capable of summoning the dead among all of the yers ying Alternate World right now." "But this ability of his is the minor one. It is not the advanced Necromancy that I am used to seeing in the past. The stronger necromancers before can summon an undead or a skeleton without the need for corpses," Lucia exined. "Wow, I wanted to also be a badass like Big brother that can summon skeletons to do your bidding!" Iron said. "Nah, keep yourself as a Pdin, if you be a Necromancer, you might choose this chance to be simr to those edgy protagonists in the novels and mangas I have read. You are far too dumb to be capable of doing smart moves with it." "Bruh, sister. Don''t be so harsh, it shouldn''t be wrong to at least dream, sheesh..." Iron scratches his head. "Enough chit-chat guys, let''s get inside. We won''t be progressing with the quest if we don''t do something with the necromancer," I said to everyone which they also agreed with. Despite the dread I can feel entering the mouth of the skeleton, it isn''t really much different from entering a cave. But simr to the outside, the inside is full of the skeletons that were built as pirs and walls. It will be really disgusting if these skeletons were freshly harvested from people but thankfully, it was not. I also made sure to put the skeletons I summoned at the front of us while we are proceeding. But then, two of the five skeletons were hit by something and they were reduced to ashes immediately.. Deep inside the passage, we are walking, the rattling sound of bones can be heard, seemingly waiting for our arrival. Chapter 227 - The First Necromancer And The Lair Of Bones (I) "Enemy attack!" I shouted and everyone quickly go into the stance. "Master! It looks like they adopted the style of us goblins in terms of ambush attacks!" Goro said. "Simr to the ambush attacks the goblins used?" "Yes, inside a cave or cavern passageways like this, us goblins will make use of this chance to catch the enemies off guard. Since adventurers will always have a light with them, they are much easier to detect once they are about to approach. It seems the enemies that we are facing are doing the same tactic too!" Goblins do indeed use that tactic. It was simple yet it can be troublesome if it is detectedte by adventurers especially if the goblins are apanied by goblin shamans and hobgoblins. But we are not facing goblins or any variety of the goblin race this time but the skeletons. To think the skeletons have this in-depth way of learning tactics of ambush. However, their element of surprise is now ruined and they showed their positions now. "There!" I quickly conjure a fireball and throw it to where the attack earlier came from and the rattling of bones can be heard falling to the ground one another, I also received a bit of exp so that means I managed to deal one dead. However, the rattling didn''t just stop after dealing one dead. There are more to enemies. Changing the Versatile Weapon into a spear and shield, I also tasked Iron to protect the rear side. No matter how many enemies there are on the front, there are bound of times where the rear side is gonna be the bane of the formation due to some tactics of enemies. And if the enemies here are indeed imitating the tactics of the goblins, that only means there is also a possibility that they will do something on the rear guard too. We proceed a bit faster before and the remaining skeletons left from my summons were the ones who destroyed some of the hidden skeletons. They are effective as the ones who will clear the way and a pawn to see whether it is safe to proceed or not. In the end, all of them were reduced to dust after they were killed. Although theyst longer than expected, it can be said that they are too weak to handle what dangers look further. Contrary to my expectations and calctions, it seems we are just too overcautious as the dead roaming in the halls of the cavern are just a few and they don''t pose much threat as they can be killed by simply kicking them. "From the looks of it, we are arriving at the end of the cavern without much danger forming to block us." "Yep, it seems like the dangers are not the skeletons along the way but lie deeper," Topaz said. "Don''t jinx it Sis, it''s not an easy thing fighting multiple enemies at once, so I hope what you just said is not going to happen!" Iron said. As we arrive on thest part of the cavern, a huge skeleton forming the dome, made of walls of skeletons appeared before us. Based on the shape of some skeletons, they are not all the bones of humans but some are from the bones of monsters and other creatures. It was like a deposit of bones that were stuck there over time, forming the wall of bones. "Well, well. It seems the guardian outside didn''t even manage to faze you guys. I am quite disappointed, to be honest," a haughty voice started speaking not that far from us. I focused my eyes and I saw a chair made of a skeleton and a few additions of bones attached to make it simr to a real chair and a person in a robe and has a hoodie on his head sitting on that ursed seat. Whoever made that has a weird sense of taste for chairs. It looks pretty ufortable to use a seat. No one from us responded and just look at the person talking earlier, looking out whether he will do something that we don''t know he might do. After all, we are surrounded by skeletons. With a necromancer like the enemy, it is just a mere snap in the finger for them to raise them all back to life. "Why, it seems like you guys are the silent type of people. I don''t really like that kind of visitor, they seemed to disrespect me a lot. You guys got it?" SNAP! Two giant skeletons appeared before us carrying a huge sharpened bone sword and bone shield and block our path. SNAP! Lucia who is just watching everything happened snapped her finger and mes emerged from the bones of the two skeletons and in a sh, the skeletons were reduced to ashes. Way to go, Lucia! The necromancer who was just sittingfortably on the ufortable-looking chair sits formally now and not in azy manner. It seems like he didn''t expect the skeletons he summoned would be wiped to dust in just a matter of seconds after it was summoned. He didn''t speak but he snap his fingers again and summoned four skeletons this time around. But just like earlier, Lucia snapped her fingers and the four skeletons were reduced to ashes once more. Now, the necromancer seems to be pissed this time around as he stood up from the ufortable chair and flips his robe, seemingly pissed. "What the hell is going on?! What sorcery did you guys do?! Why are my servants reduced to ashes again and again! You bastards! Exin WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO!?" Lucia grinned but she didn''t answer. Of course, we don''t know what she did so we also don''t know. But we know she is the one who did those. "Bastards! This is pissing me off! I am no longer in the mood to y, you guys are going to die here and I will make sure all of your bones are added to my collection! I am First, the First Necromancer of the Order, now prepare to meet your doom!" He ms his hands into the ground and multiple skeletons of various sizes appeared before us and started ttering their teeth approaching us. "Prepare forbat everyone! As!" "Yes, Master!" He swing his sword and started clearing the smaller skeletons in just a few swings of his sword. As expected of As, he was dealing quite a huge damage to the skeleton horde. Seeing that we are also in a ce where corpses are all around the ce, I decided to also use the power of necromancy too. After all, even if he owns all of the skeletons here, that doesn''t mean he has full control of every single skeleton that can be summoned. Due to the limited amount of mana I have to maintain them all at once, I only summoned a maximum of 10 skeletons. All of them are those skeletons with big bodies and can match the fight against a few measly skeletons alone. Not only that but I also summoned those skeletons with the affinity to use magic and those who use long-range attacks like guns and bow and arrows. "W-what?! A necromancer?! This is supposed to be a lost art and only 13 people in this world have the power to use the necromancy spell! You are not supposed to be able to use that!" "Well, who cares about that. Just ept it, both you and I are necromancers. However, since I am not interested and doing something sick like you collecting the bones of the dead and creating a wall and air made entirely of bones, I would rather use this ability to destroy you instead. "Ha...haha... hahahahaha!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! YOU? Destroy me?! You must be dreaming! Even if you use necromancy too, that doesn''t mean you are capable of surpassing me!" He snaps his fingers again and the skeleton walls started to shake. I had a bad feeling about it so I changed my weapon into a cannon and fire it on the walls. However, the cannonball didn''t even prate the walls of bones. Instead, the cannonball that I fired exploded to pieces upon contact with the walls. "Struggle! I love seeing you humans struggle and scream in agony! Now feed my soul with your screams and pain! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "You are sick!" I changed my target and aimed the cannon at the necromancer and shoot it straight at him. BANG! A big skeleton suddenly kicks the cannonball and before it can even hit the necromancer, the cannonball shifted and instead hits the wall of bones. Just like what happened to the earlier cannonball, the moment it came into contact with the wall, it exploded to pieces. "No matter how much you try, I will not be defeated. Even if you use the power earlier to reduce my servants to ashes, I am invincible. In this ce where I created my greatest creation, I see no other god up here, except me!" Chapter 228 - The First Necromancer And The Lair Of Bones (II) "Arrogant bastard," Lucia grinned and snap her fingers creating mes around the surrounding skeletons and burned them all to a crisp. "Lucia, you should manage your mana more carefully, it will be hard if they try to attack you and you run out of mana to use," I reminded her. "No worries, Master. I might be wasting a lot of spells left and right but you underestimated my mana recovery. We demons have an insane amount of mana recovery power. And with my pure bloodline as a demon, I am capable of getting mana every second without the need to consume any kind of potion that can recover my mana." "Are you sure? I have plenty of Mana Potion here," I offered. "As I said earlier, you don''t need to worry about me." If Lucia is confident, then I have no qualms about her using lots of mana. I distributed the Mana Potions to Dolly and Topaz instead. They needed them the most since they are firing magic skills left and right and since they are not simr to Lucia who has a monstrous mana recovery, this should at least lessen the burden. The guy named himself as First is currently smug on the center of all the chaos, looking at us struggling from the horde of skeletons he conjured earlier. We battle against the horde of skeletons one by one and made sure to keep it down to a minimum of a few skeletons that we can manage to handle. But the bastard, First, is summoning more skeletons as we destroy the first ones. Even my skeletons are helpless once they are overwhelmed by the skeletons. "See my power? That is what you call the power of a real necromancer! I just have to watch the fun and deal with things using all of my ves. I don''t need to even do anything just to kill you all." Now I am pissed. However, I keep my cool even though I really want to charge and defeat him already. But I am making sure that our n earlier before we proceed to this situation works. As someone who is familiar with the fighting style of the necromancers, they are not much different at all and they are too bad at everything except magic and summoning. So they are too easy to kill without the skeletons. .... "We will pretend to keep on fighting against the minions he just summoned. That way, we can slowly move our way towards him and he will not notice our approach. They rely too much on their creations and summons that they don''t ever think that they will be defeated. Once we get near him, I will be the one who will do the deed to finish him off. We guys can rx after that. "Alright, let''s stick to the n," Dolly agreed. ... With that brief exchange, we are now doing our n. With coordination, we slowly make our way towards the necromancer, slowly but surely. And as expected, he didn''t even care and that we are now very near him and was still confidently watching at us, struggling with the attacks of the skeletons. "So how does it feel? Do you feel despair? The pain? The sorrow? The hopelessness?" Come on! Scream!" With our distance, I am quite confident now. My attention seems to be like on the big skeleton but in reality, my eyes are already fixated on him, and when the timing hits, I maneuver quickly without warning and appeared in front of him. Before he can even say anything, a gun''s muzzle is already aiming at his forehead. "If I said that I don''t feel anything, would you believe me?" BANG! One bullet to the head, and he died. His body slumped on his chair and his eyes were dted as blood flows down his forehead. After that, the skeletons that were fighting against us also got reduced to dust. "Did we win?!" Dolly looked around after all the enemies died. "Nope, I think that is just the beginning," before I pointed to the giant skeleton that seems to be the one holding the wall of skeletons and bones. Its ck, hollow eyes suddenly glow red and started moving. A health bar also appeared above its head and the red colored letters are blinking as it slowly gave out the name of the enemy. Then, a pop-out appeared before us. [Hidden Boss Raid triggered! The First Commandment Raid will now begin! This announcement will be announced to the whole world. However, you are in control of who will be joining the raid. If you sent invitations, anyone can join the raid, however, you can also choose to not send invitations. The announcement will still be announced but there will be no one aside from the people who triggered the raid who will be capable of participating. What will you do?] Everyone looked at me after reading the passage. "What are we going to do? This is a raid, should we ask for help?" Dolly asked. "Big brother, let''s not invite anyone!" Topaz said. "Why?" I asked. "Because we are badass enough to deal with that monstrous bone. There is no way we will lose and need help from others!" "Then, we will do that," I said and clicked the decline sending invitations. ... That day, the first raid to ever ur aside from the Sandurk situation urred and a lot of the guilds immediately informed everyone to look for the source of the raid and make sure to join in so that they can also grab the loot after the raid. After all, Raids are the most rewarding events in games, if they have a raid, that only means there is also a reward given out. But to that day, there is only a big disappointment to the yers that day. Because they never found the raid at all and even if they did find the raid, they still won''t be able to join on it, causing all of their efforts of looking for it and finding out where it was held is just a useless thing now.. To that day, the great raid search urred in the history of Alternate World. Chapter 229 - The First "Commandment" Ignoring the chaos caused by the announcement that urred all over the world who is currently ying Alternate World, we are now facing a raid boss. Seeing the 15x beside the health bar of the boss means this guy is needed to be "killed" 15 times before he can be officially killed with his final health. "I am nervous, this is the first raid I have ever participated in! I heard that raids should be needed to be done with multiple people and I heard that most of the time, guilds and more guilds would be fighting over to the raid," Dolly said. "You are not wrong that raids are usually done by multiple yers, usually multiple guilds fighting for thest kill. But since we will not be receiving any help from other yers, we will be doing the raid by ourselves." I didn''t say that the raids can even be soloed since this is the first raid that urred in the game. There is no way she will believe it so I just said the most basic exnation of what the raid does. "Heh! No worries, Dolly! As someone who has done raids before, I can assure you will beat this thing that it will never be capable of reviving again!" We face the skeleton and soon enough, he is now regaining stability and he slowly made some movement. The mouth seems to be struggling at first but soon, it is now doing well. It also started speaking. "HOW DARE YOU ALL KILL ME! I AM INVINCIBLE! DIE!" The voice of the skeleton is the distorted version voice of First. So it seems like the soul of First decided to use thisst bit of chance to fight back and win. As expected of a necromancer, he will do whatever it takes to win. He ms his big hands to the ground and it shook pretty hard. However, due to his slow movement, removing his hand from the ground took some time. "Now! Attack! Lucia quickly bombarded the hands with mes. As also used this chance to keep on hitting the bones. The rest of us are dealing damage to the boss. I didn''t participate in the damage phase and instead purchased some spells from the Alchemist skill tree and distribute buffs to everyone. Since we are limited on the raid and not everyone can do a solo raid like me who already have done something simr, I will have to give them some bit of support so that we can take down the boss rapidly. [ATK UP, MAG UP, DODGE RATE UP, CRIT RATE UP, CRIT DMG UP, DEF UP, HEALING UP, RECOVERY UP, AGILITY UP, ATK SPEED UP buffs Received] Seeing the notifications before them, they grinned. "Thanks, deheart! Now we can deal serious damage on this sh*t!" Dolly is now fired up and seeing the buffs, it seems she is now more motivated to deal another set of attacks to the boss. "GRAAAAAH!" Due to the increase of buffs, the attacks were capable of reducing the HP of the First Commandment down and forced it to reach the 14th, health bar. "YOU DARE STRUGGLE BEFORE ME!? SERVANTS! SERVANTS! RISE UP, MY SERVANTS, AND SERVE YOUR GREAT LORD!" His red eyes glint and the skeletons that were previously killed from the death of First''s original body reappeared and this time, they are filled with a red aura on their bodies. "They resurrected?!" Topaz frowned. "Don''t worry about it guys, focus on the boss, I will take care of the skeletons!" After that, I summoned another set of skeletons myself and helping them fight the summoned skeletons. "STRUGGLE HUMANS! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE MY WRATH! FEEL THE POWER OF A TRUE GOD!" First ms his two hands this time to tten the others. But since the attack is slow, everyone managed to escape the range of his attacks. The only ones who are not able to survive that attack were none other than the skeletons. who were chasing the others. Seeing that the hands of [The First Commandment] are now back on the ground, everyone immediately attacked the hands without relenting. Aside from the asional taunt lines he constantly throws at us, he is too big to be that strong. Also, due to him being a skeleton, he is not that much of a problem. However, I can see how some people will struggle with this raid. Due to the division of people, the yers would only be capable of defending against the summoned skeletons and before they can even deal any damage to the hands, the boss will retract his hands and everyone will lose this chance. That is why in raids, there is always an assignment on who will deal with the boss and who will deal with the mobs. In our situation, the ones who are dealing with the mobs is only me and the rest is the one dealing the main damage. Some people will say that this is an uneven distribution of forces but this is not uneven. This is the most optimal way to make sure that the boss will be down sooner thanter. As someone who is experienced dealing with multiple enemies, they are not a biggie for me. The skeletons might be countless and threaten everyone but too bad that they faced me. With the brass knuckles, I practice punching a bit before I throw a punch to the skeleton. It was reduced to dust in one punch. They might be a lot but their health is not that much. Therger skeletons are not even that much of a problem either. They are just too weak to pose a threat to me. So, why am I doing this? Because there is another hidden title I identally received in the past while killing a lot of skeletons. It was a hidden title with some good effects that I can confidently say that it is one of the titles that allowed me to get strong enough to fight back. It is a good excuse for me to deal with the skeletons alone. Not only that, this is a good opportunity to rack up some points for all of my sses and if I seeded, I can use this chance to gain a lot of points that I can use to max up the skills of specific sses. Isn''t my n perfect? Since this is a raid battle, I am quite sure this will take quite a while before it will stop. And if my assumption is correct, First is the weakest necromancer out of the twelve necromancers. First also mentioned that there are 13 people who know necromancy but there are only 12 necromancers needed to be killed. In that case, the one I killed back in the mansion that I owned now should be the 13th one. With the assumption that the other necromancers are strong, fighting against the skeletons to rack up ss SP will be good. It didn''t matter if I overflow of them, the more SP to spend, the better. The ground shook and I heard a scream. I look back and saw that someone is missing from them. Then I realized it was none other than Dolly. "What happened?!" "Dolly pushed Lucia out of the way since she was the nearest from the attack of the [First Commandment] but due to what she did, she was the one who got left behind and the moment the handnded, Dolly was ttened!" Topaz exined. "No! Dolly! Why did you do that!" Lucia cried as she keeps on throwing fireballs into the hands of the skeleton hands of [The First Commandment]. "YES, YES, YES! THAT''S IT! CRY IN DESPAIR! THAT''S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT!" "No one should sacrifice their lives for my sake! I don''t want to lose anyone again! AAAAGGGHHH!" Lucia seems to have lost it. "Lucia! Don''t worry, I will resurrect Dolly, don''t worry, she is still fine! You guys, be careful, don''t just recklessly underestimate the boss!" "Understood!" I quickly cast [Revive] to Dolly. It didn''t take long before Dolly managed to return to the game. "I got careless, I apologize deheart, it seems our operation is messed up because of me." "Shush, don''t worry too much about it." Dolly and I are still talking when I suddenly heard someone''sugh. I looked at the ones who areughing and saw Lucia floating up in the air. "Hahaha! At longst, I can finally use this! Who would have thought this will be a good chance for me to regain my abilities?" [The First Commandment] eyes glow when he saw Lucia floating. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU ARE NOT HUMAN!" Lucia smiled and looked at The First Commandment with sinister eyes that even I who was just watching in the distance felt the chills run down my spine. "Hoh...so you noticed? Well, congrattions! However, I am not as merciful to someone who just killed my new friend. I am tired of someone dying for my sake. And when you just killed my newfound friend, it seems everything inside me has awakened. You are not worthy to live." SNAP! And in a single blink of my eyes, I saw the First Commandment crying in pain as his body is covered in ck mes. "Squirm in pain.. Suffer for Eternity. SOUL FLARE!" Chapter 230 - Lucia鈥檚 Awakening The me of Lucia is currently raging around the ce that even us who are not even the target of those mes are feeling the heat it emits. She held her left palm in the air and a red ball of me appeared. Unlike the usual [Fireball] and [Basic Fireball] that magicians usually wield, her fireball is closely simr to a meteorite entering the atmosphere of the Earth. She waves her hand that is holding the fireball, sending it to the First Commandment. BANG! The First Commandment blocked it using its bony hands. But after the smoke dissipated from the attack, one of the bony fingers on the First Commandment''s hands has melted like stic. "Tch, it is still not the optimal damage output I am expecting but this is just a sign some of my abilities are returning." "YOU! YOU ARE A DEMON! WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING THE ORDERS OF A HUMAN!? YOU SHOULD JOIN ME AND KILL ALL OF THEM! THAT WAY, WE CAN RULE THE WORLD AND BRING EVERYONE TO THEIR KNEES!" "Shut up, retard. I don''t want to see a world like that, I rather die than live in that world!" Lucia conjured another fireball and throws it again to the First Commandment in which thetter decided to counter with his own fireball from its mouth. . Lucia turned to look at me and the others while she is in the air. "Master, everyone, my powers might have returned but they are still not in the optimal condition and they are still not on their full potential. I will be doing a support job this time while you guys deal the damage to the enemy." "What are you going to do?" I asked. "Since I am still trying to stabilize my ability, I will be using [Corroding me] and set the area on fire. This will make everything in the vicinity have their defensive values drop 50%. And when I say everything, I mean it that everyone including the boss and everyone else including me will be affected by the debuff." "It''s a powerful debuff skill against the enemies but the downside is that we are also affected huh," Topaz said. "Yes. However, with the enemy having high defense, our only way to quickly defeat him is to reduce his defense values and quickly attack him. And while the skill is active, I can''t move away from my spot so I also need someone to protect me while I do it since I will not be able to attack, defend, or even move while the skill is active so I am in the vulnerable side." "Don''t worry, Princess Lucia. I will be the one who will defend you from any of the attacks of the First Commandment," As immediately presented himself. "Thank you. Well, Master. I will now begin the spell, so please, defeat that bastard. Dolly? Don''t die next time, make sure that skeleton is fully cremated after this, alright?" Lucia winked at Dolly. Dolly didn''t expect that from Lucia but due to her tendency to meet friends as crazy as her, I think she just found her "long lost sister" from another mother." "Heh, noted! I will make sure that skeleton is toasted to the crips, that there will be nothing left for him to return to!" Dolly have already died from the attack of the First Commandment but that doesn''t she is weak and will easily die. She just died saving Lucia and if she didn''t save Lucia, she wouldn''t have died. "INSOLENCE! TO DARE FIGHT AGAINST ME! THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS! DIE ALL OF YOU! GO TO HELL!" Lucia joined her palms together and her wings dyed in red blood color appeared behind her back and seven balls of fire appeared, revolving around her. "[Arena of Suffering!]" One by one, mes started rising around the whole ce and soon enough, the whole area where we are fighting is now covered in mes, no way to get in, no way to get out. We can''t retreat, and we can''t surrender. The only way to win is either our side or the First Commandment falls down. BANG! The First Commandment ms down his fist to the ground, trying to tten us. But no one was caught from his attacks. Goro quickly made his way around the First Commandment and send some sh containing me sparks. From the looks of it, he is now getting the hang of utilizing his abilities as a Magic Knight. Lina also avoided the attacks gracefully before throwing the morning star around the hands of the First Commandment. With the help of the defense reduction debuff of Lucia''s [Arena of Suffering], the pure, crack less, and white surface of the First Commandment''s bony hands finally show some cracks. Topaz is also dealing the main magic dps alongside with Dolly while Iron is protecting them from attacks. For me, I used my Blueprint creation of the Saboteur ss, pulled up the preexisting bombs I createdst time where they are used for the demon hearts on the vige of the Elf Folks. After creating a bunch of them, I started running and attaching them to the arm of the First Commandment and quickly avoided the next fist m of the enemy. BANG! The ground shook but no one was still caught and it seems the expression of the burning eyes of the First Commandment is burning more brightly. When the First Commandment raise his hands again, I didn''t waste my time and click the trigger. BOOOOOM! "GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The right arm where I attached all of the bombs immediately crumble to pieces. Due to the defense reduction debuff, it seems like not only the defense of the enemy is reduced, even the durability of the body is also getting deteriorated as a side effect. As a result, the whole right arm that was caught by the explosion copsed and the First Commandment was left with only the left hand in which is also starting to show some cracks. "BASTARDS! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU ALL FEEL THE PAIN!" The First Commandment started to roar and the fragments of his broken arms started float and started to morph. It didn''t take a few seconds and the shards converted themselves as skeletons. As expected of a necromancer, however, I am not just going to shift my eyes from the target. After all, a few skeletons will keep appearing everytime it was killed, once you are fighting against a necromancer boss, expect to never fight a one one one battle against them. I changed my Versatile Weapon''s form and changed it to Hook and Chain. Using it, I grapple into the body of the First Commandment. Since the body of the First Commandment is big but hollow, it is much easier to use it as a support beam for the Hook to attach into, allowing myself to reach the body without any problems. Using it again, I managed to arrive on his left shoulder. Since his right hand is missing, and his left hand is busy fighting against the others, I am free to deal things against him. "Oy, can you turn that ugly mug of yours?" The moment he turned around, a big hammer wees his skull and with a wham, the head of the First Commandment spins around due to the impact, reducing almost half of the HP bar of the enemy. The HP bar of the First Commandment is steadily reducing and due to the constant reduction of HP every time we attack, the HP bar that is threatening us before is now reduced to 2 bars. One more kill and the HP bar left will be a single bar left. "I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS!" "Oy, bastard. Quit yapping your mouth and die already," I said before delivering another blow from the hammer. Due to the constant attack on the same spot on the First Commandment''s skull, it is now showing a lot of cracks and is now ready to copse. Lucia who is currently floating in the air with her eyes closed slowly opened her eyes, revealing a zing red pupil, burning in passion. "Heh, I am fully awakened now! Thanks to master, you are almost ready for the final fry!" "HUH?!" The First Commandment was so focused on us that he forgot about Lucia''s existence. I quickly went down from the body of the First Commandment and joined the others who are still currently reducing the remaining hand to dust. "Now, it is time to meet your ves! You really care about your ves right? Now meet them in the afterlife!" Lucia grinned smugly as she looked down upon the First Commandment and when her eyes glint red, the whole body of the First Commandment ignited to mes and the screams of the poor bastard echoes around the whole ce. His remaining arm tried to wipe off the mes but the more he does it, the more the mes spread. "NOOOOO! I DON''T WANNA DIE! I DON''T WANNAAAAAA!" He was reduced to dust and the wall of bones created by First crumbled along with the skeleton that slowly got reduced to ashes. I was about to move towards the area where the loot dropped when a message appeared in my interface. -The First Commandment sessfully killed! Raidplete! -Got the lost First Chapter of the Necromancer Legacy. 11 more to go! -Got 1,550,000 exp!(Title effects activated! Additional 1,550,000 exp gained!) Due to your follower getting thest kill, you have received 250,000 exp! -You have reached the level limit! To level up further, please proceed with the ss up to undergo a limit break! Your excess experience points will be stored until you sessfullypleted the ss up for your ss. I didn''t expect we did it. Also, I also didn''t expect to gain lots of experience points even though I am not the one who killed it. Maybe due to how high the level of First, the reward is given out like this. However, the most awaited ss up is now here! Finally, the advance tiers of all the sses will now be possible to be unlocked. The real battles will soon begin. Chapter 231 - The Power Of Healing The loot is very abundant for every one of us. Since the boss is a level 100 enemy plus with the status of being a raid boss, the drops are meant for a big group of people. The experience I gained is also quite big despite being a monster with the same level as me which means I have a bigger chance to gain tons of experience when fighting against raid bosses with a limited number of people. Even though I am usually not interested in picking up the drops of monsters right now after getting the ex-job cksmith, the items dropped by the boss are pretty good and most of them are in the Very Rare quality but there are also some drops that are branded Unique. I counted at least 10 of them while there are 25 Very Rare items. Most of the items that werebeled Unique are suitable for Pdins, Mages, Brawler, and Magic Knight. As for the Very Rare items, most of them are armors and are all equippable for all sses. There are also 3 essories dropped one is a Unique ring and the two arebeled Very Rare, an earring, and a bangle. "deheart, do you want to pick up some of this equipment that was dropped by the boss? They were too much for us and the only one who is not picking up any loot is you. Why don''t you give them to your followers? They might be able to benefit on them," Dolly suggested. Honestly, I wanted to just make them my own equipment but since Ick materials to get some end-game equipment, I am not going to decline it. Even if they can''t use it, I can just sell them on the auction house and many yers would try to bid for these items.. None of the items here are pushovers and they are all pretty good. In the end, I decided to get 8 pieces of items. 3 armor, the bangle, and the remaining ones are weapons that have no use to the others but have a unique skill set with them. They are not much but if I am lucky, the Versatile Weapon might be able to extract them out of the weapon. They also gave me all of the scrap weapons that were dropped and honestly, I am more than happy with it so I didn''t hesitate. As for the materials that were dropped, they were all marked as useless by the others. Naturally, they all went to my inventory. I don''t see any particr usage of them but maybe I can use them in something in the future. Since the first part ispleted and the real-time outside the game is almost 2 in the morning, we decided to end the game and go to sleep. With Leona, we escaped the forest using the wreck we made out of the forest, that way, we don''t need to return to the ce where the skeletons and zombies spawned. After that, everyone logged out of the game. As for me, I didn''t log out just yet. I check out the situation of my followers first before I go. Lina has grown a lot and her level already hit level 90 after the battle against the First Commandment. But since she didn''t alwayse with us in most battles, she isgging behindpared to As who joined after Lina joined. As is already ready to reach level 100. A little bit more push and he will reach the threshold of level 100. Goro reached level 67 today. He was happy that he managed to grow this fastpared to when he was in the Demon''s army. It was also a good choice for him to be a magic knight as he is also getting the hang of fighting as a magic knight. It won''t be long before he will act as the first goblin to wield both sword and magic. Leona barely did much today so she is still at level 74. She has eaten a lot of stufftely from the killed enemies and I think her stats are getting stronger too. Thest one is Lucia. She became level 60 after the battle. The amount of experience she gained was a lot after the defeat of the First Commandment is a lot that her previous level which is level 50, shot up to level 60 in one go. Also, her awakening brought some skills that were greyed out before. The [Arena of Suffering] and [Hellfire]. "Good work everyone. Let''s keep this up and we will be capable of destroying stronger enemies even without the help of everyone." "THANK YOU MASTER!" everyone said together. After bidding goodbye to everyone, I logged out of the game and quickly stabilize the mana in my body. The huge amount ofbat we did inside the game caused some of my abilities to fluctuate. It''s not bad and it allowed me to fully stabilize my ability to heal in the real world. With the stabilization of my ability to heal, it is time to heal my mother from all of her injuries. But that can wait untilter. Time to sleep. And closing my eyes, I slowly drifted to sleep. ... Around 9 in the morning, I wake up from my deep slumber. I felt a lot more refreshed after a good sleep. Although I am stillcking sleep, at least, I managed to get a 7-hour sleep. I went to the kitchen and saw that the teddy bear that is being housed by the unique entity is already cooking food. I wasn''t expecting it to also go to the kitchen since it was a soul but I didn''t expect it to do things in the kitchen with ease. With all the tools and ingredients I bought after moving into the mansion, the teddy bear already made a good breakfast. Omellete, egg toast, coffee with a smoothie, some pancakes with whipped cream on the top, and yogurt prepared. "Damn, I didn''t know you could cook like this!" I went to the omellete and tried a scoop on it but before I can even take a single scoop, the teddy bear flick my arm with the spat that he was using for flipping the pancakes from the pan. He gestured for me to wait and bless for the foodter. Not to go and eat by myself. I quickly apologized and the teddy bear just shrug it off. When he was done cooking, he also sat down on the opposite chair and gestured that I may begin after. "Alright, thanks for the food!" I eat the omellete and my eyes went wide. "DELICIOUS!" I was surprised that the the guy using the life-sized teddy bear was capable of doing this. Due to that, my breakfast became a very healthy and fulfilling one. After he did the kitchen work, he left and returned to start his daily workout routine. As for me, I left early and decided to go to my mother. I am excited to use the Healing Magic to mother. Once I am done visiting and healing my mother, I will try my luck with my father and see if he is already stabilized and fine. If proven that he is already good enough, he might be released much earlier. The nurses that were in charge of my mother already recognized me and they said their greetings to me before I went inside the room. I made sure that no one is around, only me and my unconscious mother inside. Once it was confirmed, I locked the door and went to the side of my mother. I still have no idea what Mother''s condition is but with the Healing Magic, I am betting everything for my mother to recover. "[Recovery]!" I poured all of my mana into this magic spell and aimed it at my unconscious mother. Her body glow a light green color and I noticed that the obvious scars she got from the crash are slowly turning into a scab then peels off. Herplexion started to get better and her lips that werecking in color before started to show some color. Not only those obvious changes but I also noticed her eyebrows raising a bit, her eyes moving a bit under her eyelids, and even her fingers are twitching. I continue healing her until her body stopped receiving the healing ability. Her body also stopped the green glow it was emitting. I check her wounds that were all not that fully healed yet and I confirmed that all of them are fully healed without leaving a single scar. I didn''t expect the healing ability, [Recovery] to be this potent. However, it seems like she is still not waking up. The healing magic is still not enough. But I am not yet done. Aside from healing magic, there is also the energy recovery that is meant to cure the exhaustion debuff in the game. If my assumption is correct... [Recharge]! As soon as I used the ability to my mother, in just a split second, she opened her eyes and stood up from her bed like a corpse that was brought back to life. "Huh? What is going on?!" the very first words my mother asked after she woke up from hera. Chapter 232 - What The Hell? You Two Will Also Play?! Mother''s awakening startled me I instinctively put my two hands before me to guard an iing attack. But I quickly realized it so I didn''t take too long to bring it down and look at Mother. She looked around in confusion and her mind is still stuck when she got into an ident. "Huh? What is going on?" her face is filled with confusion as she started to look at the dextrose on her arm and the other things attached to her body. She also noticed the oxygen mask on her mouth and she removes it immediately. After knowing that she woke up, I opened the lock of the door and go back to where I was so that in case a doctores in, I can just say that she just woke up. Mother turned and saw me beside her. She was visibly shocked seeing me with her. "Manato? Why are you here? Can you exin what is going on? Why are these things attached to me? Just what happened to me?" "You don''t remember Mom?" . "What would I remember? The only thing I remembered was that I am crossing the road and the next thing I know, I am now in bed with all of these things attached here to my body. Tell me, did something happen to me after I crossed the street?" "Actually..." I exined to her all that happened after she crossed the street. She can''t believe what I said but I showed her some of the messages that came from Father when she was still in aa. Father might have called me but he also exchange some messages from me so I managed to show some evidence of what happened. "Now that you mention your father, where is he? He is supposed to be the one who should be here since you are in Tokyo." "He still has some business to do at the moment. He will be back soon. He called mest week that I should consider be the guardian for you here at the moment." After talking to my mother, I called the doctor to inform my mother''s awakening. The doctor and nurses immediately rushed to her room and they quickly crowded here for diagnosis. Thankfully, my mother is quite cooperative so the diagnosis of her condition ended quickly. "Your mother seems to have miraculously recovered all of the injuries she acquired from the crash. Even the skin wounds she received disappeared as well. I don''t know what to say about this but this is just a miracle!" The doctor keeps on saying iprehensible things that I can onlyugh awkwardly at him. ... 2 dayster... Mother finally managed to be discharged. I paid for the cost of her hospitalization that she was shocked at how I managed to obtain arge sum of money. Father on the other hand managed to be discharged too from the monitoring and is now preparing to pack up their things from their old house. Since Father is not injured and his mind is in stable condition after everything that happened, he was no longer in need of monitoring. Today is the day they will be moving from their old house to my mansion. "Son, I know that you are hiding something but can you please tell me how you managed to earn a lot of money in just a short span of time?" Mother asked. "Sheesh, Mom. I know you are very curious about how I obtain the money but please rest assured that I didn''t do any illegal things to obtain the money I am using. Don''t worry about it too much." Mom keeps trying to pry on what really is going on but I am tight-lipped about it. It''s not like I have to say it immediately but there is a proper ce to tell it. Mom keeps getting surprises when we go to the parking lot and used my car. "You also bought a car? Seriously, son, I am now having doubts about this "job" of yours." ... When we arrived at home, father also arrived with some of the movers too. Since I hold the key to the mansion, they are staying outside. I went out with my mother out of the car and Father approached us. He hugged Mother first before he faced me with a serious face. He then whispered in my ears. "Manato, I know that you have done a lot these past few days but I am not sure how you managed to get a lot of money to buy a mansion this big. Have you been dealing with drugs or something? I don''t know what kind of job you got but that is the only way you might be able to earn tons of money in a short span of time." "Ugh... Father, not you too. Anyways, wait for a bit, I have something to do inside the mansion. I will tell youter after the moving process is done." I used the key to get inside the mansion. As usual, the teddy bear who is currently the possessed material the entity inside the mansion used is currently still doing his workouts. Currently, he is using the treadmill and the speed is set to the maximum speed. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" The bear made a signal that it is okay. I just realized that the teddy bear has fingers. This spirit is using the teddy bear like it was a mascot. "My family will be moving here. I know you are the real owner of this house but my mother and father aren''t bad people. They will understand if I exin the circumstances of your condition. And no worries, you will not be forced to leave this ce, I respect your decision. So can you allow them to live here?" The teddy bear did not respond and continue to run on the treadmill without giving any signs that he agreed. However, he didn''t give out any sign that he disapprove either. After a few minutes, the teddy bear gives an ok sign. "Thank you," I smiled and left the room before going back outside. "What took your time inside?" Mother asked. "I asked my roommate if he is fine with you guys here. He approved your move so please get inside and move the things that you all packed inside the boxes." With my permission, the workers immediately do their work. Due to their efficient movement, no time was wasted, and just in thirty minutes, all of the stuff that was ced inside the truck are moved inside the mansion. The only next thing that needed to be done is for my parents to arrange them inside. "Son, that person who is currently on the treadmill and was wearing a teddy bear mascot is your roommate? He sure has a weird way of clothing!" "No worries Mom, although he is like that, he is a good guy. He is also a good cook and I bet you two would be good friends." After the movers were done with everything and received the payment, my father and mother quickly confronted me on what my job is. I didn''t intend to hide it from them so I told them everything about the game, Alternate World. I didn''t tell them the real effects of the game since they would only be surprised if I bring it out. "You mean, that virtual reality game you are ying now supports real money exchange?" "Yeah. The gold coins you earn in the game can be converted to real money. I earned a lot ying the game so now I can have as much money as I could. The game is growing in poprity so I wouldn''t be worried about the money at the moment." "In that case, we will also buy the console that will allow you to y the game." "What the hell? Dad, Mom? You two will also y?!" I didn''t suggest the two of them y the game since I think they have no interest in online games. But thises as a surprise. After all, the two of them died before the Alternate World gets more popr for the masses so this is a new discovery for me. "Of course, son. You didn''t know but when we were still in high school, your father and I yed online games a lot of time. With our friends, we are having fun most of the time. So when you said that the money you earned is from ying video games, the spark that I thought to have died out after all these years would be reignited again!" Mother said with an enthusiastic sound in her voice. "This is the first time you have known this right? Don''t worry, unlike other parents, we are supportive of you on this. We understand the fun in games so it is a good idea if we also get engaged with it, this way, we also can hang out in the game too. I know you won''t be staying here in Nagoya since you still have your uing school semester. Since it is a VR, this is a good way to meet up even though we are just in the game! What do you say, son? Aren''t our reasonings credible?" I can only grin about this oue. I managed to stop their uing deaths and prevented them from going to the next life. Not only that, it seems like I will also be gaining some people who will be ying with me. This is the best oue I can think of. Now that my parent''s case is done, I think the next thing I needed to do is to save Dolly and Hagane. I have to make sure they will not die in this timeline. Chapter 233 - My Parents Were Gamers I didn''t stop them and they decided to order the game console. Since Tojiro and I had contacts, I decided to call him for any slot for the Reality Verse Nexus. However, it seems like there is no avable Reality Verse Nexus at the moment. The one where I asked for the tattoo version to the siblings was purely coincidental. "Don''t worry Manato. I already know you wanted the Nexus version due to the 100% synchronization rate it haspared to the cabin version. But don''t worry, you won''t be missing much even if you use the cabin version for now. You wanna buy the cabin version?" "Yeah. They are for my parents. They wanted to y the game." "No problem. Tell me the address and I will let someone deliver the machines.. As for the Nexus upgrade, that would take a bit of time and I know that you know that. Even though I know what you are doing, I can''t just keep on giving you freebies likest time. It was just a coincidence you and the two kids arrive while two of the Nexus were done. I am not here to help you change the future, I am just here in the background." "I know, I know. I don''t intend you to help me in any way. Don''t worry, I am aware of my actions." "Good. Now, tell me the address. I already prepared the people who will install the cabin. How many cabins are you going to buy?" "Tw- no, make it three." "Three huh? Alright then, just prepare the money beforehand." I ryed the address to him and he hang up after that. He is easy going but he is a bit stern. But I am grateful that I don''t need to go back to Tokyo and order. Technology sure is convenient. We talked a bit with my parents and I shared my experiences while they are in Nagoya. But they are now more interested in the game and what I experienced in the game instead of the real-world experiences that urred to me. Who would have thought I would make a discovery about my parents being gamers? It took an hour before the truck that has the Reality Verse Cabin arrived. My parents didn''t expect the cabin to arrive after they mentioned that they also wanted to y the game. The instation is fast and it didn''t take half an hour. I paid them before they left without saying a word. "Why did you bought three cabins? There are only two of us who will y and you already have one back in Tokyo right?" "Nah, this one is for my roommate. That guy is pretty much helpful in the house so this would make a good gift," I said. Although I am not sure if the guy inside the teddy bear can indeed y the game, I wanted to at least let someone try it who is not in our realm. If he can exist in this world, maybe he will also exist in the game? With magic, almost nothing is impossible nowadays. I made the final adjustments on the cabins to make sure that they all have afortable gaming experience. As someone who used the machine for a long time, I am familiar with all of the functions it has to the deepest part. "Do you want to try the game immediately? I will try to assist the two of you once you guys are..." I was in the middle of speaking when my father stopped me. "Hush, Manato. I know you don''t mean ill will but as gamers, we wanted to experience things on our own. We might be old but we know many things regarding games and MMOs. Don''t worry, we will be fine. Just give us your username and we will add you as friends once we are done with the tutorial." After that, the two closed the cabin and logged in to the game. I was left speechless by them. They were quick with the uptake so I am left baffled. However, I am fine with that. That way, they don''t need to keep on asking about this and that. They can learn things all by themselves. After my parents were already in the game, I went to the teddy bear and this time, he is resting which is a first for me. "Hey, I bought you a console for gaming to dive the VR. Do you know what it was?" The head of the teddy bear looked at me. Since I don''t see any expression or voice reaction, I don''t have the slightest idea what he was thinking. Even though it was like that, I still exined it to him and even though he didn''t give any reaction, I still continue to exin things to him. After the exnation, I also give him the direction on where to ess it. I know he is a ghost but there might be a chance that things might be different. Since he didn''t react at all, I left and went to my bedroom, and logged in to the game. With so many things to do, I have to finish them one by one as soon as I can. ... When Manato left the room where the teddy bear was resting, he didn''t make a sound but he stood up and followed the directions of Manato to the cabin. Beside the cabin that was vacant, the two are currently in operation. The teddy bear tried to peer in the ss to see who was inside the cabins but he can''t check it for some unknown reason. Seeing the cabin, his curiosity gets the most of him and after hearing some of the information of the young man who suddenly started living with him after they exchange fists, now, along with his family, he seems to be on the edge whether to try things out. He might be a soul right now but with the help of the teddy bear, he can function like a normal human without any problem. But this is a machine. Will his soul detect him if he is a machine? The cabin was big enough to fit him and the teddy bear. It was kinda awkward but he decided to enter with the teddy bear to the cabin. He is no longerfortable moving out from that "body" of his so he is not sure whether it will work. He was then surprised when the cabin started scanning his body or to be precise, the body of the teddy bear. [Detecting user... yer detected. Reality Verse executing the program. Completed, User 0006780021, wee to Alternate World.] ... I logged back into the game. Since the first raid is done, the end result was expected. Most of my armor parts arepletely broken, the pants I am wearing are almost ready to reduce itself to dust. Thankfully, with the excess equipment from the drops, I decided to use those drops as temporary means to rece my equipment as I am in the process of making my very own equipment. Since the materials needed are stillcking, alternatives will always be needed to be there just toplete things. The armor I got from the raid is a level 100 Magic Knight armor. It got some good stats for a Very Rare. It''s too bad it is notbeled as Unique. If it was, this would be a different case. [me Feathered Armor of ck] Type: Armor Equipment Rarity: Very Rare Equippable at: Level 100 Equippable by: Magic Knight, Versatile AGI: 120 DEX: 74 END: 152 INT: 39 Exclusive passive skill: me Absorber: Fire-type attacks received from enemies will have a 10% chance to be converted into healing. Chances to trigger every 20 seconds. Info: A cloth armor that was made from the feathers of the me Cockatrice, a creature that feeds and lives in mes. Even though it no longer retains the same function a normal me Cockatrice feather does, it is still possible to feel its protection against the mesing from the enemies. Note: Which is heavier, the 1kg feather or 1kg cotton? Durability: 2000/2000 The exclusive passive skill is pretty good and although this is a bit more like a passive that relies on chances, it is pretty good nheless. The stats are good too since most of the stats of the armor cover all of the basic stats of a yer. It might not have the stat needed to increase strength but it is pretty good regardless. After unequipping the old armor, I don the new armor, and honestly, I was surprised, the armor looked good to me. It also feels warm andfy. For the pants, there aren''t any avable from the drops so all I can do is use the spare pants that were dropped from a monster, and honestly, it was a big letdown. Since leathermaking is rted to sewing, maybe I should take the Tailor Ex Job too in the future. Chapter 234 - Gearing Up For The Arena鈥檚 Annual Tournament There is this one thing I realized when equipping some of the items I got. One, my whole stats are all self-reliant to the Versatile Weapon''s stat the entire time. The reason I am not bothering to gather up the armor loot and changing my gear whenever I level up is that I prefer to reach a certain point where my normal gear can no longer handle the dangers of the things before I switch to the most optimal gear I can use at the moment. I think this mindset was developed during the time when I am in the guild where my character and some other yers were treated as ves. Due to that, I usually just tend to use the oldest item I can use and tend to stick to it until the veryst. Being shy in that guild at that time was just a trigger for them to target you. They will make sure your armor will be stolen from you. Since dying is a regr routine, it is better for you to just save up all the precious items you got and my gear was stuck to the very basic items. No wonder I just realized it now, it was my daily routine in the past that I also carried over here. But there is no harming it. This also proves that even with just the crappy gear I have, I have the capability to fight enemies without relying on pure stats alone, though this is also not true since the Versatile Weapon''s stats is pretty high, I can just go armorless with this and I will still be fine. I check the pants that are also in the Very Rare tier.. It is the pants that are equipped by Magicians. This can change from Pants to skirt if you are a girl in the game though you can also keep it as pants if you like it the way it is. This way, yers who just wanted to use it as pants can keep it the way it is but those who wanted it as a skirt can also convert it into one. And yes, this is a feature that only is avable to the girl yers. This won''t be avable if your avatar is a male unless you y as a girl in the game. [Sacrificial me Pants] Type: Pants Equipment Rarity: Very Rare Equippable at: Level 100 Equippable by: Magician, Versatile AGI: 25 END: 90 INT: 10 Special Passive: me Amp -increases the me damage the user deals against an enemy by 5%. Info: Pants that are specifically made for all magicians to allow the users to move around with ease. Originally meant to be used as a material for dummies that were specifically for magicians, it was then converted into pants after finding out it is ineffective against fire and would increase the intensity of the damage the fire gives. Note: F*CK! MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE! For pants equipment for magicians, this one might not be total garbage but it isn''t great either due to how low its stats for a level 100 magician pants. Most of the time, the equipment of magicians would always have at least one stat of INT and a decent amount of DEX and END. However, this one doesn''t have a DEX stat, a small amount of END stat, and also a garbage AGI and INT that it seems like it doesn''t belong to a level 100 equipment. The only thing that can be seen as its saving grace is the special passive it has which increases the amount of fire damage that has been released to the enemy. But in terms of a level 100 gear, this is not a good item. However, this thing can be remade into an upgraded version once I get the Tailor Ex Job. For now, let''s equip this one and wait for the next chance. Even if it has a low stat, it looks cool in design since it really looks like the pants caught on fire even though it''s not. Thest one is the bangle. It isn''t just limited to female usage, but it can also be used by men. It''s a unisex bangle type which is nice. yers can equip two bangles, one on each arm, giving more stats. For me though, in my personal preferences, I prefer to just have only one bangle. As I was trying to open my stat panel to learn some skills, a global announcement and I realized that it was that time of the year already. Since I was preupied, with so many things involving my father''s disappearance, this announcement allowed my mind to at least jog it for a little bit. [We thank everyone for ying Alternate World. Today, we will be celebrating the official opening of the Colosseum Arena. Starting today, an official tournament will be held on this day and month every year. yers can sign up to enter the tournament and will have a chance to get 1,000,000 gold as the grand prize for the strongest yer! We will be expecting you all!] This is the annual PVP event held in Sandurk every year. yers will now be able to fight against others in apetition manner, not just a short duel that can be done everywhere. Not only that, with the colosseum open, that also means the exchange shop is also open. A shop where you can buy some items that are beneficial for the yers. Everyone can benefit the opening of the Colosseum arena, even the yers who don''t do PVP in exchange of some gold as they can also have the betting system to give them Arena points where they bet on who will win on the arena. The winners will get double the bet they have done while the losers will only get back what they bet as Arena coins converted. It''s still a win-win situation without any losses. I have not done a few PVP for a long time since I returned in the past. I can''t call the attacks I did from other yers as PVP, that was a one-sided ughter I did. A PVP is a normal fight where one loses and one wins, nothing more, nothing less. No penalties, and no hard feelings. It seems this is indeed the best time to optimize all of my SP, learn the skills that I can buy using the amount and upgrade the existing skills to increase their usage like the [Fireball] skill. I opened my SP tab and skill tree tab. I didn''t check the individual SP I got in every ss and only know the SP I earned from my feats and level ups so when I saw them, I already expected it There is also the title I have that doubles a bit of what I earned. This is the result of an unattended for how many level-ups would get me this much SP. However, I know these amounts a lot and might be big in numbers but they won''t be enough especially during the upgrade process. ss SP Swordsman: 102 SP Samurai: 216 SP Alchemist: 231 SP Ninja: 8 SP Assassin: 50 SP Hunter: 94 SP Cleric: 543 SP Pdin: 329 SP Holy Knight: 197 SP Magic Knight: 432 SP Magician: 528 SP Fighter: 74 SP Gunslinger: 195 SP Druid: 13 SP Berserker: 122 SP Necromancer: 230 SP Saboteur: 348 SP Cannoneer: 100 SP Chronomancer: 55 SP I thought the Magician SP would be the highest but it turns out it was the Cleric that will steal the first ce of most used spells. But that is understandable with how many healing spells and holy type spells I used the past few days, this is pretty much normal. Out of all the sses, the Ninja ss is the least ss I usually use. I didn''t do use any ninjutsu skills at all and didn''t even use kunai much so it is pretty much normal. I might have used them before allowing me to earn a few of the Ninja SP but that barely gives me anything to spend. After making some estimations, I opened every ss tree and bought all of the passives in Tier 1 and tier 2 that I can buy first using the SP. The only sses I have trouble buying a lot of passives are those sses with only a small amount of SP with them. The others are much easier to spend so I didn''t have much problem. So why did I not bought the other passive? Tier 3 spells started to get costly for me which starts rising its prices which usually have a starting price of 100. If I was on the original ss, the amount of SP used would be very low since it was the original ss. I am a Versatile ss, the more spells there are on the ss, the more costly it will be the higher its tiers. No wonder yers tend to give up, this is just too much of a grind, not only the levels but also the SP. Chapter 235 - Hidden Skill Triggers I might have chosen active skills before since it was the most priority to get before the passive due to the way the Versatile earns points for skills. Just by earning them with a normal attack with the corresponding weapon of the ss, it seems I can earn 1 sp randomly per kill. I usually kill enemies with skills so I didn''t notice it but seeing the low count of the other ss sp even though I used some of them to kill enemies, it seems like they only get a lot of SP by using a skill normally. Now that I have plenty of skills to use and plenty of SP to spend, that is not a problem anymore. Problem is, Passives are expensive and there are lots of passive every ss. I know some of them but the others are passives I am not so familiar with unless I try to look at the description. First is the Swordsman ss. It''s a basic physical ss but it is the easiest ss to y with since their skillset and their way of fighting is easier to practice. Opening the tab, the repurchased passive I saw are the tier 3 passives since I already purchased the tier 1 passives and tier 2 do not have one. But with the amount of SP I have, I can only buy at least 2 passives with it since the passives starting tier 3 is a whopping 50 SP or more. I disregarded the more expensive passives and sorted them all, leaving only the passives with 50 SP as a cost. I check them one by one and 4 of them are only good only if you have a certain skill that increases their usability and damage, as for the other 1, it was an instant buy since it affects the user''sbat capabilities rather than the skills.. [Warrior of the Land] SP cost: 50 SP Tier 3 Type: Passive Info: The user gains 1 sword stack every 10 normal basic attacks (Max stack: 5). Once a skill is used, increases the damage inflicted to enemies with a low chance to inflict [Bleed]. Note: Basically, you break one sword, use its de as part of your armor, and move on. Once you fight and use your skill, you can sneak those des into the underwear of your enemies. Oh sh*t, I feel my balls tingling. For a passive that increases the damage inflicted by the skill, this is pretty useful. Since it was not specified, it looks like all skills will work with this passive. This is an instant buy. A small increase in damage will always be a good increase as it might be the difference between winning and losing. As for the other passive, I think I will need to make a pass with them. In the end, the remaining SP for the swordsman ss is left behind to 32. I upgraded [Triple sh] to [Triple sh II] which costs 10 SP to increase its damage. Once I maxed the skill, it will be upgraded to a brand new skill and higher rarity version of it, the [Flurry sh]. I also upgraded the [Berserk] into [Berserk II] which increases the duration of the [Berserk] effect. I was about to close the skill tree when a window of text appeared before I can close the skill page. [Skills detected [Warrior of the Land], [Triple sh II] and [Berserk II], hidden skill unlocked, [de of the Juggernaut]. It will be added to the current skill tree.] Huh? Hidden Skill? This is the first time I have heard of this one. Is this a special feature only Versatile ss yers have the privilege to get? This kind of feature never happened in the past timeline and I never know any yer ying as Versatile has this kind of discovery either. The skill is also new to my ears and eyes, so I didn''t continue closing the skill tree and continue to browse it. There was a new tab below the Tier 5 skills with thebel [Hidden Skills]. Clicking it gives me a new tab of a new rarity with the [de of Juggernaut] as one of the skills unlocked. There are still 6 tabs that arebeled in question marks beside the [de of Juggernaut] skill. Clicking it, I didn''t expect to see the effects. [de of Juggernaut] Tier: Hidden Tier Type: Active Skill MP cost: 525 MP Duration: 20 seconds Cooldown: 10 minutes Info: [Only applicable to weapons with des.] Increases the size of the weapon thatsts for 20 seconds that can be used to attack enemies. All enemies that got hit by the de under this effect will take damage. During that duration, the user will undergo the influence of [Berserk], and basic attacks will have a 10% chance to ignore defense. Note: Look at my BIG SWORD! To think I would be seeing Hidden Skills. This was not a mechanic of the Alternate World in the past or maybe I just didn''t know about it. After all, it was a hidden skill and I didn''t waste any SP to learn this. Not only that but this is pretty much strong despite being a mana-consuming skill. Still, howe I only discovered this? Seeing this, I decided to open the Magic Knight skill tree. Since I am pretty familiar with the Magic Knight, perhaps there will be a hidden skill in the skill tree too. With 432 SP, there are enough skill points I can spend to test which skills can trigger and unlock a hidden skill. First, I bought the most useful passives on the Magic Knight Skill Tree. [Mana Sucking Body] SP cost: 50 SP Tier 1 Type: Passive Info: The Mana of the enemies in the surrounding area around you will be drained with 1 MP per 3 seconds restoring your own MP. Note: Congrats! You are now a living drainage hole. ---- [Anti-Magic Body] SP cost: 100 SP Tier 2 Type: Passive Info: Being exposed to countless magic, your body slowly adapts. Reduces the elemental damage received from the attacks of the enemies. Note: Your training to be the Magic Jammer is just the beginning! Keep Practicing! --- [Mana of the World] SP Cost: 70 SP Tier 3 Type: Passive Info: Active damaging skills used has a 5% chance to use no mana and will use the mana of the world during the casting time. Will undergo a 5-minute cooldown once triggered. Note: Imagine doing a dine and dash, the feeling of triggering this feels simr. --- [Elemental Master II] Initial SP Cost: 54 SP, Upgrading Cost: 100 SP per upgrade Tier 3 Type: Passive Info: Increases your understanding of the essence of elements and allows you to wield two elements in one battle. Upgradable passive. Update Info: Increases your understanding of the essence of elements and allows you to wield three elements in one battle. Upgradable passive. Note: "Master of all elements, the Magic Knight could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished." --- [Terra Shifter] SP cost: 57 sp Tier 3 Type: Passive Info: Attacks involving the Earth Element will gain bonus damage. Chances to summon a huge rock that will act as a shield whenever an attack from the enemy is received. Note: That r is so th af... --- I stopped buying the passives when another pop-up appeared before me. [Skills detected [Mana Sucking Body], [Anti Magic Body] and [Mana of the World], hidden skill, [Magic Jammer] added to the skill tree.] As expected! Only the Versatile ss has this functionality! When I am a Magic Knight, I learned all of these skills but I never received a skill called [Magic Jammer] the whole time. My experiment is indeed a sess since I am thinking that these three seems to be connected to each other since they are spells that seem to work only when a user uses magic or they are hit with a magic spell. This means some spells in the game have multiplebinations, multiple upgrades, and other hidden spells. In that case, I will be able to obtain a bonus skill that might be very powerful that I can use them as hidden trump cards! I opened the Magic Knight''s skill; tree and scrolled down to the very bottom. There, I saw the same tab I found on the Swordsman ss, the Hidden Skill tab. Opening it, I was revealed with at least 10 nk slots with one slot upied, meaning the Magic Knight ss has at least 11 hidden skills in them. I click the new skill I received. [Magic Jammer] Tier: Hidden Tier Type: Active MP COST: 150 MP Duration: 20 Seconds Cooldown 10 minutes Info: The user can cast this skill when being attacked by an enemy that is using magic spells or magic imbued elements. Negate all elemental attacks and magic effects received from the enemy attacks. Effectsst for 20 seconds. Note: Hahahahaha! You just activated my trap card! Chapter 236 - Registration Begins! There are a lot of skills I decided to learn in every ss. Despite the amount of SP I got in the beginning, they are quickly drained and most of them are now sitting in single digits after using the SP. The following are the spells I purchased that will help me in the future. There are some ss that has low amount of SP gained so I decided to learn a few more spells that can contribute on earning the individual ss SP by using the Free SP that I obtain every level up and some that I received from special achievements I did. Samurai 1. Discipline: 53 SP Tier 2 Passive 2. Firm Stance of a Ronin: 50 SP: Tier 3 Passive 3. Aimless Journey: 55 SP: Tier 3 Passive 4. Bloodsoaked de: 50 SP: Tier 3 Passive . Alchemist 1. Brewing Factor: 60 SP Tier 1 Passive 2. Medicine Potency: 35 SP Tier 1 Passive 3. Creation: 60 SP Tier 3 Passive 4. Material Maniption: 74 SP: Tier 3 Passive Ninja 1. Smoke Bomb: 5 SP: Tier 1 Active 2. Poison Kunai: 20 SP Tier 1 Passive 3. Enhanced Vision: SP 25 SP Tier 1 Passive Assassin 1. Feint de: 50 SP Tier 1 Passive 2. Blending to the Crowd: 50 SP Tier 2 Passive Hunter 1. Hunting Expertise: 45 SP: Tier 1 Passive 2. Terrain Mastery: 50 SP: Tier 2 Passive Cleric 1. Holy Aura of the Saint: 100 SP Tier 3 Passive 2. Healing Amp: 150 SP Tier 3 Passive 3. A Saint''s Creed: 100 SP Tier 3 Passive 4. Smile of the Goddess: 100 SP Tier 3 Passive Pdin 1. Defender''s Oath: 100 SP Tier 1 Passive 2. A Pdin''s Conviction: 100 SP Tier 2 Passive 3. Guard and Stab 50 SP Tier 2 Active 4. Stinging Pierce 38 SP Tier 2 A Holy Knight 1. Knight of Hope: 100 SP Tier 2 Passive 2. Bastion of Light: 50 SP Tier 2 Passive Magician 1. Runic Understanding: 30 SP Tier 1 Passive 2. Mana Conversion: 150 SP Tier 3 Passive 3. Aether Absorption: 150 SP Tier 4 Passive 4. Aether Explosion 200 SP Tier 4 Active Fighter 1. Comet Punch 20 SP Tier 1 Active 2. Iron Fist: 35 SP Tier 1 Passive Gunslinger 1. Quick Draw Shot: 35 SP: Tier 1 Active 2. Eye Weakness: 55 SP Tier 1 Passive 3. Focus Shot: 27 SP Tier 2 Passive 4. More Bullets, More Bullseye: Tier 3 50 SP Passive Druid 1. Spirit Call: 35 SP Tier 1 Active 2. Forestborn: 45 SP Tier 2 Passive 3. Friend of the Faunas: 50 SP Tier 3 Passive Berserker 1. Undying Soul: 50 SP Tier 3 Passive 2. Madness Enhancement: 60 SP Tier 3 Passive Necromancer 1. Call of the Dead: 36 SP Tier 2 Active 2. Howl of the Condemned: 70 SP Tier 3 Passive 3. Soul Extraction: 45 SP: Tier 3 Passive 4. Corpse Party: 60 SP: Tier 3 Active Saboteur 1. It''s A Trap!: 55 SP: Tier 1 Passive 2. Sabotage Sess: 55 SP Tier 1 Passive 3. Trap Master: 100 SP Tier 3 Passive 4. sh and Choke: 50 SP Tier 3 Active Cannoneer 1. BLAST THE SKULL: 50 SP Tier 1 Passive 2. Precision: 50 SP Tier 1 Passive Chronomancer 1. Timelock: 50 SP Passive ... Looking back of all the skills, I never knew it is very exhausting keeping up with all of the skill trees in check. I am used to only have one ss with one skill tree to manage. No wonder some yersin that the Versatile ss is too much of a choir to do. Too bad that I didn''t unlock further hidden skills. It seems some of the hidden skills needed a certain level in some spells to get unlocked or maybe a certain skill needed to be unlocked first. I don''t know which skills they are and I don''t know any walkthrough or guide that would help me unlock them. I can only hope to try unlocking all the skills and find it one by one. After buying the skills, I prepare myself and ready all of the things needed to be done. The arena registration starts today and the arena can now be also used for today. But thepetition will be 3 days from now. I can see that mypanions would not join this PVP session. After all, they are only caring more on defeating monsters than fighting against people. Not me though since I enjoy fighting some yers. It also allows me to find a way to practice my PK skills. If I wanted to do a PK or dere a solo guild war, the arena is the answer to that. I went to the teleport stone and went to Sandurk. Time to go to registration. ... Sandurk The weather is still pretty much hot that you can feel the heat scorching your body. It was a little bit troublesome but it isn''t annoying. I summoned Leona and fly through the next city since the Arena is not located where the pce of Queen Tanya was standing, the City of Tarioso. It is located the neighboring City, Avia. Just like always, I didn''t went straight to the city with Leona and just dropped off. The NPCs would freak out if they see it, after all, the only people who know about Leona and have seen Leona personally are the people living in the City of Tarioso. Even if the people of Avia heard about Leona, they would freak out still. It''s better to keep a low profile with that. The City of Avia is not as bustling as Tarioso''s economy but due to the Colloseum Arena''s opening, it will start to be as bustling as the city of Tarioso as a result. The flow of people and yers here are not yet truly significant right now but once the tournament goes live, it will be one of the main attractions of the flow of people. The Colloseum Arena stood high up in the distance even when you are still on the gate of Avia. It''s been a while but I just realized that the Colloseum Arena''s ruin looking design might be due to the demon invasion that we prevented after properly defeating the enemies in the Sandurk Pioneer Raid. The Arena right now looked brand new and still looked fine and grand. The ce is already getting a few yers already so that means the registration is now in progress. I headed to the arena to get registered on the thepetition. I am also quite sure Kazuki would be here but I doubt I would be seeing him here. I bet the moment the announcement was broadcasted, he already reached this ce and registered already. Arriving on the registration venue, there are already people lining up but not too many for me to say that it is very long. The registration is quick so it didn''t take too long before I managed to get registered too. When my registration is approved, I didn''t leave immediately and went to the audience to watch the fight happening on the arena. Since yers can now fight in the arena, there are plenty of yers fighting and waiting for their turns while some are just spectating. I was peacefully watching the battles happening when someone tried hitting me in the head but due to my quick reflexes and my sensitivity in danger, I managed to dodge it. After dodging, I pull my Versatile Weapon that is in the form of a dagger and aim it to the person before me and aim it on his neck. "What do you want?" I ask in a cold voice. "Heh, it seems you are indeed strong to be able to dodge my attack. You are strong right? Fight me!" My eyebrow frowned when I heard him suddenly dere it. That is not something a yer usually do things to fight people in Arena. Sure, they can ask and challenge someone but provoking them while they are currently watching something is very rude and I can''t tolerate it. "What if I refuse?" "You can''t. Or else, you will not get a peaceful day and my squad will try to PK you." "Pfft, is that a threat? That feels pretty much empty to me. Go away, I am watching the fight, don''t interrupt me." "PFFT, COWARD! WHAT A COWARD!" The otherckeys started calling me coward. They are taunting me to ept the challenge presented by this person. Too bad this is not enough to taunt me. "What now? Are you going to ept my challenge or not? These guys will keep on annoying you until you ept." "Go ahead and do what you want, but I am sorry but I don''t care and I will not care whether they continue doing this or not. So go away, I am not in the mood." "YOU..." I can hear him grit his teeth in anger. Hisckeys stopped doing the annoying calls but then a pop up appeared in front of my face. [FORCED CHALLENGE! Krow would like to challenge you to a deathmatch! This challenge cannot be declined since Krow used the [Gloves of Challenge] to force a challenge to you! You can only ept!] Heh, a richkid huh? [Gloves of Challenge] is a paid consumable item that when used to another yer, they will be forced to fight against the one who used the item, whether they like it or not. I am not interested in fighting right now but since they forced me, then I have no choice but to wee their challenge. Let''s start the bloodbath shall we? Chapter 237 - PVP Deathmatch The normal PVP in the arena is defeating the enemy and drain their health to zero. Since it was held in an arena, this is not counted as PK and the death of the yer who lost the PVP will not receive any kind of penalty to the loser, just a reduced amount of Arena Coins that they can earn after a battle. But PVP Deathmatch mode is different. Like many FPS games in PC tforms, these mode works simrly. There is no time limit in this battlepared to the normal PVP where the limit is 5 minutes. In PVP Deathmatch, the two yers will fight to the death, however, once someone dies, 10 secondster, the yer who died will be restored back to health with full MP and HP while the enemy will stay the same health. The battle will end once one side managed to rack up at least 15 wins. ''And this bastard purposely chooses this mode. Is he that confident to fight against me?'' Currently, we are waiting for thest battle to end. The enemy is on the other side of the arena''s waiting room, while I am waiting on the other side. It is the rule of the arena to prevent foul y on both fighters. . "Master, good luck! We are cheering for you in here! Beat up that guy real good!" Lucia''s voice echoed from the Summon''s area with an excited tone. "Don''t worry master, if you need some pointers, I can give you some on how to defeat an enemy instantly with 101 ways to do so. I am reading that one and it is pretty useful indeed that I got some enlightenment!" As said. I can only shake my head, what the heck are you even reading, As? Also, where the hell did you get that book? Then, one of the workers involved in the arena appeared from the weapon''s room. "Mr. deheart, please prepare since your next fight is going tomence in a minute, the worker said. "Alright. Thank you." I stood up from my seat and headed to the entrance of the holding area. I can see the guy I was facing is currently. From the looks of it, he was a Swordsman. And based on his gear, some of them are definitely part of the armor that you can buy on the Premium Shop. It has a good defense stat and some random stats but it was far from being a gear dedicated to fulfilling a final endgame content like raid bosses. It was also freaking expensive that the armor you can see in the auction house that is a bit expensive is a much better alternativepared to what he was wearing. Yes, his armors and some of his equipment all look awesome and majestic but that doesn''t mean it will remain majestic in a battle. After all, the purpose of the armor is to protect you against the damage dealt by enemies, not be used for modeling purposes. So buying it is a big waste. Still, I will not condemn him for doing so. If he has the money to spend, it was his decision to use it on the equipment so I don''t care about it. [Ladies and Gentlemen! We have a special fight today! Instead of the traditional PVPbat, you have been seeing previously, we will now be witnessing a Deathmatch between two yers!] It looks like the chaos that urred earlier caused the arena manager to choose this chance to promote the arena. I don''t mind doing this, but I am worried about that guy. Did he know what he just sign up for? Does he know the rules of the Deathmatch or did he just choose it because there is a word "Death" on it? [Fighters! Please enter the arena!] The metal gate opened and we entered the arena. I already changed my weapon into a Magic Sword. The feel of using the ss you are very familiar with is very good though I am tempted to choose Katana since I wanted to at least make him my practice dummy and get my bearings with it much faster. [On the right, is a confident young man, a strong character that anyone can depend on in times of danger! Would you look at that arms of his! Don''t you feel secured if you hold it? Oh my goodness, I can''t believe someone like him appears here! Meet Odaka!] The guy quickly sent flying kisses to the crowd and the girls who are watching the audience seem to be affected by the infatuation on his baby-looking face. That face of his is what you call the "ideal looks" that many girls wanted, which is in short, their ideal prince charming. Also, am I the only one embarrassed by what he just submitted to the Announcer? Just from the words alone, he is a yboy of some sort. [On the other hand! We have a yer who didn''t even bother to give out an introduction! However, since he didn''t give any, I will give him one as my impression! His wolf mask seems to be looking alive and menacing to look at! He also exuded a very dangerous aura that I only see whenever I watch anime with a cool protagonist! Herees, deheart!] I didn''t give any introduction at all since I don''t n on giving one. Knowing the announcer, they can just create one on the spot to introduce me and I was right, there is no need for any self-introduction anyway. As I stated earlier, this is a battlefield, this is not a fashion show or a y to impress the people. A 30-second timer appeared above us that will count down before the battle begins. This allows the two yers to rx their tense muscles and make their battle stance before the battle officially begins. The other guy did not even care and continue to wave around the audience like he was a certain character in M*rt*l Com*at. I just stare at the timer and waited for the timer to hit zero. The audience is pretty hype but from the looks of it, they are hyped on the other guy, not on me. He must have a reputation or something that allows him to be like this. 3 2 1 The Horn of the Arena buzz in the air and the moment he turned around to face me in the fight, a swift sh passed through him. "Huh?" Before he realize what happened, his head detached itself from his body and fell on the ground, following his lifeless body. DING! The number beside my name changed from 0 to 1. That was very pathetic and I didn''t even use any skill. It was just a swift movement from my sword and swing it on his neck which is a fatal part. In a split second after the battle started, it was also his first death and was a painless one too. The audience who were cheering at first was stunned by what happened. After all, it was the fastest kill they have seen so far. [Did my eyes deceive me? Odaka who looked like a mighty superhero just got decapitated in a split second before he can react?! Is this the fastest defeat in the Arena?!] I stood on the side and watched his body''s respawn timer. 10 secondster, his body glows and he returned back to life. He stood back up and he realized that he was back to life. He touched his neck and his face was filled with confusion. "Draw your weapon." "Huh?!" he looks confused. "You proposed a deathmatch on me, then draw your weapon and fight! You are looking for someone to fight you right? Then go! Draw your weapon!" His face changed from confusion to anger. "Don''t get so cocky! That was a fluke earlier!" He draw his weapon and he activated [Berserk] immediately. "Now, go and die!" I draw my weapon again and when his body is near, I made a slice upwards. After doing that, I move forward and his body fall to the ground and his head went rolling a bit far from his body. [OMG! WE ARE NOT JUST DREAMING! GUYS! IT''S A ONE-SLASH KILL! Odaka died immediately without even getting the chance to retaliate! Isn''t this just a pure one-sided battle?!] 10 seconds passed by and he stood up again with a look of confusion on his face. "What is going on? I already lost right? Howe I am still in PVP mode and am currently being revived? Hey?! Isn''t this a bug? Howe I keep respawning and still in the arena!? I lost already right?" I shook my head. This guy indeed just choose the Deathbattle when he was sending me the [Challenger''s Gloves] because he thought it would be a battle to the death. "It seems like you still have no idea what mess you just entered right now. This is a Deathmatch. A winner will be determined once a yer gains 15 kills. Before the 15 kills get tallied, every time you die, you will be revived for 10 seconds. In short, you will need to die 15 times before everything in here ends." SLASH! And his head once again came off from his body. Chapter 238 - Fight Back Or Die Trying Although he is a bit of an a*s, I wanted to at least experience him fighting back. It is kind of boring that he is not even fighting back. Also, since he is a swordsman, he should at least be capable of blocking my sword attack. But bing such a pathetic one that even non-surprise attacks would kill him only meant his character might look like an overgeared one but hecks the skills to back up the power of his gear. He stood up again while touching his neck. Every time his head and body separates, the experience will be imprinted on his mind. I experienced it many times that I am already immune to it. For now, it seems he is getting traumatized by the feeling. "What now? Are you just going to hold your neck and allow me to attack? If it is another yer, they wouldn''t hesitate to take you down before you can do anything. But I am different as I don''t like fighting against spineless people with all talk but no action. Come on, show me that you have the spine to fight back!" "AH...." he seems going to retreat but I didn''t let him retreat. I kicked his abdomen and he flew to the wall of the arena real hard. But since he is wearing armor, the impact is not that strong and not fatal for him. He won''t even suffer much damage from that since his armor will surely take all of the brunt of the force of my kick. [AND HE IS FLYING! THAT KICK EARLIER WAS A VERY BRUTAL ONE THAT EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN''T DIE, IT IS CLEARLY SHOWING HOW HIS OPPONENT IS NOT SHOWING ANY MERCY!] The other yers who were stunned started cheering all of a sudden. Despite being a one-sided battle, as long as one side gets pummeled, yers will start cheering no matter who it was. He stood up from the rubble and grip the sword in his hands, he is still shaking but at least he didn''t run away. That is already courage. "GOOD! Now, fight back! If you want to win, fight back!" Seems out of his wits, he came charging to me, and with the point of his sword, he started screaming on top of his lungs. However, due to how he is charging, I easily made a step on the side and he missed. I didn''t mock him any further and allowed him to stand back up and fight back. But his fighting style is so pathetic. I am not kind enough to let him score so when his back is open, I sliced him and multiple times and it didn''t take a few slices and he died. This is not a matter of level and Equipment strength. It is a rule that if you are a high-level yer pitted against a low-level one, your strength and level will drop to the average level of your opponent''s maximum strength so that the battle will be fair. All is fair and square in the arena and no one will be able to brag their equipment much as it doesn''t much matter at all. When he got respawned he immediately went to the ground and beg for his life. "I AM SORRY! PLEASE, I FORFEIT! I MADE A MISTAKE! I DON''T WANT TO DIE ANYMORE!" He is crying to tears seeing his poor state. As soon as he did, he forfeited the match. It was supposed to be my win but this is pretty much a worthless fight. I didn''t even have to move that much of a muscle after our battle. The announcers were about to announce my win when someone appeared carrying a katana. From his getup alone, I can deduce that he is around level 85 or above. "Wait up, this is a deathmatch, right? Then, can I take the challenger''s ce and fight against him instead?" "Yes, it is possible. However, are you sure that it is the right thing to do? He already scored quite an amount and the one you are recing with still hasn''t gained a score." "That''s fine by me, I didn''te here to win but fight against him and see how strong he was." The announcer looked at me and when I nodded as a confirmation, she announced immediately the change of yer. [Due to the original guy forfeiting the match, another one caught this chance! A samurai who came in from somewhere far away! From the looks of it, he looks like some sort of ronin from the past! Can we catch what is your name, new challenger?] "Azuma." "[Azuma! Since you decided to use the remaining chances of the deathmatch, the battle will continue! 3, 2, 1, Resume the battle!] His footsteps is quick and he dashed towards my direction without any hesitation. PENG! Our swords collide and sparks fly as the des grind themselves as we fight back. I immediately tried to overpower his grip to immediately disarm his katana but it seems like he saw what I was about to do so before he can do something, he retreated a few steps. He calmed down himself and he made his battle position. I quickly notice his stance is the effects of the Passive, [Stance of the Ronin]. [Stance of the Ronin] Tier 3 Passive Info: With a calm mind, be one with the sword, be one with the surroundings be one with everything. Allows the user to manage their nerves and receive less damage from attacks. Lessens the chances to receive fatal damage and reduces getting hit by debuffs. Notes: When you are multitasking in many things and tasks, it seems you undergo this phenomenon. I also have that passive so we are on equal grounds. He squints his eyes and dashes forward before pulling his katana out of the scabbard, which means he is using the [Iaido Stance]. Only a few people are capable of executing this stance but if they can, it is going to be someone who specializes in quick and fatal attacks. SWISH! That was a pretty close one and he basically sh the air in one technique. He seems to have the same style of movement as my master in the dojo though there is quite a difference he is like using the same technique but incorporated the abilities in the game. But I can''t just let the battle drag on. "I am sorry but I am not going to just let myself die," I said to him and rush with the sword, burning. He faced me and was about to take the attack head-on, however, to quickly win a battle, you need to know how to fight back and deal a blind spot to the enemy. Swinging the sword on his neck, he quickly tried to block it. However, when the de and his katana made contact, he realized that it didn''t have any solid thing making contact with his de. "What?!" FWOOSH! Azuma''s eyes went wide before he realized that the one attacking him is just an afterimage. "Good reflexes! However, you are toote." SWISH! His head detach from his body and he died, immediately summoning out the respawn timer. [DAMN! Did you guys see that! That is clean-cut and it was a very amazing technique! I thought only in the movies and anime did those things happen! But it seems you can also do it!] The audience went on a hype immediately. I know the battle is still not yet done. But the stadium became really hyped all of a sudden. I can''t me them though. Even I in the past timeline admire yers who know how to control their attacks in Arena and quickly make split-seconds decisions. It was a good thing I also mastered that in the past. Azuma stood back up after 10 seconds and he touched his neck and grinned. "Heh, that is the first time someone managed to outy my stance. That only made me feel more thirst to defeat you," he grinned. "Same here, it''s a good change of pace at least. Now, let''s dance!" PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG! The sound of the flurry of des echoed in the arena and our figure started to blur in the eyes of the yers. It was a battle that I am satisfied to finish from start to finish. In the end, despite the expertise of Azuma in the katana, he lost to me without winning once. After all, I am not just going to let him win. If I did, it was like I am looking down at him. That is just disrespectful. "I lost huh... It looks like I stillck in training," Azuma wipe off the dirt on his cheek as he put the katana back to his scabbard. "Heh, I like the way you fight, you almost managed to catch me off guard in some parts while we are fighting. If I hadn''t noticed it, I would be a dead man." We sped our hands together, signifying good sportsmanship. Everyone in the audience started pping. I didn''t know that time, that the Arena will start to get more hyped due to the battle between me and Azuma on the inte as our video immediately got posted on video sharing tforms. Chapter 239 - Bounty In The Head After the Arena battle, Azuma decided to send a friend request in which I epted. He is eager to have a rematch with me again and even though I wipe the floor with him, at least he fought back and managed to give me some setbacks on killing him. Hecks polish but he is a strong fighter no doubt. Too bad he won''t be participating in the uing Arenapetition after finding out the ws but I guess as someone who seemed to follow the teachings of a real samurai, that''s just how they go. I left the arena and decided that it should be a good time to gather some materials since I am nning on taking the EX-job Tailor. If I have to make armor and metal armor, I need to be proficient in it. When I went out of the city, I quickly notice some yers are looking at me with funny and shifty-looking gazes. I am quite familiar with those gazes and I know they are up to something. However, I didn''t confront them, I am just observing for now and seeing what their next course of action next. I might be mistaken but there is a huge chance that I am being targeted right now. They might be observing me from the distance in a low key but they are still too obvious. I nned to summon Leona once I am a bit of a distance from the city gates but seeing those gazes, I changed my mind and continue to walk towards the hostile zone where the monsters dwell.. And then I noticed the borate trap on the road made by a Saboteur. Either the yer with the Saboteur ss is a bit inexperienced or this is an borate easy to spot trap so that I will evade it and get caught in other traps. But that is easy, to trigger. PENG! I throw one rock on the trap and boom! The trap was triggered and the trap was gone. At the same time, I throw the pit trap I made beforehand and waited for them to trigger it instead. When the borate trap was triggered, the hiding yers around the ce appeared to ambush me on the trap. But they didn''t expect that I am outside the trap so when they rush towards the location of the first trap, my trap triggers, and everyone who jumped towards the trap fell to the pit. SQUISH! As usual, with my trap, the pit closed and everyone who jumped in was squished to their deaths. My name became red immediately since it counted as my first strike since they didn''t do anything to me just yet. But I am fine with a red name, it is easy to clear so it doesn''t matter much. The other yers who were hiding nearby appeared when the other members died, probably they started to chat on the people who are still alive that the trap failed. "Looks like our trap failed. However, we won''t get penalties now, he is now a red name! Let''s get him!" The yers quickly made their way, charging with their weapons up in the air. But as usual, I stood my ground and pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a cannon. Since they are in point-nk range, even if I can''t easily aim the cannon, this will be a 100% sure hit. BANG! The other yers charging didn''t have time to dodge as the cannonball immediately hit them. Although it wasn''t a one-hit kill, it was a big knockback for them. Once they are far, I quickly changed my weapon''s form into a gun and before the knocked-out yers can stand up, I shoot their foreheads and kill them immediately. It was quick but I needed to do it. After doing the deed, I looked around the area to see if there are any reinforcements but luckily, there are noneing to rescue them. I quickly summoned Leona and quickly fly away from the area before more chaos ur and also to quickly clear my red name status of mine. While drinking the potion to clear my name''s red status, Dolly called me. I opened my chat and answered her call. "Sup, why did you call?" "deheart, what did you do? The Skull Guild has issued a BOUNTY to you on their guild members!" "A bounty?" "Yeah! The members are now looking for your whereabouts." "Uh... I don''t know why they would issue a bounty to my head. I don''t remember offending anyone," I said even though I already have a hunch. "This was only one I heard from the rumors but apparently, you shamed one of the brothers of the guild leader. Now that he is too ashamed, he will also do the same thing to you." "Ah, so that''s what," I nodded and grin. My hunch is right. "Why are you so chill about it? You are hunted by a guild now! An entire guild! Are you not worried?" "Huh? Why would I?" "What? Don''t you know what would happen to you if you got a whole guild hunting for you on your bounty?" I know about it. This thing is a pretty famous yer nuker in the past timeline. Due to this, either a yer finds someone who can back them up or escape from their sights to avoid them. The only way to stop this is to either wait until the cooldown of the bounty wears off or fight them back and win. The former is a bit long but it will wear off eventually, but you will be always wary of your surroundings. As for thetter, you would be in really hard times and you might also need to ask some of your backers, or friends to help you. It''s always chaotic. However, I am different. "Dolly, can you tell me where is their guild headquarters located?" "Their headquarters? Um, they are in The Capital''s Northern area, near the Horse Rental shed." "Thanks." "Hey wai-" I ended the calls and set my status to "Do not disturb" to avoid receiving calls. After that, I issued Leona to fly me back to The Capital. The Guild Headquarters of the Skull Guild is near the Horse Rental Shed which means the building that is near the gates. That is a very convenient ce to put your headquarters. When I arrived, I let Leona hover above the guild house of the Skull Guild. I jump off Leona andnded near where the g of the guild is ced. I pull out my weapon and hold the g. [Warning. Destroying the g of the [Skull Guild]. Destroying it will dere war on the guild the yer who destroyed it belongs to. If the yer who destroyed it does not have a guild, they need to think twice.] [Detecting, you don''t belong to any guild. Are you sure you will tear the g of [Skull Guild] and provoke them? Yes/No I click yes. [Are you really sure? Once you confirm, the decision is irreversible.] I click yes once again. After that, I tear the g of the Skull Guild. [Announcement, yer deheart announced an all-out war against the Skull Guild! Either side can start fighting inside the city with this. There will be no penalty if you killed either one of the factions inside the city and the guards won''t intervene.] Due to the announcement, many yers were stunned on the announcement and the Skull Guild was also not expecting what happened. After all, this is the first time someone decided to make a guild war against them. ... In the office of the Skull Guild. The leader of the Skull Guild, Amyrose stood up from her chair and frowned. "Which guild dares to dere war against our guild?! Someone check who is doing it and prepare everyone for the guild war!" "Ms. Amyrose, I don''t know if you will believe this but there are no guilds issuing a guild war against us," a pdin reported. "NO GUILD? Then how could you exin the announcement? Isn''t it impossible to issue a guild war without a guild?" One yer who is a female elf race walked inside the room and pushed his sses up. "Pardon me, Amyrose but it seems you don''t know about the rules of the guild war yet, no?" "Lena? Oh, you are right, I am not so familiar with it. Care to exin why my guildmembers do not know which guild challenged us?" "I can and it is very easy. You remembered who the yer who was mentioned during the announcement of the guild war right?" "Who?" "Seriously? You didn''t know the name of the person you put a bounty with due to the humiliating experience your brother experienced?" "HUH?" "Anyways, the Guild Wars are not limited to guilds alone. As long as one side is a guild, it doesn''t matter whether the enemy is just a small crowd or a few people. Heck, there is even solo guild war too." "Is there any madd who will do a solo guild war though?" "Idiot, there is one indeed. The one who issued a guild war against your guild is a single yer. A SINGLE PLAYER ONLY!" Chapter 240 - Solo Guild War (I) There are lots of misconceptions about guild wars. People thought that a guild war can only be done if a yer has a guild they belong in. However, that is not a necessary thing. Anyone can dere a guild war on an existing guild as long as they destroy the g of the guild that is ced on the top of the guild''s headquarters. So, what is the purpose of a guild war? That depends on the situation. The guild that got a deration of guild war from an individual or a guild will be given an allocated amount of time to prepare for the attack which is usually around 4 hours after the guild g was destroyed. What are the risks that will be lost from this guild war if one side lost? The guild that suffered a loss against an enemy will lose the buff of their guild headquarters, they have to fix their guild house and they will also have a resource loss in the process. There is also an extreme oue where the loser guild will have to disband the guild in the process. As for the winners, the buff that they receive before in their guild house will temporarily increase and the resources they have will also increase. Not only that but the guild will also gain a shield of Invincibility for a month that will prevent any guild to dere war on it. However, I am a yer who will not just let an enemy go. Since this guild just put a bounty on me, that means that I am a target to be hunted and it looks like they are nning to reduce my level back to level 0.. I can also do that to them but I am not cruel enough to them who is just taking revenge on me. It all depends on the response of their guild leader. If I like the oue, then I might change my mind. I went back to my mansion with Leona and waited for the allocated time that the guild needed to prepare for the guild war. I can''t attack them if they are still in preparation mode. In the mansion, Dolly is already there alongside the two siblings. "What did you just do, deheart? Do you even know what a Guild War is? You are at a very big disadvantage against a guild!" "I know what I am doing Dolly. Don''t worry about me too much." "It''s not a good thing deheart! Do you want me to back you up? The siblings are also in agreement with me and wanted to help out as well!" Dolly said and looked at the two who nodded in response. "No, you guys shouldn''t be involved in this affair. The battle between the Skull Guild and me shouldn''t involve other people who are not even part of the conflict. No worries, I can handle things by myself." "Are you trying to solo things again? At least you should have involved us in this!" "Nah, this time, it is a trivial matter, and even if I involved you all guys, you guys will have little things to do and no gains from this. Not only that, you will gain hate from other yers too. So if you think I am unreasonable for not including you guys, that would be the best for all of you to y the game peacefully." Dolly did not have any words to talk back to me about it. I gave a reasonable reason for them to not participate and due to this, they don''t have a choice. "So what will you do? Is there anything we can do to help you on this matter?" "Yes, and although this will not be rted to fighting the Skull Guild, I need intel about them, how they operate, how many members they have, and who is the Guild leader." Dolly''s eyes lit up when she heard those and she quickly perked up. "Ah, I already have some info on them, and although it''s not aplete one, I can say that this is authentic info about the Skull Guild. You won''t go wrong with it." Dolly proceed to give me details on it. Since she got a lot of info on it, I quickly summarize things in my mind so that I won''t get confused. First, the guild leader is a yer named Amyrose. I heard of this name in the past timeline but only due to some controversies about some guilds. It''s not really one of the well-known names in the game so there are only a limited amount of things I know about her. ording to Dolly, Amyrose put a bounty on me due to the incident of the guy that challenged me in the arena with a death match. Apparently, that guy was her brother who co-founded the guild with her. Due to the incident in the arena and due to how it was published on the public inte where many yers so get wrecked and how he yield and flee like a coward, she wanted to take revenge and avenge her brother''s humiliation. The guild members are not that numerouspared to the big three guilds but they are still plenty enough. They have at least around 50 members in the guild. The amount is a bit on the small side but that is not something I would go easy with. No matter how small the number of people in their guild, it is still not aughing matter for me since I have to do things all alone. There''s nothing for me to prepare other than some potions but other than that, there isn''t much for me to prepare things. My equipment is already optimized, the skills I have are already the maximum amount I can learn at the moment, the only thing left for me to do is to wait for the right time. "Might as well take a little nap." .... ... On the other hand, inside the Main Headquarters of the Skull Guild... The yers are now doing all of what they can do after the announcement. Since they can''t avoid this confrontation, they have to prepare for the battle. Although there are lots of them that are preparing, there are some who are confused on why they should prepare even though the one who challenged them is just a single person. "Why are you guys panicking in preparing things? It''s not like we are facing against an entire guild, it''s just a single person!" "You are an idiot aren''t you? This guy is clearly aware of that matter and yet he still dered war against us! That means he is confident to take us down!" "Then how about we kill him by ambush or something simr?" "You didn''t hear the news right? That guy who dered war against us was the one who has a big bounty given by our guild leader herself. Afterward, a few of our members tried to take him out and tried to ambush him outside the city. They brought 10 people with them and during the confrontation, none make it back alive!" "Boy, are you exaggerating or something? Isn''t that impossible? I mean, there are 10 people whoy an ambush against him. There should at least have a few who managed to run away right?" "..." "R-RIGHT?" Amyrose has a huge frown on her face. Right now, she is talking to her brother, Odaka who got pped so hard by deheart. "So what you are trying to say is that this guy that we have a big bounty with is not just an easy guy we can fight against?" "Yes, sister. Also, this is my fault too since I didn''t know I challenged someone who is too strong for me. I thought he was a weak guy due to how low-level-looking his equipment is. Also, I also thought he was a magician since he is wearing a robe for a magician. But who would have thought he can have a sword with him and is capable of moving so fast." "You are not the one at fault in here. He shouldn''t have humiliated you in front of many people. I don''t want anyone who bullies my brother to get away with this." "Sister, please, I know you are eager to do this but please, don''t make this worse. I beg you, this guy is not so simple. Don''t underestimate him!" "You don''t believe your sister''s strength and everyone''s strength at all? If we stick together, no one can defeat us!" Odaka can only stay quiet. Her sister might be confident but he can feel that this is going to be not a simple thing that will end without incident. He might have faced against deheart for just a small span of time but he is quite sure that deheart will not just go down so easily and get killed by anyone. He has more doubts about everyone managing to kill him sessfully and their guild winning than deheart losing on the fight. Chapter 241 - Solo Guild War (II) I open my eyes and stretch my body. Although napping in the game didn''t seem like you did a nap, the brain function seems to slow down and acted like I was indeed asleep. Looking at the time of the preparation, I realized I am already 5 minuteste to the war. They are already done with their preparation. Since Dolly and the siblings are no longer in the mansion, my guess is that they already left. It is a good thing they are not involved. I would rather have all of the conflict surrounding me than to make all of the trouble surround them. "Should we do this?" ... The Capital.. Since it was a guild war, the NPCs are not roaming in the streets and instead, they were filled with yers and spectators alike. There are some NPCs spectating since Guild Wars are one of the entertainments of some NPCs and this is also the time some yers who have Chef Ex-Jobs use this opportunity to earn a small buck of money from the NPCs who buy food while watching the spectacle. The guild wars will ur where the attacked guild''s headquarters or base is located. In this situation, the Capital became the battleground since they have their guild ced here. Looking outside the capital, I can see some structures that can only be erected during Guild Wars. I grinned seeing how prepared they are. At least, they are not underestimating me by not raising some of them. They are just looking for a p. Now, to win this guild war, I need to defeat themander of the guild, or grab the Guild Badge they have that is given by the Headquarters and destroy it. The former is a peaceful end of guild war, while thetter one is if you really want to destroy their guild and remove them from existence. And for me to lose, it would be if I die or surrender. Of course, those two are out of the question that I will do it. That is not happening. When I arrive at the Capital''s gate, the yers immediately jump forward for an assault. Since killing yers are now legal between me and the Skull Guild, there is no need to worry about getting a red name. I grab the two first attackers on their faces and fire a Fireball while I am holding their heads before I went to the next target and use the two targets as part of my momentum to move forward. Getting near the other yers, I pull out my weapon and immediately release a [Triple sh] followed by execution skills that will kill any yers in a frontal assault which is cutting the neck of the yer. Since they are busy defending the [Triple sh]''s assault, they didn''t notice my approach and in a swift movement, three heads went flying already. "Three down." "Sh*t! We can''t just rush one by one! Gang him up! Don''t let him get away!" The ambush failed and they decided to group together to attack. But that is a very bad idea for them. It saves me time to gather them all in one ce. [Ice Prison]! CRACK CRACK CRACK! Half of the yers that are attacking were caught by the [Ice Prison] and they can''t just escape easily. "Lucia, you know now what to do right?" Lucia pops out beside me with a fiery gaze in her eyes. "Leave it to me, Master!" [Burn, burn, burn! Reduce everything to ashes! HELLFIRE!] mes exploded from the ground and everyone who is under the state of [Freeze Bind] from the [Ice Prison] was all toasted alive. Screams filled the air and the hot mes scorched the ground, melting the ice that encased most of the frozen yers and scorching what was being encased. "How''s that, Master?" Lucia grinned. "Heh, your abilities have improved, that''s good to know. I will count on you again if I need a quick burn job for you." "No problem, Master. Call me when you needed it! Go wreck them up!" Lucia returned to the summon''s area while I continue to wreck around the attacking yers. I thought they would be a challenging bunch but they didn''t even manage to shake me. And in just a few minutes since the guild war begins, one of the erected towers meant to strike me down is already broken. ... Skull Guild Base Amyrose''s livefeed of the situation is making her head sweat and her head hurt. The enemy of the guild is just a single person but for some unknown reason, that single person is able to wipe out one squadron she personally handpicked to intercept one yer. They even employed some of their best saboteurs to intercept and beat him up in the very beginning. However, it seems things are not as easy as she thought it would be. "Guild master! One of the towers erected has been destroyed! The supply route for the tower for repair is also destroyed! Right now, the enemy is heading to the next tower!" "Don''t engage him in closebat. From what we can see, he is just a melee user with a bit of range magic used from time to time. Snipe him down before he can move to the second tower! Bring him down before he can make another step!" Her brother is already looking worried on the situation. Just seeing the things happening, he remembered how the one sided battle went and he felt a chill on his spine. The way he is fighting now is something only a ruthless yer will do. He didn''t even turn around to look on who died, he just slice and kill whoeveres in contact. He wanted to stop his sister but it seems like there is only one way this will end and he didn''t like it. ... SWOOSH! An exploding arrow came passing by my ear. Thankfully, it was much easier to dodge due to its slower movementpared to a normal arrow. Jumping to the side, I changed my weapon and immediately used [Trueshot-Head]. SU! The yer who tried to snipe me from afar got killed instead. Sensing a lot of other yers on the surrounding roofs of the houses, I quickly climb the rooftops and saw some yers trying to ambush me from above. "No use hiding! Get up and fight me head-on!" There are three kinds of sses up above the rooftops who are targeting me, the Hunters, Gunslingers and the Cannoneers. Out of the three, the slowest ss to fire is the Cannoneers. They might have amazing attack power but they are slow in attacking, so I quickly made themst as my priority target. As for the Gunslingers, they are in medium speed. They might be capable of dishing out fast damage but they don''t deal really strong single target damage and the reload time takes much longer timepared to the Hunter and much faster than a cannoneer, which is why they are in the middle of the main priority. I spot 5 hunters, 3 gunslingers and two cannooneers. Let''s get to work. The hunters realized that I already discovered them so they quickly dished out their strongest skills to me. I am quick on it and quickly changed my weapon into a Shield and Spear, blocking all of the arrowsing to kill me and rush towards the Hunters after they started to enter the reload process. It was just a split second one but that is already enough for me to get real close to them. "Don''t you dare stop me guys." Changing my weapon into a magic sword, I didn''t let them reload. SWISH! One strike and three hunters squatting next to each other died without their heads. The two hunters that are not in my sword''s reach received the [Ice Prison] treatment before they got killed too. The cannoneer fired their cannons and the gunsligers quickly released a barrage of bullets. I managed to quickly hide since the bullets are pretty annoying and they are a bit hard to defendpared to cannonballs and the arrows. Just like before, when the gunslingers started to reload, I blinked towards the unsuspecting yer and changed my weapon to a gun. "This is my new kitchen gun! I just needed three taps and I can clean all the dirt!" BANG! BANG! BANG! And the 3 gunslingers are now dead, with holes in the head. The two cannoneers panicked. "I love my kitchen gun." BANG! BANG! Range units are all wiped out. Next stop, the second tower. So far it is much easier to deal right now. I assume that the strongest enemies are all reserved for the best and thest part. ... Amyrose cannot believe what is happening. Half of the strongest yers in the guild are already dead and they have barely faced the enemy before got killed. "Guild master! Our elite assault team has already been wiped out!" Without any choice, she stood up from her chair with a grim look on her face. "Prepare to fight. It won''t be long before the enemy arrives." Chapter 242 - Solo Guild War (IV) "Sh*t! That''s not a yer! That is a f*cking monster! RUN!" The yers guarding the second tower started to flee. "As." As appeared in front of me and brandish his sword. "Understood!" Waving his greatsword, he killed the rest of the escaping yers with ease. Counting all the towers including the ones that have fallen, there are only two more towers left behind for me to take down. One is near the center of the Capital while thest one is just right next to the Guild''s Base. "If my guess is correct, the strongest yers might be in charge of guarding thest tower or the main guild itself. Looking at how weak every yer I faced so far, that only means the strongest yers are the ones that are currently stationed near thest tower or in charge of defending the main base. If that is the case, this shouldn''t be a big problem at all." While contemting, As returned. Looking at As, he is quite satisfied with the deed. "Good work." ... The third tower is also quite weak in defense and ended up falling a few minutester. Due to that, there is only one more tower left behind and if I destroy this tower, the guild base will remove the invincible barrier that protects it from being attacked which is why I destroyed the towers first even though the people guarding them are pretty weak. "Master, I thought this would be an eventful war against others. Why does it feel so boring instead?" Lucia asked, with a tone in her voice that is evident her boredom. "It is normal this would happen. If we are facing a very grand guild that is intent on killing us no matter what the trick on the book they used, it would be much livelier than this." "Huh...so you are saying you might do other simr things like this in the future?" "That is possible so you might have to wait to unleash your main abilities in one go." When I am just about to reach thest tower and the main base, a few arrows came flying straight to me. It''s quite fast so I gave up on dodging them and block them all instead since it is better doing so. As I was busy blocking the arrows, my body felt heavy all of a sudden. I quickly knew this was the effect of the [Time Eater] of the Chronomancer. I have a heavy movement at the moment and due to this, a Berserker came crashing to my shield, knocking me in a distance. -You received 5,000 damage! -You were inflicted with Bleeding[Severe]! Huh, looks like I got the main enemy this time seeing a Berserker inflicting a Bleeding[Severe] at me. And the damage I received is high despite the fact that I blocked the attack with my shield. "My, my, you guys are so aggressive. That''s what I''ve been looking for!" After casting [Restoration] and [High Heal], I changed my weapon into an ax and unleashed [Berserk II]. "He is charging! Everyone! Fire!" Huge cannonballs started to rain on my path although they don''t obstruct my way. It just allowed me to feel the adrenaline instead. "HA! This is useless! Show me what you all got!" I easily dodged all of the cannonballs hurled right in my face and I didn''t even flinch. "[Arrow Rain!]" A volley of arrows appeared right before me after I managed to exit the cannonball attacks. The arrows are very fast and due to it being up in the air, if I block the arrows up above, the other yers will take advantage of my defenseless body. But this only made things better. Instead of blocking, I charge straight to the arrow rain and ready all of my potions in my other hand while I continue to head straight to the enemies. "He is charging this way! Attack!" A few yers started to attack me in all directions but that is not a problem. "DIE!" THUD! A single swing on the side and one yer fell after his body was cut in half by the ax. Another swing and another one fell down again. CHAK CHAK CHAK CHAK! Arrows fell to my body and due to my reduced defense after using [Berserk II], my HP fell down faster than necessary. However, I am not even caring about the amount of HP that fell after every arrow hit me. When my HP falls to the threshold of the red mark, I chug down one bottle of potion and continue to charge. Chug and repeat. "F*CK! Howe he is still charging even with the volley of arrows?! Is he cheating?!" "Ahh! He isi-" before one of the yers can finish what he was shouting, his body was divided into two before falling over to the ground. "Come on, I thought you guys are big shots, howe you guys are making a very nd strategy?!" "We are not making a nd strategy here! You are just a monster!" I look around and saw the Berserker who did quite damage to me in one hit. Based on the body build, the Berserker is a woman. I can''t see her face since she is covering her face with a mask. Her attacks are pretty good and if I should say so myself, that is a pretty strong attack and I can say that if she didn''t hit me on my shield and directly hit me in the body, my armor will probably break and my HP might immediately fall to the lowest level. The berserker went into an attack stance and rushes towards me with her eyes looking red under the mask. From the looks of her Berserk level, it might be already in the upgraded level of 3 since this is a new side effect of the [Berserk III], the Bloodlust effect where the yer will undergo a huge raise of attack while under the effects of Berserk and allows the user to choose on which enemy to focus on the attacks. If that is the case, the only enemy here is me. So if she attacks me with full force and I failed to at least block or deflect her attacks, I will be dead meat. "[Fatal Fury!]" She quickly started her rampage and used her ax to try and hit me. But I am not just going to let myself get taken down just like that. The other yers assisted the berserker and if it was just me fighting, it would have been a bit more challenging, however, I am not even bothering much on what the other yers are doing since before the others can even do something, Lucia and As appeared and started fighting them, annihting them before they can even do something to do. The two of us cross axes. I can hear her grit on her teeth on how much she is thirsty to kill me. "You are the guild leader aren''t you? Out of all the yers around here, you are the one with the most mastery out of all the enemies I have fought right now. Not only that but your damage output is also pretty insane, I must say." "You can keep babbling about it after I kill you!" Based on her reaction, she is indeed the guild leader of Skull Guild, Amyrose. It seems like she is a strong yer and with her damage output and skill damage, I am wondering why she didn''t make a good name for herself in the past timeline for me to know. It was like she didn''t exist in the first ce. I forced her to ax to shake a bit. If Ipare my STR value to hers, I think my STR is on the superior side. If it was on the even side, I would have a harder time pushing her back. PENG! Her ax bounced from my weapon and she has to retreat a few steps to avoid due to my advantage at our exchange since she can only retreat while I am on the advantage of attacking. If she didn''t retreat in time, she would have been sliced right off the bat. "You might have killed most of my guild members with ease and humiliated my brother but I will make sure that I will avenge them all and kill you before you can even ruin my guild!" "Good! Let''s get it done. You want me to die? Then be sure to at least kill me. I will ensure that this is a fair and square fight." "Don''t look down on me! DIE!" She brandished her ax once again and I have to quickly evade it since she is getting faster in attacks. I think the ax she is carrying has a small buff that will increase the ATK speed value while under Berserk. She is dedicated to ending me as soon as possible. However, I am not just going to end everything like this. I went to the offensive and dodge her attacks with quick precision and attack once I get an opportunity. "GUH!" A slice on her left hand cut it off rendering her use her ax with one hand. Most berserkers will have trouble lifting the ax with one hand. I am an exception since the Versatile Weapon is not even heavy I can easily swing it around without a problem. However, she just raises her ax and with a blood look on her eyes, she is undergoing another Berserk again. Then, a sh of inspiration suddenly made my mind think of a profitable idea. With her skill as a Berserker and her running a guild, I think this is going to be a good proposal if she epts it. "Amyrose, I have a proposal in regards to the survival of your guild. Your answer lies in the fate of your guild''s future. So choose wisely on my questions. The choice is yours." Chapter 243 - Solo Guild War (Final) Even though we are having a conversation with each other, once a Berserker goes berserk, no matter how much you wanted to get a good reason to that person, it will not be easy to snap them back to reality. PENG PENG PENG Our axes shed, sparks fly and dust can''t even settle down with all our movements disturbing their rest. "You should really chill for a little bit, you are just moving like a rabid animal," I said to her due to her erratic but unstable movement. It was like trying to be a very unpredictable individual but is just making a fool out of themselves. "RAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" BOOM! I already counted how many times she used [Fatal Fury] and [Executioner''s de] under the Berserk state and yet she has yet to bring me down and kill me. Due to her impulse and desire to bring me down, she desperately used every single ability that can easily shred enemies down. Those attacks of hers might have worked if the enemies did not expect these things but to me who already faced countless yers in Berserker sses and fought many times in PVP arena, her attacks are just going to hit the thin air, nothing else. . While we are fighting, I noticed that Lucia and As are back from fighting. Since they have alreadye back, it only means that they are done with their job. That only means that the only people left behind are the Guild Leader, Amyrose, her brother Odaka and a few people who are just waiting to back up Amyrose in case she is in the pinch. I saw an opening and without saying anything, I cut her two legs in one swift swing. Her HP bar immediately went down from full to the half bar. Also, she was left without legs to continue the fight. Before she can try to use her ax to fight back even without legs, I kick it off her hands and it was sent flying,nding on the Guild''s wall and getting stuck there. Perhaps due to the toughness of the wall''s materials that it didn''t break down when the ax hit the wall and yet it managed to stick itself to the wall. "Alright, now that you are rendered immobile, time for me to ask you again and see to it that you have an answer to my offer that perhaps you didn''t hear due to our battle. But I am a tolerant guy so I will say it again. I will kill you here and now and end this guild war but in return, the guild will help me if I needed help. I will let everything be bygones like the fact you just put a bounty on my head and forget that it exists. I will forgive you on this matter. However, if you refuse, I will still kill you but I will destroy this guild." "What about if we win?" "Well, you can make me a ve, do things for your bidding and do whatever you wanted to do. You can also reduce my level back to level 0 too if you like. It''s a very fair trade, right?" As I was exining things to Amrose, Odaka, Amyrose''s sister approached us and tries to convince his sister. "Sis, please, just ept the first option. I already told you that this is not wise to do so! I don''t want the guild to get destroyed. I know it was partially my fault that I got humiliated on the inte due to how obnoxious and a huge braggart I am but it doesn''t need to reach the point of the destruction of our guild!" "You want to fall deep and ept this bastard as one of our people? Never! I will not yield to him! I will fight until the end!" "Sister! Please, just listen to me!" "Heh, I suggest listening to him, girl. He is a smart one and he is thinking more of what will happen to the others. It is better hindsight of many people to be like this. "Why are you doing this...khhh..." Amyrose struggled to get up but due to my feet pinning her right arm, she can''t fully do it. "Do you really think I will just take anything and forgive you? I might be able to forgive your brother since he knows what he is wrong with. However, your stubbornness will bring the downfall of your guild. I know your ss as a berserker is hard to reason by, but are you even trying to use your brain?" Amyrose gritted her teeth. She is too angry but she can''t do it just like that. Her eyes keep on darting from her brother then back to me. "I want to rip you apart and kill you in this game. However, I am not going to just die like this! Fight me back on one on one. The results will still remain, but this time I will defeat you with my full power!" "Heh, good. If that is the case, then I will grant that. You wanted to settle this inbat? Then let''s do thebat that you wanted." One snap and I cast [Restoration] and [High Heal] to her. In just a few seconds, her severed legs were now back in ce. Her wounds are gone and her HP returned to max health. "You healed Sister?" Odaka was stunned and confused on why I did those." I took a look at him and tilted my head. "Don''t you remember back in the arena? I prefer someone who fights till the death if they are going to fight against me." Amyrose wipes the blood on her lips before using [Recall Ax] where the Berserker user will be able to get their weapon that they might have thrown away. That is the only thing to get the weapon back. "Now, don''t disappoint me with this battle. Fight like your life depends on it," I said. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Amyrose gritted her teeth and started to charge towards me with anger in her eyes behind the mask. "I am not going to lose here." ... BANG BANG BANG PENG PENG PENG! Our blows resounded in thin air, our abilities shed with each other, and as expected, she is indeed a skillful yer. I swing, she blocks then counterattacks. I guard, she continues to attack and tries to shred me to pieces. She is basically a wild beast in the skin of a human. "DIE!" Her attacks are all aimed at my weak spots that would immediately kill me before I can do anything. But I am not just going to let her do that. She is in the stance of preparing the [Charging Flurry of a Madman], a skill that needed her to charge for a few seconds to charge up to unleash an AOE skill that ignores defense and has a 200% attack increase. It might be a good skill but she used it at the wrong time and charge it without any backup of any sort to protect her. [Charging Flurry of a Madman] is a very strong skill and although it is not a downside to do a charge attack since there are other skills with a simr skill set like this one, however, its huge downside is that this skill will leave the yer charging it up left vulnerable. Not only that, it can be easily interrupted by any attack, making it useless in the process. I am not just going to let her finish things and do what she needed to do. HUP! "Gah!" One kick on her legs caused her to get outbnced from her charging stance and she fell to the ground face first before she can unleash her next attack. "Master, isn''t it rude to interrupt someone while they are doing their special attacks?" As asked me. "Heh, why would you wait for them to finish charging up their skill before they act? Isn''t that a huge g that we will lose if that happens? Act before they can do things to happen!" "Wow, that is a piece of good advice! NOTED!" Lucia said. Amyrose groaned and before she can do anything, she saw me looking at her with my ax form weapon held up high above my head. "Looks like this is my win." She sighed but she didn''t struggle. THUD! Amyrose died as her head separated from her body. As soon as I killed her, a pop-up appeared before me. [You have killed the Guild Leader of the Skull Guild! You can choose to leave the ce and dere your win or destroy the Guild Badge of the Skull Guild and disband them! Would you like to destroy the guild badge and disband the Skull guild? Choice cannot be changed once selected.] I clicked No as per agreement. Although she is against it, due to the eptanceing from her brother, she has no choice but to choose my offer. [Congrattions to the Red Team, deheart for winning the Guild War!] Chapter 244 - The Head Hunter The guild war was naturally been captured in video and after the war ended, a few secondster, the whole battle was posted on the inte. The people who didn''t witness the original battle thought it would be an easy end for deheart but little did they know how brutal things could get. ... IAMURDAD: this guy who is attacking the skull guild is scary, he is destroying yers left and right. NadaMoney: I know right? It was like he is harvesting their lives for getting in his way. Addict To Waifu: Damn, if I had enough money, I would definitely buy the cabin, ying this game looks so cool! IsekaiGod: Isn''t he like killing yers in an unusual manner? NadaMoney: You noticed it too @IsekaiGod? GachaisLifu: He is killing yers by cutting off their heads.. His way of killing them is scary. IAMURDAD: He is now the "Head Hunter." He is not your average yer, with that mask of his and his brutal way to kill, he is going to be a topic on the inte for sure. IsekaiGod: NGL, I like the sound of that. ... deheart who won the war became known by themunity as the yer who hunts and harvests heads or the "Head Hunter." Not only that but it seems more yers are now ready to join the game after seeing the epic that urred earlier. ... Since the war ended, I snap my hands and revived Amyrose. Her body and the head glowed and slowly reattached back to the headless body. Amyrose who was unconscious slowly opened her eyes and she realized her body is back to normal. "You revived me?" "Yep. War is over." Odaka rushed towards his sister. "Sis! Are you alright?" "Brother? Ah yes, I am fine...I just felt my head fly off from my body..." "Technically yes, but actually no. You might experience it simr to a decapitation but it just simtes the pain that you can feel if your head gets cut off. And no, you won''t die in the real world by that but you can experience it." "Damn bastard. You just allowed me to experience decapitation huh..." "So, are you gonna uphold your promise? I am not going to break mine so you should also uphold what you also did." "Tch, although I didn''t want it, I have no choice." "Well, you already choose it, so you won''t be able to say no again. Here, to make sure I canpensate for the damage I did and as a gift for epting my proposal, here are the starting gifts. Use it for the guild of yours." I swipe open my gold and send a few gold amounts to her. Amyrose saw the pop-up and she epted it. However, she didn''t expect to see the amount. "HUH? 5 MILLION GOLD?!" She looked up and realized that the yer who gave her the amount of gold is gone. "Brother, where is that guy?" "He already disappeared. He summoned a flying creature and fly away from here." ... Amyrose is one of my ns after seeing her skills. At first, I was about to just utterly destroy her guild due to her indifferent attitude and she also wanted me dead. However, due to her skill as a berserker, I can say that she is one of the few berserker yers in the game capable of changing the tide of the game and some attacks that are definitely gonna kill many bosses in the future. I can say that she might be a potential DPS yer. She is one of the yers I might be able to get some help with now that I got her cooperation. I returned to my mansion after the war. I am tired after killing different yers and it''s taxing. I also guess that it is already morning back in the real world so that only means I have to log out now and see how my parents are doing after ying the game. ... Opening my eyes, despite not moving in the real world, I felt my whole body a bit numb from the sensation. It seems my body is just having a bit of rpse from the excessive movements I did earlier. Stretching my body for a bit, I grab the Holophone on the table and looked at the time. 4:46 AM. Damn, so it''s already morning? I didn''t realize that I have been ying for a bit already and I didn''t sleep just yet. I went out of my room and checked my parents'' room to see if they are already sleeping but I didn''t expect to see that they are still inside the cabin and are still ying. Checking at the cabin''s operation, I didn''t expect to see that they are ying since earlier and they haven''t got out after. So they are already doing an all-nighter in the game huh? Although I still don''t know how their progress goes, I hope they didn''t choose anything bad. Next, I went to the workout room where the teddy bear ghost is staying. For the first time, I saw the lights of the workout room turned off. The only light that is in the room is the cabin that is producing a "vrhhhhh" sound. "Oh? So even the ghosts can y the game? That is indeed awesome. Who would have thought it would be a good idea to make a ghost y an online VR game." I went back to my room after inspecting things. Although I want to wake up early, I felt tired from ying so I decided to go sleep even though it is already morning. There is no rush for me to go back to Tokyo anyways with my teleport point already finished. ... The next day, I opened my eyes and realized that I only slept for 2 hours. It''s almost 7 AM already. Damn, although I didn''t sleep much it''s a bit better sleep than no sleep at all and I think I am already energized. I can sleep again if I needed it but now? I am wide awake. Without anything to do, I check my phone and realized that I got so many missed calls from both Riko and Janus. I didn''t pick any of them since the time I received them is also the time when I was asleep so I guess I didn''t know. RING! And there it is. The call is from Janus this time around. I answered it and the one who weed my poor ears is Janus''s loud voice. "YOOOOOOOOOOOOO! What the hell did you just do while I was away from work?" Janus''s voice is very excited I kind of frown on why he is so excited and giddy all of a sudden. I can only see him like this whenever his favorite AV actress produces another video. "Bruh, why are you so loud so early in the morning and what are you even talking about?" "You didn''t know?" "The what? Can you please borate?" "You didn''t check it?" "COME ON, Janus. Get straight to the point, I just woke up, how should I know?" "Quick, open the inte and go to the sharing video tform!" Still confused, I followed his instructions. "Then?" "Go search the guild war that you just didst night!" Following his instructions, the moment I click the Enter button, the number of videos of my exploits appeared and I didn''t expect most of them are over a million views already. "You see it? Your battle against the Skull Guild is so phenomenal! You are famous now!" "Huh? Is this even worth getting excited into? I mean I know that I won but it isn''t much. Why would I get excited about it?" "Ohe on man, you are famous now on the inte as the "Head Hunter." They alreadybeled you as the yer who hunts and harvests heads." "Head Hunter?" Then I just realized what they mean by "Harvest". The way I cut off a yers head is by either grabbing their hair or the helmets they wear before proceeding with cutting them off which made me look like I am "harvesting." Sometimes, just swinging and cutting off heads is simr to how farmers harvest some crops that needed a sickle to harvest. I didn''t expect to get a nickname from themunity. In the past timeline, I received the title, the desman of the me since I keep using the me sword in many battles. I also thought they would call me wolf head or wolfman since I wear a wolf mask but it seems like I was wrong. Who would have thought that they would dub me with a new nickname? "Head Hunter. I like the sound of that." "Also, Manato. It seems you are now the target by many yers in the game right now that they wanted to face off against in the arena." "Did the Arena already show off the participants?" "Yeah, they already did. And due to thetest incident that I heard from Dolly that urred in the arena, it seems they are now using you to promote the Arena''s opening." While Janus is talking, I opened the video and saw the post of me killing Odaka brutally in the arena and looking menacing. No wonder Amyrose is so angry at me, I looked like I humiliated Odaka in this video. Chapter 245 - Pet Hunting A new nickname is a fresh take for me after ying for so long. I am now no longer trying to hide my abilities as they are proof that I am strong enough topete with others. If I am still afraid to show myself to others, forget aboutpeting in the Arena, I doubt I would also do the Solo Guild War too. Right now, I am inside my mansion in Tokyo. As much as I wanted to spend time with my parents, the school reopening is almost here and despite already knowing every thing the school will be doing and going to teach, I can''t just skip it as I rewinded the time. I already said my goodbye to my parents, however, they are not too worried about me and they also said that they can just go and find me in the game if they wanted to ask me something. As for the teddy bear guy, he nodded only and gave me a thumbs up before going back to the Cabin. I was a bit surprised at first since he is now ying the game more than doing some work out which is a bit weird. Did I influence this ghost to do something different? When I was about to leave, everyone went back to the game so no one bid farewell to me. Due to that, I decided to use the shortcut and used the teleporter I built and returned to Tokyo in a blink of an eye. But when I arrive in my mansion in Tokyo, everyone are ying and no one is there to wee my arrival.. As for Pandora and her brother, they left a note that they will not be there for the rest of the week since they needed to have Pandora do a bit of rehabilitation session for her to be able to walk. They will be back next week. So right now, I am here,ying on my sofa while doing nothing. "Ugh, I should get back in the game for the time being. I don''t have anything to do here in the real world and everyone seems busy." Without anything much to do, I decided to grind in the game so that I can at least bring my level closer to the next level. Even though I reached the level limit after killing the "The First Commandment", EXP will still be earned and can be stored temporarily until I get to the point of my ss up and extending the level limit. As for getting a ss up, it was easy so I am just waiting for the time when the Arena Competition is done. It would be unfair to other yers that I already got a ss up while they still don''t have that. It will be a huge disadvantage for them. Returning to my room, I log back to the game. ... [Wee Back, deheart] Once I spawned, I decided to go to Sandurk since the enemies are much higher leveledpared in Resurgia. Although there are some monsters in Resurgia that are high leveled, they are not as rewarding as the enemies in Sandurk and the Sandurk bosses has more chances of dropping rare gears. "Master, when are you going to go and catch some fluffy creatures? It is a bit good to have Leona here but she is not enough as a pet and she is a bit big. I can''t talk much with As either since his hands is full due to the angel hybrid here too. Can you at least catch another pet? I can also detect inside your inventory but it seems you are not doing anything to it," Lucia said with a bored hint on her voice. "You liked to have pets? I thought the demon kind doesn''t need one?" "Maybe the current demons right now. However, I am different and I liked to have pets. Last time I have a dog and a bat as pets. However, after the events that leads to my deepa, I didn''t know where they are now." "Well, I can go look for a few suitable candidates. Also, are you saying you can detect this egg?" I asked Lucia and pulled out the [Jeweled Insect Egg]. "Yeah, that one! It is quite giving quite a presence in your inventory so I am wondering why you don''t seem to be paying attention to it." "No, I am not paying attention to it at the moment because I have no idea how to actually hatch this thing out. It doesn''t say anything on its description either." [Jeweled Insect Egg] Item/ Hatchable Info: No known info. Will unlock if requirements are met. Notes: Nope, I don''t have anything to say either if I don''t know what the hell this is. Even the notes that sometimes gives out some hints has no useful remarks to give. "So yeah, I am not purposefully ignoring this thing, I just don''t have any idea of how to hatch it. I also didn''t do the traditional egg hunting method too since I am not sure if that will work or if this will break the item, after all, most eggs has different ways to hatch and if I use the wrong one, there is a chance the egg won''t hatch instead." "Huh, so that is the reason why it is just stuck on your inventory. And here I thought you are nning to sell this one." "No, I don''t want to sell anything like this. Also, I got this one, why would I sell something that is potentially useful in the future?" "But what does it mean of its requirements? Are there any particr thing you need to do before it has the chance to hatch or reveal its info?" Lucia asked. "I have no idea. I only got it from the Poison Spider Queen." "Huh, maybe this egg needed to be exposed to the inhabitants of the Insect Kingdom?" The Insect Kingdom, it is one of the faction in Aquagius Continent, they are a kingdomposed of the insect creatures and some are even capable of transforming into a half human half insect. Although the continent is mostly pure water and is being ruled by sirens and other aquatic factions, that doesn''t mean there are nond in this continent. The Insect Kingdom is considered as the only ce where humans can go if they wanted to interact with some inhabitants living in the sea. Anyways, that ce will be unlocked a bitter. I don''t know when but I guess it is going to be sooner. "There is a chance indeed that this one will have connection to those guys but I am not sure." Thanks to Lucia, I found a way to not get bored in grinding, and that is to find a suitable candidate I will tame. Since I went to Sandurk, there are many reptiles here that are present. But they are not something I am looking to tame at the moment. I have a particr one I wanted to tame. With Leona, I fly over Sandurk''s desert to find a monster I have seen before that is pretty famous for being a fluffy one and a good guard and a very strong offensive pet if tamed. I have seen plenty of druid and some yers who used the [Chain of Taming] flex this creature. "Let''snd here, Leona." Leona slowly descended from the sky andnded a few meters away from a pack of creatures huddled around together under a shade from a tree. How did the desert have a few trees? It''s because the ce we are right now is in the Oasis located in the center of Sandurk, the Basin of the Sand. "What are we going to catch here Master? You seemed to have an idea what we are going to hunt here." "Yeah, I have an idea what I am going to catch." I check the pack not too far from our location. I counted 6 mobs and one elite monster. My eyes immediately locked through the Elite Monster. Just like how I have seen these guys in the past, this creature here is a fluffy one and not only fluffy but also deadly. The Dark Desert Wolf. Pulling out the [Chain of Taming], I am going to catch the Elite Monster. Also, I am going to ensure I will not kill any of the pack mates of the elite monster since it might enrage the creature instead and I will fail the taming process. "Lucia, As, Leona, I am counting on you guys on holding back the mobs while I deal with the elite monster myself." "Roger, Master." "Alright, as you wish Master! And I must say, you have a good taste in taming a creature! It''s a fluffy one!" Readying my [Chain of Taming], I took a step closer to the pack. Since they are pretty sensitive to the sounds of everything in case there are danger around, the scout wolves that are theckey of the elite monster stood up and immediately let out a low growl sound to scare its oppressors and danger. "Do we need to injure them Master?" Lucia asked. "No, please don''t kill them or injure them, but please restrain them for a bit that will not be lethal for them. The taming process might fail if any of its subordinates die in the process." Now that everything is ready, it is time tomence the taming process in which, the procedure is hard and dangerous. Chapter 246 - Taming Without Equipment Trying to tame the monster while keeping the other minions alive is hard. Not only that but because this is an Elite Monster, it would take quite a bit of beating before it gets to be possible to be tamed. And although I don''t have expertise with taming monsters, I do have the basic knowledge in taming but I didn''t do any in the past timeline due to howplicated some of the things I experienced. Thankfully, this timeline is no longer simr to the old timeline. After looking for a chance to slip through the other wolves, I finally found one chance and grabbed the rare opportunity as they are hard to deal with if they attack in packs. My sudden arrival in front of the wolves was so sudden that they were startled by my appearance. "As! Lucia! Now!" The two appeared immediately and took hold to block the other mobs. The Elite monster, Dark Desert Wolf immediately stood up and brandish its fangs and ws, but I quickly stopped it from its tracks. "[Ice Prison]!" The Dark Desert Wolf was in the middle of leaping towards me when the [Ice Prison] appeared around its body and freeze its legs.. Before it can evennd an attack, it was frozen on the spot and started to fall. Once the Dark Desert Wolf''s half-frozen body is falling in the air, I changed my weapon into a gauntlet and made a full-force punch to the falling Dark Desert Wolf. "YELP!" -You have dealt 10,000 damage! I almost killed it instantly and I was lucky that the critical hit didn''t proc or else, this guy is instantly dead. The Dark Desert Wolf struggled to stand up after severe damage done from the punch. I purposely used the Gauntlet as this weapon has blunt damage that has a bit low chance to kill enemies instantly if you hit it somewhere on its body that it can withstand. In swords and other ded weapons, they are much dangerous and with my Versatile Weapon, it would just kill the Dark Desert Wolf. "Alright doggy,e here and be tamed!" I grabbed the weak Dark Desert Wolf and wrapped the [Chain of Taming] to its neck. The dull color of the chain suddenly glow in gold and the Dark Desert Wolf started to struggle. A small interface appeared and a circle with percentages on the center appeared before me. It was like I am doing a download on the inte but the difference is that I am trying to make sure it won''t fail. 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% The percentage number keeps on rising while the Dark Desert Wolf also struggled to break free. "Master? Are you done? These wolves are hard to defend without killing them!" Lucia said while shoving the wolves and keeping them at bay using her mes. As for As, he is doing fine with his thick defense but it is also clear he is also struggling not to identally kill a single wolf. After all, he is pretty strong and he might squish one wolf if he gets too forceful in the process. 90% 91% 92% It was about to reach 100% when... CRACK! The chain breaks and the energy that was umting on the ne that was trying to subdue the Dark Deser Wolf suddenly breaks. I already expected it so I quickly swapped it out with another [Chain of Taming]. Too bad it has to start again in the very beginning but I have no choice about it since it is the only way to tame a monster. ... 13 minutester... My sweat is already dripping and was waiting for the number of the interface to reach the necessary number I needed to see. 98% 99% I was expecting it to finish at 100 but like always, it breaks off. "F*ck... that''s thest [Chain of Taming] I got!" Without the [Chain of Taming] I have no more item to subdue it to submission. The Dark Desert Wolf is already struggling to move after several attempts to subdue it and the energy from the [Chain of Taming] is already wearing it out alongside the low health, it contributed a lot. However, it is not an easy way to finish things, especially I don''t have any ways to tame it anymore. Maybe the Druid ss has something that can allow me to tame it without a piece of equipment for taming? The Druid ss is not reallymon in the game that is why I rarely see them. Most of the time, I see Druids do odd jobs with their pets and I rarely see a Druid ss on the battlefield. I am not so familiar with their ss tree since I barely find a yer that can assist me in taking notes on how a druid ss works in the past timeline. But there is one thing I notice about Druid sses. They are the yers with the highest chance to have a pet with them whether they are birds, wolves, bears, or even some monsters. The only thing I knew since the past timeline after knowing a few things from a Druid, a tamed beast, or a pet will greatly enhance thebat capability of a druid so the higher the level of the monster you control, the stronger you and your monster can be. Since a Druid focuses on pets and taming, maybe there is a skill that will increase the chances of the monster bing my tamed monster without using the [Chain of Taming]? I quickly browsed out the skills and passive of the Druid. I remembered there is a skill that might help with taming a monster but I am not sure how this works much. [Animal Language: Vol: 1] Type: Passive Tier 1 SP Cost: 50 Info: Thenguage of animals is vast andplicated. However, this is just the first step in making friends with the other creatures residing in nature and understanding one another. Note: This is a f*cking thick dictionary and almanac about the sounds of animals with literal trantions. I quickly bought it and all of a sudden, a bunch of words that I didn''t know appeared in my mind for a split second. It is pretty quick so it didn''t hurt my head. "[Damn it, if only I am strong enough, I will rip your body apart right now...ugh...]" I look at the source of the voice and find out that the one speaking is none other than the Dark Desert Wolf. I look at the minions and I can hear their voices too, "[Boss! I know you are strong! Get up please!] "[We will help you, boss, after we deal against these guys!]" So their rtionship is ackey and a boss huh? Alright, I guess I had to give him a talk. "Hey." The Dark Desert Wolf growled when I approached, showing the sharp fangs. But the Dark Desert Wolf is having a hard time just standing up so it is too weak to attack. "Alright, I apologize for beating you up. I didn''t mean to do that. I just wanted to tame you." "So you just wanted to enve me? F*cking hell, you almost killed for that sake? I would rather die than be enved by a human!" "That''s why I am apologizing. As a way of apology, I will heal your injuries." I snap my fingers and the wounds of the Dark Desert Wolf healed up. The Dark Desert Wolf frowned and slowly stood up after getting healed back to health. "[Why would you do that, human? I can just go and rip you with my fangs after you have given me an opportunity.]" "Hah, you think I don''t have the ability to bring you back to the earlier state?" "[Urk...]" "As I stated earlier, I am not here to kill you. I am just here to tame you but since I ran out of those things that can tame a creature, I decided to negotiate with you." "[And why do you think I would listen to you, hmm?]" "If you are not willing to listen, you should have attacked me immediately after healing you." "[Hmph. Boys, stop attacking those guys. This human here came to negotiate. I will talk to him]." The other desert wolves stopped andplied with their leader''s wishes. "[Alright. So, why do you think it is beneficial for me to join you? I am fine as I am while living here with my subordinates. What can you give me if I join you?]" "I don''t know the standards of yourfort but I can give you food that you don''t normally get daily. You will be able to eat the food that you like as many times as you like." "[Huh, but we are eating fine. How about giving us a way to get stronger? Can you do that?]" "Oh, you want to be strong? How about this level of strength? Leona,e out for a sec," I snap my fingers and Leona fly above the sky that made the wolves cower in fear after feeling the pressure. "[What is this feeling of strength and pressure?!]" "You want to be like her? Be mypanion. I will help you get stronger. How about it?" Chapter 247 - The Dark Desert Wolf Pack The Dark Desert Wolf didn''t expect to see an ancient beast before and its aura is just enough to shake his wits. He has been facing manyrge enemies in the past and with the help of his pack, they were nothing for him. However, this is the first time he is faced with something he can''t win. "So, are you going to join me? I can just leave without any problem." The Dark Desert Wolf might be terrified of Leona but for the sake of his pack, he didn''t show a weak knee from Leona despite not feeling good about her appearance. "If I join, what would happen to my pack?" "It depends on you, if you want them toe, I can wee them anytime." Lucia approached me and whispered in my ear. "Master, are you sure you can take them all? I doubt you can take everyone as your pet." . "I can do that without any problem. After all, I didn''t tame them, I asked them to be my subordinate. Subordinates don''t have any need for me to register them as my pet." "Then what about Leona?" "She is automatically treated as a pet since I hatched her from an egg. If I didn''t hatch her from an egg and just did the same way I did with the Dark Desert Wolves, she will be apanion instead of a pet." "Oh? Is that how it works?" Lucia scratches her head. "Anyways, what are your decision?" "I want to also get stronger. I need to get stronger for the sake of my pack. Please, ept me and my pack." When the Dark Desert Wolf said that, a pop-up appeared before me. [The Dark Desert Wolf pack wanted to join your journey as your subordinate. Do you want to ept?] Yes/No I am expecting a few pop-ups but I didn''t expect to see only one pop-up. Reading on it, I realized that they are counted as one unit by the system, creating (The Dark Desert Wolf Pack) as their unit name. Anyways, nothing changed so I clicked yes immediately. "Alright. Now that you 7 are now in my care, it''s time for me to give you guys names." "Names? Is that necessary?" The elite Dark Desert Wolf asked. "Yes. I can''t just keep on saying you and you on all of you guys. It would be best to get you all a nickname or a codename, though if any of you guys had a nickname, it is also fine." "We don''t use names since that concept is not present on us. However, if you wanted to, we can ept it." "Alright. Since you are the leader, let''s call you Yonaka due to your silky ck fur. Next, you are Kurogane due to your metallic shine on your fur, next, you are Kasuga since you look like you are always refreshed from your surroundings like a spring day. The one with the white circle fur color on your body, you are Kengai since that white circle looks like an orbit around your body. You with the uneven fangs, you are Kiba. The one with greyish fur, you are Kaihaku, you with an injured eye, I shall call you Katame, and thest one, since you are dark in color and you look gloomy out of everyone here, you are Kurai." Lucia didn''t expect me to name them all without pausing to think. "Wow, Master. You sure know already what to name them? It''s pretty awesome you have names for them already!" "Nah, it''s pretty easy actually. Now, since you guys are now my subordinates, here, have some meat, they are pretty much tasty and edible." I pull out some meat that I got from the monsters I managed to kill and butcher. Since meat is also a material for cooking, I have plenty of them in my inventory. "Huh? Am I dreaming? Meat?!" Yonaka shook his head and look at his pack mates and saw them enjoying the food that I gave them. He then looks at me with questions in his eyes. "Hey, I wouldn''t treat my subordinates badly. It''s only natural you guys got meat as food. I have plenty of them in my inventory. Eat well guys since, after this, we will increase your levels. Who knows, you guys might be able to trigger your evolutions." It''s not only in a certain game and show creatures like this evolves. Here, they also evolve and have a new form every evolution. They get stronger and they gain new abilities. Even Leona has a chance to evolve once I get to find the trigger on her evolution. As of now, she will remain the same. The wolves quickly devour the meat and from the looks on their faces, they finally found the vigor and they are energized back to health. "Alright. So, are you guys ready to fight? We will go on hunting and raise your levels." "YES!" every wolf said. "Okay,e inside my Summon''s world. Let''s go somewhere to hunt since this ce is not the appropriate ce to begin the hunt." With the help of Lucia and As, the wolves managed to enter the summons world without any problem. Now, I can summon them anytime I want. "Leona, let''s go." ... Our first target is the Giant Devouring Sandworm, a level 95 boss that spawns in the Hostile Zone near the Giant Ruins, a level 150 area. It is pretty much too dangerous for us to venture there so I have to just stay on the Giant Devouring Sandworm this time around. It''s not a bad target and this will test the wolves in their teamwork and to see how well they hunt a target bigger than them. I checked their levels and all of them are level 60. It is not that highpared to the Giant Devouring Sandworm but I am helping them so they won''t have much problem dealing with the enemies. "Alright guys, go out so that we can begin our hunt." The seven wolves looked around and they looked confused. "Master, what are we going to hunt?" "We are going to hunt the Giant Devouring Sandworm. I hope you guys are ready since I will let you guys deal damage to this guy." Yonaka was shocked when he heard the Giant Devouring Sandworm. "Are you sure we are hunting that Master? Isn''t that going to kill us?" the other wolves started to get uneasy. "You guys, I didn''t bring you guys here to die, I brought you guys here to level up. No worries since I will also be helping. You guys don''t need to worry." After that, I pull out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a magic sword. "Alright, let''s begin the hunt. Brace yourselves." Striking the sand with my sword, I immediately cast [Earthquake] in the vicinity. [Earthquake] works best in soil but the effects of the skill weakened due to the sand''s loose naturepared to thepact soil. However, when the duration of the [Earthquake] is done, it is proven that it is still working even in the sand when the sand started to shake once more even though [Earthquake]''s duration is already over. "Look''s like it ising out. Prepare guys, we are in for a big one." The sand started to move and it didn''t take a matter of seconds before it exploded and a huge creature popped out of the sand. [Giant Devouring Sandworm] Boss Hp: 1,000,000/1,000,000 Type: Earth, Beast "Alright! Please wait a bit guys, wait for me." After that, I jump towards the body of the Giant Devouring Sandworm and covered my sword with [Ice Sword]. The Giant Devouring Sandworm is quick and tried to burrow back to the sand. "Like hell I would let you go back to the ground! [Ice Prison]!" The sand that was supposed to be the safe haven of the Giant Devouring Sandworm suddenly solidified and the blue ice stopped it from burrowing further. Of course, it is a temporary way to stall this bastard. I strike the stomach area of the Giant Devouring Sandworm and unleash [Earth Fissure]. However, it didn''t work well, the Giant Devouring Sandworm just have a very high resistance to it. The Giant Devouring Sandworm tried to attack me with its big mouth and started to dash towards me. "F*CK YOU! Burn!" I jump off the body and shoot out [Fireballs] to the boss''s mouth. The attack hit but it didn''t deal much damage. It did gave a good reaction from the boss since it started to struggle and it stopped chasing. Landing back to the sand, I started to charge back to it again and attack its scales with some sword hits. It''s pretty sturdy but not indestructible. I only needed a bit of force for it to break. CRACK! The [Ice Prison] that stops it from moving breaks. With the opportunity, the boss didn''t hesitate to burrow back to the hole in the sand. However, it is pretty clear that it will be not thest time it will appear. Chapter 248 - Inside The Sandworm鈥檚 Stomach I managed to damage the Giant Devouring Sandworm but because of its thick ted armor on its body, it''s hard to actually deal damage against it. It is also frustrating that the abilities of the Versatile Weapon that can lower the defense of the Giant Devouring Sandworm or even prate it didn''t proc at all. "Ready yourselves guys, next time it appears, we attack together." "But are we capable of attacking it? I mean, we are just capable of attacking it using our fangs and ws. Other than that we don''t have special abilities!" Yonaka looked at me at a loss. "That is fine. As long as you guys can at least hit the Giant Devouring Sandworm, that is enough." "Hitting it is fine? Then, that''s not a problem," Kurogane said. The sand started to rumble once again and the surroundings shook. . "The worm is here again. Stay sharp, he will appear any moment. Be careful below your feet too, that bastard will appear anytime." From the looks of it, the Giant Devouring Sandworm is trying to pinpoint our location at the moment since this monster is capable of striking at the worst timing and location. BOOOOM! The sand exploded right beneath our feet so I quickly recalled everyone back and dodged from the emerging boss. "Master, you need some help? I can incinerate this bastard in one go if you like it," Lucia said. "I can also slice it to pieces and feed it to Leona," As seconded. "No need guys. This time, this worm is the prey of the wolves." Inded a bit far from the boss and summoned the wolves back again. "No one got hurt by the appearance of that guy?" "None, Master." "Good! Now, let''smence the attack!" The wolves lead the attack and I followed suit. It was a good thing this guy is a bit slower in movement which is a better way for me to train the wolves in teamwork. After all, a bit of teamwork, dodge, attack, and retreat, this boss can die so easily. It is a good way to increase their mastery of it. The wolves immediately attacked but since the worm is higher leveled than them and with the addition with the high defense, it didn''t do much at all. However, the action of the wolves immediately got the attention of the Giant Devouring Sandworm. It started chasing the wolves. "Don''t let it catch you guys! Run around in circles, this guy will get confused!" "ROGER! Did you hear that boys? Let''s get running! Let''s show master how good we are at running!" The wolves then entered the [Shadow Mode], this is the time they can shift to the shadows, blend in from the shadows, and pop out from the shadows whenever time they like it. This made the Giant Devouring Sandworm gets confused and have to shift its target again and again. SWISH! CRACK! One shell located on its stomach area break off after my attack and since the attention of the boss is focused on the Wolves, it didn''t realize the danger it was in and only discovered the real danger when I pushed the sword deeper into the stomach which is now exposed and vulnerable to attack. As soon as the sword is in halfway, I changed it to an ax inside the body and forcefully drag the huge ax to its upper torso. "KEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Its ear-piercing squeal started to reverberate around the area, but it doesn''t have any effects as it only squealed due to the pain it got with the ax. "LET IT RIP!" With a strong pull, I drag the ax while the de is still inside its body and started cutting its abdomen open. It tried to go back underground but I cast Ice Prison once again, stopping its retreat once more. "Alright! Chip off the health of this bastard! He is about to die soon!" With my act of ripping out its stomach, the HP of the Giant Devouring Sandworm slowly went down to the critical levels. I didn''t stop running while dragging the ax inside its stomach, cutting open the stomach of the boss. "This is the end!" SPLOTCH! Flesh freshly cut off from the Giant Devouring Sandworm were chipped off from the body, and it is now on the critical levels. Most of the protective measures it has on its abdomen are all cracked and broken and its stomach is now exposed. "Guys, deal the final blow to this guy!" Yonaka''s eyes lit up and opened his mouth, there, it revealed his sharp fangs, all glowing red. If I am not wrong, that is the exclusive ability of Yonaka as an Elite Monster, the [Frenzied Vampirism Fang]. [Frenzied Vampirism Fang] Type: Active Cost: 200 MP Tier 3 Cooldown: 60 seconds Duration: 10 seconds Info: Soak the fangs and teeth with the power of the ancient bloodline of a vampire. With this, the user can gain a temporary attack boosts and for the duration of the skill, it will absorb the health of the enemy. Note: Imagine drinking juice using your teeth. CHOMP! Red blood exploded as soon as Yonaka bite through the skin and before the Giant Devouring Sandworm can stand back up again, the health of the creature slowly fell into zero. -Congrattions for killing the Giat Devouring Sandworm! -Got... ... I browsed all of the things I got. The EXP is not mentioned since it gets stored temporarily while I am still on the cap. It was like I didn''t receive an experience but I definitely did receive one. I know about it since I have done this before. The drops are materials and some pretty meh equipment. Nothing interesting to be honest. The only thing good is that all of the wolves leveled from 60 to 64 which is a bit of a jump in levels. Looking at the carcass of the sandworm, I got a good idea. Due to the nature of this boss, there are times that the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm has treasure, ores and other things that it can''t digest. Since it devours soil, sand and rocks underground, it wouldn''t be strange to find valuables which acts as the grindstones inside its stomach. Changing back my weapon into a sword, I cut the stomach a little bit bigger for me to enter its insides. Its hard to fully make a big hole without brute force so I have to destroy a big portion of its stomach to make a proper entrance. "Master, are you not even finding it dirty going inside this thing?" Lucia frowned. "Not really, its natural so I am not surprised you would find it dirty. But its pretty normal and I need to do this because there is a slim chance we might get a good item or treasure inside its dirty stomach." I lit up my sword to mes to act as my light inside its stomach. The stench is pretty bad and there are some slimes and blood dangling around. Basically, it is too grimy and disgusting. With the continuous walk in its body, I spotted a few pile of glittering items around it. Based from its gold luster, it looks like this worm managed to eat a few gold ore. Since the Giant Devouring Sandworm can only melt iron and rock, the rest of the things that are here are things that are not ssified as rock or iron. And gold is one of those. "Looks like we strike it rich!" I said as I lift up one of the boulders that is covered with gold ores." "Wow, this is the first time I heard of this method! If I knew this way back then, I might have been able to save a lot of money by now due to this!" Lucia said. "You managed to kill some of this guys in the past, Princess?" As asked. "Yeah. My father likes to hunt big monsters so of course, sandworms like this is a prettymon monster my father hunts so I always get to encounter at least one or two during the hunt." "That''s a wasted potential but since you won''t be able to use it due to the incident of your sleep, it is still a good thing you didn''t managed to do so or else, the enemies are now well funded by your stash." "Ugh, I really hated that. You are right master, it seems like it is indeed for the best that I didn''t do things simr to this in the past." I was busy collecting the ores when the wolves detected something. "Master, I smell something," Katame said and the others also agreed that they also smelled something and started to run further. "Hey, wait!" They didn''t far so fast and I managed to catch up with them. When I arrived, there is an individual lying naked and covered in slime from the Giant Devouring Sandworm''s gastric juices. However, this one... is not a human. It is an insect in a form of a human female. Chapter 249 - Insect Woman One of the insect people?! Aren''t they supposed to be in Aquagius?! They shouldn''t appear until the next update. But why am I seeing one of them already? "Master? Isn''t that an Insect Person?" As asked. "Yeah, but first, let''s remove her from here. We don''t know if she is still alive so we need to hurry." With the help of As, we carried her out of the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm. She is covered in slime, the blood of the monster, and some flesh that I have been stuck to her hair and body. She is still warm, perhaps, due to her still inside the body. Since there is a nearby ruin where there is a stable t concrete floor, we brought her there. The enemies that surrounded the area is not a match for me and the wolves and quickly disposed of them before they can even be turned into a bigger problem. "As, carefully put her down here," I said and pat the concrete floor I just wiped off with my hands from dust.. As slowly put her down. I checked her body pulse and breathing and thankfully, she is still alive. However, just from looking at her, she is too weak at the moment. "Let''s camp here for now and wait for her to wake up. They are sensitive to sudden temperature changes so we will have to monitor her condition." I also pull out clothes from my inventory. Since the only female clothes I got are some of the Normal rarity magician''s robes and other equipment that a female can wear. With the help of Lucia, the female insect person is now wearing decent clothes to cover her private parts. "From my observation from her body, it seems like she was swallowed whole without a chance to resist against the Giant Devouring Sandworm. And based on her condition, it seems like she was swallowed approximately 3 days ago," I exined after looking at the signs on her body. "3 days ago? And she is still alive? Shouldn''t she be digested already if that is the case?" Lucia frowned. I was about to exin things when As decided to exin things for me. "Let me exin Princess. The stomach of the sandworm takes a long time before it can digest its food. Once it swallows something, there is a chance that you will be able to remain alive while you are still inside the stomach for a week. Why is it like this? Because the Sandworm needs to save up its food inside its stomach to prepare for a massive digestion process. Before it will digest things inside its stomach, it will pile up all of the things it swallowed until it feels full. That''s the time it will start to go dormant for a bit so that the food it swallowed gets digested without any problem." "Oh, so since the stomach of the sandworm is pretty empty, that means, this guy is still looking for food when you killed it, Master?" "Yeah. Wait, I thought you and your father hunted Sandworms in the past." "Haha, actually, the sandworms gets toasted to dust before we can do anything on its carcass so I have no idea that the sandworms'' body function like that." Bodies of the sandworms turned to dust? I wonder how strong her father is when he was still alive. "Anyways, I doubt, she will wake up soon. Let''s eat something, I will cook." I also summoned the wolves to keep the area guarded for a bit while I cook food while Lucia and As are observing the unconscious insect woman. Even though I don''t have the Ex Job - Chef to be a master in creating various dishes, at least I know a thing or two in cooking. It might not be a masterful one that you can say it is on professional level like restaurants serve them but it''s edible and delicious. Good thing Alternate World also stimte the sense of taste which is why we can still taste the food even though it was just a digital one. The area is quiet and I don''t see any yers around. Most likely they are preparing for the tournament and they are racking up points in arena or most likely, they are doing some dungeon dives. But its much better, at least there aren''t too many eyes to pry. It took me a few minutes before everything isplete. "Food is ready guys, if there are nothing to be concerned of, lets gather around and eat." The Wolves returned and I immediately throw some fried meat from the monsters I killed before. "What''s the menu for today, Master?" Lucia is eager to the food I prepared. "Mushroom stew with some lemon juice. Perfect in the hot climate." "Nice, this is good food! Let''s dig in!" "How is the insect woman? Is she showing signs that she is waking up?" I asked the two. "There are no signs of her waking up but her breathing is now stabilized and her temperature is returning to normal. Maybe a bitter on, she will be waking up. The clothes you gave her helped," As answered. "Well, that is expected. However, I am quite not sure why she was there in the first ce. I heard the Insect People live only in Aquagius? Howe she is here? It is impossible for the Giant Devouring Sandworm to be on Aquagius either since it does not live in the water and I doubt it can even swim." "Maybe this insect person is a visitor from Aquagius and only arrived here in Sandurk. It might be a huge chance that whoever the people she was with, they are looking for her unless they got eaten," Lucia said as she slurps her Mushroom stew. We are about to finish what we are eating when I detected movements behind us where the insect woman is lying down. There, she slowly get up while she is rubbing her head. "Huh? Did I already die? Is this the afterlife already?" She shook her head a bit and she looked around and her gaze stopped at us who are also staring at her. "Kyaaa! Who are you people?!" she quickly backs off as she looked terrified from us. "Master, it seems As terrified her a lot," Lucia grinned while looking at As. "Wait, what the f*ck? I didn''t do anything! Also, I am not that ugly for her to get so scared!" "What are you talking about, big guy. Did I even tell that you are ugly?" "..." I stood up from the stone seat and deposit the utensils in my inventory for a bit. "Don''t be rmed. We do not pose any harm at you. We just rescued you from the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm. You don''t need to be worried and you can at least drop your guard down on us." "..." she looked at us sternly as she shift her eyes from Lucia, to As, to me and to the wolves. She looks like she is not sure what to react and from the looks of it, she haven''t seen a human just yet. "She is still wary on us Master," Lucia said. "That''s pretty normal reaction. Let''s just not do anything that will spook her instead. Just keep being low profile and don''t try to startle her. That should help loosen her guard down on us and let her refresh her mind for a bit. I am sure she is confused as heck right now. So yeah, let''s continue eating. It bad to leave the food for too long and we can''t afford to let the hot weather ruin the food." As and Lucia returned to their seats and continue eating. Since Lucia and As are asking for seconds, the aroma of the Mushroom stew started to emanate around and the insect woman who is just observing everyone in the distance frowned after she smell the aroma of the Mushroom Stewing from the food. She seems tempted but she also steeled herself to not approach blindly. But then... [Stomach Growl](A/N: Sorry, I tried imagining the Sfx of the empty stomach but I suck at it.) The three of us turned to her together with our heads turning towards her in a synchronized way, making her more embarrassed than she initially felt when the her stomach started to emit a sound. "Looks like you are hungry, its a good timing that we are eating,e, eat with us," I said to her. "Master, does insect people eat normally like we also do? I am not so familiar with their race and it seems you know a few knowledge about her race." "From what I read, they are the same as us and they eat food like we always do. Don''t worry, the food is good, at least it won''t make you die of hunger," and I put down a bowl of Mushroom stew towards her direction. Maybe due to the hunger of staying inside the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm for three days straight, she cannot resist the Mushroom stew and immediately went to take a chow on it. Alright, her guard is down, now, we just need to know why one of the Insect People is here in Sandurk. Chapter 250 - The Insect Convoy The insect woman grabbed the bowl containing the mushroom soup and started sniffing it. From the looks of it, she hasn''t seen or has eaten a mushroom soup in her entire life. Maybe because the Insect kingdom is not that abundant in resources and the main resource you can actually get easily is seafood and the local wildlife found in the forest of the Insect Kingdom so it''s not surprising for me to see her looks like she hasn''t seen this kind of stuff before. We continue eating our food and as she observe us eating the food she is holding, she also decided to give it a try and give her mouth a spoonful of Mushroom soup. "Hmm?!" her eyes lit up and she look at the soup on her hands with awe before she continue to scoop a lot more. "Looks like she is enjoying the food now." Her face is showing the satisfaction she is feeling from eating the food. In no time, she finished the food I handed to her. "MORE!" I can onlyugh a bit before giving her seconds. ... The food that I prepared was licked clean and not a single drop of soup was left behind. The Insect woman has eaten most of the food I prepared. Thankfully, I prepared a lot of it, allowing As and Lucia to get the most of the soup before it was consumed by the insect woman. Her satisfaction is pretty much obvious in her expression. Not eating for at least three days would obviously starve you out. Maybe she did eat something inside the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm but it would just be pretty disgusting but that is not impossible. Due to that, it''s pretty normal for her to eat something that much after getting hungry. "Alright. With that said, it''s time to introduce ourselves. I am deheart and these two are my followers, Lucia and As. The wolves guarding are also my followers. You don''t have to worry much about them. How about you, who are you, and howe you are inside the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm. "Ah... I am Tina. The carriage that I was riding on was eaten by the monster, which is why I ended up on its stomach." Ah, no wonder I saw some parts of the carriage on the stomach of the monster, it might be the carriage that was eaten and got destroyed when it was swallowed. "Howe you are here in Sandurk? ording to the books, you are one of the insect people and are living in Aquagius. Then howe you are here?" "I was about to visit the Queen of Sandurk after scheduling a meet-up with her to talk about some business when the monster attacked. Now I don''t know where are my subordinates since I know they aren''t part of the people that got devoured because I am the only one in there." "Oh, so you havepanions. Then howe no one is looking for you? We were just in the cities nearest to the ce where the monster appeared. There should be at least someone trying to ask for help to y the enemy and retrieve you from the monster." "I don''t know. All I know is that the monster swallowed me whole for how many days. I was lucky there are some food in the carriage I managed to get before it sank to the murky liquid on its stomach." Looks like Tina is someone who has a high status in the Insect Kingdom as she got some people in her convoy to help her reach the queen''s pce in Sandurk. But why is it somewhat strange? First, if the convoy is attacked, the Giant Devouring Sandworm will eat every moving creature it detected above ground and will try to destroy things as much as it can. But if only the carriage where Tina was riding got eaten, then I am having suspicions. Even the one driving the carriage should also be eaten in the process if that is the case since she said it was all so sudden. I smell a foul y on this one. Not only that, but I also smell some Quests for me to take. "If you are nning to visit Queen Tanya, then I will be able to help you out by reaching out to her. You got a schedule to meet with her right?" "Yes. I should have been meeting her once I arrived at her castle during the time I was traveling but I don''t know how long I was inside the stomach of the monster. I almost thought I will be digested after I fell to the liquid." No wonder she is not wearing anything when we found her, her clothes melted when she fell to the gastric juices of the Giant Devouring Sandworm. It was notorious for being capable of melting the clothes or armor of a person once you got exposed to it. Thankfully, if the gastric juices of the Giant Devouring Sandworm get into a person or another species, they won''t dissolve immediately. They will only be dissolved if they are exposed to it for prolonged durations so it was a miracle we found her before she get digested. "Alright, if it''s fine with you, we can take you there without a hassle and we will arrive in just a few minutes. Of course, we won''t force you to do so. But you don''t have to worry about the Queen since we are her acquaintance." "Can I trust you?" Tina was uncertain for sure. "Nonsense! My master is very trustworthy, you won''t be in bad hands with him and he will fulfill the promise, no worries." Tina is hesitant but she has no choice. "Alright. Please send me to the castle so that I can meet with the Queen." "Alright. Oh, before we leave, may I ask, are you afraid of heights?" "Uh...no?" As soon as I heard the word "No", I snap my fingers and Leona appeared before us, conjuring small gusts around us. "A gryphon?!" Tina was so shocked she fell to the ground while staring at the majestic form of Leona. "Let''s get going Tina, we will be going to meet Queen Tanya." ... With Leona''s help, we arrived at Queen Tanya''s castle without any hindrances. When I passed by, the knights even did a salute to me which is quite exciting in my opinion. It''s not easy to gain their recognition via quest alone so having a connection to Queen Tanya helped a lot. Wended right in front of the gates of the castle of Queen Tanya. No matter how close Queen Tanya and I were, I still have to do the proper entrance to enter the castle grounds. As and Lucia returned to "Oh, we didn''t expect to see you, Sir deheart!" the guards were immediately happy when they saw me. Maybe because of my achievement during the final skirmish while the Sandurk Raid urred? "How is everyone? I want to ask if Queen Tanya is in?" "Her Majesty? Yeah, she is inside. Pleasee in. Are you going to meet with her?" "It''s not me, but this youngdy here beside me has an appointment with her but it was dyed due to some reasons which are why I decided to help her." The guards look at Tina and they were stunned when they saw her face. "One of the insect people? But they left three days ago, howe there is currently someone from the Insect People that are still here? Aren''t you guys and those guys that left 3 days ago werepanions?" "Some insect people also came to visit too?!" "Yeah, they asked for an audience with her and reported something. We don''t know the details so I have no more things to say regarding the discussion between them. You guys should ask her majesty herself if you guys are curious about what they discussed." "Thanks for the info, take care, everyone." With permission from the guards to enter the royal grounds, we managed to get inside the pce without any interference. "Looks like you are indeed telling the truth that you and Queen Tanya know each other if the guards guarding the ce are being friendly with you." I helped Tina to quickly get her schedule to Queen Tanya as soon as possible. In just a few momentster, Queen Tanya allowed us to get inside the pce as she granted us an audience. A servant appeared and we were escorted to where Queen Tanya is. But I didn''t expect her to meet us while she was taking a bath. When we arrived, she is currently being washed by her servants. Tina was hesitant to get inside the room after seeing Queen Tanya naked in the bathtub but I didn''t flinch and approached her. Yes, I can see what was hidden by her clothes and it was not censored by light-kun, dark-kun, and censor-kun. It is a raw and uncensored experience. "It''s been a while deheart." "You are naked, Queen Tanya. Should I go out?" I asked her. "No worries, you can stare all you want, I am proud of my body, so you don''t need to shy away." Chapter 251 - Lies And Betrayal I have seen her naked body many times in the past. However, she only does this to those who she trusts the most and has satisfied her requirements. Seeing her do this is a sign that I already aplished that. Too bad not everyone will be able to see her like this. Also, even though she is naked like this, I already got immunes to it seeing her like this numerous times so I did not easily get embarrassed. "You should at least wear a shirt or something to cover your body while we are meeting. It''s not really appropriate," I said to her. "A, and I thought I will be able to get a hrious reactioning from you. You seemed to be immune to this view already and I felt a bit conflicted whether you are not affected by my charms or I am just not pretty enough." "No, Queen Tanya. You are pretty and sexy but I don''t need to show emotion to appreciate your body. And don''t worry, if I didn''t have the ability to control myself, the blood on my nose will surely fall out." Queen Tanya chuckled. "Haha, oh well, if you say so, then I am d you think so that way. Anyways, you should also let the other one who is with you toe in too. We are both girls so why is she embarrassed?" I looked at Tina and beckoned her toe inside and although she is reluctant toe inside, she has no choice but to do so to meet and talk with Queen Tanya. "Oh? I just met a few people who are also the same species as youst time. I didn''t expect to see someone so soon once again," Queen Tanya said. From the looks of it, she is already expecting her arrival as I don''t see a shock on her face seeing her. "So it was true that there are people with the same species as me who arrived here a few days ago." "Yes. They are calling themselves the guards of the princess of the Insect Kingdom. But I was surprised since the so-called princess was "killed in action" and will not be able to attend the meeting." When Tina heard it, she was stunned and seems to have gone speechless. I am also confused about it. From what I know in the past timeline, it is indeed true that the Princess of the Insect Kingdom while visiting Sandurk but there are no specific words on how the princess died. All I know is that after the death of the princess, it caused a lot of disturbance in the kingdom that there urred a political war between the remaining siblings who will inherit the kingdom since the princess who has died from the incident in Sandurk was supposed to be the one who will inherit the throne. Although I am a little bit confused, I think I managed to get the gist of it. I just needed to have a confirmation about the reality of the situation directly from Queen Tanya and I continue to listen. "That''s... it''s impossible for them to do that! They haven''t confirmed it! They should still be looking!" Tina said with a desperate tone in her voice. "Based on your reaction, I can easily deduce that you are the "Princess" that should have "died" during the journey to reach my kingdom right?" Tina was silent at first but she didn''t remain silent and confirmed it. "Yes, I am the 103rd princess of the Insect Kingdom, Tina Lesches Ropalocera. Although I am not mature enough to rule the kingdom and I am not as beautiful as my siblings who have more beautiful wings than mine, I am a Princess from ancestry and blood of the royalties." She spreads out her wings and I saw that her wings resemble that of a moth. No wonder she has brown hair, which is rather rare in the Insect Kingdom, she is viewed as the ugly princess due to her color not being vibrant enough. Not only that but the size of her wings is pretty smallpared to her siblings that I have seen in the past. They are very big and vibrant and her color pales inparison. "Well, I already knew that your guards are lying that you have died on the spot. I asked them what caused your death and they immediately told me you got eaten by a giant sandworm." Queen Tanya then turned to look at me. "So, did Princess Tinae out from the stomach of a sandworm?" "Yes, I found her inside the Giant Devouring Sandorm''s stomach that we killed with mypanions." "Thanks for the confirmation, deheart. Now back into the topic. They immediately assumed you died after being eaten whole along with the carriage and decided toplete the mission to meet up with me. However, herees the weird question. Howe there is a Giant Devouring Sandworm in that area?" I frowned when I heard that. Isn''t that the nesting area of the Giant Devouring Sandworm? They are normal bosses in the area so I am sure they are just there. "You guys looked confused so I will tell you guys why I would also be confused on the appearance of the Giant Devouring Sandworm in the area. As someone ruling Sandurk, I am pretty familiar with all the beasts present in Sandurk. I am not just ruling this single city, I rule all over Sandurk which is why I am aware of what is happening all around my territories. Now here is the thing. Giant Devouring Sandworms are not native in the area. They would be more like a natural sighting in the Northern side of Sandurk and their attacks are prettymon in the area. However, in these parts, those sandworms don''t exist, heck, you won''t be able to find a single kind of Sandworm here either." My mind just clicked on the dark realization. This is the center part of the Sandurk Continent. And just like what Queen Tanya said, the Sandworms are not a normal mob you can see in the Center of Sandurk. So howe there is a boss all of a sudden? "I don''t understand. What is the connection between the sandworms not naturally urring in the area and the attack?" Tina is more confused than ever. "Naturally, Sandworms are asleep underground and they rarely go outside unless they are on their hunting season. So the most real case scenario with Sandworms, they should still be asleep underground. So why would there be a sandworm attack? Do you have any idea you two?" Tina shook her head. However, I have a hunch but it is a bit wild. "Maybe the Sandworm is captured in advance and starved it before it was thrown back to the sand but this time, around the Center area?" "Is that even possible? Shouldn''t the sandworm die since it was starved?" "No. The sandworms aren''t that weak. If they ever die due to that, they would be extinct already. However, those who are experts at hunting one sandworm, all know one fact. They can''t kill a sandworm by starving. Sandworms can stay hungry for half a year if they ever get starved and they will still survive. However, they will attack once they are disturbed from their sleep. Most likely, the Giant Devouring Sandworm that devoured the princess was disturbed from its sleep from its original habitat and immediately teleported to the area where you are passing by." "Queen Tanya, are you saying that Princess Tina is a target of assassination?" I asked. "Yes. Tina of the Insect Kingdom. You are targeted by assassins and are tasked to kill you. To make sure the borate n work like an ident, they decided to use the Sandworm after they heard rumors about the vicious attacks of Sandworms on humans. The insect kingdom has not seen a sandworm yet right?" Tina nodded in confirmation. "Now, if someone who is expert in fighting and killing sandworms appears, they will not use the sandworm for assassination as they are the poorest choice to assassinate someone. Only a few knew this but the Sandworm''s stomach will have to be filled to full before it can start digesting what it has eaten. Of course, if you are swallowed by a sandworm, it ismon sense that you will not die if eaten and you can still survive it for a few days unless you are eaten while it is almost full." She then looked at Tina who is a bit shocked by what she heard. Although it is painful, it seems there is nothing Queen Tanya can do about it. "Princess Tina, you are deceived and betrayed by the Kingdom itself. They wanted you gone and they never wanted to see you rule the Insect Kingdom. Whoever nned this did not think about it that much so even though they managed to execute the process, it failed after deheart killed the sandworm.. In short, you are destined to die in Sandurk and never return to Aquagius." Chapter 252 - Execution (I) Tina couldn''t believe what she just heard. "Of course, those things are just spection so unless you really trust your men, I wouldn''t bother listening to a rambling of someone you don''t know like me. However, even though those are just spections, those are spections based on what is happening and what happened thest few days while you are inside the stomach of the Giant Devouring Sandworm." Queen Tanya stood up from the bathtub and her servants immediately put a towel on her wet body for her to use to dry herself. "Still, I don''t think I am going to think that everyone betrayed me. No one treated me badly and I think it is impossible for them to do that." "..." Queen Tanya looked at Tina with a stern face. However, she didn''t say anything and just continue to wipe off the water dripping from her body. "Let''s continue this back on the throne room now that I am done with my bath." SNAP! In a sh, her naked body is covered in bright light before her body immediately got covered with the battlesuit she uses in adventures or expeditions. As expected of Queen Tanya, even for changing clothes, she can just do it in a snap. If only I can do that, I don''t need to bother looking at my wardrobe for clothes to wear and just snap my finger to wear something on my body. We followed Queen Tanya on her way to the throne room. While we are walking in the hallway, Queen Tanya started talking. "Did you know that the Insect Kingdom would be already obliterated if not for the help of humans, elves, merfolk, and dwarves fend off against the abyssal monstersing from the deepest of the sea?" Tina raised her head in surprise when Queen Tanya started talking about the Insect Kingdom''s rise to civilization. "What do you mean?" "So you don''t know about it? Maybe the current generation of the rulers of the Insect Kingdom already have forgotten that incident already but I also think it is kind of weird." "Um...is there something that I didn''t know?" "We should continue the conversation in the throne room. That way, we can properly discuss your current situation." Queen Tanya was silent after that and even though Tina is trying to inquire more info on Queen Tanya, she didn''t respond and just continued to walk towards the throne room. When we arrived at the throne room, she headed straight to the throne and p her hands twice. A servant carrying a bowl of grapes appeared from somewhere and handed a few pieces of grapes to her. She then stares at Tina like how she tries to scrutinize someone. "I have a question for you Tina and I hope you answer this truthfully." Tina nodded. "Yes, I will." "Do you trust all of your family in the Insect Kingdom?" "Huh?" Tina frowned. "Do you fully trust everyone you have met so far in the Insect Kingdom?" "Yes! Yes, I do trust them!" "I see, then let''s see how your own men trust you." SNAP! Queen Tanya snapped her fingers again and two people dressed in assassin garb appeared out of nowhere and kneel at the bottom of the throne, in front of Queen Tanya. "Tell me the results of your investigations." "Yes, my queen!" the two people said simultaneously. One of the two move forward and stood up from kneeling, pulling up a scroll that contains the details of his investigation of some sort. "My queen, as instructed, we followed the guards who are all part of the Insect People that came here a while ago and tailed them after they left. As expected, they are not just guards but they are also hired assassins." Tina was about to say something but I stopped her from doing so. We will have to hear it clearly from them and learn the truth. It''s not going to be a good idea if they are false. "The situation where the Princess of the Insect Kingdom was killed was indeed part of their n. We also got good info from one of them when we tried to extort him some information and we found out that the one who nned this assassination attempt is none other than the king of the Insect kingdom himself." "That''s a lie! My father would never plot something like that! My father is an honorable man!" "Silence! When someone is talking, you should remain quiet until that someone is done speaking! That is a sign of disrespect to me and to my people." "But..." "Remember, Princess Tina. No matter how frustrated you are, we need to determine what is the truth and the absolute truth. We are not just grasping fake info here. We are trying to determine, whether you should continue to ce your trust in someone like this." Tina went quiet and despite her urge to speak, she didn''t do so as the assassins that were sent to tail on the bodyguards of the convoy of Princess Tina. "We also discovered that not only the guards are responsible for this but also the coachman who is responsible for steering the carriage where the princess of the Insect Kingdom is riding to reach our kingdom. In fact, ording to our resources, he is the main source of the Giant Devouring Sandworm in the area and if not for Sir deheart here ying the Giant Devouring Sandworm, the sandworm will keep attacking people and in the worst case, will keep on popping up even after killed." "Good. So, did you guys bring a proof to solidly get the proof?" Queen Tanya asked. This time, the other one who was just kneeling is the one who moved forward and answered the question of Queen Tanya. "We didn''t disappoint you, my queen. We brought one of the guards of the princess in the convoy who is also part of the n." He disappeared for a moment and appeared once again. But this time, he is carrying a sack containing something- or to be exact, someone inside. He took off the sack on that guy and it revealed a figure that turns out to be one of the guards of the convoy of the Insect Kingdom''s princess due to his uniform and his mark on his shoulder with a four-petal flower symbol of it which signifies him as part of the Insect Kingdom''s workers in their pce. "This insect person is someone that we have given the truth potion. Anything he says will be the truth and he will not say any lies. We also let him consume the Interrogation Potion that would allow him to exin things when asked even if it is something that he doesn''t want to reveal." "Sir Tran!" Tina immediately recognized the person tied up. When the guy named Tran heard the familiar voice, his face turned darker than usual and his vibrant color during his arrival started to go dark. Then, his butterfly wings started to fade in color and slowly turned to ck. "Tran, what is going on?! Are they telling the truth? That everyone plotted my death?" "He... Hehehe... Hahahaha!" Everyone around the throne room didn''t expect to see such a reaction to someone who was tied up. "To think that our attempt to kill you failed. I didn''t expect that! But it is within the scope of our expectation that you will survive even after all of that. But to think you will still be able to show that disgusting face of yours!" Tina couldn''t believe what she just hearding from his mouth. "Why? What did I do wrong to be treated like this?" "You? Ha! Don''t make meugh. You as our ruler in the Insect Kingdom? It will surely degrade to a certain extent especially to someone as useless as you. After all these years I have spent my time serving the royal family of the insect kingdom, I have never seen someone as unfit for the position such as you." Queen Tanya decided to intervene and decided to ask a few questions too. "What is the main reason why she is targeted for assassination?" "What else? Since she was automatically the heir of the throne, the only way for her to relinquish the throne is for her to give it up willingly or to take it from her by force. The former one is impossible since she is very adamant about taking over the role once her father steps down. The other princes and princesses are a much better fit. So to make her relinquish it, we decided that it is a better fit for her to be assassinated in the othernds so that the public will not panic, though I doubt that will be the case as they also oppose and are disgusted at the sight of her." He was still speaking when all of a sudden... SWISH! Tran who was still tied up on the floor became two. No, he didn''t duplicate nor his body double. His body was torn in half and he is now dead.. The one who did the deed is none other than Tina with glowing red eyes, showing her readiness to kill. Chapter 253 - Execution (II) We didn''t expect Tina to just do that to her guard and what is more surprising is that she did it using her bare hands. Queen Tanya seems to have expected the reaction of Tina as she didn''t flinch when the guard died. "May I ask why you killed him?" Queen Tanya asked. Tina flicked her arm that she used to kill the poor guy and a lot of blood from the dead body stter to the floor. "You don''t need to ask that since you already know. He deserves to be executed." Queen Tanya shook her head in disappointment. "Looks like you are still going to need some lessons, Princess Tina. If you are going to just let your emotions go haywire just like that, you will not be able to get some valuable information and also you can''t get a good torture to the guy since you have killed him and freed him from the trouble. If I were you, I would have tortured him more, make him talk and beg for his life to be ended before you execute her." Tina did not speak but it is evident that she has taken note to what Queen Tanya just said. "With that said, since the guy that is our main source of info has been killed, we need to track down the other guards and the coachman of the carriage and extort them out of information. I can tell that the info we got are not enough and we need a bit more solid evidence than just a mere few wordsing from a guy." "But how can we track them?" "I am in control of the all the exit points of the Sandurk and I know who goes in and goes out of the Continent. And unlike the likes of deheart and the others who can just teleport away from here, the guards needed to manually return to Aquagius to report their sess. They still haven''t moved away from Sandurk which means you are still able to capture them." Tina''s face goes firm and a new fire has ignited inside her. Queen Tanya looked at me and smiled. "This is your time deheart. I will appoint you as the special body guard of Princess Tina. I believe in your abilities and I can tell this will be an easy task for you to do." A quest panel appear before me, containing the info of the current quest. [Metamorphosis of the Princess] Type: Exploration/Legacy Quest Target: 0/6 guards 0/1 coachman Info: The Princess of the Insect Kingdom needs to proceed to her revenge. But to do that, she needs to track down the guards that have done the assassination attempt. Help her do this and she will reward you with something that you will not expect. Warning: Doing this quest will allow you to unlock the locked Continent, Aquagius during the duration of the quest. After the quest is done, the continent will not be explorable until it was officially released to be unlocked so please make sure to n everything out. I have never seen this type of quest before but I certainly know what is a Legacy Quest. I also have one legacy quest that is involved with the iplete treasure that I got from Serbal. I have a hunch but the Serpent God that the quest in the iplete treasure should be located in Aquagius since the Serpent God is a deity worshipped by the inhabitants living in the Water Kingdom where the mermaids and mermans live. So what will be the legacy item that is going to be given to me after this quest is done? No idea what it was but I am excited. "deheart, you are tasked on looking for those guys. We will ask my friend who knows how to sketch someone''s face to try recreating their faces into a picture for you to easier track them down. I will also hold the port for them so that they can''t get away either. Come back here after 10 days to take the bounty of these men," Queen Tanya ordered. "What about Princess Tina?" "Since she should be "dead" in the eyes of the Insect Kingdom, we will let them believe she "died" already. We will make sure no one knows she is still alive and strike back once their guards are down. That would be the perfect opportunity to shake down everyone who are part of the assassination attempt." Tina looked at Queen Tanya with a surprise look on her face. She didn''t expect Queen Tanya to do that. Queen Tanya grinned at Tina and it seems she read what is going on on her mind. "You wouldn''t be able to rule a whole continent if you don''t think outside the box, Princess Tina. You might be getting some privilege while you are still in the Insect Kingdom but now that they decided to throw you off on that one, it is a much better option for you to fight back and reim what is rightfully yours. You don''t want to be buried and just be forgotten by the people who looked down on you right?" Tina clenches her fists and she firmly looked at Queen Tanya. "My queen! Please help me get stronger!" Queen Tanya stare at Tina and snaps her fingers. Tina then stops on her tracks. "Huh? What is going on? Why did my vision goes ck? What is happening?" Tina stumbles to the ground as she tries to look around her. "You are under my spell, the [Eternal Dark]. It blocks the vision and other senses that allows you to perceive the surroundings besides the hearing senses. Other than that, you can''t feel and see anything. Get ustomed to it and forcefully break from that spell and I will help you train to get stronger. We will have plenty of time for that so start familiarizing yourself on your situation." I grinned when I realized what Queen Tanya has done. It is one of the training method I received from her and it is one if the hardest stuff she have given to me in the training. However, once I mastered it, the situation has gotten much easier all of a sudden. How times fly by. I left the pce since Queen Tanya and Tina would be going to need some time together. As for me, I have to go back to the Giant Devouring Sandworm and butcher it for materials and other stuff. ... The next day, the Arena Competition is finally ready to roll, my parents also arrived in the Capital much earlier than I expected. Since I agreed to them that I will be guiding them around, I helped them get used to The Capital since they will be here for a few days to settle down and gather quests to level up. I also gave them ess to my mansion so they were much more happy to have a home to rest whenever they are not fighting enemies and wanted to chill. I also didn''t expect for Father to choose to be a Fighter since I rarely see him do a martial arts and since Fighter is a martial arts heavy ss, this is not within the scope of understanding on his choice. As for mother, I think I kinda understand for her to choose the Alchemist as her own ss. Since Alchemists are more in producing items, and giving buffs to allies as well as giving debuffs to enemies, I can easily know why she did choose it. She loves to experiment things and since Alchemists do that, I can see her trying to go to the Mad Scientist ss up Route. I also didn''t expect her to already get the Ex Job Chef. Due to one of the quests in the beginner''s vige that will allow you to have a chance to be chef if done right, she acquired the ex job just fine. I didn''t take the quest to that ex job early because I wanted to learn to another NPC that has a chain quest linked and will be beneficial to me and the only way to trigger that skill is for me to help him without the Ex Job of a chef. If I did get the Ex Job Chef back in the beginners'' vige, this quest is immediately failure. Anyways, after my mom saw the kitchen, she decided to take over and be the head chef of the mansion. If only she is as enthusiastic in real life, our food daily is really good. Too bad, she is holding herself back to save money. But since this is a game, she can do it without a care. I invited everyone toe and watch my PVP battle in Sandurk including my parents and everyone is excited after knowing that I will bepeting. Right now, I am one of the participants in the first PVP tournament. Due to thest incident, my name has be one of the popr contestant to win the finals.. But it''s not only me who are being used as the target for the gambling as the other one who has the highest odds to win is none other than Kazuki. Chapter 254 - Battle For Blood (I) The arena is filled with people, yers and NPCs alike, they are all here to witness the birth of the first annualpetition that yers are looking forward to. The Arena has never been this lively in this current timeline so the seats are all jam-packed with yers and NPCs trying to get a seat. "Master, can I alsopete here? I saw lots of strong people I wanted to sh swords with and I wanted to at least do something like this even once," "If only I can do that, I wouldn''t be participating in this contest at all. They will easily find you as a summon or a follower. NPCs like you are not permitted to participate." "Damn..."As is disappointed. Yeah its a pretty disappointing thing since you can''t use them at all to fight in the arena due to their abilities and unlike yers, they can be pretty broken which is why they are not allowed to fight in the arena recing the yers to fight as this will break the battle system. As I was talking to my followers, the brackets on all the yers are now decided and they are disyed for everyone to see. For the yers, they are given their individual disy via a pop-up, revealing where I am and who I will bepeting against. Basically, this is just an elimination round on who will be able to continue until the quarter-finalists are decided. The yer I will bepeting against is someone I don''t know so this guy is probably a yer who didn''t get enough recognition for me to know much which is expected in elimination rounds. ... ... Soon, the elimination rounds have begun. The enemy is a Ninja and although he uses the tactics pretty much like how a ninja would, it was a real bad day for him to face me who already knows how a ninja would act in a PVP and easily overpowered him before he can evennd a single strike. I managed to win the first round of the elimination much easier. After the first round, half of the participants dropped out after they lost, they can''t hope to be able to move to the qualifiers after they lost. Now, the remaining yers will once againpete together and will have to fight against each other once more. Just like how it happened earlier, the battle was boring and short so my battle ended with my win. After a few more battles, the Qualifier rounds finally rolled in. 24 yers are now left and I am one of those yers left. I also saw Kazuki and he seemed to notice me as well. Since I cleared thest dungeon he was targetingst time in Solo, he didn''t forget me at all. He should be really pissed by that and knowing him, he doesn''t forget grudges so I can tell he is also aiming to fight against me and he wanted to wipe the floor with my face. "Ladies and Gentlemen! After a few bloody battles that happened the past few hours, we finally got our qualifiers that will be fighting against each other to see who will be able to grab the finalugh and stand on top of everyone, proving they are thestrongest!" The arena''s screams reverberated the whole ce. It could be said this is already a big scale that yers would want to be one of the qualifiers so that they can at least imprint their names on the hall of yers that will be recording all of the achievements a yer has created in the arena and brag it to others who will admire what you have achieved. It will also set as a good way for other yers to surpass your achievements and take over your spot. It''s a verypetitive thing. After the MC exined the remaining rules, the lineup is once again announced. This time, I am up against someone I know in the past timeline and is one of the yers who managed to clear a few dungeons and make a name for herself. She is Aqu, the Chronomancer. Aqu is not that strong regarding her defensive capabilities since she just has the same defensive numbers as a normal Magician so she has a pretty much low defense value. However, she didn''t need defense if she can easily defeat enemies in a few rounds. Now I can finally go serious on this battle as I wouldn''t even dare to lower my guard against her. She is a formidable opponent. With the opponents decided, this time, they didn''t create multiple stages for yers to fight, the whole arena is now the battleground in the qualifiers. With this, the battle will be a huge spectacle since only two people will be wreaking havoc in the arena and they will be unleashing everything they can to defeat the enemy. ... The first match is between Kazuki and someone I don''t know. Itsted for at least 10 minutes before Kazuki emerged victorious though it''s not a one-sided match as Kazuki struggled a bit on pushing the other guy back as he is good at controlling the aggro on Kazuki and taunting him from time to time. Too bad, Kazuki is capable of bypassing that so when he did it, he failed on his tactic and he was defeated, resulting in Kazuki moving to the Quarter Finals which is expected. The next one is between Andrea the Necromancer and Lilybeth, the Alchemist. It was an interesting fight since the audience didn''t expect to see Lilybeth win. Andrea lost despite managing to summon some strong undead to help her in the fight. She was under arge amount of debuff that her undead summons didn''t get to actually get good damage against Lilybeth and perished before she can evennd a good hit. Finally, my battle with Aqu is finally here and it''s our turn to fight in the arena. Due to my reputation in thest battles in the arena especially during the registration where I overwhelmed Odaka, they are now expecting a good match and are already betting on who will win. I can tell it is 50-50 bets since some of the audiences also saw Aqu''s capabilities and they believe that Aqu also has a chance to best me on this battle. "The next battle will be a st! The red team is one of the uprisings and strong chronomancers that seems to control time to defeat her enemies with ease! With that said, let''s wee yer Aqu!" The audience began to shout and cheer on Aqu as she goes out from the opposite side of the arena with aposed look on her face without a sense of worry. "If the other side is a big shot person, then this one is a famous guy who already has proven quite a good amount of what he can do. If anyone remembers the first Deathmatch that urred here in the arena, then you probably know who he is! Of course, he is none other than the yer who wears a Wolf Mask, deheart!" The gates on the other side of the arena opened and I also went out. The yers who know me started cheering and of course, those who don''t know me but have decided to bet on me started to cheer along with them. "LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!" Aqu didn''t waste her time and started casting skills immediately to buff herself up. What I did first is to keep a bit of distance from her and pull out my weapon. I don''t want to get attacked in abo by her as the Chronomancer''s [Slow Motion] skill is pretty much hard to retaliate with unless you are capable of fighting with surprise attacks and melee. She quickly litters the surroundings with [Time Bomb] in which it will explode and render the enemy to be slowed down and their movements will be in slow motion too. But I am not just going to let her do that and hit me with those nasty things. BANG BANG BANG! Quick and decisive shots from the pistol echoed around the ce and the ced bombs exploded. The one that Aqu was just about to drop also exploded and her attack backfired to her. The moment she got slowed, I dashed forward, changed the pistol form back to a sword form, and engaged her in a melee battle. PENG! She blocked the attack. I hit her again and it was blocked by her once more. Of course, some of my attacks were not blocked easily as she can''t react as fast as she can do and only predicted some of my moves. When the duration of the slow debuff came to an end, I immediately distanced myself from her before she release a debuff attack on me. I don''t want to just get wrecked by that tactic. Seeing her first tactic that defeated most of her opponents failed, she decided to proceed to tactic number 2. She pulled out her weapon which is a pocket watch and created a mini domain. In this domain, her slow attacks will be amplified and in short time period during the duration of this skill, she will be able to cast skills without using Mana and experiencing cooldown on skills. "[CLOCK WORK!]" Chapter 255 - Battle For Blood (II) [Clock Work] Tier 4 Type: Active Cooldown: 30 minutes Duration: 10 minutes or when the mana of the user runs out. Info: A skill originating from the God of time, Kronos(Chronos), and imparted it to the humans who managed to gain the gift to manipte time. Users will be able to create a domain where the user is the absolute power. During the duration of the skill, the user will not be consuming mana and the cooldown will disappear during the duration of the skill. The user and the enemies in the vicinity of this skill will also be inflicted with (Time Counter). For every [Time Counter] an enemy has, Slow debuff will get worse and movement will also be affected while the user will have increased effectiveness of skills and application of debuff to 20% per [Time Counter]. This skill will consume 50 MP per 10 seconds and after the duration of the skill, the user will be deemed immobile for 3 minutes. Note: Did you just steal the "Big Ben"? This is pretty much a broken Chronomancer skill. It has drawbacks but it is a pretty broken skill if it is used effectively, especially in a PVP situation where yers will have to attack the enemy as much as they can and reduce their HP as fast as possible. It''s not that bad and it''s indeed hard but this is a good challenge to say at least. "Not bad!" "You might have won your battles easily but I won''t let you get me defeated easily!" Chronomancer''s ystyle relies on the [Timebomb] and the other skills that rely on the debuff stacking. They are pretty troublesome if you are hit with the slow debuff. Once you are hit by it, the iing attacks will be really brutal. Seeing my status, I received 1 [Time Counter] and I can feel my movements getting heavier. If this is a tag team, I will be obliterated in just a few seconds. She didn''t waste her time and throw three [Timebombs] at me. She thought it was going to be a sure win for her. "Too bad, it seems like you are just not just fit to win." Aqu frowned at my words. She didn''t understand it at all. "Remember this word, [Timelock]" Before Aqu can understand what happened, she was sent flying to the other side of the Arena. "Hey, where are you going, we are not done yet!" I changed my weapon into a hook and chain and skillfully hook her body out of the rubble and pulled her back to the fight. "Ack!" BANG! Her body got sent flying once more to the other side of the arena. She cough up blood and fall t to the ground. She still didn''t manage to retaliate. "WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! WHAT DID JUST HAPPEN?! DID YOU GUYS SEE WHAT HAPPENED JUST NOW? EVEN I SEEMED TO HAVE MISSED SOMETHING!" The [Clock Work] was forcefully stopped after I wreck Aqu in a few hits. And due to the [Clock Work]''s setback, she is now immobile for 3 minutes. "What... what did you just do?" Aqu struggled to stand up from the ground. With the bacsh of [Clock Work], she is rendered immobile and cannot move. "Did you remember the word I whispered to you? It''s a Chronomancer''s passive." Aqu''s eyes grew wide as her mind recalled the skill that was indeed present on her skill tree. Too bad, from the looks on her face, she hasn''t bought it yet in favor of the skill [Clock Work]. [Timelock] Tier 4 Type: Passive Info: Whenever the user receives a [Time Counter], the user will gain buffs that increase by 5% for every stack of the [Time Counter] present. The following buffs will be applied: 1.10% movement speed increase 2. 5% attack increase 3. 10% chance to cleanse the debuff 4. 5% magic damage increase. Once the Time Counters are gone, the buffs applied will only linger for 10 seconds before fading away as well. Note: Ever feel the rush during deadlines? The buffs you receive are simr to the energy you suddenly obtained during thest-minute countdown before the deadline. Its one of the passive skills that are overlooked by some Chronomancers due to the incredible effects of [Clock Work] but it was clear as day that the two skills work hand in hand and any Chronomancer will not forget to buy this skill due to the benefits they will get with it. "Unfortunately, I am not just going to lose that easily. However, I apud you for fighting against me. You stillck the skills but you are certainly capable. You can still grow stronger. But today is not the day you will be able to climb up in the rankings. And with that, I apologize." SWISH!" I ended the life of Aqu and she died in the game. "THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED BUT ALSO AN EXPECTED OUTCOME GUYS! THE WINNER OF THE MATCH IS NONE OTHER THAN BLADEHEART! HE WILL BE PROCEEDING TO THE QUARTER-FINALS AND WILL BE FACING THE OTHERS WHO ALSO QUALIFIED SO STAY ON YOUR SEATS! THE BATTLES WILL JUST GET HOTTER AND MORE BLOOD PUMPING!" The yers and NPCs started cheering for the next battle so that means my match is finally done and I am now good to go to rest and wait for the remaining matches to finish before the Quarter Finalist will be out. I left the arena to rest in the room that is going to be my personal room in the meantime and also one of the rooms that the winners and next participants to fight the next round will be using. To be honest, if I didn''t learn [Timelock] before, I am screwed. [Clock Work] is strong and the debuff is pretty annoying. My passives are still not capable of fully mitigating debuffs at all and most of the time, they are not possible to be healed with just with my skills alone. I needed an essory that will help mitigate the effects of these things in the future. I waited for the battles to end and it took a bit of time before the qualifiers ended and the winners are now introduced to proceed to the Quarterfinals. The next enemy I am facing this time is a Magic Knight like me. He is one of the strongest Magic Knights in the past and one of the guys that has made quite a name for himself. "To think I am going to meet with him here. Too bad it''s not Kazuki but this is also a good opportunity to see how he was during the days he is still on the beginning phase." "Is he a strong guy, Master?" As asked. "He is strong but I am not sure how strong he was right now. But I can say that he is strong enough to solo a boss all by his own." "Oh, I would love to spar against this guy." "Like I said As, you can''t do that at all. No matter how much you wanted to also fight, you will not be qualified to do so, just grit your teeth, and maybe in the future, you can cross des with him." "...Damn it. I am itching to fight too." ... We received another 10 minutes break before the next sets of battles begin. Out of 24 yers, only 12 yers are left. In the finals, 3 yers will be left and only one of them will emerge victorious in the process via a deathmatch between the three in one arena, which will cause pure chaos. I have no idea why they tried creating thest match as a battle of three people instead of just the two finalists who will fight for the glory. It was then dubbed by many yers as the "Battle For Blood" due to its nature simr to a battle royale. While waiting for the next match toe, Lucia who is just watching before and didn''t speak much after we went to Arena decided to speak. "Master, I am detecting movement to the egg that you are ignoring on your inventory. I am not sure but I thought it was about to hatch or something." "?!" My reaction is fast and I opened my inventory and locate the little egg that Lucia detected. And just like what Lucia indeed said, the egg is glowing now. I checked its info but there are no changes on its info so I am confused about what is going on with this egg. "What is going on with this egg? Why is it glowing? Lucia, are you detecting anything that has changed on this egg other than the obvious glow and the small vibrations it is doing?" "I tried to peer inside of the egg to see what is going on inside its eggshell but I apologize on this one Master, but it''s hollow and it was like I am swallowed by the void." Chapter 256 - Battle For Blood (III) This egg is just giving me a headache trying to figure out why this one is different. What the hell is this egg anyway? I killed the Spider Queen before and I never received this egg before. Not only does it make me confused on how to hatch it, but it is also a bit confusing on why I need to fulfill some conditions just to find out what this egg is and the method of hatching this is also hidden. Then howe it is giving a reaction? "Master, it seems one of the conditions needed for you to fulfill is to fight other people and dominate them in a battle. It was just a hunch, but since you went to Arena and fought battles against other people, the egg started to react. That might be one of the key factors for it to hatch," Lucia spected. "Really? But from the looks of this egg, it already stopped showing any signs of hatching. Aside from its glowing color and asional movement, nothing else seems to have changed." "It might be because you haven''t done the other requirements. From the looks of it, this egg had some of the strangest ways of hatching. It didn''t even need to be a warm area or cold area just to hatch. From the looks of it, just fulfilling the conditions are enough for it to break out of its shell whatever the egg is holding inside it," As theorizes. "That''s pretty obvious, As. But Master, As is right. This is the first time I have seen an egg with such a bothersome way of hatching. It was like it doesn''t have any intention to ever go out of the shell," Lucia also has given her thought. "So that means I can only keep on trying different methods until I hit one correctly just like how I managed to hit one requirement?" "That''s the case, Master," the two acknowledged. Although it''s not as major as I thought it would be, I managed to get some progress on hatching this thing. It''s no longer something that I can''t hatch. I just needed to fulfill its hidden requirements. ... After a few minutes of the fight, the fighters who engaged before already got a winner. Based on the bracket and order, my match is the next one. Since my enemy is a Magic Knight and someone that will be famous in the future, even if they aren''t in their peak performance like how I know them in the past timeline just yet, I won''t just let down my guard. "Let''s do this." ... "Ladies and gentlemen! We are now in our third battle for the quarter-finals! The yers today are stronger than expected which is why the tournament is moving at a faster pace. But it''s better that way, isn''t it? Anyways, our next fighters are another big shot as far as we know the results of their previous battles!" The yers and the NPCs started to cheer once again as a response to the MC. It is pretty chaotic in the audience stand. "Oh? It looks like our audience is also pretty hyped up on our uingbatants too. Well then, without further ado, let''s introduce ourbatants and call them to the arena! First, in the Red team, the magic knight who has defeated his enemies in just a few swings of his sword and has obliterated some of the promisingbatants and grabbed the winning glory in thest battle he takes in! None other than ckze!" ckze went out from the other side of the arena. His outfit is inspired by one of the anime with the VR concept too that reigned the anime rankings until it plummeted in rankings due to the cliche things slowly appearing inter episodes. No wonder he took the Twin des of Magic Master as a ss up for the Magic Knight ss so that he can dual wield like how it happened in the anime. Still, I can''t deny that he is one that has shown talent despite showing some signs that he is trying to portray an anime character. That might be even one of the factors he is capable of fighting rapidly due to his inspiration. "Now, on the Blue Team, a yer with unpredictablebat abilities which is normal for a Versatile ss. Hisst battle is just aplete counter and used what the enemy has in store for him and used it to his advantage! This time around, will he retain the same ystyle to fight? Let''s wee, deheart!" My name is called so I immediately stood up from my seat and went out of the gates of the Arena''s waiting room. I also ready my weapon in the form of a magic sword for me to fight back against him. We stood in front of each other and waited for the timer to start its countdown. 3 2 1 ckze quickly dashed forward and pulled out the sword behind his back and ignited it using the [ming Sword]. His swings are quick so instead of blocking it with my sword, I dodged his blows and backtracked a little bit. Based on his fighting style right now, it seems he is relying on quick attacks and strong blowsbined together to take down the opponent. "[Wind de]!" As I jumped to the side, he released [Wind de] to where I was about to go. He already predicted my movements and based on this, he wanted to lock me out and take me down before I can do anything. But I know how a Magic Knight fights so instead of taking the [Wind de] head-on or just dodging it again. SWISH! One quick sh and I managed to cut the [Wind de]. My sword is covered in rocks after activating [Earth Sword], allowing me to counter the [Wind de]. ckze didn''t flinch when I cut the [Wind de] he released and continue his advances to take me down. "Enough of warm-up!" PENG! PENG! PENG! Our swords shed and the sound of the sword echoed in the arena. "Oh wow! This is nuts! I can barely follow their movements! ckze''s quick attacks are all being received and countered! This is something I expected but still formidable to see than just your imagination! Which fighting style would win perhaps? A real Magic Knight or a yer that can imitate what a real Magic Knight can do?" Our exchanges of attack ended and the two of us retreated again to catch a bit of breath before we started to attack again. "[Ice Prison]!" "[Melting Heat]!" I attempted to slow down ckze using Ice prison but it seems it is not possible as he immediately countered [Ice Prison] with [Melting Heat] that amplifies fire attacks and allows Ice magic to weaken, making [Ice Prison] easily countered. He struck the tip of his sword on the ground while I am just a few meters away from him and immediately cast a spell. "[Lava Geyser]!" FWOOM FWOOM! A thick liquid ofva spout out from the ground on where I am standing and almost hit me. Thank goodness I immediately changed the magic sword from a cannon and used it to dodge away from the attack before I get toasted. Once I managed to get my distance for a bit. But it seems like ckze has read my movements and is already one step ahead of me. He cast [Fire Sword Ray] towards my direction. THUD! I was nning to tank the attack and mirror it back to him but I changed my decision when a notification appeared in my skill panel. -[Terra Shifter]''s effects activated. A huge rock appeared before me shielding me from the brunt of the attack blocks the way that made ckze get a bit shocked when his surprise attack was also stopped. "Where are you watching!?" ckze didn''t notice my presence as I immediately used Stealth and rush towards him. Before ckze gets to react, I already got his left hand where he is using the sword to hold cut off. "WOAH! BLADEHEART MANAGED TO GET A HIT! WHAT WILL BLACKBLAZE DO THIS TIME TO FIGHT BACK?!" I was about to hit him again after slicing his left arm but he is not a slouch and quickly picked up the sword on the ground and blocked my iing attack using his remaining arm. PENG! So he is an ambidextrous guy. He is not just showing off his dual-wielding mastery in the past timeline, he is capable of wielding it without any problem and not just for a show-off. I didn''t push my luck and fall back again, allowing ckze to stand back up again, and even though he is missing an arm, he is still fully capable of fighting back. "[Earthshaker]!" RUMBLE RUMBLE! The arena started to shake with the effects of the [Earthshaker] I used. ckze is slightly affected by the attack but he didn''t fall over and managed to keep his feet standing. Before the duration of the [Earthshaker] wears off, he closed off the distance between him and me and sh his sword at me in point ck range. "[Wind de]!" Chapter 257 - Battle For Blood (IV) ckze is not just an expert in name, he is proving even in the early times that he is indeed not just a typical yer. He is someone who already calcted things using his existing abilities and trying to make use of them to surprise his enemies. And it seems he caught me in one of those situations. He took advantage of my vulnerability during the casting time of the [Earthshaker] where I will be in a vulnerable moment and cast a quick [Wind de]. However, it was a pity that I am not just going to let them do what he thinks he can do. When the [Wind de] is almost going to hit me, the [Earthshaker] casting time also ended however, deflecting it with anything isn''t going to help me and the small dy is also a piece of bad news to me. Thankfully, there is one more trump card that I have saved up in my arsenal. Before the [Wind de] hit me, I decided to use the secret skill that I recently obtained after managing to fulfill its requirements. [Magic Jammer]! DENG! The [Wind de] that was supposed to damage me or worse, can kill me, didn''t do a thing to my body and it was like it hit a rock and disappeared. "WHAT?!" ckze was stunned as he didn''t expect his [Wind de] to do no damage at all. "Where are you looking?" Before ckze can react the ming sword in my hand is already pierced on his chest. The mes intensified and his health slowly goes down before he knew it. "Damn, I didn''t expect this but it was my loss..." "You pressured me enough and is quite clever in keeping me on toes with your attacks. Not bad at all! You are a worthy opponent!" "Heh..." I quickly ended the battle by pulling the sword upwards, slicing his torso up to the head into two. "AND WE ARE DONE! I CAN''T BELIEVE IT! AS ALWAYS, OUR WINNER IS NONE OTHER THAN BLADEHEART! HE IS NOW GOING TO BE IN THE SEMI-FINALS!" I raised my sword as the announcement was made and everyone started cheering, the whole arena is shaking from the cheers alone. And I am also now ready to go to the semi-finals. The next battle ended quickly than expected and soon enough, six yers are left behind out of all the people who participated. We are given a few minutes to rest and the audience also went to "Lunch Break" too. It is a good way to keep the yers who yed to rest for a bit before the big fight. I left the Arena for a bit since there are still 2 hours left before the announcement for the semi-finalists are announced. They are making it longer as usual due to all the yers who joined. It would be not a good idea to keep the arena running without letting the "diators" rest. Even the audience needed some breaks too. As I get out of the arena, my parents and my friends are all waiting for me. "As expected of my son! You are not just showing off your abilities! You are quite a badass in thatst battle too!" My father praised me a lot and pat my back hard that I coughed a bit after choking from his slight pat. "Dear, I know you want to pat our son for the show he dominated but you should be controlling your strength. You are a game character and your simple pat might break his in-game character''s bones!" My mother scolded my father. "It''s alright! He won''t die since we are in town and my character is not that strong yet anyway." "OH? If that is the case, are you willing to be my sparring partner?~ I really need some dummy that can handle all of my punches. Most of the dummies I have used so far are breaking to pieces, so I assume you can at least substitute to a dummy?" "H-huh?" I look away from what is happening to my father. Yep, he is not going to be able to escape this one, I can only just pray that he will survive. Even I can''t interfere and I don''t want to irk the ire of my mother at all. I had a casual talk with the others outside the arena. They are supporting me from the audience stand and they also bet on me to win the finals. They are pretty confident I will win huh? But that is not a bad thing in my book. ... 2 hourster, I came back to the Arena and it is much more bustling than before. There are even some yers who haven''t been able to enter since the arena colosseum is now too full to amodate more people. People who went to take a break decided to bring other people and now we are overflowing with audiences to watch the fight. As expected. If only the arena management reconstruct this ce to at least help the amodation of all yers and NPCs who wanted to watch the fight can also watch live. Too bad that is not going to happen at all. We stayed inside our respective rooms to wait for the announcement. It didn''t take long and everyone including me is called out. "Finally we are now progressing,dies and gentlemen! After the arduous battle of different weapons and countless wins and defeats happened, we are now entering the Semi-Finals with the remaining people who remained strong and survive thebat!" Even though the emcee is not hyping the audience, they are already doing it by themselves. I can also bet that the videos of the previous fights are already published on the video-sharing tforms and have been watched by many people already. So the rowdy ce has be noisierpared to earlier. In fact, the audience stand is more jam-packed and no longer has a seat to sit down. It is much worse than earlier! "Since our warriors have assembled, we are now going to announce the lineup that will be fighting after this announcement!" If fate brings me closer to the enemy, Kazuki might be the one I will be facing next round. But it seems like the NPCs running the arena have an idea and that is to leave the other yers who are excelling a lot and canst long in the finals. With Kazuki''s good performance so far, it seems they are nning for me, Kazuki, and another one to do the final battle and perform the Battle For Blood. I wonder who will emerge victorious from the... My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed someone among the yers who are now going to be in the semi-finals. I didn''t notice her due to the number of yers before and she is not wearing any catchy outfit right now, allowing her to look normal. However, now that the number of yers is less than before, I have now noticed who this person was. The Imprable Holy Knight, Sigma. She looks like a in Holy Knight right now but she is the yer who has had an imprable defense in the past. She can even beat a Pdin in defending due to her close to the invincible status that seemed to cause her to be described as someone who will remain standing when others have already fallen. I faced her in PVP before back when I am still a Magic Knight and I lost to her. I couldn''t even reduce her health to half and only managed to chip a minor amount of it before I was utterly destroyed. To think she is here, wouldn''t this make matters harder? The brackets for the uing battle were announced. Thankfully, I am not facing her, but it''s also a shame I didn''t get to face Kazuki either. The next enemy is someone I didn''t know. I am not underestimating my next enemy but my eyes are fixated on Sigma right now. She has a cool aura and in the past, she is the symbol of the Hero in the kingdom as she defended a whole kingdom alone from an enemy that tried to decimate the whole kingdom to dust. She is a Holy Knight but she is much stronger than most Holy Knights I have seen in the past timeline. She didn''t even need to heal herself and you can say that she can remain stationary and remain to guard against the enemies in one spot and I can confidently say that no one will be able to move her off on that ce and she can''t die too. It was like she built her character to focus more on defense and increase more of her defensive abilities while making her attacks a second priority to getting stronger. The threat right now in the finals is not just Kazuki...No...he isn''t even able to bepared to her.. She is not someone you can easily mess with and leave alive. Chapter 258 - Battle For Blood (V) The semi-finals aren''t that trivial and the enemy I got this time is a lot weaker than the previous two. He was a warrior but he was overly reliant on his equipment''s stat and due to that, his actual skills are a beginner at best. It was even a miracle that he managed to reach the semi-finals without facing strong yers topete against. Due to the result, I ended up winning without a challenge at all. As for the other two, it is not unexpected that Sigma and Kazuki won their matches and will now proceed to partake in the final battle to determine the sole winner of the tournament. They are in their own league after all and I will acknowledge that Kazuki is not just a pushover, he has the abilities to show it. I didn''t bother to listen to the emcee as the three of us went back to our respective resting rooms to prepare. Kazuki is not a problem and knowing him like the back of my hand, he is not even worth considering as a threat. The problem is none other than Sigma. I paid attention to her battle earlier and just like how I have seen her in the past timeline, she is the same as ever. Although she isn''t as much invincible as in the past, she is still close to unbreakable with her defense. She defeated the enemy without much effort as she just remain to stand and walk around and didn''t even bother chasing the enemy. You can say she is the human embodiment of the tank(the tank in Left4Dead). My Versatile Weapon has properties of Defense reduction and defense pration as well as the [Iplete Rhongomyniad] to deal true damage but thetter one is not a good idea as it is not really stable yet and it would be a bad idea to reveal it to others since it''s pretty powerful even though it is still in its iplete state. So to mitigate the defense of Sigma, I need to increase my existing skill tree by one skill that can at least lessen her defense. A debuff skill. I rarely buy a Debuff skill and if I did, I rarely use it. Due to the number of enemies with debuff resistances, it''s much better for me to just use a skill that gives a self-buff or party buff instead of the debuffs due to the nature of most enemies. The only useful debuffs that are pretty much used are [Poison], [Paralyze], [Sleep], and [Curse] since they have a higher chance to procpared to [Attack Down], [Defense Down] and other skills that inflicts stats reduction debuffs as they are for some unknown reason to have a low sess rate to hit. But that only applies to monsters. For some good reason, this doesn''t apply to yers. Unless they have a passive that blocks them or an item effect that blocks the debuff attacks, these debuffs always work all the time. I opened the Magician skill tree. Aside from offensive skills, Magicians are not only capable of dealing with mystics and magic skills, but they are also capable of unleashing terrible [Defense Down] debuffs on other yers. Besides, even though I still have a small amount of SP left behind, it is not a problem as this skill only cost one 3 SP to learn, and it''s only a tier 1 skill. I don''t need it to be a high-leveled one, I only need it to reduce the defense of Sigma in our battle soon. [Defense Down] Tier 1 Type: Active Cost: 15 MP Usage: Instant Cooldown: 2 minutes Info: Using the power of mystics and magic in the air, reduce the defensive capabilities of the enemies by 2%. Can stack 5 times. Note: Isn''t this a good way to reduce the durability of clothes too? ... ... "Ladies and Gentlemen! After the battles of the yers that participated in the very first event and opening ceremony of the Arena Colloseum''s opening, we are now entering the final battle that everyone is waiting for! I apud all of the participants of this event and even though some have lost on the way, everyone shouldn''t be worried as the losers will not feel the sign of defeat due to it! Now that the best of the best were left behind, we are also going to find out who And we are going to crown as the current champion!" The audience started to get riled up from the hype. They are too excited about the veryst battle that they will all be witnessing after the emcee is done talking. "Since we have three finalists, we decided to use this new method ofbat arrangements. We will introduce a new battle system that will allow us to witness the battle of the three yers! We will call it the Battle For Blood!" The audiences are confused. It is natural they will be confused as this mechanic is not a well-known thing and it sounded like they just invented the thing on the spot. "Are everyone confused right now? Then, I will exin things to make things simple for everyone to understand! This is a mode that only three maximum yers can participate. The three are notrades and they need to watch out against each other. After all, this is a fight to the death. The three yers will fight against each other. No matter what is the result, someone should be remaining standing from the three. As for the other two, the first one to fall will automatically be the third cer and the secondst yer will be the second cer. So this is an elimination round and survival shoved together." The audience seems to be still confused while some quickly understood how things work. "If anyone is still confused, then let''s show a live performance on how the Battle For Blood will happen. Finalists! Pleasee to the arena." When I heard the emcee call us, I stood up and slowly walk out to the arena. Alongside me are the other two. Kazuki is looking in my direction while I am looking at Sigma. As for Sigma, she is in a neutral stance and is only staring straight ahead of her. "We will nowmence the Finals. Finalists, would you like some rifications and another recap of what is the Battle For Blood?" I silently shook my head in response. "No need, the exnation earlier is fine as it is," Kazuki said. "I don''t need it." "Huh, so the finalists already understood what it was huh? Then, without further ado, the final battle will begin! The Battle For Blood will officiallymence!" The countdown immediately started to count but this time, it is now in 5 secondspared to the usual count of 3. While the countdown is already ticking, I quickly take a bit of distance between myself and the other two. Although Sigma is only a threat in the melee battle, Kazuki is a bit different since he is another Magic Knight. We are rivals and I know his moves and what he is thinking in a battle so I can easily say that he will target Sigma first and move to attack me as thest. 3! 2! 1! 0! As the countdown went to zero, my guess on who Kazuki will attack first is a spot on as he quickly charges towards Sigma who just stood there with her spiky mace in hand. "[Fire de!]" Like the usual [Wind de], [Fire de] works the same as the former, only in a different element and a much more defense prating magic spell. However,pared to how ckze fights with Kazuki, thetter is just pure firepower with a bit ofcking with the strategy department. He is just a pure brute force guy. Sigma didn''t move from her position and instead swing her mace. FWOOSH! In one swing, the [Fire de] was rendered useless and a small [Holy Light Shield] appeared on her body. That should be the tier 5 passive, [Shield of the Saintess], a passive that allows the user to gain three stacks of [Holy Light Shield] that can block a maximum of 3 fatal attacks. It will only activate if the user is attacked. And since he attacked her, the passive activated. If his damage output is low, we can sit here all day and she will remain in full health. As for me, I am not going to just stand idle. My main target is Kazuki and Sigma is the one I needed to get more focus forter. She will be difficult to defeat if Kazuki were to keep interfering and she will just go and heal whenever Kazuki tried to interfere. As Kazuki is focusing his attacks on Sigma, he didn''t notice that I am already behind his back. Before he can react, a hard hammer hit his cheek squarely and sent him flying in a few meters. Kazuki gritted his teeth and stood up quickly from being sent flying but I didn''t let him get up that fast and already attacked him once again using the Hook and Chain and pulled him back to me. Kazuki didn''t let himself get hooked by me and blocked it by stomping the ground and creating the [Earth Barrier], an Earth Element skill that allows the yer to get a small wall of dirt to block an attack it can handle. "You are not my target yet so don''t interrupt my hunt!" Kazuki growled. I grinned inside my mask with a crazed look on my face as I changed my weapon back to a hammer. "I apologize but I want to break that face of yours to pieces." Chapter 259 - Battle For Blood (VI) Kazuki''s face turned ugly when he heard it and before he could defend it, another hammer appeared right into his face and sent him a bit of a distance. He didn''t get as far as earlier but he still got almost wrecked hard. Sigma just stood there without moving much. As expected, she is just going to stay in ce unless she releases an AOE skill that Holy Knights possess. But I doubt that is the case, she is just biding her time and finding out what our weaknesses are. "It looks like two of our finalists are already dealing with each other! I don''t know what is going on with our female finalist here but she just seemed to observe or rather, she is just staying out of the fight? We don''t know just yet but this fight of the two guys is much more intense!" Kazuki is already showing signs of frustration. After all, I am chasing him around with a hammer in hand while he is trying to get close to Sigma. He is disregarding what is happening around him and just continues to retreat from my attacks without bothering to throw back an attack at all. "Will you cut it out? I am trying to deal with my prey here, if you want to die badly, you need to fall in line first!" BANG! "Do you take me for an idiot? Only someone like you would ignore an attacking yer like me in this elimination round. It would be best if you take me seriously instead." BANG! I swing my hammer again and it barely missed him. I can''t allow him to keep running forever. Of course, it is much easier for me if Sigma is the one who will finish off Kazuki but I wanted to be the one who will do the deed. The bad blood between us goes way back in the past timeline. Besides, I would be satisfied just destroying that face of his in public. "[Heavenly Chains]" Out of nowhere, Sigma suddenly cast a spell. I am familiar with it so instead of pursuing Kazuki further, I dodged from where I previously stood and a gold chain sprouts out of the ground on where I am standing earlier. I am quite sure now what she is about to do and I don''t want to be captured by that as long as the battle is still up. As for Kazuki, he didn''t expect it to pop out like that causing him to get entangled in the spell. "What the f*ck?!" [Heavenly Chains] is one of the Holy Knight''s restrain spells alongside the [Heavenly Cross Seal]. Once captured by the chains, magic spells and movement will be restricted. It is easy to dodge away but it was really annoying if you get caught since you have to struggle out by yourself without the aid of magic skills and other powers you possess. Sigma''s eyes glow into a gold color and she raises her mace up in the air. The [Heavenly Chains] that binds Kazuki started to rattle and glow brighter than before. "Huh? What is happening?! Why can''t I get out of these pesky chains?!" Kazuki is still far too weak it seems since he can''t even break out of the [Heavenly Chains] as easily as he can in the past timeline. Unfortunately, it seems the saving grace of Kazuki from being under the bindings of the [Heavenly Spear]. It''s unfortunate but not unexpected. He just run out of luck this time around as I can easily tell what Sigma is about to do. "[Spear of Heavens]." Large spears the size of streetmposts appear up in the sky. One might be good enough to dodge but there are at least a few dozen and another dozen after the first dozen is released. And to Kazuki who unfortunately got caught by the [Heavenly Chains], if he ever not be able to get out of the bindings, he will automatically be ced in the third ce of the rankings. "F*CK! F*CK! F*CK!" Kazuki''s screams echoed in the arena as the [Spear of Heavens] rain down the arena. As for me, I didn''t hesitate to run around and remember the position of the [Spear of Heavens]. They might be big but they are not homing missiles that will follow and kill me in the process. DANG DANG DANG DANG DANG The arena immediately got filled with the [Spear of Heavens] and the ce barely have any ce left to stand aside from the area surrounding around Sigma. Sigma didn''t look surprised when I came out unscathed from the rain of [Spear of Heavens]. She just remained there standing with her stoic face. As for Kazuki? Well, his body is now crushed into a meat paste by the [Spears of Heavens] after the [Heavenly Chains] keep him from moving at all. It was an unfortunate event for him really, but with Sigma as an enemy, I don''t think he even has a single chance even if he managed to defeat me and fight Sigma alone. "Holy sh*t! Sigma-chan is just standing there menacingly while ravaging the whole arena with her [Spears of Heavens]! One of the contestants already fell from the battle which means our third cer is none other than Kaisar himself! It''s unfortunate that he didn''t make it far from the battle and it barely started but I can''tin about it especially since he got squashed real good from the skill and he was previously battered by deheart earlier, making him a lot in lower health." "But enough of that, everyone looks! It seems like Kaisar is the only one who suffered the assault! deheart managed to avoid the hurdle and came out unscathed of the [Spear of Heavens] assault! He did the impossible! I mean, even I would have died from that assault! The arena is full of the spears that there are barely anywhere to hide and dodge it!" The emcee is not wrong but that is not a problem for me who has survived much more difficult situations iparable to this which is not even that hard. It may be hard to dodge them all but it''s not impossible. That is just quite an exaggeration, to be honest. I know Sigma won''t bother moving but I will make sure she will have to move away from where she is standing. I pointed my forefinger to her and activated one of the spells I bought just for this asion. "[Defense Down]" Sigma who is just standing there without doing much felt the strange feeling on her body. But due to how insignificant the effects of [Defense Down] to a yer who has an overwhelming defense, it''s not a big problem for her. However, that is not the case for me. A small debuff is enough to at least make a bigger way to prate her defenses. After the [Defense Down], I immediately went towards her location. As expected, she is going to face me head-on. And that is fine! I quickly attacked her with a flurry of strikes from my Magic Sword. And as expected, even though the mace is a bit tad slowerpared to the Magic Sword with a bit higher speedpared to a normal sword and is a bit slower than the fastest weapon which is the Katana, she managed to catch up with all of the strikes perfectly. Too bad that even if she managed to stop the basic attacks I did, it didn''t stop the debuff of my weapon from activating. The effects logs in my interface are showing fast messages that Sigma has been inflicted some debuffs. And before Sigma can understand what is happening, she grits in pain and has to stop defending after the effects of [Corrode] proc and affected her body. Corrode is technically abination of Defense down+Poison+Curse. It persists and not only does Corrode be annoying, but it is also troublesome since it can even render the defense values of your armor useless as it will slowly degrade your armor duringbat. Once Corrode is gone, your status returns to normal of course but this one is harder to get rid of unless you have someone like a cleric in your team or if you are a pdin yourself who has a self debuff cleansing ability. Also, there is no ss that has an ability to inflict Corrode since Corrode is a debuff that was previously exclusive to be used by the enemies. It was the first time for me to be capable of using it. Too bad for Sigma, Holy Knight might be thebat variant of Pdin and Clericbined but itcked the debuff cleansing ability the two sses have. The Corrode debuff will have to stay until the very end of the battle. "Eek!" Sigma was sent flying andnded on one of the bodies of the [Spears of Heaven]. The immovable Holy Knight that managed to terrify many yers and managed to defend a whole kingdom against the assault of enemies has finally moved away from where she stood. Chapter 260 - The Immovable Holy Knight Sigma wasn''t expecting for her to be blown from where she stood. She is trying her best to create her ystyle of not moving from where she stood and unleashing abilities without doing much walking. All her life, she was in her wheelchair due to her unexined sickness. With the help of her brother and the countless research of her father, she managed to at least alleviate her sickness and mitigate whatever was causing it. Her father suggested that she should try to practice walking by practicing in the Virtual Reality game called Alternate World. She easily managed to get the Nexus Tattoo without a problem, allowing her to gain a 100% synchronization rate with herself and the character. As soon as she got to y the game, she is now addicted to it and decided to pick the Holy Knight as her ss. She wanted to be the beacon of light to everyone and defend people from whatever hurdles they are facing. Due to her dedication, countless study and understanding of her ss, she managed to find out the main appeal of her ss and that is to be a good sub tank that can handle any attacks given to her while also staying stationary and releasing powerful attacks while staying at where she is standing. Soon enough, she managed to catch the eye of many yers when she did this kind of tactic on one of the bosses in one dungeon. Due to her way of executing her moves while remaining stationary to where was standing, she was being nicknamed the "Immovable Holy Knight" and became one of the yers that garnered attention from many people. She slowly takes pride in her ability to take every attack given to her and pay it back to the one who dealt the damage to her. However, for the first time since she started ying the game and formting the perfect way to create a reputation of someone who cannot be moved away from her position no matter how heavy the attacks she received, she finally found her match today. Her knees are shaking from the impact and even though it was just a game and it was a virtual reality, she can feel that the pressure she received from the blow is big enough for her to be blown away. She wasn''t expecting it at all. As she slowly stood up, she can see the other yer wearing the wolf mask approach her slowly while he is holding his weapon. This is the first time she received pressure. Not even a boss is capable of giving pressure on her and she didn''t feel anything at all in many dangers she has encountered in real life. This is the first time she experienced a sense of dread. It was like Death is ready to harvest her life any moment. But that pressure is something she is now looking forward to. She likes challenges and after knowing that her ability to remain immovable is not yet in its perfect state, her mind immediately wonders what to do to improve her way to be the real immovable. "Let''s end this..." the guy wearing a wolf mask said, raising his weapon. For some unknown reason, she finds the voice familiar but she cannot remember whose voice it was. "Not...yet..." PENG! The sword and the mace collide and spark fly as the two pieces of metal tried to best each other. BOOM! A small explosion urred between their weapons and the two has to step back from that. deheart, who is holding his weapon firmly shook his arm a bit before going into his attack stance. As for Sigma, she has to stabilize her form before she regains her immovable stance. She steeled her face and put down her mace while staring at deheart. She slowly closes her eyes and focuses her senses. "Now,e!" deheart didn''t hesitate and started running in her direction. Sigma opened her eyes and her blue pupils turned into gold as she activated one of her skills. "[Heavenly Chains]!" Countless chains rain down on the sky and deheart didn''t flinch and just dodged them all like how he usually does. He is quick and whenever one chain is about to entangle him, he is able to immediately escape from them by casting some skills that allow him to blink to the other side of the area he was trying to move without running towards that ce and quick getaway from being caught by it. As he dodges the chains, he is also getting closer to Sigma and he is getting quicker. Sigma who controls the [Heavenly Chains] decided to choose another method to restrain deheart''s movement. "[Heavenly Cross Seal]" Crosses appeared around deheart''s body, trying to restrain him. This is another restraining skill of the Holy Knight ss. It''s not as effective as the [Heavenly Chains] in restraining enemies in the distance but it is pretty good when dealing with enemies near the yer using it. Anyone who thinks they can easily escape it is not going to be capable of doing so. Unfortunately, this spell won''t work on deheart. Even though this spell is not from a magic knight or a magician, this spell belongs to the magic types. [Heavenly Cross Seal] Tier 3 Type: Active Costs: 75 MP Cooldown: 5 minutes Usage: Instant, Targetable Info: With the power of the Holy Light Magic, the enemy that has been targeted by this skill will be stunned and get its movement restricted for 20 seconds. Can be canceled and disrupted. Note: This might be the main reason why some people are looking holy despite being unholy deep inside. When deheart notices the [Heavenly Cross Seal] on his body, he didn''t panic and instead continues to charge. "[Magic Jammer]" The [Heavenly Cross Seal] that was supposed to restrain deheart suddenly breaks after going in contact with his body. It was quick so if viewed in the audience stand and to a non-Holy Knight yer, the [Heavenly Cross Seal] seems to have taken effect but to Sigma who is personally seeing what her skill is doing face to face and has seen it take effect many times know that the skill failed and didn''t properly execute its natural effect. But Sigma didn''t get disheartened when it happened, she can tell that the skill is not forever and it onlysts for a few seconds though she is not sure how long it should havested. An idea pops up inside her mind and she decided to follow it as she waved her hands and two rays of light shined on deheart. "[Holy Ray]!" Two rays of blinding light rained on deheart. However, it seems like that is ineffective as deheart immediately transformed his weapon into a cannon and shot the ground, allowing the recoil to send him backward, away from the [Holy Ray]. Sigma''s eyes glint when that happened and she immediately snaps her fingers and the [Heavenly Chains] that did notnd on deheart''s body immediately moved and take the chance to restrain his movements. She used this chance to reinforce the first chains with another [Heavenly Chains],pletely binding his legs, hands, and body. "Got you," Sigma said as she waved her mace to cast the other skill that will destroy the enemies in one hit. The [Spear of Heavens]. "Heh, apologies Ms. Sigma but these chains are not enough to restrain the likes of me! With a strong tug on the chains, the chains that were immovable at first started to move and Sigma didn''t expect to see that. Even bosses have a hard time breaking off from the chains. So seeing someone able to even move it is something she has not seen before. She quickly made her cast to the [Spear of Heavens] as fast as she can to prevent me from escaping. "Spear of Heavens]!" The spears appeared and she quickly waved her hands down and let the spears rain down on where deheart is still tied up. Everyone was quiet that even the emcee who was supposed to keep the audience excited and riled up end up shocked that he forgot to say what he was about to say in the battle. As for Sigma, she remained emotionless but deep inside, she is already relieved since the main threat is now gone. "As expected of the Immovable Knight. Unfortunately, you still need a few more years of battle and experience before you get to fully grasp your weakness and how to cover that to be the ultimate. If not for this, you might have defeated me." Sigma turned around when she heard the voice of deheart but what weed her the moment she turned around is a de straight to her heart. It was a quick plunge but it is deep enough that it continuously reduces her HP. Her armor has suffered from the [Corrode] so even though her armor is pretty high on defensive stats, if not for the [Corrode] debuff, she would have been able to survive. She smiled and before her HP drains she raise her thumb up. "Congrattions..." ... End of Arc 3 Chapter 261 - End Of The Battle For Blood It was a close shave, to be honest. If I didn''t tug hard enough to break the [Heavenly Chains] and get away from there as soon as the [Spears of Heavens], dering me as the second ce wouldn''t be surprising. Thankfully, all of the exchanges we have had in the past timeline proved to be really helpful in predicting her movements. And yes, this isn''t her peak form yet. This is not yet as terrifying as the past timeline''s immovable holy knight. If she ever reach that point and I battle against her in my current state, it is a one-sided fight. Even if I have the help of mypanions and pets, she would just easily mop the floor with me and mypanions. That is how strong she was in the past timeline. After winning, the Arena Organizers was about to call the Clerics to resurrect the two who died but I decided to help them and resurrected them by myself. Sigma scratches her head and also touches the area where my sword pierces her. I didn''t bother her anymore and went to Kazuki or should I say Kaisar. Eh, whatever, I would stick calling him Kazuki. Since the spears disappeared after I killed Sigma, Kazuki''s crushed body is fully seen in the public. He was poorly crushed by the [Spear of Heavens], poor bastard but he still deserves it. I resurrected him and he opened his eyes like he was in a deep nightmare and just woke up from it. He looked around and saw that there are no more spears that rained the area earlier. "Huh? What happened? What is going on?" "You died and you are resurrected by me since the match ended already. It''s time for the award ceremony." "Award ceremony? So that means I lost??! ME?! I lost?" "Just ept it, you easily got killed by Sigma. See yater, the awarding will take ce a few minutester." "No, this isn''t what was supposed to happen! F*ck that ceremony, I would rather go back hunting if I am not the champion, I don''t need the award!" He then logged out of the game after that. That behavior of his really irked some people including me. He is still not epting losses at all and just goes leave to avoid losing face. ... After a small rest, the award ceremony urred in the arena. There are still many people who stick around since they are the ones who had a bet with the betting system in the arena. They will be getting their payouts after the awards ceremony so they are not just waiting for the ceremony tomence, they are also waiting for their rewards so that they can start shopping in the Arena shop with their winnings. "Ladies and gentlemen! The first arena colosseumpetition that will be held annually has finally ended! It was a great match and congrattions to all yers who participated, whether you guys won or lost, you guys are all great warriors, and be proud of it! If you lost, then you guys needed to improve more, as for those who won, don''t let this victory get in your heads! Strive and improve yourselves further! Well then! Let''s proceed to the award ceremony that everyone is waiting for and although we already know who won and imed the top spot, we also need to award the ones who came next. Now, let''s wee the champion, the second cer, and the third cer!" The audience started pping hard when we went out. Many yers who bet on me are cheering after winning big and as for those who lost, some cursed at me while some are just in a neutral stance and just pped. I also see my parents and friends cheering up in the audience. I also didn''t expect to see Harmless Sparrow there too. Well, you can say she is a friend but I won''t say we are very close enough for that. But I am sure that the events in Sandurk will not be the end of our coboration. Sigma and I came together to go to the stage in the arena. The emcee was bewildered when he saw that only the two of us went out. He then beckons me and I can easily tell that he is going to ask me about Kazuki''s whereabouts since I am the one who revived him. "Mr. Champion, congrattions on your win but may I ask where is Mr. Kaisar? I don''t see him along with you guys." "He left after he learned he is just in third ce and lost the battle. He also said he won''t ept the reward." The emcee shook his head in agitation and disappointment. "That''s a shame but we must go on with the awarding ceremony so please cooperate just this once. We can''t let this awarding get ruined because one forfeited." I nodded in response and returned to the side of Sigma. When I was about to reach where Sigma is standing, I noticed that she keeps on ncing at me from time to time. Her eyes tell me she is curious about me. Might be because I broke off her almost invincible defense. Stepping next to her, she started speaking to me. "You are a curious person. The rumors about you being one of the strongest yers in the game are not just a mere rumor of bystanders." "Oh? Did my rumors be a bit exaggerated for other people to even ept?" "Most sounded impossible so yeah, but it seems like not all of the rumors are just mere exaggeration. That ability you showed before is something that you have in you. You are quite good already in battles and it seems like you can read every movement of mine." "It''s a bit easy since I am dealing with many yers. Also, you rarely move and the one that is moving is your skill so it''s a bit harder for me to defeat you. If I made a big mistake during the time you captured me, I would never be able to escape. You just needed to level up a bit more and experience more battles for you to perfect this ystyle." Sigma smiled when she heard me say "perfect this ystyle" which I found rather familiar but I don''t think I have seen her before in real life either. "I see. Then, can we be friends? I would like to spar more with you and maybe in the future, we can share some quests to fight enemies and raid bosses. This way, I can increase my chances of easily perfecting my ystyle and maybe defeat you. What do you say? Are you good?" "Sure." Sigma opened her friend request and sent one to me which I immediately epted. After that, the awarding ceremony went by without a hitch. It pretty underwhelming so there isn''t much to do. The only thing that made the crowd have a ruckus is my champion throne. Since I won the first tournament and crowned as the champion, I will be holding the title as the champion for this year. Next year, I will be the champion that everyone will try topete against with for a chance to im the title away from me. The final battle will be held between me and the final winner of the Battle For Blood and the winner between that battle will be the champion. That means, if I win, I will retain the title and reputation of a Champion. Of course, if the opponent of mine wins, then I will have to hand over the title of the champion to the winner. The reward for my champion status is free usage to the Arena facilities except for the Arena shop. Although I won''t be able to get things in the arena shop for free, I have a 50% discount on the goods being sold there so that is a good perk for me. I also received 1 million Arena Shop currency which is why I am going to be really in a good mood after this. With all the essentials I can buy in the Arena shop with only the need to pay 50% of the original amount of the item, that is a big plus for me. Aside from that, I also receive two titles, one is the limited title that will be removed from me if I handed over the title of a champion to other yer and the unique title that increases my Arena Shop Currency earnings everytime I win in battles in Arena or if I bet. It''s a good effect but not a necessary thing since Arena coins will be plenty in the future. My parents decided that they will hold a celebration party with my friends in the mansion but I decided to just log out for a bit and will be back a bitter to join them. After fighting for how many hours, it would eventually tire me out and I needed to take a good breather since after this, I will have to take my ss Rank Up quest that will be needed for me to unlock the level cap off and manage to get skills that are beyond Tier 5 and also for me to get my level get to level 101.. The work has only just begun. Chapter 262 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (I) I ate a bit of food after resting for two hours. After doing so, I jumped back to the game to join my parents and friends for the celebration. When I logged back in, confetti and a big surprise from everyone appeared before me. "SURPRISE!" I was prepared to see a chaotic ce in my mansion but I didn''t expect to see everyone surprise me with it like I have a birthday today. It''s not worth it for them to prepare an borate surprise since I just won in the Arena but I appreciate the gesture. "Congrattions, for the win, deheart! Who would have thought you would be capable of pulling off that kind of tactic? Even I would have lost if I fought against Sigma in the finals!" Dolly said as he handed me a slice of cake that my mother baked. And as expected, even though my mother''s Ex Job Chef is not yet at a high level, it is already showing off the greatness of the food it can make with the abilities of the Ex Job Chef plus the innate talent of my mother in cooking, no one can top it off. If she fully develops the Ex Job''s effects, she can easily be one of the top-ss chefs at this point. "She isn''t easy to defeat indeed. If I didn''t have a n, I would have easily gotten killed without much struggle. Thankfully, I challenged her fully prepared and emerge victoriously. But slight miscalction would have resulted in my loss in the process." "I see. Seeing different people fighting in the arena motivates me to also get stronger. As strong as Sigma. Honestly, I think I am now a fan of her!" I grinned hearing that from Dolly, she has been a fan of her since she appeared in public and easily defeated a few boss mobs by herself and also kept the teammates and NPCs that are dying alive which resulted in zero casualties. If Dolly saw her doing that, she might faint. Anyways, everyone immediately congratted me and the party in my mansion just keep on progressing more chaotic as time pass by. I won''t bother borating it since it''s more chaotic than ever and I don''t remember almost half of what happened. ... After everyone logged out of the game to rest and take care of what their business to be done, I finally have time for myself to prepare for the ss up quest of Versatile. Honestly, I don''t have any idea what the ss up quest of the Versatile ss was and even if I try to find a memory involving it, the only info I have in the past timeline about it is what the ss up is and that''s basically it. Every basic ss has its own ss-up quests. Also, the most basic ss has multiple ss-up sses that are basically an upgrade to the basic ss but focus on one aspect of that said ss. For Example, a swordsman can choose between Hero, Dark Knight, Sword King, and demaster. Every upgraded ss has its own perks and they are all unique from each other. Of course, a yer can only choose between one of those upgraded sses. Once they choose one ss, they cannot choose the other and they cannot change their mind either. Now, I only said most and not all sses. That is because not all sses have multiple ss-ups. ording to those yers who managed to be a level 100 Versatile and tried to get the ss up the quest for the Versatile ss, there is only one upgraded version of it and there are no other choices besides that specific ss. Although I am relieved that the Versatile has only one ss up the quest, allowing me to not worry what ss up quest should I choose, I won''t just say this is easy to do since ording to what the yers who did the quest, failed a lot of times to clear due to some sort of event that happens in the middle of the quest. Due to this, they got a huge chance of failure than usual. It also didn''t help that no one is willing to give info about it. Due to that, I can only trust my skills and instinct to finish this quest since this will be basically a blind run for me. After preparing potions and some spare armor and other resources, I am now good to go. Goro will being along with me and even though I want to bring along his wife, she can''t go since she is watching over her kids and the Priestess of the Stars. I also n to fetch Lina from the inn where she is helping her mother but when we are about to depart, I saw Lina in front of the mansion. "Lina? I was just about to go and fetch you from the inn. I never thought you will being here personally." "Actually Master. I already left the inn a few weeks ago and started to train for the Battle Maid promotion in ourpany. Thanks to your help and support, I came in first in the assessment exams allowing me to gain the highest honors that allowed me to gain the best enough support to help my mother. Now, I don''t need to keep helping her since she already hired enough workers. Now, I can focus on my job as a follower of you. As a dedicated Battle Maid, I, Lina, have returned and ready to resume her duties as your Battle Maid." Lina then proceed to kneel in front of me and paid respects. I still remembered Lina doing this gesture in the past timeline after I helped her gain recognition too. To think I would be seeing her doing this again made me a little bit nostalgic. I smiled inside my mask and I helped her stand back up to her feet. "It''s good to have your back at a time like this." After that, I exined to Lina our current situation and what I was about to do. "Come to think of it, just a while ago, I saw your level hit 100 already. If that is the case, you are going to choose a new ss for your ss up rank?" "That''s right Master. That is also one of the main reasons I also came here since I also need some help regarding this. Since you are my master, it is normal for me to hold off my ss-up job promotion. I wanted you to be the one who will choose what kind of ss up I will be getting." "I see. So we are already into that point, huh, then I am not going to make it hard for you. I want to see my selections for your ss up forter. I bet you already have the selection of sses you will choose for the ss up quest since youe here to ask for my opinion about this matter, right?" "Yes. I can show it to you but since there are many selections, I don''t know what to select at all." She then swipe up her status and shared it with me. In the past timeline, I choose the battle-oriented ss for Lina which is the Warmonger Battle Maid since I really need someone who can help me withbat during my time where I am too weak to handle strong enemies. Even though Lina became the strongest battle maid as the result of me choosing that ss before, I regretted doing that since she lost a lot of potentials when she choose that ss and I only realized it when she is already at the peak and I am already strong enough to understand the stats and some potentials. During the time when Lina is not yet choosing her ss up, her stats are high in magic and bnced between defense and attack. She also has a very high-speed stat which allowed her to be really swift in battle during the time I choose the Warmonger Battle Maid. Her talents and potential were wasted when I choose the Warmonger Battle Maid so now that I am at the point of choosing her ss up, I decided to avoid that ss and automatically cancel that out of the choices. There are 5 sses that her ss has and since the Warmonger Battle Maid is out of the question, there are only 4 choices left to choose from. The remaining 4 are all different and the two sses focus more on magic which is the Elementalist Battle Maid and the Magic Sage Battle Maid. The other one focuses more on the defensive which is the Battle Maid of Iron. As for the other one, it is a bnced one, both specializing in magic and physical which is the Ultimate Battle Maid. I was focused on the Magic-oriented sses that I didn''t notice that there is another ss hidden. It is simr to the other ss with bnced stats. However, this ss is different in many ways from the Ultimate Battle Maid. Versatile Battle Maid Prerequisites to unlock: Gain a deep understanding of how a Versatile ss Works. Info: A battle maid that has attained the mastery of all skills a maid and a warrior can possess. You can say that this is the Ultimate Battle Maid but due to her focus on more masteries, it might take a long time before she can be truly called the Ultimate of all Ultimate Battle Maids. Info#2: Unlocks all the ss trees of all Battle Maid sses avable.. SP will be unlocked and talent modifier unlocked. Chapter 263 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (II) This ss is definitely not here in the past timeline and if not for pure chance, I won''t notice it either. It was just pure luck I managed to find it or else, I might have chosen the Elementalist Battle Maid or the Ultimate Battle Maid. With all the abilities of Lina in my mind, I am quite confident she will gain a better chance of bing the strongest battle maid. Stronger than her previous self in the past timeline. "Let''s choose this one. Of course, if this is fine with you." Lina looked at my choice and she was a bit shocked when she noticed the new ss option. "I didn''t see this option before." "It was a hidden option. You can say it is a hidden ss. Also, I think this ss is a better option for you out of all the sses. Not only you will get ess to all the skills of other Battle Maid sses, but you can alsobine them to create your unique ystyle." "So that means I can also fight like how you do too, Master?" "Yes, if my assumption is right. It is the case." Also, Lina is in an advantageous state. Unlike my ss with the cons of having double the experience I needed to level up, it seems her sscks that property, and since she can be influenced by my title, that also means she can easily get stronger and has the possibility of surpassing me. "If Master wanted me to choose this ss, then I will be getting this ss. I will not judge your choice and trust you on this one." "Since that is the case, let''s go together since you will also be taking the ss up quest in the Shrine of Ascension. I will also be going there to take my ss up quest too. If the spirit of the Shrine of Ascension permits it, we might be able to share quest since we are basically having the same questline." "That would be great if that is the case, Master!" I checked up on Lina''s gear but I don''t need to make any changes. Her gear is already optimal and it''s currently in its top condition too. I don''t need to make a fuss much on it. "Alright, we are all set. You guys are ready? I might need your help on this quest so everyone, I am counting on all of you." My followers nodded in response, willing to help me if I needed it. That''s all I needed. I summoned Leona for us to depart towards the Shrine of Ascension. ... SHRINE OF ASCENSION It is a deste ce at the very end of the Resurgia Continent. Normally, you need to go to the Headquarters to ask for a teleport waypoint to reach the ce by paying a fee but in my case, I don''t need to pay if I have my own method of transportation which is Leona. Besides, there is also an achievement and title that I can receive after going there without paying money and help from the Headquarters. "You know the original location of the Shrine of Ascension, Master?" Lina asked. "Yes. I have read before a method to find it without the help of the Headquarters. We will also just be able to go here without the need to pay gold which is pretty convenient for us." "But Master, you have lots of gold in your pocket. Why won''t you just spend it?" As asked. "Hey, I also needed to save money so I will have to resort on all free things as much as I can. It''s not easy to earn money and they were easy to spend in a single second. Must be thrifty as always!" "Hmph, Master you are just too stingy to buy anything. Don''t keep on relying to free stuff because soon enough, you will be forced to pay for something," Lucia said. I went quiet and cannot say any kind of response to that. Yes, in the end, there will be a time I will have to pay on something in the future. Since the flight is long, I spent the whole flight talking to my followers on random things until we arrive to our destination. The whole surroundings is consumed in fog and we can''t even see each other due to the thick fog. "Leona, maneuver around this ce carefully. Follow my directions so that we won''t get lost in the process. It will be pretty difficult to find each other if we got lost in this fog." "Master, why is this ce covered in so much fog? I already came here in the past with my other Battle Maidpanions before to ask for advice on the entity inside the Shrine of Ascension but there wasn''t any fog or whatsoever during myst visit!" Lina said as she wander her eyes around the fog''s surroundings, looking for any kind ofndmark or familiar looking ce she can identify. "I heard that the Entity inside the Shrine of Ascension do this to outsiders so that they will give up looking for the Shrine of Ascension without the help of the Headquarters. Of course, that doesn''t apply to us since I already have found out how to bypass this fog." In the past timeline, I used to spend my free time mapping the whole ce that I eventually got used to the ce and I can easily maneuver around the fog without any kind of help of a map or any kind of device. This fog is nothing but a child''s y to me. We did a few twists and turns until the fog slowly get thinner and the surroundings that was obscured by the fog before is slowly being revealed to everyone. A few more twists and turns and the fog vanishedpletely allowing us to finally see where we are right now. "Ah! Now this is the ce where I am now familiar with! I didn''t expect you to be able to find the ce so easily, Master! We even didn''t get lost from the fog!" I unsummoned Leona and we arrived on the foothold of the Shrine. Since the others don''t need to be here, I let them enter the Summon''s Area and enter the Shrine of Ascension with Lina. Before we can enter, we heard a familiar voice. This exact voice is also the same voice she used to scare anyone who did note from the Headquarter''s apaniment. "WHO ARE YOU TWO AND WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING IN THIS SACRED GROUND?!" Chapter 264 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (III) "WHO ARE YOU TWO AND WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING IN THIS SACRED GROUND?!" Lina who just took a step into the shrine backtracked and pull out her Morning Star Weapon behind her back. As for me, I felt the heavy pressure trying to make me kneel as I enter the ce. But to be honest, this is pretty much a petty attempt. I am not even affected by it. "Master, get back, there might be an enemy." "Sheathe your weapon, Lina, we are not dealing with an enemy here. It''s rude to the entity of the Shrine of Ascension." "Huh? The entity of the Shrine of Ascension?" Lina was taken aback. "Y-YOU...HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" the voice of the entity shook when I immediately revealed who it was. "Duh... no one else lives here in the Shrine of Ascension besides you and the beasts around here and the statues are incapable of talking so why would I suspect anyone else but you? You are the only one that can impose themselves as the master of this ce anyway and no one else." "..." The entity of the shrine stopped talking and the shrine''s heavy atmosphere disappeared. "You lot are the first people to trespass this ce without the help of the Headquarters. How the hell did you guys manage to bypass the fog?!" A slender figure of a woman appeared inside the shrine and slowly floated towards us. If not for her stylish clothes, anyone would mistake her for a ghost due to her paleplexion plus the fact that she is floating in the air. "The fog is easy to deal with and if you are able to study the topography of the area and how the ce is designed, this is pretty easy to navigate. The fog is just there to fail your eyes and blurry your senses in your surroundings. It''s not a major hurdle." "Ugh..." the entity of the Shrine of Ascension frowned. "Anyways, we are here to get a quest for our ss upgrade. You are the one who is in charge of that right?" "Ha... yes, I am the one. But you guys arrived here so suddenly I don''t have enough time for preparation. Come inside. I will have to prepare all of the quests. What are you guys going to ss up anyways?" "I am going to ss up the Versatile ss while she is going to rank up as the Versatile Battle Maid." "Versatile and Versatile Battle Maid huh... wait what? Versatile sses?! Both of you?! What kind of masochists are you guys?!" I didn''t expect the reaction of the Shrine of Ascension, she is generally shocked and called us masochists?! Ah, she might be talking about the exp gain a versatile suffer. But Lina wouldn''t suffer on that, why did she call us both Masochists? She scratches her head and she entered the shrine. Although Lina is a bit hesitant, she decided toe along inside the shrine. From the look on her face, this must be the first time she has seen the entity inside the Shrine of Ascension. As for me, I can no longer count how many times I have seen her in the past timeline ever since I discovered her. Usually, the entity of the Shrine of Ascension only uses her voice tomunicate just like how she did earlier. However, since we came in unannounced, she appeared before us which is already a big achievement. I am the first to see her face in the past timeline so I am also the first one who receive the achievement and the title. I will receive them after clearing the trial quest. As for now, we will have to wait for the trial quest to be made as she is the one who makes and prepares for the ascension process of our sses. "I don''t know why you guys are able to handle being a Versatile ss. It''s one of the horrendous ss ever been given for me to handle and the just by reading what this ss does will make me crazy for a bit. And I can''t even believe that you managed to reach level 100 first out of all adventurers. You must be totally hardcore mode in this one toplete it huh?" "Is that how you see the Versatile ss? Aren''t you the one who gave the sses system to people in this world?" "No, I didn''t give the people the sses. In fact, I am just helping Titania manage the sses and ss ups. I am not the one who designed it and whoever did is some kind of whack." "Are you seriously insulting the author just now?" I raised my eyebrow. "What? So you think the author is the absolutew of this? No way in hell! I can say what I want and you should shut up for once. Anyways, I don''t want to keep arguing with you so keep quiet and I have to focus on creating the quests and trials you two needed to undergo." She closed her eyes and she float higher than her original levitation height. The surroundings started to glow and I can feel the heavy mana swirling around the ce. "She is indeed the real deal!" Lina couldn''t believe what she saw. "Is this your first time witnessing this kind of phenomenon?" I asked. "Yes, Master. Just seeing the entity of the Shrine of Ascension is already a big shock to me so knowing her to be the one who is giving us quest is a big shock for me too." "Then be sure to look at her since this will not be the only time she will make something that you will have to think twice fighting against her." The Entity then waved her hands and the surrounding area started to bend on her will and the surrounding matter is like getting sucked in her hands. "What is she doing?" Lina frowned. "That is how she create a new reality." Chapter 265 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (IV) Different kind of matter is being formed in her hands and the marvelous thing is that it is happening right before our eyes. It was like the gxy is being created by her. "How marvelous..." Lucia said inside the summon''s area as she can see what is happening before us. "You guys should really be proud to see me do this as I usually do this sort of job alone and in private but since this is a different case, I will make an exception." A few seconds after the "universe" she is creating in her hand sucked some materials, it started to give form and the Entity of the Shrine of Ascension stopped forming it. "It looks like you are done huh?" "Hmph, don''t underestimate me. I am working on this kind of job since the very beginning. I can do this while sleeping. So drop the pleasantries and do the quest. In exchange, I will issue a task with the two of you as payment for going in here without the help of the guild." "Payment? So in the end, we will use money?" Lina asked. "Money? Money is nothing for me and I have no use for it. That is only what humans and other creatures in this world were created to use for barter for goods they needed. Those metallic things are of no use to me. I will issue a task once the two of you are already undertaking the trials." The entity of the Shrine of Ascension descends slowly while holding the new "universe" she created. Like a ball, she ced down the small "universe" she created in front of us and it slowly condensed itself before turning into a big portal. "Since the two of you will be undertaking the Versatile Trial, both of you are qualified to challenge the same quest and since both of you arepanions, then it is fine for the two of you to apany each other in this trial. Complete it and the two of you will be able to perform the ss Upgrade or ss Up in your terms. Now go inside and the task for the two of you toplete the trial will appear the moment the two of you enter the portal. The task I will be giving will also be issued inside the portal as well so aside from the original task you guys are given into, you two will also need toplete the task I handed for the payment. Understood?" Lina nodded. I didn''t respond but I started to get ready, showing my eptance to her terms. "Since the two of you agreed, now proceed to the portal so that we can finish this much earlier. Oh, also a reminder. Time flows slower there in that world. So if you guys experienced a month in there, it will just be 30 minutes here in the real world. Anyways, it all depends on your skills inpleting this ce''s objective. Good luck and may the blessings of the gods be bestowed on you." After that, the entity of the Shrine of Ascension walk back to the darkness of the shrine and was swallowed by the darkness. Before she fully disappears in the darkness, her eyesnded on my weapon and gave out a meaningful expression before shepletely disappeared. I am not sure why she had that expression but I have no idea why. My mind snapped back to reality when Lina tugged my sleeve. "Why are you spacing out in there, Master?" "Ah...Nothing, I was just thinking if Ipleted every preparation done." "I see. Then, shall we get going, Master? The time in there is slowed down so it will be easy for us to finish this." I nodded in response. When the entity of the Shrine of Ascension said that time is slowed down inside the "universes" she created, things are indeed slowed down that even the real world time is affected too. It isn''t something I made up since someone tried to measure the time he spent inside the portal and the time in the real world and it was indeed proven that time indeed has slowed down in the real world since he spend a month inside and when he came out, only 30 minutes passed by in the real world. I checked my equipment and other resources onest time before entering the portal with Lina. ... The moment we entered the portal and arrived into the world inside the portal, Lina and I received a notification about our quest. [Defeat the Endless Horde] Task toplete the Ascension quest: Defeat the origin of the horde or defend a simted vige from being destroyed for 1000 waves. Info: During the horde, sessful clearing of the current horde will allow you to gain "Horde Coins" that will be used to upgrade the simted Vige''s defenses structures. During the time the simted vige will be destroyed, the defense count will be reduced back to zero and the vige will be rebuilt. The difficulty will also return to its lowest difficulty. "Horde Coins" that were unspent during the time the vige was destroyed, will be carried over while the spent coins will be gone forever. "I see. A tower defense huh, didn''t expect that to be honest. However, what is the connection between a Versatile ss and the tower defense game mode? Is there any good reason she made this ce like this?" After that, another quest appeared which means this is what the entity of the Shrine of Attention wanted to be done. [Heart of the Undying] Heart of the Undying obtained; 0/1 Info: The Entity of the Shrine of Ascension has given you a task toplete as a "payment" to her services. To obtain the [Heart of the Undying] you need to kill the source of the horde himself. I see, so there is actually no point for us to just defend the simted vige and defeat the 1000 waves to finish this. We have to brute force the horde and take the heart of the boss. Isn''t that convenient and troublesome? "Master... does that mean..." "Yes, we will have to defeat the main cause of the horde and if my assumption is correct, the target is the main boss of this stage. But we can''t just disregard the Simted Vige. If it was given to us, there is a reason the Simted Vige exists and besides, we are not alone in this realm. We have the help of our friends with us so we should take advantage of that as well." "That should be the most logical thing we have to do indeed." I summoned everyone out of the summon''s area and I ordered everyone to split up so that we can take a good amount of cover on how big the vige is and if it serves another purpose other than a defensive point only. The moment I step inside the Simted Vige, I received a structured system that looks like I can directly manage the whole vige using the system that appeared. Lina also had it but she decided to let me handle most of the things that are done since I am the Master and I should have better ns. I epted the role though she is still fine to open and control the simted vige if she ever needed to do so. Since there are still 30 minutes left before the first attack, I decided to take advantage of the situation. I disregarded the system first and let everyone walk around to see what is going on inside the vige and if there are anything worthwhile to take note of. Of course, I also did my own investigation. I assigned myself to investigate the center of the vige and to my surprise, the vige is empty and all the "residents" living there are all dummies. There aren''t any real NPC that can talk or move. They served as simted humans to the simted vige scenario. "This is somewhat interesting," I muttered to myself and looked around. Although all NPCs here are not alive, there is one functioning thing here and that is the shops. There is one shop avable in the center area of the vige and that shop happens to be a potion and alchemy store. Although there aren''t any kind of people here aside from the wooden dummies that acts as the local alchemist, it seems everything is functional. In fact, I can use the alchemy table they have and I can even purchase potions and other useful stuff made from alchemy from the "local alchemist" if you interact with it. With some of the discoveries, every one of my followers also finished their investigations and we found out that aside from the facilities and shops functions, there are also an endless amount of raw ingredient supplies for making basic items from alchemy and even for repairing weapons and armor, the supply is endless. The only downside is that the items made from the materials acquired in this town are only exclusive in this realm alone and cannot be brought back to reality. It was also stated in their info that is missing in the original and created outside the realm. In short, this vige is not just for defense points purposes only, this also serves as the ce for resupplying essentials to survive the battle against the endless horde. Chapter 266 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (V) It is a major thing that allowed me to fully make a good strategy on how we can brute force and fight against the target without having trouble against the monster horde. A supply depot will always prove its worth in many ways especially in endless horde modes in games. That is not just there to be a decoration. Looking at the time, we only have 3 minutes left before the first wave of hordees. Since we don''t have time to prepare and I don''t have any Horde Coins just yet, I immediately gave everyone their tasks. If I assume correctly, first waves are always the easiest to defend unless I am mistaken. The vige has four sides to defend, the left wall, right wall, north wall, and the south wall where the entrance of the vige is located. The walls have a small defense and have 100 HP and from the looks of it, the new interface Lina and I received earlier can upgrade the walls and repair it when damaged for the expense of Horde Coins. Now, this is a ssic Tower and Base Defense mechanic and I still remember some of the games I enjoyed while I was a kid has this kind of mechanic. Of course, minus the horde mode. Still, surviving for 1000 waves will be close to impossible and I don''t want to waste my time finishing the 1000 waves unless I want to be a hardcore gamer about it. Of course, I can choose to ask the Entity of the Shrine of Ascension to keep this kind of portal as a training simtor. This is a good way to strategize especially during the invasion of demons. This simtion will allow me to further deepen the strategy in this matter and win easily. The division of the team goes like this, In the North Side, As and Leona will be the ones who will handle the North wave of enemies. As for the right side, Goro and the Dark Desert Wolf Pack will take the horde while Lina and Lucia will be in charge on the left side. I already told Lina about Lucia''s identity so that she won''t freak out. Thankfully, she epted Lucia without a second thought. "If Master epted her as a follower, then I will also trust her to be one of the people who will watch my back." As for me, I decided to handle the south side alone since I have no one to help me to defend the horde as they are all upied in one area. As for the angel hybrid, I doubt he can be of help since As is still doing his best to restrain the little kid. 3 2 1 [The horde ising, prepare for battle.] Then a 4-minute timer appeared before me, which means the horde willst for 4 minutes. I pull out my weapon and ready myself. I already prepared a few traps beforehand by using my ability as a Saboteur to hold off the horde all around the vige and allow us to at least slow down their advance. After all, we are going to defend until the duration and not kill all of the enemies. If my assumption is correct, killing them all as quickly as possible might even increase the difficulty of the horde that wille after the first horde. So I have to test out the waters and see how bad it is. As the timer ticks down, I finally saw some creatures running down the hill. I can''t see them clearly due to the distance but when they are now getting much closer, I finally see what those things are. Goblins. However, unlike Goro who is a green color goblin and is closer to human in looks, the goblins here are more demonic and they all look like the demonic versions of the goblins I see in anime and other games. They do not resemble the normal goblins in this game at all. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! I can hear on the other sides of the vige the sounds of rumbling and explosions which mean my followers are already engaging in battle against the little monstrosities that are attacking. The little goblins are also swinging their rusty knives and areing. They won''t attack me as their priority and would immediately rush towards the vige. KACHA! KACHA! KACHA! The first traps Iid down activated a bunch of the cretins triggered it and killed most of the attacking goblins. I changed my weapon into a bow and decided to do practice on it. With the traps Iid down doing the work, I can use this chance to get proficient with the bow and arrow and practice how to handle it. PEW PEW PEW As much as I want to speed up my way of aiming, most of the time, I get lousy with it. I don''t know how some yers get so good at using a bow but I needed good practice with it. ... Around the 1 minute mark, the "boss" monster finally appeared and it was a hobgoblin. It is a bit bigger than the original goblins but it is quite undeniable that they still looked like fat and bigger goblins. Of course, they are the stronger version of the goblins but they are not as nasty as the little f*ckers. Although they are big and monstrous along with their strong power, they are too slow and seem tock the blessings in the speed department. Therefore, these big f*ckers are perfect dummies to be used as my practice partner in bow and arrow. To make sure there will be no possible leaks, I deployed a few traps around the ce to make sure that the little cretins will have no chance of getting past me while I focus on the Hobgoblin. After putting some of the traps and getting satisfied, I focused all of my attention on the slow f*cker walking towards my direction carrying a club with spikes. Compared to its humongous body, its head is small enough that I decided to use that as my target practice. I also hope that it won''t die in my attacks as the Versatile Weapon is strong enough to one-hit kill the hobgoblin if I proc a critical attack. Therefore, I only used normal attacks. ... When the timer went to zero, the hobgoblin that is almost dying and it''s head full of arrows immediately died and the remaining goblins that are running towards our camp immediately died without any exnation as to why they did die. After the countdown, the rest time has increased from 30 minutes to 1 hour. It is both a good and bad sign that there is something that will happen to the next wave or it is much harder than the previous wave. Everyone gathered back to the vige to rest. "Goro, are you fine? We have fought against your kind and I am afraid you get hesitant to kill them." "Master, you don''t have to worry about me. They might be goblins in species name alone but they don''t share the same bloodline as me and even if they are the same species like me, if they stood in front of my way, I will not hesitate to bring them down." I nodded and pat his shoulder. It seems he will do everything just to survive and since he didn''t flinch in killing the goblins, he isn''t hesitant to kill one of his kind if they are part of the enemies. Opening the interface, I saw that I got 100 Horde Coins collected after defeating the horde. It is a bit little but that should be enough to get some minor upgrades done for the Vige''s defense. With the Horde coins checked, I opened the upgrade interface and a few buttons showed up to me and the things that can be upgraded. Currently, there is the wall and the interior facilities upgrades. Clicking the interior facilities upgrades leads me to their upgrade interface. I want to upgrade them but they cost 500 Horde coins per upgrade so I didn''t bother to do so. I clicked the walls next since it is still in level 1 and it the sturdier it is, the better, allowing the vige to remain intact even if the enemies managed to get past any of us. ... Walls: Level 1 Info: Basic walls made from wooden pine trees. They might be sturdy enough to ward off small animals but they are not strong enough to handle monster attacks with great ease. Coins needed to upgrade to the next level: 10 horde coins. Note: The wood that made these walls is much stronger than your "morning wood." I disregarded the note and went to upgrade it up to level 3. When I upgrade it to level 3, the coins it needed increased to 20 horde coins, and to increase its level again, it needs 30 coins now. However, I didn''t spend the rest of the coins and went to the other function that I wanted to purchase. ... Attack Tower: Level 1 Info: Small range tower that automatically attacks enemies that gets into its radar. Will fire a volley of poison arrows to the enemies every 3 seconds. A bit unreliable but will make do in these trying times. Coins needed to purchase: 20 Horde coins. Note: At least it doesn''t suck at shootingpared to you. Chapter 267 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (VI) In many games that involve defending your base, the main foundation to keep your base standing is to buy a defensive tower that will keep any stragglers from moving around. My horde coins are currentlycking to buy multiple Attack towers so I will have to put that on hold this time around. However, that is not yet out of the n just yet. Once we cleared at least one or two hordes, buying a few of these towers will no longer be a problem. Seeing that the time to the next wave will be an hour, I decided to use the remaining free time we have to find clues about the whereabouts of the main boss that we need to kill to finish the quest as soon as possible. It''s just going to drag out if we don''t eliminate it the easiest way. "Lina,e with me. The rest of you should remain and guard the vige. Even if the horde wave is going to take a while, it doesn''t hurt to be vignt." Everyone nodded in confirmation. Before we left, I purchased a few teleport stones and set the teleportation target to the vige so that we will be able to go back as quickly as we can without walking all the way back to the vige. This also serves as an emergency recall in case we ran out of time finding their of the boss and the next wave started. We immediately left so that we can cover bigger grounds in case the boss is nowhere to be seen. With the help of Lina''s ability to track down some tracks and fill out some of the missing links in the clues that we obtained, it didn''t take us long to locate the domain of the boss. "Master. I can sense a dreadful aura up ahead," Lina said after we discover the domain of the boss. It was a cave and the walls inside the cave is pulsing. "Looks like this is the area where the boss is. We managed to track down our target faster than expected which is good for us." "Should we test the waters, Master?" "Let''s do this. We can escape from it anyway if it is proven impossible." All bosses in the Ascension trials are possible to be challenged and we can escape it anytime we want. Also, the teleport stones cane in handy in case the boss is too hard to kill. As we enter, the walls of the cave started to pulsate and some tentacles poured out of them. Although they are short, it would be unwise to touch them without knowing what effect it does on a person. "Don''t bother touching it nor attacking it. Just avoid the tentacle since it might be some sort of sensory nd of the boss. We might agitate it if we managed to even touch it so venture the cave carefully." We took our steps as carefully as we can since the walls are covered with these tentacles. It took us a few minutes before we managed to pass through the walls of tentacles. As soon as we managed to get our bearings, we arrived inside a veryrge dome full of those wriggling mass of tentacles. It looks disgusting and anyone who hates seeing nasty things like this would writhe in disgust just by seeing it move, moreover, hear its wriggling sounds that seem to sound like flesh being squished together. The cavern is pretty big that it can be easily called a dome due to the shape of the walls surrounding the walls. Aside from that, I also saw some crystal shining bright above the cavern. It is shining red and has a tinge of orange. It was so easy to spot that is why it is the first thing that is peculiar that I have noticed after we arrived. However, that is not the focus today for me. [King of Wraith and Dread, the Undying King] Lvl: ??? HP: ????/???? MP: ????/???? Traits: Undead, Monster, Foreign Being, Immortal(Will be removed after 60 waves), Invincible(Will be removed after 60 waves) ... My eyes wandered to the traits and I am surprised to see Foreign Being as one of its traits. There are plenty of traits a monster can have and based on these traits, their weakness will be easily concluded the moment you can identify what its traits are. That is how impactful and important to look at the traits. Now, anyone seeing this would be their first time seeing a creature with a trait of "Foreign Being" added on their traits. So what is a Foreign Being? They are creatures that first becamemon the moment you arrive in Aquagius. The monsters in Aquagius would either have this trait as theirmon trait or they are weak against this trait. Also, Foreign Beings are always connected to some sort of dark sorcery and they are capable of producing tentacles. Also, they are one of the prominent creatures that can cast Corrode to a target. They are not just easy monsters to kill, they are troublesome enough that they should be eliminated the moment one appears. The next things that I notice are the two traits that are just beside the Foreign Being Trait. "Damn, so we have no shortcut with it and we can only wait until we reach wave 60 to kill it? Isn''t this kind of troublesome?" I grumbled. "So that means we have no choice but to wait until wave 60 so that we canunch an attack against it?" Lina asked. "That''s basically what we should do. But first, we have to investigate before leaving. We have to be able to kill it in wave 60 so that the next wave will stop. And since we have no idea what this bastard can do, we have to be careful about it and check if there are any ways to defeat him as soon as we can." "I see. Preparation is a much better thing indeedpared to just running blindly on it. I will get into it." Lina and I started doing some inspection and taking notes on the things that is happening around the ce. We also made sure that we won''t be able to provoke the tentacle bastard. While we are investigating, it was very sudden but the red jewel up above the cavern suddenly started to shine brightly. My instincts quickly kick in and quickly pull out Lina who is still investigating a few things before she gets to be squashed by the giant tentacle the boss is controlling. "F*ck! That was a close one!" However, that wasn''t thest one. Another giant tentacle appeared again and this time, it is now targeting the two of us. "Lina, take out the teleport stones! We have to get out of...Sh*t!" Before I can finish what I was about to say, a huge tentacle forced us to be separated. Lina took out her own teleport stone. "Get hold of that one, Lina! We will have to force ourselves out of this ce as soon as we can!" If only the boss is not invincible, I can at least fight it back to some extent and damage it before we flee but this is not possible since it is immortal. Also, even if I can proc the Instant Death skill, it is still impossible since the monster might die but it will just resurrect itself due to its Immortal trait. The boss is about to move again so I quickly made my move and grabbed Lina and carried her in my back. "Hold tight! I can''t hold you while we rush out of here! So don''t you dare let go of your hand to my body!" Lina quickly grabbed into my body and hugged my abdomen tightly. She even used her legs to fully get herself on hold to me. She isn''t that heavy so we have to do this. I pulled out my Versatile weapon and changed it into katana and quickly run towards the entrance we had just used earlier. Using the katana to cut off the tentacles that tried to obstruct our way, I made my way out without bothering how the situation is not looking good for us as a giant tentacle is chasing our asses. Thankfully, we arrived at the end and we arrived back at the entrance. I didn''t bother to stop and continue to run to a good amount of distance and when I can feel the tentacle that the King of Wraith used, has halted its advance. "Phew, you can go down now, Lina." Linaposed herself and fixed her clothing line after the battle. "I apologize for my behavior and for clinging hard on your body, Master." Yeah, I can tell she grabbed in my neck too hard since my neck hurts a bit after she goes down from me. Thankfully, she didn''t feel embarrassed or else, I might also feel embarrassed about that. "No need to apologize. There is no other choice so that we don''t get caught by the tentacle. Anyways, we have to get back to the Vige. Now that we know that we need to remove its invincibility and immortality by finishing 60 waves of monstersing at us, we are now ready to fully devote ourselves to protect that ce." Chapter 268 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Mage (VII) The tentacles are still trying to wriggle out of the cave so before it can fully get out, we used our Teleport Stone. It needed 5 seconds to cast and we have to stay still for that to finish casting. If we did it inside the cave, there is a high possibility of the Teleport Stone breaking when interrupted while casting it so it is best to be safe than sorry. As soon as the teleport stone finished its casting time, our bodies were covered in bright light before we disappeared from where we stood. ... Our bodies appeared again but this time, we are now back to the simted vige. "Oh! Master is back!" the first to notice me was Kurogane of the Dark Desert Wolf Pack since he was near when we arrived. When they heard we have arrived, they quickly gathered around since they know I will report my findings. "Settle down guys, I think we will stay here for quite a while. Let me exin the situation to everyone." After that, I exined some of the things that urred inside the cave. It took quite a while since Lina also exined some things. "I see. So the target this time is a Foreign being and it is immortal and Invincible until wave 60? That doesn''t sound so good to me," Goro said scratching his chin. "There are some books back at home in the past that put some details to these creatures. I thought they were monsters in myth at first but I didn''t expect that they are actually real?" Lucia was surprised when she heard Foreign Beings are real and not just products of imagination. "In any case, we will have to focus on fortifying this vige and defend it until wave 60 until we can take action. Until then, we will have to work a lot more than usual. Are you guys ready for this?" I looked at everyone. "We will be able to do it, Master. Also, isn''t it fine to also fail?" As asked. "Yes. We can fail in defending the Vige. However, we will be restarting from scratch, and all our resources to defend the vige that will be carried over after the failure will be the horde coins that are not spent." "Is there anything wrong with it, As?" Lucia asked. "No, but I have a suggestion regarding this that might allow us to gain our advantage on this feature," As said. "Oh? Are you going to suggest losing purposely?" I looked at As since I am also thinking the same thing after seeing the state of the boss and the requirements to remove its invincibility and immortality. "Yes, Master. That is what I have in mind. Since I doubt we can earn much every wave, it would be a much more logical thing to earn horde coins from the waves we can defend against and wait until we can no longer defend the vige without upgrading the defensive and offensive mechanisms of it. Since we won''t be spending the horde coins, we will be able to umte a lot of coins that once we managed to get a lot, we can just go and upgrade everything to the max level and wait until wave 60 before we gounch an attack. How does that sound?" Hearing As''s suggestion, I pped my hands in delight. I don''t even have to exin everything since what he just said is also my n after witnessing the might of the enemy. "Master?" Lina was surprised by my reaction. "I like it, As. That n is indeed a good way to do so. We wouldn''t worry about the vigers since they are just dummies. Also, if we just focus on the monsters, that also means a good way for us to train our skills that we don''t have fully mastered and we need a live target to demonstrate, this is a perfect chance to utilize it since we can fail without risk here." "Hey! I like the sound of that! I can keep on burning enemies as much as I can and practice the spells I wanted to practice! Thanks for suggesting this, Master!" Due to this suggestion, everyone got hyped with the iing horde. Since fighting and using their skills to perfect their skills in battle against monsters, it is a good chance to increase their familiarity with the skills and moves they currently possess. And since the main target of the enemies is the vige, the enemies rarely attack which is why it is a good way to get used to the skills and the effects of your talents and abilities. And with that, our grind for Horde coins begins. ... ... Two months have passed since we are inside the portal. It took us a while but there are many things we have to do after. First, just like the real world, night and day exist here, and sometimes, there are special waves like the night wave horde. These typical waves only ur during the nighttime. It isn''t typically hard but it''s troublesome since Night Mode hordes are not part of the normal wave as they only appear at night. Basically, you can call them the bonus round. Still, even though they are bonus rounds, they are ruthless in the attack. During our first night, the one that annihted our vige is the night wave since we didn''t expect it. But once the enemies in night wave die, I earn quite a lot of Horde Coins depending on the monsters that appear during the Night Horde and how well we defended the base. Since then, we got excited about killing the Night Horde due to the number of coins we can receive after a sessful defense against the Night Horde. Now, we are nearing the end of the grind. After two months, the amount of Horde Coins I can carry is now nearing its limit. I didn''t notice it at first until a notification showing the amount of Horde coins storage is nearing its limit. That''s when I hit 980,000 horde coins. We are almost near the final defense and the crappy defensive walls of the Vige are now nearing their final life. The longest wave we managed to hold is Wave 34. Any longer than that we can no longer finish it. "So this is the very end of our grind, Master. Have you already mastered how to kill the enemies here?" Lina asked. "Heh, I already memorized most of it. Although they are irregr and they don''t spawn with definite numbers, I managed to learn a lot of their moves and master my abilities in fighting. This might be what the training for being a Versatile is really about." The others also arrived and gathered around us. "So the walls can no longer hold them back?" I asked. "Yes, Master. There is no need for us to defend it and we should just wait for the reset to happen," As answered. "So how many horde coins did we get in total, Master? We killed a lot so I doubt we earned so little," Lucia said as she tried to peer into the panel where I disy the amount we got. "Yep, we got to hit the limit." "Aww, that''s too bad I guess. I thought we will be able to not hit the limit. I was even thinking of aiming to nine million, nine hundred ny-nine thousand, nine hundred ny-nine amount of coins." "Too bad, we cannot do that but that also means we are now ready to start our upgrades." ... We waited for an hour before the vige that was wrecked to pieces by the monsters has finally returned back to its glory as nothing happened. The wave count also returned to zero which means we are now going to spend the horde coins and we are now getting our first preparation for the next waves until we reach wave 60. Until then, we will have no rest. ... Outside the portal, the entity of the Shrine of Ascension smiled as she looks at the footage of the exploits of the people who are fighting inside the portal. "Heh, what an interesting bunch. This is the first time I saw challengers exploit the feature of the portal. But that isn''t a bad thing, I enjoyed how much they grow inside. And even though time slowed down for them, it was just like watching a few-minute show here in this ce. If I remember correctly, they are already in their second month in that world huh. "..." "Why are you so quiet, you are watching the person who might be capable of lifting your burden so why are you looking so serious?" "..." "Heh, even if you just not talk and just stare at me, your face is giving off the response I wanted to hear. And to think that you would choose the right thing, Death-sama." "..." The person that the Entity of the Shrine of Ascension is talking with is non-other than Death, the one who is responsible for giving him talent and power. Chapter 269 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Mage (VIII) When the Simted Vige reappeared and the timer for the first wave appeared once again, I started to upgrade the walls to the max level, The max level of the walls is 20 and I only spent 50 thousand Horde coins to fully upgrade the whole thing. Wall [Level 20] Info: Made from the toughest steel, the walls are just too tough to break in a few hits easily. Even a lot of bullets would not dent it and it would take a few cannonballs before it will be damaged. Tailored tost long in sieges. To ensure its longsting endurance, it will continue to repair itself, healing 10,000 damage per second. Spikes are also added to ensure that climbers will have a thorny climb up to the top. Note: This th wall will surely help you to till the end. When I read the info, I didn''t expect it to have self-repair abilities and on top of that, climbing monsters will also have a hard time dealing with the wall due to the thorns that damage any climbing cretins! This is overkill in the first few rounds where the monsters don''t deal that much damage to the walls! Even if they managed to get into the walls, they can''t break it down and even if we stand all day, they will not be destroyed at all! Of course, that isn''t the case in theter waves. 10,000 damage repaired every second would be not enough considering the enemies in theter rounds can easily shred through things so this should be for purely defensive purposes only. After maximizing the walls, the next thing I did was to purchase the offensive towers and ce them on the vige. Since one tower is not enough, I bought 8 towers to defend all corners of the walls and spent 160 Horde coins. When I purchased the towers and ced them, another tower unlocked and this time, it is not an attack tower but a freezing tower. [Freezing Tower] [Level 1] Info: Works simr to an attack tower. The difference is that they don''t damage the enemies but slow down their movements. Their defenses will also fall for a bit. Slow effect and defense reduction effects will increase after it gets upgraded. Horde coins needed to purchase a tower: 50 coins Note: Best recement for refrigerators. Not only does it freeze the product you want to freeze, but it also freezes you and can even make you an ice sculpture in an instant. ... Yep, this tower is not for freezing products since even I will get frozen if I do then doesn''t that mean the refrigerator is much better? Ahem... I shouldn''t take the notes too seriously. Whoever has written those things is a person with low humor or just someone who indirectly wants to insult other people. However, these Freeze tower is also pretty good. Not only do they slow down enemies, but they can also reduce the defense values of any monster that got affected by the slow. In theter waves, monsters with high agility straight-up run towards the walls and we barely have enough time to take them down. Therefore, this thing is also a must-buy so that I can ensure that we get past wave 60. It might be a bit expensivepared to the Attack tower but, understandably, they are costly. Just like the Attack Tower, I bought 8 Freeze towers and ce them next to the other attack towers. Now, for the upgrades. It didn''t take too long for us before the coins I earned throughout the few failures, I didn''t manage to upgrade all of them fully since it gets more expensive as I upgrade. But it isn''t a bad thing since I managed to reach the upgrade level of all towers to level 8. It is far from the expected amount but since I have multiple towers to level, this is the only how far amount of Horde coins I umted so far. "So the horde coins we earned for how many resets only managed to reach us this far? Isn''t it a bit underwhelmingpared to the amount we earned?" Lucia said as she looked at the result of the upgrades." "We can''t do anything about that, the upgrades are frigging expensive and we have a currency limit to earn. It''s a bit bad design but what can we do about it? Besides, we are not here tost until the very final wave, we are here tost until the 60th wave to attack the boss monster." "He is right, Lucia-sama. Even though it looks disadvantageous to us, it''s not a bad thing and we even managed to survive until round 35 without upgrading. Now that we have additional firepower and our defense is much better than before, we have now a good chance to reach wave 60 with a higher rate," As said. "As is right. And besides, once we fight against the hordes once again, we will earn another bunch of Horde Coins once again. It''s not a bad thing and we can just use the earned coins to upgrade towers as soon as we got the right amount to upgrade them." ... Since it is just 30 minutes before the first wave will arrive, we decided to rest for a bit and eat food before the next wave begins. It was a short rest and once the timer hits zero, the wave begins and we heard the goblins start to roar in the distance. "Position everyone!" We are quick at responding to our respective areas and before we can even arrive, we already saw a lot of dead bodies in the distance. "Wha? Is this due to the Towers I installed?" I opened the interface and check the Attack Tower''s range and I was surprised since the previous range which was just the circr area around the tower, now extends towards the hill in the distance. It was a very wide range in level 8. So what if I upgrade it further to its max level? Will it get farther and stronger it can kill stronger enemies in one blow? I don''t know, but it was worth trying once I get enough coins. Who knows, we might be able to reach their of the Foreign Being and use the towers to give additional damage to the bastard. As for the enemies, I didn''t have to do anything since before they could reach the usual area, they fell over and died. They can''t even get the wall and die far from us which is kind of new. The first wave ended without a hitch and the hobgoblin that was supposed to be the first challenge didn''t even get to reach a few kilometers to the base. The Attack towers rained the green guy with arrows, killing him in the process. ... Due to the unexpected oue, the battles in the process were much easierpared to when we are fighting without a tower and wooden walls. Due to that, our progress was immediately effortless. We rarely have anything to do due to the tower doing all of the damage. Even if they get near, the Freeze Towers are slowing them down and before they can escape the Freeze Tower''s debuff and assault, the Attack towers will immediately finish them all off. It didn''t take us too long to finish and get to wave 60 and finish it off. It was effortless. ... "Alright, we have at least 7 hours toplete the final boss before wave 61 hits. Are you guys ready to hit the road and beat the slimy bastard as soon as we can?" I asked everyone. "Yeah!" "Then, we should prepare well. We only have one shot and if we lose in this one, we are obviously going to restart to the very beginning once more and we cannot do that since we will have to start over again and this time, minus the money. So we can''t afford to do that unless you guys really want to keep staying here. Our only option here is to win, nothing more, nothing less. And remember, no one will die under my watch. If anyone of you guys ever dare to do the "sacrifice for the sake of the people" move on me I will not bother to recognize it. Everyone should survive. With the help of Leona, we didn''t have to walk back all the way and just fly straight to their of the Foreign Being. It was convenient and we saved enough time. "Is that their you guys are talking about, Master?" Goro then pointed out the broken cavern and a mass of wriggling abomination. "Yuck...what the heck is that?" Lucia was disgusted by the sight of the Foreign Being. Even though we are far from their, we can already hear the wriggling noise the tentacles make, making Lucia cringe in disgust. "Yep, now that I am seeing it personally, confirmed, this needed to be killed as soon as possible! As the Demon Princess, we have to destroy this ugly thing and erase it to the face of the!" Chapter 270 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (IX) Since it looked disgusting even in the distance, we didn''t bother to get near it for now. "What now, Master? Just by looking at it, we can''t enter the same way again as we did earlier. It is now in total rampage ready to wreck everything apart," Lina said. "Yeah, this is a pretty big problem but it is fine that we are seeing it in this state rather than fighting it on its slumber state. We might have gotten caught by the rubble if we fought it before so we are in luck," I said. "Ugh, please. I would rather go do all the housework for a month than interact with that slimy thing. We need to get rid of that thing as soon as possible." "Do you have any solution on how we will do that, Lucia-sama?" As looked at Lucia who is still refusing to look at the wriggling slimy mass of tentacles in the distance. "What else? Of course, douse it with fire, then kill it with fire. And oh, dump it with another strong fire magic just to be sure it is fully toasted and reduced to charcoal to be sure!" "..." Everyone looked at Lucia like she was an idiot. "What?! I already said my piece, it doesn''t need to be the n we need to follow alright? Don''t judge me like I am a real idiot here!" "Actually, she has a good idea of dousing it with fire. Foreign Beings are weak to the Fire and Electric elemental damage. For some unknown reason, they are not good at handling that stuff. They receive neutral damage to everything else and take more damage in fire and electric elements. It''s a good thing to know for us to know which elements will allow us to get a good advantage against the boss." "So, that means her n is usible, Master?" As scratches his head. "Yes. But that is not the only n we are going to do. That won''t be enough to kill the tentacle bastard that is hidden in his chamber with all of these tentacles surrounding hisir." We have to smoke him out of that ce and force him out." "I see. So that is what you are aiming for, Master. As expected of you," Lina nodded after catching up on what I am talking about. "Huh? What? Is this some sort of new tactic you guys developed?" As seems to be on the slower side since he still didn''t understand what will be the n is going to be. "Basically. we will "smoke" him out of the cave which means we will have to burn the surrounding area with mes. Of course, that is not enough to bring the monster out of hisir so we will also be using the n of Lucia to douse it down with fire. That means we will bombard it with lots of fire attacks, the liquid that can enhance the power of fire, and other things that can keep the mes burning. The monster will be forced to escape the area and we will be able to face it head-on," Lina exined. "Now I get it, so that means Lucia and Leona are the core operators we will be deploying to make this n work?" I nodded in response. "Yes. I will be joining everyone who will be going to the operation of "smoking" the boss out of itsir. Now, enough discussion. Let''s go and do the n!" Everyone immediately made their move and I pulled out the [Molotov Cocktails] which can be concocted easily on the alchemy table. I created these during my preparation for fighting in Sandurk''s raid but it turned out to be useless so I have to store them all inside my inventory instead. Now, I have reason to use these things now and to make sure the fire stays longer, I also have the [Ignition Potions], a potion that is just gasoline here in this world. You pour it on the area then burn it, and the mes will not die out for around 30 minutes. "Lucia, I trust you are full of mana right now right and you need to unleash quite a lot of fire spells to fire on that creature?" "Yes, Master. However, if we wanted to bombard that slimy thing with fire, I needed a lot of mana and my current mana is not enough." "Well, that saved things of exnation for me. Here, take these bottles of mana potions. It should be enough for you, I presume?" I handed her 100 bottles of [vored Intermediate Mana Potion]. "vored?" Lucia frowned when she saw the name on the potion. It looks like the same potion she usually drinks whenever she ran out of mana but the name is different and the word vored catches her attention. "I modified the potion since the original potion tastes like rotten fish blended with rotten garbage and sh*t then mixed into the water to call as Mana Potion. This one does the same effect as the original mana potion but it won''t give you unpleasant memory of drinking it." Lucia shivered after remembering the taste of the Mana Potion. "Thanks, Master." She quickly mounted on Leona''s back and the two fly up in the air. I look at everyone and gave out the signal. "Alright guys, time to get some work done before the 61st wave starts!" Every one of them gets their own supply of [Molotov Cocktail] and [Ignition Potion] with them and since we have a big ce to cover, I made sure to give them enough supply. With our joint effort, we managed to cover the whole area with [Ignition Potion]. As soon as we are done with doing it, I throw an [Ignition Potion] into the entrance of the cave where we came out. The tentacles are still squirming and the moment they crush the bottle, I give my signal and everyone throws the [Molotov Cocktails and run away from the area to avoid being caught by the fire suddenly exploding out of all directions. FWWWWOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM! The red tongue of mes engulf the cave and started to burn brightly. The tentacles that got caught by the mes were forced to squirm back to the cave in a hurry. "Ha! Squirm all you want but you won''t escape the wrath of the mes! Likes of you should burn without leaving a speck of single dust! [HELLFIRE]!" Even though Lucia is high up in the air, her voice is very loud that we can hear her even though we are here on the ground. Her [Hellfire] is amplified by the power of [Ignition Potion] causing all of the [Hellfire] effects to double and cause bigger damage than normal. KISSSHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA! KISSSHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA! The sound of the tentacles burning and squirming can be heard in the distance. As fire rages on, the tentacles tried to desperately put the fire out, however, all of it is in vain as the fire continuously spread, and even if they try to put it out, they are also getting burned in the process. Around 5 minutes that the cave is being burned, arge tentacle monster burst out of the cave. However, this time, it is running away from the [Hellfire]. Seeing the monster running away, I pulled out one of the scrolls in my inventory. I have little use for it since the situation never really give me a good opportunity to use it but I finally got one opportunity. "[Heavenly Chains]!" Throwing it to the ground, the spell activated and it released an identical spell that Sigma uses during the battle we had during the tournament. Since I didn''t have enough SP, I can only use this kind of spell using the scrolls. I have plenty of them made and if an opportunity arises like this one, I will use it to my advantage. The escaping slime monster tried to squirm away but due to the chains suddenly restraining all of its movements, it didn''t get to move and was forced to wriggle. "Alright! Let''s get this bastard down, attack!" Everyoneunched an attack and didn''t even bother to hold back. With the chains putting it in its ce, it was helpless as it got trashed by my followers. ... -You have in the Consciousness of the Undying King! -got Gem of Thought. Hmm? Consciousness? Gem of Thought? I pulled out the Gem of Thought from my inventory and checked the thing up. [Gem of Thought] Type: Item Info: The undying king''s brain. It can escape away from danger if it is at a disadvantage. The secret of the Undying King for not dying is due to his detachable brain. Destroying the brain ultimately destroys the Undying King. The gem is where the Undying king preserves its memories beforetching on another host. You can say it is the parasite. Note: This might be Migi''s long lost brother. The brain and not the actual body? Does that mean there is still the body we have to take care of? No, that shouldn''t be it since the brain is dead, its body should also be dead. Just then... ROAR! The sound of a roaring beast suddenly booms out in the destroyed cave. No wonder it was a bit easy, things are just a warmup.. The battle has yet to begin. Chapter 271 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (X) It looks like we are not done yet with our job. I thought killing the Undying King would finish things but it seems we are still far from over. "Job''s not yet over guys. Let''s get inside the cave after the mes die down. The enemy might be still alive and our target item is not dropped by the ones we just killed," I announced to everyone. "I see. No wonder it was too easy, we are not yet done with the battle against the boss. Understood Master, should we just remove the fire for now?" As asked. "No, keep it lit up until it goes out on its own, in case of things that are still alive inside the cave, the mes can weaken or maybe kill the enemy. There is a bigger chance the enemy is still trying to escape so this will help us a lot." Leona and Lucia also came down from the sky after bombarding the cave with [Hellfire]. With the hotness of the mes being released, it is not a wonder the brain of the undying king escaped to protect itself. It can save itself from harm instead of enduring the me with the host hetches on. Too bad, it ended up as one of the routes for his dead end. We waited for a few more minutes before the mes slowly died down and disappeared, leaving the area scorched from mes to be a little hotter than normal. "Get inside in the summons area everyone. We need to minimize the number of people entering. Lina, do you also want to go inside the summons area?" I asked. "No need Master. I will see this through since this is also my ss quest, I can''t botch this quest just like that without experiencing everything. That might cause me to fail in this quest." "Hmm, you have a point. Well, that''s what should everyone do, lets get going." My summon and followers entered the summon''s area while Lina entered with me. We looked into the walls and all the weird writhing masses of flesh before are now dried up and seem tock the life it once had. "It seems the [Hellfire] of Miss Lucia is too hot for them to endure it, they died from the heat!" Lina said as she observes the lifeless mass of flesh. "Of course, they should! Not dying from my mes is not a good thing for me. Unless they are invincible against my mes, they should die more or less!" We ventured deeper and all of the menacing tentacles before has been turned to stretchy material that still looked disturbing. Thankfully, they are no longer showing signs of moving again so we safely entered the ce without their interference. When we arrived, in the cavern where we previously meet the main body, all we see is the goop and the red gem above the cavern. It was glowing brightly that it is the first thing you would notice once you arrive in this particr area. "I can sense the dark mana revolving in this area. It seems it was the source of energy for the creature that is living here before," Lucia said as she observe the situation inside the summon''s area. "Master, did the main body melt here? I am quite sure the ce where the goop of disgusting liquid should have been the ce where the Undying King''s main body is located. But I don''t think Lucia-san''s ability can cause an enemy or any entity to be reduced to this state. Shouldn''t they turn into a lifeless being or dust already just like how we see those walls of flesh?" She has a point. The [Hellfire] is quite strong that most of the cases, it should be a charred meat lump like how we see the wall of flesh on the wall. And if they are burned too much, it should have turned into dust instead of a goop since the Undying King''s body doesn''t seem to be made from stic or candle. Even those two don''t be a goop like this once they are burned so what is this goop? "[Fireball]!" I throw a small fireball into the goop and the goop just swallowed the fireball like nothing. There wasn''t even a reaction. If it was water, a reaction would be expected but here, it didn''t even give out a single smoke, it just...got swallowed. Then, all of a sudden, the goop started to move. I thought I was just mistaken at first but then, it turned out, it is indeed moving. I quickly reacted and transformed my weapon into a shield and blocked the surprise attack. It was only a split-second decision but that decision I made is right as I managed to block what was going to be an attack on us. "HA!" I deflected the enemy with my shield with [Shield Bash] but it felt like I didn''t push anything. In fact, it was like I am pushing my shield into the water and sshing it somewhere. Lina and I immediately backtracked and I prepared my weapon. Lina also pulled out her weapon and is ready to strike. The goop that was settled on the big hole in the cavern like ake turned into a living creature. It looked simr to slime, but at the same, it doesn''t. It looks more like a formless gtin monster. It slowly moved but it didn''t attack us, instead, it went up to the big gem that is attached above the cavern. It covered the gem in a few seconds and a red light suddenly enveloped the goop. As soon as the glow appeared on the goop, I saw a hovering HP bar above its head. When the glow disappeared, it detached itself from the ceiling but now, the gem is no longer attached to there, leaving only a shallow crater, signifying that there was something ced in there before. Of course, the red gem didn''t disappearpletely, the goop that "absorbed" the gem slowly moved and its "head" is starting to move. It didn''t take long before the red gem that was resting above the cavern is now part of its head. As soon as the red gem appeared, the status of the monster and its name appeared. [The Undying King''s Heart] Level: ??? HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000 MP: ???????/??????? Trait: ??? The Undying King''s heart!? So this is the main target all along?! Then this is the real boss! "The boss has finally appeared!" "Should we go out now, Master?" Goro asked. "Don''t go out yet, I need to determine whether you guys are safe to go out and fight this thing or not." I am hesitant to fight against this thing. Although the HP of the boss is a measly 3 million and cannot bepared to the boss I slew before, what I am worried about is the real level of this monster and the reason why the mana bar of the boss is disyed as question marks. Usually, a monster with Question Mark life bars or mana bars is because they are too big to measure. I won''t panic if the monster has an HP with question marking but I would be troubled if I see a creature that has the MP bar shown but it was also hidden with the question marks. That only means one thing and that is the endless mana it has. There is another thing. The trait of the boss, just like many bosses before, the affinity sometimes dictates what a monster''s weakness will be, allowing you to know whether a boss can be easily killed with this element or if it is possible to kill it with physical attacks alone. Not only that but you can also see if they have the status of Invincibility or Immortality. Seeing the [Undying King] has a question mark traits is obviously showing a big disadvantage. "Carefully tread against this monster, Lina. As much as I want to unleash my spells and other things but I am worried we have to go blind in this one and experiment which things would help us kill this boss faster." "No worried Master. We can do this. We don''t need to rush and kill this boss as soon as we can." Okay, the first thing that we need to remember, is that this creature absorbs mes. Maybe due to the attacks of Lina, the monster is now capable of absorbing mes. It is a normal thing seeing when I st it with a [Fireball], it just absorbs it like it was eating the attack. Also, if it was weak to fire, it should have been burned to dust a long time ago with Lucia''s bombardment of [Hellfire]. The goop''s hands begin to move and quickly divide themselves to attack. It was like the tentacles, but this time, it is made by a slime substance. It was quick that I have to parry and cut off a few. However, this is getting troublesome now. "F*ck...." I muttered when the slime goop suddenly uses a tier 7 magic based on the form of the magic circle on the ground. Chapter 272 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (XI) The Magic Circle is much bigger and based on the runes and symbols on the Magic Circle, I am perfectly sure it is a 7th tier magic. It''s a prettymon magic circle among magicians who already got their ss upgrade. But, the only creatures capable of unleashing a magic circle of this caliber are boss monsters and some Elite Tier enemies that have the job or affiliation to magic knowledge. I have never seen a boss that is just a goop use magic of this scale. The magic immediately fired off, and from the looks of it, it looks like the modified version of [Dark Ray], a 7th tier magic that only the Magician ss up, ck Magician can use. However, this one is much more powerful since this version [Dark Ray] is more focused and only appears as one beampared to the [Dark Ray] that ck Magician''s form which is scattered and smaller beams to deal with multiple enemies. This one is specialized to deal with AOE damage while maintaining itself as one single beam. "[Magic Jammer]!" BOOM! My magic and the [Dark Ray] collided. It was pretty strong and even with [Magic Jammer] that nullifies the [Dark Ray], the pressure is quite strong that I need to exert more force to stop itpletely. As soon as the magic ended, I also stopped defending with [Magic Jammer] and grabbed one of the Scrolls. "[Heavenly Chains]!" The chains immediately tried to bind the goop, but when it did, the chains just passed through the goop like liquid and the chains disappeared. "Tch, so [Heavenly Chains] doesn''t work huh, well then. [Ice Prison]!" After casting [Ice Prison], I also imbued my weapon with the Ice element using the [Ice Sword] ability. If the monster has theposition of Water, I can halt its movements with Ice Magic and finish it with Electric magic. "[Attack Up]! [Defense up]! [Magic Amp]!" Lina on the back raised her Morning Star and my body felt the light amount of energy flowing to me. I can also feel the power flowing within my body and my armor seems to have gotten shinier. With the buff she gave me, my damage is amplified. "HA!" Striking the Versatile Weapon to the goop, it just easily got pierced and I think I just stabbed something but felt much smoother than a jelly. But before I can even do anything, the goop that I pierced with my sword made its move and swallowed my body. It was quick and I didn''t get to react immediately as the Versatile Weapon is also sucked in to the body of the goop. "Master!" Everyone inside the Summon''s area shouted in unison as I got myself entangled in a sticky situation. However, this is a good timing. Although this one is just a goop, I know there must be a weakness inside like some core that keeps it alive just like how a slime does. The gem atop of its head is also one weakness I am considering but it is already moving without it before so I doubt the gem on its head is the main core. More like it is a backup core in case the real one is damaged. However,pared to my expectation, the goop doesn''t have the same properties a slime has. Slimes has at least hard exterior but liquid interior. Once something is swallowed by a slime, it was like they are swimming inside its body before it gets digested or melted. This goop is like being encased by a jelly that suddenly goes hard after a few minutes of air exposure. Also, its suffocating here, even though it is a game, I can feel the suffocation feeling too. It was like I am drowning even though there''s no water for me to drown. I struggled moving and I can''t move my sword. It''s like the goop is preventing me from doing anything. Seeing that I can''t do anything, I decided to brute force myself out of this sticky and disgusting situation. "[Earth Fissure]!" My Versatile Weapon vibrated and it didn''t take a matter of seconds before the goop''s body exploded, releasing me from its captivity. Without wasting a single second, I changed the Versatile into a hook and chain and used it so that I can get out of the body of the goop before it gets to reform again. As soon as I get out of the area, Lina jumped and catches me mid air beforending far from the goop. "Master? Are you hurt anywhere? Did that goop tried to melt you or something?" I coughed a bit after regaining back my regr breathing process. Thankfully, this was a game so I managed to recover back my breathing. Also, I didn''t drown in the water so that is also one of the reason I managed to recover my breath. "I am alright, Lina. More importantly, this thing is not even close to a slime. I thought it would have a simr properties to a slime and it can be killed like how a regr slime should be killed, but this bastard is not even one." Gazing at its health bar, I discovered that I managed to damage it quite a bit. It''s health is now down to 2,763,904 HP. That is a big damage considering it didn''t give much impact. Maybe because I did it inside its body that it caused itself to reduce a lot of its health. The Undying King Goop started to cast another 7th tier magic but this time, it is an Earth Magic this time. Seeing how the cave''s surroundings started to move, I quickly identified the skill it is using. "This f*cker also knows [Earth Rupture]!? Lina, if you still have mana to spare, release your strongest magic to the goop. I will also try to attack it too." "Roger!" Lina started to channel he magic ability to her hands. As for me, I looked around the area for a good scope of what to do next. Then, something struck through me. The dead flesh tentacles that has been killed by Lucia''s abilities, isn''t this technically a corpse of a monster? I am not too sure but since they died after getting bombarded with Lucia''s [Hellfire], they must be alive before, right? So then, this would be a treated as a corpse. Ever since I got the Necromancer ss, I didn''t have the opportunity to properly use it since I rarely use corpses to fight back. However, isn''t this going to be a good time to test out the ability of a necromancer right? I looked at the wall of withered fleshy organism that is dried up after it was killed from [Hellfire]. Although I am not sure what will be the result, I still decided to use this chance. There is no harm trying. Pointing my hand, I activated the ability of the Necromancer, [Necromancy: Raise the Dead]. "STOP PLAYING DEAD AND RISEUP." A magic circle appeared in my palm and it started spinning wildly. A notification appeared before me. "[Warning. You are attempting to resurrect a huge creature. Thr bigger the creature, the bigger the mana intake. Are you sure you want to resurrect the [Flesh Blood]?" YES/NO Flesh Blood? Huh, so this thing also has a name? I thought the undying king is the one who formed it. Turns out, this is another creature itself. Without hesitation, I clicked Yes. In a split second, half of my Mana Bar was depleted. The effects of my passives are also in effect but the mana it ate was still a lot. If I didn''t have the mana reducing passives, my whole amount of mana in my MP bar might have reduced to zero. The cavern shook and the dead tentacles that are no longer moving started to move. However, they are no longer looking like a flesh mass of rotten meat. They are now covered in ck color and they seemed to be moving like a big monster. I still have no idea what this thing is capable of, but I decided to test it out against the Undying King. "ATTACK THAT BASTARD!" I pointed into the Goop and it didn''t even waited for me to say what it should do. It suddenly unleashed its tentacles and it grew and wrapped around the goop''s body. Compared to the [Heavenly Chains], the goop was not able to get use its special ability after the Flesh Blood wrapped itself on the goop. "Lina! Now!" Lina''s closed eyes opens and her Morning Star is now imbued with magical ability. "[STAR OF MISERY]!" The morning star weapon she had immediately extended itself and when the metal ball of spikes is about to reach the goop, it suddenly growsrge and a dark energy suddenly envelopes it before it made contact, creating a huge explosion. BOOM! The goop that holds the red gem immediately disappeared like it got dissolved after it was struck hard by the [Star of Misery]. The red gem flew into the air and before it goes back to the goop, I changed my weapon into a bow and arrow and sniping it from afar. "[Trueshot]!" CRACK! The arrow made contact with the gem and upon contact, the gem explodes, revealing a small round ball of red energy swirling around like a miniature ck hole in space. Chapter 273 - Versatile, Jack Of All Trades And The Versatile Battle Maid (END) -Title effects activated. Instant Death inflicted. The red gem broke into million pieces after losing the vitality it once had. Even if the thing that the arrow hit was just an item without life and not an organism, it loses the durability it has possessed, leading to its "death." It looks like my understanding of that instant death ability is something I need to study more. It was just pure luck that I managed to break the crystal since I am thinking it must be one of the sources of its power to move. And since the proc rate of the instant is very, very small, I didn''t think much of it right when I hit the red gem. If it was destroyed, perhaps I might be able to reduce the danger the enemy possesses. But I didn''t expect that the item I was looking for is currently being encased inside the red gem. Lina who saw the falling item immediately leap from her position and grabbed the item before the goop can even grab it. When the item was caught by Lina, the goop moved and desperately try to grab Lina''s legs using its tentacles. "You f*cking... this bastard is still alive?" I quickly changed my weapon into a sword and shes the iing tentacles with it. And for some reason, this time, the sword is now allowing me to damage the goop. I didn''t even reduce its health when I stabbed it with my sword so howe its health got reduced when I just cut off a few of its body? ''Is it because of the red gem?'' I tried to throw a [Fireball] to the goop and unlike before where it just swallowed the [Fireball] that I just throw, this time, the moment itnded at the goop, the reaction was great and it roared as hard as it can. The HP of the boss also got reduced a bit. Seeing that the damage is no longer minuscule unless I deal the damage inside its body, there''s no need to hold back. "You little bastard. We got you now." ... ... The end process was unexpected. At first, I thought I would have a hard time killing this goop since I have no idea its weakness. No...more likely, the Instant death of my title helped a lot to destroy the red gem. If it didn''t proc, I would have to keep reducing its health and remove it from the goop to reduce its durability. You can say that my luck has helped a lot in this. I spammed a few spells and defended a few of its attacks but since it lost its ability to be threatening, I didn''t have trouble dealing with it. Even Lina is just buffing me with her abilities and no longer attacks the boss. With my buffed damage and spamming the attacks against it, the goop didn''tst long and dissolved before it can even deal a lot of damage. "Phew, the battle became much easier than expected," I wipe my sweat after defeating the boss. Since this was just a trial, I didn''t receive any rewards for killing the boss. "Master, here is the item that we need to finish the trial." Lina handed the Heart of the Undying King to me. It looks like an ordinary red rock but when you inspect it, it was actually made from hardened flesh and a bit of muscle which is understandable as it was a heart. However, it just looks like a small unrefined stone you could always see on the road. [Heart of the Undying King] Type: Quest Item Info: The hidden heart of the Undying King. It was supposed to be the extra heart of the undying king. Once its original body is defeated, the heart will immediately take over and use the remains of the undying king to defeat the ones who killed it. It looks like a gem at first so that any treasure hunter that tries to take it out would immediately fall to its trap. Note: My heart is not made of stone! ... The Flesh Blood also returned from its original dead form after I canceled its contract. However, after I canceled the contract, a small fragment of stone appeared beneath its body. It was a shiny rock and since it came out from the flesh blood, I assume it is some sort of item that I can take back. When I picked it up, my assumption is indeed correct, the rock that fell from the Flesh Blood, is indeed an item and one of the incredible gains I got today. [Fragment of the Flesh Blood] Type: Unique Item Info: A fragment that contains a fragment of memory and body of the Flesh Blood. If used as a catalyst in Necromancy, you can summon a Flesh Blood creature as a summon. It can be used infinitely as long as you have the catalyst in your possession. Note: Damn, why does this look more like kidney stones? The note is kind of right this time, it does look like a kidney stone. But at least it''s not a lump of flesh as a catalyst. It would be more disgusting if it was indeed a lump of flesh. However, this might be what most Necromancers in the past timeline used to fight especially for those quick casting Necromancers. They keep bringing a corpse with them so I thought that was its way to resurrect the dead. Maybe the reason they harvest corpses is to get a fragment? No, I don''t think that''s it. Perhaps this is a new item that has been implemented. As someone who can use it, this will help me a lot in the future. Not only it is unlimited usage but I can summon the Flesh Blood and use it to fight in someone''s bidding. There is nothing much of interest after that and we decided to leave. The moment we left the cave, the portal started to get distorted and a huge magic circle appeared beneath us making Lina put up her guard once more. "Master! What is going on?!" "Rx Lina, it seems we are now going to return to the real world." POP! In just a few seconds, Lina and I are back to where we are standing before we entered the portal. The voice of the Entity of the Shrine of Ascension echoed from the dark after we recovered our bearings. "Looks like you guys are back and the quest item that I am trying you guys to retrieve is also here! Nice job." "Ha, we didn''t do much since we only managed to win due to the effects of the title," I scratch my head. "As expected from the [Death''s Favorite], you are really blessed by her for you to get a fragment of her power as Death. Only a few people can have her power at her disposal and use it as effectively as yours." "Power of Death?" Lina looked confused. The others inside my Summon''s area are also confused especially for Lucia since she was a devout follower of the Goddess of Death. As for As, he seemed to be not surprised. Perhaps he knows something about it since it was pretty obvious at some points and since As is quite sharp in things like dark element magic, he is surely noticing the dark powers of the Instant Death tactic whenever it activates. After all, I can''t predict if it happens since it is pretty random and pretty rare. "What are you going to use the [Heart of Undying King]? Also, you made the monster so why would you need something that you just made? You can just at least create another one identical to it," I said after noticing it. "You are mistaken, deheart. I indeed created the portal, however, this monster is not something I can just create in a willy dally and I don''t want to create creatures simr to that." "Then what the hell is this Undying king''s heart? What are you going to use it for?" "Heh, that would be a secret for next time. I can tell that this will be not thest time we will be seeing. Anyways, since you guys have achieved the requirements to finish the trial in 2 hours, you guys can now be ss upped. Enjoy the job changes!" SNAP! Lina and my body started to float in the air and just like how a usual ascension happens, it started to get wild in our body and our mind suddenly get swirly and confusing that a lot of things happened. It keeps on going for quite a while before it stopped. My body felt weak all of a sudden. Due to the ss change, we managed to upgrade the ss of the Versatile and Lina''s new job as Versatile Battle Maid. As for me, I opened my status board and my ss as a Versatile is now changed as Versatile, Jack of all Trades. [Versatile, Jack of All Trades] Info: A ss that can function like normal sses. However, this time, not only does the user can use the ability of all Tier 1 to tier 5 magic, even the skills of all sses after their ascension.. It''s not limited to which ss you can use, you can use all sses branches alongside the second sses. Chapter 274 - The Jeweled Insect Egg You can read the story for free at All.Com or So basically, the Versatile, Jack of All Trades is an upgrade to the normal Versatile. Not only does it can learn skills from all the sses before the ss up, all ss up routes a certain ss has, but I can also ess all of them without changing in a ss. For example, a Swordsman has four sses they can choose from which is the Hero, Dark Knight, Sword King, and demaster. As a Versatile, I can use all the exclusive ss trees of all 4 sses of swordsman without the need to change my sses. "Lina, what about you?" I asked Lina. Lina is still checking the new changes in her status for a bit. A few secondster, she shared her status board with me. Name: Lina ss: Versatile Battle Maid Level: 100 STR: Very Good AGI: Very Good DEX: Very Good END: Very Good INT: Excellent [Equipment] Head: Battle Maid''s Elite Headress Upper Body: Battle Maid''s Elite Blouse Lower Body: Battle Maid''s Elite Skirt Shoes: Battle Maid''s Elite Combat Boots Gloves: Battle Maid''s Elite Gauntlet Ne: None Left Arm: Battle Maid''s Bracelet Watch Right Arm: Battle Maid''s Bangle Ring: None Weapon: Mystic Morning Star ... I didn''t expect her to have a rating of Very Good in her stats. Her INT stat is the highest since it managed to reach the Excellent status. Her normal stats are already high since her equipment is still the same Battle Maid Elite Set which is only a good set while you are on level 60 below so her stats that she can benefit from it is very minuscule. "I can now learn other skills from other Battle Maids. I don''t need to choose which Battle Maid type I wanted to be, I can now choose my own ystyle just like how you do, Master!" Lina happily said. "Heh, save the celebration forter, you rascals. Now that the task is done, then go home already. I am tired and I don''t want to be disturbed for a few days. I won''t send you guys out so leave on your own." The Entity of the Shrine of Ascension said as she fades and disappeared in the air and the shrine went quiet again. "...She is a peculiar entity, isn''t she?" Lina was a bit speechless. I only shook my head. She is indeed peculiar but it''s pretty normal since she can''t keep on mingling with humans. After all, she is already akin to a deity already if she has decided to ascend to divinity. The problem with why she didn''t is because she is toozy to do such a thing. We went out of the shrine when Lucia alerted me. "Master..." "Lucia? What''s wrong?" "Master, the egg in your inventory is moving wildly!" Lucia is very sensitive to the movements of the Jeweled Insect Egg. So when it started to act wildly, that means I might have fulfilled one of its hidden conditions. I didn''t waste time anymore and pulled a Teleport Scroll out of my inventory and returned back to the mansion alongside Lina. Also, I think I needed to make a new set of scrolls too. I didn''t realize it but I am running out of them already. ... Inside the room where the temperature is neither hot nor cold, I ced the egg on the table and everyone was curious about the egg. "Do you think some sort of magical creature will pop out of this egg, Master?" Goro asked. "You also don''t know what will hatch in this egg too?" I was surprised since goblins are one of the few creatures in Alternate Wolrd capable of identifying items due to their innate ability, [Item Appraisal]. I thought he would be able to identify the egg''s contents but I guess he can''t. "Unfortunately, Master, that is beyond my ability, this egg is quite unique and even if I try to peer on it, it will not be possible for me. I can only do this if it is an item that is not alive." I am not disappointed. I guess it is normal since even As can''t detect the movement of the egg, only Lucia managed to notice the little thing moving. Perhaps they have some connection or Lucia is just sensitive to this thing due to her bloodline as a pureblooded demon. [The Jeweled Insect Egg] is hatching. Please stay away from the egg around 4 meters of distance to avoid injury.] What? I never heard of an egg hatching like that. However, the system itself is never wrong so I ordered everyone to back off a little bit. To be safe, I deployed a shield and for everyone to hide behind it in case it is dangerous enough. The egg keeps on shaking so hard that after a few seconds, a small explosion urred in three meter radius. The egg shells flew in all directions. Thankfully, we listened to the system''s warning. The explosion was not something I have seen in egg hatching. Even the time when Leona hatched isn''t this explosive. After the explosion subsided, everyone peek out their heads and look at the site of explosion. There is a bit of smoke after the explosion that anyone who didn''t know might think it was a bomb that exploded and not an egg hatching. "Did the egg just hatched or it exploded and got yeeted out of the universe?" As tried his best to look at the smoke. "Hey, As, stop pushing a bit! You are heavy! I am also trying to peek too!" Everyone tried to peek on what came out of the egg but no one is willing to approach the table. I sighed and transformed my Versatile Weapon back to a sword and sheathed it before going to the location of the egg. "You guys are strong people but you guys are afraid to even approach on the egg, aren''t you guys ashamed?" Lucia who didn''t like being looked down stood up. "Master? Who said I am afraid? Hmph, I will be the one who will see what it was that hatched. You will see that I lived to the reputation of a pureblooded demon." Lucia took the lead and slowly tread from the egg shells scattered on the floor. I shook my head and went to the table following Lucia, slowly approaching it in case it is a sensitive thing. The smoke cleared and a small white colored ball is currently on the table. My eyebrows creased when I saw the little thing curled up and I tried to squint my eyes to determine what hatched in the egg. I was expecting a spider would be hatched since I got it on the Spider Queen that blocked my way while training for the stamina passive. But this isn''t how a spider should be born. Lucia slowly scooped the little thing from the table. She was surprised at how light it was and she looked at the thing with curiosity. "Master, I think it is a caterpir." "A caterpir?" I frowned and looked at the curled up white ball. Not long after that, the white ball retracted from its curl and I finally saw that it is indeed a caterpir. It doesn''t look like the caterpir in the real world. In fact, I can say that it is pretty cute and you would mistake it as a plushie. The face of the caterpir looks identical to the P*kem*n named S*waddle.(I censored it just in case) but missing the leaf on its body. This one looks like a fluffy white cotton cloud. Lucia carefully rock the caterpir like a human baby. "You know how to take care of a baby caterpir, Lucia?" "No master, but for some unknown reason, my instincts kicked in and my motherly side seems to have awakened even though I never even given birth before. I felt a strong connection with this little thing." The panel that should have appeared after the egg hatched appearedte and I checked the message. [Due to the unfulfilled condition, the original name of the creature is not determined. Since you hatched the egg, it is immediately registered as your Summon. Please name your summon.] "Huh? Summon? Not a pet but a summon?" I was surprised since animals and creatures like Leona are called Pets. However, this little guy is clearly a pet and yet it was registered as a Summon like As that was considered as a summon since my contract with him said so. However, since that is how the system perceive this little guy that I still don''t know the origin, I didn''t think much. I looked at Lucia and since she is the one holding the little guy, I got an idea. "Lucia, you name the little guy." "Huh? I will name this?" "Yeah, I will have to register its name for finalization." Lucia was a bit hesitant but she then decided on a name. "I will call this little guy, Cotton." Chapter 275 - The Result Of The Training A few weeks have passed by after Cotton was born. Compared to Leona that only needed a few days before they can do things they normally do, Cotton needs to unlock prerequisites to do so. However, that is only for the quick maturation of cotton. If we still continue to take care of Cotton, just like Leona will also grow big too. Also, we found out that Cotton is a female with her status showing her gender and her name. But aside from those things, nothing else is shown, not even the requirements on how she will grow, what kind of species she was, or her stats and skills. They are allbeled unknown. And even as someone who came from the future that returned to the past, Cotton is a creature I have not seen even in theter continents. What I did these past few days is leveling up my EX Jobs, taking some requests from my Teacher Almira in cksmithing, and creating a few scrolls. It was a mundane time for me. And oh, after I finished the ss up, my level bar finally removed its cap, I managed to achieve level 101 and I thought with the number of enemies, I killed, I might be able to proceed to level 102, but it only filled half of the exp bar, which is kind of sad since I killed plenty of enemies and bosses, only for it to fill to the half bar. They are also quite a high level too when I killed it so it is a shame I didn''t even get close to the next level. After the mundane things of doing the usual daily tasks of leveling my EX Jobs, the time to go back to Sandurk arrived. I let my followers train too and fight enemies for material procurement while I am working, allowing me to hit two goals with one action. As of now, almost everyone is ready to hit level 100, with the exception of Lina since she already gained the ss up and already hit level 104 the other day. ... ... "Son? Where are you going this time around?" my mom asked, as I helped her in the kitchen, and even though I still didn''t get the EX Job for Chef, I am trying to master a few tricks of my peeling skills. "Ah, I am going to Sandurk since I got a quest from Queen Tanya, I might not be able toe back here for a few days or months in the game due to this." "Is that so? Then, have you packed up supplies to use? Potions, food, and other things necessary like extra armor and stuff?" "Yup, all done." "Ah, good. And I am sure you will be bringing Lina-chan along with you right?" Lina, who was stirring the pot of food, answered my Mother''s question. "Of course, Madam. It is my duty to help master everything he needed to do. And as a dedicated Battle Maid, I will do my best to serve him." "Oh my, that is reassuring, then please take my child with care." "Yes, Madam," Lina bowed. "Where is Father? I have not seen him these past few days." "He is trying toplete one of the quests he took so that he can obtain an EX Job. It was a long one so I don''t think he will be done anytime soon." "Is that so? How about you Mother?" "I have free time so I have decided to at least train my abilities. After this, I will be training my Gardening skills forter." "Oh, since you are going to train your Gardening EX Job, then can you please nt these things? It will help a lot in creating potions and other items in the future." I opened my inventory and handed her the seeds for the herbs and healing nts that will be necessary for creating a High-Grade Potion. "Don''t mind if I do!" ... After helping out in the kitchen and eating breakfast in the game to fill our character''s hunger bar, I gathered my followers and went to Sandurk to fulfill the quest. It is time to see how Tina managed to get trained by Queen Tanya. ... ... Sandurk: City of Tarioso When we arrived at the Pce, we can hear the boom sounds of magic shing to each other. The shockwaves can also be felt even in the distance. I wonder if Queen Tanya trained Tina to be a berserker instead. Still, I went to the open field where they are fighting and see what is happening with my own eyes. BANG! BOOM! CRASH! CRACK! Dang, I saw Queen Tanya is fighting with her bare fist against fully equipped Tina. Despite being armored from head to toe, Queen Tanya easily pummeled Tina with ease and even though Tina is able to hold out and fight back, I can see in her armor that it is barely holding on, and if my guess is right, the durability of that armor is almost close to zero due to its battered state. As expected of Queen Tanya, even just using her bare fist, she can pummel you close to death if she wanted to. Not even a full-body armor can save you. BANG! Thest punch of Queen Tanya was thest straw on Tina''s armor, it fell after the punch. Tina slumped to the ground, panting from the intense battle while Queen Tanya just flicked her hands, without breaking a sweat. "You have definitely improvedpared to thest time we trained. Although you still lost, you have definitely managed to hold out for an hour and fight back from time to time. Not bad!" "I am not worthy of that praise, your Majesty, I am stillcking and I needed more experience to at least defy my father and my siblings," Tina said as she slowly stood back up. Her clothes are a bit tattered but you can say it is normal after fighting against Queen Tanya. Queen Tanya already noticed my presence in the distance. "Oh, deheart, you havee early. You even brought together with your Battle Maid," Queen Tanya smiled as she elegantly walked towards us. "Yes, with the estimation of the time you will train Princess Tina, I think it is already the appropriate time for me toe." "You have indeed arrived at a great time. I am just testing Princess Tina on how she fights and seeing how my training worked. I must say I am quite proud of my training regimen." "But she still lost," Lina interjected. "Of course, however, that is to be expected as I didn''t intend to hold back at all. Her father is not someone that can be easily trifled with. He might be lesser stronger than me but he is not someone you can just easily trifle against in battle." Queen Tanya is right, the King of the Insect Kingdom in Aquagius is someone strong andpetent. He might not be able to handle Queen Tanya, but he is still a fearsome foe and he is not someone that you can just easily mess around with. Queen Tanya snapped her fingers and the armor that was broken after the battle between the two girls returned to its original and new state. You can''t even see the damage that was done with it since all of the scratches and cracks that appeared after it was broken were quickly repaired. "Let''s return to the castle. Tina-chan, rest up for a bit and then join us in the reception room after you are fully rested." "I will, your Highness." ... Queen Tanya''s Castle: Reception Room The two of us sit down in our respective chairs, while Lina stood beside me like the battle maid that she was. "Your Battle Maid is quite strongpared to our battle maids. I didn''t train them but they are quite strong in their own right too. However, she excels in many things and I can see that she has still an unawakened potential yet." "Yes. She already has undergone the ss change recently so that we can increase our level cap. Lina became a Versatile Battle Maid after the ascension ss up." "Huh... A Versatile Battle Maid? So in other words, she is simr or closer to your battle style?" "Of course, not. Although Lina is also a Versatile ss type warrior, the only sses she can choose from are the branches of Battle Maid sses that she didn''t choose during her upgrade. She can''t use the sses that I use." "That is a pity but it is understandable as she is originally a Battle Maid. If she isn''t a battle maid but a warrior like you, she might be able to use skills other than Battle Maid sses," Queen Tanya rubbed her chin. "I am fine as I am. Since it''s my Master''s wish, I will do my best to fight with you." Queen Tanya''s eyes glow when she remembered something. "Ah, then how about you and Tina will do a mock battle? That way, we can see how Tina has grown and also for her to experience a new enemy other than me." Chapter 276 - Battle Maid Lina Vs. Insect Princess Tina Lina looked at Queen Tanya but she didn''t respond. She nced at me, waiting for my response. "I am not against this matter. However, I am not the one who should decide whether she wants to fight or not. Lina is not my ve and even though she is my maid, she has her own free will to do what she needed to do. I don''t have anything to say on it to her and I won''t force her for a mock fight." "Master, don''t worry. I wish to partake in this battle. I haven''t gotten to properly use my new abilities in battle after I got a ss up. I want to see how much I have improved." ... After the discussion, Queen Tanya went with Tina to the preparation rooms. Since the castle had its own private arena which is usually used only for practice by the knights and sometimes with Queen Tanya if she is bored. Lina geared up her skills. I didn''t interfere with what skills she wanted to use, she only asked for some rmendations. "Oh right, I asked Mother earlier to create an item that can allow you to carry multiple weapons. Unlike me who can change the form of my weapon in any form I want, you have to manually reequip a new weapon to properly fight back. She managed to create a new item and I think this is perfect for you. [Versatile''s Baldric] Type: Gadget Info: An item that allows the user to carry multiple weapons at once. Ites with the normal baldric that is used to carry a sword but this one is capable of carrying daggers and throwing knives and the hip baldric that allows carrying short swords and short axes. It also has a bonus holster in case the wielder is also a gun user. Made for Versatile ss that struggles in weapon swapping. Note: A new invention made by a lovely woman. Compared to her son, she makes quality goods of items. You will be certain you are using a top and quality item! The system vouches for this! ''F*CK YOU SYSTEM. IF YOU HAVE A REAL BODY, I WOULD LITERALLY RIP YOU TO SHREDS WITHOUT MERCY.'' Lina epted the [Versatile''s Baldric and equipped it. Since this is just a mock battle, the weapons that will be used are just the prototype weapons supplied in the arena. They are not lethal and they only deal 1 damage per hit. "Will I be fine in this battle, Master?" "Heh, why are you asking me that? You already know the answer and it all depends on how you achieve that today. I will not jinx it so make sure to win." Lina smiled and she nodded. She equipped all the weapons necessary for her sses and went out of the preparation room to wait for Tina to appear. After helping Lina in her preparation, I joined Queen Tanya in the spectator''s stand. Of course, she is sitting on her own chair with her servants. She really likes to unt her authority though not in a boastful way. "You want a seat too, deheart? I can procure you afortable seat to your liking." "Ah, no need, Queen Tanya. As much as you want me to sit on a chair simr to yours, I don''t think I am going to befortable with it." The horn sounded in the arena, signifying the beginning of the battle. Compared to the yer arena where the opposing yer must kill the opponent to win, the two will have to sh in battle and reduce a hundred HP on the opponent. The first who will be able to reduce a hundred HP to the opponent will be the winner. Since the weapons can only inflict 1 damage no matter if it was critical or not, it will only have 1 HP damage. Even spells are also going to only inflict 1 damage. That restriction was done so that idental killing wouldn''t be possible. Tina pulls out her sword and gracefully wields it. Lina who learned a lot in my ystyle most of the time didn''t pull out her signature weapon which is the morning star but used magic and fired it off to Tina. "[Lightning Rain]!" Lina quickly released a barrage of lightning down to Tina. Tina is quick on her feet and immediately dodged all of the lightning strikes, allowing her to get a good way to close her distance to Lina. When she is on the 5-meter mark, Tina quietly goes into stance and performed a [Piercing Strike.] It was a fast-piercing-type sword attack. Although it is not a perfect method, it is used widely in quick and surprise attacks. It is pretty much themon method to deliver an attack in a distance and quickly close the gap between the two enemies. Lina didn''t flinch and immediately countered the attack with her dagger. She only needed a bit of a second before she reacted and blocked the iing attack. Without even a warning, a painful punch hit on Tina''s side and as an insect person, their body is very sensitive. So when Lina punched through Tina, Lina immediately defended her body as she retreats a bit far from her. "Not bad, but I think you needed enough experience on this one," Lina said, as she gets herself ready." "Heh, don''t get cocky. Just because you managed to block me doesn''t mean you will be able to defeat me like that." "Less talk, more fight!" Lina made a confusing movement and disappeared before Tina. As opposed to the reaction I expected from Tina, she remained calm and collected. Lina didn''t appear on her back as mostbatants do and strike on Tina''s open side. PENG! The sword and the prototype morning star hit each other. Tina''s defend was precise in that she didn''t struggle immediately going from defensive to an offensive stance. "HUP!" Tina leaps up in the air and spins while pointing at Lina. It was so fast that even Lina who is usually quick to defend didn''t get to react and was hit by the 15 hit attack head-on. Tina continues to deal with an assault on Lina with her quick blows. Even though she is using a normal sword, it was like she is using the normal sword-like how a rapier would work. Despite Lina getting damaged with 15 flurries of blows, she managed to defend the follow-up attacks of Tina with her weapon. Lina quickly distanced herself from Tina and cast another elemental skill, [Twister Gust], exclusive only to the Elementalist Battle Maid. Compared to her other Elemental Skill, [Dragon Breath Tornado], the former is quite weak while thetter is too strong that I doubt anyone can be strong enough to face it head-on. So why did Lina use [Twister Gust] instead of [Dragon Breath Tornado]? It was due to the [Twister Gust] being capable of unleashing a flurry of attacks. She can do at least more than 25 attacks in one spell. The [Dragon Breath Tornado] is a burst attack and it only has 5 hits. Of course, it was a pretty strong skill if used, however, this is not a burst damage attack. Even if Lina used the [Dragon Breath Tornado], the damage will remain into 1 always and since it only has 5 hit counts, the registered damage will also be 5 as well. Since the battle was supposed to be the first one to drop the opponents'' HP to 100 will win, Lina used the weak spell to umte enough damage. Since the [Twister Gust] is instant cast, it was quick and Tina didn''t get to notice the magic circle appearing beneath her feet before the strong gust of wind blow her off the ground. "KUH!" Tina covered herself but due to the [Twister Gust]''s 25 hit count, she didn''t manage to block a single blow and received 25 damage. She might have damaged Lina first and chipped off 15 HP from her health bar butt Lina managed to chip off 25 HP damage. Tina is powerless up above the air so even though she tried her best to get off, she didn''t get to move. Lina took the opportunity and fired off a few range spells on Tina, receiving additional 6 damage. As soon as the [Twister Gust] undergoes a cooldown and the attack stopped, Tina took this opportunity and raised her hands in the air. "You are not the only one capable of attacking multiple times! Take this!" White strands of light appeared and immediately target Lina. Lina frowned as she quickly dodges the white strands of light. I immediately noticed that attack spell. I can''t be mistaken about it due to how frequent I have seen in Queen Tanya''s hard battles before. This is one of her signature moves. To inquire about it, I immediately feigned surprise and amazement. The surprise is fake since it''s not really surprising. However, I am amazed is genuine. After all, this move is one of the hardest to master out of all Queen Tanya''s trained spells. I even failed to master it even though I relied on my eidetic memory before. So only those who are geniuses capable of handling the power as well. "Queen Tanya, am I seeing wrong? Isn''t that the [Rainfall of Sirius]?" Chapter 277 - The Result Of The Mock Battle It looks like Tina got frustrated with the result and decided to use her strongest skill, which in the past timeline, only Queen Tanya possess. The [Rainfall of Sirius] It is one of the AOE skills that can easily wipe out clustered enemies in one skill cast. The only thing is that this skill is useless in this mock battle. As exined before, all attacks, including the skills will be reduced to 1 damage no matter how devastating it was while doing the mock battle. That is to prevent the two fighting to eventually kill each other. Queen Tanya shook her head. "Tina is easily overwhelmed in her emotions. I wanted her to at least be able to control her emotions, to at least keep her stable while fighting since she tends to lose on it. That''s why I decided to let her learn the skill, [Rainfall of Sirius]. I told her that this skill is something that she should use only if she is threatened." "I see. So, in this case, she felt "threatened by Lina?" "Your battle maid has a serious look on her face and it seems she is capable of assessing the situation without faltering. And since her face is also unreadable by her, she felt threatened and decided to use the ability." "I also felt something wrong with Princess Tina. ording to the books and some info that I have read before about the Insect People, they have their own abilities that can allow them to be seen as regal insect people. However, all of the skill set that Princess Tina is using right now is just normal attacks of a sword user and of course, the skill you imparted to her, the [Rainfall of Sirius]. Can you please exin?" Queen Tanya sighed and grabbed a piece of grape on the te with grapes in it before she started exining. "Tina is missing something as an Insect Person." "Huh?" "As far as I know, every insect person has a unique mark that is bestowed to them after birth. Not only nobles enjoy this, but also themoners of the Insect Kingdom. And yet, Tina doesn''t have this particr mark." "Did you try asking her if she ever knows why she has no mark?" "I did. I even exined it to her but it seems she doesn''t know anything about it and even the usual skills that will be added to her after she obtains the mark seem to be not taught to her. And she just tilted her head like she didn''t know after all of the exnation." "That doesn''t make much sense..." "Right? It was like she was intentionally not given a mark." We stopped talking and we continue to look at the battle. The [Rainfall of Sirius] is still happening as it was a 30-second attack. Lina on the other hand is defending using the small buckler shield she decided to bring along with her. From the looks of it, she used the skill, [Defender''s Pride] where she can tank any attack for 10 seconds. The [Rainfall of Sirius] continues to fall to Lina while the [Defender''s Pride] ended. When the skill ended, Lina didn''t use another defensive skill to continue tanking the attack, but she didn''t do it and instead used the offensive skill of the Battle Maid ss, Battle Maid of Iron, the [Shield Boomerang]. I didn''t expect it but from the looks of her throw after the casting time of [Defender''s Pride] is over, she is already charging the [Shield Boomerang] to increase its maximum speed after being thrown. Tina who is still in the middle of casting the [Rainfall of Sirius] didn''t expect the iing attack since Lina just throw it without any second thoughts. She didn''t even show any signs she will be throwing it either. So when the shieldes flying, it was all so sudden that she didn''t have time to even dodge. "URK!" The shield heavilynded on her abdomen, causing her to cancel the casting time of the [Rainfall of Sirius] and fall to the ground with the shield. Lina didn''t stop there and activated the exclusive skill of the Warmonger Battle Maid, [Song of ughter]. A skill that enhances their attack speed and movement speed in exchange for 30 seconds of uncontrolled rage against the target. "RAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH! KILL!!" Lina then pulls out her Morning Star prototype and in split second, she arrived where Tina fell. Lina then ms down the Morning Star and begins her rampage. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG The repeated banging sound echoes in the area as Lina''s aggression toward Tina increases. The speed of her attacks also increases too, and if the damage is not reduced to 1, Tina wouldn''t be able to live and would be reduced to squash paste in the process. Queen Tanya then snaps her fingers and Lina who was in a frenzy, returned to her senses. "Huh?" Lina was in shock at what is happening when her skill stopped. Queen Tanya stood up and announced the winner with a loud voice. "Battle Maid, Lina wins!" Tina is not so injured due to the effect of the Prototype weapons but it was aplete takedown. Tina didn''t even get to counterattack due to Lina''s insane attack speed that she can only watch as her HP has been dwindling until the threshold of 100 reached. Some of the soldiers in the arena immediately carried Tina out of the arena while Lina returned to the preparation area. "You should also follow your Battle Maid, deheart. As someone who has seen you fight during ourst team-up, I can guarantee that the Battle Maid is indeed trained by you. She is a clear warmonger just like you." ... ... In the preparation room where Tina was carried... Queen Tanya entered the room and Tina abruptly rose up from her bed and bowed her head. "I apologize for not meeting your expectations, Your Majesty! I am sorry for not winning!" "Raise your head, Tina. I am not here to scold you for not winning." "Huh?" "It is a minor mock battle and I already know who will win between the two of you anyway so why are you apologetic? It''s not like I ordered you to win the mock battle, I said that you need to at least have a sparring partner in battle and a mock battle between that person and you are a good idea. It''s not a good idea to just limit yourself fighting against me. You need a diverse amount of people to face to at least be able to judge correctly. I even saw your fighting style resembles so much on the tricks you used to counter a few of my skills." "But it was the most efficient way to take down an enemy right?" "It all depends on how you execute the matter, but it was pretty clear that it isn''t the case. You thought brute force is the only way. I even told you that using the [Rainfall of Sirius] for casual fights is overkill. Also, it is clear you are no match against the Battle Maid due to your rush decisions. You didn''t even think much about it and just continued with the fight with more brute force. You didn''t calmly fight while fighting." "...! I apologize for using the [Rainfall of Sirius] in that manner. I failed to uphold the rules you give!" Queen Tanya shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. It seems you don''t even understand what I was trying to say. What I meant is that, you need to keep yourself level-headed while fighting. You easily lost your cool in just a matter of seconds. You stillck training." "I apologize, I will train again under your guidance." "No." "What? Your Majesty?" "I already teach you most of the fundamentals but it seems you still have something you didn''t particrly understand." "No, no... I understand it all, Your Majesty. However, I still needed more time..." "Tina, I am going to be brutally honest with you." "I will listen, Your Majesty." "You don''t have talent, Tina. You are pretty weak." Tina stares in despair at Queen Tanya as thetter continues. "You are good at fighting but that''s it. You don''t have the fundamentals easily imprinted into your mind and you don''t have much ability that can be used for you to prove your worth to your father and defeat your siblings. It''s not a wonder you are easily disposed of by your siblings and your father. They don''t need a leader like you." The tears on Tina''s eyes started falling after she heard the brutal and honest wordsing from Queen Tanya. "But... but I did my best..." "..." Queen Tanya coldly looked at Tina. "I know I amcking and I know I am just an insignificant being, but I have to do it! I needed to do it! I needed to reim what is rightfully mine!" Queen Tanya shook her head and slowly walk out of the door while Tina looked at her back with an empty look in her eyes. "Queen Tanya, aren''t you just doing the same thing as my father?" Queen Tanya sighed and looked back at her. "In that case, prove it. Use the knowledge I imparted to you and use it to your advantage. Join deheart and hispanions in Aquagius.. Prove yourself that will allow me to say that "I didn''t regret letting you learn the [Rainfall of Sirius]" and stand proudly to others." Chapter 278 - Departing To Aquagius "Uhh, so that means this is your n since the very beginning, Queen Tanya?" Queen Tanya nodded vigorously as she presented me with Tina fully geared. "Well, you received a quest already of going to Aquagius in advance right? Then why not bring her with you? Aquagius is far and even if you want to use Leona, she is not going to be able to fully get there by flight alone. Therefore, I decided to pull some strings and use some of my connections for you to get a ride in the famous Argo. The Argo, the floating boat of the Demi-Gods. I heard it was derived from the original Argo that the hero, Jason of the Argonauts used to get the golden fleece in Greek Mythology. In the game, it is thergest ship that is able to fly in the sky and sail in the sea. It is both a ship and an airship in the same manner. And indeed, only a few people can ride the Argo without the rmendation of NPCs. Why is it one of the famous ships? It is because the Argo is well known to survive all types of harsh environments and it is deemed as the "safest ship" to ever exist. There is no other ship that can handle many difficult air and sea conditions, it will even set sail even in the harshest weather. So if you get on board with the Argo, you are guaranteed to arrive at your destination safe and sound. As I mentioned earlier, only a few people had a chance to get a rmendation to ride the Argo. I am not one of the few lucky people who managed to join the ride so all I can do is watch the videos of yers who managed to snag an invitation to the Argo. Who would have known that I would get a chance to ride the Argo by myself and not just watch a live stream about it? "Huh? Are you sure Queen Tanya? Isn''t the Argo pretty much one of the rarest ships that anyone can ride? We are fine with just a regr ship, there is no need for us to ride the Argo." "Uh uh, deheart, you shouldn''t say no if you are given the privilege for this one. Also, this is to ensure that you guys arrive at Aquagius safe and sound. Lately, the way to Aquagius via air and sea has been so chaotic. It would be best for you guys to get the Argo to avoid a pointless battle. You guys should preserve all of your energies to fight in Aquagius, you guys really need it." In the end, we didn''t decline the offer of Queen Tanya, even though it seems like we got a big offer we can''t decline, I decided to get this chance. ... After the preparation of Tina''s departure, we are given by Queen Tanya a special ticket that only can be used by the one who has the imprint. We have to drop a bit of blood to imprint it and we will be able to use it to ride the Argo. Also, if someone stole the ticket, the ticket, the ticket would immediately deem invalid unless the original ticket holder uses it. "Remember that you guys shouldn''t trust anyone in the insect kingdom. Trust only yourself and yourpanions at the start of your journey. Especially you, Tina. The people in the Insect Kingdom are not someone you can easily trust. ce a doubt and don''t bother listening to them. Understand? Also, be sure to not let yourself be discovered to be alive. The quest of you two will fail if you guys are discovered." "I understand." "Now, as for you deheart, I doubt I needed to say much to you since you are pretty much knowledgeable about certain matters and it seems you don''t need my help on this. It seems you are pretty sharp, but just in case you guys will have a hard time, I will give you something that will help you during this travel." Queen Tanya flicks something and I immediately catch it, revealing it to be a small coin. "A coin?" I tried to check what it was but it doesn''t disy anything that is rted to it, nor it says any kind of information regarding this coin. "No matter how hard you try to identify what that thing is, it won''t show anything. That is part of my power. You can only use it three times so use it wisely. To use it, just flip the coin until you got heads." "So, what is the main usage of this thing?" "That is a secret!" I wanted to try it out but since it has limited usage, I didn''t bother to check what this thing is and decided to put it in my inventory. However, this thing doesn''t register in the inventory so I decided to put it in my clothes'' pocket. Even though we have inventories, we can still use the pocket just fine so it isn''t a mystical thing and pockets are not just for design purposes. After getting the coin from Queen Tanya and getting a few more info from her, we departed and went to the harbor of Sandurk, the ce where the ships from all over the world gather, the City of Oasia. With Leona, we arrived at the City of Oasia in just a few minutes. It was a very busy district due to the number of people, goods, and ships arriving in the harbor. The city is big but the harbor is bigger and it doesn''t only have the harbor for sea ships but also those airships. It is both for Airships and Sea ships which is why it was the most popted with people every day. Of course, the city is not that popted with citizens, it''s merely popted by travelers, workers of the harbor, and many more. "This is the first time I have seen a very busy harbor," Tina said as she marveled at the busy life of the people in Oasia. For me, it''s not a wonder why she is marveling at the city''s lively atmosphere. It was due to the fact that the Insect Kingdom''s harbor is not this busy and it is pretty much a bit of a deste ce. It''s not a wonder she would really be surprised at how busy the Harbor of Oasia is. "Let''s go wait for a few minutes. I heard the Argo will arrive soon enough. We will wait before going aboard it." ... Around 10 minutes of waiting in the harbor, the people of the harbor suddenly get frantic and they suddenly became chaotic. It was like they found something that they didn''t expect. "It''s the Argo!" "Holy! It is indeed the Argo!" I see, so it was the nobles making a fuss. The people of the docks aren''t celebrating like they do when the Argo arrived, it didn''t even look like they care if it was the Argo or not. It was like this is amon ship in need of tending and nothing more to it. If the people who wanted to ride the Argo heard this, they would never be able toprehend why they don''t feel excited with the Argo''s arrival. The cargo is indeed looking good and despite seeing the real deal in the videos that I have watched on the past timeline, nothing beats the original and the "in the flesh" Argo. It looks like a majestic airship, right now but from the looks on the body, its main usage is to be a ship. It has the sails that will be used as a ship in the sea but when it is an airship, the one that looks like a blimp at first sight but was actually the second building where those privileged can only use will start to glow, it will immediately reveal its gold wings. I know the original Argo in Greek Mythology doesn''t look like this but I must say that whoever designed the Argo has such good artistic sense and even if they said it was made by the gods, it doesn''t change the fact that it was a ship. "Are we indeed boarding the Argo?" Tina marveled at the Argo''s structure. "Do you still think this is some sort of dream? Yes, we are boarding the Argo so that we can meet your kingdom''s situation. Remember that we are not here to enjoy the vacation. Based on Queen Tanya''s observation, you need more additional life experience and life actions. We might be getting a good reservation in Argo but that doesn''t mean this is also a good time to forget all your troubles." We joined a few people boarding the Argo. Even though the Argo doesn''t usually bring guests, as long as they have the ticket shed before them, they will be able to ride the Argo, take their payment, and enjoy the ride. Next stop, Aquagius. Chapter 279 - The Might Of The Argo (I) You can read the novel online free at or "Ticket please." shing the golden ticket to the face of the conductor of the ship, he nces at it for a bit before he tilts his head signifying I am good to get inside the Argo. He also handed me a small stub which is the necessary thing to ess the rooms in the Argo. "What about her?" one passenger pointed to Lina who was beside me. "She is counted as one with the ticket he presented, you don''t need to worry about it. Queen Tanya already exined to me that it is fine to bring Lina with us and since the ticket she has given to me is capable of admitting two people, Lina managed to enter the Argo with just one ticket. Tina and I have separate rooms but our rooms are just beside each other so it isn''t a problem that we will get separated in this big space of the Argo. Since Lina is counted as part of my admission ticket and the stub is only given to me, Lina''s room will also be my room and we have to share the same ce to sleep. Still, I won''t be sleeping in the Argo anyway because I will have to log out in the real world. She understood my circumstances so Lina can just use the bed by herself. Also, no one would know that Tina is part of the insect race since Queen Tanya has given her an item that would delude anyone who doesn''t know the truth about her being an insect woman and would instead show them that she is a human. It wasn''t a big problem since Tina has more human characteristics than her insect lineage. The Argo epted all passengers who got the golden ticket before it removed its ramp to enter the deck of the Argo. It didn''t wait for that longpared to other ships and using its Airship Form, it started to fly high up in the sky before departing to its destination. We went to the second floor of the ship or should I say the "blimp" of the Argo whenever it bes an Airship. It bes the second floor once it returns into the Ship Form where the rooms for the passengers and special guests are given. Also, this is a good ce to watch the scenery of the sky. Not only you can see the "wings" of the Argo pping in the air but you can see also the surroundings outside like you are watching a wallpapere into life. The stub given to me isbeled 3 while Tina''s room isbeled 2. Looks like Queen Tanya has given us a good seat in the Argo as I remembered the first 5 rooms have the most magnificent view from all the rooms of Argo. "You should go inside and take a rest in your room for now. It will be a long journey so go and catch some Zs to at least recharge yourself. If you don''t want to rest, you can train inside your room, that way, you will get refreshed in fighting." I suggested since even I who have gone to Aquagius for the Pioneer quest has experienced this traveling with a ship and it took at least 3 days to reach the ce. At that time, only those who have very high rank managed to get a slot in the Argo which is why we have to settle in a normal ship. Thankfully, I don''t have anything to do during these 3 days of travel so I am fine with ying the game for a bit longer than usual. I also went to my own room with Lina and using the stub, I managed to ess the designated room for us. As expected, of the view, this is indeed top-notch. The reviewer in the past timeline who has managed to snag a ticket to ride the Argo is definitely not joking. "Wow! Master, we are so lucky to get a ticket to ride the Argo! Who would have thought that I would be able to ride the Argo one of these days!" Lina leaned on the clear window, allowing her to view the majestic sky and the mountains that the Argo passes by. "I heard that the view of the outside of the Argo is much better at night time, you should take a rest for now. Use the bed, since I don''t need to use it for sleeping and even if I needed to do it, the couch will suffice. Don''t bother arguing, that is an order." "Yes, Master," Lina didn''t even bother to say anything and she removed a few of her Battle Maid armor. She is wearing her casual clothes under her armor so she didn''t need to change clothes. After removing them, she immediately went to the bed and goes to sleep. "Huh, she must be too tired from all the battles we have done huh? She didn''t have time to sleep." "She would be indeed exhausted since she used one of the Warmonger abilities of her ss. It is normal she would want to rest as soon as possible," As exined. "How are you guys feeling after we entered the Argo? Any difference?" "None, master. Everything is serene and fine. We are good here too," Lucia answered. "How is Cotton, Lucia?" "Cotton is sleeping after eating Master, Cotton likes to sleep after eating so it''s just the normal routine for her." "I see. Well, I will go back for a bit. You guys wanna go out for a bit?" "Nah, we are fine here in the Summon''s area. We can''t disturb Lina from her sleep." "Alright, see you in a few minutes." After talking to my followers, I log out from the game. ... When I logged out, its already afternoon. In the living room, the siblings and Pandora are watching the television. I noticed that the show they are watching seems to be some sort of a show that is talking about the Alternate World though I am not sure since I rarely watch the news and even in the past timeline, the only things I interact with the most would be my Holophone and my Pc. I didn''t use the television at all to check the news. "What are you guys watching? It seems you guys are having fun." "Big Brother! We are just looking for some things to watch on the TV! The news is boring and Big Sister Pandora allowed us to browse the channels too," Akira said. Sora is just on the side listening while Pandora is watching the TV. It seems like it is fine for her for Akira to be the one in control of the remote control. "Pandora, you can just reprimand Akira if you want to watch something. You can''t just keep going nice on him." Pandora smiled and pulled out her sketchbook with, "It''s okay, I am enjoying what Akira-kun is watching right now." I look at the television and it seems like it was indeed Esport news about the Arenapetition in Alternate World. Since I already know what happened in that event, I didn''t bother to watch. "Alright, since you guys are enjoying it, I won''t bother anymore, anyways, I am just saying that I will be in my room. I might not be able to answer you guys so once I get out of my room, be sure to tell me if you guys needed something or you can just message me if you guys need something. Akira, I will make you in charge of the house for the next few days. You already have all the things I teach you right?" "Don''t worry Brother. I have been practicing my cooking skills and you can rely on me! I am the one who managed the house while you are away from Nagoya so no need to worry!" "How reassuring! Alright, be sure to let me know if there is something going on alright?" "Sure!" After that, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a bit for my lunch and dinner before returning to my room. While eating lunch, I checked the inte for any bits of pieces of info about the game. And as expected, after the first Arena tournament, themunity started to make a ranking board on who is the current strongest yer of Alternate World. I have seen this ranking too but during that time, it was nothing but just a record for amusement. However, during this time, it seems the people who created the list are not just making it for fun. They are determined to know who is the strongest people to watch out for. The rankings are divided into two ranks, the first is the Achievement ranking, and the other one is the Strength ranking. When I checked the rankings of Achievement ranking, I am not surprised when I saw my name in the ranking, however, they didn''t put me on the top. It seems like they are looking at the achievements that have been publicized and since most of my achievements happened in private and in some I didn''t put my name, there are only a few achievements people know me for and one of them is during the time I participated the first Pioneer Quest. Currently, my standing in that ranking is in 3rd ce. For someone who didn''t show most of his achievements, I am surprised I managed to take the 3rd rank. As for the Strength ranking, it wasn''t even a surprise for me to see my name taking the top ce. Chapter 280 - The Might Of The Argo (II) ["Wee Back, deheart"] I materialized once more inside the room where Lina and I are staying. Lina is still sleeping quietly so I decided to go out of our room and explore the Argo on my own and familiarize the whole ce. It would be a great time to imprint the whole Argo''s interior in my mind. First, I explored inside the blimp only. There are a few people in the other rooms but I can tell most of them are influential nobles in the game, though they are only NPCs here. Aside from the amodation room for the passengers, there is also the dining area and the recreation room where some mini games are ced. It was a fine choice for the people of the Argo to ce them all in the second floor due to how troublesome it was if they are all ced in the first floor where sometimes, all the actions exist and all the work for running the ship is currently happening. The dining room is not that busy right now but I saw a fewdies eating with their friends and some other nobles enjoying their drinks on the bar. There are even some people ying in the recreation room. And I bet they even have some prices to exchange your winnings in some of its games, however, that is not part of my interest. The second floor is just pure ce for the passengers, nothing more to be said in here. With my interest gone from the second floor''s features, my interest went to the main deck of the Argo. Leaving the second floor, my ears perked up when I heard the nging sounds of weapons on the main deck. ''A fight?'' Hearing the weird noises, I quickly went out to look for the source of the noise. When I went out, I saw the crew kicking arge monster out of the deck. From the looks of it, I missed the fight that happened. They just managed to wrap up the battle. "Holler up if anyone spotted those bastards. We can''t keep them messing up the Argo. If possible, ram them up with the Argo''s hull," the older guy who only has only one hand, has an eyepatch and holds a katana said. If he still have his whole arm and attach a hook on the missing part of his arm, he would look like a pirate. He does look like a guy who would look like a ronin but I am doubting my judgment on that. "Captain! What the heck are you saying?! We can''t keep on having the Argo get ruined by mming them on flying monsters! Don''t be so harsh at at our poor ship!" the guy who seems to be handling one of the cannons of the ship said. "Hahaha! You should already be used to his behavior. He wouldn''t care much on the ship as long as the monster that messes up with the ship itself gets thrown to the oblivion. If you are not careful, he might toss you to the chasm," one of the women who looks like she could pass as the Captain of ship said. However, since she is not the one called "Captain", from the looks of it, she is the "First Mate" since I can see a spyss on her waist and seems to be one of the peoplemanding the crew. "Holia, you are shouldn''t joke around like that, even though everyone knows how you like to joke around, no one knows whether you are serious or not," the captain said. "Heh, chill there Tora. I may be unpredictable at times but I am not that hard to predict at all," the woman named Holia said. "Captain! I spotted two flying Wing Worm, on our right! Around 75 kilometers away from us! With our speed, we will be making contact with it for around 20 seconds!" the guy who is handling one of the cannons said. "Hoh, those guys are really getting persistent in and loose on their flying patterns nowadays. It seems the Insect Kingdom has done something to disturb their natural habitat. Troublesome bastards as always," the captain named Tora pulls out one of his tobo and using his finger, he lit up the tobo. I didn''t expect this guy to be able to use magic even though he is a samurai unless he uses a katana but he was actually a Magic Knight. Hearing that a Wing Worm ising, I decided to look at the iing danger. Wing Worms are one of the banes of the Airships and as soon as one of these things are seen in the radar or seen nearby, the airships would immediately need to kill them as they can disrupt the ship and sometimes, they can break the flying engine of some airships causing wide idents in many airships. I am curious how the crew of the Argo will handle the danger so I decided to see how they are going to do it. The crew didn''t move and they are just standing there and seems to be observing the changes. The captain just continues on puffing the tobo, without much care. "It''s now in sight!" the one who spotted the Wing Worm shouted. "Captain, are you going to personally deal with it?" "Yeah, I have to deal these f*ckers out by myself. I will just holler if I mess up so be on standby." Holia nodded and pull out her spyss while Tora approached the rear of the deck and stood there, looking in the distance. His hand is on his tobo. And just like what the crew said, two Wing Worms appeared on sight, flying fast. "Ah, damn, these f*ckers are indeeding so fast to us, huh." He throws the tobo on the chasm below the ship and stare at the iing monster. "Ready the harpoon cannons guys, we might be able to get a good haul today after this," Holia ordered while she continue to spectate the situation using her spyss. The crew made their move and prepared with synchronization. As for Tora, he sighed before he grip the hilt of his katana. The Wing Worms appeared before the ship and like a sandworm, their mouths are a bottomless hole. However, Tora did not flinch and without a sound, the two Wing Worms that are flying towards the Argo were split in half. It was cleanly cut in half that the Wing Worms did not even release blood after being cut through into two parts. "FIRE!" Four Harpoon Cannons were fired and the parts of the Wing Worm that Tora cut were pierced by the Harpoons without any kind of difficulty, showing their expertise in the job which seems to be their everyday life. "As expected of Tora, you seemed to be improving day by day!" Holia said. "Tch, its not that amazing, any ronin and samurai can do that without much problem," Tora said as he sat down on where he stood with a bored look on his face. "Captain, how are we going to bring these "lures"? Are we just going to let them hang or should we throw them out if there is already a target?" "Let it hang, only a few creatures would prey on the Wing Worms anyway so let it be hanging until something bites." The crew then stabilize the harpoon cannons so that the wire that attached the Harpoon and the Cannon is not going to break. Holia is about to go back to where she was when she noticed me watching the scene unfold. "Oh? I didn''t notice someone was watching. There aren''t many people who watches what we are doing nowadays." "A passenger? That is indeed rare, most passengers would be staying up above the "Blimp" rather than expose themselves on the threat. I didn''t know someone would be curious on what the main deck''s situation is," Tora pulls out another tobo and just like the first one, he light it up using his finger''s mes like some lighter. "What brings you here, young man? It''s very unusual for passengers to be here especially with the recreation area meant to be a ce where the passengers can pass their time while they are heading to their destinations," Holia asked as she approached. "I am just looking around the Argo, touring on the various areas of the famous ship. It was just a coincidence I was here after you guys hunted two Wing Worms." "Ho? No wonder you are different from the other people, you are one of those "Adventurers" that I have been hearing about who are said to be blessed by Titania herself. You are first "Adventurer" to have ever managed to get a ride on the Argo. So you should be proud of that and brag it on your friends!" Holiaughed while tapping my shoulder. "Is that how it is? Well, that didn''t matter to me. You have seen our ways of reducing the threat. Since you are riding with us, might as well introduce ourselves. I am Tora Worth, the captain of the ship.. Thank you for riding with us on the Argo." Chapter 281 - The Might Of The Argo (III) Holia handed me a mug of ale but I declined since the taste and smell of ale make me a bit dizzy even in the game. "That''s a shame. You should try it some time since ale is one of the best drinks you can drink while traveling," Holia then chug down the mug of ale in one serving. "You barbarian, why are you drinking while we are currently on duty?! If you got drunk, who would be the navigator if we ever got lost?!" Tora then grabbed the wooden mug in Holia''s hands. "What a killjoy as always, Captain. It''s just one mug and you are already overreacting over it. You should at least have to drink to keep yourself energized and awake throughout the whole journey!" "I am fine without drinking it. And besides, it''s already a frigging morning! Why would you need to drink this to stay awake?! In fact, if you got drunk after all of that, you would be knocked out and will no longer be able to function properly!" "Ah, ah, ah. Are you forgetting that I have a high alcohol tolerance and I can stay all day drinking and I would still be fine!" "What the heck are you talking about?! Out of all the crew of the Argo, you have the lowest alcohol tolerance! Don''t you dare try to trick me!" Tora and Holia continued to bicker that the other crew can only shake their heads. "Don''t be surprised about this, man. Those guys are always bickering but that is normal and it never esctes into something worse." CLANG! BANG! BOOM! "Yeaaaahhh... Perfectly normal," I nodded even though I am hearing the nging of the utensils and other things being thrown alongside the shouting here and there. "Captain! Two ck Drakes are currently eyeing our ship!" the guy who spotted the Wing Worm before shouted, alerting and halting the bickering Captain and First Mate. "Looks like it''s your turn to shine, yeah?" Tora looked at Holia as he rub the small bump on his forehead. "A drake huh? It''s been a while since we meet a drake from our travels. I thought they have already gone extinct," Holia pulls out a long barrel gun. It looks like a shotgun at first but when you observe it carefully, you can see the difference between a shotgun and the weapon on her hands. "Drakes are on sight!" "YOSH! LET''S GET WILD!" Spinning the long barrel gun, she aims and two rapid shots were fired in the direction of the Drake. It was so quick and you won''t notice the second shot due to how the sound blended to the first shot''s noise. After the two rapid shots, the other crew members throw out arge in the direction where the shots were fired. Two loud growls echoed in the distance. After the growl can be heard, the crewmates immediately pull the they throw out. They are pulling it so hard that I am not sure whether they have indeed captured something. Tora went to the rear of the deck where everyone is gathered and checked below where the other crewmates threw theirs. "Keep pulling guys, it seems our main dish for tonight would be a Drake recipe from yours truly!" Holia shouted with enthusiasm. As she said that, everyone roared in unison and pulled the with all their strength. Just by that alone, they pulled the in one go, dragging the two lifeless drakes inside the. I almost cursed when I saw the size of the drakes, they are big enough that I can guarantee that they are miniature dragons already capable of eating humans in one swallowing action. Drakes are normally smaller than the dragon and they are a bit smaller than a human but they are dangerous so they are still being killed. However, I can easily tell, that even if you hit a drake in its weakness, it can''t easily trigger an instakill unless they have the same effect my title has and the effect activated then it would be a different story. But Holia just fired two rapid shots earlier and the drakes are already down, dead. Isn''t that very terrifying already? She didn''t even use the scope on her long barrel rifle and just shoot the enemy in one go. If it wasn''t terrifying, I don''t know what else is. The fact that she can do that without even doing a skill but just rapid-fire on a gun is not something even I can do even on higher levels. "Are you amazed at my skill, boy? I can tell you my secret about it with a fee of course~" Holia bit her lower lip trying to be seductive. "Are you even trying to seduce her, Holia? Your seductive skills are close to nonexistent so don''t bother." "Ha! You will not be able to say that once this gun of mine nts a bullet straight to your mouth." And the two started to bicker again. I looked at the Drakes that was just pulled out earlier but I was shocked when I saw the two bodies of the drake are already dismantled and the meat is already separated from the bones and skin. Holia then catches up on what I was looking at. "Surprised? That was not even a knifework and he is doing it skillfully without even handling the meat himself and just relying on his ability to cut using his katana. Isn''t his skill amazing?" I don''t know what to react since from what I know in the past timeline, Tora and Holia are just the two people among the 12 people who manage the Argo. The fact that the other 10 people are not here is even scaring me, what if they appear? Will they start showing off their abilities in fighting using their skills? Also, these guys are not just killing lower leveled monsters and weak monsters, the monsters they have killed areparable to elite and mini-bosses already. "Kid, I know you are overwhelmed seeing our prowess today but don''t think too much on that. Even though you have seen how ridiculous our feats are, you shouldn''t be discouraged. Who knows, in the future, you might be able to do the same as us. You just need more experience and more opportunities in the future. If an opportunity arrives, don''t hesitate to grab it." After that, the crew returned to their usual spots. No more attacks appeared after thest which is good. As for the monsters that got snagged using the carcass of the Wing Worm, they managed to catch two live-flying giant salmon. Other than that, there is nothing much here to do other than leave and return to the second floor. "Master, those guys are on an unbelievable level. Even I who is strong enough topete against monsters stronger than me can''tpete against them. I would be killed in an instant before I can even fight them," As started sharing his feelings about Holia and Tora when we are far from the two. "Yes, Master. I agree with As here. I can even see that even with the help of Leona, he will not be able topete against them. Even I who is very proud of my skill would not be able to do anything against them," Lucia added. "Even you Lucia?" "Yes, Master. In fact, the only one who might have a chance to at least deflect them is you Master but your survival rate is also close to zero if you pit against them. It''s not even called a match if you guys fought at each other." Lucia is a blunt girl and she already follows me because of my potential and since I was strong. However, after she decided to give me aparison to others, it was even scary since the people she isparing me with are all absolute monsters. Forget fighting them, it''s just a one-side kill. "Forgive me, Master but that is the truth, These people are stronger than us and if we decided to challenge them, we will just end up dead after." I heard that they are the descendants of the original people who uses the Argo in the past. I don''t know if it is the same thing in the real world''s Greek mythology, but if it is true, those guys are not just ordinary people, they are demi-gods already. ... 3 DAYS LATER... In the distance, I already spotted the ind where the Insect Princess came from, the only piece ofnd located in the Aquagius and the only ce where humans can easily live peacefully without being confined in the ind. "Finally, the ce that has forsaken me..." Tina clenches her fist as she looks at the ind getting bigger and bigger in our view. Not only Tina, but I also noticed some of the workers of the Argoare silentpared to when we are still far from the Insect Kingdom. Even Holia who likes to speak keeps herself quiet.. Based on their expressions, I will be witnessing something not good in the very future. Chapter 282 - Aquagius The Argo crew throw the anchor down the harbor, allowing the Argo to slowly descend andnd to thending area. The harbor crew are quick and quickly prepared thending space that would allow the ship tond without any disruption. I also notice thatpared to the people in Sandurk where the people seem to like seeing the sight of the Argo in their harbor, the people in Aquagius, or more precisely, the people in the Insect Kingdom seems to be indifferent to the Argo and treat it like any other ship. After the ship settled, the passengers leave the Argo one by one. Before I went down the Argo, I decided to meet with the people of the Argo for onest time. Just like the first time I have seen them, Tora is still smoking on the deck and currently, Holia is just rxing on the side. I thought she was smoking at first but I just noticed that it was just the long hard candies sold in the store inside the Argo''s recreation room. "Oh? Boy, you are also boarding off the Argo in the Insect Kingdom? I didn''t expect that you would be among the passengers that are going to the Insect Kingdom. We had quite a lot of requests to board a lot of passengers to go to the Insect Kingdomtely so the news might have been so grand that even in distantnds, it arrived with rity!" Holia tapped my shoulder. "Huh? There is an event currently happening in the Insect Kingdom?" I didn''t know about this, and even Queen Tanya didn''t tell us about it. "What? Really? You don''t know that it is currently the new heir selection for the kingdom after the first heir met their untimely end in Sandurk?" "This is the first time I heard about it so I don''t have any idea about this one." "Huh... so then you and yourpanion are just here to visit?" "Yeah. We didn''t know that there is that kind of news but we are not here to witness that thing." Tora who was just listening to our conversation decided to join in. "Ah, is that so? You guys have other business here that is not even rted to the royalty huh? In that case, I bid you guys sess on whatever it was." I talk to them a little bit before I bid farewell and with Lina and Tina, I went down the Argo and headed to the Harbor of the Insect Kingdom. ... ... "They were the people that Queen Tanya sent here right? I didn''t expect her to already know the next move of the royalty of the Insect Kingdom. And to actually send the person holding the weapon that holds the two "sins", is she trying to solve the problem of Aquagius?" Holia bites off the candy in her mouth and although it was very clear that the candy is hard, she seemed like she is chewing a gummy instead of hard candy. "That''s most likely what she was trying to do. That stupid woman is capable of predicting many things and she is just not trying to interfere with it but tries to make sure she is involved in it. From the looks of it, she already knows what is going to happen and decided to intervene. But who would expect that the "dead" princess of the Insect Kingdom would be alive and currently going back to where she was born and where the people who plotted her death lives," Tora puff off a cloud of smoke on his mouth before reducing the remaining tobo into ashes by igniting it to mes. "Maybe that is the influence of that thing? I doubt they would do something that troublesome without any influence of outside force." "Who knows? We are just spectators so we will just watch everything unfold. It''s not like it is needed for us anyway. The symbols of "Sins" are outside of our jurisdiction and we are not here to even care about it." "Heh, I look forward to the show that they will be making after this." "You are using [irvoyance] again huh? Tch," Tora clicks his tongue. Holia didn''t say anything and just responded with a meaningful smile as she swallow the remaining half of the candy whole. ... ... Insect Kingdom Compared to Resurgia and Sandurk, the vibes of the Insect Kingdom are very simr to what you can say as the ancestral days of Japan. But only the vibes. It didn''t have anything close to the olden days of Japan of any sort as the Insect Kingdom is in the advanced stage that the meaning of the ancestry vibe I am feeling when we first came here is already gone before I know it. Instead, only the vibes are remaining, and other than that, it is just like the same scenery in a city like in Resurgia. "Huh. So the insect Kingdom isn''t much different in Resurgia huh? From the looks of it, the only difference this ce has with Resurgia towns," Lina looked around the houses and some buildings in the Insect Kingdom. "It was normal that it would be like that, Lina-chan. Humans helped the Insect Kingdom create a thriving atmosphere. Although there is a slight distinction that seems to be separating us to the normal humans and the insect people we are just one and the same." "Is that so? I thought the Insect Kingdom was found by the great leader of the Insect People or something like that." "There was indeed something like that but it''s not just their sole effort, humans were involved too. However, it seems the history seems to have been already revised since most Insect People only knew that humans have nothing to do with the foundation of the Insect Kingdom. It''s most likely due to the tampering of the royalty that the history hase to this," Tina exined. "If that is the case, how did you know about the true story of the history? I doubt there are still many copies of those things in the Insect Kingdom''s bookstores or libraries to avoid the people learning about it." "You are right Lina-chan, the true history is no longer avable here. I was fortunate enough to find a book detailing it on Sandurk''s royal library. It was much detailedpared to the history I read in the past. No wonder the Insect Kingdom''s version of history seems to becking in many aspects. I was confused about it but decided to keep the opinion about that matter which is why I forgot about it until I managed to read the original history in the library in the royal castle." I am familiar with the things here in the Insect Kingdom but since I arrived much earlierpared to the past timeline where I visited the Insect Kingdom while we have the quest for the Pioneers, this time, it is just a normal quest tied up on Tina but since this is a special quest, I doubt this is anything normal. Tina was much more familiar with the ce and with her familiarity with the Insect Kingdom''s ins and outs, we managed to grab a room in one of the inns before it got really cramped due to the number of visitors appearing to witness the selection. Since the number of rooms avable is close to scarce and some are almost full, we have no choice but to select only one room instead of two rooms for the two girls and one room for me. Besides, I don''t need to sleep so it is pretty much a useless thing for me. "What is your reaction after finding out that the royalties are now having selection for the next heir?" I asked Tina. "That is to be expected. I am not surprised in the slightest they did this. Father is old and with the seat of the heir vacant after my supposedly "death", he would need to find a recement as soon as possible." "They didn''t even hold burial rites that should at least bring honors to your name after your death, is this how it is done in this ce?" Lina asked. "No. Just like humans, we also do the same thing. We don''t just ignore who died and leave it at it. I already know why it is like that but I can only say that my father seems to be more focused on politics and how his rule can be preservedpared to how his family is faring. If he ever became a caring husband, my mother wouldn''t have died. Maybe because of that sword that is always being passed down to the royalties might be the case. Father became like that after he received those Shield and Spear." "A Shield and Spear?" I frowned. "Yes. If I remember it right, Father calls the spear the "Spear of Superbia while the shield is known to be the "Shield of Vanagloria". I tried looking at what is the Spear of Superbia and the Shield of Vanagloria and how important the weapons are and the only thing I know is that Superbia and Vanagloria are also known in the well-known sin, Pride. I was startled when Tina revealed it. A weapon bearing one of the seven deadly sins.. So that means, one of the weapons of the "Seven Deadly Sins" weapon series is currently resting and is being used as an ancestral heirloom of the royal family. Chapter 283 - 2 VS 1 (A/N: For those who have read thest chapter when it was part of the Privilege, I changed the previous weapon from Sword into shield and spear. As for the current readers who just read this chapter and did not purchase the privilege by the time I edited the previous chapter, you guys are good to go so no need to worry and proceed to the story. Enjoy!) The Shield and Spear of the sin of Pride. Although it never appeared in the past timeline, it is mentioned in the game''s lore at times and sometimes, it is even mentioned in some quests. From what happened in the past timeline, the only weapons I saw in the past timeline that is introduced as part of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series would be the Whip of Luxuria, the weapon of the ss that will be released in the future, the Maniptor which would be the weapon associated with the brand sin of Lust, and the Clockwork of the Tristitia, the weapon of the Chronomancer and the weapon associated with the brand sin of Sloth. As for the rest of the weapons, they are not found ever and have only been mentioned by NPCs. The Seven Deadly Sins weapon series are pretty strong and can be equipped at level 0. The owner of the Whip of Luxuria revealed the Whip of Luxuria''s effects and they are too strong and they grow along with the owner. So if you are on level 100, the stats of the weapon will also be reflected in its stat and will be revealed to be around level 100 too, a weapon that grows alongside its owner. Now, that the weapon of sin is here, perhaps this is a major side quest I stumbled upon. I didn''t expect a quest this grand when I rescued Tina from the stomach of the Sandworm. But hey, that is much better to know that there are some new things I have yet to experience back in the past timeline. It wouldn''t be exciting if I know everything. "My father has be more selfish nowadays and all he keeps on spouting most of the time is how to preserve the royal bloodline and how to make the Insect Kingdom flourish to rise in power. I also found it weird too but I just thought it was the real emotion of my father so I disregarded it. Now, I think I am now getting suspicious of it." "Well, enough of talking about that. First, we need to find a way for you to improve your physique. Queen Tanya is right. You have a bit of w that needed to be corrected though it is quite minor, it might be one of the main reasons for not being able to increase your power and unleash your full potential. If you want to defeat your father and convince him and your siblings your might, then we need to work as soon as we can." "Queen Tanya said you know how to improve mybat ability as well as my physique, are you sure you can do that?" "I can do that but it still depends on your efforts. I am not the one who will benefit from this and you better absorb everything I will teach you. I am not a teacher who is patient enough. If you are ready, we can attempt to start today." Tina went silent for a few moments before she nodded and agreed. "So what do I need to do?" "First, we needed a ce that is a bit of secluded. Since you live here, perhaps you have at least a few secret spots on this ind that you usually use to either escape or you just wanted to reminisce alone. Anywhere as long as it is quite spacious and moving around won''t be a problem." "A secret ce huh? A secluded ce and quite spacious to move around? Well, I think I have the right spot that has all the requirements we needed. Shall we go?" "How far is it?" "It''s not that far but I wouldn''t say it is pretty near either. However, it is pretty secluded and I doubt anyone would try to enter that ce." "Well, if that is the case, then prepare your weapons and your gear. We will be forcing your growth this time around." ... After she prepared her equipment, she guided me and Lina to a secluded area of the insect kingdom. In fact, this is no longer the border of the kingdom but it''s already outside the jurisdiction and protection of the kingdom''s guards. Whatever we are going to do here, whether we try to do a crime or not, no one will know. This is a perfect ce for the training. I handed Tina all of her equipment after we arrived. "Equip all of these and prepare yourself." Tina didn''t ask anything and silently equipped all of the weapons and armor. When she got equipped, I summoned Lucia out of the summons. She is still cuddling Cotton but I know that she is capable of fighting without taking cotton out of her arms so it is fine. "Lina, Lucia, will be your opponent. I will be observing your forms and healing you if necessary. We will be up until it gets dark so be sure to get your wits ready. I am not a merciful instructor and I will not tolerate cking either. Now,mence the battle!" Before Tina can even say anything about the challenge, Lina and Lucia immediately began bombarding Tina with magic spells. Tina didn''t just stand there and execute evasive maneuvers before she got toasted on Lucia''s fireballs and Lucia''s magic bombs. Tina then used a bit of her evasive maneuver to make a bit of a headstart to get close to the two. After all, she is a melee user and she can''t attack with her spell just like the [Rainfall of Sirius]. As for her other spells, I doubt they can be used as they are taking a long time to charge and it also takes a lot of toll on her body. BANG! Tinanded on the ground and spit out blood as soon as the Morning Star of Linanded on her abdomen. Thanks to her armor, she managed to avoid getting a lot of damage but that doesn''t mean she won''t get hurt from it. I snap my fingers and Tina''s wounds recovered. Tina didn''t waste a single breath and stood up andunched a counterattack. Using her sword, she cut the air and send a few shockwaves created from the air she just cut, I remembered this one as the [Self-Made Wind de] though only those who can easily cut the air around them can do this and although it is not as powerful as the [Wind de] that is made purely from the mana, this one is just an improvisation to fight back the enemy. However, Lucia is not just going to let Tinand a hit on them. "EXPLODE!" The wind des that Tina created exploded and as Tina stood up, the explosions caught her, and she didn''t get to stand up after that. "That''s a pathetic disy you have done out there, Tina." Tina can barely talk nor stand up. She is just enduring the pain of burns she experienced after catching the explosion head-on. "Your form is pretty much the same as Queen Tanya''s but theck of graceful andposed manner. You are too tense to do anything." "I am sorry that I am so weak..." Tina coughed up blood. "And what? Give up? Stand back up. Use that pain you experience as a motivation to stand back up. If this is a real battle, you are dead before you can even fight back. Stand up, show me. Show me and prove that Queen Tanya is not wrong of teaching you the [Rainfall of Sirius]." With a snap, her wounds healed. She grits her teeth and stood back up. Lucia and Lina are clearly holding back but Tina is still battered. However, this isn''t the time to be sentimental. She picks up the battered sword and without saying anything, she charges again, head-on. This time, Lina didn''t st her off with her magic or even used the Morning Star to send her flying off in the distance. Even Lucia didn''t release a fireball. Tina hastily swings her sword and she is trying to at least leave a single wound on Lina. However, Lina is not just going to stand there and let Tinand a single hit. "I know I am very weak. I know from the very start that I am not a worthy ruler of the Insect Kingdom. However, I promised my mother, that I will have to ascend into the throne, change this kingdom for the better and let it prosper!" CLANG! Lina blocks her sword with the chain in her Morning Star. Tina is gritting her teeth as she tried to sink the battered sword to Lina''s Morning Star. "But... I tried my best. Hard work always pays off but why is it that my hard work seems to be nonexistent? Why is it that I can''t even win in battles like this?!" PENG! Lina''s expertise in Morning Star easily outmatched Tina''s sword and with Tina''s grip to the hilt of the sword weak, it was deflected. Lina didn''t even hesitate and kicked Tina to the abdomen. Sending her to the ground. When Tinanded on the ground, I can see that her tears are about to fall. She is struggling to stand up but she can''t properly do anything. I was about to cast another healing spell on her again when Cotton who was just sleeping on Lucia''s arms opened its eyes and spit on Tina. "Wha- Cotton! What are you doing?!" I was expecting Tina to be disgusted but the expression on her face is not disgust but amazement. I also realized that the previous wounds that are still present on her body after she was kicked hard by Lina slowly disappeared. My eyesnded on Cotton who returned to sleep after that. I am not sure anymore, what the hell is Cotton? And howe she managed to heal Tina''s wounds like she just drank a bottle of Elixir? What kind of beast is Cotton really? Chapter 284 - Cotton The training ended when night engulfs the entire ce. Tina was pretty battered after the battle which made her so tired that she went to sleep after taking a bath. She barely managed to fight back against Lina and Lucia due to how they overwhelmed her. It is normal to get overwhelmed by them but it''s not the ability to fight back that I am doing this to Tina. Tina has destructive prowess already. If shebines that with smart thinking and understanding the battlefield in split seconds, she will be really dangerous. However, shecks that split-second awareness and calctions. I made her fight against those two because they are quick at fighting and they can unleash multiple attacks depending on the situation. I might be lenient to her if her ystyle is simr to how a Tank works since the tanks have the least worries on the battlefield as they are mostly there to stand still and receive the attacks of enemies. They only need to taunt, defend and draw the attacks of enemies while maintaining high health. However, that ystyle does not work on DPS sses like how Tina''s ystyle leans closer to the Swordsman and Magic Knight though it leans more on the former and least on thetter. If she wants to deal with most of the damage and be able to perform better, split-second reactions are needed. I already made my points on her pattern. Her battle style is pretty reckless and for someone who will be facing the Insect Kingdom and the royalties, she wouldn''t pose a threat to anyone at all. Even the regr knights of the Insect Kingdom can easily kill Tina without a problem and that is not an exaggeration. I personally see the guards of the Insect Kingdom and they are close to a level 150 yer. And those are just regr knights and cannon fodder in this kingdom, receable pawns. They are not even the highest order of the soldiers and they are already that strong. For me, I can easily defeat them even with my level. Due to the help of the stats given by the Versatile Weapon to boost my abilities, my stats areparable to level 150 yers. Of course, it also depends on how I can easily dispose of them. ording to the people of the Insect Kingdom and ording to the official announcement, the coronation will start 5 days from now. That means Tina has only 5 days worth of training. While thinking about how to improve Tina''s physique and reaction time, Lucia approached. "Master, I am not sure what is going on but for some reason, Cotton and Tina have high synchronicity with each other. I don''t know whether being an insect person contributes to this but for some unknown reason, theirpatibility with each other is top-notch. It was like they exist for each other." "How did you know this Lucia? Are you perhaps capable of looking through their connection like how you can easily connect and sense the movements of Cotton while she was still an egg?" "Something like that, Master. I don''t know what this power is but I can assure you that it seems to have some sort of connection to my synchronicity to Cotton." "If that is the case, does that mean we may find a chance to know what Cotton is by Tina?" "Not only that, Master. It seems Cotton is able to awaken a partial bit of the hidden power of Tina. I noticed this when Cotton spits on Tina. It was only a bit since I can assume the power that should have be a power-up on Tina was sent straight to her as healing and the remaining bits of power left after she was healed became the remnant power left to give her a boost a bit during that battle." "...Interesting..." It seems Cotton''s origin might have something to do with the Insect Kingdom but because I barely know much in the Insect Kingdom, I don''t think I can see any big figures living in the Insect Kingdom that should have a small connection to Cotton. "That''s all about it, Master. You have already seen what are the results so I don''t think I need to recap it again." "Thank you. You can now go and rest, you did well with Lina today. Go and have some rest, you all deserved it." "Thanks, Master. I will be sleeping now." I nodded and she went to the bed along with Lina and Tina since the three of them share one of the big beds. I don''t need to sleep so I don''t need to even fit myself on that bed and it''s kinda inappropriate to even mix myself with them. That isn''t decent at all. After a bit of contemtion on what to do for the night, I decided to pull out the fodder weapons I have obtained from killing monsters and the rejected weapons I managed to obtain from trying to level up my cksmithing level. Pulling out the Versatile Weapon, I saw a notification that the extraction of the core that the Versatile Weapon is now ready to be extracted and transnted. This was already a few days ago but I decided to postpone checking it up. I want to see what will happen if I extract and transnt those things, however, I didn''t rush on it and decided to let it store for now since I can do it anytime I wanted to do so. I traced the two words engraved on its de. "GREED AND GLUTTONY" I always wonder if these two words indicate the Versatile Weapon as part of the Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series. After all, this came out from the starter pack that I received after I yed as a Versatile. I didn''t receive it from other sources nor did I work hard to obtain it. I just received it without much effort. However, I have doubts it is even part of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series, after all, this is just one weapon and ording to the guide in the past timeline, each of the sins has a weapon to apany it as its description. Shaking my head, I decided to just disregard this and pointed the tip of the Versatile Weapon to the scattered weapons I put on the ground. "[DEVOUR]" The ck dragon that keeps on appearing the moment I recite themand appeared andpared to its past look, it is now looking more fleshy and it is no longer looking simr to a shadow. It is now showing some fleshy form. It isn''t a full fleshy look but just looking at the ck dragon seems to have the same attributes as a slime. Every movement of the ck dragon is so fluid that it looks like a slime that attached itself to my weapon. Perhaps due to it devouring many different things aside from weapons, it managed to take form using those things it devoured as materials, and as a result, it bes like this. The ck dragon is about to devour the weapons when I saw a glimpse of Cotton. I thought Lucia is currently hugging Cotton but seeing Cotton at the edge of the bed and looking at me is making me curious as to why Cotton seems fixated on what I am doing. Without warning, Cotton spits out a few strings made from its silk if I am not wrong? I don''t know what it was called since it doesn''t look like silk at all especially since it looks like saliva due to its fluid-looking form. And before I could stop the devouring process, the ck dragon of my Versatile Weapon opened its ck mouth and like a ck hole, all the weapons were absorbed and my eyes frowned when the notification appeared before me. [No stat increase due to the special item that was added after the devouring process. All stats that were supposed to go as stats for the Versatile Weapon for the amalgamation process has been converted into a unique skill.] [Will you slot the Unique Skill to the Weapon? Three more slots remaining.] Yes/No A unique skill? Instead of the stats, that were supposed to be the ones I earned after performing the devouring process were not processed and as a result, it became a skill? No, this isn''t the same skill that I can use with the weapon in my hand. It is a unique skill that is avable in many weapons. They are a bonus on weapons and they do not exist on any ss trees avable. They are unique because they are one and only. It''s just a big disadvantage sometimes since this Unique Skill cannot be transferred to another weapon in any other way. Most weapons only have one single slot for Unique Skill, but the Versatile Weapon has at least three slots! This is getting troublesome and beneficial to me for some unknown reason. I didn''t have any other choice so without bothering anything, I clicked Yes. Chapter 285 - Mark Of Birth (I) [The Mark of Decay] Type: Passive Tier: EX Info: Every attack dealt by this weapon will stack one [Decay Mark] with a maximum of 15 marks. umting the 15 marks allows the user to unleash an extra attack, [st of Decay] that will inflict true damage against enemies and reduce their defense values by 50% for 5 seconds. The damage inflicted with [st of Decay] depends on how low the remaining HP of the enemy that got hit by the attack. Every 5 stacks will allow the user to increase the attack of the user for 2 seconds by 50% with a maximum of 150% increase for a full stack. One stack will decay after 1 second of not attacking but for every 5 stacks, the decay time will increase from 1 second to 3 seconds. Note: Performbo attacks to immediately gain stacks. This is a message from your friendly neighborhood, Spid*r m*n! ... The skill was not an active one but a passive one. However, it is a passive skill that relies on stacks huh? I am not sure but this skill is pretty strong. The activation is a bit hard but not impossible. And for the first time, the one who writes the note is not an as*hole and a joker for once. He is giving a piece of advice though it gives one pun, it''s prettyme. But that advice was indeed the best way to umte stacks. Every weapon type can performbo attacks. And for this reason, this might allow me to change my fighting style. The 15 stacks will allow me to increase my overall damage to 150% which is pretty big depending on the enemy and with the 15 stackses the ability that will appear after umting the 15 stacks and its effects are simr to my other enemy defense down but with the addition of the damage, it can inflict which is true damage, a skill that is capable of ignoring defensive values. This is not something you will scoff about. This is one of the reasons debuffs are pretty good to use on bosses, as soon as their debuffs stacks, the enemies will slowly be bearable to handle. Is this the mutation effect that happened after the Versatile Weapon devoured the spit of Cotton? I looked at Cotton but she is no longer there and went back to the side of the sleeping Lucia. Now, I am more confused than ever on what kind of creature is Cotton. The night passed by while I am contemting what is the purpose of Cotton and didn''t notice that it is already morning. ... After we took an order of food, we went back to the ce where Tina is training. She is still quite battered up due to yesterday but with the help of healing, her wounds are not that big to be severe enough that would allow me to cancel her training. "Have you already known what your ws are based on the battle yesterday? Do you know what you reallyck to survive in a battle?" "I am we-" "WRONG. You are not weak and I can say that your prowess is terrifying. It''s not necessary you need to be strong to win. What youck are awareness and a calctive mind." "Huh?" "I keep seeing you in the battle as getting undecisive especially if you are being faced into a tight spot. You get to panic so quickly that I am not sure why you do that. Due to this, you can easily fail and will instead use the method of fighting brashly and empty-minded. Youck the capacity to calcte things with quick timing. It is a big loss as it can definitely boost your capability in a battle. You need to think about whether you attack, press on, or defend and do proper actions during that time." "I am doing that kind of thing?" "Have you noticed it? Yes, you are doing a fatal error that would surely kill you in the process. Have you noticed the way Lina fights during thest mock battle inside the castle of Queen Tanya? Do you remember the time that Lina managed to counter your attack [Rainfall of Sirius]?" "Yes. Ms. Lina performed it very well that I didn''t expect her to do it like that to disrupt me." "[Rainfall of Sirius] is a troublesome skill as they can hit really bad and they are hard to dodge. But Lina easily managed to defeat you while you are using that skill, if it was strong, why did you lose?" "Because Ick the capacity to do a quick timing?" "That is one of the reasons, but the main reason why you lost on that fight is that you thought the enemy will not be able to counterattack while you are using the skill and you can easily defeat them. But Lina used her wits and managed to bypass that trouble you made on her and defeat you before you can unleash troublesome hits on her." "If that is the case, what can I do? I keep doing the training but nothing is happening to me! I need to get stronger!" "No, you are plenty strong enough. You need to develop the ability to think about what to do next in quick timing. I prepared a simtion for you so that you can develop this ability much easier. We can''t use the chance to fight against enemies as it is pretty dangerous to do especially since you need to confront your family, we need you to be perfectly healthy. Fighting against monsters might be the best method to do that but you don''t need to do that." I pull out one blueprint and simr to any blueprint I used at appropriate times, this blueprint is something I made in purpose for training for agility, however, this isn''t solely for training agility, this will allow Tina to develop what she wascking without the need to fight against monsters or enemies. A safe shortcut if I say so myself. "Materialize! Now, let''s continue the training yesterday!" And as I said that, a volley of arrows fly straight to Tina. Chapter 286 - Mark Of Birth (II) During the time Tina is being trained by Manato, the usual breakfast gathering is currently happening in the pce of the Insect Kingdom. If anyone is pretty familiar with the Insect Kingdom''s royalties, they never eat together, and if they did, only on certain asions. They never eat together for some unknown reason. However, after Princess Tina''s "death", the family started to gather together and enjoy meals like how a normal family does. Their previous gloomy mood is no longer there and was instead reced withughter and a lighthearted atmosphere that anyone who is not familiar with them will think that they are a happy family. But behind that happy family facade, lies the dark and ugly things they are trying to cover. ... "Father, you should have done that decision a long time ago! If you have done that, we wouldn''t have suffered seeing the face of that woman for quite a long time! Ugh! Just thinking about her face made me want to throw my utensils at her," the second eldest daughter and the one with thergest wings in their family, Alexandria said to her father who was busy eating. "I agree with sister! She doesn''t deserve to dine with us and yet she keeps her head high and acts as a close sibling of ours! What a b*tch!" Pierre, the youngest of the siblings and the one who holds the fastest flight speed due to his peculiar wings and light body. "Now, now, kids. If you don''t want to remember something that shouldn''t be remembered, then better forget it! It''s not worth talking about it, is there?" ss, their mother smiled as she wipes the mouth of Pierre that is smeared with honey. Among them, she has the most unique wings as it looks like it is made of ss which made sense as to why her parents named her ss. Although she is the biological mother of Tina, she didn''t love Tina in the slightest. She is disgusted that she came from her. "Did you two really think through about it or you guys are just idiots? Doing the n requires lots of things and timing. You don''t just execute the n before it is decided. Once the two of you receive the royal responsibilities to rule the Insect Kingdom, then you guys will know how hard it is. This is not just a joke," their father, Goliath, is the insect person who has the biggest wings among them before Alexandria was born. However, the size is still quite big you can''t say it is a small pair of wings. It isn''t just his quality, it is what he was born with. "Don''t worry father. As soon as we inherit the title, we will rule the Insect Kingdom and make it prosper! It will allow us to get rid of many things we are hating the most and has the potential harm in our city!" Pierre said. "Heh, big words, brother. However, I doubt you can even do what you are proiming. After all, problems are not easily resolved in one day. It needs resources, and ns to be sessfully cleaned up." "No worries, sister. Now that our b*tchy sister is gone, I can now be at ease and do whatever I needed to do. One thorn in the side is gone already." "I can agree on that. Anyways, father. Will the announcement be a grand one? Will many people visit and look at us?" Alexandria asked her father. After all, she likes mour and attention. She wanted the attention to be on her. "Of course. It is a grand scale. I even heard from the harbor that the ships with people and aristocrats from other continents are also visiting to congratte and give us gifts," Goliath answered as he pats her head. "Hmph, those humans only know how to bootlick. Those f*ckers should have disappeared in this world. We, insect people, are capable of ruling thisnd alone. It is pretty much even mentioned in our history that we managed to rise as a kingdom without the help of humans so why do we need humans to develop?" "As much as I want to do that, the humans are one of our suppliers to many things we use every day. If they disappear, no one will be able to procure it out from the other continent easilypared to these merchants. It is unwise unless you already have a n to counter that," her mother exined. "Heh, I already have a n with that, I am already doing my job in the dark and no one knows about it except us." "If that is the case, then we will see that performance soon. When can we expect to see the spectacle?" Pierre asked. "Just be patient guys, I know you are all excited to be liberated from the hands of these humans but we need to take it slow. We can''t allow them to alert everyone." The conversation of the tyrants continues as the food started to get cold. No one knows but the sinister n is currently being processed now. Goliath grinned as he looks at the Shield and Spear disyed on their estate. The sheer beauty of the spear and shield will even sway a young baby and get attracted to it. A sinister smirk appeared on his face. ... "Again!" Tina is having a hard time finishing the course and she was continuously bombarded with arrows before she can even get a few steps forward. Her goal is to move forward and get into the end without getting hit by the arrows. If she was ever hit by the arrows, she will have to restart the course back to the very beginning. "Master, I suggest that she rest for a bit. As much as we wanted her to push herself to the limits, we can''t keep her suffering a lot. It will impact our progress if she gets sick in the process. Not all people can take the spartan training that you introduced after all." "Alright, Tina. You can stop and rest for a bit. We are here to let you learn, not to let you die, take plenty of rest before you go and continue the training. Besides, it''s almost lunch, I will be cooking." Tinay t on the ground while panting in the air, Lucia handed her a small bottle of Fresh Water that will reduce fatigue and thirst. "Good work. You are progressing slowly but surely." Tina grabbed the water bottle and started to chug down the contents of the bottle. "I wonder what are my parents'' reactions once they know I am still alive huh?" "I haven''t learned about your story, maybe you can tell us so that we will at least know your current circumstances? It is a bit hard but we have no idea why your parents will do an act of Prolicide1?" "Ha...this will be a long story..." "Please tell us," I joined their conversation. It sounded interesting and I also want to know a bit deeper knowledge about her too. "Maybe I should start after I managed to learn how to read and write..." the act of killing one''s child or children Chapter 287 - Mark Of Birth (III) "When I was still a kid, I am always in the library of the castle. Compared to my younger sister who keeps on interacting with other people, I prefer to stay inside and read books. You can say I am an introverted child but you can say I was raised to be like that. My parents are always busy and I barely see them unless I actively seek them out. I thought that my parents are kind and will help their children in any way they can. But only when I was older did I realize that mistake. When I turned 10, I realized that my parents were more loving and caring to my younger sister and brother. Not only that, whenever some kind of festival happened, my sister and brother would be the first people to get the invitation and my parents would automatically bring them along. As for me, I rarely got any of those things my parents do. Whenever I tried to ask them for my invitation, they would say the same alibi, "There are only two invitations and they are named to your siblings. You don''t have one sent by them." During that time, I thought it was just a one-time event that happened. However, it repeated not once, twice, or thrice, but many times that I lost count of it already. Tea parties, gatherings, birthday celebrations, or even a normal festival that would allow royalty to show themselves to the people, now that I am retelling it, I barely have any experiences on them. I barely got invited and if I ever get an invitation, I would always meet with something unfortunate which results in me not being able to attend. It''s not just a coincidence, it''s might be an intentional thing. However, I decided to ignore it. "Yes, perhaps, they have a reason they just can''t tell that is why they are doing this. Yes, that might be it." I keep myself in denial. I lived like that in denial every time. Now that I think about it, my siblings are also showing contempt for me. I might have noticed but I guess I also ignored it and believed in their goodness," Tina exined and although I know she is not yet done exining, I can tell one thing. Blind Devotion. As a kid, you will surely trust what an adult is going to say to you, no matter if it was a lie or the truth. For a child, an adult''s word is the absolute truth and nothing but the truth. But as we grow older, that truth will surely reveal its true color. In Tina''s case, her parents are more in favor of her two siblings, while she is just ignored. Listening to her childhood story, isn''t this a bit cruel? Not only that, this isn''t something a royalty should do. Her experiences are more like she is being ignored than being loved. Her parents barely did anything for her to be exposed to the others and not only that, it seems like the only people who ever get to know her are those who directly interacted with her and I doubt she has that many people. "I see. But then, I don''t understand why your parents would just ignore you. Even if you have multiple siblings, I doubt there are parents who would deliberately do that kind of thing," Lucia looks troubled after listening to Tina. "Nah, there are people like that, Lucia. You are just blessed that your parents are good to you and care for you. There are indeed some unfortunate individuals like Tina who experienced it. I can say they are assholes at times but this isn''t something I will judge by myself since there is always a reason. As for Tina''s case, I can tell there is some sort of reason for that." Tina looked at me with a confused stare. "You want to confront them right? Then prove to them that you are not an insignificant figure that is only good at doing nothing but being a princess. After all, a princess is not a word that describes someone who has an easy life, but a candidate for the throne to rule as a queen in the future. You are not just there to upy the seat and sit there looking pretty. Prove that they have poorly chosen to dispose of you. Show them how wrong they are." Tina looked at me with shocked eyes. She was speechless but her eyes are telling me everything. It looks like she understood a little bit. "Alright. Enough with the pep talk. Time to continue the training." ... Halfway through the training, Tina slowly developed what she iscking. It is subtle but she is slowly hanging there. I exined to her how to utilize this while keeping her mind stable and seeing what is happening before her while doing the visualization too. In the end, she managed to grasp what it but she needed practice and mastery. We still have enough time to do it and we will take advantage of it. "Good work Tina. You are finally getting the grasp of it. You are progressing smoothly. Once you managed to master it, I will let you spar with Lucia and Lina once more." "Thank you for the help!" "No worries. I already have gotten casual anyways and I am no longer treating you like royalty anyways. In fact, I should be apologizing for being so harsh." "Are you sure you are not possessed, Master? Don''t you think it is a bit too much for you to apologize?" Lina poked fun at me for bing casual. "Look here, Lina..." I wanted to reason to her but then, Tinaughed. "No, don''t worry about it. I prefer to be treated as an equal instead of being treated like royalty. I hate the feeling of it like I am not even worth bing part of the group due to my status." "I get you, girl! Don''t worry! Everyone is pretty chill. Master tends to ignore our origins and just casually talk to us. It''s okay to be like that." As we are chatting, I suddenly felt a presence. It isn''t just someone passing by, I can feel the hostile intent. I closed my eyes and tried to pinpoint the source and visualize everything around me. I opened my eyes and with a heavy breath, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon, and without uttering a word, I changed its form into a hook and chain and throw it to a random tree that I have a bad feeling about since earlier. I was not surprised when I managed to hook the one responsible for the odd feeling I keep on feeling since earlier. "GAH!" When I pulled the responsible for that, I quickly grabbed his cor and quickly change the form of my weapon into a dagger before I firmly aimed it on his neck. "Who sent you, Motherf*cker?!" Chapter 288 - Mark Of Birth (IV) The enemy immediately bites his tongue before he can even do anything. He died immediately after biting the part of his tongue that has an artery that is directly connected to his heart. It looks like an assassin capable of doing that kind of technique, he even has a few daggers and throwing knives on his body which means he is indeed here with the intent to kill. There aren''t yers avable here due to this being an exclusive quest avable to me, also, Aquagius is entirely inessible before the Pioneer Quest is issued. The only thing we can say is that this assassin is an NPC that should be from someone with high status. I inspected the assassin since he was covered from head to toe, no one knows who is under the guise of the assassin. I checked the assassin''s face and I immediately noticed that this guy is also an insect person. Still, I didn''t expect that you can indeed die by biting your own tongue. After all, I have bitten my tongue identally many times but I am still alive. Perhaps, I needed to know what part is needed to bite for me to do that kind of performance. Just in case I also needed to do that kind of thing too. "He died!" Tina started looking around for more enemies but it seems like no one is here other than this assassin who died. "This guy has done a wasted effort," I shook my head before grabbing his head. "[Necromancy: Revive the Dead.]" "Necromancy?!" Tina was surprised the moment I used the skill. Although this skill is purely used on monsters, it is also applied to people as long as they are already dead and treated as a "corpse" already. The dead assassin shook a bit before a green light engulfed his whole body and his lifeless eyes opened again and he slowly stood up. "...Master." "State your name, your affiliation, and also your reason for being here." "Yes. I am Papillon and I served as one of the assassins of the Insect Kingdom''s royalties. I was tasked to secretly kill insignificant humans who are not nobles visiting the Insect Kingdom to get rid of the majority of them in the Insect Kingdom before the event happen." My eyebrows furrowed when I heard this. After all, I have heard of this force before but I never expected that thing that happened as a history of the Insect Kingdom where humans were killed by an unknown assant would be caused by this assassin. It was arge scale so my guess is that he is not the only one who is under the orders of the royalties. "Sent to kill the humans who are not nobles?! Why is the pce is doing this?!" Tina grabs the cor of the undead. "I am sorry but I don''t know how to answer that since I don''t know why they are doing this. I am just a mere servant tasked to kill. Nothing more, nothing less." "Khhh!" Tina seems adamant about hitting him but Lina stopped her. "There is no point hitting her, Princess Tina. He is already under master''s power as he already died. It''s a pointless effort," Lucia exined allowing for Tina to stop. "Do you have an aplice while doing this?" "Yes. Two others are also tasked the same as me. Currently, they are killing waiting for a good chance to kill a few of them." I already got the necessary info and understood what it was now. "Alright, I order you to die." "Understood!" the undead pulled out the knife on his hip and stab his jugr with it, causing him to instantly die. "Master, you should have at least utilized him as your servant and kill," Lucia suggested. "No need. I can do the job alone. Lucia, Lina, protect Tina while you go back to the inn. Don''t hesitate to kill anyone who will try to kill you while you are on the way to the inn. Don''t hesitate. Ah, also, Lucia, kindly burn the corpse and leave nothing behind to avoid any evidence from showing up next morning." "Understood," Lina bowed down and Lucia nodded, hyped to do some killing before she ignited her hands and throw the little fireball in her palm to the corpse, burning the dead body to the crisp. After giving orders to the two, I quickly went and maneuvered around the buildings while under the [Stealth], also, the [Cape of Hiding]''s unique ability would be very useful here since it''s already nighttime. I already traversed the rooftops of the Insect Kingdom in the past timeline due to one mission where we needed to deal with an escaping culprit of the monster breakout of the Insect Kingdom, which resulted in the countless deaths of many NPCs. It wasn''tplex and the rooftops of every house here are tight and close to each other which is why I am very capable of jumping from one building to another without worrying about falling to the ground. My eyes looked around and I noticed one figure above the rooftops. He is near the center of the Insect Kingdom''s za, which means the target of the assassin is somewhere in the za. I slowly approached the bastard before covering his mouth and stabbing his jugr with my Versatile Weapon in the form of a dagger and ripping his throat out. The assassin barely managed to notice my presence allowing me for quick execution. As for the body, I didn''t dispose of it just like how I ordered Lucia to burn it to ashes. This one, I needed a bit of chaos so that in case the other assassin is still hiding, he will be rmed and force himself/herself to escape. With a light kick, the dead body of the assassin roll from the rooftop beforending to the table below with a loud thud, causing the people below to be unlucky enough to witness a corpse falling from the sky. I quickly escaped the area. I can''t risk myself being seen by the guards once they investigate the area.. Now, I just needed thest assassin to take the bait and escape before I make the strike. Chapter 289 - Mark Of Birth (V) "What is the ruckus going on? Did Tonpa already do a strike on his target?" Thest assassin who was trying her best to conceal her presence heard the noise outside. Her target is a family eating nearby a famous eatery. She ns on dropping a few drops of poison on their food without them knowing. With her body secreting a bit of poison, any bodily fluid she drops is going to be poison to a normal person who has taken it in their body. One drop and you are dead. Her focus is solely on the family but for some unknown reason, her ears keep distracting the screams. "If he is done, he should already be here in my position to help me eliminate the other humans in the area." She waited patiently for the next timing to appear to drop poison on the food. However, her ears were quick to pick up sounds as she heard the militia of the soldiers who are responsible for keeping the peace of the ce remains stable. "Find the killer! To kill someone by ripping his throat out isn''t that brutal?! That assassin needed to be punished for killing an Insect Person! Find him and detain him whoever he is! If they try to escape or struggle, don''t hesitate to kill them!" The female assassin was stunned when she heard the words of one of the soldiers. An insect person? Killed by ripping his throat out? That''s not how Tonpa kills! Tonpa specializes in small doses of poison and dart throwing. He didn''t like to kill with bloody oues since he wanted to be a silent assassin that can kill without shedding the blood of his targets. Although Papillon has a chance to kill in that method, he is not going to kill a fellow insect man since the target to kill this time is humans. So why did a fellow insect person die? And in a brutal form at that. The footsteps of the soldiers are getting heavier which means they are getting near. As much as the female assassin wanted toplete the mission immediately, she decided to retreat. Even though they are hired by the people of the royal pce, they still cannot get themselves caught as that will jeopardize the job they were given. Also, an assassin getting caught by the guards is quite a humiliation to the pride of the assassins. She quickly moved away using the darkness in the shadows and slipped through without a word away from the soldiers. She didn''t want to get caught before she can even finish the mission. An important mission that will bring glory to the Insect Empire, and the liberation of the empire she lives in is not too far anymore. An assassin''s safest ce is in the shadows. One with the shadows and live like a shadow, as an assassin, they have to work with it to be to their advantage. However, for the first time in her life, the shadows she was hiding in, for the first time, she felt ufortable. The more she delved deeper into the darkness, the more it felt like something is lurking in the darkness. Waiting. Staring. The moment she shows her weakness, it will bare its fangs and devour her whole. "What is this feeling?" "Maybe it''s the fear of death perhaps?" "Fear of death? Yeah, maybe it was- wait who-" STAB! The female assassin''s vision suddenly dimmed on her left eye. She didn''t know what happened but a sharp tinge of pain suddenly registered in her eyes. "For an assassin, you guys sure are worthless in hiding in the shadows." Thest thing the female assassin knows is that someone has made a move before she can do anything. As her life shed by, she saw the eyes of a wolf staring at her as her life slowly fades away. "I guess, that''s that." The killer who killed the assassins. It was none other than deheart, who looks scarier than the assassin with his wolf mask on as he kicked the female assassin''s body off the roof and disappeared again in the darkness. ... BANG! "WHAT!? What do you mean they all died?!" The voice of Pierre echoed in the room as he m his hands to the table after he received the report. "The other one is missing but since he is still missing, that means he was disposed of somewhere while the other two are killed and were thrown off the roof. The soldiers are looking out who are walking suspiciously around the area," the secretary of Pierre, Sera reported as she handed out the papers Pierre needed. "I thought they are the best of the best assassins out there! Why did they die?! Did they ever aplish anything that you can report me?" "Unfortunately, Prince Pierre, the three don''t have any kills done before they are killed. They were killed before they can even act an attempt." CRASH! "USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! F*CKING USELESS!" The door opens and Alexandria appeared before them. "Pierre? What was that sound I heard earlier... Oh." "Silence, Sister! I am in a bad mood right now, I want to be alone for a while." "That is not good, brother. One failure isn''t enough tosh out like this." "BUT I NEVER FAILED IN MY PLANS EVEN ONCE! THEY ALL CAME TO FRUITION EVERY TIME! NOT A SINGLE FAILURE!" "Heh, I told you before, didn''t I? Even if you are too sure about the n, even if the sess rate is already at 100%, it wouldn''t hurt to make another backup in case certain circumstances simr to this happen again, right?" Alexandria sat on the table and grab the papers that Sera handed to Pierre and started skimming on them. "I can''t ept it. Failure is not an option. I am the perfect prince. I can''t just fail my ns, I will need to make the most perfect n that no one can sabotage or stop!" "Tsk, tsk. This is your sickness, brother. A failure is always an option. And if you failed, just try it again but this time, learn what made your first attempt fail! Always remember that, idiot brother.. You are the future king. Once you be the king, failure is no longer an option, therefore, to avoid failure, you needed to at least learn what it was to feel it!" Chapter 290 - Mark Of Birth (VI) The streets are noisy and soldiers are moving around the streets and asking the people who are hanging out on the streets or just there with some business or they are just passing by. I know the cause of the ruckus since I am the one who started it but I am not going to confess nor talk to the soldiers. It''s a hassle. When I arrived at the inn and returned to our room, the three girls are already back and they are currently looking outside the window. "Master, does the ruckus outside caused by you?" "Yeah. I disposed of the two assassins already and throw their bodies in the public area, causing the guards and the people to panic." "Huh?! Why did you do that?! Didn''t you order Lucia-san to burn the remains of the first assassin that was killed? Why did you expose the two?!" Tina was confused but I can also feel her furious reaction. "Simple reason. That is to provoke the perpetrators and also to give them a warning." "Provoke?" "We know that the assassins were sent by the royal pce but do we know who they are? No, we don''t. And so, since they wanted to do something to the innocent civilians by killing them, it''s not a bad thing to also kill them in the process. Since the assassins that they sent died, they will be wary of who their enemies will be and they will halt the progress of their ns or hasten it depending on their situation''s urgency. Right now, it seems they are in the rush for the Insect Kingdom''s liberation from human grasp and decided to make that choice to strike fear to the humans that the Insect Kingdom is mighty and strong enough to stand on their own." "So you mean, they are doing this just to show that the Insect Kingdom no longer needed help and can be independent?" "Basically, that is their motivation for killing innocent humans. They are doing the most violent way to do that. Now that I killed a few of their assassins, there will only be two things that we can expect to be their next move. The first would be they sent more assassins and were more skilledpared to the first three assassins. Of course, the probability is not that low but it is lowerpared to the second one. The second and the most likely course of action that would act as beneficial for them would be to dy their n of mass genocide. "No, they would ruin their reputation by doing the first choice!" "Of course, that depends on who was nning it. If they are bloodthirsty enough, they will do the first choice. As I said, it all depends on who ns this. Honestly, I am not worried but it will be troublesome for them." Tina still looked worried. It''s natural but I never have doubts about this. The behavior of those guys is pretty clear as day. However, I would indeed be worried since their family is the one doing this thing. But that is not something I can criticize. Her main goal is to surpass her parents and siblings. So in that case, the only thing she needed to do is improve and view her family as an enemy, no matter if she love them or not. ... "Gah... even though this is just a game, their drinks hit the spot..." I muttered to myself as I gaze at the stars on the balcony of the inn. Every room has its own balcony so for someone who doesn''t sleep at night in the game, it''s a good ce to stay while waiting for the morning to arrive. Despite being a game, it doesn''t even feel like I am inside of one. Andtely, the people I interact with more are the NPCs and my followers. I barely have had any contact with yerstely and although this was the same oue in the past timeline where almost all of my interactions are with the NPCs, it is the best thing. After all, even the most normal NPC in the game has a backstory. I may have returned to the past timeline to exact my revenge for the bastards who ruined my life but that doesn''t matter much now, does it? "Ah..." I turned around and saw Tina currently holding a bottle of the local drink of the Insect People. Although I am not familiar with it, I think they call it the Nectar Wine if I didn''t get it wrong. I also noticed Cotton is resting on her head. I was surprised since she usually just sleep together with Lucia so this is the first time I have seen her on other people other than Lucia. "Huh... I thought you would be the first person to fall asleep. Turns out you are not even sleeping," I pour the drink I have been drinking in my cup and offered it to her. "Care for some?" "Ah...no I have this," she then raises the bottle of Nectar Wine to decline my gesture. "Is that so? Then, care to sit beside me?" "...Don''t mind if I do." "Why are you still awake? It''s so unlike you to be awake at this hour," I asked while swirling the contents of my cup. "What about you? I never saw you fall asleep and although there are times you disappear, I doubt you are sleeping." I am definitely sleeping the moment I disappear. You just don''t see me do that. "I always see you working even at night time. No one works thatte and stays awake the whole day. It looks like what my parents said is true that humans are weird creatures." "Heh, as much as I can say for myself, this is pretty normal. Also, it is a waste if I just sleep, so I didn''t bother sleeping. Besides, sleeping will invite death gs to us. I don''t want anyone to die while they are near me after all." "Hmm, although I understand a bit of your reasoning, I still don''t think I understood your motivation." "That is not needed at all. Only those who experienced pain and hardship after losing someone will usually be the only people who can easily understand me, If you try to read me like some kind of book, prepare for a massive headache alright?" ... Tina went silent and like me, she gazes at the sky, holding the bottle of Nectar Wine. Although she is just holding it, she never actually drank its contents. She was just hugging it. I didn''t bother her and let her rx since she is the one who keeps all of their efforts in check. Not talking to her would allow her to open up if she is ready. "Defying my parents, do I really have to do this for them to ept me on who I was?" "Are you getting insecure by that thought?" "Yes. I never defied my parents'' teachings and all of them are memorized in my head, I can even recite them if needed." "You are not wrong of doubting your parents. However, I will ask you. Why you didn''t receive any marks?" "Mark? What mark?" "You don''t remember? Queen Tanya asked you this before right? Like the mark of "eptance." It''s what they are called in the Insect Kingdom." "Mark of eptance? What is that?" "I see, you never knew what it was. Since you never got one at all right? Queen Tanya told me about it but to think you managed to live with your fingers and limbs still attached to your body." "Huh? Can you care to exin?" I shook my head a bit and tried to recall the memories of the time I read about it. "Mark of eptance or mostly known in the Insect Kingdom as the "Mark of Birth" is something you can call, branding of insect people''s babies. The reason it was called the Mark of eptance is that it is a mark that signifies you are wanted to be loved in this world and there are still people who loved you. That they don''t regret you from being born in this world. They also call it the Mark of Birth since all newborn babies will have this mark to signify they are weed." "Not only that, but from what I know, the mark also serves as a catalyst for the awakening of something in the person who has the mark. If I remember correctly, it was for power maturation. It allows your strong power to mature and not just to stagnate." Tina went quiet before she looked at me again. "If that is the case, does that mean everyone in the Insect Kingdom has the mark right?" "Yes, they have it." "Then what about those who didn''t bear the mark?" "Pretty obvious. Before they are even able to enjoy the world, they will be killed and disposed of. Theybel the markless as rejects of societies and useless." The moment she heard that she furrowed her eyebrows as sweat slowly appeared on her forehead. Her eyes are wavering and it seems she is struggling at keeping her head cool after learning what is the purpose of the mark. "I.... I don''t have a mark. Is that the main reason, I am not able to develop my abilities at all?!" Chapter 291 - Mark Of Birth (VII) For Insect People, the mark is the one that will allow them to awaken theirtent powers and dominate depending on their bloodlines. If it wasn''t even crucial at all, no one would bother of the marks and the social hierarchy wouldn''t exist and everyone would be on equal terms in power. And yet, due to this, many who are not epted by their parents would suffer and the majority would be the unmarked babies would be disposed to avoid "ipetence". It''s a weird culture and practice to the insect people and I may never understand it but that is natural. As for Tina, it seems Queen Tanya is correct that hertent powers were remaining to be awakened and were repressed as time pass by. The mark of the Insect People can be seen in their skin and depending on the gender, the female would receive the mark and will be imprinted on their chest, above the cleavage once they grow up as an adult while for men, the brand would be ced on their back. Once the adult male insect people managed to grow their own wings as a process of awakening, they would sometimes develop majestic wings or even wings strong enough topete against birds, angels, and devils in flight. "I know that Insect People are reliant on the mark to be a powerful individual and to be recognized in a society that is judgemental to those who don''t have the marks but I will be sure that the mark is not something necessary for you to be strong. You, yourself is a big proof that even without the mark of eptance branded to you, you are able to be independent and strong and if you train more, enhance your skills and ignore the prejudice and ept yourself, there is nothing you can''t ovee." "Even my parents and siblings?" "They are just a minority of the people that you will face and they can be your first hurdle. In fact, surpassing them is only going to happen once you push on. Treat them as barriers. Do not limit yourself." After thest cup of my drink, I stood up from the balcony and gaze at the sky for onest time. "I will be going back inside. You should also rest after staying here, you still have the training to do for tomorrow. It would help you to be energized than to have no sleep. Good night." With the conversation with Tina wrapped up for the night, I spent the rest of the night crafting scrolls and raising some of my alchemy levels and scribe level. After all, I needed topensate for these things to be able to increase my firepower while having the slowest growth in levels. And with that, the days of the final showdown are looming closer and closer. ... ... PENG! BOOM! From the smoke, Tina emerges from the smoke that appeared after the explosion of the attack of Lucia, and with a swing, she knocked the Morning Star from Lina''s hands that was about to attack her. Tina then grabbed the fallen Morning Star and switches her choice of weapon and attacked Lucia who was staying her distance from the battle to release her long-range attacks. BANG! The morning starnded on the ground, just a few inches from Lucia who is already panting from dodging Tina''s attacks. "Alright, stop. Have a rest everyone. Lina, Lucia, good work out there. Tina, let''s talk,e here for a sec." Tina seems to have noticed the heavy tone of my voice and decided toe next to me. "Did I have other wrong movements? I will do my best to..." "Congrattions. It seems you have soaked in what I am teaching you." "Eh?" Tina didn''t expect what I just said to her. "You have some ws here and there but it is pretty minor and even I would do that kind of mistake from time to time, you are not the only one to do something like that too." "E-eh, thanks I guess." "However, even though you did well today, that doesn''t mean you can also do well on the actual battle. Remember that the actual battle will decide whether we live or die. One small mistake and our lives would already be on the line and perhaps that small dangling line would be the end of it. Do not let this get the best of you. You still have plenty to learn. But that doesn''t mean you no longer need to improve. I stood up from the stump I was sitting on and stretch a bit before ncing at her for a bit before looking at the sky. "Tomorrow, that is the day of the reckoning. I am not the main character during that day, I will be just a supporting actor in the battle. You are the Main Protagonist for tomorrow, so do what you must do." Yes, the confrontation will be happening tomorrow. As someone who is experiencing it for the first time, I am kinda scared and excited for the oue. Perhaps, the result of the confrontation tomorrow will change the Main Quest storyline drastically. Whether it will create a big impact or not, this is something I need to see, whether we fail or not. ... ... Morning... Pretty early for many people but we are already out and currently staying in a small cafe drinking coffee. The selection would be happening in the royal pce''s announcement ground where the people can see what will be happening. It''s been a while in the past timeline but this ce no longer exists in the past timeline since the castle itself was blown to pieces by the main boss of the Pioneer Quest. Seeing it in full glory gives me fixed feelings that I don''t know how to really feel. "It looks like it is going to start anytime soon. Is everyone ready?" I looked at Tina, Lina, and Lucia who are currently eating the snacks. "Yes, Master. The moment of truth is almost here." "Um..is it really going to be alright to do it in the public?" Tina is now hesitant. "What, are you hesitant now? Did you get cold feet already? What about the sparring we have done? All the training we are currently doing? Are you going to just give up now?" Lucia looked at her seriously. As someone who is also a former royalty, it seems Lucia is seeing herself on Tina. "Ah..." Tina almost choked when Luciashed out. "Sorry. I just got pissed a bit." "Tina. I know you are hesitant on our n of approach but this is the only way for us to get a chance to have closer contact with them without being barred by the guards. Also, this a chance for you to know whether it is necessary revenge for you to do it for the people or just to save yourself from falling grace." As we are talking, the sound of trumpets started ringing, and the people around us started to gather to the area where the selection is going to happen. "It''s already starting. Tina, are you sure about this? If you want, you can..." I looked at her since this is thest chance for her to back out. "No. I needed to see this and do it." She stood up and followed the crowd. Lucia just shook her head for a bit but she smiled for a bit as she looked at Tina''s back. "Let''s go, Master. We can''t just keep Tina hog all the limelightter alright?" ... The selection. Since the "death" of Princess Tina, the heir of the Insect Kingdom is undecided and for this matter that King Goliath is already old enough to keep up with ruling the whole kingdom, he is now looking for the rightful sessor for the crown and the responsibilities. The selection is also the time where the confirmation of the next ruler will also be announced. No one knows who will be the next heir as Princess Alexandra and Prince Pierre are all formidable and both had the chance to be the rightful heir. However, the selection event that will be happening today will also be marked in the history books. An unexpected variable will appear and the kingdom will soon fall into disarray. "The King and Queen of the Insect Kingdom will now be entering! Please wee them with a round of apuse!" Looking at the crowd''s response, it seems the king and queen are respectable in their eyes. In the past timeline, they have been killed alongside the castle blown to smithereens. "Your parents are pretty influential huh?" Lina looked at Tina who is currently gritting her teeth in anger. She is wearing a hood so no one can see who she was. I can feel the anger seething from her teeth as she grits hard and prevents herself fromunching an attack at the wrong time. "Now entering, Princess Alexandria and Prince Pierre!" When the two appeared, it seems it was natural that Tina would need to exact her revenge and finish them off. The two siblings of Tina are the two demons who changed their name and decided to manipte the royalty and instigated the attack of the Insect Kingdom that almost prompted its destruction. No wonder the situation seems a bit troublesome. It seems like the demons are already here sinking their fangs. "The demon twins, Lemis and Remis." The f*ckers who caused the Pioneer Quest of the Aquagius region to suffer the biggest and caused the quest to almost fail.. One of the pioneer battles that we didn''t manage to save the entire kingdom from its inevitable destruction. Chapter 292 - The Reckoning (I) They might not look like they were before in the past timeline, I can tell that they are the genuine twins that I have fought before. Due to their ns, it seems like they are nning to bolster the forces of the Insect Kingdom and make it a prosperous, independent ce that canpete with the other continents. However, they are in fact demons who are capable of morphing into the looks of their prey. In other words, the faces of the two that are currently being used by them right now belong to the "former prince and princess," the original siblings of Tina. Although I still didn''t grasp the full picture as of why Tina''s parents didn''t give her a mark and yet let her live, I am sure that the demons are responsible for the weird happenings in the Insect Kingdom, the behavior of the king and the assassination of Tina in Sandurk region. It''s all connected. And even though I am not yet sure whether the Weapon of Pride is currently due to the twin demons, I can tell that these two demons have already nned it since the very beginning. Not sure how they did it but they surely did without a doubt. These two f*ckers reek their cunning nature. I am not even sure how I managed to survive fighting against them in the past timeline. Then I notice Tina already reaching on her sword on her hip. I quickly used my hand to stop her. She looked at me with a face that is saying "Why are you stopping me?" gesture. I only answered her with a shake in my head. Being hasty will just kill us in here and the n would go into jeopardy. It''s not yet the actual time to attack just yet. The court magician of the Insect Kingdom also followed them carrying a scroll. "Calm down everyone. I know all of the citizens are now curious about who will be the next person in line who will be inheriting the throne after the current king will step down from his seat. Since Princess Alexandria and Prince Pierre are both eligible candidates, many are specting who will be the one ruling the whole country and this raised a lot of notions to everyone." The crowd started to talk by themselves as they tried to guess who will be the one that has the most rights. I know Tina is already seething in anger right now but we cannot just attack. We are waiting for the right timing. "Everyone must have the questions, "Who will be the next ruler?" "Will the next ruler be the same as King Goliath?" and many more, but I know everyone''s concern. However, we already ounted for all of those questions and we guarantee that this announcement will satisfy everyone." Hearing that, I quickly drag everyone out of the area. "Everyone, follow me." Tina was hesitant to follow but I managed to drag her out of the ce. While we are leaving, I can tell that the old magician earlier who is talking to the crowd is staring at me with some sort of look on his face. I can easily tell that guy is also bad news. ... "Master, what is going on? Why did you drag us out of here?" Lina asked. I didn''t say anything and pull out one scroll, the [Domain of Tranquility] and [Stealth Field]. The [Domain of Tranquility] is a skill that is part of the "domain" skills of the Cleric ss. I still have not umted enough SP to buy this skill so I only have the chance to recreate a scroll. I am pretty familiar with most of the spells so recreating them and putting them into the scroll is easier. This skill creates a boundary that will allow all debuffs and curse-type skills to be negated. As for the Stealth Field, this skill is one of the "ninjutsu" skills of the Ninja. Just like its name, it creates an area that will allow anything or anyone to enter a state of "Stealth". Why do I have them? I am bored during the night stay so I created plenty of skills I can use in terms of emergency since I still didn''t learn them. I always have this habit in the past which is why it is still good. Tearing the two scrolls, the two skills activate and covered the area where we are standing. Since the area of effect of the two skills is a bit small, it couldn''t cover an area like the ce where the Insect People are gathered right now. "I need to kill them!" Tina pulls out her weapon. "Sheathe the weapon and stay quiet Tina, do not speak. We are in a bad position right now. Don''t worry, we will attack after this. Just stay quiet." "But-" Before Tina can say anything, Cotton who was being hugged by Lucia spits out a web and shoots it on Tina''s mouth, causing her to stop talking. I was surprised at Cotton''s actions but that is not a problem and solved a bit of trouble for me. Tina tried to remove it but it seems Cotton''s web is stronger than how it looks. After that littlemotion, I looked at the sky and saw a red and ck wave spread throughout the area. I can also feel the waves being blocked by the [Domain of Tranquility]. It was frequent and the vibrations from the domain are a sign that my solution did the trick. Those red and ck waves continue for a bit before they disappearedpletely. After its disappearance, I quickly break the two spells. "Lucia, remove the webs on Tina''s mouth, it''s time to do some action." ... We returned to the venue and this time around, the insect people looked normal. However, I can easily sense the changes in them. Also, the humans that attended the ceremony are now looking nk and the guards are currently holding them with swords in their hands ready to serve punishment to them. I essed my inventory and pull out 6 [Sleep Potion]s. While running, I throw them to the Insect People who seem to have no idea what is happening. CRASH! The bottles I throw to the crowd simultaneously break as I shoot all of the bottles in the air, allowing the bigger cover of the potions instead of just functioning in a small area. It was an instantaneous effect and the Insect People who were affected were quickly put to sleep. I can see the shock of the people on the stage. Prince Pierre stood up with a shock on his face which literally trantes, "I didn''t n for this shit!" "Attack!" Tina who is very nimble immediately kills the knights who were about to kill the humans she was quick enough to kill half of the soldiers. As for the rest, Lina took care of them with ease. With her mastery at throwing knives, it didn''t take a few seconds to dispose of the remaining enemies. "What is going on?! Hypnos! I thought you already have taken care of everything and covered the whole Insect Kingdom with your power!?" Prince Pierre seems to be panicking. "I didn''t calcte for this. I have miscalcted the variables but no worries, prince, I can get rid of them in one go." The magician then raise his staff and a 5 circle of magic appeared. However, that isn''t a problem for me. It is not an instantaneous skill, which allowed me to deal with the magician while everyone is busy dealing with the soldiers. In a blink of an eye, I closed the gap between me and the magician. With a single swing, the hand of the magician holding the staff immediately separated from the body of the enemy. Without letting him scream, I kick his crotch with all my might causing tremendous damage to the old magician. No matter how old he was, he can''t endure the pain of the balls. "ARGH!" his incantation was interrupted and he staggered after taking in the pain. Without anyone to interrupt me since the prince and the others just stood there with shock on their face, I stab the magician with my sword. "GAH!" "[Earth Fissure]!" The old man might be able to survive. However, I am not going to let anyone like him live, he may haven''t awakened yet but he will be a big pain in the arse if he was left there without doing anything. -You have killed [Hypnos(Lesser Demon Awakened)! -You received Staff of Hypnos. -You received... I close the notification window as it is in the way. Then a notification appeared before me after killing the monster. -Your reputation in the Insect Kingdom has fallen from [Neutral] to [Hostile]! Run away from here before they kill you! The system messaged me with my low reputation of the kingdom. However, I never cared about it. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! Why did you-" Pierre didn''t manage to continue talking when I stabbed him in the heart. -Title effects activated. Instant Kill! -You have killed Prince Pierre(Dormant Remis)! Chapter 293 - The Reckoning (II) I knew it! The twins indeed have taken over the role of the siblings. However, it seems they have yet to properly synchronize with the body to properly use their powers. As result, Pierre was easily killed like I just tore a paper. "You f*ckers, where is the real prince?!" Alexandria is still writhing in anger as she saw her brother get killed in front of her but as soon as I call out where is the real prince, she smirked. "Heh, why would I tell you?" SNAP! A ck shadow engulfed the remaining royal family. I didn''t waste my time and changed my weapon into a spear and shield and throw the spear at them before they disappeared. PENG! The spear got deflected and I have to catch it. Too bad but the f*ckers managed to escape. I know I killed Remis already but as long as Lemis is still existing and out there with the king and queen, she can revive Remis with ease. To prevent that, I need to kill them both. Tina and the others rush towards us and the first thing Tina went straight is none other than her brother. "Pierre!" She held the dead body of Pierre(?) without caring whether he is releasing blood from the stab wound I inflicted on him. She stood up as shey Pierre''s body down to the ground. "I know you helped me get strong, but why did you kill him in your own hands?! Why you didn''t say anything to me?!" Tina grabbed my cor with anger in her eyes burning up. Lina was quick and pulled out a throwing knife and aim it at Tina''s neck. "You might be a princess and maybe a disciple of Queen Tanya but if you try to harm Master, I will not hesitate to bring you down right here, right now!" "We are both former princesses, Tina. I am sure that whatever you will be trying to do, I will also be paying it back a hundredfold," Lucia then lit up her hands with mes. "Lina, Lucia, stand down and let her be. Tina, inspect carefully the corpse of your "brother". I doubt you wouldn''t notice anything strange with him." "What are you talking about?" Tina then looked at the corpse of his brother(?) and realized something is amiss. She let go of my cor and went back to look at her brother''s corpse. This time, the skin on Pierre(?) seems to have been peeled off. It was like it was just a skin disguise. "What is going on?" "An impostor?!" "Huh...Pretty Sus..." Lucia and Lina said while furrowing their eyebrows. I approached the corpse and carefully slice up the skin of the dead prince and under the skin is a face of a demon. "D-demon!" Tina backs off the moment she noticed the true face of Pierre(?) Lucia who is the real demon princess looked at the remnants of the dead Remis. "I see, no wonder the demon race is now being seen as horrible beings. This face right here tells everything. Even I felt dread and disgust just looking at his face," Lucia then ignites her hands with mes with the intent of burning the corpse to ashes. "You can burn the magician''s body but don''t burn the body of the impostor prince. We will need thatter." "...Understood." I can hear the hesitation of Lucia''s voice but sheplied. Yes, we really need the corpse of this impostor. If Lemis is nning to revive Remis, the corpse of Remis will disappear which will allow us to know whether she has managed to do so as she will try to use the body of Remis to recreate a new Remis. With magic, she can use the dead body without a hassle. "As, please carry the body of the impostor and keep it safe in the meantime. The thing that we fear will not happen immediately. Inform me if something happened to the body if there are any changes." "Yes, Master." "Now, let''s leave before the townspeople wake up, as for the unconscious humans, leave them near the za," I ordered everyone. "Are we not going to exin to them what is happening?" Tina asked. "No, our business is done here and since our target currently escaped, we can''t do that. We will have to escape the Insect Kingdom in the meantime." "Escape? To where?" Lina asked. "You guys should know that there are two kingdoms existing in the Aquagius region. Many tend to forget the second kingdom due to how it was hard to interact with them but this kingdom is a much better kingdompared to the Insect Kingdom. Also, their strength cannot bepared against the Insect Kingdom''s might in the Aquagius region. In short, these people will be one of the people we need to interact with. Especially with the current situation, Tina, you are the only one who can defy your current family." "Ah! I also heard of this kingdom before since my father said that they have established a friendly rtionship in the past. However, I don''t think I still remember which kingdom you are talking about, Master," Lucia smiled awkwardly. "You mean... the Kingdom of the Sea?" "Yes." "But I heard they are hostile right now to outsiders. Even the insect kingdom can''t even get a hold of them!" "I might have a way to do it." When I say that, I indeed have a way to do it. Also, the other reason we are nning to interact with them is to ally with them once Lemis counterattacks. As far as I know, the main threat of the twin siblings is Lemis. She might look like ady who didn''t know anything but she is the main brain of the operation and nned everything. She is the most dangerous demon we encountered in the past timeline and if not for the joint effort with the Kingdom of the sea to repel and kill them, our chances of survival are pretty bleak. I am also not bluffing when I said that I have a n that will allow us to get inside without the other party getting hostile at us. "Leona!" Leona appeared before us. It looks like my initial n failed. If they were original prince and princess, I might have done just a small ruckus and just let Tina handle everything and just move once the weapon of Pride will appear. Now that the situation seems to be different than what I am expecting and with new variables avable, it is time to resort to the Kingdom of the Sea. ... On the other hand, in the dark castle that is far from the Insect Kingdom, the unconscious king and queen of the Insect Kingdom appeared with Princess Alexandria the one who carried them using teleport magic. "Damn it. And here I thought we will be able to take over the Insect Kingdom and brainwash everyone. But this is a big blunder, not only did they kill the magician I summoned, even Remis is killed before he can awaken his powers. However, why did Remis die immediately? He was a demon and a single stab shouldn''t be enough to at least kill him. Howe he died from a single stab wound?! This is beyond my calctions." Alexandria took a nce at the two royalty lying on the ground and sighed. "If not for theirpatibility with the Weapon of Pride, I would have already disposed of them. They are pretty useless. I can''t believe we wasted so many years to brainwash these bastards only to be like this." She went to her room and pulls out some materials from her storage. "First, I need to revive Remis. He is the only one who can exin to me what is happening and why my calctions have begun to crumble. This isn''t how the n should have happened! It should have proceeded as nned!" Gathering the necessary materials to revive Remis, her sibling, she quickly managed to grab everything and created a magic circle tomunicate with his brother''s soul before she proceed with the revival. It is a necessary step to avoid letting Remis diepletely while his soul is wandering around. Gathering all of the materials in one ce, she reconstructs a small magic portal that she has erased a long time ago after saying that she will now have no use of it after finalizing her n with her brother. Who would have thought she would be constructing the portal once again after the n failed the first half? With a drop of blood from her fingertips, she attempts to contact Remis from the afterlife. She has done this many times before due to how careless her brother is in ns and ends up getting killed. As much as she wanted to say she is the brains of the two, she needed the support of Remis to continue. As she tried tomunicate, the moment a connection was established, what she saw wasn''t her brother nor his soul.. But the manifestation of what death is like. Chapter 294 - Under The Deep Blue Sea (I) As much as I want the quest to end as soon as possible, I don''t want to risk too much when ites to facing Lemis. She is very powerful on her own due to her ability to seal skills and to cause corrosion. She can even manipte minds and can temporarily control you if your will is not strong enough or your cleric is ipetent in clearing debuffs. Since Remis is killed, I doubt Lemis will just sit there and do nothing. She is a high-ranking demon and if she can disrupt the Insect Kingdom easily, she can do that again. Aside from that, there is also the matter of the Weapon of Pride. If my assumption is correct, she is going to control the king and use the power of the Weapon of Pride to deal with us. To make sure the chances of winning are 100%, I needed to reach out to the Kingdom of the Sea and find a way to ask for help without offending them. Also, this is a chance to repair the broken artifact I got from Serbal. That way, I can dive underwater without using any kind of item that will allow me to breathe underwater in a limited time. "Master. I know you said that you have a way to ask for permission to get the recognition of the Kingdom of the Sea, but may I ask what it is?" Lina got curious and she didn''t hold back her question. "Yeah, I am curious too!" Lucia seconded. Tina didn''t respond but based on her reaction, she is also curious about my method. "Well, this is kindaplicated. Basically, we will have to dive under the water to do this." "Huh? Dive under the water?!" the three were shocked hearing the first method. "Hey, I know diving under the water of Aquagius is pretty dangerous but that is our only choice of this matter and besides, we won''t dive underwater without a special nt that will allow us to breathe underwater and act underwater like we are just onnd." "You mean, we need to fetch the Lung Moss?" Lucia scratches her chin. "Yeah. The Lung Moss. Do you perhaps know about it?" "Not really. I just heard it from my father before. I didn''t see it personally but I know that it exists." "Yes. It does exist and it is native to the Aquagius Continent. I read a book in one of the dungeons I raided before and saw one of the locations of this item. We can use this info to get it." With a pat on Leona''s back, we soar above the sky to search for the Lung Moss. ... ... Around 30 minutes of flight, Leona arrived on a lone ind in the vast sea. We are far from the Insect Kingdom and everywhere you look, you will only see the deep blue sea around. No othernd is present other than thend that we just arrived at. Not only that, the ind that wended on is not even a full ind since this was just the entrance of a long cave that extends deep down the underground. "Master, this is pretty far fromnd. We can''t even ask for help from other people and we can''t even find help from ships since I doubt any ship will pass by here!" Lina is concerned about our safety especially in the new area we are in just the vast sea. Anyone who is not familiar with the sea would overthink of dangers around. "Don''t worry about it, Lina. Just think of this area as a dungeon and our task is just to clear it. Nothing much of a problem and don''t think too much on it." "Heh, yeah. Don''t think too much about it, Lina-chan. When we see enemies, let''s beat the crap out of them. No need to get worried about it!" Lucia on the other hand is quite enthusiastic. Before we explore and dive deeper, Tina stopped me from going. "Hey, I have something to ask." "Huh? You needed something?" "When you were confronting my impostor siblings, how did you know they are no longer my siblings?" I nced at her and decided to bluff out of it since I knew that she will not believe it if I say I knew them in the past timeline. "As someone who has dealt with demons before, I can easily tell whether they are one or not. They might have to wear a disguise to hide their original faces but their aura and their real identity cannot be hidden in in sight. As much as I want to let you deal with them, it will just be a suicide attempt if you really confront them like how I did." "What about my parents? Are they also..." "No. Based on their aura, they are still human. However, maybe due to the power of the demons who have taken over the identity of your siblings, they are currently "puppets" of the demons. You can say that they are under their control and will not be able to interact with you. Perhaps the reason you are still alive despite being one of the babies who never got a mark is because of the remaining consciousness of your parents. It seems they managed to resist doing it for you. Of course, that is just a spection." Tina doesn''t look convinced but I cannot change her outlook on the current situation of her parents. "Do you think my original siblings are still alive?" "..." I didn''t answer her question. As much as I want to say there might be a chance, I know deep inside my mind that is not possible. Once a demon decided to "devour" your existence and rece you, you will no longer have the chance to remain as yourself. As for the original? The final verdict would be that they have been erased from existence. There will be no chance for them to return to life. "I can''t say anything from that. You need to discover it yourself." ... After our conversation, we traverse the thick forest that covers the entrance of the cave. In the past timeline, this was discovered by one of the yers who decided to not participate in the raid and decided to explore the massive ce of Aquagius. The Participants of the Aquagius Pioneer quest are twice the size of participants of the Sandurk Pioneer quest. Due to the size of Aquagius and due to the lesson they learned in the past Pioneer Quest, the previous pioneers who have learned a big lesson decided to divide the team. One is the Raiders, the one who is tasked to clear the main requirement to finish the Pioneer Quest and the Explorers, the guys who are tasked with exploring the other ces of Aquagius and looking for hidden quests that might help to finish the main Pioneer Quest. Now the one who discovered this ce is one of the yers tasked to explore and along with some yers who like to also explore, they stumble on this ind. At first, they thought it was a dungeon but it wasn''t a dungeon but a normal hostile area where monsters spawn regrly. This is also the ce where they discover the Lung Moss, the item that once consumed, you will gain the ability to breathe underwater for 1 hour. It''s not as useful outside of Aquagius since you can barely see any exploration you can do in the sea but in Aquagius, most of the exploration point of interest you can find here is located underwater. With the help of some yers who have the Gardener Ex Job, they managed to reproduce the nt and they no longer need to go here to grab at least a few. Of course, those who want to farm, get them free and explore, can just visit it again. Since this item is still not avable in stores, the only main source to grab these things is in this ce. Entering the cave, the echoes, and sounds created by the sea waves under the cave are enough for someone who is not used to spelunking would freak out easily. As for me, this ce is a regr ce for me to farm the Lung Moss since I don''t have enough money to buy a single piece of it. If I want to acquire one, I will have to explore this cave and hope to find one growing on the rocks or dropped by monsters. "Oh, I saw a chest over there!" Lina pointed to the corner and indeed, a huge golden chest is currently in view. I rarely see chests around when I explore so it''s pretty much a chance that we managed to stumble one today. Of course, since there is a chest, that means there are also monsters. [Mutated Piranha] Level 102 HP: 200,000/200,000 Type: Aquatic, Fish "All hands! Prepare forbat! We have some fishes to fry today!" Chapter 295 - Under The Deep Blue Sea (II) CHOMP! The Mutated Piranha bites off arge portion of the wall when it tried to attack us. However, seeing a Mutated Piranha in this cavern is a sign that this Treasure chest is something with value as the Mutated Piranha tends to gather around treasures in underwater caves and near bodies of water. There are three Mutated Piranha which means the item should be some sort of an essory or a forging item ingredient. It''s not much but if it''s free, there is no need to worry about it and take it. Imbuing the Versatile Weapon with the skill [Lightning Sword], I immediately calcted their actions based on my movements as they will attack once a side of you will show weakness. That is how a piranha does the kill. SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! Three slices and I managed to kill them in one go by slicing their gills. With the amount of damage my weapon generates plus the elemental damage plus the weakness strike, one strike is enough to kill. -[Mutated Piranha] is killed sessfully! -got Piranha fins -got 1,200 exp(Title effects activated! 1,200 additional exp received) -... It looks like these monsters are still pretty stingy in giving experience points. They didn''t patch the amount of exp given even though they are already beyond level 100 and they only give exp equivalent to a level 10 monster. Killing them is not even worth the effort as the drops don''t even have any worth and cannot be sold. Their only usage is to show whether the treasure chests in the caves are valuable or not. If they are not hostile, I wouldn''t bother killing them. After disposing of the three Mutated Piranha, I checked the Treasure Box. Seeing no signs of traps once opened, I slowly opened it and a gold color light appeared. [Broken Ancient Token (2nd Piece) Type: Key Item Info: A broken piece of Ancient token. Unite this piece with the other broken pieces and the path will open up ahead. Ah, I see. No wonder the Mutated Piranhas are flocking this item. It''s indeed a very valuable item I will needter once we descend to the deepest floor of this cave. It was already open in the past timeline so my guess is that the door that was open in the past timeline is closed and has not been opened. "Lina, Lucia, Tina. Since we are currently here, be sure to tell me if there are treasure chests that are surrounded by the Mutated Piranhas. If you found a chest that doesn''t have any kind of guards, you guys can open it and take the items yourselves." The three nodded in unison. With this, my scope of detection is much wider and I will be able to know where it will be located with them. Without anyone exploring this ce prior to my arrival, I have to be the one to solve any puzzles or any obstacles here all by myself. "I must say, I didn''t know such a ce existed. Perhaps this is air ofrge aquatic beasts of Aquagius? I heard they tend to gather in one ce to recuperate or rest. The surroundings are pretty ancient and I doubt we can see anything like this that hasn''t been explored by a human or anyone else," Tina analyzed the rock formations around the cave, and although I already know what she meant, it''s nothing new to me. "This ce is already scouted and recorded in some old books in ruins and dungeons but there is a seal that connects to what we needed to get to get closer to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. If we are lucky, we might be able to find it here before anyone else can do so," although I am bluffing a lot, I know that what I said is true. Some dungeons are indeed recorded in some books in ruins as a form of diaries. That way, if someone ever discovered it, they will not have a hard time clearing it. We explored the first floor and found not a single ancient token or the Lung Moss. There are some monsters but I let my followers kill them. It''s much easier with them around. And even though I didn''t contribute, I still gained some exp and they also gained exp, it''s a win-win situation. We descended to the second floor. Without any hassle, the second floor is also cleared without much hassle. However, I found it odd. In the past timeline, bigger monsters roam around this cave and I have to kill them to earn a few materials for alchemy and some are even good ingredients for cooking. They also fetch quite a good amount of experience and they drop plenty of coins. Howe they are no longer around though? My followers are sticking near me so I also doubt they are the ones responsible for killing the monsters. It was like they didn''t exist in the first ce! As much as I want to voice it out, I didn''t bother to say it to the others. After all, they still didn''t have any idea I have my memories in the past timeline. "Master! Look! Is that perhaps..." Lina pointed above the towering pir and what do you know, one single Lung Moss is currently growing! It''s a pity that only one is growing but that is already quite good! However, I didn''t pick it up right away. If there is a Lung Moss growing, then there will always be something guarding it. [Deep Sea Curse Snake] Level 150 HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000 Attribute: Serpent, Water, Poison, Curse My eyes lit up the moment I saw the Deep Sea Curse Snake. As someone who has an Ex Job in Alchemy, I know what the Deep Sea Curse Snake''s benefits give once you use the drops and the carcass of it after it was killed. Not only that, once killed, the snake will give a lot of experience points. With my double experience gained in one of my titles, just killing this monster will allow me to ascend to level 102 and halfway to level 103! Holy sh*t! Not only that, if Lucia kills this monster too, she might hit level 100 already! The exp gained from killing this is not something I will scoff about! Not only that, even if multiple yers kill it, the exp gained will always be the same for everyone, not a single cut even if you are in a party. It''s pretty rare seeing one so I will not hesitate to grab the opportunity. As someone who needs to earn more experience points to level up, this is a big blessing for me. Without hesitation, I summoned out everyone from the Summon''s area. "At arms! We found a treasure to hunt! We have a snake to kill! This is your chance to reach the level 100 cap!" When everyone heard it, their eyes also lit up. Anyone who wanted to reach level 100 will surely like the idea too. The Deep Sea Curse Snake seems to have awakened from the ruckus and bared its fangs at us and used its high-level dominance since we are at a lower level. But to us who keep on challenging higher-leveled enemies, that dominance will not work on us. Like hungry hyenas who found a portion of food in the savannah, even its dominance and prowess can''t handle everyone. ... SHAK! "Alright! The skin of the snake is already peeled! Everyone good work! Please rest back in the summons area after you guys already solidify the feeling of leveling up." Looking at my followers and their stats in my follower''s board, everyone already hit level 100 indeed. Lina who is already a level 100 follower also reached level 103 after the kill. As for me, I broke through level 102 and my prediction is correct that I will be around halfway before I breakthrough level 103. Tina and Lucia also reached level 100. It''s a big blessing for me and everyone else. Too bad Dolly and the others are not here, otherwise, they might also have gained quite a benefit. Oh well, maybe I can bring them here once Aquagius is finally open. As for what I plundered, the Cursed Snake Meat might be emitting a cursed aura, however, with the power of the Cleric''s [Dispel], the meat is now edible. The scales of the Cursed Snake are also good for forging essories as they can be used as a substitute for jewels. The snake''s skin is also a good item in alchemy as it can produce tonics and some medicines require it too. The bones and innards are also not a waste since they can be used to create fertilizers once I get the Ex Job Gardener. And after the kill, not only did we get all of the treasures and the level up as a bonus, we also received one piece of the Lung Moss. Although I am sidetracked, it is already a good way we got sidetracked. The more snakes like this appear, the better it will be. Now, isn''t it the perfect time to hunt? Chapter 296 - Under The Deep Blue Sea (III) We managed to receive the second Lung Moss around the 4th floor of the cave. We need 4 and we already got 2 so we are almost done. However, it seems our luck seems to have been taken away after ourst encounter with the Deep Sea Curse Snake. We didn''t meet any of those snakes again and finding the Lung Moss is now too hard. Currently, we are on the 10th floor of the cave. The cave has 15 floors in total and we are already down to 5 floors that haven''t been explored. Ah yes, we also managed to obtain the second broken piece of the artifact which means the other artifact piece might be further below the underground cave. Our progress is very fast because the enemies are severely scarce and rare to see. This shouldn''t be the case in the past timeline since the whole cave is infested with monsters in the past timeline. There might be something that happened here that caused the number of monsters to increase in the past timeline. It is kind of a blessing and at the same time, unfortunate for me. More monsters tend to be a good source of extra exp and since in the past timeline this ce is quite generous in experience points, I tend to farm levels here until the exp gain slows down. Still, I needed to go below and see the real truth that will allow me to forge a connection to the Royalties of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. There is nothing wrong with increasing your chances of winning and survival. "Master, I am already seeing the way down to the next floor. Should we descend or should we continue to explore the area for a bit?" Lina asked. "Nothing much to see here, so let''s descend." ... Yep, nothing much to see... Until the very bottom of the cave. Monsters seem to have disappeared after we reach floor 11 and the moment we arrived the floor 15, it was now very cold that even Lucia who is usually not affected by cold is now using her hands as a portable heater for all of us. Not only that but I also don''t see thest artifact piece which is a big bummer. "Umm, Mister deheart. I am not doubting your words but are you sure that we can really find what we needed to connect to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea here? There is basically nothing in here that is worth mentioning!" Tina scratches her head in frustration. "Don''t be so rash about it, Princess Tina. We have yet to know what we really need to see here so it is too soon for us to assume things," Lucia immediately reprimanded the words of Tina. "R-right..." I didn''t say anything and just continue to observe the situation around the ce. I can still hear the waves of water around the cave which means there is nothing frozen underground but this coldness ising from the water itself. But I can''t shake the possibility that there will be something that I will be shocked by. I have not witnessed what they saw here underground but whatever it was, I needed to find it. ... "Woah! This is a pretty ancient door!" Lina inspected the giant door''s structure and she keeps on nodding at the structures. "If I base it on my knowledge in ruins, my guess is that this door is already here since the ancient gods have to dwell together with the other living beings. It is pretty old and the material used by the door is not an ordinary rock as well since it seems to exist only during the time the gods are still with us," Lucia caressed the giant door to feel its texture. "Is that what I think it is?" Tina points to the center of the door''s design. She traced the current design of the door and found something strange in the pattern. "Mr. deheart, can you bring out the two pieces of broken things we found earlier?" "Yeah, sure." She took the two items and she put the two on two gaps of the door that is the same exact shape as the artifacts. The moment thest artifact was ced, the patterns on the door started to rise up on the surface of the door and rearrange themselves that the four of us have to back out instinctively seeing the spectacle. "What the hell is going on?" Lucia was baffled seeing the spectacle. Although it''s not as awesome as the time the Creature of the Shrine of Ascension did, it is still marvelous enough for us who rarely see things like this happening. DANG DANG DANG DANG! The patterns that formed like a flower before are now formed into a circle and the two artifacts that were ced by Tina earlier are now on the door as well, currentlybined together. I also realized that thest part of the artifact is still attached to the door which is why we didn''t find any trace of thest artifact around. As soon as all of the patterns were ced together, the door slightly opened and dust from being closed for so long fell from the cracks of the door. Not only that, the moment the door opened, the coldness that we keep on feeling earlier suddenly got stronger when the door is now being opened. "Ugh...it looks like the cold atmosphere we have been feeling since we came down to the 15th floor ising here huh?" Lucia was forced to smile even in this troublesome situation. I slowly walk towards the door and push it open. Anyone who tried to open a sealed door for a long time would also struggle on opening it since it is also a big door and it is made of stone so I had to use my strength. "F*CK, guys, I know I am strong but this sh*t is heavy, a little help please." The threeughed before they helped me push the door slowly. It was f*cking heavy that it was not sugarcoating that I thought it wouldn''t move at all. We managed to push it open but barely. The door is just too heavy to move at all and we wonder who made this door and made it literally something that can''t be opened easily. Inside is like a different ce. It was like a literal freezer of the fridge. It''s so freaking cold I don''t know what the hell is going on here. There isn''t any freezer here in the past timeline. It is cold but not to this extent where everything is freezing. From what I can remember, it was a long hallway of rocks and gem veins sometimes pops out of here. There are even sometimes the Lung Moss grow on the walls at times. But seeing the walls frozen, I doubt we can even grow anything here unless it''s a nt that grows specifically on ice. We proceed further inside the cave''s hallway and as we go deeper, the more freezing the ce is. "My goodness, this is the coldest ce I have ever been! Even the cold winters on other Continents aren''t this cold!" Lucia''s mes even started to show some freezing from time to time. Even the mes that should have been melting the ice are being solidified by the ice. As we arrive at the very deepest part of the cave, what we saw is a huge chunk of ice. It was so big that I doubt anyone would just ignore the ice at all. In the middle of the ice are two figures. I can''t see what was frozen but from the shape, it seems like a boy and a girl were both frozen there. The two are holding hands inside the ice. A censored holding hands since I can''t f*cking see them since they are only silhouettes but I can easily tell they are both male and female. "Two people frozen? Let me try thawing them out." Lucia summoned her mes that can usually burn almost anything it touches unless it is simr to a rock or water. But with ice, it should be very easy. WOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHHHH! The smoke dissipates and it reveals the same thing. Nothing changed at all. "What the heck is going on? Howe my mes aren''t doing anything?!" The ice didn''t have any kind of signs of being melted. It was as sturdy as it was before. "Should I try smashing it with my weapon, Master?" "No. Don''t bother. From the looks of it, this isn''t just something we can just quickly melt. And the fact that they are here in the center means they are something important. This means, whoever they were inside the ice, might be the ones we are looking for. Then, we felt a slight tremor and a blue octopus appeared from one of the holes in the cavern. So the main cause of the freezing is none other than the octopus. [Ice Devilfish: Monster of Ice Hell] HP: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Type: Ice, Water, Sea Monster, Foreign Being Chapter 297 - Under The Deep Blue Sea (IV) I only heard the appearance of this boss in Pioneer reports as this boss no longer exist after it was killed. Basically, it is a one-time boss. Once killed, it will no longer spawn anything rted to it. And that is the problem. Because there is no existing guide of it in the past timeline since it was defeated and the point of putting up a guide online is no longer useful since no yers will be able to fight against it anymore, I don''t know any of its attack patterns, gimmicks and other abilities it has currently stored. In short, I have to formte my own ystyle on this one. going in blind on this one. "SCATTER EVERYONE!" BANG! The huge tentacle of the Ice Devilfishnded at our location and immediatelynded at the location of the ice. Not only that but spikes of ice pirs appeared the moment its tentaclesnded on the ground. The tentacle didn''t stay there for long and the Ice Devilfish pull it back revealing that the ice statue on the center of the cavern is still intact and not a single scratch, crack or any damages visible at all. Seeing it without any damage, I managed to calm down a bit about it. It might be a crucial clue once the battle ends so I needed it intact until the very end. I was afraid that it will break the moment the attacknded which thankfully, didn''t happen. "Attack!" I changed my weapon into a cannon and shoot one cannonball towards the boss. The boss then blocked it using its tentacles where it was shattered to pieces. Still, it is counted as a hit. BOOM! -You have dealt 0 damage. I am not surprised. But this is going to be a frustrating battle. There are two kinds of bosses that take in damages. One is the typical bosses you can encounter everywhere, in hostile areas or in dungeons. Basically, the same type as As back when he was still a boss. And two, bosses who only take damage if their weak spot is attacked. Based on the first attack I gave to the boss, it is thetter type of boss. With a 20 million HP, this is going to be rough and long unless we can immediately burst down its weakness straight to the very minimum. Of course, that is not calcting whatever gimmicks it has. Depending on what gimmick it may have, it can either prove too troublesome if the boss has a gimmick just like invincibility once it hits a certain threshold of HP. Now, a devilfish or an octopus can either have a few weaknesses avable and the tentacles will be not one of them. This f*cker has a lot of them and is the easiest to have ess intopared to the main body so the main weakness would be the other parts of its body in its giant head. And since this thing is an octopus, this thing has only one part that is obviously going to be its obvious bane. "Lucia, Lina, Tina and I will distract the f*cker while the two of you aim at its head, specifically, its two eyes. It doesn''t matter which attack you two try whether it is long-range or short-range, or maybe physical or magic damage, it doesn''t matter." "YES!" I looked at Tina and she nodded. The Ice Devilfishsh out its tentacles. We quickly dodged and decided to attract its attention to us. BANG! BANG! The movements of the tentacles are rather quite peculiar which is why it is hard to predict where it willnd. Not only that but the ice pir every time itnds on the ground is quite big and harder to dodge due to how it will just pop out maybe right under where you are standing or somewhere close. If I was an amateur yer, I would have already been making a lot of mistakes. Tina and I managed to get real close. However, the moment we got real close, arge mouth appeared beneath its eyes. I didn''t expect it to have a mouth on its head. No wonder it is called a Devilfish and not an octopus, just by looking at it, will remind you of amon depiction of what a demon looks like. The Ice Devilfish beginsughing and immediately blows a cold wind that is apanied by Ice shards. I didn''t bother to change weapons and just continue with a Magic Sword. The attacks aren''t that strong but my movements have slowed down a bit after taking on the attack head-on. Though that didn''t matter to me. Now I know its current effects. Knowing its attacks is the first step to knowing whether its attacks are fatal or not. That attack earlier is a debuff that will cause anyone who got hit by an ice shard to get a slower movement. And since you will get a slower movement, you will have a harder time dodging the attacks of the tentacles. Heh, that is a greatbination to squash enemies indeed! Tina on the other hand effortlessly dodge the ice shard attacks and managed to get close enough before she was pped away by a tentacle, forcing her to retreat for a bit. Seeing that the monster is now focused on us, Lina and Lucia immediately set off their long-range attacks at the same time. "[me Arrow]!" Lucia''s attack shoot like a real arrow and just passed through like a darting bolt of lightning straight to the left eye. I am not familiar with it but based on how hard it hit on the Ice Devilfish, I can tell it is pretty effective. "[Javelin of Ifrit]!" As for Lina, it seems she is using the Elementalist Battle Maid ability, [Javelin of Ifrit], a magic skill that emtes a javelin''s form but in mes and throws it to the target. I don''t know the exact details but from what I heard, it ignores 10% of the defense values of the target and deals prating damage. The [me Arrow] that hit first caused the Ice Devilfish to roar in pain, disregarding the [Javelin of Ifrit]. FWOOM! The [Javelin of Ifrit] exploded to the right eye of the Ice Devilfish, causing it to get stunned. Its HP also fell too which means we managed to find its main weakness. "Tina, we can''t fall behind too!" I cast [Dispel] on my body to heal my debuffs and quickly went to the Ice Devilfish. Next, I activated a few of my attack buffs before proceeding to the attack. With its ''stunned'' status, the Ice Devilfish is not moving and we safely managed to reach both eyes. Tina is on the left eye while I am handling the right eye. Stabbing it with my weapon, I activated one of the skills that I usually use only in quick yer executions. It''s a normal destructive skill but its main purpose as always is cutting the heads of your opponents. If used against a monster, it will only look like a crescent sh, but that''s not it either. The reason is that it is a pretty strong skill that is directly inclined to execution attacks and not only that, it has a very high chance to deal critical damage. "[DECAPITATION]!" SWISH! -you have dealt 4,460,981 damage! Critical! The Ice Devilfish roared in pain and sharp icicles quickly enveloped its body. Tina and I immediately retreated to safety. It was a pretty close shave since the whole body almost got enveloped by sharp icicles. Who would have thought this guy had a defensive mechanism in store to keep itself safe from attacks? Still, that doesn''t mean it will stop me and my followers from attacking. The Ice Devilfish cackled like a devil and its head slightly stretched a bit. I quickly saw what it was trying to do immediately. "Defend!" Everyone heard and they quickly used some of the structures to hide. As for me, I decided to block my shield, that way, I can increase the Pdin SP much faster even without using any skills. SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! The icicles growing on its body fired like a missile and every icicle that appeared on its body earlier was fired all at once. Before the Icicle Rain ends, I saw two tentacles immediately mming straight to me who is the most exposed since I only used a shield while the others used a structure to cover their body. "Clever Bastard!" But that isn''t something I can''t dodge. I started running towards the Icicle Rain while maintaining my eyesight to the tentacle. THUD THUD THUD! The iciclesnded on my shield and I managed to pass through the icicle attack. Without waiting for the tentacle tond down, I changed my weapon back to a magic sword and immediately stabbed it when it was about to go down. This tentacle is pretty annoying, time to cut it down before it can cause more damage! "[Earth Fissure]!" Chapter 298 - Under The Deep Blue Sea (V) "[Earth Fissure]!" SQUISH! The tentacle wiggled but that was due to how the tentacle can''t handle the pressure of the [Earth Fissure]. The tentacle was slowly destroyed and the Ice Devilfish noticed it. Without hesitation, the Ice Devilfish cut off the tentacle that is affected. The moment it was cut, water came running down from the severed tentacle and the cavern we are in is filled with water. It didn''t fill much but the floor is already full of water and our feet are submerged already. "Master, this is bad! Once the Ice Devilfish uses its ice power..." Lina warns me since she is on the high ground to concentrate on firing magic spells. "I know. I should have avoided damaging his tentacle if I have known this would have happened. But since only our feet are submerged in the water, we can still avoid the ice attack and perhaps the freezing part too. However, we still needed to be careful. If the Ice Devilfish can cut off its own limb, then it can cut off the other limbs as well." The Ice Devilfish then proceeds to m the surroundings once again with its tentacles. It is no longer using two but 4 tentacles at once. It''s harder to dodge due to how small the gaps we needed to have to avoid being crushed by the tentacle. Not only that but the Ice Devilfish seems to be taunting us to cut more of its limbs. If all of its limbs are cut off, the whole cavern will be full of water and everyone on the cavern would drown in the process. "If possible, avoid injuring the tentacle! Of course, I won''t prohibit attacking it but we have to limit it to avoid this monster flooding the cave and trouble our advantage." Not only does this flood diminish our speed a bit, but it will also be troublesome in our battle against a monster that specializes in ice magic. If possible, I wanted to stop this bastard from doing it. Seeing that its tentacle that got severed did not regenerate, I am a bit happy that the trouble won''t increase that much. However, maybe it will regenerate once all 8 tentacles are cut off. It is still an assumption but that is a possibility. "Let''s focus on killing it as soon as possible. Like always, I am counting on you two up there!" "We understand, Master!" the two responded before they started to charge their magic once again. I sensed that the Ice Devilfish is quite intelligent. Although I can say it is not as smart as the original octopus, it has a tinge of intelligence that is capable of thinking its next strategy. Therefore, the distractions we did earlier will not work this time around. I have to devise a new tactic for it to get distracted. While we are dodging, I called out to Tina. "Tina! Are your throws good?" "Throws? I can''t say it''s bad but it''s not that great to be called an expert." "Naw, I am saying if you can throw something a bit far." "Ah yeah, of course!" "Then catch!" Tina managed to catch the item I throw at her hands and checked what it was. [Incendiary Detonating Bomb] Type: Item Info: Created by a Saboteur to create a huge distraction to a certain area which will cause panic to the surroundings for a few minutes and will attract attention to any unsuspecting individuals. It detonates in one press of a button. Once it explodes, mes will scatter around the affected area and will spread out for 3 minutes. Note: When you hear the words "Boom boom Bakudan!" nearby, you know that hell follows right? "Just throw it to my signal to the boss, don''t worry if it was blocked." Tina nodded as we waited for the tentacles to stop their assault. It took a bit of time before it stopped its rampage. "Now!" Tina and I then throw the Incendiary Detonating Bombs. As expected, the bombs were deflected by the tentacles. However, I am already aware of that. The moment the tentacles tried to deflect the bombs, I press the detonator I made and let the two bombs explode. BOOOOOOOOOM! Explosions caused the Ice Devilfish to panic. It seems like using it caused the boss to panic. I quickly signal the two to fire off their magic skills. The two nodded and with a quick cast, two me magic attacks rapidly went straight to the eyes of the Ice Devilfish. KA-CHA! Blood fell from the eyes of the Ice Devilfish upon closer look, the attacks of Lucia and Lina ruptured both of its eyes. Its HP also fell to the half bar and its movements stopped. The monster shook after its eyes were ruptured but it remained stationary. "Now is our chance! Let''s burst it down before it can recover!" Lucia and Lina immediately fired off more of those skills and continue the barrage, all of the skills were targeting the eyes. Tina and I also closed the gap. As soon as I went to the ruptured eye, I didn''t bother to be casually hitting it. If I don''t hit it with all our might, the f*cker will recover again and we will be dead meat before we can finish this bastard down. "[DECAPITATION]! [EARTHQUAKE]! "[EARTH FISSURE]! [TRIPLE SLASH]!" I back down a bit after the attack of the two wereing and to avoid getting caught from the attack, we have to back away a bit beforeing back to its eyes again. Its HP is rapidly dropping and it is a good thing. The monster was quickly dying as the four of us continue to damage the bastard. Then, its HP fell to 1. Not 1 percent. But 1 HP left. I tried dealing the final blow but then I noticed it didn''t fall down no matter what. "F*ck! Fall Back!" However, we are toote. Before we can even properly react, the Ice Devilfish grabbed all of us with its tentacles. Yes, all of us, including Lina and Lucia. We tried to break free but I realized the monster has then achieved an invincibility state. Itughed a bit before the four of us were swallowed by the Ice Devilfish. ... Not that long before the incident in the cave urred, somewhere in the Sandurk region, the two siblings who were apanied by Dolly and Hagane were currently fighting against a boss which is named a Giant Desert Bull. Not too far from them is Harmless Sparrow drinking a potion to cure the damage she took. "Hagane! Iron! Now!" "Roger that! [United we Stand]!" They m down their shields down the ground before raising them. BANG! The giant desert bull then crashes straight to the two in full force. The Two managed to tank the attack but they were pushed too far. "Everyone! Now is the chance!" Dolly spins her staff in the air before aiming it at the Giant Desert Bull. "Heh, you can''t escape me! [Static Bind]!" Topaz opened her eyes and stretches her clenched hand earlier. As her hands separated from sping together, thin icicles appeared. She grinned as she focuses her eyes on the Giant Desert Bull that is still charging at the two tanks. "Get pierced! [ICICLE SHOT]! FIRE!" SU! SU! SU! SU! SU! The ice rapidly shoots towards the Giant Desert Bull. It was a quick attack and the Giant Desert Bull''s HP fell to critical levels. However, the amount of Icicle from the [Icicle Shot] is not enough to fully reduce its HP to zero. "Sparrow-san!" "Thanks for the switch! Now,e to mama!" When the Giant Desert Bull noticed someone charging towards it. Its attention switches to the charging person. "Good! Your attention is only on me! Now prepare yourself!" The magic sword of Harmless Sparrow suddenly ignited into mes. However, it didn''t stop there, the mes then suddenly got enveloped to purple electricity. With graceful movements, she closed their gap and without a shroud of hesitation, she attacks. Her body disappears the moment they were about to collide and with lightning speed, Harmless Sparrow seems to dance as she disappears and appears as she attacks. She stopped moving with her sword still in her hands while the charging boss slowly stopped running before it burst to pieces. "[SLICE AND DICE!] Electrifying Burn Edition! Now that is how you dice an ingredient that finely!" ... A wafting aroma of the food slowly spread in the air as Harmless Sparrow started to cook the meat of the boss and served it to her teammates. "Damn, Sparrow-chan, this is so delicious! You know how to cook?!" Dolly was surprised by the result. "Haha, nah, it''s thanks to my EX-JOB I can cook delicious food like this. I am still practicing but I can already emte a good amount of food I can cook and this dish is one of the things I can easily cook while we are on camping in the wild." "Hmm, maybe I should also pick up an EX-JOB rted to cooking? deheart''s mother is already good at cooking and I am getting jealous already," Dolly started to daydream. Iron was about to continue eating when he noticed someone approaching. He looks in the distance but because of the sand, he decided to ask his sister. "Sis, are you seeing the two silhouettes in the distance?" "Oh, yeah. I see them. yers perhaps?" "We don''t know but better be on guard." Iron then warns everyone. "Everyone, be on guard. We have visitors!" In the distance, a monk withrge muscles is walking along with a female Holy Knight. Anyone who watched the PVP battle would immediately know her.. It''s none other than Sigma. Chapter 299 - Sigma And Mr. Teddy The gang immediately identified Sigma as she is already one of the famous yers of Alternate World. If she wasn''t defeated by deheart during the duel, her fame would have skyrocketed too much. Still, even though she was defeated, her unconventional ystyle garnered the attention of some yers and tried to mimic her style. However, the person beside her, a muscr yer who is clearly a monk is someone they haven''t seen, and seeing Sigma who is a solo yer most of the time have a party with someone else. Just like deheart, this person has also the same habit of hiding their face. Although deheart''s wolf mask looks like a real wolf mask, the monk''s mask is a pink teddy bear''s head. It doesn''t look good at him and he looks ridiculous. "Sigma-san?" Topaz was the first to call out on Sigma who was approaching the group. "Oh? Topaz-chan, I didn''t think we would meet here, what a coincidence." "Are you going to a dungeon run right now?" Topaz asked. "Ah, no. We just finished killing one of the wild bosses in this area and we are looking for a good ce to rest and make camp while we eat. You know that Sandurk''s random areas have a bit unstable amount of monsters that it is hard to find a good ce to stay for a break." "How about you camp along with us? Yourpanion is also good to join us of course. There are plenty of us here so even if there is danger, we can immediately respond and our tanks are pretty reliable too so you can say that this ce is now much saferpared to other areas," Iron quickly offered. "Is that okay? I don''t think yourpanions might agree." "Haha, no worries, Sigma. Don''t worry and join us, we are all friends here so you should rx a bit," Dolly happily said. As an extrovert, she is pretty thrilled to see new faces. "Mr. Teddy, are you fine with this arrangement? We can decline their invitation if you want." The man with the teddy bear''s head called Mr. Teddy shook his head. "Are you sure? Then let''s settle down here and rest." The muscr monk nodded before he sits down. Although he was so big, he doesn''t look threatening at all and he seemed to be too timid for his size. "Join us, Sigma and Mr. Teddy! We are currently eating so have your fill as well!" Harmless Sparrow revealed the dishes she have made and it was different dishes of meat from the Giant Desert Bull. With the size of the boss, it was big enough for her to create a variety of meat dishes using the meat of the boss alone. "Eh? Are you guys sure about this?" "Aw, c''mon Sigma-chan. Eating together is the first step to bing friends!" Dolly grinned. "Oy, Dolly. Stop that clinginess. You shouldn''t force your liveliness on others," Hagane frowned. "Shuddup Hagane and eat. I know you are just hungry so stop bbering." "GUH!" The two continued to bicker for a bit and Harmless Sparrow smiled wryly. "I apologize for them, Sigma-chan. They are always like that but don''t worry, they are all good people." Sigma hurriedly shake her hands, "No worries, they have a lively vibe and I can say that they are good to be friends with them indeed." "Anyways, Sigma-chan, I know you always do solo fights most of the time but this is the first time I saw you partner up with someone other than going inside a dungeon." "Ah, I apologize for not introducing him. This is Mr. Teddy. I just met him yesterday when I went into one dungeon. We casually teamed up and I found out that we have good synergy in fighting together. I could say that he is quite capable to fight alongside me. Not only that but he is also a man with few words." "Is that so? Is he really capable?" "Yeah. As a monk ss, he is pretty capable of being a DPS and can easily destroy enemies without batting much of an eye. It was like he trained to fight in the real world." Mr. Teddy is just listening when he suddenly tensed up. He looked around before he looked to the group and signed to keep quiet. "Guys, keep quiet... it looks like someone else is here beside us," Sigma warned everyone in case no one noticed Mr.Teddy. Topaz was quick and immediately tore one of the scrolls that deheart made for her, the [Stealth Field]. She didn''t hesitate to tear it up and the whole surroundings around them were immediately covered by the [Stealth Field]. "A skill scroll?!" Sigma was taken aback when she saw how Topaz casually used the skill scroll without much care. "Huh? Sigma-chan, is this your first time seeing a Scroll?" Dolly looked puzzled. "No, it''s not the first time but this... isn''t the skill scrolls pretty expensive and rare as drops? Howe you casually used it? You can just sell it on the Auction house and earn tons of money for it." "Ah...this thing? Nah, this is pretty much amon thing for us and we won''t sell this unless we no longer needed it. Besides, what are you talking about as rare and expensive? We never have much difficulty getting this thing as we have a supplier who can create this thing." "Huh? Can you tell me who it was?" Mr.Teddy grab Sigma''s shoulder and he shook his head while his hands is keeping the "keep quiet" sign. A few secondster, a few yers appeared. Looking from their faces, they are clearly there for other reasons than hunting monsters. "Damn, did we lose them? I am pretty sure the tracks are pointing around here but there is nothing here but rocks and ruins," one of the yers looked around as he checked the footprints on the sand. "I am pretty sure there is someone else around in this area since I heard some voices earlier. But howe they are gone?" "Perhaps they are on stealth?" "Nah, I doubt it. If they are in stealth, all of them should have a ss of either a ninja or an assassin. I doubt anyone from them is an assassin or a ninja ss at all." "Don''t get careless, you rascals. We can''t afford to lose them. It seems like they have lots of good gears on them. If we kill them, it will be easy picking." While listening on the side, Mr.Teddy is already clenching his fist. Dolly pats his back a bit. "Hey, calm down. I know you wanted to strike them down but we can''t afford to mess up. If we want to be efficient, we need to strike them the least they expect it," Dolly then shows an insidious smile. "For once, I agree with you on that," Hagane also grinned with insidious intent. Iron scratches his head. "You guys, you guys are really troublesome to handle sometimes." Everyone continue to observe them and when they were just facing their backs away from them, Harmless Sparrow gives out the signal to attack. The first one to strike is none other than Mr. Teddy. His quick steps were very wide that even Harmless Sparrow who is the fastest yer among them were overtaken by him in a few seconds and the yer that got unlucky was the first to receive the attack of Mr. Teddy. CRACK! The sound of the skull cracking can be heard the moment Mr. Teddy punches both of the sides of the bandit yer''s head. It''s very quick and very much precise that before the guy can react, he fell and died in just those two strikes from the hands of Mr. Teddy. Although they are surprised, they didn''t waste the opportunity and strike the bandits before they can make any unnecessary movements. The screams of the bandits rang in the air as they fell to the ground one by one. "Wow, that was the first time I have dealt with PK yers. I thought we would be getting red names after we killed them but it seems we don''t have to suffer that," Iron checked his status. "No worries, Iron-kun. Killing red yers is rewarding as they are being rmended by the system to kill them. Not only do we kill them but we can also gain what they are currently equipped with. We reduce crime, we received rewards!" Dolly exined. "Damn, then how about we go hunt red yers?" Iron happily suggested. "Although that suggestion is not bad, I strongly suggest not doing it. Some red yers are too strong and they are very hard to kill. It''s better to not seek them unless they seek you first. Let theme," Harmless Sparrow rmended. Sigma looked at the group with wonder. She has partnered with many people but for some unknown reason, she seemed to feel at home with these people. It is something the Unmovable Holy Knight has not experienced. As for Mr. Teddy, it seems like he is currently hunting the red yers.. And it seems like his obsessive streaks on looking for red yers will not stop so soon. Chapter 300 - Devilfish Stomach Labyrinth (I) Falling to the mouth of the Ice Devilfish is very unexpected and dangerous, however, we didn''t get chewed and we are swallowed whole so we still have a chance. Using my quick reflexes, I quickly maneuver to slow down my descent. The others also did the same and although they were surprised by the act of the Devilfish, they didn''t panic, allowing them to do a rational decision. SPLASH SPLASH We didn''tnd in the solid ground but a greenish liquid. Since we are swallowed, this must be its digestive juices. "Is everyone injured?" I asked everyone. "Just a graze but not major enough," Tina said. Lina didn''t wait for me to take action and healed her using her own [Heal]. As expected of an attentive maid. "So this must be the stomach area of the Ice Devilfish huh? Are we going to die soon?" Lucia looked around for any way to go out of its stomach. "We should look for a safe ce at the moment. We might be swallowed but this is also an opportunity to finish off the Ice Devilfish without trouble now that we are inside of its body. Its organs will surely be somewhere around the ce and we just needed to locate it before it starts to do its digestion," I exined. "Then, we should start looking inside the stomach. Just staying here without doing anything while the digestive juices of the boss are currently threatening to digest us in one go are on our feet. We cannot dilly-dally at all." I nce at Lucia and Cotton and I suddenly got an idea. "Lucia, can you ask Cotton if she can make us a protective web that we can use while traversing the ce with the digestive juices threatening us, we can make use of it right now." "Oh, let me ask, Master." Lucia tried to talk to Cotton but it seems like Cotton is having trouble understanding what was Lucia was trying to say since she said some foreign words that were perhaps new to the ears of Cotton. "It seems you have difficulty, Ms. Lucia. Let me try, maybe I can convey what you are trying to say," Tina volunteered and she started speaking an unknownnguage that even I don''t recognize at all. In just a matter of seconds, Cotton respond with a cute nod before she started to spin her webs that looks like shoes. It was quick and didn''t take too long before it was formed. "It looks like Cotton and Princess Tina really understand each other without any problem!" Lina was delighted. "How did you do that?" Lucia was also amazed seeing how she easily managed to let Cotton do what she wanted to convey to her. "I used the ancient insectnguage we learned when we are kids. It was mandatory for us Insect People to learn it. However, we rarely use it since it was used to converse to the Ancient Deities and local gods of the Insect Kingdom." My eyebrow creased hearing what Tina said but since we are scarce in time, I didn''t press on the topic for now and wear the web boots that Cotton made. We had plenty of time to ask for this but now is not the time. Thankfully, Lucia and Lina didn''t pursue the topic too so we decided to move now. Anytime soon and the digestion might begin and we would be in big trouble if that actually happens. We need to find a good way to see where we are right now. I pull out a small piece of paper from my bag and a small pencil I personally made for an easy drawing for my Scribe Ex-job. I had a good job as a cartographer in dungeons in the past timeline so even if I don''t have the Cartographer Ex-job right now, the skills I mastered in the past timeline is already imprinted in my mind that it is not necessary for me to get the Ex-job to make ayout of where we are and map it out. Besides, there isn''t much of a benefit to getting the cartographer Ex-job unless you want to be a professional in creating maps and mapping areas. A simple mapping is enough. This way, we won''t get lost inside thebyrinth innards of the Ice Devilfish. ... I expected the intestines of the Ice Devilfish to be more like a fleshy mess simr to the mass of flesh we fought during the Ascension trials. However, contrary to my expectation, it was not like a mass of flesh but more like a normal brick wall. It was absurd. The hallway of flesh in the Ascension Trials looks more like the intestine of the Devilfishpared to this ce. The only difference between this ce and a normalbyrinth is that we are stepping on a disgusting liquid. We continue moving around and even though it was an intestine, it looks like a realbyrinth indeed due to how it was designed. There were trick walls and even some dead ends. An intestine shouldn''t have this kind ofbyrinth pattern at all. "Master, are we lost somehow?" Lina asked. "No. Although we looked like we are circling around, we are not. Don''t worry and trust my mapping skills," I assured her. Indeed we looked like we are lost due to how we are just circling around, however, it is not really the case, the f*cking intestine of the Ice Devilfish has this confusing intestine. Where the heck does the p**p of this bastard go? Just circling around here and there like a rollercoaster or something simr? The f*ck? After a few seconds of circling around, we managed to escape the confusing corridor of an intestine. I sighed in relief after we escaped it. It was so annoying as hell. We continue to walk when we some sort of big hall at the very end of where we are. It was like some sort of a big room in abyrinth, simr to the very center of somebyrinths. Based on the map I already made, the ce where we are right now should be therge intestine already. However, I can''t be too sure especially since this ce is not simr to the human body''s digestive system. Whatever the case, we have to inspect and check where we are right now. "This looks like a secret room in a dungeon, Master. Perhaps the intestine of the Ice Devilfish has this kind of mechanism?" Luna tilts her head. "Hmm, that should be usible right? We just came from a very long hallway, it would make sense if we found a secret room indeed. "What kind of intestine is that, Lina-chan, Princess Tina!? Even I wouldn''t imagine an intestine like this unless they are man-made and they have a function of a dungeon orbyrinth in their body that is being disguised as a digestive system! The digestion won''t properly function well if the digestive tract of something looks like this! Are you guys sure we are still talking about the intestineyout anymore?!" Luciained. My eyes shined as I nce at Lucia. Finally! Someone has a much more rational mind here other than me! Anyways, this ce is devoid of digestive liquid. The way we came from has the digestive liquids flowing but when we reach the wide hallway, there aren''t any traces. It is pretty dry too and the floor looks like it was made from... stone?! What the hell? Am I hallucinating that we fell from the mouth of the Ice Devilfish but in reality, we fell in a trapbyrinth? Wait, that doesn''t really look like the case at all. Half of the area is lit up even though there aren''t any sources of light of some sort while the half is currently very dark and would make much more sense. However, it''s not only the darkness that seems to make that ce peculiar but also the coldnessing from that area. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and transform it into a Magic Sword before igniting it into mes. Then I slowly navigate the area with care. The moment I step into the darkness, the coldness of ice permeates the surroundings. I am pretty perceptive with it and I can clearly feel it despite wearing thick armor and clothes underneath. It was much colderpared to the coldness I felt when we are still in the cavern where we fought the Ice Devilfish. Still, the mes on the Magic Sword aren''t enough to light up the surroundings. I can barely make out what is currently in the surroundings. "Master, are you sure you need to press on? It''s pretty dark and even with your ming sword, it seems it''s not even showing enough of the surroundings. It was like the lighting from the ming sword is being swallowed," Lucia is worried. I didn''t respond not because I didn''t hear what Lucia said but because I noticed a presence in the dark. I ready my sword and entered into abat stance. "Everyone ready. Someone is currently beyond this darkness! All hands, at arms!" Chapter 301 - Devilfish Stomach Labyrinth (II) I am not someone who is very well versed with the creatures of the Aquagius''s seas. I tend to avoid the sea part of Aquagius many times as they are very tricky to fight against, troublesome to meet, and can get dangerous if you don''t know what you are doing. Most of the time if I ever visit Aquagius, I would just stay in the Insect Kingdom and the hostile ind''s parts. There are times I have faced Foreign beings but that is with a party before. But there is one incident where I didn''t expect my meeting with the creature before. And as unexpected it was before, it was also unexpected for me to see it here, but a different entity, same source. [Fragment of the Sea God: Heart] Type: NPC HP: 50/100 Status: Curious The Fragment of Sea God. Who would have thought that the Heart is currently residing inside the body of the Ice Devilfish, and in the stomach, no less? Still, this is not the same entity I meet in the past timeline, this is the heart, what I met in the past timeline is the brain. "Master! Step back!" Lina pulls out her Morning Star and was ready to attack before I intercepted her charge. "Calm down." The wiggling entity is still moving in the darkness and although it looks like a mass of flesh and slimebined together, it is not a harmful creature seeing that it didn''t have a hostile status and it didn''t have a very high HP. Not only that but there is type info of the creature with NPC written next to it. "Ugh...what the heck is that Master? Is that a slime perhaps?" "No...I think I can recognize that thing." My eyebrows frown when I heard Tina recognize the Fragment of the Sea God. "You recognize the guy?" "Yeah. I think I have read one of the myths being told to us about Aquagius. If I remember correctly, that thing resembles the Fragment of the Sea God, and although its description about its looks are a bit differentpared to how I pictured it is still the same." A myth huh? Well, the Sea God is definitely something that exists in the legends of Aquagius and although I never actually see the actual Sea God, the fragments scattered around the world are said to help return the Sea God back to its prime. However, no one knows if it is the right thing to keep the heart around or not. The Fragment of the Sea God: Heart just keeps moving like a slime. Since it was just the heart, it does nothing other than move like a slime. Nothing interesting at all and if you are just that bloodthirsty, one step of the thing and I can easily tell it will die immediately. Despite my reasons not to get involved in this thing due to what I experienced in the past timeline about the Sea God''s existence, I have no choice but to bring it along with us. From the looks of it, this heart might have something to do with the Kingdom of the Deep Sea and the approval of the people to help us over there against the Insect Kingdom. "Tina-san, can you ask Cotton to allow us to store it on a container or something, its web would be perfect to encase this thing if we wanted to carry it. Tina didn''t ask why and went to Cotton and started talking in that foreignnguage I don''t understand before Cotton seems to agree. She quickly spits out countless webs and creates a small container that looks like a ss bowl, a bit bigger than my hands but it''s small enough that I can easily carry it with my own hands. Perfect to encase the small fragment of the Sea God. Scooping the slimy thing and putting it on the bowl that Cotton made, the fragment is now possible to be ced inside the Inventory. It was easily done and one fragment is now in my possession. After pulling the thing out and putting it inside my inventory, the darkness of the area also diminished and the previous light that seems to be getting absorbed from the ming sword returns to normal. "So that darkness earlier around this area was caused by that thing earlier?" Lucia frowned. "Seems like it. Anyways, we don''t need to loiter around here anymore. With the thing that we need to investigate is already in our hands, it''s time to continue pushing on. As much as we have to look for marvels, we can''t just do that with the Ice Devilfish''s digestion might being close." The others nodded and we continue. I gave the ce onest look before we depart. That ce, perhaps it might be the stomach area of the Ice Devilfish but there is no doubt, the ce looks like it was man-made. ... A few minutester, we didn''t see anything much but we have indeed seen something else, and that should be these things. "This boss... it has its own ecosystem inside its gastric organs?!" As much as I want to convince myself that we are inside the stomach of a boss, the surroundings keep on trying to stop us from thinking about it whether we are just hallucinating or not. "Master, perhaps we have crossed the otherworld already?" Lina scratches her head as she looked at the scenery before us. "That shouldn''t be the case. We didn''t pass out which would suggest ourck of logical response on where we are. We are witnessing these things so it should be the same intestines of the Ice Devilfish," I exined. "But Master, no matter how habitable your guts are, a creature''s guts wouldn''t look anything like this! This ce is a literal winter forest already!" Luciained as she presented what was before us. Yes, what was before us is a wide expanse of white grass, trees with snow, and a cold ce that you would mistake it for already being the already winter time in here already. Not only that but this time, it''s no longer an uninhabitable ce but a ce full of monsters and currently foraging in the dense winter forest. "This is causing me headaches indeed," I rub my temples for a bit after seeing what is happening. "Should we look around? This is a new ce so perhaps we will get an idea where to exit here?" Tina asked. "There might be a possibility. Since this ce is pretty unique, perhaps there is something that is akin to a secret around here. Let''s try to look for that secret of some sort. We can''t just ignore this ce and say this ce is busted. Perhaps due to this reason, we might find a clue on how this formed. But first, let''s clean up the monsters around here." Everyone agreed and we started clearing the monsters of the snowfield. It was much easier and even with us, we easily kill them without any problem at all. In just a few minutes of killing the monsters, we already cleaned up almost every single monster in the ce. Still, what is odd is that the monsters are no longer doing any respawns. I am also a bit confused as to why the monsters are either named White A, or White B. They retaliate but they easily died without any kind of resistance. They fight back against us once we do aggro its attention but other than that, it didn''t do anything except roam around. "Master, everything wrapped up in here already. The monsters disappeared after they die and they didn''t drop anything at all. They do drop a minuscule amount of EXP but that''s about it," Lina reported. "Already done in our side too, Master," Lucia shouted with Tina near her. So I am not the only one who finds everything here pretty easy. Everyone easily dispose of most of the enemies which allowed us to safely check around the surroundings and check whatever the case here and there. After the small clean-up, we gathered again around and discuss if there are anything we discovered at all. "So, anything useful on your ends guys? I don''t see anything eyecatching in here at my location. What about you guys?"Lucia and Tina shook their head. The two might have shaken their heads but Lina didn''t. "I discovered something, Master. I don''t know if there is something of the importance of this thing but perhaps you Master know what you are doing for a bit." Lina then handed me a small notebook. It was a bit worn out and the cover is already smelling like mold and algae started to stick itself more than ever. I opened the notebook and it was revealed to be a small diary. "A diary?" "Yes, Master. I already checked the contents and perhaps it was indeed something that needed to be addressed to you.. There is also a map inside so perhaps we can talk about this." Chapter 302 - Devilfish Stomach Labyrinth (III) "What is this?" Opening the small diary, the map that is included in the diary fell out. Picking up the map, my eyebrows frowned seeing that the current map I was making is the same map that I was currently holding right now, however, this one is a fully mapped one. It even has some markings that mark the unusual things present in that particr area. Ipared the two maps and indeed, it was the same map. There are some slight differences but very subtle and maybe it was due to how long it has been since the map was madepared to my map that is still in the works. However, seeing aplete map means there is someone here in the past that mapped out the whole ce. Looking at the map, it seems we have yet to fully explore the whole ce and just managed to cover half of the area. I quickly skimmed through the diary and check anything that might sound insightful. There are a few that is unimportant as he was just writing some ramblings on how he is so powerless while inside the stomach of the Ice Devilfish. One fact hements is that hecks the necessary tools to escape as he didn''t bring any weapons. Now I know what happened to him. There are two fates he might have suffered. It would be either he got crazy and killed himself or he starved and died. Now, in this matter, the starving thing should be illogical. If he was an explorer, he can easily find any sort of thing he can use as food. In fact, the fleshy parts of the stomach of the Ice Devilfish might serve as a portion of emergency food and if the Ice Devilfish eat fish and other kinds of food, he can just scrounge it since the Ice Devilfish never chewed it. But getting crazy is much logical. A normal human would go crazy especially if they are in a harsh situation like this for a long time. Unless they can fully adapt, getting crazy and killing themselves is a very high probability. I took note of those entries that have the important bits and folded them so that I can check them again after I fully check the other entries. After a full scan, I folded 10 entries. All of these entries are pretty long and from what I skimmed on these entries, they are all pretty important tidbits. "Master, I think you should see this," Lina directed my eyes to something hidden near the growing shrubs on the side. Although this is a stomach, I am a bit not sure how the shrubs and some trees are growing inside the stomach. If I have something like this on my stomach, I would feel very ufortable. Lina led me a bit before we arrived at the ce she discovered. There, I saw a corpse, or should I say a skeleton. He is still wearing clothes but due to his body no longer possessing any flesh after it decayed for how many years it has been, it is no longer fit on his body. But one thing that immediately strike my attention is the knife embedded in his heart area. Yep, my theory is correct, it seems this guy has gone crazy and decided to end his life in the process. His sanity has dropped tremendously perhaps and depending on how they can handle it, the worst and the mostmon oue is that they will just go and die. From his clothes alone, he is indeed an explorer. Perhaps he stumbled upon the Ice Devilfish and got swallowed in the process. I think it was also mentioned in the diary but I skipped it so I don''t know his real story. I checked the pockets of his clothes and checked for anything inside of it. Although I didn''t find anything interesting, there are a few disheveled cigarettes inside. Maybe it got wet in the process, lowering his chance to even light up one cigar to alleviate his mood and restore a bit of his sanity. Other than that, there is the damp and torn map of the Aquagius Continent and a Compass. Checking thepass, I didn''t expect to see what thepass was since this was not a normalpass that anyone can get their hands into. [Treasure Hunter''s Antique Compass] Type: Gadget Info: Apass that can provide both directions and the location of a treasure in an area. Only 5 pieces were produced around the world and due to how unique it was, many people wanted to get a single one just to find treasures. Note: Thispass might be older than you think but it''s more useful than you. As enticing thepass to me, this isn''t mypass and this is a clear disrespect if I decided to covet it. Even though this is a game, taboos like this are prettymon and usually, it doesn''t end well. I sighed and decided to put it back on his clothes. However, I didn''t want to let him stay here forever. Seeing that his corpse is nowbeled as an item, I decided to put his body in my inventory. Once we get out, I will bury him somewhere that he can give back his peace. There aren''t any clues left behind by him other than the map and the diary. "Looks like there isn''t anything left here. He didn''t have anything left other than the clothes andpass. The map is barely useful so I didn''t bother to salvage it. I think we are done here, guys," I stood up after putting the corpse to my inventory. "So what is our next agenda, Master?" Lucia asked. "Let''s check out those things that he marked on his own map. Our first priority would be killing the Ice Devilfish from the inside then, we can escape after that." "How are we going to escape? I doubt after killing this monstrous monster, we can escape by making our way out?" Tina asked. I pull one scroll out of my inventory and show it to Tina. "A teleport scroll?" "I had set up one teleport point before we entered the cave. This scroll is not the normal Teleport Scroll, this is the Force Teleport Scrolls and can only be used on areas where Teleporting is not possible. In case the normal Teleport scrolls don''t work, this will allow us to properly escape without trying to tread our way out from the body." After exining, I took back the scroll and opened the map that was made by the deceased guy. I didn''t forget my own map since we don''t know how long it has been since the map was created. There might be some inuracies here and there so it''s a good thing to have a new map than rely on the old one. "Let''s check this red circle he put on the far end not too far from us." Everyone nodded and we left the snow-covered area and we went straight to the red part of the map. I didn''t forget to continue creating the new map too. As we further explore the way, the hallways that look like a hallway from ruins started to look more fleshy and the liquid that we are stepping in is already red. It was bloody red and although it didn''t smell like blood, it was a scarlet red crap. "Looks like the map is indeed right to color it red. This ce seems to be an inner area of the Ice Devilfish." Not only that, but for some reason, we can hear a pounding sound echoing in the surroundings. It was near but it felt far too and it is pretty confusing if you don''t have any navigation tools. We decided to follow the map and continue to venture into the area. The more we venture, the lesser the walls look like bricks but more like flesh now. There is also the distinct smell of seawater and a bit of fleshy smell that I can''t properly describe. The reverberating sound is also getting stronger too. "Ah..." The three of us were stunned seeing the thing before us when we arrived where the mapbeled it with a big red circle. It doesn''t look like a heart but it looks simr to a beating flesh. The pounding noise we keep on hearing is alsoing from this thing. I inspected it and even though it wasn''t looking like a heart, I was wrong with that assumption. [Corrupted Ice Devil Heart] HP: ????/????? Type: Foreign Being "It''s another foreign being..." I muttered to myself. We didn''t approach it carelessly seeing how big it was. It isn''t just a big lump of flesh, and although it was smallerpared to the lump of flesh I defeated back in the undergroundboratory, it isn''t small enough to just disregard it as a small lump of flesh. "Guys, prepare. We will go altogether in my signal." It''s time to continue the battle. Chapter 303 - Devilfish Stomach Labyrinth (IV) Even though it''s just a heart, I am not going to just lower my guard. As long as they have an HP and they are an enemy, there is a big possibility it will fight back. "Lina, Lucia, support us from the back, Tina and I will assault the heart." "Roger!" The two immediately assumed their positions at the back and started channeling their abilities. "Tina, let''s go!" Tina draw her de out and sprinted towards the Heart. As for me, I started to apply debuffs. First is the [Russian Roullete] ability of my Versatile Weapon. CLICK! BANG! The bullet shot through the Heart and the crimson heart shook after it took the bullet. Of course, it didn''t burst like the usual hearts shot by a gun. If that was the case, things would be much easier. -you have inflicted Curse(Moderate)! Well, that went well, curse can degrade the max HP of the target and will continue to do so until the effect stops. As for this, the effect will end once the target died so it will continue to drop, slowly but surely. Even if it takes forever to damage it, waiting here will eventually kill it unless it can heal. After getting one of the debuffs, I activated [Defense Down] and also activated [Stopwatch] just in case. Besides, with my passives, [Stopwatch] can also reduce the defense values of the heart this way. After stacking up the debuff, Tina is already close to the heart. Upon getting very near, the heart responded and ck energies suddenly lunges towards Tina. Tina is very quick and just casually slide off from the dark energies. "HA!" SWISH SWISH SWISH! After dodging the energiesing at her, Tina followed it up with 5 consecutive thrust from her rapier, dealing piercing damage to five points of the heart. I also followed up her attack and changing my sword to a normal sword, I closed the gap between me and the heart. "[Triple sh]!" KACHA! KACHA! KACHA! Ayer of membrane suddenly peel off from the heart and the crimson color of the heart started to get really darker than the usual. It also started to emit a hot wave of air and it started beating fast. Not only that but a miasma started to build up around the heart. I nce at Tina and she nodded in response. "Lucia, Lina! Now!" "Release thy anger! [Blitz of Burning Grudge]!" Lucia unleashed a heat wave in the form of cinders that flew straight to the heart. The moment the cinders get in contact with the heart, it exploded one by one that it was like time bombs nted straight to the devilfish''s heart. "We are not yet done! [Ifreeta]!" A female elemental djinn appeared right in front of the Heart and it blows a fiery hot me out of her mouth, burning the heart alongside with the explosions from the previous skills. After she did that, she releases a few punches with mes on her hands. It was quick that even the small explosions that urred outside the heart were all pushed back to the heart, dealing additional damage. After that, she disappeared like a smoke. "Did we got it?" Lucia is still battle ready and is still preparing if she needs to fire another one. "Not yet!" I confirmed seeing the HP bar is still up and about though at least quarter of the HP bar is gone already after the attacks. The smoke started to fade and the heart revealed to be the same as ever though there are some signs of peeling membraneing off from the heart itself. Of course, just from the peeling alone, the crimson color from before is no longer bearing any significant color to the red color at all but it is now officially a ck colored heart. Every beat it makes causes the surroundings to shake and rumble. "Master, something is wrong," Lucia who is also sensitive in slight magic movement gave her warning. The heart then started to wriggle and it started to...open?! POP POP POP Small creatures simr to the creatures we killed before we arrived here appeared before us. "Wait, so those f*ckers are actually the nervous system''s cells of the Ice Devilfish?!" They keep popping up from the heart like they were born there. Though that shouldn''t be the case if we are talking about the actual heart here, we don''t know if the Ice Devilfish has a different take on how to release the soldiers of the nervous system. The amount of the things appearing is no longer something we can just ignore. "Everyone! Attack!" The new monsters responded to my attack and they started to flock together while they branded their weapons to attack us. Lina joined the fray of attacking and abandon her mage status for the moment and pulled out her Morning Star. "[Cry of the Warmonger]!" Lina screamed on top of her lungs and her statuses rose up permanently. The surrounding team members including myself suddenly received attack buffs which is part of the effect of the [Cry of Warmonger]. It''s effects might be simr to the [Berserk] but it also gives out buffs to the surrounding allies, giving it a nickname, "Ther Better Berserk" The white monsters didn''t back down and continue pouring itself out of the heart. "I will make way towards the heart while you guys follow suit!" Everyone nodded and I changed my weapon to spear and shield. This time, I will test one of the skills that Pdin users do to make a sweep attack against multiple enemies. I thump the shield using my spear and activated one of the beginner attacks of Pdins. "[Shield Bash]!" The moment I activated the skill, I also started running towards the heart. The [Shield Bash] can attract enemie''s attention so the moment I unleashed it, the monsters also rush towards me head-on. PENG PENG PENG PENG! Metallic sounds bounces off from my shield after every monsters rushes towards the shield. I didn''t stop of course and as I continue, the closer I get to the heart of the monster. "Get it done everyone!" Lucia, Tina and Lina following behind then unleashed their abilities to the fullest. Lucia leaping in the air and shot some cinders up in the air and releasing it straight to the heart. Lina on the other hand unleashed her anger and wildly beat up the heart with the Morning Star. Tina on the other hand, continuously attack the points she previously pierced with her rapier. As for me, I decided to deal with the small fries. No matter how small and easy to kill they are, they are far too many in number departments. We are seriously in a very disadvantage position. "[Stopwatch]!" I had to cast [Stopwatch] again to the enemies as they are getting too troublesome to handle. Not only do they keep on getting into the way but they are also trying to break through and interrupt the girls from attacking the boss. As we get overwhelmed a lot due to the little bastards, I decided to unleash everything I have with me. Due to my recent level up, I received universal SP which I can use on all of the skill trees. I didn''t have much skills I bought since most of the skills I recently emtied my SP bank are mostly on passives and the most skills I purchased are good for most of the time against a single boss. While defending, I quickly opened the skill tree. The remaining SP I have for universal SP is just 5 SP which is only enough for purchasing a single skill from tier 1. Looking at the other sses, there isn''t much to say on the tier 1 skills. They might be good skills but I have less Sp to use to make it stronger in upgrades. Then, Ie across one of the skills that I keep neglecting as it doesn''t entice me for a bit due to how I am not into furries. However, if I remember correctly, despite being tier 1, this skill is always part of the skill abilities of a druid. I rarely encounter druids in the past timeline as they are usually not abat type in the past timeline and rarely see anyone who ys it. I can only say I am not so expert in this skill as I rarely see any druid use this skill so perhaps I am wrong. However, this is the only skill that might have a chance. "[Shapeshifting] has been selected." Let''s see how this works out. "Shapeshifting]!" "[Please just use themand mentally please.]" Crap, its like how the Versatile Weapon, in changing shapes. F*ck, that''s a bit embarrassing. Still, I followed the instructions and mentally activate the skill. "[Please choose an animal to shapeshift from] Note: Only those creatures you saw will be possible to shapeshift into.]" I checked to see any noteworthy to choose. I thought I would see a dragon or Gryphon like Leona. However, there is nothing of that sort. However, one selection caught my eye. [Great White Wolf] If I remember correctly, [Great White Wolf] is simr to the Elite White Wolf I defeated during the very beginning in which I received the mask. However, they are far too bigpared to thetter. Out of all the options given and avable, this option is the strongest I have seen. I don''t know what will happen but I have to see it for myself. "[Great White Wolf] selected.. Transformation willmence.] Chapter 304 - Shapeshifting At first, my body felt weird. It was like I am being torn apart and the pain is just too painful to handle. I felt like I want to rip off my skin out of my body. It''s too painful, so painful! "GRAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Then, it happened. White hair started to grow, my posture started to work differently and I am no longer standing upright. My fangs are growing and the mask in my head seems to integrate into my face. I feel like a tail is also growing behind me and my ws are also growing. "AWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I lost my way to speak and the only thing I can utter is what a wolf would sound like. However, I am still sane enough that I can figure out who are my allies and my enemies. "Master?!" Lina was shocked when she saw me change into a white wolf. Perhaps it was too sudden and I didn''t inform anyone of my transformation which is why it was too sudden. Now let''s see here. When I transformed, I lost all of my ess to my other skills. But I realized that I have something on my feet-er I mean paws. When I checked it, it was huge metal ws attached to all of my paws. It was like an iron w used by roosters in cockfighting but it was shaped like my ws but sharper. "Is this perhaps the Versatile Weapon?" I don''t know since I can''t open my equipment and what equipment is currently on my body. Also, not only did I lose ess to that but I also lost ess to my skills. When I opened my skill panel, I can only see 4 skills while the rest are locked behind skill levels. Perhaps if I level the [Shapeshifting] levels, those things will unlock. For now, the skills essible are [Roar], [w sh], [Hellish Bite], and [Blood of the Beast]. I took a quick look at the skills while trying to defend against the enemies in wolf form. [Roar] Type: Active Cooldown: 4 minutes Info: The user will roar wildly causing the surrounding enemies to receive [Fear] debuff, causing them to stop moving momentarily. After 5 seconds, the enemies will be drawn to you. Note: AWOOOOOOO! Wait, that sounds like a dog in heat. Basically, the skill [Roar] is both debuff and taunt skill. Good to know. Also, it''s pretty neat that I don''t need to use MP to use the skill. .... [w sh] Type: Active Cooldown: N/A Info: Basic skill. Allows the user to attack the enemies using sharp ws. Has a chance to inflict [Bleed]Moderate and [Bleed]Extreme. No cooldown and can be used infinitely. Note: Can you start cutting your nails, please? Stop scratching me. So basically, this is the basic attack but this has additional effects which are the [Bleed] debuff which is pretty useful for killing enemies who try to escape as they can''t heal it and they will continue to lose HP. Well, that is still very fine. ... [Hellish Bite] Type: Active Cooldown: 2 minutes Info: Bites a target and siphon a part of their HP and make it your own. Has high critical damage and has very little chance to inflict Instant Death. Note: RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE! A self-healing skill. That''s not bad and it even has a chance to inflict Instant Death which is one of the things I needed. However, since it''s like my title, I doubt you can have much chance it will proc but that is better than nothing. Perhaps it will even proc when you really needed it. Now for thest one..., this skill is a passive one. ... [Blood of the Beast] Type: Passive Info: During the beast form, all attacks will have a 30% increase in attack speed and movement speed. Attack power will now stack whenever an enemy is killed. After 30 seconds, if no enemy will die during that time frame, the stack will disappear. There is no limit to the stack which allows the user to increase its attack power the more enemies are killed in the process within a short timeframe. Will enter [Frenzy Mode] after killing 30 enemies. Attack power will increase twofold and their recovery rate will also increase. The cooldown rate will lower to 30 seconds during this state, however, the defense will lower down to zero in return. Note: Damn, all I am seeing today is red... Damn, this passive is very strong but also has a very bad setback. Still, that info is enough for me to get by to fight. The way I move is still the same and it seems like I didn''t have problems with it either. I focus my attention on the monsters and seeing them move around, I didn''t hesitate to swing my ws straight to the enemies. SWISH SWISH SWISH! I was a bit surprised by my attack speed. Although I knew of my attack speed, the speed is just too fastpared to my original speed. I was not able to properly cope up with it until a few swingster. "Lina-san, don''t stop attacking! Master is dealing with the trouble, let''s deal with the heart as soon as possible too!" Lucia snaps out Lina on her trance and continues to deal damage to the heart. "Ah! Sorry!" Lina apologizes before she resumed attacking the heart. I can easily hear them due to the extreme hearing of the wolf. But to be honest, this is just too good. I didn''t just transform into a beast form that is half-human and half-beast but the full beast form to the fullest of my abilities. The enemies that are being killed were umting so fast. Due to the effects of the [Blood of the Beast] where my attack power stack every time I umted a kill is very useful for killing enemies as fast as we can. Enemies might be great in numbers but they seemed to look useless after seeing how I can only just deal one sh at them before they kick the bucket. With the number of enemies attacking, it didn''t take too long for me to receive the [Frenzy Mode]. I suddenly felt the rush in my blood and the scent in the air is making me excited. Not only that, but I am indeed seeing red. It''s not just a useless note from a useless someone but it was indeed what I am experiencing. However, nothing is blocking my way and nothing else matters. The enemy before me is in need of slicing. And that is all that matters. Rip and tear until it is done! "ROOOOOOOAAAARRRRRR!" One by one, the moving monsters were ripped to shreds in one single sh and every single monster didn''tst a single blow from me. Pathetic. However, this is pretty fun! The monsters are still flooding the ce but I continue to kill, nothing else exists aside from me and mypanions and the monsters. I kill and kill and kill! ... ... The grueling battle ended and I returned to my usual self but I am too battered to move and my muscles are too sore. "F*ck... what the hell... there is no info stating I would be reduced to this state after using the [Shapeshifting]!" I grumbled. "Well, isn''t that much of your fault anyway since you got excited in your killing spree?" Tina nonchntly answered. "It''s your own fault Master, you shouldn''t have gotten too carried away from your feelings while doing the kills. It might be too addicting to stop for you," Lucia shook her head. "But all is good right? The heart is finally destroyed! The enemies are no longer spawning and there is no more movement around the ce either! It seems like it even started to get pale toopared to its earlier color," Lina then points out the changes happening around, and just like what Lina said just now, the ce is getting palerpared to its earlier color. However, that shouldn''t be the case still as the Ice Devilfish will still not yet die after one heart is destroyed. "We are not yet done. Our job is still in the process." "Huh? What are you talking about Master? The heart is already broken to pieces and the monsters attacking us are gone. The cavern is also looking pale which means it is dying. Why are we not yet done?" Lucia asked. "Did you guys know that octopuses have three hearts?" "Wait, what? Really?" Lucia is surprised. Even Lina and Tina were also surprised. "So does that mean..." Tina nced at the destroyed piece of heart that they managed to reduce its Hp after the fight. "Yeah, it means that our battle is not yet done. The first heart is just the beginning. Here in this map is where the other two hearts are located too. It''s not a joke, this is our next target to destroy.. Once we destroy the veryst heart, we can now escape and we are now good to go after destroying them all." Chapter 305 - The Aftermath Of The Battle The map of the dead explorer does have two points where it was pointing to the location of the two remaining hearts. Although the ces he put it are notbeled as red as the heart that we just destroyed today, it was the same outline which means the devilish does possess three hearts. Since the one we just destroyed is the most crimson and the biggest alongside that it was ced in the very center of the map, it must be the main heart. "Let''s go to the next two. It should be easier since the main heart is already destroyed. Thest two are not going to prove many challenges anymore but we still can''t let our guard down. Let''s get going before we lost our chances and this monster recovers." The three nodded in response. As much as I want to end the situation as soon as we can, we just have to deal with it as soon as we can. ... ... ... In the end, the two hearts prove no challenge. The monsters that responded after the heart is damaged are not even showing any signs of strength and they are pretty weak inparison to the first heart''s assault. It ended with a much easier time for us and we managed to finish off the three hearts. "Let''s go. The whole ce is not going to support anything now that it starts to decay the surroundings." I pull the "Mass Teleport" scroll out and tear it off, activating the spell inside the scroll. Thankfully, there is no resistance from the spell and it didn''t get canceled by anything. Of course, I can stop the jamming process if it happens but I didn''t need to do that. The surroundings started to get so chaotic that Tina felt nervous seeing the surroundings copsing like a bunch of rotten meat bundled together poorly. She closed her eyes in hopes the teleportation ur as fast as it can. In one second, we are transported back outside the cave on the ind. Tina slumped to the ground while sweating profusely. It seems even though she poses a tough front, she still can''t hide her fear in some things too. "Stand up, I know you are afraid but I think we are not yet done." "What do you mean, Master? We destroyed the hearts right?" Lucia is confused. "No. I have a feeling the Ice Devilfish is still up to itsst attempt. Let''s hurry back to the cavern. We also must secure those two that are frozen in ice. They might be the key to the situation we are in." We didn''t waste time and rush back to the cave. Since the cave is clear and we have already gone through it once, we are able to easily go without exploring any ces and just go straight to our target location. The cave is rumbling and there are even some stgmites that get broken after a single shake. Not only that but the stctites are also posing some danger on us since they are also falling from time to time and they sometimes almost hit us. When we arrived again, we saw the Ice Devilfish still alive on where it appeared before. However, its color is now color grey and it''s currently trying to revert to its natural color. I check the status and saw that it is almost dying. It''s in its final phase of struggle. "You three, try to find a way to thaw the ice of the two frozen people. Be careful about it so that you won''t identally kill the people inside. I will be the one dealing against the boss." The three nodded in response and as for me, I went straight to the boss and noticed that its body is emitting ice particles around its skin. It was like it is sweating but the sweat are all ice. However, I am not interested in how it is perspiring or whatever it was trying to do. Killing it is my top priority. "[Target can be devoured.]" I was ready to deal the final blow when the Versatile Weapon suddenly shows that the Ice Devilfish is also a candidate to be devoured. "Seriously?" The Ice Devilfish is still alive, however, it is already clinging to the remaining bits of its life. One strike and it will die. But since the Versatile Weapon can devour this enemy, does that mean devouring it will allow me to gain something that will benefit my Versatile Weapon? "Heh, so that is what you are huh? You shouldn''t have struggled too much and just let me do the job." "[Proceed on Devouring? The Versatile Weapon will undergo a 48-hour sleep mode. In this scenario, devouring anything will be impossible before it will finish the 48-hour sleep mode. Continue?]" "Proceed!" The Versatile Weapon''s ck dragon appeared and this time, it is now showing its fleshy texture. However, it is no longer showing its big mouth alone. It opened its fleshy mouth and it suddenly formed into a three-pronged point mouth, expanding the radius of the mouth of the ck dragon. CHOMP! In one single chomp, the imposing Ice Devilfish''s head disappeared leaving the body alone. The main body fell as the head disappeared. However, the ck dragon didn''t even let the main body escape to the depths of the sea and in one swift action, the ck dragon devoured the body in another bite. The ck dragon burps after the devouring process before it returned to its former state of a weapon. Now I am developing an unknown fear of the Versatile Weapon. What if in the future the Versatile Weapon gets hungrier than ever? Will be at the very end, it will try to devour me in the process too? I don''t know. However, I don''t need to think much about it and continue to get stronger. No matter what the ck dragon was, I needed its power to get strong enough to survive. ... -Congrattions! You have killed the Ice Devilfish: Monster of Ice Hell! -got 30,000,000 exp! (Title effects activated! 30,000,000 exp received!) -You have leveled up from level 102 to 103! -You have received the Unique Title: Angler that fished in the Ice Hell! -got Fragment of the Sea King''s Memento. -got Frozen Armor of the Ice Hell. -got Ice Devilfish''s core fragment. -got... ... A lot of words appeared before me after the devouring process ended. Although I am able to rise up from level 103 after killing the boss, the one that I am a bit perplexed about is the rewards I received after killing the boss. [Angler that Fished in the Ice Hell] Type: Unique Title Method of unlocking: Kill the Ice Devilfish: Monster of Ice Hell. Info: A title bestowed to the worthy angler who has conquered the mighty monster of the Ice Hell. The gods have bestowed a blessing to the conqueror by giving them the ability to be immune to Ice Damage and convert it to HP when attacked with an element of Ice type. Not only that but the residents of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea will now see you as a Hero and gain the highest affection. Can be stacked along with the other titles'' effects. Effects are still effective even if it isn''t equipped. The title alone is insane. I will now be immune to any ice damage and convert the damage dealt as recovery magic instead. This effect is pretty strong and if ever I face against an Ice enemy monster type, the enemy will not be able to kill me whenever it uses its ability. Not only that but yers who are capable of using Ice Magic or weapons imbued with Ice Element will be practically not going to deal any damage against me. As for the armor... [Frozen Armor of the Ice Hell] Type: Upper Equipment Rarity: Legendary Equippable at: Level 0 Level 130 Exp: 0/100,000 Stats: All stats will gain 20 after equipping. Unique skill 1. Growing Armor: (Passive): An armor that can grow alongside the owner. The more it gains more experience, the stronger the stats it gains. 2. Ice Chainmail: (Passive): When attacked, the attacker will be inflicted with Defense Freeze that will decrease the defense values of the enemies and deal 100 Ice damage per attack received to the attacker. Info: A legendary armor worn by thete ruler of the Ice Hell. After it was abandoned, it continues to wait for the next sessor of the Armor and find the next heir that will be qualified to use it. Note: Wearing this doesn''t make you a demon lord. Your face alone is enough for you to be called an ugly demon lord. ... The note of the armor is pretty sharp tongue and has openly mocked me but it''s alright since in return, I received the first Legendary Armor in this current timeline! Not only that but it''s a growing type of armor, meaning, this armor has a simr trait as the Versatile Weapon! The more the user grows, the stronger the armor bes. Not only that, but I can equip it due to how it has no restrictions of levels! Chapter 306 - Thaw And Camping Those two are not the only eye-catching things I received as the monster drops were not something you can disregard either. I was about to fully inspect them when the girls who I asked to try and thaw the ice surrounding the two people frozen at the center of the ce started to exim. This caught my attention and I decided to look at what they are being excited to see all of a sudden. I was just a little bit of distance from them but then I noticed one thing from one of the frozen people who are now lying on the ground. A tail... I rub my eyes a bit to see clearly that I am not hallucinating. Yep, it''s a tail. A fishtail to be exact. Then realization hits. "F*CK. A mermaid?!" I quickly joined the others and indeed confirmed the two people to be the people of the sea. In short, merfolks. I rarely see merfolks in the past timeline and if ever I saw one, it''s either they are on a quest or they are trying to see the world and get out of the sea from time to time. Not only that but you can''t see them in their pure forms which is their forms where they retain their tails. They are usually on the form where they got rid of the tails and gained legs to walk onnd. As for the way to determine whether they are merfolk or not, their ears are simr to fish fins and they are mostly people who have green or pink hair. Seeing merfolks before me in their purest forms ignited my desire to see more of them. I mean, they are quite beautiful in beauty standards and even though they can''t beat an elf''s beauty, they are one of the people that you can rarely see around. They also contain a lot of legends so my desire to learn more of them seems to have been ignited. The two merfolk who were frozen earlier are a man and a woman. The woman is a bit younger while the man, though he is in his teens, he is a pretty buff for a teenager. They don''t have clothes, not a single covering in their body like a shellfish to cover the chest of the mermaid. The only thing covering the mermaid''s chest is her long, pink hair. As for the man, welp, there is nothing to cover since the lower half is a fishtail. "Let''s get them to safety first. Tina, you know what to ask for Cotton. Thanks." Tina nodded and started to negotiate with Cotton. Cotton waspliant and made a web that is enough for us to ce them together for us to carry them together. I summoned As and quickly asked for a favor from him. "As, I will be inconveniencing you in helping me carry the two of them at the moment." "Don''t worry Master, I have plenty of rest so this will be a good workout for me." After that, we carried the two merfolk out of the cave. The three girls were in charge of protecting us in case there are enemies present while we are carrying the two. Thankfully, just like when we get back out, there are no enemies when we exited. We stopped when we arrived back outside the cave. As and I ced the web carrying the two and let them bask in the sun for a bit so that the coldness that they have felt after being frozen for long will be gone while keeping them hydrated using water magic of both mine and Lina''s since Lucia''s magic skills are all fire-based. "Master, are they perhaps the key to our negotiation with the King of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea?" Lucia asked. "Perhaps. I thought it was an item but it never urred to me that it will be people. Also, since the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is a ce where merfolks live, perhaps we can gain recognition once we present them to them. However, we still need to know whether they are connected to the kingdom in some other way, otherwise, we would just be wasting time." "That means we are going to camp here? Alright, leave the camping preparations to me!" Lina announced before she disappeared in the distance as she quickly went to the bushy forest. In a few minutes, she returned and this time, she is carrying a few twigs and quickly made a campfire. We heard rumblings of something falling down to the ground though I can''t exactly pinpoint what fell down. She returned and this time, she asked As toe with her. Just like earlier, in just a few seconds, she returned with As carrying a few logs. With the help of As, they processed the logs easily and became raw wood materials. After Lina thanked As, she quickly made a skeletal framework. In just an hour, a hut big enough even for As to go in appeared before us. "Wait...wait...wait... what the f*ck?!" I was too surprised that I was at loss for words seeing how she managed to create a hut big enough to be called a wooden house in just a matter of an hour. It was like she is ying mi*ecr*ft and easily created a house by piling objects in one go. "Hehe, sorry to hide it, Master. I received a skill rted to the construction of buildings. It''s still at a low level since I barely have chances to use and level it up that is why I can only do this at the moment. However, if we get to a higher level, I can create more advanced buildings easily, and maybe if I was in max level, maybe I can also slowly renovate the mansion all by myself!" Lina proudly revealed. A construction skill. Although it''s not something you can easily use, this skill is pretty useful due to the fact that you can easily create houses, infrastructures, and other things without any problempared to others who don''t have it. Lina didn''t have this skill in the past timeline so I was too surprised to see it. "When did you get it?" I asked since I don''t remember her getting it during the time I checked her stats after we finished the ss-ups. "Just a while ago after we killed a few monsters and when I leveled up, I gained a chance to get a random skill. It was this skill that I managed to win. Although this is not rted to maid duties, this is pretty useful in campings and other stuff rted to outdoor stays and renovations." I was at a loss for real. For Lina to gain a random skill after defeating a monster, that means she received the skill crystal randomizer as a reward. It''s a pretty rare drop and for someone like me who has countless skills I needed to learn with a limited amount of resources, an item like that would be a blessing. However, it''s not something I can just ask since that thing has an abysmal rate to drop and if it ever drops, it cannot be used by anyone other than the one who received it. "Are you angry, Master?" Lina looked at me with guilty eyes. "Nah, but you should tell me sooner so that we can develop that further. It is a pretty useful skill so it''s something that needed to be used many times to level up and gaining a level on it will greatly benefit anyone of us." After the hut was created, As and I created the two merfolk inside the hut, and using Lina''s skills, she created a wooden bathtub easily, allowing us to let the two soak in seawater, that way, they can recover. "Ahhh, isn''t this quite a bliss? I didn''t know camping like this can really rx my mind out of all the things that I have experienced these past few days," Tina happily sits down on a small rocking chair that Lina also created. "Right? Lina, that skill is pretty amazing! I wish I also have that so that I can be useful to Master in some way other than fighting," Lucia grumbled. "I''m sorry, Lucia-san. I don''t really know how but I just randomly received this skill so I don''t know how to do it and I can''t share it since I am still pretty low leveled and I don''t know the exact fundamentals behind it." "Eh, no worries. I am not mad, I am just a bit jealous but don''t worry. Everything is okay. Anyways, As, how are the two? Are they already showing signs of waking up soon?" Lucia asked. As who was guarding the two while reading a book that I let him borrow looked again at the two. "Ah..." The three then know something is up. As for me, I am currently outside and fishing. "Damn it, the fishes are still not biting," I grumbled as the bait I tossed out in the sea with my homemade fishing rod had been snatched by fishes. I am still oblivious to what is currently happening inside the house until muchter after I returned from fishing. Chapter 307 - The Merfolk I managed to catch a few fish to grill for the night in the game when I heard a ruckus inside the hut. I hear the voice of Lucia and As talking. I was about to enter the hut when Lina went out of the doorway, maybe she was about to look for me. "Oh, Master! I was just about to look for you. The two merfolk already regained their consciousness!" "They already did? How are they?" "It''s better if you check them out personally, Master." Entering the hut with Lina, I can hear the sshing of water in the room where As and Lina ced the bathtub. I saw Tina in the doorway currently watching what was happening inside. "Looks like you are just in time. The two merfolk has already awakened from their slumber. Though I think they are currently unstable," Tina shrugged and make way from the doorway. Though I don''t understand what she meant, I decided to look and see what she meant. Inside the room, I saw Lucia and As looking a bit helpless. "Ah, Master. Thank goodness you are back," As said wiping his nonexistent sweat. "What is going on? Why are you guys looking so worn out?" "Looks like we needed your conversation skills to get through these guys. They are pretty stubborn." Although I don''t understand what they are trying to say, I noticed that the merfolk inside the bathtub is just submerged underwater, looking at us. The moment I peered in, the two were too shocked they were forced to head up to the water. "AAAAAHHHHH!" the two screamed. "Bruh..." I didn''t expect them to react like that. Maybe due to my Wolf Mask? Yeah, perhaps it is the reason since Merfolks do not see creatures like the wolves in the sea. Unless one drifts in the sea or they go to thend, that''s pretty impossible for them to meet one. "What is happening?! Did we die? Howe we are seeing different creatures here and there? Oh no, I know I am prepared to die but not this way!" the merman is getting hysterical. "I know you are scared but please calm down, I know they are scary but perhaps they aren''t that bad? They don''t seem to be attacking us." Ah, no wonder they are conscious. As is not a human and based on his armor, he looks like walking armor filled with dark energy. Lucia looks like a human so she would be supposedly lumped together with Lina''s while Tina is an insect person. As for me, it seems they have mistaken me as a beast since I wear a Wolf Mask. That may be one of the main reasons. "Uh... don''t worry about anything. We won''t hurt you and we just saved you from being frozen. You guys are safe now." "Huh? You saved us from being frozen?! Did you know what you just did?!" the mermaid who was trying to calm down the merman lean on the bathtub with an angry face. "Uh...No?" "You guys don''t know what you just unleashed! Why have you broken the seal! The monster of the ice hell would escape from its chamber now that we are gone from the seal now! It will destroy the kingdom!" "Monster of Ice Hell?" Lucia frowned. "Ah, you mean that huge octopus?" Tina quickly points out before I can say anything. "Yeah! Yeah, that thing! If the seal is gone, that means we are all doomed now! The seas will now be in danger without the seal!" the mermaid eximed. "Uh...sis. How did they know it was an octopus? I am pretty sure no one survives to tell the tale of what the Monster From Ice Hell looks like. They are immediately eaten if they see it. Unless they are the same as us who is the seal of the monster!" "If you guys are talking about the octopus, it''s already dead. We retrieved you two after the ice melts after the death of the Ice Devilfish. There is no need for you two to panic over a dead monster. Unless they rise back up from the dead, they won''t being back to haunt you guys." "Huh? Isn''t it immortal? Don''t you guys dare to lie to us! We know more about the monster from Ice hellpared to guys like you who just show up! That thing is immortal!" I shook my head and decided to show them proof. I have the drop from the Ice Devilfish that is also a quest item. Perhaps it has something to do with the treasure of the sea god. "Here, see if you can say that thing is immortal. It''s a poor excuse to call that thing immortal when it was already dead." Tossing the item to them, the mermaid catches it before inspecting the item. She was furrowing her brows at first but it soon turns to surprise after inspecting the thing for a while. "Where did you get this thing?!" the mermaid asked. "I told you right? That thing came as proof that the monster of Ice hell is already dead. The Ice Devilfish fragment won''t be extracted the main source for this thing is still alive. And if you guys are sealing this thing, that means this monster is the only one existing in this world. I doubt you will see any replicas on this thing since it still didn''t exist in the world as a material." "Sis, I think the beast guy is saying the truth. He doesn''t give out the vibe of lying." "Does that mean...the kingdom will no longer be threatened by the monster of Ice hell? They will no longer feel the danger of the monster anymore?!" the mermaid is excited. "Yeah! That means we no longer needed to be sealed anymore!" "Alright, we will leave you guys here for now. Although you two have already been out from the ice, you guys needed to recuperate. You guys can just shout to us if you needed some sort of help." "Are you guys leaving?" The merman asked. "No, we will be camping here for a night since we have been exhausted after ying the monster. You guys can also eat dinner with us." "Ah, now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry..." the merman rubbed his belly. "It''s been a while since west eat, it''s understandable," the mermaid smiled awkwardly. "Are you guys fine eating fish? I can prepare other things if fishes are not part of your diet." "Ah, you don''t need to worry about us about fishes. We eat fish too and we don''t have the capacity to talk to fishes so we only saw some fishes as food," the mermaid exined. "That''s good to know then. Well, just say something if you need anything done. Just go and rest for now and recover your lost energy from being frozen for too long." "We appreciate that. Also, I am sorry for shouting earlier and for being spooked by all of you. We didn''t know where we are and our minds are confused about what is happening since we are inside the seal the whole time so being outside for a change seems suspicious and a bit confusing for us," the mermaid apologized. "No worries. Alright, we won''t be disturbing you guys. Come on, let''s let them rest for now." Everyone nodded and we left the room, leaving the two alone to recuperate. As much as I want to ask them questions, we can''t force them to tell us what happened. Perhapster once they have already managed to rest up. ... ... "I can''t believe it. The monster that almost destroyed our kingdom has been defeated. Anyone who knows about the wrath and danger the monster of ice hell possesses won''t believe the monster has been killed already. No one has been able to kill it and many adventurers and explorers have gone missing after trying to kill it," the mermaid stares at her reflection on the water. "Perhaps they are legendary adventurers looking around the world and defeating monsters on their way? I heard a legend of traveling mercenaries looking for challenges like unkible monsters to find something that will fill their thirst for a fight since normal monsters no longer satisfy their needs forbat skills," the young merman is imagining the legendary adventurers he keeps on hearing in the legends. "Although that is a possibility, we still don''t know their main motive for saving us. I mean we are merfolk. Since we are rare, perhaps they are nning to sell us somewhere once our guard is down?" "Trust me on this one Sis. These guys are trustworthy. I already used my ability on them and they aren''t troublesome people and they don''t mean any harm at all." "Then, do you know how long have we been frozen?" "..." the young merman sighed and looked down as he think for a bit. "I am prepared if things have already progressed too much past our real timeline. We have been frozen for too long.. We need to adapt to our surroundings soon." Chapter 308 - Ragtag Group Alexandria bit her lip. As much as she wanted to try reviving her brother back to life, something tries to block her way of summoning him back. She has been struggling to do it many times as whenever she tries to do so, she gets incapacitated by an unknown force that seems like she is being robbed by her life force the moment she performed the ritual. "What is going on?! I am quite sure that everything is fine whenever I try to use [Resurrection] in the past why is it not working now!?" She tried every single thing that can at least increase her chances to have sess in reviving her brother but every time, she fails, it seems something has been taken from her. As a demon, she never felt anything like this before. "Did they perhaps do something to the body of my brother? Do they know that I will be reviving him?! No, that''s impossible. No one knows that I can revive my twin if he dies or he can revive me if I die. That''s just impossible!" Alexandria is pacing back and forth. The king and queen are pretty useless and were just staring nkly. After the death of their son, they turned into a state of near-catatonic since they still respond when called or asked but they would most likely remain like that. "Useless! Useless! If you two are not the key to my ns, I would have already gotten rid of you two already! F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!" Then she just remembered something else. A sinister smile appeared on her face. "What if I ask that "guy" do his specialty? Maybe he can do something about it. Hehe..." ... ... ... I logged out from the game after straight gaming in Alternate World. Although I can feel full while ying in the game and eating the food over there, I can''t really say that to my real stomach too. So when I am free to go and rest, I decided to log out for a bit. The others also ensured that they will be guarding the ce while I was out for a bit so everything is fine. This quest is pretty long and from the looks of it, it was like I am already doing half of the job of what was the Pioneers of Aquagius is going to do in the future. Doing the quest involves a lot and if I am not wrong, the unsealing of the two merfolk should have happened during the events of the Pioneering season. Doing it so early is already going to change a lot of things in the near future too but I already dove too deep to swim back up. Despite the reason I said not too long ago not to go out for a bit, I decided to check what is happening outside. It''s still around 7 in the evening. Everyone should still be up during that time. However, contrary to my expectations, everyone is holed up in their rooms. Well, except for Janus as he is currently in the living room and currently watching television. I checked the kitchen and saw a note from Pandora''s brother that they will not be at home for 3 days due to some checkups sessions and rehabilitation training for Pandora. As for the two siblings, they are already in their rooms and it seems they are ying hard for today again. I was still inspecting around the kitchen when Janus arrives in the kitchen, maybe to grab some drinks since he is holding a ss. "Ah! Manato! Where have you been? You are missing in the game and even in the real world and everyone said you are holed up in your room! I know you are a hardcore gamer but you should also do it moderately too!" "Oh, don''t worry. I might be holed up in my room but I am also taking care of my body, you don''t need to worry. Also, I need to do it since my quest is basically pretty long and hard to do so I have to focus my all on it. If things went smoothly, I might be able to bring quite a lot of loot for everyone. I know you guys wanted some gifts too so you should all expect something too. There will be plenty of souvenirs." "That''s sweet, brother! Thank you in advance! Everyone in the group would also be very delighted to hear the news too!" "Anyways, due to that quest, I am pretty far away. There are plenty of good things and bad things here and there and this quest would have been easier if you guys are here with me to help but since it was a quest that cannot be shared, I have to solo it. So while we are speaking, what is currently happening now? Are you guys fighting properly and leveling up?" "Of course we do! Although I amte to the party, I already achieved level 70 the other day! I can now tank harder attacks and everyone can now properly rely on me too. As for the others, I think they are hitting it close to level 99 I guess? They have been raiding dungeons here and theretely after Sigma and Mr. Teddy joined our ragtag team. Even Harmless Sparrow prioritizes partying with us rather than on her own guild. Riko even said that we are going to n and tackle the 12-man dungeon a bitter too." "Sigma and Mr. Teddy?" my eyebrows furrowed. Is he talking about the same Sigma? "Yeah, you know, the Sigma you fought against during thest arenapletion? She joined us in our ragtag group. She is also didn''t join a guild so we allowed her to join. And although Harmless Sparrow is in a guild, she barely has any time to her guild so yeah, she is an exception. Mr. Teddy is also quite a powerful yer though he is a bit weird and he never talks. Ah, correction, he talks but only like one or two words? And yeah, he wears a teddy mask which makes him a bit weird since his character has a big and masculine body while his head has a teddy bear mask." I was surprised when I heard Sigma joined the ragtag group. I mean, I have a direct influence on everyone around the ragtag group and even Harmless Sparrow who I never intended to get close has also be an acquaintance too, and now a part of the main team of the ragtag group I created. "Heh, I can''t wait to meet them. Also, I hope you guys are strong enough now after I return. Maybe you guys should also surpass me. We will be tackling a raid boss after my quest is over alright?" "Heh, I like that Manato. How about we permanently make this motley crew of us together and make a name out there without making a guild? Isn''t that pretty awesome? Like you know? The group of yers on that one anime where they ended up in the game world? They have one too which is simr to them. Isn''t that pretty badass right?" "...I will think about it..." ... Returning to my room, I had a heavy feeling about what Janus said to me. Formally create the ragtag group as a whole party and make a name without creating it a guild? That is a straight copy of the Debauchery Tea Party1 but I like the sound of that. I know I am just a yer who returned from the past. I wanted to do a solo ying style but ended up creating the little circle of friends of mine as a group in the game. Not only that but I ended up recruiting a bunch of NPCs on my side. I know I have been betrayed countless times in the past timeline. In fact, isn''t my main objective for going back in time is to take revenge on the guy who ruined my life? Isn''t thisplete makeover without any hint of revenge instead? The guy who I have been trying to take my revenge on has been strugglingtely and I already robbed a few things that he should be famous in too so isn''t he going to be pretty useless in this timeline already? Perhaps I still think about revenge but it seems like I don''t necessarily need to keep thinking about it either. Maybe that doesn''t sound too bad at all. A group of yers, all are guild-less yers cleared raids, dungeons, and difficult quests and made a name out in the game world? That does sound awesome indeed. Maybe I have unconsciously been gathering allies here and there just to create the strongest group. But heck, even if I know the future, with all the changes I have been doing, I know one day, everything I know in the past timeline would just be useless. Perhaps... I will do it. I closed my eyes, still thinking about our conversation as Iy down on the bed and returned back to the game. was a non-guild group of yers in Elder Tale in the anime and light novel Log Horizon.. It was present for two years before they disbanded, but it remains notorious among experienced yers even after the Catastrophe. Chapter 309 - Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (I) When the sun is bright again in the game, the two merfolk decided to properly talk to us this time. Since they didn''t suffer any injuries during the time they were frozen, they were able to recover their strength by resting the whole night. "We apologize for our behavior when we just woke upst time. We still have no idea what is going on so we decided to do what was best in that situation and think of a way to know who is trustworthy here. Thankfully, my brother has this ability to know who is trustworthy people and not. You guys passed," the mermaid exined. "Let me introduce ourselves, my name is Li and this is my sister Sera. We are thankful for all of you saving us." "Likewise. As for us, I am deheart, and these are my followers, As, Lucia, and Lina. As for her, she is currently apanying us on a quest to reim the throne. Her name is Tina." "Reim the throne? Is she perhaps...?" Sera looked at Tina. "Yeah, she is the current princess of the Insect Kingdom. I bet you guys knew about them right?" "Yeah. Of course, we do. They are part of the big group of settlers in Aquagius that has built their kingdom on the biggest ind of Aquagius. They slowly garnered reputation and people and soon they developed the ind and they are now a kingdom. However, I don''t know how long we have been sealed so I don''t know what is the current affairs of the world and why she is trying to reim the throne," Sera shook her head. "Are there any people you guys know that you can remember to ask for clues on how long you guys have been gone?" I asked. "It''s not a big possibility that we will get our answers and see the one we are looking for but we needed to go and enter the Kingdom of the Deep Sea to learn about the situation," Li seems to have already thought of a way to determine on how long have been they been inside the Ice. "So you guys are actually residents of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea?" Lucia looked at them with intrigue. "Yeah. We grow up there and we learned basic education there until the threat of the Monster of Ice Hell threatened every one of us in the kingdom. To stop its attacks, we decided to volunteer and form the seal since the only way to activate the Cryo Seal is for members of royalties to perform the sealing ritual together." "You two are royalties?" Lina is shocked though most of us aren''t. I already suspected it while the others may have already learned about it already. It seems Lina is slow in the uptake. "Yes. However, even though we are royalties, I doubt we are still going to be recognized as royalties. After all, we have been sealed for quite a long time and the people might have already thought we are dead already so perhaps no one knows our identities anymore if many years already passed by," Li guessed. "That is a possibility. No one will escape changes and if someone from the past suddenlyes to the future without prior knowledge, won''t they be the weirdo in the end?" Lucia added. It was clear she is speaking from the experience since she also woke up in an unfamiliar timeline being left out by her own current time and generation. "Although we are going to impose on this, we wanted you guys to escort us to the Kingdom of Deep Sea. I know this is somewhat a selfish request all of a sudden to all of you since we just get to know each other but we have no other choice and we don''t know the situation of the ce so having a few escorts will certainly help. I already talked to my sister and although she is very reluctant to let you guys in on our troubles, there is no other way for us to ask for help from others," Li quickly jumped to the point and proposed a set of actions. I stayed silent for a bit. Even though we are indeed targeting to get into the Kingdom of the Deep Sea, just asking someone out of the blue without knowing them fully is out of the question. epting it is not something I would like since that would make them think that I am an easygoing man and will ept anything out of goodwill. I am not someone who is willing to jump to danger withoutpensation. Even if someone calls me opportunistic, that is just how it is and anyone would be dumb enough if they just epted it without thinking much. "I know you guys are in need of that escort that anyone would like to get but unfortunately, you guys are too rushed and I don''t think we are close enough to ept it." "B-but..." Li was shocked however, Sera interjects. "Then, we will hire you all as mercenaries. Your job will bepensated and we will make sure that even if the request fails, you guys will get properpensation in the process. How does that sound?" I didn''t expect Sera to be the one to propose that notion. I was thinking of proposing it to them once they start to give up but to think Sera can also think far ahead already seems to be already a calcted move for them. "How can we be sure you guys canpensate us?" "We might have nothing materialistic to give you all but I can give you one thing that you guys might be interested. Since you lot seems to be adventurers, this thing might be more of a blessing and useful to you all." She then held her left palm out and a small Ice looking artifact appeared out of thin air. I squinted my eyes and inspected the thing on her hands. [Blessing of the Primordial Sea God] Effect: When applied to a person who doesn''t have this blessing, the person will gain the ability to breathe underwater and gain the ability to borrow a partial power of the sea. An additional bonus is that whenever near the water or using an ability that has something to do with either an Ice or Water element will increase its effects in the process. ... Are my eyes deceiving me? Isn''t this the ability of the item that was in possession of the Sea God and was stolen by Serbal in Sandurk?! How is it possible they can create a Blessing this good? Not only do we benefit if we are near a body of water or uses water magic, even breathing underwater is a big blessing already! "Is the reward unsatisfactory?" I shook my head. "This is already too much. I thought you would give us some sort of item or anything but to give up a big power-up, that is on another level ofpensation and reward." "Ha, you tter us, but to us, this is nothing and I can even say that this is pretty cheaping from us giving you guys these but we are nning to give more once we reach the Kingdom of the Deep Sea," Sera smiled. "Are you sure about this Sis? We never usually give this blessing to someone outside our race. We might get in trouble in the process." "Li, I know you are afraid we break rules but that doesn''t mean that rules still exist today. We can''t be sure how long has it been since we "disappeared" in this world and how long has it been since we get to interact with this world. We can''t be sure about our situations. Breaking a few taboos from time to time is not something you need to be afraid of doing. No one is harmed and if it is taboo, howe there are others who are willingly going to abuse it? Now stop being stiff." "I see, so you are all willing to break a few taboos to fulfill the contract. Well then, since you guys are willing to do much, then in the name of our group, we will ept. I don''t know how long we will be on this but I look forward to working with the two of you." A prompt appeared before me and to my surprise, the quest isbeled as "Side Story Quest." [The Kingdom of the Deep Sea] Type: Side story Quest Objective: Find a clue on the two merfolks'' circumstances and learn the truth.(Objective will bepleted once someone received it or learned it.) Info: In the unknown timeline where two people are stuck in the past, it is your job to let them cope with the current timeline and learn what they needed to do in the present timeline they are now in." With that, everything is now settled and wrapped up.. Now we are ready to go and the Kingdom of the Deep Sea and do the quest. Chapter 310 - Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (II) The first step to our trip to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is to create a boat. As much as I want to use Leona as our ferry to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea, ording to Sera and Li, the Kingdom of the Deep Sea''s entrance can only be essed using a boat and a teleport portal since other methods of reaching the ce would only result to failure spotting the said entrance. Since thetter option is out of the question especially since it''s been so long for the two siblings when they were in the kingdom and the rest of the crew has not yet stepped into the location at all, the only method viable is the boat. With the skills of Lina and everyone''s help to procure nks and wood that is possible to use to make a boat, our boat was made after a few hours of work. Lina''s construction skills are much better than I expected and if it leveled a lot more in the future, she might be able to create moreplicated things. After all, construction skills are not just limited to wooden structures. The boat that Lina made is big enough that you can say it is more like a miniature ship rather than a boat. It was a boat big enough even for As to ride it. If it was just a simple boat, it will be done in just a few minutes for Lina. But since she is making a bigger one, it took us a few hours before we managed to finish it. After the boat is done, time to do the floating test. After all, a boat that sinks in the water is not a good boat and anyone knows that. "One, two, and three! Heave!" The boat now shook a little bit on the water as it makes a bit of a ssh as itnded on the water. It was a quick shove. We stare as the boat floated a bit. Of course, we waited a bit before it is stable enough. It floats indeed but is it enough for us to board it? "As, can you try to board it for us?" Lina asked. It seems Lina is indeed thinking about how to fit As to fit in too. As nodded and boarded the boat. Compared to my expectation of an unstable boat, it was very stable as it didn''t even rock the boat the moment As gets into it. He managed to be on the boat without any hard time or any signs that the boat will sink due to the size and weight of his armor. "Alright! Project is done and the boat is finally done!" "Impressive! I have not seen quite a sturdy boat before! It''s not even a ship and yet it can carry As just fine!" Luciaplimented Lina''s craft. "Hey, I am not that heavy, Lucia-sama! I am only heavy because of my armor but without it, I barely have any weight!" "But I never said anything you are heavy, did I?" Lucia grinned. "..." As is speechless. ... With the boat done, we are now ready to depart. Li and Sera are now in their human forms. Even if they are merfolk, the ability to transform their tails into legs is not impossible for them or even a pipe dream. It is one of their normal abilities. That means Andersen''s Little Mermaid is just something that would be a joke to the merfolk as they can just use their powers rather than go ask a witch to gain legs. "Well, we have a boat but I don''t know how to steer a ship at all," I scratch my head. "I may be called Versatile Battle Maid and can almost do anything but sailing with a boat is not my expertise. Maybe if this was a boat that works in paddling, maybe it will work but..." Lina blushed. "This isn''t part of my specialty either! I barely have any experience riding a ship or a boat so of course, I also don''t have the experience!" Lucia quickly stated her reason when we looked at her. As scratched his helmet, scratching a nonexistent itch on his helmet, and sighed before he dered, "Fine, I will do the job." "Oh? Do you have skills in seafaring? I didn''t expect that!" Lucia looked at As with curiosity in her eyes. "Yeah, I have experience in sailing a ship. I may be one of the minibosses before inside a dungeon but back when I was just a wee bit of an adventurer, I have my fair share of seafaring before so yeah. I know how to do it." "Well, that is good to know, As. Alright, you will be the captain!" I appointed. "I apologize about that Master, but leadership is my worst attribute and I can barely give outmands to others. I can be a helmsman but bing the captain is out of the question." "Master, why would you appoint someone else as a captain? Aren''t you the more fitting person to be the one handling the job?" Lucia tilted her head as she looks at me. "Yes, I agree on this part. As you are the acting leader of this group, you should also be the one who should be the captain even though you aren''t capable of handling the ship. It''s not usually your job anyway since a captain''s job is tomand the crew of the ship, not to sail them," Tina exined without being bias on what my role should be. As much as I don''t want to be the captain and just wanted to be some sort of just the shipmate, escaping to the possibility is hard. In the end, I am indeed the captain and I have no other choice but to ept the role. "Well then, since we have to go to the entrance of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea, we will be the acting navigator on this one! Despite the years passing by, the sea has barely changed. You don''t need to worry about us getting lost as we can easily reach the ce. However, we still needed to be careful. After all, the ce is pretty treacherous when ites to sea monsters. But still, since they aren''t as dangerouspared to the Ice Monster of the Ice Hell, they shouldn''t pose much of a threat to you guys so I have high faith that this trip will be an easy-flowing one!" Sera dered while Li is nodding profusely. "That would be great, thanks. No one from here knows how to properly ess the ce without being called a threat or trespassers." "True. Our people are quite paranoid about that stuff and they are always kind of annoying at times. It isn''t a wonder why there are many of the folks in the Kingdom migrate to human cities rather than stay in the kingdom due to these strict rules. Anyways, there is nothing we can do about it. We can only have to try and see how these guys are nowadays," Li answered. "There might be some changes but I doubt it''s a big change. The Kingdom is pretty slow in the uptakes at some times anyways." After our final preparation, we bid farewell to the hut that Lina made. She also said that this should help in case some adventurer got lost in this ce and just stumble into the hut. It might not be a healing spot but it should be a good ce to camp out for a bitpared to camping outside. She even left a small note about the hut before we left. Then, we started sailing with As driving the mini ship. ... ... ... "Urgh... I hate to admit it but I didn''t think I am someone who would suffer from seasickness. Urp..." Lucia groaned as she held on to the edge of the mini-ship while Lina is helping her rub her stomach. "You should rest for a bit Lucia. Having seasickness is quite troublesome in many ways. It would just feel a lot more horrible if you keep struggling on it." I advised. If only we have the medicine to at least mitigate the seasickness, it wouldn''t be this bad. "Everyone, prepare forbat, I am seeing a few Sword Barracudasing our way. Attacking them while they are still underwater would allow us to easily kill them," Li said. Since Lucia and Lina are upied and Tina doesn''t have any sort of ability to fight using long-range attacks except a few skills that have high cooldown rates, I decided to be the one attacking. "Is it also possible to use long-range weapons instead of magic to kill them?" I asked the two merfolk doing the recon team. "Yeah. Bows, guns, and spears are able to handle this way. However, it''s much more efficient in using the magic skills to easily dispose of them, though it''s your call.. Defeating the enemy right before us will be less trouble." Chapter 311 - Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (III) "[Trueshot]!" SU! After the [Trueshot], I followed it up with a rapid firing of my bow, releasing one arrow after another. With the training I have done in the Ascension Realm, I managed to just rapidly use the bow and arrow like nothing, In the beginning, whenever I nock the bow repeatedly, it will tire my hands a lot, however, that no longer applies as it no longer tires my arms anymore. In fact, I can do it faster too. "Alright, I confirmed you have eliminated thest Sword Baruda attacking us," Li reported. "Are those things dangerous enough even though we are on the boat?" Lucia asked. "Sword Barracudas are a bit troublesome. If our boat is made from wood with subpar quality, it will only take a matter of seconds before they can sink it down. Even if the wood is made from high-quality wood, I don''t think letting those fishes damage the boat would lead to a good experience for all of us either," As exined. "You should not worry too much, we won''t meet any of those fishes now that we are almost into the entrance." Not too far from us, I can hear the gushing water getting really strong. The water current is also getting a bit more violent than usual. Then, I noticed the shape of the water ahead of us. "Holy crap, a whirlpool!" No, it''s much bigger than a whirlpool. It''s like a ck hole in the sea. "Don''t worry about it, this might look pretty deep but everything is fine. This is the entrance to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. It might look like a violent Maelstrom in the sea but it was basically designed to be like that so that ships will avoid it. Now, just let the Maelstrom drag our boat. Don''t steer its current or we will be in a very bad situation. Also, be sure to hold tight to the boat. Don''t let go no matter what happens or anyone will be dragged into the water current!" Sera exined and warned. "But isn''t the current enough to destroy our boat?!" Tina is panicking when she saw how big the whirlpool is. It is no longer a whirlpool but a maelstrom. "No worries. It might look violent but the boat will be enough to handle the current of the maelstrom. It''s not as violent but you guys should at least hold the boat for a bit so that you guys won''t get thrown off from the boat into the swirl. You really don''t want that to happen to you guys," Li grinned with a thumb''s up. "That doesn''t help at all!" ... SWOOOSSSHHHH! The raging water now starts to drag our boat towards the big ck hole of the water. Even I don''t feelfortable doing this. As someone who has experienced quite a lot of adventures in the Alternate World in the past timeline, that doesn''t mean I experienced everything else. This is ''NOT PART OF THAT EXPERIENCE'' in the past timeline as I would have never dreamed to experience this. As soon as our ship starts getting swallowed by the maelstrom, everyone started to grab a hold of the boat''s edges as the violent surges of the sea starts to rage and rock our boat. Li and Sera are just calm and they are not even holding the edges of the boat as they observe the situation. "Hold tight guys, we will experience quite a huge wave this time." SPLASH! The boat is on the verge of toppling over the moment the wave hits and I can even feel my whole vision spinning around. "How long are we going to endure this?!" Lucia shouted as our voices are now being suppressed by the maelstrom''s noise and it was like we are inside a vacuum as our voice is too weak to properly hear. "If things go smoothly, around 30 minutes but if we are unlucky, maybe around 1 to 2 hours," Li answered. "That doesn''t bode well dude..." As''s voice is also worried. "Don''t be scared guys. Just think of it like a boss we needed to defeat. And to defeat it, we need to hold out, remain steadfast and remain strong enough to defend ourselves. We don''t need to fight it but just use it to test our endurance." "That''s asking for the impossible, Master! This is too scary! Urp!" Lucia tried toin but she was held back when her seasickness kicks in once more. Cotton is just actively helping her by rubbing a bit of her back though I don''t know if that ever helps her at all. Lina is just quiet but her eyes are keeping an eye out of everyone. From the looks of it, once something wrong goes on, she will automatically go and try to fix or save anyone who will be about to fall. Tina is just the same as Lucia but she is just there with her eyes closed. As is just in a helpless situation and is gripping the edge of the boat tightly while actively trying to bnce the boat so that it won''t sink in case things go wrong due to his weight. As for the siblings, they remained the same and is just observing the sea and the current. They are just there to warn whenever something will happen before it gets really bad. They don''t even show any kind of worried-looking face but just neutral. Plenty of waves ssh the boat multiple times and every one of us is already drenched. But our tribtion is not yet done and we are still being swallowed whole. It was like descending into the abyss without any hope once you managed to reach the very bottom. Then, a pir of light engulfed our boat. The violent surges of the water no longer sh with the boat. In fact, it felt like we are no longer in the water. "You guys can now let go of the edge and see what is happening now. We are now out of the danger. Come one, and rx a bit." Li happily suggested. Since Li already said so and my danger sensor in my body is no longer fearing much, I let go of my hands and realized that we are indeed no longer in the waves. "Are we floating?" I tried to peer from below and saw that it is still the same dark bottom. "Nah, we are currently falling but we are descending that allows for no impact once wended. We are already at the entrance and we just needed to properlynd the boat at the bottom before we can start to explore the ce," Sera exined. Seeing me fine after letting go, the others also let go from the edges and looked around. The sound of the waves is still resounding on our ears but it is no longer on our boat but just on the side of our boats where the wall of water seems to be ready to fall over down to us and drown us. No one would believe this maelstrom will be a portal to the entrance of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. Now I know why Sera and Li said that the entrance won''t appear if we don''t use a ship. It''s because to properly enter the maelstrom, we needed a ship. Leona wouldn''t be able to properly fly back up in the process if she tries to descend on the maelstrom. Also, if this is part of the event, the maelstrom won''t appear either if we are not on a boat or ship. The descent of the ship is slow enough that no one would panic. Even I would panic if our descent is too fast as that would mean we will have big trouble once we fell to the bottom. That would be a death sentence to us all. It didn''t take long for the boat tond at the very bottom. Li and Sera are the first to move out of the boat followed by us. There is no soil but rocks. It was like it got cemented before we came here. Not only that but I can see some structures too that looks like it has been submerged by water. Then, we hear the surging water getting stronger. When we look up, the water that is currently creating the maelstrom ising down to us. "Calm down guys, observe," Li pointed. That''s when we saw that the water falling wasn''t actually going to fall down straight to us. In fact, it stopped around the area where we are now ready to stand straight on the boat without being rocked by the water. Some sort of sorcery seems to keep the water at bay and just collects it like a basin or a ss of water''s bottom. "Well, there have been changes indeed but it seems we are on the right track. These ruins will lead us to the transporter that will lead us to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea." We didn''t know this before but we are in for serious trouble once we step into the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. Chapter 312 - Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (IV) heThe transporter device that the siblings mentioned is actually a floating tform that looks like an elevator as it transports you into the higher tform where it seems to be the main bridge towards the gates of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. As I said before, I have not visited this ce before and everything would be a breath of fresh air here for me. But the moment I step onto the tform, I felt something wrong. My instincts are never wrong and although it''s not about the siblings, the closer we get into the kingdom, the more I felt something is off. "The kingdom would be submerged in the water so I will be bestowing the reward much earlier than usual," Sera announced. "Are you sure? We can just use the Lung Moss that we have though it''s not enough for every one of us and some have to go back to the Summon''s Area," I offered an alternative though it would cripple a lot of our fighting power. Since we only got 3 Lung Moss. Tina and I would need one so that only means only one of my followers will have to return to the summons area on standby. "Ah, don''t worry. Also, I won''t rmend using the Lung Moss. Maybe you already know this since you picked them up but having them as an alternative to my blessing is basically going to endanger your lives in the long run since the effect of the Lung Moss won''tst long. And when you said you only have a limited amount of it, that even spells trouble. Once you ran out of it, you will be doomed to drowning. After all, the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is not even close to the surface, you guys would die before you guys can even reach halfway to the surface to breathe," Li exined. Damn, he is right. We don''t know how long will it be before we can finish our business in the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. It would be more logical to receive the blessing than use the lesser alternative that has a chance to even kill you in the process. "Fine. Although I don''t want to ept it until the end of themission, there is no point if we can''t finish anything if we don''t ept the blessing." "That''s good. Now, gather around and we will cast it. Anyway, do you have other members with you that you want to bestow me some blessing? I can''t really tell but I am sensing a few more guys that are not around you. I bet they are your backuppanions?" "Yeah. Do they still count? They are quite numerous and I don''t know if it is still part of the reward and I don''t think our future actions are enough for every one of us to receive it," I reasoned. "Nah, this blessing is not a big deal. Besides, if they are your allies, that only means if we are in a pinch, we can rely on them to help. Right?" Sera smiled. She has a point. After all, I can easily ask for a backup from them if things get too worse and with us underwater, having them capable of breathing underwater would be really beneficial to us." "Alright." After that, we gather on one side of the floating tform and thenmanded everyone to ride Leona and summon everyone. Yes, even the half-angel kid, though from the looks of him, he is asleep. I don''t know what As is doing to this kid on why he is easily subdued though I won''t ask since it is working. Once they are now on Leona''s back, I summoned them in one go. "WOAH! A gryphon?!" Sera was surprised to see Leona in the flesh. "Aren''t the gryphons those legendary beasts that roam around thend once upon a time? They are only in the legends! Howe I am seeing one alive right now?" Li is also shocked too just like how Sera did. Well, anyone did have the same reactions time and time again especially when they first meet Leona. "Ahem, I apologize. Now then, let''s perform the ritual. Please wait for a bit," Sera then closed her left eye and started chanting. However, I can''t hear anythinging from her mouth. It was just like she wasn''t even chanting but just moving her mouth randomly. But then... FWOOOOOOOMMMMM! The surroundings started to gather water particles and they started to surround us. A huge magic circle appeared and the water encircled us inside a dome-like ce. I still keep my guard up in case the two do something. Then, all of a sudden, the water copsed to us the moment the magic circle started to glow around our bodies. It''s an ice-cold feeling but not to the point that you will think you are freezing. It''s like they felt moreforting than usual. Then, the water ssh at us and drenched us. However, the water quickly dried up and we are back to our dry state once again. -You have received the [Blessing of the Primordial Sea God] "Wah? Howe we got dry as soon as we get wet from the water?! Even my mes can''t dry wetness that fast!" Lucia eximed as she starts holding her clothes looking for damp ces. "Haha! That''s just a form of "baptism" in human terms. It''s not meant to drench you guys in the water. It''s something toplete the spell''s process so it didn''t really matter whether you got wet or not." Li exined. "So does that mean we can now breathe underwater?" Tina asked. "We can help you test it out," Sera said and snapped her fingers. In a blink of an eye, Tina''s head is engulfed with the same water but this time, her whole head is now inside the globe of water. Tina almost panicked but then she realized she can breathe without difficulty in the water. "Woah, indeed, I don''t feel like I am being drowned in the water! In fact, I can even breathe and speak!" Then the water bubble that enveloped her head pops and she was back again breathing air. "Is that how the blessing works or are there some things other than that?" I asked. After all, the blessings are not just there to give only one effect. They give a variety of buffs that no one would totally expect most of the time. "Yep, you are right that it is not the only effect. However, I will only tell one of the most important effects it has while the others should be something you guys should just try to discover all by yourself. The second effect is that you can convert the surrounding water and use it to propel around the water like you are inside a sort of a speeding monster. I don''t remember the term you guys call it but it ha "je" sound or something," Sera exined. "You mean a jet?" I tried guessing. "Oh yeah, that. Jet. You can use the water to create a sort of jet power to propel around. It was very fun to use and you can even use it to escape from enemies if necessary." "Isn''t that pretty useful especially in the water?" Asmented. "Yeah. If it was a movement spell ability in the water, that makes it better than I thought it would be," Lucia nodded in agreement. "There are still some other effects other than those two effects but it would be better if you guys discover it. It''s just a bit of a useful ability so you guys don''t need to be obligated to discover it to know the full potential of the blessings." "So there are still more to that then?" I asked. "Yes. Though it''s just useful in battles. It''s not really simr to these two that functions outside ofbat. The other effects function more inbat so you will only discover them in battle. But I can assure you they are all positive effects so you guys would really be happy with these effects especially if you n to hunt around Aquagius." "Well, that arrangement is enough. Knowing we can breathe underwater is interesting enough so we will try to discover it all by ourselves. Well then, let''s proceed to the kingdom." The siblings nodded in agreement. I recalled everyone except for Lina, Lucia and As as we proceed to went to the tform to the next area. When we arrived, a small pool of water appeared before us. "Once we pass these ces, we will be underwater and we need to move by swimming. If you guys don''t know to swim, you can just ask someone to drag you around since its much easier to move while swimming." "Well, we know how to swim. It''s not a problem," I said andwas about to enter the water portal. But then... "HALT! WHO ARE THE IMPUDENT PEOPLE TRYING TO ACCESS THE HIDDEN GATE OF THE KINGDOM OF THE DEEP SEA?!" An authoritative voice appeared all of a sudden.. Looks like what I am feeling seems to have been rted to this encounter. Chapter 313 - Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (V) The authoritative voice echoed in the ce that will make anyone distinctively feel the pressure that they emit. Everyone quickly prepared forbat but the two siblings stopped us. "Everyone, be at ease. Lifera, it''s us." Sera ordered also with a hint of authority in her voice. I saw guards approach and appear before us. They looked like normal guards but they looked like golems to me. They are not looking like merfolk or a human or anything other than a golem due to how they move stiffly despite looking like people. Along with them is a handsome merfolk that I can only describe to have a bit of an arrogant-looking face. In my experience, these guys are the first people to get the girls and they are usually the yboy types. Still, who knows how this guy is. "Wha! Sera-sama?! Li-sama? H-howe?" the authoritative owner of the voice stopped when Sera and Li stepped forward. "Heh, we are back. What else?" Li smugly answered. "This... this must be a miracle! Sera-sama and Li-sama returning is a sign that the gods have not abandoned us just yet!" He knelt down to the ground and burst out crying making my first assumption on him broken. "Lifera, we need to go to the kingdom and announce our return," Sera ordered. "I apologize Sera-sama but that shouldn''t be the best course of action you need to do. If I didn''t spot you all here and jump straight to the portal, you guys would never be able to see the light of the day again," the handsome merfolk, Lifera grit his teeth as he looked at the two siblings. "What is going on Lifera?" "This is not a good ce to stay. If we loiter here more than we should, the enemies will find us here. Follow me. I will exin once we reach our destination." Although he still didn''t say anything just yet, Sera and Li seems to trust him so we decided to follow along. He snaps his fingers and all of the following golems have been reduced to dust before disappearingpletely. "How many years has it been since we were sealed?" Li asked. "If you are talking about how many years have passed by after the sealing of the Ice Devilfish, it should be 300 years already since then. I made sure to count the years and days in case you two will be free from the seal. And I was right." Lifera smiled while looking at the two. "Wha? 200 years? I heard merfolk has at best around 120 years at best to live. How the hell are you still alive if it already passed you to the point where you are old enough?!" Tina was bewildered. "Please calm down, Tina-san. Lifera here is not a real Merfolk. Although he is part of the merfolk race, he is not a pure one. He is a half automaton. Half of his body is an automaton. All of the necessary things for him to stay alive are already converted to automaton parts. I don''t know what changed these past few years when we are gone but he is still the same as ever," Sera exined. "Your father has tasked me to guard this secret entrance and prepare for the two of you to return. Your father is hopeful that you two would still be alive and will return someday. And he was right. The two are here right now." Soon, we arrived in a small closed space of the cavern. We went inside and we saw a simr portal of water inside the cavern''s interior. "Masters, I know it is rude, but would it be appropriate to bring the humans and the other species inside? They will drown once they are inside since they are not the same as us merfolks who can breathe underwater." "Yes. They are fine to enter since they already received my blessings to breathe underwater," Sera exined. "You gave the blessing to them? But they are humans and we are restricted-" "Screw the rules, we are not even on the kingdom''s grounds, why would we care about that? Anyways, may I ask if we are going inside the kingdom once we pass the portal?" "No, this is a separate ce made by your father a few years ago to be used as a refuge. I will exin carefully once we are inside." Everyone followed suit by entering the portal. Entering it felt like you are dipping into the sea with your whole body submerging straight into the water without preparations. My instinct quickly tried to hold my breath but I quickly stopped it as I can breathe underwater. There is no need for me to hold my breath to enter the ce. Everyone entered the water portal and we arrived at a ce that looked like a view from what the divers underwater usually see on a sea filled with sea life. "This ce is..." Sera was surprised as she looked around the surroundings. "It''s a bit of small size but this is the imitation of the reality of your father''s home back when he was still a prince. This was his home before he became the king of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea," Lifera exined. "So does that mean..." Li suddenly got serious. "Come this way please," Lifera then lead the two. "I''m sorry but can you please let us in private please?" Sera asked me for permission. "No problem. We will stay here for the time being." "Thank you." I can easily tell that they are going to visit the grave of the former king. If it was already 300 years since the sealing of the two, it has been a long time since the former king has died. "Master, this ce is quite full of mana though I don''t sense any particr danger around here," As approached, giving the report of the surroundings. "No dark mana of the demons here present?" "Yes. I don''t sense any of these traces here. Lucia-sama should also be back after she seemed to have found something of interest for her." And just like what As predicted, Lucia is indeed approaching me along with Tina and Lina following her. "It has been so long since I felt something like this. The first time I experienced something like this would be during the time my father is still alive and usually uses his abilities." "Care to borate? As much as I try to understand what you are trying to say, I am only a human that can''t understand what you can feel. My senses aren''t as sharp and sensitive as you guys," I pleaded. "Oh, I apologize about that Master. Anyways, this ce is made from primordial materials. Materials that previously existed during the time when the two goddesses are still interacting with all of the races of the world. I can''t be wrong with it since this is also the same feeling I felt back then." "Very astute, Madam. Based on your wavelength, you are from the era of the Primordial Gods, right?" Lifera suddenly joined in our conversation. "H-how did you know?!" Lucia was surprised. "Because I was also alive during the time the Primordial Gods still exists along with us. During that time, I am still a normal Merfolk that time which is why I know everything about what happened." "How old are you anyway?" As was curious after hearing the man reveal his origin. "As much as I want to say it, I don''t remember anymore. It has been so long since that happened and some of my memories are already forgotten as it has been so ancient. Although I still have some memories regarding the primordial times, only the most important things. Memories involving my real age and simr stuff are already overwritten by me so it is pointless to ask me about it." "I didn''t know this girl is part of the Primordial Era! I am always fascinated by them that I would do anything to learn more about them!" Li was fascinated. "No wonder you are not the same hostile demons we usually encounter. That exins why. So you are part of the demons who existed way long during the Primordial Timeline. Perhaps you have also awakened?" Sera asked. "I don''t know if I should be afraid of how urate you guys are." "Well, it''s not so surprising. There are several demons like you who have been put to sleep years ago and have awakened again during this timeline so I know you must be confused." "Wait... does that mean, there are also other demon species like me who came from the primordial timeline?" "Yes, but I don''t know if any of them still has the same sanity as you," Lifera had a serious look on his face. "What do you mean?" I frowned. "Most of them who have awakened have decided to join the current demon force. I heard that they were forced to awaken by some demons and after they have awakened, they have been converted into the current demons and have turned hostile too.. You are the first one demon I have seen that seems to have not fallen to that tactic." Chapter 314 - Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (VI) Is that how it is? The sleeping demons are brainwashed the moment they wake up? Wait, isn''t that was almost the case for Lucia since the demons back in the elf vige that I just annihted were nning to wake Lucia up from her slumber. Does that mean they are all nning to do this method to increase the number of demons and the demons who canmand an army? Lucia alone is pretty strong so if other demons who were from the primordial times woke up, isn''t this going to be a real bad thing? I still quite remember how chaotic things were during the demon invasion and the amount of bosses we have to defeat is quite overwhelming too. "Anyways, enough of that. I can tell that you guys are confused on why we are not entering the Kingdom of the Deep Sea even though you all are just one step away to enter the area right?" Lifera snaps and furniture appeared before us alongside some refreshments. I am wondering how the water in the refreshments does not mix with the water we are in. But the heck with that, this world has its own rules so I doubt I will know it. I took a nce at the others and nodded. It seems like they have already understood what I meant. "Yeah, this should be the best time you tell us. What happened these past few years while we are sealed? What is happening right now in the kingdom?" Li asked. "Yes, should I exin from the very beginning?" "Perhaps you can shorten it? Long stories might be entertaining but that isn''t always the case and making it short would just allow being concise and easier to sink inpared to the long one. Also, it seems our friends here are also quite in a hurry so that should be the case," Sera pleaded. "Understood. Therefore, I will exin it as concisely as possible. Anyways, let''s start 100 years ago since that is the beginning of the trouble brewing in the kingdom. There was an epidemic that broke out with the merfolk all of a sudden. Sera-sama and Li-sama should know that diseases are pretty rare or almost non-existent in the kingdom due to the blessings of the Sea God. However, during that time, that disease broke out, infecting thousands of the merfolks in one single night." "An infection?" Sera frowned hearing it. "Did anyone know what caused it? Is it already eradicated?" Li asked. "This particr disease stopped infecting but itsted for quite a long time that it almost went on for 50 years after it appeared. It was controlled allowing the infected to be quarantined and isted. During that time, the infected merfolk were quickly seen by the uninfected as filth and they started to ostracize and kill some of them to control the spread. It was chaotic and it started to get more rampant when the popce heard that the king got infected. Just a reminder that the king this time is no longer your father but your cousin, Alfer who was the next in line on the throne after the two of you decided to sacrifice. "So Alfer-san became the king. It was natural since he was a born leader type. But I am quite curious as to why this disease that caused an outbreak suddenly became terrifying to the point that people will ostracize the infected. This usually never happens to them unless it was too dangerous or weird?" "Are you familiar with Necrosis? I bet our human friends know it," Lifera then nces at us. "Of course. It''s a prettymon thing especially if there is a certain part of the body that has been infected by a certain kind of disease and they will go to necrosis. Even some of the zombification happening on the humans where they turn into undead are also necrosis. But that isn''t a disease at all that would be enough for things like that to be caused by something. After all, it can easily be cured using [Holy Water] item or [Holy Cure]," Lina exined. "Astute answer and yes, that is how necrosis naturally works. Merfolks should be immune to it since Necrosis is something that has been cured easily whenever the blessing of the Sea God is applied. However, this is not simple necrosis. The people who got caught on this started to exhibit what an undead would do." "They crave the flesh of their own kind right?" As guessed. "Yes. Although they exhibit this strange behavior only at night, it was too dangerous as some of them even devoured one whole merman due to this "hunger" they feel. It was due to this that the people who contracted it were forced to be isted from the others." "So how did everyone solve it?" I asked. "It''s unfortunate but it was never solved." "W-what? What do you mean it was not solved? You said it stopped infecting..." Sera frowned. As for me, I can already guess. "Yes. It stopped infecting the inhabitants because the people of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea are no longer existing. In short, they all sumbed to the disease. As for me, I was here as a guard in the secret entrance that is why I managed to know what is happening. Also, I am a part automaton, this disease is not effective against me." Sera and Li were speechless by the revtion. "B-but, they should be protected by the blessings of the Sea God. Howe...?" Sera was on the verge of crying. I also can''t believe it but I don''t understand what is happening. If that is the case, howe the yers back in the previous timeline managed to get the cooperation to fight against the demons and destroy the rule of the twin demons? I don''t understand and can''t easily find a connection on how it happened. "If that is the case, does that mean the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is now the home of the undead merfolk?" "More or less. Although if you enter, you won''t find anything strange due to how the merfolk you will see still retain their own behaviors and their faces. You won''t even know that they are part of the people who got infected and have died there unless someone else will tell. The moment you let your guard down, you will die and will be their food without a doubt. After all, they have turned into flesh-eating cannibals." "Does that mean there is a necromancer in the works in here?" I asked. Lifera''s face twitches but he quickly affirmed. "Yes. There is indeed a necromancer and this time, he has already obtained the blessing of the Primordial Sea God and the Sea God''s natural power that is usually only used by the royalty of the Merfolk and the ruler of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. Basically, he should be the one who caused everything. I keep quiet from what I heard. It''s another necromancer. This does not bode well. Perhaps the reason I got this quest is due to the ongoing quest of me eradicating the necromancers. The first necromancer is dead but there are still a few necromancers that are still alive. As long as they are still alive, I can''t just erase in my mind whether the necromancer in the Kingdom of the Deep Sea who became the ruler of the empty kingdom to be one of those Necromancers. That is just too much of a coincidence it''s not even funny anymore. "If that is the case, we should check the situation out," I suggested. "What do you mean?" "If everyone has be an undead, isn''t the very first thing needed to be done is to purify and free their souls from their rotten bodies? That is always the main remedy to stop the dead people to reanimate as undead. If it works on the human towns, that also works in merfolk too." "deheart is right, if everything is real, our task is not to return joyfully but to let all the people who got reanimated to forever rest. We might not be able to revive them but they should at least rest and get a proper send to the afterlife, not as someone who rises from the dead and then eats their fellow species. We allowed ourselves to be sealed to save them. So now that they are in need of help to rest, we should be the ones who needed to do it," Li agreed to my suggestion. "Li-sama! What are you talking about? Don''t do this. I can''t allow the two of you and any of the humans to enter the portal," Lifera frantically stopped us. "Lifera, this is the job of thest line of the Merfolk royalty. Even though we are not considered as royalty now that our status is officially we are dead, our task remains the same, liberate the kingdom and rebuild it!" BAM! Lifera who is showing a calm look on his face gets a threatening aura all of a sudden. "I already told you guys that this is impossible.. So give it up, now." Chapter 315 - Lifera "What are you saying Lifera? We should investigate and see what is up now in the city! We can''t just let the necromancer roam free and let him do what he wants to everyone who has died from the disease! They are our people!" Sera angrily opposed Lifera. "They are no longer your people now, Sera-sama. No matter how much you want to say that they are your people, they are no longer alive. There is no need to investigate what happened. I saw it all and I recorded them all in my database! There is no need for you two to check everything out! No more need to stay put to jump into the danger at all!" Lifera firmly rejected the opposition of Sera. "Are you trying to oppose our decisions, Lifera?!" even Li who was keeping himself quiet no longer can keep himself shut and decided to join in with his sister. "Because there is no need! I already told you all that you don''t need to do it!" Lifera insisted. "Because you have something to hide, perhaps?" I tried guessing. "Stay out of this, you filthy human!" Lifera red at me. -you have been inflicted with [Fear]. Due to your END and INT stats being higher than his, the effect was negated. Oh? Who would have thought I have a higher END and INT than him? However, that is good as I managed to negate the effect without doing anything much. -you have been inflicted with [Fear]. Due to your END and INT stats being higher than his, the effect was negated. The message was repeated again which means, the bastard cast it again, trying to intimidate me and to make me kneel. Too bad, his stats can''t ovee my stats. After all, with the Versatile Weapon holding most of my big stats, its big enough to deal with his casting skills. I saw his face frown when he saw no changes in me. But I didn''t humiliate him in front of the people he was serving. As much as I wanted to expose him, I wanted to gather more intel on what he is so angry and hesitant to say to force us to stop entering the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. "No matter what you say Lifera, we can''t just ignore everything especially if there is a necromancer working on this events. Whether you like it or not, we will have to go," Sera red at Lifera before nodding at us to go with her. "Why can''t you two understand!?" Lifera then extended his hands on everyone and tentacles appeared trying to restrain us. Due to my vignce, I was quick and pulled out my Versatile Weapon and cut the iing tentacles before it can do anything to me. My followers and Tina were the same and immediately cut off the tentacles in one go, allowing themselves to stop the restraining process. However, the two siblings didn''t anticipate this attack which is why they are captured in the process. "What the? What the heck are you doing Lifera!? Let us go!" "I already told you didn''t I? I can''t let you do that. And now look at what you guys are doing? It''s pointless. Your trip over there is not going to be a safe and easy ce. You will suffer a lot." "Now, now. I know you meant well but this is too excessive to the point you will restrain them in the name of "protecting" them. We don''t have time with you doing this stuff, so I have to do this quick," I grip my sword tight then looked at Sera and Li. "Can I go full power on him? I promise he won''t die but he will be disabled after this, is that okay?" "If that is what you should do to stop him, then you can do it!" Sera answered while Li nodded vigorously. "Don''t overstep your boundaries, human or you won''t like the results of this!" "I am not joking either. We are wasting our time, that is why, I will not go to the bullsh*t anymore. I will go all out." And with that, I disappeared from where I stood. Lifera didn''t expect it and with loud thud, my legnded on his face. I don''t know why but even if I am underwater, I can properly do my movement just like how it was in thend. In one swift kick, he was sent flying to the other side. Then, afternding my left foot to the ground, I slowly increase the exerted force on my left foot, allowing me to dart forward, straight to the f*cker. BANG! The moment I exerted my leg to dart forward, I also extend my right foot and without letting Lifera recover, another kick shook his body''s core. Lifera tried to fight back, but I don''t want him to ruin everything. With a quick swap to my weapon''s form into a katana, I performed my mastery on it with 4 quick slices. KACHA! KACHA! KACHA! KACHA! Looks like what he said being a half automata is true, since the moment I cut off his hands and feet, I felt like I didn''t cut flesh but rather, I cut metal joints. As soon as the 4 limbs were cut off, I stab the sword, just a few centimeters away from his face. "I don''t know what is your deal. You seem to despise humans a lot and I don''t care since I don''t give a f*ck. But why are you seemingly upset on the thought of the two siblings to go and investigate what happened? Even if it is meant for protection, that is not protecting but rather, you want them to remain blind on that reason. It''s bullcrap. And what? You want to burden yourself more on this and wanted to just carry the whole situation by yourself? What, you can solve this by yourself?" "You don''t understand Human! We are facing a necromancer! They have countless of army to use from and you all will be overwhelmed! I don''t want to lose my masters anymore!" "Then if that is the case, why are you still trying to stop us humans? We can go to that ce because we are not your master at all. So why are you also holding us back? You hate humans so why are you trying your best to stop us too?! Can''t you just let us die there too right?" Lifera grit his teeth and red at me. "I may hate the arrogance of humans but I am also thest guardian alive in the Kingdom of the deep sea. Even if I hate the humans like you to the core, that is not enough justification for me to kill you all off. That is just going to add salt to the wound and will just increase the problems if you all die as our enemy is the necromancer. So instead of dying pointlessly, I would rather be the viin and keep you all here where it is safe and sound." I didn''t expect him to say that. My expectation for him is that he is having some internal motive. A motive that is enough to make me feel suspicious about him. However, he keep on stopping us no matter what we do so this is also a bit of a nonsense to me. Why is he stopping us too? He hated us, so why? Who would have thought his answer is just for the sake of his job being thest guardian. He is protecting anyone on entering the dangerous ce as to not make the matters worse. I think I slightly improved my opinion on this guy a bit more than usual. "I know you are fulfilling your duty but we are still here to face the necromancer. Even if I want to just dy this, our chances of meeting up is sky high. After all, I am hunting the necromancers and my task is to eradicate them before they can make this world copse with the dead''s resurrection." Pulling out the Versatile Weapon out from beside his face, I sheathed it back and Imanded everyone to untie Sera and Li from the tentacle bindings in their bodies. "You heard his reason. What are your thoughts? For me and everyone, there is nothing wrong about putting everyone to peace and defeat the necromancer at once. The more time he lives on, the more he has chances to escape and do the same to other domains." "As much as he wanted to protect us, we also wanted to save our country back from the grasp of the undead and the necromancer.. If we failed even on this, we are not fit to be the next in line rulers of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea if even the citizens are all dead and rotten. If you guys are going to check and defeat the necromancer, we will also go too!" Chapter 316 - Kingdom Of The Dead鈥檚 Deep Sea (I) With Lifera rendered immobile after cutting off his limbs, we no longer have the obstruction that will stop us from moving to the portal to enter the Kingdom of the Deep Sea''s territory. Despite the firm objections of Lifera for Sera and Li to enter the portal, they were resolute to enter the ce and see what is happening. Entering the ce where the portal is up, Sera and Li is looking nervous while staring at the wavering color of the portal. "What''s up? Are you guys perhaps hesitating to do it even though you disobeyed Lifera''s wishes?" I asked the two. "No. Despite his good wishes to us, it was still not something he needed to do to protect us from what we needed to see. It was our decision and whatever he needed to do, he already did it. It''s just..." Sera is conflicted on what to do. "Whatever the case, it is still our duty. If the Merfolk of the kingdom all died and has been turned into undead, there is no other way but to eliminate the cause and put everyone to their eternal rest," Li continued what Sera seems to be struggling to say. "Alright, I will activate the portal and remove the spell that Lifera used to stop us from entering the portal." Sera pulls out a blue orb from her pocket and throws it to the portal. The moment the blue orb made contact with the portal, the portal seems to be a mirror as it shatters to pieces, revealing a red portal within. "A red portal..." I didn''t know that the blue portal we are seeing since we first arrive there is a facade and is hiding the true portal. Is it for protection or is it just to stop anyone entering, allowing Lifera to reach the ce the moment someone touches the portal''s surface. Now that it''s broken, we can now proceed and enter on it like it was a gate. "Let''s go." .... .... Kingdom of the Deep Sea. Or rather... the former kingdom of the deep sea. Now, it just looks like it came from a fantasy zombie apocalypse. The buildings that are erected underwater no longer hold a good amount of looks it bears before in the past and even though I have not taken a single visit to this ce in the past timeline, I can tell the structure of the ce just by looking at a single nce. Is this the whole reason why I never heard of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea in the past even in adventurers? Even the Insect Kingdom that is said to be much smaller than the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is making more soundspared to the news regarding this ce. Maybe this is one of the main reasons. Sera and Li had a grim look on their faces as they continue to walk around with us while looking at the surroundings. Then, with my passive sensesing from the Necromancer ss, in which I also gained the moment I got the Necromancer sub ss. [Dead Senses] Tier 1 Type: Passive Info: As a necromancer, your senses towards the dead are much more sensitive than usual. You will not just detect the undead who are currently inactive but you can also sense whether they are dangerous or not. Detects all the undead lifeforms in the 15-meter radius around the yer. Note: With this ability, you can tell which enemies pretend to be dead and alive in the area. Isn''t that pretty convenient? Although it''s just a bit of a passive that never got much action due to how rare I encounter enemies that can bebeled as undead, it has proven itself to be really useful, especially in this operation. I am not seeing any enemies in our way but I can easily detect that they are just in the surroundings. Some are inactive and are just there without doing anything while some are just not in our field of view and currently roaming around. "I don''t see any of that undead that Lifera mentioned. Do you think they don''t exist anymore?" Sera asked. "No. They are here, pull out your weapons. If we are unlucky enough, we will have to fight with them and put them out of their misery," I pull out my Versatile Weapon and changed it into the gun. Li also readies himself and his magic spells. Compared to Sera, he didn''t have any qualms about the enemy and is currently aware of the situation. He didn''t have any fear of them and it seems he is also adamant about facing the undead. "Master! I detect moving lifeforms at three o''clock!" Lina reported. I already detected it but it was good to have the others manually detect the enemies too. "Everyone, make sure to use your range skills, don''t let them bite you. I advise against using a melee fighting style unless you are as protected as As. One bite and it might transfer its necrosis disease straight to you. Eliminate all the enemies in the distance." "ROGER!" And the moment of truth came... "UGAAAAHHHHH!" The undead appeared and this time, it was the merman and mermaid that are transformed into zombies. "ATTACK!" The merfolk undead is still swimmers. Not only do they swim so fast, they are also darting around the water like missiles attacking us straight with their hands and bloody teeth exposed. BANG! BANG! BANG! My gun''s bullets are quick in attacks and it didn''t have any kind of dy on them. In just one shot, the undead fell from the water and stopped moving. As much as they are former merman and mermaids, whether they are former acquaintances of Li and Sera, I didn''t care and never cared. What is more important is we survive the onught of the zombies attacking us. "Damn it! Is this how hard you guys fight against undead creatures on the surface? I never faced any kind of undead enemies ever in my life..." Li grumbled as he has to shoot quickly at enemies. He has to attack them on their heads or else they will not fall down like twigs. "This isn''t even the slightest amount of danger you are experiencing today, since some of the undead creatures in thend are much more wild and dangerous than these guys. These guys are nothing," Lucia grinned as she uses a condensed bullet me to use against the enemies due to her normal mes getting nullified due to how we are in the water, making her an ineffective fighter. Didn''t expect her to be capable of using that method to attack while still using me magic skills. "Master! This side is already clear!" Lina reported, showing her side without any undead left attacking. "Here in this side too!" Tina who is adept at fencing is also done and showed that she didn''t have a problem skewering the heads of the zombies that attacks us. "Good! Make sure the enemies are not any undead spawning and those that have been killed are no longer showing any signs of attacking. We can''t afford to be ambushed at a times like this!" I ordered. "Roger that!" everyone nodded. I nce at Sera and although she is not as active as Li in defeating the undead merfolk, she is still attacking too. I didn''t bother much and just continue with the attack. After all, it was the most difficult time to do right now. Merfolk killing her own kind due to the unknown diseases that have struck. After a few hours of the killing, we managed to have a break after thest wave of merfolk zombies stopped appearing and all of the attackers are dead. "This is insane. Why is this happening to my precious kingdom?" Li grit his teeth seeing the ughter before him. "It''s unavoidable. With our enemy being a necromancer, we have no choice but to kill them even though they are a former resident of this kingdom, it is now the duty of you two to bring them down and stop them from doing these kinds of behavior and make them rest in peace." "This is too brutal but we have to ept it, we are not just going to keep ourselves keeping a blind eye about this. Now that we have seen how bad it was right now, there is no point in keeping ourselves oblivious, we are going to "clean up" this ce and honor everyone who has turned," Sera affirmed herself. Although I am not as enthusiastic as her in clearing out the undead, I am now in a bit of a dilemma whether the enemy is indeed one of the necromancers I am hunting. With the enemies showing quite a different vibe than most undead that I fought there is a possibility that the enemies. They don''t just have the same amount of danger as the normal undead as the merfolk undead are much more vicious and if Ipare them to the zombies in the movies, they are simr in viciousness to the zombies in "World War Z''s novel." It looks like the second necromancer is not that far for me. Chapter 317 - Kingdom Of The Dead鈥檚 Deep Sea (II) The merfolk zombies are not that numerous, allowing us to push through and eliminate every single one of them. It''s quite chaotic at times especially if theye in groups and in hordes though it''s not really a problem with As dealing most of the damage most of the time and since he is not affected by whatever the undead are trying to transmit, he was able to tank every bite with his armor, allowing us to go for the kill. "Do you think there are deeper in the city, Master?" Lina asked. "Why do you ask?" "Because the more we dwell deeper, the amount of the zombies attacking are getting more numerous and dangerous now." "We can''t be too sure but that isn''t too farfetched as the necromancer can bring back the dead as much as he can do as long as he has a corpse to use or the mana to use. By now, the necromancer already knows we areing. Might be the main reason for the influx of the zombies attacking us right now." "Are necromancers that nasty inbat?" Li asked. "Not really. The only reason they are being dreaded too much is that they can summon undead servants as much as they can as long as they have the catalysts. Or if they have the rare ability to conjure the dead using their mana, they are much dangerous. They can bring down an empire in just one day if they are not defeated immediately." "Isn''t that pretty dangerous? How are you guys surviving them?" "Easy, kill the necromancer as soon as we can. Most of the time, the necromancers rely too much on their summoned corpses to do their bidding so usually, they are too weak by themselves. Once they are robbed by that ability to control the dead and summon them to do their bidding, they are just normal people who can''t fight." "But Master, we have experienced much more dreadful necromancers before like thatst necromancer we defeated," Lina revealed. "What do you mean?" Li suddenly got curious. "Maybe it''s best if you don''t know? After all, ignorance is bliss," Lucia stopped Li from getting curious. "But knowledge is power! Why are you stopping me from knowing it?" "Be quiet everyone..." As interrupted the bickering as he crouches behind a wall and peeks in the corner. "What did you see, As?" I asked as I also peek at what he was checking. Not too far in our direction are the swimming undead merfolk alongside two undead forms of sharks. "Holy f*cking sh*t... Even the sharks are not able to escape the necromancy power?!" "That is why I made you all quiet. If those sharks get attracted to our location, we are all going to have a hard time dealing with it. Master, do you have any ns? If there isn''t any, I will charge forward and deal with the sharks while you all deal with the final strike." "No, don''t do that. It''s too risky and I doubt you canst long with the two of them attacking along with the other undead. I have a better idea. I activated the Blueprint that Saboteurs uses toplete the [Blueprint Materialization] skill and started drawing a n. It''s not as meticulous as the usual ns I make in some cases but this n''s strength is that it is very effective against the sharks. However, the biggest con it has is that it doesn''t have much big of an impact against multiple enemies. It can at best, be used twice, but that didn''t matter. 2 enemies to kill using this is enough since the sharks are also two just with the bonus of the small undead. Once the blueprint is done, I toss it not too far to the sharks, allowing them to notice it. It took a quick second before it materialized. The sharks immediately moved to the attack the moment they noticed the blueprint. GWARRRR! "[Blueprint Materialization]!" The blueprint float in the air and immediately projected what I made before creating it as a reality. What I made currently is two des of the guillotine, hanging in the air with two ropes being held by my hands. The sharks made their move and started swimming. The moment I noticed they are moving, I let the rope go, allowing the two des of the guillotine to fall over the sharks. THUD! THUD! Dull thuds can be heard in the distance and the two sharks stopped swimming towards and just slowly falls over to the ground. What is interesting is that their heads fall down first before the body, which means the guillotine blueprint was a sess, slicing the two of them into two pieces, mainly near its neck area. The two des from the guillotine disappeared, leaving the two dead bodies of the sharks, alongside the iing horde of undead. "I am counting on you guys." Everyone nodded and pulls out their weapons. "Let''s put them all to rest guys!" ... ... Alexandria finally made contact with the person she was trying to contact. The person she believes to be the one that can help her on resurrecting her brother back from the dead. Using her ability, [Carbon Copy], she generated the appearance of merfolk and jumped to the sea, entering the ce where the guy is currently staying. Her arrival in the ce is smooth sailing as the person she was looking for already anticipated her arrival. Looking at the situation of the kingdom while swimming, she grinned seeing how marvelous the work of a single necromancer to a kingdom in one single night. To think the mighty kingdom that was previously meant to stop the Insect Kingdom once it started to wage war on them. She didn''t expect that it was a single necromancer who will break and destroy their civilization. Making the merfolk close to its extinction in the sea. Seeing the dead merfolk swimming without any sort of n and order makes her grin cruelly. If she also managed to seed in her n, the same thing could happen in the Insect Kingdom too and she is dying to see it. As she looks around the ce, she noticed another guy currently approaching her location. She looked at the location of the person and saw another guy with a sinister dark aura, surrounded by a small bubble that covers his whole body, allowing him to not swim around the water while still in the form of a human. "Good day, to you. Perhaps I should call you mistress Alexandria now, right?" the young necromancer gave her a graceful bow like a gentleman to a young woman. "Whatever suits your palette, Mr. Necromancer. You can call me with my original name or the name of the original body I am inhabiting right now." "Well then, Ms. Alexandria. I know you have some business with me but I doubt I can give you any assistance since you are much powerful than me." "I am not here to unt my abilities. However, perhaps you have a good way to do this by yourself as you are someone who is in the expert realm of what I was talking about. Perhaps you have the best idea to do this." "Hmmm? My expertise you say? Well, well, why you didn''t say so earlier? I got a bit tired waiting for something interesting to happen in this kingdom so yes, perhaps I can help you. I take pride in my skills and knowledge after all." Alexandria grinned. It looks like her trip to the ce will not be wasted after all. ... ... Our group cleaned up thest undead merfolk attacking us. Using the abilities of Sera, she whips up a blue me that seems to be the equivalent me underwater. After burning the corpses, the remnants of the corpses were cleared, "sending" them off to the afterlife where they can''t do so due to the unprecedented necrosis that leaves them unable to rest forever and move even though they are already a corpse. "We are almost to the main castle right now. If not for the obstruction of the dead most of the time, we should already be on the castle right now. If my assumption is correct, the castle should be the most heavily guarded ce right now and since even the guards of the castle are already turned, we will also be having big troubleing in once we get into that ce," I guessed since I am still not sure whether the necromancer already noticed us or not. Then, as we are about to begin to go back to our search, Gobu and the rest of my followers are in turmoil. "Master! The corpse of the demon that you brought along is glowing!" I grinned when I heard it. Finally, it seems his sister is now going to perform the resurrection process. "Bring the body out. Lina, Lucia, As, prepare.. We will have to mess around with the resurrection process for a bit." Chapter 318 - Kingdom Of The Dead鈥檚 Deep Sea (III) I was anticipating her action on reviving her dead brother for a few days already. It took quite some time I didn''t expect she will take action now. Thankfully, we are done with the clearing operation against the merfolk zombies and although they are still there, it was minimal to the point As can handle it alone without our help. Gobu and the Desert Wolf Pack carried the dead body out of the summon''s area andy it down on the small b of rock in the water. "Master, what are you trying to do?" Lina asked. "I am also a bit curious. I know him as my brother but it was unexpected that he was a demon. I need to also know what you are going to do with the demon?" Tina seems to be also curious. "It''s kind of a ritual I know to at least make the people who are trying to revive them regret reviving the said individual. I prepared for this so it''s going to be something beneficial to us." Without further ado, I inspected the dead body. Since it was a long-distance revival, it takes quite a bit of time before the revival is done. It''s what we always do in demons in the past timeline who has more than onepanion and their bodies have not melted to goop after death. Opening my inventory, I pull out several items that will make some exorcists familiar with my tools. [Stake of Suffering], [Talisman of Anti-Revival] and a bottle of [Holy Water]. [Stake of Suffering] Type: Item Info: Stakes that contain curses that whatever or whoever was being pierced by this stake will suffer almost endless suffering. It also sucks the vitality of the target once pierced by this and will continuously Note: These stakes are used to nail the final nail to the coffin of a vampire or demons. They might look like sharpened bamboo but it works just fine. After inspecting it if it was faulty or I grabbed the wrong stake, I didn''t hesitate and pierce his heart with the stake. With the dead body already in the process of rotting, the stake of suffering just pierced through the body of the guy. The dead body is not reacting yet but seeing the small power influx around his body, he is still in the process of being revived. As for the Talisman of Revival, this item is something that I have learned from an Exorcist in the past timeline that I have helped before after the demons attacked. It''s an easy talisman to use and usually, it''s used on corpses that haven''t been blessed to temporarily stop them from rising up back from the dead. Once the dead body is blessed, the talisman will no longer have any effect. Since this guy is already dead, the only way to revive him is via necromancy first and after the revival is a sess, he will have to choose another host to use a new body and abandon the old body, making it like an old shell. This way, he will be able to survive on another body without the injuries of thest body. As for the Holy Water, it''s already self-exnatory but anything rted to dark-heavy monsters, and zombies, or even just a simple case of turning the dead into walking dead, the holy water is a must for everyone. Since we are underwater and the holy water will just be useless if used usually, I just shoved the entire container on his mouth and push it in on his throat before putting the Talisman of Anti-Revival to his forehead. "Now, we wait. We should keep a distance while she is still reviving him." The magic power of the dead body is rising. It''s higher than what I know most of the time and it is clear that they needed to imnt a bit of a magic power to trigger his body. It was still slow due to how our distance was but it is gradually building up. Soon, a magic circle appeared beneath his body and started to rotate rapidly. "Master, isn''t this bad?" Lina readies her weapon. "Just observe. Things are about to get real." Then, when an influx of great energy surges through the dead body, the dead body stood up from lying down, but it was soon interrupted by the [Talisman of the Anti-Revival]. The demon being revived is almost troublesome as the influx of energies swirling started to gather in the talisman. Then, as it got more and more powerful, more power is being stored in the talisman, like a ss full of flowing water. Due to the excessiveness of the power being channeled through, the talisman that acted as the container ended up bursting, releasing the energy as an explosion to the dead guy. It was very quick so the moment it bursts out, the explosion was strong enough to break off the head of the demon. "What the?!" the siblings were surprised and as for us, we checked what happened. The big magic circle below the dead body was destroyed like a piece of ss, shattered to pieces and the dead body started to float in the water. In thest attempt, it exploded and the dead body is gone. Not a trace was left after it was thwarted. Not only does it get destroyed but the bacsh from the revival will be great due to the failure of the revival and if it was done poorly, even the person who performed the revival process will be dead before they knew it. "Wha- what did just happen?" Tina was baffled beyond belief. "The dead body of the demon has been obliterated. Not a single revival can revive it now unless they have the ability to reconstruct his body again. Of course, that guy will no longer be the same. His core is gone to dust so the new one will surely be a disappointment if they ever do the trick again. Though that is impossible now." ... ... ... ... The former castle of the king of the Merfolk, now a base where the necromancer is staying. Alexandria and the necromancer are still preparing the calctions and things needed for the revival process. "Howe the corpse is not on your possession? Did you just leave it to rot?" the necromancer asked as he started producing a few magic circles that will help with the revival magic." "I wouldn''t do that. I needed my brother to unleash the strongest potentials of his body. If he disappeared, the chances of winning against the insect woman are going to plummet. Therefore, his revival is vital. If not for that adventurer who has run away with his body, the revival will be much easier to do and I wouldn''t need to even wait too long." "An adventurer? That is a first. I didn''t expect someone from the puny humans can do that. They don''t really care about that most of the time and just go and do the most mundane tasks. Howe you got beaten by them? Isn''t that a bit embarrassing?" the necromancerughs. "What''s funny? The guy who got my brother''s corpse is someone that is hard to handle and is dangerous. It looks like they have expected it halfway." "Alright, preparations are done, let''s do the actual revival time. Miss Alexandria, I will need a drop of your blood, and as I do the pathfinding magic will find the dead body. That way, pinpointing it and teleporting it to us won''t be a big problem." Alexandria didn''t hesitate and dropped a single drop of blood on the magic circle. The magic circle grow and started generating magic. "Please pinpoint where your brother is as I channel magic to his body," the necromancer ordered. Alexandria was adept at finding things and it got easier for her as she easily found where they are. She quickly memorized the coordinates and waited for a sign. "There!" Alexandria pointed and the necromancer immediately channels his energy to the area where the former pinpointed and immediately started working on the revival process. The magic circle that is just glowing red after everything started begins to spin quite fast that it resembles a spinning fan. Alexandria monitored the status changes on her brother''s dead body via the connection she found during the search. She keeps the situation intact and just keeps on mentally looking out of every part of his. Then, something odd urs. The magic circle that seems to be functioning fine earlier, started to get wonky and the necromancer is already fuming in sending the magic energy. It should have been a stable run on the revival but he didn''t understand what is happening at all. It was then, that when the necromancer is ready to hit the final nail, the unexpected happened. BOOM! The magic circle on the ground exploded and before it can even do anything, the connection he did, was cut off immediately before he can even salvage the failure in the process. Chapter 319 - The Second Necromancer It was a huge bacsh of power that one of the necromancer''s hands was blown away after the bacsh, causing the necromancer to writhe in pain. "ARGHHHH!" The spell ended up in failure, not only does it fail the process but the dead body of the demon he was reviving was also destroyed in the process. He tried to at least recover someponents of the dead body but it seems his failure and the thing that stopped him from reviving it obliterated all signs of the dead body. "Curses! The person who got the body of your brother has tampered with the dead body and used a self-destructing method for the corpse once it detects something that will resurrect it!" "What do you mean self-destructing?" Alexandria didn''t understand what the necromancer is talking about. "Don''t you understand easy words?! I mean that the body that you want to resurrect has been destroyed, deleted, and obliterated from this world! It cannot be revived and it cannot be recovered by any means anymore, you hear me?! Dammit! It even cost me an arm only for it to go to failure!" "What did you just say? My brother cannot be revived?!" She tried to grab the cor of the necromancer but the necromancer managed to dodge it. "Oy, its not my fault that your brother cannot be revived, the enemy is just too calcting and can immediately utilize their advantage!" "No... nonononononoo! NOOOOOOO!" Alexandria screamed and a surge of demonic power released from her body before enveloping herself. It was too strong that even her body can''t handle the pressure. Alexandria did not say anything and teleported away from the ce. The necromancer grumbled as he pinpoint the exact location of the bacsh. He was sure that it urred nearby as the fluctuations is strong which means it''s very near from where he was. After tracking the fluctuation, he quickly spotted the location where the remnants of his power is still scattered. "Damn, whoever did that preparation seems to know what he is doing. If the demon didn''t leave earlier than she should, she would have been able to exact revenge on her brother''s death. But I guess I am stuck doing all the work.I will not just let these people go away after it cost me an arm. They will be my next collection." ... ... With the little brother of Alexandria gone forever without any root left to be revived in another state, Alexandria''s final power will be reduced quite harshly as she needed to have her skills channeled with her brother. With him gone, she will suffer and will have to find a new way to fight as she is pretty ustomed fighting with her brother helping her. Then, all of a sudden, I detected a lot of undead not too far from us. They are a lot in numbers this time. "Damn, it looks like we attracted the attention of the undead, prepare everyone for a big wave," I warned. Everyone assumed their battle stance and a few seconds passed by before we heard wails of agonizing undearing straight to us. When they came to view, it was clear it was a full scale attack and not just something that can be resolved in just one battle. Then, As stood in front of us and gathered the dark energy from the surroundings. He roared with all his might and at the same time, all of our attack stats has been raised, showing that he activated his skill, [Warmonger]. He raised his sword up in the air and the ck sword envelopes itself from darkness. "Disappear and be one with the darkness! [Sword of the Void]!" He swings the sword straight to the iing undead and to our shock, in one fell swoop, all of the iing undead were decimated to dust. "I did what I can master, unfortunately, that leaves me too fatigued since I used the full power of the skill. I would still be fine if I didn''t charge it up but since it consumea quite a lot of energy, I have to rest for a bit to recover. Please cover me, Master," As gritted his teeth. "No problem, you did plenty, let''s go and deal with this everyone!" Swimming to the water and killing the merman and mermaid zombies is a bit of hard work but it helps a bitpared to the usual. "Let''s push on towards the castle. The sooner we deal with the necromancer, the better!" "Ah, ah...no need to rush my friend. If you are looking for me, I am here to respond to your request!" All of a sudden, a young man in robes who was floating inside of a bubble appeared before us with a grin on his face. I also noticed hecks an arm while his other arm is holding a long staff. Not only that, but this guy is wearing a ne with two bones hanging on it. Which means, he is one of the necromancers I am trying to hunt down. "Master! Watch out!" Lina shouted. Due to her warning, I managed to swim away before arge shadow shark appeared below my feet and almost devoured my leg. I quickly shoot it down with the gun, killing it immediately. "I know you are a handful but I didn''t expect you all to be these handful! DIE!" He waved his staff in the air and a strong stench of rotten flesh emerged, releasing a few undead sharks along the way, zooming straight to us. Three sharks for me and ising to kill me. "Ha! You want to overwhelm me with numbers?! Fine by me!" Since I have slowly gotten ustomed swimimimg while fighting, I managed to use it to my advantage that I can''t usually use while I am onnd. With this newly developed movements in the water plus the advantage of being able to breathe underwater, I unleashed my de skills to the iing zombie sharks. KACHA! Using the katana and my speed in the water, I used this method to unleash a double power sh against the shark, cutting off the zombie shark in one slice, then using the momentum from the previous shark, I used it again to propel myself straight to the next zombie shark that already readies it''s mouth to me. SWISH! The shark was sliced in two but it seems the next shark used the chance that I am upied to the second zombie shark to attack. Although I can easily kill it, it was taken by Sera who fired an [Icicle Spear], piercing the head of the zombie shark in session, killing it instantly. "Don''t worry deheart! We will back you up!" LI shouted. "Thanks!" Lucia, Lina and Tina are both behind me, fending the zombie sharks summoned by the necromancer floating in a bubble. "No wonder you can easily cancel my resurrection spell, you all are just a pain in the *SS!" The necromancer decided that he will go all out and unleashed a huge horde of undead below him. I learned my lesson while fighting against the first necromancer. That is if they are trying to unleash a very big skill, the only process needed to be done is to attack the necromancer and deal the highest possible damage to be done to him before the spell is done. It might be a disrespect of stopping a summoning or a transformation midway but that is life especially if the enemy is an enemy. I transformed my weapon into a shield and spear. Then, I unleashed [Shield Bash] towards the necromancer. When I am almost a few inches to the Necromancer, I switched to the katana and used the force that allowed me to close the gap from him and immediately swing my katana. He already anticipated my shield attack but the katana attack is not part of his calctions. He tried to use his staff to block but he was too slow to do so allowing me to cut off his head in one spin. [You have killed Second: the Necromancer!] -got... The announcement appeared before me, allowing me to see my sessful kill. The rewards are a bit trashy and not worth the time looking, but I am surprised that the second necromancer is much weaker than the first necromancer. I spend quite a huge time and effort alongside with some of my friends just to deal with the first necromancer but the second didn''t have much problem and was easily killed. Is it due to the fact that hecks a single arm that he is having a hard time dealing with us? I am even prepared to deal with his crap once I killed him since most of them have a gimmick but it seems he didn''t prepare any when he was killed in a surprise way. "The necrosis problem is finally over," I muttered as all the corpses in the vicinity including the zombie sharks has finally been reduced back to ashes. Chapter 320 - The Wish (I) With the Second Necromancer dead for good, the remation for the Kingdom of the Deep Sea wasplete. All of the merfolk who got killed and turned zombies via necrosis has been turned to dust and has already dissipated in the water. Due to the disease, it wiped out all of the poption of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea, leaving the whole kingdom as a "dead" ce. Without anyone else living there, it was good as abandoned already and I doubt any merfolk would live here again especially with the event that wiped out the entire merfolk in the kingdom, it''s a bit doubt if they will still hope to live here unless they are too attached to the ce and isn''t afraid of the previous event. In the pce... Sera and Li are preparing a small shrine they have created to at least be used to remember all of the previous inhabitants of the kingdom. Using the precious belongings that they owned when they were still alive, they acted as a sort of a memento to the dead and are used to remember them. Lifera who knows everyone in the kingdom allowed the gathering easy with the help of his automata and golem servants, he managed to easily gather everything. I was surprised by how fast Lifera appeared before us the moment he felt the presence of the necromancer and the zombies disappear in the kingdom. Despite the fact that I cut off all of his limbs and render him from moving, he still managed to recover and retrieve new limbs to attach as a recement from his lost limbs. He didn''t be hostile even though I did almost killed him in the process and instead thanked me for removing the main threat of thend. We helped with the process and after a few hours of preparing, we paid respects to the deceased and even though we are not the same species, we are still paid respects to them. "Everyone, thank you for helping us restore and reim the whole kingdom from the necromancer''s hands. Even though it is still useless in the end since we will be leaving this ce after paying our respects, it is still necessary for us since we live here formerly. I just can''t bear to leave the ce in shambles even though there is a very low chance that it will return to its former glory," Sera happily give her gratitude to us. "Nah, we didn''t do much, the necromancer is pretty weak, to be honest, and even the normal necromancers we encounter in dungeons are much dangerouspared to the necromancer we just defeated." "Master, perhaps he was weakened? He just said that there is something from us that caused him to be like that though I don''t know what," Lina pointed out what the necromancer muttered before we fought. "Even if you guys said that it is easy, without everyone to help in the battle, we might also be having trouble fighting against him. Anyways, with the matter done and resolved, even if we loved this ce, as much as I hate doing so, we will have to leave this ce and let it rest for good." "Are you guys sure that you will be leaving the ce? You two can be the king and queen and rebuild this ce from scratch. With Lifera to help, this would be progressing much smoothly than needed to be." "As much as we wanted to do that, we never wanted to be part of the royalty anyways. I don''t want to be tied up in royal duties as it just burdens me with a lot of responsibilities. Heck, Sera would rather travel and fight monsters than stay and rule a kingdom. That is a big fact," Li rubbed his chin after thinking for a bit. "Then, what about Lifera?" I nced at Lifera who is just standing behind the siblings. "I may no longer be tied by the duties of the king due to his death and the fall of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea but I will stay and guard this ce. Perhaps it is a good idea to make my golems and automates to live here at the moment as temporary residents. As much as I want to follow where Sera-sama and Li-sama are going, I am loyal to where I grew up. If I ever die in the future, I would rather die in thend where I was born." I can at least understand Lifera''s patriotism but since he never left the sea, perhaps it would have been better if he went to thend and experience all of the different things once in a while until the very end but that is just my opinion, if he wanted to stay, that is his choice. As much as I want to ask for a method to counter the remaining demon that has taken the weapon of the Greed Sin, the n is gone as the original person who should be helping us is gone. I am wondering what happened as of why the events seem to have changed but perhaps it has something with some factors I have done in some quests. In the end, there is no one who can help us forter battles if things get kinda hairy. "Ah, there is something I needed to show you guys. Since you live in the sea, perhaps you know about this? After we defeated the Ice Devilfish, this thing was among the dropped items," although I lied since I got it inside the body and not by drops, I technically didn''t lie since it is true that I got it from the body of the Ice Devilfish. When I showed the thing up, the very first merfolk who reacted to it is none other than Lifera. "The heart of the Primordial Sea God?!" "The what?!" the two siblings were stunned the moment Lifera blurted out what I have just shown to them. "Yeah. This is the heart of the Primordial Sea God. I really don''t know what this thing is since it came after I defeated that octopus down. Since you guys are merfolks and are more well-versed with the Primordial Sea God, perhaps you will know what this thing is? It seems like slime since it moves like one." "Allow me to exin as I am the one who has the most well-versed knowledge about the Primordial Sea God. Sera-sama and Li-sama are not that well versed and only know a few basics so it would be best if I will do that," Lifera proudly proimed. "As much as I hate to admit but yes, Lifera is the most knowledgeable out of all of us. Of course, my father would be the one who can rival and might even best Lifera in this subject. It would be my father who can exin the most as he is researching the Primordial Sea God but since he is already dead, there is no point stressing it out and Lifera would be the best choice to ask for exnations and answers," Li exined. "So what is this?" Lifera held it in his hands and examined the "heart" carefully, thoroughly checking its characteristics and how it "moves". "Although it was only in the legends, the heart of the Primordial Sea God is proof that they exist. No one knows the main purpose as to why the heart exists in this current time where most gods are either in hiding or have ascended to higher realms. But ording to the theories and some studies, the "heart" exists to make sure the whole sea will be safe from cmities, and if the time where things cannot be handled by the "heart" alone, the Primordial Sea God themselves will intervene." "So in short, this is something close to a talisman to guard the whole seas?" "Basically yes and no. Yes, it might prove like a talisman to protect something from harm but the "heart" isn''t simr to a talisman that can be created again once it is destroyed or lost its effects, the "heart" is the only sole thing left behind by the sea god. If it disappears and is destroyed in the process, there might be different kinds of horrors that will appear in the seas." "Then, this must mean it is needed to be in the seas and needed to be here for the better." "As much as that was the truth in the past, things have changed. With the Kingdom of the Deep Sea barren from merfolk that would act as its guardians, letting it remain here would only lead to monsters seeking to get it just like the Ice Devilfish. The fact that the monster managed to get this means that the security of this thing is prettyx and easy to break. Therefore, letting it stay here would be risky and will end up in someone else''s hands. Who knows whether that someone is good or bad, it doesn''t really matter." "Well, you are here to guard it right? You are strong enough to handle it." "No, in fact, this is the thing that I needed to not guard since this will end up as something that I might be tempted to test on myself. You can say that the seas will be in bad hands once this thingnded to my care." Chapter 321 - The Wish (II) "Why do you say so, Lifera? You are the most trusted aid of my father and since when we are still kids, you also took care of us. Why would you say the seas will be in bad hands if you have this thing with you?" Sera frowned at Lifera''s remark to himself. "You already know that, Sera-sama. I have the tendency to be impulsive and you have witnessed earlier that I would sometimes exhibit viinous behavior. I would rather have to stay away from those things rather than have them near me." Ah, he might be talking about the time he wanted to stop Sera and Li from going. He was indeed exhibiting some wild tendencies and I thought I would have to fight a mini-boss fight with him but I was wrong. "Anyways, this heart is said to hold some powers to protect the seas and to give a strong power to do something that I have no idea what it was. It was clear that it is rted to the power of the Primordial Sea God but who knows. Also, ording to the sources, it can at least grant one wish to anyone who wanted to use it. That might be the reason for some greedy-minded people to actually seek this thing out and steal it." "It can grant a wish? This is the first time I have heard of it," Li scratches his head. "If it can grant a wish, then, can this "heart" revive everyone who died from the necrosis and the attacks of the necromancer who took over the kingdom?" "As much as I want to say it can, it cannot. Despite being a wish granter, this is not an omnipotent wishing device. It can grant any physical wish or whatever wish but like most things, it can''t grant something impossible like the end of the world and of course, reviving the dead," Lifera immediately denied. A wish granter...is this perhaps...? "There are much more things I can say about it but since you just asked what this thing can do, I wouldn''t say anything unnecessary anymore to expand the topic of it. But if you want to dive deeper, perhaps I can tell you more." "I guess that is enough. Thanks for the information. As much as I want to stay longer, we still have some things to do too. If not for the request of the siblings, we will not take this long either. By the way, what shall we do with this thing?" I still held out the heart of the sea god. "You keep it. As the human saying goes, "Finders keepers" right? I doubt Sera-sama and Li-sama would like them unless they also wanted a wish to be granted," Lifera suggested. "Lifera is right, we don''t have anything that we can wish for. Since it can''t revive the dead, we have less reason to keep it. You should keep it as a keepsake, deheart. Perhaps you will have something that you can use of it," Sera nodded in agreement. I didn''t think that this thing that I just randomly picked up back when we are swallowed by the Ice Devilfish would have something that would be very useful to us. "So how can this thing grant wishes? How do you do that?" I asked. "There isn''t definitive proof but ording to the records, you just need to hold the thing in your hands and say your wish out loud. I don''t know if it was usible but you just needed to try it out." ... ... After our discussions and paying respects to the deceased, we left the kingdom and we are escorted by Lifera. Sera and Li will still be staying for a little bit before they will leave. As for us, it would be the same thing, our task is to reim the Insect Kingdom from the grasp of Alexandria. Now that one of the demons is dead, it is clear that the remaining one will now begin to unleash into the offensive this time around. Just like before, we ride on the boat that Lina made to use to descend to the portal to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. ording to Sera and Li, to return to the surface from the Maelstrom, we will be using the same boat but this time, we will be getting the power of the blessings of the Primordial Sea God to allow us to go back to the surface without trouble. Before we left back to the surface, the siblings bid goodbye to us. "I apologize for us not being able toe along with you guys back to the surface. As much as we enjoyed the short time of yourpany, we have to part ways here. But we know that fate will allow us to see each other once again," Li grinned. "Yes. We look forward to our next meeting guys. Next time, tell us your experiences too. We don''t need to worry about our certain circumstances too," Sera waved goodbye. "No worries. Maybe you guys can visit us in Resurgia in the future. We would love to have yourpany too." After that, we bid farewell to them and performed what Sera instructed us to do. With the instruction, it was revealed that the other ability of the blessing that Sera granted to us is tomand deep-sea fishes and other aquatic organisms to obey us for a limited amount of time. When I performed it, a giant Manta Ray alongside a school of fish appeared before us. "Woah! What the heck?!" Lucia was surprised when all of a sudden, the school of fishes lifted the boat with ease and the manta ray went under our boat and acted as a support, allowing it to carry the boat up into the water. We waved goodbye from everyone before the manta ray swims up along with our boat back to the surface. It only took a few minutes before we returned to the top of the sea. After the task of the manta ray is done, it swam away alongside the school of fishes without doing anything else. Using Lina''s abilities, we were able to remove the remaining water on the boat before the boat sinks back to the ocean. We are not too far from the Maelstrom as we can still hear the loud crashing sound of the maelstrom. Of course, it''s not too near that we will be sucked in. It''s just enough for us to remain afloat in the water without being disturbed by the strong sucking current of the Maelstrom. "The feeling of the surface is certainly differentpared in the sea. I can still feel and taste the salt of the seawater," Lucia happily spread her arms to wee the cold breeze of the salty air. "So, now what do we do? Our objective is certainly the Kingdom of the Deep Sea but our target is no longer alive and the siblings are certainly the ones we are going to ask for help at all since they might be strong but they aren''t strong enough to at leastpete against the demon boss," Tina is now looking worried. "I wouldn''t be worried if I were you, Tina-sama," As started speaking after staying quiet for the entirety of the discussion of the Heart of the Primordial Sea God. "Huh? What are you talking about?" Tina tilted her head in confusion. "Do you remember the function of the "heart" that Master currently holds in his inventory right now?" "Yeah, the wish granter thing. So what about it?" "As what Lifera said earlier, it can grant one wish of an individual which means every one of us can have a single wish from this thing. As stated, this is not an omnipotent wish granter and it cannot perform the revival of the dead or produce an apocalypse that will end the world but that doesn''t mean it cannot grant other wishes. Isn''t it time to test out this theory?" "Looks like we are on the same page, As. Indeed, we didn''t have the target person to ask for help but we got this incredible thing. That alone has the potential to help us in this uing confrontation again with the demon who took over the body of your sister." "So you want me to wish something using this wish granter item?" Tina was perplexed. "Yes. However, I am suggesting that you shouldn''t wish haphazardly. Ask for a wish that you needed to do the most. This is your battle. We will assist in the battle but you have to deal the final strike to your former impostor sister. This is a single wish so if you wanted to have your wish granted and realized, use it when it is the exact time." I then handed her the "heart" of the Primordial Sea God. During that time, I noticed a glint in the eye of Cotton who remained on the head of Tina.. I didn''t think too much about it before then but perhaps that was just a sign I have missed. Chapter 322 - The Wish (III) After our trip to the Kingdom of the Deep Sea and knowing that our objective no longer exists, we decided to use the second n that we came up with after the battle. We didn''t go back to the Insect Kingdom immediately but decided to settle down not too far from it with a small vantage point that allows us to see what is happening with the kingdom while remaining hidden from the eyes of Lemis and whatever sorcery she was up to. With the skills of Lina in building while I designed what the temporary house would look like, we gained a new house that acted as our base and a temporary safe house. We also made a small watchtower which will allow us to survey the surroundings for any potential enemies since we are in the area where the jurisdiction is still on the area where the Lemis, the older sister demon is currently ruling. It''s currently the third day since we settled in the new base. I am still training Tina from time to time and spars with either As, Gobu, or Lina. As for Lucia, she is training her fire abilities. After our battles under the sea, she decided that it would be also a good idea to gain a new element to master which wouldplement her fire ability. Due to her disadvantage in battle when we were fighting in the water, she barely managed to unleash her full powerpared to when she was onnd. There hasn''t been movement on the insect kingdom and it seems to be still doing fine even after the incident during the coronation. Of course, they know about the disappearance of the youngest prince, Prince Pierre, and the sudden silence of the royal family the past few days after the incident. Despite that, life goes on for all the insect people. From time to time, I check into the insect kingdom while under [Stealth]. It was a good way to rack up SP on Ninja ss while remaining undercover around the ce. I also wanted to check into the pce but I decided to not risk it. As far as I know Lemis, she also has some skills that have a detection ability type since she can cancel stealth-type skills that would only work if the user is under stealth. Therefore, I didn''t risk it. ... "I''m back, how is everything?" I asked when I arrived back at our temporary base. "Wee back, Master. Everything was fine, nothing really major happened. The only thing I can report is that Gobu-san and As-san along with the desert wolf pack hunted a Giant King Boar earlier. Gobu-san and As-san already butchered the boar so we will be getting good meat for a meal forter." "That''s pretty great. I will assistter in cooking. Anyways, where is Tina?" "She was outside earlier. I think she is currently hunting right now if I am correct." "Alright then, once you are done with your current work, you can go and rest. Don''t keep overworking even if you are a battle maid. You don''t need to force yourself to keep cleaning and doing things much." "Yes, Master. Understood. Would you like me to prepare the bath while you look for Tina-sama?" "Ah, alright, please do so." I scratch my head since Lina still can''t stop her work even for a bit. A very dedicated maid and a wee one for me. After putting down the vegetables I purchased in the market, I checked around the area for any signs of Tina. If she was hunting, she would stay nearby and will not stray too far from the base. It took me a few minutes before I found her tracks. After following her tracks, I saw her resting in one of the branches of the trees. I also noticed that Cotton is with her and she is currently patting her. Tina noticed my presence and immediately turned her guard up until she realizes that it was just me. "Oh, it was you. I thought it was an enemy," Tina sighed with relief before she put down the bow. "You took up the bows and arrows?" I asked since this is the first time I have seen her use one. "Yeah. I use one a long time ago. I was adept at using it in the past but I put it down since I wanted to learn more about swordsmanship and fencing. I thought my skills would have rusted a lot after not taking the bow and arrows a long time but I guess that my body still remembers it since I still have the same prowess back when I was still a kid," she then pointed the pile of Fanged Rabbits on the ground that she collected. It was wrapped around with the web made by Cotton allowing them to be bundled without being exposed to dirt and stuff while they are still not butchered. "Woah, that''s a lot of Fanged Rabbits...but why are they not butchered?" "I suck at butchering them. I nned to bring them over Gobu and the others for them to butcher it properly. It would be a waste if I was the one doing the job, I might even destroy the pelts if I was not careful so I just gathered them in there." "Well then, I will gut them so the others won''t need to do extra work. Besides, I am pretty free right now. Anyways, have you thought about what you will wish to the heart?" "..." Tina went silent after my question which made the atmosphere between us awkward. However, she answered a few secondster. "To be honest, I don''t know what to wish for. It''s pretty much a conflict for me. After all, over these years, I slowly became an atheist. I no longer believe in the blessings of the gods. I don''t know but I felt everything was just made up. As much as I want to keep on believing, there are some things that made it odd that made me reluctant to believe they are real. Even with the evidence that the Primordial Sea God once roamed the seas and interacted with the merfolk, my mind still has some doubts about the "heart" and its usage." "Is it because of the fact that it wasn''t an omnipotent wish granter?" "No. I think that wasn''t the case. I believe that it was indeed a wish granter. After all, they said that it indeed came from the Primordial Sea God and it acts as a wish granter and protector of the seas. However, my doubts are on the Primordial Sea God themself." "Huh?" "You see, the Primordial Sea God is the deity of the merfolk. This god dwells in the sea and gives blessings to merfolk living in the sea. For the Insect Kingdom, we still believe in the two Primordial Goddesses, Life and Death. Now, my question is this, does my wish will be realized even if I am not merfolk? Will my wish go unheard once I tried wishing in the most crucial times? I am afraid of it. As much as I wanted to do it, the uncertainties of doing this seem to bear much more heavily on me. I don''t even know if I can still make the most rationale decision on this." I see. She has indeed got a point about it. The Primordial Sea God gives blessings to those who lives in the seas. That is why the Primordial Sea God left the "heart" for the sake that it can help the merfolk in times of needs.. As much as I want to calm Tina down, this indeed brings down a question which ultimately questions its function. Chapter 323 - The Wish (IV) Alternate World might be a fantasy game with gods, goddesses, and demons alike existing in one ce, but that doesn''t mean religion does not exist here. And I can exactly tell why Tina is worried about the wish-granting "heart". Since it belongs to the Primordial Sea God, can the wish still be granted if it was made by an insect person and not merfolk? That is the biggest question right now for her and I can understand her hesitations. But there is no point worrying now. If she can''t deal with Lemis, when pushes to shove, I will be the one who will finish the job. I know I am not the one supposed to finish everything and even though I killed Lemis''s brother, Remis, I should at least give Tina the leverage to kill and end everything, whether she is Alexandria or she is Lifera. She went down from the tree and observed me gutting all of the Fanged Rabbits. "I kind of envy you and your followers. You ept all kinds of followers, whether they are just beasts, demons humans, or even monsters, you can immediately make them be part of your group. I feel always detached whenever we are traveling and fighting together. It was like it wasn''t worth fighting and reiming the throne and just staying still would be much more worth doing instead." "It doesn''t matter whether you do it today or you don''t do it at all. If your sister willmit more things since she is a demon, she will soon get the attention of everything and maybe even the will of the world will make sure that she will go down. If I were you, I would choose wisely whether I will continue or not." With my experience in gutting Fanged Rabbits in the past timeline, it only took a few minutes before I finished the job. It''s nothing special. "Let''s go back. You can think a bit more about it whether you will use the wish or you will use your own hands to reim everything." ... ... We returned to our base when I heard explosions and sword shes. "That came to our base!" Tina eximed. Rushing back to the base, we saw that we are being overrun by demons and other monsters. Lina and the rest are fighting against them while defending the whole ce. "Master! It seems we are discovered! The demons have attacked us now!" I didn''t wait for the demons to attack me and rushes to everyone who was being attacked and went for them for the kill. "Let''s dispose of them for now. Don''t bother defending the base, we can just rebuild it again. Prioritize in killing these f*ckers down!" The attacking demons are just lesser demons. They are not that strong and they aren''t that tough either. They are just too many to handle by one person. "[HELLFIRE!]" Lucia unleashed [Hellfire] in the sky, burning all the flying lesser demons in one go. I also took care of the other bastards too and it took a bit of time before they were down. Some have some armored necks and armored bodies so it took twice the effort to kill them but they didn''t pose much threat. With ourbined effort, all of the attacking demons were killed and reduced to ashes by Lucia as a finisher. "It looks like your sister is no longer showing signs of hesitation. She even sent out her army of demons to us. It is clear that she will begin her conquest soon," Lucia sighed. "Yes, it seems like she no longer cares whether we are just observing or we are not doing anything. It seems she is very angry at her brother''s permanent death already," Lina added. I was checking for some clues on how they managed to find us when my quest log has updated. [Hell Descends] Type: Side Quest Target: Remation of the Insect Kingdom: 0/1 Kill Lemis, the Demoness: 0/1 Optional task: Princess Tina delivers the final blow to Lemis, the Demoness: unachieved. Rewards: Ownership of the Insect Kingdom, ??? Optional task reward: ??? Difficulty level: Very Dangerous(Proceed With Caution) Info: Lemis forcefully awakened her power as a demon after the permanent death of her brother, Remis. To avenge his death, Lemis decided to take matters into her hands and became a royalty that is capable of unleashing hell onnd. Defeat her and prevent her from recreating hell. Note: Doom music starts ying in the background. ... I didn''t expect it, once I clear the quest, I have a chance to obtain the ownership of the Insect Kingdom?! Isn''t that pretty grandiose as a reward? Of course, that is not the only reward as there are more question marks next to it as part of the reward. This means the reward will only be revealed once the quest is done. Not only that but there is even an optional task and it involves Tina. Is this why the quest wasbeled as very difficult? There isn''t much exnation except that Lemis has entered an awakening and is nowbeled as a demoness, a variety of demons that is capable of unleashing quite a huge amount of danger, not only to the yers but even to NPCs. Not only that but the demoness awakening are capable of summoning allies. They aren''t just for the show and they are not just there to be an annoyance, they are also big trouble. Seeing that we are being attacked by lesser demons already means that she is slowly stabilizing her power as the demoness. Once she managed to grasp the full power of a demoness, not only will she be able to raise up more enemies, but she can even summon nasty enemies like Bone Dragons if she gets too powerful. "This is pretty bad in our ount. Not only do we have trouble with numbers but we are going to be too overwhelmed in the process. Without any people supporting us in this battle, we will be stuck fighting lesser enemies before we can even reach Tina''s sister and do a final face-off." "Are we going to attack now, Master?" As asked. "Not yet. As urgent as this matter was, being hasty will only get us killed. We already prepared things in case things get troublesome and now that ites to this, let''s do one final inspection and one final rest before we head to the final battle. Tina, go and rest now. You will need all the necessary energy to fight tomorrow. You also should think about whether you will need to wish or not on the "Heart" of the Primordial Sea God. Also, leave your equipment here. Take them back tomorrow." Tina nodded and handed me her equipment to me and she headed upstairs where her room was located. "Master, will everything be alright? I know that you are strong but this is not our fight but Tina''s. We are just here as her supporting mercenaries. Do you think we have a chance to win this battle?" I shook my head. "Honestly, this is very uncertain and even for me, I have no idea how things will go after this. Tina is still very uncertain about things and I still don''t know whether she will be using the "heart" of the Sea God either. It will depend a lot on what she will be doing tomorrow." Yes, everything will depend on her decision tomorrow. Only thing we can do is just watch. ... Tina sits down on the bed, staring at the wriggling "heart" of the Primordial Sea God. "Are you really the only answer to my problems? Will everything be solved once I wish at you?" Cotton crawled on her hand and using her feelers, it seems like she ismunicating to Tina even though she didn''t say anything. "Thanks Cotton. I know you are deheart''s pet but you can really understand my feelings. Perhaps this is the hidden bond of us who belonged in the categories of the insects?" Cotton didn''t do any kind of response but it just rested on her arm. "I don''t know what to do anymore. Am I prepared to do all of the things I needed to do to finish the task? Is it necessary for me even? I am just a powerless princess who is unaware of the dangers of this world." Then, seems like a response from Cotton, she bit Tina''s hand too hard that it started to bleed. "Ouch! What?" Tina was surprised at Cotton''s action. However, the bite was just temporary and she let go immediately the moment Tina''s hand bleed from the bite. "Why did you bite me all of a sudden?" Cotton seems to have responded using her feelers that is rising up and down. Tina seems to also don''t understand what happened but, she sighed and pat Cotton''s head. "Thanks, I know that you just bit me to avoid me from feeling down. Thank you, Cotton. I know now what to do." With a resolution, it seems Tina is ready for the inevitable battle.. She didn''t notice the sudden glow of the "heart" as it quickly dimmed before she can even notice the slight change. Chapter 324 - The Wish (V) I log out a bit and grab a chow before returning back to the game since a day cycle already passed on the game. Now, it is time to fight back. However, I am going to predict that this battle will be simr to the battle during the live stream of the Aquagius Continent Pioneer quest. With only us as the opposing team against an army, this is a clear overkill for us, and not only that but we don''t have any chance to call for backup with yers this time around due to how I essed Aquagius due to the peculiarity and special circumstances of the quest that allowed me to arrive here despite the continent are still not on its official release. This might not be the official Aquagius Pioneer Quest, but since the enemy is Lemis and her awakening form alongside her minions, that is just the same thing for me. Nothing new. Now, time for the showdown... ... ... ... "Are you guys ready?" I asked everyone the moment everyone is geared up. "Yes, Master. Everyone is ready to fight now. We are ready to strike the enemy the moment you issue the next move. Please issue the order," Lina bowed, and behind her are everyone while wearing the armor and equipped with the weapons I specially tuned for their fighting style and to set off to survive our next battle. "Looks like it is time." Staring above the skies, I can easily pinpoint a few demonic beasts flying just above us. "Ha! Would you look at them, they are already weing us," As then points up the sky on the flying demonic beasts. "They aren''t hiding their intentions anymore huh, what has gotten with my race? Are they really this dangerous and evil now?" Lucia looks worried just by looking at the enemies. "Don''t worry, Lucia-san, even if they are enemies, you are our preciousrade, no matter what, we will help you know what happened to your race and why they turned into evil," Lina assured Lucia. "Thanks, Lina-chan. Yes, I will need to stop them, as the princess of the demon kingdom, I have the duty to stop them and what made them evil. Whoever or whatever is causing them like this, I will stop them." "We will get there, Lucia. We will help you on stopping them. Now, let''s go. Before they ruin everything, it''s time for us tounch our attacks. We will now be going to the offensive! Leona!" A strong gust of wind blow as Leona appeared before us, also equipped with different armor and w weapons I specifically made for her. I already have these things made for her a few months ago after I obtained the cksmith Ex Job. Since I didn''t have enough materials to properly gear her up, I only have the prototype versions of her armor and weapon. With enough time and materials gathered over time, now, she is fully equipped, ready for war. "It''s time to reim the Insect Kingdom!" ... ... ... "Are they making their move?" Alexandria sits on the throne looked at the demon in front of her who is currently kneeling on the floor with its head bowed down for respect. "Yes, your Majesty. Currently, they are on their way to the capital. We already sent the elite demons that you have summoned to stop and kill them before they reach you." "I doubt those demons can do anything no matter how elite they are. Send more troops. Don''t underestimate them. Kill everyone but bring the person with the wolf mask alive. I want him dead by my hands no matter what." "As youmand, Your Majesty. Do you have any other job for us aside from those?" "Just keep a look at the enemy. If you see that we are losing against them, unleash everything we have on them. Don''t hold back. Trample them all." The demon nodded before enveloping itself in smoke before he disappeared. Alexandria is now in full demon form and has already corrupted the insect body, In short, she no longer looks like an insect person, but rather, she is now evolving back to her demon self. "You all will pay for permanently killing my brother. I am not just going to hold back just because you all are insignificant beings. Today will be the day you will all meet your creator!" ... SWISH! A flying Draco beast fell after Lina smashes it with her Morning Star mid-air. It was a quick flier but due to Lina''s faster swing, it didn''t even get to dodge midflight as a metal ball ended its life. "The demonic beasts are now too rampant here, it wasn''t like this yesterday!" Tina frowned seeing the situation in the skies above the kingdom. "Let''s go and check the situation in the kingdom right now." I ordered Leona to fly towards the kingdom''s gate but I quickly stopped her from doing so when I noticed something. "Why did you stop, Master?" Lucia asked. "Throw a [me Javelin] below us, Lucia." "Eh? Why though?" Lucia didn''t expect my request. "I just needed to test something." Lucia is confused but she didn''t disobey my request and conjured one [me Javelin] before throwing it directly below us where the Insect Kingdom''s residential area is located. "What are you doing, Manato?!" Tina didn''t expect my order. However, I didn''t respond and just let the matter take its course as the [me Javelin] came into contact with something invisible before exploding. "Ah? A barrier?!" Lucia was surprised and Tina who just questioned me received her answer. "Looks like your sister didn''t want us to take the shortcut and wanted us to go the long way," I scratch my head. "I detected that the main entrance to the kingdom was a battalion of demons. Most of them aremon demonic monsters but there are a few humanoid demons who I suspect to be High ranking demons. I have counted at least 5 of them." I pat Leona and we continue to push towards the entrance. We didn''tnd directly at the entrance but just hover above it. "Lucia, drop a few nuke me attacks to the enemies. It doesn''t matter whether it hits a High ranking demon or not, as long as thosemon demons get annihted, then it is alright." "Alright!" Lucia grinned and immediately summons 2 great fireballs on her hands. "Everyone! Prepare forbat! The moment Lucia has finished releasing her attacks, we go in for the kill. If High Ranking demons appeared, don''t hesitate and slice them down!" "Roger!" BOOOM! Countless mes rose up as Lucia conjures and throws the me attacks without stopping. After a few minutes of relentless attack, Lucia stopped and wended straight not too far from the entrance of the Insect Kingdom. On the ground are the toasted demons who got caught by the explosions and mes of Lucia''s abilities. It was too much for the demons even if they are well equipped with some armor decent enough tost a fight. Lucia just reduced the danger of the enemies in one go. The elite demons also suffered injuries but not as fatal as the smaller demons. Due to the strengths of the explosions, it didn''t just end the demons, they have been annihted before the battle began. I went down and saw two of the elite demons who is struggling to stand up. The other is bleeding profusely in the head while his skin is burned. Without waiting for them to recover and gain some healing progress, I ended their lives in just one stab. "Everyone, look for more elite demons. If they are not too injured, don''t bother fighting it and kill them immediately. No need to talk to them. If they are here, that means they are ordered to kill us. They needed to die immediately." Tina went next to my side as we look at the previous peaceful ce, now, demons are already showing up and are currently trying to swarm our advances. All of the kingdom''s ceS are getting chaotic, the grey sky due to the dark clouds is slowly showing up as red and full of dread. Not only does it feel intense, but I feel like the situation is more than the events of the previous timeline''s Pioneer questline for Aquagius. It''s much dangerous than usual. "Master! We have eliminated the elite demons. They tried to resist but they didn''t manage to do it and have been killed in the process," Lina reported. "Let''s proceed, the demons might have the upper hand in numbers but that doesn''t mean we can''t fight every one of them." I see what she is doing now. With her ability, Lemis is trying to take advantage to get stronger, the more attacks and deaths on her side, the better for her due to how her abilities work as it stacks up. However, it is going to be her source of the problem after all. She no longer cares about everything and decided to kill.. Things just couldn''t properly spawn in the process. Chapter 325 - Tina Vs. Lemis (I) Passing through the gates, instead of the insect people, demonic creatures and other demonic minions are currently walking in the streets with the houses and the insect people''s businesses were in ruins. You wouldn''t expect this was a proper town until yesterday. "The enemies are quite numerous. I don''t know where the insect people are being kept by the demons but I can tell that they are still alive as they don''t immediately kill them off unless they served their purposes. That''s how most of the demons work." "What are they even nning to do? Also, I didn''t notice the number of demons around is just getting numerous as we pass by," Lucia sted one demon that tried to block the way using her fireball. "Don''t bother beating up all of them. Only bother if they try to block your way. Our main goal is to reach the castle. If we have multiple people who can handle every monster here, it would be a breeze for us to go to our destination," As grumbled as he slices through the demons. So far, the demons inside are just regr demons, unremarkable, and seem like cannon fodders. They can be threatening if they group in numbers but if they are eliminated immediately, it''s not a big problem at all. The demons keep obstructing us and behind us are a plethora of demons wanting to kill us. They are not strong but they are too many for every one of us to handle. Since they are weak enough for us to kill in one sh using our weapons, I decided to use this chance to eliminate a few of our pursuers. Not only will help eliminate a few enemies but it will rack me up with some gold and experience, not to mention, the automatic drops I receive the moment I kill an enemy. They might not be that much valuepared to the loot you can get once enemies that are killed drop something, but they can at least be useful in creating things. With a quick sidestep and facing behind me, I changed my weapon''s form into a cannon. With a grin, I pull the trigger, causing the cannon to shoot out a massive cannonball that before the following demons can react, were swept away by the huge metal ball that came crashing straight to them. After doing that, I changed my weapon''s form back into a gun and returned to facing the front. "Damn, Master, you are on a roll today!" As gives a thumbs up. "We are still not done though, keep on moving! We can''t keep on dawdling!" ... Halfway to our infiltration into the kingdom, two demon dogs appeared before us. [Orthrus Hound] Level 100 HP: 300,000/300,000 Type: Beast, Dark "Orthrus hounds!" I screamed in my mind. If there are Orthrus hounds, that only means the original Orthrus and its sibling, the Cerberus might also be here. "Things are just getting more exciting huh?" I gritted my teeth as I started to rain the enemy with a rain of bullets. The Orthrus hounds immediately revealed their prowess as the moment the bullets were fired, they immediately dodged it like it was nothing. Quick and precise dodge, the bullets didn''t evennd a graze to the dogs. Goddang these bastards are as slimy as ever, using the guns just doesn''t do well with them and I am not so astute on how to y them using the gun. I sighed before changing the form of my gun back to the magic sword and performing a few shes to bait them. The moment they disappeared, I immediately unleashed the real attack and in the first Orthrus Hound. I just repeated the process to the second Hound and it died before it can do anything. "Let''s speed up the pace, we are almost to the pce!" ... We continue running until we are stopped. Tina''s eyes couldn''t believe it and she was shaking to boot the moment she saw the two figures walking straight to us. "Mom! Dad!" The insect kingdom''s rulers, the king, and queen were now simr to a lifeless corpse that appeared before us. The king though is currently wearing abat armor he uses at war since this was the armor he used to fight back in the past timeline, but the difference now is his choice of weapons. Not only does he get rid of thest timelines weapons, the swords but he changed to a new ystyle, and weapons. The Weapons of Pride Sin. The Spear of Superbia and Shield of Vanagloria. And despite looking like an undead, it was clear that he is still not fully deprived of life and it seems he is still able to hold on. As for the queen, it seems she didn''t survive as she looked like a standing empty corpse and seems to have only followed her husband by instinct alone. "Tina, do you want to confront them? They are your parents..." Tina shook her head and pulled her rapier out. "As much as I pain to say this, they are no longer my parents. However, I don''t want to face them but I want them toy down to rest forever. That is all I could ask for." That''s when I understood. "Alright. Then go, Lina and I will stay here to fight them. Lucia, As, provides support to Tina as she goes and confronts the enemy. Don''t worry about me and go." Lucia and As nodded. Tina nodded and immediately sets out to go to where her sister is. King Goliath then made a move and uses his spear to almost stab Tina in the chest. PENG! "Hey, little bastard, nice weapon and armor you got there, care to take them off and give them to me, especially your weapon, it seems to look like a delicious food to my weapon." ... ... ... Tina alongside Lucia and As continues to climb the stairs to reach the next hallway where Alexandria is. Just as they were about to reach the throne room, they were blocked by the butler. "A butler? Perhaps, the name of the butler is Sebastian?" Lucia frowned. The demonic butler lifted his monocle a little bit and his left eyebrow is raised in curiosity. "Oh? How did you know that I was Sebastian? That is quite rather astute..." "Damn, are all butlers named Sebastian or Sebas right now?" Lucia felt a headache is iing. "As much as you all want to continue past this point, I am afraid your journey will have to stop here, yes," the butler then gives off a menacing grin. "Did you really think we are afraid of you?" As immediately went to fight in full swing but... DANG! Using his fingers, Sebas catches the huge de of As like nothing. Not only that but the mes on his other hand were Lucia''s work as she tried to sneak an attack the moment As attacked. "Child''s y. It didn''t take too much for me to stop you all from advancing. My defenses are imprable." "Really? Then howe you managed to let someone slip past you? Aren''t your defenses just a joke?" Sebas stopped the moment Lucia said that. He looked around and realized one more enemy is missing. "Hey, old man! Where do you think you are looking at?!" DANG! The dull thud came when As swings his sword again at the demon butler. Unfortunately, Sebastian is strong enough to handle the brunt of the sword of As. "Don''t bother, even if you try to die, you can''t keep on dying. Now, before I chase over the one who escaped, I will take my time to enjoy adding the two of you to my location of corpses. Don''t bother trying to run away, alright?" ... Tina made her way further to the throne room where the final adversary is currently sitting. "Ha, stupid sister, who would have thought that the day I see you again right now?" Alexandria menacingly stares at Tina as she stays on the throne. "Well, it''s a tough world out there, it is natural that I will have to kill you soon enough, you demon. I will be retaking the body of my sister that you have stolen since childbirth!" Instead of feeling the sense of dread, Alexandria grinned. "What can you do? You are just a weakling insect person that doesn''t have anything worth. You don''t even have a mark. You shouldn''t even be dwelling here in the first ce." Tina controls her rage to attack. As much as she wanted to rush through the enemy before her, she can''t just keep on rushing the fight. With all the traits she developed while facing deheart and the others, she can now understand the situation more and calm herself before she gets caught by the taunt. "Give back the body of my sister and die!" Alexandria grins as she stood up from the throne room. "It seems you have indeed a death wish, Tina-sama." With a wave from her hands, the weapons appeared before them like it was nothing. "Now, go and pick whatever you like.. the wish you had to die." Chapter 326 - Bladeheart And Lina Vs. The Weapons Of Pride (I) With Tina proceeding right ahead to Lemis, Lina and I are stuck with Tina''s father and mother. The king and queen of the Insect Kingdom, Queen ss, and King Goliath. I didn''t personally see Queen ss in the past timeline as I have heard that she was only in the supporting job while King Goliath was in the front lines. Of course, King Goliath died after the awakening of Lemis and Remis in the past timeline and I also heard Queen ss also got killed by the demons in the end so, in the end, they still died in the process. This time, they have already been turned into undead and it looks like they are no longer proven useful and were just used to stop us from going. However, I won''t underestimate them even though they have turned into undead especially with King Goliath seeing that he still looked like he has retained his personality that has been brainwashed and if that is the case, he still holds fire and danger in him. As for Queen ss, I have no idea about her. "Lina, be careful. We have no idea how strong they are going to be. We have to make sure we will not be defeated in this matter." "Don''t worry Master, we will have to make sure that they will be properly rested back to their grave before we help Tina to her battle against the demons. I am ready whenever you order me to attack, Master!" "Alright, that is very fine! Let''s get them back to their graves!" "Ughhhh...die heretics... die...enemies of the kingdom..." King Goliath assumed abat stance and roared wildly. -you have been inflicted with [Fear(Small)]. Due to your high stats, you resisted it. -you have been provoked. For 2 minutes, all attacks will be forced to be directed to the user who cast the skill. Then, before I can assume that there is something wrong, Queen ss who was just staying in the background, all of a sudden raises her hands and immediately released a spell that immediately caused us to jump back away. BANG! The concrete ground didn''t evenst from it and it melted before it can even handle the brunt of the force. "[Liquid Acid?!]" Alright, that was now confirmed. No wonder King Goliath just cast a Provoke skill, although I suspected it at first, it seems like my suspicion on her was correct. Queen ss is not just an undead that is just in the background and has nothing to do with the battle. She is an enemy that has the possibility of defeating us without being able to damage her in the process. Oddly enough, I don''t see their HP bars at all, it was like they didn''t exist at all despite being enemies. "Lina! Make sure to not take any attacks from her that look like a liquid just like earlier! That''s a flesh-eating acid attack! Once the Provoke effect is over, be sure to target the Queen!" "Understood!" I know Lina is capable of dodging those things but judging from the speed of the attacks of the f*cker, it wasn''t just something that we will be disregarding. With the Provoke-type skill on effect, I decided to focus my attacks on King Goliath. With his shield and spear, the best weapons that can deal with them would be long-range weapons and high burst and firepower type weapons. To cancel the effects of the Provoke-type skill, I need to knock down the boss for a bit. I rush towards the king and around 5 meters of distance between me and the king, Queen ss swings her hands, and patches of webnded right in front of me, stopping me from my tracks from rushing forward. However, I quickly improvised and changed my weapon into a katana and performed a two-quick sh. The webs were easily cut off and I continue to charge towards the king. When I was almost near to the king''s, I changed my weapon into a cannon, and without flinching, I shoot a cannonball, straight to them. BOOM! DANG! Followed by the explosion is a dull thud that came from the shield of King Goliath. When the smoke is cleared, I finally saw that my attack didn''t go through to the enemy like what I expected it, instead, the shield that King Goliath is holding stopped the cannonball like it was just a pellet from a gun. "What the hell?!" And before I can react, King Goliath quickly pushes his shield with the cannonball in front of it and reflected the attack. The speed of the cannonballing to me is twice the speed that I shoot towards King Goliath. It was so fast I didn''t even get to block it with a shield or anything. "GAH!" I was sent flying by the cannonball I shoot earlier without a fail. And just by that cannonball alone reduced my HP to almost zero. It didn''t fully reduce my Hp due to the high defense stat of my armor and some passives from the Pdin and Holy Knight job sses. If I didn''t take those passives, I clearly have died in the process. "Master!" "I am fine! The Provoke effect should be gone by now! Attack!" Lina heard my order and quickly attacked using one of her spells, as for me, while the enemies are preupied with Lina, I heal my wounds back to the full percentage. Just as I was about to return to the battle, a notification popped up, --you have been provoked. For 2 minutes, all attacks will be forced to be directed to the user who cast the skill. "The f*ck?! So soon?!" Followed by that is Lina''s scream as she was sent flying. I didn''t wait for her tond on the ground and just went ahead and throw a bottle of ssh potion, a potion that didn''t need to be used as a drink but can be used by just sshing all the contents of the potions to the one who needed the effects. I quickly realized now what the effects of the shield were this time after what happened to the two of us after we attacked and the fact that King Goliath used another of that Provoke-type skill that I have no idea what it was, it was clear that the effects were none other than the shields itself is the cause of this. The ability of the Shield of Vanagloria is Complete Reversal. Basically, it works simr to a Perfect Counter, a skill that any ss can learn except for the Long Range sses, where any attack that has been inflicted while you are in the middle of doing Perfect Counter will be returned to the attacker with twice the amount of damage that should have been inflicted to the person who did the Perfect Counter. However, Perfect Counter only works if you managed to get the timing of the attack and used it during that timing. If you missed a single second of timing by either casting it too soon or by casting it toote, the skill will be worthless. Also, Perfect Counter only works on melee attacks, magic skills, and long-range attacks do not work. However, the Shield of Vanagloria seems to work simrly, but not the same thing as a perfect counter. All attacks directed at the king seems to have been "absorbed" and stored before it was released back to the attacker whether it is long-range attacks or magic attacks. "Can you stand, Lina?" I asked as I helped her up. "My legs are weak but I am fine, Master." "Let''s not approach carelessly." One thing that baffles me is how fast the cooldown of the Provoke-type skill that King Goliath used. After all, provoke-type skills should have at least a 5-minute cooldown before they can be used again. They don''te again after the effects of the provoke skill ended as that will be really broken in the process. That is how the bnce should be and not just like this. It all applies to yers and enemies alike. We assumed battle stance again. I still have no idea what the spear is capable of. Since it has the same origin as the Shield of Vanagloria and is part of one sin, the Spear of Superbia should also have at least simr effects. "Let''s do the same tactic but this time, target the Queen. While the Provoke-type skill is active, refrain from attacking." Lina and I went separate ways to charge towards the two. Then, the message once again appeared of King Goliath using the skill. As much as I want to attack them now if we wanted to avoid the same fate as earlier, we have to refrain from attacking at all times and wait for the right time to deal with them. Queen ss didn''t stay idle and screamed. It was so sharp that it felt so bad in the ears just by listening to it alone. -you have been inflicted with Defense Down. The defense has drastically decreased! -you have been inflicted with [Panic(Small)]. Due to your high stats, you have resisted. If this goes on, things will really go bad.. We have to finish this as soon as possible. Chapter 327 - Atlas And Lucia Vs. Sebastian (I) Halfway to the castle and to Lemis, Lucia and As were blocked by the butler named Sebastian. As much as the name Sebastian infuriates Lucia to some extent, due to his name, it was proven that Sebastian is not just an ordinary butler. He is a tough nut and even As''s huge sword looked easy to stop by this new guy. Lucia tried to assess what he is capable of before fighting him. It was fine since Sebastian didn''t attack them as most enemies do with the intent of killing them. In fact, he just stood there and menacingly stares at them. It was like he is making sure that no one from them do something that would incur his wrath. "This guy... I don''t sense any kind of weaponry in him," Asposes his battle stance as he was taken aback by Sebastian''s perfect guard against him by catching his weapon''s de side using his bare hands. It never happened before in his entire life. Even the time when he started following deheart, he never found an enemy capable of just catching his huge de without any kind of effort. "Tag team with me As. I know we have different battle styles but we can at least team up and take him down together!" As nodded and started charging towards Sebastian. "Foolish!" With a single stomp, the charging As was sent flying in the air. And before As can even do anything midair, Sebastian is already beside him and pummeled him multiple times before he was kicked in the chin, sending him higher up in the air before plummeting down to the ground with a thud. Thanks to his armor, the damage from the fall is minimal but it hurts his body more than expected and his HP fell for a quarter. Lucia didn''t hesitate to fire several fire spells towards Sebastian but without even blinking, he swiped off every attack and reflected it back to Lucia. Thankfully for Lucia, she is immune to fire and immediately absorbed the mes that were directed towards her without a hitch. "Slimy bastard..." Lucia cussed as he remained standing without even doing much. In fact, he stayed right where he was standing earlier before he pummeled As. "Damn it, his punches is brutal. Even Master''s punches were iparablepared to him!" As stood up while fixing his armor''s cement in his body. "He just deflected all of my fireballs like nothing using his bare hands!" "So, did you see the difference between our powers? It is impossible between the two of you to defeat me in a battle." "Stop acting smug ya bastard! You might act as some sort of bigshot demon but there is no way we will lose to you!" Lucia is seething in anger. "Then, stop talking and start attacking already!" With the taunt of Sebastian, the two charged together. Sebastian did the same thing as earlier but it won''t work the second time and they leap to safety. However, the unexpected came and Sebastian sent himself to the air and swing his shoulders to Lucia''s neck, sending her down in a smash in a single spin. After the spin, Sebastian then used the force of the spin to kick As out forcing him to immediately brace for the attack. "Are you two sure you are trying to take me down? Like at all?" Sebas red at them while the two were slumped on the ground. "We are not done yet!" Lucia and As stood back up and started to power up. As activated his bloodlust power, and as for Lucia, she activated her skill that she obtained the moment she hit level 100. Her crimson red hair started glowing, resembling not a me but a sun that has been zing hot. Her left eye also glows bright red. It might not be a massive buff but it is one of her skills that she is trying to recover the most since she lost her levels and returned to level 1 and that is her skill, [Supernova Icarus]. [Supernova Icarus] Type: Active/Semi-Passive Unlockable at the level: 100 Effect: Upon activation, the user will enter the state of [Icarus]. To enter the state of [Icarus], the user will have to pay 50% of their health. Upon entering the state of [Icarus], the user will enjoy the following benefits: 1. Hp will recover every time mana is used by the user. Hp recovered will depend on how much mana is expended. The half total amount of the mana will also be the amount of health recovered. 2. Magic spell effects and magic attacks will have their damage and effects increased massively. The longer the fight, the stronger the effects will be. 3. Increased Natural Mana regeneration during the duration of the effects. Once the user is out of the [Icarus] state, all of the stats that has been amplified by the skill will return to normal. While the skill is not active, the user enjoys a 10% fire damage increase to spells and 2% mana consumption reduction. Info: Like how Icarus was burned the moment he approached the sun, the user will also experience a simr thing to how Icarus felt while being burned by the sun''s res. But anyone who can endure the mes and their heat will allow them to soar and utilize the power of the strongest mes. Note: That means it''s barbecue time! Lucia winced a little bit due to how the skill caused her to suffer some pain before she can enjoy the benefits it brings her. But she miss the feeling of the strong mes she had back then due to the effects of the skills. "Whoa...I didn''t expect to see one of the descendants of the original king is still alive out here. The Primordial Power of the mes, Icarus. You must be his descendant, yes?" Sebastian has a sly grin on his face. "Wah? You know my father and my ancestor?!" Lucia was perplexed. "Calm down, Lucia-sama," As tried to let Lucia calm down from her surprise. After all, he didn''t want to have Lucia get roped in by the demons with the facade of letting her know her past. "Why should I tell you the reason? If you are not even able to graze me, then why would I tell you about them?" "You bastard!" Lucia wanted to pounce straight but As immediately stops her. "Lucia-sama! Calm down for a sec!" As grabs Lucia''s arm, allowing him to restrain him before she goes out of control from her rage. "Hotblooded, a verymon trait to someone with the blood of Icarus. From the looks of it, you are a primordial demon, a demon who was still not tainted by the unknown power." "What the heck are you talking about?!" Lucia is growling badly and it looked like she is about to eat a cow whole right now. "Since you are so adamant about this, why don''t we y a game?" "I have no time to y your games!" Lucia is getting stronger as time goes by than even As who usually has a strong grip on most things he is holding, is finding it hard to handle Lucia. "Then, I shall rephrase it, perhaps you will be interested. We y a game, every time you graze or damage me with your attack or yourpanion''s attack, then I will allow you to ask me one question. The more hits you make against me, the more questions you can ask me. How about that, a deal?" "What is your goal of doing this?!" As this time intervened. "Well, why not? It''s a good thing to spice up things a little, you guys don''t even have many things that can even allow me to enjoy much. Not only that but it can also potentially benefit yourpanion seething over there. There''s nothing to lose to try unless you all die in my hands, right?" As is hesitant but before he can even respond to the decline, Lucia who is already seething in anger decided to grab the opportunity. "Fine! I will y your damnable game but you better go with the deal!" "As a butler, I am not going to just lie to anyone unless my master needed it. Otherwise, I will fulfill every transaction fair and square. No need to worry about everything at all unless you are such a worrywart." As is now worried about the situation. As much as he wanted to stop Lucia from falling to the tricks of the demon butler, it was obvious that she cannot help but be enticed by it due to how generous and tempting the rewards to Lucia were if they indeed managed to seed in doing so. However, with how cunning most demons were, he is now unsure whether it is the right thing he has done or they are doomed from the very start.. If they ever get defeated in the process which is still pretty unlikely, he hopes that deheart wille and save them from the misery. Chapter 328 - Tina Vs. Lemis (II) Alexandria, or rather, Lemis stood up from her throne and slowly approached Tina. Tina pulled out her rapier and fiercely red at Lemis. "Why are you ring at me? I am still your sister. We grew up together and we bond like family before." "I would have been more attached to you if you didn''t plot to kill me off and revealed your demon form in a confession from. But you made a mistake. You are not my sister, will never be my sister, and will be forever my enemy! Give back the body of my sister, you parasite." "If I do that, then you will only receive an empty husk of your sister. She already lost her original soul the moment I entered her body. Isn''t that pretty sad, sis?" "That is fine and much betterpared to someone using her body as she pleases!" "It looks like you are set to stone on reiming your sister. Unfortunately for you, I don''t n on doing that. I am not a dumbass." Tina sighed and assumed a battle stance. "In that case, I will forcefully take her body back from you!" In a single step, she disappeared and appeared next to Lemis and stabs behind her. But Lemisughed as her body turned to smoke and disappeared. "Did you really think I am that easy to defeat? You thought it would be simr to how that human killed my brother so easily? Did you really think of it like that?!" Lemis then reappear before her and tried to stab her where Tina quickly blocks it with the rapier''s thin de. "Khhh!" Tina struggled when Lemis slowly overpowers her and she can also feel that her rapier seems to feel like it was about to snap. But she remembered what deheart said to her before they went to battle. .... ... "Remember, Tina. This rapier might look and feel bby to you and you might also think that it has a small chance of bending. Although it does feel like that, you don''t need to worry about it as it is designed that way. Rapiers are tending to be a bit brittlepared to normal swords but that is due to how it is designed to be used for stabbing and not for slicing. However, I believe that you will soon find enemies that can bend and break your weapon in one go if you are not careful enough. Now, remember that this is a rapier that should be brittle enough to break in a slight bend. But this new weapon is not going to do that. Sure it might bend but it will just bend, not break." "Will just bend? How is that possible? Isn''t that long a rapier if that is the case?" "I don''t me you on that. This new weapon has been redesigned and gained a new passive called [Malleability] and [Shape-Memory]. It can bend and it can be folded by force but it will remain stable and will return to its normal shape if you apply a little bit of mana into it. It was something I added to make sure things are much more stablepared to your old rapier. So if there are any enemy who tries to do something to that de, surprise them with that!" ... ... Tina then saw her de getting bent. For a rapier, a bent de will not do anything and cannot do anything well. "I already know you are well too reliant on your weapons since you don''t have innate talent in magic. So if you don''t have a weapon, perhaps you will also lose your hope in winning, isn''t it?" Tina sighed in relief. It seems the changes that deheart did to her equipment were indeed the right choice. Lemis bends her rapier too much that it is no longer possible to use it as a weapon in that state. The moment Lemis let go of the weapon, Tina immediately retreats to the side to look at her weapon. "Now, would you look at that, pretty powerless and weak, isn''t this just a shame for you to fight with a weapon like that?" Lemis grinned expecting to see the helpless look on Tina. However, contrary to her expectation, Tina didn''t wallow in despair and instead posed to her usualbat stance with the bent rapier on her hands. And just like earlier, she disappeared with her quick movements. Lemis thought she will be using the same tactic as earlier and decided to also do the same thing. But before she knew it, Tina isn''t doing the same thing earlier. She appeared next to her and instead of using the rapier, Tina grabbed her neck tight and choke her using her unexpected strength. "Did you really think I will do the same thing twice? What a naive mind you have "little sister." Tina tightens her grip on Lemis''s neck to the point that a small vein is slowly popping up the skin of Tina as she increases the strength of her grip to the fullest. "Ghhh..." Lemis didn''t expect it and struggled a bit. ''Since when did this bastard manage to get this strong?!'' The grip is now too much for her to handle and if she didn''t do something about it, she will seriously be in big trouble. She activated her escape and used her smoke form to shapeshift and escape the grip on Tina''s hands which allowed her to escape the grip of death. "KUHAK! HAK! GUH!" Lemis coughed as air returned to her throat and her lungs. "Where is your spunk? I thought you would be tougher than I imagined," Tina red at her as she pointed her rapier which is now back to its former shape on her throat. "Heh, did you really think that was it? That I am just all talk and no act? It looks like it is time for me to get serious as well, "big sister", perhaps it is a blessing for you to experience this one. SNAP! Tina then saw small saplings grow from the bricks of the castle and slowly go out like a vine. "Vines?" Tina was taken aback since this ability is the skill of her sister when she was still practicing magic. Or perhaps the demon''s ability during the magic study. It has been a while since she used this skill so Tina has not seen it for a long while but seeing it now, is showing that nothing is good happening at them right now. "Remember the skill that we used to use to climb high trees and create decorations in the castle? This is it now." Lemis snapped again and the vines detached themselves on the bricks and wherever it was growing and like a snake, the vines started to move towards the center. Tina looked at the moving vines which is pretty disgusting especially due to how green the vines are, it looked so bad that it resembles some kind of tentacle seaweed that stumbled upon thend and struggles to find water. She wanted to stay away from it as far as possible. Then, the vines gathered in a pile. The disgust meter on Tina escted more the moment the vines gathered. That''s when Tina realized what she was about to do. Gathering the energy in the surroundings, she focuses the gathered energy to her rapier targets the gathering vines in the middle of the throne room. "Evaporate to nothingness! [Piercing Light]!" Tins might not be able to use magic properly due to her missing mark but she didn''tck any kind of skills that requires the usage of mana. It might not be a regr skill but it is still a skill she properly developed for herself to mitigate theck of her ability to cast magic and spells. One of those skills is [Piercing Light]. With the skill, she pierced through the gathering vines and destroyed half of it to dust. "Eh? Did you think that will work, big sis?" Lemis grinned as the vine gathering slowly turned into a big ball monster made up of vines. The turned to Tina and without waiting for a prompt from its master, it lunges towards Tina and formed it''s small arms into arge fist using the vines on its body, forming arge sledgehammer shape hands. Tina didn''t have enough time to process that as she was sent flying in the air with it. Tina didn''t stay in the ground rolling and immediately used her hands and feet to properlynd, minimizing the damage it would have caused her. The vine monster lunges again and this time, Tina jumped in the air and gathers a bit of energy before she sends a variety of piercing attack towards the vine monster. But it didn''t do anything. It might have made some holes but that was it. And those holes were immediately patched by the vines once more. "Haha, silly sis.. Did you really think your petty fencing skills is enough to handle my creation? After all, I made sure this thing is designed to be your bane and nemesis." Chapter 329 - Bladeheart And Lina Vs. The Weapons Of Pride (II) If not for the provoke skill of King Goliath, this wouldn''t be so hard, to be honest. I have a few skills that can ignore defense but it''s not worth it since King Goliath seems to be absorbing all the damage alone and if he ever gets damaged, Queen ss proceeds to heal him. I may not be able to see their HP bar but seeing some of the healing effects from the undead, it is clear she is healing King Goliath. The only thing I wanted to do for this run to finish smoothly is to kill Queen ss before King Goliath. All of our attacksnd on King Goliath so if that is the case, the way for us to proceed is to kill Queen ss before going to King Goliath or we will be stuck in an endless loop. It would have been great if there are magic spells or attack skills that can disable or ignore provoke but there isn''t anything like that at all. "Master, there are no gaps in their defenses and whatever attacks I use whether it is a homing skill or a locked-on skill, the king with the shield always catches the attacks without fail!" "Did he get any significant damage after your attacks?" "They did but the Queen was quick enough to heal it. I managed to avoid the counter-attacks too but it''s getting harder to dodge them as they get faster too," Lina exined. I can see the frustration in Lina''s eyes. If that is the case, we can''t just make it simple, I have to brute force this and let Lina assist in the process. Now that I know how all of our attacks go straight to King Goliath, then I will make sure King Goliath can''t cast the Provoking skill he has. "Lina. Try attacking the queen once I started to batter up the king with attacks. Don''t worry if your attacknds on the king, just keep on trying." Lina nodded and assumed battle stance once again. As for me, I headed straight to King Goliath and changed my weapon into a Magic Sword. Unleashing the [ming Sword] and [Electric Sword] together, I m it down straight to King Goliath in which he immediately blocks with his shield. The Perfect Counter takes a while. And although it takes a while, it charges up, meaning, the more we attack King Goliath, the more charges he can rack up. I bash his shield with my attack forcing him to keep on blocking me. As soon as I noticed a gap, I didn''t hesitate to use it and stab my sword at it. Of course, King Goliath will block and this time, he didn''t use the shield but used the spear. PENG! "You thought I will just be using the sword?! A big f*ck you!" The moment he blocked the sword, I changed the form of my sword into a gun and pull the trigger. BANG! The bastard didn''t expect my move and staggered after receiving a powerful bang in the gun. But I can tell that it barely did any damage. But I made sure that it is a special bullet and it is due to the effects of [Russian Roullete]. Of course, I made sure that the attack can at least deal with something to him before it can be healed by the Queen. The debuff will also be random and I don''t know what debuff he will receive but I needed to make sure he will die. -you have inflicted [Curse][Moderate!] I grinned when I saw the message. [Curse] debuff will not be easily healed unless you are a full fledge cleric. I know Queen ss is not a cleric. And [Curse] debuff can only be cleared by a cleric or an item, [Holy Water]. King Goliath started to charge his shield for a counter. I quickly changed my weapon into a spear and shield and barely managed to stop it as the attack hit the shield with a dull thud. It was strong enough that even though I managed to guard it, I still lost quite a bit of HP and I was moved away from King Goliath in the process. But thankfully, you can still survive and not die in one hit. After drinking one bottle of potion, I rush forward again to King Goliath, and this time, I didn''t ditch the shield form and continue to charge forward. "YAAAAAAH!" When I am already a few centimeters away, I activated [Shield Bash]. King Goliath roared and also performed a [Shield Bash] as he thrust his spear to me. It only grazed me but the amount of HP removed is half of my Hp bar. One more hit from it and I will die. Now I realized the reason why this is the weapon of the sin of pride. The Sin of Pride is the sin that suffers from excessive preupation with oneself, one''s achievements, one own''s power, and only oneself. The shield of Vanagloria represents its own ability to tank all attacks without fail. And since it can tank all of its attacks, anyone who owns the shield will have the same behavior, they will rely on the shield more, trusting it more than the efforts of the user. It will keep itself as an act of selfishness. As for the Spear of Superbia, based on the damage, this weapon can be so powerful that any wielder will only care about how much damage the spear can inflict on something. I didn''t expect this to be the main reason why it is the weapon of pride. However, as much as I want to do, this is not so admirable and this ability is pretty muchziness to improve. It also implores too much reliance on the equipment. As a yer who rarely relies on equipment and mainly relies on my stats and abilities, this is a bit of a troublesome thing. I retreated and pull out another potion and drink its contents before going back to the offensive. I already see a few changes that Lina can almost hit the queen with a skill. It was just that at the right moment, all attacks willnd on King Goliath since he will immediately reset the Provoke skill, still, it is better than nothing, but just seeing that there is indeed a small chance for Lina to kill Queen ss in this process. King Goliath is tanky but it is clear that Queen ss is just a ss cannon. Queen ss shoots out a few spells towards me but they are pretty easy to dodge so I didn''t have any problems with it. "Let''s do this again!" If Pride is something that is built that is too strong to be broken, then I will make sure to be stronger, strong enough to break that stupid pride. I started running towards King Goliath once again and while I am still far from him, I started shooting [Fireball] at him. It might not be too effective but it is something that can at least preupy this little bastard. When I got close, I activated [Stealth] and used the premade bombs that I made using the skills of the Saboteur and attached it to the shield of Vanagloria. I know it won''t be broken by just explosives but I will use this chance to use it. After the attachment, I canceled [Stealth] and activated one of the skills that I learned after discovering the hidden skills. "[de of the Juggernaut!]" My sword became a giant sword, capable of cleaving anything. If only it can also cleave Queen ss, unfortunately, it seems it can''t reach Queen ss in range alone. But that didn''t matter. If the small percentage proc, I can ignore the defense values of this Pride weapon and reach the protected bastard. "DIE!" I gather all of my strength and m down the big *ss sword towards the king. I didn''t care if the weapon is destroyed. Just screw with this bastard and yeet him out of the universe for all I care. That was the first time I used [de of the Juggernaut]. I didn''t expect it to be too big but I am a bit happy to know that this skill is a short AOE skill. Despite being far from being crushed by the giant sword, Queen ss staggered and fall for a bit after the attacknded on the king. But still, I know that didn''t deal too much for the king, I check the message and saw that it didn''t proc at all. I might have damaged the little bastard but it wasn''t enough. The bastard is tenacious. "HERETICS...MUST DIE!" I wish my Instant Death effect will proc but who knows when it will proc? That one has a pretty much RNG involved that even I couldn''t predict when it will trigger itself. King Goliath stood up. His armor and most of his body seem to have been destroyed. His left arm that has been holding the spear is already hanging on his left shoulder.. However, the guy has yet to die. Chapter 330 - Atlas And Lucia Vs. Sebastian (II) As stopped himself from being pushed backward by stabbing his sword to the ground, causing him to break the concrete on the road. Still, the pushing power is too strong for him and that pushing power came from a single punch by Sebastian who just used a palm attack on As who charged against him. The armor of As was seen to be deformed a bit from the palm attack but it slowly returned back to how it was before, showing that his armor is capable of self-regeneration which is true for most of his skills. "Damn it! This guy is too strong even for my level and skills alone!" As gritted his teeth. Lucia bites her nails as she is getting frustrated by the fact that none of them cannd a single hit and this guy is not even using any kind of weapon but just his bare fists. In short, he is too strong for them at the moment, maybe they can''t even top him up for many years but all they know is that he is just too strong for them to topple him down or even damage him. "Are those the only things you can do? Isn''t that pretty sad?" Sebastian shook his head in disappointment. "We are not done yet!" Lucia then fired multiple fire attacks with homing capabilities, all at once. As soon as the fireballs were released, As also charges forward with his sword up in his shoulders. Sebastian is not moving from where he was standing but he was clearly observing what they are doing. "You guys are too amateurs. I should say so for myself that you guys are still too pure for this." Without batting an eye, he catches the iing fireballs from his hands, and as soon as all of the iing fireballs were in his hands, he fused them together before throwing them to the charging As. BOOM! As stabbed his sword to the ground and barely managed to block the attack. He knows that Lucia''s fireballs pack a punch but receiving them all together hits real hard and it seems the power amplified too when heunched the fireball straight to As. "Come on, are you guys really trying at all?" Sebastian sighed in dissatisfaction. "Damn it!" Lucia decided she will not hold back earlier unleashed her abilities to her fullest. Lucia gathered the mana in the surroundings, her hair started to grow very long and wings started to appear on her back. Three horns pops out from her forehead and her normal red eyes started to glow crimson. "Lucia-sama! What are you doing?!" As was shocked when Lucia started doing something she have not done before. "If he won''t go down, then I will go all out to bring him down! [Hellish Arena!]" As didn''t expect Lucia to unleash another arena-type skill. He already knows that she has the skill with the same arena-type form which is the [Arena of Suffering]. However, he didn''t stop her and decided to also put up with his all too. It''s just too bad that Leona is not there to help and they could unleash his best skills that could potentially help destroy Sebastian, however, since that is not possible, he will use what he can do with his own arsenal. "My blood and flesh,e to me and be my sword!" Power started to surge and his ck sword started to glow red too. However, his health is also getting drained faster than he was being pummelled to death by Sebastian. Sebastian who was just observing in the distance, frowned when he saw what the two enemies started to do. After he realized that the two decided to not just hold back, he grinned and his eyes lit up in life. "YES, YES, YEEES! BRING DOWN THE HATE, MAKE IT YOUR POWER, EXPLORE YOUR POTENTIALS! DESTROY YOUR BARRIERS AND BRING DOWN THE BARRICADES THAT ARE BLOCKING YOUR WAY! FUEL IT ALL AS YOUR POWER!" He grinned and assumed a battle stance. "COME AND PROVE YOUR POWER!" Lucia screamed and instead of unleashing ranged attacks, her ws appeared on her fingers with mes burning on the tip and rush towards Sebastian. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" Lucia charges towards Sebastian and swipes through him without any intention of slowing down or even the intention of taking it easy. It''s an intent of killing. "GOOD, GOOD! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sebastian begins to block every attack Lucia is doing and the attacks started to be so fast for the eyes of a normal human to even follow. It looked like Lucia is doing well against Sebastian but the guy didn''t even have any problem blocking all of her attacks. Sebastian''s eyes squinted and he raised his hands, as he catches a giant crimson sword that was about to go down to him. PSSSSSHHHH! Sebastian''s arms started smoking the moment his handsnded on the sword. "Oh, that is sneaky, boy! But hey, that still counts as a hit, however, is that all you got?" "Who said that was it?" As then pulled back the sword and Sebastian holding the sword didn''t realize that what he was holding now is nothing like a sword but just the aura of the sword that seems to have solidified and is emitting some power. The real sword was just iing for a slice. Not only that but Lucia who was just shing at Sebastian was also iing too. "HEH, I''ve seen enough. Now I am satisfied." DANG! DANG! The fast attacks of Lucia came to a halt and the big sword of As was also held on the spot. Sebastian, who was just standing there, and blocking the attacks catches Lucia''s sharp ws and As''s scorching and cursed sword, with his hands that are no longer bare hands but a hand that looks like it was made with metal. "Looks like you guys won. I thought I won''t unleash this but it seems like I was wrong." The two struggled to free themselves from his grasp but he just grip them tighter. Before they can understand what happens, Sebastian just throws them off to the walls. BANG! "GAH!" Lucia who unleashed her demonic form returned to her former form and copsed after she crashed into the wall. She lost consciousness but she didn''t die. "URGH!" As crashed to the other wall butpared to Lucia who lost consciousness, he still managed to remain awake. But he felt pain all over his body. It was not something he wanted to remember but it seems this battle just forced him to remember the memories he wanted to forget. "Heh... I didn''t expect you guys to even have this kind of firepower to unleash. Too bad, but you guys are just too early for the battle between us. But I will not just ignore the rules I set up. You guys have damaged me to some extent and even forced me to use my special ability, it ismendable for me. Now, I will honor the rules, but since she is not awake, then here, take this young man." Sebastian takes out something and throws it to As. As has no strength to catch it but he made sure that it willnd on his body. "Heh. I had fun youngsters. Once you all grow strong enough, we will meet again. It''s not a promise but that will be an inevitable oue. Until then, I will be looking forward to how much you guys have grown, and maybe in the future, you guys can actually kill me." He waved back and grinned. "I can''t wait to see you all grown and developed enough to be a threat to me." After saying that, he disappeared as he faded like a cloud of smoke in the background. .... "F*CK!" As can only scream right now. The humiliating loss he experienced will soon be the fuel for As in the very future. As might be hurting all over but he didn''t want to just let Lucia justy down to the ground unconscious. Even though pain is already all over his body, there is no way he will abandon Lucia to save himself. Grabbing the thing that Sebastian tossed to him, he slowly stood up and head to the unconscious Lucia. "Lucia-sama..." As slowly helped her out fromying on the ground and started carrying her on the nearby wall where they can justy down. Pain is still in his body but he can''t just abandon Lucia who suffered the most damage out of the two of them. "This is so painful..." As sighed. ... Outside the Insect Kingdom, Sebastian who disappeared from the battle after he battered up the two people who view him as enemies can be seen grinning from ear to ear. He seemed so happy that anyone would mistake his smile as a sinister one. "Finally...some enemies that have potential to grow... I can''t wait to fight back with them again. Perhaps, I can now unleash my true power once they have grown full powered up.. That would be a spectacle to see." Chapter 331 - Tina Vs. Lemis (III) Tina''s quick footsteps allowed her to avoid most of the attacks of Lemis. However, most of them are in a pretty much close call and she barely can dodge them if not for her quick thinking in using her hands to push herself, allowing her to gain an extra distance when dodging. It is hard but she manages to do it anyway. But that was the least of her worries, she also has to avoid the little vine monster that Lemis summoned using the power of her sister then used it as her own by infusing demonic power on it, making it a somewhat living monster capable of killing thoughts. If Lemis is annoying with her attacks, the vine monster is much more annoying since her attacks barelynd at the little monster as it was like it doesn''t have anything that keeps it alive, "Whatever you do, my dear sister, you can''t beat me. You only have that sword and your sword skills, but what about magic power? You can''t even cast a simple [Fireball] and you darepete against me? Isn''t that an absurdity on your part?" "So what if I don''t have ess to magic? I will still beat your arse to a pulp without fail." "Heh, all talk, no action. Come on, is that all you got? I thought you have more spank than you should be?" Tina did not bother to talk to Lemis anymore and decided to concentrate on dodging the vine''s attacks. Despite cutting it a few times, it seems like it doesn''t run out of vines to rece the lost vines that got cut off. Still, she didn''t stop and continued to press on her attacks, if she can''t win against this enemy, she just needed to wait for everyone toe and assist her in the battle. "Die!" Lemis raised her hands and a few vines appeared beneath the ground. Tina quickly dodges them but it seems Lemis anticipated this and snaps her fingers, summoning chains that cause Tina who didn''t anticipate it get surprised in the process and was captured from it. "GAH!" The chains tighten up on Tina''s legs and more chains appeared, chaining up her arms, causing her to be hanged in the air. "Poor, Tina, not a single chance to improve at all. No wonder father gave up on you. You are a failure, nothing more, nothing less, mediocre at best." And without warning, she closed the gap between the two, and Lemis stabbed Tina''s abdomen, using her sharp ws in her hands and piercing through the armor of Tina, causing Tina to squint in pain, with blood spurting out on her mouth. Lemis used her hands to move around Tina''s abdomen, causing Tina to scream in pain. "Wow, what a tough body you have, my dear sister. No wonder you managed to survive the sandworm in Sandurk. This body is built tost." Lemis continue to fiddle with her abdomen that Tina''s screams are already too painful just to listen in the distance. "Yes, scream more. That''s more like it, sis. You are doing very well. Keep that pitch of the scream." "F*CK...YOU!" Tina might be suffering too much from the stab but she can''t allow this demon to just keep on toying with her like some ragdoll. With perseverance and sheer will to fight back, she kicks Lemis as hard as she can even though this would cause deeper wounds to her abdomen and would incur her bleeding. Lemis flies away after being kicked hard and Tina''s abdomen started to bleed hard. It was so bad that Tina can feel her head throbbing and her consciousness fading away. "What an idiot sister, if you just allowed me to keep on "ying" with you, that bleeding problem won''t be as bad as of right now. Hehehehehe..." Lemis isughing creepily. "That''s fine...as long as you are not on my body...then everything will be better!" Tina grit her teeth as she tried to get her arms and legs out from the chains tied up on her." "Can you just quietly die in the corner?" Lemis is irritated now by Tina''s optimism and grinning face despite suffering from pain. Then, she remembered something from one of the moves that Queen Tanya taught to her to secure herself out from bindings. She almost forgot about it due to how fast everything happened. She might have not mastered it but she can definitely and properly use it without any problems. With a few twists in her body, the tight chains that bind her arms and legs fall off, allowing her to regain her arms and legs from the chain binds. "Hoh, so you also have tricks on your sleeve. I guess you have learned something useful..." Lemis immediately moved towards Tina to attack her but Tina was quick and despite having severe wounds, her speed did not decrease, and she managed to get away from her. Lemis failed to find Tina who went into hiding after escaping her chains. She quickly ordered the vine monster to search for her but for now, only Tina will be capable of appearing again by herself from hiding. Using one of the items that deheart has given to her, she opened the bottle and pour it on her stomach wound. It stings a lot that she winced in pain. But she can feel her skin closing as it heals. She used her skill [Camouge] to at least hide for a bit just to cure her wound. It might be severe but at least it was not fatal and the medicine that deheart provided to her is quite effective. But what is the use of the medicine if she can''t fight back and defeat her adversary? Lemis is too strong for her and using magic skills, it was easy to say that Lemis easily breaks her without contest. "Damn it, am I always going to be inferior to everything? Will I ever remain this weak?" Tina grits her teeth just by thinking how weak she was that even the demon who upied her sister''s body is much strongerpared to her. Her desire to get stronger, only feels much stronger and her itch to fight Lemis is getting stronger but she knows she is not a match for her. Then, Tina remembered... "Tina, you hold to the Heart of the Primordial Sea God. Use the wish, you might not know what wish you want to wish on it but maybe you will know along the way." deheart''s words before they depart for the operation echo in her mind. It seems that he was right. Her wish might not be avable in the beginning, but now she understands what her real wish is. She pulls out the beating heart of the Primordial Sea God. It was still beating and even though it no longer belongs to the main body of the Primordial Sea God as it only exists outside its body, it is still a wonder how it is still beating like a normal heart. "I heard that you are a wish granter, an item simr to a holy grail that only exists in legends. I know you are a sea god and I am one of the insect people. However, if you are a god, perhaps you can listen to my one and only wish?" Tina observed the heart that is beating on the small container that is made from Cotton''s webs. It didn''t show any changes and it just keeps on beating. "I know this is a selfish wish, but if you are listening, even though I am not one of your people, please, I beg you... I need to get stronger, grant my wish to be stronger, strong enough to defeat the demon that is staying inside the body of my sister! Please grant my wish!" ... ... ... ... The heart continues on beating, however, it didn''t show any signs of changes, nor did it glow or anything. It just continue to beat like a normal heart would. "Please! Primordial Sea God! I am asking you, I know this is a one-time wish, I am no longer going to be able to have a chance to wish again for this. But this is my only wish! Please show me signs that you are there! That you are listening to my wish!" However, as much as she hopes that the sea god responds, the bigger bang she fell when nothing happened. Tina who held her emotions since she knows her family nned her death, finally showed emotions, tears flood down her face as her hands have the urge to squeeze and break the heart she is holding. Wish my *ss, this thing didn''t even do anything. "You gods are all liars..." Tina can only mutter in anger after her wish was not granted. However, she didn''t notice that the wound on her hand in which Cotton bit her before started to glow faintly. She still didn''t know it but it seems things will get more interesting.... Chapter 332 - Bladeheart And Lina Vs. The Weapons Of Pride (III) -King Goliath''s blood power is increasing. Defeat him to stop the umtion of the power. So that is the power that King Goliath uses? It seems simr to berserk but this seems to umtepared to the one-time attack increase and defense decrease in Berserk. I don''t even know if the defense decrease also applies but it seems to be gathering all of its power with an amplified amount of power. Once it is released, perhaps it can do a one-hit kill attack. I can''t afford that to happen. As for Lina, she continues to bombard Queen ss with skills. Now that the Provoke effect is no longer in effect, it''s easy for her tond a hit on Queen ss who is now unprotected and is wide open. My attacks are almost working. Yes, almost every time I attack, the Shield of Vanagloria is blocking every single skill and basic attack I did. And it sucks that the Instant Death did not proc at all. It would be really great since King Goliath is not immortal like the Leprechaun during the time I fought it along with Dolly. The only thing that is hitting King Goliath is none other than the skills that can ignore defenses and some of my basic attacks are ignoring the defense so I managed to at least break a bit of its remaining HP even though I can''t see it. But there is no way I will let this guy just do what he needed to do. Then something clicked on my mind... Perhaps, that could actually work. I backtrack a little bit before I held the sword with my two hands. This could work but there is a possibility that it wouldn''t work too. However, this is the only way. Besides, he is almost half to not holding the weapons. Perhaps this could work. With a tight grip on the handle and turning it into a sword form, I activated the skill. "[DEVOUR]" [Warning! You are going to devour a weapon that belonged to the weapon series (Seven Deadly Sins). Two weapons are detected to be part of the series. Devouring it might cause a bacsh and damage to the user in real life. Are you sure you will proceed?] Bacsh and damage in real life? That dangerous? Goddang, perhaps this is the consequence of trying to take away the weapons by force. However, I don''t care about that. If they think I will just fall over and die, then it is probably mistaken. After all, I almost died back in the past life, they can''t faze me over with just that! "Proceed!" The ck dragon that appears every time I devour a weapon has finally appeared. As always, it is salivating from the sight of the two weapons. Then, the scary thing happened, Not only did one head emerge but two heads emerged. It was like a twin head dragon type. And after a bit, it didn''t wait a bit longer and opened their two mouths, revealing the endless void inside their mouths. King Goliath who was like an immovable shield stood back seeing the two heads of the dragons. Before it can escape, the dragons didn''t let King Goliath escape. With arge chomp, the shield and the spear that were previously on King Goliath''s hands were eaten. But due to how King Goliath did not let it go, the dragon devoured his arms too. "GAAAAAAHHHHHH!" His screams resounded as both of his arms were devoured before he copsed and lost consciousness. His color seems to have returned to normal. As for the dragons that are eating the weapons, I saw that the weapons seem to be struggling as the two heads of the ck dragon is not yet swallowing them. It keeps on shaking its head and I thought it wouldn''t be able to devour but eventually, the dragons ate them and gulped them down. But the weird thing is that they immediately return to the weapon instead of staying for a bit like the usual. Not only that but my weapon started to shake. Then, I felt a pang of pain in my head. It was painful as hell like I am being bashed by a sledgehammer. It''s pretty painful but I can manage to endure it. But it''s pretty painful that I didn''t get to properly stand up and decided to kneel to at least stop myself from falling down. -you have been inflicted with mental damage. Due to your resilience, you managed to resist it. So this is the side effect of letting my weapon eat it. That is not a good thing. This is the first time I heard of mental damage in this game and I never encountered it. Perhaps it was a unique penalty. No wonder it''s so painful. It is still throbbing and still troublesome in my head but I can manage just by enduring it. "Master! Are you alright?" Lina rushes towards me the moment she saw me ready to copse after taking the mental damage/ "Ah...no worries. Then, a notification appeared before me. [Weapon Series detected: The weapons of Pride: Vanagloria and Superbia Due to the acquisition of the weapons, the Versatile Weapon will undergo a hibernation mode. During this time, the Versatile Weapon will not be possible to be used in any means.] [Assimtion Progress: 0%] What? I can''t use the weapon? I can''t wield it? That is one weird penalty. But perhaps that is how things work on the Versatile Weapon when it eats a very important item like the Weapons of Pride? I am not entirely sure but there is only one thing I know. I cannot use the Versatile Weapon for the time being. I have plenty of weapons to use as a recement but it will never top the quality of the Versatile Weapon at all. But for someone who wielded the Versatile Weapon for a few months, it is showing me that I shouldn''t just keep on relying on the Versatile Weapon. Since I still don''t have the inkling idea on how long before the weapon canpletely finish its assimtion progress, I might as well use the weapons I crafted. Perhaps I should also master the weapon swap thing too since just relying on the weapon change form of the Versatile Weapon will not do me good if something like this happens again. After all, my ystyle relies on quick swap weapon forms. "Lina, can you check on the king? I don''t know what happened to him but without his arms, I doubt he can do anything that would allow you to fight him. Check up on the queen too. We don''t know, perhaps they will still live on even after that. After all, they are just victims and not the main cause of the trouble in this incident." "Understood, Master." ... In the aftermath of the battle, it was revealed that the King and Queen managed to avoid the grasp of death and were able to survive. I cured the bleeding hands of the king by dousing him with the potion. However, I don''t have any means to regrow his lost limbs. It would be either he uses prosthetics or artificial arms to rece it. As for Queen ss, she is still alive and it seems the influence that caused both of them to be under control waspletely removed from them the moment they were defeated. It was good since they didn''t die. However, it would be a disaster for them to know the trouble of the demons urred due to how they were controlled by them in the process. They will also be crying after the death of their son. All in all, it is a good thing they didn''t die in the process. Tina would be happy to know that her parents are no longer under the influence of demons. Now that our problem here is solved, the next thing we needed to do is to defeat Lemis. She is the biggest hurdle of this quest and without the Versatile Weapon to help with my usual weapon skills and quick weapon swap, I will be returning to the traditional. Perhaps I should forge a new weapon in the future too in case some things like this will happen. That way, I am prepared. ... Inside the inventory of deheart, rests the Versatile Weapon. It is resting and is not moving. However, the slumbering weapon is no longer just a slumbering weapon that has been devouring different kinds of things that deheart allowed for it to devour. deheart might have noticed the growth of the ck creature that is devouring the weapons every time he orders for it to [Devour] but what is it really? With the weapons it just devoured, perhaps, something else will happen in the process due to this. The slumbering weapon is now slowly changing.. It might not be an immediate change but once deheart retrieves the Versatile Weapon back out again, perhaps, this will catch up his attention. Chapter 333 - Reclaiming The Kingdom Lemis is still looking for Tina, due to how Lemiscks the detection magic in which his brother specializes, finding Tina was a chore for her. As for Tina, she is currently crying over the fact that the Heart of the Primordial Sea God did not grant her wish nor show any signs that it is indeed functioning. Herst bit of hope to defeat Lemis is flushed to the drain. But she didn''t just give right there in despair. If thest glimmer of hope is gone, then that only means she didn''t need it. "Screw this. If the gods have no intention to help me, then screw them and I will do it on my own instead!" Holding the rapier in her hands, she returned to where Lemis is and saw that the demon is currently looking for her. "Hey, you are looking for me right?" Without anything to lose anymore, Tina is now gutsy to Lemis who is now irritated by her lifeless eyes and a response that is so boring anyone would not care hearing what she wanted to say. "You finally appeared, you piece of sh*t... Nowe here and die. I don''t know how you managed to heal up your wound that I made earlier but I will make sure to make a bigger wound on that stomach of yours!" "..." Tina did not respond but she just stares at Lemis with a lifeless, cold stare. Lemis attacks with her ws like usual but instead of being pierced, Tina just blocked it with her rapier''s thin des. Lemis tries to do it again but Tina does it once again that she frowned seeing what is happening. Tina then move towards her and attacked the demon without saying a word. This terrifies the demon as she realizes that the insect person she is facing right now seems to have given up in life and has already been fighting without care. For Lemis, an enemy without the fear of dying is the most terrifying enemy as they will not hesitate to jump into action despite knowing the danger. She knows that these kinds of people can unleash indescribable strength, capable of killing enemies in one go. "Dammit! Just die already! Why won''t you go down and just die?!" Tina didn''t respond and continued to assault Lemis with her rapier strikes. Lemis is not really proficient in closebat and although she can do closebat, she is not capable of doing most of thebat in melee. She likes to do it in range as this will make everything quite dire and dangerous for her enemies. However, her only enemy is one person and that person no longer cares and with her attitude and her expressions seem to have been lost, she is now grasping the attacks much easier and unconsciously bing strong. "But that doesn''t make sense! Even if you got too serious, you won''t be getting this strong so easily! What is happening?! This shouldn''t be the case since you don''t have the mark!" Lemis is now desperate and decided to unleash a strong st of dark power, sending Tina flying to the wall, knocking a huge block of debris that fell down to Tina the moment she crash into the walls. Lemis sighed in relief when she knocked out Tina from battle and thought that she is no longer conscious only to see her stand up from the fallen debris with still her passive look on her face. She was still staggering when Tina just assaulted her all of a sudden with a quick barrage of rapier strikes. She tried blocking but Tina''s attacks suddenly gained some power. The attacks are getting faster and Lemis realized that her wounds are no longer healing as fast she can. She can confidently fight since she knows she will rapidly heal her wounds but for some unknown reason, she is getting slower and weaker. She even realized her senses and movements are getting dull and bad all of a sudden. That''s when she realized it. "Insect Poison?!" She didn''t have much care about the attacks of Tina but she soon understood itte that her attacks are no longer weak and contain no power because all of her attacks have poison and every time Tina pierce her body with the rapier, poison seeps into her veins. Not only that but strength has already been amplified that Lemis who rarely feel pain due to her innate [Dulling Pain Organ] ability, can even feel the amount of power every thrust the rapier does to her skin and flesh. Her realization came toote when the poison already seeps too deep into her body already. "Impossible! Only the Insect People with marks are capable of using the Insect Poison! You don''t have the mark! Why?!" Lemis tried to dodge but she meet the legs of Tina who kicked in advance, anticipating her escape. That''s when Lemis noticed Tina''s eyes. It''s not that it''s merely nk, it was glowing white. Most of the time, Insect People has clear brown eyes, but for those who bear the royal blood, once they awaken, their eyes will turn to nk white, with the only greyish color of the pupils that that can be barely noticed due to how it blends in with the nk colors of the eyeballs. However, that alone is enough to see that Tina who never bore any mark that allows her to awaken hertent power, has awakened her true power. Although Tina hasn''t yet unleashed her true form and true power just yet, unleashing attacks with Insect Poison is no longer a joke. Insect Poisons can easily kill enemies if they don''t have enough innate resistance to poisons like Lemis do. As much as Lemis tried to think how the heck she awakened, it doesn''t change the fact that Tina is now an absolute threat that will now be capable of killing her if she didn''t carefullyy out her next move. Lemis decided that even though she has awakened, it doesn''t change much that Tina is still not capable of unleashing her true powers just yet. Despite being weakened, she unleashed her dark abilities and awakened her true form. She no longer resembles the sister of Tina, but her normal face as a demon. "Ha! You might have awakened but a newly awakened Insect will still remain an insect! DIE!" She snaps her fingers, chains appeared on the ground, and tied up Tina before sheunched [Dark Corroding Ball] to her. A skill capable of melting metals and concrete like a piece of stic. "HAHAHAHAHA! In the end, all of you are just fragile beings! Not capable of seeing the true greatness of power we demons have! You should have diedpletely and quietly in Sandurk!" However, Lemis''s celebration was cut short when the smoke cleared up from the st site and saw that a cocoon has appeared chained by her chains. She tried to use her chains to tighten its grip, only to realize that it only maintained its form and has been corroded long before she pulled it. Gritting her teeth, knowing what the cocoon contains, Lemis st it continuously with her [Dark Corroding Ball] without stopping. "Ha! Even if your shell is tough enough to handle the first power, there is no way it can survive multiple sts! DIE!" Explosions keep shaking the castle but Lemis did not care. All she cared is that the thing inside the cocoon should melt and die. However, she was stupefied when one of her [Dark Corroding Ball] that should have exploded to the cocoon was reflected and it almost hit her, as it passed through her. Lemis was stunned as the [Dark Corroding Ball] is a skill that has no way of being reflected like normal magic as it can instantly affect the surroundings in one hit and direct contact. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Loud cracking sounds echoed inside the halls of the room. Lemis is getting desperate when she realized her strongest attacks are not working. "Damn it! Brother, why did you die so early?! Without you here, my abilities are just mediocre at best and I am poisoned now! Why is this happening to me?!" "Perhaps...it was due to how high you think your capabilities are." A cold mature voice resounded in the surroundings. It was like it echoed but it wasn''t like that too. Lemis grit her teeth as she prepares to attack when she suddenly fell to the ground on her knees and felt weak all of a sudden. She can''t even proceed to lift it up. She tried to speak but it seems like it has gone frozen and her body seemed to have stopped functioning properly. "You have reigned too long and have already gotten a fair share of ruling this kingdom. It''s time to reim the kingdom from the demon''s clutches... Demons like you should have never existed in the first ce..." SNAP! Before Lemis can understand the situation, she saw her body kneeling on the ground before she lost her consciousness and her vision has been stolen by the darkness. Chapter 334 - Demon Subjugation Ray After making sure the two wounded royalty are in a safe ce, Lina and I went to follow the others towards the castle. Even with my normal weapons, it''s sufficient enough to deal with the little demons walking around, it''s not much of a big deal for me. My skills did not go with my weapon, just a few usable skills and effects, although quite beneficial, I can do without them. Walking towards the castle, we found As and Lucia on the way. As is beside Lucia who is battered up and unconscious. "As! What happened to Lucia? Where is Tina?" I asked as I pull out an elixir bottle to douse Lucia and cure her wounds. "Princess Tina went ahead. As for us, we stalled one demon who tried to stop us from going to our objective. However, that guy is too strong. He pulverized us without any problems on his side. We managed to overpower him once but only once as the guy managed to defeat me before I can do anything worthwhile. He pummeled my armor too hard that he managed to puncture a hole in it." I look at As''s armor and indeed, there are some marks that it has been punctured. I can easily tell that it didn''te from any weapon marks at all but something that came from a fist or perhaps a qi released in the hands. Either of that, it is clear that no weapon can puncture a hole like that on As''s armor unless it has some sort of Armor Pration trait which I doubt there are any since As is someone who has armor so thick, it''s hard to even destroy in a simple confrontation. As then retells what happened after we volunteered to stay behind to take care of the King and Queen. And seeing Lucia unconscious made me a bit shocked due to the fact that Lucia never tasted defeat before in the hands of the enemies and despite being only a level 100, she can easily take down multiple demons all by herself. However, that made me a bit surprised as she got unconscious due to the battle against a demon. It was not due to mana burn or mana drain or anything that has a high chance to cause someone to fall unconscious. It was a pure defeat from the hands of her species. "Where is the enemy?" I asked once again. "He disappeared after he has given us this. He said all of the questions that Lucia is looking for is currently in this thing." As pulls out a small button and handed it to me. "A badge?" "He said that I should give it to Lucia once she wakes up. I am not sure if I needed to give it to her or just let this a secret from her." I inspected the thing just to be sure it isn''t anything suspicious. ... [Memory Badge] Type: Key Item Info: An item imbued with records and memories, It acts like a recorded movie for anyone who wanted to learn something. It is usually used by royalties recording their feats in their lifetime. It is something that is pretty much a relic of the past. Once someone wears a badge that contains memories inside of it, the memories contained on the badge will y like a movie in the wearer''s mind. ... A memory recording device? Perhaps it has something that Lucia needed? I am tempted to check the contents are but I decided to refrain from doing so. I needed to respect that it was meant for Lucia. If it was meant for me, then perhaps I will see what it was. "Give it to Lucia. If it is something she needed, then she indeed needed it. We don''t need to pry what it was." "Understood, Master." "Perhaps you guys should move back to the Summon''s Area to have a rest. With the defeat of you two, enough rest will allow you guys to return to your usual selves." "What about Lina and you, Master? Aren''t you guys needed to also rest?" As asked. "We are not as battered as you two. We should still be fine." "Alright. Just call me back if you need my help. I can still fight despite being weakened." I nodded and let them return to the Summon''s area. They needed to recuperate and even with the potions, their bodies received quite a lot of trauma and resting would elevate the effects. What kind of demon would be able to beat them up without using a weapon? That is quite an insane enemy. I know the enemies in the future dungeons and levels would be crazy but no one is crazy enough to be capable of doing something like that. "Let''s go, Lina. Tina should be up ahead." ... ... When we arrived and entered the castle, I saw that it is deserted. No demons, no guards, not a single soul to be seen. Not only that but there are lots of broken debris scattered all around the ce. "What happened here?" I frowned. The ce is just too battered from the battle that it was like the battle was involving explosions. "Master, I detect some movements in the throne room. Perhaps..." Lina alerted me. "Let''s check." ... The moment we entered, what we saw is something we will never expect. A dead body is hanging in the ck chains. It was none other than Lemis. The chains that she was hanging on were one of her skills. I am sure of it as it was one of the most annoying skills she has as it can bind your movement and can even prevent you from casting any kind of spell. During the battle against her, the only people who can function easily would be the melee units like swordsmen and pdins due to how all range yers are immediately under the bind of these chains. Quick and precise, it was one of the hardest events that happened. Of course, Remis is also among the bosses so the raid is much harder. But Remis is already dead so Lemis shouldn''t be that threatening and Tina is a melee user. She barely has magic and specializes in rapier so she should have at least held a good fight against her. But reducing Lemis to this point, what happened? We looked around and saw that the throne room is too wrecked to be called a throne room. It no longer has any signs that it was previously a room for meeting the king, the queen, and the royal children. It''s reduced to rubble. On the center of the room, a single gold throne sits on the rubble-ridden throne room, and on that chair, is a woman with white hair, a white dress, and giant ss butterfly wings. Her dignified way of sitting on the throne is a sign of a ruler and a monarch. She was like she came from a video game with fairy elements in the genre. Not only that but she is an insect person. However, where is Tina? As and Lucia should have let Tina go ahead to confront Lemis, but I don''t see any signs of her around. "You guys finally came. I am tired of waiting." I frowned when I heard her voice. I can''t be wrong about it, that is the voice of Tina. "Tina?" Lina was the first one to identify her. "You guys took too long to arrive, I already defeated the enemy all by myself." "You are the one who killed your sister?" "She is not my sister. She is just a vessel used by the demon to move around and act as my sister. But she never was, and she never will be my sister." "B-but, what happened to you?" I frowned. "I don''t know. Nor do I care about it. I already ended everything and the main demon who upied this ce has already been killed. Seeing that you guys are already here, that only means that you already finished the job," Tina''s lifeless voice is very evident in her tone. "Your parents are still alive. After we took the weapons off their hands, the control that binds them to act like that has been severed from them and they returned to their former self." When Tina heard that, tears started to well up in her eyes. "So... they are still alive. Thank goodness... thank goodness... Hic..." Despite changing into a new form, she is still Tina through and through. It seems some sort of evolution urred as I saw a huge shell of the cocoon in the center of the throne room. It has plenty of chains but most of them seem to have rusted. "deheart, Lina, the demons are still running rampant in this ce right?" "Yes. They have already overtaken half of the city''s establishments and buildings." "Then, perhaps, I needed to use a bit of my new power to clean up some trash." SNAP! BOOOOOM! Countless explosions urred on the kingdom''s borders. I pulled out my weapon when the explosions urred nearby causing me to remain vignt. "Don''t worry, that skill I used is the [Demon Subjugation Ray].. The demons who are terrorizing this ce should have been dead already." Chapter 335 - The Quest Is Over Due to the sudden transformation of Tina, the battle that I feared willst long enough ended without any hassle. and it ended before we can even participate in the battle. It''s not so grandpared to what I am expecting to happen. Probably because I made some moves from earlier and it seems to have taken a big impact when I managed to kill Remis and stop his resurrection from happening. The biggest change is Tina herself. From the looks of it, she has awakened to her true form. I don''t know what the term is but if I was to guess it, perhaps in the insect kingdom, this kind of thing can be called "Monarch" awakening. Her change is really drastic that even I didn''t know she would be like this after confronting Lemis. Right now, we are leaving the castle to go back to where King Goliath and Queen ss are resting after their defeat in our hands. Tina went along with me and this time, she didn''t even use her legs on walking, she is just floating in the air. "The demons have wrecked the entire kingdom alone. Who would have thought about their single day invasion would eventually lead to this kind of destructive thing?" Tina looked around the buildings that the demons have vandalized and thrashed during their invasion. It was clear they aren''t just here to take over the ce. They meant to destroy it. But due to how Tina released the destructive attack earlier, it was aplete wipeout. Even the flying demons in the sky are gone and perhaps turned to ashes after they were hit by the beams. Just how powerful did Tina be to be able to pull off that? When we arrived on the house that we ced Queen ss and King Goliath, Queen ss is already awake. She has a very confused look on her face as she holds her head. Perhaps the lingering pain from the battle and the control from the demons has been taking a toll on her. "Mom?" Tina looked inside the room where the two were lying down earlier. Queen ss who is still confused on what is happening looked at Tina. "Who... who are you... Is that you Alexandria?" Tina stopped approaching when Queen ss asked her the question. I can see in her face the pain she felt when her mother asked her that question and has mistaken her for Alexandria despite the drastic difference between the two. I thought Tina would exin the rest to her mother the wrong call she did to her. But she didn''t and turned back around. "Alexandria? Where are you going?" However, Tina didn''t say anything and just returned outside. Seeing that Queen ss is still not fully recovered, I cast a [Sleep] on her and she returned to slumber once more. "Help the Queen properly on the bed, Lina and check the condition of the king. I will follow Tina outside. "Understood, Master," Lina nodded and immediately went to Queen ss to help her lie down on the bed properly. As for me, I followed Tina who left after she met with her mother. Rain is pouring down the sky. It was heavy and just the small visibility of the surroundings is hard and the droplets falling in the sky hits hard and hurts a little bit on the skin. In the middle of the road is none other than Tina, wet from the rain, dripping from head to toe. However, her wings aren''t wet. Perhaps it was due to the reason that her wings are ss that the rain is not affecting it at all. "Why did you not exin the circumstances to your mother? She is confused and do not understand what is happening." "It''s better if I didn''t. As much as I wanted to see her, she still clearly think more that I am Alexandria. Despite the clear difference between me and her, it seems she still didn''t see me as her child despite losing the demon control over her. Alexandria and I grow up together, we both have different looks in our faces and we didn''t resemble each other. She didn''t have a white hair, while I do have that color. However, the very first thing she says is that I am Alexandria. Call that a weak and absurd reason for me to not face my mother but that is something that I have been enduring my entire life." "..." I looked up at the sky and just didn''t respond to her. I didn''t console her nor I said any kind of inspirational quotes. Honestly, I am not obligated to say anything. I am just a yer, she is an NPC, her story is not mine to mess and even though they are moving like real humans, I keep reminding myself that they are not human and are just pieces of data. I kept on wondering why these guys, despite being an AI, have very intelligent minds and can act and think on their own. But still, its hard not to sympathize. After all, the only things that have apanied me in the past timeline while ying the game are not yers but most of the time, the NPCs. "So what are you going to do?" "Are you not going to scold me or persuade me to talk again to my mother?" "No. It''s not on my position to impose you on doing those things. I am just a humble adventurer who is here to just do what I am good at doing. And talking some pep talks to anyone is not my forte. It''s not part of my specialty." "Haha, you are joking right? Despite being with you for a short time, it felt like you are able to do anything you are set to do. You can even use your skills in talking and just do that. Don''t say you aren''t even capable of that." "So, you want me to talk you out of it?" "Ha, no. I expected you to do that due to your behavior so I was surprised you didn''t." "The Queen is just confused but it seems she have most of her memories made during the time you guys are already teenagers. It seems that she has been controlled by the demon not too long ago. And my theory for why she has just been controlled is to make sure she follows the setup. The first person and likely the person who caused you to be born but without the mark is none other than your father. He was already controlled before or after you were born. Now, that he is stripped away from the control, his memories would surely still be during the time you are a baby or you are still on your mother''s t womb. Unlike your mother who has a bias on your sister who was possessed by a demon, he would more likely be on your favor especially since out of all the siblings alive, you are the only one alive left or more likely he still didn''t know he had another daughter and son." Tina stare on the horizon and sighed. "That''s it. It seems the demons are right. I am not fit to be a royalty. I am not fit to rule our kingdom. I am too immature. Perhaps I needed to see the world and rack up my experience." "Are you perhaps thinking of travelling?" "I am still too weak in regards to fighting. If I want to get to be a proper ruler in the future, I needed to find my worth." I think I know where this is going but I won''t offer my guidance to her. It all depends whether she offer to do so herself. "You know what I was talking about right?" Tina looked at me with a sad look in her eyes. "Perhaps. Or maybe not. Maybe I was just assuming. I am not entirely sure." I know I am weak and I still have yet to be as powerful as Miss Lucia or Miss Lina or even your other followers, but I will work hard to be one. Then, a prompt appear before me. [Princess Tina, the Princess of the Insect Kingdom wanted to pledge to be your follower. Would you ept her as your follower?"] YES/NO I look at Tina and she has already been kneeling despite being under the rain. "Stand up, princess. You don''t need to kneel in front of me." "Are you going to reject my application to you bing a follower?" Tina looked at me. "No, in fact, I will ept you." I then clicked the Yes button. As soon as I clicked that, the quest panel was also opened. [The quest "Hell Descends" has beenpleted. Due to the 100%pletion rate, you will receive 10 AP and 10 Free SP.] -As a result of your actions, the Pioneer tasks that were prepared to explore Aquagius have been removed and the ess to the new continent has finally been unlocked. -Received 10,000,000 gold. -Received 5,000,000 exp. -The seat for the Insect Kingdom''s ruler has been vacated due to Tina''s actions. As a result, you are now nominated to be the new ruler of this kingdom. Of course, the user can decline and a new reward will be generated instead. What will you do?" ept to Rule/Decline to Rule Chapter 336 - The Curse Of Pride Part 1 Of 3 CLICK! -You have selected "Decline to Rule". One big reason I declined is that... IT''S A HASSLE. It''s troublesome to handle things in ruling a nation. I don''t even like creating a guild by myself which is much easier to handle than ruling an entire kingdom. As much as I hate it, it''s one of the things I don''t like the most. It''s annoying and takes a lot of processes that I don''t even care about. One more thing is that it felt wrong to rule over a kingdom that is not governed by a human and what is more, it is a kingdom that hoped to be independent of humans. Although they will still want to make contact with humans, they don''t want a government that a human is involved. Things get messed up if a human is involved. And it would be much worse if a yer does control it. "What happened Master?" Tina asked. I scratch the back of my head when I heard Tina call me Master. As much as I am concerned, Tina, it is pretty ufortable for Tina to call me one since she has usually called me deheart before. "It''s nothing. Now, are you sure you want to follow me? The road that I am following is an arduous and troublesome path, this is not just an easy path you will walk into if you choose toe with me." "I have no regrets, Master. I know what I am doing now, so I will follow till the very end!" In the end, Tina became one of my followers. ... ... Due to the request of Tina, we didn''t participate in the restoration of the Insect Kingdom. As much as she wanted to help, she is not obliged to do especially since she is running away from her responsibilities as a ruler. King Goliath woke up a few hours after I epted Tina''s request to be my follower. Despite missing both arm and confused by the situation he was in, he immediately managed to control the situation. After the demons were defeated, the previous inhabitants of the kingdom turned out to be hiding near the kingdom''s borders. Someone helped them to evacuate, allowing to minimize the fatality rate of the demons invading and as a result, no one from the inhabitants died. As for us, we are now returning. After the events and the demons have been killed, thest thing we are currently doing before returning back to Resurgia is to activate the Teleport Portal. After the quest was over, the situation that should have brought over the second expansion and the second Pioneer quest was cancelled after I managed to clear it all by myself and finished it before the scenario began. ... "Alright, that should be done without a hitch," I grinned the moment the portal was fully activated. The portal is located from the outskirts of the Insect Kingdom. Compared to the Teleport Portals of Resurgia and Sandurk, the teleport portal of the Aquagius is near the Insect Kingdom''s borders but not inside the city or the kingdom itself. Since it won''t activate until someone fixes it, I decided to volunteer in fixing it. As someone who have fixed one before in the past timeline due to a quest, I am quite familiar in activating the Teleport Portal that is not functional. Since the limiter for the Teleport Portal has been activated, we can now safely repair the thing and once it is repaired, it can be used to return to Sandurk or Resurigia. "Looks like things are not going to be much hectic now, huh?" Lina sighed in relief. "With the demons out of the threat, the Insect Kingdom just needed to recover on their own. Our job here is done, and if they wanted to gain independence, then the only thing they have to do is to prove that they can do it with their own power. That is the beginning of the independence of the kingdom itself," Tina looked back at the current Insect Kingdom. "Do you regret doing it?" I asked Tina. "No. Even I needed to be independent too. This is just the first step for me to learn more about the outside world." I lightly smiled and activate the portal. "Teleport to Sandurk." White sh appeared and engulfed our body before we disappearpletely before the portal. Now, only time will tell when I will get back to Aquagius again. Maybe in the foreseeable future. ... ... "PHEW..." I opened my eyes as the quest has finally been finished. My istion method has finally ended. After talking to Queen Tanya, she allowed us to stay in her guest room to have a rest and she also wanted us to tell her what happened in the Aquagius after we arrived. I took that chance to log out and finally rest. The moment I tried to stand up, my head started to throb. It was so painful that I felt like I was bashed multiple times with a sledgehammer. "...The f*ck? I thought that was resolved already?" I held my head and the heck, it was much more painfulpared to the time I was still inside the game. It''s very painful as hell. "Sh*t... I think I needed to actually rest for the rest of the day..." I slowly crawl towards my bed andy down in my bed once more. It is too painful that if I didn''t endured countless kinds of pain before, I would have already copsed from it. "By just devouring the Weapons of Pride, it is causing me to feel this pain? It is even in the real world. Damn it, that is not a very good thing..." I grip my forehead hard as the pain is just getting unbearable as heck. "GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The pain is flowing and my head just felt like its about to be split open. Is this some sort of an effect from the devouring of my weapon to the weapon? Or perhaps this is some sort of a bacsh? I just don''t know and the only thing I wanted to be done is for the pain to recede. 2 hours has passed and the pain is still lingering in my head. The sheets on my bed is already wet from sweat as I tried enduring it. Just by moving for a bit or trying to stand up just causes me to fell the pain once more. However,pared to the time earlier, when the headache urred, its not as painful as before. "...Is it receding? But it''s still f*cking painful... I can''t even stand to drink some medicine..." I wanted to use my mana cirction to at least lessen the pain but the moment I tried earlier, the pain amplified so I stopped and just let the pain continue. "Dammit...I think I am losing my consciousness for experiencing this pain a lot..." I don''t know if I got ustomed to the pain or just my pain receptors has gone numb after the assault of the pain.., However, my eyes felt heavy and despite the pain in my head, somehow, it seems like I can just sleep and disregard about it... ... The moment I closed my eyes, I realized I am now floating. "Am I dreaming? No, I don''t think a dream can be this vivid... Unless I am just imagining things while I am having the pain, then this shouldn''t be a dream." I tried moving around and realized that I can float around the ce. And despite the whole surroundings surrounded in white, I can definitely tell that this is not just a pure white world. I decided to fly around when I saw a small hut in the middle of the white ce. There, I tried to go to the ce and saw a scene unfold before me. A warrior. He is holding a spear and a shield. He remain standing with the shield deployed to block while the spear is ready to strike. The man is guarding a small hut with open doors. However, behind him is a woman and a child bathing in blood. That''s when I knew that the two behind him are already dead. In front of the man are countless soldiers and vigers holding torches. The vigers seems to be shouting something while the guards are holding their spears and sword as they threaten the man holding a spear and shield. One viger throws a Fire Molotov Potion and the moment it was about toe in contact to the house, the man holding a shield and spear throws the shield he was holding into the air and the moment the bottle of the Fire Molotov Potion was about to reach the hut, the shield that he throw away earlier returned and on the way, the shield block the small bottle, rebounding it away and sending it back to the person who throw the thing to him. Without a shield, the person who received the rebounded Fire Molotov Potion exploded to mes and started to scream. "This..." I felt speechless... This is a scenario of a Witch Hunt in the Alternate World. Chapter 337 - The Curse Of Pride Part 2 Of 3 ''Is this a piece of memory that I have wandered into?'' I pondered. From the looks of this scene that I am seeing, the main focus of this one is the guy holding a spear and shield. He is far too isted from everything else that if you look at this scene, the very first thing that you will see is this guy before everything else. It was like he is the different contrast of everything and everyone around. When I try to take a closer look, I realize that the shield and spear in his hands are none other than the Weapons of Pride that King Goliath wielded before, the Spear of Superbia and Shield of Vanagloria. I tried to look more at the situation when the man holding the spear turned to look in my direction and throw his spear at me. I tried to pull my weapon out of my hip but then I remembered I am no longer in the game. Noticing this, I have no choice but to instinctively block in front of me using my arms crossing them to shield myself before I close my eyes to brace the impact of whatever ising to me. BUT... Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and the scene has changed again. This time, the man is standing in the mountain of corpses. I immediately knew that those mountains of corpses are the people earlier who has been carrying torches and the soldiers are also among them. Are these the pieces of memory of the Weapons of Pride? Is this the reason they arebeled as the Weapons of Pride? The guy went down from the corpses of the people and went back to the hut. There, he stood in front of the two corpses of the woman and child. After a while, he kneeled down to the ground and broke into tears. "GODDESS OF LIFE! WHY ARE YOU THIS CRUEL TO ME?! I HAVE PROTECTED THE PEOPLE OF THE KINGDOM ONLY FOR MY FAMILY TO BE TREATED LIKE THIS! I DID EVERYTHING THEY WANTED AND THEY REPAID ME WITH THIS! WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MY POWER IF THE PEOPLE I LOVED THE MOST ARE ALSO THE PEOPLE I DIDN''T GET TO PROTECT?! THE PEOPLE I PROTECTED ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE KILLED THEM! THEY DESERVED TO DIE!" Just as he wasmenting the death of the two people before him, white light in the form of a human shape appeared before him. "FOOLISH MORTAL... YOU ARE JUST TASKED BY ME TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED IN ME. YOU ARE UNDER MY POWER SO THAT IS THE ONLY TASK YOU NEED TO DO. DISOBEDIENCE IS NOT AN OPTION. YOUR ACTIONS MIGHT BE TROUBLESOME BUT YOUR POWER IS STILL NEEDED." "THEN, IF YOU NEEDED MY POWER, GIVE BACK THE LIFE OF MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER!" "HA, YOU ARE INDEED A FOOLISH MORTAL. I ONLY BESTOW MY POWER TO THOSE WHO DESERVED IT. AND IF THEY HAVE DIED, I AM NOT GOING TO TROUBLE MYSELF IN BESTOWING THEM NEW LIFE. IT''S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY." "I HAVE ENOUGH OF YOUR NONSENSE! SOME GODDESS OF LIFE YOU ARE! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SELF-RIGHTEOUS GOD WHO SAID TO PROTECT HER FOLLOWERS! YOU DON''T EVEN CARE ABOUT THEIR LIVES!" "INSOLENT... HOW DARE YOU QUESTION A GOD LIKE THAT? YOU ARE TRESPASSING YOUR MORTAL BOUNDARIES ALREADY. NOW, MOVE. YOU CAN''T REST UNTIL I TELL YOU TO." The light on her arms wavered a bit which means she is waving it. I can''t properly see what is happening or doing with the bright light it has. However, the guy who has let go of his weapons seems to start moving. "F*CK YOU! YOU CAN''T CONTROL ME AGAINST MY WILL!" However, his hands are already reaching on his weapon and shield. "GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He is screaming. A scream full of pain and suffering, reluctance, and his will to disobey are getting stronger. However, it was not enough. FACING A POWER OF A DEITY, THAT POWER IS NOT ENOUGH. His willpower did nothing. ... In the end, he stood there, holding the two cursed weapons. The deity is already gone but the power she bestowed on the guy is still there. "CURSE YOU, CURSE YOU!" After that, the situation has changed, and the guy stood on the battlefield. On this battlefield, monster carcasses and human cadavers are scattered around the ce. The only person moving and standing is none other than the guy who has been arguing with the Goddess of Life. He has changed so much. His hair has turned to white and he has a long beard. He looks like a sage magician or something like that of simrity. He is old enough to be called an old geezer. If I have to guess, he is already on the verge of the end of his lifepared to the scene that happened earlier. It is clear that he was at his prime during the first and second scenes. The deste ce in the world, alongside him standing alone in a battlefield that has seen plenty of death are the fallen who have fought till their final breath. "I want to die... I no longer want to do this anymore... I just wanted to meet my wife and daughter in the afterlife..." ... This guy... it seems like the Goddess of Life has given him longevity and power to not die easily. I can''t believe this. The Goddess of Life is this cruel? I heard tidbits of how the Goddess of Life is the main jerk of the conflict between the goddesses but who would have thought that she would be this cruel? This is already torture. For this man, it seems he is protecting the people who have persecuted his family, and yet he continues to stand up and defend everything. Now I see... The absolute defense power of the Shield of Vanagloria, and the power to kill using the Spear of Superbia... Is this the main reason why the weapons of Pride are created? Because of the Goddess of Life? Then I saw the scene change before me. The light figure that appeared before, the Goddess of Life. "GOOD JOB. YOUR JOB IS FINALLY DONE. YOUR DUTY HAS FINALLY COME TO AN END." The guy didn''t respond, he just stares at the figure before him. He already lost all of his reason to even say anything to the goddess he hates the most. "SO, ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR REWARD?" When he heard those words, his face changed from an expressionless nk face to a face full of rage. "YOU STUPID GODDESS... WHO NEEDS YOUR CRAPPY REWARD!? EAT THAT SH*T! JUST LET ME REST ALREADY... I AM TIRED..." The goddess seems to be pissed when it crossed its arms. "YOU HAVEN''T CHANGED. YOU STILL HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ME WHO HAS GIVEN YOU ALL THE POWER YOU NEEDED. I CAN GRANT YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT AS I AM A GOD. WHETHER MONEY, KINGDOM, RICHES THAT CANNOT BE EXHAUSTED, WOMEN AND MANY MORE, JUST NAME IT AND YOU WILL HAVE IT." "Then... bring my wife and my daughter back to life. You can grant me anything, right? Yeah, bring them back to life. That''s all I wish and asked for." That''s when the goddess seems to have been pissed. "YOU CAN WISH FOR ANYTHING BUT THAT." "F*CK YOU AND YOUR GODDESS AUTHORITY... YOU ARE THE GODDESS OF LIFE, YOU CAN BESTOW LIFE AND GIVE ANYTHING WITH LIFE IF YOU WANTED. AND YET, YOU CAN''T DO IT! USELESS! USELESS!" BANG! The guy flew so far that hended on the ground with arge crater. However, he is still alive even after that. "I AM KIND ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU A REWARD FROM YOUR MISSION AND YOUR DUTY BUT YOU STILL CHOOSE TO WISH ON THAT IMPOSSIBLE WISH OF YOURS. YOU MUST HAVE SOME WISH TO DIE." "Heh, if only I could die, then perhaps I wouldn''t be suffering like this, wouldn''t I? And that irony of yours telling yourself you are a kind god, man, you are so hrious to the point I want to puke." "THE REWARD WILL STILL REMAIN. UNTIL YOU DECIDE ON IT, THE POWER THAT I HAVE BESTOWED ON YOU WILL NOT DISAPPEAR JUST YET." "F*ck you and this authority you have given to me. What is the point of this power if I don''t want to use it anymore? Just go away as I am so pissed looking at your face. You are an annoyance." The light entity of the Goddess of Life slowly disappeared as the guy sits down on the ground and sighed and cried. "Perhaps, the Goddess of Death can remove this damnable power that the Goddess of Life has bestowed me in. And perhaps, she can also help me die peacefully. Perhaps... I can at least get the peace that I sought for." The Goddess of Death...so in this scenario, this urred before the battle of the two goddesses has begun. It seems the story behind the weapons is part of the legacy. Somehow, I have seen the new Goddess of Life in a new side.. And I don''t think I really like it. Chapter 338 - The Curse Of Pride Part 3 Of 3 I have read before in some books in the Library of Sandurk about the Goddess of Life and also learned a few tidbits about her from Lucia. Despite being the symbol of light, her behavior and stance towards humans are quite different. Compared to what her followers keep on preaching, she is not a kind and benevolent god. She might be the one who gives the breath of life to almost every organism but she barely cares what happens to them. More like she enjoys experimenting with things in the fleeting lives of the people. From the looks of the guy holding the two weapons of Pride, he is the guy who managed to receive the blessing of the Goddess of Life. And since he can''t die even if he wanted to, this blessing might be some sort of immortality or fast recovery body or anything that will not die immediately. Based on what he just muttered, he will be going to the Goddess of Death. And contrary to the beliefs of many, the Goddess of Death is a kind god. She might be controlling and governing the authority of death but she is not the one who handles the death of people. She is just an observer, a keeper of souls, and a person who helps the soul of a dead person achieve peace or new life. As much as I want to understand the underlying reasons of the Goddess of Life for being a cruel god, she is undeniably a strong god that can easily topple the life she created. .... After the confrontation of the man and the apparition of the Goddess of Life, the scene shifted to another scene and this time, it seems to be looking like the underworld. The Underworld indeed exists in the Alternate World and it is an actual city where the believers of the Goddess of Death reside. If I remember correctly in the past timeline, it was destroyed when the Temple of the Goddess of Life invaded and destroyed the whole ce, leaving it to be a hostile zone where the strongest undead and soul entities reside. From the looks of the scene, those things have yet to happen. "This must be the underworld before it was destroyed. The ce was quite developed despite being built underground." Yes, it was built underground and the shrine of the Goddess of Death is currently erected on the ce. The scene returns to the third person view with the man holding the weapons of pride as the focus. He is being escorted by some hooded acolytes to a small temple. "Please wait for a bit. The Goddess would make contact with you soon." The man nodded and waited for a few minutes. He was left alone inside the shrine and the acolytes are nowhere to be seen. When he thought the ce is a scam, a cloud of ck smoke appeared and a ck apparition simr to the apparition of the Goddess of Life appeared before him. However,pared to the bright apparition, the apparition that appeared is a pitch-ck apparition that doesn''t have any imposing. "Are you the one who requested an audience to me?" "Are you the Goddess of Death?" "I may be called by my followers as the Goddess of Death but you don''t need to call me a Goddess or anything. I am just an insignificant being that holds the authority of Death. Just call me Death instead. Please speak casually to me." "No, I am a lowly human being, being in the presence of the Goddess of Death is enough for me to give my respects to you." "...Suit yourself. So what is your business with me?" "Please let me die." "...What?" Death seems to have been shocked by his request. "I wanted to die, you hold the authority of death right? That means you can easily allow me to die." "Ahem. That is an unusual request you got there. I mean, yes, I hold the authority of death but... what is your purpose for dying? Can''t you just go and wait for your life to be extinguished before you die? Or maybe you can at least kill yourself if you can''t wait for it though I am against thest method." "As much as I want to do thest method you just mentioned, it''s impossible, and dying in old age is also impossible to happen. I have the blessings of the Goddess of Life." Death didn''t respond for a while and stares at the man while tilting its smoke head. "I see, the Longevity Blessing. This is a high rarity blessing that Life bestows on people she deemed to be worthy to wield her power and represent her in the mortal world. It is a very high blessing that you will be blessed a lot with good fortune. Why are you trying to die when you have this blessing anyway?" "I never wished for this blessing! I don''t want it! I just wanted to be with my family! This blessing is not a f*cking blessing! This is a curse!" "..." Death seems to be speechless on the guy. "So you wanted to die?" "Yes. The Longevity Blessing allows the one who owns this blessing to be literally immortal. They can''t get sick, their wounds heal in the blink of an eye, they can''t easily get damaged by anything and if they did, they will heal immediately. Limbs that are torn will be regenerated to the body and death by old age is out of the question too. Not only that but the Goddess of Life restricts the one who has the blessings to even kill themselves." "As much as I wanted to help you, this is not possible for me." The guy then grits his teeth. But before he cansh out his frustration, Death continued. "You see, the Longevity Blessing is a very strong blessing and my blessings alone can''t do that as my authority is not designed to take over the life of someone. It''s the power that allows the souls of the dead to get their peace of mind and to save them from the darkness that corrupts their souls beyond saving. With the blessing in your body, if I try to bestow the blessings of death to you, the Longevity Blessing will immediately overwrite my blessing, deeming it useless in the end. Looking at the power she bestowed on you, she has given quite a lot of power to you that removing it is not going to be easy unless she removes it herself." "So you mean you can''t help me on this matter?" "I didn''t say it is impossible, however, it will put too much strain in your body and since you can''t die, even if you wish for it to happen, you won''t be able to do it. In fact, you have a high chance to get corrupted in this matter instead of removing the blessingpletely. If you get corrupted, I will have no chance to save your soul once you get corrupted. All blessings bestowed on you will disappear the moment you get corrupted. I can''t save you anymore if that happens." "If that method can remove the blessing of the stupid goddess then that is much better than not actually removing it. What should I do?" "Basically, I will have to put a curse on you. And if you are not strong enough, you will not be able to survive this. The curse can be cured once the blessings you desire to remove disappear but there is a chance that you will sumb to the curse instead." "Alright, give it to me." ... After that scene, the surroundings went from pitch ck and my floating body slowly descended and Inded on solid ground though I don''t think this is a ground since I don''t see anything that will allow me to know whether I am in some sort of space or this is an imaginarynd. "Wee, the person who has acquired the curse of my weapons. It seems you have seen the memories of the owner of the weapon himself." Someone started speaking that I immediately assumed battle stance even if I have no weapon. If it is a fistfight, I can still give a proper fight without a problem. "Haha, as expected, you are someone who won''t easily go down." "You... You are the one who got the Longevity Blessing." "Ah yes, the real one already died peacefully. As you can see, this is the consciousness of the Weapon of Pride, the Vanagloria, and Superbia but as you can see, I took the form of my previous owner. Since you are now the one who owned the two weapons, it is natural for me to appear before you." "So what do you want?" "Even if I am just a remaining consciousness left behind in these weapons, it is still my duty to know whether you are worthy enough to wield it." "But that weapon is already eaten by weapon, that doesn''t make sense..." "No matter what you say, you have no choice." The guy then snap his fingers and his body returned to his form back when he is in his prime. "I will personally test whether you can survive and wield the curse properly. If you want to earn the power of pride, then earn it by force." DANG! "Come!" Chapter 339 - Trial Of Pride This is no longer inside the game but the person before me is the original owner of the Weapons of Pride I just let my Versatile Weapon devour. But for this weapon to even invade the real world''s real consciousness and visit me in my dreams, that is the very first time. Perhaps this is indeed a side effect that can only happen to the Versatile Weapon since this shouldn''t have happened in the past timeline at all. I am not weirded out since we can even learn magic spells into this world, I can even summon my Versatile Weapon without a problem here too, therefore, the spirits from that world can also enter here without a doubt. "So I have to fight against you to prove myself, right?" "Yes. That is right." "However, I don''t have my weapon right now. How can I even fight you?" "In this space, your weapon is considered connected to this ce due to the main reason it devoured my weapon whole. If that is the case, you can pull it out to aid you in this battle. I am not giving you a disadvantage. This is a trial to see whether you are worthy of using my weapon and carrying the curse." I see. A trial. Does that mean King Goliath also did this thing before? Maybe so. However, since the Versatile Weapon is currently devouring the Weapons of Pride, the only thing I can do is win this. Since I am familiar with conjuring the Versatile Weapon in my world, it seems it works the same way here. "[Materialize]!" A surge of my mana has been sucked dry and the Versatile Weapon materialized in my hands. From the looks of it, it seems the Versatile Weapon I summoned in this ce is the one that has not yet devoured the Weapons of Pride. "Looks like you also noticed it. Yes, the Weapons that have been devoured have not yet been applied to your weapon. Before it can even apply, the trial must bepleted." "So in short, I just needed to defeat you right?" "Basically, yes." "Then, bring it on so that I can rest," I changed the Versatile Weapon into a Magic Sword. However, I realized that I can''t use my abilities here like the [ming Sword]. Perhaps the only thing I can use is the skills I learned in real life. Not a problem. "Heh, you are a gutsy one." When I blinked, he disappeared from my field of view. ''So fast!'' He was quick and before he can even do anything to me, I immediately used my Versatile Weapon and blocked his iing attack. BANG! He bashed his shield straight to me and although I managed to fully block it, that doesn''t mean I am out of danger just yet. "You are wide open!" I quickly move to the side allowing me to dodge the spear but I didn''t fully dodge it since it managed to graze a bit of my left cheek. The pain stings and despite the fact that I am not in the real world and it still is painful means all the injuries I am obtaining right now can also transfer in the real world if I am not totally careful. Quickly kicking him to the abdomen, I managed to get out of his range. With the new distance, that should be fair enough I think, and changed the weapon''s form into a Cannon. The gun would be too underwhelming and a bow and arrow, or maybe a crossbow are also out of the question. The only way to prate the shield is by either brute-forcing the shield off, or by going head to head. I will lose if I do the head-to-head right now. Compared to King Goliath''s fighting style which is pretty boring, this one is already pressuring me. Not only that, but I can''t use magic and some of the skills I have in the game. The only thing I can do is to at least make sure to defeat him before he can do anything to me. He ms down the shield to the ground and he started to sprint towards me. I thought he will be doing a shield bash then charge so I fired the cannon but before I knew it, the cannonball didn''t even managed to do a single thing as it breaks the cannonball to pieces. HIs advance didn''t stop and when he was near me, the spear he is using is thrown straight and ising towards my area. I was surprised that I immediately dodged away from the spear but little did I know that was just a distraction. When I dodge away from his spear, the shield is immediately iing to my face. BANG! It was a square hit to my face. I felt like my whole head has been stomped by an elephant or something by just that alone. It''s much different from the attack that King Goliath did. And before I can recover, he kicked me on my chin. My lower jaw felt like it has dislocated. But thanks to that, the dull pain from the bash of the shield stopped and I managed to recover my stance immediately. I used my hand to stop the advance of my body from mming to an invisible wall and immediately dodge the iing attack of his spear once more. The shield almost returned to my face but I was quick and changed the form of my weapon into a bo staff, allowing me to escape the attack of his shield. While I was sent mid-air using my bo staff, I used this opportunity to deal an attack against him. By changing the form of the Bo staff into a hammer and using the height between me and him to unleash a strong hammer m. DENG! But the hammer m I expected to be impactful once itnds didn''t even do a jack sh*t on it and ended up very weak in the process as itnded to his shield. "Nice work trying to utilize the hammer m power but unfortunately, that isn''t nearly enough to pass an attack to me." He then swings his shield and I was also swung away from him. Thankfully, it didn''t do any damage to me but just by that, it was clear that his shield is as same as the unbeatable shield that King Goliath did on our battle but differently done as this was the most aggressive attack stance I have found while fighting against someone who has the weapons of a pdin. Not only does he use the shield for shielding against the attacks but he uses it to fight back and bash enemies with it. "Looks like your skills are speaking indeed. I am even holding back since I know you can''t use your full potential just now but I can tell that you are indeed capable of doing what is needed." "Your ttering me but I know that isn''t enough. Enough crap! Let''s continue!" "Heh, being gutsy can bring trouble but that means you are brimming with confidence!" Then, I saw him put the shield on his back. "Despite the fact that you can''t even prate my shield, I will make an exception and fight you with my spear. However, don''t even think my spear is not enough to end your dreams, right here, right now." He disappeared again and this time, he appeared beside me and tried to cleave me with his spear. I quickly stopped it, but it isn''t enough to barely block it. Once I managed to block the spear, he rotated the spear and used the dull end of the spear and remove my blocking sword off. I am wide open so I immediately back away from a distance before he can even unleash the spear''s stabbing mode. He struck his spear to the ground and using the long length of the spear, he used the force from the slightly bent spear to vault towards my position. He brought along his spear so when hended, the spear is also there and is currently in cleaving attack. That''s when I activated Parry with my katana in an iaido style. Who would have thought the teachings of the old man in parry woulde in handy against the cleaving attack of this guy using his spear. He was taken aback since I managed to sent back a response against him but that only made his blood pumping. "Heh, you are making quite a good amount of good moves, boy. Entertain me more." I can tell, from his movements, he isn''t even trying at all. He is just toying me, checking whether I am even worthy of the spear at all. However, he shouldn''t also underestimate someone whosted long in a hellish katana training that the old man did for me. Focusing my senses, I grip the hilt of my katana, I waited for a little bit before I sh the katana up in the air, prompting the guy to stop in his tracks. Chapter 340 - Amalgamation I know that he is strong but this is just insane. I can barely block his attacks and even if I tried to trick him into a feint, he easily saw through it and avoid it like nothing. He was very strong that even when I am using my katana, it is still not doing quite well enough against him. Even with my knowledge in battle and countless experiences on the battlefield, it seems like it is nothingpared to him. "I admit you have the skills but you don''t have enough power to fight toe to toe with me." I grit my teeth as blood spills through my severed right arm. As much as I want to stay in a fight, I am already having a hard time stopping the bleeding on my right arm. I had to bite the hilt of my katana just to properly hold it as my left arm is trying to suppress the bleeding effect of my right arm. "I guess I went too overboard huh?" He scratches his head as he stares at the injuries that I suffered in his hands. "From the looks of it... I failed right?" I struggled as the pain is still lingering. It might not be as painful as my head earlier but it was still painful nheless and the fact that I lost an arm from the battle, is an automatic F grade and can be already said to be a failure in a trial. "Fail? No, no. You are mistaken. You passed with flying colors." "Huh?" "You think you failed because you got defeated right? Well, that is an obvious thing, kid. No one can defeat me inbat if not for the curse, I wouldn''t have died. Still, managing to fight against me for quite a long time is something else. Anyone who might have fought me the moment I attack them is also the day they might have breathed theirst. You on the other hand only lost an arm and a few fatal wounds but other than that, you are still pretty much alive. That is already pretty impressive." "I..." "Since you passed the trial, the amalgamation of my weapon and your weapon will soon be done the moment you wake up. Also, I will be erasing this memory that transpired here. You will only think it''s just a passing dream and nothing more. After all, it''s still not yet the right time." "What do you..." before I can say what I needed to say, my consciousness cks out and I lost all of the senses I have. ... "Are you sure this is alright?" the guy turned to look at the figure before him. "Yeah, this is fine." "Are you sure he will be the one who will change everything?" "The world has already done a reset once and the only one who can change everything is him. Our role is just to watch him and see him do his decision, whether he seeds or not. We are not here to interrupt, we are here to guide him," the figure stares at the unconscious "body" of Manato. "The wheels of fate are already doing their motion. Things won''t be as smooth as it is right now." ... ... ... "HA!" I opened my eyes as I felt like my body has been pulled out from the depths of the abyss. I was so surprised that I didn''t get to respond to what happened to me. Then I just remembered, I was suffering from a very bad headache. And from the looks of it, I lost consciousness after trying to hold the pain in my head. That was the most painful experience I have ever experienced in my whole life including the past timeline. It''s just too unforgettable and I don''t think I will forget it anytime soon. I tried stretching my body and arms after a long sleep when a pang of pain suddenly crawls on my right arm. It onlysted for a bit but it was something familiar to me. However, for some unknown reason, I don''t think I can remember it. My body seems to remember it but my mind seems like it refused to listen. Did I do something while I was unconscious? No, that shouldn''t be the case. Just looking at my arm, there is nothing here that would make me wince in pain. There isn''t even any sort of bruise here that would cause me to feel that pain I felt earlier. Is it because of my sleeping position after I lost my consciousness? Perhaps that was it. Thankfully, the pain in my head is no longer present. I don''t even feel it anymore which means the process might be done already. But I still didn''t want to go to the game and check it out. I have to spend a single day of rest ying the game straight. I still needed to bnce reality and games after all, I check the time and it''s already 11 45 A.M. It seems I already missed my breakfast but that doesn''t matter, I can still go on without one. I should take an early lunch instead. When I got outside the room, I heard voices in the dining room so perhaps they are already eating their lunch much earlier. I didn''t go straight to the dining room and went to the bathroom and decided to take a bath for now. I feel so grimy from all the sweat that umted in my body after the terrible headachest night. ... I just used the shower as an easy way to get rid of the grime since heating water will take some time to finish. Besides, the water is not that cold and it is faster this way. Maybe I would soak in hot waterter this evening but right now, I don''t think it''s necessary for me. As I wipe off the grime in my body, the water that passes through my body slowly turned ck and I was startled. I thought the water is dirty so I tried to grab a container if the water is dirty but it turns out it is not as I noticed that the water that came in contact with my body turns that dirty after. "The f*ck? Is this how dirty my body has be? I am sure I take a bath at least twice a day and even on times I didn''t interact with others, I still take my bath regrly. So this amount of grime is absolutely impossible to umte in just one night. It took me a few hours before the water no longer turned ck. It didn''t smell but it was unpleasant to see, knowing that my body is this dirty. I made sure to take a few cleanse with soap just to make sure my body is clean. When I got out of the bathroom, Janus was outside the door. "Hey, man. It''s almost 4 hours you spent in the bathroom, are you doing something miraculous there or something?" "No, I am just taking a normal bath. What the heck are you talking about doing something miraculous, I only do that if I am in my room!" "No, seriously dude. That wasn''t a normal amount of time spent in a shower. If anyone was in a hurry and needed to shower, they would have been immediately going to enter the bath the moment you enter the room." "Dude, this is not the toilet for someone to be in a hurry to enter it. This is the shower room, anyone can take their time in leisure to spend inside the bath and no one needs to take a bath as soon as possible, that wouldn''t make sense instead." He argued with me for a bit but I didn''t tell him about the ck grime in my body after I took a shower. He doesn''t need to know about it anyway as it doesn''t involve him in any way. The siblings greeted me before they entered their rooms. They are currently going back to the Alternate World when I arrived so I just had the wrong timing. Pandora and her brother would still have yet toe back so the only people wandering around the house are the siblings and Janus. Thankfully, the siblings are quite diligent in cleaning, or else, Janus would surely make some clutter here and there that would make me feel a headache. ... "Yo, Manato. Have you already registered for the school enrollment? It''s already ongoing. Riko and I already did our enrollment. We didn''t disturb youst time since you don''t want to be disturbed while doing the quests but now that you are already out of the game, I thought you might need to remember it." "Is that so? It seems I missed the first day of registration huh?" Due to my focus on the game for the past few days, I didn''t expect I would forget about it. This shouldn''t be happening with my eidetic memory. However, maybe this was just the cause of me paying much more attention to the game rather than school. It might not be as interesting in the game but perhaps, with all the changes that happened due to my actions, there might be some changes I have not expected. Chapter 341 - Enrollment The enrollment in our school just started during the time when I am still at the Aquagius. Of course, I am free to not attend this school year but I still wanted to finish my studies. Of course, I can easily rx since I already memorized and learned most of the things that are going to be covered in this school year. I can even sleep in ss and still get myself to ace the exams. I am not bragging, this is just how it is especially if you have already experienced everything. After the reminder of Janus to me to sign up for the enrollment, I remembered that this school year would be the most chaotic time of the year due to some incidents that urred. It''s not particrly bad in terms of my own experience but there are people who would be suffering from this school year and Janus would be injured in the process. I already inquired how he is holding up with the mana training and although he has progressed for quite a bit, it doesn''t mean he is strong enough. He still hasn''t learned anything that can help defend himself. Still, I need to take note that there are some things that I will have to interfere in which I didn''t have a chance to do in the past timeline. I know I will be changing lots of things right now but that doesn''t matter anymore. I just needed to improvise, adapt and ovee all of the new things that will happen in consequence of my actions. ... The next day, I went out for the first time after my seclusion in ying. I also n to get a haircut since my hair is getting fairly long and the bangs are fairly annoying in the face too. I didn''t use the car and used my motorcycle instead. The school might be far but using a car just to reach it is like saying I am flexing it. I might have used the car if Janus and Riko haven''t done their enrollment but they are already done with theirs so I don''t need to carry a bigger vehicle to go. After wearing my casual clothes, I plugged in my headphones to my ears and went to the school with my ride. It took around 15 minutes before I arrived at the campus. The school grounds are already full of students filing up their enrollment forms. If only they have an online enrollment then I don''t have to go through this every time I wanted to enroll for the next semester. Since I already know the protocol and procedure, the process was over in just a moment. Who would have thought that it would be this easy? I think I had a hard time in the past timeline enrolling here and was stuck until the afternoon. With the enrollment done for the day, I was about to leave when someone called me. "Hey, Manato!" Just from hearing the voice, I can immediately tell it is another motherf*cker which is Teruyama, the guy who tried to invite me in in his guild by offering to use a free Reality Verse Cabin. I can also tell that he is with his friends so I didn''t even respond to him. I don''t want to associate with them so I immediately went off and started walking, pretending to not hear his calls. "Oy! Manato! I know you can hear me! You are not deaf!" I did not turn around to face him. It was a waste of time and just continued to walk faster. But this bastard was actually persistent. And what annoyed the sh*t out of me is that he pulled off my headphones when one of my favorite songs just started ying "Hey, You should stop listening to your crappy songs while someone is-" he didn''t even get to say anything when my right hand wrapped around his neck tightly. "You dare pull off the headphones in my ears? You unrespectful bastard!" "UGH! Bro... I can''t... breathe..." That''s when I realized that I gripped his neck hard. It''s a shame I didn''t even go all out. Dammit. I released him from my grip and he started coughing hard. Hisckeys immediately started helping him. Then a girl appeared and tried to p me but as I always say, these kinds of actions are too predictable to me and even if I close my eyes, I can easily block them. "E-eek?! What the-" "If you want to p me for no reason, be sure that the one you wanted to p wouldn''t p you back." I looked at the girl who was trying to p me and I was right in my hunch. This girl is none other than Ayane Mikojin You can say she is a rich brat of a girl who splurges her money whenever she wanted to. She is the girlfriend of Teruyama due to the fact that her family and Teruyama''s family are both partners in business and this two are childhood friends. They would be the ideal couple for this school if not for their bad behavior. "Y-you! Release you filthy-ack!" my grip in her hands started to squeeze harder, causing her to feel the pain. "And who are you for me to threaten me? I didn''t do anything to you and you would suddenly try to p me, isn''t that unreasonable?" "Manato! Stop it! I was just calling you! Why the heck would you not even respond?" "Because I didn''t want to? Is there any reason why would I respond?" "What did you just say, you pipsqueak?! Can''t you see Teru is talking to you politely?!" he was about to attack me when I tighten the grip more on Ayane''s hands. "Aaaahh! It h-hurts..." "If you try to attack, the arm of this girl will surely be broken. Whatever you are nning to do, be sure to do it quickly or this girl will go to the hospital. "F*CK! Alright! Don, stop. Manato, let her go now." "Give back my headphones." Teruyama handed me my headphones while I let Ayane go after I received the headphones. "If the reason you keep calling me is to recruit me in ying Alternate World, then don''t bother. I am not interested in your offer. So if you have no more business with me, then go and scram, you are ruining my day." Teruyama has no choice but to back off and leave. Thankfully, not so many have seen the situation so no one flocked around as everyone is busy with the enrollment that they don''t even bother what is happening unless something really big has urred. I know Ayane''s personality and her parents will not just take this lightly especially since their daughter has been hurt in the process. Of course, I didn''t care. Thest thing I would worry about is them as they are not even worth my time to consider my attention. If things get real serious, I can tell they will hire goons to attack me or if they want me down, maybe assassins. "Damn, they are all so stressful to handle..." ... After the small incident, I went to the usual hair salon that knows how to cut my hair and groom it properly. It only took a few minutes before the trimming on my hair is done. I happily handed them a big amount of tip due to how they keep my hair quite cool and clean with professionalism. After my hair is done, I went to the ce where I parked my motorcycle. However, the first thing I have seen is the broken look of my vehicle and beloved motorcycle that I used back when I was delivering. Not only does it look like it was scrapped, but it also looks like it has been thrashed so hard that it won''t run after taking quite a beating. The ones responsible are a few biker gangs that thrashed it with their pipes and baseball bats. People didn''t want to get involved as these guys seem scary and from the looks of it, they seemed to have paid the patrol guards to not interfere seeing that they are not even responding even if some violence is happening. Money is quite scary indeed if used in this matter. I am so pissed that I grinned maniacally at them. "Are you the guys who started breaking my bud?" The one with mohawk hair turned to look at me and grinned. "Oh? So you must be the owner of this junk? Ah sorry, it seems like it was your unlucky day. You can say that someone wanted it down." "Is that so? Then that means there is no need for some talks." Without a warning, I punched the mohawk guy straight to his face in full power. The result? He was sent flying in a distance beforending on the wall with a small crater. "So, who wants to be simr to the state of my motorcycle? " Chapter 342 - "Bring Me To Your Boss, He Must Be Waiting For Me." CRACK! "GYAAAAAAHHHH!" Two of the gangsterckeys screamed together as their arms are twisted at a very bad angle. It was so bad anyone wouldn''t like to see it. The other gangsters stepped back seeing how I easily overpowered two unsuspecting gangsters down by just grabbing their arms. I also just realized my grip is getting stronger as just a single twist already breaks their arms. They can''t me me for they have already crossed the line by breaking my beloved motorcycle that has been with me for a year now and has been my partner in my jobs. "What are you all doing?! He is just one guy! Take him down!" Some of the gangsters were hesitant but those who have some burly-looking hands decided to obey the order and attack using their baseball bats and metal pipes. Due to how amateurish their fighting style was, the first two guys carrying weapons were the first people I decided to show who they are messing with by easily catching the baseball bats and metal pipes they are carrying. A single twist and the baseball bat were broken to pieces and the metal pipe was twisted enough for the one carrying it to get scared and release the pipe from his hands. "MONSTER!" The gangsters started running away, ignoring the calls of their leader. "Hey! Cowards! Why are you guys running away!?" The others who saw the events that transpired also decided to run away without a second thought, leaving their leader who is scared sh*tless. He also decided to turn tail but before he can do so, my hands have already made their way straight to his neck. "And where do you think you are running off into?" "GAAAHH! Please spare me! I will do anything! Just please don''t kill me! GAH!" "Who sent you?" "Wha?" BANG! I bash the head of the gangster to the wall but not strong enough for him to faint. "Answer my question or the next time you fail to answer, your head will surely be embedded into this wall." "I-I don''t know! It was an old man in a suit inside a ck tinted car that looks like fancy as heck! I don''t who he is but he said that you are the target and they paid us some hefty amount to do the job!" My hunch is correct. Before the gangster can respond, I bashed his head to the wall but not enough to bust his head into the wall, just enough that he will copse in the process. He didn''t get to say anything after that and copsed. I looked at my motorcycle''s poor state and decided to carry it to a repair shop. It might have been thrashed enough by them but it can still be repaired by recing some parts it has. But goddang, they have to do it so bad, I think I have to withdraw some money to pay an additional price. Guess I will have to walk home today. ... After carrying my broken motorcycle to the shop, the mechanic said that the motorcycle will have to be in the shop for 3 days due to how beat up the motorcycle was. They will have to put some brand new parts in the process. "This is why I hate dealing with Teruyama and anyone who is connected to him. What an unlucky day for me." It was clear that the one who asked for my motorcycle to be destroyed is Ayane''s father. With her daughter''s hand injured due to my grip, he will not take this lightly since he really loves his daughter and dotes her too much. As much as Teruyama has been offended by my actions earlier, I can immediately vouch that he is not the one who did this to me. Despite the fact that I hate that guy to the bone, he will be the first person I will cross out of my list when ites to my suspects. He is a careful guy and he has a reputation he wanted to protect. It was due to how his father put him in surveince so that once he finds the actions of his son satisfactory, his father will allow him to inherit all of the businesses and money as a sessor. One wrong move and everything will go downhill for him and until then, he has to y it safe. Since the gangster earlier described the man who paid him to do the deed, I am now 100% sure of the culprit which is none other than Ayane''s father. I don''t know what he is nning but if I try to guess it, I may have a good hunch on his next action after destroying my motorcycle. "Heh, should we y a bit and see if my hunch is correct?" ... I decided to walk instead of riding a taxi or a cab. I needed to test my hunch. Minutester, when there are no one else on the streets and I am in the dark area, a ck van went to the side of the road and forcefully pulled me inside. They even put a handkerchief with chloroform in it. These guys are professional in doing it since they really doused the handkerchief with the chemical to make me unconscious. However, this thing is barely effective and it became a joke instead for me who already got quite a resistance in things like this. Unless it is a very strong poison, things in this caliber won''t even work at me. "You guys, should at least try a bit harder alright?" "Wha-? Howe he is knocked out?! I made sure to douse the handkerchief with chloroform!" one of the kidnappers groaned. "Bro, are you serious? Do you think those things in the movies and television series have the same effect in the real world? You are just wasting your effort!" another one criticized his actions. "He is right, you know? You are just wasting indeed your effort for doing so." "Hey, you shut up or we will- GAHHHHH!" the burly guy holding me screamed when I grip his muscle arm tight. "Did you really think I am afraid of your crap? Get it straight to the point and send me to the one who made you guys do it." "Don''t you dare think we can-" one of thenkyckeys tried to say something when the driver next to him ps his head real hard. "Shut it, we already got him, we don''t need to be involved with him and we can be done with our job. We just needed to bring him to the boss right? We don''t need to be beaten up to a pulp in the process. Unless you want to experience it then I wee you to continue." Thenky guy stopped and stayed silent. As for me, I silently pull out my phone and plug in my earphone. "Hey! Why are you using your phone?" one of theckeys tried to confiscate my phone but I quickly evaded his grab and raised my phone. "You try the same thing and I will send you to hell." The big guy beside me just nodded and signed to him, probably saying, "Let him do it." I am not nning to call the police. The police will have a bad bias in this process and they will clearly just dismiss the event as nothing happened so it is a waste of time. What I am doing is listening to music while I am being "delivered" to the boss. "Goddamn it! This is the first time I had a hostage to be this rxed! What the hell? Why are we the most tensed instead of him?!" theckey groaned. "Hahaha, just let it be man. Every day, you experience something new. Enjoy your experiences to the fullest. Who knows, you might be able to tell your son or daughter one day how you got someone like me on board, making my kidnappers in a very tense situation." "Graah! Damn it all!" I can onlyugh at him as I started to rx in the backseat while listening to some of my favorite music. As for the others, they are clearly avoiding me to have eye contact with them. It was kinda funny, to be honest. Seeing them be the ones in a more tense situation, it was like the roles were reversed and they were the ones abducted and held hostage instead of me. It would be a funny headline if they found out about this incident. "We are here." The driver pulled over and the big guyckey escorted me out of the car. In front of me is the tall building I saw in the distance, a bit farther from the Nexus Company building, far enough to walk on foot but near enough if you have a car and you can see the Nexus Company just in the distance. "Bring me to your boss, he must be waiting for me." Chapter 343 - The Laid-Back Hostage After the gangsters dropped me in front of the building, they didn''t even hesitate to close the van and drive away from the ce. It was like they are avoiding a gue or something simr though I am quite sure I am the main reason they decided to leave quickly. To them, it is crazy for someone to not be worried and be nonchnt about the situation. Someone who still has the gut to threaten the kidnappers on what to do is someone that is not to be messed with. Thankfully, the leaders of those guys are smart enough to know that I am not someone they can easily mess with. They really did the smartest move. Now that they dropped me in front of thepany, I am quite sure they are already waiting for me. Upon entering the building, two guards stopped me in my tracks. "What is your business with here, boy?" the more muscr security guard blocks the way using hisrge body, trying to intimidate me with his muscles. Too bad, I am not even the slightest affected by his disy. "Why are you asking me? Shouldn''t your boss know? I am dragged here by his men forcefully and now you are asking me? You guys are just wasting my time." I was about to go back when a guy who looks like a bodyguard of a big shot appeared. "He is saying the truth, let him in." When the bodyguard-looking guy gives permission, the guards no longer block the way and let me through without any difficulty. "The president is waiting." I nodded and followed the guy straight to the elevator. He didn''t say anything but I can see written in his face the confusion. Perhaps he is confused on why I am not being escorted by anyone and perhaps on my behavior. As someone who has been taken forcefully, no one would act like it''s nothing to them. Soon, we reach the top floor where the president, Ayane''s father is currently on. The office is the typical boss office, with a long table with documents, an openptop, some books and papers of the work. The view outside the building can be clearly seen due to the clear ss that serves as the only barrier between the inside and outside. Maybe all boss offices are simr to this especially if you are a rich man. The chair of the boss is currently facing behind so he has not seen me just yet. Currently, his secretary seems to be feeding him. Damn, what azy bum. "So, did you guys manage to bring him here, very good." "..." From the looks of it, he didn''t know that the men he hired to kidnap me did not escort me at all. He is just assuming I was being escorted by them. "Hey, why are you guys not talking at all. You guys are a noisy bunch, to begin with so why..." he turned around and stopped talking when he saw me grinning at him. "Heh, why are you talking to people who didn''t exist here? Are you some kind of an idiot?" The old man is visibly shocked. He looked at the bodyguard who escorted me to this ce. "What is going on?! Where are those numbskulls?! I clearly ordered them to bring the hostage here, then why is the hostage here all alone?! Where the f*ck are they?!" "Ah, them? They are smart enough to leave before things get really bad. It seems those guys are hesitating." The old man frowned. He then does a sign and from the looks of it, it''s amand to his bodyguard. It was a quick sign but the bodyguard quickly pulled out a firearm. So he is nning to interrogate me huh? But, this is too slow. "[Shockwave]" It was just a blink of an eye but a thunderp urred inside the office and the bodyguard who was just about to point the pistol to me copsed, releasing the pistol from his grasp. "Gotcha..." I grinned as I catch the pistol in my hands. They might not look identical but this one functions simrly to the gun in Alternate World, right? I started spinning the gun in my hands and look at the baffled old man. "I don''t know why you wanted to threaten me over the fault of your daughter. And besides, it was just a slight injury, so why would you go to the lengths of doing this?" "You don''t understand me. I will do anything to appease my daughter. She is my one and only daughter and my only treasure. If something happened to her, I will not forgive myself. So seeing an injury on her arm made me want to punish the person who did it. I am not wrong aren''t I?!" I see. So he was just doting to his daughter. I don''t know the main details but I heard Ayane''s mother passed away while Ayane is still a kid. He is just spoiling his daughter since his wife is not there. However, it seems like this kind of growth made Ayane a spoiled b*tch that didn''t know danger or anything. Perhaps she thinks no one can defy her father. Well, they are not that bad, but they still needed some lessons. Doing something like this just because you have the power to do so, is not something I would tolerate. What if they shed with someone who is not capable of defending themselves? Someone''s life would be ruined due to Ayane''s toxic way of understanding things. And the first step on that is through the main source, the father of Ayane. "Your fatherly instincts are not wrong. It is the duty of a father to protect their family, however, your way of sheltering your daughter is too much that I am sure you will destroy someone else''s life in the process." "And who are you to say something like that?! Remember that you are in my territory. One wrong move from you and your life will be over!" "Whoa, scary. So, what do you want me to do, scream and beg for forgiveness to your daughter? Then call your daughter. It would be hical for me to apologize to someone like you whom I didn''t do anything with." "Huh...you got a point there," the old man grinned and he pushed a button on hisptop. Then I heard the voice of Ayane on the other side of the line. "Dad? Why did you call me? Perhaps it is done?" "He is now asking for your presence so that he can apologize." "Ah, yes. That''s great! I will be there in a moment!" Wow, the little b*tch is so eager to see me suffer huh? Damn, I underestimated the high pride of this woman in the past timeline, a good thing I didn''t cross with her much despite being with Teruyama most of the time. This f*cker has a loose screw on her brain. "My daughter can decide whether you can live tomorrow to see the light. Perhaps you should already pray for what is going to happen." "Meh, boring," I grumbled and sits down on the floor. Since I have nothing to do, I decided to start disassembling the gun. It is a licensed pistol from the bodyguard and it cannot bepared to the pistols that America has but this is still a real deal gun. Maybe seeing what is inside might allow me to have an inspiration in creating guns in Alternate World since it is one of the troublesome things I have a hard time creating. Without a real gun as reference, I can only go to the inte and search about it but nothing beats a real gun disassembly experience than in real life. Damn, how long before I can get out of here though? Author, can you do something about it? Give me some plot armor or something for me to get out of this mess. "W-what are you doing?" "Are you blind? I am disassembling the gun." "You *sshole, I am just trying to hold back because you are just a kid but the way your tone is towards someone older than you is getting irritating. Annie, silence him, will you?" The secretary slightly unbutton her blouse, exposing her cleavage. It seems she did it for thefort of moving in rapid speed. "Understood." And in a single blink of an eye, she disappeared beside him and appeared behind me. It was fast, but not fast enough that I can''t keep up. FWIP! "What?!" the female secretary was visibly shaken when I catched her knife that was meant to be used as a tool for threatening me. "Imend your speed in using the knife. However, it was just not fast enough for me to not see. Give it up. I am not interested in dealing with you." I easily pulled off the knife in her hands and send it to the table of the old man. "You better behave or the next time you do something, you are going down from this floor immediately without using an elevator or stairs. Stay put like a dog, okay?" Chapter 344 - "I鈥檒l Give You A Hand" The old man seems to have gotten intimidated by my warning. It was just a little warning and not a threat but that depends on the listener whether they take it seriously or not. Just based on his reaction, he did take it seriously but there is no need for me to say anything, he doesn''t deserve it. CLACK! Alright, I have assembled the gun back to its former self. Still, it is kind of surprising that it has only a fewponents to assemble. I thought it has a bit of moreplicated parts but it turns out it''s not that much. I can also replicate this as much in the game, allowing me to create a more powerful pistol that is custom-created and can hold multiple bullets. Since most guns in Alternate World is just simr to a revolver. I heard some gunslingers have those customized guns but it was never released in public and no one else has it. While still inspecting the assembled gun, the door opened and someone entered the room. "FATHER!" Oh, looks like the main star of the show is here." "Ayane! Come here to papa." My face twitched when I heard what the old man said. I heard these kinds of phrases in movies and some television series but this is the first time for me to hear them in real life. As someone who never show this kind of affection to my own father, hearing those words from my father would just make him look ridiculous. Even if I have a daughter I will love very much in the future, this kind of greeting is not something I would consider saying to my daughter at all. "Papa, where is he?" Ayane asked her father. "Are you looking for me?" She then turned around and saw the secretary and bodyguard who are now unconscious after they tried to attack me. They are not dead but they will surely take some time waking up. "Huh? Papa, why is this guy not tied up?! I needed him to taste the pain I have suffered!" Pain? How sensitive are you to resort to kidnapping and torture? "Oy, Ojou-chan. I know you wanted to take revenge but isn''t this too much? I didn''t even break your arm and only grip it a bit harder than usual. Just putting a coldpress and putting on a bandage will heal it immediately. Isn''t that much easier than doing something like this?" "He got a point there, my daughter. Isn''t it much easier than doing this? Besides, I think we just have offended someone we shouldn''t have." "But Papa... I crave violence!" Damn, this woman is dangerous as heck. How could Teruyama manage to control and tame this woman? Even I wouldn''tst if your wife is like this "Sir, your daughter needs help. She seriously needed it." "Papa, I want him dead right now." "Huh?!" her father was shocked by what she just said. That is not something a normal sane person will say, This is already escting quickly. "Sir, she needed urgent help. I will give you a hand." Before the old man can say anything, I appeared before her and grab her shoulders. "Oy, wake up from reality you b*tch." SLAP! That was a strong p as it immediately caused her cheeks to swell reddish. But that is not enough. SLAP! "Hey...kid..." the old man is speechless while Ayane cannot respond immediately with her cheeks being pped before she can proceed in talking. "P-Papa!" The old man can no longer stay put on his chair and decided to attack me. "Stay put old man, you are not part of educating her." With a flick on my finger to the old man''s forehead, I put him to sleep like the rest of the guys. "Now, it''s time for some spanking!" "NOOOOOOO!" ... An hourter... Her cheeks are already too swollen that she can no longer speak. Her pretty face is no longer visible. It was too battered now that I can tell she will go berserk after she recovers. Using a few of my abilities, I pinch a nerve using my mana on her brain and used some memory wipe ability. It''s not permanent but this should be enough. She might have survived today but the moment she does another kind of shenanigans once again, I won''t hesitate to break her face to pieces. If only killing is legal, then she would be on the news tomorrow. It''s not a perfect memory wipe but it is enough for me to wipe out what happened during the day that involved me. Whenever she tries to remember it, she will receive a massive headache. I did this to her father, bodyguard, and secretary. Now that it was over, time to go back. "Thanks for showing me the gun. I don''t want to be captured by the cops by having this with me and this is useless for me so I will be giving this back. Next time you guys cross my way again with me and do the same thing to me, perhaps the death''s door will be open next time. You guys should be lucky right now since I don''t want to be captured by cops in the process. I am bad at cleaning crime scenes." After doing the deed, I ce them back to where they look like they copsed all of a sudden. I look around the ce and thankfully, there were no CCTV cameras installed. Must be my lucky day. Before they woke up, I escaped using Teleport and teleported back home. ... 2 days have passed by and thankfully, they didn''t appear to make trouble again. From the looks of it, the memory wipe worked perfectly as intended. Currently, I am in the workshop inside the castle of Queen Tanya. Since no one is working inside and she only tends to visit the ce whenever she is in the mood of creating something, she allowed me to use the ce. As for Tina, she decided to report the incident to Queen Tanya. From the looks of the talks, it seems Tina already announced her withdrawal as the rightful heir to be the Queen and ruler of the insect kingdom. With the chaotic situation of the Insect Kingdom and how King Goliath handle the chaos perfectly, it was now a wonder who will be the next ruler of the ce now that Pierre and Alexandria are missing? No one knows and it seems Tina has no care who will be one. "Now. It seems the Versatile Weapon is still not ready and until it is not yet ready, I will not bother to venture out and do some dungeon dives as I will be forced to fight unorthodoxly and I have to switch weapons every now and then especially since my ability build is bnced and spread out to all sses. Also, with this free time, I can just go and level up my EX Jobs. The alchemist EX Job is properly leveled and easy to do allowing me to create multiple potions. The scribe EX Job is also pretty easy and since I didn''t use much of my scrolls in a battle, there is no need for me to replenish them. The only thing that is hard to level up is the EX Job cksmith. Compared to the other two, cksmithing requires a lot of time and effort. And to level up your job to a higher level, you need to create a high-quality weapon in the process. Spamming on creating a usual weapon like normal swords or armor doesn''t give many benefits, in fact, it, doesn''t even have much experience given. The only time it gives a lot of experience is during the time you create something for the first time. That is why creating things with unique looks and unique properties, allows you to raise the level of the job much faster. Right now, I am creating some molds for me to replicate a gun in real life to Alternate World. I am quick at creating them but I needed a good quality once it is formed. [???] Quality: Normal Since this is a new creation, it isbeled as question marks. However, this isn''t what I wanted to make. Normal quality is weaker and doesn''t have much durability, therefore, this thing is a failure. However, that is fine as it is part of the trial and error. Alright, there are many materials that I can use in the process. It''s not using lots of materials so creating this one again and again to make a high-quality part will eventuallye. ... After 2 hours... "Finally..." The creation of the thing took quite some time. I have used plenty of the materials but the end result always ends up at Normal Quality. I thought it wouldn''t appear but who would have thought I would get lucky after using lots of materials in the process.. The first part which is the muzzle for the gun has finally emerged as Unique quality. Chapter 345 - Guns And Steel The creation of guns might not be much but I find them fun in their own right whenever I use them. Maybe because the only way to see guns in action would be in games and in movies. Their lethality is something else and it looks really cool when you shoot and spin them in your finger after. Of course, that is just from me who only managed to hold a real gun for the first time in my life. Sure, there are guns in some shooting range but they mostly have shotguns there most of the time so I am not so thrilled about it. I also find it a bit fun creating the parts though the materials are quickly running dry by just creating them. Luckily, I managed to remember the exact way to craft them to keep producing items of simr quality. Now, time to make the other parts and make sure they will be produced in the same quality. But since this is a different part of the gun, I would have to do another trial and error until I manage to pull the quality I needed to have on the item. ... Thankfully, after getting the hang of creating a good timing on the hammering process and heating process, the metals came good as they should have been. Thankfully, the materials used most of the time for the items are aluminum and steel. I have plenty of ingots that I purchasedst time I have gone shopping in the Insect Kingdom. Due to their abundant amount of aluminum and steel ores, I managed to procure arge amount of them without the need for me to mine them on caves and have low chances to pull them. The second material was done and just like the first, it came out as Unique. As I was done making the second material, Queen Tanya entered the workshop alongside Tina. "Woah, hard work as always, and from the looks of what you are making, it seems you are making a gun? This is looking weird though." "Ah, I am indeed making a gun. Though I am making a gun that is capable of carrying multiple bullets and can reload at a much faster pace without the need for fast hands." "Oh, are you modifying the gun design? Interesting. You never fail to surprise me deheart," Queen Tanya nodded in satisfaction. "So, did you guys already finish what you are discussing?" "Yeah. We just did just now. I never expected you guys to meet up with some demons after trying to confront her parents. It looks like the demons have already sunken their teeth pretty deep in various ces huh? It looks like we have to increase the vignce in weird movements being conducted right under our noses or we would be the second Insect Kingdom and the Deep Sea Kingdom. It''s unfortunate what happened in the Deep Sea Kingdom but it was good that you guys have prevented quite arge scale of the close call demon invasion. It usually needed a huge army to be deployed to prevent that kind of catastrophe from happening." "We were just lucky enough that the demons were just beginning to mature before they could even do something much morerge scale. It would have been a potential disaster if that happened." "Yeah, good work out there. Since I requested you guys to go there to escort Tina but ended up tackling a much more dangerous and troublesome job, I will be giving you some rewards." "Nah, no worries, your Majesty. It''s not really something you should really be giving us a reward for. Since we are there for the purpose of escorting Tina, we only did something extra on the side, please no need to do so." "You are too modest, deheart but if you insist, I won''t be bothering to give you something trivial so how about an exclusive skill? It might still be a reward but that is much more useful for you in battlespared to some stuff right? I can give you gold but I can assume you don''t need it seeing you waste more materials so easily." "Since you insist, then please go ahead. I will receive them." "Just visit me in the throne room once you are ready to receive them. I can see that you are busy right now so I won''t go further to disturb you on your work." "Thank you." After that, Queen Tanya went back with Tina. Looks like they understood I need some focus on my work so they didn''t linger any further. Since the conversation is done, I went back to continue my own work. ... CLACK! "Phew!" I wipe off the sweat on my forehead. On the table is theplete weapon that I just forged. [???] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: Unique Tier Equippable at Level 105 Equippable by: Gunslinger, Versatile STR: +210 DEX: +150 Special skills 1. Rapid Gunfire: Unloads every single bullet loaded in the magazine of the gun to one target. Bullets will stop firing once the target dies before the magazine is emptied. MP: 50 Cooldown: Instant 2. Enhanced Bullet Pration: Increase the power of the fired bullet to prate shields, barriers, and armors. When imbued with this ability, there is a 50% chance to ignore shields and barriers and reduce 50% durability of the armor of the target. Only applies one bullet at a time and cannot be used together with [Rapid Gunfire]. MP: 100 Cooldown: 60 seconds Info: A weapon created from Pure Aluminum and Steel by sacrificing countless failures. A gun that has arger bullet capacity and slicker design than the normal gun. It also has a bit of a quieter bangpared to the other guns due to its design that suppresses a bit of its noise, perfect for using it on surprise operations. Due to how it can enhance the power of the bullet you can say that one shot into the head and you are dead. Note: This is America, my boy! You know the rules and so do I. Durability: 10, 000/10, 000 Damn, just by looking at the gun alone, I think I have overdone the creation of this thing, And I didn''t expect quite good skills embedded on it after I finished the gun. I thought it would be some sort of power-enhancing attack only but a skill that can immediately deal with a rapid-fire attack and a skill that acts simr to sniper bullets. With a 50% chance to ignore bullets, isn''t that something a sniper would really like to have? The increase in STR and DEX by just equipping this thing is much better than wearing some specific armor to increase DEX. Who would have thought I would make such a monstrosity alone. I already created a box of bullets with me and 10 magazines that contain 15 bullets in every piece which means I have 150 bullets ready. Since I have the approval of Queen Tanya to use the arena for testing, I can use it for my target practice. I know this is working but I don''t know how strong would it bepared to the revolver guns avable in this world. The arena is not upied by anyone at the moment so I am free to do my testing without hurting anyone, after all, this gun has the ability to prate shields and barriers. If you think about it, that ability alone is pretty much a broken thing already. After setting up the shooting range, I selected target dummies. I choose both the wooden and metal dummies as I will be testing their durability against a gunshot from the gun. Queen Tanya already mentioned that the dummies don''t need to be reced once broken since they automatically regenerate, saving me some time on this matter and I am not going to be worried if the dummies get broken in the process. The first target is the wooden dummy. Since I made it much easier in aiming, I didn''t have a hard time with aiming for the right spot without missing. BANG! The moment the gunshot urred, the wooden dummy is nowhere to be seen. No, it''s not like it disappeared out of thin air, it was just broken to splinters after a single shot. Yeah, a single shot, I haven''t used the [Rapid Gunfire] and [Enhanced Bullet Pration]. I didn''t expect it but is this some sort of broken skill? I am not sure what is happening but one thing is sure, this is just too broken. Too broken. Quickly swallowing up the results, I went to the metal dummy instead of the wooden dummy. Seeing how brittle the wooden dummy was against the gun, I think I needed something harder than wood. Surely, this can at least handle quite a bit of power right? BANG! Before I can react, the metal dummy that was hard enough to break in normal circumstances like being shot by normal guns, just like the wooden dummy has been reduced to splinters and pieces of scrap metal. One bullet at a time. "Sh*t, perhaps I have made something so overkill." Chapter 346 - Abnormal Gun This gun is not something I have seen with this destructive power. I still haven''t even used the skills to increase the pration power of the gun. So how does that happen? Does this weapon have some sort of hidden stat that I didn''t know for it to easily break the dummies? There is no way a gun like this can do something like this. It might have high stat modifiers but that is normal for a weapon that can be equipped at level 105 and above. So what is the main case on how this can be able to do that? Perhaps it''s a fluke that it managed to do that? Yeah, perhaps that is the case. Let''s do this again. I don''t believe it just managed to break things without much problem. I drag another set of dummies again, this time, all are made of metal. I didn''t drag out a wooden frame and decided to go straight to the metal. If the thing that happened earlier didn''t happen after this run, then everything was just a fluke and it happened by chance only. After setting up the ce, I aim the gun again and pulled the trigger. And just like before, this gun has proven that everything was not a fluke but everything is real. The metal dummy that I prepared to soak bullets with... is currently down on the ground, blown to pieces. "Sh*t...what the hell is this..." my hands shook while staring at the gun. This is beyond my expectation... I scratched my head and frown for a bit. Since the dummy can''t even handle the bullet alone, is there any way for me... "Damn, why didn''t I think about that sooner?" ... ... When I was done tidying up the arena, I went to Queen Tanya and Tina to head out for a bit. "Sorry for disturbing the rxation time you guys have right now, Your Majesty." Queen Tanya put down the teacup on her hands and looked at me with curiosity. "Hmmm... is this perhaps rted to the weapon you are making right now?" "Ah, yes. That is one of the reasons." "It seems like you have some problem with it huh? Then go ahead and do what you needed to do." "Thanks for the permission." "Honestly, you didn''t have to ask me for permission since I didn''t even keep you here as a prisoner. You are my guest so even if you leave without saying anything, I won''t be offended or anything." "Well, it''s quite rude if I just left so I decided to say something before I go out. Also, if you needed me for something, you can just simply look for me around the area instead of looking around the castle''s interior." "Well, you got a point there. Anyways, if you have some urgent matter to attend to, we wouldn''t hold you out any longer." "Thank you, Your Highness." After that, I left and went to the hostile desert area of Sandurk. It''s not that far from Queen Tanya''s castle, allowing me toe back whenever something happened. As for my reason foring here, it was due to one of the enemies that live here. You can say that they are the perfect recements for the dummies. There are already a few yers around the ce but I doubt they will notice me anyway. The area around the hunting grounds is pretty much wide and full of enemies. Not only that but since the gun doesn''t give a strong sound whenever a bullet is released, it''s not really that loud for anyone to notice my actions, unless they are indeed observing me. After walking for a bit, I finally found one of the targets that will be the perfect recement for the dummies. [Metal Armored Armadillo] Level 100 HP: 750,000/750,000 Type: Earth. Beast The Metal Armored Armadillo is one of the enemies with natural defense and can soak quite a lot of damage. This monster cannot be damaged whenever it curls itself into a ball so whenever it tries to open up from being curled up, that is always the moment to strike to kill one. Since its armor is too hard, that would the perfect one that will allow me to test the strength of this gun alone. There is no one who has been attacking these little guys because of how tricky they are to return to their normal form and give up on their curled-up form or perhaps I just arrived here where no one is here currently farming? Anyways, let''s test this one out, shall we? I saw one Metal Armored Armadillo currently curled up in the distance. It''s not too far but not too near either. It''s in a distance that is enough for my bullet to reach but not too far that it would miss. Now, time to see the action. BANG! The curled-up Metal Armored Armadillo rolled over after being shot. I thought it was about to uncurl itself until I saw the message after the bullet was shot. -you have killed a Metal Armored Armadillo. -got 13,000 EXP(received 5,000 additional EXP for performing an Instant Kill!)(Title Effects Activated, 18,000 bonus EXP earned. I can only facepalm the moment I read the message. The little guy didn''t even manage to even properly utilize its armor. It died before it can even respond or properly deflect the bullet it received. Damn, I don''t know what to feel. Whether to be happy or to be confused. Happy because I made such a good weapon but also confused since I don''t even know what to test it into to know how exactly the skills work. If normal mobs will not be able to handle the power of the gun, perhaps boss monsters will do the trick and will allow me to tank enemies. I mean, that would be too broken if this thing can one-shot almost everything. I mean, even the Versatile Weapon can be considered as a bnced weapon as I still needed to do my fair share of work to defeat an enemypared to this gun. One shot and it''s dead. I mean, I am notining but everything will be very easy and boring if that happens. After thinking for a bit, I decided to do a dungeon run. I didn''t fetch Tina since she won''t benefit in this dungeon run either due to the fact that she is already level 100, I am also nning to try and solo the dungeon all by myself for now. And since the Versatile Weapon is still in the process of digesting the Weapons of Pride, the only set of weapons I can use at the moment is this not-yet-named Pistol, and the Magic Sword I crafted which I called Magic Sword Fodder...Yes, I know it''s a sh*tty name but that is the only thing I can say for now about it. I don''t have anything to name it other than that. After all, it was meant to be a Versatile Weapon fodder, not meant to be a normal weapon I will usually use. If not for the restriction, I won''t be using it. The dungeon that I decided to raid is the Underground Tomb Dungeon. It''s a popr dungeon and yers will have a much easier time killing monsters fairly easily although they don''t have a fairly good amount of exp to be gained upon raiding the ce, the best reason they are raiding this ce is due to how you can farm gold ingots here by killing mummies which regrly spawns around. But that is not what I came here for. Mummies are naturally resistant against physical damage skills and basic attacks. This means that also included the pistol which is, by the way, a physical damage weapon. If that is the case, the weapon will not be capable of one shotting the enemy since it will then have some resistance against the shot. The only thing that they have a bit of weakness is, is elemental attacks, especially in magic attacks. Since guns do not possess those, perhaps, it will help me allow myself to test the power of the two skills it has. ... Many yers are shouting around, looking for party members. Some even tried to recruit me but I declined. After all, if something wrong happened, will they be happy to see it? Unless they are my friends, they won''t ever see anything on it. I went straight to the dungeon portal and selected the Hard Difficulty. I don''t want to increase the difficulty too much as it will just destroy me in the process. I will have to clear the dungeon and without my best weapon, challenging the Abyss level will be something I wouldn''t even bother challenging with these weapons and armor. Hard will be the best difficulty I can handle without taking the battle too seriously. Alright, time for some testing, shall we? Chapter 347 - One Bullet At A Time "Hey, that guy seems to ess the dungeon without a team. Isn''t that pretty much a suicide?" one swordsman pointed at me while I am busy fiddling on the settings on my dungeon dive. I am just listening on the side. "Ah, perhaps you didn''t know but that guy is a little bit famous in the Alternate Worldmunity. Remember the winner of the Arena Competition that happenedst time? That was the guy. I didn''t say it exactly but I heard from some people that he also dered a solo guild war against a certain guild with plenty of yers and won in the process." "What? He is that strong?" "Yeah. Plenty of yers calling him "The Wolf" nowadays. However, no one tries tomunicate with him much due to his mysterious nature. Some yers even tried to find some clues on his real face but no one really knows. ording to some, this adds some mystery to who he really is!" Just listening on the side makes me really want to facepalm. Themunity already took notice of me huh? I know I am not making any lowkey actions and most of the time, they are doing significant changes in the game so I guess that would make a bit sense. But receiving this much attention is not something I really look forward to. Thankfully, some people are afraid of approaching me for that main reason. I was about to enter the dungeon when a few yers appeared with loud voices. "Heh? So this guy is considered a strong guy and champion of the Arena Competition? Does that mean killing him right here and now will allow me to be the current Arena champion? Perhaps he will drop great goodies too!" 4 yers started to surround me. Since we are not in town and currently in a hostile area where monsters dwell, killing yers here will not enrage authorities of the towns here but you will earn the red yer status, bing a yer who is nowbeled by the system who hasmitted a PK. I didn''t respond to the one guy and just continue to configure the dungeon. The yer who sounded greedy earlier was also the first guy to strike first. Of course, he was slow so the strike he just did entirely miss. [You have been attacked. You can now retaliate against the attackers without hitting a penalty.] I grinned seeing the restriction is no longer there. I am now free to kill. "Is that it?" The others also attacked simultaneously. But they are not worth the time. So before they can even attack, I pull the gun I just forged and pull the trigger to the four yers in rapid session. I didn''t even bother to aim, they are on point-nk range, killing them is easy. I didn''t bat an eye and pulled the triggers to them. And as I expected, their bodies exploded the moment they got shot by the gun. Before the other bastards can react, another bullet destroyed them and killed them in the process. Since they already did the first striker earlier and the system already appear for me, killing them will not hit me with the yer Killing punishment. As for them, they died of course. If the dummies are not able to handle the power of the gun, then what about a human with light armor? It was an obvious oue. "Holy sh*t! He all one-shotted them all! What the hell?! So the rumors that he is really strong is true?! It wasn''t just a fluke that he won against the Immovable Holy Knight?!" "Told you, he is the one that we saw on the intest time! I was not wrong!" There are still some bullets left on my gun so I didn''t reload. I just went ahead and input the final preparations on the panel and process my entry to the dungeon in solo. Despite the warnings of the dungeon that it is difficult to y without a party, I headed inside. This dungeon is already something I already memorized before so I don''t need to get worried in any way with a gun and a crappy weapon that I crafted for the sake of being fodder. ... ... [You have entered the Underground Tombs- Hard Difficulty] The smell of dirt, dust, and a bit of undescribable smell emanates around the ce. Not only that but the smell of iron and some rust also waves around. The only thing that is missing is the rotten smell. For a ce crawling with dead people, the rotten smell is pretty much absent in this ce. "Alright, time to get working." My objective here is to test the effects of the gun and see how strong it was against bosses. With every target dying from a single shot, bosses in dungeons are my only hope that they won''t die easily, or else, I can only stash this away and wait until I get to an enemy that is close to impossible to kill and just use it for my advantage. As I walk forward, a horde of mummies appeared before me. I took a quick headcount and I managed to count at least a dozen of them. It was a clear count. "GROARRRR..." [Rotten Corrupted Mummy] Level 80 HP: 90,000/90,000 Traits: Undead Their low moans actually allow me to deduce that they are shamblers and do not run on their targets, allowing me to properly n whether it is better to reload or it is fine without doing so in the distance. Despite being resistant to physical damage, I know they are weak so it is already expected for me to kill them easily. BANG! CRUSH! The rotten mummy was squashed easily and disappeared in one bullet. Now I am certain. The gun is strong enough to inflict at least around 90k damage or more. Since it one-shots a level 80 Rotten Corrupted Mummy that can resist quite a number of physical attacks, I still needed to move to a bigger monster. For now, let''s get rid of them all. BANG! BANG! BANG! ... ... ... Around 30 minutester and after killing around 70 or more Corrupted Mummy, the first Mini-Boss room has finally been here. Since I already memorized theyout of this dungeon, the next is a mini-boss with quite a decent amount of health and a fair share of defensive capabilities. Since I only keep on sting on the mummies without a care, I already umted 20 [Eyeballs of Corruption]. A quest item that is dropped by the mummies every time they are killed. There is a 50% chance they will drop and I only needed 20 to open the door to the mini-boss room. The door has 20 holes on it and each hole needed one eyeball in it. So unless you didn''t kill the mummies on your way and evaded it to speedrun, then you will be forced to fight them again and gather 20 pieces of them. With the [Eyeballs of Corruption] in hand, I started cing them one by one. Once thest piece of the eyeball was ced, the door cracked open before disappearing, allowing me to enter the sealed chamber. In the middle of the room is a humongous armored monster. Much bigger than As and has a much bulkier build than him. However,pared to As, As is aplete being, this big guy is not. [Corrupted Duhan] Mini-Boss Level 99 HP: 1,000,000/1,000,000 Traits: Undead Duhan monsters are known as very tanky walking armor, missing their head, and have a massive staturepared to normal undead. This monster is also always being associated with the undead and it will never be associated with other species other than the undead. The moment I entered its field of sight, the chunk of armor stood up and pull up its heavy greatsword. "Alright! Prove to me that your defenses can handle the power of my gun!" BANG! BANG! -you have dealt 167, 543 damage. -you have dealt 170, 987 damage. Holy crap! The damage I already dealt with the gun with only two shots already dealt around 330k damage already! And that is still two shots of the gun! I haven''t even used my gun''s special abilities too! No wonder the enemies and the dummies can''t survive in one shot of this thing. This one hits with an estimated damage output of around 170k to 160k depending on how far or near I was. It also affects whether the ce I shot with the gun hits a fatal area or not. Since I shot its chest area, it automatically is counted as the fatal area. As for the non-fatal areas... BANG! -you have dealt 100,127 damage. I see. It lowers quite a lot but it didn''t fall to the threshold of 100k damage. That is still quite a huge number. But it was clear. If this gun used its first skill, [Rapid Gunfire], this boss is dead immediately.. With all bullets hitting and reaching 160k to 170k damage, this thing is now dying one bullet at a time. Chapter 348 - Pain Delivery I did not make a gun that can be this destructive in mind. What I just wanted to make is a gun that can hold more bulletspared to the normal gun. But it seems my luck is quite good for the results to happen to be this good. Well, it''s not a negative thing but I at least don''t want things to be this easy but it wouldn''t hurt to have it as an extra weapon. BOOM! The Greatsword of the Duhannded on the ground, trying to hit me. I managed to immediately dodge, allowing me to gain a big distance from the guy. Since I already ran out of bullets, I started reloading butpared to the reload time of the ordinary gun you can find in this game that is made by NPCs and dropped by monsters, the gun I made allowed me to reload at a much faster ratepared to the reload time of the gun form of my Versatile Weapon. The Duhan is already carrying the sword back on him and started to charge straight to me. Since his health is already on thest straw, it started to exhibit berserk symptoms but it hasn''t gone straight to go on the berserk mode just yet. "Time to die!" BANG! The armor of the Duhan exploded the moment the bullet I fired hit his chest The Duhan slowly disappeared the moment I killed it and some drops fell after its death. I didn''t bother to check what was dropped as there is nothing significant dropped in just a single nce. Nothing that fancies me catches my eye on the status after killing the guy and the amount of EXP I earned is pretty much a minuscule amount. But there is nothing for me to brag about it, after all this monster is at a lower level than me and yes, although it''s not that huge of a gap we have in levels, this boss is not what I am inspecting my real sights for. Sure, I already determined its power based on the results I got from breaking the mini-boss but my real target is the final boss as that boss is currently at the same level as me. ... ... Outside the dungeon, yers are currently waiting for deheart to go out of the dungeon portal he entered. And while waiting, everyone is talking about the incident that urred earlier and how the situation ended as quickly as possible. "If you have arrived here sooner, you would have seen how badass his weapon is. In just one pull of the trigger, BANG! Everyone is dead!" "I heard he pulled out a minigun and let them eat a bullet rain..." "No, no. I heard he pulled out a rocketuncher!" As gossip keeps on getting weirder and weirder, the rumors about the incident get really hard to believe in too. However, not all did not believe the rumors. After he heard the rumor, Kazuki immediately left the guild work to the Vice Leader of the guild to rush straight to the area where deheart wasst seen. After his humiliating defeat due to the works of deheart during the Battle For Blood, he can''t get over the fact that the reason he was defeated is due to that bastard. Sure, the Immovable Holy Knight is the one who managed to kill him but he is not confident facing her. As someone who struggled against her and got helplessly killed from her skills, it was wise to not seek revenge against her. However, deheart didn''t have any shy moves that would indicate his danger. He might be good at battles but that doesn''t mean he is immovable just like Sigma. In fact, he should be the one who should have fought against Sigma in the end. He was the one who dealt much bigger damage against herpared to deheart while deheart only grasp the chance when she is now in much bigger trouble and killed him while he is distracted fighting against Sigma. "That little bastard! He will pay for everything that he has done for me. He will pay for all the humiliation he just inflicted on me. If not for him, my father wouldn''t be so disappointed in me!" While Kazuki is currently thinking about revenge, deheart just currently passed on all the traps and other monsters on the way and is now ready to tackle the final boss of the dungeon. ... ... ... "Ho...boy, that is much more trouble than I thought it would be." I managed to clear out the massive horde of mummies after defeating the Mini-Boss. Since I only made a few bullets for the gun, I didn''t go guns-a-zing there to get rid of them and had to go through the fodder magic sword as my weapon of choice. Since the weapon is not as strong as the Versatile Weapon, it took me a bit longer to defeat all of them. It is still as easy as it should be but the clearance time to kill the enemies is not as fast as when I did use the Versatile Weapon. I am afraid I get more dependent on the Versatile Weapon than usual and I don''t like the sound of that. Still, it was good that my skills with ordinary weapons did not diminish much and I can still produce quite satisfactory results from the battle alone. Not as much but still results. Now that I annihted the final hurdle to reach the final boss, I needed to prepare for a bit. Since I can''t rely on mypanions this time around, my battle style will have to be a run and gun. The final boss this time is an agile bastard. Compared to the slow enemies earlier but hit really hard, this guy is abination of super-fast enemy plus super duper strong monster capable of unleashing multiplebos of attacks on you that will sometimes lead to very serious consequences. The enemy is not as tanky as the Duhan but it waspensated by its speed and its ability to have a high dodge rate. Due to its high dodge rate, this boss is quite perfect to test out the main capabilities of the [Rapid Gunfire] and determine how it will affect the performance of the nameless gun to its performance against enemies. Checking all of the bullets, I only have around 120 bullets left. Since I only do precise shots and not burst shots and most enemies just die in one single bullet, I still have plenty of bullets left behind. I know that this gun has destructive power but the number of bullets I have is a bit worrisome. Sure, it was plenty but was it plenty enough to defeat the next boss? I know that I will be wasting quite a lot of bullets in the process from missing the shots but I don''t mind and this would be a great practice too for my precision. If I want to use this gun in the future, my precision shots should be good to go and not get reduced to being a crap shot on using the gun. After preparing the potions on the quick slot and preparing the rest of the bullets into the bullet magazine ready, I made sure no monster is left crawling or still aiming for me in the distance before I approach the final boss room''s door. There is only a puzzle blocking the door and since I already solved this before in the past timeline, it didn''t take me a few hours before I managed to solve it. It took me a few minutes to solve since there are some parts that I needed proper timing before I proceed to allow me to take a bit longer on solving it. CLACK! THUD THUD BOOM! The gears and mechanisms of the door started to turn and due to the old ruins of this ce, the sound is very rusty in the ears, and a bit gritty to keep listening into. Soon, the door has fully opened and a dark stairwell appeared before me. In the past timeline, this stairwell is meant to confused yers by putting other yers in an illusion and will cause them to fight their teammates due to the illusion. The main tactic was to not fight anyone you meet and continue walking. There are no monsters on the stairs and even if you kill the illusions, you will not earn experience but instead, the hatred of other yers since the monster that you have killed might be perhaps one of your teammates. It was an illusion to make every yer fight each other despite having no reason to fight with each other. This is the main tactic of the boss. However, since I was alone right now, all of those illusions cannot proceed since I am the only one. However, it is a cunning monster. Knowing that it will only face against a single enemy, it will spell to be an advantage to the monster. However, perhaps, I still have some pain to deliver to the boss.. Its showdown time. Chapter 349 - Pharaoh Of Darkness All supplies check. Fully loaded gun, check. Alright, time to face the boss and deal with him. I grab the nearby torch on the wall and approached the dungeon boss room. To open the boss room, lighting up the door with mes is the way for it to open. I traced the door for a bit, wiping off the small dust around it before I tap it with the torch. The torch''s fire scatters around the surface of the door, igniting it in the process. Since it already got caught in mes, I stepped back for a bit to avoid getting caught in the fire. I waited for a bit for the fire to spread since it needed to spread around the door before it will fully open up. CLACK CLACK CLACK The mechanisms of the door started to do their work and in a few seconds, the door was split open before falling down to the ground with a loud THUD. I waited a bit before entering the door. There is a chance that the boss inside will fire a spell to the doorway before anyone will enter. It was a precautionary tactic we do in the past timeline if we wanted to fight the boss here. Failing to do so will, of course, kill you in the process due to the fireball being fired capable of inflicting instant death. Just like I expected, a huge fireball was tossed out of the entrance. It exploded in the nearby wall after hitting no one. Now that the fireball is gone, time to go in and charge forward. "Who dares to trespass my tomb?!" Of course, the boss has finally appeared. A towering giant, rotten mummy. However, due to his high authority and high ss, while he was still alive, he is not just an ordinary mummy. [Pharaoh of Darkness] (3 phases) Level 105 HP: 4,000,000/4,000,000 Traits: Undead, Humanoid, Dark The Pharaoh of Darkness is just an annoying bastard. Not only does he have 3 phases but he also has a lot of AOE skills and an annoying summoning skill. If not for the fact that I know how to handle him, I might be having trouble with him. The moment he stood up from his throne, I started running from the opposite way and started to go to the torches installed in the walls. The pharaoh of darkness throws a few dark balls towards me but I quickly dodge them like nothing. Jumping over them is normal for me. "Gotcha!" The first torch was received. After getting the item out of the wall, I started running again but this time, I went straight to the boss. "DIE, INTRUDER!" I quickly traversed my way out of his attacks and dodge them without letting any attacks hit me. "Hup!" When I was already next to the boss, I slide underneath him and immediately make use of his blindspot to head straight to his throne. Once I was standing on the throne, I throw away the torch to the throne and let the fuel on the torch spill, allowing the fire to spread. "What are you doing?!" I didn''t respond and once again went to the farthest torch again and started to run towards it. "AS IF I WILL LET YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT!" He started to bombard environmental attacks, alongside some dark hand shadows that appeared on the ground that attempts to take hold of me while I am traversing towards the next torch. "MY SERVANTS! BRING ME THE HEAD OF THE INTRUDER!" Small magic circles appeared on the ground and mummies that are normal mobs from earlier started to appear from them. [Summoned Mummies] Level 50 HP: 10,000/10,000 Trait: Humanoid, Undead Damn, he already started summoning small mobs. This will start to get messy soon. I pulled out the fodder magic sword and started to slice through the mummies he started to summon. They are easy to kill since they only have 10k HP but they are troublesome and annoying as they will multiply every kill and if they are not killed, they will increase more, and you will be forced to minimize their size or kill a few of them to make way. In any case, there is no way to reduce their numbers. You will just thin them out in a few seconds and they will increase in a few seconds too. I grab the second torch and the little f*ckers started to grab on my foot. With a small yank, I release a strong kick allowing me to use the face of the mummy as a foothold for me to jump a bit higher. Landing on the wall, I put all of my force on my legs before I exerted all of my stored energy towards my next jump. "HUP!" BANG! The wall I was using as my next foothold did notst and caved in but it allowed me to dash forward with force and allow myself to propel straight to the boss. The boss tried to catch me midair but I just quickly used his hands as my tform and jump towards his head. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" "Stop asking and stay still you f*cking bast*rd!" When I saw a clear picture of his left eye, I proceed to shove the torch to his left eye. "GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He started to scream and before he can m his rotten hands at me, I already went away and went straight to the nearest pir and stood on the top. The Pharaoh started to scrape his face in hopes the torch I stabbed on his left eye will be removed. He then tried to sit down back to his throne to try and take out the torch but then, mes engulfed his butt, increasing the pain and burns he received. Not only small burns but some parts of the white cloth that has been strapped on his body have started to burn too. "GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! IT BURNS! GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH IT''S BURNING ME!" Now that he is now no longer focusing on me, time to do the job I originally came here for. I point the muzzle of the gun to the struggling pharaoh. With the boss in my sights, it''s time to see how this works. "[Rapid Gunfire]! A magic circle appeared on the gun''s muzzle and instead of one bullet, all of the 13 bullets inside the gun were released. And it all hit squarely to the boss. "GRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The squirming dead mummies have been reduced to ashes before disappearing and the boss fell down on the ground with a groan and still burning butt. After the gun released all of the bullets out of the gun, I quickly reload the bullets again, allowing me to have another round of bullets to use if I needed it again. Checking on the HP, the boss has been reduced to the 2nd phase which means the single mag of bullets was capable of chipping a 4,000,000 HP boss. From the looks of it, it inflicts a lot of Critical damage allowing me to chip off more HP than it should have been. "YOU BASTARD! YOU WILL..." Before he can fully stand up, I aimed and pulled the trigger again. Since the cooldown of the [Rapid Gunfire] has a very short cooldown, I didn''t save it up and activated it again. "[Rapid Gunfire]!" The gun released another torrent of bullets towards the boss and before the boss can even finish his monologue to begin the second phase, he was forced to go down as he was sent to the final phase of the battle. After he was reduced to the final phase, I went away from him as everyone will have a bad time against him if he awakens in his final phase. I just needed to be away from him for a few meters before finishing him off or I will be obtaining quite a nasty debuff that is pretty nasty on its own rights. Getting it would really ruin your mood. "INSOLENT INTRUDERS! HOW DARE YOU ALL TO DISTURB THE ETERNAL SLUMBER OF THE PHARAOH!" Explosions of dark magic appeared on the floor and the pir I was standing earlier started to melt. It was the right thing to move out before he moves to the next phase. The reason everything melted the moment he went to thest phase is that he release a debuff called [Decay]. It was his exclusive debuff so there is no need for anyone to worry about this debuff. Everything within his vicinity the moment he enters thest phase, he will inflict the [Decay] debuff which melts defenses in armor and decreases health over time. If inflicted with it, the only way to stop it from spreading is to kill the boss. Since he already released his debuff, time to finish the job. "DIE! [Rapid Gunfire]!" The Pharaoh of darkness was still doing some monologue when the bullets hit his head.. It might be a rude way to do but in battle, there is no such thing as rude, the only thing you needed to worry is who wins and who loses. Chapter 350 - Epilogue Of Arc 4 After getting the insignificant loot from the boss, I opened the panel for the gun and tap the "Rename" option. I have been holding on to naming the gun for a while now since I want to know its main effects. Now that I already got the results, the only way toplete the project is to name the little thing. Compared to the Fodder Magic Sword, this gun is not going to be part of the weapons that I will be feeding to the Versatile Weapon once it is fine to use it again. The effects of this weapon are already very good as a standalone and I don''t even know if those effects will be carried over to the Versatile Weapon once it is devoured and if I let it devour this weapon, only one of the skills will be transferred which will make it a bit of a waste to choose what skill I will need to retain and which skill to throw away after. Then, I realized that naming weapons is quite a chore and annoying thing. I don''t think I have good naming sense. And I tried to rack my head on what to use as a proper name to this gun. I tried typing a few names but after I typed it out, I ended up not liking it. After much debate on my mind on what name I will use, I decided to choose "Pain Delivery" as its name. It''sme and uncreative but I don''t have any kind of unique naming sense that would make this gun badass just by the name alone. As for the boss? It''s already dead and it dropped some loot that I don''t need. It didn''t even drop any weapon and just dropped some materials that I don''t have any usage. The only things that I can use on its drops are the gold, exp, and some gold ingot that it dropped the moment the boss died. As for the rest, it will all get sent to the trash bin. After the clearance of the dungeon, I decided to go out. I think the time I entered and went out of the dungeon is pretty short. Also, it''s not because the monsters that I attacked are weak, the Pain Delivery is just too strong in the current time. If there are tier lists on weapons, this thing will be part of the S Tier weapons. [Would you like to put a record on your clearance time to the Hall of Fame?] Yes/No Perhaps my clearance time to the Hard Mode is fast enough seeing the prompt of allowing me to record my clearance time to the Hall of Fame. There is no harm in leaving it and I am already famous enough by other yers so there is no need for me to keep a secretive streak on this crap. I click yes and recorded my name on it. It doesn''t really matter to me whether I got a new record. It''s not even that much of a good record anyway. If I got serious and had a proper weapon, that speed is nothing but meh, I am not in a mood to do a speed run anyway so let''s leave it at that. After leaving the dungeon and materializing outside, the yers outside started to gather once again. I can hear lots of their noises but I can''t properly understand what they are saying if they are too noisy. "Oy, deheart! Finally, I spotted you!" I tilt my head to where the source of the call came from. I don''t remember appointing a meeting on someone else today here. So I don''t know who it was and with all the ruckus of other yers, I can''t easily figure out who the heck this guy is. Perhaps one of those yers who just wanted to talk to me to do something like this and that so I quickly ignored his calls. I am just not in the proper mood right now to entertain random people. "Just wait right there you f*cker! Stop I said!" the voice seems familiar but with his threatening voice, I don''t think this is an acquaintance that has a good rtionship with me. Perhaps it''s a yer that got something to me and I managed to piss him off on something. I don''t know though, his voice is annoying, I would rather avoid him than meet up with the guy. "You motherf*cker! You really are testing my patience! Stop I said!" When the guy started to threaten, that''s when I stopped and decided to take action. The danger radar that I personally built on my mind started to tingle a lot and I know this f*cker has nothing good with him. I took a quick look and he started to release a [st Wave] towards my direction. It was clear that this guy didn''t even care if he can kill normal citizens. It seems he is much more in care of exacting revenge or whatever he wanted than to care about the welfare of the yers in the area. "Hey! What''s the big idea?! Why is he suddenly trying to drag us to his crap?!" "Just get out of his way! That guy is crazy against deheart I guess." "This f*cker... Hey! You are not the only yer walking around here! At least be mindful of your actions dammit!" I can hear in the distance he is about to unleash [st Wave] already. Since [st Wave] has a bit of a charging time before it can be unleashed allowed me to have time enough to stop this guy from ruining everyone''s day here. Pulling out the gun, I turned to my back and aimed. Since the guy is charging his [st Wave] behind my back, that only means he is standing directly behind me but with a bit of a distance for the maximum effect of the skill. Without waiting for him to negotiate with me, I pulled the trigger and... BANG! His body which is still holding the hilt of his sword while being charged in preparation for the [st Wave] got sent flying from the gunshot. At that moment, my name glows red. Seeing it get red means I killed the perpetrator in one shot. Since [st Wave] has yet to hit anything or anyone in the matter and still has no intention of being released to any yers, the punishment is not on him but on me. No one can see my name in any way due to the title effects, but I hated having a red name so I immediately took a potion that deals with the red name before leaving. Whoever the poor guy was, it''s his fault that he is sent to oblivion for being quite petty and for keeping on trying to catch my attention while there are other yers out there. The event leaves the yers in the area baffled by the result. It was not in their expectation for me to just shoot him dead. After all, he was preparing to do an ultimate attack only for it to get interrupted and stopped before it can even be unleashed. "Uh... what do we do with the loot on this guy?" "Leave it there, whoever this guy is, has a big backing on something or someone else. We are not deheart who is capable of handling things all by himself. Let''s just go and scram, we will have more profit if we work hard on our raids and dungeon dives than to mess up with someone like him. The other yers are also smart enough to not loot against him. Whoever suggested that deserves a medal. Anyone crazy enough to handle him just had enough crap to handle. With all the crap handled and no one brave enough to attack me just like the guy who died, I managed to return to the castle without a hassle ... ... When I arrived at the castle, someone else is talking to Queen Tanya. Compared to Queen Tanya who currently has an article of thin clothing to adapt more to desert life, the person before she is emanating a cold chill in the air. It was like every step she makes, snow and ice are released. It was cold enough I can immediately tell who this person is. Sandurk Continent is a continent of desert and other infrastructure that is involved in the climate of the desert. However, that is not the main case here. Sandurk might be a continent of the desert but there''s not only a single ruler of the Desert Continent but there are two people. The first and most well-known ruler is none other than Queen Tanya. However, there isn''t only Queen Tanya ruling the desert, one more queen is ruling the Sandurk. However, she does not govern the heat and the sands of the desert. The queen that rules over ice and snow, the Freezing half of the Sandurk Continent. Yes, the person who was talking to Queen Tanya is none other than Queen Tori, the twin sibling of Queen Tanya and the ruler of the freezing parts of Sandurk Continent, the duchess of Ice and Frost. Epilogue of Arc 4 END. ..... .... A/N: Thank you everyone for being there for me this entire time and thank you for the continuous support for reading my novel! I know you guys might be wondering why I have quite irregr updates and why only one chapter a day? Personally, I n to release two chapters in one day as a regr update but due to some things currently happening IRL, I have to reduce a lot of my time in writing and if I ever have time to write, it would be at night. It will take quite some time before I can finally return to stabilization of my updates and if my situation has finally taken a good turn, I will be increasing my release rates. However, for now, it would have to be remaining on one chapter a day. I might also add a bit on fans'' giveback soon once I have enough extra coins I can spare. But for now, it will be put on hold for a little bit. Also, I will be reminding you all that a few of the beginning chapters has been changed in correspondence to some missing info here and there. I also improved it a bit and although it still has mistakes, at least it''s a bit bearablepared to the previous form. So if you guys spotted some typos here and there, please be sure toment on it so that I can change it in the future edit.. Much appreciated guys, and I hope I will see you in the next arcs too. Chapter 351 - The News About King Arthur鈥檚 Relics Sandurk... A ce where you will see desert and oasis in the expanse of thend. Monsters that live in the desert dwell here and rain is something rare to see here. The continent was also dubbed the Sand Continent due to therge expanse of pure sand in the area. But that was until they discover the other half of the Sandurk continent. In the past timeline, there are yers who like to explore. They were also the people who discover the cave where I managed to rescue the two Merfolk Siblings. These people are known for discovering many things in the game especially in new areas. You can say that their profession is to map the unchartednds that yers rarely visit or explore. After their exploration in Aquagius, their next destination is to map the whole Sandurk region. However, the result of the exploration was not expected by anyone even themunity. Due to some series of events, the explorer party has discovered the hidden path that leads to the hidden half of Sandurk, the Frozen Desert. At first, the explorers thought it was anothernd entirely until they found out that the ce is not another hidden continent that was released in the public and they only stumbled upon it. The hiddennd was home to the single city of Ice where the ruler was actually the twin sister of Queen Tanya. Not only that, the ce was also known for having very harsh conditions and dangerous monsters, topping off some of the danger levels of some dungeons in their Abyss Levels. Not only that, but 5 of the strongest Raid Bosses spawns here from time to time, making it a ce where yers camp out just to kill it. Dangerous kills but very rewarding. I have been to the deeper parts of Sandurk''s icy depths and I still remember the ruler of that ce, Queen Tori. Despite ruling the almost deste city of ice, she is known to be a benevolent and powerful ruler that her people adore and love her. Despite the cold demeanor, she is one of the kindest NPCs, and you can say she is in rank 2 since she can''t beat Lily on the first part. Despite being in a very deep area of the world with very far contact with the outside world, her kingdom is one of the most advanced kingdoms ever seen in the game. Due to her kingdom''s close vicinity to the dungeons and close contact with the dangerous monsters on a daily basis, they got most of the advanced resources that allows them to fend off monsters without the reliance on their Queen''s power. Queen Tori''s appearance would have been revealed only once the Frozen Desert of Sandurk and the Kingdom of Ice is discovered so I was confused on why she is here right now. If I remember correctly, no one has yet to explore that ce yet since the Aquagius area has yet to be explored yet and the Sandurk region''s farther monsters are too much for the current levels of the yers right now. If I count the timeline correctly in the past timeline, her appearance should be 7 months from now. Curious about what they are talking about, I decided to approach them. If it was bad timing, Queen Tanya would just send me away. "Oh, good timing deheart, you came at the right time!" Queen Tanya smiled and beckons me to approach. "Who is this Sis?"Queen Tori started to look at me from head to toe, sizing me up silently. "Remember the time when the demons tried to invade my kingdom and destroy most of the surrounding areas by sending small demon mobs to invade the viges? He is one of the participants and is one of the main contributors that resulted in our overwhelming victory against the demons. He is also the one that I mentioned to youst time who owns the legendary gryphon." "Oh? So this guy is the one you keep on praising to be one capable of bing your rival?" "He is nowhere near to bing my rival just yet but he is growing much faster than I presume he would be. It won''t take too long before he can be indeed be a rival of mine. I am already treating him as my ally and of course, I view him as a worthy guy to cross swords with me." Queen Tori nodded without removing her gaze upon me. Oh, and it seems this is the first time I took a good look at her. Compared to Queen Tanya''s brownish-ck hair and tanned skin, she has pale white skin and bluish-white color on her hair. And despite the color differences between the two, you can easily tell that they are twins. They might have different looks of this kind, but their faces are identical. If you tan Queen Tori''s skin and let her have brownish-ck hair, you can immediately mistake her to be Queen Tanya. One thing that is a big difference between the two is that...pared to Queen Tanya''s huge rack, Queen Tori... has ins as far as the eyes can see. "Even though you are not speaking, I can feel you are thinking of something inappropriate," Queen Tori cracks her fists. "I-I don''t know what you are talking about though..." "Hahaha, anyway, since this is the first time you guys have seen each other, I will be introducing you two to each other. Sis, this is deheart. You already know him from my stories so I don''t think a further boration about him is necessary. deheart, this is my twin sister and a fellow queen who governs the other half of Sandurk, Queen Tori." "I didn''t know you have a twin sister, Your Majesty," I bowed to give respect to Queen Tori. Queen Tori nodded as a sign of eptance for paying respects. "It was already clear that she was busyzing about in her castle, do nothing but eat. She rarely talks about me and I think she sometimes forgets me in the process." "Hahaha, no way in hell would I forget my dear sister. I am your half and you are my half, naturally, we will stick together, and help each other!" Queen Tanya heartily startedughing. "I am clearly not convinced..." Queen Tori sighed. "Oh, that''s right. Tori, perhaps deheart can help you on this one. I think I remembered him saying he got a piece of info that seems to connect to King Arthur''s relics." When I heard the name of King Arthur, my ears quickly perked up. Although King Arthur in the real world is a famous person with still quite a few spections whether he is real or not, in this world King Arthur is real, and just like in his real-life legend, he also did the same thing here in this world. After I got the skill, [Iplete Rhongomyniad], it was clear that I needed to get in contact with the Legend of King Arthur to have some info on how toplete the skill and remove its big downside. Still, I don''t know what is happening. "What is going on? What''s with this talk about King Arthur? Care to borate please?" "Oh, I apologize for being not concise enough. But, Tanya, are you sure he can help me? I know that he helped you with the trouble you have before but this is much more dangerous and a bit of a troublesome thing and dragging someone who shouldn''t be involved might be a big problem in the future." "Ah, you don''t have to worry about him. He is reliable, strong and if you are still not convinced, you can also employ some of his friends. I can confirm that his friends are also pretty reliable just like him. It doesn''t hurt to ask for his help and I think he will also like to help you out too." Queen Tori sighed and gives in to the nag of her sister. "Fine, Alright then, let me fill you in on the situation, deheart. Recently, the situation in my kingdom''s borders has started to shake things up. It''s not a good thing as some of the terrifying hell spawns that are sealed in the ice have started to appear one by one on the surface. At first, we can easily defeat them with our weaponry, buttely, they are now getting stronger and stronger so we decided to check out one of the Dungeons that we have not mapped before. What we discovered there are some diaries of someone who stayed inside the dungeon for a very long time. Not only that but we gained a weapon that we believed to be one of the relics in the past. However, we realized that it wasn''t part of the past relics of ancient gods, but a relic from a legendary hero. Here, check this thing out and see for yourself. She handed me a de fragment and I decided to check what it was. [Carnwennan''s de Fragment] Info: The chipped de of the weapon that King Arthur has wielded. Due to the extreme power of the enemy, a bit of its de has been chipped off as a result of the battle. However, there might be someone out there that can repair the weapon and regain its lost glory. Holy sh*t.... the Carnwennan! The Heroic Dagger that King Arthur wielded! Chapter 352 - King Arthur鈥檚 Legacy Carnwenhan or mostly known for the name Carnwennan is a ck dagger with a shape simr to a beast fang and is one of the weapons that King Arthur possesses and part of his legacy quest rewards. I searched this thing before and it indeed exists in the real world''s Arthurian legends too. However,pared to the legendary Excalibur, not much is known for the Carnwennan. I am not part of the yers who managed to finish the legacy quest in the past timeline but I have heard that this quest is arge-scale quest that needed multiple guilds just to finish it. Of course, it is also one of the quests that have the biggest returns since after the quest was finished, all of the yers who participated has be quite a big shot and even those who didn''t have much work in the quest managed to get some benefits. However, I am not that interested in the past timeline''s achievements. What I am more interested in is the piece of Carnwennan that Queen Tori handed to me. "I heard about King Arthur''s weapons before and it was always considered as a relic of some sort but what is making these things special? Is there any sort of exnation why?" I looked at Queen Tori. "I don''t have much extensive knowledge about the weapons that King Arthur wielded before too and the only weapon that seems to have the most info known is the Excalibur. However, I know a bit about the Carnwennan. It''s not really something I personally witnessed but ording to the stories, this weapon has the ability to d the user to the shadows and cuts all of the evil-doers in half. When King Arthur used it in the past, it was said that he cut down the demons during his infiltration in a town filled with demons and killed most of them without being seen. Well, that was the legends say." "A weapon that can d its user to the shadows... so this weapon is a dagger specialized for assassinations." "I don''t even know if it is urate. Just look at its current state. It''s not even the whole de anymore, it has been damaged to the point you will not be able to know this was once the legendary Carnwennan." Indeed, if you just look at it, it just looks like the usual de most daggers have. You wouldn''t even think about it to be the de of the legendary dagger that King Arthur once wielded. It just never looked the same." "So what is this thing that Queen Tanya wants me some help with? If it was forging the Carnwennan back to its former form, I am afraid my cksmith level is too low to even do that. I don''t think I can help you with it." "Eh? You are a cksmith?" Queen Tori looked at me with interest. "Ah yeah. But my level is not that high yet and the highest quality I can make at the moment is Unique level though it is not a high possibility and it is around 1 unique level part out 1000 tries." "I know that you are a cksmith but I didn''t expect this. Wow, that is very impressive, deheart. What is your level as a cksmith by the way?" Queen Tanya seems to be also interested. "Level 29 a few more forging, and I might hit level 30 soon." "That high already? I thought you can only create Unique level weapons at level 50 and above in cksmithing. Am I wrong about it?" Queen Tanya is not much knowledgeable in cksmithing. "Yes and No, dear sister. You can still create those tiers but you needed to be lucky enough to do so. But it''s not impossible to create one. Some of my trainee cksmiths have produced the same quality in the past despite being low level so I am not surprised. But even though your level of expertise in cksmithing is very high, it''s not what I needed help with as I can just ask my cksmiths in my kingdom to do the bidding. What I needed is firepower and the ability to dive through dangers. Queen Tanya brags things most of the time to me about your expertise and your achievements and perhaps you might be the one who can help," Queen Tori exined. "I am not confident I meet the expectations but I am confident in my skills. Please tell me what to do." "Alright, since we found some traces of King Arthur''s legacy in the dungeons, we continue to dwell deeper. That is when we found what King Arthur left behind. He left his legacy ripe for the taking and left a diary on how to get it." "Are you sure that it was King Arthur''s diary?" I asked. "Yes. We have some experts in this job and we have some items that King Arthur has written things with allowing us to have something to use topare his handwriting. We have fully confirmed it was his handwriting in the end. And based on the diary, he is going to be leaving his relics to prepare for the cataclysm that will hit the world soon." I was shaken for a bit when I heard the word "Cataclysm" in the diary. Indeed, it is one part of the biggest events in the Alternate World. In one single week, darkness will nket the whole world and the monsters will start raiding the cities and towns. It was an inevitable event and if I remember correctly, a few days after the King Arthur quest that I mentioned earlier was finished, the Cataclysm urred and the people who managed to be the stars of the show are none other than the people who possess the relics of King Arthur. I don''t know what is happening but to have the Cataclysm urring much sooner than expected, is not a good way to happen. "deheart, we need all the help that we can get. That is why I am asking for your help. Are you willing to ept the quest of finding his relics?" Then, a quest pops out in front of me. [King Arthur''s Legacy] Difficulty: EX Tier Type: Legacy Quest Info: Queen Tori has discovered a few traces of King Arthur in one of the ruins her group has explored and was now tasked to find the treasure left behind by King Arthur to fend off from the uing Cataclysm. Depending on your result, the rewards will vary. Time limit: 6 months (Warning: This quest is very long. It is rmended to clear the chains of quests one step at a time due to their difficulty and length. It is also rmended to form a group of yers to clear the quest for much easier clearance.) Will you ept the Quest? Yes/No .... This is the first time I have encountered an EX Tier quest in my entire life including the past life. Yes, I am not kidding, this is a very difficult quest due to the EX tierbel. I heard this on the forums before and some of the yers mentioned the EX tier quests and how it was a literal nightmare. ording to theirparison, the EX-tier quest is like defending a horde of zombies all day long with a dull knife on your hands and nothing else. I don''t know if they are exaggerating about it but I do not underestimate them at all. But if the difficulty is this high, that only means the rewards are also astronomical. There is no need to hesitate, I will ept it and I click yes. "Alright. Now, this quest doesn''t need to bepleted immediately. If you want, you can start gearing yourself up. This quest is pretty dangerous and I don''t want anyone to die in the process. Also, if you have some friends who are willing to help, you can share the quest with them. The more they are, the better we will be able to finish the quest with flying colors." After our conversation, the two queens went inside to continue their talks while I was left behind to ponder on what to do next. The quest takes a long time toplete and I have a time limit of 6 months. With that long time limit, it was clear the quest is not something I canplete in one week or one month. It''s a high-risk high reward quest that is much more troublesome and dangerous than raids. Perhaps the reason it will take this long is because this will allow us to explore the entirety of the Frozen Desert whilepleting the quest. Since this was arge scale quest, I am thinking of recruiting my friends to finish the quest. Not only that perhaps, this will be the quest that will allow me to finish the final piece toplete the [Iplete Rhongomyniad]. There are only a few more hours left before the Versatile Weapon finishes on its digestion. I will have to visit my friends and recruit them.. This time, I needed to witness what is so great with the legend of King Arthur myself. Chapter 353 - Recruitment First Half I definitely can''t finish this job alone. I can definitely work on it solo but it might take me a long time to finish and that is not something I want to happen especially with the time limit. However, what I needed arepanions who are going to be someone I can trust behind my back. I can do that with Dolly, Iron, Hagane, and Topaz. However, the others are still someone I don''t have any idea if I can trust them on this or not. Harmless Sparrow is a candidate for someone trustworthy but she still has her guild that she needed to manage and know the yers in many guilds nowadays, they won''t just take this chance to let go and get the rewards by themselves. I don''t have problems with Harmless Sparrow herself though. There is also Chase who acts like a Combat Medic but I don''t have much experience working with him and I don''t know whether he can be trustworthy enough. It is too early to judge. But I needed all the help I can get. I need more hands in this matter but I don''t need too many. If it is hard, I can just employ the help of my followers and everything will move a bit smoother. I can also ask my parents and see if they are high leveled enough to handle the danger of the ce. I can even just help them power level for a bit too. Since I don''t have any job left in here and Tina is already done with her conversation and reports to Queen Tanya, we bid farewell to her but we will be back again at ater date to meet up with Queen Tori. I called Leona and we departed to go back to my mansion. Looks like I will have to rest for a bit before I will have to venture into this next quest. But really, looks like this month is packed with things I needed to do. Not only do I need to finish some loose ends and some new quests but I also have to deal with my school life. If those guys that I have rendered amnesiac in the processes back, I will have to resort to more troublesome work again. ... ... "Are you sure he is the one, Tanya?" Queen Tori looked worried. "Looks like you are still not convinced yet," Queen Tanya sips her tea. "Of course, I have not seen what he is capable of. Also, I have not seen the weapon that can change form on his possession somehow." "ording to the reports that his follower has given, it seems he has obtained a weapon that fused together with his weapon and has to wait for a bit before it gets to be used again. Still, it was not the weapon that made him special. We fought before and if he was just much higher leveled than me, he can easily beat me to the process. He is quite unique inbat and he employed some tactics that are the first time I have seen before. He is the one that we are looking for." "Still, this is that "King Arthur" we are talking about. That guy is aplete lunatic and has always been on the search for stronger enemies. He even abandoned the Round Table just to satisfy his urge to fight. Isn''t this just a trap heid down for people to search for his relics?" "There is a possibility that he is doing that but if that is the case, defeating him shouldn''t be a problem right? I mean you are getting stronger day by day and I doubt your abilities are much worse than mine, I think you are even beginning to catch up to me," Queen Tanya refill the teacup of Queen Tori. "I may have gotten stronger but it is still nowhere as strong as you, sis. However, it is an exaggeration that defeating King Arthur is easy. That bastard is a tough nut to crack, and I don''t think even our powers are capable of even scratching him." "Haha, you really hate him to your core huh?" Queen Tanya startedughing. "Ha, you just don''t care much about him that is why you are like this to him. However, if I get the chance, I will smack the head of that old man," Queen Tori gritted her teeth. "Hey, how long do you think King Arthur really is?" Queen Tanya pondered. "Honestly, that is a mind-boggling question, my dear sister. That old fart has already been living since the battle of the two Primordial Goddesses. I doubt he is much older than the elves and dwarves who survive the wars." "Is he really that old? The records have no mention of his real age and how long he was alive." "We shouldn''t even pressure ourselves knowing his real age. With the Excalibur and Rhongomyniad prolonging his life, I doubt he will die just yet unless some formidable enemy will appear." "Do you think he regretted taking up the sword of selection? After all, he is now an immortal." "Haha, trust me. Anyone who has gained the power of immortality without wishing for it would rather wish to find a way to die rather than continue to live and experience all suffering. It is only fun if you have someone else to spend eternity with," Queen Tori grinned as she sips the final drop on her teacup. ... ... ... The Mansion that I left after a few days is no longer the mansion I once knew. The once gloomy and a bit looking like an abandoned house has been transformed into a new house that looked like a modern mansion in the real world. "They renovated the look of the mansion?" Lucia was surprised to find the exterior of the mansion different than before. "This must be the work of my Father." "Your father?" Lina was curious. "Father likes to build and design things. He wanted to be capable of designing houses before but due to our poor lifestyle before, he has to stop on his dream and focus on something that can earn money. Maybe now that we are free from debts and has already good funds of money, perhaps it rekindled his passion in building and designing buildings." Inded in front of the mansion and everyone went out. Gobu''s wife went out with the kids first to wee our arrival while the others followed suit. "Hey, deheart! It''s been a long time, you still remember us?" Dolly seems to be mad and her tone is made for real sarcasm. "You really need to cut that out, Dolly. He said before that he will be on a quest right, have you forgotten? You are so chill about it but now that he is back, you started going hostile," Hagane scratches his head. "Like,e on. He has gone to a farawaynd and did some adventure stuff there all alone. He left us on the fun!" I scratched my head and just put my hands on their shoulders. "Come on, guys. Give me some ck. Don''t worry even if you guys didn''t get to do an adventure time with me. I brought some souvenirs that you guys can use. Will that suffice?" "Give us some exnations first then maybe I can forgive you for ditching us. We are friends, remember? Don''t ditch us like that without talking to us, dammit," Dolly wanted to sulk. We entered the mansion and I was surprised to see the changes that were implemented. It also has a splendid paint finish too and it does look like I purchased a brand new mansion in the process. "I didn''t know uncle was this capable in his hands, when I first saw him do some renovations, I thought it would just be minor changes here and there and some repairs on broken walls but he flipped the whole house and changed it to what it was!" Hagane looked around the ce, still marveling at the work. "So it was indeed Father''s work that made the mansion like this. When was this done by him?" "A few days ago. After ourst dungeon dive, he has alreadypleted the whole ce in renovation and he is still doing some minor fixes here and there." When we arrived in the kitchen, I saw some of our friends there and someone who I didn''t expect and someone who I have not seen before. "What? What is Sigma doing here?" I was so surprised to see the Immovable Holy Knight inside my mansion eating alongside the others. After all, she is someone who does not stick long in one ce and moves on. She even does not stick much to parties and would leave after fulfilling her duties as a Holy Knight. "She joined our dungeon dive partyst time along with Big bear here. Ever since then, they are a regr part of the gang." I looked on the opposite side of Sigma and saw the unfamiliar guy with us. He is a veryrge guy and he didn''t have any weapon with him. From the looks of it, he is a brawler and just by his size, he is looking like a formidable yer. However, he has a bear hat on his head. For some unknown reason, I kind of remember the Ghost inside the big teddy bear back in Nagoya.. For some unknown reason, he seems to resemble him a lot. Chapter 354 - Recruitment Second Half It was kind of a surprise even for me to see Sigma around us. To a yer who never had a guild and is known for being a wanderer with no permanent party to join with, she is known for that legend alone. Still, I wonder why she would join us if she was a loner in the past timeline? Perhaps it was due to Mr. Bear? I don''t know but perhaps he was the cause. I never heard of someone named Mr. Bear before so he might be someone who never got famous in the past timeline. I am also sure that Sigma and Mr. Bear did not meet at all. If they did, it would have caused Mr. Bear to be popr as well. "Son! Finally, you are back! What took you so long? Is the quest really that hard?" my father appeared carrying a pot of food that I don''t have any idea what. "Not that much but it took a bit of time to n out which is why it took me a bit longer to return than usual." My mother followed suit behind Father while wiping her hands on her apron. "Your timing is very good, I just managed to finish the dish that I just learned from my mentor. I can guarantee the taste. Don''t be shy and eat some!" "You leveled up again, Mom? I don''t think I recognize this food at all." "Haha, of course, you won''t, I just mentioned earlier right? This was the secret recipe from my mentor and she kindly teach me about it after I managed to reach level 50 in cooking." "Level 50? You grind too hard this past week Mom?!" "Hahaha, you underestimate your Mother''s Gamer Mode, son. Once she gets serious, she will be capable of doing what she can do without any problem." I didn''t expect my Mother to take the cooking in the game so seriously. She is not this serious in real life. And to reach level 50 in cooking, that is pretty advanced and high level already. Not only that but the benefit of bing a level 50 cook is that you can create very good food with various strong buffs. Not only that but if you cook a bad dish, you can use that as a weapon against an enemy. Throwing that dish to the enemy can either inflict a very bad debuff or just straight up lose health. "But Man- I mean, deheart, this game is pretty realistic. Even cooking here needed the same principle in the real world. There wasn''t even any shortcut in creating batches of food. I really like it!" I can tell in my mother''s expression she really likes ying the game. "Well, this game follows the logic of the real world too. That is why everything that can be done here can also be done in the real world too." "Alright, alright. That should be enough talking, we should start eating the food or else, it will get cold and it wouldn''t be as enjoyable anymore," Father quickly handed me a te of food. Since I know that Mom is capable of cooking various delicious kinds of food, I doubt this food is bad. In fact, I can tell from the smell alone this will be really good. ... ... ... ... "Did everyone enjoy the food?" Mom asked everyone. "Of course, aunty! Your food is still the best! I just hope my mom can also cook this good too. Only our cooks at home cook things and I am tired of their cooking, to be honest," Dolly sighed. "Aren''t your cooks certified to be good chefs that are good enough to qualify in some high-ss restaurants?" Hagane was surprised. "If you want them as professionals, sure. But if you eat them, again and again, every day, you will surely get bored with them. I am not like my parents who are too much of a gourmand and are addicted to those kinds of dishes, I wanted normal but tasty food too. These kinds are much more fulfillingpared to the food we eat every day. It was so full of style but I can barely feel the food going down the throat due to how small the portion is." "Haha, you tter me, Dolly-chan. However, if you wanted to eat more in the real world, you can just visit us in Nagoya. I will make sure to give you a good meal if you visit us!" Mom put a thumbs up. "You are the best! Aunty! Hey deheart, can you give me your mother? Pretty please!" "Dude, stop that. Anyways, it seems everyone is already good to listen to me now." Despite the fact that there are some people are someone I still couldn''t trust enough just yet, perhaps I can use this chance to know if they are loyal enough or not and see if they are worthy to be a teammate that will watch our back and we can entrust our backs with. Harmless Sparrow and Chase are people I still have doubts I will let to enter. Sigma and Mr. Bear are also candidates but Sigma is pretty much a trustworthy one since she doesn''t belong to any guild. As for Mr. Bear, I don''t have a slightest idea about him just yet. "You are announcing something, brother?" Iron asked. "Yeah. Everyone listen. I have epted an EX Tier Quest. However, this quest is pretty hard and it needed a lot of yers toplete. It''s not a raid either but this will be a really hard quest. Not only that but we have a chance to receive Heroic weapon sets or some legendary rarity weapon as a reward." "Wow, isn''t that pretty generous? So everyone who participates in the quest gets the chance to earn something?" Chase who was still eating asked. "Yeah. From the quest alone, it is going to be some sort of contribution type. Depending on your contributions, you will gain something based on the amount of contribution to get." "So that means, we will have to work hard to gain a good reward in the process?" Hagane tried to guess. "Yes. And ording to the quest giver, we will be fighting bosses from bosses. It will be a really hard quest and it is not simr to the dungeon raids, this will be hellish and dangerous. The more yers there are, the better." "How dangerous are we talking about, deheart?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "You guys should be familiar with the Abyss level bosses right since you guys frequently go to dungeon diving many times already. Am I correct on this?" "Yes, of course," everyone simultaneously answered. "Well, those bosses should be normal mobs in this quest. And we got multiple of them." And yes, I am not exaggerating. The Frozen Desert is not for the faint in the heart and when I say the normal mobs are Abyssal levels, they are abyssal levels and the bosses are much, much harder than them. And that was just a normal raid down there, what if we add the difficulty of the quest here? It will ramp up a lot and it wouldn''t be just something anyone would like to handle in solo. Even I would feel a little overwhelmed if I fight the monsters in solo in my current state. Perhaps if my level is on par with my previous timeline''s level, perhaps, I will get a decent chance of winning. "So how many yers are you trying to recruit, deheart?" Dolly asked. "I want to say I needed a lot but I also wanted to limit the amount of yers that knows the quest. Of course, this quest is currently exclusive to me and unless I don''t share the quest on them, they won''t have any ess to it. However, I wanted it to be a secret, something that only a few trusted people knows. I don''t want this to be publicized since it will cause chaos to yers especially if they knew about the rewards. "Indeed. Your decision is indeed correct, boss. Having limited yers know about this quest, the better. With a quest that has a lot of big bosses, that means big loot and chances of getting high tier loot is something that we can look forward into. Even I would try to limit the amount of people who knows it too, so I understand your decision on this one, if you needed some healing help, you can recruit me," Chase grinned. "Wow, Chase you really want the dibs in the loot huh?" Hagane grinned and put his hands to his neck. "Of course, This is a chance in a lifetime. Besides, yers in Alternate World can sometimes be greedy bastards. If we got a quest this good and can be shared, it is only natural I will grab the opportunity to join in. I also needed to be stronger to be the Combat Medic I aspire to be!" The others also chimed in and it seems they are enthusiastic. Harmless Sparrow also wanted to join but she was hesitant. "Aren''t you going to join?" Sigma suddenly asked making Harmless Sparrow surprised. "I-I don''t know. I have a guild and if I joined, my guildmembers might get furious at me in the process for being selfish." "So you just wanted to waste this opportunity due to some yers who are not even someone you like to team up with?" I am just listening in the sideline but it seems there is already some internal conflict inside the guild of Harmless Sparrow. Is this due to the Vice President of the guild that is causing her to be this hesitant? Chapter 355 - Internal Conflict Harmless Sparrow is one of the guild leaders who bought the guild medal I put into the auction house during the very beginning where I got lucky and managed to haul a lot of money due to Kazuki''s offer that caused him to win the first Guild token, assuming that it was the only guild token being sold in the auction. I am not in touch with what is happening in the different guilds right now but I heard Kazuki''s guild is still the number one guild that is dominating. I know I crippled a few of the guild''s forces during thest time they upied the dungeons most beginners would find easy to clear and farm. There''s notest news regarding them but I didn''t care much about their affairs right now and there is no reason to get involved too. There is nothing good in getting chummy to other guilds and getting involved in their business. But it would be a different story if they are the ones who cross the line. Now, it seems Harmless Sparrow is having a bit of trouble on what to do and with the question from Sigma, it seems that made her a bit troubled a lot more now especially since it involved her and the Blue Sky Guild. "I need to think about it more," it''s very apparent on Harmless Sparrow''s face but it didn''t matter much to me. Unless she asks for help or something about this, I will not interfere with her decision. I don''t want to force her into doing anything she didn''t want to do. After her conversation with Sigma, she decided to talk to me about this same matter. "deheart, can I dy my response in this matter? As much as I want to join, I have some guild matters and if they knew about this, they will not stop nagging at me and I don''t want that to happen." "There is no rush. The Quest Giver is kind enough to give us enough time to prepare since this is something really dangerous and just charging head-on will be the death sentence of us. If you are still not sure about your decision, take your time. We are not in a rush. I will just tell youter on if we are about to do the quest. Don''t hesitate to ask us." She nodded before leaving the mansion. It seems she is about to settle the matters with her guild now. "Looks like she still has some matters to attend to, huh? Is she not going to join?" Sigma asked. "I don''t know. It seems she is conflicted about what to do next but I can see her desire to join." "This is why I hated guilds. It just restricts you from doing what you wanted because the guild wanted to take part in this and that." "Looks like we are on the same page on this topic, huh. Anyways, are you joining? It seems the others are also expecting you to join." "Yes. Since I heard that the enemies are way harder than the Abyss Monsters in dungeons, that only means it is the perfect ce to increase the viability of my build and fix the imperfections. Mr. Bear is also looking forward to it. He is also looking forward to fighting stronger enemies. Then once I get strong enough, let''s have a rematch. I will make sure to defeat you." I didn''t expect Sigma to be this bloodthirsty in strong enemies. I guess you can''t easily judge someone just by their looks. Not only that, it seems she is toopetitive. Her loss against me still gets on her nerves but I also wanted to fight her again in the future. Now, all I have the need to do right now is to go back to the Shrine of Ascension and ask the Entity of the Shrine to do the same thing to my followers and I also needed to farm some materials to craft some items in the next battle. Now that all of them have reached level 100 cap, it is time for them to get their level caps done. Since it was much easier for them, I don''t need to join them on this trial. Let''s get things to work. ... ... ... ... On the other hand, Harmless Sparrow returned to her guild headquarters. As much as she hated the thought of going back to the headquarters, she has no choice about this matter due to how this guild is being run by her father''s business partners and the revenue earned from the game is being poured back to thepany. Not only that but she is just a president in name only. She doesn''t have much anything to do here and most of the work is being done by the vice president of the guild and her fiancee. Despite being her fiancee, she is not in favor or even attracted to the man. If not for the arranged marriage her father shoved into her face when she was old enough to understand, she wouldn''t have bothered to even interact with him. Still. she couldn''t disobey as this was the absolute order of her father and she is afraid of him. Her mother is already dead after she gave birth to her so she has no mother to ask for help to counter the decisions of her father. As for her father, he only thinks about business and money and anything that makes a bit of convenience to him. Since the Alternate World was released and after knowing that they can earn lots of money in the game by only ying, her father decided to help her get one to test the waters. She thought at first that this was the sign that her father still cares for her since it was announced to her that she will get the Reality Nexus on the day of her birthday. Until she found out that it was only an experiment whether the game can be used as a potential business. Her fun was short-lived and all she wanted to do now is to avoid the guild most of the time. However, her actions are always monitored by her fiancee and due to this, she didn''t want her fiancee to know the quest. Knowing him, she knows he will try to find a way to get the quest and be the one who will control the quest for themselves and she didn''t want to involve her friends in her affairs. When she arrived at the guild, her fiancee is already waiting for her. He is Narukami Shogo. A tall guy that has a body build that looks like that of a model, a face that looks charming and cunning at the same time, His hair is a bit wavy but it makes his face looks like he was cool and easygoing guy. Added with some sses, he is now looking like a cool, genius heartthrob in most shoujo anime that emits a cool vibe. This might just be a product of avatar creation but in reality, he just looks the same as he was in the game. A perfect replication as most would say. "How are the days of ying with your friends, my dear?" her fiancee started caressing her hair in an intimate way but it felt disgusting to Harmless Sparrow. "Will you cut it out? We might be betrothed but that doesn''t mean that you are free to do what you want with me. You are disgusting." "Heh, even if you say that there is nothing you could do about it. The moment you agreed to the contract that your father has shown to you, you also agreed that you will be my possession. Even if you try to decline my advances to you, you can''t deny that I have the right to do this to you, Rika." He began to sensually caress Harmless Sparrow''s shoulders, a caress that lovers do during the time they will make something for love. Still, Harmless Sparrow just didn''t like this at all, and before he can even do something sensually on her, she pulled out her sword and point the end on his neck. However, the guy did not flinch or even show any signs of fear from the sword, instead, he smiled at her. "My, my... Rika you are still wild and impulsive. However, that only makes me more excited to do more things to you." "One more touch and your head will get lopped off this instant!" "Wow, so now you got a backbone to do something more huh? Interesting, Rika. Very interesting. The more times we spend together, the more I find you very fascinating and intriguing. Something that makes me want to really im you as mine." Harmless Sparrow is already seething in disgust but she still can''t do anything with him. "Still, Rika. Isn''t it enough time you tell us what you know? After all, the conversation you have with that guy who has a wolf mask seems really interesting now. Don''t you think you should do something now for your dear fiancee? After all, what is yours, is also mine..." Shogo then started to smile.... a smile that only those who have something wrong in the head or psychopaths would do. Chapter 356 - Recovery Of The Versatile Weapon Before I went to gather materials, I checked the Versatile Weapon''s status. And thankfully, it seems the digestion process has finally been finished. The timer beside it is gone and the weapon itself can now be equipped again. I swapped out the Fodder Magic Sword out and reequip the Versatile Weapon. When I held the weapon into my hand, I can feel its the same weapon, and yet it feels so different. It was like I handled the same weapon but made it from a different time. Due to the different feel yet familiar feeling on it, I decided to test it out by swinging it around. SWISH SWISH SWISH! The shes it makes are still as sharp as ever and if ever, it seems it has a bit of heavier sh and yet it remains light in the hand. Kinda weird if you ask me. I also realized that the de has now a different design. Compared to before, the weapon''s de has a darker shade of gray on it which leans closer to ck. It wasn''t this dark before but now it is now getting closer to the shade of ck. Not only that but the words that were engraved on its de, [GREED AND GLUTTONY] have been changed and it now has [PRIDE] on it. It is now [PRIDE, GREED, GLUTTONY]. Not only that but the handle has now three circles in it, with symbols engraved on it. The first seems to be a shield but it is glowing in purple shade. The shield also has some arrows on it and the surface of the shield has a skull engraved so that means this symbol is the symbol of the [PRIDE] sin. As for the second symbol, it was a symbol of a coin with a skull engraved on the coin. Perhaps this is the symbol of the [GREED] sin. As for the third andst symbol, it is a skull with food around it, while the skull itself has its mouth overflowing with food. Perhaps it was the [GLUTTONY] sin symbol. I don''t know why the Versatile Weapon already had the engravings of the [GREED] and [GLUTTONY] despite not encountering their respective weapons just yet. And since the [PRIDE] was added, I am now sure that this was the weapon''s way of telling what kind of weapon series it has already consumed. But why do the former two sins are already here? Did it already consume the two weapons before that is why it is now engraved into this weapon? Or perhaps the symbol of [GREED] and [GLUTTONY] weapon is the Versatile Weapon itself? Now, time to check its stats and see any changes in its skills especially since it has eaten a weapon that belongs to the Weapon Series of the Seven Deadly Sins. If the Versatile Weapon can get some major upgrades from the normal weapons, what about a weapon from a weapon series? I had to see for myself the changes. ........... [Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 15 [EXP: 2509/15000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +542 AGI: +526 DEX: +531 END: +659 INT: +598 Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff to the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can be also devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuff [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but they cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. Can only be used once every 48 hours. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: Conditions not met. Third Note cannot be viewed until the conditions are fulfilled. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: Null ........ When I saw the changes, I rub my eyes for a bit and check the weapon''s stats once again. I am not dreaming or mistaken, the stats of the Versatile Weapon has grown quite a lot. From the 200+ stat points on all attributes, it is now around 500-600+ stat points. That was a lot and when I mean a lot, that is not just a weapon meant to be wielded by a level 105 yer like me. This weapon is on the tier of level 190 or perhaps, even higher. The amount increase is just too much. Not only that but there are two special skills added too. The first one allows me to know whether the weapon nearby is currently part of the Seven Deadly Sins series. It doesn''t have much utility but this will work if I have to know whether some weapon around that looked like a normal weapon was part of the Seven Deadly Sins series. As for the second skill, you can say that this skill is the same skill that King Goliath used against me. And I never expected it to be too strong and useful that the system seems to have detected its usefulness that it has a limited amount of uses. Getting three minutes of invincibility is not to be scoffed off, and to top it off, it also has the Taunt mechanic and the damage absorbing gimmick. Then, the reflect damage is even strong due to the fact that the damage received will be sent back to the enemy, twice the amount of damage they inflicted to you. No wonder I almost got killed by King Goliath many times, this crap is just too strong. It was a shame that I have to wait two days before I can use the effect again but I guess it was just there to be not used frequently. Perhaps the Versatile Weapon engraving the names of the sins on the de might be the reason why it has been converted to the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. However, since I know this weapon is not a real weapon from the series, perhaps, there is a downside to it. Now the part that concerns me is the second note that has been unlocked. I never expected the conditions for it to unlock its info is for the Versatile Weapon to devour a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series. Not only does it mention the change of the weapon itself, but the beast inside sleeping is now partially awake. Is the beast that has been sleeping inside the weapon perhaps the ck dragon that devours the weapons? Is it the sleeping beast that is mentioned? I don''t know.. As more questions has been popping up now that I have no means to answer at all. Chapter 357 - Back To School With the Versatile Weapon back to its job, it''s time to do some extensive farming for materials for the preparation on the quest on the Frozen Desert. My current armor is not strong enough to handle the pressure of that ce and since it suffered quite a lot of damage from the battle against the possessed King Goliath, it just makes sense I needed some recement on it. I spent the whole day farming materials and collecting different kinds of things that will be useful for potion crafting and some trinkets that can help me in theter parts. There is no harm in hoarding a bit of them since they mighte in handy atter dates and who knows when it wille. Getting some preparations done is better than not being prepared at all. ... A week passed by and I continue to collect all kinds of materials. Today is the beginning of the schools opening their gates to wee new students after being closed for a year meaning I have no time to y the game in the morning. Of course, I have no actual need to go to school but I still needed to get it done or everyone would suspect why I decided to drop out without an appropriate reason. And besides, I can easily ace things now that I have done most of the things here in the past timeline, and I don''t need to do some studying here and there. It was like I am already cheating. When I finished my preparations and my uniform is now good and dandy, I went out of my room only to find Janus scrambling around. "F*CK! I totally forgot that today is the day we go back to school! Itpletely slipped on my mind! Dammit! I will bete on this!" He started running to the bathroom while carrying his towel. The siblings on the other hand are already preparing breakfast. Yes, they are also going to school since I also enrolled them while I was enrolling myself. It just doesn''t make sense not to let them enroll in school. Even if they are good at games, they should have at least a proper education. After being a beggar for so long, they should at least get the opportunity to experience school life too. Akira who saw meing to the kitchen decided to greet me. "Morning Big bro, breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." "Morning Big Bro, please wait for a bit alright?" Sora smiled as she continues to prepare the necessary things that her brother needed to cook. Since she is blind, she only has a minor job in the kitchen, and yet she still functions like a normal person who didn''t have a disability. Perhaps her time in Alternate World allowed her to get used to using her eyes despite not being able to see. "You guys looked good in your uniforms. How is the fit? Are they too tight?" I asked since I am just estimating their measurement when I went to a tailor to order the uniforms they needed. "They fit perfectly in our bodies, it was like we are measured when we got this." Akira gives me a thumbs up. "That''s good to know. Let me know if it gets tight, we need to readjust the size so that it won''t get ufortable in the process." The two nodded and continue with their job. As for me, I turned on the television since it''s been a while since I watched the news. Ever since I yed the game, I rarely have time to turn on this thing and watch the news nowadays. I know most of the major events that will happen in the future so I thought I don''t need it, but then I realized that the world is already changing and with different and small things that have changed, big impacts have already urred on things. There is no longer any guarantee that the things that happened in the past timeline will happen again here in this timeline. "Next in our news. cold weather will start to roll over around the world and better prepare to have some jackets ready before everyone catches a cold. ording to the experts, it seems this is due to the climate change that is happening right now that causes this phenomenon. However, further studies are needed for things to be fully understood on what causes this worldwide phenomenon from happening. I furrowed my eyebrows after hearing the news. Worldwide cold weather? That is news to me. This phenomenon didn''t happen in the past timeline. Never did happen even once. So what is happening all of a sudden? Is this a phenomenon that urred while I am busy with the games? No, that shouldn''t be it since this is happening while we are going to attend the first day of school and that means I have yet to get any sort of progress in the game and I am still totally free in my responsibilities. However, ording to the authorities, there is nothing to worry about with this so perhaps it was just some sort of natural thing that happens randomly around the world. It might just be a coincidence. However, I still needed to take note of this. I can''t just be not focused on what is happening. Who knows, if this ever signifies something. A few minutester, when the siblings were done cooking, Janus came out running out from the bathroom with a messy uniform. "Bro, what is the rush? It''s the first day of school, teachers won''t be that strict if you gette since it''s the first day of school so you shouldn''t rush too much." "Bro, you are too chill! I totally forgot everything about school after ying! I can''t afford to just dawdle! What about you? You are ying for quite a while and you are even muchte in enrollment. Are you done with everything?" "Of course, way ahead of you. I even took care of the necessary things for the siblings even. It''s not that hard anyway. Slow down for a bit, you might get some trouble in the process." "DAMN!" Janus started running back to his room, perhaps toplete his things before going to school. I can only shake my head. Still typical Janus. .... Janus was thankful he managed toplete his preparations and we waited for him as we only needed to walk to school. There are also other students walking around and it only signifies the students will be around now. Now that I realized it, it seems the news is indeed telling the truth. The weather is getting colder and the fog is rolling around, making it seem like it is in winter despite the fact that we are currently in spring right now. Our breath is even a bit foggy too which made me think if we are even in the wrong weather or not. "It should be spring but why is it really cold? We aren''t even in the season of getting snow this month too..." Janus is rubbing his palms for a bit of heat. "Some kind of worldwide phenomena ording to the experts. It is still unknown what caused this but we should be expecting this kind of weather nowadays until it lifts off or something like that." "That''s a bit sh*tty man...I should buy some hot canned coffeeter at school. This weather is just too cold. I hope it''s not going tost that long..." Currently, I am fine with the cold as it is not really affecting me much but for these guys, they will have to endure it for a bit. Still, this is really mysterious to me who have experienced the past timeline. This is not something I have ever known in the past timeline, even during theter parts. This is just new to me so I don''t know what is really happening. When we are almost near the school, we meet with Riko who seems to be waiting for us to pass by. "Morning guys! Seems like you guys are also not on good terms with the cold eh?" Riko smiled as she looked at us who are all d in thick jackets. "You are not much different from us though... You are also covered in a jacket!" Janus retorted. "Anyways, who do you think will be our homeroom teacher right now?" Riko asked. "Nah, you think I have an idea who it was? I don''t think I know. I heard they changed some of the faculty members since there are some who retiredst year. We might as well get a new teacher," Janus scratches his head. "You guys think we are still ssmates?" Riko grinned. "Ha, of course! 100%! Right, Manato? You agree with me right?" "Ha, he has confidence that we are still ssmates, so why not?" "So Akira-kun and Sora-chan are going to our school too as our juniors? I can''t wait to be your senpai, you two!" "Same here!" Akira is overflowing with confidence while Sora just nodded with a smile. As much as we have a lively atmosphere right now, I don''t think we are going to have a lively morning for today. After all, something major will happen once we are going to reach schoolter this lunchtime. "Let''s meet up at the rooftop this 12 sharp alright?" "Sure! Eating lunch together with you guys will be the best and this time, I am not the only girl in the squad with Sora here!" Yes, I needed their help forter on this lunch. Chapter 358 - The Incident (I) When we arrived at our school, most of the students are all wearing thick jackets. It looks like everyone has to experience an early winter weather experience. We immediately went to the bulletin board to check our respective sses. "Riko, Janus, I will have to help Akira and Sora for a bit and escort them to their rooms since they are new to the school. They might get lost in the process. "Okay, we will just wait for you in here after you found their rooms alright? We will be looking for our names and it might take a while with all the students around." "Sure." After that, we went to the other side of the bulletin board where the first years are gathering. Akira didn''t have a problem with anything which is why he was enrolled in a normal ss. However, since Sora is blind, Akira and Sora cannot be together since Sora is automatically ced in the Special Education ss where students with disabilities are enrolled. There are plenty of blind students and some students who have some disabilities that would hinder their normal school life and would need extra care for them to learn like normal. Thankfully, Sora is fine without her brother but as for her brother, of course, he is not fine. After all, he is very protective of his sister. "Brother, I know that we will not be in the same ss but you can''t be faking any kind of disabilities just to be in the same ss with me," Sora sighed. "But Sis! This will be the first time you will be away from me! I don''t know what to do if something happened to you!" "Brother, I know you are worried about me but you don''t need to be this worried. I may be blind but I can handle things on my own now. You don''t have to keep worrying about my well-being and I can walk by myself without your guide now. I can handle things now on my own. Aren''t you proud that I havee this far?" "But...but..." Akira seems to be still not able to ept that her sister is now going to go independent from him now. I can only stop them from doing that or they will bete. After a few seconds, I immediately found their names and I escorted them to their rooms. We escorted Sora first as Akira insisted that he wanted to see where Sora''s room will be. After making sure about the well-being of Sora, I escorted him to his room, of course, I didn''t bother to send him directly. He can handle things on his own already and he insisted he will go alone. With the two already in their rooms, I sighed a breath of relief seeing that the rooms are not part of the things that will be happeningter on since those rooms will be the first to vacate once the incident will ur. As for my room, it is not on the safe side as the room we will be in is going to be the center of the trouble. Although I am confident in handling the trouble myself, this trouble I am talking about is going to happen all around the school. It will be a really troublesome incident since it will also be mentioned in the news too. I hurriedly returned to the other two before everything happens. I checked my time and it seems the incident will happen 2 hours from now. If things have changed and got influenced, making the incident not ur today would be the best oue but I doubt it. If major things could be easily be avoided, I wouldn''t have worked my *ss so hard just to prepare for changing major things. As they say, effective performance is preceded by painstaking preparations. I arrived and it seems they have already found our names and even though I knew what room we will be in, it is not up to me to tell them what ssroom we will be in. "Looks like everything is good with the siblings?" Riko asked. "Yeah, everything is good. Akira had trouble separating from her sister though but it''s a bit minor and I managed to convince him to let her sister be independent of him at school." "Hahaha, typical Akira. Anyways, I already found our rooms, we are still ssmates!" Janus grinned and give a peace sign. "Yeah, I still can''t believe I am stuck with this idiot for a bit. But that is well and good enough I guess since I will not feel isted in the room." "Who is our teacher by the way?" I asked, pretending not to know. "Sensei Matsunaga. We are lucky our sensei is kind and we didn''tnd on someone like Mr. A!" Janus grinned. "Idiot! If Mr. A hears you identally, we can''t bail you out no matter how hard you try to beg for help!" "F*CK...I almost forgot about that and his sharp hearing! Let''s get out of here before he actually appears and reprimands me!" The two started to briskly walk away from the area in the hopes that Mr. Akito or Mr. A don''t catch them red-handed talking badly at him. Still, I can''t believe I am getting nostalgic in this matter. It''s been so long and to think I can relieve them again, This time, I have to change the course of history this time around. I can''t afford to make the same mistakes again. ... ... ... An hour passed since then. We already managed to finish the first subject and nothing major happened. Then, as I expected, the inte turns on and announces something. "Announcement to all Teachers currently on duty, please proceed to the Faculty Room for an emergency meeting, The meeting will begin in 20 minutes. This is mandatory so if you are still holding your sses right now, please postpone it for now and proceed to the Faculty Room." Looks like time is upon us. Things aren''t looking so good too. But I still remained calm. Things should be happening in the background too but I can''t afford to leave the room until I can already confirm everything is safe. When our current teacher went out to go to the meeting, Riko approached me to hang out while the teacher is not there. "Hey, Manato... Are you alright? You seemed like you are on the edge of your seat. You don''t look good," Riko noticed my anxiousness as usual. Typical for Riko who is really perceptive with everything happening. But now, I can''t just keep things quiet. This involves them too and if they can help me with this, I am not the only one who will be struggling with things. "Call Janus. I have to talk to you about something." Despite the confusion on Riko''s face, she decided to call Janus. "What''s up? Something wrong? This is the first time I have seen you this serious, Manato." "Guys... gather around. Don''t let anyone hear anything else." "Something wrong?" Riko furrowed her eyebrows. This will be aplete bluff but I have to make sure things will proceed smoothly. I don''t want to risk failure in this matter. "Earlier when I went with Akira and Sora to their rooms, I saw someone suspicious lurking around the corners. I am not too sure about him but I have a very bad feeling about it and it is not something I would just joke for." When they heard this, they didn''tugh or do anything that would make me think what I just said is stupid. Instead, their faces turned serious. "If this suspicious guy you said is someone you are cautious into, that only means he is indeed up to something. You never fail on your assumptions, Manato so tell us more on what you experienced and what made you think they are suspicious enough," Janus looked serious. He even looked outside the window to see if he has seen someone suspicious. "Should we warn everyone about this?" Riko asked. "No, don''t do that just yet until we are sure. After all, I am still assuming about the guy and I am still not sure whether he is indeed someone suspicious or he just looked suspicious but he is harmless and has nothing to do with our assumptions." "Alright. Since the teachers are out, we shouldn''t be here and find a safe ce for now," Riko nned out. "No, we should stay here, that is a bad action, Riko. Except if we are in a zombie apocalypse situation, we have to stay in this ssroom. Besides, if things gets bad, we can at least have Manato protect everyone else while we help keeping them calm," Janus calmly rejected Riko''s suggestion and suggested a much more better action. "I agree with Janus here. We have to keep calm and not panic.. And he is right, since there aren''t anyone else who can fight back in the real world, my help would be really needed in defending everyone against the threat if ever it was a threat." Chapter 359 - The Incident (II) With my friends already in the know of what is going to happen, it increased my preemptive rating, and are now ready for what will happen. Of course, I still didn''t know what will be the actual things that will happen now that I told my friends. Still, this is the only way to minimize the tragedy that urred during the first day of school. So what is this actual incident I have been talking about? The incident is a school hostage-taking. Apparently, a few street gangsters have gained some illegal guns from somewhere and decided to give it a whirl. Due to their thirst for violence, they decided to test it out and see if they can get away with it. ording to the reports, the leader was trying to hostage a bank but due to the tight security and they are not ready, they wanted to test the waters on invoking fear to the public. So, they decided to choose a big public ce where they can create terror and potentially escape without a problem. And the unfortunate public ce is none other than our school. Sure there are guards in the gate that blocks anyone who tries to enter but if you are rendered unconscious by them, there is no other way for you to wake up at all. Now, I am the unlikely one who knows what will be happening soon. Once I get rid of the trouble here in our ssroom, I will be going to save the others. How big is the gang that upied our school? Pretty big enough to take a hostage in most ssrooms. Then, the clock strikes. The moment the clock strikes, two men also sprung out from the door carrying guns. I am not familiar with the brand of guns but if I guess on it, it looks like a rifle, and the other guy is holding a pistol while his side has some big machete slinging back in the fort. And just to take note, these guys are not just heartless bastards, they don''t even care about life as they are prepared to kill. "Oi quiet down your little piece of sh*ts! If you don''t yammer down your mouths, I will just ram up this gun to your mouths and fill it with bullets," the guy holding the rifle ordered causing the girls to panic and the boys to shirk in fear. After all, it''s a gun andining will only get you killed. However, I don''t want to risk anything and wait for a miracle to happen. I tried thinking of a way to summon my wolf mask in the Alternate World. I know I can''t hide my face here with my ssmates but I have to worry about the others once I rescue themter. If my Versatile Weapon can be summoned, the other items can be summoned too. I quickly imagined my hands pulling out the Pure White Wolf Mask and to my surprise, I can indeed pull it out. Without waiting for the hostage-takers to take any action, I don the mask and charge forward to the hostage-takers. "GUYS! GET DOWN!" The moment I shouted that, my ssmates who are panic-stricken quickly duck down to their chairs. As for me, I summoned the Versatile Weapon the moment I leaped out and changed it to a Shield and Spear. The surprised hostage-takers were not expecting someone to leap out and they started firing. "Who is this f*cker!?" However., the shield and spear that I summoned are already the Shield and Spear of Pride. Any attack taken from it will be absorbed and I can reflect it whenever I want. So when the bullets were blocked, I immediately gained some charges to reflect against. I crash the shield to the rifle guy while I pierce the shoulder of the guy with pistol and machete. Once I gained the momentum, I activated the ability of the Shield. "[Vanagloria]!" BANG! The reflect damage that I did was too strong for the guy with a rifle to handle and the moment he received it, it was too great that before he can react, he was vaporized and only blood exploded around the ce. His guts were also gone, leaving only him being liquified. His clothes managed to survive though but that''s all there is to it. The other guy screamed and tried to pull out the aim on his gun in his hands but I quickly impale his hands with the spear, causing him to release the gun from his grip. "GAAAAAAAHHHHH!" It must have been really painful to receive my spear but I have no mercy on anyone who is just a straight-up murderer without remorse if they ever killed anyone. It is only the right thing to kill them to minimize the fatality rate of the students. After all, they can''t fight back. "P-please! Spare me!" "Forgiving sinners like you is up to God, to send them to him is up to me. So, the answer is no." After that, I stab my spear into his chest and he spurted out blood. He pulled out onest breath before his eyes dted after that. He died in the process. Once I kill the guy, I stood up and the other students especially some of the guys were able to recognize me. "That mask...isn''t that the mask of the champion of the Battle For Blood in Alternate World? You know, deheart?" "What? So deheart was our ssmate all along?! deheart and Manato is the same badass guy in the Alternate World?!" "Holy sh*t dude!" Riko didn''t expect it while Janus gives a thumbs up. After all, he already knows that I am deheart especially since I helped him in the game, only someone who can''t easily connect the dots will not realize deheart and I are the same person. The guys have gotten rowdy while the girls are still trying to process what happened. Of course, there are also some girls who are also excited when they saw my mask. Perhaps they are also a yer or they have watched what happened in the arena on the inte. "Guys. I know I just killed someone but if I didn''t, we don''t know who will be killed instead. Please understand what I just did." Our ss president, Haruno Komaki stood up, immediately recovering from what happened. "Don''t worry, Manato. You saved our lives out there. We don''t know what their problem was but you did the deed to protect us and you can trust that your secret is good with us." Then one of the girls pointed out my weapon. "So, that means the weapons he was holding were from the game?" That''s when some of the boys also realized it. "So he can actually summon our weapons into the real world?" "Is it possible to learn this power?" I stood up and went back to Riko and Janus. "Guys, I will leave it to you guys to exin and calm down everyone. I have to eliminate the others down too." Janus nodded. I looked at Riko and pat her shoulder. "I will exinter once I returned." After that, I doused myself with some cleaning magic and removed the blood from my clothes before I went out of the room and donned a cape, and reced my clothes. It is fine with my ssmates but if it is other people, I can''t guarantee it. Therefore, I decided to do this first. Once I have done that, I am now fully covered and my uniform is already changed from my adventurer clothes. Time to go vignte. The nearest room has a girl screaming, if I remember correctly, someone died here due to excessive resistance. I think it was the ss president who was killed so I think this is what is happening right now. I slide the door open and charges forward towards the little f*cker who was guarding the door and didn''t expect my entrance. It was too sudden so when I appeared, I immediately kicked the guy off, sending him flying to the opposite side, and changed my weapon into a Hook and chain before I throw the hook and catches the other guy who was trying to strangle the girl who I assumed to be the ss president. "Come here you little f*cker and repent!" The guy fell down the ground after I pulled him with the hook and before he could stand back up, I changed my weapon into a Magic Sword and stab his chest. But he didn''t die immediately. He struggled for a bit so I can say he is a bit resilient in damage. However, I don''t care about how resilient he was. I activated my ability of the lightning and allowed the Magic Sword to conduct the electricity.. Due to the sword still being embedded to his chest, the moment the electricityes charging in, the voltage kicks in, electrocuting him to death. Chapter 360 - The Incident (III) I might hesitate in killing someone who is not originally a criminal but these guys are real criminals, they are the worst of all the worst and they deserved to die. If this incident is not prevented, there will be 20 student deaths and 129 injured. Not only that but they also have been able to be really dangerous after they escaped prison. After their escape, they became one of the most wanted people in the world and are deemed to be the "shoot on sight" criminals and due to their escape in their confinements, it resulted in more deaths in the process. Now that I returned in the past, this matter is not something I can just pass by and do nothing. If being a vignte can help reduce the injured and stop deaths, then so be it. After killing the bastards in the room, I look at the students in the ssroom and check if anyone is injured. Seeing no one is seriously injured in the process, I look at the girl who was being choked earlier. "Are you alright?" I helped her get back up. "Thank you..." she is still coughing up after being choked so hard by them. "Help her get good fresh air, don''t let her confined around in tight spaces as that will make her breathe harder. Also, lock the doors so that no one elsees in. Unless it is a teacher or rescuers, don''t open them alright?" Those who managed to catch up on what I meant nodded while those who are still scared sh*tless on what happened just stare at me. I didn''t dawdle in that room for long. I also left behind the weapons of the dead hostage-takers in case the students have to deal with someone else who is not part of the faculty and tries to break in. It all depends on how they use it. That being said, I still needed to do what I needed to do. After all, the faculty are still in the dark after this. I don''t know what is happening but perhaps there is someone that is an aplice in the faculty since the timing of the meeting is just too perfect. After that, I rush towards the next room and did the same thing to the hostage-takers. I didn''t do any shy moves or introductions and just barges in before doing the kill. There are a few rooms where there are already injured students but thankfully, no one is killed yet. The n is doing well. Now that I have disposed of half of the people who tried to do some violence, I wonder how will the mastermind do and respond to my attacks. .... .... In the dean''s office, the boss who held the dean of the school hostage is frowning when some of the people he asked to deploy on the lower floors of the school cannot be contacted anymore. "What the heck are these bastards doing? Didn''t I ask them to remain their radios on for me to contact them? What the f*ck are their problems?!" the young mastermind of the hostage-taking is currently gritting his teeth in anger after trying to attempt some contact with his people. "Should I check up on what is happening on them?" one of the bodyguard people of the mastermind asked. "No, you should stay. Those bastards are good for nothing but they will not show anypassion and mercy on anyone. There must be something that must have happened before so perhaps that was the case." "Perhaps the police already caught up on our acts?" the other bodyguard who is a woman wearing sses tried guessing. "Didn''t the first course of action boss has instructed them is to confiscate and destroy the phones before they do anything else?" the bodyguard guy contradicts her. "Perhaps someone else has hidden their device and tried to do a secret call." "Nah, that is bullcrap. If they did, they should be dead already. Don''t even think they can call the cops in the end." "Hmm, you got a point there." "Still, it is indeed strange. I only heard a few gunshots earlier but I doubt that should be it. Don''t tell me most of the students in this f*cking school are all good students and are all quiet andpliant enough? That is just pure bullcrap right?" "Perhaps. Let''s just wait for more news on them, I doubt they will stay silent for too long." What they didn''t know, was most of their troops deployed to take hold of the school are already dead. It is only a matter of minutes or an hour before the vignte arrives. .... .... .... I underestimated the number of intruders in the ce and most of the rooms I entered almost have someone died if I didn''t intervene at all. These f*ckers are all pain in the crap. I continued killing them and make my way into the dean''s room. From what I can remember, the main boss decided to camp out in the Dean''s room. The boss of this group is aplete psychopath and will not hesitate to kill. Of course, I doubt he has killed the Dean just yet but he has indeed killed her in the past timeline. But it would take a bit more time before she was executed by the f*cker. I hurried up and cleared up the remaining rooms. Thankfully, all of my silent assaults allowed me to keep the injured minimal and the deaths of the students who should have died in this event have been saved and they are not killed. Then, my homophone rings. It was Janus who is calling me. "Hello? Janus, what is going on?" "Manato, should I call the police right now?" "No need. Someone else should have called them already so just stay in the rooms properly, Don''t open the room unless someone else tried to rescue you guys like the police. Also, don''t open it if it was someone from the faculty. I am guessing someone from the faculty is an aplice for how they managed to get in so easily without any problem and how the meeting coincides with their time of entrance." "An aplice in the faculty?" "Yeah. But that was just an assumption. The only people you can trust right now are yourselves and once they arrive, the police too. Other than that, keep yourselves holed up there. Don''t even bother going out or it might endanger your lives." "Roger that." After that, I ended the call and proceed to go to the Dean''s room after the death of all the people who tried to take over the school. Time to do the final showdown. ... "What the f*ck... all of them cannot be contacted now. What the hell is going on? I can still contact all of them earlier, why are they not responsive now?" "Should I go check out what is happening now?" the bodyguard woman asked. "Yeah, bring him along with you. I don''t like what is happening right now. If something is messing up with my ns, I wanted that gone as soon as possible." The two bodyguards nodded and opened the door when the door they were about to open was sent flying and the male bodyguard who was holding the doorknob earlier and was about to open the door was sent flying alongside the door. "What?!" the female bodyguard tried to aim her rifle on the unknown assant but she realized her gun has been cut in half and cannot be used anymore. Seeing it broken, she pulled out her pistol and used it instead, and started shooting on the unknown assant. However, the unknown assant was fast and before she can respond, a lightning shock electrocutes her body alongside the pain on her abdomen like she was punched too hard in her gut. She almost died and spit out lots of blood in the process. The boss who was sitting at the desk was shocked but he found it interesting someone is fighting them. However, his anger is much more on the overflowing side and he didn''t have enough time to do that as the bodyguards who were just standing guard earlier were now unconscious. He thought the assants were about to stop and face him now that the two are already unconscious but to his surprise, the guy pulls out something and it transformed into a sword. The assant didn''t even hesitate and stab the two bodyguards on their chest multiple times, effectively killing them. Quickly grabbing the gun on his side, he aimed it at the unknown assant but he released it when an arrow almost pierced his left hand. "W-wait!" he was about to plead and surrender but the unknown assant didn''t even talk to him or even stop to spare him. He was kicked in the abdomen hard and he was sent flying from the table to the nearby cab, causing his back to break from the impact. However, he is still alive.. Now, he is facing the grim reaper waiting to harvest his life. Chapter 361 - No Space For Mercy Despite being a psychopath, this bastard seems to be afraid of death. He is squirming away after seeing his bodyguards get killed. I nce at the Dean and thankfully, the Dean is unconscious, perhaps due to how the psychopath tortured her causing her to faint. As for me, I flick away all the blood on the sword''s de as I slowly approach the table. "Don''t you dare approach..." then he saw the unconscious Dean. He grinned before grabbing her neck and putting the hunting knife in his hands to her neck. "If you dare approach me, I will slit her throat and she will bleed out to die!" "Go ahead, do I even care? I don''t care who dies, but I am more delighted to see you squirm in pain." The psychopath never felt this terrified before. Seeing that I didn''t even flinch or stop when he put the knife into the Dean''s neck convinced him that I didn''t care about her wellbeing and using her as a hostage is a useless endeavor. He didn''t wait for me to get any closer to him and run to the window. "Whatever the case, I cannot let you kill me! I would rather die by suicide!" Opening the window, he quickly jumps without hesitation. He is giggling like a maniac while he is falling but did he really think I would let him fall down to his death and die just like that without him getting any sort of punishment? There is no way I would even let him do that easily. "Who said you could die on your own without my permission?" As someone who is an expert at handling guys like him in the game, I didn''t expect I would get good at handling guys like him in the real world as well. Using the Hook and Chain form of my Versatile Weapon, the falling bastard didn''t even get to properly fall halfway as my Hook and Chain were much faster at capturing him alive. When the psychopath realized that he can''t get down any further after being caught by the Hook and Chain, he started squirming to get off the hook but since I didn''t release him yet, there is no way for him to get out of the chain''s grasps. I pulled him up but I didn''t pull him back inside the window, instead, I let him on the window and yank him out even though his head and feet are stuck. "F*ck! Help me!" "For someone who kills people for fun and experiments, you are so much of a coward." "Please forgive me! You can''t do this to me! I will give you anything, just leave me alone! Please have some mercy to me!" "I grinned but I doubt he can see it under my mask but I still grinned as I stare at him. "Unfortunately for you, there is no space for mercy for you. People like you are necessary to be slowly punished than killed immediately without any sort of pain inflicted. So please be sure to experience extreme pain until you wish you could die instead." Panic-stricken, the guy is now crying with snot and saliva flowing out of his nose and mouth alongside his tears. After letting him hang on the window, I pulled him out of the window and began to drag him around the hallways. With the Hook and Chain attached to him, there is no way he can escape unless he has also the same ability as me to make the weapons in the Alternate World manifest. Other than that, he has to struggle in that alone while I drag him around. "F*ck! F*ck! F*CK! LET ME GOOOOO! I WILL KILL YOU ONCE I MANAGED TO GET THESE CHAINS OUT OF MY BODY MOTHERF*CKER!" "Good luck with that. Now,e on, and let me drag you around for a while. Please rx as it will be a really bumpy ride." Then, I began to drag him around the hallways. I made sure to go around the hallways with blood from the hostage-takers and let him get coated in their blood. Whenever there are some obstacles on the ground, I made sure to pass through them. He keeps screaming as his face is now covered in his blood and the blood of the hostage-takers. This attracted the attention of the students and they are prompted to look. Seeing that I was dragging someone on the ground, allowed them to know who was I dragging around. After a bit of those, I stopped doing it as it didn''t give him enough suffering that would allow him to beg for him to die. It only amplifies his desire to escape so I stopped it and pulled him up from the hook and chain. "Looks like it''s not enough pain for you huh? Then, let''s slowly kill you instead. You like doing that to your victims right?" I pinned him on the wall and before he can react, a punch in the gut amplified with the power of electricity. I made sure to amplify the power of the electricity as that will increase the lethality of my punch. This will be nothing to a normal yer as they can easily withstand something like this but normal humans will not withstand this and will immediately puke blood or saliva the moment they were punched. And as I punched him for the first time, he pukes out blood and saliva altogether. I repeated it again and he is coughing blood again. He was groaning in pain already and he can''t even properly move anymore. However, he didn''t evenin about dying, he is just enduring all my punches while enduring all the pain in his abdomen that seems to have been suffering some internal damage as a result of my punches. But call me heartless and murderer but I don''t care whether he died there already. I will be killing him after. However, in the middle of my punches, he breathed hisst and he fell to the ground before he can evenin. It seems I have punched him a little bit too hard. I sighed in relief but I didn''t just stop there since he might be pretending to be dead. I stabbed his chest multiple times and after I can confirm his death, I cleaned myself and returned to my ssroom. Before I entered, I called Janus and Riko to go out of the room by calling them using my holophone. When they went out of the ssroom, I decided to talk to them about my n. "Is everything alright Manato?" Janus asked. "Yeah. However, our ssroom is something I have trouble with." "Huh? Why is that? You need something done inside?" "I needed to conceal the information. As much as I like, revealing myself as the killer of these guys would not be a good idea, and letting our ssmates know about me is not a good thing either. Therefore, I needed you guys to get out of the ssroom." "What are you nning, Manato? Don''t tell me you will kill everyone in the ssroom too?!" Riko''s assumption is wild. "What the heck, I might be killing a few people but killing innocent people just to hide a secret is a big no-no already. Besides, I don''t need to kill them just to conceal this secret." "Maybe you are going to do some memory wipe or something simr to that, Manato?" Janus guessed. "You hit the mark there, Janus. Yeah, that is right and to do it with everyone inside, I have to put them all to sleep. Thankfully, I have a good item that can knock them out immediately as soon as they inhale it. No one can stop this no matter how good their physical prowess or mental fortitude is. Even yers of the game will not survive and will immediately go to sleep the moment they inhale this." I pulled out one of the potions I have been making and I am quite sure it is pretty potent although it is not as effective if used against monsters if it was used against the humans, it will be really potent that the moment they whiffed the smell of a single grain inside of the bottle, they will enter slumber immediately without fail. "I think I can agree with you on this one, Manato. Since you have killed the intruders, we have to make sure to hide the fact that you are the one who killed them. You said earlier that you managed to fool the other ssrooms right? That means the only vulnerable one who knows about your identity is our ss. With the police not discriminating on criminals and civilians alike, it would be better if they didn''t know about it." Looks like she agreed. I nodded and opened the door of the ssroom and throw the bottle quickly to the ground, shattering it the moment itnded on the floor, releasing the contents inside. A few secondster, we can hear the sounds of thuds inside, meaning, all of them are now knocked out unconscious as a result. "Looks like its time to do the mind alteration work. Chapter 362 - Class Suspension...Again Memory alteration is one of the practical skills I learned in the past timeline. It was a skill that I learned secretly when I went to a ck market in the game and one vendor teaches me to do this ability in exchange for some information he needed which I currently owned at that time. This ability is usable in real life and can be used as long as you possess mana in your body. There are no other prerequisites just to learn it other than having mana in the body. Because it was a skill that can be used for the wrong purpose, only a limited number of people know about it to avoid letting evil-minded people know this. Once everyone in the ss was knocked out, I immediately performed the Mind Alteration. It was a technique I know that allows me to manipte a bit of the memory of that certain person. The more recent the memory is, the easier it is to manipte it. You can either alter it, erase it or change itpletely. In my case, I just decided to alter the memories and delete some parts that would make them remember I was the one who killed the intruders. Since I didn''t wear a mask when I attacked, I decided to also alter my face and add the mask to add the realism and to manipte things that happened to allow any exnations to be easily done like that was what actually happened. I also realized that Ayane and her boyfriend are not here. Even theckeys that followed them everywhere are not present. I wonder what happened on why they are still not attending the ss at the moment. Since it was just an easy task to alter their memories due to my experience in doing this, I managed to finish everything in a few minutes. It was a very exact time that the police arrived. They are armed and ready to charge forward to do the rescue and take the hostage-taking seriously. However, they are alreadyte as the intruders who initiated doing the hostage-taking process are all dead. When they arrived, all they found are all the dead intruders and the students who are all trying to calm themselves down. As for the teachers, the police quickly questioned them on how they didn''t even notice their students were already in danger. Of course, the situation got worse for them due to this and the police decided to take the matters differently. My ssmates woke up one by one before the police arrived at our room, making it look like nothing happened, and thankfully, everything about my memory alteration was done perfectly. Of course, we got questioned on what actually happened and who killed the intruders. Since I also made some testimonies together with Janus and Riko thought, our testimonies coincide perfectly with the testimonies with the other ss. Of course, we have only slight differences to make sure it was not the wrong stuff we say and they would suspect something is wrong. And due to this event, sses for the day ended much, much earlier. Not only that but the sses in our school will be suspended for another month due to the negligence that urred and the teachers are going to be reevaluated for this. The higher-ups of the schools didn''t want another incident like this to happen again in the future. Not only that but they wanted to increase the security of the school after experiencing this. It was different in the past timeline since we had a 6 months suspension to recover from the trauma due to how some students have died in the process. Since no one from the students died, the suspension was shortened to 1 month instead of 6 months. Although it was kinda disappointing in the end, a free month''s worth without the need to go to school is once again given to us. This free month will allow me to focus on the quest to the Frozen Desert and fully gear up before we started to do it. I know it is a bit short but it''s better than nothing. After all, the focus of the police right now is to find the vignte after he killed all of the intruders. As much as it was an act of justice, killing them wasn''t the right thing. Still, the only way the police can pinpoint me is if they have a detective who can quickly deduce who did it with their wild theories. Other than that, it will either take them forever to know. .... .... The next morning, after we have breakfast, I decided to return to the game, Janus and the siblings still have something to do so they didn''t log in just yet in the game. They still have something to do at the moment so it was only me who decided to y the game after breakfast. [Wee Back, deheart] I was greeted by the electronic voice as always. I stood up from the bed where I spawned in and rubbed my eyes, before stretching my body. The door opens and Lina appeared in the doorway. "Master, Ms. Almira is here to see you. She said that the elf folk is now ready to receive the request to repair their defenses now." "Will be right there, let me prepare for a bit before I meet her, please let her in if she hasn''te in just yet and prepare some food and tea for her." "Yes, Master," Lina bowed down before she went ahead to prepare what I asked her to do. Well, Almira''s arrival is just in time. Elf folks had some really good materials in their vicinity and if possible, I might be able to ess the nearby mines that they set up for getting ores to repair their weapons. In Alternate World, Elf Folks are not against the usage of mines. Since they actively use it for their own weapons, they are able to develop quite some good weapons that only elves can craft. Currently, I am running out of ores to use and the only ore I have plenty with is gold ores and some ingots made from the excess amount of gold ores I have since I have excessively mined in the Gold Dungeon when we raided the ce with Rikost time. The gold has yet to make any good use as my cksmith level is still too low to make something decent with it and I don''t like to waste it in just making weak weapons and weak armor. With my preparations done, I went to see Almira who is currently drinking the tea that Lina had served her with. "You took your time, disciple. Did you seem to have no time to visit the smithytely eh? Pretty busy nowadays?" "Yeah, it was pretty much busy and hectic days that caused me to have no chance to visit your smithy." "Hmm, it seems you are not neglecting your training as a cksmith. Your abilities have grown past the beginner phase. However, it is still not enough to surpass me just yet. But I can tell you are on the road to that so just continue to do so and perhaps you will get to that point where you can create much better items now." Then her eyesnded on the pistol on my holster. "Oh, ho ho ho, looks like I was speaking too early, you already made something incredible even with just low-level cksmithing of yours. That gun is very good and from the looks of it, you used some innovative designs rather than using the usual gun forms. It looks like my call was right that you are the perfect candidate to repair the elf folk''s weapons then." "Are youing with me this time around?" "Yes. I needed to personally check the weapons and the defenses as it took a lot of damage to their arsenal after the demons invaded them, it is also necessary as the elf folk is preparing to go on a raid battle soon and they needed the weapons to help with defeating the foes and with arge part of the elf folk will be gone for a while, the defenses of the vige is necessary to avoid unnecessary risks." "They are going to raid something?" "Yes. Have you heard of King Arthur''s legend? They are going to a ce where King Arthur wasst spotted and they said that the area where he was headed was the home of countless monsters that you can only meet in your nightmares." "Are you talking about the Frozen Desert in Sandurk Continent?" "You know about it, deheart?" "Yeah since the Queen who rules that ce is also asking me to participate in that raid that is why I am so busy these days to procure different items and materials to create some of the items I needed for this raid since the Queen asked me to prepare for strong items that can withstand a lot of damage to survive the ce." "I see. No wonder it was a very hectic time around these days, it was due to this event huh? No wonder even the lesser-known cksmiths like me get quite a very good amount of requests. I am interested in this quest, perhaps you can ask the queen who employed you to employ me as a senior cksmith in this expedition?" I was surprised when Almira suggested that.. After all, she is very disinterested these things for a long time and this is the first time I have seen her a bit interested now. Chapter 363 - The Sealer Of Gods Since Almira is joining me to fix the Elf Folk''s equipment, we departed together with her as we ride on Leona''s back. "Oho, I like this method of transportation, no need to suffer on rough roads and there is no risk to potentially meet some bandits or surprise monster attacks since we are airborne and the monsters are afraid to approach due to the aura your Gryphon is giving. Very convenient," Almira nodded as she rubs her chin while looking at Leona''s back. Just from her gesture alone, I can tell she is thinking about how to improve thefort feels while riding on Leona. I can easily tell that she is nning to keep asking for a ride on Leona soon enough. Since Leona has reached level 100 and she is ready to break through to level 101 once she gets her ascension forter, her speed has significantly increased and it allowed us to have a smoother flight Due to this, it didn''t take us long to reach the Elf Vige''s vicinity. As always, Inded just nearby as to not spook the Elf folk. But I was surprised by the changes in the Elf folk''s vige. Thest time I raided the ce while hunting the converted demon elf folks, it was not this big. However, this time around, the vige has increased in size and the walls are also much higher and more essible for archers to usepared to before. They even made some catwalks and watchtowers that werecking in thest form of the vige. It seems the vige has finally been improving a lot ever since the demon invasion event urred. Perhaps they learned a valuable lesson that made them rethink their strategies in dealing with trouble. "Not bad. It looks like they already used my suggestion to them to theyout of the main foundation of their firstyer of defenses," Almira nodded. "You suggested this build to them?" "I suggested them for a n to keep out the monsters and potential intruders at a bay not too long ago before the demon invasion began in their vige. They didn''t follow it before but seeing the changes, it seems they changed their mind after experiencing the real deal. And since the adventurers like you rarely reach this far, they rarely have visitors." I nodded with what she said. It is true that the Elf Folk''s vigecks the yers to ess the ce. After all, it was pretty much deep in the forest and only those who are dedicated enough will be able to find it. After we got off from Leona''s back, we started walking towards the Elf folk''s vige. There, we are greeted by a giant door made from metal that stops us from entering the vige. "Oh? It seems they also decided to utilize the metals in their mines now. Not bad, but needs improvement. But it is still admirable in its own way." One of the guards above the gate who is holding a crossbow stopped us from proceeding further. "Halt! State your business!" Almira steps forward and is the one who conveys the message. "Your vige elder is already expecting me. I am the cksmith that was tasked with repairing the Sealer of Gods. Also, this guy beside me is my apprentice." The guard nodded and called one of the people who seemed to have some ess to where the Elder is to confirm if what Almira said is the real deal. After a few seconds, the guard started to signal again and we heard the big door moving. "Sorry for waiting, dear guests. The elder is waiting, pleasee in." Almira nodded and we entered the vige''s premises. The vige is now thriving and I never saw this ce as lively as before. Perhaps due to the efforts of the Vige elder that the situation is much more favorable and good for them. The vigers were indeed looking at us in curiosity. Perhaps due to the fact they rarely see people like us inside the vige. Of course, there are some who recognize us and just waved from us in the distance. After walking for a bit, we arrived at where the Elder was waiting for us. It was a building I have not seen before and I don''t even remember seeing this in the past timeline. Not only that but from the looks of the exterior of the ce, this was recently made. It is a ce where even though we are just standing outside, we can hear the nging of metal and the sawing sounds of logs. Entering the new building, it was revealed to be a workshop of some sort. There, we are greeted by the elder. "Looks like you guys arrived at the right time, Miss Almira and Mr. deheart. We are waiting for you two," the elder is smiling as Almira started to look around the ce. "Oho, you sure designed this ce perfectly. It is a good ce for any workers to set their mood in creating or repairing something. Though I can still see some ces where it needs improvements, it is already looking good. 8 out of 10." "That doesn''t sound bad for a ratinging out from you, Miss Almira but much appreciated that you liked the design more than I expected. I was expecting you to rate us at 3 or 2 out of 10." "Well, I would rate you that low if I can see it as a very terrible ce. But I can''t see why I would rate it that low. So where is the Sealer of Gods?" "Follow me, since it was so delicate, we have to put it in a special ce where no one can identally break it." "Let''s go. The sooner we are done, the better." ... ... ... We arrived in a sealed room where it was far from the workspace that the other elves are working at. The elder waved his hands for a bit and the magic circle that seems to act as the lock of the door has disappeared and the magical energy that was being released from the door dissipated the moment the elder lifted the seal. "We are here. The Sealer of Gods is currently ced here due to the necessary parts it needs for repairs." The Sealer of Gods that the Elder is mentioning is none other than the big ballista that should have been ced around the walls and the center of the vige for better protection against monsters and it is even strong enough to deal with giant threats that might make the vige be squished. The reason it was called the Sealer of Gods is due to the fact that it was previously used in a subjugation against the lesser gods who lost control and rampaged thend in the past. Although it is still pretty famous, it''s no longer holding the same position it once has back in the day. There are currently 10 pieces of Sealer of Gods needed for repair and from the looks of them, it looks like they are suffering different kinds of defects. I have seen these weapons function before and yes, I did have the chance to repair it in the past timeline due to the fact that my master is none other than Almira. If it wasn''t Almira, you won''t get this request at all since only Almira can be said to be the capable one from the cksmiths to have the ability to repair it. So unless you are an apprentice of hers, the quest won''t appear to anyone else. And since I am the only one Almira epted as an apprentice, I have the chance to meet up with these things again. "Are the necessary materials needed for the repairs are here?" Almira checks the boxes which contain different items that are all needed for the repair of these things. "Yes, we prepared all of it though you can call us if it was not enough or the materials you needed are not present in the boxes," the elder readily answered. "That is good. And it seems the equipment we needed to do the work is also properly maintained and prepared for our convenience." "Of course. We are very confident in your abilities and since the savior of this vige is also your apprentice, we know you guys can do it." "Good, now please leave us for we needed to make this work with all the focus we needed especially since some of the damage of these things are worse than I imagined." "We will not disturb you two then," the elder nodded before he bowed and went away. "Alright apprentice, let''s get to work. I will tell you how to repair this thing and assist me with making improvements on this. The uing raid that made even these neutral guys giddy makes me think it is really bad if they didn''t get enough firepower. If you got some suggestions on how we should improve this, you are wee to give me a suggestion." I nodded in response.. It''s time to begin the mass repair job. Chapter 364 - The Return Of The Heroes Due to my experience in the past timeline in fixing this thing and changing some parts to make it much stronger, the work was much faster than Almira expected. "Damn, deheart. I know you are passionate about cksmithing but I didn''t expect you to also be good at repairing and modifying these things. You increased their output twice than it should be! Are you perhaps the real creator of these trinkets?" Almira had a frown on her face as she looked at me with her scarlet red eyes. "You are just imagining things. I just like to experiment in things and my imagination just allowed me to visualize things if we do this and that. Nothing special really, and do you really think I am that old enough to create these things, Master?" "Yeah, you are right. Some of the people back in the days are a bit of an idiot for creating things that are quite useful only once before they break to pieces. Anyways, we sure finish much earlier than I anticipated, I didn''t expect it was so fast and we even have done some modifications on the Sealer of Gods." "It''s due to the guidance of Mas-" "Ah, shut it. Stop bootlicking on me, that won''t work. It was clear you are already quite familiar with the thing after I teach you. So stop saying it was due to my influence it was done splendidly. That''s your poorest attempt topliment so stop it while it''s still early or I will just be pissed." "Hahaha," as always, she is annoyed by mypliments, and yes, although I already knew how to repair and modify the Sealer of Gods, she is partly the main reason why I can do that without a hitch. Without her guidance in the past timeline, I won''t be able to do it so proficiently in this timeline either. So you can say that if not for her, the amount of time she expected us to finish repairing them would be the exact time we will finish repairing it too. "Anyways, we should report it to the Elder so that we can go home much earlier. My shoulders are a bit sore pulling these strings. These artifacts are just too troublesome to repair and if not for the reason that I am only the capable cksmith capable of fixing this damnable thing, I wouldn''t even bother going out of my smithy." "Well, you also needed to go outside once in a while. Just staying inside with the smell of metal and the forge is just going to give you bad health in the future." "Yeah, yeah. I know. Anyways, let''s get out of here before they start to demand we help them on something again. If possible, want to avoid getting new requests as soon as I am finished with one job as it will affect my overall mood." I nodded and we went together to report the situation to the Elder. However, the vige seems in an uproar on something. The crowd is riled up and is gathered at the center square. "Is something going on?" I frowned and was actually curious about what is happening over that ce. "Nah, don''t bother. It was not part of our job and getting curious about something is quite necessary if we want to avoid some trouble. Let''s find the elder to finish the job and get back home." Honestly, I agree with Almira on this one. It''s not our job to gossip about the situation. The faster we are done with the job, the better. Despite being curious, I am also tired and I don''t want to prolong my stay here as I also wanted to finish all of my duty as soon as possible. We returned to the workshop where we saw the Elder for the first time but to our surprise, the ce is empty and the work was left behind halfway done. "The heck? Where are all the people in this ce? Don''t tell me they left behind their work just because of some sort ofmotion? Gah, I am having a headache with this..."Almira starts to rub her temples. "It looks like we have no choice but to check out themotion in the center of the vige. As much as we wanted to go home immediately, there is nothing we could do about it." "Tch, dammit, let''s go. Now I am more pissed than ever." Without anyone we can ask where the Elder is, the only option we can do is find him in the area where themotion is taking ce. ... ... When we arrived in the area where themotion is happening, the workers we saw in the workshop were indeed hanging out in that area and seems to be watching something or someone. They are eager to see whatever they are trying to see. "Master, I saw him, there he is!" I pointed out for Almira to see. We treaded the crowd and went to meet the Elder. Due to that, I finally saw what they are havingmotion for. A group of 5 people elves are currently being surrounded by the elf folk onlookers. I took a closer look and I realized that I have no idea who they were at all. I tried to rack my brains in the hopes I can remember them but even with my eidetic memory, I don''t think I even meet them before? Therefore, as much as I want to say I know them, I really have no idea who they were at all. I can only frown as to why they seemed to be famous when I can''t even remember if they are in the past timeline at all. The group isposed of one elf and 4 other girls of different races. I don''t see a human though and for the first time ever, this is the first time I am seeing someone who seemed like a human hero with a harem of different races of girls with him. I was surprised since that rarely happens to other races and most of the time, only humans have mostly done that kind of thing from what I have seen even in the past timeline so far. As for Almira, she headed straight to the Elder without even caring who the elf folk seems excited to meet about. "Elder, the repairs are done for the day and we even modified some parts of it." "Oh? The repairs of the Sealer of Gods are done? That''s wonderful news! But I thought you will be done a bit muchter?" "We had a breakthrough and we also managed to properly understand the structure of the Sealer of Gods. It contributed a lot to our progress allowing us to finish much earlier than the expected duration." "Well, that is good!" "Yeah. And since we are done, we will be going home. The Sealer of Gods is all ce in that same ce you showed us. You guys are now free to install those things around if you wanted to do so." "Ah! Please don''t go home yet. We will be preparing some a feastter on. It would be great if you guys could join our festivities." the elder suggested. "Festivities? I didn''t know you would do some festivities too. I have never seen you guys do some kind of festival during this time so I hope you would enlighten me since I am quite sure there are nothing important festivities you are going to held at this time of the year or maybe I am already getting senile." "Hahaha, don''t worry. You are not going senile, we just had someone important to us who returned after their long journey. We will be celebrating their return right now." "Ah, for someone. Then we will decline as that is not part of the contract and we are not obliged to do so. We will be going home and resting as we will have to also prepare for some things we needed and we have no time to spare on these trivial matters." After that, the people who were being crowded by people earlier approached us. From the looks of it, they are going to meet the elder but the guy who was leading the group of girls decided to talk. "Youngdy, it''s better for you to rx your body for a bit and keep your tense shoulders at ease. One nice drink with someone would help-" before he can even finish his monologue, Almira stopped him from talking. "Stop. I am really pissed right now and you better not add fuel to the fire. I am not in the mood of your rumblings no matter who you are what status you have." "Wha! How rude! Do you know who you are talking so informally into?!" the catgirl who seems to be a brawler angrily snarls at Almira who was not even fazed. "Huh? Is he even someone I should care about?" "Of course! He is the hero who just defeated the Demon Lord nearby the Elf Vige! It''s natural you should do so!" Chapter 365 - The Temper Of A Blacksmith I tilted my head when I heard the word "Hero who defeated the Demon Lord." As marvelous and epic that sounds, in Alternate World, that doesn''t sound so big. After all, demons are always on the prowl all around Gaia. The only time I would find that very impressive is that you have defeated at least a dozen or more since that would indeed be a big feat. But with the achievement of killing one demon lord, that doesn''t sound so appealing in the ears. Even the NPCs in the capital don''t view you as a very special person if you just defeated one demon lord. Just like my achievements, before I got to be well known by Queen Tanya and the others, I needed to be worthy enough for their eyes to view me as someone worthy to be hailed like that. And yet, this elf seems so proud of himself for killing one demon lord. It was indeed hard but anyone can do it just fine, especially if the demon lord is not that strong just yet. Just like my reaction, it seems Almira is not even slightly impressed and just raised one of her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "So? Am I supposed to be really impressed by that?" "What?" the elf hero was not expecting Almira''s reaction. "Demon lords are plenty all around the world. Killing a single demon lord doesn''t mean much even for me. And if you think you are a bigshot already for bing a demon lord yer, then kill a few more, around a dozen or more, and maybe I would have some respect for you." "Huh? Did you just look down on my achievement?" the elf is getting arrogant. "Cassius, I know you are upset but don''t even bother-" the elder tried to stop the hero who was named Cassius. "I can''t just afford for someone to just look down on me! After all, I am a proud hero who has killed a demon lord with mypanions! I am not going to let this go! I need to teach this woman a lesson and tell her who she is messing with!" "Oh? You want to fight against me?" "Heh, you look like you have something you can even use. Of course, the only way to prove myself is to win and show off the power I used to defeat the demon lord!" "Tch," Almira clicked her tongue. Clearly getting annoyed by the antics of the guy who proims to be a hero. Almira then handed her leather apron and her toolbelt to me. "Disciple, hold this for me, I will get it backter." I nodded and received her items and let her get into the mood. "Where is your weapon?" "Shut up. You are too green to handle weapons and if I did, there is nothing good happening to it in the end. My bare fists are enough for you. Now, show me what this power of yours then." Cassius seemed offended by this but he didn''tin as he saw this as an easy win for him. He pulled out his weapon and I realized it was a Magic Sword. Which means he is a Magic Knight. Still, it seems Almira didn''t even give a sh*t whether he pulls out something or not. She looks pissed and bored at the same time. "Let''s go, partner! Burn and show us the light!" The magic sword started to ignite in mes and Cassius started to imbue the weapon with more mana, igniting the sword further. Seeing this, the Elder then ordered everyone to cast a defensive shield. to everyone. Seeing this, it was clear he is intending to burn everything in the path so to minimize what damage he was about to do, I pulled out a scroll and tear it out, activating the skill inside it which reveals to be the Istion Domain, a skill that meant to trap anything inside it for 3 minutes or under depending on how short the duration the user wanted to do. Any attacks activated inside the domain would be isted to that ce and will not be pierced. It was a good skill that allows containing some monsters that are too fast and hard to handle if not contained. It is also a good skill to aid in taming as it has the potential to act as a temporary cage. The elder was surprised when I did that but he didn''t say anything just yet and observed what is happening in the battle. Almira already noticed what happened but Cassius did not. He just continued to charge up the whole thing with his power, increasing the power output of the ming sword. "Cassius! What the f*ck are you even doing?! Are you nning to kill?!" the elder finds it worrisome that the mes in the Magic Sword are no longer something meant for a duel. It was meant for a fight to the death. But Cassius seems to have gone deaf and continues to increase the mes. He then raises the sword up in the air, revealing a ming giant sword ready to mow down any enemies. With a grin, he proceeds to attack. "BURN!" Cassius then brought down the ming sword towards Almira. Even I would not do that in a duel like this. He is not just intending to defeat Almira, he is also intending to eliminate her. However, Almira did not even look like she is bothered and as the ming sword is about tond on her, she yawned before flicking the ming sword''s me. BOOM! A shockwave urred and despite the Istion Domain present, the shockwave can be felt outside. Thankfully, all the damage that it has caused is all contained in the Istion Domain and as for the ming sword, it was immediately disintegrated and the Magic Sword of Cassius was reduced to ashes despite being made from metal. It seems the me and the impact of Almira''s counter were too much for the weapon to handle, reducing it to dust. Cassius was stunned and baffled by the result and the sword that he so-called "Partner" was reduced to ashes, with only the handle left behind that Cassius is still holding tight. His body was shaking from what just happened and seems to be at a loss for what just urred before him. "You wasted a good sword for a measly attack like that? Pathetic. And here, I thought you would show me something worthwhile. You are wasting my time, "MR. DEMON LORD SLAYER." All bark and no bite at all." Seeing the battle was over, I deactivated the Istion Domain and their battlefield was totally broken. The road they were standing was reduced to ashes around the area where the sword should havended and around Cassius as well, but around Almira, you can see nothing else in there but just a normal road. Nothing was destroyed past on Almira''s back. I handed Almira her toolbelt and leather apron as she wipe her hands using the towel in her apron. "I apologize for the behavior of Cassius. He just got too full of himself and thought he was very strong due to him killing a demon lord." "It''s nothing. But be sure to tell him that showing off like that on another person would be the death of him. He just got lucky since it was me who he faced off with. If it was someone else, not only the sword who will retire but also him as well. Now, please excuse us.. I am quite tired, my disciple and I will be going home." Chapter 366 - Rehabilitation Check-Up And Unexpected Meet Up I didn''t question Almira about what she showed today. After all, I already know about her that she is strong enough to fight bare-handed. But it was still very amazing that she managed to do that against an elf without even using a weapon and just flicking it off. As a token of apology for Cassius''s actions, the Elder allowed us to go back without being held back by him. "Are you not going to ask me why I managed to do that despite being a cksmith?" Almira asked. "Are you going to tell me why then?" "No." "Then why would I ask? It''s your choice whether you want to say it to me or not. If you are not ready to tell me why you are this strong then I have no intention of asking for it." "That''s good. There is no need for me to dig up something in my past and share it with someone. If you want to know, then wait for it for me to tell you all about it but until then, I will not say anything." I nodded in response. Although I have seen her prowess in the past timeline, I am indeed in the dark on her past. She was very strong and she knows how to use all kinds of weapons at her disposal. It was like she is also a Versatile ss but it was unclear whether she is one or not. She is very strong and if Ipare her with Queen Tanya, I will say it might be a stalemate or maybe Queen Tanya might lose since all I see in Almira''s battle style is just using basic attacks and it shows much that her attacks are already overwhelmingly powerful. What if she uses some skills too? Still, I suspect that there is something in the past that Almira didn''t want to dig back up as she is reluctant to say it. Even when in the past timeline where I managed to raise her affection level to me in a maximum, she never said anything and just remained quiet on her past. That is all that I managed to dig up from her and other than that, nothing much. No doubt it must be something she wanted to forget. I sent her back to her smithy after we arrived at the Capital. "Once the quest for the raides in, don''t forget about me or I will make sure you will suffer if you forget about me." "Of course. I will make sure Queen Tori will know about you." She nodded in response before she closed the door. I went back to my mansion and logged back out after that to rest. It was a tiresome day and I needed to sleep after doing lots of repairs to the Sealer of Gods. Besides, it''s already prettyte at night in the real world. I would need to go to sleep too, ... The next morning, I received a call from the school. Apparently, after the events that transpired with the hostage-taking, the school decided to do a rehabilitation check-up for all students to attend to in case someone might have developed PTSD from what happened. After receiving the call, I received a call from Riko as well and we discussed a bit about the event that the school decided to do to avoid any kind of illness activating due to the traumatic experience all people have experienced during that event. Perhaps the teachers are being forced by some parents for them to hold this event aspensation for the poor management of the school. The check-up will ur tomorrow morning. I told Janus about it and he said that he didn''t want to do attend as he was trying to grind some levels, but since it was a mandatory event, he has no choice but to attend it. As for me, I don''t even mind about it as it is necessary. Might as well ask if there is something wrong with my body. It''s a free checkup after all. Today, I only decided to let my followers go to the Shrine of Ascension and let the Entity of the Shrine do her thing. Everyone did manage to get their ss up since the trials are much easierpared to the trial that Lina and I have to do. Their trials are much easier and they easily cleared it on solo. With their ss up done, Tina became the Insect Queen after her ss up. As became a Dominator of Darkness, Lucia became the Elemental Princess and as for Leona, she is still a gryphon due to the beast not being able to do the same ss ups as humans or other races. Gobu became the Elemental Master. As for the wolves, just like Leona, they only managed to get a rank up but they became stronger as a result too. After that, we went to do some small hunting. It was not really arge-scale dungeon clearing as we are just collecting easy-to-collect materials. Besides, the reason I did bring them is for them to familiarize their new powers after ranking up. That way, they can be capable of unleashing their powers in the future too especially in the Frozen Desert where the monsters are much more dangerous than ever. Having them capable to master all the skills and new abilities they received, the better our advantage in the near future. ... And the day of the check-up arrived. Janus and I, along with the siblings for the checkup. Despite the siblings not being able to experience the terror of the hostage-taking, it is still necessary for them to attend in case. "Man, I shouldn''t have gone through this if not for the fact that this is mandatory, I still wanted to fight some monsters along with Riko and the others but damn it..." "You can''t do anything about it, it was a necessary thing for us." "Gah... what about you guys? Are you bummed out that we have to do this too?" Janus asked the siblings. "Nah, it is good to do some check-ups too once in a while. It allows us to know whether we are sick or not." Sora nodded as approval to her brother''s opinion. Just as we are about to go to the venue where the free check-up is happening, I saw someone else who I am not expecting to see here. "Oh, Manato. What a coincidence!" The other people I have not expect to see are none other than Pandora who is smiling at us and Suhei who is currently holding the wheelchair of Pandora. Chapter 367 - Transfer Dungeon (I) "Suhei-san and Pandora-chan? What are you guys doing here?" Janus was the first one to ask the question after we saw both of them in the venue. "Ah, I was processing some of the papers that my sister needed for her transfer to this school. I know that something happened here the other day but I am still confident in letting her stay here since you guys are here." "Well, that''s great and all but I am quite sure she won''t be our ssmate since she is mute and she can''t walk. She would be ced immediately by the faculty to the Special Education section where they specialize in teaching students who have disabilities like her," I quickly exined. "No worries about that. I already took care of that and made sure that she will be transferred to your ss. I made a request about them and I would be sure toin if they didn''t follow my request. After all, I used a lot on them," Suhei grinned while he put a money hand sign which means he paid a lot of money just to fulfill his request. Well, his request is not that troublesome to the faculty so they wouldn''t mind doing that either. Besides, Pandora is smart and she can understand normalnguage as she can easily hear them. Her only problem is that she can''t speak but it was not much of a disability and she can function just fine. "Are you two about to go home?" "Yeah. She needs to keep on resting after all. Anyways, I won''t be keeping you guys in here, you four are going to attend the check-up or something they are holding right? Then, we will be going now." The two waved goodbye before we parted ways. When we parted ways, Riko arrived. "Oh? Was that Pandora-chan and Suhei-san who just passed by?" Riko asked as she looked in the direction where the two went. "Yeah. Suhei enrolled Pandora and he intended her to be transferred to our ss since we are attending there?" "Well, that is good! I wanted to get along with Pandora-san and with her being transferred at our section, that would really help me get close to her!" Riko seemed excited. "Now, now. Enough of that, we have to go to the venue before we get toote. There are lots of students and I don''t want to be on the veryst of the line," Janusined to Riko before he went ahead. We followed him and thankfully, we didn''t take the line with the longest route. Since there are 5 doctors helping with the check-up, the progress was smoother and faster, allowing the line to move much faster. We managed to get our checkup done after an hour of staying in line. My checkup signs were normal. The doctor was quite confused at first since I don''t have any signs of any kind that I was being under somethingpared to other students. It was like I didn''t trigger whatever was triggered by my ssmates and other students. I asked Riko and Janus and the doctors that examined them said they did have some symptoms but mild only. As for the siblings, they didn''t have it since they didn''t get to experience it so it is pretty understandable. After waiting for everyone else to finish their checkups, we returned home and since I am using a car this time, Riko asked to hitch a ride. "Hey, Manato, could I ask you to help us on the level 99 dungeon? We are struggling over on that one dungeon difficulty and perhaps if we employed your help, we can finally clear the dungeon difficulty by ourselves." "A level 99 dungeon? Which one?" "The one called Transfer Dungeon. That one dungeon filled with portals and dead ends? We already cleared the other difficulties except for the Abyss Mode. The abyss mode is very troublesome and confusing and we spent a single day on the dungeon without even managing to kill a single enemy!" Oh, I remember that one dungeon, and just like what Riko said, that ce was irritating as hell to clear. If the Transfer Dungeon''s first difficulties were easy, then the abyss mode was a horrendous confusing ce that will make everyone spend the whole day clearing. I remembered this one since this was the first ce I tried to map for fun since it was the only dungeon that can''t be cleared in Abyss Mode due to how no one can figure out the right ce. Most have given up due to how it is not worth the effort clearing the ce. "Sure, meet me there. You guys can tag along too. It is a bit dangerous but it will be good if you guys will be able to memorize the pathing of that dungeon in case you wanted to clear it." "Are you sure? That ce was the most troublesome thing to clear and I think it wasn''t worth our time clearing it," Riko scratches her head. "It wouldn''t be worth it if you are over level 100 already but if you are still under level 100 then it is still worth the effort. After all, that is a free achievement." ''"Have you cleared this dungeon before, Manato? You sounded confident." "I did clear it but I didn''t aim for the fastest clear since it was indeed confusing but I already know the technique on how to not get lost on that ce after that clear I got. Also, you just told me at the exact moment since I was about to go and clear that ce out as I have to gather a few materials I needed to craft some of the potions and scrolls I will be using in the raid." "Materials? Oh, right. You are preparing for the quest raid right? Then we will help whatever it is! You can count on us!" "It''s settled then. Once we are back, let''s get to the dungeon.. The time for the raid is near and the more materials I can get, the better we are prepared with the unknown." Chapter 368 - Transfer Dungeon (II) After I sent Riko back to her house, we returned to the mansion. Suhei and Pandora weed our arrival. We went to our rooms immediately and quickly logged back into the game since we know that Riko will be waiting for us in the game already. ... ... [Wee Back, deheart] The moment I get to fully control my character, I immediately went to the living room. Currently, Mother and Father are both online and they are doing some maintenance to their gear while talking to Dolly. Soon, Hagane, Iron, and Topaz went out from their respective rooms as well. Mom noticed me first allowing Dolly to also notice us too. "deheart, are you guys going to a dungeon run this time?" Mom asked. "Yes, Mom. Is there a problem?" I tilted my head. "No problems at all but I think it should be time for us to tag along too, you know? It''s a bit boring with only us and some random yers ying together with us. We wanted to at least apany you in this battle and besides, we are going to join the raid into the Frozen Desert Raid. We can''t allow ourselves to be left behind in progression too," Father answered. "Oh, that will be great, the more yers we have, the easier we will finish clearing this dungeon and you two would be able to level up a lot in here since it is a level 99 dungeon. It will allow you all to get a good yield of experience points," I nodded "Then, wait for us and we will prepare our gear for a bit. Please wait for us outside." "Wait, Mom, Dad. I know this will be a bit too early for you guys but I already made custom-made weapons for the two of you. The armors are not yet done so that can wait for now but these weapons would be a good recement to the current weapons that you two are using right now." I opened my inventory and took out a Brass Knuckle in a glove and a scary-looking hook and chain that is menacing enough thatpliments on my mother''s current ck and white outfit as an alchemist. "Son, you shouldn''t have made some for us, we are still too weak and we are just not worthy enough to use it," Father shook his head. "I insist, besides, I made those weapons to make sure they willst until you guys hit level 100. It will beat all weapons up to a Unique grade of the same level. It would be best you guys keep it or I will be offended that you guys didn''t even use the gift I handed to the two of you." "Hahaha, don''t worry about it, son. Your father is just not capable of saying thank you. Anyways, these are nice. We will make sure we make good use of them." After handing out my weapons to my parents, the others started to look at me with their eyes full of expectations. "Scram! You guys are good enough with your gears, I don''t need to give you more than necessary!" ... ... The Transfer Dungeon is one of the unpopr dungeons you want to clear when hitting level 99 or below to reach level 100. If you wanted to reach level 100, the other dungeon, Flying Cretins would be a much better choice. So right now, the only yers challenging the Transfer Dungeons would be just us. I activated the dungeon portal and just like what Dolly wanted to clear, I choose the Abyss difficulty. "Let''s go. Don''t go wander by yourselves, or you guys might get lost. Just follow me." Everyone nodded and we entered the portal one by one. [Transfer Dungeon: Abyss Difficulty] We were sent to a ce with 10 teleport portalsid on the ground before us. Stepping on one will teleport you to another area of the dungeon and depending on your choice, you would either get lost or you will be frustrated on finding the right portal to clear the dungeon. "This is the reason why we are stuck here. This dungeon has way too many portals and it was like the teleport areas are random most of the time that it felt like we are just being yed around by this dungeon. Not only that but we get separated most of the time and we don''t know how to navigate to each other," Dolly exined. "I can see why you would get lost, the number of choices is a lot, and if you stepped on the wrong portal, you will be sent to a random area where no one will help," Hagane scratches his chin. "Alright, Mom, can you make each of us have one [Glowing Potion]?" I asked. "Sure! Wait for a second," Mom then waved her hands and a few [Glowing Potion]s appeared before her. [Glowing Potion] Tier 3 Type: Active MP cost: 50 MP Cooldown: Instant Info: Creates a small bottle of bioluminescent light that shines a little bit in the darkness. It might be a bit small as a recement for a torch but it is good enough as a small light source to guide your way. It will break if dropped to the ground or destroyed by being collided by something heavy or any action that would result in its destruction so handle with care. Note: If you add more color varieties, perhaps we can make a disco ball and hold a small disco party for the night. That would be fun! "A [Glowing Potion]? What are we using these for? They are dimmerpared to normal torches," Dolly was confused as to why we are using it. "Don''t underestimate it. This light source will help us get back to our teammates once we get lost in this dungeon. This is for the preemptive measure in case anyone of us gets lost in here since this ce is big and with the nature of this dungeon, it is easy to get lost.. So we will use this [Glowing Potions] as a guide in the dungeon to rejoin with each other. So make sure no one will break any of it until we get reunited with each other alright?" Chapter 369 - Transfer Dungeon (III) Before I let anyone touch any portal, I inspected every portal one by one. If I don''t want to mess up the dungeon run and end up being lost for a long time, I needed to check the characteristic of the portals. Soon, I found one portal with a small glow of red in its blue color. It was slight color and it''s not really obvious to see but if you try to look at it for a while, you will eventually notice it. That''s what the portal we needed to use as that indicates the portal is connected to the final boss and it is the right portal to use if you want to meet him. Of course, that is the first portal and not just a single portal that will immediately send us straight to the final boss. Since this dungeon always changes every time you enter it, you needed to always check out the signs it gives to fully clear it and master pathfinding the whole ce. "Everyone, I found it, follow me!" With my prompt, everyone started following closely to me. With aplicated dungeon like this, following the leader who knows what he or she was doing would benefit everyone else. FWOOOOMMM! We are transported one by one on arge hall with winged eyeballs flying around the ce. "Ah! How did you manage to do that deheart? It took us a few tries to even manage tond on this ce before!" Dolly readies her staff as she asked me how I did it. "This dungeon relies on markings that will allow you to determine which area will lead to which. It''s pretty much subtle but with someone who can easily spot the differences, that will be very easy." "I see. Looks like we failed to spot what is the difference of the portals to actually find the right ce." "Alright, since we are on the right track, let''s get rid of them. Since I am already high in levels, I won''t participate in killing so that I won''t monopolize the EXP gain you guys get. I will just help if it is truly necessary." Everyone nodded and they started disposing of them. My mother and father were a great team and since the enemy was a flying enemy, Mother''s task was just to pull the enemy or use a [Bottle of Paralysis] to bring down the enemy and allow Father to pummel the enemies to death. As for the others, they are just good with their own strat like how the siblings always do their job and likewise, on Hagane and Dolly''s teamwork. It was a good thing I don''t need to do a thing in here that much. My parents managed to reach level 79 the moment we fully cleared the ce. With the monsters in level 99 and in Abyss Difficulty, the amount of experience they earned is much faster than in dungeons around the same level as them. Of course, their level intake will slow down once they reach level 90 but if I estimate it, they can level up to level 99 in around 5 runs in this difficulty. As for me, I don''t need to kill the monsters to earn experience points. It was not worth earning experience other people will benefit more. Since it won''t even help my experience bar move in a single bit, it would be wise if I only help them against the boss as that would be an enemy they will have to think twice before attacking. If I want to farm experience, I would rather challenge high leveled bosses and other mobs higher leveled than me as that would guarantee me a lot of gain. You can say I am helping them in powerleveling. When we are sure that there are no more mobs left to kill, I asked the others to gather what they managed to pick from the monsters as I was nning to buy them since I needed the materials of the winged eyeball monsters to create the Petrification Molotov and Petrification Antidote but everyone declined my money as they don''t need it and it was for everyone''s benefit so I managed to obtain the materials for free. Now that all the materials that is avable from the monsters that I needed are now sitting in my inventory, I went to the walls and check the surfaces. "What are you doing, son?" My father was not sure why I am doing it. "There is a chance we spawned in this dungeon with a hidden room. If we managed to get it, we will be able to obtain some treasure and we should get our luck to see whether we have them or not." Then, my handsnded on a loose tile. It was very loosepared to the other tiles, allowing me to quickly find it. "Aha!" grabbing the loose tile, a lever popped out from the removed loose tile. "A lever?" "This is the switch to reveal the secret room." "Are you sure you just cleared this ce once?" Dolly started to question how I am so knowledgeable about the dungeon. "This is how intricate I am in some dungeons especially during my first run. Just to make sure I won''t mess up in my run that time, I end up trying to see whether there are several mechanisms around. It took me at least three days before I managed to fully clear this ce and most of the time I spent is by finding the right path." "That is just insane dedication you gout there, son. But be more mindful on your health. Moderation in gaming too would help you in the long run. You also need to eat real food even though we can feel full just by eating the food in this game," Mother gives me a light reminder." "Don''t worry mom, I know what I am doing. I am not just going to keep ying without any nourishment either." Then, I push the button and a portal appeared in the middle of the room. "That portal leads to a secret room where there are treasures inside. Of course, we will have to fight a boss but perhaps there will be an instance where we will not need to beat a boss and spawn right next to the treasure for free ess. It is just a spection so don''t take it to heart what I just said." "That''s neat but that is also risky. Are you sure it will be okay?" Hagane started to get cautious. "What are you even talking about, Brother Hagane? Big Bro here is strong enough to help us if we are in a pinch! Why are you worried?" "I guess it was just my usual reaction especially since we usually run in dungeons without deheart''s help," Hagane reasoned. "It''s a good thing to be cautious and vignt about things like this but there will be no thrill in the game if there are no danger present kid. That is the beauty of a game, the more dangerous and hard a game is, the better the game is," Father then pats his back. "Of course its fun but I am sure not all games are like that..." "No need to worry Hagane, I am quite familiar with this boss. I am quite confident we will defeat it with ease so no worries." Since I assured him nothing will go wrong, we step into the portal and we were teleported to the secret room. ... Compared to the first portal where the moment we used it, we appeared into the next room without the teleport portal behind us, the secret room has the secret portal behind us which means if we are done with our business in the secret room, we can just use the portal again to return to where we are. "Everyone, don''t touch any of the treasure you see just yet. I will survey the ce first and disable any traps around. We can''t be too sure if it was rigged or not so hold it off if you guys wanted to get more loot without the need of us dying here." "Ah?" Hagane looked shocked as he retracts his hands on the gold treasure chest. "You idiot!" Dolly facepalmed herself. I quickly pulled out the Versatile Weapon and changed it to a sword as the treasure chest that Hagane touched turned into a Mimic. [Mimic] Level 99 HP: 900,000/900,000 Trait: Possessed Object Before the Mimic can even pounce on Hagane, I shed towards the Mimic, causing it to back off from attacking and its attention was shifted to me. Everyone! Go and attack while I am still maintaining the aggro of the Mimic to me!" Dolly and Topaz quicklyunches several magic attacks and Father quickly unleashed a few flurries of punches towards the mimic. Quick and decisive with the punches, it allowed us perfectly time the battle and reduce any kind of trouble. "I am sorry!" Hagane apologized as he raised his shield. "I will reprimand youter but first, help with the aggro against this thing!" Chapter 370 - Transfer Dungeon (III) Mimics aremon in many games as a monster that disguises itself as a treasure chest. Most of the time in RPG games, they are easy to dispose of but not in the Alternate World. These little buggers are very rare to find in the game but if you ever find one, it is considered a challenge to veterans and an absolute disaster to beginner yers. They don''t possess high health but they possess high defense values and have a very huge resistance to both physical and magical skills which means they are not weak to anything. Since they have around 900k for its HP, it will take a good amount of time to kill it. Of course, it can be cheesed with destroying the chest itself by bombarding it with explosive skills that can either pierce defense or other skills that ignore defenses and break it immediately, if you don''t need the treasure inside the Mimic itself. Despite being a monster, the Mimic is still a treasure chest before it became a monster and if it was sessfully not triggered, it will be just a normal treasure chest. It is a big challenge to not destroy the Mimic itself as the treasure we wanted to get is present inside the Mimic itself, making it a priority to just knock out the monster rather than defeat it with brute force, causing it to break to pieces which will also be resulting from the treasure inside to break. And due to that little problem, I can''t instantly defeat it with just the pistol that can easily defeat this thing. "Your greediness really made us in trouble and more wasted time, Hagane!" Dolly grit her teeth in frustration. "Well, I don''t know that it will do something like that! You also can''t me me! You almost touched the treasure chest yourself before I touched it! So if I didn''t touch it, you will be the one to me instead!" I quickly stopped their quarrels by going in between them. "Stop quarreling guys, we have an enemy to defeat. You can quarrel all you wantter but not now." Despite being pissed, I can tell they are not really that angry at each other, more like they are a bit frustrated that the chest became a monster before they can open it. It''s not really something serious and it just shows that they are expecting more of a treasure rather than a treasure turned into a monster. "Don''t use any strong magic that can immediately destroy the chest. If we did not destroy the Mimic, we can still recover the treasure that it should have contained before it turned into a monster. Just bombard it with some debuffs that will lower its defenses then we can attack it slowly with normal attacks." Mother grinned and pulled out several bottles from her sleeve. "Looks like it was my time to shine!" Dolly and Topaz looked at each other before they smiled and raised their staffs towards the Mimic. Dolly, Topaz, and Mother started to bombard it with debuffs. "Son. should I also go and attack too?" Father asked. "Just do some basic punches and don''t use the skills. There is a chance it will break the chest if you used the skills of the Fighter ss which has lots of skills that causes explosive attacks!" "Got it!" Father immediately understood and immediately pummelled it with his punches like a boxer after everyone poured down debuffs on it. I also decided to debuff it with my Chronomancer skill, [Time Hollow] too. Iron and Hagane are still the ones that attract the attacks of the Mimic since the Mimic hits hard for a treasure chest that turned into a monster. If any of those attacks hit either Dolly, Topaz, or even Mother, they would immediately get killed in the process and since Father is also a lower leveled yer, he needs to act carefully to avoid being killed by its attacks. With all the debuff it has, I just needed to bash it with staff and I can still deal quite a damage from it without breaking it to pieces. "HUP!" BONK! -Title effects activated. Instant Death inflicted. -You have killed a Mimic. Received 120,000 EXP. (Title effects activated, 120,000 EXP earned) ... ... A string of messages appeared before my eyes and I was stupefied by the result. I was nning to give the kill to my parents or to the others for them to earn more experience to level up but what the hell, the Instant Death proc during the time I don''t want it to proc! This was not supposed to be the n! "Huh? Did it die? What did you just do deheart? I thought you are giving us the kill, but why did you kill it instead?" Mother seems confused. "Ah..." I have no words to exin what happened. No one knows I have a small chance to proc Instant Death so I don''t even know how to exin it. "Perhaps the excessive amount of debuffs you guys poured into the poor monster plus the high level and strong weapon of our son resulted to an easy death. And it was much better since we still earned experience and killed the monster. The chest is not broken too so it''s still considered as a win," Father grinned. Mother decided to believe in Father''s theory. It''s good so why not? Since I killed the Mimic, I let them open the chest. And since the Mimic was killed, the other treasure chests avable that did not transform are also safe to open. I abstain from obtaining any of the treasure inpensation for killing the Mimic. I also felt bad that the precious experience that mypanions should have received was all gone in a drain. They keep on trying to give me some of the treasure but I decided to not take any. It might have some useful stats but they are useless to me and I can make some equipment like that once I got the right materials and high enough level on my profession and that would be enough. It would be more beneficial if any of them gets it instead of me. After getting all the loot from the treasure chests including the Mimic, we stepped back to the portal and we were sent back to where we came from. "I will be in charge of healing and on navigation inside this dungeon instead of helping with the attacking and I will just support or perform the kills if you guys are having a hard time, I will not act like earlier that will result in kill steal. I presume you guys can do that alright?" "That is for the best, Big Brother. With you as the strongest out of all of us, the enemies won''t even stand a chance against you, they might even get the worst treatment than the Mimic earlier," Topaz giggled. I can only scratch my head as no one knows that I can inflict Instant Death and since inflicting Instant Death is only affected by probability as the chances to proc it is very low, I can''t even rely on it due to how unpredictable it is. Sure, it saved me a few times but it was most likely just a probability of luck that I managed to even do that. So it is better for them to not know about it so that they won''t rely on that I can easily proc it due to how I have no control of when it will be activated in the process. Since the secret room is already done, time to look for the next portal. ... ... ... The next battles were quickly done and with my wless navigation to the dungeon, we arrived at the final boss without a problem and mypanions began to bash and attack the boss. I just stood there and performed some healing, especially on my Father who is the one performing melee attacks on the boss. Despite Hagane and Iron getting the aggro of the boss, it''s not like it is not like they can always keep the aggro from the boss especially if Father unleashes his skills. Though Father''s ss is tanky, if youpare it to a huge level monster and a low leveled yer, they don''t even stand a single chance of living if they stood there while the boss will do abo. Thankfully, since my Father is a gamer and a calcted guy at that, he retreats before his health gets to critical levels, allowing him to survive. That''s where I go heal him and the two pdins will then provoke the boss. allowing Dolly, Mother, and Topaz to attack again without taking all the aggro. With my skills being potent to keep Father alive even if the attack can surely kill him, I can just cast a [Resucitation] to him to be revived in the process.. And in the end, the Transfer Dungeon Abyss Level run ispleted. Chapter 371 - Queen Tori鈥檚 Visit The Transfer dungeon''s Abyss level has been cleared wlessly and since I helped with the healing andmands on how they should fight the boss, it was much smoother for them to finish the dungeon without any casualties and minimal damage to the equipment. It was insignificant and the boss is not that strong, to begin with. The only thing that makes it a threat is that it can easily use an illusion that would allow it to attack while being safe from the attackers due to the illusion. Unfortunately for the boss, I already know the techniques, allowing for our easy clear. In the end, everyone got a piece of gear that they will equip. Dolly is now fully equipped as she got thest piece of armor she will need until she hits level 100 and above. Father and Mother also got some decent equipment and plus with the equipment I have given to them, they are also decently equipped too. Topaz got a few essories that boosted her max MP and magic amplifier allowing her to get more boost. Hagane and Iron also got some pieces of armor that are decent enough to give them extra defense. It wasn''t much but they said it was worth enough for them to rece their current armor pieces. We decided to hold off on clearing this ce again since it wasn''t that worth much and Dolly only wanted to clear the Abyss level. I also have no intention to clear this dungeon again since I got plenty of materials that are enough for creating the necessary items I will be making. Since my parents are still very eager to hit level 90 and Dolly and the others are now eyeing the level 100 cap, they decided to go and fight some monsters in the wild. Since they are not going to clear a dungeon, I decided to leave to avoid getting extra experience from them as that would slow down their experience gain with more people around, sure I might need it but I have other areas I can farm experience on my own withoutpromising the growth of my allies due to how I consume a bit of the experience earned. Sure I needed all the experience I needed but that doesn''t mean I needed to join in every battle and get at least a little experience that barely contribute to the exp bar. So to help them grow, I will leave them alone until they ask for help. Since everyone continues to level up, I will be going back to the mansion and process all the materials I got. Before I went back to the mansion, I headed to the nearby miners who sell ores and ingots since I am running out of ores. Since I am quite a regr at getting ores, the miners have already know how to keep a load of ores and ingots since I usually buy them twice the normal price if they are of good quality. This made the miners take the chances to earn extra money whenever I went to purchase ores. As usual, I get some high-quality ores that would really help with increasing the quality of my works. I also passed by an alchemist shop where they also sell some items and herbs that I will need. Since potions are herbs and materials hungry, I needed tons of them. .... ... After shopping, I returned to the mansion. While I am still a few meters from the mansion, I can see two figures outside the mansion''s door who are currently talking to Gobu''s wife. "Aren''t those...?" I started running towards the mansion and confirmed who they are. "Queen Tanya! And... Queen Tori...? What are you guys doing here? I am quite sure I haven''t told you guys about this ce and you two haven''t stepped a foot in here just yet until now." The two figures heard my voice and turned around to face me. "Oh? Finally, looks like you are finally here, deheart. I have my ways that are easy to do for us to know where you are staying. Tori here has something to discuss with you and I decided that we should just visit you instead of waiting for you toe back knowing that you are preparing for the task that my sister has given to you. We are talking to her who is in charge of watching your mansion and she said you are currently out. Looks like you just arrived just in time," Queen Tanya smiled. "We apologize foring here unannounced, deheart. We have some important matters to talk about with you and it is very urgent." "If it is urgent, then pleasee inside and we shall continue the discussion there. It wouldn''t be appropriate if we talk out here in the open," I suggested. The two nodded and we entered the mansion. Gobu''s wife prepared a few sets of tea that my mother has created for anyone who wanted to drink one. The two marveled at the mansion since it is much different from mansions in the Alternate World. After all, it was my father who designed the interior. "So what are you guys trying to discuss with me that is urgent enough for you two to personally visit me? Surely it wasn''t just a minor matter since you guys would just wait for me toe back to Sandurk." "Indeed deheart. There are some things that have changed after we discussed the raid. Monsters are now showing up around the kingdom. Although it was a normal urrence for strong monsters to appear, it was not something I would take lightly as the monsters have formed a Monster Parade," Queen Tori exined. I was a bit stunned by Queen Tori''s revtion. If there are some events where monsters overflow and are called Monster Stampede, Monster Parade is different. The reason it was called Monster Parade is due to how it is one of the most organized appearances of monsters on the surface and the bigger the Monster Parade is, the bigger chance that there are multiple leaders inside this gathering of monsters. It is a very rare term that only a few people and yers know and I doubt there are other yers who know this term just yet in this timeline. However, one thing is for sure. If youpare Monster Stampede and Monster Parade in terms of danger levels, then the Monster Parade wille out as the superior danger of the two. The reason is simple, Monster Stampede is just a stampede of various monsters, disorganized, and has no one thatmands them. Some monsters are too panicked and they are most likely under the influence of Berserk most of the time. Not only that but it was much easier to kill monsters in Monster Stampede. However, it is a different story once we said, Monster Parade. As I said earlier, the bigger the Monster Parade is, the higher the chances that multiple monster leaders are present. Not only does this pose a big problem, but it also makes the mobs that aren''t a serious threat to be a problem due to how they are in high morale and they possess the teamwork that was not present in rampaging monsters, creating a challenging problem. "Isn''t that pretty dangerous? Are you guys fine over there?" "Yes, my townspeople are now in a safe ce while my soldiers are now doing their best to repel any iing attacks. Of course, the longer the attacks persist, the bigger the danger bes. After all, our defenses are not invincible and our resources are not unlimited." "I think I get the gist of what you are here for but let me ask you to confirm my suspicion. You are going to ask me to proceed with the raid, in a few days from now on right?" "Unfortunately, yes. If the Monster Parade did not appear, perhaps I would have been able to keep the same deadline I have given you but seeing this unprecedented matter, the only thing I can do is to reduce the time limit needed. And honestly, even if my sister and I would go and deal with the Monster Parade itself, it is too much even for us. The monsters are too strong for the likes of us that we will need all the help we can get just to do this." Despite this oue, I am not nervous. Now that I have known about this, it is time to finish my preparations. "Then, I will be resuming on my preparations. If it''s this dangerous already, I think it is time to begin phase one of the operations." Queen Tori''s eyes lit up when she heard I will be in agreement with her. Knowing that this will be an important operation, she decided to pull out one item in her bag. "deheart, this might not be able to help much but I hope it can do much more in your capable hands." Queen Tori then handed me something amazing that I cannot believe in my eyes. [Origin Dust] Type: Ingredient Item Info: Dusts are used to perfectly increase thetent potential of the creation. Increases the chances of producing a Unique or above-tier weapon or armor and increases the chances of it being upgraded to the max. Note: It might be just dust but this dust can cause a whole country to turn upside down due to how valuable and magical it was.. Maybe selling one piece of it would allow you to be a billionaire. Chapter 372 - The Final Preparations Due to Queen Tori''s news, I already have an idea of what items to make and what kind of armor and weapons I have to make for everyone else. With the Monster Parade currently happening in the Frozen Desert of Sandurk, it is not a good thing for the current equipment of mypanions. I have to make a specialized item that can help mitigate the situation. Queen Tori and Queen Tanya decided to stay to rx in a new environment than Queen Tanya''s castle which they are sick of staying already. "Oh, Your Majesty Queen Tori, I have a requesting from my Master about the uing raid." "Your Master?" "Yes. Her name is Almira. She was requesting to be the Head cksmith at the uing raid after hearing that I will be participating in this." "Pfffttt!" Queen Tanya spit out her drink the moment she heard the name "Almira". "Queen Tanya? Are you alright? What happened? Why did you spit out your drink?" I hurriedly opened my inventory and pulled out a Clean Cloth to wipe the tea she spilled. "Ah, thanks deheart, but there''s no need," Queen Tanyaposed herself before snapping her fingers, causing the spilled tea on her dress and surroundings to disappear in thin air. "Is everything okay sister?" Queen Tori frowned on Queen Tanya''s behavior. "Nothing... there is no problem at all." "O-okay? What are you talking about earlier again, deheart?" "My master asked to be part of the raid as a head cksmith for the raid." "Huh? But the head cksmith..." before Queen Tori can say anything, Queen Tanya quickly epted the request. "She wanted to be the Head cksmith right? Then I ept that request of hers." "Huh? Sis?! Why did you..." Queen Tori wanted to ask Queen Tanya but thetter shook her head and did not exin further. I am quite sure that Queen Tanya knows something about Almira but I decided not to know what it was. If Queen Tanya is not even willing to say it to her sister, then it must mean it was a secret she cannot say. With Queen Tanya''s approval, Queen Tori has no other say to it and decided to just allow it. Since Almira''s request is already granted, I left the two to enjoy the tea and snacks as I started to prepare for the final things we need for the raid. ... ... While Manato is currently busy at the workshop, Queen Tanya and Queen Tori started talking about Almira. "Why did you suddenly epted deheart''s request even though we don''t know if that Almira person is capable enough to be a Head cksmith? We can''t just hand it to someone without knowing their full abilities! Being a head cksmith is a very hard work and it''s not just something given out to random people without even sizing up their abilities!" "No. If she does not qualify, no cksmith qualifies to be a head cksmith, my dear sister. If we declined that request, we are missing a bigger opportunity. Also, its better that you don''t know much on who or what Almira is capable of. You are still not yet ready for her." "This is the first time I have seen you this giddy, Sister. I don''t know what is happening but you seemed strange right now..." "Of course I will be. I am just excited meeting Almira and spar with her. " Queen Tori is more confused than ever and she has no idea what is causing her sister to act like this. The only thing she knows is that there must be something more than what it seems on this individual named Almira that deheart personally asked permission for to participate the uing raids. Perhaps she has to know until the actual time they will meet but until then, she can only specte what is going on. ... ... When my 100th bottle of Bottle of Petrification done, and the cooling of the armor I am making for Hagane is almost done, Queen Tori entered my workshop. "I am sorry for intruding, deheart. My sister is currently sleeping on the sofa in the living room so I decided to look at your work and maybe I can at least give you some advanced tips in making things." "Much appreciated, Queen Tori." Although I know much from the knowledge I have in the past timeline and all the teachings that Almira handed to me when she epted me as her disciple, there is no harm getting some pointers on someone whomands multiple cksmiths to craft items that can be used to repel and kill monsters that regrly appears in the Frozen Desert. I started forging items and despite knowing a few of what she has already pointed out, she still had some valid points in her teachings that I could really use in my techniques. Some of her method makes things much easier and it allows her to finish faster in crafting without any kind of side effects like shorter time in crafting but lower durability or lower quality. Her methods allow to cut off quite a lot of time while maintaining the usual quality the item has which is pretty good. With the help of some of her pointers, it allowed me to craft items faster than expected and it allowed me to breeze through on the job. "Your master must be really good at her job for her to teach you most of the fundamentals of cksmithing and how to keep your craft really borate, easu and high chance for you to create a higher quality items." "Is that so? Is it that incredible already?" I tilted my head. After all, I have not seen other cksmith craft things other than Almira and I picked up these habits from Almira herself. So perhaps, Almira was a really incredible cksmith indeed. Perhaps because of this reason I find it normal to craft Rare and Very Rare items in a regr basis. "Being a cksmith is hard, deheart, if you think it was that easy to create high quality items then you are wrong. Perhaps because your due to the regrity of Rare and Very Rare is toomon in your methods, perhaps the Trash and Common rarity is much rarer to create using your own method." I had no idea that Almira''s methods are too different than what the conventional cksmith does. After all, the only cksmith that I have interacted all the time is none other than Almira and no one else. So hearing this from someone else is a bit of an eye opener to me. After giving me some pointers, Queen Tori stopped giving me pointers since my methods are no longer in need of giving pointers, my method is good enough. "It looks like we have stayed here far too long deheart. We will be going home already. I apologize for barging in and crashing to your ce like this, deheart." "No worries. You guys are wee to visit here again anytime you guys wanted toe." She smiled before she carried her sleeping sister. I handed her a teleport scroll that is currently connected to the Sandurk Continent and if used, will send them straight to Queen Tanya''s castle. She thanked me before going home with her sister on her back. Now that Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are no longer at home, I continue my preparation. With the new method of Queen Tori to increase the work done in a short amount of time, I decided to use the remaining time to increase my cksmith level and increase the quality of my equipment. With all of the items I purchased from the miners earlier, it was easy for me to procure different kinds of ores I needed. "Let''s get to work!" However, before I can continue the veryst things I needed for the preparation thing, my chat alerted me of an iing call. When I checked whose call this was, I didn''t expect to see that it was a call from Harmless Sparrow herself. Harmless Sparrow has been quiet since the time I asked everyone to help for the quest but gives Harmless Sparrow an ultimatum on whether I needed to include her or not. Due to her affiliation to her guild, I am unsure whether I wanted to let her join or not do it. But I didn''t expect for her to be the one to contact me instead and it was this soon. Is she going to decline? I decided to ept the call and was about to restrict her from going when I heard her speak. "deheart, can you help me?" "Huh? What do you mean "help me?" I was confused. "Help me escape from this situation deheart... I needed someone who can help me with the matters regarding my guild." I frowned a lot more and looked at her in confusion. Then, Harmless Sparrow continued. "Help me escape on this guild, I wanted to quit this guild and join you guys." Chapter 373 - Operation Sparrow (I) Harmless Sparrow is asking for help and I can feel in her voice her desperation. Her desperation to escape and be free on her own decisions. I am not well knowledgeable about her guildmates in Blue Sky but if we are talking about the vice president of the guild then it is another story. So why can''t Harmless Sparrow escape the guild by herself? It was because she is not the one who controls it. She might be the president but the one who freely controls the guild is the Vice President. What if she leaves the guild? She can do that but from the looks of it, the guy must have used something to prevent Harmless Sparrow from leaving, like some ckmail material. In the past timeline, she left the guild, and a few monthster, the guild disbanded. I also heard that she didn''t join any guild after that and she was eventually forgotten. However, she left the guild on her own. Perhaps in those past years, she managed to find a way to counter whatever is keeping her from leaving her guild. But since it was still very early and the year she left her guild is still a year away, perhaps she still has no way of fighting against it. However, perhaps the reason she wanted to ask for help now is that she cannot handle it anymore. She might have endured everything in the past timeline because she has no friends she can ask for help with especially if they are in the guild themselves or they don''t y the game. Now that she managed to forge a small connection to us who are not affiliated to her guild in any way, she decided to give in and ask for the help she needed the most. "Tell me what is happening. You need to be more specific on how I can help you." "I may sound selfish but I want to get out of here, on the cage that everyone made for me. I wanted to be free. I wanted to be able to do my own decisions without being threatened or being treated like a piece of crap." "So you are saying you want us to destroy the guild just so you can get out from this mess? Is that it?" "No. Although I am desperate, I don''t want to endanger my friends too. I am just asking for help to help my ns in bringing down this guild. I can''t afford to keep it running under someone tyrant and dangerous." "Dangerous?" "My current fiancee, although I don''t agree to be her fiancee snce it was a forced bethrothal, is a maniptive bastard who keeps my father on a leash. If my father says no, betray his orders or even defy his goals, he won''t hesitate to drag my father and my family to the mush. One word from him and the business that my father built from scratch will disappear." "I know it was a dire situation for you, but... what''s in it for me and for everyone else?" "Huh?" "This might sound rude, but is there any benefits from us that we will get from helping you?" "I..." Harmless Sparrow can''t say anything. "You indeed wanted to go and escape out there, but this n of yours is pretty dangerous, even for me, it wouldn''t be something I wanted to even do as we are going to face someone with power using money. Seeing that he can grab your father''s cor and keep him in a leash, means he has money to spare and can easily fork them out to do anything. We are just ordinary yers, Sparrow. Even if this is a game, but seeing how serious they were, I can easily say that they will be capable of putting a person to harm easily. Do you want anyone from the group to be like that in real life too?" "..." Harmless Sparrow can only stay quiet. "I apologize but even if you are in trouble right now, I can''t endanger everyone on your problem." Harmless Sparrow didn''t respond for a while before she sighed on the other side of the line. "I apologize for my impulsiveness, deheart. I didn''t think too much and just decided to think for myself. I didn''t even think about the consequences like what you said. I''m sorry for wasting your time. Thanks for hearing me out." When I heard what she just said to me, I grinned before I stop her from cutting the call. "Well, it seems you passed, Sparrow. Well done." "...Huh?" Harmless Sparrow is confused on what I am saying. "Although I said those harsh words earlier, I am just testing you if you are trustworthy enough." "What do you mean?" "You decided to stop asking for help from others as you are afraid that you will be endangering the life of your friends right? If you have continued to keep begging for help earlier when I said those words earlier, you might not have a chance of getting any aid from me or anyone else. After all, we are going to face someone who has some influence. I only tested whether you would be willing to sacrifice others for your safety or to disregard your own safety for the sake of others. You have answered something I approve and therefore, I will aid you in this n of yours." "You...you will really help me? But you just said..." "Ha, I also have my ways. Now, tell me what is your real intention to free yourself. Is it just to free yourself from the grasp of a tyrant or to break the group that this tyrant is trying to build?" "Of course, I want the guild to disappear!" ... ... ... After she said that she wanted the Blue Sky Guild to disappear, she decided to tell me what is the purpose for her to break the Blue Sky Guild and stop its operations. In the public, Blue Sky Guild is a decent guild for yers but behind the scenes, the guild is a tremendous scam as they make newer yers be cannon fodders. They have the same way of process of myst guild in the past timeline. It seems the guild in my past timeline might have some connection to the Blue Sky Guild due to this method. I don''t know if my spection is true but there is indeed a big possibility. That reason alone is enough for me to activate my inner drive to get rid of the guild immediately. Since that was the case, I proposed a n for the guild to lose face and get Harmless Sparrow out of the cage that is called the Blue Sky Guild. "Let''s call this operation, "Operation Sparrow" for the sake of getting you out of that sh*tty guild. Also, prepare for your own ways to make your fiancee lose everything too. They invested in the guild too much right? Then it is time to reap and harvest what they sow." "I don''t know why but you have indeed some weird ideas, deheart." "Hey, I am already helping you, why are you even criticizing my naming sense?" "Haha, no no. Nothing like that. Anyways, I really appreciate it. I will be waiting for the good news." After that, our call was cut off and I stood up from the chair I was sitting on and started stretching. "It''s still pretty early and I can guess there are lots of people in the streets right now. This is going to be fun," I grinned as I started to gear up. ... ... ... In front of the Blue Sky Guild. Comparing to the guilds I have seen so far in this current timeline and in the past timeline, the guild building is too developed indeed. It is a sign that money has been already poured into it as an investment. Joining a guild like this would give you tons of benefits and beginner yers would indeed be attracted to this offer but to think they are using this mour to mask the evil intentions they have, it was quite unexpected. No wonder the moment Harmless Sparrow left the guild in the past timeline, it didn''t take long for the guild to disband. It was already clear that it was in its final straws before it copsed. Since in this timeline, it is still being built in foundation, I decided that it is time to chip away the foundation of what they are trying to do. Seeing that there are still a lot of yers walking and discussing things in front of the guild, I decided it is the right time to strike and give everyone a good show. Using my quick footsteps, I scaled the walls of the guild house and went to the top of the building, where the Blue Sky g is waving. Without any hesitation, I slice the g in half, causing an announcement to re around the guild that caused the surrounding yers to take notice of what I did. Then, an announcement panel appeared before me. [You have destroyed the guild g of Blue Sky Guild. The Blue Sky Guild has been challenged to a guild war! Do you want to publicly announce the challenge?" Yes/No I didn''t even hesitate and click yes and grinned. [Announcement to all Guild Members of Blue Sky Guild! yer deheart has issued a challenge to the Blue Sky Guild! The Guild will receive a 24 hours of preparation before the guild war will begin! Please prepare ordingly!] Chapter 374 - Operation Sparrow (II) The moment the announcement red in the air, the surrounding yers and all yers who belonged to the Blue Sky Guild were surprised and no one expected it. After all, there is not a single one who is anticipating a guild war challenge. The nearest yers on the Blue Sky Guild looked up and saw me holding the torn g of the Blue Sky Guild. "Holy crap, it was deheart again?! He is at it again! A solo guild war mode for him again!" "Solo guild war? That''s possible?! Is he insane or what? He is just looking to die right? He is not just challenging a small guild but one of the first guilds ever made!" "Oy, you don''t know who deheart is don''t you? He is famous for performing the first solo guild war and won. Perhaps you are new to the game huh?" "Are you joking at me? Because if you do, you are hrious indeed." "This guy has a screw loose, go and log out if you don''t know who this guy is. " I can hear their voices below but I didn''t care. With the g cut in half, it is time for me to go. "There he is!" But the Blue Sky Guild will not just let me go that easily. They immediately spotted me before I can even leave the vicinity of the guild. I can easily dispose of them but I will not bother to do that as it is a bit of a hassle and the actual fight is going to happen 24 hourster. Besides, they are on protection mode and they can easily hunt the challenger without any kind of penalties like getting a red name. I tear up a teleport scroll allowing me to escape before they can even catch me. Even if they are hasty to kill me, it is still not the right time. I will let them prepare for the uing war. And let Harmless Sparrow prepare her own ammunition to exact the n she was nning. I left the chasing yers, leaving them baffled and confused by my sudden disappearance. ... I returned to my base and looked around. Seeing that my parents and my friends are yet to return means they are still not done with their farming. Knowing the chaos I caused by issuing a guild war challenge to the Blue Sky Guild, it was clear that the yers are already doing some broadcast news to the forums andmunity about it. After all, my first solo guild war is something that many yers cannot forget and I still see a few discussions on how I managed to win without asking for any other yer''s help and only using the powers of mypanions and pets in the battle. Since no one from themunity bravely did the same thing as me, it was still a marvelous topic to some yers out there and I can still see a few discussions on how to also be able to do that. "Master, are you going to employ our help in this uing battle too?" As asked who is still inside the summon''s area. "Not this time As. Thest Solo guild war I did was sessful thanks to your help guys but I still don''t feel like calling it a solo guild war especially since you guys helped me This time, I am going to do an actual solo guild war and do this battle alone." "If that is what you wish, Master. However, it seems Cotton seems eager to join the battle," this time, it is Lucia who started speaking. "Cotton? But I don''t have much control over Cottonpared to how Lucia and Tina can ask for help from her. How can I evenmand Cotton in battle?" "Don''t worry master, although Cotton is dormant for a while during thest battle we have in the insect kingdom, Cotton has matured and should be capable of understanding your words too, Master," Tina exined. "Yep. We can guarantee that, Master. Even if Cotton can''t directly fight, she can at least help you in some ways!" Lucia enthusiastically added. Cotton''s help would help a bit but would not tremendously allow me to sweep through the battle. But it is going to be enough for my battles to be much easier with her. And since Cotton could be considered as a pet, then she can just stay in my shoulder, in my head, or anywhere she can perch on, it is much easier and I can still call that aplete solo. "Alright, now I should go and rest for a while until the right time for the guild war will begin, I will be out until then." "Rest well, Master." After everyone said those words, I press logout and left the game, returning to the real world. I will have to personally see how chaotic the forums are now after I issued the challenge earlier. It''s time to grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. ... ... ... Blue Sky Guild: Main Guildhouse The executives of the Blue Sky Guild are gathered except for Harmless Sparrow who didn''t attend to the guild meeting. Still, since Harmless Sparrow was the "President" in public, her presence wasn''t even needed in the meeting. "Didn''t expect the famous Solo Guild War winner to target us next as his next target. Did we offend him in some way?" Diena, the female chronomancer and leader of the Squad B looked at her other executives. "I doubt it. I personally meet him during the Battle For Blood but I doubt he even knows me. We didn''t even crossed swords before, so it is definitely not something of my fault he attacked," Gapopo, the muscr berserker and leader of Squad C shrug his shoulders. "Huh, so no one from us then? Then what is his purpose? For the kicks and thrills? I doubt it, he didn''t even have a streaming channel so I doubt it was for the views," Jekyll, the Assassin eyed everyone around, trying to discern who is lying. "I can think of one thing." Everyone turned to look on the guy wearing a sses. Due to his recent ss up after hitting level 100, he is now a different ss and he looks like a hero of light with his armor, d in bright yellow light. "You know why he attacked us, Vice Leader?" Diena looked at the person who seemed like he is the servant of goodness and light. "If my suspicion is correct, he is one of the yers that Rika calls as one of her friends." When everyone heard it, their eyebrows furrowed and some even showed anger and frustration. "That b*tch. She was the cause of this? Now look at what she did, the people are now focused on our guild despite our efforts on keeping ourselves silent and inconspicuous!" Gapopo is writhing in anger. "Calm down Gapopo, even if you get angry at her, you cannot do anything if she is currently not her. Perhaps once she is back online, you should use her as a punching bag or training dummy," Karpat the Brawler who is the leader of the Squad D grinned. "That''s a good idea, Karpat. As expected of someone who regrly does that to other yers." The vice president tap his finger on the table andmanded with authority. "ENOUGH." Everyone stopped talking and the Vice President looked at everyone, one by one. "You guys can think on how to torment herter, we should focus on our job right here. Are our guild defenses are sufficient enough to handle him? He might just be alone but with his followers and pets, if we underestimate him, we will be defeated instead. So please answer me if our guild is prepared enough to defeat him sufficiently." "Ha, sure he is strong but is he that strong enough? From the videos that I have seen about thest Solo Guild War, he was not that strong and most of the work done is being performed by his followers instead. It''s either he is very confident with his followers'' strength or he is just that naive," Ririka, the Archer of the group and the leader of Squad A confidently mocked deheart. "Oh, if Ririka said so, then that means he is very weak right? Also, he is a Versatile so that means he must be very low leveled. He only got strong because of his familiars and followers," Diena nodded as if she seemed to have thought of something. "Versatile ss is slowly level yers so that means he is very weak right now. He only relies on his followers to be strong, then we can easily pummel him if we can stop his followers right?" Gapopo grinned. The Vice President continues to observe everyone as they underestimate deheart. He closed his eyes, and grinned. "This might just be interesting. You have brought me a one good toy to y, Rika.. I can''t wait to see you in despair after seeing his defeat in our hands." Chapter 375 - Operation Sparrow (III) Rika decided to not log in for the next day after she heard that deheart has decided to challenge the Blue Sky Guild. She knows that the guild members right now are writhing in anger at her due to how this made their ns on staying quiet for a while get ruined due to deheart''s notoriety of being the first yer to challenge a guild solo and won. To make sure that her fiancee can''t track her down, she decided to go to a hotel and decided to stay there. She escaped on her own without any of the bodyguards knowing that she already slipped through them. Bringing herptop and phone with her along with a set of clothes, she is set to stay outside from her home for a while. With enough money tost for a week, she decided to stay there alone and made sure no one else is tailing her. Ever since she yed Alternate World, something has changed to her senses and although it wasn''t anything major, she already noticed these changes in her body. She knows it isn''t harmful but it''s making her body a bit weirder and weirder as time goes by. Now, she is very sensitive to people who are tailing her. Lately, she can easily detect them even without looking behind her which is very good but strange for her. After all, she is not used to it. However, she now knows that she is being monitored most of the time. Of course, she knew that isn''t enough to make the guild suffer but it was a good first n. Of course, she is confident in deheart''s skills but she is still worried sincepared to the guild that deheart challengedst time, Blue Sky Guild is much stronger, much well equipped andstly, well prepared. Right now, she is gathering all the information she can do to expose her fiancee and the guild. She already have some things prepared before she thought of this n. She knows how shrewd her fiancee is that is why she is taking extra precautions on gathering clues and evidence. There is a limit to her own abilities and how far she can gather it all due to how the authority of the guy is much more troublesome than ever. But she trusts deheart. And she will use this chance to break free from the cage she is being held at and do whatever she needed to do. While she was busy gathering some info, a message pop up from her inbox and she grinned the moment she read the contents of the message. Her grin is enough to show that something good has happened or something arrived that she has expected. Whatever it is, it seems her ns are now set in motion. ... ... A day passed by and as I waited in my room the right time for the guild war tomence, I am here finishing the final bullet tips needed for the final set of bullets I needed. The moment I logged back into the game earlier, I spent the whole time creating bullets, and magazines filled with bullets. I made sure that I have multiple bullets in my arsenal. Why? Because I want to do a guns-only battle. I know my Versatile Weapon is good to use in this battle but I decided to abuse the ability of the Shield of Vanagloria effect to this battle so a secondary weapon would help me with this and it was good timing for me that the gun that I have the trouble of keeping every shot an instant kill, the Pain Delivery has been made by me. Oh and by the way, I also made the Pain Delivery modifiable. Since the Pain Delivery is currently at a specific level, it would get a bit underpowered once I reach a higher level and with its abilities, I wanted it to be carried over to the next level like how the Versatile Weapon can keep itself on par against other weapons in my level. Thankfully, this was my original creation and I saved the blueprint on how to make it, allowing me to keep the gun intact in case something goes wrong. After thest stack of bullets is made and slotted into the magazines, I am now ready to deal and wreck some yers. I stretch my body a bit before I went out of the workshop where everyone is waiting for me. "deheart... why did you not say anything about this? You are making us miss the fun again!" Dolly grit her teeth as she shook me repeatedly. "Although Dolly is getting violent, you are also in the wrong, son. You didn''t say anything and challenged a guild on your own. I know you have already done something like this before but are you sure you don''t need any sort of help from us? We can help anytime you needed some backup," Father said while wiping his brass knuckles. "Don''t worry dad, I know what I am doing and I am not nning on getting beaten up so you guys don''t need to worry about me. Also, I apologize for not telling you all about this. This is a personal thing and I needed to do it by myself. That way, things would progress much smoother." I waved my hands before I left as I tore the Teleport Scroll, allowing me to arrive at the Capital''s Fountain of the Hero. ... ... ... 3 more minutes left before the guild war begins. And I was overwhelmed to see that everyone is ready to wee me. The towers they made in one day to defend against me are too developed, and I think they maxed out everything. This is only possible if you have lots of money to burn so poor guilds and free-to-y yers would never be able to have this unless they also convert themselves to paying yers. Not only that but most yers that are tasked to wee me are Pdins and Holy Knights while in the distance are Magicians and Hunters alongside the Clerics ready to move in for support. "Damn, they have done quite well in the preparations and they didn''t even spare any resources to be wasted and used it to reduce my advantage more and more," I muttered to myself as I look at the preparations." The yers around are crowded and since everyone can only watch the situation while the participants are the only ones capable of entering the venue of the battlefield, the other yers are allowed to watch the whole battle using the Surveince Birds. Since Surveince Birds were not present in the first solo guild war, it was clear that this was an intentional way of the Blue Sky Guild for everyone to freely see the situation of the guild war. Maybe it is also their I pull out the Versatile Weapon and turn it into a shield. I just realized after I devoured the Weapons of Pride, I can now use the weapons on their own. Maybe because each of the Weapons of Pride is individual weaponries when I devoured them so whenever I wanted to use the spear, I can use it alone without having a shield as a bonus, and I can also do that to the shield too. With the shield ready to absorb damage, I also pull out the Pain Delivery and waited for the countdown to begin. I stood in the middle of the battlefield where every corner of me are surrounded by yers, ready to attack. This kinda made me remember the time on the all-out war I did in the past timeline where I also did a Solo Guild War out of rage. However, this time, it is not due to rage. This is a request from a friend who needed my help. Now that she needed to get out of that situation by herself, I decided to do it, because, why not? Fighting against a scum guild like the Blue Sky Guild is much better while waiting for the right time to do the first raid. You can say that this is a free warmup fight before the actual challenge. I am not saying the Blue Sky Guild is not even a challenge. It''s just that they are not that difficultpared to the uing raid and having them as an appetizer before the main dish is going to make everything much better for me. I looked at the time and it is now counting in 10 seconds. Every yer around is staring at me nervously, and despite their preparedness, they are still looking at me cautiously. They didn''t even hold back in being prepared. Someone who doesn''t know me might think this is just an overkill to use if they are just fighting one single individual but the Blue Sky Guild has indeed made the right choice to be more careful and will fight without holding back just because I am alone. I ready myself as the timer is drawing to a close. 3 2 1 The horns of the war red.. The battle will nowmence. Chapter 376 - Operation Sparrow (IV) When the timer finally finished its countdown, the first thing that urred is the long-range yers attacking me with their abilities. They didn''t hold back and that is what I like since they are not holding back to their attempt to kill me. That means they aren''t looking down on me and they aren''t even underestimating me. They are there to kill me and win the Guild War. My death is their win and they can''t afford to lose especially with the all yers watching them. But too bad that they have faced me, a yer who has survived a guild war in the past timeline that seems to feel like a battle in a bullet hell game. This much? It''s nothing to me. It''s not even close to bullet hell and since I have a shield to use here, it wasn''t even close to a dangerous battle but just a bit of a breeze. I blocked all the iing attacks by using the effects of Shield of Vanagloria, letting all the attacks sink into the shield. Since this will force me to remain in my position for three minutes, my back is going to be their target. I don''t have to be worried about me getting killed in the back as using this skill will allow me to gain invincibility for 3 minutes and all the attacksing straight to me would instead get pulled to the shield. However, this is a kill or be killed situation. Sure, I can''t move in my position but that doesn''t mean I can''t use my body to move around. I am free to attack them while I am in a stationary position. And as for the enemies attacking me from behind, they were the unlucky ones who were able to receive the first delivery of pain from the Pain Delivery gun. BANG BANG BANG BANG! Four gunshots, four dead yers. It didn''t even give them a chance to retaliate. It was a fast bullet shot that even the heavily armored yers didn''t even get to stand back up again after they were killed. "What the? One hit kill?!" The Blue Sky Guild yers who witnessed the situation didn''t expect the one-hit kill. But they quickly try to stop me by putting all the less armored yers behind them and those who can slightly tank cover them. However, that is also useless. BANG BANG BANG! Every shot makes the yers that got hit fall down for good and die. This made the yers who should be attacking me from behind try to flee. But I didn''t want them to flee. It is war after all and it''s either I die or they die in my hands. Since only a few yers that were tasked to attack me from behind were still alive, it only took me a few shots before I ran out of bullets for the current magazine and it is time to reload. The attacks on the shield are getting heavy but the charge bar is still half full. I already disposed of all the yers who should be attacking behind me so I quickly performed a reload with the shield on my other hand. I made sure to practice reloading while holding a shield to make sure that I won''t be having trouble in the future. The gun''s modified magazine is something I made that can hold 25 bullets in one go. Why not increase it further? Because it won''t work anymore and I might as well create an assault rifle than a pistol instead. With my practice, it was easy for me to rece the empty magazine with a full mag. With the gun fully loaded, the three-minute limit for my movement was lifted and my invincibility has disappeared, it is now time to do my attack after receiving hundreds of attacks from them. Looking at them, I slowly grinned. Then, I faced in front of me with the shield facing the enemies and started charging towards the yers who were holding a shield. The moment they see me charging, they quickly braced themselves to face me head-on. But that was their first mistake. The moment they put down their shield and made themselves to be the barricade, they already signed their death certificates in the game. I am just a few centimeters from them all but that should be enough to deal the maximum damage. Without saying the word, I activated the effect of Vanagloria. Since all the attacks that were released to me were all caught by the shield, the damage it also reflects is twice the amount I received. Even armor and shield won''t save you unless you have a skill that will allow you to get invincible. From what I know, there is only a skill that reduces damage taken and since even with reduced damage, this skill gives quite a big number, it is also useless. BOOM! Shockwave was released and the shield that once stood tall to block my way was all snapped in half and all of the yers who were holding them were all sent flying and died. Because all the pdins were dedicated to blocking my advance earlier, all of them are now dead after the reflection. Not only that but because the skill has a high radius, the nearby yers behind the tanks were also killed in the process. Leaving the guild without a single tank to help. Sure there are the Holy Knights who have not died just yet but I doubt they have the same tankiness as Sigma who is the embodiment of the Immovable Holy Knight. The Pdin''s tank capabilities are just unmatchable so the result is that they are now in a vulnerable position. I can now see their tactic. Because they lined up every tank in front of me, they were nning to deal with me at the very start that is why the position of DPS yers are in a pincer position earlier to cover all my sides while they block my way, forcing me to fight the pdin yers to allow me to advance. No wonder they made all the pdins fully equipped from head to toe. Too bad, their n has backfired, leaving them with no tanks to help. Even if they do reserve some tanks, they are still no match to me. Now, let''s see how smart you are. Vice President of the Blue Sky Guild.. I am patiently waiting for your response. Chapter 377 - Operation Sparrow (V) On the other side of the battlefield are the core members of the guild, watching the battle. At first, they thought it was a good way for them to corner deheart. After all, even if you are a very strong yer, there is no way he is going to be able to defeat multiple yers with full armor in a short span of time. They were proven wrong. The moment deheart mowed down most of them in one go and how he keeps killing other yers in one shot with one single bullet, makes them frown at what is happening. "Vice President..this wasn''t what you nned earlier. You said he will be annihted at the very beginning and we will suffer a bit of at least a few casualties or none at all. Howe almost all of our Pdins are wiped out? We deployed most of our tanks to face him and stop his advance. So now that he wiped all of our Pdins, we are no longer capable of having enough defenses once he starts his onught! We can''t revive any yers in guild war once they die!" Diena who deployed most of her squads in the frontline frowned seeing the results. "It looks like we have to revise our ns. Surely he won''t be able to use that skill again. I bet it was a one-time skill or it has a long cooldown and will take a while before it can be used again. While that was still happening, make sure to retreat the healers and let the Hunters deal a few more damage with him. I doubt he can kill all of the rangers in one hit with their fast evasion skills and capabilities, there is no way they can''t at least bring his health down to half. He can''t use potions after all since that is not allowed in this battle and only Clerics and other skills can be used in the process." When Diena heard that, she quickly ryed it to the remaining squad shemands in to help the Clerics retreat. "Every Hunter who can still fight, cover the retreat of the Clerics, make sure they have minimum casualties as they are the main healers of our guild. We can''t afford to lose too many healers at once," Diena ordered. "Captain! That is impossible! This guy is a monster! He killed all the Clerics in one shot and even if they used their skills to reduce the iing damages done to them, they are still killed with one bullet! We only managed to rescue 10 Clerics in the process as we sacrificed half of the deployed Hunters and Magicians! Melee yers like the berserker and Swordsmen can''t even approach him without being killed in one hit!" "Only ten?! Are you serious?! And he killed most of the Hunters and Magicians deployed?! Then who is holding him off now?!" "No one Captain! As we speak, he must be approaching the nearest tower to destroy it! We have to retreat and reposition before we can interrupt him again as to avoid getting killed by him!" Diena can only bite her fingernails to calm herself down for a bit. "Alright, make sure to find a good position to gank him down. If he can''t be stopped with melee, make sure to snipe him from far away before he can even understand what happened." Diena can only look at the Vice Captain and sigh. "He is now marching towards the first tower. No one is able to stop him as he is able to kill almost all of our healers and Hunters and Magicians that were meant to bring down his health to half." The emotionless Vice President frowned and this is the first time Diena saw the Vice President frown. After all, most of the time, the Vice President can see the oue and predict it perfectly like he can see the future. However, contrary to the expectations and ns, everything seems to have fallen to failure as most of their ns were immediately foiled before they can even process what is happening. "Call Gapopo and order him to bring out the Cannons and devastate everything. Also, ask him to deploy the Saboteurs to interrupt his progress. Their traps would be really helpful in this battle." Diena nodded. However, contrary to their expectation, this will just end up being much worse than what they expected. ... ... ... "Damn, and here I thought I would feel a bit of challenge but even if they easily die with Pain Delivery, they should at least be able to survive and fight me for a bit. Especially the Berserkers since they have the skill [Last Life] which will allow them to survive at least with 1 HP for a small period of time. And yet this guy, just died? I think he boasted to be the strongest Berserker named Gapopo? Meh, not even close to the strongest. Looks like he was all bark and no bite." I shook my head as I throw several fireballs at the first tower and destroy it. I also see a few Cannoneers earlier but since they are out in the open instead of using a strategic area to fire their cannons, they were easily annihted. I doubt they even think much about their position. Overall, most of them die in just my Pain Delivery and that made everything much easier. But still, I am expecting them to be able to turn the situation to their side. Do I just assume they can do it even though they can''t do it after all? With the first tower burnt to crisp, the next thing I needed to do is to go to the second tower. There are lesser enemies attacking me. Perhaps due to the reason I shoot them down the moment I see them, I unconsciously depleted all their fighting forces and are now more focused on defending their towers instead. But even if they are losing quite a lot of yers, I doubt they won''t be able to give me a challenge. After all, the Vice President is cunning, there is no way that cunning mind of his is just capable of just doing this because that is just toome and maybe I am just overestimating him even though he was very weak and not that dangerous. But hey, an easy win is an easy win, I might be doing it the easy way but that is still strategy, right? Chapter 378 - Operation Sparrow (VI) Earlier, I was expecting more, but... Towers destroyed: 3/3 Main Guild Destroyed 0/1 (Optional) Leader killed: 0/1 I already depleted all of their towers and the only remaining thing I needed to do is destroy the main guild''s headquarters or kill the guild leader. Since the purpose of this battle is to destroy the Blue Sky Guild, destroying the main guild''s headquarters is also included in my agenda. Sure, they poured a lot of money to the guild''s headquarters but so what? Do I have to care about that? After all, it''s not my choice for them to invest a lot of money only to end up being washed away from a battle. After destroying thest tower, I waited for a bit to see if they have the reinforcements to back up the remaining yers trying to salvage what was left from the final tower but no one came so I ended up dealing with all of them and killed them all after I got bored waiting. Time for the final boss I guess? After kicking thest debris that has fallen from thest tower, I made my way towards the guild house. And to my surprise, the remaining yers are gathered there. The Clerics I failed to kill from earlier are now present in the backline, ready to keep the teams alive and I was more surprised since the leader himself is just sitting on the balcony of the guild house, looking at the situation below. I can just shoot him dead but what is the point of that? I am not here to end the Guild War as fast as I can but to make itst long enough for Harmless Sparrow to finish her job. "You finally came huh? I thought you just surrendered after noting here for a while," he pushed the sses slightly, adjusting them to make him look like an intelligent person. "Huh, and here I thought you guys give up after you abandoned the final tower. It looks like you just used those subordinates of yours to prepare huh? Pretty nasty I should say, but that''s still a strategy. Just that it''s a bad strat in my opinion," I shrug seeing how nonchnt he was. "Heh, but I must say, you exceeded my expectations and you seemed to have not broken a sweat at all." "Because everything you have done right now can be considered all as child''s y. I don''t even feel the pressure. I was expecting more from you guys since this guild is part of the first guilds created. I expected to challenge but all I smell in the air is the failure." I can see that he was visibly shaken from what I just said. Did I hit a nerve or something? "Well, enough talk, since you willingly appear here to die, then we will grant your wish! Everyone! Attack him!" I quickly went into battle stance and grinned as he ordered me to fight. "Ha! Now you are talking! Show me how you guys are intending to kill me!" Seeing that all of the attackers are melee units, I also decided to fight in melee. Kind of respect to them and to prolong the battle. It will be no fun if I just shoot them in the head and they die right? Pulling out the Versatile Weapon, I keep it in the form of a shield and just continue to bash them with it. A shield might be a weapon for protection but who said they are just exclusive for protection? Underestimating a shield can cost you a single tooth and that is very much an underestimation of what a shield can do. CLANG! CLANG! The swords collude with the shield, but they are too weak. I easily swipe them away before bashing their faces with the shield''s exterior and with the sharp parts, I used that to deal a bit of pain. I don''t know if that was enough to at least deal quite a pain to them but hey, at least they are now squirming in pain. The remaining hunters immediately started to shoot me with arrows. I quickly block my shield and since they are using range attacks, why would I hold back using the gun? I fight range with range and I fight melee with melee. Let''s see how he reacts to this? ... ... On the balcony, although the Vice President is looking like everything is going ording to his n, his inner self is already struggling to keep himself screaming in anger and frustration. No one said that this guy is a literal monster and he is not just doing like he is enjoying it rather than struggling from it. A literal monster in a small sense. I saw the videos of him during the first solo guild war and I expected him to do the same thing so that itpensates him for fighting alone. But this was different. Not only does he not summon any of his followers, but he is also just toying with them without a care. This isn''t what I have in mind. ... ... The enemies are getting too annoying but still not a threat to me. So this time, I decided to use this chance to have Cotton do her job. "Cotton,e out now since it is no longer that dangerous, and it''s much easier for you to toy around these guys without a care!" With my call, Cotton appeared and began to shoot some strings towards the enemies. This caught most of the yers off guard and tried cutting it with their swords, only to find it not working and getting them more stuck than needed to be. "The f*ck is this?! Why can''t I cut it?" "Oy, please get me out of here!" "Ah, crap stop pulling! I am getting tangled here!" Everyone who got caught by the webs is now struggling to get out. "Alright, it''s time to catch and squish the flies that got caught! I hope you guys will enjoy...." Chapter 379 - Operation Sparrow (VII) The swordsmen and other melee yers were unable to escape due to how Cotton just casually shoots them some webs that they can''t even get to remove in the usual way. Due to their inability to escape, they are easy picking on kills. Without waiting for them to even escape, I bash their heads with the shield repeatedly before finishing them with a gun. I can injure them with the shield but it takes too long for them to die from just that and with all the enemies shooting me with arrows and magic alongside clerics healing the other yers bashed with the shield, it will take me forever to eliminate them. Sure, I needed to wait for Harmless Sparrow''s signal but that doesn''t mean I needed to take that long to finish things that long. Besides, if I needed to take long enough to wait for her signal, why not beat up the Vice President instead to pass up the time? Isn''t that more beneficial? "It''s gotten a bit stale, so why not rush things?" I grab the strings from Cotton and drag the yers caught in the web. They were still struggling and cursing while I pulled them. With all my strength, I throw over the caught yers to the unsuspecting clerics. "Ahhhh!" Followed by that, I pulled out the Pain Delivery and started firing at them. Their screams echoed and it only took a few seconds for them to die. I spared the clerics of course as I needed some healers forter. I can''t afford to lose them just yet. With the melee units gone, the only problem I have right now is the hunters trying to fight against me. There are no more magicians as I shoot them first for priority. If Ipare Hunters and Magicians, magicians have more danger in thempared to the hunters as they have abilities that have a big AOE range. Hunters have AOE skills but they are not that strong and they don''tpare to the AOE damage that Magicians have. So it is a very good idea to deal with them first before dealing with Hunters in a guild war. Still, Hunters are still a threat and if they are good at using bow and arrow, they are as dangerous as Magicians and you need to kill them immediately if they do. Fortunately, from what I can see from all of the yers who are Hunters, they don''t seem to have any kind of good ability that I can say to be phenomenal and dangerous for me to prioritize killing time over other yers. They keep missing from their shots and since they are not even doing any good damage against me, I don''t need to prioritize them. Now that all the melee units were dead, I started eliminating the rest of the yers in one go. I don''t need them to be still alive. And while I am doing that, I still don''t feel any response from the Vice President. It was like he is just watching everything without care and seemed to be looking down on me. Does he think he still has the upper hand against me even though I already wiped out the entire guild? Or perhaps he still thinks his elite members still have the shots against me? Maybe that was the case? But I didn''t mind if he does think he does. I am looking for a challenge and the more surprises he has, the better and more entertaining it will be. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Because Pain Delivery is very strong and only one-shots enemies and yers, one bullet is enough for every hunter. It seems to kill any Hunter despite using some abilities that would allow them to have high evasion, it was like it disables those effects and will hit 100%. I still don''t know the math if it was really 100% uracy rate but any gunshot seems to hit the enemy without any sort of miss. I didn''t even experience seeing it miss at all. With all the enemies that can deal damage being killed, the only yers left are the 5 remaining Clerics as the remaining 5 that should have been alongside the other 5 were killed trying to save some of the Hunters and magicians and got caught by the gunshots. I didn''t mind killing a few of them as I don''t need too many Clerics, 5 is enough. "Cotton, tie them up. The tighter it is, the better. But oh, let them at least be able to use one of their hands." Cotton immediatelyplied and shoot out the strings that immediately tied up the remaining 5 Clerics. They tried to run but that was not even an option as they were immediately gathered together in a lump. And just like what I ordered, they can still use one of their hands properly. "Hey, the one they call Vice President who was casually just sitting there, how long are you going to just stay there and watch everything unfold huh?" I can see him grit his teeth before he looks behind him. Looking behind him, someone else appeared, and just by looking who it was, I quickly recognized who it was. It was Diena. A yer that will be a famous one after the fall of the Blue Sky guild and will be one of the strongest rankers. I didn''t know she is part of the Blue Sky guild until now. No wonder this guy seems confident even if he lost all the other yers around him. It was because he is reliant on Diena. As a future Top Chronomancer, she is not something I can underestimate. After all, Chronomancers are dangerous if they can do thebo to their attacks right and with Diena who is very familiar with the ss, she is using, it''s not a wonder she can easily defeat me if I didn''t take precautions.. But that made the challenge a bit better now. Chapter 380 - Operation Sparrow (VIII) Diena angrily jumped down from the balcony of the Guild House and as she was about tond, she pulls out a [Time Bomb] and throws it towards my direction. I may not be much of an expert in the Chronomancer ss but I still know what the [Time Bomb] does. "Cotton!" Cotton immediately shoots a web and catches the [Time Bomb.] The moment the [Time Bomb] was caught, I grab the end of the web and sling it back to Diena. Since it explodes upon contact on a yer or a solid ground, I took advantage of it and used it against her. Of course, that won''t give any effects on her once it explodes but that will give me enough distraction against her as she will immediately try to block her bomb despite the fact that it won''t do anything to her as it was her skill unless it was a skill that can also do a friendly fire to her. [Time Bomb] has no friendly fire effect so it isn''t even going to make her suffer any debuffs. And as expected, she decides to counter it and used [Reset], a skill that allows the Chronomancer to negate all iing attacks and debuffs aimed at her. Now that was a very good skill. However, it has the downside of making the skill unusable for a day after it was used, meaning it has a 24-hour cooldown. I grinned when I saw her use that. She used a very important skill in an attack that doesn''t do anything to her, wasting her skill that could have saved her life forter on. The [Time Bomb] exploded and since it does not do anything, her skill [Reset] was left hanging there without any reaction happening and because it was an instant use, it disappeared a few secondster. "What?" Diena was not sure what happened. Since she blocked the attack there should be a reaction that urred but since nothing happened, she was confused. "Thanks for wasting a life-saving skill! Now I can safely attack you myself!" BANG! Diena who is still confused was quick and dodged the bullet. She was quick on her feet and the bullet I shot her with missed. I repeated shooting her with the gun but she casually used her backflip skills and dodged them all gracefully. I was impressed since no one was capable of dodging the bullets just yet and she easily did it all without any effort. When she was a few meters away from me, she activates [Fast Forward]. It is a skill that allows the user to move very quickly. In her eyes, everything will be slowed down and she can immediately rush towards you without you realizing it. I have rarely faced a Chronomancer before but this is a skill that is terrifying in PVP due to how it can easily create unexpected oues as the enemy randomly applies attacks at you and you barely know what will happen. I blinked and she disappeared from where she was. It might be rare for me to face against a Chronomancer but I only needed a bit of little timing. And using the slight flicker I saw when she disappeared, I used that to my advantage and use it to predict where she will be. "Ha! There you are!" I aimed behind me and... BANG! The next thing I knew, Diena lie down on the ground and has died. It was a quick death which made me sigh as the oue might be unexpected but it should have been much better if she just decided to bombard me with bombs. Since she tried to attack me from behind, she was trying to attack me with one of the attack skills the Chronomancer can use will be [Rend and Tear], a skill that needs the user to get close to the target and apply the target to a space that will allow her to either use that space to manipte the enemy or tear off the limbs of the enemy. It was a strong skill but it needs the Chronomancer to be close to the enemy and sessfully capture him or her. Now I remember that trick before and I fell victim to it. Because of how easy you can be captured due to the skill [Fast Forward], you will not be able to tell what happened to you before you die in the end. Diena tried that but she failed when I managed to predict her position. She can easily counter that by doing another skill but she was still not as strong as she was back in the past timeline, I guess she is still quite wet behind the ears. But if I didn''t manage to predict her that time, I will be easily killed in the process. Thankfully, I was able to avoid that problem. I looked at the Vice President and this time, he disappeared from the balcony. From the looks of it, he is now hiding inside the Guild House. I scratch my head seeing this. I thought he would fight against me with all his might? Is Diena the only elite yer he has right now? I doubt it was but if I ended up killing all his elite yers, that was quite something. Just as I was about to deal with the guild house itself, I received a chat and this time, it came from Harmless Sparrow. "deheart! I am now good to go! The evidence that I needed is now in my hands. If you are still fighting against my fiancee, you can end it without any problem now! The key to my cage is finally in my hands!" Reading those words, I finally found a sense of relief and slowly stretch a bit, and looked at the guild house. "How about we end this thing with a bang?" If the guild''s vice president which is now the main target of this guild war has gone hiding, then how about ming him out of the hideout? With an idea, I pulled out the blueprint of the Saboteur ss and materialized some items I needed for letting him go out of the guildhouse.. With the preexisting design, I materialized several of them but this time, I made them as dynamites that needed for me to just ignite them to create a big ruckus. Chapter 381 - Operation Sparrow (IX) Final BOOM! The area of the guild house was immediately engulfed in mes. A single cannon st was enough to ignite the dynamites I stick to the guild house''s exterior. It was quite a bit of a fireworks disy seeing it explode and the moment the explosion urred, I heard a very loud scream inside the guild house as the ce was engulfed in mes. Since the guild house was not attached to any other building in the Capital and it was just a single building standing around the other smaller buildings, it allowed me to bring it to mes without worrying it will also burn nearby establishments that NPCs own and destroy the guild house without any problem. I know once this guild war is over, many yers will try to kill me in the process, and maybe in real life, there will be some people who will try to investigate my identity but I am not afraid. If they tried to mess with my life, then I will also mess with their life they will not be able to stand back up again. Then, all of a sudden, the roof of the burning guild house exploded and someone floated in the sky covered in a bubble. That''s when I realize he is already a yer who already experienced the Ascension and has already ranked up his ss. From the looks of it, he should be either a Sage or a Warlock since both have the same skills but Warlock was more into brute force power using spells and can enhance them in battle allowing them to cause devastation to the enemies, defeating enemies before they can even have the chance to retaliate while a Sage prioritize defensive, mana conservation, reduced cooldown, multicast, and strong magic spells that even tier 1 spells can be considered annoying as they canbine the multicasting to unleash the spells altogether. Either ss can be considered troublesome and annoying depending on the yer. Seeing him use the skill [Bubble Wrap] a tier 7 defensive skill of the Sage and Warlock, his ss must be either of those two but I can''t just judge what ss he was just yet. "How dare you!" The Vice President''s eyes are glowing red which allowed me to immediately identify him as a Sage since the glowing red eyes are the characteristic of a Sage ss due to their passive skill while the Warlock will cause the pupils of the eye to disappear, leaving it in white color. And just like the Sage, it was also the cause of the passive skill. He started sting me with multiple [Fireball] towards my direction and every step I make, he will fire [Icicle Shard] to me. But since I was quick on my feet, I am able to avoid any attacks he throws at me. Seeing that I am still unaffected by every attacks he make, he added [Lightning Strike], making it very hard to move like earlier. It was troublesome and not easy. And due to the amount of spells he is bombarding me with,it is close to impossible to avoid every single attack he shoots me with makes it harder and harder to stop his assault. "HA! You are strong, why you didn''t even unleash it earlier?! You could have gotten the upperhand if you have helped your subordinates before!" "Why would I work with them? They are myckeys and they should only follow my orders, my orders are absolute and no one leader would work alongside theirckeys, they should just rx and watch everything unfold!" "Tsk... And here I thought you are a smart leader that is capable of thinking outside the box and resolving things, I am just having a wishful thinking instead. You are just a big fool that can''t get over of his leaderplex despite not being built to be one. You are just quite proud of yourself and think everything revolves around your palm." I sighed as I am pissed of his way of thinking. He could have easily defeated me but he was just thiszy and uses his subordinates without even working himself. Forget about getting serious, even the n I have in mind for him involving the cleric is now even worth my time to waste as he is not even worth it fighting against with. "What are you..." "Die. You are an embarrassment to other leaders who thinks about their subordinates and fights alongside them. You suck at bing a leader and your leadership is garbage. Go and sleep." I changed the magazine of the gun, allowing me to have a fully loaded gun. Then, I point it to the vice president while still actively dodging all the spells he was throwing at me. Aiming the gun on him, I activated the exclusive skill of the Pain Delivery, [Rapid Gunfire]. He might be really trying to be a leader but unfortunately, he is just not fit to be one and he is just more fit to be someone who could at least stay put on the backline and pray he doesn''t mess up. He is someone you should just avoid with and if he decides to run a business, it was clear as day that it will be easily doomed to fail. It might seed if another person decided to change his ways and make his ways work, but I doubt anyone could keep a bit of his habits. Bullets rapidly escaped the muzzle of the gun as the [Rapid Gunfire] activates. Since the main target is the vice president, all the bullets that were fired immediately strike the [Bubble Wrap]. Despite the Bubble Wrap capable of resisting damages from any kind of attacks, it didn''t even get tost that long against the power of Pain Delivery, the gun that seems to defy the rules. It didn''t take a few bullets before the [Bubble Wrap] burst and all the iing bullets were immediately injected to his body. In just a split second of [Rapid Gunfire], his body has turned into a piece of cheese, full of holes. And the second solo guild war, ended, ending with theplete annihtion of the Blue Sky Guild''s members and the destruction of the Guild House Base itself. Chapter 382 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (I) The battle immediately went viral especially since the whole battle was being streamed live. As everyone expected, deheart won the guild war without leaving a single yer from the guild alive. It was total devastation that the yers who had never seen deheart in action before were so surprised at his capabilities. After all, with the situation he was facing earlier, it was clear that deheart was at a disadvantage. Some yers tried to report deheart as a cheater especially those who supported the Blue Sky Guild but they were immediately informed that deheart did not cheat and won fair and square from the battle. Some insisted he did cheat but the system continues to deny the usation, causing them to curse out on the system for beingx with their security. Of course, the system is not wrong as I indeed did not cheat and won by my own abilities and my weapons. And I can''t me those yers who reported me to be a cheat as my abilities and weapon skills are very simr to a cheat. I can''t me them on that but it was clear as day that I am still the victor of the battle. After the battle, I tore another Teleport Scroll to escape the surge of yers trying to congratte or talk to me after the battle. I am notfortable at all with their actions so it is better for me to not even bother doing that. Now that Harmless Sparrow''s guild lost, and she got the necessary things she needed to do, there is no need for me to stay longer, and just decided to let her do her job. I am just helping her get out of her ordeal, I am not the one who should hit the final nail to the coffin to permanently destroy the reputation of the Blue Sky Guild. When I arrived, everyone immediately showered me with congrattions. Apparently, the battle was streamed the entire time, allowing everyone to see what was happening, and since it was a real-time stream, the moment I won, everyone in the mansion knows already. "Damn it, Son. You made the battle look easy despite how hard it seems! Maybe all of the genius knowledge of our gaming sessions when your mother and I were still teenagers was passed down to you?" Nah, I doubt it, I wouldn''t be this good if not for being able to return to the past. I was an idiot back then so I doubt there were any good abilities that were passed down to me after I was born. "Alright, alright, enough of that, Son, I know you are tired from the battle so rx and have some good food I personally cooked after you won the battle. Think of it as a congrattory gift from your parents and friends for the sessful battle!" "Then, don''t mind me if I do!" "Hey! Just because you are the one who fought in the guild war doesn''t mean you will leave us out on the food!" Dolly pouted. "And what do you think you have contributed to being qualified for the food, hmm?" Hagane raised his eyebrows as she firmly stare at Dolly, ready to reprimand him whatever she is going to make a reason. "Hahaha! Of course, I have sent him my entire support and since we are here since the battle started, I sent him some emotional support to make sure he wins! Does that count as a contribution?" Hagane can only sigh at Dolly''s answers. My mom justugh at the two and decided to get in between them before the two quarreled again. "Don''t worry, everyone has a fair share of meal! My son can''t eat all of them anyway, eat up, and don''t be shy! I would be angry if you guys don''t eat the food I cooked even if it was just in the game." "YEY! I am not going to decline that offer! Your food is delicious in the game and even in real life, Aunty!" Dolly didn''t even think twice and attacked the food as she quickly grab and shove them into her mouth. And that day ended with a good meal alongside everyone. It was typical but enjoyable and rxing. Perfect after the battle of the guild war. Since I am mentally and physically exhausted, I returned to reality and I logged out of the game before going to sleep after that without knowing what happened after I drifted to dreand, rxing my mind and body from all the work I have done for the day. I didn''t know that while I am asleep, chaos ensued after the revtion that Harmless Sparrow revealed on the inte while the situation about the loss of the Blue Sky Guild against me is still hot and fresh. She didn''t take her precious time and made a strike while it was still pretty hot. I still didn''t know about that but perhaps that move of hers will be one of the biggest decisions that would change her whole life in the process. Of course, we still didn''t know about it until then. ... The next day, I woke up early and took a bath before cooking food. Just like the usual, Pandora and Suhei were quite early as they still needed to go to the hospital for another round of checkups. However, Suhei said that this will be thest checkup on Pandora as she will likely undergo her own therapy at home instead of using the facilities at home. Since they are rich, they can easily buy anything Pandora needed. After eating breakfast first, they left and said that they will be backter this afternoon. A little whileter, the siblings and Janus woke up and started preparing before they decided to eat breakfast. While waiting for his turn on the bathroom since Sora is still taking a bath, Janus decided to ask me something. "Manato, have you checked the inte already yesterday night?" Janus asked. "Uh, no? What''s wrong? Is there something that I should be checking about on it?" "Aparrently something urred on the Blue Sky Guild and due to their loss against you in Guild War, it became quite a hot topic to everyone and you are being med for it." "Me? I just defeated them in a guild war, what is the main problem?" "ording to what I heard, you were the main cause the guild is now in so much trouble and on the verge of being disbanded. Many yers of the guild is starting to leave the guild.. And it was due to your work that they wanted to leave." Chapter 383 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (II) After giving me the news, I ended up getting a bit curious about what happened at night. It was just a small span of time since the Guild War urred so I am not entirely sure what is happening. I didn''t check the forums and didn''t check any inte info at all after the battle as I am too tired to even care about it. Once I am done eating my breakfast, I decided to hold off on checking the inte, it won''t run anyway and I can check it anytime. It''s been a while since I trained my body after I keep on focusing more on the stuff at the game and all that is happening that I kinda neglected my practice for a bit. I should at least do a bit of a jog around the neighborhood and maintain my body to keep it strong and to keep it avable in battle in case a real-life incident urred just like the hostage-taking that urred on the school. First, I check the weather outside to see if it is raining since I would have to change ns if it is falling pretty heavily outside. When I checked, it was not raining and the sky seems pretty clear without any hints of dark and heavy clouds. However, for some unknown reason, it was pretty cold and it was like it just started snowing yesterday. Of course, there are no traces of snow but I can see in my windowpane that it''s freezing outside. I am quite sure this phenomenon did not ur in the past timeline cause if it did, I would be able to remember this happening as this is a pretty major event in the real world. I am active in the past outside since I am not that active much during the beginning times of the game, allowing me to have more time to wander outside. So seeing it very cold without any apparent reason is something new. Still, it doesn''t mean I have to stop my ns. It''s not raining and the cold is not that troublesome that I would need to stay at home to keep myself warm type of cold. But it was a bit strange to have cold weather in a zing hot sun over the sky without any signs of clouds covering it. I would be more understanding if we are living in ces that snow all year round or have colder weather all year round. But this is Japan, it is indeed cold when winter kicks in but at this time of the year, I don''t think we are going to expect any snow, more like we are expecting the spring to kick in. Without much exnation on what is happening, I grab my jacket and running shoes before going out to go on a run around the neighborhood. ... Due to the cold weather that is urring and only a handful of students walking to their school, there are only a few people on the streets. Most are holed up on the establishments and I don''t see the usual people taking a jog in the morning before. I made a loop around the neighborhood once and n to do another loop but for some unknown reason, the cold is just getting seeping through the skin despite the thick jacket I am wearing. Therefore, I decided to stop at a nearby vending machine in a convenience store and grab a can of hot coffee to drink to minimize the coldness that is seeping through my skin. I am not a coffee person but I could drink it without any problem. The convenience store has a few customers but they were busy doing their business. I don''t have any business inside so I just stay outside and drink the coffee. I am just there trying to make out where the cold ising from when all of a sudden, I saw a glimpse of someone familiar to me running past by while being followed by a few people who seemed to be like bodyguards. It just urred in my peripheral view of my vision so I am not entirely sure who passed by but since I seemed to feel kind of recognize who they were chasing with, I decided to follow them and to avoid getting spotted by those bodyguards, I decided to use the roof and started chasing on them. Since I am using the rooftops as my method of transportation, I am not blocked by intersections and corners that would slow down my chase allowing me to catch up and see who they were chasing. And to my surprise, it was none other Rika, aka Harmless Sparrow. Seeing her being chased, I can immediately tell that these guys chasing her are the people that she said to be the people under the orders of her fiancee. Seeing her escape like this desperately while they are chasing, I can tell she is in big trouble. Rika is not that far from the chasing guys but she is not visible to them at the moment so I decided to help her out. When she turned into the corner, I jumped down, grabbed her waist, and carry her like a princess before jumping back again to the rooftop. This caught Rika by surprise and tried to break free from my grasp. "Stop struggling or you will fall off the roof, also, be quiet if you don''t want your pursuers to know where you are right now." When she heard about this, she stopped struggling and turned to look at me. She was about to say something the moment she have seen my face but I gestured her to keep silent and peered under the roof where her pursuers arrived where she was before. "Where did she go?!" "She shouldn''t have gotten too far just yet, she must be around hiding somewhere! Go and split up, that way, we can cover more ground!" The men quickly moved in different directions to search for Rika. "We are not safe here, let''s go somewhere safe. And remember to stay quiet. We might get discovered if you don''t." She nodded and I quickly traverse the rooftops. I didn''t know if there were any tracking devices on her so I decided to bring her to the yground for kids in the neighborhood. There was a nearby gazebo so we can stay there for the time being. Who would have thought that rescuing her would lead me to someplicated situations more than what I signed up for. Chapter 384 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (III) Since it was far from where she was being chased, we are safe in the gazebo of the yground for the time being. Of course, we are still not truly safe but we have to make sure that she will not be followed. "You...you are the guy who received the same tattoo version of the Reality Verse..." "No time to exin, please remove anything from you that has been given by your fiancee." "Huh?! How do you..." "Just hurry up! We can''t afford to let you get followed by them, aren''t you?" Because I made a firm decision to do it, she decided to oblige and removed her watch, earrings, and ne. She also removes her sneakers and has given them all to me. "I apologize but this is for your own good too." I activated my mana and ignited everything to mes. "Hey! What are you doing?!" "I will exinter how I can do that but I also have to exin that I have to do this because it might be one of these things that contain a tracker device. If they still can track you again even without them, then there is somewhere else in your possession to contain a tracker. Now, that I have removed a few things, let''s get out of here and move to another location. We can test out whether you still have something in your possession that way." "W-wai- AAAAAHHHH!" I grab her again and started leaping again to the rooftops. She is still not used to it but there is no way as we will easily get seen by her pursuers if we use the streets properly. As for how I am capable of doing this, with my enhanced abilities to jump and run, it was much easier to do it. I may look like a ninja doing this but I am not. And I would rather avoid doing this if necessary unless needed to escape or something close. After jumping for a while, we arrived on the hospital rooftop. It was the nearest hospital near the small yground with a gazebo and it is empty so I decided tond in there and it will help us escape from anyone if they found us out. After all, we can see what is happening below the hospital and we can escape on short notice the moment the pursuers pinpoint our location. "We will stay here for 30 minutes. If there is no one else who followed you, we are now safe and we can head out normally now. "Why are you doing this? I don''t even know you and you suddenly appeared." "You are Harmless Sparrow right?" "Huh?! What?! How did you..." "It was easy for me to know since you didn''t alter that much on your face in real life and your in-game character. Also, I know you in the game so you can say we are acquaintance." "Acquaintance? I don''t think I know anyone that seems to resemble you..." There is no point in lying and hiding my identity now. Now that Harmless Sparrow is no longer affiliated by any group or guild, she is now on her own. And I am not even intending to hide my identity so there is no need for me to hold back in saying who I was to her. "You might know me if you see this." I swipe my hands across my face and the Wolf Mask I use in the game and the mask I used to cover my face while fighting against the people who made our whole school hostage. Seeing that, made Rika surprised. It wasn''t something she expected from me after all but I have to do that if I needed to make sure she trust me. "Wha... deheart?" "That''s good that you can recognize me the moment you saw my mask. that saves us lots of time on exnation. So what is happening? Why are you being chased if you just said you are secure on your data gathering?" "Yeah, that''s what I thought until I went out of the hotel to buy some of my necessities. I was about to enter a convenience store when they spotted me. Since they started chasing me without apparent reason, I decided to escape and now that you took me away from them, I can now sigh in relief." "We are still not out of the trouble. We don''t even have a clue whether they still have something that is attached to them. We can''t afford to let them get their way on this one." I looked below the hospital grounds and check whether there are something or someone around. Thankfully, I don''t see anyone. When I checked on the sky though, I found two flying drones. Seeing them, I quickly scan the area to check whether there are other people using it. Seeing that there is no one around there that seems to be using it, I decided to shoot it down just in case. Better be safe than sorry. And if I shoot down an innocent drone that is not even doing anything other than fly, then I am sorry to the unlucky person. "What are you doing? Are you trying to shoot a Spirit Gun or something?" Rika frowned seeing me form my left hand to a finger gun and aim it somewhere. "Haha, so you also watch that show? Well, it''s a yes and a no. Also, I don''t have any kind of power simr to that. Mine is different." Then, I stir up my mana into my fingertips and aim it to the nearest drone flying. I feel my finger tingling for a bit and after feeling that little sensation, I shoot it out and cause the little drone to halt its functions the moment the electric strike hits it. I repeated the process and do the same to the other drone. Once that is done, I checked around the surrounding area to see if there are any other flying drones around so that I can shoot them down. Thankfully, no more drones appeared to fly around the vicinity. Still, it wasn''t safe still. "I don''t know about these guys but perhaps they are now using some drones to locate you after you disappeared to their sensor and since they are now using drones, perhaps the trackers that you possess are now gone, and to locate you, their first thought would be to use the sky as their advantage to search for you with eyes in the sky, allowing you to not escape their sight." "What are we going to do then?" "There is one thing we can do." "One thing?" "Yes.. Let''s go shopping." Chapter 385 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (IV) At first, she didn''t understand what I meant that we are going shopping. However, because she is just following me to lose her pursuers, she decided to just let me do the thing. We went to the mall to buy some clothes for her. At first, the guard is hesitant to let her in due to the fact that shecks shoes, but I quickly reasoned out that the sandals that she used is broken and she needed to buy one for recement. Although he was hesitant to believe it at first, he decided to let us in though he gave us a strict warning that entering the establishment without any shoes or sandals will not be allowed. After reasoning with the guard, we headed straight to the area where they disys the shoes and sandals for Rika to buy sneakers. I let her choose her own sneakers as she is the one who will use them. "Ah, but I don''t have enough money to buy sneakers since I only bought enough money to buy something in the convenience store. I left most of my cash on the hotel I was staying at." "Don''t worry, I will pay. I suggested it so I will pay for it. You don''t have to pay a single yen. Don''t make much fuss about it." And with that, Rika did not reject it and started choosing her own sneakers. As for me, I keep my eyes and ears in a vignt state. Despite being out of range from the pursuers, there is no guarantee that we won''t meet any of them here. As I said earlier, better be safe than sorry. Rika was not that choosy in her choice of sneakers and choose ck and white sneakers that is fit for her. We didn''t buy socks since she is wearing one and since she only used the socks from walking inside the mall, it isn''t dirty much. After paying for it, she immediately wears the shoes to rece the shoes that I have to burn. The next thing we did is to go to the shirt and pants section. Because I want her to be mobile and can run in her outfit without being bothered by it or hindered by it, I let her choose her own t-shirt and jeans for girls to allow her to freely run if needed. We also went to the underwear section and although she was embarrassed about it, we have no other choice and she has no choice. We also bought a new jacket as the cold outside is just not something anyone can Like the sneakers, she was quick on them and easily found her fit and items she liked. I added a cap for increasing our anonymity. I allowed her to wear it immediately and put all her old clothes inside the paper bags that should have contained the new clothes. After that, we headed outside. The guard earlier nodded when she saw that Rika is now wearing shoes and a new outfit, allowing him to nod in approval. After we left the mall, we went to the nearest dumpster. "Are any of these outfits inside the paper bag that important or your favorite?" "No? Why?" "Because we are going to get rid of them and throw them into the trash." "We are going to get rid of them?" "Yes. Anything that you are using today might be the possible thing that they ce a tracker with. The sooner we remove that, the better." She shook her head in response. When we arrived, I immediately ignited it to mes and burn them all, leaving only some ashes that we proceed to throw into the trash. I made sure it is no longer burning or else, it will cause a fire. "Let''s head to my house then. I will call the others too. You should leave your belongings for a while in the hotel unless you need to book out soon." "Ah, you don''t need to worry. I booked in there for 2 weeks, I can let it stay there for a week without any problem." "Alright. That should do it. Until this matter is solved, we will have to dy getting them out of there." Just like earlier, we went back to the neighborhood by jumping on the rooftops. On the way back home, we saw the men chasing her. They were now gathered in front of the convenience store and the leader seems to bemunicating with someone through the phone. We didn''t stop by to eavesdrop and continued our way back home. "I''m home." "Please excuse me for my intrusion." The first to wee us is Sora who is slowly walking without the need for a guide or a blind guide stick. "Wee home big brother... and wee to our household visitor." "Ah? That voice..." Rika was stunned when she heard the voice Sora. "Hmmm? Is something wrong?" "Oh, nothing." We entered the mansion and we are weed by Janus who was watching television. Akira is currently washing the dishes so he didn''t show up. "I thought you are taking too long on your daily jog, who would have thought you have a n to snag a girl while you are on your daily jogging, Manato!" Janus grinned and gives a thumbs up. "You idiot, it''s not like that. This is Harmless Sparrow, I just rescued her outside." When Janus heard she was Harmless Sparrow, she stood up with a face filled with shock. "What?! She is Harmless Sparrow? The same Harmless Sparrow that apanies us in the game whenever we raid something?" "The one and only Harmless Sparrow." "You... you are Hagane in the game right?" Rika seems to be surprised but delighted to see familiar people she only met in the game. "What is going on, deheart? Why is she here? I know you rescued her but what is the meaning of this?" "I will exinter. Right now, we need to call Riko here. She will be delighted to see Harmless Sparrow in the flesh." "Riko?" Rika looked at me in confusion. "She should be the person you know in the game named Dolly.. We will be calling her toe here." Chapter 386 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (V) "You are calling her?" Rika seems worried. "No worries. She can keep a secret and she is also someone who wanted to meet up with other fellow teammates too in real life." "Well, if she is fine with that, then let''s do it," Rika still looks hesitant but she gave her permission. "Alright then, let''s give it a whirl. There''s no guarantee she will pick up the call especially if she is busy though." Janus immediately dialed Riko''s number, it only took one single ring before she picked it up. Janus quickly switches on the loudspeaker for everyone to hear her voice. "Hello? That''s weird of you to call me first, did something happen?" "Oh? Did I disturb you with your work?" "Nah, I am just surfing on the inte right now. I am not busy or anything. So what''s up? I know you don''t call me unless you have something to say to me." "Welp, you are on point, but it''s not me who wants to talk to you. You Manato, you are up." Janus handed me the phone so that she can hear what I was going to say. "Manato? Did you need me for something? You can just call me using your number since you saved it right?" "Hey, Riko. Actually, this one is just a slight invitation for you." "Invitation?" "Yeah. Harmless Sparrow is currently here at my house. Want to meet up with her? I know you wanted to know who Harmless Sparrow is." I heard something falling on the other line, presumably, that was Riko before her voice can be heard once again. "Are you serious? Harmless Sparrow is there? You better be not joking and doing some pranks at me or you will get a whoop in the a*s!" "Hey, hey...no violence, please. I am not lying. Here, she will talk to you so that you will know I am not lying." I then handed the phone to Rika and she timidly speak. "Uh...hello there, Dolly-chan." ...BEEP! The line was immediately cut off. Rika was left stupefied. After all, the call was immediately cut off before she can say anything sensible. She didn''t even hear Riko''s response. She looked at me with worry and handed me the phone. "Damn, she still didn''t change her ways. I might have to tell her to change that, especially to people who don''t know her behavior," Janus scratches his head in annoyance. "Did I say something rude to her?" Rika looked at us with a worried face. "Nah, don''t worry about it. You will see," Janus grinned and give her a thumbs up. "How about you join us for lunch? It''s almost lunchtime so it''s a good time to eat." "Well, since I am here, then I am grateful to join." ... About 5 minutester, just enough time for me to finish all of the dishes The dishes I was cooking are all about to be fully cooked when we heard a knock on the door. I quickly rush towards the door before the monst- I mean that person outside knock off the door off its hinges. The moment I opened the door, she also went out with her eyes immediately scanning the surroundings, checking the location of Rika. "Where, where is she?" I closed the door and helped her remove her jacket after getting inside. "Hey, calm down, will you? Stop that, you are scaring her if she saw you like this. Also earlier, when you dropped the call, she was upset at you for doing that. "Wha? Where is she? I needed to apologize!" "Damn! Stop rushing, can you? It wouldn''t hurt to slow down for a bit. Anyways, she is at the kitchen''s dining table. We are just about to eat lunch. I know you rushed here without eating anything so join us." "You really know me well, huh?" Riko scratches her head with an embarrassed look on her face. "Toote to get embarrassed. Now go and the food is about to be done." Riko and I went to the room and she immediately spotted Rika who is still waiting for us. "Wah! It''s really you Sparrow-chan! In the flesh indeed!" "Dolly?" "Yes! Yes! That is indeed me! I can''t believe it! It was really you!" Riko who was ecstatic is the quite opposite of Rika who seems to be getting embarrassed by how Riko was acting. "Hey, hey. Giver her some space, will you? You will creep her out." I then handed her a te of her food to let her get off from her immediately. "Since the gang is partially here, shall we introduce ourselves this time?" Janus suggested. "Oh, good idea. Alright, I will go first! I am Akusabe Riko in real life and my name in the game is Dolly! You can call me Riko just like the others do in real life and I should say, we strictly stick to our in-game names once we are in the game. Call me Dolly if we meet in the game! Nice to meet you!" "That is a bit too much info, Riko. Anyways, I am Hagane in the game and my real name is Janus Mcgrey. I am an American who decided to stay in Japan since I found itfortable here. Also, Japan has all the anime culture, just staying here will allow me to bathe to all the anime content I wanted." The siblings also introduced themselves. "This is my sister Sora, and my name is Akira. We are Topaz and Iron in the game. Nice to meet you in real life, Sparrow-senpai!" Akira greeted. "Is... Is Sora blind perhaps?" Rika tilted her head. "Yeah, ording to Brother, I am blind since I was born. I can see normally if I was in the game though so I am not even sad about it." "Alright, since everyone has already told their names, I will introduce minest before you introduce yourself. I am Tsukasa Manato. I am deheart in the game. And you know the rest now." Rika nodded and breathed a bit before she started to introduce herself. "My name is Tsukinara Rika. My game name is Harmless Sparrow. It''s nice to meet everyone in real life and thank you for allowing me to join getting lunch with you guys." "Alright! Now that was wrapped up, is the thing you revealed on the inte earlier real? Are those actually real? No joke at all?" Riko asked, with her eyes seems to be sparkling. "Ah... yes. All of them are real." My eyebrows furrowed when Riko asked her about it. Just what the heck did she reveal that made the inte seems to be on a buzz that even Janus who rarely cares about the matters on the inte seemed to have gotten more attention to it? "Ah... sorry about this but I am out of the loop and I have yet to check what is happening on the inte. Can you tell me what the heck is this thing that you guys seem to be too interested in?" "Oh, that''s right, Manato. You haven''t checked your phone or your PC right? Okay, here, read it on this one. This is the main thread on where Rika posted it." Janus handed his holophone again to me and I started scrolling through the thread the first sentence that caught my eye is the sentence, "The Vice President of the Blue Sky Guild is a sick sexual predator who targets male yers and threatens them to go on sexual acts with him.. If the other party declines, they are then proceeded to be killed by him and the other guild members and reduce his level back to zero. Chapter 387 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (VI) "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK?!" My mind seems to go on a spiral after knowing the reveal. What is the actual fuckery did I just read?! I know I came from the past but I didn''t have any recollection of knowing this piece of knowledge that is incredibly useful yet crappy enough to just remember! I don''t even need thatst bit of information and yet it is also quite necessary to know the main context. There are some other times that having a photographic memory like mine just sucks to have as forgetting something you have seen would be rather too hard to even forget. "Crazy, right?" Janus grinned as I handed back the phone again to him. "Are you serious about this, Rika? I thought the yers are being used as fodder for leveling?" "Yes, they did. Of course, they only discovered that due to that main reason. If he didn''t even do that, there is no way he will know about it. And yes, behind that reason is him being a predator. A disgusting one at that." No wonder he treats Rika like nothing despite being his fiancee. It was because he never likes her at all, more like he likes men and would go straight to sexual intercourse with them that I don''t think I would like to even know more of. "But, is that evidence enough to bring down the guild once and for all?" "Yes. I managed to leave the guildst time I yed before I was chased by the men earlier. It was annoying as hell but there is nothing I could do about it. And don''t worry about it. The moment I posted the post, lots of yers that got assaulted as well also went out to exin this, and since a lot of them confirmed it, it became the undeniable truth." "I didn''t know Alternate World can actually have this kind of thing too. I know that they don''t censor your private parts if they can be seen but this is beyond my expectation. Yes, you can do some of that indeed. It might not be as realistic as the real world but you can still say that it is still something close. There is no actual "doing that kind of thing" but you can engage in doing the "touching" parts so you can still say it has that thing. "So that means you are free to join the expedition now?" Riko asked. "Almost there, I only needed a bit more things to be done before I can actually say I am totally free. Mighte in a few days now. I only needed to destroy the guildpletely. I know that it is now being harassed by yers and the amount of criticism and attacks they receive are now big enough for them to be already thinking of disbanding the whole guild themselves. However, since my fiancee is rich enough, he can still hire yers to harass me and there is the matter in the real world I also needed to handle myself too." "So that means you still can''t join us?" Riko got sadder after hearing this. "Actually, I can join you guys already. It''s just that I needed to be more vignt as I don''t want you guys to be involved in my affairs too. I made this incident, then I have to be the one to clean up the mess I made. Dragging you guys to my affairs is just not my style at all." "Ha! Toote about that, Rika-chan! With Manato here, balls deep in the situation, there is no way we can just keep on ignoring you in the process. If you are in trouble, then you will be apanied by us in trouble and we will help you in the process. Besides, don''t you believe in Manato at all? He defeated an entire guild by himself and that is twice already. Just having him with us is like insurance that we are going to be in safe hands after all," Riko grinned and put out a peace sign. "I don''t want to agree with your point but even though I wanted to say that, I also can''t disagree with you in there. With us to help, you will be ensured you will continue to be safe and can y soon enough on your own." "Actually, I am indeed nning on living on my own. I want to abandon my dad this time around." Everyone stopped when Rika decided to say about her family. "I needed to get out of the way to do what I wanted to do and avoid bing a puppet to my father''s schemes." "So you want to be an independent girl who can live on her own?" "Yes. I wanted to live on my own without the need to rely on my father for the money. Sure, they have the money, but that is not something I wanted to have in my life. I wanted my life to be worry-free and out of trouble like this matter. I also wanted a life where no one dictates my life and I can do what I wanted to do, do my own mistakes and learn by it at the very end and live my own life the way I wanted it to be." Without waiting for anyone else to respond, Riko immediately stood from her seat and put her fists up in the air. "I support you with all I can, Riko! Let''s get your life free and cut the strings that dictate your life!" "Oy, are you even prepared for that? We are going to face off with actual people this time and helping Rika on her cause would also cause us some problems. Have you ever taken care of what you are going to do if that actually happened?" "Ha! Just let it charge in and we will face them head-on without any kind of dy! If they wanted trouble, then they will indeed prepare for trouble and since with you guys there, there is no way we can lose this sh*t!" I can only smile at Riko''s optimistic outlook. It''s not like it''s really bad but this is something I wouldn''t say bad, but this will indeed give us some unnecessary trouble in the near future. But since I decided to help Rika with her problem, there is no way I am backing out either. It''s sink or swim.. That is the only way to break out a sparrow out of her own cage. Chapter 388 - The Freedom Of The Sparrow (VII) Since Rika cannot go back to the hotel just yet due to the people still looking for her, I decided to let her stay in my mansion. I have plenty of unused rooms, to begin with, and it would just be collecting dust if not used in the future, so why not let the others use it? As much as Riko wanted to stay behind to apany her here, she can''t do that as she hasn''t told her parents she will be staying over here and she cannot log in to the game since her Reality Verse is still the cabin version and has yet to receive the upgrade. We also don''t have a spare Reality Verse she can use so she is just forced to go back. Riko stayed until evening and stayed with us until dinner. She wanted to get some food to eat since her parents will be workingte and she is toozy to scrounge up some scraps in the kitchen. Once we are done with dinner, Riko went back home and Janus volunteered to send her back home. I let Janus borrow my motorcycle so that at least they could have a close time together. Forging close bonds, and I might say, this is a chance for him and to at least give him a fighting chance for her. A few hourster after Riko and Janus departed, Pandora and Suhei returned from the checkup. She was surprised when she saw Suhei and Pandora. "Suhei? Pandora? What are you guys doing here?" Suhei was also surprised but he quicklyposed himself. "I didn''t expect to see you here, Lady Tsukinara. My sister and I lived here with Manato-kun and his friends here. What are you doing here? I don''t think you are acquainted with him or whatsoever unless you guys meet before?" "We have indeed met up before. But I didn''t expect you guys to be living here. You guys have different vacation houses in other ces, but not here," "All, we are just renting here. We don''t own the house and we asked Manato to let us rent at least two rooms here just for the sake of Pandora''s health." "Oh, I see. But isn''t it much better to choose a ce that you guys can call home by yourselves?" "Yes, that would be the best-case scenario. However, the doctor rmended this ce due to various reasons that would allow Pandora to properly recuperate and allow her to easily recover from her condition. Although I am still not sure how that would happen. Now that I exined why we are here, I should also ask why you are here? I doubt you have the same reason that we are here," Suhei scratches his head. ''Well, it''s family and fiancee matter. I was hiding here to avoid them tracking me down." "Wow, didn''t expect you to rebel but that is a good decision, I can see that they are already shackling you too much and you also deserve your privacy and your freedom. Very well, you should be safe here with us unless you are still being tracked. "No. I turned off my phone and removed any attachments to my holophone and I already got rid of my previous belongings before going here. Tsukasa-kun made me do those things." "That was thorough of you, Manato but you have indeed made a good job on that. Anyways, I will be tucking Pandora back to her room. Also, we don''t need to get dinner anymore, Manato, we already eat before we returned since it took us a bit of time after her therapy." "Is that so? Then we won''t be holding you two together. Have a good night, you two." Suhei nodded and Pandora smiled before the former sent thetter to her room before he goes inside his own room. Since it''s a bitte at night, I decided to bring Rika to her room. With the work of the siblings as fantastic as always, the room is spotless and clean for anyone to use. "This should be your room until the day you are good to go out. You can ask me for some necessities you needed. Call me or the siblings if you needed anything else, alright?" I was about to go and leave but she stopped me from living and furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey, you haven''t exined anything yet. I waited for you to exin things to me and yet you didn''t say anything." "Hull? Exin what?" "Did you forget that you promised to exin to me how you are able to do those magical things that you have been doing since earlier?" "Oh, you mean these things?" I snap my fingers in my right hand and embers started to appear on my right hand, while on my left hand, I clenched my fist, causing some electric charges to appear around it. It looks like my hands are being electrocuted and burning but they didn''t do anything to my body. "How on earth are you doing that? Are you perhaps worshipping the devil and earned powers like that?" "Hey, I am not someone who will stoop so low to do that kind of stuff. I am a clean man without any connection to any cult or devil worshippers. This is the result of my own abilities allowing me to earn these! Don''t be so hasty in calling me a devil worshipper!" "I am sorry... it''s just, this is the first time I have seen someone use actual magic in the real world. It was like I am seeing those abilities in the Alternate World." "Well, you are half right about thising from the Alternate World. Did you remember the mask?" "Ah? Wait, what do you mean those things are from Alternate World?" I swipe my hands across my face and the Mask appeared before me, showing it to Rika. Not only that but when I grab something behind my back, I pulled out the Versatile Weapon. "l meant it literally. These things came from the Alternate World. In short, all items that I possess in the Alternate World are things that I can materialize in this world too. And about the magic spells, you can say I was self-taught, using the knowledge I have in the game, allowing me to use it in real life." "So you are saying that... everything in Alternate World can also be brought here in the real world?n "Hmmm, I wouldn''t say everything but most of the time, you can bring anything. I don''t know about living beings but I can bring almost anything inside my inventory that is not ssified as a living being in here as long as I have enough mana." "Is this thing exclusive to you alone? Are you some kind of superhero now?" "Based on my analysis, this is not exclusive to me, in fact, the siblings have the highest chance to awaken their abilities soon. They just didn''t awaken it yet as they wanted to practice more on how to handle mana before they awaken it. Currently, they possess the most amount of mana in their bodies. Janus and Riko are also nearing awakening but I suggest they still keep on practicing because of the chances of their failure since they are still not that mature in mana stability." "So that means, anyone who yed Alternate World can do get these abilities just fine?" ''This is just based on my spection and there is still no way of knowing whether everyone can do it. But since everyone who yed Alternate World is capable of awakening, that might have been the case. From the looks of it, you are pretty much interested." "Y-yeah. I won''t deny it, magic has been something that made me want to dive into fantasy. It is one of the main reasons I yed RPG games before due to the usage of magic. It''s my only way to escape the sad reality of my family. So, is it possible to learn this power?" I chuckled a bit hearing this. After all, she is considered to be a strong person in the past timeline capable of using magic spells with ease. If she just didn''t fade into the darkness and continue to stay in the limelight, perhaps she will be considered as one of the top people in the world who can be considered to be strong enough to change the world. "Did I say something funny perhaps?" "No, nothing, I just remembered a random joke a long time ago that I saw on the inte, it''s nothing special. However, perhaps, helping you awaken your abilities will allow you to be strong enough to defend yourself, After all, if you want to defy your family, you need to have enough power to fight back against it. However, I can only teach, and everything will depend on your progression and willingness to learn." "l- I am ready. I will do this." Rika clenches her fists. see. Then, let''s dive into the game. Letts meet up inside the mansion and discuss it there.." Chapter 389 - The Awakening Of The Sparrow (I) [Wee Back, deheart] I spawned inside the mansion. A few secondster, I received a message that Harmless Sparrow has arrived and she is waiting outside. I looked around the mansion if my mother and father are here but apparently, they are not, and when I checked, they are currently offline. Perhaps they have taken a break since they keep ying straight. The others are online but since they are not here, I decided to just apany Harmless Sparrow and help her with her awakening process. When I arrived, she is standing there, staring at the sky, "Hey, are you thinking about something?" "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about the reaction my father has and how my fiancee is getting mad at me as I ruined the reputation that he built for a long time to keep his facade solid." "Are you regretting doing all of those?" "No, not really. It''s just that it feels like I am going to bebeled as a bastard daughter who does not even have respect for her family. I am worried about what wille and happen in the future." ''Well, you already did this, even if it''s toote, there is nothing you can do but move forward and face the consequences head-on. Anyways, are you ready? We will begin your training to help your mana awaken in your real body." "I am ready... but what is the connection of ying the game and awakening the mana in my real body?" "As I said before, your body will feel all the changes that is happening in the game. Lately, have you been feeling a bit weirder than usual, like you seemed to feel like your body have changed, or some senses in your body has gotten enhanced?" do feel that, is that perhaps a sign of..." "Yes, it is indeed a sign that you are almost awakening. From the results, it seems the yers with the Nexus version is the only one capable of feeling the awakening after ying the game. Janus and the others can only feel it slightly after I instructed them how to do it from time to time but it seems that the synchronization rate of our real body and our game avatar must be the main reason." "Wait. Are you saying that due to the synchronization rate of our machines, we are much more advanced and can feel the changes in our body almost immediatelypared to the ones with the cabins?" "Yes. That is why, we should take advantage of this and allow you to awaken as soon as possible with it. Although it will take a bit of time, it all depends whether you can understand how your power works and how it can affect every single thing in your life. Now, let''s go to the nearby field. It is just near the mansion and this ce can help you rx." The field that I am talking about is a ce near the mansion. I already know this ce in the past as it is known to be a safe area and considered to be the untainted area during the time when this ce was overrun by undead and the mansion became an abandoned building without any purpose. If not for my action of buying it, this ce would be a regr spawn for undead monsters. Thankfully, its no longer as convoluted as before and the areas where the undead spawns are controlled. Of course, on the way, undead and skeletons are going to block our way. "Alright, since we have enemies, let''s start the awakening of your mana here. It isn''t much stable and it isn''t much reliable due to how low the chances of getting it done. But maybe we have some luck and we can awaken it just fine this way." "Are you sure this is safe?" "Yeah, don''t worry, I have proven and tested it. Also, it''s not a guarantee, that is why I said to not rely on it. We will just try and see if you get to awaken using this method." Harmless Sparrow nodded and she pulls out her sword out before imbuing it with the [ming Sword]. "I''m ready, what should I do?" "Okay, first step is to imagine arge pool of emptyke in your body. Focus it around your stomach. Make sure to keep it there and don''t lose your focus. Once you lose focus on that then you have to start all over again." "Is that all of it?" "Yeah, once you have visualized it up, go and kill enemies. Once you feel some sort of power flowing on you while killing enemies, let it flow and direct it towards the imagined pool of emptyke. It might sound simple but its not. However, it didn''t matter whether you don''t manage to do it or not. After all, its hard to do it, but you are wee to try. Don''t worry, I will be following behind you." She nodded and started to rush towards the enemies and started killing enemies. I just followed closely and monitored whether she will be in danger or not. With her mind focusing on maintaining the imaginary pond, its not going to be something easy for her. As for me, the reason why I used to awaken her in the game rather than in the real world is due to the main fact that she is too stressed in the real world. Without natural mana in the real world to help, its not going to be easy to help her awaken there since stress can easily disrupt the mana awakening. In the Alternate World, mana is freely flowing around and even if she is stressed, she can still awaken with the help of that mana to trigger her own body. She easily mowed down all of the enemies in just a few swings. With the level differences, the monsters are nothing but twigs to her. It''s not even a question whether they are a threat or not. Once all the undead was disposed, I approached her who seems to be having a hard time breathing. "Are you alright? Don''t push yourself too hard." "I am alright. Still, maintaining this ability is in hard. I dont think I will be able to do it." "So you didn''t managed to do it?" "No, I managed to maintain it and I was able to keep it that way. I also managed to let something flow and it seems like the pool that I was imagining is staying even though I am no longer focusing on imagining it or even thinking about it. I can forget it and yet it still remains." When I heard that she can maintain now the pool without the need of thinking anymore, I was amazed by the result. I was expecting her to fail but to think she managed toy the foundation without meditation is already incredible. No wonder she is able to be strong in real life, it wasn''t just because she was lucky, she is just thatpatible with it. "Ha, and to think I was worried about you, I didn''t think you already awakened." ''Waiti what? I awakened?" "Yes. The main proof is the pool that you are imagining are present in your body now even if you don''t think much of it. Since it is now present, filling it up with content is going to be much easier now. Alright, now that you are ready, let''s go to our current destination, that is where we will continue our training." Due to the result, Harmless Sparrow was now excited and she is now getting ready to do her best to continue her streak of sess. I expected this but not this fast. Still, that is great since that only proves she has the talent for it. [You have entered the Grove of Holy Pond] [You are in a safe zone,bat is not avable here] ording to the lore, the reason this ce has be untainted and became a safe area, is due to the smallke that is surrounded by the grove of thick trees that makes the ce stands out due to most of the trees that were standing outside the pond''s vicinity are all dead trees. ''Wow, this ce is beautiful! I didn''t expect to see a ce like this in the middle of the ce where the undead is verymon!" "Yes, and due to this ce being such a peaceful area without enemies and monsters that will disturb us, plus this ce is heavy in mana, this is a very good ce to awaken your mana fully." We look for a good shade in the sun as that will help her calm her nerves. "Now sit cross-legged here and feel the mana in your body. Try to feel the mana dormant in your body and urge it to move towards the pool in your body. Don''t rush it and make sure to just keep calm when doing this. Don''t rush as that will injure you in the process." She nodded and she followed my instructions. I decided to stand guard near her and observe her in case something bad happened to her. I was about to rx when I received a text chat from Hagane, "deheart, you are now being hunted by yers from Blue Sky Guild.. Rika is with you right? She also is a target and both of you have bounties in your heads! Expect yers to try and PK the two of you!" Chapter 390 - The Awakening Of The Sparrow (II) The news might be new but I am not surprised. Perhaps he has learned that I was also part of Harmless Sparrow''s n that he decided to target all those who were involved. Thankfully, I didn''t involve anyone in the Guild War despite having the chance to let them join the fray, I decided to not do it in case something like this happened. Looks like my prediction is on the spot this time. Harmless Sparrow would still have a bit of time before she can say she can control it. Based on her abilities, perhaps she can immediately awaken but I am not going to say that she is sure to awaken right now. It''s just all pure chances if she does awaken. Now that I know that we are being targeted by yers, it will not be too long before they can find us. Bounties are troublesome but part of the game''s expansive mechanics. Once you have a guild or you go to the ck-market''s Hitman Agency, you can put a bounty on someone''s head. Thankfully, the game does not abandon the yer who was put on the target list. The yer who was targeted can retaliate against the bounty hunters and fight back without the fear of beingbeled as a red yer. Of course, the only yers you can kill without triggering the Red Name are the yers who hold your bounty poster. Also, your first death will have no penalty but if you die after that, you will have to suffer the penalty. Not only that but since Bounties are not being stopped by the Guardians of the cities, safe zones and cities are not a safe ce for you. You can also get killed once you revive in the cathedral due to yers camping in the cathedral to target you once you revive. Bounties have a 7-day limit. Even if you are killed multiple times, as long as the bounty is still in effect, you can''t do anything about it and defend your life to avoid getting killed. It''s not a problem to me but I donit know about Harmless Sparrow. I am not doubting her strength but I am also not going to overestimate her abilities. It''s not like she is simr to Sigma who can stand on the side all day while being attacked and still remain fine. Just when I was going to scout around for any hidden dangers around the ce, I felt a burst of energy behind me. I quickly turned around and saw Harmless Sparrow still sitting cross-legged but this time around, she is no longer staying still, she is now being surrounded by pure mana. It only means one thing, she awakened her mana sessfully. Looks like it''s not just her talent, having the Nexus in the very beginning is already too strong. If only the others also have the chance to get the Nexus version, they wouldn''t be stuck for this long. She opened her eyes and stand up while looking at her palms. "Looks like you sessfully awakened. Perhaps I was wrong about your awakening of mana since you already managed to awaken in one day!" "Is it that rare?" "There''s no way I would know. After all, the only person who I know that has awakened thetent mana is you? The others are yet to awaken their mana. As for me, I awakened a few months after ying," I decided to lie since I managed to awaken my mana the moment I decided to awaken it. She doesn''t need to know the specific details. "l see. So what is next?" ''"You needed to log out of the game and do the same thing in the real world. If you confirmed that you have the mana in your body, go and rest. That way, the mana in your body will stabilize and will not go berserk. That is the only way to make your mana get used to your body that will allow you to use and control it." "Thank you very much for this! I will never forget this for the rest of my life! I will work hard to awaken my powers immediately!" After that, she said goodbye and log out of the game to follow the rules. By the way, I used the normal awakening I learned in the past timeline. It''s not something I just made up since I personally tested it. Now that my bounty is currently ongoing and there is no other way to stop it other than to wait until the seventh day when the bounty tracker will lose its effects or the one who put the bounty stopped it voluntarily. In that time, mypanions and I will be heading to the cold part of Sandurk for the trial. Should I dy the raid right now or perhaps I should teach them a lesson? Hmmm, now that I think about it, most of my preparations are done as my smithing activities are also done. I only needed to distribute them all to mypanions and I have nothing to do right now. How about I go and hunt the bounty hunters? I am bored and this could make a good warm-up and extra source of experience. The moment I entered the Capital''s entrance, yers immediately jumped with weapons towards me. I didn''t pull out my weapons and just anticipated their attacks and catching their weapons. Both of them are using swords so it was easy for me to disarm both of them. After disarming them, I grab both hilts of the swords and pushed both of them into their wielders. I made sure to push the des to their throats. It didn''t kill them because they have a high defense but since both swords were in their throat, the HP of the two immediately fell faster than I can blink. Once I get to kill two, archers started to shoot me from the distance. I quickly dodged the arrows and started to make my way towards them. They are fast in shooting and the moment they saw me approaching, they didn''t stay at one ce and started to retreat but I didn''t want them to get away so I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a Toolbox and Double Swords, the main weapon of a Saboteur. This should be the first time I will be using the Saboteur''s weapon but I know how to use it. With all the ystyles of the Saboteurs in the past timeline, I am quite aware of how to use these weapons. I attached the two swords to each side of the toolbox. It was weird at first but this is how the Saboteur ss was designed. Now, both swords are on each side of the toolbox. It looked like a two-ded sword but with a weird handle in the middle and unlike the two-ded sword, this one cannot be used to spin it around like a staff but what is the main purpose of me doing this? Isn''t the Hook and Chain a much better option instead? The main purpose is that after attaching both swords to the toolbox, it will now gain ess to the string that gets attached to the sword. It came from the toolbox and can extend at will. When the two hunters decided to escape, I pulled the two swords out of the toolbox and throw the two of them together to the fleeing hunters. I didn''t forget to tie the right sword''s string to my arm to avoid it from getting hurled to the enemy since it''s not going toe back like a boomerang and the toolbox will also be carried away The two hunters were caught by the leg and I immediately pulled the two of them with it. Since we are on the top of the roof and their leg waspromised, they cannotnd properly as they no longer have anything to stand on. I retract the swords and turn them to bow and arrow as the two fell to the ground and received fall damage. They scream in pain but their tor?ment didn''t end there as I quickly shoot both of them in the head with the bow and arrow. Having practiced a lot on my bow and arrow, I only have a low probability of missing now. Perhaps due to the level difference, the two hunters immediately died from two basic arrows without any skills being added to them. Other yers saw the incident and some were watching the spectacle as many other yers who received the bounty started to appear. Of course, they don''t do much as they are too easy to kill. Despite being just an annoyance, they just keep on pouring in and I keep on killing them as they go. I didn''t mind them appearing again, their deaths are another source of experience that I needed to level up. "There he is! After him!" I look at the source of the voice and I found multiple groups of yers in the distance running. "Well, well, if you guys are all ready to die, thene! Don''t me me once you guys die!" Chapter 391 Guild Conflict Countless lifeless bodies from the bounty hunters are littered on the ground. Thest one I stabbed in the abdomen is a female assassin who quickly died as fast as she arrived and attacked. The other bystander yers have no other reason to stay on the streets but most of them are just spectating the battle. In their eyes, they are waiting for someone who is strong enough to take me down. If they thought the tactic of attacking me and whittling my HP slowly will work, that will only work if I am no longer able to heal myself using my healing skills and if I don''t have bottles of potions in my inventory. However, both of those options are something I possess, it is clear that they are just wasting their time. Due to the number of yers I killed and for all the yers who tried to attack me ended up with, the attacks have diminished. I also did not hold back and killed every single yer who attacks me. I didn''t spare any of them or underestimate them as that is an ingredient to ruin in the end. The bounty hunter yers who got my bounty are all different yers. Sure, I spotted multiple yers who belonged to the Blue Sky Guild but there are also a lot of other yers who are not affiliated to the guild and belong to other guilds or don''t belong to any other groups. That only means he went to the ck market and made dealings with the Hitman Agency to post a bounty on me. The attacks have indeed slowed down a little bit but it is still ongoing and some of the yers who are also after the bounty put on my head are already lurking nearby, waiting for the opportunity to fight back. I could snipe them but I decided not to do that to wait until they make a strike. I wanted them to think I haven''t noticed them. Not too long after that, another bunch of yers appeared and I recognized most of them. However, they are just regr yers that are always hanging out on the Hitman Agency and are well known to take down their bounties 100% without giving them any chances that they will be able to keep themselves alive. This is going to take a bit of time, there is no way they will be stopping anytime soon. ... ... ... While chaos is urring in the capital due to deheart, the Vice President who is now being shunned by yers due to the news is currently being helped by Diena. Out of all the higher-ups of the guild, Diena is the only loyal member of the guild who sticks together with him. "Dammit, why is nothing going ording to my n?! Why is it all getting foiled when it''s almost done and aplished?! I don''t understand what is happening now!" Diena is just standing behind him, just looking at him without saying any word. As much as she wanted to leave the guild, she didn''t want to bebeled as a traitor. Despite her pure disgust towards this man after discovering what he is really doing behind everyone''s back, she is disgusted that she has a crush on this guy a few days ago. Not only that but he is bing more pathetic as time goes by. Just when he is about to wallow in sadness and despair due to his failures, a yer entered the guild house with a huge grin on his mouth while watching at the Vice President. It was none other than Kaisar. "Kaisar?! What are you doing here?" "What? I am not even allowed to visit a friend who was already in trouble of being pummeled by one of my enemies?" "You bastard. Do you enjoy my failures so much?" "Haha, well, its not me who was experiencing the situation right now so I am not going to say anything about it. However, who said I can''t enjoy it?" "You bastard! Get out of here!" the Vice President pulls out his staff, ready to st out magic spells towards him. "Heh, I am not afraid of you. However, I am not here to fight. I just visited an old friend who was already being pulled in the rug by many controvercies. I didn''t expect you to have that side, man. Makes me have second thoughts going here due to your tendencies." "You..." Then, Kaisar turned to look at Diena. "Are you going to keep on staying with him even though the guild is already on the verge of copse?" "Huh?" Diena was surprised when Kaisar started talking to me. "I know you. You are a good chronomancer and you deserve to be in a much better guild. Why stay in a guild that will no longer have any chances of recovering?" Diena looked at the Vice President and as much as he was pitiful right now, Kaisar indeed has a point and there is no need for her to keep on staying to a creep that targets same gender as him but also an offender that he really hate. However, is it really fine for her to do that? "Are you hesitating because you think you are going to betray him and the guild? Why would you hesitate if he already betrayed you all? He didn''t say anything about this matter before on you and the other members who quit right? You guys only found out after the controversy went live and trending." The vice president looked at Diena in anger and aimed the staff at her. "Don''t you dare quit! You will regret it!" Kaisar startedughing when he saw how desperate the guy is. "Wow, look at you, you are even threatening yourst loyal member of your guild. I know most of the people left in your guild are just waiting for the guild''s copse because they are afraid of offending you but if you really are a good leader, you should already allow them to get out and allow them to do their own decisions. It''s not like you are even meant to help them anyway." "Just you wait! Once you quit the guild, I will make sure you will regret it for the rest of your life, Diena. And you, Kaisar, stay out of this matter. This is my problem and you stay out of it!" "Ha! How about no? Diena right? Don''t worry and you can quit this sh*tty guild just fine without him being a creep like this. Don''t worry about his threats. Go to the building on the address that I will sent you and ask for my name. You will receive help and protection from me. Perhaps, you can also join my guild, its awesome, no creeps like him and there are various of people that are good people, both male and female. Perhaps you can even find your man of your life this way too." "Kaisar!" Vice President fired several fireballs towards Kaisar, prompting the warning of the system. As for Kaisar, he immediately erected the [Mana Barrier] to stop the attack from hitting him. The Guardians appeared behind the Vice President and started to restrain him with several chains on his hands, feet, body and neck. All of them are engraved with runes and whenever he tries to escape to break off from them, his body seems to be getting heavier. Diena was shocked to see what is happening. After all, she has never seen anything like this happening before and this should be her first time seeing the Guardians to appear and restrain a person. "Remember my friend, there is no point keeping your anger like that. deheart is someone you can''t defeat in conventional method and due to him, you have already failed. I may have been beaten and humiliated by him but I never sink this low to get him. I mean, you are just wasting your time. If I were you, I would quit the game and rather focus more on the business of your father. Due to the controversy, a lot of the business partners of your father seems to have been having a time they are hesitating. Perhaps if you do, maybe you can save the fall of yourpany much sooner." After giving out an advice, Kaisar leaves along with the other yers who were apanying him, leaving Diena stunned on what was happening before her. The Guardians were rough on the Vice President and perhaps due to the restraints that seems to be imbued with magical words of runes, it seems like these runes are preventing the guy from doing anything stupid. [Level 5 threat detected. Crime coefficient, level 3. Solution: Forcefully log out the assant and prevent the assant from being able to log in. Duration: 1 week.] As soon as the Guardians stated those words, the chains on the poor guy tightened and before he can scream for help, his body disintegrated and disappeared. [Mission Complete. Returning to the assigned post.] With the deed done, the Guardians disappeared, leaving the shocked Diena. "Perhaps it was time to indeed quit this guild for good," Diena muttered to herself as she sits down on the vacant chair, contemting the decisions she made on her life. Chapter 392 Withdrawal Of The Bounty And The Beginning Of The Expedition A few hours after I was attacked by bounty hunters, the yers that wanted to kill me all slowly diminished before they allpletely disappeared. "Where did everyone go? I thought I would be fighting many yers due to the bounty on my head but it seems to have quietened now. What the heck is going on?" As I was wondering why the yers who were trying to kill me disappeared one by one, I received a message from Hagane once again. "deheart, it seems the bounty of you and Harmless Sparrow has been retracted and you guys are no longer part of the bounty list. You guys will no longer worry about the yers trying to kill you in the safe zones." I was surprised. I was expecting it tost longer due to how the guy was humiliated on the inte but to retract it this fast? I don''t know what is happening on his mind right now but that is none of my business. In fact, I should be grateful now that it is gone. With that gone, there is no need for me to worry about other yers getting in the way of the Frozen Sandurk expedition. Without anyone else left to fight, I headed to Almira''s smithy. Compared to the usual times when I arrived, this time, Almira is busy gathering items around her workshop and storing them in a bag that I suspect to be a Spatial Bag seeing that she just shove a whole anvil straight inside the bag and it didn''t even bulge or poke out. "Good morning, Master Almira. I will be going to the Sandurk Continent to check on the progress of the expedition, I am here to pick you up." "That''s good my disciple. I thought I would still need to visit your ce just to get a free ride from your gryphon. Thankfully, I don''t need to do that." "Well, I know that you will hitch a ride to Leona so I decided to go and fetch you instead of going to my mansion just to ask for a ride." "Alright, but I am not done packing just yet. Go wait for me outside. Once I am done, we will depart immediately." I nodded and waited outside her smithy. While waiting for Almira to finish her packing, I pull up the friend list and send messages to everyone who is going to join the Sandurk expedition to go to the Sandurk Continent via teleport scrolls that I left in the mansion. I also sent those messages to Mr. Teddy and Sigma who also agreed to join the expedition. I didn''t expect any replies but Mr. Teddy chatted back with a single "Thank you" as content on his mail. Even though he is a big man, he is unusually quiet. The door of the smithy opened and Almira went outside with the same outfit earlier but this time, she has a ck bandana wrapped around her head. "I am done. Should we go now?" "Yeah, let''s go outside, the Capital, I will summon Leona out there." Once we are far from the Capital, I summoned Leona and ordered her to fly to Queen Tanya''s castle. It''s time to trigger the event. ... When I arrived, there are already big caravans assembled not too far from the pce, soldiers carrying boxes and loading them inside the carts. I also saw the Sealer of Gods that Almira and I repairedst time being loaded to the cargo caravan. It seems they are all ready to go all out once the expedition is about to begin. Wended not too far from the caravan, just enough that we won''t blow anything off fromnding. The soldiers are no longer afraid of Leona as she is frequentlynding here and there every time we visit so you can say they are already amon scene to their eyes. As for the neers and the elves who delivered the Sealer of Gods, it was clear they have fear in their eyes and was ready to use the Sealer of Gods in case Leona attacks. Thankfully, seeing the nonchnt andidback attitude of the soldiers, they didn''t continue doing that and just carried on with the job they were doing. When I recalled Leona, the Captain of the soldiers in the castle approached us. ,m "Thank you foring to help dear guests. I am the Captain of the soldiers assigned to aid the expedition to the Frozen Region of Sandurk, Alwin. Her Majesty, Queen Tanya, and Her Majesty, Queen Tori are both waiting in the castle. Shall we escort the two of you?" the captain who was named Alwin asked. I was about to say something to escort us when Almira decided to say something first. "Lead my apprentice to them to handle the talks and whatnots, I am going straight to the cksmiths to work. Apprentice, meet meter once you are done with the talks with the two queens." I can only shake my head and shrug my shoulders then looked at Alwin. "Please lead the way." ... When I arrived where they are, I was expecting them to be eating or drinking tea while the troops are dealing with the preparations but to my surprise, they are working. Currently, they are on a big table with the map of the Frozen Region of Sandurk. Pieces of markers were scattered throughout the map for marking several things and the two queens are discussing things about the expedition. "Ahem. I am sorry to interrupt, but the adventurer, deheart, and the cksmith Almira have arrived," Alwin bowed down before I approached the table and sat on the chair on the far end of the table. After that, Alwin bowed down once more before retreating from the room, presumably returning to his work or post. "Where is the cksmith Almira?" Queen Tanya asked. "She went straight to the cksmiths working in the weapons. I think she is going to inspect things there," I answered and looked at the map. "If she is inspecting the cksmiths, then that is good. Anyways, we should continue with the discussion. Do you want to get the fill-in on what we just discussed, deheart?" Queen Tori asked. "Sure. Is there anything important I missed?" "Perhaps. I received a message from the scouts back in the expedition site and they spotted at least 50 giant monsters prowling and currently scattered around the area. They are all in different species and once they crossed their ways, an all-out brawl will ur and it might cause us to have to divert into another path to avoid crossing roads with them." "50 giants? Can you tell me the exact or estimated sizes of these monsters that are spotted?" "Yes. ording to the scouts, the smallest monster spotted is as big as a small town with a height of a full-grown Kaigara Tree. While the biggest is as big as the Resurgia''s Capital and as tall as the Lumiot Mountains" That is big. Kaigara tree is considered the second tallest tree in the Alternate World. If youpare the tree, it should be as tall as three Eiffel Towers stacked upon each other. While the Lumiot Mountains are considered to be as tall as Mount Everest in the real world. They are no longer considered to be big monsters, those are behemoths. Of course, all irregrities in the Frozen Region aremon in there so I guess I wouldn''t be too surprised about it. "Did they all pinpoint the location of all the locations of these monsters? Based on their sizes, that means they are slow in movement." "Yes. The red symbols in this map are the 50 monsters that are scattered around, All of them are just scattered around and most of them are going to be troublesome since they are currently blocking the way to our destination." Looking at the map, the scattered 50 monsters are all scattered around the whole map that I was surprised they didn''t meet any monsters when they walked to that location, It was like they dropped from the sky to their current location or maybe it was just designed just like that. No one knows and I don''t think I would even bother thinking too hard on it. The road we are going to make to go to the current destination is a bit far and it has the potential of colliding with at least 20 monsters on the way. With their sizes, even if they didn''t notice us, they will be able to kill us by just stepping their feet on the ground, making it a bit troublesome. "Did you guys already have a countern or any way to avoid encountering these towering behemoths? There is no way we would have to go through them without even going through the n. Just one small movement from them is going to be big destruction to our own troops. Is there a good way for us that will allow us to do that?" Queen Tori lean on her chair and crossed her arms before speaking,"There is indeed a way but it is also pretty risky. We were discussing if there is a good way to minimize the risk but nothinges to mind yet. We want to utilize your gryphon but that is also just a limited thing as your Gryphon is not big enough to carry our whole expedition team which is why we decided to scrap it." "Well, with the situation we are in, it was pretty clear we are going to face a big risk. We are in an uncharted ce where enemies prowl and monsters linger. There is no way we will not face anything. Perhaps, Queen Tanya''s abilities can help us?" I looked at Queen Tanya. "My abilities are not that strong either, I might be strong enough to repel a whole demon army and defend the whole kingdom by myself but behemoths are another story. My powers will not be sufficient enough to kill a single one of them." Then Almira enters the scene with her nonchnt and rxed voice, she marched inside the meeting room. "If they cannot be avoided, then our only choice is to kill them. Isn''t that right, my disciple?" Chapter 393 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Battle Plan Queen Tanya''s eyebrows furrowed while Queen Tori tilted her head in confusion. Almira''s entrance and opening remarks are somewhat confusing for them. "What do you mean we attack them? Isn''t that very risky and dangerous? Aren''t we just going to send our forces to their deaths in the end?" Queen Tanya looked at Almira with a questioning looked on her face. "I know you all fear the enemies in the Frozen Region of Sandurk. Yes, they are a behemoth and they are not something you can just scoff about. However, I will also say that what I am saying is also what I am saying. If we can''t form a good detour route before we sh with the monsters, our only goal is to eliminate the monster and move on." Queen Tanya is starting to have a questionable look on her face and it is already shown that she is not convinced by Almira''s words. Inparison, Queen Tori seems to be interested in what she was saying and listened carefully. It was a clear difference between the siblings who seem to be in favor of Almira''s methods and those who are against it. "Based on the description of the smallest monster spotted, it must be the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. It is a level 654 behemoth turtle known for its defenses and ability to repel damages directed to it due to its shell that seems to be made from adamantium though no one can confirm if it was indeed made from that. I am also pretty sure that it can also reflect the damage back to the attacker if it wanted to do so. Can you tell me where is the exact location of that monster on this map?" Queen Tanya looked at Queen Tori before thetter nodded. She snapped her fingers and two figures appeared behind her. I looked at them and I think those are the Ninjas that Queen Tori employed to be her personal bodyguards and personal messengers. To think that she had them as messengers instead of a normal soldier is something else. "Reporting, the smallest spotted monster should be the first monster we will be meeting if we keep on going through the same route that was nned before the monsters were spotted." "Wait. Before you go, is this monster in the form of a turtle?" "Yes, Your Majesty. It is indeed in the shape of a giant turtle. It is not yet known for us whether what she said earlier was true about the monster but we can vouch that it was indeed a turtle behemoth." After giving the report, the two ninjas faded like a glitch and disappeared again. "Hearing that the monster is the first monster we will be meeting, we are in big luck." "You have something in mind, Master?" I asked Almira. "Sure do. If I am not confident about it, I won''t even bother dabbling about it. And I am not a braggart. If I say I can do it, then I can do it without a problem." Although Queen Tanya seems to be hesitant about what she was saying, she decided to agree, and seeing that her sister is not saying anything about it, she didn''t object but she still had her qualms about it. "If what you say is true, then what are we even supposed to do? Attacking that monster will exhaust all our resources and even with my sister, deheart, his teammates, and my powers shouldn''t be enough to deal with that monster. If what you are saying earlier is also true, this thing is also close to indestructible and with an ability to reflect back the attack back to its attacker is also something that worries me. What are we going to do about it?" "That''s where deheartes in." I frowned and looked at Almira in confusion. Because even if I am strong, there is no way I can even solo that thing. That is pretty much out of my league and just by attacking it will kill me. There is no way she is going to say I will be facing off with the monster alone? "With his ability as an adventurer, we will be sending deheart straight first into the Frozen region and allow him to obtain a certain metal that can only be mined exclusively in the Frozen Region of Sandurk. I doubt Queen Tori has this metal in her possession despite being the local resident in that region." "A metal that I don''t possess that can only be mined exclusively on the Frozen Region? Are you perhaps..." "Yes. I am talking about that. The Rod Ore." My mind clicked when I heard Rod Ore. It is amon ore that appears in the Frozen Region of Sandurk. And I say it wasmon since it was the only ore that you can mine along if you mine iron ore. I may not be that too involved in the Frozen Region but that doesn''t mean I don''t recognize what a Rod Ore is. It has very small uses and I don''t even see it as a valuable item, to be honest. It was a trash ore and if I was given a choice to pick up between an ordinary rock and the Rod Ore, I would definitely pick up the former as it has more usespared to the Rod Ore. "Hey, just because you are a cksmith, doesn''t mean we are ignorant of what ores are. Rod ore has almost no uses outside of being a poor whetstone! And you are telling us that is something my sister doesn''t have? You must be out of your mind!" Queen Tanya seems to have gotten angry and pulls out her scythe in anger and puts it on Almira''s neck. "Hey, hey. Quit being hot-blooded, will you? I am not done exining yet and you are already reacting like I already did something to jeopardize everything. Calm down and sit down like a QUEEN you are." Almira then pushes the scythe of Queen Tanya and shoved her using it without giving much as she just did it with one finger on the scythe. I was quite certain she did that but it seems Almira seems to be not someone who wants to divulge on it further. Even Queen Tanya was surprised by it. "Anyways, back to the topic. I know that the Rod Ore is useless and even I would not even defend the uses of the Rod Ore as this ore is big trash without any usage and it''s not evenparable to an ordinary rock as it has more uses than this trash ore.. If...we are just talking about themon Rod Ore." "What do you meanmon Rod Ore? Are you saying there is more to the Rod Ore than we know?" Queen Tori frowned. "Pretty astute, Your Majesty. Now, all of the Rod Ore mined are something called the Excess Ores. They seemed to be prettymonpared to rock when mining in the Frozen Region of Sandurk as 99% of your yield when mining would be this ore. However, I am not so quick to judge on what the Rod ore is." The Rod Ore that is mined today is not the real Rod Ore, it is just known as the excess Rod Ore. It is easily mistaken as stone though it is not evenparable to it. So, if I say that it is not the real Rod Ore, surely, you guys would realize it now right?" "That there is a real ore right?" Queen Tanya looked at Almira with bored eyes. "Heh, correct. And I am not talking like it is a myth. I will show you proof that it was real." She pulls out her dimensional storage bag, which made Queen Tanya gaze at her with interest. Perhaps due to how rare someone can possess a dimensional storage bag. Perhaps the closest thing she canpare to the Dimensional Storage bag is the main inventory of a yer since it functions just like that. Almira then pulls out a small shard that seems to be glowing even though there are no lightsing from the ce that would cause that much shine and glow. She ces it in the middle of the table for us to inspect. Seeing that I can also inspect what it was, I checked out what the thing that she pulled out is. [Alpha Rod Ore Fragment] Type: Item Info: A small shard fragment from the Alpha Rod Ore. It was a small piece that detached from the main ore of the Alpha Rod. Despite being a small shard, it is something that would spark interest in all cksmiths. Due to how small it is, it cannot be used for creating weapons and items that cost more due to its size, but if used as a shard alone, it can work simrly well in creating superior essories as it can even rival the polished diamonds in the market and will grant the wearer of unbelievable raise in stats." Then, Almira pick it up again and looked at the two curious queens. "If you guys want to know why I have it, the answer is simple. Because I made something out of it before and seeing the results of creating something from it, I am quite sure that is all we just needed to take down this towering behemoth down." Chapter 394 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Rodola Ore My curiosity after seeing the shard of the Alpha Rod Ore was ignited. After all, I have never seen anything like the Alpha Rod. That thing didn''t exist in the past timeline and has never been mentioned in any textbooks in the game, nor have I even heard of this ore from cksmiths. Seeing this from Almira, made me want to witness what it really was. Since it was a shard, it should have limited effects and yet it has an effect that can rece any kind of gemstones as a recement and give the essory a simr power to the gemstones or even much stronger than the original, that is already a big thing. Then what about the actual ore? "I know you are all still not convinced until the actual ore appeared but I don''t have it since the actual ore has been used a long time ago." "So that means, this ore has existed since then and we didn''t know about it? Howe there are no records of this thing existed?" Queen Tori examined the shard closely. "Because that thing was considered to be a forbidden knowledge in the past. Right now, the only people who know that this ore exists who are still alive should be me and one more cksmith who I don''t know where he is now. Currently, we are the only two people left in this world who knows how to use this ore, that cksmith guy I told you all earlier, and of course, me." When everyone heard it, Queen Tori suddenly got interested in her a lot more. However, she didn''t voice her reaction and just showed it on her face. As for Queen Tanya, it seems she is no longer suspicious of Almira anymore but she seems to have still some qualms about her. Still, I am not going to say anything that would make Queen Tanya doubt her. After all, Queen Tanya didn''t want any amateur cksmith to handle this especially if the enemies are behemoths. The cksmiths that she needed are those skilled enough that would make weapons and armor that would keep the army alive from the expedition. "Since you will be hunting the Rod Ore in advance, take this pickaxe. Alpha Rod Ore will not be mined easily if it was a normal pickaxe used. The pickaxe would be broken first before you can even chip a single shard of it. Of course, I am not giving this to you. I am just lending it to you for you to be able to mine the item right away. After you have fulfilled the mission, you will give it back to me and of course, I will give you somepensation as a reward for your troubles." Almira then ced an eyecatching pickaxe on my hands and I almost instinctively throw the item away if not for immediately regainingposure before I do so. Why do I get startled? Because the item that I got is something that can rival my Versatile Weapon. [The Pickaxe of Hephaestus] Type: Mining Equipment Tier: God Tier Info: An item that belongs to the cksmith Almira. A pickaxe that was previously used by the God of Fire and Forge, Hephaestus. It was meant to be a normal pickaxe but due to how Hephaestus created it, it became a sort of relic that can mine anything. Since he didn''t need such a convenient tool, he decided to give to leave it behind after mining the ore he needed. After years of being abandoned, it was soon recovered and was identified to be the pickaxe he once used. There is no ore that cannot be destroyed by this Pickaxe and it will never break. Note: Is this perhaps a pickaxe from Mine*raft? Owner: Almira Queen Tanya and Queen Tori were also about to copse on their seats when they saw the pickaxe. After all, a relic from the ages of Gods appeared before them and it was just casually lent to me, a pickaxe of a God Tier Level. That is not just for the sake of getting the attention of the two queens but to make sure that they knew that she is not just an ordinary cksmith. After giving me the pickaxe, a quest board appeared to me. [Mine the Rod Ore] Type: Fetch Quest Difficulty: Very Difficult Rod Ore delivered: 0/1 Reward: Pickaxe of Hephaestus Replica Info: Almira has tasked you to mine the legendary Alpha Rod Ore. With the special pickaxe, you are now to find a vein that houses the legendary ore. The vein is easy to find but the area is hard and dangerous. Caution and vignce are rmended. Fighting against enemies is also not rmended. Your main tactic on this one is to find a way to get the ore without being disturbed by enemies. Location: Rod Ore Mines: Secret Chamber ept the Quest? (Warning, declining the quest will cause the quest to not appear again, and your favorability points from Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, and Almira will drastically decrease) Yes/No Seeing all the downsides of not epting it, I quickly clicked Yes. "I am sure you can do it, deheart. Although the enemies are strong in that ce, I am confident you can easily get that piece easily. Be sure to be back this day too since it will be needed as soon as possible," Almira added making the quest reveal a time limit. I only have a 12-hour real-time limit. There is no way I want to fail the quest, that is why without saying a word, I rush outside and summoned Leona, immediately heading towards the Frozen Region of Sandurk. I have never been to the Rod Mines but I have seen a map before that detailing where I could find the Rod Mines in the past timeline, so I am confident about getting there. The only problem is that I have not explored the ce just yet and it is an unchartednd for me. Don''t tell me I am going to begin the expedition alone? No, that is not the case, it was a quest, and from what I can see on the map where the quest will appear and the expedition will happen, they are too far apart. However, since it is still a ce where strong enemies will appear, there is no way this will be an easy quest. I must make a proper n on what to do or maybe I should scout ahead. ... ... [You have discovered: Rod Ore Mines] Because the Rod Ore is useless, this mine was never used again and was abandoned by the people who dug through it. Countless years passed by and the mine became a den of countless monsters and used it as a den for themselves. And since this is going to be my first visit to this ce, I needed to map out this ce. Thankfully, I already got the Cartographer Ex Job so I can easily finish mapping this ce as soon as possible. My only problem will be the enemies. "Guys, are you all up?" I asked my followers who are resting in the summons area. "We are waiting for themand anytime, Master." "Good. We will be heading to an uncharted region and I will be mapping this ce. Since it will be very hard for us to fight without any knowledge about our enemy, I will need your assistance in this matter to finish the job quickly." "Yes, Master!" "Cotton,e out. Your webs will be beneficial here." Cotton immediately went out of the summons area and rested on my head. "Shoot a web on the ceiling every time I tell you, okay?" Markings were necessary for mapping an uncharted area. To avoid getting lost in your direction, Putting the markings anywhere is necessary. If I didn''t have Cotton, I will have to use some flying knives as a marking instead as that was what I am using in the past to make a marking on ces I am nning to map. It saved me many times before. And with everything ready, I started mapping the whole ce. The Rod Mines is big and I can see that there are signs that miners were once present in these mines before due to some miner equipment like pickaxes, box for loading ores, and some mining helmets with headlights too. There are also some pieces of wood scattered which are probably used to make support beams to avoid the mine from caving in due to unstable ceilings. But since it was discontinued, the materials were also left behind. I continue to map the ce and I asionally find some ore veins but I can tell from the veins that they are all just veins of Normal Rod Ore which means I don''t need them. So far, I haven''t detected any enemies. Might be because I decided to put a monster repent that will make monsters smell me bad and will make them get away from it. Since Cotton is not qualified as monster, it seems Cotton is not affected by its effects in any way. I thought I wouldn''t find a monster in the mines until I spotted in a nearby intersection a group of Mine Imps and a color blue Goblin. Chapter 395 Expedition To The Frozen Region: The Frozens Seeing those enemies, I decided not to rush and attack. I am a bit in a distance from them so the monsters did not see me, allowing me to hide. But to see a different colored goblin, I am wondering whether that thing was a variant or not. Without any way to see the strength of the enemies, hiding from them is the best course of action I can do at the moment. Not because I am being a coward but because fighting against the enemies will just slow me down. I don''t want to get too caught out with the enemies and end up failing the quest due to this. I waited for at least 5 minutes before I went out of my hiding spot and continue my exploration. If I ever meet those guys, I will have to fight back without holding myself back. It took me a few twists and turns around the mine. Despite looking small outside, the mine extends underground and this made me scratch my head. If my objective is possibly at the very end part of this ce, it will take me quite some time before I can even finish it. I have to increase my pace before the timer runs out. Then, I suddenly heard a quiet shriek. It was very faint but I am sure about it. Looking ahead, there is a road that will make me need to make a turn, and judging from that sound, it might be intentional and a trap to lure anyone to investigate the shriek. I am always cautious when ites to the corners of caves. After all, with monsters in Alternate World being smart enough to create traps, I could potentially be defeated and killed in the process if I don''t take extra caution of my safety. To make sure it is safe, I pulled out the Smoke Poison Potion, one of the items you can get when crafting in the alchemy table. It is one of the potions I created for the sake of this expedition as things like this give quite a big advantage in exploring and stalling enemies. To think I will be using it now means that all the potions I made will be put to use one day when situations arise like this one. CLANG! The ss bottle broke and the poison that became smoke the moment it went into contact with the air contaminated the area with poison. The poison is not lethal enough but it is suffocating enough that anyone who tries to hide will just be receiving a painful poison on their lungs and they will be forced to get out of their hiding spot. I waited for a bit to see if there are enemies that will pop out and after a few seconds, the smoke dissipated but there are no enemies that were suffering from the poison. Despite the result, I am not convinced. What if they are immune to poison? Since a bomb is out of the question since that will just attract more monsters, I decided to just use the defensive capabilities of my Versatile Weapon''s Shield of Vanagloria. I slowly made my advance and ready myself to prepare for a trap or assault by monsters on the corner. Contrary to my expectation, there are no attacks directed towards my shield and no enemies seem to rush and assault me. I look around first to check whether it was a false rm or not and I sighed in relief when I did find everything was just me being so paranoid. However, I am not that enthralled when I saw two ice blocks in the same area I throw the Smoke Poison Potion. The shape is just not a random ice block and perhaps because the ce seems to be too out of ce as the mines seem to be not freezing at all and I don''t even see any frozen stctites or stgmites that can make these things. Approaching the Ice Figures, I quickly saw some silhouettes inside the ice. I fired one [Fireball] on it to test it out if it will melt but to my surprise, it didn''t melt the solid ice. "Master, do you want me to shoot out my fireball on that ice?" Lucia suggested. "No, there is no need to do that. I was just trying to see if I can melt a bit of the ice and see what was frozen here. It melted a bit of the surface ice, it is now easy to look what was frozen." I bash the ice a bit and the remaining ice that obscures the clear content inside fell and I finally saw what was frozen. "Mining Imps? Wait...aren''t these guys the mining imps I saw earlier along with the Blue Goblin?" I may not recognize them since I only got a glimpse of the monsters who passed by earlier but am I just overthinking things? Why are they frozen? Is the Blue Goblin perhaps some sort of Ice Mage monster? But that goblin doesn''t have any sort of essory that will allow me to identify it as a shaman or a mage. Since I am not an expert in goblins, I decided to ask Gobu about this. "Gobu, can I ask a question? Are goblins who are capable of using magic will always use staff and wear some sort of headdress to ssify themselves from other goblins?" "Yes, Master. Most goblins might bemon foot soldiers or just archers but once they develop mana in their bodies, they will immediately start wearing those headdresses they put in their heads. I am a special case since my mana only manifests whenever I hold a sword or de that is why I didn''t wear any sort of things like that." "Okay, onest question, can you tell me more about the blue goblins?" p "Blue Goblins? I am not sure about that Master, the only color I know of Goblins are ck, Green, Brown, and Red. So far, I have not seen a Blue Goblin in my life. But perhaps I might just not be that knowledgeable and there are Blue Goblins out there in the world." I scratch my head at his response but perhaps he got a point. Despite being a goblin, there is no way to know what kind of variants goblins exist in this world. As for a Blue Goblin, I heard about it before but I never actually saw the creature. You can say that it was my first time seeing it with my own eyes. Still, I am a bit doubtful if that was indeed a Blue Goblin or it was just something else. Without anything left to do and since I have no need to investigate the ice anymore, I continue mapping the whole mines. ... 30 minutester, I already confirmed that something is very wrong here. Since the quest is Very Hard, I should be fighting multiple monsters here inside the mine and since we are in the Frozen Region of Sandurk, that only strengthens my assumption of getting attacked by monsters. However, to my confusion, I have been mapping for quite a while but I nevere across any monsters. I did some things simr to the poison smoke potion earlier from time to time especially if I was not sure about the way being safe but every attempt I made are all just a bust. Based on the mapping I made, it seems I am almost near the center of the mines. If I went in deeper, I might be able to find the hidden room the Rod Ore was located. That also means the one guarding it will be the ultimate enemy if I didn''t meet any monster along the way. However, I am not expecting to see what I saw when I reached the main center of the mines. The monsters that were supposed to be living in that area were all frozen, Not a single one of them is thawed out, all of them are frozen to the bone. [You have discovered: The Frozens] The Frozens? Is that a typo or something on the system or that was the official name of this ce? I looked around at all the iced monsters and all of them looked ferocious, I even saw a few Wyverns up in the ceiling but they are all frozen too. Who caused this phenomenon and why? There is no way it happened because the weather of this region is cold because the mine has a higher temperaturepared to the temperature outside. There is no way it was the cave that caused them to freeze over. If they are monsters native in this area, being frozen should be thest thing that should happen to them. "Oh? A human seems to have wandered in my ugly yet coldir, wee wee, nheless. So what brings you here today, human?" I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and readied my battle stance in case a surprise attack will immediately stop us. I noticed a figure not too far from us is the one who is speaking, however, since he was in the dark part of the mines, I can''t see him clearly. "Ha, a cautious guy, that is a good thing but... there is no need to be cautious to an old guy like me." I furrowed my eyebrows when the figure who was speaking appeared because the one who is currently talking to me is none other than the Blue Goblin that I saw earlier. Chapter 396 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Kokadokata The Sage Goblin Of Ice "Wee to the Frozens, adventurer. I can tell you are too confused about what is happening right now right? Don''t worry and be at ease. I am not in a mood to fight and even if I am in a mood, I will easily delete you on this and send you to the cathedral in a snap, KEKEKEKE," the blue goblinugh as his voice echoes all around the ce. Despite the goblin saying that I am not just someone who would trust someone immediately, especially if the guy like this goblin is suspicious as heck. Gobu is an exception since he was protecting his family before and we are the ones who intrude his ce. As for him, he is someone that reeks of suspicious energy, and with all frozen monsters all around us, it will only make him look more annoying as heck. "I guess being as an adventurer, it is normal for humans like you to be too cautious on us. But there is no need to be that cautious, to be honest. I may be a goblin but I can also tell you have a goblin as your follower, no? And I can also tell that you are here to fetch the Alpha Rod Ore." "Wha- how did you-" "If you are as old as me, you would easily be able to know simple things hidden by the one talking to you. You can say ites with the age." "Who are you? What are you doing here?" "I should be the one who should be asking that but since humans wanted to always be thest to introduce themselves, I will let this slide and do just that. Greetings once again, human. I am the one they call Kokadokata. I am mostly known by the world as the Sage Goblin of Ice." Hearing his introduction, I instinctively step back from him. As someone who yed through the game, I know the Sage Goblin of Ice. It was not some title that is just awarded to any goblins. It was a title given to the strongest sage goblin in the game and they are rumored to be as old as the gods themselves. Although no one can confirm the truth, it was said that he is capable of bringing ruin to the world if he wanted to do so. He can easily defeat the demons without any issues if he actually tried. The only problem with him is that...he is toozy. The Blue Goblin chuckled when he saw my reaction. "Based on your reaction, you know me enough to instinctively step back. Then I will not be delving myself any longer and exining myself, right?" "Howe the Goblin of Ice is here? Aren''t you supposed to be the strongest goblin that ever exists?" "Why yes, I am indeed the strongest goblin in existence but I am too bored with staying at my base. I wanted to look around and find something fun to do. My whole body is dying in boredom when I saw a book detailing the Alpha Rod Ore so I decided to check it out and see for myself what it was capable of and how different it was from the Normal Rod Ore." "So you are also after the Rod Ore too?" I ready my sword. "Ha, I am not that interested in obtaining it, I wanted to examine and check the thing for myself. ording to the legend, it was strong enough to be a rival to the strongest metals and ores in existence. And as a sage seeking new knowledge, I am always on the hunt for new things that would give me interest. Besides, what would I do if I obtain it? I am not a cksmith or a jeweler who is capable of processing the ore and even if I do, what would I do about it? My staff and my powers are enough and I don''t need another trinket in my arsenal." "Then..." "You want it? Go ahead. However, the guardian that is guarding it is currently alive. I can kill it but I am not that desperate enough to do so especially since the monster is just guarding the vein and only attacks anyone who tried to get the ore. I already saw and examined it so I am no longer going to need it anyway. As for you, you are the one who should be wary about that since you need the ore." "But still if you are done, why are you still here?" "I n to use it as my temporaryir for the time being as I got fascinated by the sudden increase of the monsters in this area. I heard that a young man named Arthur passed by in here and caused trouble that made the monsters affected and disturbed around here." I might not be convinced but since he didn''t show any hostility, I decided to stop being hostile to him, but I didn''t turn down my guard and remained vignt from him. "If you are nning to go there without a n, you are going on suicide route young man. I have a suggestion though. Sooner orter, the guardian of the ore will start sleeping while guarding the ore. That is the time you are free to mine the ore. Be careful though as that thing will immediately chase you the moment you are caught by it. I am not going to rescue you from it so don''t even bother asking for help with me. We are both strangers and even though I am giving you some advice, it is not to my nature to help other people that have caused their troubles. If you wanted to get out of trouble, then you will be getting out of it yourself." He has his points. He is not obligated to help me in any way. And even if he is very strong, I don''t want to ask for his help. This quest is my quest and if I fail then so be it. I may sound so overconfident but I am not a braggart. Besides, I don''t know how strong the enemy will be, it is up to my abilities whether the quest of procuring the elusive Alpha Rod Ore will be sessful or a failure. "Thanks for the advice and yes, you don''t need to help me. I am fine on my own." After saying those words to the Blue Goblin, I continue to thest path that I have not explored and mapped yet. .... As for Kokadokata who is watching the young man continue to the ce where he saw the Alpha Rod Ore is shaking his head. "That weapon he is carrying. Perhaps the war is almost upon us. I thought things will not turn this way but perhaps it was just wishful thinking. I better prepare and tell everyone else to continue their preparation. If worsees to worst, the world might be destroyed." After saying those words, he returned to his seat and closed his eyes to rx for a bit. With old age does note wisdom but suffering and back pain. ... The finalyout of the Frozens area is fully illustrated now on my map and the onlycking part is the hidden area. Despite being a secret area, I don''t think it was a bit secret. The reason it was called like that was perhaps due to the people not being able to get out alive from that room due to the guardian. Whatever the guardian is, it must be strong enough that I don''t know if they are troublesome enough. When I am almost to thest area of the pathway, I can hear a low monster hum at the very end of the path. From the sound of its hum and the time of its dy, it seems Kokadokata is right that it goes to sleep once in a while. With the guardian asleep, the only way for me to get there is to get into the area without being detected. I have some tools that I can use but it is not a good one and my stealth is also something I don''t want to rely on because if it was that troublesome, then stealth is something that can be easily detected by this monster. It is also possible for me to disable the monster temporarily and mine the vein before the enemy can escape but that is also not a good n as that will be also quite risky. What if this monster is immune to all kinds of crowd-control skills. Without any idea what this monster is and how big the monster currently surrounding the vein of the ore, I decided to transform using the abilities of the Druid into a bird. Without anything I can use to enter the ce without being detected, this is my only choice. I also cast [Stealth] to myself and started flying. Carefully flying above the ceiling, I look down to the ground and saw that the guardian of the Rod Ore is a Venomous Devourer, a boss monster in the form of a snake, capable of swallowing the whole mountains if it wanted to. Chapter 397 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Venomous Devourer I am not exaggerating when I say a Venomous Devourer can devour a whole mountain because that is real. Looking at the Venomous Devourer that is guarding the ore, it is still a child and it seems to have yet reached the mature state a normal Venomous Devourer should be since mature and old versions of them are way bigger and way more menacing than the Venomous Devourer I am seeing. Venomous Devourer is a Raid Boss found in the Kamikaze Region and it was dubbed by the locals as the "Modern Yamata-No-Orochi" despite the fact that itcks the iconic eight heads of the snake. It was a monthly raid boss and it is one of the monsters that take a week before it gets killed due to how huge its health is. It came to the point where some yers decided to take a rotation in killing the boss. Due to the length of the boss fight, even if you log out of the game but you fought against the boss for a while, you will earn a reward after the boss is in. So even beginners were also joining before they escape as it is a big chance for them to earn lots of experience and a few materials to use. Now, I am seeing a simr monster but in its baby form. No wonder it is a very hard quest because the enemy is also not a joke. What am I supposed to do now in this situation? Am I going to fight back or I should just go and try to steal it? Stealing it is still possible since Venomous Devourers are not as sensitive as they arepared to other serpents but they are still capable of identifying whether you are a friend or a foe. Therefore, I have to act carefully and n it out. I have plenty of time left before the quest ends so I still have time to n out how I should do it but I also need to be quick before the Venomous Devourer wakes up. "Master, what if you try to tame it? Since it was in Baby Form, taming it is possible. The Wolf Pack is different since you tamed them without using the [Chain of Taming]. But I think it is the most applicable time to use it now," Gobu suggested. "You can tame this thing?" I frowned since all I know about the monsters that can be tamed are monsters that are small, medium, andrge sizes, not the extrarge-sized monster like the Venomous Devourer. Leona was not counted since she hatched as an egg despite her size already about to reach the Extra Large category. "Yes, Master. That is how we goblins tame monsters bigger than us. It wasn''t easy but definitely not impossible. And if you sessfully tamed one, this will bolster our forces in the future battles." Gobu was right. And since tamed monsters will go to the pet slots like Leona, they won''t have any problem being too crowded inside the summons area. Besides, it is also appealing to tame a monster of this size and use it in battles. Not only that, I can have arge monster mount that is specific on the ground alone and not specialized in flying alone. Since Gobu managed to catch my interest, I decided to go to that trick. I amcking the [Chain of Taming] in my inventory. Sure, I purchased one before but I needed a maximum of 3 tries before I can tame it. Thankfully, creating it is not hard and I already know the recipe on how to craft it in the past timeline, since crafting can allow me to create anything even without a recipe, this feature is allowing me to utilize my past timeline''s knowledge. I started creating the [Chain of Taming] immediately and since it doesn''t need to use any forge or anvil just to finish creating it, I can do it without any equipment. "Alright, two additional [Chain of Taming] are now in my inventory. All I need to do now is to tame it and reduce its health for me to tame it." There is no guarantee I can tame this monster though, not only do I have a risk to proc the Instant Death effects but I only have 3 tries to tame it and after that, I will have no other choice but to kill it. It''s not a surefire way to win and I don''t like this in the slightest. Still, I wanted to cling to that chance. The n to not trigger the Venomous Devourer ended up at naught and my tactics were forced to go to the drain as I am now going to trigger this guy up. To avoid identally killing it by hitting its weak point, I have to provoke it instead of attacking it straight. Deploying the Shield of Vanagloria, I activated its effects. And just a split second after I activated it, the eyes of the Venomous Devourer opened up and it stood up from its slumber. HISSSSS~ With the power of the provoke of the Shield of Vanagloria, the name, and HP of the boss appeared, not only that but the Rod Ore also appeared in in sight. [Venomous Devourer][Baby Form] Level 150 HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000 Trait: Serpent, Earth, Ice, Poison Because the Venomous Devourer is too angry, it opened up a way to ess the ore. I can get a good way to ess the ore but right now, that is a bad idea as that would just incur the wrath of the Venomous Devourer. I pulled out the Pain Delivery and started firing. Since this gun is capable of reducing a lot of health in a single bullet if I want to reduce its HP as fast as I can this is the way to do it. And I am not worried that it will kill the Venomous Devourer immediately unless the effect of my Instant Death procs since the gap of our level is big and the defenses of a Venomous Devourer is very high. BANG! -you have dealt 523,900 damage. Alright, that damage is passable. If it reaches 1 million damage, I will have to be really cautious as that will potentially kill the Venomous Devourer immediately. The sudden loss of Hp made the Venomous Devourer wriggle wildly and attacked me with its tail and mouth simultaneously. I quickly dodged its attacks but I never expected it will spit out poison the moment its headnded on the ground. The Venomous Devourer anticipated my dodge and spits out a volley of poison to my location. -you have been inflicted with Poison[Severe]. You will lose 1000 HP per second. I opened my inventory immediately and grab an Antidote(XL) to cure the Poison before returning the attack with another gunshot. -you have dealt 650,132 damage. Critical! Holy crap, a critical hit. Alright, that made the HP much lower now but now I am worried if it hits another critical hit, I might lower its Hp a lot more. After dealing that much damage, the Venomous Devourer did not ept that lightly and started rampaging around the ce and opening its mouth to devour me. Just seeing the endless hole in its mouth plus it was chasing behind me is a pure nightmare experience. No need to defend on this one, even the Shield of Vanagloria won''t save me on this one if I get devoured. Once I get devoured, my situation will not be the same as the time I was devoured by the Devilfish, since the Venomous Devourer will immediately douse me with poison and drown me into it. My death will be instantaneous if that happens. The only way to win is to run and never look back. With its body everywhere, I have to make sure I step on the right way, or else, the huge body of the Venomous Devourer will squish me t. HISSSSS~ Not only it is chasing me but it is also starting to spit out the poison from its mouth. Compared to earlier''s poison, it is now throwing a corroding poison and one hit from it will corrode my defenses immediately. I pull out the gun once again and shoot on the body of the Venomous Devourer and this time, not only one but two bullets. I don''t dare to rapidly pull the trigger as that might ruin my timing and instantly kill this guy. I don''t want to rely on the Pain Delivery when killing enemies, as that will just lose the main purpose of my Versatile Weapon. -you have dealt 531,002 damage. -you have dealt 590,086 damage. When the HP of the boss entered the 2 million thresholds, the Venomous Devourer hissed loudly before it stopped chasing me and its body started glowing red. "Oh f*ck... it''s entering Berserk Mode..." If this Venomous Devourer has the same effects as the raid boss Venomous Devourer, then once it enters berserk mode, it will be increasing its damage from attacks and will increase the Movement Speed. Poison attacks will also be a permanent attack power of the Venomous Devourer. Not only that but it will gain infinite stamina, allowing it to attack without stopping. for the duration of the Berserk Mode whichmonlysts till 30 minutes. Chapter 398 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Horde Of Freezing Mites [1] The area where we are in is starting to crumble due to the movements of the Venomous Devourer. It''s no longer something I can just control and I don''t want the whole ce to copse. I needed to finish this as quickly as possible or the risk of the mines copsing will be really high. Onest bullet and the HP of the Venomous Devourer will be down to 500k and if I am lucky, might be a little bit lower than that. It is still a little bit too much but that would be for the best and I just needed my Versatile Weapon to do the rest of the work of lowering its HP as another shot with the abnormal gun would just send this one to oblivion. BANG! -you have dealt 634,991. Critical! With that, it is almost down to 400k. To be safer, I needed to at least keep its HP around 5k or lower as that would be the weakest state of the Venomous Devourer. "Partner, it looks like it is your time to shine now!" As if it responded, I can feel the Versatile Weapon seems to lighten up a bit and exude its powers. I am not too sure if it was real or I was just imagining things. p With the Venomous Devourer still chasing me, I lured it towards its own body and grab the nearest scale. I started climbing on the top of the Venomous Devourer and despite being unstable due to how fast the Venomous Devourer moves, I still managed to stand on its body. Once I am now in position, I started firing spells on the Venomous Devourer''s body and imbue the Versatile Weapon into mes using the [ming Sword] and swing it to the body. I made sure I didn''t fire any strong spells and I might identally kill it. "Come on! Show me what you got!" ... Kokadokata can''t properly sleep as he remained on his seat for a bit. He tried to close his eyes and forget all the tremors he keeps on feeling for quite a while but soon, it made him grit his teeth and he is now seething in anger. "ARGH! That''s it! I am now angry! I already told him to use the chance to steal an ore to the Alpha Rod Vein while the guardian is sleeping, and yet, this little f*cker is provoking it! That''s it, I will have to lecture this little piece of crap out of my mind. I doubt he died from that guy anyways." Kokadokata can''t stand noisy ces that is why he usually stays in istion. If things gets really noisy, he gets real pissed off and he will not hesitate to scold anyone even if they are part of a royalty or something close.. He stood up from his throne and stomped his feet towards the source of the noises. As he get closer to the ce, the noises of the guardian is getting stronger. Based on its cries, he can easily tell that it is not in a good position though he is not too sure what the guy is doing for the guardian to roar loudly like that. When he arrived, he almost fell into the ground if not for the staff he was carrying. There, he saw the young man from earlier, currently holding a gold chain, and currently tying it to the guardian''s neck. The guardian is thrashing around the cave which is causing the tremors he is feeling right now. What made iprehensible for him is to see the young man calm as he tries to reel in the guardian forcefully. He squinted his eyes to see what kind of chain was that thing on his hands. That''s when he realized that the chain that the young man was holding is none other than the [Chain of Taming], used to tame monsters. Seeing that the guy is actually trying to tame it, he can''t help but grin. "I didn''t expect to see some hardcore sh*t right here! Better grab some popcorn and get myself into a good position to view the spectacle happening before me!" ... ... I grit my teeth when my first chain was snapped into pieces after I used it to the Venomous Devourer. I managed to bring its health back to 3k and I barely hit it dead but this guy is still a tough nut to crack. As soon as I try to use the chains, it keeps thrashing around the walls that I am fearing that the mine will fall sooner than expected. And if it did fall, I will have no more chances to mine the Alpha Rod Ore without clearing away the rubble away. Pulling out the second [Chain of Taming], I grit my teeth as I pour all my strength in reigning in the chain to its neck. Now that I have experienced the taming experience, I have now a massive respect to the yers who tamed quite big monsters in the past timeline. Taming one using the usual way is just too hard and if luck is not on your side, you wasted resources and time over a wasted effort. Then, just as the Venomous Devourer m its body to the wall, the chain started shaking. I clicked my tongue as that means the chain failed again. But to my surprise, the [Chain of Taming] glows brightly and all of a sudden, expanded more in size and increased its length. The Venomous Devourer roared onest time before the [Chain of Taming] rolled to its neck fully and a system notification appeared before me. -you have tamed a Venomous Devourer! Due to its critical state, you will have to wait for 12 hours real time before you can take out the tamed monster and rename it. After that, the body of the Venomous Devourer disappeared and I, who was standing at the back of its neck, started falling after losing its foothold. To avoid getting killed by falling or getting sprained in the leg, I transformed back to a bird form and fly around, avoiding my fall before returning to my human form to properlynd on the ground. "Nice show you did there boy, but it was just too noisy. I would have rated you with 100/100 if you did that but since you did it noisily, I would rate your performance 50/100." "Kokadokata? Why are you here?" "Oh? It seems you have a good memory for you to remember my name. Most people don''t even bother using my whole name due to it being long and a bit of a tongue twister if they talk too fast. Anyways, I was here before to scold you for being too noisy. I was trying to sleep back where we first met but due to your ruckus, I can''t properly sleep." "I apologize if I disturbed your sleep. I just couldn''t pass the opportunity to try taming that monster since it was still in its baby form and it was a good time to tame it easily." "Well, whatever, you have given me a good show earlier so its not a big deal anyways. So how long are you going to wait until you mine that ore? Are you still waiting on another monster to guard it again? I doubt a weaker monster will try to im it, so if that happens, a stronger monsterpared to the guardian will only rece it." "No worries, I didn''t forget," after that, I pulled out the Pickaxe of Hephaestus and approached the vein of Alpha Rod Ore. I have never seen a rainbow colored ore before. It was quite an ore that you can easily mistake it for a prism or a precious gem sticking out on a vein deposit. Due to my curiosity, I returned the Pickaxe of Hephaestus and tried using a normal pickaxe to mine it. DANG! To my surprise, instead of the vein getting chipped some minerals from being hit by a pickaxe, the pickaxe was instead reduced to pieces as the tip hit the vein. "Holy sh*t... this hard?" I eximed seeing the result. I expected the result of getting nothing from that but I didn''t expect the Steel Pickaxe I made to crumble to pieces the moment it touched the Alpha Rod Ore. It''s not even at the end of its durability yet and I have just made that pickaxe and yet it crumbled like it hit something indestructible. Even if it is indestructible, it won''t make a pickaxe break to pieces like that. Kokadokata remained silent as he keep observing what I am doing. I didn''t mind him checking out what I and doing and since he is not saying anything, I proceed to do the actual thing. I checked the vein for a good ce to start hitting. so that I won''t just get quite a small amount. Once I determined the positioning, I started swinging it. TAK! TAK! TAK! -you have obtained an Alpha Rod Ore. I wanted to start mining for a bit more and try to get one more piece of it when Kokadokata suddenly got alerted and aimed his staff on the entrance. I didn''t feel anything so I frowned as I looked at what he was aiming. "Hey boy, it seems mining that ore allowed you attract something troublesome." "Troublesome? What are you talking about?" "Look over there, those things are going to be troublesome if we don''t do something about them. He pointed his staff on the way we came from and on the walls and floors, a bunch of blue spider-looking things appeared crawling towards our direction. Anyone who has an Arachnophobia would shiver and cower in fear seeing this situation unfold before us. Chapter 399 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Horde Of The Freezing Mites [II] "Freezing Mites?" I frowned since I don''t like the sound of that. "No time to exin, do you have any abilities that can release a big amount of mes? As much as I want to st my abilities, they are mainly ice and my fire abilities are limited and not as destructive as my ice magic." "I don''t have but one of my followers does. Lucia, we need your help." "Okay!" Lucia appeared from the summons area with mes swirling in her hands. "Good! Now st the entrance with that mes while we charge out of this ce! I will be the one who will handle with protection." Kokadokata ordered Lucia. Lucia looked at me and I nodded in confirmation. She quickly unleashed her abilities and her hair started glowing red. Her dress also started glowing red meaning her abilities are going full ham on this one. "Don''t worry about your Mana, Lucia, I will handle it! Just keep sting your abilities!" I pulled out a few mana potions in my bag. These were not simr to the mana potions that will be used by drinking but these will be used by throwing it to the user that needs it. It was like a ssh potion that only takes effect if the contents are being spread out by someone by throwing the contents directly to them. "Alright, looks like everyone is set! Then let''s go! [Protection of the Ice: Amplification Level 7]! [Protection of the Frost: Amplification Level 9!] [Mana Veil: Amplification: Level 5]!" Three magic circles appeared before Kokadokata and they rapidly swirl around him before they disappeared and a clear barrier made of ice appeared before us. It looks like it was encased at us though we are not restricted in moving and we can move as we needed. "Now, st the mes! Don''t stop or the Freezing Mites will consume us all!" Even though I have no idea what is the Freezing Mite, I can just see with my own eyes what they are, maybe I can deduce what they are capable of and since even Kokadokata is in a hurry, it must be as annoying as the mites and ticks in the real world too if that is the case. We started running and even though we have yet to see any enemies, Kokadokata urge us to keep on firing spells without stopping. Since I have to focus on the status of Lucia, I decided to keep myself as a buffer to her and to keep her HP and MP to their maximum capacity. "Can you tell me what these Freezing Mites are? As much as I want to act like I am in the know, I have no idea what these things are." "You entered this ce without knowing these abominations of an insect? Damn, it is a wonder why you are still alive in this hell hole. Oh well, there''s nothing wrong with telling you guys about this. Freezing Mites are the only insects capable of surviving thesends. With the cruel environment and with all thepetition of all monsters in thisnd, it is only natural that only the strongest will remain and for the insects, the only sole survivor of the insects is the Freezing Mites. Like ordinary mites, they live off from drinking blood from other organisms. The only difference about these mites is that they have adapted quite well from the environment of this world." He then casually extends his hands on the wall and grabbed something from it. SQUEEEEE! He then revealed a palm-sized insect that looks like a ck spider but has a tter body and has only one bodypared to spiders that have been divided by its head and abdomen. Its legs are also shorter and they are color white with some spikes in their heads. "This is the Freezing Mite. Alone it is just a nuisance and can be easily got rid of without using any powers. Just by your hands, you can squish it to pieces," as he said that, he applied pressure to his fingers holding the Freezing Mite and it exploded with blue blood. "Looks like they are done drinking the blood of all the frozen monsters I have frozen near my throne, no wonder they didn''t attack even though you are still making quite a ruckus with the guardian earlier. Anyways, let''s continue. These guys are not a threat when spotted alone but when you spot one, expect to see a colony of them. And just like ticks and normal mites, they are bloodthirsty and despite living in this hell hole, they are mightily bloodsuckers. They can easily pinpoint you too since they are attracted to your body heat. Once a lifeform has been attacked, they will slowly freeze you while they suck you dry with blood. In the end, you will be a frozen shell without life left in the body. It was painful and it was not something you would like to happen even if you wish to die." "They act like snakes?" "Yes, they use their ability to sense heat to detect any lifeform. They can also differentiate whether they are detecting a fire or any source of heat that are not life form and a life form easily so fooling them is also not an option." "Then why are they not attacking us until then? Does that have something to do with the Venomous Devourer''s disappearance?" "Sure do. Like many other creatures in this world, they also fear enemies and the guardian of the mines that guards the Alpha Rod Ore is the one they are afraid of. Now that the guardian is gone and they have detected it, they are free to attack whenever they wanted to." I silently cursed knowing that it is my fault that these little critters are attacking us. "Although these little things are troublesome, we can still get out, like I mentioned earlier, they can differentiate heat sources like mes. Because they have adapted quite well from the ice, their weakness to fire has doubled and they will easily get toasted to ashes. That is why I wanted anyone who can cast strong mes. With the number of mites that are waiting for us, a small fireball isn''t going to do it." "Now that you exined things, I am now more motivated to toast these little cretins! Let me try my new ability that I just learned the other day!" Lucia stretches her hands to the walls and mes and started to engulf her hands in mes. She was like wearing a certain glove from a certain young man in an anime with a little guy that shoots his head with a pistol to activate his power. Then, she started to rush forward andugh like a madman. "Let''s increase our speed in running and catch up with her," I looked at Kokadokata. "Damn, this is bad for my back!" "Thene here and let me carry you to my back!" "Wha!" He was surprised but he didn''t stop me from doing so. Perhaps because he was already old, getting lifted while we are running helped him regain his energy. "Well, I didn''t expect to feel young again by being carried. Only my father usually does this in the past. Anyways, now that I am free to do anything, then let''s increase our protective barrier and keep running. Even if she already burned most of those bugs on the way, there is no way there is nothing left from them. They are tenacious as hell so keep on running!" I continue to chase on Lucia who is no longer has those zing hands but her entire body is already engulfed in mes. Oddly enough, her clothes are still intact, perhaps she used her ability to keep her clothes from burning which is very convenient as she won''t lose any kind of clothing on her body. Lucia seems like a madman right now since she isughing as she is smashing all the bugs that areing on her way. She continues to throw several punches that unleash quite strong mes in one single punch. She also breathes some fire like a dragon and continues forward. I didn''t know she has those abilities. but perhaps it was new abilities or she is just excited using the old powers that she regained after arriving at level 100 and getting the Ascension. A few minutester, Lucia stopped running and went to a battle stance instead. "What is going on, Lucia? Why did you stop?" "Look, Master! Those cretins are blocking our way out!" She pointed it out and the previous way out is already sealed by these guys. Behind us are also quite a lot of the remaining Freezing Mites that Lucia did not get to kill in one swoop. "Cotton! Make a web barrier to buy us some time behind us!" Cotton immediately spits out quite a lot of webs and covered the way behind us with the web that is sticky enough to stop the advance of the Freezing Mites behind them. "Master! What should we do? I doubt my mes can burn all of them before we die! My strongest ability is here but I don''t have enough maximum mana to even cast it once!" When Kokadokata heard these, he shake his head and immediately start his order. "Prepare that spell! I will perform a Tether Mana Connection between you and your master, you, young man, you need to supply your mana to her or else, we will be frozen here without ahy way to survive!" Chapter 400 Expedition To The Frozen Region: The Source Of The Freezing Mites Kokadokata immediately raise his staff and a blue glow covered both our bodies. I immediately extended both of my hands and point my palms towards Lucia. As soon as I did that, I saw the MP bar slowly get reduced. When Lucia felt the mana flowing in her body, she immediately starts channeling her magic spell and the surroundings started to get really hot. As for the Freezing Mites, they are not approaching us due to the heat but they aren''t retreating either. It was like they are trying to deduce whether it is time to retreat or remain and wait for the meal to finish what it was actually doing. "Master! I needed more Mana!" Seeing that my Mp bar is almost empty, I pulled out an Extra Large Mana Potion and chug down the whole potion. Despite the sh*tty taste that I want to puke as a result, I continue chugging it down and resupply the mana I gained to Lucia. The heat is getting real hot that even the shield that Kokadokata made to protect ourselves from the Freezing Mites is melting. Even though we are in the virtual world, I think I am sweating and I am urged to jump to the nearest pool of water just to cool myself down. Still, that was just a manner of speech as I am not literally sweating. "Oy, still not done?! The Freezing Mites are already looming over us and it won''t be soon before they will swarm on us!" "Just a little bit more!" Lucia grit her teeth as the mes around her body ignite a lot stronger than before. My mana is also rapidly being drained that it started to drain twice the amountpared to earlier. However, I continue to supply her with Mana as I also keep chugging down the Mana Potions to resupply the lost mana. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Lucia screamed and as she do so, mes gathered around her body that the surrounding Freezing Mites noticed the swirling mes. Afraid that things will be bad for them, the Freezing Mites started to retreat but it seems that Lucia has no ns of letting them leave. "You block our way out, so now that you all are retreating, I will also block your way out too!" FWOOOM! mes suddenly engulfed the horde of Freezing Mites and their disgusting noises filled my ears as they were burned to ashes. The stuck Freezing Mites that were stuck in the web saw what happened and just like a colony with a hive mind, they decided to retreat without a second thought away from the area but Lucia has no ns of letting them go. "Where are you all going huh?" BOOM! Lucia throws a handful of mes and like a Molotov Cocktail, the moment itnded on the ground, the mes spread to the mites. SQUEEEEEEEE! The mes engulfed the whole area covered with Freezing Mites and just in a few seconds, the loaded Freezing Mites are all converted to ashes, nothing left remaining from them except their ashes. Lucia is panting hard after she unleashed her abilities. I don''t know what ability was but it seems to increase her spell''s power to a hundred times however, that was just spection and I don''t know how it works so let''s leave it at that. She slowly fell to her knees as she closes her eyes. "Lucia! Are you alright?" "Yeah...just a bit of a headache after using a lot of mana in one go. Don''t worry Master, I can recover after a bit of a rest." "Alright, go back to the summon''s area. Bring Cotton with you and the two of you go and rest. Good work, both of you." Lucia nodded and she returned along with Cotton. "Your follower is a demon huh? Never thought I would see someone trust a demon like her." "Are you trying to get rid of Lucia?" "Huh? What are you talking about, I don''t have any reason to do that. Even though she is a demon, she saved our assess out there so I am not here to discriminate against her. Anyways, let''s get out of here, with all the ashes of the termites, my skin is tingling just by looking at them." "You are going to abandon the Frozens?" I asked Kokadokata. "What can I do? If I don''t leave, there wille a time another set of Freezing Mites appear and devour me. Better find a better ce for me instead." We went out of the mines and just as we do, we saw a towering behemoth not too far from us. It was so big that it''s towering the mountains and if it is a bit taller, the behemoth can actually reach the skies. "No wonder the Freezing Mites are so many in this ce, the source of them is actually right before us." He then pointed his staff towards the leg of the towering behemoth and I can feel goosebumps on my body and my skin crawling seeing the amount of Freezing Mites covering the whole leg of the behemoth. No wonder so many Freezing Mites are here, its because the freezing mites are just a lot of them. "Let''s get out of here before those little cretins actually notice us. Without your follower to blow a me on them, we are all dead meat. Also, it was nice meeting you. I doubt we will meet again but perhaps we will in the future." After saying those words, Kokadokata disappeared as a bubble popped. He activated his teleport spell and left me alone. I didn''t waste my time and pull out a teleport scroll. With the Alpha Rod Ore in my hands, it is time to turn in the quest and finish it. Not only did I get the objective, I also got a bonus pet. That is a big plus for me. Anyways, its time to go. Challenging that behemoth is not going to be something I can do right now, so I wouldn''t even bother doing so. I tear the Teleport Scroll and returned to the castle. When I returned to the castle, I saw Almira is arguing with an old dwarf cksmith. The other cksmiths seem to be on the side of the old dwarf cksmith while no one seems to be on Almira''s side. However, I can see that Almira is very bored now as she is getting droopy eyes and she keeps on yawning while the old cksmith keeps on yammering. "Just because the queen has already rmended and approved of you, as the head cksmith, I refuse to ept another Head cksmith to join! I am the one in charge of all the equipment here and my apprentices are all top-notch cksmiths! For you to go and start scolding my apprentices like they are your apprentices is uneptable for me!" "*Yawn* Really? Even if your apprentices are all doing tons of mistakes? This is why I hate dwarven cksmiths most of the time. You think you are all top-notch cksmiths just because you are all dwarves but that doesn''t mean you all are free from mistakes. You should be thankful I pointed out mistakes to your cksmiths like that." "So what is your point? That you are a much better cksmith than me?" "Ugh. Did I ever say that? I can be respectful but you are going too far, you stupid old dwarf. I am respectful until now since you are much older than me but do you think I care about the superiority of the works? Who cares about that? As much as you care about being a top cksmith, I don''t care about that crap. All I care about is to produce top-quality items that anyone can use. What''s the use of being the top cksmith if your creations are all mediocre to trash and full of ws?" "What did you say?!" I decided to interfere this time as dwarven cksmiths won''t back down no matter what just to prove their points. You would never be able to get out of the spiraling issue the dwarf will try to use to his advantage just to get the upper hand and win the argument. "Master! I have returned. I also got the item you asked me to get too." Almira''s eyes lit up when she heard what I said and started grinning. "Come here and bring out!" The other cksmiths also frowned and looked at me with a weird look in their eyes. I opened my inventory and pulled out the Alpha Rod Ore before giving it to Almira. Almira received the ore and she nodded in satisfaction. "Good, deheart. You came just right in time," Almira grinned and she turned to look at the dwarven cksmith who was mocking Almira earlier. "Since you are a top cksmith, then I will acknowledge you as one if you can forge something out of this ore." And she handed the Rod Ore to him. I can only shake my head since Almira is already set on humiliating the old man. I can only pray at this old man since even the gods can''t save him now from his predicament. Chapter 401 Expedition To The Frozen Region: The Smite Of The Fallen "A Rod Ore? Do you even know what you want me to make? Everyone knows a Rod Ore is useless and cannot be processed!" "So you are unable to do it? I thought you were a top cksmith." "Of course I am!" "Then if you are, howe you can''t even make anything out of that?" "Hmph, fine! Let me show you that making anything from a Rod Ore is a fruitless endeavor!" We followed the cksmiths to the workshop where the forges and anvils were located. The elder cksmith quickly started making the necessary preparations for the ore. Soon, all tools needed for the job are allid out to the table. "Master, are you sure about this? Do I have to even go back to the mines and grab another ore?" "No need. Just watch. Also, give me the pickaxe, I will give you the rewardter." ,m I nodded and handed the Hephaestus Pickaxe and we continue watching the preparation of the old dwarf. Once he is done, he grab he started to heat up the ore to the fire. Since the standard Rod Ore is much more brittlepared to Iron Ore, he quickly pulled it out once the heat of the ore already entered the ore. Of course, it''s not the usual Rod Ore but since Almira is not saying anything about it, I also keep myself quiet. Now that the ore is hot, he grab his hammer and started the hammering session. BANG! CRACK! I sighed when I saw the result. And from the looks of Almira''s expression, she also knows that it will also happen too. The cksmith and the apprentice cksmiths were all too shocked to say anything. Perhaps this was something they didn''t expect. The Rod Ore that they mocked a lot became the one that caused the hammer of the cksmith to be a piece of trash. The moment the hammer hit the Rod Ore, it crumbled like it was already on itsst legs before it crumbled the moment those weaknesses it got were exposed and exploited. "What the... is my hammer already on its limit? I didn''t notice that. Well, I still have a few hammers I haven''t used so this time..." BANG! CRACK! This time, the cksmith is no longer surprised but he was speechless at the situation. After all, the hammer he used is new and isn''t used by anything yet, and still, the hammer was reduced to dust. However, it seems the old man has the tenacity of an experienced cksmith and decided to keep on doing it without giving up. Seeing that his hammers has been broken to pieces, he decided to change the approach. He put it back into the forge and started heating it up more than usual. I think he is already using the amount of temperature to process gold ore to a gold ingot. After a few minutes, he pulled it out, and once again, he started his hammering session but... BANG! CRACK! BANG! CRACK! This results in the cksmith raging over the results. "What is going on!? Why is it destroying the hammers even though I just swung the hammer once? I don''t understand!" Almira shook her head and looked at the old dwarf with a disappointed look in her eyes. "And here I thought you are indeed a big shot of a cksmith, you are not even close to it. Next time, you should boast about it if you are already confident about your ability as a cksmith. Now, go and touch some grass. You need it." Almira then wears her thick gloves and grabs the Alpha Rod Ore sitting on the table. "Apprentice,e here and watch the process. Since I don''t have any disciples, you are already qualified in knowing this." "What about the other cksmiths?" I asked. "It''s their choice to remain or not. Besides, even if they remain, they can''t learn what I am going to teach you today. Come on, time is ticking and we can''t just keep on dawdling." Almira then activated the forge and maximize the firepower of the forge. However, she didn''t put the ore right away, and instead, she flicks her fingers and frosty magic was applied to the fire. The mes didn''t die out but instead got encased in ice. She repeated the process and freeze the mes inside the forge but she kept them alive without letting them go out. After doing so, she put the Rod Ore in the middle of the frozen mes and covered the whole ore with frozen mes. "What is this method, Master?" "This is your first time seeing this kind of smelting process right? This is a technique that was developed to specially process the Alpha Rod Ore. Advanced cksmiths might have heard of it but no one knows how to properly execute the technique since it is something that only a few cksmiths can understand and not only that but it has limited uses since it is not a practical technique to process ores." "If it isn''t practical, then why is this being used to process the Rod Ore?" I asked. "Because this practice is the only way for us to melt the ores and metals that cannot be melted. I told you before, right? This is an advanced technique. Most of the time, this is how some godly cksmiths are able to create weapons and armors out of items that are seemingly impossible to process. I will tell youter how to perform it but for now, let''s focus on the work at hand." She looked inside the forge and to my surprise, the ore is already ready to be processed while the mes encased in ice still remained as if nothing happened and it didn''t have any signs that it melted at all. Almira grabbed the tong and removed the ore from the forge and put it on the water. "Why did you put it on the water?" I looked at Almira confused. "The Alpha Rod Ore is too hard for any hammer to break it, that is the main reason the hammer from earlier keeps on breaking to pieces and without doing this, that hardness will not disappear and will remain, leaving us without any method to properly create anything out of this thing." After putting it on the water, she pulled it out and returned it to the forge, and continue doing the process. "We will have to keep this process a few more times until it shows up some signs that it is now ready to be processed." Due to this, the other apprentice cksmiths got tired of looking at the process decided to leave. "See them? That''s why I called them not good enough. If a cksmith can''t even endure this much of a process, how much more could they do in the harder items? There is no way they can keep on creating weapons and armor just in iron and silver after all." Almira is right, without enough patience, bing a top cksmith will remain a pipe dream. After all, processing some items that are stronger and harder than the iron and silver ore exist and they needed longer time to process properly. If a cksmith doesn''t have the slightest patience, nothing will happen and nothing will get better for them too. "Alright, it''s time to begin. The ore is now ready." I nodded and she pulled out her hammer. The Alpha Rod Ore also lost its usual luster and it just became a normal metal to me. She pulled it out from the forge but she didn''t douse it into the water once again but she put it to the anvil already. Her hammer looked the same as the other hammers that were used by the other cksmiths but it has a lot of clear signs of being used for a long time. It was so worn out that it looked like it was about to give in any minute. I know her reasons and I also believe in her reasons too. "A cksmith''s hammer is going to be his or her partner throughout its whole life and it will continue to do so until the very end. It is the heart and soul of the cksmith and its not easily reced. It''s not something that can be casually thrown away after use." With that, the hammering began and the sound of the metal resonates the whole smithy. Every move of Almira is smooth and precise, with no extra movement, and every strike is firm and strong. I didn''t even notice it but the Rod Ore is no longer looking like the ore I brought back just earlier. It is now a piece of equipment that has yet to properly show its true worth but is already showing what form it will be. Soon, Almira finished the process and gives the new item the final touches. She nodded and handed the item. "Alright, the final item is ready, as, for the name, I will call it, [The Smite of the Fallen]. Go and inform the queen. We are now ready to depart." Chapter 402 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Departure [The Smite of the Fallen] Type: Other Level: ??? Equippable by: All sses Stats: Not enough permission to view Info: It might look like a spear but it is not possible to use it as one. It is designed to be used as one-time ammunition of the Sealer of Gods and can guarantee a kill on anything as long as it is not immortal or invincible once fired. Although it is a one-time use it can be used again as ammunition if retrieved sessfully, otherwise, use it wisely. Note: Isn''t that a Monster H*nter reference? I don''t think this is a reference to the Monster H*nter reference but it was indeed looking simr to the gunl*nce from that same game. The difference is that itcks the "gun" part. "This might look like a weapon but this is not meant to be one. We will use the Sealer of Gods and use this as ammunition and fire it to the monster that I mentioned earlier. You have read the description, right? It can kill anything as long as it isn''t immortal. And since our target is not immortal, we will use this as an advantage to continue our expedition and get rid of at least one problematic behemoth that blocks our way. Now go. The queens are already prepared to depart right? If everything is ready and good to go, we can now begin our expedition." I nodded and I head to the two queens on the barracks to report the new item that was added and how it can increase our chances of sess. Queen Tanya then ordered everyone to begin the final preparation as we are going to depart tomorrow. After that, Queen Tanya decided that we should rest as that might be ourst peaceful rest for the rest of the expedition. Almira also suggested that to me so I decided to agree and log out. After that, I informed everyone who will being with me to the expedition to ready themselves as we will begin the expedition and since it will take a long while before it can be finished, our only time to log out is during the time we are going to rest and the only safe ce to log out is inside the Carriage where it will be the "save point" for everyone. I also told my parents about it and they nodded in agreement. I am not worried about not eating while ying since we will not get any kind ofplications once we y for long periods. It''s just that we needed to get out of the game sometimes as that is still bad gaming habits. Just because we won''t get sick doesn''t mean we should stay and overuse it. With everyone informed, I went to bed and closed my eyes. For some unknown reason, it felt like something big will happen in the expedition and because this is something new to me due to how this event didn''t exist in the past timeline, there is no way I can predict anything happening. Everything I know will not be useful here except for mybat capabilities. This time, we are going in, blind. ... ... The next day, the expedition team is finally ready to depart. My parents and my friends are also now along with us too and due to the grand scale of the event, many yers tried to check if this event is avable for them. However... "SCRAM! Adventurers who are not qualified to follow the caravan and expedition team will be forced to be thrown back or executed on the spot!" one of the guards warned. Still, since they are yers, they think the guards are just some sort of small mechanism that will only repeat words they are programmed with and decided to sneak in. However, due to this behavior, the NPCs decided not to be toyed by them anymore. One pdin tried to get past them and since he has a shield, he is invulnerable if he can block the attacks of the soldiers. But that was just the case if he CAN block the attack. A fast crossbow bolt darted and hit squarely on the pdin''s forehead, killing him immediately. A Ninja also decided to check and try sneaking by using [Stealth] and [Ninjutsu Art: Blend] but it also didn''t work as another crossbow bolt darted and the invincible ninja was immediately stripped off the rights and also died. Seeing that the soldiers were serious about killing yers once they are provoked, they decided to drop the matter and left allowing us to properly sigh in relief seeing that the guards are doing their job. It was a good thing we stayed inside the carriage instead of being outside. It will give an attraction to many yers that some yers got the privilege to join a big raid that is not announced to the public. I can also assume that those adventurers are not going to give up so soon. No wonder Queen Tina formed the Sniper Squad. Due to the confidentiality of the situation, anyone who will try to tail us will be immediately eliminated, leaving the incognito status of the expedition''s purpose. "I never expected that I can join in something so grand like this. I can only do normal quests by some NPCs but a story quest like this is something I have not even expected in the slightest," Sigma decided to start a conversation and break the silence inside the carriage. "deheart did most of the work and its also thanks to him that we have the special privilege to experience this expedition first hand. If he didn''t even have the slightest connection to Queen Tanya, there is no way we will be joining this raid either," Dolly answered, and to be honest, she is right. Without my small help, they will not be able to do anything at all and get some chances to join a big expedition that has multiple raids and tons of rewards. "Son, I don''t know how you do this but perhaps our genes have been transferred sessfully to you. You make me proud son," Father said as he pats my back repeatedly that I will choke once he starts patting me a few more times again. Everyone is cheerful and everyone is also fully geared. Not only do I give them items, but I also gave them new equipment that will allow them to survive the expedition, especially to the low leveled yers like my parents and Hagane. They aren''t going to properly contribute if they easily die on the field and with the harsh conditions of the ce and the strong monsters, just being there is a big spell for courting death. Thankfully, I managed to mitigate that and they can now contribute a bit. Also, with their contribution, they can also earn enough levels from the battles here that it is basically a good way to raise their levels faster and catch up to everyone else. The carriage starts to run and we can hear the sound of the engines running. Since we are going to the freezing desert, a horse is pretty much a bad idea. Instead, the pullers these time around are the personal pets of Queen Tina, the Giant Snow Pr Bears. She personally raised them and her army also decided to do tame a few, allowing them to be the new horses of the Pr Regions, With no horses to carry the carriages, the Giant Snow Pr Bears are all good idea to move around the frozen region. It didn''t take a long time before we hit the cold and freezing region of Sandurk. I don''t feel cold since my armor is warm enough to be able to absorb the coldness of the surroundings. As for the others, they are also warm andfy as I made sure their armor can also withstand the cold. They can''t fight if they are shivering in the cold and they will die if they can''t even attack. A good clothes design will help in the long run, especially in battles. The soldiers are also pretty covered from head to toe too and not just us. This was a full preparation for the Frozen Region and with the help of Queen Tina, most of Queen Tanya''s soldiers immediately understood the importance of the clothes in the freezing ce. BANG! BANG! Hagane decided to peek outside and saw the snipers are shooting someone from a distance. I doubt he can see anything due to the fog and white color of snow, but we can easily tell that they have shot down a few yers who decided to tail us. I am right that they will tail anyone as long as they can do it. With this mysterious event, they also wanted a piece of the pie too. "Everyone, this is going to be a hard battle. Once a confrontation begins, be sure to keep safe because dying here will be really painful. It isn''t going to help us much in the battle but we can keep ourselves alive without the risk of being killed in the process. Once we are now needed, we will fight immediately." Soon, we heard some cries from the front of the caravan. "Monster horde in the distance! Everyone! Prepare for defensive and offensive assault!" Chapter 403 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Freezing Hell When the soldiers at the front started shouting about the uing monster horde, everyone quickly went to position to defend the main caravan and let the main supply cart be protected from monsters. "We will get down once the caravan stops. That is the cue that we needed to know if we are needed in the battle and fight back to stop the enemies from overwhelming us. As for now, we should just remain here and observe the situation. Anyone from us who can perform long-range attacks can also help to lessen the burden of the soldiers." After I said that, the caravan stopped moving. "Wow, talk about the coincidence," Hagane wryly grinned though he is nervous. "Alright, let''s go. Everyone who is not that strong should stay in the back and give support. We will have you all gain some exp and level up and take advantage of the high levels of the enemies." Everyone nodded and we get into a position like how I ordered everyone. Due to their low levels, my father and Hagane are stuck in the middle position for now while Mr.Teddy and Sigma are on the frontline. The others are on the backline as they are more suited to stay in the backline and can throw attacks in long ranges. As for me, since I can interchange from melee and ranged attacks, I stayed in the middle and will engage in melee or ranged attacks if the situation presents itself. With the soldiers doing the thinning, all we needed to do is to prevent the remaining enemies that did not get caught in the thinning to be disposed of. "Here theye! Prepare!" Arge Mammoth-like boar broke through the caravan though most of the carts were protected with Magic Barriers to avoid being destroyed, it doesn''t help much that it is now rushing towards us. Due to it running, the snow in its wake is being spread in the air, creating a fog or sandstorm-like wake from its trail. Sigma who is currently on the front immediately responded. "[Heavenly Cross Seal]!" DONG! Arge cross appeared on the iing Mammoth-like boar and it caused it to crash to the snow very hard. Mr. Teddy m his fists together and pummeled down the boar into the ground like how it should have been but since it was snow, it was shallow. While the two pummeled them down, I took my time to check what this monster is. p [Prehistoric Frozen Mammoth Boar] Level 200 HP: 1,876,560/2,000,000 Attribute: None I frowned when I saw the attribute because there are no enemies I have seen before without an attribute. Bosses filled with dark powers and are affiliated to them would either be in the attribute of Dark or Chaos. Now, this is new and I have not seen a None to a monster. Seeing it on one puzzled me but I decided not to dwell too much because it might be because it is prehistoric and being a normal monster means it doesn''t have any attribute at all but I am still a bit confused on why I don''t see Beast on it since this monster is clearly a beast attribute. My father was buffed by my mother and he immediately helped Mr. Teddy pummeling on it. The other soldiers are also attacking it, dealing bigger damage than us and in just a few minutes of attacking it, it died and everyone got to experience it. My father also reached level 80 immediately while everyone else got some experience too. The gain I received is minimal and even though the level it has is higher than mine, it was too small, to be honest, it''s not even close. Due to the phenomenal work of the knights of Queen Tori who were already used in fighting these guys, the horde was immediately obliterated. But the guards still looked tense. One of the guards who were with us in the cart seemed to have noticed our reactions and immediately exined. "This is your first time here right? These horde attacks are normal. In fact, it would be terrifying if the horde attacks did not appear because that only means we are against something much bigger than them. Thankfully, we received one which means we are on a bit of an easy side today but don''t let down your guard. Things get pretty heated up in this cold region and expect bigger troubles than that little horde that we got today." "Noted, thank you for telling us," Sigma bowed down in response. "Don''t worry if you can''t kill an enemy. We know that these guys are pretty strong and you guys are not used to it, perhaps these guys should be equivalent to some dungeon bosses, so take this chance to get stronger and get some experience in fighting against these guys. If another expeditiones up and our queen is satisfied with all of the performance, she may recruit you guys again." After that, he returned to his main post as a sniper and spotter of enemies in the distance. As for us, we returned to our cart as the recent cold wind starts to get into our armor and it isn''t good at all. Not only a few minutester when we heard explosions in the distance. Then, we heard the guards and the soldiers shouting from the front. "Cryo Vultures areing! Attention to all Long-Range attackers, rece your attacks that are shock dealers! Don''t let them explode!" I think I heard this monster before on the live stream of the yers who explored this ce. Cryo Vultures might look like regr vulture that has a bluish color and has ice particles around their bodies every time they p their wings. They might feel simr to a normal vulture but the problem is that they explode upon death. Never seen it in action but ording to the forums, it is very bad and it is best to stop it from exploding before it dies. My mother decided to ask the sniper who talked to us earlier. "What are these enemies yourpanions are talking about?" "Ah, Cryo Vultures. Useful monsters if handled correctly. You can say they are natural "explosives" living in this ce. They pack a punch once they explode and they can destroy a cart full of full armored soldiers in one explosion and kill them in the process. We are taking advantage of this trait and incapacitating them before they die and gather them. With all the enemiesing the further we are in this ce, explosion using natural materials will free us with any items that will cost us too many supplies." "Wow, that is a great way to take advantage of the monsters!" Dolly seemed excited to see the explosion in action. "Indeed. With this Freezing Hell being too dangerous for most humans to live, getting anything worth using will help lift a few of our burdens." However, we soon heard another shout from the soldiers at the front. "Everyone! Brace for impact! Snow Piranhas are on the prowl! Get ready to hold on to the reins of the carriage or anything stable to hold into!" After that warning, we felt something shaking in our carriage. We quickly grab on the nearest edge of our carriage and we can hear chomping sounds on the bottom. "What in the world is a Snow Piranha!?" Iron was holding his sister very tight to avoid toppling down the carriage. "Don''t worry, just keep yourselves inside the carriage and everything will be fine! Just do your best to not step on the snow at the moment or the Snow Piranhas will surely prey on you guys. Just hold on at the moment!" the sniper exined while still holding on to the edge with us while still remaining vignt on the skies, waiting for the attacks to subside. A few minutester, we heard a lot of screams at the very back of the caravan. Pretty sure the voices were not part of the caravan themselves as everyone seems pretty chill about the attack of the Snow Piranhas and from what I can hear, it seems like they are confused about what is happening. "Are those yers screaming?" Dolly tilted her head. "More likely a big yes, the soldiers seem fine and there is no chaos going on at the back so the ones tailing the caravan might be the ones who are screaming right now," Harmless Sparrow answered. The sniper grinned after the attack subsided. "As I said earlier, these are prettymon. It''s not even the worse thing that might happen so be sure to keep yourselves prepared. The trouble that we will be having problems with will note around for a bit. Chill yourselves and be sure to keep calm. Things will get pretty hectic soon enough." From the looks of it, this expedition is not even halfway and events are happening left and right, what is more to it once we confront the target behemoth soon? I can tell chaos is right on the corner now. Chapter 404 Expedition To The Frozen Region: First Stop: Castle On The Snow The relentless attacks of the monsters just continued from one different monster horde to another horde. There are times we have to go down the carriage and help mitigate the iing horde or else the caravan would stay there for quite a long time. As much as the sniper and the other soldiersing with us being so chill about this, this is above normal to me. I already have been on expeditions before and monster attacks are not as frequent as this expedition. It was like every second we have, a new monster attack will appear to attack us. Due to the sheer amount of monsters attacking us, all of mypanions who haven''t even reached level 100 before have already reached the cap of Level 100 already. It''s not that surprising though since we keep running to monsters that are very high level than us and killing them justs a lot of experience to everyone. Even me who have an atrocious amount of exp intake just to level managed to get to level 109 and am almost ready to hit level 110 any moment now. "You guys can rx now, we are almost to our first stop. If you have any need of restocking supplies, you can do it after we stop there." "Alright, thanks for informing us," Father smiled at the sniper and everyone sighed in relief. ? "Looks like the monster attacks will subside now and we can at least get to rest in the next stop in the meantime," Harmless Sparrow checked outside to see whether we can spot the next spot and as she moved the curtain, we can see the lone castle that stands in the middle of the freezingnds of the frozen region. I have seen it on the screen during the live stream of some yers who explored this ce before and I must say the actual castle looked like it was made from ice. "Everyone who hit level 100 cap can go to the Headquarters in this castle. Every city and kingdom has them so I am also sure this one has one too. Take a visit to that ce and perform an ascension rite to lift the cap of level 100. That way, we can take advantage of the high-leveled monsters and gain enough experience to level up a lot." "Ah, thank goodness on that. I thought I will be wasting the precious experience points I am receiving after I hit the level cap and won''t enjoy the experience I am earning as extra," Hagane sighed in relief. "Don''t be so worried, the experience you earned past level 100 will remain and will add up to your current experience bar once the cap is lifted so don''t be a worrywart," Dolly pat Hagane''s shoulder and nodded like she was always in the know. "Dolly is right, but we needed all the extra strength we needed so lifting that cap will increase the attack force we have currently. That would improve more of our survival here on out." There are two more attacks but it was minor and the soldiers were the ones who took care of them before we arrived at the first stop. [You have discovered the Kingdom of Frosthaven: Castle on the Snow] The cold air that is already seeping through my coat is no longer there and was reced with heat. Not only that, I can see that all the NPCs here are busy and are all working hard. You can barely see any people hiding inside their homes being scared, if they are inside, they are doing some work that needed to be done inside a house or a building, otherwise, they are outside and being productive. Kids are shoveling the snow outside their homes, some adults are repairing their roofs and other parts of their houses while some are doing their usual business. You can say it was lively despite being located in a very dangerous ce of Sandurk. Everyone split ways to explore the ce. We will return to the caravan after 12 hours for the sake of resupplying. With all the enemies that attack us on the way, resupplying is the best option to be done here. Since everyone decided to check out the whole ce, I decided to visit the shops and check their items. With the new region means new items that I might be able to obtain. As expected, ores of Silver are plenty in here while pure diamonds are also for sale and at a cheap price. ording to the seller, due to the number of diamonds they can mine, they are overflowing with them. They wanted to have merchants to buy them but due to the amount of danger to travel here from another kingdom or city or wherever they are from, it was close to impossible to import them to other ces and since it wasmon, the importance of diamond is not as valued back in other cities, allowing them to sell them for cheap just to get rid of the excess stock. With the idea of making essories, I decided to buy a bulk of them because, why not? With cheap prices, I can create good essories then sell them in the Auction House. Speaking of the auction house, perhaps I should sell a few of my creations in there, relying on the money I got from thest auction I participated in will not bode well if I keep spending but not earning anything. Spending money is very easy but earning it requires tons of hardship and long-term saving. Now that the diamonds and silver that I needed were purchased, I started to wander around the ce and see if I have anything worth checking out. While walking around, I saw the soldiers on the walls are all so busy and no one are cking. You can hear several loud boomsing from cannons from time to time and several shouting from soldiers to their otherpanions. It was too busy that it was like they are defending against a siege from a neighboring kingdom. I walked around and saw Queen Tanya and Queen Tori standing while observing the performance of the soldiers on the walls. I approach them and they immediately saw meing. "So how is my kingdom? I know it''s not as peaceful and cannot bepared to my sister''s kingdom but it was my pride and joy for creating a ce like this despite the atrocious environment we are in," Queen Tori then looked at the walls with the soldiers reloading the cannon as soon as possible. "It''s not bad. It might take a bit of time to get used to but it is definitely not bad." "Right? It would be a good vacation spot from the hotness of the desert my kingdom has but minus the monster attacks, it would be a pretty good ce to have a vacation into and watch the snowfall all year round," Queen Tanya nodded as she looked at the snow on the ground. She started to y on it using her shoes to mess with the snow on the ground. "Trust me, sis, you will get annoyed with the snow the more you see and experience snow. It''s not as wonderful as many people im to be," Queen Tori immediately refuted Queen Tanya''s view on the snow. "Still it makes me amazed that you managed to protect this ce from all the monstersing here every day. Even the way here is very troublesome and full of monster attacks, just how did you even manage to keep this ce intact?" "I might not be as brilliant as my sister in the ruling but I can easily be amander whenever I wanted to be and lead my men to victory against the enemies. Mere beasts are nothing for us, and that is what makes us strong enough to defend this ce with our own strength. You can say this is a ce where only the strong can live but it is also a ce where the strong can protect the ones they love or those who are not strong enough and help them get strong. I make good use of all the talents my subjects have and as long as they can perform something, they can benefit our kingdom despite the monstersing in. Not only that, but we feel much safer if we face monsters rather than humans." That is true, humans are much more devastatingpared to monsters and just having wars against a neighboring country or kingdom can lead to a very bad economy for both and if warse in, it will depend on where the cunning of both parties can lead them. "Anyways, you and yourpanions should take a good rest at the moment. Since we are resupplying it will take a bit of time. You should all take advantage of it since the next stop will be really harsher than earlier. We might not even get any breaks at all if that happened." No wonder they call this the Freezing Hell, with the assault of countless monsters, it is only a matter of time before you can experience what true hell is. Chapter 405 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Mistfall Turtle Of The Damned 12 hours pass by quickly and everyone who are away from the caravan returned. My parents, Hagane and Chase are now on their ascension and now ready to dive deeper as they are no longer barred with any level cap. "What did you all get in your ascension sses?" I asked and everyone showed me their status boards. Father has chosen quite a typical ss named "Asura" which focuses on unleashing the full limits of close quarterbat. Mr. Teddy already has a ss up and it was Martial Master. Comparing the two, the Martial Master is capable of unleashing different martial arts and adapting differentbat styles, mastering them with ease and allowing on taking down foes in a stylish, and efficient way. As for Asura, it still focuses on close-quarterbat but in a more lethal way, and the burst of energy from every attack is very eyecatching. Most brawlers probably have chosen the Asura so yeah, definitely not an odd choice. As for mother, her choice was not a buffer-oriented path of the alchemist like what I am expecting her to pick but thebat-oriented one which is the Element Maniptor. It focuses on conjuring different elements in the surroundings, very close to what a practitioner of Alchemy does but this ss already mastered it and focuses on improving it. She can still do the same things she does in her past ss but with much less focus since the other sses focuses on improving the duration and effects of those potions. About Hagane, I expected him to choose thebat-oriented Pdin, the Knight Lancer but to my surprise, he had chosen the Iron Wall ss, the ranked up ss of the pdin that abandons the spear and focuses on using more shields. In short, his weapon is the shield. Strangely enough, his equipment still consists of the spear but once it is equipped, it bes a shield. I don''t know if it was fixed since Spear and Shield were inseparable from each other but I don''t really care much. Now, Hagane is now much more durable. Much more durable than Iron who has his ss as the Guardian who excels in both offensive and defensive. As for Chase, since he was focusing on Combat Medic the entire time, he indeed picked it up since Combat Medic is one of the ascension sses of the Cleric. Combat Medic abandons the etiquette of being a support and this time, joins the frontlines by fighting back and healing allies. He also got an extra weapon which is the Syringe Gun. It wasn''t a piece of equipment you can get since it was a ss-specific ss. You still retain the Ceremonial Staff, Holy Book, or a catalyst as your main choice of weapon so it''s not even a choice of new equipment, just a new arsenal you can use to fight back. I have that if I choose to be abat medic but I haven''t used that yet so I don''t have much experience in that area either. This time, we have to change a cart to ride this time around since our participation is vital in the next battle. And as expected, our cart is the one in the very front of the caravan and is also the one leading the carts that carry one Sealer of Gods. This cart is being manned by none other than Almira. "You guys must be the family and friends of my disciple. Good, you all have the potential. Make sure to help outter on in this battle. We will be fighting against a behemoth and you all are very important for the n to seed," Almira calmly stood there as she evaluates everyone else. "Can we ask what we are going to do?" "It''s very simple and you guys are already doing it since earlier. Yes, that is right, you guys will continue doing the same thing as before but because it was the main frontline, we will have to use the specialized weapons that were designed to destroy the surrounding enemies that will attack our caravan. As for deheart, you will be having a different task. I will be assigning you to help me fire the Sealer of Godster on." "What? Me?" "Yes. The Sealer of Gods requires two people to fire this thing and even though you modified it to be useful enough that a single person can fire it by himself or herself without the help of others, having two people fire this thing off gives off the full power of this thing." "Alright then, although I am not confident, I will do my best," I gulped since I have not fired this huge ballista that looked like a crossbow to me and I am afraid of missing using it. "Straighten up boy, you are not the one who will aim since I know you are greenhorn on this and we don''t want to risk using the [The Smite of the Fallen] then totally miss the target instead. That is a big bad no in my book, you know." Soon, the soldiers are now shouting to each other to begin the expedition and it seems Queen Tanya and Queen Tina who are also in one of the carts carrying one of the Sealer of Gods are also agreeing to begin. "Alright, everyone. I am counting on you all to protect the cart. The weapon is inside the cart and everyone can use it whether you are a healer or a fighter, anyone can use it. It''s not a ss restricted weapon anyways and it is exclusive only in this caravan so use it to your heart''s contents!" Everyone went inside and saw the box containing the weapons that Almira is talking about. It is a hand cannon. It was like the same cannon that m*gaman uses in battle. Everyone equipped it and the hands that they use to hold the item attached the small hand cannon to that ce. "Oh yeah, I feel like I am m*gaman now!" Hagane aims the cannon outside the cart. "Oy, be careful with that. You can fire it identally if you are not careful. It was a pretty much destructive weapon so be sure to handle it with care and aim it only to enemies!" "How do you shoot this one?" Chase asked. "Just like how you guys use your skills, channel your mana to the weapon and it can do the rest, you just needed to aim andmand to shoot it mentally on your mind. And you are set." Because I was the one who will help Almira, I am not given a single one of those hand cannons and I can''t even check their stats as it was hidden. Only Almira can do that and I sighed since that is a very good extra weapon to use especially since it can bypass the ss restriction. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. Once the discussions and preparations are done, we departed from the first stop and continue our journey towards the deeper parts of the Expedition. And we are not that far from the Castle of Snow when we heard a loud noise of a beast. I don''t know which kind of beast that noise came from but it was a pretty clear sign that a behemoth is near us. "That was fast. The Mistfall Turtle of the Damned is pretty near the first stop. That makes our battle n much easier as we can just resupply again in the first stop if we fail on finishing this. Oh, everyone, prepare to fight now. I see enemies iing!" That made everyone stand up from their seat and aim their hand cannons, as for me, I can only watch as I don''t have that weapon they are carrying and Almira forbid me to participate as that will only tire me faster. My energy will be needed to help on the Sealer of Gods so I have can only observe. PEW! The attacks shot by the hand cannon are very simr to the sound of some beam-rted weapons with a "PEW" sound. However, despite the "Harmless" sounding "Pew" is released, the bullet that was released was not and the rampaging monster that was rushing towards the attack head-on was sted to pieces in one hit and a big "BANG!" sound. "What the heck are these enemies? They looked like turtles!" Harmless Sparrowmented as soon as she saw the appearance of the giant enemies attacking us. And unlike the slow walking turtles thatnded on the sand, these guys seem like simr to tortoises that have only an upgraded speed and a mouth full of teeth. "Looks like our enemy behemoth is a female! It already is giving us its wee greetings!" Almira grinned, seemingly giddy upon knowing that it was a female Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. "Female?! Then that means..." Dolly frowned as she looked at the enemies. "Yeah, you guys are sting her children right now. And as a mother, it wouldn''t like it if their children were blown to smithereens by a bunch of humans. End of story!" Almira grinned. And after saying that, the roar of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned echoed throughout the whole ce and a strong shake to the ground shook all of us as the damnable turtle started moving. Chapter 406 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Assault Against The Damnable Turtle I focus my eyes on the uing monsters and try to confirm how different these guys arepared to the mother. [Mistfall Spawns] HP: 500,000/500,000 Trait: Beast, Dark, Undead "They are also treated as undead?" "Oh? Did you check their stats, deheart? Yes, they are undead and they are considered to be easy but annoying to kill due to their numbers," Almira calmly exined as she continues to steer the carriage to maneuver to the enemies. After a few shots, everyone felt tired after losing most of their MP. Almira looked at them and grinned. "Already run out of juice? Then have a taste of this!" SNAP! A blue glow enveloped everyone and even I was also among the ones who got enveloped by it. After that, I noticed that my MP bar is shining. The only time the MP bar shines is during the time users will use spells or abilities that consumes MP and if the MP is being refilled. Since it was full and I am not doing anything that would expend that, it is an indication that my MP is being refilled. "Wha- My mana is recovering very fast!" Chase was stunned seeing it especially since he didn''t do anything to refill his MP bar. "Don''t be surprised. The carriage that we are riding is specifically used for assaulting enemies. It has a built-in Mana Recovery Level 10 Magic Circle embedded in it so that the people who stay in here and fight enemies by shooting their mana will no longer need to worry about mana shortage and drink the sh*tty taste Mana Potions. Now go, and shoot to your heart''s contents!" Everyone was delighted when they hear that and started sting the Mistfall Spawns continuously without worrying about their mana. "Why didn''t you activate it earlier?" I looked at Almira. "Because the effects of the Mana Recovery Level 10 Magic Circle is not permanent and it isn''t something that you would like to keep on running. Even if they can keep on using it, the power of the magic circle will run out and it will have to recover again before we can use it again. With the horde of Mistfall Spawns, it''s much better to use this ability to bombard the enemies and increase our survival before the battle against the big mommamences. Understood?" I nodded as I immediately understood what she meant. Wasting it is truly wasteful but keeping it will still be wasteful. So why not use it after the initial MP that everyone has been consumed and the enemies show no signs of decreasing? That is a better move against the horde, to be honest. Our caravan continued to march forward and soon we are nearing the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. It is very angry but it hasn''t done any attacks just yet the amount of Mistfall Spawns just made it clear that it wanted us to be overwhelmed and exhausted at the very end, leaving us unable to fight back once the big momma starts its attack. The only thing that I am a bit worried about is that from time to time, the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned would sometimes release a violet cloud of gas which would spread in the air before it disappears. It stays around the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned for a few minutes after spreading before it disappears so it is very eyecatching as it continuously does this thing. It looks like it is releasing fumes but it certainly is not a Torkoal since it doesn''t look like it was even a volcano turtle like that Pokemon. Perhaps that was what you call "Mistfall"? I don''t know what it was but that made me really curious. "deheart, start loading the Sealer of Gods! We are going on the offensive! Since you have modified them to be used by one person, you should fight alone with it at the moment as I will be steering the carriage for a while so that we can get a good position and can guarantee to keep hitting big momma forter once we load it! Take a good feel on how the Sealer of Gods works!" "Finally! Some action!" I grinned hearing that I can finally join the battle. I climbed the top of the carriage since the carriage is the roof of the carriage is specifically designed for the sake of putting the Sealer of Gods or any other artillery for battle. With the Sealer of Gods being powered with Mana, I don''t have to worry about running out of ammunition, and since I am not going to fire the [Smite of the Fallen] just yet, even if I miss, I can still continuously fire the Sealer of Gods just fine. Grabbing the Sealer of Gods'' handle, I got an option to materialize ammunition for it. I opened themand and execute it to create the ammunition for it. Since I am a bit familiar with how the Sealer of Gods work, I loaded it with the ammunition made from my mana and steer the big ballista to the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned, I ready the attack and aimed at its leg. Ready... Aim... FIRE! THUCK! The bowstring of the ballista pushes the ammunition and before I can track the ammunition, I saw itnd immediately to the leg of the turtle. ROARRRR! The loud roar of the turtle echoed throughout the whole ce, shaking the surrounding mountains causing some snow to fall down from them. Not only that but the damnable turtle started to produce more of the Violet Fumes that I still have no idea what they are. Not only that but it seems that the attack I made against the big momma riled up the younglings of the turtle and started to gather and form a horde below. "Don''t worry about us deheart, keep doing that so that the turtle will start using more of its abilities! The more it does that, the better!" Almira shouted below. Since Almira said so, I continue to materialize more ammunition and try to familiarize myself with how this works, how fast can single ammunition go with different angles and many more. Then I also noticed that the other carriages that are also carrying a Sealer of Gods started firing against the turtle too, increasing the burdens the giant f*cker has on. Now, with all the Sealer of Gods firing at the Behemoth turtle, it is now getting really stressed and it keeps on screaming in pain. Although I can''t recall seeing any damage being done whenever it hits the big momma with ammo, it seems to be really hurt as it keeps on roaring with a hint of pain on its voice and it was like trying to get away as soon as possible from the attacks. Then, we were assaulted by an unexpected variable, the Violet Fumes that I think the Mistfall started to appear and from the looks of it, is not disappearing, Not only that but it no longer stays in the vicinity of the big ol'' turtle but it is now spreading outside of its range, which means it is now ready to creep towards our locations. I gritted my teeth seeing that it is now showing quite a dangerous show of being a little f*cker as it no longer relent and remain just roaring. I think it got fed up after the shots continue to arrive. Almira immediately warns me. "deheart! Don''t shoot and prepare the Sealer of Gods'' ammunition loaded to it! Just keep it loaded and keep on aiming!" She didn''t exin any further but since she said that, I decided to follow her instruction and loaded the ammunition to the Sealer of Gods and waited while aiming it. And seeing that the others also stopped, perhaps Almira had somemunicator to other carriages tomand whether to start firing or start holding back. And as soon as we stopped, the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned started to stomp the ground multiple times, trying to topple down the carriage. It was very strong and if you are not prepared, you will get real dizzy once it hits and it really is annoying as hell. The violet fumes it releases are now getting near to everyone and from the looks of it, Almira is steering away from it as much as possible. Soon, our carriages stopped not that far from the right foot of the turtle. Although I keep saying foot, it is more like flippers like how normal turtles do, the only difference is that it didn''t resemble much as a flipper but more like t feet as it has ws on the very end, and a small hand that seems to be used to crawl. Pretty disturbing and a bit grotesque to me. "deheart, ready and aim it! And if you think it is time to do it, you fire it! Now, make me proud!" Chapter 407 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Showdown Against A Turtle I thought the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned will just keep on releasing the violet fumes and keeps on roaring without showing any signs it will attack us physically until Almira ordered me to not shoot and only shoot the loaded ammunition when the time is right. At first. I was confused on what Almira meant on that as the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned is not clearly showing any signs it will be attacking but soon I now know what Almira meant to get ready. After stomping its small legs or flippers or whatever you may call it, it started to approach the caravan and that alone is a piece of bad news. BANG! One cart was toppled off by its swipe and now I know what it means to be facing a boss with a quick time event. I only experienced quick time events in normal games on PC and some consoles and never in Alternate World but for the first time, a quick time event urred and I was forced to respond to it. ? With the rampage of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned, the flippers or the feet, bah, whatever you call it is now trying to sweep off the caravan and the carriages attacking it. Some carriages are able to steer away before the attack of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damnednd but there are also some carriages that are not able to avoid and were toppled by the attack. "Don''t retreat! If the attack of the Mistfall Turtle is about tond to your carriage, attack its weak points under its flippers as fast as you can!" Almira shouted and based on the little echo ina her voice, she is transmitting it to everyone in the caravan. Then it happened, the giant flipper that was about to smash our carriage is now getting ready to clobber us. I calmly tried to look for the weak point that Almira mentioned. Just as I thought I have little time to even see where this weak point is, a simr mechanic to a Quick Time Event urred. Everything seems to go in slow motion and the so-called weak points appeared with big circles on them. I spotted three of them with the other two too far and too hard for me to shoot properly while there is one that is freely open and can be easily shot at without worrying of missing. I steer the Sealer of Gods and aimed it to that ce and pull the trigger, releasing the loaded ammunition to the weak point. With the speed of the ammunition being fired, it was enough tond a small blow to the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned and the iing attack seems repelled as the damnable turtle was forced to retract its little flippers. "Good, deheart! You actually got what I meant. As expected of my disciple," Almira startedughing like a maniac after saying that. I didn''tugh nor be proud of that as I can''t try to even lose my focus against the enemy. I doubt that is thest assault that will being to us so I reloaded the Sealer of Gods and materializes a few more ammunition in case one bolt is not enough. I took advantage that it is still not targeting us. Seeing our performance, the other carriages also did the same as us and since they have multiple people in charge of firing the Sealer of Gods, they have an easier time managing everything before the attack of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned will begin its attacks to the carriage. It didn''t take long for the turn for us to be attacked to arrive again. This time, two of the weak points are present and as someone who is a bit not sure if it was needed to attack them all decided to do that instead. With the loaded ammunition, I shot the first one. And as expected, it didn''t easily retract its flippers again which is why I immediately loaded the second one and aimed it as fast as I can to the second weak point before releasing it again. It is heart thumping as it makes your blood go and your adrenaline seems to be rushing around your body and even though it is a game, just experiencing the actual experience can still lead me to this. SU! The second weak point seems to explode as blue blood exploded the moment the second ammunition hit the second weak point and this caused the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned to retract its flippers again but it started to wail more than usual and the violet fumes it has been constantly releasing no longer goes out from its shell and body but this time, it is now releasing a breath of violet mes. "Alright, looks like we are now on the final adjustments on beating the crap out of the big momma!" Almira grinned and she stopped the carriage from running. Since the carriages are running from the machine, it isn''t going to run without being done sopared to horses where it might get startled due to the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. "Everyone, be sure to protect the carriage, we will now enter the final phase and we are now ready to pummel this big momma a lot." After that, she climbed to where I was while carrying the [Smite of the Fallen] in her shoulders like it was nothing. I clearly know that it is hard for someone to carry it easily and yet she managed to do it. Is this perhaps one of Almira''s abilities or this is just something that allowed her to carry it because she is the one who made it? Mystery still stacks up but I have no time to dwell on what it was and decided to continue observing the movements of the Misftall Turtle of the Damned. "Are you ready? This may cost us a lot of energy to pull this through and we only have one time to do this right or we will mess up everything," Almira looked at me, trying to see whether I am up to the task or not. "Don''t say it that way, Master. I would get nervous if you added some pressure to that." "Ha, no worries. Adding some little pressure won''t likely consume much of your brainpower and that will also allow us to quickly judge just like how you did earlier when the enemy tried to attack our carriage. Just think of this time just like earlier." As much as she wanted to calm me down, there is no way I would easily calm down like that. I am weak on that especially if something can only be done once, it honestly makes me more nervous than right now. I know I am not the one going to aim but this is still nerve-wracking to me. What if I fail? What if I get in trouble if I mess up? A lot of things are swirling in my mind right now. I p my cheeks as hard as I can and Almira was surprised I did that. I might be confident in most situations especially if it was inbat as I am experienced in it, but against something like this where I can only stay in one ce and wait for the right timing to appear is not easy. It was like being a sniper waiting for your target to appear and when your target appears, you are trying your best not to mess up that one single shot that may give your location to the enemies. Soon, the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned is no longer rampaging like earlier but this time, it is now facing all of our carriages. It was like it is ready to go and charge towards us anytime. "Get ready deheart, I will load the [Smite of the Fallen] to the Sealer of Gods and you are the one in charge of charging the Sealer of Gods with mana." "I have to charge it with mana?" "Yes. Earlier, you didn''t need to do that since the ammunition themselves are made of mana and they can propel themselves easily at high speed. If we want to replicate the same speed the mana ammunition of the Sealer of Gods whenever it was fired, charging up some mana on the Sealer of Gods itself is necessary to shoot it properly." Hearing the exnation, I nodded and touch the Sealer of Gods. Compared to earlier, there is now a new button beside the generation of ammunition button. It was the [Charge] button. Since I don''t need to worry about my mana due to the effects of the Mana Recovery Level 10 Magic Circle of the carriage, I will be able to supply more than what is necessary. "Should I start charging up the Sealer of Gods now?" "Yes, do it!" I activated the charge function of the Sealer of Gods and I didn''t expect it to hurt like hell. Not only that but it was like my body is being sucked into the Sealer of Gods. Almira grinned and gives a thumbs up. "I forgot to mention that it will hurt like hell, but maybe it is good training for you to endure pain, I guess? I am sorry about that but please endure it for a little while longer. Chapter 408 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Smite The Fallen I wanted to curse after knowing why Almira is grinning but I also can''t stop charging it up or I will be injured if I stopped halfway due to how it will try to backfire if it is done wrong. "Gah! Painful! So painful as f*ck! AAAAHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as the pain just keeps escting and as the amount of mana I am transferring is increasing, a headache is slowly developing and I can barely feel anything except for the pain. Yes, this is a game but because my device has a 100% synchronization rate, despite the pain being elevated, it will keep the experience identical. There is also no point in reducing the pain sensitivity as it will not even let you train your body and mind in that process. Without any choice and without any idea when it will be fired, I keep on charging the Sealer of Gods without fail. It was painful but I have no choice anyway so might as well keep on going. Despite the pain that is guing my whole body right now, I can see that Almira is not just observing things and waiting for the Sealer of Gods to finish charging, she is also doing her charging process into the [Smite of the Fallen]. If other people see this, they won''t notice her doing it but to me who has already experienced many things ever since thest timeline, I can definitely tell that she is also doing the same thing but she is transferring it directly into the [Smite of the Fallen]. So even though she joked about the pain earlier, she is also doing the same thing to the ammunition itself, and since the Ammunition itself will be the one that will hit the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned so perhaps a great burden is also applied to her though I must just be imagining things. The situation is getting tense and I can feel the pressure that is currently building up to all the soldiers and people involved in this expedition. After all, no one has ever experienced killing a behemoth like this and for the first time, they participated in a hunt that they don''t know whether they can survive or not. It''s all thanks to a certain cksmith who fearlessly rmended doing this and now, we are actually doing it with everyone''s lives on the line. Almira seems to have noticed my weary and worried face as she gives a thumbs up to me. "We are almost done, just hang in there for a little while longer." Sometimes, I wonder whether Almira is being serious or she is joking. I can''t get a good read on her emotions and it is totally unpredictable. ? Then, while we are still charging, the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned retract itself inside its huge shell and started to release an enormous amount of violet fumes that I dubbed as the Mistfall. And it seems like it didn''t even have any intention of just stopping, it keeps on pouring out as if it was storing those violet fumes inside its shell and its just waiting for the right time to release all of it. "Everyone! Cover your noses! That violet fart is poisonous and can kill you all of if you breath on it! Don''t directly inhale it!" "Wait, what? What do you mean fart?" I was confused for a second after I heard Almira said those words and my mind seemed to have slowed down the process. Not only that, it seemed to have numbed down the pain that I felt when she said that those violet fumes that the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned releases frequently is its fart. "I am telling you, it is a fart believe me or not. However, it is not a funny topic as this thing is just a deadly smoke to all of us. Once it reaches our lungs, it has a big chance to melt our lungs to the most baddest condition and despite not smoking excessively or did not even have any experience in smoking, you will end up suffering like a regr smoker do." That is nasty, not only it was a fart, it was a deadly fart. The fart that I thought to be just normal fumes regrly released by this monster started to cover our surroundings and we have to resort to different methods of covering our noses just to avoid that violet fart. Soon, it disperses and disappeared and from the looks of it, the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned is not yet going to go out just yet but use the shell to attack. I thought we are not going to be able to do anything on that but Almira startedughing when the damnable turtle started doing that. "Hahahahaha! Finally, you piece of crap of a monster finally did the move I am waiting for! deheart! You can stop charging the Sealer of Gods! It is time to finish this!" I stopped releasing the mana in my body and the Sealer of Gods started glowing in blue, as for the [Smite of the Fallen], dark aura starts to envelop it and before it and just by looking at it, you would even suspect it was made as an evil weapon. However, it is indeed a very nasty weapon. Almira aimed the Sealer of Gods. She sets the trajectory to it and although I am not too sure what she was doing, it seems she is already able to calcte how to urately hit the behemoth without any interruptions. When the shell started to spin slowly, Almira grinned and pressed the trigger of the Sealer of Gods. "Let''s have an exchange you damnable turtle! I hit you with my [Smite of the Fallen]. you give me your body parts as my ingredients! NOW DIE!" It was a quick split second because before I can even blink, the shell that is spinning slowly stopped and suddenly cracked into two pieces. I don''t know if I was just dreaming or I am hallucinating due to the pain I felt in my body but it seems that it was indeed what happened. I just copsed into the carriage and decided to fall asleep for now. As much as I want to stay awake, the toll of losing so much mana in one go and being supplied continuously is not something I would like to keep happening to me, it was a big torture that I am certain that if it took longer than that, I might have already copsed. ... ... On the other side of the Carriage where Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are currently riding, they witness the shell of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned split into two. Not only the shell but even the turtle itself was divided into two pieces of carcass. It was so big that even if all the people in Queen Tori''s kingdom would eat the meat, they might not be able to even finish it for at least a decade or more due to the excessive size of it. "They actually did it, those mads actually did it," Queen Tanya was in a sheer disbelief seeing what happened. After all, she doubted that Almira can defeat that behemoth in one shot, it was very impossible and Almira seems to be a braggadocio to her first impression. Who would have thought that she would be proven wrong about that? The whole ce became quiet after the death of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned, the soldiers who were always on the edge seems to have managed to calm down after they have experienced the horrifying experience. It was something they have experienced that they didn''t want to experience again but they are also happy that they have something they can brag about to those who are not participants of their expedition. "So, what are we going to do to the carcass? I know that is the first purpose on why we killed it in the first ce?" Queen Tanya looked at Queen Tori. "I have no idea. As much as I want to also know, the only one who knows that should be Almira herself. However, we should just let them rest. They have done a good job on killing it." However, that was actually unnecessary as Almira went down from the carriage and started to head to the carriage of the cksmiths who were among them. Not only them but also the soldiers who were not part of the frontlines to gather up. It seems it is time to butcher the giant cadaver. ... ... ... I slowly woke up and I realized that I am currently not in the carriage. Instead, I found myself in the middle of a flower field. I don''t recognize the flowers but they smell quite good. I looked around and I quickly know that I am still in the game so I opened the menu to check where I was but I was weed with a bunch of question marks on it meaning even the game system have no idea where I was. In the distance, arge tree that seems to be branching into the sky is towering in the distance. Chapter 409 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Frozen Vultures And Snow Hyenas With the death of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned, the soldiers and some people expert in salvaging materials from carcasses of monsters started to harvest materials from the giant carcass of the behemoth turtle. Almira is the one who is leading the salvage operations to grab different materials from the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. So she cannot attend to help her disciple and decided to hand him over to everyone else. "I didn''t know you could pass out in-game without logging out," deheart''s father carried his unconscious body to the nearest vacant seat. "It usually happens if he used too much mana, it was a realistic effect that is added for realism and to also teach yers that having a full intake of mana most of the time is going to leave you vulnerable. He will be fine after sleeping for a bit," Harmless Sparrow exined. "You have experienced this before?" deheart''s mother asked. "Not really, aunty. Although I was on the verge of getting into this situation, it didn''t actually happen. On the other hand, Dolly already did." deheart''s parents turned to look at Dolly. "Ehehehe, well, I thought it would be fine since it was a game, turns out, there are some side effects I didn''t have any idea existed." "Most yers who suffer this much especially if they pushed themselves too hard are the Magician sses. If they didn''t have the [Mana Regeneration] passive learned, they will constantly feel headaches every time their mana reaches the critical levels which is why it is was a good idea to refill the mana once it is almost down to the critical levels due to this. Then there is the excessive mana release where the user will expend lots of mana in one go. There are some chances that nothing will happen to you but if your mind is not used to it, you will copse, ording to some yers who keep on experiencing this, the more they experience copsing every time they run out of mana, the more they can resist the possibility of copsing from getting drained with mana. This is also the main reason why the skill [Mana Drain] and [Mana Burn] from some enemies especially the Necromancers is dangerous especially if you are not used to having your mana fully drained," Sigma exined. "That was one hell of a detail. I didn''t know that, until now," Hagane rubbed his chin. "The most vulnerable ones of this phenomenon are the magic users, as for the yers like Swordsman, Samurai, Pdin, Berserker, and other sses that focus more on basic attacks and some skills had somewhat high immunity of this phenomenon. For example, Mr. Teddy runs out of mana to use his skills, he won''t pass out due to it." "Huh? Why is that? Aren''t the effects of being run dry from mana will cause you to copse?" "Not really, when we say Mana, it is the energy used to conjure magic. yers who are more in magic spells are vulnerable to that, however, as for the warrior sses, who rely more on their weapons than on their skills, the reason they have mana is to use them for skills. More like external energy that can get easily exhausted once a skill is used and is not simr to the MP magicians and other sses that have a high mana pool. That is why the category of the Warrior sses has usually a small amount of Mppared to sses that utilize magic since thetter uses the real mana while the former uses the energy in their body. It is also the main reason why they have faster MP regenerationpared to magic oriented sses that would rely on [Mana Regeneration] passive or anything simr to that just to keep them having some mana to spare." "So as melee fighters are not afflicted to this?" Iron asked, "Not really, I heard you can still experience this kind of thing but it leans more on too much exhaustion rather than on running out of mana," Sigma carefully exined. They still wanted to discuss things when the sniper from thest carriage appeared while carrying his rifle. "Oh, there you are guys. All of us have a job to do. And I don''t think we will be having a good rest for a bit due to this." "Is something happening? I thought we are done since the main enemy is dead," deheart''s mother tilted her head with a confused look on her face. "Unfortunately, that would have at least made our lives much easier if that was the case but since we are in the frozen region, things still happen. Come, I will exin once we get there." Despite not knowing what is going to be in store for them, everyone followed the sniper and there they saw the soldiers fighting against smaller but big enough to be considered threat monsters. Everyone is doing fine but it seems there are a number of disadvantages against the humans especially since the monsters just have overwhelming numberspared to the soldiers fighting them. "Dang, they are getting numerous," the sniper grit his teeth. "Alright, I am seeing a lot of experience fodder before us! We can''t afford to miss this chance!" Hagane prepares his two shields. They rush towards the site where the carcass of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned is lying. There, they saw white birds circling around the carcass while on the ground, white dog monsters are harassing the soldiers and are circling around them, while their noises seem to be giggling. "These damnable f*ckers...they always appear whenever a dead body of a monster or a human appears. They are not that dangerous but they are very persistent in trying to grab a bite from the carcass. Our goal here is to at least get rid of them. Killing them is optional but that is still a viable approach." Everyone nodded and they started to deal with the little monsters. At first, they were easy to deal with due to their sheer numbers but over time, they started to get annoying and troublesome as not only do they have high agility to dodge attacks, it also seems to be like they are adapting to your attack patterns. Whenever they try to attack, there are times they got tricked by them, and the attacks that were meant tond miss miserably. This also rubs salt into the wound whenever the white dogs startedughing like they were mocking the efforts of everyone. "These guys... are some kind of Hyena? I can''t catch a glimpse of their names since they attack so fast and I have to defend my blindspot," Hagane gritted his teeth. "Yeah, they are known as Snow Hyenas. Highly intelligent monsters that are capable of making tactics to steal food and to annoy hunters just for their game to be stolen by them," the sniper exined. "Then what about those birds? They seemed to be just circling around," Hagane then points out those white birds in the sky, circling just above the Carcass. "Those guys are the Frozen Vultures. They aren''t that troublesome and they don''t attack humans, however, they are one of the signs we use to find if a nearby pack of the Snow Hyenas are nearby since they two appear simultaneously. So, you can say they are important as well if we wanted to know whether these guys are around or not." "So you guys don''t kill them?" "We don''t as they don''t pose any threat though we usually hunt them especially if they are going to pick on our game. They are fast flyers and they are big and if they catch the prey we hunted, we are always doomed to fail to get any food, especially before where the kingdom is still flourishing and our primary source of food is hunting." With the exnation of the sniper, the crew understood that these monsters are just simr to their real-life counterparts. It was not an exaggeration that they can be troublesome in hunting and seeing them in action, makes someone think whether they are really not threatening or not. Almira remained observant of the surroundings. She just keeps on ncing around while still maintaining her focus on the main job. Since most of the workers are quite efficient with their job, the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned''s carcass is being processed smoothly. Of course, with the Snow Hyenas keeping on interrupting the work, it was a troublesome way to prolong the work. After a few hours of attacking, another batch of soldiers has returned from resting. "You guys should go rest now, There is no point fighting against the hyenas without a rest, you guys will just be exhausted and copse before you can even get rid of them. Let''s go and alternate our roles so that we can at least finish defending everything." Now everyone understood why the difficulty of this quest is Very Hard, it is because the job you have in here is something that seems a ve driver likes you to do. Chapter 410 A Slip In Virtual And Reality There is no doubt I am still in the game since this ce didn''t exist in the real world. But I can''t open the menu to open my inventory and my stats panel. I tried calling for my followers but they are also not there. I tried casting magic but nothing happened. It was like I can''t use it at all. That should have been impossible as I can use magic both in the reality and in the game so why can''t I use it? I turned to look at the distance where the only noticeable thing is the giant tree that seems to be branching out to the sky like it has its branches attached to the night sky. And even though it is nighttime, it is strangely bright here that I don''t need any source of light to see where I am going. I looked around to see if there are any noticeable buildings or anyndmarks that seems interesting to wherever this ce aside from the big tree. However, there seems to be not a single one that caught my eye. Also, this doesn''t look like a void space or something like that, I can still see some grass and flowers around. Not only that but I think there are some boulders and trees as well. It is kinda weird but I don''t even think I am in a forest. More like it was an isted ce that seems to be made by a virtual program. Due to theck of anyndmarks that sparks interest in me, I decided that the only ce that I can go to is the giant tree, which reminded me of the Yggdrasil, the world tree. But I doubt I would see the world tree here, after all, this is not the game and I doubt the World Tree exists in the real world either. I am more leaning that this was just a dream of some sort. It took a few minutes before I reached the vicinity of the big tree. Now that I approached it, the smaller I felt after seeing it up close. It was so massive. It was so big that the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned is not even close to its size. Looking at the tree, it looks like I was an insignificant ant on its roots. It didn''t look this big when I was just in a distance and I was so surprised it was this big. Just as I was marveling at the big tree, someone suddenly snapped me out of my trance. "Who is there?!" I was startled as I didn''t even detect the presence of this person. When I turned to look, it was a girl wearing a white kimono. I instinctively step back after seeing her. For some unknown reason, just being near her feels a bit unnerving. I feel ufortable. She looks like she is the same age as me but she is taller than me and her hair reaches the ground. It was so white that it looks like it was shining. It was like she is the real embodiment of the name "Snow White" as she is just wearing a motif of a white outfit partnered with her pure white kimono. I also noticed that she has quite clear aquamarine eyes. It was like if you stare at it for prolonged periods of time, you will be lulled to sleep. "Who are you?! How did you get in here?! Humans shouldn''t exist in this realm!" "Huh? Aren''t you a human yourself?" "No. And how did you even get in here? This ce should be off-limits to all creatures and living beings that exist in the mortal ne. Just who are you and how did you manage to arrive here?!" She started to release a threatening aura. I tried to suppress it but for some unknown reason, I can''t even do it. Did my ability to even suppress it is also gone?! The sheer pressure is not good enough and I was forced to fall down to the ground, pinned by an invisible force. All of my abilities to even endure it is also gone. It was like it got stripped away from me. "Now...Answer me truthfully. How did you get in here? Are you here to destroy the Yggdrasil?" "GUH... I-" The force pinning me down is too great I have a hard time trying to speak. It sucks that I felt weak but it''s not my fault I am feeling like this. The woman before me is pressuring me and is forcing me into this strong force that I felt like I will die at any moment. I tried to exert all my force and try to resist but I failed. "I... j-just woke...up in here... ugh...I... don''t know... a-anything..." I mustered all my energy just to say those words. As I was thinking about how to escape and release myself from this pinning force, that same force slowly lightens up and disappeared a few momentster and I managed to move back again. This time, I felt like my body was squished temporarily. It is still painful but I managed to get myself out of that situation. "I apologize for my behavior. I just read your memories after your arrival here and it seems you were saying the truth. I apologize for acting like that, especially to a person who was also confused about what is happening." "My bad...I didn''t mean to be suspicious but I am at a loss here. Just where the heck am I?" "This is the domain of the Ygdrassil Tree. Everything around this ce exists due to the power of the mighty world tree, allowing a possible manifestation of living beings. As I told you before, I apologize for my behavior earlier. I was just like that due to the fact that there were never any cases of a human slipping through this ce. This is the first case of that." The Ygdrassil Tree... So my assumption was right that this was the Ygdrassil Tree but from my knowledge in the game, the Ygdrassil Tree isn''t this big in Alternate World and ording to the legend, it was cut down due to the war of the two gods causing the tree to break into pieces and scattered around the world, spreading the forest to all the ces where the giant branchesnded. "Your case is unique and I don''t think you are meant to slip through your reality and this reality. As I said earlier, your presence here is a big abnormality but it was an abnormality that didn''t pose any threat. If you have posed any sort of threat, the surrounding nts will devour you immediately. Seeing you were able to arrive here means that you are not someone who is not seen as a threat which is also a surprise to me." "Can you send me back to my reality?" "I can do that, but it will take a bit of time to do so. After all, I am just the guardian of the tree and I am not someone in charge of having humans tour around the world tree and escort them around. I needed to create something that will allow you to return to your reality where you belong." "I can wait as long as I will be able to return to where I should be." "If that is the case, then please wait for a while. As much as I want you to rx around here, I can''t let you wander around. Despite looking deste and empty, this ce is not a very forgiving ce to someone who doesn''t belong to this realm." As much as I wanted to explore the ce, she is right for me to stay right next to her. With my abilities failing to even manifest, I can only stay here beside her while she is trying to create something for me to go back home. Even though I agreed that she help me return to where I should belong, I still can''t help but not trust her. I can''t keep bing gullible just because she is a girl. She herself tells that the ce is full of danger. If she is the guardian. doesn''t that mean that the whole ce is under her control? I might be trying too hard to not trust her but there is only one way for me to know whether she is still nning to kill me or not. If she can threaten me in my normal state, then I am going to be in deep trouble once she gets really angry. I decided to spark a conversation with her. "Just who are you and why are you guarding the tree? Are there any enemies that are nning for the tree to disappear for you to be this wary against me?" "Yes. As the guardian of the divine World Tree, it is my responsibility to take care of everything. That also includes your safe arrival back to your world." Chapter 411 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Remote Scouting I opened my eyes and stood up from where I was lying. My head is a bit painful and I feel a bit groggy. I remembered that I have some sort of a dream that happened a bit ago though I don''t think I remember what it was even. It was like a deja vu of some sort since I also seemed to have the same experience the other time but I don''t remember it anymore. Shaking my head, I can only just forget what it was. Even if I try to force myself to remember, I think I would just hurt my head more than it should have been. Because my head is a bit more groggy after waking up, I sit there for a bit to recover what I am feeling. "Master, are you alright? You seemed to be a bit pale," Lina asked inside the summon''s area. "Don''t worry, I am fine. It seems I had a dream but I think I can''t remember what it was." "It''s alright to not remember anything, master. Some dreams are easily forgotten once you wake up from sleep so I don''t think it is worth mulling over?" Tina exined just to elevate my mood a bit. "Yeah, I know but it was just some sort of weird feeling that I think I shouldn''t have forgotten. But since I can''t even remember what it was, I shouldn''t even bother thinking too much about it. Thanks for saying that." After a while, my head felt a lot better and I don''t think there is much I can do so I decided to go and rejoin everyone. With the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned dead, everyone must be really busy trying to salvage the materials from the carcass of the monster. It was Almira''s idea so it was clear that she had some sort of n for the materials that will be obtained from it though I have no idea what it was she was trying to get from it. It''s no longer my problem though it would be a different matter if Almira called me to help with that then that would be a different thing already. When I went out of the carriage, I saw Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are currently preparing something and a few soldiers are also carrying out some tasks. Queen Tanya saw me and smiled before she beckons to me. Curious as to what the two are up to, I decided to approach them. "Good timing, deheart. We needed someone strong to apany us and you fit the category just fine," Queen Tanya nodded in satisfaction. "Huh? What? What is this all about?" I was confused. "We will be doing some remote scouting ahead of us. With the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned dead, we have to check the surrounding vicinity in case an enemy is attracted from the dead body of the turtle and is just lying in wait for us. It is also to avoid trouble along the way, we wanted to scout the area to make preemptive measures if things get really bad." "Should I tell the others too? I think they will be willing to help," I asked. "Nah, they are currently preupied at the moment so they can''t and if you remove one of them from there, I don''t guarantee it will bode too well on their side, so best you leave them alone for now. Besides, it is a good idea to have more capable people left behind in case some stronger monsters appear while we are away, it will help a lot with them defending the ce," Queen Tanya quickly refuted my suggestion. She was right though so I guess it was only me and the soldiers who will be helping Queen Tanya and Queen Tori right now. I waited for them to finish their preparations and after that, we departed and went to the other side of the caravan where I can see in the distance some sort of part that looks like a cliff of some sort It was currently being hidden by the tall cliffs situated above our heads, creating a wall that encloses the area towards the next area. "This ce always gives me the creeps," Queen Tori shivers even though she is wearing a jacket. "Why so? It looks like a normal ce to me and aside from being a bit dark and a bit cold, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary at all." Queen Tanya looked around to see if there are anything that seems to look bad enough for her sister to act like that but failed to spot it. "If you live long enough in this hellhole, you can develop a sense of dread from ces that seem to be not even worth putting a bit of dread either. Normal-looking ces like this might have something more in store for us that we just didn''t know." "Alright, alright. I am just not able to detect anything so I thought there is nothing." We continue walking around the ce that slowly turned into a cavern after another cliff that is situated on the other side arched over the first wall, creating a little natural cavern. Compared to earlier, it was much colder and darker so Queen Tanya has to summon a little Glow Ball to light up the way. As we continue walking, I finally realized what Queen Tori said that she didn''t like the ce due to some sort of bad feeling she feels whenever she is there. It seems to also be affecting me for some reason too. As for Queen Tanya, she seemed to be fine so I am a bit in a doubt about how Queen Tanya seems to have not noticed anything at all. After all, from all of us, she has the most sensitive sensors on some things that seem to be out of this world. I didn''t say anything as that would just give everyone around some anxiety over an unseen enemy that I might have just imagined. But just as we have been deep enough into the ce, we felt a loud rumble underneath us. The snow above the cliffs is also falling slowly through the gaps. "Oh, sh*t... Avnche! Everyone! Let''s get out of here!" Queen Tori warned everyone. When they heard that it was an avnche, the soldiers panicked and started running away. Queen Tori and Queen Tanya also started running. I also started running when I noticed one soldier is running behind me. "Come on, run faster!" I encouraged him. "I am sorry! I am just a slow runner! Just go, I will catch up!" I almost cussed when I heard that reason and it didn''t help that he was carrying some bags too so I decided to grab the bags he was carrying. "Let me carry that. Come on! Focus on running!" ? The rumble is getting louder and the snow falling above us is also getting faster in falling down. I frowned as we are still not that near to the area where we will be safe from the area of the avnche. As much as I want to encourage the soldier to run as fast as he can, the soldier who I took the bags off from him is still running so slow. It was like he was intentionally doing this. Then, the avnche finally broke through and the snow that is currently up above the cliff started to fall down inrge quantities that one drop from it and you will die. The slow soldier just continues to run as slow as he was earlier. We are already at the very end where we can be safe from the avnche but with the slow speed of this soldier, there is no time for us to even get there in time. I can just leave him there and save myself but even if they are NPC, I don''t think I can even do that. So to quickly save him from that predicament, I decided to use the bags and throw them at his back with all my force. Why did I do that instead of lounging myself on his back? It was because it has a higher risk we will be caught by the snow instead together. To avoid that, I decided to use this chance to just use the bags to push him towards the edge. Besides, I am a yer. Even if I die, it was no biggie since I can just respawn from death, unlike an NPC. Still, that NPC soldier is slow us f*ck. I don''t even see a hint of surprise or panic in him even while we are running, It was like he was taking his time running without even a sense of urgency. It was like he didn''t care whether he will be buried in the snow or what. When I released the bag, he was thrown to the end while the snow-filled the whole ce alongside myself. But before the whole ce was filled in with snow, the floor I was standing in caved-in and I fell to the new cliff that seems to be like an instant death once I fell down there. Chapter 412 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (I) I was expecting to get buried under the avnches but due to the cave-in that happened right before the snow can evennd on my head, I managed to avoid death once more. Now, my only problem is how tond properly. I can''t summon Leona to help me since the area that I was falling in is too tight for Leona alone and even if I did summon her, she won''t be able to help me here, more like she will be stuck somewhere instead, leaving me falling to the deep hole. Without wings or anything that would soften mynding, I am currently on a sitting duck here. "Master! We can help!" Lina and the others offered. "Thanks but no need. I can do this myself." After that, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it from hook and chain. Grabbing the hook, I tried to use the hook to reduce the speed of my fall by putting the hook into the ice wall. Because the walls are not that jagged, the hook is just passing through the ice wall and I keep falling. But I am no longer falling as fast as before and I am indeed having a slower descent. But I am also struggling on keeping the hook into the walls. Without it being attached to a wall, I am going to have another increased speed in my descent again. I gritted my teeth and increase the force of my grip. It alles down to this and it will also depend on how deep this is. ... Around 5 minutester, I finally reached the bottom floor. The Hook on my hand is already too hot due to the friction, luckily, the heat of the hook is not that hot enough to melt the ice wall before me and increase my descent, allowing me tond safely. However, I underestimated the stress my hands get after that. It still felt a bit bad and my hand still feel sore due to that. The next thing I did was sit down on the cold ground. The snow that fell with me arrived much faster after I used the hook technique, allowing me to avoid being buried in it. I needed my rest so I didn''t even care whether there are monsters around or not, I just needed to have a good rest and have my hands recover for a bit. And as I put my butt on the hard cold floor, the notification of discovering a new ce appeared before me. [You have discovered the Frozen Hell Underground. You are the first one to discover this ce.] Frozen Hell Underground? That is an ominous name for a ce. And here I thought it was just an idental area where I slipped through the usual boundary of the game, turns out, a ce actually existed underneath. Since I was separated from everyone, I decided to open up my inventory and pull out a teleport scroll. I set my destination and tore the scroll into two. However... [Due to Special Circumstances, Teleport Scrolls and skills that will allow you to transfer from one ce to another are going to be canceled. For used Teleport Scrolls, they will be reverted back to their normal scroll form that hasn''t been used.] Once that announcement appeared, the scroll that I just tore into two returned back to a whole piece scroll once more. It shouldn''t have been possible since an item will only be used up and disappear if it wasn''t able to fulfill its effects after it gets canceled. I never heard or seen something like this happening before. I inwardly cursed. If I can''t use it, that means this ce is something that I have to explore and find the exit. Climbing is close to impossible, especially with how slippery the walls are and theck of jagged edges for me to grab a hold of, it is also not viable. And I was locked back to the choice of finding the exit of this hellhole. To avoid everyone from worrying, I decided to chat with anyone from our group about my situation and to say that I am okay. However, another problem appeared. [Chat and call function is currently unavable until you have escaped from this ce. Please exit from this ce before the normal functions will return.] Seeing the text on my screen panel, I inwardly cursed seeing it. I felt sweaty and checked the log-out button. Don''t tell me I am also forced to stay inside this game too? With all the functions I have seen being all stuck and can''t be used, I feared the log-out button too will be also the same thing. [Are you sure you want to log out?] Yes/No I clicked yes and I returned to reality. I sighed in relief after seeing that I can log out from the game and not be locked out from it. that would have been a big problem if that happened instead. Since I am out already, I sent a message to Janus and the others using my Holophone that I am stuck somewhere and I have to find the exit for myself at the moment. After sending it to them, I am relieved for that, and that will also allow me to stop the two queens from worrying about me and finding me under the snow. With that done, I log back into the game. The sooner we are done with this Frozen hell or whatever that ce is, the better. [Wee Back! deheart] I spawned from where I stood back when I log back out. I was hoping I would be spawning back into the city but it was just not something that will not happen especially since I was stuck in here. "Dammit, Lucia, Tina, Lina, please lend me a hand in here." The three girls went out of the summons area and they started to shiver from the cold. "I underestimated the coldness of this ce..." Lucia gritted her teeth from the cold. "It is definitely not a good ce to stay put..." Tina hugged herself to warm up. As for Lina, it seems she didn''t have much problem. Lucia looked at her with a puzzled look on her face. "Are you not cold at all, Lina-chan?" "Since my Battle Maid armor is made from exceptional fabric and meticulous garment, it was able to resist cold and heat, all the same, allowing me to serve anytime, anywhere, whether we are in a scorching hot desert or a chilling and mind-numbing ce like this. Therefore, there is no need for me to feel cold at all." "Damn it... that is kinda cheating..." Tina grumbled. "Now, now. I have winter gear avable for you all to resist the cold. Wear it to elevate the coldness you guys are feeling right now. You too, Lina. Despite having your Battle Maid dress, don''t keep relying on it, with this ce being so cold, it is better to have multiple covers from the cold. Who knows if it gets colder around herepared to the temperature above." ? "I understand." Lina then wears the coat and gloves I have given. The other two also did the same thing. "Whew, that''s a lot better. It is still cold but not to the point I will shiver just by standing still," Lucia sighed in relief. "So, what is the first course of action here, Master? Whatever the n is, we are ready to do it." "Since this was an uncharted ce, we will have to explore the ce but our first priority is to find a way up here and return back to where we were before." "That would take us a long time, Master. Considering how far you have fallen through this ce and how long before you touched solid ground, it will take us a bit longer before we can even find a good way out of this ce," Lina reasoned out. "That is why we have to explore. Who knows, we might discover a secret that will allow us to escape here immediately. Also, if this ce was inessible and can only be essed by falling into the caved-in like earlier, then howe there is a road that seems to lead to somewhere around here? Isn''t that going to be just impossible?" I quickly pointed out the road ahead of us that seems to lead us somewhere though we have no idea. "You might be right, Master. Then let''s stop talking and we should begin our exploration." We begin our exploration of the Frozen Hell Underground. No one knows how long we will be able to get out of this ce nor do we know what lurks in the darkness. It might seem hopeless but I can tell that we will be able to get out of here as soon as we can. There is only one way for us to do it and that is to explore. Of course, I have no idea that a ruckus has already urred back to the team that managed to escape the avnche sessfully. Chapter 413 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (II) I underestimated the size of this underground secret area. We are currently resting after exploring the only road that leads to somewhere in this underground hell hole. Just from the map alone that I managed to draw, it was big enough that the passageways of the Rod Minest time are not even close to the size of this ce. Not only that but after our exploration, we didn''t even see any traces of monsters or anything living underneath here but we can still feel the intense staring presence somewhere. The staring presence doesn''t do anything bad and does not even reveal where it was doing its staring job but having this constant feeling of being stared at gives some sense of dread to your body that you don''t feel safe even though you are in a safe zone. It was simr to the feeling of discovering that you have a stalker following you in the dark. "Master. The staring that I am feeling is really unnerving, it was like I am being peeled slowly from his eyes," Tina rubbed her arms and I can see that she is also ufortable with how the guy behind the one doing this is doing its stalking tendencies. "Indeed Master. And it doesn''t help that we can''t detect his presence at all. It was like it is waiting for a chance to strike during the most unsuspected time we currently have. What do you think we should do, Master? Seek this thing out?" Lina asked. "I am against that option, Lina-chan. As much as we are annoyed and ufortable with this someone staring at us. there is no way we have to spend our time looking for this guy, We don''t even have the luxury to check whether this guy is just messing with us or just there staring. I suggest we just ignore him right there and wait for his reaction. If he tries to attack us while our defenses are down, that is the time we strike," Lucia firmly suggested. "Lucia''s suggestion is indeed our best option. Right now, we can''t afford to waste any more time finding out who the heck is this guy. Our priority is to find the exit from this ce and get out of here as soon as possible. That would be much more worth our time than checking out whether he is real or not." I can tell that the other two are notfortable with my suggestion but that is our only choice. The more we try to check out who this guy is, the more time we will be wasting and the crazier we will feel if we don''t find who is doing all of this crap. Once we get enough rest, we continue our exploration and I continue mapping where we are walking to make sure we don''t get lost. We continue what seems like our worthless exploration going for a few hours already and the path that I already have drawn on the map that I am making already surpassed the size of the path of the Rod Mine and howplex it looked. If I am not an expert in cartography, it wouldn''t take time before we get lost. Some passageways that we passed by is just a repeat of a passage and if we decided to take it, we will just be circling around from where we came from. It was honestly too confusing and one mistake and we will be circling around once more to where we came from. Not only that but the feeling of dread is still strong that it decreases the morale of everyone while we are exploring. Sure, there are no enemies popping out of nowhere but the fact that we haven''t seen any single monster block our way and try to kill us just makes it even weirder than how it should have been. It was too troublesome just to feel like you are always not alone and yet you are sure you are alone. You can feel contradicting yourself in the process. We soon found ourselves in a bigger area where it looks like a big round hall. There are currently three pathways that split themselves. We can''t determine where is the right area around the three ces and the only way to know about it is to manually explore it and see whether the path is busted or it leads to a dangerous ce, or even the main exit. "Let''s rest here for a while. Even if you guys are not feeling tired, we have to refill our sanity which has been causing our sense of dread feeling intense than usual. I can also tell that you guys are also getting paler and paler the more we explore." The three didn''t object to my suggestion. We started making a small campfire using the campfire kit I keep with me always. Since we can''t make normal campfires without any wood to use as firewood, the campfire kit that I carry with me makes its entrance as it will substitute itself as a normal campfire if weck the necessary materials to create one. "How long do you think we will be staying here underground? A few days? A week? Or a Month maybe?" Lucia closed her eyes, thinking hard. "I doubt we will take that long staying here unless we are just stuck here due to how big this ce is but I can''t refuse you on that as it is a big possibility that it will happen," Tina rxed her body to the foldable recliner I made forfort. Lina did not partake in the conversation as she was busy helping me prepare the food that we will be eating. Even if we are not in the real world, our characters still needed to eat as that is the main mechanic of the game that we still feel hungry. To lift up the mood of everyone, I decided to cook a curry. Since I don''t have the ex job of Chef just yet, I can only rely on Lina to make the food to increase the chances of sess and buff applied to the food as she has already the Maid ex Job that already consists quite a lot of perks all in one pack. The only thing I can do is just prepare some ingredients and help her prepare the necessary instructions to make the curry a sess. While we are working, I felt that the presence of the one staring at us is getting nearer than usual and it seemed like it was just around the corner. I frowned while trying to determine if I can easily pinpoint the one doing this. I made sure to keep doing what I am still doing to make sure the one doing the unnerving stare won''t get rmed. Lucia and Tina seem to be absorbed talking with each other while Lina is busy cooking allowing them to be distracted from the main presence of the little f*cker that is hiding from us. I made sure that I am concealing my aura of detecting the stalker, to stop alerting it. The worst-case scenario we have is that this guy gets agitated and attacks us. We can still keep this guy near us and catch him before he can do anything. With that little bit of detection, I slowly grasp where it was hiding. And from the looks of the traces, it seems it was really near to us and it is just around the corner. There is one thing that boggles me, is this a monster or this is a person? Now that I managed to at least identify the main source of the stare, it felt like it came from a person and it is not big enough that I can call it a presence from a monster either since monsters have a much different aura than most creatures. Still, I can''t properly discern its exact location. It seems to be using some sort of ability that deludes anyone who tries to track their location. It makes things hard for me to see where the exact main location of this guy is located. But locating that guy is already progressing in my opinionpared to earlier where it was like this staring guy is just a phantom of some sort and we can''t determine whether this guy is near or far or just around the corner. Just as I am already grasping where the exact location of the guy is, we suddenly felt a huge tremor, causing everything around us to shake. "Holy crap... what was that?!" Everyone panicked when that urred. With us being underground and surrounded by ice, it was clear that once a very strong tremor urred and the tremors esctes, there is a possibility for us to get buried in the ice and that is not good. But after the tremor, the staring presence seems to have disappeared but the feeling of being stared at remains. Looks like things will not be smoother than expected after all, Chapter 414 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Queen Tanyas Fury While deheart is already exploring beneath the cold snow to look for a way out and a way back to the surface, Queen Tanya is enraging furiously as she looked at the chubby soldier who she assigned as a courier. As much as she wants to see that this guy is not at fault for what happened to deheart, it was intentional. "Whew, damn! That was intense!" the chubby soldier wipe the sweat on his forehead as if relieved that he managed to survive the avnche. Queen Tori is currently assessing the avnche site to see if it was bad enough. With the snow covering the full entrance of the ce, it was clear that it is not going to be open once again very soon unless someone wanted to dig out all of the stuck snow. Soon, she rejoined the group that was resting along with Queen Tanya. "Sis, I doubt we can use this path again. It''s too risky for the expedition to use and much more dangerouspared to the main road that we use to ess the deeper parts of the region." "So, can you tell whether deheart will be surviving the avnche?" "I think he can. Seeing the snow, it didn''t have any boulders that would certainly make an avnche fatal. Furthermore, even if he dies, he is one of the people who revive the cathedral. We can just wait for his revival if he ever died there." "Still, he clearly has a higher chance of surviving. But he decided to save a soldier before he was covered by the snow of the avnche." "Oh, that guy. I didn''t expect you to bring him along with us, but what happened already happened, there is nothing we can do about it." "You know that soldier?" Queen Tanya asked. "Of course. You already know that I am very close to my soldiers and I have some sort of bonds and buddies with your soldiers too so I obviously know this guy. And since it was this guy, I can immediately tell that what happened to deheart is not a coincidence," Queen Tori exined. "Not a coincidence?" "Yes. I only know the rumors from my buddies from your soldiers. This guy is known to sacrifice the lives of hisrades just to save his own hide. He was infamous for doing that and if confronted about it, he would jokingly say that it wasn''t his fault that they were weak enough thenugh like it wasn''t much of a big deal." "Why have I never heard of this matter..?" Queen Tanya gritted her teeth in anger. "Because of their fear against him." "Huh?" "Despite being a low-rank soldier, he is a strong Berserker soldier. He can easily decimate enemies with his abilities. And he is a noble with high backing from some nobles that support him. He is just working as a soldier for now because he is nning to climb up the ranks of the soldiers and be one of the official ones that are trusted by you. That might also be the main reason why your soldiers decided to stay quiet as to avoid the ire of those nobles and get themselves killed in the process." When Queen Tanya heard this, her hands are already showing signs of her dark power. It was already overflowing to the point that even Queen Tori is getting shivers from it. "Sis! Sis! Snap out of it! There is no point getting angry about it!" "Don''t stop me, Tori. Even if he is noble, there is nothing they could do if I am the one who decided to bring justice to them." And before Queen Tori could stop her sister, Queen Tanya dashes and grab the unsuspecting chubby soldier to his neck and grip it tightly that the soldier didn''t expect that to even happen. If he ever expected it, he would have been able to dodge it so easily. "You were thest guy who managed to survive the avnche right?" "Ah- y-yes, Your Majesty...kuk! It hurts...your majes- gah!" Queen Tanya starts to tighten her grip. "Tell me how you managed to get out of the avnche without getting caught. I saw you earlier and you aregging right behind us. How did you manage to get out of there without getting covered by the avnche?" "Gah-Some...one... an insignificant warrior helped me..." Queen Tanya released the guy from her grip. As soon as he released it, he started babbling about it immediately. "That insignificant warrior decided to help after he saw megging behind everyone else. I am surprised since there should have been no need to do that and I don''t need his help in any way but he insisted and he grab my baggage off of me and decided to carry on. He keeps on ncing at me and when we are about near the main entrance, he suddenly throws the baggage that he snatched away from me and throws it at me! How rude of him to do that to someone as noble as me! He didn''t show any respect!" The moment he started dabbling more, Queen Tanya could no longer hold her fury and unleashed the power of her fist and punched a hole in his stomach. He is still alive as that was a sudden punch and just enough to keep his flesh intact aside from the hole that was made on his stomach. "Y-your majesty... what is the meaning of this?" "If I have learned it much earlier than before, perhaps you might have received this punishment much earlier than. You should have been thankful I only done that on your stomach. If I hadn''t been capable of keeping my abilities in control, your body would have already been broken to pieces already you piece of sh*t." "What...? What did I even do wrong..." "What you did wrong? Ha! Did you even realize who is the one you are calling the insignificant warrior? Ah, perhaps because you were on vacation until the veryst day that you didn''t know that I gained a trustworthy person to assist us on this expedition. Not only that, but he is also one of the keys to making this expedition a sess." "H-HUH? You mean...urk..." the chubby guy looked down at the stomach that he is covering and the flesh that was still intact is slowly releasing its grip on the cement of his body. His wound is also slowly releasing quite a lot of blood too. "Indeed. The insignificant warrior who saved you from the avnche is the one who is also one of the keys to this expedition. He just traded his life for someone trashy like you. I know you are a noble blood soldier but that doesn''t mean it is a good enough reason to look down on others. Don''t even think of thinking of a reason. I know you are purposely trying to slow down yourself and bring someone down, dead. Just having you in my soldier ranks absolutely ruins the confidence my soldiers had towards my decisions." When he heard that, his calm-looking face turned twisted and he gritted his teeth with wrath, as blood started to trickle faster from his wound. "Ha! That is the main reason why you are being despised by the nobles, your majesty! You are being toopassionate towardmon people! The nobility should have focused more on what the nobles can do and forgotten about all the plebians! You will regret doing this, my family wouldn''t let this matter go after they knew I died. They will make sure you will be dethroned soon!" Queen Tanya''s open palms closed and in a swift action, the same guy talking was turned into minced meat in just a few seconds. "Don''t worry, once they try doing that, I will make sure that the nobility who decides to do that will be erased from the annals of history. Mark my words." Queen Tori who was just on the side, didn''t intervene, while the soldiers who were watching the drama earlier didn''t even bother to defend the guy and let him die in the end. They just watched him die without a care and from the looks of it, they are in favor of what Queen Tanya did. They decided to keep a blind eye on what happened. After all, he was not even a well-liked person. After the minced meat of the soldier fell to the ground she snap her fingers and the minced flesh of the guy was engulfed in mes. It was quick and it didn''t evenst a few seconds before it turned to ashes that slowly mixed into the ice. "Grab the remains of his armor and let''s get out of here. We should still think positively that deheart might have survived. If not, he should have been revived already in the cathedral." After that, she turned to look at her soldiers. "Next time, talk to me if something like this happens. I am not tolerating someone trying to abuse their position and their powers just because of their upper hand. I will make the judgment whether they needed to die or not." Chapter 415 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (III) The cold air that is blowing to our skin indicates that somewhere out there, an exit exists, allowing the cold air to freely flow around the ce. There is no way it came above as that would make the wind blows downward which is not possible especially if it was in a mountainous area like this ce where we are surrounded by different forms of rocks. I let everyone have a good sleep at the moment and to make sure that they aren''t in a cold ce while exploring, I decided to ask the Dark Desert Wolf Pack for help in monitoring sensing danger. With their sharp senses, even if I try to catch a quick nap, they will be good enough in detecting all of the dangers that might appear. Since they rarely have their own time to shine on the battlefield, I could definitely have their help really useful right now. As for the three girls, I let them return to the Summons Area to recover their morale and boost up their mood. With the cold air and the gloomy atmosphere of this ce, their mental stability slowly degrades, causing them to be susceptible to many things. As for me, this is actually in my favor. I spent many times before in dark and gloomy ces grinding for levels in the past. You can say that my mind has been trained too hard that it started to develop immunity to ces that normally degrades one''s mental stability. It''s not something to be proud of but it is something that helps me a lot of times. Despite my current body is not trained in this stuff, how my mentality is carried over to this body, that alone helps me a lot, especially in situations like this. Even if it is a game, that doesn''t mean your mind doesn''t function normally. It is a normal body response so if you feel nothing in simr situations, you are either too used to feeling anything or if it was your first time, you are one dense motherf*cker. I can feel the asional tremors around and I am always looking above to see if there is anything falling towards my position. Being buried alive or being knocked down by something falling is something I don''t want to happen. As for where the tremors are originating from, I have no way of knowing where they came from. After an hour of rest, I recalled the Dark Desert Wolf Pack and resummon Lina, Tina, and Lucia. They have rested quite well and they are now in tip-top shape so off we go to exploration. ... "Master, it is getting really cold now. Even my Battle Maid Dress is not enough tobat the cold," Lina releases her breath into her palms and a cloud of white smokees out from her breath, which signifies the cold weather. I also felt the cold seep through your clothes and armor and it definitely does not helps you in terms of moving around. "Let''s keep moving, that way, our body will be able to keep warm despite this cold temperature. Lucia, does your fire can''t remove this cold feeling we are currently feeling right now?" I turned to look at Lucia who is also shivering. "No Master. For some unknown reason, my mes are not doing well and they are colderpared to how hot they should have been when we are fighting against enemies." I decided to see it for myself and summoned a single fire in my palm to check how cold it is and I was surprised that the mes in my hands are not as hot as they should have been. It was like I am holding a piece of ice in my hands. I can still feel some sort of warmth for a split second before it gets cold as soon as I try to feel the coldness. We continue to follow the small path that is the only avable path for us to pass through. Without any enemies to battle against, our movement is just limited to walking, It would have helped if we have any sort of enemy to beat the sh*t out of them but we are stuck to none. "Guys, you should go back to the Summons Area for now. As much as I want you three to help me, without any enemies to fight back, we are just going to make things harder for ourselves. I will just go and resummon you guys again once I engage in a fight. That way, we have more fighting forces who are not feeling cold at the moment." ,m The three didn''t disobey my orders and returned. Maybe because it is too cold that they didn''t hesitate at all. With them already back in the summons area, I am now alone dealing with the current temperature. Now that I think about it, perhaps it was called by the system the Frozen Hell Underground is due to how it is very hellish in here that at any second, your whole body would freeze if you wear something light. Not only that but the anxiety you feel when you look around is also unnerving. Without any enemies but with the same feeling of something or someone staring, it makes the whole situation mind taxing. And yes, the one staring at me and the others seems to be still around as I can still feel the presence of that entity. If I was not experienced with this kind of thing, I might have gone insane already or I would just straight up log back out and nevere back. The realism of this game transcends reality and virtual. I continue to move forward and soon arrived at a big open area underground. It was weird as it was not something I have seen before. It was like I came out from a deep cave or something. However, when you look up at the sky, instead of the clouds, you will see the same roof of rock. It also means this is no longer part of the cliffs but it is already underneath a mountain or any rock formation. But oddly enough, the whole open area looks like it came from the surface, and it is really weird as it is not something I usually see underground. It was like it is in another space entirely. The coldness that I also felt earlier lessened a bit and although it is still cold, it is not to the point where just standing still would freeze your whole body in a few seconds. With the wide area to explore, I started to walk around the ce and check whatever is in store of this ce for me. Despite being simr to open space and opennd, I didn''t see any kind of nt life or any kind of form that signifies life around the ce. In fact, even boulders are nonexistent. The only thing I am seeing right now before me is the vast white snow on the ground, covering the whole ce like a wide carpet. Aside from that, nothing else. In this white world, it was like the whole ce was bleached white and deleted whatever things that may have existed here at some point. "Did I wander around a boundary of the game that shouldn''t have been explored just yet?" I wondered about that myself but I also know that it shouldn''t be the case. Despite having no barriers to stop you from exploring, you would immediately know you are going beyond the boundary of the ce if the only thing you see is a blurred view in the further area. You can try to push on to that ce but you will just not be seeing anything beyond that area except for the blurred view. In my current situation, it shouldn''t be the boundary as I can still see things clearly beyond what I am walking and I can still see the snow covering the whole ground. If it was already a boundary, that snow I am seeing would also be blurry and you cannot even identify whether that was snow or something else. I continue exploring and walking straight to the white expanse of snow to see whether I see anything worth investigating, Then, I turned back behind me. Nothing. My n didn''t work. Since this ce is a whole expanse of white snow and nothing else, I thought it would be a good ce for me to check whoever is staring at us since earlier. Without anywhere or anything they can use to hide without being detected, they are easily spotted. The feeling of someone staring at you still remains even though I am already in an open area so what the heck is happening? "WHO ARE YOU?!" I was startled when someone started talking behind me and I didn''t even feel its presence. I turned around and someone who looks like a man who has not seen civilization appeared before me holding a very huge greatsword that looks simr to the sword Guts uses in Berserk, "ANSWER ME, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Chapter 416 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (IV) The appearance of this man is unprecedented as I didn''t even notice his presence. He should be not the one who is staring at me as I can still feel someone is still doing that thing despite him being there. That only means he is not the one staring at me, but something or someone else. Now, the question is, who is this man? As much as I want to think of a logical exnation, there is no way he just arrived here because he is exploring. Is he a monster in the form of a human? Very possible as there are also human bosses or something simr. "Hey, are you just going to stand there? Who are you?" "I should be the one who should be asking you that! It seems you are more like a native to this ce." "Heh, I am indeed a native here but at the same time, I am not a native. And it also doesn''t mean I am obligated to tell you my name, stranger. You came barging to my territory so it is natural for me to defend this ce with my life." He then started to brandish his sword around and even though I am just at a distance, I can easily feel that it is very dangerous for me if I get hit by that weapon. Just being far from him is enough for him to transfer the feeling of the air cutting in half to me. I can tell that once those swings will be directed at me, I will not be able to properly defend without giving it my all. Seeing him getting ready for battle, I also ready myself in battle and pulled out the Versatile Weapon, turning it into a magic sword. I have to give it my best to fight back against him. But before I can react, I was immediately sent flying and I saw my HP fell from full bar to almost critical bar. It''s too close to death and one more hit and I will definitely die. I didn''t try to think of anyplicated things about how that happened and quickly used my sword to stop my body from mming the rock wall which will result in my death if I didn''t do anything. "[Greater Heal]!" I usually don''t use my healing abilities for the cleric as it has a cooldown on how many times you can use itpared to the potion where you can drink multiple bottles at the same time without waiting for any cooldown on how long you can drink one again. But this time, I have no choice but to use it as pulling a potion bottle out of my inventory takes a few seconds before I can even heal myself. And my decision was right as I managed to heal back to full health, the odd guy attacked again and I have almost no time to even dodge, causing me to block his attacks with the Versatile Weapon. And even though I managed to block his attack, my health got immediately reduced to the half bar. I didn''t even think of anything and pulled out the Pain Delivery while my Versatile Weapon is blocking his greatsword. "PARRY THIS, YOU FILTHY CASUAL!" BANG! It seems the man did not anticipate the appearance of the Pain Delivery and was immediately fell when I shot him in the head. "Damn, you did good," he stood up and pulled out the bullet on his head like nothing. I cussed silently seeing that he didn''t die and the bullet of the Pain Delivery did not even pierce or graze his skin. He didn''t manage to parry it but he was able to stop it without much problem. "Interesting. To think someone can actually do this to me, you are a worthy opponent!" And as he said those words, he rushes forward once more and swings his greatsword at me. It was just casual swinging without even any sort of power-up or anything that could enhance his power. Not even any skills attached, just in sword swing. If this guy is a yer and we are under the PVP rules, this guy is basically cheating. Even with my Versatile Weapon, there is no way it can do that without any effects. SWISH! My instincts immediately kicked in and instead of blocking that, I quickly dodged it and the single swing he did, immediately cut up the ground in half, causing the ground we are standing in to crumble the moment it was sliced in half. While dodging, I pulled out several Scrolls I made beforehand. I don''t know if the effect of the Shield of Vanagloria can handle that attack but I better save it up forter if this f*cker tried to use some sort of skill that I can''t dodge. If I can still dodge it, then I won''t use it just yet. Now that he is finished with his attack, I tore up all the scrolls that are in my hands by slicing them with the Versatile Weapon and activated [Breathless Breathing], [Silent Sprint], and [ming Sword] to aid the additional buffs from the scrolls I have just torn into two. I don''t know how many I sliced but I only know that all of them are buff scrolls I previously made. [Breathless Breathing] [Silent Sprint] [ming Sword] [Attack Enhancement IV] [Critical Enhancement IV] [Defense Pierce Enhancement] ,m [Ignore Invincible] [Critical Rate IV] [Debuff Enhancement IV] [Defense Breaker IV] [Double Charge] [Manhunt] [Defense Enhancement IV] [Battle Continuation IV] [Refresh III] [Guts] I saw all the buffs that appeared and I didn''t expect to also pull out [Battle Continuation IV] and [Guts] along with all the buff scrolls I pulled out. These two skills are part of the skills of the Berserker ss. It was exclusive to this ss due to how vulnerable Berserkers are while they use their specialty skills especially [Berserk]. [Battle Continuation] is a skill that allows me to recover 1 HP and since this was the upgraded version which is already in the fourth enhancement hence the IV sign beside the name, the effect is also enhanced, allowing me to do this four more times if my HP is reduced to zero. As for [Guts], it''s another Berserker essential skill that allows me to survive fatal attacks and leave me to 1 HP minimum. Having the twobined in activation will allow me to survive further from his one-hit-kill attacks. With all the buffs already in effect, I dashed forward, closing the gap between the two of us. I know he will just block one attack so I decided to use a Swordsman skill that will allow me to attack three more times with it. Before that, I attacked him with just a basic swing. PENG! As expected, he blocked the swing by just tilting his Greatsword, blocking it before pulling it out of the ground and raising it above. "This is the end kid!" "Same goes for you!" And as he has no more weapon to block my attack since he is raising it, he is wide open and even if it was just a split second, that is enough for me to do another attack, "[Triple sh]!" He didn''t react when I started shing him, and if he is doing that, I think he is pretty confident I will not be able to do anything against him but... I sliced off his arm that was holding the Greatsword and I continue slicing him up with blood falling over his wounds. With the effect of [Ignore Invincible] in which case ignores the buff of enemies with [Invincibility] status, allowing me to deal damage against them though sometimes, it does not work as some enemies can easily bypass that since they can ignore that effect and keep themselves invincible. For those enemies who are not naturally invincible and can only obtain that status by consuming an item or using a skill, [Ignore Invincible]es in handy. Blood starts to fall down on his wounds like a waterfall but he was just surprised and he didn''t seem terrified about what is happening to him. Before I knew it, he grab his falling arms, and to my surprise, he reattached his arm back to his shoulders and resumed attacking, sessfully killing me as my HP went down to zero, bypassing the effects of [Guts] for some unknown reason I don''t know. But with the effect of [Battle Continuation IV], I was able to revive again and receive a single HP left behind. That is enough for me and I immediately make myself a distance against him while pulling out an Extra Large Health Potion and chugging it down to itsst content. I can only say what the f*ck on him. Did he just regenerate his severed arm back to his shoulders without any problem?! I am quite sure that I have sliced it off as it was detached from his shoulders and I saw blood pour out from them. Just who is this man and what the heck is he to be able to do that without any problem?! Chapter 417 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Almiras Chain Of Quests ,m The attacks of the hyenas are getting scarce as time goes by and the dead bodies of the killed hyenas are all buried under the snow but they still stick out due to how they stain the white snow with their blood. "Whew, thankfully, these doggos are already slowing their attacks but they are still pretty much annoying as hell," Iron ms down his shield to the snow after thest attack stopped. "Don''t overdo it brother, as much as we wanted to keep them at bay, they will keep on appearing as long as the corpse of this giant turtle is still here," Topaz pat her brother''s back. "Yeah, yeah. I know what you are talking about, still, that is a lot of Experience we got just bying here. We might have even surpassed most yers in the maind." Due to how they keep on fighting wave after waves of those hungry hyenas every time they attack, it isn''t so strange they managed to get high of a level and even though many of them are currently in one party and they share the exp among themselves, they are still leveling very fast than normal, it is terrifying. Currently, everyone is sitting on level 124. They have already surpassed deheart''s level but they also understood that it was normal that deheart would be left behind in levels due to how his ss is differentpares to theirs but no one would believe that most of them were sitting below level 100 before they arrived here except for some of them who are already in level 100 and above. And all they just did to arrive at that level is drive away hyenas and nothing else. It was an insane amount of experience they received and it was more experiencepared to the experience they received from clearing an abyss dungeon. It was clear that the two have a huge discrepancy in experience gain. Still, it is still a blessing that they are able to grow this much without encountering a very huge amount of hurdles like an unkible monster or monsters simr to how they need a lot of effort to take it down like how they did against the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. Without any Snow Hyenas attacking left behind alive, the work is proceeding smoothly. Almira also received quite a goodrge chunk of the shell from the carcass of the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned. Since she can''t leave the site due to how she needs to instruct the people on how to mine all of the necessary items, she walks toward the group and decided to give them a new task. "Thanks to all of you. With no more Snow Hyenas, I will be giving you guys a new task at hand and it is much more difficult than your previous task of defending the soldiers from the attack of the Snow Hyenas. But first, here are your rewards, I made sure to think what best items you guys needed the most right now." Almira pulled out her dimensional storage and pulled out different kinds of equipment. Andpared to the equipment that deheart has given to them, the equipment that Almira has handed to them is much better in quality and rarity too. deheart''s weapon rarity is allbeled as Very Rare while the reward they received is on Unique Rarity. Although it was just one piece, it is already a big ramp up if they equip it right now. Although it will get reced eventually with a piece of better equipment with better stats, this is already a huge thing. "Are you sure these are our rewards? These are all so high in rarity I doubt we will be recing them anytime soon!" Dolly was reluctant. "Of course. My disciple has given you the equipment you guys are wearing right? Then it is only much better if you use the rewards as well as that will enhance the amount of power you guys will gain after equipping it. Besides, if he is getting better in his cksmithing skills, you guys will receive a much better reward than this. Not only that but these items I have given out will also allow you guys to perform in a much better way to efficiently do your jobs. It is still a good win for you all," Almira yawned after saying all of that. She seemed a little bit sleepy. "So you are saying that we have a new task. What is it?" deheart''s father asked. "Alright, since we are already ready to do the next job, here, I will issue the next one. Be sure to double-check it and see whether you can all handle the quest or not since I am not going to force you all to handle this quest. But if you do, make sure you are all prepared." Once Almira mentioned her warning, the quest notification pops up before them and they didn''t expect to see the content of the quest that they are about to receive. [Almira''s Errand (Extreme Difficulty) Note: This quest requires the yers to finish the quest continuously without a break for the time is short. Not only that but for every chain, the quest will get harder. It is a non-mandatory quest so even if you have chosen not to partake, the only thing you will be missing out on is the reward. Requirements: None Info: To finish the items that are needed for the expedition, Almira has given your group a series of group tasks that are needed to be done with utmost urgency. There will be no breaks here and every quest has a time limit toplete, therefore, it is advised to remain online straight for this quest. yers who will partake in this quest will automatically activate the emergency system that will allow the users to enter hibernation mode to y the game for long periods of time until the end of the current quest without eating and resting. This will help the user remain unharmed for a prolonged period. Nourishment will be immediately supplied to users who partake in this quest. It is advised to log out after epting the quest and prepare before proceeding with the quest. Will you ept the quest? Yes/No A quest that they needed to stay online for long periods of time without the need to eat food or water or even do what nature needed them to do. All of them are going to have to do this. Everyone looked at each other to see what they are going to do for this and if it was wise to quit before they end up not being able to do it. But before they can even discuss the next move, Dolly and Harmless Sparrow quickly epted the quest without a moment of hesitation. "Wha- are you sure you guys are up to this?!" Hagane seemed to be worried seeing Dolly epted it. "No worries. I have a quest simr to this before where I needed to stay online for extended periods of time, it will be alright. It doesn''t feel that different anyways so no harm will happen. It will just be a regr good ol'' quest that will be done," Dolly gives out a peace sign. "Yes, it isn''t bad at all like you all think of, it is indeed pretty reliable and you just think that you have just a very long rest. It doesn''t have any side effects and I can Dolly can testify to my ims as the two of us have experienced it," Harmless Sparrow exined. Everyone look reluctant until deheart''s parents took the first step and epted the quest. Hagane was stumped as the two adults were the very first to ept the quest out of them who are hesitant to ept it. "We never tried doing that before, have we?" deheart''s father grinned like he is nning something. "Yeah, this sounds exciting. Gaming for how many hours and days straight without eating might sound a bit bad but that does sound challenging and fun." (A/N: Don''t try this in real life, bnce your gaming lifestyle and your regr lifestyle, you will just ruin your body if you do things like this!) The others are also having second thoughts before they all clicked yes. "My brother will agree with me to continue with the game so it will be fine," Sigma sighed and looked at Mr. Teddy who just nodded without saying any word. "Big brother will not be mad since he said before he experienced things like this so, he will understand if we exin it to him," Topaz looked at Iron and nodded together. "It''s nothing bad, and we are good to go, so it is fine, right? Let''s hop on in this quest after we have done the quest. ording to the quest, the timer will start once we depart to look for our first task so let''s get this chance to have a good sleep, a good meal, and finish all of the things we have yet to do. Maybe also give warning to everyone in your household about you to stay in the game for a while to avoid them getting worried sick of you," Chase suggested. "That is for the best. We don''t want anyone to get worried about us so be sure to exin properly to those who don''t know." "I already sent a message to deheart but I seemed to cannot contact him," Dolly scratches her head. "He was already up and about earlier, he went with Queen Tanya and the others for some sort of quest so perhaps he is in an area wheremunication is not allowed. Anyways, we can just write up something for him in the real world. Let''s log out and prepare ourselves forter. We will meet here after 12 hours then," Sigma suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement and they all log back out of the game. With a quest line that will have them need to keep their focus entirely dedicated to it, everyone is now getting ready for a quest they will never forget especially since this is a quest that they will not receive deheart''s guidance. Chapter 418 The Cold Weather And Manatos Letter After the prompt for the quest was epted by everyone, they also log themselves out of the game to do final preparations and get their body for a long gaming time. It is necessary for prolonged periods of being inside the Alternate World. The first to go out of his cabin is none other than Janus and the moment he opened the Reality Verse, the coldness of the temperature around his room started to permeate his skin, he instinctively hug himself to warm his cold body up. "What the f*ck? Why is it so cold?! Did I leave the aircon turned on before I went to y? That shouldn''t be the case and it shouldn''t be this cold since I only put the temperature of that to the minimum." Janus grabs his winter coat hanging just on the wall and wears it on his shivering body and yet despite the thick coat draped on his body, it''s barely doing anything worthwhile at all. He still feel the coldness and the coat didn''t help as it was also exposed to the cold weather. Since it wasn''t the worst kind of cold weather where everyone will freeze in just a slight movement, he decided to check on the others whether the temperature was just this cold in his room or it was this cold everywhere. When he opened his door, the cold air wafted through his face like he was opening the door of the fridge, not only that but particles of ice already appeared on the floor, it looks like the floor is being covered by an ice carpet or the snow managed to get inside and piled up on the floor. "Damn, this freezing cold phenomenon is indeed getting worse. The news is not even joking. It''s not even winter time so why?" He then noticed that the doors of the others started to open and behind those doors are the shivering people who just discovered the phenomenon all of a sudden. "Bro! Sister Rika! You guys are alright? Be careful, it''s literally freezing out here!" Akira is helping his sister move. Rika is also shivering from the cold. She is draped with multiple nkets on her body. Without her clothes, she has to make do with just the nket to cover herself from the cold. "What is going on? Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" shivering, everyone huddled together to go downstairs. Using everyone''s warmth, they tried to mitigate the coldness but it seems to be barely working. When they made it downstairs, the siblings turned on the idle firece and they huddled there together until the cold weather will slowly disappear now that the firece has finally been lit. Everyone is thankful that deheart''s mansiones with a firece. With it, even if the power runs out, they can still have heat that will warm up the whole ce slowly but surely. With the firece turned on, the heat gradually returned and although it is still cold, it is enough for their bodies to stop shiveringpletely. Janus swipe the curtain away from the window and discovered that the window is nowpletely shut due to how the handles have been frozen and opening it was close to impossible. "Sh*t. This was worse than I thought. I thought we will only be dealing with the cold weather back in the game but even, in reality, we have to suffer from that? Tch," Janus clicked his tongue and turned on the television to check for the news. And as he expected, the news channel is already covering the current situation. Even the broadcasters are covered with their coats like they were visiting the ski resorts on Hokkaido. It was the first time he saw the broadcasters wear something else aside from the usual formal clothes they usually wear but he didn''t care about it as he listened to the current news. "[The situation of the current temperature is no longer something the scientists can exin with science as things seem to gradually worsen. The previous assumption that it might just be some little abnormal phenomenon that will disappear gradually these past few days has gone totally haywire. People are advised to remain inside their homes unless it is necessary to venture outside. Currently, this is happening everywhere in the world and people are now panicking due to some fake news spreading about the world ending soon. Please avoid believing hoaxes and only believing in reliable sources of the news. We will further update the situation so stay tuned.]" "I can''t me the people believing the world is about to end especially with the situation of the world right now. It isn''t normal and doomsayers are now taking advantage of the panic and chaos to add fuel to the fire," Rika shook her head in disappointment. "It''s pretty annoying indeed but we have no choice on the matter. With everything happening right now, it is indeed the right thing to remain inside the house. Oh well, now that we have warmed up quite a bit, let''s go have some good rest and eat our fill too. We should get ourselves properly prepared as we will have to go do the game in a lengthy period of time." Since he didn''t see Manato anywhere at all, he already knew that he is still inside the game and is still ying, Janus went to the kitchen to cook food for everyone. Even though he is not as good as a cook as Manato, he can still create decent food and he is still proud of it that he does not burn the food he is cooking. He was about to open the fridge to check for any ingredients to use when he saw a piece of paper on the fridge, pinned by a ma and attached to the front, it is easy to spot when you are about to open the fridge''s door. Janus can instinctively recognize the handwriting of Manato especially since it was a messy one. Since Manato send a letter instead of meeting with everybody, it must be somewhat urgent and the fact that they can''t contact him means there must be some sort of special circumstances he was in. Janus reads the letter and soon understood why he was gone and he can''t be contacted by Dolly. He shook his head and sighed. "Damn, if he didn''t help the two queens to survey, perhaps we still have some reliable backup in this uncertain quest we have here but now we have no choice but to proceed without him." The quest is big on uncertainty and knowing the danger, it would have been indeed reliable with him there. However, something else came up in his mind while thinking of those things. ''We have been relying on Manato''s skills and have been stagnant and useless in some battles. I think it is also time to be independent of his guidance and prowess. He is indeed good at the game and he knows how to do things efficiently but we won''t grow if we just keep on relying on him without any sort of training to do. I don''t think the recent dungeon runs without him would help but now that it is going to be a big challenge, perhaps it is our time to actually contribute things without Manato''s intervention.'' Janus clenches his fist and strengthens his resolve on improving. He can''t just keep on staring and following the shadow of Manato. As they say, the chicks will eventually leave the nest. Those things don''t just involve the birds but this also applies to humans. ... ... The worldwide phenomenon of freezing weather has been causing too much panic in the crowd nowadays. No one knows what it really does or what is the circumstances that made things happen like this. However, there is one thing that is for sure. The longer this persists, the faster things will get really bad for everyone. Somewhere out in the world, a small crack has appeared that no one has seen before. This kind of crack exists all around the world and despite being a small crack, it is big enough to leak something. For some unknown reason, the crack has been leaking a blue-colored wind that seems to slowly show its might. No one knows where the crack leads to, but it is quite clear what the little crack has to do with the changing weather of the world. Even if people will discover these cracks, no one would know how to close them or destroy them permanently. An otherworldly crack that seems toe from another world. Perhaps it has something to do with a parallel world that co-exist with the world that the current humans resides. Perhaps it was something else, or maybe it was just that way designed until the effects have started to show the toll to everyone who experienced it. But it was clear that this is just the beginning and it is just some prelude to something more bigger. Chapter 419 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (V) Who would have thought that after everything I did would just not properly work against him? Most of my attacks hit him and I even managed to cut off his arm one time but he just reattached it like it was a detachable part of his like nothing. Looking at my current situation, it was clear who is the big winner here. It was a one-sided fight where the only one who struggled and suffered is me. On the other hand, my enemy who is standing before me is currently just looking at me without having any single problem. Sure he is currently covered in blood and it was his own blood but he doesn''t possess any single wound that would indicate the location where the blood came from. He is just there, standing and staring at me, waiting for me to take action. However, that is close to impossible for me. Even if it was a game, the injuries inflicted on me scream a lot, and disregarding it just makes the pain much worse, and healing it with just normal healing magic is not even elevating the pain. If you put it on game terms, it was like I was inflicted with a debuff that would keep me feeling the pain while moving around. "What''s wrong? Aren''t you too gung-ho about defeating me earlier? Where is that spunk that you are showing off earlier?" "Urgh..." "Master! Summon us out so we can help!" As begged for him to go out and fight. "You can''t just leave us out of the fight and let you suffer like this, Master!" Tina also pleaded. "No...he is too much for all of you, you guys will just die fighting against him...he is just too much of a person to fight against with!" I grind my teeth in frustration. I know that it was close to impossible but it was clear as day that this guy is not just an ordinary NPC nor he is a yer. In fact, his abilities are close to or almost on par with demi-gods that exist in the game. They are powerful entities that are part god and part human due to how a human conceived a baby from a god or vice versa depending on the gender of the god or the human. But this guy clearly has no such thing as a bloodline from the ancient gods. He is clearly not a demi-human and yet he possesses this much power that can rival them. Just what the heck is this guy and why is he here underground? Did he fell here just like me? Is he stranded here and ends up living here all by himself? Or is it something else? Despite that, I decided to fight back and stand up again. He is eager to defeat me but even though I can''t move right now, he is not doing anything that would actually kill me. I don''t know what is the main purpose of this guy. "Well, looks like you are ready to go again. Come on! Show me what you got!" I can''t lose here. Even if he is an NPC or not, whether this is a reality or not, I refuse to just lose. If I have no chance of winning, then I have to fight till the very end. Reigniting the mes in my sword, I started moving my feet and even with the heavy feeling that my body felt. Focusing all of what my eyes can see on him, I charge forward while I am getting ready to also pull out the Pain Delivery. I know that it didn''t do much to him and even if it does, it won''t just remain as he will just heal it off. But I have to make sure to do it right. I stop not too far from his position and timed my body to lightly swing it to him. I know he will just dodge but I have to make sure to focus on his movement and find a way to defeat him from that. But as I swing the Versatile Weapon, it hit something and my swing stopped midway. And that''s when I saw this man grinned as he held my weapon with his bare hands. "You have fought me for too long. Come on and sleep." SMACK! A very heavy pain suddenly kicked at the back of my head. That level of attack shouldn''t be enough to put me to sleep in the past timeline but with this body, it is not strong enough to withstand that very easily. Before I knew it, I lost consciousness and a warning from the system appeared before me before I lost consciousness. [User is on the verge of suffering mental damage. To avoid further pain, the Reality Verse will activate its emergency function and put the user to Sleep Mode and help the user recover a bit. The process won''t take that long and will probablyst for a few hours. Please rest assured you are going to be safe. Thank you for understanding]. And before I knew it, I lost consciousness. ... ... ... ... [Rebooting] [Scan Complete] [User''s body is 100% recuperated from damages] [Wee Back, deheart] My eyes opened wide and I looked around the ce. My consciousness seems to be forcefully locked by the system all of a sudden that I have no idea what happened to me. It was like I was really passed out in real life. However, instead of forcing me to log out, I was kept inside and seems to have rebooted what my consciousness has and helped me recover. p I looked around and realized that I am no longer lying on the clearing but on some kind of cave. It was a bit dark so I can''t see much on what is going on. "Master? Yes! Finally you are awake!" Lucia''s voice can be heard from the Summon''s Area. Her voice sounds worried. "What is going on. I don''t think I know what happened after I passed out... Where am I?" "I don''t where exactly this ce is but I am quite certain that after you were knocked out by the strong guy from earlier, you were carried here and doused you with some potion. After doing all of that, he left and he didn''t return ever since," Lucia exined. "How long was I passed out?" "About 7 hours if I counted correctly, Master. If you remained asleep for a few more minutes then it should be 8 hours," Lina calcted. That was very long. I thought my consciousness was just out in a few minutes but it spanned out for hours. And the fact that I am not conscious and I felt like a few minutes passed by after that made it insane. Something must have happened for the system to activate and force me on that situation. Even in the past timeline, I have never been in this situation where I am forced to go into this kind of system istion. This was a new feature that I just discovered today. Stretching my arms, it looks like my senses are gradually returning after I woke up. My HP and MP are also back to full bar. I looked at the side of the bed where I was lying before and I found all of my armor, the Pain Delivery and the Versatile Weapon allid out on the table. All of them are neatlyid out on the table and I can tell that the person who did this knows how to handle and care on weapons. Most people usually don''t get it right but seeing itid out like this made me sigh in relief. Since I can fully move now without any sort ofplications of any sort, I equipped my equipment again. I also realized that its much warmerpared to the temperature that is underground. I am also quite sure that it shouldn''t be this warm due to how the weather outside is already enough to freeze the surroundings and yet this ce is quite warm for some unknown reason. After retrieving all of my equipment, I looked around the ce where we are currently. Despite being in a room, it is still basically a section of a cave. The only thing that made it look like a room is due to how the whole section of the cave has been converted to a ce that doesn''t feel damp or even hard to live in. It was like you are currently in some sort of underground base. There is nothing much in here but what I noticed are the amount of weapons and armors attached on the cave''s wall. Most of them are not even made from metal. Not only that but I also noticed some skulls of monsters being hanged on the wall like how many hunters hangs around the head of their first prey. I can easily tell it was the skull of the monsters due to how it looks different to any human skulls. However, most of them are abnormal sizes that I can easily tell that some of them came from giant enemies. Just who was that man for him to be like this? Chapter 420 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (VI) The cave I was in is big but I can easily tell that it was artificially expanded and not a natural size. It was like it was mined by someone for years but I can also tell that some parts of the wall seemed to be just chipped off just very recently. It doesn''t even look like it has seen little signs of being there for a few years already. It''s just recently done I guess. I started exploring the ce and I can easily tell that this was a man-made cave and not a cave that originally existed in the wild. Someone intentionally made this cave and dug it out until this ce was formed. "Someone was so dedicated that this individual created a cave out from scratch. I don''t even know how long before this ce was finished," I continue to examine every thing I see. "What? This ce was made from scratch? Isn''t that pretty much a trouble and too much work to do?" Lucia seemed confused. "Yes, you are right it is time consuming but I doubt people even bother how long before they managed to finish it. Unless they are passionate enough to do it or they just have too much free time. Still, even though this is a man-made cave, it managed to almost fool me and I might even think it was a cave that he just discovered and used it as his own ce." The cave is big and designed intricately so I continue exploring into the deeper parts. So far, the most I discovered here is that the person living here is a hunter. If the guy who I try to defeat only for my ass get handed off him was the hunter, he is a natural survivor in this hellish ce. Soon, I arrived into the deepest area where I saw that it serves some sort of a little prison. The bars that are made to stop anyone from escaping a prison were not made from metal but instead made from thick bones. Very thick bones. It doesn''t even qualify as bars anymore, more like pirs. And its not designed to confine a human as it has a big enough gap for humans to get through. More like it is designed to confine monsters instead. Giant Monsters. "You shoulnd''t get too close there, kid. If you don''t want to be squished t by the monsters that is." A voice of someone echoed behind me, stopping my advance to get close to the prison. And just like that, a loud roar echoed all around the cave causing some rocks to fall down from above. Then, a loud bang shook the thick bones that acts as the bars to the prison. Although it was not broken or removed from where it was put, the loud bang shook the surroundings easily. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon in response. "You can''t fight them. Either you die or get eaten by them. That is the main oue you will face against them so keep your distance from those prisons." I turned to look at the one speaking and I instinctively brandish my weapon to him.The one speaking is none other than the person whom I fought earlier. He is still as lively as ever and he doesn''t have any wounds in his body. He is not wearing a shirt right now so I can easily see if his injuries persisted and seeing that even the arm I severed earlier did not even leave a single mark that indicate being cut off, "Hey, hey. I know that we fought earlier but I am not here to kill you alright? Put down your weapon and let''s talk it out like men we are. I am not so heartless to do that and I only tested you earlier if you are strong enough to survive this hellhole." "You tried to kill me earlier! There is no way I will easily trust you!" I pointed the sword at him. "Even if you threaten me, you can''t defeat me in any way kid. You would rather be dropping that hostile attitude of yours rather than keeping it up like that. You will just be dying in my hands if you provoke me any further kid. I am just going to forgive your right now since I can tell you are not a threat but if you keep crossing the line, I will not be as lenient as before." As much as I am wary of him, he was right that he can easily squash me without any challenge. I won''t even be able to make another miracle of killing him in the process but perhaps if the Instant Death proc then perhaps I can kill him but that is not possible too since there is no way it would proc in the first attack. I would be dead before I can evennd a second hit with too much uncertainty that my attack would hit an instant kill. I am not that lucky to be able to pull off that kind of sh*t. I have no choice so I dropped my hostility against him but kept my guard up against him. There is no way I would trust himpletely with my life after he tried to kill me. That is the main case. "Where am I? Why did you bring me here?" "This ce? You can say that this ce is where I call home. It might not be the usual home that you have known so far but it is cozy and warm enough to feel myself safe enough from the cold weather," he nonchntly said as he approach the prison and stare at the creature that caused the banging sound from earlier on the bones. "Then why didn''t you kill me when we are fighting earlier? I lost and I am quite sure that you would kill me after doing that." "Ha, as I said earlier, I am not that heartless. Yes, I may be a brutal warmonger but if that person did nothing wrong to me and I am the one who instigated the fight, there is no need for you die. It would be much better if I keep you alive instead." After that, he went away from the prison and beckons to me while he is walking away. "Let''s get out of here, annoying these little f*ckers would not be a good idea and they easily get agitated if they smell other humans other than me. You don''t want to be monster chow don''t you? Then we better get going before they will go on rampage." He is right, I can easily tell the monsters behind those giant bones are agitated and ready to pounce any chances they get and if that happens, I am instantly killed. "So what are you nning on keeping me alive like this?" "Huh? n? What are you talking about?" the guy frowned when I started asking him. "Don''t y dumb. There is no way you would keep me alive without any sort of motive as to why you are keeping me alive." "Ha, think all you want but I have no objective as to why you are still alive until now. But suit yourself if you believe that is the case here. Because I don''t really mind." We soon arrive into what you call in the modern house, a living room. The ce is also simr to a living room but for a caveman due to how it didn''t resemble a normal house interior. This was a cave after all but he changed most of it for the ske that he can live inside it without much diforting from being it a cave. "Now, sit down for a bit. I will go and prepare some dinner. Don''t worry, I won''t be poisoning the food, that is just quite a disrespect to the food." He points out the rectangr stone b near a campfire with a small kettle under the mes. I am not so rude to decline him even though we are enemies and since he didn''t give any hostility to me, I decided to let him do what he wants. And even if the food has poison, I can easily dispel them, so its not a problem to me too. "Are you a vegetarian or anything, boy?" "No, I am fine with meat." "Well, that is good. With this hellhole being a harsher ce than most ces, around Earth, growing nts and vegetables are close to impossible so most food we can have here are from monsters. Vegetarians will be forced to eat meat if they want to survive in this sh*tce." Indeed, with the whole ce covered in ice, there is no way for veggies to grow here and even if you artificially grow some food for yourself, the temperature will ruin the whole process so its kind of pointless too. This guy... has he been living this kind of harsh life for so long already? Chapter 421 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Hell Beneath The Ice (VII) The dinner were all made from meat and all of them are different variety of meat dish. Even though all of them are meat, it doesn''t have much of a problem, to be honest, and it''s decent if I say so myself. It''s not a bad thing but it''s also not something superb. "What, you don''t like the food?" "It''s not like that. The meat is good, but itcks the kick." "Oh, you mean spices? Of course, I don''t have them. Do you think I can procure them here? It''s not like I can harvest them from the bodies of the monsters I y and they don''t grow on nts that exist here, there is no way I can get any of it," he opens his mouth and bites a mouthful on it. The meat is tender and chewy but the fact that there is nothing to enhance its taste makes it a bit stale and a bit bitter due to how it was grilled over the fire. It would have been great if I have brought some spices for cooking but I currently don''t have any of them avable as I stored them back at the mansion''s storage to amodate a bigger inventory for me and to also put more space to put the potions I made before since the spices and condiments are ced together with the potions. p ''Oh, I do have some salt, that would help I think.'' Opening the inventory, I check the items pocket and scroll whether I didn''t store the salt away or not, and I was delighted to see that I have them in my inventory. Though it isn''t the normal table salt and it is in the form of rock salt. However, both are salt, the other is just grounded for easier consumption and the other is big enough you can bash someone and injure them using it. The guy noticed when I pulled out the rock salt from my inventory. "Whoa! Isn''t that a rocksalt?! Give me some!" "Wha- hey! I am the owner of this thing, let me use it first and you get your turn forter! Hey! Give it back you bastard!" ... ... After our dinner, the guy is lying on his back on the stone b while rubbing his bulging belly, full from the food he ate. After applying the rock salt to the meat, the taste was enhanced quite a bit, allowing the guy to awaken his desire to eat the meat more. "HAAAAA~ That really hits the spot! It''s been so long since I managed to have some good salty taste in my mouth. That really helped me regain my enthusiasm for eating delicious food!" I just sat there watching him do that. To be honest, I don''t have any idea of being robbed of that kind of privilege so I can''t rte but I also don''t want to brag about it as it might also happen to me someday and with a future ever-changing from the past, my future knowledge will slowly be irrelevant as it goes on. Now that I have rested enough, I think it is also time to get out of this ce and find a way out of this hellhole. Oh, if that is the case, shouldn''t this guy know where it should be located? That isn''t a bad question to ask. However, this guy is already sleeping. I can only shake my head and look for an opportunity. As for now, let''s try to see outside of this cave. As I was about to go out and check what is going on outside... "Don''t go out of the cave just yet. If you want to go out, do it tomorrow. With a blizzard happening outside, not only will you be frozen to death, the monsters out there currently hunting in the blizzard would snack on your dead body right now. You should have a good rest and wait for the blizzard to pass." "A blizzard underground?" "It''s amon phenomenon in this ce. It''s not just called a "frozen hell" for nothing. If you are not that strong enough or your will is too weak, then this ce will surely consume every piece of your body from head to toe, or even a single strand of your hair so you better listen to the veteran who knows what he is doing" "Then, does this ce has an exit?" As soon as I asked that question, he stood back up from lying down and looked me straight in the eyes. "If you have entered this ce sessfully, there is bound to be an exit. There is no such thing as no exit in the world. Now, if you ask me if there is an exit, yes. It does exist but going out here is close to impossible to someone who has a weak will." "So it does exist?" "Yes. It does exist and it''s not just some sort of lie I would say. But I doubt you are strong enough to even pass through it." "Huh?" "Although I call it an exit, it''s a road filled with monsters making the area to reach back the surface as something of a road to the nest of monsters. I am not saying it is impossible but with your strength, you will definitely die." "Even still, I will have to get out of this ce and get back to the surface!" "Then your only choice is to fight the monsters, kill them and im back the road to go back. But as I said earlier, you are too weak to even challenge them. If you can''t even defeat me, then your chances of even getting out of here alive are even close to zero. If you wanted to get there, then I won''t stop you. However, stay put for the night and get some rest." After that, he started snoring. I can only stare at him in disbelief and wonder whether he is just doing a sleep talk or if he was definitely awake. However, it is clear that there is an exit. That alone is enough for me and although I don''t trust this guy, I decided to keep a note of what he said about the exit. Since this ce is a safe ce in the meantime without counting the one who almost killed me before, it is a safe ce to log out. I returned to the room where I first woke up before and log out of the game from there. I will have to rest my body and get some good time to check whether anyone has already gone outside of their game cabins to take a break. ... The moment I returned to the real world, the cold cover of my bed weed me and I was so surprised since it was so simr to how cold a piece of ice does. Not only that, but it was also brick hard. I looked around my room and I noticed that everything is getting frozen. The walls are showing signs of freezing particles. I can''t be wrong about it as I can easily tell it was indeed ice that is slowly covering the whole ce. "What the hell happened while I was ying the game?" I checked outside my window only to be stopped by the freezing hinges of my window. I realized that most of the things in my room is close to freezing. I quickly went to my PC and removed the forming ice. I also covered the case to avoid it from breaking once the ice breaks in. I also turned on the heater I have and put it near the PC. Not only will it help reduce the ice forming but will also warm my room. After salvaging the situation, I peered through the cold window to look at what is happening outside. Although it''s hard to peer through due to how the windowpane is also covered in ice particles, I can tell that it seems to be snowing outside. I know that it should be impossible to snow since we are far from winter and it is in the middle of spring, snow isn''t like rain that will just drop whenever it wanted to so this was unprecedented. Getting the smallest gist of it, I went to look outside my room if the situation is any different. Opening it, I realized that it is much warmerpared to my room but it is still coldpared to the normal weather. I went into the living room and I can hear the sound of the television and some people talking. When I went down the stairs, I saw everyone in the living room, facing the firece. Even Suhei and Pandora are currently huddled with the others while covering themselves in a thick nket that seems to belong to the siblings since I remembered buying them one before. "Ah, finally Manato, you are finally outside. I thought you already died from being frozen in your room. I thought of barging inside but I am currently toozy to return especially with the cold weather covering the whole ce!" With the situation, I frowned at the current things happening, Just what the hell is happening and how the heck does this cold weather phenomenone from? Without anything to learn about this since it didn''t exist in the past timeline, I have to improvise and adapt on the situation. Chapter 422 Dawn Of The Ice Age? This cold weather is turning out worse than I expected. It was not this bad when I entered the game earlier while writing the letter for everyone, howe ites worse already? Everyone is looking like they won''t move away in front of the firece and if the fire on the firece went out, they will immediately try to revive the extinguished fire as soon as possible. p The first to notice me is Suhei who is near the end of the sofa and beckons me to join them. He also tapped Janus who was sitting on the carpet below the sofa also huddled in a nket. "Ah, finally Manato, you are finally outside. I thought you already died from being frozen in your room. I thought of barging inside but I am currently toozy to return especially with the cold weather covering the whole ce!" Janus also beckoned me to join them. "Hey there, Manato. You can join us if you are cold. It''s warmer if we huddle together with everyone in here," Suhei smiled and moved to the side to give me some space. "Hey there guys, thanks for the offer but I think I will pass for now. I will have to call my parents and see if they are alright. I will also be going out to grab some groceries too. With this weather being this bad, having some extra piles of food and supplies will help us avoid getting outside in case things will get worse." "Huh? Are you sure about going out there, Manato? The weather is especially bad and I doubt going out is a good idea! You might turn into a popsicle there without us knowing!" Janus protested. "Don''t worry, I can handle myself. Now if you guys don''t want to join me, you guys can go and sit there and wait for me toe back. I will be back with some supplies with me soon." As expected, no one volunteered to join me for the shopping. With the coldness seeping all around, it was clear that they will just remain inside their houses. I even think the saunas right now are fully packed, looking for some good amount of warmth to keep themselves shivering from the cold. "Oh, that''s too bad. Then we will remain here for a little while longer until the coldness around the house has diminished a bit. With the heater operating to its maximum output, we can finally have a bit of a good way to lessen the effects of the cold weather. You should call them if they are fine. The news said it''s happening almost all around the world already." I nodded and went to the telephone before dialing the telephone back in my mansion to check on them. After a few minutes of ringing the phone was finally been picked up by someone on the other line and the one who picked it up is my mother. "H-hello? T-this is the T-tsukasa residence..." "Mom? Are you guys alright over there?" "M-manato? Yeah, we are fine in here. I-it''s a bit cold but we are fine. We are currently underneath a kotatsu to warm ourselves up. Though it is still a b-bit cold, we can manage to endure it. A-are you fine over there, son?" "Yeah, no worries. I wille to visit soon enough and once the cold subsides. You all should warm yourselves properly, this cold is no joke." After confirming that my parents are safe and sound, I started preparing for my venture outside. With the cold weather outside, it is clear I needed more than my abilities to warm myself up. Thankfully, I have plenty of heat packs bought before and put a few on my coat, pockets on my jeans, and the coat''s pockets. With the heat they emit, I no longer felt the cold. "I will be back a bitter, you guys should also make sure to warm yourselves up properly. When I get back, I will be bringing a few heat packs for you all." Then I opened the door and the cold air wafted through my whole body. Despite the heat packs in my body, the cold feeling still creeps into my body and I shivered when the slightest wind entered my coat. It also didn''t help that my face is very vulnerable and with only a hat and hoodie to shield my head from cold, it is clear that it isn''t enough to handle everything. With this cold weather that seems to freeze me anytime, I stood still, I have to get moving. As much as I wanted to use a car, I am quite sure that it won''t properly work and there is a big chance that the engine will fail in this cold weather. The motorcycle is also a no-go too, seeing the road is covered with a thin sheen of ice, the chances of slipping on the road are very high and idents will ur. Only one way to do it is by going on foot. I have to hurry. ... ... ... My movements are sure and firm to make sure that I won''t be slipping while running. I can only keep on running due to the heck of a cold wind blowing all around the ce and I don''t want to keep on staying outside like this. It was like we are going to undergo the ice age once again. "I am quite sure that this event did not exist in the past timeline. So what the heck is happening? I am also sure this isn''t something I have caused since I didn''t change any kind of events that would be involved in the weather or anything revolutionary that would change the world. Howe something like this is happening? Is this perhaps the thing that I keep hearing about what will happen if I change the future like in some novels, anime, and movies where a disaster will ur if I change the future?" I murmured to myself. However, that shouldn''t be the case if something like this would indeed happen. If something like that happens, it should be not as big as this and the disaster should be just around me in the meantime. Not something that would immediately affect the whole world. Not only that, if it was a disaster due to me changing the future, why is it that it is freezing the whole world? As much as I want to think much about it, I don''t think I have any sort of solution to that. I am not someone who can solve everything. With the whole street being empty, I can easily move without worrying about a car going to crash on me if I use the main road to traverse into the market. With the streets deste from people and cars, my arrival at the nearest supermarket allowed me to arrive much sooner than expected. I am expecting more that the market is jam-packed with people trying to buy supplies, but to my surprise, I barely see any. Maybe because it was too cold that they didn''t even think much about going there? Entering the supermarket, the cashiers and other people working there are all huddled on the corner with the heater on. Although it isn''t that coldpared to outside, the weather is still unbearable and the cold winds in winter are a far cry from the winds we are experiencing now. I didn''t disturb them and went straight to the heat packs being sold. During spring and summer, the sales of heat packs are lower since it''s not that useful but in winter, the sales go up easily. I am not surprised that there aren''t that many supplies left of the heat packs here, I am guessing the staff took some and used them for themselves tobat the cold. But since they are still plenty, I bought a lot to make sure that everyone in our house can benefit from them. Next are the groceries. Food, bottled water, snacks, and daily necessities, I purchased them all. I am not worried about the number of groceries I will be purchasing as I can just teleport back to my room without a problem. I don''t want to stay too long out in the open here so I made sure to finish the groceries as fast as I can. Thankfully, the staff is also fast in their work. With the cold weather, they definitely wanted to finish their job as soon as they can to immediately return to the heater. Borrowing a cart, I carried all of my stuff outside and went to the nearby ce where no one can see me before I hold all of the groceries in my hands I activated my teleportation. Going outside my room will raise a lot of questions especially since it is also Suhei and Pandora who don''t know about my skills, if they aren''t here, I would have gone outside using my door but I needed to make sure of this and decided to exit my room using the balcony outside, and carried the groceries in front of the front door before pushing the doorbell. While waiting for the door to open, I suddenly sense something. For some unknown reason, the whole surroundings seem to have been covered in mana. It was like the storm that is brewing is exclusively made of mana. Just this alone made me frown, something is happening, I am sure of it. Chapter 423 Expedition To The Frozen Region: The Crack In The World The heat packs are the first things that everyone grabbed out of all of my groceries when I returned. Even Janus who likes to eat junk food from my groceries didn''t even bother to take a look at them and took two heat packs for himself. "You are a lifesaver, Manato. I am impressed that you managed tost that long over there. Even here inside the house is close to unbearable without thebination of the heater and the firece," Suhei was amazed at how I managed to evenst that long. "Haha, I just have a very high tolerance for the cold. I also just made sure that we won''t be stuck here hungry before people started panic buying in the future if this weather persists." After distributing the heat pack, I pull out the kotatsu for everyone to use and I started preparing to cook some Oden. This will help with the food and also the cold weather. While doing so, my mind can''t help but think about the abnormal mana I sensed earlier. It was quick and I didn''t know where it came from. It might have been fine if that was normal but that incident was beyond normal. Perhaps that is the main cause of this incident? Still, it was just a brief moment and perhaps I am just imagining things but until further notice, I have to take note of that. I might not even be imagining that earlier. ... With everyone full and satisfied, they all went back to their rooms to sleep. I called Janus to ry to everyone including the NPCs especially Queen Tanya and the others to say that I am fine and they shouldn''t worry about me and I have to do my own work on finding the exit. In the meantime, they should work hard on the quests that are assigned to them and fulfill them. As for the others, I advised them to turn on the heater installed in their rooms to warm up their rooms too. It was totally convenient that this mansion I bought had them already installed and although it won''t help much in making the surroundings warm enough, it is enough to remove the cold feeling that will make every single nerve in your body freeze from the cold. Once I finished cleaning up, I left the kotatsu behind in case someone wanted to use it forter. I checked the weather one more time outside and seeing that it is not getting better, I closed and locked the door before I returned to my room. With the heater on, the ice that is starting to build up around my room has finally melted and disappeared. It also helped my room is now warm enough due to the heater so perhaps things will get better forter. Now that everything is done, I lie down on my semi-warm and semi-cold bed and log back into the game. ... [Wee Back, deheart] I opened my eyes and stood up from the bed and went out to see whether the guy is still sleeping or he is already up. To my surprise, he is still sleeping with saliva falling from his mouth. He didn''t look like the guy who can easily kill you. He looks like a homeless guy you see on the streets but well, do not judge a character by his looks alone. Since he is in his deep sleep, I didn''t disturb him and returned to check the situation outside the cave I am delighted to see that the blizzard that urred earlier is gone and the weather outside is now back to how it was. I know it is the underground but it seems it doesn''t follow the same rules as what the real underground does. Since the guy said that I am free to leave once the blizzard has already set off, the next target is to get to the first monster that is guarding the way out. I am still unsure where it is located but I can manage without anyone to help me. "So we will not be thanking the guy for letting us stay, Master?" Lina asked. "As much as I wanted to do that, it is his fault, to begin with, that I am unconscious after the battle so even though he didn''t kill us, there is no need to thank him either. I am not saying I am ungrateful for what he did but I don''t easily trust that guy. Pretty suspicious if you ask me. So yeah, it''s better to depart without him knowing our departure. It''s much better this way." And with that, I left the unknown cave and continue my journey to this hell hole in search of the exit that the guy mentioned existed here. Despite my uncertainty of whether it really exists or not, that is my only lead to my way out and nothing more. With nothing else to go forward, that is my only goal, for now, to survive whatever hellish things exist here, I needed to get myself battle-ready. ... After walking for a bit after seeing just an endless loop all-around to confuse anyone who doesn''t look at the map, I soon arrived at another clearing simr to before. But the difference is that there is something waiting for me in the distance. "Master, I am detecting a heavy load of mana in the distance. I suspect that what we are seeing in the distance is also the source of this heavy mana load I am detecting at the moment," Lucia reported. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and pulled out a scroll that when torn to pieces, will deploy the [Protect] spell to me. That way if this thing that we are seeing in the distance will suddenly fire something, I would be able to protect myself. I don''t want to rely on the shield form of the Versatile Weapon. If I am not careful, I might be activating its special ability which has a very long cooldown. I would very much avoid that happening to make sure I have an ace to use if I faced a battle too difficult for me to handle. While cautiously approaching, Lucia is making sure what the thing before us is while I am still not in its vicinity. "Master, just by looking at it, I can slightly confirm it to be some sort of portal. It doesn''t seem to be the same kind of portal a teleport portal does but it does transport something from one ce to another as long as it passes through the dimension thingie on the center of it." "A portal?" I have a very bad feeling about this. The guy earlier said that we would be facing monsters but we are instead facing a portal. The discrepancies are big, but the words of the guy can still remain true since this is a big portal. Now, I have a hunch on what it was. Approaching the portal slowly, I managed to have a good look at the portal and I can confirm that it was not just an ordinary portal that will lead me outside of this ce. In fact, this has no function or whatever if I try to pass through it. In short, this portal is something I cannot use. I can''t use it, but the monsters can. The Crack in the World. An ursed portal that will continuously spawn monsters by releasing them out of the portal and letting them go wild if left alone without any sort of intervention that will halt its spawn activities. When I stepped into its vicinity, the portal glows bright red immediately and the middle of the portal started to spin. I keep my distance from the portal immediately and ready myself to fight back. And seeing how red the portal is bing means it is going to spawn quite a number of monsters, that will be really troublesome and dangerous to handle. Not only that but the level difference we have right now would be 10 levels or more. With all how the monsters in this region are stacked, I am not sure whether it is wise to keep on going or to retreat. Before I can get a clear answer on whether to retreat or not, the portal spawned some monsters in rapid speed since in the blink of an eye, the emptynds got popted immediately with multiple monsters of different sizes and races. [Battle Ready Berserker Goblin Champion] Level 200 HP: 4,000,000/ 4,000,000 Trait: Humanoid, Dark [Bedrock Golem] Level 200 HP: 10,000,000/ 10,000.000 Trait: Construct, Earth [Corrupted Guardian] Level 200 HP:7,000,000/7,000,000 Trait: Construct, Dark [Shadow Wolf] Level 200 HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000 Trait: Beast, Dark Those monsters are just among the monsters summoned by the portal. I didn''t manage to identify the others as I have to keep my distance from them. They are all level 200 and they have million HP each. And seeing that they are converted into normal mobs by this portal just spells great destruction. Chapter 424 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Portal Monsters "As, Lucia, Lina buy me some time!" Seeing how many monsters are currently going to face me, I am at a very overwhelming disadvantage. Not only that but their levels are way higher. Not only that but I don''t have an inkling of their weaknesses and exploit it to kill them faster. To mitigate myck of knowledge against them, I have to increase my power. Lucia quickly made a wall of mes and As released his killing intent. Even though they are higher leveled beasts, that doesn''t mean they can just ignore a killing intent. Since As is capable of increasing the effect of his killing intent, the monsters will have second thoughts about charging toward us. I opened my stats panel. When I leveled upst time, I saved up all my stat points and there are some questsst time that awarded me a few though I didn''t track how many SP points I have umted from ignoring them. But since I needed extra power, this is my only choice of survival. Then, the umted SP is amassed to 94. It wasn''t much but that should help increase my stats even for a little bit. I put 20 on STR for increased firepower, 30 on END to increase my health and defense values, 20 on INT to increase my magic power and MP capacity, and the rest are all in DEX. I didn''t put any on my AGI at the moment. As much as it will help with my movement, what I needed right now is to survive a hit much longer than usual and for the rest of my stats, it increases my ability to fight back so I will have to dy my AGI stat. The next thing I did is to drop off all of the dispensable equipment I made before. When I was making all the equipment for all of mypanions, I made plenty of items that are all flop and are not that good. I don''t have uses for them but I decided to keep them in my inventory. I was nning to just let the Versatile Weapon eat them slowly but because I needed the extra stats my weapon gets every time it eats, I will be using them all in one go. "I''m counting on you, Versatile Weapon. Pump up those stats you have and help me get away from this predicament! [DEVOUR]!" The ck shadow dragon emerged from my Versatile Weapon and it started licking its drooling before the weapons and armor. After doing the same movement it usually does, it opened its big mouth and in one fell swoop, all of the weapons are gone and they all went inside the mouth of the insatiable monster in my weapon. With all the weapons devoured, the ck shadow dragon returned, and the de of the Versatile Weapon glow red after the monster managed to settle down. As much as I want to immediately look at the changes, I think I don''t need to keep wasting any more time. I needed to fight now. Whatever changes the Versatile Weapon gained, I can look for thatter. Time to fight back. The monsters started to congregate more than usual. Even with the Walls of me that Lucia released, the enemies are still not moving away. Sure they are not attacking but they aren''t backing away either. That is a very bad thing. I only heard from experienced yers before about the Crack in the World as I have never encountered one before but to see how troublesome it was going to be, it looks like the yers who encountered it in the past understated the danger factor the Crack in the World possesses. "Everyone, let''s begin the battle. I know they are much stronger than us but that doesn''t mean we can''t win! Let''s fight them and kill them all!" Lucia snaps her fingers and the wall of me got extinguished, allowing the flow of monsters to reach through us. Gripping the handle of the Versatile Weapon, I started going head to head with a big orc that seemed to look like a chieftain orc to me. It is holding a big mace with spikes on it and swings it to me who is almost in his range. "Don''t you dare get in my way!" ,m Switching the form of the Versatile Weapon from sword to an ax, I swing it upward with all my might. And to my surprise, the orc chieftain look-alike got his upper half body lopped off, immediately killing the monster. Though that was awesome, the enemies are not going to stop because one monster died in one hit, they don''t care whether those guys die or not, they will continue to attack. "Master!" Lina shouted and put her palm before me. -Attack Up Applied. -Critical Rate Increase Applied "Thanks, Lina!" Lucia and As are also attacking the monsters as fast as they can. As has quick reflexes and despite using a Greatsword, his attacks are fast andparable to how fast a shortsword does. Lina is fighting from time to time but she is acting as our buffer and healer this time around. "Tina! Help us with your abilities!" Since Tina awakened her abilities as one of the Insect Royalties, she gained the ability to use different kinds of debuffs and magic spells. "I will not let you down, Master!" Tina started to hover above in the air and she spreads her rainbow wings. I didn''t notice it before but her wings started to get radiant after she awakened her abilities. "Poison Dust!" The violet-colored dust started to fall over the monsters. It seems like Tina is controlling the dust since there''s not a single speck of the dust to anyone of us. With the Poison dust, the monsters started to cough up to get rid of the dust entering their bodies. And that became a good opportunity. SWISH! SLASH! PEW! BANG! With all the corpses of the monsters killed, isn''t it a good chance for me to increase the levels of my Necromancer ss? "Stand up! And Serve your owner, you bastards!" The dead bodies started to shake and the flesh in their bodies started to rot rapidly like it was being ripped apart by maggots at a fast-forward pace. Soon, only their skeletons were left behind and these skeletons were immediately enveloped with a red aura and they started to move around like they are still alive. But this time, they are not from the side of the monsters, they are now on my side. -you have converted an [Orc Chieftain] -you have converted an [Iron Wolf] -you have converted [Hobgoblin Warrior] ... Messages keep popping up after I started raising the dead monsters back from the dead. Now, our numbers are no longer at a disadvantage as the number of monsters I raised back from the dead started to amass in numbers too. The monsters that are attacking are also getting confused as to why the skeletons seem to defend the enemies and tried to ignore them but because the skeletons aren''t just going to stand and act like a figurine made for disy, they didn''t expect that these skeletons will start attacking them. The monsters will not be able to understand why but since they are also attacking them, the monsters redirected their attention to my skeletons. "Master, it seems your ability to turn the corpses into monsters is a good bait against these monsters!" Lucia is happy to see the monsters fighting against their formerrades. "Less talk, Miss Lucia. The more monsters we kill, the lesser things we needed to take care of while the skeletons are taking the attention of the monsters." "I know, I know! I am ready to incinerate them all!" With my followers hyped for the battle, I also can''t lose to them and started to kill the monsters. I changed my weapon into a Hammer and redirected my attention to the constructs and golems. Compared to the normal monsters that have flesh and blood that can be easily cut through by sharp tools, the constructs and golems are fairly invulnerable to these type of weapons, making them a dangerous enemy against yers who only has the ability to wield a sword and their melee weapons. Those who didn''t have the proper skills to fight them back are all going to get their asses handed to them. Compared to the normal monsters that have different weaknesses and can easily die if they are decapitated or sliced in half, golems and constructs are different as they function as long as their cores are intact. And it seems like it is a normal design for the golems to keep their cores exposed. Normally, a weakness is one of the things that should be fully guarded but constructs and golems seemed to be different as they have their designs exposed purposely for that. Since the cores are the main weaknesses, the only way to kill them is to remove all of the cores or topletely destroy them if they possess multiple of them. To destroy them, magic spells or breaking them with any kind of damaging skills will destroy these circle artifacts easily. In simple terms, these are their hearts. Still, despite our current progress in eliminating them, it doesn''t seem our current situation is getting better. With the portal existing and open, our current situation will not improve and we will still be getting a worse situation as time goes by. I needed to think something about how to fight back and kill them all without exhausting our options. Chapter 425 Sudden Maintenance Despite decimating most of the monsters that appeared in the portal, their numbers seem to not have reduced at all. More like they have increased more of their numbers every time we kill one. I also noticed that my exp counter is not increasing. Even though we are killing more than usual, I am not receiving a single experience point, not even a 0.5 or 1 exp point, nothing at all. It kind of pisses me off, but I think this was designed since the portal is releasing multiple enemies every time, and having a high leveled enemies spawned, it might make a good ce to farm. To avoid that from happening, they remove the experience you receive from killing them all. Not only we don''t receive a single point of experience but we also don''t receive a single bronze, silver, or gold coin from them. Not even a singlemon drop or a trash drop at all. Literally nothing. It''s kind of sad that we are fighting enemies here that we don''t even get to earn a single dime by killing them. You waste too much energy and time and yet no reward for that. However, if this road is the only way out, then even if there is literally nothing to be earned by dealing with this trouble, I still have to do it. "Master, I am running out of Mana!" Lucia shouted. "Alright, don''t worry, I got this!" Dousing Lucia with the Ssh Mana Potion, her MP is refilled and she is back to the action. "How about you there, Tina, are you still fine?" I asked Tina who is still floating above us and continuously firing poison dust at enemies. "Don''t worry master. My Mana Regeneration is fast enough to replenish the mana that I have lost. I can continuously fire these things without exhausting my mana reserve." I turned to look at Lina and currently, she is chanting a spell. I don''t recognize the chant so perhaps it is a spell that is exclusive to her. I didn''t interrupt her and instead just directly doused her with the Ssh Mana Potion. "Are you fine, As? Need any Mana Replenishment?" "I don''t think I needed it master, but thanks for the concern." As is still wild as ever and he keeps on decimating monsters as fast as he can with his greatsword. Since everyone is good now, I returned to my battle stance and continue fighting against the horde of monsters. I sh here, I throw a spell over there, I pull my trigger here, I defend, I heal, I punch, I did almost everything just to keep the monsters at bay. And as I did that, I also keep approaching the portal. The only way to stop the amount of monsters spawning is to close the portal. But how do I close the portal? I have never encountered a single portal in my previous life and I don''t have a single inkling of how to close a portal. It is something I am not even used to doing. As I was trying to figure out how to close it, a message suddenly pops out on my face and blocked what I am seeing. "What the heck?" I tried to close it to focus on the battle before me but it refuses to close so what I did is a retreat to an area where the monsters are not focusing much before quickly skimming all of the words before me and seeing why is it blocking my face. [Announcement to all yers: We will be conducting a surprise maintenance today. We advise the yers currently online to log out from the game within 30 minutes before the maintenance begins to avoid data loss. If you are unable to log out due to some special circumstances(quest-rted, punishment, etc) within the time limit or you just refuse to log out, the system will forcefully kick you out of the game instead. The progress you have right now will be unaffected so rest assured there is nothing you will lose after this maintenance. Maintenance time willst for 48 hours. We apologize to all the yers for conducting it in surprise. Thank you for understanding.] Surprise maintenance?! I almost cursed reading it. And the notice can finally be closed after reading the whole thing. I turned to look at the big portal before me and frowned. I have no idea how to close it and I don''t have any pressure on how long before I can figure it out, but now that the maintenance is now currently ongoing, I can''t even do a single thing and can only force myself to think of a solution on how long before I can even get myself to close it. Then, I came to a solution though I can''t call it a solution as it doesn''t solve anything. "Everyone, return to the Summon''s Area!" "What?! Master, what are you talking about?" Lina looked worried after I said it. "Just return to the summon''s area. I will be handling things here by myself." "Master, are you wishing to die?! You can''t handle this many enemies all by yourself!" even As who is easygoing on anything is against recalling them. "I know what I am doing everyone. So please return to the Summon''s Area. I will take everything from here on out..." Everyone did not move and refuses to return. I sighed and looked at everyone and shook my head. "I apologize for this everyone but I have to do this. [Force Recall]!" In a single blink of an eye, everyone disappeared like they were bubbles popped by an object or colliding with something. They disappeared without leaving a trace, leaving only myself in the middle of the horde of monsters. Now that the monsters that were currently engaging in a fight with everyone just now are gone, their attention was redirected to me who is left behind on the battlefield. "Master! Why are you doing this?!" I can hear Lucia''s voice in the summon''s area but I didn''t respond and decided to ignore their cries inside. Why did I do this? Because once the maintenance begins, if you are forcefully logged out from the game while your summons and followers are currently out in the open and are currently fighting will not be recalled once you are forcefully logged out and they will remain in the world while you are gone. In normal cases, it should have been fine if you are in a neutral area or inside the towns, cities, kingdoms, or anywhere safe enough for NPCs to exist, but on a battlefield like this, you will just leave them to die instead if you were forcefully kicked out from the game due to the maintenance. There are no permanent deaths in the game once a follower dies, just like yers, they will start to respawn if they die but it takes half a month before they can respawn if they ever die and a week if they are pets. I know that they will respawn if they die but I treat it as a permanent death so instead of letting them die and wait for 15 days to wait for their revival, I would rather protect them from harm''s way instead. It is much easier and beneficial to me instead. Now that everyone is back to safety, I am left vulnerable against the monsters, and without Tina giving out doses of poisons to monsters, I am stuck with full-powered monsters, ready to pounce and kill me anytime. But who said I am going to die here? I have thirty minutes left to fight back before the game kicks me out. That is plenty enough for me already and if I managed to find a good solution on how to close the portal then that''s even better. "Hey, hey, you monsters. Don''t just keep on growling there! Give me a thrill on fighting you all and make sure you don''t bore me out to death, alright?" The monsters angrily growl and started to rush towards my position. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a Magic Sword. I also pulled out the Pain Delivery and started to shoot multiple bullets at the uing monsters. All of the surrounding enemies are nothing but monsters, so even if I close my eyes, I will not miss if I shoot randomly and I will still hit something. "Come on! Come at me and fight me!" Blood stters, guts explode, different kinds of monsters appear, and multiple monsters die in my hands. I am not even caring whether I smell bad from all the blood and guts that are covering my whole body right now. Instead, I keep on slicing, shooting, slicing, and shooting without break. I don''t even know how many monsters I killed already from doing this. All I know is that I am just doing it without a break. Then, my vision cked out before I opened my eyes and I realized that I have returned to the real world. I sighed. I didn''t even get to close the portal before the maintenance begins. Chapter 426 The Source Of The Cold Returning to the real world without warning is something else. I didn''t know that being kicked out from the game due to the maintenance urring would be something like that. I stood up from the bed and stretched my body. Since the game will take 48 hours worth of time to conduct the emergency maintenance, it would have been a good time to take a break from the game. However, who would be able to properly rx in this kind of weather like this and with the temperature invading your room and are almost ready to invade your body if you don''t get vignt? With the game under maintenance, everyone would be already out of their room and should be staying underneath the kotatsu. For me, it wasn''t the case and I have a suspicion about what the cold feeling is like. I returned to my bed and sit in a cross-legged position. Once I feelfortable with how I am positioned in my bed, I channel the mana in my body and let it spread out from my veins to my nerves, basically, everywhere in my body. The rush of mana in my body flows smoothly in my body. It helped a lot that I trained my body to handle loads of mana in one go. Without training my body for that, this amount of load is enough to make me drown from having too much mana flowing in the body. Once the mana has already spread out fully to my body, the next thing I did is to absorb the mana in the surroundings. Since the location of my house is favored for the amount of mana circling around the whole ce, it is a good ce to practice mana control. When I started absorbing the mana on the surroundings, the pang of cold started to spread out in my body and the temperature of my body rapidly dropped. To quickly stop the cold from spreading from my body, I circte the mana that is currently spread out in my body and use it to circte again in my whole body, sweeping the new mana that I absorbed and blending with the old mana currently present in my body. Once the cirction was done, I sighed in relief from what happened. "As expected, this cold weather is not something that is due to natural causes. It is more simr to how a mana storm in Alternate World works." Mana Storm is a cmity that urs in Luminos, the Continent in the Sky and it is exclusive on that continent as well. In short, Mana Storm is a storm that is not caused by normal means but caused by the wild flow of the mana in the surroundings. Depending on how severe the wild flow of mana is, it would either cause the Mana Storm to ur in different forms. Although I don''t believe this was a mana storm, it has simr functions as the mana that is currently surrounding the ce is not supposed to be cold. Only the mana in mana storms adapts to what kind of storm they are in. If it was a blizzard, the mana you felt is cold and chill. If it was a Magma Storm, the mana is hot. Perhaps the mana I felt when I was waiting for anyone to open the door earlier was not just my imagination but a real deal of how the mana is getting wild. There is one thing that puzzles me if this was a mana storm though. Compared to what is happening all around the world, Mana Storm is located only in one ce and wouldn''t ur all around the continent of Luminos which is why it is easy to ignore or avoid the Mana Storm if it urred. However, the current temperature drop and the winter-like weather are happening all over the world which doesn''t make sense much to me. After a bit of racking my brains oning up with an exnation, I decided to give up on it for now and decided to know whether I can think of a way to lessen the situation or find out the main cause of it. Even if I am located in Japan, if I use the mana to trace it, I can easily find the main cause of the trouble somewhere around the world without going there directly. I may not be powerful enough to solve it while I am here, but I can at least identify whether things will be very bad or not if I leave it alone. Once my mana has properly settled down, I focused my whole consciousness and made sure that I am not ufortable in any way. Fully prepared, I released the mana in my body and made it blend with the mana in the surroundings. Not only that but I also attached a small part of my consciousness to the mana I blend into the surrounding mana. This method is something that shouldn''t be imitated or done by someone who doesn''t know what he is doing. One wrong move and the consciousness you attached to the mana will be lost and you will never beplete again as that piece of consciousness will be lost in the swirl of mana. There is not a bad part to losing your consciousness but you will feel a sudden loss of something important to you, like memories and other abilities. So unless you really know what you are doing, making this move gives a big gamble. I am not afraid of what I am doing so this is not something worth getting much fuss about. Also, if things go south, I can easily retrieve my consciousness without a problem too, allowing me to use this to properly learn the situation. With a bit of my consciousness detached from me, I allowed it to flow around the mana. Compared to the past timeline that I did this thing, the stream of mana in the current situation is much different than the stream of mana in the past timeline. Just like how things are happening in the real world, the stream of mana is also slowly freezing. It isn''t a good thing as it will make moving around the stream of mana hard. Because of this, I decided to increase the mana load that I attached to my consciousness. Increasing the mana load, also allowed me to increase the heat of my current situation. It allowed me to properly move around the stream of mana without getting stuck. With everythingpleted, the small voyage begins. ... Exploring the mana of the surroundings, I find the mana around the house not that chaotic but the surrounding areas are mixed of chaotic and calm. It''s quite overwhelming if you are not used to it and getting caught up in storms will be really easy if you don''t pay attention. I let the flow of mana do its work and carry me. Most of the time, the current came from the strongest area where mana congregates a lot. I thought it was located very far from my current location but I realized that something was not right with the situation, not too far from my mansion. Something seems to be disturbing the flow as it is keeping on releasing the cold mana and sucking the normal mana that normally exists. I pinpointed the main coordinates on where it was located and quickly retrieve the consciousness I attached and reattached it to my body. Once the consciousness in my head stabilized, the next thing I did is to stabilize the mana in my whole body. I don''t want it to go berserk and destroy my body due to the rush of finding out the main cause. Once the stabilization of my mana has returned to normal, I grab my jacket and heat packs before opening the door to the balcony in my room and escaped there silently before anyone from the house noticed I was gone. I don''t want anyone to know what I am currently doing at the moment. They might get worried over something that I am still not that certain of. Silently escaping from the perimeter of my mansion, I recall the coordinates of where I was before and took a bit of time identifying where I should go. After a few seconds of analysis, I marked down in my mind where the ce I saw before is currently located and rushed there. Without anyone around the streets, I didn''t hesitate to use my swift movement to traverse the streets and reach my current destination fast enough. When I arrived at the location that is causing the disturbance in mana inside the mana stream, what weed me is something shocking even for me. Before me is a small hole. It is a hole big enough for the size of my head to enter and exit without getting trapped in it. I can''t call it a hole though because not only does it has a dimension beyond its hole, it looks like a portal to me and currently, a cold breeze that is freezing the surroundings is currently being released from its hole. Chapter 427 The Real Life Crack In The World It might look like some sort of portal but it seems like it is some sort of one-way portal as anything that passes through it, does not lead anywhere as it didn''t reach what world is beyond the portal. I tried throwing a pebble when I saw it but the portal seems to be nonexistent since the pebble just passed through it. "What the heck is this? I thought it was some sort of a portal but it doesn''t do anything. I don''t want to risk my body either since, unlike the game where I can regenerate my lost limb, in the real world, I will lose it permanently. Even if it is proven that it doesn''t have any portal traits, doesn''t mean it doesn''t have one." Being cautious is not a bad thing and it always proves to save me countless times. So if my instincts kick in like this, I would rather follow my instincts rather than follow my curiosity. Now, this is something that I have not seen before. In the past timeline, something like this did not ur in the real world. Magic is one thing but simr mechanics in the game like monster spawning and portals shouldn''t have existed in the real world. So what the heck is this thing? I can''t ask someone to help me on this matter. Not only they have not developed the ability to use magic, but they also have no idea things like this exist either. I know things like this should be discussed with someone but I am not capable of exposing everyone to this. And if I report this to the authorities, they would just treat me like a person who escaped the mental hospital and I would rather avoid that. But it was clear that the cold air around here ising from this thing. I can sense the mana going haywire around this ce and if I try to use any sort of mana-rted action here, it is clearly going to add more to the trouble. ,m One thing that I noticed is that this ce is warmerpared to the surrounding area. The outside is freezing and ice is forming but the wall adjacent to the portal thingie seems tock the ice crystallization you will see when it starts to freeze up. Because this thing was unknown to me and there was no one who can tell me what the heck this thing is, I have to use my own observation skills and rack up my brain on what to do with this. If my assumption is correct, this little portal seems to have some corrtion to what the world is experiencing right now. And since this was happening all around the world, this must be not exclusive to this ce alone and it might exist in other areas too. I circled around it. At first nce, it looks like it was some sort of graffiti if you saw it from afar with a wall behind it, making it quite inconspicuous in people''s eyes. However, you will soon realize it wasn''t even one since, in the first ce, it wasn''t attached to any walls, it is hovering in the air and there is no graffiti that moves like a wobbly jelly every now and then unless we are talking about 3d animation hologram thing but that shouldn''t be the case here. The portal is in oval shape though it has some wobbly edges that seem to move every now and then. It might look big if you look at its front and back but if you look at its side, it is very thin that you won''t see it unless you get very close to it. After observing for a bit, I moved away from it and gather my thoughts about it. Other than releasing the cold wind that seems to affect the weather greatly, there seems to be nothing more to it. Sure, the mana seems to be reacting strongly to it but I don''t think it is even that big of a mana disturbance. More like it is some sort of a crack in thin air and just manifested like this... Wait... A crack? When I realized this, I put my guard up. After my encounter with Crack in the World in Alternate World, I have a bad feeling about it. Since my instincts are kicking in earlier after I discovered and approached it, I am going to assume that it acts the same way as the Crack in the World in the game as well? I waited for a bit to see any changes from it. But nothing happened except for its regr thing. I don''t see anything that is giving risks here. Am I getting paranoid from encountering the Crack in the World in the game? Or I am just too deep reading those novels with the invasion of monsters via cracks forming from another world? Maybe I am just too paranoid without knowing it. But even if there are no monstersing out from this, that doesn''t mean it is okay to just leave this hole alone. Not only does it changes the weather, but it also affects the whole world too. There is only one way that is needed to do to stop that from getting worse and that is to close this portal. The only question is how to close this one up. Perhaps I can try some methods of closing this. Without anyone around me or enemies spawning to annoy me on what I am doing, I can try doing some things to potentially find a way to close it. I looked around my surroundings and made sure no one is around just to make sure. After making sure that no one can see the spectacle I am about to do, I remove the gloves and snap my fingers, igniting my fingertips and giving them some re to light up. On the other hand, I activated the voltage on my palm, releasing a voltage capable of electrocuting anyone who dares to get close. I know I said earlier that using mana-rted activities near it would give serious trouble but I have no choice but to do that. The first thing I have to try is to attack it with my magic spells. If it is made of magic fight it with magic. I may not know what I am doing but I will do my best to do it. "Let''s try giving a palm-sized fireball and see how it goes then." Forming the fireball is easier nowpared to when I am just starting out, now, let''s try throwing it and see if the portal reacts. FWOOM! The moment I throw the fireball, the mes of the fireball suddenly got too hot and it was like it ignited to its maximum before making contact with the portal. Once the two collided, it suddenly exploded and I have to back away to avoid getting caught in it. "What the f*ck? I am quite sure I didn''t put that much power into it. How the f*ck did that explode to that extent?!" I almost freaked out. After all, I was expecting it to be a small-scale explosion that is contained within here so the explosion was something else that I didn''t expect. But despite the explosion being too big, the sound was muffled to some extent. I was just shocked because of how big it was when it exploded but I was also relieved that it didn''t cause too much ruckus from the explosion. One thing I didn''t want to happen is attracting unwanted onlookers. But what heck happened? That was a strong explosion upon contact. Knowing how fireballs work in real life, I know that a small fireball is not enough to cause an explosion that much. The scale of the explosion of the fireball that I have thrown should be on par with a small firecracker while the explosion that urred just now is the same explosion when a grenade''s pin was pulled and thrown and I am quite sure of it, no shadow of a doubt. My eyes darted from side to side again to see if it gained attention and waited for a bit to see whether it will cause another trouble but thankfully, it didn''t happen and I sighed in relief. The next thing I needed to do is to check out what happened to the portal. With the explosion earlier, the portal has changed drastically. Compared to its oval shape form before the fireball exploded to its surface, the current shape of the portal now is irregr now. It doesn''t have a fixed shape now, more like some sort of water color mixed with another color on the water without being stirred by anything. The movement it usually does from time to time seems to be also getting more frequent than before too. One thing is for sure, despite it showing no signs of disappearing, it shows signs of change. Perhaps I am walking the right path here now, right? Chapter 428 Manifestation It''s looking real ominous now. I don''t like the look of this. But seeing its change is enough to know that it is disturbed by just that one attack is enough for me to know that perhaps doing it again may shake things up on that portal and mess up what it should have been. There is nothing to lose and if things get weird, I will have to stop or fight back. To avoid a bigger explosion from urring, I decided to use the electricity ability than using the fire-base ability. With the explosion earlier, I don''t want to cause more ruckus than there should be and the lesser destructive consequences and lesser noise when used is the electricity. I know it makes the zaps sound but it''s not as loud as the explosion of a fireball colliding with the portal. BZZZZT BZZZT BZZZT A little blitz of electricity started to crawl around my palms and just this little crackling sound of it is much quieter than the mes in my hands earlier. Once I had everything under control, I focus my attention on the portal and amplify the ability in my palms. It''s not as strong as the mes but since the bolts of electricity are fast and can be destructive if used for a prolonged time, it takes a few seconds for the results to ur. "Alright, let''s get you sparkly with electric boogaloo, okay?!" And I shot out the electricity from my palms to the portal. The moment the electricity touched the portal, I felt a small jolt in my hands, It is tingly and made my hands feel numb. However, the portal alone is looking like it is struggling too hard to maintain its form. If it has a voice, it must be already screaming in pain. Perhaps...the portal is being overloaded by my ability? If it is sucking the mana in the surroundings very slowly while releasing the cold air, perhaps the abilities I have thrown into the portal is making the portal go haywire? Despite not knowing if it was the main cause of how it looks like right now, it is clear it is doing the trick of breaking the crap out of the portal and changing its form. I increased the power of the electricity a little bit harder and just as expected, the portal is showing signs of shrinkage as time goes by. Not only that but the cold air that is around the portal is also disappearing which only means I am hitting the jackpot in closing it. "HA!" I amplify the power even further and this causes the portal to shrink even further. I grinned seeing how small it has gotten after I continue pushing the electricity to overload the portal. It didn''t take long and it was about to disappear. But before I can even celebrate sessfully closing the portal, the small portal seems to have gotten torn all of a sudden, and arge crack appeared. It doesn''t look like a portal or anything, more like it was intentionally torn but that is not the cause of concern for me because thatrge crack suddenly hasrge ws appearing. "What the f*ck? Monster manifestation?!" Seeing the monster is trying to tear arger crack out from the previous crack it made, made me assume that it is a big monster. With that as a possibility, I poured all of my mana to increase the power of my electricity and patch up the crack. The portal that has appeared and I suppressed earlier has already disappeared but the new one is the crack that has been torn by the monster behind that realm. Looking at how the portal is also being affected by my electricity only means that it is also functioning simrly to how the portal I just closed does. And this is just a race on which of us is the one who will win the struggle, me, who is currently struggling just closing the portal, or the monster, that is trying the best it can to reach out to this world and manifest in his own glory. "F*ck you! Whatever you are, you are not going out of that ce!" I transfer all the burden of manifesting the electricity to my right arm and freed my left arm from the burden. It made my hands a bit tingly and numb but it can function and work like always. And finally, my left arm finally returned to normal. I tried to close and open my hands to check whether the numb feeling I am feeling in my arm is still there which is thankfully no longer present there. With that, I called my Versatile Weapon, manifest it in reality, and get it to exist. Just closing the portal will be not enough. I will have to overpower the enemy by myself and win. "You think I will just sit idly and wait for you to manifest? I am not that soft! You have no ce in this world!" The manifestation of the Versatile Weapon allowed me to have an item that can help me fight against the monsters. My magic alone will not suffice, I have to add force with a bit of "oomph" to make this done for good. The huge ws are trying to rip the little portal appearing in the air. It is struggling but it is trying its best to crawl out from whatever dimension the monster came from. And then, one of its arms started to reach out from that portal. SWISH! I swing real hard to the arms that appeared. I didn''t just swing half-heartedly but a swing that I am trying to cut something. GRAWWWRRRR! The howl of the monster from the portal echoed from that same portal after the Versatile Weapon severed one of its arms that tried to reach out from the portal. The monster was surprised and retreated immediately into the world beyond that portal. Once the monster stopped trying to tear a bigger hole, I poured all of my remaining mana and overload the portal that was created after the monster tried to rip a new hole and forcefully seal the portal before it can even manifest even further. I don''t want to take chances and didn''t wait for the monster to appear again and closed it. SHAAAAAAAA~ The portal disappeared and everything had finally returned to normal. The weather also started to warm up and the ice that seemed to have formed around the neighborhood is also beginning to melt as well. Well, except for the giant monster arm that is lying on the ground. It is pretty eyecatching and seeing how it has blue blooding from its wound, the blood looks like paint. Because I have no choice, I checked the surroundings before touching the monster''s arm and activating the teleport ability. BLAG! The monster''s arm also got teleported to my room and itnded on the floor with a "g" sound. It''s not that loud but I hope that no one heard that. But I am pretty sure they haven''t heard that. With them stuck in the kotatsu due to the cold, I doubt most of them are even staying inside their rooms. More like they are keeping themselves warm from the cold. I know I already closed the portal and it is starting to warm up but that doesn''t mean I already fixed everything around here. I am quite sure there is somewhere else the portal is manifesting. With this happening all around the world, the portal should be existing all around the world too. After the appearance of the monster trying to tear apart the closing portal, I am now fearing for the worst. With how monsters appeared in portals, some people might think the world is also doing a transformation simr to those novels with monster invasion via portals and people will gain abilities and stuff. Still, I am not afraid of that happening just yet. If my theory is correct, the monster only started to try to interfere and get out of the portal when the portal is about to close. With the portal open, perhaps they will not do anything just yet. They will not do anything beyond tearing the portal to a bigger one and letting monsters appear. Unless the portal is closed, the monsters will not appear...that is my theory at the very least. Still, how can I close them all? I am just one man and I am by no means trying to be a hero. All I wanted is to y the game and take revenge on those people who do me wrong in the past timeline. Even if I leave them alone, the whole world will be in trouble if that happens. It''s not even a good thing in many ways. So, what am I even supposed to do? I am the only one who knows the situation and the only guy who knows how to close it at the moment. This choice alone is something that will only hurt my head more. Just what the heck is even going on in this world? Is it the consequence in changing what is going to happen in the future? Chapter 429 Materials After taking care closing the unknown portal, I am now examining the severed arm that I just cut off from the monster that tried to escape from the portal. Upon closer inspection, it looks like it belonged to a lizard or a wyrm. The scales alone are a giveaway of its identity even without looking at the monster in its entirety. I know how to handle materials like this if it was in the game but this is reality. How the heck should I even process this? I doubt there is any kind of tool in reality that can help with processing this thing. Even if I go to a cksmith, they don''t have the capacity to process this thing. If I can bring this material back into the game, perhaps I can do that but because of the way the manifestation works, only items from the Alternate World can be brought back to the real world and only a limited amount of them can be brought used in the real world. Weapons can be brought out but they will disappear if they are far from the owner and they will return to the inventory after a bit of a distance from the user is made. Potions and other stuff can be used too but just like the weapons, they can only be used instantaneously and they cannot be sold. The scrolls, monster drops, processing tools for various ex jobs, and other things outside of the potion and weapons cannot manifest in the real world. Therefore, even if I have the tools in the game, I can''t manifest them here in the real world and use them to process this thing. The only thing I can do is to try to dismantle it using the Versatile Weapon. Out of all the things that can help break apart this monster part is the Versatile Weapon alone. It''s troublesome but that is all I could do at the moment. I didn''t get rid of it because I can recognize that this would be a good and valuable piece of material if taken apart. Aside from the flesh which we cannot eat, the scales, skin, and ws are another matter. Not only do they have lots of value, but you can also even use them for other purposes like making pieces of jewelry and some items. Before doing the bloody work, I cleaned up a small space in my room. With how spacious my room is in my mansion, it''s big enough for me to perform something like dismantling. Even if blood still stters, it won''t stter on my things unless I get close to them. First, I grab the old apron sitting in my drawer. I have no use for it since I have a new apron to use when I am cooking therefore, this apron of mine will no longer see any kitchen work. Instead, I will be using it to dismantle the monster part. Next, is the Versatile Weapon''s form. It might be good to use the sword to cut up a big portion of the thing, but that won''t work properly. The proper form is to use the dagger form of the Versatile Weapon which is the main weapon of the Assassin. Although it''s not simr to the knife used in dismantling, this can work well as long as it can cut the flesh and skin separately. And the dismantling process began. ... ... ... About an hour and a halfter, the arm has now been fully dismantled. As for the flesh, I burnt them to ashes. As much as they look like regr beef, in Alternate World, they taste like crap and I will also assume it is the same here in the real world. It''s not something that can even be salvaged by someone who is good at cooking. No matter if you are a master chef or not, the dish with it will taste like crap. The only thing it was good for is to use it as bait on carnivorous monsters, but nothing more than that. Without monsters to use as bait, it is useless here in the real world. Now, the remaining materials are more useful than the flesh. The skin alone is very sturdy. It might look like something that will be easily torn by a sharp object but it was tough enough to prevent a very sharp knife to pierce through. And because it is big enough after skinning it off, I can easily create be used as an alternative inner armor that can be used to cover your vital parts of the body. Nowes the scales. Due to the number of scales I collected, I managed to fill a convenience store stic bag full. The size of each scale is as big as theputer mouse. And yet I managed to fill a stic bag full of that. In the game, the scales can be used for creating essories and sometimes,ponents for creating armor as they can also provide defensive values. I have no use for it in terms of armor making but its a different matter when ites to essories. The problem is that I have no proper tool to make the essories. I don''t to waste such a material by making crude essories. Even if I am just a cksmith in the game, it is still somewhat my pride to have them. Andst but not the least, the bones and ws. The severed monster''s hand has 5 fingertips and each has sharp ws. These ws are sharp enough that it can tear off a metal sheet easily and are very sturdy while the bone is hard as steel that I can even guess that if you test the steel and the bone, the steel will be the first to keel over. Compared to the scales, the ws and the bone can be easily transformed into usable items. A small splinter from the big bone is good enough to create an alternative needle which will be useful to create something that will have to use the skin of this monster. As for the rest of the bone, it is already good enough as a lethal weapon by itself. One bonk and the opponent will die immediately. As for the ws, I can use them one to make a dagger I can use to fight without relying on the Versatile Weapon most of the time and a knife that I can use to cut through the scales. As for the remaining ws, I might have to think about what to use them as they can potentially allow me to create tools that can easily process these other materials. And with only three more chances left, I will have to think over what to do with them. Oh, onest thing I managed to get is the remaining blood from the monster part. It''s not much but I managed to salvage a few drops of its blood. I have no idea what I can use them for, but I am quite sure the amount I collected is something that I might find some use in the future. If only I managed to get quite a lot, it would have been another story as I can create a homemade potion out from that blood but too bad, the part is almost dry from blood when I started to dismantle it, only allowing me to collect a few droplets. After the dismantling process was done, all that is left to clean up the mess. I snap my fingers and cleansing magic started its work. The blood stters that were dry already are immediately removed by the cleansing magic. I am quite thankful to my past self since I managed to learn Cleansing Magic. If not for this, removing this stain will take me a very long time before I can finish wiping and mopping the floor. I wipe my sweat and I soon realized that the surroundings has returned to its former temperature. The cold air has also returned to it''s warm current. I sigh in relief seeing these changes, I went to my heater and turned it off. Now that the temperature is back to normal, the heater''s job is also done. Opening the windows, the ice from the surrounding houses has started to melt too and I noticed some of our neighbors are also going out from their houses now that the cold air no longer freeze the ce. It seems my actions has a lot of a bigger impact of allowing it to warm up again. "Manato! Come down here, the weather has already returned for the better!" I heard the voice of Janus downstairs. My work here in my room is done, and I already put away the dismantled materials somewhere safe already. Let''s check downstairs and also check the news if there are anything new to the news after I just closed a portal. It''s time to see the fruits of my struggle andbor. Chapter 430 End Of Maintenance And Patch Notes Just like what Janus shouted earlier, things have gotten significantly better as the surroundings have already returned to normal. I also don''t need to be careful on every step as the ice that has formed on the floor has also melted along with everywhere else where those ice particles have formed before. "The temperature has gone up and returned to normal already. I don''t know what happened but it seems the situation has gotten better outside," Janus pulled out the heat packs from his body and removed the jacket he is wearing now. Everyone also removed the covers they put in their bodies that shielded them from the cold. They looked refreshed now that the temperature has gotten better. "Have you tuned in to the news? Maybe they have an idea of what happened and why it suddenly returned for the better?" I turned to look at the television. "We are still waiting for the news at the moment. It should being a few moments for a bit and I am sure they will immediately give an update already. Oh, speak of the devil, here it is." The news sh appeared after a few advertisements passed by and I can easily tell it was an update as they didn''t even announce it on official news. It''s just a sh update but that is what I needed right now. [News sh! We have good news to bring about the weather change that urred a few hours ago. At approximately 5 in the afternoon, the weather has returned to normal in the entirety of Tokyo and its surrounding areas. Reports have arrived at us that only Tokyo and its surrounding areas are currently experiencing the change and the other parts of Japan have yet to return to normal. Experts are still trying to find the reason for the sudden change in Tokyo''s weather and why the situation all around the world is still the same...] The news keep going after that but I already knew what I wanted to know and I didn''t expect that the single portal I closed was enough to let the whole of Tokyo recover its weather. It was a small portal but it already affected a whole big coverage of the area meaning the other portals seems to be also connected to it. Still, I am quite worried. Knowing that it isn''t just a normal portal is still quite troublesome. ... Two days passed by quickly. Yesterday, the siblings finally managed to activate their abilities just like Rika who is also progressing her abilities quite splendidly. Akira''s ability manifested and his ability is rted to defensive capabilities just like in the past timeline. His powers involve hardening his skin and making it as hard as metal. His strength also has a drastic increase. As for Sora, her ability is just as I expected. However, his specialty magic changed from fire to ice and water elemental magic. It was different from what happened in the past timeline and I am a bit confused as to why it was different but I didn''tin as that change is still better. After all, just being able to use two elements in your first awakening is not something to be scoffed about. Janus is quite jealous and decided to train his best instead to also gain abilities like them but because he is just newly exposed to the Alternate World game and has just started his training to awaken his mana, not to mention that he is still using the cabin version, I doubt he will awaken his abilities soon though but who knows? As for me, my mana pool has already expanded quite greatly than ever before. Perhaps my actions of closing the portal before have greatly expanded it but who knows, but it certainly is not due to my training that''s for sure. Right now, I am just waiting for the maintenance of the Alternate World to finish up. While waiting, I am currently writing some design patterns on what to do with the scales and n on expanding the repertoire from that. It is certainly necessary for me to keep track of that forter on for references. But it wasn''t easy toe up with ideas on making things out of that scale especially since I am in the real world and there aren''t any existing tools that are good enough to perform a bit of the processing from it so I am limited to things that I can make. Maybe it will expand in the future but we will just see. DING! My homophone gives me a notification and that is just what I am waiting for. The notification for the servers to open. I lie down on my bed and log back into the game. I don''t know if I am still in the middle of the horde but I hope I am not. After all, I got kicked out of the game after failing to log out before the allocated time to log out from the game passed by. We will see what is going to happen. ... ... [Wee Back, deheart] I returned to the game and just like before, I am still underground and there are no changes from that, but I am certainly no longer in the area where I fought the monsters before. The location I spawned in is not too far from the battlefield spot where the portal was. ''Perhaps I died?'' I have no idea if I did. But just to make sure, I opened my inventory and check whether I lost something from my belongings since something will definitely drop from my inventory if ever I died back then. But to my surprise, I didn''t have any items lost. All of them are intact and they are notcking even a single one of them. Kind of strange but it is a blessing knowing that I didn''t die back then. The next thing I did is to check the patch notes. Without knowing why they did sudden maintenance, I needed to see what the hubby is all about. To my surprise, the patch notes are not rted to the whole game''s progress or bug-rted things that they will need to fix immediately. Nothing game-breaking bugs either which is kinda strange since they don''t do something like emergency maintenance for anything and they only do that if a very big game bug appeared that ruins the game experience. The patch notes did not mention any of that, instead, the patch notes instead have a major change for a specific ss and that is the Versatile ss. The pit in some fixes on other matters but it was clear that it was just some additional things added so that they can find some excuse on doing big maintenance like this just to change a character ss. Even in the past timeline, I have not seen any changes from the past timeline or anything rted to the Versatile ss so why all of a sudden? Is it because of how I y the game? Is that maybe the main reason? Maybe that is the reason but I still hope it wasn''t a big nerf. Things would get really bad if that urs. First, let''s read the patch notes and see any kind of things that have changed to the Versatile ss. ... [ss Tree Overhaul for the Versatile ss] Reason for the changes: Due to theints about keeping track of all skills the Versatile yer needs to do, the team decided to overhaul the whole skill tree and rebuild it for easier and yer-friendly skill tree navigation. Here is the list of changes that involves the Versatile ss. 1. SP or skill points will be removed from the Versatile ss. Due to the difference in skill trees of Versatile ss, it was first divided as the Level up SP where you can use it like usual to unlock a specific skill in any ss, and the individual ss SP in which you can only use that to unlock a certain ss skill using those points which you can earn by using a skill from that specific ss weapon or skill rted to the ss. 2. Introduction to the ss Levels only for the Versatile ss. Since skills are divided into tiers, specific tiers can only be unlocked if you reached a certain ss level from that specific ss. Just like before, it needed the user to use a specific ss weapon or skill to umte ss experience. For yers who already invested quite a huge amount of skill points in some sses, the system has already converted them to experience points. In certain level thresholds, tiers of skills will be unlocked correspondingly. 3. Just like before, to obtain a skill, you need to purchase it. However, this time around, you can only obtain one skill, one level at a time. For example, if your Swordsman ss level has reached level 5, you can choose 5 Swordsman ss-specific skills, whether it was passive or active skills, doesn''t matter. Also, holding up on the skill level and skill selection will not work here. To unlock a certain tier of the ss, you will need to obtain a specific number of skills from that previous tier before the next tier will be unlocked. Choose wisely. Chapter 431 Where Is It? What? Overhauling the skill tree? I don''t know if I would be happy about this change or not. The fact that they removed the SP earned by the Versatile ss and have all skills locked behind levels seems to be a bad move to me. Now, Versatile yer skills are locked out at ss level and if they wanted to have a specific skill that they needed in a specific ss, they will need to either use a skill of that ss or use its weapon to level it up and hopefully reach a high level to reach it. They will be forced to focus on either one or two sses to level up and hopefully get a good and high enough level to get each skill. I continue to read as there is still one more patch note left aside from what I just read. ... 4. To those yers who have unlocked some Secret Skills from unlocking some skills before, the secret skills will remain but the skills that were bought by SP or ss sp will not be avable until the yer manually unlocked them themselves. ... I didn''t expect that I will retain the secret skills I got before these changes. That is good if I say so myself. But it''s not as reassuring when all of the skills that are needed to unlock them are once again necessary to be selected again for purchase. There are no more changes from the Versatile ss and they didn''t improve the Versatile ss''s exp bar''s ridiculous amount of experience needed just to level up. Guess they still love to torture the Versatile yers. Closing the patch notes, the next part of the agenda is to check the skill tree and see what are the current levels of all the sses I have and see how much I got for levels and how far do I have to level them up just to use them up again. When I opened up the ss tree, there are some sses that have very high and significant levels and there are some that barely have any experience points in them. Maybe because I rarely ever use them or I only have used their passives instead that the levels are these low. Currently, the ss levels of all my skills are like this. Swordsman: Level 15 Samurai: level 4 Alchemist: level 3 Ninja: level 3 Assassin: Level 5 Hunter: Level 9 Cleric: Level 27 Pdin: Level 40 Holy Knight: Level 10 Magic Knight: Level 51 Magician: Level 50 Fighter: Level 5 Gunslinger: Level 21 Druid: Level 2 Berserkers: Level 3 Necromancer: Level 6 Chronomancer: Level 4 Cannoneer: Level 4 Saboteur: Level 20 By the way, all the ss skills that an ascension ss has can be selected at level 50 of that ss. All ascension sses that certain sses have are unlocked at level 50. For example, a certain ss has two ascension sses avable, the Versatile ss can choose from both skill trees of those ascension sses once they reach level 50. Of course, I also needed to satisfy the requirements to choose them but for now, I don''t think I have much to do with them right now. Because it is a lot of trouble to check all of them up while I am in a hostile zone, I decided to just pick up the skills I am sure that I will use at the moment. With the Magic Knight and Magician sses up to level 50, I can grab straight all of the starter skills I have before. I also didn''t forget to grab some passives as well. As for the rest of the skills, I will do thatter once I am sure I will no longer be busy and no longer have to worry about the monsters all around the ce. Now that I am done, I continue to proceed and check the portal before. That is my target to clear today. I continue to proceed slowly as my passives are no longer the same as before. However, the unexpected happened. Before, a huge portal that spawns monsters should be currently floating above the air, ready to release different kinds of abominations. But that expectation is not what I am seeing right now. In fact, it was missing. Yes, the portal is missing. It is a relief that it is no longer there but where did it go? I am quite sure I never closed it before the maintenance urred which is why I am confused as to why it is missing right now. One of the questions that popped out of my mind is... where is it? It was a big portal and it spawns monsters. It is impossible that I am just confused about where it was located before and where I am now. I am quite certain that where I am right now, should also be the ce where the portal should also be located too. Looking around the area didn''t help as there isn''t any signs that the portal existed there before. More like nothing is currently connected to the portal incident at all making me tilt my head in confusion. Where did it go? As much as I want to think about where it was, it''s not the right time for me to keep thinking about it. Now that it is gone, it''s time to proceed and continue the progress to go and fight back. Pulling out the map that I made before, I called out to Lina. "...Master. It seems you are safe." "I apologize for not saying anything and letting you guys worry about me about making myself fight the monsters alone." "Yes, Master. You didn''t know how worried we were when you did that. We know that you can just revive somewhere if you die but you are always making sure that you won''t have to die and make a priority of staying alive most of the time. So even if you wanted to sacrifice yourself, you should have said or exined something to us. We are not just going to be standing there and do nothing too." "I''m sorry. That won''t happen again. This time, I will exin things to everyone. Anyways, are you fine to explore again? We will be going to continue the exploration progress that halted earlier." "Yes, Master. We are ready whenever you are ready. Summon us as you will." "Let''s go. If my assumption is correct, another portal might appear again once we move closer to our current destination." "Master, we finally gained some idea on how to close the portal." ? When Lina said that, I turned to look at her in surprise. A way to close the portal? That is something that I have to hear. It might even help me learn how to efficiently close the portal back in the real world too." "Let''s hear it while we walk." "Yes, Master. So while we are stuck in the summon''s area after you recalled all of us, the young half angel and half devil woke up. As you can remember, As-san is the one who is handling him and ever since he is in the summons area, he is sleeping without any signs of waking up. Just the other day, he woke up with a nonchnt yawn." "At that time, we are still discussing how to close the portal since we assumed you have died because our calls were not being answered so we decided to discuss how to solve and close the portal up. That''s when he decided to join our conversation." "He just joined the conversation without anyone inviting him?" I frowned. Knowing the personality of the kid, I was surprised it went well and they managed to get good info out of him without much problem. "Right? It was so surprising I didn''t know it would happen like that. His participation in our conversation though is proof that he is not always a prick most of the time. As-san didn''t even need to step in to stop the kid. The kid is just conversing with us like normal. Since it was the very first time for us to speak with him, it was awkward at first but thanks to Gobu''s ability to talk over someone easily and keep the conversation going, we soon managed to talk to the guy and learn some things from him." "Now, here is what we learned. During the conversation, he mentioned that the Portals might be holes from a certain reality and were connected to our world. Treat it as a normal gate that we use to ward off strangers away from our yard. If it is remained open, it will normally invite multiple unwanted visitors. That''s when he said the main way to stop the portal from functioning. Currently, there are two ways to do it." "First is the normal way, close it by overloading it with mana, causing it to copse due to the amount of mana it cannot handle causing the portal to fail. The second one though is a bit different. The way to close it properly is to drain all the current mana the portal is currently holding to remain present in the world. Not only does it closes the portal, but it also increases the max mana pool of the current person closing the portal, making it extremely beneficial to magicians to close a portal if they see one by absorbing all the mana the portal possesses. Chapter 432 Mysterious Guy Is Back That is not what I expected from closing the portals. I know that they are made of mana as they can easily tear through reality and the only things that can do that are either the mana itself or some sort of monster that is capable of tearing through space and reality. But absorbing the portal and using the mana from it as yours is not something I am expecting at all. Is that the main reason why back in the real world, my max mana pool has increased significantly? That shouldn''t be the case since I didn''t even absorb the mana from that portal, I just overloaded it with magic skills, forcing it to close on its own. But who knows, things might be different in the game and reality or I just absorbed it without knowing. After our discussion about closing portals, we continue our exploration and see how far is the next point where an enemy will appear. And speaking of the devil, the next portal appeared before us. This time, it is big enough for our body to pass through without trying to squeeze in. But that is not the main problem, instead of one portal, we have two portals, facing side by side on each side of the road and they are more menacing than thest portal before. "Master? What should we do? Move forward or backtrack and find a different way?" Lina is vignt and ready to fight back while keeping her eyes on the portals. "There is no point going back. Even if we did, we will just be going back here to get to the exit. Our only choice is to confront the portals and see what we can do." My skills are limited to the sses I have that are high leveled. But that is not much of a problem, if skills are limited, then I will revert to how I dobat back in the days I fight back without relying on skills alone. Maybe it is something of a reminder for me that I am just too reliant on skills. Igniting the Versatile Weapon in mes, we slowly approach the portal. Lina is also getting her weapons ready, but she still didn''t pull them out since unlike me who can switch the form of my weapon, she has to reconsider which weapon to pull out and use in a fight. We slowly pass through the two portals and unlike the first portal where the monsters started appearing before we can even get real close, this time, the two portals didn''t do anything at all. Compared to the first portal where when getting real close, the monsters started spawning, the two portals didn''t have any indication that they will spawn any monsters. However, my instincts tell me something bad will happen if we cross between the portals. But there is no other way as the only way forward is to cross in between those two huge portals. "Let me cross first, Master and if it is safe, you can pass through." "No, let me do it. Watch my back instead." Lina didn''tin and followed my orders. As for me, I slowly approach the portal. Nothing happened when I am still not in the center but something did happen when I was about to step into the center of the road where the two portals are adjacent to each other. "OOPS!" CHOMP! I was suddenly dragged from behind by someone and in front of me, the portal stirred and two heads of monsters appeared, chomping in the center. If I was there, those two monsters would have eaten me, but I was dragged before that happened and I managed to escape unscathed. "You really are such a confident guy to even walk through the maws of death, you shouldn''t underestimate these portals, boy." I thought the one who pulled me off that ce was Lina but when a familiar voice of a guy echoed behind me, it wasn''t the case anymore. "Master, are you alright?" Because I was dragged too hard, my buttnded hard on the ground but it wasn''t enough to cause too big of an injury so it wasn''t serious at all. "I''m alright. Nothing too serious." Then, I turned to look at the one who save me and it was none other than the guy who almost killed mest time and the one who lent his cave-dwelling. The ridiculously strong mysterious guy. "Why did you suddenly save me?" ,m "Eh? Why not? If I didn''t save you, you would be either struggling to defend yourself or maybe if you are bad at defending, perhaps you are monster chow by now. I know that we are both unlikable characters in this story but shouldn''t you be a bit more grateful I saved your a*s out there?" "Even though you are the one who almost killed mest time, you have indeed saved me just now so I won''tin." I stood up and ready the Versatile Weapon as I stare at the two monsters emerging from the portal. They are as big as a truck and they look menacing but it seems the terrain is just not for them. They might be big but the road is just too tight for the two of them to move around. "Don''t underestimate them just because the road is tight enough for the two of them to move. You wouldn''t wish to see them chomp off your head from your body. Get ready, things will get heated up," the mysterious guy grinned as he pulled out his weapon and unlike before, he is now holding a big piece of wood though it looked like it is just a piece of log. I didn''t think much about his choices of weapons as I also have different weapon choices myself. "Lina! Restrain them!" "Yes, Master! [Restraining Chains]!" Multiple red chains appeared and wrapped themselves to the bodies of the two lizard monsters but it didn''t do jack sh*t as they break into pieces the moment the monsters wriggle their bodies, easily destroying them without any problem for them. "Save your mana girl, they won''t be restrained by something like that. They are immune." Immune huh, didn''t expect that to these lizards but it wasn''t unlikely to happen. "If they are immune to abilities that can stop them from moving then fighting them is the only way!" In response, the monsters got agitated from being attempted to be restrained and started to rush toward us. With the tight space to fight back, we have to dodge it by jumping. However, I got an idea of how to deal with them together. "Lina! Give me an attack buff!" "Yes, Master!" She snaps her fingers and the buff immediately applied to me. I didn''t expect Lina to imitate the way I activate some spells but that doesn''t mean it is a bad thing. If she finds it easier to do that, the better it is since it''s much faster than speaking or chanting. One snap is all she needed. "Oh, looks like you have some kind of n up on your sleeve huh? Care to tell me?" the mysterious guy grinned. "Oy, just because you saved me doesn''t mean I will have to tell you everything I needed to do in a fight." "Alright, alright. Chill man, I am not pressuring you there. The two lizards are getting closer and the three of us are ready to jump and dodge their attacks. They were too big and if this monster exist in the real world, the army would be definitely deployed to deal with them immediately. "ROOOOOOARRRR!" The two beasts charge forward by sliding their bodies on the icy floor, increasing their speed in their charge. The three of us quickly jump up but then the second monster then jumps forward while its mouth is wide open. "Close that filthy mouth of yours!" Lina pulled out her morning star and whirl it up to the monster, sending it to the wall, effectively stopping it from its nned attack. "Woah there, girl! You are strong! Let''s fight once this battle is over!" Lina frowned and red at the mysterious guy. "I am not in the mood right, and would you please stop interrupting? You are getting annoying." "Woah, there, chill out guys. You two are so hostile!" the guy grinned like he didn''t take us too seriously. As much as I want to smack this guy for being so annoying at times, I have to focus on our battle against the monsters. Lina sent the second monster, opening up an opportunity for me. I changed the weapon of my Versatile Weapon into a hook and chain and while I am still in mid-air, I toss the hook towards the first monster, attaching itself to its scaly back easily. Since the monster is still moving, I am also dragged along by the monster but that is what I am expecting. "Keep struggling! It won''t be long before you will meet your maker! Chapter 433 Might Of The Mysterious Guy The battle continued fiercely. The monsters are not stopping or showing any signs of calming down. They continue to charge towards us, ready to kill us if they even managed to grab a hold of any of us. Currently, the second one is currently trying to recover from the counterattack that Lina made, causing it to m into the walls. As for the first lizard monster, it is still sliding while its mouth is open, trying to swallow anything on its path. As for me? I am currently being dragged by the first lizard monster by attaching myself using the hook and chain to the back of the monster''s scales. It is already aware that I am on its back but since it has limited movement while it was sliding, it didn''t react yet. And I took that time to stabilize my footing from its back. It''s not easy as it is slippery and the scales are not that easy to stand on without holding on to something. Because the Versatile Weapon is currently stuck on the lizard monster''s body, I decided to use the Pain Delivery to inflict something to force the monster to react to something. I put the muzzle to the hard shell and pull the trigger. Compared to most shots I did use the Pain Delivery, the impact is much harder this time and I can feel that the bullet is not strong enough to prate further. If one bullet is not enough, then one more bullet should do the trick. BANG! ROAR! The moment the second bullet hit, the lizard monster started to roar and started scratching the floor in pain. It looks like I just did a critical hit on the guy despite the hard shell it has to protect itself from attacks. Due to it scratching the whole floor just to stop, the ice road is scraped from its ws, creating an uneven floor. Thought that was not enough as the monster started to wriggle hard from the pain. One more thing I noticed though is that this monster is missing an HP bar. Is it because it is a monster from the portal which is why it iscking that bar? In any case, it stopped moving and I can finally stand properly on its back without getting thrown off from the movement of this f*cker. I turned to look at Lina and the mysterious guy and they are currently dealing with the second lizard monster. Thanks to their help, I can solo the monster alone without the interruption of the second monster. I know I shouldn''t expect the mysterious guy to help but he is indeed fighting together with Lina. Now that I have already my own position at the monster''s back, I changed the form of the Versatile Weapon. That''s when the monster decided to do a flip and without the Hook and Chain to support me from its back, I fell and the monster didn''t take a second chance to use its back to crush me down. "You are a clever one eh? But it doesn''t matter!" I changed the form of the Versatile Weapon into a cannon and fired it on the floor before I fall to the ground, allowing me to immediately escape from being crushed to death by its back. Then, in my escape, I aimed my palm at the monster while it is still on its back and activated a skill. "Die! [Icicle Rain]!" Ice started to form above the belly of the monster and it didn''t take too long before it started to fall down in rapid session to the lizard monster''s belly. Its back might be hard from the scales but they are not dragons that could be fully armored to the teeth by its scales, this is just a big lizard monster that is close to a dragon but far from the actual dragon. Its belly is not just one of the parts of its body that are protected by scales. STAB STAB STAB STAB! The lizard roared in pain but I can tell it didn''t even pierce quite deep and it is not even that lethal. "F*ck, I underestimated how tough its skin. This f*cker needs more firepower just to be killed." "You called?" I was startled when the mysterious guy popped up again and like always, he is grinning like an idiot. Then I also saw Lina who seems to be in a daze. It was the first time I have seen her daze like this since even in the past timeline, she didn''t even do this kind of expression at all. And while looking at her, I just noticed what happened to the second lizard monster. It''s no longer alive but it isn''t how I thought it would be killed. The monster''s body is sliced to pieces. Literal pieces as you can assemble its body back if you like due to how all of its pieces of flesh were shaped perfectly in squares except for its edges. And I am sure that Lina is not capable of that even if she unleashed her full power. Maybe if she crushed the monster to a mush, maybe I can still believe it but seeing it cut into cubes is just surreal even for me. In short, it''s killed in an overkill way. But how did he do it? He didn''t use a sword since he is not holding one and no des are currently in his possession. I even doubt Lina had some weapons that are swords that can cause damage like that. "Mind if I take this guy?" the mysterious grinned and his eyes lit up while looking at the wriggling monster. I didn''t even get to answer as the mysterious guy just rush towards the monster and leaped forward before I can even say any response to his question. He grab one of the icicles from its belly and just stab it back into the wound he pulled the icicle shard and bury it in a much deeper hole than before. And even before the icicle can even dig deep, the mysterious guy just gives it a big punch and the icicle pierced through the lizard''s body that I can feel the end of the icicle hit the ground. The lizard didn''t like it and was about to whip the mysterious guy off of its body by whipping its tail. However, the guy just grinned and happily weed the iing tail. "Thanks for bringing me your thick tail! Now let me use it for a bit alright?" And as he said that, he gripped the tail so hard that blood came out the moment he squeeze through it like his hands got a very sharp w that buried deep into its skin. And did I mention that the tail of the lizard is fully scaled just like its back? The scales didn''t do jack sh*t about his grip and it was cracked to pieces. "ORYAAAAAAH!" He swings the lizard and Lina and I have to move away to not get caught by him swinging the lizard from side to side of the walls. BANG! BANG! ROAAAAAAARR! The monster is desperately trying to get away as quickly as possible but the mysterious guy just gripped the tail a lot firmer than the grip he just did in the beginning. "Where do you think you are going huh? We are not done yet,e back here and let''s have some fun!" ROAAAARR! If the monster can speak, I can immediately tell that it will try to plead for its freedom. But the mysterious guy just didn''t give a crap about the ramblings of the monster. While holding the monster with its tail, the mysterious guy kicked the monster, forcing it to expose its belly again. The Icicle Shards already melted. They don''tst that long but it was long enough for the mysterious guy to use them to torture the lizard monster easily. The mysterious guy decided to use his weapon. I thought he would bash the poor monster using it but he didn''t do that. Instead, he inserted the weapon into the big hole created from being pierced by the Icicle Shard that increased its damage when it was used as an improvised weapon by this guy. The monster didn''t like it as it should have been stirring at its guts already when he inserted the weapon. And what happened is not what I expected. At first, I thought he will just use the weapon to widen the big wound of the monster using it but it''s not the case as he just lift up the whole monster''s body with his bare hands while using the wooden club as a handle to the pierced monster. And without even thinking twice, he started to bash through the walls using the monster like he was just wielding a sledgehammer but using the lizard as the sledgehammer''s head. It was just too bloody and if I go into detail, it is already too gruesome so we will just keep it to ourselves what happened. One thing that is just too ridiculous even for me is that the monster has been turned to mush without anything left behind except the scattered flesh after the lizard died from the attack of the group. He then looked at us and gives out a thumbs up. "How was my work? Is it a satisfactory experience?" Chapter 434 The Perilous Errand (I) While deheart is currently with the mysterious man, fighting underground, Sigma and the others are also ready to do the quest that Almira handed to them. Right now, Sigma is currently creating some potions for everyone. Although deheart''s ex job is different, Sigma''s ex job is Pharmacist, allowing her to create potions, and even though it''s not as effective as the potions that deheart makes, it is better to have more potions without him around to supply them with it. "Already done with the preparation guys?" Sigma asked. "Yeah," everyone nodded. "Then, let''s go." Sigma throws a little device on the snow and a mobile carriage popped out from that making everyone surprised. "So this is what they are saying that is going to be used by the people to move around the snow. This is interesting," Sigma nodded as she inspected the carriage herself. "Where did you get this, Sigma-chan? I have never seen a vehicle or trinket like this before." "This is one of the portable snow carriages that can be deployed and put away to be fully used in navigating the frozennds. It''s not that cheap in terms of prices but pretty affordable considering for us yers with lots of gold." "I can''t believe they are selling things like this. Are you sure this was not a quest reward and this thing is just exclusive to you?" "No. I bought it from a store that features different gadgets and tools for the outside world exploration and some tools for convenience that would help a lot of the people in the kingdom. I just decided to buy this one since we will be departing as a group though if you like to travel alone or you have nopanions in snow exploration, the portable snowmobile is also avable too." "Damn, these look so dope man, I will be buying these vehicles once I get enough gold," Dolly is pretty excited. She likes to ride new things like this so she would indeed be excited to own one too. "Let''s go and start the quest. I already talked with the two queens about our current errand and they already know what happened to deheart too. We can now safely depart and move to our first target. The quest will be really long so there are no more ways to get back or log out. Anyone ready to proceed?" "Yeah!" "Then let''s go." ... ... The moment they departed, the questline is updated and everyone received the notice. The name of the quest also changed. ... [The Perilous Errand] Almira has sent your group on a special errand to gather the specific materials she needed. The first item she wanted you all to get is located in the Great Frozen Lake. Below the frozenke is an abomination monster that will swallow any unsuspecting prey trying to walk around the ice . Defeat the monster and retrieve its Gill. Corrupted Gill: 0/1 Rewards: [???(Revealed and will be received after the Questline ends)], 1,000,000 gold, and 1,000,000 EXP. ... "I can smell the danger here already. No way a quest this generous with gold and experience points be an easy one. Trust me, I already have some idea of the enemies we might be fighting against already," Hagane shook his head. "Yeah, it is definitely a big trap. It''s too generous and quests are not this generous unless it was hard and since this was the first quest from the chain of quests we will be receiving and this is already generous in rewards, it is already a big g," Harmless Sparrow frowned. "But there is no way we can back out on this one. All we can do is move forward and fight whatever is in store for us. However, we will win this. We just needed to work together and win," Sigma reassured the team. Sigma then pulls out the Map of the Frozen Desert and pointed out the location of their quest. "Looks like we are not too far from our destination now." "I didn''t expect this carriage is able to move fast with all the snow around us," deheart''s mother was amazed as she looked outside the window. "It was designed to move fast and stable in this ce due to how frequent monster attacks are. Maybe it was designed to outrun monsters in case they try to attack. It was one of the main reasons perhaps," Sigma exined. Just as they thought it would be a peaceful journey toward their destination, Mr. Teddy immediately noticed something from outside. Without speaking, Sigma immediately understood what Mr. Teddy is trying to tell. "Range attackers, get ready. We have enemies on our six." Everyone immediately got alerted. Dolly and Topaz immediately made their move to intercept and fight the iing enemies. Topaz was about to go out but Mr. Teddy immediately pulled her back to her seat. Just in time, a very long figure appeared and bump into the carriage and pass through the window that Topaz was about to go out into. If she didn''t get inside before the impact, she is definitely dead. "Ah...thank you, Mr. Teddy." Topaz breathes a sigh of relief. "Topaz, you alright?" Iron rushed to her sister who managed to get away and turned to look angrily outside. "I''m fine, Brother. More importantly, are those snakes?" There are two long figures dashing together with the carriage. It''s not small to be disregarded as a small danger. It was big enough that they have to be rmed over it already. "I heard from one of the NPCs that the area around here would be a bit more deste from monsters due to the two predators nearby that can easily kill other monsters smaller or a bit bigger than its size. Perhaps these monsters were the ones that those guys are pointing out," Chase told the group and they all agree that they just crossed a territory lethal enough to be not considered a ce that people would stay in. "Looks like that is really the case here, first, we will have to get rid of those two and stop them from both crushing our carriage using their huge bodies. Second, we make our way to our target area, and hopefully, the monster that has the gills is not as troublesome as this. Girls, support me by firing magic. Boys, be ready to help the girls if they are ever in trouble and be sure to be the ones who will stop those monsters from getting close to our carriage. The worst thing that would happen is that we get pretty much crushed to pieces and we will be forced to wall all the way to our next quest targets." After saying that, she opened the door of the carriage and jump to the roof where she can easily unleash her abilities. She might be a holy knight but that doesn''t mean she doesn''t have anything she can use to fight in range. She already knows what will happen. She is the immovable knight. No matter what kind of enemy it was, as long as she can stop its attacks, then it was a battle she will win. She stood there steadfast and firm. Despite the movement of the carriage being unstable, she remained calm and collected as she observed the two monsters dashing through the snow with their slender and scaly bodies. They are big and if anyone has seen the Mega Snake Movie, the size of the snakes are as big as them. She didn''t attack but she is ready to do so. She didn''t just stand there to observe, she is there, to attract the attention of the monsters. "[PROVOKE]!" The two snakes immediately noticed her provoke and they didn''t waste their time staying far from the carriage. They immediately started heading to the carriage with their fangs baring and ready to bite down. "[Chains of the Heavens]!" DANG DANG DANG DANG! Multiple chains rained down from the sky andnded on the two snakes in full session. It wasn''t just there to damage them, they were restrained from their movements and even if they try to pull out from the chains, the monsters didn''t even get to move away from them. "Now!" The shout was the signal and the two magicians unleashed their strongest spells in session. The monsters started screaming and they are now having a hard time to even getting away from the attacks. Even if they are bombarded by attacks, the chains didn''t break and they are forced to remain still on the snow without any ability to move. After that, the carriage stopped and Sigma went down from the roof of the carriage as she stood in between the two monsters. She look at the two alternately before speaking what was on her mind. "You two are going to be following my words after this. Disobedience means death." She then pulls out two gold chains and throws them at the two monsters. It was fast that everyone didn''t expect Sigma to do that. To everyone''s surprise, though, she managed tond the right timing. [Congrattions for taming two monsters at the same time]! Chapter 435 The Perilous Errand (II) Sigma''s actions were not what everyone expected. She was currently in an attack stance and they thought she will be dealing an ultimate blow to them but taming them is not something they have expected. Not only that but she tamed them without lowering their HP and immediately got them all. "Sigma-chan! What was that? I thought [Chain of Taming] doesn''t work like that since you will have to lower the HP of the monster you want to tame before you get them. How did you manage to tame them while their HP is full?" Dolly is the first one to ask. She knows how [Chain of Taming] works due to how she learned it from one of the bazaar store owners who is running a shop for taming monsters. "This was not the same [Chain of Taming] that you can just buy from the stores. It was one of the unique quest rewards from fulfilling a unique quest named [Cat''s Away]. It''s called the [Absolute Chain of Taming]. It has a 100% tame rate against monsters that can be tamed. Those two snakes can be tamed so I decided to catch them. With them, we might have some uses for them in this ce. They are native monsters here in this world, we can use their presence to establish dominance against the monsters here that are weaker than them." "Ah, damn. A unique quest. I thought it was going to be a quest that all yers can get. I also wanted something like that too. Looks like my choice is to use my luck and hope I get something good in the egg gacha from the tamer store in the future," Dolly sighed in disappointment. Sigma justughs and summons up the two snakes she just tamed. They look as menacing as ever but they lost the dangerous atmosphere they have back when they were still enemies. Now that Sigma is currently the one under control of their moves, "You on the left will be Alpha, while you on the right will be Beta. Now that you two are under mymand, I will make you two work hard and level you two to the highest level possible. Though you two will be working without a break under me, you two won''t regret that you two got to be tamed by me. Understood? Good. Now, let''s get to work. Scout ahead and protect our carriage. Any monsters that tried to attack our carriage, you two are free to eat them however you see fit or if you can''t eat them, just beat them up to death. If you fail to that simplemand, I will beat the heck out of you two until you two can understand and learn. Now, go." The two newly named snakes, Alpha, and Beta didn''t like what they heard about extra work and being beaten up if they fail. Still, they like themand that they can eat all the enemies that are going to attack the carriage. To avoid the oue of being beaten by their new owner, they immediately slither up ahead while still keeping close to the carriage. "Alright, let''s go." Everyone was speechless at what happened. After all, they are used to deheart taking care of Leona like his pet. They didn''t expect Sigma to do that kind of treatment to her pets but they decided not to bother. After all, in this harsh ce, being soft will never get you anywhere unless you are strong. ... ... Due to the efforts of Alpha and Beta, they managed to reach Frozen Lake without any enemies trying to kill them. Not only that but the two snakes managed to eat plenty of monsters on the way, making them sigh in relief that Sigma made the correct decision to tame the two snakes. Alpha and Beta are also getting some levels from just eating which is also a big win for them. Once they arrived, SIgma made Alpha and Beta remain in the vicinity of Frozen Lake to guard the perimeter for any monsters. "So how the heck should we pull out that monster out of the frozenke? Don''t tell me we have to fish for that monster?" Iron started scratching his head. "Wouldn''t that take us a long time before we can even finish this quest? Fishing takes a long time and we don''t even know if that monster can even be fished using the normal fishing rod and normal bait used for normal fishing," Hagane grumbled. "Oh, heyds, perhaps we can find some answers on that cabin over there," deheart''s father pointed out on the wooden cabin not too far from where they are. From the looks of it, it is simr to the cabins that are situated beside thekes which are usually owned and used by a ranger or the one guarding theke for intruders and stuff. "Good eye, sir. And that looks promising, let''s go," Sigma then leads the group towards the cabin. Just as they were about to reach the cabin, they saw a guy hanging up on the tree with a goblin that seems to have adapted enough or had lived in the snowy region for a long time. Currently, it is trying to stab the guy hanging on the tree. The guy on the other hand keeps on swinging himself around the tree as he dodges the strikes of the little goblin. "Someone is in trouble!" Dolly immediately conjures a fire on her palm to throw into the little goblin but Sigma stopped her. "Stop, Dolly-san. Let me handle this one." Sigma approached the two and the Goblin turned to look at her. "Kik! It''s a human! KIK! Stupid owner! You have a visitor! Wake up!" Then the little goblin jumped up quite high and cut off the rope that is tying up the guy on a tree. BLAG! Because there is barely any snow underneath the tree and beneath the guy, the moment the rope was cut, he immediately fell to the ground with a hard thunk. "F*CK! That hurts! What the heck Jaka! I told you to practice your swings on me, not to actually cut off the ropepletely!" "KIK! YOU HAVE VISITORS FOR CRAP SAKE, KIK! LISTEN TO ME WHILE I AM TALKING, KIK!" The guy then opened his eyes and he saw Sigma currently staring at him. "Hello. Are you perhaps living here in this cabin in the Frozen Lake?" He didn''t respond at first and started rubbing his eyes before looking at Sigma again before he turned to look at the others as well. He shook his head multiple times before he turned to look at them again. After that, he started to respond now. "Huh? Humans? Am I still dreaming? I thought this ce is pretty much hard to reach due to the danger of the twin snakes. Didn''t expect to see other fellow humans here too." "Told you, Kik. There are some humans who reached your cabin, kik." "Nice to meet you, I am Sigma and these guys are mypanions. We are here to ask some questions regarding the Frozen Lake." "Huh. That''s a first. I thought you guys are adventurers just lost around here and stumbled upon my dwelling. It seems you guys are here for the challenge huh? Also, fantastic since you guys didn''t kill Jaka here the moment you guys reach here and saw how I was being treated by a goblin." "HEY! You are the one who made me do that! So you are just nning to use me as bait to know if there are enemies around!" Jaka is a bit angry at his choice of words. "I immediately noticed something odd between the two of you and I also already suspected as much since I have not seen any goblin monsters here in the icends. So, I immediately assumed this goblin might be yourpanion." "Oh ho. Sharp eyes, girl. But trust me, you guys might not have seen any snow goblin just yet but they are out there. Also, you already have seen one. This guy, Jaka here, is a snow goblin. So yeah, you will see them soon enough. Anyways, you guys here have a specific goal in mind huh? No onees here asking for theke since many know what terrifying enemy theke possesses." "The terrifying enemy on theke? Please tell us more!" Sigma immediately approached the guy with enthusiasm. "Wow, you guys are trying to look for that monstrosity on theke? Didn''t expect you to be that courageous!" "Are you guys having a death wish, kik? You guys are not going tost long enough with that monster out there." "Now, now. It seems the time hase has arrived, Jaka. Alright, we will tell you. But first, let me introduce ourselves. I am Jun and this is my partner and assistant, the Snow Goblin Jaka. We are the guards of theke that are currently trying to prevent that demon monster to emerge and wreck a whole city in one day. Now, are you guys ready to learn?" Chapter 436 The Perilous Errand (III) The blowing wind is very cold that even the toughest and thickest skins would shiver from it and yet this guy along with the Snow Goblin, Jaka seems to not be bothered by it. It is a bit understandable if Jaka is immune to the cold since this little goblin lives in the snowy region and natural cold climate of the Frozen Region of Sandurk but it''s a bit mind-boggling to the guy who Jaka calls Master. "Jun-san, are you sure the fish will only be avable at night? It''s not like we are doubting you but we are quite tight in time," Janus asked. "Yep. That bloody fish is a nocturnal hunter. Don''t bother looking for it in the morning and afternoon. It will just be asleep like a rock under this frozen water. Once the night fell, or more precisely once the darkness has nketed the entire sky, it will emerge and start its daily hunt for food." "What does it eat? I don''t think there are any creatures living under the ice except the monster itself. And I don''t think there are even monsters courageous enough to even dive or walk above the ice." "The main diet of this monster is meat which is pretty obvious for a carnivorous fish. But yeah, due to how the monsters are no longer going to theke to do something, this fish was forced to eat the inhabitants of thiske to satiate the hunger it feels every day. Of course, the inevitability arrived and the only living being left behind living in this frozenke is none other than the damnable fish. Can you guess what it did to survive?" Chase was the first one to answer though it was a clear wild guess as to how he immediately answered without thinking too much and the way he said it like it was a joke. "The fish decided to abandon the water and walk through thend~" Jun snaps his finger. "Bingo, boy." "Wait, what?" Chase then realized that it wasn''t even something of a joke. "He said it right. The f*cking fish decided to abandon the water and decided to use its fins to walk onnd and find prey to eat. Now, it onlyes back in the morning underwater to sleep before going back to thend after the dark settles." "Damn, are you serious? I thought it was hrious if a fish walks on thend but it can indeed walk onnd?!" Chase was terrified imagining the fish walking out of the water. "I am not joking. It is one of the daily urrences that this monster goes out and eats monsters all around thates its way. It might not be as big as most monsters do but it still poses a big threat, especially to explorers who are mapping the ce or are just passersby to the ce. So I was suggesting that you guys wait for it to go out of the water instead of taking the initiative to disturb it." "I see. However, I don''t think there''s no need for us to wait till nighttime to fight it since you told us what it is going to do during the night, I can only say that our best course of action is to make this guy force itself out of the hole it was staying." Jun was surprised but he didn''t stop their actions and just smiled. "I see, well, I am not surprised but don''t me me if things get hard. Don''t ask me for help if the timees." Sigma smiled after hearing that. "Don''t worry. I know what I am doing." ... Sigma and Chase returned to the group after the discussion was done. The others were not there because they are trying to learn the best way to find the target. "So, did you find any kind of information we can use against the fish?" deheart''s mother asked. "He didn''t give much information but I can easily piece out things without him telling directly at me. The only thing he said to me about the fish directly is that it is a carnivorous monster, a nocturnal hunter that will leave its normal habitat and has the ability to walk onnd after the natural prey it has under the water of theke all gone inside its belly. I already formed a simple n to pull that fish out of its bedroom." "Oh, so it is an evolved creature? As expected of this Alternate World, if these animals existed back in our world, I doubt we will be surviving until now," Janus scratches his head. "Are you nervous? I still remember you have Thssophobia, will you be fine?" Dolly looked at Janus who is clearly sweating and getting paler any minute. "Yeah, I think I will be fine since we will not be fighting underwater but it still makes me have some lingering fear from it and I am not going to lie that I am not nervous at all." "Maybe you should sit this one out, boy? I can still remember the time you screamed in fear when my son tried to pull you into the sea to go swimming?" deheart''s father rubs his back for a bit to calm him down. "Don''t worry. I am fine but I think I will not be going to be in the front until the monster has fully emerged from the water." Sigma approached them and looked at Hagane for a bit before nodding. "I have an idea so that you don''t need to sit this one out. You won''t be directly involved in seeing the fish go out of theke but you will be needed to be crucial in this battle. Is it fine with you?" "Eh? What kind of n...?" "Okay, tell everyone to gather. We will now begin the discussion of the n. Once we are done with the discussion, we will begin the battle of taking the Corrupted Gill out of its body." ... ... ... The quiet discussion onlysted for around 10 minutes before the group dispersed. But they are now pretty much calm and collected having the discussions done. The only one who seems a bit more panicky and a bit sweatier than the group is none other than Hagane. From the looks of the n, it is a risky one and it seems he will be also part of the yers who will be having very direct contact with the target. p "Let''s begin the mission." Dolly and Topaz went to the edge of the frozenke while deheart''s mother is just behind them. The two looked at each other and they also look at deheart''s mother before nodding simultaneously, reaching an understanding on what to do. "[Oil Rain]!" A ck mass of clouds appeared above the whole frozenke and ck liquid fell to the ice which is obviously the oil. Once the [Oil Rain] finished being cast, the oil is now covering the whole frozenke''s surface. But she is not yet done. With the ice being covered with the oil done, she pulled out four bottles of Molotov Cocktail that deheart handed to her before and throws them all onto the oil-covered ice, BOOM! Simultaneously, Dolly and Topaz also activate the skill they are waiting to use. "[Combustion]!" The magician''s ability to increase the intensity of the existing mes allowed the explosion of mes to cover the whole ce in a single explosion. However, they are still not done. Harmless Sparrowes running with her sword ignited with mes rushes to the ice and stuck her sword to it before she unleashes the final blow to the ice. "[me Geyser]! BOOOOM! The explosion was so great that the ice that seems to show no signs of change has finally caved in and the brick ice is now divided into multiple smaller pieces. With the mes still raging on the surface, the smaller ice that got separated from the bigger ice started to melt and it didn''t take too long before the whole ice covering theke is now gone. Now, most fishes would already be disturbed from the ruckus that was done from just that but it seems the target seems to not have any signs of waking up so soon. It was clear since the water remains calm and collected even after all of the things that just urred. Seeing that the first thing has not shown any signs of being disturbed, Sigma finally steps out and stood with the others. She crossed her arms before she unleashed one of her skills. "[Chain of the Heavens]! The chains appeared from the sky and theynded in the water at a fast speed. Sigma can feel the chains and the moment they allnded to the bottom of the floor, she looked at Dolly and Topaz before nodding. Harmless Sparrow smiled after seeing the signal. Sparks of electricity appeared on their hands, and in Harmless Sparrow''s case, the electricity is circling around her sword. "Let''s do some fish sting!" Chapter 437 The Perilous Errand (IV) From the small cottage of Jun, Jaka and Jun are staring at the group doing their best to pull out the Corrupted Walking Fish, the monster that the group is looking for. He is fascinated by the girl who seems to be the leader of the group as she is the one doing themand and acting to be the brains of the operation. "Do you think they will be able to pull that crappy fish out of their, Jaka?" Jun asked while still keeping his eyes on the group. "KIK? Based on my experiences with the people who attempted to do that, I doubt they can do that kind of feat, Kik. They will be forced to wait at night in the end so perhaps I am inclined to the answer of no, Kik." "Yeah, that is the most likely answer I have too. But for some reason, my instincts tell me they will seed. We will just have to wait and see." Then, they saw the ice break apart and disappear which made the two surprised. After all, they have seen plenty of attempts to destroy the icepletely so that they can proceed with the n to lure the fish out but to see them remove itpletely, theke is now a normalke without a hint it was frozen for a long time. What happened next seems to give them more questions about what they are nning on doing. Now that they see what is the group capable of, their attention is now focused on the movements of the adventurers. ... ... Sigma stood at the edge of theke with her arms crossed while staring at the still water. She might not be doing anything but right now, she is using the chains to feel the movements of theke and to pinpoint the location of the monster under the water.It might not be part of her body but she slowly developed the sense to use the [Chains of the Heavens] as an extension of her body. It was like she is using extra hands. She continues to feel the underwater surface of the water using the chains and when she felt something tug and bite on one of the chains, she smiled and her eyes lit up. "Found ya!" Extending her left hand, the two chains started moving in an irregr pattern and soon, they started to shake violently. "Sigma-chan, what is going on?" Dolly rushed beside Sigma. "I found the target. Topaz-chan, Dolly-san, prepare the strongest electric element spells you two have. Sparrow-san, use the [Electro Pierce] once the monster appears in your sight." "Got it!" Harmless Sparrow said. "Leave it to us!" Topaz nodded in enthusiasm and started to chant her spells. Dolly also started to chant. Sigma turned to look at Chase who is waiting for themand. "Chase-kun, you have a skill that cuts off the Mana consumption of the yers right? Cast them to these three and prepare to go near Hagane and Iron. They will need your help in healing and in case of emergency, you can also cast the skill [Cadeuceus] too. Tell Sazan-san(deheart''s Father), Terra-san(deheart''s Mother), and Mr. Teddy to also prepare once the monster appears. You will be crucial here since you are our only healer and we have no idea how strong the monster is so be alert to everything." "Got it! Leave it to me!" Chase quickly cast [Mana Cut] to the three before he went to the side of Hagane and Iron to exin the order of Sigma. Now that all of themands are carried out, Sigma returned her focus to the chains that are getting wilder as time goes by. She knows that the chains are tough enough to handle a few beating a few bites from a monster but she doesn''t want to risk it. She moved her hands and gestured to pull up which also made the chains correspond to the movement of the chains. The chains have smooth movements when being controlled by Sigma but this time, it is having a hard time moving and it looks like it was carrying something. Sigma''s eyebrows furrowed and she increased her force and the chains started to return to their former smooth movements. "Get ready!" Sigma grit her teeth as the chains has finally resurfaced but this time, it is carrying a giant abomination. It was so big that half of theke''s size is upied by the big monster. It was soon revealed to be the monster they are targeting to kill and obtain the gills. [Corrupted Walking Fish] Level 200 HP: 9,657,346/10,000,000 Trait: Dark, Water, Corrupted, Fish "Now!" Sigma shouted. Dolly and Topaz simultaneously aimed their palms and released the skills that they are chanting. "[Bolt of Zeus]!" Two arcs of electricity appeared simultaneously on their palms and went straight to the fish dangling on the [Chains of the Heavens] and electrocuted the disgusting-looking fish. Harmless Sparrow is also done with her preparation and performed the position to release the skill before she added her attack to the fray. "[Electro Pierce]!" The fish struggled after receiving three attacks in a row. Sigma then throws the fish away from the water. The fish bounces into the snow but it is still alive. It is just immobile for a small period of time, it started moving again after 5 seconds. From all of those attacks, the HP of the monster fell from 9 million to 7 million. It was big damage but the amount of HP the fish retains is still big. "Hagane! It''s your job now!" Sigma shouted. ,m Hagane felt a panic attack seeing the monster before him. It was a big fish, very big that it no longer looks like a fish. It has violet and ck color palette which made it look more disgusting. Its fins no longer looked like fins but they looked like frog legs now. The tail doesn''t look like a tailing from a fish but a tail that seems to be ready to evolve into a small leg that is capable of swimming due to how it has some parts of it being a fin. Not only that, it has big eyes that don''t blink and moves slowly to stare at its target. For some unknown reason, it also has thick lips and big razor-sharp teeth. It is a very uncanny monster making Hagane''s fear of underwater kick in. However, he didn''t want to be a burden to everyone. And he activated the [Taunt]. He can feel the cold sweat running on his neck, and back as the abomination of a fish started to walk very fast towards his location. Hagane freaked out. His fear is not just invoked exclusively by staring at the deep blue sea or any kind of deep bodies of water. It also involves looking at anything that is living from the depths of the water like this fish. Because the fish is an abomination that also coincidentally came under the deepest depths of the Frozenke, the fear intensified in the systems of Hagane. Seeing the fish start running towards him, he didn''t hold back and started screaming while still taunting the monster to chase him around. If it was aical interaction, this scene would look funny but it wasn''t and Hagane is genuinely afraid. Sigma found the n effective and is concerned about Hagane. Her purpose in doing this is to at least make Hagane gain some resistance from his fear but she also knows that it isn''t going to be an easy thing. So she also advised him that if things are not working and if he felt like it is no longer something he can handle, he should start running. It was too soon that Hagane started running but it was still within the scope of her ns the extra early run Hagane. "Iron!" Iron nodded and cast [Taunt] too. Since the effects of [Taunt] will be overwritten once a new [Taunt] effect is activated, the target immediately shifted towards Iron immediately, freeing Hagane from being chased by a monstrous enemy. With the sessful target shift, Dolly quickly went to Hagane and pat his back for a bit. "You alright? Don''t push yourself too much. It might just be a game but it still managed to invoke your fears. Don''t push it too hard to be brave against it if you still retain the fear you are feeling," Dolly is worried about Hagane but Hagane smiled while still sweating profusely. "Don''t worry. I can still fight and you all are here to help. I can still do this." Iron is now the one being chased by the monster but since he is not afraid of it, he didn''t move and used his two shields to block the mouth of the fish. It was hard but he still managed to stop it from biting him. "Alright! I have it in my grasp!" deheart''s Mother pulls out the Poison Potion and Blinding Potion before throwing them into the open mouth of the fish. Iron and deheart''s mother quickly retreated before the fish chomps the two bottles. "Good! Mr.Teddy! Sazan-san! Punch and kick at your heart''s content!" The two went to their fighting stance. "Finally! Let''s punch this fish as much as we can and make sure to make its meat as tender as possible!" Chapter 438 The Perilous Errand (V) Sigma knows that there are not enough Physical DPS yers in the group since the only people who qualify for that are Sazan and Mr. Teddy. Hagane is a Pdin that focuses onbat but right now, he is not going to be fighting closely against the enemy at the moment. Iron is out of the question since he is a pure tank, his weapons are both shields and although it gives decent damage, it is still on the low side of the scale ifpared to natural DPS. Sigma''s Holy Knight is possible to be a DPS but due to how she built the ss leaning more on defensive capacity, she is only considered as a pseudo-DPS. Topaz and Dolly are also DPS characters but due to how their strongest spells are limited to a few uses every minute due to the cooldown and mana, they are also not as reliable as physical DPS yers. Sigma is calcting how to take down the fish as quickly as possible. The damage of Topaz and Dolly is huge but it has a drawback from cooldown and mana consumption and the two defenders can''t defend enough from the attacks of the fish. The taunt might have helped but it''s not an alternative to keep the attacks of the fish at bay against the other yers and if not for Iron and Hagane, the damage dealt with the yers is tremendous. deheart''s father quickly delivered abo punch and kick in quick session and as he finishes his bigbo, he quickly passes the giant fish to Mr. Teddy and he quickly catches the huge body of the fish before giving it a few loud punches that every hit explodes. The damage is not that big but it clearly made the fish struggle in trying to recover its bnce. Once the punches of Mr. Teddy are released on the body of the monster, the final attack he did is a huge charged punch beforeunching the fish in the air. That attack is a signal for the magicians to take action. But before they did, deheart''s mother activates one of her skills that will amplify the damage of the magicians. "[Weakening]!" Chains appear on the body of the fish and are wrapped around it before disappearing after sinking into its body. It was not a big impact on its own but that doesn''t mean it''s not gonna do anything but just that. Once the chains are gone, Topaz and Dolly take action to do the attack. "Dolly-san!" "Right you are!" "[Explode! Electric Chains]!" The two simultaneously cast the skill and two sets of giant yellow chains appeared from their bodies before it flies toward the fish. It didn''t wrap up around its body but hovered around it, encircling it and increasing the time it stays in the air. Before it can fall, Topaz and Dolly''s open palms closed and the chains that hover around the fish wrap themselves out just like how the [Weakening] does but upon contact, the chains didn''t sink to the body of the fish but remain on its surface. BZZZZZTTTT! ROARRRRRR! The fish that shouldn''t have roared is forced to roar in pain. It uses its feet or fins or whatever it was to kick away the chains but before it can even kick it, the electricity kicks in much faster to it, and from its struggle, it didn''t even get to do any attacks. That gives a big breathing point to Hagane who is still sweating in fear. Sigma walks near the fish and crossed her arms once more before a big cross drops down from the sky, dropping straight to its one leg. "You are a fish. However, only mudskippers should be capable of walking on thend and staying alive for long periods of time without water. As for you, you are not even a mudskipper, you don''t even belong to the fish family anymore. Therefore, we will be forcing you to die for our mission to seed." The HP of the fish is decreasing as time goes on and it is trying to get away but the chains that are still electrocuting its body plus the giant cross that just fell prevent it from moving. "I am not going to keep on prolonging your suffering. Die and perhaps you will be a fish again in the future." Everyone was watching Sigma who is talking to the struggling fish. Then, before they can react, their mouths open wide in shock when Sigma grabs the upper and lower lips before pulling them real hard. The Pdins are already having trouble trying to stop the mouth from mping down and Sigma is just doing it like nothing. "Disgusting breath and disgusting teeth. I bet you have eaten quite a lot. But remember from your final moments, meat is not something you will be eating, in fact, you will no longer be eating anymore." Sigma then activates one of the Holy Knight skills, [Arm of the Heavens]. [Arm of the Heavens] Info: Increase the attack and defensive values of the user for a limited amount of time, mainly on the arm. Any attack performed using the arms like basic attacks from a greatsword or mace will increase exponentially. Not exclusive to using weapons and can be used to fight barehanded for the duration of the skill. Mana cost: 500 MP Cooldown: 10 minutes Note: Nanomachines, son! In one action, the battle ended. Why? Because the moment Sigma activated the [Arm of Heavens], she decided to use it in a weird way. With her bare hands, she rips off the two upper and lower lips of the fish, tearing along the upper and lower part of its mouth and in the case of this fish, the majority of its head is ripped off. The HP of the boss that is still amounting to around 3 million immediately drops to 2 million to 1 million to zero in just a few split seconds. If there are other yers who saw this, they will surelybel Sigma as one of the strongest and chad yers who does the opposite of the usual gamey yers do to a Holy Knight. Blood stters on the snow, drenching it with blood-red color. Sigma then throws away the two parts of the fish''s body to the side, revealing the blood-red colored gills of the fish. She pulls out her greatsword and slices off the giant gills from the dead body of the fish and retrieving it prompting thepletion of the quest. "Questplete. Let''s go back to the cottage and show this to Jun as our trophy for killing off the fish." Everyone is still too speechless about what happened that they didn''t get to react with excitement to what happened. The way Sigma rips off the mouth of the fish is just something that they will not forget too soon. "Looks like you guys are still speechless. However, it doesn''t matter. Here is for our teamwork and for our cooperation. Everyone, be proud that we have seeded in our first errand! Raise your head up high proudly!" She raises the gills up high, signifying her dominance and increasing the morale of everyone in one go. "Let''s f*cking GOOOOOOO!!!" Dolly is the first to proudly raise her hands. Everyone smiled and they also did their cheer. "Let''s GOOOOOOOOO!" ... ... Jun and Jaka who are watching the scenes unfold are also speechless about what happened. It was the first time they have seen the fish so helpless and before they can evenprehend how they managed to do that, the leader leading the small group goes ahead and rips off the life of the monster terrorizing the frozenke in just a few seconds. She just ended a nightmare in a few movements and live to tell the tale. Jaka started pping in amusement and awe after seeing that happen. "KIK! KIK! KIK! That is the most spectacr show I have seen in my whole life of living in this pure white world of snow. To think some humans are just capable of doing inhuman strength that just doesn''t give a crap about the superiority of the monster they are facing. Absolutely amazing!" Jun didn''t get to speak. He was too sure that the fish would win again but he didn''t expect the overwhelming win. Not only that, he also saw how confident the girl who rips open its mouth was and didn''t even falter after being directly sttered in its blood. Not only that but he can also see that the one who did the strategy is none other than her. It might not be a perfect strategy and it might not be just some sort of big brain strategy but that is already enough for him to be amazed. "That woman, she would change the course of the history of this world with her leadership. Almira, you madd, you really have an eye for people who have potential to dominate the world huh?" Chapter 439 The Perilous Errand (VI) With the death of the fish and the gills obtained, they returned to the cottage where they are weed by Jaka and Jun. "We killed the fish terrorizing this area. This is proof that we killed it," Sigma pulled out the [Corrupted Gill] and showed it to Jun. "We are aware. Jaka and I are watching all of you fighting against the fish as we evaluate whether you guys are really up to the task," Jun sighed and scratches the back of his head. "So, what is the verdict? Did we qualify?" Sigma looked at Jun and Jaka with a stoic look on her face. "KIK! Of course, you all passed! It would be crazy of us to say that you guys did not pass since you all did kill the fish easily in a few minutes alone. That is already something worthy to call an achievement, KIK!" Jaka started dancing around as he said those words. "However, you guys shouldn''t even make that small achievement of yours go to your head. It might be not an easy achievement to make but that doesn''t mean you can do anything easily due to that. That is just pure bullcrap," Jun then went to one of the rooms of his house and started to scrounge inside. They cannot see what he was trying to get as the room is dark. "We know that and we don''t have any ns of doing things like that." Sigma crosses her arms and closed her eyes while waiting for Jun to re-emerge from the room. It took a few minutes before he went out carrying some jackets that resemble the jackets Inuit people wear. The only difference is that they are all in the shiny color ck. He brought out enough of them for everyone to wear. "This is the reward that you guys will receive. You all have been here from the orders of Almira right?" "You know Miss Almira?" Chase asked though it was clear everyone was also surprised by the revtion. "Sure do. She is an old friend of mine from many years ago. However, I will not bother to tell you all our history. She gave you all a time limit to procure all of those ingredients right? Then, take these things and get moving already. Sigma and the others received the rewards and the quest rewards from the quest that was previouslybeled as a bunch of question marks are now revealed. Sigma looked at the jacket thoroughly first. She started to caress the jacket slowly and was very satisfied by the softness and warm temperature of the jacket. Still, she is not sure if this was just a normal jacket and decided to open the menu description of the item. [Ice Age Coat] Type: Extra Trinket Equipment Tier: Ancient Level 100 Special Ability: Once worn by the yer, the temperature will never drop, and will only have the temperature remains warm enough for the user. Will make the user immune to freeze and Frostbite Debuff as long as this equipment is equipped. Useful and necessary in ces that have below zero degrees of temperature. Info: During the Ice Age, some of the early magicians decided to utilize their abilities to keep their coats warm and capable of giving them the warmth to survive the harsh Ice Age. The only problem is that the process of creating these things is lost over time and only a small amount of jackets remain these days. Obtaining one is already considered a big blessing. Note: Now you only need to make a snowman! "Are you sure about these as rewards? Just from the tier alone, we can tell it is something priceless!" Dolly can''t help it, and despite her eyes sparkling in delight, she also can''t just take it as nothing. "No worries. We don''t need it and I know it is an ancient item but that is something collecting dust in our storage room. I would rather give them to someone who can use them rather than let them sit without anyone using it." "In that case, we will be taking it. Thank you very much." "Oh yeah, let me guess. She asked you to get something called [The Star''s Eye] right?" Sigma turned to look at him with a furrowed eyebrow. "You know what she is about to make?" "Yeah. There is only one thing that needed a [Corrupted Gills] and [The Star''s Eye] as ingredients alongside a few more things. Let me remind you all, the task given to you will be a very dangerous one. You might think that it was easy just now, but that doesn''t mean it will remain easy until the very end. Things will get harder and I can assure all of you that the procurement process of [The Star''s Eye] will not be an easy thing. Trust me, I have been there. Now, for this next ingredient, go to the Cave of Freezing Maw, you will find what you all needed to find. Go there as fast as you guys can, time is running out. I will not hold you all any longer." "Thank you very much. We will be going now." Sigma turned around and left, the others also followed suit and the cabin is once again empty with only the Jun and Jaka alone. "Now then, tie me up again, and let''s continue the training." Jaka can only shake his head but pulls out a rope anyways though that is something Sigma and the others will not know. ... ... Now that the first ingredient is obtained, the second quest appeared, filling them with the information for the next ingredient they needed to receive and where to get it. ... [The Perilous Errand (II)] Info: With the first ingredient obtained, the next ingredient is called [The Star''s Eye], a precious stone that has been embedded in a Golem made of diamond. [The Star''s Eye] is also the main core of the golem and retrieving it from the golem will also kill the golem immediately. However, because the core is a brittle corepared to its body, the moment the core is broken, the quest will also fail in its entirety. Proceed to the deepestbyrinth of the Cave of the Freezing Maw to meet with the target. Objective: [The Star''s Eye] obtained: 0/1 Reward: ????, and 3 million EXP, and a treasure of your choice. Failure: If [The Star''s Eye] has been destroyed or damaged. ... "I see treasure!" Dolly is excited. "Well, duh. With a golem inside a cave or abyrinth, the treasure will be the most obvious thing it is protecting on why it is currently there. Though that is not what we should be worried about," Hagane immediately interrupts Dolly. Sigma turned to look at Hagane. "Are you fine now, Hagane?" "Huh?" Hagane was startled by the sudden question Sigma to him that caught him off guard. "Well yes, I am fine. But why did you ask?" "You were clearly not at your best during our battle against the fish so I was worried you are still nervous or afraid. We needed all the help we can get and we can''t afford you to remain in that kind of behavior forever, you will drag everyone down especially since you are a Pdin. Iron might be the most defensive Pdin between the two of you but that doesn''t mean he can protect everyone." "Ah, yes. I am sorry for earlier and how useless I was in thest battle but I already recovered and we are far from the water this time around. You can rest assured that I will be performing my job without fail this time." Sigma nodded before she throws the small item that turned into the carriage that they were riding from earlier. She raised her hands and the two snakes, Alpha, and Beta approached. "The same job as earlier. You two know the rules and so do I." The two snakes already know what their owner wanted to do and they quickly perform their jobs. The quest will still take a bit longer but they are progressing as much as they can possibly do in their own power. ... ... .. Almira is currently sitting on a chair, taking a break from all the stuff she was making for the raid. She is working nonstop and she does not know how long was she stuck inside the forging room. To remove the umting stress, she decided to pop out some smokes as a means to alleviate her mood though she rarely smokes. This time around she has to do it just to keep rxed and steady with work. While smoking, Queen Tori arrived and entered the forging room, knocking on the open door to notify her arrival. "Can Ie in?" Almira nonchntly looked at the door and noticed that it was Queen Tori, she just cocked her head back and pop another smoke before responding, "Sure." Queen Tori entered the room, not minding Almira smoking at all. "You seem fine smelling smoke for a royalty." "Don''t worry about it, I also smoke too but for the sake of keeping our bodies warm when things get really cold, and only by smoking will alleviate the whole freezing temperature invading our body." "I see. So? What brings you here, your majesty? If you are checking up on the weapons, they are all there on the side. No worries, they are top quality items." "I am not here for them. I needed to talk to you personally. It''s all about King Arthur." When the name was dropped, Almira paused for a moment. She clearly has something on King Arthur but it seems like this will spark some conversation." "What is this you are going to talk about. Make it quick, I am going back to my job." "You are nning to kill King Arthur, no?" Chapter 440 The Perilous Errand (VII) A great snowstorm is blowing through the ice field where the only eyes can see is just the pure white snow. Not a single ck-colored rock or stone is sticking out, in fact, all of them are being buried under the white snow. Still, there is one thing that is currently passing through that thick snow, two snakes slithering alongside a small carriage that is run by an engine rather than a horse or the sled dogs. There shouldn''t be people crossing these cold mountains at this time, but this time around, these people are currently equipped with a coat that will keep them warm under the harsh weather. ? "I thought it will just snow, turns out it was a blizzard now, huh? The weather in this ce is too harsh for any humans to live. It''s a bit sad and a bit unnerving knowing there will be no humans but someone seems to keep staring at you huh?" Harmless Sparrowmented as they pass through a huge cave from one of the mountains. "Well, it''s pretty normal, especially in ces that are uncharted and have never been developed and touched by the human hands. And I think they should stay that way just to avoid the ire of the monsters. Having multiple behemoths alone is scary enough already and living near them is just going to give you a big risk of dying. Even I would refuse to live in a ce simr to this," deheart''s mother shook her head as she reorganize her inventory. She wanted to make sure everything will be easier for her to use her potions in case of emergency. Sigma on the other hand is quiet, her eyes closed while keeping her arms crossed. It seems she is thinking of something that seems to upy her mind. Still, it was very clear that she is not going to be having a good time from what she was currently thinking about. "Worried about our uing quest, Sigma-chan?" Dolly immediately tried to talk to Sigma just to at least calm her nerves if ever she was having a hard time with her emotions. "Not really. I am more thinking of what Almira is about to do with all the ingredients we will be gathering and her purpose in doing so. Haven''t you wondered what it was?" "Uh, not really. I mean, even though this is a game, I rarely care much about what the NPCs are going to do with the materials we yers gather for them. If there is a reward for me and the quest is reasonable enough I will take it." "Well, this game is clearly not something a normal game does. The NPCs have their own minds and they don''t just act like they are system-generated minds, they talk like real humans and they respond like one too. It was like they are real humans in another world." "Indeed. I thought it was very cool and amazing they are capable of doing that and they were like real humans interacting with us. I didn''t think too much about how they are capable of doing things like that and I just thought nothing the advanced technology can''t do. But then you said it, they were like real humans indeed. But I doubt they hired multiple people to be their voice actors and actors themselves. It was indeed like they have generated real people in this game as the real people without governed and controlled by actors and stuff," deheart''s father tilted his head. "I don''t want to think too much of it. There might be some sort of technology that they made to do this kind of stuff possible and I don''t want to think too much of it. It will just further hurt my mind if I want to learn more of it," Hagane sighed. After all, he isn''t the most smartass among the group and he didn''t want to make it moreplicated than it should be. "Well, that is understandable, still, for deheart to be the one to get this, I wonder how he managed to even get this kind of treatment from NPC and get these kinds of quests easily from them. It doesn''t even seem like some seasonal event or something since it was only limited to a few yers that deheart permitted to join. If this was seasonal, things would have been avable to all yers and it seems like the quests we are taking are somehow rted to the main story of this game." They continue to discuss while the carriage is moving from the blizzard until they heard a loud noise not too far from them. Sigma quickly opened her eyes and she turned to look outside of the carriage as she was beside the right door. Despite the low visibility due to the ongoing blizzard, she tried her best to make out what is happening before them. She cannot ask Alpha and Beta how she doesn''t know how they can speak so the only way to know is to check what is happening before them. The carriage continued to move towards the source of the sound and soon found out what happened. Before Alpha and Beta, are a group of white giant monsters that resembles a squirrel but are a bit far from that as these monsters don''t have the fluffy-looking tail squirrels possess with sharp ws, a head that looks like abination of a rat and a fox, a long tail, and sharp teeth. The body of the monster is as big as an interior of a moderately sized house without a second floor. Sigma noticed that Alpha and Beta seems to be trying to get away from the monster. Most of the time, the two snakes are the ones who will immediately attack any monster that tries to do some transgression but right now seems to be in a different matter. As not only do the two snakes cower in fear, but it seems they also found their natural predators. It immediately dawned on Sigma what this monster is without even seeing its name. She also knows why the two snakes she tamed are behaving this way. Despite its different look from the real animal counterpart, it has that exists in real life, the resemnce is pretty close that it doesn''t need a lot of confirmation of what it is. The monster before them is none other than a mongoose. Although this is the first time she has seen a mongoose as white and has fluffy fur, it is pretty much close to a mongoose in the real world. Its aggressive stance against her snakes is pretty much a giveaway of what it was. But despite knowing what the monster is before them and how it poses a big threat to the two pets she has, unlike deheart who would rather sacrifice himself just to keep the life of his pet alive, Sigma is built differently. "Alpha! Beta! Face your predator! Do not cower in fear but face it bravely and fight! I told you two that you two will be the Apex Predators right? That you two will be the strongest monsters that no other monsters can rival you two? Then face the one who can kill you! What doesn''t kill you will make you stronger! It''s an order! Fight or die trying. Escape and any of the two of you will just prove yourselves to be unworthy of my teachings." The two snakes were intelligent enough to understand what Sigma is telling them. Despite the intense fear they felt while facing their natural predator, the stronger fear they felt from their master is much more dangerous than the threat before them. Knowing that they won''t receive any help from their master, the two helplessly face their predators and even though they are not adamant to meet with them, they still have to do it or face the wrath of their master. They might not have experienced the actual wrath of their master but they have seen the way their master ripped off the mouth of the fish with her bare hands and as far as they know, the fish monster is a formidable opponent and they also don''t want to face off against it. Then, it just died without much effort. It''s better to get injured than to die the same way as that. Alpha and Beta immediately unleashed their hostility and killing intent alongside their severe bloodlust which is a trait normal to them snakes. Despite the disy, the group of mongooses refuse to budge and started to snarl angrily, their fur started to stand up and started to form like some sort of needles simr to how porcupines do. "Sigma-chan, are you sure we won''t be helping?" Dolly asked, worried about the situation before them where the two snakes seem to be at a severe disadvantage. "We will only step in if everything is gonna fail. This is a fight my snakes needed to face. If they want to get stronger, they have to face what is going to kill them, and use that to fortify their bodies to their limits." Chapter 441 The Perilous Errand (VIII) After the arduous battle between Alpha and Beta against the group of mongooses, the victors are Alpha and Beta. Of course, they didn''t win without damage to their body. They barely managed to win and after the battle, they are almost down to zero health and are suffering from [Poison(Mild)] and [Bleeding(Minor)] due to the attacks of the mongooses capable of inflicting them. The two snakes shouldn''t be poisoned as they are snakes but it turns out Alpha and Beta are constrictors and they don''t possess poison in their bodies. As for the mongooses that shouldn''t pose a poison in real life currently have them as their main weapon against enemies. It wasn''t that impactful until the mongooses managed to tear a few of their scales and a bit of their flesh off allowing the monsters to inflict these debuffs. Currently, Chase is healing the two snakes while Sigma and the others started to dismantle the carcasses before it attracts more monsters. Alpha and Beta refuse to eat the mongooses, perhaps due to the poison and maybe also due to how they are not in the mood to eat at the moment. The only thing that the group can do is to take the materials and take them for themselves. They also gained some meat to use in the future since they will have to remain for quite a while in the cold environment without thepany of other NPCs unless they get really lucky, they will have to camp out once in a while. Everyone is happy that the meat is not poisonous and only the ws possess the poison ording to deheart''s mother who is capable of finding things that possess poison due to the passive skill Alchemists have, [Poison Tracker] and with her Chef Ex Job, she can easily identify whether a slice of meat is something that can be eaten or not. "We got quite a haul this time, but how many hauls are we going to get in this quest by the way. There is no way we will keep on getting this fortunateter on," Iron is worried about their situation for the long term. "Stocking up with monsters we kill is a good thing. I will assume that most monsters here in this cold environment will always have something we can use to eat. We can gather up as much as we can as we progress. As for water, the snow alone can be used as water. We will not worry too much about it," Sigma exined. "You seemed to be familiar with this, Sigma-nee-chan. Are you an expert in camping and a survivalist?" Topaz asked. "Me? No. I didn''t even have any experience in a single night camping sleeping in a tent outside our house, let alone being a survivalist. I only have the knowledge but have no actual skills to show it up," Sigma sighed. They continue to gather up the materials and the parts they can salvage before they managed to clean up the surroundings. The only thing left behind are the red spots of blood which were due to how the monsters started bleeding. It''s not much of a problem though since most of the blood has already seeped deep into the snow. It will only attract a few monsters but not to the point it will be dangerous for them. Sigma decided to recall the two snakes and let them rest in her summons area. She might be a harsh instructor but she is not heartless enough to keep her pets out and fight despite their injuries. After a while, Hagane and deheart''s father arrived from scouting the nearby area. "We are back, is everything done around here?" deheart''s father has a smile on his face. "Good work you two. What did you guys find?" Sigma asked. "The cave up ahead seems to be the ce we needed to go. It''s a bit dark and cold and I can''t see anything beyond it. Should we get there and see for ourselves?" deheart''s father pointed in the direction where the cave was located. "Let''s have a good rest first. Let''s use the front of the cave as a shelter from the snow before we go deeper. Even if we are in the game, we still get quite tired. Let''s not make that worse," Sigma answered. Once everything is done, they returned to the carriage and continue to move until they reach the cave that Hagane and deheart''s father found earlier. "I thought it was a big cave but it was just your typical cave huh?" Dolly went outside the carriage first and tried to peer inside the cave. "Careful there, we don''t know what dangers the cave possesses, it would be best to proceed carefully," Sigma reminded Dolly. "Sorry, I just wanted to see if it was not bad and we will be able to rx here. There are some caves that are not that good in letting humans amodate the inside so I just wanted to check." "So, how is it?" "I think we will be fine. It doesn''t look as bad. And the floor is not damp or wet with water. We can sit without getting wet." "That''s good. Let''s go now, everyone." After unpacking and shrinking the carriage, Sigma immediately noticed the changes in the surroundings and how it suddenly fogged around them. "Guys, prepare for battle, it seems we will not be able to have a good rest for a bit," Sigma pulled out her greatsword and readies herself. The fog is ominous and she can feel some presence hiding in the fog. The problem is that she cannot determine the exact location of the enemy and how many they are. Not only that but it seems the monsters are getting sneaky and ready to pounce and hide in the fog whenever they can. Sigma stabs her Greatsword to the ground and her eyes started glowing gold. "[Guardian''s Domain]!" Five crosses fall down to the ground, encircling everyone and forming a small yellow defensive barrier. Everyone inside the domain who is allies of the one who cast the skill will have increased HP and defenses with a small chance to repel the attacks towards the attackers. If the enemies entered this domain, they will lose 50% of their defense and they will have a chance to be silenced. It doesn''t really have the tenacity of the skills the Pdin possesses and if someonepares the two pdins will win. ''What are we gonna do, Leader? We can escape or we can just proceed inside the cave and hopefully, the entity on the fog won''t follow us along?" Sigma started thinking for a bit, trying to determine whether they will try to face off against the enemy or escape deeper into the cave. "We have no choice. We don''t have any info against the enemy before us so we will have to escape instead of facing it. Let''s head deep inside. Although there is a risk we will be failing this if the monster lives inside the cave, we still have some chances it will just leave and not follow us. Let''s head deeper. If we fail, I will take every responsibility for failing the quest." Everyone nodded and they slowly went inside the cave. Their n of resting for a while in the cave was reced with a hasty retreat to the deepest part of the cave. Sigma knows this is a bit of a hasty and dangerous n and they could end up dead if the monster is just trying to make sure they would get inside the cave before they resume their attack, but she is already having millions of situations ying out on her head for every possible situation that might ur after she made the decision to retreat into the cave. They started running deeper and Sigma asionally looks behind them to check if there are any enemies who followed them inside the cave and when after a bit further into the cave, they stopped running and readied themselves again. There is a small chance they will be surrounded by enemies right now and a smaller chance that they will be safe after that. Sigma is ready to deploy another [Guardian''s Domain] anytime again in case things get real sh*tty for them and the odds are not stacked in their favor. A few minutes passed by and nothing happened. The monster that they anticipated to have followed them also didn''t appear. Nothing at all. The whole cave''s surroundings are pretty quiet and the only sound they can hear is the sound of a small droplet of water dropping from the ceiling to the ground and their own footsteps every time they walk, It''s pretty quiet a small noise can be quite a disturbance to the whole quiet atmosphere the cave has. "Don''t let your guard down everyone. Let''s proceed much cautiously. We don''t even know if we have already stumbled inside the domain of the boss and we didn''t know about it at all." Chapter 442 The Perilous Errand (IX) Deep within the cave that Sigma and the others have been exploring so far, one intelligent being that appears to have been dormant opened its two diamond eyes and started to blink after a thousand years of sleep. It started to blink for a few moments before it decided to slowly stand up. It slowly walks into the middle of the room where the light above is shining down. With the light shining down, the intelligent being is soon revealed under the light to be a golem made from Diamond. Still, despite being made from pure diamond, based on the situation of its body, it''s not in its prime condition. Despite being made from hard material, once time passes, they are also susceptible to what we call time and everything will change. "Rebooting...Resuming final task before dormancy." The body started emitting smoke and it is producing some sort of cracking sounds. After that weird noises, the luster that seems to have faded from the diamond body of the golem has returned. The surface of the diamond also looked like it has been restored to its former glory. The golem started walking forward and the ground opened, revealing a small coffin that is sealed with various chains that seems to have been sealed with a hundred locks. "Master. I will protect you until the very end, so please rest peacefully." ... ... Sigma and the others are still on the edge even after confirming the monster that they met outside did not follow them inside the cave. They should have been calm about that but with the monster not following them inside is a sign that a much stronger presence is currently residing inside the cave, waiting for them to see and meet. After resting for a bit, they decided to explore the cave instead of resting for the night. They would be calmer if the cave has been cleared before they go and have a good rest. She is a cautious type and knowing that something is lurking in the cave makes her cautiousness very valuable. After dwelling a bit deeper into the cave''s deep system, they soon found the enemies that blocked them from progressing further. [Gold Construct] HP: 500,000/500,000 Trait: Metal, Constructs, Living Weapons [Silver Construct] HP: 250,000/250,000 Trait: Metal, Constructs, Living Weapons [Bronze Construct] HP: 100,000/100,000 Trait: Metal, Constructs, Living Weapons "Heads up everyone! We have enemies iing! I don''t see their levels but and they have decent amount of health but they are numerous in numbers!" Iron shouted as he is the one who is one of vanguards leading the group. Everyone turned to look at the front and saw the countless constructs floating above them, ready to attack at any moment. They were diamond shaped metal trinkets with some sort of core at the very center of their body. Just like their names, they are ssified from their color, the Gold Constructs has the highest HP among the attackers and the lowest is the Bronze Construct. Still, they are quite a lot in numbers, filling the road ahead of them with these little metal critters. "Magicians! Fire!" Topaz and Dolly immediately cast spells and fired it off to the group of constructs. There was a dull sound when they were hit but it was clear it exploded upon contact. But it didn''t damaged the constructs in any way. Seeing how the magic did nothing against the monsters, Sigma immediately pulled out her greatsword and charge into attack. For the first time, Sigma went to an attack without using her skills and uses her sword to fight back. CLANG! The metal constructs reacted with a different manner when Sigma attacked. Instead of bouncing off the attack like how they did it against magic, they instead turned to a different shape and the one that is currently engaging in a fight against Sigma turned into a buckler shape and blocked her strike. But even though the construct blocked it, damage appeared and it certainly made the construct hooked up on it. Sigma quickly deduced the main weakness and resistance of the enemy. "Everyone who uses magic, don''t bother attacking the constructs! You all are wasting mana! They are immune to magc! Everyone who can use physical attacks! Charge and fight! They are weak to it! Attack them even if they defend themselves!" And with that, an assault against the constructs begins. Thuds and metallic ngs rang out from the whole ce and countless constructs fell. It took a bit of time but soon enough they have shut down all of the movements the constructs possess and they are now motionless and are now lump of metals scattered into the ground. deheart''s father is the one who decided to check out the bodies of the constructs and soon pulled out the cores and handed it to Sigma. "It looks like they are precious items that we can use if we salvage them from the dead bodies of the constructs." The core looks like a shiny marble with some sort of energy swirling inside. SIgma checks out the description of the items and frowned when she reads them. [Construct''s Heart Bomb] Info: Handle with caution! One wrong move and this item will explode like a bomb! A core that is supplying energies to constructs. Once destroyed or pulled out, the construct will cease to move though defeating it without directly interacting with the core is still viable. Can be used as bombs if thrown against enemies. Note: Best used in pranks and exploding gifts. Will surely give a huge bang surprise to the one who will receive it. "A bomb huh? That is convenient. We are indeedcking some good exploding stuff we can use against the enemies. Alright, order everyone to gather up the cores. Please teach them how to take it out before it explodes, that way, we won''t have any injuries, that way, Chase''s burden is not that big." deheart''s father nodded in response and teaches everyone on how to pull the cores out. ... ... ... The process repeats itself once they meet up with another group of constructs once more and just like earlier, they gathered up the cores and keep them for emergency. They might be useful in a battle but Sigma forbids them from using it just yet. It seems she is nning on using it against the bosster on but who knows. Even though the cave is big, it is not asplicated and confusing as other caves does. It has a linear path and an organized hall that resembles more to a temple ruins rather than a cave''s internal structure built within. It was just a mystery how it managed to be built inside a cave despite the fact that there are no signs that people have ventured here in the past and created it? The process had just been a cycle of fight, explore, fight, and explore and it''s just a rinse and repeat. By the time they have reached the ce where a giant door is blocking their path they have already umted at least 3 sacks full of the Constructs core. They have gathered quite a lot of them that it is a bit odd that they haven''t used it just yet to breeze through the battle they have done so far. "Let''s stop here and rest for the day. We have done quite a lot and we should''t push ourselves too much. If it follows the same principle as the bosses in dungeons, then this door contains the item that we needed to get and the boss that we will be fighting to retrieve it. Everyone sighed in relief when they heard that and they quickly pulled out the items needed to camp out. There are no more enemies around them and Sigma is now confident that they have all killed the constructs. And if her assumptions is correct, the only enemies that they might need to face are the enemies or enemy that might appear or spawn inside the big door. deheart''s mother started cooking food for everyone. Since they cannot afford to log out, they decided to replenish their energies by eating the food in the game. Although questionable on how does that work, they are still happy that they can still enjoy food and feel full even in the virtual world. Everyone is quite happy and rxing while Sigma remained standing in front of the giant door, checking out on the patterns embedded on the door. It was very ancient that even her who is not a person who easily appreciates art can say that the symbols around it seems to have some sort of pull to her. It was like she is being lured to open it. Still, Sigma can''t help but get worried. Even though it was just a game, it was like they aren''t in one anymore and she can easily feel that they seemed to have blended quite well into the game''s environment. She can''t help but feel that this game might just not be a real game but somewhat another reality. It was just a wild guess, but no one knows if Sigma has only did a wild guess indeed or something else. Chapter 443 The Perilous Errand (X) For the uing battle, everyone decided to rest for 3 hours, replenishing their energies for the next uing battle. With a hearty meal prepared by deheart''s Mother, everyone had a great time and good rest. Sigma spent her time strategizing on what to do once the target is found and the guardian appears. Everyone didn''t disturb her as they don''t want to ruin the ns by butting in. After the long rest, everyone is now invigorated from resting, they are now back to tip-top shape and condition. Sigma approaches the giant door and pushes it slowly but with force. It showed no signs of opening but after a few seconds, dust started to fall and the giant door started creaking, revealing a small crack of light. Sigma exerted more force and the door slowly opened up. Everyone readies their weapons as the door slowly opened. No one knows what surprises await them inside and being vignt will help them react much faster if the enemyunches a surprise attack. Luckily for them, surprises did not appear and they didn''t have to be troubled too much by the enemies as there aren''t any surprises for them in the first ce. The room behind the door is nothing more than a normal circr room. It''s a bit dark and colder than usual. When they step inside, the floor started freezing. "Careful on your steps, we don''t know what this freezing mechanic does. It might be inconvenient for uster if we don''t know what is happening so watch out for your steps," Sigma reminded them. They step inside and the colder just started to intensify. If not for the coat that they received in thest quest, they would be frozen to death already. They continue to move inside and before they can reach the center of the circr room, the middle of the room started to shake and open making them stop and almost fall over to the ground. If they continued moving, they are surely going to fall down to the ground before they can even understand what is happening. "An Earthquake?!" deheart''s mother is worried. "No. It seems to be some sort of mechanism on this floor. Get ready, I think this might be the boss of this floor," Sigma pulls out her greatsword and increased her alertness to the surroundings. Contrary to her expectation, the one that appeared after the strong and seemingly earthquake is not the boss but a coffin that looks simr to what coffins vampires use in novels, games, and movies. The only big difference they are seeing is the countless chains and locks so many binding the coffin shut. "A coffin?" "Did the quest specify our enemy is a vampire or an undead lord or something simr?" Topaz frowned and opened her quest tab and checked it again, "No way! I remembered it clearly to be a diamond golem! Not a vampire or undead!" Harmless Sparrow also opened her quest tab and indeed, the quest specified that their enemy is a Diamon Golem. Sigma didn''t respond. Although the appearance of the coffin is ominous and dangerous, it doesn''t pose any threat and she can tell that the source of danger lies elsewhere. She is just not sure where it was since it felt like it is all over the ce and it doesn''t help that her attention is sometimes diverted to the coffin that just appeared before them. Her eyes keep on darting everywhere, making sure that they are not just being deceived. While everyone is keeping the coffin in check, she started to search around by observing her surroundings closely. She can feel something is approaching and it seems to be going to make a surprise attack while everyone is having their attention fixated on the coffin. Then, she noticed it. It was just a split second but she have already pinpointed the true enemy hiding in the dark. "[Chain of the Heavens]!" DANG DANG DANG DANG! Multiple chains appeared in the darkness and a dull sound echoed. Everyone is also surprised since they didn''t notice Sigma''s move so it was a big surprise for them when she suddenly unleashes her [Chains of the Heavens] all of a sudden. "Prepare for battle! The enemy is here!" Multiple chains appeared again and the dull sound resounded all around the darkness. And that was enough for everyone to notice the enemy lurking in the darkness. It might have been quick in its movements but it wasn''t quick enough to hide from the chains that Sigma controlled to bring out the enemy from the darkness that is enveloping the area. "You won''t escape!" Even though the chains are doing nothing against it, it was forced to move around just to avoid it. But soon enough, the dark area around the circr room is no longer possible to be used as a hiding spot, before the golem realizes it, it''s full of chains blocking his advances, the only way for the golem to advance is to step into the light and reveal it. Then the same tremors urred once more and the coffin that revealed itself earlier returned under the floor, making the ce spacious enough without any obstacles that might be destroyed during a fight. "Congrattions for making it out this far. However, travelers, this is where you will all meet your demise!" Sigma frowned. She didn''t expect the golem is capable of talking. It''s not just a piece of old machinery made by some nameless NPC, it seems that this golem is made from a stronger magecraft and engineering technology. The more advanced a golem is, the stronger it was and the harder to beat it is going to be. DANG DANG DANG DANG! The golem finally stepped into the light and showed itself, revealing how bulky the golem is. Not only that, it is flexing its body that is made from full diamond. Not only does it is made from full diamond, but the sword, shield, and armor it is wearing are also made from pure diamond. On its forehead, is a star-shaped item that glistens with a yellowish-red color making it very distinctive from its colorless diamond body. [Diamond Golem of the Ancients] HP: ????/???? Trait: Construct It''s HP isbeled as question marks and if their assumption "So that is [The Star''s Eye]. Looks like we have no choice but to bring this guy down and take the core from its body," Hagane readies his shield. "I see. So you are all here to retrieve my core, [The Star''s Eye]. Unfortunately, I am not so magnanimous to just pull it out and hand it over. That is just telling me to die. If you all needed it, then you all have to face me and kill me! I swear to the oath of my master that I will protect this ce until the very end of my life! NOW COME!" The diamond golem ms down its shield and sword, causing the surroundings to shake and everyone to fall down to the ground. The only one who didn''t fall down is Sigma who stood firmly and gazed at the golem with intense hostile intent. Everyone who fell to the ground soon realized something. They turned to look at their hands and they saw their hands slowly sumbing to the ice crystallization. "Sh*t! Everyone stand up! The ice is spreading in our hands!" Everyone stood up and they also soon realized that their butt are also being crystallized slowly and if they didn''t stand up as soon as they can, the ice would have already been crawling to their whole body before they can even move again. "Hmph. Petty tricks," Sigma then released a small cross from her inventory and throws it to the ground near her allies, unleashing a giant cross that envelopes everyone with a golden light. Then, the freezing that is enveloping their bodies disappeared. "The ice has disappeared!" Sigma then performed her battle stance. "If another ailment started to make your body suffer just like the freezing debuff, go inside this field with the cross and allow the aura to heal. I don''t want anyone dying on me, understood!?" Sigma''s voice carried a heavy authority that everyone can''t help but think she might be some sort of a militarymander in real life or something simr for her to be able to calmly think and decide what to do even in terms of situations like that. The golem raises its sword and swings it at the group. Since it is big, instead of being a single target, it is now treated as an AOE attack. But even if it was a big sword that can deal damage to multiple targets, Sigma did not back down and made a single step forward before raising her greatsword and blocking the massive sword. With Sigma upying the sword of the golem, the others find the chance to attack. The target is the core on its forehead. And to do that, they have to surpass its defensive barriers, and forcefully bring down the towering golem before they are squashed to death. Chapter 444 The Perilous Errand (XI) BANG! The attacks of the Diamond Golem are slow but very heavy that even Sigma who has a very high amount of defense is having a hard time dealing with it. Her defenses are high enough but it''s not high enough to continuously tank damageing from the Diamond Golem. The others are looking for chances to get close to the Diamond Golem''s head but they are always being interrupted by the golem itself. Sigma is the one tanking the damage dealt by the diamond sword, but they can''t do much against the shield. It might not be as strong as the sword but the damage it inflicts is still quite high that even Hagane and Iron are having a hard time keeping their HP high enough. Not only that but they also notice that the durability of their shields is getting chipped every time they tank the damage from the shield. "No matter what you all do, you can''t defeat me. My body is one of the hardest materials avable and I am made from it. If you wish to even defeat me, you all had to do better than that." BANG! Sigma once again catches the giant sword''s strike. And for the first time, she didn''t get to handle the strike and she was sent flying. She fell to the floor multiple times, creating destruction every time her bodynds on the floor before she was ultimately stopped by a wall that halted her body from flying very far. She puked blood after that. But despite that, she immediately stood up and cast [Heal] on herself. It''s not as potent as the [Heal] that Clerics have but it managed to increase her health a little bit. "Heh, you bastard is really pushing me to my limits," for the first time, Sigma grinned crazily. She gazes at her Greatsword, snapped and broken by the strike earlier. Seeing it made her grin menacingly before she pulls out another greatsword. The Greatsword that deheart has given to her during the time he is giving out equipment for everyone before they are going to do the quest. It has a white luster in its de and it''s not as heavy as it looks. It didn''t have much designpared to herst weapon was just broken but it certainly had some sort of charm to it. She refused to wield a weapon that was created by deheart because she knows how strong the effects of the weapons he creates and she might be reliant on it but now, she has now a reason to use it after herst weapon is broken. Chase arrives alongside Iron as he heals Sigma back to full health. "Thanks, Chase, I still have a bone to pick on this guy. Time to get serious." The first n that Sigma made is for the Pdins to tank the damage. If the power of the attacks is fatal to the Pdins, they will proceed to the second n in which she will be dueling against the Golem while the others will take their time to obtain the core. And currently, they are doing this n. Sigma started dashing toward the golem and when the golem is about to make another sh at them, Sigma arrives in time as she catches the sword''s strike with the new Greatsword. "I see that you are still alive human," the golem didn''t expect the one it sent flying earlier would be able to stand back up and fight. "You think you are a really strong golem? You must be joking huh?" The golem tried to increase his force to make Sigma''s greatsword cave in from the power however, it seems she already has predicted that move and tilted her greatsword while still handling the diamond sword, the diamond sword slipped through the de of the Greatsword and that act alone activated one of the passive talents the greatsword has. SWISH! With a single swing, the diamond sword was deflected and the golem for the first time staggered. Sigma didn''t stop there and squinted her eyes before she unleashed a holy energy beam sh. "[Divinity Cutter]!" CRACK! For the first time, the strongest and one of the hardest minerals that exist in the Alternate World has been cracked. But even after that, Sigma didn''t stop and released another flurry of attacks closer to the head. She used the chains to jump around and went straight to its head. "HA!" One stab and the sword prated the head of the Diamond Golem. The sword is just beside the core. One wrong move and the core will break to pieces, ending their quest to failure. "Now!" As Sigma is currently on its head, the others took this chance and pulled out the cores from earlier. It might be useful for something else, but Sigma decided it must be better to use it against the golem himself. "This is a game over for you!" "Pesky humans! How dare you all try to resist me!" BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM! Explosions continued to ur on its lower legs. It is strong enough that the golem''s legs which shouldn''t have been scratched or broken by any weapons and explosives started to show damage. "[Cross of the Heavens]!" Giant Cross fell directly to the golem. Still, that didn''t do anything as the golem managed to block it by using its shield to block the giant cross from falling to it directly. But as soon as the golem tried to move, it didn''t notice the chains that are tying up its diamond legs. It didn''t expect the chains and before it can even move forward, it fell to the ground and the ice started to creep into its body. "GAAAAAAHHHH!" Sigma continues to press her sword further into the golem''s head as she stomps its eyes. Her stomps are strong enough that the moment she stomps on one of its eyes, it cracks causing the golem to scream in pain. "Looks like it''s our win, diamond golem." Chapter 445 The Perilous Errand (XII) Although the greatsword of Sigma is already pierced through the forehead of the Diamond Golem, that doesn''t mean it was already over. The core is still intact and even if the Diamond Golem already stopped moving, that doesn''t mean the golem will no longer move. As long as the core is still intact, it has a possibility to stand up again and fight. The other girls decided to take this chance to seal its movements in case the removal of the core took a while and the golem revives. That way, they can take down the golem again in case it happened again. As for the guys, they climb up the golem and helped Sigma extract the core out of the forehead of the golem. Due to the main reason that the golem is made from diamond, it took too long but the core is still intact that which made everyone extracting it frustrated. "The extraction is not getting anywhere. As expected of diamonds, it is not easy," deheart''s father sighed. "It was a wonder how Sigma-san managed to pierce this greatsword into the diamond forehead. Even the pickaxe is not doing quite well as it doesn''t seem to do anything to it," Iron looked at the core''s location a little bit more closely to check if there is a gap they can exploit to pull the core out. "Got anything we can use to exploit?" Hagane asked while watching Iron trying to see anything like a gap of some sort. "None. It was firmly attached to the forehead. If we want to pull it out, we have to chip off the sides of the core as much as we can." "Is there really no other way?" Sigma turned to look around before she spotted a big diamond part that was snapped after the scuffle between her and the Diamond Golem. It was big enough that they can use it as some sort of improvised tool if they attach it to something. She picked it up and tried to move it around if it was heavy or not. "I heard that one of the methods to cut the raw diamonds to create various shapes is to use another diamond and cut off the diamond by following the lines that a diamond has. I don''t know how that works but perhaps that can at least allow us to know how to do this?" deheart''s father observed the diamond piece on Sigma''s hand before he opens his inventory and pulls out a metal rod and some metal wirings. "Give it to me. I might be able to make something on it. Don''t expect too much though, I don''t know if this is gonna work." Sigma hands down the diamond and deheart''s father quickly put his hands to use. It took a few minutes before the item came out. It was an improvised diamond pick. Its tip uses the diamond and it acts as a makeshift pickaxe though it is pretty crude and it looks like one use and it will break. After that, he traced the forehead of the diamond golem until he stopped on an obvious line of the diamond before hitting it with the makeshift pick. CRACK! To their surprise, the makeshift item managed to damage the forehead. It wasn''t big but it was enough to make a difference from their worthless effort earlier. "Alright, let''s get cracking boys! If you can find one of those diamond pieces that Sigma found earlier, then bring it to me. I will make it a tool we can use!" Due to Sigma''s discovery, they slowly managed to chip off [The Star''s Eye] out of the golem''s forehead. As soon as the core was taken out, the body of the Diamond Golem started shaking. "F*ck, I think it is copsing, everyone! Move now before we fall down and injure ourselves!" They were quick on their feet and before the body copses, they managed to return to the ground and get out before the giant body of the Diamond Golem disappears and was reduced to dust. And when the diamond golem disappeared, the coffin with locks and chains appeared once more but there are no tremors that urred. It just appeared all of a sudden in the center of the room. The locks are glowing bloody red and it looks like it was consuming blood and used it to dye itself. It looks very ominous that just looking at it, makes anyone shudder. "The coffin reappeared again!" Dolly pointed out the coffin and readies her staff, waiting to see what will happen to it. "Is it another boss fight?" Topaz reluctantly pulls out her staff and readies to cast a spell whenever necessary. "I am not sure what is happening but I can tell that the coffin is releasing malicious energy. As a cleric, it seems my job is very sensitive to this kind of thing," Chase also went to battle stance, ready to unleash his Caduceus. Sigma and the others went next to them and observed the coffin before them. "That coffin..." Sigma frowned seeing it. She already felt a disturbing sensation from it earlier but it just increased more when it reappeared before them. Not only that but it seems the locks on it seems to be rattling. More like it is ready to open up and unleash whatever was sealed inside. Her intuition never fails and this time, she clearly knows that whatever was inside of it, they are all not yet ready to deal with it. p "Everyone. Let''s get out of here. We already retrieved the item we needed. Facing whatever is inside the coffin will only dy us in our quest to find the next items and I can tell that we are too weak to deal with it. Let''s go before the locks of the coffin are unsealed." The others nodded and left before the coffin can fully open, Whatever was inside the coffin, they no longer have any idea. But the decision of Sigma would ultimately be the one that saved them from failing the quest but that part will be told on another day. Now, the group is up to the next task of retrieving another item, an item that will reveal what Almira is trying to create with all the ingredients. (End of ARC 5) Chapter 446 Epilogue Of Arc 5 While the events in the Freezing Region of Sandurk are happening, one man is currently observing all the urrences happening there by using his [Overseeing Eye] which allows him to peer and look into the deep area of any part of the world. If he also desires, he can even peer into the future for a limited amount of time if he wanted to. He just didn''t do it as it is very taxing for his body if he tries to peer into the future and he prefers to be an observer and an audience rather than checking for spoilers in the future. He flips his long hair away from his cheeks as he adjusts his vision to properly observe the situation that is currently urring before his eyes. And despite not seeing the current situation personally, he is enjoying what he is seeing while it is currently ongoing. As he continues to observe, he realized that someone enters the room where he was but he already knows who it was as no one else but she can enter that room other than him. "Are you checking out where "that guy" is again?" ady that looks like they came from nobility appeared before the guy as she sits down on the nearby couch. "Yeah, it was troublesome to find him as he sometimes disappears from the radar. Thankfully, that troublesome guy has finally decided to settle down in that ce for so long before. I didn''t know that he will remain there for quite so long now as it was a very cold ce, to be honest. "You can''t expect to understand the mind of a person who has already gone mad. If you try to understand them, you would either receive a massive headache or you will instead be one of them." "Haha, you are right. Thankfully, I decided to stop observing that guy as it is bad for my health. It''s just making my mind spin while thinking about what he was going to do." "So, if you are not observing "that guy", then who are you observing? Don''t tell me you found someone interesting to observe instead." "Hahaha, I think you got me there. Well, indeed you guessed it right. Someone caught my [Overseeing Eye] and I have been looking at what he is doing. Who would have thought that I would be seeing someone after all these years and find that person interesting? Just how many years has it been?" "I don''t know. I don''t keep track of your obsession and attraction to others just after you see their potential. I don''t have a sick hobby like yours." "Haha, you sounded like what I am doing is a bad thing. But it''s not even that bad. I am not really stalking them and I only watch them if I found out that what they were doing is interesting in my eyes. Otherwise, I stop looking and just rest to recover my mana. Since I am usually grounded here, it is too boring without anything happening here." "But no one forces you to be grounded here, you bastard! Who forces you to stay here anyway? Isn''t that still you? Just break your rule already ande outside!" "Eh, too bothersome." Thedy smacks the guy with her fist but only a light smack. If she really did, she might kill this guy identally. "So why are you interested in that guy? What kind of thing have you found out while you are trying to search for that guy?" "Oh, he is nothing special at the moment. He is still your average joe that hasn''t done much of anything, to be honest except for some achievements I didn''t expect someone would aplish. Not only that but there are two gods currently observing every single action he makes which made me curious as to why he is being observed in the first ce. No one has been observed by more than one god in the first ce." "Two gods? Are you sure you are just joking? Isn''t two gods a little few? Some of the heroes are being observed by multiple gods as we speak right now right? What makes this guy special in any way?" "Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that these two gods are the Primordial Gods. In short, this guy has already toppled everyone else who has dozens of gods observing them. This guy has been observed personally by both the Alpha and Omega of this world." "Huh? The primordial gods? The Alpha and Omega of this world? Does that mean, this guy you are currently observing is also being watched by the Goddess Life and the Goddess Death?!" "DING DING! You got that right. This person is being observed by both the primordial gods which made me quite curious as to why he is being observed by both important gods." "There is someone who managed to gather the attention of the two gods that have shaped this world? I didn''t expect this kind of discovery from you especially since you just don''t do much except justzing about and watching anyone you like to observe. If I don''t know who you are and how you usually work, if I hear you do that, I would immediatelybel you as a massive pervert." "Hey, I don''t look at lewd stuff. I am quite old already and I have my fair share of seeing those things in my life. I don''t want to see more of that ya know? So can you at least remove thebel of me being a big and massive pervert?" "No, you are still a pervert. You might not be simr to big perverts like other humans do to other people but your eyes already possess an eye that can act like a surveince camera already that can watch anyone you want at great distances even if you are on the opposite side of the world. You don''t think you are able to escape thebel of being a pervert?" "Ugh. Whatever. Anyways, I just looked into the future for a few seconds and I didn''t expect to see the ouees in. It''s quiteckluster, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed by it. But then, I was also quite a bit surprised too." "You tried peeking into the future? I thought you wouldn''t peer into the future for quite a while." "It''s true that I stopped to peer into the future for a while but this instance is an exception and I wanted to at least check out what will happen in the future due to this guy that I mentioned before. Well, I tried to look into what this guy will do in the future to also find out why the primordial gods find him a bit interesting." "The results are both shocking and disappointing is what you have termed on what you just saw." "Yep. Both disappointing and shocking that I didn''t expect it." "What did you see then?" thedy got curious and decided to ask him what it was. "Nothing." "Huh? What do you mean nothing?" "I saw nothing." "What the heck are you saying that you saw nothing? Are you trying to y mind games with me? Because you suck at it." "Dammit, what I am trying to say is that my eyes literally saw nothing on that guy''s future. It was a nk te. Nothing to see and nothing to check at. Just pure nothing." "I don''t understand why? Does that mean that guy will die in the future?" "No. I have seen someone who will die when I peered into his or her future though it only showed his or her funeral or what his corpse''s state ended up. The result wouldn''t be a nk like this which is kinda questionable as I have not seen anyone have a nk future. It was like this guy never had a future, to begin with." "Perhaps your [Overseeing Eye] is already discovered and your abilities are being nullified which is why you can''t peer into its future?" "If he did, I wouldn''t be able to peer and check on their situation at the moment. That is not the logical reason why I only see a nk future out of this guy. Is this the main reason why the two gods decided to watch him because the future is not written for this guy?" "So you just have nothing to see at all? Not even what will happen a little bitter from him? Just pure nk?" "Uh, no. The final block of his future is nk but there is still a bit of his future I can see like in a few days from now, he will being here to us. But that''s all there is to it. I can''t see anything else besides that." "Perhaps it is wise for you to keep on checking on that guy and observe him. If he ising here, that means he will be asking us something. Perhaps we can ask that guy to help with our problem with that sealed beast." "Perhaps. Maybe we can even find a good reason on why his future is nk too." Chapter 447 The Mysterious Guys Identity (The perspective will now return to deheart) With the two portals closed with the help of the mysterious guy whom I still don''t know the name of, we are now progressing through the path that might be the only road back up to the surface. Compared to before when the monsters only appear when there is a portal, this time around, there are no monsters waiting for us. "Oh, wait guys. Stop walking for a bit," the mysterious guy gestured for us to keep quiet and he crouches down. Since we don''t know what is going on, we also crouch down and observed what the mysterious guy is staring at. "You see that blue nt over there?" he then points out the small blue nt that looks like a daffodil to me. "Yeah, what is wrong with that flower?" "Watch this." He stretches out his right arm and forms a finger gun before he points his forefinger at it like he was aiming at a gun. Then, a small fireball appeared on his fingertips. It was smaller than the usual fireball but it was slightly bigger than a normal marble. It swirled on his fingertips for a short period of time before he shot it out. FWOOSH! At first the small me disappeared after hitting the daffodil look-alike but then, it started to wriggle before the small flower started to grow a head and hands in the form of leaves and roared in pain as if it was being burned alive. It took a while before the blue flower slowly turned brown before it wilts. A few more secondster, mes engulfed the wilted flower and turned it to ash in split seconds. "Mimic nts?" I instantly recognized how the nt turned into something else. The only entity capable of doing that as a nt is the mimic nts. They look like normal nts at first but they will be carnivorous if they spot a prey and most of the victims most of the time are adventurers. Because most of the time they looked like real flowers, they are not easily discovered and they will only be identified once they attack. "Looks like you are familiar with those kinds of nts." "Yeah. Prettymon in the surface especially in jungles and forests. I didn''t expect to run into one over here since there are barely any nts existing here." "Nah, they are not rare. Prettymon actually. You guys just didn''t saw them on your way here since I have weeded them out before they can even increase in poption. But beyond here, they are prettymon. I have not ventured this far so I don''t know how many of them might be in this ce but trust me when I say they are hundreds of them around here." We continue our way deeper into the path and soon enough a path that leads to the upper floors appeared before us. "See? I told you. This path will lead you to the next upper floor of this hellish ce. I am not lying." "Fine, fine. Alright, it seems I can give you my basic trust already." "Only basic? That''s a bit harsh you know?" this guy is pretty chill and I don''t know what is his deal. "My master can''t forget you tried to kill him you know. If I were him, I wouldn''t even forgive you. But since you are an expert here, we still have no choice but to cooperate with you," Lina butted in while pouting, She is still in hostile terms with this guy after my close death experience. "Easy there girl. Anyways, if you are now trusting me to a certain extent, then there is no problem now alright? Now lets get going!" "Wait, before you go, tell us your name. I will introduce myself first. I am deheart, while this is my Battle Maid and my trusty follower, Lina." "Name? Well, you can call me whatever you want man." "Huh? What are you saying?" Lina frowned. "Well, I have been here for so long that I already forgotten my name. And since there is no one to talk here underground, names are kinda meaningless to me so I didn''t even bother with it." "Seriously?" I scratch my head. I didn''t know you can literally forget your name if you stayed isted from the world for how many years. But that should be pretty absurd. Even those who goes to istion would keep their names memorized since that is their main proof of identity. This guy is just too carefree and he didn''t even mind us naming him. "Well, How about we call you Guts?" "Guts? Why is that?" "Ah, there was this character in the story that is very strong that he defeats enemies and demons easily. Although you and him don''t look the same and that character doesn''t have any magic abilities, yourbat style kind of reminded me of his unorthodox method of fighting monsters especially if he doesn''t have his weapons." "Oh, alright then. I am fine with that. Nowe! If you want to get home, then we will have to fight the monsters and close the portals as soon as we can!" "Wait a minute. Why are you here anyway? I am quite sure you don''t n to help us in this. Howe you seemed to be happy to join us in this fight all of a sudden?" "HAHAHA, what a silly question! Simple! You guys are going to go to the ce where the strongest monsters gather. That is big enough reason for me to follow the two of you to where you two are going from. I like to fight against strong monsters so if that is the case, I would dly help you in getting back home! The journey is long and we don''t know how long before we can reach the very top so take care on me on this one!" I will admit he is a strong guy but I am also not sure if this guy is right in the head. All he wanted is to fight against the strong. It''s kind offorting and a bit ufortable with him at the same time. Chapter 448 The Portal Of Swords And Spears We continued into the pathway. Guts seem to be very happy because we have given him a name though I still don''t fully trust him. Someone who has a happy-go-lucky attitude like him makes me a bit ufortable. He continues his job of shooting the nts and I must say, he is indeed right that the Mimic nts are getting numerous. Every turn in the corner, we see at least one or two of them. I don''t even know if we are going to head to more than 3 or 4 numbers of mimicster on. Also, I noticed that the cold feeling of the surroundings gets colder the higher we are. I was expecting it to return to the normal cold temperature back when I am still on the surface but it just fell even much further. "Are you getting much colder, Master?" Lina asked when she noticed that I am rubbing my arms and hugging myself. "A little bit. The coat doesn''t help much." "Would you like to use the battle maid dress like the one I have? It might reduce the coldness you are feeling right now master." "As much as I appreciate the kind thought and nice offer, I must decline as I am a guy and crossdressing is not something I am into." "Well, that was disappointing but alright." "Oh? Look at what we got here?" Guts seem to have stumbled something up ahead since he continued walking while Lina and I were still talking earlier. We rushed towards his location and he is now standing before arge portal that is bigger than all the portals we have seen so far, it consumed the whole pathway and the only way forward is inside the portal. The portal did not summon any monsters of any kind. It remains calm and stationary even when we are right next to it. The other portals have already been shown to have been inhabiting hostile creatures but this one did not even spawn any monsters at all, which is pretty much confusion regarding that all we know is that they can release thousands of small mob monsters or they can summon one or two monsters in boss to mini-boss levels. "I didn''t know portals can go like this. Anyways, since you are the one who wants to escape this ce, it is your call whether we jump into the portal or not. I am just tagging along but if you do jump in, I would be really happy." My cautious side is activating and I am hesitant to move forward. However, one thing that is very clear to me is that this is the only way to move. There are no detours as I am constantly mapping the ce we passed by and there are no such things as a detour to another path. And right now, the only way is forward and nothing else. As much as I hate the atmosphere near the portals, there is no other choice I can make in this matter which is terrible. I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and took a deep breath before I made a step forward. "Let''s go. There is no point to think around anyways." "Sweet! Let''s go!" Guts is very excited that he is the first one to jump inside the portal without us saying he can jump already. "Should we follow him, Master? It seems he just willingly decided to see whether the portal is safe to enter or not." "As much as that is a good way to test this portal, that would just make us traitors and untrustworthy. Better go inside and see what this portal offers." I entered the portal followed by Lina and just like how the normal portals that are created by yers and NPCs, this portal just works simrly. It was just like how you enter a door to enter a room, nothing seems pretty much different other than the dark energy that seems to be overflowing inside the portal. At first, I was hoping it would teleport us directly to the surface, it was clearly wishful thinking on my side. There is no way the portal would just magically teleport us to where I wanted it to teleport us. This isn''t NPC or a yer-made portal, this is a natural existing portal. What was waiting for us is a ce that looks like a desert yet it doesn''t look like the sand here was actually real sand. Its looks like bright orange that looked simr to what the images that have been shown to the public what the surface of Mars looks like. And the coldness that has been in the Underground Freezing Hell disappeared entirely from this dimension. It''s hotter here and it was like the temperature here is simr to the desert where the rain did not fall down for how many months or years even. Not only that but what really caught my eyes and interest are the rusty weapons all around us. The field is not entirely filled with them, there is a pathway that allows us to traverse in between the weapons struck into the thing that looks like sand. Though it wasn''t a different variety of weapons, they are just different forms of swords and spears. Not too far from us is Guts, who is currently engaging with a hostile creature before him. Right now, he seems to be using one of the spears that are stuck on the ground and randomly pulling it out to fight back against the enemy. "Come on! Give it all you''ve got! I am not satisfied by the way you all fight!" Guts is already instigating a fight and is currently taunting the enemy. I am confident that he will be fine due to hisbat capabilities but I don''t want him to keep fighting the natives of thisnd if we can help it unless they are hostile then that changes things. When we arrived next to Guts, the enemies that he was fighting against were not monsters or humans. The enemies he was fighting against are none other than the weapons that were stuck on the ground. It wasn''t stuck on the ground anymore, they are already floating and Guts has already taunted them that all of their rusty des have been pointed at him. "Phantom Weapons?!" Lina immediately pulls out her Morning Star and went tobat stance. I have no idea what are the Phantom Weapons as I have never encountered enemies like this in the past timeline nor I have heard of them in forums or in discussions but seeing that they are inanimate objects capable of attacking without a human or monster wielding them is already worrisome. The number of weapons that started floating in the air increased when Lina and I also went tobat stance. It was like they noticed our aggression and they are ready to fight back. It didn''t take for the floating spears and swords to rain down on us. I quickly deflected every sword and spear. They are pretty crude so with every hit from the versatile weapon, they turn to specks of dust. It made our battle much easier against the weapons as they don''t resurrect after they turned to dust. It was like these weapons are only clinging to the veryst point of the durability they have as a means to remainpletely intact in this world and our strike just fully ended thest inch of durabilities they have. "HAHAHA! YES! YES! COME AND HIT ME WITH ALL YOU GOT! THIS IS GETTING REAL FUN!" Guts is enjoying every second. Once his weapon that he randomly picked up on the ground dissipates to specks of dust after it lost all of its durability, he will pick up another and attack again using it. Not only that but even without a weapon, he is destroying them easily by just punching them. I am amazed that he is still not bleeding despite the direct punches he does to the weapons. Perhaps the weapons were too rusty that they didn''t have enough strength to even give a wound to the flesh of Guts. The assault continued and Lina and I are doing well. Since the attacks are alling in different directions, we have to constantly move fight, move again and repeat. However, it was clear that this was a poor way to dispose of all of them. Since the weapons that have been staying here decided to fight against us. It is safe to assume that all the weapons here have the possibility to move all by themselves. So perhaps, this trick will work. With some of my skills missing and unlearned at the moment, my only choice to unleash a big bombardment of damage is none other than my scrolls. I pulled one and tear it into two before I pulled another scroll and tear it into two once more. While I am doing that, ck clouds started to appear above the weapons before bolts of lightning exploded into the idle weapons. Multiple explosions urred and considering that I am not even using mes for explosion, is already a surefire thing that the swords and spears are already obliterated and has beenpletely turned to dust. Chapter 449 The Beast Of The Rust I have no idea how many weapons are being destroyed since the weapons are stilling at us in huge numbers. If Guts is having fun, Lina and I are having a hard time. Not only does it consumes too much of our stamina, but it is also taking too much of our attention on our surroundings very heightened. If we didn''t even increase the vignce we have around us, it will be just a matter of time before the weapons will kill us if we remained to be like this. "How are we going to close this portal, Lina?! I don''t think this portal has the same kind of sealing procedurepared to the other portals!" "Apologies Master but even I don''t have an inkling on what to do to close this portal permanently. We didn''t discuss this kind of portal before." "Then all we can do is hope to find something that might have something to do with closing this portal. Since the weapons are not respawning after it was destroyed, I doubt this ce has infinite weapons!" I pulled another 5 scrolls and tear them apart from one by one, zapping, exploding, and burning them all but their numbers are just overwhelming. But just when I thought there is nothing else but these weapons, in my peripheral view, I noticed something moving on the ground. It''s moving along under the "sand" and seems to be waiting for good timing toe out and show its fangs. Is this perhaps a hidden monster or something like that? My curious side got the better of me and changed the weapon form of my Versatile Weapon and changed it to its pistol form. It remained under the "sand" so I still have no idea what it was but I am certain enough that there was something moving underneath it. It was quick but I am adept at catching enemies that are fast catch that catching in the blink of an eye is close to impossible. "Stop hiding ande out!" BANG! I didn''t know what happened but I felt like I hit something. I am just not sure since I aimed it on the sand and it seems the bullet passed through the sand. Then, all of a sudden, the weapons stopped moving. Even the weapons that are actively fighting against Guts stopped and fell to the ground, returning to their lifeless object selves. "What?! I am not done having my fill fighting! What the heck man! Don''t leave me hanging like this!" There is something wrong in his head. He is not just a battle junkie, this is a battle maniac and always ready to go for the kill. But I am not focusing on him. I can feel underground the strong movements that are happening due to the movement of the monster. I can also tell that the monster underground is quite big due to how the "shape" seems to shape out underneath. I am not exactly sure how big but I can say that it is quite big. It doesn''t seem to be like a sandworm, since it doesn''t move like a long-bodied monster, but it has a bit of a plump body. Not entirely sure how plump but it is plump enough to tell that it has a roundish body. Perhaps it''s a sort of a rat? "Lina, ready yourself, something big ising." Perhaps Lina can''t detect it, she looked at me with a confused stare. "Oh? Do you mean something big ising to wee us? Hell yeah! Where is it?" Guts started looking around with a huge grin on his face. And speaking of the devil, the monster that is hiding underground burst out from the ground, and instead of a rat, what appeared is a mole, armed to the teeth. It has sharp ws that look more like sharp swords while the fur of the mole is quite shocking since it is using the feature of its rtive, the porcupine, and not only that, its skin is not made from normal skin but it has rock features that made it have an armor made from rock. [Weaponized Mole of the Rust] Level 231 HP: 500,000,000/500,000,000 Trait: Rock, Metal I almost shuddered when I saw the amount of HP it has. The amount is pretty absurd to the point that it is no longer something a normal boss would possess, more like its HP is simr to a raid boss already. No scratch that, the Raid Boss doesn''t have this thick HP pool. "Yeah! Come on! Let''s fight, baby!" the moment the monster appeared, Guts immediately leaped into action. Lina facepalmed so hard that her forehead turned red after doing it and grit her teeth. "Master! Let''s go!" Guts immediately engage in battle and the two are fighting. We quickly joined in the fight to put pressure on the mole. The mole is also at a higher level than me so in one single hit, I am immediately dead therefore, I have to be careful. I also needed Lina to avoid its attacks as much as possible too. As for Guts, I don''t know. He didn''t have an HP bar like most NPCs do and his attacks are quite strong alright. We barely have any kind of attacks that deal too strong of damage and Guts is already taking most of the damage parameters out of the three of us. I am ashamed that even with a weapon that is forged by the gods and has already consumed one of the weapons of the seven deadly sins, our damage is lowerpared to Guts who is fighting the boss barehanded. But the mole is also not giving Guts the open time to fight back, using its sharp ws, it tried drilling through the ground and giving a surprise attack on Guts. As for Guts? He is taking it head-on without breaking the big smile on his face. "Yes! Yes! More! Give me more! HAHAHAHAHA!" In all honesty, our presence there is more like a nuisance. We are not contributing to the damage numbers and the boss is not even acknowledging our presence. It was more focused on Guts and honestly, our presence is no longer needed there. "Master, are we still needed? It seems like we don''t even need to fight it. We can''t even make a single scratch against it." "Yeah. We already made some damage contributions, let''s focus our attention on closing the portal itself. With Guts fighting it, I doubt our help is even needed. Let''s figure out if we can close the portal in any way aside from fighting a boss that seems close to impossible in defeating." ... Yes, in the end, we stopped fighting the enemy. As much as I wanted to have some sort of help with Guts, our presence there will just make the battle a lot more annoying. And since he is already enjoying it, perhaps we shouldn''t disturb his enjoyment. When we got far from Guts and the boss, Lucia started speaking. "Master! I am detecting something northwest from here! It seems to be some sort of clumping mana. Perhaps it has something to do with the portal? It has simrities in properties and I think it is worth investigating," "Can you detect any living beings aside from me, Lina, the boss, and Guts, Lucia?" "None, Master. I can say that is safe to proceed." I nodded and followed the direction that Lucia mentioned along with Lina. The farther we are on the battlefield, the more I slowly realized what the "sand" actually was. No wonder it kinda reminded me of the soil from Mars because they are exactly the same thing. The "sand" is none other than the rust that has umted in this ce for so long. The smell also is kinda irritating now that the wind started blowing and even if I am wearing the wolf mask, it still didn''t help much that even the wind smells like rust. Just like what Lucia told us, there are no enemies in the vicinity at all. It was very quiet and it is kinda new to the feeling that a ce that was very hostile earlier would transform into this kind of quiet ce. It took a bit of time and a bit of Lucia''s guidance before we reached a very small cave located underground. I used a re to check whether the cave is deep or not and realized that it isn''t even that deep. It was just a regr shallow cave that some people can use to shelter themselves from the troubles that ur in this ce like storms and whirlwinds. "Should I take a look inside?" Lina asked. "No, let''s go inside. We are not sure what is going on so it is better to go together rather than go alone." Lina nodded and she evoked [Light], allowing us to illuminate the dark ce of a cave. One step into the cave and boom, the feeling of the heavy mana that seems to be forming as a maelstrom appeared. We have found it. Chapter 450 The Devourer Lina and I went deeper into the cave. It is a cave with a dead end so we are not even going to get lost even if we went deeper. With the [Light] on Lina''s palms, the interior of the cave allowed us to illuminate the ce a lot brighter rather than relying on our normal eyes. "It wasn''t very apparent back when we were still outside but the energy fluctuation has gotten really thick the moment we entered the cave." "Yeah. It''s not a joke since I am practically feeling being choked here." The fluctuations of energies inside the cave are really bad that it was like you are being suffocated and choked by an invisible hand covering your mouth and nose while another hand chokes you in your neck. The feeling is not that intense when we are both still not too far from the end but halfway, that feeling is starting to get really painful that even with my high pain threshold, this is just a bit too much. Enduring the pain of a wound and holding your breath are different matters. Soon enough, even Lina who is very good at enduring high amounts of pain did notst long and fell to her knees as she choked in pain. "I will put you back inside the summon''s area, for now, Lina. It seems you can''t endure the pressure." "T-thanks master..." Lina is too weak to even stand back up and I recalled her before she copsed. As for me, I am barely handling it but I am still able to go and function normally. It''s hard but not to the point it is impossible. But to be able to handle this much, you needed to be able to have experienced some very painful things to easily handle them but as always, this one is up to another level that I am barely holding it. I went further into the cave with great difficulty until I reached the deepest parts where the revolving mana is gathering. I didn''t waste any time and pulled out two big empty bottles that are usually used to fill and create an XXL sized potion. Opening the cap of the bottle, I concentrated on the big swirl of mana and tried to make the bottle suck up the mana that is swirling around by manipting it. At first, it was going smoothly but when I am already holding the maniption in my hands, I felt a gripping pain in my side and in my hands. Then, I noticed ck crystals starting to form on my hands. It''s rising faster than I expected but I didn''t freak out and stop my maniption with the mana. I grit my teeth andbined with the gripping pain in my hands and the suffocation feeling, I am close to copsing, and when I was about to copse... "I can''t stay put in here." As appeared and also started to manipte the mana and redirected all of them into the bottle. My vision is fading but the pain in my hands is keeping me awake. Though I am thankful for that. As much as my body wanted to copse, the maniption of the mana is just making everything painfully long. But then, something unimaginable happened. The Versatile Weapon suddenly moved on its own and the ck shadow dragon that is always swallowing other weapons appeared and opened its wide mouth. As quickly pulled me away before the giant mouth of the ck shadow dragon snapped shut. And the mana that is trying to make some damage to me disappeared. The ck crystallization on my hands also started to disappear too. The suffocation feeling that''s been guing me ever since I stepped into this cave is also gone and my breathing is slowly returning to normal. As for the Versatile Weapon, it floated there for a while before I saw the ck shadow dragon change. I have already mentioned before that this guy is starting to be a fully solid creature. Before, this ck shadow dragon has only a ck color on it, but when this guy swallowed the swirling mana, I noticed that it gained red and dark purple color markings on its body. It''s not that clear but I can assume that it will be much clearer in the future. It turned around to us before it disappeared. After its disappearance. It returned to me andnded right on myp. "I didn''t expect your weapon to be the one that will save us from that predicament master. It saved us a lot of time draining all the mana swirling around it." "Are you fine, As? I saw your armor getting some ck matter too earlier when you helped me." "I am fine, Master. More importantly, it should be you who I should be asking. You look like you were about to be consumed by the mana earlier." "Don''t worry. It indeed felt painful. Thanks for the help. But it seems you have somewhat high resistance on the mana interference earlier. Lina seems to have a hard time handling the pressure alone." "Lina won''t be able to fight on your side, for the time being, Master. She has taken quite a lot of damage by just trying to get near here. She will have to rest for a while before she can return to her normal life. I am impressed at you Master for enduring that pain for quite long. Even I would notst that long. Though if not for the ck shadow dragon on your weapon, we would have been suffering here for long enough. We should be thankful that it acted on its own." My Versatile Weapon...as much as I have no idea what you really are, you still add more mystery to the pile you have already gathered. ... ... ... Just like what As said, Lina is incapacitated and she has to stay for quite a while recovering. so for the moment, As is the one who will be apanying me in this battle until the time she recovered. The sound of the battle is still ongoing so perhaps the battle hasn''t finished just yet. Because I felt a little bit guilty for leaving him fighting the mole alone, I decided toe back and see what happened to him. Between the two fightings, what was surprising came out to be the mole was losing. The mole''s armored skin was partially gone. Its de ws have some snapped des and some parts of its fur have already been gone. I also noticed that one of its eye sockets is bleeding and the other is getting red and one of its sharp teeth has been snapped too. The exposed skin of the mole also revealed arge slice that is currently bleeding profusely. When youpare the look of the mole and the one fighting it, you would see a big difference. If the mole is already close to dying, the one fighting against the mole is still the same as ever with the smile on his face still not disappearing. Guts had the look of a satisfied crazy man having fun in his battle. The more shocking thing is that the previously unarmed Guts earlier is now armed in his two hands, wielding tworge des. Afar, you will think he is wielding a long sword. But upon closer look, anyone can immediately see that the guy did not wield a sword, but the ws of the mole. He made it as his own weapon and used it against the original owner of the ws. Guts have a way with the weapons too. The ws are long and sharp which is if you use it as a sword in battle, your fighting style would be simr to how a warrior fight with a longsword. However, he isn''t using it as a longsword but instead adapted a ystyle that is clearly for short sword users. His swings are fast and with both hands equipped with the ws, once one of the ws slices on the enemy, the second one will quickly add another additional sh. "Hahaha! Oh yes, you are indeed fighting quite well, monster but how long before you can endure everything? Are you ready to fight till death? Thene at me and give me the fight I needed!" Provoking the boss is something else. Unless I am a pdin and have a confident amount of defensive values that will keep me alive in the process or if I am very certain about my win, I won''t daringly provoke a boss like this. Despite the damages that the mole has suffered. It didn''t show any kind of giving up from the battle, instead, it seems to be more active. It roared loudly before charging to Guts again. "Hoho, so you are approaching me? Thene real close!" he grinned as he readies the ws ready for the fight. Who would win this fight? Honestly, I don''t know. However, it seems like the answer to this would be very clear very soon. Chapter 451 Carnwennan The struggle of the mole took a little bit more time before it finally breathed itsst. Guts took his time to prolong the life of the mole so that he can fight but in the end, it didn''t work that well and the mole sumbed to its wounds. With how many wounds Guts inflicted it, it is already long enough for it to survive that long. "Ah! That was a real good battle! Plus! I got two sharp weapons to boot!" Guts happily swing around the chipped ws in the air like it was a real sword. As for me, I went to look into the corpse of the mole. There were some traces of dark mana particles that resemble the mana particles that were swirling earlier and devoured by my Versatile Weapon. Butpared to the mana earlier, it wasn''t even that strong and just enough for me to neutralize itpletely. The moment I neutralized the dark mana, the whole ce started to shake and distort. "Oh, it looks like we are done with this ce. Hey, deheart, let''s get out of here! We are good to go now! Let''s depart before we are stuck here!" I didn''t have time to even butcher the corpse so all I did is store it in my inventory temporarily. It had some good parts that I can use for making some items so it would be a waste to leave them without using them. Together with Guts, we left the portal before the whole ce copsed and trap us. We jump out from the portal and we returned to the white and cold hell. Behind us is the portal that started to shrink and close. It only took a few seconds before it disappeared, revealing the road that is blocked by the giant portal. "Welp, the road is now free. Should we continue or should we rest and have some good night''s sleep?" Guts stretch his arms. "The sooner I am gone here, the better. I don''t want to remain here without doing much. I need to reunite with the others as soon as possible," and after that, I went ahead alongside As as we continue to scale the road that is leading up to the top. "Whatever floats your boat man," Guts shrugged his shoulders and continue to walk with us. The temperature of the ce starts to get higher now and the coldness is much more bearable now. I also don''t know if it was just my imagination but I think I can see a light at the very top whenever I stare up at the end of the top. Although I am just assuming it was a reflecting light, I am also hoping it was just a light that came outside of this ce. If the ce was wider than this tight size, I could have asked Leona to fly me up to the top and call it a day. But Leona is not a dragon, she is a gryphon and the only abilities she have doesn''t include having a strong body and she cannot st through walls with her breath. Then, we reached into a small room. The road up to where I am assuming to be the exit had a path that leads to a room. We can pass on it if we decided to ignore it but it was something that I didn''t expect to see. I am eager to continue our climb but As stopped me from progressing. "Master, I think we should investigate the room ahead of us. I am feeling something trying to pull us there." "Trying to pull? What do you mean? Something ominous?" "No. It was like an enticing aura of something. I can''t properly exin it but it was indeed trying to call us to investigate that ce." As is simr to Lucia, who is sensitive to small mana fluctuations. He might be one of the mini-bosses in one of the dungeons I cleared but that doesn''t mean he is inferior in abilities to Lucia and if he is telling me something is worth checking out in that room, then so be it and we shall check it. "Are you guys going to walk to the exit?" Guts asked as he saw our detour. "Nah, just a slight detour, nothing much serious. We are just going to investigate something here." "Oh, okay. Then I will go and scout ahead for a bit thene back here once you guys are done." "Sure." Guts continued to go up while As and I went into the room that seems to be intentionally made from this ce. I doubt it was Guts who made it. It doesn''t seem to be manmade and even if it was him, then howe he didn''t use this instead of staying very deep underground? The room is huge and it''s not just something huge. It was like a whole floor of a building in the real world. The only difference is that this ce is littered with frozen pirs, blue stctites and stgmites, and the freezing air that seems to be swirling all around the room. "I can feel it. It is somewhere around this room," As continued to move forward. Of course, he didn''t forget to pull out his weapon. I also took my weapon out and readied myself in case something is going toe out and it was just that thing calling to As. "Are you sure? This ce seems to be empty," I turned my head around the ce and there seems to be nothing around here except those ice formations I mentioned earlier. "Look at that Master. That is a block of abnormally big ice out there," As then pointed not too far from us a big block of ice. It wasn''t blocking anything and it doesn''t seem to be formed naturally there. I was going to ignore that at first but then, I noticed one thing that seems to be sticking out from the ice block. It''s something I haven''t noticed before until we got a bit closer so now it is much more visible to me. "A dagger?" It''s a ck dagger with some peculiar designs on its handle. Its de is quite peculiar in shape though only the half part of it is visible since the lower half of it, especially the tip is buried on that block of ice and oddly enough, despite the ice being clear and transparent, it doesn''t show what is the tip of the dagger looks like. Now, I have not seen this weapon before but for some unknown reason, it seems to be pretty much familiar to me. I tried to inspect it without touching it to see whether the dagger is something that I can check the details. However, every time I do so... [Error] A big red error appeared every time I tried to inspect the dagger. It was a bit odd since this is the first time I have encountered something to gives an error while trying to inspect an item. Of course, I can try to touch it and inspect it further but seeing the big error earlier, made me hesitate to check it out. "Master. I think I found the one that seems to be calling me since earlier. I think this big chunk of ice and this dagger is calling at us." "Huh? Are you sure you are not joking? How can this big chunk of ice call us? I don''t think there is an item that can do that unless this dagger had a piece of consciousness attached to it." "Perhaps this dagger has one?" I frowned and turned to look at the dagger once more. I have seen quite a lot of weapons before that had some odd specific things that made them quite perform well and some have specific roles that I think might be the case here as well. But where is the thrill of that? There must be something special about it and why it was sticking out on the ice. Since it was an error item, I grab the unique handle of the dagger and yank it out of the big chunk of ice. At that moment, I finally managed to try and inspect it when the itemnded in my hands. [Broken Carnwennan] Type: Item/Broken Weapon Info: A relic weapon that once belonged to King Arthur. Itcks the tip of the weapon, rendering it into a broken item. But even with its missing tip, the edge of the Carnwennan is enough to cut something easily. Perhaps a cksmith with a high degree of mastery and expertise will be able to restore it to its former glory. The Carnwennan?! My eyes didn''t deceive me. The info indeed put it as the [Carnwennan]. But since it is a broken piece of weapon, it was now called [Broken Carnwennan] and it''s status as a weapon is not avable and only the info appeared. So it was true that the relics of King Arthur exist here! But just when I thought I found a good jackpot out of it, the block of ice started to release some cracks. Big cracks, Just from seeing that, I know it is something that is not gonna be good. Chapter 452 The Sealed Dragon With the Broken Carnwennan removed from the big chunk of ice, it seems I have unknowingly unleashed something that is being hidden inside the transparent ice. The ice started to shake that As and I had to instinctively move away and watch what is happening. "F*ck, it seems the Carnwennan was used to seal something on that ice and that is the only thing keeping that seal from being broken," I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and readies myself to fight. "Get ready master, I can sense something big is going toe out." The two of us point our weapons ready to the ice as it continues to shake. Every time it shakes, the more we are tensed waiting for it. It''s not like we are nervous but we are wishing it''s something that we can handle to fight without Guts. I am also ready to summon Lucia and the others if necessary if things go south. Soon, cracks on the ice''s surface started to show up and the shaking started to intensify. And then... CRACK! BOOOM! Shards of the ice block started flying in different directions. I immediately deployed the Shield of Vanagloria and blocked the remainder of the shards thates to us. Once the shards are no longer flying, I changed my weapon into a Magic Sword and activated [ming Sword]. As also readies his greatsword to respond to the new enemy. Before us is a giant serpent-like dragon with red stripes and green markings on its body. It doesn''t look simr to the dragons found in Chinese Legends but it had the same form those dragons possess. The only difference is that it isn''t flying or floating in the air as Chinese Dragons do, it has big hind legs that it is using for walking. It looks like a dinosaur with arge serpentine body. It doesn''t look like an actual and appropriate form for a dragon. "Is that... a dragon?" As seemed to have formed a question in his head seeing the creature. "More like a hybrid of a dinosaur and a Chinese Dragon. One thing is for sure, that is not a normal creature. I checked the info of the monster that is still trying to get used to its body. [Pendragon](Weakened Sealed State) Level ??? HP: 3,000,000/???????? Trait: Mythical Monster, Dragon, Reptile, Hybrid "Pendragon... that is also the surname of King Arthur. It also means Head Dragon. If the Carnwennan is used to seal it, does that mean it is connected to King Arthur in some way?" I frowned. "Perhaps Master. So what is your assessment? Should we flee or attack it?" "It looks like a monster with high health but due to its weakened state and sealed status, it was lowered enough for us to handle it. As, coordinate with me and defeat this monster down. If we leave this guy out here without killing it, we might be in deep troubleter on. Let''s strike it down before it can recover from the seal." "Alright, Master!" I pulled out a scroll on my inventory and tear it up into pieces. "What was that, Master?" "A scroll named [Weakening]. It reduces the attack power and defense power by 5% of an enemy that was targeted. Now, we shouldn''t dawdle since the time is ticking, don''t we?" After exining, I rushed forward and headed straight to the Pendragon. It hasn''t recovered fully yet so when I was near it, it didn''t get a good reaction to my first sh but as expected, it wasn''t that easy either. The strike didn''t do anything but graze its scales for a little bit. But since my Versatile Weapon has a passive to reduce its target''s defensive values, it can slowly degrade the more I strike it. As made a follow-up and imbued his Greatsword with dark energy, and utilized it. "HA!" DANG! The greatsword managed to hit but the scales are proving to be hard that the Greatsword looked like a big dull metal being carried by As. "Its scales are hard!" "Not a problem!" The Pendragon started to notice our attacks and uses its long tail to p us off but with our quick reflexes, the tail p came a bitte and we managed to dodge it. Once its attack was performed, I grab one of the nearest scales, and using the Versatile Weapon, I forcefully removed it. It wasn''t easy to remove as it sticks quite well to the skin of the Pendragon but with the Versatile Weapon, that isn''t much of a problem. With a scale removed, a big spot was revealed to us, a spot where it was only bare skin without any protection. It might just be one scale removed but that is enough. Without waiting for the Pendragon to do anything, I stab the Versatile Weapon into the exposed skin of the Pendragon and activated one skill. "[Earth Fissure]!" ROAR! The skill immediately activated and with it happening inside the body of the Pendragon, the damage was tremendous. The Pendragon howled in pain and mmed its body around, flinging me off. As for the Versatile Weapon, it remained stabbed on the Pendragon and the monster is trying its best to remove it. And despite the [Earth Fissure] being used to it, unlike the most monsters I used it dies immediately due to internal organs being ruptured and minced to pieces, the Pendragon is fine. I inspected its HP to see how much I managed to inflict against the Pendragon. [Pendragon](Weakened Sealed State) Level ??? HP: 2,523,198/???????? With the [Earth Fissure] alone, I managed to inflict at least 400k damage. But that is due to the fact that I already rebuffed it and I used the skill in my own way that I managed to deal damage. But I doubt I can do that a second time. "As, cover me, I will need to bury the Versatile Weapon deep into the body of the Pendragon. Buy me some time to get real close." "Gotcha! I got your back!" As swings his greatsword and made sure to grab the attention of the boss. It didn''t take much time until the Pendragon is now focused on As. With his passive that allows him to increase hisbat capabilities when fighting alone, He can perform a duel against a single enemy and fight without problems. Pendragon''s attention is now fully focused on As now and haspletely forgotten about me already. I checked the cooldown of my [Earth Fissure] and there are about 30 seconds left, enough time rate to perform another attack again, Before rushing in, I grabbed another [Weakening] scroll and tore it to pieces before running towards the Versatile Weapon still stuck on the wound I made earlier. The Pendragon is moving too much that it made quite a hassle dodging and running around before I can effectively find my way back to near the Versatile Weapon. I am at a distance from it and I thought of something that I want to try out. I enhanced my legs and focused all my force on my legs and made a leap. It made a bit of a booming sound the moment I leaped and locked my eyes on the Versatile Weapon. "ORYAAAA!" Stretching my legs, I made a flying kick and m down my shoes to the Versatile Weapon''s handle. I know my weapon won''t be damaged from my attack especially since it doesn''t possess any durabilities, any kind of attack movement that would naturally degrade a weapon''s durability will not apply to the Versatile Weapon. BANG! ROAAAAAARRR! It made a small shockwave after my kick hit the Versatile Weapon''s handle and pushed the de even deeper. This time, it wasn''t just a minor pain, it was a big pain as the moment I struck that real hard, the blood of the Pendragon started spurting out from its body and leaked out like it was overfilled by something and a strong force was applied to it, unleashing a damaging attack. "I am not done yet!" I grab the handle of the Versatile Weapon and grasped it tightly. I know it won''t just kill the dragon but I have to make sure the Pendragon knows that we are not just something that it can mess with. "[Earth Fissure]!" The blood leaking out from the Pendragon''s body started to release more streams of blood that made the Pendragon scream more and even on the outside, anyone can hear the blood that seems to be gurgling and the flesh and bones being crushed by the pressure from the [Earth Fissure]. Once the skill was inflicted, my hands exerted a bit more force on the Versatile Weapon and started to drag it while still embedded in the Pendragon''s body. "OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" I increased the force of my drag on the sword and as soon as the Versatile Weapon hit a scale, the scale immediately breaks into pieces and reveals more skin. While dragging it, I unleashed the [ming Sword] inside the body, increasing more damage inflicted. And to increase my attack more, I activated [Berserk]. Since my old upgrade to the Berserk was revoked, it was back to the basic [Berserk] skill, but that is sufficient enough. "RIP AND TEAR! DIEEEEEEE!" Blood and guts started to splurge out as my Versatile Weapon continued to slice through the body of the Pendragon. This time, it is close to dying. "OOOOOHHHHHHH!" My [ming Sword] zing red hot is now dyed brightly red as the blood coated the de of the Versatile Weapon from the blood of the Pendragon. I continue to drag the Versatile Weapon on its flesh and even if the scales tried to block my slice, it wasn''t that strong to resist the sharp de of my Versatile Weapon. "This is the end!" Swish! The huge wound that I created exploded and blood fall out without stopping. This alone is enough for the high HP of the Pendragon to plummet in split second. A few momentster, the Pendragon tried to swish its tail in itsst attempt to retaliate but it wasn''t enough and it slowly loses its HP rapidly. But then... [Title Effects activated][Instant Death Inflicted] "Wait, what the heck..." The title effects were activated and I was baffled. During the times I am in danger, the effects do not even activate, but when I don''t really have the needs of it, it would suddenly activate. It doesn''t make sense and the timing is just very off at times it''s a bit frustrating. But since I killed it, then so be it. --- -you killed an impossible enemy! You have killed the Pendragon. -received 1,200,000,000,000 EXP(Title effects activated, 1,200,000,000,000 EXP earned) -received the Unique title (The One Who Felled the Pendragon) -received the Unique title (yer of Legendary Creatures) -got Pendragon Scale 500x -got Pendragon Spine -got Pendragon Eyes 2x -got 500,000,000,000 gold for ying an impossible foe! --- I didn''t expect that I will receive that much experience from killing one single dragon that was previously sealed. Of course, if not for the fact that it was weakened and had been previously sealed, then killing it would have been impossible and I would have died there alongside As. But due to the after-effects of the Carnwennan, I managed to do it. Yet despite the amount of experience I earned, that was not enough. It''s not even halfway through my level bar now. "We did it, As..." "Yes, Master. I didn''t expect we would be sessful in dealing the final blow on the monster before it can recover. Not only that but I received a few levels ups too. It was quite a rewarding kill." "Damn, lucky you. The experience I gained did not even have a small glimmer of being able to move my progress bar of mine. Perhaps if we hunted more monsters in simr rating as this Pendragon then perhaps I can level up." "Don''t give up Master. You are getting stronger anyways so just be sure to keep on fighting and winning." I sighed. The amount is getting ridiculous and the number has ramped up quite a lot. It might even reach the point where leveling up will take a lot of years, who even knows, it might also cause me to stay at this level for the remainder of my life ying the game. Guts haven''t returned yet so I opened my inventory and inspected the items I received. I also noticed that I managed to earn 500 billion gold by killing the Pendragon alone. That is already quite a big deal. It''s even bigger than the amount of gold I received from selling the first Guild Token which is a bit terrifying. Now, time to check the spoils, I found two of the drops inside the Items Pocket which are the two Pendragon Eyes and the five hundred pieces of Pendragon Scales. The eyes can be used for item crafting or potion brewing while the scales can definitely be part of item creation or even essory and armor creation whichever of those choices, both are fine choices. But I am quite sure I got one more drop other than those two so I searched it up. Then, I realized it wasn''t even in the items pocket because it was a different drop. It''s a weapon. The only problem is that, for some unknown reason, I can''t choose it. Whatever I do, I can''t take it out, drop it or remove it from my inventory. But based on the picture of the photo which I read earlier as the [Pendragon Spine], it looks like Scythe to me. Is this for the new ss? Perhaps, because in the future patch, a few more sses will be added and one of them is a scythe-wielding ss which is the Reaper. Now, the next thing I needed to do is get rid of the carcass of the Pendragon. As much as I want to butcher it up and dismantle its parts, it was too big and I don''t think my inventory space will be able to even handle the number of items it can generate if I dismantle it. As much as it was a waste, I won''t be able to bring all of them all anyway which will be another waste. Because I don''t want the monsters toe running here after the Pendragon died, I needed something that will allow me to remove the dead body and remove the blood of the Pendragon. Then, I turned to look at my Versatile Weapon. The greed and gluttony of this thing have been showing nowadays especially when it managed to gain a body. It is not only devouring weapons, armor, and other equipment, it also devours monsters and other things like the ck mana. And as much as I don''t have to associate this weapon with the Greed and Gluttony Weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins series, I can''t help but think that this weapon might be indeed part of the Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series. I know I am benefitting the way this weapon has its bottomless stomach, but I also can''t help but fear it. After all, Greed and Gluttony are verypatiblebinations and theyplement each other. Without any other choice, I pulled the Versatile Weapon back out from its scabbard and aimed it at the dead body of the Pendragon. My action alone made the creature inside the Versatile Weapon react and it started salivating from the sight of the Pendragon''s carcass even though I haven''t given permission, it is now very eager to open its mouth. "[DEVOUR]!" The shadow dragon smirked and extended its body to open its giant mouth. It was big, much bigger than the dead body of the Pendragon. Anyone who witnesses this for the first time would be very terrified to see a weapon that devours things and weapons like that. CHOMP! In one snap, it shut its giant mouth and the dead body of the Pendragon disappeared. I thought that was it but then the Shadow Dragon started licking its mouth as it stares at the pool of blood on the ground. It should have been done with the devouring but for the first time, it seems it wasn''t just satisfied by the carcass, it also wanted the blood. The shadow dragon turned to look at me with anticipation as it alternates its eyes to the pool of blood and to me. "Uh... [Devour]?" The Shadow dragon seems to have been delighted and it immediately went straight to the pool of blood. I thought it would drink the blood which is "devouring" it but to my surprise, the shadow dragon did not do that, instead, it dives into the water and started to waddle into the pool of blood like a duck that seems very eager to swim in a puddle. It was a bit silly of the shadow dragon as it yfully bathe itself in the pool of blood and it didn''t mind how sticky and a bit disgusting it was. It was enjoying it to its finest and I can say this is the main definition of a Bloodbath seeing how it is bathing in blood but that is not even a pun, I mean, just look at that since it was literally doing it. "Uh, As, can you exin to me what is happening?" "I don''t know about this master, but it looks simr to how it is trying to absorb the essence of the blood into its body." "Absorbing the essence from the blood?" "Yes. Do you know Blood Monarchs?" "Yeah. I have some knowledge of them but I haven''t seen one yet personally." "Then that would save us time to exin things. Just like the Blood Monarchs, this kind of practice is to absorb the energy and power that is flowing in the blood. It was one of the main reasons why Blood Monarchs like to kill and gather the blood of their victims before bathing using the blood they have gathered. Now, I don''t know what your weapon is doing and why it looks like it was waddling into the pool of blood like a dog but because it was very simr, I think it was indeed absorbing the essence present in the blood of the Pendragon. After all, it is better to do it like that than to drink it like juice." Chapter 453 Blood Covered Versatile Sword The shadow dragon''s odd behavior is quite peculiar as I have not seen this entity do this in my entire time being with this weapon. Having itself waddle on the puddle of blood just made it a bit more mysterious to me. It didn''t stop until the whole puddle of blood dried up and all of it are mysteriously sticking into the body of the shadow dragon. It''s noting off in every roll and instead, it seems to be absorbing all of the blood that it took a few more minutes to dry up the pool of blood. And when it''s done, it started licking before it retracted itself back to the Versatile Weapon. However, the moment it entered the Versatile Weapon, the Versatile Weapon itself changed. The de of the Versatile Weapon has a grayish ck color tint on it but now, it gained blood-red color with some of the edges seeming to look like it was covered in blood. I tried to wipe it off but the blood color did note off, The shiny glint of the de also looked different as well. "deheart? Are you here? Let''s go and continue on our way, there are no enemies on the road, and it''s quiet. I suggest we should take advantage of you to get out of here," the voice of Guts echoed outside the ce As and I entered earlier. "We are here!" "Oh, then let''s go if you guys are done with your business over there. The faster we are done with this, the sooner you can reunite with your team." ... ... As and I left the room where the Pendragon was sealed and where we killed it. We didn''t bother to tell Guts that we killed a monster without him. I can tell that he might start nagging at us about why we didn''t call him when we are fighting it. "So what did you guys find there? It seemed you all took a bit of time staying there." ''"Nothing. We just explored around there. It was quite a big room so it took us quite a while before we finished exploring it and when you called, we were just about to leave," I lied. "Really? I think that room was a bit smaller from what I remember but perhaps it changed when I was not there?" My eyebrows furrowed when I heard what he just said. "Huh? You have been there before? I thought this was your first time climbing here?" I frowned. "Oh, uh...I took a peek earlier which is why I thought it was smaller. Yeah, that was it." "Hmmmm..." Guts sighed and he stopped chatting with us as he continued to walk behind us. As then contacted me with a telepathy conversation while we are walking to make sure Guts do not notice. "Master, this guy is clearly lying." "Yeah, I know. It''s clear that he knows something from it and he was there before. Even I don''t know how big the room is just by peeking inside since it was wide when you tried to look. It only looked small once you are fully inside and has fully explored the ce you will feel it was a small location." "Are you going to interrogate him?" "No. As much as I wanted to do so, we also lied to him, so it''s just fair that we shouldn''t push any further." ... After a few hours of the climb, the surroundings have been swallowed in darkness which means the night has already fallen outside, and the light that is shining on the ice and making the surroundings underground glow has already set. It''s already dangerous to continue climbing in the dark so we decided to camp out. "Well, I will go back to my cave and wait until the morninges. I don''t think I like camping that much," Guts said and he was getting ready to depart. "Huh? You are going back even though it was already so far down before you returned to your cave?" "Haha, no worries. I can teleport back to my base with no problem. One of my abilities is allowing a sort of save point where I can use it to teleport back to that ce anytime, anywhere." "Huh, that is convenient. If that is your case, then can we also teleport back there too?" I asked. "Unless you have the same ability as me, then the answer is no so unless you don''t want to go back and climb up again from my cave back to this point, you better stay here and camp the night out. Anyways, I will be going, let''s meet againter this morning guys!" And with a single blink in our eyes, he disappeared from our field of vision, leaving only me and As on our makeshift campground. "Master, are you sure you want to trust that guy? He is quite so shifty and seems very suspicious. He is strong, yes, but he is also quite very suspicious that we don''t even know if it was safe for him to be around us or not." "As much as I am on the same boat as you, we don''t have much of a choice, do we? With strong and close to impossible enemies to defeat, I doubt we can even fight back without the giant risk of dying miserably from the monsters around here." As can only scratch his head. As much as he wanted to deny it our situation is indeed not a good way. With all the monsters being close to impossible in defeating with our current equipment and level, we are all sitting ducks here and Guts filled into our main attacker, dealing with the close to impossible enemies to defeat. "Oh yeah Master, by the way. After the puddle of blood from earlier was dried up by the entity of your weapon, it seems like your weapon of yours has undergone a very big change. I can immediately tell that it seems to have gotten quite a lot stronger than how it should have been." ? Now that As mentioned it, I haven''t checked the stats of my Versatile Weapon. It changed a lot and I don''t know what changes might have happened after the Shadow Dragon started to waddle on the Pendragon''s pool of blood but based on the look of the weapon, it seemed to have absorbed quite a lot for it to even change the look of the weapon''s regr look. The blood red marks are still there and it is quite an eye-catching sword nowpared to how it looked before especially if it was transformed into a regr sword. Although it can change its looks anytime I want and whatever looks it can as long as it has devoured it, I rarely change its looks and I am sticking most of the time to the regr look of the Versatile Weapon which is the greyish ck tint color. Now, it doesn''t look like that anymore. The blood-red color tint of the weapon remained and I tried changing its form. Before, itpletely converts itself into the form the weapon originally has. Now, it also has the blood-red color tint that was added. It doesn''t look odd, but it is now quite an eye-catching weapon due to how it added more style to the dull-looking weapon I have. Perhaps it is also time for me to change the looks of the Versatile Weapon so that it can at least lessen the way it catches the eyes of others. "How does the feel of the weapon, Master? Did it somehow seem strange to you all of a sudden?" "Strange? I don''t think so? It felt the same as it was before. Aside from the looks, it didn''t have anything that seemed to change anything." "Can I take a look at that, Master?" "Sure." As received the Versatile Weapon and inspected it from every nook and corner of its de to every detail of the handle and everything that is engraved on it. He is silent while doing this and I think he will take some time before he is done so I decided to cook food while I am waiting for As to finish his current analysis of the weapon. It took at least an hour before As finished his inspection and he sighed after doing so before handing it back out to me. "It was a fine weapon. Thank you for letting me inspect it, Master." "So how is it? Did you somehow gain some kind of insight into the changes in my weapon?" "Yeah, a little bit. Though it was purely my spection this time around so please just take it as a grain of salt and don''t take it too seriously since I also don''t know if what I am going to say is also the real thing." "Well, go on." "Okay, it seems like it just the Pendragon''s blood did not just change the weapon''s look. It had already changed and evolved the weapon into something else. Perhaps you will have to see the status of your weapon to know it exactly." I did as I was told and my eyes could not believe it. The normal name of the weapon before was Versatile Weapon, now it is called Blood Covered Versatile Weapon. And the changes seems to have not just stopped there as the weapon has now changedpletely even the description itself. Chapter 454 Greed And Gluttony [Blood Covered Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 10,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +1000 AGI: +1000 DEX: +1000 END: +1000 INT: +1000 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff to the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. ? 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. Can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon''s the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy that will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform to Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Avarice(Iplete): (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the smaller the stats absorbed. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Mammon''s Curse) [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal once the requirements are fulfilled. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: Null ... ... ... That was a lot of text but I also realized that there are lots of new things this weapon of mine got. Namely, the two skills that are marked as "Exclusive Skills". I am sure I haven''t encountered any weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins aside from the Weapons of Pride. However, for some unknown reason, it already got the Greed and Gluttony exclusive skills. Although iplete, it is still the exclusive skills of the two weapons of the seven deadly sins weapon series. Then there is the note that partially exined the changes though it doesn''t tackle that much, I have already learned a bit of why the Versatile Weapon has gained quite a lot from it. It seems that due to the devouring of the Pendragon''s flesh and the Pendragon''s blood, it managed to unseal some of its sealed features that I have not seen before. But the biggest thing that made me feel like I am dreaming is the increase in the stats. The stats are all now in 1000 which means with the stats of the weapon alone, I am nowparable to a level 350 yer with full gear of Unique Tiered items. There is only one thing that made this very fantastic. I don''t need to rely on Guts when fighting against the enemies. Also, even with that, I can further increase these stats by using the ability that seems to be connected to the Pendragon''s Blood, the [Blood Weapon]. There is a huge risk of dying since it consumes 99% of my HP, it also increases my fighting chance by doubling the stats of the Versatile Weapon, increasing the stats even further. "You understand now, Master? This weapon of yours is something that only exists in the realm of the gods. It wasn''t supposed to be in the hands of the humans but perhaps due to how lucky you are, I guess, they have blessed you on this. I wonder if people know about this weapon, what will they do just to obtain it?" As rubbed his chin. "It''s a dangerous weapon yes, and I know that I am clearly unqualified to wield the weapon but I am not going to give this thing to anyone. This is my weapon and no one else will be able to wield it." "Ha... I am so jealous of your weapon Master. Perhaps if I have that weapon before I fell to the darkness, I might have been victorious and be a hero well known by everyone," As sighed. "There is no need to be jealous. You should be proud that you are strong enough that you don''t need to rely on a weapon like this to fight the enemies you have defeated before. You should be more proud of that." "Hahaha, no worries Master. It''s not like I have any uses for that. Wielding a weapon that contains the powers of the Seven Deadly Sins is a huge responsibility and burden and yet you are doing fine. You don''t even sumb to the power of the Seven Deadly Sins like most users of them do. That alone is something worthy of attention. And being able to serve the person that is wielding a weapon that the gods forged, is an honor to do so. And I am thankful that you did ept my pathetic excuse of myself when I surrendered to you that time in the dungeon." I was happy that As acknowledged me as a worthy master. But the words he said just made me a bit worried. What will happen to me once I managed to gather the Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series? Will I sumb to the darkness? Or will I be something else? The future is uncertain, but I have to do this. There is no other choice. The only way to go is forward. Chapter 455 Almost To The Top Since it wasn''t the real world, the nighttime in the game is fast and a few hours of rest is enough for the next day to roll in. I didn''t feel sleepy anyways, so the moment the light has broken through the underground and illuminated the ce slowly, As and I resumed our climb to the top. We didn''t wait for Guts to arrive. He said he will be catching up to us so it didn''t matter if we walk much earlier or wait for him. It doesn''t have any effect if he was here or not other than being the first to charge against an enemy attack. As much as I appreciate his help, he is getting more gung-ho in finding enemies that it sometimes made me irritated. "Master, are you sure you don''t need to wait for Guts? I know that you are somewhat annoyed by him but are you sure to just leave him and move?" "Nah, if he didn''t find us on where we camped then, he will find us by following the trail. There is only one way up and he can just go follow it to catch up to us. It''s not that hard for him, I guess." We continue to move up the road. Thankfully, we have not seen any portals anymore but monsters are there instead. Ever since the power up of my Versatile Weapon, my attacks are very strong nowpared to the time it hasn''t powered itself up. I can now handle the monster threats by myself, allowing myself to y them myself. As always, the monsters do not drop anything nor do they give any experience or gold. They are just some sort of blockage to the roads making them annoying and troublesome and killing them doesn''t give any rewards. It would have been great if they even gave out some experience points, it would help a lot in getting more experience points for me since they are high-level monsters. Soon, we arrived at what seemed to be a clearing. It''s no longer a road up, it was a t road that seems to look simr to the area where west fought Guts and where I was almost killed in the process. Compared to before, the clearing is not mostly snow now, it is now covered with white grass that seems to thrive on the snow. It doesn''t look anything extraordinary and they looked like weeds you see in grasnds. The only difference is that they are color white and I think that is the weeds in this snowy region. That little weeds grow all over therge area and it carpeted the whole ce with it if not for the snow, it would be really marvelous to look at naturally. It looks empty and peaceful but I can immediately tell something that there will be something hiding there. It was like this feeling that something is intently staring behind you. By the way, that feeling of being stared at is still happening behind my back and I still don''t have any idea who or what is currently staring at me in this manner. I grip the handle of my Versatile Weapon and grab the handle of the Pain Delivery, ready to pull them out and defend myself against any danger that flies towards me as we slowly proceeded to move on this white grass. As seems to also have felt it but he did not say anything I can already tell in his stance that he is ready to pull out his weapon anytime. We remained silent as we went traversed into this ce. Nothing is currently moving but if we make a single sound, I think something will rouse up and I was trying to avoid that from happening. As we continue to walk, I slowly noticed not too far from us that there is another pathway that leads up which is what I am looking for as that will allow me to continue the climb. But then... "deheart! I am here! Where are you?!" Behind us is the same loudmouth guy that returned to his cave to rest up. He came back with a bang as he is very noisy and he was like a bulldozer who bulldozed the snow on the ground by running very fast. And that alone is enough for the thing that we are trying to avoid rousing the attention. Before us, a white wall suddenly blocked our way towards the next path up. It blocked our entrance and our exit to the ce. We are boxed in by something that was roused by the idiot Guts. I think I started to regret naming him Guts, he doesn''t even have the slightest behavior of Guts, he only has the battle style correct, the rest are just a jam-packed cluster ofbinations that I have no more thoughts on him. Since we are all boxed in, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and readies it before observing the surroundings for any iing attacks. As did not pull out his weapon just yet and observed first. After all, that is the main step if the enemy continues to hide without revealing itself. As for Guts, it seems he wasn''t even aware that we are trapped here in a boxed area. He just continued to run toward us with a happy look on his face. "Ha! Thank goodness that I managed to catch up to the two of you. You two just left behind without even waiting for me." He then noticed that we didn''t respond to him as we continue to observe the surroundings for any signs of attacks. I can''t afford to even pay attention to him. Any hiding enemies might strike while I am talking to Guts and that would be disastrous as I don''t even know whether the enemy that will attack will be someone capable of dealing lethal attacks or not. "Why are you guys tense? Are there enemies around?" he then started to look around and also started to look with interest. I wanted to p him but I decided to withhold that thought. It''s not worth it. Then... BOOM! The snow exploded and the three of us immediately turned to look at the explosion. Neither of the three of us made that explosion indirectly or directly so the only usible cause of that is an enemy. And I was right. A twig hand appeared. But it wasn''t a twig to us, it looked more like a trunk of a tree that looks like a twig. The reason I called it a twig and not a trunk is because the enemy is clearly not something that would have a tree trunk as hands. It just looked like that because in our normal size, we are small and the "twig" is a giant. The snow that was momentary still on the ground a few seconds ago started to move and gather up, slowly forming a shape. The snow looked like they are being pulled by a ma and started to gather on that ma, immediately forming the monster. It didn''t take that long before the snow build up a monster. A snowman. [Snowman of Abomination] Level 320 HP: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Trait: Construct, Water, Ice, Ghost ... A construct enemy which means it''s a golem type which only means the main weakness of this enemy is its core that made it function. The fact that it materializes using the snow around us means it has an inexhaustible amount of resources to repair itself when damaged. So the only thing that will allow us to deal damage against it is to find its core, tear it apart from that body, or destroy itpletely and in most cases, the most viable and effective way to do it is thetter option. "Hell yeah! Another enemy!" And like always, Guts is the first one to attack. He didn''t even talk to us about the snowman appearing, he just raced forward and attacked the snowman. What is more interesting is that he is not attacking with a weapon but using his bare hands. "The f*ck is this guy doing?" As shook his head and even with his helmet on, I can imagine his confused look on his face seeing what is unfolding on us right now. "Ah, forget it. Let''s focus on finding the core of the snowman. That is our main objective as that will be the end of this battle immediately." "Yeah, that was the case here, Master. Ready to roll whenever you are ready, Master." "Alright, let''s hop into it!" As and I went separate ways, circling around the Snowman of Abomination, looking for any indication of the core. I transformed my Versatile Weapon into a staff and started firing volleys of Fireball to the Snowman of Abomination. With all the attacks of the snowman directed to Guts, I decided this is the best opportunity to safely attack and find the core of the snowman. As much as Guts tries to punch and kick this monster down, the only way to end the battle is find the core. The battle has only just begun. Chapter 456 Do You Want To Toast A Snowman? "HRAAAAA!" Even the [ming Sword] of the Versatile Weapon cannot cut the trunk of the snowman. It was like I am hitting a stone pir... but I think the stone pirs are more brittlepared to this. "Master! It is regenerating very fast!" I clicked my tongue when As reported that. Despite our efforts of removing a big part of snow on its body, it was quick in regenerating its lost snow parts, making it a bit of a big headache. And by the looks of it, the core of the snowman is rather located too deep in its body that if we have to hit the core, we have to at least melt all the snow from its body and reveal it. But that is not the problem. The mes that my Versatile Weapon is fierce and hot enough, plus the mesing from my [Fireball] and Molotov Cocktail seems to have not caused too much significant or irreversible damage from it. Even if we managed to do so, the regeneration of the snow being lost from a battle is quick enough for us to immediately catch up. "It''s regenerating too fast!" As just finished one of his great shes and has been able to remove arge chunk of snow from its body but as always, the snow, did not appear and the lost snow quickly built itself back up again. "Give up on that area if the core still did not appear, focus on another part!" I turned to look at Guts who is currently holding off most of the attacks of the snowman unless it was an AOE attack and honestly, I am amazed that he managed to tank off most of those attacks and he is still not getting any injuries nor he seems to need healing, he is still energetic and the smug look on his face just made me certain that he is fine and well. Forehead, chest, both snowy parts of the arm, the back, and both feet, all parts that I mentioned are parts we have tested and removed snow to look and expose the core of the snow golem but we have no luck in finding it. And since the veryst parts which are both feet also do not possess the core we are looking for, there is only one thing that made our search fruitless and the reason why we still haven''t found it despite our search for it around its body is that this golem has a core exposed on its body or may be disguised as a body part. There are 5 options for the snowman that might qualify as cores. Despite being called cores, they do not necessarily have to be a circle shape core. First and second, maybe the most likely to be the core or cores are the two buttons that made the "eyes" of this snowman. But that is only the possibility, I could be wrong. Then the third is the wrinkly-looking nose that looks like a carrot and can also be a core. As I said before, cores are not necessarily round and circle shape. Then we have the two buttons on the body that made up its nonexistent suit, which makes up the fourth and fifth. But as always, I have some doubts but since there are multiple of them, then we will have to go and do it in the process of elimination. Grabbing a few more bottles of Molotov Cocktail, I connected to Lucia. "Hey Lucia, are you busy there?" "Master? No, I am not busy at the moment, I am just rxing while Lina-chan is still resting. What is wrong?" "I will have to ask for help in manifesting strong me magic. I needed it to cause big burning attacks" "Should I go out?" "If you want to go out and fight, then I will summon you out, but if not, then just channeling your power is fine, I will use my mana to conjure your magic spells instead." "Ah, since you have given a choice, Master, I am going to choose thetter choice instead. I apologize for this." "No need. Besides, having more people here might trigger this snowman. It''s better to keep the people fighting it to the minimum." "Okay, Master, I am chanelling my abilities to you now. Use it well and make sure to finish whatever you are fighting against." "Thanks, now how about we toast some snowman today?" This is the first time I have used this function before. It was there before but I haven''t used it so I didn''t have any clue on how this thing works but now, I think I am adapting to it. It''s the Companion''s Ability Lending function that is already present. I know how this works in text but never in actual experience. Activating the mes on my hands, I also realized that Lucia''s mes are much hotterpared to my mes. It was like holding a pot that is being used to boil water without using any kind of cover to stop the hotness transfer to your skin. It''s pretty hot and yet it doesn''t burn, maybe because it wasn''t being used to me and I am the one wielding on it which is why it was like this. And I like it. With the Snowman still struggling on keeping Guts on line, I didn''t waste the time to idle. I leap from the ground and pulled a mid-air jump before dashing to reach the eyes of the snowman. The eyes are as big as a round table so it is not something so easy to miss. Maybe if your aim is that bad, perhaps. But I am not that bad. "Have a taste of this!" FWOOM! A fireball hit the left eyeball squarely and it exploded into mes causing the snowman to stop fighting and cover its eyes in pain. Landing on the ground, I thought I already managed to hit it but when I looked at the HP, I realized it didn''t even remove a single HP percentage at all. The snowman is still fine. It was hurt but not literally hurt for the HP to reduce. It only felt a bit of pain but it was fine. The snowman stopped after the mes was extinguished and the button that was there before is now incinerated leaving only a burnt marked snow and one more eye. The snowman is now focused entirely at me especially since I burnt one of its eyes out. BANG! The snowman is so quick that I barely managed to pull back up the Versatile Weapon and blocked the trunk from mming down to me. It was heavy but bearable to handle. "Hey! You little piece of crap! Where are you attacking?! I am here! Focus your attention to me!" And when I was blinking, half of the head of the snowman disappeared. It was like it was removed by hand and was scooped off. I was shocked as that was all so sudden as I saw Guts mid-air with his fists smoking while on the action that he punched in the air, which means he is the one responsible for the half of the snowman''s head to disappear. Of course, since it wasn''t the core that has been hit, the damage that Guts has done to the snowman is immediately restored except for the eyes that has disappeared forever, the snow that was blown off has been returned to the normal ce. "A miss huh, then dammit, let''s try it again." This time, I didn''t try to take down the other eye. With one of its eyes blown off and the recent attack that Guts did to it, the snowman is now too defensive on its head now. It stopped attacking and even assumed on a defensive stance too. But that made As find a good chance to strike. He took his time keeping quiet and not attacking before he took action when the Snowman stopped to defend itself. In the middle of defending, the snowman didn''t notice As already building up a charge sh on his sword. It is one of the normal abilities As does if he was a normal boss and many yers have been felled by this attack before including me in the past timeline. This time around, As is using it to fight against a boss monster. SWISH! One clean sh and the right arm trunk it has did notst and fell to the ground with a loud boom. As did not hit the any parts that I assumed to be the cores, but he decided to cripple the monster down. The snowman is very angry and tried to heal back its torn arm but perhaps it wasn''t even part of the parts that can be healed, therge tree trunk that is used to be its right arm has been severedpletely without any chances it will be reattached again. The snow around it was restored but the trunk did not reattach again. "Master! It is time to attack!" I grinned inwardly as I ignited another set of mes in my hands once more. "I will dly take the opportunity, thanks a lot As!" Chapter 457 Snow Is Water As made quite a contribution in fighting against the snowman. Cutting off that trunk is one big move that is good enough to reduce the danger the snowman possess to us. To ensure that the snowman does not reattach that troublesome trunk back to its body, Iunched a fireball at it and burned it to ashes. With Lucia''s mes that I am using, the fireball is more than enough to burn the trunk to ashes in split seconds just like how a paper got caught in a fire. There is still a possibility the snowman can find another way to restore the arm but in the meantime, it seems the monster is not doing anything that would do that, allowing us to continue the battle. Due to the recent attack, the snowman wanted to switch target which is As but as always, the snowman seems to have no chance of breaking off from Guts as he punched the snowman again, taking off the regenerated part of its head again. I already burned one of its eyes and one of the buttons but so far, all of my guesses are wrong. The snowman is still on guard against its head and even with one hand, it is still quite capable of blocking any attacks that are always headed on its head, well, except for the attacks that are from Guts since it seems the snowman is not even able to block it and even if it blocks it, it has the biggest possibility of the trunk from being busted to pieces by the punch. The sword seems inefficient at the moment and since I am doing punch and kick attacks, for now, I changed the Versatile Weapon''s form and made it into the Knuckles form. This will also help gain a bit of some SP for the Fighter ss, especially with the sudden reset. With the perfect fit knuckles on my hands, I ignited them to mes again. I am not worried the Versatile Weapon will burn and melt, it is a literal item that cannot be destroyed in any way and I doubt these mes are even enough to make a scratch on it. My target is the button that is the only one left after burning up the rest. I can tell that it wasn''t the core too but who knows? Maybe I will get really lucky and I managed to get a stroke of luck in finding the real core. The snowman mmed the trunk on the ground while trying to m down Guts to smithereens but missed. I took the opportunity to use that trunk and run using it as a way to get higher up to the snowman. Of course, the snowman didn''t like that and opened its mouth and shot out multiple icicles in my direction. I don''t have the buffs that increase the ability to run faster after the reset so the only thing I can do is dodge them and fend off the icicles I can''t dodge. But I am not that fast in fending everything, they are just too small and fast for me to block all of them unless I am a legendary gamer. However, that didn''t stop me from running. If I can''t block all of them, then I have to continue getting away from there. As soon as I reached the highest part of the trunk arm where I can reach either the eye, the nose, or the button, I took a leap from that trunk. But then, I noticed the iing trunk sweeping past me while I am mid-air. Since being in mid-air also means limited movement, there is no way to dodge it unless I do something to avoid the big trunk or mitigate the attack to my advantage. Due to the sudden situation, I quickly changed my weapon to a Hook and Chain before throwing the hook into the carrot-looking nose. Unless the snowman has two hands, it cannot remove the hook from the nose before it attacks me, allowing me to get off and escape. But who said I will give up the attack? Now that the nose of the snowman is within my weapon''s grip, I don''t want to waste the opportunity. I yank out the nose as hard as I can using my Versatile Weapon''s Hook and Chain form. And to loosen the nose a lot faster, I also activated the mes of Lucia and fired them around the nose part, melting the snow and turning it into the water. In a single yank, I removed the carrot-looking nose easily. The snowman roared in pain despite the fact that it was just a nose that seems to be just there to act as the nose but that is enough for the snowman to be in big pain. But even if it is in pain, it was clear it wasn''t the core, the snowman still hasn''t got any kind of damage to its big pool of HP. Firing a few more fireballs, I burned the carrot-looking thing that was removed into ashes with Lucia''s mes. I know I should have left it alone since it doesn''t do anything on purpose and it wasn''t like it will be used in fighting in any way but I would rather remove any parts of its bodypletely rather than leave it. I learned many lessons like that in the past timeline and I don''t want to repeat any of them. The snowman is now getting too angry but I also noticed that the snowman is also melting... yeah, it was indeed melting, the snowman is melting like the usual snowmen made by the children in winter then melts the moment the first day of spring rolls in. And to my surprise, the Hp of the snowman is slowly reducing. However, that is not what I am worried about right now. Beneath our feet, I noticed that every step I make is now making water sshes, causing me to look down and soon realized that the snowman has been turned into the water as it is melting. It wasn''t a problem if we are in an open area and we can just forget the water from falling because we are in an enclosed area, the water slowly rises and even though the snowman has yet to melt fully, the water has already climbed up to our knees and it is still rising. "Master! What should we do? The water is slowly rising and there is no exit!" p "Are there any changes in the walls that have blocked our way?" "It''s unfortunate, Master, but I don''t see any exit on sight and I don''t even think the walls are going to go down anytime soon." It was clear that I didn''t destroy the core but for some unknown reason, the snowman started melting the moment the nose was destroyed. Does that mean that was the main core? But that should be impossible. Instead of melting and turning into a pool of water, the snowman should have crumbled to pieces instead of forming a big puddle of water that seems to have the intent of drowning yers... ... ... WAIT... drowning yers? That''s when I realized it, the main reason for the blockage was not to block us and stop our escape to the top, it was there to be used to stop the water from escaping once the snow has melted. And seeing the water is already closing to our chest while the melting snowman is still half melted means only one thing... If we don''t know how to swim, we are too dead. For me, it wasn''t a problem since I know how to swim, and if As cannot swim, I can just recall him back. Looking at Guts, it seems he has no problem with being submerged in the water so I guess he is also fine. But then something else urred to me. If we are submerged under the water while we are in a frozen region, what is the most likely thing that would happen to you if you remain underwater for several hours? Knowing that I decided to stop staying still and waiting for the water to continue rising. I went into the door and pulled out my Versatile Weapon and transformed it into a cannon. I aimed, and I fired. BOOOM! The water shook and a huge explosion urred but that alone did not do anything to the wall. Not even a scratch to it. "F*ck, is the wall invulnerable or something?! The heck is this?" "Master, let me try!" As then charged up his greatsword''s aura. The same technique he did earlier to cut off one of the snowman''s hands. It took a few minutes to charge up and the water is already up to our shoulders now. As didn''t stop and continue to charge up the sword. At longst, the sword is now fully charged up, one thing needed is to use it to smash a target. "BREAK IT!" SWISH! BOOOM! A huge explosion stirred up the water and made quite a ruckus. But... The wall did not fall nor it even makes a single crack after the strike. As''s attack did not destroy anything and we are stuck in an enclosed space of cold, freezing water with a melting snowman that is causing all the water to continue rising. Chapter 458 Escape The time we remain submerged under the water starts to get really bad. The coldness of the water is already prating my armor and clothes. I don''t even think the coat I made is making any good while we are here and it''s already starting to creep into my nerves. If I don''t do anything, the freezing of my nerves will begin and will render me unable to move, causing me to drown due to how I cannot move anymore. As is looking fine as he was but I doubt he willst that long while he is wearing his armor which is quite heavy, it will take a bit more time before he sinks but once the water keeps on rising and will reach the point we will not be able to touch the ground, As will drown before he can even do anything. As for Guts... despite without proper clothes that mitigate the cold, he looks fine, and from the looks of it... he is not even affected. He is still beating up the snowman''s remains and trying to revive it though I doubt it will move again, especially with how it is now melting and making a freezing pool of water. "Master, what should we do? The wall does not react to my attacks at all and I am now doubting whether my attacks are too weak or just that the wall is an indestructible one. I''m sorry." "Don''t be sorry, even my cannon didn''t do a thing to that wall. The only thing we need to do is find a way out of these walls and avoid being trapped underwater. We have to at least find a weak point on the walls and exploit it to create a hole or an exit entirely. We have to avoid being submerged in the water for extended periods of time." As swam away into the other wall to find a way out while I remained on the other wall to examine closely and see whether there are any damages done or there are other things that I just didn''t notice. The walls that have yet to submerge themselves in the water don''t show any signs of any way that will help us escape so I decided to dive underwater to check the submerged part. I know it is cold but it became something secondary to you whenever you are in a fight or flight situation. I know it was just a game but I still take dying in the game quite seriously and not just treat it as something quite minor. I thought the wolf mask would get in the way while under the water but it was actually doing well underwater like how wolves and dogs are fine when they dive underwater. The only thing that is making it difficult to dive underwater is my coat and a few parts of my armor. Despite the difficulty, I persist and I didn''t bother to remove them. It takes time and I would rather keep them for safety purposes rather than remove them. Perhaps the water that ising from the melting snowman is the reason that it was a bit foggy in the eyes underwater but it doesn''t stingpared to the usual dive underwater under the sea. There is that little sting that keeps your eyes having trouble seeing whenever you dive and you have to resurface a couple of times to make sure your eyes can properly adapt underwater without the help of goggles or anything. It takes quite a lot of training and experience as well as the time spent on the sea to be immune to it. I might be spouting nonsense right now but seawater diving is simr to the real world. It''s not a game mechanic but just made to be some sort of realism that will keep the game environment realistic. Now back to the walls and to why I dived underwater. I needed to look for a way to escape here. The walls that blocked us should have been removed the moment the snowman was killed but since it somehow decided to do some sort of suicide attack like this, it made quite a hard mechanic now. As I swam underwater, I also paid attention to my oxygen levels underwater. Once it runs out, I am automatically dead without any kind of warning which is why drowning is quite a troublesome thing here in the game and cannot be underestimated. Swimming underwater is hard with all the armor on so I decided to just remain near the very surface to avoid losing too much oxygen and immediately recover them whenever I needed them. Time is not on our side so I have to keep my movements calcted and precise. If this happened in the past timeline, I might have already learned what to do to stop this, but unfortunately, everything is not something I know so there is only one thing to do and that is to adapt to the current situation. And as expected, the walls underwater are also as intact as they should be, it doesn''t even have a single scratch nor a single hole from the previous cannonball attack and greatsword strike that As did earlier. However, when I was checking the wall, I noticed something on it and that is because I saw a small design on it that if not approached, will remain to look like a t wall. It was pretty minor but when I took a closer look, it wasn''t even embedded on the wall it was the wall itself that has the design. I resurfaced to the water to gather up oxygen before I drown. The water is already high that you won''t be able to stand on the ground without your whole body submerged underwater. I headed to As and even though he is a big man, the water is not so forgiving enough to stop. "As, did you find something? I think I have to recall you to avoid drowning, your armor is going to be the death of you if you remain underwater." "I did find something odd on the wall, Master but I don''t know if it was something really important. It doesn''t;t look that significant to me but since you said that I needed to report all the things I have caught up and discovered, I have to exin it to you." As quickly summarized it to me and soon I realized that what he just found on the other and soon I realized that what he found was also the same findings I found on the other side. Our clues are identical to each other. With the reports done, I recalled As before he would sink underwater since even I am already floating and no matter how hard I try to touch the solid ground, I can''t do it anymore. The water just keep on rising and to make matters worse, the snowman has yet to fully melt which means it will still rise. Guts is still doing the same thing over and over to the snowman and as for me, my legs is already beginning to feel the numbness. There is no time for this. I have to remove the barrier as soon as possible. Then, a thought came to me. Perhaps... the main purpose of the walls and the design is for us to put something on it? That must be it. It has a circr thing that I can put something on it. Howe it nked out to me? With that, I rushed towards the snowman and looked around its body. I was preupied on its body before that I didn''t realized that there are two dangling bells on its neck which is attached to the scarf. Howe I didn''t notice them before? There is no time to hesitate and I grab the scarf and cut off the bells without second thought and swam towards the first wall. Because the water is already high, the ce that I needed to ce it has already been submerged underwater. Quickly gathering the oxygen I needed, I dived underwater again and swam towards the wall. I memorized the position of that ce and easily found it. Without pondering, I attached the first bell and as expected, it fit very well like it was meant to be attached there. But nothing is happening yet which means the only way for something to happen is for me to attach the second ball to the other wall. I resurfaced and realized that the water is already reaching to the ceiling, a few more liters of water and the whole ce will be submerged underwater. Guts already submerged underwater and the snowman is already a few pieces of snow left, if it melts, that only means this ce is already full and its already waiting for us to die. Frantically gathering the remaining oxygen, I dived once again and rushed towards the other wall. The temperature is dropping very fast and I can feel my legs and body starting to freeze. But I didn''t stop, and continued. I am not going to stop and I will have to win this and survive this ordeal. Chapter 459 The Snowmans Cores When thest bell is inserted into the small hole, it brightly glows which causes me to instinctively swam away from the walls. And thankfully, that decision was the right thing because a few momentster after inserting it, the two bells from both walls exploded and the walls that did not show any signs of being destroyed by my Versatile Weapon''s attacks and As''s charged attack has been reduced to pieces as it exploded along with the bells. The water shook and like a wave, I was carried away by it and it felt like it was a whirlpool sucking my body into the spiraling water. I don''t even know if Guts were also carried away but I know he is tough enough to survive on his own. Having the walls broken to pieces, the water that got contained in between the walls also escaped and rush out. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. CRASH!! The huge ssh of water crashed to the ground and along with it is me. BLAG! "KH!" My body got mmed too hard by the water to the ground. There was no warning so I could only brace myself and managed to lessen the damage done by the impact. Still, it was painful enough for my HP to have a reduced value after that. I slowly opened my eyes since the only thing that I am currently feeling in my body right now is the cold snow and the ticklish grass that is caressing my skin. The wetness of my clothes and armor is still there but I don''t feel the water submerging my body now. There, I saw myself lying on the snow, and around me are the wall pieces that were reduced to pieces by the explosion. Beside me is a shiny thing that looks like it came from a cyberpunk era. Picking it up made a bit of a small glow before a panel popped up before me. .... [Snowman''s Left Heart Core] Type: Key Item Info: One of the cores that were previously concealed by the Snowman of Abomination to hide it from the enemies that seek to break it. Disguising it like a bell, it became a good decoration on its body. Can be used to power up a certain door by plugging in this item and the [Snowman''s Right Heart Core]. Note: This heart is clearly not made out of wood, right? .... Power up a certain door? That is oddly specific for just a core. But I didn''t know that those two bells would be the main cores. It was oddly hidden so I didn''t notice it immediately. I stood up properly and shook my body for a bit to at least get some droplets off my wet clothes Before changing armors and clothes in my body using the extra armor and clothes I have as a spare. It wasn''t as good as the first armor in terms of stopping the cold from seeping through your body but it is better than letting your whole body soaked wet in water. I looked around and saw Guts wringing his clothes out of water. "Ugh...I am so wet now, and I didn''t even get to finish up that monster down. What a coward, using the melting mechanic to get away immediately." Even in the distance, I can hear guts mumbling andining about his failed attempt at defeating the snowman fully. I didn''t bother to tell him anything about the snowman''s mechanic of melting when dying. As much as I might try to exin that to him, he might not understand. First, I have to look around the surroundings. If the bell that I have inserted on the walls revealed its real form after exploding, that only means the core is just around here somewhere and was among the debris of the wall''s remains. "Oh, gotcha!" The same luster of the first core allowed me to find the second core faster. ... [Snowman''s Right Heart Core] Type: Key Item Info: One of the cores that were previously concealed by the Snowman of Abomination to hide it from the enemies that seek to break it. Disguising it like a bell, it became a good decoration on its body. Can be used to power up a certain door by plugging in this item and the [Snowman''s Left Heart Core]. Note: This heart is clearly not made out of wood, right? ... Yup, this is the one. Even the note is the same as the other one which means I got the right thing. I quickly put it inside my inventory for safekeeping. Whatever the door it was, it can wait, and if ever we found that specific door, then these cores will serve its main purpose. It''s too bad that I didn''t properly kill the snowman at all. It was a big snowman so it would have yielded quite a lot of experience once killed but perhaps it was a system design that made the mechanic of the snowman melt and would not be possible to kill it in any kind of way. Guts is still wringing out his clothes as he approached me. He is still in a foul mood but perhaps he is slowly recovering from that foul mood of his. "Let''s go deheart, lets''s look for that exit you are looking for and also some monsters worthy to kill. That snowman just now did not even manage to help scratch the itch. We need to find the one that can satisfy that." I can only sigh as I followed along with him. Even if he was just an NPC, this kind of obsession with strong monsters to kill is just quite abnormal. Not only that but it seemed like he is really into the monster ughter or maybe he is just looking for a strong enemy to satisfy his intention of finding a monster that he can kill. This made me quite dislike Guts as apanion in a journey. He doesn''t care much about hispanions and disregards everything as long as the enemy is in front of him. It would have been fine if he was just a natural battle junkie and he doesn''t have this kind of obsession most of the time. "As, would you be fine to go out again to help?" "I''m sorry Master, I have to dry up my armor after being submerged underwater. Perhaps a bitter but for now, I guess I will have to decline and will stay back here for now." "I see. Then, would anyone like to change roles with As?" To my surprise, no one wanted to go out. "What''s wrong guys? Is there some kind of problem?" "No, Master, there is no problem. It''s just, that we are ufortable with that guy beside you being around. As and Lina would be fine but for us, we don''t really feel any good vibesing from him since the very beginning. I would rather stay here rather than him challenging me to a deathmatch all of a sudden," Tina exined. "Yes, Master. Please understand. As much as we want to help you, with that guy around, we would rather stay on standby at the moment," Gobu added. Not gonna lie, I found myself agreeing with their reasons. This guy would like to fight most of the time and with everyone else in mypanions, it isn''t an exaggeration that he might actually do that, especially to Gobu and Tina. There is also a slight chance on Lucia but since even As is not challenged to a battle by Guts, perhaps she has lower chances. But that would be too much. I would like to leave this matter simple and listen to them. "Oh? Where is that guy with the armor that was with you earlier? I thought you were with him? I saw him with you fighting alongside me against the snowman. Did he die?" "No. He just decided to rest for a bit." "Well, that''s too bad. I would love to challenge him to a battle once but I guess that can wait. I would love to fight back against his greatsword, that would have been a great thrill to me." Damn, oh well. It looks like Guts still ns to talk to him and issue a challenge against him once he gets a chance. Yep, it''s a bad idea to let my followers out in the meantime. With Guts here, it was a clear wreck to see and I would rather avoid that especially since Guts has the tendency to be a brutal executioner against his enemies. With the snowman incident done, the next step is towards the road up. I can see that we are almost at the very top and to my very nearest destination. Not only that but I think I have closed more portals than necessary. Once this is done, I would be logging out and checking out the situation of the world and see whether the portals that are causing the "ice age" back on Earth have been forcefully closed. That... if my theory is proven to be correct that the portals in the game is indeed connected to real life. Chapter 460 The Final Portal And The Exit To The Frozen Hell I thought the path would be shorter since the exit is in sight but I was wrong since it was actually an optical illusion to my eyes. I didn''t know it until I soon realized that due to the angle I was in, the exit appeared to be close when in reality, it would be a bit farther than it should have been and that is the real thing as of now, we are still climbing and the proimed exit that looked like it was near still looked near but we are walking for hours already. "Wow, I never thought it would be this far, deheart. I thought we are almost there." I didn''t respond to him. To be honest, I feel annoyed already and if possible, I wouldn''t bother to care what he wanted to tell me. I am focusing all of my attention on the exit just to make myself feel a little bit better and not tosh out in annoyance. I might sound like a jerk right now but if you are with someone like Guts for a whole day and endured all his behavior and babbling, you would also feel the same way. ... ... ... Approximately 3 hours after we climbed up the road that leads to the top. we finally arrived at the end and arrived at the exit. Covering the exit is a portal as big as the portal that led us to the with lots of rusty spears and swords butpared to thest portal, this one is not the same as it poses a much greater threat. Dark energy is culminating all around the ce where the portal is currently existing and that alone is a bad sign as I have seen the same thing during the first portal where multiple strong monsters appeared I doubt that it was the same portal but I know that this isn''t the same portal as that other one where we entered it to close it, this one will spawn something we have to defeat. "AHA! Another portal!" Guts did not even wait for me to assess the portal and approached it nonchntly with a look of anticipation and excitement in his eyes. I didn''t bother to stop him. Not anymore. There is no point in doing so if he would be this battle hungry until the very end, then he will remain as one. Just as I anticipated it, the portal reacted to Guts approaching it, causing it to causerge fluctuations of mana bending all around it. It is going to materialize something quite big. "Master, what is going on over there?! I can feel the disturbance of mana even in the summon''s area that everyone here is on edge." "Huh? I thought you guys can see the situation outside the summon''s area just fine?" "Yes we do, but right now, everything is all ck and although we can sense something is happening on the other side, it was too dark for us and we are rendered blind in here. It''s too strong even for us who are just staying here. I suggest you have to either stay away from it or if contact is inevitable, you have to make less contact with it as much as possible," Lucia firmly suggested. "Unfortunately, Lucia, I don''t think that would be the main case here, there is no way we would just leave this thing be." Despite the pleas of Lucia and her warnings about the portal, I have no choice but to disregard it. The portal has already decided to summon out a very big giant warrior before us with a big sword as big as a medium-sized building. I tried to look at the status of the giant like I usually do against monsters but the only thing that appeared are errors causing me to frown. Is the system bugging out or something? "WHO DARES TO INTRUDE IN MY LANDS?!" I immediately pulled up the Versatile Weapon and transformed it into a shield and hid behind it to shield myself from the pressure that the giant give us. That pressure alone caused the rocks around the surroundings and the chunks of crystallized ice to crack and show visible damage to them. I did not dare to peek as even my grip on the Versatile Weapon is having a hard time handling the power of the pressure this guy is giving. It didn''tst long but my hands felt numb after that and that is not even considered an attack at all. Once the pressure disappeared, I returned the shield form of the Versatile Weapon back into a magic sword again and prepared myself to handle a new attack but then, I heard Guts''s voice. "Hey! Are you strong?!" The giant looked at the source of the voice and saw Guts grinning while staring at him beneath the giant''s foot and sword. "HOW DARE A PUNY HUMAN DECIDED TO ENTER MY ABODE AND DISTURB MY PEACE?! PREPARE TO DIE!" Without giving any chances of negotiations, the giant brandished the sword and ms it down on Guts who immediately dodged away with quick movements. "Woah there, slow down cowboy, what is the rush? I am just asking the question, so you should answer the question properly when asked! Have your parents not taught you that basic manners?" But the giant didn''t respond and attacked again. This time towards our direction. CLANG! "OH?" The sword strike of the giant came down to us but I quickly put use to my quick reflexes and stepped forward, assumed a quick defensivebat stance, and raised the Magic sword to block the iing giant sword. Normally, anyone trying to block that will be dead before they can block itpletely especially if you are using a small sword like a Magic Sword. But to me who have fought using a magic sword most of the time in the game, there is no way I wouldn''t know how to block attacks like this. After all, I mastered all of my skills here. "Don''t even think about it! Just because we are humans doesn''t mean you should underestimate us in this battle!" "HA! QUITE ARROGANT LITTLE COCKROACH YOU ARE, BUT I LIKE IT! THEN, DIE IN MY SWORD AND OFFER YOUR BLOOD AND BONES TO ME!" "You wish, f*cker!" I tilted my sword upwards and deflected the sword''s power that is gushing out, ready to overpower me earlier. "Good work deheart! Now it is time for me to strike!" Guts then pat my back and immediately headed towards the giant immediately and started heading into the giant guy. "Since you attacked us, then maybe you should try this out for a testing will ya?" The hands of Guts starts to glow brightly and he straightened all his fingers like he was about to do some karate chop. But it doesn''t look like he was going to do a karate chop at all. The giant seems indifferent and swings the sword again, not taking us seriously, which may be due to how he views humans as weaklings who are incapable of fighting against him that are capable of defeating him. Like before, the Giant swings his big sword and before the sword cannd to the ground, I saw Guts imitate my stance, and reenact my way of blocking the sword but this time around, he didn''t use any weapons or tools to assist with his attack, and instead, he used the same glowing hands to block it. CLANG! One of them was pushed back and it wasn''t Guts. The boss was frowning when he noticed that the little guy just deflected it in one go and he is unarmed too which made the situation a lot more confusing for the Giant to properly understand. As for me? I have seen enough for me to understand that this action is one of the normal things that made him overpowered. After deflecting the sword, Guts continued and rush forward to the guy before he released a barrage of shes toward the chest area of the giant, DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG! DANG! "HEH, ALL OF YOUR ATTACKS ARE USELESS! MY ARMOR IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST ARMOR THAT EXISTS! YOU WON''T BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING AGAINST IT NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY!" Despite the annoyingughter of the giant, Guts continued doing so. And since the attention of the giant is reverted and now focused on Guts, I changed the form of my Versatile Weapon and changed it to dual pistols and started rapid firing at the giant. I don''t know if it was doing something but this alone will allow me to have a big chance to proc the [Instant Death] with multiple bullets. "ANOTHER ANNOYING PEST DECIDED TO JOIN IN, BOTH OF YOU NEEDED TO DIE!" "Hey, where are you looking at, I am your enemy!" And with one single punch, he forced the giant to fall down to the ground. Chapter 461 A Showdown The battle continued with all of us shing at each other but the main sh always urred between Guts and the giant. Currently, I am shooting at the giant with the Gun Form of my Versatile Weapon. With the help of Guts doing all the same provoking tactics to fight back against the giant and trigger his attacks most of the time, staying in the backline shooting is fine to me. Besides, that will also help me gain SP and regain the lost skills that have been lost after the Versatile ss update. Guts clearly are not doing any damage but he just keeps on pummeling the giant from time to time, he could make the big guy stagger and lose footing. And just doing that made the guy infuriated that the giant would swing his giant sword whenever it got a chance while spouting profanities that I can''t understand. But the battle is taking too long that even while shooting, I started to get a little bit bored. If I estimated it correctly, I have been shooting my Versatile Weapon for around 2 hours already. If the Versatile Weapon consumes bullets, bullet casings would be already filling up the ce where I am standing. Still, there is something that I am not that used to. As a yer who mainly uses the sword, the adrenaline rush in fighting on the frontline, and confronting the enemies is something that would really help me pump my blood up and keep me going. Being in the backline has benefits too but to be honest, I don''t feel that good being ced in the backline and fighting there. Maybe it was just my preference due to how long I have wielded swords but I am not against guns, just that it is a bit more strange for me. Before stopping, I decided to check the SP count of the gunslinger ss and found that I managed to umte around 210 SP. It might be a lot of SP, but with the expensive skills, I doubt it will be this big enough of a deal though but at least I have quite a few more SP I can spendter. Now that I have umted a few, it''s time to fight beside Guts. He shouldn''t be the one hogging all the action. "GIVE UP ALREADY! YOU TWO WILL HAVE NO MEANS OF KILLING ME! I AM IMMORTAL AND I WILL REMAIN THE VICTOR NO MATTER THE OUTCOME! JUST DIE PAINLESSLY TO MY BLADE AND ACCEPT FATE!" "Ha! All bark no bite! Come on! You should be ashamed of yourself for fighting against us who are smaller than your de and yet you still have no chance to even give us any kind of fighting style that would give us a pumping blood action! Is this all you have got for us?!" "COCKY LITTLE PIECE OF SH*T! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BREATHE AGAIN!" The giant swings the giant sword but before it can reach Guts, I immediately parried the giant''s attack. CLANG! "Hey, Guts, you shouldn''t just hog all of the enemies and have the fight all by yourself!" I grinned under the mask. "No worries, deheart, this guy is big enough for the both of us that I doubt I will keep this guy from you. You are free to break that other side of his and have fun!" "Well, thanks mate." CLANG! CLANG! The giant gritted therge yellow teeth on its mouth and angrily fought back at us as it frantically unleashes several skills it has that all involved the sword. CLANG! CLANG! PENG! Our swords continue to sh with each other but it was also clear that the two hours of battle are taking a big toll on the big guy. During the big battle earlier, the attacks are faster and hit quite hard but now, I have easier parrying against the sword attack and it was like the attacks are almost barely there. "COME ON! JUST DIE ALREADY!" I can assume that the guy is semi-sentient. The giant responds to the taunts but it never had much dialog except for asking us to die already or speaking profanities from time to time. The attack pattern is also easy to predict toopared to the other bosses I have fought before. Sure I might not be the strongest yer around but I am not that bad either and even without trial and error, I still managed to keep myself alive till now. As we continue to exchange blow by blow, I soon noticed one gap on his sword. It looked like a crack but it was too small for me to properly see on the ground. There shouldn''t be any point in going there unless there is something good to find there but if my assumption is true, then that gap could change the tide of the battle easily. "Guts, can you stall this guy for a moment? I have something to check out on this one." "Sure enough, let me handle it!" "Thanks," and after confirming, I made a few jumps using the armor parts of the giant as a foothold. With the help of Guts getting the attention of the giant, I managed to see the gap that I saw on the ground and I grinned when my assumption earlier was actually correct. It was a small gap made from a crack and the gap has made a bit of a small crack there that is good enough for me to exploit. Since this giant relies on the sword most of the time, losing the sword means the end of the battle. "Gotcha!" Using a bit of force to my legs, I jump forward and grab the gap tightly with my hands, and in one quick stab, I struck the gap with my Versatile Weapon. The giant noticed that I was already dangling on his sword and his face which only looked a bit scary made a very scary face with a big frown and with the addition of the yellow teeth, the face is really disgusting to see. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW? GET OFF OF MY SWORD AND DIE!" "Fat chance big guy! [Earth Fissure]!" The Versatile Weapon glows bright and the cracks that were only visible if looked in a close-up view are now appearing much bigger than ever before. Not only that but the cracks are also producing nasty cracking sounds that it is a bit worrisome to the giant that it panicked and swings the sword around trying to get rid of me. I am quite a guy with a strong grip and alongside the Versatile Weapon tightly embedded in the gap, the swings barely did anything to me. But that is not the same when ites to his weapon. The cracking is getting bigger and bigger that even with a slight swing, the crack also gets more visible too. It didn''t take that long for the whole giant sword to fill big cracks. "GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The giant mmed the sword down to the ground though before the tip touches the ground, I decided that it is time for me to stop clinging to that cracked sword. BANG! The sword''s tip tightly fell to the floor and made it crack, but so did the entire sword. With the cracks on the surface already too spread out, one big push will only deal with it. BOOOM! Quite a big explosion came from a sword, the debris of the sword started to rain all over the ce and the giant staggered when his weapon burst into pieces. It was inevitable but it was his own fault for making the sword explode to pieces, I might be the one who created the cracks but I am not the one who dealt the final blow to his weapon. It was clear this guy was alone and no one else but the giant alone. "MY SWORD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SWORD?!" Just the broken pieces of the sword made the giant cry. It might be unusual but I think that was understandable enough. Since I have never seen this guy attack without a sword, like fighting with the fists or foot to stomp on us, all the giant did is swing the sword and use the abilities using the sword. Without the sword, the giant is iplete. "Well, that was a bit anticlimactic. It looks like our battle against this guy wasn''t that enjoyable right?" Guts turned to look at me with a grin. "So are you satisfied by that?" "Although I wasn''t that satisfied, we have been fighting for quite a while and I would have loved if the giant fought for real. But since he was a big boring guy, then it would be better to send this guy back to where he belongs." Before I can respond to his suggestion, Guts approached the crying giant and pinned 360 before releasing a roundhouse kick in quick session. The giant did not anticipate this and before it can react, it was sent flying back to the portal. "Good! deheart, it''s time to close the portal!" Chapter 462 Exiting The Hellish Underground The unexpected oue is just something else to think the boss without HP would just be yeeted to the oblivion of the portal wherever it will be opened up. That alone is big and for Guts to suddenly do that, was something else too. "I didn''t expect you to kick the giant back to his own realm." "Eh, it has to be done. How can we pass through if he just remained in a corner and keep on crying without leaving? And seeing that he is not even injured from our attacks just made me quite sure that he is invulnerable. You just hit his weakness and he was "defeated" which I would say to be quite lucky of you. Now close it before the guye crashing here once again. "Alright." Chaotic energy still cycles around the portal. It was quite a big swirl of dark energies that anyone entering it would be drowned by the dark powers around it. As for the giant, I don''t know what be of him but it''s not necessary for me to know. I don''t care what happened to him, now time to close thest portal. Extending my hands, I started to transfer the chaotic energy to a bottle just like how Lina and Lucia taught me to do how to contain. Compared to the time I was just starting out, it seems much easier for me to absorb the chaotic energy right now. Perhaps I am learning the way of properly doing it since thest time. A few minutes after transferring all of the chaotic mana one by one into a container, the portal that is currently blocking our way slowly disappeared and has been able to clear the path to the exit. "Well, it seems this is where we part ways, deheart. As much as we have a chaotic first meet-up, it was a good thing to tag along. Despite the satisfaction of fighting the enemies here are not enough, I enjoyed it a lot." "You are not going toe with me up to the surface?" "Haha, no. I don''t think the noisy civilization is good enough for me and besides, fighting against the monsters around is much better than staying in a city or a kingdom." "So you doe from a civilization before!" "Well, of course, I am. Did you think I just pop out in here and randomly grow old here?" Uh, yeah, I did think of that. You were like the Tarzan of the Freezing Region instead of being in the forest, you grew up here in the world where only hostiles and ice are existing. "Anyways, I will be going back and maybe look for any other fun things to look underneath here. You would have enjoyed this ce if you have fully explored it 100%. There are lots of monsters that are much tougher than the monsters that we faced up until we climbed up to the exit." "Nah, I will pass. As much as I want to explore this ce, I would rather reunite with everyone rather than dy and find myself looking for enemies to kill. Perhaps in the future but now, no." Guts didn''t linger there for long and finally, we part ways. It wasn''t that long but I am quite sure I won''t be missing him. We might consider ourselves friends, but not to the point of being called very close friends that I will treat him as a brother. I still didn''t forget about him trying to rip off my body into two. That is how troublesome and a bit dangerous Guts is and if he just suddenly got his fuse burned off, who knows what will happen. As for me, it''s the moment of truth. The light outside is just so different than the light under this ce and it sure is awesome to bask under this light once more which felt like a decade or so already. Then, a message appeared before me the moment I stepped out of the exit. [Disabled Functions are now restored. You can now use them again. We apologize for this gimmick but it was meant to do to make the adventure worthwhile.] Adventure my *ss, this entire f*cking underground experience is one of the worst things that urred to me. It would have been exciting if I was the one who volunteered to go but no and even though I managed to get some cool stuff, I still love to be on the surface and do my own quests and point of interests investigations rather than being forced to investigate on a ce you can''t escape until you find the exit yourself. Stretching my body, I opened the menu to the chat call, and to my relief, themunications are back and it is no longerbeled as a crossed-out phone. And I think the Teleport scrolls are back to being functional again which is also good news. But right now, I have no ns to use that. With the Versatile Weapon being strong now, why not try them out on some monsters on the surface? I didn''t have enough luxury to test out the new power levels of the Versatile weapon since thest enemy is akin to an immortal and cannot die which is why it is gonna be great to test it on someone that can really die and has no gimmicks. Goodbye to the hellish underground despite not being quite a hellish ce but it sure is one of the most problematic ces I have ever explored and I haven''t even covered and seen half of the ce which Guts bragged to be much more dangerouspared to our journey to find the exit of the ce. Ha, who cares about that, time to look for a prey I can kill! ... ... ... Deep in the snowy mountains, the silent mountains are no longer bearing the silent treatment with the chaos happening between a group of humans fighting a giant beast that is trying to kill them all. Although everyone seems to be handling the situation quite well by controlling the aggro of all the attacksing from the monster, it was clear that they are already having a big struggle on how to finish the whole incident before they get wiped out instead. That group is none other than the ragtag group of yers that Sigma currently leads. She remained steadfast and observed the situation with a calm look on her face while controlling the gold chains to limit the movement of the enemy. Despite this, there is still a limit to what they can do. Sigma clearly knows that they would be easily defeated if they tried to rush on forward, however, due to the nature of their quest in trying to get all the items, they have to kill the specific monster. Now, the target monster is something an extremely hard monster to kill. Despite that, Sigma ordered to kill the monster as she has thought of a good n that might take a bit long but will guarantee the kill. And currently, an hour already passed by and the battle has barely even progressed much. The HP of the boss has already been reduced quite slightly but it was nowhere near the middle. It was like just barely reducing the HP bar at all. Even with this, everyone believed in Sigma and continue to fight without stopping despite their weary bodies of theirs just to finish off the boss. "Iron!" Hagane is gritting his teeth as he catches the attack of the giant ice crocodile that they are fighting against. "Got your back here!" Iron charges and helped Hagane receive the attack head-on. The two shielders are gritting their teeth as they saw their HP slowly drain in front of them and yet they didn''t run away and instead pushed themselves forward. But before their HP fell to thest point, a green aura enveloped their body in a warm glow, which in turn, helped their HP return. They both looked behind them and saw Chase still chanting as the spell is operating its functions. "Preparations are ready! Preparing to fire!" Dolly shouted as she raises her staff with a giant red magic circle swirling so fast that sparks of electricity is being produced every spin. Something simr is also happening to Topaz, who also raised her staff and aimed it at the charging monster that Hagane and Iron are stopping. Then, a pair of golden chains fell to the ice crocodile and pierced its thick skin. The ice crocodile howled in pain as the two pdins managed to hold off the crocodile. That''s when Harmless Sparrowes charging in with her zing sword as she leaps into the air and mmed down her sword on the ice crocodile. The attacks were not done yet when deheart''s mother pulled out multiple potion bottles and doused them on the two buffed men. The two men m their fists together before charging together to roll a punch as they hurl the ice crocodile in the air, the magic that has been charging is now released and fired at the hurled crocodile. Of course, this spectacle is something quite amazing to look at, and someone grinned when he saw the situation happening before him. "Time to hunt, I guess." Chapter 463 Group Reunion Those guys are clearly Dolly and the others and based on their movements, the one who is leading them is none other than Sigma. I was relieved that it was Sigma who decided to take the lead role as she is one of the strongest leaders back in the past timeline and has been capable of winning countless battles and raids due to her ability to easily read the situation and readjust the tactics if something went wrong. If Sigma didn''t lead the group, then I am sure that Harmless Sparrow will decide to take over. I am not saying she is a bad leader but she is not as efficient inmands as Sigma andpared to how prompt Sigma is in changing tactics when something doesn''t feel right or the normal flow of the n fails, Harmless Sparrow takes quite a bit of time before she will reconsider to change her tactics. Comparing the two, Sigma is just the best in leadership and I would also agree that I am quite inferior in terms of leadership. I would be really happy and would be really confident in missionpletion with her as the main leader. I am only advantageous due to how I managed to return from the past. So if confronted by the unknown, the only one who will be very good at finding the enemies'' weak points would be Sigma. However, right now, although they are currently holding with the others quite well, they are struggling in the battle. It was clear that due to level differences, it will take time for them to finish the battle. Seeing the struggle, I decided to enter the fray. Pulling out the Versatile Weapon, I grinned as I saw the new red color patch of the Versatile Weapon. "Let''s see how you are faring now and how good your new upgrades do." ... ... ... Sigma might be observing the situation but she noticed someone observing them for a while. She keeps dividing her attention between the person observing them and the monster that they are attacking. Although the person observing them is not doing anything except observe them, she has no idea what is the main purpose of this person. She also can''t identify who this guy was due to the distance between them but she felt no hostility from this so she is divided about whether to keep her guard up and respond if things get spicy or let the guy do what he wants to do. But her vignce started to increase when the person started to move and from the looks of it, the guy is approaching them. She readies herself to intercept the person but soon, she realized who it was the moment she saw the face and the equipment the person is wearing. She didn''t respond but she dropped her guard around the new guy as she has already confirmed who it was. She smiled a bit before she resumed her observation of the boss as the guy she observed earlier dashes and reaches the ce, with a sword in hand. ... ... ... While I was approaching, I immediately noticed the stance of Sigma. Before I was very near, she is observing me and when I made my move, she quickly increased her vignce and is in abat stance. But she immediately stance so quickly that I frowned why she immediately did that. Did she already notice that it was me who was approaching them? Perhaps, she is quite quick to catch up so it''s not a far-fetched idea. But enough of that, now that I am in the area, time to move my muscles and do some realbat without Guts doing all the work of the fight. "Let''s go, partner!" The giant crocodile opened its mouth as it started to charge toward Hagane and Iron. The two pdins grip their shields tighter although it seemed this attack will be something that would make them suffer serious injuries. "ORYAAAAAA!" BANG! Inded hard on the head of the crocodile and used the Versatile Weapon that is on the Hammer Form in full charge form. Due to my sudden arrival, the charging crocodile did not expect my sudden attack due to the suddennding, the charge stopped and I managed to topple it off from the others. "Huh?" the two who are still bracing for the impact were stunned when they saw someone toppling off the charging crocodile. They still didn''t recognize me since I am using a different coat that currently wears a hoodiepared to the first coat I used where it was just a fire coat without any hoodie to cover my head and since I was facing my back to them and the Versatile Weapon isn''t looking the same as before, they didn''t recognize me immediately. The struggling crocodile started to move again so instead of reuniting with everyone, I didn''t do it just yet and focused my attention on the Crocodile. [Ice Age Behemoth Jaw][Area Boss] Level 260 HP: 17,324,105/ 20,000,000 Trait: Beast, Ice Ice type beast and looking at the HP, I think that was a decent amount of damage I dealt unless everyone did quite a hefty amount of damage which I am quite sure they didn''t manage to bring about the full power they can muster out since the level itself and their stats are just miles away. p Dolly and the other magicians fired off their spells and the toppled crocodile that have its belly exposed is being bombarded with fire magic spells and the others also continue to attack. It seems they didn''t mind me helping despite not knowing who I was as long as the death of the boss should be done. While everyone is busy, Sigma approached and smiled. "It looks like the errand that made you disappear for a few days is over huh?" I chuckled. "Errand? I doubt I would even call that an errand, more like I have no choice but to do it since I am stuck there without anything to do in any way. So, what are you guys doing here? Where are the others and the royalties who came with us?" "They are all back to the camp including Almira-san. As for why we are here so far from the area, we are currently under the task of Almira to fetch some items for her needed items and we still have no idea how long before we are done with this." "Master huh? Well, if that was the case, this is going to be really long then. Her fetch quests are just annoying and long to finish before." "Oh right, you are Almira''s apprentice but I think you are right. Currently, we have already finished the 19th chain of the quest and this one is the 20th item that we will have to retrieve from the monsters around. And we still have no idea when it will end. And although she said before that there are specific numbers, she didn''t "specifically" give out the exact numbers. "Then, how about I help out? After all the things that happened to me back where I was before, I would help with the subjugation until everything is done. How about it?" "But the quest cannot be shared since it was an exclusive quest for all of us and since we already started and we are already very far, I doubt I would be able to even share the quest with you and you receive the prior rewards of the previous quests." "No thanks. I know Almira really well and those quests are exclusive to the people she gave the quest into. I would rather help with the battle but any of you guys should finish the enemies in the final blow." Sigma frowned. "Are you sure? This is quite a difficult quest and fighting without gaining any rewards from it sounds like you would be working for nothing and just for charity or something." "Haha, what are you talking about? That isn''t much of a problem, in fact, just fighting with a boss alone is already a big blessing to me so you don''t have to feel worried about it." Yes, I don''t need any items anymore or rewardsing from limited quests, but I would really appreciate gaining SP on my sses skills which would allow me to increase my repertoire of skills that has disappeared and has been regained. Sigma sighed before she decided that it should be done instead. "Okay, then make sure that we can win this." "Good!" Changing the Versatile Weapon''s form, I immediately felt the slight vibration in my hands while I am holding the Versatile Weapon. "Alright! Let''s continue pummeling this little f*cker up!" Casting [ming Sword] before and activated some of the small buffs. But this should be enough to deal quite a decent amount of damage. And with that alone, it is now time to begin the battle and join the fray with the others for the first time. Chapter 464 The Black Shadow Dragon Of Gluttony With the addition of myself into the battle, the tide of the current area boss became a bit easier to manage and Sigma have an easier timemanding. Also, even though I am the yer that has the lowest levelpared to everyone here, I have the highest damage input to the enemy which is the result of having high stats that were distributed from the stats of the Versatile Weapon, and that alone made a big difference in the battle. BANG! One swing upwards sent the crocodile up into the air. That prompts my father and Mr. Teddy to do a follow-up with their punches that allowed them to perform multiplebos on enemies hurled up in the air. And when the crocodile came crashing down, Harmless Sparrow would then wait for the iing crocodile to use the [zing de], one of the TIer 6 skills of the Magic Knight ss. Then, the rest is just bombarded with skills by the magicians and pounding it hard with different weapons plus giving it multiple debuffs, it didn''tst long for the crocodile to remain standing. And this was done by rinse and repeat. And even if you are the toughest nut to crack, with all the attacks being thrown to the rigid body, it won''t take that long enough. The crocodile didn''tst long with our efforts to kill it. As promised, I didn''t do the final kill as that might end up forfeiting the reward or even obtaining the item out from its body. Sigma did the final hit and killed the crocodile before it can recover from all the beating. With the crocodile dead, drops appear and Sigma immediately rips the belly of the crocodile to pull out a small core that is dyed with blood, but under that blood is the pale-color blue. I don''t know what that is but I couldn''t care less as that is one of the things that Almira wanted them to fetch up. "Alright, we will rest here for a bit before we move on," Sigma dered. Once she said it, everyone immediately slumps down to the ground with a tired look on their faces. I am not even surprised why they decided to just slump down after that, with the hours spent killing the boss, anyone who didn''t rest for extended periods of time would soon run out of energy, no matter how full of energy anyone is. Seeing them tired, I pulled up some of the energy drinks I concocted before we left and handed them to everyone. Even if it was a game, energy drinks charge up a person from being quite tired back to their tip-top shape. Still, that doesn''t mean they don''t need to rest. Nothing can beat a good rest after all. ... ... Soon after resting for a bit, Sigma stood in front of the crocodile''s corpse and tilted her head. She is standing there for a few minutes already and I think she is thinking of something about it. "What''s up?" Sigma looked at me before she returned her focus to the Crocodile. "I am wondering what to do with the crocodile''s remains. Some parts of it seem to be quite usable and if we sell it, or use it as an ingredient for making something, it might benefit us a lot." Since Sigma mentioned it, I decided to inspect the carcass and check if there are any used parts that we can dismantle and receive. Although it was a crocodile, that doesn''t mean the usual parts of a normal crocodile applies to this. Some monsters don''t have any good salvageable parts and most are just not good parts of ingredients and it is a waste of time to take them. "Hmm, there are definitely some good parts that we can use especially the skin but there is not that much we can use to salvage, and based on the blood, the flesh of this crocodile isn''t meat we can eat and use for food. Therefore, this carcass has limited uses." "Is that so? Then what should we do then? Monsters wille here if we leave it here for too long." "Dismantling the necessary parts is the first way. I handled many monsters that have useful skin to use so I will be harvesting a few bits of them before we get rid of the remains." "Alright, what should I do to help?" "You want to help? This will be bloody work, are you fine with that?" "No problem. I am not afraid of blood or anything disgusting, it doesn''t irk me as most people do. So what should I do?" "Oh alright then, here take this, we will use a special knife to cut open the skin gently. Use that to cut the skin on the other side while I cut the other side using my sword." "Why are you using your sword instead of using the same tool as mine?" Sigma frowned. ''"Ah, well, you are using my only tool so perhaps that is the main reason. Though you don''t have to worry since my weapon can work simrly to the special knife in your hands just the same." Then, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and was about to change it to a dagger form when the ck Shadow Dragon on the de appeared and it made me shocked. I didn''t even make it appear but all of a sudden, it appears and is greedily licking its lips. Sigma was also surprised that she immediately pulled out her weapon to get ready to fight but I immediately gestured for her to stop. But then, the ck Shadow Dragon opened its giant mouth and put its mouth on the carcass. "Sh*t... Sh*t! Wait, wait! STOP!" Before I can even stop the ck Shadow Dragon, its big mouth swallowed the whole crocodile in one gobble. The ck Shadow Dragon even burped before it returned to the Versatile Weapon, leaving the ce where the carcass lies with only the bloody marks left behind from the wounds that the crocodile suffered after the battle. Not even a single scale or tooth from the crocodile was left behind. All of them went into the void stomach of the ck Shadow Dragon. The only ones who saw what happened is Sigma and I, no one else from the group since the camp where the others decided to rest is far from the location of the crocodile''s carcass which made everyone oblivious to what happened. "What was that?" Sigma creased her brows with a questioning look on her face, alternating her gazes to me and to the Versatile Weapon. "Uh... let me exin..." I decided to tell Sigma about the Versatile Weapon in the end. Even if I lie, Sigma is quite sharp in detecting lies so even if I do, it would just end up as a big disaster instead so instead of keeping everything a secret and lying to her about what happened, I would rather say it to her. Besides, there is no point in keeping it a secret from her in any way. "Can I look and check on the stats of the Versatile Weapon?" "Sure." I handed the Versatile Weapon to her and she checked the stats of it as she reads the stats panel of the weapon, her brows creased before she lets out an "oooh" sound. "Is this the reason why you are very strongpared to many Versatile yers I meet before?" "Partly, yes. And I won''t deny that due to the pure stats the Versatile Weapon pumps into my character, I can easily surpass any yer in higher levels in stats alone which is why I would rather have to keep it a secret to most people." "I see. I agree with you on your decision to keep it a secret. Just that, this weapon is just too overpowered to the extreme." "Yes, I am aware. However, you can say that this is a bit ofpensation for me to be able topete and fight monsters with higher levels from me so that farming experience would be a much easier work especially since the Versatile ss is known for its brutal experience bar. "Now, I get it, the reason why your weapon has extreme stats is due to the fact that you are stuck in the underground before you met up with us allowed you to get various things that would help this weapon grow and be powerful. No wonder you suddenly grow too strong. It was due to this weapon." "Well, I am sorry to disappoint you. I know that you are looking forward to fighting me again in the future but since you knew my secret, perhaps you are already changing your mind?" "Ha, no. In fact, I am even more pumped up. The fact that you are at a big disadvantage due to your Versatile ss demerit is already a big reason to say that you are a worthy opponent. I already noticed that in the arena, stats aren''t a big matter since even a low-level yer with a weapon that can deal 1 damage every hit can also defeat a high leveled yer if they know how to properly move their body. Stats are mostly applied only in the monsters and dungeons and I don''t think it is a bad idea either. And since during our first battle, you applied your skill in fighting, that alone is enough for me to consider you a worthy opponent." Sigma smiled and returned the Versatile Weapon back to my hands. "Welp, there is no more choice to stay here, without any carcass to dismantle, we should get back to everyone else. Just make sure your weapon doesn''t do that again. I might be able to hide the facts on it, but if it happens again but it wasn''t me who saw it, I don''t know what will happen next," Sigma reminded me. "Yeah, I would need to be very careful." "Oh, by the way, I have a suggestion once we get a rematch." "Huh?" I frowned when Sigma suddenly gave me a suggestion. "Why don''t we go spar sometime and fight each other using a weapon that can only deal 1 damage and the yer who can reduce the health of their enemy to 1 would win? Of course, your weapon and my weapon are banned, and we will instead rely on our skills and our ability in fighting to win. How about it, are you in?" Honestly, that wasn''t a bad idea. A battle against Sigma is an honor after all and the fact that I am gonna restrict myself to using a weapon that can only do 1 damage per hit, is a big thing. That is a very wonderful suggestion indeed. "Your on then. I will be happy to fight with you again." Chapter 465 The Dead Mans Heart (I) Everyone has finally gotten a good rest after thebat and the look on their faces is now showing a refreshed and rxed expression. Sigma stood up and opened her quest tab and announced it to everyone. "It looks like this next quest of ours is thest quest we will be undertaking for this chain. At longst, we are finally getting things done after this," Sigma smiled at everyone, "If this was thest, does that mean this is going to be the hardest mission we will be undertaking?" Dolly rubs her chin even though shecks a beard. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. All we can do is keep on guessing and hope things aren''t going to be much harder than thest. But since this item is kept as thest one, the possibility is very high so we should always keep our guard up. Here, let me show you the quest." "Can I look?" I asked Sigma. "Sure. Since you will be tagging along with us, I think it is better to show it to you," Sigma swiped the panel and shared it with me, allowing me to view the current details of the quest they are currently doing. [The Perilous Errand] Type: Chain Quest Info: You are all tasked by Almira to fetch some materials from various ces and monsters. This time, the item that is tasked to be fetched is an item named "The Dead Man''s Heart". Failing to obtain the item will result in the whole chain quest a failure. Required Items: The Dead Man''s Heart: 0/1 Reward: ???[Will be revealed after the current quest''s sess.], 1,000,000 gold and 500,000 exp ... ... I frowned when a familiar item came up on my radar. And yes, that is "The Dead Man''s Heart". I am very familiar with this item as Almira also tasked me before to fetch out this item. The only difference between before and the current quest is that the former quest did not ur here in the frozen desert of Sandurk but when I was on Aquagius. One of the bosses in Aquagius possesses the target item while the current [The Dead Man''s Heart] is in this frozen desert causing me to have a bit of confusion. Does that mean there are multiple enemies that possess [The Dead Mna''s Heart] other than the monster I killed in the past timeline? "So where is the main location on where to find the item?" I asked Sigma since I don''t have any ess to the map''s location since I don''t have the quest shared with me due to the way it forbids me to join. "It''s called the Abyssal Depths of Ruins. It sounds like some sort of underground structure but who knows?" Ah, the Abyssal Depths of Ruins. It''s one of the ces in the Frozen Region of Sandurk that contains lots of actions. In the past timeline, yers who explored the Frozen Region of Sandurk encountered the ce and explored it, only to be overwhelmed by a lot of monsters and undead. And since the item is [The Dead Man''s Heart] which can only be obtained by killing an Elder Lich, it wasn''t even a wonder why there will zombies and undead down on that ce. I might not have seen it or explored it in the past timeline but I will try to use the small info I got to my advantage and help everyone to finish the quest as soon as possible. Sigma then pulls out something and throws it into the snow, releasing a Snow Carriage mobile. "Uh... Sigma-chan, can we still fit in here if deheart is with us already?" Harmless Sparrow asked. True, the space of the snow carriage might be big, but it was clearly enough for just them. There is currently no space for me to squeeze in unless I want to ride up on top of the carriage. "No, don''t worry about me. I will use one of my pets instead as my ride. That way, we also have some guards against monsters that wille to us and scare them away once they saw my pet." "You mean Leona?" Dolly asked. "No, Leona is vulnerable in the cold so I am against using her here. Instead, I would rather use the new pet that I just tamedst time." I am currently looking for a chance to summon the other pet that I personally tamed before to see whether the pet has any changes in behavior or body structures that I needed to be aware of. And with that, I turned to look for a bigger space than where we are because the pet I am going to summon is a much bigger onepared to Leona. "Come on out!" Opening the summon''s area, the Venomous Devourer that I tamedst time slithered out from it and appeared before us. "Holy sh*t! That is a big snake! It''s even much bigger and much fiercer than the snakes that Sigma tamed!" Hagane eximed seeing the big size of my pet. After it came out, a prompt appeared and released the renaming section for me to put a name to my pet. "How about I call you Mizuchi?" The snake tilted its head, seemingly not knowing what that means. "Isn''t the Mizuchi a water serpent? Why did you decide to use that name on someone that doesn''t seem to resemble a mizuchi?" Sigma asked. "I s*cked at naming to be honest which is why I decided to use that name. Besides, it''s not that bad of a name for a pet snake. At least I didn''t call it, snakey or something simr." "Ah, well, that is true." "Then it is decided." I clicked the confirmation and it officially renamed the Venomous Devourer into Mizuchi. I climbed into Mizuchi''s head and it allowed me to go and sit on its head. Since Mizuchi is big, it was just like I am riding on top of a big train if Mizuchi walks on the snow with all of its body slithering on the ground or much better if Mizuchi slithers with a part of its head standing up just like how a cobra does it. "Should we go?" I turned to look at Sigma since she is the leader of this operation and I was just tagging along. "Wait, let me summon my two snakes too. Maybe my snakes and your snakes can be friends or buddies. Alpha, Beta! Come out! You guys should have recuperated enough." Sigma opens her Summon''s area and releases two big snakes, a bit smaller than Mizuchi but still quite big for a snake. Did sigma call them Alpha and Beta huh? That''s interesting naming. I hope one day I would be able to name my pets like that like a chad. The moment they saw Mizuchi, the two snakes stiffened and Mizuchi looked at them with a questioning look on why they seemed to have stiffened. A few secondster, the two bowed down to Mizuchi before they decided to return to a position like some sort of soldiers. That was very unexpected to me but that is something quite amazing indeed. "Welp, that was unexpected, I thought they would be excited to see a newpanion but perhaps they needed enough time to interact with each other. Now that we are done, let''s go and prepare to depart. Is anyone ready to go?" Everyone looked around to see if they have forgotten something before they nodded in confirmation. "Let''s go. To the Abyssal Depth of Ruins." ... ... ... ... Back at the camp, Almira sat in front of the forge while holding a cigarette in her left hand. Almira didn''t expect that someone would recognize her despite having already changed her hair color and change the way she moves around. Perhaps even if time has already forgotten, it seems her own identity won''t just fade away as easily as she thought it would be. Still, her objective is not going to change. For how long she has been living in the world, she never changed her decisions, not a single decision was revoked. And since she decided to do it, she will continue to do it and she will not just be going to stop just because of some slight mishap. "Yes, I am doing this to save humanity from the danger that his existence possesses. It''s only a matter of time before the same fate that happened before will just repeat due to him. Yes. That should be it." She huffed another round of smoke before puffing it out and putting thest remains of the cigarette on the ashtray and extinguishing the remaining embers present on it. She picks up her forging hammer and grips it tightly before she throws another fireball into the forge and igniting it aze. "As much as I don''t want to do this, it is the only way to keep on going and nothing else will matter. Nothing else will. Even if this drags me straight to hell, if I can just put an end to it, then that should suffice." Chapter 466 The Dead Mans Heart (II) With the snakes leading the way, the monsters that dare to even block our way are either killed or run away before they get eaten and that alone made the whole traveling easier as we don''t even need to stop to kill the monsters that block us. The only biggest threat is the nearest behemoths and although they are miles and miles away from us, due to their massive size, they are able to easily get to our location in a few steps, and getting the attention of a behemoth spells a big problem and danger. Thankfully, we are so insignificant those behemoths don''t even have to bother us at all. Following the lead of Sigma''s carriage and her snakes, we soon arrived in a ravine. The tall wall that made the ravine, made the area on the road of the ravine quite dark and cold. "Past this ravine is our destination. Based on the given map, it will be a bit long so it will take us a while before we can even get out of this ravine. Based on how dark it is, it is most likely going to pit us against monsters currently living in that ravine," Sigma chatted to me since we can''t talk with me outside the carriage. "Then I will act as the scout for the time being to see if there are any dangers up ahead. Even if our pet snakes are protecting us, it still wouldn''t hurt to remain vignt in a foreignnd with foreign rules and hidden dangers." "Then I will leave it to you since you have the most ess to the view outside." Opening my bag, I pulled out an item I created alongside the potions just before I went to the quest with Tina where we confront her father and almost killed him. It was for the specific of using it as some sort of spying item since it enhances the user''s vision is used. [Snake''s Eyesight Droplets] Type: Item Amount of uses left: 6 drops left Info: A concocted eye drops that allow the user to increase their eyesight power. Includes night vision and zooming ability thatsts for 5 minutes. It will immediately take effect after use. For best effects, it is rmended to give both eyes a single drop. Note: Quite useful for peeping. Of course, be ready for the consequences and for the bonk hammer to fall down on your head. NO HORNY! As much as I want to retort on that note, what it said is true. It can indeed be used for peeping purposes. If you are a pervert, it is a very good thing and you don''t need to enjoy the view by using a telescope. Though the most useful it has is the zoom function. It allows you to simply use the drops to convert your eyes into a Night Vision Goggles and Telescope in one. I put one drop on both of my eyes and I can feel my eyes clear up and heat up a little bit. I blink my eyes multiple times to envelop my eyes on the liquid before I looked before me and test how it works. [Snake''s Eyesight Droplet''s effect applied. Enhanced Vision and Night Vision will be usable for 5 minutes] Good, it finally applied to my eyes. Using my eyes, I focused ahead of us to look for any kind of danger that might risk us even with the snake''s presence. I don''t trust everything that exists in this ce which is the main reason I would rather have to be cautious about the surroundings and the monsters that reside here. There might be some monsters that are intelligent enough and they might devise a trap once we pass by. After all, a ravine can be used in a strategic way to defeat your opponent as long as you are just resourceful and smart in creating a trap that can be covered or not detected. Using my eyes and the newly enhanced vision, I zoomed in my vision and increased the enhanced vision to allow me to detect anything unusual on the road. And it didn''t even take me that long and immediately spotted some signs of a rock fall trap. It won''t give us that much harm, especially with the snakes here guarding us, but it will cause a bit of dy to our movements and ensure that we won''t have any kind of nuances while we are there. It would be a big bother if we just suddenly got trapped while we are on the way. I heard that Almira even added a timer for them to gather all ingredients, which is a bit brutal as the monsters here are hard to defeat. If they don''t have Sigma to strategize, it is impossible to win without using any sort of power up. Since I spotted a rockfall trap, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a cannon. I chatted with Sigma again to make sure they won''t be rmed at the ruckus I will be making. "Don''t be rmed at the noise you will hearter, I just spotted something that needed some removal." After sending that, I aimed into the supposed to be rockfall trap. It was very borate and if someone didn''t pay attention, it will immediately fall over to us once we pass. "Got you!" BOOM! The rockfall trap exploded to dust upon contact with my cannonball. It made a lot of noise and that shook the ravine since every sound made here echoes around like how it does in a cave even though above is open and we can see the sky just fine. Sigma then chatted after the explosion. "Was that something of your doing?" "Yeah. I apologize if it was too loud but can''t help it, it needs a big bang of an explosion to get rid of." After chatting, I looked ahead again to see anything and to my relief, there are no signs that a trap isid out. Most likely they have a trap but it was a bit farther than the first one as the one who has alreadyid out the traps would think that the first trap got triggered and the unfortunate victims would be crushed by the rocks so the next trap would take some time before we encounter another one again. Within the 30-minute time span, the next trap I spotted is another borate one. A pit trap hole. It is big enough for a carriage like the carriage of Sigma and the others have however, there are also signs of traps on the side of the trap therefore, I immediately thought of what the trapper is trying to do. If they noticed the first trap, they will step aside and avoid it, which will then trigger the second or the third trap that they prepare and the n is a sess. I pulled out 4 scrolls and when we are about to reach the pit hole and other trap that I have no idea what was, I tore the 4 scrolls which has the spell [Levitate], and targeted everyone except for me who is currently just sitting safely on top of Mizuchi allowing everyone that I have targeted including the snakes floated from the ground. The only thing that floated on the group is the carriage though so right now unless someone saw me tear the scrolls, they wouldn''t notice that they are above the ground right now. They can still move even though they are in the air like it was just on the ground, in fact, even the snakes didn''t notice that they are currently levitating from the ground. If pit trap holes work by stepping on them, the only way to avoid them is to float or jump through them. With the current circumstances, it is hard to jump on them especially since they are quiterge so the only way to avoid them now is to float them which allowed me to use the scroll, [Levitate] and use its effect to bypass the traps that needed us to step or put a bit of weight on it to trigger. If the guy is watching us right now, it would be quite great to see what is their reaction to us bypassing their little traps. Still, I am now certain there is something that is currently trying to kill us by putting up some traps. They are all lethal and they can kill anyone which made me frown. Just who is doing this? If it''s not a person, then does that mean monsters made these borate traps and used them against us? Perhaps, but we have no evidence if they are even monsters. The only monsters that are capable of making traps are orcs, goblins, and some species of a kobold. Orcs don''t like cold unless they are naturally living here, but they don''t rely too much on traps. Kobold is in the forests so the only main culprit I can think of are goblins. Perhaps we even entered the den of the goblins without even noticing it. But that doesn''t matter. No matter the trap, I will make a way to avoid or disable the trap. We have to finish this quest and that is the only objective here. Chapter 467 The Dead Mans Heart (III) It indeed took us quite some time to reach the very end of the ravine but overall, nothing happened that could interest me at all. More like it didn''t even give me any kind of danger overall, well, except for the traps. Instead of monsters, what we meet every time we made progress while traversing the ravine are traps. It looks like it was meant to trap monsters but some traps are just not meant to trap monsters but to kill people passing by on the ravine. Not only that but the traps are also getting farther and farther and the traps are getting cruder than thest and it looked like it was rushed to the extreme. The thoughtpletely kept me thinking about what those traps are. It is an intentional trap but doing so is just a waste of time especially since all of the traps that have beenid out are just not even good enough to stall us for at least a single second. In the end, I have no exnation to that. ... ... [You and your party are the first people to discover the Abyssal Depth of Ruins! Would you like to share the achievement with the world?] Sigma immediately hit the NO button before she looked at our destination. It is an abyssal sinkhole, a hole on the surface of the earth that reaches into the very depths. Butpared to the normal sinkholes where it was just a big hole on the ground, this ce seems like abination of a sinkhole and ruins. The walls are clearly from some sort of ruins and yet, this wasn''t a part of a ruin. It didn''t look like it was embedded in the walls of the sinkhole since it would look more obvious but it was like the wall itself is already like that from the very beginning. "Wow, the energy around this ce is very heavy. My mana is also reacting pretty wildly," Dolly anxiously smiled at the sight. It looked marvelous, but it was scary. That is the only thing that many people will say once they see the ce. One more thing that made this ce different from the surroundings is theck of snow in the area. It was like it melted and the bare brown ground is seen at a bare minimum while the rest of the soil deep under started to darken and I bet eventually, it will turn ck. "Alright, we will continue on foot. Alpha, Beta, good work, now go and rest. The road is not meant for you guys, you two are still too clumsy," Sigma opened the summons area and the two snakes immediately went inside I think I even saw one of the snakes sigh in relief before entering the portal for the summons area. I did the same to Mizuchi too. With everyone out of the carriage, Sigma reduced the size of the carriage and returned it to its former look and size before she store it back in her inventory. Once she was done, she gathered everyone together to do some final briefing. It''s a necessity if explore an unknown area. "Is everyone ready? We will be entering a dangerous area, so anyone who doesn''t feel well, say something immediately." When no one said anything, Sigma smiled and pulled out her greatsword. "Alright, let''s give it our all, this is our final quest and we should be done with the fetching job. Pull out your weapons and let''s go." With the confidence oozing on Sigma, everyone felt good about her leadership. It might not be inspirational words but her presence alone makes it up. Sigma led the way with me behind the group and everyone in the center while Iron and Hagane are positioned on the east and west point to guard against any iing attacks. We continue to move and soon, we arrived at a ce that is a bit filled with dark mist. The moment we stepped foot in that area, we immediately smelled something really bad. It''s a smell of rotten flesh and burnt flesh. "Heads up, enemies ahead on 12 o''clock and 3 o''clock position. I can also see some movement in the 11 o''clock position but I can''t determine whether there are enemies over there," Sigma readies her greatsword as we approach. Everyone also tensed up after Sigma mentioned the enemies. As we got closer, we soon saw what we are facing, and just like what the enemies that I saw in the live stream back then about this ce, what we are facing right now are countless the undead. p They don''t even have any status, which means they are just normal undead, cutting off their head or breaking it will kill them. Healing magic and healing potions also work though it is just wasteful to use potions in a fight. Unless it was a very necessaryst attempt, using a potion to fight the undead is best avoided. "Attack and advance. Aim for the head. Use basic attacks and break their heads. We continue to move as we kill them and do not stop and falter." URRRGGGGHHHHH AAAGGGGHHHH The moans of the undead and the zombies alongside the bad smell they are releasing are just causing trouble to our noses. Still, everyone continued to push forward. Sigma did all she can do and made sure that her greatsword would deal with everything she had. As for me who is already adept at killing the undead and zombies, I only used guns and continue to shoot them one by one on the head and if some zombies get close, I immediately transform the gun to its dagger form and instantaneously pierce their head with a squishy twist. "Holy crap!" Hagane struggled when one undead grab his shield and opened its mouth. BANG! "Bash it with your shield and overpower them with it. Don''t just use your shield for defense, it can also be used for defense," I gave out some advice. Even though I rarely use the shield and spear for battle, using them is making me able to understand how they properly work. "Thanks for the save, deheart!" Hagane grinned and used what I just said and bashed it on the iing zombie. Progress is slowly being made as we slowly descend but it is also a bit rming how many zombies and undead are starting to gather around. We don''t get any exp for every kill which is why it isn''t worth killing all of them but if you just leave them be, things will go to the worse also, which is why the battle continued. Then, we saw a few burning bodies approaching us too. "Burnt zombie variant iing! Watch out for the mes!" We have to indeed look out for the mes. The mes are still burning quite badly on some burnt zombies charging at us and even if they seemed to be covered in mes, it was like they don''t even die from being burned. Killing the zombies worked just fine before but now, it seemed to have worked a bit worse now since getting close to its head will surely burn your arm too or anywhere that gets too close to the body. "Let me handle these guys! Focus on the normal ones and continue moving forward!" Sigma then shed her greatsword and cleaved the zombies in one fell swoop. "Damn, if this was a zombie apocalypse, things would be really bad," Hagane grumbled. "Heh, not as bad as the zombies in Outbreak Chronicles. These guys don''t even hold a candle on those zombies." "Ugh, you are mentioning that novel again. Sadly, the author put it on hiatus, perhaps he dropped it?" Hagane gritted his teeth as he bash it again. "Nah, more like he is taking a long break from it I guess. Maybe he will be back soon enough, who knows." The battle was never-ending as we continue to move into the bottom of the hole. The struggle is real and the amount of enemies to kill is just overflowing. Mother, Dolly, and Topaz fire off their AOE magic spells and disintegrate a group from time to time to lessen their numbers but it was clear that the numbers alone are just too numerous for a single AOE spell to wipe them all out. Chase also heals some undead that causes it to disintegrate. But since it wasn''t a practical use and the heals are also necessary for healing others, he usually holds back in using his healing skills. Instead, he uses his fist to smack the undead down before he finishes it off with the tip of his staff, killing them. As expected of a Combat Medic. Our progress is slow but that is enough for us to continue deeper. The undead is still swarming at us but we are a bit thankful since none of us have suffered any injuries and we also made sure to avoid being bitten. Just like how in zombie movies and various apocalypse stories do, no one wanted to get bitten either. "Master. I think I am detecting the same energy pattern from a necromancer. I have memorized the power patterns of thest necromancer we fought before and I think one of our enemies is part of the necromancers you needed to defeat to obtain another legacy page." Hearing that made me grin. Finally, some progress! Chapter 468 The Dead Mans Heart (IV) The efforts of our group allowed us to reach a much deeper area of the hole. The relentless undead is also getting a bit thinnerpared to the earlier assault of them. At the moment, it is much easier to movepared to the right ce where the undead just keeps on getting near everyone. "I will be making a way for everyone. Once I do, start running together and fight against the enemies that will also try to block your advance!" Sigma charges her greatsword as we continue to defend ourselves from the iing horde. "[Shining Ray]!" FWOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH! It''s not as loud as most ray attacks do but the power is enough to say that it isn''t something that should be underestimated. That ray alone cleared the whole road of undead and zombies in one go. Everyone started to run to immediately take advantage of the road devoid of the undead. As for Sigma, she didn''t run as she felt exhausted from firing off the skill to clear the road. If she didn''t run, the undead behind us would immediately catch up and will attack her. Leaving her there is not a good thing so I sheathed my Versatile Weapon before grabbing Sigma who is still recovering from the attack. I carried her in a princess-carry manner and she was startled by my sudden actions that she didn''t expect me to suddenly just do that without permission. "Wha-? What are you doing deheart?" "I''m sorry for doing this but we are going to need to be hasty enough rather than staying still. I apologize if you find it somewhat offensive to suddenly do this." Sigma smiled instead of getting angry. "Haha, thanks. Didn''t expect you to go and pick me up while I am struggling." "Ha, what would we be doing without youmanding the group? Just so you know that I am terrible at givingmands to other yers so don''t even bother dying and passing the baton of leadership to me. I don''t like that." She chuckled but she didn''t say anything else. As for me, I continue to run and catch up to the rest with Sigma in my hands still recovering from the attack she did. It took a few hours before she managed to recover her energy to move again. "You can put me down now, deheart, I can now properly run again." "Are you sure?" "Yeah. Thanks for the lift." "No problem." Since the [Shining Ray] has obliterated a wide range of the way, it allowed us to have enough way to move forward and reach a much deeper area of the hole. The undead and the zombies that are appearing are also getting a bit smaller in numbers now too and what is left behind seems to be stragglers left behind from the st since it doesn''t look like it spawned and they have some burns on their bodies that seem to be not caused by the mes of those burning zombies from earlier. "So, how deep are we going to go? Are we going to keep on going to retrieve [The Dead Man''s Heart[?" my father asked. "Until we know who the target is, we will have no idea which enemy will be our target to take the item but we still need to prepare. Perhaps we don''t even need to kill any boss to retrieve it, be optimistic everyone," Sigma assured everyone. But I doubt about it that we won''t be fighting any boss. The confirmation earlier from Lucia and the others that a sign of a necromancer is present under this ce simr to the necromancers we fought before that possess one piece of the necessary part for the legacy book of the necromancer. That alone signifies that we have a big chance that the guy possesses the item [The Dead Man''s Heart]. The previous necromancers didn''t pose any challenge but I can assume that they are much stronger than the previous two. "Let''s continue and eliminate the enemies further down below. We can''t afford to keep ourselves dawdling here and we should also take advantage of theck of monsters further below. The fewer the enemies we fight against, the faster we can get to our main destination." ... As we progress deeper, I realized that the whole surroundings gets darker and darker the further we went down. Even the sky is looking dark if you stare above. It''s a bit weird since when we went down, the sky isn''t even cloudy or any things that would make the sky dark. It''s not even gonna rain. It also doesn''t help that the surroundings are getting heavier and miasma seems to envelop the area and seems to suffocate our lungs from it. I have seen this before in the videos in the past timeline where the yers seems to have trouble breathing and started to see something that wasn''t there. I thought it was a bit silly of them to be done just like that but now, I think the main reason they went like that was due to the miasma in the air. The more we breathe on it, the more the hallucination will get on us and that would end up with something like going against your teammates due to the hallucination effects. "The miasma is getting thicker. Be careful and don''t just smell it for long periods. If possible, cover your noses with something like a face mask or something," I suggested. "But we don''t have that kind of thing son, face masks aren''t just going to drop from monsters and we can just equip them," my mother immediately retorted. Then, Chase moves forward as he raised his hands. "Umm, I have a few face masks in my inventory. I can give it to you guys if you wanted to use one." Oh, right. Clerics do have the ability to create face masks. It''s one of the main passives that are present to the yer since the very beginning of the game. The main purpose of the face mask is the same thing done in the real world. It was like a necessary item for a cleric like it was a real doctor or something simr to that. With Chase''s help, everyone gained a mask to cover their mouth, nullifying the effects of the miasma that are getting thicker as time went by. And since the part that would slow down the yer didn''t get through to us, the progress is much smoother. The deepest part of the area is very close now, and the final boss is waiting for us, is already anticipating our arrival, though I still don''t know about that as we slowly descend. Chapter 469 The Dead Mans Heart (V) As we are closing to the depths, the pile of corpses is now getting more and more apparent now. Every step we make, we step on a piece of bone. Human bones. Now, it is littered with bones that you would think this ce might be a ce where the dead is being disposed of. But as we keep getting deeper, the same scenery I have seen before when I fought against the first necromancer appeared again. The walls are made with bones, flesh, and corrupted blood. The stench that even the face mask can''t stop prates your nostrils. "What kind of maniac does this kind of thing!? It would have been fine if they don''t look fresh but the fact that blood still drips from them and the flesh and bones seems to being alive any second gives me goosebumps!" Hagane rubs his skin. "Don''t overreact like that, Hagane. It might look disgusting but it''s not enough to give you the big creeps in your life. We are not in the ocean, to begin with, so maybe you can handle things like this a bit better. Look at me, I am doing fine." "What? Don''tpare me with you, I am quite sensitive so don''t even think ofparing us like that. We are built differently." Chase thenes forward and looked at Hagane with a frown on his face. "What are you saying, bro? You look fine to me." "What?! What do you mean by that?! Look at me! I don''t feel fine at all!" I shook my head but smiled. Even in this situation, they still have the time to bicker like that. That would at least remove the pressure everyone felt aftering down here. "Lucia, do you feel the presence of the necromancer you noticedst time?" "It''s faint, but it''s definitely nearby, Master. It was like it has been blending all around the ce and on those fleshy walls. I can''t pinpoint its exact location since it keeps on moving around." While investigating, Sigma approached with something in her hands. "deheart, take a look at this, It seems to be some kind of important item but I don''t see any option to check its description. Do you think it has some meaning it was here or it was just a random junk I pulled out from the heaps of flesh?" I received the item that Sigma handed to me and realized that it was a locket but the locket itself is jammed shut, which stops us from seeing what is inside the locket. Just as I am about to try and forcibly open the locket by force, the skeletons started to rattle and the skulls started to tter their mouth and their eye sockets seem to have revealed a bright red color glowing within. CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK! "Everyone gather up!" Sigma ordered everyone and we immediately formed a circle facing our backs to each other while witnessing the skulls tter their mouth like they wereughing or talking. CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK "What the f*ck... Sh*t, this is why I said earlier they are creepy as heck! These things are just abomination to the core!" Hagane held his spear tightly while hiding behind the shield. "Shh, we have to keep quiet and observe the surroundings, we don''t know where the enemy will strike," Dolly entered into her focused mode, she is no longer mocking Hagane but focusing on everything around with her staff ready and her fingers ready to draw a magic circle. "Master! The presence of the necromancer is getting stronger! It''s getting stronger on the north from your position! where you are facing!" North huh? I didn''t focus my eyes before me but when Lucia said that the presence is forming north, I soon realized that a mass of flesh is currently getting bigger and bigger. I didn''t want to wait for it to finish its transformation and pulled out the Pain Delivery and pulled the trigger on the growing mass of flesh. BANG! CLACK! The skeletons stopped cking their mouths after I shot the growing mass of flesh with the Pain Delivery and they all turned in my direction. Then, a voice echoed around the ce, making it seems like the source of the voice ising all around the ce. "My, my, you are so impatient, boy. Are you that in a rush to die?" Then, a ck arc shadow appeared and shot out a st in my direction. If I am careless or just not paying attention, that st is enough to kill me but I already raised my attention to the max to the current situation. PENG! I transformed a small part of the Versatile Weapon into a shield and used that to block the attack while the other parts transformed into a spear and increased the power in my arms with a bit of charge before I hurled it to the direction where the ck energy that shot out came from. SU! But then someone grabs the spear, stopping it from moving. "You shouldn''t be throwing weapons like that. You are just going to waste your weapon if you throw it carelessly like this." The guy who caught the spear tried to break the spear using his bare hands. But it only bended but it never broke in any way. Noticing that it didn''t break, it started to use its two hands and even its knees to break it in half, only that he failed to do so as it only starts to bend and that''s it. "Don''t try to act cool if you can''t even break spear! Lame*ss," I provoked him and recalled the spear from me by transforming the Versatile Weapon into a dual pistol. Once it transformed, the spear on the enemy''s hand became a liquid and went to my hands before it solidifies and turned into a gun. "Show yourself now, you have nowhere to run, Elder Lich!" The guy startedughing and although he showed us an embarrassing way of entrance, he didn''t seem to mind though he was angry earlier. He revealed himself, showing his half form of a human and a rotting corpse on the other half. A lich that is close to obtaining flesh by sacrificing multiple lives to a certain area. The enemy has finally appeared. Chapter 470 The Dead Mans Heart (VI) Elder Lich. A type of undead that has evolved from the normal undead or skeleton depending on which type they are as they both can ascend to either of them. If an undead or a skeleton gets to reach a certain level by killing humans and other creatures, they have the chances to evolve into a normal lich, that''s when they gain various abilities that they can utilize toplete their evolution and progress further and those that became sessful in doing so evolves into an Elder Lich where their abilities amplified and depending on how strong they are from being a normal lich, they might be a very dangerous being that some would even be a boss of their own dungeons. Right now, it seems the Elder Lich we encountered is not facilitating a dungeon. In my experience, a dungeon facilitating Elder Lich is weaker than the Elder Lich who does not own a dungeon. Perhaps the reason for this is that an Elder Lich who does not own a dungeon actively hones its abilities by hunting prey by themselves while the Elder Lich who owns a dungeon will have to rely on their dungeon to get "nutrients" to get nutrients. It is clear which out of the two will get stronger just based on that alone. And right now, we are facing a creature that checks all of the boxes. "How foolish of humans to visit their demise themselves. But you can say that everyone''s arrival is a good and nice time for me. I just happened tock the ingredients toplete my awakening. You all are perfect and have fresh ingredients! I will grind-" BANG! CLANG! Smoke came out from the muzzle of my Versatile Weapon''s gun form, showing that I have fired off a bullet from it. The Elder Lich also stopped because some gold chains pierced his shoulders and bind the two arms that looked like they were about to rot after a few more years. Beside me is Sigma crossing her hands while staring at Elder Lich with a bored look in her eyes. "You talk too much. We are in a hurry and we don''t have the time for idle chatter. If you are so-called strong, then show it to us, you little piece of sh*t," Sigma condescendingly insulted Elder Lich. I stayed quiet but I also agree that this Elder Lich is a chatterbox. Not a really good way to make a good first impression. "Piece of sh*t? How brazen, but I admire that you are all in a rush in death. Very well, death is what you seek, death I award shall!" That''s when the HP of the boss appeared the name of the Elder Licha appeared before us. [The Sixth Commandment] HP: 10,000,000/10,000,000 Trait: Dark, Undead So this guy is the sixth, never expected to see the nextmandment so soon but that saves me time looking for them. Chase immediately activated [Domain of the Sick] and [Domain of the Weak] together after the HP and the name of the boss appeared, covering the area of the domain and allowing the buffs to be twice as potent, healing capabilities and auto-heal increases while the debuffs inflicted to us who are inside the domain will be shortened or resisted easily. "A domain! How fancy! But that doesn''t mean much to me!" He raised his arms and the bones beneath our feet started to rise up from the ground. "As if I let you do this!" Changing the form of my Versatile Weapon and stomping the skull of the skeleton that tried to drag me down, I stab it straight to the ground and activated the [Earth Fissure]. All the skeletons that were about to rise that were on the way to the [Earth Fissure]''s activation were reduced to dust. Of course, I didn''t get to wipe them out all. The [Earth Fissure] might be strong but it doesn''t cover all of the ground, only the area around me where I struck the sword down. But that was enough for everyone to get enough time to fight back and prepare their own attacks. Sigma remained standing still but she used her chains to fight back, every undead that tries to rise up on the ground will immediately get pierced by the golden chains before moving to another target. With her precise attacks, the undead that was supposed to appear were forced back to their graves and died permanently. "Well, I will be damned. Seeing how you all are fending against me just fine, means not only your bodies are fresh and good, but you all are also potential for my mana bank! It looks like it is my lucky day!" He waved his hands and chains made of bones appeared around and bind everyone to them. But when ites to Sigma, the chains can''t evene close before the golden chains start to interfere. I also managed to get away as I just stomped down one of the skulls below on my feet and break it, causing the chains made of bones to turn to dust. Once I managed to get free, I pulled out one Magic Scroll and tear it up as I run towards the Sixth Commandment. "Have a taste of this!" White chains bind his legs and arms and before he can react, light engulfed his body before a ray of light poured straight into the Sixth Commandment. "GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" p The scroll I have just torn to pieces is known as [Nova], light magic from the Cleric''s Ascended job, Bishop. It''s strong against the undead and no matter what kind of gimmick the undead or lich has to counter light magic which they are weak against, the [Nova] cancels them by using the white chains that prevent them from activating the abilities that would counter my attack. Then the light came down burning up the remaining flesh of the Elder Lich and purifying the remaining dark energy that revolves around its body of it. [Nova] is a good spell, but as I said on what happened to me, my skills are reset to zero and the skills are locked to a certain tier until I unlock the previous tiers. And in terms of [Nova] Magic Scrolls, it''s also not easy to make as it needed quite specific items that are limited in the market andes mostly weekly in limited amount, and creating one scroll of it needs lots of it. I still have three [Nova] scrolls left but I don''t want to use them carelessly. Once the [Nova] is done, any undead that takes the brunt of the attack, if they didn''t die, would experience [Trance] for 30 seconds that will render him unable to respond for that time limit. "Alright, now, time to strike!" With my signal, everyone released their attacks to the Sixth Commandment. Sigma binds the whole body of the Sixth Commandment before everyone attacks to ensure it won''t have time to attack even in trance mode. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Explosions of magic spells and physical attacks bombard the body of the Sixth Commandment and when the [Trance] effect wore off, the Sixth Commandment roared in pain but his roar is more like a thin scream that when he did so, our ears starts to bleed and our eyesight started to make a few blurs. "PAINFUL! SO PAINFUL! YOU ALL WILL PAY FOR THIS!" He raised his hands but he didn''t summon anything, instead, his size grew and he became a towering monster that seemed to be summoned somewhere. He then mmed down his arms to the ground and shook the whole ce and we are forced to fall back when the attack came down. [You have been inflicted with [Status Curse]. Your stats will decrease by 10 every 50 seconds while the effect is on effect. Cannot be removed.] Damn! Unremovable debuff and it is the worst kind to the boot! 10 stat points will decrease every 50 seconds. It might sound not that bad but it was very bad since not only one of your random stats but all stats will decrease 10 points and once it decreased by 10 points, your damage output will also plummet and your ability to fight back will also lessen its effectiveness. That also means the maximum HP we are lowered alongside the MP and that made the whole situation very bad, even for Sigma who specialized in absolute defense will be torn like a paper in a matter of prolonged battle. What makes this debuff worse, it is unremovable so there is no way to cancel the effect and stop it from doing the troublesome effect of decreasing 10 stats per 50 seconds. You can say that to prevent this from being a bother, we have to speedrun and reduce the HP of the Sixth Commandment to zero. Then, the Versatile Weapon vibrated before the Shadow Dragon inside peeks out from my sword with its tongue licking in anticipation. For some unknown reason, this guy is hungry once again. Chapter 471 The Dead Mans Heart (VII) Ever since the Shadow Dragon on the Versatile Weapon gained some kind of identity and consciousness, it became quite active, greedy, and quite a big glutton that will devour anything. It no longer devours weapons, armor, and other equipment exclusively, it is now able to devour almost anything. Still, even with its glutton behavior and greed, it is clear that the Shadow Dragon still regards my decision whether to perform a Devour action or stop. I am not sure why, but perhaps due to my ownership of the weapon, it also treats me as its master. But I am quite certain that once it reaches a certain point, there will be a chance that this guy will no longer listen to me and worse, will devour me. It''s a bit scary thinking about it, but I have to think about that a bit moreter. What I needed to focus on is now Sixth Commandment. "Let''s hurry and deal with the guy as soon as possible. As long as this debuff remains, we are going to be too vulnerable to fight against the guy!" Dolly raises her staff and point it to the Sixth Commandment and uses multiple spells that don''t need to use any chants to activate... I couldn''t catch up on what spells she fired off but most of them are clearly fire and ice spells. Sigma seems to agree with this and activated her chains as she targets the Sixth Necromancer. The rest also did the same, even my mother decided to use all her potion arsenal to debuff the guy to the max and maximize our attacks'' firepower despite the reduction of our stats. I can even see my HP bar slowly plummeting alongside my MP bar. "HEHEHE, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS! All of the attacks you lot are throwing are all weak and useless!" Indeed, what the Sixth Commandment is saying is all true. Our attacks felt like they didn''t do anything. It was like the Sixth Commandment absorbed all of our attacks like a sponge. "Dammit! You gotta be kidding me! All of my stats are all reduced to the lowest They are nowbeled Very Poor!" Hagane felt like the shield in his arms are useless as the remaining stats that are left on his body are being drained. Based on everyone''s look, everyone also did have their stats reduced to the very lowest. I turned to look at my stats and realized that my stats stopped getting reduced. All of them are just stuck to the stat level of [Good]. I am quite sure that I should have my stats reduced just like how it happened to everyone. Even Sigma''s absolute defense is already paper-thin defense. One attack and she will die. Then, something hit on me while looking at my stats. These aren''t my stats, but the stats of the Versatile Weapon. As I stated before, the Versatile Weapon gained consciousness, and the stats that the sword possess is being transferred to me, the user and owner of the weapon. And because a weapon cannot be debuffed by something like this, except for an [Attack Down] debuff, the debuff everyone is suffering from does not apply to the Versatile Weapon, and since this stat is not mine, it remained, allowing me to still have a considerable amount of stats and can decently fight back. The Sixth Commandment is stillughing and from the looks of it, the guy still hasn''t noticed that I have not fully depleted all of my stats to the lowest. And out of all of us, only me can still fight. So to protect everyone since they have only a minuscule amount of health and their defense and attack power are close to sh*t that it is no longer even the stats of a level 0, I pulled out one of the scrolls I have. I only have one of them because it needed some materials that drop rarely, it''s not like I will need it in the future in any way and I can just create it again if needed. So why not use it now? Without a second thought, I tear the scroll into two and a circle appeared and surrounded everyone inside. Sigma immediately recognizes the spell of the scroll I just tore into two as it is part of the Holy Knight skill tree, [Aegis Field]. "What are you doing deheart?!" "Just gonna finish the quest for you guys. Perhaps I can kill the guy before it does something else. Just sit back and rx there." After saying that, I didn''t bother to listen to them and immediately went to go and attack the Sixth Commandment. I pulled out a bottle of a white liquid and poured it into both my hands and the Versatile Weapon. It''s cold but also warm at the same time, quite an odd feeling to be honest. The guy immediately noticed my approach and started acting smug. "Ha! I see that you are such a bold guy. To think you would still fight back even at a disadvantage? How foolish." "..." "I see that you are determined eh? Then, as a parting gift, I will give you a chance to give me a free strike, but even with a free strike, I doubt that would even hurt me, with your stats all gone down to the drain, I doubt you can even make a single scratch on my skin." "One strike, huh? Then that is good. Saves me the trouble." Using a bit of a charge on my leg, I used it to dart forward and use the speed to get close and rise up the Versatile Weapon into the air. "HUZZAAAAAAHHHH!" RIPPPPP! A sound that seems simr to the cloth being ripped resounded. Although that sounded like a cloth being ripped into smaller pieces, it wasn''t a cloth but the skin on the Sixth Commandment''s chest. "Y-YOU?!" "Too bad, you still allowed me to have a final strike. You see, that is the only thing that I needed the most though. Now, let me im my reward before I go." SPLASH! The Sixth Commandment didn''t expect to see one of my hands, buried deep inside his chest and currently holding inside of it. "NOOO! NOOO!" His chest started to emit lots of smoke and his rotten flesh is burning up. The burnt flesh smells disgusting and some of the burning flesh starts to stick to my hands, but I didn''t pull it out just yet. I used it to grab something inside and when I found it, a single squeeze on the thing on his chest made the Sixth Commandment shriek in pain. He attempted to grab my arm that is embedded deep inside his chest but the moment he does, his arm immediately gets burned. "AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH! WHAT DID YOU PUT IN YOUR ARM! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?!" "Are you deaf or are you just not paying attention? I already told you, I will be taking my reward."1 Tightening the grip of my hands that are currently embedded deep in the Sixth Commandment''s body, I pulled it out, and with the rotten flesh that seemed to burn upon contact with my skin, it became easy for me to pull it out, carrying one more thing that I needed. "You no longer needed this so I will be taking it," and showed him his beating heart, the item everyone needed, [The Dead Man''s Heart]. [The Dead Man''s Heart]. Sounds like some kind of treasure that is being hunted by pirates and treasure hunters, no? But that wasn''t the case. This thing was not a treasure. More like an ingredient for creating some sort of item that looked like ck sludge. It didn''t look liquid to me when I saw it in the past timeline but I am sure she used it as an ingredient to create that sludge. I even thought of it as a failed item she made but she said it was a sess. Only Almira knows what she wanted to do with it, and what she would use it for but at that time, I was very curious about it. Now, the same thing is being asked by Almira to be collected, and although different targets, it is the same drops she needed. The heart is still beating when it was pulled out, and the owner of the heart is struggling to move. Even though he is an elder lich, he needed the heart to remain functional and now he is desperately reaching for his heart that is currently beating on my hand. "Give...it back! I needed... it!" "Perhaps, you need it, yes." "Yes! I needed it! So give it back!" "But do I look like I care about you wanting to get it back?" I swing over my Versatile Weapon to the Sixth Commandment. The HP of the Sixth Commandment also started to plummet. "AAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" His screams resounded in the air. His screams are full of pain and anger. But that doesn''t matter to me anymore. I pulled out the same bottle I used earlier before I grab the heart of the guy. It was just normal water but it was purified by the Powdered Essence that can be bought in the local alchemist stores, creating a potent, [Holy Water]. "You might be already an Elder Lich, but that doesn''t mean you are already immune to the holy element and anything rted to the light. If you did get immune, perhaps you are already capable of bing an overlord, but s, you don''t even qualify. In the end, you are just a higher form of an undead, nothing more nothing less. Chapter 472 The Necromancers Legacys Partial Completion The little bottle containing a little bit of liquid is as clear as a purified mineral drinking water in the real world. And despite being called Holy Water, it doesn''t have any apparent effects on anything, except when it is used against the undead. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Sixth Commandment screamed. A scream of death and despair. As the Holy Water poured all over his body, the water became acidic the moment it touches his body. Imagine taking a bath using any kind of corrosive acid that can melt your flesh in just a few seconds? That is how the Sixth Commandment is currently experiencing the Holy Water bath as I pour the contents of the bottle into the rotten body. Burnt flesh and rotten smell all merged together, making a very disgusting smell that even my controlled urges to puke got the best of me and I have to move away to avoid smelling the disgusting crap directly into my nose. It stings and it is disgusting that I wished I haven''t directly stood near the guy while pouring the Holy Water. I went to Sigma and handed her the remaining contents of the bottle. "You finish the battle. That way, the quest will count aspleted as I didn''t deal the final blow." Sigma immediately understood what I said and received the Holy Water from my hands and went to the spasming Sixth Commandment and dumped all of the contents into the body of the rotten Sixth Commandment and it took a little bit of time before the guy stopped moving. At longst, he died, and with the Sixth Commandment''s death is the removal of the curse. Releasing all of the reduced stats back to us, and returning them all back to where they once belonged. [You have killed the Sixth Commandment!] As the body of the Sixth Commandment disintegrates, a shiny fragment dropped from the body of the Sixth Commandment and went to me, disappearing upon contact with my body. [You have received the sixth part of the Necromancer''s Legacy! You have partiallypleted the Legacy. Due to this feat, part of the Necromancer''s Legacy can now be used. Refer to the Necromancer''s Skill Tree to look for the changes.] I didn''t expect to see this, to be honest. I only collected three parts of this and who knows how long before I canplete it but to think I can use the partial power of the Necromancer Legacy is already something else. I didn''t open it just yet as the ce is copsing after the death of the Sixth Commandment. The bone walls started to scream and the bones are rattling. I grab all of the drops and put them in my inventory. I don''t need the items so I will be dividing themter on for everyone once we are out. Before I can go and leave, the Versatile Weapon is shaking a lot, which means the Shadow Dragon wanted to devour Elder Lich. I didn''t even think twice and let the Shadow Dragon do so. I was about to pull it out from my sheath but the shadow dragon just blended into the floor and went under the corpse and devoured it by letting it sink into the ground before retreating back to the Versatile Weapon. I didn''t expect to see that way of devouring from the Shadow Dragon but that is something good to know for the future. "Guys! Everything is copsing! We have to leave now!" Chase panicked. "Crap! Let''s make a run for it!" Hagane also panicked. "Don''t panic! Alpha! Get your *ss here and help us get out of here!" Sigma then summoned one of the two snakes that she said to have been tamed before I joined ording to her and the others. "Get on everyone. Alpha! Time to check how well your agility does in this situation!" The snake seems to be terrified of Sigma but it seems to also have the resolve to go too and nodded. It waited for everyone to get on its body before it speed through the falling boulders and rocks. And to be quite frank, I wasn''t expecting a fast movement but when the snake moved, it was so fast that a few seconds after we ride on its back, we arrived already in the middle area of the pit. Alpha just bulldozed its way back to the top and those rocks that are about to fall to us, Alpha quickly deflects them with its tail like it already predicted where the rocks will hit. With the precise way to evade and the right time to strike, you can say that Alpha all hit the marks. I never expected Sigma to dominate over a snake and make it so that it will obey every order she orders it to do. When we are about to reach the top, the undead that we left behind came are now charging at us. So the undead that the Elder Lich summoned did not die the moment their summoner dies, now that is a rare urrence since the usual thing, once a necromancer dies, the corpses they used will immediately disintegrate to dust. To think it will continue to move without the summoner is already something else. But even though there are lots of them, the speed that Alpha made is just too much for the undead to handle. Without a summoner, there isn''t much it can do on its own, an undead is weak and brittle on its own. It has an advantage in numbers but that''s about it, if it was the same zombie apocalypse simr to those in the mangas, novels, and movies, then it is another story but with undead summoned by the necromancer, I don''t even think too much about it. In no time, we returned to the surface. There are some undead stragglers left behind but they were just bones and rotten flesh that we are able to get rid of them easily without any challenge. We got off from the back of Alpha and once we all touched the ground, Sigma pat Alpha and thows a big chunk of meat to Alpha like a dog. "Good job, here is the partial reward. Once we get back you will get a full course alongside with Beta, go and rest for now." p Alpha happily chomp down the meat before returning to the summon''s area of Sigma. She has the talent indeed or maybe she already knows how to do it, I don''t really care much. As the pit started to copse, we watch it fall to the bottom alongside with some of the undead that has yet to meet their eventual demise. With the rocks and boulders falling pieces by pieces, no one will survive there unless they can survive being buried underneath the rocks and ruins that were also detaching after the death of the Sixth Commandment. "Sigma, here is the heart that you needed. Looks like you all are done huh?" "Yeah. Time to go home now," Sigma smiled as the darkness that envelopes the area has finally dissipated and revealed that the sun is already setting. "Looks like we have to camp out for thest time before we go," Sigma looked at everyone and seems to have a simultaneous agreement with the notion. Everyone left while I turned to look at the pit for thest time before I turned to look at the ne with six bones hanging in it. I pulled it out after Sigma killed the Sixth Commandment as I have also collected the other''s nes. I have to hold on these things until the very end I guess. Perhaps this has something to do with all the necromancers I will have to kill in the future. ... With the battle putting everyone in exhaustion, most of them have fallen asleep after eating dinner. It might not be the real world but I felt full after eating the food my mother cooked. Once this quest is over, I will have to go and get the cook ex job to learn cooking. Then I have a good reason to experiment on meat and feed it to my pets and also on my followers. I have decent talent in cooking and improving it might even allow me to be on par or surpass my mother in the future. With everyone rxed and I have nothing to do, I opened the menu and opened the skill tree directly to the Necromancer''s skill tree. I didn''t buy any skills on the necromancer ss just yet. I barely even use the skills it has before so I don''t have any chance to buy any skills that would help me so all I can say is that I still have not skills learned here. But when I opened it, I already have a few skills unlocked in tiers 1 up to 5. They didn''t have all skills unlocked but they have skills that I can use and I am quite sure I never unlocked any of the skill tree''s skills due to my main reason of having less chances of using them. Not only that, but these skills, shouldn''t be avable for selection in the original necromancer ss. Chapter 473 The Forbidden Necromancer Skills These new skills are nonexistent in the original necromancer ss skill. These don''t exist, not a single one of them. If anything, they shouldn''t exist at all since, from the name itself, it seems to make the Necromancer ss a lot closer to what Elder Lich Necromancers and Dark Worshipper Necromancers have. There are 2 skills in tier 1, one passive and one active, 1 skill in tier 2, another passive, 1 in tier 3 in which this time, it is an active skill, 1 in tier 4 which is another active skill, and in tier 5 where it has 3 skills 1 passive and 2 active skills. Tier 1 [Call of the Dead] Type: Active Skill Mana Cost: 30 MP per summon Cooldown: 2 minutes Cast time: Instant Info: Summons either undead or a skeleton, Can be used even without any corpses of monsters or humans nearby. The maximum amount of existing summoned undead cannot exceed 5 undead or 5 skeletons. The limit will increase once Necromancer Legacy has beenpleted. Note: A good skill if youckpanions during trick or trick. Since they are real corpses, it is a high chance you will quite a lot of candies easily due to "believable" costumes. Isn''t my idea cool? [Undead Storage] Type: Passive Skill Info: This allows you to store converted corpses that turned into an undead without making them disintegrate after their uses are done. Can summon and recall the undead at will. Can store at least 10 undead maximum. The limit will increase once the Necromancer Legacy isplete. Note: You can say this is a portable morgue. It''s creepy, to be honest. Tier 2 [Undying Undead] Type: Passive Skill Info: Provides a lifesteal passive to all summoned undead or skeleton. Every time they sessfullynd a hit, they will recover lost HP half of the damage they inflicted to a target. Note: What''s this? A fusion of a vampire and zombie? Tier 3 [Summon: Advanced Undead and Skeleton Soldier] Type: Active Skill Mana Cost: 500 MP per summon Cooldown: 2 minutes Cast time: 5 seconds Info: Summons an advanced undead or a skeleton soldier depending on your choice under yourmand. Compared to normal undead and skeletons, they are the upgraded version of their normal variants. Has increased health, and increased attack power. More tenacious than normal undead and normal skeletons. Does not need any corpse as a catalyst to summon. Note: Perhaps zombies and skeletons also go to the gym too. Tier 4 [Bone Armor] Type: Active Skill Mana Cost: 1000 MP Cooldown: 10 minutes Cast time: Instant Info: Will require 5 undead or 5 skeletons to cast. Sacrifice 5 selected undead or skeleton and convert them to Bone Armor that will protect the user from any iing damage and has a 30% chance to repel the damage back to the attacker. Will disappear after 3 minutes passed after the skill was activated. Tier 5 [Undead Recovery] Type: Passive skill Info: Every attack that the summoned undead and summoned skeletons inflict on an opponent, the summoner will recover 100 HP and 10 MP per hit. Note: Easy Healing without doing a thing. Would allow you to save up those juicy and tasty health potions and forget about the sh*tty-tasting potions. [Corpse Bomb] Type: Active Skill Mana Cost: 1000 MP per corpse used Cooldown: 5 minutes Cast time: Instant Info: Will consume a number of summoned undead based on how many the user wanted to sacrifice. Sacrifice the selected undead to cause an explosion that will inflict big damage based on how many undead were used and how close they are to the proximity of the explosion. ,m Note: LEEEERRRROOOOYYY JENNNNKIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNSSSSS! [Undead Absorption] Type: Active Skill Mana Cost: 120 MP Cooldown: 3 minutes and 30 seconds Cast time: Instant Info: Sacrifice one of the summoned undead to heal your own HP. HP recovered is equivalent to the remaining HP of the undead selected. One undead per cast can only be selected. Note: Uh...how does this work? Don''t tell me the undead can be an alternative to bandages? ... The skills are definitely not some simple skills any necromancer ss can learn. In fact, the skills that don''t need a catalyst of using corpses are already a big advantage ifpared to the skills of the normal necromancers that needed to use a corpse as a catalyst to summon a monster. And to add another advantage, the presence of the passive, [Undead Storage] will allow you to reuse the summoned undead you summoned before without using your skill, and to add another advantage, the lifesteal effect also added quite a lot of good advantage too. I stood up and turned to look at every one. Seeing that most of them are resting and sleeping, I decided that I would not tell them that I left for a moment but before I can go, Sigma approached and noticed me before I can slip up. "Where are you going thiste, deheart?" "Oh, Sigma, are you not gonna sleep?" "I am fine and I already have rested for quite a bit so I don''t need to sleep. So where are you going? It''s veryte and I am quite sure monsters are on the prowl right now." "That makes it a better thing. I have something to test out and I want some live testing on it to see how this properly works." "Really? Then can Ie and watch? I am a bit bored staying here while there is nothing to do. It would be a change of pace to have some activity to do while morning has yet toe." "Is that so? Then you are wee toe along. Maybe you can even give me some pointers from an outsider''s point of view." "Alright, let me get ready for a second then I wille along." She returned to where she was staying earlier and pick up her gear. She also tasked Chase who was the one currently awake to chat if anything happened while they were away to which thetter immediately agreed before she returned to my side. "Let''s get going before the sun rise up." ... ... To make sure that we won''t disturb anyone, we decided to go a bit farther from the camp, not too far, but not too near either just so that it will allow us to not invoke any kind of hostile tendencies from monsters that would end up going to our camp and startle everyone resting. We soon reach an area that is a bit far from our camp and has a bit more enemies prowling about. "Looks like this is the perfect ce to test things out," I started stretching my body for a bit to begin. I stretched my left hand and activated the spell. "[Call of the Dead]!" A dark portal appeared beneath and a skeleton appeared. I didn''t have any choice on what I can summon as I have a random chance of summoning either an undead, or a skeleton. To think I would summon a skeleton immediately. "A skeleton? Did you get a Necromancer ss, deeheart?" Sigma asked. "Yeah. How did you know this belonged to a Necromancer ss? It might also belong to the summoner ss and since Necromancer has yet to be released, the Versatile ss wouldn''t have ess to the necromancer ss skill tree just yet." "It''smon sense that only necromancers summon undead and skeletons as their minion and summoners don''t have any kind of summons that involved the undead. I have no idea how you have ess to the Necromancer ss but I think perhaps you obtained a quest that allowed you to gain the skill tree and since you are a Versatile ss, instead of changing ss, the skill tree was instead unlocked to you." "Ha, as expected, you are quick to catch on. Yes,. that is indeed what happened. I luckily obtained the ss change for Necromancer and since being a Versatile, it allowed me to merge it." I turned to look at the skeleton. It was quitenky and a bit of a bash from a monster or even from me would cause this skeleton to crumble to pieces without fail. It just stood there, waiting for me tomand it. Seeing that it barely have any defenses, I pulled out a crude buckler and a crude sword out of my inventory and gave them to the skeleton. Compared to the undead and zombies, skeletons can be really strong if you equip them with proper weapons and armor. They don''t need specific skills and kills to grow, as long as they can kill something, they will grow stronger. The skeleton received the sword and the buckler and although it seemed to have no idea how to use them, it soon gained an understanding of how to use them. "Go and kill some monsters. Once you are done,e back to me." CLACK CLACK CLACK The bones on its mouth rattled like it said something but since it was a skeleton, only the CLACK sound can be heard. It turned its back and charge through to the nearby monster that is currently resting nearby. Time to see what a skeleton is capable of doing. Chapter 474 The Will Of A Skeleton To Survive We are not going to be on deheart''s point of view this time around but to the skeleton that he just summoned. It was just born from this world, and it barely even grasps a single thing happening around it. Then, someone gave it a sword and a bucket. It didn''t understand what these things were at first but soon, it realized what it was. These are weapons to kill. The moment the clueless skeleton held the sword and the buckler, it soon allowed some memories that are clearly not the memory of the skeleton to gather inside the clueless skeleton. It was like the sword and buckler had memory on their own and all of them are transferred to the skeleton''s skull. And even without a brain, it seems to be imprinted directly on the body of the skeleton that even without that organ, it doesn''t have any problem fighting against anything. "Go and kill some monsters. Once you are done,e back to me." The moment the skeleton heard themand, something seems to have awakened inside of it and its eyes lit up. It didn''t waste a single second and turned around to find a monster it can clobber. It didn''t take that long for the skeleton to find an enemy. It looks like a pr bear but it has some blue spikes on its back that looks like icicles upon closer inspection. Since the skeleton has no organs let alone any kind of muscles and anything that would make it human, it doesn''t feel scared, nor does it feel any kind of emotions, it is just facing the enemy, looking for a chance to find its weak points and weakness. The first thing the skeleton did is pick up a small pebble and throw it at the bear. The pebble hit and the bear seem to feel the pain of the small pebble immediately since the moment the pebble bounced back, the bear stood up and growled. It didn''t even hesitate and charged straight to the skeleton. The little skeleton seems to have already anticipated the move the bear will do and immediately dodge before stabbing one of its legs with the crude sword. Of course, with the crude sword being too crude and dull, it didn''t do anything to the bear''s skin and it just bounced back. The skeleton already noticed it so it quickly backs away from the rampaging bear and used its shield to its advantage in the fight. With the skeleton dodging sessfully, the bear became angrier and it grabbed one of the ice spikes on its back and throws it at the skeleton. Compared to the size of the icicle and the skeleton, the icicle is much bigger and if the skeleton is hit, it wouldn''t even take a second chance before the poor skeleton will be broken to pieces if hit. Still, even though the skeleton is just pure bones and nothing else, it was too agile allowing it to just dodge effectively and run around the bear. It took advantage of the ces around the area where the two are fighting and instead of confronting it head-on. the skeleton made the bear get provoked by throwing it rocks every time it misses an attack on the skeleton. That alone made the bear really infuriated to the point that it will immediately charge with just one slight movement in the nearest area. In short, the skeleton already got the bear under its control by taking advantage of the behavior of the bear and using it to fight back. Whenever the bear is facing on another direction, the skeleton would attack the bear using the crude sword and even though the sword doesn''t do anything to the bear at all due to how dull and crude it was, the bear is easily agitated is easily taken captive in this tactic and were forced to respond to its attacks. From time to time, the bear will throw one of its ice spikes on its back and throw it at the skeleton which thetter will immediately evade in quick session. This resulted in the battlefield being littered with the icicles that the bear has thrown. Since it does not melt, it just remained there for the entire time. Soon, the bear has enough of throwing the icicles and decided to observe the surroundings. Seeing the changes in behavior, the skeleton immediately used this chance to do something for it to properly defeat the bear. In one of the hiding spots the skeletons, the skeleton itself exposed itself and provoked the bear again. This time, the skeleton did not dodge, but just stood there. The bear, being an angry animal, immediately charges forward with a loud growl. STAB! But the charging bear stops and it took a bit of time before it fell to the ground with its life on the line. deheart found it amazing while Sigma found it shocking to see a skeleton do some tactics and sessfully subdue it. deheart finds it satisfying and excellent to see how the skeleton performed in the battle. As for the skeleton, it walked toward the bear with the crude sword in its bone hand, it raised the crude sword and stabs it into the bear''s eyes forcefully. No matter how crude or dull a sword is, as long as it was being stabbed at a very soft part of the body, it will be a very lethal weapon. And that single stab, allowed the skeleton to win in the end. It raised its sword in the air and its mouth started making a "cking sound", celebrating its win against a strong and almost close to impossible to defeat kind of foe. The reason the bear was easily killed is because of how it charges and when it did, instead of ramming into the usual areas it rams around, thest thing it rammed is the sharp area of the icicle it has thrown. The skeleton took advantage of that and used it against the bear, incapacitating the bear as a result and allowing the skeleton to finally get the final blow. Since the skeleton won, the skeleton returned triumphantly. And that single battle alone, something awakened inside the skeleton. Some kind of feeling it didn''t understand at first but the skeleton didn''t find it annoying. It was like the skeleton felt a lot more "alive". Yes, the skeleton is not alive but that alone made the skeleton find a good reason to continue living. "I didn''t expect to have a good skeleton in one summon. That alone is quite an unexpected gain. I even gave it purposely a crude sword and shield how well it will fight but to think it has this much capability is something else. This skeleton will be one of the strongest skeletons if equipped properly. And that is something I will not waste," deheart then pulled out a few weapons out of its inventory and let the skeleton grab what it wanted to get, and to deheart''s surprise, the skeleton throw away the sword and shield and grab the katana and swings it around, testing its de like a real samurai testing the quality and how heavy it will be. "CLACK CLACK CLACK!" The skeleton turned to look at deheart and showed the katana to deheart and keeps on pushing it toward him. "You wanted to use it? Then go ahead and use it. I purposely allowed you to choose so go and have a go with it." The skeleton made the same "cking sounds" again like it was very happy with the decision and its eyes lit up like something has been ignited inside of it after the skeleton was allowed to wield the katana. The skeleton dashes towards the distance and provokes another of the bear and deheart and Sigma didn''t expect it to go ahead and test it out even without the ordersing from deheart himself. With the katana, it didn''t use the same tactic as before but used the de of it properly. The other bear is the same behavior as the other bear that was killed with the smarts of the skeleton so right now, it seems the skeleton already memorized what to do next. Compared to the "run and gun" tactic earlier, the skeleton did not do that and wielded the katana like a proper swordsman. The stance is now in the iaido stance and waited for the bear toe and charge forward, it remained in that stance. In this case, the bear is not simr to the first one as it didn''t charge immediately and instead used its spikes and throws them at the skeleton in rapid session. But the skeleton did not dodge, nor did it make a single step to avoid the attack. It just stood there with the sword still sheathed. But the moment the icicles are about to hit, they were immediately split into two. That action alone, caused deheart to grin. It seems like the skeleton he summoned is just oozing with potential and he can''t afford to let that go. Chapter 475 Returning From The Fetch Mission Aside from the skeleton that I just summoned, I also tested the other avable skills, especially the [Corpse Bomb]. Of course, I didn''t use the skeleton I just summoned and fought earlier as it would be a big waste for me to use that little guy as fodder for an explosion. So to test it out, I summoned another undead and this time, the one that was summoned was a zombie. Unlike the skeleton, it didn''t have the same qualities as the skeleton nor do it have theparative ability to wield weapons and fight effectively like the skeleton from earlier. So instead, I used the zombie as the ammunition for [Corpse Bomb]. Compared to my expectation, the [Corpse Bomb] is not that strong in explosive radius and destructive capabilities. Perhaps the reason why the explosion is not that strong is just that I only used one single undead and since it has the option to use multiple, perhaps the explosion will amplify if I use multiple undead in one explosion. I also tested the durability of the skeleton and its ability to fight a yer by sparring with Sigma. And to my surprise, they are toe to toe with each other, easily blocking their attacks altogether, leaving the situation to be in a stalemate. Still, Sigma hasn''t used her full ability so it should be natural. Still, I still can''t believe that even on Sigma''s way of fighting without moving, the skeleton is able to cause Sigma to dodge once and that is already something else. "That skeleton is something else. I am even tempted to go all out earlier while fighting against it. It was hard not to unleash my whole power when your enemy is quite good and it''s giving their all too. I didn''t expect you to summon one so good immediately. "Indeed, its talent is like a veteran warrior that coincidentally got revived by my ability. Still, I am happy enough with the new things I learned. This will boost my ability and fighting style a little bit more." Especially with the ss reset of the Versatile ss, I needed more skills than ever and without the usual passives and skills I usually use, I have to do it back to square one. Once we are back at the camp, I will have to sort out all the skills that were rebooted and relearn them again. Without the extra SP I earn every level up, I am stuck with all of my skills with how much I used them. I just wished they fixed this absurd amount of EXP intake to level up so that I can properly level up like a normal yer. If not for the Versatile Weapon, I would have already deleted this ount and started over again. After doing the testing, we returned to the camp. We thanked Chase who remained awake waiting for us though it also didn''t take long for everyone to wake up one by one. It felt like a few weeks have already passed but we just spent at least a minimum of 3 days. It didn''t take that long to begin with, it just felt like that since so many things happened and the flow of time in the Alternate World is different than in the real world so things were just not the same. Just like before, everyone used the Snow Carriage while I remained as the main watchdog to everyone while riding on Mizuchi but perhaps the worst has alreadye to pass, things have already calmed down. The only thing that remained in the same gaze I felt behind my back. Even though we are zooming here all around, I can still feel the shivers that seem like someone is watching me behind my back. As much as that made me puzzled, I have no idea who is that person or entity. I can''t detect its presence and I even doubt it was a monster since if it was, it should have already left after losing interest in me and moved to another target but this one is just different. But I have no way of knowing what it was and all I can do is just endure that feeling of someone spying on you. Perhaps, sooner orter, it will disappear. ... ... When we arrived, its around noon when we made it back to the camp. The carcass of the turtle is still there butpared to before, it was already missing arge chunk of meat and shell. It was like it has been eaten by something bigger and disappeared without finishing up the whole meal. But I doubt that was the case seeing how many workers are still dismantling the huge carcass and transporting the flesh and the shell every time one is sessfully excavated. The soldiers even panicked when they saw Mizuchi at first and thought that they were under attack. However, as soon as they saw us, they immediately calmed down and made a salute before returning to their jobs. Sigma went ahead to look for Almira and since I am curious about what she is nning to do with all those ingredients she asked for Sigma and the others to gather, there is something that made me curious about what she is about to create. Is it the same thing she made back in the past timeline? Or is it something else? Sigma asked one of the soldiers and they immediately pointed straight to the makeshift camp that is made for traveling cksmiths. It''s the only different tent out of all the tents so it was also clear that she was there. Once we know her location, we went inside the tent. There, we can hear the sound of shing metal and the smell of melting iron all around the ce. The ce is also scorching hot andpared to a normal room for smithing metal, this is just enough to burn your whole skin. Thankfully, the cold weather lessened the effect of that allowing it to be a bit more tolerable but it is still abnormally hot. "Is it okay to disturb her while she was smithing, deheart?" "No. She already knows that we are here but it was not a good idea to disturb her while she is working. It is much better for us to not do that and wait for her to finish her job or for her to invite us in and that will be safe enough to do." And so, the two of us waited as Almira focused herself on hammering the metal on the anvil before soaking it in the water and then putting it back again to the forge. Once she finished that, she will move to another metal and start doing it the same. Her movements are fast but precise and firm. There are no wasted movements and all of them are done perfectly. We waited for around an hour before she stopped and pulled out a cigarette from her pocket and lit it up using her finger''s me magic. "You guys cane in." I turned to look at Sigma and nodded before we went inside. "Hello, Almira-san. I am here to turn in the quest that we received a few days ago from you. We all gathered every single one of them directly from where they should be taken and came back as soon as possible." She then opens up her inventory and pulls out a sack containing all of the materials that she and everyone else gathered up. I can feel my Versatile Weapon shake in anticipation when the sack went out. I grip the handle of the Versatile Weapon to avoid the Shadow Dragon to activate its bottomless stomach''s greed and devour them all. Even Almira noticed it and she slightly smirked. "Heh, looks like it is indeedplete since even the beast inside the weapon of deheart is getting excited." It looks like Almira already knows the presence of the glutton Shadow Dragon and its existence inside the Versatile Weapon. "Um, may I ask for one thing though, is it alright?" "Yes," Almira took a puff before she turned to look at Sigma. "Just what are you going to do with these items? Based alone on the items that we gathered, I don''t think this was meant to be used to create a weapon. We don''t have any metals here and even if we did, I doubt it is even enough to create any weapon." That was unexpected, I never thought she will ask that. Knowing Almira, she won''t tell it but... "You want to know what I am going to use these things for? Sure, I can tell to you. Just don''t tell anyone about it as it was confidential. Do you want to know too deheart? If not, you can go and leave as what I am about to say is something else." "Wait, I am also curious. I will be staying." Almira grinned and pulled out one of the items on the sack and the one she picked out is the Elder Lich''s heart, [The Dead Man''s Heart]. "The reason these things were gathered is for me to create a weapon that will be capable of canceling the effects of being an immortal. In short, I am making a weapon that is capable of ending the life of an immortal." Chapter 476 The Plan To Kill An Immortal I flinched when I heard the n of Almira. Immortals are one of the traits that some NPCs possess in the game. Although gods are immortal, they aren''tbeled as immortals but instead called omnipotent beings. The beings called immortals have special circumstances but like the gods, they don''t die unless they are attacked by something that would render their immortality null and void. And that is exactly what Almira is trying to do. "Making a weapon to kill an immortal? But why? What is the reason that you are going to do that? Also, is this a monster or a human?" I started asking questions after hearing it. Knowing Almira, she will not do something so reckless without an unfounded reason for doing so. "Of course, it is a human with immortality trait. And for the reason? That person is too dangerous to continue living. And this is my duty to end that person." My eyebrows furrowed when I heard what Almira said. Is this the main reason she made me gather some of those simr items back in the day? To kill an immortal? I never questioned her before but now that Sigma asked and Almira revealed it, my confusion started to grow. After all, there are no records of Almira having a connection to any NPCs that has some kind of strong trait like immortality trait. "So who is this guy you are talking about?" Sigma is also curious. "Unfortunately, that is the only thing I can''t disclose to you guys. Not yet. It''s not yet the right time so until ites, I won''t be telling who it was. But I willmend you all for bringing the ingredients fresh andplete. I know that getting them was hard but that is still something else. Then, as a reward for you all, I will forge weapons based on your ss, on each and every one of you guys who helped with the gathering. Although the downside is that you guys can only get it once we are back to the maind. After all, I will be asking you guys what weapons of choice you all wanted to get before I forge." I am not surprised by the reward. Even in the past timeline, I also got that reward, allowing me to obtain the strongest weapon I have until thete game. It didn''t even need to be reced by a higher leveled weapon since it managed to beat it on stats alone despite being a lower leveled weapon than the new ones I received in the past. They will definitely benefit from it. As for me, I won''t be benefitting from it much and if I did participate, the weapon will be devoured by the Shadow Dragon instead. But yeah, the weapon that wille out from Almira''s hands is a very worthy weapon that unless you get something around legendary, you don''t need to change to another weapon again. It''s just THAT good. "Is there anything else we have to do?" Sigma asked. "Right now, no. And since you guys have already fought so hard, I think a good rest will suffice. You guys are free to go." Sigma sighed in relief. She bowed to Almira before she left. I was about to follow Sigma out when Almira stopped me. "deheart. Stay for a moment, will you? I have something to tell you." I frowned but I didn''t disobey her and followed her inside the tent. "You already know that I will be making an item that will be used to kill an immortal right?" "Yeah, is there some sort of problem? "Not really, but I am talking to you right now about it because I will be giving the weapon to you and you need to use it." "Oh, is that so...? Wait... what?" "A bit slow aren''t we? I will be handing you the finished product of the Immortal yer." "Wait, why me? I thought it was you who will be going to kill that immortal?" "Have you forgotten already deheart? Although I am a cksmith, I don''t use my weapons. I vowed that I will not use my own weapons in a fight and I would rather use the weapon of my apprentice rather than use a weapon I personally tailored for myself. And your fighting style and your weapon had also something to do with this as to why you are getting the weapon instead of another yer, like for example, Sigma." "My fighting style... and my weapon?" "Your weapon can freely change its form in any way you wanted it to be whether it is a staff, a sword, a gun, it doesn''t matter as your weapon can transform to them all. Due to this weapon, although I can see you being calctive, you are too reliant on the weapon changing mechanic of your weapon, and the fact that your ss does not restrict your usage on different weapons and instead gets massive benefits, I got a good idea I wanted to use and this is the exact moment I have been waiting for." She puffs in another smoke before throwing the cigarette butt on the nearby ashtray. "Until the time when I will have you do the deed, you will be resting and waiting for more instructions. Now, go and leave. I will be making the weapon, so close to the tent''s entrance, and don''t disturb me unless it is really necessary. Also, if you are ready for your next job, go to the two Queens." I nodded before leaving her tent. There are many things that made me think about especially the main identity of the immortal. I have no idea who it was even in the past timeline. I am lucky in this timeline to know the main purpose of the items but I have mixed feelings about the task that is gonna fall into myp soon enough. My past is useless this time around and it seems I can only rely on my own abilities in the future. Once the tent''s entrance is closed, I opened the menu and hit log out. It was like a very long time already but to think it has been just a few days since I did another straight no breaks in ying, I would really like to catch up to my sleep soon in the real world. That is for the best. ... ... ... I slowly opened my eyes. The familiar softness in my bed and the familiar smell of my room are justforting enough. However, it is not yet time for me to sleep. I turned on my PC and looked at the update on the news about the portals appearing all over the world and the ice age weather urring due to the portals. And as expected, the weather has returned to normal. Every part of the world has returned to its normal weather and although from the looks of the situation, the damage is big enough and already troubled the economy, I am just d that the worse didn''te true to my predictions. The portals are a big danger themselves and with the world undergoing an ice age during the opening of the portals, that alone is making the dangers amplified. And it seems like the world is indeed somehow connected to the game. For whatever reasons, there is a big possibility that the world of Alternate World is connected to the real world, and it''s not just a big game that we are ying. WE ARE BASICALLY BEING SENT TO THE OTHER WORLD WITHOUT DYING AND GAINING THE ABILITY TO GO BACK AND FORTH FROM OUR WORLD TO THE OTHER WORLD. Yes, it sounds crazy but my spections seem to be the closest thing and I think this is also the only thing that made the exnation of the items from the Alternate World being sent to this world and gaining abilities in the real world logical. As mind-boggling as it is, I have more questions than answers on my mind. Still, even with all of this, I still needed to get more clues and more solid info to hit the nail and solidify my im that the real world and Alternate World are connected all along. My head hurts just by thinking about it and I don''t like it. I stopped thinking about what happened and just sighed that everything is alright and the situation did not escte to the worst situation. I turned off the PC before crashing back into the bed. I am so tired so at least I have to indulge myself and have the bed all for myself. ... ... ... Somewhere in the cold and icy mountains in the Frozen Region of Sandurk, is a sword stuck on a stone Its features are already covered due to the snow but it wasn''t enough to conceal the power that is hidden deep within it. The sword is patiently waiting. Waiting, until the time is right, until the time it is pulled back out from the stone. Chapter 477 Processing The Scales First Half It''s been a long while since I have a good and proper sleep. I know that I have been sleeping in the game but that still doesn''t have the same impact as sleeping in the real world. I know that sleeping in Alternate World is closely simr to sleeping in the real world but there is just a big difference in it that I can tell what made sleeping in the game a bit underwhelmingpared to when you go sleep in real life. But even so, I don''t want to continuezing around until the time I needed to go back to the game. Currently, I don''t need to hurriedly go back to the game. I want to spend a bit of my time to be away from the game until this nighttime when I will go back and log in to continue the quest. I went to the bathroom and took a bath, making myself a bit refreshed. I also started cooking food for breakfast but no one else came down so I decided to just put the food in the fridge and if someone is hungry, they can just pop it into the oven and reheat it. I made a note and stick it on the refrigerator so that they will know. Once I am full, I returned to my room and changed into my casual street clothes, and pulled out the bag that is containing the scales and some of the bones. Today is the day I will be making something. With my level of cksmithing, I am confident in my skills now. I went to use the car instead of my motorcycle this time around since I will be purchasing lots of things that I will be using forter and the trunk of a car is much more spacious and it will be easier for me to transport thempared to the motorcycle and it makes much more efficient in fuel and time for me. The ce where I am going in the same building that I rented before in the past timeline. Why am I going there? To recreate the workshop in the past timeline. In the past timeline, I also did have my own workshop. I used that workshop in the past timeline to practice cksmithing in real life to increase my understanding and proficiency drastically in the game. Since my time in the game in the past timeline is upied by raids, dungeon runs, and material gathering, I can''t concentrate on practicing if I am in the game. Not only that but some yers are just tending to be quite annoying and always disturb me whenever I am about to make a time to practice. Now that my time is not that tight and I already have plenty of experience, and with fewer *ssholes to disturb me, that only makes things much easier for me in progression alone. When I arrived, it was a coincidence that the owner of the ce is currently putting the [For Rent] tag on the shutters of the building. I went out of the car and looked at the building with a smile on my face. Just looking at it made me remember all things that have happened when I have rented this ce. Butpared to before, this ce is much cleanerpared to the past timeline. Perhaps because the time I rented before in the past is a few more years away. I am renting this ce at a much earlier time. The old man who just put the tag on the shutters noticed me and looked at me from head to toe. I still remembered this guy back in the past timeline and although he looks younger right nowpared to the past, he still is one big grumpy guy. He is around 40-50 years old. He is a tall man with big muscles and I thought he was a guy who likes to go to the gym and do some workouts. Never expected that he isn''t even a guy who likes to go to gyms and is just born that way. Still, despite that, I know he is a good man. He might be grumpy but he isn''t someone that is too grumpy that even you would feel grumpy with his attitude. "What''s your business here?" he furrowed his eyebrows as he crossed his arms. "You put a "For Rent" tag on the shutters and it was coincidental that I am looking for a ce to rent out. Can I rent this ce out?" "As long as you have money to rent this ce out, then I have no qualms about you renting this ce. For how long are you nning to rent this ce out? It''s gonna cost you 50,000 yen per month." ? "Hmm, then I will rent it for 1 year. I will pay in full cash." When the owner heard how long I will be renting the ce, his eyes went wide for a second before he looked at me like I am a bit insane for doing so. "Are you sure you are going to rent this ce for a year? I don''t know what you are about to do but if you n to open some sort of business then I highly discourage you to rent this ce out. Business is slow and any kind of business that opens here will go bankrupt or be forced to close due to the bad location for business. Not only that, but if you n to live here, it would be much better for you to rent in other ces that have a muchfier ce than this ce. It''s more like a dumpster here and it''s a bit dangerous here at times since some ruffians and gangsters like to hang out around here. Better spend that money elsewhere, kid." "Heh, don''t worry about it. I am not gonna use this ce to open up some business. I am not some entrepreneur and I don''t have any expertise in doing any kind of business the reason I am renting this ce is for personal reasons. I will being here from time to time and I am not gonna live here anyway so everything is fine." "Are you really sure about this?" "Yeah, are there any sort ofplications in any kind of way?" "Nothing of that sort. And since you are so adamant on it, then go ahead." The old guy gave up and he handed me the keys to the locks. I also paid in the full worth of a year of rent. "If I like it here, then I will extend my rent then." "Alright, alright. I will get going then." After that, I went back to my car and put the key on my key chain. With the ce secure, the next thing I needed to do is buy the necessary items I needed for recreating the workshop. Since money is no longer an issue, I will buy all the necessary equipment I needed. Just the thought of it made me a little bit nostalgic. Perhaps I am too old all ready for me to be this nostalgic. ... ... ... It took me around 3 hours to get all of the equipment I needed to create the most basic workshop. Yes, only the basic workshop. I don''t need to go to the advanced workshop for now as I needed to work more on renovating the ce for now. That is the main focus for me right now. When I arrived at the ce I rented, what I found instead are some rough-looking guys that seems to spell out trouble. Currently, they are smoking and leaning on the shutters while chatting with one another. They may look like thugs but I am not afraid of them as I am already used to dealing with them. I am not even worried in the slightest about them so I park the car in front of the ce and went outside the car while reaching out for the keys for the locks of the shutters. The guys outside the ce are already staring at me and my car with some sort of hostility in their eyes. However, that technique will not work for me. It takes a lot more than that to make me intimidated in any kind of way. "Oy, brat. This is our turf, what are you doing here?" one of the older-looking thugs is the first to confront me. From the looks of it, he looks like he is the leader of this ragtag group. "I rented this ce, what about it?" I looked at him without showing any hostility. Perhaps I can make some negotiations on them. "You rented this ce? This is a ce out of nowhere and a very secluded ce, why would you even rent this ce?" "Boss, perhaps he is sent here by one of those "guys" to mess up with us?" "Yeah, it is close to impossible someone will rent this ce just for that!" The guy who talked first turned to look at me with furrowed brows as he decided to reveal his hostility to me. "You better turn your back or you will be sorry. I am gonna say that you will regret everything if you continue to go and offend everyone." Chapter 478 Processing The Scales Second Half If this was in the past, perhaps I would have run away. But that is all in the past, yes. I don''t feel unnerved anymore just by seeing them. Even their threat didn''t feel threatening to me. More like, it is very hollow and empty that I can chuckle about it. I continued to move forward while ying with the keys in my hands. The thugs clearly got nervous based on their looks, seeing that I am not even shaken or scared by their words. Instead, I continued to move forward. "If you really want to teach me some sort of lesson, then why not do it now? I am a busy man and if you have no business with me, step aside and I will open this ce up, don''t go and block my way. Despite their threats to me, they didn''t attack and punch me like most thugs being easily provoked. They held their temper and just grit while looking at me with a weird look at how I am not even backing down. I managed to unlock the lock of the shutters and open the door that is barred behind the shutters and went inside, leaving the guys outside. I don''t really care what they do, but that is a different story unless they mess up with my car. That''s the time I will really care indeed. The interior has less garbagepared to the past timeline''s amount of dumps inside. Though I am not gonnain about how it was different. The less the dump, the easier to clean this ce up and make it presentable, tidy, and appealing to the eyes. I returned outside to pick up the items I bought before and soon realized that the thugs are still there but they are just on the side. They are still smoking but they didn''t do anything. They are just staring at me, trying to understand what I am gonna do. Well, I am fine with that, despite being thugs, Imend them for not being a jerk kind of thug that would do violence out of nothing. Picking up the cleaning supplies and some other items in the trunk, I carried them all back inside the ce. I flicked the switch of the light and it lightens up the whole room revealing how dirty the whole ce is. The old man told me that if I want to use electricity, then I will have to pay a separate fee so that I can continue using the electricity and since I needed to use itter, I agreed and paid an additional fee. Cracking my knuckles, I grab the dust mask, an apron, and rubber gloves. "Alright, let''s clean up this ce in a jiffy!" ... ... I already have experience cleaning this ce in the past and I know how to clean them up proficiently and easily, allowing me to clean them up faster. With lesser garbage, the cleaning process was much faster than before. And for the final touch, I used water magic to clean up the grime around the whole ce. And as expected, I managed to get the whole ce up and about. It doesn''t even look like a dump anymore. ... ... Once the cleaning process are done, I started to empty the trunk of my car immediately and carried the various equipment I needed forter, and set them all inside the ce. With my expertise in setting up a workshop, it took me at least 3 hours before I managed to finish setting up everything. Compared to the space that the workshop upies, the ce is still very vacant and empty, but that won''tst for long. Once I can get permission from the old man to remodel and add some things here, I will be building my own small smithy where I can make my own weapons that I can use and practice my own smithing abilities. It is necessary for the future. Now that the workshop is up and running,plete with tools and other stuff, now I can start creating some of the basic and semiplicated items that don''t need to use the smithy for assistance. I have plenty of items I can make using the scales and the tools alone. All I needed is my knowledge, creativity, and the ability to craft them. Since it''s been so long since I crafted something in the real world, I have to make a beginner essory for the beginning. That way, I can get my bearings on it a bit better and I won''t mess up in future crafting processes. The first should be a ne. Now, let''s get started! ... ... ... The men outside the old building are now wondering what the guy inside is doing. He came out several times earlier and took some items from his car but that''s all it was. He didn''t even go out anymore which made everyone curious about what he is doing. "Are we sure this guy is not sus? He just came out of nowhere, he is not afraid of us thugs and he is much younger than us. Perhaps he is from a big family or something?" the guy who is the main leader of the motley crew frowned. "Nah man. If he is, then things would have been chaotic already. We haven''t heard of anyone that is this young. I bet my coins and my beard that he is still a high school student." "Bro, you love your beard too much and yet you want to bet your beard on that?" "Ha! I am quite confident in how to read other people just based on how they look! Don''t underestimate me! If I don''t have my ability, I would be dead by now!" "Ha, your silliness is acting up again. Oh well, we can just go and peek inside and see what he is doing, Aren''t you guys also curious about what he is doing right now?" "Are you sure? Will he punch us out in the face if we do?" "Rx man, we will just go and peek inside. We won''t be even going inside the ce. I am not that desperate to be a criminal andbeled as a trespassing guy." Everyone then turned to look at their leader to see how he will reply. "As much as I want to hold back, my curiosity also gets the best of me. This ce is just a literal dump and I doubt he will be living here. And there is no way he will be opening up a business here since it''s already a curse on this ce to open up a business here will also be bound and nailed straight to the road of closure and bankruptcy." "So are we gonna peek?" p "Yes. Even if he decided to rent this ce, if he is someone who is from that "group", then I can''t afford for them to mess up with grandpa. As much of an *sshole I am, I am not someone who would tolerate anyone to mess up my family like that!" The thugs immediately turned to look and peep at the clear door. Because it was a clear door, they can see what is happening inside super easily. There, they noticed that the surroundings of the building is very clean. They clearly remember the ce is not even cleaned thoroughly like this and yet, right now, they are seeing it look like it has been maintained and cleaned for how many years already. This made everyone confused. That''s when their eyesnded on the guy who opened the ce up. Currently, he is working and doing some sort of tinkering. "Oi, am I seeing this right? That is a clear workshop, right? I have seen quite a lot of workshops in the past and I don''t think I am gonna be wrong at all with this." "Yes, it seems the reason he rented this ce is to make a workshop. But that s what I don''t understand. What is he even trying to make with a workshop? Is he gonna open a shop here or something to repair stuff?" the thug leader frowned. He misjudged the teenager but the problem with it is that he cannot get a good and full read on him. And for his reason of renting this ce to make a workshop, why does he have chosen to make one out in the secluded areas where thugs like them are always lurking around? They were still observing when they soon found out something that they can''t believe seeing. The guy is still very busy doing something on the work table when they saw him snap his fingers and on the tip of his forefinger, mes appeared, covering his whole forefinger in mes. "Boss! What was that?! Is that a magic trick!? Did he notice us and decided to troll us?!" The leader can''t also believe what he just saw. It''s not just a small me trick that they can imitate. His fingers were imbued in mes and are currently zing and burning. Bizzare but a bit marvelous too. Chapter 479 Reforging The Carnwennan (I) "...Aaaand done. Good, the ne is finally done." The finished product is simple. It doesn''t look like an expensive piece of jewelry but it''s quite eye-catching for ordinary people due to the design and how shiny it was. The scale which is the pendant is now in the form of a dragon that I reshaped using the mes on my fingers. It was a lot easier to do using my fingerspared to tools that are hard to control. I tilted my head for a bit to look for any kind of bad side on the ne. I have to do this usually as that is usually the main cause of the ne looking good at the front but looking sh*tty at the back. "Good, this one is a sess. It doesn''t possess any kind of powers but it is good enough to wear if paired with good clothes. Now that I have gotten the hang of nes, let''s make some bracelets next." Compared to the nes, the bracelets take more than one scale to createpared to one ne. If resources-wise, the better things I needed to create should be nes but I wouldn''t like them because itcks variety. "Alright, let''s get going to it right away!" ... ... ... Since I have experienced it before and I just needed to relive it to help my hands remember the moves, it allowed me to easilyplete the item without much problem. The bracelet is looking good too but all I can say is that it was a failure. It''s a bracelet that I wanted anyone can wear but I ended up making a bracelet that can''t be resized in any kind of hands, thick or thin. The size of the current bracelet is only enough to stay put in an average size hand but it would fall if put on a bit thinner hand and will not fit if used on a bit fatter and bigger hand. Still, my hands seem to have already remembered how to move as usual on it. I looked at my watch and realized that it was already sote and I also realized that I was so absorbed in my work that I didn''t eat lunch. No wonder I felt hungry already. Looks like my attitude of focusing on myself too much still remains here in the past timeline. Old habits die hard. "I guess that''s it for the day. I wille back here again once I am free." Stretching my hands, I realized that the thugs that were left outside were staring at the door. Since it was made of clear ss anyone from the outside can see who is inside and what is currently happening without opening the door while those who are inside can also see who is currently peeking and those standing outside. I took out all of the scales back to my backpack and the necessary tools I will need to carry and left the others in the workshop as they are much heavier and it would be really inconvenient for me to keep on lugging them around my car. When they saw meing to the door, the thugs immediately moved away from the door and returned to their posts where they were before. Well, I don''t mind them. They didn''t do anything and they aren''t even breaking so I doubt it. Locking the door and pulling down the shutters, I turned to look at the thugs. They are quick at turning their eyes to the other side without saying anything, trying to avoid conversation with me just to avoid me from berating them. Of course, I don''t have any kind of intention to do those as that is a waste of time. Putting the padlock and locking the shutters, I also put double protection that will activate if someone unauthorized to enter the room will try to break in. Let''s just say it would punish those who try to trespass without any mercy from me. I turned to look at the thugs for onest time before I went inside the car and drove off. It isn''t as productive as I thought it would be but it was enough that I am not yet rusty enough in creating stuff. And since I am hungry, I should stop at the nearest steakhouse and eat some lunch. With all the work done, I think a steak would energize me again and lighten up my mood. Yep, let''s do just that. ... ... ... ["Wee Back, deheart"] Once I returned home, I immediately log back into the game. With the ongoing quest, I don''t want to miss a lot of stuff especially since I already missed a pack of events while being stuck underground. Getting back in Alternate World, I immediately went to the camp where the two queens are currently staying. ording to everyone, after my disappearance, the two queens were worried and Queen Tori killed the soldier who caused me to fall into the depths as soon as possible. I was shocked when I heard about that. I wanted to deal with that soldier once I get back but to think Queen Tori had already done the deed, I missed the opportunity to have some little fun. "This is deheart, reporting in. Are anyone inside?" "deheart? Thank goodness you are back!" Queen Tanya is the very first one to rush and hugged me all of a sudden. "Wha- what are you doing, your majesty?!" "You idiot! Why did you even get yourself stuck in that kind of situation?! You had us worried!" "Ahahaha, I apologize but it wasn''t even my intention that I ended up falling into that ce." "Hah... at least you have returned safely and that is all that matters. I won''t forgive myself if you were not able to get back due to my negligence," Queen Tanya removed herself from hugging me and pat me on the shoulder. "Wee back to the frontlines, deheart." "Ha, I didn''t expect you to be still alive, deheart. You are one true warrior to have been able to escape and tell the tale," Queen Tori grinned as she raised her mug of hot chocte as a gesture of toast to me. "Ugh, I don''t want to remember it that much. Even though nothing much happened, it made me forced on dealing with some monsters that are close to immortals and I barely managed to win. I would rather not do that again if possible." "I see. So that ce was really that bad huh? To think that an ident would lead to us discovering the hidden ce underground of the mountains. Anyways, are you really okay now?" Queen Tori asked. "Can you tell us some tidbits of info about it, deheart?" "Info? What kind? There are plenty of things that happened to me down there." "If it wasn''t troublesome, then can you tell us everything? We tried to follow you using the ce you fell into but it was too dangerous due to how steep and slippery the walls were to go down there. The more info we have. the better it will be on mapping the ce and determining whether some ces are much more dangerous than on the surface." "Not a problem but first, I think you guys should take a look at this." I grab a certain broken item from my inventory and put it down on the table. Queen Tanya frowned and Queen Tori immediately grab it as she quickly examined it. A few secondster, her eyes grew wide after identifying the item in her hands. "The Carnwennan?!" "Yes. Since the purpose of this expedition is to retrieve the artifacts that King Arthur used and got lost in this frozen region, I think it is just necessary for me to show this thing out as the first thing for me to do after returning." "You found this item back when you were stuck underground?" "Yes. I also couldn''t believe that one of the artifacts of the famous King Arthur would appear down there. I only happened toe across it so it wasn''t something I have expected to see over there. Finding it was just a pure chance of luck while I was looking for a way to go back to the surface." "Just by retrieving this piece is a big thing already, deheart. And to think you would be able to get the Carnwennan only solidifies that the other artifacts of King Arthur are also there," Queen Tori continued to analyze the dagger in her hands. "So how did you get across with this thing, deheart? It would be something if you just happened to pick it up while exploring the ce," Queen Tanya looked at me. "Yes indeed. I didn''t just find this anywhere, I happened toe across it when I am looking for the way out, stuck on a single huge block of ice." "A huge block of ice?" "Yes. It was stuck there like someone deliberately stab it there and forgotten to pull it back out after using it. I thought it has no purpose when it was stuck there until the moment I pulled it out from the big b of ice." "What happened?" "The moment I pulled out the Carnwennan''s de, I realized that the original tip of the de has been broken and cannot be used as it was before. And the moment I pulled it out of the b, the b of ice melted and revealed to have sealed a beast on the ice. A dragon to be precise." "A dragon?!" the two were surprised. "Yes. And I don''t me you for reacting like that since Dragons are considered to be really strong and hard to kill as it takes a lot of firepower and resources just to bring down a dragon down. However, the situation at that time was different. The dragon was too weak at the moment and even though it was hostile, it wasn''t strong enough to unleash all of its powers. I took advantage of its weakness to finish it off and managed to kill it." "Can you tell us more about this dragon? Why would a dragon be randomly sealed by the Carnwennan? I heard that the Carnwennan might be the weakest weapon from the arsenal of King Arthur''s artifacts but it was strong enough to kill a dragon easily ording to the rumors." "I have limited info about it but ording to the system, the name of the dragon is called "Pendragon" allowing me to specte the main reason the Carnwennan is used to the dragon." "Pendragon? Isn''t that the surname of King Arthur?" Queen Tanya looked at Queen Tori. "Yes. It is the surname of King Arthur. Arthur Pendragon." "Indeed. And the reason that I think why the Pendragon is sealed on it using the Carnwennan is due to the fact that King Arthur himself can''t kill a dragon that is somehow rted to him in any kind of way. He might not be a dragon but perhaps his blood has pure blood of a dragon flowing on it that we don''t know and that is how the Pendragon and King Arthur is connected in some way." Chapter 480 Reforging The Carnwennan (II) "The two are rted in some way?" "For some reason yeah. When I killed it, I received some info about the Pendragon and it seems like it was connected to King Arthur himself." Although I didn''t really receive new info after killing it, I have a vague idea of what the Pendragon''s blood and flesh can do based on the changes that appeared on the Versatile Weapon after devouring the Pendragon''s carcass. And since the Versatile Weapon got stronger by devouring it, that means King Arthur also has done the same thing in the past, and perhaps the reason he was called Arthur Pendragon is due to him ying the Pendragon himself." (A/N: Remember that this is just a fictional thing, this doesn''t rte in any way to the real King Arthur himself) "That would make sense especially since King Arthur is just too strong that he doesn''t even resemble to a human any longer. He is much more dangerous than he should be and everything now makes sense." "The only thing that made me wonder is why is the Pendragon is sealed instead of being killed? Sealing it doesn''t make much sense to me," Queen Tanya fell into a deep thought. "It also made me wonder why myself. There isn''t a specific reason why the Pendragon would be sealed instead of being killed. If King Arthur was there himself and has fought against the Pendragon, it would make much more sense if he killed it and use the remains of it to gain more power." "Perhaps... the reason he sealed it is not because he didn''t consume the Pendragon but he is incapable of doing so?" Queen Tori looked at us and seems to have already formed a theory on why he sealed it instead. "Huh? Why?" "It seems that once someone or something already consumed a flesh of the Pendragon will be only capable of consume it once, nothing more than that. And since he didn''t kill it, perhaps he is looking for a way to consume it once he finds a loophole or a gap where he can take advantage to eat up the monster and im it''s abilities." When Queen Tori pointed it out, perhaps she nailed it or she is just treading too close to the main reason. Anyways, despite that theories, all of those are just theories and in the end, we can just keep specting and everything will not end as we can just endlessly specte and it might end up in a goofy way of line of thinking. "By the way, I have something to add. While I was down the underground, I met someone who is too strong despite being a guy who seemed to have not seen any kind of civilization before. And he has extremely fast regenerative healing capabilities as he was able to reattach his severed arm back to his shoulders when we fought." "A person underground? Has a very strong regenerative powers?" Queen Tori frowned when she heard of it. "Do you know him, Your Majesty?" I looked at Queen Tori who is furrowing her brows like she is trying to remember deep in her mind who I was talking about. "Sorry, perhaps I was just mistaken," Queen Tori shook her head. "So where is he now?" "We teamed up a bit and he helped me get out of the underground and perhaps, without his help, I would still be stuck there and struggling in a fight. However, after I managed to reach the exit and reach the surface, he returned to the underground saying that he likes it there better and he has no ns to go here in the surface." "That''s a bit weird. I don''t remember anyone falling down there. If there is, I should have already been informed about that ce much sooner. I will look on thister, deheart." "Okay then. So, is there any update on what we will be doing forter?" I asked. "Yes. Some of my soldiers have found some ruins not too far from here. But it was in a very dangerous spot due to how near it was one of the behemoths. We can try to kill the Behemoth that is in there since ording to Almira, she already made some bolts that are capable of bringing down the behemoths. With the materials gathered from the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned, It is now possible to get rid of the behemoths before they can destroy things," Queen Tori revealed. "The only thing is that, we don''t know whether we needed to kill that Behemoth. ording to Almira, some behemoths are not necessarily dangerous and they shouldn''t be killed as they are not hostile and they won''t harm humans unless theye really near. Though there are some behemoths that are needed to be killed if encountered and one of the example is the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned." "I still don''t understand though. Howe she is very knowledgeable about the behemoths in this area? It was like she knows her way around the ce," Queen Tanya scratches her head after hearing Queen Tori''s exnation. "Of course she knows. She is part of the expedition team in the past and have already encountered these beasts and know the best way to handle them. I learned it from her when thest time I talked to her." "I still don''t know how a cksmith was capable of doing that. She seemed to be hiding what she is really capable of." Queen Tori just smiles at her sister who is still trying to know who is Almira really is and handed the broken Carnwennan back to me. "Perhaps you can reforge the Carnwennan again, deheart? Since Almira is your master, perhaps she has already thought you on reforging relics like this?" "Although I haven''t been given the opportunity to fix any relics in the past, but yes, I do have the knowledge on how to reforge them." Almira didn''t teach me anything about it in this timeline but because in the past timeline, I already received the full guidance from her, I already know how to do things like that without any problem. "Then, in the meantime while we are still in the middle of preparation, I will give the task to you to reforge the Carnwennan and try to restore it as close as it was to its former glory as possible. It is fine if it wasn''t on par but at least make it to be usable to an extent." "I can do that. Can I start immediately?" "Yes. You can. There is one tent specifically for you since your teacher ordered to also pitch one tent for you to use. That is gonna help you reforge the item instead of barging into Almira''s smithing room. I heard she has a very bad personality if her smithing session is disturbed by someone." "Thank you, then please excuse me. I will start right away." The two queens nodded and resumed on their talks while I went to the tent that Queen Tori mentioned. I have to make sure to reforge it to the best of my ability as soon as I can. ... ... ... "What are you thinking so deeply about, Tori? You are getting more absent minded for a long while after deheart left already. Is something from his testimony that seems to not suit well on you?" Queen Tanya has already noticed her sister to remain absent minded for quite a while and she only see her like this when she is thinking too deeply on something. "Just what are you trying to understand? I don''t think there is something from his experiences that seems to need for us to nitpick about." "His testimony is fine. but there is one thing that is bothering me after he told us everything." "What is it?" "You remember the man that deheart mentioned that he meet when he is stuck underground?" "Yeah, what about it?" "deheart didn''t describe the guy that much but he knows that this guy is strong and has the ability to heal himself and reattach his severed hand. I keep on thinking on who is he talking about especially since regeneration that fast and strong is not something a human should be able to possess. Even yers like deheart doesn''t have that much regeneration powers as they also suffer from that too. It isn''t a yer so I have been thinking on who it was." "Perhaps you really do know something about the guy that he mentioned. After all, you have met more people than I do because you usually travel around the world before you settled down here." "No, its not that. There is just one thing that seems to make me think that I know this guy but there is just that one piece of info that I needed to piece it in just so I couldplete that said puzzle. That is making me scratch my head of thinking since it is somewhat very close yet for some unknown reason, the answer seems to just stay on the tip of my tongue instead." Chapter 481 Reforging The Carnwennan (III) Getting the task of reforging the Carnwennan, I went to work right away. I didn''t want to waste my time as the Carnwennan might be something that will be useful in the near future and with it broken, it would prove fatal if I made the item a bit moreter. With the free cksmithing area avable for me to perform the reforging, process, the only thing left for me to perform the reforging is to know what materials the Carnwennan needed to fully reforge it to its former glory. Compared to normal forging where you gather different materials first and you already have the end product results lying on your hands and once done, the quality of the weapon or armor or even an item will depend on what items you used, and how much was added and how it was forged. As for reforging, things get a bit different here. To reforge a broken weapon, you needed the base broken weapon or any weapon that needed to be reforged. Next is the identification part. What is the identification part? That is when you determine what materials are needed to repair the item back to its former looks and former durabilities and abilities without making it a new item. Andpared to normal forging, you either need the actual item that is needed to reforge or find something that will be equal or greater but has distinct simrities between the two materials so that it won''t move away too much from the base form. In short, reforging is much harder than normal forging. Now, this is the real challenge thates in. Because the Carnwennan is one of the known legendary weapons in the game, the materials needed to repair this are also close to legendary stuff. If it isn''t legendary, perhaps they are items that are hard to obtain and will task you to take an item that would be hard to obtain like the ingredients that Sigma and the others gathered for the quest of Almira. Entering the forging area of the tent, I checked every single tool avable and was satisfied seeing that all of the tools that I might need to use are avable for me to use. Not only that but everything is in top condition. The only gripe I have is that all of them look brand new. For a cksmith borrowing a forging area, I would be more confident to use tools that are already used as that would also mean these tools are good and already tested. Alright, let''s begin. First, I ced the Carnwennan on the anvil and opened the panel menu. Yes, this doesn''t have any realism in some way since we are using the game system just to identify items. But there is nothing I can do about it, maybe it was the game''s way of things to do. To identify the items needed, the panel shows me a few sliding puzzles with pictures of the materials. You can say it was a minigame but it was not just a normal sliding puzzle, it was a bitplicated and it has a lot ofplicated slides just to finish it up but in the end, it was just a small puzzle and despite the difficulty, it wasn''t that hard and I managed to identify the items that I needed to get to repair it after solving all the puzzles. However, it just ended with me furrowing my brows seeing that most of the items here are already in my possession. There are three of the materials and two of them are ready to be used on my inventory. The only one that is not avable on the list is the Cleansed Iron of the Lake. Based on the name, I think this item can be found on the Ind of the Avalon if I am not wrong. And since this is the only thing that I am missing right now, looks like I will have to go and fly back to Resurgia to fetch the item beforeing back. I can''t reforge the Carnwennan back to itsplete state if one item is missing during the process and I know that it sucks but that''s just how it goes. I can''t do anything about it. It''s not a big problem for me since I can just fly back and forth with Leona, the only thing I don''t know is how long before I can retrieve the item before I can reforge the item. But I just hope things will go my way. With the item identified, I didn''t waste my time and went outside and summoned Leona. I asked one soldier to ry to the queens that I will be retrieving the items necessary for the reforging process. Since the soldier already knows who I am, he didn''t ask second questions and bowed before going to report what I wanted to ry to them. As for me, it''s time to go back to Resurgia and visit the Ind of Avalon. ... ... ... ... Back in Resurgia where most of the yers are staying and have been exploring as the ce is much bigger than expected, most of the yers have been in constant guild wars here and there and most are just focused on dungeon raiding that the beginner yers have been on a big disadvantage already in terms of farming enemies due to how other guilds are just upying the good areas to farm and gatekeep them from farming the areas, which forced many beginners to move far from the usual farming spots and go to areas that are either hard for beginner yers to handle or areas where towns and cities are very far to ess for supplies. Currently, a group of new yers is exploring a thick forest that they just passed by. Although they are a party of 4 people, their levels are too low that even the considered weakest mob that has appeared in that area is a big challenge to them already. "Yna! Handle that goblin on the side!" the female druid is struggling to keep the lone goblin at the bay with her staff as she was being targeted by it. "Wait for a bit! I am still reloading! GAH!" the female gunslinger of the group named Yna is having a hard time as she reloads her revolver in panic. Since she was extremely panicked, she struggled in reloading the magazine to full which made the trouble for her to fight harder. "I will handle it for now! Focus on the reloading! Shana! Pass it here!" the male samurai then stood firm and put the katana in front of his face before activating a skill, [Taunt of a Warrior]. "Catch!" the druid who is named Shana, deflects the crude sword of the goblin using her staff before kicking it at the male samurai. The distance between the samurai and the goblin allowed the effect of the [Taunt of the Warrior] to immediately take effect and the goblin switches its target from Shana to the samurai. "KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE!" ''The goblin drolls as it immediately assaulted the samurai multiple times and the samurai struggled to block all attacks as the goblin was for some unknown reason being too harsh in their battle that even if he finds an opening to strike its weak point, he can''t easily do it since the moment he will be attacking, the goblin will exploit that and attack their weak point, which is why he remained on the defensive for a while. "Koji! Come on! Are you done designing the trap!? We are almost dying here!" "I am almost done! Just wait for a bit!" Koji, one of their malepanions is designing one trap using the Blueprint. Because he can''t think of a good trap to use,, he is stuck there for a while, thinking about what good trap would immediately help and reverse their situation. Yna who is still struggling earlier finally managed toplete the reload process. "Alright! Gin! Handle it! I will be shooting that *ss goblin!" Yna immediately released a few shots of bullets at the goblin, effectively hitting its body. Despite that, the goblin continues to move. The samurai who is named Gin had enough of having the bad aim Yna immediately grabbed the head of the goblin even though the risk of being stabbed is high and shouted Yna, "SHOOT IT ON THE HEAD!" Responding to the shout, Yna shoot the gun once and a bullet prated the goblin''s head. It didn''t take too long before the goblin lost all of its HP and died. Currently, this has nothing to do with the task of deheart in getting the item he needed to reforge the Carnwennan but the fates of these people will soon intertwine with deheart as they are both heading to the same destination. They might just be a motley crew but who knows what will happen if deheart encounters them? Is there gonna be changes or nothing will happen at all? Only time will tell. Chapter 482 Entering The Island Of Avalon The Ind of Avalon is located not too far from the Capital. But it was a bit hidden that ordinary yers who passed by the area will be passing by without knowing of that ce. Most of the time, yers will identally discover the ce by pure ident, especially those yers who were always being chased by someone or something and in a hurry, will stumble and reach the Ind of Avalon. Although it was called the Ind of Avalon, thend that you can call an ind is a bit smaller that if you want to build something on top of it, only a single small castle would fit in and that is if you cut down all of the trees of that ce, and instead of the sea, it was in the middle of theke. Most of the first-timers who have discovered the ce would not expect the ind to be that small. But despite looking like this, it doesn''t mean it was a normal ce especially since it was named after the famous Avalon that is rted to Merlin the Incubus and King Arthur. Because just like how the Lady of the Lake in the real world''s King Arthur, the Lady of the Lake of the game also exists and lives here on the ind of Avalon. How did I know all of this? Because I have experienced and have obtained a quest from the Lady of the Lake before in the past timeline so it isn''t a big wonder for me how I am able to know if the ce is present or not. I ordered Leona tond in a nearby forest. The Ind of Avalon is quite mystical and it cannot be easily seen up in the sky and no matter how much someone tries to hover around the sky trying to find the ce, it will not appear at all, making the Ind of Avalon a ce where those unfortunate and chased people managed to get away and escape from the threats in their lives, in short, a temporary safe haven. The ce still didn''t change much, just like in the past, this ce is still very lush in greenery and making it ideal as a ce to easily hide a hidden area. It is also not something simr to other games where there are signs that there are secret areas nearby that will allow yers to discover them. It is only a matter of pure ident or you already know how to enter the ce properly. I started walking and looked around the forest. I only stopped walking when I spot a big boulder beside a small tree. I went behind the boulder and located a small sprout growing. I pulled out a bottle of small HP potion and poured it on the small sprout before leaving and walking to the east from the boulder in 20 steps. After counting 20 steps, another sprout appeared in front of me. Just like the first sprout, I poured an HP potion into it. Once I emptied the bottle of potion into the sprout, I faced north and walked 10 steps forward from the small sprout. There, a small, round stone is currently sitting still on the ground. I picked it up and went 5 steps backward from where I came from and stopped beside a tree. I went around the tree and saw a small hole on the tree. That''s where I put the round stone that I picked up earlier. [You have performed the proper steps, a hidden way has been opened and can now be essed by you.] I sighed in relief since the method did not change a bit. It was still the same or else, I would be a bit madder to find out that the method is no longer working. Thankfully, that is not the case and everything is still the same. However, I am not here to obtain a quest from the Lady of the Lake but to obtain the necessary material to reforge the Carnwennan. Obtaining permission from the Lady of the Lake might not be proven to be easy for me this time around because before, the reason I am friendly with her is because of a certain line of quest that I happened to get in the past timeline. This time around, I have no time to do that quest to increase the favorability of the Lady of the Lake as that would take me a long time toplete especially since that is also tied to the story quest too which means my only choice is to directly face the Lady of the Lake and hope she is not gonna view me in a bad way. Alright, let''s get going. ... ... ... The group of 4 yers continued to walk into the forest, treading as carefully as they can while trying to avoid the eyes of the monsters. Just like their previous n, their Saboteur, Koji creates some small traps where they will be able to capture a smaller target and use that chance to kill it. That way, their leveling will be bigger and will allow them to quickly reach a certain level where killing these small monsters won''t be hard anymore. "Yna, have you already reloaded your revolvers? We can''t afford to have the same mistake as before. One wrong move and we will be easily dead here and our progress will be back to the beginning again," Gin looked at Yna who quickly pulled out her revolver. "Of course. I don''t want to be a burden to everyone so I will do my best to do everything without dying. We have reached this far, we can''t afford to let those yers humiliate us!" The main reason why the group of Gin was forced toe to an area where the monsters are strong is due to the fact that the lower-level grounds are all upied by yers who are grinding for levels. Whenever an outsider is trying to farm in their area, they will immediately initiate a PK. Unless the attacked yer is high leveled or skilled enough to handle the enemy, the end result is always the same thing and that is their death and the reduction of their experience points, item drops from their inventory, and other things. All four of them suffered from that experience so they didn''t want things to repeat. So in the end, they decided to venture deeper into the forests and head to the higher leveled areas. Since some yers no longer farm around in random ces and would rather head straight to the dungeons, this made the areas where the monsters reside, devoid of yers, allowing them to farm their levels there. Now, their only problem this time is how to effectively grind up their levels without dying. They might be capable yers but without a healer, they are clearly at a big disadvantage, and one wrong move and they will be immediately sent to the cathedral to resurrect. As they were walking, Koji detected something after the trigger from his trap has been activated. "Guys! I think I caught one! Let''s go!" Everyone nodded and immediately went to the location of the trap that has sprung, slowly but surely as they don''t want to trigger other monsters around. Their careers would be back to the beginning if they trigger an enemy that is harder to beat than they anticipated. When they arrived, the trap that Kojiid out is broken and had been reduced to pieces already. "Crap! The prey escaped! Shana, can you track the location of the enemy?" "I will try!" Shana is about to cast her ability to track enemies using the abilities of a druid when... ROOOOAAARRR! A loud roar from a monster echoed in the forest and soon, they heard footsteps rapidly approaching. "Oh crap, we are so f*cked up!" Koji sweats. "Oy, Koji! Stop getting shocked over there, deploy some traps to dy the monsters before we end up bing the prey!" "Uh! Right! Yes!" Koji immediately pulled out some of the finished blueprints he have and deployed them to the ground before leaving and following the others. The four started running for their lives. They abandoned the stay quiet strat and went to full speed ahead strat. With monsters on their trail, it wouldn''t be a mystery if they died easily. "This way!" Shana led the group as she is the fastest runner of all of them especially due to the help of her Druid ss which enhances her physique and allows her to borrow the abilities of her summoned animals or copy a monster or animal traits. Everyone trusted theirpanion and followed suit to where she was headed, passing through a small thicket. The moment they passed the thicket, they were surprised the moment they arrived at an area they haven''t seen on the map before. The system also prompted them on what ce they were in. [You have entered the Ind of Avalon. The overworld map has been updated.] Chapter 483 Lady Of The Lake (I) The usual entrance to reach the Ind of Avalon is among the thicket areas where wolves and other beasts lurk around. It''s not their main habitat but most of their prey usually dwell around the thicket making the ce quite dangerous to approach especially if you are not a high leveled yer venturing around the wilds. I approached the thicket, ready with my Versatile Weapon for any attacks toe to me. But to my surprise, the attacks did note as I expected. I was hoping to at least encounter a few beasts but it seems there is no hope for that. I won''t really have any expectations of wolves since I wear the mask that allows me to ignore wolves unless they go aggressive with me but I expected other beasts that are aggressive against the wolves. Seeing that no attacks have urred, I continue my path towards the thicket and entered the ce to get into the Ind of Avalon. [You have discovered the Ind of Avalon! You are the first to discover the area, rewarding you with 100 reputations to all inhabitants of the Ind of Avalon.] "Wow, that was great!" I didn''t expect to receive 100 reputations for all inhabitants of the Ind of Avalon. That means getting friendly with thedy of theke won''t be hard due to the help of that. It was a good thing that no one has yet to discover this ce aside from me or else the 100 reputations would certainly not get awarded to me. I wanted to head straight to where the Lady of the Lake is currently located when the thicket behind me suddenly started moving. I looked at the thicket and 4 people jumped right out of the thicket, clearly looking like they were being chased by something. To think I was just a few seconds earlier and got the reputation reward, if I was a few more secondste, these neers would be the ones who will be getting the reputation. ROAR! "F*CK! Is it still chasing?!" the samurai who wears the beginner gear holds his katana tighter. "I will deploy more traps!" the saboteur who is also wearing the same beginner gear drops a few bear traps down at the entrance of the thicket. "Alright, let''s move!" They were so busy running away that it seems they didn''t even notice me standing there while looking at them. Perhaps they are so panic-stricken that they have not been able to properly observe anyone in their surroundings. All they have been doing is running and escaping whatever danger is there chasing them. Perhaps they have yet to adapt to the VR atmosphere and that is perfectly normal, especially with the situation being so dangerous for them. And just like what they expected, the monster following them appeared out of the thicket. The monster stepped on the traps but it just shook them off like it was just nothing. Since all of the targets of its aggression is already far and the nearest one is me, it transferred its transgression to me. [Feroucious Angry Tiger] Elite Monster Level 60 HP: 30,000/30,000 Trait: Beast A level 60 huh? This one is nothing to me. "You are messing with the wrong dude, my guy." SWISH! A single sh is all it needed to kill the elite monster for me. With my stats, it was a bit of an overkill for me to kill it, and even if it was an elite monster, it wasn''t even that strong, to begin with so a single slice is all it takes to kill it. It would have been good if I just lopped off its head but I refrained as the quality of the fur would be really bad if dismantled once the head is cut off without being butchered properly and with my shes usually causing a messy cut, it would be better if I didn''t do anything like that. [You have killed the Ferocious Angry Tiger!] [Due to the level difference, you have earned less experience and reward. Earned 1 EXP(Title effects activated, 1 Exp earned.) and 1 gold. What a measly reward. It only made sense since my level is quite low that leveling even with the title effects, will not even make anything significant at all. The tiger howled before it died. It was expected and there is nothing more to it. As for the others, they looked back and are standing there in shock at what they saw. I don''t know what they saw but perhaps they have seen the moment I killed it in one sh. The girls sat down on the ground with the exhaustion taking over them. I sighed and signaled the others to approach. I can tell the men were reluctant but the druid nagged them toe so they decided to go. They are just wary of me especially since I just killed their pursuer in one slice. "You guys should take the corpse of this monster. Dismantle it if you guys knew how to do it, then sell it. You guys would earn a ton of money by just selling its fur alone." "Wha-? But we didn''t kill it! Why are we taking the spoils?" the samurai was not expecting my offer to them. "It is useless to me and I have no uses for its materials. I don''t need more money too so you guys should just take it. It doesn''t matter to me if you guys would take it or not, I am not in need of it, so do what you want with it." "Uh... thank you very much!" the saboteur bowed down with deep respect to me. I just shrugged them and went to go where thedy of theke should be. Time is the essence here. I can''t waste my time and dawdle any longer. ... ... After helping the 4 yers, I immediately noticed that they were following me. "Oy, you guys. If you think I was here to hunt, then you guys are wrong. If you n to level up, go outside and stop following me, I am not in need of your help." With beginner yers seeing a strong yer nearby, their first instinct is to follow them and ask to party with them just to earn slight experience gain from what they kill. It was some sort of boosting from higher leveled yers. Although some people kindly do that, I am not there to kill monsters. I am there to obtain the material I needed and once that is done, I will be leaving and returning to the Frozen Area of Sandurk. "Don''t worry! We are not here to disturb you! We will just be following closely since we are low leveled yers and we just stumbled here. We don''t know how big the levels of the monsters here and with you around, perhaps we can leave here easily if we follow you out of here." "What are your levels?" I turned to look at them. "I am level 20, Yna, our gunslinger is level 17, our druid, Shana is level 19 while our saboteur, Koji is level 15," the samurai revealed. "Hey, I just leveled to level 20 just now! Perhaps I received a bit of experience since I did some damage to the tiger that has just died." No wonder. They havee too far. It wasn''t even something they shouldn''t even be here as this ce is already in the area of level 65 and above. yers in the level of 20 and below are at very high and serious risk. But their reasoning of why they are following me is indeed viable. Following a strong yer on their way out to an unfamiliarnd is also necessary for them as that would spell their death if they even fight against a monster that is just a mob around here. After all, their levels are too low to even kill one here. Not only that, they don''t even have any healers in their group so it was very easy for them to die. "If that is the case, then just follow closely. Don''t interfere much if you guys wanted to get out of here alive. The enemies here are rather quite wild and would not hesitate to aim for the weakest members of the party." "Don''t worry. We won''t be a burden!" the samurai quickly nodded in agreement. I felt a bit sorry for them though. I think I know the reason they have arrived this far. During this time, beginner yers have a hard time finding a good ce to farm unless they have a guild they can join in, or else, they will have a harder time to even finding a good ce to kill monsters and raise their own levels. They are more likely to go and venture deeper into the dangerous areas to gain levels though it was known for being very high risk and high reward thing, they have no choice as that is the only way for them to get themselves leveled up. I opened the menu and pulled out a party invite which caused the samurai who seemed to be the party leader shocked. "Until we are out of here, you guys would follow me but be sure to not block my way or else, don''t me me for something to happen to you guys." Chapter 484 Lady Of The Lake (II) Due to the incident, the 4 yers who went in and got chased by a tiger teamed up with me. I don''t mind them teaming up with me but I hope they are not some backstabbing bastards. MMOs have many backstabbing yers who once they get what they want, will start to kill the one that helped them especially if they received a hefty amount of items. That is something I wanted to avoid at the very least. Looking at their levels, they barely have any kind of threat to me. In fact, killing them is just so easy by swinging my Versatile Weapon. In fact, they are so lucky that they have managed to reach this area so far with their low levels. Perhaps the tiger just drove them too far. "Why are you guys here? With the levels you guys have, it''s already quite a wonder how you guys managed to remain alive in this high leveled area." "Ahahaha, to be honest, we forced ourselves to dwell deeper into the high leveled areas. Guilds have already taken over most of the beginner areas for us to farm around. And since we don''t want to suffer the PK and the leveling down penalty from being killed in PK, we decided to just go and fight monsters in higher levels than us and a ce that isn''t much popr for farming." No wonder they are here. With the current game''s unbnced farming areas, newbie yers tend to suffer a lot from leveling especially those who don''t want to enter a guild for the time being. I have suffered from it before which is also one of the reasons I was in a guild at that time and I suffered further. Based on their fighting style, it was clear they are newbie yers and they have not yed other ounts for sure. But we will have to see how this goes. "Where are we, umm... Mr. deheart? Our map seems to have not recognized this ce and the moment we entered, it said "Ind of Avalon". Is this perhaps an exclusive area?" the Druid who is named Shana asked. "It''s not an exclusive area but it was a hidden area that can only be explored by yers who have entered the right way and those yers who just happened to be lost or being chased by an enemy. In my case, I entered the right way of entering while for you guys, it seems you guys have entered due to the reason you guys were being chased by enemies. The next time you wanted to get back here, you need to learn the right way to enter here." "There are hidden areas like this existing in the game? Damn, looks like it was the right idea for us to buy the game! The only problem is that it was quite a beginner unfriendly experience for us," the saboteur named Koji scratches his head. "Well, you have chosen a supporting ss and it doesn''t even possess any healing! We told you before that we needed a healer if we have to team up!" the samurai named Gin grumbled. "Hey! I know we needed a healer but I don''t even want to run a healer ss! I wanted to fight too!" "Now, now. We are already in this situation. It''s toote to keep ming each other. We should just go and get stronger and perhaps we can team up with a healerter on." The four rambled and argued on which sses they should have picked up but I don''t care much. It''s not my problem. "I will leave you all alone if you guys keep rambling there. Monsters might get attracted to you guys who keep on rambling on and on over there." "We apologize for the rowdiness of our group, Mr. deheart. It''s just that it''s rare for us to y a game with all of us 4 ying together." Looks like they are friends in real life. That is a good thing for them. ... Since I already know where to find thedy of theke, I didn''t rush to my destination and instead went around where the enemies are to at least help these guys level up a bit decently and that way, they can level up quite a bit when they are now no longer in a party with me. Since monsters around here are too low-leveled, I don''t benefit gain any of it at all so it means the majority of the exp points will be divided among them since we are in a party. That''s how the boosting process works in this game. "Mr. deheart, is it alright for you to boost us in levels like this?" Gin asked. "It doesn''t matter to me. It would be a bit annoying if you guys can''t even defend yourselves once we reach the area that I am trying to get into. Things are much more dangerous there and there is a roaming boss here. I am fine against it but that boss has a habit of attacking the weakest party member that is why you guys are at risk if you all didn''t have any good levels." "Then, we are in your debt, Mr. deheart," Shanaa happily epted what I am gonna do. "Just call me deheart. Adding a "mister" next to my ign is not very good to hear in my ears." ... The enemies are weak so all I am doing is just doing a one sh kill and leave the drops to them. I also taught them on proper dismantling and getting the good items in a monster''s body to sell for the best gold gain. And since I don''t earn any experience, and I am basically killing everything without stopping, leveling them up is very fast to the point that they are already able to defend themselves against enemies. All of them have reached level 55 after roaming around. "I didn''t expect you to be so strong! Are you perhaps a ranker?" Gin is quite amazed on how I work. "Perhaps, yes. I don''t particrly participate in things like that but in the leaderboards, I am in quite of a high ranker guy." Rankers are yers in Alternate World that has the highest and most notable reputation in the game''s current battles. Being a ranker doesn''t measure in your levels, it measures your overall achievements, your wins in Arena and many more. Not only that but if you are quite famous in the areas of PVP and guild wars, it is quite likely you will be in the rankers. I may have not done much of a PVP but thest Battle for Blood, I won the championship battle and not to mention, I also did two solo guild wars already. I may not be catching up thetest news at the moment but I already have quite a notorious name already. Since the levels of the 4 is enough to defend themselves against the wandering boss, I decided to head now to my destination. Farming for their levels did not take that long, I still have enough time to finish the reforging of the Carnwennan. "Where are we now?" Yna asked as we stand at the edge of theke with the huge castle with a floating tower above that castle just in front of us. "This is my current destination. I needed something in that castle which is why I came here in the first ce." "Is that some sort of a dungeon?" "No. There are no dungeons here. And the only monster we will see here is the Wandering Area Boss which is only by chance. It will only be a small chance though so no guarantee we will see it while we are there." "Still, it was quite amazing that we managed to reach this ce out of pure chance. We even got quite a lot of stuff and we can even gain quite a lot of gold after we sell the stuff we hadter on!" Koji grinned. "Indeed! Though we still needed to thank deheart for that. If not for him, we won''t even be getting all these stuff in the first ce," Gin looked at me with admiration. "It''s useless to me anyways and their materials are not that good to use in many items which is why it is better to give them all to you guys who needed money forter use and to also buy gear. Don''t thank me." ? "We still have to thank you since you aren''t a jerk like most yers who shamelessly bullies us low leveled yers," Shana pouted. Looks like they are really happy with how I treated them. I don''t really care though. Now that we are here, it is time to do the necessary steps to meet thedy of theke. I opened my backpack and pulled out a bronze ingot and throws it into the water. The moment the ingot fell deep into the water, a golden glow appeared on the bottom of theke and soon a woman came sshing out of the water. Despite the fact that it was not her legend in the real world, in the Alternate World, she adapted the role of Hermes in the Greek Folktale, the Honest Woodcutter. Chapter 485 Lady Of The Lake (III) The woman floating above the water made the four shocked. "Young man, are you the one who lost this gold ingot?" I shook my head. "That is too shiny, that''s not what I lost." The gold ingot that the woman is holding faded its gold color and turned silver then she asked again. "Is it perhaps the silver ingot?" "No, it is still a bit shiny." And like what happened earlier, the silver ingot faded its color more and turned into a bronze ingot, the same ingot I have thrown earlier. "Perhaps this Bronze ingot is what you have lost?" "I didn''t lose it, I am offering it." Thedy frowned a bit before she dive down to the water and her voice resounded. "So be it." The four curious yers looked at me in confusion and started to ask some questions. "Why you didn''t say that the bronze is the one you have thrown? Isn''t it working the same as that folk tale?" Shana is looking confused. "Just watch and learn," I pointed into the water. Soon enough, the still water slowly glows and a few transparent steps appeared out of the water, revealing it to lead us into the ind with the castle and floating tower above it. "Do you guys want to follow? You guys can also just stay here if you want." "No, no, we will follow! We came this far, it is a shame if we just stay here and miss the spectacle!" Yna immediately answered. "I don''t know what you mean about spectacle but alright then. Let''s get going." We crossed the floating tforms. Despite it looking like unstable to stand on, the tforms are very solid and will support even the heaviest yer stepping on them so there is no danger that would cause anyone to fall on the water. When we reach the castle on the other side everyone was amazed when they started stepping onto the floor as with every step they make, flowers start to bloom. "So that guy is here." Flowers blooming every single step of a visitor is something that only one of the residents of Avalon is quite capable of doing, and that is none other than the incubus, Merlin. If he isn''t here, the flowers will not bloom at all but with Merlin''s presence, the garden that Merlin tends most of the time will always appear and will always surprise the first-time visitors. "Oyah? I was thrilled about the new visitors being amazed by my garden but I spotted one who seems to be just indifferent! I didn''t know someone would get indifferent to my garden''s brilliance and beauty alone!" Perhaps if I have seen this for the first time then yes, I would be enthralled and amazed by it but because I have seen this plenty of times in the past timeline, I already got used to it that I don''t even see it that amazing and only see this as amon urrence and sign that the incubus Merlin is inside the castle and tower. "Who was that speaking?" Gin immediately pulled out his katana alongside the others, ready to fight once the enemy appears. "Oh no, no. Please put away your swords guys and gals, fighting is not allowed here, we should remain peaceful and calm all the time. Being so paranoid and uptight all the time will just put a lot of wrinkles on your faces." The four are easily swayed so they quickly sheathed their weapons back to their sheaths. As for me, I remained calm as we went deeper into the castle. Compared to the castles where humans are always around and are always taking care of things like cleaning and maintaining all of the stuff around the ce, this ce is clearly showing signs that it is only being maintained by using magic alone and not by humansbor. Of course, that is understandable especially if the only people in this ce are the Lady of the Lake and Merlin himself. We reached the area where it looks like an outdoor dome area around a garden. In the middle of the dome area is arge table with a few sets of metal chairs that are intricately designed by an artisan. In the past timeline, it wasn''t this bare of items since there are lots of stuff back then. Right now, it seems the Lady of the Lake has yet to do much and just remained quiet in a passive state. "Looks like you safely crossed here huh?" We soon saw the owner of the voice who appeared before us. It was none other than the Lady of the Lake. Despite being thedy of theke, the only one that is thedy of theke there is the one that appears whenever something fell underwater. Other than that, the real deal will appear if you cross into the ind itself and enter the castle. Of course, you can''t enter it by traversing theke using a boat or by swimming due to the protection that the Lady of the Lake and Merlin put to stop any invaders and unwanted visitors. Only those who got the permission from either the Lady of the Lake or Merlin will they be able to cross using the floating tforms. "Good day to you, Ms. Lady of the Lake." "Huh, so you already know me huh? I was wondering why you already know how to do how to let me open up a path to the castle but it seems you are very well versed in it. I am not even surprised." She turned to look at the four and I saw them getting amazed by her. Perhaps they are infatuated with her. Of course, I won''t even doubt it as the Lady of the Lake is quite a beauty that even girls who don''t swing "that way" get converted easily. I am like that at first too but I think my mind which has seen her face multiple times is already immune to her beauty charms. She is still quite a beauty for sure but I no longer feel that kind of excited when seeing herpared to the past timeline. "So what do you want from me? Surely you didn''t just waste a whole bronze ingot and gave it away just to meet me right? I would not be thrilled if that is the main case here." "You guessed it right. I am not here to curry favors on you but I wanted to ask permission to obtain the Cleansed Iron of the Lake." After hearing the name of the item I am looking for, she frowned. "Why are you looking for that? How did you know the existence of that type of item in the first ce?" As expected she immediately suspect me to be an enemy who wanted to exploit her. People who wanted to gain more things from her know what kind of treasures she possesses and I am not an exception but I have no need of her treasures right now. I don''t have any particr need for what she has right now. I pulled the Carnwennan out of my inventory and showed it to her. When the Carnwennan came into her view, her eyes went wide. It seems she didn''t expect to see me carrying the Carnwennan. "May I inspect it?" "Feel free to do so." I handed her the broken Carnwennan and allowed her to examine the weapon closely. She has already seen the Carnwennan before so she will recognize it immediately "Where did you get this?" "On the frozen region of the Sandurk Continent. I am part of the people who is currently on an expedition of that ce before under themand of the two queens of Sandurk, Queen Tori and Queen Tanya." "Oh, the two siblings who ruled Sandurk. And to think I would see the Carnwennan again. No wonder you wanted the Cleansed Iron of the Lake. It is for reforging the Carnwennan back to its former glory right?" "Yes. That is correct." "But, are you capable of doing it? The Carnwennan might be a dagger but it wasn''t something that can be called normal. Normal cksmiths don''t have the capacity to restore this thing from its former glory." "It''s possible for me. I am the disciple of Almira. And although my skills are not as good as Almira, she already passed me down some of the basic means to restore relics back to their former forms without breaking them down." "Hoh? Did you just say Almira?" When I mentioned Almira, someone else came down to meet us. It was none other than Merlin himself. One of Almira''s long-time friends. In fact, the main reason I am acquainted with the Lady of the Lake and Merlin in the past timeline is also due to Almira. "I didn''t know that Almira has already decided to pick up a disciple after so long of remaining alone and adamant about not getting a disciple." "Haha, to be honest, I beg to be her disciple and if not for my persistence, perhaps she wouldn''t even bother making me her apprentice." "Indeed. It''s Almira we are talking about. Anyways, you are here to get the Cleansed Iron of the Lake huh? Unfortunately, looks like you came in a bad timing, the roaming boss around this area has imed the area where the Cleansed Iron of the Lake is located and has taken up the spot." Chapter 486 The Revival Of Cath Palug The Cleansed Iron of the Lake is something that is not mined. In fact, it wasn''t even an ore. It was a fruit from a fruit-bearing tree and despite being a weird tree that bears a fruit that is basically used for forging, it is one of the favorite food for some monsters. And in the past life, the roaming boss is indeed very obsessed with eating the fruits that once in a while, it will go there and stay for quite a long time, especially during the time it is currently bearing quite a lot of fruits. Since I am already past the level of the roaming boss, killing it is very easy to me and I can even solo it so there isn''t a problem. "There is no problem with me getting rid of the roaming boss. How are you saying it was a problem?" Merlin flips his long hair before he started talking again. "That guy did not go there on purpose. In fact, it was just there to pick up its food once in a while. I know that it usually hoards the tree''s fruits, especially during the blooming season of the tree that the Cleansed Iron of the Lake is growing from." "Huh? I thought it was an ore? Is this thing you guys are talking about a fruit?" Gin asked. "Both. It is a unique tree that bears an iron fruit that only monsters that eat metal eats. It is unique in Avalon so don''t be surprised about it." "Can you give me more exnation? I don''t understand you guys saying it didn''t stay there on purpose." Merlin was about to say something when thedy of theke stops him and decided to take over. "Let me tell them about it." "Huh? Are you sure about it?" Merlin looks skeptical. "Yeah. You have a sloppy way of exining things so I should do it instead." "Hey, that is just mean," Merlin frowned. Thedy of theke snaps her fingers and a few chairs and a table appeared. There is also some food on the table that she prepared like we are about to do a teatime snack. "Let''s take a seat first. It will take a bit longer than usual so please listen carefully." "Alright. Let''s get into the discussion then." All of us get seated before thedy of theke started to talk. "A few days ago, a group of men has already came here and demanded we give them permission toe in here. I can already tell that they are not here to do any good so I barred them from entering the Castle of Avalon they decided to swim and use a boat toe here only to end up in a failure." "They tried various ways to cross the ce but it all ended without any sess which caused them to stop." "But they didn''t give up, right?" I predicted. "Indeed. They didn''t give up and instead, stayed in the area for quite some time. I thought they will eventually leave after staying for a while but then Merlin discovered something after he was away during that time. The Seal of Cath Palug has tampered and the revival of the beast is imminent. So he returned to Avalon as soon as possible and remedied the seal only to find the roaming boss to be stuck there dead and causing the surroundings to get corrupted which will soon cause the revival of Cath Palug unstoppable. Upon further investigation, it wasn''t due to the death of the monster that caused this but due to some sort of ritual done that made the whole area look like that. And the ritual seems to be done by the people who wanted to get inside the castle from earlier." Cath Palug. One of the Raid Bosses in the game and one of the main bosses that will appear once the storyline progresses. In the storyline, once the demons have started their attack, Cath Palug along with some of the monsters will appear and wreak havoc on thend, along with multiple monsters that will destroy even the strongest knights. I am one of the participants of the Cath Palug subjugation and all I can say is that this boss is something really strong and dangerous. I have died plenty of times alongside the others when we fought against the Cath Palug and when we killed it, it was killed using the power of the sword of King Arthur, the Excalibur wielded by a yer. Even the turtle back in the Frozen Region is not as dangerouspared to the Cath Palug. That is how dangerous the Cath Palug is. When the Cath Palug was killed, it revealed that the Cath Palug is the one who have destroyed the biggest parts of the kingdom during the war and it is also the only raid boss that managed to kill the most yers in one round. That is how insane the Cath Palug is. And now, before the Cath Palug appears, it seems I stumbled upon the part where I have to prevent its revival. "I can already tell that you guys want me to prevent the revival of the Cath Palug but I also have a task toplete and that is to reforge the Carnwennan as soon as possible before things get out of hand from where I came from." "Reforging the Carnwennan is easy to be done. Just leave it to us. I will make sure the Carnwennan is back to its tip-top shape and it''s going to look a lot better than how it should have been. Of course, we won''t stop you if you want to reforge it by yourself, but the quality of the Carnwennan will drop tremendously especially if you use a different method to reforge it without using the original ingredient." "I see, you guys will reforge the Carnwennan in exchange for resolving the problem?" "We don''t want you to resolve the problem, we are just gonna ask you to defeat the men who caused the seal of the Cath Palug to weaken. Although we have already prevented the seal from breaking, the lingering power that is causing the seal to weaken is still there and the only way to fully remove them is by killing the people who ced them there. Merlin has already found that those seals are connected to the lives of the people who have ced them there. Killing them would effectively remove the thing that is causing the seal of Cath Palug to weaken." "Are you sure? Isn''t that going to cause more problems if the one who ced them died? I have seen a few more things simr to this in which the things that were left behind will cause a big trouble that will end up making things much more troublesome than how it should have been?" this time, the one who asked a question is Shana, who is currently listening to us. Even though she hasn''t understood the situation that was currently happening, it seems she got the gist of it in the middle of the exnation. "There is no need to worry. I already looked into that in its worst-case scenario and I am quite relieved that things like what you just said won''t be happening. I already assured it that the situation isn''t that bad at all and I have already made some tests and I am 100% sure that killing the people who put them there will remove the sealpletely. It might be cruel to do so but that is the only way if we want to avoid a dangerous revival. The Revival of Cath Palug should be prevented at all costs. It will cost a lot of lives in the process and killing it would require more sacrifices that any people wouldn''t want to experience but that is the only way," Merlin confidently exined. "So, would you ept the proposal? I will make sure the Carnwennan would be back to its former look and former uses, heck, I can even improve it a lot more." I sighed and stood up before pulling out the Carnwennan and putting it on the table. "Alright, I will take a hold of your words from it. I will take the job." "Hey, hey! Can we also take this job?" I was surprised when I heard that from Gin. I thought he has no expectations of it but for some reason, he wanted to join the assassination all of a sudden. "Aren''t you guys part of his group? That only means yes, you all are included in this quest. Or perhaps I am just mistaken?" thedy of theke is looking confused. Looks like being in a party with me triggered and allowed them to participate in this task even though they just apanied me. That seems to be the case in here. "In that case, we will now begin the assassination of those people, expect the good word and I hope by the time I returned, the Carnwennan is back to its former form." Chapter 487 All I Have To Do Is Kill (I) After epting the task, I found out that I have 5 targets to kill. Merlin went ahead during his investigation of the seal and used his abilities to track them all. That would make the job easier than I thought it would be. We already left the Castle of Avalon and we are about to leave the Ind to perform the quest, the sooner the quest is done, the better. I looked at the 4 yers with me. I know they are already ready to deal with a quest like this but their equipment is not even on par with their levels. Currently, they have equipment that is only viable until they reach level 5. Unless they are a masochist and wanted to challenge the harder contents of the game using that equipment, they really need to use another set of equipment. "Guys, let''s stop here for a while." "Huh?" the four were looking confused. "The equipment you guys have are all too outdated and with our mission, in just one hit, you guys are gonna be either in low health or dead already. You need to change equipment." The four looked at their equipment and they nodded after I pointed it out. "Yeah, you are right but we are far from the town and going there to buy items just takes time. We don''t have time to go back by walking and I will assume we will reach the city around nightfall." Yna estimated. "Are we that far from town already?" Koji scratches his head. "Yeah. We camped for a day here in the forest remember? If we calcte how far we have walked, it will take us a whole day before we can reach back the city," Gin pulled out his map and checked the locations that he marked. "Yep, I was right." I scratch my head and perhaps the reason I don''t have any problem is that I have two pets I can use to travel fast enough in every area that I don''t need to walk a whole day to reach the area. "There is no need to worry about that. I was just saying whether you all n to change your equipment or not." "We will change our equipment as soon as we reach the city and sold all the materials we get. It is a must for us if we wanted to start grinding for thete game," Shana immediately answered. "Then let''s get out of here if you guys want to do that. We are wasting time standing here, soe on." I left them behind and exited the Ind of Avalon. The next time I needed to return here, I will just have to do the same process I entered to get back there without getting lost. It''s tedious but that is how things work and there is no such thing as shortcuts. Once we are out, I summoned Leona out from the Summon''s Area, causing the shock the four. "Holy crap! A griffin!" "As expected of ate game yer! Even their mounts are amazing!" They started to talk with enthusiasm as they saw Leona rub her head on me. I pulled out a big chunk of meat from a monster I butchered especially for Leona and handed her a piece of it. I rarely use Leona in battles nowadays but that doesn''t mean her services will stop. "Hop on guys. If we wanted to finish things as quickly as possible, then flying is the best way to get back there." The four were reluctant but their leader, Gin, decided to go and do the job. "Alright, we are counting on you." With Gin doing the initiative, the rest followed suit. Well, that is good that I don''t need to force them toe up. ... ... ... With the speed of Leona''s flight, we reached the Capital easily. We justnded near the Capital when I noticed that one of the markers from the assassination targets that Merlin tracked are glowing brighter, I immediately knew that one of the targets is currently around the Capital. "Alright, you guys should go and sell your haul, I will wait for you guys once you are done in the city gates." "Alright." The four left as they discussed how to split the money from the profits of their materials sold in the store. I don''t need to worry too much as they will be getting lots of money using those materials alone. Although they can sell it for bigger money once those materials are processed, I don''t think they know how to do that and I am not a charity that will provide them free work. They needed to learn how to do stuff all by themselves too. Since the four are now gone, I pulled out the map and noticed that the tracker is already tracking the enemy. As expected of Merlin, it was just like he attached a GPS device to every target. Since the target is an NPC and we are inside the Capital, it will be troublesome to assassinate someone in broad daylight which is why I will tail on the guy and find a good chance to kill him before he knew what is happening. I have a high reputation in the Capital but things would still get hectic if I kill someone without any record of crimes in the city especially if they are an NPC. But that just adds more to the thrill, made me remember the times I yed Assassins Creed for the first time in the past. For the assassination, trailing the target on the rooftops is the most sensible way to do it. I know how to traverse the rooftops withoutnding on the ground and hiding on the rooftop is much easier and unless someone looks up, it will be hard for me to be spotted. Getting into the rooftop, I noticed that the marker just passed by near me so I am gonna assume the target is among these people. Until I can pinpoint who it was, I will have to continue following the target. If only I have the same ability in Assassin''s Creed which allowed me to identify targets among the crowd, things would be much easier. Wait, perhaps the Assassin ss skill tree has that? Since I didn''t check the Assassin ss skill tree in the past timeline that much, I have limited info on whether the ss has the ability avable for purchase. If so, it would be really helpful. But my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined finding out the Assassin ss does not have that ability. Most of their skills and passives involve doing attacks that deal with critical damage, weakness spotter, and other stuff that would definitely help in an assassination job but because I don''t have any need to get them, it''s useless. I just closed it since it doesn''t have anything that would help me track the guy down. I will have to rely on my own eyes and instincts who is the main target. There are plenty of people on the road where the target is currently walking into. They are also plenty of potential candidates but it''s hard to pinpoint who it was so I have to remain vignt before I miss the main target. I am mainly looking at suspicious-looking guys and some other ruffian-looking guys who seem more likely to cause trouble. But all of that was immediately broken. As I was trailing on the target, the tracker turned to the left allowing me to immediately knew who it was. At first, I thought my target is a man, but it turns out, it was a woman. I can''t be wrong about it since the only person who turned to go to the left is only a woman. She stopped at a store on the left and the marker also stopped which made me 100% sure that my target is that woman. "And to think that I thought a target is a man, That innocent-looking face of the target was true quite a big facade. If not for the tracker, I would have lost the target for assassination already especially since the target doesn''t look like a person who will hurt a fly or a mosquito." She stayed there for a few minutes before she came out carrying a basket of fruits of vegetables. She really did look like an ordinary viger. I doubled check in case I was wrong and killing someone who doesn''t have any affiliation to the quest would be really troublesome even if it was a game. They don''t revive after all. But the target is her. She isn''t a normal NPC, she is an enemy and if not killed, the revival of Cath Palug and the hellish raid willmence. I will have to prevent that at all costs. While she continued walking she soon arrived in a dark alley and she stopped. "Come out little rat. I know you are following me. Quit hiding and face me directly and tell me what do you want?" Chapter 488 All I Have To Do Is Kill (II) She is quite sharp. She immediately noticed me following but hearing her words, I am quite sure she is just guessing and she was hoping for me toe out from hiding and go out to reveal myself. But I am not so naive as to fall into that. Activating [Stealth]. I quickly blended into the shadows while still continuing to observe her at a safe distance. The woman frowned when no one came out even after her provocation. "Looks like you are really keen on dying today huh?" she puts down her groceries and snaps her fingers, releasing a ck staff in her hands. However, that intimidation does not work for me. I am not afraid of facing someone who doesn''t pose a threat to me which made it hrious for me to watch someone activate their threatening powers to snuff me out from my hiding spot. She unleashed her abilities all around her and tried to use her magic spells to deal against me but it wasn''t anything dangerous to me so, in the end, it was a fruitless attempt. After a few seconds, she stopped and frowned since there isn''t any reaction at all. "Am I just imagining things? No one is in here. I unleashed everything and no one died, that was strange. I am quite sure someone is following me." She returned the staff from where she pulled it out and picked up the groceries before she started moving again. From the looks of it, she is about to go home. That''s the time I found the right chance. I changed my Versatile Weapon into a Hook and Chain and throw the hook towards her neck. It was all so sudden that she didn''t even get to evade it. I pulled the hook and she is slowly being choked by the chains as her body is being lifted off the ground. "GAH!" She struggled as she tried to pull out her staff from earlier. She struggled with doing so as she can''t concentrate on getting the staff with her neck being tightened to the extreme. "ACK! G...GHAAA! ACK!" Her breathing is getting real faint and she can''t even scream with her throat being tightened too much by the chains. The blood on her body seems to reach her eyes and blood started to pour out of her mouth already. After struggling, the staff she used earlier reappeared but I didn''t let her have a good chance to use it as I tighten the pull of the chains to her neck. Tighter than ever before. Due to the tightness, the pull I did cause her to lessen her grip on her staff and she lost grip on it, ending up causing the staff to fall to the ground. She wriggled a lot causing the chain to tighten a lot more and before everything ended, her struggles also stopped when she finally breathed herst. Dying from being choked. I sighed after she died. The moment she died, the quest was updated and the count of the enemies being killed has been updated, revealing that I seed in killing her. I lowered her dead body and returned the form of the Versatile Weapon back into a sword and sheathed it before I went down to check on the woman. The first thing I did is to check her pulse. She might have breathed herst but I can''t be too sure about it. There are some cases where even the system already dered that it is dead but it will end up reviving her. Thankfully, she really is dead and she is not gonna stand back up again. Once the confirmation that she is dead is already done, I went to check out her clothes and a few parts of her body which allowed me to discover a few items that seems to be kind of relics. It had some dark aura to it, which made me think that it is cursed. I am not too sure if it was really cursed, but it seems to be a lot closer to that. Next, I picked up the staff she had. At first, the staff tried to sting me when it tried to resist my hands but I am a ruthless guy and when the staff did that, I would immediately kick the staff a few more times with force before the staff stopped doing so and I can now pick it up. Unfortunately, the staff does not reveal any sort of info meaning it wasn''t even meant to be picked up by a yer. This thing is a piece of exclusive equipment from the enemy. Seeing that, I pulled out the Versatile Weapon for it to devour the weapon but to my surprise, the Shadow Dragon that tries to devour almost anything denied the item and refuses to eat it. In the end, I burned the weapon with Lucia''s mes alongside with the dead body, leaving nothing, even ashes in its wake. With the deed done, I returned to the gate of the Capital and started waiting for everyone to arrive. It''s kind of bad of me to not wait for everyone to hunt down the first target but that is better this way, especially now that I have known what they are really capable of. Those guys will probably have a hard time with them and since they are with me in this quest, I should at least help them get their group quest a sess with them involved in it and not only me doing all of the quest objectives. We have 4 targets left to kill. With one of them dead, I think they will immediately know that the 5th member of their group is already dead. They will be really cautious about this and things will not be as easy as before. And if my guess is correct, they will start hunting whoever killed the 5th member of them. But that is fine. Perhaps they really needed to learn that they are just gonna die at the very end. Whoever they are, all I needed to do is to kill them all. Chapter 489 All I Have To Do Is Kill (III) A few more hourster, the four finally arrived, now fully geared that would make them look like proper warriors. They no longer looked like they were fresh chicks who were just learning how to walk. "You guys took your precious time huh?" I looked at them one by one. "We are sorry, Mr. deheart. It took us a bit of time to get everything on our side done especially the items that we have sold. It took quite some time before they were done counting so we ended up taking a bit longer than usual," Shana exined. "Not so surprising with all the items you guys have plus those things that you all have hunted before. But since you guys are already done, we should go and do our quest. The faster we are done, the better." "Yes! We are now ready to perform the quest. So where should we go first?" Gin opened his map and frowned. "While you guys have been busy with the materials and gearing up, I got in contact with one of the targets. I already eliminated the target, leaving us with 4 targets left to defeat." "Wow, you already defeated someone already? That is awesome!" "Since this quest is originally my quest, I don''t need for you guys to assist me in the battle. But since you guys have yet to experience and have attacked any dungeons, perhaps the battle against the targets will allow you all to learn how to deal with an enemy." "So we are not gonna fight?" Yna seems disappointed. "Based on the enemy from earlier, you guys would die before you cannd a single valid hit. But if the enemy is a pushover and easy to kill, I can pass the baton and let you guys kill the target, how about that?" The three looked at Gin who is the acting leader of the group. He didn''t think twice and he nodded. "It''s not a problem. You already helped us a lot so observing a higher leveled yer fight might help us gain some epiphany on how to properly fight with a VR game like this." "Then it''s settled. As, Lucia." In a blink of an eye, As and Lucia appeared before me causing the four to get startled. Out of the four, only Gin and Shana were quite fast at pulling at their own weapons and ready to fight. "Don''t be rmed. They are my followers, you can say they are mypanions that are with me all the time and that assist me in my battles against different enemies and even with some yers. They are loyal and can protect all of you so don''t be afraid to depend on them when it is dangerous around. "Nice to meet you all. We already know who you are so you guys don''t need to introduce yourselves. I am Lucia and this guy in armor is As. You guys don''t need to worry about a single bit of thing. You all will be safe with us." "Uh, nice to meet you too. But uh... are you an NPC?" "NPC? Ah, you mean the natural denizens of this world? The answer is yes, both As and I are denizens of this world. If you guys still have more questions, please don''t hesitate to ask us." "Wow, holy crap. I thought the inte is just joking about NPCs being sentient enough that they can hold a conversation with you but damn, they really can and they even talk like real humans too!" Koji is clearly amazed. "Mizuchi." Mizuchi appeared out in the woods and approached us. Since Mizuchi is a snake, the group is once again surprised to see a new entity once more. "Is that your pet still, Mr. deheart?!" Yna trembled as she pulled out her revolver. "Yes. This is Mizuchi. We will be riding on his back to traverse and locate the enemy nearby enemy." "Wait, Mr. deheart, are you going to summon a dragon next?!" Koji tried to guess. "Huh? I don''t have a pet dragon and even if I have one, there is no way I would just leave it out of the y and let the others have the fun. Besides, Dragons are one of the rarest pets you can get, I doubt I will be getting one without getting lucky in a dragon''s nest or a reward on some random quests." ... ... ... And with that, we departed from the Capital as we venture into the nearest town where the tracker for the second target is glowing. It''s a ce where notorious criminal NPCs and some of the heinous gangs gather. An ouw town. "It''s simr to the slums huh?" Ginmented when I exined the town we are about to go in. "It''s simr except that all inhabitants here are all people who have at least more than 3 times kind of crimemitted. It''s not an easy town to enter into." "Then it''s a very dangerous town then?" "Not necessarily. Not all NPCs that are living there are necessarily bad, they are just people who have lost their way and have nowhere else to go. And with the town as a ce for ouws, it was somewhere they can hide without being persecuted by thew." "But that doesn''t change the fact that this ce is filled with criminals right? Are we gonna be fine here?" Shana is worried. "Yes. But you guys don''t need to worry. If they try to mess with us, even Lucia alone can defeat them without any problem." As I am exining more about the town, Mizuchi arrived not too far from the town''s outskirts. I alreadymanded him to stop not too far from the town to avoid alerting the guards that will also alert anyone else in there. "Are we really gonna enter there? Can''t we just not go in and wait here?" Yna is clearly trembling. "Yna, I know you don''t like to be near ruffian people but this is just a game. You don''t need to be afraid of them," Koji reassured her. "Does she have some sort of trauma that made her like this?" I frowned. This is the first time someone is hesitant to even enter a game''s ouw area. "Yeah. She had been abducted by some people and was brought to an area simr to the ouw town that we are about to go to." Chapter 490 All I Have To Do Is Kill (IV) "She developed quite a lot of trauma due to that and it made her really cautious in many ways and if she ever goes near a ce that will remind her of the ce she was brought in, she will have panic attacks and she will turn into something like what she is right now which is quite troublesome and a bit concerning as she will start hurting herself." A bit concerning indeed. It would attract a lot of attention from everyone if she started to make the same panic attacks and it will make the NPCs with hostile traits get attracted to us and will cause trouble which will be a big nuance for us to search for the target. "Fine, fine. Let''s do this instead, you guys will stay near but I will have to let you all hide and you all will be staying above the ground to keep up with what is happening below." "Huh? Aren''t we gonna give out more attention to them if we do that?" "Not really. Tina." "Yes, Master." The sudden appearance of Tina caused the four to be shocked again. This time, it was understandable as Tina appeared behind them. "You have an ability that will allow someone to remain invisible right?" "Yes, Master. It''s one of mymon abilities, [Cloaking Dust]" "How long will they be able to remain invisible?" "I can keep them remain invisible as long as they are not detected by anyone using any detection magic or instruments that can erase any kind of stealth magic. It will also depend on how much mana I have left as it will continue to reduce my mana the longer my target stays invisible." "Then that''s good. Leona." Leona appeared before us and since the four had already seen Leona before, they are no longer shocked at her appearance. after I called though I looked forward to their reactions every time. Looks like once is just enough. "Go and ride on Leona. Lucia, and Tina, you guys should also join on Leona''s back. Leona, just hover above us but don''t go too low that will cause them to detect you guys out. Tina, cast your [Cloaking Dust] once everyone has already been on Leona''s back. You too should join in to ride on Leona so that you can maintain the magic spell. Here are some bottles of potions in case you run out of mana. As for you guys just observe from above." "No, I am gonna being with you. It wouldn''t feel right for us if we are just the ones who are left to be safe from enemies. At least bring me along with you." "But you won''t be fighting here, are you still gonna join? It will be pretty much a hard task to remain alive there." "Yes, no worries. Don''t worry about me and I know how to deal matters with, easily." "Well then. If that is what you want, then go ahead. How about Koji and Shana, are you two gonna stay too or you will be boarding Leona? Either is fine by me." "Ah, I would rather stay beside Yna in case she tends to go have a panic attack. I know how to calm her down if that ever happens," Koji immediately answered. "Since Koji is there, I don''t think I need to stay with them this time. I will be joining you alongside Gin to enter the vige." "Is that so? Well then, let''s get into it." Leona started flying after Koji, Yna, Lucia and Tina have climbed behind her. Before they fly high up in the sky, Tina cast her [Cloaking Dust ] to themselves, allowing them to remain invisible. If not for the fact that Tina is my follower and the others are my party members, I wouldn''t even notice that they are currently up above. With them high up in the sky, we started walking on foot towards the vige. We aren''t far from the vige just yet when a few thugs have appeared with menacing looks on their faces. As much as they look menacing to me, they don''t seem to be one at all that their provocating looks just look like a punchable face. I have been here in the past timeline and I know one of their motto and rule in this ce. "Only the strongest will survive." It sounds simple but it is enough for the ouw town to be known as a dangerous ce for people who are nobatant. "Should I deal with them, Master?" As asked. "No need. I will take care of them myself." As we continue to walk, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed its form causing Shana and Gin to be confused and shocked seeing that it changed form. As we continue to move forward, I aimed the two pistols before me before I started sting as I pull the trigger of the gun. BANG BANG BANG Once the sound of the gun resounded, the NPC bandits died. Killing these guys serves no penalty which is why I can kill them without any problem for me. "There, all clean again." as I return the form of the Versatile Weapon back into a gun. I can tell that Shana and Gin are so ready to ask some questions but they didn''t have time to ask when the guys have started to appear before us. "Ha! How dare you step into..." BANG! Before the bandit can finish what he is talking about, I shot him with a gun in the head, killing him instantly. "You guys keep doing some dialogues that are too long to keep listening into. You guys should at least learn something new instead of doing something again and again like that." The remaining bandits were now hesitant to fight to see as I don''t even hesitate to shoot someone even though they have yet to show aggression toward us. Even if they are bandits, that doesn''t mean they don''t fear anything that can kill them. "You guys think that only you guys can do what you want? Well, that also applies to us." Chapter 491 All I Have To Do Is Kill (V) Killing in this town is always seen as a spectacle in this town. Riots, gang rumble, gunfights, duels, you name every single kind of event that has a chance of killing someone would be a big spectacle here. So this ce that is called awless area where ouws and criminals are living is one of the areas where death can be done by anyone and anytime. But even thiswless town had some rules too and that is, other than killing, other sorts of crimes like forcing a woman to have intercourse or very are something that is forbidden here. These guys would immediately kill anyone who does that kind. So even if a criminal thinks that it is fine to do those deeds, then they will just earn a death sentence from everyone here. "Is it fine doing that? Won''t these guys try to kill us after we have done this?" Shana is hesitant but readies her weapon as she looks all around the surroundings, trying to spot anyone who is going to assault us. "Don''t worry, anyone who tries to get a mess with us, won''t be able to wake up again," As reassured Shana. I don''t know if I was imagining it but Shana seems to blush hearing As saying that. We finally entered the town and my eyes looked into the tracker on the map that Merlin handed to me. Based on where the tracker beeping is, the target is just in one of the buildings there. I don''t know which building the target was due to the buildings being adjacent to each other and all of them having no space for each other. Even if this town is like a slum, it is much more progressive than a slum would and they have some business here too. Compared to the past timeline, some of the buildings here do not exist back in the past timeline. Perhaps something happened in the future for those buildings to disappear from the view. As we continue to walk, some of the thugs only made some nces at us once before continuing on their own business. I guess the disy of skills and how I just killed those guys singlehandedly without even talking to them has made them get the impression that we shouldn''t be messed around with. As we got near to the tracker, I finally found which building the guy was in. It wasn''t there in the past timeline so perhaps this ce was destroyed which is why it is missing in the past. It was some kind of club. It was like a mix of a bar and hostess club though I don''t have any idea what kind of business this was since I have not seen this before in the past timeline nor have I caught up to it before it was gone. "The tracker is in pointing in this establishment so that means the target is inside?" Shana stares at the building while tilting her head. "Based on how the tracker behaves and how I managed to track the first target before, that means this is indeed the ce where the target is currently staying right now." We stepped into the establishment and just like what I expected, it is indeed a club. I also didn''t expect to see a few female dancers here. Since this ce is notorious for criminals, that also means even the girls who are staying here are also a bunch of people with a track record of various crimes. So who are these dancers? Do they also have crimes and are currently working as a dancer? Or maybe even one of these dancers themselves is the main target. "There are so many people around here. Who is the target? I don''t think I can keep on looking at the tracker map and our surroundings at the same time..." Gin grumbled as he tried to spot the target. "Wait, I think it was that guy over there!" Shana pointed to one of the handsome guys sitting on one of the sofas. I looked at the tracker and it seems that Shana is right on track. It was hard to pinpoint whether he is the one or not due to how many girls were surrounding him but based on the same way I spotted the first target, I decided to continue investigating. "We shouldn''t be too hasty. Let''s sit down first and order something before we take action." Since the first target was able to cast dark magic, I assume the next target is also able to do so as well. But I don''t want to be hasty. Just like how the first target is a girl, there is also a chance that the target is not the pretty boy casanova right there but one of the girls flocking him there. "Hey there guys, are you all new here?" a girl that has a bunny girl outfit appeared before us. I took a nce and realized that it wasn''t just her outfit, she is indeed a bunny girl since her ears are not that of a human but of a bunny. Her hands are also a bunny too. The only thing that made me think she was wearing a costume is that she has a human facepared to most bunny girls. She is a half bunny girl. "Uh, no-" Gin was about to decline but I interrupted him, "Give the two of them a screwdriver and give me and this guy here a margarita." "Oh, good choice! It seems you are quite a drinker good sire. Will be right back!~" the bunny girl waved goodbye before going back to the counter. "But we are still minors, Sir deheart, don''t you think we are illegal to drink?" "Don''t worry, despite them being alcoholic, they gave some buffs on the drinkers and I have an additive ingredient that would get rid of the alcoholic content, you don''t need to worry and enjoy it." While talking to them, the guy finally moved as he tried to invite another woman he desired on the stage. That''s when I confirmed it. "Looks like he is indeed the target. Guys, prepare to fight, we will be doing a rumble here in this ce and it looks like we can''t avoid to give this ce a big wreck." Chapter 492 All I Have To Do Is Kill (VI) I didn''t tell the others just yet about confirming the identity of the guy. We waited for a bit until the bunny girl arrived with our orders. "Here ya go! Enjoy the drinks alright?" We grab the sses each and I paid for a bag of gold coins for her. "Huh? But the drinks don''t cost this much, dear sir." "Oh, that is just a payment for whatever things that I might break hereter." After that, I handed Gin and Shana a small tablet each. "Mix that on your drinks and the alcoholic content on that will disappear. Now, time to do the quest!" I drank the margarita in one fill and I was prepared to go but the bunny girl stopped me as she tied up my arm. I took a nce and it was wired. I didn''t even notice it but it seems my assumption is correct, she might look innocent on the outside, but she still had some records of a crime. Based on her choice of weapon, she is a hybrid of a Saboteur and an Assassin ss. "Dear Sir, I apologize in advance but we don''t allow people to wreck this ce due to something-something reason you have. I don''t want you to wreck whatever reason we have left here." I didn''t respond and decided to twist my hand at an ufortable angle before I grab the rope and snapped it with my finger. As one who already has a great deal of experience in this weapon, breaking free from it was a piece of cake for me. "As, you deal with her, but don''t kill her, just beat her until she is unable to fight back. You two can also help but I suggest not to do it if you guys don''t want to die." "Yes, Master." The bunny girl pulled out a few weapons and tried to throw them at me when As stood and blocked all the iing weapons. "If you want to fight my master, then you have to beat me up first." The bunny girl gritted her teeth and decided to reveal herself to be an assassin with a gear of a saboteur. Still, I am quite confident that As is gonna be fine against her. Due to the chaos that was triggered after she started to provoke me, the other customers started cheering and now are spectating the battle. While the battle is urring and the attention of the people are now on As and the bunny girl, I took this chance to slowly get close to the target. Since the girls who were with him are also curious about what is happening, he is also trying to check what is happening too. He is not expecting anything so he has no idea that I am there to kill him. He stood up and tried to check on what is happening. That''s where I got the timing. Changing the weapon into a Hook and Chain, I throw the hook into the guy and ensnared him into it. "Huh? What the f*ck?!" He didn''t get to react as quickly as he thought as the weapon tighten its grasp on his body. It was a tight grasp that I don''t think he will be able to escape. The girls started screaming once they saw the casanova guy being gripped hard by the hook and chain. "F*CK! What do you want?! Why are you doing this to me?" "Nothing personal but I am here to im your life." Hearing that, he used his free arm to pull out his weapon out just like the first target but I already knew what they are trying to do. And since I managed to trap him before he can even do that, I don''t need to wait for him to do what kind of stuff he is about to do. Pulling out the Pain Delivery, I delivered one thing straight to his head. One bullet was "given" as a present to the guy. BANG! The gunshot sound caused everyone around to panic and run out of the establishment. Even in the game world, a gunshot is not something that they would want to experience firsthand. The sound is enough to cause them to panic and that allowed me to kill the second target without any problem. [You have killed the second target.] I grabbed his corpse and carried it on my shoulders before looking at mypanions. "The mission is done, let''s get out of here." As is still in the middle of the battle but after hearing my words, he immediately stopped fighting and left behind the bunny girl. "Hey! Get back here! Wolf mask! Bastard!" I ignored her and even though she chased us outside, she didn''t get to approach me when I signaled Leona toe down. Tina has already canceled out the invisibility skill and revealed it, causing some of the vigers to panic seeing Leona. Even the bunny girl was stunned. We mounted Leona before we left. "As if I will let you go off on your own!" the bunny girl is persistent and before Leona can even fly away, the bunny girl throws a grappling hook and attached it to Leona''s metal ws that I designed for Leona as a weapon for her and when Leona lifts off, the bunny girl was also dragged along with us. "Master, there is the bunny girl that I fought before. Should I cut off the grappling hook that she is using?" "No, she will die if you cut it off. Even at this height, anyone who does not know how to fly will die if they fall in this height. If she climbs up, let her be. " "Are you sure that is alright? I mean, she even tried to kill you before," Gin frowned. "Don''t worry, she doesn''t need to die and she deserves to live. I don''t think she is a bad person overall, she is just a devoted worker perhaps." Chapter 493 All I Have To Do Is Kill (VII) Despite the ruckus that we have done on the ouw town, it wasn''t fruitless as I managed to kill the target. The problem is that someone else decided to jump on our bandwagon in hopes of defeating us. Yes, the bunny girl from before is currently with us. No, more precisely, she forced herself to follow us by using her own grappling hook to attach herself to the Metal ws of Leona. Currently, she has climbed up to the ws and is currently hanging her life there. I don''t have the intention of letting her climb up in case she tried to attack us. It is very dangerous since we are mid-air and battle mid-air might have some consequences and because I don''t have a [Flight] skill nor do the others have, it is imperative to keep ourselves safe for the time being by letting her stay there over the course of the flight. ? As for our next target, I just realized that after killing the two targets, the three are currently together in a far city. I still can''t pinpoint which city it was since, in that area, there are two cities that seem to create one big city despite being separate from each other. I don''t have any idea which city they are but once we arrive there, I can identify where they are. "Sir deheart, are you sure we should just let that bunny girl stay there? Isn''t she dangerous? Also, she tried to kill you earlier!" Gin seems to look for a reason as to why I am letting the bunny girl live rather than killing her. "She might be trying to kill us but she is doing her job there and since we are nning to stir up trouble, she decided to intervene though we know that it still ended up in a big failure for her. There still isn''t a big reason for us to get rid of her." There is no right or wrong here but I am not so bloodthirsty that I want that NPC dead. Besides, she is powerful enough to fight against As one on one. That is already quite an admirable thing since As is quite strong in a fight and getting to hold his fight against you is something quite spectacr already if I say so myself. It would be great if we became allies but that is gonna be rough especially since she is trying to kill us. "Master, I have confirmed visually two cities in the distance. It seems we are about to reach our target''s location," Lucia called as we were arriving at our destination. " Thanks, Lucia. Leona, just like usual,nd in the nearest area where we can go and walk our way towards the city." "I have been wondering this for a while but why do yound not too far from the city when you can justnd your pet directly into the city? It''s a lot less hassle if I say so myself," Kojimented on how I keep onnding Leona not too far from the city. "If you want to terrorize the NPCs, sure, you can easily do that. But I don''t n to cause a big ruckus to NPCs as they are harder to reason withpared to yers as they follow their rules and even if you are a yer, you will have to abide on that." "That is a thing? I didn''t think this game would have serious stuff like that. Most MMOs don''t have any kind of stuff simr to what you just said," Shana scratches her head. It seems it was tooplicated for her. "Well, it follows real-life principles and a bit ofmonsense so it is normal that they would act like this. I mean, what if a bird simr to the size of Leona wouldnd in the middle of Tokyo, would you guys like that? Aren''t you going to panic if that happened while you were there?" "Hmm, you do have a point. And I mean, your pet is quite big. I would also be afraid if something her size wouldnd in Tokyo one day without warning. But isn''t it a big hassle?" "If you are quite well known already and they know that you have a pet like Leona, they would soon get used to it. It''s not easy to build up a trust like that." Leona soonnded on the ground and as wended, the bunny girl started to get angry as now she is in a safe ce. "You heartless brute! You even left a girl stay in a very dangerous situation all this time without letting her climb up?! You sure are heartless!" the bunny girl is fuming with anger. "Did you even think we would let you climb here if you n to kill us? We would rather have you stay there for a lot longer than have us get killed by you," "GAH! What a brute! The absolute worse!" As came down first while keeping his guard up, but he didn''t draw the weapon out, he just remained on guard and waited for whatever things the bunny girl is going to do. The others came down as well and I was the veryst toe down. "You sure quite persistent huh? You even ditched your own job to chase us. What more do you want though? I don''t think you are righteous enough to punish us just because we made a ruckus and killed someone." "I still can''t forgive someone who does nothing and just leave after causing that much of a ruckus. It is my job to finish things once and for all." "Ha, save it. Even if you try to kill me, you can''t do that in any way and I am not just saying this as a braggart, I am stating the absolute truth here, so it''s better if you just give up and go back home." "Hmph, I am not going to just let you go after causing that much ruckus. I will make sure to at least hold you ountable for what you just did!" And due to that, an odd bunny has been added to the group unofficially. Still, it is kind of unnerving knowing that she is there to kill you. But hey, who knows? There might be a reason why she is here other than killing us? Chapter 494 The Blind, The Mute, And The Deaf (I) To make sure that she won''t be able to do any kind of things that would cause us to be killed by her, especially the four, I made Tina restrain her from being able to do anything using her body and I disarmed her from most of the weapons she had in possession by asking Lucia to detect the weapons hidden in her body. She tried to protest but that is inevitable since she wanted to assassinate us and the only way to restrain her is by taking all of the weapons in her possession and having her movements also restrained. "This is too much! I don''t need to get restrained to the point I can''t freely move any more!" the bunny girl is protesting. "I don''t trust you enough for me to let go of your restraints. You should be grateful that I didn''t put a shackle on your hands, legs, and neck. This is just a preemptive measure for me unless you do something that shouldn''t have been done. The only way for you to do is just watch." "..." the bunny girl is frowning but she has no choice but to follow with all her weapons with us and her restraints are controlled by Tina. One wrong move and I will have to put the shackles I mentioned to her as a method to ultimately stop her movements. Now, back to the targets. With us now in the city, I finally confirmed that the trackers are indeed tracking the three targets correctly in one location, meaning they are together. This means, that killing all three of them will finally finish the quest and just in one go. I know that the progress of the kills has been smooth so far but since they are all together, attacking one of them will result in the other two retaliating as a result. Perhaps this might be the reason they are together. To at least defend themselves from the enemies that are killing them, they decided to band together. As soon as we entered the gates of the city, I can smell the foul stench of rotten flesh. It was so pungent that I am surprised that the guards seem to be oblivious to it. Even the four and the bunny girl could not help but cover their noses. "What the heck? What is this disgusting smell? It was like something is decaying in the distance," Yna covered her nose as she was about to puke just from the smell alone. "More like a smell of a corpse being left alone and was not buried properly. It smells disgusting to the point I can puke all of what I ate right now," Koji seems to be holding out not to puke what he was eating while we are stilling into this city. "Master, the moment we entered the gates, I immediately detected arge amount of Dark Mana encircling all around the city. It was like it is about to be devoured by the dark mana at any moment right now," Lucia reported. "Can you perhaps pinpoint the source of that dark mana you are detecting?" I asked. "I already tried earlier, Master but it was not easy. It swirls all around and I can''t properly detect it due to what I said earlier. Not to mention, it is pretty much chaotic to feel that I feel mushy just by trying to trace the origin. So I apologize," Lucia sighed. "Master, I think I also need to add something," As then pointed to the two guards that we just passed by. "What about them, As? Something wrong with them?" "Yes. I just took a nce at their eyes and I realized that they seemed to look really soulless. They were like in a trance and I don''t think a person who was just in a trance by themselves would look like that. I am having suspicions myself but it seems they are being controlled by something in here." No wonder their movement seems kind of weird to me. The guards here seem so lifeless and it seems like their movements are so animated they felt like dummies that know how to move. But we don''t know if they are indeed under control so we decided to push on to the city. I have been to this city before in the past and although it was not as lively as the Capital, it is still quite a thriving ce. But now, it seems like something happened here that it made the whole city simr to a ghost town. It is quiet and despite the fact that we are still far from the evening, the streets are devoid of townspeople and I don''t even see any yers walking around either, making it very strange indeed. "This ce is just too creepy, man. I don''t know if it was just me or if this ce is definitely some sort of haunted," Gin who is usually on the chill side is rubbing his arms, perhaps he is getting quite some goosebumps. I tried to recall if there is some sort of event or a quest that would cause the whole city to turn like this. It''s obviously not a Halloween event since we are still far from Halloween, and a Halloween event is quite livelypared to the situation in the city where almost every nook and cranny of the ce looked like it was abandoned for how many months. Then, it went to me... Do the targets that we are currently hunting is currently the ones causing this kind of event? I already know that the first target has the knowledge and power to use dark magic and even dark element skills. So there is no doubt that these guys will also have the same power. I can''t confirm it on the second target as I have killed him before he can even do something to show off, but perhaps, this incident might be linked to the targets themselves. If so, that only means one thing, these enemies are not to be underestimated. Chapter 495 The Blind, The Mute, And The Deaf (II) The mysterious happenings all around the town made us venture a little bit and investigate. Of course, it wasn''t necessary for us to check the situation as it wasn''t part of the quest but because it will limit what we can do with the town being like this. "Just what the heck happened here to turn it to be like this?" Shana keeps on wandering her eyes around, trying to find a logical exnation and see what the people are currently doing with the situation as most of the NPCs we have seen so far are just simr to the guards back at the gate. All of them are devoid of emotions. It was like they are robbed of their humanity. "Perhaps someone triggered a quest and this caused them to be like this? It''s a big possibility right?" Yna looked at me, trying to confirm her suspicion. ? "There are some situations that events like this where other yer triggers a quest, other yers will witness the change that is caused by the quest. But it was quite rare so it''s not always a guarantee to happen unless it''s a side event quest that multiple yers can experience." Exploring the whole ce, I realized that the whole city was like this without any yer in sight, there is only one thing clear. We even visited some of the stores and even the local Headquarters where yers can get random quests and the same thing is also happening. All of the NPCs are like soulless shells that are still operating on what they are doing yet doing it without any life or energy. The situation allowed me to conclude that this seems to be something that wasn''t done by a yer or any demonic enemies. Therefore, the only thing that I can think of being connected to the current situation is none other than our targets. The reason I came to this conclusion is that the first target that I killed is capable of unleashing several dark magic spells. Although I haven''t seen the entirety of the skills she unleashed since I killed her before she can do so, there is indeed a possibility that the three are doing this to create chaos. Although I am quite sure that this city did not experience this before in the past, since the situation is now different and I am killing theirpanions one by one, this might be theirst decision to slow their death and also to try to eliminate the possibility for them to die. Instead, it will allow them to have a diversion to make sure the enemies don''t even dare to go to them. "Let''s stop exploring and directly go to our target. I have a theory that the events happening all around the city might be the work of our targets. The sooner we finish the task, the faster we are gonna be done." Everyone seems to also agree and we headed straight to the current location of the tracker. In this battle, since we are gonna be facing three enemies, I decided to not recall Lucia, As, and Tina as they can assist me in the battle. I don''t mean to offend but the others have yet to experience the full game just yet and although I can let them experience things, bosses like these guys have the biggest tendency to kill newbies who are just starting out like they are pretty big. And I even doubt they have already a mastery and expertise in their sses. Aside from Gin and Shana, Koji and Yna seem to still struggle with how to fight using their sses which is why I can''t rely on them. After following the tracker, we soon arrived at the biggest mansion in the city. I have seen this ce before but it was already an abandoned ce and in the past timeline, it is an area where living armors spawn. It became a ce that would be good for grinding some levels around level 70 to 80. It became popr to some yers due to the advantage of farming levels while having a convenient ce to sell drops in the nearby shop and the fountain of healing that will allow the yer to heal their health once they are near the fountain which made the poprity of the ce justified in a way. "Are our opponents gonna be vampires or something? This doesn''t look good and I am not ready to see a vampire in real life!" Koji tried hiding behind Yna but she got irritated and shrugged him off. "Come on, I know you are a scaredy cat but this is just a game, Koji. You meet monsters here all the time and all of them can be killed. Don''t even matter much actually and you can get rid of them in the right way" "Ohe on, Yna. They are just creepy! Especially if they show off their fangs!" Koji tried to even reason Yna out. However, I don''t think our enemies will be vampires. Just like most folklore, the vampires in this game suck blood but they don''t belong in a normal ce like this as that will trigger the Holy Guards that are always stationed in towns and cities like this to detect demonic activities and other things that would result in things like that so most of them would always live on the outskirts of the city, usually in a ce where the full moon is usually seen in its entirety without any obstruction as that would increase their ability to fight. And this mansion is not, unfortunately. However, there is a big chance that the enemy has at least one necromancer in them. Perhaps it is the time for me to at least show off using my necromancy skills this time around? As opened the gate slowly, creating a creaking sound. It is clear that it has been a while since the gate was used so this ce is not even the home of the three, which means they just came here a few days ago and have decided to make this town a ce where people will just be a lifeless husk of flesh. I see now what you all are trying to aplish here. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 496 The Blind, The Mute, And The Deaf (III) Entering the mansion where the tracker is pointing out is our first set of action to find the targets, but as we approach, the original inhabitants of the ce, the Living Armors, have finally appeared. [Living Armor] Level 75 HP: 100,000/100,000 Type: Construct They are the same type as a golem but the method of killing them fast is differentpared to the golem where you can just destroy or pull out their cores. As for the Living Armor, you can only defeat it once you sever its contact with its controller. If you reduce its life without cutting off the connection between the armor and the controller, it will regenerate its health and return again to fight. "Hey guys, I will demonstrate how to kill this thing and stop it from reviving. So once I finish the demonstration, you guys will be the ones who will kill them. This will benefit and give you experience points while also practicing how to fight and unleash your abilities to the best of your capabilities." To make things understandable for them, I didn''t draw my weapon and faced the Living Armor head-on. When the living armor decided to attack, I immediately dodged it and made sure that I will be able to quickly arrive at the back of the living armor. "To kill a living armor, you first need to find a way to reach its back and catch it off guard. It might be like the living armor is quite strong and hard to beat but to kill it instantly without the risk of it reviving, then you have to do this." Before the living armor can make a second chance to turn around, I punched its helmet off, revealing an empty hollow area around the armor. The only thing left behind on the hollow area of the armor is a thin white thread that seems to keep the head armor attached. "Knocking down the headpiece armor will reveal a thin white thread that seems to be attached to the head. Grab that, and tear it apart using your hands." And while saying that, I grab the thread and rip it apart easily. The moment it was done, the living armor immediately crumbled, and the armor that fell to the ground rusted and disintegrated into the air. "That''s it. You don''t even need to use your skills and weapons to kill, you just need to make sure to have good flexibility and good reaction skills that would allow you to respond more quickly against unexpected movements." The four started pping after knowing the method. They are quite impressed with how I did it and so started to imitate how I did it. They struggled to fight them for a while but soon get the hang of it. And to my surprise, the first person that managed to kill one Living Armor is actually Koji which I was not expecting at first since I thought it would be either Gin or Shana since they seemed to be more to have the mindset of a gamer and can adapt as quick as possible. They all managed to finish up all their enemies and killed them after Koji killed his own target. Now that they know how to kill one, we entered the mansion. All of the Living Armors are no longer a match and threat against the four as they killed them easily. I already knew that they are capable so with them clearing up all of the attacking Living Armors, we have smooth progress inside the mansion. Dwelling a lot deeper into the mansion, we soon found an underground staircase that leads deeper into the mansion''s interior. Nothing changed since in the past and theyout never changed but since we haven''t seen the three targets inside, that means there might be some changes underground and I already have an idea that they might be down there and they are currently doing some things that are happening in the city right now. I asked Tina to shine up a light using her magic spell and we descended the stairs. With Tina''s magic, the darkness that is enveloping the underground lit up and we can see what is up ahead. And what weed us... "This smell... this is the same exact smell when we entered the city! The pungent rotting smell of flesh and matter! Does that mean they areing in here?!" Shana covered her nose. "It looks like it is indeed the source. It wasn''t this bad on the surface but the smell down here is just quite bad for the nose." Gin is trying to hold out his breath. "I just noticed it just now but it seems the Living Armor is nonexistent here underground. Perhaps there is something here that stopped the Living Armors from spawning?" Yna spected. Just like what Yna mentioned, there should be Living Armors spawning in here. They are crawling all around the mansion even underground so that shouldn''t be the case that they don''t exist here unless something prevented their spawning rates underground. We explored the underground and Tina stops us from going forward. "Master, let''s stop for a bit. I have to test up something since I have some doubts about what is up ahead." "Are you detecting something, Tina?" I asked. "I don''t really detect it, more like I have experienced something simr before which is why I want to try to test something whether my suspicion is on point." She ordered us to back out from her for a bit to test things out. She spread her butterfly wings and revealed her 7 colored wings that have been transformed after we fought back during the battle against the king in Aquagius. She performed one of her spells that I have not seen before. It wasn''t shy or anything. She just pped her rainbow wings on the road, spreading some of the dust that she usually uses her abilities with. I don''t know what she calls that but I don''t think that it was pixie dust. Once a good amount of dust has already been spread out, she hides back her wings and aimed her forefinger at the dust. "O dust of my ancestors and kin, reveal all of the hidden paths and hidden things that have been stopping us from seeing the truth of the world! Reveal and show yourself!" ,m The dust that she spread earlier started to glow and explode in light that we all have to cover our eyes just to allow us to protect eyes from what is happening. "What the heck is going on, Tina?!" Lucia is also confused as to why Tina is doing something especially since she didn''t detect anything. Once the lightsing from the dust that she used her abilities into died down, we soon found out the main reason she did that. The underground is not made out of concrete and tiles with ck and white designs, it was made with flesh and bones, just like how the monster we fought during the ss change looked like. Chapter 497 The Blind, The Mute And The Deaf (IV) "Yuck! We are stepping in this mass of flesh all this time?!" Shana writhed in disgust as she lifts her shoes and sticky liquid sticks on the sole of it causing her to rub her arms as goosebumps are showing up on her skin. "I see. So we have been deceived since the beginning that we are in a proper underground hallway, we are in fact in a ce where abined flesh and bones are covering the whole walls and floor. Disgusting bastards..." Lucia can only curse as she was supposed to be detecting anomalous activities and yet she failed on doing so. "I didn''t know you have an illusion destroyer spell, Tina. That saved us a lot of time," I handed Tina a mana potion which she immediately chugged down. "No need to thank me, Master. It''s just a pure coincidence that my assumption is indeed right and I never expected anything like this would happen either." "Still, it was great, Tina-san. You have allowed us to see the true nature of where we are, allowing us to avoid getting close to the walls. We would have fallen prey to these walls if we get too close to them," Ginplimented Tina. "Let''s all hurry. Whatever is causing this has a big intention of spreading it up to the surface. I can assume that the reason it hasn''t spread out that far just yet is because of the maturation state of the fleshy things. It didn''t reach full maturity which is why we have to hurry up before this thing fully matures and it won''t be long before it will engulf the whole city!" As pulled out his greatsword and rush deeper. We followed suit and despite having a hard time running due to the floor made of flesh, we at least managed to keep on walking on its surface without being stuck on it. We soon arrived in a bigger room where a big chunk of flesh is currently standing up in the middle of the room. Judging from the shape, it looks like they are cocoons, and perhaps my assumption is correct as the tracker is beeping wildly on those flesh cocoons. "Lucia! Burn that fleshy mass!" "Got it!" She gathered arge set of mes on both of her palms and her red hair started to glow brightly red. "Turn into ashes!" The mes engulfed the cocoons and the burnt smell of flesh emanated around us. The flesh cocoons also fell to the fleshy floor with burnt covers. Gin was about to approach it when As stopped him from getting close and Tina immediately swipes her hands, releasing mana threads simr to Cotton''s web threads. They might be simr but it wasn''t simr in strength as Tina''s threads are slightly weakerpared to Cotton''s threads. But it works so who am I toin? All of the threads immediately bind something that fell after Lucia unleashed her mes. Soon it was revealed what she tried to bind as that "flesh" stood up and broke off through the burnt flesh that seems to be covering the bodies. Two more flesh stood up and did the same thing. Now I know what they are. The three targets that we are looking for are these guys. "You all have disturbed our sleep! How dare you all disturb our sleep!" Their heads soon popped off the burnt flesh and the girls can only feel disgusted seeing what the three are. At first, I thought the main reason they are a bit bigger than usual is because of the fleshy cocoon that covers their bodies. Turns out, they were much thinner and were basically just a smallyer of flesh, covering a muchrger mass of flesh that I didn''t expect to even see, The three targets are now a big lump of flesh. They also have faces that differ a lot. If I describe how they look, they closely resemble the creatures you see in Silent Hill but are less disturbing and more on the gross side rather than the horror factor they gave. I also noticed that all three of them have different looks on their faces and although their bodies are basically looking the same, they don''t have the same features on their faces, making them easily distinguishable. One of them hasplete features of a normal human but is just corrupted by the flesh and the ears seem to be covered with a mass of flesh, looking so disgusting to look at as they look like an ear that has been neglected in being cleaned. The other one has the same features as the first one, but his mouth seems to be tightly shut. It was like it was sewn like that or had been welded shut. As for the third and final one, the only difference it has is that the eyes are currently covered by a mass of flesh. As I try to still understand what they are, the ground shook and another set of flesh started to merge and seems to attach the three separated targets together. "Tina, let them go from your mana threads!" Since we failed to interrupt them from joining, they have formed together and I think they fused as one single entity now as the tracker is no longer beeping three but only one big tracking sign. The three joining together fused up a disgusting giant creature that you would likely see in horror movies and some movies that involve extraterrestrial life enemies. It is now so big that it made the look of them more disgusting than ever. "Come and join us! You will all feel good here with us!" After that, the official name of the targets fused together finally appeared. [The Blind, The Mute, and The Deaf] Level 125 HP: ???????/??????? Trait: Humanoid, Construct "Prepare for battle!" I pulled out my Versatile Weapon as the fusion monster has appeared and has fully developed its body. "Oh my goodness... if I have known things as this exists in the game, I should have already logged out and stayed back in the real world for a bit!" Koji is clearly panicking now. "Don''t back out Koji! We already came this far, let''s finish everything up!" Gin then pulls out his katana and assumed abat stance. "We will fight until the very end so quickly and pick up your weapons!" Chapter 498 The Blind, The Mute And The Deaf (V) So the main reason the fused monster arecking certain features is that the three of them who transformed are actually blind, mute, and deaf. And here I thought they are here due to the reason for killing two of itspanions. I was wrong since they seemed to bepatible with each other especially since they cover their weaknesses with each other. And I also think I already knew the main reason why they are currently like this and have fused to each other already. Since they needed to be together, they wanted to fuse themselves together and form aplete being. But because we have interrupted the fusion process, their fusion process ended up in a disaster, forming their abomination-looking form. They might have their sad circumstances but there is no choice for them and even if they do have it, they will still need to die especially since they are nning to revive the Cath Palug. Now that I have seen them do it, I am now certain that the reason the townspeople above are acting strangely is because of the spell they might have used for them to fuse themselves to one. As absurd as it may sound, that is all there is to it. Tobine themselves. they decided to make use of the people above to be sacrificed to create theplete being. "You all will die!" the blind and the deaf screamed at the top of their lungs as they march towards us." "DODGE!" I shouted as the mass lump of flesh decided to attack. BANG! Itsrge staturended on the floor of flesh and as the monster did, the floor of flesh shook and spikes made of flesh popped out from the floor and tried to pierce us. Shana and Gin were close too short of dodging the attack but Tina was quick and used her threads to grab the two and pull them out of harm. "Sorry, but thank you..." Shanaposes herself as she recovers from the first attack. "No problem. Just make sure you guys keep an eye on the environment as that would spell your demise," Tina reminded them. Lucia hurled multiple fireballs into the mass of flesh andpared to the cocoon, the fireballs barely did anything to the enemy and they seemed to either bounce off or just be absorbed by the lump of flesh. "It looks like this guy is resistant to magic spells, sit this out Lucia, and support us at the back this time," I suggested. Lucia nodded and activated a few skills that allowed her to buff our attack powers. This promptly allowed As and I to get some additional stats to increase for a limited amount of time. "We will fight too!" Gin and the other four dered. "Alright but immediately back off if you guys felt like you don''t feel like doing any kind of damage." As and I are the first to rush, using my Versatile Weapon, I started shing through its flesh, and to my surprise, shing it wasn''t even hard as I managed to cut into its flesh without much problem. I was surprised since most of the time, the enemies with a flesh-like appearance like this guy had a tough flesh that would either harden or capable of bing flexible that it would easily deflect my attack and yet this one didn''t have those features. Blood spurts out as I sliced through one of its arms. The two who can speak started to wail in pain while the third one who can''t speak because ofcking a mouth is just shaking its head with a look that it is suffering in pain. After my sh, As swings his greatsword and attacks the lump of flesh. Before the greatswordnds on the body of the monster, it immediately creates a shield made from lumps of flesh, blocking off the attack. Of course, the meat shield wasn''t even enough to block the huge greatsword of As. It didn''t even have enough durability to defend the lump of flesh monsters they are. The others also attacked the lump of flesh but quickly backs off when they saw it stagger and try to get back up on its feet. I immediately saw the lump of flesh monster trying to regenerate its severed lump of flesh arm as it tried to stand back up. "Don''t let it recover! Attack!" Since the lump of flesh f*ckers are too vulnerable to physical attacks, we abused it to a certain extent. As is the one dealing the biggest damage while I am the one dealing the most attacks that caused the regeneration of the lumps to slow down quite a lot. Gin and the other three are also doing their best but it''s not as high damage as how we do it. Lucia and Tina are just there to give us buffs. Since they are magic based, they don''t have any good damage against it so they decided to just support us by buffing our attacks, that way, even if they didn''t attack they still contribute quite a lot to the damage output indirectly. Whenever the lump of flesh tried to recover, I immediately inflict a critical attack on it, causing it to have trouble recovering from the previous damage it wanted to recover in the first ce. "As, distract it from recovering while I deal with the lethal blow." "Roger that!" Just as we discussed, As annoyed it by dealing semi-lethal attacks around its body and trying to cripple its movements by hitting its legs or sometimes, the body itself. As such, the lump of flesh focuses its attention on As. With the mute and the deaf knowing the one trying to kill them, they decided to go to As and deal against him first. Of course, I already knew what they were about to do and since they were quite predictable, I decided to exploit that and attack while they are dealing with As. I know that As is quite difficult to defeat so I decided to take advantage of that and deal a lethal blow. I leap high into the air and changed my weapon into Katana. I already purchased a few skills that I know will be useful for battles and one of them is this skill that I didn''t forget to learn. "[Decapitation]!" There are currently three heads the Lump of meat monster has but I already knew which of the three heads I am going to decapitate first. Losing this head will prove their movement a lot harder. SHRRRRRKKKK! One slice and a head came off, falling to the ground. "Lucia! Burn it!" "Leave it to me, Master! [Incineration]!" Arge me engulfed the head and it started screaming after being engulfed by the mes. With the scrams of the severed head, one of the heads immediately heard it as it has the most sensitive hearing. Yes, the one that I have decapitated is none other than the deaf. The main reason I cut off the deaf before the others is because the deaf has all of the main features that can easily help portray the situation to the other heads, allowing them to fight effectively. Despite not being able to hear, the guy only needed to speak and see to function well. With the deaf gone, the only heads left is blind and mute. The blind can hear and talk but what can it do if it loses the vision it needed? Then the one who has the vision and can hear cannot talk, how can the mute guy send the message to the blind without speaking? I noticed earlier that despite merging into one being, their senses did not merge and they seemed like pilots of mecha that are trying to move their mecha at will. Losing one of their main eyes and mouth cripples their abilities a lot more. "As expected of Master, you already thought of that quite far already," As gives a big thumbs up. "Don''t let your guard down just because we got rid of one of the heads, we don''t even know what will happen next and it might get real troublesome so quickly." The mute is visibly angry but because it can''t speak, it can only show its frustration on its face while the blind is yelling in frustration. "Let''s finish this!" Now that the lump of flesh has limited movements now and having a hard time moving around, we took advantage of it and started attacking the lump of flesh. Despite the best efforts of the mute to act, without the cooperation of the blind as it cannot see, their actions are having a hard time having a good sync with each other. When my [Decapitation] skill managed to finish its cooldown, I turned to look at Gin. "Hey, did you see what I did earlier?" "Yeah? The one where you cut off the head of the guy?" "That one. You knew what skill I used?" "[Decapitation], I think?" "Yep, it''s a samurai exclusive skill but since you are a samurai, surely you have it with you right?" "Yes. I learned it but it has low damage output so I have less usage of it." "Well, that is good that you already have it, perform that skill together with me and we end this battle against the lump of flesh together. This will serve as a good lesson on how to use that skill properly." Chapter 499 The Heart Of The Cath Palug Just as nned, the three who fused into one monster have finally been defeated. With the help of As and of course, Gin. We managed to decapitate both remaining heads It''s not hard, to be honest, and since their pattern of attack is pretty much just that mming attack and maniption of the fleshy membranes, it was very easy for us to dodge it and how low their defense values are. Of course, the n wasn''t wless. Since Gin was hesitating during the beginning, his cut wasn''t deep enough that I have to use force to support Gin''s attack and firmly bury the katana''s de into the neck of the fleshy monster and effectively cut off its neck. The moment the fused body died and lost all of its HP, the walls and floor that are made of flesh and meat have disintegrated into pieces. Nothing was left behind and the floors and walls have returned to how it was how I remembered the ce in the past timeline. "Is that really it? I thought this will be a hard battle especially since the enemy is that fleshy monster. It looks pretty menacing and simr to those horror games that would then force you to do a "chase scene" and try to outrun the monster," Gin put the katana back to the sheath after flicking off the blood that stuck on it. "Looks can be deceiving at times. Also, the reason it was weak is perhaps due to how we burned them earlier before they fused. If they have not been interrupted and sessfully evolved without undergoing the problem in which the enemies suffer in." Once the disintegration of all the flesh has concluded, the drops from the boss appeared on the ground. Just like how the lower-leveled monsters give out items, the items dropped are also quite sh*tty. But there is one thing that I am intrigued with. [???] Type: Key Item Info: No information in the database. Note: Perhaps you can ask that flower guy what this sh*t is? I have no idea what this is. It looks like a ck pebble at first nce but there is no pebble this shiny and smooth that it feels more like stic in your hands. It is also quite heavy and any second the item is in your hands, you will also feel like it seems to be sucking your hand in. Just like what the note said, perhaps I should ask Merlin about this. The fact that it was a key item, there must be a reason it was also dropped after the death of all three targets. That also means the revival of the Cath Palug will now be prevented and the raid will no longer ur, right? Unless another f*cker tried to mess things up again, I am quite sure that the revival has been postponed. "Hey guys, you all did great, take the drops and divide them among yourselves. You all earned it." "Huh? What about you?" Shana looked at me. "As I stated before, I don''t need it. Take that and use it for whatever you all wanted to do." Since I don''t want to argue with them anymore, I returned back to the surface. The rotten smell that has been guing the whole ce has finally started to disappear. It didn''t disappear immediately but it is slowly returning. The city outside is also looking a lot better too than expected so perhaps that helped a lot. "Is this what you guys are always doing things?" the bunny girl who keep quiet the whole ordeal has finally started talking. Of course, there isn''t anything she could do with her restraints under her control of Tina, she could only stay back and watch everything unfold before her. "That''s just how things work. We take a job and we finish it. No matter how bizarre things could get, there is nothing we could do about it." "So that means the ruckus you guys made back in the club, was due to a simr incident that would result in this kind of happening?" "Perhaps. We arrived much earlier than anticipated so nothing major has happened back there so you guys are quite lucky. If you guys happened to experience the same incident, perhaps it''s not just something like this would happen, perhaps everyone in that vige would also turn in a simr manner where no one will recognize you as you all will be converted into piles of rotten flesh." If that ever happened, there is nothing I could do about that. I stretched my arms as everyone emerged from the basement. We left the mansion after we cleared things up. Since the four hunted the living armors for quite a while and the majority of the living armors that we should have seen in the basement were also annihted, the mansion is dested from enemies for now. Of course, this ce will continue to be an area where the Living Armors live, so it will not be forever deste with enemies. Give it time and it will return to how it was. We looked around the city and the citizens soon realized things and are now frowning at what they were doing. I don''t know how long the eventsted but perhaps that took too long for them to just notice things just now. "Let''s go back to Merlin and report our progress. We need to get out of here before the NPCs would drag us to their current realization of things." While the two cities are in the chaos of something that they seemed to have nked out for the past few days, every one of us has escaped the ce and used Leona to fly away from there. Whatever chaos that has ensued, it''s no longer our problem. Just like before, we returned to the forest and I once again performed the ritual of entering the Ind of Avalon. I can see in the bunny girl''s eyes that silliness on what I am doing while the four are focused and mentally taking notes on how to activate the way to enter the Ind of Avalon without getting lost. After the sessful steps, we entered the Ind of Avalon. The moment we entered, we already saw the Lady of the Lake standing on the water. "Now that you guys have returned, I presumed the quest has been done sessfully?" I bowed down first before I started my report. "Indeed, My Lady. We are here to report what happened to the targets and what happened after we finished the task." "Alright, let''s discuss the situation inside the castle. Merlin is also waiting." Then, her eyesnded on the bunny girl with the restraints in her hands and legs that would prevent her from running away and fighting back. "Why is this bunny girl restrained? Did something happen while the quest was ongoing earlier?" "I will exinter on as she is also part of the circumstances that urred while we are finishing the main task." "Hmmm, alright then. Come inside everyone," her gaze is still on the bunny girl and thetter is getting sweaty just by being scrutinized by someone. The same floating rocks appeared for us to step into the water and we were granted an audience immediately. We headed to the same table as before. When we arrived there, Merlin is enjoying the teatime alongside thedy of theke. Merlin gently put the teacup on the saucer as he smiled at us, "Congrattions for emerging sessful on the quest. I have checked and the thing that was weakening the seal that prevents the revival of Cath Palug has disappearedpletely. Even the corpse that was used to rot away the seal has disintegrated too which is a piece of good news already. As such, thank you, everyone, for the hard work-" Merlin''s words were cut off when he detected something. "Hey, you. With the wolf mask! What is that in your inventory? Pull it out?" "What?" I was surprised since Merlin suddenly pointed at me and it seems he also forgot my name as he only calls me the one with the wolf mask. "There is something in your inventory that somehow resembles a lot of the energying from Cath Palug itself. What is that you are hiding?!" I think I already know what he was talking about. "Are you perhaps talking about this? We received this thing the moment we killed the final targets and honestly, I also have no idea what this thing is," I pulled out the ck thing out and ced it on the table. "You received this after the death of the final target? I didn''t expect that they are so close to reviving the Cath Palug. To think they would have it already!" "What the heck is this thing though?" I frowned as it seems to be quite important. "This is none other than the heart of the Cath Palug. Putting it back into the seal while the spell that was destroyed was active will fully revive the Cath Palug and will soon ravage thend." Chapter 500 Cath Palug I instinctively released the small sphere in my hands after hearing from Merlin what the heck this thing was. As someone who also experienced the raid, I am quite aware of how fearsome Cath Palug is. Yes, this might be a game, but we are currently in a VR game where monsters looked real. No matter how fictional they are and how fearsome they are, as long as they are a creature in this game, they will look realistic no matter what. So holding something from that fearsome monster in the past timeline with a chance to revive is something different and I won''t even say that this is a really good thing. I wouldn''t mind if I hold it if the Cath Palug has no chance of reviving but if it has the slightest chance to revive itself, then that is a different story. My strength might be quite a high plus with mypanions and pets, we are almost unstoppable but if the Cath Palug is revived, the current us will be swatted in one flick by the Cath Palug and we will die immediately. That is how fearsome and dangerous the Cath Palug is. Just remembering that brutal fight is not easy. It would have been fine if I don''t experience the battle by my own body and only my hands and eyes are strained but I still remembered that after the raid ended, I ended up taking a good 5 days'' worth of rest before going back to y again. "Having the heart of the Cath Palug means they are almost close to resurrecting Cath Palug. I didn''t know they managed to even extract the monster''s heart, made it filled with energy, and made it an item ready to be used to summon the beast out of the seal," Merlin scratches his head as he took some nces at the heart of the Cath Palug. "What are you going to do about this, Merlin? You almost spent most of your magic power to seal Cath Palug in the past and now that Cath Palug is on the verge of breaking out, I don''t think you can seal it again." I frowned when I heard that. No wonder in this game lore, the Cath Palug is alive. In the real world ording to the Arthurian Legends, Cath Palug was killed by King Arthur, allowing the deaths that Cath Palug created to stop forever. I just knew the lore of Cath Palug just now but to think the King Arthur here did not kill the guy. No wonder instead of killing Cath Palug, Merlin decided to use all of his powers to seal Cath Palug for an indefinite amount of time which also ended up losing most of his powers. It''s not a wonder why when Cath Palug was wreaking havoc, it was not sealed back and was instead forced to be killed. This was due to how Merlin doesn''t have enough power left to reseal Cath Palug. "What are we gonna do about this, Merlin? With this around, the only thing we can do for this is to use "that" method," Thedy of theke suggested. "You want me to use "that" method? This is no joking matter, and Cath Palug should never be released at all! You know that!" "Of course I do. But this is the only way. With that method, Cath Palug will never be unsealed again. Even though we already dered Cath Palug is dead, there are still some chances like this to ur and will instead cause havoc in the world. "That" method will remove that trouble for us!" While Merlin and the Lady of the Lake are talking, Shana whispers in my ear. "Did you understand what the heck they are talking about? I am trying toprehend what they are saying but I still have no idea." I shook my head. "I don''t have an inkling either. I sometimes even wish VR games developed a skip button just so we could skip their dialogs but damn..." They continued talking for quite a while and to be honest, they just started arguing and from the tidbits of the dialog they are spouting since earlier, they are talking about using a certain method that would use the heart of the Cath Palug to create something. Thedy of theke is certain about it but Merlin is adamant about not using it to do that. Still, the method that thedy of theke is speaking about is something I don''t have any idea about. I may have returned in the past timeline but there are lots of things I never knew so everything here is new to me After a while of arguing, Merlin gave up, and from the looks of it, he didn''t win an argument against the Lady of the Lake and I can see the smug look on thedy of theke''s face how she managed to top off and beat Merlin in an argument. "Alright. As much as I don''t want to do this, what the Lady of the Lake said made sense. The only way to ensure Cath Palug will not hunt humans anymore while keeping him sealed is by doing "that" method. Right, you wolf mask boy, uh... your name is deheart if I remember correctly?" "Uh, yes?" "We will be giving the heart of the Cath Palug in your hands. Also, I will also put the seal that I put on that tree to the heart itself." "Wait, what? Isn''t Cath Palug dangerous? And why would you pass this down to me? I don''t have any means to maintain the seal of this intact!" "Not necessarily boy, with this heart, we will convert the heart into a pet that will be your pet. A pet that you canmand and use in battle. A strong pet that can easily annihte any enemies that try to attack or kill you. Isn''t that amazing?" "Uh... but I already have two pets capable of doing that, and I don''t think making a monster like the Cath Palug to be my pet is the most ideal way of doing it." "No. We are already sure you are capable of doing this. If you have killed the perpetrators, then you are strong enough to handle that many problems either. Therefore, we will appoint you as the guardian who will prevent Cath Palug from going back into this world." Chapter 501 The New Pet Despite declining the offer as it was something I can handle in the future, the two still ended up agreeing that I was the one who was the right one to do the bidding and responsibility of the heart of the Cath Palug. In short, I will now be getting a new pet. A pet that I have no idea whether it will listen to me or not. And right now, we are standing in the middle of Merlin''s summoning circle that he created a few minutes ago. Mypanions and the 4 party members stood on the side alongside the Lady of the Lake that is observing the process and perhaps to ensure nothing wrong will happen though I felt like something will happen, it was the Cath Palug after all. I just hoped that the monster would not be summoned especially since the yers are not strong enough to deal decent damage against it. "Alright. I will need a drop of blood on your fingertips. That way, we can add a failsafe spell you can use in case Cath Palug will be uncontroble." "Okay," I bit my thumb and a bit of blood appeared. Merlin snaps his fingers and the droplets of blood float in the air. He then held the heart of the Cath Palug alongside my blood and let the blood drip into the surface of the heart. The moment the blood dropped to the heart, the heart shook for a bit and I was almost instinctively ready to pull out the Versatile Weapon and activate [Devour] to stop it from doing any kind of thing that would cause the awakening of the Cath Palug. However, Merlin stops me from doing so as he raised his palm and continues the process. He started snapping multiple times and after the 6th snap on his fingers, the heart of the Cath Palug immediately stiffened from moving and six transparent chains appeared, chaining the heart. "This is the seal that will restrain the wrath that sleeps within the heart of the soul. Hear me out, vile beast, and follow themand of the owner of the blood." The chains started to glow red after Merlin speaks the chant. It also made the heart of Cath Palug struggle. It''s clear that it is trying to break free with all its strength but since it was just a heart, it seems to have less power than it should have. But the struggle didn''tst for long and the six chains that were binding the guy snapped and covered the whole heart of the Cath Palug beforepletely disappearing. Once the chains disappeared, a circle of light covered the whole heart of the Cath Palug. It also fell down back to Merlin''s hands and this time, the heart of the Cath Palug is no longer struggling just like earlier. The heart now looks like a small egg that I usually saw in pet shops, it looks strikingly simr to the shape of the egg that Leona hatched before butpared to Leona''s white eggshell, Cath Palug''s shell is a bit greyish. Merlin pulled out arge chunk of mana stone from somewhere and liquified it in his hands with magic. He then poured the liquified mana stone straight into the egg which caused the egg to shake which is a huge sign it is gonna hatch. He then passes down the egg into my hands before it actually hatches. I reluctantly got the egg in my hands and I was nervous holding it. Not because of being excited to see a new pet but because I don''t know what will hatch in here. I don''t want an abomination to suddenly maul at me once the egg hatch as I know how the Cath Palug works. The shell started to crack and the nervousness that swells in my being started to overflow as I stare at the egg hatching up. It didn''t take that long though and a small greyish cat with some fins around its legs though the cat looks more like a stuffed toy with features of a fish due to the fins. Oh, and it also has the white horns on its head that made it look like it was kind of a goat''s horn. Other than that, the red patterns on its body are a clear sign that what I am holding right now is indeed the Cath Palug. The pattern is present even in the giant version of it so I am quite certain this one is indeed the Cath Palug but a smaller version. Around the size of an adult house cat. The only difference is that it has a horn of a goat and has a very fluffy coat fur like a stuffed toy for kids. It slowly opened its eyes and looked around the surroundings. Then, it looked at me. "Huh? What is a human doing and holding me like this?" the Cath Palug speaks in a kind of small voice. It was like a voice of a human male child which made me stunned as I don''t even know that the Cath Palug can talk. "You have been sealed in that state, Cath Palug. And for the rest of your days, you will remain like that forever." Hearing a familiar voice, Cath Palug turned around and saw Merlin grinning. "MERLIN! CURSE YOU! RELEASE ME OUT FROM MY SEAL RIGHT NOW!" Cath Palug immediately leaps and tried to attack Merlin but because of the size difference between the two, Merlin easily stopped the little cat monster from attacking him. "You can''t do anything at all, Cath Palug, ept your fate, that is just the only thing you can do from now on. Stay as a normal cat!" "No, I won''t! I will rip you apart!" Compared to my expectations, the Cath Palug lost the scary thing about him. It was like the only thing that made him remain as the Cath Palug is the fact that he is the heart of the Cath Palug himself. But perhaps this is a wee change. With this, the resurrection and the rampage of the Cath Palug is now gonna be resting in my hands and whether I can prevent that from happening or not will all be up to me. Chapter 502 Repaired Relic Carnwennan Merlin decided to take his time with Cath Palug in the meantime since he wanted to observe more of Cath Palug and whether he needed to do a few slight adjustments here and there for me to befortable taking Cath Palug with me and to ensure that the method will not cause Cath Palug to revert to his monstrous form and started to murder humans and other creatures, destroying the country and continent even if left unattended. Thedy of theke is currently talking to the four and from the looks of it, she handed the basic rewards from the quest of assassination to the people who have tampered with the seal of Cath Palug. I don''t know how big and valuable the rewards she has given to them might be but I am not there for the rewards, but for the Carnwennan. It''s kind of sad that I am not the one who repaired it back to its former glory but that''s for the best especially since I might risk it getting destroyed if I attempted it. When she saw me approaching them, she faced me after saying her excuses to the four before talking to me. "Since you fulfilled the quest, I will keep my promise. The Carnwennan is now back to its former form back in the good old days. It will serve a lot more now especially since I restored all of its effects that were gone after it was broken before." "Is it that good now?" "Compared to the countless relics of King Arthur, the Carnwennan is not the strongest relic he has but that doesn''t mean it was underwhelming in performance. You can check out most of its effects personally." She snaps her fingers and the Carnwennan appeared on her hands. She handed me the dagger which is nowpleted and ready to be used again. Pulling the Carnwennan out of its sheath, the de was revealed to be a crimson red dagger with intricate patterns that I have noticed before but were too faded for me to properly see but now, I can properly appreciate all of the small designs it had. Opening its stat panel, I didn''t expect the stats of the Carnwennan at all. [Carnwennan: Reforged] Rarity: Heroic Tier Type: Weapon Equipment Equippable at: Level 0 Equippable by: Assassin, Versatile Stats: STR: 1500 DEX: 1000 AGI: 1300 Skills: 1. Immortal Killer - Type(Passive) - will inflict a target mark on the attacked enemy(Stackable at 10). Any attacksing from this weapon that willnd on a marked target will ignore the invincibility and immortality traits the target has. The more stacks the target has the more damage that can be inflicted on the target. It will also stop the self-regeneration skills or traits of enemies once the stacks also reach 5. 2. Shadow Cloak: Type:(Active) MP cost: 50 MP Cooldown: 15 minutes - once cast, the user will blend into the shadows and will remain in that state for 10 minutes or until the user cancels the skill. 3. Summon: Shadow: Type:(Active) MP cost: 50 MP per summon Cooldown: 10 minutes -summons a shadow that will inherit half of the user''s stats that will attack and defend at the user''s will. Can summon multiple shadows at once with a maximum of 5 shadows at once. Info: The dagger that King Arthur previously used in the past but was destroyed after it was used as thest sealing anchor to keep the monster Pendragon from escaping. Now that it was reforged and restored, the weapon has been improved a lot more and has a lot more uses than before though it lost the ability to seal up its opponents just like how King Arthur used it in the past, the dagger is now capable of being a deadly weapon that will be easily abused if it falls into the wrong hands. Note: Shadow Clone Jutsu! Durability: NULL ... ... I can understand the stats of the Carnwennan being big due to the fact that it was a Heroic weapon and I also understand that the Carnwennan can be equipped by a level 0 yer as it is a weapon that is designed to be picked up by anyone. That way, any yer can still equip the weapon even if they are low level. It would be a shame if you get a piece of legendary or heroic equipment and because your level is too low, you are not gonna be able to use it anyway. But the one thing that I am more fixated on is the first kill, [Immortal Killer]. This is the first equipment that I have seen to have the ability to kill an immortal. In my previous life and current lifebined, I have not seen any equipment capable of that. Just by the sounds of it, any kind of immortality buff or invincibility buff will be nullified by the Carnwennan which is gonna be the bane against immortals. Not only does it nullifies immortality and invincibility, but the self-regeneration skill is also nullified too which made this quite a huge thing, especially for bosses that have the ability to turn into an invincible monster during a battle and those boss monsters that have a very ridiculous amount of HP self-regeneration and that alone is already a big and huge help. Then something immediately went into my head. Is this the main reason the Carnwennan was being demanded me to be reforged again? I also remembered that Almira is creating something that can kill an immortal. Perhaps, this is one of the items that can be used as a reference to Almira? Perhaps this will be the good weapon that Almira needed to extract his n to kill an immortal? Still, to think that this weapon is considered one of the weakest relics of King Arthur, just how monstrous are the relics of King Arthur though? Just how unbnced all of the relics that King Arthur left behind? Perhaps I have found now why people like Queen Tori and Queen Tanya risk their lives to obtain the lost relics of King Arthur in the expedition. Because possessing one would indeed bring a big change to the game. Chapter 503 Returning To The Frozen Region Thedy of theke bid goodbye to us as she returned to the upper part of the pce to rest after handing the Carnwennan back to me. Merlin also went to me to give back the Cath Palug to me. "Oy, you little dipsh*t! I am still not done with you! I will not give up until I will be able to get out from the seal!" Cath Palug throw insults at Merlin though thetter didn''t mind the slurs and just smiled. "deheart, I know you are worried about Cath Palug since he is the embodiment of disaster but don''t worry. I made extra care that this guy will not be able to do anything aside from following your orders. Also, in case this guy will try to attack you or anyone else other than the people or enemies you ordered to be attacked with, Cath Palug will suffer severe pain in the body that he will immediately stop the moment it will happen," Merlin exined. "What the f*ck?! You have given me something like that?! YOU SICK F*CKER! I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU EVER!" I grab Cath Palug and thetter started to struggle to go away from me. "Release me human! Don''t you dare touch me!" Since Merlin already made Cath Palug as a pet, I checked the owned pets in the interface whether Cath Palug is already listed and as expected, Cath Palug is indeed in there listed in my list. "As, Lucia, Tina, take Cath Palug inside the summon''s area, you are free on what to do with him, discipline him, tie him up, anything you can do to him is fine. Teach this little guy that he is no longer the same menace before." As grabbed Cath Palug and nodded to me after. "We will do our best, Master." Cath Palug tried to escape but Tina immediately used her threads and tied up the guy without letting it give him a chance to escape. The three then returned to the Summon''s Area carrying Cath Palug that is still struggling. As much as he wanted to escape, there is no way I will allow that to happen. Not on my watch. "So, what is your next n?" Merlin asked. "We still have to go and find the other relics that King Arthur left behind in the frozen region. Also, Almira wanted me to kill an immortal so the Carnwennan is going to be a good weapon I can use to perform that." When Merlin heard that, he chuckled but then proceed to sigh deeply. "So Almira is about to do that huh? As expected of her, she still didn''t forget it after all these years." "Um... can I ask what this is all about and why Almira is so adamant about killing this particr immortal?" "Hahaha! Unfortunately, that is beyond the scope of what I should be saying. If you really are that curious, you have to ask Almira directly. Damn, and I thought I would hear the tidbits of things that Almira is hiding but I guess I have no choice but to ask her about the real story. But until then, I have no choice but to fulfill the remaining tasks. We bid farewell to Merlin and left the Ind of Avalon. If the four wanted to visit the ce again, they already knew what to do so I don''t need to teach them or anything. "So this is goodbye huh?" Gin looked at hispanions then at me. "Yeah. I still have a quest to do." "Will we be able to team up again in the future? We learned a lot aboutbat and what we can do in the game, thanks to you. It would be great if we could fight together again," Shana asked. "Perhaps, but the future is uncertain so it only depends on you guys." "I know! Why don''t we send him friend requests? That way, we can have contact with him in the future!" Yna suggested. The other three seem to also agree with the suggestion and started sending me friend requests. I am not against it so I epted their requests. Once I epted their friend requests, the four bid farewell as they logged out of the game. After they left, I turned to look at the remaining outsider and that is the bunny girl. "So, what are you gonna do now? I can free you now and you are free to go back but I doubt you can go back to where you needed to be without being alerted by the authorities in the cities and towns causing you to avoid itpletely. And the journey back to the vige would also prove to be long and dire that I can estimate you arriving there 1 month on foot." The bunny girl sighed and red at me but she had no choice on the matter. She is the one who chased me this far and I am not so kind enough to bring her back to the vige. I am not a good samaritan. "What choice do I have? I don''t want to die and I don''t want the monsters in the forest to maul me either. And wandering around cities won''t also do me good. I can onlyply and follow yourmand from now on." "Huh. So you want to follow mymand? However, how should I trust you if you tried to kill me at first? I am not just someone who epts a follower without proving their words and the truth in the words you spout." "Then I request a duel, if I win, you will allow me to join your group, but if you win, you can ditch me away and you will never see me again." I didn''t expect an assassin that fights like a saboteur will request a duel. However, a duel is already an established battle that will always settle any kind of dispute. I grinned under the mask after knowing what this bunny girl needed to show to prover her worth. "Alright, I ept your offer. However, I will not be the one who will be fighting against you as that would be quite an overkill and you will be sure that you will not win against me, therefore, I will be pitting you in a fight against one of my best followers and has the closest battle style to you." "I am ready, I will show you, as thest battle bunny in my tribe, I will defeat whoever they are!" Chapter 504 Bunny Girl Vs. Battle Maid Lina With the bunny girl epting the challenge, I called Lina out. Although she rarely got any actionspared to As and the others, she is currently training in the Summon''s Area to fully understand her weapons and how to properly wield all of them after she became the Versatile Battle Maid. "So she is the one who will fight against me? She doesn''t look much sturdypared to the other followers you have," the bunny girl looked at me with doubts in her eyes. Lina only smiled but I already saw an angry vein forming on her hands meaning she is pissed from hearing thatment. "Ha, you might be eating those words you just said. Don''t underestimate someone just because she is lightly dressed and she is a maid." "Whatever, I have to win if I want to survive!" "Master, should I go all out?" Lina asked me for permission. I already know how she does things if she goes out and since her ss can literally do the same stuff in the past and she has ess to different weapons too, she will be very dangerous in battle. "Just incapacitate her. You can go all out, but don''t kill her as this is not a battle to the death. Just make sure she loses and make sure that she is intact, that''s it." "What about weapons? Should I limit myself to one weapon?'' "No, limiting yourself to one weapon would just make you at a disadvantage since she also uses multiple weapons, fight which weapon isfortable for you to use." When I said those words, Lina smiled and went into position for the battle. The bunny girl also went to do the same. As for me, I am the one who will judge the oue of the match. "Are both sides ready?" The two did not speak but they only stare at each other. Lina is confidently staring at the bunny girl while thetter seems to be sweating for a bit but she is still trying her best to keep herself calm. "Then I will take both of your silence as a yes. Begin!" As soon as I shouted those words, the bunny girl immediately throws her throwing knives. I didn''t catch up how many were thrown but I will estimate it to be six throwing knives flying straight to Lina. However, Lina didn''t flinch and just stood there smiling. Before the throwing knives cannd to Lina, she made her move and a quick movement in her hands and the flying throwing knives that were hurled to her disappeared and reappeared to her hands as if she was the one who were holding them right from the start. Butg the bunny girl didn''t just stood there after throwing those knives. She pulled out her metal wires and started manipting them in her arms as she darted to close her distance to Lina. As for Lina who is still holding the throwing knives, she throws them back to the bunny girl causing the bunny girl who was still preparing to do her close attack to stop and dodge to the side. But that was one fatal mistake to her because Lina already predicted her next movement. In a sh, the bunny girl saw a shadow the moment she dodge away from the throwing knives and the next thing she knew, arge metallic ball with some little spikes hit her back, causing her to spit a lot of blood from catching the strike. Lina has whipped out her Morning Star and m it down to the dodging bunny girl. After the strike, Lina did not strike another attack and retreated, staying to where she stood earlier and withdraw her Morning Star back to where she pulled it out. The bunny girl struggled to move. A heavy attack that she didn''t expect just hit her abdomen and it caused a lot of damage to her. I can see it on her face that the pain is just too crazy for her that she didn''t knew catching up that pain was too painful for her body. However, as a trained assassin, she didn''t remain lying on the ground. She stood up again andposed herself to fight back. As for Lina, she is just waiting for the bunny girl to attack while keeping the smile on her face intact. The bunny girl already knew that the first attempt to attack her wasn''t a good idea as she just literally used the first weapons she used to attack first to get back to her. So this time, the bunny girl decided to fight back in closebat. She darted herself and pulled out a sword and she is about to go to strike a fight against Lina. Lina elegantly blocked her first strike with a dagger as she pulled it out of her side and deflected the iing attack in an elegant way while still keeping her calmness. As Lina deflected the sword, it seems the bunny girl was already anticipating the way Lina will react and as soon as she deflected the first strike, the sword''s hidden function was revealed. It''s long de divided into parts, forming a de chain sword and manipte it to bind Lina who just deflected the attack. But contrary to the bunny girl''s expectation, instead of shock, Lina is seen grinning when that happened and she felt nervous about it that she quickly bind up the maid on her swords. It was just a small grin but in the bunny girl''s eyes, she saw something terrifying and in her entire life of being an assassin, this is the first time that she have experienced the fear that has been trained to her system to get rid of to properly execute the tactics wlessly. All of those have been flushed down to the drain the moment she faced the maid before her. Despite her experience in assassination, she is not someone capable enough. And the one who beat her up is none other than a maid. And despite her sword binding the woman, she felt that something is wrong and her instincts never fail for that. This woman is just on another scale and on another whole new level. Chapter 505 Battle Conclusion Despite being attacked to the point of having a hard time moving, the bunny girl persevered. She abused the innate trait that would allow her to immediately heal her wounds in a few minutes after obtaining them but it wasn''t fast enough to heal all her wounds since, by the time the old wounds will be healed, new ones appear. Lina sighed as she looked at the bunny girl with her semi-torn outfit and bloody mess body. "Isn''t this enough? It is clear you won''t be able to fight anymore. Why are you pushing yourself?" Lina stood in front of the bunny girl who is still trying to get up after being beaten by her. Every trick that the bunny girl tried is either not effective or perhaps used against her instead of damaging the enemy she was facing. "Not...yet... I still haven''t lost yet!" She pulled out her dagger for onest attempt but Lina easily flick it off that it flew into a tree and stuck into the trunk. Immediately after Lina did that, she quickly punches the abdomen of the Bunny girl, and she pukes out more blood before she loses consciousness. Lina immediately catches the bunny girl in her arms before she falls to the ground. "Master, I know you have a bet with her to leave her there if she was defeated by me but I can see the potential in her. She just didn''t have the best training but the spark is there. I think I want to make her my apprentice." I was surprised when Lina proposed that to me. I was indeed nning to leave her behind since having someone who wants to kill you around is just simr to having a timed bomb close to your body. I didn''t expect to have Lina take an interest in her, especially since even in the past, she didn''t show any kind of interest in other people. This is the first time I have seen her do this and plead for me to bring her along for her to be her own disciple. "Are you sure about that? Having like her would be difficult and she might cause us trouble in the future if she wasn''t properly trained." "Don''t worry about it, Master. I am confident about it that she will be a fine follower. She will not be a nuisance, I promise." Since Lina pleaded to me for her to ept the bunny girl, I have to at least fulfill the duty of a master. And since Lina has seen potential in her, then why not? If she is indeed someone who can be good and we can assign tasks for her, then it wouldn''t be bad to get another follower. I pulled out a bottle of ssh potion and emptied the whole bottle on the bunny girl, healing all the remaining wounds she have in her body. I know that she has fast regeneration in her body but I decided to just use a potion to finish the job. That way, she will wake up much sooner. "Bring her in. We will form a contract once she wakes up." Lina nodded and brought the bunny girl into the Summon''s Area. Since I agreed for her to stay in just like the angry boy before, she can remain there without getting a contract from me just yet. Now that my job is done and every single loose thread is now loose, it''s time to head back to my initial job. ... ... ... When I returned to the site where the soldiers are dismantling the Mist Turtle of the Damned, I was shocked to see that the turtle''s carcass is nowhere to be seen now. The only things that prove that the carcass of the turtle was present there before are the amount of blood and some residual flesh that was left behind due to the dismantling process. Also, Almira and the others are discussing things outside already which means Almira is done with the weapon that she was trying to make from the materials that were salvaged from the Mist turtle of the damned. "Ey, deheart? Where have you been? One day passed by and you did not even log out. What did you do for you to stay behind?" Hagane asked as he noticed me approaching them. "I got a quest to reforge the first relic that I retrieved underground. I mean, it is necessary for me to reforge it in case we will need it in the future." "Looks like the queens drove you into an errand huh? So does the Carnwennan back to its former form?" Almira asked. "Not just back from its former form, it is even improved," I pulled out the Carnwennan and throw it to Almira who immediately caught the de and examined the weapon. When she read the description and stats, I can see in her eyes the surprise that she felt after seeing the new weapon''s form. "Are you sure that you reforged this on your own? I don''t remember you having weapons with this much quality in them, it seems like the work of an artisan! I don''t think your work results in forging can you to have that made by your own hands and I don''t believe you are capable of that stunt. Not only that, you are dealing with the Carnwennan and not just another weapon you can throw away and leave it at that!" Iughed at Almira''s reaction as she thought that my skills have grown so much that I was already capable of doing stuff like that." "Ha, if only that would be possible, I won''t be making crappy armors and weapons until now. I would be making legendary tier weapons already. So no. I am not the one who returned that to its former features but for someone else. Also, they said that they wanted to send regards to you since you have not visited there for so long." Almira is sharp enough to understand who I was talking about or that she really didn''t have anyone else that can be considered her close acquaintances. She continues to hold the Carnwennan in her hands, still lost in thought. I then turned to everyone. "What happened when I was gone in one day? I am quite sure that the carcass of the turtle was still too big for us to finish?" "Ah... that... Something happened when you were gone. A beam of some sort broke out on the ground and the carcass along with some unfortunate NPC soldiers were reduced to nothingness after." Chapter 506 The Raid Begins (I) p "A beam?" "Yeah, you know, the same beams you see in movies likeser beams? However, the beam here is much bigger like some sort ofser beam fired by aliens in the movies from their spaceships. It was so sudden so we didn''t even get to react to it as it only happened in split second and it only happened once. That is also the reason the soldiers around are deployed and are investigating the area for any signs of where the beam came from," Dolly exined. I tried recalling many weapons or monsters capable of unleashing a beam and the only one I can think of is the Draconic Metal which can turn the surrounding air into aser beam that it can shoot out from its eyes and mouth depending on the situation. But still, its attacks aren''t capable of wiping out a huge carcass of the giant turtle in a snap. No, it''s impossible already, to begin with, given the size of the Draconic Metal and the carcass alone. "Did the two queens already issue an exnation already?" "No, the two have no idea about that. They deployed the soldiers already to see what is going on and to check whether it is safe to stay in this area or is it time to move on, Right now, we just need to stay here and be on standby in case that sh*t once again happened," Hagane answered. Then, a few soldiers started shouting not too far from us while waving their hands. "Oh, looks like they found something," Topaz pointed to the soldiers. "Should we look and see what is going on over there?" I asked. "No. We will only go if they specify us to go. Until they say so, we remain on standby," Sigma answered while keeping herself rxed. I looked around and realized that my parents are nowhere around with us alongside Chase. "Where are the others?" I looked at Dolly since she is always with my mom. "They just logged out earlier. Unlike us, staying in the game for too long would not be a good thing. As for Chase, he said he was a bit tired so he logged out for now. He will be back once he gets sufficient rest," Dolly exined. "Then what about you guys?" "We already logged out earlier when the situation from the beam didn''t happen just yet. When we log back in a few hours earlier, the beam appeared, and now it''s happening." So all we can do is wait for themand and stay put until everything is done. It''s a boring thing but that might be the reason why they just decided to kill time while talking with Almira who is also staying, waiting for themand. "Although it''s unfortunate that all the remaining materials that we needed are gone, we already umted quite a lot of stuff already and my work has finally been halted which is a good thing for me since I can now have a rxation time for myself," Almira smiled as she sits down on the chair and looks in the distance. "So that only means we are almost done with this quest huh?" Dolly sighed in relief. "No, we are still gonna go to that route but not just yet. Thest thing we will be doing is to gather the relics we can find and right now, we have yet to do that. Of course, it is reasonable that we have yet to begin anything just yet. Since we have yet to begin the expedition, I can assume that we will begin once we have umted enough weapons and armor. But since the disappearance of the carcass and our source of materials is gone, the only way we can do right now is to just wait for theirmand and I can assume that sooner orter, we will be going to begin to dive deeper into this frozennd." "Sounds quiteplicated," Iron scratches his head. "Of course and it''s quite bothersome but as someone who does not hold the power to do anything to the army, all we can do is remain and wait." As everyone continued doing idle chatter, Queen Tori and Queen Tanya appeared from their tents. One of the soldiers who has a loud voice climbs onto the makeshift stage that was used during any announcements has announced something. "Everyone that is part of the expedition, please gather around. Your Majesties, Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are going to start a speech! Please gather around and I want everyone to be assembled here in under three minutes!" The soldiers immediately followed themands and they quickly lined up. The cksmiths also followed suit while we also gathered in the backline. Just like the soldier wanted, everyone has gathered around excluding those who are still busy investigating as they are needed to determine whether it is safe to go or we have to escape the ce before another beam appeared and vaporizes everyone. "Attention soldiers! Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are here!" The soldiers stopped talking and the two queens appeared but this time, they are no longer wearing the casual outfits for the royalties that they usually use when they are in the castle or in their free time. I haven''t seen Queen Tori''s before but I have seen Queen Tanya''s and it''s her battle gear as a Reaper ss. Her outfit looks like a jacket hoodie but it''s stylish enough that she wouldn''t look like an actual grim reaper. Her scythe, however, is creepy enough and emanates death. As for Queen Tori, her outfit is simr to a winter coat but has an obvious armor pattern that made it lookfy enough to move around. I don''t know her ss since she has never been into an actual battlepared to the battle maniac Queen Tanya so I have no clue what she is capable of doing or what her abilities are like. "Looks like everyone is lively, huh? Today, everyone needs to temper their souls and body, for we are about to dive deeper. After careful investigations, we have concluded, that the event that urred earlier, is one of the effects of one of the relics of King Arthur. And since someone indeed confirmed that the relics are scattered underground, the wait is over. We are now going to start the raid. Collect all the relics we can find, and get out alive. Although I don''t doubt there will be an enemy down there waiting for us, I will officially assign it as a raid. All personnel avable forbat who are still capable of moving and fighting, gather up your arms, the raid shall begin!" Chapter 507 The Raid Begins (II) The talks were short but basically, we are gonna begin to explore the depths of the Frozen Region. Since the underground world has proven many times that something is happening there, plus the undoubtful presence of King Arthur''s artifacts is enough for the initiation of the mission. Although I am not sure whether King Arthur is still there alive and kicking, it is clear he left his legacy down there and since we don''t know why he did, the only thing we can do is to know why he would leave behind them down there rather than leaving it to the next king of his kingdom, and also to retrieve them so that monsters don''t use his relics in battle which will result to extreme devastation of this ce especially since some of them are powerful enough to wipe out something in an instant. To make sure that we are refreshed for the uing battle, we are allowed to have a single day of rest as this will be an arduous battle and after that, another no logout event again will ur. It is getting kind of troublesome now but that is the nature of this game''s story events and I can''t stop it in any way so the only thing we can do is to finish the event or fail the event, that is all there is to it, Since the others wanted to farm before the event will start, I decided to log out for the day. It''s been a while since I logged out of the game I think I already broke my first habit of not overexerting myself in the game. I know I am earning money and I can still do fine without logging out but I don''t want to make my body in big trouble in the future so I should do that first. ... ... Returning to the real world, my whole body felt like it has gotten really heavy all of a sudden and it isn''t just random heaviness but the same heaviness I felt in the past after I was overloaded with mana in my body. The pain in my body is also quite unbearable to the point that I almost thought I had invisible wounds in my body. Because of this, I didn''t leave my bed and just lie down there while trying to calm my body out. Perhaps this was the consequence of not stabilizing my bodytely since I am stuck in the game for a long time. And with my body''s prolonged exposure to the Alternate World bottled up all the mana that my body earned. It only happened before because, in the past timeline, I am not diligent in managing my mana but I learned of the consequences so I know what to do now to avoid hurting myself more. Instead of circting my mana, I slowly release the mana in the air by expelling it like sweat in my body. That way, it wouldn''t explode in my body which would end up being fatal to me. Thankfully, I am quite familiar with doing it, allowing me to properly mitigate the situation to my advantage. Once all of the excess mana in my body has been expelled, I started to control the mana in my body and made it part of my body. It was a bit painful at first but it didn''tst long and the pain that I felt earlier disappeared and now my body is refreshed. "Damn, that is why I hated staying in the game for too long, my body gets into this state always." As for the excess mana, I just let it dissipate in the air. The more mana in the air, the better it is for everyone staying here. That would also help a lot with the mana training in their body and allow them to learn magic much faster. Since I have a one-day rest, I decided to just have a good time to go and sleep. I also cooked food for everyone else before I took a bath to refresh my body more. I returned to my room and check my emails to see if there are anything worth looking for and saw the notice that next week would be the time we will resume sses again. They sure took the time to increase the security after the hostage-taking took ce. But the safer it is for us, the better. At least we got a few more times toplete the quest before the sses resume. Next, I checked out themunity of yers in Alternate World. Aside from the time that I teamed up with the four newbie yers, I never interacted with other yers that much after I am more on focus to the current quest line. I checked out the various popr yers and my name has finally been dragged down to the lower rankings after I have gone silent. It was natural as there are other yers out there trying to catch the attention of the people. Just like what I expected, Kazuki has finally recovered from my sabotage against him which allowed him to rise back up from the ashes. He is still doing the same thing as before but he is now more active and trying to raise his level, speed runs on dungeons, and get better loot. As much as I want to hinder his progress a lot more, I can''t do that right now and I definitely won''t be doing that at the moment. I know I needed to ruin his gaming life but I have to make sure he didn''t know who sabotage him that would end up in big failure for his future. For now, I will let him bask in the glory but that won''tst for long and I am sure of it. The other piece of news that made me get intrigued is the new event that is involving Aquagius. Afterpleting the exclusive quest in Aquagius, the Aquagius is unlocked for everyone to travel into. Since there was no expedition to the Aquagius like what happened in Sandurk, the event that was supposed to happen ended up being reced by something else. I checked the event and I admit that it was fun, but it wasn''t as fun as the original expedition that Titania usually does and this quest doesn''t have much chaos involved so even if I was there, I think I would give it a big pass. The other thing that caught my attention is some of the big shots in the first timeline have finally resurfaced and started doing their rise. Not only that but the game is bing popr around the world now that a new surge of yers is expected toe in once the sale of the Reality Verse cabin is about to be implemented. I also remembered that during that time, I nned to save up money to buy my own cabin in the past timeline which ultimately end up failing after I keep losing what I earned from sh*tty guild members. It''s not happening to me right now but it still hurts that my life has been almost ruined due to that. There are more things that seem interesting too like trying to beat my records in some of the dungeons, posting some hidden quests, and other stuff. It was interesting but not as entertaining to me now. Then, an announcement from the auction house that I sold the guild tokens appeared, and this time, they are nning to sell some of the goods that they are trying to collect for the past few days. They even show some of the items that they will be featuring in the next auction and I was surprised to see that there are already a few weapons that are already Legendary tiers being sold in the auction house. I didn''t expect it to be this early but I guess it is a bit normal right now, especially with all the changes that have urred due to the changes I have done. But seeing legendary tiered weapons means that there is also a good possibility some good materials are also gonna be sold here. Of course, those materials won''t look cheap either and I can already assume some craftsmen are gonna participate too. As for the new weapon itself, I can see some people gonna start whaling harder to obtain the legendary tier weapons and other sets that will be sold here forter on. It will be very chaotic once things get serious especially if it involves great weapons and gears that have the potential of overturning the game and making it easy. Well, that isn''t my problem. Just as I was nning to log off and go to sleep for the rest of the day, someone posted another photo, and this time, they spotted a frozen woman in the middle of the forest. They post the photo and I almost cursed when I saw it. Not because I have known this in the past timeline but because some memories in my head suddenly reappeared and now my head hurts. The woman in the photo is none other than the woman d in white kimono, the woman who is said to be the guardian of Yggdrassil Chapter 508 The Raid Begins (III) I know I have seen that woman encased inside the ice before, she is no doubt the one that always appears in my dreams. For some unknown reason, I always seemed to not remember what my dreams are all about these past few days but it seems like it has something to do with her. There was no info about the location but I think I can try to check where it was by looking at the photo and try to recognize where it was taken. If she was the one who keep appearing in my dreams, there must be something wrong here since a game character shouldn''t be capable of intruding into people''s dreams like they were some kind of entity that is capable of breaking the fourth wall. However, upon closer inspection, I realized that I can''t even recognize the ce. "Is this ce a ce I haven''t visited before? Perhaps it was a newly discovered ce but it seems to be located in a forest with all those trees. I don''t think I can recognize the trees though." I tried to think a little bit more and see whether I can still locate it by sheer guessing alone but I doubt it and I don''t think I will guess it. My head hurts just thinking about it that I decided to call it a day and sleep. I should worry about thatter. ... ... ... The next day, I returned to the game, and this time around, my parents and Chase are already back into the game and they are now just waiting for furthermands. They decided to grind for a bit in the nearby area where some monsters spawn to at least get a bit more experience. I didn''t join them in the grind and instead went to the two queens to show them the Carnwennan. However, the soldiers barred my entry as they are still preparing and I can only meet with them once they are done. I sighed when that happened but that is all I can do. I can''t force myself to enter since it''s not mandatory and instead went to Almira. When I reached her tent, she is already packing up her things as she cleaned up all the stuff that she owned and used for smithing. Looks like she no longer needs need to do her smithing job now that all the materials that she needed to turn into weapons and armor are gone to ashes. "Master, are you already packing up your stuff? Is everything done?" "Ah? Oh, it''s just you, boy. Yeah, there is no point with my stuff scattered here. My job is over the moment that huge chunk of the turtle is gone but I already fulfilled the bargain so there is no need to keep on doing that." She then grabs a big item that looks like a weapon to me but I don''t know what it looks like since it was covered in cloth. She then put it behind her back and despite the size, Almira seems to not care about the weight as she just lugged it out like nothing. "What is that, Master?" "This? This is the weapon that I designed to kill an immortal. Although the Carnwennan that was restored also has the same abilities, two is better than one, right?" "Yeah, it won''t hurt to have more than one weapon at all. Can I know what kind of weapon was it?" "Not now. You don''t need to see it for now just yet." If Almira didn''t want me to see it, there must be some reason why she didn''t want me to see it so whatever it was, I don''t want to pry and I am not a busybody to care about it either. If she didn''t want me to see, then that is all about all I can do about it. I helped Almira clean up until we heard a loud horn which seems to signify the beginning of the raid "Shall we go, my apprentice?" she pulled out a cigarette and started puffing once more. "Sure... but please move the cigar away from me, I don''t like the smoke entering my nose." "You sure are sensitive, young man. Oh well." We joined the others after we went outside the tent. The soldiers are now ready and are equipped with new armor and all of them are wielding weapons that are clearly made from the Mist Turtle of the Damned just by the looks of it and I must say that despite a mass-produced weapon, they do look badass and if sold in the auction, it would even fetch a big price. It''s not a joke to get a weapon forged from the materials of a in behemoth. If I have a normal weapon in my arsenal, I would also like to have one myself but I don''t need it right now. "Looks like everyone is here." Queen Tanya is looking smug with her battle outfit alone. She imposingly stood there in front of the soldiers beside Queen Tori. "From here on out, the danger will appear from all sides as we go deeper into the underground to retrieve the artifacts. However, we will be giving a final warning. This expedition would be really dangerous and I don''t think we will get out of here without any losses. Still, this is for the sake that the monsters will not use the artifacts of King Arthur and use them for their own! Are you willing to give up your life for the sake of the future of our kingdom and for the safety of the citizens?" "MA''AM, YES MA''AM!" Queen Tanya grinned when she heard the screams of her soldiers that came from the top of their lungs. "GOOD! Alright, men and women! Let''s go!" The soldiers scream in unison, raising the morale of everyone around. "Damn, this is arge-scale battle and even though we are not fighting against the humans, this is quite a grand scale of battle huh?" my father was amazed. "Yeah. It''s not evenparable to the previous games on theputer that we knew. This is quite good to join up a battle and feel like a real soldier in a battle!" even my mother is quite enthusiastic. Now that we are about to reach the conclusion of this quest, there is only one thing that boggles my mind, what waits for us down there? Will the stares that I have felt before can be felt again once we go and descend? Chapter 509 The Raid Begins (IV): Deep Underground If the march of the soldiers happened where yers could see, they would naturally be curious about what the event was going to be. Not only that, but it looks badass enough that many will try to capture a video on this, post it on media tforms, and brag it to their viewers or even friends. Thankfully, we are far from the eyes of yers right now especially since this was an area that is unexplored by yers, and by default, we are the first ones to experience the harshness of this ce. With the help of one of the magicians, they created a tunnel that will allow us to descend down the underground directly by terraforming the ground and creating stairs that would act as a path for us to enter and exit. I volunteered to write the map to avoid getting lost once we are starting to move around. I know how important it is during my time when I was underground. I know it wouldn''t be useful for now, but it will once it is filled with paths. Getting lost would be disastrous. When we entered underground, monsters immediately weed us. Since we are in the backlines, we are tasked to defend the backline against ambushes and when the ambush is performed by the monsters, we immediately managed to respond immediately. As for the frontline, I don''t even need to worry with Queen Tanya dealing all the enemies. Even Queen Tori did not even get to do anything with Queen Tanya doing all of the troublesome work. "Damn, and I thought she was just a ssy queen but who would have thought she would be quite a monster in the battlefield," Hagane whistled. "Oh? Is this your first time seeing her Majesty fight? You are quite surprised right?" one of the soldiers who were near with us started to speak. "Yeah. I thought she would rely on her soldiers at first and the armor is just there for the boosting of morale to the soldiers but I was so wrong," Hagane answered. "Many of us were like that at first until we have seen how she was capable enough. She didn''t be just a queen out of being eloquent in politics, she is also a reliablemander who would fight alongside her soldiers rather than stay behind her castle and watch the battle. We, soldiers of the queen are quite grateful for how she keeps up with how she fights so we will dly follow her even if it costs our lives." My father shook his head when he heard that. "Boy, don''t be so ready to throw your life away. Even if you are just a normal footsoldier doesn''t mean your life would just be a fodder. Fight for your own survival and win against the adversary. Don''t let it kill you and instead use it to get stronger. You will be more useful to your queen with you being alive and well rather than a cold corpse on the ground." The soldier''s eyes lit up when he heard my father said that. But my father has a point though. Why die for your queen when you can fight to live for your queen? The barrage of monsters were continuously pouring to us but we are quite capable of handling them all so it wasn''t even a big of a problem and with the armor and weapons that are mass produced being used by everyone, the enemies were just a bunch of crawlies for them. Of course, we don''t just get weak monsters, but we also got some big enemies blocking our way. Still, Queen Tanya is quite capable of killing them. Sometimes, she just does her job of reducing its HP before handing them to her soldiers for them to kill it, allowing her to share the experience to the soldiers and leveling them up to a good measure. Soon, we reached on a giant door that blocks our way forward. It would have been understandable if it was a dungeon but we didn''t enter a dungeon but just an underground tunnel. "Perhaps we breached a dungeon without knowing about it?" My mother is a bit worried that we would be in a dungeon as it will only show that the battle will be hellish for us especially with the levels of monsters here alone is enough to cause panic. Almira immediately exined to calm and ease my mother''s worries. "Don''t worry. The dungeons cannot be breached by any means anyways so it is already impossible to ess one without entering the dungeon''s entrance. Anyone who would try to breach a dungeon in any means will not be able to enter the dungeon at all due to the ws" surrounding them. So if you want to ess the dungeon''s interior, all you have to do is enter its entrance. There is no dungeon that would allow you to walk around like this by breaching in their walls." "So even though this ce is not a dungeon, it has a boss room? This is the first time I encountered something like this. I didn''t know something like this exists!" Dolly was perplexed. "There are times that dungeon boss rooms appear like this without warnings though I don''t mean to say they are not possible to happen. I have seen certain instances of this happening so don''t be rmed if this happened. This ispletely normal." While we are discussing, Queen Tanya and Queen Tori pushes the door open, revealing what was inside of the door. Just like what we expected, it was a boss room and behind the boss that is currently guarding the room is a door that we think to be the way to reach the deepest area of the underground. We didn''t enter the dungeon all at once so Queen Tanya stopped her soldiers from entering. Queen Tori decided to exin the thing to the confused soldiers. "This is gonna be a dangerous battle so instead of fighting with us, every soldier will guard the door for any enemies. We will be going in alongside with the adventurers to deal with this problem. Besides, if all of us are inside, it will be easy for the boss to just release an AOE attack and we might be wiped out due to that. The lesser the people who will fight with us, the better I agree with Queen Tori on this one. The lesser of us fighting the boss are, the lower the chances of casualties and since Queen Tanya didn''t like to have multiple casualties, she already have an idea on what to do already that is why she stopped the soldiers froming in. Queen Tori then asked us to approach and so we did since we already know what she meant for the people who will deal with the boss. "You guys already know the rules and so do I. Are you guys ready?" Queen Tori looked at us. "Ever since this raid is happening, we are already prepared on what is toe," Harmless Sparrow answered. "Ha! Sounds promising! Then lets get into this and get this done with as soon as possible!" As always, the battle hungry Queen Tanya is already eager to start the battle. Dolly and the others are also eager too as this is a boss battle that we will be fighting with, along with the help of two NPCs, Queen Tanya and Queen Tori. After all, we don''t get this kind of opportunity to have NPCs help us in a fight unless it is our follower which doesn''t count since that also counts as your own firepower. The boss we are facing right now is a giant stone monster that I can easily tell to be a gargoyle based on the wings behind its back that is curled up around it. And when we get a bit closer, I managed to see a glimpse on what it actually looks like behind the wings covering it. It looks like a dragon to me. "The monster is still not responding..." Sigma is keeping her guard up but she hasn''t even pulled her weapon yet and just remained her arms crossed all the time. "Don''t be so sure about that, monsters like this guy tends to surprise people which will tend to instead cause casualties especially for those careless people who think this guy is just a normal statue," Queen Tori smiled before she pulls out a few slips of paper. She then throw them in the air and started chanting. I was surprised since I never saw Queen Tori fight but to see her use those papers, I now know what ss she is. Just like Queen Tanya, her ss is one of the unreleased sses that will be added after a few expeditions will unlock a corresponding continent that would be apanied with new sses and races to choose from. This ss is one of the sses that will only be released once the Kamikaze continent is unlocked, the Onmyoji ss. A support-DPS hybrid ss that specializes in summoning familiars to fight and to release debuff against them. Chapter 510 The Raid Begins (V): The Draconic Gargoyle My eyes did not deceive me, one look at the features of the boss is clear, it was a dragon. It might not have the same aura most dragons have but it was still a dragon on a smaller scale. But despite calling it a dragon on a smaller side, this is still quite big and that is not something we can just scoff off. When we approach it at a sufficient distance, the petrification of the boss started to crack which also means it is about to awaken and reveal its true form. "Get ready boys and gals! We are in for a big challenge! It''s a Draconic Gargoyle!" Queen Tanya immediately went into a battle stance with a huge grin on her face. Queen Tori also pull several talismans out of thin air and is ready to throw them whenever necessary. Seeing the movement of the statue monster, everyone also did their battle stance. It didn''t make users wait that long as the cracks are starting to get bigger and the ground starts to shake meaning the monster inside the petrified state is trying to break free from its current state. Not only that but when the monster finally managed to break free of its big wings, the surroundings started to dim, and gets really hard to see anything. "It looks like this guy has the ability [Eclipse] as a passive," Queen Tori analyzed. "[Eclipse]?" Topaz who was near Queen Tori asked. "It''s a minor passive that would allow the user to d the surroundings in darkness, enhancing the dark element traits. Most of the enemies using this ability are Necromancers and Liches due to how it benefits them on using it." As Queen Tori exined it, the upper body of the dragon has finally been freed from the certification state and its HP and name have finally been revealed, of course, the same prediction Queen Tanya said before. [Draconic Gargoyle] Level 300 HP: ????????/??????? (To reveal the HP, reduce it to a certain extent or do a special condition) MP:10000/10000 Trait: Dragon, Dark I grit my teeth in frustration. Not only is the level quite high but there is a special condition to reveal its HP that has been hidden by question marks. That means that the HP of the boss is infinite until the time the amount of HP has been dealt with the boss, of course, that could be prevented if instead of reducing its HP to a certain extent, the special conditions were met. Of course, with the battle happening, there is no way we can even have a nitpick to check around the surroundings just to find this special condition. "Firste, first serve!" Queen Tanya immediately leaps off the ground and jumps toward the dragon with a huge grin on her face as she wields her scythe ready to strike. The dragon immediately noticed her and it immediately raised its arms and p them together to squish Queen Tanya to smithereens. But Queen Tanya already anticipated that and she used a sort of teleportation and instead of being pped by the dragon, she managed to dodge it and close the gaps between her and the dragon. SWISH! A huge gash wound appeared the moment the scythe of Queen Tanya hit the dragon causing the dragon to scream in pain. Queen Tanya returned to the ground after inflicting a huge gash wound. But contrary to her previous look of smiling, she looks disappointed when shended. "This bastard is immune to death effects and it is even immune to my curse attacks. It looks like it is indeed quite immune to any dark-rted attacks like mine so all I can offer is pure physical attacks." The dragon seems really pissed that the bottom half of the dragon that was still petrified before has been forcefully cracked and it seems to be too pissed as it tries to locate Queen Tanya. BANG! A single bullet almost caused the dragon to stagger. Of course, out of all of us, the only one capable of using guns is only me so it is none other than me who shot it using the Pain Delivery gun. As always, the gun is doing its job of dealing a huge chunk of damage. "Hey! We can''t afford to let just Queen Tanya and deheart deal damage! Let''s also do our part!" Harmless Sparrow sparked her de in mes and charged toward the boss. The others also did the same while the magicians and those who can deal attacks against it in the distance started to attack too. Queen Tori throws her talisman and a huge talisman stick figure appeared which is controlled by Queen Tori herself. "Go ahead, guys! I will try to restrain the dragon! Use this chance to bombard it with attacks!" The draconic gargoyle saw the stick figure talisman that appeared out of nowhere and seeing it almost rivaling in size, the dragon was furious and immediately breathed arge breath of fire. Queen Tori immediately throws another talisman and a small barrier erected itself in the middle of the attack of the draconic gargoyle and the talisman. That made the draconic gargoyle more furious and decided to attack the talisman. And with the attention of the enemy directed to Queen Tori''s abilities, we immediately took this chance to unleash our skills. For me, I decided to test out one of the new skills that I haven''t tested out after the Versatile Weapon received some new skills after devouring the Pendragon. "[Avarice]!" The moment I activated the skill, half of my MP was reduced immediately which I didn''t expect as the skill didn''t mention how much MP would be consumed if I used the skill. I don''t know the exact stats of the boss so I don''t know the effects but the moment the [Avarice] was activated, the Versatile Weapon changes into the mouth of the shadow dragon and extends itself to take a bite to the boss. "CHOMP!" Of course, that chomp didn''t deal any damage. After all, it wasn''t a damaging skill but a skill that inflicts stat reduction debuff. -Avarice was activated. -Temporary buffs are granted based on the stats that were absorbed. All buffs willst for 10 minutes. -All parameters have been temporarily increased by 500 -Attacks will have the Piercing effect -Attack UP Vs. Dragon Beings. -Defense UP -Status resistance against dragon-type attacks increased. -Critical hit damage increased -Guaranteed Crit rate for every attack -HP increased by 10,000 -MP increased by 5000 -HP Regen increased to 1000 HP healed per second -Lifesteal increased The string of buffs that were granted to me was so immense that I didn''t expect all of them toe in at once. And all of them are great stuff. Seeing how these buffs temporarily increased my prowess, I decided to use this chance to deal big damage. ? I leap andnded on the tail of the dragon. I started running behind its back while it is still busy attacking the talisman that Queen Tori unleashed and most of the strongest attacks areing from Queen Tanya. Sigma and the others are dealing decent damage but due to their levels, it''s not evenparable. Once I reached its wing area, I changed the weapon into an ax and brought the giant ax down to the wings. With all of the buffs that I received, the moment the axnded, it should have at least done a little bit of damage, especially since our level difference is quite big. But instead of big damage, I instead managed to prate its attacks. I just realized that the attack that I have dealt with just now has pration damage. That alone will ignore any kind of defense values the monster has and will immediately deal damage, just pure damage alone. And due to that, the attack didn''t only deal quite arge amount of damage, but it also break off one of its wings that causing it to lose one of them, making the guy unbnced without one wing. ROARRRRR! The boss wailed in agony after the giant wing fell from its back and blood spurted out from being chopped. "I am not done yet!" I swing my ax once more and this time, the next target is the other wing. The draconic gargoyle wanted to prevent my attack from happening and covered it using its huge and scaly hands. But I am not even fazed about it and continued to push all of my strength toward the boss, and brought down the ax downwards. CHOP! On one swing, a limb has been cut off and its blood started to spurt out in a huge session. It was so strong that even if the draconic gargoyle tried to protect its other wing, it failed after the single swing. Not only did it cut off the hand that tried to cover and protect its wings, even the wings that were protected were instead cut off too which made two parts of its body disappear. Chapter 511 The Raid Begins (VI): Galatine The stats I received is quiterge that my damage is just quite capable of dealing enough damage to even cut off its wings. With its wings cut off, this dragon is no longer capable of flying anymore. The dragon is now pissed and is trying to use its spikes behind its back to attack me. Due to the attacks of the dragon, I have no choice but to go up higher to its neck to avoid those spikes. "Hahaha! It seems you are having fun over there, deheart!" Queen Tanya noticed me when she leaped to attack the boss in the head. "Trust me, it is not fun at all!" Some of the spikes just appeared out of nowhere and to avoid getting impaled or squashed by them and I have to swing my weapon time and time again to cut off the spikes one by one just to get remove them from my way. Thankfully, the moment I reached the neck area of the dragon, the spikes are nowhere to be seen there. But there is one thing that caught my eyes. On top of the dragon''s head, is a shining sword that I didn''t notice before when I was on the ground due to it hiding on its horns which is blocking the view when seen while standing on the ground. Now that I am behind the dragon, it is clear as day to me now that it is a sword stabbed deep into its head. With the movement of the dragon getting real chaotic while I am there, I didn''t waste my time and changed my Versatile Weapon into a Hook and Chain before throwing the hook towards the handle of the sword. I already have a good grasp on how to time my throw to properly get the hook to attach to somewhere I wanted it totch on. CLANK! With the hook attached, it was easy for me to reach the sword without scaling the scaly neck of the dragon. Reaching the ce where the sword was piercing, I realized that the ce of the dragon''s head that has been stabbed by the sword is being burnt like it has been under the mes and it is burned as the sword remains there. It was like the flesh of the dragon and the de of the sword are rejecting each other. I grabbed the sword''s hilt and the moment I held it in my hand, the glove on my hands is also being burned. It was a slow burn but that is still burning that I didn''t expect its the ability to evene into effect to the one who wields it. Or perhaps I am not worthy of grabbing the sword. Thankfully, the Versatile Weapon is invulnerable to anything which made the hook remain on the handle. Seeing that my gloves were useless the moment I held the sword''s hilt in my hands, I decided to pull it out in a different way. After all, there is a much better alternative to pull it out from where it was being held at. CLANK CLANK! Wrapping the chains to the sword, I made sure that the hook won''t slip off after pulling it before I yank it with all of my strength. A single yank and the sword that was buried deep within the head of the dragon were pulled up. The moment the de was pulled out, a great light shined upon the surroundings that even the dragon screamed in pain as the light burned our unprepared eyes. "F*CK! WHAT IS THIS BLINDING LIGHT DOING?!" Hagane screamed in pain as the light just pierces our eyesight. I managed to close my eyes a bit but it was still bright enough that closing my eyes doesn''t have much effect. It just made my eyelids a bit painful. Thankfully, the light disappeared a few secondster on. The moment I opened my eyes, I was weed by a system message. [Secret Method performed. The effects of [Eclipse] have been removed. The Draconic Gargoyle''s weakness has been revealed and is now vulnerable to any attacks dealt with twice the amount.] The secret method was performed?! Wait, so that means, the sword that was pierced on its head is the secret method? Pulling it out of its head will reveal the weakness of this guy? Then, if I didn''t have the Versatile Weapon to pull it out, no one can do that at all? What a bogus method! When the dragon recovered from its sight, it started rampaging I immediately have to get off the back of the dragon before I get squashed by it trying to move around and kill me. while I was there. The sword is still at the end of the chain so I didn''t have to worry about it and just went down with it. "deheart? What was that thing you just did up there? It was so bright that we almost got blinded!" Queen Tanya is still blinking, trying to adjust her eyesight. "You could have just warned us if you have nned to do that while you were up there!" Dolly was so pissed even though she is still rubbing her eyes. "Hey, it''s not my fault that it would ur like that! I didn''t know that the secret method to defeat this dragon is enough to blind our eyes like that!" I defended myself. It wasn''t my intention to unleash that bright light anyway. "Son, what is that sword that you are carrying?" My father immediately noticed the sword dangling at the end of the Versatile Weapon. "I still have no idea what it was but this was the cause of that bright light earlier." ROARR! The dragon seems to have regained its vision properly and faced us again. But since the previous menacing aura it has before is gone, it is just a regr dragon enemy now. Looking at the HP of the dragon again, it is no longer showing a question marked HP, and instead, it was reced with actual numbers which are now amounting to 2,045,987 HP. It became quite small as it was weakened from the previous method I did unconsciously. With that, the battle continued but due to how overkill Queen Tanya fought, the battle ended a few minutester after the draconic gargoyle got weakened. The rest of the group gathered to the drops after the dragon disintegrated and dropped the rewards. It was a shame that it didn''t leave any single solid body. It would have been great especially since it was a dragon and materialsing from dragons are quite sturdy and good to use in making items. But since I don''t have any interest in the items dropped unless it is materials, I left all of the jobs for them to take to everyone else. Queen Tori and Queen Tanya are also interested in checking the drops so they joined the others too. As for me, my interests lie elsewhere. The sword that is still on my Versatile Weapon is something that I have yet to check. I know that this might just be an ornamental object meant to be an item that has only one single use and that is to perform that blinding light from earlier. But there is a possibility that it is different. I might be inhaling hopium but it''s just something that I wanted to know. I pulled out all of the chains that is binding the sword off to easily inspect the item. I tried to return the Versatile Weapon back to its sword form but for some unknown reason, I can''t do it because it needed to be untangled before it can transform. I have no choice so I decided to untangle it with my own two hands. Of course, it was quite hard as hell since the moment I touch just a little bit of the sword, it stings and my HP went down for a bit. So to prevent depleting my HP every time I touched it, I chugged down a bottle of potion before I try again. It took me around 13 bottles of Health Potion before I managed to untangle the chains of the sword. Once the Versatile Weapon is untangled, I changed it back to sword form before I inspected the sword. But the sword was something else. My hopium was indeed very effective since this wasn''t just an item that cannot be used again. It was an item that is indeed a weapon. But it was a weapon that I didn''t expect to see. [Gtine] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: Heroic Tier Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: Swordsman, Versatile STR: 641 INT: 320 Special Trait: Embers of the Sun: Generates heatparable to the sun to people who are notpatible or chosen by the weapon. Will cause continuous damage to the user or anyone who touches the weapon if they are notpatible Special skill forpatible users: Gtine Supernova: Converts the heat generated by the sword intopressed energy that can be fired at will by the user. Will deal twice damage to dark element enemies and will inflict Burn(Debuff). Special Skills: 1. Ashes to Ashes: All damages done caused by this sword will inflict Burn(Debuff) in different degrees depending on how resistant the enemy is to any kind of special conditions. Will not take effect if the enemy is immune to special conditions. 2. Avalon''s Sun: Whenever the user is in an area where the sun is shining, the power of the user will be doubled and the Health and defense of the user will be tripled. Info: The sword that is once wielded by Sir Gawain of the Round Table. After Sir Gawain gave the sword to King Arthur, it disappeared and is no longer found. It was rumored to be made from a fragment of the sun which is why it became a frightening weapon to those who wield it that is not worthy to hold it and to enemies who has been disintegrated by its power. Note: PRAISE THE SUN! Chapter 512 The Raid Begins (VII): Deeper Into The Underground This is the Gtine?! The f*ck is this thing doing here? I never knew that an item like this would be found just so nonchntly! "Your Majesties! Perhaps you guys would like to see this!" When the two queens heard my voice, they immediately went to my location. The others were also curious so they also approached too. p "Huh? What is the ruckus all about, deheart?" Queen Tanya tilted her head. "It seems I identally found one of the relics you guys are looking for," I said and pointed at the sword. "This sword you mean?" Queen Tanya was about to touch it when I stopped her. "Wait, your Majesty. Before you touch this, I will be warning you that this weapon currently damages anyone who feels it. It burns those who it deems as untrustworthy. Take a look at my glove after I grab the handle. Anyone who grabs a weapon that is not chosen by the weapon will be burned like this. Now, if you still wanted to touch it, you are wee to try doing so." "Hmmm," Queen Tanya touches the handle of the Gtine, and the moment she did, smoke came out from her fingertips and before she can fully grab it, she retracted her fingers away from the sword. "I didn''t know one of the weapons that King Arthur had is like this. It is simr to a cursed weapon huh?" Queen Tori rubbed her chin after seeing what it can do. When the others saw the effects even on Queen Tanya, they immediately backed off without hesitation. It seems they decided not to approach it for the sake of not getting burned from it. "So what weapon is this?" Queen Tanya asked. "The sword that Sir Gawain once used in the past, the Gtine." "Oh, the weapon that is said to be made from the fragment of the sun and was capable of replicating the heat of the sun when used?" "Yeah, that one. This weapon is indeed the one you are talking about." "I see. This means this is also counted as part of the relics of King Arthur. ording to the records, the owner of this weapon is now King Arthur as Sir Gawain handed the ownership of the weapon to him. It was a reasonable reason why this was here. If King Arthur scattered his treasures in this underground, that only means, the other weapons are also here." Queen Tori scratches her head. "Indeed. The Gtine is fine since it already has a restriction plus we found it but the others have no such restrictions simr to the Gtine which is going to be dangerous if all of them is a monsters. Especially the Secace and Arondnight. The swords of Sir Lancelot are two of the weapons that are dangerous to be held by anyone and I hope that those weapons are just lying in a safe and a ce that is not easy to ess by normal means like a treasure room since a normal mob taking them would definitely cause dangerous things and mayhem and chaos would ur in the process." "So what are we gonna do about it? Even deheart can''t lug it around, and the others don''t seem adamant about touching this one either. We can''t just leave this thing alone," Queen Tanya scratches her head. "I already prepared an item that can handle the power of the Gtine. Although I nned on using it on a cursed relic that we came across, this one can be considered as one if it harms anyone around us. Unless there is a proper human who can touch it without getting injured then that would be the more optimal thing," Queen Tori then pulls out a small orb made of metal. You can even mistake it for a crystal ball due to how shiny the ball was. "What is that?" I pointed to the ball that Queen Tori pulled out. "Magical Storage Ball. It''s a storage space that will prevent any kind of effects from activating especially on items that are cursed. Since the activation of the Gtine works simr to how a piece of normal cursed equipment does things, it is perfect storage for the sword to stop it from burning anything that tries to take a good hold of it. "You are still carrying that thing around huh?" Queen Tanya chuckled. "Hahaha, of course. This is the first portable storage item that I acquired, it has a special ce in my heart already so this thing does not leave my side most of the time!" After that, Queen Tori channeled her ability to activate the metallic ball before she bumps it into the Gtine sword which in turn, disappear as it got sucked inside the ball. "Alright, it is time to collect the remaining rewards before calling the soldiers inside to continue the journey." Although the boss has been defeated, I am now confused as to why the Gtine sword is stuck on the head of the guy. It''s not like it was there ever since the very beginning since it was clear that even the dragon was hurting from it and to make sure its health does not deplete, it petrified itself just to avoid dying from it. Someone intentionally put that sword there. Perhaps, the person who used the Carnwennan and sealed the Pendragon and the one responsible for putting the sword into the head of the dragon is the same person. Perhaps, it was King Arthur himself but until we know the truth, we won''t know who put it there. Once the items were imed by the others, they tasked me to check the doors ahead while the two queens return to the previous door to let the others in. Sigma and Harmless Sparrow apanied me to the door as they also wanted to scout ahead. "Do you think we will enter the dungeon if we continue through this door?" Harmless Sparrow asked Sigma. "Possible. We don''t know the mainyout of this ce and from the testimonies of deheart on the underground, it seems to be not connected to the underground he was in before which means this is another space where the same underground that deheart explored before has the same area. I won''t even be surprised if this ce is connected to where he was before," Sigma answered. I continue to listen to their talks while I inspected the door for any traps that might activate once the door is open. The design of the door is identical to the other underground structures that I found before. Although there are slight differences, it seems they are indeeding from the same ce. Since there are no traps, I opened the door and a cold and chilly wind blows into my body. Despite wearing a mask, I can feel the cold air seeping through my cheeks and my body immediately remembers the coldness that the previous underground offered. Not only that, but the one who keeps on staring at me seems to have returned as well. Chapter 513 King Arthur With the new path open, everyone managed to continue to move again deeper into the underground. It''s quiet and has been eventless for quite a while but it didn''tst that long due to how the monsters would suddenly appear out all of a sudden. Most of them are just crawler insects that seem to dwell deep underground as they don''t appear up on the surface. No one knows how they appear all of a sudden but it''s the only monsters that keep on weing us whenever we have reached the ce a bit deeper into the underground. "Is it just me, or does the ce gets colder and colder as we go deeper?" Dolly can''t help to shiver despite wearing a thick jacket that they said to be a reward from the first quest on the quest chain that Almira handed to them. "It''s not just you, I felt like this coldness is simr to what happenedst time where the whole world almost went back to the ice age," Harmless Sparrow rubs the palms of her hands just to warm herself just a little bit. I also noticed some of the soldiers are even shivering in cold despite the armors that are created being quite capable of absorbing the cold and converting them to heat. It seems that is not enough tobat the cold temperature. "Lucia, can you do something about this cold temperature that we are experiencing right now? Perhaps your mes are capable of doing something from this." "Unfortunately, I can''t do anything about that, Master. This cold temperature is the same as back then. Remember that I can''t even deal with it myself, it''s the same thing here right now." Hearing the reason, I sighed in disappointment. Going by the experience, the coldness will just get worse from here on out. We just continued walking in the tight corridor until we arrived at a bigger underground space. Yes, the same underground space where I fought Guts before. It''s the first time everyone found it, but for me, this is one of the areas that would give me a big impact ever since I have returned to the past timeline. After all, this is the first time someone is capable of actually killing me. "I never knew something like this ce existed..." Queen Tori wander her eyes around as she explores all the nooks and corners of the ce. There is one thing different from the usual though. At first, I thought it was the same ce where we fought before but I think this ce is just identical but not the same ce. When I look above, there is no ceiling like the ce Guts and I fought but a clear sky. Yes, there is an actual sky. "What the? Aren''t we underground? Howe we can see the sky here? We are quite sure to survey and there are no areas that would allow us to ess the underground that would also reveal the sky!" the soldiers are starting to wonder why something like this was happening. As we are wondering from these, someone started speaking not too far from us. "Looks like you guys have finally arrived. I thought you all would be stuck on that dragon before but to think you guys would reach here is still something that I thought would ur much, muchter on, but whatever." The moment the voice was heard, everyone went tobat stance and aimed their weapons in the direction of the voice. "Who are you?!" Queen Tanya pulled out her scythe and behind her, Queen Tori also readies her talismans. I instinctively grab the Versatile Weapon''s handle too when the voice of someone started speaking to us. And honestly, I didn''t know that someone is already watching us while we entered this ce. But to do that without alerting even Queen Tanya and Queen Tori without speaking is just something else. The only one who seems to be not surprised by this person speaking is none other than Almira who remained to have her hands crossed. "Now, now. I know you guys intruded here but I am not here to shoo you guys away. In fact, I am here to wee you all!" Then, my instincts immediately kicked in. Something is about to happen so before that happen, I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and block the attack by changing it to the Shield of Vanagloria. BANG! A dull impact hit the shield. But that dull impact is enough for me to feel everything in my body. It was like all of the bones in my body had been crushed to pieces. Despite blocking the attack, it seemed like I didn''t even block it. The attack was just that overwhelming. I also saw my HP went down from full health to critical 1 HP. If Chase did not immediately cast a healing spell, my HP would immediately rush down to zero. "As I expected, you are still capable deheart. Too bad you came back. It seems the situation is unavoidable right now." I frowned when the guy speaking knows me. Even Queen Tanya and the others frowned when the one speaking called my name. It was something that even I didn''t expect. "Based on your reaction, it seems you have forgotten me already, deheart. Don''t you remember the time we fought together? That is quite a st you know? And you just straight up forgot about it?" I am confused. What is this guy talking about? I am not even sure what this guy is spouting but he keeps on saying that I was somewhat able to apany him. While I am still confused, Almira rushes forward and pulled out a sword from her back. Based on the sword''s look, that was the sword that she made from all the materials that Sigma and the others made before. "ARTHUR!" The sword in Almira''s hands started to ignite in mes. It was a very bright me as she rushes in the direction of the one speaking. She shes downwards in the direction where no one is standing. But oddly enough, someone blocked the sword. PENG! Not only do I see Almira wield a weapon, but this is also the first time I have seen her get this angry and if I am not wrong, she screamed "Arthur" before she brought the sword down. "This is enough King Arthur. You have lived long enough that you need to disappear in this world." "That is harsh, dear friend Almira. Why are you so adamant about eliminating me?" "I don''t need to exin it, you will have to die today!" As Almira shouted those words, someone startedughing. The moment thatugh echoed in our ears, I immediately recognized the voice. It was distinct but it was clear. Then, the guy that Almira crossed swords with, finally appeared. The moment he appeared, I grit my teeth in anger as I draw my Versatile Weapon. The moment I saw him, I am now certain we are in for a big fight. "King ARTHUR! In the name of my father! You will be dying in my hands!" Yes. The person before us is the guy that we are looking for. All of the artifacts that we are looking for also came from him. But for me, I never expected this development. Because the guy that helped me get out of the underground and return to the surface and the person we are fighting right now, is the same person. Chapter 514 King Arthur Vs. Almira I don''t have much idea about Almira that much aside from what I know. She is a secretive character and even though I managed to maximize the friendship rating with her, she remained the same secretive person, and if ever I get to know some things from her, only some glimpses from it and not the whole thing. But to actually find that she is actually connected to King Arthur is something else. Not only that, but based on what she was saying, in this timeline, she is either a direct descendant of Mordred or maybe even the daughter of Mordred. In the real world, Mordred managed to fatally wound King Arthur with the rent before he was killed by thetter whoter dies from the wound. The difference in the Alternate World''s King Arthur''s story though is that King Arthur won the battle against Mordred and managed to kill Mordred before he can fatally wound him and reenact the actual history. The two started to wield their swords and exchange blows. Every blow of the sword would create small shockwaves that are strong enough to gust in the wind. And even their strikes are too fast for the eye to see. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori stopped us from interfering and despite the fact that Almira said that I would be using the sword she forged, she decided to use it herself and started fighting against King Arthur. "Your Majesty! Can''t we just help Almira on this one?!" Dolly is really eager to go and help Almira only to be stopped again by Queen Tori. "You can''t interfere on this one, this is a battle for blood. An act of revenge that should be done by the person herself. We cannot help her in this battle and the only thing we can do is watch them." The battle was harsh and critical that King Arthur is quite capable of knocking Almira multiple times. Even during the small fight, Almira is clearly on the losing side as King Arthur continues to fight like a professional swordsman. However, I clearly know that he is not just a swordsman. He is capable of using all weapons and using them with mastery. Almira on the other hand is someone I have no idea how high her skills are but based on her movements, she has a basic understanding of how to fight back. Despite that, I don''t think I am just gonna leave Almira being beaten and killed by King Arthur just like that. While Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are still busy trying to stop Dolly and the others to join up the fray, I slip through the two of them and rushed to the side of Almira. PENG! Using the Shield of Vanagloria to block the iing attack, I deflected King Arthur''s strike and protected Almira. "Oy, deheart! Don''t interrupt us! This is my fight and I will have to kill him before he wrecks this world and descends to madness!" "Master! I know that this is your fight, but that doesn''t mean you don''t need help for the fight!" Transforming my Versatile Weapon into a magic sword, I stand at the side of Almira. "This isn''t your fight anymore! As your disciple, this is also a battle that I will ensure that you stay alive!" As much as Almira wanted to retort on that, she can''t say anything at all. Instead, the only one who reacted to what I said is none other than King Arthur. "BAHAHAHAHA! What can you do, deheart? Don''t you remember that you almost died from me when we first met? You even have your arms almost chopped off before I decided that perhaps I should save you and at least, spare you with your pathetic life." While talking he pulled out another sword. But the new sword is something I have seen before as it was one of the heroic weapons that have been owned by a yer before. Arondnight. The sword that Sir Lancelot once wields. After a few years, he handed back the Arondnight to King Arthur for some unknown reason before disappearing from the annals of history. Even Sir Gawain who owned the Gtine should not have given the weapon to him too and yet, they just randomly gave the weapon back to King Arthur without any definite reason. But the other one looks like a demonic weapon, I have no recollection of seeing that weapon at all. However, I can tell that base on its aura alone, that is certainly one of the weapons that are said to have cursed Sir Lancelot and drove him to madness, The Secace. Without saying anything, King Arthur attacked, and Almira and I immediately dodges. His attacks are close to AOE and if we didn''t even dodge and duck, we would have been seriously injured, and worse, we might have died. But King Arthur was quite fast. Just like how he fought before like a caveman, all of his attack patterns have changed and he became very unpredictable that I don''t even know whether this guy will do something or not. He either fights like a madman, then in one second, he will turn into a professional swordsman all of a sudden. Our swords sh, and as I deflect his attacks, Almira attacks with the ming sword and attacks King Arthur, only to be perfectly parried by him. "Come on, guys. Are you sure you guys want to kill me? These stunts won''t even kill a pig at this point!" It''s not like our attacks not doing anything but it was like all of our attacks are being predicted by him. Every time we attack he will block and every time we block, he attacks our blind side causing us to retreat further than how things should work. "deheart, just go and leave this battle to me. You will just be wasting your time fighting against him who is almost untouchable." "I call that bullsh*t, this guy might be almost untouchable but that doesn''t mean he is untouchable." I assumed into battle stance again and rushes toward King Arthur. He didn''t even dodge and just grinned while waiting for my attack. I leaped into the air and brought down the Versatile Weapon down to him, which only caused his swords to block my attack. "Whatever you do, there is no way you can solve this and win, deheart. You can attack all you want but I can also parry all I want against your attacks too." CLACK! "Parry this, you filthy casual!" BANG! King Arthur didn''t expect the next attack I did due to the fact that I remained focused on melee alone. And during my next attack, I used my weapon to attack which he parried using both swords, but the moment he did parry me, I was already holding my gun, the Pain Delivery, and decided to send some pain to him. He might be confident about swords but that doesn''t mean he is confident facing a gun. It was a headshot and anyone who got shot by the Pain Delivery is already dead. It still holds the crown of dealing the final damage to a boss. King Arthur dropped dead after getting a bullet in the head. That was a good result but then Almira pulled me over before I can even celebrate at all. "Idiot! You thought you killed him with your close to one-shotting enemies using it? King Arthur is built differently! He didn''t just survive the battles due to sheer luck and tough body to withstand all of the attacks!" I still don''t understand what is going on when the supposedly "corpse" of King Arthur stood back up and pulled out the bullet on his forehead that was sent by the Pain Deliver and effectively killing him. "I forgot that you just don''t fight using a weapon that can change forms but you also wield a freaking pistol. And to think a single pistol would save me from dying like this already?" Flicking off the bullet tip, he started cracking his knuckles as he grinned at you. "You really did surprise me, deheart. And to think we traveled together in the underground asrades before but turn into-" King Arthur couldn''t finish what he was saying when Almira decided to use this chance to attack King Arthur. PENG! King Arthur who is still trying to recover from the wound that my Pain Deliver''s bullet did, has not expected Almira to take advantage of the situation. "You might not be able to defeat me with pure power alone and using Secace and Arondnight as a weapon will just cause me to crawl on my deathbed right now," King Arthur then waves his weapon out. "Stop bluffing, King Arthur! As much as you wanted to say things, you are going to go down, the rent will make sure to delete your face from the map of this world!" Almira raises her sword and ignited it into hot mes. The battle just ensues. Chapter 515 Two Kinds Of Immortal Although it appears that I managed to kill King Arthur, Almira is not convinced and instead red up her sword. "He thinks he can fool me? Did you think I didn''t know about your secret, you bastard? Even if you are dead, I will tear you up to pieces!" In a blink of an eye, she closes the distance between King Arthur and her as she raises her sword and brings it down to incapacitate King Arthur. But to everyone''s surprise, the presumed dead guy opened his eyes and rolled away from the attack Almira, dodging it. Everyone might be startled but I also have doubts about killing him. After all, when I fought him before and cut off one of his arms, my loss ended up as he reattached his arms back to his shoulder without even any hardship and pain and continue the battle like nothing happened. It was like he was just reattaching a puppet''s limbs. ,m It''s not a wonder if he can just pull out the bullet tip from his head and flick it away like a cloud of dust that is attached to his hair. This guy is so differentpared to the real King Arthur in the real world. This guy became so arrogant. "As expected of the grandaughter of the Usurper. I can''t believe that his blood and ambitions were so strong that it even passed through his descendants." King Arthur stood up and checks the wound on his forehead. "Quit yammering!" Almira rushes forward with the sword that she made and exchange blows at King Arthur once more. King Arthur once again doing quite a way with his movements. I pulled out my gun and shot a bullet but this time around, the guy easily sliced the bullet mid-air using the Secace before he continues to exchange blows with Almira. I retreated a bit after seeing the two fight. Even if I try to fight in between, I would just be making a little bit of ruckus and a bit of trouble to Almira with that, seeing that she is just capable of fighting without much problem. I turned to look at the others and I realized that my mother is already cooking popcorn and everyone started eating it, including Queen Tanya and Queen Tori who seems to be enjoying watching the battle. "What the hell, mom? Why are you cooking at a time like this?" I scratched my head in confusion. "Why not? It''s not like we can do anything in this battle and even Queen Tanya and Queen Tori here won''t even bother to interfere. If that were the case, it would be better if we just observe and enjoy the situation until we really need to do something else." Ugh, right. Mother used to be like that. If she can only observe something and not be able to do anything other than that, she would look for other ways to enjoy things before she would look into things. And seeing everyone seems to agree, it seems the only one whom Almira can rely on her back if she was cornered by King Arthur is me. Then, I remembered one thing Almira mentioned to me after I came back from the underground before I went on a particr quest. There is one thing that she specifically mentioned before that didn''t make sense to me before. "I will task you to kill an immortal." Those words were a bit confusing to me. It''s not a quest for Almira for me to fulfill. She said these to me without the intention of me doing it entirely. Not only that but she didn''t say what kind of immortal do I need to kill. After all, there are multiple enemies that arebeled as immortal and that can either range to a monster or an NPC depending on who she is trying to mention. But she never mentioned anything and remained unclear about it. If this situation did note, I wouldn''t even think of connecting it to what is happening right now. In this game, there are two kinds of immortality present in the game. The first and mostmon form of immortality is the longevity of some races and monsters. Elf NPCs are considered immortal due to how they have an almost infinite amount of lives as they can practically live forever. They can even outlive humans which is why most elves are also indifferent when talking about time as they have all the time in the world. You could say they don''t have to rush at all. However, despite calling them immortal, they can still die. They are only limited to living a long life and that''s about it. Despite being immortal, they are not invulnerable to death. Like the popr quote says, "People die when they are killed", it applies in this situation. Elves will die when they are killed. They might bebeled immortal but they won''t be immune to death if they are killed which is why they are only immortal if they don''t die by being killed in different ways. Now herees the second kind of immortals and they are probably the rarest type of immortals you can find. These immortals are living the name "immortal". Not only do they have longevity, but they are impossible to kill either. They are the epitome of entities that are no longer human. They are practically someone who can continue living forever and death is not even a concept for them as they don''t have ess to that. In this world, it is pretty rare toe across a human who is immortal but if ever you see one, it is either an immortal seeking a ce to live quietly or they are looking for ways to remove it or find a way to die. Of course, not all of them are like this as some actively seek how to obtain this kind of thing. Most of them would eitherbel this kind of immortality as either a blessing or a curse. The reason they are different from normal immortals is that they have very fast regenerative powers. Whenever they are wounded or have a severed limb, they can either heal it or regrow that part that was lost. Not only that but once they are killed, they will proceed to be revived as they regenerate their bodies back to normal. Disintegrating them won''t do anything and in fact, they will only materialize again after a few hours or so depending on how potent their abilities as an immortal. Due to that, they are called "true immortals" most of the time. They are almost close to impossible to kill. But despite that, they might be immune to death, but that doesn''t mean you cannot remove that status. It might not apply to them, but death can be applied by a secondary party instead of them. And that is the items and phenomenon that cancel their immortality. King Arthur is perhaps the immortal that Almira is trying to kill. Considering what King Arthur can do, especially since I personally witness him reattach his limb like nothing and stand back up even though a bullet is already buried into his forehead, it is already obvious that King Arthur is immortal. Now, I don''t have an inkling of Almira''s current weapon. From the looks of it, she called it rent before which means it must be the replica of the previous rent that Mordred used before. Since the item is rent, perhaps the effect of the item is to fatally injure King Arthur using the rent. All attacks that will be dealt with by the rent against King Arthur will be very effective. However, this is where the theoryes in. Despite the best efforts of Almira to create the rent, the kit perhaps doesn''t have the ability to cancel the immortality of King Arthur. I still remember when she saw the Carnwennan, she seemed like she was about to say something or even go back to the forge to do something. I think she wanted to go back and reforge the rent and give it the ability to cancel out the effects of the immortality trait that immortals have. If King Arthur is an immortal, perhaps, that weapon can indeed help with the battle? Perhaps it can aid with stopping King Arthur''s rampage, once and for all? Perhaps it does. I pulled out the Carnwennan from the inventory. 1. Immortal Killer - Type(Passive) - will inflict a target mark on the attacked enemy(Stackable at 10). Any attacksing from this weapon that willnd on a marked target will ignore the invincibility and immortality traits the target has. The more stacks the target has the more damage that can be inflicted on the target. It will also stop the self-regeneration skills or traits of enemies once the stacks also reach 5. This special skill of Carnwennan is alreadybeled as Immortal Killer. If this is used against a true immortal, every kind of plot armor an immortal has like self-regeneration and revival will all be useless. Perhaps, this is good enough, right? Chapter 516 Slayer Of Immortals (I) The heated battle between the two continues and rages while all of the soldiers, yers, and the two royalties are watching it like some sort of show while eating popcorn. As for me, I am still thinking about what the heck should I do. The Carnwennan in my hands is indeed an immortal ying item but it was once in the possession of King Arthur. There is a chance it won''t work against him which is why I am not sure what to do. From the legends, it is known that the only bane that King Arthur have that managed to kill him was only the rent but since the original rent is nowhere to be found and King Arthur doesn''t have that sword in his collection, Almira recreated the rent with her own hands just to use it and try to kill King Arthur that her ancestor failed to do. "ARTHURRR!" SWISH! CLANG! Although the current rent that Almira is holding right now is not the real rent that is equal to Excalibur, you can say that the limitation weapon she is using is also part of the Heroic Tier weapons. Still,pared to the actual Heroic Tier weapons, the sword on Almira''s hands is only close to the original and not on par with the original at all. Despite that, it is holding quite well against the Secace and Arondnight that are very strong enough to snap the current rent in half and yet it was able to parry multiple times against it. "To be honest, I thought you would snap in half like your grandfather did when we fought against each other but to think you wouldst this long is enough that you have already surpassed your grandfather in terms of survivability and you are already capable of dealing with my attacks by parrying them. I see a great promise from you already." "Your words are not even the least inspiring especially since they areing from you. (PENG!) I would rather get insulted rather than be mocked like this by someone who killed my ancestor." Swords shed, and sparks fly as the mes of Almira''s weapon collide with King Arthur''s pure power applied to the two swords. "Ha, you really think I would care about that? If Ipliment you, you should take it. It''sing from the great King Arthur after all." "F*CKING BASTARD. I don''t even know how you became the king when your behavior is quite a piece of sh*t." CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG Both metals hit each other and a loud shockwave appeared that the watchers were forced to duck from it. The ice around us was also cleared out just by that sheer force from both swords hitting each other. "Looks like we are done in here," King Arthur grinned. "..." Almira is quiet and despite her eyes ring at King Arthur, she soon lost the light on her eyes before she copsed. "Master!" I rush towards Almira but King Arthur turned around and stabs the Secace down to the ground which causes chains made from blood to appear and bind me. I heard the groan of the others and realized that it was not just me who got bound by these chains but also Queen Tanya and the others who are still eating popcorn. "I was more tolerant before when I am assuming the identity of Guts, deheart. But, that''s enough cover of myself. Now that everyone knows who I really was, there is no need to keep the saintly and kind act anymore. It doesn''t suit me in the slightest." "A facade huh? I already expected that." "Hmmm?" "You thought I was already trusting youst time I named you Guts? Hahaha, you are a load of bull. I just waited for you to do something to confirm it, and since thest time we are together, you didn''t do anything, then I also didn''t do anything. Just because I am already quite buddy-buddy with them doesn''t mean I don''t have any ns against someone who wanted to kill me in the first ce." "Ha! It doesn''t change. You will all die here anyway so why not die instead? You can''t move anyways, it''s much better for me to relieve you all in that suffering." I grinned hearing him say that. "Too bad, I didn''t need your help getting out of here." I immediately activated [Magic Jammer] skill that allowed me to nullify the chains. I already knew the ability of the Secace before since I have seen it in action and since it was a magic sword, anything thates from it is automatically a magic skill. After all, Secace is one of my targets to get in the past as it is ideal for me as a Magic Knight. Too bad that I failed on getting it, but did King Arthur seriously think that would bind me forever? "If Almira failed to defeat you, then it''s my turn to do it instead." "You can''t kill me." "I know. But I will try." The moment the chains disappeared, I pulled the Versatile Weapon out of the sheath. As always, King Arthur looks smug about it. "Ha, so what? It doesn''t change anything. Having the Secace and the Arondnight with me, I can easily kill you." I didn''t say anything and just rush forward to attack. And since I already provoked King Arthur, he is already willing to fight back against me. PENG! He blocked my attack using his two swords, just to show off that he has superior weaponspared to me. "Just look how far the quality of your weapon from my weapons, deheart. Did you think my weapons will be in a worse situation?" "Of course. Because now, they are mine." "Huh?" "[Devour]!" The moment I shouted themand, the Shadow dragon that has been silent for a while appeared without hesitation, and since the Versatile Weapon is currently holding off the two swords that King Arthur, the Shadow Dragon easily bit off the two swords out of King Arthur''s hands and devoured them before burping from being able to devour two of the heroic weapons that King Arthur wielded before. And from the looks of it, the Shadow Dragon is still hungry. Chapter 517 Slayer Of Immortals (II) It was a shock for King Arthur when the two swords he was tightly holding before disappeared before his eyes. It was so sudden for him that he stood there shocked while staring at the palms of his hands, which are now empty as the two swords are now being "chewed" by the Shadow Dragon that directly devoured them after giving themand. After all, I already tested that even though I don''t own the weapon or armor as long as it is a weapon or armor, they are viable and applicable to be devoured by the Versatile Weapon. That alone is enough for me to easily disarm King Arthur, reducing his danger levels by a huge amount. He is still dangerous but now limited to hand-to-handbat which he is still pretty much a lethal one but not to the point simr in danger when he wields the Arondnight and Secace. The moment the Shadow Dragon gulped the two swords down to its throat, a system panel appeared before me. [The weapon (Arondnight) has been fully absorbed. You can choose which skill from the weapon will be added to the Versatile Weapon by opening the weapon details. (Arondnight) can now be applied as the Longsword skin. Stats are automatically added. STR: 350 END: 200 INT: 200] [The weapon (Secace) has been fully absorbed. You can choose which skill from the weapon will be added to the Versatile Weapon by opening the weapon details. (Secace) can now be applied as the Magic Sword skin. Stats are automatically added. STR: 500 DEX: 320 INT: 490] The stats gained from just devouring those two heroic tier weapons have ramped up the stats of the Versatile Weapon which means my stats also ramped up too. I might not be able to pull out the two swords but I can sure use them as weapons forms of my weapons. I applied the Secace as the Magic Sword skin allowing my Versatile Weapon to turn into the looks of the Secace now. This caused King Arthur to grit in anger. "You thief! Give it back!" King Arthur immediately grab the Versatile Weapon out of my hands and stole it from me. But since it cannot be used by anyone other than me, wielding it is not even possible for him. The moment King Arthur grab the handle of the Versatile Weapon, it fell to the ground which caused confusion for him. The weapon just passed through his hands like he was a ghost. So that is how it prevents anyone from stealing and using the Versatile Weapon. The moment it fell to the ground, the Versatile Weapon flew right back into my hands, retrieving it back from King Arthur. "Just because you own Secace before, doesn''t mean you can steal it from me after obtaining it." King Arthur was angry enough that he did not even bother to pull out another weapon and started attacking me by punching me. Of course, I managed to dodge them, and with my increased stats, it''s much easier to respond to his attacks nowpared to before. Every punch he makes, the air that he punches seems to create a hole in the air, showing how strong his punches are and what will happen if I get hit by them. "Why are you just punching? Shouldn''t you at least grab your Excalibur or the Rhongomyniad? Aren''t those two weapons the strongest of all your weapons?" However, it seems like King Arthur has been driven to madness after he lost the Secace and Arondnight from his hands. I don''t know what is happening to him but I think I will have to kill him as soon as possible and go to the aid of Almira. I ready the Carnwennan in my arsenal. The Versatile Weapon might be a strong weapon but that is not a weapon that is capable of dealing with an immortal and I am assuming that King Arthur is one of the immortals due to how his regenerative powers are simr to immortals of the second form. King Arthur might be a viin right now but he is just more reliant on being an immortal. Without that immortality, he is just a superhuman NPC. He continues punching and I also continue to dodge it. It is a good way to practice dodging especially with him being quite fast at punching. It''s quite sad that the previous legend has be like this. While he continues to punch, I decided to use the Carnwennan now. The longer this battle would be, the longer the fight scene would be and why would I need to waste my time with King Arthur? He might be a strong guy but he was never the type of NPC that wouldst for a while. In fact, he was only famous for his weapons, not himself. And if we count the past timeline, since Almira came back alive, that also means that King Arthur was sessfully killed without even my intervention. p "Time to go to sleep King Arthur. Your time passed by a few years ago. You should join the other knights on their graves. Just leave your legend and rest in peace. STAB! King Arthur stopped attacking and looked at the wound he got on his heart. He grits his teeth as the weapon was lodged deeply into his heart. [1 stack added. King Arthur''s Immortality status has been nullified! Damage will now be applied normally by any weapons directed to him!] I grinned when the system notified me of the changes in King Arthur''s body. The annoying status of him being an immortal is now gone and now I can focus on attacking him. But then, I saw Almira slowly stand back up. King Arthur didn''t notice it yet as he tried to stop the bleeding on his chest that was caused by the Carnwennan. Since his status as an immortal has been nullified, naturally, all of his skills that would allow him to heal faster and has now been eliminated. I could just have killed King Arthur here, but since this was not supposed to be my job to finish him off, I decided to hand over the task to Almira who stood up, still bloody, but ready to deal with another attack. Silently but slowly, she approached, carrying the rent. Before King Arthur could respond behind him, Almira came in close and stabs him with the rent. Now, the legend of the rent killing King Arthur, has now been solidified in this world. The quest is finally over. Chapter 518 Slayer Of Immortals (III) King Arthur did not die just yet. As an immortal, his tenacity of living still tried to get the best out of being nullified. Of course, his end is still the same as he does in the real world. The only difference is that Bedivere is not there to witness his eventual death. "I don''t know what is going on, but how did someone like you managed to even kill me...it doesn''t make sense..." "It''s Mordred''s descendant who killed you, not me. I am just a catalyst for your eventual death but that''s all I have in my job here. In fact, this event is just for us to receive your relics and nothing else. Perhaps the main reason for you still existing is for the usurper to eventually defeat you. You might be immortal but you never have been a dangerous guy with all the things I did to ensure the eventual victory." "F*CK... but tell me, why did you have the Carnwennan in your hands? I am quite sure I used that to seal the Pendragon for my consumption of the blood why is it back in its former form and has even gained more abilities?" Despite struggling, King Arthur can still speak that much huh? As expected of this guy, he still refuses to die just yet. "Simple, I took the Carnwennan, killed the dragon while it is still weak, and repaired the weapon." "But the Carnwennan is not an easy weapon to repair without losing some of its abilities. Howe you managed to retain them and improved them?" "You have to thank the Lady of the Lake and Merlin about that. Anyways, there is nothing for me to do now, so I will leave you to Almira. It''s not my job to continue talking to you, I don''t have much business with you in the first ce." And with that, I left and went to Almira who is still struggling to stand up. She is using the rent in her hands to support herself to stand properly though she is on the verge of falling. Her face is pretty pale due to the loss of blood and I can see that her HP is also at critical levels too. "Master, stay still, let me use some ssh potion for you to heal the wounds in your body." Although King Arthur did not stab or slice Almira directly, the attacks are made by the Secace as that is the only weapon capable of attacking without directly hitting the opponent. It is an annoying mechanic of the Secace since, at times, it does not activate and at some random times, it activates. That is the main gripe of the Secace''s abilities. Other than that, it wasn''t that bad at all as long as you ignore that special skill. But with the Secace digested by the Versatile Weapon, things are no longer applying the same way as I cannot retrieve any weapons that have been devoured by the Versatile Weapon just like how you permanently lose a weapon if you use it for amalgamating a better weapon. Also, it also lies in my decision whether the skill that causes that effect will be transferred to my Versatile Weapon. I can only choose one skill to transfer which means it is up to me to either pick that skill up or get rid of itpletely. Almira''s wounds have finally closed up and the color on her face is slowly returning. It''s not that bad but her body is still too weak from fighting against King Arthur especially enduring some of the blows that she received from it, it was no jokeing from someone who personally experienced it and have one of my limbs severed as a result. When her visible wounds are gone, I handed her an XL Health Potion to heal her HP back to full since a small Health Potion bottle won''t even do much help with that. Her health is much higher than that. "Haha, I never expected to be subject to this. If you are not here, my apprentice, I might be dead by now." She slowly opened up the potion bottle cap and drank the whole thing down to thest drop. Since the potions I made are quite potent, it didn''t take long for her to recover back to her usual self she is still a bit weaker than before but she can now manage to properly stand and walk on her own. "I will have to finish what I had started." She then started to walk towards the dying King Arthur while holding the rent. "You are still not dead yet, huh? As expected of the tenacious hero who wields the Excalibur. Despite losing the Excalibur, you still retain the vitality from that sword huh?" "Heh, you underestimate how long I held that sword in my hands. Despite how many times you stab me, it will take quite some time before I will die." "Is that so?" Almira then turned to look at me and I throw the Carnwennan to her. Despite having a hard time breathing, King Arthur forced a smile on his mouth. "So what will you do now that you are about to finish the one who killed your grandfather?" "What else? Go back to my business. There is nothing I would do anyways so why ask me something pointless? Anyways, its time to finish you up. This is gonna be painful but even then, you need to suck it up. You are a bastard after all." Once Almira finished talking, she spins the Carnwennan on her hands before stabbing it to King Arthur. King Arthur puked blood but he still didn''t die. Almira then changed her equipped weapon into the rent and finished off King Arthur in one slice, killing him once and for all. I even received a message of his death. As much as King Arthur in the real world is idolized and respected, in the current Alternate World, it seems that the Alternate World''s King Arthur is the main cause of why the Round Table has been disbanded. It was clear as day as of why King Arthur has the weapons of the members of the Round Table and although we didn''t see him wield all of them, I am quite sure that he was the one responsible for why they are no longer mentioned much and all of them are nowbeled as the weapon of King Arthur in which he shouldn''t be the one holding it. Not only that, but it is also quite rare to find King Arthur without his Excalibur which is his signature weapon whatever kind of story he was in. Overall, the King Arthur in Alternate World is a big pile of mess and was just a filler to fill in the story line just for yers to be engaged and challenged in taking the relics that King Arthur possess. Almira pops a cigarette on her mouth and puff a small smoke on it before throwing it to the body of King Arthur which resulted to his dead body igniting to mes. "Grandpa, finally, I managed to avenge your death. May you rest in peace along with the others too." With those mes, the quest has finally ended. The expedition team pushes on more and we entered the same underground area I was in before. Since I already know the details of the area, I led everyone to the cave where King Arthur previously lived. I also revealed that King Arthur was keeping giant beasts inside which causes Queen Tanya to start her rampage and killed them all. Thankfully, they are not strong enemies that would be equivalent to a behemoth but I just wished she helped us during the battle against King Arthur instead of watching us while eating popcorn. Everyone also apologized when they didn''t enter the fray to fight after finding out it is King Arthur and when Almira jumps in, they are also hesitant to ruin the battle of the NPCs and perhaps ruin everything. Not only that but they are afraid of being one-shotted by King Arthur. In the end, the exploration came to a close. Despite the battles were dangerous, it didn''t really give much danger to most of us. While everyone of us are in the carriage, most of mypanions are now sound asleep, except for Sigma who is still awake but just closing her eyes to take a little nap though she will wake the first sign ofmotion will ur. After King Arthur died, I received a notification bell about his death and from that message, I received some sort of reward. I didn''t check it carefully before so I am not sure what it was. I checked my inventory and there is nothing new to it so I guess there must be something else. However, to my surprise, I received a reward for that and perhaps one of the rewards I have never seen or being achieved by someone else. It shouldn''t be mine to be honest but since I received it, then I will have to keep it. [yer of Immortals] Type: Unique Title Conditions to unlock: Kill(Direct and Indirect works) an immortal person who is capable of not dying even when killed. Info: An impossible feat but you somehow achieved it. Awarded to those who has their des and guns stained by the blooding from an immortal. Not so immortal now, aren''t we? yers with this title will be capable of ignoring the existence of [Immortality] and apply normal damage to them that cannot be healed with advanced regeneration caused by the [Immortality] buff. Effects will remain active even if the title is not equipped. Note: Perhaps you should turn your new upation as immortal killer and set up a stall for you to kill immortals? .... Arc 6 End Chapter 519 Practicing Magic A week has passed since the events in the frozen region transpired. The rewards were going to be given to us for a week since Queen Tanya didn''t prepare for the rewards just yet and since there were a lot of us who participated in that raid, she decided that she will give us the rewards after a week. Since the physical rewards were dyed, we received a million gold and 5 million experience. As I received the experience, I finally reached level 120. That was the longest time I had to earn experience just to reach this point. If I didn''t choose the Versatile ss, perhaps I was already at level 180 or above already considering how much experience I earned in the span of a few days. Still, it''s not that bad considering the stat addition of the Versatile Weapon. Power-wise, I am already level 280 or above depending on my gear. If someone tried to check my stats like that, anyone would be freaking out and perhaps even call me a cheater for being able to have that many stats despite staying at level 120. But let''s talk about thatter on. Currently, I am now at school and listening to the boring lecture. I am pretending to listen but I only made all the talk pass to my other ear. All of the lessons here are too easy for me and I don''t think I would even need to think too much about them. My mind is quite a cheat code all ready for me to pass through the school years. "And that''s all for today, see you all this Monday. Of course, don''t forget to study what we discussed today. I will be conducting a test for you guys this Monday so take the break and study hard." Finally, the end of the day is over. We meet up with Janus and Riko. Rika also went with us since she is still not confident to go back to my house all by herself, especially with all the guards still looking for her until now. As for the siblings, they have to buy something for their ss which is why they will be outside for a while. As for Rika who is still living with us, she still refuses to go back. It has been a few weeks since she has been staying in my house after escaping from her family''s grasp and thankfully, no one has yet to discover her yet but it wouldn''t be strange if they eventually find her at home as her family is tycoons. They can spend all their money just to search for her and they will still not run out of money. There is also a possibility that her fiancee will take chances to take revenge on her in real life since he was humiliated before in the game. Currently, we are waiting for Riko as she is buying snacks on the s "Hey there! Have you guys been waiting for me?" "Dang it Riko! What took you so long? It''s been an hour before you are finally done! What the heck did you buy to take that long?" "Oh, sorry about that. I just bought the essentials needed when going for an overnight. Since tomorrow is Sunday, I wanted to stay at Manato''s house for a while especially since I am not going to be the only girl there in our group! It''s much more exciting now." "Ugh, you already forgot the main purpose of you staying over right? We are gonna practice our mana, OUR MA-NA! This isn''t going to be like a simple vacation, alright?" "Come on now, Janus, it''s not like Riko doesn''t know how to practice so at least go easy on her will you," Rika smiled. "Hehe, you are just jealous because you can''t have much kinship with Manato." "Shuddup! I don''t swing that way!" I justughed along with them. It really takes me back to the past timeline. I felt so happy to experience the joy in the past timeline again in the current timeline. "Let''s go guys. Time is precious, it would be great if you guys already can summon out your magic spells." We are able to still keep our task a secret from anyone else as the other two siblings won''t be there since they will be staying at their parents'' house for a week which means everyone can freely practice and I can teach them how to do it. We went to an alleyway where no one will see us and interrupt us and gathered around. "Are you sure this will work, Manato? This is the first time we will be teleporting and unlike in the game, this is very different!" Janus is already getting nervous. "Rx, it''s not going to end badly...probably," I grinned and activated the teleport portal I set up before. "That doesn''t even make things even better!" ... ... Janus managed to calm down when we safely arrived home inside my room. Although he is still panicking, he slowly calmed himself down. "Why are you so weak, man," Riko is rubbing Janus''s back to help him recover from nausea he felt after the teleportation. "Don''t me me, I have already motion sickness so since it was my first time experiencing teleportation, it wasn''t a particrly good experience for me so please at least understand!" "Alright, alright. You guys should change to your casual clothes now, we will begin after I am done changing." "Okay! Thanks for the teleport ride, Manato!" Riko then dragged Janus and Rika out. Riko already has her clothes in Rika''s current room a few days before and since her parents are fine with her staying over as long as we don''t do anything that could change their minds. Of course, we are not there for that kind of stuff. It''s not that beneficial for our future and would insteadpromise us. Once I finished changing my clothes, I circted my mana for a bit before I went down to the living room. "Alright, let''s get started! If you guys wanted to learn magic properly and control your mana so that you can be like me, then properly follow and listen to my current lesson. I hope all of you are good to go, yes?" Why am I doing this? So that once in the future, if Riko eventually is about to fall victim to death, she will have a better timebating it. She has to live and I will do everything I can do for her to remain alive. That way, even Janus will also continue to live. ... ... I started to lecture them about using the mana to make their own magic spells. After being exposed to the game''s mana, it is time for them to bathe in mana in the real world and utilize that for their own usage. Since Rika is the first one I have reached before, she didn''t have a bad time doing so and is now prepared for the next step. As for Janus and Riko, they still needed a little bit of work to properly have their own safety intact. Thankfully, it only needs a little bit more work for them before they are ready to conjure magic spells like me. I didn''t teach Rika magic spells just yet as I want the other two to not be pressured about Rika already learning. It slows down growth if the user will not properly utilize the mana all around them and also inside their body. It took the two of them properly manage all the mana and control them for around two and half hours toplete it. It''s taking a lot of time for them, but they are not bad at it. I just never see them practice it as they are already dead when magic was discovered to be also usable outside the game. Since the three are now ready, I started to prepare a few things for them to test out so that they can identify which element will be appropriate for them to use. During that time, Sora and Akira arrived while carrying the groceries that they bought. Akira and Sora are also the same as everyone else and they just needed to awaken their abilities and check which elements suit them for the first time. The test items all correspond in elemental properties. We have a candle lit up, a pail of water, ice cubes, a pinwheel, and a lightbulb. There are other elements but since they are the most basic elements, I wanted to check whether any one of them is good in that certain element. We can just take care of the problem if something urred. First is Janus. He tried the candle first but it failed to respond when ites to the pinwheel, he managed to activate a little bit of wind magic which is already good. Other than the wind, all of the rest are either not meant for him or just not that strong to manifest. However, the next one that I was shocked for the first time is how Riko managed to awaken two elements at once. Chapter 520 Talent For Magic For someone like me who experienced a past life and has been proficient already in learning magic spells in the real world, it''s not surprising for me to wield multiple elements as I already grasp the limits and their natural usage but its a different story if a person is already capable of wielding multiple elements without practicing much or has just awakened their magic. And for Riko to bepatible to wield multiple magic spells in one go is something else as that is a very rare thing. Even when I awakened in the past timeline, my onlypatible element is electricity and for Riko to be bothpatible in fire and water is something else. "I ampatible in both fire and water?!" Riko was also surprised as she didn''t expect to also have that kind ofpatibility to both elements. "Oh! Congrattions, Riko-chan! I didn''t expect you to be that capable!" Rika ps after finding out the main result. "Wait, I am still haven''t learned any magic spells so why are you already calling me capable?" "Rika already have info about this kind of phenomenon which is why she knows that if someone haspatibility in two elements, they will have easier time learning magic spells. Also, it is quite versatile for your abilities to both wield fire and water. You are quite lucky in this strike this time, Riko!" I expressed my amazement to her. "Is that so?" Riko started scratching her head in embarrassment as she is usually not used to beplimented like this. "Man, I am so jealous. I also wanted to have a dual element too..." Janus sighed in disappointment. "Bro... you should be grateful to have at least one element that ispatible for you because there are very, very low chances that no element is evenpatible for you. Of course, you don''t have to worry since you already arepatible with an element so you should be fine. We will just hope the others are alsopatible too." After learning that there is a possibility to get two elements, the siblings and Rika are excited to check out if they also have the chance to pull two elements. Unfortunately, they only managed to invoke one element. Rika has the samepatibility as me which is the electricity, Akira ispatible with the Ice and Sora is alsopatible in wind element. "Alright guys. All of you are now aware of what elements you guys arepatible with. Knowing which element you arepatible with allows you to know which element you needed to practice first. Of course, you are not limited to what element you are justpatible with. You can still learn magic from a different element. For example, myself. The element I ampatible with is the electricity but I am not limited to that element alone." I snap my fingers and mes came out of my left palm then I did the same on the other hand and a crackle of electricity appeared. This made everyone amazed on how I did it. "Magic spells are gonna be easy to learn if they correspond your elementalpatibility which means as long as that element is the one that appeared here on the test, that magic is something you can easily learn without any problem. On the other hand, learning the other elements would take you quite some time. It''s not easy but it won''t let you punish either. More like it is harder to learn itpared to yourpatible element. Now let''s get started, shall we?" And with that, I started to teach everyone the necessary things needed for them to immediately activate their abilities. However, it wasn''t easy as they have sometimes had a hard time awakening the magic powers at all. They already know how to activate the mana in their bodies but they still have a hard time trying to fully utilize them. In the end of the day, I decided to let them stop the training for a while and we will continue it for tomorrow which will be a whole day. They are free to practice but they needed to stay on the living room and prohibiting them to practice at their room especially Riko who specializes in fire magic as there is a big chance that she will be uncontroble in the magic spell and would instead burn the entire house as a result. Thankfully, the day ended without my house burning in mes due to an idental berserk of mana from Riko. It would be really disastrous if she did but thankfully, nothing major happened except that she almost seeded in activating her abilities. "Almost" because she failed to prolong the magic from staying. Of course, that night, I decided to review all of the current progress of everyone so that once tomorrow''s practicees, everyone will also awaken their abilities. Currently, the most promising is Riko as she is the only one out of all of them who managed to at least make a small flicker of magic appear in a very short amount of time. She still need a bit of stabilization but it won''t be too long now before she can wield fire like nothing. The next one is Rika and Akira. Compared to Riko''s growth, Rika is the one with a normal pace. Although she is the first one to properly train in mana, she was together with everyone in practicing magic so she if we consider the speed of her growth, you could say that she is has average learning speed. Of course, it is not bad as it is still sufficiently fast considering things that she just learned today. Akiraes real close to Rika but she still falls behind her in terms of progress. Compared to Rika who is already good in handling mana, Akira still had some small troubles in doing so. Still, despitegging behind, he might also just speed up for tomorrow, who knows. The ones who aregging behind are Janus and Sora. I can understand a bit on Sora as she can''t see and she has to rely on my instructions by listening to my voice and although her progress are quite ster, she suffers from slow progress due to her disability. Of course, it wasn''t that bad considering that she cannot see and she managed to go this far is already good. Now, I don''t mean to be too frank but Janus has the slowest progress out of everyone else. His progress isgging behind that even Sora who is blind and has a hard time catching up still managed to outpace him in terms of progression. Not only does he struggle to keep up with everyone but his mana is quite minuscule too. It doesn''t help much that his ss is also rarely using any magic spells either but that is not the main cause here. It seems like there is some inherently causing Janus to slow down a lot in progress. In short, out of everyone, I need to focus a lot of my attention on Janus so that he can properly activate his magic spell. Sora and Janus''s progress are the only ones I needed to properly take care of so that they won''tg behind any further with the others tomorrow as the others are not a problem and can definitely awaken by tomorrow. I felt a bit more tired than usual today and although I n to log back in for today, I decided not to do so for now as I really wanted to at least have a decent sleep. During thest raids made me stay up quite a lot and stay in the game longer than I should be staying. Taking a break from ying the game is still beneficial as I don''t want to be too hardcore with it. After all, I am already in hardcore mode in the past timeline, at least I should have a chill progress right now. To calm myself down, I channeled the mana in my body for a bit, cooling myself down before Iy down the bed once the mana cirction gets going. After doing that, my exhaustion seems to be already taking me and I slowly closed my eyes, which directly sent me to dreand. ... ... I opened my eyes and once again found myself into the same space that I keep on visiting during my dreams. I don''t really know what is going on and as much as I try to logically try to think why I am dreaming this, the more the confusion gets to me. Not only that but when I saw the images on the intest time, I am quite sure that the girl who was on the photo was clearly the girl that I meet here whenever I am near to the tree''s vicinity. But why am I dreaming it in reality? I thought it was just connected to the game but I am quite sure for today that I didn''t y the game, so howe I am essing this dream? What the heck is going on in this mysterious ce and who is that girl? Chapter 521 Training Regimen In The Dungeon (I) The next day, as nned, everyone started to practice magic and with my guidance, just like nned, I focused most of my attention on Sora and Janus as they are the ones struggling. And to my surprise, the first one to control magic properly is none other than Rika. I thought it would be Riko since she has two elements and she showed the most potential yesterday but it seems I was wrong and Rika came out first as being capable of wielding the corresponding element she ispatible with. The next surprising thing that happened however is that Sora, whom I assumed to have a hard time grasping the basics since she can only listen and she cannot see the demonstration ended up being the second person to finally be capable of using magic spells. Although she cannot see, she can feel the power in her hands which makes her really happy with the results. The next people who awakened were both Riko and Akira. Although I assume Riko to awaken first, it seems she is still unstable in mana before so she had a bit of a hard time using it so she ended up taking a long time. Akira had average progress so I will not say it was bad since it was just an average time of awakening and I must say it is the most normal amount of time to awaken. And just as expected, the one who wentst is obviously Janus. Although he also awakened, he awakened thest and ended up having a very hard time after seeing everyone has awakened their magic powers while he still didn''t. Of course, I encouraged him to never give up, and thankfully, he didn''t give up indeed and it rewarded him with the ability to use magic like the others. Still unstable but enough as a workaround. Knowing Janus, I won''t doubt him in learning magic. He can be very eager when he wanted to so I am not worried that he would go stagnant in it. And so, that day ended quite well. The others decided to just go and rest after almost a full day worth of training their mana and it cost them quite a lot of energy that they just wanted to sleep. It''s normal and it would be a bit abnormal if you still managed to stay the same if you performed that. It was a mentally taxing and energy-consuming task after all. Since everyone decided to go and sleep and the night is still looking far from the horizon, I don''t think I will have to stay here andze around. The more Ize around, the more I will stagnate. I decided to log in to the game and do some grinding. I know my level will not be growing at all but every single experience counts. I needed it and master all of the skills of Versatile ss, make my own fighting style without counting on the Versatile Weapon alone and survive. With my target for revenge getting stronger day by day at exponential speed, it is also necessary for me to also step up my game. Who cares if my level is taking long in leveling up? Isn''t this a perfect opportunity to gain more SP points and learn all the skills of the sses? Not only that but get familiar with it without relying on the Magic Knight ss to do all of the things? Good. Yep, let''s do just that. ... ... ... "[Wee Back, deheart]!" I stretch my body for a bit. Right now, I am back in my mansion in the game after quite some time on the quest so it felt a bit weird at first after going back once the long quest is finally done. When I went out, my mom is currently using the Alchemy table that I set up and had been concocting something. I don''t see Father so I guess she was here all by herself. She is so focused on what she was doing that I decided not to interrupt her and went out silently. Since I decided to go do some mastery on all my ss trees, going into the dungeons and challenging it with only that ss and skills should do the trick. I know I have some passives that came from the other sses but some of them only work if they are applicable to the weapon and skill I used so it normally does not happen. I have been too reliant on my Versatile Weapon alone so it might be a good idea to limit myself on not using the Versatile Weapon at all unless it''s an emergency. I know that I am limiting myself a lot but that is much better than relying on the purebat power of the Versatile Weapon rather than my skills. With that, I unequipped the Versatile Weapon and equipped the normal longsword. I need to begin with the basics of the basics. The Swordsman. I already have a few skills learned from it and some passives but I rarely use a longsword form as the skills of the Swordsman ss can still be used in Magic Sword as they are both longswords, with only the difference of the other capable of handling magic while the other doesn''t. Because of that, my current amount of Swordsman-rted skills is limited. In fact, the only skill I have right now is the Tier 1 skill, [Triple sh] and the rest are passives. I didn''t even have any skills that transcend beyond level 2 except for the passives. [Berserk] is a buff skill so I shouldn''t count it as one of the skills I learned as it was just having the same effects as the buffs, the difference is that you will have to activate it to take effect. And with the amount of SP currently sitting in my Swordsman ss, it was clear I didn''t use it and earned that muchpared to the Magic Knight ss. "I should have done this sooner. Perhaps I got blinded in mastering the Magic Knight ss and just bother to use the other sses for showing off. I needed to change things up." Since the only skill I have is the [Triple sh], buying a new skill will also be good. And since I wanted to start out, I will have to start with basic skills that are necessary for a swordsman. Currently, I have only 19 SP for the swordsman which shows that I barely did any Swordsman rted actions these past few days after the Versatile ss has been reset and made a new way to do this. Since there are only 19, I decided to spend 10 and save the 9 for the second tierter on once I earn more SP. I need to spend SP wisely or I will end up grinding up for quite a bit and end up not using the skills I grind up. I better use skills that I will have hope of using in the future. I saw two skills that are normally bought during the beginner phase and then get reced by better skills. Perhaps I should use that as a foundation instead. [You have learned [Cut] and [Spinning sh]!] Next, I examined my sword. It is one of the swords I made with the intention of selling themter on in the Auction as it has good stats for beginners and mid-game yers and it is equippable at level 0 but I guess I should be using it instead. [de of the Cutting Edge] Rarity: Very Rare Tier Type: Weapon Equipment Equippable at Level: 0 Equippable by: Swordsman, Versatile Stats: STR: 75 DEX: 30 Unique skill: 1. Sharpness (II) - (Passive) - basic attack damage increased to 10%. Has a 5% chance to ignore defense. Info: A sword made out of boredom. Because it was created alongside mass-produced swords, even if it is a high-rarity sword, itcks the big impact most swords in the same tier do. Note: It has a literal cutting edge, but only sharp enough that it can easily cut grass. Other than that, it''s just an average sword. It''s nothing great but it''s not bad either. Compared to the swords in the same rarity sold in the market other than the Auction houses, they are much more crappier than mine. At least, this one is shinier garbage than the garbage mostly sold in stores. Oh, and perhaps I should also change some masks too. Since I am not showing my name, no one knows me yet and since the Wolf Mask is now very iconic to some veterans, everyone will know who I was so it''s better to equip another one that I personally made for changing my identity with my mask alone. [Two Emotion Mask] Type: Mask Equipment Info: A mask that is made for the purpose of customary looks. It is based on the happy and sad theater masksbined into one mask. Sometimes, you just can''t know what they were thinking about. Note: It looks ugly, not gonna lie. Once that is done, I departed and went to the nearest level 100 dungeon that I haven''t cleared yet. Time to do the dungeons. Chapter 522 Training Regimen In The Dungeons (II) The preparation isplete. If anyone would see me who knows the deheart before, they will not realize it was me in the first ce, especially with the getup and weapon alone. When I arrive at the entrance of the dungeon, yers are gathered around recruiting other yers to co-op with them and tackle the higher difficulties of the dungeon. But like always, I will be tackling the dungeons in solo mode. I don''t want to deal with other yers randomly while I am practicing in dungeons. It would have been fine if it was the usual team I have like Dolly and the others as I can count on them in case things went south. It''s crippling me a lot especially if I am not that familiar with the ss I am using and annoying if things get worse and yourpanions are useless or just straight-up traitors who wanted to PK you inside the dungeons. The dungeon I went into is the dungeon called the [Dollhouse] which is a natural habitat of living mannequins and living dolls. It''s perfect for me to handle as I need a big body to hit using the sword and without ess to magic, hitting them precisely with just physical attacks might prove a challenge if they aren''t like the humanoid mannequins and dolls that appear here. And because of the decent difficulty, it poses me currently, it''s just perfect. Ignoring everyone around, I went straight to the dungeon door and I was greeted with the difficulty selection mode. Of course, I didn''t hesitate and choose the Abyss Mode. It might sound insane but I am confident enough to handle it solo. Besides, if I struggle, I can just ask to pull out anyone from my Summon''s Area and ask for their help. I don''t know if anyone saw me entering the abyss mode but I don''t care. Besides, it''s not unusual for someone to challenge the abyss mode, there are already records of clear time here earlier while looking at the abyss clear time chart so it''s obvious someone did the same thing to me. With the difficulty selectionplete, the entrance immediately teleported me to the dungeon entrance. [You have entered the [Dollhouse]. There is no need for me to make a new map here as I already have memorized the ce therefore, may only need to give focus on how the Swordsman ss fairs against dolls. Walking with a calm step, I enhanced all of my senses around here as the enemies are quite tricky herepared to normal dungeons and with Abyss Mode, it gets real trickier most of the time. CLACK! I immediately went for a sh behind me and a mannequin immediately got destroyed to pieces the moment I attacked. Yep, the reason I heightened my senses a lot is due to how the mannequins here do not just randomly pop up in the distance. They would instead try to make a jumpscare, by either appearing out of nowhere, dropping down from ceilings, or just suddenly moving when you thought that mannequin will not move. Knowing how the dungeon works, it would be best for me to keep my movements slow and precise until the enemy will appear to try and attack me sneakily. Of course, not all of them will just do this. There is a second enemy form that will make a frontal attack instead. The dolls. In the distance, I spotted two ambush mannequins on both sides of the wall''s cracks that would appear and one ambush mannequin just dangling at the ceiling being hanged and will drop down the hallway once I pass through and a little bit further is a groupposed of life-sized dolls wielding a rapier. Once I have identified all of the potential dangers, I immediately went on the move. Like the expected oue, the two ambush mannequins appeared and tried to pull me to where they are hiding. But since the jumpscare didn''t work for me, I managed to immediately dispose of them. Since mannequins are just one-hit kill most of the time, I don''t need to mind how long will I have to handle them. Now they are not the main problem, the dolls are. The moment the mannequins are destroyed, the dolls who were just in the distance immediately noticed me and went into battle mode without a slight hesitation. As much as I want a ranged attack, there is no other range attack avable for me at the moment, and some of them are still locked away in Tier 4 and 5 ranks so I have to do with the skills I have at the moment. "Come on! Give it your best shots f*ckers!" The dolls came charging in with their rapiers and tried to pierce me with their fast attacks but even if they are fast, they aren''t that much of a challenge even in Abyss Mode. I ducked and swing the longsword below the legs of the dolls before activating [Cut]. [Cut] is a normal tier 1 skill that does the exact same thing as the name does. cutting. This one has two forms, an AOE cut, and a single target cut. To perform an AOE [Cut], just swing the longsword Horizontally while if you just want the single target cut, performing a vertical attack while activating [Cut] will trigger the single target mode of [Cut]. It was a good skill as it has an AOE and single target and it doesn''t have to consume mana at all and will only have a cooldown of 6 seconds. Since I sliced the dolls horizontally, the dolls that were trying to attack me but missed had all of their legs cut off by the skill and fell the moment their legs are now gone. Of course, I didn''t catch anyone from that slice but since there are fewer of them, I went in and eliminate those who didn''t get caught by the [Cut] slice and personally executed them all before finishing off the dolls that have lost their legs. The progress is smoother than expected and my weapon may not be the bestpared to the Versatile Weapon but I can appreciate it that this weapon has given me a good alternative that is not so overpowered but not so underwhelming either. And since the ystyle of the Swordsman is much identical to the Magic Knight minus the magic, it was easier than expected so It didn''t take me that long to reach the First Boss Room for the Abyss Mode. Although it was a boss room, it contains two enemies inside, the normal boss and the hidden boss that will appear if I did something on that room once the first boss is killed. Since I want to test my mettle against the enemies on how I can handle things using the Swordsman ss, the next enemies would be the normal and the hidden boss. I don''t need the extra drops from the hidden boss and other benefits from killing the hidden boss, I only wanted to test how I can handle them without any external help at all and two punching bags are better than one. Chapter 523 Training Regimen In The Dungeons (III) I rechecked the durability of my weapon and healed my HP back to full. Before, I don''t need to check the durability of the weapon since the Versatile Weapon does not have any durabilities added to them. But since I am not using it and instead using a regr weapon, I need to check up on the weapon time and time again to check its durability. Neglecting to check it up before a boss fight can be crucial as there are times you are fighting so much and you didn''t realize the weapon you are wielding is already on itsst knees and then you fought a boss. Imagine the disaster if that is the only weapon you have in your inventory. Since the weapon durability of the sword has barely any lost durability, I proceed to open the door of the boss room. A group of puppets are lying on the floor, not moving but clear enough that they will be moving soon enough. As someone who has cleared this dungeon thousands of times in the past timeline, there is no way I would forget their tricks here. Approaching the puppets, they remain immobile, and yet I already know their facade. Before they tried to stand up, I shed at all of them, destroying their limbs and detaching them from the body of the puppet. Then, the puppets sprang up to life, only to find them already limbless and almost dead. The moment they sprang up to life, I swing the sword vertically, cutting off their heads. Of course, that wasn''t it. It''s not a worthy enemy to be called a boss. After all, the boss has yet to take action. [Doll Puppetter''s Hands] [Boss] HP: 1,500,000/1,500,000 Puppets controlling: 95 left Type: Dark, Construct Yep, the enemy is a giant hand. But it wasn''t a normal hand as it is considered by the game as a construct, simr to living armor, moving dolls, and golems. The only difference is that this boss will not attack directly but rather, will attack the yer or yers in the vicinity using the puppets it controls. That is why there is a puppet counter below the HP bar. That is enough to know whether the puppet will have no more puppets left to use and will personally attack. I already destroyed 5 of its puppets from earlier reducing the amount to 95. The boss started to send me his multiple puppets all at once. For solo yers, if they are not careful enough, you will easily get overwhelmed before you knew it. Things are bad enough if you don''t know how to handle a group. SWISH! CRACK! SWISH! CRACK! Every swing, one puppet falls, every strike, another puppet falls. Their intent is just to overwhelm and stop the yers or yers to move around, then the puppeteer''s hands will squash down the yer or yers under it, killing them instantly. But until the yer does not get overwhelmed at all, the boss will just continue to send puppets straight to you. But I don''t n to get overwhelmed here. Realizing that I won''t go down so easily, the boss waved its giant hands and send more puppets straight to where I am fighting, overwhelming my location with puppets. I can easily destroy all puppets without getting overwhelmed. ? Whenever I am about to get overwhelmed due to the sheer amount of enemiesing straight to me, I never forget using the [Spinning sh] allowing me to reduce their numbers in one go. And I just rinse and repeat. Despite the simple moves I did, it was enough for me to at least survive a lot longer. And since the boss just decided to keep on sending the puppets to me, the amount of puppets that were supposed to protect the boss in the final battle has also been expended and killed, causing the boss to realize that the act of overwhelming me was a bad idea. After all, the moment I killed the veryst puppet, the boss realized that it run out of puppets to use at its disposal. So what can a puppet master do if it doesn''t have any puppets to use? They end up a lot useless and easier to beat up. The moment the puppet master realized it doesn''t have any puppets left to use, it got rid of the strings around its fingers before it started to grab and crush me like a small insect. But that is the good timing to attack. The moment it ms down its hands to crush me to pieces, yers can start attacking it which will allow the yers to kill the attacking hand and since it doesn''t have any gimmicks, it was just that easy. The boss ended up quite very easy for me in the end. Just a few swings, a few skill casts, and things are done. It wasn''t even that hard, to begin with. Despite being in the Abyss Level of difficulty, the dollhouse is not that troublesome as long as you are capable of taking down multiple enemies all at once as the difference between the Abyss and the lower difficulty counterparts of the Dollhouse dungeon is the spawn rate of enemies and the number of enemies avable at the start while the bosses are buffed a little bit in HP management but other than that, everything is the same. Once the boss died, the drops fell down and I gathered it all and stuffed them inside the inventory before going further into the dungeon. And yes, the bosses that appear next are all just pushovers so I will not bother to even tell anything from them. It took me at least 20 minutes before the Abyss Mode was cleared. I ended up having a huge haul of drops that I will be using for smelting in the future. But they are not even bothered by that right now. What I needed to see is how much SP I did receive after farming the dungeon using only the specific and I was surprised when I received at least 1024 SP. It''s a lot of SP that there is no way I can afford the new skills that will be much more useful in the future and I think I got a better mastery now in the swordsman ss. Perhaps I should jump to the next ss. However, I was stopped when a world announcement appeared before us. [The dungeons suddenly went to change all of a sudden. It wasn''t an anticipated thing which caused everyone to be surprised and fearful at the news. If left alone, the dungeons will pour out a massive horde of monsters that will march through the cities and destroy it. We, the Adventurer''s Guild hires all mercenaries and warriors or anyone who wanted to participate in a fight is weed. Dungeon Break will now begin.] Chapter 524 Training Regimen In The Dungeons (IV) Dungeon Breaks. It''s an asional event that happens once in a while that involves specific dungeons in the game. The dungeons are selected based on the average level of the yer base, that way, the yers will be capable of clearing them without having any problem that they can''t clear the dungeon because the level of difficulty is very high. Majority of the yers are about level 80 to 100 so my guess is that they will be either choosing the level 85 or level 90 dungeons across the Resurgia, Sandurk and Aquagius to clear. However, this news is quite a blessing to me. Not only does the Dungeon Breaks a popr event, it is an event that many yers are usually waiting for as this event features triple drop rate of items inside the dungeons. That means every time you kill a monster in the dungeon, it will drop quite a lot of items and gold for yers. Not only that, since the lore of the Dungeon Breaks is due to the umtion of stored mana inside a dungeon, the experience gain is also very high that yers who are still low leveled will try to ask higher leveled yers to let them join in to power level. Some guilds and some yers abuse this too to earn quite a lot of money due to different kinds of offers that some rich people do. Of course, these things will just ur on the dungeons that are part of the selection. Other than that, the remaining dungeons will remain the same while the selected dungeons will have these buffs. But there is a downside to this event. If the yerbase didn''t care and didn''t clear the dungeons at all, the Dungeon Break as the titr name of the event will be the reality. Thousands of monsters will appear and bosses that often stay inside the dungeon''s boss rooms will appear and attack towns, cities and anywhere they can wreck havoc into and clearing it is a pain in the ass due to how the monsters will be buffed to their maximum potential and will cause fighting normal mobs seems like fighting mini-bosses. If that is the case, training would be a breeze and earning SP might also be faster. Of course, I am just guessing since it wasn''t revealed if the Versatile ss benefits from this event in SP farming. After the announcement, everyone in the game received a notice that is showing what the event is. Just like what I exined, all of the facts are there to do the things minus the dungeon break if it was not being maintained by yers and just ignore thevent. They keep that consequence quiet as it makes the yers who neglected clearing Dungeon Break event to suffer the aftermath. Next, my prediction of the dungeons that are being selected are indeed the level 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, and 90 dungeons. There are plenty of dungeons to choose from, allowing yers to at least spread out from the dungeons and not just hog them all. Everyone will have a chance. I can already tell that many yers who are grinding in the dungeons would be delighted by this announcement and the yers who choose to upy a farming area will be leaving their posts for the first time in a while which will benefit the beginner yers struggling to get a farming spot as most of the big shot guilds that are upying the farming spots will be moving to the dungeons and start iming them. It will be a good news to everyone once they know this event but since they are still not here yet, I will go and farm on the nearest dungeon that is ced near the mansion. It is a level 90 dungeon and although I didn''t bought it, the area around it is my property due to how wide the area of the mansion upies so that means I can just use this chance to use it and farm there. Though if some yers will find it, I will not be too greedy and give some of it to them. I may like to solo but I am not greedy for things, sharing is caring they must say. ... ... But things don''t go too well. The moment I arrived to the dungeon in my property, countless of yers under a guild has taken over the dungeon. I can hear their voices from afar that they are lucky that they found a dungeon in a secluded area. I wasn''t expecting it to be found so soon but I guess these guys are just quite a snooper to easily find it this far. If they are a friendly guild and won''t bother outsiders from ying the dungeon, then perhaps I can just let them go there. I know it wasn''t my property but the area around it is mine. Being there alone without my permission is already a breach of property and even in game, I can still say that to them as that is literally do as it is hard to have privacy in this game if you can be invaded like this so easily. First, I decided to blend into the shadows. Since the Carnwennan is still in my possession, I equipped it and used the cloaking skill to hide and eavesdrop on what they are saying. As I get closer, I realized that they are just camping there, they are not even clearing the dungeon since the door of the dungeon still remains in color blue which will turn red if someone is currently challenging the content of the dungeon. If so, are they just nning on staying here or are they waiting for someone else toe by? I don''t recognize any of the yers and the guild itself is not even something I heard of before which is why I don''t have any idea what they are nning and why they haven''t started to raid the dungeon but I hope they are friendly yers. It''s thest thing I wanted to do is to kill yers because of their unjustly greedy nature. But I think this encounter will be a fruitful one after seeing someone approaching the group in which I didn''t expect to see here in this secluded area of the game. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 525 The Gemini Player In the past timeline, there were a lot of yers who dominated the game''s spotlight and a spot that has been imed by an influencer gained the attention of the masses due to her weird but unique way of using her own mental disorder which is the multiple personality disorder. I am not really an expert on it but ording to some of the yers who have teamed up or have personally interacted with her, she indeed has multiple personality disorder as they tend to change a lot in terms of their personality. They can''t even say it is the same as bipr as some who have interacted with a bipr is not this bad in terms of changing personality. She was Phantomia, also known by yers as the Gemini yer. The reason they call her a Gemini yer instead of "Jekyll and Hyde" is because the dual personality of the person is simr to twins. Although they share the same body, both personalities seem aware of each other and it seems they are in sync a lot. Of course, I have seen her fight before and to be honest, she is really quite a bit entric. Also, she will change her ss to Reaper once the ss will appear in the future but since it wasn''t avable for now, she is using the Magic Knight ss at the moment. However, once she reaches the point where the Reaper ss is announced, she will be quite a monster in the game. You can say that you will be reminded her battle style is quite simr to Queen Tanya but with the difference that she has two fighting styles depending on which personality is currently ying. I still don''t know if her dual personality is real but one thing is for sure, she will be a big yer once she gets into the Reaper ss and became one of the strongest Reaper ss yers. I haven''t seen her fight as a Magic Knight but I know how she fights in both personalities. However, that is a topic for another day. The problem with her and her guild right now is that I am quite sure that during this time, their guild is currently camping out in Sandurk''s dungeons. So why are they even here and why are they currently here? As much as I want an answer to that, I don''t have it. Back to the current situation. Phantomia appeared as she galloped on her horse towards the others. Looks like she bought one out instead of taming one as the generic color of the horse which is color brown a sign that it came from a stable as the only color of horse that can be obtained in stables are pure brown and pure ck. The other colors and variety are gonna need for you to be tamed. Now, I need to know why they are here. Are they going to camp out in here until the dungeon break event will be over? There is a possibility. However, I don''t like someone camping out in here without even asking me about it. Although the vicinity of the dungeon is not my property, the ce where they are currently camping IS MY property. It is where the garden was supposed to be but since I have yet to obtain any seeds I can nt there, it was not yet worked at the moment but still, they choose to camp out there. Then why am I so harsh on them? They didn''t intrude on mynd like a total disrespecting it but because I have already known the personality of their guild. They are absolute trash and would do anything to the extent of making different kinds of decisions that would benefit more of their guild and harm the others. You can say they are the toxic kind of people that you would hate to meet up with in multiyer games like this. I could get rid of them but perhaps I can reason out with the Gemini yer aspared to her guild members, she has a bit of a reasonable personality but is still twisted enough that I more wanted to have a neutral rtionship with her than go on a hostile rtionship with her. But if worsees to worst, I have to prepare for everything. The first is to spend the SP I earned earlier on my swordsman skills. I still n to practice the Swordsman ss in PVP in case these guys would work in PVP. That way, I can incorporate the Swordsman ystyle in the Magic Knight ss as that would work much easier and blend perfectly without changing weapons. 1024 SP might sound a lot but tiers 3 and 4 are expensive and it the sp price would ramp up in tier 5 which is why I have to spend wisely. Learning all the skills avable in one tier is still not viable unless I go back to the dollhouse dungeon and farm once again. After I learned [Cut] and [Spinning sh] in tier 2, tier 3 is now unlocked and skills are now avable for purchase. However, I have better ns instead as I didn''t focus much on skill upgrades the first time around as I am more reliant on the Versatile Weapon. And that is to upgrade tier 1 and tier 2 skills. [Cut] and [Triple sh] are very useful in some cases and have a low cooldown so I upgraded them for more utility and lowered their cooldowns a lot more but with increased firepower. As for [Spinning sh] didn''t have much utility to me unless I am crowded by mobs and other than that, it has less usage for me. I ended up spending 200 sp for upgrading [Cut] and evolving it into the skill [Rend], a tier 4 skill. It has the same utility as Cut but has more power and can easily cut monsters with ease. As for [Triple sh], I spent 150 SP to evolve it to [Rampage sh], a tier 3 skill. I spent 500 SP this time around to upgrade [Rampage sh] to [Spatial sh] a tier 5 skill and perhaps the best skill before you reach level 100 and reach the tier 6 skills. Unfortunately, to upgrade further, I needed 1000 SP to upgrade it causing me to stay on [Spatial sh] instead. Since upgrading the [Cut] and [Triple sh] to their new forms, it sucked my SP dry leaving me with 174 swordsman SP. That is enough to buy a skill in tier 3 that costs 150 SP. I scanned through the skills and bought one called [Aura de]. I sighed as that sucked all of my SP in one go. Earning is really hard and yet spending is so easily done like it was just one flick of the finger. But I am now ready. Knowing how Phantomia fights in both personalities, even if they are going to go hostile on me, I can still defeat them just fine. But I want to at least perform a diplomacy thing with them rather than go and fight them. Alright, here goes nothing... asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 526 Phantomia Immediately walking near the area made the other members of the guild on standby get wary of me who is currently approaching them. The others are even getting ready to pull out their weapons and are all ready and gung-ho to fight. I am also ready and geared to fight back too whenever they act first. As the yers are now getting a bit angsty of me who was there, Phantomia finally decided to take over and approach me first. "Yo, who are you? And what are you doing here?" I see, that funky and a bit of a gyaru way of speaking, it was the other personality of Phantomia who was a bit brash in personality. It is also the mostmon personality anyone would encounter and unless you knew her very well, you will think that this personality is her real and main personality which in reality, it was not and this was her alternate one. It is also the main reason why her avatar in the game is called Phantomia as that is also the name of her alternate personality, making it more sense why she named it like that. Since I know now which personality is speaking, I don''t need to hold back in speaking out. "That should''ve been my question. Who are you guys and what the heck are you doing inside my property?" "Property?" Phantomia tilted her head in confusion. "You guys are standing on my property and you guys are even ruining the soil of my garden. Although I haven''t nted anything just yet, you guys are still not supposed to be here." "Hey! You little f*cker! There is no way this ce is your property! You should go and piss off!" I turned to look at the guy who said that and opened my menu, looked at his name, and put it on the menu before putting a kick and ban status on this guy out of my territory. Once that was confirmed, the guy who said those words were sent flying and straight to the area where my property ends and has no owner. Still, because he was kicked, he flew out almost immediately without warning so hisnding was pretty painful. I don''t know how he failed to even properlynd on the ground, but that was painful and I don''t think he will suffer from pain for a little bit unless he lowered his pain reception a lot. Seeing what happened after I just tweak a bit on the settings made the others pull out their weapons in response. As for Phantomia, she grinned the moment that happened. I can feel something changed from her demeanor but it was still the same demeanor the alternate personality would do. "Now, do you think I am lying? I am here asking why you guys are on my property and you guys started going hostile toward me. What kind of bullsh*try are you guys trying to do?" Phantomia smirked. "Heh, interesting. I never heard of someone like this. For the first time in my life, I never expected someone was able to buy such a huge part of thend that their property is almost close to the dungeon itself." "So you noticed that my authority over thend does not include the dungeon area." "I am not blind as to say I didn''t notice it. But based on the size of yournd, it was clear that it was big enough but not big enough to include the dungeon itself." "Then I am asking you if you already knew it, why are you guys here, aren''t you supposed to be staying near the dungeon instead of staying where mynd is?" "Heh, it''s because the ce is much morefortable to stay in rather than going near the dungeon. And it is a bit more spacious than there so it''s natural we will just go and stay here for a bit until the yers who have scouted the dungeone back." "Lies." When I answered back, her face twitch and I can tell that a vein seems to have popped out of her forehead. It was clear to say that she didn''t like my response. But what I said is the truth. "If you guys have scouted that dungeon and are just waiting for the yers toe back, then why does the dungeon feel inactive? Don''t try to fool me as I have been here for quite a while and I know what that dungeon would look like if someone is inside and from the looks of it, the dungeon is currently not showing any signs that yers are currently exploring it right now." Although the dungeon near my mansion is not used by me and mypanions at all, I have seen it in action before, and like I said before, I know if someone is indeed inside the dungeon and if no one is inside. I have seen it multiple times in action in the past timeline so there is no point arguing to me that I was probably mistaken, Seeing that they can no longer refute anything, the yers pulled out their weapons and are ready to fight back. We are not in a safe zone area so fighting would indeed spark the PVP system and battle will ensue. "You know too much. We don''t care if this is yournd. We upy this ce now so it is ours." With one wave of her hands, the other yers rushes toward me and started to attack me. [You have been attacked! You are now capable of fighting back against the attackers without beingbeled as a red yer. If you die, there is a 50% chance you will drop your equipped items. On the other hand, if you sessfully kill the opposing enemies, their gears will drop 100%.] Good, the first strike came to them, and now that the notification said so, it''s time to f*ck them up for thinking they can mess up with me. When they get real close, I swing my sword horizontally at them all, which they thought nothing was done there. But they never knew it as the skill was a quiet one and a deadly one packed in the same skill. SWISH! Before the yers who rushed towards me can react, their bodies were cut in half as soon as they get really near and fell to the ground, dead. [Rend] is an upgrade to the skill [Cut]. It still follows the same rules as [Cut] like the Vertical and Horizontal shes to produce both single target attacks and AOE attacks only with different alterationspared to the original. And I must say that the performance of the [Rend] exceeded my expectation and the critical rate of it was so damn high that all of the enemies that got hit by my first AOE attack of [Rend]. "Don''t panic! He still is outnumbered! Go and attack and bring him down to the ground!" Phantomia shouted. As always, the alternate personality of Phantomia is still brash as ever and would rather face things head-on instead of calcting things, making things easier on my side as that is much easier to tacklepared to the calctive part which is the real personality of Phantomia. I defended a few strikes here and there and dodged their attacks and skills together while waiting for the cooldown of [Rend] to end. They still didn''t know it was me just yet and they assumed I am a swordsman. But if things no longer became something I can handle with just the Swordsman ss, I can just reequip the Versatile Weapon and start attacking or maybe pull out the Pain Delivery and just shoot them all together. Another batch of them is chanting spells in the distance. One of the weaknesses of a swordsman is that they are pretty vulnerable to magic and long-range attacks. It is easy to defend against the enemies doing a melee attack but I have to deal with the long-range yers. I grab the Carnwennan in my inventory and gripped it before activating the [Shadown Cloak]. After all, I can immediately blend into the shadows even in in sight. The moment I disappeared, I reappeared again in front of the range yers and was about to perform a [Rend] but someone who I expected already appeared and blocked my attack using her sword. "Hehe, you are an interesting one. Let me see how good you are in a fight," Phantomia''s sword immediately got covered in electricity and tried to overpower me. Of course, I quickly parried her, stopping the attack from happening. PENG PENG PENG! Our swords shed with each other while I actively dodge and block some attacksing from other yers while also actively parrying the attacks of Phantomia. "Hehe, I am now so fired up. Hope you keep things more interesting, boy!" It''s a battle against me and the hostile guild in hopes of taking over the dungeon. Chapter 527 Submit Or Die Her strikes are heavy. Although it''s much weakerpared to Sigma''s attacks, it''s not something I would even underestimate. Andbined with her unpredictable patterns due to her dual personality, it will be the greatest way to fight any opponent who doesn''t know her. While we are in the middle of the battle, she started to change her fighting style. Before, she was more abrupt and forward in attacking me to the point that she would dive face first to attack me. However, all of a sudden, she suddenly turned defensive and then throw magic spells at me. Of course, magic spells pack a lot of punch and not just those puny magic spells for beginner tiers. Heh, she already switched personalities. She thinks it might confuse me all of a sudden but unfortunately, I am not surprised. Since she decided to change to her real personality, it is better to be frontal to her nowpared to being defensive. She can switch personalities a few minutes after switching from one personality that is why she only does this when an enemy is considerably hard for the alternate personality to handle that the real personality will take over and do the job. So in short, I just need to put pressure on her while actively avoiding the others or maybe getting rid of them while on the run. If she decided to change her ystyle, then don''t mind me changing my ystyle too. Dashing straight to Phantomia, I swing the sword straight to her. Of course, I already expected her to dodge so the moment she did, I already predicted she will do so and dash forward before swinging the sword at her. PANG! Phantomia staggered the moment my sword hit her. She managed to block it but she was shaken by it, signifying that she didn''t expect me to suddenly do that. After all, she thought I would remain there and swing without a thought. I am tempted to pull out a gun and make a big surprise bang but I hold out myself as I wanted to at least practice PVPbat using pure swordsman ss and attacks only. It also helps me earn some more SP for the swordsman and that is a massive win for me. "KGH!" Phantomia is having a hard time handling my attacks as every time she retreats, I would follow up with her and make a slice. Although I get interrupted by some sts of attacks from Phantomia''s allies, it''s not that troublesome to be honest which is much easier to be done but I still need to be on the lookout. I don''t have the Versatile Weapon equipped so my stats are just enough for what my level is right now, It''s been a few minutes since she changed her first personality and soon enough, she started to get aggressive again which means she has reverted back to her alternate personality once more. This made her a hard enemy for some yers as she is pretty much quite unpredictable at times whenever you think you have already figured her out, it turns out you haven''t actually done that as she will immediately change it to surprise you. But unfortunately for her, that will not surprise me at all. PENG! Our swords shed and Phantomia is surprised that I easily predicted it, especially since she was using magic a few more times and was more on ranged attacks rather than frontal. "You are an interesting opponent. I didn''t think I would meet someone who is capable of being on par with me." "Heh, you overestimate me. But if you guys didn''t even bother to be hostile to me, I wouldn''t be even bothering to fight you all." Our swords shed again but this time, I found an opening after she opened up a lot of her defenses just to pour everything down to the offense. Phantomia didn''t notice this so I immediately took action and used it to my advantage. Before she will notice it, I kicked her knee and then trip her feet over causing her to fall down to the ground real hard. Before she can recover her footing, I put the sword into her neck and stopped and looked at the others. "Do anything and she will die." The other yers stopped attacking the moment their leader was cornered. They still keep their guard up but their eyes are looking for a chance to attack me. Of course, I still keep my guard up and I can easily defend myself in case things get really bad for me. "I apud you but even if you try to kill me, we won''t be handing this dungeon over," Phantomia coughed up a bit. "I never asked you guys to give me the dungeon. I just wanted to ask you guys to at least move away from mynd and just go to where the dungeon is. Besides, I don''t own the dungeon so why would I im it as mine? Are you guys even right in the head?" The others started whispering to each other as they realized what they have done. "You realize what you guys have done? Did you really think I wouldn''t retaliate if someone entered my property? Even if it was a game, I would still protect mynd like it was real. You get my point?" "Ah f*ck...alright, alright. Our bad. I know we are out of line but we apologize. I hope you can forgive us for attacking first." "And what makes you think I am gonna believe that? I have plenty of experiences that made me very untrusting of all people who became hostile to me. You think I will immediately believe and let you guys think I will be believing that so easily?" ,m "Alright, alright, we will hand over the dungeon rights to you instead. We will be retreating from here and we will avoid stepping foot in here unless you invited us in. Would that convince you?" Phantomia offered. "Hah...as much as that barely gave me any benefits, I don''t want to deal with too much stuff for me to think about. Alright, fine. I ept. But that doesn''t mean I will tolerate you all toe here and attack. I am not so forgiving so be sure to keep your promises. I may not look like it but I can easily beat you all without a problem." Phantomia sighed but she also agreed and after our exchange, she and her guild left thend and handed the dungeon to me. I know I don''t own it but since we bargained and it seems Phantomia wasn''t even trying to make the war against me, I guess that is fine. And from the looks of it, the Phantomia who negotiated with me isn''t the real personality but the alternate personality known for being a hard-headed type and won''t easily ept defeat. If that was a genuine thing she said before they left, then that would be fine though I doubt things would be the same as the guild members. I can tell that there will be a few of them who will try to take revengeter on. Since Phantomia and her guild are finally gone, I think its time to continue the training. Let''s go and clean up this dungeon. Chapter 528 The Chaos In Dungeons The event pushed most of the yers and die-hard grind yers to raid the dungeons that have beenbeled as part of the event and started to upy them, partaking in PK and PVP for dungeon rights and who will be the one who can upy the dungeons. You can say that those who are solo yers and don''t belong to a guild are all suffering from not being able to participate in this event due to the chaos that is happening that this event seems to focus more on fighting yerspared to the time spent in clearing the dungeons. As for me, I am not surprised that yers are more focused on the yers that tried to invade the dungeons rather than ying inside the dungeons themselves. Sooner orter, once the final phase of the event will happen, these guys will be the first ones to suffer as they will be also the first ones who will be taking the me for the uing dungeon break that will really happen if the dungeons were not cleared for the duration of the first half. I am kinda worried about the situation since there are only a few people who are capable of stopping what will happen if the dungeon break event will not be fulfilled. I don''t really mind what will happen but the economy of the game will take a massive flunk due to most of the resources were gonna be spent on repairs and it will take some time before the economy will recover and then the next Dungeon Break will happen again. It''s not that bad if you are not reliant on the market of the game but for those who regrly farm in the game and then sell the items for gold to get better items, it will be a major time for them to lose a lot of money with little return for their efforts due to the economy slight decline for a bit. There is no need for me to teach everyone that they needed to help each other in this event rather than fight because that would ruin their learning of the consequences of the game. I am more or less good so I don''t even need to bother too much with it. You can say I just wanted to see the world burn I guess. But watching the chaos happening around me seems pretty much the entire event. So why am I just talking like this and not clearing the dungeon? Because I got tired and I wanted to rx for a bit and see the reactions of the popce while the event is currently ongoing. Right now, I am currently drinking coffee. I saw Dolly and Sigma log in earlier alongside Harmless Sparrow but it didn''t take them long to go to my mansion and start rxing while watching the chaos unfold. Right now, I sent them to the current dungeon that was previously upied by Phantomia''s guild until I managed to take over. I will be joining themter but first, I am here rxing while also analyzing what these yers are doing in their lives and instead of doing the event, they instigated more guild wars and PVP and PK. I get it that greed takes over most people but it''s not necessarily needed since it shouldn''t be the usual case as the yers usually just go and kill monsters, receive drops and earn money. Right now, I am on the edge about whether we go and do some dungeon raiding, take down all the dungeons, and do some runs on it until we meet the certain quota so that the situation will be salvaged? As much as I want that to happen, with only a few yers and do at least two runs simultaneously, it will take a long time before we are done with one dungeon and the event requires yers to at least have 30 dungeons in the level requirement cleared for at least 100 times at best. Yep, every single dungeon should have at least 100 hundred sessful "dungeon cleared" runs after the event was announced for that to be tallied. If that fails, monsters will break out and a "dungeon break" urs. It''s not that much considering that many yers are ying the game and regrly y the game, surely, the 100 quotas will be fulfilled easily right? NO. It needs at least 30 dungeons with 100 quotas for the system to consider it as a counted. That is a total of 3000 clears to be considered sessful. By the way, 3000 clears in "one" dungeon does not count as only the valid 300 is registered. the other clears should at least being to the other dungeons otherwise the event will shove the dungeon break and siege defense mechanics where yers need to defend the cities and other areas from defeat and being overrun by monsters. Currently, the continent with the most chances to face ruin is the Resurgia continent. And the continent that will more likely stay the same regardless of the result will be Sandurk as Almira ispetent enough and she doesn''t need the help of yers to defend but a wee one to do so and since thest quest, the weapons that King Arthur had is currently in their hands, it is normal that they would easily dominate. I checked all the current situation of the game and as I expected, no one has yet to make a proper clear of any dungeons. The analytics alone showed that the dungeon count barely ticked and not a single dungeon has yet to extend to 10 clears just yet. The slowest clear amount. Themunity is not even bothered with checking the counters rather, they continue to fight other yers just to get limited ess to the dungeons that many guilds were just not willing to give up and share. All of theints in the threads are that most of the dungeons they have already discovered to be part of the dungeon break event are always upied by somebody else''s guild and prevent anyone from clearing them. It''s quite a dumpster fire and many of the yers are now reporting other yers for doing many things that stop them from essing the dungeons, essing hacks, and something like that. It''s so many that counting will just take quite a lot of time before we can even care much about it. Then, I got thought about it. What if I took this chance of chaos all around to clear the dungeons, farm the SP, fight in PVP against other yers, and do all the work? Not only that but there are also the yers who will try to PK someone, and that is good enough to get weapon fodder. I started to think a bit until I realized, that perhaps this is not a bad thing. I might even get the recognition of trying my hardest to finish the events with everyone else while everyone is busy with their battles. Perhaps that is the better thing for me to do right now. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 529 Discussions On The Next Step After rxing and drinking the virtual coffee I brewed, I went back to the dungeon and it was also the exact time that Dolly and Sigma went out of the dungeon. Weing Dolly and Sigmaing out from the dungeon door, the two have cleared out the Hell Difficulty by themselves while only relying on Sigma''s minuscule heals as a Holy Knight and potions. Now that they are out, I decided to ask Dolly first how she managed to log in to the game without the cabin she uses while Sigma is currently busy sorting out the loot for the two of them to divide. It''s a good feat considering that only the two of them fought tons of monsters inside. "Just as you said, deheart. The enemies in the dungeon are quite numerous in number but their difficulty isn''t that much so it wasn''t a big problem. The big advantage of this is that the drop rates of weapons, items, and gold have exponentially increased. We just did one Hell Difficulty run and we already have the amount of loot haul that isparable to a simr Hell Difficulty run but done five times. Not only that, but the experience gain is quite high too that I think the amount of experience we can earn is triple the amount than usual," Sigma reported. "Yeah, I agree with that. Look at these essories I got, all of these are helpful as they increased both my Maximum Mana and my INT stat quite a lot and I obtained them in just this one single run. I was never this lucky before in any of my previous dungeon runs. It is a good time to farm indeed," Dolly then showed me her ne, bracelet, and earring she got. "Alright, you guys should talk for a bit as I will have to organize and divide the haul that we got as we didn''t divide it while we are inside. Please excuse me for a bit since the amount of items I have in here is a lot and it will take a few minutes before I can organize all of it," Sigma then went to the outdoor table and started taking out the items they got and sorts them out. "Take your time. Anyways, this is a good time that we are both alone, Dolly. I have a question," I started. "Huh? Shoot, what is it?" Dolly tilted her head. "You still haven''t upgraded your Reality Verse to the Nexus Version just yet right? I heard that it wasn''t avable just yet but it will be soon. So why are you able to log in to the game? How are you able to do that especially since the cabin you use is back at your house and you are still staying at my house right now. We don''t have a spare Reality Verse cabin we can share. Did you perhaps go home?" "Janus lent me the Reality Verse cabin he is using since he didn''t bind his ount to that cabin and it is also a coincidence that I didn''t bind mine either, allowing me to log in to a different cabin just fine. He also mentioned I can use it for as long as I want for the time being since he wanted to pass ying for now. He was too exhausted that he wanted to sleep early," Dolly exined. Well, Janus has worked his hardest during that training we did earlier just because he has difficulty awakening his abilities while everyone has awakened one by one while he still hasn''t. I also even noticed some bags under his eyes after he awakened his ability which means he keeps practicing yesterday before we went to training which I can understand. It''s not like I haven''t experienced that anyway. "Well, how about the others? Are they going to log inter?" "Unfortunately, they are too, on the same boat as Janus. They are too tired to y. After dinner, they prefer to go to bed early and sleep. I think I am the only one who wasn''t even drained and tired after all of that. Sure, I felt a bit tired after awakening but it didn''tst that long. Weird huh?" Dolly scratches her head. Oh yeah, since Dolly has twopatible elements for her, her physique in handling mana and magic is much differentpared to others who only have one elementpatible with them. It''s not abnormal and weird, just that it''s very rare so it doesn''t always happen most of time. As we continue to talk, Sigma seems to have been done with her sorting job and returned to us carrying the stuff that she has divided and seems to be the share of Dolly. She handed them all to her which thetter immediately received. "Here you go. I prioritize taking the items I can actually equip with my ss and immediately differentiate those items that both of us can use and those items that neither of us can use. We can split up those two types. By the way, I also counted the items you are already equipping on the tally," Sigma exined. "Thanks. Should we split the items we cannot use evenly for both of us? We can''t use them so it seems our only way to handle them is just to sell them to the market for the money." "Honestly, I don''t need more money as I am overflowing with them, especially after thest quest we partake in. But it will be a waste if we just throw it away so, I guess let''s just do that." After hearing both of them, I suddenly gained an idea. "Guys. I have a suggestion on how you guys can use that item without selling them. You guys don''t need the gold right? How about I perform an amalgamation and use those items instead?" "Amalgamation?" Dolly looks confused. Perhaps she hasn''t seen this option in the cksmith yet or she hasn''t visited one so she is not familiar with it. Before I can answer, Sigma answered the confusion that Dolly has. "It''s one of the services that a cksmith provides aside from crafting, repairing, and upgrading weapons. I haven''t actually tried that option yet so I am not so familiar with it. Care to exin this term to us?" she then turned to look at me. "Sure. It''s one of the processes to strengthen a weapon, essory, or armor. It involves fodder and a base before the amalgamation process can proceed. You can choose different bases and different fodder depending on your choice. It is one way of strengthening your weapons instead of just upgrading them and I must say the bestpared to upgrading. "For example, Sigma wanted to keep using the greatsword that she was currently using but since she leveled up a lot, the damage the weapon can dish out is very minuscule the weapon can barely do any good amount of damage. She had some other weapons she can use as an alternative but she didn''t like them and wanted to keep on using the older ones. That''s where the amalgamation kicks in. Using the old weapon as the base and the new items as the fodder, Sigma can transfer half of the stats of the fodder weapon transnted to the weapon she is using, making it viable again. She can even transfer weapon skills in the amalgamation process though she can only transfer one skill from fodder to the base weapon once and depending on the rarity of the base weapon they can carry multiple slots for those skills." "Oh! So this process is simr to how your weapon that eats other weapons works then? You mentioned before that once it devours a weapon, some of the skills and stats get transferred too," Dolly quickly pointed out. "Yep, Very on point, Dolly. The only downside to this is that like the upgrading process, the process can still fail but you won''t lose your base weapon. The only thing you''ll lose is the fodder. It''s not that bad but it isn''t great either since it is also very expensive to perform the amalgamation process in normal cksmiths. And that''s where Ie in. I can perform Amalgamation but the difference is that I will not charge you for the amalgamation process." SNAP! Sigma snaps her fingers after figuring out what I was about. "Aha, so you are suggesting this due to the current circumstances and not only that but this can also benefit you huh? It''s a win-win for both of us if you do this, right?" she guessed. "Bingo. I want to take advantage of the extra drops in dungeons and gather lots of fodder haul and use it for amalgamation. Not only will you guys benefit from the process as your weapons will be stronger but I will also increase my cksmith proficiency of mine. Allowing me to craft good weapons in the future." "Not a bad idea actually. I didn''t even know that this is how Amalgamation works." Sigma chuckled. "So what do you guys think? If you guys agree, we will go inside the dungeon once again and gather materials. Of course, you guys can decline," I offered. "Hey, why would I decline? If we get stronger with this, that is a good thing! I am 100 percent into this one!" Dolly was enthusiastic. "So am I," Sigma calmly said but I can see on her face that she is happy at the offer. "Alright. The next step is up. Let''s get back into the dungeon and we should clear this ce at least 30 times the minimum to gather up a decent amount of items we can do for our n. Let''s all do this!" Chapter 530 Cleaning Dungeons (I) Instead of returning to the Hell Mode that Sigma and Dolly cleared, we jumped straight into the Abyss Difficulty. Although Dolly protested tackling the Abyss Difficulty because we only had 3 members in our party, I reassured her that we would be alright and that if things became terrible, I would summon apanion to help out. She stillined but soon shut her mouth when Sigma herself reassured her, which made me sigh at how stubborn she is at times. It''s not a bad thing but it''s quite annoying at times. Just like before, I continue to fight with a pure swordsman build, not using any skills that are not rted to the Swordsman ss, and didn''t switch to any ss avable in my ss tree or reverted t my usual ystyle. "Why are you forcing in just using the swordsman ss alone? It seems you are also limiting yourself by forbidding the other sses to even interact with your fighting style. Are you perhaps trying to do a new ystyle or are you just trying to master it out?" "I am trying to master it out. I just realized that my battle style before is too limited and I barely have any usage of some sses. I want to master all the sses I have and incorporate them into my battle style to create unpredictable tactics that would make the other yers have a hard time fighting back." "Heh? Really? If that is the case, I will try to observe your movements, study them carefully, then use that to my advantage the next time we face off against each other in the arena once more." Ah, that''s right. Sigma is still upset after her defeat against me during thest Battle for Blood. She is finding a good chance to find my fatal w and use that to her advantage in the future once we face off again in a PVP battle, perhaps during the next Battle for Blood since I have to defend my seat of being the champion to continue winning. "Hahaha, interesting, You are really motivated huh? Then so be it, watch all you want. I will look forward to our next match." Sigma smiled as we dashes behind Dolly who decided to went on ahead while we are speaking. ,m ... If yers heard of us speedrunning a dungeon in Abyss Difficulty, their first reaction would be to say "Are you joking?" or perhaps "That''s impossible" and that is the majority of the answers that would appear even if someone decided to tally it up. However, because of our efforts, the Abyss mode is just another difficulty that is difficult in paper but easier if done right. Due to our efforts, the Abyss Mode was a breeze that I felt like it was a joke instead of a difficulty spike meant to challenge. Perhaps we are just too overpowered for the dungeon''s mobs to even handle or perhaps they are just too weak to handle our attacks, either of it still works. Like nned, we did it multiple times but because it was the Abyss Mode, it was longer and much more troublesome to handlepared to Hell Mode so after 10 runs, Sigma and Dolly are already tired as they are not used to the multiple battles like that straight. My body also felt the same though not as bad as them. Perhaps my mind is just causing my body to fully adapt to what I experienced in the past timeline. We didn''t do the initial thirty runs nned for now but even with just the 10 runs we did, the drops that we got is already quite overwhelming to the point it isparable to a normal raid drop. That''s just how much drops we received after the 10 dungeon runs and how insane the drop rates was during the event. Not only that but the experience gain I received is quite high despite being a level 90 dungeon. It even managed to increase my exp bar by a few points after we stopped which is quite nice. Currently, we returned to the mansion as I cooked food and some drinks for them as refreshments. Even if it was just a game, fatigue still needs to be controlled or else you will easily fall sick and sluggish you can''t move at all in the game. "Here are your drinks guys," I handed them the drinks and the two of them happily took one ss of drinks. "Ha, nothing beats a fresh refreshments after an extensive dungeon rush. I can''t believe we fought for a few hours already and we still just finished 10 runs," Dolly gulped down the ss in one sitting. "Haha, you are right. We might have done a few dungeon runs before but not this extensive. But even so, it was more rewardingpared to the previous dungeons runs we have without the event happening." "Right? I never knew this was a thing until just now. In fact, I am grateful since we can get lots of items that we may possibly be using. I still can''t believe how much the rewards were dropping. It''s kind of unsettling since it was like something was afoot and there is a catch with all of this." I didn''t expect for Dolly to immediately figure things out. Indeed, there was a catch since if dungeon clears were not done before the grace period ends, then the Dungeon break will ur and monsters will start to flood the game world and even the safe zones will be a hostile zone until yers reim them again. Of course, I can''t reveal this tidbit of info to them. As much as I want to say it, it''s not something I will need to reveal until the very end. I am not here to change what was bound to happen and this would at least teach yers to stop their greed. It was for the best and unless I want to rewrite the future with this, I would rather let it happen for now and see how yers react to it. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 531 Cleaning Dungeons (II) After resting for a while, Mr. Teddy and my father spawned and are now online. "Oh? You guys are already in here, I didn''t expect that. You guys resting here or just hanging out?" my father asked as he approached us with Mr. Teddy following him behind. "We are just resting since we just finished our tenth dungeon run earlier. We are still taking advantage of the current event happening right now as it would definitely help us increase the maximum capabilities of our characters and also earn extra money forter usage," Sigma smiled as she offered my father a cup of tea which thetter declined. "Uncle! Mr. Teddy! It would be best to join us in this dungeon run. It would be great for you guys to also increase your levels a lot faster than usual! The event is allowing us to be able to obtain quite a huge chunk of EXP even though we are just cleaning up a level 90 dungeon!" "Really? Is that what the pop-up from earlier is doing?" my father reopened the notifications and checked it up again. "Yep. All level 80, 85, and 90 dungeons are getting powered up, monsters appear stronger and more numerous than their usual number and they drop an enormous amount of loot and experience. You can say this is the best time for us to keep clearing dungeons and take advantage of this," Dolly exined. "Oh, that''s a nice thing. I wouldn''t decline such an amazing offer. So it''s a guarantee I will be joining. How about you, big guy?" my father turned to look at Mr. Teddy. *Thumbs up* The big guy with a head essory of a teddy bear raised his thumbs up showing approval of the notion. "Then, perhaps I have to leave the group. Having Five yers in a single team will greatly diminish our current experience gain. Keeping a minimum of 4 yers in one team would be more beneficial for us rather than keeping me in the party. Besides, I am the only one who can solo an Abyss Dungeon with confidence so perhaps it is much better for you guys to do just that." "I agree with deheart. Although deheart is our DPS and sometimes our support, he is the only one who is capable of handling a solo Abyss Dungeon run and it would be unfair to the rest of us who will be left out if we keep deheart in our party. But if we are talking about maximum efficiency, then it would be the better option to do so," Sigma exined. I can see in their eyes that they are against me leaving the team but I insisted as that is the only way for us to benefit the event better. "Are you sure about this? I think it would be better for us if we stayed together rather than as a separate team," Dolly is a bit worried. "Yep. You guys needed to be stronger forter events. If events and quests simr to Queen Tori''s quest happened again, it would be troublesome if we are having trouble clearing it up just because our levels are a bit too low. So yeah, I suggest we do this method instead." In the end, I left the group. Of course, I didn''t forget to leave them a ton of potion supplies to manage their HP while they were inside the dungeon. Before they entered, I asked Father why Mother did not log in to the game together with him. "Ha, you already know your mother. She will be logging in a bitter since she wanted to watch some of her soap operas that she is hoping to watch. She can''t afford to miss it out since it''s already in the climax of the story ording to her." So that means a few hours from now, knowing Mother''s tastes in soap operas, the current soap operas airing at this time are considered a hit to many housewives and young adults due to how rtable the stories have though I don''t know too much about that. I am not interested in soap operas. After doing final preparations for a bit, the group eventually begins their next dungeon run as I watch them do their stuff until they entered the dungeon''s entrance and entered the Abyss Difficulty. I sighed in relief as I am morefortable ying alone. Might be my mentality after ying in the past mostly because I have trust issues with many people after losing most of my trusted people in my life. While we are taking a break earlier, I already checked my SP gained in the dungeon runs earlier and I am quite satisfied by the amount of Swordsman SP gained. This means I can just easily upgrade the necessary skills I needed for the staple of swordsmanship ys without relying on other sses. Since that was now the case, I decided to stop earning more SP for the Swordsman ss. Besides, it is much easier to learn as the learning curve for that ss has the easiest to do. Now, the only thing for me left to do is choose another ss. After thinking for a bit, I finally have a new ss I am trying to master and that is the Necromancer ss. With the new upgrade I got from this ss, it is almost certain that I needed to utilize the Necromancer ss and take advantage of the upgrades I receive to make use of this ss more in my battles. I rarely use this ss as I barely have any usage for corpses to fight for me due to a much better alternative which is the followers that will grow alongside you. But after receiving some good upgrades that diminish its downsides, it is now a better ss and has now a good advantage in terms of battle style. Equipping the Necronomicon, the main weapon of the Necromancer, I decided to use the Necromancer ss. This time, I might try to raise an army of the undead on my own and see how the new Necromancer ss feels and ys out. Perhaps it wasn''t a bad ss after all. Chapter 532 Cleaning Dungeons (III): A Party Of Corpses Instead of going to the current dungeon my father and the others are clearing, I decided to go to a different dungeon. And that''s the Bandit''sir, a level 90 dungeon located in Sandurk''s Caracoba City, one of the major cities in Sandurk. Although I am not yet exploring the 10 Major cities of Sandurk, I will be doing that in the future since it will involve another major quest I will be participating in once the next region is unlocked. ? With Leona as my mode of transport, I arrived at a rather packed but organized dungeon entrance. The reason it was packed is because of the fact that some yers were looking for party members to tackle the dungeon. I didn''t enter the dungeon immediately and made sure that I won''t get into trouble by entering a dungeon without permission from a guild and thankfully, I managed to ascertain that the dungeon was supervised by a guild that is friendly to all and would rather share the dungeon rather than upy it and iste to other yers. I can easily see why the guild did that. The first is to scout for yers that might be a potential candidates for their guild and the second is just to mingle with other yers who don''t have any hostile intentions. The third will be to make a favorable face to the yer base, making them a good way to rope in allies and other yers. Of course, I might be wrong about that but it will all depend on how these guilds are trying to do it. After snooping around for quite a while, I am now sure that the guild upying it is a "safe" one. Of course, I still have no idea which guild upies it as I never asked any yers and I rarely hear anyone talk about it but if they are doing a good deed for other yers then why would I ask for them to be doing so? Besides, if they are someone who does despicable things as a guild, I would rather stay away from it, I am not a charity worker and would rather stay on the sidelines. Approaching the dungeon entrance, I am barraged by multiple yers who tried to recruit me. Of course, I ignored them all and went straight to the dungeon entrance and started to open the dungeon difficulty selector. The yers were confused as to why I ignored everyone and did not even bring a party and instead went to the dungeon entrance by myself. Then, the entrance suddenly changed color from white to red which means the difficulty chosen is none other than the Abyss Mode. "What the! That yer is insane! Why did he choose the most difficult option without a party? And it was the Bandit''sir to boot!" "Is he trying to be the next deheart? I mean his getup seems to look simr though he doesn''t have the same mask his gear seems to look simr." "Very likely but he doesn''t seem to be carrying any sword and is instead carrying a book. That is very different from deheart!" "He is carrying a book, so perhaps he is a necromancer. But does he really have any slightest idea how Bandit''s Lair in Abyss Difficulty work?! He is not deheart, is he trying to make the seconding of a new deheart?" I wanted tough at these guys. I am a bit proud that my nickname is very popr in the Alternate Worldmunity. After all, I am the one who cleared a dungeon in Abyss Difficulty. Many yers tried to replicate my gamey but ended up having a hard time doing so and they can only beat up a dungeon if they are in a very high level which is beyond the level of the dungeon and can literally obliterate monsters without a problem. Of course, the yer base did not acknowledge this clearly as I cleared the Abyss Dungeon difficulty at the same level as the dungeons which made yers try to clear it on the range of the Abyss Difficulty''s level range. I didn''t mind all of the yers trying to criticize me, because I am the guy who is dubbed to be the "Pioneer of the Abyss Dungeon Solo Clear" and it''s not impossible for me. The portal appeared and I stepped in while yers are voicing their criticism and different things that would nder me for being another copycat and a showoff. Of course, I don''t care about that. It''s time to y. ... ... [You have entered the dungeon: Bandit''s Lair: Abyss Difficulty] Currently, I have three offensive skills that do not involve any corpses just yet, just using my mana and attacking enemies. After all, how can you make corpses if you can''t attack and kill your opponents? I already have the previous skills I gained after it was upgraded but I didn''t want to use them as I already tested them out and they make the Necromancer ss easy to use. I want to at least familiarize myself with the lesser skills, not just the summoning corpses and controlling them. I know I can just summon the usual skeleton I used that I summonedst time but I decided to use a new one, a skeleton that is not summoned from my own ability but a reanimated one. The three skills I have are [Soul Crusher], [Skull Bombs], and [Curse]. The only skill that has a damaging debuff is the [Curse] which literally curses your opponent and degrades their HP for a set amount of time before the [Curse] disappears. The others are usual attack skills with [Soul Crusher] as the single target attack and [Skull Bombs] as the AOE skill. I tested them before and already have a slight idea of how these two skills can work and how I can earn my first corpses. Venturing their, the bandits appear and started attacking me like mindless bastards they are. They are not normal NPCs that can be befriended on the outside. After all, they are generated by the dungeon and unless they are mini-boss or a boss, they cannotmunicate to the yer in any way. So killing them won''t make me feel any remorse or any sort of guilty feeling killing them as they are acting like monsters that are driven by an instinct to defeat any yer that enters the dungeon. "Let''s begin!" The bandits appeared, carrying various weapons from knives, swords, and crossbows. Of course, there are some who have different weapons to boot up but they are not thatmon. They started attacking me and I immediately evade as I cannot try to stand my ground, especially with a Necronomicon as a weapon and not the usual Versatile Weapon. Opening the Necronomicon, I poured my mana into it, allowing it to float and move in action. The enemies didn''t stop and just charged forward, allowing me to find a good chance to use an AOE attack. With the Necronomicon, the [Skull Bombs] materialized and floated straight to the bandits which in turn exploded with AOE radius, defeating multiple enemies in one explosion. Since the Bandits that I am currently facing enemies in a lower-level dungeon, the enemies are not much of a threat. Only their sheer numbers are causing things to be different. Since [Skull Bombs] has only 5 seconds cooldown, I can spam it multiple times but I don''t want to do that as I needed to use the other skill of a necromancer that benefits a necromancer more. Now that there are dead bodies now, and as much as I want to use the other new skills, I restrained myself and continued the fight, and now, time to resurrect the dead. "COME FORTH!" URGHAAAHHH... OOOOGGGGHHHH... The sound of the dead is just quite different when you turn them into undead. Some of the corpses rotted away and leave behind the bones, causing the guy to just be a skeleton warrior instead. The others who didn''t be skeletons became zombies instead and started attacking the other monsters. Since the zombies are not that strong, they are easily killed by the bandits especially the long range variants but because the zombies can easily infect the bandits, I managed to easily outnumber all of the bandits and soon enough, the zombies were much more numerous nowpared to the bandits which ended up annihted. I also realized that the bandits tend to attack the zombies and skeletons first before me, allowing me to just sit back, pick up the loot, and receive the experience while continuously marching with the zombies and skeletons to the bandits who are slowly cornered to their backs. It didn''t take long for me to convert most of the remaining bandits into zombies or skeletons and I control all of them. I haven''t counted properly the amount of zombies I have but I have 10 skeletons armed by their previous weapons used when they are still bandits and around 30 plus zombies. Looks like the miniboss this time will have a hard time against me as I will pit the boss to the formerckeys obeys before. Time to begin an apocalypse inside the dungeon! Chapter 533 Cleaning Dungeons (IV): Zombie Assault With half of the bandits that are currently on that floor before the mini-boss is challenged transformed into either a zombie or a skeleton, I managed to assemble a little army of undead in one go. Currently, I am standing in front of the dungeon''s first boss room. Although it was the first boss room, I will be facing a mini-boss here instead of a major boss. Because this was air instead of abyrinth type of dungeon, there is no door to open, just an area where the boss will trigger itself and appear. I lead all of the zombies as I enter the boss room. Inside the boss room is a long brown table that is littered with garbage, spilled beer, empty beer bottles, and beer mugs scattered all around. At the very end of the table is a guy who seems to be sleeping. But to someone who is familiar with the dungeon''syout, gimmicks, and other stuff that would surprise yers, this guy is just showing off a trap and is only trying to upy yers to approach him before lunging to the battle and surprise the enemy, which might sometimes cause him to inflict a surprise attack. But that will only work on yers who don''t know how he works or their ns are easily exposed due to how tantly obvious it was. I extended my hands and the zombies started to trudge forward like lifeless corpses they are, towards the guy who is pretending to be sleeping and just waiting for the victim to check him. The moment a zombie is near him, he opened his eyes and grabs the nearest zombie before pulling the knife on his sleeve and aiming it at the neck, making the nearest zombie he has grabbed "hostage". "GOTCHA!" ,m I sighed and shook my head. Just like the usual thing, this guy is too confident even though his role is just to make the surprise the yers and lure in the main boss once he is on the verge of defeat. But since I am not interested in getting surprised by him and getting a held hostage, I decided to let him see what was in store for him. He was still grinning after he held "hostage" the zombie but as soon as he look into the surroundings and realized that the ones surrounding him were not yers but zombies. He looked at the "hostage" and he screamed in fear as he realized that it was a zombie he was holding and not a living human. I snap my fingers which signals the zombies to do their jobs. Before the mini-boss can even react, the zombie that he was holding grab his arm and immediately took a bite on his arm, causing him to scream in pain. It caused him to let go of the zombie but since the zombies are known to stick close to their victim once it gets to take a bite, he wasn''t able to escape immediately. As he tried to escape, the zombies finally decided to take action and started to attack him. He tried to get away but as zombies flocked and started biting on him, his way to escape has been disappearing as the zombies no longer try to even let him wiggle out to escape. His screams can be heard all over the ce as the zombies feasted on his flesh. It took a few seconds before the notification of his death appeared in my eyes. The Necromancer ss can be really powerful if used properly, especially if the enemy is humans. It didn''t take too long before the boss stood back up and became one of my underlings. Compared to the normal zombies under my control who are allbeled as normal zombies, the guy isbeled as Elite Zombie. Although this guy was supposed to be the trigger for the first main boss to appear, killing him immediately will drop loot instead of being wasted since being killed by the boss will negate the loot to drop. I didn''t discover it in the past timeline but one yer showcased the Abyss mode clear of Bandit''sir and killed the first mini-boss before the main boss can even kill him which in turn, dropped a loot. I haven''t tested it out as when I found out about this, I am already around level 200 so I didn''t bother to check whether it was real. You can say that this is the time I tried to check. Now that it happened to me, I can confirm that it was a real thing. While I grabbed the loot, I heard heavy footsteps iing. This is the first sign that the main boss ising. It wasn''t like this as the first boss will throw a big tomahawk that will instantly kill the mini-boss. Since the first mini-boss did not appear, the first main boss did not throw the tomahawk and just started to march toward where I am. [First Leader] Level 90 HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000 Trait: Human, Evil The first boss appeared. But since I already knew what he was about to do, I ordered a few of the zombies andbat the boss. The boss didn''t expect to see multiple zombies in hisir and before he can even react, the zombies has started to bite his body. "Argh!" the boss screamed in pain as the zombies started totch onto his big body. He swings around his tomahawk, killing a few zombies in the process. Seeing that this guy is not going to go down easily, I snap my fingers and a dozen of zombies started totch on to the boss. "[Corpse Bomb]!" I selected the zombies that aretched on the boss''s body and initiate the skill. I already tested it not too long ago but the moment I initiated a mass explosion using a dozen corpses, the explosion power was way too strong than I first remembered. That explosion alone caused almost half of its HP to go in one skill attack. Due to the boss immediately going down to the half HP bar, the boss went to berserk mode and immediately went ahead to fight against the zombies and did not even bother to care about the zombiestching to me. I sent the skeletons to fight back. Although they do not have the same power as the skeleton that I summoned and are still slumbering in my undead storage, they still do work well. It''s just a bit of a nerf but it''s kind of understatement to say that the skeletons right now are weak. They are still quite capable in a fight. However, I don''t want to lose more zombies I can use for thest battle, so instead, did another attack in which I used the skill [Corpse Bomb] once again. And because the boss is in berserk mode, the explosion of [Corpse Bomb] is much stronger in power and ended up dying as the remaining HP of the boss is drained and gone. Surely, I was not expecting this to be this strong. Perhaps, I am gonna be liking the Necromancer ss more after all. Chapter 534 Cleaning Dungeons (V) I won''t be talking about what happened for the rest of the dungeon run. After all, everything is just the same as before. I ended up using the [Corpse Bomb] as a way to get rid of all the zombies I have and to also get rid of the final boss too. I managed to replenish my zombies after the first boss was killed and repeated the process until I go all out on the final boss which allowed me to clear the dungeon using the Necromancer ss. When I got out of the dungeon, everyone was stunned to see me out of the dungeon. I have seen some of them who are still there even after I got out of the dungeon so they know that I entered the dungeon in Abyss Difficulty which is why they are stunned to see me go out without a scathe. The others who didn''t know about my entry are shocked as I went out from the dungeon''s entrance the color that indicates the difficulty of the dungeon is red which signifies the Abyss Mode. There is no point for me to make another multiple clears on the dungeon so after I cleared the dungeon, I left. I didn''t bother to listen to the guys who are talking behind my back. It''s already evident that I don''t care about rumors at all. I left the dungeon''s vicinity, went to an area devoid of yers, and tear a teleport scroll, returning to my mansion. Right now, everyone might be done with their first run. Maybe even Mother is already there and waiting for anyone to appear, who knows? ... ... When deheart left after clearing the Bandit''s Lair''s Abyss Difficulty dungeon in one run, themunity is now in a buzz once again as they found the second yer who cleared an Abyss Dungeon in solo. Currently, the yers only knew the yer deheart sessfully clearing a dungeon in solo and in Abyss Difficulty which is considered the most difficult difficulty on dungeons. And now, the yers are now abuzz with a new yer that shares a simr trait to deheart. Mask, hidden name, and a bit of a snobbish guy who even ignores others. They even said that he was very simr to deheart but the difference is that this guy is a necromancer instead of a Versatile ss. As much as the yer base tries to connect the two, they can only see the second guy as the copycat of the original. But they still appreciated that someone else other than deheart is able to fulfill the close to impossible task and that sparked another me to some yers who willter try to challenge the Abyss Difficulty dungeon, solo. But that is a story that will not be told and will never be. ... ... A week has passed by after the beginning of the first dungeon break event and the current situation is not looking good. Just like in the past timeline, the situation is not great as the guilds have been holding the yers trying to clear them. In fact, there are only a few dungeons with a friendly guild that upies them which made all yers capable of ying freely but that is only a handful of them and you can''t rely on them to prevent the iing doom. The dungeons that will be fulfilled in their clears will not be performing a dungeon break as that is the main rule. Of course, if the hidden conditions were also fulfilled, the break will not ur in all dungeons. But since it had already been a week and the dungeon clear quota has yet to fill in, the situation only got really bad. It is now 100% that the dungeon break will soon begin currently at night and the rampage will wreck every unprotected city on Resurgia Continent. The Sandurk continent will not be suffering much as Queen Tanya herself will stop the horde attacks alongside all the soldiers, keeping the damage to minimal levels. However, it''s a different story if the city is protected by yers alone. Currently, the time for the dungeon break will ur a few hourster on. No one has yet to know this so it''s kind of sad what the city''s fate will be due to the negligence of yers. Right now, I am currently working on the Amalgamation process I promised Sigma that I will be doing and I also received requests from the others too who also wanted me to perform an Amalgamation of their weapons too. My summons is out in the mansion as everyone who I always team up with is currently not ying as it was already nighttime in the real world. Since the situation is going to be bleak and some NPCs will be having trouble in the future, I asked Lina to go back to her mother and fetch her toe, while closing her store at the moment. That way, Lina''s mother will not be involved in theter dungeon break, and for she to carry the important items she can carry along with her. I also asked her to fetch Almira from her smithy though I instructed Lina to not force her toe if she refuses to go. Now that I know who Almira is, I doubt she will be fazed by the dungeon break. I continue to hammer down the weapons that are currently being used for amalgamation. As I finished the first weapon to be done for the amalgamation, my cksmith level has gone up to one level. [cksmithing EX Job''s level has risen from level 59 to 60] I smiled after achieving level 60 in cksmithing. It took hundreds of smithing and doing multiple things rted to cksmithing and finally, I hit level 60. Of course, I still have a way longer track to reach the max level of my cksmithing ex job which is level 100. Thankfully,pared to the yer level cap that increases, ex-job level caps don''t and it is also not affected by the Versatile penalty. It is still pretty slow but that is also true for all so depending on your efforts, it would either go fast or slow depending on your actions so if it remained low level, then it''s only yourself to be med for it. Raising the sword of Sigma in the air, I can say that I am satisfied with my work. While admiring the weapon, the doors opened, and Lina entered the mansion with Lily and to my surprise, Almira too, tagging along behind her. Although I am inside the smithy in my mansion, I can see who will enter as part of the options on the game''s system to see who can enter your mansion or forbidden. That way, it will alert any yers for unauthorized entry and can immediately ban their entry if they managed to enter. Since they are here, I stopped my work and wiped my hands to remove the ashes and dust particles in my hands. Even if it was a game, it still follows the same principle in the real world. After that, I exited the smithy and weed the two. "Lily-san, Master, wee to my humble home," I greeted the two. "Yeah, yeah. I will catch some Zs here on your sofa, my disciple. I am too exhausted," then Almira plop down to the sofa before sleeping deeply. "deheart, it''s been a while since west saw each other. You haven''t visited my shop ever since you escorted me with my daughter to the Capital. How are you?" "I am fine, thanks. How is the businessing along?" "The business is booming as expected in the Capital and money is flowing. Anyways, may I ask you why I am fetched by my daughter from the store? I don''t have any idea why I was being fetched by her right now. I even closed my store for the time being but my daughter did not exin and said that you are the one I should ask." "Yep. She said it right, you are going to ask me as I am holding the answer. The answer is gonna happen in around 3, 2, 1..." As soon as I finished counting down from 3, the surroundings rumbled and things seems to be causing a lot of ruckuses that even my mansion which is far from the dungeon break is currently experiencing a bit of an experience if anyone is seeing it for the first time. "What? What the heck is happening?" "Did you remember the announcementst week that a Dungeon break is happening? That is what is currently happening right now. All of the dungeons that have yet to be cleared by yers enough times are now currently under the Dungeon break and as we speak, monsters are now ravaging the capital, and buildings and other houses in the capital are going to be wrecked once the monster parade happened." Lily was taken aback when she realized what is happening and once she learned the truth, she was so speechless while the situation is ravaging the whole city. Almira continued to sleep despite the chaos happening outside. However, one thing is clear, the situation is now bleak for the cities of Resurgia as the Dungeon Break has finally taken a toll on the yers who would rather go to war against others than share the progress of the battle to prevent the dungeon break from happening. Chapter 535 Dungeon Break (I) The sudden events that transpired are totally unexpected to all yers who are just guarding the entrances of the dungeons, forbidding different yers who are not part of their guilds from entering the dungeons they upied. There are no warnings and there are no preparations that urred for all yers. In just the blink of an eye, everything urred, causing massive chaos and panic among all yers as numerous monsters breaks out of the dungeon entrance and started to attack the yers who are there. "What the f*ck is happening?! Why are monsters appearing all of a sudden?!" A random yer is having a hard time running from the stampede that the monsters are creating. "Just shut it up, just focus on running and we can survive-" before the other yer can speak, he was ttened by one big monster that is just passing by, a boss of the nearest dungeon. The other yers who are stronger than usual are able to handle the first wave of the dungeon break''s monster outbreak. They started to contact the higher-up yers about what is happening and some decided to just log out to escape the current situation. But one thing is certain. With the monsters now on the prowl, their natural instincts are to attack and conquer the humans. In short, their first destination is the Capital. ... ... I went outside my mansion and checked the dungeon''s entrance and vicinity to see whether the dungeon break also urred here too. Although I already knew that it wouldn''t happen, it was just necessary for me to check out as there is a big chance that what I knew in the past timeline has changed or totally altered that I don''t even know is the effects or something. Thankfully, that wasn''t the main case. I summoned Leona and fly above the sky to see the chaos of the Dungeon Break and as expected, it was still the same as before. I personally experienced the Dungeon Break before as I am part of the guild that exploited me. Of course, I was low-leveled there as that was always the main case of being killed for the experience again and again in the past timeline so I died a lot the moment the dungeon break happened. There is no need for me to step in just yet. Just because the city is now being under attack by monsters doesn''t mean I needed to do and defend it. It''s not my fault that the dungeon break happened, it was the fault of the guilds that upied the dungeon''s entrances and limits the entry to those dungeons, causing the quota of clearing them to diminish and since they are all more focused on fighting against other yers, they have neglected to clear the dungeons which caused these events. Confirming that the situation has already gone worst, I returned to the ground and summoned everyone else out to fight. Although we are a bit far from the dungeons, the monsters are numerous and it wouldn''t take that long for the monsters to seek out other ces to invade or even pass by here. It would be a waste if I just let my followers and pets to just remain in my summon''s area. Then, Cath Palug appeared and started to get angry. "F*CKING HUMAN! YOU FINALLY LET ME OUT OF THAT PLACE! WHY DID YOU HOLD ME THERE THAT LONG ALONGSIDE WITH THESE GUYS? ARE YOU THAT HEARTLESS?!" Cath Palugined. "Eh, why are youining, aren''t you the greatest enemy that even Merlin had to seal you up? What happened to your dignity?" "You don''t understand! With my body reduced to this state, I can''t do anything that would allow me to fight back! I am just a useless pet in this case!" "Bah, much better to be honest rather than having you awaken back to your primordial instincts and kill us all. You won''t fool me." Cath Palug can''t do anything as I grab him and put him on my head. "If you can''t fight, just watch everything unfold instead of being a crap here and keep onining. I am not gonna bother with you." Then, I faced all of my summons and pets and gave out themand. "A dungeon break is happening outside the vicinity of the mansion and although we are far from the dungeons that made a dungeon break, the monsters will reach here to fight and destroy properties. My task for you all is just to get rid of the monsters, gather them up in one ce and continue to beat them up. If loot is dropped, you guys should also pick it up. Not only will you guys have a chance to get stronger, but it is a good opportunity to also increase your affinities with others by working together. So once the enemies started to gather, fight and kill. Increase your battle experience and survive." Everyone nodded in agreement and they quickly went to the position. Mizuchi even encircled his body around the mansion as it is big enough to be a barrier of sorts that will keep monsters away from the area while the others are stationed all around, ready to deal with anything. I went back inside and Lily is still very confused about what is happening. She looks at me and is worried that she decided to ask again. "Please, can you tell me what is going on? I don''t know what is happening and why everything is getting weirder and weirder." "Alright. But please rx and sit down for now. Lina, please serve some tea to your mother. Mom has some tea leaves on the shelves, you can use them." Lina bowed down before executing mymand. I let Lily sit down on the nearby sofa and I started to exin the situation to her. "The dungeon break has urred on the dungeons outside the Capital. While we are talking, the monsters have already broken out of the dungeons and are already marching to the Capital and even to the nearby viges. It wouldn''t take too long before the Capital will be overrun by monsters and the buildings will be destroyed in the process." "Dungeon Break?! So even my shop will..." "Yes. That is why I asked Lina to fetch you along with my master out of the city as I already predicted that the Dungeon break will soon ur due to the negligence of some people due to their greed. There is a big chance that the monsters are already marching the streets of the Capital and started destroying the buildings there." "Then...even my shop will be gone too..." "Unfortunately, yes. That will be happening and I doubt some monsters would even spare the buildings. But you don''t need to worry about it. Once everything has settled down, I will be helping with the repairs of your shop once the situation gets better. Until then, you can treat this situation as a sort of vacation. It would take some time before the situation there gets better and I doubt the yers there will be able to reim the city as soon as possible." Lina appeared again from brewing the tea and served it to both of us. Lily continues to ask me. "Are you not gonna help with the remation?" Lily asked. "Not today. With all the chaos happening right now, it would be better if I shouldn''t help for a bit and see how the Capital handles things and how yers deal with the situation." Lily went quiet. I can''t me her. The situation is very bad and for an NPC who is busy doing business there every day but then one day something caused you to lose your business in a single day is a big disaster. As much as I want to help Lily right now, I don''t think I have to do it immediately. There isn''t big trouble for me to do it but I also needed to do itter on if I wanted everything to return to normal. I stood up and left Lina to do the job of taking care of Lily at the moment. I also asked Gobu''s wife to prepare one of the empty rooms for Lily to use as her own lodging house at the moment. As much as things get rough, it would be better for me to focus on finishing all of the amalgamation tasks that everyone handed to me. Once that was done, perhaps I can start rxing or maybe watch as the cities burn to the ground. Don''t get me wrong, I don''t hate the Capital, but yers need to at least experience that being greedy can also lead to downfall. They should at least learn how to share rather than to remain the same and continue to be greedy. There might also chance that even without me there, the matter will resolve itself. I may not be confident about them but who knows? Perhaps they will change my mind. Chapter 536 Dungeon Break (II) The Chat Logs Of The Dead Players "FIRE!" The situation in the Capital is very bad as most of the buildings are either upied by monsters or demolished by all the passing enemies. There are countless dead bodies of both yers, monsters, and NPCs scattered all around as the forces of the Capital are now deployed alongside adventurers doing their job to get rid of the monster hordes. "Come on! Is that all you got!?" one of the yersughed as he killed a few enemies. Of course, before he can even brag about his achievement, the monsters seem to get provoked by his taunt and attacked him simultaneously which made him caught off guard as a result and gangs him up, causing his screams to echo as he died at the hands of the monsters. Magic spells and projectiles keep flying all around that it''s a full-fledged war that even the NPCs that don''t normally fight have been forced to fight too alongside yers that are also trying to survive the current situation. Even if they are not part of the guild or they are part of it, the yers seem to forget all about it as the monsters ravaged them whether they are guild members of a certain guild or not. There was no escape. The monsters havepletely invaded the whole Capital. Even guild houses that were painstakingly developed and improved by yers have been ravaged and destroyed by monsters without even having a chance to remain standing much to the chagrin of the guild members and of course, the guild leaders themselves. The onlyst bastions of the humans in the Capital are the Headquarters and the Church where all the yers and NPCs are gathered, defending the building from an endless onught of monsters, and if you rub salt into the wound, even bosses are now appearing as well and are wrecking the yers trying to kill them. yers who are killed and are waiting for their respawn timer to end started to rant into themunity discussion. .... .... LOLOLOL: This is absurd! The monsters are appearing all around the ce! This is even worse during the dungeon runs themselves! The monsters are just too many to count!" BadGuy123: Quit whining if you have died! What would can you even do against the hordes of monsters? Do you think you have the skills to even solo the Abyss Difficulty? Perhaps not. PrettyGurl4354: Do you guys won''t stop arguing? If you guys are already ready to respawn, go back and help the others! The sooner this problem ends, the better!" AYAYAYAYA: @PrettyGurl4354 did you think it was that easy? It was already a struggle not to die, it''s not easy so why are you so angry? We can''t even bother to care whether we can contribute or not, we will keep on dying anyways. PrAnKsTeR: it''s pretty clear that the devs of the games are already punishing the yers for what is happening as the event wasn''t yed out as supposed to be nned! LOLOLOL: Agreed. It seems to be the main cause of this as the monsters breaking out of the dungeons seem to be rted to the current situation. But seems this is over the top. Are you sure the devs are not trolling us and this is indeed part of the mechanics of the event? GarbageMan: This is a trash game! I keep dying and I lost all of my items already! AYAYAYAYA: @LOLOLOL have you already reported this to the devs? Perhaps they have already been working out the situation and this is just a massive bug? That Philosophical Dreamer: Give it up guys. I already did and received a response that the situation happening is part of the event and the reason why it was this bad is due to all the yers that were tasked to clear the dungeons. BadGuy123: Perhaps you are joking? Even story-based events are not on this kind of a grand scale. Perhaps they are trying to make some raid boss and this event is involved in bing like this due to the plot? PrettyGurl4354: Wait, you mean this is part of the event? ImStatingTheObvious: Always have been *clicks* *bang* Anyways, the monsters seem to be indeed the dungeons'' original inhabitants. I have entered some of the dungeons that were near the Capital and most of the monsters attacking are indeed part of the dungeons that I just mentioned. It seemed they have made a break out of the chamber and instead choose the whole city to do their atrocities. I''m Sexy and I Know It: You guys have yet to understand? Of course, the situation is due to the event! Do you guys remember the name of the event? It was Dungeon Break! So do you guys know why it was named like that? AYAYAYAYA: Wait, isn''t the task to clear the dungeons and the drops and experience will be increased with the downside of increased monster spawn in dungeons? BadGuy123: Does that mean, this event made an event that has failure requirements and it was a hidden requirement? I''mStatingTheObvious: Looks like you guys have already pieced it out. Because I already did before. It seems that things like this are the result of the situation in the dungeons. Our task is to clear them up. Handsome Online: We cleared a few of these dungeons a few times but what is the connection to it? ImStatingTheObvious: We have indeed cleared up most of these dungeons but it seems that wasn''t the case. It seems to be following the parameters of the quota. If we fulfill this quota, this event will not happen. But if we didn''t manage to do so, things will get worse. It seems the event has that as its event mechanics. PrAnKsTeR: In short, because we only focused on getting rid of non-guild members from entering the dungeon morepared to clearing it up caused all of this crap? AYAYAYAYA: Then does that mean, hoarding those dungeons was the ultimate bad move and instead pushed our doom instead? That was the timer of the event was for?! ... ... The yers soon came to the conclusion that everything that they have been doing for quite some time was actually their all fault and if they didn''t just do things like that, perhaps, the situation might have not urred. Now, they only have to finish the job and win instead. If it was their fault, to begin with so they also have the task to solve it. Chapter 537 Dungeon Break (III) While I am on my smithy, I can hear the various sounds of battles up on the surface which means the monsters have already found their way here already. I am not worried about their arrival as I trust my followers and pets in dealing with all of the monsters that areing. So I continued my job and finished up all of the amalgamation processes that I have yet to finish. It was easypared to smithing so I am not having a bad time doing so. It took a little bit of time for me before I managed to finish all of the stuff that was clogged to my schedule. Once I was done, I returned to the living room. Lily is currently helping Lina cooking. It looks like Lina already helped her mother to ept what happened and decided to spend their time. I didn''t bother to disturb them as they rarely have any time to bond together even though they are mother and daughter. It''s not right for me to ruin that moment. Going to the door, I turned to look at the sofa and saw Almira sleeping soundly. It seems she didn''t care at all about what is happening around her. But it''s normal as she is strong enough to handle herself. If she managed to keep a toe-in-toe with thete King Arthur then the monsters are just nothing to her. So there is no reason for her to intervene, she can just keep sleeping and not worry about the iing attacks of monsters. Since Almira is clearly not going to wake up anytime soon, I went outside to check out what is the current situation as the sounds of monsters and magic spells exploding is getting rampant and frequent. I want to see how bad the attacks of monsters are looking. When I got out, the monsters are easily killed left and right by my followers and pets. Mizuchi easily deals with the bigger monsters and eats them up while the smaller ones are given to my other followers like the wolves that easily managed to use their teamwork to deal with multiple enemies and kill them without any problem. Gobu annihtes the monsters by using his sword skills and magic power. You cannot even think of him as a normal goblin due to how he already surpassed the current idea that goblins are not capable of bing advanced sses. Tina supports the backline by bing both the buffer and debuffer which allows her allies to be stronger and her enemies to suffer in different debuffs that either weakens them or constantly damage them. Lucia and As are both killer machines that easily break hordes after hordes of monsters without breaking a sweat. Alongside Leona, As will be more broken than ever due to theirpatibility. "You should be among them helping fight the horde. I don''t know why but you are a disgrace as one of the ferocious monsters alive right now," I looked at Cath Palug who is still dangling on my left shoulder. "Hey, if not for the fact that I was being reduced to this state by that f*cking Merlin then I will not be stuck in this form for so long! Don''t me me for being unable to properly fight! me that Merlin f*cker as he is the one who did this to me!" I can only scratch my head. As much as Cath Palug wanted to do so, he is right that he cannot fight at all as he was reduced to a state where even the weakest monster can kick his *ss in one go. As much as I want to see Cath Palug easily obliterates the enemies, the risk of having Cath Palug retain his abilities is also the risk of him bing the monstrosity that would soon cause the raid of Cath Palug to ur. I would rather have this form of this guy rather than the monster form which still makes me shiver thinking about it. Compared to the invasion of monsters in the Capital who are directly the target of the enemies, the current monster invasion happening right now is not even that bad as they are not as numerous as that in the capital. I can even say I can defend the mansion just fine even with myself alone but hey. free experience is a free experience and it also helps my followers and pets to level up too not just in battles with me. It took a few more minutes before the horde thinned out and although there are some cases of the other monsters appearing from time to time, it certainly made the monster attacks lesspared to earlier where the hordes of monsters just keep oning. "Good work everyone. You guys can go and rest if there are no more enemiesing in. If you guys are hungry, go ask Lina inside the mansion for some food. They are preparing food with her mother and there is nothing like having good food to eat after an intense fight." If the yers in the capital see me like this, everyone would be green in envy due to how I have it easy without doing much. But as much as I want to say things, it''s just not gonna be possible without changing a lot of the current events. I have changed quite a lot of events in the past already. It would be troublesome if I decided to change the main key events that happened before that would impact quite a lot. If I really needed to change it, I will do all I can to change it, and this event that happened is the least event I needed to intervene in. Now, it seems the time is right. Now that the situation is getting rough in the capital, it seems it is time to increase the profits I have right now. I didn''t just let the situation of dungeon break get worse like this. For a person like me, who knows already how tough it is under the siege of the monsters in the Capital after the Dungeon Break, I should take this chance to get extra profit. This is just business, nothing too personal. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 538 Business Opportunity I logged out from the game and went to sleep after doing my business. It has been a while since I worked hard. It''s not like I am doing hard without much result. With my current work, profit wille in like crazyter on, especially during the current situation. With Mother, these profits will increase a lot and we will be earning a lotter on. It might be a bit of trouble for other yers but this is a big limited business opportunity that only urs during this situation and once the event concludes, this business opportunity will be gone for good unless something simr will happen again which is why before a rival opportunistic individual appear, raking in the money with some things will help out a lot in terms of money making. ... ... The next day, I log back into the game and my parents are already there with the others holed up inside the mansion. They are currently discussing all of the stuff that is happening in the Capital and are thinking of doing something about what is happening. Since they were on the topic, might as well tell them my n. "Hey there guys, what''s up?" I asked as I approached them after logging in. "Oh, you are here, deheart, good timing," Dolly ps her hands as she saw meing in. "What''s up? You guys seem to have been under a very serious discussion while I am still out. Care to fill me in?" "Well, we are discussing what to do during this current situation. It seems the event Dungeon Break has an ulterior motive of increasing the rewards and actually giving us a false sense of a rxing event. The current situation of the Capital is very bad that I don''t think it will be easy for the ce to stand back up after this." Sigma opened her menu and showed the photos in the onlinemunity about the current situation in the Capital and how the yers are struggling. "I already know about this, I was here when the Dungeon Break urred. That is why my followers and pets are currently out there doing the defense against the iing enemies thate in from time to time. That is also the main reason why Lily the owner of the Tavern and Inn in the capital is here with Almira." "Eh? So you already have an inkling of what is going to happen?" Dolly looked at me in surprise. "It''s not like I really know about it. I just have suspicion on how the situation seems pretty suspicious to begin with. And turns out I was right." "So what are we going to do then? Join into the fray and fight the monsters? This suggestion of mine seems bad but it seems to be the only thing we can do. It would take quite a while and we might suffer losses if we joined," my father suggested. "Although I can understand what you are saying, Father, it''s not the best move we have right now. However, I already have an idea of what we are going to do during the current onught of monsters in the Capital. I have been thinking about it since yesterday until I logged out from the game on what to do so I decided to share what I want to happen and what we should do to take advantage of what is happening." "Take advantage?" everyone seems interested in what I am currently brewing. "Yes, would you guys like to join in my idea? Here, let me share it." ... ... ... ... The Prosperous Capital. ...Or should we say the former prosperous Capital? Anyways, after what happened during the dungeon break, the monsters ran rampant all around the city, and yers and NPCs alike are all trying their best to reim the city''s parts one by one from the ws of monsters. As much as they like to do it, most of the yers are having a hard time doing so especially with all of the monsters being their enhanced version and it seems to have gotten smarter to the point where they even knew how to ambush yers and kill them before they can hunt the monsters that ambushed them. Due to the unexpected event, the businesses that help the yers before are all on a halt. The people who previously sell potions do not sell due to how all of their items are destroyed during the panic and destruction of the monsters. There are some businessmen and women who managed to save up a meager of their goods but it onlysted a day until their goods are out and they have no ways to resupply as the monsters already upied their warehouses, stores, and other ces where they can get their supplies replenished so in the end, the potions and goods are all limited to the point that yers are now too reliant on their clerics to heal and they have to save up their veryst bottles of potions until the very end in fear that another dangerous fight will ur and they cannot do anything unless they''re very confident. Now, what does this do with us? Well, due to the current situation, an opportunity for business has arisen. After my discussion with everyone back in the mansion, they soon realized that this is indeed a very good venture for everyone. Not only will they be able to earn money but they will also gain quite a lot of goods too. When the needs have reached the point where the resources for the need have gone dry, the people will try to find an alternative. An alternative to satisfy the needs of the masses. So what is the current thing that is missing right now? Of course, that is potions and other supplies that a yer needed on the battlefield. "Come in,e all! All of you weary yers who have been fighting day and night. Are you guys out of potions to use? Have your supplies run out while fighting? Then worry no more! For a limited time, we will be selling potions for everyone! Come and buy! Firste! First served! Come quick before every supply runs out of stock!" Chapter 539 Grab The Opportunity I would be a fool if I missed out on this opportunity to earn an extra buck from yers struggling from the siege. Since no one has decided to exploit them, we might as well do it first. I have plenty of masks I designed and I got a new one to use for the sake of bing the mysterious yer who started selling potions. That mask is the gue Doctor mask. [gue Doctor Mask] Type: Mask Equipment Info: A traditional mask that is a replica of the certain mask that a certain gue Doctor used. When worn by a user, the user will gain the ability to increase the effectiveness of any medicine within the 20 meters radius vicinity around the yer wearing the mask. Medicines-type items sold while wearing this mask will have additional prices added to them depending on how impactful the medicines are. Since it was a replica, the downsides the original has is nonexistent in this particr mask. Note: "I am the cure!" -quote from the owner of the original mask. After showing my wares to the resting yers, the moment they realized that I am selling potions of a different kind alongside some supplies needed for battle, they didn''t hesitate to swarm to me as they started to squeeze to be the first person to buy a potion as soon as possible. "Don''t fight with each other! I have plenty of supplies so please organize yourselves! Come and get it! This will surely help out in your uing battles that are still happening!" "ME! ME! GIVE IT TO ME!" "Boss! Give me a dozen of Hp Potion XXL, please! I will pay in full!" "I needed a Mana Potion XXL too! Hey! Stop pushing!" The yers are all chaotic and scrambling to get their share of potions. Of course, I handed all of them to the yers who get to pay upfront and waited on the yers who have yet to pay as the yers started to get more wild just to get served first. Of course, I didn''t have to worry about running out of potions anytime soon. I made sure to brew a lot and with also the help of my mother, we brewed potions quite fast. The others helped by harvesting materials which are ingredients for the items needed. At the end of the day, the amount of money I will receive here is just a small amount as I will be handing most of it to everyone who contributed. But it was already easy enough to keep them on track so I am not worried at all. The yers continue to pour in. Of course, I continue selling stuff to anyone who needed it. Soon enough, the sales started to slow down and the amount of gold I got already reached 20 million gold just by selling the potions. I haven''t even sold my stash of other items yet and I already got this much? Very impressive indeed. Since the sales have gone down a bit, I checked my stocks of potions left in my inventory and I still have a few thousand bottles left. It will take a while but it will eventually dry up in a few moments once the climax of the monster horde for the day will end and the yers will bepletely wounded. Still, it was quite easy money for me already and I am quite sure someone wille by tomorrow and will start to imitate what I am doing right now so the only day I can sell potions is only for today only, it will be a different story if I continue to sell stuff tomorrow. The only day I can sell is only for today. Copycats will soon appear so I would rather go and disappear the moment the sale is over. After all, I already got quite a lot of sales. BOOM! An explosion urred in the distance, followed by the roars of yers and the sounds of more explosions, des shing each other, and screams of pain from the monsters. That means the wave of monsters has already reached the point of no return and the only way to stop them is to kill them and defend thest bastion of the Capital''s entire poption. And just like what I expected, a few yers started going back to my position and ordered more potions. They ordered a lot and every one of them ordered XXL bottles. It was also very clear that the most profitable item is the Health Potions. I was right that the XXL bottles are the best and everyone has finally gotten a lot of confidence in battle now as they started to defend the ce as monsters march through. As I waited through the current situation, Sigma called. "Hey deheart, how are the sales doing? Is it that good like you expected?" "Yep. I already predicted it but still holy crap. That''s a lot of money we received. It wasn''t that easy but it wasn''t hard either. Don''t worry, you guys will have big shares once this challenge is done. You guys won''t have many problems after this. But don''t expect we will get this much of resources forever. We will be only doing this much for today as copycats will soon appearter on. We can then rx and have a good day after that." ... ... ... The battle has finally entered the climax session. yers have finally entered another round of going to me and ordering potions once more. They came numerous times and since the yers are just doing what they do best, they have earned enough money to spare for another thing that would soon fall into my hands. Once I felt that the situation is getting dire, I decided to switch my products to other stuff and the moment I revealed it, the yers started to get ready as they soon realized that the items I had are all explosives. "Come on,e on! This time around, I switched my products from potions to tools. Sure, the enemies are farther but the moment you realized things are now much different, the products I have would easily defeat enemies in one go. So if you guys have any monster-rted problems, thene on by and solve your problems with my line of products!" Then, Iid out all types of explosives on the table, Molotov type of explosives, grenades, in explosive dynamites, different pipe bombs, and other stuff that would sure pack a lot of punch once it explodes. As soon as the yers who were just buying potions saw the things I have lined up, they started to order multiple items at once. "Ah! Damn, where are you man when things were really bad? This is the most lifesaving item ever! Now we will just go and start sting for the sake of everything now!" "Oy! Don''t use that as a volleyball! It will explode and it might cause damage in return!" And just like that, it got another huge poprity on the battlefield. Earlier, explosive attacks are pretty rare as the magic spells need quite a lot of mana and it takes a long time before the next thing is ready. But now with my little trinkets for sale, the yers who bought from me started sting at the iing enemies. ... ... The day ended with the siege for the day the moment the sun has fallen has concluded. The yers all sighed in relief as the situation was much better. In fact, they managed to survive due to my products. But that is not what is important. The important thing is that I managed to earn quite a lot of bucks that the items that were previously not possible to earn. Of course, that is not only the good news but the stash I brought for everyone has finally been sold out. Every single bottle of potions and every single explosive I bought along are now sold out and has been converted into quite a lot of money. The yers started celebrating the current situation after a whole day of sessful siege finally done for the day. That is also my cue and escape without alerting everyone that I was there before. Not only did I receive quite a lot of money, but it was also evident that some yers have already found a reason after a few while in the game already. I didn''t know at that time, that I will be part of the reason for the rise of the EX Jobs after this. And the items that are previously just for the sake of knowing whether they are useful or not will soon appear and will soon have quite different ways to tackle the economy for all yers. And just like that, another legend has been born and the yers started to like specte on the new gue doctor''s identity and how he managed to bring the items that will soon destroy everything in its path. Chapter 540 The Aftermath Of The Dungeon Break And An Unexpected Discovery It took at least 3 days before the Dungeon break was controlled and the monsters that already invaded were killed. It was just a short timepared to the past timeline where itsted for a week before the situation returned to normal. It was short but that might be the result of me making a business of making a potion and releasing explosive items for them to use which hastens the remation process. I heard that some yers heard of my actions and decided to imitate what I did and since I didn''t appear again on the second day, they already gained a profit as they will be the ones who will dominate the market. I also heard that the items they made are inferiorpared to my items as my items are much better in qualitypared to them so perhaps they are less popr than mine but they still made a profit so it''s not much for me. ... ... After ss, I heard from some of my ssmates who y Alternate World that the restoration process is happening but things are not that easy as most of the yers are having a hard time on where they should sell the items. As much as they wanted to earn money by selling the monster parts and some other items that were dropped by monsters, all the stores were wrecked to the point of making it big of a wreck that the NPCs who are supposed to be running the stores and the ones who buys and sells items, are all out of money as they focus more on repairing their destroyed stores rather than to buy items from yers, causing outrage from many yers who don''t understand the situation while some apuded the developers for having the situation very realistic to the point that it is annoying. Sure enough, the market has been forced into a big decline but it will recover again in a few days but it will take time. It is a big downside at first but there is another pro to this. The NPCs are more likely to give quests right now especially if they needed items to repair their stores, homes, and other buildings that got destroyed by the monsters, therefore, it is not just a bad thing, it was also a good way to earn additional experience and various rewards. As for me, I apanied Lily back to her tavern and as expected, it was trampled badly and there is barely anything worthwhile to take here. It''s just a big wreck. "So how much materials and gold are needed to properly repair the store? Don''t worry if it will be big, just tell me and you know what? Let''s also upgrade and renovate the tavern too." "No, no. Sir deheart. You are already helping my daughter a lot, you don''t need to bother too much with my store, to be honest. Just having this repaired is enough for me." "No, I insist. I would feel bad if my first follower''s mother will suffer quite a big hardship after the situation of the dungeon break. So how much will it cost? What items do you need to repair this ce?" "Let''s see. There are a few kinds of stuff that I needed like the Oakwood lumber which costs a lot of gold to order. There are also a few kinds of stuff here and there like nails and paint, concrete and cement mix too will also be necessary which means it will make this costs 200,000 gold without adding some of the expenses likebor work as that is also a separate fee. But yeah, this is just an initial calction on my part. Of course, this could be either the final price or it will be reduced, depending on the circumstances." "Looks like it''s not that expensive. Alright. Start calling your acquaintances and workers to begin the work. Don''t worry about the amount of gold for expenses. I can pay them so let''s get right into it." "Are you sure? This is pretty much expensive and I don''t think you needed to pay that much just for you to repair a store that is not yours." "No worries. You can say this is a repayment for having a wonderful daughter who is capable of being a strong maid I can rely on and trust my back on." In the end, Lily decided to give up on my nagging about paying and started to contact the people needed to start the construction work. She also started to also buy materials and I just followed her around as she started to finish up all of her orders. But she eventually managed to deal with all of the orders and the construction started. ... ... ... I logged out from the game after that. Morning in the real world has finally arrived and it is currently school day today which means I am going to be stuck at school again, waiting for a new situation to kick in. As much as I remember, there are no other things that should be happening right now. Since I was a bit in the mood to do a morning jog towards school, instead of riding my motorcycle, I decided to do brisk walking instead. I asked the siblings but they declined. I also asked Janus but he also declined. As much as Rika wanted to join me, she is not a student and she is still at a big risk of being found by her bodyguards, so she still has no other way to go out safely without me escorting her. In the end, I have to go alone and do it by myself. That is the only thing I can do as no one else will. If Riko lived together with us, she would be the one who would be really willing to join in. It''s been a while since I did brisk walking as I usually use my motorcycle just to go to school so walking as I go to school is a big change of pace. It was an uneventful day, it was still too early and I barely see anyone else around me walking around either... Even cars passing by are very rare to see. Perfect time to do what I want before the streets get crowded. Just as I was enjoying my brisk walk and enjoying the scenery in the early morning, I heard a peculiar sound nearby. It was very peculiar to the point that I decided to stop to listen to it. At first, there was nothing for me to listen to but it took a bit of time before I realized something happened. At first, there was nothing so I thought it was just a fluke I heard something and perhaps it was just a noiseing from somewhere that I have mistaken for something else. But soon I realized that wasn''t the case as the sound was repeated once again. Since this time I listened a lot more carefullypared to before, and I heard what that sound was. It was a girl''s voice. It sounded like a moan but I can also hear the sound of struggling and suffering from the grunts she makes. It''s not a girl doing lewd things with someone else. I may not have experienced that stuff just yet but hey, I also know when is the right time to know about this. The sound of grunting is more obvious now and since she is grunting, there are times I can hear a moan which means something has happened and causing her to sound like that. Since it was still pretty early, I decided to look for the sound and it didn''t take me long to find it. However, finding it wasn''t even part of the situation and not part of my calction for this day. The voice was soon heard in enough nearby alleyway. I have been there before in the past timeline which is why I know the ce like the back of my hand. As soon as I reach a little bit deeper into the area, I soon discovered found the source of the sound. Just as I expected, it was indeed the voice of a girl. But I didn''t expect this kind of girl to be here out of all ces especially since this was the real world. Before I am a nakeddy, without any clothes on her. Of course, her body was attractive but I am not easily infatuated by any nakeddy. Therefore, I was not flustered when I saw her, but I was shocked when I realized that something is very wrong especially for her in this world. This is not a game, this is the real world. My teammates are the same people instead of having the look on their faces but this is something I didn''t expect to see. The naked woman who is grunting and moaning in pain since earlier is none other than an Elf. The same elf you can find in games. But one question, Why is there an elf in the real world? Chapter 541 Reverse Isekai? I was stunned to see a mythical person in front of me. I even pinched myself just to make sure that I am not seeing things. "F*CK! That hurts!" I made sure to pinch so hard that I overdid it and the pinched area is now glowing red. But even after that, I still didn''t wake up which means I am not dreaming, this is indeed the reality. As much as the elf before me has a very sexy and very amazing body, I am conflicted about what to do She is an elf. A mythical entity that should only exist in fantasy and shouldn''t be existing in the real world. Now that she is here, many people would actually try to know about her. The government would immediately try to seize her, find out more about her by experimenting on her, and many more which might lead to her death, or maybe the discovery of a link to her world and our world. I can just leave her there and return to my daily life, leaving her to her own fate, but I can also take her in and save her from certain greedy governments and dangerous people lurking around. As much as I wanted to leave her and return to my daily life, I am also going to feel bad for her. So in the end, even though I will be diving deep into trouble because of this, I decided to take her in. Removing my uniform, I cover her body with it while I changed to my extra clothes stashed inside my bag before I carry her away from the dumpster she was lying in. She doesn''t smell like garbage just yet so perhaps she just arrived here very recently until I discovered her. I made sure to look around to ensure no one is around before I started to jump into the roof and traverse the rooftops to go back to my mansion. Forget about school, I can ace my exams and other stuff just fine, I need to focus more on this. ... ... ... When I arrived, Janus and the siblings already left so the only person inside the mansion is Rika. I pushed the doorbell to see whether Rika is not yet ying the game. "Coming!" Rika immediately opened the door and was shocked when she saw me carrying a girl. "Wha? Manato? Who is that you are carrying?" "Let me in first. I will exin once we are inside." Rika opened the door widely and I entered before putting the unconscious elf down on the sofa. As Rika closes the door, she started asking questions to me. "So what is the deal of this girl? And wait, is she naked? This is your uniform." Rika proceeds to check under the uniform I put on the elf and immediately confirmed her suspicion. "I found her in an alley not too far from here. She is naked and is lying still on a dumpster. The moment I saw, I have no choice but to bring her along with me or something might happen to her." "Eh? I thought you have no interests in girls. This is the first time I have seen you have quite an interest in someone. Also, why would something happen to her? She might just be drunk that was dumped in there by some other drunkards." "That''s impossible. Also, I still have an interest in girls, I just don''t show it that much. Anyways, that is not the main reason I decided to bring her here at home if she was just a normal drunkard stripped off her clothes by other drunkards. I wouldn''t bother to bring over a drunkard back home. Here, this is the main reason I decided to bring her over here." I approached the girl and pull away some of the hair strands covering her ear, revealing the pointy ear she had. I am not just seeing things, she is indeed an elf, and she has a pointy ear, I turned her to the other side and revealed the other part to make sure that she still has another pointy ear on the other side and as expected, she indeed possesses the pointy ear. "Pointy ears? That is not a normal ear size. Does that mean..." Rika also realized it. "Yep. I think this also confirms that she is an elf. Look, even her characteristics all correspond to what elves look like. She has very bright yellow hair that bleaching your hair won''t produce this kind of color. Her hair is not even a wig so I doubt that it was false hair. Heck, even the natural blondes are not possessing this bright yellow color hair either. She has fair skin and a very pretty-looking face. Her ear is her natural ear and not just part of a costume of some sort. Not only that but I can also sense mana on her body. It''s very developed and I don''t think humans have this much mana in their bodies either. I don''t possess this much mana in my body either." "Wait, howe an elf exists here? Isn''t that just a product of human imagination? Elves shouldn''t exist in the real world. That should be the main case here and yet why are you casually just bringing in someone like her here?" Rika is getting confused. "Hey, as much as I wanted to, I am also going to feel guilty for just leaving her there. There is a huge possibility she gets picked up by someone who has a very bad intention on her or worse, she might get captured by the government and experiment on her." "I can actually see that happening. So what should we do with her?" "The only thing we can do right now is to keep her here for the time being. Until we learn more about her, we shall not let her get out of here. It''s for her safety and for the other people''s safety and curiosity to be contained." "Hmm, that makes sense." "Anyways, Rika, can you please lend her your clothes and as well suit her up? You two looked like the same in body size. I am notfortable that she is naked and is using my uniform. I still needed to wear that." "Oh, yeah. No worries. I can do that. Please carry her to my room." I nodded and carry her again into Rika''s room. After Iy her down on the bed, I left the room to allow Rika to do her thing and change her clothes for the elf. While waiting for Rika to finish up her task, I sat down on the sofa and opened the inte using my Holophone, and started searching for real elves sighting,s or confirmed existence of elves. There are some results but they ended up being bogus to the point that it wasn''t even real and all of them are hoaxes and not even part of the real deal which is what we are dealing with right now. In the end, they are not existing at all. Then there is a wild theory that suddenly enters my mind. If novels have an isekai concept, there are also those reverse isekai genres where the person from another world has been isekaied to our world and is now exposed to the world of the humans and the readers are now following the adventures of the person that got transported from another world to this world. Perhaps that is indeed what happened to this elf. Whichever world was she belonging to, it is clear that she is now in this world. And for whatever purpose was she sent here? I don''t know. But it would be best for me to at least know what she will do next after finding out she is no longer in her homnd. Will she decide to adapt to this world''s life, hiding the fact that she is an elf? Or will she try to find a way to return back to her homnd? Even though I am just imagining it, I am quite excited about what this might brew. It took some time until Rika went out of her room. "Hey, Manato. You can nowe in. I finished dressing her up." I stood up and went inside Rika''s room and saw the elf fully clothed with a sleeveless shirt and shorts that only went up to her thighs, revealing her, long, slender and wless legs. "Why did you decide to use these clothes for her? Shouldn''t you just let her wear a normal shirt and either pant or a skirt?" I looked at Rika. "I don''t have any skirts as I usually wear pants or just shorts. Those clothes with skirts are dresses and I don''t want to use them for casual wear. Also, this style is good enough as she is an elf. This will be more helpful for her to at least have a good feel of our clothes while still feeling familiar with them. After all, they prefer to go with an agility build right? And most elves I have seen in literature do have these kinds of clothes on." What kind of changes would she bring, only the future me knows. Chapter 542 The Person From Another World I tasked Rika to watch over her. In the end, I decided to skip school for now and stay at home for the time being while the elf is currently in my mansion. It would be bad if only Rika is here. What if the elf will suddenly does something and harm her? We don''t know how she will react so it would be best for me to stay until she wakes up and know what kind of ce she was in and also help her stabilize in this world. Nevertheless, we are now stuck waiting for her to wake up. Rika and I are there to wait for the elf to awaken. By the time lunch came in, I went ahead to the kitchen and started to cook our own food. That also reminds me that I will have to take the Cook Ex Job soon enough so that I can gain more profit in the game by cooking food and also help increase my mastery of cooking in the real world too just like how Mom managed to master cooking, allowing her to cook very well in the real world and in the game. While I am cooking, Rika went outside of the room in a hurry. "Manato! She is awake!" Hearing that the elf has awakened, I turned off whatever I am cooking and rushed back to the room, and saw the elf slowly fluttering her eyes to open. She hasn''t fully opened her eyes just yet but I can see that she has noticed us as she alternates her attention to either Rika or me who are standing beside each other as we observed her. It didn''t take long for her to fully open her eyes. The moment she opened her eyes fully, she retreats to the corner of the bed and releases energy on both her hands which I immediately deduced to be [Windde], a tier 4 Magic skill of both Magic Knight and Magician. I must say that it was amazing how she can use [Windde] but perhaps elves are capable of using wind magic easily. "*#(_+*%#!()_+=!" The elve started speaking something we both don''t understand. Rika and I looked at each other and the former started shaking her head, stating she also does not understand what she was saying which is understandable enough. My spection is that she is talking by using the elvennguage which does not exist in this world. "*#%*#_+*#)(*)_+$#%!" She started waving her [Windde] at us while shouting words we still don''t understand. Is this the feeling of meeting a foreigner who speaks their native tongue and does not speak either English or your ownnguage while asking for direction feels like? "Please calm down. I know you are confused and afraid, but please calm down and stop the [Windde] from firing at us, alright? We are not here to harm you." I tried to talk to her, but of course, she will not understand me either but hey, if she understand what I wanted to say by making a bit of some action, perhaps she can actually understand what I wanted to properly say. "*#%&&*&_+%#?" She is saying something but she started to calm down. She still holds the [Windde] but I can tell that she has already rxed somehow. Still, she didn''t bring down her caution towards us and would activate the ability again just to make sure that she is in control of the situation. I can easily subdue her by using my abilities and stop her but that would create a very negative view of us which is why I decided to avoid doing that to also stop the elf from being aggressive at us. My previous attempts seems to have worked so I decided to continue to calm her down. I talked slowly and mildly at her while letting her rx and showing no aggression from us so that she drops her guard and diffuses the [Windde] that she still keeps in her hands. If it failed, I will be forced to go on the defensive and restrain her before she can inflict more damage on us. Thankfully, my efforts paid off and the elf stopped being hostile at us and rxed as she diffuses the [Windde]. She started to look around as she calmed down and is surprised that her clothes are different now. "This is not good, Manato. We don''t understand what she was saying and we don''t even know how to ry our message to her. This isn''t easy and I don''t think we can easily just let her understand our main intention." "Indeed, A big problem to be sure and we can''t just openly interrogate her and we can''t understand her so in the end..." [rumble] Before I can finish what I was talking to Rika, we heard a rumbling sounding from someone''s stomach. It was clear that it neither came from both me and Rika which caused us to look towards the elf who is currently rubbing her stomach. Even if we are in a differentnguage, even the body functions are not capable of givingnguage barriers. "You must be hungry, then perhaps I should go back to the kitchen and finish up what I am cooking. Just wait for a bit, we will be done in a few minutes." before going back to the kitchen to finish up the final touches of what I was cooking before I was interrupted by Rika due to the awakening of the elf. It only took a jiffy before I was done cooking and once I was done with it, I carried a few tes of food for both the elf and Rika to eat food with. I handed both of them the food and Rika immediately thanked me for it while the elf was hesitant as she looked at the food I created after that. But it seems even if you deny it yourself, the stomach will give up first. And I think that indeed makes a lot of sense even for an elf. Chapter 543 Knowing The Otherworlder The elf is confused for the first time seeing a metal spoon after I served the food. It is understandable though as I can already imagine them using wooden spoons to eat their food. She obviously hasn''t seen a spoon made of metal as she should be living deep in the forest as all elves usually do. Judging from her looks alone, she hasn''t been living in a human town or city as she doesn''t look like she has been there for once. So seeing a metal spoon for the first time is something she hasn''t experienced as shown in her reaction and how much she was talking in elvennguage with a tone of excitement and curiosity on her tone. At first, the elf is trying out the food and looks cautious about it as she stirs the soup using the spoon. The moment she saw us eat the same soup, she started to scoop one spoon out and started to try it with her mouth. The moment the soup touches her mouth, her eyes went wide and she started slurping on it, which made Rika and me smile as she drink and eat the soup. She sighed in relief the moment she finishes the soup and rubs her tummy as she finished eating her food. "So what are we gonna do? We can''t understand her and she also cannot understand us," Rika scratches her head. "Yeah, this is a pickle. As much as we can just use a trantor on our phone to trante anothernguage into ournguage, there is no possible way for us to trante an elvennguage which is a big problem." "Do you have a n on how to deal with this dilemma we had right now?" "At the moment, I don''t have any way to know it. Even if we had a way to read her mind, we still can''t understand hernguage, that will be a very bad thing still." "Then how can we interact with her? If both of us can''t understand things and we don''t have any universalnguage that we can use to interact with each other, then we will have very bad ways tomunicate with each other." The elf tilted her head as she listened to the both of us rambling with each other. Then she suddenly held her hands together and suddenly used a skill that made me and Rika stand up as we raise our guards up, trying to defend ourselves from what shenanigans the elf is trying to do. However, she didn''t do anything rming, instead, she seemed to have done something as we saw something forming up above the air in front of her. "Manato, what is going on? What is she doing?" I observed what she was doing then I realized what she is trying to do is the same thing a Spiritualist, ss, a future ss that will be released in the future alongside the Reaper ss, is trying to do. What she was doing is to summon a spirit or a fey in the surroundings and materializing it. Soon enough, the materializing process ended and a fey appeared before us. The fey she summoned is a pixie. For the first time in my life, this is the first time I have seen a pixie appear before me in the real world without the help of any technology like VR or a projector. It was happening before me, right before my own naked eye. The pixie blinked for a few seconds until she realized that she was now visible and she was shocked when that happened. Even Rika and I were not sure what to do about what is happening before us. "A pixie? Manato, can you pinch me? Perhaps I am seeing things," Rika ordered me while still staring at the pixie. "Hey, you are not alone here. I am also seeing what you are seeing." The elf started to talk and sped her hands like she was pleading through the pixie. She talks in the elvennguage that she uses but it seems the pixie she was talking with can also understand her. As we are observing what she was doing, the pixie turned to us and started to speak. "Hello humans, I am going to be tranting the words of this girl here as she pleaded for me to help her. I can understand bothnguages you two are saying so feel free to talk and ask questions using me as the trantor and I will do my best to convey what she was saying to you two." "A pixie can talk Japanese?!" Rika was shocked. "Hey, I can understand you guys just fine. I lived in Japan all my life, I don''t think I will not learn it by just staying here." "Then howe you seemed to understand her? It seems like hernguage is the elvennguage," Rika is trying to rify things. "As you can see, she is not speaking the elvennguage. She is speaking the Feynguage which is why I can understand her just fine as I also speak the feynguage, therefore, I am the perfect candidate to be the trantor for both of you so that the three of you can understand each other." I didn''t expect this elf is capable of summoning a fey and plead her to be our trantor. That needs a lot of spiritual mastery to be capable of doing that and even I don''t have any idea how difficult that was for a spiritualist. The elf started to talk and the pixie started listening to what she was saying. It took a while before she nodded and the elf stopped speaking. "So, what did she say?" "Okay, she is asking where she is currently and why are there humans before her. She was also asking why her equipment is gone." "Then I will be answering that as I am the only one who knows what happened. First, on your first question, she is currently on Earth, and second, it is because we are the ones who rescued her from the dumpster. As for her third question, I would also like to ask that question too. Where does her equipment has gone into? I found her fully naked and I had to carry her with my clothes to cover her body back home." The pixie nodded and immediately ryed what she heard from us. The moment the pixie ryed the information, she was confused and she looked at us before she started to speak again in which the pixie waited to hear the rest before she started to speak to us. "She said she was sure that she wore clothes and she also had some weapons with her before she passes out and woke up in this strange ce you call Earth." I scratch my head. I now understand where her clothes might have gone but I can''t say that to her as I have no basis on it as that stuff only happens in the anime, light novels and manga, and any type of media that does isekai genres. To anyone who still doesn''t know, the moment she was about to be transferred to Earth, all of the items that were on her body, whether it was cloth or metal, disappears as she passes through a whole new dimension just like a meteorite burns in the atmosphere as it enters Earth. And the moment she crashnded, all of her clothes and equipment are gone, exining why her previous equipment is all gone as it all has gone down to the ashes. "Tell her that I don''t know what happened to her equipment as the time I saw her, she was bare naked and she didn''t wear anything at all so even if she insisted on the idea that she wore something before she awakened here." The pixie sighed and ryed what I said and as expected, she was confused as to why her clothes and items are gone. It seems she is not angry with me, seeing her naked so let''s just forget about that. "Hey pixie, can you ask her about her name as we cannot just keep on saying hey on her and she can''t understand us so she will not be able to understand what we are saying either." "Oh, she called herself Renata earlier when we are talking with each other the first time we met each other and I materialized. That''s how I learned about her name." Just thinking about this situation made me shake my head. I can smell big trouble here. And I am not going to lie, it seems like we are not just going to have a big problem here based on our exchanges. We will be having big, big troubleter on. Perhaps, something would definitely be triggered to the point something else will happen due to this happening around us. And I don''t think I am going to be ready for this. Chapter 544 Checking Out The Sealed Woman Renata somehow arrived here after she investigates a disturbance that suddenly urred. As she investigates it, that disturbance suddenly sucked her in and she didn''t manage to get away as fast as she should have as the gravitational pull from it forced her to get dragged by it. That''s also the time she lost consciousness and the next thing she knew, she is now here. "That''s understandable but I didn''t know there are other worlds beyond this dimension we know. It was one I didn''t know would exist and the people that I only heard and saw in movies and stories would be real and alive, It feels unreal at times," Rika nodded as she observed Renata from head to toe. "That only means that there are still things humans have yet to discover. But I prefer that only a handful of people discover that there are other realms other than us. Human nature will always dominate and greedy humans will always try to find an exploit on the newly discoverednd. It''s much better if it remains undiscovered rather than for man to be able to see and visit it." "True. I can''t even trust anyone else aside other than someone we really know deep down will not talk about things like this or else, we will be in big risk." We continue to ask her multiple things that allows us to slowly understand where she came from and how she arrived here. Once we get our answers, we asked her to rest for a while for the time being. Thankfully, she epted the offer and sleep after that. As for the pixie, since she was materialized now, she can now either go back to her invisible spirit form or remain on that form. I even thought she would vaporize to nothingness once Renata is done using her power but it seems I was just mistaken and she can do it just fine and she can still remain like that even if Renata is no longer summoning her which is pretty interesting knowing that I am going to see someone who does not belong to this world and someone that those who do not belong in this world has summoned. It might sounded like an alien invasion but trust me that it is not. Now that Renata is resting, Rika started to talk to me about Renata. "So what are we gonna do about her? As much as we can hide her temporarily, we can''t keep her here forever. She will soon try to find a way to go back to her world as soon as possible." "I don''t have any n. This is a very unexpected event and I don''t have the knowledge of any magic spells that allows someone to cross in one dimension to the other. If I can do that, I would be very strong now and I can visit the other worlds with ease. That is just impossible for me right now." "Right now? Then does that mean there is a possibility?" "Yes. Although I don''t know if I can find it, but since we are able to use magic like the one we saw in the game and fully use it to our advantage now, perhaps magic that can open a portal or teleport to other dimension would be also possible. Hard, but not impossible." Rika scratches her head. "As much as I want to say I believe you Manato, this time, I don''t think I can. Unless you really managed to do it, then until then, I will be skeptical about it." ... ... I returned to the game after thinking what to do with Renata at the moment. As much as I wanted to, I don''t think I can find any info in the real world about magic involving opening portals or teleportation. It sounds more like a n by some kind of cult to open the dimension of their god or something simr which is why I don''t think that''s it. As much as I hate to say it, but Rika is right. Perhaps it is impossible after all. In the end, I have no idea what to do and I am locked in a roadblock. I can only say that I have to just wait for something to happen and perhaps that something wille to my way." Since I decided to skip sses, I decided that it should be time for me to check out the woman encased in ice. I have been biding my time to visit it but it always gets held back due to the back to back events. Now that I am free and nothing to do, perhaps I should visit that ce. I wanted to know what is the deal of that woman as I can slightly remember her appearing in my dreams whenever I dreamed about the Yggdrasil Tree and although I don''t meet her up often, she is someone who I am quite interested on. But first, I have to learn where this ce was taken. As much as many yers wanted to check her out, no one responded on the exact location of the ce. However, for someone like me who has been ying for how many years and have already memorized many ces. The only thing I needed to do is to check the photo with closer inspection. Thankfully, I have saved that photo and I have ess to it. Using the connected Holophone I have in the real world where I have saved the photo, I essed it in the game and I checked out the ce around the girl properly. At first, I seemed to have thought it was from the continent of Resurgia, but then, I recognized the nts on the background. There is one thing that the Resurgia region has that the other two didn''t have much avable and that''s the greenery. However, I didn''t knew that the forest this was located from is not in Resurgia continent. And obviously, its not also in Sandurk continent where you will see barrennds with sands, cactus and nothing but dead nts there. Yes, thest continent and the one that I have not visited for quite a while after the first quest that allowed me to fully unlocked the ess of the continent without going to a raid after foiling the n of the enemy to utilize the effects of the weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins series. Yep, that continent Aquagius. The nts shown here looked like the shrubs always seen in the Resurgia but I immediately noticed something that is not looking simr to the shrubs in Resurgia but present in Aquagius. In fact, those nts are not somon in Aquagius and there is only one ce that has those nts growing and that is the sole ind that I explored before where I have freed the two frozen merfolk siblings. Those shrubs are prettymon on that ind and since the Insect Kingdom''s surrounding forest has mostly trees, the shrubs like this are pretty much umon but on that ind, it was numerous. I may not have exactly found the right area it was in but now I have an idea where the ice with an encased girl is now located. With now a goal on what to do, I finalized all of the stuff I needed to do. While I was preparing, Almira appeared. Almira has not yet returned to where her smithy was located and she iszing around the mansion for the time being. She was scrounging in the kitchen while I was preparing for extra ingredients forter on as I also n to visit the Aquagius''s Insect Kingdom and pick up the Chef Ex Job there. "You are going to Aquagius?" Almira then pulls out a bottle of milk on the fridge before she chugged down the whole content. "Huh? How did you know?" I was surprised as I didn''t vocally said I will be going to Aquagius. I doubt she has mindreading capabilities. "Aquagius is currently holding an event there right now. The Merfolk will be gathering up to put the Kingdom on the sea up in the surface and allow other people to ess it. Some guys are pretty excited on checking the ce out." "Although you are correct that I am going there, I am not interested in that event. I am going there for another reason that''s for sure." "Is that so? Then, perhaps you should mine me the Eternal Ice that only appears in Aquagius. I am toozy to go there and since you are going there anyway, perhaps you should fetch me that one. A few kilos would suffice." "Eternal Ice? What is that?" I looked at her with a creased eyebrow. "You don''t know it? Ah, of course since only a few people knew about it. But basically, it was an ice that doesn''t melt even on a hot weather. The only way to melt it is by putting it on theva ore a very concentrated fire. It is also an ice that can encase anything caught in it while it was materializing so even humans can be frozen on it. I wanted that thing as I heard it was a very good item to use for forging. So I will ask you to fetch them for me. I will pay you of course." Chapter 545 Return To Aquagius Just like that, I departed Resurgia using Leona to go to the portal that connects Sandurk and Aquagius. I am going back to the ind where everything started the moment I arrived on the Aquagius continent. Although I have explored the cave system of that ind, I have not fully explored the forest of that ind as I have no time to do that when I am trying to prioritize some of the things I needed to get before. Now that I am looking for the photo''s exact location, perhaps it is indeed time for me to fully explore this ind. The ind is big so it will take me quite a while before I can finish exploring this ce. Inded not too far from the area where the portal is located but I was not expecting a lot of yers lining up to use the portal. Portals have never been this crowded before. Then, I remembered what Almira said before. The Kingdom of the Sea is going to resurface and this causes attraction to many yers who wanted to see Merfolks. I don''t know what is going to happen and I also have no idea what happened these past few months after the events that transpired there before. Perhaps the siblings returned and decided to rule over it? Or did someone else decides to take over and return the prosperity of the kingdom? As much as I want to ask for those things, I have no possible answer for all of them. But hey, if the Kingdom of the Sea is back to its feet, then all of it is good. I still used the same gue doctor mask before so no one really paid attention to me. There are also plenty of yers wearing masks now which allowed me to easily blend in without being crowded by yers who heard of my Abyss Difficulty solo clear before or it won''t just f*cking end. Thankfully, the process was fast, and even though I arrivedst, I still managed to use the teleportation portal after around 3 minutes of lining up. ... ... The moment I arrived at the Insect Kingdom, most of the damage that has been done before when I was here are already gone, there are even some changes and some are already repaired so I am d that they have already returned to their normal lives. However, I am not here to sightsee around the Insect Kingdom. I left the Insect Kingdom, went into the forest, and summoned Leona for us to go to the ind from before. "Whoa, I didn''t know there was a continent with the vast majority of thends surrounded by water, and thends themselves have a little touch of other intelligent beings that can makemunities. This continent is a very good way to explore the ce in a primitive way. Definitely would make air here if I was born in here," Cath Palug jumped off from the summon''s area without my orders but I didn''t mind as he didn''t escape. If he ever escaped, he would be dead immediately. "So you liked to live in jungles like these huh? Then howe you just remained in Resurgia where the majority of the forests are not so big and currently upied by inhabitants?" "How would I know that there is a continent like this?! Also, remember that I can''t fly like your bird pet here." "Then, just walk in the water. You are big in your true form right? Merlin told me before. With your size alone, you could have traversed the seas and reached the forests of this continent easily," I suggested. Of course, it won''t be happening as Cath Palug is already stuck in its current form. "Ugh, no way. Risking my foot to step on the water? No thanks." Cath Palug and I did some idle chatter before Leona arrived on that same ind. I recalled Leona and was about to recall Cath Palug too but he insisted to remain for the exploration so I decided to let him be. Just like my assumption from before, this forest seems very identical to the ce in the photo. Not only that but it also has the shrubs I mentioned before that are only found in this ce. Since my guess is correct, it''s now up to me to find the ce. Before I dived into the forest, I reequipped the Wolf Mask and the Versatile Weapon. As much as I want to keep using different ystyles, I don''t think I have the leisure to do that here. Who knows what enemies are here and since this is Aquagius, monsters here are already around level 90 or above already. Who knows what the levels of the monsters living on this ind are? We entered the forest and it didn''t even take long before we meet enemies already and not just one but multiple enemies. [Carnivorous Vines] Level 100 ? HP: 900,000/900,000 Trait: nt, Poison I changed the versatile weapon into a normal longsword. After experiencing the Swordsman gamey, I kinda liked how it feels so I decided to keep using it. As I was charging through the enemies, I counted at least 5 of them around, and seeing that they are immediately hostile to me can make the situation really bad or really troublesome. As soon as I got into their range, the Carnivorous vines used their tendrils to attack me and since there are multiple of them, they attacked me simultaneously. I immediately dodged before cutting a few tendrils. The fewer tendrils they have, the better. But it seems like shallow cutting them isn''t going to do it as the tendrils grow back again and it started attacking me again. I took a bit of a step back to perform a dashing sh to the nts, cutting off all of the approaching tendrils. I can feel my motivation by just performing that. Although their tendrils are annoying and can follow you everywhere, their main body remained stationary. The Carnivorous Vines attacked again by using their majority of vines to bind me. But I immediately sliced through them with ease before approaching the main body of the Carnivorous Vines and cutting it in half. Compared to my expectations, the main body is very squishy and it is 100% nt cutting. I easily defeated one by just doing so, allowing me to reveal its roots. If my guess is correct, killing the root will allow me to fully kill this guy. I didn''t hesitate and stabbed it with the Versatile Weapon. I also did the same thing to the other 4 carnivorous vines and overall, I kinda know what enemies are we going to face from here on out. This ce can be a real tentaclend and girls would definitely hate this ce immediately so I guess I wouldn''t even bother summoning anyone. After picking up the drops and checking for any usable parts the monster has, I returned to exploration and started killing the monsters one by one. All of them are easy so it wasn''t worth mentioning how my fights ended as I easily cut them off. They are just nts after all. "This ind is full of nts and nts monsters. I don''t even detect any kind of animals in this ce. Are you even sure you will find what you are looking for here? It seems more like a paradise of nt monsters here and the one you are looking for might have been already eaten by these monsters," Cath Palug licked his fur that got smeared by some dew from the leaves I have run over. "It might be here. It might be not. I just needed to explore the ce to see whether the ce I was looking for is in here." But like what Cath Palug said, I don''t even think I can find what I am looking for here. I don''t even sense any sign of any living being here like small monsters or even critters here and there. All of the enemies are just those carnivorous nts. Of course, I didn''t add the monsters we can meet in the cave as that ce is a different area and I can see that the nts are even avoiding it as the area is barren with the greenery so perhaps it was bad. The greens are getting more and more expansive and my exploration is getting shorter and shorter as monsters keep on attacking and all of them are just nts that just don''t stop that easily when killed as they can revive unless you destroy their roots. I thought Cath Palug was right that I should stop as those nts might have already consumed the one I am looking for but I suddenly noticed the same white ice that seems to have frozen through the ground. I thought it was something so I checked it out and I realized that it looks the same as the one in the photo. The moment I discovered this, I quickly went through the forest and as expected, the ce where the photo was is finally revealed. I was right, this is indeed the ce. Chapter 546 The Eternal Ice The ice particles scattered around are small, but those fragments are looking more like white quartz crystals scattered around the ce. I tried touching one and like a block of normal ice, they are cold to the touch. When I touched it, a description box appeared before me. [Eternal Ice] Type: Item Info: An ice formed by the solidification of impure mana and water, causing the phenomenon of forming the Eternal Ice to ur. It is a block of ice that will never melt under the sun but will melt if mes formed by mana are directly infused or used to cut it. Not edible but it is much colder to the touchpared to a cube of normal ice. Wait, huh? This was the Eternal Ice Almira is talking about? That means the one that I am looking for and the one that Almira wanted to get are the same things?" "You don''t know this was the Eternal Ice?" Cath Palug looked at me with a questionable face. "Hey, I don''t recognize all kinds of stuff that exists in this world. That means even this thing is something I don''t recognize." "Hmph. You should hit the books once in a while, perhaps you will get smarter in the process." I wasn''t expecting to know that this was the Eternal Ice. I thought it was an ore or something as Almira wanted to use it but to make that this was the Eternal Ice is something else. Did perhaps Almira already know that I am going to look for the Eternal Ice beforehand? I don''t know but perhaps she did. Despite already finding the Eternal Ice, I didn''t take it just yet. If my assumption is correct, the ce that I was looking for would be covered or littered with the Eternal Ice and I can grab some of them in the process. As I dive deeper and deeper into the forest area, more and more Eternal Ice covering the ce appears. Not only that but the nts like the shrubs and weeds no longer grow and the trees in the vicinity are frozen. Just by that alone, I can tell that the Eternal Ice will not just be a good thing as I can see it spreading. Venturing further, I heard a few people talking in the distance. I ready myself and hold the handle of the Versatile Weapon in case it is an enemy or monsters just mimicking human voices before checking it out. It turns out, there are indeed people there. No, not people, they are insect people which means they are NPCs and not yers. I surveyed and observed for a bit and I can confirm that there are no yers around instead, there are only NPCs around. I managed to count at least 4 of them. 3 female and one male. The three females are all armed to the teeth as they while the male one does not have any weapons in him. Instead, he has a bulky backpack with him and he wears sses. From the looks of it, he is a researcher of some sort and if my assumption is correct, the girls are his bodyguards. "Hey, what are you hiding there for? Go and attack them!" Cath Palug taunted me to attack them. "Are you crazy? I am not as bloodthirsty as you so keep your mouth shut or I will tie you up into the tree and feed you to those Carnivorous Vines we saw earlier." "Damn. Fine, fine." I didn''t approach them just yet. I needed to make sure that these NPCs are not hostile NPCs as I don''t want to immediately lock myself intobat the moment I approach. After a few minutes of observation, I immediately concluded that they are not a threat and if ever they are, I can easily deal with them. "Oh, are you going to kill them now?" Cath Palug is excited. "One more yammer from you and you will see stars while you areying down a pit." "..." I slowly approach the area and entered the vicinity of the Eternal Ice. [You have discovered Eternal Ice Grave] Eternal Ice Grave? That is a grim-sounding name for a ce. I proceeded with caution as the three warriors are still there and perhaps if I enter the vicinity, they might attack me so I needed to get ready to defend anytime. As soon as I appeared, the three female warriors immediately pulled out their weapons and assumed abat stance. I also assumed mybat stance in case they will attack without hearing my exnation, "Who are you!? What are you doing here?" one of the female warriors aimed her gun at me, ready to pull the trigger. "I don''t mean any harm. I am just exploring when I stumbled around here in this ce after following the trail of white ice substance." The guy who did not even turn around and continued to check up the Eternal Ice speaks. "Drop it down girls, I don''t sense any hostility from him, and you girls won''t win if you fight against him so just give it up." When the three heard that, they dropped their guard and they continue to stand guard in the area, waiting for further orders or enemies that breach the way. "Wee to the Eternal Ice Grave, stranger. Feel free to explore. There''s nothing much for you to do in here. And if you are just here to harvest some of the Eternal Ice, feel free to mine them. I don''t mind as I don''t own them. Feel free to mine them." "Oh, thanks." "No problem." The guy talks without looking at me once he is just focused on what he is doing and did not care about his surroundings at all but since he noticed me without looking, it seems his senses are much more profound than usual. Since the guy did not mind my presence there, I began to look around the area in which ce the girl was seen. I pulled up the photo and used that as my guide in locating the exact location. Since the area is quite big, I think I have to fully explore the area before I can properly locate it. "If you are looking for the girl in the photo, give it up. The girl is nowhere to be found," one of the female guards speak behind me. "You know this photo before?" "Yes. We were the first ones who received and saw the photo so, of course, we knew about it. If you are looking for the exact location of that photo, you just passed it on the way. You see that big chunk over there? That used to be the ce. However, it is pretty clear that the woman that was in the photo is no longer there so if you are looking for that woman, then give up. You can no longer see her here, the female guard exined. "Wait, so you guysmissioned adventurers to explore this ce?" This time, the male guy who did not look at me while talking stopped what he was doing and faced to talk to me. "We didn''tmission them. They just epted the request we put on the Insect Kingdom''s Headquarters and they fulfilled it. We detected an abnormal amount of energy fluctuations around this ind before so we decided to ask adventurers to check out what all of this was about. Turns out, we had a whole vige in this area being encased by Eternal Ice." "A vige?" "You didn''t notice it did you? Yes. This was supposed to be a vige before but apparently, due to the Eternal Ice, it no longer resembles a vige and it is now a grave of insect people who were toote in evacuation from this ce. From my findings, the event happened a few years ago already and since we didn''t hear of this thing happening up until now, it means that no one has survived from the vige to report the incident and it was soon forgotten as time goes by." No wonder it was called Eternal Ice Grave. Because it was literally a grave of the dozens of families living here before the incident happened. "Based on the look on your face, you are not so familiar with the Eternal Ice huh?" "I am not. This is the first time I have seen an Eternal Ice so I was surprised that a whole vige was engulfed by it." "It''s natural as it only exists in the Aquagius continent. If you havee from either Resurgia, Sandurk, or another continent, then you are pretty much knowledgeable about these kinds of things if you have heard of the Eternal Ice." The female warrior from before who revealed that the frozen female in the photo is no longer here started to exin. "Eternal Ice is not a beautiful phenomenon. In fact, if the first signs of the phenomena take ce, it is rmended to evacuate immediately. After all, you cannot be thawed out once you get frozen solid by this particr ice. In short, the moment this ice crystallized your body, you are dead." Chapter 547 Beneath The Eternal Ice "Eternal Ice was at first one of the most coveted resources after it was proven to be a really good mineral for making weapons. Most people before have believed that the Eternal Ice is just like ores or magic stones that spawn just fine in different areas. Back in the day, Eternal Ice is prettymon. However, one of the events that involve the aforementioned mineral changed the view of the people on it forever," she exined. "An incident?" "It''s a secret incident and I just recently uncovered it. In fact, if you ask the majority of the people in Aquagius, only a handful might still remember that. Perhaps the old insect people do but most people don''t know about it. Only those who are history geeks or just pure researchers have found out about it. So... this incident is very simr to this little nameless town that got wiped out from the map." "Insect Kingdom is not the only kingdom that exists in thend. I am not counting the Kingdom on the Sea as obviously, they are in the sea and they still thrive to this day without any sort of disturbance that would cause the Eternal Ice to appear. But this particr kingdom is the rival of the Insect Kingdom as it is as big as the former. However, do you know why only the Insect Kingdom continuously prospers and the other kingdom seems to be nonexistent?" the researcher guy looked me straight in the eye. "Because of the Eternal Ice?" I answered. "Ding ding! Yep, you are right. The f*cking chunk of ice that never melts is the main cause that the kingdom that I mentioned that should have been the rival of the Insect Kingdom. A whole kingdom disappears alongside all of its people, rulers, and animals, everything that has been living in that kingdom has been reduced to a block of ice. Of course, instead of letting it remain, the king at that time decided to destroy the whole ce by bombing it and reducing it to ruins the moment they learned that the people inside the kingdom are beyond saving and there is a big chance of it spreading which is why the ce is no longer present no matter where you look as the king at that time ensured that the Eternal Ice present there are destroyed to the veryst piece." I see. So that was the reason I have not heard it in the past timeline. By the time the Eternal Ice is discovered, the sources are either destroyed or already harvested as this was a danger as a phenomenon. No wonder even in my past life, I have not heard of this item at all. It was because it is controlled so that it won''t spread any further and sacrifice the lives of people. "The reason the Eternal Ice is not that popr despite its uses is due to the fact that a vige or amunity of people needs to die just to manifest the Eternal Ice and it randomly happens so to make sure that it won''t manifest ever, it is being controlled by those who knew what they are and any sort of signs of the Eternal Ice forming is also the time the higher-ups will have to deal with it and depending on the actions, its either to abandon the area where the Eternal Ice will develop or destroy it before it blooms fully." So the only way for Eternal Ice to form is just to live in Aquagius with many people like a smallmunity? That is just a in suicidal attempt. No wonder I don''t see any viges in Aquagius as much as on the other continents. It was due to the threat of Eternal Ice. "So if you are nning to go and take a few of the Eternal Ice, go ahead but be sure to be careful Even if Eternal Ice is different from the normal ice, this thing is still pretty much slippery/ Don''t forget to also offer a little prayer while taking a chunk. Who knows if you have taken a human part as a chunk of Eternal Ice?" "Will do," I answered as I turn to look at the whole Eternal Ice before me. Now that I know what it was now, I am now careful about touching it. This mineral is the most dangerous mineral I have ever encountered ying this game. If Almira already knew about this, why did she still want me to fetch a chunk? Not only that but I am disappointed that I wasted my time going back in here. Not only do I not find the one I am looking for, but I also learned something about the origin of the ice that feeds on humans just to form naturally. As I pick up some of the Eternal Ice to put in my inventory, I felt some tremors beneath me. I am not wrong about it as I can feel it underneath my shoes. Since I am not touching the ground and I am standing on the Eternal Ice, every single reverberation happening below the ice, I can feel it up above it. "What is going on?" I questioned as the reverberation keeps getting stronger and stronger. "Are you sure there is no earthquake?" Cath Palug also noticed what is happening. If it was, it shouldn''t be like this that happens periodically." The warrior girls seem to notice that I am seemingly having a hard time. "Are you okay there?" I was about to say yes just so I won''t disturb them any further but the reverberations didn''t stop and it just made worse that even they realized something is happening. "Everyone, to arms! Something is lurking underground!" The other girls immediately ready their weapons as the tremors have just gotten stronger. The researcher who is just keeping calm is no longer showing an unfazed look on his face. This time, he is genuinely worried. Cath Palug who is just staying on my shoulder is also getting serious. "Kid, get ready. Something big ising. Don''t dawdle as we might die if you made one single mistake." As Cath Palug said, the ground breaks open, the ice crystals break into pieces and a big mouth appeared underneath that seems to try and swallow what was above. Cath Palug immediately grabbed my clothes while I quickly pull out the Versatile Weapon, change it to a hook and chain and throw the hook to the top. Before the giant mouth closes, I immediately used the retraction action to lift me out of the mouth and escape being swallowed by something big once again. Once is enough. Twice is no longer funny. The moment I arrived above the ground andnded, the researcher is the first one toe to me to check up on my condition. "Stranger! Are you fine? That was very close to you being swallowed!" "I am fine. That was too close. I didn''t expect something like that would happen here. Half of the area is swallowed up by that thing," I stood up as I gaze through the big hole where the monster earlier appeared. "That was the Sea Worm. An omnivorous predator that eats anything that it finds fancy to eat. I didn''t expect it would appear on this ind. I never heard of it attacking an ind and eating something on it!" Sea Worm. It''s a monster that normally appears in the oceans and is a constant threat if you decided to use boats in travelling or if you decided to be a sailor and sail around the ocean of the game. If the real world has the threat of Krakens in the legends, the Sea Worm is the equivalent one of it, Not only does it swallow many things in one go, it is a menace to kill as it is simr to a boss despite not being a boss itself. They are just categorized as normal monsters. It''s kinda sh*tty. And for it to appear on this ind, that means underneath this vige is the previous hole that was used by that octopus monster that I killedst time. Now that it was gone, it seems that was the one that decided to take over the area and im it as its feeding grounds. ,m "Oh no... Leader is not here!" the gunslinger female warrior caught my attention when she shouted that their leader is gone. I looked around the ce and indeed, she didn''t seem to be hiding. Thest thing I remembered her location is...near my position. The moment the ground fell, she also fell. I didn''t notice her fall as I prioritized saving myself as I was the center of the mouth and if I didn''t take action, I would get swallowed by another monster once again. There is only one fate for her. And that is she either fell through and managed to avoid the mouth of the f*cker, or she fell and got swallowed by the Sea Worm. Chapter 548 Signs Of The Second Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series The hole is very big and the Sea Worm swallowed the whole frozen vige, which also means the Eternal Ice that should be there are no longer there as it also got swallowed along with what the Sea Worm devoured. The researcher and the two female bodyguards are worried about the leader of the bodyguards that got swallowed along the vige when she was trying to check out on my situation. "The Sea Worm has a simr digestive system to the Sand Worm which is why we can still chase it and kill it to rescue our leader. Please! Help us!" one of the female bodyguards begged me to go and follow the sea worm. "Adventurer, even though this is my first time meeting you, I am asking for a favor. Please rescue my bodyguard from the bottomless mouth of the Sea Worm. I will reward you if you are sessful. You will be rewarded greatly. Just please, rescue her," even the researcher begged me to do so. Before I can answer, a quest notification appeared and the request of the researcher appeared for me. Just like most quests I received, the rewards are in question marks. Of course, I will ept the request. That is free gold and experience plus a reward too. I am also sure that I will be fighting the Sea Worm if I ept the quest which means I can earn tons of experience just by killing that big bastard. There is no need for me to think too much about it. I click and epted it. "I am also kind of to me for this so I will ept the request. I will try my best to follow the Sea Worm and find out where she is now." I approach the edge of the hole but the researcher stopped me. "Hey, wait! What are you doing? Are you just going down there without any equipment?!" the researcher was shocked. "Don''t worry, I have my way." Before the researcher can even say another additional word, I jumped off the hole. The three of them peered, revealing that I didn''t just jump without a cushion tond on. Inded at the back of Leona that immediately dived down into the hole. Now that I am here, time to follow the Sea Worm. The ground is very wet even though there is no water in the area which means the wet areas might be the area the Sea Worm passed by. "Leona, follow that wet path. That might be the path we needed to track our target." Leona speeds up as soon as she spotted what I was talking about and traverses the giant tunnel the Sea Worm created. Just seeing a tunnel reminds me of how a Sand Worm works. This one works the same but was just living on the sea instead of the sands but if Ipare which looks more disgusting to look at, I will choose the Sea Worm. Sand Worms are dry and have no other features that will make them look extra disgusting aside from being a worm with thousands of teeth and huge mouths. As for the Sea Worm, not only does it have a sticky and wet look on its body, its slick body without any signs of segmentation parts that Sand Worm possess, it looks like a very long pipe that has a head that eats people, Plus, it constantly oozes with some kind of sticky liquid that I have no idea where it came from. Then there was that slick and shiny body that adds an extra disgusting feel to it. Just by looking at it feels like you are not looking at a creature. As we dwell deeper, Land Piranhas suddenly appeared and started jumping at us. I pulled the Versatile Weapon, changed it to Bow and Arrow, and started to nock the arrow that appears every time I pull the Versatile Weapon''s string and shoot at the Land Piranhas. Because Land Piranhas are pretty weak, they can be killed with one hit using the Versatile Weapon''s bow form only. I just continue to shoot them as we came through and Leona continues to follow the track. The Sea Worm is very big as the tunnel it makes are pretty wide. It was even much bigger than thest Sand Worm I killed before. I have to better find it fast as there seems to be a rule on how the Sea Worms work. The bigger it is, the faster it moves around and the smaller it is, the slower it moves. Since this bastard is big, it is moving a lot faster. "Can you fly a little bit faster Leona? If this is the fastest you can fly, then just go on and continue, if you can still go faster, please do it." Leona ps her wings once and all of a sudden, her speed of Leona increased as she continues to follow the path of the Sea Worm. Then, I saw a movement in the distance. A slick, slithering movement. Not only that, but my weapon seems to be reacting the moment I saw the f*cker move around. "Leona! Follow it!" Leona''s speed increased as we spotted the little f*cker. I aimed the Versatile Weapon in bow form. At least at this distance, I can try to shoot the Sea Worm and slowly chip away some of its HP. But since I am not that dead-urate using it, my shots are missing the target. "F*ck, is me who suck at shooting arrows or the f*cker is just too fast for me to urately shoot?" There is no harm done by shooting and missing, it''s not like I am going to lose an arrow, my weapon generates them automatically. Thankfully, since Leona is speeding up, she finally managed to catch up to the Sea Worm and now we are on its tail''s end. As we approach, the Versatile Weapon shook a lot and I was not expecting it to be like this. It wasn''t like this earlier. Just as I thought it was a bug in the system, an interface appeared before me. [Weapon Attraction Activated: A weapon that fluctuates simrly to a Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series is spotted nearby. Please check and confirm the location of the fluctuation to identify whether it was a fluke or it is indeed a Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series.] Did it activate? That skill has activated? So that means somewhere around here, a Seven Deadly Sins Weapon series is lying around here? But we are moving... don''t tell me... I looked at the fleeing Sea Worm. This thing has eaten quite a lot on the way already. Perhaps while on its eating session, the weapon that belongs to the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series might have been also devoured by this guy. Knowing that there is a fluctuation in the Weapon Series, means this worm right here is now a mandatory kill. I can''t let this bastard just get away from my grasp. Knowing that this bastard holds something I needed, I started to release a barrage of attacks on the guy. I am not seeing its HP just yet but I continue to release more attacks to the worm and hopefully, bleed this guy to death though I really doubt it. Then, in the distance, I hear a ssh of water. From the looks of it, we are approaching the water surface. The moment I knew that I made Leona catch up to it. Once we get into the tail area, I jumped off Leona and recalled her, effectively holding through the body of the slippery and stinky Sea Worm. I opened my inventory and pulled out the still-stored item that I nned to use before but ended up not using it due to various reasons. Yes, the Lung Moss. I thought I collected it for nothing but now, it seems like I have now a good usage for it now. Stabbing on its thick skin using the Versatile Weapon, I consumed the Lung Moss. [You have consumed (Lung Moss). You can breathe underwater for the duration of 1 hour.] And as I consumed it, my body alongside the huge tail of the Sea Worm plunges through the water. The water is cold as heck but thanks to the Lung Moss, my breathing didn''t have any problem underwater. However, now I have a time limit. Although I can stay underwater with the Lung Moss, I don''t have much of it in my inventory which is why I needed to end this as soon as possible and as fast as I can do it. I wanted to do the trick of stabbing the enemy and then using the [Earth Fissure] to break the target to pieces but I can''t do that with someone I needed to save who is swallowed by the Sea Worm, which means I have to do this in a surefire way. Crawl until I reach the very head of the guy before bombarding its head with attacks or maybe feeding its mouth with explosives. No matter what I needed to confirm whether that weapon was part of the Seven Deadly Sins or not. Chapter 549 Sea Worm Since we entered the body of water, I noticed that the movement of the Sea Worm is actually pretty sluggish. It''s not as fast as when Leona and I are chasing it on the ground and its speed has been reduced by a lot. I have not witnessed the Sea Worm swim on the sea as most of the time of its appearance, it is always on the ground before killing it. It was never been killed on the sea. I was expecting its speed to be simr to Anacondas or Sea Snakes when swimming underwater but seeing how this worm swims around is just a big disappointment. But since I am not going to benefit if it was fast, I am actually happy with how disappointing its speed is. I can even take advantage of it to proceed with the n to eliminate this particr Sea Worm. With the slow movement of the Sea Worm underwater, I was able to move on its body slowly. I am just hugging the body of the Sea Worm right now and even though the texture of its skin is pretty disgusting, I can only just endure as I can''t fully keep my body away from its body if I don''t grasp it like I am hugging a giant tree trunk right now. If the Sea Worm has segmentations on its body, I can at least use that to "hold" property on its body. With that said, not only the design of this worm is causing me trouble, the sliminess that the skin of this monster is releasing. To make sure I won''t trail off from the body of the Sea Worm, I relied on my grip to fully cling to its body while it is moving underwater. Thanks to the Lung Moss, I don''t need to worry about oxygen for an hour and I can focus on moving along as soon as I can. Though the pressure of the water is definitely not that strong, it''s not easy moving fast underwater either. But I keep on doing it as fast as I can do it. ... ... I don''t know how long was I crawling on its body but I continued to move and if my estimation is correct, I am in the middle of the body of the Sea Worm. I can also feel the water pressure is also getting stronger which means we are also getting deeper into the water. I have no idea where it was going but if I were to guess, perhaps it''s going to itsir. If a Sand Worm has itsir underground, then the Sea Worm also has one. After all, worms like to burrow underground. A few minutester, my assumption is correct as we entered some enormous cavern that I suspected to be created by the Sea Worm itself. Not only that but I was surprised since it wasn''t submerged underwater despite the fact that we are underwater, the "nest" of the Sea Worm doesn''t appear to be submerged underwater. It''s kind of a wonder to me how these things happened but eh, must be some sort of bullsh*t reason about magic and stuff that I don''t understand and will never understand but who cares? Right now, I have to eliminate this guy before the digestive system of this worm begins to work and digest the one I am going to rescue. The Sea Worm went to the most corner of the cavern and curled up. I was surprised when it curled up but I quickly jumped off from its body before I get crushed on it once it is done curling. Soon enough, the Sea Worm went to slumber, perhaps to digest up what it had eaten just earlier. I waited for a bit for it to fall to full slumber as there is a chance it will wake up. If it enters full slumber, as long as I don''t attack it yet, it will not wake up even if you climbed around its body. Around 30 minutester, the Sea Worm has entered full slumber mode. That''s when I jump out from where I am hiding. After making extra sure that it is no longer going to wake up, I surveyed the area first. I needed to make sure that if I make a ruckus around here, nothing wille attacking as a result of the ruckus. I don''t want that to happen. Thankfully, after making a full survey, the area doesn''t have any threats which means this cavern is only owned by the Sea Worm alone making this a much better situation. That also means there is no problem now to do what I needed to do. A surefire way that will reduce all of its HP in one go without worrying about destroying the whole body of the Sea Worm. I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and breath deeply. I needed to prepare my body for this. After a little bit of waiting, I exhaled deeply before raising the Versatile Weapon in the air. "Activate! [Blood Weapon]!" As soon as I shouted that, I can feel my whole body seems to be getting drained and my whole body has gotten very weak all of a sudden. However, I persevere as the Versatile Weapon immediately got covered in deep blood. It didn''t take long for my HP to drop to 1% and my whole body is aching. If my current body was the same body in the past, this pain is nothing but since this is the first time my character has experienced this, this is a very painful experience and if not for the fact that I have a mental fortitude enough to hold on to this pain for multiple times, I might have already passed out. I took out the XXL bottle of Health Potion and chug down all of its contents, healing a quarter of the HP I lost. I still felt a little bit weaker but I managed to handle it. I looked at the Versatile Weapon and the description was not kidding, this is indeed a weapon covered in moving blood. It seems the Versatile Weapon sucked almost all of my blood as a result. If I didn''t drink a potion to restore it, I might die just by tripping myself. I pointed the Versatile Weapon into the Sea Worm and activated another one of the skills again. "[Avarice]!" The Versatile Weapon shook a little bit before a transparent dragon form appeared and enveloped the whole Sea Worm. It didn''t wake the Sea Worm which means that skill wasn''t counted as an attack which is good to know even though I am prepared to fight in case it gets counted as an attack. Once the transparent dragon form finished enveloping the Sea Worm, it returned to the Versatile Weapon and I felt a rush of energy and power all of a sudden. That means the temporary stats it devoured from the Sea Worm is now part of me for a bit. I was tempted to check on how much the increase has but time is running short and as much as I want to take my time, I would rather rush and finish it so that my stress levels will not rise further. Now, time to test how well this skill does to an enemy like this and see whether the amplified stats work. "[Devouring Hunger], activate and show me what you can do!" Before I can react, the Versatile Weapon that is currently in sword form suddenly changed form and became a sword with a mouth in it, If I swing it down, the mouth will open wide and attack, if I swing it upwards, another mouth will appear and just by this, it looks cool as heck especially since it doesn''t look like a sword anymore but some sort of high tech weapon that seems to move on its own. Too bad I can only use this 5 times in a month. With the preparationplete, time to finish up the final blow. I immediately rushed forward to the Sea Worm and swing down the Versatile Weapon. GWAAARKK! BRAAAAKKK! The sound of blood and flesh resounded the moment I brought down the Versatile Weapon to the Sea Worm''s slumbering head- or used to be head. Well, the reason I said that is because the moment I brought down the Versatile Weapon to kill it, the head of the Sea Worm that is currently just sleeping has disappeared and the only thing left is the body of the dead Sea Worm as the notification of my sessful kill to the Sea Worm appeared. I already expected it as I had reduced the stats of the Sea Worm a lot and I buffed the heck out of the Versatile Weapon by activating all of the skills that can enhance the Versatile Weapon and the moment I swing it down to the snake, I just realized that the Versatile Weapon just singlehandedly devoured the head of the Sea Worm in one single attack. Chapter 550 The Spirit Of Mammon I underestimated the full power of all the new buffs that got applied on the Versatile Weapon that got transmitted to the single swing I did. Who wouldn''t be shocked if the much bigger enemy and a giant than you would immediately die by a weapon the size of a needle? Isn''t that just kind of embarrassing to the giant? Then again, there are many giants that got killed by small beings so why would I be too surprised... Still, for a single head of the Sea Worm to disappear in just one swing, was very unexpected for me since I expected it to only get damaged and would attack me before I strike for the kill, I didn''t mean for it to be a one-hit kill. Not only that but decapitating a Sea Worm without blood is something I have not seen before. I managed to kill a Sea Worm without even awakening it, killing it before it can even wake up from its slumber that just urred a few minutes ago. In just one split second, after my single swing, the Sea Worm''s head disappeared right before my eyes without seeing the Shadow dragon do its devouring progress. It was like it devoured the head the moment I swing the Versatile weapon down. But since the results appeared, it was clear that I have indeed killed the f*cker in one hit. That wasn''t just a little fluke right there. But since I killed it, might as well finish everything. Now that the Sea Worm is dead, time to butcher the Sea Worm and rip out its stomach. "As, Gobu, please assist me on this one." The two appeared after summoning them and they marveled at the big Sea Worm''s headless body. "I heard Sea Worms are very simr to the Sand Worm. I can see the simrities but it''s not that simr in terms of appearances," Gobu scratches his chin. "What are we going to do with this big chunk of lifeless meat, Master? Just so you know, the Sand Worm''s meat is not edible as it can cause irritation in the body once eaten and can sometimes poison you as a result. So the only way we can do about the flesh is to dispose of it by throwing it into the water and letting all manners of sea life devour and eat the Sea Worm''s remains," As exined. "This is my first time dealing with a Sea Worm, so does that mean this guy doesn''t have any useful parts?" "Unfortunately, yes. Compared to the Sand Worm, the Sea Worm doesn''t have a lot more potential for use which is why Sea Worms are just being hunted because they are a menace and can sometimes ruin some small inds as a result of it devouring around." "Alright Master, should we destroy its belly and rescue the gal that got eaten?" "Yes. The Sea Worm is big and humongous which is why I want to ask for some help on how to deal with the stomach and rescue her." "Yes, Master. Although Sea Worm''s skins are tough, they are not that difficult to handle, let me take care of it," Gobu lifted his arms to show his biceps which are bigger than my muscles which I am a bit jealous of. I wanted to be so ripped that I would overflow like a gigachad. And so, we began to dismantle the body of the Sea Worm. It was now clear to me the differences between the Sand Worm and Sea Worm. As we continue to dig up through the flesh and its bones,. we soon saw some white solid stuff on the stomach of the Sea Worm. "Looks like even if they are inside the warm stomach of the Sea Worm, they will remain to be the Eternal Ice due to their solid properties of remaining simr to crystallization of elements," Asmented as he picked up a single piece of shattered Eternal Ice. "Then that also means the one we are looking for is already out and we can now rx easy. This one big ass monster is big enough that I don''t want to handle a monster this big again for me to dismantle them without even getting any product." With Gobu as the one who leads us to the depths of the Sea Worm''s body, we traversed the inside to search for the enemy. As we continue to look into the pool of blood, I sometimes saw some dead bodies of people but most of them are either in pieces or they are too hard to recognize. Seeing as they have some particles of the white crystallization means they are the lost vigers of the swallowed-up vige that got frozen by the Eternal Ice. Since the result of the vige was eaten by the Sea Worm, the remains of those that were frozen solid are going to be reduced to pieces. sping my hands together, I offered a silent prayer to them. Even if they are just NPCs, they don''t deserve to die this tragically as a result. We continue to dwell deeper and Gobu grabbed our attention to the flesh around the "walls" inside the boy of the Sea Worm. "Master, this is clearly a sign of a sword. They are not that deep, to begin with, but they still managed to give a little impact. Perhaps this is the area where our target is." I checked the swords mark and examined them thoroughly and discovered that it is indeed just been done recently which means the one responsible for this just recently did this. "Let''s get investigating a little bit further. We might be able to find her there if we search a little bit deeper." At that moment too, the Versatile Weapon is also pulsating which also means the Second Weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins Weapon Series is nearby and unless there are other exnations of what causing the Versatile Weapon to pulsate, then that is the only matter I can think about right now. Gobu''s ears twitch as we approached a much darker area of the Sea Worm''s body. "Master, I hear something. Someone''s movements.," Gobu pointed in the direction ahead of us. "Let''s hurry," I am also ready to use my Versatile Weapon. After all, there might be other stuff there instead of just the person I needed to rescue. But instead of seeing misceneous stuff over there, I found the woman that we are intending to rescue being strangled by an unforeseen force. Gobu is the first one to notice and he immediately pulled out his Elemental Sword and unleashed a Fire Swirl towards the unforeseen force which also forces the unforeseen force to let go of the bodyguard woman. "As! Catch her!" As immediately leaped into action and grabbed the bodyguard woman, helping her escape from the grasp of the Unforeseen force. "Good job, Gobu. Just what was that?" "No idea, Master. It was an unforeseen force and I decided to rip away the f*cker the moment I saw it strangling the person that we needed to rescue. It must be furious right now," Gobu readies his weapon as we observed our surroundings. Then, my Versatile Weapon pulsates again and the surroundings suddenly seemed to be getting blurry but I can still properly see, just what we are seeing ahead of us is being altered. "F*CK, An illusion?" Gobu and As slowly back away to avoid the illusion. It was spreading as we back away and it seems to being our way. "Master! It was the unforeseen force!" This time around, I decided to take action and swing the Versatile Weapon to what the unforeseen force that Gobu keeps on saying about. BANG! A huge explosion can be heard after I swung my sword which made the creeping illusion get swayed and blown by my attack. "F*CK. Another part of my siblings?!" The unforeseen force started speaking causing us to frown. "Who the f*ck are you?!" As points his greatsword to the entity we cannot see. "Well, who indeed? Perhaps you should ask yourself whether you needed to know who am I?" "We will not be asking you that question if we already knew who you are. But whatever your purpose here is, you are not going to seed," As continued. "Hoh, just because you all have one of my siblings against me doesn''t mean you can defeat me easily with that logic alone. Come on, brothers or sisters! Why are you hurting your sibling like this? We should be helping ourselves with each other, not hurt each other!" "I don''t know who you are calling siblings here, bastard but no one is going to listen to you." "Shut up! I am not talking to you!" the unforeseen force attacked and I immediately blocked them and destroyed all of the iing attacks causing the unforeseen force to frown. "Why are you siding with a human, my sibling? We are born to annihte humans! To rule over them! Why are you sumbing to their will instead?! Each of us is assigned to do our own way to do it! Just like how I was assigned to engulf and manipte the greed of all humans and all creatures all around the world. Have you all forgotten all about it? That''s when it urred to me after this unforeseen force started talking about it. There is only one thing I know about it and that is none other than the Seven Deadly Sins Weapon series. "I see. I know who you are now. You are the Spirit of Mammon. The embodiment of Greed in the human heart." Chapter 551 Manifestation Of Greed In Alternate World, Mammon is the manifestation of greed. The embodiment of all evil thoughts that involve coveting money and otherworldly riches that everyone wanted to get in this world. In a sense, this is a sin that everyone had in their life. Even I are not safe from greed. So that means the next weapon is the Weapon of the Greed Sin. In the past timeline, the Weapon of Greed didn''t appear and is thought to be something that will never appear unless a certain condition has been met. But to think that the reason it didn''t appear is that it has been staying inside the body of a Sea Worm of all things. Isn''t it just quite ridiculous? There is no such thing such as crazy prerequisite quests needed toplete, you just needed to be lucky to find the Sea Worm who eat the weapon of greed that kept that weapon inside of it. The moment I mentioned his name, Mammon who is just an unforeseen force earlier begins to materialize his little form. As expected of a greedy guy, he is very fat and although he wore royalty clothes, he looks really bad in them as his body is very bloated looking at him like this just hurts my eyes. I even thought of him to be the embodiment of Gluttony but perhaps they are exactly the same, with the only difference as Mammon likes riches and money while the Gluttony embodiment would like to keep eating and eating which would make sense for the embodiment of Gluttony. Mammon frowned the moment I mentioned his name. After all, no one has seen Mammon''s true form, and has beenbeled as the greediest person who existed. After he disappeared, it was said that all of his treasures became cursed items and in fear, the people decided to throw all of them into the sea just to make sure no people be simr to Mammon. That''s how iconic Mammon is even after he died. And perhaps the reason the Weapon of Greed exists is that it was the culmination of all the treasures of Mammon''s treasury that were thrown to the sea and are now in weapon form. I don''t know really well about it but perhaps that is why the Manifestation of Greed is Mammon himself. "Huh, so even the new generations still knew me. I am impressed. Usually, I would never bother listening to anyone other than my siblings but since you have one of my siblings, then perhaps we can be allies and conquer the world that is filled in sin?" "No wonder they call you one of the worst people that existed back then. Just by my first impression, you already suck *ss. Gobu, As, get ready. We are about to obliterate this f*cker out of this." When Mammon heard that, it seems he didn''t like the sound of my answer to him. "Why are you rejecting my generosity!? Why is my sibling unresponsive? What is going on? What have you done?" I quickly understood what he is going on immediately. "Gobu! As, carry her out of here, I will take care of this!" As and Gobu nodded, knowing that I am aware of what I am about to do. They quickly turned around and escaped while I stayed behind and ready my Versatile Weapon. Mammon is grabbing his head and is screaming while keeping on saying "My sibling" multiple times. If my assumption is correct, the sibling he keeps on talking about is the other six sins. Since he was the manifestation of greed, the other sin is his siblings in a sense. "Why is my sibling keeping quiet? Aren''t humans supposed to be controlled by our powers? Why can you control the power of my sibling and yet you don''t appear to be controlled?! Why?!" As much as he keeps whining, I have enough of his bullsh*try. I don''t care if he wanted to keep on talking about stuff, I don''t need to see his ugly face anymore. He is just a manifestation of greed. Who would even miss him if he is gone? Definitely not me. "Although you are already dead, you shall die!" I attacked Mammon, preparing to cut off Mammon in half, however, Mammon immediately dodges, making my swing miss, But since I can damage him with my Versatile Weapon, there is no doubt that this guy can be destroyed in the process. "If my sibling does not control you, then I will forcefully awaken my sibling and make you submit!" Just like that, Mammon started to grow in size, his manifestation isn''t just some kind of hologram, his body has solidified and he became a giant... with a giant stomach which looks gross especially since the stomach is kinda semi-transparent and there seems to be something moving around it. His body is also got adorned with multiple essories that I can easily tell to be really expensive if bought with money. But even though he was adorned by them, he still looks disgusting. [Mammon, The Embodiment of Ultimate Greed] Level:??? HP: ??????/?????? Traits: Evil Damn, question marks again. This guy has a lot of HP for the system tobel its question marks. I would dly fight a monster with a hundred million HP anytime but an enemy with a Question Mark HP bar is just annoying. It either means this f*cker is unkible, a certain process needed to remove the question marks, or maybe just reduce its HP as long as you can and see whether the question marks will slowly turn to numbers... "Using my power as the manifestation of greed, I will dere that you are destined to die, buried under the gold!" He then began throwing gold coins. As much as that sounds real good, my situation is not good. Because the gold coins are not something I can just sp in my hands, in fact, they are too big in size. One single coin is enough to crush me t. I didn''t stay there standing and started running as I try to get closer to Mammon. I changed the Versatile Weapon''s form and changed it to a dual gun. There are two things I can think of defeating Mammon. One is to get near him and attack his stomach multiple times and burst him and although that would look disgusting, I don''t think I would think too much about it. The second is to reach the Weapon of Greed itself. I don''t know what is the form of the Weapon of Greed but I can see it as either a staff or a sword though I am more inclined to be the former than thetter. The weapon of greed is currently behind the giant Mammon and the only thing I can do is to move past him, find a good way to sneak past him, or burst his stomach in one go. Gold coins continue to drop as Mammon continue to throw off the gold to me which is very dangerous as there are lots of gold coins falling and there is only one slight gap of time to dodge them and with one mistake, I would get squashed by them in just a matter of seconds. I started shooting at Mammon''s stomach. I can easily tell the bullets are just bouncing off meaning they don''t do anything aside from hitting and then falling off after. It was like the stomach of Mammon is made of rubber. This is very annoying. After several dodges, I managed to get out of the range of the gold coins. Changing the weapon form to a hook and chain, I throw it to Mammon and climbed using its function to pull me to where the hooknded. "Hoho, nice job getting into my body, little boy, but unfortunately, that also means I can easily squish you like an ant you are." Mammon proceeds to p down his palms. It''s only a split second and I easily avoided them but I can tell that I am not safe staying at Mammon''s body as I can easily get squashed but I have no choice I if I want to get to his weapon and devour it. Wait... Perhaps the reason Mammon is detecting the sibling he keeps on mentioning is that my Versatile Weapon devoured the Weapons of Pride. Since it was busy controlling the king of the Insect Kingdom, the embodiment of Pride did not appear. And since I forcefully devoured the weapon from the hands of the insect king, the embodiment of pride disappeared. And with the Versatile Weapon devouring the Weapons of Pride, that also means the embodiment of Pride has already been digested. In short, the sibling Mammon is trying to awaken is already dead and the only thing left behind is the powers of the dead embodiment. If that is the case, the only way for me to do this is to reach to the weapon itself and had the Shadow Dragon devour it. I can easily picture the Versatile Weapon''s shadow dragon liking it. Okay, that''s it. Time to feed! Chapter 552 Devouring The Greed Mammon is clearly underestimating me as he is not giving all his attacks against me. It seems this big guy is just thinking that I am just easy to dispose of and nothing else to give worry to himself. However, if he thinks that is how the way it should go, then he has never tasted defeat just yet. "I am counting on you Shadow Dragon. You might always be hungry but I think I can use your bottomless hunger levels to use this time around. [DEVOUR]!" The Versatile Weapon''s Shadow Dragon appeared and appearedrger than before than I expected. Is it because it devoured the Sea Worm not too long ago and already digested it? Shadow Dragon as expected, seems to be hungry again as the moment it saw Mammon, it started to lick its droll and extended its head towards the Shadow Dragon and took a big chunk of its meat on its thigh that Mammon who was busy throwing coins at me in hopes of crushing me with one of the coins screams in agony as a huge chunk of his flesh is missing. But to my surprise, the Shadow Dragon which literally eats anything metal and flesh alike decided to spit out the flesh of Mammon. It was like it just took a little bite to Mammon never to bite again. Imagine being such a filthy entity that even the Shadow Dragon that almost eats anything decided that this flesh is not even worthy of being consumed. That is just hrious to me. The Shadow Dragon even looked at me even though I can''t see any kind of eyes present on this guy but seeing it "look" at me aftermanding it to devour me is just funny. It was like, "what the heck did you even try to feed me? That is sh*t" kind of reaction. Perhaps it was just me but I can see that if the Shadow Dragon can talk. Due to the pain, it seems I only increased the anger point Mammon and decided to immediately dispose of me before things get bad. His huge left hand was about to squash me down but I immediately used the Versatile Weapon''s Hook and Chain to dodge away from the attack. But Mammon seems to already know that I will be dodging which is why his right hand also ising down to also crush me to a paste. "Dammit, [Devour] once again!" The Shadow Dragon appeared and seeing the big handing down, it immediately understood what it needed to do. It expands its mouth, bigger than the hands of Mammon, and swallowed it whole but did not gulp it down. Knowing that it didn''t like the taste of the flesh of Mammon himself, it was clear it was not gonna eat it so the only thing needed to do is execute the final action to relieve the Shadow Dragon from keeping that big hand on its mouth, "GRAAAAAAAAAH!" I pulled the Versatile Weapon with all my strength. I poured all of my strength into it so that the veins in my hands appeared and my teeth gritted as I pull the weapon forcefully. "IT HURTSSSS! IT HURTSSSS!" Mammon screamed as the Shadow Dragon did not even let go. Mammon grabbed his arm and started to also pull with all his strength. I also pulled with all my strength and I didn''t just half-assed this one. I poured almost every single fiber of my strength in one go, I am charging all of it in my hands. "HUZAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I pulled the Versatile Weapon with all my might I felt blood fall from my nose. It seems I have overdone it this time. However, in the tug of war between me and Mammon, the victor is none other than me. RIPPPP! "AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!" Mammon''s scream resounded inside the flesh cavern of the Sea Worm. The result of my win is the severed hands of Mammon that got forcefully pulled apart. And as expected, the Shadow Dragon that didn''t like the taste of Mammon''s flesh spits the whole hands that are still in his mouth after they got ripped apart from Mammon. Mammon screamed in pain as he started to fall down and endure the pain that the Shadow Dragon did to his hands. I immediately took this chance and used the Versatile Weapon to swing into the back of Mammon where the weapon is located like spiderman by using the Hook and Chain form and clinging to the flesh of the Sea Worm all around me, especially on the ceiling area. Mammon is like a child as he bawled over his arm. I wanted to shout and say that he was pathetic but I didn''t bother as I would rather focus on getting rid of him as soon as I can. Since the shortcut to his doom is already there, I have to just activate it. I went deeper into the Sea Worm''s body. The Versatile Weapon is shaking like crazy the moment I managed to arrive at the back of Mammon. I have not seen it just yet but I assume the weapon itself is located much deeper into the area. As I dive deeper, I heard Mammon and the moment I looked behind, I saw Mammoning at me crawling using his remaining hand with a face that looks very simr to the Bridge worm that Trevor Henderson made before(Search it up if you are curious or don''t know what it looks like). It was so terrifying that I didn''t bother to look back and continue running full speed into the depths of the body of the Sea Worm. If I was in a horror game, this could be a scripted chase scene and if I enter a room or something, this guy will disappear. However, in the distance, I saw a gold-colored item in the distance. It sore like a sore thumb as everything around us are red and the thing sticking out is a bright gold color. It is small but if it was color gold, that only means that is what I am looking for. I may have not seen the current feature of the Weapon of Greed but I decided that it''s better to not bother with what it looks like especially with Mammon who looks like a monstrosity chasing after me. As I got near the gold thing sticking out, the more the Versatile Weapon is acting crazy. That''s when I decided to do the decision even though I wanted to see what it was. "[DEVOUR]!" I thrust the Versatile Weapon forward and the Shadow Dragon drolls the moment it saw the gold thing and didn''t hesitate to swallow it up. The moment the Shadow Dragon gulped down the gold thing, Mammon screamed in pain. "AAAAGGGHHHH! WHAT IS HAPPENING?! WHY AM I MELTING?! WHAT IS GOING ON?! AAAAAAAHHHHH HEEELLLPPP!" I looked behind and just like what the was shouting, he is melting. His body looks like a candle exposed to heat. Not only that but he is also shrinking. Seeing that his enormous body has returned to how it was before, I pulled out the Pain Delivery gun out and did not even bother to ask for hisst words and just pulled the trigger...multiple times on his face. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! Although seven bullets seem to be overkill, it would be better to be overkill than the risk of iting back and getting killed by it in the process. Mammon melted, evaporated, disintegrated, whatever you call it, he disappeared after the delivery of 7 bullets to his melting head. Thankfully, it wasn''t that bad and the battle didn''t have much problem. In fact, I didn''t suffer any injuries from his attacks and I didn''t suffer any sort of probleming from the enemies. I managed to win. I also realized that I just finished off Mammon easily without getting wrecked. When I fought against the Weapons of Pride, even though they were just Spear and Shield with the shield being the main MVP of that fight where I almost died, I struggled a lot with that. But the embodiment of Greed didn''t appear to be threatening at all. I don''t know what is happening but that was the case. But the plus side of this is that I managed to devour the Weapon of Greed. I don''t know what kind of weapon it was as I was in a big hurry to escape from Mammon himself that I didn''t know what the weapon actually looks like as I have not properly registered it on my mind as I preupied myself with which ces are more guaranteed to have safety for me. Of course, my assumption is that the gold thing that my Versatile Weapon devoured is indeed the weapon that is the belonging to the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series. I turned to look at the Versatile Weapon and as expected, the same message from before appeared before me. [Weapon Series detected: The weapon of Greed, the Knuckles of Avaritia: Hands of Midas. Due to the acquisition of the weapon, the Versatile Weapon will undergo a hibernation mode. During this time, the Versatile Weapon will not be possible to be used in any means.] [Assimtion Progress: 0%] Wait... a knuckle? The Weapon of Greed is a knuckle? Chapter 553 Planned Vacation In Aquagius The weapon of Greed turned out to be a knuckle. I would understand more if it was staff as most of the time, rulers do have a scepter with them and sometimes, a golden staff they use to signify their power and royalty to the normal popce. But a knuckle is something I didn''t expect. Well, this weapon is not found in the past timeline so why would I beining about this? Also, from the looks of the name, it seems like the power of touch that King Midas have in the stories where everything he touches turns into gold is the reason why it was a gauntlet. Because in the stories in Alternate World, King Midas asked a soldier to cut off his two hands to avoid the "blessing" he received from causing more chaos, after that, he died from blood loss due to the people around him didn''t bother to help him patch up his bleeding wound since they are fed up with him being a greedy and a tyrant of a ruler. Of course, this is different from the Midas in the real world as this is the Alternate World counterpart. As for his hands that have been cut off, no one knows what happened to them, and many spected that the one who granted his request to turn everything he touches into gold reimed it by taking the hands away from the popce. I can see now why it was associated with the sin of greed at the very least. With Mammon gone for good, I decided to check the interior part of the Sea Worm to see if there is anything left here that hasn''t been digested by the Sea Worm. I might even get a chance to get a treasure! Unfortunately, that was all vain as my search proved to be fruitless as most of the stuff left there is just debris from the old vige that got eaten along with some dead bodies that have been shattered after it got frozen by the Eternal Ice and got eaten by the Sea Worm. I left the ce as soon as possible. The smell is a bit disgusting and if not for the fact that I wanted to find some kind of treasure there, I wouldn''t even bother to stay there for long. "Master. You are back. Seeing you calm andposed means you defeated that guy from earlier?" Gobu asked as he weed me by giving me a towel to wipe the smell off my body. "Yeah. Although he was threatening at first, he didn''t live up to his danger and ended up dying fast. We don''t need to mention that guy, he is irrelevant now. By the way, how is the bodyguard?" "Sir As is the one attending on her at the moment, over there." "Alright, thanks for the help Gobu, you can go back and rest now." "Thank you, Master." Gobu returned to the summon''s area while I approached As to see the current situation of the female bodyguard. "How is she now, As?" "She is still unconscious but she is not in harm''s way. Her breathing and stable and she didn''t suffer many injuries either. She just had a sprain in her left hand, probably when trying to survive the Sea Worm''s attack and as she was trying to cling to something, it ended up badly. I already patched it up and she just needed to let it sit and heal or else it will be bad again." "That''s good. So is there anything interesting that happened while I was inside the Sea Worm?" "Ah, yes Master. Earlier, I saw some Merfolk swimming nearby. They just swam past this area so they didn''t know there are people here." "So it means the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is already back on its feet and the poption has finally returned from the brink? Thest time we were there, no one was left behind except for the guardian of the ce." "Perhaps they did. If they are emerging from the sea and settling above the sea surface, I think they are now ready to interact with other races now. I don''t know what is going on but that is probably the main case here." "How about we stay in Aquagius in the meantime, Master? We don''t have any pressing issues at the moment and we barely explored Aquagius. Not only that but I think it is also time for Tina to visit her Dad." Inside the summon''s area, Tina grumbled. "Is it really necessary for me to even interact with my parents? They don''t really care about me, so why would they bother?" "You might be right that they have neglected you but they are under the influence of control. They are free from those shackles Tina, I think it is time to check with them and talk to them. If it is still the same thing that you have experienced before, then nothing we can do about it. You still have a family with us to wee you back," As persuades Tina. Tina hesitates. "Let me think about it for a bit." I shook my head at As. "Just let her do her own decision. It''s her life and we cannot dictate it. But I think your suggestion is good. We have yet to explore the expansive area of Aquagius and we can start hunting enemies here. We can do that as we wait for the Kingdom of the Deep Sea emerges." Before we depart from this ce, I decided to look around this area and check if there are any hidden things present in the area or any missed treasure chests that are just hidden in in sight. But like always, I ended up finding it a disappointment. It was a secret area but there are no bonuses to be found. That is what sucks a lot in secret areas in Alternate World. Liberate Secret Areas are full of the good stuff while secret areas that can only be discovered by unique means have no such things present in them. It''s like getting an achievement over doing nothing. After the survey, I returned to As and the female bodyguard and pulled out a teleport scroll to return to the surface. I don''t want to waste the lung moss I have right now as that is a current rare resource I have and I don''t know when I will have to use it and be a handy item like what happened after the chase scene against the sea worm. p "Ready As?" "Anytime, Master." RIP! The scroll ripped into two and invokes the magic circle of teleportation beneath our feet and we were engulfed in a blinding light before we reappeared in the Teleporter section of the Insect Kingdom. Compared to my arrival in the Insect Kingdom a few hours ago, right now, the yers are all over the ce. They are so many of them that it was kind of amusing that this ce was a battleground before and almost got destroyed if not for my intervention. "Master. I guess we should find a lodging house to camp for the day while waiting for the Kingdom of the Sea to rise up to the surface." "I doubt we can get any lodging house on inns in the Insect Kingdom. With all the people here, I can guess that every room in most inns is upied." "Oh, that''s very understandable especially if there is a huge happening after a few days. Many people will want to stay here for a while. We should have secured our ce to stay while we are here," As sighed in disappointment. "As, tsk tsk, did you forget that we don''t need to go to an inn? We already have a house in Aquagius and although we just used it as a temporary ce to stay for a while, that is still home for us here." That''s when As remembered the cottage we made not too far from the Insect Kingdom. It was an area built by a yer and NPC which means I have ess to it anytime I wanted to enter the ce. As for intruders, they cannot enter the building unless I permitted them to enter. I have ess to the area and since I know some yers like to explore, there will be at least one or two yers who might discover the cottage Lina made before which is why I limit it to my permission on who can enter. In short, it is a private home that we can take any time we wanted to. We went there by using Leona''s flight abilities to reach there without trekking the whole area. With an injured person with us, this is the best way to transport anyone. And as expected, the ce is still the same as before. And although it''s been a while since we got there, the ce is still clean and good to go. You can say that our escapades in the past have saved us future annoying problems. And it''s a big win for me. Chapter 554 The Emergence Of The Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (I) After As settles down the female bodyguard down to the bed that Lina previously made inside the cottage, I resummoned Leona to fetch the two bodyguards and the researchers who are left behind on that small ind where I found the Eternal Ice and the Sea Worm who devoured it. Although my point of going to Aquagius is to learn more about the girl in the photo which ended up being fruitless, it still didn''t end up as a fruitless endeavor for me as I managed to secure the Weapon of Greed out of pure coincidence that I didn''t expect it to appear just like that. Anyways, it only took a few minutes for Leona to return to the little ind. This time, I didn''t go into the forest again and directed Leona straight to the area where everything happened. By now, the bodyguards should already have seen Leona especially since I used her the moment I fall down the hole to chase the Sea Worm. I didn''t go down immediately and check whether they are still there because it would be a waste of time if they have already left. But as I expected, they are still there. The researcher who is doing his research before and didn''t care about his surroundings is sulking on the corner, under the big tree, and hugging his knees. As for the two bodyguards, they are peering into the giant hole and are still trying to spot anything on it. I think they are expecting me to emerge there carrying the other female bodyguard. That would have been the case if the Sea Worm didn''t dive down underwater and go to itsir. I ordered Leona tond on the t area not too far from the hole which is enough to catch the attention of the three. When I was about tond, the two bodyguards immediately raised their guards but the moment they saw meing down on Leona, they dropped their guards and immediately informed the researcher. Hearing that I have returned, he immediately stopped sulking and weed me. "Where is she? Is she safe?" the researcher is genuinely worried. I kind of wonder what their rtionship is as he seems really depressed when the female bodyguard disappeared after being swallowed by the Sea Worm. "Come with me. We settled her down to the vacation house I have in Aquagius. She is fine but she remained unconscious due to the prolonged exposure to the Sea Worm''s insides. Pleasee with me, I will take you guys there. Well, as long as you guys do not have any business left here." "Sure, let''s go. Without the Eternal Ice here after it was swallowed, there is no need for us to remain here." I asked them if they are fine riding on Leona''s back and hearing that they should be fine, we departed from the ind. I wondered a little bit about how they have arrived on that ind but then I remembered that there are some gadgets that allow people to summon a boat out using the gadgets sold in stores just like the snow carriage that Sigma owned during the time we are on the Frozen Region of Sandurk. "The Sea Worm indeed swallowed her and she almost got digested by the big f*cker. I managed to kill the Sea Worm after chasing it to itsir underwater and killed it there which is why I have a hard timeing back using the hole to go back as their of the Sea Worm is an underwater cavern of some sort. Don''t worry about her too much as she didn''t suffer any severe injuries. The only thing we needed to know is whether her mind is alright while being inside the Sea Worm. Just by being there is enough to cause someone to vomit due to how pungent the smell is." "I trust that she is fine. She is a tough woman. I can guarantee that she is just fine." There is nothing left I can say to him as he is very firm about it. The female bodyguards did not talk either so that ended up with us not talking until we arrived at the vacation house. As soon as his feetnded on the ground, the researcher immediately went straight to the vacation house. I already removed the restriction from them so they managed to enter without being barred from entry. Once the researcher has finished confirming the situation, he thanked me profusely that I felt like my hand was about to detach from my body due to his excessive shaking hands showing how grateful he was to her rescue. "Thank you for saving her. I don''t know what to do what I would do if she have died after being swallowed up by the Sea Worm. Truthfully, thank you very much. I know this isn''t much of a paymenting from me after you have saved her from danger but please ept this." He handed me five small vials inside a box he pulled out from his spatial inventory. Although I didn''t think of getting anything fancy after getting the ultimate reward of obtaining the Weapon of Greed, whatever this reward is, I would dly ept it. "Are you guys going now?" I asked. "Yeah. Although it is nice of you to let my wife stay here, it would be a hassle for you especially since you are on vacation. I don''t want to ruin your vacation due to us being here. Besides, she will get proper care back to us if we bring her back." "Wait, she was your wife?" I was shocked and beyond belief. No wonder he was so worried about her, it was because he was the wife of the female bodyguard. Wait, is she really a bodyguard, or she is just there to help with her husband and just act as a bodyguard? "Yeah. Even the others are also my wives. Perhaps I forgot to mention it. Anyways, thank you for everything. Until we meet again." Before I can even react, the researcher and his two wives that are carrying the other wife went out of the vacation house and summoned a flying carriage, and disappeared into the sky in a sh. I didn''t have time to even say anything from him revealing that he actually has a harem. For an insect guy like him who at first nce is like someone who wouldn''t even care to look at a woman only to surprise you that he already has them. You can''t really judge a book by its cover, huh? "Master, earlier while you are fetching those people, a mermaid appeared and has given us an invitation for the uing resurfacing of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. They gave me this after recognizing me as one of your followers. They said that they are expecting us to go." "They have sent us an invitation?" I wasn''t even expecting something like that. It''s not like I have left a legacy to the merfolk that everyone would remember me for what I did. In fact, they should have banned me as I am the one who killed most of the citizens of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea after they turned into undead. As handed me a m ne. It doesn''t look like a normal m as the design is very intricate and it is glowing. Not only that but despite being a m, it looks like it was made of ss due to how smooth it was to the touch. "Did the mermaid say anything else after giving this?" "She just said that we just needed to show it to any of the merfolk who tries to block our way in the Kingdom of the Deep Sea and we will be immediately weed unbarred." "Ah, a special pass like we are some sort of VIP eh? Didn''t expect that they would treat us like this even after all we have done. But since this is already in my hands, it''s kind of a waste if we just don''t use it once the kingdom appears. We might as well check it out and see the reason why they gave this to us." It was a long day ahead and I felt tired after all the work we have done. Sitting in the chair and enjoying the fresh breeze justforts my soul even if this was just a game. Oh yeah, the reward from the request of rescuing the female bodyguard who turned out to be the researcher''s wife. It was 5 vials of something but I haven''t checked what it was as I am still talking when I received it and automatically put it inside my inventory. Since I am rxing now, time to check what this thing is. But the moment I checked it out, my eyes couldn''t believe what I just seen. I am sure this item does not exist but here I am, holding 5 vials of it. Chapter 555 The Emergence Of The Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (II) The next day went by very quickly, I still can''t imagine how Rika and I managed to properly exin how Renatta and the pixie appeared and started living with us. After I logged out from the game, I immediately checked Rika and Renatta but I found out that Janus and the siblings are now in discussion about Renatta. As much as this is mind-boggling and something that cannot be easily believed in, everyone at home immediately epted things that are weird. In fact, they already expected things like this. I still remember the reasoning that Janus said why they were so epting of the existence of an elf. "If Magic exists and we can use them without problem, then that also means elves and other races that are not human also exists. Honestly, I expected them to appear sooner orter." Thankfully, they have epted it without much problem and that solves every single thing that I am worried about for now. That saves me too much exnation. Day ended real quick. It''s the same typical day for us so nothing interesting happening to tell. Once the weekendes, I will go back to the workshop and continue making some stuff out of those scales. I eat dinner early the moment I returned home before logging back to the game. There are only a few hours left before the Kingdom of the Deep Sea surfaces and I still wanted to explore the Insect Kingdom and see whether some of the secrets I remember are still there. Not only that but I should also stock up on some materials that are only native to Aquagius. What I am more curious about is why I am being invited to the Emergence of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. I might have done something before but that was pretty minor and there are only three NPC witnesses that have seen my exploits at that time so I don''t know the main reason this invitation is being sent out to me. ... [Wee Back, deheart] The system wees me again as I opened my eyes and stretch my body currently lying on the bed. Being in the forest with natural air conditioning is quite a good feeling. It''s like I did go on a vacation to a tropical ind surrounded by nature. And although the location of the house is far from the beach, I can still smell the salty water in the air, making it more nostalgic. I kinda wanted to swim here soon once the beach in Aquagius opens. Since it isn''t summertime just yet, beaches will only have limited fun at the moment. Taking out the Versatile Weapon in my inventory, the assimtion progress is only 10% in one day. I don''t know how long it will finish the assimtion. If tomorrow has assimtion of this rises to 20%, that means it has assimtion progress of 10% per day which means I needed to wait 10 days starting today to fully use the Versatile Weapon once again. Since that is the case, that also means I also have extra time to use another ss like before. This time around, let''s focus on Berserker this time around. I don''t think I have any skills rted to the Berserker ss and even though I already have the [Berserk] skill, that was on the Swordsman skill tree, the [Berserk] skill on the Berserker ss is still avable for purchase. The only difference between the two is that they are in different sses but function just the same so in short, getting it is just wasting my SP. I don''t have enough SP for this ss so let''s earn some by killing some mobs. Will be right back in a few minutes. ... ... ... (Killing mobs noises because having a word-for-word battle against mobs is boring and I don''t want to add ridiculous moves and cool execution movements while killing normal mobs, better save it during bosses and important enemies) ... ... 2 hours of killing mobs and monsters help gain quite a lot of workout. Not only that but swinging the heavy axe seems a lot harder. I can alternatively use the hammer version but they are just the same weight and sometimes, much heavier than battle axes. I am used to the no-weight feel of the axe version of the Versatile Weapon as they don''t weigh as heavy as normal axes do so when fighting using it, I tend to have trouble immediately reacting to my enemies, especially with how slow I swing the axe against enemies. This only shows that I am overly reliant on Versatile Weapon and I needed to change for that. Sure, they do significant damage but doing big damage against being able to dish out small but consistent damage, the clear winner is obviously thetter and the bigger damage might even get overtaken by smaller but consistent damage. I have earned quite a lot of SP for the Berserker ss but I should save that up for now. At the moment, I don''t need to spend them just yet. I have to worry and practice more on how to effectively swing the axes without getting any difficulties. What''s the point of having a good skill if you suck at swinging the weapon you wield? Even greatswords are much easier for me to usepared to this. Looking at the current time in this world, I think it is time for me to head out to the harbor of Insect Kingdom. Going there much earlier will save me the time to secure a spot for watching the emergence of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. ... ... [Wee to the Insect Kingdom] A big banner is hung above the archway of the port where NPCs and yers will see once they pass and enter the Insect Kingdom. The Insect Kingdom is literally taking advantage of the situation as the Insect Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Deep Sea will be adjacent to each other and the yers and NPCs can travel to and fro in both kingdoms. Not only the Insect Kingdom can benefit from this, but also the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. As I walked around, I can see that the yers who have arrived had definitely decided to take advantage that they were beside a beach. Looking at the beach, even though the summer stalls are not open, I can see a lot of the yers wearing swimsuits and enjoying the feeling of the Virtual Beach. And I can say that the NPCs are also pretty smart as the moment yers are taking interest in visiting the beach, some started selling swimsuits for both boys and girls and some vendors of street foods have also shifted their attention to the food that is suitable and perfect while enjoying the beach. Sure enough, I can see that it definitely works. I can also see the reason for the yer surge in Aquagius is due to the recent destruction in the Capital in Resurgia which is the main point of all business of the continent which if youpare are not that massive and as influential and rich as the main capital. The yers are clearly very excited about the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. All of the topics of the yers are about the Kingdom of the Deep Sea, Mermaids, Merman, and many more. I think I was also like this before in the past timeline but I don''t know if I already have been over with it already as I don''t feel the same excitement as before. Perhaps that is also the downside of being able to restart anew, you go through things over again which kinda gets stale if done repeatedly. As I started to look around the stores, I heard a horn being sounded not too far from my location. In my experience, that is the sign that the process of the Kingdom rising up above the surface is about to happen soon. I saw the insect people soldiers ready on the bridge tform, ready for deployment anytime. yers are also getting ready to move to the waterside, waiting for the current event to eventually happen. I can hear them whispering to other yers and some are looking pretty excited. Some of the yers who are casual and do not share the same excitement as most yers do like me are staying not too far from the harbor yet are able to properly see things quite fine. A few more minutes of calmness in the water before everything started shaking. Some are panicking but most of the guards stationed tried their best to calm down the yers and NPCs looking to make sure chaos does not ur. With this amount of shaking, I can tell that the Kingdom of the Deep Sea is about to resurface after so many years. Soon, the water starts to sift away and buildings slowly surface above the water, revealing the majestic buildings that the Kingdom of the Deep Sea takes pride in especially their Castle. Chapter 556 The Emergence Of The Kingdom Of The Deep Sea (III) The Kingdom of the Deep Sea is much more magnificent than the moment it appeared on the surface. The blue stones embedded in the walls have shined from the rays of the sun, the glowing corals attached to the walls are giving a different vibe every time they change colors, and the design of the buildings looks very familiar to humans but yet looks so different at the same time. The most notable thing about the ce is the big dome that surrounds the whole kingdom. If you look at it from afar, you would think it was some sort of barrier but once you are near, you will realize immediately that the orb surrounding the whole kingdom was actually water. Just that alone makes most people marvel at the sight of the new ce that is just as big as the Insect Kingdom with some extra attractions. While everyone is staring at the Kingdom of the Deep Sea in marvel, the soldiers who are preparing to deploy the tform has finally made their move andy down the bridge tform. Likewise, the merfolk on the other side did the same and also operated something on their side which causes a bridge to appear, and the bridge that fell short to reach the Kingdom of the Deep Sea connected to the bridge that the merfolk operated, creating a pathway for people to finally ess thend of the merfolk. As soon as the guards guarding the dock give way, the yers and NPCs that are eager to visit finally move to the bridge as they enter the kingdom. As for me, I didn''t enter right away. I waited for themotion to slowly die down. Having it happen before you is a bit troublesome and I don''t want to squeeze myself into the crowd as I can just take my time there since it''s not my first time in the Kingdom of the Deep Sea. Since there are many yers and NPCs passing through the bridge, it took a bit of time before the crowd finally went to a manageable size that is good enough to go through without being squeezed by multiple people. When I arrived, merfolk is waiting for us on the pathway between the Kingdom of the Deep Sea and the Insect Kingdom. They were about to say something but then they notice the ne that was given to me by As which is the invitation item that the merfolk has given to me to invite the opening. "Esteemed guest! You have finally arrived. Please go ahead and enjoy your stay inside our humble kingdom!" I didn''t expect the wee from the merfolk since the people before me in the line is just instructed on what to do while entering the kingdom. As for me, I was immediately told a different way of greeting like I am some kind of VIP. Perhaps that is the main purpose of this ne? So that the merfolk would treat me like one? I don''t know. I needed more evidence that it was the main case. ... [You have discovered a new area: New Kingdom of the Deep] I frowned when I heard the notification and the name of the kingdom. The New Kingdom of the Deep? It''s no longer Kingdom of the Deep Sea? It is even shown to me that it is a new ce despite the fact that I was here during thest Aquagius mission that allowed me to fight the zombified merfolk living here. The water dome is just the same feeling as when I visited this ce while it was still submerged underwater. The only difference this time is that I don''t see any fish, whales, stingrays, or any water creatures swimming around. Stepping into the water dome, my whole body has been submerged underwater immediately but just like the same thing that happened before, we can still breathe despite being submerged underwater. The yers are all amazed as they can start swimming around and even if they don''t know how to swim, they are not going to be worried about drowning as they cannot drown, allowing yers to practice swimming properly and will also allow people in real life who don''t know to swim learn to do so. Not only yers are here but also the merfolk who are both weing and patient in exining things to new people experiencing the water. Some even started swimming around like a pro while some just walked through the road as they looked like they don''t know how to swim. As for me, I am not swimming as I am already good at swimming and there is no point unless I want to reach the high ground or interact with the merfolk swimming above. But I can appreciate having this kind of environment, imagine being able to swim everywhere, you don''t need to have a car just to move around as you can just go and swim and have fun, heck you can even imagine flying by just swimming higher the ground. While walking around, trying to remember andpare the new changes that have appeared, I noticed that whenever an NPC merfolk crosses paths with me, they will bow down for a bit like they are respecting me like I am some sort of royalty or some sort of VIP. And I think the main reason for that is due to the ne hanging on my neck. The other yers also noticed this and starts wondering why the merfolk would get really formal to me like I am some kind of lord around here. As I continue to make my way around, a group of merfolk soldiers arrived. I know they are soldiers since they are wearing the merfolk security uniforms and they are the soldiers of the kingdom. The moment they see me, they bowed down to me before the leader of the group, stepped forward, and started speaking. I started to feel anxious since the yers around the area are now attracted to what is happening and are wondering whether I triggered some sort of event. "Are you perhaps the Adventurer with the name deheart?" I didn''t know what would happen so I instinctively grab a hold of the axe behind my back, ready to swing in case things is getting bad. "Yes, that''s me. What do you want?" "Please don''t be rmed and we apologize if we somehow overwhelmed you all of a sudden but we are not here to provoke and fight against you. Don''t worry about it." "It''s pretty suspicious and even though you lot are inhabitants here and I am just a visitor here, I still have to increase my vignce and be ready for everything. Unless you properly exin what is happening then I will continue to stay like this until you convince me that it is fine." "Looks like what they said is indeed right. You are very vignt even to us. Very well. You are the VIP guest of our current king and he is extending his invitation to you by sending you the ss m Ne that is currently hanging on your neck as a sign that you are the one who is invited and to also identify the identity of our guest. Please follow us to the castle as the king is currently expecting you toe." "The King?" "You will know soon who he was once you meet him. He is someone you know and I am sure you will immediately recognize him once you see him." As much as I still don''t know who this king is, I have a few ideas of who it was but I am still not sure whether my assumption is correct. And besides, I am a bit curious who this person was because he knows that I have crossed the portal and is currently in Aquagius. It is clear he is anticipating my arrival or perhaps he is just predicting it. "So what do I have to do?" "It''s simple, you are escorted to the royal banquet held at the castle and you are formally invited. If you have anypanions with you that also needed to join you, you are wee to bring them along too." "I am currently not in a team right now. But I just needed to go with you guys huh? And that''s it?" "Yes, Sir deheart." Even if I am not sure what is happening, I am also kind of curious about who this person this guy is talking about. I also wanted to learn a little bit about the little history of the Kingdom of the Deep Sea has changed to a new ce and what is currently happening while I was not here. "Then let''s go." The soldiers stood up and surrounded me as they escorted me to the pce where the king is waiting. ... ... In the distance, two people cloaked in the shadows are observing what is happening. "Are you sure that guy was indeed the one?" the first hooded person who sounded like a woman with a bit of a masculine tone asked. "Yes. All of the traces are all pointing at him and I can''t be wrong about it," the second cloaked person is a guy with a bit of a raspy voice. It seems the former was more of a higher-uppared to the second guy. "Then perhaps we will have a bigger problem at hand. Prepare for the n. We might be forced to do reveal our trump card soon." Chapter 557 The Royal Merfolk Banquet As the Merfolk soldiers escorted me, the yers around us are also getting curious about what is happening and why am I getting escorted by soldiers all of a sudden. Those who saw me just now might be thinking Imit a crime and got caught by soldiers while those yers who saw since the very beginning are wondering why the soldiers are acting like what they did earlier to me. Even if it was either of the two, all of the yers are interested as to what is my deal and how I managed to get escorted by soldiers the very first day the merfolk kingdom has been unlocked for yers to explore. Thankfully, I didn''t use the Wolf Mask, or else the yers would immediately recognize me. I read before on themunity of yers ying Alternate World that my Mask was hard to replicate and they don''t know where I got the mask at all, making it a unique existence despite the fact that it can only be earned by killing a specific elite monster and pray fordy luck it will drop. I didn''t expect they can''t even find it. Since we didn''t stop at any point while I am being escorted, we arrived at the pce in just a few minutes, and behind us are yers who are trying to find out what was happening. The moment I arrived at the pce, some of the soldiers that are escorting me stopped and blocked the pathway. "Beyond here is the pce where the King of the Merfolk resides. If you don''t have any business here, then please leave immediately." I looked at the yers trying their best to bypass the guards. Some decided to use the usual talk-no-jutsu bullcrap but failed as the guards are not easily persuaded especially if you don''t have any sort of reputation in thisnd. Some tried to clip through the ce by doing some parkour and climbing where the soldiers can''t see them but obviously, that also fails as the soldiers don''t tolerate trespassers. "Bastard! You dare to trespass!" the soldier immediately throws a spell on the climbing yers and freezes them. Well, it sucks but trying to get out from that frozen form takes 5 hours before you can move again. It sucks but that''s just how it goes, I also experienced that in the past timeline. It''s a glorious experience, definitely worth trying once and never doing it again. As the remaining soldiers escorted me, the guy who talked to me first earlier whom I still have no idea who talked to me. "I heard all of your exploits from the Great One and I appreciate what you have done for our predecessors. If not for your intervention, this ce might have never been able to get back up on its feet again." "But I killed almost everyone here. And although they are already walking corpses when I arrived, I still killed them. Aren''t you guys angry at me for annihting a whole kingdom of people in a sh?" "We will also kill them out if they be part of the walking dead and I don''t think you are at fault there as you are not the one who instigated the whole thing since the Great One is the witness to all of your exploits. "Wait, wait. Before we continue, can I ask something?" "Sure. As long as it''s within my bounds to answer, I will do my best to offer you the answer you needed." "Okay, but who is this ''Great One" you keep speaking of? When I am here, I never heard of this term at all." "Well, take a look over there. That is the statue of the Great One whole rebuilt this kingdom from below up to its prosperous time now." As he points over to the little za center in front of the Castle, is a big statue of a mermaid. Since the craftmanship of statues originates from the hands of merfolks, the details of the statues are very intricate that even just a nce, I immediately knew who it was. Yep, that''s right. It''s none other than Lifera, the guardian of the merfolk and the kingdom itself. So she is now called the Great One now huh? Whatever she did back then must have been a great deal for the merfolk to dub her as the Great One. We continue onwards to the castle. The chief soldier greeted the guards guarding the big door before they opened it and let us in but this time, only the chief soldier and I were inside while the rest remained outside and dispersed. It seems their only job is to escort me over here. The chief soldier escorted me to another door. In my past life, this ce shouldn''t exist but since the design of the interior is now different, it seems Lifera changed many things which is why most of what I remembered in the past timeline is no longer the same as before. "Please enter the room, Sir deheart. However, I think you should consider changing your mask back to the original mask that is described to you. I heard you use it before the Wolf Mask." "Huh? Why? This mask is fine," I touched the gue doctor mask in me and I wondered why I need to change the mask. Doesn''t the look of the gue Doctor mask amazing? The design is very cool to me. "Some of the guests might get freaked out of you as gue doctors only appear whenever something like an outbreak of disease appears so having it as your mask at the moment will cause a slight panic to many. We would like to avoid that from happening at the moment." Hearing the reason, I sighed and decided to change it back to my wolf mask. Indeed, this is much morefortable than the gue Doctor mask but thetter looks cool for a warrior with a gue doctor mask on. It was like you are about to "heal" everyone else with your "medical expertise" but since they wanted me to change, then change it is. The moment I put it on, I don''t know if I was just imagining it but the chief soldier seems to have his eyes sparkle the moment I put the mask on. Perhaps it does indeed but who cares, it might just be his reaction to my mask that seems to be part of a legend I am not aware of. The chief soldier opened the door and let me inside. "Please enjoy the banquet. We hope you will like it. The king will be there shortly and will meet you after." ... ... [You have entered the Banquet Hall] The moment I entered, the merfolk turned to look at me. I thought nothing crazy would happen but I was wrong because the mermaids who were all looking very pretty by human standards are immediately flocking towards me and starting to flirt with me. "Master, I never knew you would be this popr to girls," Lucia is holding herughter as I am overwhelmed by all the mermaids trying to tug me that I don''t know what is going on anymore. "This is torture! What are you talking about being popr with girls?! I would remain a loner than being a popr guy!" Seeing the worst situation happening, I activated my [Stealth] and escaped loads of mermaids trying to choke me to the point I can''t even see anything from my view except tails, boobs, and more bodies of the mermaids that would seem feel like heaven but honestly felt like more torture than ever. That was the most troublesome banquet thing I have experienced in my whole life ever. So this is what most celebrities felt most of the time huh? Now I can feel their pain and I must say it is indeed really bad but it''s not the worst kind of feeling. Anyways, I managed to escape the mermaids and hide away on the second floor. I was quick on my feet and with [Stealth] working to them. it was a good way to fully escape them. I managed to sigh in relief but then someone started talking beside me. "Sorry for that, deheart-sama. It''s just how they usually like to do whenever they find a prospective husband they want to marry especially if it is heroic and has tons of achievements. That is very appealing to all female mermaids out there." I turned to look and to my surprise, its a reunion from someone I didn''t expect to be there. "Sera. I thought you started traveling after all of the incidents that happened here?" "I did. And I came back after. Even if this ce was no longer the same kingdom I used to love, why not make it enjoyable again?" Sera is one of the siblings I rescued before during the events in the Aquagius incident. "Still, fancy meeting you here, as a toast to our reunion, why don''t we enjoy the banquet at our own pace? Let''s have small talk until the king arrives." I smiled when I heard that. Even though we didn''t bond too much during that time due to the sheer amount of chaos happening all over, I guess it wouldn''t hurt to at least reunite and talk with her. Perhaps I might find some good info that might mark for our new adventure. Chapter 558 King Of The Merfolk Thanks to Sera for talking to me, the mermaids who were on the hunt for me stopped bothering me the moment they saw me with her. It seems Sera is more influential enough for her presence is enough to deter most of the mermaids that tried to vie for my affection. Of course, while I am spending time with Sera, I learned that she has explored Sandurk for a few months after we parted ways. And using the small experience and a little bit of money she earned, she decided to create her own business in Sandurk which is rted to the trading business. Recently, she just expanded her business and managed to create a branch here in Aquagius which she used to contribute to repairing and restoring the Aquagius. "Would you look at that, it seems your tactic of apanying me worked like a charm, deheart-sama. It seems you are very experienced in handling girls huh?" Sera chuckled as she sips on her wine. "Haha, you tter me but I just did what I think would work. I am not that experienced in girls," I scratched my head as I awkwardly admit that I am not good with women. If I did, I wouldn''t even get betrayed easily in the past timeline. "I am not joking though. You seemed to have a charm that even the two queens that rule the hot and cold areas of Sandurk have a really good opinion of you and I heard that they are very picky on adventurers in terms of who to trust. Just by you being able to get a favor easily to the two queens is a big achievement." "It''s not actually a big secret but it just really happened, nothing too fancy." We continue to speak for a bit until Sera pointed to the middle of the hall. "Oh, would you look at that, it seems the King is already here. You want to know who the king is, right? Then you better look who it is." Seeing that Sera is also excited for me to learn who the king is, I focused my attention on the doorway with the red carpet as I waited for it to open. Then, the butler that has been standing behind the doors immediately opened the big doors and started to announce in a loud voice for everyone to hear. "Everyone of our guests, please wee the entrance of our Majesty himself, joining us for the banquet!" The crowd started pping and music begins to y in the surroundings as the king slowly walks outside the doorway. Then, I saw him. The King himself. I have a hunch on who is the king but I am not so sure about it before. However, now that the reveal is here, I finally understood why Sera said I know who the king really is because I do indeed know him. He was none other than Li, the brother of Sera. No wonder Sera is expecting me to know him. "Aw, I am a bit disappointed since you are not as shocked as I thought you would be," Sera pouted after seeing me not showing any surprised reaction after the reveal. "I mean, it''s not that big of a reveal and I have a small hunch on who it was. I just didn''t confirm it but now I do after seeing who it was. I was a bit surprised, but not so shocked." "I don''t know, you have a mask on. I can''t really tell your facial expression with a mask on so that is a bit unfair but, I will let that slide I guess." King Li started greeting the guests at the banquet and happily exchanged greetings from one person to another. There are many of the merfolk greeting him one after another which I presume to be nobles here in the kingdom. As much as I like to know more, I don''t have any impression regarding the merfolks in the game. After he exchanges greetings with the nobles, he went upstairs to where Sera and I are currently staying and looked at the situation below. "Looks like your brother ising this way." Sera swims towards her brother. King Li hugged her as they exchanged greetings. Then, King Li looked behind her and smiled as he saw me trailing behind her. "I am d you managed to arrive during the banquet, deheart-sama. It''s been a while since thest time we meet." "It''s been a while indeed but not that long. I think it was just a few months since we parted ways but here you are, already a king and all. I never expected you to be a king though," I patted his shoulders as we lean on the edge of the railings of the second floor. "Haha, a few months is enough for me to do what I needed to do you know? But I wouldn''t be even a king if I have not gotten any help from Lifera herself." "Oh yeah, brother. Lifera is now being called the Great One when I arrived here, what is going on?" Sera asked which made me frown. "You didn''t know the reason? I was about to ask you about it earlier." "Well, I came back to Aquagius just a few days ago so all of the changes that happened before I arrived here is something I have no idea about which is why I wanted to ask as of why everyone is now calling Lifera the Great One now." I turned to look at King Li and he sighed as he started to exin. "Lifera is still the same guardian as before but because of her being thest survivor of this kingdom who existed since before we are born, she was being dubbed now by the new settlers as the "Great One" and treated her like some kind of deity that decided to join the merfolk and live together with them. It was just a very big misunderstanding on other merfolk''s part." "A big misunderstanding? That is a big deal already, big brother! How did Lifera responded to it?" Sera tried to press on further. "She didn''t care too much about it. She said she has too much on her te so she has no care of what they call her as long as they don''t add more trouble to her, she is fine with whatever they are calling her on." I slowly understood what King Li said, in short, Lifera just didn''t have the time to give a f*ck on what the other people think of her because of her job in maintaining the whole kingdom. What doI expect on her except not giving any f*cks? And so, the banquet continued. Thanks to Sera and King Li, I am now safe from the mermaids flocking at me most of the time and I managed to enjoy the food. However, I don''t really like banquets and stuff so most of the time, it was boring and if not for King Li and Sera talking to me, I would honestly exit the banquet hall and just go back to grinding. The banquet was alright, itcks the charm of parties with your close friends but its alright. After all of the events happening, King Li returned to his duties after the banquet. He also gave the order that I am allowed to enter the pce anytime I wanted to even without the king''s permission. Of course, to do that, I neededto present the ss m Ne to make sure that it was me and not some impostor. As soon as we exited the pce, Sera went out with me and while we are talking, she mentioned something that piqued my interest. "deheart-sama. I heard you are part of the Sandurk expedition before right?" "Yeah, I did. I am one of the pioneers of it," I pulled out the token that is proof of my participation to that event and showed it to her. "Alright. It seems you are very qualified then. Recently, another continent has made contact with some of our traders out there. Apparently, they are in need of a big help at the moment so they asked Queen Titania to intervene. I heard rumors but apparently, Queen Titania is about to conduct another search for the next expedition just like in Sandurk." "A new continent?" "Yeah. See that huge shadow up in the sky that is hidden behind the clouds and sunny sky?" I looked up and I saw the small glimpse of it and the moment she mentioned that, I immediately knew what is gonna happen. "Isn''t that the Continent of Luminous?" "Oh? You knew about it? Then much better. I think you needed to prepare soon, deheart-sama. Sooner orter, the recruitment might drop and I think this is an opportunity for you to go here too and perhaps you might be someone who can genuinelyplete and solve the problems that those people up there that are enduring." Hearing that, makes me a bit happy. After all, that also means we will get new sses, new ce to explore, and of course, the race that only existed on that realm, the Angels. Chapter 559 Next Expansion Review Getting the valuable info from Sera means the next expansion update is imminent and will soon be added to the Alternate World''s big map. Thankfully, this was not a PC game, or else, the game alone would need quite a lot of storage to download one continent map. The next expansion would be the event called "The Descent of the Angels" and this will unlock the new Continent, Luminous. Just like what Sera said earlier in our conversation, Luminous is a floating Continent. It exists way high up in the sky. Perhaps you can think of it the same as the floating inds in Granblue Fantasy but instead of individual inds, it will be a big continent itself. Of course, this continent is floating above the biggest body of water which is called the Dark Sea due to how the whole continent is covering the sunlight in that ce allowing multiple monsters with dark attributes and a kill or be killed environment on that bodies of water. It is a ce that will be unlocked alongside Luminous. Personally, I am excited for this patch to arrive and go live. Not because there is a whole continent to explore, another species to interact with or the new sses that wille along. Sure, the sses are something good and exciting as I can get benefits on it as a Versatile ss which will allow me to unlock new weapon forms of my Versatile Weapon and new skills to use. But those features are nothing new in most patches in the future. What I am looking forward to the most is the new feature that will be added along once you enter the continent and finish one of its main quests that cannot be skipped. Pioneers will be the first to fully enjoy it as they will be required to have it once they step foot on Luminous. This feature is the "Flight" system. This is not a system in which you will have to use a vehicle or a pet to fly, but you, yourself, will be able to fly on your own. It is very good for exploration but this is not the optimal system for transportation since you can only fly for a limited amount of time, especially with your stamina limit. Since the Luminous Continent is situated on a floating continent and the NPCs living there can all fly, it also makes sense that some buildings in the game are also located, high up in the sky, making the Flight System necessary. However, there are also options for those who have fear of heights or acrophobia, and that is the instant teleportation tform which transports anyone who has this fear to any floating areas. It will only be limited to those who fear heights and cannot be used by regr yers who can fly just fine. At first, only the Pioneers will be capable of learning it first. Once the expansion is out, the new race will also be released and every yer will gain a chance to change their race once for free. This time, the Angel race will begin with the ability to fly in the very beginning, bypassing the need to use the training immediately. What is interesting is that once anyone learns to do the "Flight System", then they can use it anywhere, even in the future new continents, it''s not exclusive to one continent only since that is a bull. The second feature is not that impactful to me since I can easily tame a beast myself but the second feature involves the mounts. yers will be able to own get a mechanical horse as a mount. It is a cool mount but it was only there for yers who have not tamed any monsters by themselves so for yers like me who already have their own pets and mounts avable and druids who can basically summon either a tiger or a bear to be their mount that can also attack, this addition of a mount is not useful to us. And thest part is going to change the farming method of yers in the future which is the "Dark Sea Boss Rush Mode". It is the ce where you can farm elemental fragments that you can imbue to any weapon, armor, and equipment you have to gain extra stats, fancy elemental attacks, aura effects, and many more. You can say it is the main endgame at the current state of Alternate World where yers will regrly hunt, kill, and grind inside this ce to gather Elemental Fragments to enhance their current weapons. It''s a brutal but rewarding mode that many hardcore yers will like. Not only that but it is an endless mode and every month, yers who regrly y there, will obtain limited-time titles they can equip for buffs and other stuff like gold, potions, and some supplies being used by every yer every day. Once you are tired of doing dungeon runs, then the boss rush will test your mettle whether you are already veteran enough or you are still a newbie. I returned to my cabin and deployed my portable smithy to use. I have to start preparing my new equipment as soon as I can. I need to ramp up all of my defense values as soon as I can as that is the necessary stat I will be going to need a lot during the Luminous Expedition. Compared to the Sandurk Expedition where we just needed to kill a crapton of monsters and kill a raid boss that basically got murdered by Queen Tanya, Luminous Expedition won''t be as generous as the Sandurk Expedition where NPCs can hold their line against the enemies just fine and with a very strong ruler, Sandurk is an easy expedition to do. As for the Luminous Leader, well, he is in the trash tier. One of the most cowardly leaders avable in the game and also the main reason why the Luminous Expedition exists in the first ce. He will also be the main reason why the expedition team will be divided into two factions and that is to either side with the King of Luminous and the Angels or to side with the rebels and the Fallen Angels. For now, I will refrain on which side I will be choosing but things will get worse the more the expedition progress, and the true enemies which will be the Devils will appear and will cause havoc which will trigger the main end goal for the expedition which is to eliminate the Devils. The scale of the battle here will be really hard as the next expedition, you will basically y it like you are ying an RTS game(Real Time Strategy for those who don''t know), you manage the hunger of yourrades, you n your attacks, manage the resources, do counterattacks if you are attacked and n an ambush or surprise attacks. It would have been amazing if you aremanding yers as the yers basically have no need for food and if they die, they respawn, and they are strong enough to handle abuse against attacks and many more advantages. But since that is not the main case, you are stuck with NPCs. There are only a few NPCs that can rival yers but they also need to rest, eat and have to get high morale to perform better. The reason I will be raising my defense stat as soon as I can is that I will have to be the main defender of the sh in the future. In the middle of the expedition, the "Siege of the Kingdom of Light" will begin and the battle between the two factions will happen. The lesser your NPC soldier losses, the easier the battle gets. Now, here is what the Main Defender will do. All of the attacks that are meant for the others will be redirected straight to me. The higher my defenses, the harder I am to kill and the longer I willst in battle, allowing the NPCs to do their jobs. In the siege, the death of either faction''s defender will result in instant loss as that only means no one will be protecting the NPCs from any iing attack. Whoever wins will gain the ability to upy the castle as a result. I am quite sure to join the next expedition. Those who have joined the previous expedition in the past will gain higher chances to join again especially if they do well in the assessment process of selection. This is why I will have to create new equipment for me to be the best defender in which faction I will choose. Then, I just got the big idea that I didn''t think about before. Since in future battles, we will need to maintain the hunger levels of the NPCs, that means being a cook will work wonders right? I have to try it, and I think the best time to learn good cooking in the game, is now. Chapter 560 Chef Bladeheart (I) Cooking. That is an EX Job mostly for cooking food. They give buffs, heal, and fill your hunger meter. It''s a very good EX Job with consistent usage. However, I think this will the best EX Job that will be very useful in the Luminous Expedition that will being soon enough and I am not kidding when I said this is going to be beneficial. In Alternate World, all yers can cook even without the EX Job Chef or Cook. However, the difference between the yer without the EX Job and the yer who has the Chef or Cook EX Job is that the one who has no EX Job is more likely to produce a failed dish, or if they seed, they will have a very poor quality of food. As for the yers who have the necessary EX Job, it is clear they will be more likely to seed in cooking and at times, they have the ability to produce new dishes ording to how they wish. Just like the cksmith EX Job, the Chef and Cook EX Job''s efficiency and mastery of the craft will improve. The buffs received will be either extended, buffed or even an additional buff will appear. Not only that but NPCs eating good food will also have an increased rate of happiness added to them which in short, will increase morale. With that said, since managing the morale is necessary for the future, I needed to get the EX Job now and this will help raise the morale. And I can get to cook good food without relying on my mom for food. Right now, I am standing in front of a small eatery in the Insect Kingdom. It is the only eatery that doesn''t have any single customer despite being open. There''s not a single disy of different kinds of food and the ce looked very shabbypared to the fancy restaurant nearby, it wasn''t showing any signs of going to earn a dime here by anyone and even the yers seemed to ignore the ce like it didn''t exist in the first ce. Inside is a human currently sleeping, waiting for customers that seem to have no chance of happening. It was a rare sight to see someone who isn''t an insect running a business in the game. However, I already knew who this guy is and he is not here to run a business, his true purpose here is to find an heir to his cooking abilities. He is there to just test out who is the rightful people who can learn his EX Job. From what I learned, this guy will only teach 5 yers on his EX Job before disappearing and will not appear again Since he is here, that means he is still avable to teach someone his EX Job. "Hello? Is this ce open?" When he heard someone talking, he raised his head and frowned. "Huh? A customer? At this hour?" He sounded rude and brash like some sort of yakuza thug. But he didn''t really yell, his mannerisms and the loudness of his voice just changes the impression of everyone meeting him for the first time. I haven''t interacted with him at all in the past timeline but I do know he is indeed someone who can give out an EX Job rted to cooking. "Are you selling food here?" "Ha... look at the ce you are now, kid. Now look at the restaurant over there, the difference is obvious kid, why would you need to ask a very obvious question huh?" As expected, he has the same grumpy attitude. I have already been informed in the past about his irritable personality. He might be like that but he was easy to persuade at times. And for him to teach you about his EX Job, you need to cook terribly first. "If you are not cooking food, can I use the kitchen? I am famished and I don''t have any money to spend on to that restaurant. Don''t worry, I will pay for it as soon as I can finish eating." "You don''t have money to buy food there but you have the money to pay me for using my kitchen? What a weird kid. Alright, fine. Use it, don''t worry about the money, you can keep that. I don''t need it." "Thank you very much." After he has given me the permission to use the kitchen, I started to do the work. As expected of a cook, his kitchen is loaded with utensils and tools for cooking. But it was also clear that the kitchen has barely used. There are signs that it was used recently but not for big cooking, more like cooking casual food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I pulled out my ingredients that I keep on keeping inside my inventory and started preparing them. Even though I am trying to make a bad dish that would cause the old man to retort, I will still make the best food I can make without the EX Job itself. As I started to cook, I saw the old man peek at what I am cooking. I made sure that I am just ncing at him so that he wouldn''t notice but the moment he saw my cooking, his eyebrow creases and his eyes squinted. I can see the judgmental look of the old man''s face as he saw the food I am creating. Even though I am cooking the food just fine, without proper EX Job, your chances of obtaining a good food is less and unless you have already learned the recipes, the food you will cook would turn into something that cannot be eaten. As I continue cooking, the face of the old man started to look more grim than usual. I continue to prepare all of the things I needed to keep cooking. However, the old man didn''t take long to keep himself up. "UGH! That''s it! I cannot tolerate this any longer. My whole body is aching the moment I saw you create food that seems to be going to jump alive any moment. Come on boy,move aside,let me teach you how to cook and be sure to imprint that inside your tiny mind! Pass me the cleaver!" I grab the cleaver and toss it to the old man who easily catches the cleaver without looking and immediately chopped the meat so fast that one lump of meat has been reduced to different kinds of meat cut. All of his movements are precise and decisive. He didn''t hesitate on his one hand and he didn''t even think twice about creating multiple variety of meat cut in a few seconds. Even though he don''t like one, based on his skill, I can easily tell that he has already surpassed the mastery a master cook should have possessed. "The wok and the frying pans." I handed him all of it and he just throws them to the stoves and he snaps his fingers, lighting up the stoves one by one. He then started cooking food in a fast pace that my eyes did not even follow his movements as he urately cook all of the food that he has prepared. "Did you see all of those kid? Even if you are bad at cooking, there is still hope to salvage things. Are you sure you know how to cook? Because the way you cook will increase the risk of you getting poisoned due to the food that you have eaten." Even though he hasn''t taught me anything about cooking, just by looking at it, I slowly got some understanding on what to do and what is the proper way of cooking food. He continues to babble about the ways on how to properly prepare fish, meat, vegetable and stuff to just finish and create food that has harmonious ingredients that would make very good dishes. In the end, he even salvaged all of the food I created that was meant to be bad and ended up creating a new dish that not only tasted good, but it also removed the bad aspects that urred to it when I was cooking it. Before I knew it, all of the food he created is done and he put all of them in the table behind us, lining them up. He didn''t talk but it was also clear that he wanted me to taste the food. I didn''t hesitate and eat the food and to my surprise, the food was really good. In fact, even if I want to say that Mom''s cooked food in the Alternate World tasted good, the food this guy makes are superior in every aspect that even if I am biased to Mom for many reasons, I can''t find a way to put any reason why her food is good when the real good food is just before me. As I was enjoying the food, the EX Job that I was waiting for has finally been granted to me. [You have gained the EX Job, Master Chef] Chapter 561 Chef Bladeheart (II) Wait, that''s it? Did I just get the EX Job already while just looking at this old man? That''s not supposed to be what should happen since, in the info I knew, he said that he got it by cooking food from this guy for the entire day before the EX Job appeared, he just had toplete all of his tasks toplete it so getting it this early immediately is something unexpected to me. But before I can react, my quest log popped up and a new quest appeared which I have no recollection of epting. I opened it up and I finally realized why I got the EX Job so fast. [What it means to Cook Food] Info: The mysterious old man gave you an epiphany that allows you to awaken your passion for cooking. However, the path to cooking food does not stop there. Cook food andprehend the importance of cooking. Once you have already obtained aplete understanding of it, this quest will be immediatelypleted. Reward: EX Job Master Chef will change to ??? Another reward with a question mark again. And this quest is something I didn''t have any idea how to easilyplete. Complete understanding of cooking huh? So that means the Master Chef isn''t its final form and it can still change but what would be the changes once that is actually done? I have so many questions and yet I don''t have a single answer. "Are you alreadyprehending what it means to cook food boy? Just don''t do it andprehend it slowly, boy. Rushing on it will just make you more confused and your progression on what it means to cook would just lose its purpose. Remember all of the points, I didn''t just show my skills to you without thinking anything and seeing from your reaction, you have indeed gained some of my knowledge in cooking. Now go, bring all of these dishes with you, eat them, give them to others or whatever you wanted to do about it. Once you have figured everything out,e back here and I will give you something." And before I can respond, he vanished. All that was left is a dpidated building without any single utensils on the counter. The tables and chairs are broken and the interior looked like it hasn''t been used for many years which caught me by surprise. The only thing remaining there are the dishes he and I cooked before. Was that an illusion? No, illusions cannot cook so borately and if it was also an illusion, the food should have been gone as they, too, are part of the illusion. But it remained which is the big question. That old man, is he really an old man? Or is he just posing as one just to make sure to give his cooking abilities to someone? I can only shake my head at this. There is no need for me to think too much about it. Why make a headache out of this? After putting all of the dishes inside my inventory, I left the dpidated building and went to a nearby marketce where the portable kitchen set is up for sale. Without any kitchen utensils to use for cooking, how can I practice? The tools I use for cooking before are just a little campfire and some basic cooking tools as I don''t need fancy tools due to how simple my cooking is and since cooking without the EX Job just screams of failure, Once I got my own kitchen, I started buying ingredients in a bulk. Of course, I only bought those that take time to farm like some certain vegetables such as cabbage and rice which do not appear in the wild for harvest. As for the other vegetables and ingredients, I have plenty of them in different varieties so I don''t have to buy anything unless I ran out of them. After a mass shopping spree, I returned to my vacation house and set up my kitchen outside. I didn''t forget to set up the campfire as that will still work wonders. Now, time to test out what the EX Job Master Chef doespare to Cook and Chef. Preparing all the ingredients,pared to before when I had just the average speed of preparing them, the moment I grab the knife now while facing the ingredients, something welled up to me that I can''t exin. I grab the first ingredient, prepare and put it on the tray containing the ingredients done then rinse and repeat. I just realized that I didn''t fumble in my way of preparing them now. I didn''t even slow down and sometimes, instinctively, I can continue doing it even if I am not paying attention or I have my eyes closed which is amazing despite not being that groundbreaking. That alone is good, especially in the uing patch. Now that all of the ingredients are all good to go, I started the fire on my stove and campfire and begin cooking different food that I remembered in my past timeline. I didn''t even need to think of what to do next after a certain action. And before I knew it, I havepleted multiple dishes in one go. Putting them all on the table, I just realized that I made a literal feast in front of me but there is no way I can eat them all alone. Without thinking twice, I summoned all of my followers and pets out to try the food I cooked. Its lunch time anyways so I guess it''s the right asion. I started cooking portions for Leona and Mizuchi too even though they will just eat monsters for food, they still enjoy human food, especially Leona. As for Mizuchi, he likes more on raw meat but for the first time, he decided to eat a cooked one which is surprising, but somehow makes sense after I obtained the EX Job. It didn''t take long for everyone to finish their meal and seeing everyone''s looks made the cooking practice I did, very valuable. However, even though I felt things like that, the current quest that appeared after I obtained the EX Job didn''t clickpleted. It means the clear conditions are a bit moreplicated or my thoughts are just shallow enough and not genuine. Either way, it might end up a very long time before I can finish this quest alone, or I might never clear it entirely. Without any way to determine how toplete the task, I can only continue the grind. Might as well have some warm-ups and hopefully get a better gainter on. ... ... ... Ugh, after ying for about 5 hours, I can feel the fatigue going down to my body, I logged out of the game after the grind but this fatigue is not due to how I overexerted myself. More like this is due to what happened to the banquet that happened and even though I didn''t participate much while talking to other merfolk, the atmosphere is indeed not that good to me. Getting up from the bed took a few minutes before I managed to properly escape from the grasp of my bed. I looked at my holophone and it was almost morning already, 2:36 early morning already but I don''t feel sleepy at all which means all the mana training I did before is slowly affecting my body which now slowly requires less sleep yet keeping my body healthy. I don''t feel sleepy at all. In fact, my hands are itchy on doing something which is strange if you think about it. Slowly descending the stairs, I went to the kitchen and open the refrigerator. I have done my groceries the other day so it is packed with stuff. I don''t know if what I did in the game has already influenced me in real life but I get that little urge that I needed to do some cooking in real life. Grabbing the ingredients that I think would do for a quick cook grub and grabbing the frying pan, knife, and spat, I started to create a vegetable stir fry. Now I don''t usually create vegetable stir fry as I prefer the original stir fry but I get the urge to try veggies for the first time. What is strange is that I don''t usually know the recipe for vegetable stir fry but for some reason, I already have an idea of what to do by using the items I have at my disposal. While I am cooking, I just realized that my body seems to have already memorized cooking a stir fry. I didn''t think much and yet the stir fry is forming right before my eyes. No, I am not dreaming and I am not ying the game, in fact, I am not even watching someone else cook but I, myself, am watching MYSELF cook. Holy f*ck, this EX Job is even affecting me in real life! This is not a big joke at all! Chapter 562 The Next Patch Announcement Two days have passed after I earned the EX Job and I officially mastered cooking like I was a chef from the very beginning. I am not sure what to think of it since I didn''t have much practice like most EX Jobs do and how much they can influence someone in real life. Most of the time, if you are always practicing it, you would slowly integrate the things you learned in the game into the real world, allowing you to learn the fundamentals of things like you are learning from a master. However, this EX Job is very different as I have not expected this to influence me too much. Not only my cooking capabilities have improved by a very big margin but it has already caused me to feel like I can just open my own restaurant and open up a business. I barely just got this EX Job a few days ago and yet, it has already affected me this much. Although it was not a bad thing, I am just confused on why I managed to be like this very fast even though I have not practiced cooking that much while I have this EX Job and yet, I feel like a pro already. Even the others have alreadymended me on my cooking as they felt that I improved a lot. It''s not like I just added more seasonings to the food I cooked but all of my manner of preparations have improved a lot. And right now, I am at school listening to some boring lecture. There is nothing wrong with it, it''s just I heard it before and I have the info on my head like it was already printed so I have no more interest to keep listening to it. I can even recite the whole thing if they wanted me to do so. Thankfully, the bell rang and ss has finally ended. But everyone did not go home yet and instead went straight to the library. "Sorry, Manato. Unlike you who got a very good memory, we have to cram our heads with the lessons to pass the tests. We will not be ying the game until the test is over so you have to y by yourself for now," Riko bid farewell and headed straight to the library. "Yeah bro, as much as I like ying, I also don''t want to flunk and miss the chance to graduate so I would rather have to cram books for a while," Janus also bid farewell to me and went with Riko. The siblings also will have to study. Even Sora who is blind has noted braille letters so she will not be able to y with Akira who will also start studying. I am left without anyone to y games with. Yesterday, my parents wanted to go and visit my grandparents who are living in Fukushima and will stay there for a while so they will be not ying for a while too. I didn''t forget to ask if the guy inside the bear suit who loves to work out and they said that he is still there and regrly works out by himself and asionally goes inside the Reality Verse Cabin. Perhaps he can y the game just fine even if he is a ghost? I don''t know if he does or he just uses that as his bed. Anyways, since my parents are going to my grandparents, they asked him to guard the house while they are gone. I didn''t know you can now ask a ghost to guard a house but that sounds very epic especially if you are friends with one. No burr would dare to invade your house if that''s the case. Since everyone will not be at home for a few hours, I went to the market and bought some food. Recently, the elf is craving some veggies so I decided to buy some so that I can make food for herter on. Rika also wanted to eat some veggies since we keep eating meat for quite a while and she wanted to have a diet for now. While on my way home, I received a notification on my holophone. I had custom notifications in my holophone that will notify me whenever I receive a message, call, or news about Alternate World. This time, it''s the notification sound whenever the Alternate World will have any news released. I opened it up to see what is up with it and to my surprise, it was the iing maintenance that will be happening 2 days from now. This means the recruitment would happen either today or tomorrow. I sit down on the nearby bench and started reading the patches. I have already expected the patch toe but not this soon. I want to see what has changed and what remained the same. ... Official Patch Notes on Version: Luminous After the maintenance, the following features will be implemented. -Floating Continent of Angels and Fallen Angels: Luminous will be released. -After the Expedition to the Luminous Continent ispleted, all yers will gain ess to the continent immediately. -4 new sses added to the game. Older yers who wanted to change ss will gain the chance to change sses once for free while the subsequent change sses that will happen again will need real money. 1.) Reaper Weapon: Scythe Info: ss that specializes in high damage and high crit attacks, forcing enemies to die and get their lives harvested. Can utilize the power of darkness to aid them in their jobs of collecting souls. The more the reaper kills, the stronger he gets. You can be the grim reaper if you wanted to! 2.) Onmyoji Weapon: Talisman Info: Using the powers of mystic arts and supernatural world, Onmyojis are a force to reckon with, allowing them perform attacks against enemies using their trusty shikigamis that can fight for them. They can perform both healing, defense and kill opponents. They are not your average exorcist. 3.) Dancer Weapon: Chakram ? Info: Using the movements used for dancing, Dancers can fight offensively by dancing alone. Agile in their feet and nimble in movements, Dancers excels in dodging and delivering lethal attacks while also captivating enemies from their hypnotizing dances. Just because she only dances doesn''t mean she can''t proceed to kill you. 4. Puppeter Weapon: Puppets and Dolls Info: Puppeters used to be using their puppets to entertain the audience, now they are using their abilities to control their puppets to fight. Gains the ability to customize and make their own puppets for their own gamey. -Flight System will be introduced. Once yers gets to ess Luminous Cont, they will have to pass a tutorial quest that will allow them to fly in short distances. Angel and Fallen Angel races are exempted from this. -New Races added: Angels and Fallen Angels(older yers will get the chance to have a one time race conversion. Flight System will be avable to you the moment you if you are an Angel or a Fallen Angel race. -many more features that will not be revealed until the whole continent is fully open. ... ... ... It seems that they ommited a few new features implemented as it is not yet gonna be put immediately since most of the ommited features can only be seen and experienced once the continent stabilizes and the yers other than the pioneers can enter this ce. Also, I expected only to have 3 sses to be released initially once the Luminous Continent is released but they decided to just add a new one which will only be released in the Kamikaze Continent which is the Puppeter. It seems Tojiro did some changes but having the puppeteer early will be a good idea. That means even Versatiles will now be able to make puppets and these puppeteers are pretty solid ss as it is one of the broken sses I have encountered especially in thete game as they will not be able to control one, not two, and not three puppets but 10 maximum puppets. Of course, you are extremely a mad man if you get to the point to be able to control 10 as controlling two is already hard to handle at times ording to one of my friends in the past timeline who is using the Puppeter ss. As for the Reaper and Onmyoji, they are also sses I like to experience as they have cool mechanics too. But I have a problem with the 3rd ss, Dancer. Don''t get me wrong, that ss is good and strong, but this ss just mocks me to the point I might not even touch this ss in the future. In some games in the PC, Dancers can only be female. However, in Alternate World, dancers can be both genders and this allows yers to be capable of using their dance moves to fight. In fact, I heard that a hip-hop dancer tried the game as a dancer and thrived using his hip-hop moves to battle. One of the most eyecatching stunts he did is during the PVP, he defeated a yer by breakdancing. Not only the opponent was defeated, it was a perfect victory as he managed to kill the opponent who was practically cursing on trying to beat him up. I need to go back to the game as soon as possible and start to prepare for the recruitment phase for the Expedition soon. Alright, time to hit the market, perhaps I can even hit the sales period and grab some goodies that are cheap. Chapter 563 Expedition Recruitment Using my newfound ability to cook like a professional, I quickly created the veggie dish Renatta and Rika wanted to eat. I eat with the three of them with my own food of course since I like meat more. We just discussed Renatta''s n while we were looking for a way for her to return to her home but since she is still indecisive on her decision, she still has no response to my question. Since I didn''t want to pressure her on this matter, I made her think more about what she needed or wanted to do whether to n to stay in this world and adapt to life or find a way to go back to her homeworld. But since she can''t decide just yet, I decided to let her be for now. Also, I suggested she wear a beanie or a hoodie if she wanted to get out of the house and explore outside. Due to her ear not being present in this world and only in the fictional world, we will have to cover her race to make her safe to which she immediately agreed. Before I went back to my room, I asked Rika if she is going to join in the uing recruitment of Pioneers and she said that she is open to joining again as she enjoyed bing part of the pioneers and exploring a new continent first before other yers provide a satisfaction feel for her. Besides, it will be a good idea for her to join again as she is already experienced enough. She will log in a little bitter since she will have to do something for a bit. She just wanted me to notify her if the recruitment is gonna start already. I returned to my room after our conversation and washed the dishes and returned to ying Alternate World. ... "[Wee Back, deheart]" I spawn back to the vacation house''s bed just like before. With my eyes slowly adapting back to the Alternate World, I noticed a message from my log. Opening it revealed that it was the text message from Sigma. It seems she is also nning to join in the next pioneer quest and asked me if I would also join in, to which I immediately replied that I will indeed participate. Compared to before, I have no idea where the recruitment will begin but since it will be announced, I can just wait for it to appear if we follow the previous timeline''s location of the recruitment, it was held in Aquagius. There is no guarantee that it will still happen in Aquagius due to how many things have already deviated from the past timeline that some of the kinds of stuff I know in the past timeline might not work anymore. I wouldn''t be surprised if some things I have learned before won''t work now. However, one thing is certain. I may have been enjoying my life now without any problems except for the asional stuff happening here and there but there is one thing I still have not done much after returning to the past timeline. And that is to mess up Kazuki on this timeline and prevent his rise up in poprity and strength. I might not have done anything major to himtely due to my busy life so he is steadily progressing but I still knew most of what he is doing as I keep an update on what he is steadily doing most of the time. Just like the previous expedition, he will be nning on joining this one too in which I will take my chances to make him eliminated. Not because I want to mess him up more but because he will be a famous yer after the situation in Luminous Continent''s Expedition and he will get a massive power-up that would make him very strong. I have personally witnessed him get strong due to that and because we are acquaintances already when the expedition happened, I knew most of what is happening to his life during that time. I may have not directly taken revenge on him directly, but I am just biding my time to torment him from time to time. That way, he won''t notice that I am dealing with his important milestones and force him to an alternative or to a different route. I don''t want to rush it. With what is happening with him and his family, I can only help on letting him build his power, only for me to crush it at the right moment. Then, the moment came in. The announcement red in the air, making everyone ying and even the NPCs hear what is being announced. "Good day adventurers and dear citizens. This is an announcement regarding to the recruitment of Pioneers to help a problem currently urring to a new continent who are all asking for Queen Titania''s help. Queen Titania is currently asking everyone who is strong and capable of fighting to join the current quest. Pioneers from the previous expeditions are very much wee too so pleasee to Aquagius Continent, Hignd teau. The recruitment process will begin 5 hours from now. We will conduct the recruitment process and select the respective yers that will be the final members of the expedition. We will be meeting you all there!" And with that, the announcement ended. The location is also revealed and just as expected, it is in Aquagius but the ce is different. Before, we were gathered in the Arena of Trees, a natural formation of trees that formed simr to an arena hence the name. As for Hignds teau, its an area where it is difficult to reach unless you are a very strong yer. Monsters are living there and most of them are very high leveled. One wrong move and the monsters wille running towards you and kill you on the spot. But I think it also makes sense. That means they are looking for the best of the best and since they also specified the previous Pioneers, they also wanted the previous Pioneers to participate due to the well done progression we did in thest expedition that we even recruited a queen to help us. I opened my contacts and contacted Harmless Sparrow that the location of the recruitment area is the Hignd teau since she isn''t online yet. I am not worried of Harmless Sparrow reaching the Hignds teau since by now, she is already strong enough to handle the monsters present there and can already do her own decisions to reach there without dying. As for me, it''s also time. Picking up the big axe, I am now going to start my rampage and mow every enemy. It would be cheating for me if I use Leona and Mizuchi for reaching that ce. If the others are going there by foot or whatever method of transport they have, I don''t mind. I am just giving myself a handicap there. Hignd teau is located on the north from my vacation house. It''s not near but I can see it in the distance. Stretching my body for a little bit, a few group of yers saw me stretching. They started mocking me for doing so instead of going immediately and from the looks of it, they didn''t recognize my mask which means those guys are either new yers or high leveled yers who only have someone boosting their level allowing them to be able to get here without dying. I can tell they are part of the yers who are going to take their chances to go to Hignd teau but for someone who don''t know the dangers of Hignd teau, I can only say condolences to them. They can keep mocking me all day long, I can mock themter if they found themselves in a pinch. Stretching done after a few minutes, its time to hunt. BANG! I dashed forward, creating a booming sound behind me created by my sudden eleration. I don''t need to think too much of the terrain as that is a secondary obstacle that doesn''t prove too much trouble for me. I move so fast that the yers who mocked me from earlier got easily bypassed by me. I even heard one of them shout "F*ck! Let''s go! We can''t just walk here and reach therest!" and also started running. Hearing that made me chuckle as they have no idea that monsters will start appearing not too far from here and will start stomping on them if they are not careful. As for me, I finally meet the first monster blocking my way and that is the Algae Swine that is covered with green algae, allowing it to blend into the forest like a rock covered by Algae to take anyone by surprise. Before they would try to attack me, I went ahead and attacked them first. These pigs will not be a problem for me, I don''t know about those yers behind me though. They can try it and experience the wrath of those pigs. Chapter 564 Obstacles So far, the enemies I meet are not that strong. I am not in my best condition to fight as my Versatile Weapon is still doing its amalgamation process so all of my stats are just relying on my own main stats, armor, weapons, and every single essory that is attached to my body to increase my stats andpensate it for my low level. Leveling takes forever so if I wanted to get stronger, I have to either rely on my Versatile Weapon for the stats that only high-leveled yers can possess, or rely on my instincts and be a better yer of the game. BANG! One tree fell down the moment I swing my battle axe at a monster, killing it instantly. The tree that fell down also smacks a nearby monster, also killing it in the process so it was a double kill. The enemies are not that troublesome so killing them with just my stats is a bit easier but it is also not good timing at times since there are some cases when the monsters that appear are either a horde or too strong for me to handle without the Versatile Weapon. It is clear that without the Versatile Weapon, the Versatile ss is doomed to be forever a dead ss that will never be able to progress. Might as well change sses instead. I asionally hear shouts, gunshots, and explosions behind me, meaning some yers are also taking this route to reach the Hignd teau. They were quite chaotic and were always doing more chaotic stuff that leads to the monsters charging to their location making it very annoying especially if you are in a big rush. A few Buffng appeared running towards me, running down all of the trees it charges into. "Damn it. The monsters are getting crazy." I had to go on another way to evade the Buffng. Once it charges, there is no stopping it unless it hits on something hard to break and cannot be taken down. RIP whoever is following me. If they have not faced a Buffng before, I won''t be surprised if they die while they are still going through the trail. This is a natural culling, after all, limiting those who reach the Hignd teau is a good strategy to select those who can participate. Those who sessfully arrived without dying on the Hignds teau will be viewed as the strongest people. A few more minutes passed by of killing monsters and traversing the trees blocking my way, I finally arrived on the next road to reach the Hignd teau, the Deep River of Alynas. This is the second obstacle that will stop yers in their tracks. It is a river that is situated between two cliffs. The river is deep and it''s not easy to traverse but I already passed here in the past timeline and I will do the same thing here. I jumped down to the river without hesitation and swim through the water. The danger here though is that the moment you jumped down, one of the monsters living in the Deep River of Alynas, the Devourer of Swimmers will appear and will try to drag you down. There are two ways for you to avoid confronting this guy as this monster cannot be killed unless you dive deep and personally hunt it. First is to swim as fast as you can and reach the other side as soon as possible. It will only be viable if you are a good swimmer and if you belong to thetter, the only thing you can do is to prepare one single item. Salt. Yep, salt. We are not cooking but we will be using salt. I have salt in my inventory and although I am confident in swimming away from the Devourer of Swimmers, I don''t want to expend too much stamina doing so instead, I will use the easier part. Sshing into the water normally, I tried my best to get to the next side while waiting for the monster to appear. And like a scripted scene, my foot got dragged by a vine and I am submerged underwater. I didn''t wait for the monster to keep on dragging me deep and pull out the salt and grab the vine that is taking me and put the tip of it into the bottle of salt that I quickly opened before the water came inside of it. Once the vine was in and the water also enters the bottle, the salt immediately got dissolved and it happened. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! The Devourer of Swimmers screamed and the vine that is entangling me freed me due to the pain it was feeling and wriggled as it was feeling all the pain sinking through. I didn''t care what is happening to the f*cker and swam away as soon as I can and reached the next area. And with that, the second obstacle is now gone. The third one is easier but a bit more challenging and that is to climb the steep cliff. Thankfully, I am good at climbing in ces like this and I am not afraid of heights so this is easy for me. Of course, it''s different for those who have fear of heights, they have to find a way to get to the other side without scaling this cliff. The climb took me around 10 minutes to scale which I thankfullypleted. While climbing, I can hear the other yers already considering how to scale the area and avoid the water entirely. By the time I reached the next area, I hear sshes of water from behind me, meaning some of them have decided to jump off the water. Well, it''s no problem of mine now, good luck against the Devourer of Swimmers, I have definitely angered it by putting salt on it. My equipment is wet from the water and it''s pretty cold so I have to change my equipment to my spare clothes and armor as it is very ufortable to fight with this cold equipment attached to my body. Even if I am in the game, being cold will be giving us a debuff if we get sick so it''s better to avoid that to avoid getting weakened. Thankfully, the next obstaclesing are all just a big joke. They don''t even make me feel like they are obstacles at all. But still, it took me around 30 minutes to reach the teau. I felt tired after arriving there as that was very troublesome even for me. It was the right choice to save up my energy rather than spend it trying to swim so fast back into the river or else, I would have died immediately. "[You have discovered the Hignd teau]." The view was great if you areing here for the first time but if you have seen it multiple times, it loses its charm. That''s why when I arrived at Hignd teau right now, I wasn''t feeling amazed by the view now. Of course, I am not the only one there. I see a few familiar faces from before. Some of them are part of the previous Expedition and also a pioneer. They arrived here so fast that I think they used the easy way to reach here and that is to use the flying mounts to reach here. It would have been fine if they used theirnd mounts but the mounts that can fly seems very unfair to me as they can easily bypass all the challenges that are given just to reach the Hignd teau in one go. As much as I wanted to at leastin, they have found their way here so I guess I have no call on that. We waited for a while and a few more minutester, the next yers arrived and I was surprised since the three yers who arrived are Sigma, Mr. Teddy, and Harmless Sparrow. It seems they came together here and since Sigma is with them, it was a lot easier to arrive at the teau. "You guys, congrats for reaching here," I weed the three of them. "Did the selection start already, deheart?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Not yet. We needed to wait till the allocated time ends before everything starts." "I see. Sigma helped me reach here alongside Mr. Teddy. I managed to reach here much easier with their help." "It''s nothing. We are going to participate in this so we just needed to hope we get selected." "Oh, you two, this was your first time in the recruitment phase right?" Harmless Sparrow looked at both Sigma and Mr. Teddy. "Yes. Looks like you guys already knew the protocol already. I heard that you two are part of the pioneers, yes?" Sigma looked at us. "Indeed. We have the badge of the Pioneers given to us. With this, we can be immediately recognized by Queen Titania as she was the one who handed-" before Harmless Sparrow can show the badge of the Pioneer to Sigma, a guy suddenly nabbed the badge away from Harmless Sparrow. "Thanks! This is mine now!" Chapter 565 Recruitment Phase (I) Everyone on the site was startled by the action of someone since he suddenly just appeared and didn''t even make a great first impression. Right now, he is holding the Pioneer Token that belongs to Harmless Sparrow. ? "Hey! Give that back!" "I got this thing, it is now my thing. You can''t be too careless with it and since you lost it now, it is now mine." "You just stole something that is not supposed to be yours! Give that back!" Sigma assumed the offensive stance. "Ha! Do you think I would give this back? Just by reading the info about this thing, I can easily tell this is a very good thing to have especially since this thing is even specified by the announcement earlier. Having this might even allow me to guarantee my position in this event." I quickly take a look at this guy from head to toe to make sure I know who this guy is. He seems like a generic-looking guy and quickly remembered him in the past timeline who caused a scene in the recruitment phase of the Luminous expedition. He was punished and as a result, I don''t have any idea about him anymore after that incident so I didn''t expect him to also appear here. I think he is one of those guys who were riding those tamed wyverns. When some of the pioneers also heard that this guy stole the Pioneer token that Harmless Sparrow owned, they didn''t just watch. "Hey, thief! Give that back to her. You are more audacious for doing something like that out in the open!" one of the gunslingers that I remembered to be part of the previous expedition intervened and pulled out his gun. "And what? You wanna shoot me? Do you think I am afraid of being shot? Haha! You guys don''t need to get real serious, this thing is just a little copper coin that has some markings unique to a coin emzoned on its surface. Just because you own it doesn''t mean I can''t have it!" "F*cking thief..." Sigma pulled out her greatsword, ready to attack. Even Mr. Teddy who does not say anything readies his knuckles out, clearly pissed. The others in the surroundings seem to enjoy the chaos while most of the Pioneers are also pissed as they don''t like someone who is also a pioneer getting her token stolen. They can sympathize too as they also own these tokens. What if they were the ones who get their tokens stolen instead? With all of the yers gathered around him, he didn''t hesitate to go on stealth and escape. "Guys, don''t chase him. Sparrow, I know you are upset your token is stolen but you don''t need to think too much about it at the moment." "But..." "Don''t worry. You will see the spectacleter on." Since I said so, everyone who is opposed to the guy decided that they will also stop chasing him even though I can see in their faces the confusion as to why I stopped them from doing so. Around an hourter, the sky starts to glow brightly and Queen Titania appeared and descended from the sky. "Greetings to all adventurers and prospective pioneers who have gathered today. Hmm, let''s see... wow, I thought we would be getting fewer prospective applicants but you guys exceeded my expectations!" She happily walked around with the yers as she looked at them one by one until she stopped at the guy who had just stolen Harmless Sparrow''s token. She stopped at him and frowned. As she looked at him from head to toe. "Hmmm, it seems you are differentpared to everyone around here. I can''t pinpoint why but you are very different." "Oh, goddess. It seems you have finally noticed my appeal and prowess! Indeed. I am different here because I am the superior yer here that ever existed. Look, I even have the token of proof that I am a participant of the previous expedition!" he then proceeded to pull out the token that he stole from Harmless Sparrow and shamelesslypliment himself. "Oh, really? You participated?" Queen Titania smiled and approached him. He proudly show it to her like he was the real owner of it. "No wonder I smell something from you... It''s the smell of a thief." The calm demeanor of Queen Titania suddenly turned sour and a menacing reaction suddenly engulf the air. The guy who was shamelessly showing the stolen token started sweating the moment he saw how Queen Titania immediately found out. He tried running but roots below the ground appeared and bind his feet, preventing him from running away and causing him to fall to the ground face t. "There is one thing that I hate the most and those are the liars and thieves. They always ruin my mood, especially whenever I feel happy." Queen Titania snaps her fingers and the token that is currently on his fingers started to get hotter. "Huh? HUH?!" he panicked the moment he felt the heat increasing in his hands. He felt that it was no longer just feeling warm, it is burning hot. He tried to release the token away from his hands but he realized that it cannot even get away from him as if it was attached to his fingers after it got pasted with super glue. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! GET THIS OFF! F*CCCCCKKKK IT''S SO HOT! NOOOOO!" He shook his hands a little bit and before he knew it, his hands holding the token started to ignite in mes, causing him to panic even more. "NO! NO! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! FORGIVE ME!" The mes engulfed him without anyone helping him out he begs for everyone to help him but no one did and it took a few more minutes before he died as his whole body was burned to dust. Queen Titania pulled out the token from the ashes of the yer and ordered it. "Return to your owner." She toss it in the air, and itnded right back into Harmless Sparrow''s palm. She quickly put her finger on the surface whether it still felt hot but based on her reaction, it was either still warm or it doesn''t have any warmth left on it. "May that lesson be something you guys will be able to learn for. Stealing items from others is not good. And I think I made those tokens something I have not considered but seeing it happening before my eyes, I think it is time to add a function from it so that it won''t get exploited." Queen Titania snaps her fingers once again and those who have the token have their inventories start glowing. I opened my inventory, checked on the token, and read the description. I also realized that the token is also named differently now. [Pioneer Token] How to receive: Participate in any Expedition Info: An item that proves you are part of the expedition team that help solves problems that exist on other continents. A proof that you have endured and fought in wars that normally never exists outside the normal lives of people. Having one of these would give you the respect that you deserve. Cannot be dropped. Cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the original owner. Owner: deheart Oh, before, it doesn''t have the bound option, but now, It is bound to the user who owns it, which means everyone can keep the token without the risk of being stolen. It will remain in the hands of the owner and cannot be transferred its ownership to others though unless it is being done by the creator which in this case would be Queen Titania herself. "Now then. With the troublesome stuff done, I think it is time to begin the recruitment process. Unlike before when we dealt with others and eliminate each other, this time around, we are here to recruit the best of the best and the ones who can easily survive the dangers of the world. That''s what I am looking forward to the pioneers that are going to be born here. Now, reveal me the results." SNAP! Snapping her fingers, numbers started to appear above our heads. Harmless Sparrow, Mr.Teddy, and Sigma all got 1000 on top of their heads. The others also have numbers though some had lower numbers most of us have either 1000 or below that won''t dive very deep below 700. But the majority in here have zero marks on their heads. "Hey, guys, what is my number above my head?" I pointed above mine. "You are the highest, deheart. You have 2000." 2000? That''s very high. What do these numbers mean? "I see, I can see some in here decided to do the easy way. However, I am looking for hard workers who know how to do teamwork. Anyways, please go back home for those who have zero numbers on their heads. We don''t need anyone who took the easy job instead of suffering for a bit to survive and reach here." Chapter 566 Recruitment Phase (II) "I see, I can see some in here decided to do the easy way. However, I am looking for hard workers who know how to do teamwork. Anyways, please go back home for those who have zero numbers on their heads. We don''t need anyone who took the easy job instead of suffering for a bit to survive and reach here." These words of Queen Titania caused panic among the yers with zero numbers. Many of them have the number zero above their heads, causing them to try and find a way to raise it. "It''s useless. The count won''t increase anymore as that tally only tallies up the results when you have yet to arrive here in Hignd teau. The moment you step into thend of the Hignd teau, the count will no longer increase no matter what you do. So it''s pointless. Give it up." One of the guys that I remembered to arrive using a wyvern decided to protest this since it wasn''t something that has been announced. "This is unfair! I don''t know any of the methods on how to earn points! No one told me and your announcement didn''t tell anything crucial on how to obtain the said points either! This is unfair to us who don''t know how to get them!" "Yeah! That''s very unfair!" The others started to voice out their disagreement too but that didn''t faze Queen Titania. "Ha! Do you think you guys can bargain with me? I can see that you all are trying to say that I am wrong with my methods but did you know that things like this would be frequent once you get to the actual part of the quests in Luminous? Also, this is also a test of whether a yer is capable ofpeting with others or how to be resourceful and capable of fighting and traversing different areas. Since you all have zero points, I can assume that you all just used a mount, fly from where you are at first, andnded here." "Yeah! What''s wrong with that?! We already arrived here so we should also be qualified!" "Oh, so that means you didn''t read the warning I have given out to all of you while you all are flying to reach here?" That''s when some of the yers who have zero contribution points in them remembered something. I have no idea what it was but seeing their reactions, it seems they have also seen it before. "Remembered that now? And you all have the gall to call me unfair? I already warned you all to go on foot. It would have been fine if you have decided to ride on a mount that runs onnd as that would still need you to traverse the field and kill a few monsters to bypass, that alone can earn you points. Then what about flying above? It would have been fine if, in the process of flying, you all also attacked monsters while up in the air, Although you won''t earn points from traversing the areas, you will earn points from killing monsters and that is enough to qualify already." Hearing this exnation, many of those guys who have zero points seems to have realized what they did wrong for them to be treated like this. Most quietly left without making any ruse but some just refuse to listen and still wanted to go and protest. This results in Queen Titania losing her patience. She is a patient deity but sometimes, even though you have long patience, sometimes, it is not just enough. As the yers tried to argue more, she waves her hands, and the vines that appeared before that caused the thief yer to trip appeared once again but this time, in the form of tentacles as she controls and binds the yers who refuses to leave. "I would have been more lenient to all of you if you just did the same with the others who admitted their mistakes and left immediately. Seeing you all in this makes me feel a bit disappointed in you all." She closed her open palms to fists, which also resulted in the vines tightening to the point the yers being bound on the vines are having a hard time breathing. "Next time, follow the rules. Don''t be stubborn and be prepared to own your mistakes." Once she is done giving the final words, the roots start to sink in alongside them to the ground. I still remember them struggling to break free but it just won''t budge. Queen Titania then turned to look at us with a smile. "Don''t worry about them. They might have been shown to be buried here but I just transported them out of the Hignd teau. They won''t be able toe back here to mess things around again until the end of this recruitment phase." Although most of us are not convinced, everyone immediately shifted their attention without a second thought so that they won''t provoke Queen Titania any longer. "Now then. There are many yers who have arrived here earlier and I thought I would have to do another elimination round again but this time, the points from before are already enough to reduce the numbers to the amount that is good enough, to begin with. Seeing the numbers are sufficient, I officially wee all of you yers to the expedition." "Huh? Wait a minute... does that mean..." a new guy seems to be in disbelief after he heard of it. "Yes, you all are now part of the Expedition team to be the first adventurers to step foot in the Luminous Continent''s sacred soil." When they heard it, everyone celebrated especially those who are not part of the expedition. Those who are already part of the expedition squad before have already known from the previous expedition that this event is not rays of sunshine and rainbows to just experience. We are in for the pain, suffering, and more troubleing in. We are just in here for the rewards and for the recognition but aside from that, nothing much to be gained here in Expedition, more like you have signed up to fight in a war while allying with the losing side. A quest where we needed to restore the bnce of the world and save everything from destruction. It seems the curtain to a certain show is about to part ways and it is now ready to go and give its audience a st. ... ... ... ... ... The first recruitment phase has finally finished. Queen Titania returned to where she was before as she sat in front of her monitor screen. Yes, that is right. The NPC from before has reappeared inside a room where countless people are working on the servers of the Alternate World. Queen Titania still remained elegant and still the same deity that deheart and the others have seen earlier. But this time, she gets rid of hervish deity clothes and changes to ab coat plus a casual dress. She also dons the sses on, making her look like she belongs to the real world. "How are you adapting to Earth, Queen Titania?" the voice of Tojiro came behind her as she was sorting the files that are floating in the air. "Pretty good. I never thought I would find fun in this world during this time. And I thought nothing made by a human would fascinate me, I was dead wrong with that." Tojiro looked at her new attire and nodded as he smiled seeing her new clothes. "Seeing you having fun is something I wouldn''t even imagine from you, Queen Titania," Tojiro snaps his fingers and some of the floating files that Queen Titania is juggling in the air went into Tojiro''s hands. ? "Having fun? More like having a st. I never knew this world of yours is more advanced than our world. In fact, the wars andck of monsters would be the most ideal life to spend. Once work is over, might as well spend my time enjoying the amenities here in this world." "What about Oberon?" Tojiro asked. "Ha, he already adapted to the life in here much faster than me. I never knew he would be really enthusiastic about reading literature right now." Tojiro smirked but he didn''tment anymore. "So how is the recruitment? Did something happen?" "Yep, some unruly children just decided to go andin to me for something that was their fault, to begin with. If not for them, my mood wouldn''t have soured that much." "Is that so? Well, out of the recruits, did you find a few people that seems to have caught your eye?" "There are lots of them but there is one who stands out. I also can''t believe it but he got the highest score from everyone else so I easily remembered who they are. And I must say, that you have the best choice you did in your entire time for choosing that guy to do your bidding. He just joined the expedition." Tojiro smiled as he put back the paper into the pile that is floating above Queen Titania before. "He shouldn''t let me down." Chapter 567 Death Is Visiting I am now part of the Luminous Expedition Team and I am happy that there are no elimination options that urred. Well... we can say that it was elimination of what happened with the points but that was just a method for making sure Queen Titania got the right people for the job. After the recruitment phase, we are given some free time until the next maintenance. I am no longer busy so I decided to go back to the real world and finish all of the stuff that has umted. I went back to the workshop that I rented before. Thankfully, those guys snooping around before are not around so all in all, I have a peaceful day creating stuff there. It''s not much but I am getting better at it. Still, I can say that the game has a better way to simplify the method of creating stuff yet did not take them all away, allowing you to imitate the process in the real world but adjust to it depending on the design. Spending my weekend finishing stuff but thanks to that, I am done with things and I am now good. Now, this workshop might have no usage here, but I will continue to rent this ce up. I can''t afford to lose it since this is the ideal spot for me to keep my workshop. Until I found a good way to have a workshop near at home, I will have to keep it until then. ... ... Sunday. Usually, at this time, everyone would be lounging around the house, rxing, chatting with everyone or doing whatever they wanted to do. But right now? The house is totally quiet, and the usual people who should have been lying on the couch or eating in the kitchen are nowhere to be found. Even the "female visitor who likes to break down doors" is nowhere to be found. The only people who are here is Rika and Rennata who are both cooking in the kitchen, practicing their craft in cooking. As for me, I am the one lounging in the sofa. Today is the day the maintenance to the game will ur and it willst until tomorrow ording to the announcements, which makes the game unyable for a whole day. With a whole day for maintenance, it allows us yers of Alternate World to touch grass for quite a while. Without Janus and Riko to hangout with, I am stuck without anything to do. I know I can just go and join Rennata and Rika in their cooking practice but I don''t want to ruin their experience of learning since my skills has be too advanced for them to enjoy cooking and they would startparing my dishes to their dishes which will cause unfairparison to both and I don''t want to ruin the friendship I have built from them due to that. "Why are you sulking over here? Why not join the two in their cooking show?" the pixie started to hover above my head as I stare off into space. "I was just thinking myself of why I won''t be joining them and here you are pestering me to join them. Did you really think it was a good idea to do that?" "Well, you look bored to death in here." "Yep, I know I am bored but I am not bad enough to cause despair in their eyes for making food so I''d rather let them do what they wanted and practice their way to master the ways of cooking. Anyways, what are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be there beside Rennata in case she needed to ask for trantion?" I asked Pixie. "At the moment, no. Rennata is so focused on her craft that I slowly got bored so I started flying around for a while. Oh, by the way. Earlier, Rennata has a favor to ask you. I don''t know the details but she wanted your helpter on." "Favor? I don''t know what she wanted to ask me but if it is within my capabilities, I don''t mind." "Oh, that''s good. Talk to herter once she is done with their cooking stuff. I will help trante too so don''t forget!" After telling me that, she returned to Rennata''s side. I tilted my head, thinking on whatever the favor that Rennata wanted to tell me. There are many possibilities but I don''t know which one was it. However, I just needed to go and talk to herter on. Perhaps I should catch some Z''s for a while since I can tell that they would take a while before they are going to be done with whatever they are doing. ... ... ... ... I opened my eyes as I felt something wrong. I usually don''t feel anything on that but for some unknown reason, I feel a sense of dread around me. It was like I have been trying to climb up on a very deep chasm that has an endless bottom. The air also smells different. I rubbed my eyes to make my vision adapt to the surroundings. I immediately realized that I am still in my house. However, even though the surroundings are the same as my house, it doesn''t feel like it was my house at all. More like, a replica? Shaking my head and rubbing my temple, I tried my best to at least try to "wake" up in this dream of mine and see whether the situation is a product of my dreams or this is indeed the reality. The first thing I did is to try and exit the house. However, the moment I hold the doorknob of the door''s entrance, my hand seems to get repelled by an invisible force that denies my touch to it. I tried it again and this time around, it was like I got electrocuted the moment I tried to do so. Seeing that the door is out of the question, I tried to do the windows but just like the door, the window also did the same thing causing me shake my hand in pain at times. It seems that everything that I am experiencing right now is just a f*cking dream. I have no idea if this was a nightmare but if it was, I am not afraid to face it. Because escaping seems to be out of the question, the only thing left is to explore the house and see what kind of sh*t is brewing here while I am asleep. I went to kitchen first and noticed that the kitchen is spotless. Not a single food scraps and mess that is a sign that someone is using the kitchen. That only means that the current situation is not happening in the real world. This is a dream. However, since I am still not waking up, there must be some sort of stuff that I needed to do to wake up like most nightmares do. Compared to most nightmares I experienced in my life, this is the most tamest nightmare I have experienced in my life. However, I can also tell that something is lurking and its not the shield hero. First, check out all of the rooms on the ground floor. If there are no people around here, there might be something on the rooms. The first room I opened is the room of Rika since it is the closest room in the entrance. I was expecting jumpscare of some sort but that didn''t happen. I also expected to see Rika there but it is also wrong. I checked the surroundings but nothing that catches my eye so I left and went to Rennata''s room. Just like Rika''s room, I didn''t find any kind of stuff that would aid me to get out of this nightmare. However, the moment I went out of the room, I immediately saw someone sitting on the sofa. I can only see the head and shoulders in my position but I can already tell that the person sitting there is someone I have not seen in my entire life. The only thing I can tell by just looking at this direction is that this one is a woman around the age of 25 or above. However, looks can be deceiving so I might find it wrong but I can easily tell that this is a woman. I am not afraid of ghost but for the first time, this person releases some sort of pressure that I have not experienced. I don''t know what you call it. Is it fear? Perhaps, but that is not within the question. Since she is here, I have to ask to see what she is doing here. The moment I approached and went to her. I finally saw that this person is exuding an aura that I have not experienced for a very long time. However, I am quite sure of it. This is not just any ordinary aura. This the aura of death. Chapter 568 Death This person, or spirit or whatever she is, is exuding a lot of negative vibes. Not necessarily evil but not necessarily good either, more like neutral. I kinda felt this pressure before but I think that only happened when I am close to my death. ... The woman looked at me, without a word, she only have an empty look in her eyes. That simple stare she did to me might just be something that can happen every day but it is enough to cause the creeps to me. "Child of man, the one who wanders between the past and future." She started speaking and although this is just a dream, her voice are so harrowing I am feeling the fear creep on me. Even though she is not scary in the slightest, the atmosphere around her makes her feel like something that would cause you to unconsciously shiver and be afraid of the unknown. Despite that, I didn''t cower in fear and faced her. "Who are you? Why am I here." "Do not be afraid, I am but a passing mirage and fragment of the mind. I am neither here but I exist. My visitation here has nothing to do with the current situation in the world. You might not know me, but I am watching you since the time you be part of the world''s cycle. You are no longer an irrelevant being that will not affect the future of this world." "Just who are you exactly? Why are you not answering my question?" "Because you already know the answer and I have no need to tell it to you. However, when the time is right, perhaps you will know. For now, call me Death." Death?! I instinctively backed off hearing her name. There are plenty of things that might connect with her. She might be the same Death that exists in this world, she might be the embodiment of death, the grim reaper herself, or perhaps, she is the same person as the goddess of death in the Alternate World. "Why are you here?" "Nothing in particr. I am just visiting my favored human that appeared in my whole life. Is there any problem with that?" "Favored human?" Instead of answering me, she floated away from me and stares out the window. Yes, floated away, she is not walking at all making me frown at why she is talking to me. Perhaps this is my sleep paralysis demon or something? "My favored human, I might be unable to provide any kind of support to you but you are someone who has saved me from everything in this world. I understand if you are confused, I might be speaking something to you that you might be unable to understand but just take your time. There is no need to rush what you needed to know." She turns to look at me and held out her palms, revealing a small holographic form of the world. However, I don''t think the world she is showing is the Earth. In fact, I can''t take a clear picture of what it was due to how hazy it looks. "You might not know this, but the act of you returning to the past has broken a cycle that has been ongoing on multiple asions, and for the first time, history seems to have already been progressing to the road that has not yet been explored. Perhaps you will be the key to the future that I might have not yet known. But knowing you, my favored human, you will do great and I know you will." Then, lights shed outside. It was very sudden so I was caught off guard. The light sh even reached the room and kinda lighten up the dark room. I also just realized that everywhere I look in my house, everything is just ck and white, even me. Before I can ask another question, the one called Death starts to walk away from me. "I apologize for the sudden arrival, but I will also apologize for my sudden departure as my time for visitation is very limited and straining. Perhaps in the future, we will meet again. I will be waiting for our reunion, my favored human." And before I can intervene or stop her from leaving, she disappeared and her whole body dissipated like smoke. It was like she materialized as a human being and then dies by disintegrating to smoke. It was quite confusing to me. Just as I was about to wonder what should I do next, I opened my eyes and I woke up from the dream. I am sweating a lot and my whole body is drenched in sweat. This made Rennata and Rika to get startled as I stood up from the sofa so fast. "Are you okay over there, Manato? You seemed like you are having a nightmare just now." "Ah, don''t worry. I am fine." I put my palms in front of my face while still thinking about the recent dream. Compared to the dreams I see with the girl and the great tree where the moment I open my eyes from experiencing that dream, I forget about it, this particr dream didn''t. It is still vivid in my mind and even when I am just inside my house, seeing what I have seen in my dreams causes me to see the surroundings no longer the same. Since my whole body is drenched in sweat, I went back to my room to grab some clothes and went inside the bathroom to take a shower. While inside the shower, my mind keeps on wondering who Death really is. Not only that but she called me, her Favored Person. I have not been called a term like that in my whole life, not even in the past timeline. Not only that but it leaves too many questions for me to look for answers for. Why did she call me that? Who she really is? Why did she visit me? What is the purpose of her talking with me? These questions linger in my mind and I still have no idea what would be happening in the future. Then, I suddenly remembered something from the Alternate World. "Death''s Favorite" That is the very first title I received after returning to the past as I yed the game again in this timeline. The title Death''s Favorite and the one who is named Death is calling me her Favored Human. Does that makes sense or does that feel like not a mere coincidence? I haven''t thought too much about it but that holographic globe she revealed before looked familiar but I am quite sure it was not the Earth. Then doesn''t that mean that was the Alternate World''s map? I still don''t know but perhaps that was really it. Perhaps that dream wasn''t even meant to be a dream, but some kind of connection with me and that Death woman. As much as I want to learn more, there is nothing I can do for her to immediately move the moment the lightning shes by in the distance. Perhaps that lightning was a sign of something? Like perhaps... Life. Then, the legend of Life and Death that Lucia told me before shed back to my head. Although it really happened during the time Lucia originally existed, that story is now just a legend that is being passed down by different people. Seeing how Death is the symbol of darkness and everything that envelops it from total darkness, does that mean the lightning from before is a significant sign that Life has found Death and is following her? I can only specte and I can''t say much either but I can easily say that the reason Death left so early is because of Life herself. The two siblings govern the bnce of the world. One who handles and gives life, and one who handles the death and final resting area of all the creatures in the Alternate World. The war they are in seems to be ongoing until this very day. I might have not seen it personally but it seems to be happening in the background and is changing the world slowly but surely. One thing that made me think is that the words of Death seem to know my time-traveling shenanigans. The person who walks between the past and future. A person who has hailed from the past returning to the past and creating a new present day, perhaps that might be the main case but what was that exactly all about? Death seems to have already been aware of that and it seems she is looking at me on what actions I may do in the future. I might not have any sort of idea of what will going to happen in the future, but it seems that Death is looking forward to it. Perhaps, I am not just ying a normal game, I am ying a game now called the Real Life. Chapter 569 Maintennance Over Morning came once more as the sun shines from my window, effectively putting a lot of light on my face that made me wake up groggily. Looking at the clock, only an hour left before the maintenance will end. I am not so motivated to y the new expedition quest, especially knowing what kind of quest we will be handling. However, I am a bit excited about what is going toe in the expedition. This time around, I let Kazuki join the Pioneers of Luminous. Although it would have been beneficial if he was also kicked out, slowing down his progress, Still, this will be a huge headache once the situationes to fruition soon and since I have done many things that dy his progress, the situation will be a bit different now. Perhaps, this is the time to openly show my hostility against him in this expedition. Today is a free study day. It is a unique thing in our school that allows us to freely attend a school or just stay at home. Either you take an absence or you attend doesn''t matter as the teachers will start preparing for the tests so they will give the students the free will to study or not. Of course, if you don''t study, the teachers will not be merciful in your grades. If you flunk, then you flunk and you can''t do anything. That is why, even if this is free time, most students would rather go to school and upy the library to study, or maybe stay at home so that they can cram, or for those who don''t care about flunking, they can go and do whatever they wanted. This willst until thest day of the week which the next week will be the day of the exams that will continue for 3 days. Since I already have taken the exams in the past timeline, even if there are alterations to the questions, I am pretty certain to get a perfect score on it, I just won''t do it and purposely do some wrong answers but keep it high to make sure that I will pass. First, I prepared breakfast for everyone. Janus and the siblings are going to school today as they wanted to cram a lot more for the uing exams. I designed their lunchboxes and prepared breakfast for them too. Rennata and Rika also went outside and helped with the cooking making the cooking faster. After that, I took a bath to refresh myself. Once everything is done, I told Rika about some of our ns that we will do once we begin the Expedition quest like usual. She already knows the drill so I didn''t exin too much about what we should do once everythingmences. I also asked her to ry it to Sigma and Mr.Teddy in case she is the first one to meet up with them. ... ... [Wee Back deheart] The moment the maintenance ended, I log in to the game as soon as possible. I checked my Versatile Weapon and there are only 4 days left for the Versatile Weapon to finish up its digestion process. If the expedition goes the same way as it was before, I will be able to use the Versatile Weapon again before the end of the Expedition concluded. Otherwise, we would get to the point where the expedition ended before the digestion ends. As long as nothing urgent happens, it''s alright. First, the patch notes and whatever changes. So far, it didn''t have any changes at all so it''s a waste to read all over again. I just skimmed it to see whether something changed or not. Next, is the ss trees themselves. As much as I want to confirm it by checking the Versatile Weapon''s new forms, I can''t do that with it doing its job so I have to manually check my skill trees where the sses tab will appear. Like what I expected, the new sses, Reaper, Onmyoji, Dancer, and Puppeteer skill trees are now avable for selection as well. I also received a notification about the teleport scroll that will teleport us to the Luminous Continent deposited inside my inventory. It''s not time yet so I decided to finish some items. I have already made a few weapon prototypes for the three sses, Reaper, Onmyoji, and Dancer as they are all weapons I can make with cksmithing. I didn''tplete them just yet as they won''t be registered as weapons if they arepleted before the sses are added. As for the Puppeteer ss, I have to postpone on that as creating a puppet will be a different story. The Puppeteer ss will create their first puppet in the tutorial, allowing the yers to fully understand how a puppet and its controller work. I don''t have the time to make a puppet so it will take me a bit more time to make one so that will be postponed for now. Without the Versatile Weapon, I have to rely on my extra weapons to fight. It might not be as good as the Versatile Weapon but it will be a good recement until the Versatile Weapon is back in action. Since I only needed to do the final touches, I finished all of the weapons up and about. However, before I can check the stats, of the finished products, the quest line for the Expedition popped up, signifying that the quest for exploring the Luminous Continent is now ready to proceed. Since it was not a priority for me to check the stats of the weapons, I pulled out the teleport scroll and tear it into two, activating the spell within, connecting my current location and the predetermined location that the yers will teleport into Luminous Continent. ... ... ... ... [You have discovered City of the Clouds. You are the first to discover the continent, you have received a wee bonus of +100 Reputation to all Inhabitants of City of Clouds] Oh? Did I arrive first? I didn''t know I am that fast but that is a good thing as I can start doing the first quest as soon as possible. The inhabitants of the Luminous Continent stares at me as soon as I appeared in their view. For them, the Luminous Continent is one of the ces that rarely see other people aside from their own races and those who are native to the Luminous Continent. Since Humans are not part of the natives in the continent, seeing one is something they have not yet encountered. Thankfully, there are already guards who are aware of my circumstances. "You must be a pioneer that was sent by the goddess, Queen Titania. I am the captain of the 1st Squadron of the Angel Legionnaire. We already knew what you are here for and we thank you for responding to our request for help." "No problem, The other pioneers will being here soon. I am the first one to arrive so I guess you can say that I am the very first one who will be helping out." "That''s good. However, before you can begin to help us, we will have to ask you toplete something so that you will not be inconvenienced while you are here." Although I know what they were referring to, I decided to act like I don''t know. "Complete something?" "That''s right. See our wings here?" He turned around and began to p his white wings. "This is what allowed us to fly around and ess areas that are high up from the ground. Angels and Fallen Angels don''t have this problem as we all have wings that we can use to fly high in the sky. However, that will be different for humans and other races who don''t have wings as part of their bodies which is why we will be helping any races who have no ability to fly to gain the ability to fly without wings." "Is that even possible? I mean, just like you said, we don''t have wings. So how do we fly up in the sky without it? I don''t think we can fly like that using [Levitation] and not all people have that ability either." "Haha, I can see that you are confused but that is natural and no, this is indeed different from [Levitation] as that will allow you to hover above the ground for a little while but you cannot move around freely like how flying works. The thing that we are going to be teaching is about the [Flight] itself. Any race will have the chance to fly without the help of wings." Alright, that is good. Hearing that confirmed my suspicion that nothing has indeed changed from the mechanics. Otherwise, the method to acquire [Flight] would have been changed. "If that can help me from my current predicament, then please, I will take the request and do the task. Please guide me to where I should be going." Chapter 570 Flight The captain of the Angel Legionnaire helped me to go to where the practice area for the Flight ability is held. Just like in the past timeline, nothing much has changed except for the officer who is in charge of helping the yers learn to fly which is the retired Elder General of the Angel Legionnaire and the Main Combat Medic of all the existing squadrons that is o, Alynna. In the next few months, she will be reced by her sessor and her only daughter Ymel and since this patch was supposed to happen at ater date, during the past timeline, Ymel is already the one doing the job. But since it happened much earlier, it is clear that Alynna is still the one who will be teaching Flight Ability to me. "We are here. Our general will be conducting the operation and help you get the ability to fly in the sky and manifest your wings even if you are not an angel like us. If you have a fear of heights, then please back out immediately. We can''t afford to force someone who is afraid of heights to partake in this," the captain reminded me to ensure that no one will copse due to their fear of heights. ,m "No, I am good. Thanks for the warning though." "Well, since you are clear. Let me introduce you to our Elder General of the Angel Legionnaire. She is a veteran and has seen plenty of stuff in her life, along with countless wars, and thousands of battles." He led me to an open training ground that is made of solid clouds. It''s not made of clouds that would dissipate immediately but a cloud that would remain even with touched and bounces like foam. It is done this way to ensure that the one who practices flying will fall down to the fluffy clouds in case they fail to control their bnce in the air or they are still learning the ropes of flying which would then release mistakes. It''s a bit smaller right now which means the one in the past timeline was already expanded as the training grounds would be much bigger than what it was today. On the training ground, is a fully armored angel with only her head that isn''t covered with any metal. Due to her armor, she looked really big and bulky. Might be the fact that she is tall that made her somewhat big in my eyes. At the moment, she is teaching children about flying which is the first lesson most angels learned first to ensure their lives will be easier. Of course, this person is none other than Alynna the Elder General, and the main definition of Combat Medic. "General! I have brought one of the Pioneers. He is the earlier toe to our aid and is here to learn Flight." When Alynna heard the captain''s call, she instructed the kids to continue what they are doing as she approaches us, with her armor nking every step she makes. I have not seen her in the past timeline without a helmet even after retirement so seeing her without one made me a bit startled seeing how young she looked even though she was rumored to be 70 already. If we ignore the rumor that she is 70, when you look at her face, she looks like she is still in her 30s. A MILF if you would say. "Where are the others? I thought I would be teaching a lot of them?" Alynna looked around only to see me and nobody else. "He is the earliest to arrive to respond to our SOS and one of the pioneers chosen by the goddess Titania. I already confirmed him to be one of them so no need to worry." "I see. What''s your name, boy?" "deheart." "I see. I am Alynna but most of the people here call me General. You can also call me General if you wanted to but if you are not thatfortable with formalities, just call me Alynna just fine. Since you are a pioneer and you are going to be helping us with our problem, we will be giving a free tutorial on how to fly like an angel like us even though you guys don''t have wings. If you don''t have wings, that does not mean you will not be able to fly and I mean it literally. Now,e here and let me check your back." The drill is something I already memorized before so I didn''t hesitate and showed my back to her. She put her fingers on my back and started to infuse mana on it. While she was doing that, I also circte my mana around and let it blend with my mana, allowing it to function without it getting wild for no apparent reason. After a while, foreign energy flows around me. It was quick and hot but it didn''t hurt and it feels good. "I have inserted the mana in your body that would help in generating the ability of flight to your body. Now, try to visualize wingsing out from your back. It doesn''t matter what it looks like as long as it was a wing and big enough to carry you off from the ground." Since I am already familiar with it, I didn''t waste my time and visualize the wings forming on my back. It was not hard since I have already done this before. The General and the captain were so surprised when they saw my back sprout out holographic wings. It looks identical to real wings but it was made out of mana that seems to adapt like a hologram, making it look like it was there the whole time. "Woah, that was fast. I didn''t expect you to immediately do that. I heard humans have a hard time visualizing stuff. Did our intel about you guys wrong all along?" "Nah, perhaps I found it a little bit easy. They say I am a fast learner so perhaps that was the main reason indeed." "Hmm, that might be possible but can you really do fly high up in the sky? Let''s see how you shall fare. After all, visualizing and actual flight is both different things. Let''s see how you do." Alynna proceeded to ry how to properly fly and control my new wings to properly fly. Although I don''t need to listen to it anymore, I continue to listen to her instructions in case some new knowledge might improve how to fly. Even if it was short distances, flying is still something that is quite different than before. "Alright, p your wings slowly but surely. You don''t want to p them too fast or else you will fail and you won''t be able to properly bnce yourself. It''s going to be the worse if that happens while you are in the middle of flying." With the instruction in mind, I slowly p my wings and started to properly p them. They are different than the wings I have in the past timeline but these wings are something I decided to visualize to ensure that nothing would go wrong. After pping a bit more, I start to increase the pping action with my wings and it didn''t take that long for me to fly up in the air. The feeling of flight is back again and to make sure that I act like I am still a newbie, I proceeded to fall a bit, to make it a bit more believable. I continue to fly while pping my wings. Soon enough I decided to start moving around the air while I am still flying. Looking at the reactions of the two, I can see that they didn''t expect to easily fly like I am a real pro at this. Once I finished moving around, I slowlynded on the clouds and returned to the two who are still shocked. "Are you sure you are a newbie or not? The way you fly just now felt like you are flying for a long time and you have already perfected it. Are you sure you are not practicing flying on your own?" Alynna is looking confused at what happened. "What do you mean to practice? How can I practice flying if I am a human? I don''t know how to fly and even if we had the spell [Levitate], that skill is not something you would call flying at all. Perhaps this was just something that I was adept at without knowing." Alynna can only shake her head. After all, for all the years she is teaching how to fly, this is the first time someone else she taught for a few minutes only managed to fly without difficulties. She continues to monitor how I fly and takes notes while I am flying. She still can''t believe I was able to fly like it was indeed something I always do despite the fact I just learned it today. As much as I want to say the truth to her, it won''t work as she does not know I came from the past. Telling her would never work. "Alright. My final lesson hase to an end. As much as this lesson should take much longer, I didn''t expect you to be this fast though. But anyway, now that you have learned the secret ability that everyone visiting the Luminous Continent should learn to ess different things, I think it is indeed time for you to finish the request. The sooner it is done, the better. Chapter 571 The Tactician Possibly because of my expertise in flight control, Alynna decided to stop and only give me brief exnations on things that involves the new flight system. Thankfully, it was info that I already knew so I was able to grasp everything without any problem. And with that, the flight lesson ended. "Go and join the captain. He will bring you to the tactician''s office and he will inform the situation. I will be staying here since the people who are with you will also being along right? I will also have to teach them flight. And I at least wanted a student who does not learn anything immediately, that is just a bit annoying especially since angels like takes some time to learn how to properly fly and you just managed to do it in one go." I can definitely feel that Alynna''s pride was hurt from what I had just done. After all, she is proud of her race, and to see someone who easilypleted her lessons like a natural is just unheard of as she said, Angels also take time and practice to fully fly high. Perhaps I just showed off too much huh? But in exchange, that allowed me to move to the next phase as soon as possible which is meeting the strategist of this operation. Of course, he was a tactician in name only. He never actually gives strategies at all and most of the time, he is just lounging in his office and getting drunk. He was called the strategist because he makes an analysis that is normally not easy to spot but the tactics he gives are tactics that even normal people who suck at creating tactical decisions can also pull. Not only that but he is not an honest man. He honestly doesn''t have a good reputation during the previous timeline''s Pioneer Quest due to how he makes lots of mistakes that the yers decided to ditch his tactics and salvage the situation instead since following his tactics just leads to further damage that the pioneers can''t afford to happen. Right now, I still have no idea whether his behavior will remain the same. After all, this is a new timeline and perhaps he might have changed. If he changed his personality, it will take me quite some time to adjust. But I will take this matter closely. After the lesson, the captain escorted me to the tactician''s office which is located high up in the sky. That is also the main reason why you need to learn flight as you needed it to ess the highest ce to reach the tactician''s office, otherwise, you will be using the magical teleporter that will teleport you to the top. We fly up as I follow the captain to the tactician''s room. He didn''t say anything but I can see on his face that he wanted to say something. However, I didn''t bother to know what it is. If he wanted to say it, then he can do it anytime. Arriving at the floating cloud where the Tactician''s room was located, the captain looked at me and pat me on the shoulder. "I know that you will be meeting the tactician right now but if you find him a little bit something on the head, make sure to just turn a blind eye alright? As much as you want to smack him in the head, you better not do it as that would make you the enemy of the soldiers here. Perhaps even me, but that would be something out of my choice. So just hold it in, and keep it down and no chaos would ur." His words would be confusing to someone who still hasn''t met the Tactician, but to someone who already did in the past timeline, all I can say is that even if I want to smack him, you can''t do it. The guy is guarded by multiple angels behind him so either you die first or die slowly being beaten by them. Without the Versatile Weapon in my arsenal, I wouldn''t even bother doing that. Let''s save creating chaos forter. The Tactician''s Office is a big city hall type of building. For a tactician, he sure holds quite a lot of power for him to be owning an office that is normally used for a city hall in human cities. The walls are adorned with different gemstones and the pirs have gold and silver embedded in them. Honestly, this doesn''t look like an office, more like a mansion. And I will say it, this tactician right here doesn''t seem to be a tactician, like at all. Captain opened the door for me to enter but he didn''te inside. It seems he has a hidden grudge against the tactician but I can only specte about his feelings. If he doesn''t say anything, I won''t bother talking to him about it. Anyways, I entered the tactician''s office. Compared to the previous timeline where the situation has turned the worse, it seems like the situation isn''t as grim as before, and seems like the tactician is still enjoying his lifestyle in the most obvious way. Inside the so-called "office" of his, were muscr angels. As much as I view angels as holy, the angels in Alternate World are not. They are just part of the races and like elves, humans, dwarves, and others, they are not part of God''s army at all. Anyways, I still didn''t expect to see strippers appearing here. There are some of them dancing around with some men, some are topless, some are fully naked and some are still wearing their covers but in a seductive way. This would act like a sort of paradise to some who have some kinks on these gals. But I am not here to enjoy the view, I am here to start the job and I have no time for bitches. While walking, there are some girls who would send me a flying kiss, some of them giving me a seductive look in their eyes like winking and they even have those bite-in-the-lip things. But I ignore them. I am not here to flirt, I am here to fight. Ignoring all of them, I went straight to the middle of his big "office" of his where he is sitting on a big sofa with angel girls that have skimpy outfits and some are naked. I can see many other yers tempted to do something pervertedter on and I don''t think they can avoid that from happening. If I was a new yer, I wouldn''t recognize who was who and which of these people here is the tactician but to someone who hase from the previous timeline, I have already seen this pretty boy''s face plenty of times. Compared to most perverted rich bastards in many stories, this guy, is not a hulking fat bald man. This guy is muscr, he has a very toned body, withplete six-pack abs as a feature. Not only that, but he is handsome and has a baby face that most girls would like to have in their boyfriends if they are prompted to imagine a boyfriend that is their ideal one. Just like how Alynna looks young, this guy is age 54 but he looks like a gym-buffed 20-year-old guy. I stood in front of his table and just looked at him currently smooching the girls as they happily lick and kiss him. Thankfully, there is nothing that made them do anything rted to making babies and stuff. Sure, some girls are naked but they are not doing those stuff. I only stood there and looked at him. Waited for him to respond or anything. I don''t want this guy to underestimate me because he usually does that most of the time. I want to show him that I am not just some softie that would crumble in front of him and he can use me to his schemes. And while standing there, menacingly, he finally noticed me. "Huh? Who are you? It doesn''t look like you are from here, and what''s with that headgear of yours? That looks disgusting to look at." Even though he is making remarks about my mask, I didn''t get angry at him. Instead, I went to deliver the precise reason why I am there. ,m "I am one of the Pioneers that Queen Titania has sent here to respond to the problem that this continent is facing. General Alynna sent me here to know more about the mission. She said to go here and look for The Tactician." "Oh, so you recognize me as The Tactician huh? You are a human, right? So seeing that you recognize me, does that mean my name had already spread far and wide already? Damn, that is very cool." "No, I don''t know who you are beforehand but seeing that no one else in here is surrounded by bodyguards and plenty of women around you, only an idiot would not recognize you on that. Anyways, I am here for the info about the situation. Please give me the detailed report." The meeting between me and the tactician finallymences. This time, you will not be going my way on this. Chapter 572 The Looming Danger The Tactician is such an annoying bastard and a very annoying guy. He is the embodiment of a musclehead and peabrain person that many would never think they would see in their lifetime. I don''t know if his brain barely developed or what. The only thing I know is that he is just turning into an annoyance and seeing his reaction just now confirms it. Despite being called the "Tactician", he is not out theremanding the angel forces to take action, solve problems and save his continent from the impending doom. Instead, he is, drowning in lust and alcohol like the real bastard. I will not be even surprised if he starts ming somebody once the situation has gone worse. If only offending this guy is not a crime, I would have already dragged him out of here and thrown him into the mountain of problems their continent is facing so that he at least understands the grave situation of Luminous Continent. However, I will not be doing that. I will wait for someone else to just do the task instead, I don''t want to dirty my hands and waste my time with a useless NPC. Although I am already thinking of many things to beat this guy up in my mind, in reality, I can''t do that as this guy is protected byw. You can say that the people of Luminous Continent are on his side, and thew will prioritize his safety over the person who treated his room, even if the tactician is on the wrong side of the coin. That is also the main reason he was being respected even with his bad behavior. They just don''t want to get punished by thew. I don''t know what the higher-ups of the angels saw to him that they are willing to punish their people for the sake of one man who does not seem to do anything at all, even behind the backs of the public eye. Looking at him currently, I can easily tell that he is getting annoyed with me by just standing there and stating what I needed for him currently. The sour look on his face is the indication that he is getting annoyed at my presence there even though I was just standing there without doing much. And since he is still there ying with his girls, he is clearly not in the mood for a talk about something serious. The next thing I knew is that he waved his left hand and the bodyguards that are just standing behind him started to move like they were some kind of muscr bouncers in a bar. "Ha, I see. So you are just going to throw me out huh? Then don''t bother, I can see myself out just fine without me throwing out of this building. I can go out myself. If you are very unwilling to even cooperate in solving the trouble happening in thisnd of yours, then so be it. I am not forcing you." The bodyguards still try to throw me out but I easily shake them off. "Piss off," I angrily shook off one of the grabbing guards and move out of the office. The people who saw that immediately avoided my field of view, trying to curry favor from the Tactician by ignoring me. Ha, very fantastic. What a bunch of losers. I walked out of this so-called office of the tactician. There is no need for exnation, this f*cker here is not the best person you needed to ask for the situation of the continent. At best, he is the only one best to ask if he is thest person in this continent to remain. Since the Tactician is not even going to cooperate with me, the only thing I needed to do is ask the locals. I already have the basic foundation of what is the main trouble that is currently happening around the Luminous Continent. The only thing that I just needed to know is how much has changed from the current quest and the previous timeline''s quest. The quest of the expedition in the past timeline happened a bitter as the expedition was announced 3 monthster. This timeline had the expedition ur much earlier than the expected date. With the disparity of dates from the previous and the current timeline''s starting time of the expedition, it is bound to happen that some events that should have happened in the past timeline has yet to ur, or are just in the preliminary stages of happening. With the prior knowledge of what is bound to happen, I could either let the course happen naturally, or solve it before it will grow bigger. Learn, adapt and thrive. As I went out of the vicinity of the office of the Tactician, the quest log has appeared before me, which means the quest tree has finally initiated and started its course. The one that appeared before me is the introduction to the expedition quest which does not exist before during the Sandurk Expedition. But what caught me by surprise is the content itself. [Luminous Expedition: Rogue Quest Line] After arriving Luminous Continent and denied a cooperation by one of the people who holds the key information to the trouble brewing in the continent of angels, you, one of the Pioneers tasked by Queen Titania must choose a path on how to tackle the situation and solve the problem. You are on your own and the quest you will be receiving will be depending on your actions. Perhaps your actions might change the course of the story to a new path. I didn''t receive anything simr like this in the past timeline, might be because the situation before was too dire already for the tactician to deny help from us that he immediately employed us and the main story quest of the expedition has finally started. Right now, the situation is not yet on dire needs ofpletion but it is still troublesome for the expedition to be initiated as soon as possible. That also means something has already urred before we are drafted to solve their freaking problem. Seeing that I am free to do what I want and forge my own way to the game''s plot, that means the main story quests of the expedition are something that I don''t need to follow. I can just literally avoid all the conflict of the expedition and do what I want or just fully ignore the quest and do your own adventure. That must be the reason why it was called Rogue Quest Line as the quest will only literally appear if I ept them from NPCs. Or if maybe if I am wrong, the quest will only appear during the important key moments of the game. Looks like the things in this game is much more deeper than I thought it would be. Who would have thought a mechanic like this would appear by choosing an option that should have not been done? After all, you need to obtain the information from the Tactician. That made things much more different indeed. Perhaps this is better done in solo. Sigma, Harmless Sparrow and Mr. Teddy seems to be teaming up in this and since I can say they have a higher chance to join the original quest line, I would rather avoid them so that they won''t end up having a messed up quest line like me. If I have joined the normal questline, I might have allowed them to team up with me but in an uncertain route quest line like this where the future events are not yet predetermined due to how I don''t have much connection now to the main quest. It''s best to go solo. With the n set to stone, I went to the shop, bought some supplies I will need as I will not be returning to this city for half of the remainder time of the Expedition. Once I have everything I needed and will probably use anything, I activated my flight ability and flew away from the city, into the road to reach the first vige that has been ravaged by the Hellspawn Cmity that urred after the expedition takes ce. ... ... ... Two in-game days have passed since I left the city. The first thing I did is grind the hell out in the monster zone, Cloud Forest where the trees produces the clouds and monsters that loves to eat clouds lives. The ss I decided to grind skills with? It''s obvious. The Onmyoji ss. As much as I wanted to do the puppeteer ss and the Reaper ss, the puppeteer ss will only be good if you have your own puppet. Without building one yet and with the Versatile Weapon unavable for battle, the Puppeteer is out of the question to use. As for the Reaper, I can do it just fine as I have the weapon already, however, I am more interested in using the ability of the Onmyoji to control the Shikigami. With the Shikigami, I can actually spy the vige without actually going there and exposing myself in danger. The first thing I needed to get in this? Information, and my Shikigami might be the best thing that I might be going to use now. Chapter 573 Bladeheart The Onmyoji Onmyoji''s might range to exorcists and temple priests but they are undeniably capable of understanding mystics and other things that only the supernatural and reality can handle. We don''t even know whether they are indeed just posing as normal temple priests but will act as a capable and dangerous onmyoji once no one is looking. Even if they are not real, you can''t deny that they do not add spice to the supernatural stories of Japan as the ones who protect humanity from the creatures residing on the other side. Now, in the game, there are two types of ways how to y the ss and one is to use your normal hands to draw signs in the air. It''s a trick that has been used by many onmyoji after they learned that this was viable and not just something that only appears in media and entertainment videos. The second one is to use a Talisman. Of course, if youpare which style is better, the one who uses the talisman is undeniably stronger and no one willin. I tried making a talisman before the maintenance and the expedition started but the moment Ipleted it, the name of the talisman became [Inferior Talisman] and has only 1 magic attack power and no good modifiers and extra skills. It''s a trash talisman. I can only me myself for producing something like this as I have no skills for creating talismans so it ended up really bad. But since this weapon is really bad, looks like I have to resort to using my hands to act as the conjurer of my abilities and attacks. There are still some hand gestures I remembered from a few Onmyoji that yed with me in the past who uses both talismans and their hands to fight and I mostly saw them use their hands. After recalling how they move their hands, I also decided to try it out by myself and... BANG! A small explosion of energy appears as I extended my hands forward and closed my fists, which means that is how it works. It''s only testing to see whether it works and seeing it function, it''s time to do the actual test. Raising my index and middle finger up, I swipe my fingers left, and shing energy appeared before me. I also decided to try making a barrier by imitating how they did it but I realized it is not working. I tried it again but to no avail. That''s when I looked at the skill tree and realized that one of the skills needed to be bought with SP. That skill was the first skill that can be purchased and is named [Kekkai]. It''s an offensive barrier that I still remember being used for either in battle or in defense. It has a very short cooldown too which is 0.5 seconds and the mana used up is only 5 MP per cast. No wonder most yers who yed the Onmyoji ss always spam this ability as this skill has a very insane time of cooldown which refreshes very fast and only costs 5 MP per cast. It''s very reliable for an Onmyoji whosebat mostly relies on range attacks and their shikigami. Now that we are in for a long haul, time to grind the hell out of here. ... ... ... I spent grinding using only the basic attacks of the Onmyoji and boy that was pretty tiresome. Compared to the weapons like swords and knives to fight. using your hands constantly gesturing in the air to execute an attack is a bit tiring. Compared to when I am using a sword, I felt more tired of swinging my arm again and again to attack. I rarely even deal with massive blows and fatal attacks aspared to fighting with weapons, it''s hard without any edges to give yourself an advantage. As for the attacks, they tire you more easily than wielding a weapon. But thanks to the grind, I managed to at least raise my SP for quite a lot now and I can start purchasing some skills to ease my job in being an Onmyoji. I managed to rake in 200 SP for a short time. I know that sounds a lot but that doesn''t sound that much. It''s just that the skills of the skills are pretty expensive as hell. I selected 4 skills that will be vital for me in the Onmyoji ss and for my main purpose of using the Onmyoji ss. [Kekkai] Type: Active Skill MP usage: 5 mp(will increase depending on how big the kekkai materialized appears. Cooldown: 0.5 Seconds Info: The Onmyoji''s weapon and shield in battle. When used, can summon an energy barrier that would allow users to create a box that can be used for defensive purposes, isting an enemy, or just outright killing an enemy. Smash them, suffocate them, it doesn''t matter. Your imagination is limitless. ? Note: KETSU! KETSU! I obviously picked up the [Kekkai]. Not only is it cheap, but it will also lessen my burden in using basic attacks to kill monsters by just using this skill. Basically allows me to have lesser problems in fighting. The next skills are all rted to the Shikigamis that Onmyojis control. [Shikigami Manifestation] Type: Active Skill MP usage: 50 mp per Shikagami. Cooldown: 10 minutes(Shikigamis remain after summoning but will disappear if the user deactivates them or something kills them] Info: The process of summoning an Onmyoji''s partner, the shinigami. Made of paper, they can form different kinds of origami to perform tasks and purposes. Can vary depending on the user''s wishes, the shinigami can attack, defend, and can channel the user''s senses to allow the user to temporarily possess the shinigami and use them in various ways. A versatile tool that can be your best partner in times of battle. Note: The best tool for peeking on stuff. Just don''t abuse it and use it stealthily! [Shikigami Camouge] Type: Passive Skill Info: While not in battle, the Shikigami will gain [Stealth]. [Stealth] will be removed if the Shikigami fights or has been spotted by skills that can spot anything hidden deep within. If [Stealth] is removed, the shikigami needed to remain in a neutral state for 10 seconds before it will regain its [Stealth]. Note: A perfect ability to aid in stealing your seatmate''s answers during tests. Now you don''t need to worry about failing anymore! [Shikigami Explosion] Type: Active Skill MP Cost: No cost(Will cost your Shikigami instead.) Cooldown: 5 minutes. Multiple activations at the same time will count as one usage of the skill. Info: Shikigami''s are not just for espionage and for attacking enemies duringbat. It can also act as a tool for sabotage. Using this skill will convert the summoned shinigami into a literal bomb that will explode and affect anything that is around 10 meters from the Shikigami that has exploded. Useful for destroying evidence and getting rid of something quick and no evidence left behind. Since the Shikigami is made of paper, the evidence will be burned alongside the explosion. Note: A great way to get rid of your porn stashes on the verge of being discovered. These four skills are going to be the only skills I will be using with the Onmyoji ss. Now that I needed clues to learn some things, I am now going to camp out and get close to the vige that started it all. To begin, I created my first camp in the Luminous Continent. I made sure that the area where the camp was located is not that far from the first vige where the problem started. Since the vige still looks the same, the situation is not yet bad here. However, the bad energy that emanates there is very obvious. Howe the angels do not recognize this happening? Are they blind or they don''t just detect the feeling of darkness? Once the situation is confirmed, I activated the [Shikigami Manifestation] and summoned one of the Shikigamis. I shrink the size of the shikigami that I summoned to be a pocket-size surveince camera for me. The moment I summoned the Shikigami, I received the control prompts on what the shikigami can do and what to do to activate them. The controls are easy and I can detach and attach my vision and hearing to the shikigami too allowing me to hear and see what the shikigami can do. Once that was tested, I also tested the passive, [Shikigami Camouge] and after 10 seconds, the shikigami entered stealth mode. I used this to test out birds that are perched around the trees growing in the clouds and I managed to make it a sess as the shikigami did not disturb the birds at all. Once the preparations areplete, I proceed through the battle n. Thankfully, the control of the Shikigami doesn''t need for its owner to be nearby. This way of earning memory is enough for me without exposing myself. I can even get rid of it the moment it gets bad or discovered. Whatever they are trying to hide, they can''t hide it from me. Chapter 574 The Village Of The Holy Where Evil Breeds (I) Once the shikigami is deployed, I tested the shikigami''s effects, fighting capabilities, and how it moves. Even if it is small, the stats that the shinigami that I deployed are simr to my current stats which means this little piece of paper in the shape of a paper human is my other half. I also did try to feel the shikigami''s movement while I am just in the distance and thankfully, everything is very smooth and no trouble arises after that. It is much easier than expectedpared to what I expected. Just imagine that you have two bodies that are controlled by one brain, that''s how it feels with me controlling the Shikigami. I didn''t rush to infiltrate the vige immediately. I familiarize myself with the usage of the Shikigami and made sure I amfortable with it already before I begin to make a move. After several practices, I finallypleted everything and the next thing I learned is that controlling the Shikigami is just like controlling a drone or a robot but minus the controller you hold on your hands as the main controller will be your mind itself. I have experience in controlling drones back in the past timeline so I am pretty confident on using the Shikigamis this time around. After getting familiar with how they work, I deployed the shikigami to its first job, scouting. Now, don''t get me wrong, I am not here to grind as I already did earlier. I have already set camp too where I am safe from being seen by other yers and also far enough but not that far to actually see the vige that I am trying to infiltrate. I still remembered that anyone who are in their range will immediately be noticed which is why it was necessary for me to scout using my Shikigami. I know that there are some things that have yet to happen since we are on an earlier timeline but who knows? Since my Shikigami is already under the passive effect of [Shikigami Camouge], I don''t need for sneaky movement and can just fly unless enemies have true sight though that should be impossible for enemies here which is why this shikigami of mine can just go and sneak around without any problems. To make sure that I have full control of my situation, I summoned Lucia and the Desert Wolf buddies to ensure that while I was controlling my shikigami, I will have at least someone who can watch my back while doing so. "Lucia, my Desert Wolves, I need your assistance." The moment I said that, everyone goes outside the summon''s area however, another two appeared with them and out of those two, one of them, despite not being part of my summons and followers also came out. Yep, the Half Angel and Half Fallen kid that has been under As''s care. The other one is Cotton who is staying on Lucia''s head, sleeping and since it is normal, I let Cotton be. However, it is a different matter from this kid. "Wait, kid. Why did youe out too?" "I am bored staying there and Uncle As already agreed to let me out and not wander too far or else, he will whoop my ass." Lucia gives a thumbs up as she pat my shoulders. "Don''t worry master, if he decided to do something that he shouldn''t even be doing, I will be the one who will whoop him on the butt. Even the wolves are barking in agreement, which means they can easily keep watch on this guy here. "Well, that is reassuring. Anyways, I needed your help on watching my back as I control my shikigami to infiltrate a ce. Tell me if there are any intruders on the camp or there are enemies nearby." "No problem with that Master." I turned to look at the little boy whose name I still have yet to know. "What about you? Are you going to help or not? You can just stay still there and do nothing. Chill out around the camp." "Nah, I will help out. I still owe Uncle As for taking care of me and since you are his master and helping him get strong, then if I help you, that also counts as repaying Uncle As for all his efforts done to me." "Well, you are good to go then. I don''t mind what you do, just don''t interrupt me unless its really important." Everyone went to their positions around the camp and started their task to protect me while I am busy with my Shikigami. And as for me, I resumed my control with the Shikigami. First, scouting. I let the Shikigami roam around the vige''s vicinity. I never properly scouted this ce before and even the others also didn''t do that which caused us a lot of time to waste due to the wasted potential of the ce during the first quest. While I am busy checking out the terrains, I just realized something. There are no other creatures around the ce. Not even a small beast or a neutral monster. Nothing at all. Heck, even birds that should bemon are nonexistent. Even the fishes in the nearby river seems to be also gone. No signs of animal wildlife at all. It would make sense if I also saw monsters but there are no monsters at all, just the nt life and nothing else. I made a second round of checking the vicinity and there are just nothing there. Not even insects like what the heck? In the past timeline, I even saw multiple Cloud Bunnies hopping around the ce and right now, they don''t seem to appear at all. Just what is going on? Seeing that I have no answer to my questions about the disappearance of the animal wildlife of this area, I decided to move to the next phase and that is to go now to the vige itself. The vige is not that big but that doesn''t mean it does not hide a dark secret. But since its still very early, I doubt there are any changes, right? It didn''t take long for my Shikigami to arrive at the vige itself. Since its not my body that arrived there, the discovery notification of the vige did not appear for me. But that''s fine, much better than actually entering this hell hole. I am also thankful that my Shikigami is flying in the air or else, it would be a slow thing. Now, first things first, I decided to do an inspection to the vigers. Compared to the past timeline where monsters ran rampant in this vige, the monsters that I killed during that past timeline shenanigans are nowhere to be seen here. The vigers are all normal angels. No distinctive looks on their faces and they don''t seem to look much different. And thanks to the [Shikigami Camouge], I can just spy them face to face and see what these guys are doing and what the vige was all about too. They seemed to be doing fine, working fine, and just doing what they do best. It was like a very generic NPCs gathered around which made the NPCs in this vige horrendous. Since the vigers doesn''t seem to look like they are of concern at the moment, I decided to explore the buildings this time around. In the past timeline, there are no buildings here after the monster destroyed them all and the only structures left are the ruins left from the destroyed houses. It wasn''t a vige at all and became a ce to kill monsters. Now, those ruins are not ruins anymore. But I am kinda disappointed as they look like generic houses. It seems the design team of the game decided to give this ce a normal look, and keep it like that as the monsters will ravage this ce and kill everyone in the end. I mean, that kinda makes sense especially if you would just burn it out anyway. I visited all of the houses one by one, checks out every single thing, then leave. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes, I would find some fascinating things but they are things that are not even rted to what I am looking for, just random stuff happening around houses and buildings. However, there is one thing that keeps me wondering. In every house that I visit, all houses have one single item in them that every houses I visited have that item. At first, I didn''t care, but the more I explored, the more the item became more and more I have noticed how relevant the thing is. Not only does the itemmon, it is in every household. What item was it? A skull. I don''t know if it was a human skull or a skull of any of the humanoid races like the elves and of course, the angels or anything else. One is fine, two is a coincidence, then third is already not a good thing already. It seems this is indeed the main case here. The skull seems connected to the situation that is happening in the future. Chapter 575 The Village Of The Holy Where Evil Breeds (II) Those skulls are all over the ce like it was just amon ornament disy for their houses that is now trending and liked the design. It would have been fine if it was other races liking it since that might happen but for Angel? Fat chance that''s happening. I would expect the opposite instead. Angels absolutely detests these kinds of ornaments and not only them but also the Fallens as well. Even if they have no longer have the same physique as a normal angel has, they still retain their behaviors of hating anything that would do something like this. They would get rid of something like this the moment something urred as they will immediately call someone a heretic the moment they discover something like that. So, if that was the case, why does these angels in this particr vige is keeping these ornaments that uses bones for ornaments? Although I wanted to think that this behavior was an influence that they got from the demons, I remembered that demons don''t like using bones as a decorative ornament for their houses. If possible, they would use it to unt their kills but they would immediately destroy them after they have no use of it or perhaps summon them as their servants so in the very end, they don''t use these bones to decorate a house. And from the looks of it, they don''t have any demonic influence present from them. Also, if they really are trying their destroy the angels, why would they recruit angels in the very first ce? "Something is definitely fishy going on around here. I can''t just pinpoint it but I am sure of it." As much as I wanted to suspect them about what is remotely wrong with this vige, there are no conclusive evidence I have found just yet and I can''t judge them on it based on the skulls I found in their homes. It''s not a solid proof and if I needed a very concrete proof, I needed to check more all around town. The houses are all done and they didn''t give me any definitive proof that I needed. Even if I looked around them one more time, it would just end up being quite redundant I guess. So the next thing I did, is to check around the establishments of the vige. They are big, and houses the businesses that a vige needed to function properly. But since they are separated from the houses, perhaps I might find something if I check in those buildings. Little did I know that the n I am thinking to find evidence would immediately shift because of something. Checking out every single buildings would have been troublesome so I decided to go and check the businesses first. The first one is the meat shop. The shop that sells meat from monsters that they eat for food. There are nothing wrong with the meat shop at first until I noticed that the meat they are selling are a bit smaller than most chunk of meat monsters should have. It was like they made it bite sized or something. I didn''t think too much of it until I heard they are doing some ughtering process happening in the ughterhouse area. Seeing that I have nothing to check in the meat shop, I decided to head to the ughterhouse. Compared to the ughterhouses I have seen where it is open to see for the public, the ughterhouse here is closed off to the public and only the butchers are allowed inside. Thankfully, I am a shikigami right now and with the size of my shikigami, it''s easy to fit in holes and gaps of doors. But the moment I slip inside the ughterhouse. I immediately understood why the ughterhouse is closed. Because this ughterhouse is indeed something causing some kind of ughter. But not to animals, not to the monsters and not to the wildlife. Sure, I have seen a few of them around here and there but they are not that significant. What I am seeing here absolutely terrifies me. They are ughtering their kind. In short, they convert other angels as meat. Yep, cannibalism. I know that cannibalism is normal but for angels in Luminous? Very unlikely and this game have not given any of the humanoid races the trait to be cannibals. After all, they would risk offending people and that would definitely earn the wrath of them if they have it so seeing it happening before my eyes is horrific. The dead bodies also range from adult to children and I am wondering why they are able to do that. Then, I remembered something before. It was an incident where some Angels in some cities and towns have gonepletely missing and are never found. It stopped for a while but the missing people are never found. Is this perhaps the main reason those guys are missing? However, that is a vital clue already. I searched around the ughterhouse but I saw nothing but the dead bodies of the angels that are about to be ughtered and nothing else. I left before they will do the ughtering process. Even though it was just a game, ughtering them is terrible day to have eyes for me so I immediately left. As I was looking around, the vige''s bell started ringing. It''s loud that enough that even back in the camp, I can hear the loud bell ringing above the local church. At first, I thought nothing of it as that is a typical and normal bell ringing. However, that changed when the behavior of the viger NPCs changed after hearing the bell. All of the angels, staying inside their houses, working outside and anyone who heard them stopped whatever they are doing, whether it was cooking, working on some house, farming and other stuff, theypletely abandoned them and started heading to the church. I might have understood it if they are reminded that a mass is going to happen and that it will begin a few more minutester but to see everyone stopped doing what they are doing freaked me out. It was like they are just robots that are obeying a single line ofmand the moment the bell rang. They became mindless beings. One more thing too. Even though the Angels are also known to be pretty religious, they don''t perform a mass in the middle of the day and random days of the week. They always have specific schedule. Normal mass happens every end of the week in the game and they perform it on the morning before the morning sunes out. Then, they will perform another mass when dusk falls. They follow these strict schedule and they don''t haphazardly make a random schedule just because they wanted to. Seeing the weird behavior of everyone, I decided to follow everyone on where they are going to check out why would they immediately stopped what they are doing just to go to wherever they are going. After following them, I found myself in front of the local church of the vige. I have yet to check this ce as I am busy with the other buildings but I am indeed going to check it. But seeing theme inside so enthusiastically, it made me wonder what is happening inside. The church looked like a typical and normal local church most yers would see in Luminous Continent''s viges. Some might look a bit grandiose because the leaders of those viges tends to take care the buildings and improve them while some looks the same. As for this one though, although they looked the same, it wasn''t maintained like most churches do. It is already about to copse already and the wood looks so old that I never expected that this will be like this. "This vige really don''t maintain their church huh? The walls even have some sort of blood mark on them and its very dirty. It was like it hasn''t been properly maintained by other people at all and even the poorest viges has better looking viges than this one." I was just muttering to me mindlessly when I noticed I spotted blood unconsciously. Why would the church have blood all of a sudden? While I was still inspecting the outside, I suddenly heard screams inside the church. A scream of terror and absolute blood curdling scream can be heard inside. Forget checking the things I noticed outside, I needed to see what is going on inside. But I was in for a big surprise. Churches are meant to be a holy ground where the people can worship whoever gods they are believing in. It is considered as their holy sanctuary that are rted to gods. However, this church is the opposite. It might be a church from the outside, but this ce is actually the breeding ground of evil. And the vigers of this vige is actually nurturing the evil within. Chapter 576 The Village Of The Holy Where Evil Breeds (III) Just like in the real world, there are multiple religions present in the Alternate World and although yers are not required to join any religion, it is clear that they have very diverse types of religions that anyone can explore and join in without any problem. Even yers can do so if they wanted to though they are not forced. But if there are lots of religions, there are two that dominate the majority of religions present in the game and that is the religion that worships the God of Life and the God of Death, though thetter seems to slowly lose its followers though I know some who still do. However, if there are religions that are considered to be eptable and normal to the people living in Alternate World, there are also religions that are viewed in a bad light, purely barbaric, heretical, uneptable, and purely evil in a sense. That''s none other than the cults, and yes, even the real world has them and they are not just some myth. You might not have seen or met one but treat yourself lucky you have yet to meet one. But if Ipare the cults in the real world and the cults present in the Alternate World, you can say that the things being done by the former one is pretty tamepared to the ones in thetter one. Don''t get me wrong, the former is still bad but they are not so much of a major threat most of the time and even if they are dangerous, they are immediately discovered and culled by angry vigers or angry mobs. When you say cults in Alternate World, the moment you say that to anyone who is still sane and not part of any simr religion, they will panic, get distressed, and will immediately inform authorities about it. After all, once a cult is identified, it is immediately enough to call forth a Search and Destroy order from any kingdom. No kingdom would let a cult remain active unless they are supporting that cult. Why do they view cults here much differently than in the real world? Simple. Magic and Sorcery. If these two things are present also in the real world, then the cults that exist are much more dangerous than ever. The cults in Alternate World tend to be a real threat as most of them does worship actual entities of evil that do exist and their priests are more likely to practice dark magic and necromancy which, whenbined, can cause massive disturbance and death. Once a cult is discovered by anyone, it is immediately pushed to be the top priority for the cult to be purged as soon as possible. The longer the cult remains in operations, the stronger and more threatening they be and that is something many kingdoms and governments tend to avoid as they don''t want to die and then be converted into walking dead by them. It''s very understandable and I can''t deny that they are indeed a big threat that even I wouldn''t take easy with them. Right now, this new trouble that appeared before me is another piece of the crap cult. I never expected that these angels who are known to be religious and are devout believers of the God of Life can be influenced to join a cult. And the whole vige at that. I think I know now the main reason they are eating their own kind. Since cults have these weird stuff going on with them, it is normal for them to eat their own kind telling the reason they do eat them is for the liberation of their kind and stuff, whatever bullcrap they are saying. This cult is quite weird, although they are not those guys who keep on chanting weirdnguage and like keeping on doing more weird stuff, these angels, are doing a dance and while they are dancing, they have those kinds of delight on their faces which is pretty creepy seeing it. In the center of their church, is arge altar where an angel that seems to be missing his wings is struggling while being tied up by chains. He is getting terrified, real terrified as those other angels are just dancing with big smiles on their faces. On the back is a mass of flesh writhing and from the looks of it, they are multiplying. That''s why I said the evil is breeding here. Anything that looked like crap like them is always going to "Are they going to sacrifice him to the god that they are worshipping? That looks like they are indeed going to do so seeing that he ced him on an altar and they even cut off his wings to prevent him from flying away. Not only that but they also took off his wings which are considered to be the angel''s source of their power." I wanted to save the guy. However, I don''t want to risk on doing something that would affect the situation. Sometimes, it is best to just watch and keep the situation in control. Doing a rescue operation immediately will just more trouble. After a few minutes of dancing, the angels stopped dancing and one hooded guy appeared and walked into the altar. He is carrying a ritual knife and a...Necronomicon. What the heck, this guy is a necromancer! F*ck, once a necromancer is up, then that means this cult is dangerous already. At first, I thought I would just watch but now that a necromancer is involved, I don''t want this f*cker to live. The more they remain and the more they kill, the more they get stronger. Instead of just letting him take the life of this angel, I have to get rid of him immediately. I fly over my shikigami behind the necromancer guy. He is currently chanting something on his Necronomicon. From the looks of it, he is going to revive the angel and turn him into an undead once he dies. As if I will let that happen. First, I summon another shikigami, send it there, then select the first shikigami I have already deployed in the church. I activate the [Shikigami Explosion]. However, before the skill activates, I was shown how big the explosion radius appears. It was big enough. Big enough to even catch the flesh behind the necromancer. That''s good enough. Let''s do this. "[Shikigami Explosion!]" BOOM! My vision of the first shikigami disappeared and my vision returned to the camp. Everyone in the camp turned to look at the explosion in the vige. "Master, was that explosion earlier part of what you are doing?" Lucia asked. "Yeah, I found a cult there. I have to do something." "A cult?! Isn''t Luminous Region an area where angels live and are pretty loyal to the God of Life? Why are there cults now?" "I am wondering that too. I never expected the angels will have their own cults too, not only humans sumb to these negative religions." p While trying to go to the next shikigami I summoned, I get the notification of my Versatile Weapon. Apparently, it is done doing its digestion. I didn''t realize it already finished up its digestion process. Before I can even check its stats, it opened up itself and disyed whatever is new to my face. [Blood Covered Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 10,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +1500 AGI: +1500 DEX: +1500 END: +1500 INT: +1500 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. Can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy that will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform to Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering the partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: Null Chapter 577 The Village Of The Holy Where Evil Breeds (IV) The changes in my Versatile Weapon are only a few that I already expected. But a 500 stat addition to all parameters is still something that is pretty big so I am notining. The biggest change of the Versatile Weapon is none other than the new skill, [Mammon''s Curse] which I remembered to be the skill that is named as [Avarice] that was exclusive to the Greed Sin. After the Weapon of Greed is devoured, the iplete skill, [Avarice] has finally evolved into its new andplete form, [Mammon''s Curse]. The effects of the old skill only involve taking permanent stats of the enemy and converting them to temporary stats of the user which will disappear if the duration of the skill is over. But that changed after I let the Versatile Weapon devour the Weapon of Greed. Instead of disappearing, I can keep the stats to permanently increase my overall stats. The only downside to this is that I can only use it once every month. However, this is big stuff that is beneficial to me. Not only does it increase my stats in the process but this will also lessen my reliance on the Versatile Weapon for the stats. With my unreliable leveling speed, it may take me some time to level up so it would be indeed the best to have this. Additionally, the skill also increases my passive money gained from monsters killed meaning, if I received 2 bronze and 2 gold in a single kill, I will instead gain 4 bronze and 4 gold though that is my basic calctions on how much I will earn. Since the skill didn''t specify the percentage of how much of an additional will be added to my meager gains though I assume it will double. There is also a chance that it will be just random, though whatever it is, the result is a big plus for me. Since I don''t have any weapon equipped right now, I equipped the Versatile Weapon again which allowed me to regain all of the stats that the weapon provides but this time, with increased numbers. I resumed control of the second deployed Shikigami I summoned earlier and rushed back to the church before any of the cult members can properly escape after the first explosion. When my shikigami arrived in the vige, the angels that were dancing earlier are all running away from the church. Although I can see the church releasing smoke, I can sense that there are no mes burning inside which means the explosion only caused a destructive st but did not give the burning effect that I expected. It seems the church has applied me resistance to the surroundings causing the mes from the explosion to not spread further. Even so, I still let the Shikigami enter the church as I have yet to confirm the fate of the sacrifice. However, when I arrived, he has already died. Although he didn''t die from getting caught by the st of my shikigami, he died when he sumbed to his wounds. I inspected his body in case there are any signs of him turning into an undead but thankfully, there are no signs of necrosis happening on his body. Still, it was kinda sad that I didn''t get to save him but his death is already inevitable with his wings gone. It''s only a matter of time for him and he just sumbed to it much earlier. I transformed the Shikigami into a bigger shikigami and destroyed the chains that are tying his dead body. At least, his body would be free from the restraints that are tying him up on the altar. After checking the dead angel, I went to the necromancer who got caught by the explosion. Since he was the main target of the explosion and he was caught off guard, he was badly injured as a result. He is groaning in agony after that explosion and he is sufferingrge wounds on his body. Despite that, I doubt he will die just because of thatpared to the angel that is chained up. Not only does a necromancer has the ability to recover quickly when there are corpses nearby and since there is one near him, it only takes a matter of time before he can recover again. I turned to look at the mass of flesh that was dividing earlier. I have blown quite arge part of it and some parts of it have been burned from the explosion but it didn''t get blown offpletely. It is still pulsing which means it is still alive or moving if it wasn''t alive, whatever its state it was in. My main priority here is to get rid of the priest immediately. Removing him as soon as possible will be the best solution as that will cripple the cult effectively. "You f*cking intruder... you ruined the ritual!" The necromancer is trying his best to stand back up. I controlled the shikigami and took a step at his hands that is trying to reach out on his Necronomicon. Then, by adding a little force, I pressed down his arm a little more and... SQUISH CRACK! SPLAT! The crunchy noise of his bone, breaking to pieces is a bit satisfying to hear though it got immediately reced with his screams. I repeated again to his other arm and like before, the same crunchy sound can be heard from doing so, and yet his screams overshadowed those crunchy sounds. "You will pay for everything!" As he screamed those words, a purple magic circle appeared, signifying that he is invoking the spell of a ritual of some sort. "F*CK!" I tried to cancel his skill by attacking him but the moment I do, I got repelled by some sort of barrier, and my shikigami was sent flying. As I try to get close to him, heughed as the energy from his spell slowly consumes him. A few secondster, he exploded but instead of his flesh scattering all over the ce, he morphed into something. Also, I noticed that the light in his body is also scattering around. That''s when something clicked on me. This light was the light that we saw in the past timeline. The light signifies the beginning of the disaster and the outbreak of monsters starting here in this vige. So this light came from this necromancer. So that also means I provoked and unleashed the scourge before it should have happened. My skill is once again ready to be deployed so this time, I summoned another one and let the shikigami I have deployed on the church, try to fight in a battle. I have yet to see it inbat so this is a good chance to see it in action. As the light disappears, the monster that resembles an ant appeared, With the robe, the necromancer was wearing before draping over the ant-like monster, it is clear that he morphed into this monstrosity. However, monstrosity or not doesn''t matter. I need to kill it. ,m The moment I wanted to attack the ant monster, the shikigami responded, removing its stealth and converting its stance to offensive mode. I tried thinking about what to do using it and the shikigami also responded and attacked. Thankfully, I don''t need to control it manually as it can do just fine. But I can do it if I want to do so efficiently. However, I still have no confidence in controlling it which is why I decided to let the AI do its wonders and see how it fares against the ant monster. The shikigami swiftly attacked the ant monster by changing its arms into a sharp de. I know it is a paper manifesting as a familiar but since it can harden itself, the de it made on its hands is still close enough to be a real de as it can still cut something. It is clear that the ant monster didn''t like the presence of the shikigami as it immediately screamed and rushed towards my shikigami. Likewise, thetter also attacked and the two shed together. The de of my shikigami pierced through the neck of the ant while the ant''s mandibles chewed through my shikigami''s body. The shikigami did its best and repeatedly stab its neck. But the ant also won''t just go down that easily. It continues to chew on my shikigami until I am seeing arge tear on its body. The ant monster is about to die, but so my shikigami is also not doing well too. One more struggle and my shikigami''s body will be gone. "Thank you second shikigami for your job. Now, time to make the sacrifice. [Shikigami Explosion]!" As the Ant Monster continues to chew, the shikigami''s body glows, and heat envelopes its body. The shikigami stabbed the ant monster one more time to the neck, ensuring that the monster won''t escape before the explosionmence, burning the two together into mes. Chapter 578 Monster Invasion Everything exploded to pieces and I lost my visual with the second shikigami I controlled. And as I lost control of the second Shikigami, I earned a few experience points which means I killed the ant monster that morphed from the necromancer priest. Still, even though I have gotten rid of the necromancer priest, that doesn''t mean everything is over. The light that appeared before the necromancer priest fully turned into a monster is another trouble. I stood up from the camp with the third Shikigami I had already deployed and called everyone. "Gather around guys. We are about to fight." "Fight? What are we about to fight, Master?" Lucia asked as she approached. "There are monsters we had to exterminate." ... ... ... Back into the vige, the unsuspecting angels who fled after the explosion on their church wondered what is happening. It was all sudden so they were not prepared for the surprise that urred to them. They were about to check again when they realized the priest was left inside when a bright light was released from the church. Everyone suddenly felt delighted when the light appeared. "We are being liberated from this world!" "Thanks to the almighty savior!" "Praise the savior of this world!" As they sing praises to the light, the lightnded on them, bathing them in its glory. As they felt the happiness that their priest has been telling them about, they slowly morphed their bodies into different variations. Despite the changing bodies urring to them, it seems they didn''t mind those changes at all and they embraced them wholeheartedly. It didn''t take long for the angels that formerly lives in the vige to disappear. The only entities moving around are the monsters that critters around as they lose thest remaining intelligence they possess. Of course, the light from earlier didn''t justnd on that specific vige alone but in multiple viges. And the same thing is happening to them. Today marks the first day of the invasion. ... ... Day 1 It''s been a few minutes since the light has shined through the sky. No one knew what that was but for someone who has seen it, that only means the first invasion is about to begin. I let the Desert Wolves lead the way as we went ahead and approach the vige where everything began. We were just approaching the vige but I am still a few meters away from it the smell of very pungent and disgusting smell is already wafting on my nose. "What is that disgusting smell? It even rivals a rotten corpse''s smell! Ugh... I want to gag..." Lucia covers her mouth to prevent herself from barfing. The smell is the same as it was back in the first timeline. The smell was the result of the monsters creating their nest using organic materials and when I say organic materials, I mean dead bodies. We are just nearing the vige but the vige that we saw is already identical to the previous timeline vige that I saw. And the other thing that are added are the monsters. They looked like insects but they are morphed to be disturbing as some parts of their body still retains their previous appearance while some still have their original face but they are now part of the monster''s body. "Ugh?! Are those the previous vigers here?" the half angel boy looked disgusted as he saw the critters. "You got that right. And to stop them from spreading further, we will have to exterminate them. Let''s kill them all." I continue to use the Shikigami of mine but this time, I summoned another one, allowing me to control two. And since the Versatile Weapon is already avable for me to use, it''s better to also fight rather than rely on the shikigami. I know they are strong but they don''t have that much strong defense to withstand the attacks of the enemies attacking them. Unless I upgrade the skill, their defenses will remain crap and they will be easily disposable. As soon as we step into the vige, the critters walking around started to jump around and attack us. Lucia immediately raised a wall made of mes, causing the critters to stop and squeal in anger as they try to bypass the wall of mes. "Ugh, they look disgusting. If I didn''t see them personally, I would have thought they are just product of the human mind or perhaps a spawn of darkness that only appears during nightmares and stuff. Alright, that''s it. I am out of here. Don''t force me to remain outside. I don''t want to see any kind of sh*t happening here," after that, the half angel boy opened the portal to the Summon''s Area and returned inside, before closing it again. I was surprised since he was able to enter the Summon''s Area without even my prompt of letting him in. Perhaps the system already considered him as part of my followers since he took a long time staying there with As or he just had the power to forcefully enter my summon''s area. Whichever it was, doesn''t matter much. It didn''t take long for the mes that Lucia released to died down and the monsters who are trying to cross has finally escaped from the mes and started to attack. "Alright boys, I know that you guys rarely fight but this time, I will be giving you all the chance to bust some nut!" The Desert Wolves immediately went to battle stance and the color of their fur immediately turned red and their fur started emit electricity that I didn''t expect to see on them. I rarely bring them out to battle so seeing them in action despite not deploying to battle most of the time made me really surprised. "Are you surprised, Master? Lina is the one that teached them how to do that. I never thought they would easily utilize the ability of Lina and added them to their battle style. They are not to be underestimated!" Lucia felt proud. The wolves started howling as the monsters are rushing towards us. The wolves unleashed their abilities and speeds thought the monsters. Using their sharp fangs and ws, they tear the limbs of the monsters one by one. "Master, we shouldn''t just let the dessert wolves take the shine for glory. Why don''t we join in the fray too?" I grinned as I pull out the Versatile Weapon. "Ha, now you are speaking mynguage." Changing my weapon into a dual pistol, I started sting my gun and wrecking their guts to pieces. Once I get close, I change one of the guns to a dagger, rip out the heart, and finish it up with either stomping them with my boots or just finishing them up with a sh from the sword. The more I master some of the ss tree especially the swordsman, it gets easier to transition the expertise I have with them. Lucia has a better killing streak though as she would just st their insides and burning them to crisp. It was fast and easy for her to do just that and she even does some melee attacks by enveloping her fists with mes. It seems she got this strategyst time when I borrowed her ability and used it to fight. She rarely used melee but since I used it and it was effective in dealing against one monsters than killing it with mes that costs lots of mana. Having just the mes on the fists or just the feet to fight would allow her to save up a lot in mana. Because we are already proficient in killing and with the desert wolves taking most of the kills due to their number, the amount of the mutated monsters immediately dwindled in numbers and are now dead. In a matter of few minutes, the monsters are now gone and the vige that are popted before is now dested with the only things left in them are the flesh that are made by those monsters from organic matter. "Lucia, you burn this vige down. The smell will attract more monsters as a result. Not only that, we might even limit them from spawning again if we destroy the ce where they are more likely to multiply." "You got it, Master!" Lucia enveloped her hands to mes and throws it to the mmable building materials nearby. She hurled the mes one after another, easily burning the whole ce down. I ordered the desert wolves to go out from the vige so that we don''t get caught by the rampage of Lucia. Since Lucia is basically immune to mes, she is not in harm while in mes. In fact, she gets stronger the hotter the area. She easily spreads the mes without trouble, destroying the nest that is built from flesh. I can see that some of them are still pulsating as they are being burned to crisp. The first vige is now obliterated. However, this matter has yet to be over. Chapter 579 The Villages Of The Scourge (I) Picking up the map that I created that maps out the area around here that is the main focus of the Expedition quest, I have to track down the viges of the scourge, the viges that have the same fate as the first vige. It was called Vige of the Scourge due to how it turned into an area where only the scourge thrives and the monsters that like living there. I don''t know if there are changes that are added or removed but there are at least 6 more viges left to destroy before the scourge and the monsters will invade the whole Luminous continent. Because the monsters are quick to spawn, if they are left to their own devices, the viges will get overwhelmed by monsters and the monsters will soon spread the scourge and envelope the wholend with it. If I was following the quest line, I would be supposed to inform the situation to higher-ups so that the expedition members will get to respond and fight against the enemies that will appear. However, because I am on the rogue side mode, I can just do whatever the hell I want or even ignore the storypletely. I won''t be issued goals and what toplete to progress. I can either jump ahead to the quest line and mess up with it orpletely ignore it. However, nothing will progress if I don''t set the wheel in motion so all I did is put it in ce and just ride on it. I wanted toplete the f*cking event storyline already and move to the second part of the game which is going to be where the minds of yers will be divided. Since this is just the prelude to all of the sh*ts that will be happeningter on. And since I don''t see any movement from the other yers just yet and the Tactician seems to have yet to even notice what is happening, I should be doing my best to track the viges and be the first person to track and find all of the little f*ckers that are going to corrupt this ce. I scanned the map and locate the viges that are potentially and most likely to be hit by the scourge. I can''t be too sure about the viges that turned into another portal of hell but I am quite sure there are six viges left. "Master, are you sure about the viges that you crossed out? Based on the lights from earlier, some of the viges you crossed out here are not the viges you would be looking for." "I didn''t see which areas the light from earliernded that is why I am just specting which ces would be the ones we needed to visit first. Every single one of them would be a potential ce for those monsters to spawn so it''s better to check them one by one than to be sorry." With the first vige gone and burned to the crisp, there are no more monsters left. The whole vige is gone and reduced to ashes and nothing can salvage it anymore. Even the scourge that is hard to get rid of is also burned to crisp. I know the Expedition yers here will be baffled about who did this but that''s a story that will be told for another day. Once the double checking is done and I am now entirely sure that this vige is already done, I summoned Leona, let the others return to the Summon''s Area, and fly away, in search of the next scourge that might already be urring to the other viges. ... ... ... Back to the first ce where Kogure arrived, Sky City. Alynna just finished training all of the Pioneers that needed to learn the ability of flight. And although most of them are not that capable of learning stuff that fasts, they still managed to understand the principles of the Flight and slowly learned it like it was nothing, reducing her workload and time of spending it teaching them. Still, Alynna was happy that she didn''t meet the same kind of monstrous ability as the first guy who learned flight from her new human trainees, or else, she would lose her mind. After all, howe humans knew flight more than actual angels? That doesn''t make much sense at all. Since most of them have averageprehension of the flight and their mastery over it took a little bit of time, she is d that no one did the same as the first guy. While resting, Alynna wondered why she didn''t see the first guy. She remembered that his name was deheart. She heard that the guy entered the Tactician''s house after the training to get to know about the situation. If things were handled correctly, she would have met up with the guy again so that she can give out some of the orders and help he needed to gather intel on the trouble as that is still one of their trouble in finding one due to the angels who worship the servants of darkness are so secretive that they have not tracked any areas that would make them appear. But to her surprise, the guy who should be already inquiring her about the trouble did not appear and the day had already ended and yet she saw no sign of him evering back. Did the Tactician never tell the guy to go back to her so that she can provide additional info? The other Pioneers are tasked to rest for the rest of the day after almost a whole day trying to practice flyingpared to deheart who immediately went to meet the Tactician. Alynna had an idea what happened but did the little f*cker of a Tactician really had the gall to do that especially since they needed to get all the help they needed? She still doesn''t understand why the higher-ups seem to be currying favor to the Tactician despite thetter showing no signs of being a helpful angel at all. While she is resting in her office, the Head Guards of the Sky City entered her office. "Excuse my intrusion, Miss Alynna. I know you are resting but we needed to give out this report as soon as possible." "That''s fine. I just started resting. What is going on and why are you in a rush to deliver the report to me?" "I know that we are still looking for the information of the cult that is recruiting angels to join their side but now, we have definite info on them and what we might be facing." "Go on," Alynna sits properly on her chair after she heard that this info is the one she wanted to learn as soon as possible. "We received a report of the dark lights appearing from the distant vige and some of themnded on some unidentified viges that are still being investigated." "Dark Lights? Are you referring to the demon lights that appeared before?" "Affirmative, General. The soldiers are already deployed to check the first ce the light appeared so that we can immediately gather information whether we needed to be careful already or we have to take action immediately." "What is the tactician doing right now? Shouldn''t he be doing something already?" "Uh...about him, he is passed out drunk from partying all day. He cannot be properly talked to right now due to how intoxicated he was right now." Alynna''s fist is forming after hearing that. The tactician that was believed to be the one who will lead everyone to salvation and will save them from trouble has been the main trouble, to begin with. She is already close to getting her temper overflowing just because of a f*cker who prefers to go drunk in broad daylight rather than looking for a way to find the main source of the scourge that is slowly spreading in thends of Luminous. If she had the slight power to say and do something about this, she would have already beaten up the tactician and banished him out of the Sky City for being a big disgrace and for being a bad influence on the angels. As she was holding herself from exploding in anger, another soldier appeared and this time, it seems this guy is carrying a piece of crucial information for her. "General! Reporting in! We have already received some information where signs of the scourge have urred. However, it seems someone had already been ahead of us." "Excuse me? Someone is already ahead of us? What do you mean by that?" Alynna is confused. The soldier continued the report, "The scouts have already located the exact location of the first vige that released the dark light and have confirmed that it was indeed the vige. However, when we arrived there, the whole ce is scorched. The buildings are burned to crisp, and the signs of Scourge that are spotted are already burned to ashes and are no longer capable of sustaining the scourge from spreading. Not only that but we found some skeletal remains there but have been deformed and we suspected these were the people who transformed into monsters." "Don''t tell me all of them are dead already?" "Yes. They died. And all of their bodies, just like the buildings are scorched to ashes, and the only ones left behind are the bones that did not burn along them." "Then howe you guys are saying that these might not be natural urrences and someone did this?" "Because the monsters found in the scene are all shown in pieces like they were torn apart. And although they are bones already, someone used a scan and simted that there was someone else who have destroyed the monsters and torn them to pieces as they should be. Their limbs have been thrown around and are scattered like they were detached from them in the first ce before it was burned. Not only that but most of the dead bodies are concentrated in the center area where most of the battles have urred there. mes can''t do this kind of stuff so it was already clear that the person who discovered the site is the one who is doing this." Chapter 580 The Village Of Scourge (II) The first vige that I have spotted is still functioning just fine. I also don''t feel the negative energy the Scourge is giving and even if they are part of the cult, the scourge should have already corrupted them and turned them into monsters. That is the effect of the dark light that escaped from the body of the necromancer priest. This is why I skipped the first vige and went to the second vige which is just a few distances away from the first vige. And as I expected, the vige is already covered by the scourge that is seen in the previous vige. If only Leona had the ability to breathe fire, I would have already ordered her to scorch down the whole vige to burn. If I didn''t destroy this vige as soon as possible, it is clear that it will be creeping straight to the first vige I saw, killing the vigers, or perhaps corrupt and turning them into the same creatures as those guys and I don''t want that to ever happen. If ever, I want to avoid killing actual angels. Compared to angels who are "blessed" by the Dark Light, the angels who got corrupted by the monsters would either die and be their food, or get corrupted, turning them into literal zombies that are not dead but also not living at the same time. Pretty disturbing most of the time and you would rather have to mercy kill them before they fully turned into monsters that no longer recognize themselves. It was so bad that if not for them acting inhumanely, you would think you are killing actual NPCs who did nothing wrong. Depending on how you view the NPCs, you would either get really guilty doing so or just not feel anything at all. Either way, this vige must be destroyed before they even progress to spread the scourge. "Leona,nd nearby and be on the lookout for enemies. If you spot any hostile enemies, kill them on sight." Leona quietlynded in the nearby area of the vige where the monsters in the vige won''t detect Leona''snding but not far enough for us to easily reach the vige. As soon as wended, I resummoned Lucia and the Desert Wolves. With the wolves having marvelous teamwork and lethality in their kills, they are easily capable of bringing down multiple monsters without Lucia or my help. "Master, it seems this vige is much bigger and the residents are much more numerous than the previous one." "You wanna back out, Lucia? I can allow you to skip this one as I have no problem killing the monsters with me and the Desert Wolves just fine." "No way, Master. I rarely have the chance to fight since you are already getting stronger so having a chance to fight back against enemies like this prevents me from being rusty." "Then, let''s do our job and get some killing. These guys won''t just die by themselves. Monsters die if they are killed after all." "Isn''t that pretty obvious?" Lucia smirked hearing my remark. I controlled the shikigami that Ist summoned before. Since we are here to help, it didn''t need to self-destruct to save itself from being damaged further. Using it as the first to step into the vige, the monsters immediately noticed our approach and angrily jumped toward us to fight. Just like the first tactic that Lucia did before, she raised a wall made of mes but this time, she made sure to make it while the monsters were about to pass through. Because of that, the first greedy monsters that wanted to attack us first were immediately caught in a fire and immediately got engulfed in mespletely, killing them after a few seconds. SQUEEEEE! SQUEEEEE! The noises of the monsters being fried to death are something I would never like to hear ever as they are just capable of being capable of making me feel goosebumps. To think that these guys were previously angels, they have really fallen off too hard that I don''t think I can see them in the same way as before. I used the [Kekkai] to take out most of the monsters and then drop them into the me wall, to burn them faster, It was much easier to master it as the [Kekkai] can be used to move around objects by containing them inside and move it. This made the progress to the battle faster for me rather than waiting for the me wall of Lucia to die down. With this method, I reduced the potentially multiple monsters still skittering over there. ? After a few seconds, the mes finally died down and the moment they did, the Desert Wolves pounced and started tearing them apart. For me, I changed into the two pistols on both hands and started sting. Lucia hurled mes after mes and just like before, she added her punches to her attacks, sting them to pieces like nothing. Then, while we are dealing with the smaller and lesser monsters, a monster that looks simr to the Necromancer Priest from before appeared. The only difference is that the monster looks feminine and it is much biggerpared to the one I fought before. And not only one, but there are two. In fact, they look identical and the clothes that their previous selves still remained on their body looking at them, it seems these two seem to be twins as they have the same face structure and they both wear the same shirt with only different coloring in them. "Be careful. These guys are tougher than they look. Let me take care of them. Back me up, Lucia. You guys, continue to shred those little critters before they can do something else." "You got it, Master." Kurogane, one of the wolves barked as a sign of affirmation before they continue to brawl with the monsters. I changed my weapon''s form into a katana following the same de that my Shikigami used before to kill the previous necromancer that turned itself into this kind of monstrosity. As those guys appeared, my Shikigami entered to battle stance and changed their arms like a katana, just like the previous Shikigami did. The two ant-like twins didn''t like that we are there, ready to fight. It screeches and gives out annoying sounds before using its ded feet to stomp down on us as they are bigger than us. One slice and those des can fatally hit me and I would bleed a lot. After easily dodging them, I slide to the other side and went for a slice on the softer parts of the legs of the first twin and effectively cutting it off. But one leg is not enough. I did another after the monster started screaming in pain. The monster just wails there, allowing me to go and cut off these f*ckers'' feet without much problem. Despite losing a leg, this monster moves around like they still have the leg they have. Seeing that it has yet to do anything that would make them be more pathetic than they should be, I went to its blindside. It tried to use its gas attack that can melt metal but I easily evaded it and went straight to the rear end leg. Without a sense of hesitation, I sliced off the second leg and the ant-like monster screamed in pain. It still didn''t fall down so I decided to go and pump up the number of my attacks. Another m attack is about to ur so I immediately stabbed its little thorax and make a big opening on its thorax by cutting it open. It screamed so bad that my ears felt like it was about to fall off, but I made sure that they will fall down after tearing apart their thorax. Although the thorax is the middle part of this monster separating its humanoid form and its insect form, that doesn''t mean that it wasn''t necessary for me to tear apart its thorax. After cutting another leg, I pulled out a scroll that contains the [Hellfire] skill. Tearing it apart and aiming it at the broken thorax, it is now much easier to know why I did that thing. The open thorax made all of its juices that are normally avable on its body drop out of its system and slowly lose its health. With [Hellfire] popping off, the thorax will not just remain the same. SQUEEEEEEEE! The thorax got burned to the point where the [Hellfire] didn''t leave single ash behind after burning it immediately. The upper half of its body fell to the ground while the abdomen of the monster limped and fell the ground, The humanoid form of the monster tried to recover its abdomen but Lucia easily burned it in mes. I didn''t want it to fully recover so before the little f*cker can regenerate its body, I kicked the humanoid form of the monster. She might look like a looker back when she was alive, it was a shame that she decided to use and offer her beautiful body into the darkness. "Goodbye." SLASH! A single sh using my Katana slices off the head of the monster, immediately killing it in the process. Now, time for the second twin. Chapter 581 The Village Of Scourge (III) Witnessing the death of its sibling, the other monster roared in anger as it uses its scythe-like hands to sweep us and kill us but my Shikigami is keeping it at bay, and despite its efforts on trying to attack us, the Shikigami is just causing the monster to get more furious than ever. Every time it made the sweeping attack, the Shikigami would immediately interrupt the monster by blocking it with its little katana-like de that is strong enough to withstand a 5 feet long scythe. It honestly made me happy that the shikigami is capable of holding out long enough for us to defeat the other monster simr to the Shikigami is killing. I know the Shikigami is not strong enough to even kill it without self-destructing itself but allowing it to withstand that long is already good enough. What if the skill is upgraded to the advanced form and some passives are added as well into the fray? That will make everything much better. But even right now that the shikigamis I summoned are just normal, no buffs familiars, and just a literal made of paper golem able to withstand a monster that can slice humans down in one swing, is already speaking in itself. After we disposed of the first monster down, we turned to look at the monster that the shikigami is facing. I have a little gripe about these guys though as they don''t register as monsters in the game just yet. You don''t even see their HP bar and official names that you can call them which is why I always call them monsters. They are not angels anymore as they morphed away from that. Although you get no penalty for killing them, you don''t get any rewards from killing them except a little bit of experience that barely amounts to anything at all for a Versatile ss like me. Still, I am doing this for the sake that the quests forter on will not f*ck us up like what happened in the past timeline. "Lucia, let''s deal with this f*cker down as soon as possible." "You got it, Master. My mes are waiting!" As the monster tried to battle its way from my Shikigami, I raised a [Kekkai] to the monster''s w before the Shikigami attacked and cuts off the w of the monster using its little de. It took a bit but it managed to cut it off without a problem. "Lucia! Burn the w!" "Burst in mes! Explode!" SNAP! Lucia snapped her fingers and in response, the w caught in the fire before it exploded like a bomb in front of the monster which also damages the monster after. These guys have the ability to reattach their broken and cut-off limbs as long as they are still fine or just recently cut off which is why I ordered Lucia to burn them to avoid the monster from even using them again. With one of its ws gone, the danger of the monster is now a little bit lower as we can now defend it properly due to now it is fighting slower and unevenly with only one hand to use. I ordered the Shikigami to back off now to avoid letting it get damaged any further and went to rece it in the fight. SKREEEEE! It made another futile swing as its anger is directed still on the shikigami but as it did, I took a low swing underneath its ws and raise my Versatile Weapon in its Longsword form with all my strength, ripping off the ws before it can even retract from its previous attack and avoid losing the remaining weapon. It was soft. Soft like tofu, it''s not even hard at all and more like I felt it was simr to chopping a limb of a human being like it was nothing. After doing a cut, I took a little step behind me before jumping into the monster with increased momentum and performing a stab. Its little armor did protect itself from being pierced further by the sword of mine but it wasn''tplete protection as I am not aiming to stab this monster fully with the sword. I wanted to do the usual trick I usually do. Changing its form from a longsword to a magic sword didn''t change much allowing me to change its form without making big changes to my weapon. The only thing that changed between the longsword and magic sword is that thetter has a magic stone embedded in the center, which acts as the catalyst that allows any magic to flow freely on the sword and lets the user use magic spells while the former has no other features aside from being a longsword with a long, thick and hard de. The monster red at me and if it could still speak, it might have already started throwing insults at me already. "Ha, die motherf*cker. [Earth Fissure]!" CRACK! The armor covering the monster''s body cracked and started to crumble to pieces. Then, my de sank to its flesh and the moment it did, the pressure from the skill transmitted straight to the body of the f*cker which resulted in the monster exploding to pieces. Dousing myself in water after being sttered by guts and blood from the monster, I turned to look at everyone else. Lucia gives a thumbs up after I killed thest big guy while the wolves just finished up theirst hunt. "Good job guys. Let''s clean it up like usual, shall we?" And so, the second vige is erased from the map before things have crept to the harmless vige right next to it. We left after the cleanup is done before the other vige will try to call us out. After all, we don''t have any sort of evidence to back up that this vige has been overrun by monsters as we have already burned up everything. A silent escape is all we needed to do so. Now to the next vige. ... ... ... After the discovery of the scorched vige and the signs of scourge appearing from it, the angels are now on very high alert. After the scourge was discovered, many of the angels are scared of whatever is going to take. Sigma, Mr. Teddy and Harmless Sparrow are discussing their current strategy on what to do while they are waiting for the new questline that will be issued after their rest. Before the quest has begun, deheart already discussed them about what to expect at the situation and most of what he predicted was right. The only thing he didn''t get correct is that they will receive the quest from a guy named Tactician. However, currently, the ones who are giving them a briefing and quest is none other than the one who also taught them how to fly, Alynna. "I know that all of you have been exhausted by the Flight lesson yesterday and I apologize if you still feel do. However, we are currently facing a big trouble that we are just dying for all of you since you lots are still not ready. However, the situation is no longer something we can dy any further." She then performed a lot of stuff to exin though most of the yers listening are still talking to themselves and are not so enthusiastic about the situation. It seems most of them have ns they wanted to do and deheart also predicted this will happen. "Most of the stuff that deheart predicted has turned right. It seems he has already grasped what will happen after he have reached the first quest. Too bad we can''t even choose to team up with him in this one," Harmless Sparrow sighed. "We can''t do anything about it. The quest line he got does not match with us and if ever we team up, the quest line on his quest line might be very strict for him to not be able to seek help. We can do our best to just go and follow his advice," Sigma answered as they continue to listen to the talk of themander. After a few more sentences, the quest log has finally been updated. They are tasked to investigate the current situation of monsters appearing all of a sudden and this thing they called "scourge" and where it came from. It is vague but based on the exnation, they seemed to cause the angels to morph into monsters so they already have some sort of idea what it was. "Just like what deheart said, it was exactly what the quest is going to be," Sigma shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like he already predicted our quest line. It seems his quest line is also simr but his is much more troublesome as he has to solo it. Seeing that we are just on the process of investigating it, his quest must be already finding the cause or exterminating the cause already." "That might be the main case already. But now that we have already got the quest, its time to prove that we are worthy being pioneers. We have to catch up to deheart as soon as possible. We shouldn''t waste our time." Chapter 582 The Village Of Scourge (IV) I continue to sweep through all of the viges that are hit by the dark light and with the usualbo of the Desert Wolves plus Lucia, we easily cleared the 6 viges. Now, we are in the final vige. I made sure to pick itst becausepared to the other viges, this one is more like a little town. I can''t say it is a town as it is still ssified as a vige and it is not as advanced as a town does as most buildings here are just residences of the angels. Still, because it is massive, it also means there are plenty of folks here that are going to appear and not just the average amount of monsters that we usually meet. "Lucia, you tell the wolves that they can rest and sit on this battle. You too Lucia will sit out on this one." "What? Master, are you thinking straight? This is the biggest vige and its twice the size of two viges of scourgebined! This is not something you can handle!" "I wanted to test something out. I have yet to properly utilize it in battle so in this case, I want to see how it will fare in here." "Are you perhaps talking about the Necromancy ability you got before?" "Oh, looks like you have guessed it. Yes, you are right. I wanted to see how much I can utilize the Necromancer ability and see what benefits it will bring to me. I know you guys are eager to fight but there are plenty of opportunities that will rise upter on since we are still in the beginning of the Luminous Expedition. We have yet to see the grand event yet so I can easily tell we are in for the long haul here." "Well, if that is the case here Master, then we will oblige. But if things went south, don''t hesitate to send us out to fight. We are always ready to bring down enemies and kick some ass alright?" "No problem. I know I could count on you guys." I let Leonand in a bit farther from the vige. Just like in the past timeline, this vige will be the hardest to beat as this ce I spotted a few sentries on that vige that are made of some sort of fleshy crap that I am not liking on seeing so I made sure that Leona will not be spotted at all or else, we might get surrounded. Once Leonanded, I recalled her again as her size alone will attract the attention of those little critters. Once I made sure that everything is alright, I changed the Versatile Weapon into a Necronomicon and summoned the previously summoned Skeletons I have back then. Even the skeleton that I have spotted before is also there and is looking enthusiastic. Thankfully, the skeletons are not affected by the sun or else, I would waste my time and wait for the night to fall to summon them. Thankfully, that wasn''t the case. "You guys are looking enthusiastic today. How are you all feeling." CLACK CLACK CLACK! They all started cking their jaws which made those noises. Their mouths are opening and closing as they do the same cking sounds so perhaps they are answering my questions but since they are skeletons, they can only do the cking sounds. "Alright, alright. Just put a thumbs up instead of cking your mouths. I can''t understand what you guys are trying to say anyways." The skeletons stopped cking their mouths and gave a big thumbs up instead without a hesitation. It looks like they still understand humannguage. I am just not sure how they are still able to understand me if they don''t have brains but since it was a necromancer logic, I don''t want to think too much about it. "Alright. It''s been a while since I summoned you guys and you guys barely have done any real fighting despite giving you all weapons and armor to wear. This time, I am now giving you guys a chance to test out yourbat capabilities. Test your mettle and see how strong you all are." CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK! Hearing my words, the skeletons seems to start dancing in joy as their cking noises echoed around. The only one who seems to be not celebrating is the skeleton that I have seen to have great potential out of all of them. Instead of jumping for joy, he is checking the weapons and armor he had on like how a real warrior does. I don''t know if this skeleton was a warrior from its past life but hey, if he was, that''s pretty good. First, before Iunch them to the battle, I checked their gears and they are not that good, so I retrieve all of them and exchanged them with equipment that is much better than their previous ones. When I exchanged the weapon of the skeleton from before, he inspected it for a bit before giving a thumbs up to me, meaning he approved my inspection of equipment. I turned to look at his previous equipment and I found out the reason he did check it because the durability of the items he had are almost gone. This guy would be screwed royally if I let them march and fight with that equipment. "Alright. Everyone is looking ready. Let''s go and do some fighting yeah? " CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK! "Ha! d you all are enthusiastic. Alright, lets march on boys and gals!" ... ... ... We are just a few distance away from the vige but the f*ckers on the vige already spotted us and started to send waves of monsters. "Gunners and archers!" As soon as I shouted, the skeletons who hold guns and bows and arrows started aiming and shooting. Of course, even though I am the necromancer here, I am not a coward summoner that would just stay at the back and let all of the work be handled by my skeletons fighting. I am throwing AOE spells left and right to the monsters iing so that the archers and the gunners won''t be overwhelmed. "Melee weapon users, get ready. Things are going to get crazier from here on out!" In the distance of the vige, I spotted not one, not two, and not three of those big monsters with big ass scythes. Instead, I counted six of them standing there, menacingly. I grinned and a bit excited on the current situation. It might look grim but it was clear that we are up for an exciting battle and I can''t wait to see how well my skeletons would fare against them all. Chapter 583 Creatures Of Scourge Vs. Creatures Of Afterlife If seen in the distance, it might look like it was just some sort of turf war but if you look at the battle closely, everyone is raising their weapons up high with burning spirit while the monsters are just swarming through, like a wave from the sea washing through thend. Both entities are created from the darkness, one from the scourge, and one from the realm of the dead, the afterlife but in the end, they stood on different sides and that is enough to spark a big fight between the two. The swarm of the monsters is no longer something my AOE magic can handle and even with the guns and bows and arrows in the fray, they are no longer enough to handle every monstering in. The skeletons carrying melee weapons started to also take action themselves. "Don''t die, guys! Prioritize your safety. If things are not looking good, retreat!" The skeletons listened to my orders and they easily avoided them like nothing before killing them. Slice, dice, evade, just like normal warriors. "Master! On the right!" Lucia shouted. I quickly evaded the iing attack and I realized that it was acid. It seems they have the acid bomber kind of monster here too. It was present in the past timeline but since it took a while for us to raid the viges, those kinds are all over the ce. Seeing that the horde is still here without clearing up, I decided to up my game and just let these f*ckers get destroyed. Stabbing the ground with the Versatile Weapon, I channel my mana and activated the AOE skill that can cause different reactions. "[Earth Fissure]!" CRACK! The ground cracked and the monsters walking on them fell into the cracks, significantly reducing them. The moment the skill was over, the crack disappeared, and all of the monsters that fell also disappeared. "CHARGE!" Seeing the number of monsters gone from the kill, a few of the bigger monsters decided to take a move. They quickly take advantage that we are still busy killing monsters for them to strike, CRACK! One of them appeared out of nowhere and shes down one of my skeletons. Because the skeleton he attacked is busy dealing with another monster, it didn''t get to defend itself and got destroyed to pieces by its scythe-like hands. The skeleton''s remains disintegrated to ashes the moment it died. It got broken to pieces like a f*cking piece of pottery. The f*cker is not done and also sweeps itsrge scythe into my neck but I am someone who has great reflexes. Only a little bit of a slide and the de went past me. But after its first attack, it followed up with its second attack. It''s impossible for me to dodge again after I dodge once so the only logical thing to do, is to defend myself by immediately blocking it off with the Versatile Weapon''s shield form. I am thankful that the changing form takes literally a second as a sword won''t hold well to defend the second scythe''s attack. "Get off me, you stinky bug." BANG! mming the shield staggers the big bugger allowing me to attack. Seeing my little distance from the monster, I checked the Versatile Weapon''s new forms and one of them is the scythe. I didn''t hesitate and changed it to that form before swinging it like a madman reaper taking the life of the next person. SWISH! The scythe did not disappoint as the monster''s head flew to the side the moment I swung it to its neck. Because the Versatile Weapon''s scythe form is pretty big, one single sweep beheaded 2 of the big buggers there. I was intending of killing only one of them but killing two as a bonus? I will take that no problem. However, I only killed two, there are still four of those little f*ckers over there and the critters that are here have been numerous. Now that I think about it, why are there so many of them? It''s not yet been a day so it is impossible for them to have reproduced these much. I have already learned that they reproduce 30 critters a single day and they can spawn any time of the day because they spawn randomly, it was unpredictable, and destroying the one that is spawning them is necessary. However, they can only reproduce 30 times. More than that and the one reproducing will shut down and will not function until the next day. So why is it capable of sending troops these much? There is no time to ask for an exnation and immediately charged with the skeletons to the base. Then, I noticed that one skeleton I have been looking at with curiosity. Not only does this guy have been an absolute madd, but the skeleton has much more slick moves despite being just all bones than me. I hate to admit it but the skeleton is much more stylish in battle. Clearing a path using the scythe was easier as I just swing it like I am trying to cut down weeds and since this scythe was big enough, its reach is veryrge and all I can say is that this is amazing as hell. And thanks to that, the skeletons have no problem going straight to the bigger monsters. They didn''t care much about what they are, they wield their weapons, charge forward and fight. The big buggers are not happy with them and they started to fight. But the guy who took all the credits in front of my eyes is none other than the same skeleton that I am eyeing out. As soon as it charged toward the big monster, it didn''t jump to the monster immediately and dived underneath one of them, causing the big bugger to miss its attacks. Then, it gets up and pierces the monster with its sword, causing the blood the monster to spill. The skeleton didn''t mind the blood and continued to prate the body of the monster with the sword until the tip of the sword passed through the body. Then, the little skeleton dragged the sword while it is still inside the body of the big monster which in turn, causes the guy to rip the body of the monster like it was nothing. CLACK CLACK CLACK! It didn''t stop just in there. Because the next thing that happened is that the skeleton got enveloped in darkness and weird ck sludge slowly covers its body. There is one way to look at it right now. The skeleton is evolving and that is a big holy sh*t. Chapter 584 The Holy Yet Corrupted Skeleton Knight While I know that Skeletons can evolve into higher forms of monsters after gaining quite an experience, I didn''t know that the summoned skeletons I have summoned out of nowhere would evolve, heck, I didn''t even know it can do that. They might be skeletons and products of necromancy but they didn''t rise from a corpse, I summoned them from literally nothing and yet it seems thew of this world still applies to a monster that shouldn''t have been part of the so-called undead that dwells on this world. As the ck matter that creeps into the body of the skeleton slowly merges with the skeleton, the ck matter started glowing a bright light all of a sudden. It was so blinding that even the monsters around it didn''t dare to approach it and started to back off. Even the big buggers didn''t even move and just stare at the spectacle. They were like being intimidated by it. As much as I want to observe what is happening, seeing that most of the monsters seem stunned I took advantage of the situation and ordered the skeletons to kill them. There is no rule to just stand there and observe what is happening even though such a big opportunity is already presented in front of you. This is not anime that follows the rules. Since they didn''t respond even though we are still killing most of its allies, I took advantage of them doing so by heading straight to the big buggers and swinging the big scythe as hard as I can. One of them immediately got decapitated as a result but the others are not. I realized that these new guys are fully armored and they are not as brittle as the others. Not only that but I also realized that they are much smallerpared to the ones that don''t have one. Them being stunned didn''tst long as they returned to their normal behavior after a while. I would have thought they would remain like that for the remainder of the skeleton''s transformation but I guess not. What made me curious is that they started to ignore the evolving skeleton and started to focus more on the other skeletons and me. They were like purposely doing it as if they are trying to not even care that it was evolving right in front of them. I guess it was okay as the skeleton cannot do anything if it was evolving and will be stuck there for the remainder of its evolution and if it was attacked, we will be forced to protect the guy to avoid being killed. The evolution process didn''t take that long and a few more minutes before it ended. At first, I was fine with the evolution but then I suddenly got hit by a realization. Since it was dark matter that started fusing to the skeleton, shouldn''t the light be ck instead of white? Howe it seems like it was holy energy that is enveloping the guy? Once the light that has covered the skeleton faded, the evolution of the skeletonpletely surprised the heck out of me. [Holy Corrupted Skeleton Knight] That is the name of the skeleton when it reappeared before me. I have seen skeleton knights before and they are the third-tier monsters that a skeleton can evolve into since the other two are the Skeleton Mage and the Armored Skeleton. Skeleton Knights are massive and are covered with armor all over. It also has a giant shield and a giant sword as its arsenal for fighting. All of them are present to the current skeleton knight but the only difference is that... this guy is covered in white. White armor, white shield, glowing sword, it doesn''t even look like a Skeleton Knight at all since normal skeleton knights are all color ck due to the corruption of energy that they absorb as they evolve. Even the original white color of the skeleton''s bones would turn greyish ck as a result of that corruption. So howe this guy is very white like it has been dipped deep in a bleach solution? "Master, am I seeing it right? A skeleton that is releasing a holy aura?" Lucia questioned me. "What? It''s releasing holy aura?!" I was surprised, skeletons shouldn''t be capable of that. "Yes Master, I was surprised but I am not wrong, it was indeed the holy aura it was releasing. I don''t even detect any kind of dark energy being on the skeleton at all. I have encountered these variants of skeletons but not a color white skeletons that is utilizing holy aura in its arsenal. This is a first for me." ROAAAAARRRR! While we are discussing the current changes, the white skeleton knight roared loudly. It''s no longer giving the cking sound but the sound of loud roar most beasts make. Once it is done roaring, it started to bash its shield using its sword while facing the monsters, like it was taunting them to do a move. The intimidation of the skeleton is very effective as it started to gather at the skeleton like a swarm of worms trying to get into their food. Even the big buggers that have armor are not able to resist the taunt and also rushed toward the skeleton. I am about to go and rush to help the skeleton as the number of monsters swarming will overwhelm the guy but one of my skeletons stopped me and when I looked at it, it started shaking its head. It wanted me to stay away and just watch. I still can''t believe it, but these guys are much more intelligent than I thought they would be. All of the monsters have gathered the skeleton but it looks like it is unfazed. It waited until all of the monsters have already gathered all over it that I cannot see it from all the wriggling critters. Then, a ray of white light prated the horde of monsters and a few secondster, the light started to get bigger until the light was no longer got covered by monsters and it exploded. As the explosion urred, the bodies of the critters slowly disintegrated into pieces. The same way a skeleton would once it perishes. "Master, it looks like we are the first to witness the birth of a skeleton using the Holy Powers to fight. We are witnessing a world''s first." asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 585 Post-Investigation Alynna arrived at the final vige which was told to be the biggest vige in the near vicinity where the other viges were destroyed. Alynna already expected it but seeing how only the viges that are affected by this so-called "scourge" in the reports are the only ones that are destroyed beyond recognition and the remains of the angels who once lived here are all mutted to the point they no longer looked like angels before. However,pared to the previous viges that they have visited before, this vige only has a little number of bodies that are burned. It was also clear that they are only burned so that they don''t rot and smell after a while and burning isn''t even the main reason they have died. "General! We found a dead but still intact corpse of the monster! We currently secured it nearby." Hearing the report of the soldier, Alynna followed the soldier to see what the monster looks like. After all, she cannot recognize the burnt remains of the monsters found in the area which is why a dead body that has not been burned will be very good to see to make sure they know what they are and if they are really warranted to be killed. When Alynna arrived, the smell of a rotten corpse wafted on her nose. No, it''s not even considered a smell of a rotten corpse as that smell can still be endured for a bit but the smell she just smelled just now is something that her stomach seemed to reject. She covers her nose with a handkerchief and checks the corpse that is found. Her face shows her visibly shaken expression. It wasn''t something she expected as she have expected a more normal-looking look from the monster. Seeing that the monster is a morphed version of an angel is just pretty disturbing. Imagine seeing a normal person in front of you getting crumpled like paper and then adding some monster-looking appendages, legs, and ws, plus the morphed wings, that alone makes Alynna disgusted. What makes it more disturbing is that the face of the monster kept the original face of the angel that morphed into it making it look like they were stuffed inside the monster. Alynna who isn''t that good with grotesque and body horror stuff didn''tst long enough before she puked all of what she had eaten during lunch. Perhaps the smell also contributed to that but thanks to all the factors, her stomach was not able to handle everything. "Get rid of it! Immediately!" A few of the angels escorted her away from the site and some of the on-standby magicians sted the dead body with mes just like what most of the corpses found were. "To think the problem we are dealing with is capable of transforming people into that kind of stuff is noughing matter." "Are you alright, General?" one of the angels handed her a container containing water. "Clearly I am not fine. I must thank whoever was killing these guys as they have just spared me the horror and disgust I would feel seeing those thingsid bare for my eyes to see. No wonder they are burned, they are not pleasant to the eye at all." "General, we found traces of holy aura explosion in this area. It''s off the charts and we can assume that whoever defeated these guys have someone who are capable of wielding Holy Magic." Alynna wipes her mouth before she headed to the one who reported the sightings of Holy Magic. As someone who is adept at Holy Magic, she is pretty sensitive to it so when she arrived at the location of the area where the Holy Magic was supposed to be used, she immediately confirms it. "Indeed. This is Holy Magic. However, there are some signs that this is not a pure Holy Magic. It was like it is mixed with something else that is not supposed to be part of the Holy energy but for some reason, it blended well, allowing of it being used as a result. It''s pretty interesting." "What are we going to do with it, General?" one of the angels who discovered the remnants of Holy Magic asked. "Extract the remnants that can be extracted out of this Holy Magic. There is no way an adventurer is capable of doing that as they are all the same as us. Following the rules that the Goddess of Life hadid out for the world. The one who did this should be a different person that is currently obliterating the scourge. We should be really thankful that they have helped us out but I am still not sure who they were. Once you guys have collected them, hand them to Karasi, she should be able to analyze that and see whether we can identify who is the one helping us." Alynna sighed as she looked at the viges that are now scorched by the fire to get rid of the scourge that is spreading. Although all of the threats have been eliminated, a moment of peace is a clear temporary thing. Knowing that this incident is happening, there must be someone who is manipting the strings at the current situation. And the only thing that Alynna knows is that this is the work of the same cult that is currently doing their absolute best to ruin the Luminous Continent in whatever means necessary. She knew, that things were just starting and nothing has yet to end. ... ... ... While Alynna and some of the angels are currently investigating thest vige, I am currently camping not too far from the first vige to get some good rest. Although most of the work that was done was all due to the Skeleton''s hard work, it is still a little bit tiresome to fight straight, jumping from one vige to another and destroying it after. It''s not easy at all. Also, the Holy but corrupted skeleton knight that evolved from a normal skeleton saved the day. Not only does this guy gained a taunt ability but it also has the ability to use [Holy Aura st], a skill most Holy Knights have. To think I would see her being capable of all of this, it alles down to the main reason this guy is capable of doing that. As of earlier, I lost 4 of my skeletons from the battle and I only have 6 of them remaining including the evolved skeleton. The next situation will ur 10 hours from now on. And since I am a rogue, there''s no need for me to keep ying here for a while. I will be taking a proper rest for the rest of the day for now. Chapter 586 Magic Practice It was 11 in the evening already but for some odd reason, I feel a little bit refreshed and I don''t feel drowsy even though I have yed for 3 hours straight game. Did my mana already reach a certain aspect where it will energize my body whenever I am now low in energy? If that were the case, it would be really great. Since that was my suspicion after not feeling drowsy even with the gaming session and a long busy day in the morning and afternoon, I decided to see whether the depth and amount of mana in my body have already surpassed its previous amount without me realizing it. With a little bit of test here and a little bit of cirction of mana there, I soon realized that it has indeed grown to the point I am now ready to jump to the point where I can surpass my previous timeline''s mana capacity already due to this. With this much mana capacity in my body already, my tiny and cramped room is no longer enough for me to fully utilize the growth of my mana. Because everyone was too busy to do anything and no one else would be there to help, I decided to go and practice my magic in the living room. No one will be there to stop me and I don''t need to hide as Pandora and her brother are always not home as they are busy with some stuff that seems to involve their businesses. I don''t know what it was so I don''t really care much. Since most are busy, I started to channel my mana around the house. I have to make sure that the mana I circte around my body is all the mana that is currently floating all around the mansion. Before, I can only circte the mana around me, but after a few practices, game exposure, and many other experiences like magic mastery, my mana cirction has improved a lot. However, I never expected that someone else would see me. After all, it''s already sote at night. "What is this amount of magic burst in the air?! Are you perhaps the reason for this happening?" the pixie started flying in my direction. Thankfully, I don''t need to stop whatever I am doing to hold a conversation with her. "It''s alreadyte at night. Why are you still awake?" "Pixies don''t sleep as we are not the same as humans who needed to sleep just to recharge their energies. We only needed the mana in the surroundings to recharge ourselves and that is enough. Sleep is not something present in our dictionary." Rennata came behind the pixie and is honestly surprised by what she had seen. She started speaking in the elvennguage and Pixie immediately tranted the words she is saying." "Rennata said that you really are able to control magic without any difficulty. You are not lying that you can do magic without any problem at all." "Why would I lie? Besides, I won''t be getting any benefits if I lie and it will just be harder, to tell the truth, if I told lies. A liar cannot be trusted so easily even if they are already talking the truth." Pixie started to trante what I said and Rennata also started talking too. "She is asking if she can also practice mana here. She said she might have stagnated and her mana might have disappearedpletely already after arriving here on Earth." "I don''t mind. She also needed it, she never had to maintain her abilities if she wanted to be able to go back home." She sat right next to me and Pixie sat on her shoulder. Just like me, she started to meditate and closed her eyes to feel the mana in the surroundings. The moment she did, the surge of magical energies started to swirl all around the ce. It only happens if you are very capable of the ways of mana and your affinity for magic is very high. For someone like me who is not thatpatible with the magic affinity, I didn''t expect it to be that strong so before she also suck away my mana, I stopped meditating and started observing her in case she will berserk from doing so. Even those who are pretty flexible and capable of doing things can still get their sh*t destroyed when they suddenly berserk. The higher their affinity is, the more dangerous they will be once they undergo berserk. Finding out that Rennata is overflowing with mana, Pixie decided to stay away from her andnded on my shoulder instead. "What is happening to her? Is it normal for her to be like that?" Pixie is getting worried. "Shush. Don''t disturb her concentration. One wrong move and she might damage her mana circuits and she might lose her ability to use magic forever!" We continue to observe her for a bit and it took a few more minutes before she stopped meditating and the magical surge of power in the surroundings finally calmed down. She slowly opened her eyes as she looked around. Pixie immediately went to her shoulder and started speaking elvishnguage though I can guess what she was asking. The two continued talking to each other as I observed them discuss what Rennata did just now, not understanding a single word they are talking about. Although the level of my confusion is increasing, Pixie started talking to me to ry the message that Renata is saying to me. "Rennata said that she apologizes for the mana surge that happened while she is meditating. She just recovered a lot of her mana and since the mana in the surroundings is still pure and unutilized, she happily absorbed and used it for herself to strengthen herself a lot further." "So this mana current present on Earth is fine andpatible with your body? It doesn''t have any bad side effects of being used by an otherworlder like you?" Pixie ryed it and she immediately replied. "She said she is fine and dandy. Nothing tooplicated for her body and she is grateful that she is able to use it without being harmed from it. She even stated that the mana here is much more weing than the mana that exists back in her home world." The mana in her homeworld is much more terrible than on Earth? Is the reason she is fine with the mana in this world that the mana here hasn''t been tainted and used at all? I don''t know what is the main case here but that is already big info on what kind of mana the otherworld has. Even if they are thick with mana and they can use magic normally without relying on Reality Verse to awaken them doesn''t mean it is weing and good to every mana user. Perhaps I am just overestimating the goodness of the mana in the other world and I am just underestimating the mana here on Earth. But perhaps, I may have just overlooked it. Rennata and Pixie said goodbye as they will now go and rest after she has taken enough mana so that she can consolidate and have the mana flow properly in her body. As for me, I also finalize the consolidation of mana in my body before I stopped. It seems I have yet to finish everything and I am assuming that this is my peak form. Seeing how Rennata did today made me a little bit motivated now. After all, there is still a little bit more left for me to grow. This is for the sake of the future. In the future when I will die, I will have to prevent that. Everything that I have done is for the sake of myself and to survive. Nothing else matter. Chapter 587 Test Week And The Brewing Trouble A week passed by. In Luminous Continent, the problem has yet to be solved but due to my intervention, the problem is not so apparent and the Pioneers took this chance to grind and get some quests from the NPCs that needed one. Since all Pioneers will be stuck in the Luminous Continent for quite some time until the end of the expedition where the quest will also end, the Pioneers took this chance to explore, find secrets all around and grind their levels. As for me, I am also doing my best to level up but just like on the previous continent, the monsters here don''t offer too much experience for me to get my level up. Since leveling is getting stagnant for me, most of my time is spent spending my time in my little camp making various things. With various ingredients scattered and obtained by exploring and killing monsters, some of the items that are not possible to create due to missing ingredients that can only be obtained in this continent is now essible, However, until the cult behind the scourge makes its next move, I can''t act rashly and do my preemptive move. It would immediately be revealed that I already knew their next move so keeping myself quiet would be the best course of action. After all, they are mostly monitoring most of the Pioneers right now. As someone who is under the quest line of being a rogue one that never follows the storyline. Due to that, a week has already passed by. Today is the first day of the exams. It willst for a week and most of the students including my friends are all too nervous as this will cost them a passing grade or a failing mark. They focus more on it, rather than the game. And I can understand that. If the test wouldn''t be held during the time the Pioneer quest line is activated, then they would have been part of the Pioneers too. As usual, I cook breakfast for everyone. Everyone is so early and has been busy with their studies. I can see that all of them have big bags under their eyes, showing how much they have spent stayingte. All of them are either holding their notes, books, or other things that can help with the test. Even Sora is currently keeping the small recorder on rey to listen for her lesson. Oh, that''s right. Since I have already managed to increase my mana significantly, healing the blindness of Sora will now be a breeze for me. I should heal her eyes once the vacation begins as that will be the most appropriate timing for Sora to have her "surgery" and her "recovery" would make sense. That would also allow me to shift Sora''s sses to the normal ss and allow her to blend with people without disabilities. But for now, they needed to pass the test first. ... ... ... Test day. Because the test is already a repeated test for me, I already knew what are the current test question that will appear on the paper. I knew what the answers will be and I can easily ace the test. However, I don''t want to attract a reputation for being a genius when in reality, I just memorized the answers, so I answered normally, making some wrong answers sufficient enough to be safe from flunking the exam. No one knew that I have a photographic memory and easily remember everything I have seen except Riko and Janus so my secret is quite safe. The test day is just another ordinary day for me so after a few hours of answering the test paper and waiting for the time to conclude, that''s all that was happening until the very end of the day. And the first day has finally ended. Like usual, after the test, they headed straight to the library to study again. Until the test week is over, they will not be able to y the game until the veryst day. While on my way home, the bodyguard Rika who is still looking for her stopped me. I didn''t show any emotion to them though I am nervous if they have already learned that she was living in my house all along. "We apologize for stopping you, young man but have you seen this girl in the poster? She is missing and we are asking whether you have seen her." I grabbed the poster and looked at her photo to make sure that these guys are indeed looking for her. And I have confirmed that she is indeed the one in the poster. "I''m sorry but I have not seen her around. Please ask someone else. I don''t think I can help on this one," I handed back the poster to the bodyguard. "Please keep the poster, young man. In case you meet or see this girl around, please call the number on the poster and alert us, alright?" "Sure." After that, he left with his men still looking for Rika. As for me, I only nced at them before going home. I made sure that I have not known her at all which has proven to be quite effective. However, I am now quite sure that Rika cannot keep on hiding forever, she needs to face them and solve them. She can dy it, but she cannot continue this forever. When I arrived back home, I handed Rika the poster that the bodyguards handed to me. "They still haven''t given up, huh? They are quite persistent." "That also means that you really needed to solve this one as soon as possible. There is no way they will stop looking for you just because they cannot find you. Influential families like yours will find you sooner orter without any problem. They might not have seen you just yet but you cannot hide here forever." "Yeah. I know. I am already doing things on my end to solve this problem. You are right that I needed to end this as soon as possible. However, I still needed a little bit more time before I will go and take my first step. I have to ensure that it will be my win in the very end." Chapter 588 The Cults Next Step Even though Rika trusted me, she still didn''t reveal any of her future ns on what to do to fight against her family. She knew that she has to make her choice soon but she has yet to ask me any answer about how she will be solving that matter by herself. I don''t want to pry about what her strategy is going to be but I can''t help but be curious about what she was trying to do. After dinner, I returned to my room and log back into the game. If my assumption is correct, today will be the day the cult will take action. I am not sure what they will be doing since the spread of the scourge didn''t happen as nned due to my intervention but I am quite sure they have already formted something to get back on their feet, spread the scourge and bring chaos as they have nned. "[Wee Back, deheart]" Like always, I went straight to look at the final vige. Since it has been a week, the angels who were on standby there and are busy collecting samples and other stuff have already moved on from that vige after exhausting every single clue they could find. So at the moment, there are no other people there. However, the moment I checked on the vige again, I saw a group of hooded angels walking around the area. One of them is part of the fallen angels as the guy has ck wings. I am quite familiar with the cult and if he has ck wings, there is only one angel in the cult that has ck wings and that is none other than the leader of the cult himself. If he came here, then that only means that he is trying to do something. I am observing her in the distance and didn''t bother to do anything other than observing them. They are currently gathering something that I am not sure what as it is a little bit far and the thing they are collecting is a small object that they put inside a little box. After collecting them, they then move away and disappear into the distance. I have no idea what it was but I can tell that they are collecting something to continue whatever they are doing. Now that they are currently on the move, I think it is also time to do my next move as well. I cleaned up my camp as I will need to move to another camp soon enough. The next n is to raid the cult''s bases and destroy whatever research they are currently doing. Staying in one camp is not going to be a good idea and this time around, I need to be on a constant move to get away from them as once I begin this task, I will be subject to a series of multiple unfortunate events and disasters that I will have to endure until I reach the main camp and get rid of whatever curse they put on me. "Leona!" Leona appeared like a mushroom out of nowhere as she ps her wings. I climbed behind her back, opened the map, and encircled the easiest base the cult has at the moment. "Let''s go, Leona, to the northeast here is our destination." ... ... ... Sigma is done with her grind from the monsters in the vicinity when Mr. Teddy and Harmless Sparrow logged back in. "Are there any changes in what is going on, Sigma-chan?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "There are no changes yet. In fact, I have not received any info regarding the situation so I decided to investigate myself by asking the NPCs in the city so that I can get a better idea of what the quest line is all about." "You already have an idea of what is going on already?" "Not exactly because there is some info that seems to contradict some info but there is some info that does not contradict and seems to be making it more believable." "Can you tell us what it is, or are you still gathering info?" "I can tell it already but just like before, it is just guessing and I am not really sure whether it is indeed the real quest that has been constantly dyed. No wonder deheart sent us the message to never trust the tactician. That guy was never a tactician, to begin with, he is more like a molester." "Oh, I get ya. No wonder deheart would say to never trust the Tactician. He spouts bullshit like he is in control of everything. If he was, this quest would not ur at all." "Indeed. Anyways, you two should listen. Perhaps we can piece out whatever the quest might be giving us and based on the recent developments, these words might be true to some degree. No one from the other pioneers knows about this so guys, let''s keep this to ourselves, yeah?" "Sure," Harmless Sparrow nodded. Mr. Teddy nods silently too. "Okay. Based on the info I gathered, a cult is currently recruiting angels all around the continent that seems to defy their main religion of obeying the Goddess of Life. Many believed that it was the Goddess of Death but some of the angels who also believe in the Goddess of Death, are sure that their goddess did not cause any of this crap that is happening." "Then that means the main enemy here is a cult?" "Basically yeah. And although it is not confirmed. Some monsters thate out from the night are the cause of this cult that made some of the angels believe in its little existence and decided to convert to this new religion." The three who have been waiting to learn the truth, decided that they are no longer patient enough to wait for whatever it was and decided to take action by themselves, not knowing that this would trigger a different questline itself. Sigma''s info digging might have caused the odd quest line of the expedition to take over and give them the task that will change the situation of the expedition forever. Chapter 589 Sacrificial Cult (I) Currently, I am still riding Leona and we are high up in the air but even at the high altitude, the pressure that seems to be building up is pretty strong that it''s a wonder how the angels have yet to detect the weird phenomena happening around here. Might be because most angels tend to ignore ruins as they are the guys who leave the past as the "past" that shouldn''t be looked back upon. Once it is forgotten, it will be forever forgotten by the people. Only if it involves the Goddess of Life would the angels take action and preserve the memory otherwise, it is destined to rot even if it was something like a lost technology for the past few years. Weird but this is their culture which is why people who like exploring and finding relics of the past will get lots of hauls in exploring abandoned ruins. The pressure building up around is quite troublesome and I am still not sure how this bypassed the eyes and ears of the angels when the enemies are situated not too far from them. It might be because of my passives or perhaps Leona''s presence that resisted the pressure that I felt the pressure is quite lesspared to the time I experienced it in the past timeline. The pressure is so great that walking a few steps would make you lose your stamina really quickly and you would be grasping for air, making walking around a big chore. I have a cloak that resists the pressure but it wasn''t that effective. It is only meant to resist a few of its effects so that when the fighting wouldn''t be as troublesome as walking but it isn''t really that groundbreaking and it only helps not getting tired faster while under the influence of the dark pressure that is present all around the ce. I didn''t equip it yet since we have notnded just yet but even without it, I am not feeling the same heaviness as before. I can understand Leona as she became a dark-type creature after forming a battle form with As, allowing her to easily resist anything rted to any dark-type element attacks or effects. As for me, I don''t have any idea what allowed me to resist it but I will ept it without hesitation. Who would say no to the extra resist? Before I let Leonand, I opened the map I created specifically in this area of the Luminous Continent based on what I remember. I have to make sure that I am not wrong on where I should go as I don''t want to waste my time exploring different areas without getting to my goal which is to end the expedition as soon as possible. On the map, there are 12 ruins avable in the area. My target is to raid the hidden bases of the cult situated here on these ruins and four of them are the hidden bases. There are five bases the cult has and 4 of them are hidden where all of their techs and different stuff they usually use to spread the scourge are currently ced. In the past timeline, we made a mistake and raided the main base first and that leads to the leader of the cult unleashing all the trouble from the hidden bases, creating a second wave of a monster invasion. To stop that said invasion, we have to fight hordes of enemies that poured out from these hidden bases. Now I don''t know if it was in a different ce this time but I am quite sure that there is one right next to the hill in the past timeline. Not sure right now but we will have to see whether my assumption is correct or wrong. "Land me over that hill, Leona. Be a little bit quiet whilending so that we won''t get noticed by the enemies." Quietly, Leonanded me on the hill that I mentioned where I suspect the first hidden base is currently located. I marked it on the map so I am pretty sure this was the ce. Once Leona delivered me safely back to the ground, I recalled her to avoid getting detected in case the base is located right where I expected it to be located. After doing so, I went and started looking for the ruins, and soon enough, I discovered the entrance covered with vines. I didn''t find it easypared to before due to the vines. In the past timeline, it is already open for everyone to see after the monsters just bulldozed the heck out of the vines hanging on the entrance. "[You have discovered the Entrance of the Underground Laboratory I]" Oh? Looks like my assumption is indeed correct. This is clearly the entrance of a ruin but instead of "Entrance of the Ruins", the one that is disyed is the Entrance of the Underground Laboratory with a roman numeral I at the very end. That only means this was indeed the right ce. This was supposed to be the ruins of the ancient civilization of the angels. Yes, supposed to be. Now that it became a hideout for the Cult, I doubt anything rted to the ancient civilization of the angels is still present here. It was a well-known fact that angels will disregard anything that the previous civilization have and follow only what was currently up. Everything that belonged to the past, will remain in the past, no matter how important it is. Well, if it is rted to the Goddess of Life, then things might be different as they will immediately make a move to preserve it. That''s how loyal and devout believers they are in the goddess of life. Due to this behavior of theirs, yers tend to remember that they will not care about any ruins meaning, everything that was left behind by the ancestors of the angels whether they are sacred tools or beings or anything that are advanced and useful unless they are rted to the Goddess of Life, then you will be in for big hauls of treasure. Now then, with the first base found, it is time to destroy this ce and cripple the cult. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 590 Sacrificial Cult (II) I didn''t forget to equip the item I made. It was an item that can resist the effects of an area by 50%, allowing me to be able to walk properly. A ring imbued with slight dark ability. I have someone who has the ability to use the dark element which is As so I easily managed to make one that can resist things much easier. The moment I equipped the item, the pressure that I felt disappeared meaning it was the actual thing I can use here. This will be a big help in the future. The defense of theboratory is prettyx. Probably because they are not expecting any people to intrude on their secretboratory due to the fact that angels don''t care about the ruins so they will overlook it which made them confident theboratory will not be discovered at all. But that is their biggest mistake. They underestimate a yer''s mind and thought that no adventurer will ever care about these ruins. However, that is a big plus for me. Not only that made finding the secret bases easier, but I can also easily predict what they are going to do next. I got deeper into the ruins. It looks in and abandoned but there is a hiddendder that leads to the underground part of theboratory. After checking around, I found it hidden behind the pirs. Any decent explorer would easily find this ce without any problem especially if they are looking for chests to open. Before I descend, I checked if there are any traps or enemies below by dropping a coin down the hole. It''s metal and will make a noise if itnds on the ground, perfect as a trigger to any traps. I dropped the coin and waited for any kind of incident that may ur after the coin reaches the ground. CLANG! The coin bounces to the floor, creating a little sound of ng that would make anyone turn to look and check what it was. I hid and waited if there are anyone or anything that would check it but I waited for nothing because no one or nothing came to check on it. I dropped another coin just to make sure, but still nothing. No traps either so that calls for safe. I descended thedder and aims my Pain Delivery forward, ready to pull the trigger anytime in case anyone was actually doing an ambush at me but there is no one there, leaving me to pick back the coins I dropped. Below thedder is a hallway that ends in a turn. There are shadows moving reflected on the wall. But because it was a bit obscure, I can only tell it was moving but I cannot tell whether the owner of the shadow is a human or not. Since this is before the second monster invasion, I don''t know whether there are already monsters here or they have yet to be one and are still angels and are still working or researching about the scourge. There are possibilities here and there but the only thing we can do to confirm is testing it out and check what the heck is currently moving at the end of the hallway. In case of emergency, I decided to ce different traps in the hallway where I came from. Of course, not the explosive one as that would be bad news for me in case the explosion will cause a cave-in and escaping will be impossible unless I clear out the rubble. I made sure to only put traps that would deal damage to the enemy and can stall or stop anyone who escapes. Once the traps are deployed, I resumed heading straight to the location of the moving shadows. While walking, I made sure that I make my steps as quiet as possible. Every time the shadow stops moving, I also stopped moving and waited. Once it moves again, I am back on the move. I repeated those movements until I am now at the end of the hallway, one single turn and I will see whatever was moving there. Peeking into the corner, it was revealed to me that they are researchers in thisboratory. They are both angels and thest people you will see in the ruins are angels so it is clear that the guys behind this are none other than the cult themselves. Instead of shooting the gun, I decided to kill them close. They are busy gambling and are pretty distracted so there is no need to worry about them. I changed the form of my Versatile Weapon and changed its form to Katana form. I have not used the katana for a long time but I don''t know if this will still work therefore, I will have to test it out here. Activate the [Stealth] mode, then slowly approach. They still didn''t realize my presence here so I didn''t hold back and sliced the researchers before me. SWISH! One swift cut and the two clueless scientists immediately died with their heads missing from their necks. "Alright, next..." ... ... ... 30 minutester, theboratory is now much quieter when most of their workers are dead, most have their heads lopped off and some are divided into two pieces. Because they are viewed as hostile individuals, killing them doesn''t have any penalties. I continue to kill them until the veryst one is gone and no one is left behind to fight so that my exploration will be unimpeded by any of the scientists and if I cause a ruckus, no one would alert the people on the main base that would alert the heck out of them and unleash the problem that I am trying to avoid. After making a few rounds around, I am now sure no one else other than me is remaining alive as everyone else is dead. "Alright. Lucia, can you feel anything unusual?" "It''s pretty faint, but it is indeed there, Master. I think you will have to manually search the ce to find the source of that." "Is that so? Then there is no other choice but to search this ce up." The one that I am looking for is the dark core. It is also the item that would curse me while it is in my possession. Why would I take this item? Because it cannot be destroyed and it is a vital item to summon the first boss of the first phase of the Expedition. It is the necessary item if we wanted the expedition to properly end and move to the second phase. And when I say cursed, you will automatically attract all of the enemies in your vicinity. Collecting all of them will increase the area it can attract monsters and it will trigger the ultimate taunt that even the area bosses that should remain stationary in the area will also be attracted to the core. And I am not exaggerating as this will be a very troublesome thing that I needed to properly take action. There aren''t any big cases that could hide the thing and it took me a few hours before the Dark Core is found. I didn''t hesitate and took the core out of the container and as I do so, the dark matter suddenly rushes through the core and a message appeared before me. [The Dark Core is currently in your possession. As long as it is in your possession, the monsters around the vicinity of 50km wille and attack you. The effects will only disappear if the Dark Core is removed from your possession.] I underestimated the size of the Dark Core''s influence. 50 kilometers is very big and if that increases, that also means it will be a big radar that taunts every single monster all over the ce. Then there is no time to waste. The moment I have it already in my inventory, I immediately escaped from the ruins. I didn''t care about the loot around me nor do I care about anything else. I have to escape and that is all that matters. The moment I escaped the ruins, nearby monsters immediately jumped toward me and started attacking. I am prepared for the attacks so I defended myself and continue my search for the second secret base. What I am doing now, is just simr to diving my head first to danger. This is what I expected but this is not how I envisioned it. Perhaps because I am doing this right while the enemies have yet to know it might be the main reason this might kill me in the process. "Master! If you are having difficulty, just say so and we will lend our aid. Enemies like these guys are nothing to us!" Lucia proudly dered. "I know guys. Thanks, but this time, I wanted to try and see how far I can go without the help of everyone. I will have to test the limits of my abilities." Alright, time to wreck more secret bases. Chapter 591 Sacrificial Cult (III) The surge is not instantaneous but the traffic of monsters trying to get to me is getting bigger and bigger. I managed to kill most of the monsters that are trying to block me since they are low-level monsters but that doesn''t mean I will not encounter stronger monsters. I also felt the ground shaking, meaning some of the bigger bosses around are also just around the corner, ready to attack. I didn''t focus on the monsters and focused on the second secret base''s location. The surroundings are surrounded byrge unknown structures, making a maze-like path for me to take. Smaller monsters can follow through but monsters who are big can only stay above as they won''t fit on the pathways. Thankfully, the unknown structures are strong enough that even if the monsters try to break and bash them, they still remain intact. As soon as I arrived at the second ruin entrance, I didn''t bother to think whether it was the correct ruin or not. If it was correct, I have to proceed, if it isn''t, then I will have to circle around and then escape. [You have discovered the entrance of the Underground Laboratory IV] Good, it''s anotherboratory, and although it wasn''t the secondboratory the fourth, that doesn''t change the fact that it was still aboratory. Nothing changed. Compared to before, the entrance is different as it was located right in front of me as a hallway. I don''t care whether there are traps present there, I have to get through the hallway and reach the secondb. ? With the monsters in pursuit of me, I continue running until I heard something click when I step on one tile which means I triggered a trap. I immediately slide down to increase my distance as fast as I can. The moment I did it, the trap was triggered, releasing a guillotine de down my path. The trap''s de missed me but the monsters in pursuit didn''t and they got killed. Still, that''s only a few of them that got killed, I still needed to outrun the other monsters that are on the trail. I triggered another trap and I jumped into the hallway immediately before running again. The trap sprung and the walls started to close each other, crushing the monsters behind me but the walls continue to keep crushing behind me which is why there is no time to keep idle and continue running. The Crushing Walls trap that I sprung earlier allowed me to prevent the monsters from chasing me any further though that is clearly a temporary thing. Once the trap resets, the monsters will continue to chase me down until I get rid of this cursed item. Reaching the hallway, I managed to reach theboratory. I didn''t waste my time and started killing the angels situated there one by one. I don''t care if I triggered anything at all. This is already akin to a monster invasion already so there is no point left in staying quiet and doing it silently. That is obviously not going to work well at all. I used the Pain Delivery this time around as I wanted to keep the Versatile Weapon as my main weapon just in case the enemies were to attack and I can''t just keep the Pain Delivery to keep them at bay. BANG! BANG! BANG! CLICK! CLACK! BANG! The sound of the gun cycles as I continuously shoot anyone on sight. I continue doing this until the final angel left behind died. None of them fought as they were focused on escaping which I made sure they cannot escape. Now that all of them are dead, I immediately begin my search for the second core. Compared to the first one, the second core was disyed in a single case. I didn''t bother to care about what would happen after breaking the ss and just break it open. After obtaining the second core the same message appeared before me as what the first core did. [The Dark Core is currently in your possession. As long as it is in your possession, the monsters around the vicinity of 50km wille and attack you. The effects will only disappear if the Dark Core is removed from your possession.] However, this time, there is an additional message for me. [Because you already possess one kind of Dark Core, the effects of the first core will be added to the core you just obtained. Currently, the monsters around the vicinity of 100km wille and attack you.] I wanted to curse as the vicinity indeed doubled but that is really bad already. So bad that the distance it already covered is enough to cover all the monsters in the surrounding areas. I can already tell that the angels and even the cult are already aware of what is happening. I doubt they are going to take matters to stay like this forever. But that''s fine. Now that the monsters are all causing turmoil, they will be more focused on defending themselves from the monsters and that is already good enough for me to stall more time and their main focus will not be on me who is carrying the Dark Cores. I didn''t forget to turn off the traps before I escaped. I am quite sure the monsters are already crowding over there so I prepared a few stuff that I am quite sure they will love especially those monsters that are very susceptible to explosions. And it didn''t take too long for the monsters to appear at the entrance. Due to their numbers, the enemies are all stuck in one ce trying to get out from the entrance. "You guys are so excited to meet me, huh? Then, perhaps I should give you all a wee bang to signify our meeting?" CLICK! BOOOM! The bombs that I prepared are enough to st through the horde of monsters. But I didn''t stop there. I grab one of the corpses of the monsters and throw them at the monsters that are expecting my next actions. "Let''s see you guys survive this! [Corpse Explosion]!" Chapter 592 Sacrificial Cult (IV) On the outside, it may seem like there are only monsters swarming all over. But down the ruins is the absolute chaos of both exploding guts, blood, and bones from corpses that are exploding every second. As for me, I keep on running as the explosion is happening to escape while trying to make sure that the [Corpse Explosion] skill is ready. If it isn''t ready just yet, I would use my Versatile Weapon to clear out the horde before casting [Corpse Explosion] once more. After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to exit the ruins but the monsters are already overflowing all over the ce. I had to resort to one of my scrolls tucked away for special asions. But since there is no other special asion and I really needed to get away from this area as soon as possible, I decided to use them rather than dying prematurely when everything is progressing smoothly. I grab a scroll on the Scrolls pocket though I only decided to pull randomly. If I pull an offensive type scroll, I will use it right away. [Skill Scroll: Hurricane] Type: Magic-Attack type skill "Haha, looks like luck hasn''t abandoned me just yet." Without hesitation, I tear the scroll into two pieces, invoking the spell engraved on the scroll. A giant magic circle appeared before me causing the monsters to get bewildered by the glowing engraving that appeared on the floor. Then, before they realize what is happening, a strong gush of wind gathers around them. It didn''t take long for the gush of wind to be a very strong force of wind that it''s no longer something you would call wind. It soon caused every single monster nearby to get sucked in. The wind force is no longer something that is calm and would cool you off, it is now a giant meat grinder, a force that will tear anything to pieces. It didn''t take long for blood and guts to rain down the area. As for me, I didn''t waste my time and escaped while the monsters are trying to escape from the [Hurricane] that spawned. It will take a few minutes before the [Hurricane] will end. The thirdboratory would be around the corner as indicated from what I remember in the past timeline. So far, the locations are still the same and if they are still the same as before, then that means I am almost there. With the help of [Hurricane], it allowed me to easily get passed by monsters that are getting sucked into the raging wind. But I also know that it wouldn''t take long for them to recover and start the chase once more. That was just a temporary thing for me to at least escape. I still have 3 more [Hurricane] spells but I can also tell that this spell won''t work again the second time against these monsters. Arriving at the entrance of theboratory, I smell the fresh scent of blood and a few stters of it on the entrance of the ruins. [You have discovered the Entrance of the Underground Laboratory II] Entering the entrance revealed more of the stter. It was part of the stter that seems to indicate someone was dragged on the floor. The blood is still fresh which means this is still pretty recent. While investigating the stter, the monsters started howling outside which means the [Hurricane] already stopped and the monsters resumed their march to find me. I needed to hurry and disregard the blood stter. First, I deployed a few traps to indicate that the monsters are already at the entrance before hurrying into the underground. But when I arrived, I have not seen any of the angels that normally were there. Instead, I only found their tattered clothes, a few guts sttered on the floor, and broken equipment. Other than that, you won''t see anything else. This made me curious about what happened here but I am not in a luxury to dilly-dally. I quickly searched for the next dark core and thankfully, it was there and are not yet taken by anyone else. I grabbed the Dark Core and the message appeared again but this time, it added anotheryer of 50 kilometers, effectively making the aggro radius of mine 150 km. At this point, I am not going to be surprised if a miniboss or an area boss is already around already. But when I was about to escape after obtaining the next core, I was stopped by a de resting on my neck. "Move one inch and your neck wille flying." The scent of blood is very clear and the de resting on my neck is still wet from it which means the person behind me perhaps caused the angels here to die. However, I am not someone who will just let someone take me as a hostage. It should be me who should be doing that. In a split second, I quickly make a reaction of punching the de resting on my neck upwards, while my other hand changes the Versatile Weapon to its katana form. I turned around and immediately parried the de of the person behind me. PING! The two des collide and with my parry, he took a step back but he didn''t retreat but uses it to take a jumpstart on his attack. I anticipated it already and weed him with a vertical sh with the katana. He was quick on his hands and eyes as he immediately blocked that but I managed to stop him from doing his attack as he was forced to defend. He deflected my attack, but I took that as an advantage and while my de was deflected and I am holding it up in the air, I changed its form into a spear and brought it downwards forcing him to retreat to avoid getting impaled. "Heh, an interesting weapon you have there. That''s cheating," he grimaced. It''s clear he didn''t like my presence. The hood that is covering his head is revealed and I saw his face. It was none other than the Cult Leader himself. He isn''t revealing his wings but I already saw him in the past timeline. I can''t forget that face of his. "You must be the one messing up our ns. And to think that only one person is doing all of this makes me want-" Before he can finish his monologue, I charged toward him and changed my weapon to a gauntlet, and punches his face causing him to fall to the floor. "If you want to fight, keep fighting. Stop talking bullsh*t. I have no time for your thoughts." Chapter 593 Sacrificial Cult (V) That move clearly pissed off the leader as he immediatelyposed himself to fight back. Although he is eager for a fight, my mind wanders to what is happening. The effect of the Dark Core should still be in effect but for some reason, the monsters that should be already trying to go to me are not evening. It was like the effects were nullified and all the monsters that are in the vicinity chasing me before are all killed. All that was left standing is me and the cult leader. "You need to die!" "Juste at me." He has weird footwork that immediately allows him to move forward without stepping a foot to the ground. I can think of how he can do that and I think that was due to his wings. Although it was hidden, I can say that it was still functioning like normal. Perhaps he is using it to take advantage in a battle. His attacks are also unpredictable at times. It was like I am facing a yer in a PVP tournament. I have to keep a defensive posture as the cult leader is very fast. I have to at least get used to his movements before I make a proper decision. "What now, are you just going to remain on the defensive? Is this the guy who has destroyed most of my secret bases and my first phase of n able to do?!" "Your taunts are worthless to me but I will give you a B for at least trying." PING! PENG! Our swords shed and he started applying pressure to his sword. I also did the same. I am not going to lose to a cult leader like him. He was about to say something but I hated idle chatter when fighting so before he can do so, I kicked his balls. However, when I kicked him there... I didn''t manage to kick anything. It was like he is missing a pair of balls hanging there. Moreover, he didn''t grimace in pain as most men do when kicked in that area. That''s when I immediately realized that this angel is not a man. And I am calling this angel a "he". This one looked like a man, but this was actually a woman. No wonder even though she looks like a man on her face and she has a manly voice, she has a bit of a feminine body. If she intentionally made herself look like a man, then I am genuinely impressed as I didn''t know this angel is a woman. When my kick didn''t work, I changed tactics and kicked her in the abdomen instead. If she has no balls, then kicking the abdomen will be the better option. She didn''t expect the two kicks in a row so she fell down to the ground once more but this time I am not going to be merciful and pulled out the Pain Delivery and pulled the trigger. ? BANG! However, even though she fell to the ground, she is still pretty agile and she easily rolled over to dodge the gunshot. She immediately get back up and tried to lunge the sword in my direction. I kicked it off to at least try to disarm her but her hands are gripping the sword hard enough that my kick was not strong enough to release her grip from it. Since my disarming failed, I made a step back and changed my weapon into a Hook and Chain to catch her off guard. CLANK! The chain wrapped on her body and the hooktches on her skin causing her to scream in pain as the hook dig deep the chain tightened. She was not expecting the form of my weapon to turn into a hook and chain. Then, I pulled her with the chain. I didn''t think I would use it to pull a person instead of a monster but I can say that it is much easier to do so than doing it on a monster. As her body gets closer, I immediately grabbed her neck before mming her to the ground. "GUHK!" she puked blood. "I would have killed you right here and now but I still needed you for thest step or else everything will fail. Bye." I immediately left after doing a m down on her. As much as I want to kill her right away, she is not the key topletely stopping the Scourge. If she died, the scourge will continue and the main problem will persist and the thing that I am trying to prevent will remain. Of course, once the final showdown with the final boss of the first phase is done, I could kill her if she will remain resisting. Leaving her there will allow her to survive. She has a curse that she cannot kill herself so if she wanted to die, she needed to be killed by someone else. She cannot be killed by monsters and she will not be killed if she orders someone to kill her either. The only way for her to die is to be killed. Yep. The main reason for her starting a cult is to die. Then, the main boss who is taking advantage of this decided to use her so that she will be able to fulfill her wish of dying. And the order of the boss? Create a cult, spread his name and the scourge, and make a great sacrifice for him. In short, the cult she is making is just a big group that sacrifices all of its members to be something like food for the dark being. I can easily fulfill her wish but I can''t do that just yet. I need her as a catalyst to kill the final boss of Phase one. After getting out of the facility, it seems whatever the effects that caused the nullification of the Dark Core''s effects are now gone the moment I stepped outside of the facility. It is clear that she has some sort of nullification effects that made these cores not effective so now that I am out of the vicinity of it, the effects are back again. Well, so be it. Thest core is all that is left. Chapter 594 Monster Wave The sudden monster migration that urred not too far from the city caused panic among the angels as they have not experienced a mass migration of monsters all of a sudden. Not only that but all of them are aggressive and will attack anything and anyone on their way. They were like they were being provoked by something that caused them to rush there like a mad beast that has no control over their minds. Due to this, all of the Pioneers are tasked to prevent the city from getting breached by the monster wave. Harmless Sparrow, Mr. Teddy, and Sigma are also on the frontline. Fighting monsters from monsters who threaten to destroy the defenses of the city. "The monster wave is not that badpared to the time we had to fight numerous monsters back when we were tasked to help the expedition to the Frozen Region. However, these high number of monster waves attacking simultaneously are excessive." In the distance, one of the Pioneers who are tasked with signaling others the iing wave due to his passive where he can see from afar started waving a red g, meaning a monster horde is iing. "Looks like break time is over. Let''s clear this as fast as we can, shall we?" Sigma smiled. "Hmph, you are saying it like that even though you are literally just standing there while killing all the monsters iing. It''s kind of unfair," Harmless Sparrow pouted. "Hahaha, you just needed to get good I guess." And the battle begins. Mr. Teddy who is always silent rushes to the frontline and using his big body, he catches one of the charging bulls barehanded. To stop itpletely from its tracks, he punches its forehead and then kicked its jaw with his knees. This causes the bull to get stunned momentarily before he delivers a swift punch that is strong enough to st through the head of the bull, causing awe to other yers who are also there Who would have thought that someone who only has a full body suit of a teddy bear as equipment can actually do that? Harmless Sparrow did not get left behind as she released multiple AOE magic spells as she waves her magic sword. Every enemy she meets would get sted by magic or get destroyed by the sword then get sted inside with built-in magic. Then there''s Sigma, who just stood there in the middle of the battlefield, with her mace used as a cane. She watches the battle as monsters started rushing toward her. But she didn''t move an inch, and before the monsters can even reach her, they all fall down one by one as golden chains started to attack the monsters. For other Holy Knight, controlling the [Heavenly Chains] is not easy as they seemed like they will just shoot anywhere. But for Sigma, she uses it with extreme precision. And whenever the skill is on cooldown, she would use her [Spears of the Heaven] and rain it down on the monsters who thought they can escape from her wrath. Some of the Pioneers recognize her immediately after her spectacr way of fighting. "Hey, isn''t she the "Immovable Holy Knight"? The one who fought against the solo guild war monster guy during thest Battle for Blood?" "Oh, yeah! I also recognize her! Holy sh*t! She was a pioneer in this continent!" "Her battle style was really unique. I never expected to see someone just stand there menacingly and then kill all enemies on her path." Hearing all of the talks, Kazuki, or Kaisar at the moment got pissed. He indeed managed to enter the Pioneers but he rarely have any kind of recognition from other people. He barely has any influence from other people. His n of spreading his name by taking a different approach to being a good yer just ended up as a failure as the limelight is all stolen by Sigma who defeated himst Battle for Blood. Despiteing in third ce, he didn''t have any kind of fame that would make him famous enough. Instead, most of the yers in themunity are always talking about Sigma or perhaps the person who managed to defeat Sigma in Battle for Blood and the one who is known for his exploits as a yer who usually fights solo. The person is also known as the "Wolf Masked yer" by many yers online. Just thinking about it made him angrier and he startedshing it out at the monsters in the surroundings. However, he has to ensure that his name will spread after this expedition ends. He cannot fail in his n to impress his father and gain the position as the head of thepany. If he managed to do so, perhaps, his father might agree on leaving the seat to him Still, he had some hopes of that happening here. Without a definite goal for the quest here just yet, he knows that he will soon get a chance to spread his name with no one going to insult him. He will seed and he will prove that everyone is wrong about him. But for now, he has to prevent the monsters from invading the city. ... ... ... "General. The Pioneers are able to easily wipe out the iing monster waves. Although there are still many of them out there, the Pioneers are killing the monsters just fine." "Don''t just order the pioneers and let them do all the work. Assist them in this battle. We can''t keep on taking their help for granted. Fight and help defend this city from the monsters." The angel made a salute before going back to the others to ry the orders. Alynna sighed as she rubbed her temple after feeling a slight headache from all the monster attacks that has been happening all around. She is not sure what is happening, whether it was the work of the cult that is trying to dy their investigation or perhaps a different matter. "This is getting out of hand already. I don''t like the feeling of this." While the angels and the rest of the pioneers are trying to defend the city, deheart who is doing his best to finish the expedition as soon as possible is now running out from the ruins with thest dark core that he is clutching on his hands. Chapter 595 The Chase The final core just made all of the monsters in the vicinity no longer care whether there are walls or trees on the way. They smash through all of them and they are now chasing me to wherever I am going. I have to do some parkour moves from all the obstacles that have been constantly blocking my way. It''s already quite painful to see as most enemies keep on throwing obstacles at me and sometimes, they themselves will be blocking me. They are not something hard to kill but they be so annoying the more they appear before. After I raided thest undergroundboratory, the Dark Cores that I collected that should have umted into four pieces started to fuse together into one, and right now, it cannot be put back inside my Inventory and I had to manually carry it with me all around. I am lugging this round and dark item that looked very simr to a bowling ball minus the weight as this one is not as heavy as the former one. The only thing is that this thing is quite annoying to have around as I am forced to use only one hand fighting enemies. Because it''s annoying to carry the Versatile Weapon while traversing different obstacles and fighting enemies, I sheathed the Versatile Weapon back to its sheath and went to using magic spells. I have plenty of mana potions in my inventory and my mana pool is huge. What''s the use of my mana if I don''t use them, right? RAWR! A beast that looks like a hybrid of a pig and a deer suddenly charges with its mouth dripping in saliva. Before it can approach, I st it off with a Fireball before running away. It doesn''t matter if I kill the monster or not. What''s important is to run away from the monsters and reach the Altar of Demise, the ce where the cult leader should be waiting in the final battle. Although I don''t know whether the cult leader has the ability to teleport, there will be a chance that she will appear there, waiting for me, and will try to take back the Dark Core from my hands. A few monsters that carry weapons started to line up to interrupt me from moving forward. They are too adamant for me to be stopped there but I am not just someone who can be stopped so easily. I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and changed it to a hook and chain, throws the hook to the tree in the distance, just behind the monsters, and swung on it. While on the way, I kicked the f*ckers that are still blocking beforending on the ground and resuming my run. It took me a few minutes of running, evading, and jumping from obstacle to obstacle around the ruins before I managed to get away from the ruins. Now, I have to continue running a few more kilometers until I reach the camp of the cult where the base is located. Thanks to my previous endeavor of taking my chances to run without consuming stamina, I didn''t need any kind of potion, skill, or item to recover my stamina as I have an unlimited amount of it. The monsters are still chasing me but whenever they get close, I started sting them with magic spells, or sometimes, I dy them by creating a [Kekkai] that would stall them for a few seconds before it disappears and they will continue to chase me. The further I go, the more monsters chase me. However, that didn''t stop me from running. This is just a minor problem and if I reached the cult''s base, all of this will end. It''s not that hard. And so, by jumping, evading, attacking, and smacking through monsters and obstacles, I managed to reach the base of the cult. It''s a very high spire that towers in the sky. It''s not visible in the distance and in the air but once you reach the base of the ce, the tower will appear before them and that is what exactly happened to me. As I reached the vicinity of the cult''s tower, a message popped up before me. [Due to your arrival in the vicinity of the Spire of Darkness, the effects of the Dark Core are now nullified. All of the monsters that are attracted due to the effects of the Dark Core will return to where they came from peacefully.] I looked behind me and all of the monsters that were chasing me seems like they got brainwashed, stopped from their tracks and turned around and went away like they didn''t have any wish to get any kind of attention from me. I am kind of grateful that this effect appeared but I am a little bit disappointed as I can''t use the monster attacks as an easy getaway from the cult members. It would have been much easier to reach the top of the spire by just letting the monsters go rampage as I make my way to the top of the spire, leaving the cult members do their job at fending themselves from the attack of the beasts. "My first n to wreck them kind of falls apart with all of the monsters turning back after chasing me this far. But f*ck it. If they have the ability to cancel this core''s ability then fine, I guess I will have to do it by myself. Lucia, is Cotton awake right now?" "Cotton? Yeah. She is currently messing with Cath Palug right now." "Alright, can you let Cotton spit out a web on this core right here?" "Okay, Master. Wait a little bit, I will have to stop these two from fighting for a bit." It took a bit of time before the Summon''s Area''s portal entrance opened and Cotton poked out from it being held by Lucia. "Can you give a little web on this core, Cotton? Something that would allow me to hang it on my side?" Cotton didn''t hesitate and shoot out a web and covered the core with it. She then cut it off while leaving a bit of a longer string attached to it that you will think this looks like the traditional looking bomb that needed to be ignited using a match or lighter on its string. "Thanks, Cotton. I will reward youter after this." Cotton is happy after I pat her head before she retreated back to the summon''s area. I attached the dark core in my waist and made sure that it wasn''t obstructing much in my movement. Now that we are almost to the final part of the first phase, it is time to head in and face all of the enemies. The cult members, the monsters that the cult might have added to act as guards, the cult leader herself, and then there''s the monster that used the curse of the cult leader to fulfill his wishes. It''s time to end this. Chapter 596 The Spire (Part 1 Out Of 4) In the past timeline, the spire is crawling with monsters and the scourge has already taken over that it would look disgusting just from its figure alone. Since the situation from the past timeline didn''t ur at best, I am not dealing with monsters this time around but angels who are still sane and have the knowledge to fight back, unlike monsters who just move on their instincts. I looked up at the spire. It looks like it was made of bones of several creatures but when you look at it closely, it was just made of metal and different kinds of rocks. It just looked like that because of the wear and tear. Perhaps the spire is something that has been existing since ancient times and it doesn''t look like this in the very first ce. Before entering the spire, my mind tried to picture if I can just climb the spire without entering and just climb it up using a rope and also the Hook and Chain to act as a grappling hook and add the ability to fly to reach a higher ce sounds possible but I soon abandoned the idea of doing it as it is much riskier for me to get shot by the magic of the cult members and even if I try to fly away,pared to me who is not a real angel, they will immediately be able to chase me down. So why bother with this method when you can just go and enter the spire, wreck everyone and leave like a chad? That would be the better option for me in my opinion. I made sure the Dark Core won''t fall with me running around before I entered the spire. Just like before, the spire is dark and cold in the entrance. It was like entering a dark cave that has yet to be explored by people or anyone who knows their way in navigating caves. The only difference is that the spire looks more like a small institute of a magic hall that is usually present in many novels and anime that I have seen in the past especially those that involves magic academies. This was ruined in the past timeline due to the scourge so I didn''t know that this ce would look much better without the scourge. However, I have no time to admire the interior of the building when the enemies are all around me, I am also guessing that they already are alerted of my presence especially during the first chase scene earlier. With the amount of iing monsters, everyone must have already been aware that I am already going inside the spire. Entering the main hallway on the first floor, I immediately triggered a magic circle. A trap made with magic. "BREAK!" My reaction the moment the magic circle activated is to cancel it out. Shouting "Break" while a spell is being cast will count as the activation key word to the skill, [Magic Jammer]. Due to that, the magic circle breaks to pieces and shattered like it was made of ss. That caused the hiding magicians nearby to pop up. "F*CK! The magic circle failed! Attack him at once before he realize it!" They then released multiple condensed magic bullets to my direction. They are not that fast so evading them are easy enough for me to handle. Tumbling down the hallway then surprising them with a double handgun form of the Versatile Weapon allowed me to surprise them and kill them before they can attack me. I didn''t wait for them to immediately recover. It''s obvious of who is the main winner here between those who needed to wait a few seconds to reload their magic power versus someone who can fire it continuously for a few rounds and with the Versatile Weapon, charging it with mana a little bit and bullets will already materialize, allowing me to fight without the need to reload the gun for bullets. The angels who ambushed me on the first floor are annihted due to this tactic. I made sure to look around for any potential enemies hiding in in sight before leaving after making sure that no one else are left behind to ambush me while I am climbing up the spire. Looking up of the spire, this is going to be a very long climb. Alright. Now that I have gotten rid of the hostile angels on the ground floor and nothing else were left behind, time to check the second floor of the spire. Why am I bothering on killing them if I can just go straight to the boss? The main reason for that is because, this boss uses the life of its followers to get stronger. That''s the main purpose of the scourge he is releasing and making the cult spread it out allows him to absorb energies from his followers no matter what ce and time they were in. So if all of his followers are dead, doesn''t that mean all of his food reserves are now gone and done? Every step of the stairs of the spire looks like it was not cleaned for a long time due to the blood stains retaining on the floor like some dried ketchup. These guys might be angels and have yet to be corrupted by the Scourge that the dark lord they worship brings but that doesn''t mean they are not evil and not guilty. It only makes them more evil than those who look evil already. Having a figure of being a holy being, only to be a monster in an angel''s clothing. My arrival on the 2nd floor, I am immediately weed by multiple magic attacks that are devastating enough on anyone who willingly catches them. It is clear that they are keen in getting rid of me. "You guys havee prepared but it seems your preparedness seems to becking in terms of impact, I would say." "Don''t let him do anything! Kill him and bring honor to our god by vanquishing the evil that threatens our religion!" After hearing their promation, I slowly grinned. Evil my *ss, if I am evil, then I will make sure to use that evil to devour the evil of this world and cleanse it from the darkness hiding inside. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 597 The Spire (Part 2 Of 4) 5th floor of the spire. "Run! This guy is not easily taken down! We need to call the others upstairs to help-" before one of the guys can escape, I already shot him down with the Versatile Weapon, killing him before he can even go upstairs and ask for some backup. I didn''t have much difficulty with them all as they are not as difficult as monsters. One shot in the head or one stab in their body and they are dead so defeating them is much easierpared to the monsters that take a longer beating before they are officially dered killed. However, even though they are NPCs and are angels on top of that, they are part of a bigger problem that will be making things harder in the final fight so even if they are somewhat decent people, it doesn''t change the fact that they will die from the so-called "god" that they keep on saying and worshipping. Killing them might be the evil route but I am part of the rogue quest line so it doesn''t matter whether I go to the massacre route or just straight up ignore the troublesome mechanics that the gameid out for me. I continue to climb but someone from the angels is currently standing in the middle of the sixth floor''s hall. She looks like a valkyrie due to her armor but I can also tell that she is part of the cult as she is defending its cult. Someone who isn''t part of the cult will never see the appeal of joining the cult and helping them resurrect whatever god they are worshipping. "You have finally arrived, Interloper. Although it should have been easy for you to go away and forget everything that had happened, you didn''t do it and instead continue doing so. I don''t know whether you are just in stupid, or you are just having a death wish." Despite her provocation, I didn''t get angry at her. It didn''t affect me as this level of provocation rarely gets me and if it ever did, that person who provoked me might have hit a nerve on me for me to be affected by it. She continues to talk, trying to distract me but I can see a few of the magicians on the sixth floor are currently doing a cast on their magic while some are aiming their crossbows and guns at me. They thought I wouldn''t notice it but I am not an idiot and I am not blind to not see those big weapons they have and their glowing magic circles while they are aiming them at me. Instead of listening to the angel yammer and yammer all she wanted, I instead used this chance to prepare some stuff I have in my inventory and belt topletely turn the tide. And when the timing is right, I pulled out one of the Smoke Bottles I had in my inventory and throws them to the valkyrie-looking angel. She immediately defended and the others who are waiting to shoot at me fired at will but since I already anticipated that they would shoot at me then I used the opportunity to just duck and shoot my Versatile Weapon''s gun form to them The smokescreen created from throwing the Smoke Bottle at them covers the whole surrounding and gives every single one of them temporary blindness. This effect only affects the enemies so I took the opportunity to get rid of the long-range angels that can attack in the distance as they are the most annoying guys to handle. Thankfully, one bash to the head or one bullet to the forehead does the trick and kills them all without any problem. I was not fast enough to get rid of the armored Valkyrie as the smokescreen slowly dissipates, leaving only me and the Valkyrie angel left standing. Seeing all of the dead angels in the surroundings, the angel''s face contorted to an ugly-looking expression where she shout in rage as she attacks me with hernce. "I don''t know why you are doing this, but you have to die!" "Forgive me, for you will need to go first. I am not yet ready to kick the bucket just yet." SLASH! One single sh and the valkyrie''s head disappeared from where it was before. I realized that the Versatile Weapon did not slice the Valkyrie''s neck, but instead, swallowed the whole head. I didn''t know that the Versatile weapon is aiming to eat the helmet of the Valkyrie. It didn''t make me salivate when it saw the Valkyrie so this caught me by surprise. As a result, the Valkyrie Angel is now a headless corpse as the head is now nowhere to be seen. "Damn, next time, you should tell me you are hungry before you devour something. I know I have to kill them but eating their equipment without my permission is another story." After the Valkyrie angel died, I resumed my climb to the spire. ... ... ... While deheart is progressing steadily on his climb to the spire, the cult leader who is now kneeling in front of the monolith that the god she was worshipping is using as the manifestation to present himself to the world is still struggling after her defeat from deheart and failing to secure the Dark Core. She healed it up but it was still not enough. "My child, why are you struggling? Isn''t your biggest wish to die? So why are you trying so hard to heal the wounds that you sustained?" a heavy voice that seems toe from the ground started to echo from the Monolith. "My Lord, until the mission for you to appear here in this world isplete, I can''t die just yet. That is why I am not going to sumb to these wounds of mine until you areplete!" "Hahaha, I am so lucky to have you, my little follower. Don''t worry, once everything isplete, I will make sure toplete your wish." "Yes, My Lord. I will not let you down. I will help you get your body here in this world and you can begin to rule this dirty and worthless world with your might!" "Oh yes, that is indeed the n. So don''t worry. Everything is all ording to n." Chapter 598 The Spire (Part 3 Out Of 4) Because of my dedication, climbing the spire became an easy task. However, the more I climb, the more angels have died in my hands. I started to get numb killing them. I have not killed this many NPCs in my whole life, not even if you add all the NPCs I have killed due to a quest. This is a whole mass murder and if I am going to be on the trial of thews of Luminous Continent, then they will banish me to the underworld formitting such a crime. Thankfully, the system never makes this a bad thing, or else, I will be a red name now since even killing NPCs will warrant you a red name and a punishment. Aside from the Valkyrie angel with her head gone to the stomach of the shadow dragon inside my Versatile Weapon, the other angels are regr angels that have just joined. I didn''t encounter any unique-looking angels as I continue to ascend the tower. There are 100 floors on the spire. It''s been 3 hours since I began my climb and I have no idea how long I have been climbing I am no longer counting but if I guess it, perhaps around 70 or 80-plus floors already. I am not in a hurry and I always rest from time to time, especially if the stairs that will lead me to reach a new floor are freaking long. Sometimes, I even think of logging out to take a break but whenever I see that I am getting closer to the top, I always change my mind and I would continue the climb. It would have made me more motivated if it allowed me to earn experience by killing these angels. but too bad that the system is quite stingy about it. As I get closer and closer to the top, the clouds surrounding the top of the spire get darker and darker, and the asional lightning and thunder add more creepy vibes to the f*cking atmosphere of the tower. I know that they are designed to make the whole spire look and feel dangerous as you go up but it''s honestly annoying, especially the loud thunder ringing. ,m "Master. 5 minutes are up," Lucia reminded me after I ordered her to tell me that 5 minutes went by already." "Ugh, time sure flies so fast. Alright. Let''s continue the climb." I don''t remember the Spire being this long in the past timeline. Perhaps the reason it felt so long is that I am doing all of the jobs without anyone else other than me, myself, and I. Damn, it seems to do it solo really is a bad idea but just knowing how long before the actual boss battle will take if we just take it all slow and the monster attacks are much worsepared to right now where the only enemies I am worried about are the angels. As I step foot onto the next floor, I noticed that it is very quiet, it was like no one is there. Usually, the moment I arrived, I can see the angels poking their heads on the nearby tables and shelves, hiding and waiting for my arrival but right now, there are none. I don''t see anyone at all. Still, I didn''t lower my guard. They might be just around the corner and are just waiting for me to wander there, thinking there are no enemies but I already looked around and the situation is indeed different than thest floor. "Lucia, can you try scanning if there are any people here, other than me? It feels oddly quiet for some unknown reason." "Please wait for a moment, Master." Lucia went silent while I continue to observe my surroundings. Nothing changed and nothing moved which is pretty odd considering I remembered the spire is littered with monsters in the past timeline on all floors where all the angels on those floors became monsters. They didn''t climb up so the number of monsters on every floor remained the same and not a single individual climbed up. Killing them all was too fast for us but I still remembered that there are many of them on every floor and the only floor that has no one else present is the top floor where the only one you will see is the Fallen Angel cult leader. "Master, I''m sorry but I don''t detect anyone else other than you in there." "No dead bodies or anything at all?" "Nothing, Master. Not a single one." That''s pretty weird but since there is not a single one present here, then perhaps I have to check out the next floor and see the situation there. Perhaps the angels here have changed locations and climbed up to gang me up. ... ... ... I continue to climb up. One floor to another and yet, just like the first floor that has no enemies, the remaining floors have no enemies that I am going to fight against with. It''s weird but I have no idea why they don''t have them at all. I tried to rest there for a while and waited, perhaps they will appear if I waited there but that failed as no one appeared at all. I know I should be grateful that I don''t need to fight but when you are fighting against enemies that utilize their numbers and they are useful to the cult due to their uses once the boss needed some sustenance. "Do you think something is wrong here Lucia? Or perhaps I am just overthinking things?" I asked Lucia. "I think you are just overthinking things, Master. Isn''t it great you don''t need to fight the angels and you can just continue your climb uninterrupted by those guys?" Lucia was right. I should be happy that I can climb the spire, unimpeded by any distractions but this feeling of something is wrong felt like it is indeed wrong with this situation. I can feel that it isn''t going to bode well for me. And I trust my gut feeling. Perhaps things might not go ording to what I am expecting at all. Chapter 599 The Spire (Part 4 Out Of 4) After discovering that all of the remaining floors of the spire are all empty and devoid of the angels that I was looking for, I proceed to continue the climb and reached the second to thest floor to the top. There, sat a big automaton, shaped like an angel but one closer look and you will see that this was not alive. The mini-boss before the main event. I was expecting it to be here but seeing it here means that it is already existing since the very beginning. ording to the lore of the automaton, it was originally an automaton meant to guard the spire against any intruders. However, after the cult leader took over the spire, she rewrite all of the code of the automaton and made it guard the floor, right next to the top floor so that no one else will be able to climb the top floor. I slowly approached it, trying to see whether this guy still function like it was before and as expected, my guess was correct. Approaching it will not activate its little functions. No matter what you do, it will not move. Not only that but even if you try to attack it on this mode, it is in its "Invincible" state which would render all kinds of attacks useless as everything will not connect to this guy. There is only one way for it to stand up and attack. And I think the cult leader programmed this guy like that. Approaching the next flight of stairs that will lead me to the next floor, the automaton that is staying still and inanimate started to boot up. Its eyes lit up red and stood up like a robot. Then, it dashes fast enough for normal eyes to have trouble following. PENG! "So you are now awake!" Deflecting the de in its hands, the automaton retreated a little bit after failing to kill me. That also revealed its HP and name to me. [Ancient Automaton of the Spire](Mini-Boss) HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000 Type: Automaton, Holy, Light As expected of ancient creation, it was amazing. It''s too bad that the angels no longer have any kind of knowledge about this kind of automaton as they are not even taking the ancient technology their ancestors made in the past. Even I would feel very lucky if I managed to get one like this. Since the automaton is built with a frame simr to a human woman, its slender body is enough to easily move around and dash without any problems. But that design alone spells problems for me. PENG! PENG! PENG! Because the Automaton is a machine, it does not feel tired and will not stop until the intruder is killed. You can say that it is the ultimate guardian anyone would face. Its swift attacks forced me to change the Versatile Weapon''s form to a Magic Sword and block all of its attacks that areing to me. The longer I am blocking those attacks, the heavier and stronger they go. If my Versatile Weapon has a durability bar present on it, it wouldn''t take too long for its durability to plummet down as all of the attacks are quite weapon-damaging. Too bad that this weapon will never degrade, like ever so that feature does not work on me at all. Since it keeps attacking, I have to keep my attention to all the strikes but asionally, I am looking for a weak point of this guy. It might not stop attacking but remember that it is just a machine. Even a machine will stop working once it breaks so I am keeping my attention on it while also trying to stop all of its attacks. It didn''t take too long for me to find a chance to strike it. PENG! As our des shed once more, I immediately sweep its legs after its attack. Because its attack pattern repeats based on what was programmed, whenever it attacks, it repeats the same movement that perfectly replicates it every time it tries to do so. I took advantage of that, and sweep-kick the automaton. It was painful but because of its stance, the automaton immediately went out of bnce and fell to the ground. That''s when its little core that is hidden behind its back appeared. I didn''t waste my time and grab it with my hands and rip it out from the automaton. Without its core, the automaton returned to its previous inanimate state, effectively defeating it. However, there is one thing that I am curious about. In the past timeline, we destroyed the automaton, and only the core of it was salvaged. Now that the body is still intact and the core is also intact, what if I just take this guy for myself? Storing the core, I tried to also store the body of the automaton inside but because it was too big, it wasn''t permitted. Still, it was proven to be something I can carry around. "As." "Yes, Master?" "Are you confident in your strength to lift and carry heavy things?" "Although I would say I am confident, I am not going to promise I can lift every single heavy thing." "Then perhaps you can try if you can lift this puppy up." As went outside of the Summon''s Area and look at the motionless Automaton before me. "You are nning on carrying the automaton with us?" "I am nning to restore this automaton and use it for ourselves." "Hmm, let me try but don''t expect too much, Master. I may be strong but that doesn''t mean I can carry anything especially if it was an automaton." As started stretching his body for a little bit. He is making sure that he won''t break all of his bones once he attempts to lift them up. After stretching, he cracked his knuckles before grabbing the automaton up. Surprisingly, he easily picked it up. "Huh. I thought it would be heavier but it wasn''t that heavy. It''s a manageable weight. So what am I gonna do about this?" "Carry it back inside the summon''s area, please. I will ask you againter once we have to take it back out again to make it function again." "Alright." As carried it back to the Summon''s Area, officially taking the automaton as my possession. If the Cult Leader saw this, I might have said "Look at me, this automaton is mine now" before walking away like a boss. Now, my time hase to face the final boss, the top of the spire. Without anyone else trying to stop me from climbing, I continue to climb the long stairs until I arrived at the very top where the darkness of the sky has enveloped the top of the spire. The only source of light found in the area are the two torches that mysteriously glow in purple color as it dances on the wind. Before me is a giant monolith with a hexagonal top on it with something a floating ck circle that seems to be missing something. Its body is full of different symbols that looked like runes but it doesn''t look like one and is more like doodles. It emits the same feeling as the Scourge itself. And below the giant monolith is the cult leader, praying on it. Sensing my presence, the cult leader stood up, turned around, and res at me with her fiery eyes, now glowing in red. "So you havee." It''s time for this sh*t to end. Chapter 600 The Tormentor The cult leader stood in front of me, still injured from the previous battle we did back in the undergroundboratory red at me as the battle that will lead me to fight a big boss all by myself is looming. "So you are really trying to ruin everything that I have worked so hard for." "If only your work is not something that would affect the world then perhaps I would have left you on your own devices. Unfortunately, that wasn''t the main case and I don''t like the way you are sparking the apocalypse so I guess it is much easier for me to get rid of your workpletely rather than leave you ravaging everything." "This is why I hated all that are wingless. You all are just a bunch of morons who do nothing but do nonsensical stuff. And I also hated my kind for being brainless idiots that don''t know the value of this world. And I hated myself for having this curse of not dying. However, what I hated the most is that you are trying to stop my work to resurrect my god from ruling this idiotic world!" She then pulls out her sword. She is raring to fight again but I can also tell that she is not in the best shape to fight. Her wounds are not healed and she is still looking like she was still in critical condition. Given that she won''t die no matter how hard she tries, she will still suffer from those wounds but will not receive any kind of signs that her life will end and her suffering will finallye to a finale. However, I don''t really care about that right now. She is not the one I am after. And although I can keep on hitting her until the passive effect of my title that automatically kills anything hits, she still needed to be alive for her lord to appear. "I know you are raring to fight but I have no time to deal with you." She didn''t listen and started attacking me but due to her slow movements, I easily dodged her, and I made my way into the monolith. Now here the main purpose of the Dark Core that I have collected and protected finallyes into y. Pulling out the core dangling on my side, I pulled the Versatile Weapon out and slice my arm for blood to flow out of it. Although it was just a game, the blood still flows like real blood works in real life. My HP is also falling as my blood keeps dripping too. I put the dark core under my arm so that all the blood that falls from my bleeding handnds on the dark core itself. Every drop of blood that sessfully drops to the core is easily absorbed. Seeing this unfold makes the cult leader realize what I am doing. "Stop what you are doing!" I didn''t listen to her and just continued the blood to drop from it. Seeing that I didn''t stop doing it, she started running to stop me from doing whatever I am doing but before she can reach me, the process has finally been done and the Dark Core is now imbued with dark powers. This process is done too forcefully manifest the boss out of the monolith. It''s the less powerful version of the boss monster that should be appearing by sacrificing the living but that still works fine and dandy so I have to do this. How did I know this if the past timeline already managed to cause severe damage to the Luminous Continent? Because the Cult Leader did not summon the boss until the very end. She relied on the power of the boss that has been given to her to fight us yers. However, things are different now. I will instead do the initiative of summoning the boss and forcing it to manifest. With the Dark Core ready, I throw the core into the air where the monolith is currently at. Due to the amount of power the core is releasing, the Monolith senses this and slowly attracts the core to be ced on the very top of the Monolith. The moment the deed was done, the Monolith started to shake, and the whole spire started to shake. Even the cult leader didn''t expect this to happen. The Monolith started glowing like crazy and the shaking gets stronger. It didn''t take too long for the Monolith to start showing cracks on the surface. Then, in a split second, the monolith exploded and ck smoke started to fly around. Some kind of scream is echoing all around as the ck smoke started to circle around. After a while, the ck smoke gathered on the cult leader and without a warning, entered her mouth. The incident was very sudden for her so she didn''t expect it from happening. All of the flying ck smoke flies started to gather on her and she started screaming in pain. Soon enough, all of the ck smoke entered her body. She slowly convulsed before the ck smoke is released once again this time, forming into a bigger form of an ethereal form of a monster. The reason the smoke entered the cult leader is due to the Curse. The curse that is enveloping her is the curse that is tied to the resurrection of this boss. It was supposed to be the final power that it needed to manifest once it has collected enough souls to use and a decent material aka bodies to use to manifest its body and be a strong god. However, since I killed all of the cult''s members except the cult leader, the resurrection failed automatically unless a new batch of idiots decided to sacrifice themselves. And since the core is back to the monolith, this forces the boss to escape as the Monolith can no longer handle the power that is activated. Because of its premature release, the form of the boss became ck smoke and started to roam around the surroundings, looking for anything it can use to manifest temporarily before dying. However, since the only option left was the curse left behind the cult leader''s body, instead of saving it forst, the boss decided to use it instead before the boss disintegrated. And now, here we are, the boss has finally appeared. But this is the weaker version of the boss. It was a failed attempt and since the only power it has that will allow it to manifest safely without disappearing is to take the curse from the cult leader''s body, the boss is now in a form that is still dangerous but is much easier to fightpared to the past timeline''s version of itself. Its manifestation is slow and to ensure that he will appear big, he decided to use the dead bodies of the followers of the cult excluding the cult leader since the cult leader is still alive, just unconscious. Still,pared to the bodies brimming with life and vigor, a dead body without any scent of life in it is just a constion prize for the boss to use as it has no other choice. What choice does it have anyways? Soon enough, the boss finally manifested and has finally appeared in its form. His looks are more like the same description people describe asura. He has red skin and three heads with three different faces and six arms. He is a towering giant and although his bottom half is just a spirit form due to his untimely resurrection andck of resources, his top half is fully fleshed out. Still, he is very big and I am smallpared to him. And in a while, his HP bar finally appeared. Not surprising, there are three HP bars with one as the main and the other two as a secondary HP bars. [The Tormentor] HP: 20,000,000 X 5/20,000.000 X 5 [The Tormentor''s Cursed Sword] HP: 15,000,000/15,000,000 [The Tormentor''s Cursed Spear] HP: 10,000,000/10,000,000 The boss has Five HP bars which is the reason why there is "X5" beside the 20 million HP. Meaning once I exhausted the 20 million HP, another set of 20 million HP will reappear to refill it back up. Anyone who must be seeing this might think this is too much but this is mildpared to the past timeline where the boss has at least 30 HP bars with 100 million HP in them. Since this is the weakened version, its HP is bearable enough for me. The sword and the spear are still part of the boss and he will asionally use them to fight but they will cease to function like a normal monster once it drains up all of their HP and the boss will be forced to get rid of them. Also, killing these weapons will not reduce the main boss''s HP. It will just ease up fighting the f*cker down/ Carrying out the cult leader''s body to the side so that she won''t get crushed from the battle, I pull out the Versatile Weapon, ready to fight. The boss has finally gained back his senses and this time, his three faces frown with anger and started cursing me. "You motherf*cking brat! What have you done is just something that I am not going to easily forgive! I sentenced you to die on my hands today and crush your bones to dust!" "F*CK YOURSELF AND STOP TALKING!" I didn''t want to keep on talking with this three-headed bastard. With three enemies to fight, I have to make a hustle and fight with them. Since I am alone, I have to rely on myself. And I also needed to pray that even at least once, the title effects of Death''s Favorite are triggered. The sword started moving all by itself while the spear remained in the tormentor''s hands. It ms down its heavy de to the ground. I quickly evaded it before jumping to the sword and as I run, I shoot bullets at it. It''s kind of pointless to shoot a metal sword with a gun but since the gun I am using is the Versatile Weapon, its effects are not something a normal gun would normally make. I didn''t use the Pain Delivery at the moment as I am saving the bullets when I am fighting the tormentor itself. It didn''t take a few seconds before the sword started moving again. Before falling, I changed my weapon into a cannon and shot a single cannonball at the Tormentor which caught the boss off guard, provoking the three-faced guy. "That''s it! You are now officially dying right this second! Prepare to meet your maker!" END OF ARC 7 A/N: Alright, ARC 7 is done although that was a cliffhanger for the next arc, I already have nned out the entire arc of this part. It''s going to be a little bit longer than usualpared to the Sandurk Expedition and the Aquagius Insect Kingdom arc where both arcs featured the unlocking process for the next continent. Compared to the previous two arcs, the next arc will be focusing on the Luminous Expedition arc which consisted of two phases. Not only will this feature one single city of the Luminous Continent but the phases of the expedition will cover the whole continent itself. I won''t promise anything about it but I can only say that this arc will be a bit longer than usual. I already have the draft work done and if I fully finish the chapter construction, there might be a chance that this arc will be divided into two parts. Anyways, thank you all who have reached this far. I salute you all who have reached this far despite this novel''s absurd storyline that even I have some trouble building. Chapter 601 Battle Against A False God (I) BANG! Dust and rocks fly in different directions the moment the sword strikes down. It would have been amazing if I had dodged it but it''s not what exactly is happening. Because of this damn big sword and this damn big spear, PENG! You guys might be wondering right now where I am but if you are following my situation, perhaps you already know. Those who have skipped ahead, then let me give you a bit of a run down. The other day, I spent my whole day hunting down viges that are worshipping false gods and became an eldritch being of an abomination that is threatening to invade the world. I have prevented that and right now, I went to the root cause by obtaining four cores from secretboratories that are not so secret by the way and got chased by thousands of monsters behind me before they turn away the moment I arrived on the spire. Next, I started doing a mass murder on the tower by killing all the angels that are already fallen from grace before they are used by the false god that is also nning to use them as materials necessary for his resurrection. And after doing some procedures, here we are right now, I am currently on the top of the spire, the tallest structure in the Luminous Continent that is not visible in the eyes of the popce unless they are in the vicinity of the spire itself. And right now, a self-proimed god is using his weapons to fight me. Weapons that can fight by themselves without the need of the wielder to even lift a finger to swing it. What is worse is that these weapons are big as tall buildings that are usually as high as 4-storey buildings. And one of them? I am currently blocking it with my Versatile Weapon after the f*cking giant spear tried to pierce me multiple times. As I dodge the attacks, the sword took its chances to strike me down, and because dodging would result from the spear striking, I got no choice but to catch the strike. Earlier, the Tormentor was holding the spear and just letting the sword do its thing. However, after I provoked the f*cker with a st of a cannon on his face, he decided to make my life harder. "F*CKING HELL TO YOU!" BANG! The sword got deflected though I took all my strength to deflect it. Before rolling to the ground to escape the f*cking spear. As soon as I did, I changed my Versatile Weapon''s form into the cannon form and shot out one cannonball once more. It wasn''t that effective but it was at least chipping away the metal of the weapon and the health it had is also being reduced too. I didn''t ask for help from my familiars because this is a battle that only I can do and having them in the battle will justplicate my battle n. BANG! The spear falls to the ground but it stood back up and once again, it is back to its attack mode. "Even when f*cking weakened, the sword and spear alone are already troublesome to deal with." While watching me, the three-headed Tormentor started sneering at me as he sees me struggling. "Hahaha, look at you. I thought you have something that would seriously threaten me but then you are just some chump brave enough to summon me up. Even with my weakened form, I can easily squash you." "Heh, if that was the case, why you haven''t done that just yet? That would have saved you more time." "Why would I waste my energy on you? I am just going to see you get destroyed. That would be a good spectacle than me killing you." "Hahaha, pathetic. All bark, no bite. Just so you know, you are not the toughest f*cker I have faced my entire life. You don''t evene close in the top 10 toughest enemies I have fought." I mean, I have fought many bosses in the past timeline much stronger than this guy. He couldn''t even reach a hair''s width on the giant Cath Palug boss that we have fought against in the past timeline. That sh*t was terrifying and that f*cker is right in my summon''s area god knows what it was doing. That snide remark I did seems to have pissed off the guy real good as his three faces are very angry hearing that. "I am not going to let this slide. You will have to die today." "Just do it already, you f*cker. If you can''t do it then just shut up already." BANG! The sword is swinging and mming its des back and forth again as I keep dodging. The spear would also take advantage at times and would attack me when I least expect it but since the spear is much more slenderpared to the sword, the strikes are much easier to dodge and it would miss. However, dodging it and hitting it with a cannonball was always part of the n since the beginning. And right now, the results of that have finally allowed me to show results. The sword swung by to me and I dodged while the spear also attacks me. Because the sword attack was dodged, the sword misses but the spear is also iing as well to strike me down. So the moment I dodged, the de went ahead to the iing spear. The spear is the one that I bombarded with cannonballs earlier after its attacks and I made sure to keep it shot on the same spot. It wasn''t showing any significant changes but that finally showed up the moment the sword struck it. The swing was strong enough to cause the spear to snap and break. Not only that but the HP of the spear also got reduced to zero immediately the moment it snapped to pieces. "What?!" The Tormentor who was relying on his tools didn''t expect to see the Spear break to pieces. "Hehe, now that the spear is gone, its time to see whether you can really kill me with your techniques." Chapter 602 Battle Against A False God (II) I didn''t go all out when I was fighting the two weapons at all. I asionally attack them but I don''t attack them with the usual firepower that I release in most enemies I battle against. That is because I keep holding back my attacks and did not take everything so seriously, only focused on dodging a little bit before attacking casually then starts dodging again. It''s not like I am treating this boss fight casually but I am conserving my energy to ensure that I won''t get tired once I fight against the Tormentor himself who is still not attacking despite the spear breaking and him fuming in anger. It was like he has a code that he would only asionally attack while either of the two are still up and alive on the field. Also, the main reason I keep my calm in fighting against the two sentient weapons is to ensure that the sentient weapons don''t know what I was nning in the beginning. I didn''t go all out from my attacks, I didn''t bombard them with attacks that would cost a lot of mana to cast and explodes, I only ensured that they get closer and closer to each other as I keep on dodging. It''s a little bit tricky but I managed to pull it off. This was a strategy that was identally performed in the past timeline. When we are fighting these same sentient weapons, a few of our group were forced to dodge the spear but at that time, the sword was about to break as it is the one that was bombarded the most. When the spear struck, it was also coincidentally the time the sword was also gonna strike so when the spear made its stab, the sword made its swing, and that caused the spear to break to pieces just like what happened. Also, since the sword is about to break, the moment the two weapons collided, the two break and we are into the final phase against the boss. Too bad that only the spear broke this time but it was understandable as I didn''t damage the sword too much for it to break but since the sword is a much easier enemy than the spear, it doesn''t really matter to me. Now that one of the sentient weapons is gone, it''s time to be serious. I started running towards the sword and the sword immediately attacks me. I easily avoided the strike and the de misses me. The moment it stayed on the ground, I also started my attack. Changing my weapon into a hammer, I immediately headed to the area I kept on firing the Cannonball since the beginning of the fight and repeatedly swing it down. The cannonball is still stuck there so I m the hammer multiple times before it goes to attack again. "You are wasting your time. If you think you can defeat the sword, ha, in your dreams." The Tormentor might have been angry earlier but he immediately calmed down seeing the sword is still alive. He really is annoying despite him not yet attacking. "Will you just shut up? You can talk all you wantter but will you stop talking sh*t? You are not even the guy I am fighting against so close that three mouths of yours and just stay there." "YOU..." This is one of the reasons this guy is not that troublesome. He is easy to irritate and he has these condescendingments at times. He might look scary but he barely has any threat while the sword is still alive. Also, it is also part of the strategy I am answering at him like this since this wille to yter. Don''t mind the slight bickering as this is not the "exciting" part of the battle. It''s just an annoying mini-boss with a good chunk of health. Once it''s done, we are good to go to the main content and the main entertainment. The sword has a slow and sluggish movement but I didn''t waste that sluggish movement to my advantage. Every time it ms down to the ground, I take advantage of it and started hammering the cannonball on the sword that got embedded in the surface. It might not look like it was doing a thing but seeing the HP of the sword going down which is now by the way in 500,000 is a bit satisfying. It didn''t take long for the sword to slowly lose the speed it has before. It has also zero uracies now and ms down to the ground randomly even though I was not there. I still continue mming my hammer down to it and it didn''t take that long for the cannonball to reach so deep enough into the sword. You can even see the crack appear on the surface and it was like it was about to fall to pieces in just a few more attacks. "My sword, you seemed to be having trouble. Here, I will give you the [Berserk Blessing]. Now go, and smash that guy to pieces!" SNAP! The sword immediately got menacing and stronger all of a sudden. However, this was a double-edged sword effect. Just like the normal berserk effect, the one afflicted by it will gain tremendous power but in exchange, the defense value of anyone or anything afflicted by it will go tremendously down to the drain, and taking damage will be easier than ever. The sword is now back to its tip-top shape''s speed and it is swinging faster than ever. I think it will one hit kill me if I got hit by it so I decided to end this once and for all. Instead of repeating the same hammer trick and mming down the cannonball of the sword, I decided to take advantage that the sword has lowered defense value now. When it mmed to the ground, I took advantage of it still being immobile, and changed my weapon into a magic sword. I imbued it with the earth element and stab the gap that was made from the cannonball. Then I activated the skill I usually use as a finisher and sometimes, a gut-rending skill that has not failed me just yet. "[Earth Fissure]!" CRACK CRACK CRACK! Countless cracks appeared on the de. It took a bit of time before the whole sword cracked. It didn''t break to pieces and retained its form but the crack remains. "What is happening? My sword, don''t fail me now." The sword tried to move again but due to this little action, its end came over immediately. That slight force of the sword trying to move again has decided to cause what keeps the sword''s de intact to give up and it didn''t need the genius to know that the sword finally falls, ending its life. Now that the sword is gone, time for the main dish of the menu. Chapter 603 Battle Against A False God (III) Finally, without any unnecessary enemies left to fight, it was just me and the Tormentor left along with his 5 break bar HP. "Why does a human like you try to defy me? I can grant you anything you wish for, money, power, everything you can imagine to gain, you will be able to obtain it if you just follow me." "Because I heard that line sh*t ton of times. I am sick and tired of all the self-proimed gods such as you think you all are all big shots that have the big chance to rule this world by using anything at your disposal. Let me tell you something, you ugly piece of sh*t. You are not the only one who tried to bargain with me so that we stop the fight. However, none of them are currently alive right now." "Cocky little bastard!" ck lightning started to appear around him and the scourge around the surroundings started to creep out on the floor. Although it doesn''t have the same effect as the scourge that I needed to burn like in the viges before, this scourge cannot be damaged as that was part of the props in the area that allows the Tormentor to power up himself. "UWOOOOOGGGHHHHH!" He ms his first two hands down the floor, shaking the area while his second two hands m together like he was about to pray. Thest two hands started to flex and the muscles in them bulge out. If I was a genuine gym nut, perhaps I might have appreciated those muscles but it wasn''t that spectacr to me. His eyes started to glow ck and the surroundings started to grow darker. His body also started to get some armor too as metal tes started to cover his body. "Now then, since you refuse to die, allow me to show you the ropes on how to die easily." He then began using all his six arms to m me to the floor, with the intent of smashing me t. I took this chance to finally utilize the Flight system in my fight. He ms down his six hands very quickly so that every time his palmsnd, the area would produce shockwaves that can break boulders to pieces. It''s a bit terrifying if you just experienced it for the first time but to someone who has experienced it already and survived it, this one is not that terrifying. More annoying especially if you don''t know how to deal with it. I changed the Versatile Weapon into a pistol and pulled out the Pain Delivery along and fly straight to the face of the Tormentor. "Have some taste of this!" BANG BANG BANG! Two shots from the Versatile Weapon''s gun form allowed me to a total of 50k damage then one shot from the Pain Delivery immediately me 45k damage. A little bit unfair for a weapon that is already a God Tier, has swallowed two weapons belonging to the strongest weapon series in the game, and has swallowed countless weapons and its damage output was easily beaten by a weapon that is a replica of a real pistol in the real world. I don''t know if this was cracked or perhaps just a bug that was never found by the programmers. Either way, it''s still a win, the Versatile Weapon mightck a punch while in pistol form, but it never disappoints in other forms so it doesn''t really matter as it also has infinite bullets unlike the Pain Delivery that only has a limited amount of bullets and I have to manually reload it to shoot again. Anyways, even though I made some damage, it wasn''t something phenomenal with the Tormentor''s HP and the boss didn''t seem to mind losing 95k of health. It has plenty to spare anyways, it wasn''t even something that this guy would worry about. After those shots, Inded not too far from the boss but far enough for his attacks to not hit me. I put back the Pain Delivery. Looking at the bullets left in my pocket, I didn''t realize I used up the majority of my bullets back then and now I only have at least 2 more full mags of bullets left. Not enough to deal with the boss. I can''t craft any bullets until the battle is done so I will be relying on the Versatile Weapon in this battle. "Trying to run away?!" The Tormentor''s eyes glows and a beam started to shoot out from his main head in my direction. I changed my weapon into the Spear and Shield immediately and hide behind it to tank the beam. BZZZZZTTTTT! I grit my teeth the moment the beam hits my shield. Not only the heaviness of the beam is pressuring my hands but the shield itself is also getting pretty hot to hold my HP is slowly decreasing while I remained behind the shield. I pulled out one of the potion bottles and drank its contents when my HP is getting lowered more. I could have tried to use the skill of the shield to take the beams and bounce them back but it wasn''t that strong, to begin with, so I will just be wasting a limited skill on something that can barely hurt the boss so I didn''t do it. It took at least a minute before the hot eye beam finished firing. If my Versatile Weapon''s shield form was something that normal and has durability, it might have already disintegrated a few seconds ago already. Thankfully, this weapon of mine does not possess that so I can keep the weapon to any brutal stuff and stille out fine with it. Drinking the rest of the potion, I dodged to the side and immediately changed my weapon to a hook and chain. Usually, I only use the Hook and Chain for purposes like dragging an enemy close or by using it as an emergency grappling hook which has proven to be quite useful. However, I am not using it as a weapon but to make sure that this will earn me Alchemist SP. There are already a few skills I have learned before this battle because it will aid me in creating potions once I get the ingredients and then sell them for a profitable price but since most of the ingredients are either too rare or just in hard to obtain, I barely made any potions and now that I needed to use them, I decided that its just time to manifest them using my skill. I might not be able to sell them but at least this will help me decrease the battle time I needed to fight against this bastard. Closing into the Tormentor, the big guy once again ms his hands down but I made sure that I am only a few meters away from him. I opened my hands and two potions appeared out of thin air. One bottle is color green while the other is color violet. They do look like nt extracts but trust me that they don''te from any nt extract but from the intestines of random monsters. My throwing skills are not that great but I still trust that they will not fail me in this small distance between me and the tormentor. "HUP!" Throwing the two bottles might look like they won''t do anything but I am aware it will. I opened my hands again and another two bottles appeared on my hands again out of thin air. This time, the color is red and yellow. Like the first two, I throw them again into the hands of the Tormentor before he lifts them up. Once that was done, I changed the Versatile Weapon''s form into a pocket watch. Many might have not seen a lot of action with Chronomancer and although it was a good ss, I only wanted to use it for support. I might change it once I am good enough at using this ss but until then, this ss will remain as something of a support ss for me. So what is the connection between this pocket watch, chronomancer ss, and the bottles I just have thrown to the boss? Well, there is none but chronomancer has a skill called [Extender]. It has three options and the yer will be the one to decide which effect will be used. The first one is the ability to extend the time of the buffs. Personally, this was an amazing skill but because it only adds a few minutes or seconds depending on the buff, it wasn''t that useful to me who does not rely on buffs too much. Now here is the second effect and I think it was much more useful in the battle in PVP especially if you are fighting against a yer that has a ss that focuses too much on debuffs to take down enemies like the Alchemist and other Chronomancers. The second effect helps on this one as this second effect reduces the duration of debuffs cast on you. Means, all of the debuffs that have timers like defense down, attack down, poison, paralysis, burn and many other debuffs will be significantly shortened to the point that it was like it was healed if this was used as it can shorten the debuff to 5 seconds or less depending on the debuff. But that was not the reason I wanted to use this effect. Chronomancers control time, so it''s natural that buffs and debuffs that are usually tied in a timer will also be affected. I already talked about the first function and which was to increase the duration of the buffs and the second function is to decrease the debuff duration that was inflicted on yourself. The third effect was what I am gonna need right now. Its effect is to increase the duration of debuffs inflicted on the enemies. And this time, this effect can extend the duration of the debuff to an hour or more but that will cost a lot of mana. Now, see what is the reason why I am going to use this. Simple. Those bottles I used? They are bottles that can cast debuffs to enemies. And to ensure that this boss will slowly but surely suffer, I am going to extend that and slowly make sure he regrets that he is born and was about to be reborn. Chapter 604 Battle Against A False God (IV) Poison, Paralysis, Burn, and Curse. The 4 bottles that I have just thrown at the Tormentor are the 4 debuffs that can be inflicted against him. The other debuffs don''t work on this guy like attack down, defense down, sleep, bleed, and many other debuffs that exist in the game. And the only thing that works are those four. Thankfully, three of them reduce the HP of the one inflicted with the debuff every second while the other one stops orpletely immobilizes the one that got inflicted by it. With the Tormentor already inflicted by the debuffs, the only thing I needed to do is to extend the duration of the debuffs as they are not permanent. Once the debuffs are extended, then that means the Tormentor has no method of removing them. As far as I know, the boss doesn''t have any sort of cleansing or healing mechanic. He is abat-focused boss and it seems healing is not part of his mechanic. Although the Tormentor is quite weakened already due to my actions, it is still a little bit chunky and has a hefty amount of HP for me to reduce every hit. With me going solo, I have to also passively reduce its HP every second like how we did in the past timeline. Since the debuffs are now inflicted on the boss, it''s time to extend them. Opening the Pocket watch version of the Versatile Weapon, I mentally activated the [Extender]. The moment I did, the three options of the skill appeared before me while everything around me slowed down. So this is how a Chronomancer does things in a fight. I choose the third option where I can extend the debuff duration on the enemies. Immediately after that, a "tick-tock" sound echoed around the ce and a big clock appeared beneath the boss''s body. It wasn''t just that but a timer appeared before me and a little panel with what to do with the clock appeared. "Extending the duration of the debuff will be cast based on the amount of time set on the clock. One rotation of the clock will add 1 hour to the rotation while putting the clock''s hands on the points will increase the depending on how big the points are. If they are small, they will increase by 1 minute, and stopping them on a bigger point will increase the duration to 10. The further the points are, the more the duration will be added. To increase the duration beyond 1 hour, for example (3 hours), then rotate the hands of the clock 3 times." My mana is already quiterge in the pool so I don''t mind losing lots of it. I can just regain it by drinking a mana potion. "F*ck you Tormentor, you will have to suffer a longer pain of slowly dying!" I rotated the clock''s hands multiple times and the moment I did, my head started to hurt. Also, I cannot turn it around after a few turns I didn''t pay attention as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head. That''s when I looked at my MP bar and realized I ran out of it. I immediately opened one bottle of Mana Potion and chug it down. Thankfully, I created a tasty mana potion, or else I will have to barf it down. Once the MP is finally filled back, I can rotate the clock again. And so I rotated it again. Repeating this 5 times, I stopped doing it once I felt like my head is about to split apart from the pain. Letting go of the clock, it disappeared out of thin air and the clock on the ground below the Tormentor started spinning crazily. When it stopped, the Tormentor suddenly felt bad all of a sudden and started looking bad. When I closed the pocket watch, the surrounding areas returned to normal speed and the Tormentor felt like it got dumped with heavy baggage as his face cannot be painted. I checked the duration of the time the debuffs will disappear and I realized that instead of hours, it became days. 20 days in fact. I never realized I extended the debuffs to that extent. Is it cruel and excessive? Not really. I mean, the goal is to kill this boss right? So this is not cruel. It just adds that will allow me to reduce the HP of the boss passively even if I am not fighting against it directly. "What... what is happening!? Gah... human! What did you just do?!" "Ha, why are you asking me? I am not inclined to answer that." The Tormentor didn''t like my answer and started punching in my direction. I dodged before jumping to his hands. Once Inded safely in the hands, I stab the sword form of the Versatile Weapon deep enough. Still, even if the sword was too deep already, it didn''t seem to affect the boss on it. I twisted the weapon while still inside the boss''s flesh then changed it to the Scythe form before running while the de is still embedded deep into the Tormentor''s flesh. As I pull the Versatile Weapon''s scythe form, I started to feel like I am cutting multiple fibers of roots on the ground as I run. It''s getting heavier too but I continue to run and speed up myself. ck blood starts to spurt out as the flesh opens up as the de passes by. The Tormentor didn''t like what I am doing and was about to p me t. I was ready to jump from the arm and escape from getting squashed but before the palm can continue descending to where I was, it happened. CRACKLE! "GUHHHHHHH!" The Tormentor stopped moving and just like if someone got electrocuted, he froze and he grimaced as I continue to run up to his shoulders while dragging the Scythe. I knew what was happening to the Tormentor because the paralysis debuff acts up. It''s not something that entirely stops the enemy from moving but from time to time, the enemy will not be able to move at all though that depends on RNG to happen and it seems the timing was on my side as the Tormentor got paralyzed. I continued running to the shoulder of the boss. By the time I reached it, the path I made already made like I opened a zipper on a bag as the skin of the Tormentor is now dangling on its arm. The face of the Tormentor that was on the left side showed an angry expression at me. However, I didn''t care about his reaction. I will be ruining his face anyways. Transforming the Scythe to a longsword, I didn''t care whether he will be angrier than me after this but I have to do it. I activated all of the active skills I have and sh his face continuously. The boss is still paralyzed so I continue hacking and shing here and there on his face. I even stabbed his two sets of eyes and tried to gouge but it was hard to do as it seems as if it sticks on his skull whatever I do to his eyes like pulling it after gouging didn''t do anything to it aside from being damaged and bleeding ck blood. Of course, he is screaming as I continue slicing his face with the de but I didn''t care as the battlefield is already loud, to begin with. A few minutester, the effects of paralysis that keeps him frozen wear off and he is able to move again. "You are going to die!" Before his hands can even catch me, I jumped from his shoulder and grappled around his body using the things dangling on him. The main advantage of someone small like me fighting a giant like a Tormentor is that in battle, a small person who is nimble will not be able to be caught by the giant. Like a monkey, I climbed on his body and used the sword as something like an ice axe to climb mountains. Not only this helps me climb on his body properly but it also allowed me to damage the boss slowly but surely. The Tormentor tried to locate me from his body and used all six of his arms to find me but because I am good at climbing, this isn''t a problem for me, and easily evaded his attacks. Once I reach the middle of his back, I stick the sword deep within and activated [Earth Fissure]. "GRAAAAHHHH!" I don''t know what he felt when the [Earth Fissure] was done to his back but seeing him fall down means I managed to make him receive lots of damage. And with that, I bombarded him with skills after skills. I didn''t know how long I have been doing that but I continue to spam my skills while the Tormentor was down. When he finally went back up, the aura of the boss changed. I immediately went away from him as I didn''t realize I already emptied one of his health bars. It was impressive if I say so myself. However, the difficulty is gonna ramp up now. The more HP bars the Tormentor loses, it will have a new way to fight back. The Tormentor slowly stood back up and the fact that I destroyed started to control the scourge around the surroundings. It then began to culminate on the damaged body parts of the Tormentor and soon enough, it fuses on him. It took a few seconds before I saw what happened. I didn''t like it. This boss decided to use a form that I have not seen being utilized in the past timeline after he was left with 4 break bars. After fusing with the scourge, half of his body seems to have turned to an eldritch being. Not only that but this f*cker no longer speaks humannguage as he growls and roars like a monster while controlling tentacles in battle. Chapter 605 Battle Against A False God (V) I know that the Tormentor is capable of controlling the Scourge as that was his main way to corrupt and bring his powers back to life in the world but I didn''t expect him to use it to power up himself. He didn''t heal himself and removed the debuffs that were cast but he became more menacing and looked more dangerous altogether already. It didn''t make me prepared as the Tormentor pped his hands and multiple tentacles popped out from the ground without warning. I was unfortunate enough to not see the tentacle spring up as it didn''t even show any indication of where it was going to appear. They just pop out and I was toppled in the air. I immediately fly around before falling and dying and pulled out a potion when the Tormentor didn''t give me a break and started attacking me with his long tentacles. I managed to dodge one and two strikes but he immediately followed up with a third attack which I didn''t get to see immediately causing me to topple further into the air. And mmed to the ground with barely any HP left. Thankfully, I have a bigger pool of HP in me, or else, that third strike of a tentacle in the air would have definitely killed me already. Instead of pulling out a potion, I just activated my [Heal] and made myself a distance from the Tormentor before pulling out an actual potion to drink. I thought I was already out of range but when the Tormentor raised his hands that are now made of tentacles, they turned into something simr to a whip. Long enough to reach me from the end of the map. Then, it ms down the whip-like tentacle down on me. To reduce its danger, I performed [Decapitation] on the tentacle. The skill doesn''t necessarily need to be aimed at a neck of an enemy to work. It works on other parts of the body or anything in general. It was like dropping the de of the guillotine on something else other than the neck and effectively slicing them. And since [Decapitation] is an effective way to slice down something, the tentacle was cut off. However, it didn''t do any damage to the Tormentor, he just retracted the arm that got severed. As for the one that got severed, it wilted like it was a nt that didn''t get any sunlight or water for a very long time then it decayed and disappeared. As for the Tormentor, it just raised its severed hand and a new tentacle hand regrown it in just a blink of an eye. It''s not umon for bosses to have this kind of stuff in them but to see it to the Tormentor that didn''t have any sort of healing abilities, to begin with, is something that I have not expected at all. However, as someone who has experienced countless mishaps in battles, the only thing I can do is adapt, read the movements of this f*cker and see whether this guy has new movesets aside from using those new tentacle appendages. Considering that getting far from the Tormentor literally didn''t make me avoid most of his attacks, it''s better to juste close to it. I started running and as I run, I changed the Versatile Weapon into a cannon and started sting the Tormentor with cannonballs. I don''t have any Cannoneer skills at the moment that I learned so I only do basic attacks for now. The tentacles once again started to sprout out of the ground like roots that act like spikes. This time around, I already predicted most of it though some of them still managed to hit me but thankfully, I grazed through it and continue getting close. Compared to most of his battle styles, this version of the Tormentor is just utilizing the Tentacle form of him andpletely neglected his half that has not been corrupted by the Scourge. Therefore, I want to test out whether the Tormentor does not use the other side no matter what and will continue to use the tentacle form. However, my assumption was incorrect. The moment I go near the other half of the Tormentor that didn''t get corrupted by the Scourge, his eyes glow and his 3 arms that didn''t get corrupted emit a dark force of corruption and punch the area I was standing in. "F*CK!" I immediately dodge away as the other two hands also rain down on me so I have to keep dodging until I managed to escape all three but that doesn''t mean I am free to go since the moment I was no longer in his sight, tentacles started to sprout out from the ground and they are about to dive down to impale me. This time around, I am through dodging sh*t and let''s go my way and the usual way I fight since in the past timeline. My Versatile Weapon is already in its Magic Sword form so all I have to do is ignite it to mes and swing it. FWOOOOM! mes explode every time I swing and every tentacle that gets in contact immediately disintegrated to pieces I was surprised as this was not what I was expecting to see however, it all makes sense as I keep on burning all scourges and it was proven to be the most effective way to get rid of them to no longer spread any further. Since the sword isn''t just enough to burn something to ashes like a huge f*cking tentacle hentai monster born out of nowhere to the ground without adding fuel to the fire. "Master. Are you going to need my mes to increase the firepower?" "I wee the gesture but I think I will need that in the finale. Not at the moment though." Seeing that it''s working to some extent, I decided to keep fighting the boss this way since it''s working. "Master, the area is starting to have a concentration of dark energy all around the ce. I think you need to be careful about it, there might be something that might appear and you just don''t have to crash through it," As reminded me. "Thanks, As." I didn''t just take As''s reminder to me lightly. While the Tormentor keeps on releasing that tentacle stuff all around, I continue to pay attention to the surroundings and one thing that I noticed is that the Tormentor''s tentacle hand had some sort of eyeball thingie on the forearm area. I didn''t notice it at first since it was located below the arm but now that I am near the Tormentor and this guy is constantly attacking me with his tentacles and hands that are also tentacles, I immediately noticed it. Observing it at first didn''t do much but soon enough, I realized one thing this feature that I have seen does anything. Every time a tentacle power is activated, the eye thingie opens up and blinks a few times before it closes once more. It was fast enough so anyone who is not paying attention to the details would obviously miss out on the details. I continue to check out whether it was coincidental stuff that was being done by coincidence. However, this was not a coincidence. It never opens up whenever it didn''t attack using the tentacle-appearing stuff or anything that would involve the tentacle at all. But whenever it did, the eye thingie also opens up and blinks before it closes again. All of that observation leads me to one thing. That eye must be the scourge itself. Yes. It is the Scourge and every time the Tormentor uses its power, the Scourge would activate it hence opening its eyes. That''s when I have something in my mind to stop this f*cker to use the tentacle stuff and although I know that the Tormentor will just use it again,ter on, I think this might help me out. ,m Since I went far from the side of the Tormentor that wasn''t possessed by the Scourge, it became passive again and the other half that is still aggressive to me is the one that is now attacking me. I took the advantage of baiting this guy to smash down the tentacle whip that regrows the moment I cut it off. At first, it was just doing the same floor tentacle stuff again and again and although too unpredictable, I slowly adapt to it, and dodging it slowly feels normal after a while. I still sometimes get hit and I have to heal back my health after doing so at times but it wasn''t as severe as before and I can easily cut off any uing tentacle attacks now. Then, once the tentacles appearing on the floor stopped, The Tormentor decided to throw the whip-like tentacle down to me again. Instead of dodging it, I waited for it. When it was about to fall down to me, I run away from it and fly towards the flesh andnding on it like how I did before when I was attacking it by climbing up into his shoulders. Seeing me doing the same thing as before, it seems the Tormentor already knew what I will be doing, and instead of letting me just go and run, it started to create spikes using the scourge already on its body. It''s clear that the Tormentor is no longer controlling its body but the scourge is already doing the control. Chapter 606 Battle Against A False God (VI) Spikes keep popping up and although they are not that big, at times, they are too painful to handle and as I run, the spikes slowly reduce my HP. It''s not easy and if I try to slice it, it just goes down back to the Tormentor''s skin and disappears so I didn''t bother doing it and focus on healing myself from time to time whenever I am about to lose all of my health. I really wish the paralysis debuff works most of the time but because it was tied in RNG, I can''t guarantee the Tormentor to get paralyzed after that. If it did manage to happen, then it''s a wee one but as I said, it is very RNG based so I can only hope that happens but I won''t be able to predict when it will happen. It might happen during the most crucial time or it might happen during the time I don''t really need it but no matter, I have to keep going. " Adushisqhdubkansududn! Gjshdjuhdwcjzbjbbua!" The Tormentor is saying a sort of gibberishnguage as I continue to climb his arm in hopes to reach the eyes below his arm and destroy it if possible. If that was a weakness, I would sure dly try to exploit it and reduce the threat this guy brings. I might have already destroyed one of its HP bars but I still have a long way to go. Still, I don''t need to worry too much as the HP of the boss keeps decreasing as time goes by due to Poison, Curse, and Burn to whittle away its HP. But I can''t be too overreliant on them. I also need to do something. I am not going to wait for it to fall down as that would take ages with still 4 more HP break bars that needed to be reduced. Seeing that I am still running on his arm without being bothered by the tentacle spikes he was popping to stop me, the other tentacr arms that he was keeping still decided to make their moves to restrain me. Just like an octopus, the tentacles started darting from all directions after it started moving, trying to restrain me. Just like before, I swing my sword multiple times, cutting off the iing tentacles. It wasn''t that effective but it kept them at bay and those tentacles that the sword just can''t cut, I only deflected them out before continuously dodging and running the unstable hands of the Tormentor. It took me a bit of time before I reached the ce where the eye was located and yet the assault of the tentacles continued to gue me to move and I can''t properly do so because one wrong move and those tentacles will bind me and squeeze the juices out of me. I was lucky enough to dodge most of them but it won''t take long before I get overwhelmed. Before the slimy tentacles get to me, I jumped off and activated my Flight, and fly under the arm of the Tormentor. Because it was using the tentacle powers, the eyes is wide open. I am usually numb to scary things but seeing the eyes just made me feel a bit unsettled a bit. It''s not scary, just disturbing and it was a little bit unnerving. The tentacles followed me despite dodging them but I dodged them again. I even tried to lead them to the eye but it seems the big eye is not just some sort of essory but an actual eye that can see and feel whatever is happening before it as the tentacles avoided the eye instead of going through so that was a bust. The only way to do this is to st off this big eye to pieces and see whether this guy will affect the tentacles. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! CLICK! I emptied the remaining bullets out of my Pain Delivery gun to the eye. I can''t risk using the Versatile Weapon''s gun form as the tentacles are still major trouble affecting me and a gun does not properly fend me off these tentacr enemies. The gunshots echoed and the bullets sink in. It was like I am shooting air by that but I can still feel that I have shot something with it. It just didn''t have any sort of reaction from the gunshot I did which was not what I was expecting especially with the Pain Delivery being one of my weapons that I dubbed as a boss killing weapon. But it didn''t do anything to the eyes. And since I already tried to harm it, the eyes sent out multiple tentacles that are clearly there to capture me. It''s no longer holding back and decided to go all out. "F*CK YOU TO THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!" I shouted and showed him my middle finger before I deactivated my flight which caused me to immediately fall midair to immediately escape the tentacles that immediately followed me down. Before Inded on the ground, I reactivated my flight again and escape falling down. If my usual tactics are not working and the eyes are not even getting damaged, time to add more, more and more firepower. More firepower and overpower this adversity. Pulling out the scrolls pocket, I pulled out one of the offensive skills I made from the scrolls. RIPPPP! I pulled another one, ripped it, and another one again and ripped it again. All three are the same scrolls. Thankfully, unlike skills, these one doesn''t have a cooldown and the only downside you have with this is that you can only use this limited amount of times depending on how many scrolls you have. The heat in the surroundings started to increase and three red magic circles appeared not too far from the Tormentor. It wasn''t directly into the Tormentor but it was close enough to hit the tormentor on whatever things will appear from that. They are ced next to each other and all three of them cover a very big ground. The heat slowly became intolerable and the tentacles that are chasing me wilted like nts and turn to ashes. The Tormentor was surprised by this and regrow the tentacles that got wilted but the same thing happened as the heat slowly enveloped the whole area. Even I who was the caster of the spell felt the heat of the spell. The red swirling winds started to form in the middle of the three magic circles, each of them having the same size of small, red swirling winds... It was small in the beginning but it slowly grows, bigger and bigger. Big enough to reveal that it was a tornado made in mes. The scrolls that I tore apart are Tier 7 Magic Knight''s Rune Knight skill, [Mystical Pyro Winds]. It was supposed to be a rune skill that the caster would need to draw on the ground to release the skill but because it was made into a scroll, the skill allowed me to use it despite not having ess to the skill just yet. The tornados slowly increased in intensity and the ground started to burn. The tentacles and the surrounding scourge slowly dry out and the HP of the boss is rapidly going down. "Qhfuajbduwdhucbfuac! Jsud sd auhfbyyvs ydb! Unsubsudhwubdwv!" Whatever sh*t the Tormentor is saying while the mes of the skill were raging, I didn''t care. As that crap wasn''t something I even care about. Then one unexpected thing happened. The 4th break bar was broken due to the exposure of the mes and since the Tormentor is now joined together with the Scourge, the mes are twice as effective as before. And the moment the 4th break bar was broken, the 3rd break bar appeared, and refilled the HP bar of the boss. But then the unexpected happened. The 3rd break bar just appeared and I know that the bar will still continue to lose HP since the [Mystical Pyro Winds] is still raging on the field but I don''t believe it to be capable of immediately reducing a break bar''s millions of HP to zero and forcing it to break into the 2nd break bar. Yes, its just a few seconds but the 3rd break bar that just appeared immediately got drained of its content and the 2nd Break Bar appeared I was so confused about what happened so I opened the damage logs to see what caused that to happen. I don''t believe that was a bug or something. Not on this boss. As I scroll down, most of the damage done was all done by the [Mystical Pyro Winds] but one entry immediately caught my eye as that was the only different entry from the damage logs and that was what I didn''t expect. "[Title Effects activated. Instant Death inflicted on the enemy. Due to the enemy having multiple HP bars, instant death will only reduce one HP bar''s worth of health to the enemy.]" Yep, that''s right. [Death''s Favorite]''s effects proc and activated against the Tormentor. Chapter 607 Battle Against A False God (VII) I was expecting the effect to proc but I have very low hope of it happening so I didn''t really rely on that from happening. If it did happen, then fine but if it didn''t, it''s still fine as it''s not that big of a problem. However, since it was instant death, I was expecting it to be something that can drain every single HP bar of the boss if it ever gets proc by chance. Seeing that only one HP break bar disappeared after the skill procs, it means that the effect can only destroy one break bar. To continue reducing all of its HP, I need to have it proc twice to remove all two HP bars of the Tormentor. Since it happened so fast, the Tormentor skipped the 3rd phase, it seems the Tormentor is confused about what happened and instead of switching to a 4th phase, he transformed only once and that''s it. This time, the Tormentor''s uninfected body started to erode and most of the flesh seems to have rotten. He looks like a giant zombie. The Scourge is slowly creeping into his pure body but had not fully covered it all I can guess that the Scourge will engulf the Tormentor once thest the current break bar has been reduced to zero. Although the Tormentor now is much harder than the previous timeline''s Tormentor, I am not going to just yield and give up. Not now that I havee this far. Just like before, the Tormentor is not able to speak. I was surprised at this as this was not supposed to happen as the Tormentor was able to speak and curse at us from the beginning till the end. Having a Tormentor who lost the manner of speech pattern and mannerisms just made me a bit not used to it. Now that it turned into almost a new creature. It started to attack once again and just like before, it is still using its tentacles. But this time, the Tormentor pukes out something on the ground and itnded there. It made a "splouch" sound and it smelled disgusting. It was like thebination of the rotten flesh of a dead animal, fish innards rotten for days and has been infested in maggots, and many other rotten smells that I can''t exin. Perhaps this might beparable to the nastiest-smelling flower Rafflesia or even the same smell though I don''t know if it was indeed. The matter that the Tormentor "puked" out started to wriggle out of those masses and soon enough, I realized what they are. No wonder they are like fleshy things moving because they are. They are wormlike creatures that are as big as my arm and as long as a normal ruler. Seeing those move and wriggle their way toward my direction, I suddenly got the urge to back away in disgust. I am not a person who easily gets disgusted by something but even that has some kind of borderline and I also get disgusted. ,m Pulling out the Molotov Cocktails I have in my inventory, I started to throw them and spread the fire to the worm-like creatures. They are fast but just like the scourge, they don''t like the mes. The moment they get exposed to mes, they immediately burst into mes and it was like they are easily burning to pieces. I also throw a few me-based attacks and if there are worm-like creatures able to escape from all of that, they get sliced to pieces by my sword covered in mes. It only took minutes before the worm-like creatures died. And with that, I returned to the rush to fight back against this f*cker. But before I can even approach, all of its hands extended and rushed towards me, having the intention to pierce and impale me with them. I dodged them but as soon as I did, a new batch once more appeared and I have to dodge again. Because of this, I have no window to attack the main body. However, as I am getting closer to the boss, I also get a closer look at the Tormentor. At first, I didn''t notice it since I am a bit in a distance but when I managed to get a closer look, I soon realized that something is new on the body of the Tormentor and that is the eye that was previously ced underneath its arm. The eye is no longer there in its previous cement as those arms have fully morphed into a tentacr form. It wasn''t looking like an arm anymore but something a jellyfish or an octopus would have. Instead, the eye is now ced on a very vulnerable area and anyone can now see it as it is now revealed. It is located now in its chest and just like before, it only opens whenever the Tormentor is using the tentacr abilities. I tried getting closer again to the Tormentor and this time the Paralysis that I inflicted acted up again and the Tormentor started to groan as it got stopped once more. I darted and went closer to the body of the Tormentor and since it would be pointless for me to climb up to the Tormentor''s body, it was already a better idea to continue to the assault on its lower abdomen. I wouldn''t climb it anymore as the Tormentor is now disgusting to hold especially with the disgusting scourge covering its body. Igniting my sword to mes, I started hacking and shing at the body of the boss. I stabbed it multiple times, activated skills, and continue doing so until the Paralysis effect disappeared and once more, the Tormentor started moving again. Using the bombs created from the blueprint ns of the Saboteur ss, I dropped a lot of them on the boss''s body. Because the Scourge is quite sticky, sticking the bombs is easy as one, two, and three. The abdomen area started growing tentacles and tried to grab me and absorb me but I managed to dodge away before they can take me away I didn''t forget to push the detonator''s button and activate a beautiful explosion. BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! Repeated explosions shook the whole ce and even the Tormentor didn''t even get to prepare and endure that as the Tormentor falls down to the battlefield and its HP bar now sitting on the half bar. With the mes spreading around its body after the explosion, the HP bar slowly gets reduced as time goes by. But then, another unexpected thing happened. All of a sudden, the huge body of the Tormentor slowly turned into a liquid state, everything from bones, flesh, heck, even the scourge turned into a liquid state, and soon enough, it became a pool of ck liquid goo. The boss hasn''t died just yet as the HP bar still remains and the name is still the same however, I am not sure why it turned into a liquid state. I pulled out a scroll that activated a magic me-based attack and teat it to two, casting it to the ck goo. FWOOOOMMMMM! mes engulfed the ck goo and like oil catching in fire, it burns the HP of the boss slowly burns as the ck goo slowly engulfed in mes. I didn''t know what I am going to feel about this seeing the ck goo. It was very anticlimactic that I am expecting a more dangerous version of the boss but it ended up being a big disappointment. I stood there, watching the ck goo that was previously the Tormentor slowly get burned. Soon enough, the 4th HP bar breaks and thest HP bar refills its HP to the brim again. The mes have stopped burning already and the ck liquid goo has been reduced to a sorry state of some kind of ck ball of an unknown item. It was like the product of the mes and the ck goo itself. When I was about to go take a closer look, it suddenly opened its eyes and stared at me, causing me to instinctively stab it after being surprised which immediately caused it to scream in pain despite itsck of mouth of it. "Shadow Dragon of the Versatile Weapon, do you want to devour this thing?" I wanted to see whether the Shadow Dragon that is eating almost anything would devour this thing without question but the reply that I got is a Shadow Dragon appearing on the side of the sword and shaking its little head before acting like puking. It was the first time for me to see the Versatile Weapon''s shadow dragon that likes to eat all manner of crap to shake its head and avoid eating it. That only made the Scourge more disgusting than ever for even something that is very gluttonous and something I view as the embodiment of gluttony at times to say no speaks something to itself. Since the Shadow Dragon refuses to eat it, then I decided to just try to test out the Pain Delivery once more. Reloading it up, I aimed it at the remains of the Tormentor. Perhaps its no longer the Tormentor as it got consumed by the Scourge itself but the thing I am currently piercing with the Versatile Sword is none other than the scourge itself. Therefore, perhaps it is time to see whether this will end everything to it. "Hasta vista!" BANG! Chapter 608 Not A God Ringing at the top of the Spire, the gunshot jolted the unconscious Cult Leader awake. As for the remains of the boss, there are still remaining parts of the boss left after shooting the eyeball. It cracked open and some kind of jewel was left behind. I picked it up and the item description appeared before me though not with the usual puns it has on its notes as the notes are missing and only the normal info is there. [Soul Orb of the Fallen God] Type: Item Info: Thest attempt of the Tormentor the False God to preserve its life and wait for another soul to manipte. Since it wasn''t usually dropped by the Tormentor after it was killed, it remains on the corpse which allows it to bypass the safety process of staying alive after being "killed". If destroyed, the remaining life of the Tormentor that was left behind the Soul Orb will dissipate, causing the Tormentor to die and no longer return to this world. Those words are enough for me to learn that this thing was thest attempt of the Tormentor to remain its life to the world in hopes to regain its life. Also, from what I can see, it seems the cores that I collected back then were the core that was used to contain his life. Perhaps the reason they are much bigger than the core that I am holding right now is that the Tormentor previously put a curse on someone who happens to be the Cult Leader. Using her, the Tormentor managed to grow its power. But since I ruined its ns, the events that transpired happened, and my battle against the boss became a bit easier. It wouldn''t have turned this easy if the boss was not weakened enough which forces it to merge with the Scourge which consumed its body. I inspected the item closely and thoroughly before throwing it to the ground and was about to stomp it to pieces. However, before I can do so, the Cult Leader stops me and used a restraining spell on my legs to stop me from doing the deed. Although the spell was easy to break free of as it was weak, I didn''t do it and turned to look at the Cult Leader. "Stop what you are doing or those feet of yours will separate from your body." "Oh, so you are awake. You missed the showdown between me and your so-called "god" and ended up in my win. Look at that, your "god" decided to retreat to this little ss ball that can be shattered anytime." "Don''t dare to mock the "god" who saved me from the pain and disaster which caused my life pure pain and suffering because of this curse of mine. I am willing to follow him and be his devout believer to the point that I don''t even mind giving him my body to resurrect himself back to this world." "Ha! Are you seriously trying to give your life to the "god" that put the curse on your body? What a joke. I didn''t know you are running the whole circus all this time, I didn''t notice it." When I said all of those, she looked confused as hell and she frowned after hearing all of the words I said. "Can you repeat the words that you just said?" "Oh, that''s right. You were unconscious during the big reveal so you missed out on all of the info that was revealed. Can''t me you though, so let me exin. The "god" that you were adoring was the one who put a curse on you ever since you were a baby. He orchestrated everything so that you will gain resentment to everything which in turn, feeds his abilities and regained his lost powers of his. You are his cultivated specimen, meant to be something he will harvest once you are ripe." Hearing the revtion, she stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the orb that contains the soul of the Tormentor. She just stood there, sweating after realizing the situation that she was in. After all, who wouldn''t be surprised if the "god" that you believed in was the cause of all the suffering that happened to you your entire life? "Is what you said the entire truth?" "Yep, I am 100% sure. Also, remember that he possessed you? You thought at that time he was about to possess you right and you willingly gave up so that he can resurrect? The reason he possessed you is to extract the curse he put on you and use it to power himself back again after staying at your body, getting fed off with all the emotions that you earned from various experiences in life. He used that to power up himself. He can easily remove it by himself and not kill you from the very beginning but since he does not want to do that, he "guided" you to bloom faster, and now, here we are." The cult leader grits her teeth as she learned the truth. To be honest I was expecting her to die here as she was indeed the vessel for the Tormentor to manifest as a living being in this world and I was surprised he just used the curse to do so. Perhaps the Tormentor did it for some reason as to why he decided to just take the curse instead of using her body to manifest. Still, whether he uses her body or not changes nothing, the boss will still die and will be killed in the end, the only result is that she remains alive and know the whole truth behind her so-called curse. "So that was the main reason? So it wasn''t all just a coincidence that I found the core and made contact with him? It wasn''t all a twist of fate that we encountered each other? All of this was an orchestrated n of his?" She then picks up the little core on the ground. I can easily take it back from her without a problem but I waited for the betrayal of words she would be saying and trying to eat the core so that she bes the Tormentor once more which means I can finally finish up the boss without being bothered with the tentacr version of his because that thing is more of an annoyance than a dangerous encounter. But contrary to my expectation, the Cult Leader throws the orb to the ground and started stomping it repeatedly. When it didn''t break, she grabbed the nearest brick that is currently lying on the side and repeatedly smashes the core. "You f*cker! I trusted you with my life that you will grant me the wish of my death but who would have thought that a f*cker like you was the actual cause of this curse of min?! DIE!" She continues screaming while repeating bashing the core with a brick. She didn''t even notice me break off from the spells she restrained me with and focused all of her attention on what she was doing. I was kinda disappointed with the oue as I thought she would be the final boss that would resurrect the boss after hisst HP bar has been consumed. But to see something like this was something a bit enjoyable too. The Core seems to be unbreakable at first but even metal breaks when repeatedly hit by something. The core is not an exception as the cult leader continues to bash the core repeatedly while cursing the entity that is resting inside the core. She hit it, again and again, and again until... CRACK! The core slowly cracked. The Cult leader is showing no signs of stopping so soon and continues to repeatedly bash it with the brick. I must say though, she is full of hatred for her to bring out her inner beast and try to destroy the remaining power left by the so-called "god" so that he can revive himself again. It took an hour of her bashing the core repeatedly. I stood there on the side, observing her as she continues to bash it. She obviously slowed down but she didn''t stop. Her resentment is something that cannot be stopped by mere fatigue. But before her fatigue settles in and takes her body over, the crack that previously appeared has grown bigger and as she repeatedly continues doing so, so are the cracks slowly covering the whole core. ? Seeing the situation, she didn''t hold back and used all of the strength that she had, all of the hatred, and everything that happened to her life to have been charged with that strike. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" SMASH! The core exploded into thousands of pieces, like a ss ball falling to the ground after it identally roll from a high ce. And with the core gone, the remaining spirit of the Tormentor waiting and biding for his time to get resurrected once again dispersed, screaming as his life has dissipated into the air. Chapter 609 New Beginnings After the eventual death of the Tormentor, the cult leader went unconscious once more, perhaps due to the fatigue that umted throughout the entire time she bash the core for an hour just to break it to pieces. I hurriedly catch her and she fell into my arms. "Master, what are we going to do with her? She is still an enemy at the end of the day. Should we kill her?" As asked. "We can just leave her here. We don''t have any reason to keep her and I think she can choose what she will do in the very end. It''s not our responsibility to help her especially since she almost caused the downfall of this continent." "I agree with you, Master," As is clearly in favor of my decision. However, someone else is not in favor of my decision and decided to interject. "I object to this matter. If you are not willing to take care of her, then I will be the one taking care of her." Then, the Summon''s Area''s entrance opened and the half angel half fallen appeared before us. "If you guys are not willing to save her and take care of her then I will take her in." "What are you saying Laga!? Do you want to help an enemy like this? Are you aware of how dangerous she was?" As is against the decision of the Half Angel-Half Fallen kid which I just knew the name of which is Laga. "What''s dangerous about her? She still holds powers but she no longer bears the powers she got from that false god obviously after it died. What are you all even afraid of? Aren''t you guys strong enough to handle her if she ever made something wrong? Why are you guys not even bothering to help her?" As can''t say anything. Although it is indeed annoying to take care of her who still views us as enemies, if Laga sees something on her, perhaps she had something that made this silent kid take action instead of just idly watching what is happening. However, I still needed to know why this guy wanted me to take the girl with us. "What are your reasons for helping this girl out? She is a fallen and she clearly is a hostile one who can definitely pose a threat to us. What makes you think she is worth saving?" "I know you guys don''t care about her because she was an enemy but I care about her and I don''t want her to die. I cannot let her go and just die out in the unknown. I don''t want my sister to be separated from me again. Not after for so long, we have finally reunited." When we heard his reasons, I can''t believe what he just revealed to us. The cult leader herself was the sister of this Half Angel-Half Fallen Kid all along? "Why you didn''t tell us she was your sister?" "Because she changed so much. She wasn''t like this when we were still together before which is why I wanted to learn whether she is indeed my sister or someone else using her body and face to look like my sister. After all, there are monsters that are able to shapeshift or even take over a dead body for them to control." Laga was not wrong. Enemies that can shapeshift or take over a body is a fairlymon monsters in Alternate World. It wouldn''t evene as a surprise if there are some dead NPCsing back to life but has changed too much that no one can recognize them now only to find out they have been taken over by something else. "After analyzing her, I realized that she is still the same sister as I have before. She might have changed a lot but it was still my sister. So I beg of you, don''t kill her or leave her here to die. If you really don''t want her to bring along with us, then I will stay behind. You can leave me behind and besides, I am not an obligation for you to bring. I am not even part of your followers or a pet at all. Don''t bother with me and leave me with her here just fine." I sighed and scratch my head after hearing his reason. I am not cruel enough to leave him with his sister there to die and as he said, this cult leader no longer poses any danger to us especially after she personally killed off the main boss that retreated to a defensive form to remain alive after being killed. And even if she wanted to kill us, every one of us will be able to beat her up easily, well except for Cotton and Cath Palug for obvious reasons. "Alright, fine. You can keep her with you. However, if a problem arises due to her, you better solve it yourself. I will only intervene if things are no longer salvageable." Laga clearly showed visible happiness but he didn''t show it so quickly and went serious as he inspected the situation of his sister. "It seems she is fine. She was just under too much fatigue which is why she is not in a good shape. She just needed some sleep and a good amount of rest. Rest assured she will not cause any trouble." I nodded and allowed him to carry his sister inside the Summon''s Area. As looked at me and shook his head. "I apologize for that, Master. I didn''t know that it was his sister. If I have known that I..." "No need to apologize. We don''t know anything so we just immediately assumed it. Anyways, since he will be handling the well-being of his sister right now, then we don''t have any choice. Anyway, our job here is over. Let''s collect our loot and go on our way." There was a treasure chest that dropped after the destruction of the core not too far from us. Since I was not the one who finished off the Tormentor, the experience I gained after the death of the boss was significantly lower but is enough to close the gap for me to have a small amount of exp left to collect before I reach the next level. I just needed to grind ahead of time until I reach level 200. After all, now that the first phase of the event is over, the boss rush area of the Luminous Continent will finally be unlocked and I am nning to reach level 200 there while also grinding different materials as well. It will take as long to grind there but it''s at least much faster than grinding on dungeons and fields. This can ease up my leveling problems for a while. Now, back to the treasure chest. It popped up after the death of the boss though no one else but me noticed it appear there. The chest was locked but kicking the lock will immediately open the chest immediately. It wasn''t even necessary for me to pick the lock open. Once the lock is gone, I proceed to open the chest, and there, a few pieces of equipment appeared before me. A long ck and blue coat with some style here and there. If Ipare it to something simr, it looks like the assassin''s robes in Assassin''s Creed game franchise though leaning more simr to the coat of the male character of the game''s franchise that took ce in London. It doesn''t have the same hoodie but it looks stylish enough that even I who have no fashion sense would look awesome wearing it. I didn''t check the item just yet and checked the other content of the chest and realized that it wasn''t just the coat currently there but pants, boots, gloves, and a hat is avable. Based on their name, this is an entire set. Not only that but there are also some materials dropped by the boss, a few gold coins, a few bottles of Hp Potions, and Mana Potions that can fetch a hefty price if sold and can be repurposed for something else too. I don''t want to waste my time there and just put the set into my inventory and everything inside the chest into my inventory. With the boss gone, I think it is time to report back to themander of the angels about the situation. Since it all happened in just a few days since my arrival here, the procedure has yet to progress much on their side. Once that was done, the second phase of the event will immediately begin. This is where the main fun of the expedition begins. Not only will this divide the yers in an ideology of some sort but they will be waging war in the faction and choosing which faction will win. This time around, I am going to use this chance to finally cripple and humiliate Kazuki further. If he thinks this event will bring him glory and fame, perhaps he might have meet the one that will bring his downfall instead. Chapter 610 Reporting In! Returning to the City of the Clouds, the first thing I did was sell the useless items I acquired from the battles I have done. Its me a few gold coins that are not too shabby but only adds a drop of gold coins that is in my coin coffers. Having a lot of gold makes me skip farming gold for the rest of my life I guess and even if I convert it to real money, it will still make me very overwhelmed in the real world and I will have to wonder how to spend them all. That is the problem with being too rich, you don''t know where to spend your money because you are too rich already. Can''t believe Kazuki used up this much money and does not give a damn about it. After selling the useless stuff, I stock up on some materials that I can use for creating various items before heading to the headquarters of the Legionnaire where Alynna is working and assigned. To make sure the second phase progress, I have to report it to Alynna. This in turn will allow me to explore the entirety of the Luminous Continent without being held back by guards that will stop me from exploring the continent any further. That in turn, will unlock the boss rush mode and I can start powerleveling myself. Before I left, I spotted an item that I have not seen for a long time due to how many yers decided to buy this and resulted it for being always in short stock and limited due to how this is always a firste first serve item. Grabbing the item, the description and name made me 100% sure that this is indeed the item that I only have one chance of holding in my whole gaming time in the past timeline. [Anti-Material Bomb] Type: Throwable Incendiary Price: 5000 gold Info: A bomb that works wonders against monsters. Due to its expensive price, it is not so popr and usually just ends up being left in dust. Inflicts true damage that scales on how high the defense of the target and a 1 minute (Armor Break) debuff to enemies. Can easily demolish a building if thrown into a structure. Note: As long as it explodes, that is an ideal item tomit war crimes to goblins. -A certain adventurer who loathes goblins. This item will be something that I will need to useter on and this is going to be crucial once I started to grind for my levels. I am fortunate enough to see this in stockpared in the past where this thing is always a firste first serve item and never gets to be used by anyone who are casual. If you are lucky and someone who is nice enough to let you experience the power of this bomb gives you one, you will immediately understand why this item is being coveted. "Boss! How many crates of this do you have in your shop? I will buy them all." ... ... ... There''s nothing else eye-catching items left for me to get except for the Anti-Material bomb so I left the shop and proceed to go to my main objective in stopping here in this city. Since the quest has yet to get finished, it also means that this questline of mine here in Luminous Continent will remain the same which means I can still go rogue one in this battle. I might be wrong since this might get finished once I report to Alynna but we will see. In the streets, I spotted a few Pioneers here and there discussing what items they buy, which dungeon to conquer and many more since the quest line is vague especially with the Tactician being a useless bastard for the entire few days. Not only did I finish the first phase all alone, I didn''t even receive any support from the Tactician himself. In fact, if I followed the Tactician, the battle against the Tormentor wouldn''t be over immediately and many lives might be lost due to his ownziness. Arriving to the office of Alynna, I saw the same guy from the first day that weed and introduced me to Alynna. "Hey, is the general avable at the moment?" I asked. The angel looked at me a few seconds before he immediately recognized me. "Oh its you! The first guy who learned Flight and disappeared after I sent you to the Tactician! It''s been a while, why you suddenly disappeared after that? You missed a lot of stuff that General Alynna asked you pioneers to do." "Pretty much busy so I didn''t have much time. Anyways, is she avable right now?" "Yes. You can just enter the door and you will meet her on her office located at the second floor, 4th door on the right. It''s not toote to ask her for some task to do while you guys are waiting for her job for you all." I nodded at him and entered the headquarters. Though his rmendation is very valuable, I don''t think it is wise for me to make friends with her that much. It''s better this way. The office of her granddaughter was in the third floor of the Headquarters. Guess it was different when Alynna was still the General. I knocked the door 3 times to ensure she is in there. I don''t want toe off rude by just waltzing in. "Come in." Entering the door, Alynna is currently rxing on her chair with her two feet crossed on the table while munching a snack that if I remember correctly was something so disgusting I didn''t want to eat or smell again. I didn''t know Alynna likes that sh*t so much for her to be eating it. When she saw me entered, she immediately stood up from her chair and m her hands on the table. "It''s you! I am sure it was you! No one else seems to be doing stuff like that from the Pioneers and no one else from the city does that things either! It''s only you the main suspect and no one else!" "Huh? What?" I was surprised as Alynna started to say something I don''t even understand. She just started talking nonsense that I don''t know what she was suddenly telling me that I am the one who did it." "What do you mean what? Isn''t it you?" "What do you mean about that it was me? What did I do that you suddenly burst out like that? Care to properly exin? I am so confused right now." "Ah... Ahem. Yes. Back to the topic. There was someone who has been burning vlges left and right and attacked them yes? Was that your doing?" Hmmm, so that was how it is. I didn''t know she was already suspecting me but for her to immediately suspect me as the one, as expected of a general. No wonder she earned the spot of being the General. "Uh... yes. I was the one who did it." "I knew it. How did you know about it? Why you didn''t tell us? Was this the Tactician''s n all along by keeping us in the dark?" "Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Don''t mention that guy in this conversation as that guy didn''t even contribute anything in this matter. Don''t go starting praising him for the task that he didn''t do. That useless bastard was useless till the end. I don''t mind anyone getting offended of me saying that but having to glorify that guy is the worst thing and I don''t think I would like to even do that so please." "You mean, you didn''t do those stuff due to the task given to you by the Tactician?" Alynna is confused as she sits back down to her chair. "What do you mean task? I was kicked out on his so-called mansion and was left without anything to do so I decided to go and investigate things all by myself." So all of this things that happened to the viges are all your doing?" "Yes, that is right. And the reason I didn''t inform you all because I know that you all will just gonna ask that f*cker for an info on how to do this and that and I am tired of his sh*t and after hearing bad rumors about him, I decided to do things all by myself without his help and decided to keep quiet than to let him handle this." "Which means, you only did it all by yourself? If that is the case, howe you are here? I thought you will not bother to inform us about it?" "Oh, I was here to go and report in the situation. The Scourge that I have already gotten rid from the viges that infected and morphed all the vigers and its main source is now gone from this world." "Wait, what? What do you mean?" Alynna frowned. "What else? The boss who caused all of the scourge, the one who created and spread it to the Luminous Cont is now dead." Chapter 611 Ocean Of Monsters (I) Alynna could not believe her ears after hearing the news I said to her. But anyone else will not believe it either if they heard it themselves. Doing it solo is something that anyone would not think of easily. However, I am not someone who would say something so impossible and not bring any proof of my exploits. "If you don''t believe me, you can take a look at this and see for yourself," then I handed the broken core that the cult leader destroyed. Since NPCs can also see the description status, they can immediately see what I am showing them without getting confused. The core still retains some of its info back when it was still an intact core but with updated information about the Tormentor''s death and the broken form of the core. Alynna immediately inspected the item in her hands and soon her facial expression changed. Once she finished inspecting the shards, she returned them back to my hands. "Alright, I think this alone is enough that you have indeed done the thing. What about the cult itself?" "The leader already died as she was used as the material to materialize the Tormentor into a being. As for the members, they also died after they suffered the same fate as the cult leader and got absorbed." "And you did this all by yourself?" "Yeah, I did but it was f*cking hard and I almost died multiple times. Saved a few times due to the Flight. If not for that, I have been already squished paste and would not be standing in front of you right now." "But you are an adventurer, you guys don''t die and just revive themselves. What''s the loss of your death anyways? But still, you did a great thing. We have to announce this to everyone and to ensure that your efforts are rewarded." "You can announce it but just keep quiet about my involvement in this case. The fewer people who know, the better." "Really? You really want to miss out on this golden opportunity to get really famous?" Alynna frowned at my decision of declining the reward and publicity. "Nah, I know the harmful effects of poprity. Better keep it quiet and leave it to the imagination of others. In exchange, I wanted to gain ess to the barred sections that stop us from crossing the borders outside the City of Clouds. I noticed that the legionnaires are guarding a vast majority of the Luminous Continent and we can''t get past it in the air either." "Oh, don''t worry about that. Now that the Cult has been destroyed and the so-called god that they worship is also gone too, there is no need for us to keep the borders closed. We will be opening them tomorrow morning." "That''s great. Then, I should get going. I have to rest my body from all the sh*t that I came through." "Indeed. However, we will still offer you the rewards you wanted to get. It''s inappropriate for us to just leave you not getting rewarded for your efforts." "Oh no, there is no need really, Just give it to other people instead." "I insist." "I-" This was something that I just learned just now about Alynna. She is a persistent woman no matter what you say. "Alright, alright. I will receive thatter on, I don''t really care what the reward is so just award me whatever is appropriate. Anyways, I need to get going." "Okay, I won''t hold you back on your rest then. Anyways, once you cross the borders tomorrow, the guards guarding them will no longer be there and the barrier that stops anyone from exploring the remainder of the Luminous Continent can now explore it. Thank you for the hard work of helping us solve the biggest problem the Luminous Continent has experienced so far." "Just doing the job." As much as I want toment that this event will not be the biggest problem they will be facing, I decided not to say anything and just left the office. My job in the City of Clouds is done, time to get back to my camp and then log out for the rest of the day. ... ... ... Slowly opening my eyes, I stood up from the bed and stretch my body. It''s been a long time since I did that much longbat. Thest time I did was during the raid against Cath Palug. Today was not that bad but since the battles I have done usually justst a few moments before they ended then get some good rest, I don''t feel that much fatigue settles in my body. "Oh crap, I really need to do some good workout to alleviate the fatigue in my body after ying for lengthy of hours without rest." I decided to just go to sleep and call it a day instead. Tomorrow is another test day and I don''t want to gette by tomorrow. ... ... ... The next day, I went to school, took the test, and went back home. The fatigue was just temporary so it didn''t really make me feel too tired to move for the next day so everything was alright. The day was uneventful and the others are just the same as always, busy with the test so they are still not going to be avable until then. And just like the other day, I log back into the game. A day has passed in the game and it''s currently early in the morning in the Alternate World. I keep wondering how I don''t feel like I am not ying a game and was transported to another world instead. Everything is real to the point I always forgot that I am just ying a game. However, I didn''t mind that. This was a good game that allows me to forget reality once in a while. Now, we have to see whether what Alynna said is true and whether the borders have cleared up. I don''t need to keep the camp anymore so I packed up all of my things and went to the border where stepping through it will allow you to leave the City of the Clouds. The next border barrier is near so it didn''t take me time to go and went there. And just like what Alynna said, the ce is no longer guarded by the Legionnaires meaning, everyone can now explore further. With this confirmation, I summoned Leona and allowed her to fly high in the sky. We will be going to the edge of the Luminous Continent and reach the Dark Sea there where the next content "Boss Rush" mode will be avable to anyone who visits the ce. Not only is it a good ce to farm experience under level 150 but also a good ce to farm crystals for elemental weapon imbuing. But this is where the inconsistency goes. Dark Sea was located below the Luminous Continent. Since it was under the Luminous Continent, shouldn''t it be that the Dark Sea can only be essed by those on the maind? Wrong. Dark Sea is part of the Luminous Continent despite it being part of the maind and does not float in the sky. However, this is where the confusion of the yers went after realizing that you cannot ess the Dark Sea unless you go to the Luminous Continent and go to the designated area to ess it. The main question that yers ask, why does the Dark Sea which is located below the Luminous Continent is not essible to those who are staying on the maind. The answer is simple, a small force will force yers to leave the Dark Sea if essed on the maind and if essed on the sea, the vehicle anyone used to reach the area will be sunk by monsters immediately and to safely ess the ce without being killed or forced to leave the area is to ess it to the Luminous Continent''s hidden area. Back in the past timeline, the Dark Sea was not essible and no one else can explore the ce until a party discovered the hidden area and ''realized that it was the way to reach the Dark Sea without being forced outside the Dark Sea or getting sunk by monsters doing that. This information led to the Dark Sea being discovered by yers as a result. And as a result, the Boss Rush mode was finally yed and the first party who experience it went out stronger and full of loot in their inventories. This made the Dark Sea popr. And so farming the Boss Rush mode was the one that people wanted to do as it was an actual endgame that anyone wanted to do to test their mettle and fight monsters. Leona fly through the directions I told her before we slowlynded on the nearbynd where only a single well and a normal house are currently the only ones that left the yer capable of doing things. I am not even that far but I am already able to smell the water. It''s time. Chapter 612 Ocean Of Monsters (II) Just like in the past timeline, the same secret area, it didn''t change and still the same one. I am thankful that the secrets I knew in the past timeline still holds quite a lot even though many things have changed already. If not for this, I would be not bothering to even try out all of the stuff I knew and exploit it for my advantage. The secret area is easy to find but because it was located at the very edge of the Luminous Continent and because it was easily bypassed most of the time and many yers are focused on finding how to enter the Dark Sea instead, they didn''t realize that that the entrance of the Dark Sea was actually in the Luminous Continent. As for the one who discovered and uncovered it to the public, well, it was none other than Sigma. Being a yer who looks all over the Alternate World to look for teammates to fight together, it was just something that anyone would already expect from her so when she revealed the location, many thanked her and the Boss Rush mode has finally revealed. One big rock sits at the very edge of the clouds. It was sticking out like a sore thumb out of all the rocks in the area but because it wasn''t that different from other rocks either, it was easily hidden to the point that if Sigma didn''t reveal the ce in the forums, then the ce would forever be a mystery unless someone else discovers it as yers are not just limited to those who did the biggest involvements. On that big rock, hides the entrance of the small cave that is situated underneath it. It was already overgrown with grass and the ce is already hard to notice. But that was an easy clear by sting it with a bit of mes, burning all the weeds from it. Removing the weeds, I smack the entrance cover a few more times before I opened it up. That way, I can remove the dust that built up on the gap of the cover and the entrance, allowing me to open it up easier and with less force. CLANK! I didn''t realize that the cover is made of metal to be honest. In the past timeline, the cover is already gone and since it was a popr ce for yers to go to, it was left open for the remainder of the days even until the veryst day of my life in the past timeline. With the cover gone, the entrance revealed a dark staircase leading down to a cave. It smells like the entrance of most ruins but with theck of damp smell as there are no watering in, it feels like you are entering an ancient tomb. I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and lit it up with [ming Sword], lighting up the surroundings like I am using a torch. So this must be how it looks like before it was discovered. To think the ce was looking like a tomb of a monster or something simr just made me realize that this is a bit different than I thought it would be at first. There are some light sources but since they are not torches as they are light bulbs. To activate it, I think the switch to turn that on is on the main room as that is the only ce where the machine switches are located. I looked around for a while if there are anything that I have missed out. This is the problem of being the first one to discover the ce. You be the pioneer of it, you will be the one who will figure it out. For someone who have reached this ce a year after it was discovered, some of the features here that was already present in the past timeline is missing at the moment so my guess is that things are gradually added the moment it was powered up. Seeing this, I think it is indeed time to find the main power source. My arrival to the main room where it was supposed to be where the yers stay for a few moment before the descent to the Dark Sea is so different that I have no recollection of some of the things that are in here since they were not present in the past timeline. Either they disappeared over time or these are some of those changes that I just didn''t notice at all. Because the darkness is here is so bad that the light of the mes in my Versatile Weapon is no longer enough, I snap my fingers and a ball of light appeared in front of me like amp floating right beside me, allowing me to have better vision of the surroundings. As I was exploring before, I looked around the ce and bump into something that was ced on the counter. I didn''t realize it as I was looking elsewhere. Because it was hard, I turned to the ce where I bump something and soon realized that I bumped into the ruined automaton that is situated there. Because out of all the functions of this ce that are powered by electricity turned on, when this golem did not function when all of the other functions avable in the main room go back to life, it was deduced that this was just a decoration. I find that a bit suspicious though as the golem has the same gap on its heart area that should have been ced here. If the core is destroyed, then it should have been in the remains of this thing but because it wasn''t either, there are two possibilities of what happened to it in the past timeline. First, the core was not there to begin with and that is the main reason that it never functioned but there is the doubt I had and that is the second reason. The core was there but because it was just lying there like a treasure, it was taken and sold outside to the city or town or whichever merchant it was. With Automaton Cores being very expensive when sold, I don''t think it was not an unlikely scenario. But because this is the new timeline and I am the pioneer of this ce, how about I take my time and search this ce up? Perhaps something that has been taken is here. ... ... ... 5 Minutester... CLANK CLANK CLANK There are lots of tools here and there. Lots of them in fact. It was like an engineer or a mechanic is living here until then but since there are no signs of recent activities here of someone, I don''t think that whoever stays here in the past is no longer staying here. And whatever circumstances made them do so? I have no idea. But my search was not in vain and in fact, I am surprised by it. Not only I found the cores but there are tools, spare parts and blueprints too. If this was not present in the past timeline, someone took it, sold it or just used it for whatever reason. I kept the blueprints myself but the spare parts, I decided to put it back to where it was from and hid it. The most important thing though, is the core. Since it was present here, someone sold or used the core for other purposes so seeing the core in my hands made me realize all yers are born treasure hunters. No matter if the treasure is needed for something, as long as it is valuable, it will be sold no matter what. Taking the core to the automaton sitting there, I read the blueprint on how to install it. There are someplicated words here and there, some weird words that I just encountered and some confusing words that doesn''t make sense. It took me a few minutes until I slowly get the gist of it. Basically, I put the core into the automaton and power up the whole facility to charge up the automaton''s energy bar, letting it move. First, I ensured that the Automaton doesn''t have any weapons. It would be really bad if this guy suddenly attacks at me while powering everything up. Thankfully, there are none and so I installed the core. It was easy so it didn''t take me time to do so. I just needed to put a bolt on it here and there and the core is intact. Next up, is powering the whole facility. Once that is powered, the automaton charges itself plus, the basic functions that will allow me to descend to the Dark Sea will also be essible to me now. The power switch is already in the main room and the only thing left for it is to crank it. CLANK! The lever is pulled down and the lights started to light up. Not only that but the sound of gears started to ring around the suroundings. CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG! Then, the Automaton''s eyes list up. The automaton is now charging power. Chapter 613 Ocean Of Monsters (III) "Rebooting..." The sound of the automaton echoed inside the room as its eyes lit up. I grab a hold of both my Versatile weapon and the Pain Delivery to start attacking once I notice the Automaton is showing signs of aggression. Since I have no idea of its personality, it is better for me to be prepared than to be caught off guard by it. "REBOOTING COMPLETE. START-UP SYSTEM IS COMPLETE. PREPARING TO BOOT UP." And with those words, the automaton started moving, its gears starts to turn and the rust and dust that umted on its body immediately got shaken off. It stood up and its eyes glow brighter than before. "BOOT UP COMPLETE. SCANNING CURRENT OBJECTIVE... E-E-ERROORRRRR-RRRRR. CLEANING THE LOG. CLEANING COMPLETE. SWITCHING TO AI MODE PERSONALITY." I am almost ready to pull out my weapons when the automaton is already booting up. It looked at me and its eyes glow brightly. However, it seems it wasn''t the main case. "Oh? Who do we have here? A wingless? I didn''t know the proud angels are now allowing the wingless to climb up these majestic clouds without being ordered to be killed." "Huh?" "You must be someone who stumbled upon this ce. Although I just woke up from a long slumber, I can tell that a lot has changed especially with a wingless in here. However, if you are looking for a treasure or anything that you can sell, I apologize but this ce was not something like that at all." I didn''t respond and pull out my weapon. He might not be showing transgression but speaking to an intelligent automaton who just woke up from deep slumber is something else. You wouldn''t know whether they are sincerely talking kindly or they are just calcting how to dispose of you quietly without you or anyone else knowing. "Wait, wait, wait! No violence. I am not hostile so please don''t destroy me. I just woke up and I don;t want to engage tobat without even knowing how to do so. Please stay calm and be a rationale wingless. I know you guys loves war but please don''t drag innocent automatons down to that hole." "Who wouldn''t be vignt if an automaton who just moved started speaking like a human. Most automatons have been either more like a machine or they just attack without saying any word and devoid of any intelligence. You can''t me me if I continue to be vignt," seeing the automaton remained calm, I put away my weapons but didn''t put down my vignce. Even though this automaton is quite eloquent in speaking and speaks like a real human, it doesn''t change the fact that this guy is a machine. Imagine a skeleton made of metal and gears started talking to you like a normal person, that''s how I fee right now with this guy. "So what brings you here? I know that this ce was ced in a very secretive manner ording to my owner who seems to be no longer here but finding it means you are looking for secret areas and stumbled upon here, right?" "Yeah, actually I didn''t expect there would be something like this so I turned on the power source and here we are." "So my assumption is correct. Just like what my creator said, the wingless likes treasure hunting and exploring. Who would have thought the wingless are quite a unique existence. I shall take note of that in my database for future references. Anyways, if you are indeed looking for treasure, I apologize but this ce is not an ancient area where treasure is located. This is just a simple facility that is connected to the Dark Sea." "Dark Sea? You mean that impassable area where the darkness gather underneath the continent of Luminous?" I act clueless though its hard to act surprised. "Oh, so you knew that ce? Yes indeed. This is the only pathway that can allow direct ess to that ce. So if you are looking for treasure then you are in the wrong ce." "Wait, wait. Since you mentioned this ce is the only way to enter the Dark Sea, that means I can go in?" "Yes. But I suggest you shouldn''t go unless you have teammates with you, You should know you won''t survive there and you only have 0.01% chance to return alive." "So that means there is still a chance to return alive?" "Yes, but pretty slim. Still, do you want to go?" "Why not? Isn''t that the main purpose of adventure? To explore the unknown?" The automaton shakes its head like a person who is disappointed by my answer. "Alright. Although I just woke up from my deep slumber, I will be operating this ce up, and be the conductor to help you get transported to the Dark Sea. You can go back anytime you wanted to but don''t me me if something happens to you. I warned you about the risks you will be meeting." The automaton turned around and started to pull some levers and push some buttons. Then, in a moment, a telepoter suddenly materialized and appeared. In the past timeline, someone had to make a makeshift lift as there are no elevator to go down and up to the Dark Sea. To think a teleporter was actually present. No wonder there is a teleporter in the Dark Sea but its not functioning. The automaton was meant to be the one who will be activating it. "Is it fine to go down and ess the Dark Sea?" "It''s fine if it is meant to fight the monsters living there but most of the time, no. However, since you are insistent, I would be helping you on this one. Don''t tell master about this although I don''t know if he is still alive." The automaton pushed another button and the teleporter came to life and has finally appear to be functionable. "Step in and prepare. You are in for hell." Finally, time for the grind to begin. ... ... ... [You have discovered the Dark Sea. You are the first to discover a lost area. You obtained the limited title (Pioneer of Ocean of Monsters)] Oh? So this title was obtained here? That''s understandable now. I thought it was something else but to think I am the one who took the title from Sigma. I am sorry Sigma but this time, I would be reaping the things that you have obtained in the past timeline. I am just desperate for levels. The moment I arrived the Dark Sea, a level 200 Corrupted Crab appeared immediately. "I f*cking miss you all f*ckers." I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a scythe and swings it to the Corrupted Crab. SWISH! A clean cut on the legs rendered the Corrupted Crab motionless with all of its legs cut off. I didn''t allow it to recover and immediately cut off the pincers of the Corrupted Crab. Once those are gone, I proceed to stab its left eye and gouge it out of the eye socket. "BLAST OFF!" BANG! The body of the Corrupted Crab exploded as I channeled my mana to the Versatile weapon and fired off the energy that is loaded on it. The moment it died, it dropped a lot of materials and I immediately leveled up. However, I didn''t get the chance to check the level as another monster emerge again. This time, it is a Seaweed Crawler. Looks like I have no chance to restin this grind. As I was about to engage in battle against the Seaweed Crawler, more monsters are now rising up, all in boss levels. "This is looking more great as time goes by. I will be having fun this time around." And so, the ughter begins. These monsters are all monsters I have recognized and have defeated in the past timeline so I am not pressured at all. In fact, I am ecstatic. The fact that I am doing a solo run in Dark Sea, if the yers in the past timeline heard this, they will be crying in jealousy. Until then, I will be monopolizing the bosses. SWISH! Cutting off the iing seaweed tentacles, I kicked the other sea monster on the abdomen before I stab the Seaweed Crawler and st it in mes. Then, once that was done, an octopus tried to wrap me up, but my swift movement instead made one of the monsters nearby got caught by the tentacles and got squished to death by the octopus. That thing didn''t change and still likes to do some strong hugs but oh well. Although all of them are boss monsters, they are not that strong if you already know how they work. With someone like me who farmed here in the past, this monsters are not even on the level of strong. So I slice, dice, sh, kick, punch, st with magic, anything that can kill the monsters works. But since this is a boss rush mode, after a monster is defeated another will appear and sometimes, they will appear in big numbers. Once you have killed enough, then you are in for a big surprise. Chapter 614 Ocean Of Monsters (IV) Calming sea waves crash into the rocks in the seashore as monsters slowly emerge one by one from the waters. It was like an invasion of pretty much all bosses that are living in the water. From time to time, there are also the flying bosses emerging from the water but most of the time, they are all monsters that walk onnd and can either survive thend. The monsters are repeatedly appearing but there is quite a lot of variety so it wasn''t the same monster over and over again. As time goes by, the monsters get tougher and tougher to the point where killing the first monster boss I killed after descending here, the Corrupted Crab took a bit longer to killpletely. It''s been 3 hours since I started killing my way on the monsters. I utilized different approach here and there to efficiently kill the monsters. Since it''s not that hard at first, I continue to just kill and kill with my weapons. And like I said, this boss rush gets harder as it progress a lot longer. Cutting off one of the floating jellyfish''s tentacles, I jumped into the nearest corpse of a monster, used it as a tform to jump on and pierced the Jellyfish''s body, destroying the core and its entire body in one go. And the second wave finally ended. I sighed as I was covered in multiple blood of multiple variety of monsters. I have 3 minutes worth of rest before the next wavees in. I managed to hit level 180 after I finished the second wave and considering the 3 hour time to fight to reach that level is already too much. Anyone would call me too dedicated and too hardcore for this battle but this I am not being hardcore, I just wanted to reach back my previous potential in the past timeline. Anyways, instead of resting, I started collecting the elemental crystals and other drops that are scattered on the seashore after the bodies of the monsters disintegrated. It''s sad that they don''t remain as I can just go and butcher their dead bodies but since I can''t do so, my only thing needed to be done is pick up the elemental shards. I didn''t bother to check them out whether they are bad or not because even if it was bad, it can still be used so whatever, I can just choose what to useter on and be done with it. "Master, I think you need to rest instead of collecting these crystals. A good rest will help you a lot longer. You are not a superhuman with infinite endurance and you don''t have the traits of other species have. A good and proper rest will increase your capability tost longer in this," As suggested. "Don''t worry, As. I know what I am doing and I don''t want to waste the chances to take these stuff. These will help a lotter on and will be beneficial to everyone of us including you guys." As I collected every single one crystal, the time allotted for resting is now over and the next wave of the monsters started to rise up from the sea. Seeing that the monstersing out are now fully armored, like the very first monster that came up is a turtle that walks in two legs. No, this was not a ninja turtle or anything close. They still looked like normal turtle but they walk like a hulking men with shields attached to their body. "Master, am I seeing things? Is that really a turtle?" Lucia asked with a tone of disbelief. Anyone who have seen the Upright Turtle for the first time, it is a natural reaction that they would be surprised as even I in the past timeline also got surprised to see this guy walk. But seeing this guy means the next wave will also consist of monsters with full armor on their body. Not just this guy. However, I would just cheese these guys out. Pulling out one of the recent items I bought, I slowly approached the Upright Turtle walking alongside the muscr Fish men with scales as hard as metal in their bodies. Now this is where this new thing I bought back in the market of the City of Clouds will make a difference. Pulling the pin, I roll the little bomb into the sand to the direction of the Upright Turtle and the other monsters marching before running away as far as I can from them. "Master, why are you running? Why are you running away?" Lucia was confused. "Because a blender party is about to begin." And before I can get a bit far, the force of the explosion immediately stopped me from my tracks as the bomb that I have thrown to the sand activated. Instead of a big explosion with mes, it looked like a swirling wind is sucking in everything around its vicinity. The sounds of monsters being dragged on it are also starting to scream and as that was happening, the log started updating on what is happening. -You have killed Armored Fishman. You have received... -You have killed Warrior Armored Fishman. You have received... -... Different logs of monsters being defeated starts to increase as the swirling power slowly gets heavier and heavier that even I on the distance felt the pressure built up. Soon enough, the pressure disappeared and squelching sounds started to fall to the sand as the bomb finished "exploding." Returning to the sight, all I see is the the carnage done after the "explosion" where all of the marching monsters just now were blended finely that every part of their bodies have been reduced to pieces and their guts and blood turned into juice mixture. As for the hard stuff, they are gone. Reduced to atoms. I chuckled as I grip the next Anti-Material Bomb. Yes, the main reason this bomb was being popr and always sold out is due to the fact that it can kill an armored monster in one "explosion." There are some exceptions but not all are survivors and they will die one way or another, making the battle in waves against monsters here just gets real easy. The way I used the bomb just now was a really wasteful thing as this bomb is more better used on multiple enemies that gathered in one ce. Sure the monsters have gathered with them but that was not enough number. The size of the "explosion" is not small enough to just kill a little bit of them in just a few bombs. New monsters started appearing and just like what I expected, the monsters appearing are all fully armored. And the Anti-Material Bomb just works that way and when I say it cheeses out this battle by just throwing a few grenades from time to time against armored enemies then your battle will be much smoother. Instead of throwing the bomb to the monsters, I started to rush to the monsters and purposely provoked them. "This is suicidal, Master! You are provoking them all to chase you!" As shouted to me like he was ready to jump off the portal and help me out. But because I don''t want to receive help at the moment, he just had to obey my orders and can only watch on the sidelines." "This is how you crowd-control these motherf*ckers out! You guys don''t need to worry too much." I continue to trigger and provoke them causing them to gather behind my back. Now that they have started to gather up, I pulled the pin of the Anti-Material bomb and throw it behind me and speed up my running speed and started to bolt out running like my life depended on it. WOOOOOOM! The weird sound that rings in my ears is the indication the bomb has already "exploded" and is now doing its work. The sound of monsters being dragged into the bomb''s "explosion" caused every single monsters cry in anguish while some are running away desperately but due to the force of the explosion, as long the monster is just on the range of the explosion, they will be dragged on it without forgiveness and would not select anyone. I also started running away as I didn''t want to be spilled with blood and guts of different monsters. Who would be insane enough to like being under a blender where monsters are grinded to pieces? Well, not me as that''s just disgusting. It was like you are taking a bath by using the gills and intestines plus the water and blood that was included would just make it a lot more worse. A few secondster, I can hear the flesh dropping after the "explosion". And as that did, I also hit the level 181 as the 3rd wave ended. I grinned. This is how you grind your levels. And that is to grind up your enemies to pieces. Chapter 615 Phase 2 Begins With the help of the Anti-Material Bomb, leveling became too much of a breeze. It took me at least 20 waves before I reached level 200. It wasn''t much but at least I don''t have to worry too much about reaching this far with my slow exp gain. Of course, the result of reaching level 200 is emptying all of my pockets of the Anti-Material Bomb. I purchased multiple crates of it and I can potentially say I purchased at least 200 pieces of Anti-Material Bomb. To think that I used them all up. It''s not much of wonder though as the bosses keep getting harder and harder and one bomb is not enough to grind them to shreds. But I am also thankful I don''t need to bother fighting much before I hit level 200 and just emptied my pockets using up all the bombs. Not only I reached level 200 but I also gained lots of elemental shards that I will be usingter on once I am able to go back to Resurgia. Stepping into the Teleporter, I was teleported back to the room where the Automaton is staying. The automaton was waiting for my return and from the looks of it, the Automaton observed what I did back there. "Are all wingless these powerful? No one else has survived that long in the Dark Sea and lived to tell the tale." "Oh, not at all. I am not that powerful, this achievement of mine is not that spectacr and in the future, there will be more people who will be visiting here to beat up those monsters on the Dark Sea. For sure, my achievement right now might be very good but it will be soon surpassed by other people." "So all the wingless in the maind are stronger than you? Then that means purging the monsters in the Dark Sea will not be a pipe dream after all." "Anyways, I will be going home now. I am tired after all the action. What are you going to do now?" "I am born here and my creator dedicated most of my programs to properly function even without him in here. Also, it''s my duty to remain here to act as the guardian that will serve as the gatekeeper of the Dark Sea. I will be staying here and will help all people who wanted to see and fight the monsters in the Dark Sea just like what you did." "Then please do your best." I left after that after fulfilling my goal of reaching level 200. However, I am not going to log out just yet. It''s time to initiate Phase 2 already and help out the faction that I favor the ideals in this battle. That way, Phase 2 will be more of a big advantagepared to the time in the past timeline. After all, this faction will be the losing faction. "Leona!" At mymand, Leona appeared from the portal and started flying up in the sky beforending not too far from me. I jog to Leona and climb her back, opened the map, and surveyed the area for a bit. "To the East, Leona!" And so, we begin with a flight to the East. The ce where the rebels are camping, waiting for the right time to strike. ... ... ... ... Meanwhile... While deheart is now in the process of igniting the second phase to begin, Sigma and Harmless Sparrow who is in the middle of the investigation finally found a big clue that leads them to an answer to what they are looking for. Although they barely had any contributions to the city at the moment, the two didn''t mind and continued their attempt to finish up something. Sigma had a very bad feeling about it and so she continue to investigate what is happening. They didn''t know that deheart even finished the first phase but seeing the corruption during their investigation, they are more eager to expose the Tactician. They felt that something is amiss and something is still doing some trouble. After all, the expedition should have been over the moment deheart finished the quest so what is keeping them there? There is still something that they have notpleted and that''s the main reason they are still not being freed from the expedition it seems Harmless Sparrow and Sigma are on the right path. Right now, they just eliminated one messenger bird that they intercepted, carrying a letter from the Tactician to a contact of thetter. Harmless Sparrow made sure that the letter was not rigged to be a trap if not opened by someone who isn''t supposed to open the letter before she handed the letter to Sigma to read. "Casten, how are you on the East? Are you fine there with the enemies prowling on your border? It seems the cult that we are sponsoring on invading is already destroyed. I have received a piece of news that they were eliminated by a pioneer who didn''t appear. I tried to check who it was but I didn''t get a decent answer as no one knows who it was but all I know is that the guy who did it is named deheart and he is part of the pioneers. My preparations areplete and since the first n failed, we should proceed to the second n. The popce will not be able to do anything after we give them the device. Even the Pioneers will not be able to stop us. I hope you have already gotten rid of the damn rebels as they have already caught wind of the n so I hope you would give me a proper response after this. I would need good support to fully utilize my authority before we slowly upy this city and then the whole kingdom. I am sure the bishop will be pleased if we take over the kingdom." Sigma immediately crumpled the paper and toss it to Harmless Sparrow who immediately shes the paper, igniting it to mes. "I knew it. It seems this is the second phase of the expedition. The cult attacks were just part of their n and without the cult now, they decided to go and use the second part of their n." "So what are we gonna do now? Is there any chance we can stop this? I doubt anyone from the pioneers would believe us either," Harmless Sparrow tilted her head. "The letter said that they are trying to put an end to the rebels since they caught wind of the n. It seems to be something like an opposing faction that is trying to stop what the Tactician is doing. Perhaps we can go and see what they got to offer or if they still exist." "Do you know where they are?" "Unfortunately, there is no exact location but the letter hinted that there is something happening in the East. There''s no other clue but perhaps it is enough to know." "The blockades that prevent us from exploring are already gone so we can now go further and beyond the continent so I guess we should go and see it. It mentioned as rebels so perhaps there is a chance we will have to go against the peeps here and do some revolution stuff." "Should we tell the others about this?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "No. We should confirm this first. If it was indeed the case, then we shall go and talk to them after this. We should hurry. Alpha,e out." Sigma summoned Alpha out and Sigma fly up on Alpha''s head alongside Harmless Sparrow andnded there. "Oh, right. Try to contact deheart. He must know this. I don''t think he is involved with the Tactician and he is the one who warned us about him. Perhaps we should let him know about this." Harmless Sparrow nodded and contacted deheart. A few secondster, deheart answered the voice call of Harmless Sparrow. "Yes?" deheart talked on the other line. "deheart, where are you now? We just found out that there is more to the expedition," Sigma answered. "I am working on it right now. Wait, so you guys discovered it too?" deheart is surprised. "Yeah. We investigated the movements of the Tactician and realized he was behind some of the events and he is making sure that we will fail this expedition. We are nning to go to the east because we heard there will be some rebels who will be opposing the works of the Tactician," Harmless Sparrow exined this time. "Looks like you guys already know much. Indeed. Come to the East and meet me on the biggest tree not too far from the city on the east. You guys will not miss it. We will team up on this one as it seems we are going into a war." "Okay, we will meet you there," Sigma answered and Harmless Sparrow ended the call. "Alright. The n is now set. Alpha, let''s go." And the prelude to the new war is now igniting. Chapter 616 A Spark Of Rebellion War changed most of the terrain in the Luminous Continent in the past timeline. Due to the monster invasion and the cult themselves bringing ruin to almost everywhere theynd, the chaos is widespread and has made most of the ces in many areas ruined, destroyed, and cannot be rebuilt again, or totally inhabitable by anything beyond the things that have upied thend itself and unless it was cleansed, it will remain as a stain. Thankfully, due to my preemptive actions and killing the Tormentor much earlier than expected, the damage is minimal enough. It might be a small gesture but it was enough for the faction I will be joining. Due to the war against the monsters, they suffered a lot and have lost resources, have very low morale, and against enemies who are almost impossible to beat, they are at a total disadvantage. I am just in the distance but I can see the ce that I was heading to had arge ck smoke rising on the horizon. A normal bonfire won''t make that much smoke and it is also impossible for campfires to do that. It''s not like they are burning the forest itself. "The war has already started?! Lucia, can you scan ahead on the area where the smoke ising from?" "I will try once we get closer Master. With all the trees around, I can''t scan the whole area properly." I pick up a scroll from my inventory and tear a scroll with the skill [Area Stealth] to let both Leona and I get covered by the ability. Once the skill enveloped both of us, I let both of us closer to the area so that Lucia can properly scan the ce without getting too close. "There, Master! I am scanning now!" After a few seconds, Lucia answered again. "Scanplete. There are angels there, one side is full of those ck-winged angels and the other side has pure white wings in them. It seems the ck-winged angels are having a hard time and from the looks of it, the white-winged angels are the ones who instigated the attacks." "I see. So this was the tactic of those guys that Sigma and Sparrow mentioned. The Casten of this area is purging all of the rebels in the area so that the n that the two discovered will be carried out." "Are you going to help the white-winged angels, Master?" "No. This time, we are not going to side with those peeps. We are going to spark a rebellion this time around." I let Leona hover above the vige where the Fallen Angels are defending. They have plenty of casualties and the Angels are already doing a good number on them. "Return Leona." Leona is immediately recalled and I fell into the air. Before I reach the ground, I activated my Flight ability, and fly into the battlefield. Inded on the side of the Fallen Angels and at the exact time I touched the ground, the duration of the [Area Stealth] is also over, making me reappear and causing the Fallen Angels to panic the moment they saw me. However, before they will attack me, I put my palm t into the ground and activated a healing skill. "[Area Heal]!" The wounded around me looked at their wounds that started to close on their own and the blood that was spilled disappeared and returned to their bodies. Causing them to wonder what is happening. And as they wondered what is happening, I pulled out the Versatile Weapon, changed it to a scythe, and jumped through the barricade that is used to stop the angels from advancing. Before the Angels can respond, I swing my scythe in the air, spinning as Ind on them. With little time to even dodge, the angels can only watch as the scythe cuts their bodies in half. Because they are just angels with thin armor, the Versatile Weapon that can easily tear out the armor like paper, the angels were immediately killed without a struggle. "[Due to your recent actions, the Angels will now view you as an enemy and will attack sight.]" "[Your actions have made the Fallen Angels a bit trusting of you. They will view you as a friend]" Looks like it is a sess. And although it is sad that I have be an enemy of the Angels, it is necessary if I wanted to change the oue of the war. I don''t like the way it ended in the past. I don''t really care if I changed many things too much in the game. I will take responsibility for everything that will change because of my little actions. The angels that are not caught by my spinning scythe attack started to run away but before they can even run, multiple golden chains appeared out of nowhere and pierced their heads with them, killing them instantly. In the distance, a familiar snake appeared while at the top is Sigma standing with her two hands crossed together with Harmless Sparrow observing the situation from behind. "Why are you guys here? I thought you guys would be going straight to the Large Tree?" I asked the two of them. "We n to stop in a small town to resupply stuff since we escaped the City of Clouds hastily before the Tactician tracks us to be the one responsible for intercepting the letter we were supposed to stop in the town and buy some potions but since there seems to be a battle, we decided to intervene," Sigma answered as she flies down from the head of her snake alongside with Harmless Sparrow before recalling him back. "I was expecting to see more action arriving here but I never even get to do anything. Sad," Harmless Sparrow scratches her head. While we are talking, one of the angels with a mask on his face approached us. "Did I hear it correctly? You guys intercepted a letter that was sent by the Tactician?" Sigma turned to look at the Fallen and frowned. "And you are?" "I apologize. I will have to introduce myself. I am in, I am the leader of the Rebels and the Leader of this vige. So, please answer, did you guys intercept a letter from the Tactician himself?" Sigma turned to look at me and I just answered her with a single nod of my head. "Yes. We did intercept a letter from the Tactician himself. However, we cannot show you the letter itself. We destroyed it before as we suspect it will be tracked but we still remembered the contents. We are quite sure that it involves you if what you said as the leader of the Rebels is true." Hearing this, in looked at the men behind him and they give a nod at each other. "Come with me. We will discuss things inside." We followed in inside the vige. Although the vige is looking good, it is clear that they are in poor condition and it seems that some of the buildings are almost on theirst straws and are already on the verge of copse. On the side of the streets, some of the Fallen Angels are being treated for their wounds. I could immediately cast [Area Heal] on them and heal them from their wounds but I hold it back for a bit as we will be discussing things with him. Until we knew what his ns are, I will have to hold off healing the wounded just yet. He led us to a building that is in the center of the vige which means this is the office of the leader. Just like the rest of the buildings around, just a little bit of shaking and this building will copse in no time. He prepared us some chairs and we sat down on them with a table in front of us. He pulls off his mask and hangs it on the side as he starts to prepare us some snacks. "I apologize for the poor conditions of our ce. It''s hard to meet our meet''s ends due to the Casten destroying most of our means to make business properly and although we are slowly recovering, it is still not fast enough to fully recover especially if the troops of the Casten always harass and tries to destroy our vige whenever he gets a chance." "It''s fine. Anyways, let''s hear everything from these two about the letter itself." "So this is how they put the letter and the contents were..." Sigma and Harmless Sparrow took turns retelling the contents of the letter. After "Hearing all of the contents, it seems they have indeed learned what we did to his previous letter and troops. I already expected it but to think it was this soon, we will be having trouble responding against them on this one," in has a bitter look on his face. "So it was true that you guys knew about the Tactician''s n?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Yes. There is no way we won''t know about it as he involved our families in this battle. We don''t want to think too much about it but I must put an end to everything and their aggression towards us. We will never be bowing down to them and letting them kill us. This is where we are born to be, then this is also where we will die. We will be fighting back." Chapter 617 First Mission in is now convinced that the Casten is ready to deploy his troops to kill everyone in the camp. Just based on the letter alone, he is now sure that they are keen on wiping them out from the face of the. The rebels are pretty weak and only a few of them can properly fight. In fact, most of the members of the rebels are not capable of fighting and are escapees from cruel angels who have enved them. If you count those who are indeed capable to fight, only a few of them qualifies and one of them is in who is forced to join the battle instead ofmanding the battle behind the scenes so that he can make better decisions. Currently, we are still discussing with in what is his next move. "Now that you know the Casten and the Tactician''s n, what are you nning to do?" Sigma asked. in sighed and ssh his palm on his face. "As much as I want to go to war already and prevent everything the two are trying to do, I can''t prioritize that as the people of this vige are already starving and are having a bad time. In fact, we needed to prioritize obtaining materials to fortify the vige tost against attacks from the Angel Faction." "Isn''t it easy to obtain materials to fortify the vige?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "No, it''s not. It would be easy if all we just needed are wood but that is not all there is to it. We also need various materials that are not nearby and not easy to obtain and the only way to get them is by buying them but that''s where the problemes in. Because most of the businesses avable in the Angel Faction are owned by the Casten, that also means he controls every single thing about the materials. He can easily swap out the materials and just give us defective ones, which will make our whole vige brittle and easy to destroy." in is right. Buying materials in the Luminous Continent is a big no-no for yers. Not because they are expensive but because they are easily controlled and sometimes they are of poor quality at times especially if you buy bulks of them. And because they have the policy of "No Return, No Exchange", many yers don''t bother buying pure materials in the Luminous Continent due to this. That only makes the prices underserved as most prices are pretty expensive. "Still, we will join forces with you. Now that we have alerted the Angels about our actions, our only choice is to join you in this battle and win," Sigma dered. "Are you guys sure? This is a hopeless battle and we already know we will be losing this war," in looked at us with a sad look in his eyes. "And yet you fight. Despite the pointless struggle, you still fight. So even if we don''t have many things to help, perhaps we can help you get the rebels to have their lives a little bit better?" in looked at us and shook his head but he smiled bitterly. "Thank you. I know that our struggle will be pointless but we can''t allow them all to win without a fight. Even if we are bound, to lose, then we have no choice, but we are not going to just stop and give up. Not with everyone behind us." So this is how hopeless his situation is. It was a miracle in the past timeline that he managed to reach so far that he was in the final showdown. Because at that time, I was in the faction with the Angels, he killed alongside the rebels themselves after the battle and the angels remained in position. He was almost there but he still failed. This time, I will change what urred and I will have him win this time around. After wiping off the tears forming in his eyes, his expression turned serious immediately. "I know that you guys have just joined but I still need to know how capable you guys are. Call it some sort of initiation rite. Don''t get me wrong, you guys have already shown me how good you are inbat but our tasks here don''t just focus onbat we also need to perform sabotage missions too. I want to see if you guys can pull it off." "Sabotage huh? I have done simr things so it doesn''t matter much to me," Sigma proudly revealed. I am not surprised as she has done quite a lot of questing before she teamed up with us and I still don''t know why she is sticking with us. "I have done the same missions with her a few more times that involve sabotage so I am not new to that mission type. Bring it on!" Harmless Sparrow also added. This is true as she and Sigma are able to team up from time to time alongside Dolly and the others. "I am quite familiar with doing sabotage to things myself, but I have not done much in sabotage missions itself. However, I am still confident I will be able to do just fine," I answered truthfully. And yes, I barely did any sabotage missions as that was very annoying to do but now that I am more capable than I was in the past timeline, this is nothing for me especially since I have the ss that is specialized in Sabotage itself, the Saboteur. "If that is the case, then I have the perfect mission that will serve as your first mission. Since we have lots of mouths to feed here, and the harvest is pretty bad due to how the Angel Faction is messing up with the harvest, food is the most and biggest problem we have here. I just received intel from one of my trusted intel providers that one of the Casten''s granaries and farm had just harvested a load of vegetables and wheat. This may sound like we are stealing things cause we are indeed doing so. However, there is no other choice and this will help feed off everyone plus this will also weaken the Casten slightly too. I want you three to intercept the delivery, and sabotage it, but make sure the goods are intact as that is our only hope to feed everyone else." "Oh, so this is a Robin Hood-style quest huh? Interesting, this is a nice change of pace to be a viin huh?" Harmless Sparrow happily readies her weapon. "This might not do good to the people of the Angel faction but if it can save the lives of those who are starving and dying, then it''s a good sacrifice to make. It will also help shake things up for the Casten and slow down his progress. There is no avoiding of casualties as this will decide who will win and who will lose in this battle. Tell us the location and you can see us doing it," I took a nce at everyone and they all agreed to it. "Thank you. The Delivery will be held tomorrow at the beginning oF dusk. They will be using the route to reach the City of the Clouds so you can ambush them on the way or you guys can sabotage them much earlier, your choice." "Alright, that is settled then. Let''s all rest up and meet up tomorrow guys." And so, the first mission is now delivered to us. As much as this will bebeled as an evil act, it is a necessary evil. If we don''t do this, everyone will die, and everyone will be having trouble too. Whoever thought of this morale dilemma takes a lot of notes to all the necessary ways to make the yers who side with the rebels rethink whether their actions have consequences or not. "What are your thoughts on this mission, deheart?" Sigma suddenly asked as we go outside the office of in. "My thoughts?" I frowned. I didn''t know Sigma can be a bit more curious about that. ? "Yeah. We are clearly at a big disadvantage here and yet you epted and joined. I don''t know why you did it but why did you give up your standing to the Angel Faction? Isn''t it much better to join them as your prestige and reputation are already high enough?" Sigma exined before looking at me, waiting for a response. "I think I wanted to at least wanted to see what these guys can do once they win. I don''t really mind what will happen but perhaps they might be able to help the Luminous Continent flourish more than the people who are already positioning themselves. Sometimes, facing the system is the most optimal way to make changes. And just because things are working well doesn''t mean everything else does. And besides, I hate the Tactician. I want to at least see him get mopped into the ground and get humiliated for being an *sshole." Chapter 618 Night Of The Sabotage The three of us logged out for a bit to have some rest before we returned to the game. I prepared most of the items we needed to prepare for the sabotage. Thankfully, Sigma and Harmless Sparrow purchased some explosives while they were still staying in the City of the Clouds. It''s much better to have more explosives but we are going just to use them to escape as we don''t want to use them while stealing the harvest as that is the main goal here, to take the yield and return safely without damaging it. Since it will be tomorrow, that the cargo will be delivered, I decided to take this chance and scout the area where we will be doing our sabotage. Sigma made a rule to lower the casualties as much as possible and if necessary, just incapacitate them instead of fully killing them. This way, the enemies will not reinforce the security after seeing the deaths of theirrades and that would lessen their chances of pursuing the cargo as they will have to try and see the situation of their fellow members. I take note of that as I literally meant I am not fit in sabotage since the most efficient way I will always do is to kill all of the guards and just be done with it. As for Sigma, she is against my tactic as that would ruin the next missions especially since we still don''t know whether we will have to repeat the sabotage runs or not, and if we do, the sabotage run will be harder due to the increased security after someone died since she experienced it first hand and are talking to experience. So our n is to disable the security, lessen any of the iing threats and take advantage of the chaos to take the product in which Sigma will be the one assigned to take it while Sparrow and I will be the ones who will be going to disable the security, preventing the reinforcements and covering for Sigma''s escape with the cargo. The hardest parts of the n fall under us but since I have the Saboteur ss with me, I am confident we will be able to do so. Before we take the mission, I created a gadget which is a blowdart. Since we are going to incapacitate the guards instead of killing them, I made two of them, one for me and one for Sparrow. Usually, blowdarts are used to fire a dart that is dipped into a poison that usually is fatal and can kill immediately but this time around, it''s not poison but something that can knock people out but not kill them as a result. [Creation sessful] [Sleeping Pin Dart] Type: Consumable Info: An item created by an adventurer with the intent to incapacitate its target. Due to the type of liquid used to coat the whole pin, anyone who gets shot by the pin will immediately fall asleep. Anyone who has a high sleep resistance will still feel the effects and will be drowsy for quite a while. Adding more doses will effectively knock out the target. Note: A one-way ticket to dreand that is. ... ... I made sure to create lots of it because it will take a while to easily target anyone and sometimes, it might miss so in short, and just like what the info said, some targets have the innate resistance to sleep debuff so there is a chance they won''t get afflicted to it. However, I made sure to use the strongest ingredient that can cause extreme drowsiness to a person, creature, or entity with it even those who have a resistance to it. The only ones who will not be affected by it are those who are immune to the debuff and that will be a big problem that is where we will have to incapacitate them and thankfully, I also stock up on some smoke bombs as well. Once the gadget is done, our next move is to gather intel from the enemy. We can''t just blindly enter the ce without any sort of intel we can use to our advantage. Since my new ss has the easiest way to spy on the enemies, I summoned a Shikigami and shared the view with the three so that they will know what I am seeing. Thankfully, it was easily done as it was also one of the features of the Shikigamis as well. And with that, it took us the whole day to formte the n and discuss what we will be doing for the sabotage. And so, a day has passed and the night of the sabotage is finally here. The three of us are wearing all-ck robes and all three of us wears a mask of different animals. For me, I didn''t wear the wolf mask as that is my signature mask but instead used the monkey mask. As for Harmless Sparrow, she used an Eagle mask since she requested a bird mask. Her mask looks very simr to how a gue doctor mask works. As for Sigma, she got the Lion mask but that is enough for us to know who is who in this operation. We are waiting for the time dusk falls. While the people are preparing to depart, Sparrow and I already snuck inside while Sigma waited outside with the shikigami that I summoned currently with her so that she will receive our signal to go in. Sparrow and I immediately went to our separate areas so that we can begin our task. I slowly creep on the walls and whenever I see a guard, I will shoot the guy with the sleeping pin dart and causes them to immediately fall asleep. The cargo is not heavily guarded but they are still pretty much guarded enough to ensure that no interference will stop the cargo like bandits that usually ruins the delivery. But before the delivery begins, we will be ruining its transporting process already. I spotted a few guards in the area. Each of them is totally isted to the point that shooting them is pretty much guaranteed to be undetected though one of them is roaming around and seems like checking out the hiding spots of the area. However, that is not the main problem. The distance is. The farther the distance of the target, the less urate my shots will be. Taking notes on where all of the guards are standing and walking around, I already have an idea of which guard I will be shooting at first. FWOOP! The moment the dart struck one of the guards, the roaming guard took notice of the fallen guard and slowly approaches him, immediately isting him from the rest of the guards. As soon as he was about to inspect the fallen guard, I immediately blow the blowdart and shoot his neck with the sleeping dart. FWOOP! The dartnded on his neck. Unlike the first guy, he didn''t immediately fall asleep but grabbed his neck for whatnded on it. I was ready to blow another one but he slowly fall to the ground and fell asleep. TWO down. The rest are much easier and thankfully, the side I was in has no one fully resistant to it. However, it wasn''t the case in Sparrow''s case. Before I can react, a smoke bomb exploded in the area where Sparrow was doing her job. Since the smoke bomb was used, there was someone who ispletely immune to the dart as it didn''t incapacitate the guy with it. Due to themotion, most of the active guards are immediately drawn to the side where Sparrow was. I took advantage of themotion and drop another smoke bomb at the location of the cargo and alerted Sigma. "It''s time!" "Roger!" Once I gave out the signal, Sigma rushes in, drops another smoke bomb, and infiltrated the area. Because she was strong enough, she easily took the cargo out and started running. As Sigma passes by, I dropped the sh Bang I created using the Saboteur ability. Anyone who is following her will be blinded by the sudden sh bang. Sigma easily outruns the people and all that is left is to go and escape. I immediately saw Sparrow escape by using the [Scroll of Haste] that I gave her for escape before she drops a smoke bomb below her and started running away from them. Because our job is done here, I entered stealth and was about to escape when I saw the casten walking out of the area to check out what is happening but due to the smoke, all he can do is wait for the smoke to dissipate before he makes his action. I left a shikigami in the area before I escaped. Regardless of why Sparrow decided to use the smoke, it didn''t happen to be that hard and easily escaped. And so, our first mission as rebels isplete. Chapter 619 The Aftermath Of The Sabotage The Casten who was enjoying his girls on his bed was forced to stand up when a lot of ruckuses was happening outside his mansion. He was pissed as he was already enjoying the peak when everything started to get too chaotic that he has no choice but to stand up and check up on what is happening. He assured the girls that he will be back and put on his underwear and robe before going out of his room and checking up on the situation. "What the heck is going on? Why are there so many noises happening? Are you guys up to something ridiculous again?!" However, he didn''t hear any response from his guards. He didn''t expect that his voice will not receive any response from his guards that are attentive enough to answer whenever he calls. He went outside and realized that the area is filled with ck smoke. It was such a cloud of thick smoke that he thought that there is fire breaking out on his estate and so he activated water magic [Downpour] and let it disperse the smoke. But he then realized it didn''te from a fire but from a smoke bomb. As soon as the cloud of smoke cleared up, the Casten finally learns why the estate was so quiet and no one is answering his calls. The guards who should be guarding the ce are all copsed on the ground, too deep into the dreand that even when the Casten kicked them multiple times in the head and body that would normally make anyone wince in pain didn''t even wake them up. They are still asleep and no amount of violence and noise could wake them up. He looked around at why this was happening until he suddenly realized something. He turned to look at where his harvest from the other day should be sitting. He made sure it was fully guarded as tonight will be the night he will be doing a delivery to the City of the Clouds. It was a whole year of ie from him due to its high-ss quality vegetables and fruits packed inside the crates with pocket dimensions that can carry lots of weight and resources. It was nowhere to be found. He is sure that the delivery is tonight but the moment he learned that those people who should be doing the delivery have gone to sleep, he quickly realized what happened. It was theft and his yearly ie for the vegetables and fruits has been transferred to the void. "F*CCCCCCK!" ... ... ... After we got far enough from the Casten''s mansion, we took all of the crates into our inventory and got rid of the cart itself by burning it up. It was necessary so that even if they managed to follow the tracks, they will just end up at a dead end after doing so. I was thankful enough that I didn''t resort to the emergency ns that I have to make sure the operation was a sess but it''s too bad I didn''t get to properly use the abilities of the Saboteur to the fullest but it doesn''t matter now that the quest is nowplete. "We should get out of here before anyone notices us," Sigma pulled out a teleport scroll as well as Harmless Sparrow. I also pulled out one of my own and tear it up, teleporting all three of us back to the small vige of the rebels. The vige is still busy even at nighttime and it is understandable as they need all the time to make all of the things done as soon as possible. Most of them are working out their weapons and many other items that would be useful for the uing war that will be happening. The three of us went back to the office of in. Currently, in is cleaning up his gear. Just from a single look at it, most of his armor is close to breaking and his sword is already reaching its limit. It just shows that he is not being choosy right now but he has no other choices left but this equipment only. "We are back from our sabotage," Sigma entered the office while knocking on the open door to catch in''s attention. "Oh, you guys are back. So how is everything?" in is clearly anxious about the results. "No worries. We finished the mission outstandingly and we managed to grab the cargo before anyone else can discover our presence. We have some minor setbacks at first but we easily bypassed them and escape with flying colors." Sigma then turned to look at us and made a signal to pull out the crates. "All of the goods are inside. Because it was a crate with a pocket dimension built inside, it is containing lots of resources. Here, this is just an example," I put my hand on the pocket dimension entrance of the crate and pull out an apple." Seeing this, he can''t help but cry. "Finally, everyone will no longer need to die of hunger We can finally have enough food to feed everyone else. We will no longer have to beg from the rich and the powerful for a single scrap of food thrown by them! Thank you! Thank you all, so much." "However, in-san, you shouldn''t rely too much on these rations alone. Have the people of the vige cultivate thend and get them to make their own food. We can''t keep on stealing from those guys forever and supplies that were taken are not something that is forever supplied with the number of people here, it will only take a few months before the stock is gone. "Yes, I know. We don''t just n to continue relying on food stolen from others. We also have to raise our food productivity by a notch. I already formted a n for it so this is no longer much of a problem," in answered. "So that means the mission isplete? And you already have an idea of what we can do." "I admit, I was skeptical about you guys but if you guys managed to grab all of these without getting detected from a fully guarded area like the Estate of the Casten then that alone speaks for itself. You three are now officially part of the rebels. We look forward to working with you three." As soon as he said those words, a panel appeared before us. [You have chosen the Rebel Faction to ally with. All allied forces of the Rebel''s army will now be capable of following your orders. You are now forbidden to enter the cities that are not yet conquered by the rebels. Conquer the faction of the angels and expand the forces and territory of the rebels to increase the power and notoriety of the faction. Finishing this storyline will result in gaining a special reward depending on the war''s oue. Please work hard to make the faction strong!] And so, our entry to the faction of the rebels is nowplete. Andpared to the faction of the angels and the tactician, the rebels have the hardest difficulty managing. Depending on how many yers will join this faction, the faction of the angels will have the most insane advantage and they are the most favored faction to win between the two. But since the other faction has yet to make their proper move, making the rebels stronger and their base muchrger and stronger, it is good enough to defend itself is the next move we needed to make. A headstart is a big advantage but we have to do it as quickly as possible too. "Now that you guys are here, I will be going to issue missions that will increase your standing in the rebels. As you know, the more respected you are to everyone, the better they will view all of you in a good way. Not only that, but this will also help a lot to help out everyone who needs help. There are some missions that I will be posting that are easier and those missions will take some time to finish up. There will be also some missions that I will be going to issue that involve weakening the angel faction." "So all kinds of missions are avable for us and depending on the mission we take, the more reputation we will get every time weplete the job?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Precisely. If we want to stop all of the ns the Tactician, the Casten and the Pope himself are brewing while in the background, we will have to weaken their links, destroy all of the things that will make them stronger, and make sure they will be having a hard time recovering. Once we weakened them enough, we will take over the cities one by one, liberate them from the control of the three powerhouses, and let them learn the truth behind their rulings. It is time to strike back against the oppressors!" Chapter 620 Rescue Operation A few days passed by after we joined the rebel faction. Due to the food that we stole from the Casten, the hunger problems are solved temporarily and it will be enough tost until the end of the month. It''s not a permanent solution so we made a garden that can produce resources even in an enclosed space. Thankfully, my druid abilities have the capability to make nts grow well and produce well so it helped a lot to make it. The only thing that is left is for them to manage it properly so that it will yield good results. As for the other things, we are slowly taking our time with them. Thest few days were all gathering materials needed for the fortification of the rebel''s defensive base. We also n to expand so that the space will not be cramped and will look like a proper town. I also sometimes help maintain the weapons of the rebels. It helps me maintain and at least gain some experience in my cksmithing ex job and to see some designs I might take inspiration from. But all the easy things wille to an end. After the rxing quests, in finally had a new quest that does not involve making the vige prosper. The three of us gathered in in''s office. "The other day, 20 members of the foraging team are taken captive by some of the Casten''s troops. Almost all of them are fallen but there are two members who are not but a part of the family of the fallen angels. Thankfully, they didn''t have any reason to kill them but it seems they are nning to sell them as ves since they are preparing some ve cors." "So our mission is to save them?" I asked. "Not just saving them. This time, we will enforce more force. If they are that desperate for attention then we don''t need to be kind either. They dare endanger the lives of everyone. I don''t like the way they are handling things. We are going to fix up their f*cked ways and let them see that we rebels are not someone they can easily mess up with," in''s voice has a hint of anger but he is concealing it. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do? I know that we should do this to prevent this from happening but what if they retaliate?" "They can retaliate all they want. They did the first thing first, we will strike back." ... ... ... "So, we can start the quest anytime but there is also a time limit of 3 days which means either we start now or we start tomorrow or the next day. What should we do? We will be fighting against NPCs this time around, are you guys ready and prepared for this fight?" Sigma asked the two of us. "I am always ready to do action. We are a bit inactive in action right now so having this quest is good. The faction standing reward is also big too and the reward is also quite good, we shouldn''t waste our time and go head over there immediately," Harmless Sparrow answered then suggested we start the quest immediately. "Huh, so we are on the same page?" I nodded at her suggestion. "Shouldn''t we go for a n on how to get in?" Sigma sounds worried especially how bloodthirsty Harmless Sparrow is when ites to "killing". "We n as we go. Haven''t you done that before?" I looked at Sigma, knowing she has already done it. "Well..." "Then that''s settled. Let''s get going and kick some *ss!" And with that, Sigma was dragged by us two who wanted to see some blood in a fight to fulfill the mission. ... ... ... Site of the mission The three of us have seen visuals of people in arge fishing cabin. It might look like one but the angels are clearly showing no signs of going to fish besides, angels are known to not bother fishing much at all, and only the fallen bothers to do so. So this is the first time someone other than the fallen upied a fishing cabin. Not only that but every one of them is armed with weapons. There is no dungeon near the area and fishes are not that hostile unless they are monster fishes. Having weapons in a fishing cabin is very suspicious already. "Are you guys ready?" Harmless Sparrow already lit up her swords. "Hey, are you guys sure about this? Aren''t we being a little bit hasty on this one?" Sigma is having a hard time trying to stop us and at least help us reconsider our actions. "Hey, hey. Let''s just keep going and sting them away. There is no need to worry if everyone you are worrying about is gone, right? Let''s go!" Seeing Harmless Sparrow run towards the cabin, Sigma can only sigh. I followed next as I agree with Sparrow''s abrupt method. Being calcting is not gonna work in a rescue operation unless they are nning to kill them. Seeing that they are going to sell them as ves, they are still trying to keep them alive. So there is no point in being sneaky. And in wanted to let the Casten know that they are messing with the wrong people. Sparrow jumped through the bushes, causing the guard to get caught off guard and killed by her sword before she can react. Sigma and I immediately back her up by eliminating the others on the side who witness the killing. "You little pieces of sh*t! Come on out!" Harmless Sparrow then released bright red mes on her body, part of the Aura abilities of the Scarlet Swordsman skill tree. The ruckus made the remaining armed angelse out from where they are hiding. "We are under attack!" "Kill them all! There are only three of them!" "Don''t let them get away!" Due to the provocation of Harmless Sparrow, the angels are now in a disarray regarding what to do. Sigma is also worried. "Hey, Sigma. Go ahead and rescue everyone inside while the guards are still intimidated by Sparrow''s little taunt, kill any enemies on sight." When Sigma heard this, she nodded and immediately kicked the door open and entered the cabin while Sparrow and I are left to be thest defense against them. Sparrow immediately strikes the iing soldiers, kills them as fast as they can, and not letting them speak. As for me, I easily brought most of them down with a quick swing of my weapon. I don''t need to even bother using skills as attacking them is too easy. They don''t pose a threat to me who is on level 200. A few secondster, Sigma returned. "deheart, the count is missing one person. What are we going to do?" "Go ask them, I will go ask some of the guards here. Just ignore Sparrow for now as she is still enjoying her task." I think I already have an idea of why we are missing one more person from the group. It seems there are traitors from their group and I don''t think I am just making this up. There are some betrayals that are totally scripted enough and this quest is not an exception. After a few seconds, Sigma returned and she frowned. "They were betrayed by someone. As a result, they were captured by the enemy. There is a mole in the group!" "So someone is betraying them? Damn, let''s worry about thatter. Get ready, we will be teleporting back to the base." I opened the inventory and pull the [Area Teleport] scroll. "Sparrow! Are you done there? Let''s get going!" "Not yet! Someone strong showed up!" Hearing that, I shoved the scroll to Sigma. "Teleport everyone back to the base, Sparrow and I will catch upter. Prioritize their safety first!" "Alright. If you guys take too long to return, I will being back here," Sigma took the scroll and stood at the center of the hostages before tearing the scroll. After hearing that there is a strong guy, I think I already have an idea who it was. Especially if the situation is about the kidnapping of the fallen. Going ready for my weapon, I jumped out of the building and joined Sparrow who is fighting the ve trader. A hulking man who has tiny wings on his back. But he has a deformed look on his face, looking like he is a monster than an angel. "UGYAAAAHAHHHH!" The ve trader screamed but because of his speech pattern, he sounded bad. "Be careful on him, Sparrow. This guy can be strong and can beat us up if we are not careful!" "Yeah, I know. He used a skill earlier that almost got me. We just needed to destroy his health bar as fast as we can!" I nodded and I cast [Kekkai] on his legs, stopping him from moving. "Sparrow! Kill him now!" Chapter 621 Multiple Slave Traders Harmless Sparrow acted as quickly as she can because, in a blink of an eye, she was right next to the ve Trader that even the former did not expect it. With a swing from her ming de, she swiftly shes the neck of the ve Trader cleanly so that it didn''t even spill blood at all. The head fell and toppled after it got separated from its body. Harmless Sparrow thennd on her feet as she sheathed her weapon back to her waist, but... "Look out Sparrow! The battle is not yet over!" BANG! Harmless Sparrow barely dodged the attack but she was unharmed. She pulled out her weapon again and she saw that the headless ve Trader has grown its head once more. As for the head that got cut off, it grows another body, identical to the original body, with all the clothes and equipment on it. As a result, a second hulking ve Trader appeared before us. In short, the single ve trader became two. "What the heck? This f*cker divided itself into two!" Sparrow didn''t like what she had seen. After all, she cut off its head but then will just have another body for it to move again. "Get ready for a long battle, Sparrow! I think we are up against something annoying this time around!" The ve Trader is not that strong but he was an annoying enemy not because of his attacks but because he can multiply himself by dividing himself. Sounds confusing? You see what happened earlier, that''s how it was. Once its body has been cut to pieces, each piece will regenerate another set of bodies for it, basically multiplying its numbers but because it needs to be dismembered in some way, it was like division. So yeah, more annoying if I say so myself. "Sparrow, just kill the guy normally! Don''t cut him to pieces or else he will start to multiply again!" But that is the big problem with this guy. He will deliberately allow himself to be cut to pieces just so he can multiply himself and if the enemy won''t do so, he will just do it himself. The only way to defeat him is to keep hitting him without getting dismembered or decapitated in any attacks. He is also immune to magic so it''s another annoying problem that I can''t use any skills that will allow me to engulf him in mes or bathe him in electricity. I created a [Kekkai] to seal up the first ve Trader first so that we can focus on our attacks on the second one but the f*cker is smart enough and dodges it by putting his weapon out before the [Kekkai] manifest and blocked it from fully creating an enclosed jail. He then tears it open like a madman and walks out from it as if nothing happened. The moment he got out of the [Kekkai], I pulled out the Pain Delivery and shot him and his other clone in the head multiple times. However, from the looks of it, not only the magic spells make him immune, even the bullets too which is f*cking annoying as he absorbs both bullets I shot off. "F*cking sh*t, he is also immune to that?!" I cussed before running towards the ve trader and changed my weapon into the Hands of Midas, and started punching the f*cker like crazy. Thankfully, I am higher level than the ve Trader since I have already reached level 200 and my stats are pretty much very high already but that doesn''t mean everything is over. The moment I killed the other half that spawned after Sparrow cut off its head, the remaining ve Trader saw that I already figured out its weakness and decided to cut his own hands on his own this time around. The ve Trader cut off his left hand and right leg, immediately spawning three more ve Traders. Sparrow was about to stop the guy from doing so but she was hit by a gunshot by it. Thankfully, she didn''t get killed by it as it just grazed her. But now, the ve Trader is now multiplying and spawned two more f*ckers. He also regenerated the lost limbs back as well. "I''m sorry, deheart! I couldn''t stop the guy from multiplying in time!" Sparrow picked up her sword again as she drank a potion to restore her health. "It''s not a big problem but we have to deal with him as soon as possible or else, we will just be on a loop of killing his clones over and over again!" Gripping the Versatile Weapon on its gauntlet form, I asked the Shadow Dragon if it wants to eat the ve Trader but the Shadow Dragon shook its head and rubbed its stomach which means, it is f*cking full. Damn, what the heck did you eat? I thought you would be a little bit greedy, why are you avoiding food now? The ve traders were about to cut off its body parts again when gold chains appeared and wrapped off its body, rendering it from moving any funny moves. "Looks like I arrived just in time. Looks like you guys are having a hard time?" Sigma appeared, with her arms crossed and the chains she controlled, freely tying up the three ve traders. "Not really, it''s just that this annoying f*cker is dividing again and again. We just needed to deal with him as fast as we can without cutting him to pieces but knowing him, he will deliberately cut himself up. Sparrow is not able to help much as her magic is rendered useless and her sword easily cuts off the guy to pieces, prolonging the battle." "I am sorry for being useless," Sparrow scratches her head as she kicks the ve Trader multiple times. "Why you didn''t just let your weapon devour this guy?" "I tried to let it do so but it doesn''t want to eat and it keeps on telling me it is currently full." "Unfortunate, but there is a way to kill this guy right?" "Yeah, anything that would deal blunt damage will do the trick." "Sucks then since my current weapon is a greatsword and most of my skills are all sharp things but I can keep it restrained and you go for the kill then." "That would help a lot." Sigma controlled her gold chains of hers and tightened up the three guys without holding back, slowly lowering its HP. I jumped in front of the first ve Trader and started punching repeatedly on its body. Because the big guy is not able to even move due to the chains, he became my punching bag for a few minutes before he died from the excessive beating. I repeated the same thing to the second trader and also killed it just the same. When ites to the third, it tried to run away by trying to break the chains to pieces but because the gold chains of Sigma are indestructible since it was from her skill, it only continues to stretch the chain but did nothing to it. "Stop moving you little b*tch!" I charged up my punch and punch his head with all my might, causing his head to burst and die, ending his life in the process. I know that he got divided once again after his flesh exploded to pieces but because the way it was done is being killed by punching, it was not counted which was weird but that''s just how his revival was always done. He died as a result but that is a good thing as I am tired of him. If Sigma didn''te along to restrain him, I would have had no choice but to ask for the others to distract and stop the guy from moving so that I can deliver the final blow. "Looks like the guy is dead. Did you get any loot or experience points?" Sigma asked. "Sad, but no. It seems it was a boss that has no experience value given once killed," I answered as I look at the log and see that there are no rewards for killing an annoying enemy. "Seriously? No rewards at all? All of that for nothing?!" Harmless Sparrow is angry. After all, she was rendered useless in the battle due to how the guy was designed. She was pissed. "Anyways, now that the guy is gone, let''s get out of here. The boss is waiting for the good news." Stretching a bit, I grab an [Area Teleport] and tear it to two, teleporting us out of the area as the body of the ve Trader disintegrates. ... ... ... When deheart and the others are gone, one guy appeared behind the trees not too far from the location of everyone. Because they were too busy dealing with the ve Trader, he was not spotted at all. He smirks as he turn his back and disappears once more. Chapter 622 First Siege Warning Someone was clearly watching us before we went back but since it didn''t follow us after we teleported, I can assume that it is only there to watch how strong we are and scale whether we are too dangerous or not. But knowing that they are watching us, I have some doubts about whether it was alright for me to just leave that person out. Anyways, we returned to the vige and most of the captive vigers were already untied from their bindings. in is also there administering first aid to people who have been wounded. I stopped in from doing so and I cast an [Area Heal], healing everyone from their wounds. "Just save up the medicine for the next time. It would be best if you have extra medicine in case we are not here to provide any aid," I patted in''s shoulders. "Thank you very much for the help. However, is it true that someone betrayed us and decided to sell us out to the Angels?" in asked. "That''s what I heard, I don''t even know whether that is true or not but I can tell that some of the Angels might have bribed that guy some gold and when tempted to do so, he did. I might guess that guy must be dead by now. After all, the Angels will not give any respect to anyone who betrays them and seeing one who willingly betrays hispanions for money, it is clear they will dispose of him too." "Very likely. However, even if they don''t and he returns alive here, I will not ept him again, I am not brain-dead enough to let someone who almost led all of the innocents suffer for their whole life." in confirmed that wepleted the quest but before we can go back to the rxation, one of in''s spies that are tracking information outside of the base appeared before us. "Boss, I have an urgent matter to report." "Speak." "The Casten might being back again tounch an attack and end the rebels once and for all. They are going tounch a full attack on us." "Are you sure about this news?" "Yes. It''s urate info. We are even scoping how big of a group will he be bringing in to take down us." "Thanks. You may go. Keep track of the movement of the enemies. If they are already on the way, let us know." "Roger." And with that, the spy disappeared once more while in grips his sword tightly. "Calm down, in. Getting too rash will just result in our failure. There are still a few hours left before the attack will begin. We still have time to fortify and arm everyone so that we can respond to the attack. It''s just a warning." "Still, I am sure that the Casten is very eager for us to disappear in the face of this world." "We will show him that even if our numbers are small, that doesn''t mean they can easily erase our existence here. Don''t worry, we will be here to support you. Alright, let''s get moving. The more we idle, the more the Casten will be ready for the attack. Let''s make sure this little fortress we made will be imprable and will stop him from moving forward." ... ... ... There are no more breaks. With an undetermined time when the Casten is going to attack, fortifying the base as fast as possible and letting everyone hold a weapon is slowly working. Also, to avoid heavy casualties, we will be the vanguard and shield in this operation. That way, the soldiers will be able to fire their projectiles at the enemy in the distance, keeping the enemies in the distance, and can just focus on anyone who managed to slip away from our attacks. If only I know what transpired here in the past timeline, I would have already predicted what will be happening but it''s also good that I don''t know. This is a fresh ythrough and without the walkthrough advantage I have, all I can do is rely on my knowledge of how the angels usually fight. Right now, I am currently making a few weapons for the other rebels and on the sidelines, I am also repairing their weapons and armor back to tip-top shape. Harmless Sparrow and Sigma are all both in charge of fortifying the base. With Sparrow having a piece of good knowledge in fortifying the base to be essible but still retaining the defensive status and Sigma''s capable aura to lead, the progress was smoothly happening. While I am currently on a break, Lucia started to speak. "Master. How about you allow us to help? We would easily defeat the Casten and beat up everyone that dares to attack the camp!" "It was a good suggestion Lucia but not right now. You guys are my final aces. If things are not going well, you guys will be there to help save the day and to increase thebat capabilities of our ranks. Not only that but I don''t want to expose you guys to the enemies who are still gauging our abilities. That way, they will not expect you guys to appear if I ever drop you all out to fight. The element of surprise is with us." "Master is right, Lucia-sama. It''s best we show up during the climax of the battle. Showing up your aces too early will mess up all of the ns and the enemies will expect you already. They will start preparing for something that can counter their abilities and that is bad. We are in a war of attrition here. We win if we keep our aces unrevealed," As exined. As is very knowledgeable in battle tactics indeed. As expected of someone who has lived and fought during the original primordial wars, he is making use of what he learned in the past. As for Lucia, she is still too green in war and although she experienced it, she didn''t experience it that long as she was sealed by her parents. She still needed to see more experience in war to know how wars will go. ... ... ... 4 hourster, the same spy from before reappeared once more. "My lord, the Casten is on the move. He is bringing a group of 5,000 soldiers with him. Half are all mages and half are cavalrymen. They are estimated to arrive this evening, 5 hours from now." "That soon huh? And from the looks of it, he is nning to surround the whole vige so that we don''t have any escape huh?" in shook his head. "Are you going to run away?" I asked him. "Who? Me? Hahaha, you are joking, right? Until I breathe myst, I will defend thest bastion of hope to all those who have been rejected by this society just because we are fallen from the angel race doesn''t mean we are not angels either. We will be protecting the rights of everyone who has been abandoned by those strictws of theirs and survive!" Everyone who heard this started shouting in unison. "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!" The unity of the rebel army is just present despite the overwhelming disadvantage. Having in as their leader made the rebel army stronger. I apud him in the past timeline, he fought until he breathed hisst just like what he said right now. He didn''t give up and although in the past timeline, he didn''t seed, I will make sure that in this timeline, everything will seed. Since we still have 5 hours left before their arrival, everyone started finishing their jobs and worked faster. The looming war is already weighing down on everyone but no one is cking and wallowing in despair. Everyone is ready to fight, ready to die, and ready to defend the family that they have made. As for me, I am always ready. I have always been ready. ... ... ... 5 hourster... Just like the spy said, the Casten is already nearing the base with the angels behind him marching as they are about to surround the vige. "Close the gates!" in shouted as he was standing on the top of the walls created watching everyone below him. The workers immediately responded and roll down the chains, closing down the gate, and stopping everyone and everything from the outside from entering. The Casten appeared before us, riding in a white horse. He is wearing a very bright armor that is too polished that I can see my reflection on it. He looks like he was about to go to a fashion show instead of a battle due to the armor he has right now. I tried to appraise but was disappointed that it has a very bad defensive stat and it doesn''t even have much protection that it would beparable to a level 50 armor worn by yers and usually are dropped by level 50 armored skeleton. "ursed Rebels! Surrender now, or prepare to die in the name of the God of Life!" "Ha! Suckers! Preach somewhere else! We will not be dying today!" Chapter 623 The Siege The arrival of the soldiers of the Casten surely made everyone a bit shaken after learning that they are already right on their doorstep. After all, it was the first time a massive amount of soldiers areing to their doorstep and with only a few people tobat the number of soldiers invading, it''s not a wonder they feel the threat is big enough to fear for their lives. I can also see the nervousness on in. "You nervous, man?" I tapped his shoulder. "Heh, not really. More like I am excited. After all, if the Casten decided to bring out most of his troops just to wipe out a measly group like us means he views us as a big threat he can''t ignore." He grins like a crazy guy. Definitely one of Dolly''s people. Now that the enemies are already marching at our doorstep, I signal in to do it in which he nodded in response before giving out themand. "Everyone. This will be our first battle that will be involving the Casten''s soldiers. We are facing a quarter of his army and although that is just a very small amount for him, that is already very big for us. However, we will not yield! This is our home, the sanctuary! The Bastion andst hope for us who are thrown away, neglected, and have been persecuted by thews of the Angels. Give them the answer that we will not just stand down and surrender. Lift your heads up high, we will defend the ce that we call home, and together, we will fight all of our oppressors. This is our liberation!" His speech of in seems to pump up action in the blood of everyone they all screamed in unison. "Now, let''s all begin defending our home! Do not let all of those bastards ruin ournd! Protect it!" Everyone immediately went to their post. in looked at the three of us with a grin on his face. "Let''s win this unwinnable war, shall we?" "Heh, you got it," and the two of us make a fist bump. After that, we jumped off from the wall together with Sigma and Harmless Sparrow and activated our flight ability tond on the ground. "Are you sure guys that I should go ahead and wreck them up?" I asked the two. "Isn''t that the main n? You are the only Versatile among us and you have the ability to use [Stealth] so for us to go there would be a waste of time. Go wreck them out and regreting here. Make chaos." "Alright guys, defend the port, while I make some chaos there, make sure no one else will pass by." After that, I activated my [Stealth] ability and continued flying toward the marching army while Sigma and Harmless Sparrownded nearby. I am really excited since this will be the first time I will be wreaking havoc against NPCs and not monsters for the first time. Time to get wild I guess. Silentlynding at the very back of the marching angels are the mages who are focused on chanting their spells so that they can fire it up when needed and maintain it, they need to put all focus on it without regarding the surroundings which are why they are faced behind the marching group with armored angels covering them from the front. "Heh, let the carnage begin!" I grab one of the mages and stab his back, and before I can dispose of the body, the shadow dragon opened its mouth, swallowed the mage, and demanded more. Well, that is an easy way to dispose of bodies then. And since I was not detected after killing the first guy, I continue the killing of the mages. No one noticed it yet and I don''t know why they have not noticed. Perhaps because the armored guys are fully armored head to toe, the head armor only allows them to watch up ahead and not realize what was happening behind them. It didn''t take too long for me to dispose of almost all of the mages in one attempt. And without the bodies scattered about as they are all devoured by the shadow dragon, there is no evidence the mages are killed either. They were like they disappeared. After killing every single mage on the backline, I retreated, cast [Stealth], and followed behind in case they have something cooking behind as well, that way, I can sabotage it as fast as I can. The march continues on, with the soldiers quietly marching through the road. They still didn''t realize that the mages they have are all gone so I am not sure why they still didn''t realize that arge portion of their manpower to do a proper siege is now gone. There are archers in middle but they are just archers and I don''t see anyone carrying a gun or a cannon so it seems they are relying on the mages to show the firepower of the Casten''s army. But with that gone, is there any firepower left except their defensive power? I don''t even view the Casten as someone strong. He doesn''t possess much power and he easily died back in the past timeline as well. Casten''s army continues to march until they reach the area where they are only a few kilometers from the vige that are now walled with everyone waiting to bombard the Casten''s army a pack of pain. In front of them are Harmless Sparrow and Sigma standing to stop the march? The casten stopped the marching army and he move forward. "So the rebels decided to employ adventurers instead of going out to face our massive army, huh? Bunch of cowards they are," the casten started mocking in immediately. "Huh, really? Isn''t that a tactic? There is nothing wrong with hiding behind walls if you wanted to win. This is war after all and there is no such thing as chivalry and turns in wars. Don''t spout your chivalry bullcrap all of a sudden," Sparrow spits fire at the Casten. The Casten didn''t like what Sparrow said to him. "sphemous! You are insulting the Goddess of Life! And for siding with the fallen rebels, you all are a disgrace." Sigma stepped forward, puts her arms crossed, and stood in front of the Casten. "We don''t care. If you really want to preach your religion, preach somewhere else. Preach that bullsh*t somewhere you get some ears to listen in." Sigma''s words seem to have triggered something in Casten. "This is no longer eptable. You all will be dying today! Soldiers, forward!" The armored angels started moving forward, with metals nging with every step on their feet. They are ready to fight and use their spears to fight Sigma and Harmless Sparrow but they sure picked the wrong opponent. CRASH! Large gold chains appeared out of nowhere, mowing down a fewnes of the soldiers. "I would start running if I were you guys. Escaping is not an option when I am around." And then, screams started to echo all around as the gold chains started their attacks. Can''t believe I managed to survive an assault of those thousand chains during thest Battle For Blood and emerge as the winner. Despite a lot of their numbers getting demolished by the chains, the soldiers are unyielding and started attacking. But Sparrow intervenes and with a sword zing hot in her hands, she started slicing and burning every single soldier who is attacking them. Not a single one is being saved as a result. The Casten didn''t like it when just two adventurers are pummeling and shoveling them without effort so he decided to switch targets instead. "MEN! IGNORE THE TWO ADVENTURERS, TO THE REBEL''S WALLS! BURN THEM DOWN! TEAR THEM DOWN, BRING THEM DOWN TO PIECES!" The soldiers followed the orders of the Casten but because they are facing Sigma and Harmless Sparrow, running is not an option. It''s either they beat them up or get killed by them. "Where are you ants going?" BANG BANG BANG! Multiple giant crosses fell to the ground, surrounding the invading army with the light, and started to release more chains. "Impossible. Why are you using the power of the Goddess of Life despite not believing her?! Uneptable! This is uneptable!" the Casten looked like he was malding a lot. "Gonna cry?" Sigma grinned and multiple gold chains came falling down to the ground, piercing through the running soldiers. "MAGES! BURN DOWN THE WALLS! DON''T LEAVE THE WALLS STANDING BY THE TIME YOU ALL FINISHED FIRING MAGIC TO THOSE WALLS!" the Casten shouted. However, no one responded. In fact, it seems like no one even listened. He looked behind him and realized that all of the mages that were still chanting earlier are all gone. Not a single one of them is there. It was like they are swallowed by someone without them knowing. The strongest firepower the Casten was trying to use, disappeared like smoke blown by the wind. Chapter 624 Army Of Three My appearance at the back is in recement of all the mages. Even the armored soldiers didn''t expect the mages that were previously hanging out behind them are gone in an instant. Of course, it''s not an instantaneous disappearance but hey, if they didn''t know, they didn''t know. "Where are my mages? What is going on?!" "Haha, why are you looking for them when I am here?" I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and slowly approach the armored soldiers. I know I have the surprise element before but because they are weak enough for me to handle, even if I just fight them barehanded, I will still win without a doubt. "Attack! Kill that guy! Kill him!" The armored angels immediately made their move and started heading to attack me. However, it''s a matchup that is totally disadvantageous for them. The moment they are on my range, I transformed my Versatile Weapon into a gauntlet. To be honest, I am liking using the gauntlet fighting this guy. It was like experiencing a gang fight and manually beating up anyone who tries to beat you up except they are using swords and wearing armor. A sword ising down to get down to me which I immediately blocked by raising my right arm and letting the gauntlet parry it. Another one closes in on my side and was about to attack as well but I just grab his head using the gap of his helmet to keep my grasp full before mming the head down to the ground with a grand m that buries his head into the ground. And that has no skills added to me, just pure basic attack without any buffs added. I am just using the unorthodox way of fighting which is street fighting. After dealing with the second guy, I returned my attention to the first guy who tried to attack me with his sword. By deflecting the sword, I kicked him in the abdomen, but since he is wearing armor, that kick didn''t do anything to him that is not the case with the follow-up after he staggered a little bit. CLACK! The sound of the helmet caving in as my fist meets the helmet echoes and the poor guy was sent flying into the distance. Whatever happened to the poor guy, bless his soul. With every punch I made, the armor they wear felt like nothing but a bunch of scraps made into armor as they easily break through and get destroyed to pieces. No wonder my father likes punching and fighting using martial arts and unorthodox way of techniques in battle, this was indeed enjoyable enough. After a few beatings, the soldiers that are just waiting to attack me are all frozen on their spot, not even daring to approach or fight me. The Casten is now too angry as most of his people are already crushed or pierced by the golden chain and then therees me who beats up the armored guys like nothing. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL AFRAID OF?! WE ARE NUMEROUS IN NUMBERS! THEY ARE JUST THREE WINGLESS BASTARDS! GET THEM!" I then spotted Harmless Sparrow grin widely as she swings her sword with mes on the de. "YEAH! COME AND GET US! LET''S ALL HAVE SOME FUN!" And chaos ensues as Sparrow started using one of the AOE skills, [mes of the Dancing Embers] as she started showing her dance skills by moving the sword gracefully while hitting the enemies without fail. Every single guy dies and gets burned. Even if they wear armor, the mes of Harmless Sparrow''s skills pack a lot of heat and there is no way a simple thin armor that is easily destroyed with a punch wouldst from mes. Sigma also didn''t stop decimating all of the guys that try to approach the fort, while for those who are leaving, I am the one they are facing and none of them has woken up ever since. I don''t know if they have died or not, but that''s none of my business. In just a matter of minutes, the thousand troops that were there to make a siege on the rebel''s vige had been decimated by three people. In a span of that minutes, the Casten only sits on his horse, still frozen to all of the violence that urred that no one from his army survived. In the end, he was the only one left behind. "Leaving the worst for thest huh? That''s cool and all, but what makes him special anyways?" Harmless Sparrow flicks away the umted blood on her sword before facing the Casten who is still pretty angry that his army of angels is just gone in the span of a few minutes after their arrival. "What an absolute uselessmander, he can''t even fight alongside his army. Nowe down your horse so that we can proceed to beat you up!" The Casten no longer can handle the trouble and decided to pull out his flute and start ying it. A few secondster, arge firebird and a lion with electricity running on its body appeared. They are bigger than normal and they looked like mini-bosses. "My PETS! ANNIHILATE THEM!" I can only shake my head after seeing this. Now he relies on his pet? What about his prowess? Is he just totally useless? The monsters obeyed his orders and the very first one they started to attack is Sigma who is using a ranged attack. It seems they are trained to deal with the weakest part of the enemies first before moving to those who are stronger in melee. They graciously evaded all of her chains and went straight to her. However, instead of moving, Sigma calls out two names. "ALPHA, BETA. It''s lunchtime." The two monsters are just in the vicinity when tworge mouths appeared behind Sigma and dived outside, swallowing the two monsters in one bite, instantaneously killing them before going back to their portal like that was nothing. As for the Casten, he was stunned. He tried to y the flute again but the monsters he called before did not appear again. For yers, they will revive but for NPCs? It depends on how they died. Seeing that they were swallowed hole with a crunch by the pets of Sigma, I doubt they wille back again. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?! WHERE ARE MY LEGENDARY PETS?! WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS?!" the Casten can only grab his hair and have a mental breakdown. "Are you blind or are you just purposely avoiding it because you can''t handle the truth? They died, that simple." "AAAAAAHHHHHH! CURSE YOU ALL! I WILL GET MY REVENGE NEXT TIME!" He then crushed a blue stone in his hands and he disappeared and teleported away. "Ah sh*t, he ran away! Should we follow him to his residence?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Don''t worry, I already ced a tracker at him before he realized it. We can just go and assassinate him anytime you guys wanted to. In fact, we can do itter at night if you guys wanted to," I then revealed my little map showing his location which he returned to his manor. "Later then, we will have to see if there are any hidden stragglers nearby and clean up the mess of these dead bodies and if there are any survivors, just tie them up. We will ask in if he has any use for prisoners after this." And so, the first deration of war and the so-called "siege" that never really happened has finally been done. Casualties on the rebels'' side? Zero. Casualties on the enemies'' side? Except for their leader, all of them have fallen in battle with only a few who are brought alive as they managed to survive with fatal wounds and injuries in their bodies. The first actual win from the enemies without stalling time to tire out the enemies. You can say that this was their first-ever win ever since the rebels started their rebellion. ... ... ... When we returned to the vige, all of the vigers and soldiers are cheering for us the moment we stepped in. It was like they are weing heroesing back alive after fighting enemies that would end the world. With them is in who is pping alongside them. "I don''t know what to say at this guys. You guys really outdid the performance this time. You guys literally defended the ce without letting every single one of them get close to us. We felt a bit useless without getting to do any actions at all, " inughed. "This is just the beginning, in. The enemies will not stop until the very end until the rebel group is destroyed. We will have to prepare for a grander battle. If we wanted to stop the pope from doing what he was set to do, then all we can do is keep winning," I seriously told him but then Harmless Sparrow put her arm on my shoulder and raise her arm. "Let''s worry about thatter, deheart! A win is a win! Let''s celebrate!" Once more, cheers came from the crowd. As much as I want to keep going serious, I guess I should at least chill out for a bit. Everything is not so bad after all. Chapter 625 Interrogation After the celebration of the sessful defense against the army that the Casten brought to potentially siege the rebel''s vige, the three of us went to in''s office to tell him we will finish the job. When we entered, in is cleaning his gear as usual. Although he didn''t have a chance to fully use his weapon and armor, he never ceases to clean them. "in, are you busy?" I asked. in stopped wiping his sword and looked up. He wiped his sweat and stood up from his chair when he realized it was us. "Oh, sorry. Didn''t realize you guys entered. Come on, sit down. I am not busy, I will be preparing some beverages for you guys." "No need in, we are not here to chat. We are here to ask permission if can perform a follow-up operation after thest defense mission. We want to finish the thing right this evening," Sigma bluntly revealed. "A follow-up mission?" in frowned since he is not sure what Sigma was talking about "We are talking about "dispatching" the Casten tonight," Harmless Sparrow whispered in in''s ear though loud enough for Sigma and me to hear. "W-what? Are you guys out of your mind? Do you three want to go and deal with him right now after he retreated? I know you guys are strong but this is a suicide mission!" "He is most vulnerable right now so it is better to strike while the iron is hot," Sigma reasoned. "I know that this is the opportunity but did you guys think he wouldn''t have any men to spare to guard his house fully right now? His ce would be armed to teeth right now so I am going to say that this is very outrageous and dangerous." "Looks like you are underestimating our capabilities," Harmless Sparrow furrowed her brows. "No, I am not underestimating you three. But being overconfident wille and bite you. This is a warning so that you guys knew that what you guys are trying to do would be the death of you all. I am worried you guys are just going to waltz in and just go ham on everyone there. I think this is not the right time." "Don''t worry in, we are not amateurs in this job after all. We know what we are doing so you don''t need to be worried at all. We might regret it if we don''t finish up that guy and he will bring a stronger army. The sooner we eliminate the main threat, the better it is for us so that we can focus on the tactician himself. He will be the second main threat. Finishing off the Casten will weaken the link between the enemies and they will have loose control over the ce. It will be a big benefit to all of us." And we spent a few more minutes arguing with him. Despite his wishes to not do the deed, he eventually said yes after we pester him without stopping. "Fine, you guys win. I will permit it, but since you guys are the ones who pester me about this, I will not be going to issue any reward with thepletion of the task. This is a big mistake so I hope you guys would think this through after this. You guys would really be in big trouble and I can''t bail you all out after this," in can only shake his head. "Don''t worry, we will bring the good news, you won''t be worried." Because the quest is not an official quest, there is no prompt for us on whether the Casten is the target or not. There are no objectives either. More like we can choose who we want to beat and kill like in some open-world games where you can start killing enemies present on the map even though you are still not supposed to go there. "So what is the main n?" "Can I trust you guys to make a ruckus while I am going to handle the main kill?" "That''s easy. I really want to see you assassinate that bastard but since we don''t have any Ninja or Assassin skills that can help us with that, I guess we will just be better off fighting thoseckeys of his." "Then that is settled. It''s already dark out now. Let''s finish this so that we can start resting after we are done. Shall we?" "Heh, I am always ready. I am just waiting on you guys," Sparrow grinned. "Alright. Time to get this questplete because it will notplete itself! Let''s go!" ... ... ... In the manor full of guards outside, a frustrated Casten is drinking away his loss after seeing his overwhelming defeat. If he didn''t escape that time, he would be part of the people bing corpses there. Just thinking about how everyone was defeated despite the overwhelming numbers of them is unbelievable. In fact, if he tell anyone that his army that he marched on the ins to conquer one small vige was annihted by three people, no one would believe it. Cannot contain his anger, he threw the ss of wine ss to the wall, sshing all of the broken ss to the floor. "F*CK! THOSE BASTARDS DARE TO STOP ME? THEY ALL DARE TO STOP ME JUST BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEY ARE SUPERIOR! F*CKIING BASTARDS WILL DIE THE NEXT TIME I WILL SEE THEM. I AM NOT JUST GOING TO LET THEM LEAVE ALIVE. I WILL TEAR THEM APART LIMB BY LIMB THE NEXT TIME THEY APPEAR TO ME." The Casten is known to be a valiant leader, someone who will lead an army to victory and will always achieve that result without fail. However, if anyone knew that he retreated the moment all of the soldiers he brought with him were wiped out, he will be theughingstock of everyone and that is something that he really doesn''t want to see happen to himself. His failure, the incident that forced him to flee, it will forever stain his pride. He is not ready to ept it. He is not ready that his untarnished record would be easily tarnished like this. As he sat down on his chair and put his face down on the table face t, he heard some noises outside his window but he is too tired to even bother with all of the sh*ts he experienced that day. And with the alcohol he drank finally kicking in, his consciousness is also fading away. He just wanted toze away and forget everything that happened earlier are just one big and long dream he experienced. Once he closes his eyes, everything will be back to normal, everything will be good as new and everything will be just like it once before. But then, he slowly heard someone talking in his room. He is too tired to care or even open his eyes but he heard almost everything. "Wow! Just my luck! Isn''t this a pretty good oue even for me? I thought I would be going to do some fights but this is fine too!" And then, his consciousness slowly drifts through the dreand. ... ... ... The Casten opened his eyes and soon enough, he realized that he is sitting in a chair. He tried to stand up but then he realized that he cannot do so as something is binding his body from doing so. He opened his eyes and tried to move his hands but he also realized that even his hands are tied. He shook his head to fully wake himself up and blink a few more times to look at what is happening to him. "Looks like you are finally awake. That took you long enough, man. I thought you wouldn''t even bother waking up or something like that." He frowned when he saw the three people from before who ughtered all of his soldiers currently in his bedroom. He tried to speak but he realized that something is blocking his mouth from doing so and he can''t spit it out so that he can speak. He can only do some grunts and muffled noises due to the restriction. He also tried to force himself to drag the chair he was sitting on too but there was no movement at all. "Give it up. I made sure the chair won''t be dragged away from you and escape so I hammered and nailed the legs down to the floor so that the chair will remain there, unmoving and motivated to handle anything that will being soon." The Casten shook his head, makes a lot of muffle noises, and tried to wriggle his way out from the rope that is tying his body to the chair. However, it was too tight that he is having a hard time too. "Now then, perhaps it is time to learn some info from you, yes?" The Casten''s eyes went wide when an insect person appeared behind the guy wearing a wolf mask carrying a few sharp needles and even a scissor and needle and thread. "Let''s begin the operation now, shall we?" said deheart who is slowly approaches the terrified Casten who is about to wet his pants. Chapter 626 The Relic Of Demons We are currently inside the manor of the Casten and because the area around the Casten is not a neutral area but a hostile area for us three, all of us are capable of harming the NPCs here and we are capable of ending their lives if we wanted to. We can also heal them if we let them get sshed by potions that heal wounds but other than that, they would be suffering from pain and more brutal things can be done to enhance the experience of pain. Right now, the Casten is suffering from the wounds that I inflicted on him with the knife I use to harvest materials from monsters. If I use the knife version of my Versatile Weapon, this guy would die before we can get info from him based on the damage that can be inflicted by it alone. A harvesting knife is a tool that does 1 damage if used to fight enemies but it doesn''t mean that anyone hurt by the de will not feel pain, in fact, stabbing someone with it, especially an NPC would still cause them to cry in pain and beg to stop. It can be done to yers as well but since some yers have made the pain receptors to the lowest levels, it is not a rmended tactic to interrogate a yer, but it''s a different story if it was an NPC. Right now, the Casten is crying in pain even though I just only stab the harvesting knife into his hands. Perhaps the effect of the [Pain Enhancer Domain] is already taking effect and the Casten is just having a very hard time trying to endure the pain the weapon is inflicting on him despite the 1 damage he is receiving. "Just kill me already! You brutes will not receive any single wording from me!" "No, no. Where is the fun in that? See, the enjoyment should be prolonged because the experience is what really matters," I whispered in his ear as I slowly carve the Harvesting Knife on his flesh, bit by bit, cutting through like a piece of paper. "Augggggghhhhhhhhhh!" His face contorted to a really ugly one as he tries to endure the scraping knife on his body. "Perhaps this wasn''t enough..." Grabbing the handle of the Harvesting Knife, I activated the Magic Knight skill to it, heating up the de of the weapon. I know that it was working as the flesh on his hands starts to emit smoke and the smelling from it is burnt flesh. "AAAAAAAHHH!" It seems the pain was too much for him to handle that he peed on his pants as a result. He then fainted after. "He fainted," Sigma stood up and snacks his cheeks, though it didn''t hurt at all. "Perhaps it was too much of a simtion for him I think?" Harmless Sparrow sat up on the bed of the Casten. "Perhaps lessening the pain would work?" "Lessening the pain on someone in torturing won''t give you any result. That is the main rule about it. If you want to squeeze out information on them, make them suffer but don''t let them die, make them feel the pain and experience every single kind of feeling while their mind is no longer able to handle it that they would wish to die instead." I immediately punch his gut and balls out, causing him to surprisingly open his eyes and his body stiffened. "Good, you are awake again. Looks like you still won''t say anything huh? Perhaps we should employ some different stuff then," pulling off the Harvesting Knife out, I pulled out a bitter Mana Potion out before turning to look at Harmless Sparrow. "Do you need my help?" Harmless Sparrow looks expectant. "Have you learned the [Mana Drain] skill? I have it but I can''t use it while I am trying to extract information on him at the same time." "[Mana Drain]? Yeah, I do have it. What should I do?" "Drain his mana, all of it without fail." Although confused, Sparrow did what I told her to do and started draining his mana. Soon, veins in his forehead started to pop out. "GAHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! AUGGGGHHHHH!" "What is going on, deheart?" Sparrow frowned as she performed the skill. "Although being drained by mana is somewhat mild for us, NPCs like the Casten have an amplified pain when drained with mana. If they run out of mana, a very painful headache will start to make their head feel like it was about to burst to pieces. It was a good way to make sure they will suffer a lot." The Casten has a smaller mana capacity seeing he is feeling the pain already even though Sparrow just cast the [Mana Drain] on him, he is already starting to convulse. To avoid him copsing again, I throw the bottle of potion to his face, destroying the bottle and throwing out all of the contents inside. Of course, that potion was not a ssh potion, just a regr consumable potion. The moment he smell the bitter potion, his first instinct was to lick the drops of potion present on his face even though he is having a hard time. Still, that wasn''t enough for him and since the [Mana Drain] is still being done to him, the mana potion that he drank easily got drained the moment itnded on his throat. "Give us information and I will give you the cure that will help with that headache of yours." "YES, YES! I WILL DO SO! PLEASE, STOP THIS PAIN IN MY HEAD!" "Good, speak and you will receive the cure to your headache." "ALRIGHT! MY ALLIES WILL SOON BE USING THE RELIC OF DEMONS TO ASK FOR HELP WITH THE DEMONS AND LET THEM INVADE THE LUMINOUS CONTINENT. IF WE USE UP THAT RELIC TO SUMMON ANOTHER BEING THAT CAN RIVAL OR BE SIMILAR TO THAT GOD THAT THE CULT USED TO PRAY WITH, THEN WE WILL WIN AND WE WILL RISE IN POWER!" "Is that all?" I asked while my eyebrows furrowed after hearing the new information. "YES! YES! NOW GIVE ME THE CURE!" "Sure" Pulling out the Pain Delivery, I handed him the cure to his headache. A bullet to the head. "F*CK! That was so sudden deheart! But that is also quite savage of you for giving him a bullet in the head instead of giving him a potion!" Harmless Sparrow held her ears since the sound of the gunshot still rings in her ears. "It''s better this way," I sighed but then, my Versatile Weapon started acting up. The Shadow Dragon appeared and started salivating on the Casten''s corpse. "You wanna eat that?" The Shadow dragon nodded while licking its mouth. I also just realized that the shadow dragon is now looking more and more fleshy than a shadow now. "Eh, whatever, eat up and go wild with it." When the Shadow Dragon heard mymand, it opened its mouth and swallowed the Casten''s body in one gulp. I then checked the stats of the Versatile Weapon to see if there are changes but there''s none at all except for the fifth note that was previously unavable. [Blood Covered Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 10,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +1500 AGI: +1500 DEX: +1500 END: +1500 INT: +1500 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. Can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy that will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform to Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: An Unknown Energy has been devoured. Please wait a few days to identify what the energy devoured is. Sixth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: Null "An unknown energy?" Chapter 627 The Abyssal Lord Set Part 1 The three of us returned to our rooms that were provided for us to rest our characters after a long day of work. When we came back, in is already sleeping, so we will have to wait for him to wake up tomorrow to ry the good news since we sessfully eliminated the Casten. As for the situation with the Versatile Weapon, I am clearly not sure what that was after the Shadow dragon devoured the Casten. That unknown variable that the Shadow Dragon has swallowed keeps me questioning what the heck was that. I tried to check the Versatile Weapon again to see whether I am able to see what the heck was the thing that it swallowed. I didn''t get to fully check it since we have to flee before anyone else gets in and discover that the Casten is now dead. -------------------------------- [Blood-Covered Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 10,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +1500 AGI: +1500 DEX: +1500 END: +1500 INT: +1500 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. Can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: An Unknown Energy has been devoured. Please wait a few days to identify what the energy devoured is. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: Null ---------------------------- But since there are no recent changes to it, I decided to ignore it for now. As for the state of the Versatile Weapon, unlike when it devours any weapon that belongs to the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series and immediately hibernates to digest it, the current situation did not cause the Versatile Weapon to hibernate and I can still use it just fine. "Looks like the thing that is still unknown is not hindering the Shadow Dragon''s state as it does on the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series. Good enough I guess." Since this won''t hinder my usage of the Versatile Weapon, I guess it is not necessary for me to worry about it for now. I sat down on my bed and opened my inventory. I have already got some new equipment I got during the time I killed the Tormentor. I have yet to check it out and I didn''t equip it just yet but because my equipment is getting a bit outdated with my level, I needed to change them. The first I pulled out is the coat. It was part of the set and this is the firstplete set I have obtained in this lifetime. In my previous timeline, I do have a set but that was a painstakingly made set so having a set obtained from a boss is a little bit different. First, I have to see whether this will be good enough for recement or not. [Coat of the Abyssal Lord] Equipment Level: 0 Exp: 0/ 500 Type: Upper Body Equipment Rarity: God Tier Set: Abyssal Lord Set:1/5plete Equippable at Level 0 Equippable by: All sses Stats: No stats avable Special Trait: Divided Self: When Equipped, half of your END stat will be the main stat of this coat. If your permanent END stat rises or falls, changes will also appear on this piece of equipment. If unequipped, all stats that were present when equipped will be removed and will return to their nk te state. Special Skills: 1. Doppelganger: Type: Active: Every time your receive an umted 10,000 damage, you will be able to cast this skill. It Summons a body double that possesses half of your stat and will fight for you for 5 minutes. Can only summon one copy each time. 2. Doppelganger Mania: Type: Passive: Once the HP of the Doppelganger will reach critical levels, [Mania] will be activated. All parameters will be doubled but the doppelganger will not be controble. Once HP reaches zero, the doppelganger will self-destruct and inflict 5000 true damage to everything in its surroundings including allies. Info: Part of the Equipment the Abyssal Lord previously wear during thest Primordial war. Due to the excessive power it holds, the Abyssal Lord decided to divide its abilities by putting its abilities on the other set of equipment. It contains the power of darkness so unless someone is easily swayed by the temptation, using this will be unwise. Chapter 628 The Abyssal Lord Set Part 2 I was taken aback by the coat''s description and stats. Not only that but the tier it possesses is also a God Tier. Just like the Versatile Weapon, it doesn''t have a single durability avable which means I can keep on using it without worrying whether it will be destroyed or not. Reading it wasn''t impressive the first time I read it but I soon realized what the set does and why there are no avable stats on the screen at the moment. It was because whatever my END stat was, the half value of the END stat will be the stat that the coat gets the moment I equip it which will be added to my current END. Its tied abilities are quite good too in my opinion though I am kinda bummed that only one of them is active and the passive one is tied to the active skill but still, this is going to be something that I would be able to use in the future. As for the other equipment I got, I checked them too and all of them have the same way of being unique though just like what the info has said, all of the stats of this equipment are all single stats of different parameters depending on the equipment. The Head Equipment handles the INT stat, the Shoes handle the AGI stat, the Gloves handle the STR and the Pants handle the DEX stat. The only downside of this set is thatpared to the coat, the other equipment does not have a skill attached to them except for a question mark in them, meaning that I needed to identify them first before they are going to be able to appear normally. To identify them, I have to look for an artificer and let them identify the item. Artificers are able to put buffs on the items, remove curses depending on how severe the curse is, or make it a blessed item. But the widely known reason why they are important is that they can identify things that cannot be identified. Unfortunately, the Rebel Vige doesn''t have any artificers as thest one who resides there has died of old age. We just attended its funeral not too long ago and the only ce where an artificer exists is on another city in the Luminous Continent and on other continents as well. Since I am stuck on Luminous Continent, with my status as a rebel, going to cities is a big problem which is why I will have to hold off to let them identify the item until everything is over. And thest thing to note here is the set effect. Like many other games that feature equipment in a set, equipping all pieces of a set at once will trigger the bonuses that will activate every time a piece of equipment that belongs to that set is equipped. Because there is 5 equipment in one set, an equipment set will have 4 set effects as equipping one single piece of equipment that belongs to a set does not activate any effect but that would change if it turns into 2. The Abyssal Lord Set has it too. There are 5 tiers of it and the more equipped, the stronger the effects of the set will be. ----------------------------- 1 piece of the set equipped: None 2 pieces of the set equipped: Instant Death Chance: 10% increase in proc probability 3 pieces of the set equipped: [Dark Aura of the Abyssal Lord] can now be used. (Will disappear if the set is not equipped. 4 pieces of the set equipped: Resurrect from death, receive a full heal and invulnerability for 1 minute. (Can be used once every month). The equipment will also activate its binding effect on the current user who is equipped with all of the set pieces. -------------------------------- ? I rubbed my eyes twice after reading thest set''s effect. It''s not an overpowered ability but it was another way to do a second chance in a battle. Isn''t this pretty awesome? Not only do I get to fight back again after dying, but I also get to heal all of my HP and MP plus I am invulnerable in the battle for at least one minute, and that alone is a big game changer. Sure I am not dying at all, but there wille a time when it will be unavoidable so that means, this one will be a good effect. But the equipment will be bound to me as a result. If I find a piece of better equipment, I will not be able to get rid of this item at all. I don''t know if the Versatile Weapon will be capable of devouring it and removing it from my inventory but knowing this, it''s something that I don''t have an idea whether it will be a good thing or a bad thing. There is no harm done equipping it so I decided to just rece the equipment I had and let the older items I had devoured by my Versatile Weapon. Every time I equip one, the set''s abilities light up one by one which means they are now being activated. When I put on the shoes which is thest piece, my whole body felt heavy all of a sudden. It was like heavy chains are suddenly binding my whole body. I can''t properly move and it was like I was restricted to all my movements, "What the f*ck is happening? GUH!" To my confusion, not a single one of my Summon''s Area''s followers started talking which made it a bit odd. I can''t stand up as the heaviness I felt is very bad. It''s like you are being crushed forcefully by an unknown force. The floor starts to cave in on where I am kneeling. I can''t stand properly and kneeling is already taking almost all of my energy so just a single movement will take a lot of toll on my body. "GUHHHH!" I tried to move my left leg to stand up but I still can''t properly move it. Sweat is already dripping on my forehead and my energy to lift my whole body is getting drained. I gritted my teeth, and forcefully tried moving again and despite the pain that I experienced, I continue doing so. It didn''t take time until I pulled it up. I waited again before using the other leg and forcefully standing up by myself. I even have to use the bed to support myself and it almost broke my spinal cord just trying to do so. Thankfully, it is just in the game but I will have to suffer from the pain in the real world like I really did suffer a broken spinal cord. "UGHHHHH! F*CK!" As I try to resist the effect of what I am feeling, a status panel appeared right in front of me. "[You are resisting. The power of the Abyssal Lord''s set is trying to overwhelm you once more.]" CRACK CRACK! The floor is slowly showing cracked signs which means the effect was not just for me but for everywhere in my surroundings. I bit my lip, I grip the bed hard and I exert all of my effort on my legs, and tried to stand upright. "[Your will resisted the effects of the Abyssal Lord Set. It is still trying to consume you,]" I didn''t care about the message that appeared and forced myself to continue standing with the effect still overwhelming my senses. Even if I tried to use my mana to at least lessen the force, it is not working at all and all I can do is endure it. I can feel the blood flowing on my lip as I bit it so I can stand up and exert a little more effort to stand up. After a few more minutes of standing without moving, the overwhelming pressure I felt slowly disappeared. And soon enough, it disappeared. The feeling still lingered but it is no longer as bad as when the force is trying to overwhelm me. I slowly copse on the bed, removed the mask from my head, and catch my breath with sweat dripping on my face and on my whole body. "Whoever made this idea of making the wearer suffer after getting the whole set equipped should also suffer a lot. DAMMIT!" I know it helped me a little bit, but just a little bit. It wasn''t something I like to feel very good about. Now that everything is over, I closed my eyes and decided to log out. I am done with it. And a big f*ck you to whoever designed this kind of mechanic. Now that everything is done, I will have to go and rest before I die of exhaustion. I am totally drained to the point I can sleep the whole day without a problem. Next time I equip something new like a set of equipment, perhaps I have to take precautions first. Chapter 629 The Formation Of Anti-Rebellion Squad While the Rebels have done their job and have gotten rid of the Casten who is one of the key figures in the n of the Pope to seed, the Tactician has a headache on hearing some news about the damages done by the rebels to most of the stuff that should have been done. Not only that but he never received a reply from the Casten despite sending him a letter that should have allowed the former to receive. Not only did the answer not arrive but even his homing pigeon he trained to send letters to others disappeared. He bit his fingers while reading some of the reports he received from some of his informants in different ces of Luminous Continent. Although the n is properly progressing, once a part of it is not working, it will remain to be in trouble all throughout the entire time. While he knows that the Casten will not gain any problems with the rebels, he can''t help but be worried that things will not work out. After all, despite the force the Casten possess, the rebels remain active. As he sips on his coffee, 5 continuous knocks came on his door. This is one of the codes that his allies do whenever they wanted to meet and discuss matters regarding the Pope''s ns and their agendas. He stood up and opened the door, revealing one of the officials he send the other day to see the progress on the Casten''s side. "Good afternoon, sir Tactician. I have a report to make regarding the Casten." "Go on." Sir, the Casten is missing and hisnd is full of the dead bodies of his bodyguards. We checked his residence and every single one of the servants and bodyguards stationed there are all dead." The news made the Tactician frown. "Did you really look carefully at his residence? If he was missing, perhaps he is just hiding in one of the secret rooms in his residence. There is no way he disappeared just like that." "We have someone who can see through walls and we already learned where his secret rooms in his manor are located but none of them hides the Casten. His manor is empty except for the dead bodies. The only signs we have seen that the Casten was there before are his unfinished paperwork that seems to be still halfway done, broken champagne ss, and signs of blood on his seat." "Blood? Did he get into a fight?" "Perhaps as we have found some traces of struggle there. But it wasn''t as chaotic as most struggles and battles that happened. It was contained in one ce which means whoever managed to injure the Casten has done it before the Casten could fight back hence the little struggle that happened. Before he can recover, the enemy overpowered the Casten and took him away. "So you say in your theory that he is still alive?" "There is a 50-50 chance he is alive and he is dead. Both can be the truth until we knew the real oue. I currently deployed a few of my men to track the current location of the Casten and a few of them are even sent to spy on the Rebel''s vige. We will be getting news about them soon but so far, I have yet to receive any news from them." "No news yet? I didn''t expect things would be like this. Howe merely fallen rebels are able to shake our ns like this? Shouldn''t we be able to drive them to the corner already?" "ording to my intel, they already managed to recruit three Pioneers to their cause and are the ones leading their whole vige to fight back. ording to my men who have seen them, they are a force to reckon with, and even if you fight one of them at a time, any one of us will easily die unless we unleash our abilities." "Three pioneers already? Do you know who these people are?" "No. But one of them seems to be the guy who singlehandedly destroyed the cult." "You mean, the guy who didn''t appear when the general announced the end of the war?" "Yeah, that one. Apparently, he is famous among the Pioneers as one of the strongest Pioneers who was recruited by the Goddess herself. Part of the First Pioneers in the Sandurk Continent and one of the core members of the Sandurk''s Frozen Region Expedition too. As for the other 2, I have no intel on them." "F*CK, So we are facing a strong Pioneer then? One who destroyed a cult that has the power to exterminate a whole continent in one night? Are you serious? He joined the rebels?! Why have we not recruited this man on our side then?!" "Uh, apparent;y, it is your fault, to begin with," the official scratched the back of his head. "What? What do you mean by my fault? I was sure I have yet to meet with the guy you are talking about." "Sir, you have met him before. Remember the time you were having a party in City Hall? That was also the same day the Pioneers arrived. One of them arrived too early and finished the General''s test for flight and went to meet you to get his missions but you turned him away since the party is still ongoing which caused him to be pissed and left on his own though you ordered your guards to drag him out before he left on his own." The Tactician frowned and tried to recall what the official is talking about until he finally hit the memory that he indeed turned away someone who came inside uninvited to his party. Because he was wearing a wolf mask and he has weird vibes, he found it a bit annoying to see someone ruin the vibes of his party and so he turned him away. When the Tactician realized it, he sweated bullets realizing what he has done. He has turned away one of the main assets that he could actually use for the ns away, causing the rebels to take advantage of it and take the chances away. "If we are not able to take over one of the strongest Pioneers then we shall recruit every single Pioneer to fight them head-on. What is the use of the strongest pioneer if we have all of them on our side? Immediately prepare the necessary preparations. We will form the Anti-Rebellion squad. Recruit every single Pioneer and make sure to give them rewards for joining, they will be enticed by the rewards no doubt about it. Make sure they will not betray us on our cause, deprive the rebels of the right to recruit any of the Pioneers left behind!" "Yes sir!" And the official left to immediately do the task given. The Tactician, however, is still shaking. After all, he messed up a lot, especially the recruitment. If what the official said is true, then the strongest person that would be able to aid them in their cause is already on their side. If the cult can''t stop him, then even if he recruits everyone to fight against this guy, there is still no guarantee they will win since even the Pioneers acknowledge the guy was one of the strongest who joined the Pioneers. He can only hope for the matter to be good, and he hopes the Casten is still alive. He cannot bear the risk of the Casten disappearing as he is the main asset they needed for the n to move much smoother. But if things don''t go in his way, he has to take drastic measures and do it his way. His ns cannot stop here, not until he has achieved his goals. Fearing the worst that could happen to the Casten, he pulled out the pen and paper on him and started writing a letter, before whistling. One pigeon entered his window and he immediately approached it and put the letter in a small little container attached to its legs to hold the letter. After that, he clicked his tongue a few times before sending the bird away. He has to make sure that things will move even if the Casten is no longer around. Returning to his seat, he cannot help but daydream about his dream of conquering the world, With all the people in his control and on his palms, he wanted to achieve the pinnacle of everything and have it as his own. He needed to achieve it, no matter what it takes, he has to do it. But the moment he happened to daydream about it, the guy who he denied before suddenly came back haunting him. The wolf mask. That was one of the things he never expected to retain in his memory. One of the variables is a threat to his uing ns. He gritted his teeth, he is going to aplish his goal, even if he is going to crash to an immovable rock. Chapter 630 The Magic Power Incident Today is thest day of the tests. For me, it passed by like a breeze, but for the others, it didn''t pass by without giving them hell, heck, they even looked like they have been under pressure due to it. Knowing everyone, once the final day arrives, everyone would be a lot more pressured than they should be due to how the hardest tests are also ced during the final day of the exams. To everyone, this is the final hurdle they have to pass through just to win their freedom from the torturous devices called tests. Thankfully, the final tests would only be in the morning and the afternoon will be the time they can rx as the teachers will give them the time to rx after a week of grueling tests. Right now are the final hours for the final tests. Most of the students are still reviewing their test papers while some are already closing their eyes, rxing their minds, and waiting for the bell to chime. I am part of thetter as I am done already. A few secondster, the bell chimes, and the students are either sighing in relief or groan in frustration. The final tests are finally over at longst. The gang gathered in the cafeteria after the long test and I can see in their faces the sigh in relief that the test is over, well, except for one. Janus has a look on his face that is indescribable enough to know what happened to his test papers. "F*CK. I am quite sure, 100%, and absolutely positive that I flunk the tests! All of them!" Janus ruffled his hair in frustration as he face-nt his face to the table. "Seriously Janus? You are still not confident of acing the test despite the fact that we sacrificed our time ying and doing unnecessary things just to study and rack up our brains with books?" Riko shook her head. "Hey! It wasn''t my fault that the test has these confusing words that did not appear when we were reviewing the lessons! It was like all of the things I memorized were not even part of the test!" I turned to look at the siblings and from the looks on their faces, it seems they aced the tests. "You guys are confident in your test scores?" Akira bashfully scratches his head and answers, "Honestly, I don''t think I did well but I answered religiously and made sure that all of the questions are answered without a fail. Still not sure whether I aced the test but I am confident I didn''t flunk it. "Well, that is good enough. As long as you didn''t flunk the test then that would be good already. How about you, Sora?" "It''s not that hard. Our tests are not that long either since we have to answer and read the questions in braille. Thankfully, all questions are easy to answer so I didn''t have any problem with it," Sora smiled. "Haha, looks like someone is confident. Anyways, everyone. Since the grueling test is over, let''s go eat somewhere. Just us peeps who survived the exam. My treat since I got enough to treat us all for food." "Haha! Alright! Meat! Let''s go and order Yakiniku!" the sad Janus immediately changed gears the moment he heard that we will be eating somewhere. This guy is a walking meat eater, even at home, I can see him sneaking into the kitchen at midnight to eat some meat all by himself. No wonder the amount of meat I bought slowly disappears on the fridge. Oh well. Because the afternoon is just free time, we spent our time just enjoying them. Since we didn''t join any of the clubs, we are part of the Going Home Club and are stuck in the ssroom either talking to others or just sleeping just to pass time. As for me, I am currently on my phone, scrolling through the inte. Most of the things that happened around this time are just pretty casual and nothing groundbreaking. The Reality Verse is still pretty popr and since the device is getting a sale, the sales also spiked up for everyone and almost all of the buyers who didn''t get to buy the device are now ready to own one too. The new surge of yers will alsoe soon enough. Then, live news coverage popped out from my view. I frowned since this news suddenly became pretty familiar to me. The news is about the hostage-taking incident currently happening in one of the biggest banks downtown. 30 people are currently held hostage by 7 armed men. Half of them are employees of the bank and the rest are people who are there to conduct a transaction on their ounts and who happened to be there in unfortunate times. Because it is live coverage, it was happening in real-time, and it is happening right now downtown. It''s not too far from our school, no wonder I heard the ring siren of the police cars not earlier. So this was the main cause? "Bro, what are you watching?" Janus came back from the bathroom and is wiping his hands with his towel when he took a peek at what I am currently watching. "Live coverage of a hostage-taking that is happening on that one big bank not too far from here. We pass by there whenever we are going home, you know?" "Huh? Really? A hostage-taking is happening there?" Janus immediately got his attention caught. He likes news for some odd reason so hearing something like this is one of the things he would be interested to see. The camera is focused on the inside of the bank because the armed guys took out the blinds and one of them is outside, guarding the entrance, andmunicating with the police who are bargaining to let the people inside go. "Damn, I don''t like where this is going. Are the swat team already on the way?" "No idea. I just tuned in just now so I am still not sure what is happening just yet," I answered as we continue to see the news coverage. Then, all of a sudden... BOOM! A loud explosion happened inside the bank, destroying the ss and causing everyone to duck to avoid the ss shards from hitting them. Of course, the hostage taker who was negotiating with the police was not safe from the st and caught so many ss shards on his body that it lodged right through him, killing him instantly. The camera shook for a bit but it immediately recovered after the explosion. The cops panicked since they didn''t know an explosive is inside and didn''t know that it will just explode without warning them without even saying anything. Due to this, the police entered the bank after the explosion. They no longer care whether or not the hostage takers are still there and entered to ensure that there are still survivors from the explosion. The drone that is being used for the broadcast also followed suit by entering the broken ss window and inside, which is something I didn''t expect to see. One of the civilians, a guy is holding one of the rifles the hostage takers are using but he is not holding it to shoot, he was holding onto the muzzle of it and it was clearly broken like a pipe bent from the sheer force. Not only that but the shocking thing is that despite the explosion, the only thing that was burned are the hostage takers. Half of the bank is burned after the explosion while the other half seems to be fine and it was like some kind of shield protected the other side where the hostages were held. "Put your hands up from where we can see it!" The cops point the gun at the guy who was currently holding the gun. "Sir, I am innocent here, I just protected everyone from the hostage takers." He then raises his hands up to ensure he is no longer going to fight back. "Tell me what happened. Was that a bomb that explode here earlier? What is going on?" "Umm... actually it wasn''t a bomb. But... me..." That''s when everything clicked and I realized what happened. No wonder it keeps me bugging on why this is very familiar and I finally realized it. Because from the time I learned about this news, it wasn''t from a live coverage but just a piece of news from the usual nighttime news sh. This incident will soon be called the Magic Power Incident. I didn''t realize that it was already time for the Magic Power incident to ur but didn''t realize it was at this hour that it happened. This also means one thing, with this incident, magic power users will soon appear and the connection between the awakening of magic abilities and Alternate World will soon be established. This is the point where the rise of using magic will now begins. The Age of Magic has now arrived. Chapter 631 Magic Goes Public It is one of the main turning points in history that causes magic power to be a hot topic. It will eventually be the norm in society and soon enough, magic is no longer be part of the fantasy world as magic spells will soon dominate the world, and most of the time, it now revolves in using them allowing the advancements in technology and reliance in using magic spells. It''s a fortunate thing that I already taught my friends about this. I am nning to contact my parents too to learn magic spells as well so that once the magic spell boom happened, it''s no longer something that they are unaware of. "Manato, just now, isn''t that the magic? Does that mean, not only we knew about it?"Janus asked in a hushed voice. "It seems like it. From the looks of him, he forcefully got awakened due to the stress he was experiencing in the hostage-taking incident. Seeing he was standing there with a gun, perhaps he attacked them to stop them from shooting, and with his desire to protect the civilians, a mana shield manifested and protected everyone in the civilians'' vicinity. As for the "bomb", my guess is that after he awakened his powers, he manifested the fireball but due to the uncontroble nature of mana once you awakened without anyone helping you to control it, plus the gunpowder from the bullets of the armed people and whatever they have in the arsenal, it might be part of the reason for the big explosion." "Does that mean, we can now use magic in public?" "No, don''t do that. We have to wait for further development on whether it is safe for us to do such a thing. It might destroy our daily life if we recklessly use it without any reason. We have to wait and see whether the public popce will ept and allow the people to publicly use it. In the meantime, we should just keep on practicing our abilities so that we can keep it concealed for the time being," I exined. "You are right. Showing off unnecessarily might trouble our whole life just like what I see in some manga plots I read before. Yes, we should just wait and see, I guess." And the final bell rings, which means it''s time to go home now. .... ... ... ... Since this time around, every one of us is there, we decided to go on a little meeting. Rika is also with us while Rennata decides to listen in with Pixie tranting my words to her. We really have to discuss these things with everyone and although I already discussed some topics with Janus, I needed to remind some things to him since he sometimes forgets them and gets dragged by the situation. It''s better he knows what to do before things get worse. The publicization and legalization of using magic will take some time and in this current timeline, there might be someplications and different things that might happen so it is necessary for us to properly learn based on what I know in the future me. "Alright. This afternoon, a bank robbery urred not too far from our school and there, one magic user appeared and saved the day he was brought to custody to ask for a statement though we are sure what will happen to him and they will ask to get more tests on him especially since he used magic. I am here today to ensure that everyone has to at least learn why I decided to gather you all here," and turned on the television showing the news about the magic power incident. "So that thing that went viral was not just some fake news? I have seen it on social media when I am scrolling on them,'' Rika pulled out her phone and revealed it to us, Riko peeked in to also see what she was talking about. "Yes. Janus and I saw it live earlier and I am 100 percent sure that the guy who saved the day used magic the same as us to save the others trapped in the bank to subdue the armed men. I may not be in there but I can see the traces of mana in him after he used his ability. I have to inform everyone to be careful with the mana in their body. Sooner orter, they might be able to find a way to detect mana in our bodies and unless the people will soon allow everyone to use magic, we have to hide it until then." "So, no using of magic until then?" Akira asked. ? "I will still permit the usage of magic but when it is necessary and you have no other choice but to use it like for example, self-defense. Unless really necessary, we will not use it until we have to do so. I allowed you all to awaken early so that you guys would be capable of handling things yourself when doing some self-defense but since things havee this way, it''s better to keep a hold of it until then." Then, I looked at Rennata. "Pixie, please trante this to her please." "Okay! I am all ears!" "Rennata, just wait a little bit longer. There wille a time you will soon be able toe out normally without any problems. We might be keeping you in here, but we have to do so or else the government will take advantage of you especially since you are a person from another world. You don''t want them to be sniffing and experimenting on your body without your permission, and barring your chances of returning to your world. In fact, it might even risk your homeworld if youe out too quickly. Knowing the greed of humans, once they knew that there is another dimension other than this ce, they will try to do inhumane things just to achieve and create a link that will connect this world to your world." Rennata started speaking and Pixie nodded for a while before she ryed the trantion. "She knows what will happen if she reveals herself too early. Rika-san showed her some stories and movies about it and it is very likely to happen to her as well if she does reveal herself like that. She can sacrifice her limited freedom for a bit just to ensure that her world will remain safe from human greed." As we are talking a little bit, more people awakening to the magic spells starts to pop up. There are even some who are caught flying without any jetpack or devices that can allow them to fly. Just like what I expected to happen after the magic of the first guy goes public, the people who learned they can also do that decided to showcase it too, and now, they are also on the news. However, we will have to keep our powers in check. I didn''t mention it to to everyone but once the people with abilities starts to appear, police will suddenly have the ability to subdue everyone who has abilities and will be put to jail. Anyone who are suspected to have abilities will be captured and will be only freed once the magic abilities are controlled and are already something that thew can easily handle without any problems. It was kind of unreasonable to everyone at first but since it was only during the first month, it will take some time before everything returns to normal. "I know these people in the news are showing their abilities like they are some kind of pro but be sure to not do that. With the public popce still unaware of the situation, showing off your abilities like that will get you likely ostracized by the people and they might treat you like a monster as a result. It''s best to wait for the confirmation of thew that it is now safe to use our abilities. I can''t risk everyone to be sent to jail just because we used our abilities identally." "Manato, it seems you knew about this too much," Rika frowned as she looked at me with suspicion. "Ha, did you really think I am getting suspicious on this? I am just making sure to make some contingencies in case things gets messier that magic abilities are now avable and are now known by the popce. I am already visualizing things that are possible to happen and made sure to think of possible oue. I might look like I knew something but trust me that I don''t as I am just thinking of everyone''s safety. I don''t want to see everyone inside of a room, locked up by the government and police just because of a dumb reason that we have abilties." Although it''s a lie that I didn''t know anything, I have to do that just to make sure that anyone of them don''t bother using the abilities until it is finally ready for the public to ept and everyone knows how to obtain it. Chapter 632 The Upgrade After the magic power incident, everyone decided to keep quiet about their abilities. We returned to the game as usual. Since we are still in the Luminous Continent, the rest of the gang has to do whatever they want until we return to the quest. Sigma and Harmless Sparrow decided to improve the vige to at least make it prosperous. I have no experience in making a vige flourish and all I know is about battles and fighting, so I decided to just leave the management to the two since they knew what they were doing and if they are the ones who will be managing things, then that would be better. Then what am I doing you ask? Well, of course, improving my equipment. Now that I managed to ess the Dark Sea and grind my level up to level 200, the only thing left to do is power up my equipment. The new set is indestructible so I decided to use this chance to increase their usage and also to have them gain some effects. These elemental shards will allow these unremarkable armors of mine to at least gain some effects other than their original stats and set effect. I know they are good but in all honesty, if not for the set effect, I would rather sell these stuff or let the Versatile Weapon devour it for my own benefit. Anyways, back to me upgrading them. First, I needed the equipment I needed to upgrade plus the shard that I will be using to upgrade the armor. [Shard of Elemental me] Type: Item Info: A shard that contains fragments of elemental energy. Once used on a piece of equipment, the equipment would either gain an effect or will gain a new passive skill. It is warm to hold. Note: More like a portable firece to me. The effects are random and the first effect that appears will be the first one to be applied. Of course, if the upgrade is not to my liking, I can just do it again and it will reset depending on the stat that rolled after. However, once I settled into a stat, I can still keep on using the same item and try to upgrade more. This is where hoarding lots of Elemental shards help. Once a stat is permanent, I can now go and enhance that stat by spending the same shard again and again. The maximum time you can upgrade it is 15 times. Rank downs do not happen but when it fails, there is a 50% chance of the item losing all durability, causing the item to disintegrate making the upgrading process a little bit risky once it reaches the threshold of 10. The only way to reach 15 without it getting disintegrated is to use an item called [Scroll of Precise Upgrade]. But this scroll is a premiummodity and can only be bought with real money so unless you are rich in the game and you want to upgrade something to the fullest, then this is for you. Even I cannot create the scroll with my abilities as a scribe which is sad. But since the loss of durability does not apply to my equipment, I don''t need to worry about losing my equipment. The only problem is that I will be seeing plenty of failures and I might lose all of my hoarded shards without reaching the upgraded 15 mark. "Let''s begin." I took off the coat and poured a little bit of mana into the shard to activate it and put the two items together. [Do you want to use the [Shard of Elemental me to the (Coat of the Abyssal Lord)? This cannot be undone.] Yes/ No I clicked yes, and the shard broke to pieces, its essence went down to the coat and the effect appeared on the coat immediately. [Fire resistance: 10%] Damn, that''s a bad stat to start with. It would have been fine if most monsters in the game are reliant on elemental attacks but most of the enemies don''t use one element at most. And the resistance of only 10 percent is very low. If I wanted topletely ignore the me attacks without getting worried about getting burned, I have to at least gain a 70% resistance, and having only 10% is not worth getting. Besides, there are better options for stats that are superior to resistance. Time to reroll the stat. [Fire Attack Increase 40%] Woah, there, that''s good, very good stats. As someone who uses fire attacks most of the time, having this would be a big blessing as the increase of 40% is no joke. Welp, time to see whether the next 3 stats I roll would be a dud for me and if it is bad, then I will be staying on this one. I rolled three times again. The first two were dud because they were both Fire Attack increases but lower than the current state so that is automatically a dud. But the third stat roll is something else and I am not sure which of the two is good for me. [Fire Attacks Absorption: 50% attacks absorbed] This is an actually good stat. Absorption is a stat that is very good in many contents as they convert any damage done to you into HP. Instead of damaging you, the attacks heal you. A potion if I must say. And the fact that it reached 50% was something else since it usually just sits in at 10 to 20% as the highest starting point and upgrading it would allow it to reach the 50% mark. Seeing it in 50% is something else. Now I am torn, the Fire attack increase is good and if upgraded, it will help my attacks exponentially but exclusively on attacks that are me-based attacks. I usually use mes so this is a big help but after I rolled the Fire absorption, it''s kinda a big waste to not use this as this will definitely help in fighting anyone who specializes in me attacks, rendering them helpless as most of their attacks will instead heal you instead of killing you. Which of the stats is good, an offensive one or the defensive one? After making a self-debate and having a pained expression, I decided to go with the Absorption stat. This will help me in a long run more than the Fire attack increase. It was a pain at first but now that I convinced myself that I needed this stat more, I don''t feel bad now. Time to go upgrading and hopefully, I would reach the 15 mark without blowing up too much. Every upgrade will increase the stats by 2% so if I sessfully reach the 15 mark, I would be able to get a whopping 80% of me-based attacks absorbed. Not all of them will be absorbed but most of them will be so that is a very good one. But now the real problemes in, how much will I be spending on this one? Let''s find out! The first 10 upgrades are all sessful so that is not counted. Now, time to see whether my luck will help. [Upgrade Failed] [Upgrade Failed] [Upgrade Failed] [Upgrade Failed] [Upgrade Failed] "F*CK! What the heck man!" If not for the fact that the coat has no durability avable, my coat will be been gone in seconds after the upgrade. Forget about the stat, it''s all dust now which thankfully was not going to happen. But straight five upgrades fail is something else. I have to cough multiple times every time the upgrade fails since it explodes right in your face. But I still have plenty of shards so we can still go and gamble it up. Let''s go! ... ... ... ... 30 minutester, 100 shards were gone... and not a single sess... I would not be pissed if this was in the 13th or 14th upgrade as failing is much higher there but in the 11th upgrade? You will have a high chance to seed in that! But for me to fail without a single sess is a big disaster. This is painful, a really painful one. If I didn''t have the cksmith EX Job, I would have blown quite a lot of money which all turned to dust. Just f*ck, this is the most horrible stat rolls I ever had in my entire life. I still have 10 shards left for the me element. I will be spending it all and hope that I get sess this time. ... ... ... But reality failed. All f*cking 10 shards failed me. What are the odds of failing this much in the 11th upgrade? Isn''t this pretty much disappointing? My motivation at the start has drained. All of my hope is gone for this sh*t. I am done with upgrading for the day. I would have moved to the next piece of equipment to upgrade if I run out of shards but seeing the results... I lost all my will to move and proceed with the upgrade. What''s the point if it was like this? Ugh dammit. Chapter 633 New Threat? After a few hours of staying without doing anything after my motivation disappeared, I sit up from the bed and stood up. There is no need to cry over wasted resources. I stood up and was ready to upgrade the other equipment mine using the other shards when someone suddenly barges inside my dwellings without warning. "deheart! are you there?!" The one who showed up unannounced was Sigma who seemed to rush here as she is still catching her breath when she arrived at the doorway. "Oh, thank goodness you are here. Quick,e with us, we discovered something not too far from here. If we leave it alone, it might destroy the settlement once it awakens!" I frowned after hearing what Sigma is saying and stood up. I equipped the coat back again and followed Sigma. I can tell she is in a rush as she didn''t even exin or say anything that she saw there. She moved quickly and I followed her closely behind. It didn''t take long before we arrived in the thick forest where everyone is gathering wood to use for construction every day. Just what did they see? Sigma continued to lead me deeper into the woods. She didn''t say anything and I didn''t ask. We just continue running until we arrived at a cave where some of the rebels and even Harmless Sparrow are gathered. "deheart is here." "What is going on? Sigma just led me here but she didn''t say anything. Care to exin?" I looked at everyone around including the NPCs but Sigma decided to be the one to answer. "Sorry about that, deheart. It''s an urgent matter to discuss with everyone and not just me but that includes you as well. And since you are the main guy in most operations, we will have to ask you about this." "Alright then. Care to exin what you guys see and why are we in front of this cave?" "Some of the scouts send some scouting clones to check this cave to see if it was safe to enter but they saw a threat there that can threaten the vige. I won''t make you remain in the suspense, the enemy is a dragon." The moment Sigma said it was a dragon, I immediately remember the boss in the past timeline that destroyed our defenses when we blocked the advance of the rebels to the church. The reason they easily break open through our tough defenses was that they brought a dragon. So, does that mean, this was the dragon that helped the rebels almost win? As much as I want to know how they managed to employ the dragon to their aid in the past timeline, my mind wanders to how we can employ its help this time around too. Having a dragon to fight against the church will be a big boost to the rebel''s firepower. The dragon alone is worth enough to rece multiple armies at once. The only reason it lost in the past timeline is that it was sealed and got ganged by yers which resulted in its death. "What are we going to do about the dragon, deheart?" Sigma asked. "Aren''t you guys strong enough to handle the dragon by yourselves guys?" I asked SIgma and Harmless Sparrow. "We are going to be fine fighting against dragons but we are just asking you if it''s a wise idea to deal with the dragon now rather than wait for it to awaken. We can defeat it as soon as possible but we don''t want to risk it from flying and going on a rampage, especially with the cave being near the settlement," Harmless Sparrow exined. "Then, the only good method of action with this is to deal with the dragon as soon as possible. If the two of you are not busy, go back to the vige and try to get ready in case of trouble, I will deal with the dragon, myself," I dered. "Huh? Are you serious about this, deheart? It''s a dragon and I don''t think it is something you will be able to handle easily," Sigma frowned. "It would have been fine if we don''t have a vige to handle on..." I tried to reason out but then, one of the vigers interjected. "We can handle the preparation of the vige in case the dragon decided to go on a rampage. You guys can handle the dragon right? Then please take care of it, we will be the ones who will inform the people back in the vige to prepare." Hearing them volunteer, I decided to agree although I was ready to go solo this time around as I am curious about how the dragon became part of the main force the rebels got. If I go solo, I can hold back my attacks and see whether it has something to do with fighting against the dragon that would allow it to join the rebels. With Sigma and Harmless Sparrow, on the other hand, it might end up as big trouble as they can definitely go ahead and kill the dragon before it can do anything and I don''t want to lose the dragon as it will help the rebellion much better. Before we go in, I handed them potions and mana potions for supply just so that in case I fail to cast heal immediately, they can just go and chug one bottle to restore their health. Now that everyone is good to go, we entered the cave''s entrance. The entrance was big and I was surprised that the cave was not discovered by the vigers much sooner as the entrance alone is eye-catching enough. Perhaps they didn''t make it that far when they were still the only people gathering wood. "Just so we are clear, you guys have yet to enter this cave and see what the dragon is like, right?" "We don''t want to risk ourselves entering a dragon''sir. Even back on the maind, we don''t just go inside a cave without scouting ahead. Unless it was inside a dungeon, we keep ourselves ready and vignt before going in," Sigma answered. Pretty typical answer of Sigma. With her on the team in the past timeline, it is sure that every kind of raid will remain to have zero casualties with 100 percent of wins against the raids. Sigma cast out her [Light] and led the way of the cave. It was a very big cave, without any pathway around here and there, it was just one single path straight which means we won''t get lost inside the cave but we will also have no way out or a hiding ce we can have without any other pathway out. Also, the cave''s pathway is leading deeper and downwardpared to most caves that rely on multiple paths. This one just leads you to one, singr path that has an uncertain ending point you don''t know where will end up. As we get deeper into the cave, the smell of vegetation started to linger on our noses. It''s not as strong when we are still at the entrance and I am assuming that the smell came from the forest itself but now that we are getting closer to the deepest part of the cave, the stronger the smell of the vegetation like it was a ce filled with moss, trees, grass and any kind of nature that has yet to be disturbed by any human for how many years. Soon, the cave''s interior no longer have just rocks but green moss and grass started to fill our view in the distance. Not only that, the cave''s deepest part should at least be dark but when we arrived, it was bright enough that Sigma''s [Light] was no longer necessary to continue moving forward. "A lush green habitat inside a cave?" Harmless Sparrow frowned as we continue to move forward. "This looks more like a primordial forest that continues to grow without any kind of intervention from the elements of nature. Are we sure this is still a cave?" Even I am surprised by it as well. The cave was something that has any kind of stuff that would correspond with nature except for mushrooms but seeing trees, grass, mushrooms, and moss together in one dark ce is something I didn''t know exist. Not only that, it was like some kind of man-made ecosystem, a terrarium as it was limited to one enclosed space where the greenery remained in one enclosed space. "Look at the center guys, prepare yourselves. It seems this is not just a simple enclosed habitat. It seems to be like the nest of what we are looking for," as I point to the center of the ce. A grey dragon, big enough to rival an airne used in airline transportation. It was big and it''s not just an exaggeration. Compared to us, the size of this guy is something we can''t just joke around. This is a big dragon that can kill us. And it is indeed the same dragon that destroyed the defenses of the anti rebellion squad in the past timeline. Chapter 634 The Dragon Who Loves BBQ I still remember how destructive this dragon was in the past timeline. This guy singlehandedly burned all of the defenses on the anti-rebellion that we almost lost in the past timeline. But seeing this dragon again made my nerves a bit nervous. If this dragon nearly destroyed us in the past timeline, what could possibly happen as we face it now? I remembered that this dragon specializes in the me elements and if we fight it here, this ce will soon turn into an arena of mes. I won''t be worried as I can easily absorb and convert the mes as HP due to the buff I added to my armorst time. But Harmless Sparrow and Sigma, have no resistance or immunity to me attacks. If it stayed the same as in the past timeline, it would only take them a few minutes before they get defeated. Should I tell them what to do or just let everything flow? Perhaps thetter is still the best option. As we got closer, Sigma who has the sharpest nose of the three of us, smelled something. "Guys, have you smelled that?" Sigma keeps on sniffing in the air. Harmless Sparrow and I also sniff the air and I suddenly caught a whiff of a familiar scent. "Huh? That smell..." Harmless Sparrow immediately caught on to the smell. "That''s grilled meat, right? I can''t be wrong with the smell," I keep sniffing to make sure I am not just smelling stuff. "Certainly grilled meat but I don''t just smell meat but also some whiff of vegetables. Is someone currently doing a barbecue session?!" Sigma is currently conflicted. "Calm down. We don''t even know if it was a real barbeque smell we are smelling or it is just some kind of nt that emit that kind of smell," I reasoned though that clearly holds no backbone as this smell is clearly barbecue and not just a random smell. "Guys, look at that. The dragon was actually not sleeping. It seems it was doing something and... guys, look, that''s clearly smoke. Are you guys thinking what I am thinking?" Harmless Sparrow looked at us and the two of us started nodding. That is clearly the smell of barbecue. So, does that mean this dragon is currently grilling vegetables and meat? We are not just smoking some weeds and seeing things here right? Before we can approach, the dragon turned in our direction, and before we can even hide, the dragon locked eyes with us. "Humans? Are you guys, explorers? What are you guys doing in my abode?" I almost broke a sweat as the dragon started speaking. The dragon did not directly speak but is talking directly about our minds. This is not just something I have expected as dragons who can perform telepathic abilities are something known in the game as High Dragons. They are known to possess extreme intelligence. They are not just mindless monsters but they are known to be something that can be reasoned with. They also lived long enough in the world to know many things that people don''t know. Based on the voice I can hear on my head, the dragon is a guy. Harmless Sparrow and Sigma are ready to fight but I signaled them to bring down their weapons. They have doubts about doing so but I just shook my head. "We apologize for intruding in your abode, mighty dragon. We are one of the adventurers currently helping the nearby vige. We came in here after the scouts discovered a dragon living here. Because they are afraid that the dragon would go on a rampage and burn down the vige as a result, they want us to go and investigate whether we needed to fight the dragon and drive it away." "Oh, so you mean me? That''s understandable but next time, don''t do this to other dragons. You guys are lucky that I don''t really have any interest in fighting unless necessary. Since you guys seem to be only here because I am a dragon and are here to check out whether I was a threat or not is a sign that you guys are not here to hunt me down. You lot would immediately have attacked me before I can even exin," the dragon then turned back to what he was currently doing and flips one of the pieces of meat that is currently on a big t rock before him that is already sizzling hot. Harmless Sparrow could not resist and decided to go and ask. "Umm, I don''t mean to be rude... but are you currently grilling meat?" "Hmmm? Yeah, I am. Eating meat and vegetables together while being heated up by mes is one of the best ways to consume food. Sure, it is time-consuming but it enhances the vor of the food. I heard humans eat this way as well." "Yeah. We call it Barbecue." "Barbecue eh? I don''t understand the naming but somehow it makes sense for some unknown reason. Anyways, since I am here eating, how about you also eat some food too? I have plenty of meat here with me and I am a bit lonely eating this alone. You guys could apany me in eating." "Wait, really? You would let us eat too?" "Of course. When I was still a little kid, my previous master usually cook food this way with me on his side and we eat andughed together. I kind of miss the feeling of it already. That it would be great if you guys could join me. You lot are not afraid of me despite being a dragon and if that is the case, perhaps you guys would be happy to join me at the feast. I looked at Harmless Sparrow and Sigma. Compared to Harmless Sparrow who is clearly excited, Sigma is currently having mixed feelings based on the look on her face alone. The dragon seems to have noticed Sigma''s reaction andughed. "Hahaha, looks like everyone is not on the ride with my suggestion. That is fine especially since I am a dragon. But if you are notfortable with eating meat from my source, how about you can just sit alone and talk with me? All I needed is apany to talk with." I pat Sigma on her shoulder. "I will go and cook then if you are ufortable with the dragon''s meat to eat. I have some food here with me. We can just use that instead." That''s the only time SIgma decided to agree. "Alright, fine." We sit down in front of the dragon. Although the dragon is massive and the t rock he is using to cook is massive, it was situated low enough for us to see how big the chunk of meat he was cooking was. "I just realized that you guys seemed to be the wingless people I keep hearing about. So it was true that some people don''t have wings on their back by default?" the dragon started asking to spark a conversation with us. "We just arrived here after the Goddess Titania asked us to help out with the crisis in the continent," Sigma answered while still looking at the dragon full of the guard. "Oh, the pioneers right? I heard that you guys defeated a massive enemy down the continent. It was the talk of all creatures about your deeds and that sooner orter, you wingless will also make their way to our continent as well." "Was our arrival here in the continent shaken up the peace here?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "Nah, this ce is already chaotic already before you guys arrived here. Lately, it''s a little bit more peacefulpared to the constant chaos I keep seeing from the monsters and some abnormalities here and there so I guess the presence of you wingless here, might have at least cut down the chaos quite a bit." "You seemed to be not bothered by our arrival and you are not even much surprised," Sigma noticed. "I may look big but I am once a pet by a wingless before. It was so long and my previous owner is already dead. Since his parents didn''t want me, I decided to live on my own in the wild. But thanks to what my master taught me, I am able to survive just fine." He then started flipping the big meat on the rock and the smell of the meat smelled good. It was like he put some kind of stuff on it like spices. After that, the dragon picked it up and opened his massive mouth, and with a massive chomp, he devours the meat and licks the sauce on his hands. "Yum, I never get over the taste of the meat you hunted and grilled. Never understood dragons eating raw meat and not cooking them even though they can control mes. I see now. Because of the dragon''s friendliness, is enough of a reason for it to join the rebels. But based on his words, its either something threatened his home for him to participate or something else happened that made him change his mind and join the fight in the past timeline. Chapter 635 The Enemies Who Are Pioneers We said our farewells to the dragon and returned to the vige. Since there were no tricks done after we left, Sigma concluded that the dragon is not a threat and since it wasn''t even nning to move a muscle after eating, it was undoubtedly not interested in anything at the moment except eating barbecue. When we returned to the vige, in was just getting ready to go with a few armed men as well. "Huh? You guys are back? Was it a false rm?" in was surprised seeing that we looked fine and we didn''t look like someone who goes in a fight. "It''s kinda in the middle. I wouldn''t call it a false rm since the scouts indeed saw a dragon but it is also a kinda false rm as the dragon was not a hostile one. It''s an intelligent dragon that knows how tomunicate with us via telepathy. They also apologized to us for giving us a little scare for existing inside the cave but he assured us that he is not going to disturb us here unless we purposely disturb his peace and wreak havoc on his home." "Are you guys sure? I mean, that guy was a dragon. This is the first time I have encountered something like a dragon who is a friendly one. Not in my years of living in this world..." in is having doubts. "We can vouch that he is not something we need to get worried about. If he ever does attack us without warning, then we will be the ones who will take him down. We are confident in bringing him down without a contest. If anything, we would be delighted to have a dragon in the vicinity which means we won''t be seeing big monsters wrecking our little vige due to them wandering near us. It''s a big win in my book," Sigma assured in. in in having doubts but since Sigma is the one who made the assurance, he decided to agree. "Alright, fine. If you guys can really vouch that this dragon will not harm us then we will forget that there is a dragon there. Of course, we will respect the dragon and make sure to not make it angry." I can tell in seems to be having a little bit of a contradiction in contrast to what he was saying but I can at least understand why he was like that. If you are someone who has not encountered any dragon and only their tales, but then encountered one who is "friendly", you will be in a bind of what to believe next. In any case, the incident with the dragon ended without a hassle and that is a good thing I must say. ... ... ... I went ahead and logged out of the game after ying for a few hours straight. After stabilizing my mana after logging out, I went to my PC and started scrolling for stuff and discussions of the Alternate Worldmunity. This is my only way of knowing what is the current happenings on the maind while we are still up in the Luminous Continent without a way to know when we will be able to get back home. The forums are still the same thing like guild recruitment, discussions on the arena, exchanging info about a certain boss and the like, or just talking about their favorite NPCs and stuff. I was about to close the forum when my eyes caught something that I didn''t expect. A forum of pioneer yers. I went to the very beginning of the forum discussion to see what started the forum. Soon, I realized that this forum room is created due to the mystery of why everyone is still stuck in the Luminous Continent. Because of the announcement back then where the final boss was defeated, they thought that just like the Sandurk Continent''s Pioneer quest ended with the defeat of the final boss, they were able to go back to where they wanted to go. Soon enough, a few pioneers also wondered the same and most of them started to find clues on what to do and what caused them to remain in the continent without a way to get out. There, one yer decided to butt in and found out about a quest that everyone can join in. And that is anti-rebellion recruitment. Because the anti-rebellion recruitment quest happened, most of the yers who just wanted to get out of the continent and wanted to go back home decided to join in the quest to finish up and get the quest to be done. I thought everyone in the forums wanted to join in but soon found a few yers who refused to join. Most of their lines say this was wrong and the faction they joined is the wrong one. I still couldn''t believe someone else didn''t join the anti-rebellion squad since I am very much ready for most of the pioneers to join hands together to end the rebellion. Some of them just didn''t find the motives of the anti-rebellion squad pleasing and decided to not bother staying with them and leave. While some yers noticed that deheart, which is me is not part of the anti-rebellion squad. Some even noticed that Sigma is also not there too which means some just decided to not join because we are not there. But despite the number of yers not joining, the majority of the pioneers joined the anti-rebellion squad for the sake of finishing the storyline and getting the ending which will also result in us returning to the maind. Just those numbers alone are enough to say that the situation is just like how it happened back then. yers have decided to join the anti-rebellion squad instead of the rebels, giving the rebels, which is us, a bad situation once the final battlees. One thing is for sure because we are not there to join, the main leader of the anti-rebellion squad pioneers would undoubtedly going to be Kaisar, or Kazuki. It seems the showdown between us would be at it again. Chapter 636 Preemptive Attack The formation of the Anti-Rebellion Squad only means that we are going to expect yer attacks soon enough. I am already prepared for their attacks but what if they start attacking while we logged out just now? Should we just remain in the game until the quest is over? No, that can''t do. If they are still forming their squadrons to fight, then the only method left is to destroy them before they get strong enough to fight back. Knowing what their next n is in this forum, I decided to call it a day and sleep. There''s no ss tomorrow which means I can just go and focus on the game all day. I have to maximize the maximum output and put a stop to this f*cking quest as soon as possible. ... ... ... The next day, I did the same thing I keep on doing every day before going back to my room and logging in to the game. The sooner I finish the quest, the sooner I can face off against Kazuki and mop his face to the ground. [Wee back, deheart] The moment I returned to the game, I went ahead to in''s office. He is still currently doing his work on the papers he needed to finish to keep the vige running. "in, I got some info about the Tactician and his allies forming the Anti-Rebellion Squad, with its members being part of the Pioneers who came along with us when we arrived here in the continent. The longer we have no move, we will be losing the advantage soon enough." "Looks like you also received the news huh? Yes. I just received it just now. I am currently studying what kind of ns I should go on to weaken them. Knowing you pioneers, I can easily see that they might easily annihte us without any problem if we don''t strike first. Therefore, I have 10 assignments here that are needed to be done. I don''t know if this will help cripple their strength but this is a start on making sure that their preparations will just remain in preparations and they can''t continue it to fruition. But since these missions require time and a bit of effort, I suggest you take these quests one step at a time." "I will take one and finish it as quickly as possible then pick up another quest," I told in as I pick the first quest that appeared on my list and epted it as my quest. "Don''t rush it. One step at a time." I didn''t say anything and rush out of the vige. The quest is to ambush a cargo vessel that is about to be sent to the church. There will be three yers that will be escorting the cargo which means I am not just going to face NPCs here but also yers as well. Depending on which yers are escorting the cargo, it''s either going to be a pain or an easy task. I didn''t bother to summon anyone on my team and just went ahead and start running with all my strength. The Cargo is still in the process of being delivered which is why I can just go and ambush them on the road. As I followed the path that the quest is giving me, I soon found the cargo being transported. Just like in the report, there are three yers and there are 5 guards who are all NPCs, and one coachman who is also armed. The five NPCs are not a problem. As for the three guys, I can easily tell that they just acquired those gears they have and they don''t have any remarkable weapons and they don''t seem to be that much strong. I think they are new pioneers as I don''t remember them being part of the Sandurk Expedition. Still, I don''t want to get toocent just because they are just nobodies I have never seen or heard of. Whoever they are, if they are part of the anti-rebellion squad, then they are still enemies I needed to dispose of. No need for mercy, time to get rid of the dirt and deal with them. Because they are all encircled around the cargo, I have to pick and destroy them as fast as I can before destroying the cargo. And since I am actually speedrunning this, time to use some bullets so that these guys can''t parry anything. BANG BANG BANG! In just three shots, three yers died. It looks like they couldn''t handle the firepower of the Pain Delivery after all but it is understandable if even strong enemies with lots of HP would die in one or two bullets. How about those who got shot in the head? They go straight to the Cathedral for resurrection, not knowing what happened. As for the NPCs, I immediately dispose of them but not via Pain Delivery as that would be too brutal and they would burst to pieces, I just used my Versatile Weapon to deal with them. Because they didn''t get to do any actions, they were easily disposed of. After the coachman died, I opened the cargo and inspected what was inside. To my surprise, the cargo was both angels and fallen tied up, gagged, and blindfolded while being put inside a container like they were some baggage. I looked around first and pulled a [Mass Teleport Scroll] out of the inventory and teleported back to the base with the "cargo." "Guys, can you give me a hand here? We have something to do with this cargo." Everyone who heard me started gathering around. "What is the cargo young man? Food? Shouldn''t you just head straight to the storage if it was just that?" one of the elders who also heard me call for helpers approached. "Unfortunately, this isn''t even food, but something else." As I removed the cover that is covering the whole cargo, it revealed the ves that are inside the cargo boxes. Causing shock to everyone. "Damn, this is big news, I will call the leader here," one of the young men immediately headed to in''s office to give the signal about what I uncovered. ? Some of the men called their wives and some called the medics along to give a hand. We went ahead and get the ves one by one out of the cargo while some are removing their bindings. It was so cruel enough that the ves that were freed from the bindings still are not in the condition to move. The medics examined them to see whether they are sick or not. "They are too fatigued and needed food and water as soon as possible. Men, can you guys prepare a shelter that can house these people? We need toy them down on the beds and let them recover their strength. immediately." I can''t believe what I witnessed though, so the cargos I have been escorting in the past timeline are actually ves? If so, what will happen to them once they arrived at the main church? Seeing how the Pope himself inspects the cargo in the past timeline, what was supposed to happen to the content of the cargo? This is so messed up. Chapter 637 Harvesting Life It took a few minutes before we were done untying and ungagging everyone from their bindings. A total of 30 ves. It''s a wonder how these guys fit inside a container that isn''t big enough to amodate 20 people. And yet, we managed to rescue 30 of them. It would have been more understandable if it was pure children in here but to see even an adult here is something else. "What the f*ck are these church bastards doing?! They are even keeping their own kin and cing them inside this tight box?! Are they thinking of transporting them like these? Even if they are treated like a ve, this just asking them to die!" one of the rebels voiced his displeasure at what happened to the ves. The doctor of the vige shook his head after examining a few of the ves. "These guys and gals have been drugged. It seems they have been done so just to let them remain like this until they reach their destination to avoid them from moving around and to survive inside while being stuffed inside the cargo. Give them air to breathe and let them lie down for a while. They will recover soon enough, so be sure to let them have a good rest until the effects of whatever drug they put on them wear off." in examined the cargo box and frowned after doing so. "This box is clearly meant to go straight to the Church which also means this will be going straight to the pope as well. What the heck is the church trying to do with these ves?" "Are they doing something in that big church of theirs?" the cksmith of the vige approaches. "Old Khan, do you know something?" in looked at the cksmith who was named Old Khan. "Not really, but I heard the news from one of my apprentices that there is something going on in that ce but he can''t ce his finger on what it was" Old Khan looked at the ves then he frowned when he spotted one of the kids there. He immediately rushed to one of them and grabs of them. "Rhea?! NO! WHY? WHY IS RHEA HERE!? F*CKING BASTARDS!" I looked at in confused, but he was also as confused as me. So he decided to go and pry some info about this. "You know her, Old Khan?" "Know her? She is my bloody granddaughter! I thought she was living peacefully in the Cloud Vige! Why is she among the ves that were caught?!" in was surprised. Perhaps it was something he didn''t expect. And to see someone from your family among the ves that were rescued, you would also be really puzzled and a bit furious about why someone from your family is among them. "in, I will take her to my shack. I can''t dare leave her like this," Old Khan pleaded. "You can do it, please make sure that she is safe. Ask our doctor to see whether she is alright." Old Khan nodded before going back to his house. This left everyone shocked and started to survey the remaining 29 ves to see whether there are familiar faces or even family members part of them. Thankfully, it seems not to be the case and everyone is relieved. However, this only spells something else. "deheart, can you go and interrupt the other cargo too? We don''t know if they are the same cargo types but if this happens, we have to make sure that they don''t reach their destinations. Whatever they are nning, we can''t afford to have them seed." I nodded in agreement. If they continue what they are trying to do, we don''t know what might happen and perhaps whatever they are cooking will be achieved. I have never seen it before but perhaps something else was going to happen if the rebels in the past timeline managed to win and get to face the final boss. It was sad that they got defeated before the final battle hence I didn''t even know the final oue and what the boss of the church will appear. It would have been great as a reference for the future to defeat them but sadly, I don''t have any info. After that, I went ballistic and finish up the missions next to the other. And to my surprise, all of them, are ves ced inside the cargo which made me feel disturbed. Even though this was just a game, having to rescue so many ves in a series of interception quests is something else. As a result, I managed to rescue at least 175 ves all in all. Having these many rescued, I kind of wondered why the rtives of these people did not even look for them. Having so many missing people with them, it''s kind of a wonder why they seemed to have quietened for quite a bit. It was like they got silenced. "This is not normal. Something else is happening with the church. For them to need this amount of people delivered to the church, they don''t need these much for sacrifice or something they needed. It seems they are doing this for something else," in tried to think of another reason for getting many ves at once. "Perhaps, there is something else, not necessarily involved with sacrifices and stuff like that," I murmured. "There are other methods to use them?" in frowned. "It''s just my assumption but from what I can see, it seems they are doing this to harvest lives. It seems they are trying to use these chances to take them and use them as materials for whatever their projects are going to be. The essence of life is something quite precious in some magecraft and if they decided to go on that route, I could not see them not doing that. It would immensely help them and if they are using ves, then it''s much easier to cover up for their deaths." Yes, I am assuming that is the case, there is no way the church would use "sacrifice" as the word as that is heretical for them. Perhaps Harvesting lives is much better term. Chapter 638 Expose The Church After an hour or two, some of the ves slowly managed to recover but they areining about the pain in their bodies that they are crying in agony. It seems that being contorted so badly in the cargo containers strained their bodies too much that when the drug that is acting as some sort of painkiller for them faded, the pain that their body is feeling rushed in, causing their entire pain receptors to go haywire. That must have felt very awful. Because I didn''t have much to do after finishing up all the quests that were avable, I decided to help out healing up the ves to let them calm down. Thankfully, a normal [Heal] ability is enough to fix up their bodies. I wanted to use [Area Heal] so that I can heal multiple of them but the doctor stopped me since some of the ves cannot be healed just yet until the effects of whatever drug they have taken had disappeared. It might cause some fatal reaction if [Heal] is being done to their bodies while the drug is active hence, the doctor did not heal them right away until they started to feel pain and the effects have finally faded. I still have no idea what kind of drug was used for them to be like this but I don''t need to pry on it. I might just be assuming that they are going to be used for harvesting their life essence but that is just a little guess. The reason I came up with that assumption is that the next continent that will be unlocked after Luminous is going to have enemies that are capable of harvesting Life essences from people and using them for the sake of enhancing anything they are nning to enhance. As time goes on, multiple of them started to groan in pain with only the doctor, his 3 nurses, and me healing the entirety of the ves one by one, we are slowly having trouble when one by one slowly recovered from the drug and started screaming in pain. As we continue to struggle, Sigma logged into the game and was stunned to see the current situation. "What is going on?" Sigma frowned as she see multiple angels fallen both lying on beds and makeshift beds, groaning in pain. "No time to exin, can you help us heal these guys? I don''t know if you still have the basic [Heal] skill learned but if you do, please heal them one by one." "Oh, okay," Although she is confused, Sigma decided to follow my instruction and heal up the patients. A few more minutester, everyone who has yet to recover from the drug and received a [Heal] from anyone has finally been relieved from the drug. "Quick, deheart. You said you have the [Area Heal] in your arsenal right? You can now cast it out. No more harm that will be happening to anyone after this." I nodded in response and activated the [Area Heal] by channeling my mana all around and creating a giant magic circle to ensure that I cover enough distance for every single patient. I even included those who already received a heal just in case. Soon enough, it covered everyone around. Once I confirmed it, I snap my fingers and the magic circle floated above the sky and started raining particles of healing magic, hitting every single patient and NPC who are also in the area. Once I finished casting the spell, I immediately pop open a bottle of mana potion and chug it down to recover my mana. It is troublesome to have a little bit of a headache every time your mana is at critical levels. My efforts in healing everyone worked as the moment the [Area Heal] appeared, everyone stopped groaning and is slowly recovering. "Looks like everything is working now huh? Now, care to tell me what this is all about? I don''t know what happened while I was not yet online so seeing this sight is a big surprise for me." "Let''s go somewhere to avoid disturbing these guys. They still needed some good rest." ... Into the small eatery, we ordered a few foods to eat while we talk about the stuff that I just happened. It was a good thing to see that consuming food can still be considered being eaten normally instead of making it like holding it to consume it automatically. "Is this rted to some sort of quest you have done recently deheart?" "So you knew? Yeah, you are right. But this was an unexpected result of the quest I have done and I am the one who transported these guys out. Also, I have to kill multiple yers as a result as well." "Wait, so the quest you made involves yers?" "Basically, the quests I took are interception quests but all of the interception quests involved are escort missions to other pioneers. I sessfully ambushed all of them and managed to retrieve the cargo. At first, the cargo was meant to be destroyed so that it can''t be used by the church, but when I inspected the cargo, I discovered that the cargo contains ves and that brings us to the current situation." "This is so messed up. Even in games, these things are hidden, and it is not revealed outright and only happen mostly as a sidequest mostly, you won''t see anything for a result but for yers to be involved, things might be really bad." "Right. Now here is the problem. I intercepted every single iing cargo without fail which means no cargo arrives at the church right now. That also means they will soon increase the security and the difficulty involved in interrupting the actions of the anti-rebellion squad will increase a lot. This bodes well and bad for us, it bodes well because that means our actions have effects but it is also bad since we will have a harder timepleting the necessary tasks to be done as well." We continue to discuss things here and there until we finished up all of the food we had. As we stood up, amotion urred at the gates. Sigma and I looked at each other and nodded before heading to the entrance where we saw Harmless Sparrow escorting a wounded family. The doctor immediately escorted them to get a healing. We approached Harmless Sparrow who is still breathing hard after her actions. As soon as she saw us, she frowned. "deheart, Sigma-chan, the church has started to make their moves, they are no longer hiding what they are trying to do. They are now showing what they are capable of." "What happened?" Sigma asked. "The soldiers that are members of the church ransacked a vige and killed the vigers and took some people with them. I arrivedte and only managed to rescue one family from them. Because it was hard to escort the family while also fighting, I decided to teleport back to the vige to ask for a little bit of help. By now, they should be going back to the city again. We have to stop them before they take those they kidnapped somewhere else!" Chapter 639 Violence Of High Angels With the ry of Harmless Sparrow, we immediately proceed to go to the vige. in happened to be there so he also decided to join us to see what is happening as well. Rushing to the vige, what we saw when we arrived is a bit of a disastrous event. Looking at what happened, it looked like they got passed on by a tornado, and every single house was destroyed as a result. Of course, that''s not the end as the other thing that made me frown is the fact that the bodies of angels were littered on the ground, bathing in blood, and all of them are killed in the most brutal ways possible that I can only imagine seeing in zombie games with brutal gore mechanics in their gamey. Seeing it on angels is a little bit different. BOOM! An explosion urred, not too far from our current location. The three of us looked at each other and nodded before we headed to where the ruckus happened. Continuous explosions happened in quick session as we are approaching the location of the big explosions. "Over there!" in pointed and what we saw are armored angels that looked like the angels depicted in many pieces of literature when they are going to war. Fully geared from head to toe with only the exception of their wings, not in armor. With them are golems, also fully armored, firing beams of beams that destroy the buildings like a wrecking ball. Because these angels are immediately in hostile mode even though we have not met them yet, there is no need to pause and stop what I am doing. Pulling out the Pain Delivery, I aimed, and pulled the trigger, killing the golems one by one before they can rise up again by hitting the cores. This was enough to cause the angels to look in our direction. But it no longer was my job to handle them as in and Sigma charged at them, with Sigma sending her golden chains while in charged straight with his shield and sword. But the angels were quick and blocked their attacks like nothing. The golden chains didn''t even manage to pierce their armor which should have been capable of tearing armor like thin paper. "The rebels are here! KILL THEM!" The moment one of the angels screamed, the other angels came running along with their golems in tow. I took advantage that the golems are slow moving so before they can even take advantage of their firepower to devastate everything. I shot them with multiple bullets and brought them all down. "Leader! Our golems are no longer capable of moving! They are all out ofmission and their cores cannot be salvaged anymore!" "Forget about the golems! We will crush the opposition with our own strength!" All of the Angels are Blessed Defenders, a branch of the Holy Knight ss. No wonder they are too tough to handle, the defensive ss of the Holy Knight is the guardians and although they are a bit weaker than the Guardians, a branch of the Pdin ss, they still are not to be underestimated as they still possess quite a bit of firepower and they excel in both offense and defense. I didn''t bother to use the Pain Delivery as they have a passive of [Projectile Immunity] which allows them to gain no damage to any projectile-based attacks. It''s kind of broken in the PVP in the game but only if they are facing range-specializing yers like Gunslingers and Rangers. They are useless most of the time if the enemy goes into melee mode which both gunslingers and Rangers can both do and they are not immune to projectile magic so they are still in a bad position. "I counted 12 of them, be careful guys. We can''t let them overwhelm us easily," I ryed to them and they nodded. The angels deployed their shields and pulled out their greatswords by raising them in the sky. They are summoning a being of the holy. However, if they think I didn''t know what they are doing then they are entirely wrong. "[Rending sh]!" VIZZZZZZ! The sound of ripping the air echoed as the sh traveled and before the angels can realize it, 3 of the soldiers had their swords fell down, stopping the summoning process to happen. The summoning can''t ur if there are not enough people who can perform it. Three of them cannot wield the sword anymore the moment they received the [Rending sh] head-on. "UGH! MY HANDS! MY HANDS!" The Three angels were horrified when their hands left their arms as the [Rending sh] cut them smoothly. "Raise your shields men! Don''t let the rebels win!" I shook my head in response. Even with their overwhelming defenses, the Versatile Weapon''s ability to ignore defensepletely works well in prating the attacks to them without any problem. Compared to me, both in and Sigma are having trouble with them. in''s weapons are not suited forbat against the armor of these Angels causing him to struggle. As for Sigma, the reason she is struggling is not because of her weapon of choice but because of how her ss and their ss are both Holy Knights. With the angels having the ability to manipte the holy powers that Sigma uses, most of her attacks are not effective orpletely nullified as a result. Due to this, I decided to help them in the fight and buff them up. Because most of my buff abilities do not have much impact on our current situation, I decided to help them out using some of the scrolls and tear apart buff-rted scrolls and even throw some ssh potions that would help out as well. [Enhance Attack] [Pration Up] [Ignore Invincible] [Dark Attribute Infusion] [Critical Up] [Greater Darkness Blessing] [Agility Up] [Defense Reduction Up] These are the scrolls I have torn into two to help the two from their struggles. That way, these guys won''t be as troublesome as they should be. "Sh*t! They used scrolls! And a hefty amount as well!" "Don''t worry about the scrolls! Kill them as fast as you can and you wouldn''t need to worry about a damn scroll at all!" The angels decided to abandon their defenses and decided to attack but before they can even strike to attack, I activated [Taunt], redirecting all the attacks that should have been to in and Sigma to move on me. They might have tried to attack with their all might, but with the shield that represents Pride, a mere greatsword of the armored angels doesn''t bring much help. PENG PENG PENG! "What?!" As their swordsnded on my shield, I immediately deflected them and activated [Shield Bash]. Because of my close proximity to them, all of the guys who attacked couldn''t escape the attack. BANG! The angels were sent flying in the distance as they almost endure the damage taken from the shield bash. "Fire them with the power of our light! Defeat the evil and banish them from this world!" The other angels nodded and their greatswords started glowing in golden light. "Careful deheart! That skill can prate armor and ignore defenses!" Hearing that they ignore defenses, I immediately changed the form of the Versatile Weapon into a gauntlet and dashes to the iing soldier. Seeing me get close, he immediately swings his sword down in my direction. With quick reflexes, I swiped underneath the direction of the sword and delivered an uppercut. CRACK! A loud crack of metal and bones alike can be heard after my fistnds. When I looked at the guy whonded on the ground, the helmet he is wearing is destroyed and now beyond recognition, and since it was crushed, his face was crushed as well. Seeing that he is no longer moving, I managed to kill him without much problem. Despite that, the others didn''t stop and think twice and attacked as well. Of course, I just dodged and repeat the process. With Greatswords being a slow weapon, dodging it wasn''t even a big problem. As always, because their attacks are pretty much dyed because of how the Greatsword limits their speed, I can immediately dodge and deal with an attack before they can even finish their swing, canceling their attacks as a result. "F*CK! No one told me one of them is a beast at fighting! Retreat! Don''t bother fighting them! Report these to the higher-ups!" "Oh no, you can''t do that!" Sigma grinned and had her golden chains bind every single fleeing angel. Sure, their attacks don''t work against them but it''s a different story after binding them from their movements using the chains. in ising in and using his expertise in the sword, he exquisitely executed all of the angels in one strike. It wouldn''t have been possible without the buffs he received but that was still quite an efficient way to kill the enemies in one blow. "And finally, we are done," in sighed as he looked at the dead soldiers. His de, was tainted with the drops of blood of the angels. Chapter 640 The Truth Behind The Abductions With the swift execution of all the Angels who attacked, we disposed of their bodies by burning them in mes. We took this chance to look for any survivors hiding from the ruins of the buildings but we ended up searching for naught as most of them either died from the copse of their houses or buildings that they were in or perhaps they died from the hands of the angels themselves. in insisted that we gather all of the dead bodies and give them a proper burial instead of letting them rot there so we asked a few people back in the vige to help with the mass burial. That day, we buried 150 families that died in the incident. The family who survived are crying in front of the graves. This was quite a lot of deaths and having personally helped on burying them, I don''t even know whether this is still a game or just another reality I am relieving. After the silent burial of the families, the family who survived decided to stay with the rebels. As much as they wanted to go back to the vige to rebuild it, there is no longer any point if most of their neighbors are dead. Due to the current situation that is arising after the angels are doing their thing, in considers expanding the vige a little bit more. It might just be a small vige but for an entire vige to house all rebels and victims of the crimes the church is doing, it cannot be helped that the number of people will expand. Of course, this topic is beyond my understanding so Harmless Sparrow and Sigma took over the discussion. As for me, I wanted to gather more info. Now that there are some quite questionable activities the church is doing, I needed a valid reason tounch an attack that would damage the anti-rebellion a lot and cripple most of their firepower. I already have some ideas of which areas are best to cripple them but because I have limitations on which areas to attack and I can''t just act rashly as in is the one who will be issuing orders, gathering intel, and giving it to in will open up more choices for me and more quest that will allow me to attack the said ces will appear as well. My first idea of gathering intel was none other than the kidnapped ves. Although they are ves, they are not branded ves which is why they can immediately return to society once they recover a little bit and dress up differently. Since they were taken and captured, there should be a ce where they were gathered at some point. I have some guesses but they are not urate so it''s better to go and check out legit info than attack blindly. The only problem is finding the one who has the right information. "Master, are you perhaps looking for someone to talk from these people to aid you in finding clues? I can feel your mind is thinking about who to choose from them," Lucia suddenly started speaking "You knew? Do you have a mind-reading ability?'' "Who? Do you mean me? Haha, that would be nice but unfortunately, that is not one of my abilities. If I have one, that would have been nice. But I can actually feel the genuine feelings of some people and some of their emotions. Then based on that, I would start putting the pieces together and make a conjecture. If you are asking me if I have the ability to read minds while I was just guessing made me happy that at least this ability and my intuition are in sync." "Haha, indeed. I am looking at these victims on who to talk with. They are mostly resting but I needed good info on how they end up bing abducted. That way, we can start breaking those works the church is doing so that we can finish up and return to the maind as soon as we can." "Then perhaps you can talk over on that kid over there. It seems he is thinking about something and his mind is in shambles. Perhaps he can give you some info?" I looked around and soon spotted one boy who is awakepared to the others. He is looking at the bandaged wounds on his arms and legs. He had a frown on his face and just like what Lucia said, this kid seems to be thinking something. "You alright kid?" The boy was surprised and instinctively backs away but when he saw that it was me, he returned to hisposure. "Oh, it''s you." "How are you feeling? Are your wounds fine now?" "These are just scratches, it doesn''t hurt as much as my body hurts." "Looks like the effects of the drugs you have taken still aren''t gone just yet. You needed to rest a little bit more to recover faster." "I can''t sleep," he shook his head, "The pain in my body is still there but thinking about the other kids I was with who is not here made me a little bit worried." "Other kids?" I frowned. "Yes. You thought these amount of people here are the only ones that are abducted? Nope, we are numerous and I must say that it was so bad that we are even treated like we are just nothing but items by those church bastards. I will never believe any of their fabulous words ever again!" "I am wondering but can you tell me how you and the other people here got kidnapped? I also seemed to see that you are somewhat aware of what will happen to you for some reason. Is it alright for you to tell me what it was?" "I don''t trust youpletely but since I have seen that you are all against the church guys and you all rescued us, I guess I can say something about them. But I will hold back for a bit on saying other things. I will tell you some crucial information about the church though so if that is what you are after, I will be willing to share it. Perhaps if I do, you might locate the others and rescue them before they get turned into mindless puppets." "Wait, wait, what do you mean by puppets?" I frowned. "You heard it right. Puppets. We are taken by these church guys so that they will harvest our souls and use them to power up their golems and make them move. They are basically capturing us to make our lives as fuel for their golems that would soon capture others and keeps the cycle repeated. And because the soul is harvested, that also means the body dies." As expected, it was indeed for that reason they are kidnapped. For the sake of harvesting their lives and using them as fuel. However, to think the golems that the angels use are the ones powering them up, then this is so f*cked up. To continue using the golems, the church has to harvest life from others and kill them just to make a golem move around. Once the fuel is exhausted, they will be using another essence once more, hence, turning into amodity to make the golems work. "I can see why you are disturbed. I was too when I first find out. I wasn''t even expecting I would also be a candidate to be also harvested and when the time they put us inside the cargo, I shut down my mind and think that this is it, I will be dying and my measly life will soon be fuel. But if you guys haven''t saved me, I would be dead by now, as well as everyone else." "Alright. That''s a piece of good information on why you all are abducted. So can you tell us if you remember any ces that you all are taken with? It''s alright if you don''t know the ce, just describe the locations you all are being kept with and I can probably locate it." "For sure I am 100% confirming that the ce we were being held at is the facility for creating golems. Still, I heard from the adults that we would not be killed there and had our souls taken but we are just taken there so that the church can immediately know which of us are good sources of fuel and which bad sources. I think they call it sorting. Anyways, its a massive factory but I am not sure which one was it since ording to my friends who wanted to work on one said there are at least three of them that makes golems" "Then can you describe the surroundings?" "Not really much, My mind is a little bit hazy on that." "Even a small detail? Like a symbol that caught your eye or something?" "A symbol huh? Then perhaps the big tree in the middle of the factory grounds counts?" A tree huh? Then that only settles down to one ce. Alright, that''s good to know. Chapter 641 Destroy The Golem Factory (I) Learning all the new information led me to one location in the Luminous Continent. The one that is being described by the boy is the only factory with that tree that he mentioned that he has seen. I am quite sure of it as that is one of the factories that was tasked to be defended by the Anti-Rebellion forces from the rebels who will attack and destroy it. After our sessful defense, we gained lots of golems as a backup in a fight during that time. Who would have thought that defending that ce would end up ughtering multiple angels and fallen and turning them into fuel? It''s kinda disturbing that we permit them to kill multiple people just so we can have new backups and make new golems using the dead for some reason. I don''t like it at all. But after receiving the valuable information, there is no need for me to withhold the information. I immediately ryed it to in. ... ... ... "Is what you just said now true?" "Yes. I can confirm it. There is no other ce other than the one he mentioned and I am quite sure of it." "Give me a few hours, deheart. I needed to look into this matter seriously first. I will ask my spies to look into this factory you are talking about before I issue a rescue operation. This factory is big so I will also be deploying others as well to secure an all-out attack after the confirmation. In the meantime, I want you to investigate a new rumor I heard that the tactician was brewing something and I want you to sabotage that. I heard they had some prints of what they are nning and I ask you to take them and bring them here. This is an easy task and if you want to go and beat or kill any of them, go ahead, I am not stopping you. You just needed to sabotage the meeting. As long as you sabotage what they are plotting, the better it will be for us." "Alright." "Good. Expect results in a few hours. Perhaps once you are back from your mission, we might get new info and I might issue a new quest soon enough." And so, I sabotaged a n. It was some kind of n that they need to implement to easily obtain more of the life essence and how they can get away with the crime without alerting the masses. I killed all of them before they can tell anyone of their side of the story and report it to the tactician that I am the enemy. Because it was an easy and boring task, I easily cleared it without any problem. I handed it to in and after he acquired the n, he throws it into the firece and burned it. I might have done the task as quickly as I can but the investigation was quicker. When I arrived earlier, the spy was already there waiting for my arrival. Due to the precious intel that I found and provided to in, the investigation was done at the earliest convenience, revealing that it was indeed a factory that produces golems at the expense of using the lives of others to fuel and power up the golems and operate them. "This is uneptable. Just using up the lives of others to operate something inanimate? These guys have lost their minds. I don''t even know what they are thinking anymore. I can''t believe I once was a devout believer of their teachings only to know that they are like this," in gritted his teeth as he ms his fist on the table. "You were a devout believer before?" I frowned. "Indeed I was. Pretty much someone who would believe what they are saying until I finally been awakened by their sh*t. Now that I am knowing more and more, I am getting more and more pissed. We will deploy the squads immediately. deheart, I suggest you take this quest. You can also ask the two to also join as well. We will crush that factory, stop it from reproduction and destroy it before it can consume other lives." "I agree with in this time around. The security is prettyx in the facility and I barely see any guards. There are lots of grunts here and there but they are not a problem to you guys so I won''t be mentioning them at all. The main problem is the golems. Since it was a golem factory, there will be no shortage of golems there waiting to be activated so it will be either an easy fight or an arduous one," the spy warned. "Thanks for the info but that isn''t much of a problem." "Anyways, deheart, this mission will be our first step in stopping the Tactician from his ns, and whatever the pope is trying to do, we will be going to thwart it. The mission will begin in three days. Prepare for it, and invite the other two as well. They are free to decline but they are wee to join." I can see the anger in in''s eyes. Although he looked calm, his fists are showing signs of his veins popping out of his skin. He is too angry that at this point, I am not even gonna bother talking much to him. I don''t know what caused him to be a rebel but there must be some sort of past in had for him to be somitted to his rebellion. Perhaps the oppressors he is trying to defeat might have done something to him. Whatever it is, I don''t have an idea. It all depends on whether he is willing to share it or not. But still, this is going to be the first big quest that involves in crippling the anti-rebellion squad''s power. Without the power of the golems, the rebellion will be a tad much easier. If this is considered evil by the masses of NPCs, then it is the necessary evil that is needed to be done to expose the true viins in this society. Chapter 642 Destroy The Golem Factory (II) Because of this development, I wanted to prepare for our raid on the Golem Factory. One thing I knew is that it will be a very hard battle as the golems are too numerous there and they will not run out so easily of golems to use. And since they don''t run on electricity and they have their own fuel built-in, there was not an existing Main Shut Down button for them to stop them from functioning. Anyone who wanted to stop them from functioningpletely, they have to destroy the golems one by one. I wanted to bring my followers to this fight but I am keeping them until the final battle as the Pope is the unknown enemy that the rebels will face in the end. Without any information about him, I have to keep all of my trump cards in check. Sure, some yers already knew that I have followers but no one has seen all of them and that is a good thing. The lesser people know, the better. The first thing I did is go to a secluded area in the forest. I asked the dragon for permission to use part of the cave he is living in and thankfully, he didn''t mind as long as we talk from time to time and eat food. And so, my project to ease the burden of my battles begins. ... ... ... You guys might be asking what I am trying to make. For starters, remember the golem that I have taken from the Spire during the final battle against the cult? I am finally going to repair and use it for myself. I know that it was an ancient golem butpared to the golems in the current era, the golems in the ancient ruins and the spire are much stronger than the golems I see. Seeing that the angels have the habit of not looking back into the past and ignoring everything that happened before, they don''t know how strong the golems that are present in the previous era are. I mean, why would we struggle in ruins against these guys? Because they are just built differently. Anyways, thanks to one of the tinkering people back in the past, especially the dwarf race that will be added soon, yers who like to tinker on these chunks of giant metals have shown me how to use these golems and use them for our own advantage. As I bring down the golem parts on the ground, the dragon got curious about what I am doing. "Aren''t those the Ancient Defense Golems that are present during the previous era? I didn''t expect to see a still-intact one. What are you nning on it? Are you fixing it up?" "Yep. I will need the aid of this guy on our uing raid." "Are you sure? From what I recall, these guys have now turned into dangerous enemies that venturing into areas it was guarding will incite its attack on any intruder." "Not a big problem. I have a method to fix that. But first, I have to fix this guy and repair some of this pal''s damaged parts. I also will add some other features that will be beneficial for me since its normal features are rather kinda dull, you know?" I smirked. "Haha, I agree with you, their designs are too simplistic and dull but it''s for better ess I guess. Also, the lesser things they have, the easier their little brain will be able to operate. That''s what my master said when exining why they have simple designs." "Ha, bet those guys arezy or just they don''t have much idea what to add. Anyways, time to get to work." And so, I started to write a blueprint using the Saboteur ss. I can use it to materialize another of these golems but perhaps if I messed up then I would try making one here instead. Anyways, I started to dismantle the golem, and for every part, I dismantle, I added to the blueprint. It was a big golem so sometimes, I have to ask the dragon to help me with taking it apart. I am still surprised though that despite the strength of the dragon, the golem did not break. A few hours passed by until I finished the dismantling process. Despite its simplistic design on the outside, the design inside isplex and even if I have a good memory memorize, this is not gonna help me memorize which part is which without the blueprint. "I must admit, I underestimated the simplistic design of the people back in the day. Who would have thought this golem had some weird designs and weirdplex parts in its body," even the dragon was surprised. "Didn''t you say you know this thing?" I asked. "Of course I do. But it''s not like I go around destroying stuff. I have not participated in dismantling this thing either so this is the first time I have seen this thing getting dismantled to parts." There are some parts that are damaged during thest fight I did with this. It''s not that bad but repairing it before it gets bad is much better to do so rather than letting it leave like that which will result in it being a big weakness that will eventually destroy this big boy here. The repairs are easy and not that hard thanks to my smithing skills and handling metals are my expertise now. So repairing them is much easier than I thought they should be. But sadly, it costs a lot of materials to repair the damages to repair it partially. I must say this golem is such a materially hungry thing. Anyways, it took me a few times until most of them are repaired. But sadly, not all of the parts are repaired which sucks as Ick a fewponents so I have to go farm it up. "Where are you going?" the dragon asked seeing I am leaving the cave while drawing the weapon in my back. "I need to procure more materials. I am running short of having this guy eat lots of my stored metals." "You need more materials, I am your guy. I have plenty of junk in my secret stash that you might be able to use. Some of them are from the golems I destroyed so maybe you can find something interesting there." He then led me to an area of the cave I didn''t notice until he directed me to it. It was like a small room for the dragon but a massive one for me. Inside are various metal scraps from the golems. There are also some treasures here and there plus the usual gold pile. However, I am not attracted to the treasures he has as I have plenty of that in me. What I needed are more scraps, not gold. But among the pile of scraps, I found something that can be a potential item I can add to this guy. And since I am free to take this stuff, time to enhance the golem''s capabilities and make sure it will work. It''s almost time to unleash trouble to them all. Chapter 643 Destroy The Golem Factory (III) The three-day countdown for the raid finally ended. During that span of days, I spent most of my time fixing my Golem of mine. Today is the day of the raid. ording to in, they will move out as soon as I am ready to go. Because I have ss in the morning, I didn''t start the raid just yet. Currently, we are in the cafeteria and currently, and Janus and Riko are with me and are voicing out theirints. "Ugh, why must we be forsaken for the opportunity to join on an Expedition quest? Ugh, if only the release of that did not coincide with our exams, I wouldn''t be having this kind of problem right now..." Janus wanted to weep though of course,ically as he only feel sadness but not enough to cry a river. "Quit whining. At least you get your chance to further your abilities rather than rely on others too much. Without deheart and the others, most of the time it was just us fighting in dungeons and bosses," Riko shoved his mouth with a hotdog with a bun. "Well, you are right about that. But I also wanted to y with everyone you know. What is the point of being an MMO if you can''t y with your friends together?" "Hey, I am also bummed out you know? I am a previous Pioneer like Manato here but I sacrificed the second expedition for the sake of my grades alright? It''s much better to focus on our studies first before our games. Especially for you who needed to at least be a bit average with your grades." Iughed at them for their little bickering. " No need to worry. The expedition isn''t that funpared to the Sandurk one and it''s not even as impactful as the frozen region quest we did before so don''t worry too much. You guys are not missing much anyways," I assured them. "See? Even Manato assured you about it. Instead of moping there, we could just improve our teamwork instead. We could use this chance to be more useful to Manato and the others in the game. We can''t just remain as support and fight while following his orders yeah? We need to work like the siblings who always fights dungeons all by themselves, heck, even auntie and uncle(Manato''s Parents) are doing fine with their endeavors and are now pretty well known in themunity as "The Power Couple!" We should at least make a name for ourselves too." "Oh, that''s right Riko. I want to ask how is the mansion right now. Without me there, I am wondering what is happening over there while I am not yet done with the quest." "Don''t worry Manato. Nothing much has changed except that Almira decided to use your mansion as her own workshop and shop now. Because she is making weapons from time to time and the mansion is not that far from a dungeon, that ce turned into a ce for business. Lina is working hard on maintaining the job of keeping the mansion clean and tidy all the time until youe back. Lily-san returned to the Capital after her tavern is fixed but she visits from time to time now." "Wow, seriously? Howzy was Almira to even move her workshop to my mansion instead of fixing her old workshop? But I guess, it is fine. It would help make the ce a little lively while I am still not back on the maind just yet." "Of course, that is our main base and our second home now, why would we even not take care of it?" I smiled as I heard that. Now I am more eager to stop the future that will happen soon enough. ... ... ... I returned to the game and tested the golem. After I installed various parts on the golem, it was no longer the same basic golem I faced before on the spire. It is now the customized version of my Golem which I am liking quite a lot. By the way, the Golem wasbeled as a "Pet" in the game for some unknown reason. Perhaps because it was a hostile entity at first and after I rebuild it to my liking, the system saw that as "taming" it which resulted in my acquisition of the golem. "I still couldn''t believe you made a brand new-looking golem that is very different from the previous golem you brought out the other day. Heh, I was not expecting it but this is looking good," the dragon was admiring the golem I made like he was also a parent who helped raise it though he just watched. I even installed a functioning brain and although all of the patterns it has been currently about battles, I am also trying to teach it like a human would act which made me feel like I am creating a robot. It''s still far from what was expected but this is just part of the trial and error. If this was a big failure, then I just needed to try again. "Now that youpleted the work, are you going back for the fight?" "Yeah. Thanks again for lending your cave. Appreciated it. Oh, also your stash of spare parts for the golems was great. If I can offer you anything you might need, I would dly provide it to you." "Nah, that was nothing. Besides, the spare parts are just junk lying there. I don''t even have an interest in making one so it''s better if someone has used it in some way yeah? Don''t worry too much about it. Just visit me sometimes and if you have time, we could go and eat food with everyone too. Invite your friends as well." "We might do that. I will try to find the time to hang out with you again. Until the conflict is over, you can count on us." I bid farewell to the dragon and headed to the rebel''s base. The people are now ready and Harmless Sparrow and Sigma are now also equipped with their best armor and weapons as well. They are now geared to go. in appeared as well and this time, instead of his usual casual clothes, he is now wearing his armor and weapons as well. He is now ready for war. "Took you a bit of time, deheart. This will be our first step in fighting against the injustice against every people of the Luminous Continent and the crimes that the church is hiding from the popce. Are you now ready?" in asked as the quest panel for the raid appeared before my eyes. "Of course. Let''s go." in grinned and pulled out his weapon up in the sky. "Let''s win this everyone! Let''s reim the lost freedom and take back our rights to live!" We will not be blinded by false gods and whatnot! We will rise up and fight for the future of everyone! March, my men! Let''s show those bastards that they shouldn''t mess with the rebels!" Chapter 644 Destroying The Golem Factory (IV) Unlike most armies who marched until they reached the battlefield, in preferred the easy way to reach our destination and that is by riding a big carriage enough to carry all of us. It was modified by many engineers who live in the Rebels Vige. The carriage is based on the bus and with the help of Sigma and Harmless Sparrow, the carriage-like bus was formed. Because animals cannot pull the carriage due to how heavy it was, the engineers created an engine powerful enough to make the carriage run without any problems. Although it''s not as identical as the real bus in the real world, having it run like one and carry multiple people at once without breaking down is already a big feat. While we are moving to our destination, everyone is not speaking at all. Most of them have serious looks on their faces. I can understand them though. This is the first battle we will be doing that is arge-scale one that involves destroying a big factory that is involved with the pieces of machinery people around Luminous Continent use. Destroying the factory will not only destroy the machines that are meant to help the angels but it would also cause some kind of chaos on what is going to happen. Of course, I am not very worried. Although this is the biggest factory, this is not the only factory that is involved with creating golems. There is a possibility that even all of these factories are involved in what the church is secretly doing but because we still have no clue about that, we will just be destroying one of the factories first. It might not directly impact the Luminous Continent just yet but this will bring attention to the people about our rebellion. "We are here." in stopped the engine and everyone raise their heads as they looked out the window. Before us is the biggest factory that produces the golems, our destination and our first goal to destroy. "This is it,ds. I know everyone is nervous but treat this fight as a fight that will change history. Even if your effort is minimal and not recognized, be proud that you all managed to contribute to it. Don''t be afraid everyone! If we want to forge our future without the danger that the church brings then all we can do is force the change instead! Take up your arms and destroy the adversary before us!" With the speech of in, everyone had very high morale and are now ready to move. They bring out their weapons, ready to fight. Most of the weapons they are carrying are the weapons that I have sold to them. Although I wanted to give them those weapons for free, they insisted I need some sort of payment. I didn''t deny them of it and epted it but it would have been great if they didn''t pay for it. Although it''s not exactly weapons that are specially tailored for themselves, the weapons that I made are not just some rejects that I handed out. All of them are of high quality and they are made with durability and sharpness in mind. I don''t want the weapon to be destroyed in the middle of the battle so I made sure all of them are in high durability. I also made sure they are not just bad weapons that are as effective only as blunt weapons, they are sharp and can cut through steel. They might not be as good as the Versatile Weapon''s quality or any weapons that are dropped by high leveled monsters, they are not what I call bad. Everyone went down from the carriage and once everyone is out, just like the portable snow carriage that Sigma used before in the Frozen Region, the carriage can be kept in a small cube and can be kept with you anytime you wanted to use it. We nned out already how we will enter and that would be my infiltration and incapacitating the guards and the cameras of the facility while the rest will go on standby while waiting for the gate to open. I activated my [Stealth] and immediately went ahead to sneak into the ce. The first was to disable the cameras in front of the gates. I used the bow and arrow to disable the cameras. Because my arrows are not made of actual arrows but made of mana, it is as lethal as a real bullet allowing me to break the cameras silently. The security might have already noticed the cameras going down now after I destroyed them. The next thing I did is creep near the security guards. Instead of golems, they made angels guard the ce as that will allow them to have a manual inspection on whether any carriage can be allowed entry or not and they are also the first eyes in case something is amiss. But those eyes are not necessary at the moment. I changed my weapon into a dagger and stabbed the neck of these guards who still didn''t expect my sneaky attack. Once they are dead, I disabled the security for their gates and opened them, allowing everyone to show and signal that its time to go and fight. Seeing them go down from the hill and approach the factory, I am now sure they are nowing in. I entered the factory first myself, changed my weapon into a cannon, and started sting every single golem I see with a cannonball. This was a big surprise to every single golem in the area and they started to process what is happening. The workers are also stunned by what''s happening as well but before they can fully understand what is happening, the rebels poured into the gate as well. As soon as these happened, the factory started to re its sirens and all the golems on standby had their eyes glowing red. "[Intruders detected. Intruders detected. Clean-up operation is rmended. Execute them all.] "Don''t panic when you all are facing a golem! Strike their cores that are either in their heads or in their chests! Destroy them before they can move again! If you failed to destroy its core but you made it incapable to fight, just destroy its core before it self-destructs!" The rebels are efficient warmongers. They are not to be underestimated as they slowly beat up all the golems iing. The workers immediately vacate the area and went inside the factory, waiting for the chaos to calm down but it was clear that they are also not safe there once we get inside as well. Although the golems were in overwhelming numbers, they didn''t have many durabilities in them that are too dangerous for everyone to handle and so we still managed to break through their numbers like it was nothing. Still, despite our easy time destroying them, they are still great in number and despite how fast we are destroying the golems, more and more golems still appear which is still not looking quite good for us. Seeing this, Harmless Sparrow charged up her weapon while it is in mes. I can tell she is about to unleash one of the ultimate attacks so I shouted to everyone. "Make way!" Everyone who heard me immediately went out from the firing range of Harmless Sparrow. The golems came rushing in and they clumped together. she unleashed the charged attack. "Let''s burn them all! [Phoenix Drive]! She swings her sword and a giant bird made of mes materialized and swoops into the golems. Every golem on the way was melted as a result. She pants as she finished the attack. It costs lots of mana to cast so Sparrow was exhausted. I immediately throw a ssh mana potion to her to replenish the mana she lost fast. "Thanks for the support, deheart!" in raised his sword as we charge through. "The golems are now slowly being destroyed! Move and aim to reach the main factory!" I still didn''t bring out my golem in the fight. The main trouble is the golems inside. Until we enter the golem factory, the golem will not go out just yet. The battle continue to rage on until more advanced golems started to pour out as well. This time, in decided to order us. "deheart, Sigma, and Harmless Sparrow, we will break into the factory. The sooner we destroy this ce and rescue all of the hostages the sooner we will be done with this fight. My men can handle the golems just fine. I need help in breaking through the golems and pushing through to the factory." "Alright. Leave all the small fries to me," Sigma then unleashed her golden chains and pierced through the golems one by one as we head to the factory''s door. Although we are not in a dungeon, I am quite sure, behind this door is a boss fight. Its the time to make the golem I made shine and to see whether the new age golem or the ancient golem reigns supreme. Chapter 645 Tetrahedral Golem (I) There are still lots of golems blocking our way but we forced our way to open the doors of the factory by melting it up using the [Phoenix Drive] that Harmless Sparrow unleashed. I didn''t learn the [Phoenix Drive] skill at the moment because the problem with this skill is that it is mana hungry. For a powerful skill, it was not a good skill to learn as it begets its disadvantage from its advantage. Most of the guides that tackle an efficient character''s skill tree management would rather avoid this skill due to how it leaves you in the wrong way after you cast it up. The only way this shines a lot in a battle is due to someone helping support. Without good support for this, using this skill leaves you in big trouble. I throw another ssh potion to Harmless Sparrow and she is now back on track. "Thanks for the save, deheart! I swear I have to time myself using this skill or I might go in a pinch." "Ha, you should be careful. I can''t always be there to help you once you run out of mana." "I''ll be careful," Harmless Sparrow grinned though I am quite sure she will still do that thing again. After we destroyed the door, we entered the factory as fast as we can. We then noticed the golems remaining outside the door and stopped entering the facility. It was puzzling at first but seeing this behavior means something else is causing them to stop entering. "REBELS! YOU DARE ATTACK THIS FACILITY?!" "LEAVE THIS PLACE OR WE WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Two female angels inb coats appeared at the top of a tform, looking down at us. "We don''t ept orders from anyone! We will be destroying this ce before it bes a menace in society!" in shouted while ring at the two angels above us. "Ha! If this factory is destroyed, the biggest supplier of golems would disappear from this continent and the golems that allow the people to have an easier time in their jobs would soon suffer because of your unthinkable way of destroying things without thinking ahead. Do you know how many families will suffer without the golems that we are making helping every family?" the left angel who has brown hair started speaking things to discourage us from moving further. "Ha! What a noble act you guys are speaking of, but you all are just f*cking hypocrites! You all didn''t want to save the lives of all angels and make their lives better! You guys are caring more about the power you get from keeping this ce on the run!" "Ha! Do you think you know something? You rebels are more like the bringer of doom. You think the way you all are doing is gonna help anyone?" the angel on the right who has blonde hair started to mock the reason why we are rebelling. "We don''t care. We can be the evil that the public saw us as, but we are just going to make sure that the evil hiding in their society will be wiped out first." "These f*ckers really are annoying huh? Alright. Fine. If you all wanted to die really badly then we will grant that to all of you! MK-CS19!" The moment the blonde woman shouted a machine''s name, a robotic sound came from behind them and started to move. The four of us ready our weapons as the shaking started to intensify as we waited for whatever wasing toe into view. "Are they going to bring out a mecha, deheart?" Sigma asked as the shaking continues to trouble our eyes. "I don''t know. But we have to keep ourselves prepared for what ising." Soon, we can hear loud clunking of metal nearby and mechanical noises can be heard everywhere from the factory. We still have not seen what it was but with the mechanical noises it is making, this golem might be a big piece of junk created to show off the power of the golems. It didn''t take too long for it to show up before us. The massive structure appeared before us, its massive Tetrahedral body is almost covering the whole factory. The core is exposed in the middle but seeing its design, it looks like a massiveser cannon that can firesers that can obliterate anything on its way. I can see it gathers a beam and shoots out a bigger beam to disintegrate everything. "You rebels are going to die here. MK-CS19, eliminate the intruders. Don''t leave a single ash. Make sure to clean up everything they make," the blonde woman ordered. Its core glows brightly. And soon, several mechanical noises I didn''t like the sound of started to work. "I don''t like the sounds of that stuff." in gritted his teeth as the rest of us immediately begins our attack on this big guy." ----------------------- [MK-CS19] Boss Level: ???? HP: ?????/????? Type: Construct ------------------------ The boss''s information didn''t help. This is a type of boss who has an infinite amount of health until we find its main weakness which contains its real HP and I am betting the true HP bar of this huge guy is currently ced in the center where I also bet all of its attacks are also being conducted. "Everyone, don''t bother attacking the body! Attack the core on the center! But don''t get too close or we will be hit by itsserbeams!" Theser beams started targeting the four of us and we started dodging. It was manageable to handle which is good but I didn''t like fighting against it. I wanted this battle to be finished as soon as possible. The two angels above us are just grinning seeing that the golem is causing us trouble. in didn''t like their smirks and fly up and suddenly attacks the two angels. The two didn''t expect in to do that and had to dodge. They looked terrified. "MK-CS19! What are you doing? Help us and kill this guy!" A massiveser beam appeared and fired at in. However, in has another idea. in marked the two of them using his abilities and at thest second, he then snaps his fingers. FWOOOOOM! Theser beam fires. We can feel the hotness of theser beam as it literally melted through the roof as its beams passed through. However, instead of in, the two angels were instead the ones who got obliterated. They couldn''t even scream before they melted without a trace. "Everyone! I will try to overload this golem! That way, you guys can safely attack the core! But I can''t do it permanently so please attack the core as hard as you can! I am counting on you all!" Chapter 646 Tetrahedral Golem (II) in immediately went to the nearestputer tform where the two women earlier used to call this tetrahedral-shaped golem out. I can''t see it clearly, especially since we are on the ground while theputer and in are on the tform positioned above. But based on what I can see in a glimpse, in seems really adept at using it that he sorta looked like a hacker to me but what he is doing is basically hacking indeed. It didn''t take that long before the tetrahedral-shaped golem stopped moving and seems to be struggling with its movements. "I managed to stop it but this ain''t permanent! Hit it while it''s immobile! Once it moves again, I have to stop it again which will take some time so hold out a little bit!" Hearing that, now we will be able to actually deal damage against this golem without having to hit its body that has an infinite amount of HP. Sigma immediately shot out her golden chains to the center and its HP is revealed to us. ----------------------- MK-CS19''s core HP: 4,876,991/5,000,000 Type: Construct ------------------------- 5 million HP. A lot of HP but it''s a bit average for most enemies right now. The golem doesn''t have a level too which means it doesn''t have any measure of strength at all. It can be great or bad depending on the situation. But seeing the damage that has been done by just using the golden chains, there is no need to be too worried about it. All we have to do is hit its core as hard as we can, if it recovers, we wait for in to do his thing, then we rinse and repeat the process. "Alright, let''s bust this thing out! With everyone helping out, I don''t see this big chunk of metal not going down sooner orter!" Harmless Sparrow activated her wings to fly and let her sword gets engulfed in mes. Sigma remained on the ground but she keeps releasing the chains and several holy spears left and right. Her damage is the fastest tond on the core so it was very helpful in reducing its HP. Of course, Harmless Sparrow and I won''t just be standing there and letting Sigma do all the work and hog all the hits, we will partake as well. I don''t want to use my gun this time as it is a waste of bullets and I am running out of materials that I needed to make the bullets so I will instead use a different range weapon and that is the Cannon. I barely use the Cannoneer ss myself but I would like to use it for battle too. Approaching it while flying, I then transformed the Versatile Weapon''s cannon form and aimed it at the core. After Harmless Sparrow finished her shes, I shot out one cannonball and sted it to the core. The power of the st was huge but it was only mild damage. I can assume that my damage only got that big due to the passives I have with the Versatile Weapon plus the passive in some of my other sses. Soon, the crackling noises from the Tetrahedral Golem stopped and it started moving again. "Guys, hold out a few more minutes! The Golem is back at it again! Please refrain from attacking for a while, I needed a little bit more time to stop this machine again! Stall it for me!" in shouted. "Leave it to us!" Harmless Sparrow shouted as the two of usnded back on the floor next to Sigma. A few holes appeared on its body and a fewser points opened and started to target us one by one. "Come here guys, behind me! I will tank all the attacks!" Transforming my Versatile Weapon into the Shield of Pride, I let everyone hide behind me and held my shield tight. Thankfully, the Shield of Pride has the function to expand its cover a lot allowing me to use it. The moment theserunched at us, the attacks werepletely blocked and the other two were also safe but letting thesers hit the shield is something I underestimated. Not only do I have to deal with theser''s power but also the heat and pressure it was exerting on my shield. The heat that umtes on my shield is not a joke. It''s burning hot and it''s painful to handle. The heat was not a joke. It''s causing my hands to even have trouble getting the shield up as the shield itself is like a melting metal on the furnace. The Versatile Weapon is indestructible but that doesn''t mean it is safe from the heat of theser. "deheart!" "Don''t worry about me!" I can manage ghhhhhh! F*CK It stings!" Theser continues to fire and if this shield of mine is one of the normal shields you can find out there, this would have already melted and be scrap metal. As I was still holding on from theser attacks, the crackling noises can be heard once more. "Guys! The golem is down! Hit it again!" Hearing that, I transformed the weapon into a magic sword and imbued it with [Ice Sword], to cool it down. Although the cool effect of the ice helped, it didn''t help much in the situation for me as the handle and de itself are still scorching hot despite the ice. "Guys! I have bad news! Continue hitting it while I talk!" in shouted. "What is it?!" I asked. "This massive thing seems to have activated its self-destruct mode! It''s counting down as we speak!" "What? Self-destruct function?! What now?!" Sigma frowned. "If this thing explodes, everything around the vicinity will explode as well, and seeing its size, it might capable of reaching farther areas and causing disaster to appear as well! Continue hitting it! Destroy the core! Destroy the golem as soon as possible!" "How long before the self-destruct timer ends?!" "Around 5 minutes only left!" "Sh*t! We don''t have much time! We can''t hit it harder enough! We are still halfway through! Bring it down as soon as possible!" Chapter 647 Tetrahedral Golem (III) My hands still feel a little numb. I managed to heal it up by dousing it with Ssh HP Potion but it didn''t take away all of the residual pain I felt after tanking theser. If I didn''t tank thatser, we would be dead before we can go back and attack it again. I can guess that this golem has its whole body full of thosesers so destroying one alone will not halt its operations. "Hit the core with everything you got! Don''t stop beating it!" Sigma shouted as she released multiple spears to throw from where she was standing into the core. The cannon hits hard but we need to destroy this thing before it starts another attack and I don''t like it. As much as I want to farm SP, it''s better to farm SP in a much easier way than to risk myself here. Changing my weapon into the Magic Sword form, I fly toward the core as fast as I can. Before I reached the core, I disabled my flight ability, forcing me to fall to the core in gravity. Using that to increase the force of my attack, I stab the sword to the core. CLANK! The Versatile Weapon bounces back and failed to prate the core. I already expected that but I didn''t lose heart and aimed it at the center of the core where a hole was present. CHAK! The pration of the sword is enough to only fit the tip as the hole is not big enough but that should be fine as that isn''t what I am aiming to do. "[Earth Fissure]!" CRACK CRACK CRACK! Multiple cracks appeared on its core and I saw the HP fall from 4 million to 3 million very fast. However, it only stopped there. I soon realized the reason why HP was stuck on that number only. "[DAMAGE RECEIVED EXCEEDING THE SAFE NUMBER. ACTIVATING EXECUTOR MODE.]" KA CHUNK! I immediately pulled out my weapon and jump away from the core. It''s metal tings that cover its whole body fell to the floor and revealed its exoskeleton. It was something I didn''t expect to see as the golem itself is filled with sharp rotor des all around it. Theser points are also there and just like what I expected, it is filling all over its body, making it very dangerous for us if we get close. "Hold on guys! It''s gonna move again! Just like before, please hold on for a little bit while I try to stop it from moving once more!" As in shouted, the golem started to move once more and all of the rotors on its body started to spin. Thesers didn''t fire this time around but the Tetrahedral Golem started to divide itself in multiple parts, sizes as big as arge t screen television and each has one rotor on each sides of its body. Only one of these divided golem parts hold the core butpared to the rest of the divided parts, this is the only one that doesn''t have any rotors present. The only unique thing that made it different from the others is that it is carrying the core alone. However, its not the going to be as easy as I sounded it to be. Sure, it divided itself, but it divided itself in dozens which is able to guard the piece carrying the core. It''s not going to be easy to break through it without dealing with its rotor des first. "deheart! Sparrow! Try to see if you can sneak past them! I will try to hold them off using my chains. I know it wouldn''t help much but try to see whether you guys can deal and sneak and get to the core," Sigma stood her ground and controlled her chains to intercept the rotors. Both of us nodded in response to Sigma''s n. It''s not a guaranteed sess but it gives us what to do at the moment. Since thesers are not being used, might as well try to defeat the core trying to iste itself. CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK! The chains tried to stop the rotors, putting them in ce but the chains are slowly getting overpowered by the rotors. Sigma gritted her teeth as she tried to keep them from moving past the chains themselves. "Now''s our chance!" I signalled Harmless Sparrow and we both bolted from where we stand and rush under the divided parts of the golem and headed straight to the core. I activated the Versatile Weapon''s ability, [Blood Weapon] as I charge in before pulling out a bottle of XXL HP potion and chug it down like it was some kind of juice. As we get close, I waited for the timing for my skill to activate. Harmless Sparrow is also doing her thing too, charging mes on her sword. It wasn''t the [Phoenix Drive] she uses, but a different one and only a single target skill, [Dragon''s Wrath]. "BURN AND WITHER TO MY FLAMES! HAAAAH!" BOOOM! Her sword sessfully strikes through the core, reducing half of its HP immediately. However, we are still not yet done, I am still not done with my attack. "Shadow dragon, I know you are listening to me right now. Lend me your strength and allow me to borrow that appetite of yours! [Devouring Hunger]!" The Shadow Dragon emerged from my Versatile Weapon, licked a few times before it merged to my weapon, and became a massive de of jaw. "DEVOUR!" GRAWWWWRR! CHOMP! The core resisted the mouth of the Shadow Dragon and even though I am not seeing it having shown any actions except for the other parts, just now when the Shadow Dragon tried to devour it, it made a move that stops the devouring process from happening. I still managed to inflict damage against it but it wasn''t clearly enough to devour it which sucks but I can only have it deal damage for now. The Core''s HP fell to a whopping 1,000,000 and stops at that exact number. When I found out about this, I immediately drag Harmless Sparrow back before the parts with rotors return to the piece holding its core. If we didn''t move, it might have crushed us and cut us to pieces as our flesh fall to the grinder. "SH*T! I almost got mushed to corned meat! You saved my *ss, deheart!" Harmless Sparrow wipes off the sweat. "Be careful next time. We can''t afford to let our guard down." "in-san! Is it still not done yet?!" Sigma shouted to in who is still busy. Perhaps due to how focused in was on his work, he didn''t hear a single word Sigma shouted to him. He is eagerly trying to finish up every single thing on his own ord as he furiously type everything and pushing buttons here and there on theputer. "Looks like he won''t be able to answer our questions! We shall focus on our problem first then. Everyone! Let''s go all out and beat this scrap metal up!" I swing around the Versatile Weapon that the Shadow Dragon merged with who is currently licking its lips while salivating from the sight of the core. The golem reformed itself again. However, it no longer formed itself into a Tetrahedral Golem that is towering above us. It seems it used up most of the metals it has on its body to create a thicker armor around the core. An armor enough to cover the core without it getting exposed. It''s thick enough that the towering giant has been reduced to a size of a wheel. However, it is packing up lots of armor around it that it is still big enough. "deheart, how the heck are we even gonna destroy the core if its covered to the brim?! I don''t even see an opening of sorts that we can exploit to destroy it!" Harmless Sparrow scratches her head. "If we can''t see a gap of its defense, then we make one ourselves. deheart, are you in?" Sigma asked. "Good n. If the enemy doesn''t have a weakness then we make one for it!" Harmless Sparrow can only shake her head after hearing what we just said. Still, she didn''t run away from it. No matter how ridiculous it may be to her, she can''t just stop there, not now that the boss is already in its 1 million HP threshold. "Ugh, f*ck this. If the boss is going to this path, then we shall bring it to them!" I ready my weapon. Although the metal surrounding the core might have lots and lots of metallicyer, that doesn''t mean it cannot be torn apart. Machines can be destroyed, they can be overloaded and they can break to pieces before giving its little function. However, one thing is for sure, no matter how powerful this golem is, I can''t afford to lose here, not now, not ever. Chapter 648 Alains Struggles While the trio is fighting against the MK-CS19, in is sweating a lot as he continues to type away all of the knowledge he knows in stopping a golem''s programming by hacking all of its functions, all of the stuff that makes it work, everything that will allow it to fight back. Basically, he is hacking by modern standards but because he is no hacker and theputer he is using is not as futuristic as theputers in the real world, his struggle is stressing him out as he continues to type away every single thing he learned from his previous job before he became a rebel. He can feel his hands go numb as he types away themands to try and disable the golem while pressing the hard buttons as fast as he can to create themands. His mind is fully focused on everything happening on the screen and yet he is struggling to finish it up. All of themand strings he sees on the screen are making more strings that branch to another string. Complicated enough that it pains his head a lot as he continues to finish up all of them and stop them from creating more branches that would lead to him being unable to stop itpletely. As he continues to try his best to finish it all, his memories came back, memories of his past that he refuses to ept to this day, and the main reason why he is rebelling. ---------------------------------- "DAD?" "Yes, dear?" in looked towards the source of the voice and a little girl entered carrying a small construct that looked like a small golem. She was in''s only daughter. His motivation and the sole reason why he is working hard on his job stressed him too much due to the deadlines and the bosses'' demands too much on his work. "Look, Dad, I made it!" the little girl showed him the golem which he took from the girl''s hands and examined it. The intricate design might not look perfect but for a 6-year-old kid like her, this is pretty amazing already. The Golem is simple but it was enough to function as a normal mini-golem if they add mana to it to keep it powered. in smiled and beckons his daughter for a hug. "I was positive that you are a genius, Laureen. This golem is already something that can be considered asplicated by beginners so having you made this is showing that you are indeed talented in this craft! A few more practices and perfecting this are going to be a breeze now for you. "Of course, Dad. I am your daughter. You make wonderful golems that help people with everyday work. I aspire to be like you Dad! Someone who can make people happy with my craft!" inughed while rubbing his daughter''s head. "Hahaha, alright little girl. That is a big dream you got there. My work is not an easy one but will you still continue to do this?" "Dad, I might be a child right now, but I will grow big and strong someday! I will make sure that I will be as capable as you... no, I will surpass you!" Hearing this, in was surprised. To see his daughter exin and exim her thoughts on surpassing him, he cannot help but be proud of her. "Heh, is that a promise?" "Of course!" Laureen then extends her pinky finger to give the sign that she is making a promise. The two shared a father-and-daughter bond for a while before he rubs her head for a bit and carries her by carrying her like a princess. "Alright, little princess. It''s alreadyte. You need to have your beauty sleep now." "But Dad... it''s still pretty early!" "Uh-uh. Nope can do that. If you want to surpass me, then have a good night''s sleep, be a strong girl, and grow healthy and happy and for sure, you will achieve your dream immediately. Unless you are just joking with what we promised earlier." "Hmph, alright fine. But I will make sure to grow big and strong so that you can see my awesomeness!" in tucked his daughter on the bed and covered her quilt to her. As in is rubbing her head while he watches her sleep, she looked up to the window above her head where the night sky and bright full moon are peeking. "Will Mom gonna be proud of me too?''" in smiled as he gently caressed her hair. "Yes. She always will." However, that promise was never meant to happen and it will never be fulfilled. ---------------------- The next thing in knew, he sat on the ground, inside his broken house, while cradling the lifeless body of his daughter. Laureen has arge part of her abdomen missing and her white dress is now dyed with her own blood. Tears falls on his eyes as he realized that everything he experienced that day y back once more to his head. "I must say, Mr. in, your product is very good. Just one st alone and bam, she is gone for good! Amazing. This is the pinnacle of creation that I have ever seen! To think that a genius like you has created a golem that can be used to be a soldier and be a marvelous battle prowess and capable of destroying enemies immediately, now that''s marvelous!" in is still in shock, while cradling her lifeless body, her eyes are already clouded and her warm body has already turned cold. But rage that is boiling on his body is something that he is no longer gonna ept. "WHY DID YOU KILL MY DAUGHTER YOU BASTARD!" in tried to attack but multiple guards stopped him from doing so and even though he is stronger than them, multiple of them will pin him down easily, stopping his advance against the confrontation to the man before him. "Why are you mad? My gift for you was perfect, it made sense too much for me to do that and use that as the gift for you. Without that brat, you can now focus in creating more stuff like this marvelous golem you made and your time will no longer be consumed from taking care of a kid,now you can use those wasted time to make something more productive!" "I will kill you! I WILL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" The manughed. To outsiders who does not understand the situation, they might find the guyughing to be having fun, but to in, thatugh was the most insulting and disrespectfulugh he ever heard in his entire life. Eventually, after a few struggles, the guards overpowered him and he was thrown back to ground, next to the body of his dead daughter. The man whoughed earlier grab the blueprints that was ced on his workstation and smiled, nodding at the work of "art" that he acquired. "Bye bye, Mr. in, I am going to expect more great things from you now that the hindrance in your life is gone." Blind by rage, in grabbed the nearest sharp object he can find which in his situation, he grabbed one of the metal bars that has a sharpened end after it was cut off and charges through the guy who caused everything in his life to fall apart. "I will never forgive you, you f*cking Tactician!" ... ... ... ... in opened his eyes. He didn''t die. He remained alive. The man before him knocked him out and he failed at exacting revenge at the person who took the life of his daughter away. Although his whole body is pained from all of the injuries he sustained, he crawled to the ground, back to the side of his daughter. His precious daughter. His struggle, everything that he fought and worked hard for, all of it was for the future of his daughter. Now that she was robbed off on that future, he no longer cares anymore. He returned to the side of his one and only girl, the treasure left behind by histe wife, the light that shines his dark path and the reason why he pushes on and the reason why he made that golem in the first ce. A golem that was meant to protect, not to kill. And now, that said machine that was meant to protect, took the life of his own daughter. All because he showed it to the Tactician who wanted to see the development of the golems. Yes, all because of the tactician. The famous man who was said to be the one who will save everyone from the grief and despair. The one who will make the whole Luminous Continent safe and prosperous. "Safe my *ss. One day, I will beat up that *ss of his, destroy his ideals and take revenge of the death of my daughter. Even if I will be condemned as the evil, I will be that evil to make sure the greater evil will no longer spread. The oppression shall end." Chapter 649 Laureens Memento in pushed the final button on theputer and the MK-CS19 shook the three below him and took advantage of it to attack, but to their surprise, the golem was not actually stunned but instead, just did something to shake the iing stun off. As a result, the three failed to attack it. It also slowly turned into a humanoid golem version with the same tetrahedral shapes on its body. "in! The Golem is not stunned at all! What is going on?!" This made in confused. The systems already indicate that the golem''s systems should have shut down already. But seeing it still move made him really confused. "The systems are already off! It shouldn''t be moving right now!" Seeing the result, in is now having trouble with what to do. There are no more things he can do with it. The systems should have shut down already but seeing that the golem only have a slight reaction after the shutdown but resumed its activities, in immediately knew what is happening. "It seems this guy had someponents that allow it to remain alive despite its main systems should have been severed and shut down by in. Our only choice left is to manually defeat it. But I think this is the time I will test what I just repaired," deheart opens up a portal beside him and in was not expecting something familiar went outside of his portal. A golem. Based on the golem''s main design, it''s the same golem type that can be found in the ruins and mostly in ancient times. This was one of the golems that in studied before and most of his designs came from the inspiration of the golems from ancient times. He knows that the Angels had the habit of abandoning the past technologies if they are outdated or have been forgotten by modern times. But not for in. Without the prototype of the golems in the past, the golems he invented and created will not be born today, there will be no golem factories built and nothing will kill his daughter in the process. However, that is not the main reason why he felt the golem seems familiar. He couldn''t pinpoint what it was but he is sure that he had seen it before. He is not sure what it was but for some unknown reason, there is something in his mind that wanted to learn what that thing that keeps haunting him that wanted to know what it was. Still, in couldn''t help but be surprised. The golem might be from ancient times but seeing it move again and has been retrofitted with some parts that are clearly not part of itself is kind of amazing for in as he also had something like that in mind before he quit making golems. He wanted the golem to not only be useful in one job but in different jobs depending on what was equipped on it. deheart''spanions were surprised when deheart suddenly pulled out a golem on his own. It was bigger than a normal human''s height but it was much smaller than the golem before them. However, seeing that deheart seems pretty confident, they decided to see what would happen next. The tetrahedral golem seems to be intimidated by the golem that deheart summoned. Despite being a machine, it showed some kind of minor emotion for being on guard against the golem before it. Perhaps by detaching itself from theputer controlling it, it gained a minor intelligence? Perhaps, but no one cares about that as they still needed to beat it. With intelligence or not, this golem is an enemy and that is an undeniable fact. "Gamma! ADVANCE!" deheart gave amand and the golem he summoned swung its arms and two des appeared on them, not just any des but des made of mana, a de that can cut through anything and can also pass through anything. As soon as the golem that deheart named Gamma revealed its weapon, the tetrahedral golem started to make its move by shooting itsser-like before, deheart and the others were about to defend but Gamma suddenly performed a Blink. In just a second, it covered the distance between the golem and Gamma and in one cross-swipe attack, thesers that were attached to the monster were immediately destroyed. Not only that but its Hp has been reduced to 700,000 immediately just by removing those two weapons attached to the golem. Electricity sparks covered the whole body of the Tetrahedral Golem before it disappears and started to attack again. But this time, it divides its body once more and sends off the parts of its body with des to attack at the same time. But Gamma not only flinches but strikes against the attacks. It started moving in quick session as golems shouldn''t be capable of doing so, especially with a body made of metal. However, for some unknown reason, its movement is fast enough that it''s able to deflect all the iing des from the Tetrahedral Golem. One by one, most of its parts fly back to its main body. Gamma tried to attack its core but the tetrahedral golem immediately used its parts to stop the attack. CLANK CLANK! Golden chains started to pierce through the metallic parts. Then, it forcefully pulled them over, revealing the core bare. "LET''S FINISH THIS!" deheart looked at Harmless Sparrow and thetter nodded, already knowing what she is about to do. The two sprint at their top speed towards the core and the two leap up high in unison as they charge up their des to mes. "DIE!" SWISH! The twonded as their des shed the golem''s core in a cross pattern. Another sh appear and this time, Gamma added a piercing attack, creating a hole, big enough for a person to head in beforending in the middle of the two. And as they put their weapons back to their sheathes and the golem retracted its des, golden chains entered the big hole gamma created and forcefully destroyed the core forcefully. As a result, the tetrahedral golem exploded to pieces. The scene before in immediately sparked the memory he wanted to remember for a while. The golem that helped in the fight is none other than the prototype golem that he donated to the Spire in the past which someone still uses until it was abandoned after a freak ident. This golem is a joint operation between him and his daughter that both of them created at one time. It might look ancient due to the fact that his daughter wanted the golem to look like one and in liked it due to its simplistic design. He can''t be wrong about it. Although this was a join operation between him and his daughter, most of the work was done by his daughter, and the only work he did was supervise her and guide her in case she gets wrong in some steps and an ident might happen. This golem is something that his daughter made. The final memento of his daughter. He didn''t know that the golem will reappear again, this time, aiding the rebels to finish the legacy. The golem that will fight with him to rebel against the oppressors. Chapter 650 The Rescue Of The Livestock With the destruction of the main golem, our first problem was now gone. The people who run the factory are either captured or managed to escape. I didn''t care whether some had escaped as it''s natural we can''t capture everyone. As for the siblings who are apparently the president and the vice president who governs and manages the factory, well, they are gone and reduced to atoms after theser beam that identally got fired at them which resulted in their evaporation. Nothing was left on them, even their clothes and bones were not spared and everything disappeared. As for the mass-produced golems, we have to manually destroy them, and since they are much easier to destroypared to the big golem. Of course, Gamma was a big help in cleaning up the golems. With its abilities, it easily destroyed most if not all of the remaining golems. There are plenty of rebels who are injured but thankfully, no one was in a life-threatening situation. No one died either which is good though that was due to the fact that we made a surprise attack on a factory that didn''t get to prepare enough time to prepare for defenses against our attack which is understandable. However, this kind of wless, no-casualty mission won''t happen that easily again. With all the ruckus we did, and the fact that this factory is one of the main golem suppliers in the Luminous Continent, the other factories would also be on guard as well. However, there is one problem... The hostages we are supposed to save are nowhere to be found. Everyone who is still capable of moving went on to search alongside Sigma, Harmless Sparrow, and in to cover a bigger ground. I was busy healing the injured rebels so I didn''t join the search since I thought it would be easy enough to find them but I was wrong since everyone was still busy looking and without any result. Around an hourter, I finished healing everyone and while I chug empty a mana potion bottle, Sigma and Harmless Sparrow decided to approach me. "deheart. The hostages are nowhere to be seen. We couldn''t see any traces of them escaping either!" "That shouldn''t be, aside from the other employees who managed to escape, there should be no one else who escaped. And even if they managed to sacrifice everyone and harvest their souls, there should at least some lifeless bodies scattered around." I started thinking on what is the most probable thing that could happen while we are fighting the golems. However, nothinges to mind so I stood up from my seat. My mana has been replenished and I am good to fight again. Gamma is also ready to fight again in case of another battle so I decided to help with the search. "Let me help. Perhaps I can help out with this." Instead of helping to the search, I went straight to the captured workers and grabbed one of the people who seemed to be one of the lead workers as he is wearing ab coat just like the two sisters who got obliterated as a result. "W-what do you want?! I don''t have any money. I already surrendered so please don''t hurt me..." the guy pleaded. "I would not hurt you if you just provided me with proper information regarding the kidnapped people. Give me the info I needed and you won''t get any kind of pain. Understood?" He looks confused at first but I didn''t care and decided to start asking him. "Where are the captured people that you guys are trying to harvest their lives for the fuel of the golems?" He looks away and started mumbling, "I-I don''t know what you are talking about." PAK! A crisp sound of my pnded to his face and his face was shocked at what just happened. "If you didn''t answer a question that I am going to be satisfied with the answer, we can say goodbye to your face and perhaps we can even harvest some of your teeth in the process too. I am fine with that." "I-I already told you! There is nothing I know-" PAK! PAK! Two consecutive psnded on his face and he winced in pain as a result. I stare at him in the eye, sternly watching his emotions, evoking fear and taunting him. "Where are they? We can just sit here all day without anything that will happen but I can''t guarantee what will happen to your face either." "NO! NO! SAVE ME! MOMMY! PICK ME OUT OF HERE!" ... ... ... As a result of my interrogation, I managed to gather the information an hourter. His face was too battered and his pants are already wet after he peed in fear. He didn''t die but he sure suffered like one. "I can''t believe they have an underground passage that allowed them to hide their products? Can''t believe I didn''t think of that," Sigma scratches her head. "Can''t me you. I didn''t think of that possibility either but since the guy decided to spill it, we can take a look whether he was telling the truth or not." Since we didn''t know what awaits us down there, in decided to bring a few able fallen with him to assist us in case things gets real bad. The reason we didn''t find the hidden area immediately is because the secret door to the underground was actually built on the lone tree growing high. It wasn''t actually a tree, well, technically, it is still a tree but it was not a pure tree as they decided to convert it to an elevator to reach underground. It was clever of them to do so as we wouldn''t be able to see this ce without any clues andwe might have left the ce without rescuing everyone we are supposed to rescue. "The people here looks like they had quite some advanced tech to many things huh?" Harmless Sparrow explored her eyes inside the hollow tree as we entered the elevator that is very simr to the elevator in the real world. "There are many great minds who helped worked in things like this to increase the convenience to the fullest. It''s a wonder why they seemed to be less high-tech in the surfacepared to what we can see underground," in answered Harmless Sparrow''s random thought as the elevator went down to bring us to the bottom. "Is there a big reason why the angels seems against to use the technologies so openly aside from the golems?" I asked. This is one of the main questions that I keep questioning myself in the past timeline that never got an answer since most of the ancient ruins of the continent has more tech than what was seen in the surface that people sometimes joked that the ruins in the Luminous Continent feels more advanced than the current tech shown and they even nicknamed the ruins as the Cyberpunknd as most of the tech there are just something you can find in a cyberpunk genre like robots, machines, androids and many more. "me the church for that. Unless they promote that kind of tech, you won''t see any kind of new tech used by the people in the surface without beingbeled as a heretic. There is a reason why some of the inventors here would rather go into hiding rather than show themselves and risk themselves killed by the church and confiscate their lifetime work. That is also the reason some of the ruins in different areas are more high in technology due to that. To think they are using it under the popce''s prying eyes, they wanted to just im usage to the highest techs that can be used. I doubt they will allow civilians to see this. But since we are the rebels, that doesn''t matter as it is our fate to cross swords with them," in exined. KACHA KACHA KLANK KLANK The elevator slowly stopped as we reached the underground and what we see there was something we didn''t expect. Below is a ce that looks like a farm''s cages where the animals are ced where they eat, sleep and sh*t. A ce where freedom is nowhere to be seen. And inside those cages, are the kidnapped people, looking at us straight in the eyes. Most are children though there are some teenagers and adults as well. The ce was not something we expected. "What the hell are they trying to do. How can they treat other angels and fallen like they are livestock?" in couldn''t wrap up the reasoning for this. Just as we are trying toprehend what we just witnessed, several people and some golems came out and they are confused on our arrival. "Who are you people!? Entry here is forbidden to outsiders! Golems! Capture them and put them into the cages! We can''t afford to have witnesses on our work here!" one of the men with sses ordered which the golems immediately obeyed. "Prepare to fight! Gamma! You take care of the golems!" Our battle to free the prisoners has only just begun. Chapter 651 The "Farm" Underground Countless golems appeared in our view as we engage in battle. Compared to the angels present, there are not so many of them which allowed the angels present to easily escape from the chaos made by the golems. "Gamma! Obliterate anyone thates our way! We will push through!" Gamma spins as it moves toward the direction of a straight line, destroying every single golem on the way. Still. The number of golems attacking easily reced the destroyed golems. Not surprising but the golems are protecting the little "farm" they made from us. It seems they are intent on keeping it intact and eliminating all of us. "deheart! We need to confront the one controlling this area. Since it was functioning despite the destruction above ground allowed me to presume that this underground "farm" is a different functioning area with a different person managing the ce," in bashes one of the golems with his shield as he looked around to see where we will go. "We will have to worry about thatter. We have to destroy all of the golems here and the machines as well. If these bastards are mass-produced enemies, destroying the source of their birth is the best option we have to easily confront the one handling this ce. For now, let''s focus on reducing every single golem down." We nodded in response and started to plow the enemies one by one or by the group. I only used my Versatile Weapon''s normal attacks as I have to keep my mana resource pretty high so that Gamma can continue moving. Gamma will stop moving once I ran out of mana so instead of using skills, just using the normal attacks to kill the golems that are easy to kill is the only thing I can do at the moment. The effects of [Blood Weapon] already ended up since it only has a duration of 5 minutes while the [Devouring Hunger] already stopped after I finished the battle against the MK-CS19. I have only 4 uses left this month to use [Devouring Hunger] and I want to save it up for future confrontation so I cannot abuse it to my liking. Thankfully, Harmless Sparrow and Sigma are doing the job of doing AOE attacks and destroying every single enemy that appears before us. However, the number of the golems started to increase with no signs of decreasing despite our efforts in thinning them down. We are already halfway to the the area where the men went into hiding and I am now getting impatient on how slow we are progressing so I decided that its time to unleash the second form of Gamma in which I added during my modifications of its body to specialize in cleaning up mess and monsters in quick session. "Gamma! Activate Annihtion Mode!" Hearing mymand, Gamma floats in the air, retracts all of its swords back to its body and changed it to a more destructive means. Multiple guns. These guns are not ordinary guns but mana guns. Guns that fires rays of mana that can burn and melt its target. I didn''t want to use it due to how mana thirsty it was everytime the mana guns are fired and since Gamma has six guns on its body, everytime all 6 guns fires, half bar of my mana are gun and that is already considering the passives I have that lessens the mana consumption in attacks and skills. Without it, I immediately get drained. But despite being such a mana sucker, its pretty much a destructive tool which I just wanted to hold off until it is necessary and I think now that we are getting overwhelmed by numbers of golems invading, it is the perfect time to unleash it. "UNLEASH HELL, GAMMA!" Without restraint, Gamma unleashed a full barrage of bullets to the golems in quick session, melting all the golems in our way. "Let''s go!" As I immediately drank Mana Potions to restore my mana as fast as I can. Everyone immediately took advantage of it and started to rush on to the big underground facility. With the help of myself, drinking nonstop of mana potions while Gamma continues to fire multiple mana bullets again and again, we soon managed to catch up to the angels who are escaping deeper into the facility. Not only that, we also arrived in a big machine that constantly creates new golems and pops them up, creating another instance of the golem we need to defeat. "Bastards run as faster than scurrying rats," in is pissed as we continue the chase. Soon enough, we reached the main machine that pops the golems without stopping. When in arrived with us, he was shocked. His eyes clearly indicates he didn''t expect to see what he was seeing right now before us. As for us, I am already quite in awe seeing the big machine before us. It''s big enough to say that it has the same size as the Tetrahedral Golem. To think something this big is creating those mass produced golems, I can easily see them flooding the whole continent with these golems. I also presume that the fuel they use are the Life essences. Although Life essence takes a long time before it gets exhausted, if it was used like this, I can see them immediately running out of it. Soon, there was nowhere for the remaining angels to run. Around us are multiple golems surrounding us while we have our weapons drawn and Gamma aiming the big guns to the machine. "It''s been a while Robert..." in move forward all of a sudden and the one who made amand earlier to stall us with mass produced golems had his face twitch and frown after hearing his name uttered by one of the pursuers. "Bastards! You rebels will soon die off. Once the siblings arrive here, everyone of you will die soon enough..." the guy named Robert seems to not remember in as he didn''t care about him at all and decided to threaten us with empty threats. "That threat won''t work for us, Robert. Those siblings are all just talk but they are fine turning into dust, so perhaps you all will be better not run so that we can send you all with them." "Wait what?" Robert seems to not believe what in is talking about. "We already met with them earlier beforeing here. Although they made our work harder, they didn''tst long enough anyways so even if you try to wait, there is no way they wille here to rescue your sorry *ss." Robert is now angry. "Just who the f*ck are you to casually utter my name like nothing?! I don''t think I even mentioned my name to anyone who is below me." in started chuckling to the point he is almost ready tough in a manic manner but he held it in and removed the mask he wearing and the helmet covering his head, revealing his face. "Surprise, Motherf*cker. I didn''t expect you to forget about me so soon." This time, Robert is no longer calm. Seeing in''s face, he started shaking and he fell to the ground. "YOU! in... I thought youmitted suicide a few years ago!" in grinned and pulls out his sword. "That was part of my tricks so that I can sessfully avoid the eyes of my enemies. Never expected your former best friend and colleague would be the same f*cker who would change and f*ck up my whole life. I even thought you were a true friend and a great man but I can tell you are no longer the kind person I knew in the past. Creating a farmposed of the people of thend, that is just some kind of sick work you are doing there." Even though in is already taunting the Robert guy, thetter startedughing. "Hahahaha! Compared to you, I have dreams. Dreams to be the best and to live as a rich person. I am not some cheap guy like you who would not dream big. I am someone who would take all the opportunity to win and have my life be the best. For trashes like you who decided to run away, you are below me!" in startedughing, a kind ofugh that felt evil yet kind of a sarcasticugh. "I see. So this was the kind of trash I treated as my best friend and talk all my sentiments in the past huh? This is kind of ironic seeing you are now a head of a facility despite having no talents in creating golems. I doubt you even have any kind of breakthrough from it seeing most of these golems are all substandard." "Ha, in. Times have changed already. If you think you are just someone who will change this world by rebelling against the tactician, then you are wrong. You need to wake up from the society and ept that this will not bring a happy end for you." in stopped smiling and grip his sword tightly. He pointed it to Robert, in a stance that is ready to attack anytime. "My life has never been happy since my daughter died because of your doing, after you tipped the motherf*cking tactician of our work. Because you are partially the cause of my daughter''s death, perhaps it is time for me to crumble the life that you know." "Die." And an echo of the ck of the sword reverberates the quiet surroundings, followed by a burst of red liquid that immediately made a puddle. Chapter 652 The Path To Justice BLAG! One round object flew in the distance as the headless body of the former best friend of in fell to the ground with its blood shooting out from its neck. It''s too graphic but this only shows that the game is not kind enough to censor it for those who can''t handle the gore. in flicks his sword, before putting it back in its sheath, with a conflicted look. It is clear that he didn''t want to do what he wanted to do just now but he decided to perform it since it is for the best. The rest of the employees were not as tough in mind as their boss and the moment their boss died, they immediately cower in fear and begged for their life. "Men, tie them up. We can''t afford to let them escape." I immediately ordered Gamma to execute all the golems around and since Gamma is more proficient enough to handle things, Gamma easily wipe them out. As for the machine that keeps on spitting out the golems, we immediately shut it down. in personally destroyed the machine by destroying its control panels and breaking it on the inside. "Why did you destroy the machine, in? We can use that to our advantage to fight back the church!" Sigma frowned at the decision of in. "Although that is true, it is also a cheap way to gain manpower. And we would just be like them if we decided to use their tech to do something the people hated. It''s better if we just destroy it and let it be broken than using it and seeing by the people we want to listen to that we are just no different from our enemies." Based on in''s past, I can understand why he didn''t want to use this one method to increase the power of the rebel fighting force. Using the machine must have made him remember the past. Whatever his past may be, if that was his decision then it is best to follow so. After the cleanup, the next thing we did is to rescue all of the "livestock" trapped in their own cages, waiting for their turn to die and get harvested by their life essences. Most of them started to cry after they realized that they can finally return and they will no longer have any fear of waiting for their final days. After the rescue, at least 200 angels and fallen were rescued and freed from the "farm". Most of them are pretty malnourished while some clearly are just ced in their cages as they still have a somewhat faint light in their eyes. The ones who have been there for how long already lost the light in their eyes and it will take a lot of time before they can recover from the trauma. Perhaps, they might not even recover and will forever live through that experience. But the destruction of the factory is sessful. It didn''t give me a boon of experience points and only a boon of gold but it wasn''t that bad since I am already at level 200 and if I want to farm my experience again, I just needed to go back to the Dark Sea and farm some shards again. However, that is not the exciting part of this raid. Due to the fact that this was a ce that is totally abundant with Golem Parts, this is a big ce for me to get the parts from the broken golems and spare parts, allowing me to customize Gamma or repair the guy if there are some part defects on his body that needed to be reced or upgraded. I took all the parts that I can pick up and since I only have a limited amount of space in my inventory, I got rid of the useless items by either letting my Versatile Weapon eat them or just going ahead and throwing them. Although there is plenty of good stuff, I prioritized those items that will benefit Gamma the most. in does not want to keep the ce intact so he asked the magicians topletely destroy the factory, releasing any chances for it to be repaired once more alongside all the tech needed for creating golems from scratch. It''s kind of a waste to be honest but because its in''s policy, I didn''t stop him from it. Now, it is finally over. The first sessful raid will surely make the eyes and ears of the people in Luminous Continent look at the rebels. Taking down one of the biggest manufacturers of golems, will surely bring a lot of ruckus to the townspeople and the higher-ups of the angels will now be on guard they might even start hiring those yers who decided to join the anti-rebellion squad to take apart the rebellion. This will be not a good thing for us but it will surely make sure that the Tactician and the others will no longer ignore us and will soon give us the right amount of attention we needed to make the masses hear us. I know that they won''t stop using the golems since this factory is not the only one to produce them but it doesn''t mean they will flourish. With the main factory gone, the other factories will be forced to close due to theck of materials produced or might choose to take over jobs that the main factory made before. As the factory burned to ashes, in''s expression seemed to be firmer now. It seems he found the reason he was fighting for so long. ... ... in looks at the burning factory. The factory that once belonged to him made the ce flourish and became one of the factories that pioneered Golem Making. However, all of that was in the past. This factory was never his and will never be his in the future either. It is a ce where multiple crimes and multiple lives are wasted. It is not the ce that he built from scratch from the ground to above. This is now a ce where countless of souls were destroyed just for the sake of achieving a goal that is something he does not fathom so easily done in the hands of the evil minds. As the ce burns down, all of the chains that have been tying him from going all out has finally been removed. Now, he is ready, ready to begin again. The life that begins again after something is gone, something he will never need again. Despite his daughter already dead for how many years ago, his vigor back when his daughter is alive is back. And now he found the conviction that seems to be missing on his life. Chapter 653 New Recruits The news of the destruction of the golem factory only arrived after a few days to the ears of the Anti-Rebellion squad and the Tactician himself. He ms his hands to the table, destroying it in the process. He didn''t expect that his n of producing multiple golems to annihte the Rebels ended up turning to them and now the n is now sabotaged and cannot bepleted. What''s worse about the news that he received is that the siblings that run the factory and the leader of the Golem Creation project were all reported to die in the process of the raid, the former got vaporized by their own golem while thetter got executed on the spot by the leader of the Rebel Leader. Without the three of them, replicating the original destroyed n is no longer possible. It wasn''t easy for the tactician to make the n at first and he spent most of his attention on the hidden project in case something happened but it all disappeared in one raid. "F*CK! These rebels are all grinding my nerves to the fullest." The tactician scratches his head as he tried to check on his remaining ns to see whether he can still have some sort of another method to destroy the rebelspletely. Soon, he realized he is down to one method. His most reliable method is already destroyed so he is no longer capable of making another one again in just the shortest time. Soon enough, the pope will unleash his ns and they can''t afford to fail right at the end of their ns. Down with onest n, this time around the Tactician decided to now put all of his focus and attention on thest n to destroy the rebels. While the Tactician is busy with his ns, another person in the shadows caught all of the things that transpired in that room. With everything he heard and learned from that, he slowly disappeared from the shadows and left the room. ... ... ... After the sessful raid, the rebel vige ended up with many refugees during the rescue operation happened. It was troublesome, to say the least, but it was also something I already expect after hearing the situation that there are lots of kidnapped angels and fallen but I am surprised that it managed to reach three digits. I was expecting around a hundred or lesser than that. Still, no oneined about the rescued angels, and the fallen ended uping to the vige. We already made prior preparations before so that we can amodate and help them once they are rescued and that ended up pretty well. Our only problem now is the food supply. Although we had food stored for everyone to enjoy, the amount we saved up is only gonnast for at least a week or even shorter depending on the situation. There are only three of us capable of hunting monsters again and again but it is not enough as we also needed to progress the preparation for the final raid that will be happening soon once the preparations areplete. And I can''t y all day as I also have to rest and I have sses from Monday to Saturday with Sunday being my free whole day game time. With just that amount of ytime, and with two teammates, we won''t be able tost long. The task for the food that in gives us is not bad as it gets quite a lot of money, experience, and some good items too but since we needed a lot of stuff done, it gets repetitive in the process too. I was hoping that at least we gained new members to the rebel team of yers but since there are still no new ones, we are stuck with whatever we can just do. But that all changed today. Right now, Sigma and Harmless Sparrow met up with a few yers who are part of the Pioneers. There are 6 of them and it seems like they formed a party with all of them together. If I remember correctly, these people are the ones who left the capital after they couldn''t agree with the goals of the anti-rebellion and decided to leave to look for the rebels. It seems like all of them know Sigma as everyone seemed happy to see Sigma before them. Although I want to meet with them, I decided to just remain in the background for now. I don''t know any of them and to be honest, I am not the leader of this operation but Sigma as she has more brains than me and has better negotiation skills than me. I will just ask herter on how the recruitment went. For now, I decided to assist the doctor of the vige in healing all of the victims. Not only does this give me new ideas in healing but I also gain tons of SP just by using these skills that will, in turn, allow me to purchase other skills on the Cleric skill tree as well. Thankfully, I am fully stocked up with mana potions, and healing everyone is a big breeze allowing me to easily keep on doing this until I am too exhausted. While busy with the healing progress, Sigma went to meet with me with the group that is talking to her earlier and followed her. "deheart! Good news! We finally got a few new yers who will join us in our rebellion!" When they heard my ign, they were surprised as they didn''t expect to meet me there. "What?! Sigma-senpai! Is this really the same deheart? The one that in the videos who are capable of doing solo guild wars against other guilds and solo clear in dungeons that we keep hearing about?" "Yeah. He is the one. Don''t worry, he is not the copycat but the genuine one." "Holy sh*t! He is indeed the real deal!" I felt a big headacheing to me after hearing the exnation from Sigma. This isn''t gonna end up good. Chapter 654 The New Misfits After the introduction of the new recruits, I recognized a few of them as they became a little bit infamous in the past timeline. Not because they are strong people but because of the series of controversies they received and many things that made them a little bit hated by themunity. As for the others, I don''t think I have any clue of info for them. Perhaps I already knew them in the past timeline, it just didn''t make too much impact for me to give a little impression, or they just didn''t have anything that made them well-known to everyone. The first one is Leoran. He is an elf and he picked the Ranger ss toplement his race. He is infamous for offending most of the parties he was in and being the Archer who does not fit in many parties and causes too much trouble in dungeon runs due to how his behavior irritates many, he was mostly shunned due to the rumors and they don''t want him involved with them as they might also be added in his strings of rumors. His skills are good, but it wasn''t that ster, to say the least, but he is sure to be a good range yer that can do his job. His behavior is the only problem and even I will not be able to control that temper of his. As for the second one, she is Vi, the assassin. She is one of those people who never speak. She does not talk and only answers in gestures that even the people who know the signnguage will not understand easily as her own gestures are her own gestures she made up for herself. She made a name for being a yer that is very hard tomunicate with. She never responds to calls and she never texts using the chat option either. The only way you can talk to her personally is by interacting with her. Despite themunication problem, it cannot be denied that she is one of the strong options among these misfits. Without counting hermunication problem, she is one of the best options that joined us. On the other hand, the other four are unknown people I don''t know. The Chronomancer Kn, the Druid Popo, the Samurai Tatsumaki, and the Cannoneer Tsuru. Currently, they decided to take a few requests here and there to help the rebels. So while they are gone, I decided to ask Sigma about them to get more info about them. Based on her interactions with them, it seems like she had a previous engagement with them prior to joining our ragtag group, perhaps during the time she was still looking for party members to join in random dungeon runs. After I am done with my job of healing the victims, I decided to ask Sigma about it. "Sigma, can I talk with you for a sec?" I asked as Sigma is currently eating in the nearby eatery to replenish her hunger. "I don''t mind, have a seat. Boss, give me another of the usual and bring it to my friend here." "Got it," the owner nodded before proceeding to make the food she ordered. "So? What do you want to talk about? Is this about the new recruits who joined the rebels?" she asked as she stuffed her mouth with a mouthful of food. "Yes, based on how you talk with them, it seems you and them are acquaintances already. Perhaps you can give me a rundown on them?" "Is that so? Who do you want to talk about first? Making a summary of them doesn''t work out much if I say so, myself." "Hmm, let''s begin with Kn then?" I took a sip of water and began to listen to Sigma. "Kn huh... hmmm. He is an entric guy I met before I joined your party. He is a decent supporter with the Chronomancer skills at his disposal. The reason I say decent is that he does not support others too wellpared to most chronomancers From his battle style alone, he is most of the time used in solo battles. And the main reason you can feel a bit of support from him is due to some of his skills will affect the others around him which cannot be targeted to himself alone, allowing anyone else near him to also get a little benefit. You can say that he is more selfish than most yers but he is not a bad guy to interact with. Just don''t expect much from him in terms of support." I started to take note of the information Sigma told me mentally so that when the battlees in, I can take advantage of their traits without the need to force them on the job. "Is that all?" "What about Popo?" "Ah, Popo. Well, he is a different guy. If Kn is selfish in battle, Popo is another one who seems to be too over-friendly. He supports you in any way he can, backs you up pretty often, and assists anyone who needed help and those who didn''t need it. Because he is a druid, he is one of the people who can actually control animals at his disposal but most of the time, he is more on controlling birds rather than controlling other animals to fight. It''s good that Popo is quite enthusiastic in team ys but due to this, it is also one of his main problems." Hearing this, I frowned, confused about what she meant. "Although he likes to support, he is too much of a support to the point that you might feel him invade your own privacy. He also is pretty much to handle and sometimes, will not follow the words of a leader depending on the task at hand. An over-friendly guy that seems to not know any kind of bounds which made him a bit of an unlikable guy during party making due to him being an annoyance." I nodded in response. Indeed being too much of a support also is not a good thing as that will definitely be really annoying too and if it messes up my battle style due to this support, I would rather have no support at all. "How about Tatsumaki?" "Tatsumaki? Uhm... he is normal? He didn''t strike out as a guy who would be troublesome nor he is annoying. You can say he is... too normal that I don''t think he has many personalities. It was like he is a nk te to the point that the other two I mentioned would be more fantastic to interact with than him. Of course, in battle, he is quite good at being a samurai and he delivers. It''s just that there is nothing interesting about him, to be honest." I was surprised when I heard that on Sigma. A guy who was too normal that he is boring is thest description I would hear from Sigma in terms of describing people. If she describes it like this, this guy might be too in than he should be. As we continue talking, the server arrived carrying the order that Sigma ordered and ced it in front of me. It was a hot beef bowl with a raw egg as a spice for the food. I can''t believe Sigma was addicted to this food but I must admit, this was a tasty dish I wanted to try cooking in the real world too. "Alright. Then, can you tell me about Tsurust?" "What about Leoran and Vi? Are you not curious about them as well?" "Nah, I know some things about them. They are not that unknown to me after all," "Oh, so you also heard their rumors huh? Not that I am surprised. Then, how should I describe Tsuru?" Sigma started thinking and went silent for a bit. I frowned when I saw this as this is the first time I saw Sigma think while trying to describe one person. "How should I say this?" "Is something the matter?" Sigma scratches her head and sips a mouthful of water before she sighed deeply. "To be honest deheart, I don''t have much information on him. The only thing I know is that he is quite strong. But he never had much interaction with me or the others. He is also too much of a mysterious guy that even the info brokers have less information about him than you." "He is mysterious?" "To be precise, Enigma should be the right word to describe him. Despite only using a cannon, he is one of the best DPS yers out there that are capable of taking down various enemies in a one-on-one fight. He was an expert in using it to the point that he would be much more lethal than the cannon itself." Hearing this, I finally realized who this guy was. No wonder I don''t remember him. He was the guy who died after he was killed due to offending an opponent in the arena that was defeated by him couldn''t take the defeat he received and decided to assassinate him as a result. In short, he was dead before his fame could spread. Chapter 655 The Forming Of The Aether After our little conversation, I mentally took notes from all the information that was given to me. Well, except for Tsuru who Sigma has no information. With all their personalities, it''s going to be either a bit hard to put them in their respective jobs but all of them will be useful so I am notining at all. Night has fallen in the game and it''s also nighttime in the real world too so I retreated to my little house and logged out from the game. ... ... ... The very moment I opened my eyes in the real world, I was surprised to see rainbow particles in the air. It was too sudden so I didn''t expect to see one the moment I open my eyes. I rubbed it a few times to make sure that I am not dreaming or just having a hallucination but I realized that I really am not imagining or seeing things. Rainbow particles are floating in the air. These particles looked like dust floating in the air but if you interact with them, they will disperse for a bit before forming back again into clusters. These rainbow particles are not just some random dust floating around the ce. It''s the Aether. The pure mana found in the air. Before, I only utilized pure mana to make my mana activate in my body. However, they are not the aether, as that is the kind of mana that is the impure and clouded version of it. As for the Aether, it is one of the best mana you can get to flow on your body. It has far stronger effects than normal and it is one of the best to get rid of impurities in your body. However, I don''t have ess to the Aether before. Because on Earth, the Aether does not exist. It is one of the things that shouldn''t exist on Earth. However, why am I seeing the Aether right now? The answer is simple. The moment the underutilized mana on Earth is being used a lot by multiple people, the mana on Earth also gets to progress as well, slowly forming Aether as a result. In the past timeline, the Aether became a normal thing after all the people in the world are now capable of using magic spells. Right now though, I can see that the reason I am seeing these now is that some people around the neighborhood are using magic and utilizing it. The more they keep utilizing it, the more the mana in the air gets pure and the Aether will form. Those who already have mana in their body will see the aether in the air also. I adjusted it for a bit and decided to check outside my room whether the aether is already thick or just in the middle of forming, As I came down the stairs the aether is slowly developing as well. It''s more refined now as the rainbow dust particles I can see are no longer that clear but it is already integrated into the air. As I continue towards the living room, I saw Rennata and the Pixie alongside Rika currently staring around the air, marveling at the particles moving around. The Pixie immediately saw me approaching and immediately fly through to wee me and tell me the current situation. "Hey, hey! Looks like the Aether in the air has finally developed around us! Do you know what happened? Rennata is still trying to find the main reason why this is happening especially since Earth has a very inferior mana reserve in its atmosphere!" "Oy, I don''t have any involvement in why the Aether has already formed around here. I am busy ying my game back in my room and the moment I went outside, things have already moved here. I should be the one who should be asking the question as to why and when this aether started to form around. I am quite sure that magic spells should not be used for a few more days until the magic power thing quiets down." Renatta started speaking in elvish words that I still have no idea what she meant and Pixie immediately trantes it for us. "Rennata-chan said that it seems someone near the mansion started using magic spells consistently allowing the mana in the air to continuously get cultivated and lo and behold, it''s now the pure aether in the air. As for when it appeared, it only appeared a few hours earlier, after we hear some sort of explosions nearby," Pixie started nodding after she finished her trantion. Rika also steps in just to second the testimony. "I can vouch as well. It seems a troublemaker using magic spells is currently doing something in the neighborhood, hence, the formation of these rainbow things but what Pixie said is indeed true. It all happened when there were some explosions happening earlier." "Explosions?" "Yeah. Although I say explosions, more like the sound of firecrackers exploding. It''s not that kind of destructive explosion but because it was kind of loud, it''s still something we are not expecting much." Since they all keep saying the "explosion" happened before the formation of Aether appeared, I decided to investigate outside. Rennata would have been able to check what is happening but because she does not want to expose herself just yet, she refrained from investigating. Since I am already adept in anything mana-rted, I search around the air and the surroundings to follow the trail of the "explosions" that the three have heard before. The moment I activated my senses to track the trail, I immediately got a few clues on where to go to follow the trail. I left the mansion as the trail extends outside the mansion which means it was just an urrence nearby. I have not seen much of it but the trail is pretty fresh and in in sight. This trail of mana only appears during the situation the user of the magic is not adept at controlling it. As I was nearing the area where the trail is taking me, I suddenly heard a few explosions. The same explosions a firecracker does when exploding. It seems I finally found my answer to my question on who was the one responsible for waking up the dormant Aether around the neighborhood. Chapter 656 Subdue The explosions are indeed as loud as firecrackers but they aren''t as loud as the explosives like bombs, however, this is clearly using the abilities too much that it creates a disturbance. Even I don''t want to do this as the disturbance is big enough that might attract the attention of the police. As I continue tracking, I finally catch up to the guy causing this ruckus. This guy was actually one of the delinquents I keep seeing in the streets hanging out with other delinquents as well. Seeing him with a big smile on his face while producing the magic ability to make small explosives that explode when thrown which in turn made the mana in the air take form. And as it was always used, the more the mana in the air gets utilized. Soon that allowed the formation of the Aether which is what we saw earlier. Stopping this guy is necessary. Not only does the formation of Aether a little bit troublesome at the moment, but it''s also something that might attract the attention of the authorities who are still studying the magic phenomenon. Until the magic idea gets publicized and allowed, the limit of using magic is necessary to avoid the eyes of prying people. It will also help me more in the process, especially with Rennata living inside my mansion. The Aether in the air just formed so dissipating it will be an easy task to remove. It''s not going to be much of a problem just yet if it only appeared for a single day. Since most of the traces of the Aether areing from the one causing these small explosions, the only way to halt the progression of the Aether formation is to persuade the one causing it or subdue him and make him stop what they are doing. I am getting closer to where the explosions areing from and to avoid being detected by the one doing it, I took the easy way to avoid detection, going to the rooftops. Once I reached the rooftops, I activated my [Stealth] and used it as a second way to go into stealth, after all, the person I am tracking is not the only person in the neighborhood and no one knows who is watching in their windows right now. Now that my stealthy approach is good to go, I focused my attention on the delinquent causing it. Along with his guys, they are smug enough of causing trouble to others. They are clearly not doing it for the practice of magic but they are doing it for vandalism and making trouble like the troublemaker they are. The magic they are doing is a firecracker type of magic spell of the first tier from the Magician branch, the [Decoy Bomb]. Because this skill was loud enough, any enemies in the area will be attracted to it and focus their attention on it for the duration of the [Decoy Bomb]. It''s a useful spell for the Magicians who y alone to take down enemies in multiple groups since they can group up enemies in one ce as they charge up their spells and bombard them with them, obliterating them as a result. But since there are no monsters in the real world, using this spell only makes it like another form of firecracker that explodes to make noise. They are not using it for themselves but they are abusing it by causing disturbance to others. I had to end this as soon as I can. Opening the inventory of my character in the Alternate World, I pull out one of the masks that I don''t usually use. A ck mask that covers my whole face and only my eyes can be seen. I made this mask in case my wolf mask is something I won''t be using and I needed to avoid much detection. Now that I am good to go. I reinforced myself by buffing all of my parameters, both the offense and defense. I don''t need any fancy magic spells to subdue them, pure force is enough. Positioning myself, I took a little bit of emtion in my mind to see whether what I will be doing is viable enough. Once that is good enough, time to perform the act. The second the guy making the [Decoy Bomb] made its little move, I took action and jump from the rooftop, down to him. He was not expecting me to fall down to his body, causing him to copse immediately, and fell unconscious as a result. All of them were shocked and couldn''t process what happened after I appeared and the guy who was all smug earlier is already lying on the ground with his face nted on the ground. I also took advantage of their shock to continue disabling them all. Using the momentum of my fall, I jumped once more and kicked the first guy who is the nearest to me and knocked him out too before going to the person next to him by grabbing his cor and pulling him down before smacking his face and causing him to lose consciousness. The remaining delinquent started screaming and was about to flee but my reflexes are much faster and are much faster than how fast he was about to flee and easily caught him. Before he can plead for his life, I hit the back of his neck causing him to copse. I took a short work of disabling all of them, and that is a good thing. With all of them currently out of daylight, my first course of action is now done. Time to move to the second operation and that is to remove the Aether''s presence in the area. Focusing on myself, I started absorbing the pure mana which is now the Aether to myself. A beginner who doesn''t know how to utilize the Aether will get injured as a result so a total amateur should not be doing this but because I am no longer an amateur on this little task, it''s a trivial matter to me. In a matter of minutes, the rainbow particles in the air slowly began to fade as I absorbed them slowly but surely. It was a blessing for me to absorb an aether without much problem. This increased my mana capacity and with its pureness of it, it''s not just my mana that increased but my magic power as well. With the deed done, I dragged the unconscious guys to the side and let them lean on the wall while they are unconscious and allowed them to sleep a little bit longer so that they will think it was just a big dream they had. Now that the Aether has been absorbed, time to make my escape and faded into the darkness. Who knows if someone else is watching me at the moment, it''s better to do this to avoid my tracks from being traced. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 657 Cultivating The Aether A few minutes after Manato left the scene, someone arrived on the scene where the former subdued the men who are the cause of the Aether forming. The first thing he did was check the unconscious men''s pulse, and after sensing that no one is dead, the guy sighed in relief and started taking notes. He stood up after checking up on the men and checked around the surroundings. Aside from the obvious little crater that is present on the ground and some slight blood stains, there are also burn marks on the walls and ground but there are no signs of things being burned there. He also checked the pockets of the men and didn''t find anything aside from cigarettes but without a lighter to light it up, it''s even impossible to create these marks. The man didn''t linger for long and left after checking things here and there. It seems the person got a substantial amount of info but based on the look on his face, it''s not enough. In the end, he left scratching his head. It seems that whatever he was trying to find, he needed a few more investigations to fully grasp it. ... ... ... After returning from the ambush I did to the delinquents causing a ruckus and absorbing most of the Aether present in the air, the others opened the door of the mansion, weing me in. Pixie was the one who went to meet me in the doorway. "The Aether is now blending in the air, is this perhaps your doing, Manato?" Pixie started asking after I went inside the house and checked the window in case someone followed me on the way back. "It''s partially my work but it''s clear that I didn''t absorb all of it," as I pointed to the remaining Aether that is still visible in the eye. Rennata started speaking and Pixie immediately tranted her words. "Rennata-chan said that it''s good that some were left behind as this would be a good time to cultivate the mana around us and make a substantial amount of progress to our abilities. It''s also a good way to increase our magic mastery to a high level in one progression." "Really? Is that possible?" Rika raised her eyebrows hearing that this will allow her to grow much stronger in the real world. "Just as Rennata stated. Indeed it is true. Earlier after I absorbed the Aether, my mana capacity increased significantly and that is not yet cultivated to the fullest. Since we still have this much aether left, we can use this up to cultivate enough of what we can. It''s enough for everyone inside the house." Before I can even exin, Rika already walks towards the living room and looked back at me when she noticed I still have not moved from the entrance. "What are we waiting for? Let''s do this!" Due to the insistence of Rika, Rennata and I have grown in lots of ways and our maximum mana has increased alongside with the increase of our powers as well. Not only that but all of the fatigue in my body disappeared as well. I don''t even feel sleepy after the time I cultivated the Aether. But of course, the difference of the cultivation depends on the body. For me, I was refreshed but for Rika and Rennata, the two felt tired. "I didn''t know this will make me feel so tired after cultivating my mana but I can also feel the changes in my body," Rika is wiping her sweat. Rennata also mumbles something and Pixie trantes it. "Rennata-chan said that she couldn''t believe how pure the Aether was on Earth at first. She has to rest to let the aether that she cultivated to at least mix on her mana''s stream." "If you guys are tired, then go ahead and rest. There is no need to fight over the tiredness you will feel after feeling. As soon as you rest, it will be fine to let it flow in your body much better." "Is that so? But wait, why do you looked like you are not tired?" Rika asked. "Hey, I am also a bit tired too, I just don''t look like I am tired because I still look cool despite looking tired." "Bullsh*t..." Rika smirked hearing that remark and cursed at me as she went to their bedroom, "We will be resting to let the aether flow properly in our body, alright? I don''t know if I will yter, but we will see. My first priority for now is go to sleep." "Alright then, see youter. I will call the otherster as well to cultivate the Aether after I rested as well." Everyone went inside and I was left all alone. The others will not be here any moment due to the school activities. This is why having no club activities is good as having one will cause your extra time to disappear. Even the siblings had one as well. I wonder what kind of activities they joined in? Anyways, because I feel refreshed, I need to return to my room. With the overwhelming energy in me, I needed to let the mana sink into my body further. It takes a little bit of effort but its much better to the body if I keep on focusing my mana capacity to increase everytime I do so. Not only will my mana increase, but the regeneration progress as well. Can''tin about that yeah? Cultivating the Aether made me realized how much I missed the feeling of having overwhelming mana in your body. It''s totally different from those times I only have the normal mana in me. Now that the Aether is helping my body beingbined, that is making me feel much better and much closer to my previous self. The preparations to my future is now solid. Anything thates to my way will soon be obliterated and I will be changing what will happen to me in the future. Kazuki might be nning something sinister with me but I will make sure that it will never happen and I will not fall from that same mistake again. This time around, I will win. And it''s not just my win, its andslide victory for me changing my future. Chapter 658 Preparations For The Final Battle (I) Back in the game, the final preparations are almost done for the final raid that in devised to tackle the church. Although we just barely kicked the enemy in the nuts, we have to progress our attack to the highest level now as the church also began to work for their own schemes, and it''s not looking good. After we destroyed the golem factory, the church decided that we are indeed a big threat that cannot be ignored. News from the spies that the church started to train and umte soldiers to fight. They are gathering and making armies and creating several siege equipment that can scale or destroy high walls. This alone is not looking good especially for the vige knowing that the vige has yet to be fully defended by its walls. Not only that but the coronation of the new king for the Luminous Continent is also getting near, it seems the church wanted to show that they are the new powers that can take down the "evil" that lurks and threatens the "peace" that they created. Because it will be happening sooner, in decided that it is indeed time to strike while they are still in preparations for the war and has yet to properly gear up themselves. ording to the intel, they will be adequately attacking after 2 months and they can easily destroy the vige. Since we have already increased in numbers, the jobs that we needed toplete slowly dwindled as everyone are eager to get things done. The misfits were actually pretty good at the jobs that they took and they took some of the long tasks trivial like hunting and gathering food. With the Hunter ss which specializes in tracking animals, monsters, and herbs, it was a cake in the park. However, everything is not that smooth sailing in terms of progression. The rewards are cool and have huge benefits for us. Still, because we are just a handful of yers, we are slow in terms ofpleting everything sopared to the yers who side with the anti-rebel faction, it was easy stuff for the job keeps pouring as they undertake quests again and again. Today, we are going to have a discussion on our final ns. The six others are also with us and the one who is nning the meeting is Sigma herself as she is the one who knows most of the ns and how to make them run. As for me, I didn''t bother to be a leading figure of some sort. I know most of the stuff the other faction will do for the final battle as the time for the final battle in the past timeline and the current timeline is just identical, I can already see what the current result is if we go in this path. Still, I wanted toy low and just suggest things that would prove useful against the troubles that will arise in the final battle. There are some things that would benefit us more if I don''t change much about what the battle went through as the previous battle of the rebels went too well before the Pope appeared and defeated the rebels as a result. Currently, we are waiting for everyone to arrive. With the meeting covering the possible final battle''s boss, it was necessary for everyone to join the meeting. Thankfully, everyone was fine with it as they are now sick of the Luminous Continent and wanted things to end as soon as possible since they also don''t want to lose but wanted the quest to end, everyone participated. The moment Popo arrived who was thest one to join us, Sigma started her little report. "Looks like everyone is finally here... Well then, we should begin this little meeting of ours so that we can n out the final preparations for the battle. I know that we are still the main force of the rebels but if we wanted the quest to end, we needed to at least show the church that we are not just going to end it with a little bang but with something big that will annihte them. I have some of the lists that Ipiled on what we are nning for the next week and the ns that have been finished and are ready to serve their purpose so that anyone can seek out what was the things I have mentioned. However, we needed rmendations so that our final preparations will go smoothly. Anyone can do so, so please raise your hand if you have any rmendations." The moment Sigma opened the rmendations, the first one to speak up is Vi. "How about we just go ahead and assassinate the pope? I am quite capable of doing so and perhaps that will lessen the burden of our problems here." Everyone facepalmed hearing this suggestion. Vi was confused at the reactions of everyone so I decided to exin things on why this was not gonna be possible. "Unfortunately, Vi, assassinating the pope is not gonna be possible. Based on the intel we have, the Pope is almost invincible when inside the church and he holds multiple abilities that can easily shoot you down before you can even point your dagger or any weapons at him. It''s just physically impossible." Kn patted Vi to sit down. "I know that you liked doing assassinations but this will not be a possible thing. If you really wanted to kill him, we have to finish the prerequisites necessary to meet him." Vi was disappointed but she didn''t press on. Her suggestion was not going to work as I remembered in the past timeline that Assassins are the worst ss against the Pope as it will be immediately immune before an assassination attempt can be even made. "Why don''t we add cannons on the vige walls? I know it wasn''t something that involves the final battle but with the enemies keeping on invading us multiple times, once we go and attack the Church in the main capital, the vige will be defenseless and the vigers will die as a result of the battle. Without any firepower to defend against sieges and enemies, this vige will disappear before we can even invoke any real change." "That is a good suggestion, Tsuru. However, it''s not as easy as it sounded to be. We have tried to do it before but because making cannons is not something anyone knows easily, it was one of our least priorities. The Versatile ss does not even have the capability to create cannons to help out the vige," I answered his question as to why there are no cannons avable. "But I can do it, so maybe we should add this as a good addition?" Tsuru smiled. "Is that true?"Sigma raised her eyebrow. "Yes. It just turns out that my ability as a Cannoneer is capable enough to duplicate and create cannons that can be used to mount the walls. Anyone who knows how to fight using it will be capable of using it." "Does it disappear? Is it part of your abilities?" Sigma asked. "It''s just a little passive I have, [Cannon Knowledge]. Due to this passive, I was able to understand the cannons as a result and can now create them. Of course, using real materials and not just some sort of manifestation that will disappear after I deactivated the skill. It will exist until it will be destroyed. Perhaps the Versatile ss has that passive skill?" Tsuru then turned to me to check it out. I frowned for a bit before opening the skill tree for the cannoneer and checked the passives. Unlike what he just said, that passive is not part of my skill tree. Chapter 659 Preparations For The Final Battle (II) The skill of Tsuru makes cannons and make them viable forbat without the need for his interference and will stay even if he is not around. It just makes the cannons more viable as he does not necessarily need to be around just so the cannons remain intact. With this little passive of his that allows him to do those, it only gives more value to it. As for me, I didn''t know that some passives of the sses are not present in the Versatile ss. Perhaps it''s the main reason why these unique passives are not present in my skill trees is that they are unique to the ss that masters their sses rather than to a ss that only had the skills that can allow them to be substituted to that ss. And I think that is fine, after all, the Versatile ss can also be considered a copycat ss that has no originality and is just a ss that copies the other sses. More suggestions were added as well and though there are some suggestions added here and there, nothing major came uppared to the cannon artillery that will be added to the vige walls to repel enemiesing in. Most suggestions were the preparations for the other rebels'' main equipment and other stuff that ease the quests and thankfully. After our meeting, Sigma pulled me to the side and she started to discuss something with me. "deheart, do you have a moment? I hope I am not interrupting you or anything?" "Not really. What''s up?" "I have a suggestion I wanted to give to you and I think the only ones who can help out are Harmless Sparrow and the two of us." "What is this you are trying to say that only we can do?" "How about we asked for help with the Dragon? If we are nning to fight against enemies that are stronger than us, it would be best to fight alongside a dragon, no?" Although that n was indeed something that happened in the past timeline, I am still a little bit iffy about asking for his help after talking to him. Yes, he was a video game character and I barely have many interactions with the dragon but from my short interaction with him, I am quite sure I don''t want him to be involved with the affairs of the rebels as he was clearly unaffiliated to us. Involving him in our situation might also end up dead just like before which is why I ended up repairing Gamma which I originally meant to repair once we returned after the quest. "Based on your looks, it seems you are not on the vote with my suggestion yeah? I can see it on your face." "Well, the n was fine and all but should we really disturb the dragon from his barbecue hobby? We are going to war and although this is just a game, asking him for a favor without giving him a proper reward seems to be something that will make us looks like jerks. It''s hard to repay favors if it is a dragon we have debt with favors." Sigma scratches her head and was about to give up but before she can do so, I decided to give some advice to her that made her stop. "We might not be able to have the dragon help us in terms of favors, but we can force the dragon to help us by using the way the three of us know the most." "???" ... ... ... The confusion on Sigma''s face soon got reced with a face of realization as soon as she realized what I meant to her at that time as we are currently facing the dragon himself right now. "In short, you guys wanted to employ me to fight with you all in the uing final raid your group wanted to do against the people persecuting the humans?" "Yes, that is right," I nodded in response. "Okay, but what if I refuse? After all, I am not involved in the human and angel wars at all and I am not interested in the current troubles brewing between the angels and the other angels. There is no point in myself being there." "Then, we challenge you to a battle. If you win, we will give you 10 years'' worth of meat to eat in the quantity of a dragon''s appetite, but if we win, you will cooperate with us for the uing battle and still get a meat supply but much less than when you win." Hearing my condition made the dragon reveal its gluttonous behavior in meat. For a dragon that likes to eat barbecue using monster meat, the winning option is a very good thing for them and although the losing option is not that optimal for him, it is still a good option as he will still receive a meat supply but much lesser than he should have received if he wins. I took advantage of his behavior to strike this little deal. "W-wait! deheart?! Are you crazy? 10 years'' worth of meat with the measuring of a dragon''s appetite? You think we can afford to even supply that much meat to a dragon?!" Harmless Sparrow who was with us during the negotiation process was happening seems to have lost her sh*t hearing the conditions. "Hey, I won''t say sh*t like that if I can''t fulfill it. And besides, are you really thinking of losing? Because I am not. We will be handling this like we should be doing so just like the usual." Sigma also started stretching after that as well, ready to handle what the next thing we have to do withoutining. "Ah, damn, I don''t know what you two are nning but next time you pull a stunt like this again, make sure to tell me beforehand so that I won''t be shocked so much!" The dragon was silent for a few minutes and soon a big grin on his face appeared. "Very well. However, I won''t be losing to the humans that easily without giving a fight. It would be a shame for me who is a dragon to lose without even giving any challenge to you all. Now, show me what you got, humans, Let''s fight." Chapter 660 Preparations For The Final Battle (III) All three of us immediately assumed our Battle Stance and pulled out our weapons as we face the big dragon before us. I don''t know what happened in the past timeline. Still, if Sigma who joined in the past timeline''s rebels fought this dragon, she obviously won as the matter have been taken care of and the dragon helped in the end during the final battle which, he, unfortunately, died in the end. I don''t know how it was handled before but I know that she won and ended up getting the support of the dragon himself. However, since this is a new reality, I can''t just rely on the future that has happened before. If the future can be changed, then, the oue can be changed too. I can''t just go blindly and believe everything will ur in its course like usual. I have to do my own job as well. As we assumed battle stance, the dragon took the battle stance as well, without even showing any signs that it is holding back. It is in full serious mode just like how this dragon ravaged the battlefield and almost hammered down the win condition for the rebels back then. Although we are not nning to kill the dragon, we are not going to hold back either as the battle is not exactly going to be a little sparring, we will be fighting like our lives depended on it. The dragon immediately ps its wings rapidly, creating multiple whirlwinds. We already expected a whirlwind to smack, but the wind''s strength is just something you can experience in a tornado. Thankfully, the whirlwind did not take too long before it dissipated and we are able to move once more. But just as we are about to fight back, the dragon immediately thrashes around by swinging its tail and mming down his ws. The three of us were separated from each other and I think that was the n for the dragon so that he can take us out individually without getting support from the others. Harmless Sparrow stood up and immediately started to get closer to the dragon while dodging most of the blowsing her way. Her reflexes are fast enough that those attacks from the dragon were just a breeze for her to evade. But even though she is good at evading, it''s a different idea already to get close and get a chance to attack. Because the dragon continues to thrash around, getting close was harder than she should expect. Sigma on the other hand started to find a good ce she can stand firm and freely control her chains and enhance her defenses. She deflects most of the attacksing from the ws and wings and immediately dodges the tail but getting close to the dragon to engage inbat without any way to get thrashed t, will be a big challenge for her. As for me, I am not in a favorable spot as well, aside from all the other attacks the dragon can attack freely, I am also going to brace for its attacks from its mouth, in which the dragon has to chomp on me to bite my head off. Although the dragon has yet to release a fire breath, there is a risk of that happening soon, and if I don''t get ready for it, I will be totally roasted as a result. "What? Is that all of you three got? You all will not win against me with a fighting style like that!" As soon as the dragon finished his taunt, he positioned himself in the center and started inhaling, indicating his iing breath attack. "Everyone!" I signalled and the two nodded in response. As the embers of mes overflows on the dragon''s mouth, Harmless Sparrow appears and instead of using the usual me element attacks her ss specializes in, she instead used the Ice Element ability that was present in her first ss before she promoted her own ss. "[Frigid de]!" SWISH! Arge arc of ice sword slices down to the dragon''s body, effectively wounding the dragon''s skin. Of course, it didn''t stop there as Harmless Sparrow slices the sword upwards once more before the [Frigid de]''s form disappear, allowing her to perform a weaker version of the initial [Frigid de]. It''s not as strong as when she used it earlier but it wasn''t too weak that the dragon can just shrug off the wound. The dragon almost choked from that attack but we are not yet done as I rushes through the dragon while he is still charging the Breath attack. When I got near, I pulled out one of the scrolls I have in my inventory and tear it when I am beneath the dragon''s neck. "???!" the dragon realized something is wrong when the magic circle appeared beneath him and a huge chunk of ice covered his whole body except halfway from his neck up to his head. He is basically encased in ice and cannot move for a few seconds. It''s the skill, [Ice Coffin]. It''s a skill that makes the target that was encased on its ice to be trapped there for quite a while and depending on the strength of the enemy, the ice can basically imprison them there forever. Of course, that only applies to enemies that have no strength to wrestle and destroy the coffin made of ice. The dragon is the worst opponent to use this skill though as it is close to useless on using it against a big creature like the dragon. It doesn''t hold the dragon that long enough and it can be even shorter if the dragon is very strong. "I will leave it to you Sigma!" "Of course!" Sigma raises her left hand and a gold chain appeared in a space somewhere since it didn''t appear to be from the ceiling of the cave. "The jaws of sacrifice, the blood of the maidens and the power of anguished cries! Suffer for eternity! [IRON MAIDEN]!" Pulling on the gold chains on her hands as hard as she could, a noisy nk echoed the cave and that signals the ability manifesting. I immediately started doing multiple back handspring just to escape the ability. The skill of Sigma does not descriminate friend and foe, it deals damage to all that is caught on its jaws. Before the dragon can even break from the ice, arge metallic maw of thorns appeared side by side and at the back of the dragon, being pulled by the golden chain. As soon as Sigma fully pulled the chain, the maws of death also closes down to the dragon''s frozen body. KACHA! [ROAAAAAAARRR!] The loud roar of pain echoed all around the cave, the dragon in fullpain as the [Iron Maiden] skill filled the dragon''s body with holes, wounding the dragon so badly. It even caused the breath attack it was charging to stop from forming as well. Cancelling one of its attacks by attacking it is not that rare but for a dragon, it takes a lot of firepower for it to be cancelled just like that. After a few seconds, the maws of the [Iron Maiden] disappears as the dragon kneels on the ground, bleeding so badly from the attack. "Hahaha, it''s been so long since I have been hurt so badly like this." The dragon slowly stands up from the ground, all of the blood that has been spilled slowly climbs back up from its body and all the holes made from the [Iron Maiden] slowly closes down as well. "To make me feel so threatened, Imend all of you. Our battle has yet to barely start and yet you already made me felt like I needed to get serious to all of you. Very well, you all earned my respect. This time around, I am not gonna hold back much anymore." As soon as the dragon started to heal up all of the wounds that was inflicted by us, the red scales on his body started to dye ck. His bright red scales that made him a red dragon turned into a ck scale which is now the result of his ck body. Not only that but his ck scales has began to power up all of the power scales on his body, making him getting more stronger just by standing near him. Not only that, but the red wings of his slowly turned ck as well and mes started to erupt on his wings. A single horn appeared at the center of his head, releasing a bigger aura of dread and danger. Even Sigma who is able to repel any danger auras in the vicinity could not resist the aura as well as before. She was easily overpowered from it. "CRAP CRAP, I didn''t signed up for this!" Harmless Sparrow''s knees shook as she saw how the red lovable dragon that we are just friends before has turned into a towering dragon, that looks like a dragon capable of unleashing multiple disasters in one breath of its mes. "Now, let''s resume the battle, shall we?" Chapter 661 Preparations For The Final Battle (IV) This is definitely not part of the past timeline. This dragon does not have its second phase as he died after being cornered and attacked by yers. Seeing him turn from red to ck gives me an ominous feeling. This guy was just holding back earlier and right now, it is now getting serious. Perhaps, things have changed or this phase is there but it just didn''t get to activate after the dragon ended up being killed before it can recover. If that was the main case, we would be the first people who will experience the second phase of this dragon. "Be careful everyone! This is not looking good." The dragon raises his left arm and a giant fin-like part popped out from his skin and then solidifies and turns into a giant de. Before I can even say anything, my body reacted immediately and changed my Versatile Weapon into a Shield and Spear before deploying the shield to defend myself. DANG! A loud thud echoed through the cave as something collided with my shield. Although I defended it, it felt like I didn''t defend against it, much simr to when I fought the king of the insect kingdom when the Weapon of Pride possessed his soul during the time his attacks felt like they were trucks. Then I immediately realized something. I stopped defending and looked at the other two who were also there before the attack urred. I don''t know how big the radius of that attack he did earlier was but soon I realized it when I saw Harmless Sparrow divided into two and her death timer started counting down before her soul will left and arrive at the Cathedral to revive herself. As for Sigma, she managed to survive but her armor is broken and her whole health is down to 95%. She just managed to survive because of her overwhelming defense. If she defended properly, the attack won''t be as strong as it should be but since it caught her by surprise, she didn''t get to defend and the only reason she was still alive is because of her innate defenses being too high. If it wasn''t that high, she would have been immediately killed by that as well. I immediately cast [High Heal] to Sigma to recover the lost health she had while I immediately cast the [Resuscitation] to revive Harmless Sparrow. Her body which has been split into two slowly merges back to each other alongside all blood and flesh as well. Her lifeless eyes that remained open, who can''t believe what happened to her after suffering the attack finally regained some of the life she got. "Holy, I died multiple times in this game but I never got sliced like that and died immediately! That is something I have not experienced before!" Harmless Sparrow holds parts of her body that were sliced before and she still can''t believe she managed to die a few seconds ago. "Drink some potion, the battle is just getting started." I couldn''t keep on watching out for Harmless Sparrow as the battle has yet to finish. The dragon did not bother to speak at all and started attacking once again. Thankfully, he didn''t use the same de in his arm again which means it only works a few times and he can''t keep on using it consistently. Of course, that doesn''t mean he can''t keep on using it anymore. He can still use it but it will take a little bit more time before he will do so again. He roared loudly and rocks started to fall all around us and its not just small rocks falling butrge boulders that can squash anyone who is not careful enough. We started running around to avoid the boulders but the dragon took advantage of this and started attacking us by using some dark geysers that pop out from the floor whenever we are very near it. "SH*T SH*T SH*T! This is getting out of hand!" Harmless Sparrow who just got revived is getting overwhelmed by all the attacks that she felt like she wasn''t gonna survive the next attacks soon enough if she was not careful. "Hey, don''t panic! Just focus on the falling boulders for a little bit and worry a little bit about the geysers if you are near one! They might give a lot of damage but they are not fatal! They are just little distractions so that you get squashed by the falling boulders!" Sigma shouted. She immediately figures out the main reason the attack was done. And since the dragon is busy releasing attacks and more attacks, I took advantage of this and started to get closer to him. A little closer but not that close enough that would cause the dragon to take notice of it. Once I get sufficiently near, I whip out the cannon form of the Versatile Weapon and whip it out for once. "Take a cannonball to the face for once!" BOOM! BOOM BOOM! Three cannonballs repeatedly shot at the dragon making the dragon stagger multiple times. He roared loudly after taking the brunt force of the cannonball multiple times and this time around, a splitting headache started to cause us to stop fighting and grip our heads. It''s so painful you will think that your head might have some sort of tumor growing inside and you just didn''t notice it until it is fully big, That kind of pain is just totally painful and it was something I wasn''t expecting just now. However, Sigma was quick on thinking what to do immediately and immediately cast a little spell. "[Truth Domain]!" A shining temple suddenly got erected all of a sudden all around us and the splitting headache that the three of us are suffering earlier disappeared like we didn''t experience it. Not only that but the darkness of the cave slowly cleared up as we are inside the domain itself. [Truth Domain], one of the Holy Knight''s abilities allows the yers to enter a domain free from any kind of illusions and immune to any kind of mental attacks. Pretty powerful against enemies who are specializing in that kind of attack making them quite trivial. But to think she would be able to think through what to cast in that pain just proves that Sigma has never been a top yer for nothing in the past timeline. Compared to me, she is way leagues capable of many things than I do. "Alright, let''s strike back! Make sure that the dragon ends up losing! We can''t afford to lose here!" Our little battle has yet to conclude, however, we are almost close to see who will emerge the victor. Chapter 662 Preparations For The Final Battle (V) I know I have soloed a lot of monsters so far and have defeated most of them but that was because they are predictable and they are easy to defeat plus, I am also allowed to kill them which makes things easier. As for fighting the dragon, although we have to defeat the dragon, we cannot kill the dragon as that would also ruin our purpose of fighting against him. So for starters, it''s pretty hard to hold back a lot. It''s not like we are not taking this seriously but to fight a dragon without identally killing him? That is pretty much a troublesome thing. Especially for me. Some of my attacks are pretty much fatal to use so I have to hold back and instead, I turned to the support side to everyone as that is the easier task for me. As for the damage output, Sigma and Harmless Sparrow just made it just right for the damage to sink in yet not kill him. It would have been great if we could finish this as soon as possible, but that is where the hard partes in. With its second phase, the dragon is quite resilient in attacks and we are still not sure what to do to weaken him. After all, for someone like me who returned from the past, this form is one of the things I am useless, so we have to keep doing little experiments to see which works the best against him. We are also making sure he didn''t notice that we are just taking it easy against him. For a dragon, their pride is on the line and if they detect their enemies are looking down on or pitying them, they tend to get angry. This dragon is a mellow fellow but that doesn''t mean we have to pull that risk so we keep doing the minimal effort that would make the dragon feel the pressure yet not feel much of the threat we pose against him. The dragon once again positions himself again and his mouth starts to spit some mes which means he is once again ready to spit out mes once more, but I can also tell that this dragon is about to do something differentpared to before and I can easily tell that defending against it would be a bad idea. Instead, we either dy it orpletely stop it. And I think thetter option works fine the best. "You two, get ready to release your strongest attacks!" I jump high into the air and activated my wings to take flight before pulling 3 Scrolls. Since the scroll use has no cooldownpared to the skills and I don''t need to buy it in my skill tree and waste my skills, it was worth a lot. It''s much weaker than the actual skill but I needed the weaker versionpared to the strong version instead. Now, the first scroll, RIP! As the paper was torn to pieces, golden shackles appeared on the body of the boss. It easily covered the whole body of the dragon and the moment it appeared, the dragon stopped after pulling his hands and realized the golden shackles stops him from doing anything. However, these shackles are not for restraining. Sure it does that, but it''s a secondary function, its main function is this. BZZZZT! Sparks crawls through the golden shackles and before the dragon realizes... ROOOOAAAAARR! The dragon roared in pain, due to therge volts of electricity that suddenly runs through his body. As I said before, these shackles are not ordinary shackles, it''s one of the skills of the Holy Knight, [Shackle of the Divine Lightning]. I have yet to see Sigma use this skill but since she doesn''t use it, why not use it myself? Before the skill was over and disappear, I rip the second scroll to pieces, activating the second skill. A giant eye appeared to stare directly into the eyes of the dragon and before the dragon can blink, the debuff [Petrification] immediately crawls on his body. The second scroll I tore to pieces is the skill of the Druid utilizing the skill of the Basilisk''s Petrification ability but its name is derived from the woman who became the monster that can turn people who look at her directly into the eye into a stone, [Gaze of Medusa]. Compared to the lethal attack of Medusa that can turn anything into a stone and kill them in the process, this skill isparable to the skills Basilisks use which is only good for stalling enemies or for holding them in ce for a longer period of time. And toplete these, I tear to pieces thest scroll and as the scroll disintegrated, the next ability appeared in a form of a giant bone falling from the sky and popping up from the ground. They were all falling and popping out around the dragon and surrounded him before he can break out from the certification. Soon, the bones put him in a cage of bones. This is one of the Druid''s other skills for trapping enemies and monsters that can aid in taming which is known as the [Skeleton Cage]. It''s unbreakable to those who were encased by it but it can receive and transfers all the attacks the cage receives to the one inside. Although this sounds pretty powerful, it onlysts for 1 minute. But 1 minute is enough and I think it is necessary for the final attacks. "NOW!" "Alright! I have been waiting for this! [PHOENIX DRIVE]!" Fiery and hot, the ming bird bursts out from the swing of Harmless Sparrow which passes through the cage eventually passing the damage to the dragon as well. ROAAAAAARRRR! The dragon screamed in pain and tried to break free from both the petrification state and the [Skeleton Cage] but due to having suffered a few injuries, it made the escape hard. He managed to break a few parts of the petrification but it wasn''t enough as Sigma made a follow-up as well. "It''s time to end this! HA!" Sigma pulled the golden chain as hard as she can that instead of forcefully pulling the ability [Iron Maiden] out, the chain breaks instead. This made Harmless Sparrow stunned for a bit as she never had the golden chains break to pieces like that. However, the [Iron Maiden] skill still proceeds like it should have been but this time, with a big difference. As soon as it opens up to swallow the dragon along with the cage, the previous spikes do not possess any color but this time around, blood has been dripping out from it and a bigger change is that the [Iron Maiden] is muchrger than it should have been. When the [Skeleton Cage] disappeared after the duration of the skill ended, the [Iron Maiden] snapped a shot and the scream of the dragon echoed into the cave, followed by silence. A few secondster, the dragon reappeared again, this time, in a near-death state. "Damn...you guys really brought out most of the fight... although I hold out a little bit, you guys still managed to defeat me huh?" The dragon chuckled as the ck coloration on his body slowly fades out. I tore apart a [Full Restore] Scroll to heal the dragon up, returning him back to a healthy state. The dragon sat down and shook his head as he looked at the wounds on his body slowly healing. "Now you have to uphold your promise," Sigma immediately pointed out to the dragon to which thetter chuckled. "Yes, yes. I know, I know. Even though I hated to lose, this is part of the promise. I do not break promises so I will hold on to them even if it is a bit shameful to me. You want my help in this battle right? Then so be it. My aid will be avable for you all to get. I will be helping you all in this battle of yours but only once. No more, no less. Of course, you guys should also honor the promise of meat as well. I may have lost but you guys have already mentioned that I will still get meat as part of the constion price." "Hey, we don''t break promises, old man. Since you honored the promise, then we will also do so." Before we can even say anything, Harmless Sparrow pulled out from her inventory a huge carcass of a monster that looks like it came from the Frozen Region. The moment the dragon saw the carcass, he immediately salivate at the sight of it. "Yes! Meat!" From the looks of it, it seems I am the only one that is surprised that Sparrow pulled out that one from her inventory as Sigma seems to not be bothered from it which means even Sigma knows what it was. Perhaps it is one of the monsters she hunted before and kept inside her inventory. However, the dragon is now secured. The final preparations are now going smoothly. The final battle draws near. Chapter 663 The New Siege With the new help we are getting in the form of the dragon now guaranteed in the final battle, we returned to the vige toplete the final assortment and all the final preparations left before weunch our first and final attack on the Church. It might not be involved in our final battle, but we never know what those guys might be thinking just to stop us from fighting, therefore, preparation is a must. As for me, I decided to craft a lot of weapons and armor for everyone including the yers. Harmless Sparrow and Sigma are excluded as they owned the best armor and weapons they can equip at the moment and it would be much better to make a stronger weapon and armor for them once they feel their weapons and armor are now doing an underperformance than they should have. I did all of this for free. I do not charge for creating stuff like this. Unless I am doing this for business, I would rather use these chances for creating items and raising my mastery in my ex job rather than make more money. As of now, I don''t have any idea where to spend the amount of money I have at the moment so instead of earning money, my problem is where to spend them. I already have ns on what to purchase in the future once they are ready to be bought and I already have them noted mentally and yet I still have plenty of money to spend. Even if I don''t work for my entire life, the money I have will suffice until the next generation. While I am busy making the final part of the weapon the katana for Tatsumaki, Tsuru, who was working on the wall barges into my little workshop. "Bad news, Sir deheart!" Wiping off the grease on my hands, I went to meet Tsuru who seemed to have rushed from the wall up to here. At the moment, Sigma and Harmless Sparrow have logged out after the battle with the dragon. Compared to me who have the tenacity to y long enough, the two are not that tenacious in ying in very long terms unless a quest that they needed to keep ying for long enough presents, they would rest in the real world. "What is going on?" "Enemies! We have enemies outside the fort! It seems like multiple yers are currently deployed outside!" I changed from my work clothes to my battle clothes after hearing that and was ready for my Versatile Weapon. "It looks like they are finally attacking us. Who are currently online aside from us?" I asked. "Tatsumaki and Popo should be online as well but I think they just departed to finish up a quest and the others are offline. It seems only the two of us are currently the only yers left to defend this ce." "Only the two of us huh?" the numbers are not in our favor of us if that is the case and we cannot call Tatsumaki and Popo to return and help us in time. When we arrived at the wall, some of the soldiers are also there monitoring the movement of the yers. "What''s the status?" Tsuru asked one of the men who is currently using the telescope to look at the movement of the enemy. "They are still not making any actions at us but I can see them doing some preparations and movements with their tools. Although it''s dark and I can''t see it properly here, I can guess in the silhouettes of those machines they are using and moving around to be siege equipment, Since our vige is now walled, I can think of what they are nning on doing after this." "Looks like they are not yet ready to perform their attack which means that is a good thing for us," I borrowed the telescope and take a peek at it myself. Just like what he just said, the tools they are using are siege equipment. They are nning on taking down the walls though I can see a few siege equipment that helps in scaling the walls as well. Not too far from the area is Kazuki, or should I say, Kaisarmanding the troops here and there. It seems he is now the leader or themander of this operation which means this is already a full-blown battle we are gonna expect. "Are our weapons not yet ready to be mounted on the walls?" I looked at Tsuru who was tasked to do that. "They are ready to be deployed anytime. You can just tell me when to materialize them and we can start shooting at them while they are still preparing." "Then that''s good. Anyways, Tsuru. How are your abilities in fighting a group of yers?" "Uh...I never fought multiple yers on this scale but I defeated at least a groupposed of 4 people before in a 1 vs 4 fight after they tried to PK me. What of it?" "Then that means I will be asking you to also help me with the battleter on. We will be fighting with only the two of us against these yers with the support of the cannon barrage. If you don''t like the sound of that, I can just go and fight by myself. What''s your call?" "Huh? You mean, we attack them with just the two of us? Like how you fought a guild all by yourself in a guild war?" "Yep, something like that." "Yes! I am in! Don''t worry about me. If fighting against yers like this with you is good to go, then we shall beat the living sh*t out of them!" Hearing this, I grinned as I can see myself liking to y with this guy in wrecking yers. "Good. Then, prepare for yourself. We are gonna be going to a battlefield. As a gift, here, take this finished cannon weapon. I don''t know if the stats are badpared to your current weapon but if it is better, go and use it." I then toss a cannon to him and he catches it with his hands. It''s heavy for me but for yers who match the weapon with their ss, the weapon is not that heavy so catching it wouldn''t be a problem. "HOLY SH-" Tsuru almost cursed out when he opened the stat panel of the weapon but he covered his mouth to stop himself from cursing. He immediately equipped it though which means the stats it is better than his current one. "Thank you very much for this!" "Yes, yes. Now, prepare, I can''t just let you go dying there, alright?" Chapter 664 Players Vs. Players Tsuru''s confidence seems to have risen quite a lot after equipping the new cannon. It''s also clear that he is now rearing to go and fight as well. With the new cannon as part of his arsenal, he is now looking amazing and he is now not just some kind of useless-looking guy who carries a cannon attached to a ship. "Wow, although I just switched to this cannon, I can tell that this is going to be one of the amazing weapons I might have equipped in the whole ythrough! I never thought you would just give this so casually! Are you sure I can just get this for free?" "No worries. It''s not that big of a problem anyways and I don''t think you needed to pay much." Although the effects of the cannon were quite big, the main reason it has good stats is due to how I forged it and my mastery of cksmithing. Because my Mastery in cksmithing is already quite high already, anything I make will be a high-quality item despite the material used. For example, if I created the beginner sword that is given to all swordsman sses with my current mastery, the beginner sword would be much stronger than the level 30 sword you can buy on the cksmith shops or random monster or boss drops. That''s how ridiculous the mastery of my cksmithing rank is plus with the guidance of Almira as well, it''s not a big wonder for the results as well. "Alright, looks like you are ready. Once the cannons are ready to be used, we shall strike immediately. Are you ready?" "Of course. I am not gonna drag you down!" "Good! Now, let''s do this!" Tsuru made a few NPCs he trained to use the cannons before taking their positions on the wall. After joining me at the top of the walls, he snapped his fingers and the cannons materialized the soldiers immediately take control of the cannons and destroyed the peace of the night as the cannons started to blow out cannonballs which made all of the people on the battlefield panic the moment the cannonballs came raining down on them. "Let''s go!" Tsuru nodded and the two of us activated our flight abilities and fly into the sky. Before we get near the area, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it into a Bow and Arrow, and started aiming and releasing arrows without stopping. My aim might not be ster but it was also not bad as I managed to hit a few before we are almost near the ground. Before we reach the ground, Tsuru already deactivated his flight and crashes to the ground with the cannon face down to the ground, knocking down multiple yers in one go. He stood up and immediately shot out a cannonball at the nearby yers. Those who did not get to defend immediately were sent flying while those who managed to defend were injured but still remained standing. CLACK! The cannon released a little puff of smoke before it proceeds to do its auto-reload. Before the reload is done, Tsuru swings the cannon like a hammer, knocking a few yers down, and after the initial swing, the auto-reload was also done as well. Before the other yers can recover, he aimed his reloaded cannon once more and this time, shot out the spread-type bullet of the cannon, [Grapeshot]. The quick moves Tsuru made me realize that I have been underestimating how capable cannoneers are even in closebat while incorporating their destructive cannon shots in close range. I barely see yers pick cannoneers and if there is one, most of the time, I only see them in the backline shooting enemies with their cannons and they usually just go ahead and continue to fight in the range area and not in meleebat. Tsuru''sbat style made me able to see the potential of the cannon and how I can incorporate it into my y style of switching weapons mid-battle. Inded down as well and used my Versatile Weapon to transform into a Bo staff. I have yet to use this form in a battle but in terms of using a stick in a battle, this is much easier to use than a sword as I can incorporate my limited knowledge in street fighting as well. "There! That guy is an enemy! Get him!" Seeing the yers start to gather around to fight me, I also did not just watch them attack me, I hit up the Bo staff in the air before swinging it around to the unsuspecting yers. With the length of the Bo staff much longer than a normal sword, one swing would at least hit at least one or two of the yers. I know this is just a piece of wood but since this is the Versatile Weapon, its attacks are not just something that would being from a block of wood as well but simr to a sword hitting them. "F*CK F*CK! What the heck?! The Bo staff of this guy hits harder than a sword! Stay away from his range! Bombard him with magic! Hit him with bullets! Anyone who can hit him with ranged attacks!" Smart of them to immediately back off before they get knocked out and instead, they went to another fighting method however, for someone like me, that method won''t work. Activating [Stealth], I disappeared right under their noses and immediately ambushed one of their mages and transformed my Bo staff into a gun. Grabbing the neck of the magician, I put the gun into his temple and pulled the trigger, effectively sending him to the Cathedral. "Man down! Healers! What are you doing?!" When he shouted for healers, multiple healers appeared and immediately revived the magician I defeated. "Multiple Clerics huh? Then they can keep reviving them again and again if these guys remained alive." Because there are multiple Clerics that will cast [Resucitation] to revive the fallen yers, I cast [Stealth] once again and changed my weapon into a Magic Sword. Although a dagger is good to use here, I am not proficient enough to perform an execution as quickly as possible and the only weapon I am very proficient with in defeating multiple enemies at once is the Magic Sword. Casting [Sharpness] and [Attack Up], the glint of the Versatile Weapon has increased as well. While they are still looking for me, I took advantage and slip into the ranks of the Clerics and immediately sliced down to their necks in quick session. Because most of my attacks hit the fatal spot and with the effects of both [Sharpness] and [Attack Up], not only the Clerics who have low defense did notst a single blow, I efficiently cleaned them up and sent all of the clerics avable to the Cathedral, locking them out of choices on reviving. As I slice down the final Cleric avable, the warriors who are backing up the clerics went over to respond to the screams of the Clerics but before they can even get near, a few cannonballsnd on them, squashing them to mush. I evaded a few as well but those yers who didn''t get to be lucky are all killed. I looked at Tsuru whether he was in a bad situation or if he died but he was still hanging out there. He managed to clear half of the yers down as well. Seeing his HP has fallen to critical levels, I snap my fingers and cast [High Heal] and [Heal] to him back to back to fully charge up all of his HP. Tsuru was surprised at first but seeing that it was my handiwork, he smiled and nodded before he returned to his prior rampage with full vigor now that his low HP has finally been refilled. With the cannonballs, Tsuru, and my attacks, most of the yers who were supposed to fight and take over the siege were killed. The siege weaponry was also destroyed one by one by either Tsuru''s attacks or by the constant cannon barrage being sent to the battlefield. Kaisar who was at the back angrily stomp his foot seeing most of the yers he was hoping to help with the fight were wiped out by the two people at best. "Useless! It''s only two yers fighting you guys and yet you all are wiped out?! How useless are all of you?!" Kaisar angrily berated one of the yers who took his chance to drink a potion. "I know you were supposed to be the leader but f*ck you if you think we are just your pawns in this fight. Those f*ckers are not just some random yer who easily gets killed in a battle, that''s deheart and the other is the Cannon Maniac Tsuru. If you think fighting against them is a joke for you, then go and defeat them. As for me, whatever. I don''t care if the quest ends up in failure, that''s much better than losing some of my items or my levels just because I can''t kill them," the guy didn''t hesitate and crushed one of the Teleport Crystals and disappeared, leaving the raging Kaisar. "I don''t care if that guy is whoever he is! He is going down! No one dares to mess with Kaisar and live!" Chapter 665 Bladeheart Vs. Kaisar The army of yers slowly dwindled and with that, many yers who decided to escape also increased. After realizing that the two of us are too much to handle, most of the yers who are fighting us decided to escape instead, afraid of dying in our hands as Tsuru and I would not hesitate to end them before they can strike us, leaving with only a few yers who are still confident to battle against us though the one who is more confident to fight us is none other than Kaisar himself. "I thought I am just seeing things but to think we would face once more, deheart," Kaisar is not looking happy while approaching as he slowly pulls out his Magic Sword. "Why not? Isn''t it a good chance for us to talk with each other?" "No. I was merely holding backst time during the Battle for Blood so you got lucky that you have defeated me. No, you and Sigma just tagged teamed with each other before defeating me, which is unfair for me who is fighting fair and square. I should have won that battle and secured the victory without any problems at all!" "Bullsh*t, even if I was not there, you wouldn''t win against Sigma that easily. With the way, you fightst time, it''s not even a wonder you are dead before you can even strike seriously." "Heh, that was me back then. Now that I have leveled up and geared up, I will make sure that this battle will be my win. This is my time to shine and this is my time to defeat the person who is beingbeled as one of the best yers. For the sake of my own fame, you need to die and fail this quest of yours. The Rebellion is futile." I assumed a battle stance with my Versatile Weapon ready. "Tsuru, I will handle this. You can take care of the others instead." Tsuru nodded and lured the others away from us. All that is left is me and Kaisar, both in a battle stance mode. Staring at each other, waiting for the other to strike first. But because I am not a patient, I took the first action first and immediately pulled the Pain Delivery out of the holster and shot out one bullet to Kaisar who didn''t expect the bullet to run past him. I shot one more bullet and he deflected it with his sword and this made him pissed. "Who the f*ck brings a gun in a sword fight?!" then proceed to charge towards me and swing his sword down with electricity running on his de. "Obviously, me. After all, you can''t win with just swords and magic alone." BAM! Our swords collide and I can see in his face the anger he has been keeping on himself. "I will unmask you here and now. I will make sure you will not survive this one." "Just shut up and fight. Stop talking." One of the main problems with Kaisar is that he talks a lot. The typical guy who likes to tell threats to make himself stronger. After a few seconds of trying to overpower me, I shoved him and made a little bit of distance from him before shooting out [Fireball] at him. Instead of dodging and evading all of my magical attacks, he decided to catch them all by blocking them with his sword. After my barrage of magic spells, his entire body started glowing purple and the electric arcs started to cover his body. It''s one of the electric element skills of the Magic Knight, [Voltage Body] which allows the user to move around at lightning speed for the duration of the skill which is 2 minutes. It''s one of the hardest to counter skills unless you have some skill to hold that person off, you will have to endure and hold out on it. "[Ice Prison]!" Countless of ice started to pop out from his feet but Kaisar was quick and catching him immediately was not easy. Before my [Ice Prison] can catch him, he shes to my side, damaging me for a decent amount before he disappears again and started moving around to stop me from catching him up. Kaisar realized that I can''t easily catch up to his speed and once he found out about it, he immediately abused it and started attacking me after disappearing because he was too fast, and I am not able to properly defend myself. He hoped that my Hp would whittle down as he strike but it ended up failing as not only did I end up remaining standing, he only whittled at least half of my health only. As soon as the skill duration ended, I immediately managed to catch up to what he was doing and before he can react, the Versatile Weapon in its Hook and Chain form appeared right in front of his face and got pulled right next to me. "Peek-a-boo!" "What the f*ck?!" I immediately delivered a big punch to his face after immediately transforming the Versatile Weapon into a Knuckles and punched him hard in the face, sending him flying into the distance. And as soon as he wasunched into the distance, I immediately activated my Flight and bolted right next to him, and kicked him sending him flying away again. But this time, he managed to regain his footing by using his sword to hold him firmly to the ground and stopped him from going further. "Now, you''ve done it. I am not gonna hold back now. You are dead to me!" He pulled the sword out of the ground and charges forward in my direction while yelling. He is losing it. "Looks like it''s time to end this, no?" "DIE!" I calmly predict his movement and just like in the past, his movement has not changed at all. And as soon as he charged forward, I changed my Versatile Weapon''s form into a Katana and immediately performed a sh to him before putting the Versatile Weapon back into its sheath. "Now you are dead. [Decapitation]." Kaisar walked a few steps forward before his head came flying off and his body fell down to the ground. Because he didn''t heal up the previous damage that he received from my previous blows, the [Decapitation] was too strong and it ended up immediately killing him. He fell down like some kind of Samurai who failed tounch an attack after getting a surprise slice that his neck didn''t expect. The result was expected, he was killed by decapitation. Once I defeated Kaisar, new info appeared before me, revealing that the Siege attack failed and the defense of the vige won, which means we won the battles. Seeing the result, the other yers that Tsuru didn''t manage to kill just shook their heads and decided to leave. After all, they failed to defeat us and as a result, the quest ends up failing for them. There is no need for us to continue the fight. Tsuru fell down to the ground and sighed as the fight ended and we won. "Holy sh*t... we actually won? I couldn''t believe it..." Tsuru seems to have yet to fullyprehend as we won against a whole group of yers trying to attack the vige, which resulted in this ending where only the two of us remained standing after we attacked. "Heh, did you get too overwhelmed? Anyways, good work out there, here, catch." Tsuru stood back up and immediately catches the item I have thrown at him. He then realized it was a bottle of Potion of Full Restoration Juice and he was shocked to see it in his hands as this item is a luxury to get. "You deserved the reward, take it." "AAAAAAHHHHH! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! IT''S MY HONOR FOR FIGHTING ALONGSIDE WITH YOU AND IT''S ALSO AN HONOR FOR ME TO BE ONE OF THE LUCKY PEOPLE WHO RECEIVED A GIFT FROM YOU DIRECTLY! I WON''T FORGET THIS OPPORTUNITY IN THE FUTURE!" I can only shake my head after seeing this. Although I appreciate it, the excessive amount of attention we received is not something I am familiar with. But still, being thanked profused like this made me appreciate it a little bit. ... ... ... "F*CKING HELL!" Kazuki throws the phone into the walls,pletely shattering the whole phone to pieces. After receiving the replies from the yers who participated in the raid their dismay at his leadership. This made him furious to the bone and his anger is overflowing. Not only did he got defeated once, but he was also defeated twice now by the person he was trying to best. And yet, the guy easily defeated him. He even experienced for the first time in his life being beheaded. It was a very horrifying experience and now he is now sure what he needed to do next. "deheart...you messed too much of my life now. You needed to be taken care of, as soon as possible. Chapter 666 The Devil Within The next day, after the incident regarding the battle that took ce near the Rebel''s base, the video of Tsuru and I fighting against multiple yers sparked a lot of buzz and discussions about it. After all, the one who was expected to lose turned out to be the winners and ended up wiping everyone who was pretty confident in fighting against us. ----- Papa''s Girly: Wow, just based on that new video uploaded, it only made Kaisar the idiot. He thinks he is much betterpared to deheart huh? He seems delusional. GoldenBoy126: Man, those two are just on aplete dimension. Especially deheart since he easily killed Kaisar in a one-on-one fight. Papa''s Girly: So you mean the one during the Battle for Blood was not indeed a fluke? deheart won fair and square against him despite the ims of Kaisar that he should be the rightful winner since the winner and the second cer ganged up on him. Wooshwoosh: Hahaha! The big joke of the day award goes to Kaisar! Not only did he prove that he is weaker than deheart but also he couldn''t have possibly won the Battle for Blood if he even got defeated for a second time as well. MyDOGisMySon: Isn''t that a big debate already in one of the discussion threads on who truly won the battle for blood? There are three sides to that one that should have won but I didn''t know it was a huge deal that Kaisar should have won since I heard Sigma and deheart were the ones who went and fought all out instead and Kaisar was eliminated before the two even fought. Papa''s Girly: Nah, it was like, pretty ridiculous, you know what I am saying? Kaisar imed that he should have won the BFB and should have been the rightful winner since he was ganged upon in the final round Dragon Force 1: Clearly a big braggart without even the skill to show it. What shameful oue it has been. If I was him, I wouldn''t bother showing my face to the public until theypletely forget about the issue! Wooshwoosh: Nah, this is inte, gossip, rumors and information remain here unless it was deleted. I doubt it will be forgotten so easily. If he does what you just said, forget ying the game, retire early and just forget that this game exist instead! Mr. Reaper: Still, I kind of wonder why the expedition on this continent take longer than expected! A lot of us who didn''t managed to join the Pioneers have been patiently waiting to ess this one since the announcement and its been almost 2 weeks and yet the expedition has yet to finish? MyDOGisMySon: Based on what I heard from my friend, the reason why it got longer is due to the conflict of the Rebels and the Anti-Rebels. The Pioneers were divided into two factions and that made the remainder of the quest a battle of attrition. Currently, the Anti-Rebel Factionunched two siege attacks to the rebels but both failed. GoldenBoy126: Did your friend knows who are the yers who joined which factions? MyDOGisMySon: My friend is in the Anti-Rebel faction though he kinds of regret it since he didn''t know that there was the Rebel Faction as well and based on what he have learned, Sigma and deheart are all on the side of the rebels. Mr. Reaper: Damn, I wish there was some sort of broadcast like that for yers to see but the only one we can see is the streaming of some yers regarding the continent and its pretty limited to be honest. Dragon Force 1: We just have to be patient and wait until the very end. No use whining about it. ---- All of the forums and discussions are all like this. I am happy that this made the reputation of Kazuki plummet but that was not enough. Right now, he will focus on his attention on the next chance he can get. However, he will first wallow in the frustration for quite a while before he can get back up again. That''s how he usually does as it hurts his pride a lot whenever he gets totally humiliated. We can take advantage to this tounch the final attack soon enough. With the final preparations ready and almostplete, it will only take a few more hours before we willunch the final attack. ... ... ... Inside the church, a bishop arrived, carrying a few books and scrolls containing scriptures and teachings of their church. Many of the angels inside are currently praying silently and has yet to notice his presence. The bishop took this chance to instead go to the secret room that was built inside the church, without the knowledge of everyone aside from the trusted members of the church and their allied people. He descended into the long stairs and once he arrived into the long and dark hallways, he grabbed the nearestmp meant to be used for all the people who are gonna traverse the dark hallways. Using the mes of the wallmp, he lights it up, allowing him to get an illumination to allow him to walk into the hallways without stumbling in the darkness. The various wailings echoed throughout the whole hallways, seemingly and strangely simr to a choir singing a church hymn. No one would actually think it was some kind of bad thing. Only if the angels knew where these wasing from and perhaps, their views on the church mightpletely change. The bishop continues to walk in silence, only with his loud footsteps echoing the entire floor apanied by various wailingsing from the cells on each side of the hallways that no one knows what causes them. Soon, he finally reached the end of the hallway. Extinguishing the me on themp, he proceeds to climb up to the next set of stairs, slowly but surely. Because it was brighterpared to the corridor, he didn''t need to bring themp with him and just focused himself on climbing while carrying all the stuff he is carrying since the beginning. At the end of the stairs, a single door stands before him. He knocks on it three times before entering, revealing a ce that no one would think was present at the top of the Church. "Greetings to the Pope. I bear news regarding to the recent attack our soldiers and allies did to the rebels." The pope didn''t speak. However, the bishop knew the pope that he was speaking with is currently listening to what he was saying. "Our expedition failed and we ended up losing arge fraction of siege equipment due to the attack. Not only we failed but the troops failed to even make a dent to the defense of the rebels sanctuary." "Hoh? This is beyond my prediction oue. I didn''t expect the rebels to outright change the results and destroy what I had predicted." "We apologize for that, your Excellency. The ipetence of the soldiers might be the main case of the failure and I apologize for that. In the next few days, we are hoping to change the oue so please be patient for a bit." "No." "Huh?" the bishop was stunned when he heard the pope said no. "I already predicted that the final battle will soon ur. Instead of preparing for the next attack, prepare for the defense of the church as their main destination is our church itself. Based on my predictions, if we don''t prepare promptly, we will fail and we will lose to the heretics." "How incredulous! The church is strong and our belief will not be shaken against the heretics!" "Perhaps, but preemptive measures will do more wonders and besides, even if they did find their way topletely destroy the defenses, they would be too tired to continue on. Then my role will soon arrive as well." "That''s right, Your Excellency. With your might and strength, the Heretics would surely be destroyed and you will smite the sinners down before they can even react to what you are about to do." The pope smiled, turned his back and returned to his seat. "The final preparations are almostplete as well. Soon, everything will no longer be a pipe dream. It will be a reality, a ce that will allow us to show to everyone that we are the superior and our gospel is the one that should be followed. I just needed a bit more time and everything will be perfect." The bishop happily nodded as he saw the brilliance from the aura of the Pope himself. The vision of the Pope will soon be visualized and soon, the world will soon realize that everything the pope wanted to happen will soon happen. The rebels might be there, but with the overwhelming power of the Pope, perhaps, those pesky rebels will cower in fear instead. After all, the Pope that he is looking at, should be the next advent. Chapter 667 March Of Rebellion With thest battle ending up in our win, the final preparations have finally reached their end, and we now are ready for the war. Everyone is fully equipped, and the fort is now ready for any enemies thate invading while we are going to the Church to face the pope. Sigma and Harmless Sparrow are the ones leading a few of the battalions while the rest are support. Unlike the previous timeline where the rebels split up their forces to invade, I made a suggestion that instead of invading, we just go and defeat the people involved instead of involving the popce. Since the main enemy is the pope, the only main reason we are heading there is to defeat the Pope without the need of upying the city. We could just focus all our time and effort on the attack on the church. We obtained the prompt of help that the dragon will provide. He gave me a flute that his former master uses to call for him. Now, he is keeping it safekeeping and since it is the only thing he can hear in the wind regardless of the distance, this is the only way we can call him. It would have been fine if I keep this for myself but this is just a borrowed item, once the quest is done, I have to return it to the dragon after the event unless he, unfortunately, dies here. But hey, I want to change the future and that is one of the things I am set to do right now. in is now ready too, wearing the armor that he kept on polishing but never used alongside his trusty weapon. He might not look like a knight, but he is more of amander, ready to lead his people. The moment he stepped out, everyone started cheering for him. "Today marks the day the final battle will begin. The oppression of the higher authorities will soon end and exposing what they were doing behind the popce''s back will also be revealed as well. This is our little rebellion, that has been sparked since the atrocities the people who are in power decided to abuse their authority and test the limits of what they can do, involving and wasting many innocent lives in the process. "We might not be saviors the Luminous Continent is looking for but we are the liberators that will clean up the filth. Together, we will make sure those rotten bastards will feel the pain of our loss and grief! We might be small in numbers, but that doesn''t matter. No matter how small we might be, we will make sure that these people who deserved to be punished, should know the true meaning of Divine Retribution." Cheers erupted among the popce after in''s speech. Compared to the speech of the previous timeline''s anti-rebels, perhaps the true ending would have been to side with the rebels, but because the rebels lost, the situation was reversed instead, making the holy ground tainted. After all, the Rebels are not the ones who will handle the change, we will just liberate and show everyone what the people they are worshiping and interacting with are doing when they are not in their Holy Robes to showpassion and little kindness. And so, we started marching. The city of the clouds is the same city where we all started to arrive as Pioneers tasked to remove the cult, and here we are, back to the roots, but this time, we are not in friendly rtions with the people there, we are instead going to be exposing the church''s wrongdoings. Despite calling it a march, we are not walking but instead, we are flying up in the sky to traverse thends and reach the City of the Clouds. With so many of us flying high in the sky, there is no way the people of the City of the Clouds won''t notice us, especially the angel battalions, after all, they are the angels that defend the ce. Compared to walking, flying was much faster and we are not even tired since we easily speed up our flight speed it didn''t take us too long to arrive at our destination where the soldiers who are stationed immediately spotted us. "We are under attack! Soldiers! Prepare your weapons and repel the invaders!" Sigma smiled seeing the number of soldiers who are caught unprepared for the attack. "FIRE!" Sigma shouted and as she did, Leoran took the front position followed by several others holding their bows and arrows before a rain of it came falling down to the angels who were still gathering themselves, unprepared for our attacks. Screams of pain started to echo in our ears as we sessfully pass through the gates of the City of the Clouds. The moment we did pass through, we retract our wings andnded to continue on foot. Although many of the angel soldiers were scattered on the ground, none of them are dead. Due to the effect of my Alchemy potions, I managed to procure some liquids that don''t have any effects when drank or sshed on the body. However, if they are tipped by a blunt arrow, if fired at a living target, the target will experience severe pain in their bodies that will temporarily knock them down to unconsciousness and leave them in a sort of "death state". They are not dead, but they will think they are "dead". Once the soldiers are out of the question, we continue our march inside the city. The NPCs and the people who are just outside started panicking as they started leaving. After all, even though they are angels, most of them are not able to fight so all they can do is flee. And as the civilians flee, the soldiers arrived but this time, they are soldiers who are directly inmand of the church. The ones who do not deserve the "fake death" treatment, "Filthy rebels! You all dared to defy the pope? You all shall die here!" Harmless Sparrow grinned as she pulled out her sword. "Thank goodness, finally, I don''t need to hold back from spilling blood. Come!" asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 668 Break Through The Barricades The soldiers that are fighting this time are now affiliated with the church. ording to the intel, all the soldiers who allied themselves and devoted themselves to protecting the church, are no longer innocent and are no longer part of the angels that we are going to spare. "Remember, only kill those people that are allied by the church!" in shouted as he pulled his sword out and shes through the enemies. In the eyes of the angels, the act that we are doing is heresy. One that defies religion and something that defies the beliefs of all people. However, I have a question for them, who are they even praying for? ording to the sources and from what the info I can gather, the church keeps saying they worship their "god" but it never mentioned who it was. After all, there are multiple gods in the game. They indeed have the church, but there is one thing that I know. This is just a church that cultists worship in and instead of worshipping the gods, they worship the demonic entities and other things that bring ruin and destruction. I suspect that the one this church is worshipping is none other than the Pope himself. The soldiers came pouring out of the streets, way more than we realized. We are getting overwhelmed when Popo came rushing to the crowd and jump into the air. "[Transform: Berserk Bear]!" Popo''s transformation happened mid-air so the moment he transformed into a big bear, every enemy below him was crushed by Popo which I think he intended. After that, he started attacking and swiping the enemies around him. Popo didn''t hesitate to go all out andsh his anger at all the enemiesing at him. "Popo! Be careful!" Tsuru who was just behind him warned of the impending dangers around him. "We can''tg behind either! Charge!" Harmless Sparrow charges ahead alongside the other rebels as well. Sigma remained standing and made all the chains do the work. I kind of envy Sigma''s ystyle as she does her job by standing still while letting her skill do the pesky job. To be honest, I tried doing what she does, but it ended up in big failure. Not only do my habits kick in during battle, but controlling multiple of those chains takes a lot of pressure on my mind. Which is why I dropped the idea of copying her y style. I liked it, but it was not up to my mental power to continue doing it for long. The angels who are allied with the church continue to arrive. But there is a bit of a problem. It was like the enemies are endless. But I am quite sure that there are not so many soldiers allied to the church as some remained their neutral stance and I don''t remember the City of the Clouds having these many soldiers with them. I keep defeating them but something seems to be amiss. There is something that is bothering me. The battle is too heated and all enemies attacking seem to be mindless machines. That''s when in decides to suggest a better solution. "Everyone, keep moving while we fight. We can''t keep staying here while we fight or else, we will not see the end of this. With all the soldiers appearing to stop us, they are just stalling for time! Go!" Everyone nodded and we started moving slowly. As we fight and kill, we continue moving as well, keeping everyone struggling to also catch up and not be left behind to fend off for themselves. It was an effective tactic but soon enough, we faced another little problem that the enemies made to slow our progress. Barricades. The road to the church is filled with barricades. Not only that but we also saw a few angels holding weapons that allow them to shoot down anyone who tries to fly to bypass the barricade. It''s annoying and there is no other alternative as there is only one road. Not only the barricades are the problem here but also the yers stationed as well. Because yers are stronger than NPCs which is pretty obvious, we will surely suffer casualties if NPCs are going to engage in battle against them which is why we already formted a battle n. We spotted 5 yers stationed at the barricade, waiting for our arrival. All of them are melee-oriented sses which are good since we don''t want those range yers to increase the problem. Kn flicks open his pocket watch and arge [Time Sphere] consumed the yers inside, slowing their movements and reaction time. Since [Time Sphere] only works for those enemies captured inside the moment someone cast the skill, anyone who entered the [Time Sphere] will not be affected by the effects of the skill, allowing allies to do the finishing blows. The yers didn''t expect that and before they are able to react, our silent and stealthy assassin, Vi, appeared out of nowhere, wielding her dual daggers in both hands, and jumped inside the [Time Sphere]. Because reaction times of everyone trapped inside the [Time Sphere], those who entered of their own volition will have twice the reaction time to them and that is what Vi decided to abuse to eliminate the yers as fast as she can. She was quick with her moves, fast in her strikes, and fatal on all attacks. She raised her dagger, for a few seconds, swing them a few times, and she was done. The moment the [Time Sphere] duration ended, the yers also fell dead as well. "Destroy them all! Don''t let the barricade remain standing!" in shouted. Harmless Sparrow grinned this time around and raised her sword. "Destroying barricades? I am your girl. Let''s do this. HA!" THUNK! Her sword''s tip dropped to the ground, and ava spout erupted, right into the barricade, effectively destroying it in the process and burning the remnants. Those soldiers who are also nearby got burned and killed if they have gotten to close the attack site. "Push on! Make sure the Pope knows that we are not just going to let them abuse their powers! They will have to pay for their sins and show the world that the angels they are trusting in are the true demons after all!" Chapter 669 Mow Down The Dead We press forward. Though we continue to move forward with the soldiers in tow. As our otherrades fight off the soldiers, we yers on the other handbat the other yers that are blocking our way to the church. Since the majority of the Pioneers are allied with the anti-rebels, the problem is much bigger and more troublesome than it should have been. Based on the people we faced so far, the number of yers that have died remained to be plenty. What is worse, the Cathedral- or should I say the church is our main destination. Once we kill a yer, they will respawn inside the church for a matter of minutes and will return tobat once they are back to a fit. And if we make it to the church, there is a big possibility that the yers we have in previously will be waiting for us at the entrance of the road and perhaps, even inside the church itself. This is why zing through all the enemies and killing them as fast as we can is the only better choice we can do here. Since respawn, times are gonna vary and it takes a few minutes before they reappear again, it''s better to keep on moving. "Move! Move! We are at the advantage! Keep it up and we can do this!" Every one of us is not even resting as we continue moving forward, which of course is not possible with all the enemies on every side. Thanks to Sigma and my help, we continue to have healthybatants, and although we still have plenty of injured people, we easily healed them by either ssh potions or by just outright healing them. We prioritize saving everyone rather than letting anyone die or be left behind. We went through this together, we will ovee this together as well. As we continue to move forward and as we get near the entrance of the church itself, the tighter the security of the ce is. The yers as well are all organized. Just like in the past timeline. "Enemies above!" A few more flying angels apanied by a few yers started to snipe us from above. "Leave these guys to me!" Leoran changed his weapon to a crossbow that I made for him. Unlike the normal crossbow which takes longer time to reload than a regr bow, the crossbow I made for him is a modified version, one that is made to keep its reliability as a weapon that fires simrly and easily like a gun while reducing the reload time needed to put more arrows to fire. Leoran fired one crossbow bolt, immediately killing one of the flying NPCs that is wearing armor. Not only did the bolt pierce through his armor but it also killed him immediately. "Don''t panic! Crossbows take a longer time to reload a new bolt! Target-" The yer who is currently encouraging the others to remain calm has his encouragement cut too short when another crossbow bolt flies through and pierces his head and killing him immediately. The others were shocked as they didn''t expect another bolt to fly by. Then, another flies again and kills one of them which now sent the remaining alive soldiers into a panic. Who wouldn''t panic if the slow crossbow that takes a little while before it fires a bolt suddenly fires a bolt after one bolt was released? Leoran grinned seeing how the crossbow is working so well to his benefit. With the flying enemies easily dealt with, the other reinforcements decided to think twice about fighting them in the air. Now that the entrance of the church is now in view, the barricades that are blocking as are now different. Aside from the dark aura that the barricade is giving, the guards are no longer yers and normal soldiers, but Armored Skeleton Knights. Although they are not as big as the evolved version of my Skeleton Knight, they are still quite big and I don''t think any of the NPC fighters except for in is going to be able to defeat any of them. "Master, how about you summon me? It''s been a while since I have been out and we just kept ourselves quiet while you are enjoying the fights. How about you help me swing my de around?" As who remained quiet for many weeks started to speak again although I didn''t restrict them from speaking, they just refrained from doing so. "I wanted to at least bring you all out once we reach the church and find the pope but I guess it shouldn''t hurt to bring you out at least. And it should be a good way to sharpen your de and stop your fighting style from getting stale." With a snap in my fingers, As came out and he pulled out his sword with a deathly glow on it. "Hehe, it''s been a while since I have gone out and I think, this will be a worthwhile warm-up battle before we face the big bad!" As then stares at the skeletons before him. "Heh, these are weaker than the skeletons you raise, Master but whatever. I am notining for a simple whetstone." He then started shing and breaking the armored skeletons in a single sh. in and the others who have not witnessed the might of As were stunned by how he easily destroyed the skeletons singlehandedly. "W-who is that?" in was shocked to see As. "Haha, sorry for the surprise. That guy there is one of my partners and my Companions. Don''t worry about it too much and just carry on with the fight." I also noticed in the peripheral view of my eyes the awe forming in the eyes of the misfits while I saw fearing from the enemies and even the angels who were fighting us earlier are all hesitant toe forward and fight. "SO WEAK! SO WEAK! COME ON! Bring it on! Are these skeletons all you got?! What a weakling necromancer you guys have!" Hearing that, the skeletons started howling and more skeletons rise up from the ground. I can tell the necromancer who summoned them are all pissed hearing his taunt which was very effective at pissing the guy so bad he decided to go all out.. "Yes! YES! Now, give me the best you all got!" As who was fine at dealing with these many threats though is a different thing. This amount of undead in front of him is barely anything to him. It does not spell a threat to him but just a minor nuisance. Still, for a guy who likes to fight, what''s more, better than fighting against monsters as much as he can? Chapter 670 The Bishop The appearance of As made the battle much faster and much swifter. Not only do we have to worry less about enemies but we can focus on many other things as we break through the enemies. With my teammates doing all they can do and the NPCs helping to prevent the other soldiers as well from destroying our formation, I ended up having the least to do. I might be a Versatile ss yer and has no specialty in anything aside from being a jack of all trades, but having reduced roles in a battle is a little bit sad. With As taking over my role as the DPS in the frontline, I focused on myself as the main healer of the team. Without a proper cleric, we are not in a good run. Our little progress continues forward and all the annoyances are now minor inconveniences. Still, the necromancer did not appear before us and just continued to fight against us while summoning multiple undead. I don''t know why we have yet to see one of them. But there is one thing that I think seems strange. Out of all the Pioneers who joined, there are no Necromancers that I remembered have joined us in this expedition. I might have been remembering it badly but there is no way I will forget with my memory. So I am 100% sure there shouldn''t be a necromancer here. And yet, here we are. What''s more strange is that the amount of corpse the necromancer can summon surpass the usual normal amount of undead they can call for a fight. After all, to summon an undead, they have to get a corpse to use as a catalyst. We do have left behind some corpses in our wake by fighting the NPCs but that is a different thing since if they used the angels that we have defeated as the catalyst, the undead they summon should also have their wings rotten as part of their form, even the skeletons also have that feature but without the feathers. The undead that As has been killing is visiblycking in that characteristic so the catalysts are obviously not the corpses of the in angels. However, where are they getting a steady supply of undead to use? You can''t keep reusing a dead undead for summoning another, you will have to discard the dead undead and use another fresh corpse in a fight instead. So why does the way he summoned the undead are a little bit simr to how I summoned my undead? Does that mean, there is another page of the necromancer book? I don''t know but that is a possibility for sure. There are no more yers appearing before us and all the consistent enemies are the undead. The angels that are fighting us from behind are also reduced and only a few of them are now remaining. It might look like a good sign that the enemies we originally have are now reduced to only a few individuals and the only main problem left is the other people inside the church who are waiting for us or the Pope himself. I also cannot forget the necromancer himself or herself as well. "It looks like we are proceeding well, and we have yet to lose any men in battle. That''s good!" Tsuru is happy to see everything is proceeding smoothly. "Hey, don''t jinx it. I know we are not in trouble right now and are at a big advantage but that doesn''t mean the tables will not turn back to us," Popo clicked his tongue. "Popo is right Tsuru. It''s looking fine right now but there is no way these are the only struggles we are going to face because I find everything too easy. It was like a false sense of security," Vi agreed with Popo which makes Tsuru frown. "Are you sure you are just not getting paranoid?" I decided to butt into their conversation. "Popo and Vi''s reactions to the situation are right. It felt a little too safe and I know we have been fighting since earlier but I don''t think it was indeed bad to keep our guard. Enemies are still there so there is no need for us to already drop our little guard just like that. The final barricade is finally in sight, and the church''s door is just beyond the barricade. Compared to the past timeline where the rebels were repelled at the third barricade, we have arrived at the first barricade without any casualties. Not only that but the part near the Church is the only part of the city that is currently affected by our rebellionpared to the past timeline where the whole city suffered as a result and resentment from the rebels was instead nted instead of their liberation to everyone that failed. Not only we are fine until now, but we have yet to also use most of our aces. We have yet to call the dragonpared to the past timeline where the dragon was in before the final fight. It''s obvious whY Tsuru became smug and easygoing with how well our operations were currently going but he stopped when the next enemy waiting at us at thest barricade. The Bishop. For those who interacted and stayed for a while in the city while I am busy destroying the cult all by myself, the Bishop is the one giving the missions that involve the church and helping the sick and the weak around, giving yers the halo effect at him as a kind angel and with the Angel form of himself, it''s easy to see why many yers will think he is a good angel. However, the Bishop right now is clearly not the same bishop the yers have met, especially the misfits who were able to interact with him multiple times. Tatsumaki shook seeing how oppressive the aura of the bishop was. Leoran frowned and ready the crossbow for the fight. Popo is a little bit shocked but he didn''t show it much, Kn and Vi are not happy at this and are ready to pull up their weapons to fight, while Tsuru is still normal. He wasn''t even surprised by itpared to the others. "Wee traitors of the church and the heretics who allied themselves to the evil side of the coin. The pope is already expecting the arrival of all of you. I already anticipated all of you toe and fight the hordes of people I deploy to whittle the numbers to a better amount so that I can easily deal with you all but seeing that not a single one from all of you has fallen, goes beyond my expectations. Marvelous," the bishop started pping. He might be saying this sincerely but I can take a hint of his little sarcasm. "Look, if you try to get in our way, we won''t hesitate to take you down even if you have helped us a lot before," Leoran aimed his crossbow. "Heh, Leoran. Are you really blinded by these people''s promises? Are they really helping the weak? They are just doing that to gain sympathy and to also build up their powers. It''s not toote to change ande assist us in this battle. I can see you wavering so there is no need for you to hesitate." "No. You were just justifying the works of the church, the evil deeds that this ce has hidden from us. I might be wavering but that was because I have a positive impression of you despite that, I don''t think I will be swayed to join back the cause that you believe in. This has to stop." "Ah, such a pity. But it doesn''t matter. I was not expecting much from you anyway, After all, traitors cannot be trusted. If you have decided to join us, you would die on the spot anyway as the church does not tolerate traitors. It''s a little shame that I didn''t get to personally execute you easily, but I don''t really think that also matters. After all, there is no change, you all will fall here." He opened the little book in his hands and it glows a faint violet light. It didn''t take too long before the violet light appeared more beneath the ground and multiple of them started to pop off and suddenly summoning multiple Death Knights. "A bishop of the church is a necromancer?!"Harmless Sparrow didn''t expect to see it. It''s not exactly a twist but it''s just close to impossible. After all, necromancers and holy power doesn''t seem to share the same sentiment as both are the direct opposite of each other. ''Why all of you are surprised? Is this the first time you all have witnessed a multiple-ss person? Nah, no way. I can sense one of you is the same as me who can wield multiple sses at once as well," his eyes thennded on me. "With the help of this, I was able to maintain my holy image, despite the way I handle evil and darkness. I may not be as strong as the Pope, but I am enough to deal with you all here. So please, donate your bodies to my collection. I will make sure you all will be lovely corpses who will forever remain alive." Chapter 671 Borrowed Power The bishop unleashed his power and decided to no longer hold back. His power started to spike and the pressure of the darkness is now hard for the NPCs to handle they were forced to fall to the ground, struggling as they were pressed. They won''t die but they will be struggling to move and in case some enemies will appear, they will be too defenseless to defend themselves. The only NPC who is not affected is in. As for us yers, we are not affected but we can feel the power too which is a sign this is going to be a forced Boss Battle. "Get ready everyone. As, I will be counting on you to absorb the dark powers of that guy, alright?" "No problem, Master. Get ready, he is about to unleash something." Just like As said, the Bishop started floating high up in the air and raised his scepter, releasing a strong gale that consist of the power of darkness and corruption in one blow. As shes through the gale, protecting everyone in the path though I made sure of focusing on the protection by deploying the shield and blocking everyone behind me. Thankfully, the Shield of Pride is helpful at this as this weapon form is able to manipte the darkness as well. With most of the NPCs unable to move, Sigma decided to move as she is currently the only one from us who can unleash holy aura, Holy Knight''s unique passive exclusive to her ss to expel the surrounding darkness and cure everyone from the affliction caused by the darkness. I can''t use it since the Versatile does not copy the unique passive from other sses so even if I have the ability to be a Holy Knight, bing an actual recement for the ss is not possible. After the attack, the angels who were killed and have their dead bodies left on the road were immediately possessed by dark energies and started rising back from the dead, bing an undead angel. Thankfully, due to the help of Sigma, the NPCs are now back on their feet and are ready to return to the fight. "deheart! We will deal with the resurrected soldiers, you focus on taking down the bishop with the others!" in pat my back before he heads to the fray with the others to fight against the new undead enemies. "Naive! Did you really think you all can win against my abilities? The power that the Pope possesses cannot be defeated by anything. He is destined to consume everything that he despises. You all will not be spared and to ensure that, I will be giving you all the front-row seat in tasting that much earlier!" The bishop taps the scepter to the ground and dark powers started to bubble up around us. We expected it to be skeleton monsters as the Bishop is a necromancer but we soon realized that that wasn''t the case. "Yuck! What the heck are those?!" Harmless Sparrow instinctively backed off seeing the newly spawned enemies. "Master, everyone, be careful! I can sense extreme malice and evil in these things! Even my ability to absorb these evil energies won''t be able to handle this!" As warned. "My Holy Aura won''t be a good help on these either. They are too corrupted to be purified. Our only option is to fight and destroy these before they start attacking us with extreme things!" Sigma summoned her golden chains. "Damn, we should burn it with fire!" Harmless Sparrow then sliced the iing tentacles but her de misses as the tentacles disappeared and emerges a little farther from her. "It dodged?!" Popo taps his bo staff to the ground and summons [Corrupted Vines of Poison] to tie up the tentacles but before the vines can even grab it, they dodged once more and emerges in another ce. Seeing other methods are not working, I looked at Leoran and nodded with him to signal our attacks. He immediately shot out multiple bolts of crossbow bolts while I changed the Versatile Weapon''s form to dual handguns and repeatedly released a barrage of bullets to the tentacles, hoping to hit any of them. But s... those actions were wasted when the tentacles easily dodges them and returned to surround us. As also used his abilities that were avable for him as a boss but rarely uses it inbat, [Shadow Capture] to grab at least a few but it soon didn''t work either as well. Even Vi and Kn''s strategy to use thetter''s Chronomancer''s slowing down movements and Vi''s quick and quick kills didn''t work. Tsuru shoots his cannon at the tentacles and even that does not work either. "Sh*t...all our attacks miss and even though some of it connects, it seems we don''t actually damage them at all!" Harmless Sparrow grits her teeth in frustration. Even I don''t understand it either. How can these tentacles easily dodge our attacks or in fact,pletely ignore them? What is going on? "Hehe, I already told you all. The power of the pope is absolute. You will not be able to fight back. You all are just ythings and are not worth the pope''s time. Therefore, this is goodbye, yers. It''s our win. Better luck next time. Now, my lovely tentacles, devour and use their bodies however you all liked!" With hismand, all the tentacles immediately rush toward us ready to devour us. Everyone including me started to defend the inevitable when. "BURN IN FLAMES AND RETURN TO THE VOID!" An explosive me burst into the surroundings and all the tentacle monsters charging to kill us were repelled, burning them all to ashes and destroying them to pieces before they were reduced to ashes. "What?!" The Bishop was greatly surprised. All of the tentacles he summoned were burned to mes and disappeared. "Lucia?!" I was surprised as well. After all, Lucia didn''t seem will fight with us this time around but her timely appearance just allowed us to survive. "Whew. At least it was good but that was barely a warmup! Also, As, I told you to protect Master but if I didn''t join into the battle, you all will die instead!" "But can you me me? The bastard can use some kind of sorcery that allowed the enemies to dodge and evade our attacks! It''s not just me but Master and the others as well! We were helpless there!" As reasoned out. Sigma shook her head for a bit but didn''t bother to scold As further. "Well, I can understand, after all, this ability is a lost dark magic ability that was present during the age of the Primordial Gods. It''s understandable you all have trouble with it." "How?! How did you destroy the absolute and formidable power that I borrowed from the Pope?!" the bishop frowned. "Borrowed? Ah, so that''s why it was so weak. No wonder it felt a little odd for some unknown reason. So that was the case. Heh, pretty amusing if you think that was formidable and absolute power but in reality, it was so mediocre that even the dark mage practitioners back in the day find this skill boring and useless. I can''t believe someone will be using it." "Care to exin what is going on, Lucia?" I asked. "Master, those tentacles were the product of the power of the evil god who ascended after consuming other enemies and getting more sacrifices from many different sources. Anyways, the reason it was so hard to hit even with all of your attacksbined, the main reason is due to the fact that these things are not materialized properly." "Because of its weak summoner, the tentacles that were burned were mediocre at best. They aren''t even worth the time and if you exploit and understood what they are, then it is easy, they will also lose their soul state and will now be destroyed easily now." "You dare mock the power of the Pope and spout heresy?!" "F*CK off old man. I know you are devoted but I don''t care about your damnable pope." Lucia snapped and her demonic parts which were not fully shown unless they are too serious emerged revealing her demonic race. Causing the Bishop to back away. "HEATHENS! A real demon! Go away! Heretics! You all have to die here! AAAAAHHHHH!" He then repeatedly taps the floor with his scepter and the tentacles earlier started to reappear as well. "Master, just leave it to me. Also, just sit tight there along with the others. After all, you guys should just look at this incident as a big whoopsie." Lucia snaps her fingers and the whole surroundings lit up in mes as the tentacles started burning up. The bishop getting desperate repeatedly taps the scepter to the floor. That''s when I realized something was happening to the Bishop as we currently speak. "You noticed it, Master? You don''t need to do anything at all. After all, this guy will die after consuming his lifespan summoning these weak-ass monsters." Chapter 672 Everything Has A Price It wasn''t obvious at first since the Bishop is old and a mature old man. But it became more apparent after he continued to use his abilities. His blonde hair streak is slowly turning white. The wrinkles that are not so obvious to see on his face are showing up, and his face doesn''t look like he was old and has shown a lot of aging process from it. The dark powers he is using are also getting weaker as well that the pressure from the beginning is also getting a lot weaker as well. "See, As? It''s not that hard to deal with him. Even if you just hold out for a few more minutes, he will die naturally. It''s not that hard you know?" Lucia grinned. "How should I know about that? His powers are something I have not witnessed in my life so it''s obvious I am clueless about it. You, on the other hand, are a different story." "Haha, well who cares? We will have to deal with this guy as soon as possible anyway. You fight against him, while I fend you off those tentacle monsters. We will get the support of Master and the others so I think it should be a fair trade-off." "Heh, I should be able to handle that much, let''s get this old man to receive his little medicine!" "Good! Master! Back us up and we will be done in no time. We shouldn''t let you tire yourself since the big boss is just up ahead. We should instead deal with these guys, alright? Besides, we also wanted to get some experience as well. It''s not fair you are already so high level while we remain a little bit on the lower side," Lucia pouted. "No worries. The others and I are right just behind your back. As for the level, don''t worry. We can power-level you allter on." Lucia smiled and spread her hands and the ming arena of mes appeared to cover our whole area, closing the area we are fighting with, far from the grasp of the others. The only one who is inside the arena is the bishop and mypanions. Sigma and the others are stuck outside since they are assisting the others to deal with the rising undead that the Bishop summoned himself. "You all have chosen death!" The Bishop, despite losing a lot of his age visually still retains some of his vitality earlier. He opened up his wings and started to fly up in the air, trying to push through the arena of mes to escape from us. But Lucia is the ruler of this arena. Her arena, her rules, and even I have no exceptions to these rules. "Do you really think escaping is easy enough since you have wings? Well, have a taste of my mes, perhaps I can turn you into a fried chicken once you are burnt enough," Lucia waved her hand and the arena that doesn''t cover the sky with mes decided to cover it up, stopping the Bishop from flying a bit further. "Tch!" the bishop is irritated but he decided to push on and aim his scepter at the ceiling, releasing a little bit of dark beam to fire at the mes of the arena. He thought it would be very easy to break out from the ce with his abilities. Only to find out that that wasn''t the case. Instead of exploding and destroying the me ceiling, the mes weed the beam, absorbed it, and remained the same. It didn''t even make a ruckus like some minor explosion to signify the impact. Nothing at all. Just a little sound of the beam firing off and the mes crackling as it swallowed the beam like it was nothing. Seeing the result, the Bishop stopped and fired a few more, not content with the first result. But as much as he want to deny it, the beam didn''t do any impact. It was instead muffled to nothingness. "Come back here you old faggot!" Lucia snapped her fingers and the mes erupted around the Bishop, causing the mes to catch the wings he is using to fly up. "AHHH! F*CK F*CK F*CK!" The mes immediately burned through his wings and didn''t even leave anything to aid him back from flying once more. The only thing is that Lucia didn''t burn him as a whole but just his wings. Causing him to fall after his wings are gone, the old man realized it and started screaming as he plummets down from the sky. As who was waiting for him to reach the height manageable for him leaps into the air and kicks the old man in the abdomen as hard as he can and sending him flying into the ground, creating a crater with the old man still struggling and still conscious. "Damn, I kicked him without holding back but he is still conscious of that?" "Angels have stronger bodies than humans, elves, and demons. And although they are a bit inferior in terms of body sturdiness than the Insect People, they are quite tenacious so don''t think that kicking earlier would deal much to him. More like you just gave him a lot of pain to suffer with," I exined. The Bishop puked some blood from that kick. It was not a good thing for him as he felt sh*t after that kick and yet he is still conscious. Despite his tenacious body, with his body aging, the injury was too harsh for him to handle he cannot even move much anymore due to injury. "Master. Perhaps it is time to gain some answers from him regarding the pope while he was like this. It would be a good idea to gather intel that would be useful for us once we face and battle the popeter?" Lucia asked. "I will not talk-" before he can continue to talk, As kicked him again, causing him to groan in pain. "You are not permitted to talk unless we ask a question, old man. You are at our mercy here," As put down his sword to the ground, right next to the face of the bishop still groaning in pain. Indeed. This is the perfect opportunity to get intel against the final boss. Since I never get to see the Pope even in the past timeline, I am not sure whether this boss would be a threatening one or not. I don''t even know whether he was that much of a big deal or not. "Tell me everything you knew about the Pope''s identity and abilities. Speak while we are lenient here." "I will not- AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" The bishop screamed in pain as mes scaled his body after a whip-like mended on his skin. "Failure toply with information would end you up dead at this point, old man. Just hurry it up and talk," Lucia threatened the Bishop and yet the old man is stubborn. "Pieces of sh*t! Even if I die, I will not betray the Pope! AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Lucia continues to whip him with mes. Even if I am just watching and not experiencing it, I can feel the pain every time itnds on his skin. It''s already painful to feel get scalded when cooking and burned at times and yet, this old man withstood the pain like a champ. I don''t know whether I would feel a little bit guilty or not from this. "Our patience is running thin, old man. Just give it up. The pope you keep preaching to save you will not save you at all. Your powers will not save you in this situation. Give it up." "...Fine... Fine! I will talk! So stop that whip!" He was about to open his mouth when the scepter that was previously the item he used for releasing the power of the darkness started to shake and release a ck smoke that immediately went to the old man''s mouth and forcefully intrude his body as it eventually passes through his nose, ears, and eyes as well. "Lucia! Try burning that!" Lucia immediately waved her mes to the smoke but it didn''t do anything and just continued to pour through the bishop who was screaming. As was quicker in thinking and immediately stomped his foot on the scepter''s end and smash the thing to pieces, stopping the ck smoke from appearing. "How was the Bishop?" I asked Lucia who was watching the situation unfold but she only hooked her head and reveals the Bishop''s body, or should I say former body as the remains of it has turned into a ck goop, only leaving his clothes and his skeleton on its wake with the ck goop spreading on the ground. "Just what was that?" As is confused. "I knew it. This is the work of a lost ck magic art during the Primordial times. Master, the boss is likely a practitioner of demonic practices and are already signed up with contract to an evil entity." Chapter 673 Grudge Match (I) While deheart is dealing with the Bishop inside therge me arena, the others continue their fight. in led everyone with the support of the yers to deal with the revived soldiers to finish off and stop them from resurrecting. "Destroy their heads! If they don''t have their heads destroyed, they will keeping back to life!" inmands as he slices 3 of the undead angels in one swing. "Boss! These guys are too many!" one of the soldiers is getting overwhelmed. Then, a bubble enveloped the undead, slowing their movements and relieving the pressure on the soldier. "Thanks!" the soldier looked at the person who helped, Kn providing support by giving debuffs to the enemies and inflicting them with slow movements so that the others could attack the enemies with an easier time. Tsuru who was bashing all the enemies he can find realized something. "Guys, this is strange. Why is it that even though we are already fighting for too long and yet the enemies don''t seem to reduce in numbers? They should have thinned out now as they are not as difficult to kill as before!" Sigma who was watching the situation unfold realized it too. She just didn''t observe the enemies much as she was focused on killing the enemies and healing the allies but she was indeed sure that something is amiss. Then, while fighting against the enemies, everyone heard a familiarugh not too far from them. When the person whoughed started walking towards them, the angels who are attacking previously started lining up like making a way to the person who wasing. "There it is!" Harmless Sparrow''s eyes found an opportunity and unleashed her signature move, [Phoenix Drive]. "Everyone move out of my way! [PHOENIX DRIVE]!" FWOOOOM! The giant bird made of mes flew to the streets where the undead angels are standing. Because they lined up perfectly, the ming attack of Harmless Sparrow passes through the angels, burning them all to ashes, leaving only their burning bodies that soon turn to ashes that would still burn for a bit of time before it disappears. It continued until the very end when something caused the [Phoenix Drive] to get blocked and disappear as a result. Harmless Sparrow frowned seeing it disappear. After all, it doesn''t get blocked by enemies most of the time and only a few enemies are capable of deflecting or nullifying that. Even obstacles like walls and big rocks explode in contact with it but what happened just now was something else. Then, theughter from earlier once again started to echo around the area but this time, the source of theughter is now possible to track and everyone already has an idea where the person wasughing from. ? "Show yourself!" Sigma then throws a golden javelin in the direction where the [Phoenix Drive] disappear to catch the person off guard and appear before them but... POOOF! The golden javelin turned into a puff of smoke and disappear, just like the mes earlier. Sigma is not shocked but she heightened her guard to the highest as the enemy before they are not even showing themselves. "Who would have thought we would meet again like this, my dear friend, in." the voice has be clearer now and everyone who heard the owner of the voice immediately knew who this was. Those who don''t know him or do not recognize the person are still confused. "I don''t recall you giving the permission to call me friend, you bastard winged f*cker." "Whoa there, calm down, son. I know you have a deep hatred for me but please be careful with your words. God is watching you." "You piece of sh*t...You think bing allied with the church fancies you as a religious bastard. Besides, that god you are worshipping is someone who shouldn''t be worshipped with. How low have you gone already?" The mysterious person speaking removed the invisibility power that hides him and showed up to everyone, revealing it was actually the Tactician himself. "Hahaha, not that low. I have my pride as well so I am not that bad of an angel. You might say, I just decided to ride a wagon full of opportunities and reap the fruits of mybor instead. If I were you, I would have done the same as well." "YOU KILLED MY DAUGHTER!" "Oh my, I thought you had already forgotten about that but you still haven''t let that go? Shouldn''t you be ashamed that you keep clinging to your dead daughter and still couldn''t forget about the incident?" "Enough. Just hearing you talk makes me angrier than I should be. Even if you are an important person of the Luminous Continent, I will be the devil''s advocate and do the deed to eliminate you instead." in didn''t hesitate, pulled out his sword and rushed towards the Tactician, and swung his sword down in a sh. PANG! The tactician grinned as he blocks his sword of in using his gauntlet. "You are getting rusty, my friend." in pushes the Tactician away and disappears before reappearing behind him. But still, the guy managed to block him easily. "Too slow!" Sigma was about to fire a golden chain at the Tactitician in a fight but in stopped her. "Stop what you are doing! I am doing this alone and I will do it without anyone''s help." The tactician startedughing. "That''s so generous of you to be fair on me! Unfortunately, I am not the same as you." With the tap of his shoes, a few shadow-like figures appeared out of nowhere and suddenly surrounded in. "F*CKING HELL..." in is not surprised but he cursed after he saw it, which means he knew he uses that skill before. But in is resolute. This is a revenge thatsted for how many years already and this opportunity is hard toe by. For revenge, it was the only way and he will not stop until the very end. "I will kill you, you bastard! [GRUDGE MATCH]!" The Tactician who was ready to humiliate in stopped moving and his face pained after a few seconds. "W-what the f*ck is going on?!" "Nothing, I will just drag you to hell." After that, arge portal opened beside them and in grabbed the stiff Tactician by the cor before throwing him inside the portal and jumping in himself, and disappearing, leaving everyone else wondering what happened. As for what that portal was, it was the power unique to in after he awakened when his daughter died. A power that is meant to be used for something else, a power that was meant to be used to iste something or someone from danger. This time around, in is going to face one himself. The Tactician stood up after he has fallen from the other dimension and looked around, only to realize that it was a giant arena with high walls and no doors. A skill that allows the user to create an alternate space where he will use a little bit of catalyst and create a separate ce that he can use for the future. "Now, boy. Time to have our own Grudge Match begin!" Chapter 674 Grudge Match (II) The tactician frowned after getting back up on his feet. It was so sudden for him that he didn''t get to use his ability to prevent himself from being thrown into this realm which he is not familiar with. Still, now that he is inside and cannot get out, he turned around and ready himself to go on a fight against his previous Best Friend, in. in had a grim look on his face already. The bloodlust he is revealing is already hard to ignore and yet he is now forced to deal with him now. "You should at least learn how to forgive and forget, in. It''s been so long and you still feel like you need to take revenge for all of that? You even dragged yourself into the mud and buried your amazing talent in creating golems just for a petty reason!" the tactician tries to appease in but in no longer cares what happens next. The only thing that is on his mind is dealing the final blow and defeating the Tactician in mortalbat, dealing a fatal strike and hoping to kill him in the process as well. "There is only one purpose of my existence and as of why I am still alive until this day! You have lived for far too long, and imed hundreds of lives just so you can fuel your power and ego. Now, I will cut them down." in disappeared from where he stands and reappeared behind the Tactician and swings his sword, intending to cut down thetter''s head, only for him to block it with his gauntlet. "As I said earlier, you are already rusty, in. You won''t hope to defeat me with that level of skill by yourself. You won''t be able to even properly do some kind of damage to me with that." Deflecting his sword, the Tactician sends in flying but thetter easily managed to regain his footing and dashes towards the Tactician who has yet to regain his proper footing after deflecting him causing him to block the attack by crossing his gauntlets in front of his face and protect himself from in''s sword. KLANG! The sword and the Gauntlet sh. One blunt and one sharp. Both can be used to kill and both can be used to defend themselves. But, who will win between them? The Tactician at first was confident in reading the attack patterns of in. But he soon realized that his attack patterns are slowly getting irregr more and more as the battle progressed. Not only that but the movement of in is also getting faster than his regr speed causing the Tactician to remain in a defensive stance to keep himself safe from the attacks of the raged in. PENG PENG PENG All of the advantage the tactician has built up earlier slowly are getting flipped into the other side and this time around, in is now ramping up thebo of his attacks that the gauntlet of the Tactician is getting damaged that will only take a few more hits before it gets fully destroyed. "F*CK, I can''t keep on holding back!" Forced by in, the Tactician decided to get serious and match up the speed of in. Increasing his speed allows him to also increase his chances of leaving an attack against him. "UGH!" in didn''t get to defend when the Tactician disappeared from his sight and delivered a clean uppercut, causing in to stagger and his built up momentum disappear. The Tactician didn''t waste the opportunity and repeatedly punched in in the face, abdomen, on his sides and his chin, increasing the pain of multiple attacks and causing in to get dizzy. BAM! One strong punch and in flew to the very end of the arena and crashed on the wall, creating a crater that immediately repaired itself, leaving in to fall down to the ground and groaning in pain. "Heh, and here I though you would be showing me something good. I didn''t expect that you don''t have much to show and ended up a big disappointment," the Tactician slowly walked towards the area where in fell from the wall m earlier while mocking in again and again. "See in? You should know that you won''t be able to keep fighting if you will just keep fueling yourself from the grudge. In fact, let it go yourself. Perhaps epting the grace of the Pope himself will allow you to get stronger and if the Pope managed to gather enough power himself, he might also agree to revive your dead daughter as well." When in heard this, the rage that cooled down for a bit rages on once more. The anger that he is holding deep inside cannot be contained anymore. He slowly stood up, mana leaking out of his body. The noises in his surroundings are no longer something he can hear as it was reced by the rapid beating of his heart. There is no need to hold back. There is no need to go easy against the enemy. There is no need to spare his life. There is no need to be merciful against him. Andstly... There is no need to let him continue living. FWOOOOM! mes covered his whole body. The anger that has been building up since the death of his daughter has finally been leaked out. Now that it has gone out, it is time to end everything,. The tactician who continue on mocking his former best friend stopped talking when he felt an odd feeling. A pressure that he have felt before. One that the mighty tactician is afraid of. Yes...the pressure that he is only afraid of ising from the Pope. However, this time around, that aura is noting from the almighty pope that he idolize and worships. But from a man, raging in anger and madness. One who is willing to burn away his life in favor of destroying the enemy before him. "in... calm down man!" SWISH! The tactician immediately defended himself and a thud of metal bouces back, meaning the de didn''t prate. The tactician was relieved at first since he managed to defend himself but soon, he realized something. His metal gauntlet, the gauntlet imbued with dark powersing from the pope. A weapon capable of killing strong enemies in a few pummeling sessions, has now reduced itself to ashes as the mes that burns on in''s body is no longer made of mana. This is pure power that fuels itself using the remaining lifespan of in himself. "TODAY! I WILL PERSONALLY DRAG YOU TO HELL!" Soon. The screams can be heard all around the arena as the ming figure grabbed the screaming man into a tight embrace. An embrace that is not meant to be affectionate but an embrace that helds the target into the eternal burning mes. Chapter 675 Storming The Church With the bishop dead, the me arena of Lucia slowly opened up, allowing everyone, including myself who are inside the hellish ce she created. Even though we are immune to the fire she created due to her restrictions on it, it doesn''t mean we are immune to the heat of the mes. I doused everyone with some cool water from my magic to freshen up. Even Lucia wanted to get some wash as well. "Ugh...if not for the situation, I wouldn''t even use that spell regrly. The heat is just too much even for me." "You also felt the mes are hot, Lucia-sama? I thought you don''t feel it much since you control it," As asked, surprised that Lucia also felt the same. "Hey, even though I am the one who cast the spell doesn''t mean I am immune to the heat of the mes. It''s the only aspect of my ability that I cannot alter for us which is why I am not gonna bother using it if it doesn''t give me much usefulness anyway. It''s only good for battles that have enemies constantly trying to escape." When we returned, I saw everyone seemed to be a little bit stunned by what is happening. The undead angels that were revived before are nowhere to be seen, which means they have permanently died and are no longer a problem. Harmless Sparrow was the first to spot me as she was resting at the side of the road while the others are assessing the damages that happened while I was busy fighting the Bishop. "Oh, finally. You are back. So what happened? Did you defeat that old man?" "He is dead. He couldn''t handle the power he is using and paid the ultimate price. What happened when I was inside the me dome?" "Nothing much except that we fought the undead for quite a while. The battle ended shortly after the Tactician appeared. in fought with him and they were dragged somewhere else since a portal opened up in throw the Tactician inside before he jumped in himself. He has yet toe out as of now so we don''t have any updates regarding in." "What about the others?" "Everyone is fine. They have wounds and some stuff on their bodies but thankfully, nothing fatal. Sigma healed most of them so there is no problem at all. And thanks to the help of Kan and the others, the battle was smoother than expected. Our only option left to go is to storm inside the church and confront the pope. After all, nobody returned and faced us anymore which is great. We can choose to wait for in to return or we storm inside the church before a backup arrives? It''s your call since in is not here, you will be the one who will automatically be the de facto leader until in returns." "Then gather up everyone. With only Sigma healing them, it will take some time to do so. We will be heading straight to the Church as soon as possible. The more we wait, the more the Pope umtes his power. We can''t afford him to rack up more power than he already has." Harmless Sparrow nodded and immediately calls everyone to gather up in front of me. I pull out one of the Healing Scrolls I have. I have had this sitting for quite a while since I didn''t get to use them during the battle that urred in the Frozen Region and the supposed raid of Aquagius Continent didn''t happen so in the end, it was left behind without any actual purpose but now, I will be able to use it as this is more beneficial to a group of people in one healing cast. I let everyone gather around. Even Sigma and the others as well even though they didn''t have any injuries or it was already healed up. It''s because it''s not just a skill that heals, it''s also a skill that buffs yers that receive the heal. ----------------------- [Holy Salvation](Scroll Ver.) Type: Scroll Info: Heals all the injuries, removes debuffs and special conditions and regains the mana lost to the fullest. Everyone who received the healing will receive the following buffs as well: -Sharpness IV -Indomitable IV -Athlete IV -Mana Surge IV -Fountain of Life IV -Blessings of the Light -Pration IV Just like the skill, this scroll can only be used once a day. ----------------------------- This is a skill of the Cleric''s Branch ss, Savior, the ss that gets rid of the fighting capability of the Cleric and focuses more on healing and buffing the team. A very vital ss especially in raids and dungeon raids due to the healing power the ss can dish out. Not only that but the buff they cast is quite strong too and self-buffing and consuming items that buffs them are no longer necessary with the Savior ss alone. I obviously wanted this skill as well but when I checked it after advancing my ss, the SP it needed is 10,000 Cleric Points. It''s pretty expensive and for a yer like me who only heals a few yers and myself for a short while and is not so focused on it, getting more SP is going to be a grind as well so it would take me some time if I want to get it but the other healing spells from other branches are much more necessary and much more inexpensive so I didn''t bother farming the amount of SP needed to unlock it when I can just go ahead and craft it with my scroll. With everyone already there, ready to receive the skill, I rolled out the scroll before tearing it into two, casting the skill to everyone. "What the...our mana has been refilled?" the soldiers were stunned, after all, there is no skill that can heal mana like this without a fair exchange like exchanging their health for mana. "There are also some buffs as well. Holy sh*t... this is something else! Howe deheart is using that scroll at us? Isn''t that pretty valuable? Why waste it just like that?" Vi was confused as she has indeed known the value of scrolls and seeing the power of the scroll that I used, she was stunned why I used it instead of selling it. "Just for your information, deheart is the one making those scrolls so for him, so picking out one scroll and using it means nothing to him. He can craft it as much as he wants if he wanted to. So this is understandable that he wouldn''t have any problem wasting a scroll just like that," Harmless Sparrow whispered to Vi but loud enough for the others to hear it. Although I didn''t tell her to advertise my scroll like that, I didn''t expect her to do that on her own ord which is going to be beneficial for me as that would mean I can expect customers to buy my scrolls just fine without the need of using money to advertise myself. I can already see Vi as my first customer and the others seem to be interested as well. Now that everyone is fully healed, buffed, and had their mana refilled, it''s time to tackle the Pope. And to be honest, I am a little bit nervous. Even in the past timeline, I don''t have any idea who this pope is and how strong he was since the showdown between the rebels and the pope didn''t happen. But look at the situation now. We are on the winning side, our side is still going strong. We have already defeated the bishop and yet we are still good to go. I have yet to even call the dragon for help since it was unnecessary to ask for help if we can just handle it and our strategy is also the most peaceful one as well. "Alright. Now that everyone is good and eager to go, we shall nowmence the battle to face the pope. We will not be able to back down from this and the conclusion will be happening next as well. We just needed to win to avoid this quest from dragging on for too long. The battle ahead will be dangerous and arduous but we will survive. The pope is not something we need to just defeat but also to remove his power in this continent! So, let''s go and take down the pope and take the rewards!" "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone made the war cry and with my lead, we stormed inside the church. The door was locked so we forced it open by kicking it with our feet. It took a few tries with me and the others kicking it before the door was opened and what waited for us there was something that even the yers who regrly visit the church from before recognized. "What the... why is it so gross?" Harmless Sparrow frowned and covers her mouth to avoid barfing. I frowned at the situation. As the church interior no longer looked like that of a normal church but a ce where evil breeds, simr to the one that the cult made before the quest to choose between the rebels and the non-rebels. Chapter 676 The Church Yes, the power that the cult used to create their monsters are also here and it seems it has evolved to its newer form. Before, it was just a mass of flesh that infects any living being in its vicinity and turned them into monsters the moment the mass of flesh matured before creating air that would turn a normal ce into filthy and disgusting flesh filled with piles of rotten flesh. I thought it was only exclusive during the first part of the quest but I never thought that that thing still exists and this time around, the church is the one that has been turned into a ce where the corruption, filth, and blight gathered all over and culminate into this area. Now, due to their existence, this ce has turned into a ce that I have witnessed back in the past timeline in which the piles of flesh I destroyed during the first part of the quest have matured and are able to be nurtured for quite a while. The interior no longer looks like it came from the church. The ce where the holy rituals and ceremonies were held is now corrupted and cannot be easily cleansed and blessed. But instead of negative thinking about the horrible situation we are in, I immediately think about the pros of this. Due to the corruption of the church, the revival of the yers who have died is now forfeit. Revival of yers does not ur in hostile zones and the interior of the church isbeled as Hostile which made this ce no longer part of the safety the town offers but a dangerous ce where PK can ur. And that also means that we are now gonna be fighting monsters soon. "Ugh... this ce is gross. I have visited this ce before we joined the rebels but hell, it changed so much. I don''t even understand why the enemies like to make theirirs so filthy..." Tsuru covered his nose. After all, the smell is quite bad but since I am used to the smell, I didn''t even notice it at all until I saw Tsuru covering his nose. "From the looks of the ce, it seems the space inside the church has been altered. Instead of a normal size interior, it seems like it turned into a maze-like ce that I don''t think it can be called a church now but a dungeon spawning in the city," Sigma analyzed. "Then we have to traverse the church''s new area to confront the pope? Is this even gonna make us enter with everyone like this? We have more than the number of yers needed to go to a dungeon!" Popo frowned as he look at everyone who don''t know the answer. "No worries. If they have restricted us, we would have been promoted so. Anyways, let''s go inside." As we step in, the soldiers who were apanying us suddenly bounced back, and aside from Lucia and As, the rest were unable to enter. "What is going on? Restrictions?!" Sigma tried to get out in case we are trapped and she sighed in relief that she can go in and out without trouble but she is not able to understand why the NPCs were stuck outside. "It seems the owner of this ce ced a restriction that causes the NPCs to be banned from the entry which is why we are the only ones who can enter." "Then why does these two NPCs with you able to get in?" Vi asked, pointing to Lucia and As. "Ah, they are special cases. Because they signed an oath to be mypanion, they are treated as yers as well and unless I get kicked out from this ce, then the two will not be able to enter themselves either." I went outside the dungeons to talk with the soldiers who are still confused as to why they can''t get in. "Attention men. Due to the restrictions that the enemy has ced on this ce, only we can proceed further into the ce. As much as we want you to aid us, we can''t disobey what the rules have been written here, so I will give you all a task instead. Protect the entrance from any enemies. You also need to watch out for when in will return as well. We don''t know how many enemies will be there left so we will ask you all to defend this ce and deal with them as we will deal with this ce by ourselves as well. Can you all do it?" Everyone turned to look at each other, seemingly not gonna be able to obey my orders when all of a sudden, one of the soldiers smiled and proudly saluted. "We already followed you this far and even though it''s unfortunate, we will still do our best for this battle. You all will be fighting the ultimate enemy of the rebels so make sure to keep the soul of rebellion to all of you. We will not be defeated and we will wait for the good news, everyone. We will defend it as our life depends on it!" I nodded and I also made a salute to them as well before entering the church''s entrance. Our final battle is almost here. The dread is now making the whole church new and different for us. "Looks like everyone is ready to dive and traverse this hopeless ce, is everyone ready?" Sigma turned to look at every one. Everyone nodded. The air is serious and everyone is not gonna back down on this. We are almost at the end. Seeing that everyone is on board, Sigma illuminates the ce around us with her magic, to guide our party to the dreadful ce. As soon as we entered the darkness spread and the light that was being illuminated by Sigma is the only light we can see as we entered the strangebyrinth of flesh and blight. It''s time for the final run. Chapter 677 The Dark, Fleshy Labyrinth The church of the City of the Clouds is the biggest church you can find in the Luminous Continent. Comparing all the churches present in the continent, this city has the biggest one and you can say that this is as big as the most well-known historical churches in the world. That''s how big it is and it''s not just a big ce for a mass to take. After the events of the expedition in the past life where the Anti-Rebellion won, the church flourished, its teachings spread out, and the pope gained the title of "Saint" and is one of the figures that governs the people of the continent. You can say that he is the so-called "President" of the Luminous Continent and due to that, his presence and name spread out to every part of the world. Now, back to the church. Because it was a big church, this ce became a ce for both revival, curse cleansing, and Holy Items stored all packed in one ce making it the main priority to teleport in the Luminous Continent as this is the only ce that you don''t need to walk a few more stores just to have the cleansing process done and buying holy items. You can even heal here passively, making it a hub for yers who don''t have any money to buy a potion or just waiting for yers who have died and waiting for their respawn timers to end. It was one of the ces considered to be the holiest ces avable in the game but to think that the church would change its interior into abyrinth made of flesh, then this was a different story. Due to the actions, we made so far, all of the oues in the past have changed and the church has changed drastically, making it into a new dungeon instance. Everyone covered their noses due to the stench and as we progress further, the stench is so unbearable for everyone they can''t fight properly with their noses covered due to the bad smell. Unfortunately, I don''t have anything that can stop the smellpletely so there is nothing I can do about it but just let them endure it. We continue to traverse the bigbyrinth. Seeing as we are already walking for 30 minutes already and the ce has yet to reach the ending point or even a dead-end wall means that the interior has been distorted and I should no longer rely on the normal map of the church and instead make a new one. "It''s pretty odd that this was a dungeon instance but there are no enemies at all. Despite the creepy atmosphere and the gross walls, nothing else seems to scream like a threat to me," Popo who is the most sensitive against enemies due to his ss passive shook his head as he still didn''t detect any hostile inbound. "It is indeed very odd. Shouldn''t the developer of this game fix some of the main reasoning behind some of the decisions? Sometimes, I even wonder if they made it like this with something else on the mind or they just didn''t think it through..." Tatsumaki grumbled. Everyone has a say on why there are no enemies and although they seemed to be happy we don''t need to face too many enemies, I am a bit nervous seeing a dungeon instance without any boss is akin to a stroke of bad luck. There is a big sign that it''s going to be a difficult dungeon or an easy one especially on dungeons that ur so suddenly or what many would call the "Dungeon Instance". If a dungeon is full of enemies and you can see them every turn, then that only means the dungeon is an easy and pushover one. It''s not even a big challenge as well. Then therees an instance with a normal amount of enemies and that will fall to the middle difficulty. Not easy but not hard either. Then this is now the dungeon that has no enemies which in our case, is currently the churchbyrinth. Seeing no enemies is a big sign that the boss at the very end will be something so strong it will not be an easy fight. I''m fully prepared for what is going toe but that doesn''t mean we are going to win easily. After all, things are not always gonna go to what is nned. "Hey, deheart... you okay man?" Tsuru tapped my shoulder and I realized that I was in a daze for a while, just thinking about things. "Oh sorry, what did you say?" "I said that it''s time to go. I thought yougged there for a bit so I have to shake you." "Eh, no worries, I just thought of something to make our progress much faster." "Much faster?" "What I mean is that we don''t need to meet dead ends and immediately head straight to where we could go at the moment." "Oh,e on. Tell everyone what you are thinking for a bit." I gathered everyone and proposed a new n for them so that we don''t need to waste so much time. Since there are no enemies, shouldn''t we just rush through the enemies immediately? "So what is this n of yours?" Vi asked. "First, I need to ask a question to Popo first." Popo is confused as to why his name gets dragged into. "Huh? Me? What about me?" "Do you have the skill [Transform: Bat] skill?" "[Transform: Bat]? Unfortunately, no. I prioritized my passive and some skills that will aid me inbat. Since this skill does not aid me in battle, it''s not part of my skill repertoire." Hearing that, I opened up my skill tree and checked the Druid skill tree. Because [Transform: Bat] is a tier 1 skill, it only cost me 5 SP. There is also the [Echolocation] skill as well. so I didn''t stop there and purchased it as well for 10 SP for another tier 1 skill then I also add up one more which is a passive skill [Echo Reading]. Once the skills were now obtained, I immediately transformed into a bat by using the [Transform: Bat] skill. I fly high up into the air. The surroundings are dark but thanks to [Echo Reading], all of the sounds I can hear are very detailed to me and I felt like I am bat for once. Seeing that the passive works as intended, I checked around to see whether I can just spot the exit or the boss room but surprisingly, it was pretty dark. So this is where the skill [Echolocation] works. This skill deals with confusion debuff to enemies who can hear it but because it was so niche and the confusion debuff is not that good, it''s not well used so I understand why Popo didn''t buy the skill. However, ording to one of the yers I yed with in the past who teamed up with me during the time we explored a maze dungeon, we made it out thanks to his big-brain way of using the skills together. I activated [Echolocation], releasing vibrations that only I can hear. Everyone else cannot hear anything from the skill, making it pretty subtle and unnoticeable unless you are the caster of the skill. As echoes started to bounce back to me, the reading became so clear, I immediately managed to reveal in my own mind the half-map of the dungeon in one go. Returning to my human form, I started running to the left fork of the dungeon. "Follow me!" Everyone didn''t know what happened but I didn''t have time to exin much and just bolted into running while the map is already printed in my mind. We didn''t pass or get blocked by any walls and we continue moving forward which made it easier for everyone who is tired of exploring to reach the destination as soon as possible. Soon enough, we stopped at one point and we arrived at the center of the dungeon instancepared to thest area, this ce is a big center of the ce, and the giant chandelier of the church and the big Fountain of Life that is currently ced at the front entrance of the church has been moved in here. "The Fountain of Life?!" everyone was confused as to why the fountain is there. "So this ce has been so modified to the borate way which means we might see other parts of the church scattered about due to this?" Harmless Sparrow asked. "It''s modified but not so much. I also realize that this might a bait as well for any yers here. After all, the Fountain of Life can heal yers once they drink the water flowing from it. Since this is the only out-of-ce item, I can easily guess this the boss fight is alsoing as well," Sigma exined. "She is right. And I have to point out that we are going to the bottom of this ce now," as I pointed into the staircase that is leading everyone downstairs. Chapter 678 Power Of The Dark Gods (I) Just like the walls all around us, the stairs that lead downstairs are disgusting and look like a maw of a monster opening and disguising itself as a staircase. I already scanned it earlier and it indeed leads downstairs, it just looks like it was a monster maw and nothing else. Purely just for aesthetics. We descend downstairs and the bad smell that everyone can smell is just getting worse. Even I who already got immune to the smell find it repugnant and disgusting. A few of the guys started to puke as well and Harmless Sparrow and Vi are also stopping their mouths from barfing as well. It is just that bad. "Master, how about you call Cotton? The other day when you still didn''t call us, Cotton learned something new and it involves dealing with the smell. It might work, you know?" Lucia informed me. "Smell? She learned it by herself?" "Nah, Tina was taking care of her when she suddenly learned it. It was the most fragrant smell I smelled in so long. It cannot even bepared to the expensive perfumes that I know!" Lucia added. I don''t know about this but I trust her enough so I summoned Cotton out. Shended on Lucia''s head and I can see that she has grown slightly much bigger than thest time I saw her. I didn''t know she have grown so big already. "Cotton, can you do the perfume thingy just like before?" Cotton squealed a little bit before releasing white smoke from her body. It was like some kind of spore but because Cotton is clearly not a mushroom or a nt, it''s more likely to be some kind of smoke or just an ability that resembles one. At first, I didn''t notice anything strange. But then, I suddenly smell the air a little differently. Compared to the rotten and disgusting smell that has been emanating since the moment we came down here when Cotton released the smoke-like thing, the smell that has been guing our noses has slowly disappeared and was reced by a sweet-smelling scent that is not pungent and bad for the nose, instead, it smells much better in the nose and it made us calmer too, "Woah! The rotten smell disappeared! That''s actually good!" Tsuru recovered from barfing and can stand back again without the need to suffer from the bad smell. Everyone else also recovered allowing everyone to finally feel at ease. Curious about what her new skill Cotton was, I opened her stats panel and checked her skills. Aside from her old skills, one new skill was indeed added to her arsenal. ------------------------------------- [Aromatheraphy] Tier 3 SP cost: 5 MP Info: The user releases a sweet-smelling smell that overrides all the existing scents even the most disgusting scents avable in the world and reces it with the new scent. When smelled by friendly units, they will receive the following benefits: -Increased Debuff Resistance -Increased Buff Duration -Decreased Cooldown on skills -Portable Air Freshener The skill will forever be active unless the user stops it or the user is incapacitated. ---------------------------------- For a skill that only gives the smell, it was actually pretty good, especially the cooldown reduction effect. Those effects are pretty good already and to think ites free from a skill that is basically a portable Air Freshener is something else. I look at everyone and the feeling that they are about to puke is no longer there and they are now back to tip-top shape after the [Aromatheraphy] has been activated. "Looks like everyone is now back to normal. Shall we head on and fight the Pope now?" "Yeah. Let''s go. We can''t waste our time barfing here now that the smell is much better now." I nodded and activated the [Transform: Bat] once more to fly up above and use [Echolocation] to see theyout of thebyrinth. As the echoes returned to me and I get the proper reading, I returned to my human form and pulled out my Versatile Weapon ready. "Ready your weapons, looks like enemies are now spawning all around the ce this time around." "Oh, so we have enemies now? Now we are talking!" Harmless Sparrow grinned. "Hey, hey. I know you are excited to fight against enemies but these enemies were tentacle monsters. Knowing you, I doubt you will like seeing those things crawling all around." I added to make sure that she knows what we are gonna face. "Ugh... tentacles. Why are these f*ckers always appear whenever something grisly and grimy appears? I was hoping for more monsters other than the tentacles but what can I do? Oh well, let''s get into it then." We proceed to the dungeonbyrinth and they followed me along the way. I wanted to defeat the boss as soon as possible so I used the map in my mind to my advantage and used shortcuts to get into the next area as soon as possible. I also took advantage of this so that we don''t meet as many tentacle monsters as intended. We faced a few but only a few instead of a lot of them. And everyone was fine with not grinding as they don''t want to keep staying in the dungeon for far too long. Thankfully, our long and arduous journey to get there has finally gone through and we arrived at the boss''s room. Just being outside of the door felt very bad and the dark powers are clearly stronger here than beforepared to when we are still just exploring the whole ce. The energy of the darkness flowing all around the ce is also just flowing from this ce as well. "This is it. Are all stockpiles for the boss fight all in ce?" I asked everyone before we plunge in. It would fatally be bad for us if we entered unprepared. "No problems here." Leoran confidently showed his inventory stockpile. The others followed suit as well and they indeed are good enough." "Good. I will be opening the door, As, help me out. You push the other side, I push the other." As nodded and he waited for mymand so we can open the giant door synchronized. THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD The sound of the door opening sounded like falling rocks falling around us but it was just the door opening. Inside is arge hall filled with impurities and the walls are full of screaming faces. Souls of the dead flies all around us and the others are sometimes spooked out as some just appear out of nowhere and moan with a deathly tone to their ears, terrifying or mocking them from it. We continue to walk to the very end and before us is a throne made from gold tainted with ck things." "Hehe, wee to my domain adventurers. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. I am the Pope that you all are seeking." I ready my weapon, everyone else did the same too. "Hoho, battlemongers, aren''t we? Very well. If you all are so much ready to fight then I will all grant your wish. But don''t expect to crawl back out of here alive." He snaps his fingers and multiple shadow-like figures appeared before us. The worst is that they are our doppelgangers." "Now, go ahead and let me see whether you all are worthy for me to face. After all, I am busy here, so we have to make this worthwhile." The doppelgangers attacked us and this divided us into groups, causing us to fight our own selves. "Give me your body!" "Piss off!" I kicked the doppelganger and he fell to the ground but he immediately recovered and started fighting me using my own weapon which is also copied too. Then it started attacking. Based on his own movements, it''s directly a copy of mine. PENG PENG PENG PENG! Our swords shed and I must admit, it was equal in terms of swordy, more enhanced in fact which means the Pope directly copied us to make the enemies harder as they are just enemies who are yourself. Since defeating your own self in a fight is gonna be hard, he thinks that it will pose a big threat to me. Instead of using the Versatile Weapon in a fight, I pulled out the Pain Delivery and pulled the trigger before the doppelganger of mine can even react. It was so sudden that the doppelganger was shocked before he heard the gunshot. "That... that shouldn''t have been an option... so unfair..." it muttered before it died and disappeared. I grinned seeing that the doppelganger of mine was so shocked when I pulled out a gun which means the Pope didn''t bother to copy all of the equipment present in our body and just decided to copy us by our form alone. The pope stood up from his throne and angrily pointed at me. "CHEATER!" I pointed the gun in return for his usations. "Just your loss for not copying everything of me. Your creation was useless. Just go and die, please." Chapter 679 Power Of The Dark Gods (II) The Pope grinned seeing me easily ovee my own doppelganger and rush straight to him with the Versatile Weapon ready to strike. "Now, now. There is no need to rush. You will have your own time to face me but for now, sit on the sidelines for now." BANG! I suddenly collided with an invisible wall that blocks my path toward the Pope. But unlike the collision I had with many invisible walls in the past timeline where I would just stop there and fall down to the ground, the wall seems to have absorbed the impact, then rebounded all of it back to me. I was sent flying by the rebound of the invisible wall but luckily, it was not as strong as most rebounds I have experienced and I easily managed to regain my bnce. I used my wings to easily maneuver myself and recover my fighting stance in case something happens... and I was right because behind me on where I was supposed tond is my doppelganger who managed to recover its body already ready to stab me with his sword. Now that I recovered my stance, I shoot down the Doppelganger once more with my gun though I already know that the Pope already modified it to handle gun attacks and easily evade or defend from it so when it dodged, I followed it up by throwing an item I made, shbang. I barely use it as I have no usage for it at the moment and today would be the day I used one. The shbang explodes in blinding lights causing the Doppelganger to flinch which allowed me to gain a chance and quickly reach the back of the doppelganger and stab it on its heart and rip away the little tether from the Pope that connects to the Doppelganger that channels up the life of the guy and keeping it alive and continue to get revived until the tether gets damaged. How do I know this? Because a simr boss does the same in the past timeline known as the [Great Puppeter]. Cutting it made the Pope flinch as one of the controls he had on the doppelgangers was disconnected and it gave him a slight pain though I am sure that it was too minor for it to be fatal. But now that the tether is cut off, the Pope can''t make another doppelganger. Instead of attacking the Pope immediately, I headed to the other areas instead. As I traverse the hall that the Pope made for us to be divided, I found a few invisible walls, creating several maze-like paths which means the Pope is really hoping for us to not meet up with each other but that doesn''t mean I can''t get them out of there. As I went to look for them, the Pope tried to stall me by creating tentacle traps that spring up whenever I pass through them. It was easy to avoid and spot them but they were annoying to avoid as they sometimes sprout not on the floor but sometimes on the walls or in blindspots that I can''t see immediately. I want to defeat the Pope as soon as possible and I can possibly solo him easily but I don''t want to cut the awards of the others from defeating the pope because they are stuck fighting against their own Doppelganger and with the invisible walls currently up to stop me from getting closer to the Pope, it also means I just needed to seek out everyone and help them out of their predicament. Before I get to the next turn, Sigma also appeared, crossing my way with her. Behind her are As, Cotton, and Lucia who also got separated from me after the Pope did his stunt "Thank goodness I found you deheart. Have you seen the other yers?" "Nope, I am looking for them at the moment. By the way, did you defeat your Doppelganger?" "Yeah. Since it can''t handle the Holy Energy, it was easily defeated. As and Lucia here spotted the tether that supplies my doppelganger''s lifespan and easily destroyed them allowing me to get myself out of the predicament. And since the way to the boss was blocked off, I decided to go off with these two and find the others as well." "Hehe, it''s not that hard to spot as it sticks out like a sore thumb," Lucia grinned. "The problem is now the others. I don''t know whether they are fine or not after we got separated. I was fine since Cotton here is with us so I didn''t smell anything but what about the others who started barfing earlier? Will they be stuck barfing instead of fighting their copies?" I shook my head this time around. Compared to the smell before we arrived here, there was no rotten smell here. Just the damp smell of mold. It only got fragrant when I reunited with Cotton and the others. Unlike the disgusting rotten smell before, the smell right now in this area is not bad enough to cause them to puke as the scent is just simr to the usual scent you can smell inside dungeons. "Thankfully, it''s not a foul smell. It''s just the usual damp and moist smell you mainly smell when entering catbs and caves." "Well, that''s good then. We should immediately go before the Pope makes another attack. Until we escape the invisible wall he put, then we will have to keep on finding the others and help them with their own doppelgangers as well," said Sigma who confidently shows that she is not troubled at all by the traps that the Pope hasid out. We shared intel on our way and where we should go next. Since the ways we came from are already surveyed by us and no one was there, we went to the only path that we have yet to explore and continue to that until we spot a tentacle/blob-like monster. Before I can even attack it, As already charged forward and Cotton shot a sticky liquid that stops it from moving, allowing As to tear the monster to shreds in seconds. It didn''t even get to retaliate and perished before it spotted us. As we continue to move, soon we heard the sound of cannon fire not too far. It''s kind of muffled but I can''t mistake that sound for anything and besides, no one else from our group is capable of making that sound aside from me and Tsuru. Sigma and I exchanged nces before we head to the sound of the cannon fire. It took us a while to get in as the invisible barriers appeared and we cannot bypass them by flying as the barrier extends up to the top so we have to walk around the barrier and find a way in or out from it. When we arrived, instead of a Doppelganger, what we saw are multiple of those tentacr monsters alongside some four-limbed crawling cretins that looked like deformedboratory-experimented dogs that lost all of their hair. There are already a lot of corpses of those monsters around but there are still plenty of them around and Tsuru is already exhausted from fighting as he was backed into the corner. Seeing that this is beyond his control now, we stepped in and helped him save his own ass from trouble. Sigma and I focus on those hairless dogs while Lucia and As alongside Cotton focus on the tentacle monsters. Tsuru didn''t expect help to arrive but he sighed in relief seeing us and joined our fight. The monsters are weak so they are not even a big threat to me and Sigma. Although Tsuru did his best to hold them back, he didn''t have the same stamina as us tost long enough to fight enemies back to back to back. He is good at fighting but he does notst that long. "I thought I was a goner back there. It would have been a pain if I have died but thankfully, you all allowed me to destroy them before they overwhelm me." "Howe you are fighting so many of those guys in the first ce?" I asked him since I didn''t even get to find a lot of those monsters on our way to him." "Nah, it''s my doppelganger''s fault I was on that problem. If it didn''t fire its cannon that was copied from me after it died, those monsters wouldn''te here and attacked me and I was exhausted from the fight against the Doppelganger so you have seen how that has ended." "So they are sensitive to sounds. We should take note of that since they are prowling all around. We can use that to our advantageter on," Sigma mentally noted. "Where are the others?" Tsuru asked. "We still haven''t found them. Also, we can''t fight the boss directly because he blocked most of our way to him by putting invisible barriers." "Then, we should find them as soon as possible. I still don''t like it seeing that the Pope is just there in the distance watching me fight. I have to beat the sh*t out of that guy and wipe off the grin on his face!" Chapter 680 Power Of The Dark Gods (III) With Tsuru on our team, we continue looking for everyone else. Just like Tsuru said earlier, the stareing from the Pope is exceptionally troublesome and a bit diforting. Since it continued throughout our exploration, a little part of me feels like going crazy knowing someone is looking at us like that. But thankfully, Cotton''s [Aromatheraphy] allows me to rx and easily forget about the stares he is making at us. But this also made me a bit troubled. Because Tsuru barely held it for long until he met us, he should still be okay by now but it wasn''t the case with the others. We still haven''t found them all and if the stares the pope is making at us induce a feeling that you are about to go crazy, what about the others? I don''t know what is currently happening but I hope it''s not too serious. We continue to traverse the maze of invisible walls and unless we run into an invisible wall, we don''t get to see where we are going as the [Transform: Bat] and [Echolocation] trick I did earlier doesn''t work sh*t as the [Echolocation] does not detect the invisible walls and treat them as not existing. Due to this trick not working, we are back to mapping despite the constant threat that the Pope is giving to us. It was like he is watching us in amusement while we traverse hisbyrinth. Not only that but I can also feel something is wrong. Thankfully, the [Aromatheraphy] of Cotton is working marvelously here, allowing us to not experience what was going on outside the range of the [Aromatheraphy] skill. "Wait, I am hearing something..." Tsuru suddenly ducked and he signed us to follow suit as well. We listened for a bit and soon, we hear the scream of someone. Not the scream for help but a scream filled with anger. It''s totally a raging scream belonging to a girl. For Tsuru, it''s new to his ears, but to Sigma and I, that scream is not new and something we always hear when something doesn''t go right her way. "That''s Sparrow''s voice!" Sigma looked at me and we rushed toward the location of the scream. "Sparrow!" Sigma arrived but she stopped and went into a defensive stance. We also arrive on site and I immediately knew the reason why Sigma goes straight to a defensive stance. "Careful...Sparrow is not in a good state right now." Before us is Harmless Sparrow. She is not fighting anyone right now and there are multiple monsters of the tentacles and those crawling in four limbs monster around her while Harmless Sparrow is screaming as she continues to swing her sword around the ce, attacking the invisible walls and the walls that are made of ck meaty flesh. Her behavior is not the Harmless Sparrow we know but she is still the one currently before us, just not in her right mind. "I see... so this is what happens if you are exposed for too long to the corruption without the protection of Cotton''s [Aromatheraphy]. I now understand why the Pope suddenly made us separated into different areas. So that when we meet with the others... we will be forced to kill each other..." Tsuru analyzed immediately making me frown. There is no debuff rted to yers going crazy... though I think this is rted to the power of the dark gods that the Pope has contracted with to gain power just like how the cult leader tried to use the others to gain more power but was bested by me after the fight due to its iplete state. Perhaps I can heal her? "Let me try something..." I pulled out a Full Restore Ssh Potion, a potion that heals HP, and special conditions like stun, sleep, poison, and many more once thrown. I have no other option choice since it''s gonna be a hard thing to do to use the consumable one to Harmless Sparrow in her current state. The Ssh Version will be the best bet as I can just throw it to her straight and the effects would still be added straight to the one who got sshed by the potion. "Stay back everyone, I will be throwing a potion and see whether we get any effect." I made sure Harmless Sparrow is standing still for a bit before I throw the potion to her. The bottle exploded on Harmless Sparrow''s body, sshing the contents directly into her body. The effects should be good to- Wait, no! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She turned around and angrily snarled at us. "F*ck, instead of healing her, you just made her angrier!" Tsuru backs off. "Master! I can feel severe corruption energy present on Harmless Sparrow''s body, especially on her head! It seems that was the main cause of her getting crazy like this!" Lucia steps forward, ready to fight. Harmless Sparrow swings her sword like a madman and I quickly parried it with my Versatile Weapon. She was stronger for some unknown reason and I had a bit of difficulty deflecting her attack. I managed to do so, but she immediately dash to us again, with the intent to slice us down to pieces. As immediately moved in and blocked her attack using his sword as she continue to scream while releasing her swings left and right like a real madman. "Master, we have to subdue Miss Harmless Sparrow right now or we will be toote on saving her corruption!" As immediately suggested. I frowned at this. Since Alternate World can influence the real world, isn''t it bad that Harmless Sparrow is afflicted by this? She can go crazy by this alone if we didn''t do anything. "Alright! We have to knock out Harmless Sparrow as soon as possible. The longer we stay here talking, the more she will be in danger." Everyone nodded. "Tsuru, fire the cannon at that wall!" Tsuru was confused at first but he followed suit and shoot a cannonball at the nearest wall, causing Harmless Sparrow''s attention to shift to the cannonball that was shot by Tsuru, and rushes to the site while trying to attack it. "I knew it. The sound enhancement seems to be affecting her as well." Sigma didn''t bother to ask any questions on how I did it and summoned her chains and bind Harmless Sparrow on both legs and arms to stop her from moving. "Alright! We got her!" I went behind the struggling Harmless Sparrow and hit the back of her neck, enough to cause her to faint and lose consciousness and fall slump after. We carried her with us by putting her on As''s shoulder. "Looks like we have to expose her to the [Aromatheraphy] area to make her recover herself and lose the corruption building up on her head. The Corruption is slowly weakening as we talk." "That''s good to hear. However, we still have others to think of. If Sparrow got crazy the moment we got here, the others are also going crazy there as well. We have to hurry!" Due to the new problem, we had right now, we started running around and finding the right way to move around and find the others. We still needed to find Leoran, Popo, Kn, Tatsumaki and Vi and we still don''t know how long will it be before we will get to see them. "Thank goodness I didn''t go crazy and you guys managed to find me very fast earlier. I can''t imagine myself losing my sh*t and starting attacking my allies as a result," Tsuru expressed his fear of the new problem. I don''t know what the Pope was thinking but he must be enjoying it with us being forced to fight our allies and forced to fight him in the end with fewer members than we should have already. "This is the way the boss is reducing our numbers so that we are easy pickings. I can see it now." Then, the Pope started chuckling, hearing what I just said. "I didn''t expect someone would understand my intent. But what will you all do? You all looked like you have a cure for my brainwashing effect but they will be out cold for a while. Do you think you all are thinking the right thing right now?" "We can just beat you just fine with our numbers. Do you think a f*cker like you has any chance to defeat us with these petty tricks? Never!" The Pope startedughing maniacally. "Very well. Let me see you try and "kill" me with everyone being forced to kill you all." SNAP! All of a sudden, the walls copsed and the invisible walls cracked and shattered, opening up all our paths and reuniting with the others...with a catch. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" "DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" "OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHH..." The five missing members are now conflicted with the same power that caused Harmless Sparrow to go out of control. "Let''s see how you all will fare against your friends?" the Pope grinned, as he watches us who are now gonna face our teammates. Chapter 681 The Essence Of Both Body And Soul (I) "SH*T...That f*cker is serious about making us face off ourpanions?!" Tsuru panicked. "There''s nothing we can do. We have to knock them down before they go fully crazy. The worst thing we could do is kill them but let''s avoid that route since we can just easily stop them." The five had their eyes filled with ck color, meaning the corruption has taken over too much now and we are toote. Harmless Sparrow had her eyes almost go to that route but since we defeated her fast enough, she didn''t gain the ck-colored eyes the four had. "Lucia, protect Sparrow''s body. Everyone, we will fight them off. Just be careful you don''t identally kill them. We can''t afford to do so in this situation," I am a bit afraid of this as the situation really calls for more investigation on my part. Since Alternate World seems to influence the real world if the yers who went crazy in the game were killed before they are even cured of it, will it affect them in the real world as well? "Let''s see how you all fare against yourrades by fighting against them with no intention to kill. The five screamed and started attacking. Kn immediately deployed the bubble to us though I immediately stopped it. "[Magic Jammer]!" POP! The bubble popped but Kn is not yet done and released a domain skill, [Clockwork Domain], a skill that slows down the movements of the enemies in the vicinity of a holographic Clocktower that appears on the battlefield. Because we are viewed by them as enemies, we are technically affected despite being part of our team so we are forced to endure it. "Calm down you all!" Tsuru fired one cannonball at Kn to knock him out but before it can reach Kn, Tatsumaki appeared and efficiently cut the cannonball in half, rendering the attack useless. "Sh*t... I have not seen them so skillful like this..." Tsuru gritted his teeth seeing the odd movements of the five. "They are totally enhanced to their fullest potential. Be careful, they are not the same people you know!" As swings his sword to defeat Tatsumaki who keeps on dodging and trying to go and attack Tsuru. Sigma stood at the back and with her arms crossed, used the golden chains and control them to strike. Vi is her opponent and despite the [Clockwork Domain], the speed of the gold chains that Sigma controls are not affected, allowing Sigma to take advantage of it and fight Vi. Before Vi could barely avoid Sigma''s gold chain if they fought one-on-one but Sigma struggled to deal damage to Vi. Not only does Vi use her Assassin ss as an advantage, her speed and her usage of various weapons caused Sigma to have a bit of a bad time. Using her dagger and sometimes her pistol, she easily deflects the gold chains as she gets close to Sigma. Sigma still does not move from her spot and Vi gets a few meters away from her, thetter bolted straight to her, and Sigma immediately smiled as multiple crosses fell from the sky and captured Vi in between. "Banish the curse, [Cleansing Cross]!" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Her ear-curdling scream was like her soul has been ripped apart forcefully from her body before her whole body emits smoke and copsed as a result. It caught all of us off guard as that was so sudden for any of us who was there. Sigma, on the other hand, remained calm and catches the unconscious body of Vi and passes it to Lucia who put the two on the ground next to her with Cotton providing the effects of the [Aromatherapy]. With Vi gone, only four left. to fight against. Leoran has been passive and just let the other 3 do the work. Although it will be a good idea to take him out immediately, he is not the main problem here but Kn. Due to his skill that inflicts slow movement on us, Popo and Tatsumaki are able to easily fight against us due to how we can''t immediately dish out attacks due to our slow movements earlier. But thanks to Sigma taking down Vi much earlier, we can now focus on dealing with Tatsumaki and Popo while we go straight and disable Kn as soon as possible. Just as we are about to go and disable Kn, Popo transformed into a bear using the spell, [Transform: Berserk Bear], and starts going on a rampage. Seeing that As is busy dealing with Tatsumaki, I took the chance and changed my Versatile Weapon into a gauntlet and catches the hands of Popo in the form of the bear who was about to strike me down using his enhanced arms. Popo''s strength was amplified wrestling against him is like wrestling against a real bear. Popo keeps on snarling at my face and tries to bite my face off my head while I keep on pushing Popo with the help of the gauntlet. It took a little bit of effort but I managed to overpower Popo and take him down. I was about to deal a blow that would cancel the transformation and return him to his human form when he dodges and I was caught in a [Slow Time] ability of Kn that decreases my attack speed and movement speed for a short amount of time. Due to this Popo managed to return to fight and recover from being taken down. It''s frustrating but it''s not much of a problem. It''s just that we are forced to do the bare minimum of our attacks and not deal with fatal attacks to avoid killing them while the main boss is currentlyughing at us, amused by our struggle. Forget Popo, for now, Kn is needed to be eliminated in this to allow us to finish the task as fast as we can. If Kn was forcing me to slow down, then I will increase my speed a lot this time around. F*ck those slowing skills, if I am fast enough, once I get slowed down, I will return to my base speed, allowing me to do the task much easier. Activating all the speed buff, my movement is much faster now. If they think I won''t hesitate to fight now, that''s not a big problem. With my gauntlet equipped, I run into the frontlines, catching all the slowing debuffs Kn is throwing at me. However, since I buffed myself in speed, instead of slowing me down, my normal speed returned and the buffs I received before have been slowly converted into how I should have moved without both buffs and debuffs. "You can''t slow me!" BANG! One single punch and Kn was knocked out. I made sure that I controlled my punch which will only deal half the amount of damage done and knock him out. It''s hard but I pulled my punches before, so I will do it again. But as I was about to pick up Kn who got knocked out, Leoran who was remaining passive took action and shot me with a bolt of the Crossbow that I made. The damage isn''t the biggest since I have armor and it missed the fatal spot that could deal an instant kill or critical hit against me. He shot another bolt which this time, I deflected using the gauntlet and continue to the area where Knnded after sending him in a distance and punching his face that knocked him out cold. Leoran continues to shoot me but I am more aware of his arrows that he didn''t pose a threat to me. Popo was held back by Sigma and Tsuru and As are all dealing with Tatsumaki now. I could get straight to Leoran but I decided against it and prioritized Kn first to be added to the people Lucia is protecting. "I apologize for letting you do the boring job, Lucia," I put Kn''s unconscious body next to Vi. "No worries master, this is a decent task, and it''s not easy to keep your eyes peeled up to the enemies when they will target you or the others who are defenseless here. Don''t worry too much and deal with it as soon as possible."'' Once Kn is now secured, I head straight to Leoran who is now dealing against Sigma who just shrugged his attacks. To Sigma, everything Leoran was doing to her was just minor scratches he was doing. Her attention isn''t even directed to her but to Popo who is much more dangerous than Leoran to her. While I was about to go to Leoran, Tatsumaki screamed as As absorbed the dark energy on him and feed it to his sword that feeds on dark powers. Just like Vi, Tatsumaki''s body emits smoke before he copsed. Now that Tatsumaki is out as well, only two left. Time to finish this up and show the boss that we are not just some pushovers. Chapter 682 The Essence Of Both Body And Soul (II) Vi, Kn, and Tatsumaki are now down and are all unconscious. The only threats left are Leoran and Popo. I can definitely see Leoran, not as a threat but as a nuisance due to his arrows, and due to how passive his attack is, he is a little bit easier to deal with. The hardest is Popo. Unless we cancel his transformation skill, we will have to deal with his Berserk Bear form which is pretty troublesome due to how strong a berserk bear is and since we are here to just knock him out, not kill him, we have to cancel this current transformation and stop his rampage once and for all. Sigma is still dealing with Popo and Tsuru and As helping Tatsumaki settle down along with the others, only I am fit enough to deal with Leoran. Now that my speed is back to normal, all of the fast arrows of Leoran are something I easily dodged. He was fast, but I am faster than him. I can see Leoran'' is getting angry as I easily avoided all of his attacks and all of his arrows missed the mark. As soon as he runs out of the bolt and is ready to go back and reload, I took advantage of it and slid beside him and swinging my hands as hard as I can to his feet and mming my whole body to his chest, followed with a single punch on the gut with my Gauntlet. Leoran is not the most well-built man and his armor is not made of metal as Rangers cannot equip any except for cloth armor. An easy takedown caused Leoran to be defeated as a result and he also got knocked out as well. Despite knocking out Leoran, I seem to have some bad feelings about this. There is something wrong that I can''t exactly pinpoint what it was but is very much troublesome even for me. As immediately handles the unconscious body of Leoran, allowing me to immediately shift my focus to Popo who is still causing Sigma to defend. With Sigma fully focused on her defense, I should be the one doing the damage. While not looking in my direction, I jumped into the back of Popo, climbed at his broad back, and charge up my fist. Popo noticed me and tried to shake me off of him but my grip on his neck is strong enough that despite shaking his body for a bit to remove me is not doing much. A few secondster, the charge noise of my gauntlet starts to rev up and it felt heavy now. "Copse!" BANG! Popo''s body copsed, his eyes glowing white before he fell to the ground. I made another punch just to make sure and he returned to his normal body. Tsuru this time picked up Popo. I heard from the others that Tsuru and Popo are friends in real life. Might be the big reason he is helping him immediately. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I am a little bit disappointed I don''t see any blood spilled but seeing you all beating up your friends works as well. But you cut off a bit of my work." Sigma and I ready our weapons as the Pope slowly stands up from his throne. He is grinning as he put his hands behind his back and all the tentacles around the area started to gather around him. It looks so disgusting that even staring at the thing gives me some weird and strange feeling in my stomach. "Heheheh, why are you all uptight? Aren''t you all here trying to meet me? You guys went inside the church looking for me." His voice suddenly felt a bit heavy. I don''t feel it before but now, the same feeling I felt when I met the god that the cult was worshipping is happening right now. I have already felt it before but for some reason, it was like he intensified the feeling a little bit more. All of a sudden, tentacles suddenly sprout out of the ground and tried to catch us. Sigma immediately dodges. I also dodge away as well and change the Versatile Weapon into a cannon and as I jump off, I shoot out one cannonball to crush the tentacle to paste. "Why are you all running away? Isn''t it a good chance for me to show my appreciation to all of you?" "You can shove that on your ass old man. We are not interested in your shit," Sigma cursed. "What an insolent child. You are a child of the holiness and you are spouting heretical words." He snaps his fingers and full pressure fell to Sigma. Sigma felt it but she was strong enough to handle it that she still remain standing. "OH?!" the pope is surprised. "Who said I am a child of the holy? You dipsh*t. I might be using holy powers but I don''t follow any gods. I follow my own path. If gods are giving me the advantage to use the power of the holy, then I will thank them, but they can''t force me to follow them. Especially if it ising to someone like you." "Ungrateful..." the pope smiled but that smile is not a sincere smile. A smile that gathers maliciousness. The Pope raise her hands and aimed them at Sigma. "You are gonna die..." BANG BANG BANG! The Pope''s hands suddenly disappeared and ck blood emerged from it. The pope turned around and our eyes meet. "Ha. Why are you focusing on her too much? I am the one who is willing to kill you but you are focusing on someone who just joined me. Come on. Give me some attention as well." SNAP! The heavy pressurended on me. But because I am already so familiar with the pressure, this means nothing much to me. "USELESS!" BANG! A bullet pierced his head. A huge chunk of his head disappeared as the st of the gun destroyed it. If the pope was a normal human, he would be dead by now. But that is not the main case now. "I know you are not gonna die just yet." The pope grinned. A dangerous grin. Chapter 683 The Essence Of Both Body And Soul (III) Half of his head is gone, but he is still grinning. He is not just grinning but a grin of a madman. A few secondster, the flesh missing on his head started to move and some tentacle stuff started to pop up and stitch itself. It was like an alien mutation thing. Soon, the missing flesh reappeared and his head returned to normal. "You catch it fast, wolf boy. Perhaps I have overlooked you." Reloading the gun and throwing the empty bullets away, I aimed the gun once more at him. "Good that you are now paying attention to me. Now, have a taste of some of my bullets. BANG! This time around, he didn''t let the bullet pass through his body and instead deflects it with the tentacles that seem to grow on his body. Sigma didn''t just stand there as well and started sending her golden chains as well, parrying all the tentacles as well. As the Pope is busy defending and attacking us, a stray cannonball suddenly flies off and destroyed half of the Pope''s body. The pope was surprised once more and he looked at his wounds his face is no longer showing a smug smile but seriousness now. He waved his hands and tentacles suddenly spiked up going straight to Tsuru who shot off the cannonball. But then, As waved his sword and his dark energy st decimated the tentacles in one go. He repeated it as the Pope also repeated his attacks which made the Pope a little bit annoyed. "I never expected someone who serves the darkness would help the humans." As didn''t say anything but just goes ahead to defend Lucia and Tsuru alongside the people who are unconscious. "I think I shouldn''t hold back too much. Now that I got some life essence, perhaps I should use them to fuel it up." Dark energy fuels up his body. The aura of the darkness suddenly wells upon him that his body has been covered with the dark energy which slowly created a ck armor that pdins wear. He even got a shield and sword that pdins use, the only difference is that it was d of dark energy and not the holy energy that Sigma uses. He opened up his wings and the white wings he have changed to ck and metallic armor also appeared as well. Basically, he became a knight like As as well. "It''s enough ytime." Before I can react, the pope disappears from where he was standing and sent me flying. I managed to block the attack but it was not enough for me to fully stop the st I was still sent flying into the distance. Sigma released her chains but before they can even reach the Pope, the gold chains started to produce rust and crumble to dust. Sigma is not shocked but she is now furious and so she released her other skills that produce holy magic. "[Spears of the Heavens]!" Multiple golden spears pierced through the Pope and the pope screamed in pain. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I thought she got him but then, the Pope suddenly startedughing and pulling the spears out of his body which made Sigma frown. "Hahahahaha! You thought I was having a painful scream? Sorry to disappoint you all but I am not even feeling that attack at all. Are you all even trying? Because I don''t even feel it much." He easily throws away all of the golden spears and all of them vanished. Before Sigma can react, the Pope appeared in front of her and grabbed her chin, and lifted her up, which made Sigma struggle to get herself free. "I am the angel that is favored by the holiness. The one who will purge the world of everything. I am the new ruler of this world. Anything rted to the holy energy will not even work against me. Don''t even think of harming me with it since I won''t even be affected. The Pope is enjoying the face of the struggling Sigma that he didn''t even realize I wasing close and released a charged-up punch to his helmet. CRACK! He got forced to free Sigma as a result but he was damaged as the wound on his lip didn''t recover. "If the holy energy will be obsolete as a result, then we will just use something that is not holy then." Then, another punch arrived in his face. Destroying the helmet immediately. And I punched the face of the Pope again. "This is for my friends that you made us fight and tried to get killed! BANG! "This is for Sigma who went powerless because of your plot armor sh*t." BANG! "This is for pissing me off," BANG! BANG BANG! BANG! I didn''t stop punching the guy. I don''t care if he thinks I am crazy or if he will revive again. I continue punching him. His face caved in but I continue punching him. He tried to squirm his way out but the punches of my gauntlet continues to arrive. It didn''t pause even for a second and he continues to receive it again and again until the final punch... He lost his headpletely and turned into mush. I didn''t stop there and punched through his chest and pulled away his heart by ripping it out of his body. This causes his body to spasm wildly and he didn''t even get to do much until it stopped doing so and he died. [You have killed the Corrupted Pope of the Dark God]! [Unfortunately, he is not ssified as a monster so you won''t get any experience and loot for killing him. However, you will gain honor and reputation points as a result.] I crushed his heart to mush and went to Sigma immediately. She lost a significant amount of health after being just held by the chin by the Pope. I let her drink the potion on my inventory and she helplessly drinks the content despite not feeling too well. "What happened to the Pope?" Sigma asked. "He died. But I don''t think it is over just yet." "But he died right? Howe you are saying it''s not yet over?" "Because the god that is controlling the Pope has yet to appear and make his appearance, right? I know you are listening right there." Someone in the darkness walks out, pping and revealing himself. "What...?But... you were dragged into the other dimension by in..." The person who appeared was actually none other than the strategist himself, the person named the Tactician by many. "I didn''t know someone would notice my presence here." "Your presence might be blending in this ce but you still stick out like a sore thumb. I can easily see you there." "Impossible. Shouldn''t in have defeated him? He dragged this guy to the other dimension that appeared before!" "Right? I should have died back there. Unfortunately for my friend, he made the right move to the wrong person. After all, I have my own methods of fighting and in a direct confrontation, I wouldn''t even bother using my real body." "Then..." Sigma couldn''t believe it. "Yep. in is now dead. He sacrificed his life to kill my copy and stop it from escaping there. What a valiant effort to be honest. But what a waste. We could have used that effort of his to make the world ours." Bang! A gunshot rang as I pulled the trigger of the gun and put a bullet in the Tactician''s forehead. The tactician fell down to the ground and died. "You already know that I won''t die like that, boy. You know that I won''t be using my own body to fight back if I knew I would be endangering my body of death." I didn''t respond and waited for him to make another clone of his. However, he didn''t use it, and instead, darkness swallowed up the body of the Pope and the dead clone. "It''s a shame that the Pope died immediately. He thought he was already the perfect individual who can handle my abilities but I guess not as he died so easily without much effort. I should have guessed it wasn''t going to be that easy of a feat to destroy someone like that." "So you are going to swallow up his body and use the essence of both his body and soul?" I asked. "You are knowledgeable for someone who doesn''t possess a natural pair of wings. Indeed. The Pope might have been useful for a little while when he was still alive but he died already so why not maximize the profit and use his body as fuel for my own use instead?" A dark shadowy figure appeared before us. The only discerning feature I can say that I have seen on the guy is the red glowing pair of orbs before us. Since it started blinking, I can easily assume it was the pair of eyes. "Perhaps it is time to take matters into my own hands." [Corrupted God of the Underworld] Level: ??? Hp: ???????/?????? Traits: Diety, Darkness Chapter 684 Loki The big shadowy figure of his is something that I have not seen in my entire life. There''s something from this enemy that carries an air of mystery. He is shown to be a shadow but I can also tell that this is not his real body. Despite being not a real body, he still has the authority of aura around him that I didn''t know. "Foring this far and surviving for so long, it is a normal privilege for all of you to know who really I am. You all know me as the Tactician, the mysterious angel who is helping the government for some unknown reason, however, that is just one of my many faces. My true name is Loki, the Trickster, the man behind the death of Baldur and the one who plunge the continent of the Angels to chaos. I am also the one who organized the events happening all around you as well. Now, let''s get this event started shall we?" Loki, one of the gods known in the Norse Mythology as the Great Deceiver, the god of mischief and the most well known nickname for him, the trickster. To think he is the final boss to defeat the Pope, its unimaginable. "As, we will need your help here, Tsuru, fire at will. Sigma and I will be the main attackers against him." Tsuru nodded and drops his cannon to set up a stationary one to fire periodically at the enemy. As, Sigma and I looked at each other before understanding our intentions without saying anything. We proceed to split up in three different directions. Loki didn''t move. He just remained there, his shadowy figure remained stationary, as if waiting for us to make our first move. "[Chains of the Heavens]!" "[Break de]!" Sigma and As unleashed their attacks, straight to Loki. But... "I missed?" Sigma frowned. All of her gold chains didn''t even hit anything. As alsonded in the distance and instead of hitting any enemy with his skills, he hit the floor instead but the enemy is unscathed. As for me, I fly high up into the air until I reach into the level of the neck of Loki. "[Decapitation]!" SWISH! The skill was performed and the attack hit the target from what I can see before me... so why does my de didn''t touch anything solid? It just passed through like I was slicing the air. Landing on the ground, Loki startedughing. "Hahahaha, how does it feel to hit the enemy that you all are trying to hit? Satisfying right?" "Bullsh*t, we didn''t hit anything at all," As is pissed. "Exactly. I am a god and mortals are not fit to fight against me. No one is worthy to best me inbat. Because I am a god." "You are pissing me off, bastard," Sigma who is always calm and collected didn''t like the sound of Loki''s promation. Though even I didn''t like it too. Instead of moping, we continue to hack and sh the shadowy body of Loki and yet... our efforts are futile. All of my attacks missed. All of them, whether magic or physical attacks, they all miss and none of them hit at all. "Don''t you all see the inevitability of what you all are doing? I am just standing here, not moving and I let you all do your thing. However, you all disappoint me. I thought you all would be able to bring something new to me. Now, let me do my move this time around." The tentacles that disappeared after Loki''s main body appeared popped up, appeared beneath our feet andunches us in the air. Before we can even react, the giant shadowy hands of Loki came rushing to ours and smashed us to the ground t. "GAAAAAHHHHH!" The three of us were in critical health after that and we just got hit by the enemy that we can''t defeat. I don''t know whether Loki really have no weakness. Remember, the gods of Alternate World are not the absolute. They are not omnipotent and they can be defeated. I slowly stood up even if my HP is almost ready to dip into zero anytime, I snap my fingers and the there of us healed up on our injuries. I refuse to believe he is invincible. He might be right now, but he will not remain as an imprable fortress. He is not invincible. "Don''t underestimate us, Loki. Just because you already know the weakness of the humans and have known them for far longer than we have doesn''t mean you are already someone who can pass the judgement on humans and angels alike. You are the one who set this whole n of ruin, And while we are still alive, we will continue to oppose you!" I pulled out a bottle of Potion and activated the [Blood Weapon] of my Versatile Weapon. My whole health has been drained to the brim, leaving me with 1 HP before I drink the potion to regain my health. "Hoho, well then, show me this so called "opposition" you talk about and let''s see how you all will fare." "Oh yes, we are going to beat your ass and make sure that even if you are just an impostor and your real body is located somewhere else, I will make sure you f*cker wil not forget about us. Sigma, As. After my attack, follow my lead and unleash everything that you all have got." If this is the traditional games, this is a scripted invincibility due to the story plot bullcrap that is already set up. However, because it wasn''t one, its either you die without knowing, or fight until the way to ovee him reappears. I fly back into the level where the shadow form of his head was. And despite knowing that there is no way I will be hitting anything here, it''s now or never for me. "[Mammon''s Curse]!" The Versatile Weapon revealed the shadow dragon, already drooling and opened its wide mouth. I know there is no physical form there, however, the shadow dragon has a different idea instead and Loki who was confident before didn''t expect the Shadow Dragon to appear and suddenly take a chomp out of his head, devouring one of his glowing eyes. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The hollow scream of pain is defeating for us and I didn''t even get to prepare on his scream which made my ears bleed for a bit as a result. That scream was a scream of real pain and not just some kind of pain that is scripted. It was a literal pain. "How?! How is that forbidden weapon here in the human realm?! That should have been sealed to the deepest of the Earth, never to return! Why?! Why is it on the hands of a human?!" The confused Loki flustered and his shadowy form wavered, revealing his true form, a lone puppet dressed in a clown or trickster outfit. It''s clearly not his real body but if it was the only body he is using at the moment, destroying it is the only way. "Sigma! As!" "We got it!" Sigma fly high up in the air before diving straight to the puppet and sending multiple gold chains as well. Her usual mace as a weapon has changed to a greatsword and as she dashes to the puppet, the sword glows gold, storing up energy into the de. "[Sanctified sh]!" The puppet was sliced into two as Sigma passes through followed by piercing it with multiple chain. Ases in next, with his palm, charging up the mes. From the looks of it, it looks simr to the mes that Lucia uses in a fight. Perhaps a new move he learned from her? "[mma Obscura]!" The puppet pieces has been engulfed in mes and the screams of Loki echoed throughout the whole ce until the puppet was reduced to ashes and the shadowy form of his has crumbled. "Pesky humans... one day... one day...I will make you all pay!" And everything after that ended. Wended back to the ground but it felt underwhelming to be honest. It''s kind of like, we are not done yet. Then, right as we are still wondering what happened, a message appeared before us. "[You have bested Loki, the God of Mischief and the Ultimate Trickster...however, defeating him from that doesn''t mean he is gone. He is alive and well and he has yet to die. He received a minor injury due to your attack but he is now aware of you all and your powers as well. Just remember that this is not the final time you will all meet Loki.]" [Based on your recent actions, you have arrived into the current conclusion. The expedition to the Luminous Continent has finally drawn to a close, however, the trickster will once again reappear. Until then, yers. Prepare for the inevitable battle against the trickster once more.] Chapter 685 Aftermath Of The Rebellion Loki has escaped sessfully after the battle against deheart and the others. Due to the unexpected weapon that appeared, the only reasonable way for him to avoid a certain death is to escape instead of pursuing a more brutal fight. Loki is not abatant, but a trickster. He will use all the things at his disposal to fight back without needing to fight by himself, which is why he is using a backup body in the first ce. The attack earlier inflicted damage on him despite using the substitute. A weapon made by the gods, even if he is immortal, he still needed to escape as the weapon is not something he can endure even if he used something as a substitute for his body, the wound would make its way to his real body. If the substitute is killed, then his real body will be killed as well. So retreating from a fatal battle was something that was smart for him. Loki can feel that the weapon is still iplete but despite its iplete state, it is already wielding such power enough for him to fear death immediately. But to think he will find the ursed weapon that devoured multiple worlds, the embodiment of greed itself sleeping inside it, there is no other choice but to retreat as he is more than confident that the guy will never hesitate to kill him. With a weapon capable of rendering his immortality null, it''s much better to escape than remain prideful as a god and flee while he still can. "To think what the sovereign said before was true. Her powers must have returned already for her to be able to properly conduct an urate prediction of the new world. She should know this piece of news and let her know about it. As for the guy holding that cursed weapon, he can wait." Loki whistled as he went on his way to report the incident. For Loki, it seems that peace will soon return to chaos soon enough. ... ... ... The corruption inside the church did not disappear even after the defeat of Loki who escaped and stopped the inevitable fight, afraid of dying after seeing my weapon. Although I don''t know his main reason for escaping, seeing the Versatile Weapon seemed to be the main key as to why he decided to escape instead of pursuing the fight. But why though? Unfortunately, the reason why is still unknown. But thanks to his escaping tactic that urred in the middle of the boss fight, the reward of fighting the main boss was forfeited aside from the experience given to us which for me, is just a drop of water into the sea. However, I doubt that was the end of my and his meeting again. If he appeared in the Expedition storyline, he must be also an important figure in the main story as well. With the battle finished, the only thing left we do is to wait for everyone to wake up from remaining unconscious. As for us who are awake, we are currently doing different things. Tsuru and Sigma are currently exploring the ce while As returned to the Summons area. After he was almost killed, he can''t wait to lie down and have a good sleep to recover. As for me, I inspected the armor of Tsuru, Sigma, and As to see whether they need immediate repair or not. It took at least 2 in-game hours before they all woke up one by one. Harmless Sparrow is first followed by the others. Everyone has no idea what happened and what they did as they got cked out all of a sudden and they can''t log out to reset the situation, they are stuck with waiting until they managed to regain control of their bodies once more. The brainwashing is now clear and they are back to normal. I also finally get to know the feeling of the brainwashing effect after they described it to me. After a while, Sigma and Tsuru returned. "Looks like everyone is awake now. Is everyone alright? We almost killed you all due to the things your bodies have been doing so but since you all have returned to normal, guess it is time to get out of this rotten ce. We have not seen any good POIs here, it''s just the same church as before, just distorted and expanded," Sigma sighed. "How are they, deheart? Are they in trouble?" Tsuru asked. "No. But they will have to log out of the game after the situation has been taken care of. We need to return to the others and report the situation. We also need to know whether in returned as well." After a long day of preparation, the battle ended and the expedition hase to an end. In the end, I didn''t even get to call the dragon for help but I am happy that he is still alive even after the expedition ends. When we returned, in is nowhere to be seen but the soldiers and the Legion of angels are now there and was about to arrest everyone when we arrived which stopped the arrestpletely. With our testimonies and the incriminating evidence which is the church, Alynna was furious about it and ordered an immediate purge of traitors in the Legionnaire. Although we saved the day, we still disrupt the peace so we are imprisoned for half a day as punishment. But it was a light punishment that was given to us because of the situation. Without our rebellion happening, the continent would not know of the situation and would still continue to patronize the pope. By the way, regarding the Pope, he didn''t die in the battle which ended up in prison and waiting for the trials of his wrongdoings as he was captured and interrogated by Alynna. Due to the evidence pointing at him and most victims pointing at him as the culprit, he will be judged and tried for the sins he made against the people. Our faction won and despite beingbeled as rebels before, we are regarded as the heroes who saved everyone from "blindness" and cured them of their sight due to the recent events, and thus, the end of the expedition came in. ....... I have logged out from the game already. The pain in my body from ying the game for too long is taking a toll already. But thankfully, the expedition has ended. Although we have yet to see the final scene, I am wondering whether in is alive. Loki mentioned he was dead already but I doubt it. This ending has so many loose ends and I think once the yers are now ready to reach the continent, the quests will start rolling in. Oh well, with that said, one of my goals is now done plus I managed to humiliate Kazuki as well as he failed with the expedition and the reward that powered him up a lot didn''t even get rewarded to him. So I guess that is a big win in my book. Now that things are over, perhaps it is time for me to focus on some of my stagnant affairs now. Chapter 686 Post-Aftermath After the Luminous Continent Expedition, our avatars were now finally able to go back home and the Goddess Titania sent us back with everyone bidding us farewell. Although there are so many loose ends after the events, the situation is much betterpared to the past timeline and the angels now are more united than ever. The people that got kidnapped that were rescued by the rebels returned to their respective families. Due to the incident, the public view of the rebels changed drastically. Even the treatment of the fallen angels has been improved as well, allowing them to return to society without much discrimination. There are still those who can''t remove their views towards the Fallens but this time around, they are not so vocal about it as it is now punishable by thew. The situation might have changed a little bit though not so much, but it was definitely an improvement and it cannot be easily denied. The loose ends are still there, especially the disappearance of in, the leader of the rebels. Despite his leading the rebels to prosperity, he disappeared when everything was in the heat of the battle and never returned. Those who have seen him for thest time view him as the hero who saved them all for not his timely intervention, then the bastard of a guy Tactician would have killed everyone. Until now, he is nowhere to be found but the vige that in built is still waiting, waiting for his arrival like he always does. As for us yers, the anti-rebellion squadron was a little bit disappointed. Not only did they get wiped out from the battle but they also lost miserably to the rebel squadron with only a few yers involved. These made the Leoran, Tatsumaki, Vi, Popo, Kn, and Tsuru famous as they are part of the incident. The only thing that is puzzling the yers is the unusually quiet buzz of the six yers. They didn''t speak any of the information regarding the church dungeon and what transpired to them. Not only that but they left their guilds as well, stating that they are going to go for solo missions for a while. For others, no one knows the main reason they did but for us, everyone knows why as the only reason they have is that they wanted to join us who are not tied by a guild to work with. Having worked with them, I weed them all with open arms and helped them. And honestly, they are good enough for teammates as they can coordinate quite well with us. There are not many things happening in the real world though and the ability users are still rampant. Of course, they are controlled by the government but until the end, there is still no news regarding it. For us though...life goes on. There are no actual gs I needed to bother worrying about in the next couple of years and due to that, 5 years passed by. Quite the time skip right? Well, there are no actual things that happened over the course of the 5-year skip. Aside from the fact that everyone in the group has reached level 300 and beyond as well as my summons is not actually a bit of news. Because the level cap update has yet to roll in, most of our time that are spent during that 5 years is making records in dungeons and raids. We also finished quite a lot of quests as well. The only big change that urred is the Magic update in the real world. The rise of people who can use magic powers, made the government seek out the main cause of this. And soon, they found the main reason and one of the onlymon links that the people who have gained powers is only one single thing and that is the game, Alternate World. Due to this, the government demanded an exnation for this, and soon enough, they received an answer from Nexus. "YES, WE ARE AWARE OF OUR GAME GRANTING THE ABILITY TO MAKE A NORMAL HUMAN GAIN MANA AND MAGIC POWERS. IN FACT, WE ARE PROUD TO SAY THAT OBTAINING MAGIC IS NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM." This single statement is the same statement made in the past timeline and just expected, the people who are not ying Alternate World rushed in. The inte cafes also have their own Reality Verse cabins as well that are specifically left there by the Nexus for those who can''t afford the game just yet but wanted to y it. One more thing. The upgrade of the tattoo Reality Verse has been implemented as well. Everyone who doesn''t possess the Tattoo Version has gained an upgrade from it. My parents also upgraded their cabins into tattoos as well. Then, there is the ghost. Remember the time I fought one ghost upying a bear in Nagoya from the haunted mansion that I bought that is now my parent''s home? The ghost also got a tattoo as well. It made me confused but soon realized that the tattoo was not added to the ghost himself but to the teddy bear he was wearing. Still can''t believe he was ying the game tho but who knows? Perhaps I will meet him in the game someday. As for my parents, they only found out that he was a ghost when the people who changed the cabins to tattoos revealed it. It was so shocking to them at first that they couldn''t believe it. As for the workers? I didn''t expect them to be nonchnt about it. They even have a way for them to y the game which makes me wonder if everyone working for the Nexus already has dealt with this kind of case in the past. Thankfully, my parents are open-minded and since they loved the presence of the ghost, they still didn''t have much change of opinion from this. Now, current year and day. The world is now fully aware of magic and is now capable of using them. In fact, they even started summoning their pets in the real world as well. Some terrorists tried to exploit the usage of magic but were immediately shut down by Nexuspany as they implement the Judgement Eye that immediately considers the usage of magic abilities in the real world abusive or not. If the magic abilities are abused, the Judgement Eye will immediately perform a smite of judgment on the guilty and cut off their mana circuits. Of course, this system still has a lot of ws and some criminals are taking advantage of those ws but at least, this made the people who break thew instantly regret it. Due to the changes in the world, Rennata who was stuck inside our mansion for too long has finally received the chance to go out by acting as my familiar whenever we go out with everyone. Rika has mastered quite a lot of magic abilities so I decided to give her the ability to use the magic spell, [Disguise]. With the skill''s help, she finally managed to go out of the mansion as well without the worries of being spotted by her parents and the people looking for her. Though honestly, I doubt they are still looking for her after all these years of her disappearance. As for me, there are lots of things that have changed as well. After the Luminous Continent Expedition, the same dream gues me for thest 5 years. The dream of wandering around a ce where the Yggdrasil tree is growing. I kept on meeting the girl d in white kimono as well but she is asleep beneath the tree at a ceremonial altar. Over the course of 5 years, she has yet to wake up, and even though it was a dream, the things that are happening there seem like a continuous one since all the changes that I have done in that realm are passed down to the next dream as well. However, I still don''t know what is happening and why I am getting a dream like this. I am a bit thankful since it''s not a dream that urs every day but it is a dream that keeps repeating regrly and it does not seem to have a regr pattern as well. Despite that, this is not the main pressing matter. This is the year that the tragedy of Riko will soon befall. The death of Riko in a crash ident will be soon followed by Janus''s descent into madness and dies as well. I was worried that it wille sooner than expected but seeing it not happening over the past few years, I got confident that I changed the incident and a butterfly effect must have destroyed the link of her getting this future. However, things changed when Riko received a fiancee that was arranged by her parents against her will. That made me fear the worst as that is the first trigger to Riko''s death in the past timeline. Chapter 687 Epilogue Of Arc 8 The sound of the wheelchair moving is the only noise that can be heard in the hallways of the private hospital. Pandora who has not returned to Manato''s mansion for a long time is finally gonna undergo her final steps of rehabilitation. Although Pandora has lived most of her life staying in her wheelchair after the doctor suggested that she take advantage of the game named Alternate World and try to take the feeling of using her legs there as a test to walk properly, she took it and in just a few days of ying the game, it proved to be indeed a good way to stimte her legs. Even though she didn''t physically walk in the game, her mind seems to be developing the mindset that her legs are fine and even though the recovery is slow, it''s currently showing a lot of progress and Pandora can now stand on her own without the need of anyone to assist her. She still had some difficulties in using her own feet to walk but she is slowly making her first steps slowly. Even though most of the time it was just like baby steps, she is making quite a lot of progress. Aside from her legs, her voice is also getting better as well. The changes are not so obviouspared to the situation with her legs but she can now say words and simple sentences much easier. She still needs her sketchbook tomunicate but from time to time, she can now converse a little bit without the need for the sketchbook. "To think that using the Reality Verse could cure my sister like this, does this mean, you all are already aware of this process?" Suhei who was hearing all of the reviewsing from the doctor about the situation of her sister can''t still believe that a game managed to change many things about her sister. "Yes. Although we have not tested the full effects to this extent, we are aware that it has some good effects that allow her brain to adapt to her condition and ovee it instead of doing an operation that has a big chance of failure." "It''s good to hear but ording to the news, using the Reality Verse, especially the Nexus version would cause the user to gain and use magic. What about my sister? Will she also be able to do that as well?" The doctor tilted and scratches his head. "As much as I want to give you a proper answer, I don''t think I can answer that. I am just a doctor and examining magic is not even part of my job. But if the experts indeed said that, perhaps you should inquire your sister if she felt some changes in her body. If she can indeed use magic just fine, she knows it best." "I''m sorry about that, Doc. Anyways, is my sister good to go back home now?" "Yes. She is now good enough to return back home without our guidance. If she continues ying the game and following the routine we gave her, it won''t be long enough before she can walk and talk again like a normal girl soon enough. Just give her enough time, and properly support her as well. With that, Pandora is now able to go back home. After quite a lot of time has passed by, they are now going back to the mansion. Pandora is quite excited to meet everyone else in the mansion as well to show her recovery. It''s been at least 5 years since shest returned to the mansion and to think she can go back again there made her feel excited. Suhei noticed this and can''t help but smile at his sister. After she yed the game straight for 5 years, she gained a lot of new emotions that sheck in the past. The changes are not only on her physique but on her emotional well-being as well. He might not be ying the game due to the fact that he is more focused on the well-being of her sister''s form but seeing the changes, he is also tempted to buy and y the game as well. Perhaps he will see how glorious his sister is in that world. ..... ..... Arriving at the mansion, there are a lot of changes soon appeared. Not only the trees and the nts around the garden, but the whole atmosphere of the mansion as well. It was like the ce is now full of vigor and although the ce is familiar, it also felt foreign to him all of a sudden. He still has ess to the gates of the mansion which is a relief to him since he thought they are already banned by Manato from the mansion for how long they vacated the ce. When he and Pandora are almost near the front door, the stairs also have a ramp beside it that is designed for wheels. It''s big enough that it is clearly designed with someone in a wheelchair in mind. He couldn''t believe that Manato could modify the mansion just to make the process of bringing Pandora to the front door with ease. Even Pandora was surprised by it as well but they never think too much about it. It might just be a coincidence and Manato just happened to renovate the stairs. Yeah, that must be it. Although he has the key, he still clicked the doorbell and waited for the person inside the mansion to open it up. A few secondster, the doorknob twists before the door opened up, revealing a girl Suhei and Pandora are not familiar with. When she saw the two of them, she was shocked at first but then she goes to speak to someone. It took a bit of time before she returned alongside Sora and Akira. "Oh, Big Brother Suhei! Big sis Pandora!" Akira''s eyes lit up seeing the two. "Huh? Brother? You mean these two are Big Brother Suhei and Big Sis Pandora?!" Sora also lit up her eyes when she heard her brother mention their names. Suhei frowned since he remembered correctly that Sora is blind. But then his eyes darted to the person who opened the door earlier but soon realized something was different. After the 5 years, he and his sister are absent in this mansion, things have changed and it seems the surprises have yet to cease as well. Chapter 688 Authors LOOOONG Note(Dont Unlock This If You Dont Care Much) This is an author''s note and it is not part of the story of the novel, Versatile: Alternate World. If you are not interested in what I wanted to say, then don''t bother unlocking it, it''s just a rambling of mine and it is long. Skip to the next chapter if you want to continue. Alright, with that said... Hello readers, it''s me. I know it''s a very long time since I have interacted with my readers. I am not denying that I have been pretty much inactive in it as I am not as free as I used to be. It''s pretty much a struggle to even create one chapter nowadays so I guess it''s not a pleasant thing either. Anyways, to all the readers who have been with me from ups and lows, I sincerely thank you all for reading this little piece of crap that I made. And yes, it''s indeed quite a crap if I must say so myself. First and foremost, why I am writing this? And this far already in the story, shouldn''t I publish this at the beginning? Nah, this is needed since I am also discussing some spoiler stuff that only those who have reached this far will be able to understand. Also, to address the story''s direction because even I, seemed to have been straying too far. To be honest, this story should have ended for quite a while. I don''t intend to make a long story that features online games and VR elements. It''s hard to specialize in that since I mostly write more on fantasy or dark stories. I know that this story is still considered a fantasy story but since it involves a game, it''s getting pretty limited, to be honest, and the genre has been too oversaturated already that I can see many other novels with VR stuff or online games stuff. At first, it was fun to create especially with world-building but soon enough, I realized that it wasn''t as good as expected. Since I centered the story on an MMORPG VR game, that involves stats, progression, and other MMO stuff you can see. It urred to me toote when I started topile data on progression, especially the slow leveling gimmick of the Versatile ss, and honestly, that is one of the worst mistakes I have ever done. Just a little tidbit about me, I hate Math to the absolute core of my being. Perhaps due to some little trauma left on me due to the teachers that handled that subject that made me detest the subject a lot. Don''t worry, I don''t hate simple math and simple equations but the moment it involves a bit deeper calction, it is now something I didn''t like to do. So when it came to the point where I will be showing the stats of the protagonist, I realized that mistake a lot. If I have made a normal fantasy story without the twist of the VR and MMO, I wouldn''t even be stuck creating statistics for the character every time he levels up. I know statistics are the most important part to make a story about MMORPG as that also shows how strong or weak the main character is. That should be the time I decided to abandon showing the statistics of the protagonist as I can''t deal with it anymore. Yeah, yeah, I know but I am also busy with my life and I don''t have much luxury to waste my time calcting stuff here and there,piling it, making another calction and making another statistic about it then putting it on the story that barely contributes to the progress of the story flow. Maybe that is also the main reason I am slowly converting the first few chapters into new chapters as they are too bad for my reading process and I am even having a little stroke just by reading a few passages. I know the new ones are not that much different and there are some ws here and there but at least it is not as dogcrap as before. Stress is also taking a toll on me. Not only because I am bad at writing a story that involves MMORPG, but I also have to make new chapters for the readers. It''s a taxing task for someone like me who barely ys any MMORPG. Yeah, I do y them, but with most of my time consumed in making scenarios and making stories, finding the time to y an MMORPG is very hard and time-consuming as well. Not only that but to y more, you need to have amitment as well to progress. I still y games right now as well but something that is not asmitted as MMO games. I am currently ying the SMT games and Persona games at the moment, plus Muse Dash and Project Zomboid as well which are games I can y in my leisure and put down without the need toe back to y due to some unmissable stuff that will be gone if I didn''t y. Might be one of the reasons I stopped ying Genshin lol. There are also times I get sick or just not motivated to make any chapters so for those readers who purchased some privilege on this novel, I salute you guys for sticking with me even with my irregr updates. Thanks to you guys, I can save up money to buy a newputer to upgrade the brokenptop that I am still using today and to also aid with my expenses at home, although, this is usually not enough. To be honest, I am surprised I managed to write this long in a story that I didn''t n to write this long. It''s the only story that I am too stressed to make that I have to put a halt to the other two stories I am making just to focus on this. The more I write the story, the more I stray far from the plot I previously set up. Might be the biggest reason I am still writing this is that I also cannot disappoint those who are paying and loyal to the story. You guys have at least given me a bit of motivation to continue making this despite the low quality of the story. The reason is simple, I just wanted it to have a conclusion that is satisfying and does not feel or look out of ce for this story. Nowadays, I am going back on track with the plot line I made once more. Although my motivation is still pretty low, at least it''s not gone. I am also a little bit happy that we are also nearing the story''s end. I learned my lesson and I will not be making a story that involves statistics instead focus on telling the story. Perhaps I should also stop making stories in First Person POV style of writing. It limits me to the imagination I could writepared to the third-person POV, I don''t know what went to my mind and made the storytelling in First Person POV. Now, for the interactions likements, and likes. When I started this story, I am interacting with my readers for quite a bit. However, I am quite an introvert and I am the type of guy who likes to keep interaction with others as minimal as possible so if you guys have concerns about my story, I will only read it and I don''t think you would receive any recognition or answer from me. Maybe I would, or maybe I won''t. That depends on my mood. I also see the rating review and honestly, I am not surprised I am getting lots of low ratings. After all, I am writing a story with potential, but for someone like me who has barely had enough time to do extra things aside from writing stories and taking care of my IRL problems and work, That potential is quite wasted and I know about it. However, I can''t stop here. I already sailed the boat, I will continue to sail it and make sure it reaches its conclusion. I don''t want to drop everyone about it so while it is stressful for me, I will continue to do so. Besides, I also wanted to return to my other stories as well. I am more confident in writing thempared to this story. One thing left I will ramble on. To all my readers, I am super thankful you guys remained or have pushed through it despite the level of quality the story has. You guys are awesome and I am happy that you guys remained. I don''t even know if I was still talking to the readers who were my readers since day 1 but honestly, thank you all. And with the closing of the story''s arc, its time to jump to the next arc, in which an arc I will be using to focus on building the path to reach its conclusion. To the readers who read through this ramble of mine and wasted a fast pass or a few coins to unlock it, I salute you all for reading this far. Whenever and wherever you are in the world, I hope you guys have a good day. Chapter 689 Prologue Of Arc 9 "Riko! Wake up! Riko!" I held Riko in my arms who is now covered in blood. After tracking her whereabouts after herst call before the crashing sound could be heard on the other line, I found the car she was riding in wrecked after crashing into the wall. I immediately dialed the emergency hotline and reported the crash but ording to them, they will take at least 30 minutes before they will arrive at the location due to it being far from the nearest hospital. Because the paramedics and the rescue team would take some time before they arrive, I have no choice but to see things for myself before heading straight to the car to check whether there are survivors. First, I checked whether the car has a leakage to see whether the car will be in danger of explosion. Thankfully, it was not so the next thing I did is check the passengers. The driver is dead on the spot. If I remember correctly, he is the supposed fiancee of Riko who is currently in the passenger''s seat and although she is wounded, she is still breathing. Using my mediocre magic to enhance my strength, I rip off the car door that is no longer functional and slowly pull her out of the car. Luckily, the sharp parts of the car that protruded after the car crashed badly missed Riko but barely. Despite dodging many of the fatal hits from the ident, Riko is bleeding so badly in her head and has some deep wounds on her body due to the windshield breaking and maybe due to the impact as well since a few parts of her body have turned purple from the bruise. Some of the ss shards are still embedded in her body. Carefully pulling her out of the car, I held her lightly in my arms, afraid that she will be hurt more if I increase the grip I had on her. I don''t want her to die so until the paramedics arrived, I will perform my own healing on her until they do. I went a bit farther from the car, despite knowing that it won''t explode, there is still a risk lying there so it was better to be safe than sorry. Laying her down on the cold concrete slowly, I didn''t bother to pull out the shards of ss to her body as that would only cause her to bleed more and I don''t want to be the cause of her death. My magic can also heal but I am not a healer so I can only perform normal healing magic that can heal minor wounds. It doesn''t deal with heavy wounds like these on Riko''s body but minor or major healing, it doesn''t matter, as long as Riko receives healing and will allow prolonging her life, I have to use it. While doing this, I called her parents but their phone cannot be reached which is why the only other person I can think of calling here to help is none other than Janus. "Hello? Manato? What''s up? Why are you calling me sote?" "Enough chit-chat Janus, Riko is dying! Come here and help me!" The moment I said those words, Janus dropped the call immediately before I can even tell them the address but I already knew he is already on his way so I just sent the address to him so that he knows where he is going. I continue to heal Riko who has her breathing very slow and heavy. I am not liking it as her body is also getting colder as time pass by plus, herplexion is also getting paler by the second. Around 3 minutes after I finished the call, Janus arrived using his motorcycle. I can tell that he is in a big rush to get here as he is still in his pajamas when he arrived. He didn''t change his clothes and came here straight. "RIKO!" He immediately went to check on Riko before he also helped in healing as well despite being not a healer too. "Manato! Did you already call the paramedics?!" "Already did, they will arrive here a bit moreter because the location is a bit farther." "What about the guy that Riko said to be her fiancee who dated her today?" "Dead on the spot. Don''t bother saving him, he died after being impaled by a sharp metal that protruded from the car seat. There is no way he will survive that unless he is immortal." "F*CKING PIECES OF SH*T! So they will instead let the victims die? Come on, carry Riko, we will carry her to the hospital instead. Can''t wait for sh*t here and let her die instead." I agree with Janus as her health is failing already and so, by using Janus''s motorcycle to reach the hospital, we arrived at the nearest hospital in just 6 minutes, beating the paramedics in a lot of ways. We were immediately entertained by the staff of the hospital who assisted us to secure Riko. They immediately rush her to the emergency room and multiple nurses and a doctor rushes toward her. We can''t get inside the emergency room and we are forced to wait outside. . . . . . "Name, Akusabe Riko, Dead on Arrival. Time of death, 12:45 A.M We couldn''t believe our ears after hearing the result. Our hearts sank and felt powerless and our energy was drained hearing the result. Janus couldn''t ept the result and grabbed the doctor by his cor. "Why you didn''t manage to save her?! She is still alive when we brought her here! She should still be alive!" "I-I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do." "F*CK! Useless! You call yourself a doctor if you can''t even save a life?!" Things are getting out of control so I had to pull Janus off from the doctor and despite his struggles, I have to pull him away so that we can avoid being sued by the hospital. "I''m sorry doctor.''" "No, no. I understand. But I am sorry, her vitals are already failing when she arrived and she lost a lot of blood giving her a blood transfusion isn''t easy because of her blood type is one of the rarest blood types and we don''t have stock of it. Even our healing magic isn''t enough to fully close all her wounds and recover her health." The results were totally heartbreaking. After the doctor left, Janus can only cry in front of the lifeless Riko. Despite our best efforts, she didn''t survive as a result. "We shouldn''t have let her ept the proposal of that bastard! If she didn''t ept it, she should still be alive! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" In this situation, I can only stay silent and watch everything unfold. There is nothing I can do in this situation and despite having powers and magic skills, there is no way I can revive the dead and bring her back to life. . . . . The day of thest vigil arrived for Riko''s wake. Riko''s parents couldn''t ept that their only daughter died due to the ident and med themselves for being the ones responsible for her death as they are the ones who sent Riko to ept the proposal of the guy who died. If they knew she will die due to that, they should have declined as much as they should. Riko''s parents thanked us for being their daughter''s friend until the very end and didn''t me us for the death of their daughter after we brought her in a rush to the hospital because they also probably would have done the same if they were in that current situation. ording to the investigations, the fiancee of Riko is driving while drunk, and based on the security cameras found before they drove off, Riko clearly wanted to not ride with him but he forced her inside the car and drove away. Based on the evidence, the fiancee might have attempted to molest Riko inside the car, and the former retaliated which resulted in the two fighting inside which resulted in the car crashing into the wall. Despite the results of the investigations, Riko''s parents didn''t bother to file a case. With the fiancee''s family being rich, they can easily ignore the case so instead of struggling, they instead focused on giving Riko a proper burial. We are also not against their decision as well but Janus easily felt that things shouldn''t have been that way due to the unfair state of thew, there is nothing he can do and besides, the guy who is at fault here is already dead. . . . . After the burial of Riko, a few monthster, Janus will be soon found dead in his apartment. . . . I woke up and shake my head. To think those past timeline memories would still haunt me to this day... I stood up and stretch my body for a bit. Knowing that the day of the date ising, I have to make sure that she will not die at all cost. Chapter 690 Pandoras Return The shback I had in my dream still haunts me. Since Riko died after we rescued her, I can''t help but put a little me on myself for that. Perhaps, even though I returned back in time, there is no denying that perhaps I may have caused the untimely death of Riko in the past timeline. The guilt left me with some bad taste in my mouth and it seems I have yet to get over it. Maybe because the date of that uing event ising, the memories that I tried to bury under all of my other memories that can''t be forgotten have resurfaced again to make me remember the guilt I forcefully try to forget and felt at that time. Despite that, I move on. The event that happened in the past timeline has yet to ur here in the new timeline and I will be making sure that it won''t ever happen at all. I stood up from the bed and ruffled my hair for a bit before I checked the time. It''s already past the time for breakfast and I have yet to eat one. Doingte-night magic practice just causes me to be too exhausted and I would instead sleep longer than usual. Still, it''s good that I have increased my mana and magic power more than usual. I am also close enough to reaching my previous mana capacity and it would be a great deal if I reach that point before the date of Riko''s date. If I can''t stop her from attending the date, I can at least stop the crash from happening. Feeling famished already, I went outside my room to scrounge and see any good food I can eat. I am sure everyone else has already eaten so there is no need for me to even ask them if they have eaten already. I was just halfway from the staircase when I heard the voices of Akira and Sora talking to someone. It''s a man''s voice and I am sure it wasn''t Janus''s voice. Not only is he not here because he is working in the morning, but he also doesn''t have a deeper voice like him. Then, I remembered the other guy who lived here. The guy who vacated his room for 5 years and has only kept on sending messages that he can''te back for a long time because he needs to focus on the medication of his sister. I went downstairs to confirm my guess and I was spot on since it was indeed Suhei alongside Pandora who is now looking healthier than before. Not only that, but Pandora is now overflowing with mana just like us. The only one who does not possess any mana at the moment is Suhei. Since the only way for the mana to manifest is to y the Alternate World, does that mean Pandora was a yer of the Alternate World as well? "Suhei? Pandora?" "Oh, hey there, Manato! It''s been quite a while since west talked, yeah?" "Yeah, way too long. Come on guys, why are you still there in the entryway? Come inside, you guys are technically still living here, so why hesitate toe in?" "Hahaha, sorry about that. Please excuse us." "Excuse us," Pandora smiled and the two entered the mansion. It took me a few seconds before I realized that it was Pandora who talked to thest one instead of Suhei, which made me a little bit shocked. "Hey, Manato. Are you shocked? I can see why. My sis was amazing for being able to recover from being unable to speak." "So there is already a method to restore the voice of a mute person now?" I asked as we both sit down on the sofa. "Not really. It was a secondary effect of her first treatment and even I was surprised that she even get to speak. Although the way she speaks is only using simple and sometimes single to two words, she is now able to hold a bit of conversation for a bit without relying much on the sketchbook." "I must say that it''s wonderful that the treatment gave you a bonus effect!" "Indeed and I must apud the doctor for giving us the rmendation to use it. And I must say that it was quite effective indeed." His eyes thennded on my neck since I was just wearing my regr tank top at home and my neck is very visible, showing the tattoo of the Reality Verse Nexus but I don''t need to hide it since everyone else who ys the game also has it already in their bodies as well. "So you are ying Alternate World too?" Suhei asked. "Oh, yes. I do y the game, in fact, everyone here ys the game. Do you also y the game as well?" I asked. "Ah, no, no. It''s not me who is ying the game, but my sister. I mentioned before that she is undertaking treatment right? The treatment was ying Alternate World''s virtual reality. I wanted to treat her legs that are unable to walk and stand up and based on the treatment, the doctor suggested it as the best form of therapy for her since her legs Pandora are not in a bad shape, it''s just that her brain seems to refuse to operate her legs. It''s a pretty rare type of problem but it''s easy to solve if the brain is given a slight memory of shock or shocks it up to restore the functionality that seems to be "missing". And since I don''t want her to undergo the operation of doing that, I instead went through the route of Virtual reality instead." That should be expected. That was how most treatments involving rehabilitation work. Not only that but it was an effective move as well since it involves the brain processing power that most movement is being done with. And with that alone, made treating paralyzed people and people who can walk before but were disabled due to an ident with Virtual Reality much easier and less time-consuming as well, not to mention, you y a game as well, making the treatment enjoyable for you. "Still, I couldn''t believe Pandora is ying the game." "Yep. That''s why in the past five years, we have had to stay where she was at that time since she was using the Cabin Version before. But since the Nexus Version has been given for free and is now possible to be used without the Cabin, it allows us to return here since she already got her tattoo so we can resume staying here until then." "That''s cool then. We could y together sometime if we meet at the game. Perhaps I can help her as well," I added. "That would be great. I know she has friends in the game but it''s more reassuring if there is someone we know in the real worldmunicating with her as well." "By the way, are you not nning on getting the Alternate World as well?" I asked. "I do have ns for it. but I want Pandora to get used back in here and settle down before I buy one for myself. It won''t take that long so I know it won''t be long enough before I can go and y the game as well." As we continue to talk, Renatta arrived with refreshments and food in a tray and carried it to the table. I then realized that I was so absorbed in talking with Suhei and Pandora, I skipped breakfast entirely. "Manato, can I ask a question?" "Sure, what is it?" I sip on the juice and take a bite of the bread. "Let me get this straight, that was not a costume, right? Those long ears on hers are not an extension, right? And the one flying on her side, the tiny girl, she is not a robot right?" Suhei had a big questioning look on his face. "Oh, you mean Renatta and Pixie? Yeah, they are not. Renatta is a real elf who crossed through the dimensions andnded here. I rescued her before the other otherworlders also crossed dimensions and managed to make contact with humanity as well. As for Pixie, she is a familiar summoned here to act as Renatta''s trantor since she is the only one who can understand both Renatta''snguage and ournguage, acting as our bridge." "Woah, I didn''t know so many things have changed. Even Sora was cured as well." "Haha, yeah. A lot has changed indeed." I cured Sora a few years ago. Once the break started, I healed her eyes from the blindness effect and since Sora already adapted enough to her eyes, now, she can now go and see everything the world has to offer. Since she was no longer blind, she transferred to a normal ss after that and is now a ssmate of her brother. Magic has finally taken over the world and sooner orter, the boom of the Alternate World will soon arrive, giving the Alternate World more yers soon. Chapter 691 Return To The Insect Kingdom (I) The Alternate World is bustling as always. It''s pretty much the same wherever you turn your head around. Due to the influx of yers joining at the moment the news of yers gaining magical powers after ying the game made everyone excited about ying it and as a result, Resurgia is now bustling with yers which is how it was like in the past timeline. Today, I am just busy hammering on my workshop. After Almira took over my old Workshop when I was still in the Luminous Continent, I made a new room that is for my workshop since we can''t share our workshop due to limited space, and with Almira''s habits of a cluttered workspace, it''s much better to have your workshop for personal and private space. As I continue to hammer down on one of the ores I am refining, the fallen angel, Laga, the fallen angel and little brother of the Cult Leader who I rescued during the first phase of the Luminous Continent expedition enters the workshop to pick up the blue orb I made. "I am here to pick up the item I needed as always," as he enters without much care of the burning metal''s heat and smell. "It''s on the shelf. Be careful bringing it back with you." "Yeah, yeah. You keep on telling me that, even though I have already heard you remind me of that for these past years. Come on, stop doing that, I am not that senile to forget it," Laga sighed as he grab the item he needed that I ced on the shelf. Ever since we returned to Resurgia, his sister has yet to wake up. ording to Lucia who examined her body for anything wrong, she was under "hibernation recuperation." Due to the curse of the god she worshipped before, her body became extremely weak so when the curse was lifted when that particr god was killed, it made a big bacsh on her body that she cannot endure easily and in one wrong move, she will perish. Because Angels and Fallen Angels have the ability to heal themselves, before the rebound of the curse lifting from her body takes effect, she activated the power to go into slumber and protect herself from the rebound damage to ur. Although she still suffered from it, the damage was minimal. As a result, she entered a deep slumber to recover her body from the damage. Although it was a favorable technique to avoid death, the downside is that she will be in aa for many years, and depending on the severity of her injury, she will remain in that state for many years. Laga is quite knowledgeable in terms of this kind of thing. Because he has undertaken this sort of event before, he knows how to handle it and how to shorten the time she will remain asleep. And that is what he was getting from the shelf, the Sphere of Healing. It''s an item that contains healing abilities that are gathered inside the sphere. This is not a potion however, and this is not supposed to be used except during some of the situations where it is more effective as this was ineffective to yers but pretty effective to NPCs who are wounded. I didn''t know this but thankfully, Laga gave me the info and since I know how to make it, I have a new item at my disposal as well. After taking the item, he returned without saying goodbye as always. The guy prefers to spend his time with his sister anyways so it doesn''t matter much. I continue to work on some of my projects that have been stalled for so long and also increase the level of my cksmith Ex Job. It''s been slow for long enough so I have been grinding on it. A few hours passed by and after I finished one of the items I forged, Lina entered the workshop. "Master. A letter arrived addressed to Tina has arrived." "A letter? Did it specify who sent it?" I asked. "No. But the seal seems to indicate that it came from the royal family." I grab the letter from Lina''s hands and checked the seal on the letter to confirm it. There, I confirmed it was indeed a letter sent by the royal family of the Insect Kingdom which means this letter is sent by Tina''s parents. I called Tina out from the Summon''s Area. After so many years of practicing, Tina looks different nowpared to before. Her wings which should have no color is now possessing 7 colors of the rainbow. She is now so vibrant and the size of her wings is much bigger as well though they can''t rival the size of her father''s wings, it was big enough to be recognized as the wings of the royalty in the insect kingdom. "Master," Tina bowed down after she was called. "Stand up. You have a letter that came from the Insect Kingdom, it''s addressed to you," I handed over the letter to Tina. Tina epted it and although she was hesitant to open it, she eventually did it. I know it must have been hard for her but for her to fully move on from it, she has matured over these years. She read the whole contents of the letter and as she move further to the letter, the more she frowned. After she was done, she sighed and scratches her head. "What is the content of the letter? You seemed to be disappointed?" I asked, "Ah, my parents are trying to recall me. They are trying to let me inherit the throne and rule over the Insect Kingdom because their health is now failing. They also mentioned that they want to meet you who helped me and helped repel the problem before." "They want you toe back? Just to inherit the throne? Not for a reunion and some kind of asking forgiveness thing?" I asked since this was not what I expected to be the content of the letter. "Yeah, it''s a bullcrap reason just to call me back. They still seemed to have no choice now since every one of my siblings are dead and the only one who can inherit the throne is none other than me. But there is one thing that they included as well and it seems it involved an invasion or something which is why they are also trying to get in contact with you as well," Tina added. "An invasion?" I started to recall things that would be happening right now in the Insect Kingdom but I don''t think there was any sort of invasion happening there at the moment. Even the memories I have before didn''t contain anything regarding this invasion. So I am a little confused as to what this invasion they are calling. I turned to look at Tina who seems conflicted about what to do. "We can just ignore this letter and move on instead if you wanted to, Tina. I am not gonna push this matter to you if you don''t like it anyways." "No, Master. It''s time for me to face my parents once more and show them that I have grown. I have to give them a piece of my mind that should let them know that I am not the same as before. Therefore, Master. Please apany me, back to the Insect Kingdom." Chapter 692 Return To The Insect Kingdom (II) Tina still has a lingering hatred for her parents. I can''t say I can rte to her but if she still cannot forgive them even though they were controlled by the demons, then perhaps I am not going to say anything. I am surprised at her decision though of meeting them and epting the invitation as that indicates that this will not be a wholesome reunion and yet she has chosen that option. But it''s her choice. I could choose to ignore her option and just not bother to join her to return but I am not that awful. After that incident, Tina returned to the summons area, probably to train more. We have still a few days of in-game time before we will depart so until then, maybe she will change her mind. ... ... ... ... The day of our departure arrived. But Tina didn''t change her decision. I was expecting her to change her decision as that early option she choose before is just because of the feelings she felt during that time. However, it seems that her mind was set to stone at that time and it was final. So in the end, we are still going to the Insect Kingdom and checking out what made the King of the Insect Kingdom wants from us. This time around, Lucia and As decided to stay instead of apanying us. Lucia wanted to have some vacation from fighting and she want to catch up on some rest while As still needed to recover from the damage that was done to him back in the Luminous Continent. It''s taking some time for his wound to heal so he has to rest more to recover the woundpletely. Lina and Gobu would be the ones who will be apanying us in this alongside Tina and Cotton herself as well. I also gave them new pieces of equipment as well. After all, they have grown from their levels already and hit the max cap at the moment. Making them wear their old equipment doesn''t seem to be that good. Oh, and no one from the other yers will join me on this which means it''s just like back before during the solo early expedition done during the beginning "Is everyone ready? We will perform the [Mass Teleport] now." Everyone nodded in response. They are eager to move and go on an adventure, well except for Tina who is clearly not enthusiastic at the thought of going to her parents but there is nothing she can do. She didn''t change her option so we continue doing this. Once we are in ce, I tear the scroll containing the [Mass Teleport] skill and warped us from Resurgia to the cabin where I made my previous little house in Aquagius. It''s our base operations whenever we go to Aquagius and although it was just a very simple little cabin, it''s refreshing and practical, and it shelters us from the cold and rain, as well as the hot weather through the harshest elements like storm and winter time would take a bit more effort to make this cabin much better but since this is just for our temporary lodging cabin whenever we have business here in Aquagius, it doesn''t matter much. Since it''s been a while since we returned to Aquagius since most of our time was spent clearing the dungeons in Resurgia and Sandurk as well as going to the Dark Sea in Luminous, the cabin in Aquagius has been neglected and is now quite dirty. Not only dust but fallen leaves and some other items are also present. Just because it was a game doesn''t mean you don''t need to clean. After all, Alternate World is a game that is very close to reality, it almost felt like the real world and not a game. After putting down all of the items that we brought with us, we started cleaning up the ce. It''s great that unlike in the real world, cleaning in the Alternate World is just needed for you to have good magic skills that involve water and wind. Lina who is a battle maid is an expert housekeeping maid as well so she put her skills in cleaning to use, and in just a few minutes, the cabin is back to its spick and span look when I built this ce. "Alright. Since we are now settled and we don''t need to look for a new lodge if we will spend our night here in Aquagius, it''s also time to start what we came here for. The day is still young so if we go straight to our destination, we might finish our appointment much faster. What do you guys think?" Gobu and Lina nodded in response to my question. Gobu turns to his side and frowned when he saw his expression of Tina. "No problems here on Lina-chan and my side about going there early. But it seems not all of us are that enthusiastic about the notion," Gobu then directs me to look at Tina who is looking miserable just from hearing my next course of action. "Tina, if you are not feeling like it going to your parents, then it''s fine. I am not going to force you in going. We can just go and clear dungeons in the meantime instead. We can just skip-" before I can finish my sentence, Tina interjects. "No, Master. Don''t worry about me since I am fine. I may not look like I am on board with this but we still needed to do this. We can''t just ignore this thing so instead of running away, I would rather go and finish things ourselves. Who knows, if we go there and finish our appointment faster than expected, then that is a big win for both of us, right?" "Are you sure it is fine? Be sure to tell me if you are not fine with it, we can just stay here for the time being instead of heading there. We are not in a rush so be sure you are not going to regret it. I know that you still don''t feel like it to face your parents so don''t push yourself or we might just ruin this meeting in the process. I don''t want you and your parents to end up in a more miserable state than you guys have right now." Tina looked down without being able to answer. As expected, she is just forcing herself just because we are ready to go. "You stay here for a while and think this through. We will be hunting for foodter on, you stay behind and think what you should do and make sure you won''t regret it." What Tina needed is a clear mind, time, and space to think of her current situation. Whatever floats her boat, it all matters to her more than mine. ... ... ... ... Just like what deheart said to Tina, she was left behind in the cabin as deheart and the others went to go for the hunt. Tina is not necessarily alone right now since Cotton also stayed behind with Tina but because Cotton cannot speak, Tina didn''t consider Cotton''s presence as another individual but is treating her more like a pet. Her Master was right, she is still not ready to face her parents again despite the fact that her physiques have changed a lot after she awakened her own bloodline after the battle that urred here in Aquagius in the past. She has not forgotten things, her grudge against her parents is still pretty big but she can''t say she isn''t troubled about it. She has been chasing their love in the past but it was clear that there was little love involved and it didn''t help when the demons manipted their minds which resulted in them sending her to her own death though she was grateful that she was sent out like that or else, she won''t even meet her Master right now who helped her without caring whether she was a failure or not. As much as she wanted to force herself on going there, something just felt like she is not ready for it. She struggles from it a lot and just like what her master said, if she forced herself to go while feeling conflicted, perhaps the reunion that is currently on hold for her will be totally ruined and instead of reparation of their rtionship, it will just ends up in worse situation. While thinking deeply on what to do, Cotton crawls on her side, seemingly able to detect what she was thinking and rubbed her head on her side. "Haha, don''t worry, Cotton. I know I am feeling bad right now but I still needed to face it myself. I can''t run away from it any longer." Tina stood up. Her decision has been decided, and she is now sure of it. There is no point running away. It has been a long time and dying it any further will just make it worse. Time to face her worse fears. Chapter 693 Return To The Insect Kingdom (III) The sun is about to set when I came back with the others to the cabin carrying the monster we hunted and gutted for our barbecue for tonight. It took some time to find a wild boar since most of the monsters found in the forest are either insect hybrids or just monsters that possess poison, paralysis liquid, and any kind of harmful things. When we managed to hunt one, it was already quitete. Nevertheless, the hunt is sessful and we returned with a bounty in our hands. As we returned, Tina is already waiting for us alongside Cotton. Her face is looking much better than before and it seems like she has finally got the answer she is looking for. I didn''t press the matter and just waited for her response on that and began our little work for our dinner. In the end, our first day on Aquagius Continent''s Insect Kingdom didn''t progress much as we just stay in our ce. Though it wasn''t so bad as we enjoyed the barbecue with everyone. The next day though is different. After yesterday''s little debacle of what Tina''s decision is going to be, she ended up with the decision of ultimately facing her parents head-on. She prepared herself and despite the little hesitation, she is now more determined to meet thempared to before. And since she has changed her attitude now, our next course of action is, of course, going to the Insect Kingdom''s king and queen. ... ... ... When we arrived in the city though, the reactions of the NPCs started to annoy me. Their eyes have judgemental looks on them as we continue to move our way to reach the castle grounds of the Insect Kingdom. It seems that the citizens have already known that the princess of the Insect Kingdom will return. Because Tina didn''t use her regal form so we don''t garner attention, it seems that retaining her old form seems to be doing the opposite effect. Not only did the popce of the Insect Kingdom knows Tina, but it seems they also resent her for appearing. After all, they didn''t know that the ones who saved them from the demon control is none other than the princess that they despises the most. And since no one from them seems to have remembered the regal form of Tina, it''s also very clear that they have no recollection of that day as well. This is why their minds still retain their hatred for Tina who is still on the form where she still hasn''t awakened. In their eyes, Tina is not fit to be the princess. Thankfully, it seems that Tina is used to the stares she receives and didn''t mind all of them. "Are you alright? I can tell that the popce didn''t like your presence here," Lina taps the back of Tina. "No worries, Lina-chan. I am used to it and its little stigma against me. It''s always been like this so it doesn''t matter much to me. However, I already knew how they treat me. If they still treat me like crap when I am in this form, they don''t deserve to be treated well as well once I activated my regal form." I grinned at Tina''s way of thinking. After all, it''s quite smart to know who is the one who is thinking differently at you when you are in low status and if you are in a high status. Knowing who is your allies and who is your true enemies. The yers are oblivious to what is happening so it felt like a silent war between the popce and Tina. I didn''t think that it would be this intense though. I thought things would at least lighten up once we arrive through the castle grounds where the eyes of the public are little and most of the eyes left are those from the guards but I was wrong as the situation is just the same as before. Not a single soldier is looking at Tina with respect. The guards are deliberately doing disrespectful things as well to Tina. I was so close to pulling out my Versatile Weapon but thanks to Tina, stopping me, I didn''t continue what I was about to do. "Don''t do that Master. Don''t get provoked for my sake. They are not worth the time to be offended of." We continue to the castle grounds until we arrived at the front gate where two guards block the gate. "Princess. Wee back, we know that you are arriving so pleasee inside." I was surprised as the two guards didn''t seem to show any animosity toward the others. As we entered the gates, Tina chuckled seeing my bewilderment. "Haha, Master, don''t be surprised. Even though I was mostly hated by the popce, I am not hated by everyone here in the pce. Those two in particr don''t show any animosity toward me as they are on the neutral side. Even if they hated me, they will remain in the same position. After all, being a guard of the royal family does not mean they can impose their ideals on everyone. They needed to be in neutral stance if they want to remain to guard the gates." "Hoh? Really? That''s something new to me." "It''s an unwritten rule to the guardians of the pce. Unless you are guilty of a crime, they will not show any kind of emotions and will remain in the neutral path." As we talked, we arrived at the hall where we are greeted by the butler who is a praying mantis. "Wee back, mydy. We have already expected your arrival. We will inform his and her majesty about you here so please wait in the visitor''s room." "Is my room still intact, butler?" Tina asked. "...Unfortunately, Princess Tina, your room is no longer present due to some things that happened in the past." "I see. Well, that was something I already expected, so no surprises here but knowing it is just pretty much a disappointment." The butler didn''t say anything but he left after talking to us so that he can inform the king and queen. "The castle did not change much but to think they immediately removed my room after I vacated just means everything. Master, I don''t know what will happen next but based on my little assumptions and some random guesses, things will not go that smoothly in the future." I didn''t say anything nor did the others about it. Tina''s grudge might be something I don''t have much idea of since I didn''t experience it first hand but seeing what it was now, perhaps, her grudge is justified somehow. Chapter 694 Dining With The Royalty We waited for the butler to arrive because we could not wander around the castle despite one of ourpanions being royalty herself. As much as she can go and tour us, the people working inside the castle clearly are treating Tina differently. I won''t be even surprised if we are not even treated as guests but as servants instead but I will hold back until then. All that said, if Tina bursts out and can no longer hold back her anger then I will back her up on whatever she is going to do. Every one of us did not say anything. Tina already told us to not discuss anything while we are inside the pce. Not only do the people of the insect kingdom possess extraordinary hearing prowess but they also have great camouge and invisibility abilities so while we are there, there is a big chance that there will be spies and snooping people trying to gather anything from us. And like what Tina said before, there are indeed some snoopers around us who are just under the camouge disguise or are doing their invisibility skills. Because I can easily determine whether someone goes on stealth mode or disguise mode due to how things happened in the past timeline, their disguises are very bad attempts to conceal themselves. If I could kill them, I can easily shoot them one by one. We waited for around 30 minutes before the butler returned to us. "Dear guests, the King and Queen are now ready to meet up with you all. Please proceed to the Dining Hall as soon as you all are ready." After saying that, the butler left and didn''t even bother to escort us. "These guys should really be fired from their jobs. They can''t even properly do their jobs..." Tina grumbled as she stood up from her seat. "Come on guys, I will lead you all the way to the Dining Hall. Unless the interior of this castle has been changed drastically, the dining hall should still be in the same ce as it was before. Let''s go." All of us followed Tina as she led us to the Dining Hall. While we are on the way to the dining hall, many of the servants who are on duty as we passed by gave us a strange look. Some are confused while most of them clearly show disdain. As expected, Tina is very much an unweed presence for them and they are not afraid to show it. Tina still remembered everything since we arrived at the Dining Hall without being stuck somewhere around the pce. The ce is quite massive and based on all the twists and turns and forks of the road we passed by, it would take a bit of exploration before we even stumble upon the Dining Hall. Despite being insect people, the royalty of the Insect Kingdom is just like human royalty. The design of their items and stuff are all same as the humans so there isn''t much change in the dining hall, a typical long table, multiple chairs, and a ssy vibe that usually, the rich only enjoy. The King and Queen are already eating despite the guest not yet arriving which is a clear disrespect as that is a sign that the guests are not that important for them to wait for. I can see how pissed Tina was but she held it in. She didn''t want to cause trouble just yet. I look around and realized that the ce is full of guards. Not only the guards present near the two royalties but also guards who are out of sight and are hiding using their camouge and stealth abilities. They have the whole dining room covered with guards that I feel a little bit ufortable. The servants escorted us to our seats. At least they still treat us like guests or if they truly didn''t view us as guests, we wouldn''t even receive a basic courtesy like that as well. My patience is running thin but I managed to keep it up and not yet explode. Of course, that doesn''t mean I have an infinite amount of patience. If things keep getting troublesome, I won''t hesitate tosh out. We started eating though I can''t fully enjoy the meal if the atmosphere is this tense. Not a single one of them is speaking and I am not there to break the ice. I am just a supporting character for Tina this time around so it''s not in my ce to do that first. It took a bit of time before someone broke the deafening silence hanging around and that is the queen herself who broke it. "Ahem, first of all, we thank you all foring here and answering our invitation. As you all know, we have something to talk to all of you regarding some matters." Based on the queen''s opening sentence, she is referring to me and my otherpanions as a whole. It''s fine enough if we are just the only guests but there is also her daughter whom the letter is specific to be in talks with her. But this is just disregarding the presence of their daughter who has been away and who has been sent to her death when they were still under the demon''s control. I didn''t say much and just waited for the queen to continue talking and she did continue after seeing me not saying anything from what she just said. "We apologize that we didn''t contact you so soon after the events that transpired here in the past. We should be grateful to you all who saved thisnd from the control of the demons." "Why are you thanking me? If not for the help of your daughter, this kingdom would be already destroyed and turned to dust. I merely helped since she pleaded for us to help," although my words are clearly not what transpired, it''s also true that she indeed asked us for help, though I am clearly going to the route of helping out anyway as that was the questid out for me. Hearing this, the queen stopped and it seems like she swallowed something hard as she didn''t get to speak after hearing that. Looks like all the facts were hidden from her since she didn''t even know much about Tina''s involvement. Although she didn''t face off with the king in the end, it is still because of her that the other demon was defeated while I was busy defeating the king under the influence of the weapon of the Seven Deadly sins series. "Ahem. Let''s not dwell on the past. We know that our daughter helped with the final battle against the demons but we are also in debt to you who stopped the destruction of the kingdom and for sparing us while we are under demonic control. So we invited you to receive a reward of your choice. We can''t just let you have not gained anything from that scuffle and we should have at leastpensated you for the trouble we have caused," the king offered. "As much as I would have been happy with that, I do not care much about rewards regarding that. If you really want me to receive a reward, then have Tina, your daughter talk with the two of you and fix this family problem of yours." One of the guards armed himself by activating his ded hands and red at me, "How dare humans talk down to our majesty like that?!" I didn''t back down and was ready to pull my weapon as well. "If you think I would be afraid fighting against you or anyone else present in this room, you are all wrong. I have faced countless battles so these encounter doesn''t matter much to me." Tina didn''t stop me from doing so but the kingmanded the soldiers to calm down and the soldiers were forced to stop as well and returned to their neutral stance. "Very well. If you think that is the appropriate reward for what you have done, we will do so. However, that is not the main topic here. We are actually calling you here to fulfill a request and we are hoping that you ept it. As for our daughter. the reason we called her here is due to one who will inherit the throne." Looks like my previous assumption was indeed correct. The king and queen called Tina back to the kingdom in hopes of discussing the matter of throne inheritance. With both the brother and sister who were supposed to be the ones who will inherit the title of king and queen dead, the only candidate left is none other than Tina herself. But there is one thing I am curious about. There shouldn''t have been any events here in Aquagius that is worth remembering at the moment. I am quite certain that nothing is worth noting at the moment so what is this thing these guys are trying to talk with me? Is it perhaps a hidden event? Chapter 695 The Looming Insect War The topic that the King and Queen are talking about is something that didn''t ur back in the past timeline. If there was something that happened back then, I should have been able to learn what it was. After all, anything big events were being snared by the guild I was in back then, and anything that could increase the fame level of their guild will also be used to make sure that they will be famous enough to recruit more people they could exploit. Of course, I might just be assuming that this will be big. It might just be small talk so there''s nothing I think I remembered to be happening at all. "I heard your exploits in many continents and it''s not only exclusive to one. I even heard you have gained the trust of the Merfolk people as well as they are talking about you about the exploits you have done before. Therefore, when we receive the news, we immediately think of you to talk to. With the connection you have with our daughter, we used that to contact you about it," the king exined. "So you used her as a way to contact me, is that it?" I repeated. "Ah..." the king realized what he just said and went speechless as he didn''t expect to slip out what he just said. It''s kinda sad but that''s just how it is for them and their daughter huh? "Go on. I am interested in what you want to talk about with my Master." "Ahem... ah yes. Anyways, this event shouldn''t have happened for quite some time but due to some conflict, the decennial event that is supposed to happen next year will be happening this year." "Not sure I follow..." I shook my head as I still have no idea what they were talking about." "Looks like it was the Decennial Insect War, Master. Have you heard of it?" When Tina said it, I immediately remembered that war, and it was called the Decennial Insect War. It''s about the annual invasion of Parasite Insects. It''s a very infamous war due to how gruesome it was for many yers, not because of blood and guts spilled but because of how disgusting the Parasite Insects are which doesn''t matter whether they are dead or alive as they still looked gross. It was a massive-scale war but it was also a war that lost almost half of its participants after the yers found and have seen the enemies. Since the event spanned for a few days, those who signed up but decided to withdraw after the first battle didn''t log back into the game until the event ended. Thankfully, there are still a lot of yers who remained till the end so the war ended up in spectacr colors. I still remember that event quite well due to how that event allowed me and the other members of the guild I belonged to manage to level up properly without being deleveled to zero since the event has a double experience gain, beginner-friendly mobs that are easy to kill and a grind that is reasonable as well. It''s also thanks to this event that I managed to rebel myself and remove myself from the oppression of the guild and be independent since the guild members couldn''t defeat me anymore when they were now tasked to delevel us. The event was pretty fresh in my mind but I didn''t know that the event only happens once a decade until now as the event just sorta happened and most of the info was not given to us and only the guild leaders were given tasks and left us to our devices that time. Since it never happened again during the time this event happened until the day I almost died and returned to the past. Perhaps if I continued further into the game instead of returning to the past, perhaps I would have experienced the event once more. The king continued his exnation once more. "We will start recruiting people to help out on this uing war. I heard that Adventurers like you are very eager to join battles like this as long as there are rewards and mary value to your actions. And the more enticing the rewards are, the better the reception and actions being done as a result. Since we wanted the best of the best, we immediately thought of you who previously saved us from demon control and has multiple feats in differentnds. If we recruit you for this, perhaps we would have an easier time in this warpared to the usual." I didn''t say anything. Although the event is pretty interesting, its not something I would really need to participate in. Aside from the fact that I already hit the level cap, from what I can remember, the rewards are prettyckluster to yers who have yed a lot almost everyday and almost 24 hours a day gamey is already quite insane so most of the items given out are only beneficial to yers who are still around level 150 to level 200. Other than that, its pretty much not that great for me. Then, instead of me, the one who responded on the notion was instead Tina. "My master is quite a busy person but since you all are asking nicely and personally asked us, perhaps we will give it a chance and properly prepare for the uing days. It''s not that big of a deal so we might be able to finish the problem faster than expected." I thought the answer of Tina regarding the offer is quite remarkable and I thought these guys would be pretty happy that we are considering on epting their request for help but it surprised me when the queen suddenly made an outburst of anger. "I know that you are now apanion of the great adventurer but you shouldn''t forget to have manners. Suddenly inserting yourself in the middle of a conversation of other people is a rude thing. We are talking to this young man, and not you. You are just apanion and you don''t have the rights to butt in to our conversation. Remember that! So you shut your mouth and let your "Master" talk instead. Look at him, he is now feeling awkward since you keep on butting in to our conversation that he doesn''t get the chance to talk." When I heard this, it''s no longer something I can tolerate into. I have been holding back since earlier but I think my temper meter is about to burst already. i looked around and the others seems to agree with the sentiments with the queen. It was like they don''t even see Tina as someone who has the right to talk. "Looks like our discussion is over," I stood up from my seat followed by the others as well. Tina was shocked at first but then smiled after seeing my decision. She also stood up and followed as well. "Huh? But we have yet to finish the discussion and you didn''t say anything just yet!" the king stood up from his chair as well. "Exactly. There is no need for me to finish the discussion so we are leaving. Is it that hard to understand?" "But why?! I thought you are always ready to help anyone in need! You even epted the request of many people from other continent! Why not from us?" "The decision was already made before but you guys got angry on it. So what now? Why further the discussion if you guys get angry over it?" "Get angry? I only reprimanded my daughter about talking while we are discussing things!" the queen exined. "But Tina has the call for this matter. I am not really interested in this matter as it is pretty much a mediocre war but I let Tina do the honors of epting the offer since you people are her family. She still has familial bond left on her that she wanted to help you all out. But look what happened, you guys got angry when she decided to help. It was like pping away the hand of someone who is willing to help because they wanted others to help them instead. If you can''t even respect Tina and treat her equally, then forget about cooperation. I wouldn''t even bother about helping you all in that goddamned war." "But why would we respect someone who is not even fit for a royalty? She has the blood of the royals and yet she failed to exhibit the traits of being a royalty herself. That alone is a big reason she is not worth talking to," the queen then proceeds to condescendingly re at Tina like she was staring at a dirty beggar. "Not fit for a royal huh?" I looked at Tina and nodded. Tina understood my gesture and smiled before she snapped her fingers. In a sh, the old form she was using faded and her new form appeared, revealing the current true form of Tina after her awakening. She slowly opened her big and colorful wings and proudly ps it, releasing a sweet smell aroma, simr to a honey and flowers that are in full bloom. The guards and servants who saw the spectacle couldn''t believe their eyes and stare at Tina in disbelief. "T-t-t-the Ancient Wings?! Y-y-you possess the Ancient Wings?!" the king keeps on rubbing his eyes. Even the queen couldn''t believe it as well. "Now then, who is the one who is not fit to be a royal huh?" Tina turns her back as she followed me, out of the room, leaving everyone stunned and bewildered. Chapter 696 Metamorphosis With the dining experience with the Insect Kingdom''s royalty being an absolute disaster, we returned to the cottage house. Tina is looking too exhausted after the meetup with her parents but I cannot me her for it. She is not to be med for it as her parents are pretty much an ass. Even I would not like it as well if they are that rude to me. They did it for themselves and it''s not worth mulling over. "Master, are you sure that we should just give up on participating in this war? I could have just swallowed my pride back there and allowed them to badmouth me as long as you get the best of the best offers." I shook my head and tap her shoulders. "Tina, the fact that they are still like that to you doesn''t mean you can just keep on epting that abuse to yourself. We all know that a bloodline and a status don''t mean much aside from being known to the popce. This war is something that we can just remain on the sideline. We could join in the fight in the warter on but we will not be able to gain any kind of recognition or rewards as a result so that''s just the problem. But I don''t see it as a problem if we have shown your parents that you are not the same Tina that they can just easily harass and treat you like trash. Just forget about their offer and we should just wait until the war proceeds." "Is it fine if we just jumped through the war without the permission of my parents?" This time, Gobu entered the room after scanning the whole area for enemies and answered Tina''s question. "Tina-chan, the war doesn''t choose who will participate in it. If they are involved in it, they will be involved no matter how much you try to escape from it. If we wanted to jump in and join the fray between the war of insects and parasites, there is not a big problem with that. We are the third party crashing into another party. Getting into war doesn''t need permission to participate in it in my opinion," Gobu sat down on the sofa after answering Tina''s question. "Is that so?" "Which is why we should remain here in the Aquagius region. Wait for the uing war tomence and observe whether we should join in or not. It''s your choice, Tina. After all, this is your home, and it''s up to you whether you still want to help them despite the things they have done to you. I am not going to say anything else about it." After talking to Tina, I went outside to explore outside but before I could do so, Lina who was currently outside alongside Cotton suddenly went to me and she is currently looking worried. "Master... I don''t know what is going on but something is happening to Cotton. She is totally unresponsive and she is not breathing much. I am not sure what is happening anymore and I can''tmunicate with her unlike Lucia so it is making me panic more. What is going on, Master?!" She handed me the motionless Cotton. She doesn''t have any changes except that she is asleep, feels very hot to the touch, and does not wake up no matter how much movement you do. I tried to see whether Cotton is no longer breathing but she was wrong as Cotton is still breathing but she is breathing very slowly. It''s easily missable due to how slow the breathing is. I don''t me Lina for missing it as Cotton''s breathing is too far from each other that anyone who tried to feel her breathing won''t feel it due to how minor her breathing that she is. But despite the fact that Cotton is alive, her behavior is not something I have seen before and the menu for Cotton doesn''t exin her current condition which made me a little bit worried that Cotton is experiencing something we don''t know. "Master, how about we ask Tina about this? Aside from Lucia, Tina can alsomunicate with Cotton quite well. And since they are both in the line of the Insect Species, perhaps she knows what is happening to Cotton?" "You are right, perhaps Tina can help us with this." We rushed inside the house and looked for Tina. Tina is still in her room and is currently mulling over the things that happened earlier. We knocked on the door that is open to let Tina know that we are currently at the doorway. "Tina? Can youe here for a second?" A little bit confused, Tina stood up and had a confused look on her face. "What is going on, Master? Lina-chan? You guys seemed to be troubled?" "There is something happening on Cotton but we don''t know what is going on. Lina even thought Cotton died but she is still alive. Can you see what is currently happening to her?" Tina holds Cotton slowly and she jolted when she felt the hot body of Cotton. Thankfully, she didn''t throw Cotton away but she was definitely not expecting the hotness that Cotton''s body is releasing. She looked at her for a while, and inspected her body if there is anything wrong with her, she even inspected her breathing patterns and nodded but she didn''t say much and continued to observe Cotton for a while without saying anything. I can see the panicked look on Lina''s since she is thest one who holds Cotton and if something happened to Cotton, she is going to take the me as she is thest one who was with Cotton. Plus adding the pressure of the condition that Cotton is currently in, it is natural she is worried about her. Adding the fact that Tina is saying anything as she checks on Cotton adds more worry to her. It took a few minutes before Tina sighed and handed back Cotton. "Cotton is fine guys, don''t worry about her. This is a natural response and you don''t need to worry too much about her current condition. In fact, you guys should be happy for her." "Be happy? What for? Isn''t she suffering from some kind of disease we don''t know?" "Whoa, whoa, slow down Lina-chan. Cotton is fine and she is not suffering from any kind of disease or any curses or whatever negative thing you might be thinking right now." "Can you kindly exin?" I am still worried about Cotton. "Cotton is undergoing a metamorphosis. You guys should have seen normal butterflies undergoing the metamorphosis process. Cotton is undergoing the same process and that is why she is like this. Oh yeah, you should put Cotton somewhere in a spacious area like a room. Perhaps the vacant room that no one uses? We could use that and put her there." "You mean, this is just her body response due to her currently undergoing the Metamorphosis process?"I rified. "Indeed. I also have undergone this kind of thing before so there is no need for you guys to worry. For us who have the lineage of insects, we undergo metamorphosis depending on the situation. Once she starts to undergo these symptoms, we can already deduce that she will be going to the pupa formter on which is why we needed to put her in an empty ce. That way, she will create her cocoon and safely undergo her changes." Hearing that, Lina immediately went inside the vacant room and vacated most of the things stored there until only the bed is left behind inside. We put Cotton on the bed there and despite being motionless, Tina assured us that she is fine. "We need to leave the room and let Cotton be alone while she is undergoing the metamorphosis. We can''t do anything about it as that is the main rule. We cannot stay while someone is undergoing the metamorphosis process." "Is that really how it is?" Lina is still worried. "Yes. However, we will need to monitor her once 2 days have passed. Because that is the time that will be vital for Cotton to aid in her growth during the metamorphosis. Let''s leave her alone for now and I will exin the next things we needed to do once she has formed her own cocoon." Closing the door, Tina slowly exined to us everything that happens while we are outside and not looking at Cotton and why we cannot get inside for a few days. "If you don''t want to get caught up in being encased by her cocoon, then leaving her alone is the best action you can do. But then, the next thing we needed to do is the most vital piece, master." "Vital piece?" "You needed to get monster cores multiple times and put it on the room while she is currently in her cocoon form. This will allow her to get stronger once she goes to her next form. So Master, before she forms a core, we needed to gather lots of monster cores from the insect monsters and put it to Cotton''s room, which will aid her to change." Chapter 697 Finding A Monster Core For Cotton After Cotton undergoes the Metamorphosis, we left her in the room alone so that she can form her own cocoon. To make sure that Cotton will evolve quite well, Tina suggested we gather monster cores from the insect monsters to aid Cotton''s evolution. And since we are gonna gather cores, I tasked Gobu and Lina to gather materials in the forest for the preparation process. After all, Cores do not drop from monsters automatically but are harvested manually and meticulously so gathering some resources to help with the core collection is necessary. While I prepare everything that is needed for the job, Tina entered my makeshift workshop. "Master, I almost forgot to add another piece of info regarding the core we needed to collect for Cotton." "Info?" I stopped mixing the potion I am creating and looked at Tina with furrowed brows. "Yes. I didn''t think much of it before, but Cotton is already level 300 at the moment right?" "Indeed. So?" "There was a restriction to the kind of core we needed to collect. I didn''t think much of it since I was a low leveled child when I undergo my own metamorphosis, but ording to what I know, when someone undergoes the metamorphosis process, the core is necessary to be the same level or higher than the current level of the one undergoing the process. Since Cotton is level 300, she will have to also get a level 300 core as well but it has to be a core from an insect monster." "The hell?" Over the past years, we have been grinding in the dark sea for weapon attributes. And due to my low luck at sess in putting attributes to my equipment, most of the time, I would be farming for long enough that it didn''t take too long for everypanion of mine to reach the level cap. That includes Cotton as well. If you are asking about the attributes enhancement that I have done to my equipment, don''t ask, until now, I have failed to do most of them so for now, I am just keeping them at the moment until the next big patch that involves the increased session of attribute enhancements. Now, back to the cores. Since Cotton has already reached level 300, the only cores that are gonna work are cores from insect monsters that are around level 300 or over that number. However, I don''t know where to find insect monsters that are over level 300 or even level 300 insect monsters. Resurgia does not have many insect monster varieties and they all are low-level. Sandurk has the Desert Scorpion but that is a raid boss and it''s regrly hunted by yers so getting a core is just a bigpetition. So that is already crossed out from the list of monsters. Luminous Continent had some insect monsters as well but just like the Sandurk continent''s Desert Scorpion, most of them are raid bosses and they are always being hunted regrly by yers so it''s another, not a good choice. All that is left is the Aquagius. However, Aquagius is mostlyposed of a big body of water and dungeons and monsters that are either fish or beings that live on the water. Sure, you have the insect kingdom and the onlynd that is present in the Aquagius Continent. There are insect monsters present indeed, however, a level 300 or more? Pretty hard to find and pretty much a troublesome thing to search for. I have a few ideas on where to look but there is no guarantee to find one here. After all, when I reached level 300, I barely visited Aquagius and frequently stayed in other regions instead so I have no idea where to find an insect monster that is at level 300 or higher that currently exists in Aquagius and is easy to defeat. "Any suggestion where we should find an insect monster we can harvest the core with?" I asked Tina. Since she lived in Aquagius for so long, she should know something about insect monsters present in her homnd right? "Master, have you forgotten? I am not as privileged as myte brother and sister. I am very sheltered before and I barely had exposure outside due to the mockery of the people. Asking me is fruitless and useless. I am sorry about it, Master." I scratch my head even though it''s not itchy after hearing her answer. How foolish of me to ask her that. How should she know in the first ce indeed? "Can''t be helped, I might have to do it personally." Although I don''t have the slightest idea just yet on where we will get the core, I can just search the forest. Perhaps I can spot one on the way. I asked Tina to watch the cottage while I am gone and transformed into a bat to search for the monsters. With the [Echolocaion] ability, I can map out the entire area below the trees just fine and see whether there are monsters and yers nearby. Thend of the Insect People and insect monsters is big butpared to the water surrounding thend, the size of thend in Aquagius is just a handful of dirtpared to the vast water all around. I circled around the forest for quite a while and managed to find both Gobu and Lina fighting against insect monsters. I didn''t need to step in and help as they don''t need it and they can do it just fine and I press on. There are indeed some monsters I discovered deep beneath the forests some of them are massive and some are a little bit bigger than expected. But when I checked their levels, I am left disappointed as they don''t even qualify due to how low their levels are. Most are around level 100 below and if there are some higher-level insect monsters, they are around level 250 or lower. The threshold for what was needed is still something I still couldn''t find. I continue to fly around the ce until I felt exhausted and returned to my human form andnded on the nearestnd that is devoid of monsters and rested. Being small has advantages but because I am small also has plenty of disadvantages especially for bats as bats are not capable of flying very long distances for hours whenpared to birds. As I take a break in the tree''s shade, I spotted a little area that is currently closed off by a huge web. I already mapped out the area before Inded so I am sure there are no enemies here but seeing the web, I kinda doubt it a little. After getting a good amount of rest, I checked through the web and noticed a little cavern hidden from the web. Just by examining the web, I can immediately tell it doesn''t belong to a spider otherwise, this web should be as thick as a normal thread and as tough as rope, and as sticky as slime. The web here doesn''t possess the quality of the web from the spiders therefore, something else made it. After removing the web covering the little cavern, I ready myself for any uing attacks triggered by the web''s removal but it didn''t happen so I continued on. Before I can enter, a panel appeared before me allowing me to realize that it was a dungeon. Just as I realized this, another popup message appeared before me. "[Congrattions! You are the first person to discover the "Lair of the KaValesh"! You have been rewarded 100 prestige points for discovering a hidden dungeon!]" A hidden dungeon? I didn''t know about this. As I checked the level entry of the dungeon, I gained hope all of a sudden seeing that the level entry to get inside the dungeon is level 300... Perhaps I am gonna find what I am looking for in here. Chapter 698 The Hidden Dungeon The dungeon was something I didn''t expect. Normally, caverns like these are not that deep so they don''t develop into dungeons and instead be home to big boss monsters that are present on the field. There are some cases but it''s extremely rare. So seeing a dungeon like this randomly is notmon and the fact that it wasn''t discovered just yet and it''s a very high-level dungeon makes it a bit weirder that after all these years, this dungeon has yet to be discovered by yers. Though I must admit that the dungeon was pretty much blending into the background, that doesn''t mean it''s not gonna be discovered. After all, yers who like to explore are all over the game, there is no way they have missed this by chance at all. This is an MMORPG game that has thousands if not millions of yers ying at the moment. But since I was the one who discovered it, then it doesn''t matter. Time to explore the ce. I still have not seen what this dungeon is all about so I choose the Normal Difficulty first to check theyout. It would be a very bad idea for me to jump straight to Abyss Mode without knowing what awaits me in this dungeon especially since it''s the hardest dungeon. The portal appeared and I entered the dungeon''s entrance wondering what is going to be this dungeon would look like. Passing through the dungeon portal, what weed me is the very big cavern, covered in green moss. It''s not the mostmon dungeon look but it''s not that rare either. The only difference I saw here is that there are lots of bones littered across the floor and there are some web sacs present as well. There are two candidates of enemies that are present here and it''s either silkworm-type monsters or spider-type monsters. I approached one of the web sacs resting on the side and opened it up, revealing a skeleton of a monster curling inside. Based on the bones themselves, it is clear its been a long while since it died as the bones have already gathered quite some moss and some of the bones are too brittle that a slight movement would make the whole skeleton crumble even though it is still intact, it won''t take long before its form disappear and crumble to dust. There are more of those web sacs present and since there is a possibility that there are spider enemies present, I checked every single one of them, in case the web sacs are egg sacs of the spiders. If left behind, there is a big chance it will hatch, ambush the victim from behind and kill them. It''s always the necessary move when in a dungeon with spider monsters so even though it''s a little tedious, it''s necessary to ensure no ambushes happen. So far, all of the web sacs I opened up are all monster remains so there is no danger of ambush from behind at the moment. Proceeding further, the bones are getting more and more than the minute. But enemies are nowhere to be found. Are the enemies that are supposed to be in here the monsters encased on the web sacs? I don''t think so but perhaps that is a possibility. As I went deeper, the more the webs strewn across the ce that blocks my way. Some of them are tough while some of them are just too soft that I can just remove them with my hand. For the hard ones though, I have to cut them using my Versatile Weapon. Based on the webs I have found, there is only one type of insect that has this distinct feature and that is the silkworm type enemies. Compared to spiders, they are capable of solidifying their webs depending on their usage. This is why some of their webs are good materials for rope as they are hard to break and they are much tougherpared to the spider web. If processed. they can be made into silk as well which is a prime material for clothes and armor. The only thing I am a bit confused about is why it wraps other monsters inside the web. Like their real-world counterparts, silkworm monsters are herbivores and they only attack enemies using their web or by other means like acid spit and other stuff. So seeing this behavior is a bit different. As I turn into the corner, I immediately hid before I reveal myself. Monsters. It was a sudden appearance of them but finally found some enemies. I peeked and checked the enemies since I only have gotten a glimpse of them. The enemies were...ants? I rubbed my eyes for a bit and squinted them to make sure I am not seeing things and indeed, they were ants. I am confused as the ant-type monsters are mostly seen in Sandurk. Although there are cases around Resurgian where ants are also there, they are mostly present in Sandurk which is why there are also enemies there known as the Antlions that prey on ant monsters. Never heard of ants in the Aquagius though but since this is a new dungeon, perhaps there is a reason why there are ants here. Ants have tough shells but they are not rtively hard. But knowing this is a level 300 dungeon, perhaps these ants are different. I pulled out a bottle of Fire Bomb, an upgrade of the Molotov Cocktail. It deals higher damage andsts longer. Knowing the ants are weak against fire, I throw the bottle at the ants, igniting the area in mes. "SKREEE! SKREEE!" However, contrary to my expectation, the result I predicted didn''t ur. "F*ck, they are not burning... does that mean, they are immune to mes?!" "SKREEEEEE!" Their heads turned in my direction and locked me in their sight. "Damn, way too messy, this is trouble with my ns." As they lunge in my direction, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and swing its de at the lunging ant. PENG! My Versatile Weapon collided with the ant but the ant didn''t get damaged. It instead blocks my strike with its head. "It looks like this is not meant to be easy in the first ce!" The ants appeared to be agitated and I am now able to see their status. [Fire-Dwelling Ant] Level 300 HP: 5,000,000/5,000,000 Traits: Insect, Fire, Metal I didn''t expect to see a monster with traits that contradicts itself. Insect trait is weak to fire, and metal is weak to fire as well. Metal and Insect is a bitplicated matter but it''s not necessarily bad they don''t contradict but it rarely happens. It also has a beefy HP but is not necessarilyrge. After all, this amount of HP is now normal in level 300 and above monsters. "Okay, you bastards, let''s dance!" "SKREEEEEE!" The two ants are angry and they started to throw mes like they are methrowers at me. I immediately deployed my Versatile Weapon''s shield form and block the mes. "Damn, I never dreamed to see an insect spit out a literal fire!" Thankfully, they don''t have infinite mes to spit out as they stopped spitting after a few seconds, I took that chance to charge through the insects using [Shield Bash]. -51,986 damage dealt -45,102 damage dealt The damages done by a single shield bash should have reached around 200k damage or more if it was a normal kind of ant but with its metal trait, it reduces a lot of damage taken by attacks and has a tough defense. And since it is immune to fire, fire element attacks are useless as well. The two ants that got damaged by the [Shield Bash] didn''t like the attack and continued to fight back. I changed my weapon into a magic sword and activated the [Water Sword], encasing my Versatile Weapon in water. I didn''t waste my time and hacked and shed the two ants until they both died. Thankfully, they aren''t that hard to kill since they still move like normal ants so killing them was a piece of cake as their attacks get predictable. Since they were level 300 enemies, I took this chance to harvest their cores. After harvesting their cores, I am now good to go with these for Cotton''s needs. However, I am still a bit curious about the dungeon especially if my assumption is correct whether the one making the webs is a silkworm or not. After all, the presence of the ants might make my assumption wrong. Also, if I gather lots of level 300 cores, I don''t need to gather more if Cotton needed more, right? And so, I press on. The cave also became less mossy now as I proceed further into the dungeon. Not only that but the ants are also present as well, not just the first two I defeated before. But since they are not that strong, I easily defeated them and gathered their cores. It didn''t take long for me to reach the Mini Boss Room. Seeing how many ants were present near here before reaching this ce, perhaps this boss might be something they are protecting. Armed with my Versatile Weapon, I press onwards. Chapter 699 Elemental Ants Entering the Mini-Boss Room, I was weed by a bigger Ant. Much bigger than the normal ants present in the dungeon. But that doesn''t end there, there''s not one, not two, and not three big ants but four of them are present. When I entered the range, the four ants revealed themselves much clearer to me, allowing me to find out that they are color-coded with red, blue, green, and yellow as their colors and from the looks of it, each of them has different elemental traits. [Soldier Fire Ant] (Mini Boss) Level 300 HP: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Trait: Insect, Fire, Metal [Soldier Water Ant] (Mini Boss) Level 300 HP: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Trait: Insect, Water, Metal [Soldier Wind Ant] (Mini Boss) Level 300 Hp: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Trait: Insect, Wind, Metal [Soldier Volt Ant] (Mini Boss) Level 300 HP: 20,000,000/20,000,000 Trait Insect, Electric, Metal Just imagining meeting all four of these ants in the Abyss Difficulty, I can see that this will be a very tough fight if I entered the Abyss Difficulty of this dungeon. However, I have to face them at the moment and defeat them all. "SKREEEEEEE!" All four screeched and immediately attacked. Since I am doing it solo, I have to deal with the enemies carefully. The four charged forward straight to me so I immediately activated my wings and fly up to dodge their charge. As a result, the four bump into each other. But that doesn''t change anything as they don''t take damage from bashing themselves which is a little bit disappointing but there''s nothing I can do about it. The green soldier was the very first to recover from the collision and started to look for me. Since the other three have yet to recover, I took this chance to attack the green one first. Landing on the green ant, I changed my weapon into a dagger and stab it inside the green ant''s head with a little gap big enough for a dagger to fit in. A single stab causes the green ant to struggle and hopes to remove me from its body by moving around erratically. I didn''t pull out the dagger form of the Versatile Weapon just yet and while it was still stuck inside the gap, I grab the handle, and changed its form into a magic sword, transforming the short de into a longer de, effectively piercing through its little armor. Its HP is dropping as the Versatile Weapon remained on its head and every time it moves, the sword also messes up its position, causing more damage to the ant a lot more. The other ants have already recovered and started firing elemental spits in my direction but since I am small and agile enough to dodge the attack, instead of hitting me, most of their attacks arending straight at the ant, causing it more pain. Compared to their headbutt that made them shaken before, the attacks the other ants are doing are hurting the green ant. It''s not just that but my weapon is getting deeper and deeper into its head, contributing more damage to the mini-boss. When its HP starts to reach critical levels, now around a million and still dropping rapidly, I decided to use this chance to eliminate the boss immediately. "[Earth Fissure]!" The moment the skill was activated, the ant stopped moving and in a few seconds of still movement, its body started to expand. I pulled the Versatile Weapon out from its body and fly away from it. My timing was impable since the moment I managed to get away from the green ant, the expanding body couldn''t handle it anymore and exploded to pieces, effectively killing one of the four bosses. "One down, three more to go!" The three remaining ants didn''t like that one of theirrades are killed. Instead of attacking me directly, they didn''t and positioned themselves on the sides, and from the looks of it, they have the n to defeat me by teaming up. But after the first green ant was killed, I already know a good method to defeat them all. I fly up in the air and the three started firing projectiles made of elemental spit they spit out. It was fast like a bullet, but they aren''t that hard to dodge. Once they fired it up, I immediately confirmed that they have trouble spitting out more of those elemental spits for a few minutes as it takes time for them to spit morepared to the regr ants I fought as they have no trouble spitting out mes multiple times. I immediatelynded on one of the ants, this time, the me element ant. However, this time around, I didn''t stick the Versatile Weapon into the gap on its head. Instead, I changed the Versatile Weapon into a gun. Aside from the dagger, the gun is small enough to fit in. Putting its muzzle inside the gap, I grinned and activated one of the Versatile Weapon skills. [Russian Roulette]!" BANG! One bullet into the head. And a debuff immediately took effect. The red ant struggled and fell to its knees. It was in huge pain and it couldn''t move. "Paralysis huh? I was hoping for it to be Poison, Bleed, or Skill Seal but Paralysis is fine too." The red ant is not able to move and struggled to stand back up. On the other hand, the other two didn''t attack just like they did before. Instead, they remained vignt and kept on watching my actions. Looks like they learned what will happen if they try to shoot like before. But they are now forming a stance of attack. Once I get off the red ant, they will attack me. While the Red Ant is still struggling from paralysis, I grab a bottle of Freezing Ssh Potion. This is simr to the Fire Bomb and Molotov Cocktail but this isn''t used to spread chaos and burn things, it''s usually used for freezing enemies and restricting their movements. They don''t deal damage and just encase enemies in ice. Depending on the enemies, they can escape from it easily but I have other use for it. Opening the bottle of the potion, I pry the shell forcefully open of the Red Ant, revealing its flesh protected inside the tough shell. Without a second thought, I pour the contents inside the shell and emptied them into the head of the ant. Because it freezes immediately the moment it gets in contact outside of the specialized bottle it was in, the liquid flows through the ant''s unprotected head and freezes over. The freezing process was fast and before the ant realize what is happening, the ant''s head is frozen. This effectively killed the ant. As the Red Ant Slumped over, the two remaining ants didn''t like that even the red ant is dead. They didn''t waste time and the yellow ant shot a voltage of lightning in my direction. I immediately dodged it but the moment I dodged, the blue ant lunged in my direction, catching me off guard. I managed to block his attack by putting the Versatile Weapon against his mandibles. Wrestling against the ant was very tough. It was like wrestling against 5 sumo wrestlers trying to tten you. Not only does it possess very high strength, one wrong move and this ant can cut my body in half. If I was using a normal weapon, it would have gone down to its final durability point and broken to pieces if that was the case. Thankfully, it didn''t possess any durability and will remain intact no matter what abuse has been done to it, not that I would do that of course. Despite the ant trying to overpower me, I am not just letting this f*cker try to kill me here. I pulled out the Pain Delivery on my waist and aim the gun at the blue ant''s head. "Have some pain delivered to your head!" BANG! One bullet and the ant went down as its head exploded to pieces. Like always, the Pain Delivery is just too overpowered and it one-shots the enemies I usually encounter. I only use it for emergency purposes like the situation earlier but in some fights where I can just fight normally, this gun should remain in the holster. However, I guess it''s an exemption for today. As much as I like the challenge, I am short on time today, so I will lift that ban for now. The yellow ant, now the only remaining mini-boss alive, decided to do a do-or-die action and lunged at me while electricity is running on its body. From the looks of it, it is trying to self-destruct. "Sorry, but if you are nning to Self Destruct, then forget it. I need your core so I need your body intact. Don''t make my job harder." BANG! One bullet straight to the head is all it needs to be taken down. With the mini-boss section done, looks like the final boss is the next thing now. Chapter 700 Failed Evolution The four cores immediately went into my inventory, all that is left for me to do is clear the final area which is the boss room as well. I could just quit the dungeon there but I am still curious as to which monster is making those webs. I am a very curious person by nature so it''s natural that I want to check out what was all that thing about. Making my way to the boss room, I y a few more ants that are not a challenge anymore after killing a lot of them on the way. But I didn''t mind as that also means more cores. My only gripe is that I am not gaining experience here, after all, the level cap has yet to increase so all the experience I gain is just thrown out the window. The rewards though are pretty meh. Even the rewards from beating the four ants are pretty meh. It dropped an armor that has a high resistance against Fire, Water, Wind, and Electric elements. It has decent stats for defense and raises max hp to 1000. Not only that but it was a level 100 armor, meaning, it''s pretty essible to yers who already reached level 100 not only that but it is an all-around armor so any ss will be able to equip it... Will be selling that though as I can see potential buyers for this. Too bad that no one from my group needs it. My Versatile Weapon won''t benefit from eating it either since it is now bing picky as it will only gain stats from items that are level 300 or perhaps above that level now. Below that level and the Versatile Weapon just eats the weapon but does not offer any additional perks aside from gaining the ability to shift its form to that weapon it ate, as for armor and other things, nothing happened and it was like you just throw away something into the trash. Alright back to business though. Traversing the path to the boss room, the pathway towards the boss room gets really tight now with all the web around the walls and traversing it was a pain. After a few attempts trying to squeeze myself inside on most obstacles, I gave up and sted the webs in mes instead. Thankfully, it is still pretty mmable so it caught fire quickly. I repeated it again and again once the web once again tried to interfere with my progression. Thankfully, with the web burning quite well and extinguishing quickly enough, I didn''t have any problem traversing and worrying about mes burning me up. However, not all are happy about me burning the webs as the remnant of the ants I have yet to kill are pretty angry at me. Of course, they are not even a big problem so they died and their core is mine. Anyways, I continue to move toward the final boss room. Soon enough, I arrived at the final part of the dungeon. It''s a big entrance filled with webs. Entering it is impossible in normal ways and cutting it takes a long time to finish so just like before, I use the mes again to burn the webs to cinders. It''s very satisfying to see the web burn but it ended too quickly as the web is too mmable and easily caught in mes. But with the web gone, entering the boss room is now easy enough that all I have to do is step inside. The room is also filled with webs. No scratch that, the room isn''t filled with webs, the entirety of the room is now covered in webs that you won''t even see any of the natural wall, floor, and ceiling of the room, and only the ceiling, wall, and floor made of the web are left. I checked the surroundings but I couldn''t concentrate when the smell of the room is quite pungent. It''s like the smell of a dead rat has been rotting there. Although it''s not as bad as the smell back in Luminous Continent''s church that has been taken over by the enemy, the smell is pretty bad, and it''s not something I would get used to smelling. Exploring the boss''s room allowed me to see that the ce is very big and wide. It''s pretty much as big as the interior of a mega mall but that is not something I should be happy about. A big room means a big boss and messy big attacks that will take you out if you are slow. Then, my eyes locked in contact with the strange thing in the middle of the room. "F*CK, I knew it." Before me is a giant cocoon. It''s an understatement when I said it is a giant, it''s pretty big and even the room which is pretty much as big as an interior of a mega mall looks pretty small due to its massive size. It''s quite towering to see. Since the cocoon has yet to open up, the creature is still inside the cocoon and has yet to emerge. This is basically still a pupa. If that is the case, perhaps the good old reliable fire will do the trick and burn the boss before it awakens. I pulled out the [Hellfire] scroll and tear it to pieces, conjuring a very hot me that burned the webs to cinders so quickly. I have to shield myself with the Versatile Weapon to stop the me from burning in my direction. As soon as the mes have spread out and the cocoon is now catching in mes, the monster inside started squirming and the howls of pain from a monster can be heard inside it. It''s definitely hurting as the mes have been burning the whole ce but before the mes of the [Hellfire] can engulf the whole cocoon up into mes, the creature inside the cocoon breaks out, tearing off the web. There, an iplete butterfly appeared before me and roared in pain as the cocoon has been engulfed in mes. The butterfly managed to escape but as a result, the transformation didn''t go well and the form of the butterfly is now iplete. As a result, the monster didn''t like the oue and decided to attack. At that moment, I got a glimpse of its name. [Failed Evolution] (Boss) HP: 500,000/ ???????? Traits: Insect Perhaps because of my interruption, the boss failed to even develop a good oue for its body that even the boss name registered is now called Failed Evolution. Its HP has been reduced to 500k as well though seeing the multiple question marks on the health bar, if I let the butterflymence the evolution, then perhaps the HP of this guy is also massive. But after the failed evolution attempt, it''s now too damaged and the only remaining ability left is its desire to fight. I wasn''t expecting much since it was a failed evolution but I didn''t expect the evolution of the monster is something I didn''t like to see. The butterfly lunges, using its deformed wings, and opened its mouth, revealing its thousands of razor-sharp teeth, and was about to devour me. I immediately dodged away and fired [Fireball] at its wings. Noticing the balls of fire iing, it darts away, sessfully dodging my attack. As an immediate follow-up, I changed my weapon into a cannon and shoot out the [Grapeshot], shooting multiple cannonballs with a small size, releasing it simultaneously in one st. Even if the butterfly tried to escape, the cannonballs are small and swift, easily destroying its wings like nothing and preventing it from moving faster. It''s sad though that the boss was able to escape from any fatal attacks though it is now on its in a very tight situation. Seeing it was a very big disadvantage for the monster, it tried to flee by skittering fast. However, I already assumed it will escape so when it started to make a break to escape, I immediately deployed a [Kekkai], encasing the Failed Evolution inside. It tried to break free but I didn''t want it to escape so I strengthened the [Kekkai] again by casting anotheryer to it. Compared to the ants, this battle is pretty much the easiest I have done. Might be because I managed to cheese it out and activated a feature I didn''t know would trigger the boss. As a result, the boss is too easy to kill and is now basically just a weak monster that can''t fight anymore. [You have cleared the dungeon] [Rewards distributed based on the contribution] [Special reward for triggering a unique condition distributed as well] The rest of the announcementes from the obvious. As for the unique condition, I can easily tell that it was the act of me burning the pupa before it develops fully, allowing me to kill the boss before it even manifests. Of course, that is no longer a problem. With the dungeon cleared and with the cores I needed are all now with me, its time to aid Cotton on her own evolution as well. Chapter 701 Pupa What a haul. Just looking at the amount of level 300 cores in my inventory is a bit overwhelming, to be honest. I never harvested this many cores before since most of the time since I only choose different cores that are from bigger monsters like bosses, field bosses, unique type monsters, and other rare types. Normal monsters don''t receive that much treatment as they are normal andmon, getting their core is not very profitable stuff. I marked the dungeon on my map. It''s a dungeon that no one has discovered yet other than me so it will be a great idea to challenge the other difficulties in the future and see whether there will be more varieties of rewards. After all, the best rewards are locked away in the hardest difficulties. But since I am done, I activated my wings and fly back to the cabin. On my way back, I spotted multiple yers roaming around the forest. It seems that the news about the insect war has spread already and yers are now flocking back to Aquagius to wait for the event to kickstart. It''s natural to see other yers around now in the forest, perhaps to grind more levels in the forest or they are finishing some quests they have taken from the NPCs in the city. Not that I care much about them but it''s also clear that even though I declined the invitation to participate in the war, the royals still continue to recruit others and it does not affect them. Not my problem though. When I arrived back at the cabin, Gobu and Lina are back and are currently gutting arge boar they hunted in the forest. There are also lots of wood as well so we are set for the camping as well. I let the two continue their work and went to look for Tina. She was inside the hut and is currently reading a book while sitting beside the door of the room Cotton was ced in. "I got the cores, what''s next?" "Oh? As expected of Master. Anyways, can I see the cores?" "Uh...how many cores?" "5 should suffice but we needed to make sure to have more in case she needed more cores to power up her evolution." Hearing that we only need five, I sighed in relief on that. If we give all of the cores, given the amount I managed to gather, I might have to repeat going back and forth to the dungeon just to fetch more. I pick up 5 of the fire ants'' cores in my inventory and handed them to Tina. "Nice. The quality of the core is pure and nice. This is a very ideal core we can use for Cotton." She opened the door of the room and it weed me a scene that I didn''t think would happen in this normal room. Inside is the same room except that this time, a lot of webs are all around the ce with the addition of the Pupa form of Cotton. Cotton was small but her Pupa form is big. As big as a human body. Even I can fit inside if I entered it myself. "Not what you expected right, Master? However, that''s how evolution is. Once Cotton goes out from here, she will have a different form already," Tina then put the five cores all around the Cocoon''s sides by using the excess webs to put all five of them in ce without then rolling on the floor. "What now?" "All we can do is wait. It can take a long time or a very short time but that''s all we can do right now. Of course, we needed to regrly check the cores if they are still full of power. If they run out of essence inside, then we have to rece them again." "So this is like feeding her food huh? That''s not what I expected but that sounds about right." "Yes. That''s exactly how it is, Master. Now, with the cores ced properly now, our business is done here and so we will now leave her here until the next time we check her again. Don''t worry, Master. I will be right outside the room and guard it to detect any changes in her." "Then I will leave the task to you then since you are the one who knows what is happening." "Got it, Master." I can rx now with Tina guarding Cotton''s room. Because I am tired already, I told everyone that I will go to sleep in the meantime. Which means, I am logging out. I am not sure if it will happen today but my guess is that it will continue to happen just like before. There is no way that it won''t be happening again. .... .... .... Opening my eyes, the light of the sun has entered my bedroom window already. Being an adult sure is different. With school out of the way, I can just go andze around whenever I wanted but I don''t have much of a luxury to remain passive. I stood up from bed, went to the bathroom to take a bath, and prepare to go out. Today is the day I needed toplete the item I have been making. It''s for the preparation of the inevitable. When I went outside of my room, I heard a familiar voice in the living room. Her voice has changed and although she remained the same, she is more of ady nowpared to before. She is immature before but she has grown and even though she still retains that immaturity, I kinda miss that vibe of her. And now, I can prevent that from disappearing. To make sure that I will not be seen by her, I returned to my room and essed the balcony instead. I have to avoid her for now until I finished the charm. As for the reason why I made the charm sote, it''s because the material that I needed for the charm does not exist back then when the magic powers were not as prominent as today. When magic became quite widespread, the material I needed appeared as well. Mana Stones. The solidified version of the mana around the air. Since people are now using magic, Mana Stones will also grow as well. People might not identify the mana stones at the moment but I am quite well versed with them so when I spotted them, I immediately took them. Now, I am processing the item I am making to aid me in preventing Riko''s death. A talisman that will relinquish a barrier that nullifies damages fatal to the one who possesses the item. It is one of the items I had before but during the time when I was fighting against Kazuki, I didn''t bring it with me which was my mistake. Instead of using my car, I escaped and opened up my wings. It''s one of the things I didn''t develop in the past timeline but now that I have the time, I practiced it and developed on myself. Thankfully, it''s much easier now to do so and I can now fly like a bird using the wings. I also cast [Stealth] to myself as that would just make others freak out. Flying has yet to exist yet in this world despite the presence of magic. My destination is, of course, the workshop. ... ... ... Arriving at the workshop, I was expecting the harmless thugs who are idling around the area here to be there but they are not present. The thugs from before that are staying and snooping here have never been present for quite a while so I am not sure what happened to them. But it''s kinda reassuring to have them around as that would also mean fewer people passing the area and fewer people disturbing my work. Then I guess, they also have their own lives so they cannot stay there without doing anything. Removing my stealth and disabling my wings, I opened the workshop''s shutter and opened the locked door. I am not worried about any burr who tries to open this ce, I put a lot of defensive mechanisms on the door that will be triggered if it was opened without my permission. I also put some defensive mechanisms inside as well to prevent burrs from entering without using the door to enter. The workshop has been quite well now. After my first creation of this ce, it significantly changed and some items have been added as well. But that isn''t the highlight today. The same table I have where I am making the item is still littered with the tools. Inside the drawer, I pulled out the unfinished charm inside. I didn''t design it as a ne or an earring. It''s pretty easy to lose especially if it snaps but I have a very borate idea for making it and instead of making it as a jewelry essory, I made it an essory for the phone. A Phone Case. Chapter 702 Phone Case Of Damage Nullifier The phone case is already done but the charm that it needed to be attached with should be intact on it. To make sure the intended effect has to work, I break the Mana stone into pieces and ced them on an intricate design that is a magic formation to activate the intended effect. The design that is ced on the back of the phone case is made from pure silver to aid the mana stone flow to be much better than it should be. Carefully putting them on the design is not easy. Still, it''s not that hard either, it''s just that it takes time to finish up before I manage toplete the additional mana stones on it, and once those are ced, the formation glow, meaning the effect has now activated. Anyone who holds or possesses this phone case will have any damages done to it nullified. Plus, it was on the phone so even the phone is safe in case it will fall to the ground. It''s like hitting two birds with one stone. There is a reason why I decided to make this item. First, there is a big chance that she will still obey the will of her parents. We did persuade her in the past but it didn''t work. I don''t think we can persuade her much to decline it as well in this timeline too. Of course, there is a possibility but that doesn''t mean I am certain that we can convince her. My persuasion skills are subpar and even Janus has a very mediocre ability on it, so the two of us cannot be good candidates for persuasion. The second reason is that this is a failsafe that will help Riko at the time of the future ident. If she had this, whatever things that will happen to her that will harm her life, will be deemed "nullified" and she will be safe in the process. The third reason? It''s almost her birthday. Before the date of the ident., she will be celebrating her birthday. It''s a good excuse to give the gift to her. Plus, she is looking for a new phone case since she can''t find any suitable phone case for her phone. If she has this, she can solve her phone case problem plus she will have a phone case that can morph into any kind of phone model to encase it, making it very ideal for those who are looking for one even if she changed phones, the phone case will remain useful as it can just morph itself to another different phone which is convenient and good in the budget. CLINK! As the final piece of the mana stone has been embedded into the phone cover, the mana stones started glowing. which means the effect has finally kicked in and is ready for action. I am pretty confident in my work and I am not just saying it blindly, its a confidence with my pride as a craftsman. I might not be an official one but I never degrade the quality of my products including this one. "Finally done." Putting the phone case t on the table, I grab my hammer and proceed to swing it to the phone case. Before the hammer could evennd on the phone case, an invisible force the hammer to a halt and instead created a barrier that made the hammer stop midair, hitting on something like metal all of a sudden. I grinned seeing the sess. Who would not be happy if my creation is working as properly intended? Not only that, but this kind of thing does not exist in this world just yet. This is the first of its kind. Now that I am done with the little project, I went to do my other project as well by using the leftover mana stones I gathered. While I am doing it, I decided to create some essories for myself as well. Because, why not? It''s better to be prepared now thanter. ... ... ... ... Closing down the workshop, I received a call from Janus. He is not in the mansion and at the moment, he has no work which means he is free and currently staying in one of the coffee shops nearby. I answered the call with my holophone, revealing the video of himself in a projection and my guess was right indeed. He was in his favorite cafe, sipping his coffee. "Yo, Manato. Where are you?" "I was walking around the streets for the moment, what''s up? Why do you suddenly make a call?" "We can''t discuss it on the phone. Come to the coffee shop. I know you already know what I am talking about. We will discuss that there." "Alright. Be right there." After ending the call, I already knew what is the thing that Janus wanted to discuss. After all, it also happened back in the past and I was involved in it as well. It''s not that far from my position, so I headed there to meet up with Janus. ... ... ... "Yo. Thanks foring. It seems you are just nearby since you easily reach the cafe in a few minutes," Janus waved his arm who is already waiting for me at a table. "Yeah, pretty near already. Didn''t think you would be in here though, I thought you would be grinding some items for amalgamation?" "Nah, that can wait, this one though, is not. And I needed your help on this bro," Janus then put his holophone screen up and shared it with me, revealing the circled date where he put a reminder "Riko''s big day". "I never thought you would bookmark someone else''s birthday since you stated before that you remembered most of them and you don''t need reminders for you to be reminded of it, howe you have one for Riko though?" I asked him, "Hey man, you already know that I liked Riko ever since we three became close friends. There is no way I would forget her birthday and treat it just like another day." "Woah, so my birthday is just a normal day to you?" "Haha, depends on it bro, especially if you have food avable to chow down while we celebrate. Also, bro, your birthday is pretty much easy to remember especially since the next day, it would be already Golden week. No way I would easily forget that, right? Anyways, that''s not our topic here." "So why are you showing this to me then if it''s not our topic?" "It''s rted to it. You already know that her birthday ising soon, right? Even if you don''t, I already showed the date, and the fact that you have a photographic memory doesn''t mean you can forget anything so easily." "Yeah, yeah. Get to the point bro?" "Oh, right, right. See, since her birthday is almost here, I wanted you to help me pick out some gifts for Riko, alright?" "Gifts? You already got a good budget?" "I have money due to the game though I set it up for at least a little bit of money for me to spend on the gift that we are nning for her. However, I suck at choosing gifts which is why I wanted to ask for your opinion on what to buy for her present." "A present huh, cool. Alright, let''s go. Let''s find some stuff you are nning to give to her. I am not gonna choose since I already have a gift for her." "Bro, why you didn''t tell me you already bought one in advance?" Janus was shocked about it. "What do you mean?: I didn''t purchase my gift, I made it myself." "Ugh, you really had to show off that crazy ability of yours to make items is something I didn''t expect to be a real deal in the real world as well. But seeing you have that makes me a little jealous, if only I have some kind of talent like that as well." "Bro, don'' envy it. It''s not like it''s a good idea to be jealous of me, every person is unique. So don''t worry too much about it in any way. We should go back to the topic of giving Riko a gift. So what is it gonna be?" "I have a few ideas so I want you to help me on that one and allow me to know whether it''s a good or bad gift. I don''t want to waste my money on something that Riko wouldn''t use or be happy with. Please give me advice, I am not sure whether I needed to find the best item for her gift or something else." "Let''s go then. We shouldn''t waste any more time. While the sun has yet to set, we should find something good soon, I guess?" "Thank you Manato!" And so, we are now going to pick a gift for Riko with Janus as the sender as well. Chapter 703 Birthday Girl Days passed by so fast that the day of Riko''s birthday arrived already. It was like I just finished the gift I have for Riko yesterday and yet the reality is that a few days have passed by since that time. Janus also has his gift wrapped as well. A gift he picked up after helping him up though I am also the main reason he picked it up as I manipted him to buy it. The gift he was gonna gift to Riko is the gift he picked in the previous timeline and the reaction of Riko receiving it is just a priceless one. I also wanted the two to at least be honest with each other about their feelings. But to do that, I have to ensure that Riko will be alive and avoid that fatal ident. The party is held in her parent''s mansion as her parents are throwing a big party for her. I don''t have much idea what happened during that party because Janus and I got drunk once the party started so whatever happened there is a pretty blur for me and for Janus. I only received a few things that happened there but that was also the first time that Riko burst angrily andshed out at her parents. I don''t know what it was but ording to the people I asked before, it was the engagement she had with a man that is the son of the majorpany that her father works in, in short, the guy who died in the ident. Once again, Riko''s birthday party is happening and I am sure that whatever happened during that time, I will be able to witness it. Plus, not only Janus and I are invited, Rika, Renatta, Pandora, Suhei, and the siblings Akira and Sora are invited by Riko as well so there might be a big change that will happenter on which will deviate from the past timeline. Pandora and Suhei epted the invitation but they will arrivete since they have to visit the hospital for a bit to get the medicine for Pandora before they head straight there. As for us, I used my car to transport us to the venue. Even though I rarely use the car, it''s a convenient way to transport us in one go. Rika didn''t forget to disguise herself. Despite the long time she has been evading her family and her guards, there will be a chance that she might be spotted so she does the disguise to be able to evade their eyes off them. As for Renatta, she just needed to disguise her ears and it will be fine. With her practice with ournguage, she should be finemunicating with others without the aid of Pixie but we have to also make sure that she has less interaction with others and she remained on our side. Pixie is with her but we can''t keep on relying on her in times like this since she is only visible to everyone who lived with me inside the mansion. Those who don''t can''t see her. Anyways, Renatta is pretty excited to attend a party held in a different venue other than our mansion and the yard. This is the first time she will be having a party outside with us. "Renatta said she is nervous and excited at the same time," Pixie ryed. "Haha, that is a natural reaction Renatta, but don''t worry too much about it. Just be yourself and treat the party like any other party we have done at home. It''s just that simple," Rika patted Renatta. The two have be quite close and even though Renatta is the oldest of the two, she acts like the youngest, and Rika is the eldest. But perhaps that''s how it is. As for Janus, he is also nervous not because this is his first party attended but because he is giving a gift to the person he loves the most for her birthday. The drive was smooth and we didn''t get stuck in traffic. We reached the venue much faster than expected. This should be the second time I went here, the first time was in the past. Although the mansion is not as big as mine, it''s still quite gorgeous and with a big yard and a pool, it''s pretty much a very good ce for hangouts and parties indeed. Of course, ording to Riko, she hated it here. Not only does she remain alone, she felt like she never had any presence there so instead, she decided to move out and live alone. Even if she is alone now in her own house, at least she doesn''t feel like being out of ce and does not feel like she is just a decoration. I park the car in the nearby parking lot before we head over to the venue. There is a guy checking for invitation checks so we sh out our invitations and handed them to the guy. Once the invitations were given, we are given little badges to show that we are indeed invited and that we are given ess to go inside. Inside. Riko is busy greeting the people she barely knows or perhaps she knows but based on her reactions, it is clear she doesn''t know any of them, making her a little bit stressed and the happy look on her face is just a facade to hide the awkwardness and tiredness she felt. We lined up to enter the venue and not too far from us, one of the people there is none other than the guy who will be Riko''s fiancee. He is quite like a normal rich guy with a handsome face, but with his haughty behavior, it is clear that this guy is just a typical rich guy. I don''t know what Riko''s parents say about this guy. Just one look and you can tell he is not going to make any kind of good impression. When he arrived at Riko, he smiled at Riko and started flirting with her, though the former clearly didn''t like the way he did it. Her fist is already forming but held back. "Ugh...that f*cker... how dare he flirts with Riko!" Janus is very angry. "Calm down, brother. Don''t cause a scene here. Just hold in your anger. Don''t upset Riko on her big day." "Phew...you are right. I shouldn''t be a ruffian in front of others. Thanks for holding me back, man," Janus smiled and calmed himself down. We continue towards the entrance and when Riko saw us, it seems her liveliness returned and her usual self has finally resurfaced. "You guys came! Thank you so much for attending my birthday party!" Riko is genuinely happy and I can tell that very much since her fatigue seems to have disappeared the moment she spotted us. "Happy Birthday, Riko! Thank you for inviting us here!" Rika hugged Riko which thetter dly epted. "Thank you, guys, anyways, talk to you allter, let''s exchange greetings once we are all inside. We can''t keep you all blocking the way for the others." Riko then allowed us entry. One of the receptionists lead us to the table assigned to us and we sat down at it. I spotted the fiancee of Riko not too far from our table. He had an old man and an older woman sitting with him at the table which means those people are his parents. Just like their son, they also have a haughty attitude. Which means it''s some kind of inherited behavior from his parents. Perhaps the reason why Riko''s father approved of their engagement is that he is afraid of offending this guy, whoever he was. "Who are you looking at, Manato?" Rika asked and followed my eyes and she nodded after seeing the guy. "I thought I recognize the guy from before but I indeed recognize him. He is the son of Mr. Takeda, one of the CEOs of one of the subsidiarypanies my father owns." "A CEO?" "He is just CEO in name, not really a CEO in flesh. It''s just that he has the highest rank among the employees that he became one of. I didn''t know they were rich. I heard they weren''t that well in the past." "Perhaps they are embezzling funds and managed to gain enough to allow themselves to raise from their status." "Hmmm..." Learning a bit of info from Rika allowed me to get a hold of vital information to use against them. I don''t need to do so but having some dirt from them is also a good thing since there is a chance I needed to do use them. It''s not yet the right time but it''s necessary as well. It took a few minutes before the music kicked in, and that is the beginning of the party. It''s time to see what are the changes that will happen soon. Chapter 704 Surprises The lively music surrounds the entire ce, which signifies the beginning of the party. The people are already enjoying the atmosphere and are now waiting for the program to start. As for me who already have experienced the same party, I didn''t have the luxury to enjoy it. I have missed many of the crucial scenes in the past on what happened to Riko so today, I have to make sure I know what will ur here. A few minutester, Suhei and Pandora arrived. Pandora is no longer using her wheelchair as she can finally walk around without it. Although she still needed some help from time to time, her rehabilitation is quite working well and the results are tremendous and obvious. The receptionist lead the two on our table as well and we exchange greetings before the two sat down. Then, the music started to mellow out. The music that was yed while we are dining in the past ys in the speakers which means the food is now being given to the guests. The waiters started roaming carrying food for the guests and one of them arrived at our table, distribute the tes and handed the food that are for us. I kinda hated this kind of food distribution since you are not free to grab whatever food you want to eat and you are limited to the amount of food present on your te, so whatever you received, then that''s it. We are also handed one bottle of wine as well as the other guests. This wine is the main reason we got drunk so fast in the past timeline. I didn''t know that we have such a low alcohol tolerance until we drank the contents so getting drunk after a few sips is something I didn''t know until I expected it. And so, everyone started eating. The mellow music of the party sets the mood for everyone to enjoy the food before the main event begins. "The food is notpletely bad... but it seems my tastebuds are no longer able enjoy much of this. I think I still prefer your cooking, Manato..." Janus swallows the food he was chewing. "Agreed. I didn''t expect that I wouldn''t be enjoying food like this anymore. I easily enjoyed this before I joined your house but I think the food you cooked influenced our tastebuds a lot that food from restaurants and catered food just taste okayish nowadays," Rika nodded while still chewing as well. The others agreed as well, though it is a bit embarrassing to know that everyone likes my cooking that much. It''s not that extravagant but for them to like it, perhaps I did it too well. Soon, the emcee appeared on the makeshift stage and started to begin the program. Based from the looks of it, it seems she was some employee or a high ranking officer of an office job and volunteered to be the Master of Ceremonies in the current show. "Thank you everyone for joining us in this wonderful asion of celebrating the birthday of the sole daughter of the Akusabe family. It''s quite the joy to see familiar faces of everyone who joined us here. And it seems not only those who are acquaintances of the Akusabe Family are here but also some people that are the closest friends of Miss Akusabe here. Everyone should enjoy the night and listen to the music, as some surprises are being held as well for our birthday girl! Please stay in your seat until then and prepare for the surprises we have prepared for her!" Riko who was sitting with her family near the stage was shocked by the emcee''s announcement that there are several announcements meant for her to celebrate her birthday. Based on the past timeline''s memory, there must be something that she didn''t like for the incident to ur. Before the surprises starts, Riko talks to her parents before standing up and heading to our table. We have one chair vacant which must mean it was on purpose since she wants to talk with us while on the party. "Happy Birthday, Riko! It''s been sometime since your birthdayst year go but seeing you hold a party, it''s just something we didn''t expect," Suhei hugged Riko like a brother and pat her back before congratting her. "Thanks brother Suhei. I am d you and Pandora managed to join me on my celebration!" Janus is a little bit nervous before but now that Riko sat with us, his usual self returned. "Yo, Happy Birthday. Seeing how well your birthday party is, its kinda making me jealous of my own birthday celebrations as well." Janus sighed. "Thanks Janus, but hey, simple celebration like we did during your birthdayst month was fun and that should be it. There is no need to make a grand party like this, you shouldn''t be jealous to be honest! I prefer that way of celebration instead of parties like this..." Riko clearly shows that she didn''t like parties but since its her parent''s wishes, she is forced to go along. "Happy Birthday, Riko-onee chan! You look gorgeous today!" Sora hugged Riko and thetter reciprocates happily as well. "Hehe, sorry about my sister, Riko-onee chan. She ruffled your clothes but thanks for inviting us in your birthday party," Akira smiled as he ruffled the hair of his sister. "It''s fine, its fine. Also, why are you being formal talking to me? You guys don''t need to do that, I just changed clothes but that''s it." Renatta also exchanged greetings with each other although the two didn''t interact much as they didn''t want to garner attention to others. Pandora also greets her with her own voice as well though she was struggling a bit, she managed to say it and Riko is quite happy. But as for me, I didn''t greet Riko just yet and observed Riko instead. If I didn''t experience the past timeline and went into being an adult, reading expressions wouldn''t be something I would possess today. Seeing Riko''s current state made me a little bit worried. "Hey, hey. Everyone has greeted Riko but you, Manato. What''s going on? Why are you speechless at the moment? In fact, I noticed you are too serious while we are sitting here. It was like you didn''t enjoy the atmosphere here, are you alright?" Rika noticed my behaviour was odd so she consulted me on what is happening. "Riko. I know this is your birthday but... you look tired and stressed. Are you alright?" I immediately asked. Riko was clearly surprised but she immediately tried to hide it. "W-what are you saying? It''s the same old-" I immediately cut her off in her sentence. "Don''t lie to me, Riko. We are friends for long and I have observed many behaviours of everyone for the past years and you cannot easily hide on me about the state you are currently in. You might be able to fake everyone about it but not me. Tell me, is something currently bothering you?" Riko was silent for a bit and was about to say something but then, the emcee returned and started the program once again so Riko''s response was immediately interrupted. "Alright everyone! We are now going to begin showing the surprises for our birthday girl today! Seeing this gift made me feel the love the parents have for their one and only girl! Now, presenting the gift from her mother and father! Please show it to everyone!" Two huge square shaped objects were pushed into the stage, which made me try to recall if something like this happened before but even though we are not drunk during the gift distribution in the past timeline, I didn''t remember the gifts of Riko''s parents to be two huge square-shaped items. I am quite sure that they gift Riko a position in thepany that her father was working at and proudly gave it to Riko which made Riko a little bit disappointed before. But now, this is a different gift entirely and I doubt it was the same in the past timeline. "Please remove the cover and reveal the gift to everyone!" As soon as the people who pushed them removed the ck curtains that covers the boxes, I couldn''t believe my eyes and neither does everyone else in the room. "Presenting to you, two ve elves are gifted to Riko for her birthday! As the age of magic has progressed, the elves that appeared has finally been in demand now and two of them are currently right in front of us! These two are adept in magic so training Riko in magic with their help will be a tremendous help! Please,e to the stage and say your greetings to your daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Akusabe!" The two happily went into the stage and gives their greetings to Riko. "Happy Birthday dear Riko! We present you our gift so that you won''t have problems in learning magic. We have money so we easily bought two to aid you in learning one and I can tell you are pretty excited learning them so I thought this is going to be a very appropriate gift." But contrary to the expected, Riko angrily burst in anger. "What the f*ck mom and dad? Are you two insane?! I am so disappointed in the two of you! Free them at once!" Chapter 705 Captured Elves The shock on everyone was warranted as having elves as ves is unheard of. To be sure, this must be from ck market stuff and perhaps, if Renatta was also found by others as well, she might have been sold off as well. I looked at Renatta and I can see her trembling in agitation when she saw her brethren inside the cages. But then, the sudden outburst Riko suddenly made everyone shocked including her parents. "Free them now! Why are you enving them?! Free them from the cage!" Riko angrily shouted and went to the stage. "But they are elves! They are not humans! This is fine and this isn''t illegal! They might look like humans but they aren''t and they shouldn''t even be considered as one!" "What a load of bull, Father! Where are the keys?! I will be unlocking their cages! Look at them! They are wounded! You can''t even treat them right?! I am so disappointed in you Dad. You as well, Mom for agreeing with Dad about this." "Why are you freeing them?! They are ves! They will escape if we let them out of here!" her Dad is also angry. "If you don''t hand the key, then I will do it myself!" Riko pulled the chains and the lock. Staring at them for a moment, she nodded and proceeds to rip the chains apart like they are not made from metal. She even crushed the lock to pieces, destroying it and unlocking the cage. This made the elves shocked as well as everyone who didn''t know Riko''s strength as well. As for us who are her circle of friends aside from Pandora and Suhei who just witnessed everything today, it''s not new for us. I personally teach Riko about this technique and how easy it was to break chains apart like nothing. Riko opened the cage and helped the two elves get themselves out of the cages. Although they were afraid of Riko, Riko started talking elvishnguage to them. "kad*ajsauaqq%$qash!" "qojdiwhbcsubua? u2heudbuquy!" "#@*adnmsndsuwb *sjdbusuaw!" It might be jumbled words right now to others but to those who can understand thenguage, they make sense to them. The three exchanged some words in the elvishnguage and the two nodded before letting Riko help them out of the cage. But to speak an elvishnguage, as expected of Riko, Aside from Riko. Rika also knows the elvishnguage as well as they were taught by Renatta how to speak. As for us the rest. we are still practicing on it but since we are not so diligent, we didn''t get to master it just yet. I can speak a few phrases but not as fluently as Riko and Rika. "I am so disappointed by all of you. This gift might be something you two might have thought to be great but this is the worst gift you have given to me, I felt bad for them. I am leaving here. Continue this damnable party of yours for all I care, it doesn''t matter much to me now." She then went to our table and looked at us. "Help me out, guys. I can''t just leave them out of here." As friends, of course, we are ready to help. Even Pandora and Suhei are willing to help as well but when we are about to go out, Riko''s father started to speak on the microphone. "If you leave the party right now, we will now disown you. We will no longer treat you as our daughter! If you want to avoid that from happening, then..." Before Riko''s father can continue saying it, Riko answered immediately. "That''s fine by me. Do you think you can stop me like that? You all are wrong. If that is the decision you all want, then fine. I will dly cut off our connection. From now on, I am no longer part of this household." "Hey, hey! Are you serious Riko? You are going to just cut them off like that?!" "It doesn''t change much anyways. My decision is final. Let''s go." And the end result happened. Riko ended up cutting ties with her parents due to this incident. I can''t believe it. I didn''t even get to do anything at all to alter her fate, she altered it herself. I didn''t even need to convince her to do so and she just did it by herself. But at the cost of severing ties with her parents. "Are you sure about this, Riko? There is no way we can turn back now," I asked. "Yeah. I don''t think I can keep on with my parents anyways. It was a huge thorn in my side and now that I have done so, it seemed like the thorn disappeared. It seems this is the best choice I could do right now." The two elves are so tired that the female elf copsed while holding onto Riko. The male elf catches the female elf and started speaking the elvishnguage. "You should hurry guys, we shouldn''t keep ourselves dawdling while they are in this state," Suhei pointed out to the two elves. "Suhei is right, Manato. Just for tonight, Manato, can I crash into your ce for a while? Your mansion is big anyways so I can just upy the same room I used before. It''s my responsibility that they are like this." "Alright then. Let''s bring them to the car." "Okay, we will meet you back at home then," Suhei nodded and went with Pandora back to their car. Renatta is the one who decided to keep on assisting the two. When we entered the car, she immediately removed her disguise, making the male elf surprised to see an elf among us. Renatta started speaking the elvishnguage and the two exchanged conversation. After speaking a few sentences, Renatta connected to the Aether and started healing the two from their wounds. However, it wasn''t enough. "That''s enough, Renatta. We shall heal them back at home. There, the mana is much more stable and pure. Just let them hang in there for a while." Pixie appeared and ryed it to Renatta immediately and she nodded. I started to turn on the engine and we departed from the venue. I made sure that we reach back home as soon as possible. There are traffics here and there but it''s not that major and only a few minutes of dy so it''s all good. We arrived home after a while. Suhei and Pandora arrived much faster than us, perhaps they managed to pass through the traffic much earlier so they arrived much earlier than us. Janus and I carried the two inside. The male elf couldn''t stay awake for too long and fainted inside the car. We carried them both into the living room, closed the door, and prepared to dress up their wounds while healing them at the same time. Some of their wounds seem to have been very recent seeing some whipsh on their skins. Renatta and I take turns healing the two from their injuries. Most of them have healed up but some will only heal by natural recovery instead so all we can do is just keep them safe for the time being. Once the two have been given proper medical treatment, we put them in a big room with two beds. ording to Renatta, the two are husband and wife so it''s only logical to put them together in one room so that they won''t panic once they wake up. All of us are gathered in the living room. Suhei made some coffee for those who are interested. "I still can''t believe we are living now in the age where those we thought to be mere fictional characters are now present in our world. But seeing more of them in real life is something else," Suhei sipped on his coffee as he looked at Renatta. "Right? I only saw them in movies and games but now, they are right in front of us and interacting with us as real people. But still,, I thought very only happened in stories and another form of media about these otherworld people but seeing them firsthand is just different," Janus shook his head. Renatta started speaking and Pixie immediately ryed the message. "Renatta said that she is grateful to Manato-sama for picking her up when she first arrived in this world. If a different person might have picked her up, perhaps bing a ve might also be the oue to her as well." "Still, is it alright for you to do that? They are your parents so making a ruckus like that at your party is just something I wouldn''t expect," Suhei looked at Renatta wondering. "It''s fine. Now that I have officially cut off my connection with them, perhaps it is time to live by myself then." And so, the ruckus that Riko made at her own party is something that the guests wouldn''t forget so easily. However, due to that ruckus alone, her fate of dying due to the car crash that was caused by the ident is now thrown into the void. It looks like the butterfly effect activated without me realizing it. Because if I didn''t rescue Renatta before, perhaps the situation might have yed the same in the past timeline. Chapter 706 Kicked Out Riko decided to stay at my house for the night. She is worried for the two elves so she decides to hit the sack here in the meantime and return back to her house tomorrow morning. She is always wee and has her own room, so I am not against it. Besides, the mansion has plenty of vacant rooms so it''s fine if she upied one. It would be better if she does than let it be covered in dust. We continue to alternate healing the two from their wounds. Some of their wounds are too severe so it takes time to heal and some just needed for them to have their bodies heal naturally so boosting their healing factors helps as well. All we can do now is wait but since elves are quite resilient, then it won''t take that long for them to wake up again. The next morning, Riko went back to her house. Not at her parent''s house but at her own house that she was currently living in. After seeing the two elves are in stable condition, she returned to her home and will visit againter to check up on them again. She feels bad that she left them here even though it was her responsibility to help them after taking them away from her parents. Before she left, we gave our gifts on her birthday that we didn''t get to give to her since so many things happened before we can even hand them to her. And as expected, she loved our gifts and hugged us from making her happy even though he birthdayst night ended up in big trouble. My gift was one of the things she immediately used as it was practical and she was surprised by its form-adapting ability she was happy since the design was also to her liking. I didn''t say anything about the ability it possesses but knowing her, she is clearly not going to take it off and will use it until the very end. She was also very happy about the gift that Janus has given to her. A ne. This is also one of the main reasons I didn''t make the charm a ne as that will be ovepping with the gift of Janus and obviously, I don''t want to block the two from progressing so why would I insert myself on their romance? Anyways, I decided to send Riko back home. Since her current clothes are the gown she usedst night and she doesn''t have any clothes to change into, she borrowed from Rika''s clothes as they both have the same body build so the clothes fit properly. She is returning for a while to fetch some change of clothes as she is nning to stay at my mansion for a few weeks. I would have made Janus send her instead but since the guy has work to do, I decided to be the one who will do the honors. "Do you still remember where my current house is?" Riko asked me while we are in the car. "Of course. I already went there once so there is no need to worry about it." "Well, if you say so," Riko put on the seatbelt and lean on the chair, closing her eyes. The ride is quiet as Riko didn''t say anything. She is rxing but I can tell she is a bit tense, perhaps due to what happenedst night, perhaps she still has some doubts about her decision. But that made me able to focus on my driving and we immediately reach her house. However, some men in ck are currently moving out the things inside the house without Riko''s permission. "Riko, what''s going on? There are some men moving your things out of the house." Riko opened her eyes rapidly and looked out the window and found what I saw earlier. She didn''t say anything and went out of the car and immediately head over to the men to confront them on what is happening. "What are you all doing to my things?! Who sent you all here? Father, right?" One of the men in ck suits approached Riko and answered her questions. "Yes. The master specifically ordered you to remove all the things you owned here out of the house. From now on, this house is no longer yours ording to him. Although the things that we bring outside are things bought with his money, he said that it''s fine for you to keep them as that is hisst parting gift as a parent. Whatever you do now, is no longer part of his business." Riko is very angry but she can''t do anything as the men continued to bring out all of her things including some appliances and all the cabs and drawers as well. In the end, I have to rent a truck to carry the items that were brought out from her former house. Riko is sad about the development of the situation but she is epting it so easily. "Why you didn''t argue with them? Shouldn''t you have exined things to them and forcefully try to say anything to them at the very least?" I asked Riko while moving the things to the truck. "Ha, it''s not worth it. Knowing my father, he will just reinforce his decision more and he will make matters worse for me so instead of defying him more, it''s better to just give it up and let things go as it is." I don''t know the circumstances but since Riko knows her father much more than I did, then it''s only natural for her to know this and see things through. "Anyways, Manato. As you can see, I am homeless now and no longer have a ce to live and a roof to go under this night. Can I live with you all back in the mansion? I promise to pay the rent." I chuckled when I heard that. To see Riko begging for help is something I didn''t expect but I am not cruel enough to leave her in this pitiful situation. "Haha, why would I let you sleep on the streets? You are always wee there. Now, let''s hurry and transfer all your stuff before it rains, the sky is looking darker now, perhaps it will rain soon." Rika is happy that I agreed. But it''s only a natural answer from me, it''s not even something that I would hesitate to respond on. With all of her things packed inside the truck, I decided to leave the car parked in the nearest parking lot and drive the truck back home to deliver all of her belongings to Riko. Everyone was shocked when we did as Riko stated that she will just bring a few changes of clothes but when we came back, she brought back all her belongings. "Sorry for the sudden announcement guys, but it seems that I am officially a homeless girl now. Since the owner of this mansion is so kind, he let me live here which is kind of him, you know?" Hearing this, everyone immediately weed Riko and helped her out of moving her things. I only helped out putting out her stuff before I went back to the truck and didn''t help with the move now since I needed to return the truck back to where I rented it and fetch back my car. Returning the truck and paying the right amount, I went back to the parking lot when I noticed a few people outside the former house of Riko. I am far from them but I can see them clearly enough to see that the people there is none other than Riko''s father and mother. Perhaps they went there as soon as possible after hearing from the grunts that Riko arrived and talked with them earlier. My assumption on why they are there is that they want t meet Riko onest time and try to convince her to revoke her decision of cutting ties with them. So hearing the grunts who move out things meet up with Riko, they immediately rush here to at least see her again but failed since we finished up early from moving her things out so they still failed to do so and failed to cross paths. I can''t hear what they were talking about and I am quite curious so I immediately cast [Stealth] on myself and went close enough to hear what they were talking about. "...she didn''t think this through enough. What a foolish daughter," Riko''s father angrily clenches his fist. "Hon. what can we do about it? She has made her choice. And from the looks of it, it seems we are also in the wrong too. I don''t think we are not at fault there." "Ha? Are you hearing yourself dear? We are not at fault here! She failed to realize our intent, and she even took the ves with her despite being against it. This is enough punishment for her to learn her lesson in life. Sooner orter, she will realize her mistakes and she will start begging for us to ept her back." Chapter 707 Remake The Party Looks like what Riko said is real. Based on those words alone, it is clear that her father only punishes her not because of spite but because they think Riko will struggle now that she is alone and she is no longer in their care. They think Riko will not survive out here without their help and will sooner ortere back to them once she realizes that things are not the same without them. It''s kind of toxic but I think it''s also necessary for them to know that not everyone can be like that. Knowing Riko, and knowing that we are there to support her, I don''t think Riko will actually be doing what they think she will do after what they did to her. Hearing what I needed to hear, I quietly backed away from them and leave them before they can notice my existence. Before going back home, I decided to go buy some groceries for the mansion. With the addition of Riko, we needed more supplies of food and other daily necessities. Knowing Riko has a big appetite, it would make sense to stock up on more food. Plus, I also wanted to properly celebrate Riko''s birthday as well. With her original birthday party ruined, perhaps remaking the party like how we celebrate her birthday in the past years, would cheer her up and also allow her to forget the problem in her family. I am nning to cook lots of food for the night so I picked up many things for the party tonight plus all the food and other necessities as well stocked up, While having my grocery run, someone I didn''t expect to cross paths with today appeared before me. Of course, we are not acquainted with this current timeline but in the past timeline? Sure enough, I am. Who are they? It''s none other than Kazuki and Akari. One made me miserable and caused me to be injured before returning to the past, while the other is the bait that I didn''t know I dly have bitten before being dragged into a trap carefully made by them. Kazuki and I have crossed paths in the game multiple times and our interactions really didn''t proceed that far for him to think of me as an actual threat and he still didn''t know that most of his current misery is being made by me. The only direct confrontation where he knows about me is during the Battle For Bloodpetition and of course, during the Luminous Continent''s expedition where he failed miserably. He is not acquainted with me in real life and I prefer it that way but sooner orter, we will cross paths in the real life as well until then, I would rather prepare more. I have loved Akari before. Like my real girlfriend. After all, she was my first girlfriend and the only girlfriend that I wished to marry and spend my life with. We clicked immediately and I thought she would be someone who will grow old with me in sickness and in health but I guess she''s not. After knowing the secret in the past timeline, and seeing their current interactions, it is clear that I was just a fool in the past timeline. Thankfully, I don''t know them in this current timeline so it isn''t awkward for me at the moment. If I do, it wouldn''t be so peaceful like this. Finishing my groceries, I paid for all of the stuff I bought, put them in my car, and drive off without looking back. It''s better that way and thankfully, I managed to hold everything in before I can''t take it anymore and perhaps attacked them. They might not have done any crimes in this timeline just yet, but forgiving their other self is not easy. It''s better not to interact with them just yet. I don''t want to seek trouble at the moment. ... ... ... ... When I returned, everyone has already settled down all of the stuff that Riko carried with her from her old home. Suhei and Akira helped each other out by helping the girls carry the heavy stuff so they finished just in time as well. "Oh, Manato. You are back. Seeing from the amount of shopping bags you carry, you shop for food and other supplies? But we just restocked a few days ago. We still have plenty of food inside the fridge," Rika was bewildered why I bought more. "I just had an idea. Since we didn''t get to enjoy our stay at Riko''s birthday party, why not celebrate it again but this time, with our own twist? Her party was ruined and it''s her day so even though the day has passed by since then, perhaps we should have at least a proper celebration for her, plus it''s a party to celebrate living with us." "That''s not a bad idea, Master! I didn''t even get to eat properly during that party so it would be great to have another one here!" Pixie hovers around me, in agreement with my notion. "I agree. It is indeed good for us to celebrate. But would Riko be fine with it?" Rika asked. "Don''t worry. It''s good. And besides, I am dissatisfied with the food at the party, I want to celebrate my own party where I enjoy myself and enjoy the good food andpany of my friends!" "It''s decided then! Tonight, we will have a yakiniku and Barbecue Party!" And so, the party went on. With everyone enjoying the party, I am enjoying it as well. And even though I didn''t bring any alcoholic drinks, the girls got drunk with the atmosphere of everyone partying. I can''t believe I would see them get drunk despite not drinking any alcoholic drinks. I guess that was real and I didn''t know that could really happen. That evening, everyone was asleep. As for me, I am not able to go to sleep much. We are on the rooftop of my mansion and the night sky is bright and beautiful, the stars are present as well and the moon is shining brightly in the sky. The peace of mind that I felt, and hanging out with my friends, I am happy that I get to experience it once again. An experience that I keep on yearning for in the past. It was gettingte so I decided to carry them back downstairs. Even Suhei who I thought would remain up is asleep with Pandora. Carrying them while trying to avoid from waking them up is hard but thankfully, I am so skilled with it that before I knew it, they are all in their own respective rooms. Cleaning up after the party is hard but thankfully, magic has been making things much easier now and due to it, the burden of cleaning up after the party has been lifted a lot. However, I then realize it. Since magic has been slowly forming in this world, are other worlds colliding with our world now? I have read a few stories that have people practicing mana and gaining magic can create a portal where monsters will slowly tear away the barrier that separates us and them, causing monsters to flood here. I am unsure of that little notion but it''s pretty possible. After all, I have even fought and almost defeated one of the monsters that tear through reality and space. And with the elves slowly pouring in here as well, things started to take a weird turn. The past timeline didn''t progress quite well like this in the first ce and although there are some bizarre things here and there, there are not that many of them. It made me wonder for a little bit. Things started to take a weird turn after changing many things that should have happened in the past timeline. So many things that I prepared for many consequences but nothing much happened. Perhaps, these little changes that I did have caused the timeline to get different, and progress at a faster rate, and now things have be quite unpredictable. I am still not sure whether it is the real deal or it''s just my assumption but seeing how many things I have changed, perhaps the single ripple in the water has already made thousands of unseen changes. Even my current existence should be different as well. Perhaps my own existence here shouldn''t even ur or happen here. My head hurts just thinking about it. I wee all the changes that are happening and perhaps I would face every consequence that will happen to me after changing things. But is it fine? Is it really fine for me to change things? I don''t know and I still wonder about it from time to time. But until then, perhaps I should continue living my life to the fullest and enjoy the life I have with my friends and family. Even for a short while, this is the only little wish that I am trying to achieve. Chapter 708 Opportunities In War I log back into the game after all the incidents that happened in the real world. Even if I am still thinking about the things I am a little bit curious about, I decided to just let it be for now and focus on the things that are more important at the moment. Tina is still guarding the room where Cotton is currently evolving. No major changes ording to her so I didn''t bother with it at the moment. As for Gobu and Lina, both are fighting monsters left and right in the forest, enhancing their battle styles as they rarely have battles done with me so having the opportunity to fight, and even if they are already maxed level, they still found the fun in killing monsters and discovering manybinations in their battle styles. At the moment, not only Lina and Gobu are fighting monsters but other yers are as well. I even saw a few yers try to recruit Lina and Gobu to their parties but the two declined as they are not capable of forming parties with others unless they are party members of mine or if they want to party up with me. But as expected, there are many enemies now in the forest and most of them looked like they are "zombified as they are more mindlesspared to how they acted before which made me wonder whether they are indeed zombified or not. As for the reason they are like this, there is no other than the main enemies in the uing war which is the parasites. Parasites are capable of controlling their hosts once theytch on to them. Some are just bloodsuckers and do not contribute much to the host until they die, but there are some that control their hosts, giving them extra buffs while also giving them detrimental debuffs as well which can be abused or can be used to your advantage. Still, seeing many of these monstersing fast in every corner of the forest makes it a bit dangerous now. As for the area, I made the cabin in, since it is a bit rtively safe and out of monster''s reach unless they invade, it became a spot where yers can go and heal up their wounds, party up with other yers, or just a ce to hang out with while resting. It also became a trading hub for some yers as well. I didn''t chase the yers out. In fact, I found a good opportunity. When the yers thinned around the area, I imed the area next to my cabin and started building myself a little shop that is connected to the cabin now. Naturally, the yers started growing curious about what I am doing. Many of them don''t recognize me, but that is fine. One of the female pdins approached my little shop checking out it. "Hello? Um, am I seeing this right? Are you making a shop right now?" "Yes. A little shop I made for yers who are around. Although I am not present always, I am here to buy and sell stuff for everyone. Potions, weapons, ammunition, and other stuff are present here. So, girl, you wanna buy something? Don''t worry if they are expensive for you, if you can''t afford them, you can trade me some materials you don''t need here." "W-well, might as well see what you are selling then?" I nodded and pulled out the menu for selling and trading. This is the best part of Alternate World as you can be a merchant if you wanted to be one and the UI for trading is simple and effective enough for anyone to understand. Disying all the supplies I sell, the pdin girl didn''t expect to see so many potions and other stuff that she needed. "XL Health Potion for 50 gold!? That''s a steal! Even the Full Restore Potion that costs 1000 gold is just 500 gold here! Hey, wolf head mister! Are you sure I am seeing things right?" "Nope, not in the slightest. Whatever you see there, is what the prices are as well." "No way I am gonna pass off these! As a tank, I needed all the recovery potions I needed! Give me 10 of every potion avable!" "Thank you for your purchase!" I happily hand over the merchandise and she took one bottle of the Large Health Potion and drank it in one go. "Wha- what is this?!" I don''t know what she saw there so I decided to ask. "Is there a problem?" "Yes! What is going on? This potion of yours is twice as effective as the potions in the market?! It shouldn''t have made me heal in full health knowing I have so high HP values and I needed to drink 3 Large Health Potions just to refill myself back to full and yet just drinking one of them made me heal full! Are you sure this is just that cheap? You could sell it for a higher amount of gold and yers would still buy this much!" "Oh. I thought it would be negative stuff. No, not really. This stuff is just the same potions you normally take. The only difference there is the way it was made, which resulted in more effective healing. Not only that, the ingredients are not that expensive so giving this amount of gold is fine for me as that is enough for me to at least gain a marginal profit. Oh, and don''t throw away those empty bottles from the potions. If you buy on me again, I will dly refill it for you and you gain a discount based on what size of an empty bottle of potion you brought back to me." "SWEET! Alright, I will spread this news to my other party members. Make sure you stock up, maybe it will go sold out immediatelyter on!" I nodded in response as she left happy with her purchase. As for me, I doubt I will be selling out of them. Not only do I can make so many potions while entertaining customers but the fact that I have so many supplies in my inventory does help stop me from having my stock sold out. Of course, I don''t n to go sold out, so it''s craft, craft, craft, and more craft. As I continue to decorate the little shop on disys, a few other yers came by and crowded the front of the store. "Hey there man, I heard from our Pdin here that you sell good stuff?" "Yeah. Come and browse for them. Perhaps you would find a few cool stuff that you might like?" The yers started to gather and check out stuff. Many of them started buying stuff after seeing the price and I get to sell a lot. Then, one of the yers who is a Necromancer started asking me. "Hey, Sir Wolf-Head! What is this Material Trading here? I have a few stuff here that I am interested in but they don''t need money?" "Oh, that one. That is the special stuff I put there. If you got the materials I specify there, I will hand over the resulting product from the materials you give to me. You don''t need to bring me gold, just bring me the specified materials listed and you get the product promised. It doesn''t matter what item it was, whether it''s a potion, weapons, armor, or other stuff, as long as the stuff I am looking for is present, then I will be handing them to you." "Nice! Hey, I want to exchange this stuff. I have the necessary materials stated here. Can I get it?" I checked the number of materials he bought over and after confirming that they are the right amount I specified, I handed him the Voodoo Doll item, an essory item that enhances the capabilities of the Necromancer and increases the amount of summons they can have and the stats of their summons as well. "Good choice! Here it is. Treasure it well!" I handed him the item and he was happy enough to equip it. "I wasn''t expecting much boost but this is way better than what I expected! Damn, since some of the stuff he got, there is quite good, perhaps I should go and hunt some of the materials he needed!" The moment the Necromancer made his ims and went on to hunt for stuff, the others quickly scroll on the material trading and started taking notes on the items that they wanted to get. "Damn, he has this as well! I think I have... ah damn, I amcking 5 more. Looks like it''s hunting time huh?" "Wow, I can''t believe this is also up for an exchange. Sir! I would like to have this one!" One of the Druids pointed to the Druid''s Dreamcatcher, another essory that increases the amount of potent magic they possess, control over animalpanions, and increased stats when they transform into any animal they wanted. "Good eye right there! This is a good item for you! Be sure to treasure it!" Seeing how useful the items I started exchanging for, they are now eager to find the items I needed. And with all the equipment I am making these past years, it''s a big win for me. Chapter 709 Booming Business As a result of my opportunistic approach while yers are present in the forest, the little store I made started to get crowded. The line is long and the ruckus of different yers started to even get noisier as more yers found my ce. "I will buy 50 pieces of the Full Restore Potion, please! And please add 10 pieces of those Fire Bombs as well!" "Give me 10 XL Ssh Health Potions, please! I can''t believe that having this kind of potion would change my way of healing others, this is super helpful!" "Can I exchange this and this? I have all the materials specified here." I continue to serve yers multiple times. I even found a few yers here and there that have returned after being gone for a few hours. It was clear they hunted the materials they wanted as they returned without fixing their appearances and healing themselves. After a few hours of talking, sales talk, trading, and much other stuff, the yers finally finished all their purchases and no more yers were left ready to buy. As for me, I am now carrying lots of gold just on the earnings alone. Although it''s not the same amount of gold I earned that allowed me to be rich, this amount is still quite insane since I managed to hit 3.5 million gold in just selling stuff here and there. The next thing I checked are the materials. I have much equipment I consider junk or no longer useful in my inventory so selling them was the best option and since there are still some yers who will find uses for them, I traded them for materials and let them enjoy it. Most of them are level 200 essories, weapons, or armor and they are not just the ordinary kind but the kind of items that are in the Unique tier while I also put some items that are in the Legendary tier, only a few managed to exchange some of them as the requirement I wanted to them to exchange it with are also not easy to obtain. After all, I am not just going to let them exchange good stuff with just normal stuff. I also wanted an equal exchange. So far, there are a few rare stuff that was given to me in exchange for some legendary-tier weapons. It would have been great if I had the Versatile Weapon eat them. Still, since it became picky nowadays, it would just waste the Legendary Weapon without me gaining any big gains aside from the new "skin" the Versatile Weapon" gains after digesting the weapon. So instead of collecting those "skins", why not use them for my own good? With all the materials I got from the trading exchange I did, I can make more things using these stuff and some stuff that I am currently missing especially on the armor that I am making. With a few additions, I am getting closer to the same armor I used to wear back in the past. No more yers areing in so I closed the store and put up a sign [Sold Out,e back tomorrow) despite the items, I had not even reached the critical levels but with no more customers in the meantime, closing the shop is the most notable notion here. After selling so much stuff like that, it made me feel sore in my back. "Perhaps fighting against the enemies around will prove to be a good workout I guess." The monstersing in from different areas are clearly not in their right minds. Seeing them mindlessly charging look like they are not really sentient at all and based on the number I am seeingtely, this is indeed a sign of the iing threat of the parasites. That also means the monster concentration would appear to being in this area which also means, more yers. Seeing that this will be a big opportunity for me, I went out hunting ores, materials that I can grab easily, and some herbs that I also needed on making some potions as well. There are some kinds of potions that seem to be popr so perhaps I should also increase the production of that stuff as well. While gathering stuff, Gobu and Lina were currently fighting nearby. They are focused on the enemy so they didn''t notice me. While they are busy, I continue my business and started observing them a few minutes after finishing what I was meant to do there. They easily disposed of the enemies despite the disadvantage of numbers. "Looks like you guys are training so hard these days," I then revealed myself while pping. The two went on a defensive stance but after seeing me, they immediately put down their guard. "Oh, it''s just you, Master. I thought it was those mindless beasts," Lina scratches her head before putting away her weapon which is a big polearm axe that I made for her. "We apologize for being on guard of you, Master as we didn''t notice your presence. The number of monsterstely made us a bit troubled with their surprise attacks so we are always on guard with everything." "No harm done. And besides, I would evenmend you two for being always on guard. Enemiese and go around here and letting off your guard against them would easily turn your situation against you so easily. No need to be sorry about it." I then looked at the corpses of the monsters they are killing. Most of them are insect monsters but I also saw a few beasts like Wild Pigs and some Carnivorous Rabbits as well on the pile of corpses. Based on their corpses, I can see that they are indeed infected by those brain-controlling Parasite monsters. They are dangerous but they don''t attach themselves to humans and humanoid monsters. Most of the time, they have a particr liking for beasts and insectoid monsters, but still, it does get me a little bit worried if they attach themselves to yers as well. It''s a control parasite and it burrows through its hosts which makes them infected. I know some methods of how to remove them but I am not sure if it works on humans as well. But there is going to be that possibility as well so perhaps I should also create that stuff in case things gets into the worst possible situation. "You guys should rest for the day. Even if you guys are already high-leveled, fighting endlessly without rest would just ruin your body, just go ahead and rest. Let''s go back to the cabin, shall we?" The two didn''t decline and left with me. As for the monsters, Lina immediately set them aze. Aside from the drops that drop naturally, the items that can only be received if salvaged from the monster corpses do not work much as it was from an "infected" monster, the value of it immediately goes to zero so they are not worth salvaging. It''s a bit of a waste but that''s really how it is so I can''t reallyin. Thankfully, not all of the stuff that was killed was infected and Lina has already salvaged their materials so we still got something out of them. As we returned, there are still lots of yers staying near my cabin. It''s a little hub for yers so it ended up quite a good spot for rxing yers. I even spotted some of the yers who bought potions with me a while ago as well. "Hey, sir wolf-head! Are you going to reopen tomorrow as well?" the female pdin asked. "I n to. Seeing how busy things are in these parts, it is a good idea to maximize the business profit here as well." "Indeed! And seeing how you are monopolizing the area, it''s also quite good for your pockets as well. Besides, your stuff is top quality and the equipment you allowed us to exchange for materials are all quite rare, it''s not a big deal, and it''s a big steal for us who are short on money. Not only do we have less time wasted going back to the city to buy potions, but we can also hold out for our harvest and then have a massive sell-off once we get back to the city after a day, it''s a big efficiency on our time as well," the necromancer who was surprisingly part of the female pdin also added. "Good to know that you guys liked my products. But please I will remind you that I will not remain here forever. I will close up shop once the event that is happening here is over, so if you guys are hoping to buy more of my potions or wanted to exchange stuff once I am done here, perhaps you can look for me in the Resurgia Continent. I usually stay there." "Thanks for telling us that! We will! And thank you very much for the nice items you sell!" the female pdin smiled. We returned after exchanging a few more words with them and entered the cabin. Tomorrow is another brand new day to sell stuff again. And I think the war is almost here as well. Chapter 710 Wars First Wave (I) I logged out of the game after doing all the stuff I did in the game. It''s pretty tiresome to sell stuff too so I rested for a while by sleeping. Despite not being sleepy, rxing my body and destressing myself like this is the only way for me to actually enjoy it. When I woke up, I checked up on the elves, Renatta notified me that both of them woke up but she insisted that they sleep back for a while to recover their lost mana and make their body more vibrant. With their hair color being pale green, it''s a significant indication that they are running out of mana in their body. Since they are back asleep after eating breakfast, I went ahead and take my breakfast as well. I also cooked food for everyone this lunch and instructed Renatta to just microwave the food if they are hungry which the former nodded. After my breakfast, I went back to the game once more. Based on the movement of the monsters, the first wave is almost due today. ..... ..... ..... ..... "[Wee Back, deheart]" The first thing I did is check on Cotton. As usual, Tina is there guarding the door, reading a book. When she saw meing, she bowed slightly and put a bookmark on her book before closing it. "How''s the progress of Cotton''s evolution?" "Master. Looks like her evolution is going well but I think I underestimated her growth. Out of the 5 cores that we just put in there, 2 have already lost their color which means it was already used up. The third one is also slowly losing its color as well but it still has some juice left behind." "You underestimated it? How?" "From what I can recall, there are some evolutions that happened like this before in the past but since I based it on us insect people''s evolution, I assumed it was just 5 cores since that is mostly the usual amount an insect people or insect monsters needed during their evolution but seeing that she is using the cores at an elerated pace, she is going to need more cores right after the cores are fully absorbed." "Don''t worry about new cores, I still have a few more of them though so why worry?" "Well, that''s good to hear, Master. However, since I said that she is consuming the cores at an elerated pace, we will need many more. I will deduce that Cotton will consume all of the cores in the next two days. I will tell youter when it is needed to change cores again." "What about those empty cores? Can they still be used?" "As far as I know, no. They crumble to dust after they be totally empty and the moment you touch them, it loses their little structure and disappears." Tina reminded me of various things I needed to do before I left and checked the surroundings outside as I can already hear fighting outside of the cabin. With the cabin being close enough to the nearest hostile zone where monsters gather, I can already tell some yers have already engaged in the battle against the enemies. Checking outside, there are more yers around than usual. The others who I have seen before are also looking for party members as well. "Oh, hey, store owner! Are you going to go on a hunt as well? We are looking for a yer to help us with the subjugation. One of our DPS fighters is not online since they are busy in the morning so we are looking for a recement until shees back. Wanna join us?" the female pdin from before asked. I was surprised since she asked me to team up with them. I looked at her party members and it wasposed of the necromancer, a cleric, and a samurai. They clearly have a low DPS count indeed if the only DPS they have is the Samurai. The cleric is the support and the necromancer is the semi-debuffer and attacker while the Pdin tanks. It''s not a badbination if they can get things to work. "Well, I can just go there myself, but where is the fun in that? I needed some stretching as well before I open shop so might as well join you guys. Hope you take care of me then." The pdin happily nodded and sent me an invite which I immediately epted. My party members immediately got filled up and I finally know their ign. The female pdin is Lady n and she is level 227, the necromancer is Rowdy who is currently sitting on level 213, the cleric is Samsam230 with a level of 210 and the Samurai is Yoshinagi, level 234. I don''t recognize their names unfortunately so I don''t think I can say much about them. As for them, the moment my level and name appeared before the team, they couldn''t believe their eyes. "L-LEVEL 300?! Isn''t that the level cap?!" the female Pdin couldn''t believe her eyes. "Alright guys, I know you are gawking at my level, but we should go ahead before we lose more enemies to kill, yeah?" "H-he is right. We should ask thatter him, we should go before we are out of enemies to hunt!" As much as they wanted to ask me questions, the monsters to kill are a priority so they didn''t bother to ask. "Ah, that''s right. I should share the quest as well so that you receive the rewards," Lady n immediately made me see the questline and as I expected, it was the questline that was given by the queen of the insect people and the mother of Tina. Without a second thought, I canceled the quest sharing. "Huh? Why did you cancel it?" Lady n couldn''t believe her eyes when I canceled the sharing quest. "Shush, don''t worry. I don''t need to rob you guys to share the rewards with me. I don''t see any worth in it with a level like me so instead of wasting them by sharing it with me, just stick with your initial party members. Besides, the extra experience I gain will just be wasted with a max-level yer like me so go ahead and keep it." Quests that are shared also share the reward with the whole party who has the quest epted so once the quest ispleted, the rewards will be distributed to everyone involved. However, if they have one party member who does not ept the quest while the rest has it, only that party member will not gain any benefits from the quest despite being in the same party, and all the rewards they have will not be shared as well aside from the kills they have done. But this system is not that useless and it''s a very good way for boosting others. yers who need to be boosted ept a quest like killing certain monsters and its quite hefty of experience but the enemies are tough to beat by the current yers who epted the quest, that''s where the person who didn''t ept the questes in. Every kill they do, as long as they are part of the kill requirement, despite not being part of the people who epted the quest, the kill that person did will be counted as a party kill as long as they are part of the party. "Since you guys are quite good customers yesterday, how about I boost you all up? Having that repeatable quest with you guys should you guys plenty of experience. Then once you guys are boosted enough, you guys help the DPS who is absent for now reach your current level?" "R-really? Are you sure you okay with that?" "Sure, just this once. It''s a kind gesture from a senpai, you know?" "YES! YES, WE WILL ACCEPT!" Lady n eagerly epted. "Good. Then let''s go skin some monsters then. Right, we need to kill some Infected Kobold right?" I immediately scan the area as quickly as I can and saw the Infected Kobold in the distance, three of them. [Infected Kobold] Level: 250 HP: 250,000/250,000 Pretty substandard health. Nothing fancy but considering they are infected, having that much HP is normal. I wanted to move around for a little bit so instead of shooting them in the distance, I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and changed it to a Magic Sword, and charged toward them. ONE, TWO, THREE swings. And the Infected Kobold did not get to react before dying and falling to pieces. I didn''t even activate any buff or enhancements to my basic attacks so doing only three swings is enough for one. I grab the other Infected Kobold who noticed me in the neck and gripped it tightly before swinging the monster to the other Infected Kobold who ising in my way before transforming the Versatile Weapon into a Spear and Shield and throwing it to the two Infected Kobolds, piercing the two in the head, killing them instantly. The four yers who were watching me were all stunned. I went to the corpses and pulled the Versatile Weapon out of the body of the two monsters who immediately shriveled after dying. "So, what do you say about my fighting style? Pretty messy right?" Chapter 711 Wars First Wave (II) The four yers standing agape from what just happened. After all, that was a quick disposal of a monster without even using skills. "What are you guys looking at like that? Come on, pick up the loot. We should make a hustle before we ran out of monsters to kill." Everyone nodded and soon enough, we found a lot of them. Not just Infected Kobolds but other infected monsters as well. Though not only them are present. Other yers are also there, fighting as well but most of them are struggling to the point of being overwhelmed by them. "Come on, let''s jump into the fray." "Wait, wait, wait! Those are lots of monsters! With our current level, we are dead before we kill one of them!" Yoshinagi didn''t like it. "Don''t worry guys. I won''t be letting you four die on my watch alright? Just be sure to be near so that you guys receive the experience points as well. Treat it as if I am boosting you guys." After that, I jumped off to the monster horde. The four are reluctant at first but they eventually jumped off as well. "Lady n, cast [Provoke]. Rowdy, be sure to get your necromancy skills ready and watch out if there are corpses present, we will use that to our advantage. Yoshinagi, be sure to fight alongside me and tear them apart, Samsam230 keep an eye on the health of both Lady n and Yoshinagi. You can''t let them fall to critical levels of HP." After hearing their roles, I immediately go into position to ready myself for the [Provoke] skill of Lady n. It''s a wide-area taunt skill that draws enemies in so it''s also a good way to kite around enemies. Lady n positioned herself and m down her tower shield before she screamed, releasing the [Provoke] skill''s activation. I usually use the weaker activation of [Provoke] before but seeing the stronger version is just amazing. One scream and the monsters nearby started to rush through to Lady n. "Yoshinagi, are you ready?" "Y-YES!" Yoshinagi held his katana, ready to slice. "Be sure to catch up to my pace and don''t let yourself get overwhelmed." As the iing monsters arrive, I grab one ssh bottle of Fire Bomb in my inventory and before they got near, I throw it to the monsters, setting them aze. "Let''s go!" We immediately started slicing and killing enemies left and right. Some are easily killed by me and some have to take a couple of swings Yoshinagi was able to deal with most of them by himself and with Samsam230''s healing, Yoshinaga is able to keep going. With all the corpses loitered around, Rowdy immediately cast his necromancy on the dead monsters and used their bodies to fight back. It''s quite convenient for Rowdy to fight as he just needed fresh bodies to use for his skill to fight back and once the current corpse he uses breaks down, he can just grab another one just fine. Although I let the four do some lifting, most of the heavy-lifting battles are all done by me. I made them some work but I carried them over. After all, I don''t like carrying yers too much and babying them too much that when the time for the actual battlees, they are high-level but they have almost zero ideas what is happening. I don''t want that kind of sh*t to happen. "Alright, grind and repeat!" The battle continued and the monsters just keeping. Even the four who looked enthusiastic at first are now exhausted. I am not exhausted just yet as I am not doing any kind of very heavy battle sh*t that would exhaust me that much so I am fine. It''s not that easy for them eitherpared to me who can easily kill the monsters so it was natural for them to be that tired after the battle. "Alright. How is the progress?" "W-we just needed 3 more of the enemies and the quest will be done." I nodded and changed my weapon into pistol form and shot three monsters down immediately,pleting the current quest. "Alright, that should do it, let''s go back and rest after you guys picked up the loot." The four picked up the loot although I can see that they are all exhausted after the hunt. Still, they did quite well so far and their coordination is also passable as well. As we arrived in my cabin, they immediately plopped down to the ground as they are tired after the hunt. "Good job everyone. It seems you guys are great at coordination huh? You guys been together for a while?" "Actually, we are all childhood friends and we all know each other in the real world so we already know what kind of ystyle we are going to pick and this is what the result is," Rowdy answered. "So, how was it? Is it bad? Did we mess up a lot of stuff?" I immediately shook my head. "Nope. You guys did fine but I can also tell that it was the first time you guys have to fight like that. Don''t you guys know that tactic?" "Sorry, no. We just do hunt like normal party and don''t do something dangerous like that and we hunt them one by one depending on how strong or weak they are," Lady n answered. "Which also means you guys do not hunt or you guys have not entered dungeons just yet?" "We can only dream to enter dungeons, to be honest, and we only see them in videos instead. With many guilds upying many dungeon entrances, it will just be us relying on wild monsters instead of dungeons even though I heard the dungeons are more rewarding." No wonder the four seem to under geared for their levels. Some of them are clearly drops from monsters found in hostile zones while some are avable to be bought in shops which makes me think about why they are desperate for the exchange drops I didst time as they are able to exchange some good items that can be a good recement to their items without going inside a dungeon. "Okay, then. Are you guys going to continue to fight again?" "Nah, sorry, Sir deheart. Seeing you fight makes us exhausted for a bit. We will just rest in the real world for now ande backter. Also, since we wanted to gear up as well, please make sure to stock up on some good armor and weapons for exchange as well. We will be exchanging them." Lady n nodded. "Is that so? Then perhaps you guys should rest. Don''t overexert yourselves, it''s just a game." The four nodded, but before that, they requested a friend request to me which I epted before they left and logged out of the game. As for me, I am still contemting the enemies we fought so far. And based on my assumption, it looks like we are just at the very beginning of the waves. Another one will being up soon enough. But since there will be lots of stuff happening now, might as well go back inside and open up the store and earn some money and materials. Time to make some profit. Chapter 712 Corrupted Infected Mantis As usual, the moment I opened up shop, different yers started crowding once more to buy more potions. They have heard of the rumors of my cheap potions as well as the exchange system I made to exchange for different equipment and items so customers immediately packed up fast. I am notining though as this is profit and having profit is never boring for me. Who would say no to money? Compared to yesterday, the amount of yers trading is not that many and they don''t stay long enough to exchange stuff. Perhaps due to how most of them are buying in bulk and some of them are buying on behalf of others that the customers immediately dwindled around the middle. So when the business became slow after, I close back the shop and tried to check out what is happening and just before I was able to go, I saw Gobu and Lina return. "We are back, Master." "Hey, guys. It seems you guys are too exhausted, are there so many monsters present not too far from the cabin?" "That''s right Master. There are a lot of them so we also have to double our effort and cooperate with the others as well to thin out the enemies. Even some greedy yers from before are forced to give the others some monsters to kill as they are too much for them to even handle on themselves," Gobu answered as he removed the armor that has some of its parts disintegrated. "Disintegration? You guys fought some enemies that can disintegrate armor?" "There is one, Master. We have to retreat as we realized that it seems it was a raid boss and there are multiple yers fighting against it and yet we barely had any noticeable damage dealt against it. Since we are not really helping the royalty deal with the war, there is no point going there and risking our all into the battle. "A raid boss..." During my time in this event in the past timeline, there will be 3 waves and each wave will bring in the ultimate boss that needed to be in so that the wave of monsters will stop. Because there are three waves, as long as the raid boss remains alive, the monster attacks will continue to increase in intensity and while it is necessary to bring down the raid boss as soon as possible, it is also necessary to destroy the monster waves as well to reduce the damage of the protected areas and to also limit the enemies that interrupt the yers from fighting the boss properly. Because the wave intensifies the longer the raid boss remains alive, the yers will have to divide their roles into suppressing the monster wave and killing the raid boss. Although the battle against the raid boss is not as troublesome and hardpared to the raid against the Cath Palug in the past timeline, the raid is troublesome and hard so it''s not that easy as well. "So does this boss spit acid for it to melt the armor of Gobu?" "It does not spit acid but its attacks consist of acid which degrades armor the longer the fight is. I don''t know the name of the boss but it was a giant mantis with a rotten body." Degrades armor... I see. Compared to the past timeline, the final raid boss has been changed into the first raid boss. Out of the three invading enemies, only one of them has the ability to use acid without using them by spitting at the enemies and that is the Corrupted Infected Mantis. The weapons of the monster, its two scythe-like hands, consist of acidic particles that when used to attack an enemy, will immediately strip that enemy from their mighty defense. Due to how fast it degrades armor. it was one of the longest fights in this event. But hearing that it was the first boss to invade made me think of why the hardest boss is the first to invade. Shouldn''t it be left for thest? Then again, this event shouldn''t happen right now but after some events that made it ur much earlier, perhaps that is the main reason the raid boss that appeared in the first wave is also the hardest boss. "Master. I heard from Tina that Cotton needed the core from a level 300 monster and ording to her, the cores you provided are being consumed fast. Perhaps we should hunt that boss and take its core for us to use? Just give us an order and we will participate in the battle," Lina suggested. "No need, Lina, Gobu. Although she indeed needed cores, I have them covered and I still have lots of stock of level 300 monster cores so you guys don''t need to bother much on it." "So, we will just remain passive on the boss until further prior notice?" "Yes. Unless Tina wanted to help out, we will just remain passive and attack monsters that reach near here but do not actively help the royalty. With how they treat her even though she has gained her powers, it''s natural for us to remain on the neutral side and watch on the sidelines." Since I have given my orders, Lina and Gobu nodded and decided to go back and rest. With their armor and weapons in terrible condition, I have a good job to excuse myself for quite a while. ... ... ... ... In the castle of the Insect Kingdom, the monsters that are just in the vicinity of the kingdom''s walls are invading. Although the yers are able to hold the monsters a lot, they are still quite an overwhelming number for the yers to handle, not to mention, the raid boss appearing, it made trouble by all the ns the king and queen have already set up to prepare for the battle. They didn''t expect to meet a very strong foe right off the bat. "Is this the punishment that our daughter has cast upon us?" the king contemted as he watches the battle outside the window of the watchtower of the walls that oversees the battle of the monsters, yers, and soldiers on the ground. "What are you talking about? It''s just the same old monster invasion. We have already repelled many of these kinds of invasions in the past and now you will be losing hope just because of the thing that made our insolent daughter reject our plea for help?" the queen yelled at the king. "They wouldn''t have rejected our plea for help if you have just shut your mouth and at least limit your prejudice at the very least. It was smooth sailing before until you ruined it. Instead of reconciling with our remaining daughter, you just made a bigger rift between us." ? "And now you think that was my fault? It''s because of that human! If he has done so silently and just epted our demands as royalty, then perhaps we might have forced a reconciliation on her to us!" the queen angrily crushed an apple in her hands. The king waves his antennae down while shaking his head at what the queen had said. "Perhaps, our daughter was right. We aren''t fit to be her parents in any way." Chapter 713 Total Chaos There are fewer monsters in the forestpared to the vicinity of the Insect Kingdom but you can''t say they are small in numbers. There are still yers fighting in the forest that didn''t want to participate in the totally chaotic battlefield that is outside of the Insect Kingdom''s borders. To those who are not that strong, the forest is the best way to gain levels first, slowly challenge the stronger enemies, then head to the chaotic battlefield and participate in the killing as well. While repairing the armor of Lina and Gobu, I heard a shrill cry outside. It''s not near so my guess is that kit came from the battlefield where the enemies spawn. Since Lina and Gobu''s armor is damaged after trying the mantis, I rmended that they train only in the vicinity of the cabin and fight the monsters that get near here to ensure that the monsters are controlled and the enemies don''t crowd in, making it troublesome if they are inrge numbers. As for me, I made myself busy in the workshop repairing the equipment of the two. Until I finish making all their armor, they will have to retain their current armor in the meantime. Since repairs don''t take that much time to finish, I easilypleted both repairs on Lina and Gobu''s armor. They are good as new. But instead of giving it back to them, I started putting a few enhancements on them that will allow them to be more durable in battles. In short, I just made the armor stronger and more valuable. Of course, the enhancements I added are minor like [Hardening III], [Lightweight IV], and [Durable III], which increase the defense values of the armor with the addition of making it light enough that the wearer will not feel burdened by the armor and allow it to be integrated into their body normally like normal clothes, making them fight like they didn''t wear any armor yet gain the defense all the same as wearing heavy armor. The enhancements didn''t take too much time and were immediately done as soon as I applied them. Now that they are done, my work isplete. I went outside and realized that no more yers are staying nearby. From the looks of it, they have decided to join into the fray of yers trying to y the raid boss after hearing a piece of news or rumor from the others that if the boss is in, the monster waves will halt and the reward will be greater as well. The only ones who are there are Lina and Gobu who are chatting while guarding the area. "How are the surroundings? Is there any immediate trouble we needed to address?" I asked. "Not really, Master. There aren''t many monsters nearby. Most of them immediately went to the battlefield after the shrill cry earlier echoed almost everywhere," Lina exined. I took out the two pieces of armor and handed them back to the two who are grateful for the repairs and immediately wear them. Then, they realized something changed. "Master, thank you for adding new enhancements to our armor. You shouldn''t have done so since it was just a waste of materials to use on our old armor, but regardless, we appreciate them," Gobu bowed down, which was followed by Lina as well. "Don''t worry, it''s not that much of a big deal and since you guys are using that armor, more enhancements mean more easy time in battles. It''s not a waste if it allows you to remain alive in battle." "Wise words, Master. Still, it''s unnecessary for us to receive buffs like this as we barely did anything that would make you reward us this much. We will do our best to serve you well, Master." "No need to repay me. Just do what you usually do, I just added them on a whim since I felt they were a little bitcking. No need to make it a big deal." Then, we heard another shrill cry. This time, it''s much louder than before. The ground shook and the trees started shaking and dropping some of their leaves and premature fruits that has yet to enter their ripe phase. Tina went outside after the cry ended. "What is happening, Master? That shrill cry earlier was very strong. Are there any monsters?" "Yep. the invasion of the parasites that your parents have predicted is now currently in a heated battle with the others right now." Tina''s reaction went from surprise to grim. However, she is not surprised and sighed. "It''s not my job to really interfere with the battle right now. Even without our help, the situation will be resolved all by itself. Since they outright insulted us before, then we will just remain neutral, Master. But if you choose to help, Master, then I will help out as well. Until then, I will remain passive about this event and will not bother to care what is happening." After saying that, she returned to the cabin. Gobu can only shake his head while Lina is clearly worried. "That young girl is clearly on his wit''s end, it''s clear she is not fine despite the strong persona she is showing us. But I can''t me her if that is her reaction. With parents like that and the treatment you receive is very bad, if I were in her own shoes, perhaps I would do the same. I don''t want to be like those parents in the future. Thankfully, I am fair and caring about my family, I would be heartbroken if one of my daughters also do that to me." Gobu gulped down the mug of wine and m down the mug like a pro drunkard. Sometimes, I wondered if Gobu was perhaps a dwarf in his past life or not due to some of his mannerisms very simr to a dwarf. "In any case, Master. Just like what Tina-chan said, we will remain in a neutral stance with the current situation. We will not directly involve ourselves and we will just observe for now. Of course, our current stance will change if you order, Master," Lina reminded me. I looked in the direction where the shrill cry has been causing waves of chaos, endangering the whole Insect Kingdom. I am not a benevolent person but I am also not cruel. I will just observe things for now. Still, I don''t think we will make any significant impact if we joined in but since Tina knows something, perhaps she has a way for this crisis to end without a problem. Chapter 714 The Elves And Riko With the current war being quite massive and yet our role is to remain on the sideline, I didn''t waste my time staying in the game once there is nothing left to do. Without many yers asking for help or buying my products due to how busy they were during the raid, I logged out from the game to rest for the remainder of the day. After a good rest, I went out of my room and I felt a mana fluctuation on the rooftop. I frowned as that never happened before here even with Renatta present. There''s no one around here since the siblings are currently in college, while Janus is presently working. Pandora and Suhei could be up on the roof but I still don''t think they were there. There is a bigger chance that Renatta and Rika are upstairs though. As for Riko, I don''t know yet but there is also a possibility that she was upstairs as well. I immediately went upstairs and then I peek to see whether something is currently going on there and as expected, I do find someone in there. Like the initial guess, Renatta and Rika were there. Even Riko and Pandora are also there ying with Pixie, and of course, the two elves who are currently having their two hands extended up in the air and seem to be gathering mana. No wonder the fluctuation of mana is weird, the two have been gathering for quite a while, perhaps to recover the mana in their bodies. I went up and checked everyone and the two elves were surprised when I appeared while the others casually greeted me. "Hey there, Manato. Checking up on the elves?" Rika asked when she noticed me climb up the stairs and close the door to the rooftop. "Not really. I checked the area since I felt a weird mana fluctuation up on the rooftop and I thought something weird was happening. Are they recovering their mana?" "Yep. Renatta suggested that with them the wife can now stand properly. With their current physique very weak at the moment, they really needed to recover all the mana in their body that was lost. We''ve been doing this since yesterday and it seems to be working properly for them which is great." The two elves who are gathering mana stopped what they are doing and have their heads bowed down. Riko who was watching them shook her head. "Guys, don''t worry about him. He might be the owner of the house, but he does not get angry with what you are doing. Please continue on with what you are doing and don''t worry if he watches. He doesn''t get angry over this." Renatta seems to understand the gist of it and tried to convey the words to them but since Pixie shook her head and took over, it seems that Renatta has difficulty in conveying our words in her own words which is a bit normal I guess knowing that she has barely studied ournguage and she barely understood it, though it already progressed quite far for her so I don''t mind. The two looked at me after Pixie told them the words of Riko and when I nodded in affirmation, they sighed in relief and continue to gather the mana that I interrupted when I went to check on them. I sat with the others to check up on them, especially Riko. "How are you now, Riko? Do you think you have regretted what you have chosen?" I asked. "Me? Regret? Nah. Best choice I did so far and I didn''t regret it one bit. Even if they made me do it again, perhaps I would choose the same choices I did the other night." The hearing answer made me chuckle a little bit knowing what she has chosen in the past timeline is pretty different right now but since many things have changed, I didn''t want to say much about her. "Oy, what are you chuckling at there? You think my decision was funny?" Riko frowned when she noticed me chuckle. "Hahaha, no. I was just surprised since you were so loyal to your parents before and you don''t even want to disobey any of their wishes and now you are just basically saying to them "F*ck this sh*t, I am out" move on them which made them too shocked to understand immediately." "Heh. Honestly, I was surprised by myself for being able to do that. Perhaps I have grown mentally without knowing of it myself." I was wondering whether I should tell Riko about what her parents said when they visited the old house that Riko recently vacated. I thought I shouldn''t do that but I ultimately decided that I should do it. "Oh yeah, Riko. Remember that time when I left the car back in the parking lot near your home because no one will drive the truck full of your stuff back here?" "Yeah, what''s up? Something happening?" "Yep. I didn''t tell you immediately but I decided to do it anyways right now. Apparently, your parents are expecting you toe back to them sooner orter after you realize your wrongs and realize how harsh the world is for you without their help. Your father even expected you to go back to them in no time to beg for forgiveness." "Wow, that''s something. Even though I ran away from my family right now, they don''t treat me like trash or anything in the same way although they are not better though," Rika chuckled. Hearing what I just revealed, Riko shook her head and sighed. She is frowning but she didn''t do much aside from that. "Well, I guess they have to wait for a long time or I guess, forever since I don''t think I will being back to them. They clearly don''t know what their daughter is doing if they think that I wouldn''t survive without their help. They don''t even know that I am well sufficient enough to live by myself right now." "Then? Why do you think you decided to crash into my ce if you are self-sufficient?" I raised my eyebrow though I am clearly smiling, clearly teasing Riko. "Hey, if you are with a mansion like this being your home with a housemate who is good at cooking, and hanging out with everyone has never been easier, why would I bother looking for my own house? Unless you sold this ce to another owner, I think it''s a bright idea for me to stay here and freeload, hahaha!" I scratch my head at her shameless answer. "Hey, I know that I allowed you here, but don''t just freeload like azy pig, do some housework here and there if you are free alright? Being veryzy and letting others take care of you is a very unhealthy mindset ya know? Also, just because you are living here, doesn''t mean you can rely on me for anything." Riko chuckled. "Hey, I might bezy but I am not that much of azy bastard though. I know how to contribute and I take care of myself, though." Then, we shifted the topic to the elves. "So, what will happen to the elves after they recover? You don''t want to enve them, yeah?" "I have to ask them to make a choice whether they will be staying with us or not. Knowing how dangerous it is for them, we have to find a way to let them return to their dimension again." Chapter 715 Elementals The two elves continue to gather energy while Renatta continues to supervise the two. The more mana they take, the more the color in their hair has returned to normal as well. Because the rooftop is filled with pure mana due to the two gathering it to recover their mana, the rooftop is also making turning into a ce where the elementals gather. Elementals are what you call spirits. They are like little fairies of various elements but a lot different than Pixie. Despite being categorized as a fairy, Pixie is one of the Fey folk. Elementals aremon in the Alternate World but they are not present in the real world. But due to the culmination of mana on Earth, it only made the elementals awaken. They are not that powerfulpared to the ones in Alternate World but their existence now in this world also means that they are just developing and the more they developed, the more power they will possess. "Everyone looks like this is a good time for us to meditate and practice our abilities as well. With all the mana amassing all over here and with the elementals gathering around, it is a very good way for us to increase our abilities with no effort." When they heard that, everyone nodded and started meditating. Pandora who didn''t learn any kind of meditation magic was at a loss since everyone aside from me started meditating their abilities. "Hey there, Pandora, from the looks in your eyes, you want to learn the same magic they are trying to learn as well?" Pandora was surprised by my question but she nodded in response. "Cool. Then, close your eyes and focus your mind. Imagine yourself standing in the middle of nothingness." Pandora seemed enthusiastic and immediately closed her eyes. As for me, I slowly injected some of my mana into her body, introducing it slowly to her so that her natural mana will also naturally form. I also did this to the others though they didn''t notice it which is why they were able to awaken fast enough. "Once you have imagined yourself in that state, imagine arge body of water in front of you. The bigger it is, the harder it will be to control so start small. A pond or a river, but if you can handle it, try imagining theke." The moment I instructed her that, her mana started to pour out which means she is now also awakening as well. She grits her teeth and is struggling for a little bit. "Don''t push yourself too hard. If you push yourself too hard, you will just injure yourself. One step at a time if you can''t handle the pressure." She continues to grit her teeth and slowly bit her lip, she also started to sweat a lot. However, soon enough, the pain disyed on her face disappeared and it was reced with her usual calm expression. "The moment the body of water in front of you has been formed, fill it up with water and feel the water flowing all around you. Feel, that the water you are imagining is flowing, is all around you, and all around the body of water that has materialized in front of you as well. Don''t think, but feel it. The gushing water that cleanses your soul." WOOOSHH! Aura appeared on her body. A cold chill emanated all over her skin and you would think you are touching ice instead of her skin. Just from her awakening alone, it is clear that her element is none other than the ice element. The cold air emanating from her is a big giveaway of what her element is. In short, she has awakened hertent magic power. Her mana has finally started flowing on her body. The two elves who are still gathering magic power were surprised when one of the humans awakened all of a sudden. However, they didn''t linger their surprise and continued their focus on the mana in the air. "You can feel the mana now in your body, right? That means you can now start meditating and use your mana now. Just do the same as what you did earlier but this time, try to control the flow of the "water" in your body. Make it bend to your will, move it around, or just let it flow straight to the pool normally. Increase the flow and make the body of water in front of you increase in size." Pandora nodded and she started her meditation. I also started my meditation as well after teaching Pandora. I can''t afford to miss this chance to increase my mastery in my own element. I have to practice it and increase my efficiency in using it. As I meditate, the elementals started to move on every one that is meditating. The elements that are associated with everyone are starting to gather around. However, I didn''t focus on them and focused on myself. The elementals having their presence around me is increasing the magic power I am umting. The sparks of the electricity are now flowing all over me and even though I am in my consciousness of where my mana is, the electric power is flowing on my body. It''s not rejecting it and instead, it isbining itself quite well. Soon, the two elves stopped absorbing mana in the air and the two recovered their lost mana. We also stopped meditating as well as the mana in the surroundings has returned to normal. I have increased the mastery of my magic power and control of electricity, as well as the expansion of my maximum mana capacity. Renatta helped the two as their body still pretty weak and after recovering the mana in their body, they have to make sure that the mana is properly circting on their bodies as well. Renatta beckoned Pixie and after talking to her, she immediately ryed what she needed to say. "They have to regte their mana once more to fully recover so they will be returning to their room and rest themselves so that the mana they have absorbed does not go berserk." "Yeah, they should. Absorbing so much mana would just make them reject it if they don''t regte it properly. Escort them back to their rooms and make sure they arefortable." The two elves bowed for a bit, showing signs of gratitude to me before they got escorted by Renatta. Although they don''t need to be escorted anymore as they no longer walk like a limp, Renatta chooses to help them get back still as a gesture. Pandora and Riko also went down with them as well now that the mana around has finally dispersed, leaving Riko and me watching the remaining elementals fly around while the mana that was gathered is slowly fading. "I don''t know if you have noticed it deheart. But don''t you think the real world and Alternate World are connected in some way other than being a game? Don''t you ever suspect it?" Riko ponders on that question I am surprised she managed to reach that conclusion despite Riko being a bit slow at times. "Yes. I believe it''s not just connected as a game. Perhaps it is another dimension. After all..." I then pulled the Versatile Weapon out in thin air and Riko who recognize the weapon does not forget what it was like. "The Versatile Weapon? Oh yeah, I remember now, You summoned it before in the past during that hostage-taking stuff and the robbery too. I thought it was some strange power but perhaps Earth was indeed part of the game as well?" I can only smile on that spection. After all, despite this valid connections, there is no way this is enough to call an evidence that the world of Alternate World game, is another dimension connected to Earth where magic and monsters exist. Chapter 716 Rankers Riko decided to rest for the rest of the day after the meditation. Janus and the siblings also returned from work and school that afternoon. As for Suhei, he has an important appointment with his father so he didn''t return home and left Pandora at home. Of course, Pandora was fine with that and after dinner, she returned to her room as she will be ying Alternate World there. The others also nned as well to y as they heard about therge major raid happening in the Aquagius Continent. Everyone aside from Pandora and the elves who do not y the game whether I am part of the raid or not but I immediately deny it and said that I am not part of it after declining something that resulted in me not participating. But I told them I am indeed in Aquagius Continent and near the site of the battle so if they are nning to participate, they can use my ce as a hub to gather if they needed supplies or just rest from the battle. After giving out my coordinates to them, they logged in to the game to see the event and whether they would participate or not. I didn''t return immediately and just surf the inte for a bit. Since the game became quite popr due to the news that the game is the reason why people are gaining abilities so now that it was indeed proven, the number of yers has increased quite a lot that forums are now much livelier and crowded and they started to get busier like in the past. Themunity even started making some polls and lists of who are the "RANKERS" in the game. The strongest yers in the game and who have the most feats avable. There are many of them on the list but as for my name, it''s not part of the top ten. As for the reason I am not part of it, I barely did many unusual feats. Aside from the time I cleared the Abyss Difficulty dungeon solo for the first time and a few stuff here and there, my name doesn''t have much fame attached to ittely as I have been in a passive mode these past years after grinding the heck out on the Dark Sea. Also, I am not that excited about clearing dungeons much and would rather search for the remaining Weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins and alsoplete the Necromancer Inheritance. So far, my search is all led to dead ends and I don''t think I will be able to find them just yet. The only weapon I am confirmed to exist but have no means to acquire yet is the Weapon of Lust. Aside from the fact that the weapon itself is from the ss that has yet to be released, it is also in the Kamikaze Continent, the Continent where violent winds gather and the mystics and supernatural run rampant. Until the expedition to explore the continent has been released, there is no way for me to ess the ce and look for it. Still, they still consider me a strong yer and despite the least amount of recognition, I am still ranked 15th on the list. As for the number one yer, Sigma is the one who is currently holding the crown of poprity. After the events in Luminous Continent, she decided to go solo for a while and started clearing dungeons and raking some titles left and right, and just like in the past timeline, she regained her title, "The Immovable Holy Knight". As for the second cer, it turned out to be Kaisar which is already predictable knowing how he wanted to gather fame and fortune wherever he goes. I am still keeping an eye on him right now but because it isn''t the right time just yet, my revenge would not go forth just yet. Surprisingly enough, the siblings, Sora and Akira have managed to steal the spot of third and fourth on the lists. Due to their "Mercenary Job", they areuded by many yers as the best duo that can help you boost in the game and help beginners to the game. Harmless Sparrow and Dolly took the spot of 5th and 6th. Compared to the others, they are more dungeon crawlers and always try to clear any dungeons they find whether they are hidden or not, they will clean it up and win. Not only that but due to some of the strategies that they post in the forums on various dungeons on how to find them, clear them, or solve the puzzles within, they gained the title to the yers as Dungeon Explorers. Still couldn''t believe that the Harmless Sparrow in the past who is part of the Blue Sky Guild got into controversy and silently disappeared in themunity and will partner up with Dolly who should have died in an ident that didn''t happen in this timeline. Janus is in the 10th rank for being one of the tackiest Pdin in the game as he focused more on defense rather than defense so many yers who happened to team up with him in the dungeon liked how he protects everyone and helped the main DPSnd a clean hit on the bosses while providing support as well to everyone else by taunting enemies. As for the others, well, they are not on the list. After all, this game has many hardcore yers. Competition is quite fierce. I looked into the forums to check on what is happening there at the moment and most of the discussion is about the Raid boss and the escting danger that is happening in the Aquagius Continent. There are so many yers chatting on the forums after trying to find a strategy on how to deal with the mantis. Most of the yers discussing are probably yers who have died and waiting for their revival in the cathedral while some are just trying to strategize and minimize the loss in the battle. As I scroll around, I found a forum about my secret shop business in the forest. Although the forum is not that bigpared to the main event, they managed to make a forum about it. I checked it out and read the discussion. I was happy that all of the customers I have sold the potions and items are happy with their purchases and some are even discussing some material trading as well for those who don''t have the material for the item they wanted but the others have the item but don''t need it. It was honestly quite fascinating to see. After scrolling for a while, I returned to the ongoing discussion on the raid and thetestment has given me info that Kaisar is currently leading his guild and participates in the raid as well. Many of the yers are not happy that Kaisar is joining but due to the essential need to kill the boss, they also wanted to have the other rankers join in as well. Reading took some time until I got bored and stopped surfing in the forums and decided to do something else. The first thing I did is to look for new business ventures. I can''t keep on relying on my money in the Alternate World. I know that it costs billions already if exchanged with real money but instead of letting it rot, I want to circte the money and keep it going. I can''t just let it remain stagnant. I thought about buying apany but it''s bad for me to buy apany all of a sudden and suddenly change owners, I can actually see downfalls and bankruptcy happening with that. I tried thinking of a few ways to better use my money so that I can profit. I searched around but there was nothing great or eye-catching for me to use for my business venture. It''s quite hard especially if you are not born as a businessman with a business in mind. Then, it hit me. This is the era of magic and other stuff involving that. There are even more studies that are focusing on mana as well. Knowing what will happen in the future, alone made me realize it. The business I needed to do is something that I am already a master of. Perhaps this will allow me to make a business involving essories with magical properties. Because the venture of magic is pretty much too underutilized just yet due to the fact that the people have yet to properly adapt to the mana and a few have yet to control them just yet. But with the increase of usage of magic, how about I create some utilities made to increase the usage of mana or have some various effects that will either affect the user or protect them? Food that has different effects positive to the body? I snap my fingers and grinned. It seems I finally have some idea on my business. Chapter 717 Escalating Danger When I got bored checking the forum and videos, I turned off myputer and logged back in to check the situation once more. After all, the game does not pause while I am away and continues on. "[Wee Back, deheart!]" The usual login screen wees me every time I returned but the moment I closed the wee screen, everything shook like there is a massive earthquake happening in the background. I almost fell from the bed when that urred as well. "What the f*ck was going on?" I prepared my gear and went out of the cabin and saw that the situation is looking grim. The sky is reddish and arge smoke is forming in the sky like there is a massive burning area below that has been burning the whole forest area, except that the location is located where the battle is currently happening. The others are there as usual but they are pretty calm and are currently eating alongside some yers who are currently healing up their wounds and watching the situation uncover. "Is there any development while I was away?" I asked Gobu and Lina who are both munching on a sandwich. "Oh, it''s you, Master. As you can see, the situation has escted quite a lot and many of the people who fought there returned here to grind and rest from the chaos. Also, the mantis is still alive and kicking." Looking around, there are indeed a lot of yers just idling around instead of actively looking for yers to team up with. There are some still doing that but most are just sitting on the chairs and tables I made and are either eating or drinking a potion while watching the scenery before us. Then, I realized itte but the trees that were blocking the view of the battle had been cut down and cleared up. There are even log piles beside the cabin, which means Gobu and Lina might be responsible for that. I am notining though and just looked at the situation. Then, the ground once again shook the surroundings and the yers wobbled from where they were for a bit including me before everything settled down. Like before, the yers are too passive and didn''t do much and just remain there watching things unfold. While I am still wondering why the yers seem to be a little bit passive right now, Lady n approached me. "Hello, are you going to open your shop now?" Lady n asked. I noticed she was full of wounds and her armor is not in a good shape either. "I will be preparing a few stuff for a bit before opening, so please wait for a bit, alright?" "Oh, that''s good. To be honest we are waiting for you to log back in since we ran out of potions to use. Since yours is quite potent, we are waiting for your store to open up so that we can go buy a bulk now that we are in the battle against the raid boss, we needed more potions now more than ever." "Eh? Is that the main reason why most of you yers are here and doing nothing?" One of the yers who heard my question answered instead of Lady n. "Some of us are rxing for a bit but some are just waiting for you to open up. We are waiting patiently though as we don''t want to get banned for being a piece of sh*t so please don''t mind us crowding here for a while." "No worries guys. I will be preparing stuff for a bit then open up the store. If you guys are going to buy, please line up at the usual spot so that we can progress the purchases smoothly, yeah? Also, please make a separate line for those who wanted to trade instead of buying potions so that we can have those who needed potions immediately have their orders processed." When the yers heard that, everyone immediately stood up and started lining up outside the front of the store. I am thankful no one was making a ruckus though as I don''t want to make a big scene. It''s pretty rare in some yers these days so seeing them quite united is quite nice to see. Lina and Gobu are fine in there eating for a while so I went back inside. The reason I didn''t want to open just yet is that I want to check the situation with Tina. As usual, Tina is still there but this time, she is knitting a scarf. When she noticed me approaching, she stopped sewing for a bit and put away her sewing kit but I just stopped her as it is not necessary for her to do so. "Master, you are back. You see, we needed recements for the cores soon. The cores are now down to 1 piece left and it''s also about to run out of energy. I didn''t know it would be this fast the cores will be drained." "Don''t panic, here, take this and rece all the cores that needed to be reced. Keep calm since it''s not that necessary to panic about something minor. Just ask me for more cores if it runs out of energy alright?" I then pulled out 5 more level 300 cores and handed them to her which made her surprised that I still have more. "Oh, sorry about that Master. I will be recing them now. Don''t worry about Cotton, Master. She is developing fine. At this rate, in just a few weeks she is ready to hatch out from her cocoon and go outside in her new form." "I will be looking forward to it." With the new cores in hand, Tina entered the room and reced the old cores with new ones. Now that I am done here, I went to the store, ready my items out, and opened up, weing the yers. The line was long but that doesn''t perturb me on doing it and immediately epted the orders. Thankfully, they are too organized this time around, it seems some yers also realized that it was me who was creating the potions so they didn''t want to anger me, knowing I am one of the rankers but it is good to know that there are no audacious yers trying to make their might known even though they are just some random nobody. While doing the transactions, the shaking surroundings are happening again and are making some of the yers outbnced as well and fall over. It was quite strong considering that something of a big force is causing this. Still, the business went on. Some of those yers who bought the potions they needed didn''t waste their time and returned immediately, rushing back to the battlefield. However, not all of them as some just decided to stay behind and go idle and rx for a while there. Still, I can''t deny that the danger happening against the Insect Kingdom is getting out of hand. If the boss has yet to be killed, it will only take a matter of minutes before the Insect Kingdom is gone for good. Chapter 718 Imminent Destruction It took some time before all of the shoppers left once their orders are satisfied. Still, I am quite sure that the yers wille back here again once their supplies ran out. With the monsters they are fighting quite strong to destroy that easily, if they could easily do that, they wouldn''t be struggling a lot in ending things. As for me, I remained passive while witnessing the situation. The wave of monsters is almost near the walls of the Insect Kingdom and thetter are already using high-level spells just to destroy the hordes of monsters. Not only the NPC soldiers are there, but I can also spot a lot of yers as well. Seeing the number of yers participating, it''s not just small guilds but also huge guilds present. Seeing some carrying the gs and banners of their guilds means they have passed the 200-yer threshold since they only get those the moment they have developed their guild house and expanded their facilities to amodate 200 yers. However, no matter how many yers are helping, the amount of monsters invading is quite enormous that even the wall of yers is not invulnerable against the horde plus with the raid boss still advancing slowly and annihting any enemies that it sees in its path, they can''t just continuously block the horde, they also have to deal with the raid boss at the same time as well. The strategy of the yers is pretty bad. Since the yers didn''t experience the raid battle against the Cath Palug, the yers are not that knowledgeable in big major raid battles like this. Speaking of Cath Palug, the guy has not been making a ruckus for quite a while and I am a bit curious about why the beast stopped making any kind of effort to either annoy me or try to escape. In fact, it barely did any kind of movements that would anger me which is a bit suspicious. But since Cath Palug is not really doing anything that garners my attention and the dogs that are helping me keep watch of him has not reported anything nor did they die or anything at all, I am not that worried. Back to the current situation. While watching the battle, I formted countless strategies that can help feel down the mantis as efficiently and easily as possible. I made countless simtions in my head on how to deal with it without it passing through the final boundary that separates the vast swamp that the corrupted insects areing from and the walls that separate the Insect Kingdom''s popce. It''s hard and tedious, but not impossible. But perhaps this was my fault as the intended fight against Cath Palug didn''t ur, or I should just have med the invasion for happening much earlier than expected. I don''t really know much but since everything works like a domino, perhaps some of my new actions have changed situations that shouldn''t have happened or do not exist before. While contemting, a slithering snake appeared from the forest. I was surprised since snakes are not present in the Insect Forest despite being a forest full of lush greenery and cold spots for snakes to breed, so seeing one immediately raised my guard and instinctively grab the hilt of my weapon. However, I immediately recognize the snake. It''s one of the snakes that Sigma tamed, and if I remember correctly, this snake is Beta. The other yers who were just staying there were also surprised that they immediately pulled out their weapons as well but seeing the snake didn''t even bat an eye from them, they are now curious as to what the snake ising here for. Soon, the one riding the snake came down and I thought it was just the owner riding the snake but there are several others as well. "Yo, deheart! I didn''t know you have a house here as well! And dayum, this is one crazy cozy cabin you have! Why did you make this ce a secret though?" Hagane grinned as he went down from the snake''s back. "Hagane, just because he has a mansion doesn''t mean he didn''t want to have some sort of vacation house. With a ce like this being isted in this forest, it is just a good ce to have sce and enjoy the game peacefully once! He doesn''t need to tell us this though?" Dolly scratches her head as she went down from the back of Beta as well. The others went down as well, Topaz and Iron, my parents, Mr. Bear, Harmless Sparrow, andstly, Sigma who went downst from the back of Beta. "Looks like the view of the battle was indeed very easy to view here. I can''t believe you have a location picked in this area," Sigma stares into the battlefield. "It''s just a coincidence. I am not even expecting the war would ur very near my location. As a result, the yers who are grinding in the forest made this ce a little resting spot as monsters don''t spawn here due to it being owned by a yer, and any monsters spawning here will deter from going here, making a small safe ce for yers to gather without being attacked." "''Woah, is that how it works? I didn''t know creating a ce like this randomly in the wild will allow you to make a safe area just like that?" Harmless Sparrow. "Haha, you still needed to find a neutral area and make it a space where someone can live to be a safe area, otherwise, it will not work." Once Sigma recalled Beta, she looks over into the current war. "The situation looks bad. How are the yers so bad at handling the enemies quite so bad right now?" Dolly frowned when she looked at the chaos on the battlefield. "Compared to us who have experienced a much more dangerous raid than this, these yers have yet to experience a massive battle like this so I think it is normal that they won''t be able to formte a good battle n and just fight against it like a normal enemy," Topaz immediately deduced. I nodded in agreement. "Topaz is right. Theyck experience and although it was a bit easy to handle, the way they execute the n is just bad enough that this is easy enough to crumble without any problem." "deheart, will the tide change if we decided to go and help out?" Sigma asked. "Of course. You guys already know most of the tricks on handling a raid as you guys have experienced it first hand, but keep in mind that not only us are present there but also other yers. Just like you guys, they are seeking glory, so if you guys are going to join into the fray, make sure you all are prepared." My fatherughed when he heard me say that. I frowned since my father is not someone who makes fun of me without thinking. So why is heughing though? "Son, every one of us here has already experienced many things against other yers. This is an MMORPG game, a game where other yerspete against other yers for glory. We of course know that, and that is why you don''t need to be worried. What we needed to be worried about is how to efficiently take down the enemy boss, as fast as possible." Chapter 719 Slay The Corrupted (I) The raid boss will slowly move toward its main destination which is the Insect Kingdom itself. It''s slow but that doesn''t mean the f*cker has a slow movement, it was actually moving slowly on purpose. It was like this in the past timeline as well but since the yers before figured it out, the mantis revealed its real form and became a menace and that is also the time it will be quite vulnerable and easy to kill. Since Father is asking for a n on taking down the mantis as the one who has observed the mantis for a longer period, I decided to reveal the n that I formted. Because the n is very long, I asked them to just jump into the frayter on against the raid boss and spend the night there while I exin the strategy I came up with. I also exined to them why I wouldn''t be participating and they immediately understand why. But since this isn''t part of their problem, they can participate just fine and I am also more relieved if they do participate than to stop them from doing so. It took a whole night in-game time for me to exin everything from tactics to strategies in case something happened that doesn''t fall to what was expected, I added there to make sure the n goes smoothly. The next morning, before the sun will rise up on the horizon, everyone departed to battle for the raid. It''s a raid after all and the longer they dawdle, the longer the boss will remain alive. Of course, before they left, I handed them all of the recovery items they can carry, repaired their weapons and armor, and gave them some tools to use for battle as well. I will just be watching them on the sidelines this time around so until then, I will be remaining in a passive state for a while. For that, perhaps cooking some popcorn sounds good. ... ... ... After listening to the advice of deheart, Sigma and everyone headed to the battlefield as soon as possible. Even though the nighttime passed by, the battle remained the same, and yers who are tired decided to swap out with other yers just to stall time to keep the raid boss from proceeding further. Sigma and the others who have already met a few of the yers on the field were all not expecting the massive scale of the battle. But they immediately knew what to do first. "Don''t bother with the corrupted mobs, Head straight to the boss and fight against it. Those guys will only attack if you outright block its path. Since there are other yers around, take advantage of them and head to the boss''s feet as soon as you can." The words of deheart echoed through Sigma''s head. She looked at everyone and seeing that they are ready, she gave the signal and all of them rush towards the boss''s feet. Because the mantis is no longer that far, they don''t need to run that far but it wasn''t the main problem of this. The ground they are running in is the main problem in reaching that ce much faster. The battlefield is a swamp. It''s just a normal swamp where monsters exist as well but until recently, the swamp is peaceful and yers can farm the enemies just fine without the fear of dying. But the moment the war happened, the ce also turned quite chaotic as well. Swamp''s ground is mud and water, plus some grass that sometimes tangles on armor or boots if they run through the ce. It''s not that troublesome but if you want to move faster, you will have to force yourself to move slowly for a bit since you have to waddle through the mud to get through whiches the next n that deheart said to them. "Run to the swamp but once your feet start to submerge, activate your wings and start flying until you find a mushroom. Use that mushroom as a "trampoline and boost your flight to reach the enemy much faster than you should." It was just a simple tip but the moment they actually dived into the battle, they realized that it was indeed much easier to do so than to stay waddling there in the mud. Even some yers were surprised that they managed to traverse the ce much faster. Because of that, the crew managed to get to the feet of the boss as fast as they can, even outpacing those yers that are still struggling from wading through the mud. "Remain near the legs of the raid boss. I noticed that the boss is able to walk into the mud without even personally stepping on it. If my assumption is correct, as long as you are near the legs, you won''t even touch the mud of the swamp. Use that to your advantage and fight the boss." Sigma and the othersnded near the legs. Because the mantis walks very slowly, they are not worried about it moving fast enough and far enough for them to catch up. Once they are now in a stable area, everyone unleashed their ultimate and strongest attacks on the boss immediately. "Throw out your strongest attacks to the feet immediately. I noticed that it was weak enough against burst but because the yers don''t use it at the same time, the impact was limited. Since there is a lot of your right now, use it simultaneously and make sure that you hit the feel with all of what you got. For those who don''t have a destructive ultimate attack like you, Mother, don''t waste it and instead, use your strongest debuff that can be inflicted against any enemies just like defense down or attack down debuffs, That would help a lot more." With the n, deheart''s mother throws the debuff to the boss, immediately inflicting it with the nned debuff, which is then followed suit by the simultaneous attacks of everyone. BOOM! The attacknded and due to the simultaneous attacks done to the boss, the boss didn''t expect it to experience a heavy attack happening at the same time. Due to this, the boss failed to even defend himself, it is now forced to deal with the damages that have happened simultaneously which will soon halt its recovery to focus on recovering its damage. That''s when yers should take a free hit to the boss as much as they can. Seeing that the rankers who have joined in started to initiate the attack against the boss, the others who are at a loss on what to do nearby now managed to gather more reason to fight. Now, its time for the strike back. Chapter 720 Slay The Corrupted (II) While the battle underneath the feet of the mantis is happening, many other yers have noticed the changing stature of the mantis. That also includes Kaisar who was also busy killing minor monsters because he can''t get close to the mantis due to the number of other monsters attacking while heading to it, plus the swamp''s ground hard to move on, making it more challenging to make a progress going forward. "Leader! I spotted that a few rankers are now currently fighting beneath the raid boss! And just by looking at the state of the boss, it seems they are indeed doing some real damage! I think you also need to head over there as well!" one of the yers who are part of Kaisar''s guild reported. "I can see that! And since you were here, deal with the monsters I am handling and I will head there as well! I can''t just let them gather more fame than they should have!" "W-WAIT!" the yer didn''t get to stop Kaisar as monsters started flooding and he had no choice but to fight back. Kaisar went ahead enthusiastically, trying to make sure he can get there in time. But the more he moves towards the boss, the more he finds it hard to go through especially since the mud is trying to stop him from moving. "Move, dammit! Ahhhh, move it!" Don''t just let me stay here in the mud!" The more he screamed, the more his feet gets stuck in the mud. He tried so hard but the feet he tried to move with just put him stuck. "GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The little monsters took notice of his screams and immediately rushed toward his location. And because he has a hard time moving due to it, before he can even scream, the monsters drowned him out, killing him as a result, and sending him to the cathedral. The poor bastard didn''t even get near the boss and got killed instead, what a waste of time. ... ... ... ... While Kaisar''s body was sinking into the mud, everyone else continued to bombard the feet of the mantis with all of their strongest attacks. It didn''t seem like their ultimate attacks were doing anything but after a few more attempts, the attacks slowly seemed to be doing some good amount of damage the mantis was moving in a more erratic way. "Keep it up, guys! We are making progress in dealing with it! We are dealing damage against it!" Sigma shouted as everyone else continues to bombard their attacks on it. As soon as they repeated another set of attacks, one of the legs of the mantis shook and exploded to pieces, causing the mantis to fall over as it goes outbnced the moment one of its legs exploded. Mr. Teddy took this chance and looked at deheart''s father. Thetter took notice of the signal and two nodded, immediately releasing [Destruction Punch] simultaneously,nding both hits straight to the other feet of the boss to stop its movements altogether. BANG! With both attacks being done, one of its legs immediately gave away as it fell to pieces, as two of its legs are now gone, the remaining legs of the mantis could no longer support the weight of the mantis and fell into the swamp mud. Everyone immediately activated their wings and started flying off into the sky to avoid being squashed by the huge body of the boss. "Enemy down, we have to perform an all-out attack before it can recover again!" Harmless Sparrow shouted to inform everyone about it. "Then, let''s unleash all of the sh*ts we can throw into this boss and force it to trigger its next phase!" Pulling out their inventories, they took out a few ck bombs, ready to explode. "These bombs are specially crafted to ensure to deal strong damage against enemies who have been downed and are currently in a weak state to move. Use this chance to bombard the f*cker to death. Throw them straight to the boss, and let the magicians and those who can''t use magic throw any kind of fire magic straight to them. Let them explode and spread the little chaos, that way, the next phase should begin much faster than it should, and that would also allow you to get much stronger than you should be." After recalling deheart''s words, everyone throws the bombs at the boss. Of course, there isn''t just a single bomb but multiple bombs are given to each and every one of them. "Now!" Dolly, Harmless Sparrow, and Topaz, three of the yers who can release fire magic started to gather up their mes. Dolly and Topaz, cast their strongest mes, [Sun Ray] while Harmless Sparrow is gathering the mes on her sword to release her usual me attack, [Phoenix Drive]. Once the casting of the mes is ready and the [Phoenix Drive] has reached its limit, the three unleashed the full might of their mes and bombarded the boss to burn everything around them, turning the little swamp full of mud into a swamp of mes. Followed by the mes swallowing the whole area as well as the mantis, the bombs thrown at the boss immediately caught the mes and explodes to pieces, causing destructive explosions that the others didn''t expect to be too strong that even when they were up in the air, they were almost caught up in the explosions as well. "Holy sh*t, those explosions pack a lot of punch. I wonder how the heck deheart has been able to make these kinds of stuff without us knowing. I am already wondering how capable he was in making various of trinkets here and there," Hagane whisted. "That''s easy, you can gain some recipes from monster drops and treasure chests as well as some secrets found in dungeons or special quests, If deheart was able to learn most of that stuff, deheart must have obtained most of them and crafted them to level up his ex jobs. After all, I also gained some stuff that can only be crafted by craftsmen as well as some blueprints," Iron exined. After all, with all of their random quests taken from other yers and NPCs as well, they are bound to get random stuff like blueprints as well. Of course, those things go straight to deheart as he is the only yer from them who has the ex-job to craft stuff aside from food. Those stuff goes straight to deheart''s mother as she has the best ex-job for food. "I didn''t know that. Damn. Perhaps I should give it a try?" "Are you sure? Have you seen how hard that stuff was? I have seen him do it once and I was confused as he was literally making stuff like it was processed for real. It''s not just an automatic process, my dudes," Dolly immediately stopped Hagane, knowing howzy Hagane is in terms of things like that. "Uh... then nevermind... That would be tooplicated for my style," Hagane shook his head. As the explosions continued, they suddenly heard a loud shriek from the mes. Soon, the mantis seems to be moving again. But then, they immediately realized that this was no longer the mantis they are facing, it is now the true face of the raid boss and the current phase that was forced triggered by them due to the explosion and destruction of its current host. "Get ready guys, the next and final phase of the boss is here!" Soon, the final boss emerged, standing from the top of the burning mantis body. A monster that seems to look like a giant spider but is too thin that it looked like the framework of an umbre without its covers and leaves only the metal stuff that moves the umbre whenever you open or close it. And on top of it, is the former mantis head, severed and being used by the current monster as its current head though with the body that was described earlier. It also revealed its name and status as well. [Brain Jacker] Raid Boss HP: ????/???? MP: ????/???? Traits: Parasitic "SH*T, this is one of those products of nightmares I keep hearing and being used in movies and stuff about brain-controlling monsters that take over the brain of their hosts and uses the host''s body to move. Why the f*ck is that monster appearing here out of all ces?!" Iron who was normally calm started to shiver. "Yo, calm down man. Even if it was a brain-controlling freak, all we needed to do is beat the sh*t out of it before it can do something funny alright?" Hagane joked. "Still, be careful. deheart wouldn''t even give us a warning if this boss was easy, to begin with. Don''t even think this boss is easy just because it was much smaller than the former form it has earlier." Sigma bit her lip. ording to deheart, since the monsters they are facing are parasites, the likeliness of the raid boss to reveal itself as a parasitic monster will be very big but to think it was indeed one still made her amazed. She is now convinced that deheart might be someone she indeed knew in the real world. Chapter 721 Slay The Corrupted (III) "What in the sted heavens is that sh*t?" Dolly rubbed her eyes seeing the Brain Jacker waiting for an opportunity to escape from the mes that spawned after the explosions created by the explosives. "It doesn''t look like a parasite but hell, it looks more like a spider using the mantis as its head. It''s kinda creepy if I say so myself." Harmless Sparrow readies her sword. "We should start sting this guy before we engage on it on the ground. Since the swamp dried up after we used the explosives, we should take advantage of that it is still waiting for the mes to die down," Topaz suggested. "Yes. I agree with that. Fire all of what you can but remember to look out for your MP. We can''t afford you guys to lose all your MP and then suffer a massive headache. Keep an eye on it always," Sigma reminded them. "Of course!" the three nodded and started casting more spells and bombarding the Brain Jacker with multiple attacks. "But just like what was discussed by deheart before, there is a chance that the true form is much faster than its mantis form so they have to make sure they are not just wasting mana from attacking. If it is fast enough, we should handle it on the ground and deal with it." Harmless Sparrow didn''t participate in bombarding the Brain Jacker but deheart''s mother reced her by throwing multiple concoctions of items that have destructive properties. Topaz and Dolly continue to bombard the Brain Jacker. As multiple attacksnded around the Brain Jacker, the monster immediately pulled something that everyone didn''t expect. Using its sharp appendages or tentacles or whatever it was, it cut off a part of the mantis''s body and used it as a shield as it starts to traverse the field to get away from the bombardment. "Damn! It was a smart f*cker! And it moves fast!" deheart''s father immediately tries to descend. "Wait! Don''t chase it just yet! Stop firing as well! We will have to deal with it on thend. We have to catch it first and I will do it," Sigma waved her hands, and gold chains starts to appear and chase the fleeing Brain Jacker. The golden chains were fast, but the Brain Jacker is faster and it didn''t even mind the chains as it easily dodges its lunges and stabbed like nothing. "Looks like a slimy one. Come on, let''s chase it." Everyone begins to chase the Brain Jacker. It stops for a few seconds at times before continuously trying to escape. Sigma''s eyes glow and locked her sight on the monster. "You won''t be escaping! [Chains of Binding Light]!" KA-CHANK! KA-CHANK! Multiple gold chains erupted on the ground and immediately restrained the Brain Jacker. "Fire!" Dolly and Topaz who are already charging up their abilities bombard the Brain Jacker once more but this time, the Brain Jacker took a hit from it and an unworldly screech can be heard where it was bombarded. "We will deal with it on the ground now," Sigma ordered. "Wait, but we are in the swamp now, it will be hard to traverse and fight that guy without flying!" Ironined. "Leave it to me, my son told me something great earlier and I have to check it out if it was real." deheart''s mom immediately sp her hands together and magic circles appeared on her hands. Shends in the swamp and put both of her hands on the wet swamp water with the magic circle still spinning on her palms. "Elevate the ground! [Control: Earth]!" All of a sudden, the ground shook and the ground rose up from the water creating an elevated arena without water and minimal mud as the water immediately got drained the moment it rose up from the ground. It basically became a little elevated ground arena. "Ohhhh sh*t''s about to get real!" Hagane grinned as hended on the elevated ground and held his shields together. Everyone else alsonded as well and they are now face to face against the Brain Jacker the moment the smoke and mes from the explosion that was used to bombard the Brain Jacker dissipated. Compared to when they were still up in the air, the Brain Jacker is now much more disgusting to look at. Above ground, it looked like some kind of metal octopus or robotic monster but when up close, it is much more like a mass of parasitic worms fused together and became the amalgamation of all the parasitic worms fused in one. Dolly who is a little bit weak in terms of bugs, almost puked the moment she meet the monster face to face. "Damn, and I thought that the view from above the ground was disgusting enough, it can still be disgustingly ramped up times two," Dolly held her mouth, trying her best to vomit at the sight of it. As they prepare to attack it while it was still in a bind, the Brain Jacker suddenly split itself into 5 pieces of worms, each of them carrying a small fragment of the Mantis head with them that also got divided when they divided their bodies as well. And as a result of splitting up, the [Chains of Binding Light] were broken as well. "Well, sh*t, the bindings are broken!" Sigma grits her teeth. After all, no monster has been able to escape the [Chains of Binding Light] before, and in just a few seconds, it was broken by a parasitic monster. "Prepare to stop it if it tries to escape!" deheart''s Father immediately gave some instructions since some stopped. "No, it seems it won''t be running away, It''s now going to fight back against us." Topaz readies her staff. And just like what Topaz said, the Brain Jacker that divided itself is not nning to escape, but instead, to fight. One of its forms, the one that looks like a tapeworm immediately shoots out like some kind of film in a film reel straight to the yers and everyone dodges it which was followed up by the others as well. "Get ready guys! We aren''t going to just let this f*cker try to kill us here!" The worms attacked and slithers like a slick rope moving all by itself. Sigma uses her golden chains to stop the monsters but because they are fast, she was just hitting the air most of the time. This pissed Sigma a little bit so instead of staying still, she pulled out her Greatsword. Since she has both the Greatsword and a mace as weapons, she was pissed enough that she decided to use the Greatsword to fight back against it. "Light, shine on me and bless my de to y the corrupted." The light shines in her sword and is now imbued with Holy Power. Sigma''splexion also became a bit brighter as well and her ck hair turned golden as well. "What the? Is this part of her powers that she didn''t reveal just yet?" Hagane frowned. "ording to the guides, it was the "Valkyrie" form of the female Holy Knight that can take that form which only female Holy Knights can take. Since she has that ability, it is clear that she took the Valkyrie promotion." Then, they were immediately reprimanded by dheart''s father who was already beating up the monster by tagging the team with Mr. Teddy. "Hey, Kids. Don''t just talk there and fight back. These disgusting f*cker will not die if you guys remained to talk and do nothing! Get cracking and fight!" "Y-YES!" everyone readies their weapons and is now in battle stance, ready to fight back. .... ... ... ... ... deheart witnessed all of what happened and he was a bit shocked to see that the Brain Jacker has that form, to begin with. After all, the past Brain Jacker has been killed before it can even use up some kind of gimmick like that when it appeared so seeing the response of the group is great as they didn''t even think twice and engaged in a fight against the divided monsters. Still, he was content and not worried about what is happening to the others. He is quite confident that Sigma and the others could deal with the main threat just fine. "The monster hordes seem to be getting thinner now. The other yers are also able to now fight back just fine too and the horde that is still being held by the yers has thinned out," Lina munches a dried potato chip as she looks at the battlefield. "Well, that''s good to hear, isn''t it? The monsters are now being thinned out so we can say that we are almost done with this attack. With a massive scale of monster attacks happening, having their numbers go low is something we will be happy seeing," Gobu added as he sips his coffee. As for me, I remained quiet. I don''t know what will happen next but since there is a big chance it will happen, perhaps it will indeed happen soon once the current boss is dead. Chapter 722 Slay The Corrupted (IV) The situation on the war has yet to finish but seeing how many yers have been fighting now, I can see that the situation is getting much betterpared to the other days. Not only that but Sigma and the others are sessful in bringing down the raid boss to its second phase. I didn''t give them any info about the second phase as I am going to be really suspicious if I did and I am sure it wouldn''t be fun for them if they knew how to beat the crap out of that monster. Seeing the situation there, I can see that my Mother has thought of using her Alchemist abilities and it turned out quite well. Unfortunately, since the soil that blocks the enemy from escaping is blocking my view, I don''t know what is happening as well so there is nothing I can do about it. "I kinda feel bored now that I don''t have anything to do and all I can do right now while the battle is ongoing is watch. It''s just like I am watching what is happening and seeing everything burn." "I am sorry for that, Master. It seems my circumstances have made you feel this way and I think I really did have some fault in the situation." Turning around, I saw Tina approaching before she stands beside me, observing the chaos happening below. "Are you regretting that we didn''t ept the quest? If so, don''t be. There is not that much problem when we declined. It''s not like they are a very big deal for us to do so so keep in mind that there is no problem with us not epting the quest so remember that and stop ming yourself when I also didn''t ept the quest as well. It''s my decision so don''t keep on saying things." Tina went silent and didn''t say anything to make a rebuttal of what I just said. Then, she slowly sighed deeply and nodded. "Perhaps, it was indeed for the best." ... ... ... ... While deheart and Tina had some rxing talk with each other, Sigma and the others are clearly not having a good time with the enemy before them. The enemy is still alive and 1 out of the five has been downed and destroyed as a result of thebined effort of everyone. But the others are a pain to kill and they have yet to even properly do so. "SH*T... I didn''t expect that they would be a little bit annoying to deal with now. I thought it would be easier for us to kill the monster if it is smaller but this is getting annoying," Sigma wiped off her sweat as the four remaining body parts before them merges once more and started to rampage once more. "Hagane! Iron!" Dolly shouted as the two immediately jump into the fray and catches the two attacks that were iing to the group. "Kghhhhh!" the two grit their teeth as the appendages that attacked them. Their health is rapidly declining so deheart''s Mother immediately throws a ssh potion on the two so that they survive the attacks without dying, Once the two managed to block the attack, the Brain Jacker started releasing a cosmic wave in the air and everyone immediately covered their ears. Hagane who failed to cover his ears in time as he is still trying to recover from the previous attack screamed in pain as his ears starts bleeding. Sigma immediately signaled everyone to help Hagane once the cosmic wave is over and cover for him before the Brain Jacker approaches him and deal fatal damage. "If Iron didn''t manage to tank the attack before, we might have lost Hagane right now. Cover for him while he is healing. Everyone else, focus on dealing damage to the Brain Jacker while it is still intact!" Earlier, before they defeated one of its appendages, the cosmic wave happened and the victim at that time was Iron and got attacked by the Brain Jacker by injecting some sort of liquid into him, almost killing him in the process. But because of one of his passive, [Tenacity of the Iron Man] that allows him to survive fatal attacks and retain at least 1 HP, he managed to escape the fatal attack. That''s how everyone managed to realize that the Brain Jacker is capable of dealing huge damage and one-hit kill to everyone if they don''t get the care and they are caught up on its littlebos. They are not even sure whether thesebos will remain once they destroy one more appendage since the currentbo only urred the moment they managed to destroy one of its appendages present. Sigma tried her best to seal its movements and slow it down but because of how slick it moves, she has a hard time stopping it. The others on the other hand are dealing decent damages to the Brain Jacker but not that strong for it to be fatal for the Brain Jacker. As they continue to hold out and beat it up by releasing multiple attacks again and again against it, soon, the next appendage present started to dangle and has an abnormal movement now. "Look, one of its appendages is almost dead, quick! We need to destroy it as soon as we can!" Mr. Teddy and deheart''s father nodded when they found the Brain Jacker is almost losing another part of it. "Cover for us guys, we will be dealing a lethal blow against it!" "Leave it to us!" Harmless Sparrow immediately ignited her sword into mes and started to move erratically against the Brain Jacker while also swinging her weapon multiple times to slowly drain its HP. Dolly and Topaz raised their staff and channeled their mana on the two men, to enhance the attack power of two and also shorten the charge time of their skills while deheart''s Mother throws controls the soil and held the Brain Jacker in ce. This is only good to keep the monster in ce for a few seconds but this is enough time for the two. With their charge power, the two simultaneously punched the Brain Jacker, sending it to the rock wall and destroying one of its little appendages. "One tentacle down! Get ready guys! We don''t know what will happen next!" deheart''s father shouted as he and Mr. Teddy drank a potion to recover their lost mana from the attack they did. Sigma takes the helm this time around and readies her greatsword. Since the monster opened up its next phase, she is the one who needs to test out the new attack pattern of the monster as she is also the one who can easily survive them. The Brain Jacker recovers and the moment it does, its speed has multiplied greatly Sigma immediately blocks the attack of the Brain Jacker as it rushes to her with both of its appendages ready to do something. "F*CK! It''s heavy!" Sigma gritted her teeth. She just tanked one attack but her health has been immediately reduced to half. It was like she tanked 10 direct attacks from a cannon and yet she only received one attack. Not only that, the speed is something she is going to have a problem as well as the rest of them too. The battle has yet to reach its conclusion. Chapter 723 Slay The Corrupted (V) When the second appendage of the Brain Jacker died, they immediately assumed the next move of the Brain Jacker and yes, they were right. It started making a new pattern of attacks. This time, it started flying. Of course, not as high as a bird but nheless, it is indeed flying, "Now it is flying, sh*t, that is something I didn''t expect to see," Hagane frowned as he shook his left shield while staring at the flying Brain Jacker. "No, it''s not really flying, it doesn''t have wings and the guy doesn''t fly higher than 6 feet off the ground, it''s more like it is hovering in the air. We can still fly higher than the Brain Jacker." Harmless Sparrow noticed. "Still, now that it is floating in the air, there will be new attack patterns that it will try to release, we should be careful since it knows how to deal with a one-shot attack. Tanks, ready yourselves, buff up your defenses, and make sure that this guy can''t approach our backline!" Sigma ordered. Hagane and Iron immediately cast multiple defensive buffs on themselves but while they are doing so, the Brain Jacker suddenly expanded, and its remaining three appendages start moving erratically and faster than before as it charged toward everyone like a falling meteor. "[Attack Redirection]! Iron raised up his shield and the Brain Jacker that is about to head straight to the magicians have its attack redirected as Iron his skill allows him to catch all kinds of attacks meant to be for the other yers. As the Brain Jacker collided with Iron''s shield, it immediately used its appendages and grab Iron''s head, and tried to squeeze it. "AAAAAAGGGHHHHH!" Iron screamed in pain as the Brain Jacker is adding more force to its flimsy tentacles. Sigma who is quick on her reaction didn''t get to react as fast as she should have and instead, Mr.Teddy who was on the sidelines is the one who saved Iron by suddenly kicking the creature off of Iron''s shield. Due to the kick that Mr. Teddy released, the Brain Jacker that has all of its focus on Iron didn''t see the iing kick, allowing the former to easily remove him from the shield and save Iron from it. Mr.Teddy immediately pulled out a ssh health potion on Iron, healing him from his injuries. "Tanks, be careful. Be sure to get away from the Brain Jacker once you made contact with them. Don''t even bother trying to keep them on hold on your shields, deflect them as soon as possible or perhaps use a [Shield Bash]," Sigma shoots off a few gold chains once more to attack the Brain Jacker but it immediately skitters away before the chains could reach it. "Sorry about that... I messed up again." "Get yourself together dude, without that risky attacks, we wouldn''t know its little patterns," Hagane immediately consoled Iron and pat his shoulder. Dolly and Topaz fired off several long-range spells and some binding spells as well but just like before, the Brain Jacker is so swift. But Sigma who keeps missing before finally gets the hang of the speed of the Brain Jacker. After it dodges a few attacks from everyone, Sigma immediately fired off a few more chains that the Brain Jacker has never anticipated even though it is moving quite fast, it wasn''t fast enough to do so. Two of the golden chains pierce the Brain Jacker''s body and it was enough for the Brain Jacker to halt its movements. "Hell yeah, this is what I''ve been waiting for!" Harmless Sparrow who is just waiting for the right time to strike immediately dashes next to the Brain Jacker and ignited her sword before she started swinging it like there is no tomorrow. The Brain Jacker didn''t expect to receive thesh of Harmless Sparrow and with mes directly hitting its body, it tried to squish out of the chains but had a hard time doing so without being hit by the mes again and again. And since it cannot move, everyone begins to throw a barrage of attacks at it, not even giving the monster to breathe once as the barrage of attackses from every direction. As they keep their barrage of attacks, two appendages fell from the Brain Jacker and no one realized it until the Brain Jacker did one final move just so it could escape from the barrage. It immediately cut off a small part of its body, and immediately escaped. It was so small that it managed to slip off from their attacks." "Oh sh*t, it''s escaping!" Dolly and Topaz immediately fired off some quick spells at the Brain Jacker but since it was small enough, it managed to dodge them all. Even the Hook and Chain of deheart''s Mother missed and didn''t manage to catch the monster off. Before everyone can catch up to the monster, it jumped off from the soil arena tform, leaving everyone behind. "Chase after it!" deheart''s mother controlled the soil again and let it return to the ground naturally. Once the soil is back to normal, everyone started flying to chase after it. It was small but not small enough to hide. "Damn, although this is a raid boss, I hate that it acts like it''s a normal dungeon boss! Dungeon boss is more challenging than this! Chasing this guy is just a chore!" Haganeined. "Come on, Hagane, if the game is this easy, we would have already gotten bored by this! Just focus on chasing it and perhaps we can even..." before Dolly can finish what she was saying, what happened before her was something she wouldn''t expect to happen. The Brain Jacker quickly went ahead but a loud gunshot just echoed throughout the surroundings and the Brain Jacker that was just escaping immediately flew into the air, with a big hole in its body. As for the shooter, he didn''t expect tond a hit. deheart was stunned when he looked at the notification. -Dealt 10,000 damage. -Dealt a fatal hit! Instant Kill! -You have killed the Brain Jacker! -received... ... deheart was too stunned that he didn''t know what happened as he was just using his gun to get rid of one of the monsters he saw ruining his view on the battlefield. He pulled out the Pain Delivery and shot the flying monster but since his aim was terrible and the pistol is not even a long-range one, the bullet missed the target. But... it hit a different target instead. And being the same Pain Delivery that deals a hefty amount of damage, it''s an instant kill. "Holy crap... did I just make a kill steal on everyone?" Chapter 724 End Of Wave 1 My idental kill over the Brain Jacker also signifies the end of the first wave. The moment it died, all of the attacking monsters still suddenly fell to the ground and died without any apparent reason which also means their lives are connected to the Brain Jacker. With the main parasite dead, the others followed suit as well. Every yer present was stunned seeing the situation as they didn''t expect that the monsters would die all of a sudden without their input and their falling like twigs just made me a little bit confused. But some who are able to immediately recover started to loot up the corpses. After all, it won''t be long before their bodies disintegrate. Seeing many do this, the majority followed suit and soon enough, everyone else did. As for Sigma and the others, they are still confused about what happened and examined the corpse of the Brain Jacker. "Master. Are you sure that was a fluke or are you just a good marksman after all this time?" Tina looked at me with a questionable stare. "Hey, I might have shot down the raid boss but that was just idental! I didn''t mean to kill it like that, alright?" Due to the death of the boss, the system popped up and revealed that Wave 1 has finally ended. Then, a timer appeared up above the swamp, signifying that the battle is not yet over. However, everyone is a bit happy that the next wave will take ce around 14 days which means preparations this time will be easier and yers learned their lessons. And if my assumption is correct, the next bosses will be much easier than the Brain Jacker as unlike the Brain Jacker that has some various gimmicks and some fast movements, the next monsters are just normal monsters so everyone should be going to have an easier time now. As for me, I can now go and rx. But the battle is yet to be over and since the defense battle will still happen in the swamp, many yers will stille here to chill out and farm for stuff which means I can still do some profit as well. Besides, I still can''t leave just yet until Cotton has finished up her evolution. "With the battle done, we should be able to rx for a bit, right?" I looked at Tina, "Not exactly. During this time around, after the first wave is defeated, a small time of respite should be felt but the next day, the new monsters wille out again since it was yet the time of the raid, the monsters will act as wild monsters this time around. They wille in random numbers but not hordes of them, of course. Still, they will be showing up and that is the time everyone should thin them out before the start of the next wave, Still can''t believe my parents had a hard time dealing with it right now even though we have done things perfectly without struggling much in the past even though we still have no ess of help from adventurers just yet." "OH? So that is the main purpose of the monsters that are not native to this area appear? Just thin them out before the next horde?" "Yes. That way, the monsters attacking during the horde will have a harder time getting more backup or the enemies are not that much to handle, allowing for an easier battle against them and defending the ce much better as well." I shrugged after that, although I am doing some contributions here and there, it''s not entirely my problem anyways so I don''t really care much. But until the event ends, I will remain here for a while. After all, profit is much quicker here without any goodpetition, .... .... ... While deheart is happy about the end of the battle, Sigma and the rest are a bit disappointed. Not only did their prey were killed before they could bare their fangs on it, but it was also so sudden that they don''t know who killed it. Sigma investigated it but they didn''t find anything else. The bullet has already sunk under the mud and she couldn''t retrieve it to check anyways so she cannot determine who shot it anyways. They are also near the battlefield, which also means someone from the yers might have shot a gun at an enemy, but the bullet missed and insteadnded on the raid boss in an ident. "It''s kinda sad that we didn''t get the kill that we should have gotten into, but well, the boss is dead, the wave is over, and now we can go and rx. There is no need to find who killed the boss identally, we should be grateful to the guy since we are spared too much running. Who knows if that monster will regenerate its strength after running away if we failed to catch it? Bigger problems for us," Dolly positively gave her thoughts. "Yeah, you are right. There is no need to be sad. It''s not like we will receive big honors just because we managed to kill the big guy. We should go back and prepare for the next fight. There''s no need to cry on spilled milk, we already got the spoils, time to report to the king and queen and wait for the next wave and we should make sure to have proper preparation so that we avoid the scrambling disaster we currently doing," Sigma looked at the others and everyone nodded. And so, the First Wave is over, with the castle of the Insect Kingdom still intact although it barely managed to keep the enemies in the bay, and if not for the yers and the soldiers stopping the enemies, the ce would have been a goner already. Although the event has yet to be over, yers who are streaming the battle begin to highlight the biggest moments in the event and what transpired while everyone else is busy in the game and their focus is all shifted to monsters. Which would make Sigma and the others an online sensation in the game overnight. Chapter 725 Online Sensation After a long day of ying the game, I logged out and quietly lie on my bed. There are so many things that have changed and it''s going smoothly. I couldn''t be any happier. But since things continue, the world will continue moving as well. After resting for a bit, I stand back up and sat down on my bed, pulled out my Holophone, and checked the videos on the streaming website. Nowadays, there are many streamers in the Alternate World who have already streamed the game from different perspectives which makes it fun to watch sometimes. Scrolling through the countless videos, I soon stumbled on the video about the raid but this time, it was focused on the battle against the mantis and its second phase which is the Brain Jacker. There, on the video shows everyone who is present at that time. Sigma and the others are clearly caught in the camera. The livements were wild as most of them recognize the people there and many tell everyone that the fighters in the video are rankers. ------------ DracoNanny: Holy crap, these guys are the famous rankers. 123123Drink: You mean, those lists that yers put on the inte? Those rankings of yers who are famous and stuff? DracoNanny: Yeah, I am quite sure. I recognize those siblings over there, the one holding one shield and a sword and the female Magician who is wearing a witch hat. They are famous as the Mercenary Siblings as they take quests on other yers, take some requests in exchange for gold or real money, and even power leveling in certain levels as well. They are quite famous since they are very capable and if you are struggling on some kind of quest, as long as you pay, you will receive aid from the two. Trumpeting Trumpet: Look at the woman who is crossing her arms, isn''t that the famous "Immovable Holy Knight?" I didn''t know she participated in this event. Juicymel112: Oh yeah, that''s her alright! Who would have thought that she would willingly fight a boss with other yers? Most of the time, she barely participates in battle strategies with others and wins fights by herself. 123123Drink: Is she the one I heard in the rumors who solves most of the enemy problems by using the [Chains of the Heavens] attack most of the time and controls them like her real arm or extension to her body? Trumpeting Trumpet: Yep, that person alright. She is one of the major yers that you would think to be some kind of berserker even though their sses state otherwise. --- Thements go on and on. It''s quite amazing that even some yers around the world recognize my parents and some of my friends. They might not be actors and actresses in movies and television shows, but they are slowly garnering poprity and that is something else. After checking much stuff on the videos, there are many videos of ranking the rankers and identifying who are the rankers that deserve the top 10 ranks. Then, there is the forum, where most people who are not watching videos or ying the game are lurking, talking, or fighting with each other. And now, they are fighting on who to rank up again as the best rankers avable in the game. I checked the rankings and the rankings are changing every second. Some names climbed up, some climbed down, some retain their rankings while some fell down to the very bottom never to be seen again. As for me, Inded on rank 7 all of a sudden despite the fact that I have not contributed much. So I checked out what was going on and why my rank became so high, and soon realized why they did so. Due to my material trading in the shop, some yers have identified some of the items that I have put on the trading as some of the items that can only be obtained in some of the most difficult dungeons and are randomly given to some yers who kill the boss. It''s easy for yers to know this info as there are some dedicated yers whopiled info on them and posted it on the inte, allowing them to gain the nickname of Info brokers. And with countless yers contributing, there is bound to happen that some info will be recorded there as well. Now, back to why I got to rank 7. Since the yers saw how I was so rich with this stuff and I just randomly give them by trading random materials made them appreciate the effort I did. Not only do they get some good stuff, they only exchanged it with simple stuff that can be obtained easily by them. Plus, having them in my arsenal also signifies that I managed to clear this dungeon without everyone knowing. But since I was not that famouspared to the others, most of my exploits are something that has been confirmed. But as for the rest of my honors, no one knows about them and that contributed too much to why I am not taking a very high rank. They are continuously ranking yers up and down but there is one thing for sure. My friends and family are being debated on the rankings and they are being considered famous now. Knowing how popr the forum is and with the number of yers participating in the game, it is only normal that the yers will more likely recognize the heroes themselves. But there is one thing absolute in the ranking. Sigma. She is always remaining at the very top. Even with the constant climbing, Kaisar seems to have trouble reaching the first spot all by himself. And yet, Sigma, who is not even thinking about it, has been on that spot effortlessly. Of course, I don''t know why. But who cares really... I turned off my Holophone and lie back down on my bed, contemting whether bing famous would be beneficial in the future or not. Knowing Kaisar, he used that poprity to rise up and soon enough,mit the crime just so they can remove me and his rivals. Perhaps, sleeping would at least help me rewind what I have experienced and what I have learned from today''s incidents. Soon enough, my eyes felt heavy before I fell into unconsciousness. ... ... ... ... "Wake up...." I opened my eyes and before me is the dimensions where the giant tree that I am assuming to be the Yggdrasil was but this time, things seem to have changed...and the girl from before is also back, waiting for me once more. Chapter 726 A Rift Between Dreams And Reality I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself multiple times to wake myself up from the dream but it seems those actions are futile as they are not showing any effects that I am gonna wake up from the dream. It''s been a while since I was dragged into this dream but after so many times drifting back and forth into this ce, I am quite sure this is no longer some sort of dream. When I awakened my mana in this current timeline, I also managed to reach this ce by ident which means my fate is now bound to this ce for whatever reason. It''s also a bit odd since every time I woke up I forget all of the information I got in this dream but once I return to this ce, all of the information I obtained in my past dreams seems to load again into my brain, like it was stored somewhere else, making it a bit weird. And like I said before, after waking up once more, the loaded memory along with the new memories I obtained will also disappear. The girl d in white kimono and holding a box has yet to notice me. In fact, it seems her focus was on something else entirely. She is a resident of this ce though I didn''t see anyone else aside from her being the resident of this ce. I looked around and noticed that the ce has changed significantly and it''s not just a small change but it was a change that you could say to be simr to changing seasons. The surroundings have so many things that are not present thest time I was here. Of course, there will be bound for changes as it''s been a long time since I was dragged in here. I was not summoned here for the past five years. The changes are very big that the scenery has changed a lot. The ground is now littered with dead leaves from the nts like the fall season just passed. But the difference is that the leaves are so dry and dead that they are already ck in color and one touch from the leaves and they crumble to dust. The lush trees from before are now no longer bearing a single leaf on their branches. Wind no longer regrly blows around the ce, and rocks have crumbled. It was like the ce is dying. Even the Ygdrassil tree didn''t escape the changes. Before, when I was here for the first time, it was the brightest thing existing in this world but now, that light that shines the darkness of this ce is slowly fading. The sky itself is now cracking and it seems that something is going to tear apart the space itself. "It seems you are marveled from the changes happening in this realm," the girl suddenly talked behind my back I immediately backed off and assumed abat stance only to immediately drop it when I realized it was just the girl with the box. She chuckled when she saw me getting surprised by her. "Why are you surprised? We have met each other for a long time and you are still wary and scared of me huh?" As much as I want to admit that I don''t have any fear of her, I would be totally lying about that statement if I blurt that out loud. She might not have done anything for me to raise my suspicion and alertness, but her presence alone made me feel like I am going to need every single moment of my time here to get ready for all the things here including her. When I blinked, she returned to the ce where she was sitting before. I didn''t even see her walk over there, it was like she just appeared out of nowhere and then the moment I blink, she has already changed positions. "The World Tree is getting weaker as time passes by. The world will soon face something that they needed to be prepared for. As to why I am telling this to you? Well, you know the answer to that question." I frowned at her statement. There is something in me that says she is right but there is something else that is saying she is wrong but I don''t know what that is and I am confused to my very being about what is happening. The cracks in the sky get really big as time goes on, and multiple cracks have started to spread out. It was not that big when I noticed it but after observing it again, it is now growing. It is like the same cracks that appeared before when some rifts from another world opened up As I was about to get close to the Ygdrassil Tree, I felt my consciousness fading. It always happens whenever I get very close to the tree. This should be my very close distance from the tree of my whole exploration in this ce in my dream but it seems I still can''t get real close. "Your time here is almost over. However, one piece of advice for you, the Seeker that wanders in this realm. You are the reason everything here is happening. Soon enough, you will feel it as well. Enjoy the peace while itst, stranger." She gave me a final smile that seems to indicate something but I couldn''t process things as my eyes slowly close and my consciousness drifted away. .... .... .... .... BLAG! A dull pain run through my back and the back of my head as I opened my eyes. I cursed under my breath as I slowly stood up while rubbing the dull pain still present. "F*CK... that was one way to wake up..." It wouldn''t have hurt if I fell onto the floor just fine but my head seems to have bumped into my desk before Inded t on the floor making the dull pain behind my head pain. Not only that but it seems I am forgetting something as well. I tried to remember it but for some reason, it was like it didn''t exist in my memory I can''t help feeling like there should be something I should have remembered but oddly enough, I can''t even pinpoint what it was. I can only shake my head and keep on rubbing my head due to the pain. And whatever I was forgetting, perhaps it was just my imagination. Chapter 727 A Serious Talk Sigma can''t shake her feeling about it. She has been observing deheart for quite some time, as well as the others around him. Despite being friends in the game, she does not know them in real life but ording to Dolly and the others, they know deheart in real life. The only one from the group who they still have not met in real life is Mr. Teddy and herself. One can argue that Mr. Teddy is a secretive type of guy as he has not shown himself out from the Kigurumi he is wearing until now. And since he likes to be private and no one heard him talk, they can understand if Mr. Teddy refuses to meet in real life. As for her, she is not a girl who is private about her life with her friends. Since the game doesn''t allow yers to disguise themselves as a woman in the game unless they really try, Sigma knows that every girl part in their ragtag group is also a real girl in real life as well. Dolly and Harmless Sparrow keep on asking to meet up with her in real life. They at least want to hang out in real life as well and set aside the games for quite some time She had been putting it on hold for some time but nowadays, she realized something. Harmless Sparrow and Dolly, both are her close friends in the game. However, for some reason, she can see some things that she didn''t notice before that she is already seeing in real life. Their behavior is totally simr to her friends in real life she is not sure whether those friends had in real life and these two are the same people. Heck, even Hagane, Iron, and Topaz felt like people she also knows in real life as well. Sigma has been debating by herself whether she should ask them if they are those she knew in real life. But she doesn''t have the chance to ask most of the time as she forgot to do so. So instead of asking, she decided to continue her observation for quite some time. Then, there''s deheart. The person whom Harmless Sparrow and Dolly seem to know very much. Even his parents are present in the game and it seems Dolly and Hagane know them in real life as well. At first, Sigma didn''t connect the dots much. She noticed it, but she didn''t know that was a big connection to her previous assumptions. After all, deheart is someone who wears a mask and someone who bears a mysterious aura in him. But then, she noticed one habit of deheart that she noticed in someone before. It''s not that clear before but one behavior of deheart caught her attention before. So today, she is going to end all of the assumptions she had and now she''s going to try and confirm it. Now that it was rxation time and everyone are busy grinding for a bit, she decided that it is time to talk to deheart all about this. If anyone has the answer to her question, it is clearly deheart himself. Sigma entered the little workshop that deheart built beside the little storefront of the cabin. It''s not as big as the workshop he had in Resurgia but it is still bigpared to most workshops she had seen in the market and some people who make various items in the workshop. Currently, deheart is synthesizing stuff. Compared to when he is cksmithing, he will hold a conversation if he is just doing some synthesizingpared to when he is hammering his hammer down because how he needs more focus on the weapons and armorpared to doing a simple synthesis process. deheart noticed her already but he didn''t say anything and continued to do his little task at hand. "deheart, is it fine if I talk to you for a while?" "Yeah, go ahead. It''s not like I am busy so it''s not a problem. What''s on your mind?" "deheart, I want to confirm something, you are Manato Tsukasa right?" When he heard the name I mentioned, he almost got shaken and he almost spilled the concoction he is making. He then looked at me and asked, "What?" "I thought I am just imagining things but based on my reaction, it seems I hit a nail," Sigma was surprised as she didn''t expect her assumption would immediately be correct. "Wait, wait, wait...how? How did you know my name? I don''t think I know anyone else with whom I have revealed my name in the real world except for those I knew in the real world themselves!" "Oh, then my assumption is indeed correct. This means Dolly would be Riko-chan and Hagane is Janus-kun, right?" deheart who didn''t expect what he heard was in disbelief when Sigma also revealed the real names of both Hagane and Dolly whom he also didn''t reveal unless they also knew them in real life. Sigma is someone who he didn''t know in real life so having her know their names, he is immediately on guard whether it is safe to let the secret of them and himself be revealed. It''s not like he does not trust Sigma but he barely has any info on Sigma in the real world. Her having the info of them is something he does not like. "I can already tell what you are thinking deheart. You think I am someone who is a stranger that suddenly got a hold of information about your real self. And to be honest, that is scary but don''t be rmed, deheart. You also know me in the real world as well. You just didn''t notice since I am too different in the real world than in my Alternate World self," Sigma revealed. deheart stopped when he heard that he also knew Sigma in the real world. However, in deheart''s mind, aside from the people in the mansion, no one else knew he ys Alternate World and knows the identity of both Dolly and Hagane as well. He knew other people like some of his ssmates but he barely talk to them aside from socializing and stuff and he isn''t close to most of them. In fact, after he graduated, he lost contact with them as well. "It seems you are still confused. I might as well give you a big hint that will reveal my identity. Surely you will know me after learning of that clue." "Well, in that case, go. Give it to me," deheart seriously listened to make sure he does not miss the clue... "The clue that I am giving you is that "I have a brother." deheart paused waiting for more, but he never got anything else other than that. "HUH? THAT''S IT?" "Hey, don''t be greedy. That alone is a big giveaway to my identity already," Sigma shook her head in disappointment. "What? But that is not narrowing down! I knew some people who have a brother and it''s not helping!" "Well, it''s not my fault? If you can''t even guess who I am then it''s hopeless for you." deheart frowned behind his mask and started thinking. It''s not something he will immediately guess knowing the people he knew indeed has a sibling. But then his mind immediately connects some dots as fast as he can. There could only be a few people who knew how close his rtionship with both Janus and Riko and those people should be his close friends or those who know both of our lifestyles, so it immediately eliminates a lot of candidates. Then, deheart immediately had a guess. After all, he even thought Sigma and this person he was thinking is the same person as before. Not only that, but it coincides with how she knows I am friends with both Hagane and Dolly in real life and knew it was them immediately. I treat both in the same manner in the game and in the real world after all. And the people who only knew about that are the people living with us. Topaz is clearly out of the question so the only person other than Topaz who has a brother is none other than that person indeed. "You... you are Pandora right?" deheart is sure on this one. Not only do Sigma and Pandora look alike, but the tone of their voice is the same as when deheart heard her voice in the real world when she spoke. Although she has difficulty speaking, he remembers how Pandora talks and it was identical to how Sigma is speaking if Pandora can just talk straight. Her avatar as well looks very identical to her real face as well. Just have some minor alterations on Pandora''s face and she will be looking like Sigma indeed. p¦Á§ád¦Á-¨¾?¦Í¨º|¡¤§ã¨®§® When Sigma heard my guess, she smiled and immediately gave a thumbs-up. "Looks like you are good at guessing, deheart." Chapter 728 Name Reveal Pandora and Sigma. Two identities of a single person. But to be honest, I am quite surprised as I didn''t expect to know that Pandora was actually Sigma seeing how active thetter ispared to the former. Not to mention, she was a very different person in real life than in the game. It was like she developed a lot of her suppressed personality into her being and based on her behavior alone if Pandora is a normal girl without any of her current disabilities, then the end result would be Sigma. "Still, who would have thought it was you? I know that you y the game after your brother revealed that you are using it for rehab training for your feet, but I didn''t know that you are a long-time yer already." "Well, it''s the only hobby I can enjoy without the need to use my legs so it has grown to me, and now look, I am a dedicated yer now." She has be too dedicated that she became one of the strongest yers present at the moment and also in the future as well. That just shows how much her disabilities have robbed her of the various talents that should have made her an energetic girl. This is why, with the help of the Reality Verse themselves, even if they are being gued with disabilities, they can still experience or perhaps heal the disability itself just like that. "But I am surprised that you decided to reveal your identity just like that. I mean, you could''ve remained anonymous and even we would never assume it was you in the first ce," I asked her as to why she decided to suddenly make herself reveal her real identity to me. "Hey, even I wanted to have some friends as well. I might look like some kind of standoffish person but even then, I still wanted to be with friends too. I am also jealous of you guys who hang out with each other like siblings and just have a good time with each other. Perhaps if I have revealed my true identity, perhaps I can join in on some "friendship" discussion with the others, no?" That''s when I immediately understood. The reason why Sigma decided to reveal it herself. She might be an absolute beast in the game and she knows how to fight monsters like a pro. However, she is lonely too. Since Dolly and Harmless Sparrow know each other in real life, the two can easily ask each other to ask some things that they arefortable discussing with friends. Sigma can''t do that as she is basically a "stranger" to the eyes of the two. I chuckled for a bit when I heard the main reason why she did it. It''s simple and innocent but it''s also something brave of her to do so. After all, confronting someone and revealing yourself just so you can get good friends as a result is something of a big gamble for her. "So, what''s your n now that you have revealed yourself? Are you nning on revealing your identity to others as well? Especially on Dolly and Sparrow?" "Of course. I don''t need to hide my identity from them and what is the point of keeping this a secret from them? It doesn''t change much but just prolonging some sort of secret instead." She has a point on there. Since she doesn''t n to hide her identity anymore, there is no need to hide it from them as well. So why not reveal it to them? As we continue talking for a bit, the others who went hunting have returned which is good timing as well. I stopped what I am doing and we went out together to wee the others. "Where''s Mom and Dad?" I asked when I noticed the two are not present when everyone entered. Aside from Mr.Teddy who was offline from the very beginning, my parents were there and hunted with everyone before they came back. "Ah, don''t worry. They logged out as they will be taking lunch for a bit beforeing back. That''s also the main reason we came back as well as we are already hungry and I think we needed to eat real food soon enough as well," Dolly takes off the cape from her back and immediately crashes onto the sofa.please visit I checked on the time and like what Dolly said, it was already lunchtime. No wonder I felt hungry for a bit. "Looks like we should log out for a while and eat. I will be cooking. Also, I will be introducing someone as well while we eat lunch. I am sure you guys would like to meet this person as well." The others were confused but Sigma and I just smiled at each other before we hit log out. ... ... ... ... ... As usual, Suhei is out busy at work and left Pandora at home with us. Since he doesn''t get worried about his sister''s well-being with us, we also make sure that she is safe with us as well and we take care of her needs as well. First I fetched Pandora from her room. She is excited to introduce herself fully to them and I am also happy for her as well. After all, all her life she barely has any friends and this will be the first she will be having one. The others have yet to go out of their rooms, possibly because they are still preparing, As for the elves, they went to lunch much earlier. Since the two wanted to eat an early lunch, Renatta decided to join them as well, Pandora helped me with cooking. She can now stand albeit not that great just yet but she can now stand without much need for the crutch so she helped me with preparing vegetables. It took a bit of time before the others went outside from their rooms who are all hungry. "Remember, don''t be afraid of them. They will wee you with open arms, so be confident and introduce yourself to them." Pandora smiled. A smile of relief and happinessbined. To me, this is just a minor thing but for her, this is something major and she didn''t want it to f*ck up. She decided to take the first step to the road for her friends. Chapter 729 Second Wave Sigma''s name reveals shocked everyone but it ended on a positive note. Due to this, the girls have been hanging out more than ever. Now that they knew each other''s identity, they are now more united than ever. The girls are more secretive now and they are now happier to do some night meetings and some sleepovers in their rooms. I can''t say it was a very typical sleepover though as everyone is living under the same roof, more like they transferred rooms and sleep with them. Suhei is happy that now, Pandora has friends of her age and he is more than happy to allow her to do so. After all, she has been bound to her wheelchair since childhood plus she was mute, making her not able to get friends and being home-schooled as well, which eliminates a lot of possibilities for her to have friends. Now that she has them now, Suhei can now sigh in relief for her well-being. And so days have passed and the timer for the second wave begins. Since Sigma and the others have bonded in real life, they are now sticking together and are hunting monsters left and right since then. The boys were mostly left behind at times since they are both tankers and with Sigma on the battlefield, their roles are totally not needed. "Ugh, I didn''t expect to feel so useless now. I choose to be a pdin so that I can support my sis in battle and yet, look at me now, left on the corner..." Iron sighed as he drinks up a bottle of grape juice that my mother freshly made from the harvests of wild grapes the girls gathered while exploring. "Come on, man. Don''t worry. You are not the only one. Hahaha!" Haganeughed as he pats on Iron''s shoulder as he also drink the grape juice as well. "You guys look like drunkards in here. Get yourself together and prepare for the next battle. You guys should know that the second wave is almost here, yeah?" "Yeah, yeah. We do. That''s why we are rxing here since we have to make sure that we have the energy to back it up with the next wave yeah? We are expecting a much harder enemy next so we are just hanging out for now," Hagane sighed as he goes to finish the final drop on his cup. At that moment, Lina and Gobu returned from the scouting mission alongside Leona whom they rode to search up in the air. I sent them to scout the perimeter of the area with Leona to see where the enemies are already and also to alert everyone else. "We have returned, Master, and we got some bad news," Gobu went down from Leona''s back. "How bad is it?" I asked. "Not that bad, but you can say that it''s not a really good thing either. That''s what I can describe what we saw." Lina also went down from Leona as well and is the one who deliver and exined what they saw. "The monsters we sawing from the swamp are still insects but this time, they are worms. They looked like earthworms but they have a head that looked like it was covered with lots of teeth to the brim, and their mouth looked like suction as well. Not only that but there are also some jumping leeches as well. We didn''t get too close as those things jump very high but thankfully, they are not that plenty in numbers." "What about the boss?" I asked. "The boss is a ball made of worms. Gobu already shot it with his long-range magic attacks a few times and almost destroyed it but it immediately recovers. When we broke off several parts of its body, worms were sttered before it died. The rest of the body immediately goes to recover the lost part immediately. Not only that but we also realized that the boss does not possess the usual HP bar, making it hard to gauge its HP percentage."please visit I immediately knew what Lina is talking about. The next boss is what I expected and one of the bosses that appeared before the Brain Jacker. So it was the same monsters indeed. As to why their arrival is not the same, I guess it wouldn''t matter much. After all, even though what Lina described seems bad, this boss is the easiest of the enemies out there. It''s just that it''s very annoying and will take some time before it dies. Not only that but all of its "flesh: that separates it will then spawn more of them in the process, making the process longer. They are not that hard to kill, but they are numerous, so it''s just killing and killing until the very end and with everyone being proficient in the killing life, I am not worried. "You two, prepare to go to the battlefield. Bring the supplies to the others as well with you and distribute it to them. You guys will need what I packed there for you guys," I opened my inventory and handed Iron and Hagane supplies of different kinds to them. "So it is here." "INDEED." Hagane and Iron, wanting to at least find uses for themselves have steeled themselves Ready to fight. They wanted the piece of action after being left out by them. I can onlyugh at them on this since I wasn''t even part of that. With me being passive in this event, I am just a guy that is observing anything for them and not directly impacting the situation. The two left and are gung ho about their roles. I messaged the others that the battle is almost here since they are not present. "Guys, the next wave is almost upon us. I already gave the supplies to the boys so go and meet up with them and grab your stuff." Tina and the rest of the gang grabbed their own seats as we sat down to watch for the battle that will be happening in the same swamp where the previous battle urred. "I could never get used to being so passive in a war against monsters, Master. Seeing that we are just doing nothing but watching them still made me feel a little bit different," Gobu sips on his coffee as he watches the current situation. "Isn''t it nice? We are so used to battling monsters that we barely have any sort of rxation we are now notfortable not participating in it," Lina smiled as she massage the back of Cath Palug who decided to go out of the Summon''s Area just to rx. I barely saw the f*cker and the guy apparently has decided to live azy life like this. "For me, it''s a good perspective on a bystander how battles were going to look. We can use this chance to learn things that we barely have done due to the fact that we are always in battle. If we use this chance to take advantage of this and learn different things, we might be able to have a good chance that we will develop something we didn''t expect to see," Tina added. "Tina is right. Also, it''s a good change of pace for all the constant fighting we keep on doing. We are so busy grinding in the Dark Sea that we barely did any rest. We should take this chance to just go and rest, yeah? We will go back to the grind once this event is over so just enjoy it for now." "Well, if we are going back to the grind after this event, it''s indeed a good way to spend our time rxing. That stuff was tiring and stress-inducing. I barely have time to spend with my family due to that," Gobu sighed and gulped the remaining coffee into his cup. It''s just a little respite at the moment but I am not idling just for the sake of it. I am doing what I can while still finishing up my preparations for the next Continent and also preparing for the continent explorations soon which will be an update that will give the yers an incentive to explore the massive continent rather than remain in their own respective ces. After all, Alternate World is a big game and just remaining on a single continent is just not that great. It is also the main reason why I continue to gather materials and gather more and more stuff from the material trading I did as some of this stuff wille in handy once that updatees in. That''s where the real sh*tes in and that is also the time when Kaisar will gain the most recognition in the game and the time he bes powerful enough. I have to prevent that and to also that will be the time I have to make sure I am strong enough in real life as well. No one knows what will happen in the future after all. Chapter 730 Sphere Of Worms And Leeches Sigma and the others have gathered in the same swamp where the previous battle happened. The corpses of some of the monsters are still present after the arduous struggle, though none of the yers seems to care about them anymore, though that should be normal of how much they had looted them before they all died. The remnants are either worthless or they are just too sunken on the swamp. Not only the team was there, but the other yers who had participated in the war before are also there. Even those who died in the middle of the battle like Kaisar are present as well. And since all the yers who survived and died during the first wave are present, everyone is crowding all over the swamp. "Are the others not gonna join us today?" Sigma asked. "Apparently, deheart''s parents are too busy today and we don''t know about Mr. Teddy at the moment. Tatsumaki and the others said they will pass from this event as they are busy with some of the side quest that they are stuck with which is also the main reason they didn''t join us in the first wave. So you can say that we are the only ones who will be fighting in the frontlines at the moment," Iron replied. "Same old team, huh? Not that I amining but we sure have fewer members in the fight, huh?" Sigma sighed. "Not that it matters though, we rock as a team. Being in numbers is an advantage but we can do just fine by ourselves," Topaz immediately corrected Sigma. "Heh, yes, that''s right. It''s not like we rely only on numbers to fight enemies. We rely on our skills," Sigma chuckled. "By the way, did deheart say anything about the enemy we are going to face?" Dolly asked the boys. "Nope. It seems like we are just going to find out on our own. He only gave us these supplies and nothing else," Hagane then pulled out the supplies given to them by deheart to the girls who just arrived. "shbang and stun grenades?" Topaz frowned when she saw the items that were given. Inside the package that deheart has given to them was a set of 10 shbangs and 10 stun grenades which is the maximum amount a yer can carry in their toolbelts alongside some of the basic potions they use and the ssh potions that are used to deal damage to the enemies but that''s only natural. Seeing the non-lethal items alongside the recovery items seems odd to everyone as they barely used them before. "Strange, Why did deheart give us stun grenades and some shbangs? It''s not like we are going to war against soldiers right?" Harmless Sparrow furrowed her brows. "Perhaps it was just mixed in by deheart by mistake? But that should be pretty unlikely..." Dolly tilted her head. "Doesn''t matter. If he gave us these alongside the recovery items then we will use it all the same." The timer started beeping on everyone''s system, meaning the horde is almost here. No one has seen it yet but with the timer beeping on everyone, everyone is getting anxious and that is expected especially with what happened in the first wave. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... The moment it turned zero, the monsters suddenly emerge from the swamp waters causing everyone to get shocked as they thought monsters would just rush in like before. Seeing wormlike enemies appearing, the others who didn''t like seeing worms immediately got squeamish and retreated. "No one is feeling bad at looking with worms, yeah?" Sigma looked at everyone. Everyone else looked at each other and seeing no one react, Sigma smiled and assumed her usual stance. "Well then, time to fight!" The yers immediately started fighting. The NPC soldiers also fight back with them and are a huge deal for a bit especially in stalling some enemies. Sigma and the others are doing fine and they are handling enemies much easier than before. "Is it just me or do these enemies seem a lot... easier?" Topaz looked at everyone as she is just using her basic attack plus fireballbo and is killing the enemies just fine and much faster as well. "It''s certainly much easier to fight against, not that I amining but that is usually a trap. Don''t let your guard down," Iron reminded his sister. "Iron is right, Topaz. Being easy doesn''t mean it will remain as one. We should keep our vignce high even if our enemies are easier to kill. There might be a reason why they are easier to deal with," Sigma agrees with Iron''s suggestion as well.please visit However, Sigma''s group is the most likely yers who are doing it seriously. The others are clearly not doing it seriously after realizing the enemies are much easier to deal withpared to the previous waves. As a result, many of the yers are just farming casually even if the monsters are rushing fast. 30 minutes after the beginning of the battle and tremors starts to shake the battlefield. Sigma and the others are now on guard for the uing threat. As for the others, they are now wondering whether this is going to be the boss battle now which was of course, what will happen indeed. Most of the yers have gottencent about how easily the enemies are now so they are not worried about the boss, especially with how many rankers are present as well but it seems they are not prepared for what the new gimmick of the new boss is going to be. After the tremors stopped, the boss slowly emerged from the distance. The soldiers on thend immediately pulled out their ballista and catapults to attack the boss while it is still in the far distance, not waiting for it to get close. "FIRE!" Everymander unit shouted in unison as the ballista and catapults fired their ammunition and headed straight to the balling in the distance. ''Explosions and several other things happened in the distance as the attacks allnded on the boss. After the attack, holes are immediately created from the body of the boss, and everyone who has seen this is happy that the boss seems much easier as the ballista and catapults seem to be doing their stuff just fine so they continue on their usual fighting against the worms that are rushing in. However, unlike them, Sigma and the others immediately noticed the changes in the boss especially since they have observed the boss at a closer distance. They learned a lot on deheart that some bosses are not what you expect and expect always the unexpected. "Oy, is it just me or the flesh of the boss that got sted to pieces just started moving?" Hagane who is the closest to them on the boss in terms of the formationmented on the "flesh" that separated the boss. "Brother, you aren''t just seeing things. I think I am seeing it too," Iron who is also in the same position as Hagane nodded in agreement on Hagane. "Flesh is moving?" Sigma frowned. "We are not mistaking it! It''s indeed moving." Hagane tightens his grip on the shield. Iron did as well. Sigma who trusts the words of herpanions immediately readies herself. She then remembered the shbangs and stun grenades that were handed to them as well so she immediately ordered everyone. "Guys put the stun grenades and shbangs on your toolbelt quick slots. There must be a reason why we are given these by deheart in the first ce." Everyone nodded and put them immediately on their quick slots so that they can pull them out and use them whenever they wanted to. They usually just put potions and some stuff that can be used immediately but not stun grenades and shbangs as they are rarely or never used it ever. As the catapults and ballista do some "damage" to the boss, Sigma and the others immediately glimpsed the name of the boss. [Sphere of Worms and Leeches] Type: Boss Trait: ???? "Wait... I am not seeing any HP bar. Did my UI got corrupted or something?" Dolly frowned as she rubs her eyes as if she didn''t think she is seeing clearly. "No, you are not the only one, Dolly. I don''t see the HP bar as well, only the HP and its trait full of question marks." As attacks continuously chipped off parts of the boss, they have not realized the way the boss moves. But for the team, they are seeing it up close. After all, the boss is not just a singr monster but a lot of them. And we mean... A LOT. With the boss now revealed to them, Sigma immediately stopped remaining on herbat stance and ordered everyone. "RETREAT!" Sigma''s quick response saved them from trouble as the moment they retreated, arge leech immediatelynded where they stood before. "Sh*t... it may be a boss, but it seems we are not just going to fight one. But a collective of them!" Chapter 731 A Boss Made Of Piles Of Monsters The group didn''t hesitate to retreat as far as they can as the body of the Sphere of Worms and Leeches continues to break to pieces. It seems no one else has noticed that situation just yet except for them who are running away from the brewing chaos. "Sh*t, what was that? Is that really the boss? It''s not just normal monsters crumpled together to look big to others?!" Hagane looked again from the direction of the boss and shook his head. "We didn''t get it wrong, that was the boss indeed. But it seems it has a unique property of body for it to be capable of doing things like that. Its flesh seems to be alive and is made of other worms and other long insects, though most are just worms." "What are we going to do? It''s clear that this boss will not die so easily especially since it has multiple bodies in one! Every time it separates parts of its body, more of the flesh that gets detached is flinging itself alive. There is no way we will have to keep on fighting its flesh again and again until we run out of enemies to kill!" Harmless Sparrow didn''t like this prospect to happen. "Let''s retreat for a bit and observe the situation. Let''s go back to safety for now and watch the others fight against it, then we will decide what things we should do to defeat it. There''s no benefit for us to remain here for the first day," Sigma immediately ordered. Everyone agreed and pulled out a teleport scroll before returning to the cabin where deheart was staying. If they wanted to have a proper good view of the battlefield, that was the only ce they can think of. ... ... ... ... deheart who was currently rxing with the others was surprised when a few people teleported near him. That''s when he saw Sigma and everyone arriving as they softlynded on the ground after teleporting. "Oh? You guys have returned early? You guys giving up on the enemy?" I asked as I sip the coffee in my hands. "Nope, we just needed to retreat and strategize our next move against the new boss. It''s something we have not seen before therefore, we will be observing it first before we fight against it," Sigma exined. "That''s the right choice, Lady Sigma. Unless you are sure about the enemy, do not engage in a battle against it until you can gauge that the enemy is someone or something you can best with. It works every time and that allowed me to survive for a long time due to that mindset of mine," Gobu happily parted a piece of advice to them though it a prettymon sense, many usually neglect it, making things harder for themselves. "Then, deheart, have you already seen a weakness against the boss?" Dolly asked me. "I did. But I am not obligated to tell. It''s best if you guys figure it out yourselves and don''t just rely on me. If you guys still haven''t figured out how to kill it for the next 3 days, then I will give a hint. The raid will not be fun if I just give you all an easy way to finish the raid and reap the rewards like nothing. Work hard for it instead." Dolly grumbled as she usually does but Sigma nodded in response to my words. "Indeed. deheart is right. Just because he knew how to beat the boss doesn''t mean we should just ask him about it. We also needed to figure things out on our own and not just rely on others. It would be a shame that the one who didn''t fight already discovered the weakness of the enemy and we who are fighting against it head-on cannot even determine a single one. We should instead find it by ourselves and discuss itter." As much as Dolly wants to grumble, she had no choice but to agree. As for me, I stood up and returned to the cabin. "Where are you going, man?" Hagane asked. "You guys would be here for quite a while so while I am at it, might as well cook something for you guys. That should help train my cooking skills for quite a bit as well." And with that said, they joined together to observe the monster while I went back inside and started cooking several foods. It might not be as great and tasty as my mother''s food, but it doesn''t mean it was bad and sh*tty to eat. In fact, I am always proud of my growth in cooking as well. Soon enough, I might be able to open up my own store and create delicious food for everyone and sell it for money. But for now, it''s only for my friends and family for now. When I returned, everyone are absorbed in observing the boss. I already knew how to defeat it but since it was just a straightforward way to kill it, I am not going to tell them that all they needed to do is to kill its flesh as much as they can until nothing else was left behind. Perhaps if I let them do the observation, perhaps they might find a new way to kill the boss without the prolonged way of doing it. I believe they can do it or perhaps discover it. It''s the after all unless this boss really has no other way to defeat other than the normal way it should have been. They are busy discussing things that I didn''t interrupt them and just put down the table and put all of the food and drinks that I prepared for them without talking at all to them. Even though they are busy, they saw that I put down the food and they immediately flocked and grab a few tes for themselves and started grabbing their share before returning to their previous position earlier. The only one who didn''t return to their position is Sigma. Instead of discussing the boss''s weaknesses with the others, she decided to talk to me instead. "Hey, are you sure that you have found its weakness? Because we have used every single angle and theory we cane up with against it and yet we don''t get anything close on what to do about it." "I already did. The boss is pretty much a straightforward monster so even you should be able to spot it. Unless you are just thinking too much. Rx and think in a simple manner. Don''t overdo what you are thinking and perhaps you will arrive at the same conclusion as I did." I can see Sigma''s confusion on her face but I didn''t say much to her. It''s her choice now and not mine. And even if they are my friends, I don''t want to spoil the fun and let them discover it by themselves. Being in a passive manner like an expert felt great. No wonder some great people who teach students just do the same because of the fact that this kind of experience is something fun. Perhaps next time, I should do it again. After all, its not that bad. Chapter 732 Brute Force A day has passed by and they finallye to a conclusion. I didn''t bother to ask them what it was even though I am curious since I want them to at least surprise me with what they are about to do against the boss. They ask me for some supplies but the most supplies they took from my stack are the shbangs and stun grenades. I remembered that I have given them those items since it is one of the useful things that are used to deal with the leeches if they try totch onto them. Seeing them grab a lot of them, perhaps they are going to use it for the boss? I don''t know but if they did, I am curious about how are they going to use it. This time around, only Cath Palug and I are the ones remaining on watching the situation. "Why are you still out here, you little twerp?" I frowned at Cath Palug as he is still here without returning to the Summon''s Area. "Because I am in a first-ss seat, you little sh*t," Cath Palug made a smug look on his face. I can only sigh at him. There is no denying that this guy liked chaos and war, so he didn''t want to miss out on something chaotic happening out of his little radar. Well, I can at least grant him that. Unless he starts going on a rampage, he will remain a normal little f*cker for now. ... ... ... Back into the battlefield. The war is continuously happening and despite the efforts of the yers, they realized that instead of the enemies getting less and less as they easily dispatch them, they realized that as time goes on, the number of leeches and worms attacking is getting numerous. Not only that but there are already countless casualties due to the surprise leech attacks. Because Leech-type monsters are very rare and can only be seen by chance, yers who gettched on by these enemies are immediately considered dead so they are left to their doom. Leeches are invincible during the time theytch onto a yer or anything that they bite into. causing them to be really hard to deal with. Butpared to them, Sigma''s group already has a way to stop the leeches from locking someone''s fate into oblivion. One leech leaped into the air andnded straight on Hagane and alreadytched on his body, never letting itself go. The other yers who have seen that can only shake their heads seeing that this will cause Hagane''s death. But then, they were shocked when Hagane pulled out a stun grenade and used it, before throwing it down below his feet. [Stun Grenades] Type: Throwable Item Info: An item created by a master craftsman with a habit of creating random things. Effect: Explodes once the pin is pulled off. Upon explosion, within a 5-meter radius area that it exploded, all units, friendly and foe are inflicted with [Paralysis](Minor) for 7 seconds. Everyone immediately went away from Hagane''s direction, before the explosion of the grenade exploded, releasing a static electric boom, stunning everything in the vicinity, including Hagane himself. Of course, he already has prepared for it and activated his skill, [Refresh] to remove the debuff that was caused by the stun grenades. As for the leech, it was pretty effective as it didn''t even take a second before it fell down to the swamp, unmoving after being stunned. Hagane proceeds to bash it to death before it can recover from being stunned. "Damn, I thought the stun grenades and shbangs are the same things but he made it different items here huh? And it was a literal stun as it inflicts [Paralysis](Minor) upon explosion. Just how much free time does he have to create stuff like this?" Hagane scratches his head. "Pretty much all the time I guess? Seeing how he is not so active in the battles nowadays, it is clear he is spending most of his time crafting and crafting. It''s not new to us if hees up with something different once again," Harmless Sparrow answered Hagane''s question which made him tilt his head. "Oh yeah, I remember him saying that he needs to keep on crafting stuff so that he can sell them and earn gold to exchange it for money." "Ah, no wonder he rarely fights in dungeons these days. It''s either he is focusing on making stronger equipment for the Dark Sea or he is making new equipment because his inventory of items is already overflowing. Who knows. Anyways, let''s stop chatting and continue on our way to the boss. Now that the Stun Grenades are effective, perhaps that will allow us to break a lot of its body parts and will allow us to dispose of it faster," Dolly who is always in the rush for the battle is very much anticipating the battle against the boss. The others agreed and continued on their way. Seeing that they are heading toward the boss, some of the confident yers also followed suit. After all, they also wanted to attack the boss and gain significant honor for damaging and contributing to its death. Sigma and the others are fine with them, as long as they are not interrupting any kind of battles and if their greed doesn''t activate. Other than that, they are pretty much a wee addition for them. Soon enough the group gathered on the slow-moving but constantly releasing monster boss. If looked from afar, the boss just looked like a sphere, but when they reached the nearest point of the boss, the disgusting creature revealed itself as a wriggling mass of worms and leeches, crumpled into a ball. The main reason it is moving is that the worms on its body are also moving as well, allowing it to move normally. "You guys know the n. Let''s dispose of this sh*t so that we can proceed to the next one," Sigma then pulled out her own stun grenade. The others followed suit as well. The only ones who didn''t pull one are Topaz, and Dolly who are already getting their spells ready. "3! 2! 1! Throw it!" Simultaneously pulling the pin and throwing it to the sphere, they immediately retreated from the 5-meter st radius as quickly as they can. PING! A sharp noise can be heard in the surroundings before arge part of the sphere copsed to the swamp waters after the sound echoed throughout the surroundings. "There! Fire!" Topaz and Dolly who are holding their spells for a bit throws the attacks in one go, straight to the stunned monsters and destroying them in one spell. Since most of them are crumpled in one ce, the explosion of magic was enough to decimate a lot of them in one st. As a result, the boss lost quite a big part of their body which is quite more effective in disposing of lots of them in the process. Regarding those other worms that didn''t get caught in the explosion st, the other yers have decided to kill them since Sigma and the others didn''t bother to attack and kill them and are getting ready for the next wave. "It''s working guys. Let''s keep this sting going! Let''s brute force this monster and finish it as soon as we can!" ... ... ... Color me surprised. To think Sigma would use the stun grenades I made in that way. Although their method is the same as the method I already know, Sigma''s method is faster and easier to do. And I can tell that most likely, they will be able to dispose of this boss before it can keep itself regenerated with new worms. It doesn''t really have the same method but I think it still works. "Why are you chuckling by yourself even though there''s nothing funny? Are you getting crazy?" Cath Palug squinted both his eyes looking at me. "Mind your own business because I am minding my own. Don''t bother me." "TCH... what a nutjob." Still, all I can say is that they are naturally on the road to aplishing the mission now. So I am now thinking of the next boss. Since this will be the final wave, the remaining boss that I know in the past would be the same boss as here before. But since this is the final boss for the event, there must be some kind of quirk or different mechanic that will be given to it. Though I am still not sure about it. After all, the Sphere of Worms and Leeches doesn''t have any new gimmicks aside from its usual one, so does this mean, it will end up much easier than it should have been? I don''t know, but perhaps it will be. But once the final wave ends, the main eventes in and that will be the time I will have to wreck the ns of Kaisar. Perhaps I have to make it there first before him and harvest all the things he is going to get and im it for myself. All for the sake of stopping his growth. Chapter 733 Worm Slaying Can Be Exhausting Too The n was indeed working as intended by Sigma but they underestimated the number of worms and leeches the Sphere contains. Although they are ying many of the worms and leeches in batches and quick session, it is certainly not enough to defeat the enemy very quickly. "Sh*t, is there no end to these worms?! It''s been 3 hours since we have done this and we have yet to see an end to these wriggling life forms running out!" Hagane is now grumbling as he stomps t on one of the leeches that tried totch on his shield. "It''s looking grim, to be honest, the monster is not even showing signs of running out of its worms! I am also out of MP Potions to use!" Dolly grumbled as she drank the final bottle of mana potion in her inventory. "Take mine, I don''t use it much since I don''t use that much mana, and my recovery of it is fast, take it," Hagane then handed his share of potions to Dolly. "Thanks, but are you sure you don''t need to keep some for yourself?" Dolly asked. "No need to worry, I made sure I still have a few of them myself. I needed my skills to survive as well so I can''t afford to run out of it." The battle continues and the group as well as some other yers have joined in as well. Despite the number of yers who have joined in and are helping with the strat, the boss has yet to run out of worms, making the battle pretty much tiresome. Everyone is already quite tired at this point and they have already slowed down on their movements. "Our stun grenades are running out. Even the shbangs are almost gone as well. Should we head back and resupply beforeing back?" Sigma asked. "That''s for the best, even though I felt sore in my body already with all this fighting happening. And doing it for straight three hours is already taking a toll on my body," Harmless Sparrow is wiping her sweat as she runs out of mana to use. "Then, let''s head back. These yers left behind can handle things here for now and since they are already doing our strat, we don''t need to worry about them getting wiped out. Let''s rest for now." Due to Sigma''s order to retreat, they returned to safety and returned to the cabin to resupply and rest as well. ... ... ... During the time Sigma and the others are retreating, I am currently pretty busy. I am conducting my usual business again. Although the business is not as greatpared to the first day I did some trades, the customers are stilling in so I continued doing it. I don''t have profit loss on doing so anyways so why stop? While processing some transactions, I noticed a teleport circle appeared outside before Sigma and the others appeared looking haggard. They are clearly out of energy from all of the stuff they have done. Instead of heading inside, they all sat down on the bench outside andy their heads on the table, clearly too exhausted to move. I finished up all of my transactions before I went ahead to check up on the strike team. When I got outside of the cabin, Lina is already attending to them, and she quickly tried to give them a little energy by putting food on the table. It''s not as effective but it gives a little bit of a reaction to the exhausted team. "Ugh... deheart... Why is that boss too tedious to fight..." Dolly grumbled while still keeping her head lying on the table. "Haha, why are you guysining? It''s a raid boss, naturally, they are tedious to defeat and they cannot be defeated so fastpared to most bosses. Just because the first-wave boss is easily killed doesn''t mean this boss will just go down so easily." "Yeah, I think we are forgetting that the boss we are fighting is a raid boss, it''s natural for it to take some time before it dies therefore we don''t need to rush on it..." despite being exhausted, Sigma still has a rational mind to talk and ease everyone. "Everyone is too exhausted. You guys should rest for the time being and continue the battle once you all are energized to continue," Lina suggested seeing the current situation of the group. "There are some spare beds in the rooms here in the cabin. Use that and have your bodies get energized. Perhaps you guys should also log out for now and continue again once you guys are energized already. No point fighting with a body that is about to fall. Go and have a good rest," "We are so tired to move, brother... a little help..." Iron is one of the toughest guys with lots of stamina to say that, it is clear that they are not in a good time to even continue moving. I sighed before I asked Tina, Gobu, and Lina to help me carry them to the beds so that they can recuperate. I can only chuckle in my mind seeing their current state but I cannot me them. This boss takes a tedious amount of time to finish up and even with so many yers joining in, that doesn''t mean it can speed up the termination of the boss because it just takes time and patience as well as fortitude for this boss to die. Not only that but I can also tell that once this is over, most of the yers who have participated in the raid for quite some time would get a title, [Worm yer] as a result of killing so many worms or any kind of worm-rted enemies. It''s a title with effects that allows the user who has the title to deal additional damage against enemies who are worms or considered as worms. It''s not that great of an effect but it can be handy at certain times, though not as much. But even so, it seems the situation is much better now. Sooner orter, the raid boss will soon die and the final wave countdown is about to begin. However, I shouldn''t be hasty. With the current boss still far from death''s door, perhaps I should also take things slow and have myself go my own way as well. My job will be much more troublesome so for now, let''s enjoy the slight time of respite before the moment of truth. For now, my task is to carry these guys to their respective rooms. "Ugh...you guys are heavy..." Chapter 734 Worm Slayer 2 days passed by and the amount of worms left on the Sphere of Worms and Leeches has finally toned down quite a lot. It''s no longer in sphere shape anymore as well, more like a half circle now. Still, for a half circle, the amount of worms on it is still quiterge amount and the mountain of dead worms is already scattered all over the swamp if not for the regr explosions done to eliminate the worms and leeches in batches, the number of worms littered all over will be too much to be called a mountain. Despite the efforts of the yers suppressing the boss, the boss has little change and all the yers who are suppressing it are showing signs of fatigue. No one knows if there is a surefire way to defeat it in one go since they already tried some of the strongest spells they could find and use to it and even some items that can deal strong AOE damage do not even help much in defeating all the worms. The yers shouldn''t haveined since they get experience for killing the worms and they get money as well, but only if it was worth it struggles. Every worm that is killed by a yer will that yer 10 experience points and 1 bronze coin Still, even if the yers are allining about it, they continue to fight, They didn''t stop until it dies and with the rankers rallying them as well, the yers continue to defeat it with all their efforts. Sigma is huffing and puffing as she smashes one of the leeches to a mush. She no longer counts how many she has killed. She forgot, or more precisely, she lost count already. Looking at herpanions, none of them are showing a confident look on their faces. The looks of exhaustion and fatigue are already wearing them down. They might have already rested multiple times but the monster just never stops moving and never stops producing more of the worms. At this point, everyone is already desensitized from the constant worm and leech killing, "Are you guys still fine?" Sigma asked everyone who seemed all drained with energy. "Barely hanging there, but we are still fine," Dolly wipes off her sweat. "We can still fight. Don''t worry about us too much," Harmless Sparrow shakes her hand for a bit, perhaps due to how she has been gripping the sword for too long. "Still, we are just hacking and stomping these enemies, why are we always exhausted when ites to these long battles all of a sudden? We are not like this before?" Hagane shooks his head. Even though he is not actively fighting the enemies and are just shielding them from iing leeches and worms, he also felt the same way as everyone else. That''s when Sigma suddenly got the answer she was looking for. The main reason why they keep getting exhausted after several attempts a day in fighting. Compared to the time they were fighting in the Frozen Region in Sandurk where the enemies are constantly appearing here and there for them to fight with almost little to no sleep, they still feel energetic in the battles. And yet, a mere battle of worms and leeches with a minimum of 3 hours, they already felt spent. Hagane''s words might have just been a passive quote from him since he has the habit of saying crucial info about something that everyone seems to not notice in the first ce out loud. Just now is something that they didn''t think about but might be something that they have neglected. After all, who would have thought that they would feel drained after killing monsters for that long? Now that she finally has an idea of why they get so exhausted so fast, she opened her inventory and grabs one of the drinks that have the ability to give the one who drank the item the passive buff, [Energized] [Energized] Type: Buff Info: Once applied to the user, they will regain stamina at an increased rate. Prevents debuffs that decrease stamina. Useful during long expedition missions. Sigma drank the whole bottle in one go and gained the passive buff. The moment she got it, all of the fatigue she felt suddenly disappeared, and her prior vigor before they fought returned as well. "I knew it!" Sigma grinned seeing her theory indeed worked. She then alerted everyone about it. "Guys, grab a Lemon Juice and drink it, this will solve our problem of getting too tired to fight!" Seeing that Sigma is back to her energetic self, everyone grabbed a Lemon Juice in their inventory. Lemon Juice is a normal drink sold in every store that sells potions and is considered a stamina recovery potion. It''s a necessary item, especially in raiding dungeons or fighting enemies that make you run around multiple times to fight. They clearly don''t need Lemon Juice right now since they are not running around and they are only fighting the enemy in short outbursts but now, it seems that wasn''t the case as they still needed it. The moment everyone drank the Lemon Juice, their prior vigor that has disappeared, and are back to their usual killing rampage. "Hehehe! Holy crap! Thanks, Sigma-chan! Now that we are back on business, it''s time to unleash hell on these wriggly bastards, yeah?" Dolly then starts releasing mes on her hands. "Looks like it''s too effective. Alright, guys, there''s no need to hold back! Until the buff ends, let''s get this f*cker die!" Seeing Sigma''s group, the other yers did the same and just like the former, everyone else also regained their vigor and started fighting the worms and leeches with revitalized energy. As a result, everyone regained their hostile tendencies against enemies and started to ughter all of the worms and leeches that are broken off from the main body every time a stun grenade or shbang is used. And with the addition of some new yers joining the fray, the battle continued, the cycle continued and the boss continuously lost its shape as well. Then, it happened. The final attempt of the boss to fight back against the yers. Instead of rebuilding itself from scratch or returning to where it came from, it explodes and spreads out all of the worms and leeches that are still on its body. After the explosion, the worms and leeches suddenly grow inrge size. Around the same size as a trunk of a normal tree growing in parks for decorating the streets. It might not be that bad but imagine having those sizes around a hundred or a thousand times in numbers all around. Perhaps anyone would change their mind. But for these yers, they just wanted the worms to die. The raid should have ended sooner and so, even though they are faced with these fat and giant worms and leeches, ready to attack and try to devour them, the yers didn''t back down and with the lead of Sigma, she pointed her sword to the horde of worms. "SQUASH THEM ALL!" The yers screamed in response, rallying themselves to the enemies with weapons in their hands, their reinvigorated will to fight seeped through them as they hacked, shed, smashed, shot, and any kind of way to kill something to the worms. And despite the best final efforts of the boss to kill everyone and finish their only task, the yers tended to be a bigger threat than them. -You have gained the qualifications to earn a new title! -gained the title [Worm yer] Although the title isn''t a unique title, seeing a new shiny nickname for the yers tends to give them more satisfaction than ever. And so, the final boss revealed its final form after the endless assault of worms came to an end. [The Sphere] Boss HP: 100/100 Type: Construct Sigma who is the first one to notice it from the yers who are celebrating the defeat of the boss picked up the remains of the previous monstrosity, now as big as the palm of Sigma''s hands. Seeing it wriggled a few times, Sigma didn''t spare a single nce at it after seeing it still remains functional and released one of her golden chains and pierced the thing, effectively destroying the item as well. And with the destruction of the true core, also ended the second wave as well. The yers have finally recovered from all the days they were fighting nothing but worms and leeches all day. Due to that, the yers are now happy that the boss was defeated and returned to the city to go and meet up with the king and queen to get their rewards based on their contributions. As for Sigma''s group, everyone is satisfied but tired from all the battles. Despite regaining their lost energies back, Sigma decided that some things should be done moderately. "Well done guys. Let''s go back and rest. After all, we deserved it." Chapter 735 Cottons Evolution Result The battle against the second raid boss ended and it seems they also found out the main reason why they got tired so easily which is good, considering I didn''t even tell them about it. I am happy for them but since the effects of the raid boss will reappear again after the effects of the Lemon Juice disappears, the only best way to remove that debuff that did not appear on their status is to log out and rest for the entire day which is why I always tell them to have some good rest in the real world instead of resting for a while, while they are still in the game. As for me who didn''t participate in the battle just decided to head back into the cabin. I am not busy in the real world so I can just dump a lot of time into the game for now. Besides, I am still upied with making a few more kinds of stuff in preparation for the future. The crafting never stops and never ends which is why I will have to continue with my job. I was about to go into my workshop when I noticed that the door to the room where Cotton was currently in her metamorphosis phase was open and the chair where Tina was sitting to guard the door was empty. I peeked inside the door and saw Tina watching the cocoon of Cotton. It was currently moving. "Tina, what-" before I can continue what I was about to say, Tina gestured to me to keep quiet. I went inside the room as quietly as possible and stood beside Tina as the cocoon is moving. "What''s happening?" I asked in a hushed voice to Tina. "It seems the cocoon is hatching. Cotton is about toe out andplete her evolution. I needed to remain near her cocoon so that I can assist her ining out of it in case she gets some difficulty in doing so." When I heard that Cotton is about toe out, I suddenly got excited. After all, it''s been a while since Cotton has be a cocoon, and seeing her final form shake like that, it must mean she was about toe out and emerge in a new form. "Do you think Cotton will have a new appearance?" I asked. "Why are you asking the obvious, Master? Of course, she will. That is the main point of her evolution. The only downside of her evolution though is that her level might likely be reset back to level 1 topensate for her new body and abilities. There is a big chance that her skills when she was still small will disappear after she transforms. Which is why we have to make sure that she will be properly helped if she struggled. We can''t let her get in trouble if she was not able to get out of her shell." "Is there something bad happening if we don''t help her?" "Most of the time, no. But there are some special cases which are why, instead of relying on luck that she won''t get that special case, we instead go and help her out. We can''t just risk her to get stunted growth as a result of failure." Oh, so there is also a consequence if we don''t aid her if she is in trouble. That is interesting. After all, in the real world, those insects that go out of their cocoons can go out on their own without a problem. Alternate World does not work the same as the real world. As we continue to observe the cocoon, it soon started to make some cracks in its outer shell. It''s slow but the cracks are getting bigger as time goes on. It continues to shake as well and exudes a little bit of mana as well. Lina and Gobu seem to have noticed the mana leaking and headed straight to us. "What happened?" Gobu is agitated as he thought something is happening. "Shhh!" Tina immediately gestured for the two to quiet down. This made Gobu whisper "sorry" and quietly entered the room as we continue to observe the cocoon. Since they just came in, I exined to them what is happening and why we are on standby outside. They immediately understood the situation and decided to remain as well to see what Cotton will turn into and to also assist us in case something happened. Soon enough, the cracks are starting to get bigger and it slowly spreads through the whole cocoon. We are anticipating the arrival of the new form of Cotton but at the same time, we are also nervous. After all, we don''t know what wille out. Sure Cotton is a caterpir that looks like a baby as well and yet we don''t have the slightest idea what she was as an adult. Compared to us, Tina is confident. There''s not an ounce of worry on her face and she waits without showing signs that she is worried about Cotton. It didn''t take long for the cocoon to shake a lot and some of the cracks on the cocoon starts to fall off from it as well. It fell only one before it starts to fall by two, then it started falling more and more. That''s when Tina started to help on removing some of the cocoon shells as well. "Master, everyone, help me out now. It''s time to clear some of the cocoon shells and help out on Cotton. But don''t tear a big one. Just pull out bit by bit so that it won''t injure Cotton inside." And so, we started taking some of the cocoon shells off. Unlike egg shells, the cocoon shell of Cotton is like ss. It''s thick and very solid to the touch and can cut you like it was broken ss, yet it was so brittle to the touch that one slight pressure would make the shell disintegrate. "Alright. That should be enough. It''s Cotton''s time to break out now without our help." We sit back and rx as we wait for Cotton to break off the remaining shell of her cocoon. I thought it would take some time for her to break it off but itsted only a few minutes before she breaks out of it. The remaining shells on her cocoon exploded to pieces and revealed a golden cocoon-shaped thing inside. "Is that Cotton?" Lina frowned. "That''s her alright. She is inside while being covered by her wings." She slowly opens up her wings, revealing a young girl with golden wings connected to her back. I thought she would look like an insect, but she resembles a human. But there are clear signs she isn''t one and that is her head. Just like Tina, she had antennae that clearly a human doesn''t possess. Other than her antennae, on her head is a little crown. It was small but it seems to be not part of her body and it was just an essory. Yet, it seems ites from her evolution as well. Cotton seems like she became a newborn again so Tina immediately released a silk cloth and covered her as the golden wings on her back retracted and disappeared. "Master. We need new clothes for her, please make one for her please," Tina asked for Cotton. "Alright. Leave it to me. Just give me her measurements and I will make one in a jiffy," I opened up my inventory and pulled out a measuring tape, and handed it to Tina to measure up Cotton. Without measurements, the clothes that I make will end up bad. "Okay then, Sir Gobu, please give us a pail of water and a towel as well," Tina also asked Gobu with a task. "No worries, I will be right back," Gobu immediately rush out as well to get the items they needed. As for me, I started gathering the items I needed and what will make good clothes for Cotton. After a while, Lina handed me the measurements for Cotton. Before I can begin, Lina asked me a favor. "Master, I wanted to help as well in making the clothes for Cotton. I have the Tailoring passive as well. I can definitely help you on making it!" "That''s good! Alright. You cut the cloth over there and give it to me after you cut it this short..." We started making clothes of Cotton. The sooner we finish up, the faster we will be able to dress up Cotton as well. Thankfully, Lina is a wonderful helper and her suggestions are good as well, allowing me to make something cute and good at the same time. A little pink dress made from natural materials and fiber for Cotton. "This came out cutely than I thought it would look like!" Lina happily spreads it out, proud of the joint work result. "Good. Now hand this over to Tina and dress Cotton up. Make sure to tell me if there is something wrong with the dress so that I can adjust it up." Lina happily nodded and went back to Tina. As for me, I am also excited to see Cotton as well. The feeling is like I just became a dad all of a sudden. It''s quite a fascinating emotion, but I like it. Chapter 736 Cottons New Power Tina and Lina are both helping on Cotton this time around. Gobu and I are staying outside as both are doing girl things, which is not part of our work right now. Our job is done here, to be honest. We waited for an hour before the door where Cotton performed her metamorphosis opened, revealing the three. Lina carries the pail that Gobu had before while Tina carries Cotton like a child. Looking at Cotton, she really looks like a 5-year-old kid being carried by her Mom out of the room. In fact, Cotton is strikingly simr to Tina. If I have seen Tina in her childhood, perhaps she would be like this as well. The only difference between the two is that Tina has pure white hair, while Cotton has shiny gold hair that is very striking to look at, not to mention, it''s very silky and long that she might be mistakenly identified as a model for a shampoo brand. "Master, Cotton is now dressed up with the dress you made. I didn''t know you could make a great dress for kids since I usually saw you make only clothes for battle and some armor," Tina then put Cotton down on the floor. Cotton really looks adorable in the clothes that I made. It was my first time making a dress as well but I just took inspiration from the dresses designs I have seen in many illustrations and anime so its natural that it woulde out well, Not only that, but with the help of Lina as well and some of her tips and some of her contributions as well, the dress came out pretty nicely. "So, Tina... can she talk? After all, she no longer retains her previous form and she looks more like an insect person kid." Although Cotton looked like a human child, there is a big distinct look of her that differentiate her from a human child and that is her eyes and her antennae. Her eyes do not have any pupils, instead, it''s just ck with a little tinge of the transparent white circle that seems to be the pupil on her eyes though I am not sure if that was the best term for it, and at first nce, you would think she is wearing a shade but it was just her eyes. Very simr to Tina''s eyes as well, making her look like an insect person rather than a human. "She can talk but she can only talk our names. It seems she understood us but she still has only names in her vocabry for now. She knows my name as well as everyone as well. Based on what I can gather, Cotton understood us since she hatched and memorized our names. She can understand our words but she does not know how to convey them like us. She is like how a kid who still doesn''t know how to talk," Tina exined. Lina returned after carrying the pail to the bathroom and heard of our current conversation. "In that case, I can personally teach her how to talk. I taught many kids back then as it is part of the jobs of a battle maid." "Oh, that is great, Lina-chan! I am not good at teaching others, especially kids so I can appreciate it if you do. But I can pitch in to help as well," Tina happily nodded after hearing that Lina is capable of teaching basics to Cotton. "Hey, hey. Don''t forget about me. I may be a goblin but I also have experience handling and teaching kids as well. I have the first experience in parenting as well so if your girl gets troubled, you can ask me for suggestions or any tips as well. In fact, I can even ask my wife for input and if she can pitch in as well if you guys are also busy," Gobu proudly dered. "Then, Cotton is in good hands. I will help as well but don''t expect too much from me as I don''t have first-hand experience in dealing with kids," I scratch my head. This part is one of my weaknesses. Not only do I have limited information about it, but I also don''t have experience in taking care of a child as well, being someone who returned to the past without being able to hold a son or a daughter in my arms. "No worries, Master. Taking care of a child might take time to experience but that doesn''t mean you can''t learn. You can learn here too, and once you get your own pups as well, then you will have already the experience and prior knowledge on what to do. That''s how first-time parents do most of the time and even though you are not the parent, you are the acting guardian and stepfather of Cotton right now, which is necessary if we want to make Cotton a good girl as well." As we are discussing stuff, Cotton''s antennae started glowing like little light bulbs attached to her head. It''s twitching for a bit before. Then, the same aroma that we smelled before when we are raiding the church on Luminous Continent wafted all over us. A sudden calm of the body overwhelms me and my mind became clearer as a result. "Aromatherapy?" Tina immediately recognized the ability that Cotton used to us. "Master! Tina! Lina! Gobu! Hehe!" Cotton pointed at all of us while calling our names, well except for me because she is calling me Master. It''s kinda weird that she is calling me Master for some reason but that''s just how the summons andpanions call me so who am I to say what they should call me? And she is still a learning child so I must say she is already quite good at saying our names. "It seems Lina retained the Aromatherapy skill which is good considering some of the starting skills she might have before are gone now. Master, perhaps you can check her status and check the skills she has already?" Lina asked. "Good idea," I seconded and opened her status bar. However, when I tried doing so, my system glitched and I can''t open up her statuspared to when she was newly hatched. "What''s wrong, Master? Your face seems conflicted." Tina frowned seeing me do so. "I can''t ess her status page. It''s glitching and no matter how I do it, it''s not opening." "Are you sure, Master? Perhaps it''s just getting broken?" Lina asked. "No, that''s not it either. I can open the menu just fine and I can open the status of you guys, only Cotton is not essible at all." Hearing this, everyone frowned. They have not heard of someone or something with an inessible status page since even bosses and monsters have one as well. For Cotton to lose that when she evolved is something else. "Well, it doesn''t matter what the status page of Cotton looks like for now. Besides, she is still a kid. She shouldn''t participate in battles just yet," Tina shrugged and scoop up Cotton on the floor. "You are right, we shouldn''t even care much whether her status page cannot be opened or not. Cotton is still a kid. We can''t just drag her to the battlefield without her consent. We shouldn''t force her to do so. She just needs to have fun with life instead of worrying about monsters every day," Gobu nodded as well. As a result, everyone agreed that we will not bring Cotton to battles though everyone does agree that we have to level Cotton up so that she can develop and recover all of the experience points she lost and that might be one of the prerequisites to open up the status page of Cotton if she has a high level. Still, it makes me wonder. What really is Cotton? Despite hatching from an egg, she became a humanoid after evolving. It makes me wonder how the heck the Poison Spider Queen grabbed a hold of the egg where Cotton was. Is she a unique identity because a yer is currently helping her? So many questions but no answers at all. After our discussions, I went inside the room where Cotton was previously. Therge cocoon is still present in the room butpared to before, it''s not as sturdy as before might be because Cotton is already out from it which might be the main reason why. I checked the cocoon''s item description and I was surprised to see its usage of it. [Empty Cocoon] Type: Item Info: Arge item made by someone or something from the insect people to encase themselves during evolution. This cocoon is something that cannot be used again by its original upant therefore, it is now considered useless to them. However, since it was made of silk, it has a chance to be a great material if properly converted by a capable worker. Chapter 737 Beyond The Swamp (I) Even though they already agreed that Cotton will not be involved in fighting enemies, we still need to let Cotton regain all of her lost levels. It is a necessary thing so that her stats that I cannot view anymore will be boosted once her level is raised. Since she will not be joining us in the fight, we will just be boosting her levels by power-leveling her up. "Master, if we are going to power-level her up, does that mean we are going to the Dark Sea once again?" Lina asked. "Not now. It''s the best ce to farm experience points for now but it''s a waste of Mass Teleport Scroll to do that. Besides, we don''t need to hurry up and let Cotton catch up to level 300 immediately. Just like before, we just needed her to get used to the new feeling of leveling up as her body and stats grow." "Master''s got a point. If she stays in level one, her status won''t grow at all and that is bad for us in case she gets in trouble. The higher level she gets, the stronger she will be and even if she is still a child, higher levels only boost her growth which would mean it is going to be great for her. Besides, we are the ones who will be fighting and only Cotton will be on the sideline. With the passive of Master, we will be able to increase her level with ease while she is just watching," Lina added. "If that is the case, where should we go farming monsters? There''s plenty of areas we can go to farm monsters though..." Gobu scratches his head. "How about we head to the area where the monsters appear every raid? You know, beyond the swamp?" Tina suggested. Beyond the swamp... That''s not a bad idea. In fact, that should be the best-case scenario. After all, once the expedition after the third wave ended will begin, the target for yers to explore is the ce beyond the swamp. Currently, yers who are participants in the quest line event are not allowed to proceed beyond the ce. There is an invisible wall that blocks them from progressing, making it troublesome for them to check what is beyond the swamp. They can''t circle around it either as long as they are part of the quest line, the invisible wall will keep them from going beyond. But there is a big loophole here and it involves myself. Since we are technically not part of the quest, we can go and explore beyond that ce without the invisible wall blocking our way forward since that only applies to yers who are participants in the war. I am just an outsider who happens to know what it was and was invited but declined. So in a way, I am connected, yet, not also connected as I am a direct participant. Also, we can harvest whatever was in there as well that can only be essed during the expedition so we can go there in advance. It''s basically stealing opportunities from the other yers but I am not a saint and I am a hoarder of loot, so it doesn''t matter if they were not meant for me, finders keepers, you know. Since that was decided, I started preparing for the exploration. I even brought the tools I needed as well. Pickaxe. shovels, and many other things needed for mining stuff. I don''t know what was present there as when I went there in the past, many things were imed already therefore, it''s better to be prepared knowing all of the treasure present it is very much plentiful for me to take. "Alright. Everyone, get inside the Summon''s Area for now. I will be flying so that we don''t need to walk over the swamp. Who knows what''s beyond there, we should always be careful." Everyone went back to the Summon''s Area and as for me, I did one final check before I opened up my wings and started flying toward the unknown area of the swamp. ... ... ... ... Beyond the swamp... I continue flying beyond the vast swamp without stopping and carefully passing through rocks and trees. Just like I expected, the barrier that stopped the yers from proceeding did not affect me, allowing me to bypass that invisible wall and continue forward. There doesn''t seem to have anynd in the area aside from the muddy swamp but soon enough, I found the drynd that I am looking for. I didn''tnd immediately and proceeded to fly a little further to make sure that it wasn''t just a dried-up area of the swamp and that the remainingnd forward are back to muddy parts. Thankfully, that wasn''t the case and I managed to ensure that there will be drynd onwards. So I decided tond and proceed on foot now. "Master, should we go out now as well?" Lina asked. "Don''te out just yet. I will proceed alone for now and call you all out once I can make sure that everything is fine. Having a big group might disturb something big in here so we should be careful about our movements." "Understood." What I said is indeed real. This ce is crawling with monsters and if Ipare the number of monsters present here, it would be very simr to the number of monsters present in the frozen region of Sandurk. The only difference is that the Frozen Region is more dangerous and bigger monsters are dwelling on the frozennds in which if youpare them to the monsters dwelling beyond the swamp, thetter would probably lose against one monster dwelling in the formernd. But since bosses are present here as well, I wanted to make sure things are fine and dandy so that we also don''t get ambushed by any monsters as well. It will be troublesome if I do get ambushed. After walking for a while and seeing no enemies present, I immediately called out everyone and they came out of the Summon''s Area, with the bonus of Cath Palug who joined in as well. "Oi, you little f*cker, why did youe out? Are you trying to siphon experience points that are meant for Cotton? Go back into the Summon''s Area!" I scolded Cath Palug though that was a clear not possible way as the little bugger does not even care whether you are scolding him or not. "F*ck you to you, human. I can do whatever I want. If not for the curse that Merlin put on me, I would have stomped you t by now. Also, I am already level 300 as well, are you an idiot? Since the level cap has yet to be lifted, I am not going to gain any experience points, you idiotic little twerp. My presence here doesn''t matter on her EXP gain so if you think she does not level up fast, it''s either you gain a low amount of experience or just she does have a huge pool of experience points needed to level up. Don''t me the innocent ones, alright?" Afterining, Cath Palug thennded on my head and rested there. Since he was small, he can remain there just fine. "Don''t you dare mess up my mask alright? I will beat you up if you do." "Yeah, yeah. Just go and proceed, a 100 steps from here, a group of monsters is there gathered together. Just shut up and take care of them already if you wanted experience points to gain." "Huh...for once you are useful," I was surprised by Cath Palug for his sudden generosity. "Be grateful, human. I am so bored to death inside that area of yours that I am craving violence for once. So go, and do what you came here for." Since he decided to do so, we went exactly to where Cath Palug mentioned the monsters we still have not reached 100 steps and we already found the monsters in the distance. "Master, I get monster visuals. They are corrupted ants. It seems they are currently eating, what shall we do?" Gobu asked. "We get closer first. Once we are close enough but far enough for them to avoid their detection, Tina will cast a [Sleeping Powder] on them before we will strike." "Got it," Gobu nodded. Tina also nodded and ensured that her ability is ready to cast. Lina is the one in charge of carrying Cotton this time around. ording to her, she wanted to carry her around for once and act like a nanny. We got a little closer to the monsters and as soon as we are in the right distance, I signaled Tina to release the powder. Tinaplied and showered it to the ants. Soon enough, they started to get drowsy and our time to strike finally arrived when all of the ants started to sleep. "It''s time to harvest ourbors." Chapter 738 Beyond The Swamp (II) The ants who were just minding their own business were immediately squashed and killed by us who ambushed them all and since our levels are a lot higher than theirs, it was just quick to work for me and mypanions. "Hmm, the bloody mess works but not enough to satiate my cravings I guess," Cath Palug licks his front paws while judging at our kill. "Master, should I pick up the loot as well?" Lina asked. "No need. Just harvest the bodies for materials and leave the rest here. Their drops are close to worthless. We have lots of them inside our storage already." "Understood." Lina immediately started working and Gobu also helped as well, making short work on gutting and removing the materials. As for me, I am inspecting the corpse that they are eating. It was clear that they are not eating theirrade but it does look like an ant as well because it was mangled beyondprehension. The only thing that I can tell it was from an ant is because of its thorax. Compared to the ants that we killed which have a white color in their body, the one they ate is color yellow-green which is something I have not seen from an ant, but as I said, I don''t know if my assumption is urate. We continue on our way to the ce. Soon enough we arrived in an area surrounded by rock walls, and the only way to progress here is the entrance to a cave. This cave is where the main expedition will go and most enemies are going to be present, and of course, the treasures that are coveted by yers who discover them first. Also, it seems we are near the sea as the smell of the ocean is pretty strong and we can hear the waves of the sea crashing on the rocks. Anyways, we are now going to proceed here and join the fray of the majority of chaos happening here. "Damn, what is this ce? It''s crawling with lots of sh*ts and stuff going on. Pretty violent I must say and I am liking it," Cath Palug grins as he looks like he is looking forward to it. "Master. Looks like this is the perfect ce for us to power-level Cotton. If what Cath Palug said is true, that means we can just go in and have some kills against these monsters and deal with them, right?" Lina tilted her head as she pat the head of Cotton. "Yeah, this ce should be it. We should explore it and start sweeping this ce. With a lot of monsters to kill, we will also be able to satiate this cursed cat on my head and whatever cravings he was having as well, right?" "I also smell treasures as well, Master," Gobu grinned. Even though he is a different goblin, whenever ites to treasures, they still have the same senses to sniff at them. "Ah yes, human greed of getting all the treasures, very natural. But I don''t care about that much. Now, what are you waiting for? Monsters don''t die on their own, they die when they are killed. Now go in and let me see some carnage." As much as I am pissed with Cath Palug, I don''t think I have to really care about him at this point. As long as he does not do anything to f*ck me up, then it''s fine. So, without waiting too much, we entered the cave. [You have discovered the Hidden Cave of Abnormalities] -you are the first person to discover this ce! Would you like to announce this achievement to the Hall of Fame? Of course, I clicked no. There''s no need for yers to know that I am already raiding this ce all for myself. ... ... The cave is massive and it splits off in many tunnels, making it hard to determine which ce is which and which areas you want to go in first but since I am the only one who is here, I should take my time and explore every nook and cranny of this ce. Of course, the monsters are also present as well. They are not going to disappear after all. [Metal Back Centipede] Level 210 HP: 430,000/430,000 Type: Insect Poison, Metal "Gobu!" "Leave it to me, Master!" The goblin held his magic sword tight and ignites it in me and charged forward to the centipede who also attack in return. It made a shrill cry and we already know it is going to call reinforcements. "Tina, get ready to back up Gobu if he is in trouble or if reinforcements areing!" "Yes!" Tina did not bother to unleash her true form and just started controlling the wind by gathering swirls on her palms, waiting for a new monster to appear. And just like what I expected, three more came in. "Support me in the backline, Tina! Let me deal with it!" It''s been a while since I fought monsters. It was like a few weeks without any monsters I fought with and now, I am back again. As soon as the monsters appear, the shadow dragon is showing its hunger. "Heh, it looks like you have been waiting for a new meal huh? Then, devour them, once I defeated them all!" I rush forward and imbued the Versatile Weapon with the electricity element. Tina supported me from behind by immediately sending the other centipede flying, allowing me to safelye close to the first and second centipedes that just appeared. Once I got very close, I strike down my sword to one of the shells and sends electric voltage to it, paralyzing it as a result. Once it got paralyzed, I immediately raise the Versatile Weapon, point the tip of the de to the head of the centipede that got paralyzed, and smashed it open, killing it instantly. The second centipede didn''t like it when I killed it so it attacked, only for it to be gripped by my Gauntlet Versatile Weapon form that transformed from the de and tightly grips the centipede''s body before I started smashing it to the ground repeatedly without halting until I realized the centipede has been squashed to pieces. As for the third, Tina already took care of it by slicing it to pieces with her wind. Gobu was already a few moments ago and is just waiting for us to finish killing the rest of the monsters. Since the Versatile Weapon''s shadow dragon is hungry, I just let the monster eat them all like it was nothing. Sadly, this kind of devouring does not give any bonuses at all which is sad since it is eating materials and yet there are no stat bonuses were gained. "This little bugger might not be much but the hunger he has actually terrifies me..." Cath Palug casuallymented as the Shadow Dragon chomps off the scattered body parts of the centipedes. "Wow, I didn''t know you would feel fear, aren''t you a mighty beast capable of unleashing destruction?" I frowned. "Even world-ending entities like me do get afraid of something. Besides, I also think your weapon is something on a scale of world-ender as well if not handled properly. Soon, its hunger might no longer be capable of being handled anymore and you might suffer the consequences instead." "I agree with Cath Palug as well, Master. Something like this weapon being able to change its form and devour anything you shove in its mouth whether it is living or non-living things is honestly horrifying. With its hunger alone, do you think it will ever get full? And once it gets hungry again, how much will it eat to satisfy its hunger? I think Cath Palug''s fear seems justified," Lina on the back said her sentiments to my Versatile Weapon. Cath Palug''s words got me thinking indeed plus the words of Lina just made it solid as well. However, even though it always is hungry and it devours things, it never devours things that much aside from eating them on mymand. This can be considered a world-ender item especially if its hunger cannot be contained anymore. And if even the world-ender Cath Palug said that he is a little bit fearful of my weapon, perhaps it was real. One thing is for sure though, this item is something that Nobuhiko gave to me when I was returning to the past. I don''t know why he gave me this but perhaps there is indeed a deeper exnation why. Still, I don''t think I can answer that question myself and if I do, perhaps in the future. Still, I will just continue to use it, and whatever happens in the future, then I will handle it myself just fine. "Let''s go. We still need to plunder this ce and gather all the treasures." Even if that dayes, it would be fine, after all, this is just a game. Chapter 739 Beyond The Swamp (III) After devouring the centipedes, we continue on our way and got blocked by monsters once more. Just like before we do our usual job and eliminate them before they can unleash anything. It''s necessary if we want to have a casual and easy time without getting overwhelmed by monsters as of being noisy and ear-catching. As we continue to move, we soon arrived in a chamber of the cave filled with some kind of glowing blue gemstones sticking on the wall and floor. There are also some in the ceiling but I decided to leave that one out as that can potentially cause a cave-in if I became greedy enough. After a few inspections on it, I found out it was just a Lapis Lazuli node. Although not as precious as gold, silver, and iron for me, they are still somewhat useful as they are basicallyponents in some potions if I grind them to powder and mix them during alchemy. They have some decentponents but are not that much needed. Still good to have so I didn''t take this chance to go to waste and harvested them. I left a few of them behind as over-mining is not going to end up good for me and my surroundings despite being in the game since those idents happen here as well and they don''t repair themselves, it stays and if you are trapped, you are trapped there until you die and get sent to the Cathedral. After walking for a bit more, we soon arrived in another chamber, this time, it was full of gold ores which are pretty simr to the gold ore cave Dolly and I found back then. The amount is not that much but it''s quite big for a random node in the cave. The only bad thing is that it is being guarded by some insects gnawing at it. From the looks of it, it''s those insects that are called Gem Eaters, insects that eat any kind of ore, metals, and stones. Even minerals and poisonous stuff are not spared by them as long as they are counted as "minerals", they are food. But their favorite is obviously gems, as their names are implied despite eater of different materials. These things are not hard to deal with and they are not that dangerous. The only problem with them is that they tend to spray acid on the minerals they are eating, corroding them in the process and deeming the material useless as a result. "Master, there are some bugs over there on the gold nodes, what should we do? Should we kill them?" Gobu asked. "Wait for a bit," I hold them back from attacking just yet and surveyed the area for a bit. Once I ensured that there are no other monsters besides the Gem Eaters, I gave the signal to attack. Tina released the usual [Sleeping Powder] to them and once they fell asleep, we immediately strike ahead and dealt them with, saving the gold ores from being corroded. As soon as we finished killing the Gem Eaters, Cotton glows all of a sudden, signifying she leveled up. "Wow, that was a slow gain. She is now level 2!" Gobu noticed. "Indeed. We killed a few monsters around and no one from us is gaining experience points that much except for Cotton and yet she barely leveled up just now. How big was her exp pool for it tost that long?" I frowned. "Still, it is good that she leveled up. It will take some time but it seems we will be doing quite a lot of exploration for now so it doesn''t matter much as we will get more opportunities to raise her levelster on." Everyone nodded as they agree that the monsters here are always present, giving us chances to fight more of them and rake in more experience points for her. For now, raking in the treasures is the first priority for me. Mining the gold ores takes a few minutes to do. I am thankful that I brought in the upgraded version of my pickaxe that can easily mine this stuff fast as it will take a few hours to mine all of the ores we just found. Once we harvested all of the avable gold, we press on, and soon enough, we stumbled into a nest of monsters but this time around, I am shocked to see that the next boss for the final wave is present there, resting and seems to be charging up her body. I should have expected it to be their home ground but seeing their nest is just something else. "Master, this nest is big and it seems we can easily sabotage this ce and destroy it before it awakens up. What should we do?" Tina asked. I am conflicted. There is a big possibility that if I kill the current boss here, without it letting march down the swamp, the barrier blocking all the yers from exploring this ce disappears. Then there is the sense of danger I have with it. If we don''t kill it, there is a chance it will awaken and starts to attack the yers before they can recover from the previous raid and prepare." "What are you waiting for? Isn''t that your main purpose? To find monsters and kill them? If you kill these guys down, you will satisfy my cravings and you get to do some beautiful carnage as well," Cath Palug nudges me to do it. "You shut up. I am thinking here." "Awe on, just do it the usual way yeah? You kill them, you f*ck them up, and you gain their stuff, which is cool. So why can''t you just do that?" he frowned. I didn''t respond to him. Before he can give another follow-up, I made a decision. "Let''s leave this thing for now. Let''s explore the other chambers of this cave first before we head back here and destroy the nest. Let''s make sure there are no other simr nests like this around before we return." Yep, this is for the best. I need to explore the other areas first, loot all of the treasures, and make sure I return with my hands full of loot. Chapter 740 Beyond The Swamp (IV) Since we decided to avoid the nest, we move to a different area of the cave. As soon as we move out, we soon got greeted by [Corrosive Spiders], spiders that instead of shooting webs, spew out acidic webs that they shoot on their prey, to effectively capture and corrode all of their prey, making them easy to eat. "DODGE IT!" Hearing mymand, they immediately did as the [Corrosive Spiders] started to assault us with acidic webs. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon immediately and started sting my bullets to the webs, letting them explode upon contact by using the skill [Fire Bullet Rounds], allowing me to convert the bullets shot in my guns to gain an attribute to me. Mypanions saw some of the websnding on the ground and seeing how they corroded, they are not sure whether they are relieved from dodging that or a little bit, or worried since they are going to face more of it. Since they don''t know how to handle them just yet, I decided to do my work and stop mypanions from doing all of the work. Once I finished shooting bullets, I immediately switched my gun to a normal sword, and darted forward, closing my distance between the spiders and myself before immediately releasing skills in close quarters. "[Decapitation]" SWISH! The spiders immediately fell dead as they were cut in half. Since their bodies are segmented in two, it''s only natural that if I use the [Decapitation], they will be cut in half. But I finally got to use the cheap trick of using [Decapitation] on enemies that are grouped will allow the skill to execute them all immediately. "That was quick cleanup Master, well done," Lina pped alongside Cotton. "We should keep moving. We need to cover much ground so that we can avoid a chance of the nest we left awakening and starting moving. If my assumption is correct, those monsters might be the next raid enemies everyone will be dealing with." I did all the harvesting and immediately move again to another chamber of the cave. We arrived at a few dead ends and some rooms that contains some treasure chests only to reveal themselves as f*cking mimics and our effort are worthless since they contain garbage stuff. All of them are eaten by the Versatile Weapon that for some reason, gave me a bonus of 1 HP after devouring them all. At least I got something but a sh*tty reward. Oh, and while we are walking, I am also mapping out the whole cave. Despite my good memory, the twists and turns of this ce can be confusing and it''s very differentpared to going in and going out so it''s better to keep a map so that everyone can keep on track of where we are. Then, as we got deeper into the cave, more enemies poured out. So many that Cotton leveled up from level 2 to level 20. It might be small but since Cotton takes a lot of experience points before she can level up, just this alone is awesome enough. Despite the number of insect monsters pouring through, they are not that difficult and we managed to get materials and experience for Cotton with that so it''s not a total loss, but it was time-consuming and we wasted enough time here already. "Master, look here, it seems we got something new among the monster drops that are new to my eyes," Tina beckons me so that I can check out what she just found. "What is it? Is it new material? Weapon?" I asked as I approach. "No, master. It looks like a bottle of potion but it''s a different color than usual. I checked its description but I don''t understand its usage pretty well. Perhaps you can?" she then handed me the bottle she was talking about. Just like Tina said, it is a bottle of a potion indeed but the content is not a color a normal potion usually possesses, heck even elixirs do not have these colors as well. The liquid inside is pitch ck, something that I can see whenever a corrupted liquid is flowing out of something. I checked its description and identified it as a potion indeed but it has peculiar effects. [Reverse Potion] Type: Consumable Item Info: A potion that is made to harm the drinker. A potion that is not used for healing wounds and removing illnesses. A potion so sinister, only those who have the strongest grudge can make this potion with ease. Usage: Once used, the drinker will experience a severe weakening in the body and health will rapidly decline. Status effects will gue the drinker for quite some time and old wounds that have healed will open up again. Can kill the drinker, so be warned. I kinda missed the witty remarks about the items I check that give a note at the very end of the item description but I think it was for the best. But a potion designed to harm and not to heal? That is something I didn''t expect to see. It''s pretty different from the offensive-type potions that are used forbat as this one has the same effect as normal potions, only with the reverse effect. Still, to think there is a reverse potion? That''s something I have not seen before. This one is the first for me so having it in my hands is something else. But what is the main point of this thing if it doesn''t even have any positive effects on the user? I don''t know, but seeing it here, perhaps I can still put it in my inventory and perhaps I can find something that would make good use of this one. In fact, I might not even find a good use for this thing, but hey, if I find an appropriate situation for me to use this sh*t, maybe it will serve its main purpose. "Let''s just keep it. I don''t think I have any usage for it, but there might be one in the future." After that little side stuff, we returned to the exploration bit. It took some time looking for more things before we stumbled upon a room in the cave. Simr to the same cave where the octopus boss forced two merfolk siblings to sacrifice themselves to appease it, the same door that I found there appeared here as well. "This door..." Lina immediately remembered it. After all, she was part of that battle that urred the moment we opened it, "Did you find this door familiar?" Tina looked at Lina seeing her seem to have a nostalgic stare at it. "Haha, yeah. But I am sure this door is not the same as that door, it only looks simr. You remember that door I was talking about, right, Master?" Lina turned to ask me about it. "Yes. And it was a long time ago since we found that ce. You two are not even part of the gang just yet and even then, this door does bring up some memories." "So, since you guys seem pretty familiar with this kind of door, should we open it up? Or should we just leave it alone?" Tina scratches her head. "There''s no harm done if we open this up. Either we face a boss or we will find a ce filled with stuff and secrets. Doesn''t matter which of the two, we can take both." "Well, in that case, we should open this puppy up. But how? I don''t think we can open it up simply by pushing it or pulling it up?" Gobu looked at the towering door and looked at us who have opened a simr door before. "There''s not really much of a gimmick here. But it is also not a door that would open by strength alone. Compared to the previous door that I opened in the past, this one has no intricate patterns we can use to open it up. It''s just one giant big door that blocks our way in and out. So naturally, the only way for us to open it up is to think of a way to do so. I walk towards the door, holding the surface of it. It''s a little warm. Not cold but warm for some reason. But there is definitely no way for me to open it up even by pushing it. So, I went to the side of the door which is a mossy wall, knocked on it a few times, and listened to its sound before pulling out the Versatile Weapon and changing it to a cannon before shooting it into that wall. BOOM! The surroundings are hooked but it''s not strong enough to copse the whole thing. But as a result of my actions, a new hole appeared right before us. "And that should solve us of our path in. Now we can check out what''s inside without the need of pushing this door open." Chapter 741 The Sealed Galatine Casually opening a hole in the wall is not something I would do. It''s something that Kaisar has done before to ess this ce since opening the massive b of a door is going to be an impossible task as that is designed to not open by any means and is made with the intent of sealing anything behind it. It would have been fine if the walls were also strong butpared to the walls of the cave and the material the door made from, it''s something that cannot bepared equally. Before, when the door was installed, the walls were as strong as the door, so no one is afraid that anyone will breach the walls. However,pared to the door, the wall is subject to the passage of time and it does not escape the wear and tear most things go through as time goes on, the walls would also lose the little strength that holds them together. Due to this, when Kaisar discovered this ce in the past and realized the wall is weaker, he asked one of his guild members who are a cannoneer to punch a hole in the wall with the cannonball, allowing them to gain ess to it. Although that was just the story I was told, it was indeed what happened as Kaisar obtained his weapon that would soon make him one of the main rankers of the game, the Gtine, and the item I am nning to take before Kaisar will obtain it. Once the hole is present now, we entered the hole to explore what is behind the huge wall b. Compared to the various chambers of this cave, this ce is warmer than the rest. Strangely warm in fact. Despite not getting direct sunlight, it''s warm enough that anyone won''t need to bother making bonfires at night as it is humid enough that cold nights will not be a thing. Still, for a cave, it is pretty strange. Most of the time, the cave gets warm whenever it has a direct source of sunlight like some big hole in the ceiling, or if not, the cave is very close to a magma deposit and it''s causing the abnormally warm feeling in the air. "Wow, this ce is not that coldpared to the previous chambers. It feelsfy to stay here for quite some time..." Lina marveled around the surroundings despite the darkness that is blending all around us. "[Light]! Illuminate our surroundings!" Tina raises her left hand and a ball of white light emerges from her palm, releasing vibrant light that illuminates the whole cave''s dark surroundings. This reveals that we are not in a cave but in some kind of hallway that usually are only present in castles. A hallway leads to the throne room. However, despite being a ce that resembles one, it is clear that it no longer retains what it was before. The pirs are toppled over, and vines and mosses are already littered on the walls, floor, and even on the toppled pirs. Various grass has been growing as well and even the red carpet for the walkway is now full of mold. "A castle?!" Gobu frowned and pulled out his weapon, his guard is up and he is unusually looking for any trouble around us. "Master. Are you sure we are still in the cave? Did we get transported to another ce the moment we entered the hole you made in the wall?" Tina looked at me, looking for an answer to her question. "No. It is clear we are still in the cave. Look at the wall that I have destroyed, does it look like it possesses any portal stuff that should teleport us if we entered it? Doesn''t look like it had one. Also, look up." Everyone looked up as I pointed to the rocky ceiling. "Despite the surroundings looking simr to a ruined walkway to the throne area, it does not change still that this is still part of the cave." "But why is there a ce like this in the cave in the first ce? I don''t think this ce was previously a castle and it got destroyed and it became like this." Gobu scratches his head. I shook my head and can only order them around. "I don''t know but since we are here, we should explore and check every nook and cranny of this ce. Report to me if you found something strange or something that caught your eye. Let''s split up. Lina,e with me. Tina and Gobu, you check the other areas, we will check here." We separated our ways with only Cotton and Lina with me as we check around. Despite my knowledge in the past, I don''t know how Kaisar obtained the Gtine so the only way to know where it was was to explore the massive ce. The ce is massive and it felt like a ce in castle ruins and you would not easily assume this ce was just a part of the cave. We checked on the side and there are even some windows as well. The only thing is that beyond the windows are rocks so even though there are windows, it''s totally useless. "I don''t get it, why is this ce very simr to a real castle walkway? Yet it is still inside the cave. Howe they decided to make it like one? What is the purpose?" Lina is very confused as she saw those windows I am talking about. Unfortunately, I have no answer to her questions since I am also looking for an answer as well. We continue to move forward and soon enough, we arrived at the throne. There are three chairs sitting there with the middle being the grandest-looking one. And yet, despite looking grand, it is also clear it has been a while since it has been seated upon by anyone as the throne is no longer looking magnificent. But that is not what caught my eye. Above the throne room is a sword chained in the air. When we slowly approach the sword, it started to release a massive amount of mes on its de, emitting very hot air all around us. It''s like being under the sun for a very long time. "Stay back, Lina! Protect Cotton! We don''t know what are the consequences of her getting real close here." Lina nodded and immediately backed off. Gobu and Tina also appeared but they can''t get close as well due to the raging mes the sword is currently releasing. Finally, the sword that I have been looking for. The weapon that originally should belong to Kaisar. One of the weapons of the knights of the round table, the Gtine, is now in front of me. Chapter 742 Unsealing The Sword Gtine. A sword that is considered to be equal to the legendary Excalibur that is wielded by King Arthur. Although it was considered one, it never got the time to shine as much as Excalibur, making it a shadow of the former. Despite that, it contains strong power that is hard to control. It''s not even an exaggeration that it is called an equal to Excalibur as this weapon holds massive potential. This sword is used by Sir Gawain, one of the knights of the Round Table and one of the strong knights capable of holding his ground against King Arthur. It was a gift from thedy of theke, the samedy I met back then who resides with the Merlin. Of course, the man who wields the Gtine is already dead of old age. But it is weird that the sword that he previously wielded is not returned to the Lady of the Lake. Just like the fate of Excalibur, the Gtine disappeared and no one knows where it was now. Seeing the Gtine here, sealed in chains while its power is still potent, it is clear it has been sealed here by someone. There is a possibility that the one who sealed it is King Arthur, but if he was the one, he should have sealed it to the Frozen Region of Sandurk, and yet this weapon is here. The other theory is that before Sir Gawain retires, he sealed it here in hopes that no one else will wield the sword again. "I recognize that sword. That''s the Gtine, right?" Gobu was amazed by the view of the ming sword that is zing all over the ce. It is something that he didn''t know he would see again and now, he is once more able to find the chance to witness it once more. "You know this weapon, Gobu?" I looked at Gobu with confusion. "Yeah, It was back when I am still part of the demon king''s army. Along with someone who wields a simr weapon, he waved this weapon a few times and in a single wave, multiple of his enemies were reduced to ashes. It was one of the things that I was able to witness without dying at their hands of them and managed to live to tell the tale. Who would have thought I would be meeting the weapon of that man again once more in here?" "When did you meet the man who wields this weapon?" Lina was curious. "I don''t really remember the exact time I saw it, but I am quite sure that I am still not married to my wife and is still a regr goblin at that time," Gobu scratches his chin. Gobu is already old and is simr to the human lifespan. Since Gobu should be around 50 years old, I might guess that he witnessed it during his prime around 10-15 years old. So it should be around 30 to 40 years since this thing has been here depending on what time it was sealed here. But we don''t need that info now. What I needed to know is how to bring that thing down from the chains binding it and stop the mes from spewing out of its de. Even with my passives [me Resistance], and [me Endurance], the mes the Gtine is releasing are painful and hot, making it almost hard to approach. "Master, are you perhaps trying to get that sword down?" Gobu asked. "That''s the n. It''s the only thing here that is present and it started releasing mes the moment we approached it. There must be something as to why the sword decided to cause havoc like this." "Master. I know you are strong and capable of doing many things but Master, this thing can burn almost anything. If you are not the wielder, it will burn anything that is present on its path so don''t be rash and think this through. We can''t afford you to get injured from a weapon that is being sealed here and if it was the real Gtine, it wouldn''t be an exaggeration that you might turn to ashes if you try to get close to it," Gobu warned me. For the first time, Gobu stopped me from doing what I needed to do. It was quite weird as he never do that and fully supported me on things that I do, but now, it seems he is not liking that I am going to try and retrieve the sword out of the chains. "What''s wrong with Master taking it? I don''t think there''s any problem with him taking it off there, right? Besides, Master is pretty strong and his resistance to me attacks is pretty high and he is almost close to immune against it, yet you seemed to be so adamant about Master not picking it up?" Tina tilted her head, confused. "There are plenty of demons as well who are even stronger than Master in terms of me resistance. In fact, a few of them are immune to it and regrly eat mes for their meal and yet when the Gtine swung that day, everyone I mentioned turned to ashes, burned, and scattered into the wind without leaving behind a sign of their previous existence. It''s natural I would be fearing him about it." However, Cath Palug who is currently rxing on my head suddenly speak andughed at Gobu''s worries. "Ha. The mes of that sword? Nothing worthy to be honest. Just like what your insect womanpanion said, these mes are nothing to be worried about. You might have witnessed it obliterate your previousrades in the past but these mes? What a joke, it''s not even that worth it to be honest." "So you mean, these mes are nothing noteworthy?" "For me, at least. This thing is not that strong and the only redeeming matter it has is the ability that the Lady of the Lake bestowed on it. Other than that, this thing is barely worth our time. However, since you humans and other beings are not as strong as me, it is natural that this thing would technically be dangerous to you all. But since I am in a good mood and since I also wanted to find more violence as much as possible, I will help on getting this sh*t down so that we can move on and this Master of yours can go back and kill monsters, how is that." "Eh? You can easily do that?" I frowned. "Who do you think I am? I am Cath Palug, the beast who threatened the Knights of the Round Table before I was sealed. This thing does not affect me in any other way, even when I am reduced to this state. So, if you really want this thing off the chains and obtain it, then let me do the job and in exchange, we go back and kill those f*ckers on the nest. I needed to see some bloodshed. how about that?" Cath Palug is clearly immune to most damages done to him if he can only be sealed. Even in the past timeline, when we defeated him, he didn''t really die and just got sealed once more though Merlin said that he is now in the state between life and death so there is a chance he died there is also a chance of him still being alive which is why I can definitely say that he will be fine from its mes. Besides, he is the bane of the Knights of the Round Table. So hearing his proposal, I can easily say that it was not a bad idea. If he is willing to do so, then we should do it." "Alright, you bastard, since you are asking for it, then let''s see you do it." Chapter 743 Confronting The Sleeping Insects mes still zing bright but its mes seem to not faze Cath Palug. He even sat on its hilt even though its releasing mes in its de. The mes tried to even swallow up Cath Palug but he just used them to massage his body. "Eh, this mes is quite good doing some massage. Not as great as the big man and the maid but still better than nothing." "Oi, you bastard. I didn''t send you there to experience a fricking massage. Remove the chains and be done with it." I demanded. "Ugh... what a killjoy. Alright, alright, fine take the sword." Cath Palug swings his small arms into the chains and in just a few pats, the chains crumbled and the sword fell to the ground, extinguishing all of its mes. The Gtine that has its mes raging before has finally stopped its rampage and turned into a normal sword. Still, the sword is hot so I didn''t immediately touch it and poured some water on it. But it seems I underestimated the mes of the Gtine as the water that I poured into the de immediately evaporates and leaves with the same hot sword on the floor. Since bottled water didn''t work, I decided to use my magic spells instead. "[Bubble]." Encasing the Gtine with the skill, [Bubble], makes the de submerged in water. KSSSHHHHHHHHH! The water is still evaporating inside but I made sure to add more water inside the bubble, allowing the sword to continue to be submerged to it until the very end. Thankfully, it didn''t take long enough for the sword to cool itself down. Once it does, the sword is finally possible for me to hold now without injuring my hands. [Cursed Gtine] Type: Item Information: Because the mes were extinguished, the Gtine has reverted from its useless self. Although it is a sword, it''s very dull and useless right now it is more of a blunt object than a sword and even if it is a blunt weapon, it pales inparison to a normal stick snapped on a tree branch. Perhaps the Lady of the Lake will have an idea of how to restore this thing to its former glory. I was surprised to see the result. So the item was not even something I can use immediately huh? That''s something I didn''t expect but seeing it in front of me is kinda sad since the weapon is a clear Heroic Tier weapon and yet it''s associated as a "useless" thing. Though it pisses me off after knowing this. If Cath Palug didn''t help me with it, I would have injured myself or perhaps burned myself just to take a weapon that still needed to be reforged. I think it was not bad, but seeing the first result is sad as I was expecting I can immediately swing it around and use its mes without a problem. "Oi, what''s the problem, it seems you have a big problem with the weapon in your hands now. Aren''t you supposed to be happy?" Cath Palug scratches his chin with his leg before tilting his head as he stares at the Gtine. "It''s a scrap metal at the moment. Until I go back and check the real status of this weapon to the Lady of theke, this thing is useless for me." "Damn, tough luck kid. But I guess it doesn''t matter, I think your old weapon is still superior, to be honest, and I can see you feeding that sword to your weapon anyways so it''s not my problem. If that is useless then throw it in your inventory and we should leave. We needed to fight those things as soon as possible. You promised, you better believe I won''t be happy if you don''t fulfill it." "Yes, yes, I hear you." Since the sword was something I can''t use at all at the moment, I have to put it in my inventory for now. We went around for a bit onest time but since there was nothing left for us to check, we left the ce. It sucks since I thought there will be other stuff left for me to discover that has been hidden here but it seems I was wrong and the only thing that was worth noting there is just the Gtine. No secrets and no other stuff. It seems the only treasure here is just the Gtine plus the monsters walking around here. Nothing else. It sucks. Before we go back to that area, I checked the map in case there is more ces to explore but it seems we are done now. The ce is fully mapped and good to go. But I also ended up raiding the whole ce, making this ce totally bare for anyone. Unless the monsters revive again, then there will be something for the yers who will be exploring the ce to have something they can go busy on. When we backtracked, we found a few monsters but we easily made work with them and they immediately die. Nothing worthy to mention. "Good, we are back. Now, let''s start the ughter. Do it now, people," Cath Palug happily sat on my head like it is enjoying the view. I sighed but Cath Palug will still see the battle, so it doesn''t matter much to me whether I should be disappointed in him or just pretend he does not exist. Doesn''t matter much. What matters is if we can efficiently destroy the monsters in one fell swoop. I thought about something for a moment before I thought of a strategy. "Tina, cast [Deep Sleep Powder] on them, Lina, can you cast [Deafening Noise] on me?" "I can do that," Lina nodded and snapped her fingers and touched my forehead, allowing me to receive the buff, [Deafening Noise] a skill that reduces all the noises I make to zero. It''s an exclusive skill to Lina so I don''t have ess to it which sucks since this skill is pretty good for sneaking but thankfully, it''s a shareable skill so I think it is fine. Tina releases the [Deep Sleep Powder] to the enemies, sending them deeper into their dreams to ensure that they don''t wake up even if we are there for quite some time. All of the preparations for the battle areplete. The next thing I did is grab the Blueprint, which is the skill of the Saboteur ss. A skill I barely use nowadays, but now it''s back in action once more. "It''s time to blow them all up." Chapter 744 The Possessed Queen Bee And Cottons Ability My meticulous way of putting all of the remote-controlled bombs is not easy. Despite the effects of [Deep Sleep Powder] and the effects of the skill [Deafening Noise], there is still a chance to trigger their awakening if I did it wrong. One wrong step I make will also reflect on me, so I am trying my best to keep myself quiet as I put all the bombs around them. I didn''t get a good close-up of the next boss to confirm it but now that I am close, it is indeed the Queen Bee. From the looks of it, the Queen Bee is still slumbering not due to the powder that Tina released but due to the parasite burrowing in her body. It causes her body to fall asleep as a defense mechanism as a means tobat the burrowing parasite. Of course, it was useless as the parasite is more than capable of invading the systems of the Queen Bee before it can be stopped. Right now, the Queen Bee is still suppressing the parasite which is why it remained asleep but that won''t take long once the parasite has taken over and that could be anytime now which is why I needed to make sure that the Queen Bee is killed before it awakens and the explosives ced on its nest is a good way to make the queen cripple or straight up incinerating it. Making the bombs are easy but cing them is hard. There are lots of eggs around the queen bee and one wrong move and they will start hatching and that will be a really bad thing for me as that will be total chaos as well. The bombs are now ced and the only thing I needed to do is get out. However, when I was now on my way back to go out of the nest, the [Deafening Noise] buff has ended and I am still inside the nest. I was too busy putting the bombs and going in slowly so as to not wake up the eggs, which as a result, ending up the buff I had. I inwardly cursed my luck but it can''t be helped as the buff duration is not that long and I took my time putting the bombs so it''s natural that it will run out before I can even go out. All is not lost though. Activating [Stealth], I blended into the environment once more. However, [Stealth] is a much weaker version of [Deafening Noise] as the noises I make will still make a sound even in [Stealth] whereas the former skill does that plus putting you in stealth status as a bonus. Casting [Stealth] multiple times is possible for me and I can take my time doing so, but that doesn''t mean the queen bee will remain asleep for that long either. I needed to get out of there as fast but as quietly as possible. Everyone is looking at me outside and Cath Palug is already bored with my slow movements but he didn''tin and waited with that disappointed look on his face. As for the others, they are already cheering me silently as I continue to walk out of the nest. Only a few steps left when my left foot suddenly trips on one of the eggs that I didn''t notice, causing me to trigger the eggs and they are starting to hatch. "F*ck going stealth," I groaned as I darted out of the nest as fast as I could without bothering to look at what is happening behind me. If they are hatching, there is no point staying still and watching everything unfold. As soon as I managed to jump out of the nest, I immediately grab the detonator and immediately pushed the button while shouting at the other. " GET DOWN!" BOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM! Multiple explosions go off as the explosives I nted activated and chained their detonation to the other bombs as well. As the explosion happened, the logs on my kills are being updated so fast as the explosions continue to decimate all of the life forms inside the nest. Even Cotton is leveling fast and her level is rising as the monsters inside the nest die one by one from the explosion and the aftermath. As for Cath Palug, seeing the guts and flesh of the insects torn to pieces after the explosion, he is thrilled at the result. "YES, YES! BLOOD AND CARNAGE! VIOLENCE! YES, MORE! MORE!" The bloodlust on him is clearly troublesome but I guess that is his nature and as everything turned to chaos, his behavior shows it. Just as I thought the explosions have already destroyed every single thing inside the nest, the final raid boss appeared and screams while its skin is melting from the explosion. It has already been damaged to the point it is no longer recovering but it still retains HP which is why it remains alive. "Ah crap, this nugget still refuses to die." Everyone assumed abat stance but I stopped them. I started the fight, I end this fight on my own as well. The Queen Bee is twitching as it started making a grotesque sound of flesh melting around it. But now that the protective shell present on its body has been broken and burned to the point of melting, defeating this thing is an easy thing. Rushing through the boss with my Versatile Weapon, I turned it into a bow and arrow as I get closer and started releasing one arrow at a time. The queen tried to cut a few of them but because of its burnt body, being fast is hard enough for the queen so even though it blocked a few arrows, most of my shots immediately pierced through her flesh. Circling around it, I changed my weapon once more into a bo staff and used it to immediately make my way to the Queen Bee before leaping up high as I bring down the blunt weapon to the queen bee''s head as hard as I can. The queen bee didn''t like that one bit but I do and used that chance to immediately switch to the dagger and immediately started stabbing its neck multiple times and creating a big wound on it to inflict [Bleed(Severe)] to it before changing to a katana and used the skill [Decapitation] to end it. But the queen bee is clearly not going to die so easily just like that as the moment I used [Decapitation], it immediately blocked the attack by sacrificing one of her remaining hands. Seeing my final kill blow fail, I backed off and changed it to a cannon and shot it with [Grapeshot]. It would have been fine if I shoot it with a normal cannonball but knowing how tenacious the queen bee is, it''s more likely gonna dodge the cannonball or perhaps survive the impact. The [Grapeshot] guarantees that the boss will receive a little ammo and get damaged. The queen bee didn''t like my attacks and despite having a hard time moving, it started spewing out poison darts multiple times and still managed to release precise shots that I have to dodge topletely avoid them. Now that the Queen Bee is on herst legs, I suddenly noticed something moved out of her abdomen. It''s wriggling out of it and it is digging out of the burnt flesh of the Queen Bee. When I saw it poke out of the burnt flesh, I immediately knew what it was. Instead of focusing on the Queen Bee, I shifted my focus to the one that escaped from the abdomen of the queen bee which is none other than the parasite. Since the Parasite emerged from the Queen Bee''s abdomen, it was clear that it failed to reach the Queen Bee''s head when the bombs exploded, which in turn, made the host of the parasite already dying from its wounds. Although not dead, the host is clearly not in a good condition and sooner orter, the queen bee will die without any hope of survival. Not wanting to share the same fate as its host, the parasite decided to vacate and escape to find a new host totch on to. Changing my Versatile Weapon into a hammer, I jumped into the air once more and mmed down on the fleeing parasite. My quick action immediately killed the main culprit of the insect monsters from rampaging. Still, even with the Parasite dead, that doesn''t mean the Queen Bee will stop attacking now. In the first ce, the Queen Bee is the one retaliating and not the parasite which is why I will have to deal with the queen bee this time around. But before I can continue my attack, Lina and Tina are calling me, stopping me from doing so. "Master! Stop! Cotton ising!" the two shouted as Cotton walked towards the Queen Bee. I was about to stop Cotton but the former looked at me and shakes her head as shees close to the queen bee and started healing her up. All of the wounds that are inflicted by the bomb as well as the damage I have dealt to her body have disappeared as well. I didn''t know what is going on but I am quite sure that Cotton never had a healing skill before. Now, she is using it like nothing. Once the healing was done, the queen bee marveled that all of her wounds are gone. I thought she will attack so I immediately assumed abat stance but what happened next surprised me. "I pay respects to the Insect Queen, wee back, Your Majesty." Chapter 745 Queen Bee Reborn The Queen Bee started talking like a human... No, it''s not talking, it''smunicating using its mind to us which is why we can understand what it was saying. "Telepathy?!" Tina is baffled. Gobu and Lina are shocked as well but it seems their attention is not on the Queen Bee but on Cotton who is just standing there, staring at the Queen Bee paying respects. Cotton is releasing an aura that someone like her should have not possessed just yet. Also, her eyes are glowing green color. Speaking of respect, didn''t the Queen Bee just say that she is greeting the Insect Queen? What was that about and why is she doing so in front of Cotton? Does that mean the Queen Bee is identifying Cotton as the Insect Queen she is speaking? It''s not Tina she is talking about as she is directing her eyes on Cotton and the former is far from her to do a paying respects gesture like that. Cotton is not saying anything which is pretty normal but her staring at the Queen Bee with her eyes glowing green is something else that I find pretty much disturbing and ufortable. Then, Cotton copsed and fell unconscious. The Queen Bee immediately grab Cotton and held her softly and turned to me. "It seems you are the Master she is talking about. Don''t worry, she is fine, she just fell asleep as she used up a lot of power that was slumbering on her body. Give her time to rest and she will be fine." She handed me Cotton and just like what she said, Cotton is fast asleep. She is even snoring like it was the mostfortable sleep she ever had. "Lina, can you please carry her?" "Yes, Master. Be careful to not wake her up," Lina approached and I handed the sleeping Cotton to her arms. Then, our attention goes to the Queen Bee. "What''s your deal? I know you are healed by Cotton but I didn''t know boss monsters like you canmunicate with humans," Tina was the very first to question the Queen Bee. "Indeed I was. But I am reborn as the Insect Queen has now given me one more chance to live and also given me the ability to talk like this with all of you. I dedicate this life of mine to the Queen and she will always be a part of my new life. And since the Insect Queen is now following you, I will also follow you as well." "Wait, wait, wait. Before you decided things by yourself, who is this Insect Queen you are talking about?" I asked the Queen Bee though I am quite sure she is talking about Cotton I needed to make sure that she is the one the Queen Bee is referring to. "Insect Queen" sounds like she is the highest order of the insects and the insect kingdom. "Why are you asking me that? It''s obvious and you know who I was referring to. The one you call "Cotton" is none other than the incarnation of the Insect Queen." I don''t understand the lore of the "Insect Queen" as this has never been brought up to my knowledge and I don''t remember there being any quests rted to her at all so I turned to look at Tina who is obviously more knowledgeable to things rted to the Insect Kingdom and anything rted to insect people and insect monsters. "Master, don''t look at me. Although I am an insect person, this is the first time I have heard about the term Insect Queen. Aside from my mother who is clearly not an insect queen but just referred to as the Queen of the Insect Kingdom, I don''t have any prior knowledge regarding that matter." Hmm, that was unexpected. I would have expected that she has an idea of what it was all about but it seems she also had no idea. "Oh well, since we are done here, we have to leave and return to the cabin as soon as possible. With Cotton unconscious, there are no point grinding levels if she can''t receive it." As we are leaving, the Queen Bee is also following us. "Master, the Queen Bee is also following. What are we going to do?" Gobu asked me. I scratch my head as I turn back to the Queen Bee. "Why are you following us? Isn''t this ce your home? You are not going to go back to your nest?" "My babies are all dead due to the parasites that invaded us and when you put explosives on our nest, you obliterated the nest without leaving anything. Technically, you destroyed my home and my remaining family as well and if you think about it, I no longer have a home. So where do you think I am going?" "I-I am sorry." "It''s fine. Even if you didn''t do that, they will still die and sumb to the will of the parasite. It''s much better that they all have been gone like that than to see them being controlled by some pests." "But despite your reasoning, are you still adamant about following us?" "I am gonna follow the Insect Queen and devote my remaining life to her as she gave me a new life." "Follow..?" I frowned. "I heard that people like you can recruit the likes of us if we tried to ask you if we can join forces. If I can follow the Insect Queen and serve her by using that, then perhaps I should indeed use that chance to do so, Don''t get me wrong, I might be following you but I will dedicate myself to the sake of the Insect Queen alone." It was one of the weirdest interactions with a monster that I have done so far. The Queen Bee is not joining just because she wanted to join my team but she is joining for the sake of Cotton which is a pretty new reason. At first, I am thinking of declining. First, I have already two pets, the desert wolf boys are not included as they are ssified aspanions and despite that ssification, they are still technically pets that I can ask andmand so it didn''t change much, but even then, they will be a quite a lot now. I don''t even tame other monsters anymore as my two pets can serve me just fine. However, my decision changed when I think hard about the matter. Cotton is technically still a kid and she needed a mother figure to look after her. She does not have a shortage of father figures as both Gobu and As can fill in on the spot. Lina is a good candidate but she is technically still a teen so she is more of a big sis type instead of a mother figure. That also applies to Tina and Lucia. I have no other femalepanions aside from the yers but they don''t count as they cannot be with me all the time and they also belong to the "Big Sis" category as well. Even my mom is using her game avatar just to feel young as well. And there is the Queen Bee. Despite being an insect, she does exude a mother figure in her bodynguage alone. She is a veteran mother and has taken care of her offspring as well since real-world bees don''t apply their logic of them taking care of their children A queen bee is a very busy mother and will work hard to help her children. Clearly a good candidate in that area. "Are you sure you wanted to serve her for the rest of your life?" "Yes. If not for her, I wouldn''t even be reborn. This new life of mine is dedicated to her alone and I don''t n on betraying that. I deserve death if I did." It seems she is too sincere about it. And I don''t think she meant to harm either. Therefore, I decided to ept her. "Fine. It seems you fit into the criteria very well. You will be recruited by me to serve as a mother figure and guardian of Cotton. You will be tasked with keeping her safe, acting as her mother at all times, and her protector against all kinds of dangers. Can you fulfill those basic tasks without the need of being reminded of them every time?" "Of course, I can. I will fail as a mother if I forget that easily. It''s a basic mother''s conduct and I n to keep on keeping that." "Alright. I am recruiting you with us." With that, she joined us without hesitation. By the way, she is treated as apanion and not as a pet. Perhaps because I didn''t tame her which resulted in this? Perhaps but I don''t really know. But with her around, the job of the girls will be much lower now as they can now rely on the queen bee this time around. The expedition beyond the swamp ispleted in advance and I gained a lot of stuff and even snagged onepanion. It seems it is a good day after all. Chapter 746 Surging Mana Back in the real world... I finally got the time to rx. Although it''s not that bad to keep doing some of the work in the game to earn lots of stuff, it''s a bit heavy in my mind and tiresome in my body. So my n for today is just to take it easy and take a break from the game. Riko and the others are going to prepare for the next raid though I can''t tell them that the next raid will no longer happen especially after defeating the parasite and getting the boss to be my subordinate, it will be barebones left since even the expedition will be a pile of useless stuff left behind. As for me? I am in the living room, rxing and eating popcorn while watching a movie. I am not alone this time around as the elves are also watching as well. For the past few days, it seems Renatta has been teaching them how to live and adapt to our lifestyle, allowing them to fully enjoy their stay while they are still recovering. Even though the elves have already recovered from their wounds, the trauma inflicted takes time to heal so instead of forcing them to disappear, I allowed them to take their time on forgetting about it. It''s not easy but they can do it if given some time. "Movie is awesome," Renatta happily munch the popcorn while talking ournguage in a robotic manner. It seems she is enjoying the movie even though it was aedy film and most of the punchlines are not something she can easily understand the meaning immediately. "It seems your speech is bing better nowadays huh?" "Riko helps. Practice made easy." Renatta nodded in agreement. It''s only a matter of time before Renatta as well to be able to speak Japanese fluently. She still needed practice but with her way of speaking now, she will be able to do so. Even though she does have some weird pronunciation, she is now capable of conversing with me in short sentences. She still has to rely on Pixie to speak in long instances or if she wants to ry a few long sentences, she can''t rely on her short words speaking pattern which would once again rely on Pixie. The two elves are also incapable of speaking ournguage so as usual, Pixie''s trantor''s job is as busy as ever now, she got two additional peeps to have her trantion ryed to me. We are at the climax of the movie when Pixie''s ears perked up. "Kyosei-sama, it seems we have some intruders in our backyard." I wouldn''t notice the presence of the intruders if not for Pixie alerting me. And it seems that not only Pixie got alerted but the elves as well. "Intruders1" Renatta readies her magic ability but I stopped her for a bit. "Don''t. Protect the two there and make sure to inform me if there are other intruders who sessfully entered as well. Pixie, stay with them. You will be my ry and connection with them while I check out who are these people brazen enough to invade my home." I stood up and sneakily checked the windows. Outside, I saw 5 masked people carrying weapons and duffel bags. It''s clear that they are not just sneaking in just to retrieve something that got in identally inside my backyard. There is even a van outside, waiting for them, which might be a getaway vehicle in case they need to scram. Not only that but it seems they are also magic users as well. Not the same kind as us who have already awakened our mana and developed elemental affinities. It''s the same state that someone who just awakened with mana does. These guys are now brave enough to invade other people''s homes now that they have powers. As always, there are people who would take advantage of this new power and use it for exploitation and crime. And since this is still during the early times where the magic power is barely developing just yet, the Judgement patrols that appear every time someone used magic the wrong way have yet to be implemented and used, which will make doing crime with magic much easier. Sadly for these f*ckers, it seems they have invaded the wrong house. My stored mana that has been surging in my body for quite some time has finally been unshackled, ready to be used anytime. I grab the nearby trash bag and went outside the door to meet them up. The men were surprised as they didn''t expect someone woulde out and meet with them, but they didn''t flee and instead, started to arm themselves up and are very confident with their weapons. The small guy who seems to be the brains of their operations grinned as hispanions wore various masks to avoid their faces from being seen surrounding me. "Well, well. It seems the homeowner seems to be going to be having a bad time if he thinks he can still get out of here without being injured." I can only sigh at them. I was very ready to go in a rumble and do some testing on my abilities especially since the Judgement patrols have not yet existed which means I can go full all out with my abilities but it seems I was overestimating them. Although their newly awakened abilities are giving them some power, their body is too weak. Even the biggest guy who seems to be the strongest out of them is much weaker than Pixie. "It seems you guys decided to break into the wrong house." The men startedughing as one of them snap their fingers and a bounded field appeared around us. It blocks all sounds and noises from leaking outside, allowing anyone who is inside to be able to do anything they please. "Now, no one will hear your screams as you beg to stop." I grinned when I heard the leader say it. "Welp, thanks for putting up a bounded field, saves me time putting one," as I teleported behind the big man, kicked the back of his left knee, and charged up my fist with electrical charge before discharging it to him. "AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" The big man screamed in pain before he fainted as the electric charge flows into his body. He didn''t have any resistance or even immunity to it, causing him to faint. It''s strong enough to knock him out without killing him. "SH*T... He is also a magic user!" The leader is pissed seeing one of his men fall. "What are you all f*ckers doing? Get him!" Seeing that I am a magic user, they didn''t hold back and pulled out their guns instead of their weapons to shoot me but when they shot me with multiple bullets, I immediately waved my hand and the soil beneath my feet rise up and covered me from the barrage of bullets. They emptied their magazines in one burst and cursed seeing as I am unaffected and all of their shots are all now embedded in the soil that I raise. "Is that all you all have? I am disappointed. I thought you all can do something amazing but it seems you all are just worthless." I don''t want to stay too long for them to be doing this and that and so I immediately started doing quick work on them by teleporting behind them and hitting their necks. It would have been great if I have to kill them but this isn''t a game, this is real life and if I did, I will be going to jail and the magic abilities act wille close. Since they are too weak, everyone fell except for the leader that I purposely left out. "F*CK THIS, I didn''t sign up for this..." he didn''t hesitate and started to escape but I am not someone who would just let them escape. I snap my fingers and vines that are growing in my yard extended their length and bind the legs of the fleeing intruder. "Gah! Let me go!" I grinned as this was one of the best feelings of emerging victorious in a fight with armed people. Although it''s a total one-sided battle, it doesn''t change the fact I still managed to suppress them before they can even enter the mansion. "Why would I do that? As you said earlier, no one will hear your screams as you beg to stop." He screamed as I tested my new abilities on him before he fainted not from the injuries but due to fear. After that, I also dealt with their driver who was waiting for them to return. After that, I drove them to the police station nearby I call their hotline, by using the nearest payphone and escaped before they get to the van. I disguised my face before leaving in case the police wanted to know my identity and checked the security cam of the payphones. As for why I didn''t call the police and let them go to my mansion, I don''t want them to learn about Renatta and the others for now. As far as I am concerned, its better for me to keep the peace of my ce as much as possible. Chapter 747 End Of The Insect War And Nobuhikos Summons A few days passed by after the events in the mansion. Aside from the elves, no one else knows what happened as most of them are ying the game or just outside and I didn''t want to worry them about it so I kept quiet about it. I also asked the elves and Pixie to keep quiet about what happened, and they agreed. Now, it should be the day when the final raid should be happening. I am curious about what will happen without a new raid enemy to fight, so I decided to log in to the game to see what would happen. ... ... ... This time around, yers are now scattered into the swamp, waiting for the time to end. Everyone else is also there and they even asked me for some supplies which I naturally gave them but I am wondering whether they will be using them. I waited for the timer to finish until it stopped with zero marks. And so everyone got tense. BUT... Nothing came. Everyone waited since they thought the monsters are just slow-moving or just dyed... but still, nothing came. The swamp is calm. Seeing that nothing ising in, the yers startedining. Everyone even started flying beyond the swamp to check the iing monsters but soon returned with their heads shaking, signifying that no monsters were present in the area and they were just wasting their time. Soon, yers startedining that they wasted their time too and they have done what they should have done and yet, the timer was a false thing and nothing came. As a result, one of the captains scratches his head and gathered the yers. Based on his gestures, I can tell that he is proposing the expedition to check on what happened and to find out where the monsters areing from beyond the swamp which cooled down the mood of most yers though some are not so easy to quell their disappointment. From the looks of it, it''s going to be just another fruitless expedition but hey, I am not sure whether the monsters I killed the other day are all back up again so who knows? As for me, it''s no longer my problem now. I am about to log out of the game when I received an in-game mail. I rarely receive in-game mail but I don''t recall the game getting any kind of reason for them to send out a mail. I checked the sender first and I was surprised since the one who sent the mail was none other than the GM. GMs don''t usually send anything like this unless they are expressing thanks as a whole to the yers who would then be apanied by some sort of announcement. And yet there''s none so I am a bit skeptical about what this was about. Opening it, my little guess was indeed correct. This mail was specifically sent for me, by the GM no less. "Good day, Mr. deheart. Or should I say, Tsukasa Manato..." Just the beginning of the letter made me frown. The GM is addressing my real name. It''s somewhat weird but I am sure they knew my name already as I needed to put my real name as well to attach my bank ount into the game for the easy money transfer. "....This is Nobuhiko speaking and I am here to summon you to the Nexus Company main building. We have something to talk about urgently and this involves what happened to you before the very "beginning" which I knew you would immediately understand. It''s an important discussion and I hope you cane anytime this week as long as you don''te during closing hours. I will be waiting on the top floor, just present the Reality Verse Nexus Tattoo to the representative once you are ready to meet with me and he will send you to me. I am eager to meet you once again. Have a good day." Nobuhiko is summoning me and based on his choice of words, what he is referring to is my "returning to the past" incident. I don''t know what he was trying to discuss with me but I guess he technically helped me return so it should be fine for me to go and meet up with him to learn what he was trying to do. Tomorrow is a good day. I am free and I don''t have any appointments or any need to log in to the game for that day which is the perfect time to go. Now that I have nothing to do here now, it''s time to log out. .... .... .... .... .... The next day... I drive using my motorcycle to the Nexus Company as early as I should. They open very early and there are lots of people so this ce is pretty busy which is why I wanted to get there before the rush hour of people. When I arrived, I sighed in relief seeing there are fewer people around since it was still pretty early, and looked around for the receptionist. I soon found him and approached him. "I have an appointment with Mr. Kasaguchi." "Ah, you must be the one he is waiting for. But first, let''s scan your Nexus tattoo first before we proceed to verify your identity..." Using a scanner, he scanned the tattoo on my neck like some kind of barcode before my identity appeared on the screen of her scanner revealing my name. "Alright. You are cleared. Follow me." He then led me to a long corridor and we walked for a while before we stopped in front of the elevator. "Just use this elevator, press the highest number on the buttons, and wait for this to arrive. The boss is waiting for your arrival." After leading me here, he left and didn''t turn back. As for me, I sighed and entered the elevator, press the highest number which is 10, and waited as the elevator slowly climbs up the elevator. The moment it opens, I saw the swivel chair turned around, revealing Nobuhiko wearing a suit of a businessman. Beside him is his assistant. "I have been waiting for you, young man." Chapter 748 The Real Reason For Returning To The Past Nobuhiko Kasaguchi. Said to be the man who revolutionized modern gaming and when the magic abilities surged due to his product, was also been dubbed the "Father of Magic Resurgence" due to his creation which leads people to ess magic for the first time and prove that magic wasn''t just a product of fiction and high people. Ist met him during the time I asked to get a new Nexus tattoo for both Akira and Sora and once more, we meet again. The topic of our conversation is something I am still wondering but I still have to know what it was. Perhaps this returning to the past business was just some sort of free trial and now I am going to pay for the price? Perhaps, yes. Perhaps, no. "Heh, based on the look on your face, you are confused as to why I decided to summon you out of the blue, after all these years that I didn''t contact you or anything rted to our current situation?" I nodded in response. "Haha, don''t be shy, Zero, please escort him to his seat." Zero, his assistant bowed down before leading me to another swivel chair that she just pushed in front of the table which divides the distance between myself and Nobuhiko. "How time passes by, don''t you think, young man?" Instead of facing me directly, he turned his swivel chair facing its back on me as he stares outside the massive ss window that captures the scenery below. "Based on the news that I hear about you, it seems you are using the knowledge from the past and using them to your advantage just fine. This is pretty impressive especially since you have turned your life around due to it and I must say, you have done your very best from it. It seems the time regression is worth it for you, hmmm?" Although hesitant to ask, I decided to break his sentimental viewpoint and ask him the question that has been bothering me for quite a while. "Ummm, are you perhaps here to reap the payment for returning to the past?" "...Payment? Hahaha, wow, payment huh?" He then startedughing like what I just said seemed to be the best joke he ever heard. And honestly, that doesn''t sound bad... However, if I did that, someone would get real mad at me and I think I should hold off on that instead." I frowned at his answer but I didn''t have time to ask again as he started talking once more. "You thought I was going to ask for payment from the service of returning to the past? To be honest, I wanted to do that but I decided not to do so as you won''t be able to afford it anyways. But we are not here about that. I decided to call you today, to talk to you about the changes that you have brought to this world after your arrival." "You mean my actions?" "Yep. That''s what we are going to discuss today. Aren''t you excited?" "Did I just do something wrong?" I asked. "No, in fact, some of your actions benefitted us. Without your actions, some processes would have taken quite some time before they happen like the magic formation phenomenon. Without your intervention, it will take some time before it will happen. Now look, the magic formation is already happening pretty early and there are already mana particles scattered all over the world as well as the resources for magic tools are now present as well. All of this was due to your actions." "But they should be arriving anyways, that''s not really the main problem isn''t it?" I scratch my chin as I still don''t understand what he was saying. "This is just one of the changes that have been happening that were affected by your actions. After all, you are not the only person who returned to the past but me and Zero as well. There are some things that should have happened in the past that didn''t happen here in the new past and I think that should be fine but I didn''t expect that your presence alone threatens the whole bnce of the world." "What do you mean?" "Two worlds are now colliding and soon enough, they might merge or destroy each other in the process. If you still don''t understand, let me show you some photos, and let me jog your memory for a bit." His assistant, Zero immediately pushed a button on the table, and the windows is being covered and the room became dark with only a small and minimal light shining up. Then, holographic images appeared in the air, just like how the holograms appear in the Alternate World and Holophones. There, it disys the image of a young man cutting off a big arm of a dragon from a portal. Then that''s when I just realized it. That was me. That was during the time the world seems to have gone through the second ice age at that time and the photo before me is none other than the exact time I sliced off the arm of the monster. "Now you remembered? Although this was a one-time event that you managed to solve that wasn''t just the only thing that you should be thinking about." He then reaches out in the air and a little portal appeared where his hand was going. Simr to how we yers of Alternate World grab an item on our inventory. He then pulls out the same beginner sword all sword-rted ss has in the very beginning. I immediately realized that the item he pulled out was indeed the Beginner Sword. "I can already tell that you have already got ess to your inventory and pull out anything inside as you will but have you ever wondered why you can open the inventory in the real world even though it was just a game?" Then something just urred to me. Why I didn''t think of that? It was weird at first but it seems I immediately ignored it and thought that was just a feature or something my powers can do. Why I didn''t question why I can ess an inventory directly connected to a game? "No need to be surprised about why you didn''t realize it. That only means the product I made has been sessful." Wait... does that mean... I stood up in shock and it seems Nobuhiko already knew why. "It seems you have finally understood why. Yes, Alternate World is not just a game, it''s a parallel world simr to ours but with a fantasy setting. And the only way to ess it is the Reality Verse which allows our bodies to be transported there. Your game character and your real body are one in a flesh. Which is why you feel fatigued, you are hurt, you feel hungry, and feel anything a real human needs in the real world to survive." "Wait... so Alternate World... is not a game and our avatars are actually our real body, just modified to fit into that world? Then, what happens whenever we die? We resurrect every time we die." "Oh, you technically did die. However, your body will regenerate once more into the cathedral, creating your new life. Technically, you resurrected and that''s true but is that still your real body?" Chapter 749 Alternate World Now I see. It wasn''t just a game name but a real-deal alternate world indeed. I am so blind all of a sudden by these facts and I am not sure why. "If you are wondering why you didn''t suspect anything is due to the tattoo on your neck, the Nexus. A variation of spells bundled together and one of the spells that have been given to me by the ancient, allowing me to do what I needed to do and that includes mind maniption. Who would have thought it was just that effective?" "What is your reason for making this alternate world a game in the first ce? Isn''t keeping this world a secret to you more beneficial than keeping it in public?" "The public didn''t know that this is a real ce and not just a game. Hence other gamepanies failed to duplicate the game I have for everyone. Also, why keep it for the public? Simple. yers are curious about new things and thirsty for otherworldly adventures, they can easily map out the whole Alternate World without my need for intervention and sending people to explore the ce which costs me more money. Creating this system, it allows me to find secrets and new things that I didn''t know, making my research much easier. All I needed to do is create a technology that would allow us humans get there and receive new powers as a result which would allow our smooth exploration on the ce. Free human resources. If Nobuhiko decided to hire explorers instead, it will take him ages to explore the ce. But since he turned it into a game, all people who yed the game will naturally contribute on its exploration aspect. The reason there are expeditions to new regions is due to the fact that this ce is an unknown terrain and that is for the sake of learning what are the new things happening here and there. He already have it totally calcted. "Why are you telling me this?" "Why indeed, Tsukasa-kun. To be honest, you are just one of my tests that I am trying since every time I rewind time and return to the past, little to no change happens at all. Therefore, I decided to find a good "test subject" and that''s none other than you. An unknown variable, a new method to change the situation, and my theory was indeed correct. And it seems this timeline is much more better and progressive than the other timelines. This furthers my research to the fullest as well." He then stood up and started pacing around the room. Zero clicked the button on the table once more and the darkness enveloping the whole office slowly regained the light. "You are the new variable that I am looking for, the one who will be helping me realize my dreams. The one who can fulfill all of my wishes and desires. And with that, I have a proposal for you, Tsukasa Manato." He then looked at Zero and thetter throws a little token of some sort. "This token is connected to the tree of life. Help me find it. ording to the records, the tree of life is located somewhere in the Alternate World." "Why are you trying to find the Tree of Life?" I asked. "The Tree of Life produces the elixir of immortality. An elixir that can make anyone immortal, leaving behind their corporeal body and transcending into an undying human. This elixir will be my main goal and this will solve allow me to achieve my dreams." Elixir of Immortality. I have indeed read that record before and I still remember what it does. The one and only elixir that exists at the top of the Tree of Life or the Yggdrasil. It''s a dew that grants the drinker the immortality trait and they also gain the ability to gain the power associated with it. However, why is he trying to find this? Is he hoping to be an immortal person? "Oh, and not only the Tree of Life, but I also wanted you to find the ancient records of the Primordial Power of Life and also to help the Goddess of Life to return her powers." "The Goddess of Life and the ancient records...?" I frowned. These things are new to me. And also, why the Goddess of Life? Isn''t she the sh*tty goddess that caused the main conflict of the ancient beings in the world and caused the monsters to go rampant? "I am not just asking you for free though. Although this is a good job payment for my services of allowing you to return to the past, I am still giving you a reward if you fulfill the missions I gave you. I am a generous person after all." "But what if I refuse?" I asked. "Nothing will happen. But I will be pretty disappointed by you, Tsukasa-kun." "This is too much to take though... can I answerter on?" "Yes. Are you going to think this through for now?" "I guess I do. I needed time to see whether I needed to ept this or not." "Well, that''s fine. But since you do, I guess a little mind deletion should do for now. After all, I can''t afford to let you in the n before you are absolutely sure already." SNAP! When he snapped his fingers, I felt a ringing bell in my ear and I felt a really painful feeling in my head like my brain is being mushed and stabbed repeatedly. I thought I would be able to endure it but... it''s actually hard. ... ... ... ... ... When I opened my eyes, my head hurts and the tingling pain is still throbbing in my head but I then realized something wrong. "The ce where the world tree is located..." Then, I just realized that I was currently lying on thep of the girl I keep on seeing around the Yggdrasil Tree''s roots walking or just sitting around. I tried to get up but she stopped me. "Don''t get up just yet. It seems that spell did a number of things to you for you to go down like that. Don''t worry though, I protected you from that spell before it hits you. "Ah..." I immediately remembered everything. All of our conversations are still in my head. But isn''t this just a dream? All of the dreams I had in this ce disappeared the moment I woke up every time." "...Perhaps you will forget our interaction here, but since that interaction with that man you spoke with happened in your world, unless the spell has taken its effect, you will not forget anything." Oh, she is right. Since my interaction with Nobuhiko is in the real world, then all of my memories will not disappear once I wake up from here... But why did you help me?" "Because your purpose isn''t ready yet. Until then, you will have to remember all the details you learned. You will need it in the future. Now, go forth and wake up. It''s time to begin your search for the truth." As soon as she said those words, I feel drowsy before I fell asleep on herp, leaving the ce once more. ... ... ... ... I felt my head hurt a little bit as I open my eyes. It''s throbbing a little bit but thankfully it does not hurt that much since it felt only like I bump into something. The pain is fading as well. As I looked around, I realized I am lying in one of the specialized beds used for those who have gotten the Tattoo and are getting drowsy after getting them which is why the Nexus Company have them prepared in case someone copsed. There are a few people lying in the bed beside me as well but since I am not among them, I looked around and saw the receptionist who guided me to the elevator earlier. He found me waking up and so he approached me. "Oh, it seems you have woken up. ording to the president, you suddenly fainted while you two are talking." "A-am I? I don''t remember meeting him though?" I lied. Something in my head seems to be saying I needed to keep things I knew a secret though somehow, I don''t have a recollection of it. "Is that so? Well, that is unfortunate, the boss is out for a business trip now so you can''t ask him again what you guys have talked about." After grabbing all of my belongings, he escorted me out and lead me back to the ground floor. "If you have more business here, please just say so and I am willing to help." "Thank you, but no, I think I don''t have any now." "Then thank you for your visit. Hope we see you again!" Getting out of thepany and returning to my motorcycle, I sighed in relief that I have gotten out of the ce. "To think that the main purpose of Nobuhiko creating this game is for him to find the Tree of Life and help out the Goddess of Life. It seems I have been mistaken to Nobuhiko''s intentions in letting me go back to the past. With a motive like that, it seems that I needed to find what he is looking for first and find out what is his intended usage of them in the process. My only problem is that, he has a tracker of everything that is happening in the game. What am I going to do?" Now I am not sure what to do, but one thing is for sure, I have to ensure that Nobuhiko will fail at this n. Now that the Alternate World is real, it seems everyone there is also real as well. Not only that, but perhaps the elves who fell into this world are actually denizens of the Alternate World. "I think I have an idea where to start my lead." Turning on the engine of my motorcycle, I revved off, ready to put my ns to action. Chapter 750 Epilogue Of Arc 9 It was already lunchtime when I returned to the Mansion. It''s crazy that I slept for around 4 hours after almost losing all of my memories but it seems the effect that Nobuhiko intended to happen was nullified and I was spared from the mind wipe. It is something that I didn''t expect to know but now that I do, it seems he had some ulterior motive on why he is looking for the Tree of Life. If there''s nothing wrong, he wouldn''t bother erasing my memories of our conversation. Knowing what he is nning, I needed a countern as well. And that is where the elves wille in. Everyone is still ying the game while the elves and Pixie are eating food. "Wee back, Master Manato. It seems like you have a rough time. What happened?" Pixie asked as she hovers around my neck. "Pixie, tell the elves to meet meter in my room. Don''t tell anyone about it okay aside from them, and you too Pixie, you need toe with them as well. I needed your trantion skills as well." "Huh? Is something wrong?" "We will talkter, just finish eating and we will discuss it in my room. I needed to tell you all something." After saying that, I went to my room and started to check the inte about the Tree of Life in the game. In the past timeline, I heard there was a quest where someone is given a task to find the Tree of Life. Also, based on the description of what the Tree of Life is, it seems the "World Tree, Yggdrasil" and the Tree of Life are both the same thing. But since Alternate World seems to follow a different thing, there might be a case where the two are separate things but if possible, I need to find leads on both in case they are two separate trees. With that research done, I pulled out a pen and paper and started writing all of what I remembered from the conversation I had with Nobuhiko. It''s best to have them written instead of relying on my brain as it turns out, Nobuhiko has something in the Nexus Tattoo that allows him to manipte the minds of the people. No wonder I think I am missing out on something and why I am not really bothered by how I managed to learn magic and easily pull out items from the game into the real world. First, Alternate World is a true alternative world from Earth and everyone living there is alive and simr to all of us. This means As, Tina, Lina, and everyone else including my pets andpanions are all living beings in that dimension are all real living beings. No wonder I can hold conversations with them like real people, form friendships and enemies as well as a significant other if you are too deep on that. Second, our real bodies are transported from this world to that world by some sort of magic that allowed yers to modify their bodies to their liking in that world. No wonder even if you sleep there, eating and drinking in the game seems to be fine even if you don''t eat in the real world. It wasn''t some bullcrap science stuff that the tattoo had some sort of mechanism that support yers to some kind of food while they are inside and gaming for a long. All of the food we eat in the game are real food which would satiate both the real-world hunger and the game-world hunger my body needs. Third, death in the game means we really did die for real. However, due to some hocus pocus stuff that Nobuhiko used, it seems they reusing our bodies and transferring them to a new one, reviving us in the process. For some reason, I have a theory that this thing seems to be connected to whatever the Goddess of Life''s power had which Nobuhiko decided to exploit to make the game. This means, all of those deaths I got in the very beginning, I died from that for real. But since Alternate World is not really a game but just another world that disguises it as one, that only means that spot, where I exploited the death mechanic, is not even a bug but a feature in this world. I don''t know but perhaps that was the main case. Fourth, it seems Nobuhiko is a believer in the Goddess of Life. His goal of trying to focus on letting her recover is an indication that Nobuhiko had some kind of connection to the goddess herself. And perhaps, she might be one of the contributors to why the game was made. Of course, all of that was just spection but perhaps the revival stuff in the Alternate World is something rted to her. Thest tidbit is Nobuhiko''s quest of finding the tree of life and the elixir it produces. I still don''t know what his goal is in using this but it seems to be also connected to the goddess of life once more. Of course, it''s just a little spection. If you think about it, Nobuhiko''s goal seems to be harmless. In fact, it seems to be a goal that someone like me will also do if given a chance. But there is one thing that I am not in agreement with. His fixation with the Goddess of Life. As mentioned by many and most of the people, the goddess of life is the good goddess but based on the quests and some lore as well as talking to those people who are from the timeline of Primordial years like Lucia, she is not the real good guy here but the one who lost and had very small follower count, the Goddess of Death. For some reason, I find it hard to side against her and I am in a kind of dilemma about what should I do. This is some kind of a losing battle for me as Nobuhiko literally has all of the edges against me, he has turned back time multiple times as well which means I am up against a time traveler and regressor as well, plus, he can easily stop my attempts to stop him which is why I am going to ask the elves for some help. If they are indeed from Alternate World if my assumption is correct, then perhaps they are familiar with the structure of the Tattoo that is the key and gateway for me to ess Alternate World. While finishing what I still remembered, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and the elves with Pixiees in. I immediately locked the door in my room as soon as they are in. "What is this secret meeting you are trying to do?" Pixie is curious. "Wait..." I then cast the sound barrier spell to contain all the sounds in this room only inside the barrier. "I needed some help. Elves are pretty much an expert regarding runes and magic circles, correct?" Pixie tranted my words and the three nodded. "Then, perhaps you can decipher this?" then I revealed my neck tattoo. "What''s that?" Renatta asked. "I am not sure, but this might be some kind of key for you all to return to your world." Pixie was surprised by my revtion but even with her surprise, she tranted it once more to them and this time, they also got shocked as well. So they decided to check what it was. Renatta is the one who examined the tattoo and I just observed what is happening when the moment she recites a spell in elvennguage or whatevernguage was she speaking made me a bit surprised. The tattoo suddenly got divided into multiple parts and floated into the air, revealing that it was a magic circle under a magic circle which is under a magic circle, and so on and so forth. "Wait, wait, wait, what is this?! That''s a lot of runes and magic circles in one pile! What the heck is going on?!" Pixie couldn''t believe her eyes. Even I can''t believe it. This is something unprecedented for me. "Renatta said this is pretty ancient to the point this is garnering attention means there is something in there. And just like what you said, this seems to be the key to their way back home. They wanted to study the tattoo and find a way to return as well so I think this is going to be something you will be needing a lot of points for." "If that is the case, can you guys order to find a tracker magic circle? I needed to be removed from that as well as some kind of stuff. Like a tracking magic circle?" "Indeed it has plenty of stuff, but now, I found a tracking circle that you seemed to be looking for." When I heard of it, my desire grew stronger and now, we have begun our little experiment." Chapter 751 Prologue Of Arc 10 It''s a hot sunny day. Perfect for sunbathing or even going to the beach since it''s summer. And yet, I am holed inside my room, busy formting different ns and studying magic circles like a crazed madman. It''s been a month since the revtion I got from Nobuhiko and right now, I am helping the elves with our secret project on deciphering the Nexus Tattoo. Also, ever since I learned about the Alternate World as not being a game anymore, I stopped treating it as a game as well. It is now an alternate reality that I can go in and out of. Despite my big urge to find the Tree of Life as soon as possible, I decided to postpone that for now until we finished deciphering the Nexus Tattoo. If I started searching for clues on the Tree of Life immediately, Nobuhiko might sniff out that something is wrong and he might know that I still retained the memory of what he said that day. Based on our study with the Nexus Tattoo, the tattoo isposed of 30 different magic circles that were put on top of each other. It shouldn''t have worked but it somehow managed to connect properly and allowed it to function like a normal magic circle and activate all of its effects all at once. Renatta and the two elves are also working hard of replicating the magic circle and make use of it for themselves. It is now confirmed by me that they are true, denizens of the Alternate World. Also, the moment they checked on the Nexus Tattoo, they found out that it has a tracker of some sort. I gave them a task to find a chance of modifying it and change the tracker into something beneficial to me. If I wanted to move properly and find the clues for the Tree of Life and get the info first before Nobuhiko managed to get intel first. While I just finished one of the magic circles being deciphered, I heard a knocking on my door. "Master Manato, Renatta has a report to give you." It was Pixie''s voice. I stood up and opened it, revealing Renatta and Pixie currently holding a bag of food and drinks alongside a big notebook and a few papers with elvishnguage and some magic circle stuff. "Master, we have modified a bit of the tracker on that magic circle on your neck. We will be exining what it was and how we managed to do so." "Is that so? Come in, is that why you guys brought food and drinks?" "Yeah, Renatta-sama was saying that it will take long enough for us to exin things so she brought a few stuff to eat to continuously exin the stuff she discovered." The two entered the room, I looked outside for a while to check whether there are others. I even double-check using my aura identifier to see whether anyone else is around. Thankfully, no one else are there but I locked the door just in case. "Alright, let''s hear this out." "Okay, but first, can you show us your tattoo for a bit?" I nodded and revealed the Nexus Tattoo, then Renatta touched it with her fingertips and I felt a painful little poke." "OW!" "Wait for a bit, Manato-sama, she is almost done." After a bit, she stopped and nodded in satisfaction. "What did you just do?" "You can ask the questionster, Manato-sama, since it is part of the exnation ording to her. Renatta-sama will converse with me using telepathy and I will trante what she was saying, Manato-sama." Renatta pulled the little whiteboard I folded on the side and assembled it, before pulling out the marker and starting writing. It seems she has now been able to write kanji now as she easily writes them with ease. She studied a lot I guess. "ording to what she has found out, it seems the tracker is just there for the sake of tracking your movements. It even has a built-in recording spell as well that records whatever you have done at some point. And from the looks of it, it works both in this world and in the Alternate World. Which is why she did what she just did to you earlier." "Ah..." I unconsciously touched my neck where the Tattoo was located. "From what she gathered, although it''s not as effective in this worldpared to the other world, it still works so in case these exnations they have is recorded, then it will be a bad thing for all of us since we are tampering all of the Magic Circles present on that tattoo. It was easy to disable and although it was "disabled", it is still releasing recorded images but not the ones happening here and just false images to fool the one who is receiving the records." So that must be the main reason when I fought the one who tear apart the space the other time and tore its limbs, it was recorded and that was the photos I saw. "Now, herees the real part. Renatta had found a way to permanently remove the tracker and rece it with something but that would alert them. Of course, if you choose this option, it seems your only choice is to be a vagrant and choose to hide in the other world instead. As for the second option, Renatta will modify the tracker. It will still give them information but only limited ones and you can control what things would be sent, however, this will give you lots of pain as this will be going to be something that will be done to distort the spell and that spell is connected somewhat to your brain. As a result, you would suffer in this option instead." "Wait, so it either I remove the thing in my neck, or I let it be modified but suffer in the process?" "That''s the gist of it. She found no alternative ways other than those two so you would be really in a bad spot on this one." Tough choice but the first one doesn''t sound too bad, the only thing that would be bad is that I will remain in the Alternate World and will not be able to return to the real world for quite some time or even forever. On the other hand, I can just modify it but there is a chance I will go crazy in the end which would solve the problem of the first option but would take a toll on my body. This is a hard choice. "ording to Renatta-sama, she will not be doing the change just yet as she still hasn''t finished creating the same stuff as well. If you choose the first option, she and the other two will join in as well as they are also going to be a conspirator as well. But if you choose the second option, we can start doing it now." It''s a very tough choice. And I can''t meet the others now if I choose the first option, I can still meet them in the Alternate World but that would also reveal my location which would be bad. "You can choose,ter on, Manato-sama. She is not forcing you to do it. So think carefully. It''s not mandatory after all." "Thanks." Renatta and Pixie continue to exin things but most of it is about the other magic circle that is not that important aside from the magic circle that allows our body to be transported to the Alternate World. Other than that, it''s a normal exnation. Also, it seems they are not finished checking all of the magic circles so she will have to make a follow-up next time once they have already analyzed the rest. "Master, I can see that you are a bit troubled at what is happening, and it seems you are having trouble with the choice huh? Are you worried about the others?" Pixie asked. "Yes. I wanted to tell them but I am not sure I wanted them to be dragged along with me on this problem." "Then perhaps you should talk with them. You guys are friends. It would be not a good idea if you just disappear on them and do not tell them what is up. Communication is key if you wanted to avoid mimunications and misunderstandings, Manato-sama. So please, make sure you talk to them." After that, the two left after cleaning up the trash that was left after the exnation and talking they did. As for me, I am left thinking about what to do next. It''s not an easy task, and it''s not even something I wanted to choose. But just like many choices I made in the past, I needed to choose something and this will turn the tide of destiny. Forget about the revenge I have with Kazuki, I can just do it anytime and end it, as for this, the fate of the two worlds hangs in the bnce and whoever wins from the two of us, will depend a lot on my choices. Chapter 752 Visiting The Lady Of The Lake There isn''t much I can do at the moment and without Renatta''s prompt, the change would yet be applied and I don''t want to discuss it just yet with everyone which leaves me with nothing much to do. Since life goes on and everything moves without the need for my prompt, I decided to continue what I am doing in the game as well though now I changed my perspective on it. Anyways, an update on what happened after thest event where I wrecked the final area and loot most of the treasures there. The yers were furious that the area beyond the swamp was barren, barely had monsters, and are very limited in resources to be gained. As a result, those who managed to explore the area first were able to gather an ample amount of the loot remaining there but it was small enough andpetition was fierce that even one single insect monster seen crawling in the ceiling is a firste, first served treatment. In the end, theyined to the King and Queen of the Insect Kingdom but since they have no idea what is happening other than what they have seen on the swamp, they don''t know what they are all talking about. It med the forums on what happened and how the event became a disappointment in thetter half. Some yers even tried to contact the management to show their disappointment but they were just like speaking to a wall as the Nexus Company did not even bother to send a reply and just let them do the ining" job they wanted to do. Of course, they ended up giving up as they didn''t expect thepany to not be bothered by a mountain ofints. Sigma and the others are also disappointed but they didn''t mind what happened and returned to their usual business. As for me, I remained there for a few days before I left Aquagius region and returned to Resurgia. Nothing much changed in Resurgia and plenty of new yers are all around exploring, talking to NPCs or other yers, or testing their new freedom on their movement. I know that it''s only been a few weeks since I left for Aquagius but the smithy that Almira made in my mansion has been a big hit as one of the best suppliers of best weapons for both newbies and veterans. Of course, it''s not only due to the weapons and poprity but also due to Almira herself who tends the storefront by herself. Seeing a sweaty, tanned by the forge''s heat and a busty babe like Almira, she easily garnered fans in different ces. It would have been fine if these f*ckers just don''t actively block my way in and out of my mansion, in fact, giving me a headache as some would even engage in a fight against me as to why I am living with Almira. Of course, I made short work with them, which made it a little bit easier for me to go in and out of my mansion. But the problem of them gathering around the shop is a little bit annoying because it also blocks the gate as well. Lucia and As are also doing well and since they are not doing much aside from farming ores in the nearby dungeon, their job is not that hard and they are in a good stable way of doing so but they are tired of doing the mining job over and over and begged me to join back on my group. Almira is fine with it, but she demanded ores as she is getting quite a lot of orders and ores are not in supply after I went to Aquagius for quite some time, therefore she asked me for a few crates of them tost her for a while before she asks for more. Thankfully, I have a lot of ores I am not going to use but keep in my inventory for hoarding purposes stagnating and begging to be used and so I supplied Almira with them, even some rare and some valuable ores as well as long as I don''t need them. Despite my generosity to her, she remained a deadpan serious worker and just nodded as I put down the crates of ores. However, it seems to do her good as her mood seems to brighten up. By the way, the Leader of the Cult that I captured before has been awake already but ording to her siblings, it seems she is under trauma as she seemed to be in a catatonic state. She responds if the question is answerable by yes or no by nodding and shaking her head but other than that, she does not respond. She does not recover from normal heals as well so I guess she still needed to recover normally. I don''t know how long but we will see in the future. Without any quest to fulfill that is possible to bepleted right now, I opened my inventory and looked at the Gtine. Just like the Carnwennan, it seems the Gtine has been sealed as well by someone and whoever that someone is, I don''t know though I am more believing that the one who did it was none other than King Arthur himself. But due to mycking of evidence and clues about it, I didn''t think too much about it and decided to go and visit the Ind of Avalon and check up on the Lady of the Lake as well as Merlin to check up on Cath Palug''s state as well since he seems to be recovering his abilities quite a bit and I am worried about it in case the little f*cker decides to go full ham big f*cker mode and rampage all over the ce. ... .... .... ... [You have entered the Secret Area, Ind of Avalon] It''s been some time since I visited this ce. I only visited here once when I was asking the Lady of the Lake to repair the Carnwennan but having to visit here again just to do something rted to the round table, I don''t know what would the Lady of the Lake think of me who seems to get most of the weapons the previous round table knights wield? I am already a weed guest, so I easily crossed theke without the need to do the same tricks again. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Entering the tower and calling out to the people living in that tower, I got an answer of my own voice echoing through from several floors above. But an actual response? Not really. Since I didn''t get the same wee treatment I did before, I started climbing the staircase that leads to the top of the tower. If only the flying magic works here, then I would have used it to go up and make a shortcut but s, the magic that jams out magic spells aside from the permitted magic the Lady of the Lake permitted in the tower, nothing else will be activated and so my only choice is to climb. It''s very long and arduous to climb on which makes it pretty much annoying to do. Still, I pushed through and continue to waddle through the staircase until I reached the top floor. There, the Lady of the Lake and Merlin were currently drinking tea. "Oh, it seems you have decided to face the pain and move by yourself. Impressive!" the Lady of the Lake started pping. "Ugh, although that was not the worst climb I experienced in my life, it is still pretty sh*tty to climb a tower like this without any resting stops," Iined. "Now, now. It''s a normal test thedy of theke gives to the people who wanted her service to do once in a while." "Impressive, it seems your irvoyance power is working properly huh?" I looked at Merlin who sips tea and crunching the cookies. "It works pretty randomly though and I don''t think I know what the reasons it was activating but nevertheless, I knew that you would being so please have a seat and join us on our tea." Merlin snapped his fingers and a chair appeared and forced me to sit down on it. "I thought you were just lucky that you got the Carnwennan out of random luck but now it''s the Gtine? Your luck must be amazing to find it, but I have never seen the Gtine in this troubled state. What happened to it?" the Lady of the Lake asked even though I still haven''t even pulled out the weapon from my inventory. "I dunno, your guess is as good as mine." This time, I pulled out the weapon and revealed it to her. She made the sword levitate and inspected it using her magic for a little bit and then she frowned. "Another one of this huh... It would have been fine if the Carnwennan is the only one who has this but even the Gtine? What happened to the older knights after they disbanded?" It seems something caught the Lady of the Lake''s eye to frown like that. Perhaps she has the answer? Chapter 753 Sealing Curse "The curse is very familiar but for some unknown reason, I don''t think it was within my power to identify it just yet. It was a bizarre spell and it sure is a very annoying one as well. Compared to the Carnwennan, the Gtine has been consumed by the curse which is why it might look fine outside but once you get a hold of it, it turns out to be useless." Merlin who was listening on the side seemed curious so he decided to butt into the topic. "Let me have a good look, perhaps I know this "curse" you guys are talking about." The Lady of the Lake hands over the Gtine to Merlin and thetter starts to inspect the weapon. "Humu, humu, it is indeed aplicated spell and it seems to be consuming the weapon as well. However, it''s not asplicated as I thought it would be. Lady, it seems you are fooled by its masking effect which would confuse the one who tries to trace and identify the curse itself." "Really? Does it have a masking effect? Howe I am fooled like that? That shouldn''t be the case," the Lady of the Lake frowned. "It''s simple, the one who cast the spell knew you would try to check and track the one who did it to this weapon. The spell is specifically designed to fool someone like you and seems to be working properly." "A spell specifically designed for me..." the Lady of the Lake fell into thought. "Well, now that we know why it is hard for you to identify it, let''s just do this... then this one goes here... this one around here, then this one should be here... this one should disappear and..." Merlin continues his little job, altering multipleyers of spells after spells into the sword. The Gtine glowed multiple times and some ck chains seems to appear every time Merlin modified it, trying to defy his changes but Merlin''s technique was superior and he easily suppressed the ck chains, keep them at bay and continue to modify the spell. In a few more seconds of altering the spell, Merlin smiled and the sword is now giving a little bit of a different vibe now. "Alteration isplete, but I failed to track the perpetrator. Before I can fully track him, it seems the one who did it cut off its connections to the curse, leaving no clues behind to know what we should be doing." "That''s a shame, but if you did modify it, then that should be fine," the Lady of the Lake epted the Gtine once more and inspected the weapon once more. "Whoever it is, it seems the one responsible for this is pretty slick doing this, and to be able to immediately cut ties with the curse before he was discovered is quite smart on his part too. It''s just sad I couldn''t catch him immediately. "No need to me yourself, Merlin. But I am impressed since I can now identify the curse like any other curse I have seen before." "My studies in magic do not just involve different things revolving around normal magic, I also study curses and forbidden magic as well. After all, without any knowledge about them, it''s pretty much just not possible for me to counter anything rted to anything involving those kinds of spells," Merlin is clearly proud to reveal his expertise in both dark magic and forbidden magic as well. After that, the Lady of the Lake continues to inspect the weapon. She frowned for a while but then she nodded once more. Then, when she is done, she sighed which seems to signify her resignation. "I admit, the curse seems familiar but with limited clues, I can''t confidently say who it was. But I have some suspects but without proper clues, the assumptions I have will be put on hold for now, and keep them to myself for now." "That should be the best. However, I can also tell that this isn''t ourst chance to find something simr to this weapon. We will meet another weapon like this soon, if I say so myself," Merlin then turned to make a meaningful nce at me. Quietly saying that he is expecting me to be bringing more weapons like this. "Alright. Since we are now stuck in one ce with the one who made the curse, I think it is time to reforge the weapon," the Lady of the Lake snapped her fingers and the weapon''s curse was removed. When the Lady of the Lake said that, I immediately understood that it is time for us to go away for a while. After all, the Lady of the Lake didn''t like doing her repairs on a weapon while someone is watching other than Merlin. "Let me apany you, deheart. I think I also have to ask how the little beast is faring as well." "Well, that is also part of what I am going to talk about with you that I visited. Let''s go then." Merlin waved his staff and when I blinked again, we are now on the ground floor. "Let''s talk outside, that way, the air will freely blow on us while talking about the little guy." We went outside, the ce where Merlin sealed the remaining power of Cath Palug and reduced him to the state he was in right now. "So, how is Cath Palug now?" Merlin asked. "He is fine but he seems to be recovering his powers little by little. He even helped me take back the Gtine which was releasing its mes before." "Oh? Quite a surprise." I opened the Summon''s Area and pulled out Cath Palug forcefully as he refuses toe out. "Oy! What are you doing?! Don''t forcefully pull me out just to make me face the f*cker, Merlin!" Cath Palug cursed. "Hey, hey. It seems by the time we have not met for a short time, you became quite a hotheaded little beast, Cath Palug," Merlin waved his staff and two invisible white hands helped me pull Cath Palug out of the summon''s area and the little bugger was not able to stop it. Cath Palug sat on the grass with a frown on his face while groaning, seeing Merlin with his usual smile on his face. "My, my. It seems deheart has taken care of you with care since you have grown some fat in your body. You were so thin before but now you are as plump as a balloon for some reason." "Oi, what did you say? I might eat a lot but I didn''t get fat even a tiny bit, you little sh*t! Look at this fabulous body of mine, perhaps you are just jealous of my perfect body hmmm?" "Wow, he is now acting pretty snarky huh? He has grown quite a little bugger now that he is in your care," Merlinughed as he pats on Cath Palug. "He acts like a spoiled cat for some reason and despite some of my ways to stop him, he is just troublesome enough for me to even try doing so." "Well, it''s pretty normal for Cath Palug but hey, he wouldn''t be this kind of obedient." "I still value my life. I can easily see my life slipping away if I disobey him once he decided to let his weapon devour me!" Cath Palug growled. "Devour?" Merlin frowned. "Hey, show him the weapon. Perhaps he has an idea what it was?" Cath Palug ordered. I don''t know just yet but perhaps he could? Handing him the weapon, Merlin frowned and his expression changed from a frown to amazement. [Blood Covered Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 10,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +1500 AGI: +1500 DEX: +1500 END: +1500 INT: +1500 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level up the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. Can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. Can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy that will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform to Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering the partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: deheart Durability: Null Chapter 754 Origins Of The Versatile Weapon? Reading the details of the Versatile Weapon, Merlin frowned. He has seen the Versatile Weapon in action before but this is the first time he has read the details of the Versatile Weapon. Because the Versatile Weapon has yet to devour any significant weapon upgrades that would change its structure and even details, it''s looking the same as it was before. Yes, it has devoured some weapons while in this state but it only stops there and no longer gives any updates or anything it devours. Even some of my Elemental shard enhancements did not even register for some reason which can only be opened if inspected while fusing it with Elemental shards again which I hated to see again as it just brings bitter memories of upgrade failures. "Where did you get this?" Merlin asked still trying to inspect it fully. "Pardon?" "This weapon is something that should not exist in the human''s hands and yet, you seemed to have tamed the beast within this thing." "You can sense the shadow dragon?" "Shadow dragon?" "Oh, sorry, it looks like a shadow before when I first received it and due to that, I remained calling it shadow dragon even though it had already changed a lot of its features and it no longer resembles the shadow dragon he once looked like." "Understandable. But still, to think you have been able to tame it, grow it, and make it obedient enough is something else. Still, I realized now why Cath Palug is a little bit afraid of this entity. This young one has the potential to devour the whole world if not controlled. Right now, it is obedient to you but be careful and keep yourself aware that this thing can potentially devour you anytime if it somewhat has some problem with you." He then handed me back the Versatile Weapon. "Don''t lose sight of what is ahead of you and keep it close to you. Don''t let it corrupt you when the timees. This is just a warning and not a prediction, little man, but nevertheless just listen to my advice. Nothing will disappear from you if you followed it." "Well, I understand, but do you know what is the main origin of this thing? I have doubts about the one giving this to me and the description of the weapon itself is something vague and continuously unlocked every time it gets powerful." "Unfortunately, the weapon you have is much harder than anything I have faced before and I can''t peer past it. If what you said makes you know what it was and its origins by making it stronger, then that''s the only thing you can do for now. My puny magic is not even enough to deal with it." The Versatile Weapon has been my partner ever since I returned to the Alternate World the moment I returned to the past and I didn''t even question how its abilities are pretty interesting and why it has a creature living in it as well. Just how much does Nobuhiko, the one who gave me this gift knows about it? Is it really something that would help me in the future or it is just one of his tests running and currently I am the tester? I don''t know but that is pretty much a usible theory. But since this weapon has its locked entries and missing skills, I will have no proper idea what it was actually meant to do. "Anyways, let''s get back to the topic of this little beast. I can see that he is indeed trying to tamper with the seal I ced on his body and is slowly absorbing his old powers slowly but surely. If you didn''te back here after a few more years, then this guy will easily strip the seal, try to act nice, and find a chance to escape from the captivity. Since I can easily see through his lies and ns due to how simple-minded this guy is, we can repair the old seal again, plus, add another few of these seals. That should do the trick." DANG DANG DANG DANG! Four magic circles with different shapesnded on Cath Palug''s body, wrapping his little body four times and fading into nothingness. Cath Palug can only sulk and frown after the magic circlesnded on him as Merlin waved his staff and smiled saying, "Done!" ... ... ... ... We were still discussing what good ways to properly maintain Cath Palug for him to be able to break out in the future when the sign at the top of the tower started glowing in red, which means the Lady of the Lake is now done with hertest work. Merlin returned with me to the top floor and I sighed in relief that I don''t need to climb the stairs once more just to get back to the top which is going to suck. Reappearing at the top of the tower, the Lady of the Lake is already holding the Gtine, ming hot like the sun during the hot noon or perhaps even hotter than that. "The Gtine''s former powers have been absorbed too much by that curse that has been guing the weapon for too long. The moment I restored its de and removed its cursed property, its former destructive power is diminished and its power is almost half of its former power. If it was not restored a little bitter, maybe it will lose even more of its power." "Really? But it still does look powerful to me." "That''s because it is still indeed a weapon that will need to recover from its previous injury. Once it recovers, the previous power of this weapon will return once more." The Lady of the Lake then faces me and handed me the sword to my hands. "Even though you are not the same person as the one who wielded it in the past, and you are not as knightly as him, your journey alone is enough for me to say that you are pretty qualified to use the weapon and be its new owner. However, once everything is over, please return them to their rightful resting ces. Even if they are heroic weapons, they too shall have their rests as well. But it is not yet time to rest, so this weapon will be undergoing its new journey. Find the other weapons the previous Knights wielded, even if their armor and essories, and bring them back to me if they harbor the same thing as the curse as before, the more we have an idea of what it was, the more we can easily track and find the perpetrator of this and his real motive of doing so." "Do you have a slight idea of why he is doing this and why target the previous weapons the Knights of the Round Table previously used?" "I have an assumption but it was not a concrete one therefore this is not something that I am confident is his real motive. However, the weapons that the knights previously wielded are something connected to the bnce of this world. If they are destroyed or lose their ability and foothold in this world, the world will also slowly copse and die as well. With this task that I am giving you, not only you are getting the weapons and experiencing how to wield them, but you are also saving this world from its ruins." After the little speech, a quest line pop up in front of me, (Mandatory Story Quest) Recover and Repair Info: The Lady of the Lake tasked you to find the scattered weapons of the Knights of the Round Table for she feared that the worst has fallen to these weapons. If they are destroyed or have run out of its power, the power bncing the fate of the world is going to be destroyed. Collect as many weapons, armor, and essories connected to the Knights of the Round Table as you can and give them to the Lady of the Lake. Once she finally knows the truth, this quest willplete itself. I don''t have any choice about this as well because there is a chance that if I just leave this world''s fate to its destiny and just leave whatever remaining remorse for them down to the trash, there is also a chance that the real world will be dragged along as well and the instead of one world, the two worlds will copse and everyone will die. All because I didn''t fulfill a task like this. Giving my farewells to the two, I left the tower and thankfully, Merlin helped me to go down without the need to use the staircase. Leaving the Ind of Avalon, I have the very big urge to ask them about the Tree of Life and its current whereabouts but due to the main reason I still needed to be secretive about it, I still can''t do it. However, I don''t need to rush. I needed toy down all of the ns and outsmart Nobuhiko, before he outsmart me. Chapter 755 Queen Tanyas Letter My little trip to the Ind of Avalon only took a few hours but it felt like I was just there for a few minutes. It was a short trip but I managed to receive the Gtine, managed to keep Cath Palug in the bay, and also gain a little bit of valuable information about the importance of the weapons the previous knights of the round table wielded. Still, it is a little bit sad that the Gtine is not going to be a permanent weapon I can wield as they are only loaned weapons. I was nning on letting the Versatile Weapon devour it, but the world will be so screwed if I let it do that. I might find a chance to use it but only in a few instances if my guess is to be expected. Without anything to do, I returned to the mansion and sighed in relief seeing that the amount of yers gathering on Almira''s storefront has significantly been reduced and I don''t see those "fanboys" of Almira all around which means they left for now and I will be able to do some peace for some time. I was about to enter the gates when I noticed Almira call me. I looked at her on what is the problem and she made a sign that she had something to give to me. I was not sure what it was but I entered the gates and went to Almira''s cksmith shop. "Young man, next time, you should build a mailbox outside the gates for iing letters as it is pretty annoying to have the letters meant for you delivered to me. My shop is clearly not a mailbox and I am clearly not a servant of this mansion as well. It''s disturbing my little job if interrupted by postmen ya know," Almira angrily puffed her smokes out and handed me a letter that has the brand of the royalty in Sandurk. "Guess it might be important since it bears the royalty mark. Now go, I will check your cksmith level progress next time." She proceed to kick me out of her store and closed the door. "Ugh... At least you should have been gentle, Master!" "You should be grateful that you received a kick from me, so many people flock to my store and are even asking me to step on them many times. Perhaps young men like you also like that as well." "Hey, I have self-control and also I don''t have a kink like that so quit associating me with that!" Her kick was quite painful, evident she still have the same power she have back then when she was still a warrior. If she made a full-force kick on me, my spine would have been in pieces now. Anyways., I stood up and started checking the contents of the letter. The letter is clearly from Queen Tanya herself. I don''t remember anything interesting happening on the current date in the past timeline, and yet, I can easily see that something had already changed and this resulted in the current situation. The letter is a bit shorter than formal and regr invitations. This one is a personal letter addressed to me. "Hello, my rival. It''s been some time, how have you been? The kingdom is fine and flourishing thanks to you and your friend''s contributions. I barely see you in these past years, perhaps you are busy huh? Well, perhaps this piece of information I recently obtained might get your interest a bit up. The other day, we discovered some kind of ruins and based on the records that we have, it seems it has some kind of connections to the old demons during the primordial times. I think Lucia-chan is a primordial demon, right? Perhaps she will have some idea of what these were all about?" Ruin of the old demons during the Primordial Times...certainly sounds simr to Lucia indeed. Also, it seems Queen Tanya had already been aware of Lucia''s real age for she already knew she wasn''t supposed to be alive in this era anymore. It sounded like the next destination is Sandurk. It''s been a while since I have visited Sandurk indeed as I am more focused on Luminous Continent most of the time due to the Dark Sea and just recently, the even in Aquagius Continent as well. Since Resurgia Continent is my current home address in the game, it''s also natural I also have time here. When ites to the Sandurk Region, I barely have time nowadays andst year, I already handed my title as the champion to the new champion of the arena as the old champion can only reign as one for 5 times only. I never lost and my enemies at that time were not that troublesome so yeah, easily defended it 5 times and ended up handing it to the new champion. Sigma didn''t bother to participate in the battle anymore and Kaisar at that time is more busy finding treasures to get stronger so I don''t have mainpetition. In short, I don''t have any motives to visit Sandurk Continent unless I n to visit the Frozen Region or pay a visit and spar with Queen Tanya. Because this is about the lineage of Lucia, I went inside the mansion first and called Lucia to discuss the matter about the discovery that Queen Tanya found which might be possibly connected in some way to Lucia''s lost heritage and perhaps even some clue to her parents as well. "Master, what''s the reason you called for me?" Lucia asked. "Here is a letter. It seems to be involved with your old family and your heritage of some sort. I don''t know if it was indeed connected to you or not but there''s no bad reason for us to not try it out." Lucia opened the letter, read the contents and her face suddenly lit up. "Master, perhaps, this is simr to that tomb where I was sealed before! Perhaps, we could find some clues rted to me, and my family as well!" "Are you sure about it? I needed to make sure that we are not just chasing false leads and wasting our time." "I heard from my parents that the one I was sealed in was not the only one they made and they made another somewhere a little bit far from mine to be used for the same purpose as my room at that time as well." "Which means there is a huge chance that this ruin has some connections rted to your family?" "Indeed. It might not be connected to me at all but since this is still rted to the olden times and rted to my race as well, perhaps this will give us some clues and some information we are missing as well." "Then that settles it. Prepare some stuff, we will depart immediately." With renowned vigor filled on Lucia''s face, she prepared the stuff she is going to bring as I prepare the stuff we will need to prepare for the battle that might ur there as well. It only took a few minutes before Lucia is fully packed with stuff as she entered the summon''s area. We are now ready to depart. I was about to tear the teleport scroll to arrive immediately at the Teleport Stone that will send us to Sandurk Continent when Almira stopped me for a bit. "Yo, slow down. Since you will be meeting up with the queen, hand these to her. And if you ever get a chance to return and visit the Frozen Region as well, hand this one to Yuri as well. You don''t need to exin as they already knew what they were. I will share a good trick involving the shard enhancements with youter on once you are done with the delivery, alright?" "Wait, shard enhancement, really?!" However, Almira already closed the door and she can''t hear me anymore with the hammer loudly echoing inside already. However, I didn''t hear that wrong, she said she would be sharing a trick regarding the shard enhancement. There might be a chance this will help me a lot in the future and since my only task is to deliver whatever these things are covered in ck and white clothes to both the Queen of the Sandurk Continent and the ruler of the Frozen Region, it''s a little bit easier. I tear the scroll and teleported to the Teleport Stone that will transport me to Sandurk. There are still so many yers passing back and forth from this ce and it''s still as popr a ce as ever. Although I could just fly and not waste my money on the payment, it is much faster for us to use this mode instead of flying from Resurgia to Sandurk and besides, this will immediately transport us to the city, this is only a good ce. And so, I am back once more to the hot sands of Sandurk Continent. Time to do our current bidding. Chapter 756 Loaded Desert Merchant Tezach It''s very clear to me now how long I have not visited any city of Sandurk for quite some time. Seeing new establishments, new buildings, and the number of visitors the ce has nowadays has already increased, roads are no longer just a trail in the sand separated by big rocks as they are now converted into smooth roads, allowing the carriages to have smoother time moving without the need to use a specialized vehicle. The past Sandurk is sure a far crypared to the new Sandurk. Aside from the visual changes, it seems the temperature also has dropped significantly. It''s still a hot desert area, but it''s definitely not as hot as I remember, which might be due to the help of some artifact found in the frozen region that reduces the city''s temperature for a little bit to allow travelers who are not that ustomed to heat feel morefortable with their stay. Because I already departed around the afternoon, the sun is already set as I am approaching the castle. Because the meeting with Queen Tanya was not urgent, I decided to check around the shops to see whether I can find a good haul of materials or even new trinkets that are presently being sold. As I walk all around the marketce, checking on stalls, asking for prices, and buying stuff here and there, my eyes immediately caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. The first guy who talked to me when I arrived in Sandurk... Merchant Tezach. This time, he had lots of wares in his little cart. He is not actively calling customers now and from the looks of it, he is now resting and is currently drinking something, perhaps a beer or just a normal beverage. I have not bought much from him because I rarely see him at that time and whenever he is up, I don''t see any worth buying things on his crate and stash which is why I have not bought much from him. Because I am curious this time around, I decided to check on this guy and see whether he is still the same scammer yet good at giving good treasure if he does have one at a good price. "You still sell, old man?" The Merchant Tezach stops drinking whatever he was drinking and he looked at me with a frown on his face. When he realized that I was a customer, he put down the bottle of whatever he is drinking and stood up. "Yes, yes. I do still sell, young man. As long as you are willing to pay, then I am willing to sell," the merchant smiled and started to rummage on his loot. Based on his greeting, it seems he has already forgotten about me though I am not surprised especially without buying much from him, I barely built any kind of good connection with him. Of course, there''s no need to do that. Opening his little shop, he revealed all of his trinkets and all of the stuff that he has been selling since the beginning. "Choose and ask for the price, depending on how valuable the item is, then maybe we can strike a deal." There is indeed some good stuff he has on his trinkets. I even spotted a few ores that are not easily obtainable as well. In short, he is pretty much loaded with good stuff, and I haven''t even checked his secret stash just yet and I am already seeing good sh*t here. "How much for these things?" I asked, pointing to the unrefined ores among the collections. "Good eye! This bunch of precious rocks is a bit hefty in price despite being unrefined, but you can have it for 100 gold each! Pretty good of a deal!" "Eh, that''s expensive. How about 50 gold each? Then I will take all of your stock." "No, no, young man. I know I am just a merchant but I also know how valuable these things are even though it is unrefined. Just 100 gold each and we strike a deal." "Then how about 70?" "No. 100 gold." "75?" "100" "85 then." "Nope. If you don''t like it, then just go and leave." "90 then. I think that should be a decent price, especially since this other stuff is still unrefined. If you still insist then, forget it." "Fine. Deal. Get your product and count it. I only ept gold, yeah? No credit." I grinned as I managed to snag a great amount of that good stuff. I can create various essories once they are refined after that so I am in great luck finding them. I managed to buy them cheap and are still unrefined by anyone else. There are also weird trinkets that he has that I also bought and some toys that would be cool for Cotton and the desert wolves. In short, that short check I did was one of the best decisions I did. Once I bought all of the things that interests me, I asked him if he got some secret stash and if he is willing to sell some to me. "Secret stash huh? Well, since you brought quite a load of stuff from me, then it should be fine. But remember that this old stash of mine is more expensive than the stuff you just bought and you can''t haggle for its price. If you want it, you pay it in full." I nodded in response. Thankfully, I am no longer a noob when ites to knowing valuable and useless items from his store so if he only has heaps of trash in his secret loot, then I shouldn''t bother. He revealed a much smaller collection of items to me but they are still quite a lot. Most of them seem to be weapons like shotguns, bullets, and stuff but since those are useless and I can make them on my own, they are the easy skip. There are also scrolls on his trinkets but then again, I can also make them so they are also easy to skip. I thought I wouldn''t see anything good in his old stash but when Inded my eyes on one little booklet, I can feel an inexplicable powering from it, resonating with the skeletons that are just waiting for mymand to rise up again. "How much is this?" Tezach looked at the booklet in my hands and his face turned sour when he saw that. "Oh, I thought I have thrown that thing away. It seems it was just hiding in in sight huh?" "Huh?" I frowned at his description of this booklet. "It''s some kind of a bad thing for me since this thing gives me the creeps. Those pesky birds always drop bones all around me, and I am getting annoyed already why they keep on doing that. Someone sold that to me one day and at that moment, I realized why he sold that to me. So that he can set himself free from the trouble of cleaning up bones. If you want that, I will give that to you for 10 Gold coins." "10? But aren''t you saying this is a bad thing for you? Why don''t you just give it to me?" "If I wanted to, I could do that but I am running a business here, and I will lose the money I used to buy this thing out without getting any growth on my money." Since it is something rted to my collection of stuff like this toplete the necromancer''s power, I decided to buy it for myself. "Fine, here you go." He readily grabs the coins and tosses the item to me, giving me ownership of it now. Since there is nothing else for me to buy, he closes his secret stash and sighed in relief. "Welp, that was a good riddance. If you are getting annoyed by what it does, just throw it away, I tell you. It would be better to just throw it or if you like, destroy it even. Anyways, if you wanted to check for new goodies, check me again next week, I will be refreshing my inventory and perhaps you will find something in your fancy." I nodded and he happily bid me farewell as he started counting the gold coins he managed to earn from me after buying the trinkets and stuff from him. The booklet though, I wanted to check it out and resonate it to my collection but I decided not to do it just yet. There might be a chance it will be very troublesome and will attract the ire of the townspeople for causing havoc therefore, I should just head straight to the castle and meet up with the queen. Sun has already set and the mes on the bonfires started to light up the whole city, making the streets lively for the people. Let''s go and see Queen Tanya now. Chapter 757 Late Night Meeting The nightlife of the city is quite lively and the air has finally cooled down significantly as well, making the temperature of the surroundings simr to how most continents have during nighttime. Bazaar stalls have filled up the streets, and various tourists and yers are walking in the streets enjoying the night time cool breeze blowing in the air. In short, the nighttime life of the city became the most lively time for the people. However, I don''t have much time to enjoy that luxury and besides, I am not that interested in taking a day off from my work. My appointment with the queenes first and the others should be prioritizedst. Arriving at the gates of the castle, the guards instinctively blocked my way but one of the guards immediately recognize me. "Oh, it''s him. Hey, stop blocking his way, he can enter the gate just fine." "Huh? But aren''t we supposed to block anyone who has no appointment or any kind of invitation to enter the gates of the pce?" "Of course, we have that job but the guy before us is a major VIP and one of the Queen''s close friends. Also, he is one of the few people that the Queen considers as a rival." Hearing the exnation of the other guard, he stopped me from blocking and I bowed at them for allowing me to enter and continue on my way to the castle. No one is blocking me this time as most of the soldiers have recognized me now, allowing me to continue my way without anyone blocking my way towards the throne room. The castle has also significantly changed, the ce is neatly adorned with Evesting Frost Flowers, flowers that usually only bloom in the Frozen Region which is something that contributes to the cold temperature of the surroundings. From the looks of it, Queen Tanya''s sister gifted her some of these to decorate the ce and also to cool down the temperature of the castle as well. Not only that but it will also make the ce great in the eyes as the desert area has limited flowers growing, making it a rarity as well. I continue my way to the throne room but the guards blocked my way there. "Mr. deheart, you must be looking for Her Majesty, yes?" the guard on the left asked. "Yeah." "Then please proceed to the dining room as she just headed there a few minutes ago. The throne room is off limits if the Queen is not present there at the moment." "We can escort you there if you like," the right guard suggested. "Ah, no that''s alright. Thanks for the gesture though but I will be fine and I can go there by myself. I know where to go anyways," I shook my head. "Well, have a good day." The two guards bowed down and continues to do their job as I turn back and head to the dining area of the castle. I spotted Queen Tanya''s maids carrying dishes and other stuff in a hurry which means the current preparations for her dinner are almost done huh? But I am not here to eat but to start the job that she proposed. When I arrived at the dining area, Queen Tanya is currently waiting while drinking an iced juice of some fruit. Beside her is her maid who seemed to be using ice magic, keeping the ice cubes on her drink from melting, The maids are also putting down the various food on the table as well. Queen Tanya then turned in my direction and she saw me looking into the dining room she smiled at me, standing up from her seat. "If it isn''t my rival. I can tell you are so busy with your various business of whatnot for you have not visited Sandurk for quite some time," Queen Tanya spread her arms, hugging me as a gesture to wee a close friend in Sandurk Continent. Since she treats me as a close friend now, she does not have the same authoritative voice nowpared to when I first met her. "So much stuff I barely evene back home and rest. It''s kind of troubling, to be honest." "Well, that''s the life of a mercenary who got the right talent for the job. And if you do, you are always in demand by the people and that results in your business I think that is fine but if I were you, you should at least have some rest or perhaps take a vacation instead of keeping yourself buried in your work and adventure stuff. Anyways, join me, I am just about to start dinner and it''s a bit lonely eating by myself. I can''t even invite any of my butlers or maids to eat with me so eating here is pretty lonely. We can also discuss what I have written in the letter while we eat, what do you say?" "As long as I don''t need to pay after eating then I think I am in on that!" "Haha, great. Now have a seat while the food is beingid on the table. Heck, you can even call your other followers as well." "Let me ask them first then," I excused myself and asked my followers in the Summon''s Area but most of them declined while some said that they are not worthy to but into the conversation or anything. The only one who readily agreed to join was Lucia and she was the only one who decided to join us. The others? They are keeping themselves private for some reason. "Oh, I am quite sure that you have other followers with you, where are they?" "Almost all of them declined and since I can''t force them, I just keep it by myself. Only Lucia here is ready to dine with us." "Lucia-san... I see. So you have read the letter as well? Then it really does involve you in a simr thing. We still don''t know how involved you are but we needed to ensure we know how deep your involvement here is." We seated on our respective seats and the food has been properly been put on the table. "Alright, let''s eat. Have a good meal as well, don''t be shy!" I nodded and I started eating as well. The food here is great and to think this taste is indeed a real food I am eating, I am fooling myself and wasted all my time not enjoying these kinds of food and satisfying my cravings as well. As I am eating and feeling all of the various vors on the meat I was eating, Queen Tanya begins her discussion. "deheart, how much do you know about the ancient demon civilization?" "Not much. Most of the knowledge I have are mostly the ryed version of what Lucia has told me before. I tried looking for additional info for her in the libraries and other areas where they might hold information but I have not gotten any new information regarding them so I can''t say much to be honest." "How about you, Lucia-chan?" Queen Tanya looked at Lucia. "I only know what I know from what happened to my childhood up until I was sent to sleep and that was it. Anything deeper than that like the state of the world and whatnot is something I don''t have many memories in. You can say my information is pretty limited as well," Lucia answered truthfully. "Pretty understandable. Still, I think the next ruins that we discovered might be something that can trigger your memories for a bit," Lucia-chan. Here, take a look at the imagery recorded using the Photocapture Magic that gives a bit of a peek at what the ruins look like. Maybe it will give you some sort of idea of what we will be facing?" She snapped her fingers and a few still image holograms appeared in the air, showing some that have been showing like a real captured photo in a hologram. Lucia frowned and looked at the ruins in the photos, turned the photos, inspected them, looked at the others, and keeps on inspecting them. "Now, do you feel anything?" "There''s something but still not pretty sure about it much." "Honestly, I thought you would feel something. After all, there must be some sort of connection this ruin has and you but maybe we are just spouting nonsense here." "No, no. Don''t worry about it, I do feel something but because it is pretty unfamiliar, I don''t think I can properly exin the feelings I felt when I saw the photos." Which means there is a minimal reaction. "A connection is still a connection. Since Lucia said that she somewhat feel simr in that ruins, there must be something there that might have attracted her attention." "Looks like the photos weren''t enough. Next time, we will check the site personally. Make sure to be fully prepared as we will be heading there straight." Chapter 758 Ruins Lucia''s own origin is one of the things that I have no idea how, to begin with. I have a very limited amount of information regarding the olden times of the primordial existence of the demons making it very hard to help and trace the origins of Lucia, making it the hardest task to find her origin the hardest part. Although I promised her that I will help find out what happened to her family, I have no idea where to begin the search and how to even find one to begin with. It is only luck that managed to give me a chance for a new lead to Lucia''s origin. And to be honest, who would have guessed that Queen Tanya would be the one who will be asking me for help as well? From the looks of it, she is also curious about Lucia''s origin and how the demons have worked in the past, and why they have changed when the new world has formed. "Alright, first, we should talk about the details of the ruins first. This one is located far from the city and is more located near the second grave of the First Ruler of the Sandurk Continent." "Have you guys thought maybe this was just an extension or just a part of the first ruler''s grave that you guys discovered?" I asked. "Nope. We already surveyed, mapped out, and measured the old grave of the first ruler and it wasn''t that big, to be honest, that it will extend itself that far. The ruins that we are discussing right now are a little bit farther than the grave so it''s pretty much impossible to be connected in any way. When she pinpointed the exact area, I realized that the reason this thing was not present in the past timeline or I have not detected it in the slightest is due to the fact that this ruin has been hidden and has been hiding sessfully from the eyes of anyone until just recently where Queen Tanya has discovered the ce. Without her finding it, then it will never be found as that ce is just a normal area where all you can see is sand and nothing else. The ruins were only present because of the intervention of Queen Tanya. "The next thing we should discuss is the reasons why we call this a ruin that has been used or previously owned by a demon who lived through the primordial times. Many of the records that we have recovered are both dated during that time and most of thenguage used is thenguage old demons used in the past. You must all know that this kind ofnguage has been lost after the passage of time has passed by so it''s pretty close to impossible that these records are there for filling up the ruin. Besides, there is actually stuff that previous demons used before which makes the ruin something of a ce that was once used by a demon and has made some marks there." "But you still have not explored the whole ruins just yet?" "Nope. It seems the ruins still extend lower down ruins and we didn''t want to risk being trapped there. There are also many of my workers at that time who are not fighters which is why we decided to hold off the exploration and either hire one or ask one to apany us. That''s when I thought of you as you have some connection to an ancient demon who lived during primordial times, it is only natural we will get to know what it was." Then, Queen Tanya pped her hands three times and a maid came into the dining room carrying a few stuff that are pretty old already and showed it to us. "Have a look, Lucia-chan. Perhaps there are some other things you might have understood or discovered from these. I am not that well versed with how things back then so perhaps these things would make sense to you." The maid handed the items to Lucia and Lucia receives them. Just from getting her hands on it, I can see that she indeed had a reaction strong enough for her to know that the things Queen Tanya saw before in the ruins do have some sort of connection to her. "These are the records before the war between the primordial goddesses. It''s a record of what happened during the war and also some tidbits after the war." "So it was indeed a record in the past? That is a rare piece of a relic that will be coveted so badly by historians as this is something that recorded the lost events of the primordial war." "Although I say it was some kind of record, I can more confidently say this is more of a diary of some sort than a record. It only happened to be the only thing surviving for so long and has been updated after the ruins have been sealed. Based on the records here as well, it seems the ruins were meant to be a small shelter to keep themselves isted from the world and keep themselves hidden from the war." "Oh, a bunker shelter of some sort." "Yes. And since the ruins have just been unearthed just recently, the one who used to write these records must be still in the ruins, either in the same state as I was before, or has already sumbed to their death and has been sealed in the ruins for too long." "So does that mean these records have no connection to you? Only your race?" "Based on what I have read, the writer seems pretty familiar but someone I vaguely know or just didn''t know before. We still can''t disclose that the writer is someone I previously know or not." "Then that exins it. Alright, that settles it, tomorrow, we will go back to the ruins and explore it fully this time around. Lucia-chan, I will be tasking you to be our trantor and code breaker in the ruins for a smoother exploration. We have to ensure our lives will be safe with you once we begin checking the ce out. Perhaps if we do keep exploring it, we will find more records and something hidden as well." Lucia nodded and the dinner ended up on a positive note. Lucia is now a bit pumped up for her new job but I suggested she sleep much earlier and not sleepte as we will need Lucia this time around and we might push Lucia a little too hard so I wanted her to get all the rest she needed so that she can use thatter on. As for me, I am waiting for Queen Tanya on the sparring ground with a wooden sword in my hand. Even though it was just nighttime here, it wouldn''t ur in my life that nighttime here would get treated as a real night by me who always treats this world as a game. Knowing the truth that this world is also a reality, I am now quite sure that this world also needed to be saved on whatever things Nobuhiko is nning on doing in the future. No one is supposed to die and get screwed really big because of just one scheme of a person. "It seems you are too deep in thought, deheart," Queen Tanya appears, wearing only a normal shirt and shorts that allows her to move quite frequently. "Yeah, I do feel like I am thinking too much these days but I guess its not just something that I would only think abouttely, it is more like I am thinking about whether my decisions are wrong or right and what would have happened if I didn''t do it like this and that." "Ha, there are just times like that deheart but I guess that is just human nature to think much about what to do." But still, that''s pretty rare for someone who is more focused on adventures. What made you think of that?" "Say, what if you are tasked with saving two worlds?" "..." Queen Tanya frowned but she continued listening. "What if you have known that you are the only one who can stop the two worlds from breaking apart and causing general destruction and wreckage to the world? What would you do if you are tasked with that, Queen Tanya?" The queen was silent at first, she didn''t immediately answer it but she also didn''t dismiss it either. After a few more seconds, she answered. "If I am tasked to do it, then I will just do what I can do to fulfill the job. Although saving the world is necessary, it doesn''t mean you needed to stop your life just to do it. Keep a bnce out on it. Make sure that this business of saving the world is something that can be done without the pressure that the world will unconsciously make you carry in the future. One thing is for sure, we needed to keep on moving forward and keep our eyes on the goal." Chapter 759 Ruins Of The Ancient Demon Ancestor ? Last night between Queen Tanya and I was pretty wild. After our little conversation, the two of us sparred all night long. Using the wooden weapons, we started shing our skills with each other, hitting each other with the wooden weapon with the intention to bring down the other. Queen Tanya has improved quite a lot on her footwork and herbat maneuver with her improved way of handling her weapons as well, she is quite a terrifying opponent. If she wielded her real weapon, I am gonna say that our battle would not just end up with just a few bruises on our bodies but actual wounds as well. Of course, I also improved a lot myself by being able to go toe to toe with Queen Tanya. Just remembering how I did it, I am amazed at myself for being able to survive without being obliterated by her. I guess my ability to fight has been embedded in my mind already to the point where every action I made is just made subconsciously. In the end, there is no clear winner. We managed to fight till the very end but no one from the two of us fell over. We remained standing but both of us are exhausted. Queen Tanya decided to stop when both of us are tired and decided to hold off on who is the winner of our fight. And I must say I enjoyed that a lot as I barely do any PVP nowadays and I barely spar with the others, fighting with someone who can give you an edge and almost beat you up is a big challenge that I like to do. I rested in the room that Queen Tanya provided me with, Lucia is in the other room sleeping and so I went ahead and have a good night''s sleep to recover the strength that I will needter to fight and use to explore the ruins. ... ... ... ... ... Heat starts prating my skin and sweat starts to trickle around my body which means the cold night is gone and the sun has finally risen. The difference between the weather in Sandurk and the rest of the continents is just different. Just sleeping here once makes me feel like I just went abroad. After reequipping all of my stuff and preparing myself, a maid of Queen Tanya knocked on my door to check if I was already up. Seeing that I am already good to go, she bowed down and left after giving me the instructions that Queen Tanya has already assembled the group that will join us for the exploration. Lucia is also with her already which means they are already ready to go and explore. It seems I amte already. "Looks like you slept like a log, deheart. I thought you are an early morning person," Queen Tanya grinned and pat my back. "With how much you almost beat me upst night, it''s normal for me to be almost out ofmission. "Hahaha, if that was the case, then you needed to train up on that body of yours more to keep up with me." The other people who are joining us are whispering at each other and based on their whispers, it seems they didn''t expect someone else would be capable of surviving Queen Tanya''s attacks. Some are even assured that the group is in great and safe hands with someone like me who can withstand a monster like Queen Tanya inbat and survive without being left bedridden. I don''t know what made their expectations that high but with the morale pretty quite high, then I guess that would be good for us. Anyways, Queen Tanya continues to give a minor briefing to the others joining in for the first time. I already know most of it so I just stood there, waiting for her to finish up her speech. It took a few minutes before we departed. This time, we used traditional camels as our transport this time around. Seeing that most would be riding a camel, I decided to call for the Desert Wolves and their help. The men were surprised to see the wolves but Queen Tanya immediately got amazed. "I am impressed that you managed to have Desert Wolves as your pets here. With them around. we can easily traverse the desert and help ourselves know whether any dangers are nearby or not." "Yes. With most of us riding camels, it will be harder for anyone to verify any dangerous enemies and check dangers on the sand, with the wolves being adept in the sands and determining dangers, we will have an easier time before reaching the ruins." I let the wolves spread out around our group to act as a sensor to each of our perimeter and since I canmunicate with them mentally, I can easily tell if there are enemies nearby or not and that is a good thing. And so, our little journey to the ruins begins. When we begin, monsters naturally appeared. But the wolves make short work with the enemies which makes traveling a lot faster for us and we are just able to phase through them without the need to stop and fight against them or n a new path just to avoid them. As for the flying bugs that appear asionally, it''s either Lucia or me who eliminates them before they get really near us. Other than that, they are too weak for me to be even bothered with it. Overall, the little journey to the ruins was just a breeze and we arrived there a bit more early than the expected amount of time. I recalled the wolves again and the others also recalled the camels as well as we stood at the front of the ruins. We already have guards and some station medics waiting at the main entrance in case something unexpected happened to us while we are there and someone can go and report the things that happened there. As for the rest of us, we are now going to go deeper, [You have discovered the Unknown Ruins] -you are the first yer to discover a semi-dungeon! Would you like to record your name in the Hall of Fame? I clicked on it as always but this is the first time I encountered the term "semi-dungeon". Most of the time, it''s just a full-blown dungeon and not just some semi-stuff like what was mentioned. I checked what the semi-dungeon was and the meaning the system gave me was this. Semi-Dungeon - a dungeon inside a building that can be imed. Unlike the normal dungeons, once this dungeon is cleared, it cannot be cleared again and will be considered a facility the next time it will be visited again. This means enemies will be present first, but once it will be cleared, unlike a dungeon where you can enter and exit it, and the monsters killed will respawn, this will only kill all the enemies present, then will keep those enemies dead without being respawned. I didn''t know this kind of thing was indeed a real deal. Having explored countless hostile areas and dungeons, it is indeed something that you wouldn''t see easily as they all spawn in monsters and they don''t permanently kill the monsters that reside there, they either spawn new monsters or those monsters are just revived after being killed for a few hours. "Seems like you discovered something, deheart," Queen Tanya noticed my expression and guessed it. "I thought this will be a normal dungeon we needed to clear up to investigate but it seems that this will be a one-stop clean-up thing." "A what now?" Queen Tanya frowned. "Once we clear up this ce, the ce will remain free from any threats here. We can im the ce for ourselves, leave this ce for good or do something about it, this ce will be cleared up with enemies and no more enemies will appear here ever unless they wander in and entered the ce, this ce will remain devoid from monsters in the very end." "So you mean we can just go up, and clear this ce first before we go and investigate?" "Pretty close. We can just kill every single thing here in one single blitz, obtain everything in here, and that''s it. Unlike dungeons, we will be getting only the finite resources found here once and that''s it." "Then, that means we just needed to proceed here once and we can continuously enter here without fear of danger once we have finished up all the monsters present here. Well, that is something. But first, we will have to ensure that Lucia knows the situation. We needed to know whether we are trespassing on something or we are just too stupid on it." I can only shake my head since this is a new mechanic, I grabbed my weapon and ready myself. "We should clear this ce up before we start asking the real questions first." Chapter 760 Semi-Dungeons First And Second Floor ? We have now walked around the ruin''s first floor. So far, nothing has been worth noting except for some records in thenguage of the ancient demonic alphabet. Lucia was the only one who can read it properly so we just waited for Lucia to fully read it and decipher thenguage as well. And as expected, there''s nothing much there since most of the written stuff is daily ramblings of the demon who once upied the ce. "So most of the papers here are just ramblings and nothing groundbreaking like some research and stuff?" Queen Tanya asked. "Yeah, most of it is just "What should I eat today?" or "How should I remove my boredom now?" or something simr to that. Nothing too noteworthy to tell to be honest so I don''t think there is anything we can say here," Lucia shrugged as she put down thest papers she grabbed on the nearest table. "Such a shame but since this ce is big, perhaps we will find other things that might be something we can consider as something useful." Exploring further into the first floor, we soon found a few machines that we don''t know what their uses are. Most of them looked futuristic to me, but theycked the practical usage of those items so I don''t think they are used for everyday things. Unless I am mistaken and this is something used every day and it only applies in this world. "What are these machines?" Queen Tanya knocked on one and a dull thud can be heard every time she knocks it with her hands. "You know what it was, Lucia?" I asked. "This is somethingpletely new to me. I don''t think I have any idea what it was. I apologize but this is one of the things that I think I can''t give any kind of help with. Also, these machines does not exist back in my time so it''s either something that existed after I fell asleep or this thing is just an item used by the owner of this ce." I approached one of the machines and examined it. Based on how it looks alone, it looks very much like an item that seems to look like aputer board. There are various buttons here and there but pressing one doesn''t seem to do anything other than glow a few times before remaining still. "Lucia, can you look for papers around that seem to rte to this machine? We can''t just leave this thing alone in case it was a dangerous thing. We can''t afford to be trapped by something like this because we just messed up with this thing." Luciaplied and started checking on the papers. Queen Tanya also helped her even though she does not understand what it was while I continue to inspect the machine for a bit to see any new things I might have missed. While searching for any kind of info on what this thing is, Lucia seems to have found something. "Master. It states here that this thing is for cooking some preserved food and materializing that powdered food. For it to function properly, we needed to have those said powdered food and restore them inside this thing. If there''s nothing detected, it will not be useful for anything." "A food processor? That''s kinda interesting seeing this doesn''t even look like one to begin with but also kinda disappointing now that we know what it was being used for," Queen Tanya is indeed looking disappointed seeing how the machine was nothing but just something that regens the food that was powdered to easily create new food and consume it forter. "From the looks of it, it''s a machine for preserving food and all of that is just for the food and nothing else. But it''s good to know what this is. We should just take note of it, perhaps we will find a good reason to use this thing and we might appreciate its presenceter on." "Hmmm, that should be the case here then. Alright, let''s move to the next section then. The others have found the stairs to the second floor below." We scoured the ce onest time to see if there are hidden stashes present but since there was nothing else in there, we moved on and went down to the second floor. ... ... ... The second floor of the ruins. Compared to the first floor, this time around, the second floor is littered with some rogue machine monsters. We have to whack and destroy them before they overwhelm us. This is where our time to shine begins. Lucia is quick on dealing with the machines,busting them from their insides and busting out whatever is making them move. As for me, I just thrashed them using my Versatile Weapon in a hammer form and repeatedly bashed them to pieces. They are all pretty weak which is not even something of a big problem for me and even for Lucia. Our continuous cleanup of the monsters ended up with our arrival at a room that is much like upied by someone there. There, another diary is found once more and this continues the events of what happened in the previous one. "Looks like instead of leaving the ruins, the owner who is writing this diary continues to live in these ruins, but instead of staying above, he continues to descend and live on." "Did the owner of the ruins mention why he is descending?" Queen Tanya asked. "It was said here that he is being "overwhelmed" and he has to descend to reduce it but whatever caused him to descend made him descend once more since he got overwhelmed here as well." "Perhaps the one that is overwhelming this guy are those rogue robots?" "Unfortunately, most of what he was talking about was torn off, and only a few parts can be salvaged and even then, it''s hard to understand with many things missing from the torn pages." "Ah, that''s too bad. But I guess we can keep on going then. But first, we should clear up the second floor. Since these monsters will no longer spawn, we should kill them all and clear this ce out in case we get overwhelmed on the next floor if what the person said was right, he might have continued to move below to avoid being overwhelmed. Alright, deheart, it''s your job to do that." I pulled out my weapon and do the work. They are nothing and they don''t drop anything so all they are were just heaps of metal junk. And that''s it. While clearing a few of those rogue robots, I stumbled upon a hidden stash. It seems to be the stash of the one who is writing the diary. It is locked but that is not a problem for me Using the [Lockpicking] skill from the Assassin ss, I easily opened the item without any problem. Inside are a pile of metals and a little rusty key. There''s nothing else there that seems to be worth looking into except for this key and so I carried it off for myself. I checked the chest deeper and at the bottom is some kind of blueprints and a manual in it. I can''t read it because it was in a differentnguage but let me see whether this is anguage Lucia knows. When I arrived at where everyone is, they are currently inspecting the tools sets in the nearby workbench while Lucia is busy reading some of the records present on the table. "Learned anything new?" I asked. "Not yet, no. Most of the notes here are just some daily reminders for the guy who used to live here. He is putting them there on how to use the machines, what they do and stuff like that, it was like some kind of instructions tips? But we''re meant to be understood by those who can understand the demonnguage," Lucia exined. "One thing is for sure for me that this ruin is some kind of little bunker that was made to shelter the person living here from any dangers outside. The machines here are also made for the sake of keeping the one who is using these machines alive and moving. But I am also doubting that the one who lives here is the one who is using it either. I can only say that whoever made these stuff seems to know their way to keeping themselves sufficient enough," Queen Tanya then tap the machine a few times. The machines looked like they are meant for special experiments but to know that these stuff were just meant to be used to be self-sufficient while inside here is something else. However, we can also tell that whatever following the guy here is something that would literally force him to move downwards and abandon the floor above. Whatever it is, perhaps it has already reached him and imed him already. "There''s nothing left for us to do, let''s descend further." Chapter 761 Deeper Into The Ruins ? After exploring the first floor and clearing the second floor, we descended to the third floor where we then are weed by multiple shapeshifting golems. These golems are annoying as they are not simr to other golems that stay in one single form, they had a liquid body and can form different kinds of forms to freely attack us. Not only that but they became too annoying so quickly as they can easily reform themselves to dodge any of our attacks, making them too annoying. "Gah, these f*ckers are now getting annoying," Even Queen Tanya who is doing fine just now is getting annoyed. "Destroying their bodies doesn''t help much. We should expose their core and destroy them to fully stop them from moving." "Ugh...I know that. But these liquid bodies of theirs are just annoying. I cut them multiple times but they can justbine again and cover up their core so fast that I don''t even get to attack their core without using magic spells to immediately take it out!" Well, she is not wrong. The f*ckers just take advantage of their bodies, get attacked and dodge, then wait for a bit before attacking again. Without using magic, it barely gives us any opportunities to destroy it as they easily recover their bodies and reform them again. "Lucia!" "You got it, Master!" Lucia spreads her fire to the surroundings and lights up any of the liquid golems in mes. Despite their liquid forms, it seems they are mmable as they burn instead of extinguishing their mes. These melted their bodies a lot faster and this gives the other men to attack and destroy them one by one. "Good, we thinned them out, let''s keep up the pace. Make sure their cores are broken for good or else, we might be attacked from behind. Make sure it was crushed to dust!" Queen Tanya ordered. With the thinning of the liquid golems carried out, we are now able to properly explore the ce without getting attacked any second. Sure, there are still monsters present but they are being disposed of as we continue to explore. Compared to the first and second floors, the third floor is more of a futuristic-looking ce now. The walls glow in futuristic neon lights, and the gears on the walls are moving, powering something in the ruins. And some walls even have monitors that disy some information as well though it is unreadable for us except for Lucia who is still looking around with us, You can say it looks very much like a cyberpunk vibe herepared to the previous floors. "I must say, the one who designed these ruins has some unique sense of fashion and design in mind. Every floor of the ruins seems to have its own theme and I must say that I don''t know why they put that in here, but I guess I am not stopping anyone in what they are doing with it," Queen Tanya scratches her head. "Perhaps it has a reason why it looked like this?" I guessed. "No idea. Oh well, it doesn''t matter much to us, Let''s clean up these guys first before we go and find some information here." We continue cleaning up the liquid golems, destroying their cores, and continuing our exploration until we eliminated every single of the liquid golems. The elimination process is quick with the help of others as well. They became good at dealing with them in a short while and as fast they became proficient, the faster the monsters are also gone in the process as well. "Alright, with all the enemies gone, time to check up this ce and find some useful things to know, and perhaps we can stop here now? Hope we don''t need to keep descending as well?" "I doubt it. I found a staircase leading to the next floor when we are fighting those liquid golems so it is entirely possible we still needed to descend a little bit further. just to find out more information. Compared to the first and second floors, there are much bigger machines present and it looks like those big containers where experiments inboratories are kept. Very simr to what we are seeing today but the difference is that instead of ss, it''s metal and it does not contain anything like humans or other creatures. It''s pretty much empty and the machine here is broken beyond repair as well. "These new machines look like they are fromboratories but what are they used for?" Just as we are asking the questions, Lucia seems to have found the answers. "Master, it seems the machine that we are seeing are Air Purifiers. They clean up the surrounding air and pump out normal air for everyone to breathe." "An air purifier huh? That would indeed be something that would happen but aren''t air purifiers tend to be only present in lower and deeper areas instead where the air is stuffy and it''s hard to properly breathe?" "ording to the logs, the air has already been really bad since descending to the third floor and ording to why it was like that, there is a natural gas deposit in the area that decreases the breathable gas since the very beginning. If not for the purifier, the air here would have been really bad. Since the purifier has been working for so many years, the bad air deposit has been cleaned up and as a result, the air now is in a much more breathable ce and we don''t need to gasp for air." "Hmm, interesting. They even have some of the machines on the previous floors as well," Queen Tanya pointed to the machines on the side as well, the only thing different is that these things are now broken. "Oh yeah. It seems this floor is the beginning of telling us some sort of story on what is happening currently on the timeline where the owner of this ce is living here. The diary he got here isplete and not damaged, therefore, we can check out what happened here with great rity as well." "Do they also mention how many of them were here when they entered the ruins?" "So far, no. I just skimmed through the diary so I am not too sure whether there are multiple of them who have been living here but I guess they do have multiple upants here," Lucia noted. "I see. We should hold off on that for now. Let''s continue searching for some clues here. It seems this ce is much bigger than normal, we might see something else in here." And so, Queen Tanya and the others explored the ce for a bit and just like what she just said, there is a hidden room and this time, the hidden room is full of different treasures. It''s pretty much ancient tech since out of all of us here, only Lucia can recognize the usage of these things. "Seeing all this stuff stuffed in that room, perhaps the owner of these ruins has stayed much longer than they should have been?" Queen Tanya rubbed her chin. "Yes, it seems this floor was indeed the longest floor they have remained. But just like the previous floors, they have been overwhelmed as well which is why they have to descend further below," Lucia confirmed. "Oh, then that means the monster that is overwhelming the people here is now recorded?" "I still don''t know if they recorded it, but I am quite sure they have written something on it as they keep mentioning something about the invaders." "How about we learn what it was now? We needed to make sure that we needed to continue descending here and whether we needed to do so just to find the enemy we are looking for," Queen Tanya suggested. However, Lucia shook her head. "Based on the current part, we needed to descend once more to learn about who these guys writing these diaries are. And if what my theory said is true, then thest floor is the conclusion we are looking for." "Is that so? But aren''t you curious about what your ancestors have done before?" Queen Tanya tilted her head. "I do have curiosity about what it was but based on the information we have, we have to ensure the final information we needed is currently on the next floor. I also feel that I know these people who have been trying to survive. Therefore, even though we really needed to get to know what and who they are, we needed to prioritize getting the information much well." Queen Tanya was confused but she didn''t voice it out and nodded as a result. "There are 2 diaries full of the information we needed to know about these ruins but it seems something else deeper is existing and that is the ce we needed to know about in the future. The demons who are doing this will soon be revealed next floor." Chapter 762 Fate Of The Ruin Occupant (I) ? There are still some various records that Lucia gathered and ording to her, some of them are connected to the diary and some are just manuals for the machines. Even though they are just manuals, Lucia insists on bringing them along with us. It will be usefulter on but I still have no idea how this will be useful if she says so, then that''s what I will believe. Besides, she is the one who can understand how those work, so I have no qualms about it either. Queen Tanya and the rest didn''t move to the next floor immediately and decided to rest for a bit. With all of the liquid golems they have suppressed, it is not surprising that they wanted to sleep for a bit. As for me, I tried to tinker with the machines for a bit. They are new to my eyes so checking on them and trying to see how they function is fascinating. Lucia helped me understand what are the button''s purposes, how they work, and what they do when the buttons are pressed. "These things are tooplicated even by my standards. I know I am not a techie guy but even I know my hands-on technology and this stuff is something beyond me." "They are just tools that have oveplicated stuff here and there, usually with just a single purpose. And since they were made during the Primordial times, people on that day tend to oveplicate matters to ensure nothing goes wrong. But the moreplicated they are, the more simplistic their main usage will be," Lucia exined. Queen Tanya butt into our conversation. "People from before like to create things like this that works well from their intended but since they are so well made, they, in turn, inspired current people to develop their own improved versions of these machines which in turn be the machines and gadgets people use nowadays. It''s a copy-and-paste inspiration." "So in short, there is no originality to most current stuff we see nowadays and most are inspired or directly rted to old stuff that existed a long time ago? Man, people really do not want things to go to waste and harvest every single little drop of usage," I scratch my head. All of this can also be applied in the real world as well. "It''s just how things work. Without the ancestors and their knowledge, the current society won''t be developed and they will remain passive." After a lengthy discussion about the machines and how they work, everyone has rested enough and we slowly descend to the 4th floor. This time, it was a grand hall, almost identical to a throne room minus the throne that should be present, instead, what awaits us is a giant machine that seems to hold the whole ruins. And along the machine are the mechanical monsters plus the liquid golems. Among the monsters we fought on the previous floor is a blob of both the machine and the liquid stuff present at the center, bobbing around like jelly. It''s quite big as it has a length and size of a school bus. "Hot dang, and here I thought it will be just one big boss but it was actually consisting of all the monsters we fought in previous floors huh? I think I can see now what the diary meant by being overwhelmed. Even I feel overwhelmed and I am not experiencing what he experienced," Queen Tanya shook her head. "It seems our final destination is the big machine. And to reach there, we will have to get rid of these machines." "Well then, let''s get our work done then," I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and ready my magic spells in my other hand. "Ha...let''s get rid of them, fast." The moment we touched the floor after descending the stairs, the machines gathered there all turned to where we are standing and immediately swarmed us without any hesitation. Lucia didn''t flinch and spread her mes out, leaving all of the monsters who tried to get to us to burn. Queen Tanya is still holding back as she still hasn''t pulled out her weapon but her attacks are quite sufficient enough that she is doing more than what the other peeps are doing. As for me, I am doing my best while destroying every single monster that tried to attack us. My quick reflexes and judgment easily break those little guys immediately and precisely destroy their cores. But even with our quick suppression of the monsters, they are numerous and it seems like we were stuck from where we are until now even though we have felled a lot of those monsters in battle. "I am not seeing an end to these monsters, should we get some AOE damage?" I suggested. "I think that is for the best, Master. If we rely on just single-target attacks we will take a long time before we can even move out of here. We have to wipe them out in groups." "Gah, damn it, no choice then," I casually pull out a scroll in my inventory, the scroll of [Tornado Sweep], an AOE skill that sucks any enemies it passes by. I charge forward before tearing the scroll into two pieces, enveloping myself into a twister, and immediately sweep through the monsters. The golems are brittle creatures, they get sucked in, they are churned by the violent winds and they slowly die. Quick, fast, and easy. "Oooh, that''s a quick way of dealing with things, but I would have wanted you to at least break them without killing them so I can at least finish them off," Queen Tanya scratches her head as she watch the whole thing unfold and all of the monsters that got sucked in, dies. No response can be sent back to her while I am up here in the twister, controlling it, I am far too busy dealing with the monsters that it''s hard for me to even speak while doing this. A few secondster, I am done with the task and almost all of the golems present earlier are now dead and had their cores destroyed. The remaining stragglers are now being taken care of by Lucia, Queen Tanya, and the other men. Now that most of them are gone, we are having a much easier time dealing with them. Now that most of the monsters are gone, the only thing that remains on us is the giant blob we have seen earlier. I frown as to why it seems to be not doing anything. It was like it is not acknowledging our presence and is just there, waiting for something or just casually ignoring us. "Master, if this guy does not move no matter what you do, I will try to find a reaction to this one from the inside." I nodded in response. If this blob does not react to anything I do, then destroying it from within is the best course of action. Swinging my Versatile Weapon, I cast [Triple sh] to the blob. Flesh explodes as the skill made contact with it but there''s no reaction whatsoever. I continue to fire attacks at it and evenbine some elemental damages but not even those are working as well. "This f*cker is either too sturdy or just that numb to all the things I am doing it with. It''s not even moving beside its normal wiggles." "Then, I guess it''s time to burn up what''s within it." Lucia''s hands exploded in mes, mes hot enough that metal will burn like firewood from it. "Swallow the mes of hellfire that burn evestingly." FWOOOOOM! mes engulf the insides of the blob. At first, the blob didn''t show any reaction or any kind of violent reactioning from the attack but it didn''t take too long before I realize the body it had before is now melting like stic burning. The blob seems fine at first but soon enough, the reaction that seems to becking from the blob finally appeared. It was sudden and we didn''t prepare for it. "GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" An echoing "glo" sound can be heard all over the ce that everyone including myself had to stop what we are doing as we cover our ears. "W-what is happening?!" I gritted my teeth as the voice seems to sink through my brain. "Agh, it seems to be an abomination of a machine to be able to bring out that kind of noise. However, I think what you guys did earlier work well. I will just amplify the pain to this thing then," Queen Tanya who is still covering both her ears, swings one of her fingers to the big guy and cast a spell. "Burn, amplify the burn, burn to ashes, and burn to nothingness. Ashes to ashes, everything will return to ashes. Now burn!" mes exploded inside and outside of the blob the noise it was making and most of the mes. It''s much more intense than the mes that Lucia made before. Or rather, she used the mes that are still burning on the blob and added some "fuel" to it for it to continue burning and explode in intensity. "Now. we just wait for this guy to burn and we can proceed." Even now, Queen Tanya has yet to pull out her weapon. Until now, she is still holding back, and until now, she is just fine dealing with enemies who are nothing to her. We watch as the mes continue to burn, and the noises the blob is making are slowly fading as well. Just like the chant, everything will return to ashes. Chapter 763 Fate Of The Ruin Occupant (II) ? The violent fate of the blob didn''t just end with the mes burning its insides but it melted its body to the point where recovery is impossible. It tried to attack us in onest attempt but it died anyway. It''s good that everyone is high-level enough to kill it without having the trouble of dealing enough damage just to do it. Of course, it was also thanks to Queen Tanya, otherwise, it will take a few more hits before it died. It only died due to the enhancing skill that Queen Tanya did to the burning mes which resulted in the blob dying faster. "Let''s deal with the rest of the enemies and we will be done with it!" Everyone went to their work. I also did mine and eliminated all of the remaining enemies alongside the others. And as usual, they made quick work with the enemies that they didn''t even end up being a threat, just a major nuisance. Eventually, they all died and everyone is now done with the job. And so, with clearing the monsters done, the three of us went up ahead to the giant machine. It was like thebination of all the machines we saw on the previous floors. It was like it was specifically made to be one like that. As we are nearing the base of the machine, we spotted something on the base as well. We couldn''t make out what it was but we continue to press on to see what was that thing we are seeing. "Is that..." Lucia squinted her eyes ahead of us. Queen Tanya also did the same also frowned as well. From the looks of it, they are seeing something I don''t quite see yet. Even if I squint my eyes, I think I still can''t see it. As we get closer to what they saw, I finally found out what they saw by squinting their eyes. It''s a skeleton wearing some kind ofb coat on the body. The hair of this person has fallen to the floor and to the clothes while some are still attached to the skull but definitely will fly away if disturbed. The skeleton has sses hanging on the head which means this guy wears sses. We don''t know who this person is but based on the diaries we found, the one writing the diaries and the skeleton here are the same person. In short, the author of the diaries died after fleeing from the things overwhelming the ce. The skeleton''s left hand, holds a knife, while the skeleton''s right hand holds a notebook simr to the notebooks we found on the previous floor, in short, the diary. Seeing that the cover of the book has been sshed with blood, it is clear that the skeleton died from a stab wound as it won''t cause a blood ssh like that if it was just the normal slitting of the wrist. There are only two probabilities on why this person is now dead. One of that is that this person got attacked by someone and after fending for their life, the skeleton ends up dying as a result of it and the knife in the skeleton''s hand is a weapon used before to defend. Of course, the second theory is that the guy killed themselves in the end. Being overwhelmed by monsters without any ce to hide or fall back into, they either tried to fight back, or lose all hope and decided to just end it all to hammer the nail to this individual''s death. Since the person in question is a skeleton now, we don''t know how the person killed themselves, but one thing is for sure. This is the demon and the ruined upant that we are looking for. Lucia pulled out the final diary from the skeleton''s hand and opened it. Although the cover was drenched in blood, the contents within were unharmed and it is still readable. "Poor guy. It looks like going deeper into the ruins was a bad idea. Now, look at the guy, reduced into a pitiful skeleton, forgotten by time, and waiting to have their bones copse due to old age. It''s quite sad but perhaps death was their only way to escape whatever they are trying to escape in." Lucia and Queen Tanya continue to check on the skeleton while I headed to the machine that the skeleton was leaning on before it died. It is the lone machine on this floor and it seems all of its mechanisms are connected to the upper floors as well. There is still some kind of a mystery about what this machine can do. I turned to the side and I saw the control panel that I think controls this big machine. The machine isplicated and has so many buttons just to be controlled but I don''t know what it was. All I know is that this going to end up being either pretty useless or this thing might have a big usage of something. Still busy checking out its control panel, I didn''t realize Lucia has already approached me. "Master, from the looks of it, the machine is an energy and mana generator and once operated, it will release lots of energy and produce mana for every single one who is exposed to whatever thing it was releasing. It won''t stop releasing those power and mana until it was turned off manually." "Energy and mana generator huh? That''s interesting but that will also prove to be something of a dangerous tech as well,"Queen Tanya joined in our conversation. "How so? Based on the description that Lucia gave me, it doesn''t sound dangerous, more like it sounds pretty beneficial. It doesn''t even consume fuel just to function as well." "That''s the dangerous part. That alone can trigger the greed of many people. I might be the absolute ruler of Sandurk and I rule the entirety of it, but that doesn''t mean I can manage all of the Sandurk which is why we have the lords governing every city of Sandurk. You have seen that my sister governs the Frozen Region and even though I technically ruled that ce, my sister is the one managing the ce. That is also true for the other cities as well but unlike my sister, they are more ambitious people. Some of them had even plotted against me to overthrow me from my throne and take over as well." "So in that case, they will try to covet this thing for themselves and use it for their own purposes if they caught wind of this thing?" "Exactly. Raw energy and mana supply are great but a generator of both? Then that is something worth looking out for. I can''t even deny that this thing will be a great addition to the city as well which will improve its development pretty much and help the denizens as well with problems of mana and even get a steady supply of energy that would help decrease the cost of the energy they needed to pay." "And when a greedy person finds out about this..." "They will try their hardest to find the chance to obtain and take ownership of this ce and use it for their own business and whatever greed scheme they are plotting," I nodded in response. Now I see what Queen Tany meant about this being a dangerous thing to exist. Its existence alone can cause several wars and the peace that Queen Tanya was trying to achieve will disappear once the war is full-blown and it''s just because of the people trying to im this thing." "Are you suggesting that we destroy this machine?" Lucia asked. "If possible, that is my biggest n now that I realized what this thing was. If this thing is gone, then others will stop whatever they are nning, and their ns to wage war will also be nulled without this. Of course, I have to decide whether we will destroy it or preserve it. Lucia, now that you are one of the primordial demons who discovered this thing, it''s either you leave this one out or we will proceed to destroy it once we are going to leave?" A decision. It was a hard decision for sure. After all, this thing might have a connection to the Primordial times when Lucia once existed and lived on. "It''s a tough question, Your Majesty. Perhaps I would like time alone for this," Lucia answered with a sigh. "Well, we don''t need to hurry with your decision. I guess we will make camp here now that we are done with the situation. Just tell me if you ever think up what we will have to do about it in the future. Think hard before you do it, Lucia. We will await your decisionter on. Lucia is conflicted and yet, she felt that it was indeed necessary but she wasn''t sure if destroying it was the only thing they can do. Her connection to the machine will prove something difficult for Lucia this time around, either for her own or perhaps for her family. Chapter 764 Fate Of The Ruin Occupant (III) ? We remained there for quite some time to check on the machine for a little bit more. Since Lucia still can''t decide whether to destroy the machine or not, we have no choice but to wait for her. Queen Tanya is patient enough since it''s not her final say about this matter and with Lucia still trying to find any clues regarding what happened during her time of slumber, she didn''t force Lucia to any kind of tough decisions immediately. As for me, I am checking on the skeleton. It might have already been a long time since the skeleton reached the end of its life, but I can''t help but want to learn some information about it. I asked Lucia if it was fine to check on the belongings of the dead and she agreed that it''s not really her jurisdiction if I loot the corpse or not. Despite this being disrespectful to the dead, I decided to continue looting the corpse. Adventurers loot dead bodies, it''s always what we do and will always be. The first thing I did was check the skeleton first. There is bound to be stuck on the skeleton after death but in this case, it seems that was not the case as the skeleton doesn''t have anything interesting at all. There is just one ne dangling on the skeleton''s neck but there''s nothing interesting to it, it was just a ne. However, this might be something important so I decided to pocket it. The next thing I did is check theb coat the skeleton was wearing. Theb coat was not the important part but the pockets it possess. When I checked one of the pockets for anything, I found a little book simr to the necromancer''s book that I have been collecting. However, when I tried reading it, it suddenly disappeared from my hands and a system log appeared before me. -You have found the seventhmandment of the Necromancy Inheritance! -New abilities have been unlocked and a few unavable skills can now be purchased! -[Whisper of the Dead] passive has been unlocked! The seventhmandment?! The random booklet I found was actually part of the necromancy pages I have been looking for. I wasn''t even expecting things like that but that is a wee thing for me. I am not even gonna say no to this blessing! Opening my skill tree for the necromancer, I found some new skills have been indeed added and there are some skills that can be purchased as well. And as for the passive... [Whisper of the Dead] Type: Passive Info: The skill that allows the user to be capable of understanding thenguage of the dead and the undead. Instead of hearing deathly moans and groans from the zombies and undead and the clicking and cking sounds from the skeletons, you will instead be able to hear and understand what they were sayingpletely. Note: Talking to the dead has never been this easy before! The skill was something I wasn''t even expecting to see. Now, I can easilymunicate with my skeletons like I am conversing with normal humans now. it was a massive thing as the undead species are one of the hardest tomunicate with and they just randomly groan and moan instead of listening tomands, making some undead very hard to control as they just do not do what you wanted. I checked out the new skills I got and one of them is something I wasn''t expecting. [Seance] Type: Active Mana Cost: 100 mp per minute Cooldown: N/A Info: A skill that allows the user to draw out the soul or the memories of a certain corpse and extract information or talk to them without resurrecting the dead. In case the [Seance] is too sessful, there is also a chance that the user will witness a scene of the corpse they are trying tomunicate. However, please be aware that this can corrode the mind and can reduce sanity if used in a prolonged state. [Seance] can also be used to converse with ghost enemies and other phenomena that involve the paranormal. However, it can only be used once per corpse, ghost, and other paranormal phenomena. The skill cannot be cast again tomunicate with them ever again. Note: You can now be a certified Paranormal Expert! A skill formunicating with the dead without the need for resurrection? A way tomunicate? Isn''t this too convenient and too coincidental as well? I am not sure whether my luck was just that good or the reason why it was like this is that I have to indeedmunicate with the dead but this is something I find good for me and everyone else. If I use this skill, I can actually startmunicating with the skeleton here and help the others with the investigation. However, the problem is that there is a chance that I will go crazy after using this skill, thus corroding my mind. It''s hard to recover on my own with this and the only way to recover is to get a strong attack and suffer the pain. But still, this should mark the final nail in the head this time so I called Queen Tanya and Lucia. "What''s going on, deheart? You got something?" Queen Tanya tilted her head. "It seems you are up to something, Master. What is it?" Lucia asked. "I got some skill rted to the dead and apparently, this will allow me tomunicate with the dead and summon their souls once to talk to." "A skill that allows you to talk to the dead? Is that a necromancy skill? I never heard of a necromancy skill that advanced. Mostly, it was just reviving the dead and making them undead, fully under the control of the one who resurrected the corpse," Queen Tanya was skeptical. "Apparently, it was a hidden skill. I managed to unlock its hidden trigger for me to learn it and I received the skill. I called you guys because I want to see whether this will be something good to do. I can only use this skill once on a corpse so I want to ensure that you two agree with what I am about to do." "Are you nning on using that skill tomunicate with this guy here?" Queen Tanya asked. "Yes. I am still not sure whether you guys will agree to it, but I want to ask you guys since this might help with the investigation and maybe this can also help Lucia get the choice she is looking for a lot faster." "I don''t see why not? I agree with doing it, but ultimately, we needed to ask you, Lucia, this is a choice that you needed to learn as well. Do you want your Master to use the skill andmunicate with the dead person?" I was expecting Lucia to hesitate but I was wrong as Lucia didn''t even hesitate once. She immediately gave me the answer to me. "Yes, Master. Use the skill and try to talk with the dead demon here. If we can talk to this guy then I have lots of questions to ask him about!" With the decision of Lucia immediately given to me, I nodded in response and touched the skull of the skeleton. Channeling my mana, I invoke the skill and activated it. "[Seance]! The skeleton glows white and enveloped its whole body. Everyone looks anxious as the skeleton gradually floated in the air. As for me, I continue to do the skill. I also read some mana potions with me, as well as this, which is a channeling skill that continuously uses mana once the skill is active and will only stop if the user stops it as well. Once the skeleton floated up, the white energy imbued on the skeleton slowly formed a figure. After a few moments the skeleton that just floated in the airnded back on the ground but this time, the white energy has fully transformed into a person. Or more precisely, a demon. It was a young man. He retained theb coat on his body and he looks like a handsome one as well if he is born in the real world, he can easily pass as a model or even get scouted to be an actor as well. "You...it''s you Sandro?!" Lucia eximed and her expression is clearly something that she didn''t expect. The soul-like person that Lucia named Sandro slowly turned his head around and his eyesnded on all of us below him, then his eyes locked on Lucia. "Wait...Lucia? How are you here?! I am quite sure the tomb was properly sealed! It shouldn''t have caused you toe out without someone''s help!" "I already woke up and realized that a thousand years have already passed by. Naturally, the tomb will no longer hold on its own. However, I have so many questions to ask you. What is going on, Sandro? And why are you dead already?" Chapter 765 Seance ? The dead man''s soul has been formed and the procedure of talking to the soul is starting. As for me, I now realize what this "corroding" means when the [Seance] skill is used. It is indeed putting my mind under stress and I am slowly seeing some hallucinations. Thankfully, I am plenty aware that this is happening in my mind and I can control the rate of the corrosion but this is indeed getting troublesome. Not only do I need to keep myself silent to be able to listen to the conversation but I also needed to focus on reality to ensure I don''t go crazy. It''s even more painful than running out of mana and getting a severe headache. It''s hard to focus and join in the conversation as I am trying to maintain my mind and remain sane but I just grit my teeth as everyone gathers information from the dead. Lucia and Queen Tanya are now witnessing the soul of Sandroing out of the skeleton. Lucia was shocked as she didn''t expect it would be someone she knows. "Lucia, you know who this guy is?" Queen Tanya asked. "Yes. He is one of my childhood friends during the Primordial Times. He is also one of my suitors back then before the war happened." "Eh? What do you mean Primordial Times, Lucia? I am quite sure that only a few years have passed since we locked up ourselves," Sandro is also confused. "Honestly, that''s what I thought in the beginning as well after I woke up only to realize a lot of years have passed by since the war happened. Now, the world is no longer at war and the two goddesses disappeared. The demons are nowbeled as enemies and the world has changed so much." Sandro started clutching his head, still can''t believe what he just heard from his childhood friend. But it''s totally natural for him to be confused about what happened as everything does sound surreal and for him, everything was just like yesterday. "Anyways, we have to ask a question for you. How did you die? And why did you die?" Queen Tanya can only ask him the questions that have been bugging them for quite a while. Sandro shook his head as he stare at the skeleton beneath him. "I see, so I sumbed to death huh? Damn, I feel so pathetic. And here I thought I could protect myself and survive until the very end." "Can you exin what happened? And what is the deal with these tombs anyways? Why no one exined things to me back then and my parents just shoved me there?!" "You see, Lucia, things were pretty chaotic during the war, and during that time, your parents decided to use the final attempts to survive the wars as it was getting chaotic especially when the goddess of life hurled all of the monsters she created to the forest we are living in and decimated every single life that we know. Due to that, the shamans decided to summon up the obelisk tombs. This is how the tombs came out. Then, we started modifying them to suit our needs before we go in and spend our time there until the end of the war." "Is that the reason why there are lots of machines here?" Lucia asked pointing to the machines. "Yeah. Remember that my father builds things like this? He built the machines here as well so that once I am inside, I don''t need to go out for a very long time. You can say all tombs have different designs as well." "That may be the main reason huh? My tomb when I woke up is a normal and small area where a coffin that can put me inside is the only thing there. My parents pushed me inside there, sealed me and I fell asleep. And as a result, I woke up and survived the whole war." "Hahaha, oh man. If only my tomb was also designed like that, perhaps I might have also survived but my tomb was different. It acted like a small shelter for me with multiple floors to contain the machine. And since I am the only one inside, I didn''t have anything better to do and started writing in my diaries so that I don''t get insane thinking by myself." "Wait, wait, that contradicts things we found here. There are clear signs that there are multiple people here who lived here in this ce. And you said that you live in this ce alone until you died?" "Yeah, that shouldn''t be the case, I never have anyone else to apany me as every tomb was meant to put one person at a time." "Then..." "Whoever that was, then they might have entered here and rested here. But I am not the one who let them in. It might be I was already dead when they came in but otherwise, I am alone until the time I died." "Oh yeah, how did you die?" "Sumbed from my wounds." "Wounds?" Lucia frowned. "I thought you killed yourself when you were overwhelmed," Queen Tanya added. "No, no. Even when I was overwhelmed, it would be too stupid of me to kill myself because I lost hope in myself during the time the enemies came in. I died fighting against them." "What are these enemies you are saying? Are they mechanoids who are also constructs?" "Ah them? No. They were part of the machines my dad created and put them with me in this tomb to act as the guard of this ce. Back then, they were the guards who hold off the enemies who tried to overwhelm this ce, though they still couldn''t stop them as they overwhelmed me and attacked me here on the final floor. I tried fighting but in the end, it seems that was pointless as I died in the end." "Can you tell me what these enemies you are talking about?" Lucia pried a little bit more. "I don''t know what they are, but they are humanoid shadows. They have unstable forms but they have a humanoid shape. They have bodies that can turn into weapons and form them in any form they like. I have killed a few of them using a knife but they were pretty sturdy and I don''t think I like fighting against them. One thing is for sure though that they felt like they don''t have flesh in their bodies when I attacked them with the knife. I can still damage them with the weapon but it seems they don''t bleed like us. "Oh, onest thing. These machines here in this tomb, we are nning to destroy them." "Huh? Why? Why are you destroying them? Shouldn''t they be recovered and be used for a greater cause?" Sandro frowned. "They might be a great tool for helping us for a greater cause but this will be one of the main causes of civil wars and invasion. Instead of letting this exist, destroying it will prevent all of that stuff from happening." "The world has been like that now? Damn, this world is bingplicated huh? But if this world will be more peaceful without them, then perhaps you should. It''s not like I have a great attachment to them and if you guys don''t need it, then making it rest forever is the only good choice here. I gave my permission for its destruction then." As he said that, his body flickered and the entirety of his soul starts to get more transparent that he looks like he is a cloud of smoke now. "Ah, looks like my time is up...It''s good that you are still alive, Lucia. And since you are still alive, I guess it''s your job to find the remainder of our people." "Where are they now?" "I don''t know. Almost everyone went to their own obelisk. Whatever happened to those obelisks, no one knows. However, since you found mine, perhaps they are out there somewhere as well? The only thing I know is that they are scattered all over the world. Wherever they are, perhaps they might still be alive and are in the same state as them. Perhaps you should look for them." He slowly faded into the air. "Live well Lucia. Remember that the Goddess of Life might be gone now but she will be back again. After all, she is the incarnation of life. Whatever happens, don''t let her do what she wanted to do. The bnce needs to remain or this world will be destroyed." Those were hisst words before he disappeared. I am just listening as everything happened but when I no longer can''t keep the skill up anymore, he faded slowly. As for me, I grip my head in pain. All of the hallucinations that I have been suppressing in my mind have decided to rampage now. The pain is unbearable I felt that I am going to go crazy as I am seeing all of the hallucinations before me. They are beckoning me, calling me. "AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Chapter 766 Unexpected Encounter ? I am losing my mind right now. I am totally underestimating the losing sanity mechanic of the [Seance] that even though I am proud to have endured various pains in my life, I managed to survive and continue living. However, this might be the most painful thing I have ever felt in my life. My mind felt like a mess and everything I see felt like they are all distorting. Even the faces of Queen Tanya and Lucia in front of me seem to be melting the only way for me to endure it is to clutch my head and pull my hair as I grit my teeth. "Master! What is going on?! Your Majesty, what is happening to Master?!" Lucia panicked. "I don''t know but I think this is the side effect of the skill he just used. But based on his reactions, he needed some quick fix," Queen Tanya approached me and although I still can''t recognize her seeing her distortion in my eyes, her voice is very clear to me. When she is close enough to me, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my abdomen I felt all of what I have eaten had been mixed and hurled in one go. That''s when all of what I am seeing suddenly disappeared and everything suddenly went back to normal as the pain I am feeling in my head suddenly got transported to my stomach. "Oh. Would you look at that, it seems he has recovered. Nothing can top off on a wallop to the gut for an all-purpose cure." "Huh? That actually works?" Lucia started opening and closing her fist, thinking of doing a wallop as well in the future. "Gah, stop, stop. Don''t do any wallop again, gah, that''s painful as f*ck... I am fine now." I slowly stood up while still rubbing the painful part of my stomach since the lingering pain from the previous wallop of Queen Tanya still lingers. "Just what happened to you for you to act earlier? Am I right that it was due to the skill you just used? You looked like you were robbed of your soul when you were using that," Queen Tanya inquired. "You are right, the skill takes my mana continuously while it was active and the longer the skill remains active, the more I lose sanity and will have the big risk of going crazy if I didn''t recover immediately." "So that was a thing? I didn''t know that would happen to you, why you didn''t tell us that you have a chance to go crazy if you used that skill? You just said it will be helpful but you didn''t tell us what are the side effects. If we have known, we wouldn''t have risked it," Lucia scolded me." "But at least we got valuable intel, right? And I think that was great. If I didn''t do what I did, then we wouldn''t know many things at all." "Still Master, that was risky. What if you got crazy for real and Queen Tanya was not here to give you a wake-up call?" "I am sorry, but it''s for the greater good." Queen Tanya sighed and shook her head. "Alright, that should be it. Next, we needed to destroy this machine now. We already got the permission so we don''t need to continue to debate if we destroy it or not. Unless you still object to it, Lucia-chan?" Queen Tanya then nces at Lucia. "No objections here. Since Sandro gave his permission and we don''t want to have wars happening due to this, then disposing of it would be the most logical thing to do." Queen Tanya then turned to look at me. "deheart, I trust in your skills to make big explosions sessful. My abilities to wreck things might not be that effective here." "Hmm, don''t expect too much but I will still try." Pulling out the blueprints, I tried making remote-controlled bombs that will trigger the dynamites that will be added for the demolition of the machine. Just having the dynamite would risk us being still in the ruins for it to be lit up. Having one explosion to trigger everything is good enough. With the design done, the materialization of the trigger and the bomb followed next. As for the dynamites, I materialized them as well and it came out nice. "Alright, time to deal some big damage to this machine that this ce will copse. Lucia, do you want your friend to be buried here as well? Or do you want me to bury him outside?" "Let''s carry him out, Master. At least we should have his final resting ce outside this ce." I was about to grab his bones and put him in the inventory to store when someone suddenly someone swooped in, grabbed the corpse from my grasp, and immediatelynded not too far from us. p¦Ánd¦Á---no¦Í?1,§ão§® "What the heck? Who are you?!" Lucia is the first to react and immediately conjured mes in her hands. The figure who grabbed the corpse didn''t seem to care about us and just searched the corpse''s body. When it didn''t find whatever it was looking for, it angrily throw away the skeleton of Sandro and sted it with mes, effectively "cremating" his remains. "Tch, I guess I got here toote," the person then turned around, looked at us, and revealed themself to be some sort of a masked individual. Based on this person''s body build, I can safely assume this masked individual is a woman. Of course, I could be wrong but based also on the voice as well, I can actually say she is indeed a woman. "A trespasser? But how? No one should have gone past my soldiers without them noticing!" Queen Tanya also assumed a battle stance. "Hmph, those men of yours are not capable of detecting me whenever I go in stealth mode, it''s pretty pathetic on their part but that''s just how it is. And based on what I am detecting, one of you possesses what I am looking for. Therefore, you all needed to either give that up or die." Lucia didn''t care what the person said to us, she sted mes from her hands in the direction of the person and angrily attacked the woman who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The masked woman seemed to have anticipated the attack and easily dodge the attacks Lucia that she looked like she was just ying on her just now. "I see, you all refuse toply with my demands. Well, you just made things easier for me. DIE." She then proceeds to attack us and target Lucia first. But I am not just letting her do what she needed to do. PENG! My Versatile Weapon shed with her daggers and tried to parry them but before she can do so, Lucia fired off multiple [Fireball] in her direction, forcing her to back off. I didn''t want her to recover immediately and dash off, attacking her with my Versatile Weapon in rapid session. Even though I did it that way, she easily blocked all of my attacks and stopped them from actually hitting her. Still, I can see her struggling to keep up with my attacks as she desperately tries to back off from me but Lucia does not even want her to recover and once my barrage of attacks is over, she immediately takes over and shoots mes at her which kept her on the defensive. Just when we thought we are about to corner her, someone else blocked Lucia''s attack and rescued the female masked individual. "Why are you even struggling at these dregs? They don''t even look that strong," the new guy who appeared out of nowhere is also a masked person but this time, it seems to be a man. "Looks can be deceiving, these two are quite fast at trying to suppress me from doing anything. The man wearing a wolf mask is too dangerous, I can tell that if I didn''t block him perfectly then his weapon will easily cleave me in half." "Then he must be a-" Before he can continue speaking, I interrupted him by shooting in their direction using my Versatile Weapon''s gun form. I don''t care about what he was thinking. If they are here to kill us, then I don''t have time to listen to their dialogues and just go straight at fighting them. "How dare you interrupt me!" the masked man got infuriated by my actions and attacked me using his metal w gauntlet. Seeing him fight in a gauntlet, I also changed the form of the Versatile Weapon and changed it to the Weapon of Greed Gauntlet, shing his supposed attacks with my own attacks as well. Lucia on the other hand engages in a fight against the masked woman. Queen Tanya is observing the surroundings and making sure her men were okay in case an attack suddenly happened as the people who attacked might not just be them but a few more hiding in the darkness and waiting for the right opportunity. One thing is clear, the people attacking us are not just normal people trying to f*ck us up, it seems they are somewhat rted to something in this ce. Chapter 767 Masked Individuals ? We continue our assault against the masked individuals. Since they are hostile, the only best possible course of action is to defeat them. Killing them would be fine but I want them alive to question them on what their current motives are. The new masked guy is defending his body from my assault as I continue to swing around my weapon and also try to shoot the gun at him at any possible moment. But still, I am quite impressed by his flexible reflexes as he managed to keep on dodging the bullets I fired at him. "You!" the masked man tried to counterattack but I didn''t let him and stopped his attempts by shooting at his hands. This time, he didn''t get to dodge the bullet as he was focused on doing a counterattack that he failed to cover for his weakness. "Uno!" the girl wearing a mask shouted at the man. Based on what she screamed, this man''s name is Uno. "Where are you watching? Your opponent is right here!" Lucia, who was fighting with the masked girl, fired multiple [Fireball]s to the girl, forcing her to retreat. "Don''t worry about me, this is just a flesh wound! Nothing serious!" As he was busy talking to the masked girl, I took advantage of his focus and changed my weapon into a Hook and Chain, before immediately throwing the chain and capturing Uno using it. "What?!" He was surprised when the cold hook catches his body and before he can even retaliate, I pulled the chain and proceed to wee him with a wallop in the stomach. He seemed to have expected the attack and immediately covered his abdomen with his hands, blocking my punch. However, it seems he didn''t notice my other hand that held the Versatile Weapon. I sneakily changed it to a gauntlet and before he can even react, the second fist came flying straight to his face and he flew far beforending on the hard wall. It seems he fell unconscious after the square hit on the face with the Gauntlet of Greed. Seeing that Uno fell unconscious, the masked girl decided to abandon whatever they are fighting for and retreated while taking Uno with her as well. "As if I will let you escape!" Queen Tanya who didn''t participate in the war made an action and summoned multiple chainsing from her body. It''s one of her abilities but she usually uses them for restraining purposes so I never see it much. I saw that ability twice in the past timeline. This should be the first time I saw her use it in this timeline. The masked girl thought she could just escape but the chains grabbed hold of her legs and before she can even escape by phasing out, the chains bind themselves to her and to Uno and prevented their escape. Queen Tanya didn''t even stop and put out another set of chains to ensure that the two won''t escape in any way. "Let me go!" the masked girl tried to wriggle out of the chains but the chains just got tighter for her, tight enough that even small movements is not permitted. Queen Tanya brought the two down to the floor while I waited, carrying a metal rope, a material that cannot be cut off with normal knives despite functioning like a normal rope. So even if they try to even cut it off, the rope will be fine, unless they try something that would naturally cut it. It''s an extremely malleable item that can be easily used for tying someone up that is why all I can say is that this is the perfect rope for them now that they are subdued. I usually just use it for tailoring stuff as they are pretty good at keeping some armor tough but now, I am using it to prevent someone from escaping entirely. Lucia helped me tie them up while Queen Tanya made sure that they won''t easily escape by keeping them chained while I am tying them up. Even the unconscious Uno is tied up without exception as well. Now that both are tied up, it''s time to know who they are. "Who are you two and why did you suddenly barge in and burned the dead body that was just here a few moments ago?" I asked. "Hmph, why should we tell you, human?" the masked girl really makes herself hostile but I am fine with dealing hostile hostages many times in the game and this isn''t the first time as well. "Oh, because I said so myself," then pulled out a gun and put it at the temple of her head, causing her to shake seeing it aimed at her. "W-what... that''s cheating! Why are you threatening us like that?" "Because it''s an easier way to make any person, no matter if they are human or not properly talk to them. And since you are getting that treatment, I am asking you to answer my question, or this gun right here will load off the bullet here and bury it straight to your skull. I am not that merciful so unless you are obedient enough, maybe I will grant you a chance to escape." "Tch, what a liar. Heh, just kill me then, I won''t tell you anything." Then, Queen Tanya approached and she took over my role of talking with them. I have not seen her deal with this stuff before but being a queen, she must''ve done things like this in the past as there are lots of enemies in the kingdom as well. "Since you are fine dying, then perhaps you are fine with me manipting your brain right? It''s far easier for me to do that and I can obtain the information I want while you will agonize yourself and beg to die as time passes on. How about that? I wouldn''t ept a no for an answer though." Then she snapped her fingers, and various chains wrapped around her head. "Gah... aghhhh! Nooooo! It''s painful! It''s painful!" "Now, time for you to spill out the beans and reveal your motives. Survive and perhaps you will still see the light of the sun shines in the sky once more." Chapter 768 Destruction Of The Ruins ? The masked girl is screaming intensely as the chains tighten up in her body. She is even coughing up blood as the chains continue to squeeze her more. "Wow, I was expecting you to beg for your life now but I guess you are tough to endure such pain huh? Then don''t mind me ramping up the pain you are experiencing then. Don''t me me if you die." The chains got visibly bigger and starts to tighten up once more. The masked girl gurgles out blood in her mouth as the chains continue to squish her body slowly. "W-whatever...gah...you do...ugh... I will... not yield... we-we would...aghhhh...rather die...than spill...gak...the secrets! AGGHHHHHH!" Queen Tanya stopped the tightening of the chains and sighed. "Based on her reactions, she is ready to die rather than spill the beans. Guess we will have to do it the easy way." Queen Tanya opened a portal on her side and put the two masked individuals inside it before she closes them. "What did you do to them? What was that portal earlier that you just opened up?" I asked. "It''s one of my abilities, Void Realm. There, all kinds of malevolent creatures ran rampant under my control. With them tied up and nowhere to go, they will be forced to face the malevolent creatures there and suffer there until they give up. They will die and resurrect there again and again but they cannot fight them. They will either remain there forever or they could just reveal what they are trying to do. e¦Áglesn?¦Íel Endless death huh? For us yers, endless death is not even that bad, as long as you revive again, then it''s fine. However, the NPCs who don''t know the feeling we feel will go crazy not too long after that. They are at the mercy of Queen Tanya and its either Queen Tanya releases them or they suffer for eternity. It''s pitiful but I guess that was the fitting end of them. "Then, we shall continue destroying this ce. Without anyone trying to stop us, we can now proceed with what was previously agreed upon." Everyone nodded to my notion. I told everyone to exit the ruins while I nt all of the bombs around the ruins. That way. this ce will copse and the machines will be destroyed by the explosion as well as the falling debris. Lucia asked me if it is alright to gather the remaining ashes of Sandro. After his body turned to ashes after the two masked individuals toasted his dead body, I agreed with Lucia on taking them out even though they have been turned to ashes. They might not return back to being a skeleton, but he still needed to be outside of the ruins even in that state. Using her telekinesis ability, I lend her a bottle used for putting XL-sized potions and let her use it as a container. There, she used her ability and gather all of the remains that is currently gathered in one ce after Sandro''s body turned to ashes and controlled them to go into the container, creating a jar of urn for the body. He was cremated as a result. Lucia keeps the bottle and left with Queen Tanya so that I could focus on putting all the bombs needed for the demolition explosion. The facility is big but I needed to be strategic in putting the dynamites and remote-controlled explosives as they might explode but fail at their job of demolition and will instead be wasted. I scope out the rest of the ce and once I found the ideal spots, I started producing the explosives and put them in their rightful ces. I also put some explosives in the walls and ceilings as well. They are absolutely necessary if I want to see explosive damage happening. After littering the whole area with bombs, I went to the previous floor, scoped it out, and did the same as the other. That way, it''s not just the bottom floor that gets destroyed but this ce as well. I added all bombs in all areas and after putting a lot of them, I can say now that I am satisfied. I didn''t bother to put more explosives on the very first floor since itcks any devices and it is at the very top of the ruins. If it copses at the bottom, the top follows. All of the bombs are ced and they are nicely put alongside the remote-controlled explosives. Once they explode, this ce is gone. I went outside the ruins and saw everyone are waiting for me. "Done?" Queen Tanya asked. "Yep. We just needed to go a little bit farther from here. With the explosion that might ur, the ce might copse and we might be among the victims of the copse. We should just get far enough that we can see what will happen." Everyone started packing up. Lucia turned at the ce onest time. I pat her back and gave her a thumbs up. "We will find more clues in the future, Lucia." She smiled and nodded and we followed Queen Tanya and the crew to the higher ce where we can safely view the explosion and the copse of the ruins. "You guys ready? This will be a big explosion and it might even affect us here standing far. Brace yourselves." "Let''s do this then," Queen Tanya nodded, giving me the signal to go ham and boom. Lucia also nodded as well, so I pulled out the remote for the explosives and press the detonate button. At first, we didn''t feel anything, then we feel a little bit of shaking, and then... BOOOOOMMMMM! The whole facility exploded. It was like a mini volcano minus theva erupting out of the ruins. Debris came flying down and just as expected from the explosion, thend where the ruins were situated copsed, and everything around the ce was gone from the explosion. After the explosion and the copse, the sand slowly falls through the remains of the explosion, the mes still burning the ce. However, it is now confirmed everything there is destroyed and no longer salvageable. The ce is officially gone. "I still can''t believe the explosives you make are that strong. If only that are useful against monsters then we could have explosive parties in the Frozen Region with my sis. Too bad, they don''t even hold a candle to what those motherf*ckers can easily absorb and resist." I can only chuckle at how Queen Tanya describes the monsters in the frozen region. Given how hard they are to fight and the fact that we needed a lot of firepower and force to eventually y the smallest monster present in that area, then how hard do the bigger monsters are? Even if I put all explosives in the body of a monster, the explosions might just tickle the sh*t out of them. "So, what are you nning on doing to the masked people? I doubt they won''t surrender at all," I asked. "Right now, I want to imprison them. I also want to employ you for a short time on helping me with the extraction of information for them as well. Seeing how they are unfazed about being tortured by the chains, they might be a hard nut to crack. Therefore, I needed help as well. You guys can stay in the castle as well for the time being. I would love to have a good spar with you too. Don''t worry, I will be rewarding you for helping out so that your time will be worth it." "That would be great. Don''t worry about the reward thing, you should treat it as a treat from a friend instead, ya know?" "Thanks. Anyways, it''s time for us to go back, it''s gettingte, and with the explosion that happened, the beasts will start prowling here to check on what happened. It''s best we go on our way." And with that, our trip to the ruins ended. We got some valuable information and few diaries that Lucia is still going to decode and read, and two prisoners that seems to hold some information about the ruins. And as for their reasons, we still don''t know. All I can say is that this is a tiresome day indeed. Still, there are some clues that I have received and that is the reason why monsters exist. So the main reason they exist is to win the war against the goddess of death, resulting in their creation. It does make sense as she is the goddess of life and she can create life at a whimpared to the goddess of death who governs the death of living beings. This discovery seems to be going to be an important key in the future and knowing that the primordial war is something that happened way before the development of this world, perhaps they are going to be connected to the Tree of Life. Maybe trying to learn about what happened during the Primordial wars might also allow me to get some info about the tree of life as well. Chapter 769 A New Step Of Breakthrough ? I logged out of the Alternate World and returned to the real world after all of the things that happened. Yep, I no longer call it a game. I now ept that this is indeed an alternate world from our world that has just a more fantasy vibe than this world, though it doesn''t change the fact that this world and that world are connected, and once one of these worlds falls, the other follows suit. Considering that I knew there is something that Nobuhiko is nning, it would either influence this world a lot or perhaps even destroy the Alternate World. Until I knew what he is nning to do, I needed to gather pieces of evidence and also piece all of it to learn what his objective is. I stood up from my bed and rub my head a little bit. It felt bad, to be honest, but I think this was the side effect of the losing sanity stuff earlier. If I haven''t got walloped by Queen Tanya there, I might have gone really crazy. Next time, I needed to time how much I can use that ability in the future as well. So far, there are no skills that remove the drawbacks but I assume this will only be avable once more of those necromancer pages are gathered. Until then, I must limit the usage of it, or just not use it at all. Since the headache is a bit painful, I decided to go back to bed and lie down for now. It''s just that much more painfulpared to the headaches I experienced before. A little bit of rest won''t hurt. ... ... ... ... I opened my eyes and once more, I returned to thend of the Yggdrasil. It''s quite weird that I immediately remember all of the memories that I don''t remember once I am here in this ce. Quite a weird thing, right? But I still feel that this is somewhat connected to me for some reason now that I think about it. This dream has also been appearing since the time I regained my mana and returned to the past. Perhaps there is somewhat a connection of some sort? My first instinct is to find the girl who resides in this ce. She ismonly found at the base of the Yggdrasil and she stays there most of the time. I haven''t seen her wander farther from the tree so there is a chance that she is just there, waiting for something or she just doesn''t care about exploring the area. Either way, I have to check out where she is and ask her what is going on. But to my surprise, she is nowhere to be found. It was like she vanished and she never was there in the first ce. I circled around the big tree but she does not appear anywhere at all. This made me scratch my head as this rarely happens in these kinds of dreams. The only time I didn''t see her was when the time I just got into this ce and when I tried to explore the area beyond the Yggdrasil. Other than that, she should be around here somewhere. "Looking for me?" I was startled that I immediately went to a defensive stance and face the direction of the voice. Before me is the person I was looking for, sitting on the big rock near the tree, while still holding the box that is sealed. "Wah, you startled me, why did you suddenly appear behind me all of a sudden?" "Hehe, can''t believe you would get startled by just that. I thought you have already had so muchbat experience that you should be a veteran by now." "It''s different as I don''t have a weapon here! If I do have a weapon here, then things would be much different!" "Is that so? Well, let''s leave it at just that." "Anyways, why do I have returned here again? I usually don''t enter this ce multiple times but it seems to have been frequenttely." "Heh, I just wanted to know whether you are currently fine at the moment. After all of the spells I used to counter the memory alteration that was used on you, I was wondering whether there are any side effects that seem to be prevalent in your body after that event" "Nothing really. I felt fine overall and my mind is clear and still does not feel like I lost any memories except for the moments happening here which get returned whenever I returned here and then disappear once again once I am out of this ce. It''s a bit confusing," I answered while shaking my head for a bit. "Then that is good. With how taxing the spells I used were, it was somewhat of a surprise you barely have anyplications with them. You must have a very strong body or just that your body has a high resistance to those spells I used. Either way, that is good as I might be using it again in the future." "Why would you use it again?" "There is a chance that the same spell will be used against you again. You have no immunity or such a thing to that spell even though one of them has been used against you and the only way for you to counter that is for me to intervene. And the world hangs in a bnce with your memories. Without them, the world is basically screwed over." "I still don''t understand what is my role. Am I really forced to do all of this? Am I supposed to be the one who will stop any bad thing that will happen to both worlds?" "Depends on you. You can ignore it all you want and let the world be destroyed. It doesn''t matter but based on your recent actions, you are clearly not in agreement with the destruction of the world so in short, you either take the role of being one or just watch the world break to pieces. It''s all up to you." I am definitely not in favor of world destruction. Why do you think I returned to the past in the first ce if I will still die a tragic way after returning as well? My main goal is to live old enough and die of natural causes, not by dying due to the world''s destruction and stuff. Obviously, I will do my best to save it. "I can see the hesitation in your eyes. Yes, you might burden yourself with saving both worlds. However, saving the two worlds doesn''t mean you are a hero. You are just not in favor of the destruction of the world so if you think you are not fit to be the savior, then perhaps ask for help from others. You don''t need to bear all of the burdens alone. Share it and even it out." "Is this why you are helping me? Because you cannot bear to see the world be destroyed?" "Who knows? I am a sentient being exclusive on this ne. A being that watches the fate of the two worlds. I am merely an audience and I can''t do anything drastic that would somehow drastically change the scenario of both worlds." "So that was your role? To watch over anything?" "I can''t answer that. But that should be part of my role here. However, it is not yet time to reveal what is my role in this story of yours, deheart. One thing is for sure, I am going to remain here and watch over humanity''s progress." There are still some questions I want to ask her but then, my vision starts to get hazy. "Ah, it seems your time here is up. It''s time to go back to the real world. The next time we meet might be for quite a while I guess but I can tell that something good will happen once you are back in your real world. Not that you can remember my words once you wake up." "W-wait!" e¦Áglesn?¦Íel But before I can even stop the inevitable, I lost consciousness and everything cked out. ... ... ... ... ... I opened my eyes and I felt refreshed as my body is now fully energized after a good night''s sleep. I think there is something that happened before I woke up but for some reason, I can''t recall what it was. But I can only shake my head in confusion as I still don''t know what happened. Perhaps there must be something I did before but I nked out. Oh well, if I can''t remember it, perhaps it was just my imagination or perhaps it was just part of my dreams. Now that my body is back in great shape, I went out of the room and saw the elves hanging in the living room. They are currently still working out the spells but as soon as they saw me, Pixie flew over to me. "Master Manato! It seems a great breakthrough has been achieved by everyone!" Chapter 770 Progression Of The Research ? Pixie dragged me to where the elves were. Before we reached them, I scanned the whole ce to check whether anyone is up, and from the looks of it, some were still sleeping while most are in the Alternate World as I can see the indicator that they are currently using the tattoo. "Don''t worry. No one will know that we are discussing things unless you want them to know. We created a little barrier to erase our presence and stop leaking our voices out of this little barrier. Once we enter it, no one will know we are here." "Why are you guys doing this in the open? Isn''t it pretty risky?" I asked. "The room is a little bit limiting and we can''t just do some stuff when testing there as the limited space hinders us. Therefore, we decided to move out in here and use up the barrier I mentioned," Pixie answered. We both arrived at where the three elves are gathered. Renatta smiled, disables my tattoo just like usual, and started talking which made me immediately understand what she was saying. "Hey there, Manato. d you are finally out of the room. We made a big breakthrough from our experiments and research!" "Wait, huh? I can now understand what you were saying all of a sudden. When did you suddenly get fluent in speaking Japanese?" "Haha, silly, I haven''t mastered yournguage yet and I am still unable to speak like that so fluently. This is from the help of the spell that was in that tattoo that we copied and replicated. It took some time for us but now, we finally recreated it. We can now speak with you without the need for trantion help from Pixie. It is much easier tomunicate with you like this as I can speak mynguage just fine and you will understand what I am talking about due to the auto-trantion ability that was present. It''s not that perfect just yet, and we still needed a proper way of stabilizing this but so far, it''s good." "Then, will Pixie be out ofmission now?" "Haha, you think so? I don''t want Pixie to disappear though. She was like my long-lost sister incarnated into a fairy. And her presence alone is making me much happier than I have been in the past. Please don''t let her go," Renatta begged. "What are you talking about? Even if Pixie will not be the one helping with the trantion anymore, I am not going to just purge Pixie like that. Letting her remain is a lot better as you have been enjoying your stay here and you are already attached to each other. Why would I cut that off? Besides, I doubt Pixie would just ept it if I just terminated her." "Indeed! I might just be a contracted spirit in the whim but I have been here for so long that I don''t want to return to nothingness once more. I would be super mad if Master suddenly does that. I won''t forgive if he did." "I am not that heartless. Anyways, based on your excitement, it seems that was not the only thing that you guys have done?" "Indeed. Alena and Labo will exin the next segment since you can understand us properly now." e¦Áglesn?¦Íel "Alena and Labo?" I frowned. "It''s our names, Sir Manato. I am Labo and this is my wife Alena. We apologize for not introducing our names for too long. We just didn''t want to be close to humans due to how the former humans who captured us treated us so we are quite wary. But that is gone now with you giving us the chance to live normally here. And the fact that we are also getting the chance to return to our world is also something that means a lot to us as well. And since we are now certain you are one of the good people in this dimension, we are ready to reveal our names as well." "I am delighted to make your acquaintances, you two... but is it really fine for me to know who you two are?" "It''s fine. Besides, there''s no literal meaning in our names anyways and they don''t hold powerful secrets if revealed, we just didn''t want to talk too much about our identities." "Anyways, enough of that, we will now share what we finished these past days. Aside from the trantion spell that we replicated, we are also almost done with studying all of the spells present. We have also finally pinpointed the trackers on that tattoo and where the actual transportation stuff is present. We also found that there are some mind-wiping magic circles present as well as mind-altering spells. "Mind-Altering spell?" "Yes. It''s one of the things that are capable of altering what you are thinking or what you are seeing in reality. It''s pretty much a brainwashing spell alongside the mind wipe spell. The only difference is that the mind-altering spell is much less in priority of a function and more like it was just there. As for the mind wipe, it can be activated anywhere which makes it a pretty dangerous spell to be in the tattoo and which made the person who tried to delete your memories able to just do that without a problem and without you even noticing it. Same with the mind-altering spell. Once it was cast, you will not know that it was activated unless detected or foiled," Alena exined. "So there is a chance that I won''t know this spell activated at all if they ever tried to use it?" "Yes. It''s pretty scary to think that a spell stealthily added to the pile of magic circles was there and is readily able to rewrite and erase your memories depending on what the one who activated the spells does. This kind of spell is easily one of the probably forbidden but can be used in certain circumstances. But to this scale, it''s certainly punishable by thews of the elven kingdom very easily. To think this kind of activity is being done without the knowledge of themon people," Labo keeps on nodding as he added hisints about the spells. Indeed. If all the people in this world know that the tattoo they had had this kind of ability, they would panic, they would protest, and would try to ask for the removal of the Reality Verse in its entirety. Then, I just realized something. Is this tattoo possible to be removed? "Hey, can I ask whether this tattoo can be removed in its entirety?" "You mean, removing not only one part of it but all of the spells of it? The very whole spell?" Renatta tilted her head. "If that''s what you are asking, the answer is no unless we tweak it. However, this tattoo is meant to be a permanent addition to your skin. Even if you lop off the skin that has the tattoo, that won''t work as the spell will just transfer to the flesh instead and remain there. You can say that this thing just became part of your body and removal of it is something that you cannot do at all. One of thest spells that are added to anchor it to your body is serving that purpose. Unless that was entirely purged, the entirety of the spells won''t be removed and so far, a method to remove that "anchor" does not exist just yet or perhaps they exist but we don''t know who holds it. Perhaps the people who made this must have it," Renatta answered and exined. "Are you nning of removing that from your body?" Labo asked. "No. I don''t n to run away but I just got curious whether there is a way to remove the whole thing entirely. But I don''t n to. It''s my only portal in and out of the Alternate World and losing that would be not an ideal thing to do." "Ah, speaking of the tattoo, we are almost done with the spell removal that we are making to remove the tracker and the memory-rted spells. We are close topletion. And I think this is also the time you tell everyone what you are going to do and what you need to do," Renatta pointed at my tattoo. "Once we remove those spells, we will be targeted by the man himself. Therefore, you need to make a choice soon enough. Of course, if you n to discuss this with them, please make sure that we are there as we need to disable the spying spell to ensure they don''t track your movements and conversation anymore." "I think if you want to talk to someone, I think Pandora-chan is your first choice, Master. She is asking for you and she ryed to me that you need to talk to her once you receive my message," Pixie suddenly suggested. Pandora huh? It seems I really needed to do what I really needed to do soon. Who would have think that it woulde sooner? Chapter 771 A Conversation With The Girls ? This is making me feel conflicted about whether it is fine to involve everyone in my problems but they are my friends and they would be very angry at me if I suddenly ghosted them, and disappeared without talking to them. They are my allies, and they are my closest friends. But there is still the fear of being rejected. The feeling will feel more like a betrayal for me and I hated to feel that again after being betrayed back in the past timeline. But it''s not really a betrayal if they decided that it''s not worth joining my endeavors and besides, it''s pretty risky stuff I am about to do. Not only this gives a possibility of being a wanted man, but there is also a chance that their normal lives will be ruined as a result so it''s also understandable that they would refuse. But I am a little bit worried about their safety. Since the tracker is present, that means Nobuhiko knows who are the people I was with in real life and who he can use to threaten me ofing out if I choose to be a renegade soon. That day, I didn''t go back to the Alternate World but instead have some rxing time by myself. It''s not that troublesome to wait for Pandora to go offline as she usually goes offline around the evening to take her medicine. As for the others, they are pretty much irregr in schedule so I am not that certain when I will be able to speak with them. For now, I am scouring the inte to look for information and stuff. It''s best to learn what is happening around the world while I am busy with the Alternate World. Most of the news I get is exclusive in Japan but there is some news that is stuff done from other parts of the world. As the Reality Verse is expanded overseas, it''s natural that people will try to buy it due to the ability to gain magic abilities. But this is also concerning. The more it expands, the more surveince footage Nobuhiko got from these people who gets to find the Tree of Life first. But with Renatta and the others doing the work and progressing quite well now, I am now confident we might be able to catch up soon enough. Still, to think he has a purpose of changing the real world into a magical world, it seems he is nning to generate those present in the Alternate World in the real world. It''s basically like he is ready to convert this world into a magical ce, bring forth the monsters, and make chaos in the world. While looking through all of the stuff happening on the inte, I got hungry and so I went out of my room to check on the kitchen what I can cook or eat immediately. When I arrived, Pandora was currently with Riko, and Rika currently eating. From the looks of it, they are just eating lunch for now but I think this is also a good opportunity to talk to them. I immediatelymunicate with Pixie via Telepathy. With my connection to Pixie, I can talk to her anytime despite our distance using only our minds, making this much easier for me to talk to them. "Pixie, are the elves currently still up?" "Yep. Pretty much awake and still doing their usual work. Why is it, Master?" "Let them know that I wanted to talk with Pandora, Riko, and Rika now and I needed their presence." "Okay, got it." After that, I cut off the telepathy connection. Unless Pixie contacts me again via telepathy or vice versa, then the ability is disabled for now. A few secondster, the trio along with Pixie went outside of their rooms. That''s when I also went down as well and go to the kitchen. The girls immediately saw me and they were surprised when the elves also followed suit. Nevertheless, they still greeted me like usual. "Hey, Manato. I think it was quite some time since I saw you and we teamed up. Are you doing some solo y for now?" Riko asked. "Oh, I definitely agree, it was like he is definitely avoiding us on purpose," Rika frowned. Pandora nodded in response as well. "Guys, I have something to discuss with you all. But first..." I then give a signal to Renatta and the others and the three immediately disable their tattoos. They already disabled mine while the girls are talking to me and I was still joining in with the elves. "Huh? What is going on?" Riko frowned. "What did they just do?" Even Rika who was calm suddenly got surprised by the actions. "Don''t be rmed. We just disabled the trackers and surveince spells present on your Tattoos," Renatta exined. The three were surprised when they can suddenly understand Renatta." "Woah, woah there... wait, I am pretty sure Renatta has yet to learn thenguage properly but howe she can now speak fluently? What is going on?" "Trackers? rms?" Riko is getting more and more confused. "Listen up guys, we will discuss these things with you all. We just need you guys to listen to us. However, it''s pretty confidential and that is why I am quite busy that I barely meet up with you guys and why we decided to suddenly disable some stuff on the tattoos." "Alright... then we needed to hear it. Because I am totally confused as hell right now as well as the others being not sure what is happening." "Okay, guys, do the trick." "You got it," Labo then snaps his fingers and a thin veil covered all around the kitchen. "With this veil, anyone who is unauthorized to enter here will not see us and hear us. With the preparations done, I will now begin exining what is happening." And so, I began retelling them what happened to me, how I met Nobuhiko and learned about his n, how he tried to tamper and delete my memories only to be blocked by something causing me to remember what I should have forgotten. I also added that the Alternate World is not really a game but an alternate world, parallel to Earth, and how this magical ce was the home ground of the elves and how I asked for help on them. I also revealed the tattoos as well as their hidden spells. Hearing all of the stuff I exined was a bit too much for them but they are not happy with what they heard. "Wait, so they are basically spying on us even when we are outside the game? Do they have surveince on us?! Isn''t this an invasion of privacy?!" Rika is angry." "That''s basically why we disabled it in the first ce. It''s only for a limited amount of time but that allowed us to bypass the surveince and keep the ns I formted to be secret until now." "So you are saying you are gonna go against Nobuhiko and you are asking us whether we are going to help with you this n?" Rika asked. "Although it''s pretty close, the precise way of what I was nning to ask you guys is that I needed you all to be a renegade, and remain in the Alternate World with me for an undefined time until we get a solution to the situation or even stop it. In short, we will live in Alternate World for quite some time to evade the eyes and people of Nobuhiko that he will send to take care of us," I revealed. "By the way, we will being as well so once the n is going tomence, we will apany Manato-kun to the Alternate World and help him with this problem," Renatta added. The three were silent at first. However, Riko was the first to answer out of the three. "Sure then. Just living in the Alternate World for quite some time? That''s fine then. Since it is confirmed that we can live in the Alternate World just fine and live there, then I think I am in. I doubt I will be able to talk to my parents for quite some time and I am still upset. So with that said and done, I don''t have any pressing tasks left, it is going to be a good chance for me to join you on this. I don''t think letting you carry all the burden of saving the world is something that is good for your health. So if you are going to do the n, then I am in. Contrary to Riko, Rika, and Pandora are hesitant. Both don''t know what to do and what they needed to answer. "I think I needed more time. I still don''t know much about leaving my normal life. So I apologize, however, I am not entirely declining it. I still need extra time to think about it." Pandora raises her board. "I am going to ask my brother for permission first. It''s pretty sudden so I don''t know what decision I should make." "It''s fine. However, if you guys n change your minds, then just call me." Chapter 772 Torture ? The conversation went a bit smoothly though I ended up only being able to recruit Riko in the process. Rika and Pandora are still not sure whether they should join or not. I am not trying to force them into something they didn''t want so I am giving them time to decide. Besides, they have matters in real life to take care of, so I am not mad that they are doing this. I returned to my room after talking to them. I reminded Riko that we will do the thing once we are good to go. I also added some warning as well as she cannot return to the real world for quite some time so if there is anything she is going to do, she will have to do it while the n is still in motion. After that, I decided to make a n for the people I needed to talk to. The first one would be my parents. I needed to have them learn about the secret of the Reality Verse. And even though they are my parents, they don''t automatically agree with my decisions which is why I also needed to know and persuade them on this matter. But as usual, if they choose to stay, then I have no other choice but to back down. The next people I will have to recruit on this are the siblings and Janus. I don''t know what they will choose and that makes me nervous. Even Janus is an uncertain element as well since he might contact his parents sometimes. He is just living here in Japan for quite some time so if his family back in his home country tried to reach out, there might be a chance that he does not want to join my endeavors. As for the siblings, I can say they are on 50-50 chances. It will depend on their answers and I can''t say I know what they will be. Since I don''t have any ess to anyone at the moment with the siblings back in the game and Janus is currently busy farming in the game as well, might as well go back into the game and check out the prisoners that Queen Tanya has. Their behavior is weird and I can easily say that they have some kind of connection to the demons especially how they have some inhuman movements and strong levels as well. Only demons or those who have the blood of one are capable of that feat with the exceptions of the yers and people who are blessed. With their actions on the ruins as well, it''s not too far for us to suspect that they are there in search of something that they thought we have but is actually not on us. Besides, they are pretty hostile so it''s warranted that Queen Tanya will not just let those people go. I lie down on my bed and closed my eyes. To think I am still using the technology that has a tracking spell, recording every single action I make in the real life and in the Alternate world, is kinda creepy in a way. Still, no choice for me but to use it for my traversal to the Alternate World and this world. ... ... ... ... [Wee Back, deheart] The same mechanical voice that wees me every time I go back to the Alternate World is clearly part of the Reality Verse now that I know that this world is not a game. Even if it wees me like I was in a game, I cannot be fooled anymore. It''s still early in the morning when I woke up and the sun has yet to properly give off the heat it usually gives so I guess that is a big plus. Anyways, I equipped my gear back again and went out to check if there is anything to do or if Queen Tanya is already up and about. I checked up on Lucia and she was currently asleep. Pretty tired from all the reading she did from all of those diaries from Sandro. As for Queen Tanya, I asked the maids, and they said she went to the dungeon after taking her early morning bath. Since she is already up, it seems she is now ready to do the interrogation process. Using the direction that the maids gave me, I went to the dungeon of the pce. Like most dungeons that currently house criminals in a pce, the ce is a lot darker than expected. However,pared to most dungeons I have seen in the past and in the current timeline, the dungeon in Queen Tanya''s castle is pretty much bare of prisoners. It seems Queen Tanya does not detain prisoners for long or she just made those prisoners some kind of ves or something for a definite amount of time. The jails are empty but it''s also clear that there are signs it was used before. But with empty spaces, I don''t think, they are ced here anymore. I continue to walk the dark corridor of the dungeon and soon find Queen Tanya without any guards apanying her. She is currently talking in front of the bars which means someone was inside. As I get closer, Queen Tanya noticed my presence, and she beckons me beside her. "Good that you are here, deheart. Look at these two. It seems even the nightmarishnd I encased them with seems to have barely any effect on them." I looked inside the jail and saw the two chained up on the wall. The two are ring at us now that both of them have no mask on. "Why are they chained up even though they are already inside the jail?" I asked. "These two are more of a trouble even when jailed so I have to keep them inside while chained up to ensure that they won''t be able to do anything unnecessary." "I see, so what is the n?" "They are both tight-lipped people so I am hoping that you have some good torture devices or torture methods that can make them speak. Even my methods seem to not have much effect on them," Queen Tanya sighed. "You won''t get any information from us. Even if we die, you won''t hear anything!" the female growled as she said those words. Clearly, she is eager to oppose us every single minute. Seeing how they are being too hostile to us, I got an idea of what method of torture should I use. Since painful tortures are not even working and putting them in a ce where monsters ran rampant, then there is one method of torture I think I can suggest. I whispered to Queen Tanya a method I know. Knowing Queen Tanya is capable of making stuff easily using her ability [Material Creation], this is nothing for her. "Eh? Does that really work?" "Aside from that, we add time maniption as well. Using the ability of the Chronomancer [Time Bubble], we can control time for them while they are inside it, allowing us to extract information in easy session. "[Time Bubble], huh? I have that ability but I never usually use that for increasing the speed of time but that is worth the shot indeed." Despite Queen Tanya''s Reaper ss, she can use some abilities that she managed to obtain in some ways which are why she has a variety of skills that is not present in a Reaper ss. Although not sure about the method I gave her will work, I am quite sure it will work as this is one of the most brutal torture methods I know without inflicting pain on them. We went outside and went to the wide space in her castle and she performed her skill to create two chambers. She made stuff as well based on my description to add more variety to the torture. And since we are using time maniption here, Queen Tanya also asked one of the chefs if she had to use her Food Making magic. Its ability is to produce food during an appropriate time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while being used. It''s a skill that gives food and drinks to the user but it is tasteless making this food a bit nd and usually only used to create ingredient copies if they arecking it which is perfect for this. However, for the sake of the torture method, this was modified. Once everything was done, I checked the room and I nodded in satisfaction as it is a perfect copy indeed. It perfectly remade the "White Room Torture" method. Soundproof, with no breeze thates in, andpletely isted from anything. Not only that but it is also resistant to any attacks done and nullifies any kind of magic as well making this ce invulnerable to anything. "Good. With these, they would be easily manipted in their minds and they will confess in no time." Chapter 773 Full Insanity ? The two prisoners are shoved there wearing white clothes that Queen Tanya specially made to restrict their movements and magic spells. They can''t use any abilities while wearing it, even if they did, the room would immediately suppress it. And in case they try to bleed themselves, the room also has the ability to clean up themselves if tainted by anything and if they try to wound themselves to see blood to preserve their sanity, they will immediately heal up their wounds, making it useless. The two are not sure what is happening but the moment they are inside, they are immediately sealed. Queen Tanya then pulled up the surveince camera for the two. "What is the time conversion we have here for their confinement?" "I don''t want things to go so fast that we can''t observe them properly so I set the progress of their time a lot faster than here. 1 month there would be 1 hour here in the real world. I wanted also to learn how this torture works since this is practically new to me but also kind of intriguing as well. Would you be so kind as to exin it properly now that they are there?" "Basically, it is a torture that robs them of their senses. It''s made to ensure that the prisoner would slowly walk and descend to madness the longer they are confined inside. Making everything white, soundproof, and airtight will also allow them to feel their helplessness in captivity. They will try to seek out for other colors other than white and with them stuck in a ce with just white color that even food and their things are white, they will no longer be able to keep themselves calm andposed and it will only take a little time before they will lose their senses and sanity that they are now easily manipted and we can now extract their information the moment they did lose it. It''s a torture that breaks the people who think they are unbreakable." "That''s kinda nasty and I think I get the basic gist of it but I still don''t feel convinced about it. So I think observing them for a bit will be a good idea." "Yeah, I think that is for the best. To see is to believe." And so, time passes by for the two prisoners. In the first week, the two are looking for a way out and tried to use their abilities to no avail. They do their basic needs of eating, and answering the call of nature, but other than that, they are trying to find a way out of the room. Later, they soon gave up on the notion and started doing random things for themselves to remove themselves from the boredom. Uno decided to do some training on his body and tried to exert force on himself to distract himself from the white surroundings. However, after he finished working out, hey down on the floor staring at the ceiling while huffing for air. He didn''t move for long before he started eating again. As for the female one, she tried doing many things like checking out the walls, the toilet, the food, and many more. She even tried to make sounds for herself to make a distraction as well. However, this proves futile as nothing other than herself seems to be doing other noises other than herself. "Queen Tanya, there is also an additional thing if you wanted to break their mind and that is to create stories about the outside world while they are slowly building up stress. Since they are deprived of freedom in this room, they will have no idea of what is happening outside other than the news that they will receive. Be it the destruction of the world, or the death of their loved ones, the changes that would bring more panic and confusion to their mind will be also very effective as well." "That sounds pretty disturbing but that would be very effective to use against spies and criminals who withhold information on us. I think I am starting to see the usage of this torture method you are saying with." We continue to check the situation in both chambers and the first one to exhibit a change of behavior is Uno. Before, he is doing many things like some workout and some stuff, now, he is just staying in the corner, lying and waiting for something that he knows won''te. His eyes wandered all around the room, probably counting the corners of the room or some sort. He might be bored but that is a sign that he is not doing well. As for the girl, it seems she is actively trying to distract herself by trying to sing songs and dance around. Compared to Uno, there are no significant changes in her just yet. An hour passed by which also means a month has already passed by in the chambers as well. Food is constantly being given to them and I can tell that both are now pretty much hating the food now. They either just eat a little bit or ignore it. I think it was also a strategy for them to make the food bad so that molds start growing on the food, giving them some color to see other than white. It''s not a bad idea but the problem is that the food that hasn''t been touched will disappear at the end of the day and another fresh batch is given out once more, making the tactics useless. "Woah, it''s just an hour here and it''s just a month over there for them but I am already seeing progress. Even though it''s just a waiting game for us, this is certainly something else." "It''s not called one of the worst torture techniques for nothing." "So there are more than this kind of torture techniques you know?" Queen Tanya asked. "Nah,pared to this, most of the torture techniques are designed to kill the one being tortured. It''s more like a slow execution as they are slowly being killed using it. Most will beg for them to die immediately than to experience the torture they are experiencing." The situation continues and although there is no violence done to the two, it''s clear that they are suffering from damage that is inflicted on their minds. Uno is now drawing circles on the ground, smiling as he tried to keep himself sane while the girl is now curled up in a corner, banging her head on the wall or on the floor at times. "It seems their minds are being degraded for quite a while now. Seeing how they seemed to be showing off their weaknesses, I can see now how this torture can break people without using any kind of violence. The only thing needed is time and they will slowly sumb to madness." "Yes. And because they are now so helpless, they can''t help but reveal everything and we will get our information. However, this technique also leaves massive trauma to them. There is a chance that they will no longer like to be in a closed space or see pure white things, or white rooms, and perhaps food that is color white might be something they will hate as well in the future. In short, they will no longer live the same way again after this." "It doesn''t matter. If they refused to give any information to us and are ready to kill, they are only digging into the inevitable and they can descend to madness. It''s less maintenance and less work to deal with. I like this method. Maybe I will use this method in the future as well. I doubt any person who is not a hardened warrior like corrupt officials can evenst a few days here." "Haha, well, that''s fine. It''s not like I own this method and I suggested this to you so that we don''t need to do somethingplicated to make them spill their secrets. In any case, these guys will still not spill the secrets but they are already losing their sanity and I can tell that they are almost there. Maybe a few more days for them and they might be already f*cked up already." So, we continued to watch them. We even drink some tea and Lucia came by to say hello as well before she went back to her work. We just prolonged their stay there and around 4 hourster, or in their case, 4 monthster, it seems they have already lost their minds and the two have already been too shaken. They are not harmed in any way and they are fed properly, however, they are no longer the same warriors who gave us a hard time.'' Uno is now curled up in the corner, biting his nails while chanting something unintelligible while the girl is lying on her bed, smiling with her face showing a face that went mad. She is chuckling from time to time but it is also showing that she is no longer blinking, causing her eyes to redden from it. It seems she can no longer sleep. We tried to talk to them but they no longer responds. "I think that is enough. More of this and we will not be able to obtain any information on them anymore." And so, the two are finally freed from the White Room. Chapter 774 Mental Breakdown ? Queen Tanya underestimated the mental breakdown that the two experienced. They were in a catatonic state for quite some time and although they respond to questions, whenever they see a white color, they immediately freak out to the point that they would rather escape from there and run away rather than see the white color before them. "I...I wasn''t expecting this much damage to their sanity like this. Just knowing them being like this is kind of fascinating and terrifying at the same time." "I told you before that they won''t be able to live properly after this. The experience will be forever engraved into their brains. Though I am impressed since they only have the basic form of fear. Most of the victims even formed hallucinations at times and they would freak out that they needed to be sedated or knocked out just to calm them down. So this alone is pretty mild." Hearing this, Queen Tanya seems to be convinced now that this method is much more brutal than most of her torture techniquesbined. She nodded before we went into their solitary cells. The guards needed to tie them up as the two would immediately go straight to the corner and curl up there. The first one we visited is Uno. He is the first one to lose a lot of sanities as he is more of losing all sight of what he held for before. Now, he seemed like the soul in his body has left him. Even his eyes are looking empty. "Hello, Uno. Do you still remember us?" Queen Tanya asked. Uno looked at Queen Tanya and at me then back to Queen Tanya before nodding lightly. "Good. Now, unless you want to return to the white room you are in earlier..." Before Queen Tanya can continue speaking, Uno started shivering and grating his teeth. "No, no, no, no...please, not the white room, please... I will do anything... just please, don''t return me to the dreadful ce. I will tell everything I know, so please..." The way his voice breaks while pleading is enough for us to know he is not acting out. He is scared and totally stressed out and even mentioning the room he was in before is something that he wanted to escape. He is now totally begging us to stop putting him inside the white room. "Alright. Tell us everything you know. Of course, if any of this information is a lie, then you will already know that you will remain in that room for the rest of your life and perhaps get you crazy as a bonus." Uno nodded and started revealing the secret as to why they attacked the other day in the ruins. They are known as Demon Servants and are the ones who currently scour through thend for the remnants of the demons that went asleep or went to hiding after the great war. They are half-demons and half-humans, a mix of both races which is why they don''t have the same wavelength as a human but they also don''t possess the same way the same power a demon has. The reason they attacked at that time is because they are looking for an artifact page for a necromancer book. ording to the sources, the owner of the ruins owns it and since he died, that also means he has it as well. However, after they searched and found nothing, the only natural course of action is to find it on our hands. Since we are the only people left there, there is a high chance that the artifact page was in our hands. That''s when I remember the page I picked up that allowed me to learn how to speak on corpses. Is that the one they are looking for? Ah...it must be. However, it doesn''t matter as that thing is destined to rejoin with the other pages as well. They will never get it back once it joins in. And with it in my possession, finding them will never be possible unless they identify the abilities of the necromancy I was using are differentpared to the original necromancy skills. "Why are you tasked with waking these slumbering demons up? What are the ns that you guys are trying to do?" "That...I don''t know. I am only a grunt and I am not given much information as to what my missions are but based on what I see after they wake up... they are the great ancestors of the demons and we hope they help us take over the world back in our rule..." Queen Tanya continues to question him for a bit but there is no new information left except the old things we already knew so we stopped questioning him, removed his restraints, and put him back normally in his cell. The moment his restraints are gone, he immediately went to the corner of the room and started muttering things. We can only shake our heads as that is already an expected oue from this guy. The next thing we did is go to the female masked girl though her mask has already been removed long enough. We don''t know her name so we can only identify her as the masked girl. Compared to Uno, it seems the mental breakdown severely destroyed her sanity as even though she was being questioned by Queen Tanya, she barely responds and her eyes keeps on darting around the room. She was shivering and she keeps muttering gibberish words as she continues to try to remove the restraints on her body. "I think her mind is more fragile than we thought. Her mind has been broken and she is barely capable ofmunicating," I scratched my head seeing the state the girl was in. "I see. So depending on how tough they are mentally, they are capable of withstanding and keeping their mental health sane while they are inside the room. Those who have low fortitude in their minds will never be capable of escaping the descent of madness. As sad as it was right now that we didn''t get any valuable information from the woman, we now know what they are and what the demons that are tormenting this world are trying to do." In short, with the help of their ancestors and their primordial powers, the demons are hoping that the awakened asleep demons on the ruins and tombs will help at the job of world conquest. If Lucia was woken up by a demon, perhaps, Lucia is not part of my allies right now and perhaps she might be a boss that I might defeat. In any case, it seems we are also going to have to find those tombs first and reawaken the sleeping primordial time demons up to stop the current time demons to have their way and ruin the world. Chapter 775 Bath Time ? After the data harvest we did from the two prisoners, Queen Tanya suggested sparring again with me as she barely had anyone who can match up with her during a sparring session. I am also a bit bored so I didn''t decline and epted her challenge. The two of us sh our weapons like we are going to kill each other and yet, take it easy as well to avoid harming ourselves. It''s quite amazing that I even managed to keep up with Queen Tanya in terms of speed, seeing how she can unleash a quick session of swings on her attacks. Still managed to keep our battle on equal terms and ended up with both of us remaining standing while our wooden weapons are already out of shape. The soldiers watching us are all amazed or pping after the spectacle. Those who have seen us fight already know how shy our fight was and are just watching us to see whether they will see a winner from any of us two or not. As for those new soldiers, they are all amazed by how strong their queen is and also how someone like me is able to keep up and even keep the battle to a standstill between the two of us. "I am impressed, deheart. You are steadily growing and your strength is starting to surpass mine. It wouldn''t take long enough before you can even beat me easily soon enough." "Eh, you are exaggerating, Your Majesty. I feel sore all over my body after our battle and you think I can win against you with this kind of body who can''t evenst that long?" "Hehe, you should be proud of your body forsting that long. No one has yet to be able to remain standing from my attacks in a spar that long aside from you and even some of the adventurers that I met tried challenging me, no one was able to remain standing like this for long." To be honest, no one except me is able to remain standing and still ready to fight after the battle against Queen Tanya. If Queen Tanya fought the two prisoners before in the ruins, the two would have ended up dying but since she didn''t want them to die as she needed information as to who and what their purpose is, which is why she only have minimal action during that time and besides, Lucia and I were enough to suppress the two. We stopped sparring and I returned to my quarters. I lie down on the bed for a few minutes until I felt a bit hot in my body while resting. I have rested for a bit now so I think a good time to take a bath in the hot spring is a good idea. Even if the climate is hot, natural hot springs are still a good bath in this continent. Not only does it refreshes the body but it also removes fatigue as well. Of course, a regr cold bath helps with appeasing the hot weather but in my condition, I think I wanted to try removing the fatigue for once. The hot spring in this castle is not divided between girls and boys. It''s one big pool of hot water for both to enjoy. However, I doubt there is anyone inside right now aside from perhaps a few servants cleaning the bath but it should be fine as they will leave once someone goes in. As I removed my clothes and proceed with only a towel covering my lower half, I went to the washing area and started cleaning up myself. I didn''t notice anyone around though it''s a bit misty so I can''t properly see if there is anyone other than me there. But for sure, no servants are cleaning the bath which is good. "Ho... it seems you are quite exhausted for you to head to the hot springs, eh?" the voice of Queen Tanya echoes in the bath. I looked into the hot springs and saw Queen Tanya currently soaked in the hot water, all naked as usual with a floating tray containing a cup of alcohol. "Ah, my apologies, Your Majesty. I didn''t know you are taking a bath. I will be going out, so please enjoy your bath." "Oh, no, no. No worries. You have seen my birthday suit before, why would you still be shy? Join me in the bath. It''s much better to take a good soak in warm water while drinking alcohol with someone. Just finish up cleaning yourself thoroughly first before soaking in." Seeing as she would get angry if I try to escape, I decided to remain and continue cleaning my body. It''s not like my first time seeing a naked woman but knowing that this is an alternate world makes the experience real and I am not just seeing animated boobs and thighs but a real deal. Once I am done, I soaked in while still keeping the towel but Queen Tanya stopped me and I was forced to remove it if entering into the water. Thankfully, I am not shy about it so I removed the towel and entered the bath. "Heh, you are a grown man already. Being a wuss like that won''t get you any girls, you know?" Queen Tanya chuckled. "This is a different story you know," I sighed. "Still, this should be the first time I am seeing you without the wolf mask covering your face and I must say, you are quite a looker." "Ahahaha, is that apliment? I don''t think I am that attractive of a guy in general?" I scratch my head as I never receive any kind of praise for my looks. Most of the time, it''s just normal. "Why would I lie? I know my fair share of good-looking guys and I also know how to differentiate ugly guys as well. And I don''t even categorize you as thetter. I must say that you belong to the former category and I am adding you to the guys I find attractive." Receiving apliment like this gives me a bit of happiness and a bit of confidence about myself. If someone like Queen Tanya who is one of the attractive girls in the Alternate World recognizes my good looks, then that means I have it indeed. "Well, since you insist then it should be fine. Though I don''t think I am that handsome." "Hehehe, alright then. If that''s what you believe. Anyways, care for a drink?" "Don''t mind if I do." And the two of us have a good time drinking the alcohol in the bath. Perhaps it''s best to wash away my problems for a while and have a good time for a bit. "By the way, deheart. Have you heard of the continent named Kamikaze?" I was stunned for a second after hearing it. From the looks of it, it''s here. "Based on your reaction, it seems you do. But in case I am just reading your face wrong, Kamikaze is the continent where it was protected by a gust of strong wind that only specialized aircraft and vehicles are able to move past it which is why the continent is called Kamikaze. Lately, the wind that protects the continent from any threats has be stronger than usual and the inhabitants are worried that there is something wrong happening and it might be involving the winds. They fear that one day, this divine wind that is covering the whole continent will suddenly engulf them and destroy their whole continent." "Is the Goddess Titania gonna issue the same task to the pioneers?" "So far, there is no response from the goddess and no one knows whether they will be given the chance to do so. But due to the stronger winds bing a much more serious threat, the people are now trying to find a way to get some help from the outside to learn what is happening in the winds. One of my friends has asked me if I could go with my Sister there and check whether there is something happening in the winds because they can''t wait for the help that the goddess is promising them to have." "A race against time huh?" I rubbed my chin. This is a new thing in this world and perhaps a new incident might have urred and right now, I think I am no longer surprised by it. "Indeed. This is why, in the following days, I will be going there alongside my sister to help check on the divine wind going crazy. Waiting for the goddess will just spell their demise so the sooner the identification of the problem goes, the better. And it would do great if the source of the problem is also eliminated." "So why are you telling me this?" "A pioneer with great skills and has been involved with most of the conflicts in all continents so far. One of the people who have managed to greatly involve themselves in solving the problem or have been the source of the solution, you are a great candidate for this. So I will ask a favor of joining us in this investigation. I want you to help us find the problem of the Kamikaze Continent. Chapter 776 Prep Time For The Expedition ? Our bath time was short. Although I enjoyed the conversation and of course the "view", it''s not good to keep soaking in the hot spring for long and Queen Tanya agreed so we both got out of the bath after a while. "I can tell that you are indeed nning to join in for the expedition we will do. However, I want you to prepare for the uing trip we are about to do. As much as you think the exploration thing is not that troublesome, we still don''t know what will happen. With the Kamikaze continent being sealed off from every other continent for quite a while, it''s clear that something big is brewing there and I hope you don''t take the challenge so lightly even though you are strong enough. I will also be making my preparations as well," Queen Tanya suggested as she put on her bathrobe. "Do you think the situation on the Kamikaze continent is worse than what the reports are given?" "I am sure of it. With the sealed continent only giving out slight news about the situation there, there will always be a piece of hidden news that is purposely hidden to ensure and avoid losing reputation and such. Such tactics are prettymon and I can see that happening here. So instead of relying on the news we got, we prepare for the worst oue." Queen Tanya is right. Kamikaze right now should be under the rule of the Trickster that decided to swallow and copy the appearance and behavior of the shogun that rule the continent of Kamikaze. No one knows about this incident aside from the shogun''s wife that saw everything that happened. The wife is now under the watchful eye of the Trickster and she can''t ask for help about the situation the shogun was in. She doesn''t even have any idea whether the Shogun is still alive or is already dead after the trickster devoured him whole. As a result, the shogun changed and started to rule using a dictatorship method that oppresses everyone under his rule. This will result in a total war that will cause chaos all over the ce and war will ravage thends due to the Shogun. This will result in the people rebelling while those loyal to the shogun will also fight and this will lead to a very bad battle that will wipe out half of the poption of the Kamikaze continent due to this. Due to that incident, the expedition is immediately given to the pioneers to put a stop to the shogun. This will result in heavy casualties as a result since the Shogun became strong enough for the yers to defeat. The shogun was indeed defeated but the continent is almost unrecoverable as a result. The people will be angry at the gods and also at the pioneers for arrivingte due to this and it will result in the total hostility of the popce to the pioneers as a result. It was also revealed that the Trickster was somewhat responsible as to why the continent was sealed off for quite some time to the outside world and the "Divine Winds" that protect the continent seem to be not in a good situation. Although not fully exined, this shows that the Trickster was indeed part of the reason why the winds seem erratic nowadays. Since I am going to sneak in with the two queens, there is a chance that the problem with the shogun is still possible to be mitigated. The main clue here is the wife of the shogun. If I can persuade her to help, maybe I can strike the shogun before the situation is irreversible. Now that the goal is clear, I will have to prepare. With the two queens ready to assist me whenever I can, then this is a good time rather than waiting for the other pioneers that will not be deployed until the worst part. After I part ways with Queen Tanya, I returned to the room and started formting ns. If possible, I want to save as many people from the uing decimation of the popce as much as I can. It''s not much but it should help. There are plenty of stuff I would be able to do if it was done correctly and my first priority is to recruit the wife of the shogun and prioritize her safety. Recruiting her will not be easy as the Trickster will be keeping his eyes on her especially since she is the one who knows the Trickster''s identity. The only bane of the Trickster. If she escapes the grasp of the Trickster, it will be bad for him as this might spell trouble and his demise as well so he will ensure the wife of the shogun will remain passive and will remain as a captive by him. I have plenty of ideas on what to do to ensure the wife will join my cause and to ensure her protection as well. The only problem is how to get close to her. With her being held captive by the trickster, she mostly remains in the castle and serves the Shogun like a real wife to him despite being the impostor. I can sneak in but that might also cause trouble as the castle is heavily guarded so I needed a n to ensure that I can easily speak with the wife much easier, that way, the trickster will not detect that I am already nning something. The next thing I needed to prepare would be the method the Trickster did to the Divine Winds. The Divine winds might be a problem as that is a violent winds that can indeed decimate the whole continent if it remains in that state so I also needed that to be solved as well. From what I can remember, there was something the exploration team before did to stabilize the winds but there are no methods revealed how it was done as it was "not that hard" ording to them. All in all, there are many things I needed to do and I needed to finish but there is also a chance that I will fail, so I have to ensure that everything seeds. And while I am at it, perhaps I might also find a clue of the whereabouts of the Tree of Life as well. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 777 Queen Tori Returns ? It''s been a few days since the ruins expedition was finished. We are currently remaining in the castle so that Lucia can finish transcribing and tranting the diary since ording to her, there are some important bits of info that seem to be part of the diary entries. And because I am also waiting for Queen Tanya to issue the beginning of the expedition, pretty much my stay in this castle has been a passive day for me. Aside from the preparations I am doing for the expedition to the Kamikaze Continent, there''s nothing else I have done aside fromzing around or sparring with Queen Tanya in my spare time. There''s also no development in the real world as well as the elves seem to have hit some kind of roadblock and will be stalled for quite a while until then. And as for the rest of the people I have to convince, I still didn''t get the chance to talk to them. Rika and Pandora have yet to give their answers but I didn''t want to make them hurry up on their decision so I let them be and just continue on waiting for their answers. All in all, most of the time, it was just a boring day after every boring day. "Wow, I don''t know whether I should be happy that I don''t have anything to do, or to be upset since I don''t have anything to do. It''s been some time since I have been this passive," I muttered. "Then why not start killing some monsters outside? That would definitely remove your boredom, yeah?" Cath Palug suggested while yawning in the bed. "You really think killing random low-level mobs outside does any help? It gets more boring the more I do that and I don''t want the newbie adventurers toin that I harvested all the low leveled mobs outside and left them nothing to kill. You will be the one who will get more satisfaction in battle as well." "Ugh, what a boring response," Cath Palug then plopped himself to sleep. As for me, I am just creating some ready-to-eat snacks that slowly raise my experience points on my EX Job. I needed my rank to be a bit higher so that I can use the recipe that will also help me with recruiting the wife of the shogun forter. However, it''s pretty much dull creating this thing over and over just to level up my cooking skill level. I even have lots of this stuff in my inventory, but this is for the sake of the result. Cooking food a lot is needed to level up the skill but since I can''t keep on cooking food that will go bad for quite a while, the ready-to-eat snacks are the best recipe for it. A recipe that gives a decent amount of experience in cooking, non-perishable, hand-crafted ingredients is pretty easy to make being sugar and water with the addition of caramelizing the water and sugar then creating cubes from it. It''s easy to make but it''s pretty much a chore to raise the level, so I am still bored while making stuff. As I am still having a dull day while waiting for the hours to move away, the soldiers outside seem to have assembled. I also heard the maids scurrying around as well as if they are currently in a hurry to prepare something. This prompted me to stop what I am doing and look out for what is currently happening. I looked outside the window but I can''t get a grasp on what is currently happening so I can only shake my head at this and wonder what it was all about. However, my curiosity is driving me mad so I decided to go and check out what was this all about. The maids are still scurrying and busy with their work so I didn''t bother to stop and ask, I don''t want to hamper their work and lose their job because of me. I should investigate this myself rather than disturbing one of the maids. Outside, the soldiers are lined up and from the looks of it, someone ising in, and based on how they are doing this, it seems to be someone important. As I was wondering who it was, Queen Tanya appeared with her two maids behind her. "Oh, deheart, are you also here to wee Tori as well? I didn''t know you know she will be arriving today. I don''t think I mentioned anything about it?" she was surprised. "Eh? So it was Queen Tori who is currently arriving which is why everyone is busy?" I asked. "You don''t know?" "No, I just went out as everyone seems in a hurry so I went out to check who it was." "Remember that we will be going to the Kamikaze Continent? Tori will being as well which is why she is currently visiting so that once everything is ready, she will depart alongside us." "Oh yeah, I do remember you saying that she will be joining us but you didn''t say anything that she will being today." "Haha, I guess I didn''t specifically say she wille today. But now you know." A red carpet is being rolled out from the road and the carriage door opened, revealing Queen Tori alongside her two maids as well. As soon as she passes by, the soldiers made a salute gesture one by one. Queen Tori remained elegant on her walk as she slowly remove the thick garments in her body and gave them to her maids, leaving only normal clothes that is insted enough for anyone to wear while in a hot environment. "Ugh, sis. I know that it was only for appearances but please, can we stop doing this kind of stuff? It''s kinda embarrassing yeah? Besides, these poor soldiers and maids are all busy, and stopping them on their work just for this is just kind of troublesome for them," Queen Toriined. "Now, now. As much as youin, we needed to do that so that those officials who keep on keeping their eyes on us won''t have any criticism thrown at us." Queen Tori notices me and she smiled as she pat my shoulder. "Looks like we are going to work together once again, boy. Thanks for keeping on helping us with this. It''s a huge help." Chapter 778 Kamikaze Intel ? The wee entrance for Queen Tori concluded and now we are in the dining area. "Haaaa... I can finally enjoy cold food. Eating this stuff in my castle just adds more freezing temperature to my body so I don''t think I like to eat any while I am there," Queen Tori happily eat a bowl of ice cream that is exclusively served for her. "I told you already that you can go and have a vacation here once in a while. Staying there in the cold just going to stop you from enjoying any cold snacks at all," Queen Tanya suggested. "Nah, it''s too much of a hassle and I am also busy with all the beast attacks here and there. Thankfully, none of the behemoths are moving so it''s not that much of a problem for us. So instead of going in here for vacation, I would rather fortify my castle and increase the power we wield to fight back against the monsters." "Eh, you are no fun, sis. It''s fine to have fun at times you know." "But we are not here for fun, right? We are here to go and respond to the SOS from the Kamikaze continent. You know it''s serious when the flourishing continent that usually is pretty independent and rich in goods will ask for help from the outside continent and even try asking for the Goddess Titania to resolve the problem." "Well, you are right but we should also have some good time to waste for a while you know? We don''t need to focus too much on it." "Actually, we don''t have much time to waste. I got a spy currently living in the Kamikaze continent and he gave me a lot of intel about what is currently happening inside the swirling winds that block off any kind of ways to observe the continent without entering it." "Eh? You already got intel? And what the heck, this is the first time I heard of you having a spy living there!" Queen Tanya was surprised. "Hehe, unlike you Sis, I am more capable of finding information from the other continents. I don''t have much brawn topete with you but I canpete against you if it was about the brains. Hehehe, don''t think I am just sitting there waiting for nothing and going into the battle without any intel." Queen Tanya can only scratch her head as she didn''t expect her sister to be able to beat her on getting intel from a ce where Queen Tanya has a limited amount of knowledge. "Alright, fine. I admit defeat this time around. So what is this intel you are talking about?" "A bit of a worrisome intel. Chaos is currently brewing all over the ce and it seems the guards in that ce have been quite stricter than usual. Most of the people there are oppressed and the bandits ran rampant all over the ce. As for themon people, they are forced to fight back on their own as the usual guards don''t bother to respond to troubles and are just there to stand back and watch. As a result, the violence has increased for quite some time. Monsters are even rampaging all around the outskirts and towns around those ces are left being ravaged by monsters. The shogun is focused more on creating a war against enemies and dealing with people who are against his regime. As for the winds, ording to the intel, there is a chance that the artifact that is currently the one causing the winds to happen has been tampered with," Queen Tori revealed. "In short, the shogun was the one who is the main cause of all of this?" Queen Tanya frowned. "Most likely, yes. However, ording to my spy, the shogun suddenly became weird all of a sudden. He was a kind shogun before but all of a sudden, he suddenly changed behavior and suddenly became a man of authority. Not only that but his wife is no longer going out of the castle. It was quite weird as the wife is one that mingles with themon people to share the news with the shogun so that he can continue the good ways of managing the continent." "Looks like we have a case of possession, I guess," I immediately suggested as a way to make the two learn indirectly that the problem is the shogun himself. "Indeed, deheart. I thought so as well. There is no way someone would suddenly change like that without being influenced by something and possession is the most likely to be happening here. A malevolent being possessing the shogun? I can see that happening," Queen Tori nodded in approval of my theory. "So we have the shogun to worry about, the guards that don''t do anything aside from dealing with the enemy of the shogun, monsters rampaging, and the artifact that creates the winds. I think I can see a big connection to all of this and most of it leads to the shogun himself. Based on these things, it seems the shogun was the main cause of the problems the continent is facing right now and the winds are just an additional problem created. Yeaaahhhh... I don''t like where this is going," Queen Tanya shakes her head. "Yep. There''s no leisure stuff we will be doing once we get there. We will have to solve the problem immediately before we are suspected or much better yet, we wage war against the shogun and deal with him directly," Queen Tori suggested. "Hey, hey. I should be the one who should suggest that but I disagree with waging war against the shogun right now. Our goal is to find a way to solve the winds being too wild and threatening the popce. The shogun problem is just a second problem for us and I don''t think it is a priority unless it proves to be quite something else. Right now, we will have to do it as quietly as possible and then probably deal with the aftermath after this." "Nah, I can see that we will be opposing the shogun after doing our thing. In that case, we will have to overthrow him, make him regain his senses, and make the popce decide his fate. We will be solving the problem once and for all." Chapter 779 The Answer ? The discussion we have done is finally finished and tomorrow will be the day we depart for the Kamikaze continent. Lucia will being along as well but she wishes to continue transcribing the diary for a while so she will remain holed up in the summon''s area to keep herself busy. The others will be ready to support though. Queen Tori already made a way to enter the continent''s borders so all that is left is for the two to finish their preparations. As for me, I continue to raise the level of my cooking skill my EX Job had to be able to properly cook the food I needed for the wife of the shogun which wille in handyter if she refuses to join in our cause. The only thing is that it almost took me a whole day to finish the task I made for myself. And once I am done, I decided to return to the real world this time. I am getting hungry as well so might as well go back to the real world for now. ... ... ... ... ... I opened my eyes and I am back to the real world. Kind of exhausting, to be honest, and I am starting to find myself being estranged after going back and forth between the two worlds now that I felt like I am still in the Alternate World. Perhaps I am now not sure when I started feeling like this but it seems that my view of the real world and the Alternate World is starting to merge together and I don''t think I am liking it as now I am confusing both worlds due to this. Stretching my body for a bit, I checked the windows, and its raining. It''s not that strong but the temperature is getting colder. With the wind blowing into my window, I decided to close it as the temperature in my room suddenly went colder than before while I kept the window remain open. Somehow, even the rain seems to be simr to the rain in Alternate World as well. I shook my head and I don''t know whether this was just a me thing, or perhaps the two worlds are starting to merge together as one. Because if they do, it will be a big disaster to this world and to the Alternate World and there will be no more saving grace left once that happens. Checking the time, it''s almost 4 in the afternoon. I skipped lunch entirely, but I am not worried as I have eaten lunch in the Alternate World. Since the Alternate World is just another world, eating there is the same as eating here just the same. But I think eating another one would not hurt, I guess. Rubbing my stomach, I went out of my room and went to the kitchen to grab some grub. I was out of it while walking I didn''t notice the girls were in the kitchen along with the elves. Even the two siblings were there as well. The only one who is not present is Janus. "Oh, speak of the devil, he is here indeed," Riko immediately grins as she saw me walking to the kitchen. "Come, Manato. It seems you are going to eat, we are having some snacks. Care to join us?" Rika invited me by showing me a slice of pizza in her hands. "You guys call pizza delivery?" I asked. "Nah, we just made our own. Rika knew a recipe for one pizza. Looking at the ingredients and finding out that the ingredients are present, we decided to cook it and by following her instructions, we produced the food and it came out pretty well. Now, we have food to eat," Sora answered as she savored the pizza like it was from delivery. I went over to their table and the pizza looks like it doesn''te from a delivery indeed. Based on how messy the toppings are and how some of them have varying shapes and sizes, it''s clear this is a homemade one. Sitting down beside Pandora, Rika was the first one to give a sign to the elves to disable the tattoos. The elves understood what she meant and immediately and in a snap of their fingers, all of our tattoos were disabled. "Wow, that was faster than before!" Riko was amazed as the elves just did a single snap to do that in which before, they have to manually do it one by one with their hands. "We managed to find a way to do it easilypared to before but we still have yet to finish up the spells so we are still not that big on breakthrough on this one. We can do things like this now though so that''s that," Renatta smiled. The siblings were surprised at what happened and are confused about what is happening while the rest of us are no longer surprised. "I already made a decision, deheart. Although at first, I was hesitant, after finding more answers to my question, I can confidently say I can join in on your trials on this one. You saved me before so now that you are going to ask for help, I will lend my strength as well. Once the n is ready, I am going to join you on this one as well." Pandora also had her answer and this time, she already have written them on her sketchbook and she handed it to me for me to read. It''s a bit of a lengthy one. "I was hesitant at first since if I ept, my brother who doesn''t n to have a Reality Verse added to him will be left behind. However, he encouraged me about joining you on this. He wanted me to explore new horizons and leave his wings so that I can go out there and be free from anything. If joining you would increase my chances of exploring other ces without my illness hindering me, then I will join. I am certainly and will happily lend a hand on the cause." I looked at her and she gave me a warm smile, which I am happy that they are joining as well. Who would have thought they would be joining? Especially for Pandora who was usually with her brother. As I return the sketchbook, Suhei appeared and saw me. He approached the table and he pats me on my shoulders. "I am counting on you to take care of my sister once the n is carried out alright? If everything is good, pleasee home safe with her." "Wait, are you sure about this? She might note back for a long time..." "Yes. I know there wille a day when she will no longer require my assistance. As her brother, I am not here to chain her down. I am here to encourage what path she is going to take and I am going to support it whatever it is. And based on what she said to me, it seems this will be a grand adventure and for her to participate in that willingly without me is a big thing already. Now that she has friends to support her, I think it is also time for her to venture out into the bigger world. I am limiting her potential if she just remains by my side." "You are a good brother, Suhei-san. I hope my brother was as good as you, to be honest," Rika sighed. "Haha, not really. I might be a good brother but I am not a good son. But I think it is better this way I guess." After that, he left while he grab one slice of the pizza on the table. "Enjoy your talk guys, I will be taking one piece. It looks good." He left while eating the pizza in his hands. We are left silent after that when Akira breaks the silence. "Uhhh... can someone bring us into the loop? We are still lost on what the heck is happening?" I felt bad for the two who are out of the loop so I immediately gave them a rundown on what we are nning and what we are about to do. It''s going to be a big decision so I didn''t want to rush them from joining me and took my time exining what will happen. But it was immediately answered by the two. "We will join. If you are all nning a big event like this, then we will not miss this one. There is no way we will just let you guys leave us here. Brother, you helped us in times of our need, so we will pay you back on this as well. In fact, I don''t think we can even pay you back for how much you have done for us," Sora immediately exined. "What my Sis said, Brother. You are not alone in this battle, we will be joining and if it is for the sake of the world, then we will, not hesitate to join in." I was not expecting the answers to be this positive but that only means the recruitment of the people who will be helping me is expanding. The n is now sailing smoothly. Chapter 780 Suhei ? After the conversation he had with Manato, Suhei returned to his room, turned on the coffee machine sitting on his table and sat on the sofa chair beside his bed, and opened the curtains, revealing the dark sky with the raindrops falling over to the ss window. Finishing up the final bite of the pizza, he sighed after staring outside for a bit of time. "This is the right choice. I am powerless enough to oppose him. But if my sister and her friends can do it, perhaps..." The decision he came up with the choice that Pandora made, is something he had trouble epting and deciding for quite a while but he soon chooses to allow it and even though he fears the safety of her, she might be the key to end everything. He stood up after he smell the aroma of the coffee wafting from the machine and stops it from doing its job, grabs a mug from the cupboard, and poured a cup for him to drink. While he was pouring a cup, his eyes wandered into the photo frame involving him and Pandora alongside an unknown man that cannot be properly seen and identified as his face was ripped off from the photo. Nostalgia ising into Suhei''s mind but he decided to stop it from pushing through and just put the photo frame face down. While sipping the coffee, a calling from his HoloPhone suddenly disturbs his peace. He looked at the caller and the only name that registers on the screen ignites his anger. Despite that, he answers the call, however, he didn''t turn on the camera for a voice call. He might get angry if he saw the face of the caller. "What do you want, Dad..." Suhei sighed, like a disappointed guy. "Hey, son. Why sound disappointed? I called to check on you and your sister. Why are you sounding like you are not happy hearing about me?" "Since when did I feel happy hearing your voice, hmmm?" Suhei continues to sip his coffee but it seems he is also on the verge of throwing the mug out of rage. "Ohohoho, don''t be like that, son. It''s been a while so you should be happy at least that I called. So how is everything so far? If you are asking about me, then everything is going great." "Everything was all fine and dandy until you called. Way to ruin my day. So if you have nothing to talk to, then I will hang up, I am busy and I don''t have all day to talk to you." "Come on, son. Are you still angry? Why? Shouldn''t you be happy that I am making some progress on what I am nning? If everything seeds, then perhaps you will see your mom again." "F*CK YOU, DAD. Mom is already dead, alright? And whatever you do, you cannot bring her back anymore. She will not being back whatever ns you do, she will not be back. And even if you managed to seed, that is no longer Mom, that is just a clone, an impostor, someone who borrows the same face as Mother. Just ept it, Dad. Mom, is gone and she will not being back, so why are you not able to understand it?" "But I am doing this for all of us! For Pandora! You know how she misses her mother. She is still a child who still longs for her mother''s embrace. Why would you deny that?" "I have alreadye to ept that Mom is gone, Dad. And so was Pandora. She is not as brittle as you would expect her to be and despite her disability, she doesn''t need thefort of someone who copies the existence of a person who has already passed away. I fail to see what is the merit of trying to pull up someone back up from the grave. Did Mom ever want toe back? Perhaps, but did she really n to go back like that? Perhaps not, Dad. You are just making matters worse." The man on the other line sighed. "I see, it seems you still despise my n huh? However, I am not going to stop. Until the n is in motion, I will not stop. Even you cannot stop me and eventually, things will be set in motion and everything will be achieved. You can only watch it happen and it will be the same thing." "So you n to revive Mom at the expense of endangering multiple lives just for this? Aren''t you already out of your mind now?" "Ha, and what do I care about the other people? They exist to be used by this n and if they can be of use to make my n seed, then I won''t hesitate to use it, myself. And besides, even if I do, will you even tell the world about what I am doing? No! You don''t have the guts to do so. So you are no different than me, Suhei. You might be opposing me, but you are not that different than me." Suhei can only grit his teeth. He didn''t say anything nor tried to reason with his Dad. He just closed his eyes and just waited for the other line to speak again. "Haaaaa... well, send my regards to Pandora then. Perhaps she will appreciate the kind gesture. Anyways, I will not keep you for long." And with that, the call ended. It''s a short call but for Suhei, it felt like countless of suffering has been channeled through him and he felt like he has the urge to scream and release all his anger. However, he decided to remain neutral on it and keep all of the anger within him. His father is right. He is not doing anything to tell the world what his father is doing which also means that he is no better than him in any way. However, he is trying to find a way to stop him the best way he can. The bnce of the world will be broken due to the selfish reason his dad is trying to aplish. He can understand why his Dad wanted to do that, but in reality, it is stupid and impractical. Reviving the dead doesn''t mean reviving the person they are once. And besides, even if they are revived, does that mean they can immediately continue to the point they stopped in their life? No. They will not be able to continue the normal life that they once led. Will always never be the same again. But he got hopes now. The n that Manato is currently doing, seems it is one of the only keys that will help at stopping the n entirely. And by sending Pandora as well, not only will Pandora understand the details of what is going on but also understand the risk of what they are in. Suhei will continue to support his sister. To be an independent person, free from maniption and orders from other people. He wanted her to build her own character, use it and wield it for herself. He doesn''t need to be there for her but he knows that she already knows he was cheering for her and for him, that is enough. He is not as brave as his sister, but he knows that things will be okay as long as things will not go out of their way. For Suhei, this is the only hope that the people will need in the future. And this is the only way for the n to seed as well. "Mom. I know that I am against the n that my dad hasid out for your revival. It''s not like I am against your revival, I wanted to see you again, to hug you again, and to tell you how much I have missed you ever since you died. However, not to the extent of sacrificing other people''s lives just to bring back one life of a person. I don''t want to be a person who will do anything just to aplish the goal even if it involves killing other people. So please understand that the things that will happen to start today might not be in favor of your revival, but this will help in keeping this world safe from dangers. Suhei''s job is done. However, the situation has yet to end. And despite that, Suhei is no longer gonna involve himself any further. He will be passing that baton to his sister. And that is the only way of it. It''s up to his sister whether she wants to keep the world safe from the catastrophe or reunite with the person she loves the most. He will remain neutral about it, but he will help Pandora know the right and wrong. His job is done. Now, it''s up to Pandora to continue everything. Everything will be now on her hands. Chapter 781 Boarding The Argo Once More ? The conversation between my friends has been a fruitful one. And now that I have their confirmation, the only people left for me to convince are my parents and Janus. I tried asking everyone about Janus and ording to them, he had some problems at the moment so he was not home most of the time. I tried to contact him to schedule at least a meeting time with him but his phone cannot be reached. In the end, I asked everyone to alert me in case Janus is no longer busy and he is already good to talk with. As for my parents, I will personally visit them this uing weekend and tell them about the situation. I also want to visit the ghost inside the house and how he was currently doing as well. Still, I have a few tasks to do and that should involve the final preparations before we leave for Kamikaze Continent. ... ... ... Two days passed by and we are finally done with all the preparations. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are now ready to depart as well, ready to go and check out the situation on the isted continent. "By the way, how do we even go there? Do we even have the specialized vehicle to cross the winds?" I asked. "Sure do. Remember the Argo? That is the one we will be hitching a ride to get into that continent. It''s the only vessel capable of entering and exiting the winds covering the whole continent without getting destroyed or being denied by the soldiers. All of them know that riding in the Argo is a privilege and that ordinary individuals cannot get a hitch ride from it so easily making it an exclusive vessel to those important people. Now, have a look at what these things are on my hands..." Queen Tanya then shes out three gold strips of paper out of nowhere revealing it to us. "The ticket to Argo?" "Yep. That''s right. Tora gives me the ticket if I needed one to ride on the Argo. Using some of my influence as well as some "bribes", he also allowed me to have more people join as well which allowed me to fetch two tickets for both of you." "Heh, at least you are not entirely useless, Sis," Queen Tori snickered at Queen Tanya who just harrumphed as she continues to talk about the Argo and the tickets. "Anyways, these tickets will allow us to board Argo. The Argo is going there to deliver supplies to the townspeople and to also deliver some goods as well so we can just go ahead and ride along to reach the ce. Holia already confirms that it will not be an easy sailing journey as the path around the Kamikaze Continent is totally flooded with monsters and so they are also asking for help in clearing the monsters while the Argo navigates as well as aid us in repelling the monsters attacking the ship." "So a win-win situation huh? They arrive safely to their destination while we also arrived at our destination with minimal headache. That''s all good in my book," Queen Tori nodded. "Good. Now pack up your things. We will depart immediately. The sooner we reach the ce, the better." Queen Tori started packing up her things, while I am waiting for her to be done as I am already good to go with all of the stuff I have in my inventory and Lucia was already in the Summon''s area. Queen Tanya already packed up as she already know when to go while Queen Tori didn''t pack up just yet. Fortunately, the stuff she needed to pack are not a lot, allowing her to end it very quickly. "Good. Nothing left behind? There''s no turning back here," Queen Tanya asked as she conjure a magic circle portal. "All set and ready to roll out," Queen Tori grinned. "No problems here either," I confirmed. "Alright. Hang on tight, we will be jumping from one portal to another on this one!" Swinging her hands with two fingers extended, the magic circle portal activated and we were transported to the desert. Queen Tanya swings her hands once again and we are transported again, this time, near an oasis. She swings her hands once more and this time, we appeared right in front of the Argo. "Gah! Oh my goodness, I still can''t get used to your method of teleporting in short distances like this. Ugh...I am about to barf..." Queen Tori started barfing nearby. "Haaaa, it seems you still can''t get your motion sickness cured huh? Well, we should be fine now that we are good to go." I opened my inventory and handed her a little candy I usually use for motion sickness. "Eat this, your Majesty. It will elevate your feelings a bit better." "Thanks...ugh... I feel dizzy." To be honest, what Queen Tanya did was indeed something that can induce motion sickness. If not for the fact that I can use that spell and do that on my own, I might also puke for the first time as well. Thankfully, I already passed by on that and now my body has already adapted well so far or else, I might also be the second one to puke as well. Once Queen Tori has recovered, we go to the ship. Unlike before, there is no one who receives the ticket like usual but instead, the captain and his first mate are the ones waiting for us. "You guys are a bitte for around 13 minutes. It seems you guys really took your time huh?" Tora snickered as he nab the three golden tickets. "Heh, isn''t it fine though? At least you guys have time to rx for a bit before the big battle that will be happening soon," Queen Tanya shrugged as we climb to the Argo. "You are right, but sometimes, it would have been fine to be a bit more punctual for a change," Tora sighed at the nonchnt exnation of Queen Tanya. "Eh, why go punctual when you can let everyone wait for you, that way, you feel a bit more important." Tora can only shake his head as he turned to look at me. "Ha, it seems decided to employ one Pioneer huh? Can''t solve the problem by yourselves?" Tora looks at me and seems to recognize me from before. "We do need extra help which is why we employed his help. Without it, there is a chance we will fail on it so it should be fine," Queen Tori exined. "True, having one extra pair of hands to help is already something that can change the tide of battles sometimes so it''s good that you guys are admitting that you all are not perfect." "Of course, anyways, when are we going to depart?" "A little bitter. Once we are done with the refueling process and the resupply, we should be clear to go. It shouldn''t take long though so in the meantime, settle down in your rooms for a while. We will sound the horn once we are ready to leave." "Okay then. Let''s rx before the ship sails then. There will be no more rxing time once we depart and enter the hostile zone. Let''s relish the feeling of rxation this time around." We move to our rooms and as usual, the room that is assigned to me is the same room I used when I ride on the Argo. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori''s rooms are just beside mine which allows me to knock on their doors easily if I needed something from them though I doubt I will be doing that as we will be out of the room for the remainder of the journey. I don''t have any belongings to put in the room so I went out to look at the current preparations. Aside from us though, there are also a few people who are also hitching a ride as well, and from the looks of it, they seemed to be part of the Kamikaze Continent themselves. But since they are busy and I don''t have any intention to talk to them, I just continue on watching the preparations of everyone. Tora and Holia are busy with their respective work and they didn''t spend their time doing idle chatter. Their preparations are much more intensepared to the time I used the Argo before. Not only that but the mounted cannons, ballista, and some harpoons are even ready to be used as well. The ship is gearing up for battle. A few minutester, the loud sound of the chains is being moved and the ship is also being steered as well. "All crews aboard! To your stations! We are going to set sail,ds so buckle up and be ready to do your job! We can''t afford to do any mistakes here!" "Aye, Captain!" everyone shouted in unison. "ANCHORS AWAY!" As Tora shouted those words, a horn started to blow, signifying our departure. Our journey to Kamikaze Continent is now going to begin. Chapter 782 Sky Monsters ? The Argo. The vessel that was once used by the Argonauts in the past. Of course, it was in the past. Now, it was just a vessel that could travel in many parts of the world unaffected by catastrophes like storms and disasters. Also, the original Argo only sails in the sea; now, it can sail on bothnd and sea. Despite a relic of the past, it is still being used to this day and people refer to this as the vessel that can travel anywhere you want. Being able to ride the Argo twice is already a big achievement but even though it was one, it''s not that much of an aplishment especially since it was given by Queen Tanya for you me to be able to hitch a ride. As the Argo ascends into the sky, one of the girls who are part of the people who seemed to be from the Kamikaze continent marveled at the view on the deck. Perhaps this is her first time flying in the air with the Argo though I can''t me her as the sight from above is quite fascinating to see. Still, once we get near to the border of the Divine Winds, monsters will start swarming so I decided to hang out outside. The crew of the Argo is busy enough that no one talked to me, even Tora and Holia are all busy with their work. A few minutester, both Queen Tanya and Queen Tori went out of their rooms, with the former carrying her big scythe. "Are the monsters already here yet?" Queen Tanya asked as she looked around anticipating the new monsters we will be fighting against. "Not yet. Maybe a little bitter. We just crossed the border of Sandurk anyways so it might be soon enough. But we just needed to wait a little bit longer and those guys will soon be here." But speak of the devil, it didn''t take us a few seconds after I said it when the horn blows from the top of the mast where the lookout is currently checking the surrounding area of the ship for any enemies. "BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" When the horn blows, everyone tensed and Tora issued amand. "Ready the Ballista and load the cannons! Once the enemies are on the range, fire at will!" The crew didn''t waste their time and started putting all their work into motion. The girl who was watching the situation is confused about what is happening and one of the men she was with tries to bring her inside but based on their interaction, it seems she does not want to go and wants to see what is currently happening. "Get ready, deheart, Tori! We will soon be fighting! I can''t wait to see our enemies!" Queen Tanya really does not hold back once ites to a monsterpared to fighting humans where she would hold back for quite a bit. We went to the front deck of the ship and as soon as we reach it, the cannons fired and the ballista releases the giant harpoon arrow thattches to the enemy and fired on where everyone can then focus on killing the unfortunate beast. On the front deck as well, the monsters are now more visible and we finally know the monsters that are in the area. ------------------------------------ [Silver Sky Wyvern] [Elite Monster] Level 500 HP: ??????/?????? Traits: Draco --------------------------------- [Twin-Headed Wyvern] Level 420 HP: ??????/?????? Traits: Draco ----------------------------------- The enemies were the dracos, a species believed to be the same species as a dragon but was soon revealed to be unrted to one as dracos don''t turn into dragons the longer they live andpared to dragons that canmunicate if they formed a human ego or can even transform as one, but remain as hostile beasts. But this is the first time I have seen dracos venture out like this outside from a dungeon. One thing is for sure, they are not to be trifled with, and with their levels a lot higher than mine, they will be not an easy sh*t to kill. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and stepped on the side deck before jumping off the Argo. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori also jumped off as well, causing the other people on board to panic seeing how we just jumped off. However, they don''t need to worry about us as we immediatelynded on multiple wyverns and proceed to execute them as we mount on their backs. The wyvern Inded on is one of the silver wyverns and it started to trash around as it tries to shake me off but I am quick at my and transformed the Versatile Weapon into a spear that is separate from the shield and stab the back of its neck causing the dragon to fly a bit higher to make another attempt at shaking me off, however, I just push the spear much deeper and the wyvern started coughing blood as its HP is slowly decreasing and even though I can only see question marks on the total number of the HP due to its level difference, the color indicator of the HP bar is enough indicator that I am inflicting damage to it. Once the spear is deep enough, I immediately changed it to Katana and immediately performed [Decapitation]. Swish! The wyvern''s head fell and its body still flies a bit before it stopped as it dies. I jumped off the body before it stopped moving and activated my wings to elevate me a bit. Once I find a target to kill, I changed the weapon into hook and chain, hook the wyvern and pull myself to mount it, then repeat. Queen Tanya isughing maniacally as she cuts the dracos shees across to pieces. Her quick movements look like she was walking in the air though she is just using the force of her attacks to move around, allowing her to look like she was walking in the air. As for Queen Tori, using her shikigamis, she eviscerated most of them using her shikigamis that have sharp hands and kill anything in one go. Both of the queens are killing machines but that doesn''t mean I will just let myself lose either. Pulling out of the AOE scrolls in my scrolls pocket, I tear them apart and release the AOE attack spell, [Lightning Storm]. Multiple lightning strikes appear out of nowhere and strike down the flying dragons. Because it is an effective way to remove flying monsters, it is one of the spells I keep in my scroll pockets in case I needed one. As for my skill tree, I still have yet to buy this skill and I still can''t afford it. Anyways, the monsters were cleared out after the attack and the remaining enemies are afraid to get closer after seeing multiple dracos falling to their deaths. The three of us returned to the deck after work and waited for any new movement of the monsters. "Don''t let your guard down, people. Remain calm and reload all of the cannons and prepare the ballista once more. Also, give me the damage report!" "No serious damages aside from one side of the ship caved in after one attack of the twin-headed wyvern but other than that, no concerning damage was inflicted on us!" "Good! Keep up the defense. One weakness we show to them and they will immediately pounce on that opportunity!" "Then we should use this chance to protect the ship. I will use a spell but it is needed to be maintained but in exchange, the ship will be protected," Queen Tori suggested. "Please, if that can minimize the damage to the ship, then don''t worry and we will protect you from any attacks." "Wait, don''t tell me you will be using the Cherry Blossom Barrier Dance?" I frowned. "Yeah. It''s a pretty good spell but I needed to continue dancing which is why I needed some protection as well because if I am attacked, the barrier will fall immediately." "Heh, is it even necessary, Sis? I can just decimate every monster here and everything will be fine," Queen Tanya is smug about it. "That doesn''t mean you can protect the ship from any attacks immediately. Having a barrier will help mitigate their attacks until the time they will be killed." "That is a good second way to deal with the threat. Go on, Your Majesty, we will do our best to protect you while you are doing it." Queen Tori nodded and produced two fans as she started dancing. As she finished a few steps of the dance, cherry blossom petals starts to dance around the surroundings covering the ship from it while a transparent barrier appear as the cherry blossom petals also swirl around. Everyone marveled but they immediately got snapped by Holia. "Heads up mateys! Don''t let the cherry blossoms distract you! Get into positions and keep the ship safe!" The wyverns might not be attacking just yet but I can tell that they are not stopping entirely. They are going to attack soon enough. Chapter 783 Passing The Divine Winds ? The wyverns are still flying in the distance, waiting for any indication that the danger has passed. Seeing that there are no other actions on the ship other than the cherry blossom petals swirling around the ship, the wyverns once howled in unison, signifying the attacks to continue. "Everyone! Get ready! The howl of these f*ckers is now happening! They will not just give up that easily now! Defeat them all until they are all gone!" "Hear that deheart? You take the left side, I take care of the right side. Think you can handle all of them?" Queen Tanya went to battle stance with her scythe. "Heh, you think I will just let myself get left behind and get beaten by these monsters? Never," as I also assume my battle stance as well. "How about apetition of defeating more monsters? The one who manages to get a lot of kills wins, wanna try? It should spice up our killing spree," Queen Tanya suggested. "Wow, I am at a disadvantage in this one but I am not going to back out from the challenge. Game on, Your Majesty!" Then, I heard Tora click his tongue. "Seriously you two being too much of a warmonger. Even if you two had thispetition, don''t forget that you two are protecting the ship and not eradicating the enemies that are far from the ship. Ensure the ship is safe while doing thatpetition of yours!" "Oh,e on. We know that Tora. Don''t be such a worrywart, we will make sure the ship will remain unharmed." Then Queen Tanya proceeds to jump off the ship once again. Since Queen Tanya went to her side, I also went to my side where the girl wearing a kimono was currently standing and currently observing the situation. She noticed my approach on the side and was looking at me from my head to toe, though I didn''t care much if she was staring or not. I climbed to the railings of the ship before jumping off. I like the thrill of jumping off and showing off like this. It feels epic at times and with only a few people capable of doing a stunt like this, many can only dream it. As for me, I am not worried in any way about falling as I can fly and if I can''t even fly, I also have Leona who will catch me as well. Activating my wings, I fly towards the nearest attacking twin-headed wyvern, changed my Versatile weapon into an axe, and with all my strength, swing the axe to their two heads in one sweep. RIPPPP! The flesh of the wyvern''s neck got ripped to pieces as I cut them both off. I used the momentum of attacking the twin-headed wyvern to send me flying to the nearest silver wyvern and swinging another one, killing it once more in one swing. As usual, I used the momentum of my previous swing to send me to the next target and did this like I am chopping logs and wood. Despite the wyverns falling one by one and their numbers diminishing as we continue to mow down their kind, they continue to attack like mindless machines that have only one objective that they must reach no matter if they live or die. It was like they are being mind-controlled or something. Anyways, I continue my attack and despite having a contest with Queen Tanya, I prioritize those wyverns that are close to the ship. I am thankful that they have very easy-to-exploit weaknesses which are their necks and their scales aren''t as hard as a dragon allowing me to just attack and kill them. It''s kind of sad that all of those wyvern materials are going down without use but I guess that there is nothing I can do as I have to focus more on the battle than recovering the bodies of the wyverns. I just continued the massacre as the ship is nearing the divine winds. Even I have a hard time flying due to the strong winds. I also notice that the only wyverns attacking left are those bigger wyverns and those smaller ones are all no longer chasing. Since the bigger wyverns are very rare, the attacks start to be scarce as well and since it''s harder to fly with the ship now nearing the winds, I decided to return to the ship. When I returned, Queen Tanya is also there as well, her scythe is full of blood from the wyverns but she remainedposed and her battle attire just made her look more like a genuine grim reaper. She seemed to also have just returned as well. As she removed her hoodie from her battle attire, she saw mending on the ship as well. "It seems both of us are done huh? I killed at least a hundred and five of those wyverns and if not for one who decided to feign death and fly away, I might have already got a hundred and six kill count by now. How about you, deheart?" Queen Tanya is clearly proud of the amount she killed. "Looks like it is my loss this time. I only managed to hunt ny-nine wyverns on my side. Most of them started moving away from the ship before I can proceed with my kill which is a bit annoying." "Hmmm, well, I ept the win but I feel like I did not win either." The sound of the horn blows once more and Tora who is steering the wheel shouted for everyone on the ship to hear. "Alright everyone, we are now passing through the Divine Winds. Be careful and hold on to the ship. It will be dangerous if you don''t keep yourself intact here. If you don''t want to take a risk, go back to your rooms and wait for the situation to calm down." The people who were previously nagging the girl wearing the kimono tried to persuade her to return again but she still remain where she is standing and refuses to return, leaving them no choice but to keep herpany. The other workers on the other hand went into their quarters after finishing their jobs from the weapons. As for the others, they continue to tie up the items that might get blown away from the wind while some are just waiting by the sails, waiting to make a full sail or a half sail while passing through the winds. Soon enough, the winds start to get stronger, and even with the barrier that Queen Tori is making, the wind is still strong enough that we are even being moved. Queen Tori remained calm and continued her dance uninterrupted though Queen Tanya and I are now watching her in case she will get blown away by the winds. The wind is very strong. It is like facing into the storm directly and enduring its massive and devastating power. It''s even a miracle that the ship was not decimated by the brutal winds but then again, the Argo is immune to any kind of cmity so this one is not even gonna faze the Argo much unless an outside force will go into y and break the Argo in the process. As we continue to endure the strong winds and keep our feet on the ship intact, the girl wearing a kimono slipped and didn''t get to hold properly she was immediately sent flying by the strong winds. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she tried her best to grab something. I usually don''t do anything in this sort of situation but something kicked in me and immediately rush forward without thinking anything and dive into the air to grab her before she gets sucked into the des of wind. If she gets sucked, she will immediately get herself churned and turned to mush by the winds. The moment I grabbed her, I changed my Versatile Weapon into a hook and chain and throws the hook towards the Argo andtch to the ship before we get dragged into the des of the wind. I let myself be pulled by my hook and chain while holding the girl who is tightly clinging to my clothes with her eyes closed, sessfully saving her. Herpanions started expressing their worries about her once she returns safely. "OJOU-SAMA! Are you alright?!" the older man who looked like a butler asked with sweat flowing down his face despite the strong winds. She didn''t let me go even when we arrived on the ship and justtched on to me while shaking. "Wow, deheart, I didn''t know you can be like a hero once in a while! That was an epic save from you!" Queen Tanya admired how I managed to deal with the situation. While everyone is busy to see whether the girl was fine, Tora who is steering the ship announces. "We are now inside the continent. We are no longer in the range of the winds. You guys can rx now." Chapter 784 The Continent Of The Divine Winds ? The Argo came out unscathed after passing through the Divine Winds. It would be more urate to say that it wasn''t harmed at all even though the winds were designed to repel anything that tries to bypass the winds. Queen Tori stopped dancing as well and the cherry blossom barrier also dispersed after she stopped dancing. The girl in the kimono also opened her eyes and finally let my clothes go. The two men started bowing as soon as the girl was confirmed to be safe. "Thank you very much for saving our Ojou-sama from the ident. If not for you, we don''t know what to do and what to say to her parents once we arrive at their residence." "It''s nothing. However, if you two are her guardians, you should pay attention to the person you are guarding at. You two have already failed on that duty and if I were your employer, I wouldn''t even think twice about firing the two of you from your jobs. Next time, be prepared for anything to happen like that as that is part of your job." After saying those words, I rejoined Queen Tori and Queen Tanya as we waited for the Argo tond. "Wow, you were quite a badass there, deheart. Even I didn''t get to react immediately after the ident happened. You must have already expected that to happen." "Yeah. I already expected it. It''s not like I anticipated it, but based on how nonchnt they are and seem to be forgetting about the current danger which was the Divine Winds'' wrath, I can already see someone will get blown away as a result which is what happened to her. If I was one second toote at grabbing her, she will be a meat paste by now and her flesh might already be swirling all around the winds." "Still, I am impressed by your reflexes. The way you immediately thought of what to do after grabbing her is enough to say you have a clear mind and is already capable of thinking and doing a split-second decision. Only a few people are capable of doing that nowadays." "Well, it''s already a habit of mine so it''s now natural that I will be able to do things like that immediately. It''s not that umon for me." We continue to discuss things with each other for quite some time until the Argo slowlynded on the nearby port for airships. Kamikaze Continent is well known for nes as a transport vehicle around the continent, making use of the blessing of the Divine Winds to fly high in the sky with multiple passengers in one vessel. Of course, it''s only exclusive to this continent but once the continent is open to all and the Divine Winds are removed as a result, the nes will soon be used for transportation in the future as well. Now that the Argo hasnded, we are now leaving the Argo and finally stepping into the continent of Kamikaze. "[You have entered the Continent of Kamikaze: The Land of Divine Winds.]" "[You have discovered a new location: Soyokaze City] Soyokaze City, the main port of the Kamikaze Continent and the only city in the continent that the Shogun has little control of as this was the city that was meant to be the center of business and where most foreign people gather. As a result, this ce is more of a ce run by the Kamikaze Inhabitants to cater to foreigners and travelers. And during the wrath of the shogun, this is the only ce that was safe from the wrath and the only ce where most of the evacuees decided to stay until the dangers are over. "Huh... And I thought the Kamikaze Continent is currently in danger but it''s kinda bustling. Is this normal?" Queen Tanya asked as she looked around wondering why the ce is quite busy despite the problems happening. "Because this ce is moreid back and is more of a ce that barely cares about the situation all around the Kamikaze Continent. You can say this is one of the independent cities where people can freely travel without the need to fear the current shogun''s people." Someone started speaking and a woman appears in front of us. She wears normal adventurer clothing for a brawler ss that has already ascended to the second ss, Monk that I thought she was a yer at first. But since shecks the arrow above the head which signifies the identification of a yer, she is not one and she is a normal person in Alternate World. I won''t call her an NPC. "Oh, Ran! It''s been a while since west meet! How have you been?" Queen Tori immediately hugs the woman who just spoke to us all of a sudden. "You know her sis?" Queen Tanya asked. "Yeah. Remember the one I have contact with even when she started living here(my spy)? She is the one I am talking about," Queen Tori answered and we looked at the woman she referred to be the spy living here. "I am Ran. One of Tori''s close friends and the one who owns the nearby inn here. I already booked a big private room just like what Tori said in the letter." "One? Does that mean I have to rent my own room while staying?" I frowned. "Oh, no no. You will be with us, deheart. It''s one big room, we can sleep together as the room is enough for us three to use." "Wait, wait, that shouldn''t be right. I am a guy and you two are girls. Shouldn''t it be separate?" "Eh, it doesn''t matter much since your body disappears when you sleep anyways and I doubt you stay much in the room when not sleeping. And besides, isn''t it a great honor to sleep with two queens side by side? You have seen my body before so why won''t you just sleep with us then? That''s not even much of a problem." She''s got a point there but still, it feels a bit wrong for me but since they insist, then it''s fine. Probably. "Hahaha, don''t worry. The bedrooms can be separated if one wanted to do so. So if you want to sleep alone, then there is a mechanism in the room that can give you a partition to divide the room into two so if you are notfortable sleeping with them together, then you can just activate that." "See? I told you, it''s totally fine," Queen Tanya chuckled. "So what was that you just said earlier? This area is out of the reach of the shogun?" Queen Tori asked. "Not entirely out of reach but he does not hold direct power of control here. You can say that this ce is more of an independent ce rather than a city of the shogun''s rule. Which is why it''s much saferpared to the direct cities that were ruled by the shogun," Ran exined. "Are you sure it''s fine, Ran? Aren''t the people gonna get angry at you for ndering the shogun?" Queen Tori asked. "Nah, this was the talk in the city for thest couple of days. It was a pretty hot topic especially how ruthless the shogun has be and his sudden behavior of being a tyrant all of a sudden. Many express worries about the current situation which is why it''s normal for people to speak on it." "Is that so?" Queen Tanya showed interest in the topic. "Yeah. But this shouldn''t be discussed if you are in a different city. Compared here in Soyokaze City, the other cities with direct influence from the shogun will cost you your freedom and you might even get beaten up by the guards or even killed if you are persistent about it so if you want to discuss the current situation, please keep it in this city. If you travel to other cities and you can''t help discussing it, just discuss it secretly and make sure you are speaking only with people you trust. Due to the amount of hands the shogun has, it''s easy for you to get captured by them as a result. Anyways, enough discussion here, we should continue talking back in the inn. Even if we discuss it here openly, there is a chance a guard that is hired by the shogunes by and it''s better if we go discuss it somewhere more private. Shall we?" "Yeah, let''s go then." Looks like nothing has changed much just yet if it''s only imprisonment and being beaten by the guards in the other cities. Because in the past timeline, executions are being held there and sometimes they held public ones before. It''s one of the optional events in the past timeline where stopping the execution can be done. It''s also at that time that the Shogun has been slowly absorbed by the impostor that the original has slowly been reced by the fake. Since it''s not possible just yet, I think I can breathe easily for now. However, it''s best to solve the problem as soon as possible. If not done sooner, there will be lots of innocent blood that will be spilled. Chapter 785 Street Trouble ? We arrived in front of the inn that Ran owns. I thought it would look like a traditional Japanese inn but it was instead a regr inn usually found in other cities on other continents. I have not been in this inn before as it is always full and many yers gather there at that time, I am more of a yer actively looking for trouble so I didn''t stay that long in Soyokaze City as this ce is more of a hub for all yers to stay in during the Shogun war. So when we entered and saw the interior, I was surprised. Despite the difference in looks from the outside, the inside was a traditional Japanese inn, and only the exterior was not simr. There even was a courtyard we passed by and a pond where koi are swimming around. "So does this inn also consist of a hot spring?" I asked to check whether thispletes the traditional Japanese Inn. "Why yes. Of course, we have hot springs here. If you want to go dip into the warm water, then no one is stopping you. It''s also a hot spring that replenishes both your health and mana and removes fatigue ording to some customers, they also felt a lot more vigorous after taking a quick bath as well though I can''t confirm it as it was usually random and not everyone can feel the effects that they are talking about." That sounds great. After a long day of fighting, it will be a great way to soak into the hot water and even I am very into that kind of stuff. We were still going to the room when we started hearing screaming and some stuff being thrown or falling apart, some objects breaking, and many other things that suddenly is urring outside. It''s very loud so even those people inside who we just passed by even started to get curious and looked at the windows. "What is going on?" I asked. "Ah, don''t worry about it. It''s the riots that are happening every time the guards of the shogun decide toe and cause trouble here. I don''t know what happened to them but after the shogun has been showing his violent side, the soldiers seem to also start using their authority and abusing them all of a sudden. I don''t know what they were doing for them to be like this. Just ignore it and everything will be fine forter." "When did the shogun begin to show off that behavior of his that suddenly became hostile to other people?" I asked. "It has been a month since then and that is also how long these soldiers start to exhibit the violent behaviors they have been doing now and we can''t even apprehend them as that would just spell trouble and we don''t want to gather the wrath of the shogun himself." I honestly agree with Ran on this one based on the experiences I have before in the past but since the violence that the shogun has done and the soldiers exhibiting violent tendencies all of a sudden, then that means I can still do something about it. "Your Majesties, just go ahead and do whatever you needed to do. As for me, I have to test something out. I will be back in no time." And without exining anything, I went ahead and started to run down the hallway and exit the inn just to witness a lot of people on the road lying on the ground, injured and totally unconscious while a few are still conscious but like the rest of them, they are injured and are groaning in pain. Not too far from my location are the guards that are currently harassing a woman protecting her kid. They are currently kicking her and are trying to make her let go of her kid. There are some people trying to intervene but they are also not able to get close as one is threatening to pull out his gun and shoot them. I didn''t bother to make any sort of noise and activated [Silent Sprint], then immediately closed my distance from them. "Get some sleep." BZZZZTTT! Two of the guards shook as electricity runs through their bodies before copsing and losing consciousness. Before the rest of the team can react, I also did the same thing to them and they all copsed to the ground, stopping their violence. I looked around after dispatching the soldiers to see whether there are any more soldiers left behind. Once I ensure that the soldiers I just electrocuted were all the soldiers that are currently harassing people, I pulled out a bottle of ssh potion. "Don''t move, I will pour some potion to heal up your and your daughter''s wounds," I then proceed to pour the potion on them and the wounds they rued are disappearing slowly until every single wound they suffered had been healed. "T-thank you. But what will happen now? You just knocked out the soldiers here! Once they wake up, they will report this incident to the higher-ups and they will doom this city as a result!" The other vigers also expressed their fear as well. "No worries. I got a n. Though I will ask for help and bring me a rope to help me tie them all up. We have to ensure they are tied up or else, we will be suffering as a result." Fearing for what will happen, the vigersplied and helped me tie them all up. We make them lie down and once everything was done, I asked the vigers to distribute the potions I gave to them to the injured people who were affected by the incident. If there is any leftover potion, they can have it. As for the soldiers, I opened up their stats panel. Even though this is no longer a game, the system that is still currently in effect all over the Alternate world still works and so I checked every one of them, and their statuses have one thing inmon. [Charmed][Mild] and [Possessed][Mild] Charm is a very rare status condition in the Alternate World as far as I can remember. The only ones who can inflict this kind of ability are the Charmers and Enchanters which are pretty much a rare enemy to find as most of them are humans or other races capable of using it and on normal NPCs you can encounter, the Subus race, and Incubus race are capable of using this. One notable incubus capable of inflicting this status effect is Merlin. Charmed people will be doing what actions the one who cast the status effect wants them to do. If they wanted them to do violence, then they will do it. As for the [Possessed], there are two things here that can cause possession and that is the first and the mostmon enemies, the ghost-type enemies. However, not only them can cause that and most of them are using this skill to control or to make them berserk. This is what makes them violent like they are in berserk mode and they cannot be reasoned with. Seeing both are still in a mild state, they are easy to remove. Once this gets worse and worse, it will get harder and harder for me to even remove it as well. But with a mild status, this will be a breeze for me. Grabbing the ssh potion Full Restore which I named based on the potion used in popr catching monsters games, this potion can remove all kinds of status effects, making it a good candidate for a potion capable of doing a job of multiple potions. I doused every soldier with the Full Restore ssh potion and ensured that every single one of them lose the status. Soon enough, all of them lost the status that was inflicted on them but I am not convinced and asked the people to help me undress them with their armor now that they are unconscious. I don''t have much idea how they work but there is a possibility that after recovering from Full Restore, they will be inflicted by it again. And my guess is that there was something in their armor that will cause that if the status effect was removed which is why it got worst the longer the problem was happening. And whoever nned this is quite capable as they easily have done something I would consider doing as well. While undressing the soldiers from their armor, Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, and Ran went out of the inn as well and looked at the situation. When they saw me with the tied-up soldiers, Ran couldn''t believe her eyes. "You apprehended them? Are you serious?" "Yes, and I already know that this might doom the city if the other soldiers heard this but I finally found out the reason why the soldiers have been acting that way. And from the looks of it, it seems to be the main case." Chapter 786 The "Controlled" Soldiers ? The people decided to bring the soldiers to the nearest shrine. Since the shogun''s soldiers don''t climb to the shrines, it is fine to bring them there and wait for them to wake up. Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, and Ran came with us to witness what is currently happening. "Are you sure the method you just mentioned will work? We might even get in trouble because of what we have done," one of the vigers was shaking while still taking some nces at the soldiers on the ground. "No worries. If these guys still act like they became violent again, then I will personally remove their memories of what happened before." "You can remove memories?" some of the vigers couldn''t believe it. "Yeah. It might be a rare skill but I know it. Don''t worry about it." "Alright deheart, we needed some exnation now that they are unconscious. What is going on and why did you say they are cured?" "I opened their status and they were inflicted with a status of [Possession] and [Charmed]. These two status effects can change a person drastically and you can immediately tell that something is wrong with them. These guys have been under those two status effects. If those two are removed, they should be back to normal and their behavior prior to being under the influence of the statuses should have been restored as well." "I remember that these statuses are pretty umon but I am sure that they do manipte behaviors if someone has been inflicted by it. Depending on how severe it is, recovery can be very hard to be done if not done correctly. So how did you remove the statuses if they are hard to deal with?" Queen Tanya asked. "It seems the statuses have not been inflicted that much as they are still in mild condition and removing them is still pretty much easily done by normal potions that can remove those specific statuses. However, if it has ascended to a stronger status, then it is no longer something that can be removed by just normal potions. Either you remove and make the one who caused the spell stop using it or kill the one who has been under the spell..." "K-kill?" the vigers listening to my exnation went pale. To them, killing has never been an option in stopping the guards but in the past timeline when the incident escted beyond what was currently happening, the guards were immediately treated as monsters, and defeating them is necessary. Also, they didn''t recover from their status effects until the Shogun was defeated during the final battle. Only then have they returned to their senses but it''s already toote as many of the soldiers have been killed for the sake of saving the innocent popce who are powerless against the rampaging soldiers. As we continue our discussion about the situation of the soldiers, the said soldiers slowly awakened from their slumber. They clutch the ces I smack them with which caused them to copse. I made sure for it to be painful so it did leave asting pain for a bit on their bodies. "Ugh... where am I? What''s happening?" one of the soldiers started speaking and looking around. He then realized that there are a lot of vigers staring at them. "What? Wait a minute, I was just in a meeting just a few moments ago... what is happening? Where the hell am I?" he was shaken when he realized he wasn''t where he was during hisst memory. One of the calmer soldiers rub his eyes first before he assessed the situation. "This ce...isn''t this the only shrine of Soyokaze City? How did we reach here? I still remember we should have been called by the shogun to listen to his speech then... urgh..." he started clutching his head when he tried to remember what happened. There is one thing consistent in their words... the speech of the shogun during their assembly meeting that the shogun personally called. Trying to recall the incident gives them a massive headache. Even remembering the stuff that happened after the incident was a blur to them. Because of their confusion, Ran decides to tell them the current situation, what happened to them, how long it has been like this, and how they were harassing vigers and causing trouble and riots. At first, they thought Ran was just doing an borate prank and conspired with a few people in the vige to do so but when they saw that no one is even smiling orughing at it, they have been into a jumble after the realization of the truth. "Then all of the stuff we did..." the first guy to awaken finally realized things. "Yep. It happened before you guys were apprehended and cured. We even have to strip all of you of your armor as the young man here suspects that the armor you people wear might be also part of the incident and you guys might return to your berserking behavior if the armor remains to be in your bodies," one of the people who helped me strip their armor off exined. That''s also when they realized their armor are gone. As for the weapon, same thing as the armor and we confiscated it for now. We don''t want them to go on a rampage in case they haven''t returned to their normal self. All of the soldiers still can''t believe what happened. After all, no one would believe that the situation they were in was actually what happened. "Cut these people some ck. They have been under the confusion and bewilderment right now. It should be fine now that they have recovered. Allow them to rest for now." "But we still don''t trust them. What if they suddenly just jump at us while we are asleep? I don''t want to die just because of these guys!" one of the people startedining. "Don''t worry. We will just bring them into my inn. This young man here can keep watch on them as he was the one who apprehended them. I am with them as well so you people don''t have to worry about safety. In case they started acting again, this guy here can just do what he did before and call it a day." I nodded in agreement. I needed to ask them some questions privatelyter on so this arrangement is good for me. Because some of the questions are pretty sensitive, I needed it to be a private matter as well. "Then that''s fine by us. However, things won''t just calm down after apprehending these soldiers. You all know that the other soldierse in here as well therefore we need to take ourselves some preparation as well. Knowing that they are under the influence of something, then we will do our best to apprehend them as well though we hope that if they started appearing once more, you boy in the wolf mask will help us again." "No worries. I will being to help now that we know something is up. We must make sure though that the situation remains a secret as this will be a big deal and this might also result in some of the soldiersing here and attacking us due to how we attacked these guys. So please keep your mouths tight-lipped." Everyone nodded and left. When the people left, all that was left in the shrine is just Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, Ran, the five soldiers, and I. The shrine is empty as well so no one has been there but now that the number of people has been reduced, I finally realized something. I pulled out my gun and fired it off on the nearest tree. It was one quick fire that no one expected me to do as everyone got shocked by the gunshot sound. But what followed my gunshot sound is something falling from that tree and a few branches falls off. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori immediately assumed a battle stance as the entity that fell from the tree immediately gives off killing intent. "Ha!" Queen Tori swiped her finger and one of her shikigamis attacked the source of the noise and we heard her shikigami tearing to pieces. "Looks like an enemy huh? Ran, stand back. Keep the unarmed men with you and don''t stray far off with us," Queen Tanya gets her scythe ready and the men who saw it suddenly felt fear after seeing her wield the giant scythe. "Show yourself, intruder or you will be dragged out from where you are hiding forcefully," I taunted. I expected it to be nothing but soon realized that my taunt was effective enough to be able to lure out the one who fell. It was a man wearing the traditional samurai garb. However, he isn''t human. He is emitting an inhuman aura for quite a while and his head is all ck and the only feature you can recognize on his face is his pure white eyes and nothing else. He holds two katanas on both sides of his hip, which means this guy is a dual wielder. "Get ready to fight. This f*cker will not go down so easily," as we assumed a battle stance, ready to fend off the mysterious samurai. Chapter 787 The Lost Samurai Shadow ? It''s clear that the enemy before us is not in the mood for any negotiation or anything simr to that. The three of us are getting our weapons ready but we didn''t engage in it just yet. We don''t know what it will do and what it can do so we are cautious about it. Besides, I can''t see any kind of information from this guy. It was like he glitched out from this ce and is currently a bug but knowing that this is not a real game, this enemy is a real deal and we have to ensure whether this guy is more dangerous than he seemed to be. "Should we go and engage against this guy?" Queen Tori asked ready to send out more of her shikigami. "Don''t. We wait until he strikes first. Unless this guy is ready to attack, we won''t initiate our first strike." The guy continues to just stand there with his menacing stature we don''t really know whether to attack it first or continue to wait for it to attack. However, before we run out of patience, it seems the guy has run out of patience first and decided to attack. "Finally, you decided to make your move!" Queen Tanya parried the katana and when he also swings the second one to strike Queen Tanya, she just made a slight adjustment to her scythe and that allowed her to block the attack before he can seed. While he is busy with Queen Tanya, I encased half of his body in ice before I swing my sword to him. He realized that he is ganged on and he blocked the iing attack with the second sword he used and used his first sword to destroy the ice encasing his feet and escaped. However, Queen Tanya didn''t just let him retreat. "Did you think retreating works?! Think again!" Queen Tanya chases him, then swings her scythe as quickly as possible but the guy was also quick on his feet as he immediately ducks away from the scythe the moment he ducked, he also received a st from Queen Tori''s mystic arts, sting him with ded cherry blossoms as they pierced his body and he started bleeding the moment he tanked the attack. But that seems to be not doing anything as the guy just stood up once again and flicks the cherry blossom petals off of his body and assumed a battle stance again. I didn''t want to waste more time and so I decided to get serious and start shing his sword with my sword. PENG PENG PENG Our attacks are barely able to be seen properly by the naked eye as I continue to engage in a sword fight with him. And to be honest, he is like a real yer capable of doing attacks like that that even normal bosses can''t even do as they usually have a chance to be killed with their weak points. As for this guy, he almost doesn''t have one. And I doubt even using my gun will work here. If he can easily parry and block off my sword attacks then slicing bullets would be even easier for this guy as well. Then, Queen Tanya decided to join in the fight and the sound of the des started ringing. His reflexes are good as every time I tried to use a chance to attack his blindspot whenever Queen Tanya attacks him, he immediately blocks it off with his other katana before deflecting it off and then proceeds to attack which I would block it with my weapon again. It''s pretty much a stalemate and the fact he was even able to stop Queen Tanya''s scythe while defending against my lightning-speed attacks was incredible in its own merit. But then, the shikigami of Queen Tori appeared out of nowhere, attached itself to the samurai man, and starts to ignite. That''s when I realized what it was. "Retreat!" As we jumped back, the shikigami that just ignited exploded alongside the samurai man. The explosion was strong enough for him to fall down on his knees with only the katana keeping him from falling downpletely. "Did we get him?" Queen Tori frowned. "If he is still breathing and has not fallen down to the ground, he ain''t dead yet," I then pulled out my Pain Delivery and released one shot of bullet to him and he immediately sliced it up using the other katana he was not using for support. "Tch. You are right," Queen Tanya then proceeds to attack the samurai once again but before she can slice it again, it suddenly disappears. It also happens that the sun has set and the dark sky nkets the whole surroundings. It was like it just disappeared from existence. "What? Where did he go?!" Queen Tanya frowned as she pulled out her scythe off the ground and looked all over the ce trying to find the man but she can''t find him. "No more hostiles in the vicinity. Not even traces or signs of him all over the ce. It was like he straight up vanished." Everyone frowned and all that was left after the battle is the ruined shrine grounds that were caused by our fight with the strange samurai. "Don''t worry about the damage, deheart-kun. I can testify to what happened here and will report it to the people so that they also be alerted if that same guy appeared once more. If it wasn''t us who that samurai met today, they would be dead by now," Ran made our feelings lighter after that. We thought we would be held ountable for the damages done. "Still, that was not an ordinary samurai. I have seen countless of samurai before but they have not done things like that in the past and even if they are that capable, they don''t have that much of inhuman speed that rivals both of you. I can say I would likely agree that you two have those abilities normally due to how in your nature to fight enemies most of the time and Queen Tanya being a battle maniac and capable of fighting enemies easily at that speed due to her experience, but that guy? Is just downright insane. I don''t think a normal samurai can ever do that kind of thing easily unless they train for their whole life." "Aren''t samurai no longer present during this time now?" Queen Tori asked. "Not necessarily. They are still there but they are now either farmers or businessmen, some of them are even trainers of soldiers as well since they have more experience and discipline they canmand someone with it but if you are talking about a samurai simr to that guy you guys fought just now, then no. Most of them have already left that life," Ran exined. We turned to look at the soldiers who witnessed everything and they all shook their heads. It seems they don''t have any idea what was that all about either. "Anyways, we should head back to the inn. It''s gettingte and it would be troublesome if more of the soldiers came and would start causing more riots. I think I have enough trouble to handle for today, I guess," Ran shrugs. "Yeah, I agree. Not finishing off that bastard makes me a bit tired. I guess it should be the perfect time to dip into the hot spring," Queen Tanya stretches out. Honestly, I feel the same but I feel like someone is still watching us but I don''t think there is anyone else other than us here on the shrine right now so I don''t think I have any idea where am I getting that feeling. Perhaps the feeling of being watched by the Goddess of Life? Nah, I don''t think that was it, however, I should find a chance to remove that kind of feature on me soon but for now, I have to talk to these soldiers first. ... ... ... ... "Your excellency, I came to report." one of the soldiers that seem to be amander appeared bowing down in front of a man that is currently separated with a folding screen to separate him and the one speaking to him." "Report." "We detected 5 soldiers were freed from the effects of the possession. We don''t know what was the cause but we were suddenly cut off from its connection and controlling them is no longer possible as they seemed to also have removed their armor as well which prevents us from returning them back to their possessed state." "Hmph, guess there are some people out there that are still capable of resisting the effects of the spell but don''t bother. They are only 5 people and what can they do with only 5 people? I doubt they even know I am the one who did it," the shogun was nonchnt in his answer. "I suggest that we should increase their possession level. That way, removing it by will and force will not be taken mildly then." Chapter 788 Setting The Escape Point ? Just like I promised, I didn''t sleep and decided to take guard on the soldiers. I also asked for some info about the shogun and the situation in the central city of the Kamikaze Continent where the Shogun''s castle is located. But I didn''t get much useful information besides the information I already knew that I gathered in the past timeline. In the end, there''s not much for me to know. All of them are something I already have an idea of what they are. After questioning them all, I let them have a good rest. They needed it after being influenced by the charm and possession debuffs and getting controlled by it. There''s nothing gooding from it and getting enough rest may allow them to at least recover a little bit from it. Thankfully, they are all reasonable and they didn''t force themselves to do what they needed to do. With most of the info I gathered already pieced together and most of it remaining unchanged, perhaps the only way to finish this is to keep on the first n I have already while the second one is to either repair the Divine Winds or totally destroy it. In the past timeline, it was destroyed and allowed the whole continent to be exposed to othernds, allowing free travel after that. Of course, it all depends on the choices and what was currently happening. We are still early in the situation and back then, it was totallyte for salvation and the only way to go forward is destruction. I needed to n up on the countermeasure if things went south and create a backup n if things does not work. ... ... ... ... Morning came and I ended up spending my whole day finishing my countermeasures in my mind and how to properly execute them in case things don''t go well. It kept me awake for the most part that I didn''t even realize the time has changed and the morning sun has finally risen. I would have remained in a trance if not for Queen Tori to be the first one to interrupt what I was thinking. "Hey, morning. You didn''t sleep the whole night?" Queen Tori asked. "Oh, hey there Your Majesty, morning. I didn''t feel the need to sleep so I was awake the whole night. I also have been more focused on reorganizing some of my thoughts as well after learning some stuff from the guards." "You got something?" "Nothing conclusive but I think we can assume of it based on what they just said. I can even exin and tell what I learned so far." "Save it forter once Tanya is up and awake. My sister seems to have liked sleeping here as she was in a deep sleep and is even snoring. I barely see her thisfortable outside of the castle, to be honest, so I guess we should just discuss that once we are all together. Besides, the initial n is to go and investigate the Divine Winds today. W will be traveling to the city that holds the relic and search for it to check whether something is wrong with it." "We needed to be careful. I think we will use this as our teleport point when we needed a quick escape. Knowing how the soldiers are being violent for a reason, we needed a quick getaway n." "Oh, that''s a good idea deheart but I think you should move the teleport circle to another ce. Using it here will potentially endanger everyone here. It''s best if you put the teleport point somewhere secluded or not that involved too many people, like a forest, back alleys, or even in the field outside the city." "Ah, that''s a good idea. There might be some annoying f*ckers that can trace the teleportation thread and track us. If they immediately track us to this inn, there might be chaos brewing and we should at least avoid that from happening." At that time, Queen Tanya also is now awake as well, though she still has groggy eyes. "Yo, everyone having a good morning... Are you guys discussing something?" Queen Tanya started stretching her arms while still yawning. "Morning sleepyhead. We are discussing what we should do for today. We have already nned to make a teleport point so that we can use it as a gateway point if we needed to escape something or somewhere. It''s for emergency purposes especially knowing how this ce seems to be more violent than it should have been. Preparing for the worst is the best thing we can do right now." "Oh, I do agree. If all the soldiers are under the influence like that, we don''t have the time and effort to heal them up like what deheart did to the 5 soldiers. If we are being overwhelmed, teleporting will be a saving grace for us and a good emergency gateway to pass through far areas of the continent ande back here after the expedition." "Indeed. Now, I have a suggestion to make on where we should make the teleport point yes?" Queen Tanya grinned and the two of us looked at her with a frown on our faces. ... ... ... ... "So you guys are saying that you want the ship as the ce you all will appear if you guys try to teleport?" Tora scratches his head on Queen Tanya begging him to allow us to make a teleport point on the Argo. "Yes. You guys won''t be leaving for quite some time anyways right? It''s less suspicious, not part of the continent, and is just visitors beyond the wall of the wind. And besides, you guys are strong enough to handle trouble anyways right and you guys are not even connected in any way to the people here in the Kamikaze continent. So please, let us create the teleport point here. Just imagine of it as a favor you have given to a friend," Queen Tanya started trying to act cute in front of Tora to persuade him. "Fine, fine. Alright, you win. Just stop doing that, I don''t like the look of you doing that sh*t. Just stop it, get some help. Now go, find a good ce to set that up. I suggest you use that favorite room you keep on upying whenever you ride on my ship. That room is big enough for a teleport point." "Thank you, thank you, Tora! You really are the best!" Queen Tanya hugs Tora and Tora is just irritated as he tries to separate himself from Queen Tanya. "Yeah, yeah. Just go and finish what your job here is. I still have work to do." I whispered in Queen Tori''s ear, "It seems Sir Tora and Queen Tanya are much closer than I think they would be?" "Of course they are. That''s Queen Tanya''s childhood friend and ex-boyfriend. It''s natural that both of them would be capable of acting like this without any kind of problem." "Wait, what? Seriously?" "Oh, you don''t know? I thought Tanya already told you but oh well, that is the main reason why Tanya gets a free pass here. Because Tora already made sure that he will be allowing her requests. I think they didn''t officially even break their rtionship. More like they are just not that ready to settle down on a marriage life just yet and so here we are." "I didn''t know these two have a history like that. And here I thought Queen Tanya is just harassing Tora to give up a seat for her or listen to her requests." "Tora is much stronger than Tanya, to be honest. If the two started fighting, she will emerge to be the loser as Tora is much stronger than you would think. Anyways, enough chit-chat, let''s go and do that." I nodded and followed the two to the room that Tora mentioned. Still, I appreciate their hidden history together. If not for that, I wouldn''t even dream of riding the Argo in my whole life. Having to step foot here multiple times is already quite a big honor. Anyways, we entered the room and I realized now what Tora is talking about. This room might look small outside but once you get in, it will be revealed the room was actually a small pocket dimension that is capable of putting a bigger space than what it was outside. This room is very identical to the rooms in Queen Tanya''s castle and there is a big space on the floor where we can set that thing up. I got the permission already so I pull out the ingredients I needed to make the point which needed liquid silver and some pulverized mana to act as its conductor once the spell is activated. I created a unique pattern exclusive for teleport points and made it big enough for multiple people to use. "Alright. It''s done," I nodded in satisfaction and snap my fingers, immediately hiding the spell for anyone to not be able to detect where it is. "Good. Now, our escape point isplete. Time to do some real work!" Chapter 789 Hayate City ? The teleport point has been made and it is now ready to be used. Anytime we wanted to teleport while we are nowhere near the Argo, as long as the teleport point is there, we will arrive at the Argo without fail as that is the anchor of our destination of reaching it. But if the teleport point is destroyed or purposely removed, once a teleport scroll is used without the teleport point, it usually teleports you to the nearest city without an exact location where you willnd. "Good. Now that the teleport point is now finished, we should head to the location where the relic that maintains the Divine Winds should be. I heard it in the neighboring city north from here," Queen Tanya scratches her head as she tries to recall the name of the city. "Yes. ording to the soldiers, the city we will be going should be the Hayate City, the ce where the strongest winds of the Divine Winds are pretty frequent and is the ce where the Windmill Factory is currently stationed, the source of the electricity and power that supplies electricity to the whole continent," I answered. "Eh? So all this electricity was being supplied by using the power of the wind?" Queen Tori was surprised. "What if the source of the wind is gone? How can they maintain supplying the whole continent with meager power if the divine wind disappears and the only thing left is the natural wind? Surely they won''t be able to do that yeah?" True. This became a big problem in Kamikaze Continent as the power supply was cut off after the destruction of the source of the Divine Winds. But it was inevitable as there was an ongoing riot over there when the time repair for the divine winds happened and the locals started attacking the people who wants to help. In the aftermath, the Windmill Factory was the one who take the brunt of the damage and had a hard time recovering and took some time before they managed to get back in business and have the supply of power return. However, by the time they returned to operation, most of the people have already looked for alternatives to power supply and they had a hard time recovering what was lost to them. Nevertheless, they survived the whole ordeal but they suffered most of it. We bid farewell to the crew of the Argo and a little bit pissed Tora as we went to a secluded area and there, I summoned Leona. "I still can''t believe you have this Gryphon loyal to you. It''s hard to find one and it''s not even that easy to tame one either but to think you did that easily, I think you are born with extreme luck for you to easily do this," Queen Tori rubbed the feathers of Leona which thetter happily let her do so. "But without him taming Leona, we won''t be getting any kind of transportation to reach our destination and we will be forced to either walk there or use a transportation vehicle which is less practical and slow. It''s a great thing for me." We mount on Leona''s back and we slowly take flight and head to the next city. Hayate City. ... ... ... [You have entered the territory of the Hayate City] "Look, it seems we are almost there," Queen Tori points to the city not too far in the distance. "Hmm, the windmills in this city sure are bigger than I thought they would look like. And it''s not the same amount of windmills I thought they would have in my imagination. It''s lesser than I thought!" Queen Tanya was surprised. "The biggest windmill is the one that gives off the highest power for the whole continent. The smaller ones are for keeping smaller charges and are mostly used only for the city so if that big windmill stops operating then all of the operations of thispany will halt significantly," I exined. Because we don''t want to spook the people with Leona, we justnded nearby and continues to walk on foot. The winds here are much stronger than in Soyokaze City which might be the main reason the windmill business is booming here. But while we are still on the way, we found a few people running away from the city and most of them, if not all of them, are injured. They all have injuries in their bodies and even those who are kids are all covered in injuries as well. They passed through us but one of the women running away shouted at us. "Don''t go inside the city! The soldiers have gone mad! There''s no way we will be safe in this city anymore!" she warned us before running away with the others. Every one of us frowned upon hearing this. "This is not good. Looks like we arrived in time for the riot to happen huh?" I pull out my Versatile Weapon ready. "Well, it''s not always a smooth day in our operations so I guess it''s nothing to scoff at. We should probably look into this and perhaps put a stop to this madness as well, shall we?" Queen Tanya grinned. I can see in her eyes that she is more eager to fight rather than to stop the trouble happening. Still, we headed into the city, and just like what the woman said earlier, it was a total mess. A lot of the civilians are all groaning in pain and soldiers are chasing people who are escaping. I saw a kid huddled in the corner while clutching his stomach, bleeding. He is gasping for his dear life. It seems if he was left there until everything is over, he will be dying from blood loss so I decided to go and help him. When the kid saw me, the first thing he did is tell me a warning. "What are you guys...doing here?! Go, just run away. Those soldiers are all killing us here. Run away...before you guys are involved. Ugh..." he groaned as the wound he has seems to be bleeding a lot. I pulled out a Full restore potion and let him drink the contents. "You are not dying here, kid. Drink this, and escape. Don''t worry about us, we will be fine." I didn''t have time to help him drink it as Queen Tanya called me. "deheart! They areing!" I turned back to the kid and shove the potion to him. "Drink this and get out of here to a safe area. We will handle the rest here." After that, I joined together with Queen Tori and Queen Tanya who are now facing soldiers who are clearly not in their right mind. They are looking like they are ready to take down anyone they find. "This is worse than monsters having a berserk state. They are no longer even their former selves," Queen Tori couldn''t believe the state the soldiers are in. "It doesn''t matter. We need to take them down." We immediately face the soldiers and sh with them. To avoid fatal attacks, I decided to use the bo staff. Although it can still kill, it doesn''t have the same lethality kick the other weapons have. Perfect for knocking out enemies without killing them. "Sis, don''t kill them alright!? We can''t afford to kill any of these guys!" Queen Tori is worried that Queen Tanya might go overboard. "Yeah, don''t worry about it, Sis. I got this." She swings her scythe and the de on it disappeared, leaving only the handle that is looking simr to my bo staff Versatile Weapon. The soldiers attacked. They didn''t attack one by one but immediately lunged together at us. I kicked away one that got close to me while I smack the other using the bo staff before keeping myself a distance then closing in again to deliver a few blows to the enemy that easily blocks them. "Wow, it seems these guys are much tougher than expected. Nothing too fancy though, but we can still beat them all just the same," Queen Tanya swings her scythe handle and smack down a few of them in one sweep. Queen Tori summoned a shikigami that has a round arm, it seems its a way of fighting is by swatting enemies using its t circle hands. She uses the [Kekkai] to contain the soldiers and the shikigami knocks them out after. We continue to beat them up for a while until all of the guards that seem to be doing their rampage have been apprehended and all of them are unconscious. I immediately checked their status andpared to the people we saved before, these guys have their [Charm] and [Possession] in a Moderate state. "Sh*t, looks like we will have a hard time healing up these guys. They are already suffering in a moderate state. There is a chance we will fail to remove the debuffs as a result." "I think our main option here is to tie them up. If healing them has a chance to fail, then we should just use our limited resources for the wounded people. We should tie them up or seal them up in the meantime and heal up the wounded," Queen Tanya suggested. "What? Are you just gonna abandon them?" Queen Tori was perplexed. "No. But we should also keep an eye on our resources. It''s not like we have infinite resources. Besides, these civilians will be dying if we don''t help. We should prioritize them first." Chapter 790 Finding The Relic ? To prolong the incapacitation of the soldiers, I asked Tina to sprinkle [Sleeping Powder] on them and keep them asleep for a while. As for the civilians, Queen Tanya and Queen Tori argued about it for a bit before they settled on healing them all up. They still argued about our resources but I just stopped them as I decided to use my Healing Magic instead of using the potions. Potions are better in terms of healing but the injuries the people here sustained are not that bad so healing them with normal healing magic should keep them fine for now. As for the soldiers, we ended up not healing them. Since they already are suffering from [Moderate] debuffs, it seems we will be wasting a lot of time trying to heal them up. Our main purpose here is not to rescue the soldiers from what was afflicting them but resolve the whole problem once and for all. Instead, we decided to go and prioritize the wounded civilians, gathering them up in one ce before healing them. Gathering them up was easy thanks to the shikigamis that Queen Tori controlled and my shikigamis as well. After healing them, a few woke up while the others remained unconscious for a while. We exined to the people who woke up the situation and they soon understand the situation. We also asked them if they knew something about the relic that was the cause of the wind''s erratic behavior and most of them shook their head. Only one of the women got useful info for us. "I heard before that the relic was actually in the hands of one the currentmanders of the soldiers and is currently holding on to it. I am not sure about it much but I saw him use it a few times like a tool. A few of the men who tried to stop him were injured as a result. We don''t know where he is right now but if the soldiers are still around, then that means he is just nearby. I don''t know where he is right now but my spection is that they have entered the underground passage right now. Perhaps if you guys hurry, you might still be able to catch up to them." "Thanks for the info, please go to a safer ce before these soldiers wake up. We don''t know what they might do if they awaken again." "Thank you, strangers. Hope you all good luck." The civilians grab the unconscious people and went with the others to escape. "You guys heard that?" I asked the two behind me who were listening. "Sure do. It seems there must be something underground for them to go there straight. As the civilian said, we should hurry up and head there. Retrieve the relic and make sure the relic is still fine. If the relic is used aside from its intended usage, we can expect of destroying the relic instead of letting them have it in the end," Queen Tanya clenches her fist. And so, we decided to look for the underground entrance. I just pretended I don''t know where the entrance is but I made sure that no one notices it. I took a long way to look for the entrance but on the way, Queen Tori noticed one of the notice boards has a map of the Hayate City and one part specifically pointed to the entrance. "Looks like we just passed by from the entrance. Let''s backtrack guys." Since we got the map, I don''t need to behave like I didn''t know where to find it and started taking things seriously. Since we got a lead on where the map is and I know the way, it didn''t take us long to reach it. "From the looks of the state of the underground entrance, it seems the civilian was right," Queen Tori grabbed the broken gate and slowly move it out of the way with the help of her shikigami. The gate that is stopping any unauthorized personnel from entering the underground area of the city has been destroyed and it was no longer capable of blocking anyone from breaching the entrance. Still, it was a sturdy gate which means a lot of force was used just to make a mess with it. "If they were capable of destroying the sturdy gate like this, it seems we are not just going to face an ordinary guy. Come on, let''s go and perhaps we can still catch up to these guys." I presented myself to enter the entrance first to ensure nothing goes wrong before they follow me in. From the looks of it, there are no traps present and so we proceed to move further and enter the underground tunnel. [You have discovered a secret location: Hayate City''s Underground Caverns] Although it was said to be a cavern, Hayate City uses this ce as a drainage area though it was underutilized, and only half part of this underground cavern is used as one. The rest is looking simr to a dungeon sitting underneath the city. What is worse is that this ce spawns monsters as well, making this a little dungeon that is not officially dered as one. "There are traces of some people moving in this direction. Let''s move," I lead the way as I noticed some pattern marks present in the area that shouldn''t have been there when I entered this ce in the past timeline. As we continue to follow through the trails, we soon meet up with the "monsters" underneath this ce. "Ratmen corpses..." Queen Tori frowned as a few of them were littered across the area and some are even turned into meat paste and stered on the walls and ceilings. "We should hurry. Based on the clues left behind, we are getting close." I started to run deeper and the two also followed suit. I can tell that someone is close and the smell of blood is very fresh which means the culprit behind these are already just up ahead. Soon, I saw a silhouette of someone ripping off the limbs of the Ratmen and throwing them on the walls sttering their remains to a mush. I pulled out my Versatile Weapon, changed it to a cannon, and fired a cannonball along the way. BOOM! The cannonball caught the perpetrator off guard as he was squarely hit by it. But as expected, it seems this guy doesn''t care much about the damage as it shrugged off the cannonball and stood back up like it was nothing. He then pulled out something and waved it to the cannonball which causes it to turn back to us. Queen Tanya immediately steps in and slices the cannonball in pieces, stopping it from going after us. "Looks like there are some pests who followed me here," the owner of the voice sounded like a gremlin. It''s very unnatural that we don''t know if the enemy before us is still a human or not. "Give up the relic. It''s not just something anyone can use with ease." "Is that so? Because this relic felt good to use. I don''t think I would like to even give it away from random people who seemed to have no idea what it was." He then revealed himself and we immediately assumed a battle stance the moment we saw his face. His face was deformed and it no longer resembled that of a human. His helmet seems to have fused to his face and most of his features have been distorted weirdly enough that it was like he intentionally did that to his face or his face has melted and to attempt and fix it, choose it to do it like that. His clothes were still from a soldier but based on the design, it seems to be somewhat of a uniform for higher-ups. "Wow, what a disgusting bastard," Queen Tanya snickered as she readies her scythe to move. Queen Tori immediately used a [Kekkai] and tried to immobilize the guy. "A [Kekkai] huh? Not bad, but unfortunately, this will not be enough to deal with me." He waves the artifact and all of a sudden, des of wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sliced up the [Kekkai], breaking to pieces and freeing the man. "Kgh...that attack was too strong for my [Kekkai] to even endure..." Queen Tori grit her teeth. Queen Tanya frowned before silently attacking the man with her scythe. She quickly swings the scythe in a quick manner, enough to easily cut people to shreds if they are not careful or if they just blinked. But the man before us easily deflected all of the attacks like it was nothing. And the f*cker used only his hand for deflecting them. "Hmm? Are you all done with these trivialities? It seems you all are not worth my time. My job here is done as well. Later then." Before we can even proceed to stop him, he waved the artifact once more summoning a strong gust of wind inside the tunnel. We are forced to guard ourselves from the gush of wind. However, when the wind dissipates, the f*cker has escaped. Chapter 791 Wrath Of The Wind Guardian (I) "Where?!" Queen Tanya looked around us after the sudden gust had dissipated. But as expected, the guy has disappeared and he no longer seems to be in the area as even I don''t detect his presence anymore. "Looks like he escaped," Queen Tori put away her talismans now that the enemy is gone. "Then we have to chase him!" Queen Tanya groaned as she wanted to chase down the man. "Calm down, Sis. Based on how we don''t detect his presence, it''s either he teleported away from here or got transported very fast a bit further from us. And even if we manage to keep up with him, he might just do the same thing as earlier and escape. I think it''s pointless to face him right now if he won''t face us properly," Queen Tori exined. "Ugh..." Queen Tanya grunted in defeat as we are left behind in the dust. As for me while they are currently still trying to chase down the guy, I am already peering on the next chamber as I have recalled that the ce was quite big and seems to have some sort of event back then. However, back when I was exploring this ce, the event where the relic was destroyed and the divine winds are gone and all the involving events about it had already passed so when I arrived here, nothing was left and I don''t think I have seen any kind of interaction there. But now, when I am currently peering at the chamber, it seems I can hear someone or something there. And based on the noises, it''s like it is roaring. "Is something wrong, deheart?" Queen Tori and Queen Tanya came up behind me, checking out what I was looking at. "Shhh...it seems something is currently beyond here and from the sound of it, it seems it is not a good idea, or it''s just not a good time to get near which means something must have been currently in there and its worth investigating rather than chasing that guy from earlier." The two peeked but as they do so, a loud roar and a strong tremor urred in the tunnel and we had to duck as we wait for the tremors to stop. "Based on the roar, my conclusion would be a giant beast or perhaps a dragon. The roar sounds closer to a dragon in my opinion," Queen Tori frowned. "A dragon eh? Looks like something is worth checking here after all," the sullen Queen Tanya before has regained her vigor when she realized we can face a strong monster beyond the area. Because of this, we proceed into the source of the roar and perhaps even the tremors as well. As we arrive at the location where it was, my guess was indeed correct. It was a dragon. Compared to the dragon back in the Luminous Continent that we befriend, this dragon is much bigger than usual. Not only that but it is also much fiercer than the former. In short, it is an upgrade to the friend dragon, and it''s not even close enough topete against it. "Check that out! A giant dragon! Haha, it seems it''s not so unlucky toe here after all!" Queen Tori grinned as she readies her scythe. "This is strange. Howe a dragon is currently chained in here and no one noticed it? This dragon is so big and even those chains that are binding its wings, arms, legs, and neck won''t just hold out the more the dragon tries to break free," Queen Tori just couldn''t exin what is happening. "It seems that this has something to do with the man from earlier who wields the artifact. He mentioned before leaving that his job is done here and since he came here when we arrived, that only means he might have to do something about it rampaging around here." "Very possible but we needed to go there and face this dragon. If the dragon continues to try and break itself free, it might cause the copse of the tunnel and even we will be buried alive here. Perhaps we can reason on this one?" I observed the dragon first. Based on the stories and descriptions of the dragon back in Luminous Continent about the dragons, if we wanted to seek and speak with them, they should have clear eyes and they are not currently fuming in rage as some dragons are just easily pissed. Of course, a dragon can be pacified as long as they have clear eyes but they are currently trying to destroy things in their path. But things will get different if the dragon''s eyes turn red. The moment it does, there is only one way to stop the dragon if it was doing that while currently in that state and that is to kill it. Its berserk form will not be capable of holding back its attempt of destroying many lives. It is also not possible to be able to recover as well making it a dangerous state for a dragon. So once they are under that state, it''s time to y the dragon and put a stop to it for good. Looking back at the dragon, its eyes are fully red. And it''s trying to break off of its chains, which means the dragon cannot recover from its rage and the only way for it to recover is to y it. As much as they are needed to do so, it would have been a better option to pacify it but since there is no other method to pacify a rampaging red-eyed dragon like that, the only way is to kill it. "Let''s go and beat this dragon up. We cannot reason on this one and if we let it continue to do what it was currently doing, sooner orter we will find ourselves dealing with the dragon again but a bit moreter. It''s better to deal with it here while it is still under istion and far from the public eye. That way, panic will not ur and destruction does not happen as well," I exined. "Eh? Are you serious deheart? Shouldn''t we go and see and try to ask it about something? I heard most dragons are intelligent. Perhaps it can understand some reasoning from us," Queen Toir is hesitant. "Unfortunately, Your Majesty, it seems this dragon is no longer in its right state of mind and it was so angry that the only thing on its mind is chaos and destruction. ording to one of the dragons I befriend in my journeys, if this thing happened to a fellow dragon, the only way for the dragon to be pacified is to kill it as the state they were in cannot be stopped and it''s an innate trait most dragons have. Dragons that are part of the cmity level will be more capable of destroying things and is willing to destroy the world as a result and angering them will more likely prompt them to gain the red-eyed state. Peaceful dragons have less chance to get this state but they will still have the chance to do so which is why it''s best not to piss the dragon to the point where they cannot be stopped." "Then we are guilt free if we y this one then? I am on it!" Queen Tanya immediately rushes to the dragon with an excited scream as she wields her scythe like a maniac. We followed her and the dragon does not even care about us while we are there, it just started to roar loudly and tries to break the chains on its body. "Look at this big guy, it seems it''s so eager at breaking apart the chains binding him! How about you give it a try?!" Queen Tanya charges up dark energy on her scythe and the de grows in size, as it extends and is now full of Queen Tanya''s power. In a single swing, the giant scythe passes through one of the dragon''s arms that are currently bound on the chains. SWISH! PSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH! Blood sprays from the arm that Queen Tanya sliced through as the flesh slowly separates itself from the main body, revealing that the chain arm of the dragon has been severed. The dragon screamed in pain as it lost one of its arms all of a sudden. It looked around for a bit and when it spotted us, it didn''t hesitate to throw multiple fire breaths at us. "Ugh! Sis! Look at what you have done! The dragon is now busy targeting us! You should have aimed at its neck for faster killing time!" Queen Toriined about how inefficient the cut that Queen Tanya did to the dragon was since it instead put the dragon into madness. "Eh... where''s the fun in that?" Queen Tanya shook her head. "Argh... damn Tanya!" Queen Tori is clearly pissed but she gets herself ready to fight. "Let''s bring this dragon down and win the fight. Hit it as hard as you can!" Chapter 792 Wrath Of The Wind Guardian (II) ? Queen Tanya was sessful at severing one of the dragon''s hands. The severed hand fell alongside the chains holding it and produced a huge ng with the squelching flesh hitting the floor. As a result, one of the chains keeping the dragon in ce has been removed. "Sis! Idiot! What the heck?! Why did you cut the dragon''s arm?! Now this dragon will possibly be able to break off the chains now that the bounds that keeping him here are now iplete!" "Why are you worrying that, Sis? Just kill it as fast as you can before it can create more chaos! Now, deheart, I bet you are also itching to fight?" I ready my weapon and nodded. "I am always ready to go." Queen Tanya grinned and the two of us attacked the dragon. GRAAAAAAHHHHH! CRACK! The chains on the remaining arm break to pieces and tried to m the newly freed arm into Queen Tanya. I immediately moved into her defense and immediately changed my Versatile Weapon to a Shield and Spear, blocking the attack sessfully before throwing the spear into the dragon''s arm. Since the Spear is one of the seven deadly sins weapons, even the thick scale of the dragon did not save it from the spear as it pierces through the arm. The dragon seemed to not feel the attack though it made a hole in its arm. It''s more like it''s not that painfulpared to the cut on the other arm. Queen Tanya made a follow-up attack after I throw the spear and swish off her scythe to the dragon''s fingers, but the dragon immediately solidify the scales on its arm, allowing the scythe to stop being able to cut through it. "Tch... so even this dragon is capable of scale hardening, annoying bastard," Queen Tanya grinned even though she cursed the dragon. The dragon opens its mouth and releases an attack of a strong gust of wind from its mouth. As soon as the wind attack was fired, the dragon''s name is revealed. ----------------- [Wind Guardian][Mini Boss] Level ???? HP: ?????/?????? Trait: Dragon, Wind ---------------------- Oh, the wind guardian? Looks like the same fate will fall to this dragon. If I remember correctly, the people who dealt with the problem of the divine winds said they encountered a dragon that was in a berserk state, and in the end, they have to take it down or the dragon take them down. ording to the story as well, the reason the dragon is on a rampage is because the relic was stolen. Because the dragon''s main purpose is to be sealed here alongside the relic responsible for the divine winds, the moment the relic is stolen, the dragon lost its main purpose as well which is why it is now going on a rampage. Because the relic is out of our hands and we don''t know where it is now, the only way to stop its rampage is indeed to take it down, otherwise, it will calm down once the relic is returned which is impossible right now. And even if we search for the relic while we leave the Wind Guardian alone for a while, it will eventually breach through this ce and will wreak havoc all over the city and that will put all the people in the city at risk therefore, there is no other way for this dragon. Queen Tori deploys multiple talismans into the area and activated them together. "RELEASE!" The talismans burn to ashes before releasing multiple old chains restraining the movement of the dragon. "Go and attack it! I restrained its movements temporarily!" Queen Tori shouted. But before we can even proceed, the dragon seems to have realized that it was being forced into containment and proceeds to break the chains like nothing. "Looks like your chains were not strong enough Sis!" Queen Tanya jumped into the air once more and charges her scythe mid-air. It seems she is nning to try to at least cut off its body parts. The dragon seems to realize what she was about to do as well. Before Queen Tanya can proceed to slice up, the dragon growls and a big transparent coat suddenly covers their bodies. Queen Tanya finished up her charges and immediately slice the dragon but the moment the de touches the coat, it didn''t even get to tear a hole from it. From the looks of it, it''s a coat made of magic. And it seems the attack it was anticipating was able to be blocked. Since this dragon is the wind, perhaps using electricity will do something to this guy? Let me give it a try. I pulled out a scroll of [Lightning Bolt], a tier 3 upgrade of [Lightning], and the next upgrade for [Lightning Strike]. It''s a strong ability but it takes a long time to charge up in real time so I don''t want to use it as a skill and instead use the scroll version. Not only the charge time is removed, but it''s also faster to use it for emergency situations. The only difference is that it loses a lot of damage outputpared to the real deal since the original is much stronger than the scroll version. Tearing the scroll into two, a magic circle appeared beneath the dragon and a cloud appeared above its head. It wasn''t there before until I tore the scroll to pieces and in a few seconds, a big arc of lightning suddenly strikes down the dragon and I was right, BZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTT! GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR! The [Lightning Bolt] shes down, striking the wind guardian and burning the wind guardian''s transparent coat which seems to render the physical attacks useless. Because the attack pierced through and electrocuted the dragon, the dragon fell down for a while staggered from the attack. "Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, let''s pile up on the dragon while it is down!" "Good thinking deheart!" Queen Tori nodded and released two shikigamis to attack. "Alright then, let''s get this dragon to know we are not just gonna let it do what it wanted to do. DIE!" I changed my weapon into a cannon this time around. Some of my weapons have lower chances to do any damage to the scales of the dragon but a cannon is already well-tested by yers to take down most if not all flying objects with ease. Yes, even dragons as well. Queen Tanya continues to bombard some skills on the dragon though the dragon is trying to solidify itself just to stop her attacks that might go fatal if something goes wrong with the dragon''s defenses which is why it seems the dragon is trying to increase its defense further. I deployed the cannon in front of me before loading it with normal cannonballs. I fired the cannon and covered my ears as the cannon produced a heavy explosion, hitting the dragon and its current scales. The shikigami of Queen Tori was also capable of removing the scales as well as they converted their hands using blunt-type weapons and hammers down the scales of the dragon, removing some of them in the process. Queen Tanya can''t do decent damage after all if the bosses have scales that can harden at will so removal of them is the safest bet. I continue to fire at the dragon using my cannon. Its Hp is slowly getting chipped away as the attacks didn''t stop. Then... the dragon once again rises up, recovering from its previous injuries. But the moment it recovered, Queen Tanya did not let it recover and silently delivered a nice cut to the dragon, causing it to wail in pain as the remaining arm of the dragon has been cut off, removing the second chain as well. "ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRR" A deafening pain can be heard and the moment the defeating pain echoed all over, a data panel announcement appeared in my vision. And from the looks of it, even Queen Tanya and Queen Tori got stats as well. [You have been inflicted with Draco Authority. Entities that have not received a blessing of a Draco himself or herself then get affected by the side effects like the following: HP DOWN MANA DOWN Elemental resistances are down as well.] "Be careful guys! Our defenses and HP have been lowered too much! One wrong move and we will be killed immediately!" Queen Tori and Queen Tanya immediately jumped away from the dragon, evading an attack that the dragon was just about to do. I continue to fire cannonballs at the dragon. It''s not that strong of a damage dealer but after every damage thates from the attacks of the cannon, the cannonball chips away the sources of the dragon''s defense, the scales. It gets to have some scale removal as well, removing its chances to be able to defend itself from the next attacks. Because of the barrage of cannonballs, I fired that directs through the bosses, the dragon cannot properly defend itself this time around. This time, the boss will no longer be capable of escaping. Chapter 793 Wrath Of The Wind Guardian (III) ? The wind guardian''s scales started falling one by one and some of them were forcibly removed as some of the patches of the dragon''s skin is currently bleeding. With both hands of the dragon has been severed, the dragon''s strength has been diminished a lot due to the constant bleeding and it''s getting a lot worse as time goes on. "Don''t let up the attacks deheart! The dragon is now getting staggered!" The big dragon can''t withstand the barrage of cannonballs as it can''t even dodge away without removing the remaining bindings on its wings, neck, tail, and legs. All it can do is fire multiple [Wind des] while it is trying to remove the chains from its wings. If I am assuming it correctly, once the bindings on its wings are removed, then it can unleash stronger attacks as it is prioritizing the wings first instead of its legs to escape. "Your Majesty Queen Tanya, we should focus on the wings and perhaps cut them apart. Based on how this dragon is moving, it''s trying to..." Before I can finish saying what I needed to tell Queen Tanya, the chains that are binding the neck and wings snapped like weak ropes, removing a few of the bindings from the dragon without them being severed from its body. "ROOOOOOAAAAARRRR!" The dragon angrily roared and pped its two wings so fast that twisters immediately formed in front of us. Queen Tori immediately took action on it, and throw a few talismans. "BREAK!" As soon as she shouted "break", the talismans glow bright and suddenly engulf the twisters and disperse them without incident. However, the Wind Guardian is still not done and created a few more twisters all over the ce. Queen Tori can disperse them but not all of them in a quick manner and she has a limited amount of talismans that I doubt she will use more of it. The only way to solve it is to break the wings of the Wind Guardian or kill the dragon immediately. I looked at Queen Tanya and it seems she has also thought of what I was about to do as well. I continue to fire a few cannonballs into the dragon''s body but I can''t continue doing it as I am also running. It''s hard to shoot with it while running so if I finish loading the cannon, I stop, shoot then continue running. It''s hard to dodge the twisters and even the [Wind des] as they only not have a very dangerous damage output but they can also shred our armor if we are not careful. I got hit by one of the [Wind des] and it immediately reduced my HP to half and the durability of my current coat has been reduced as well, therefore, it''s not something I would have just underestimated. Queen Tori remained in the distance to keep up with the support. She can''t keep on the offensive because most of her shikigamis get crushed immediately from the [Wind des] and the twisters the dragon made. So she was stuck at performing support on us instead but I think it is fine as she has an absolute eye for providing one and we are able to keep on rushing ahead without the need to heal that much. Queen Tanya is already ahead of me and is already jumping from the dragon''s body to reach the wings. Without an arm to swipe Queen Tanya off of its body, it can only use its head to try and swallow her but that''s also an impossible task as that would only spell the doom of the dragon if she was swallowed as she will just tear off its mouth like nothing now that she is in the softer parts of the wind guardian but knowing Queen Tanya, she prefers to keep the battle long as that is how she finds the fun in a battle, to keep the enemy alive as much as she can while keeping the damage she is dealing to the target on a maximum. I stopped using the cannon and used the hook and chain. Although I barely use the hook and chain for fighting and more on using it as a grappling hook as it works like one, the hook deals damages on where itnds especially if it''s a monster or a target. Now that the chain on its neck is gone and the chains on the wings are also snapped, that means I can try doing something ridiculous. Picking up a bottle of orange potion in my bag, I didn''t hesitate and drank the contents of it. Once the contents were already in my system, I feel an overwhelming amount of power swelling in my body. I can feel it. I took at the dragon still busy attacking and rushes forward to the dragon before throwing the hook into the neck of the Wind Guardian. Usually, I use it to pull myself toward the location where the hooknded but this time, I am not doing that. Extending the usual length of the chain, I made sure that its something long enough to reach the dragon without me getting too near to the target. With the throw, I controlled the direction of the hook and what will happen to it as using the hook and chain allows you to control the direction of the hook and how will it move after the hook is attached. The chain wraps around the neck of the dragon a few times before the hook settles into the skin of the dragon, unprotected from the scale. With the hook stuck on the dragon''s neck, I grip the chain attached to the hook and tie it up in my left arm before exerting all of my strength to pull. "ORAAAAAAAAAA!" I pull the chain as hard as I can, as strong as it should be, and as much as I can. "deheart?!" Queen Tanya who was already on the dragon''s body was surprised when the dragon shakes a bit. Although I buffed myself with the potion earlier which was the potion that increases my strength for multiple folds known as the [Strength Enhancement Potion EX], allowing me to temporarily gain the strength people that have a very built and strong body can do. I can hear a few of my arm''s bones as I continue to pull the dragon down. Despite that, the dragon also does not just want to get taken down as well and is also doing its best to pull me down as well. However, I refuse to be defeated by a dragon in battles like this. "I will help, deheart! Sis, prepare your scythe and perhaps deal a killing blow or a fatal wound to the dragon once we seed!" Queen Tori shouted as she started chanting sutras all of a sudden and ps her hands together. My body glows in dark red and a strong surge of energy and power suddenly overwhelms me. I don''t know what this is but this is a great addition to my current power right now. And with this, I grip the chain as hard as I can and exert all of the strength I had in my body to pull the dragon. "GRARK?!" The dragon seems to have not expected the sudden surge of power in my body as I continue to pull down the dragon''s neck. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I poured all of my remaining strength into onest pull that slowly tears the dragon''s neck bit by bit from the hook but it was enough to sessfully pull the dragon down to the ground. "Queen Tanya, Now!" "Don''t tell me twice!" Queen Tanya''s scythe transformed into a giant ck scythe with a handle made of bones. A scythe of death and the scythe that ims the lives of the enemies." "Fall into the abyss and sleep in deep slumber! [Reaping Cleave]!" One smooth swing and the dragon stopped moving. It didn''t make any struggle and it didn''t do much aside from a slight twitch before its head was separated from its body. Alongside the dragon''s head separating is a transparent smoke suddenly entering the scythe of Queen Tanya before it reverted back to its original form. "And with that, I think the subjugation isplete." I fell down to my knees and huff all of the breath that I should huff. My hands are still shaking and all of my nerves seem to be still unsteady after the pulling thing I did. "Woah there, deheart. Great job doing that strenuous pull you did earlier! Even I would not dare to try that on a dragon! And heck, like a madd like you, you actually did it!" Queen Tanya throws a mana potion bottle at me and I catch it. Even Queen Tori is exhausted but it seems now the problem with the dragon is done. But that doesn''t mean everything is over. The relic is still missing. Chapter 794 Key To The Wind Sanctum ? -Your Party has in the Wind Guardian -Received Key to the Wind Sanctum -No EXP gained. -No Gold gained. ------------ I was still trying to recover from my previous exhaustion of pulling the wind guardian''s body so hard that I saw the messages on mybat log and frowned seeing that I didn''t earn anything that aids my growth. Sure, I only helped with the kill, but that doesn''t mean I won''t get any share of experience and gold from that. Even if this system is basically not part of this world, since it is trying to emte a game, it should have at least given me something. I think this is due to the fact that this Continent is not yet part of the "game" system calction but that shouldn''t be the case as I clearly gained some experience when I was fighting in Aquagius which was simr to Kamikaze that is not yet unlocked. But I am not that angry, it''s just my effort was not rewarded aside from the apparent key item that got dropped. "I picked up a key and it seems to open something deeper in here or somewhere I am not sure about." Pulling out the key in the key items pocket, I revealed it to the two queens who frowned seeing the key in my hands. It looks like it was made of gold and silver mixed together with an emerald jewel ced on the handle of the key. It''s not a normal key design but a key item? This one is a pretty simplistic style. "A key huh? Seeing that it has an emerald attached to it, then it must be important. I heard from Ran that they value emeralds here as it is one of the gems that can give the power of the wind to many things here in their daily lives. This might open something. What does the description say?" Queen Tori asked. I looked into the description and read it aloud for them to hear. "A key that opens the locked Wind Sanctum. It is said that this key is the only thing that can open the door that houses the relic and the ancient device that controls the divine winds." "Based on the description, it seems to be the ce where the relic should have been ced. Then, since the guy who just escaped holds the wind relic, does that mean he opened it without the need for a key?" Queen Tori frowned. "Possibly. Might even be that he destroyed a wall or a door on the sanctum, allowing himself some entry and getting the relic in hand. Still, there might be a chance it was already sealed up or the guy we fought before had some unique ability that allows him to enter and exit the ce without the need for keys but for us, this key will be necessary to get there," I exined to Queen Tori in case she thinks this key is useless. "Ha, looks like we found something that will have significant use for us. A key that opens the sanctum huh and this sanctum holds the device for the divine winds? Perhaps we can take advantage of that we have this key and enter the sanctum to see the damage done and why it was not working anymore," Queen Tanya suggested. "The question is, where can we even find the sanctum in the first ce? As far as I know, no one but a few knows the location of this sanctum and many people are taking this as just a myth and this sanctum does not exist," Queen Tori shrugged it off as we have no idea where the current sanctum was located in the first ce. "Wait, wait. I think we will know where the sanctum is located still using the key. I didn''t notice from reading the key''s description but this is another usage for the key aside from opening it up. It said that the emerald will release a small light that always points in the direction of the sanctum." "A small light?" the two queens approached the key and observed the emerald on the handle. I also tried to spot if it was indeed giving out a light but I don''t know if I am just blind or I have a weird bad eyesight but I cannot see it. "Hmmm, I don''t know, deheart. I cannot see it. Is it because we are in a lit-up area? Because it''s definitely not present from what I can see," Queen Tanya squinted her eyes and changed her angle to see whether the light was indeed showing. "Likewise, deheart. I don''t see it. It''s just not showing any sort of glow or anything close to it. Perhaps we needed to head back up to the surface and see if that light is present," Queen Tori suggested. "Alright. But first, I think we should deal with the dragon''s corpse here. It would be bad if this body rots and causes a zombie dragon to rise up as a result. The chains are already broken to pieces and the chains on its feet won''t stop it from flying away if it bes on," Queen Tanya turned to look at the dead body of the dragon. "Then, I should take care of it. The scales, meat, and materials I can get from this dead dragon should be plenty enough." "Let me help. This dragon is big enough for one person to finish dismantling. Having two people help will make this work much easier." "Let me do so as well. I can use my experience in dismantling corpses from other big monsters useful this time around. Bring out the tools as I didn''t bring them with me." And with that, the battle against the Wind Guardian ended up with us dismantling its corpse and getting a good haul of stuff. I don''t know what will happen now that the wind guardian is gone but it will be killed sooner orter anyways so I think it should be fine for now. And besides, no one seems to know the existence of the dragon anyways so I guess it''s a much better way to keep silent about the dragon and continue on our way. ... ... ... ... ... We returned to the surface and looked around for a bit as we don''t want to risk getting into a battle against the soldiers while we are there. A little conflict as much as we can especially since we fought a big guy earlier and we are still a bit exhausted. "Safe. No people or even the soldiers were around. It''s good to go," Queen Tanya returned after scouting the perimeter to ensure that no one is around. "Think this spot is good?" I pulled out the key back out. "We don''t know for sure unless we try it out." I held out the key and a small green light appeared in a straight line. It was short, but it is pointing in a direction to the west. I tried to go in a different direction if the light that the key is giving out is going to change direction but it does not and it remained pointing west. "Oh, so it does work and I think the main reason we didn''t see the light earlier is because we are down in the underground that perhaps it won''t show the direction at all when down there." "That also means we can head there now and get to check the sanctum. Since the relic is gone, there must be something that happened there. We should head there as soon as we can." "Alright, but first, we should scout out this ce first. With the damage done here, there must be a few people who are wounded so we make sure we help them before we head straight to the Wind Sanctum. That way, we don''t have to be guilty of leaving some people to die," Queen Tanya suggested. "Alright. Should we split up and do it by ourselves to cover more ground?" I asked. "Yeah, that''s for the best. But we should fire a signal light if any of us find an enemy so that any of us who have not met them should be alerted by their presence. We can''t afford them to cause more chaos now," Queen Tori also added. "Alright. Let''s head out and help the people. Let''s gather up in the square with the people we helped out. As for the dead bodies, we can''t do anything about them, just prioritize with the living people and we should gather them up to monitor everyone else." The three of us split up and rescued a few people who are wounded. Unfortunately, it seems only a handful were still alive and most of them have died. As for the other people in the city, they either sessfully fled or have used barred themselves from their houses. Still, this is not going to be the worst thing we might experience in the future as long as the problem with the shogun is not yet solved. Chapter 795 Ongoing War ? After the rescue operation, we got a few survivors that we managed to rescue from the roads and healed their wounds. Although we rescued a few people, the amount of people who died is much higher than the amount we rescued and we can''t help but be sad about their ends. If perhaps we arrived much sooner, perhaps fewer people might have died as a result. But we cannot change what happened anymore. It''s not like I can just go save and reload all of a sudden. We left after healing all of the people who are wounded. We also left them an ample amount of potions and healing supplies for people who still have wounds. Getting out of the city, I called out Leona and we fly in the direction where the Key to the Wind Sanctum is pointing. "Is it urate to follow this light? Although it''s legitimate, I am not sure if it really was pointing to the sanctum just like that. Shouldn''t they have some countermeasure on this in case someone else received the key who is not authorized?" Queen Tori pondered. "You have a point, Sis. If someone else gets the key, and if the sanctum was something considered a secret, that only means the key is giving out the direction of the sanctum. Isn''t that bad?" Queen Tanya agreed with Queen Tori''s sentiment. "I don''t think so. Based on how we received this, there is no way anyone would just receive this key without strong abilities. The holder of this key seems to be the Wind Guardian which is why when we have in the dragon, I picked up the key and we obtained it. They would have needed to kill the Wind Guardian to get this in the first ce and since this is now in our hands, that only means no one has ever taken this key out of that ce until now." The two didn''t say anything and I think they are now convinced though, of course, I am not too sure whether they silently agreed or silently disagreed. What''s important is what is up ahead. We are halfway through when we suddenly smell the odor of heavy smoke and some gunpowder drifting into the wind. It''s pretty much a heavy smell if it was justing from a house or somewhere but there is that heavy smell indeed. A few more distance, we saw a lot of ck smoke rising in the sky. Not only that but there are also the sounds of explosions and screams of humans as well. "You hearing what I am currently hearing?" I looked at the two queens behind me who were also listening. "Yes. It seems like someone or something is fighting?" Queen Tori frowned as she tried to peek below but has a hard time doing so. "Should we go and investigate?" Queen Tanya suggested. "I think it''s best if we should not do so. We will judgeter once we saw what is happening, but before that, we should enter Stealth Mode and pass by just in case." I pulled out a scroll and tear it apart, covering us in a transparent veil though Leona can still see and fly just fine. It''s a spell named [Camouge Veil]. It''s not that greatpared to a regr Stealth but the best thing about it is that it can be used for multiple entities and cover them into a stealthy veil that allows anyone to enter a state of stealth. The only reason it''s bad is that if someone or something noticed the veil so fast, then the veil will immediately disappear. The only reason I used this is that the other stealth abilities can include multiple people and entities to the stealth effect because this is the only skill that allows movement while under stealth. Most if not all of the other stealth skills aside from the original stealth skill are only usable if you are stationary. Now that the spell is active, I let Leona hover not too far in the area. The smell of the smoke is getting stronger and stronger. As we continue to move, the light on the key is getting stronger as well and it is now pointing North-West from where we are facing. "Looks like we are now getting near the location of the sanctum based on the key''s light." "Wait, if we are almost near the sanctum and this smoke ising from where we are going... does that mean..." Queen Tori frowned. "Let''s find out, shall we?" I pat Leona and we followed the direction of the key more precisely this time around. As we are getting there, we soon found the main reason for the smoke and screams of people. The sanctum was actually located near the town and from the looks of it, a few soldiers are currently at war against the little town and the town is currently fighting against the soldiers of the shogun. From the looks of it, it seems they are the current militia of the ce and based on what I know in the past timeline, the militia will soon converge and recruit all people who were suffering and persecuted by the soldiers to rise up and fight back against the shogun. It''s nice and all but the problem is that they are not just going to survive the battle against the shogun. Once the soldiers will be unstoppable, they will end up losing and the massacre will also begin as well if not for the yers stopping the shogun and the soldiers, most of the people in the Kamikaze would have been killed as a result. "Looks like some rebellion. And they are fighting against the soldiers. Should we go and help them?" Queen Tanya asked though it is clear she is not there to help but to fight against the soldiers instead. "No. This time we don''t need to involve ourselves in this battle for them. We should head to the sanctum first and determine the problem. If we keep on going and helping people as a side quest thing, we will just be wasting our precious time. We should rather use the time to solve the root cause, as that will also remove the current problems these people are facing." "I agree with deheart on this one, Sis. We might be able to keep on helping them but that doesn''t solve the problem at all. The faster we are done with the job, the lesser times we will also do a rescue mission as well. Queen Tanya wanted to protest but soon gave up as we decided to pass by on the current war. Besides, even if we join, do we even solve anything by helping them? Not at all and that is the thing. Therefore, we continue on our way to the main sanctum to immediately determine if the sanctum''s missing relic is the main cause of all of this or if there is a much deeper cause. Not too far from the town under war with the soldiers and the militia, the big sanctum appeared in front of us. Compared to what we expected, instead of a ce that seemed to house an important artifact and mechanism, what we see is the remains of the sanctum as the ce has been wrecked and turned into some kind of ruins. "Oh no... looks like what we assumed was indeed the real deal. The sanctum is gone..." Queen Tori is saddened at the sight. "Not entirely. Look, the key is still responding to this ce. That only means there is still something in here that hasn''t been destroyed and is part of the sanctum. There must be some items or devices here that might help us in our task at hand. Let''snd and seek it out." We started to explore the sanctum. Despite being reduced to rubble, we can still feel the aura of the wind. A strong yet, gentle breeze keeps on blowing over my body. It''s a calming wind and I like it. But I guess this is just the partial effect of how it was before. Entering the premises, the log is updated. -You have discovered the Demolished Wind Sanctum. It was no longer saying the Wind Sanctum but demolished Wind Sanctum. It''s kinda bad that a ce so important to the whole continent would just be destroyed and end up not even giving any remaining people to interact. Even the workers here are nowhere to be found. Who would have thought it would be this bad? Exploring the rubbles is hard. Aside from the normal debris that is scattered around, it''s hard to know whether there must be something underneath or not in it. I was looking around when I realized the key is still responding even though we have entered the sanctum and the light it was released is still pointing to something. Investigating the ce soon made me discover the source of why the key continues to pinpoint the sanctum. Chapter 796 Wind Controlling Obelisk ? Something is under the rubble and I don''t think it was just nothing. I took out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a gauntlet and began digging into the rubble by grabbing the big stones fallen over while destroying the rocks that cannot be easily carried into pieces easy to grab and hold. While I was busy digging, Queen Tori seems to have noticed my actions. "Did you find something, deheart?" "Yeah. But I am not that sure just yet. I think there is something underneath here," I pointed into the rubble I was clearing. "Then let me help as well. If you think there is something underneath it, then there must be something in there." Queen Tori summons a few of her shikigami andmands them to grab the rocks and help clear the rubble. A few whilester, Queen Tanya also returned and saw what are we currently doing. "You guys found something now?" Queen Tanya asked as she headed in our direction. "Not yet but I think there is something under the rubble. The Key to the Sanctum is currently reacting to what was under it." "Alright, I will help out as well." Queen Tanya raises the sleeves of her reaper outfit and helped to carry a few of the rocks. I am impressed as she was able to carry a few heavy rocks though she can only do so much and she has to rest a couple of times. This allowed Queen Tori to mock her for this though Queen Tanya didn''t mind as she was indeed not as energeticpared to when she was fighting. After a few more hours of digging through the rubble, we soon dug up something. It was glowing green and it looks like a b of emerald but we can''t see its whole as the rest are still under the rubble. "I don''t know how big was buried under here but seeing that there is indeed something beneath the pile of rubble made me think there must be a significance in what this thing does." "Is there any way to remove the rubble without the need for us to keep on carrying out the big rocks? This is getting annoying and hard at the same time." Unfortunately, we don''t have any kind of way to remove the rubble as fast and efficiently as possible and it wouldn''t be also a good idea to use a strong explosive spell just to remove all of it as this may also damage the item below the rubble. In the end, Queen Tanya sits out of this as she can''t handle the workload enough for too long and decided to instead guard the perimeter instead. As for Queen Tori, she is unable to do the same thing as Queen Tanya but she has the strong shikigamis to help out so it was fine. So, we decided to use up all our time clearing the rubble and by the time we are done with the job, the sun has already set, Queen Tanya already made a small camp and catch a beast to butcher and eat while Queen Tori finally recalled her shikigami and rest. Even if she didn''t do any physicalbor, she drained a lot of her mana just to keep the shikigami moving so it was still taxing for her. But since things are done, we finally have the chance to rest. Instead of checking out the newly dug-out thing under the rubble, I headed to the camp along with the other two as I am also pretty tired as hell especially since I didn''t rest once. "Yo, deheart, have some food before going back there," Queen Tanya waved the thigh meat that she was grilling a few moments ago in the air. The two are already eating the food that was being cooked and I am thest one who have yet to eat. "Ha...it would have been nice if we have some kind of beer to drink while enjoying the meat. It''s sad that there is no ess to that right now," Queen Tanya sighed and bit off the meat she was holding. "I absolutely agree. Nothing like a cold beer after a hard day''s work," Queen Tori nodded while also enjoying the meat. "Oh, you guys like to drink huh?" I bit off on my own share as well. "You don''t drink?" Queen Tanya asked. "No. I don''t think my stomach can handle it and the first response of my body once I do consume one is to either puke it out or I get a very bad stomachache." "Eh...well, that''s too bad huh? But I guess it''s your body''s way of telling that they don''t like it so I guess you shouldn''t push it. Anyways, let''s get back to the topic of the thing that was buried. So, did you already check what it was?" "Nope. I was tired and hungry that I didn''t bother to check it just yet. After eating this though, I will be checking it out. But all I can tell is that it was some kind of an obelisk toppled over." "An obelisk?" "Yeah. It''s kind of an obelisk that was made from emerald gem though I don''t think that was the main case. It''s just that it looks like that for me." "Ho...an obelisk huh. Interesting. An obelisk can have a strong power charge if ced and used correctly. Seeing that this was being used for the sanctum, I would guess that it must be part of the device that makes the wind work, or perhaps it was just the single usage of the obelisk," Queen Tanya scratches her chin. "I didn''t know you are knowledgeable in this matter, Sis," Queen Tori looked at Queen Tanya in disbelief. "Hey, I know I am a muscle-brained woman but that doesn''t mean I am dumb. It''s more like this expertise I have with that is due to the fact that I encounter many obelisks in ruins that works in the same way. We needed to inspect it and see what this thing was all about." I finished up my food and returned to the obelisk this time since I am curious about what was the event that will happen after investigating the obelisk. Since the rubble that was covering the whole obelisk was cleared up, I made it stand back up again. Since my strength wasn''t enough, I asked As for help. The shikigami of Queen Tori also helped as well. This time around, Queen Tanya also pitched in as this is not as arduous as before. The moment we put it back up, the obelisk glows a green color brightly into the night, causing the area to light up due to the light emitting to it. Not only that but strong winds started blowing around as well. Then, a few secondster, some kind of operation happened on the obelisk as it suddenly activated, and some kind of lines that resembles neon lights moved up and down in many different manners. After a few more seconds, the glow finally subsided but the "neon lights" that is moving on the obelisk did not disappear and continued to move around. I wasn''t sure what it was but I tried to touch the obelisk. There wasn''t any kind of obvious reaction this time around so we inspected it again but after a while of inspecting it, we stopped doing those as it ended up fruitless and the obelisk was not responding at all. "Hmm...nothing is happening, deheart," Queen Tanya tilted her head. "Yeah, that''s strange..." I frowned and inspected it one more time in case we just missed something obvious. "Perhaps this will function if something was used to it? Like some kind of key item?" A key item. Hmmm, the only key item I have that is currently rted to the obelisk in the sanctum itself is the key. But hey, it might be worth the try especially since it was reacting to it earlier. There must be some kind of operation that might activate if the key is somewhat involved. Pulling out the key from my inventory, the obelisk suddenly glow bright and the emerald on the key also started glowing as well and the light that was currently released from the key suddenly connects to the obelisk. As soon as it connected, the key flew off my hand andnded on the obelisk and fit itself on the obelisk. The moment that happened, the strong winds started to behave and an input suddenly appeared before my eyes. [Please insert the Wind Relic to begin the operation] "What now, deheart?" Queen Tanya is ready to go in battle mode anytime. "We needed to insert the Wind Relic before we can begin any sort of operation involving the obelisk." "Looks like if we grab the relic out and return it, here the winds will soon be operable as well," Queen Tori grinned. "Yeah. It seems we are now going to be retrieving the wind relic and destroying the f*cker who stole it sooner thanter," Queen Tanya grinned. Chapter 797 The Next Plan ? The wind artifact is needed to operate the obelisk which will also fix the divine wind''s erratic behavior as well. Without it, the obelisk will just be a big green pir doing some neon light show in the darkness. "We can''t do anything without the artifact. Figures," Queen Tanya scratches her head. "Looks like our only clue on where the artifact currently is the current location of who currently wields it. He was supposed to be the higher-upmander of the soldiers that attacked Hayate City if I remember correctly," Queen Tori tried to recall his features and tried drawing his face to the ground but she suck at doing so. "Based on his status alone, he might be somewhere in wars or even plundering some viges. I suspect he is part of the war crusade happening in the nearby vige," Queen Tanya theorizes. "Doubt it. If that guy is part of the soldiers currently at war with the vige, those vigers might have already died right about now due to the artifact. Remember how strong the artifact''s winds are if used, he can just invoke a few twisters in the area and those guys will immediately die or get their surroundings destroyed," I immediately rejected the theory as that guy was said to be a royal pain in the *ss ording to the guys who fought against him. "Then, where do you think he was right now?" Queen Tori tilted her head. "There is one ce most soldiers who were afflicted by the possession and charm currently assemble after their "job well done" actions and that should be the main city of the Kamikaze Continent and the ce where the shogun also resides. Our chances to meet him will be much higher if we head there." "But that would be risky. Not only is it the center of the trouble but it is also the ce where the root of all evil happening in this continent resides. Shouldn''t we n this out more?" Queen Tanya frowned. "I do agree that we needed to n this out more which is why we should return to Ran''s hotel and n out our next step. If we head to the capital immediately, we might be powerless to fight back and we might get in big trouble." "Hmm, I agree with deheart. We needed a n. We needed to make sure that the n is ready and wless as well. If we ask Ran for a better way to tackle this, we could have a smoother time as well. Besides, we will have to go there sooner orter as we also needed to solve the matter regarding the shogun and bring back the peace in this ce," Queen Tori nodded. "That''s a little too optimistic of saying we can end the wars here. Even I am uncertain about what will happen in the future and yet here you are, very confident about what n we will have to do," Queen Tanya sighed. "It''s better to have at least this kind of n than nothing at all, Sis. And besides, even if we fail to bring peace here, we can at least defeat the shogun and let the people of this continent recover on their own. I doubt they won''t recover as the people of this continent are resilient showing that they are not that easily broken. We just need to do the job that we always know to do," Queen Tori looked at Queen Tanya and thetter smirked, understanding what her sister was talking about. "Then, should we go back?" "Yeah. Our best action right now is to go back. As for the vige, as much as we needed to help them, we will have to avoid having a skirmish against the soldiers as much as possible before we proceed with the n. That way, we don''t get to be in constantbat against them once we head to the capital. Of course, if the confrontation is unavoidable then that''s the time we fight." "Alright, let''s head back. We needed some rest as well once we are back in the inn as well." The two nodded and I resummoned Leona once more. As for the obelisk, Queen Tori decided to use an illusionary barrier that covers the presence of the obelisk so that any enemies who are keen on destroying it will not detect it. Of course, it can still be detected but only to those who have the ability to do so. Those who don''t have it will not even see and feel it. And so, we returned. We could have used the teleporter but that was only gonna be used if we are in extreme danger. Since we are not in that situation, we didn''t bother using it and just continued using Leona Express. ... ... ... ... I logged out of the game once we hit the sack. I felt like a few days have passed and yet it has yet to roll out the new day here in the real world. And yet, I still feel like the real world is bing more foreign to me the more I stay in the Alternate World. Is it because I stayed there more than I remained in the real world? Perhaps but that is just a little side effect I guess. It''s also been a while since I practiced my magic as well. I know that this won''t be used in the future once we are now inside the Alternate World as there is an alternative power there that we can use but I wanted to ensure that I have something to fall back into in case something strange happened and I can''t rely on the system itself. Meditating for a bit allowed me to feel the power of me welling up inside. It hasn''t been that long since I practiced but I am slowly recovering the power I once had in the past timeline. It''s kind of sad that I regressed and all of the changes that happened in my body before are gone. Though it doesn''t matter much now, all I have to do is get a lot stronger than before, thwart the n of finding the Tree of Life, and discover the main purpose of why he is doing this. Who would have thought that my first n was to defeat and make Kazuki suffer only to be reced by it stopping an unknown n that can endanger the whole world in the process? I still didn''t abandon making the life of Kazuki worse but I don''t think I have the time to be doing that now that I have a bigger problem to deal with. As those thoughts flow into my mind, I started gathering the mana in the air. I just realized that the mana present in the air has now multiplied into twofold. In fact, it is now reaching the same mana levels the alternate world has. It won''t take long before many things that shouldn''t have existed before will appear here. Not only that but some things will also change as well especially the times many people wander around the streets and move as most will now be inside the Alternate World. It''s still very far before that event will happen but it will happen sooner if things progress a lot faster. With an enemy who has regressed and returned to the past multiple times now to make new decisions, I am quite sure that there are also some things that will no longer be the same as well. Relying on my memories in the past timeline will slowly be useless and I will have to calmly think of what to do next. After an hour of meditation, my mana reserve has increased quite a lot. It''s not that bad now and it is much better than thest time. It still isn''t as good as it was in the past timeline but it is getting there and I am sure that with a few more meditations and some other stuff, I will be able to get them back. Now, I have to formte a new n. Things in the Kamikaze continent are moving smoothly and the things that should have happened have yet to ur. I still have at least a few weeks before the first revolt will ur which is also the same time the shogun''s grasp and control over the body starts to get better. It''s not yet that great but he is getting there as well which will be hard to handle soon. The first n is to infiltrate the capital and assess the situation as well as gather intel from the vigers on the matter. The second is to recruit enough people to help with the evacuation process and create a path so that the revolt will have lesser victimspared to the past timeline. Third would be the main priority once we get there, get in contact with the shogun''s wife. Without her help, this task will be hard and dangerous. However, I believe everything will work out and will be fine. Chapter 798 Visiting My Parents ? Today was a fine day, the sun is up and the sky is clear. Pretty much a good day. I think this is a good day to visit my parents and have a serious conversation with them regarding the uing n. Because I was too busy with the stuff in Alternate World and my parents are busy at work and in the Alternate World grind as well, we barely have time to see each other at all. In fact, now that I am currently in Kamikaze Continent, I have not seen them for quite a while. It''s currently Sunday so I am sure that today is currently an off day for the business for them and they would be either at home but I decided to call anyways as I don''t want to go there and end up learning that they are currently away from some matters. Using my HoloPhone, I called my mom''s number. She gave it to me back then and I use it to contact them from time to time though I barely use it as I canmunicate with her in the Alternate World just fine. It''s good that I got it still. The other line started ringing for a while before a few secondster, someone picked up the phone. The one who answered was Dad. I requested a voice call and he turned on the function, allowing us to talk face-to-face. "Manato? What''s the matter and you are calling early?" Dad asked. "Where''s Mom? Isn''t this her number?" I asked as Dad never answers my calls with Mom''s phone. "She is currently in the shower so she asked me to answer it on her behalf. Did you miss us already? We barely meet in the game for so long," Dad tries to make some pitiful voice. "Dad, you know that your pity-like voice does not convince anyone right?" Iughed. "Aww,e on, I am trying my best here. Anyways, is something the matter? I don''t think you are calling us so early without any reason. Unless you really do miss us." "I do miss you guys but I am not calling just to say that. Are you guys currently at home right now and are free for the rest of the day?" I asked. "Yeah. We are free the whole day though we n to dive into the game after lunch after we are done with the chores at home," Dad answered as he started munching something which I am guessing is a biscuit. "Ah, great. Actually, I am nning to visit there and stay for a week. I am going to bring a few of my friends along as well. Is it fine?" "Oh, really? That''s great! Good thing you phoned in early. Since you will be bringing friends along, we will be buying some groceries and stuff while you guys are staying here." "No need, Dad. I will be bringing some groceries myself. Don''t worry about it. Besides, we will be intruding so it will be natural for me to bring food and other stuff everyone needs. You guys shouldn''t need to pay and buy anything." "No way, kid. It''s a bit rude for us homeowners to not buy anything for my son who has been away for quite some time and bringing his friends for vacation and not providing anything. No, no. You should stay put and we will be buying stuff." "Oh,e on Dad. As I said before, it''s fine. We already have some groceries ready already so no need to do so." "Ah, damn. You really came prepared huh? Oh well, fine. But why does it seem like you guys will being fast here? Tokyo and Nagoya are a bit far from each other unless you guys will take the bullet train." "We have a faster way to go there without the need of us to use the bullet train. Just watch and we will be there in no time." "Huh. Okay, if you say so. Anyways, we will be cleaning the house for a bit. Call again if you guys are almost here, alright?" "Sure, Dad. See youter with Mom." "Yep. Have a safe trip." The call has ended. I stood up from my bed and started preparing for the trip to Nagoya. I also went downstairs to pack up some groceries that I will be bringing to my parents. Also, I informed everyone aside from Janus who is still not here with us who wants to tag along with me to Nagoya as I will be visiting my parents. The elves were already an automatic selection as they are necessary for theter discussion that I was going to do. As for the others, I don''t know if they are currently busy or if they have some other ns. The siblings declined in joining us as they have some important requests that they will have to fulfill today in the Alternate World so they will skip, though the rest are all okay and wanted to join as well. "Nagoya, huh? It''s been a while since I have been there, perhaps we could use the time we have there to visit ces and have some fun for a bit?" Rika started browsing popr spots present in Nagoya. "Oooh, I am excited to meet Auntie and Uncle again. I wonder if Auntie has some new gossip she can share?" Riko is really excited to go. Pandora is also clearly excited as well. Since this will be the first time she will be traveling with friends, this is something she wouldn''t expect but now that her brother has given her the freedom to do what she wanted to do, now she is more than excited to create new memories. The elves are also excited as well since this will be the first time they will be going to visit a ce that is farther than where they have been before. Pixie is also quite excited as well as she barely left the house for quite some time so she is also quite eager to see new ces aside from the mansion and its gardens. "Alright. Since you all are going to join, start packing up some clothes and other stuff you guys needed for the trip. We will be staying there for a week of duration so be sure to carry enough stuff you guys needed to bring along." Everyone nodded and they started packing up stuff. I also continue with my preparations too. And as for our mode of transportation? Of course, it''s the Teleport Circle I made before. I already redesigned it so that it can teleport multiple people in one go back and forth, making this the most convenient and fast method of traveling. Not only that but it''s also free. Pretty affordable and easy usage as well. I thought the girls would have taken their time gathering what they needed to bring along but they were quick enough that they already packed enough with them. The elves also have their necessary stuff as well. "Alright. Since everyone is good to go, let''s go to my room and buckle up." "Wait, what? Aren''t we supposed to go to Nagoya? Why are we going to your room?" Riko was confused. "Of course, to go to Nagoya. What else?" "Shouldn''t we go outside and go to the train station instead of going to your room? What are we even going to do there?" Rika scratches her chin. "Just wait and see. Juste on and go to my room. I will go and assist Pandora myself," I then nudge them to go to my room while I carry Pandora. Rika volunteered to carry her wheelchair up the stairs. The elves didn''t question me and went up ahead. Now that everyone is already in my room, I closed the door, curtains, and windows and let the surroundings be dark. "Eh? What''s going on?" Riko looked around as everyone gathered in my room. "Everyone, gather to the center of my room. Yep, over there," Instructing them to huddle over to the center where I have set up the teleport circle. Once everyone is already in the center, I pricked my finger with a needle and once the blood hase out, I push it to the ground and the surroundings glow, revealing the teleport circle that I made. "Wait, a teleport circle?!" Riko was surprised as well as the other two girls from the situation. "Hey, guys, be quiet. I know you all are amazed but brace yourselves since you guys are first-time users of this. The elves should be fine, no?" "Yes. We have used this kind of spell before so we are fine." "Okay, in 3... 2... 1... [Mass Teleport]!" The lighting from the magic circle intensifies and the magic circle patterns start to move erratically as the mana I injected by using my blood starts to charge up the circle. Before the girls can say anything, the Teleport circle engulfed everyone in a blinding light. A few secondster, we soon found ourselves in the room of the mansion I bought in Nagoya. We have sessfully arrived at the location. Chapter 799 Arrival To Nagoya ? The elves immediately started moving after teleporting while the girls are still a bit stunned by what happened. They still haven''tprehended the event that happened making them stay still for a while, still blinking and confused about what happened. "Yo, guys? What are you all spacing out for? We are here, you know?" When I said those words to them, that''s when they started to realize what just happened and started touching their bodies and looking around. "Hey, Manato, you sure we have arrived?" Riko seems to still believe we are still in my room. "Yeah. You can even check on your GPS where we are right now if you don''t believe me," I chuckled as I put all of my clothes and items that I carry out of the bag. Riko fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her HoloPhone and hurriedly check the location. The other two also peek at Riko''s phone and confirmed that we are indeed currently in Nagoya now. "Wah? Wait... what? That quick? We already reached Nagoya in just a blink of an eye?!" Riko still couldn''t believe it. "Why are you all surprised? With how much you guys have been using Teleport scrolls and the teleport station, this should be just a norm for you guys right now," I scratch my chin as I looked at them who are still confused. "Of course, we are that surprised. Teleporting from one ce to another in Alternate World is the norm but here in our world, something like that has yet to exist and I wasn''t even expecting that it would work the same way as the teleportation system in Alternate World!" Rika was amazed and still confused at the experience. "[We shouldn''t be surprised. If magic exists, teleportation will sooner orter exist as well. With how much Manato seems to understand magic, he is already far on the development of the magic system in this world.]" Pandora pulled out her sketchbook and said her piece words. "Yeah, I think Pandora is right. Since magic exists, teleporting doesn''t have much difference either. But if the government knows this kind of stuff, pretty sure they will take advantage of this to travel around the world without the need for a vehicle and wait for a few hours before arriving. Just one single teleporter and everyone is good to go," Riko slowly epted it and has already made some assumptions as well. "Alright, guys. Enough chit-chat. This is my room in the mansion that I bought in Nagoya and have given this to my parents since I don''t stay here but since both of them are here and they run a business here as well, giving this ce up is the right decision for me. Anyways, we should greet my parents. By now, they should have heard the noises we are making here now." A few seconds after saying that, the two of them rush to my room and open up the door while carrying weapons and stuff. "Who are you all people?!" my father carries a frying pan and a knife while my mom is currently hiding behind him. "Yo, yo, rx Dad. It''s me, Manato. I already told you we areing right? Don''t tell me you already have forgotten already." When my parents realized that it was just me and my friends, Father dropped the knife and frying pan and hugged me. Mother followed suit as well. "What the heck, Manato? I know you like surprises but this is really a big surprise even for us. How the heck did you all end up here without us even noticing you all entering the house?" Father looked puzzled. I chuckled as I exin what we have done. The girls and the elves followed my Mother to their own rooms as the mansion is big enough like the mansion back in Tokyo and enough for all of us. Father was the one who listened to my exnation as we head to the kitchen Father was currently cooking lunch for us in anticipation that we might arrive during lunch hours only for us to arrive a lot sooner. "Ho, so you already set up a magic teleport portal for you to use in case you needed to get back in here and visit?" "Yeah but since life has been so busy, I barely had the time to even visit which is why the portal didn''t get any particr use until now." "Can we also use that? We already learned a bit of magic and we have a decent amount of mana based on how we should do it so that when we visit Tokyo, we don''t need to wait in line or ride the bullet train to get there." "Yes. I connected the teleport circle to the teleport circle back in Tokyo allowing anyone who has mana to use it and transport from here to there without any problems. You and Mother can use it as well." "Oh yeah, I just noticed that you bring along the elves as well. So those are the elves you rescued before?" Father asked when he saw the three go out of their respective rooms. "Yes. They wanted to tag along as they have been holed up at home without going anywhere else aside from the garden and asional shopping with the girls, they barely have any experience going out far from home. This is a good opportunity for them to experience and explore other ces other than the mansion." The two of us decided to finish cooking lunch. I helped out in finishing it since my cooking skills have improved a lot now and I am confident with my skills as well. We are still in the middle of cooking when the big burly bear went outside of the room, scratching his head despite the fact that it was not even a real part of his head and it was just a teddy bear he is possessing. "Oh, hey there big boy, you looked like you woke up from the wrong side of the bed today." The Kigurumi just nodded and scratches his belly before heading to the refrigerator, but stops when he saw me. "Yo man, how long has it been? Have you gotten stronger? " The two of us approached each other and performed a bro handshake that the two of us have made. "Looks like he is very enthusiastic about it. Never thought he would be this energetic of seeing you," my father was surprised seeing how the Kigurumi suddenly got recharged with energy. "Well, it''s been a while since we met, it''s normal he would be energetic as well." I noticed the Reality Verse Nexus Tattoo on Kigurumi''s right arm. If I was not aware that it was not a real tattoo and it was more of a magic circle engraved on any surface, then I might be ignorant enough and question why a teddy bear was able to get a tattoo. "Ah, that''s right Father, I have something to say to you and Mother. Ah, you too Kigurumi, I needed to discuss something, its something important and also one of the main reasons I visited as well." "Oh? Something to discuss with us?" "Yeah. Butter this evening. Not now." "Alright then. I don''t know what you wanted to discuss but it seems pretty serious. Anyways, let''s continue cooking. Your mother would be totally furious if until now the food has yet to be finished cooking." "Gotcha. Anyways, Dad, want topete who can finish the most dishes cooked?" "Aw man, you would literally scrub me to the floor with that alone. Spare me on thatpetitive streak of yours and let''s just cook properly. You know that I am not that good at cooking when being pressured like that," Dad chuckled nervously after teasing him. The girls also came out from their respective rooms alongside Mom and all of them are enthusiastically talking to each other. "Hey there guys, it seems you two are having fun. Mind if we join?" Mom grinned mischievously at my father. "Oy Mom, I know that you two are lovey-dovey but please do that once we are already asleep or not around alright?" I chuckled. "Tsk, tsk. Son, I know that you are still inexperienced in love, but next time, you needed to know that this kind of conversation is normal for couples like us. You will understand once you get your significant other." "Nah, that is still miles away from happening, I will not understand it just yet." Still, even though Mom said those words, I still think it would be miles away from happening. I don''t think I am ready to dive into romance again just yet, especially with how I am burdened with a task that only I can do and solve. But perhaps if all of this is over, perhaps I can also start over and find myself my significant other. But for now, I needed to focus on the tasks at hand. And that is to convince my parents to help. Chapter 800 Discussion Time ? It''s almost time. I didn''t know what to tell my parents about this matter just yet but I am imagining all of the worst-case scenarios. Knowing my parents, they are easily not convinced by stuff like what I am about to say and I have to do some debate with them. They don''t like me engaging in dangerous situations. And if they knew that Alternate World was never a real game, they would not just going to be shutting up on how dangerous the situation is and they might even try to stop me from doing it as well. "Are you perhaps worried about your parents?" Riko came up to me while carrying a te as I was watching everyone talking to my parents. It seems Riko noticed me watching them with uncertainty. "You easily read me huh?" "Naturally. We grow together since childhood. I know your parents as they even act as my second parents when my mom and dad are not there because they are busy with work. I know their personalities more than my own parents so I have an idea of why you seemed so bothered about telling them." "Yes. Maybe I can convince Dad, but Mom would definitely oppose me to finish this. So I am already simting the different scenarios happening inside my head to at least predict their response and immediately use what response I needed. Which is why I am practicing mentally." "Haha, that''s so like you but don''t worry too much, just so you know that we are also here to convince them. Don''t worry about it and rely on us if you can''t make them do so." "Alright. I know I can rely on you guys but I also needed to do this by myself as well." "Alright. I won''t disturb you anymore. Just don''t overthink it. I am sure they will understand." Riko left and went to the sink to put her te there before returning with everyone. As for me, I am still trying to think about the discussion that I have to tell them. But there is also the advice that Riko gave me of not overthinking it. Perhaps I am just indeed overthinking stuff and it''s not really that much of a big deal. Perhaps. But it never hurts to be prepared for it. ... ... ... ... 6 pm. Everyone is now resting in the living room. My parents are also resting as well as they have spent the entire morning cooking food with us and they are all exhausted. Even the ghost in the bear is here as well and currently watching TV while lifting a dumbbell in his right hand. Looks like he still has the habit of continuously working out even now. But anyways, looking at them all here, that also means this is the perfect time to also release the bomb while they are tired as that would also lessen their arguments because they are too tired to argue with me. Mm, perfect. "Mom, Dad, I have something to discuss with you all. Oh, also include Kigurumi in our discussion as well." "Huh? Oh yeah, you did say something that you have something to discuss with us. What is it?" My father looks rxed at first but I can tell on his face that he is trying to assess what I was about to say. I may be nervous but I needed to tell them what it was. "Before that, there is something that we have to do first," I then looked at the elves and the three nodded before they snap their fingers, and the magic circles on the Reality Verse Nexus were suspended and no longer functioning properly. My parents noticed that and they frowned as they looked at their Reality Verse Nexus getting disabled. Even Kigurumi is shocked at what happened and is looking at me and the elves, questioning what is going on The rest are not surprised as they have already experienced it before. "Don''t worry. We just have to disable the Nexus as they will be a troublesome problem if they continue to detect what we will be talking about." "What? What is going on, Manato? Care to exin?" Before I can say anything, Riko pitched in, winking at me to let her handle the exnation a bit and sit back. "You see Uncle and Auntie, Manato here found out something about the game we are ying. He was called by the creator of Alternate World before because of his achievements and how he handles most of the game''s battle muchpared to others, making the maker have extremely high praises for him. Which is why he decided to reveal some ns and the true nature of the game." "True Nature?" My father frowned. "Yes. You see, the game we y every day was not actually a real game but an actual Alternate World. All the NPCs we meet, all the monsters we kill, and all the experiences we have experienced are all real deals and not just a program of aputer. The proof is the elves here that are standing with us and interacting with us. After learning about the Alternate World, they realized that the world they live in was actually what their real world was and we are just thinking that everything in there is a game. This is also why all NPCs we encounter in the game are unique and they don''t just say the same line over and over again and they knew how to interact with you even if they are just random people." "Woah there, Riko. Slow down. You are making us very confused this time around. So let me get this straight, the game Alternate World was not a real game but just another universe is that what you are saying?" my father is frowning and had his two eyebrows crossed as his confusion grows. "Yes." "And these three elves are also denizens of that world and just crossed this world by ident then?" "Mmhm. That''s correct as well." "That also means every single NPC who died because of our choices from some quests is also real flesh and blood people as well?!" "Yep, yep. All are correct, uncle. Everything we thought of as a game was actually the real deal." "Then what about the way we log in? The way we can use skills and we, being immortal?" This time, the one who exined it is Renatta. "It was one of the effects of the spells in your Alternate World''s entry ticket, the Reality Verse which was in reality, aponent of multiple Magic circlesbined together and making the tattoo into some sort of a tattoo. The effects of the spell allow anyone who has the mark to revive in a nearby cathedral governed by the Goddess of Life to do the deed. So if you died, you really did die but because of the spell, your death is revoked, and you are recreated again using all of the previous memories you had on your previous body and transnted on a new body containing all the information you have on yourst one, allowing you to "revive" effectively." "Indeed. Remember if we died in a quest and we revive in the cathedral and go back to where west die we still see our bodies? That''s because that was our literal bodies and they will just remain there until they rotter on." "Wait, wait, wait. Hold on for a minute. We shouldn''t have died since our real bodies are not transported to the game right? Only our consciousness was there and we are controlling an avatar." "Actually, no. The real body we have in the real world was actually what our bodies in Alternate World are also using. Even with the customization we did on our characters during character selection, it was not real and it was all just an illusion to you and the others'' eye, allowing you to perceive as a different individual as you in the Alternate World but in reality, it is still our body. It is also one of the main reasons why eating a portion of food and water in the game is equal to eating real food in real life as well and why you never get hungry if you stuffed food in the game and then log out." "Oh no..." My mother couldn''t believe it. I looked at the girl on why she suddenly felt sad and broke down to tears and Pandora revealed it by passing a little note on me. "Because she died multiple times in the game during the early phases. If what we revealed was real, it only means she died multiple times already and her body was no longer the real deal anymore." Ah, she was afraid now after the reveal now. She is now confused about whether she still thinks she is still the same person she was before or the current she is no longer the same person. "Manato, I know you like to joke but this kind of prank to elicit reaction from us is not funny," my father is now angry. I sighed and shook my head. "I hope it was all just a joke Dad but what we revealed was actually the real deal. And I don''t think I would even try to continue to lie if mother is already hysterical." Chapter 801 The Truth About The Tree Of Life ? Mother is shaken, and Father couldn''t believe the situation. Compared to my friends who were open to adventure and like to head to danger, my parents are not. They wanted to live as peacefully as possible. This might be also the main reason they were taken advantage of in the past timeline as well. But even then, I have to convince them. They are not angry about it but they definitely didn''t like the idea that the world of what they thought was a game was actually a real world. And for Mom who keeps dying during the early days, she is shaken and confused now. Still,pared perhaps to my deaths, I doubt she can even surpass the amount of death I experienced as well, and yet I don''t feel or think of that troublesome crap. I am me, and even if I am a remade version of myself, I am still myself and nothing can change that. "Uncle, Aunty, don''t be totally worried. Everyone in here, save for Pandora who hasn''t died yet in any of her y due to her extreme defenses, have already experienced death in the Alternate World. And even if we had died, so what? We returned and we are alive. It''s not that much of a big problem and I don''t think we needed to think of that and worry about the consequences," Rika tried to convince my parents. "Yes, I agree with them. I doubt we should be worried about what happened after we died as we are currently alive right now. If we are truly dead, I am not talking to you two here, and everyone else here as well. This is a blessing in disguise. In fact, we should give this life a chance now that we know that we have died," I added to reduce their worries over it even though it shouldn''t be necessary to think much. "So what now? Learning the game we loved was not actually a game so suddenly is something we barely started to ept. Is this just the only reason you talk to us about this?" my father crossed his arms. "Actually, no. After I learned the truth back then, the founder of the Nexus revealed his grand n and he wanted me to cooperate. It involves finding the Tree of Life in the Alternate World." "Tree of life?" Mother and Father suddenly got curious. Labo who was just listening to our banter started to exin when he heard of the Tree of Life. He started exining about it and even I have just heard of this tree from him and gained some significant knowledge on what it really does. "The Tree of Life is considered the anchor of the worlds and the one who controls all matter of life all over the world. Even the gods and goddesses are born from the Tree of Life''s branches, allowing them to exist and help shape the world. Although no one knows the exact location of the Tree of Life, many believe that it was just hiding from the eyes of people all over the world due to how much damage it received during thest Primordial Wars between the Goddess of Life and the Goddess of Death. It is believed that one can obtain tremendous power and immortality if they received blessings or have eaten one of the fruits the trees bear. It might be just an old legend but most inhabitants of the Alternate World still believe that the Tree of Life exists and once it reveals itself, it is predicted that war will ur as a result." Then I chimed in. "And that war extends here in the real world now that everyone on Earth can actually enter Alternate World." "That''s horrible. Wars just destroy the normalcy of life and if magical stuff involving that is going to be added to the war, things will no longer work the same way again," my Mother thinks deeply about the future. "Yes. And after he revealed the n, I was hesitant of doing it as that was actually something I didn''t expect so I needed enough time to learn about the stuff he was talking about. However, it seems he doesn''t like that I know his ns but not helping him achieve them. As a countermeasure, he tried to erase my memory about the n and call it a day, saying he will call me again when the right timees." "Huh? Son, do you have a memory wipe? Is that even possible?" Father, couldn''t believe what he heard. "I did but it failed as I retained whatever I learned back then without losing a single piece of info about it. I got suspicious of why he decided to delete my memory about our interaction even though the conversation we had doesn''t even say much about it aside from finding the tree of life. So I immediately formted a n and discussed it with the elves to investigate everything which also resulted in us discovering the hidden agendas the Nexuspany has been doing ever since we are using their product." "What do you mean?" my mother frowned. "Do you mean the thing you guys did earlier?" Father guessed. "Yes. That is correct. The elves realized that the tattoo that was supposed to be the technology we use to log in to the Alternate World was actually a sort of teleporter that allows us to traverse the Alternate World and return here on Earth safely but with some other functions that everyone who knows is not happy they exist." "Yep. Those bastards installed it with a monitoring spell that allows them to view and see whatever the user was doing, whether they are eating, taking a sh*t, taking a bath, or whatever things we do, they have all of that recorded in theirpany!" Riko is still furious. "Monitoring spell? Wait, do you mean surveince? Does that mean they are spying on the people who have this tattoo then?" "Yes. They have eyes on us because of that and they know all of our secrets this time around my guess is that they wanted to use the footages they have on us as a bargaining chip in case they needed something for us and also perhaps to gather intel whether someone else has already gained a piece of information regarding the whereabouts of the Tree of Life," I exined. "That''s absurd! That is clearly a breach of privacy and the fact that they can record stuff using it means they can view us anytime they want and if they wanted to, they can also release information about us to the public popce and humiliate us with that!" Father is now furious. "But we are talking right now. Shouldn''t we fear the situation about this conversation being recorded then?" my mother is worried. Renatta tried to calm her down. "No worries. Due to the spell we designed, we can suppress that spell for quite some time but due to its limited usage, it cannot be used for long. Aside from that, it also creates a sort of illusion of information to give to the people who monitor us something that reces what we are doing now. That way, they won''t suspect it. This is why the only time we use this spell is whenever we discuss the main n and here we are, doing exactly that." "Yes. That is why I am talking to both of you. And of course, Kigurumi if he is still essing Alternate World join us on the n to stop them." "A n huh? Now that I know some of the bad things these f*ckers are doing, I am kinda motivated to learn what n you have right now against these people who have the power," my father grinned, showing his enthusiasm. "I am not happy with what I learned today so if you have a n to stop them from doing that again and again, I think I am in, my son. So what is this n of yours?" my mother asked. "We will be transporting ourselves to the Alternate World and living there for quite some time, running away from the real world as that is the only method for the spell that we are using right now to block their espionage on us is to remain in the Alternate World. We will be doing what we do best but this time, we will prioritize looking for clues about the whereabouts of the Tree of Life, race against them to know the location before they do, and protect it from what they were supposed to do because ording to what Nobuhiko said before, he ns on using the Tree of Life to do something to the world." I am not sure if I sound convincing there but I am not sure whether this is a necessary stuff that should be done. But based on the smiles of my parents, I think I have already received the answer I needed. Chapter 802 Mr. Teddy ? Revealing the n to my parents at first was something I thought would fail but after the little discussions we had, we actually gained into an agreement with them. "Finding the Tree of Life first huh? This is some kind of race against time kind of theme. I like that," my father grinned. With how he likes to go on adventures, the sound of going into a hunt for the Tree of Life against apetitor is something that he likes to do. "I am already familiar with the world of Alternate World. If staying in Alternate World for a long time and living there like a normal denizen of that world is something I dream about sometimes so doing that n of yours Son, is something I would like to participate in," my mother smiled and everyone also be happy after the reveal. "Then that settles it, it seems we are going to make this n into motion." I am happy as I recruited my parents to my cause even though I am hesitant that it won''t end well. All that is left is perhaps to convince Janus about it thoughtely, I can''t get a hold of and contact him, making matters a bit troublesome. Just as we are about to end the topic, the ghost inside the Teddy bear, the person I call Kigurumi nowadays stood up and asked Pandora to borrow the marker and sketchbook she had. Pandora was a bit confused at first but she still lend the sketchbook and marker to him and he started writing something on it. After writing something, he then put it out to reveal what he has written. "Hey, it seems I have known you guys in the Alternate World as well. I am Mr. Teddy and I am sure you all know me." Everyone went full shock and even I couldn''t believe it. After all, this guy is a ghost possessing a teddy bear and he managed to enter the Alternate World and earn a body? I think it is possible after the knowledge of how revival works in Alternate World for us "yers" but this application to him just made it a bit shocking. He gained a body in Alternate World and a muscr body at that. "Woah there, matey. You really are Mr. Teddy? The muscr guy that never removes his teddy bear mask like how Manato does as deheart?!" Riko couldn''t believe it and immediately jumps to him and tried to remove the head of the Teddy Bear to reveal who was inside. However, she soon finds out the truth. "Huh? It''s attached to the body and this feeling, it''s all soft and I don''t feel anyone is inside this body... It''s like it was just some kind of teddy bear..." Riko continues to squish on the teddy bear and the poor guy tried to break free from Riko. "Hey, that''s enough. You might be hurting him in the process..." Rika pulled Riko away from him, allowing him to recover. "What is going on? Not only does his suite off, but his whole body is made of foam and whateverponents a plushie toy has! I don''t feel a single human being inside this bear!" Riko looked at the teddy bear with a big frown on her face as she doesn''t believe that there is no one inside it. "Well, you are right, Riko. No one is indeed inside that teddy bear. That was just a big toy without anything in it besides its usual foam to stuff the bear," I shrugged. "Huh? What do you mean by that Manato?" I looked at the teddy bear and it nodded, giving me a signal about it. Alright, you see, the guy here is a ghost that I managed to befriend..." "Ey, ey, ey! Wait a minute there, Manato. I know we have experienced multiple instances of evidence that magic does exist but saying ghosts are also really is a bit..." Riko had shivers in her body. Well, she hates horror stories and I think she doesn''t like it when I mentioned ghosts there. "Believe what you believe, as I am telling the truth. Mr. Teddy here is a ghost that haunts this mansion before. I bought this mansion before because it was a lot cheaper than most mansions avable and it''s not in bad shape despite the price and it''s not that old either. That''s when I found out this ce was haunted by a ghost and that ghost was none other than this guy." Everyone looked at Mr. Teddy and he pull out the sketchbook with the words "IT''S TRUE" written on it while nodding. "At that time, I already awakened my mana and I have already familiarized myself with it, allowing me tobat his haunting at first and fought to submission. I thought he was a malevolent spirit at first but he was not and he is ghost bound in this ce. Because I finally know that he was not a threat, I didn''t eliminate him and let him live. At one point, I bought a teddy bear to use as a disy here on some of the plushie stands here but this guy here decided to use it as something he will possess. In the end, he is now like this, a teddy bear that moves on its own, possessed by a ghost," I continued. "I didn''t have an idea about this. I thought he had just a bad fashion sense or he likes to wear the teddy bear suit a lot but never in my life would have thought this was actually a real ghost possessing a life-sized teddy bear," Mother couldn''t believe it either. She decided to approach Mr. Teddy, grab his arms and body, and started to hug and squeeze him. She frowned at first and then shook her head. My father looked at her trying to learn an answer and she shook her head. "If he was a ghost, howe he managed to get a body in the Alternate World? And how does the Nexus even get activated if it was only applied to the Teddy bear?" Riko frowned as she continues to check the anomalies on Mr. Teddy. Alena who was keeping herself quiet throughout the conversation decided to step in. "Looks like it is my turn to exin as I have now fully understood what is going on with him and how he can ess the Alternate World with a corporeal body despite being a ghost here in this world. Like what Labo said before about the way the resurrection works for you who has ess to the Nexus, this also applies to him who also got ess to it. And since he doesn''t have an established body in the first ce and was just a ghost, this detects immediately as him already dead which is why he will gain a body that he can use around once he spawns in. The only difference is that he does not spawn in the Cathedral like what you guys do when you die. Because he doesn''t have a body the moment he tried to cross, this bes an error to the magic system performing it allowing the user to manifest normally like how everyone does." "Then, therees the Nexus being attached to this toy you guys call a teddy bear. Although it is not directly attached to the user who doesn''t possess a body to call aside from this teddy bear, the Nexus marked on the teddy bear acts as his body instead, but instead of transporting the whole teddy bear as well, only the soul is being carried over. In short, the Nexus identifies the possessed toy to be a body. Just that simple to be honest," Alena exined I immediately understood everything. If he is in the Alternate World, he regains the body he no longer possesses here in the real world, allowing him to live once more like a normal man. He doesn''t have to be an incorporeal existence anymore due to this but someone who can now move and live like a normal person. "So in short... if he remains in the Alternate World, he is counted as a living person instead of a ghost?" Rika tilted her head while trying toprehend everything. "Basically, yes. He already experienced living again the moment he was transported to the Alternate World. So if he wanted to go back and resurrect himself, staying in the Alternate World doesn''t sound so bad, to be honest." "Oh, then you want to join into this n as well? We will be living in the Alternate World for quite some time as escaping the people who will be tracking us will also be tracking you down especially since you are also being monitored as well. Are you ready to live once again? Experience how to be a human once more?" Mr. Teddy is not sure of what to do but soon enough, he nodded and pulled out the sketchbook. "Count me in." Chapter 803 All Out Attack ? Because our discussion was a sess, we decided to throw another celebration that night. Of course, we make sure that we don''t speak of what we discussed while the Nexus was active. Despite my Mother having trouble with the built-in surveince inside the Nexus, we just convinced her to just forget about it and just go on like usual to ensure that they won''t suspect anything. After the lengthy celebration, we went to our own rooms that day. For me, I don''t want to sleep just yet. I still have to solve the problem in the Alternate World and so I decided to return. It was about to reach morning when I returned and since I still feel a bit energetic from the celebration, I am wide awake and cannot sleep. Due to this, I spend the rest of the day crafting a few stuff I might need. Sooner orter, we will be having a few skirmishes with the enemies and I needed to ensure that we will not be on the losing side. I have continued crafting stuff for a few minutes now when all of a sudden, I heard a sudden explosion in the neighborhood. It''s a bit farther away from my estimation but based on how strong the explosion is, there is no way it was from a weapon from this city. Getting dressed immediately, I headed went out of the hotel. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori also got out themselves as well, already dressed in their battle outfit though they clearly rushed to do it as they still have some bed hair and they still looked sleepy. Ran started to ask some of the running passersby. "What is happening?" Ran asked calmly to the panicking woman. "They are here! And it seems they are intent on fighting and destroying this ce!" after answering, she continues to flee. "It seems the shogun''s army is now attacking," Ran frowned. "What about the men that deheart cured from the possession?" Queen Tanya asked. "They have volunteered to be the guards of this city for a while since they have experience in protecting different areas. If they are functioning normally, they should be the first ones to be defending the ce," Ran answered as she looked around for a weapon to use as well. "Ran, leave the fighting to us. Make sure the vigers are evacuated and far from thebat zone. Gather them up and make sure to keep them safe," Queen Tori suggested to Ran who starts to panic about what to do. "I can do that but there are only a few of you guys... How can you all fight an army with only three people?" "No worries. We can go to war with only the three of us." Ran was hesitant but she nodded and gives her good luck wishes. "Alright guys, be careful out there, and good luck." She then immediately assisted the people to evacuate correctly so that they won''t panic and let them calm down while the three of us rushes to the area where the explosion urred. It didn''t take us long to find it as the mes are already quite big and started to spread to the nearby buildings. Since most have wooden structures, the mes are easily crawling from house to house. "We needed to extinguish the fire. [Amefuri Kozo]!" A young kid wearing an umbre hat suddenly appeared in front of us. The moment he appeared, the sky started to darken due to the dark clouds suddenly forming. I was surprised when Queen Tori suddenly summoned a yokai known as Amefuri Kozo or mostly known as the Rainfall Boy. I know that Omnyoji sses are capable of using spirits and shikigami but I didn''t know that yokais are among the skills you can use as well. "Amefori Kozo, you know now what to do!" The Amefori Kozo nodded and started skipping on the street. As the yokai did those slowly, the dark sky starts to release the heavy water it was holding, causing it to rain. "Alright. That should do it. We should go. Thanks for the hard work, Amefori Kozo!" Queen Tori recalled the yokai and the yokai smiled before it turned into a piece of talisman that Queen Tori uses. Perhaps next time, I would also try to master the Omnyoji ss as well. Using yokai to release phenomenons like that seems amazing. We continue along the streets and as the rain begins to pour harder, the mes that are burning the houses are slowly getting extinguished as well, allowing us to no longer worry about the fire spreading any further. It didn''t take us long to reach the area where the first explosion urred and when we arrived there, the men that we have cured before are currently the ones defending the massive gate. It''s being pounded by the enemies outside. However, the men are down from 5 to 3 now. Two of them seem to have died and it seems they have died fighting the enemies who have breached. "We are here to help!" Queen Tanya shouted to the men holding off the enemies at the gates. "No! You guys should evacuate! Our formerrades are now total monsters, they are no longer humans and they are not just some people you can easily defeat!" "No worries. We can deal with them with no problem. Just keep the gate closed and we will handle the rest. After that, Queen Tanya and I leaped off the walls and jumped down to our enemies. And just like the three men said before, theirrades are no longer humans. Although they have retained their human shapes, they have the traits of some monsters. Some gained some appendages while some became lycanthropes. But since they have converted into this form, that also means these guys are no longer possible to be cured of this. "Your Majesty, they are no longer possible to be saved, the only salvation we can do for them is to give them death." Queen Tanya grinned and swings her scythe, cutting down multiple soldiers rushing like zombies. "Good! That would allow me to no longer hold back as well!" She started swinging her scythe and slicing every single soldier attacking her. I assisted her and used my katana to make swift one-strike kills and alternating it with Daggers and using extremely closebat stabs at the soldiers when I get the chance. A shikigami appeared alongside us, mowing down on the countless soldiers attacking as well. However, I think this is not just going to be enough if only the three of us will fight and defend the city. "As!" "I am here to assist, Master!" As wields his broadsword and started cleaving the enemies group by group. There are plenty of them around like they are zombies indeed. It seems the shogun is now intent on bringing down the city without leaving a trace if they have deployed this many enemies at once and trying to burn down the ce as well. Their intent is clear as day and they are no longer the same enemies that I thought they would be right now. I needed to adopt a new strategy to deal with them again. We continue to deal with the soldiers as the rain continues to pour into the sky. Thankfully, after our efforts, the soldiers start to slow down as well. But I can tell we have yet to finish this siege. If they brought this many enemies in one fight, that only means they also have at least one or twomanders giving orders as well. "Guys, don''t let your guard down, I can see two enormous beingsing in front!" Queen Tori who was remaining in the gate to reinforce the defense of the gate and to also control her shikigami in a safe distance warned us. We prepared ourselves as we waited for the enemies that areing as well and soon enough, we found the enemies that Queen Tori described as huge. A Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo. Although they looked like those monsters, it is also clear that they were transformed from humans. The Jorogumo for instance is the same womanmander of the 16th battalion of the shogun''s army. She was a strong enemy before and she has monstrous strength when we fought her before but who would have thought that she would turn into a half spider-half woman all of a sudden? This is indeed no longer following the same script in the past timeline indeed. "No wonder I felt like no one survived from all of the soldiers we sent to assault the gate. It''s because there are some pests who are blocking the way for us to assault it," the Tsuchigumo started speaking using a hoarse voice. "If that was the case, we should just deal with them so that we can bring back the glory to the shogun, yes?" "Yes, Indeed." Looks like they won''t back down either. Time to fight! Chapter 804 Tsuchigumo And Jorogumo [I] ? ----------------------------------------------------- [Maruki the Abominable Tsuchigumo] Unique Type Enemy Level 450 HP: 30,000,000/ 30,000,000 Type: Human, MorphedCreature, Cursed, Spider -------------------------------------------------------- [Saya the Seductive Jorogumo] Unique Type Enemy Level 450 HP: 25,000,000/25,000,000 Type: Human, Morphed Creature, Cursed, Spider ---------------------------------------------------------- The two are both spongy bastards. They both possess 8-digit HP and both are unique type monsters as well. Their levels are high as wellpared to mine and As which means both our damage will be a bit weaker than usual. As for Queen Tanya and Queen Tori, they are in the same position as me. Seeing the boost in their levels might be because they are cursed and morphed, which made their powers surge through the roof and allow them to gain more abilities than usual and bypass the level limit as well while the overworld''s level limit has yet to be lifted. "deheart, I will take the male one to kill. You and As should deal with the female one." Queen Tanya taunted the Tsuchigumo and alongside the Shikigami of Queen Tori, they engaged in a fight to the death. As for the Jorogumo, she only smiled as she faces in our direction. "Hehehe, I can smell the sweet scenting from both of you. Killing both of you would be satisfying and perhaps will satiate my hunger for some time, hmmm?" I looked at Altas and he nodded in response, attacking the Jorogumo, targeting her legs. PENG! The loud ng of the broadsword echoes as the two sh. And based on who was showing a better sign on who was winning, the Jorogumo does. It''s even just showing how dominant she was in the battle as she tries to subdue As without problem. I immediately choose a better way and quickly interrupt her execution of As and tried to cut the limb she was using but it only produced a dull ng sound as the female Jorogumo smiled widely. However, I am not there to immediately engage in a fight against her which is clearly on her side due to her agility and natural armor she used to stop most of As''s attacks. Instead, I went there to make a tactical way to defeat her. "As! Return for a bit!" As jumped into the Summon''s Area portal, immediately escaping from the hands of the Jorogumo, allowing me to perform my next trick. Because her defenses are still too high. First, we have to slowly reduce her defenses. Grabbing a shbang, I throw the shbang straight into the eyes of the Jorogumo, shing a blinding light straight into her many eyes that are present on her lower spider body and also the eyes she possesses in her human head as well. Due to the number of eyes she had, even though the shbang should not even deal any damage against enemies, due to the number of eyes she has, one shbang is enough to damage her eyes permanently, burning most of them and damaging them to barely function. "You are not that much of a unique Jorogumo after all," I grinned as I retreated as the screaming Jorogumo is screaming in sharp pain after the shbang. "CURSE! CURSE YOU! WHERE?! WHERE ARE YOU?! COME BACK HERE AND I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS! GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" As I said before, she might look strong but she doesn''t have many changes aside from being named and fully armored in her body like a soldier. The rest of her form like being a Jorogumo normally still dominates her, allowing me to exploit the weakness I know from the normal Jorogumo and use it to her when she least expects it. With the shbang causing the named Jorogumo to be blind, the fight will be much easier now as this will limit her attacks and we will be able to attack and retreat from her effectively, taking advantage of the "run and gun" tactics on her. I resummoned As once more and throws a potion on him from his wounds. "Come on Man, be careful next time. You almost turned into a spider meal." "Heh, sorry about that Master. It''s just that it was a while since I fought so it was a bit of an impulse of mine that almost managed to kill me." "Alright, now that she is blind, let''s slowly chip off her health while dodging all of her attacks. It will be easier now that she was blind." The named Jorogumo didn''t like what it heard. Even if it was already blind, she can still pinpoint stuff using her hearing but a lot worse than her eyes. "Just because I got blinded doesn''t mean you all will escape alive! I will shred you all apart!" then she started attacking randomly, trying to guess our location. "Alright. Now be careful. She is fast so once an attack has been done, retreat and change another area to attack. Don''t stick to one ce." "Gotcha, Master." Although this will work, knowing the Jorogumo like her, she might have some kind of other power aside from being a Jorogumo so I had to also be careful. It will be annoying if she uses it on us and we couldn''t even block it. Just looking at her name alone, I think I have an idea of her special attack but I don''t know how she will do it therefore I needed to ensure that I am prepared for it. And so, we attacked the body of the Jorogumo. I took advantage of the distance and used my Bow and Arrow Versatile Weapon form and continues to shoot its weak spots while As takes advantage of my shots to inflict fatal critical attacks on her body parts. "ARGH! DIE! DIE ALL OF YOU!" The Jorogumo is totally in pain and is already tormented to the point she no longer just tries to grab and attack but every time she does, she will immediately chomp down to the location she thought we were currently standing because she is now blinded, the Jorogumo''s movements were easily readable and essible, making an easy job for us. We just continue to attack the female Jorogumo without tiring ourselves while the female spider just continues to scream in pain and continues to do her rampages. I can easily tell as well that once we will be grabbed by the Jorogumo she will not let us go that easily and immediately kill us once she captured any of us. The problem of this battle is the fact that we have lower levels against her and her armor is high. Since the amount of HP she has is high, she was totally a sponge of damage, absorbing lots of it while we are fighting against her. Even with the debuffs that reduces her defenses permanently and timed debuffs, it was still not that strong enough to deal that much damage. When her HP falls below 10 million, I can tell her behavior suddenly changed. Knowing how Jorogumo works, I have a bad feeling about this. "As, return for now. Let me deal with this one for a bit and go back out after a while." As nodded and returned to the Summon''s Area. As for me, I already detected the situation and what was currently happening. The female Jorogumo is channeling her mana into the surroundings, and now she has spread out her sensitivity as she spreads out her webs to cover more area and allows us to dance on her palm while we are busy attacking her. It is a good tactic for the Jorogumo, but too bad I already have anticipated this attack. I was just waiting for the right moment to deal with it. The Jorogumo stays still for a bit and soon, I can feel the surroundings vibrate. I also noticed the web scattered all over the floor, forming a of the spider. For the Jorogumo, she found a way to bypass her blindness and use something else to detect us, for me, I found a way to mess her up even more. "Now you can''t escape f*ckers!" she startedughing but little did she know that I also have something of an explosive for her as well. BOOM! mes covered the area and starts to crawl all over the floor, burning things before they can even harden themselves. What I did was just drop a little fireball on the floor and the Jorogumo''s self-made began to catch mes. The Jorogumo who has attached her senses to the she made frowned when she felt hot on her senses. "W-what is going on?!" "Hey, spider woman, you think I wouldn''t notice what you just did? Now taste how painful it is to get the senses of someone who had their entire senses in their skin burned. You will probably love it." And the mes growrger and devoured the whole in a matter of seconds. After the was burned, the Jorogumo started to scream even louder as smoke starts to release on her body, showing how the effects of what I did before made her knock the death''s door. Chapter 805 Tsuchigumo And Jorogumo [II] ? While deheart and As are currently in a heated battle against the Jorogumo, Queen Tanya is shing her scythe with the legs of the Tsuchigumo which has legs akin to a sharp-ded weapon. Not only that but even though the Tsuchigumo is a big, and bulky creature, he was fast enough that Queen Tanya''s attacks are easily blocked and parried by the Tsuchigumo. "Kgh...Tori, am I remembering wrong because I know Tsuchigumos don''t move this fast..." Queen Tanya frowned as she gained some distance against the Tsuchigumo for a bit. "Don''t worry Sis, Tsuchigumos don''t move this fast, it''s just unique to this guy," Queen Tori answered by using her Shikigami tomunicate with Queen Tanya. "Unique huh... There''s also that unique word added to his name so it must be indeed some new enemy with a different form. We have to kill this guy as fast as we can before it can breach into the city further. Sis, back me up." "You got it, Sis. Just do the usual and I will cover up your weak points," Queen Tori assured Queen Tanya. Knowing Queen Tori is on the lookout for her, Queen Tanya activated her boost, increasing her speed and strength as well as increasing the lethality of her scythe as well. She disappeared from where she stood and next appeared above the Tsuchigumo, catching it off-guard. Queen Tanya quietly exerted all of her force and brought her scythe downwards to the Tsuchigumo. The Tsuchigumo sensing that it is toote to even dodge curls up and suddenly hardens up its back. PENG! The scythe collided with the Tsuchigumo, producing a dull sound of metal shing together. Queen Tanya exerted all her force to it and yet the scythe only managed to inflict a scratch on the defense of the Tsuchigumo. Realizing the attack failed, the Tsuchigumo grinned and took advantage of Queen Tanya''s dy after her attack and shoot out a web from its abdomen. Queen Tanya noticed it, forcing her to retreat and slice up the iing web to avoid getting caught by it. As a result, the Tsuchigumo managed to break free from Queen Tanya. "[Kekkai]!" Queen Tori immediately used up the Barrier skill, immediately catching the fleeing Tsuchigumo. "Nice Catch Sis!" Queen Tanya then teleported next to the Tsuchigumo encased with the [Kekkai] and charged up her scythe. "[Corrupted Cleave Fang]!" Her scythe extended, its de grew fangs and releases a blood-red aura before she swings it at the Tsuchigumo, inflicting severe damage before it returned to normal. The moment her scythe returned to normal, she regained a bit of health, siphoned from the Tsuchigumo. But contrary to the enormous damage that will sometimes kill an enemy immediately, the Tsuchigumo didn''t die. Instead, it is still alive and well. Its HP is still pretty high but already reduced due to the damage it received, and is still standing strong without any visible injury present. Since she sliced the Tsuchigumo, the [Kekkai] that traps the spider also got sliced but for some reason, the Tsuchigumo remained intact and the moment the [Kekkai] barrier was gone, it immediately jumped off and snarls at Queen Tanya. Pissed by how the Tsuchigumo doesn''t have any visible injuries, Queen Tanya proceeds to perform a roundhouse kick and sent the Tsuchigumo flying in the distance. The Tsuchigumo didn''t like what she did to him and immediately shot out a corrosive poison at her. Queen Tanya managed to dodge but a part of her sleeve and hoodie has been corroded and destroyed. Thankfully, she didn''t get any poison on her skin, or else, she will suffer great pain as a result. "Sis! Are you okay?!" Queen Tori asked as she sent a healing Shikigami to Queen Tanya. "I''m fine. But this bastard will have to pay for ruining my clothes. No one dares to mess with my clothes like this!" Queen Tanya is totally angry after her clothes got ruined and decided to change her weapon form. Before, it was just a normal giant reaper scythe that can change any form like extend and retract. This time around, she decided to change her weapon into a two-ded scythe, one de on each end. "Now you make me really mad, you f*cking spider. I will crush you to bits and slice you to pieces!" The Tsuchigumo was just barely standing after being thrown by Queen Tanya''s kick but Queen Tanya appeared on the side of the Tsuchigumo and repeatedly sliced the spider. It didn''t even get to parry anymore as Queen Tanya did not stop attacking the spider. Even with its tremendous defense its armor slowly diminishes its usefulness as Queen Tanya slowly breaks it slowly. "Uh... Sis. I know you hated the spider but you don''t have to bring it to the monster and use that reason to just brutally kill it." She then proceed to lift the Tsuchigumo up in the air, then proceed to slice it multiple times using the twin-de scythe. The Tsuchigumo didn''t get to defend itself and its HP went down to critical levels. That''s when Queen Tany and Queen Tori noticed something about the Tsuchigumo. "What the... is it molting?!" Queen Tori immediately realized what it was doing. "Whatever it was trying to do, we just needed to kill it." Queen Tanya tries to attack the Tsuchigumo just like she did before but her weapon bounced off like it was being blocked by something of a supernatural force. Her weapon also didn''t even manage to slice anything and more like it just hit something solid that it cannot cut, causing the metal to not even do anything meaningful. "Impossible..." Queen Tanya picks up her weapon and observed the Tsuchigumo slowly changing as it is molting, making her frown as the Tsuchigumo seems to have decided to abandon its spider-like form and instead decided to choose the humanoid but monster form. "Be careful sis. I can tell that it is trying to power up itself by molting and its power seems to have multipliedpared to before. Don''t underestimate it!" "Does Tsuchigumos has this feature before as well?" "If I remember correctly, they do have this feature before but because Tsuchigumos are hunted and killed before they can be one like that, I have not seen a Tsuchigumo turn into like this before. This should be the first time I am seeing it." "It would have been fine if these bastards only powered themselves up and nothing more as I enjoy strong enemies buttely, these enemies seem to have gained some cheat powers as they will suddenly gain immunity to attacks or be invincible and cannot die all of a sudden. If this bastard has something like that as well, I will not be happy and I will have toin to the gods on why this f*cking sh*t is born in the first ce if they cannot be killed at all." After a while, the Tsuchigumo finished its molting process and it transformed into a different monster. Compared to its multiple legs, it has been transformed into a human leg but with features that shouldn''t be part of a human. In fact, it is now standing upright while still featuring the disgusting face of a spider, and its legs have been changed into some kind of decorative on its back. "Be careful Sis! His aura has changed! It seems he is now adapting the function of a Tsuchigumo while retaining the movement form of a human!" "I need to kill it before it gets dangerous!" Queen Tanya swings her scythe just like before, making the attacks fast enough to ensure that it will not be able to stop its attacks and inflict fatal damage as well. But it seems this Tsuchigumo seems to have regained some of its reflexes and decided to abuse it as all of the swings of Queen Tanya missed and it was fast enough to be able to see when someone is watching naturally. Queen Tanya then decided to bring down her scythe and slice the Tsuchigumo, only for it to catch the de of the scythe and snap it like a wood branch. Queen Tanya retreated to restore the scythe to its former form but before she can even do that, the Tsuchigumo appeared beside her and before Queen Tanya can react, a punch in the abdomennded on Queen Tanya, delivering an excruciating and painful blow. Even the shield Queen Tori used to defend Queen Tanya didn''t even hold a candle to the punch as it shattered before it can even do anything. "SIS!" Queen Tanya was sent flying and bleeding as she pukes out blood. The punch was something she didn''t expect but this only fires up the anger and bloodlust that Queen Tanya feels. "I see. So you decided to embrace your monster transformation while turning back into human form and use it to your advantage? Guess you are thinking you are the most invincible bastard now. But don''t forget that I am a reaper that harvests lives. Your soul is needed to be reaped. And I think it is time for you to get rid of your current life. You have to die!" Chapter 806 Tsuchigumo And Jorogumo [III] ? What the heck is going on? I am sure it doesn''t have any Break Line that indicates that it will go berserk or activate any power if the HP falls down that threshold. It was like it activated after realizing it cannot win against us and decided to use their trump cards to fight back. "As, I don''t know what is going on but be ready anytime. Retreat if you get damaged or hit badly. Don''t risk your tankiness against her as she might be more of a debuff-oriented enemy. Whatever the gimmick of this woman is, we have to keep ourselves careful." "Yes, Master." I have faced countless Jorogumo in the past timeline as they are not that rare to meet here in Kamikaze Continent but this particr Jorogumo is not even a Jorogumo in the first ce, it was a human before it sumbed to corruption and begin to change into a monster. And since this Jorogumo still seems to retain a bit of its head and memories from when she was still human, not to mention that her upper half is still a human form due to being a Jorogumo which has a half-human, half-spider form, her special gimmick might be already in effect and I just didn''t realize it. The Jorogumo seems to have finished what it was doing and faced us, grinning from ear to ear, no longer retaining her normal face. It was like a stuff seen in nightmares and if I get easily scared that face will haunt my dreams. "Haaaaa...I felt powered up... Now, I can tear you all apart!" She then released a web all over her surroundings. We have to dodge so that we don''t get caught up in the web. After that, the white web she released suddenly turned violet, and the grass that the websnded on suddenly corroded and died, and even the soil suddenly got darker as well. "Corrosive Poison..." I grit my teeth. That only means she can now melt metal and armor. "As, be careful. The enemy can now use corrosive poison. We have to fight against her very carefully with our armor on. One spit or one of those corrosive webs and our armors are done for. We needed to ensure that this woman gets defeated immediately." "How about a range attack Master?" "Projectiles don''t work against Jorogumo, their body mightck armor but they easily deflect them for some reason, but it''s a different thing if it is a magic projectile." I then changed my weapon into a Staff and immediately fired off [Fireball] into the Jorogumo. The Jorogumo didn''t like that she had to dodge every fireball I sent to her. Seeing that range magic seems to work, As held out his hands, and a ball of dark energy ball appeared on his hands. It was something I didn''t see before that he used so the moment I saw it appear on his hands, I frowned. He then fired it at the Jorogumo and thetter didn''t like it either as she dodge it but the moment she dodge, the energy ball suddenly changed direction and sted her behind, catching the spider off-guard. "GAAAAAHHHH! sted f*ckers! I will rip all of your bodies and eat your flesh!" The Jorogumo screamed at the top of her lungs before she disappeared and appeared behind As and used her de-like legs to attack him. I immediately noticed her movements so I quickly blocked it but it seems she knew what I will be doing and decided to use it as a feint and immediately strike an attack at me with it, prompting me to immediately react by sacrificing one of my bracers to fully guard against her swipe and even that did not easily nullify the damage in exchange of my bracers, it manages to fully prate and scratch my skin and make me receive a [Bleed(Moderate)] upon hit. "Aha~ the sweet taste of blood... More... I need more!" The two of us retreated at a safe distance for a bit to allow me to recover from my wound and also to change the bracer I am wearing. The bracer I previously wore cannot be repaired as it was torn to pieces by the Jorogumo. It was even one of the best bracers I made and it was immediately destroyed in one strike. As is keeping her at bay while I patch up as well. "Hey, Big Boy~ You can ditch that master of yours and serve me. What do you think?" I wasn''t even paying attention to that but the moment I feel bloodlust directed at me and a huge shadow is about to hit me, I immediately retreated and rolled away, dodging As''s attack. "As? What the f*ck are you doing?!" "GRAAAAAAAHHHH!" He started swinging indiscriminately and seems to be out of his mind right now. I have to keep dodging his attacks as he was trying to cut me down. "Oy, stop! What the heck?! Snap out of it!" Suspecting that the Jorogumo did something, I checked the status windows of As and realized why he was doing this all of a sudden. He received the debuff [Charmed] and [Controlled] causing him to turn into me and fight against me. "There''s no helping it," I took advantage that As is moving slowly and attacking without finesse and expertise like he usually does, I immediately disarmed him and put my palm on his armor. "[Paralyzing Lightning Strike]!" BZZZZTTTT! As shook as the electricitying out from my palm struck like lightning to his body. He passed out as a result of that and I have to use a Ssh Full Restore to severe the [Charmed] and [Controlled] debuff on him. Because he is out ofmission as a result, I decided to just go and solo her, that way, this woman does not try to do that sh*t again. "Hey, hey. That''s not nice of you to hit your ownrade. Shouldn''t you be ashamed of yourself?" I didn''t try tomunicate with her. Instead, I just run in circles around her, to catch a chance to strike on her. "Come on, wolf head guy. Say something..." But I didn''t say anything and shed against her feet and try to sever them in closebat. "Why are you so quiet?! You must be fun at the parties, right?" I still didn''t say anything and just break one of the armor on her legs. I made sure to focus my attacks on one particr spot of the leg armor and just grind that out until the armor gives in. With the armor gone from that spot, I tried to cut it down using my Versatile Weapon but the Jorogumo is not liking what I did and blocked my attack to injure the leg. However, the Jorogumo seems to be mistaken. BANG! One gunshot causes the leg of the spider previously attached to her body suddenly got detached the moment the gunshot urred. As I mentioned earlier, she is immune to projectiles just like the bulletsing from the Pain deliver, but that changes the moment the armor breaks, allowing for a small chance to attack that area and deal direct damage against her and that includes the guns that she was previously immune with. I repeated all of the actions I did to her and because she is slowly getting annoyed by how I was able to just brush off her and continue with what I am doing, the Jorogumo decided to throw something for me to rise and deal with the whoopsies. "Young man~ I think it should be time you give and make yourself fine inside this home," she mutters as she slowly approaches me who is waiting for the right moment. When the Jorogumo is very close, I took action and activated my attack and destroy one of the armor covering her legs immediately after doing so, I shoot at the legs of the Jorogumo, which in return, forces the Jorogumo to be a cripple. "Why?! Why?! Why do my seduction and ability not work?! It should have worked and he should be under my spell now as well?! Howe he is not affected at all?" I turned over to the Jorogumo and started flexing, "That''s because it''s due to mad skills, yeah." After that, I cut off the remaining limbs of the Jorogumo, even her arms didn''t get wasted and it was cut as well. Although the Jorogumo was no longer able to move well due to this, it also leaves the chances of deheart to also have a chance of respite after the battle before heading towards where Queen Tanya and the Tsuchigumo are fighting. With the Jorogumo secured, the next target to be secured and executed should be the two but seeing how the matters of the Jorogumo were taken, I can see why he will be doing it and I think I also wanted him to see it seed man. Chapter 807 Tsuchigumo And Jorogumo [IV] ? The Jorogumo is screaming in pain. Well, who wouldn''t if all of the limbs she was using to walk are now on the ground, separated from her body? She was a spider with her limbs all removed and cannot move. She can still fight back but her means of fighting back is either useless or too slow for it to be effective enough in ying her opponent. "What are you?! Why are you not affected by my charms?! No one can resist my charm skills even if you are a man or a woman!" I didn''t say anything and just stood there, watching her try to recover or do something to turn the tides in her favor. But it''s pretty unfortunate as her expertise on the battlefield doesn''t seem to be useful enough to do anything spectacr and mindblowing in the end. "[Ice Prison]" Because the Jorogumo cannot move anymore, the [Ice Prison] was enough to restrain her. Still, I feel this is underwhelming and the ice can still melt so I added anotheryer of barrier to prevent her from escaping or doing anything which is the [Kekkai]. Killing the Jorogumo right now is not yet necessary. They needed information for when they needed to get into the capital and use it to their advantage. Once they have extracted enough information they needed, then perhaps they can execute them as a means of mercy killing them. Even if they are soldiers before, now that they have transformed into a monster like this, they can''t go back anymore. They are no longer going to be able to return to normal. As for Queen Tanya and Queen Tori fighting against the Tsuchigumo, I don''t think they needed my help. They seemed to be doing just fine. ... ... ... ... ... Queen Tanya does not casually fight and takes her enemies lightly. But now that one of her favorite clothes is torn after what the Tsuchigumo did, it''s very clear that Queen Tanya won''t just take this matter lightly now. As she stood staring at the Tsuchigumo, her body slowly emits an aura of darkness all over her. Although it doesn''t feel evil, the darkness is something akin to a hunting predator. Giving a bloodlust all over while her eyes are set on her prey. And that prey was none other than the Tsuchigumo. Once her aura enveloped her, a new robe of the reaper appeared all over her body, covering what you can see as skin. Even her face has been covered with a ck mass of swirling energy that does not resemble a mask and yet it acts like one. Her eyes emitted a red glow and one would freeze in fear being stared at it. The Tsuchigumo felt this and it also doesn''t have an exception as well to the power of her eyes. It shivered just by being stared at her and even though he got some kind of invincibility in his arsenal, he can feel that this matter is different. "Sis, don''t push yourself too hard using the [Soul Phrase] alright? That one is a bit taxing to your body if used for prolonged periods of time," Queen Tori is worried about Queen Tanya. "It doesn''t matter if the enemy is dead before I suffer on one alright?" Queen Tanya held her hands in the direction of the scythe that is embedded on the ground and like a ma, the scythe flew to Queen Tanya''s hands and the scythe glow in a different color. Not only that but the form is much more sinister and the eye symbol on it seems to be some kind of eye that seems to stare at your very soul. The Tsuchigumo didn''t like that it was being looked down on and so it decided to also try to bulk up and unleash its power as well, trying to overpower and to also show that he is not afraid of Queen Tanya''s new power. "So that''s how you want to y then, huh? Fine. Let''s do this." SWISH! Queen Tanya swings her scythe and a reddish aura is fired off into the air,nding most of it on the Tsuchigumo. Because it cannot be blocked, the Tsuchigumo''s defenses were not able to do anything to what Queen Tanya shot at the Tsuchigumo. The young queen reaper slowly walk towards the Tsuchigumo and the Tsuchigumo tried to slow her down by firing off a bunch of webs in hopes of catching her in his webs, and slowing her movements as a result. However, for the young queen, it''s just a web and nothing more. She easily slices all of them, rendering them useless to use. "Your status might indicate that any attacks I do are going to be nullified by your status, but I have my own way of harvesting life. You can understand my words aren''t you? After all, you used to be a human. If so, then perhaps it is time for you to spend yourst minutes contemting on why you decided to embrace the life of being a spider." She raises her hands, and the red energy gathers up in those hands. Soon, it slowly formed into some kind of ectosm that seems to slowly connect to the Tsuchigumo. The Tsuchigumo is shocked by this but it tried to attack Queen Tanya multiple times to stop her from whatever she was trying to do. However, it was a futile attempt as Queen Tanya continues to do what she was doing while moving around and dodging the Tsuchigumo''s attack. "I can feel your fear, the uncertainty, the anger, and the rush of power that is flowing in your body. However, does that even matter? If your death is inevitable, does it even matter?" Her palm is slowly closing as she continues to approach the retreating Tsuchigumo. The hulking spider seems to have realized what is happening now. He wasn''t aware of what was happening before but after a few more minutes of Queen Tanya provoking him while she was doing some kind of sorcery, he is now aware that even the buff he received after he was almost killed before will not help him from this fate that was already sealed from the start the moment he fought against the reaper woman. All its mind has been screaming about is to run away. Nothing more, nothing less. After all, this is a lost cause and fighting is not worth it anymore. The Tsuchigumo, fearing for his life started to run. He started running away as far as possible from the battlefield. Forget everything, forget destroying the puny city. Forget the resources they can pige after the sessful takeover, what he was facing cannot be defeated by a mere approach like this. Queen Tanya grinned seeing this reaction and seeing the Tsuchigumo skitter away from her. "Hahahahaha! It seems you have realized the gap in power between us and yourself. However, it seems you have realized toote, vermin. Time to sleep and time for you to think about the wrong things you have done in life in the afterlife." She tugged the red power ectosm that is still connected to her hands and the running Tsuchigumo. She can still feel the connection. However, there''s no need for her to prolong the connection for any particr reason. In one swift motion, she closed her fist, and the red ectosm connecting her and the Tsuchigumo dissolved like a liquid. The fleeing Tsuchigumo in the distance suddenly stopped running before falling t into the ground, all the traces of his life are gone. The end result? The Tsuchigumo is dead. ... ... ... Queen Tori met up with me as we fetch Queen Tanya who fall to her knees and returned to normal after she entered the [Soul Phrase], A unique Reaper skill that only Queen Tanya can use. It is a state that allows Queen Tanya to use the Ectosm to connect to the souls of the enemies all over and determine whether they are living or dead. During this state, Queen Tanya can easily manipte the ectosm which is some sort of ingredient that has the ability to connect and manipte the soul of an individual without the need of directly touching and harming the one they are trying to manipte. In the matter of the Tsuchigumo though, she weaponized it, using it as a means to kill by snuffing out the connection of the soul and the body and killing the target without pain. But because it taps the realm of the soul, Queen Tanya gets very tired after using it for some time. It''s not meant for prolonged use which is why after using the ability for a bit, Queen Tanya is now out of breath and seems to be ready to copse anytime soon. "It''s a shame the Tsuchigumo is dead, but at least the Jorogumo is still alive. We can just extract information from itter. For now, we should go back inside the city and also keep Sister rested," Queen Tori then supported Queen Tanya to stand alongside me as we slowly walk back to the city while behind me is the frozen body of the Jorogumo, being carried by my pet snake, Mizuchi. Chapter 808 Results Of The Attack ? The death of the Tsuchigumo dropped a few items that I took with me since Queen Tanya didn''t need them and Queen Tori had no use of them. As for me, I don''t have any idea whether this will be useful or not but there is a chance I can use them, you see. Who knows in the future? And besides, some of the materials dropped seems interesting to use. It would be interesting to craft something out of these items as well. In any case, the invasion and attack are clear enough that even this city is not safe from the wrath of the Shogun''s soldiers. That is enough for everyone to know what the current shogun was like. With Mizuchi carrying the Jorogumo, we returned to also inquire about the damages done to the city from the attack. Entering the city once more, the guards were shocked to see the body of the Jorogumo. Since the Jorogumo still retains her upper human body without much change aside from the obvious spider features, nothing much changed from when she was still a human. "Isn''t this Commander Saya of the 10th toon?!" "No...she also became a monster?" "Does that mean, if we didn''t get cured fast, we will also turn like her and the attacking soldiers?" The surviving soldiers feared the oues of the debuffs done to the soldiers and to be honest, they will be simr to this if they were not cured in time. It''s terrifying and there is no way to return to their former self until the very end of the battle where the perpetrator in this case is already dead. Still, knowing what will happen to them will also help on stopping them from returning to the shogun. It''s much more dangerous and they are more likely to be killed than being a guard. As for the dead two, I can''t do anything about it as they are already dead. There isn''t much I can do when they died this fast though it''s not their fault that they are easily killed when the enemies are very dangerous as well. You guys should rest in the meantime. You guys did well in handling the invasion and keeping the gate closed. Otherwise, the situation might be much worse if the gate was opened and destroyed. The three sighed dejectedly. However, they didn''t rest and instead, went ahead and grab some shovels and carried the remains of their tworades. Since they carry the shovels with them, they will be burying their remains somewhere. "Your Majesty, I think this is a good time for you to rest as well. It''s best to apany Queen Tanya as well as she is currently injured or not in good shape to fight. Just keep her like that in the meantime and let her rest," I suggested to Queen Tori. "What about you, deheart? Don''t tell me you n on staying up and guarding the gate." "It''s necessary to do so. With the body of the Jorogumo here, it''s best to keep an eye on her body and to also guard this ce. Don''t worry, I can manage. I have my ways as well." I then summoned two skeletons that were part of the skeleton soldiers I summoned before. One of them is the strongest skeleton I have. I can also tell he is stronger than the rest of the people here so having the little skeleton guard will take some easier time to guard this ce with minimal effort for me. As for me, I needed to calcte the damages done by the soldiers and also prepare for the information extraction we needed for the Jorogumo. Before the sun rises, I needed to do more work than expected. ... ... ... ... The next morning, the people who evacuated to the safer part of the city returned. They were thankful that the damages that were inflicted is not that big but they were still horrified when they see Saya the Jorogumo. A few of them even knows her and so they asked me if I can thaw the ice and let themmunicate with her. Since I am not someone who is bad enough to enforce that they cannotmunicate with them, I allowed it and thawed enough ice on the Jorogumo for her to talk and interact with any of us there. But instead of a good result, she just screamed and starts spitting poisonous and corrosive spit. Some of the people who interacted almost got harmed but thankfully, I made precautions before allowing them to block the spit unharmed. Still, the people who tried to talk to her were disappointed that they can no longer talk and interact with her anymore. But there''s nothing I can do if she was already this bad and I can''t do much about her situation. Even if I throw a bottle of Ssh Full Restore on her, she won''t be cured of her status anymore therefore, it''s just a big waste in the end. Queen Tori arrived a bitter to check up on the situation. She was a bit groggy as she slept a bitte due to her taking care of Queen Tanya. "So? What''s going on here now?" Queen Tori asked seeing a lot of people gathered around. "We are trying tomunicate with the Jorogumo here. A few of the people here knows the Jorogumo when she was still a human and hoped that they canmunicate with her and reason her with in hopes that she still retains her humanity." "I can guess based on everyone''s look on their faces that the attempt was a failure, yes?" Queen Tori tilted her head. "Indeed. Many tried to interact with her but every single time they did, they are only greeted with either a snarl or an attempt to attack. Some persisted but they were then shot with corrosive spit. Thankfully, I already added some precautions in case she does a spit so the people are fine. It''s sad that these people happen to be acquaintances or close friends of the human form of the Jorogumo in the past and yet she can''t even recognize them anymore." "Then, can she be cured just like how you did on the five soldiers?" "Nope. I already tried that before but she didn''t revert back to her human form. I tried various things as well but nothing seems to work. Everything I did was useless as they don''t even trigger any reaction to her except for getting angry." One of the people who proimed to be Saya''s friend before approached us when she heard that I can''t cure her at all. "Is there no other way? Perhaps there is something that can be done for her to be reverted back to the point she was still human!" I can only shake her head. Unfortunately, the people who changed into this kind of form won''t be able to revert again to their normal human form. Because back when we defeated the perpetrator, the people who became monsters didn''t get to return as humans but they are cleared from the pain of the debuffs as a result and regained their humanity as well. The only thing that remained is their deformed form. Some who only have some deformations in their bodies and not as bad as they looked managed to return to duty while the people who are too monstrous either decided to live in the woods and avoid the people or decided to end their lives in shame for their new forms. But who can me them? They cannot go back to their old lifestyle anymore and even if they did, will they still be epted by the people a few yearster on? It''s not easy for them to ept it and no one seemed to be that happy either. In the end, I freeze her back up again. Until Queen Tanya wakes up from slumber, we will have to postpone our information extraction. We will also have to discuss the matter of executing Saya as well as I can tell that many of them will refuse that to happen. I don''t want to decide things on my own, therefore, it''s best to discuss this with everyone. For now, she will be stuck in the [Ice Prison] until then. We also asked some of the people around to check the corpses of the soldiers outside the gate whether they know anyone from there. Maybe a friend, a family member, or an acquaintance. Whatever they are, we wanted to know whether they are one of those people. The three soldiers also returned to guard the gate as well. They are still recovering from the loss of the other two soldiers as well but they were not at fault. We also promised to help in the repairs of the ces that got destroyed from the attack but the leaders of the vigers denied that and said that we have done enough and its their duty to do that instead. In the end, the situation might not be as better as before, but thankfully, it seems it won''t be as bad as I thought it would be. Chapter 809 Extraction Of Memories Because we don''t know what the next n the Shogun is and how unpredictable his current attacks are, I decided to go on a patrol around the city''s vicinity. To cover more ground, I summoned most of my skeleton soldiers to start the recon process. Of course, I asked the people to not attack my skeletons if they spotted it as they are one of my troops and I am using them for recon which they soon understand after I revealed I have the ability of a necromancer. To add more recon power and to also to ensure the safety of my skeletons in recon, I also sent out the Desert Wolves as well as they can cover up most of the trouble and can efficiently fight monsters as well. It''s a big win for me. My skeletons are quite efficient and this way, they can also earn a bit of experience. With the help of the Desert Wolves, even those enemies that they can''t easily defeat are taken down without much problem. Thankfully, they are not just weak and pushover skeletons that will immediately die in one hit. Especially the skeleton that has been the only survivor of most enemies that I killed and I think he is doing much better than I expected. I think it is best to level up these skeletons and use them inbat as well. So far, only several monsters tried to attack but otherwise, nothing dangerous has been spotted and no other soldiers from the Shogun have been spotted as well. After confirming the situation, I helped out rebuilding the destroyed buildings and also reinforcing the defenses as well by utilizing the Saboteur ss skill, [Blueprint] and [Materialization]. With those two skills, I managed to increase the defense value of the city without the need for additional manpower and resources. Still, the people will have to defend the city by themselves. Since no one is governing this city and is independent of the ruling, they have to do all the deeds by themselves. Around the afternoon, Queen Tanya awakened from her slumber. The first thing she did is to find something to eat because she is starving. She also startedining about the ache in her body so I have to help by giving her some massage which she extremely loved. I don''t know why she likes it so much, I just massaged her stiff muscles and that''s it. Anyways, once Queen Tanya is good to go, she went ahead and checked the situation with the Jorogumo. "So that means she didn''t recover her humanity and remained as a rabid and dangerous monster, with only her remaining sign that she was once a human being her remaining human part of her body? Heh, this is getting out of hand. I have my fair share of stories of monsters but a human fully bing a monster with no way of returning to normal is not something I would like to be a normal thing in the future," Queen Tanya started to shake her head while clicking her tongue in disappointment. "With how the world is changing and how many times new things have been discovered, it is bound to happen, Sis. Anyways, what should we do? We n to interrogate her and get information for the Shogun but with the state she was in, she is not in a good position to even talk properly. What are we gonna do?" Queen Tori took a nce at the frozen Jorogumo who is still alive but frozen and cannot do anything aside from being frozen in ce. "Since she does not retain her personality anymore and is now a full monster, the only way for us to get the information we needed is [Memory Extraction]. I can get her memories and read them like a book," Queen Tanya knocked on the ice and a hollow "Thunk" sound can be heard every time Queen Tanya taps her knuckles on it. "Wait, Your Majesty. Isn''t [Memory Extraction] a skill that can only be used on dead people?" I asked since I recall that skill as a skill that can read memories of the dead. I didn''t hear anything about extracting memories from someone who is still alive. "You know about my skill, deheart? You are half correct, but that is not entirely the truth. This skill can still be used in the living but the caveat is that it is much more troublesome for usepared to when the target is dead. Because the target is alive, the mind inhibitions that the living have is pretty strong and hard to break which takes a bit longer to do sopared to when the target is dead as they will have no more mind inhibitions, allowing for easy ess. It''s even harder if the user is resistant to the removal of the Mind inhibitions, making it tricky and troublesome to do." "So it''s like trying to break into a locked house but the owner is currently preventing you to enter?" "Yes. Very simr. And since this Jorogumo will not likely cooperate with us in removing the mind inhibitions at all, extracting her memories will take a long time therefore you two will have to protect me in the while doing this. Oh, and also, we cannot do this in the city as it will risk the city from being attacked by monsters. We should carry the block of ice to somewhere farther from the city but in a clearing to proceed with the method." "Huh? Is there a reason for that?" I asked. "Yes. While I will be trying to remove the inhibitions, signals of help from a monster will soon be emitted from her mind that will affect the nearby monsters and causes agitation from them which will then cause them to rush and attack anyone they find in the vicinity. I want you and Tori to protect me while I am doing the process. One interruption did and we will mess up with the extraction, therefore, we needed to ensure that the process is left undisturbed which is why I will need the two of you to protect me while I am doing it." "About how long do we have to protect you?" Queen Tori asked. "Depending on how troublesome the Mind Inhibition of this Jorogumo. The minimum would be six hours but the maximum can be one day. So don''t expect we will be done immediately." "Well, I am up for a long battle as long as it is not that hard. How about you deheart? Are you good now? You just finished patrolling the vicinity so you must be tired. It will be a long and grueling battle so perhaps you should rest for a bit?" Queen Tori is a bit worried. "No worries. I will be fine and I am used to grueling battles left and right without rest. Remember the time in the Frozen Region? I barely have much rest there, so this is nothing. So whenever you guys are ready, we can go anytime." The two smiled and nodded. "Then, we don''t have much time to waste. Let''s move this one to the ins and ensure we are far enough from the city. It would be troublesome if we summoned countless monsters that will rampage all over the ce as a result." And so, we ask the vigers for permission to move Saya the Jorogumo to the ins so that we can extract information on her memories. Although they are close with the human Saya, now that she became a monster, the people have decided that its best for Saya to serve her final purpose before she will undertake the process of being mercy killed. We also got the approval about it and we exined that there might be a huge influx of monsters soon but they shouldn''t be too worried as the monsters will only head in our direction. With Mizuchi''s help, we transported the Jorogumo to the ins where Queen Tanya scoped out the area for where Mizuchi needed to put the chunk of ice there. There are a few monsters present as well but with the help of the Desert Wolves and of course my skeletons, the ins are now monster free. To ensure that we will have good sess and we can defend Queen Tanya and the process, Iy down a few traps using the same Saboteur skills, [Blueprint] and [Materialization] to make the traps that will serve as our rm and trigger whether enemies are already in the vicinity. Now everything is good and ready to rumble. "Are you two ready? I will begin in a few seconds after finishing the preparation." "Good to go, Sis. What are we going to do next?" Queen Tori asked. "Just be on standby and check the surroundings for any new changes. If there are enemiesing, intercept, attack, and stop them from getting near my location. It will be long, so prepare." Chapter 810 Defense [I] ? The setup isplete. I enlist the help of everyone as well as the skeletons at my disposal while Queen Tori also summons her best shikigamis as well. The only one who has not joined in this battle is As as he is still recovering from thest battle. It seems it took a bit of a toll on him after he was inflicted by charm. He has been cured but he decided to sit out on this one as he fear that he might hurt the others without knowing until he is sure enough that everything is okay. "Alright, with the count of three, I will begin and once I do, fluctuations of energy will pour out in this direction which will cause the monsters nearby to be attracted and try to attack us in the process. It does not affect tamed monsters, however, so it''s fine for them to join as well." "We are ready," Queen Tori made a small nod to me and gave permission as well. "Good to go. We can begin anytime," I nodded in response. "Then, in THREE... TWO... ONE...I will begin the memory extraction!" Queen Tanya then put her palm to the ground and a magic circle appeared beneath the ice and Queen Tanya. Then, some ck shadows start to cover the whole ice like it was trying to devour the whole ice. The magic circle starts to spin fast that it looks like a wheel spinning now. Then, very strong energy starts to envelop the area. It must be the same energy that causes the monsters in the vicinity to get agitated and angry which will then cause them to attack at us. "deheart, ready your weapons and alert everyone. A few monsters have already broken through the line I set up when intruders pass through." Hearing the warning of Queen Tori, I immediately ready the Versatile Weapon and gave the signal to the others to prepare as well. And a few secondster, monsters came out running toward us. Many of the monsters that passed first are immediately caught and killed by the traps that I set up first but before but since they take a lot of time before they can be ready once again, the next monsters are no longer caught and passes through. "Arms up! Magic users, st through them!" Everyone who can use magic starts firing off their magic abilities one by one. I also joined in as well, firing off-range attacks on the enemies. There are so many varieties of them I didn''t expect to see so many of them in one go. Not only ground enemies are present but as well aerial enemies as well. I spotted a few of those Wyverns we fought during the time we boarded the Argo. They are easy to deal but they are using their numbers to their advantage. "KRAAAAAA!" Suddenly, Leona swoops in and ps her wings in the direction of the wyverns and released a lot of [Wind des] in the process, killing off the Wyverns that are hellbent on attacking. As the monsters start to swarm over and the trap we made has no longer be useful, it''s time for us to attack manually. Switching my Versatile Weapon into an axe, I started rampaging and jumping straight to the enemies and chopping off their necks to immediately kill them in the process. Whenever there is an enemy I couldn''t just reach immediately, I sent off some magic spells as well and if not dealt with, Lucia or Gobu deals the final blow to the monsters. The skeleton soldiers are also quite capable as well. Even with the sheer number of enemies, they don''t falter and march on with a de and shield in their bone hands as they execute, efficiently destroy parts, and effectively stop a huge number of enemies. And the one leading them in the assault is none other than the strongest Armored Skeleton I got that until now, has yet to die unlike the other skeletons I summoned alongside him, or her depending on what gender this skeleton have before it became all bones. When the dead bodies of the monsters start to pile up, Mizuchi who was just chilling out suddenly starts swallowing the dead bodies in one gulp, like a whale catching some nkton along the way, it devours them like they were nothing but snacks scattered on the ground. Anyways, Queen Tori was also doing fine as well. Although most of the work has been on the shikigamis she had deployed, her mystic arts and her barrier deploying skills are superb and she effectively dyed a lot of monsters in the process. Her skill is just much more efficient than my Onmyoji ss skills and it clearly shows her how proficient she is with the ss alone. "deheart!" Queen Tori warned me about a monster in my blindspot and I immediately pulled out my Pain Delivery and shot it through its body and immediately killed it off instantly. This gun has not received many modifications and yet I think this is the strongest gun I encountered of all the pistol weapons I have seen in my whole life, even in the past as well. "The enemies are still not slowing down, are they?" I asked Queen Tori as she still has control of the wind. "Nope, it seems this is just the first wave. We have yet to hit the troublesome parts just yet so hold on still!" This is the first wave huh? It seems Queen Tanya has yet to feel any trouble at the moment and just continues to do her job. So basically, this is like a tower defense now. After a while, the final monster has been in. But that was just the final monster for that wave. We seemed to be given a bit of breathing time as well. I immediately went over to everyone and handed them supplies and some potions in case they are out of it. I also handed some supplies to Queen Tori who did not decline the offer and grabbed the mana potion to recover all of the mana she had and to keep her Shikigamis and spells functional. After a few minutes, we can hear rumbling in the surroundings and the roar of monsters in the sky. "Heads up. Second monster wavesing in hot. If you guys are tired, rest and don''t force yourself to fight. We don''t want anyone to end up as monster chow!" Queen Tori shouted, signifying the second wave ising in. And just like what I predicted on which enemies areing in, the monsters appeared on the view and revealed themselves as the Onis. They are big and tall enough for anyone to view properly. Chapter 811 Defense [II] ? Oni. A monster that is only present in Kamikaze Continent and does not exist anywhere else. They are one of the monsters that are considered one of the main problems of the popce. Ifpared to the other monsters on other continents, they are like goblins. No one knows how many of them are currently living in the mountains. People keep killing them and yet they keep appearing like they just appeared out of nowhere. They are one of the banes of the people''s businesses, whether they are for farming or just delivering different goods from city to city, they will appear and raid your resources, leaving you with almost nothing much but just a few scraps of broken goods and dead workers. Now, they are in front of us, ready to kill and destroy whatever stuff we are still doing. Knowing how troublesome they are and how resilient they are in battles, it''s better to fight them before they even get close. "Your Majesty! I will intercept them first before they get near. I needed to kill them before they get near us!" Before Queen Tori can say anything, my wings have already opened and I fly toward the direction of the group of Oni approaching us with metal spike clubs in their hands. While I am still up in the air, I started firing off multiple barrages of different spells in their direction like [Fireball] and [Ice Rain]. These guys didn''t like it when something is attacking them and they will be engaging on that enemy regardless of how strong they are. From the looks of it, this group of Oni is not intelligent Onis that canmunicate and speak the humannguage. They are more of amonce Oni found in different areas of the Kamikaze Continent. Amon Oni. They started shouting in some kind of Oninguage that no one can understand except them and angrily throws rocks in my direction as I was about tond. "Stop saying garbage things. No one will care." Inded on one of the Oni''s faces and stomped curb his face before stabbing his head with the Versatile Weapon''s Sword form, prating straight to his skull and brain and killing him instantly before I jump off to escape the attack of the iing Oni who just smack off the head of the Oni I just stab my sword with. The group started pointing at me and saying gibberish stuff before attacking at me with great vigor and anger. They are not here for a joke. But since they are weak, they are still technically a joke for my Versatile Weapon that can easily destroy them without much problem. As for the Versatile Weapon''s form, I wanted to have fun while fighting. They are big-bodied monsters akin to big and burly men that I barely have any chances to fight against. Knowing how rare it is for me to have that kind of interaction, I realized it would be a good idea to deal with them using my fist and what is cool is that the Gauntlet is much better use. The Onis one by one tried to club him with their spiked clubs but I immediately swoop in, disarm them, and immediately release a volley of punches at them. They had hard bodies, it was like I am punching concrete while doing so but because repeated punching can even cause a brick to break, it also applies to the Onis. A volley of punches to the abdomen and in the chest causes the nearest attacking Oni to puke blood and kneel in pain. An uppercut that I followed up from the volley of attacks finishes off the Oni, dislocating his lower jaw and crushing his upper jaw up to his skull, killing the Oni instantly. I didn''t stop there and continued my attacks on the second Oni. The Onis present seems to realize that if they didn''t attack me while I am still attacking they will die in the end, so while one of them is being attacked, they should take advantage of it and attack as well. But that shouldn''t be enough to deal with me. One Oni tried to swing his club at me currently releasing a volley of punches to another Oni but I immediately noticed it and dodges the strike, allowing the swing to hit the Oni who received the beating. Since Onis are known for their strength, one swing is not a joke and even their kind is not safe from it. Plus, with the giant metal spiked club being used, this was enough to break lots of the organs of the Oni I just beat up. If my attacks have shaken a lot of his flesh and the organs ready to rapture, the swing just now sealed the deal, causing massive damage and pain to the poor guy. "Oy, you pricks should aim your swings wisely. You are all doing some friendly fire instead," I grinned as I stand at the top of the dead Oni. The remaining Onis angrily started grumbling some unintelligible words. "Yeah, yeah. If you guys are just all talk and have nothing to show, just go ahead and die! That will solve things much faster!" I have had enough of dealing with the Onis using my fists. Seeing how they are still pretty much willing to fight, I have to finish this as fast as I can. Jumping off from where I stood, I changed my weapon into a Hook and Chain and throw therge hook into the unsuspecting Oni who didn''t catch up to my trick. Before the Oni can do anything, the hooktch into the neck. I retracted the chain connecting to the hook, allowing me to get close in seconds to the Oni and changed the Hook and Chain in quick session into a dagger and immediately stab the Oni''s jugr with the Versatile Weapon''s Dagger form. I continuously stabbed that part multiple times before I stopped and killed the f*cker. The next Oni attacked but I used that as a chance to get close and go under the big body of the Oni. I then sliced the neck of the Oni before stabbing it in the jugr. Once the de is deep within, I immediately run it down to the abdomen and open up a huge hole in Oni''s body, causing blood to flow out. I didn''t stop there and changed the weapon form into a sword and spill the guts of the Oni out. The oni tried to resist but it doesn''t matter if your guts are already spilling out. You might not die immediately but you will still die sooner orter. I then realized I wiped out all of the Oni that are present on the battlefield. I obliterated them before they can reach their destination and before they can build up their powers and do something annoying and ridiculous. In the end, they drop a few stuff here and there. It''s not bad, but it''s not great either, pretty average stuff. Seeing no more Onis nearby that are nning an attack on us, I returned to my previous post by killing a few more monsters along the way. They are not that strong but they aren''t that weak either. Still, they have been pretty much, taken care of by the time I arrived. And that, it seems the second wave of monsters has been destroyed. "deheart, next time, you should say something to me in advance about whether you are going to rush there and attack enemies by yourself. Who knows what kind of unexpected things might happen? We shouldn''t have let our guard down just like that," Queen Tori gave me a talking for suddenly storming off. "Sorry about that. I read in books that Onis are one heck of a monster and if possible, kill them first before they can do anything as they are prone to do berserk or any kind of wild stuff that can easily destroy defenses without effort." "Eh? Is that so? Well, that was my first encounter with an Oni and I never got any asion I have used my expertise in battle to fight them since you pretty much took care of all of them so perhaps next time, you should spare some for me?" "Nah, if I did, we might risk stopping Queen Tanya''s job right now. Speaking of her job, is she almost done?" I looked at Queen Tanya and she is still there, doing her [Mind Extraction] job to the Jorogumo who is now showing signs of a struggle inside the ice. "I don''t think so, deheart. I can tell the progress has yet to give much but we can still continue to defend this ce. I can tell that the third wave is almost here as well. Are you ready though?" Queen Tori asked. "I am always ready in battles, Your Majesty. Don''t underestimate me." "Then, you will be fine. It seems the third wave is now almost here. Time to keep the battle strong, yeah? Stay sharp and fight till the end!" Chapter 812 Defense [III] ? The next wave consisted of smaller enemies and smaller Tsuchigumo as well but they were pushover and didn''t give me much challengepared to the first and second wave so that was that. Still, even after the third wave, it seems Queen Tanya has yet to finish up the whole thing. The ritual is still on and it seems she is not gonna be done anytime soon. "Wow, I think this is testing my patience a lot. Although it hasn''t been that long since the enemies started appearing, it''s indeed getting troublesome on my part," Queen Tori frowned. "Really? It hasn''t been that long since we started and yet you seemed to be already getting annoyed about how long the progress of the Mind Extraction has been. It might be even longer than this," I shrugged as I finish off one of the monsters that tried to attack me. "I know that but this is getting annoying real fast. Not only do we stay on our ground like this but we are also stuck at waiting a few times if the waves of monsters don''te much earlier than they should be." "Eh, it''s not that bad. Maybe because you usually have to fight and strategize on the flow of the battle against giant enemies and barely on small fry like these guys you slowly find it boring. Perhaps if there are big monsters, it might alleviate your boredom?" I tried guessing. "No. Not really and I don''t think making the enemy bigger will be better." As we are talking, Queen Tanya started to groan, and her expression while her eyes are closed is in pain. Not only that but the ice on the Jorogumo is starting to melt as the head of the Jorogumo is already moving out from the ice. I enforced the ice once more but the melting process seems to be elerating as time passes by. "deheart, the next wave ising!" Queen Tori shouted while I am still fixing the ice and preventing it from melting. "Please hold out on it with the others for a bit, I needed to fix the ice from melting!" "Alright. Just don''t take too long as I think the next wave seemsposed of bigger monsters..." I focused again on the ice. Compared to before, the ice continues to melt and I have to keep casting [Ice Prison] to renew the durability of the ice. Just so everyone knows that my [Ice Prison] does not melt from the temperature but melts over time or it breaks to pieces. The Jorogumo is weak enough that it can''t break away from the ice, but this is something I have not seen before. The melting time of the [Ice Prison] shouldn''t be this fast. It took a few hours before the first Ice Prison starts to melt so it''s close to impossible to have the ice melt like ice cream for a few minutes exposed to the elements and as I said before, the ice doesn''t melt from the heat so what is happening and why is it melting faster than I expected it should be? Queen Tanya is still there and still channeling her powers and here I am getting troubled with the ice that slowly melts. The monsters are already here and I can see that Queen Tori and the others are also fighting back. It might take a bit of time but Queen Tori does have a fantastic job at doing the defenses. Well, my skeletons are also helping, and Lina, Tina, Gobu, Mizuchi, Leona, and the desert wolves are doing mighty fine as well, but it''s clear enough that our numbers are not enough to deal with different sides while fighting and I really have to deal with the melting ice problem as soon as possible before this ends. We might have the numbers and the ability to kill monsters stronger than us but that doesn''t mean we can keep on going for that long either. The wave ended and Queen Tori managed to keep the fight without much of my help. However, the ice is still melting so badly that Queen Tori had to use some of her talismans to prolong the freeze time and yet, it does not help as the melting process is still progressing normally. "What is happening? Why is the ice still melting? It shouldn''t be happening if you refreshed the [Ice Prison] multiple times," Queen Tori is perplexed about what is happening either. "No idea what is going on either but I have to keep on doing this or else the Jorogumo will be free immediately which might ruin the ritual and we have to start over." Tina and Lina approached us, seeing how we are struggling with the melting ice. "Master, I think using a spell that can slow down time might help out on this if the melting process continues despite your efforts of stopping it," Tina suggested. "Yes, Master. Shouldn''t that be possible? You used some of those spells inbination before in some tasks and it works properly to slow down the process of time there while we perform the task. I think it is a brilliant strategy, no?" Lina agreed to Tina''s suggestion. "I think it was a fantastic suggestion, both of you. But I don''t think it will be a good thing to use that here." "Huh? Why not?" Lina frowned. "If we used that, not only the time will be slowed but perhaps the process that Queen Tanya is doing will be annoying. If we also put them in a [Time Bubble] and manipte the time for them to increase their time while we have our time remain the same as that will only attract massive hordes of enemies every single second or minute on us without breaks as Queen Tanya finishes the ritual so the only thing we can do is keep ourselves the same thing and just remain like this as we continue to fight. Who knows, we might be ending this much faster than it should be." Yes. It works well on slowing time and increasing our movement time but that does not always work in our favor if we used it on ourselves, making the slow time progress better be used on enemies alone. Other than that, it''s not really a good idea. "Which means we are stuck here doing this wave after wave then?" Queen Tori scratches her head. As a result, I was stuck at keeping the [Ice Prison] intact while Queen Tanya is already reaching the final phases of the [Mind Extraction]. The waves of monsters continue to appear but we soon found ourselves getting overwhelmed by monsters as well. Mizuchi seems to be almost full now as he now disregards the monster stockpile and lets them pile up nowpared to before. "deheart, this is getting out of hand! The monsters are getting more and more aggressive alongside their numbers increasing as well! Is the ice still melting fast?!" Queen Tori asked as she st off a few more monsters. "It is still melting!" "Damn it! Sis, this is getting long!" Queen Tori is now frustrated and a bit angry. Even I felt like this is getting out of hand as well. In fact, my experience bar of mine is already full, ready to break through the next limit once the Level cap update in the system is given out and the number is still increasing. The ice on the Jorogumo is also getting much faster than before so I have to cast the [Ice Prison] on her head first to avoid her head from fully melting off as she will start spitting poison and she might target Queen Tanya who is still busy. The skeletons are also having a hard time as well. I have to give them some heals so that their bones are regenerating fast enough if they get destroyed but it isn''t working well. Queen Tanya still shows no sign that the progress of the [Mind Extraction] is going to halt soon and everyone is at their limit. I even have to assist by releasing multiple AOE magic scrolls to elevate the suffering everyone suffers but it takes a bit more than that as the enemies are now swarming all over us and we can''t even see our surroundings anymore due to the number of enemies swarming left and right. Soon enough, I felt that I can''t even my attempt to keep it frozen is not working anymore and the enemies are just swarming all over. Seeing how everyone is now getting overwhelmed, I think it''s time to abandon the attempt and instead, help out everyone before they get killed as a result. "Ugh, this is annoying Sis! Why is your ability so damn troublesome? DAMN IT, SIS!" Queen Tori is now too pissed to be reasoned with. Perhaps a stroke of luck just descended on us, just as we are about to get overrun, Queen Tanya kept her eyes close for quite some time suddenly opened her eyes. Chapter 813 Queen Tanya Strikes As soon as she opened her eyes, the ice around the Jorogumo halt the melting process and returned to when it was in the beginning. So the main reason it was melting so badly in the first ce was because of the [Mind Extraction] that Queen Tanya was doing? "Yosh! I am done with the job! Time to wreck some bones, alright? I can hear you allining and so here I will be giving a hand!" Queen Tanya immediately punches the nearby beast on the face, breaking its face and caving in the skull, killing it instantly. "Heck yeah! That''s what I am talking about!" Queen Tanya happily cheered as she proceeds to pummel through the monsters. Queen Tori who was also there can only stand watch and shake her head seeing her sister whom she was trying to protect earlier mowing down the monsters barehanded. The monsters are flooding but since we no longer needed to protect Queen Tanya, we can now proceed with defeating the enemies without worrying about the ice melting and keeping the damage to a minimum for Queen Tanya. "Alright, guys. Time to go all-out and bring all monsters down! Don''t hold back and deal with what you can!" I ordered everyone including the skeletons. Hearing that Lina and Tina unleashed their powers without holding back anymore, burning hordes of enemies and annihting them with wind magic. The Desert Wolves rip the monsters to shreds and with quick session, attack the weak spots and ganging up on much bigger enemies than them. The skeletons are just doing the same thing but they are now much more organized and can efficiently take down enemies in one go. I can also tell that most of them have leveled up a lot and are now ready to ascend to the next tiers after this battle just like the first skeleton who ascended. In fact, that guy is also ready to ascend again as well. Queen Tori has finally managed to catch a breath and although she is still controlling her Shikigamis, she is no longer actively fighting to keep the defense line intact. As for me, I am now mowing down enemies using my Versatile Weapon and letting the weapon devour a few things along the way. I know they don''t contribute to the stats of the Versatile Weapon but at least, that should quell the hunger for the weapon for quite some time. Queen Tanya has been doing mighty well as she is not even using her weapon and just her fist and she still mows them like nothing. Being a battle maniac is something that benefits her as she is strong enough to keep her going. Since the ritual that Queen Tanya is doing has finally ended, the enemies are no longer pouring in like usual. They are now remaining in a fixed amount and I think that was much better than having so many of them continuously pouring into our direction and stopping us from doing anything aside from defending and keeping an eye out for a blindspot attack. It didn''t take long enough for the monsters to slowly get thinner and thinner in numbers. They are still a lot but they are something manageable nowpared to earlier where there is a chance to get overwhelmed by them if we are not watching out for our backs. We slowly made ourselves a bit casual in our attackpared to going all out earlier. Now that the monsters are not that many, we can now casually rx while we let the others who are still willing to fight to continue fighting. As for me, I stopped and went to inspect the ice to see whether it will break or not. It''s still imperative for me to continuously see whether the Jorogumo will break out anytime. The ice has been solidified once more and the cracks I have seen before have disappeared as the ice has gone solid once again, stopping the Jorogumo from breaking free. I am still not sure whether the ritual that Queen Tanya was doing was the main reason the ice was melting and barely being able to keep itself solid without melting. "So it''s no longer meltingpared to what happened earlier?" Queen Tori asked as she starts resting for a bit and letting the Shikigamis do the work. "Yeah, it''s now back to normal and I don''t know what is going on. It keep melting earlier and the Jorogumo frozen inside this b of ice is on the verge of getting out as well but the moment Queen Tanya finished her task, the ice stopped melting and the Jorogumo froze up as well, unable to move, reverting to the beginning part before we started the defense." "There must be something else other than the ritual my sister did as I don''t think that was the main cause of the melting ice. If it was the ritual from my sister, the ice should have started melting since the very first wave. Therefore, some kind of other exnation must be the main case here. Perhaps some kind of outside intervention aside from the other things we mentioned. So it might be the main case here and we are just assuming things," Queen Tori shrugged while exining her theory. "Eh, whatever. Now that it''s over, it''s much better than ever. We don''t need to make ourselves get more headaches thinking about it that much." In the end, I decided to just not bother thinking about the ice melting. It doesn''t matter much to me now anyways as we won''t be dealing with it that long enough. Anyways, we decided to rx now as Queen Tanya and a fewbatants willing to deal with the remaining enemies y them all. Around thirty minutester, the final monster is killed by Queen Tanya who is now bathing in blood with her hands releasing smoke, presumably from using some kind of skill to continuously fight the monsters using her bare fists. "Whew, that was a good workout. Nothing beats the satisfaction of dealing with all of this f*ckers up. My body felt good after releasing so many punches on those monsters." "Ah, sis. Next time, you should be practicing decent hygiene discipline. Letting yourself drenched in blood just never looks like you are royalty." "Psh, who cares about that Sis? Being drenched in blood just shows you how strong you are and I don''t think its a shame to show everyone how you are bathing in the enemy''s blood." "Gah, disgusting Sis. Go clean up." Queen Tori just waved her hands and a bubble of water enveloped Queen Tanya for a bit before the bubble burst and her body has gotten rid of the blood sticking to her clothes and skin. "Thanks, Sis," Queen Tanya grinned after getting herself cleaned from the dirt and blood she umted in the battle. "Argh..e on. Maybe next time, I should let you stay dirty rather than clean you up. You should learn a spell or two about cleaning yourself than relying on others. I am not your shower, Sis." The two continues to bicker but it was clear that the two were still good and are in good condition. "Ah, that''s right Sis, did you get anything good on the information you managed to extract?" Queen Tori asked. "Yeah, sure do. I got plenty of stuff from what I recovered from her memories including the one who caused all of the magical transformation they gained after the debuffs were given to them. It is a bit surprising but I didn''t think it was the actual case. But before we do that, we should clean up this whole ce. We might have ended up eradicating the monsters here so we should share the monster spoils with the popce. I don''t think we needed all the materials we can get from butchering all these carcasses anyways," Queen Tanya suggested as we looked over the pile of carcasses. Even Mizuchi gave up on eating too much and Leona is not that interested in these monsters either. "That''s a good idea. I hate it if we suddenly got the bad smell of rotting corpses with this amount of monsters killed so sharing them would be the best action." Because of this, Queen Tanya called the people interested in the monster carcass and ask them if they wanted some of them. As for me, I started gathering the materials I needed and the stuff I might need. Queen Tori and Queen Tanya also did check around as well and gathered materials and stuff. It doesn''t really matter too much. We still get the items we needed and we get a lot of them but we still won''t finish up all the corpses therefore, giving a few of them to the people in the city would allow them to sell or get the resources they needed using the materials and items they get. In short, its a free stuff, take it or leave it. Chapter 814 Extracted Memories ? The people of the city have gathered and started collecting the bodies of the monsters. It would have been rude for us to leave the corpses of the monsters lying and leaving there to rot. Thankfully, these monsters sell a lot in markets when sold due to most of their body parts being useful for creating weapons, armor, essories, and other stuff for adventurers while the meat is useful food for the carnivore pets some people own. So after we have gathered all the items we needed, we let all the people gather up the corpses. We also apologized that they are now going to be in a clean-up process but they only smiled and said that they are grateful for exterminating the monsters present in the near forest as they were always a threat. With the monsters killed, they can sell the materials, and make some new items and the route around the forest will be safe for a few while. We also don''t need to worry too much about overkilling the monsters as they will just respawn again and they don''t just die off that easily. As a result, the whole city celebrated a well "harvest" but I don''t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Anyways, for us, we have to go back and rest for a bit. As usual, the skeletons were the ones tasked with guarding therge b of ice that seals the Jorogumo as we returned to the inn to rest. There, we discussed the result we got from getting the memories Saya the Jorogumo possess before she sumbed to her spider form. "I consider this as one of the hardest sh*t I have done in my entire life. The amount of struggle just to remove her mind''s inhibitions is too great that I don''t understand too much why she didn''t get to resist the corruption when she was strong enough to resist it. If not for me trying to push all that I can do, I couldn''t break through her inhibitions normally and I have to brute force it," Queen Tanya shook her head. "She was that resilient?" Queen Tori asked. "Yes. If it was that easy, I wouldn''t take too many hours to just do that." Queen Tanya then materializes the memory she gathered from the Jorogumo, forming a sphere that is as big as a ball of a basketball. It is like looking at a glowing globe. "That''s quite big. Did you just take all the memories she had?" Queen Tori asked. "Hey, I might be extracting memories but I don''t rob them of their memories. That''s kinda bad and disrespectful even if the owner is already dead, or has turned into a monster," Queen Tanya frowned. "[Mind Extraction] was actually a skill that does not extract memories, but copies them and creates one that can be viewed by everyone. Because it was usually used on the dead, it was believed at first that the one extracting memories rob the one who owned the memories and take those memories for themselves, leaving thetter as an empty husk but nope, it was revealed that they don''t get robbed by it, it was just copied and not erased." "Is that so? Howe you know this much, deheart?" Queen Tori asked. "It''s part of the collective research done by many schrs who think [Mind Extraction] is something of a memory robbery and tries to see whether it was real or not. They asked one person who knows [Mind Extraction] and used convicts who have a death sentence to perform this matter. It was recorded in a book and I read it before in one of the libraries in the Capital." Although I sounded like I was lying there to excuse my knowledge of Queen Tanya''s skill, I actually did read a book with the contents I said before in the past timeline in the library of the Capital. It was a real deal and I am not just gonna start lying and covering up for Queen Tanya. "Eh? That was actually a real deal? I didn''t know that was the thing." "Well, enough of that. We should check out the memories alright? I only caught a glimpse of the contents but I made sure to get all of the necessary memories we needed. I narrowed it down to her time as a soldier until the time she became a spider. There shouldn''t be any messed up job I did over there." Queen Tanya manipted the ball of memories as she is the only one who can manipte it. She can pause, forward, and rewind the scene if needed. She yed out most of the memories that Saya had during her time as a soldier. "It''s a bit slow. Can you forward for a bit, Sis?" Queen Tori asked. "Sure. Although I won''t speed it up too much as we might miss vital info." Queen Tori nodded and Queen Tanya advanced the video and increased the speed for a bit. Queen Tanya also cut off the times that Saya was mostly doing her private matters like taking a bath, eating, dressing up, or any other private things as that wasn''t even what we needed to see. We saw the Shogun a few times and based on the behavior he gave on the memory, he was a normal man and a loving husband to his wife as seen mostly on the time Saya attends to the shogun''s wife and saw both of them flirting with each other. Of course, the peaceful days have died as all of us know it. After advancing it for quite some time, we soon arrived at the point where the Shogun has finally changed and has be the violent bastard he was today. One of the main turning points that made me saw something caused me to ask Queen Tanya to pause it. "Wait, your Majesty, please rewind for a bit during the time the Shogun is giving a speech." Queen Tanya nodded and rewind the scene. She let it y again and I timed it out before I immediately ordered for the scene to be paused. "Ah, your Majesty! Pause on that scene!" Queen Tanya immediately pause the scene and Queen Tori frowned. "Is there something wrong with that scene?" "Yeah. Look at the side of the Shogun. Here, on the left. See that shadowy figure there? I spotted him a few times before after the Shogun became a madman. That person or whatever was just standing there a few times but I find it a bit weird seeing someone who does not belong there." Queen Tanya zoomed into the ce where I pointed it out and although it wasn''t clear because it was from the perspective of Saya, there was indeed the shadowy figure over there and Queen Tori also spotted it. "Oh, I see it. So? Maybe that guy was just some of the men that the Shogun has? Like special ops or something?" "I thought so too at first but please watch the time when Saya and the others have been inflicted by the debuffs and she is hearing voices. There, pause that scene, Your Majesty." As the scene was paused, the shadowy figure this time is now in full view and although it''s getting blurry in the memory of Saya, the figure was clear at first and shows the shadowy figure holds a flute and seems to be currently ying it as the soldiers start to get crazy or are holding their heads in pain. "A flute?" Queen Tori frowned. "Huh. That guy started ying the flute and everyone started groaning in pain. Perhaps this was the person who caused all of this?" Queen Tanya frowned. "From the looks of it, it is indeed the one who dealt the debuff to all of the soldiers present. Seeing how the moment he yed the flute, everyone started to feel pain, he might have yed a piece of music that can cause some bad things to those who can hear the melody," Queen Tori took a closer look at the shadowy figure. "If that was the case, then the one who made every single soldier turn into a monster was a bard then? Only Bards have the capable abilities to manipte music and sounds and weaponize them against their enemies and targets. Oh, that makes sense. Since Bards are part of the Kamikaze Continent update, it makes sense that a bard has used an ability to make the soldiers lose all their humanity and be a monster in the process. However, there is one thing that I found a bit troublesome. No one in the Kamikaze Continent, especially the enemies are bard as their main ss except for one person. I am quite sure of it since it would be a big deal if we fought against an enemy who uses sounds as a weapon but we never faced off against one. And although I said no bard was part of the enemy faction, doesn''t mean no one is a bard. However, this bard is someone who I treated to be someone important that I like to recruit. Yes, that bard was the wife of the shogun. A skilled Bard who uses the flute. Chapter 815 Final Preparations ? We got a lot of information using the memories of Saya. Of course, I didn''t tell the two about my theory on who was the person holding the flute and caused the debuff infliction that made them insane and turn into monsters. After all, I still didn''t meet the wife of the Shogun and learned about her therefore, it would be weird if I told them about it. Not just yet. But I will say to themter once they learn more about the wife or they might question me on how I know these things. There are more things being known to us, especially the state of the capital. The popce of the ce is still intact but most of them are living in fear. Also, it is not safe for travelers as well or new faces to venture there as well as they are either detained or killed by the soldiers making our first n to keep quiet and enter the capital not valid as we are not familiar faces and we will be immediately attacked by the soldiers. The people there also don''t help strangers as they would rather have other people die instead of them, stopping us from getting help by asking some vigers for some escape points. "So that means if we head straight there, we will be zing through the enemies, and destroy them by force then? What are we going to do then? Fight all the soldiers and their elite officers until we face off against the Shogun?" Queen Tori asked after hearing my thoughts regarding the memory rey. "That''s the only way we can enter that ce. There is no way we can get in there and even if we did manage to silentlye in, we couldn''t go in and investigate there as the people will just more likely report you to the soldiers which will in turn sabotage our hideout and make various trouble for us. So in short, if we want to avoid troublepletely and free ourselves of potential headaches, then we rush head-on and continue fighting until no one is left. There is no way to save the soldiers anymore as the debuff has been too much embedded in their bodies and the curse has changed them from humans to monsters so killing them is the only way to "save" them from themselves," I exined as that is the only best way to face off the shogun. "Fighting the enemies head-on without the need for any negotiations... I like that. Straight to the point and I can even fight to my very best as well and wreak havoc to the point of destroying everything huh?" Queen Tanya grinned, excited at the new opportunity to fight. "Come on, Sis. You fought before to your heart''s content just the other day and now you are itching to fight again?" Queen Tori couldn''t understand why her sister is always out for the blood. "Ah,e on, Sis. Don''t be such a wet nket. Fighting enemies with all your might and emerging victorious always gives you the blood-pumping feeling of rush and the feeling is very good for your body. Not only that, but it also builds muscles and a tough body as well. Not only that but it also helps you react much better in battles as you continue to y, allowing you to be more capable in battles without the fear of being defeated. Isn''t it neat?" "Ugh... I don''t really get it but I don''t really care. But deheart, you know that the Shogun does not employ his soldiers alone but also weapons to fight back. I heard from Ran that the Shogun uses cannons at times. Doesn''t that sound bad?" "Not really. Cannons might sound a bit intimidating but during battles, they are not that dangerous. Grapeshot attacks are troublesome but they can be blocked easily by any defensive abilities and normal cannonballs can be destroyed in midair. They are just a nuisance but they aren''t that troublesome in the first ce. Don''t worry about them. If you still feel like it will be a problem, then when the timees, I will deal with it." "So that means we should go now? There''s no point in us dying it, right?" "Nope, we will have to prepare. Remember the person that seemed to be the bard that inflicted the debuffs on everyone? We needed to counter the sound or nullify itpletely to ensure that we have a smooth sailing experience in the fight we will be heading. It would be troublesome if we were the ones who will be inflicted by it and I doubt we would like to undergo the same transformation as the soldiers, yes?" I reminded them as that will affect us too bad on us, especially those who might be vulnerable in default. As for me, I can die and revive anyways though I prefer to not die, it''s not that big of a problem to me. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that thing. We need to counter the bard on using its effects. But what do we even do? Plug our ears?" Queen Tori tilted her head. "No way. That will diminish our reaction time as a result. I don''t like that at all!" Queen Tanya shook her head, not fully in agreement with the earplugs. "I will have to design a few things we might be able to use. I have a few ideas and I just needed to build them. I need around two days to fully finish it." "Two days... that''s good as that also means we can have two more days of rest until the battlees. My body still feels sore after all the things we have experienced and I don''t think I am up for another one so soon," Queen Tori lies down into the tatami, closing her eyes. "Really? I feel fine though?" Queen Tanya stretches her body. "Ugh, dammit Sis, I know you are built differently bute on. Not everyone is built the same as you." I leave the two bickering as I start to mentally n on what to do next. Thankfully, I don''t need to use a workshop to create anything rted to what I think will help counter the flute user bard. A normal table will do. I thought of earplugs at first but since Queen Tanya is against them due to the fact that it reduces her hearing which contributes to her senses to her fights, it''s a big no-go then. Whiches with some kind of equipment. Debuff immune items will be a good help but I don''t think it''s pretty practical and useful. If a bard uses music, that also means the bard uses the ears to inflict debuffs on those who can hear which will tend to make the equipment useless if they can easily bypass that by just entering the ears. In short, I needed to make an item that can cover the ears but does not impend the hearing of the person wearing it, only covering the ears to stop hearing the noises of any music and other stuff that would make big trouble if heard. Which means something like an ear plug but not an ear plug. That''s when I thought of the headphones and ear muffs. Although ear muffs can be considered ear plugs, it does not really cover many sounds as an ear plug does and still allows sounds to be heard. Which is perfect for the purpose of plugging the ears but not fully blocking the sound. Headphones on the other hand are a bit different. Can be used as something of a transceiver to receive voicemands from others like the teammates who also wear one. Of course, there is the music yer as well. If we want to counter the music of a bard, use another music to counter it. Although both items do not exist here in Alternate World doesn''t mean I can''t make it. These two will be new items but has the vor of the modern technology that does not exist in Alternate World. I have the materials and the necessary designs I can make for it as well. The only thing left to do is finish it up and create it. Our n is reckless but this will be something we will be going to need if we want to finish this event. I even have to abandon the first n of recruiting the wife of the shogun as well. If the wife of the shogun is the main culprit of the soldiers transforming into monsters, then she is not an innocent victim but another adversary that is needed to be defeated. There is no way that she will act like this and pretend it wasn''t her fault. Although the Shogun is still the main threat, the wife might be a wolf hiding in sheep''s skin. In fact, she might even be a bigger trouble than I imagine as well. Chapter 816 Everfrost Forest ? Around 3 hours into the production of the headphone, I run into a problem. I have most of the materials I needed but I needed something that will block the soundwaves from an instrument and currently, I don''t own any of that kind. I know of a few materials that can act as something that would allow me to actively block the sound of any instruments but they are not that easy to get as they are one of the rare items dropped by a monster. Luckily, that said monster is currently present in this continent and I can hunt it down. The only problem is the drop rate. This item is called the [Skin of the Screaming Monkey]. It only appears in drops and it never appears in any other way by killing the monster [White Howler]. Even butchering the carcass does not yield the skin as the normal skin will just appear as [White Pelt]. There are other items that can act as an alternative to this item and are much easier to acquire than this. The only problem is that they are only present in other continents but not present in this continent and with no way to go back until this quest is over, I am stuck with the worst material to get my hands into. But since that is the only way to finish this product, then I have to find it quickly before I reach the limit of the deadline I added for myself. I left the city before anyone notices my departure. I locked myself in a room to concentrate so no one knows whether I am inside or not and even Queen Tanya and Queen Tori didn''t know I left as well, though it depends if they saw me leave. Anyways, I summoned Leona when we are now out of the city as I needed the speed to reach where I needed to go. "Fly north." Leona nodded before flying in the direction I specified her to go. The only way to find the White Howler is to get into the Everfrost Forest, a ce where the monster lives. Just by the name of the forest, the forest is forever in winter due to the curse that was caused by a woman who got cheated by her husband who is a woodcutter. Due to her jealousy and anger, she kidnaps her husband, tied her up to a tree, and asked Yuki-Onna, a yokai who can control ice and is said to be born from ice to freeze her husband and kill him. However, the yuki-onna is not that generous and decided to ask forpensation. The woman who has no other things to offer as a way of payment for the deed, decided to run away. In a fit of anger, the yuki-onna killed the fleeing woman and froze the whole forest as a result. That turned the whole forest into a ce where winter never ends. White Howlers loved the cold and so the Everfrost forest became their main habitat with their coats as white as snow, they can easily blend into the forest''s snow and hunt properly without getting worried about being hunted by their natural predators as they are now in the advantage of their surroundings. But that will end now as I will have to hunt a lot of them to find the material I needed. Once I am done, I will go back to the city and finish the items I needed to make. As we are nearing the forest, the surroundings start to get really cold, and even though I am wearing a cold-resistant coat, the cold seeps through my skin, shivering me to the bone. Thankfully, I am used to the cold due to my experience in the Freezing Region which is much colder than here. Still, it''s still pretty coldpared to what I can remember in this ce. Leona seems fine from the cold but I still don''t want Leona to be exposed to it for long. This is an artificial winter, after all. We slowly arrived in the forest. I didn''tnd near the vige to avoid alerting the vigers and whoever soldiers are present in the area as well. It would bring me no good attracting unwanted attention. Recalling Leona, I trek the remaining distance toward the forest. It was located uphill, making the little trek a bit challenging due to the strong and cold winds. One wrong move and anyone trekking without care would slip into the slippery road and there will be a chance for some idents like that to happen. I slowly made my way into the forest and a few minutes of walk allowed me to reach my destination safely without slipping into the road that seemed to turn to ice as well. Now herees the hard part. White Howlers are not that easy to spot due to their coats and that alone made them harder to hunt. But it wasn''t that hard if you have a Druid to help using [Track] passive that allows the yer who has this skill to immediately learn the whereabouts of any creatures around him or her within 20 meters. Otherwise, I just needed to learn about their behavior and keep a good track of them and their behaviors. I already have a good way to track them without getting the passive alone but I am in a bind here and needed to finish my work as soon as possible so instead of relying on my knowledge, I opened the skill tree and spent the Druid Points on the passive. I got 200 Druid Points in me, probably due to the time I used the Bo staff multiple times in battle and perhaps the time I used to transform into some animals at some point made me earn those points. Either way, I will buy the passive which is in tier 1 for 30 points. There is also the [Trail Tracker] that allows me to identify any kind of tracks left on the surroundings and whose trail was left behind. It doesn''t only work on monsters and animals, but it also works on humans as well. It''s an active skill and I needed to cast it from time to time if I wanted to use it. It''s in 10 pts which is a bit cheap but this will be helpful in my quest to track the monsters I needed to track. The reason it might be cheap is due to the fact that it has no other uses other than "tracking" which is not usually used most of the time. Alright, now that the passive is working, I immediately spotted a few creatures not too far from my location. I activated [Stealth] immediately and pulled out my Versatile Weapon and changed it to Bow and Arrow. I needed to be quiet in hunting the monsters as they will be escaping from me if they noticed my actions. The bow and arrow are just the best for silent long-range attacks. Plus this also has less damage on the pelts of monsters killed as they don''t tear the pelt when shotpared to guns and arrows don''t produce a loud shotparable to gunshots. I slowly make my way in the direction of the monster I detected. I also cast the [Trail Tracker] to ensure that I am tracking the right monster. Soon, I reached the location of the monster. If not for the passive and the [Trail Tracker] the monster might have escaped my eyes as the f*cker was just resting on the tree, camouged on the white branches of the tree and keeping itself hidden. I nock my bow and aim the arrow into the unsuspecting monster, before releasing it. THUNK! The arrow pierces through the White Howler and it died before it can make any noise. I immediately checked the drops but the first monster didn''t drop it. But it''s fine. I have already gotten used to this and I am quite sure it will take me a bit before the necessary item I needed will appear. This means I needed to keep looking. The carcass was immediately butchered by me before I moved on to the next White Howler that I already tracked after killing the first one. Once I found the next one, I nock the bow and aim the arrow, then released it, killing the White Howler in one hit again. Once more, I checked the drops... and nothing. "Huff, let''s be patient, me. This is the second monster, we still needed to hunt more. Don''t be impatient," I whispered to myself. And so, I continue to move forward into the snow, cold and shivering, yet still moving forward, looking for the material I needed. I nock the bow and aim the arrow, and shoot. I nock the bow and aim the arrow, and once more, shoot. I repeated it again and again. And yet, the monster has yet to drop it. However, I have not lost all hope just yet. However, while I was searching for the material I needed, I didn''t realize, someone was currently watching me in the distance. Chapter 817 Someone Is Watching ? The wind is getting colder as I got deeper into the forest. I counted at least 33 White Howler I hunted already but I did not manage to even get the item I was looking for. I keep on whispering to myself that it was just the RNG f*cking up my luck and it''s not my fault. Although I haven''t hunted much just yet, it''s pretty annoying when the item you needed does not drop whatever sh*t you do. Perhaps I remember it wrong and the item does not drop at all? Nope, no way. I clearly remembered that I hunted this same monster to get that item in the past timeline as well and I managed to receive it after the dedication and hunting the White Howlers on arge scale. I just shook my head and continue to hunt. There is no way that thing won''t drop if I kill at least 300 of these White Howlers. If they don''t drop at all, then I have to find an alternative that is much easier to find or do something about it. Continuing my hunt for the White Howlers, I got a lingering feeling that someone or something was watching me in the shadows. I can''t detect it with my current passives; even the new skills do not reveal any of this possible stalker. I can also tell that there is only one stalker currently tailing me as only one pair of eyes is looking at me. Of course, not counting the constant stare of the entity who continues to stare at me to this day that I just decided not to care and forget as there is nothing that seemed to be connected to this guy. Still, it kinda made me a bit worried. What if I am imagining things? If the system does not detect it, does that mean I am just imagining things and the stare I am feeling from this stalker is something that does not exist to begin with? No, no. Perhaps there is indeed one but it''s just not in my radius of detection which is why I cannot detect this guy at all. Anyways, seeing as the person is not doing anything that would impede what I am doing, I should let it be for now. Now, let''s go back to killing these White Howlers and try to find the item I am looking for. I have no time to worry about some random stalker, I needed to get this done so I can finish it. So what if that guy stares? I will have to defeat them if they are someone who will try and harm me. I spotted another White Howler. I nock the bow and aim for the arrow. The White Howler seems to have noticed the danger and immediately dodged my first arrow but I already have a n if the first arrow misses by loading a second arrow and shooting in a direction that I predicted the White Howler wouldnd on. "KIK!" the White Howler could only make a small sound as the arrow pierces through the body and killed it instantly. I approached it and looked at the drops that I needed and to my delight, the item that I needed, [Skin of the Screaming Monkey] one of the drops that appeared on the loot. Who would have thought that I would get it below 100 White Howlers and even below 50? Either I used up all my luck on this one, or I am just one lucky bastard right now. After I butcher the carcass of the White Howler, I think I am done in here. Time to go back to work and deal with the next creation that we needed for the next attack. Returning from where I came from, I followed the path that I know should be the right path to reach the outside. However, I soon realize that I am not walking into the exit but walking away from it. I frowned. I am quite sure about it as I have memorized the path that I came from and although I went deep into the Everfrost Forest, I didn''t enter the deepest area of this forest as there is a chance I might meet an area boss that lives here. I don''t have time to deal with bosses and I will have to continue moving forward. Seeing that I am somewhat lost... I decided to make some markings in the forest. Making a map in this dense forest without any kind of goodndmark is not ideal as that only makes the forest harder to map around as I can''t just put on trees on the map and a pathway that does not directly follow into the current way. The only way to make sure that I don''t get lost is to keep making markings every 5 trees I passed through. And no markings are the same. I also thought about flying above the forest as I can fly without the need of Leona, but the moment I tried to do so, I felt like lead and flying is hard. It was like I was carrying a load of weight that I cannot carry easily, causing me to not even float a little bit. It''s hard and I struggled on doing so. In the end, I have to go on foot and I don''t have any chance to go the easy way. There is also the Teleportation but the moment I tear a Teleportation scroll, the spell is canceled, and the scroll that I tear to two returns into one whole piece once more. And so, I continue to move in the forest and waddle through the snow, make a mark on the nearby tree, then move on and find another tree. But then, I can feel the stare getting intense. The cold air started to feel much colder and even with my coat reducing the cold temperature to a bearable degree, the temperature is still dropping. Then, I realized something. Although I have not experienced it in the past timeline, the legend of this forest is about the Yuki-Onna. The Yuki-Onna here in this legend is someone who grants wishes to some people in the mountains in exchange for equal value. She is benevolent when treated right, but violent to those who dare not fulfill the promise or those she thinks to only bring malice and do evil. Which is why she killed the husband whom the wife begged to be killed in the first ce. She wouldn''t have killed the wife if she have only fulfilled giving something of an equal exchange from doing so. But since the wife decided to run away instead of giving the natural payment, the Yuki-Onna decided that the life of the wife would suffice as payment. Perhaps the stares I have been getting in the first ce wereing from her? That exins the cold air I have been feeling for quite a while. And since this is technically her territory, that also means she is the main reason I seemed to be circling around the forest and I cannot exist at all. "I meant no harm, Yuki-Onna. I know this is your territory and I entered it without asking for permission but I will ask for permission to leave. I hunt some monsters, I didn''t leave any carcass left lying on the snow, I cleaned up the mess I made, and didn''t hurt that many of the creatures living here. I apologize if I have offended you in some way, but I ask you to grant me passage to exit this forest." "Oh? A polite human. What a surprise. Usually, they will be rude people and will try to trash around and make vandalism on the surroundings. Although you did carve on the trees using your weapon a few times while walking, I can understand that you are doing that so that you don''t get lost while traversing the forest. And I didn''t expect that you will know that I am the one who is causing this trouble to you." "So it was indeed you''re doing that I am currently wandering here and lost?" I asked calmly. I don''t want to agitate her. "Yes. After all, you killed so many monsters for some reason, gutted them and gathered them, and stopped when you seemed to have found something." "I apologized if I hunted a lot of those creatures. I have to get something from them and I have to hunt them down to get it." "No need to apologize, I wasn''t a fan of them either anyways. They are noisy and just irks me enough that if they aren''t immune to my abilities, I would have dealt with them a long time ago." Oh yeah, the White Howlers are immune to ice magic and any kind of ice element affinity attacks. It''s not a wonder why they are alive here in the forest, its because this is a perfect habitat for them. "So, what is your deal? I have seen many people enter and exit this forest but this is the first time I have seen someone who seemed very well-versed in this ce and seems to know what he is doing despite being someone new here. You can say I am somewhat curious on you." Chapter 818 Yuki-Onna ? Although Yuki-Onna seems to be not hostile to me, I still feel nervous because she got curious about me. Why? Because in the tales of her legends, she can freeze any human, strong or weak, man or woman, child or adult to an ice block. And without any resistance to ice magic, I don''t think I will survive it either. I bet the Yuki-Onna is quite high-leveled already. No way I will survive if I enrage her. The only way to do that is to keep her calm and collected until we are allowed to go. Of course, my persuasion abilities are next to none so I will be hoping for the best that I survive this encounter without the need for me to escape. "I can tell that you are quite serious in your goal here and you didn''t do anything wrong in the first ce. But I am not just gonna let you go without answering my questions. After all, I am very curious about you." Then, all of a sudden, the ice around me started to flow into the snow pile not too far from me and started gathering there all of a sudden. And a few secondster, the Yuki-Onna in the flesh appeared, smiling and showing her icy beauty. "Hello there." I froze up on where I stood the moment she appeared. Although I have seen my fair share of women in my lifetime, I can say that the Yuki-Onna is quite the beauty. If she stars in a movie or anything close to that, she will immediately gather male fans left and right without effort. She might even get the role of the leadingdy all the time as well and many actors might even try to court her if that was the case. Her beauty is something else. She had a natural beauty on her and I am not saying about her body type like her sexy body and bigger assets, but just the face alone, many people would find her pretty attractive that I can even see some women go livid and might actually feel attracted to her as well. You can say she is the living beauty standards women want to have. But even with that beauty of hers present, that doesn''t mean she is harmless. That beauty alone is dangerous and I know that beauty can also bring danger. If she could, she could attract a lot of them, and once they are head over heels for her, she will freeze them to death and collect a lot of bodies for her amusement. That alone is terrifying. I immediately went on defensive on instinct. I may not feel any hostile intenting from her, but her presence alone triggered my survival instinct. Her presence alone is enough for me to know that I am not going to be in a good situation if I made a bad decision in front of her. "Hehehe, I can see that you are not just easily attracted by my beauty, and instead of fawning over me, you immediately raise your guard and are ready to fight. That is a mentality of a true warrior there and only a handful of people have ever shown me that kind of behavior. You are indeed a curious one." "Uh...I know you seemed kind of amazed to see someone like me but can I go now if you don''t need anything else? I am in a kind of a hurry." "Impatient, aren''t we? That''s fine and all but being impatient does not bring many blessings and sometimes, it brings misfortunes too. Be patient. Anyways, I am not letting you go just yet. You could say that this was something necessary to be done for you who trespassed on a territory without asking for permission to hunt. Therefore, I will take a bit of your precious time for the time being." Ugh, great. Now I am stuck at this and waste a bit more time. Still, I can''t ignore her, or else, she will just freeze me and I will have to wait for the revival counter to count down before reviving into the cathedral. That is more hours wasted than waiting to see what she has in mind right now. As she just said, I should be patient. Anyways, let''s see what she needed me for. "Follow me, and we will talk for a bit. I will ease up the temperature as well so that it''s easier for you to follow me as I can see you are having a hard time traversing the snowy forest." After saying that, the surroundings got significantly warmer. It''s not that warm as the cold air is still present but it was just not that badpared to earlier when it is just freezing temperature. "You see, I have been observing you since you started hunting. You have been a great hunter from what I can see and you are pretty patient and capable of adapting to the movements of your prey. That shows that you are quite capable and know what you are doing in the first ce," Yuki-Onna continues to walk through, while we pass on the previous areas where I killed the White Howlers. Blood is still present on the snow that has been slowly got buried by new snow. "Well, it''s practice, and practice makes perfect. I didn''t start this well in the beginning so it''s normal." "I can see that. And with that, I have to ask a favor of someone who is a hunter. I rarely give out requests to humans and most of the time, the humans I have requested stuff have only followed my wishes and requests due to fear and I don''t like it as they are more likely to do more sloppy things than doing something good." "A request? Well, if it is within my capabilities, then sure, let''s hear it then," I nodded in response. If she is giving a request, that also means she is giving out a good reward as well. It''s tempting and I think this is worth hearing and might even be worth a shot as well. "Good. Then, perhaps you have heard of the legend about me and this forest, yes?" "About the woman who begged you to kill her husband because he cheated?" "Yep. That''s the one. As you can see, legends might be fake and might be something that has been fabricated by people and I can definitely see some people adding more details that shouldn''t be part of the original scene that transpired twisting the real information, turning it into a legend. However, the legend about me and that woman is indeed real." "Okay...so why bring that up?" I tilted my head as I think I can guess something about her request. "Here is the thing. I have indeed decided to take the life of the wife when she decided to escape instead of giving me an offering or anything that can count as an equal payment for my services. I take my contracts seriously and if someone did a good job, I would be happy with it and happily receive payment. But being cheated after she agreed to give me something of an equal payment breaks that and that resulted in her death." We soon arrived at a clearing in the forest that I have not seen before. Perhaps we are in the deepest part of the forest. As I mentioned before, I didn''t fully explore this forest and have not reached this far in the past timeline. On that clearing is onerge tree and on that tree is a big chunk of ice that is strapped on the tree''s trunk. "Wait, is this the location of the man in the legend? The one who was frozen to death by you after the wife requested for his death?" "Yes, you are correct. This is the one who was killed due to a request. However, that is not the one I am trying to let you focus on. Look around that tree and focus on it. Something is currently floating around there, yes?" I didn''t notice it until Yuki-Onna pointed out to me what she was talking about. And that is an incorporeal entity flying over there, circling around the tree and the ice block. The moment I spotted it, a status box appeared, revealing to me what it was. ----------------- [Ice Haunt] Unique Monster Level 450 HP: ?????/???? Traits: Ice, Ghost ---------------------- Ice Haunt? That is something new and I haven''t seen that kind of monster before. Haunts though, I have seen my share of them and have defeated a few of them in the past timeline as well. "Here is my request. You have seen that ghost floating around the tree? Please, remove it and eliminate it from its existence, perhaps even bring it to the afterlife if possible." "You can''t defeat it yourself? Aren''t you stronger than the Haunt?" I asked. After all, she is a strong entity and can even rival some boss monsters as well. "Because she became somewhat simr to me. She is now immune to ice and has started to corrupt her surroundings as well. I can''t get rid of her even if I wanted to." "What''s in it for me though?" "Of course, if you are sessful, then you will earn an appropriate reward and an extra bonus as well~" Chapter 819 The Corpse Bride ? A cursed corpse. A full of resentment victim and someone who decided to continue to cling to their remaining life. It''s not the same way as reanimation from the Necromancer''s spells but it is pretty close to that. "When did this happen? It seems to look like it''s pretty recent," I asked as the wife seems to look like it didn''t rot at all. "It''s been 50 years since she rose up from the dead and decided to guard her husband''s corpse. I tried to defeat her but it didn''t work as it turns out, she is immune to ice and she is pretty defensive. She covers a little bit of the area I once controlled before making it harder for me to even deal with. Since you hunt monsters, I can tell you will be capable of getting rid of that monster quickly?" Yuki-Onna looked at me with an expectation that I will deliver on that. "I can certainly try but don''t expect too much from my abilities to immediately kill the monster." "No problem. And if you seed, a reward will be given to you so you don''t have to worry about wasting your time. In fact, I will make sure the reward is worth your time." Since Yuki-Onna promises a good reward, I decided to ept this quest. And since this is an informal request, it''s not registered as a quest in the system. Heck, I doubt I got any kind of quest in this continent. I bet the continent vigers and townsfolk would only issue them once they are now out to the whole other continents and other people can visit freely. Anyways, time to deal with the Ice Haunt. As I get close, I can finally get a close look at the monster this time around. She has remained like a normal human with only a paleplexion on her skin. Her upper half is very simr to a woman wearing a bridal gown but the only difference is that she looks terrible in it and with her disheveled looks, she is more of a corpse bride decoration to a haunted house attraction rather than an actual bride, but my first impression changed when she showed the bottom half of her body. I thought she would be like a normal ghost but this time, her lower half body has been distorted to the point where her spine has extended towards her legs and instead of just two, she gained more legs, now attached to her extended spine, making her somewhat simr to a human centipede. Still, I don''t know why she was called Ice Haunt. She doesn''t look like a ghost except for her incorporeal human form. The bottom half is a corporeal part. Haunts are more of a ghostly apparition that can cause curse attacks and debuffs and can be a very easy thing to deal with or a pain to eliminate. Readying my Versatile Weapon, I slowly step into the perimeter of what the Ice Haunt imed as her territory. The moment I stepped into the perimeter, her attention that was only on the dead husband, turned to me. It''s clear she is not liking that I stepped into her territory. She screamed like a White Howler, the only difference is that the scream is creepy and blood-curdling kind of scream. She didn''t stay on the big tree and observe my actions as she immediately lunges herself in my direction. I immediately changed my Versatile Weapon into a Spear and Shield and activated [Shield Bash] to counter her lunge. BANG! The [Shield Bash] won and she toppled over into a little bit of distance but she didn''t give up and started to circle around. The way she walks is now walking with all her limbs attached to the ground. If she still has two legs she is like walking in all fours. The way she walks now though just looks creepy and disgusting plus the sloshy sounds every time she walks makes it more disgusting. While she was still in the distance, I immediately fired a [Fireball] on her to see how she reacts and the first thing she did is swipe it away...great. "Guess she is immune to all elements seeing how she easily nullified my [Fireball] and the ice power of Yuki-Onna seems to be nothing for her at all. That means I have to deal with this by force alone. As she was getting ready to lunge again, I throw the spear in her direction and she easily dodged it, proving how fast she is despite her current looks which looks like she will not be capable of moving fast. Changing my weapon into a bow and arrow, I started circling around her while generating mana arrows in my hands so that I can rapidly fire. After training with a bow and arrow for quite some time, I developed the technique of doing rapid-fire using the bow and arrow. She started attacking me again and this time, I started dodging while releasing the rapid fire of arrows at the target. Since she has a big hitbox, even without aiming properly, the arrows stillnd and cause damage. I want to avoid using a gun though. Not only does it generates noise but it may attract unnecessary attention and that is not something I wanted to do. I continue to circle around her while releasing multiple arrows at the same time in her direction. She might not be damaged that much by the arrows but she is getting annoyed and she does not like what I am doing. She stopped moving and I took my time releasing rapid fire of arrows while remaining calm and seeing her movements. Just as I thought I wouldn''t be surprised enough, I was caught off guard when she tear off a few of the bones attached to her spine and attached them together like it had some glue or it was nailed on the other bones. Then, she slowly turned it into a ded il and started to attack me using it. It was quick and it moves in a very irregr way as it does not move like a regr il. Usually, a il works if you properly control your momentum with it. Without proper handling of it, the weapon can backfire and instead of hurting the enemy, it will hurt you instead. Its movements are simr to a chainlink il, just extended a little bit in length but very simr. The only difference is that even the "chains" of this il are ded and can possibly tear flesh if got hit by it. I have no choice but to get farther from her and avoid the il but I underestimated the length as it almost got me one time and it just graze right through me. Her control seems to guide the de of the il towards my direction without seeing it used with momentum in hand. It was like she was just throwing the il, and retrieving it before doing it again. "Ha, and here I thought you would be easy. Turns out you got some gimmicks with you." I changed my weapon into a gauntlet. The other weapons will do fine but with the gauntlet, I can defend myself against the il by punching it back while continuously going offensive. Also, I should try using that skill here. It will be useful to weaken this f*cker up. 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. I get closer to her and like usual, she used the il. However, she didn''t expect me to lunge at her and grab her upper body, reaching out to her neck and gripping it hard. "I am not in a great mood today so just die." Activating the [Mammon''s Curse]. Chapter 820 Frozen Tears Of A Pure Maiden ? The moment the Greed Exclusive Skill, [Mammon''s Greed] has been activated, the surge of energy suddenly flows right into my body. It was quite a marvelous feeling that I didn''t think I would feel. It''s quite different from the time I used this skill with other enemies. I don''t know if the feeling was different from every enemy but this one has something that felt very addicting. But thankfully, I have self-control and I forced myself to quickly get myself ustomed to the feeling. I don''t want to keep on searching for that feeling. When the absorption was done, I can feel the overwhelming power swelling in me. And seeing the Ice Haunt seemingly getting weakened, I can tell the ability works and she is now at a big disadvantage. To ensure that the absorbed stats are useful, I immediately punch her using the gauntlet. On her face, on the abdomen, on her arms, and everywhere in her body. I made sure to break both of her hands, rendering them from functioning properly. She started screaming and all of the bones that she used earlier to make a il fly high into the air, before dismantling themselves and falling like it was raining some knives. There is no point moving away from there and instead, I started punching off the bonesnding in my direction. They might be sharp but the gauntlet is not made of leather that might hurt me if I punch something hard. A single punch and the bones break to pieces and I continue doing this to the rest. Not all of the bones are aimed at me, all of them are random but since it was a lot, even if the target is random, there are bound to have those random sharp bonesnding at my location. As for some of the bones that didn''tnd in my direction, they instead fell to the body of the Ice Haunt and instead of getting hurt, it seems she managed to recover a bit of her strength. But I don''t want things tost long enough. I grab the bones that were sticking out from her back and started crushing them while of them I pushed them on her body, causing her to get impaled on her bone instead of healing her. She screams in pain but I am not here for mercy. "You are already dead. You should have stayed dead and you wouldn''t have suffered this." I changed my weapon into a katana and in a swift slice motion, I activated [Decapitation], ending her temporary life. The moment her head and body separated, her body turned to ashes and soon blends into the snow. I didn''t feel much sweat there. Perhaps if I didn''t suck off half of her stats then perhaps I would have ended up having a longer time killing her than usual. She just died easily as her current stats became much weaker than usual and that allowed me to beat the crap out of her. As I wipe off the snow on my coat, Yuki-Onna appeared beside me and started pping. "Amazing work and you did quite a hell of a job that was quicker than what I expected. I can''t even beat her in my own domain." "She was tough, but not that tough to be called impossible to kill. She just happens to be a bit troublesome to deal with but not that major." "I can see that. And just by the fight alone, I can tell that she somehow managed to reuse parts of her body for the fight. It seems she is some kind of intelligent undead?" Yuki-Onna spectes. "She might be an undead but she is more of a ghoul. Since she retained her reflexes and is capable of rational thinking inbat while exhibiting the feral behavior of most undead species, she is technically a ghoul in my opinion." "If that''s the case, does that mean she can still return back to life?" "Yes. A ghoul might die but they will revive if given a chance. I might have defeated her right now but I am not too sure about her revival. She might return without us knowing and I can''t say for sure whether it will happen or not. But preventing her from returning is indeed possible." "You know how to do it?" "Usually, a ghoul returns when there is still remaining resentment left on their rotten bodies and their will to keep the resentment alive is strong enough that it can manifest and resurrect them. Her case is different though as her resentment is attached to the body of this man right here," I then pointed to the man that is currently dead and frozen like a b of ice tied up on the tree. "The man that I killed?" "Correct. This corpse is the key to her return. Without this, she will not return forever." "I see. If that was the case, then I should have done this a lot sooner then." She snaps her fingers and the body of the young man started cracking before exploding and exploding into thousands of pieces, all of his body parts have joined the snow. "If I had done that sooner then we wouldn''t have this problem huh?" The Yuki-Onna sighed. "Yep. Now that the body is gone, she is more than unlikely to return, unless someone or something else will raise her back up from the dead. Then that is a different story. On a different note, perhaps I should collect my reward, yeah? I did the job. Of course, if you are trying to kill me, then don''t expect me to be forgiving," I looked at her, and made my weapon ready to strike in case she does something "funny". "Heh, that''s a good attitude. You better make sure the deal is a real deal or else, you will just receive a botch job just like I did. Thankfully, I don''t run away from those I asked for help with and since you did a spectacr job, then this is for you." She pulled out something from her dress and throws it in my direction. I caught the item and realized it was a small kind of gem in the shape of a tear. An item description popped out of it, allowing me to view what the item was all about. -------------------- [Frozen Tears of a Pure Maiden] Type: Item/ Summoning Catalyst Uses: 3 LEFT(Will be recharged to full every month) Info: A tear that a Yuki-Onna can produce. Although it was useless for the Yuki-Onna, anyone who obtains this will be capable of summoning the Yuki-Onna who owns the tear and assisting the one who summoned them. Although it is said to exist, no one knows if it is real as only the records from ancient times have shown usage of the item, and nothing much is shown aside from its effects and what it will do. --------------------- A summoning catalyst? And a rechargeable one every month?! That is not something I would expect to receive! This is big enough of a reward!" "Hey, are you sure about this? You are giving me a summoning catalyst?" "Sure, why not? Call me until all the usage on that crystal is used up then wait for a month before using it again. I don''t have anything else to do so if you have something that you desperately needed my help with, then I can give you a hand on that. Why? Are you not happy with the rewards?" "No, no. I am grateful enough but getting this item by just killing a big monster like that was something not that significant to earn this big of a reward," I frowned. "Ah, no worries. As I said before, the problem is a bit hard without your help and since you broke me out of that mess, then expect to receive properpensation as well. In my eyes, this thing is more than enough." She snaps her fingers and the surroundings started to clear up the snowfall also slowed down as well, and the way is also quite easy to ess as well. "Now go and return to where you came from. If you needed my help, just supply some mana on that thing and I will immediately respond to you on that. Now then, I will be leaving. I am sure you would be fine after this right?" After that, she disappeared and I was left there speechless on the item in my hands. In that case, she will be a great asset once we are going to fight the soldiers and the Shogun. And here I thought I wouldn''t receive much aside from the item I was trying to use. I got a much better item indeed. Guess venturing this far out does have some perks after all. I slowly walk out of the Everfrost Forest and only a few secondster, I am back at the entrance of the forest and I am now back to the overworld. Well, it seems it is time to go back to our previous task at hand now." Chapter 821 Anti-Bard Earbuds ? The trip to get the item I was missing turns out to be much more fruitful than I expected. The material dropped a lot sooner than I thought it would drop and the item I got from the Yuki-Onna is something else entirely. That is something I would have expected to obtain. Getting is like getting the blessing of her powers entirely. Although she is not a god, she has one of the strongest abilities in the Yokais in the Alternate World as her ability can easily kill anyone without preparation. After departing, I look back at the Everfrost Forest for thest time and spotted the Yuki-Onna on top of the tree that stood where I fought the Ice Haunt waving at me goodbye. Of course, if I called her, that also means she will being to my aid anytime. I left with a little salute before Leona left the boundary area of the Everfrost Forest. ... ... ... When I arrived, I thought the two would ask me where I went after that but it seems they didn''t notice where I went as I didn''t see them ask me or anything. Based on their conversations whenever they pass from where I was working the stuff, no one seems to have noticed that I disappeared for quite some time which is good as they should still think I am still in the process of making the item. Now that no one knows that I left, I pulled out the [Skin of the Screaming Monkey] to start creating a leather that will act as the one that will stop any kind of music to be heard from any kind of source, even from weapons and other stuff that makes sounds. You can still hear sounds normally like if someone is talking but once something or someone sings, makes a tune, or makes any kind of beat, it will immediately mute that kind of sound helping anyone against a bard. This is the best material out of all the music-nullifying materials I know as it will be automatic to stop those sounds from reaching your ears which nullifies the main purpose of the bard to fight. Processing it as leather is easy enough as it needed only a few tweaks of heat from the Transmutation Table. Once done, the material is ready and the only thing left is to make the item that is needed to hold the leather that will cover the ears during battle. Normal headphones can be removed if anyone moves around quickly and this is a bad thing for both myself and Queen Tanya who sometimes do some attacks that require us to dodge, roll, and move around the battlefield in various positions to dodge or properly fight back. Therefore, I needed a design that would act the same as the normal headphones but not that easy to remove by any kind of movement. I thought of making some kind of helmet at first, but that can easily be destroyed by the enemies if they realized that was the main reason we will not be affected by the music of the bard so I needed a new alternative. Then I thought of something. However, I didn''te up with anything good design so I scrap the idea but then, I realized that I have been thinking too much about the headphones that I neglected the earbuds. Earbuds are easier to conceal, and not that easy to fall off due to rapid movements done by the wearer and plug the holes of your ears without covering your whole ear, perfect for alternative headphones. Despite being small, they can still be attached to the material leather I got and make the item. With that said, I better start building this stuff and finish this before the new morninges. ... ... ... Around 6 hours passed after the building process, and I finallypleted the Anti-Bard Earbuds. It''s nothing special but it''s not that normal either. Aside from putting the leather that stops music of any kind from entering the ears, I added different magic spells on it that will activate on certain asions. It is some kind of a secret for now as they don''t have any controls on what I put in there and will only activate if the conditions I set up were fulfilled, therefore, if not fulfilled, then the spell on the earbuds will not even activate. Anyways, it''s time to have some good sleep. I still have time before the showcase. I should get some good sleep and perhaps wait for the next day toe. After putting all of the items I used back in my inventory, I put down my head on the desk that I used to make stuff and started snoozing. ... ... ... Then I woke back up to the ce dream world. The ce where I always forgot whenever I wake up and remember once I return. All the other memories I had here are back as well. As much as it is very weird, I am not sure what is going on with this ce, and as to why I am always back in here, I don''t know. But one thing is for sure, if not for the girl in here, I wouldn''t even be able to remember all those I had forgotten. This time, I appear beneath the giant tree which I always call the World Tree, and frowned as this time, it has a different thing on its trunk now. The girl who was always greeting me every time I went into this realm is now inside a capsule-like chamber that is embedded in the tree. I tried to scream and talk but I realized I can''t speak. I frowned at this and I don''t know what to do. Because I can''t even get myself to speak loudly, then I decided to climb the tree. Using its thick roots to rise to the top, I slowly climb up making sure that I get there in time and rescue the girl. "Don''t waste your time. You cannot get me out of this ce. However, you should hurry, time is not on your side anymore." Chapter 822 Testing The Earbuds ? My eyes opened wide, waking up from my dream. I seem to recall a few words, but the rest appears missing for some reason. The only thing I can recall is the voice of someone. "Don''t waste your time. You cannot get me out of this ce. However, you should hurry, time is not on your side anymore." I can tell that this is somehow from my dream but I can''t remember it at all, and only this phrase remained. What could it mean and what does this have to do with me? Still, it seems to be something important as I can feel it in myself that disregarding this message is something I shouldn''t do at all. However, there is an important matter at hand. Looking outside, it seems morning just arrived a few moments after my sleep as the sky has yet to fully brighten up. I am already quite energized so this is a perfect opportunity to review the items I made before. I left the inn and went to a vacant lot near the inn and picked up two metal pipes littered around the ce. -------------------------- [Anti-Bard Earplugs] Type: Ear Equipment Rarity: Rare Special Ability: Music Blocker - automatically blocks music from entering the wearer''s ears, no matter what kind, whether an instrument is used or other items were used. Engraved Abilities 1. Healing Pulse - every time the wearer gets at least a minimum of 2,000 Hp Damage, a healing wave will be activated, healing 500 HP per second to the surrounding area including the wearer for 10 seconds. Activates every 30 seconds cooldown. 2. Mana Stream - passively recovers 1 mp per second while the user is currently in activebat or if the MP of the user is not full. 3. Cleanse -Cleanses debuffs received. Curse, Possession, and Charm are excluded that can be healed by this ability. Activates immediately once the wearer is inflicted with any kind of debuff aside from the excluded three. Will be cast again if the user gained another debuff after 30 seconds have passed after the first use. Info: A special earplug that does not fully block all sounds that the wearer hears. However, due to its specific function of blocking music whenever something is being heard as a melody, it is considered a bane for Bards who uses their abilities by using the power of music. ---------------------------- The description is entirely correct and now that I have checked it, I didn''t realize that the engraved magic would also be registered in the description as well. I was nning to keep them a secret but it seems it''s no longer going to be one. I made three pairs and I wear mine inside the mask already. It''s a perfect fit and I can still hear any sounds. Knowing that, I decided to make some beats using the items all around me to make some kind of music beat but the moment I tried doing so, the sound disappeared and it was like I didn''t even make any sound from the metal pipes that have been nging. It''s a big sess. It''s time to introduce the item to the two and see whether they will like it or not. ... ... ... "So, this is the item you made? Isn''t this just an earplug?" Queen Tanya examined the Anti-Bard Earplugs. "Don''t worry. Although it is an earplug, I have already taken notice of your appeal on how the earplug can affect your hearing so I tweaked it up and it is working properly. Try it out." The two queens decided to do what I said and wear the earplugs on their ears and were surprised. "Oh, you are right. Although I am wearing it, I can still hear everything around me and this one isn''t ufortable in the ears as well. I can keep on wearing it for a while!" Queen Tanya was amazed. "But how does this work, deheart if we can still hear sounds?" Queen Tori asked. "Alright, now listen to this and see whether you hear anything or not," I pulled out two metal pipes, the pipes I used earlier. I hit the second pipe I am holding using the first pipe, producing a loud ng. "Can you hear it?" The two nodded. Then I repeated the action but this time I strike three times. "Still can hear it." I nodded before I started making the two pipes makes a loud nging sound of metal that are making synchronized beats, producing crude, but undeniably, music beats. "Uh... are you sure you are not just dancing deheart? I don''t hear anything," Queen Tori is looking confused. "Wait, are you making some melody using the pipes?" Queen Tanya seems to have realized it. "Yep. Did you guys hear it?" The two shook their head. "Then let''s test another again." I pulled out a little tambourine I made using the bottle caps scattered around and some wood and used nails to make a makeshift tambourine and started shaking and tapping the wood to make some melody from it. While I am making sure the melody from the tambourine is currently making music, I decided to talk to them to also reveal that they can still hear sounds even with some noises being muted. "Please listen carefully to the sound guys I am currently making guys!" The two frowned and after I am done, I asked them how is my performance. "How did I do?" "Huh? No idea, deheart. You started dancing even though I don''t know what you are doing all of a sudden. You look awkward earlier," Queen Tori shook her head. "In that case, the earplugs are indeed working. Since they can block the music that I was making, that only means they are functioning properly." "Wait, you were already making music that time you are dancing? But then, why didn''t we hear anything aside from some normal sounds we normally hear? And your voice as well? You look awkward, which is why we frowned on why you were dancing without any kind of reason," Queen Tanya suddenly realized after revealing it. "A major sess, right? Looks like we are now set to go to the next destination then." After that, I continue running a few more tests with the two and we alternate making noises from the items I make to ensure that they were indeed making some kind of music, showing that everything is working properly. And so, our next n is to fight into the capital. We will depart, tomorrow morning. Chapter 823 Revisiting My Skill Trees Part 1 Of 4 ? Since it was our final rest until our battle against the Shogun, we decided to have one free day before the showdown. So I went back to the real world to check the status of everyone. When I got out, everyone is busy helping my parents with the housework. I was surprised as they were not in the Alternate World right now. "Oh, hey there, Manato. Morning," Dad greeted me as he continue seasoning some meat. "It seems you just got out from the Alternate World. Just sit tight there as we are still preparing food. Thanks to the supplies you bought, we are good to go splurging for quite a while." "That''s great. Although I am not yet starving, I feel like we will be having a good meal for today! Let me help as well." I started helping them and continue cooking. We ate breakfast with everyone after that. After dinner, the girls wanted to explore Nagoya for a while and since my parents are free, they decided to apany them and use the van that they bought with the Alternate World money that they earned themselves and might not be back untilter this evening. The elves on the other hand are not too interested in travelling around and wanted to focus more on the research so they remain at home. As for Mr. Teddy, we continue to call him as he still doesn''t want to tell us his real name is just doing what he usually does, having some exercise. As for me, I don''t have much to do with almost everyone gone and so I returned to the Alternate World to continue the little adventure that will be sooning to a close. ... ... ... When I returned, it was still pretty much nighttime in the Alternate World. Although I am no longer bothered by the time conversion herepared to the real world, it''s much better than we are taking long hours of exploring this world spanning from a few days, and when you return, only a day or two have passed. I don''t feel sleepy at all so I decided to review all of my skills this time around. I have not bothered much with the new skills that I got aside from the skills that I needed. It was like I lost all of the reasons for buying a skill due to how the Versatile Weapon seems to be handling everything and most of the skills I use can be replicated by using scrolls nowadays so aside from the passives, I have no more incentives to buy new skills. But I am now a bit sick of not checking the skill panel in denial of using it but more of azy attempt to just not bother with the process of learning this and that. However, I can''t escape that path. If I wanted to maximize all the power I have then I have to spend the points and buy new skills, and fight more enemies. Now I am liking the way gunslingers fight. Add the fact that I can just pull the gun that seems cracked for some reason and aim it at a boss for an easy quick kill, you can say that this is something that I might even consider. I also like a few of the skills that Queen Tori used before especially the yokai summoning. Since I have the summoning crystal needed for the Yuki-Onna, perhaps I could use some skills invested in the Onmyouji skill tree. Archery seems also a great deal. I like how I can just go sneak and shoot on monsters using a bow and arrow, it''s pretty enjoyable as time goes on. Punching and kicking is something I am not so used to in the past timeline, but that changed when I finally got to try out the Fighter ss. Using the gauntlet for fighting and punching enemies like there is no tomorrow, I think I see the appeal of it now, plus there are some kick skills as well, so it might not be that bad to also invest in themter as well. Then, the healing skills which is governed by the skill tree of the cleric. As much as I keep on relying on potions, there is undoubtedly going to be a bad time when essing inventory will be hard or sealed up, which will lock me out of any of the contents in my inventory. And one of them being locked out is the potions. Since I am carrying loads of potions, it''s gonna hit me hard if that indeed happens. So having extra ways to heal would be beneficial. It would be great to have a few more stuff in the future as well. As for the rest, I think I can just run through them and see whether I might use them or not. Because the skill trees of these sses are massive, I decided to just go and scour them on useful stuff as well. Looking at the points I umted for quite a while which is now amounting to a thousand since I have not spent much after the revamp, picking up the skills I might need will be easily purchased here and each ss has those thousand points so the skills are not just relying on a single pool of thousand points, each ss gets a thousand points. Anyways, back to the skills. As always, great active skills will be great but will be expensive in points. Passives that have a great impact will also cost a lot. I will be needing to properly read a few of them and pick them out depending on my y style. A few years have passed by and I already have a good ystyle I have adapted which was incorporated by my experiences as a Magic Knight. Aside from the normal passives and normal active skills, there are also those direct upgrades of the old skills. Life [Fireball]. It''s a tier 1 skill, but how I am now capable of using the skill multiple times because I purchased one of the passives before that helps with the cooldown of the skills which is the [Magic Recast], a passive skill that allows me to reuse any magic skills that belonged to the Magician Skill tree for a total of 5 times before the skill hits its cooldown and [Aether Cooldown] which significantly reduces the cooldown of magician skills by a lot. However, because I needed more firepower that can be really good in one cast instead of using it multiple times, upgrades will be definitely needed once more. Even a few skills needed them as well. Then, I started nning. If I choose some skills, I have to ensure that they are not total mana hungry as the mana headache is pretty annoying and the only way to recover mana is to either stop using skills for a bit or drink potions. I also needed to ensure how practical they are, whether they can be useful for the long term or not, and whether it is gonna assist with the change or not. Careful nning and calctions soon arrived me to a few conclusions. After jotting down a few skills, I soon found a few skills that look interesting, jot them down, and scour for more interesting skills in case the other skill might be more valuable or interestingpared to the other skills. Comparing, checking, analyzing, you got it all as I slowly took over the whole night. The skill trees have a huge amount of skills and with a lot of tiers, a lot of skills are also there, waiting for me to see whether they are worthy or not. Most of the time, they don''t sound worth it, but after a few analyses, some of the skills seem to be a bit broken and some are just practical and useful in a different situation. There are also some skills I found interesting but soon enough found out to be a bit of a double-edged sword. There are also some evolved skills that are useful in the beginning but soon get useless once upgraded further, making some of the upgrades, worth it or not. At first, I didn''t think I would finish up all of the evaluation but I did it. And I also regretted I didn''t do this a lot sooner. There are lots of skills and passives that I have disregarded before to be absolutely cracked now after learning how to use them. Now that I can experience and use all kinds of weapons, some of the passives that don''t make sense at first finally made some good sense of their own uses. After marking all of the skills I might be buying, I made sure to double-check all of the skills that I marked down as potential purchases. And once I am quite sure that they are indeed good purchases, I made a checkmark on them and crash out the others I don''t need. And I think I am happy with it. Chapter 824 Revisiting My Skill Trees Part 2 Of 4 ? After a whole night and early daylight spent, I finally came up with the final list of skills that are going to be the final skills I want to get along with the upgrades from my old skills. Of course, once I upgrade those old skills, I will not be able to use their lower-form version. I already calcted whether it is worth it to increase their cooldown time and their MP consumption. For the swordsman ss, I managed to get two new skills, two active skills, and another existing skill that is upgraded twice. First, [Swords Dance], which is a tier 4 skill. It summons 8 swords that spin around the user and can be fired like a projectile at any enemy. If an enemy collides with the skill while they are not fired, they will inflict damage equivalent to the average damage that can be dealt by using basic attacks. And every 5 collisions, one de will disappear. It costs 5,000 MP to cast once and has a cooldown of 10 minutes before it can be used again. The second would be the [Aura de] which is a tier 7 skill in the Swordsman Ascended Job [Hero]. It can only be unlocked if I have a Tier 6 skill which I gained after upgrading one of my old skills to Tier 6. It is simple, it covers an aura to the de and it gets stronger the more it was used in battle. It applies [Defense Down] every strike and gets bonus damage against [Evil] trait enemies. Plus, once the gauge that gets filled every strike is filled to the brim, a special skill [Aura st] can be fired, dealing armor prating attack. It doesn''t cost MP to use but will consume the gauge. [Aura de] can be activated and deactivated at will but the longer it is activated, therger MP it consumes but when activated for the first time, it is only 5 MP. Now the upgraded skill. Out of all the skills for the swordsman that I can upgrade and has the best effect once upgraded is the [Triple sh]. Although it was not that strong, it''s not that weak either so I kept it as it is when fighting but since some monsters are just not that easy to defeat anymore and [Triple sh] has lost its usefulness, upgrading it will allow it to keep up. The First Upgrade of the [Triple sh] bumps up the skill to Tier 3 which is now called [Hurricane sh]. It is a skill that expands [Triple sh] and allows the user to release a flurry of shes to the enemy for 10 seconds straight. It''s not that bad, but it''s not that great either as using [Hurricane sh] will lock you to only one enemypared to the [Triple sh] which can be directed to different enemies for the best possible usage. The former removes that and instead locks on one target and delivers multiple shes to that enemy that was locked on. It is good against boss battles but useless in multiple mob battles. Now, herees the upgrade. For a normal swordsman, [Hurricane sh] can be upgraded but the skill that will appear will depend on which ss you take after the job ascension. In this case, I choose the [Hero] ss tree and lock it to the tier 6 skill, [Myriad des]. Now the main reason I choose this is not because it was the most useful skill out of all the skills present that [Hurricane sh] evolves into. Since I have ess to all ss trees, I have seen all the other sses'' skills and some are quite good. However, I am more focused on what will ite in the final evolution and I wasn''t expecting this skill to evolve into the final 12th-tier ss called [Judgement Cut]. This skill allows me to cut through space by swinging the sword alone. Cutting everything, even the ones that cannot be cut. And that skill is a whooping 10,000 SP. This is why, I decided to invest in this skill as this will be something I want to see in the future. [Myriad des] is useful though, it creates an area of absolute state where I can freely attack anyone in that area in a split second and deliver a lot of shes to their bodies plus the buff that gives the user a speed buff.I think you should take a look at Let''s skip the other sses as they don''t have anything influential skills I found good. More like they will be good but not totally THAT good. Besides, I am not too familiar with some of them so I will not bother with them for now. I jump straight to the cleric. Most of the stuff I bought is all recovery spells. They aren''t that special in terms of effects, but they can heal just fine and acts as the area heals and the status effect heals. I ignore the offensive skills as I have more offense on other ss skills than the healer ss and used it all up to buy the Passive [Physician] and Passive [Blessing of Healing] as both skills increase the effectiveness of all Healing skills, with the former increasing it for 10% and has a chance to clear debuffs to allies if they receive normal healing while inflicted with a debuff while thetter increases the effective range of AOE healing skills and increases the duration of regeneration type skills as well as an increase of another 10% healing effectiveness to all other types of healing skills as well. The rest are pretty much exnatory, [Totem of Healing], [Regeneration Blessing], [Heal st], and [Debuff Cleanser]. All heals and one can clear debuffs in one go. Next is the Magician ss. Compared to the Swordsman ss, the Magician ss mostly consists of upgrades. I have upgraded a few of these skills before but it was reset in revamp and the only skill I have upgraded from its basic form to its tier 2 form is the [Fireball] skill. The rest remained as basic skills. Besides, I barely used magic nowadays especially if most enemies have magic resistance for some reason. Anyways, the [Fireball] is a normal skill that I use a lot. It does its work, but it does not have any significant usage aside from burning a lot of stuff and can act as a firestarter in a campfire if no one has a match, lighter, or anything to light up one. But once it is upgraded, it evolves into a more violent form and if upgraded further, it is now a dangerous skill but with a big con attached which is having a high MP consumption and long cooldown time. Still, because the sheer destructive powers of the skills are already great, I upgraded the skills three times as the next one is a little bit whoop in the price and I still have other skills I want to buy. It evolves to [Fire st], a semi-AOE skill due to its additional st during attacks that can also damage the surrounding enemies if fired on one ce with multiple enemies. It''s nice but it''s not that strong, only the increased damage potential. It was a tier 3 skill but it''s a bit weak. Once it is upgraded again, this will be [ze], a tier 4 skill. Compared to the [Fire st] it''s an actualbination between the [Fire st] and [Fireball] with it being a skill possible to be used for spam attacks due to its low cooldown of 2 minutes while retaining the AOE attacks. The only downside of this is that it is pretty much a Mana Hungry type of skill. It costs 300 MP per attackpared to the lower-level skills which are below 100 MP. But the next skill upgrade, its tier jumped from Tier 4 to Tier 7 immediately and it called [Agni]. It''s not a useless skill though as this skill allows you to be an incarnation of mes yourself with mes covering your whole body and during the duration of the skill, you can freely manipte mes and fire in various forms, whether it is [Fireball], [Fire st] or [ze], it can be used while using this skill. Aside from that, all me attacks have an instant sess of inflicting [Burn] debuff on enemies hit by skills with a fire attribute. It was a pretty big jump but from the looks of it, the reason for it being a bit cheaper than usual is that there are higher leveled skill level upgrades of it forter, and it''s much more expensive as well. But as I said before, it''s a big win to use this as I can just use the other skills just fine and yet be able to be more powerful. And bing imbued with a body of me, that doesn''t sound so bad and I think it will look badass as well. Might be very useful in theter battle as well. asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 825 Revisiting My Skill Trees Part 3 Of 4 ? Next to the agenda is my [Ice Prison]. This is also one of the starter skills that I bought in the past. Because this skill is already quite cheap to cast and can be used to seal up anything as long as they are weaker than you, there should be no need for me to upgrade it again unless I use it for damage purposes which I am not using on that purpose. However, the usage of [Ice Prison] is limited and I wanted to expand at least its abilities, not only limited to the freezing mechanic the [Ice Prison] creates. I also wanted it not only to freeze but cause freezing damage as well. I have seen a few magicians who decided to specialize in Ice Magic, the Frost Mages capable of using Ice Magic that can render enemies immobile while inflicting continuous damage. I have seen them use that but since not so many choose to be a Frost Mage, I barely see anyone who can do that much. After all, the meta in the past were all damage and burst attacks. I upgraded the [Ice Prison] to itsst variant, [Frozen Graveyard] a tier 5. The other variants are not that good and worth exining as they all have the same effect, just increased freeze time, impact damage, and decreased cooldown time. Other than that, nothing worthy to describe. As for [Frozen Graveyard], it casts a huge blizzard into an area and produces hail that will cause DOT(Damage over time) to any enemies that are inside the ce, and the longer they are in there, the more they are susceptible in getting frozen and while they are frozen, they receive Freezing Damage. There is also a very small chance of performing an instant kill as well. Minimal chance but that is already a great bonus, instant buy. I was hoping of buying the other upgrade but it''s pretty expensive so instead, I decided to save it up for now. Thest of the skills from the magician skill tree that I upgraded is the [Shocking Lightning] skill. Although this magic spell is something I barely use nowadays, I can still see the appeal of causing paralysis at times but due to its underwhelming performance, it''s not that used often by me so perhaps upgrading the skill might give me some incentive of using it. [Shocking Lightning] has two evolution variants. One focuses on damage but loses on the inflicting debuff, and the other with more emphasis on inflicting debuffs but loses on the side of the damage. Normally, one would argue that the one with damage is the best of the two and I can''t deny that as more damage means more power. But to someone like me who has more power than utilities that can cause paralysis and whatnot, the second skill that emphasizes more paralysis is more to my liking and that was what I went in for. Comparing the two, I have more chances to defeat an enemy if they suffer more than they should have. And so, we got the evolution path towards the mastery of paralysis. [Static Shock], a tier 2 skill is the first of its evolution path. It inflicts paralysis against enemies who the skill has struck. If they aren''t inflicted with paralysis, [Static] will be inflicted on the enemy and they will continuously inflict DOT, and for every damage inflicted, [Static] will build up and once the [Static] reaches a stack of 5, the enemy who got 5 stacks will immediately be paralyzed. I didn''t bother to upgrade it for now. With my SP running out for the magician ss, I think the upgrades would wait for now. Now, we jump to the next ss, Fighter. I was totally underestimating the amount of first skills in this ss. Although there are kick-focused skills, most of them focus on the strength of the fist, making it a bit annoying as I also wanted to get some kick skills bncing it out would have been great but after the inspection, and usefulness as well, the punching skills are more useful than most of the kick skills. Kick skills are great, it''s just that it isn''t looking great. I managed to buy 3 fist-type skills with one of them further upgraded twice and one kick-type skill, upgraded once. It''s sad but it''s the truth. However, I can only say that this is a bit skewed to the fist-type skills right, but that is right as the skills in kick-type are barely useful.I think you should take a look at Anyways, I bought 3 fist-type skills and that is [Meteor Punch], [Wallop], and [Weakpoint Destroyer] with [Wallop] as the skill that has been upgraded twice. [Meteor Punch] is not that amazing in terms of damage but it was useful in inflicting [Defense Down] on armored-type enemies, making them easier to defeat. Not only that but if the enemy is wearing armor equipment or they have natural armor in their bodies, [Meteor Punch] focuses on destroying those armor and making them vulnerable enemies. [Wallop] is the evolution of the skill [Punch] that got upgraded from [Jab]. It might sound like the name of the skill is simple but it was indeed and it is making its job there. Just like the name, it wallops through the enemy if used, dealing heavy damage to enemies and making them unable to act for 5 seconds. It also has a high critical chance, making the skill quite unique. And that is fine as it works as intended. [Weakpoint Destroyer] is a tier 4 passive skill and it is unique. As a passive skill, it does not have many usages but when it does, it does perfectly. As the name suggests, the skill seeks out weak points in the enemies in battle. Once a weak point has been designated, anytime an attacknded, it will inflict double the amount of damage dealt instead of the original damage done. In short, it duplicates a skill''s or normal attack''s power when used on an enemy''s weak point. It sounds good but most enemies have either very small weak points or don''t exist at all, making this passive a bit useless. However, if an enemy does have weak points to exploit, then this will definitely help a lot. Now for the kick skills. They have some kick skills indeed but they are underwhelming. Too underwhelming in fact. Some of the kick skills sound good on paper but I can immediately tell how bad they are based on just the description alone. But who would have thought out of 7 kick skills present in the skill tree, only one is useful enough? And even then, this skill that I picked is also a bit underwhelming to score as well and if it wasn''t upgraded, then it would be too mediocre, to be honest. [High Jump Kick], a tier 5 skill. A skill that came from [Sky Kick] and [Comet Kick]. The former names of the skills sound badass but they are underwhelming and they don''t have much usage due to the fact that they are reliant on sending the enemy into the air before delivering the final blow. If the skill didn''t get to send the enemy into the air while it was attacked, the skill will not be used as it will be rendered useless to enemies that cannot be sent flying. The effect only got changed when it became [High Jump Kick] where instead of kicking the enemies high into the air, the user will jump into the air and delivers a kick that will always hit as it will follow through the target. And in case the enemy managed to escape by using some shenanigans, it will be followed with a leg sweep and send the enemy staggering. See what I mean? The skill only got better the moment it was upgraded but is totally underwhelming if not for the upgrades. Without the upgrades, I doubt the skill would be that useful at all. And so, it seems the final two sses left are the only remaining ones I have left. I have checked the others but they have pretty expensive skills at the moment and I don''t think my 1000 SP is enough even. Only the two remaining sses have some useful abilities that will help me with the future investments. Chapter 826 Revisting My Skill Trees Part 4 Of 4 ? I have plenty of skills I want to buy but I wanted to make sure to buy those skills I am sure I will be using. There''s no point buying in skills I will be barely using anyways so I decided to just not bother with the other ss tree''s skills. There are just some sses that felt a bit clunky in my opinion and some are just situational to be used which is why I am not in a hurry to buy new skills for those sses I neglected for now. The next sses I wanted to invest my points in would be Gunslinger, Ranger, and Onmyoji. I am also interested in investing my points on the Necromancer Skill tree but until I finish the quest that involves this ss, I should hold up to it for now. Seeing how some of the pagespletely overhauls the way the Necromancer ss works, it''s best toplete the pages first instead of investing blindly without knowing whether they will be beneficial investment or not. Anyways, back to the Gunslinger ss. It took me a few more hours trying to see some benefits of the gunslinger ss and soon got some good ideas on some of the skills present. First, I went to the passives. As far as I know, I barely have any Gunslinger ss passives purchased. Even if I did, I didn''t buy any after the revamp so I check back the skill tree and started reading them. Then, I just realized that I can go full ham on the gunslinger skill tree and be a yer specialized in guns. Gunslinger''s ss branches are focused on different weapon types. Although gunslingers are pistol users during the beginning, they can transition from pistols to rifles and shotguns, to machine guns. It''s not limited to one type of gun. But to gain ess to those gun forms, I needed to invest in the passives first. And so I did. [Rifle Mastery] unlocks the ability to turn the pistol weapons of the gunslinger into a rifle, allowing the usage of long-range sniping ability and solid armor pration bullets. [Shotgun Mastery] unlocks the ability to turn the pistol weapons into a shotgun form and excel in short-range, point-nk damage output with a high capability of destroying armor and destroying blocks without a problem. [Machine Gun Mastery] unlocks the ability to turn the pistol weapons into a machine gun and excel in rapid-fire battle style with a huge ammunition limit per one magazine is just amazing and just dumping hundreds of bullets at the enemy is something many have dreamed of. These three passive skills allow me to use different gun forms and expand my ystyle depending on the usage. Aside from that, I also saw the [Rapid Reload] passive which allows me to cut the time spent reloading guns. As a result of buying these passive skills, it also allowed me to unlock skills rted to these weapons. First was the [Snipe] skill, a high prating skill that can be fired at a very long range. It also has a very high damage output as well so it''s a very good skill though it falls short once it is used in short range as it is not practical to use it when in point-nk or if the target is just a few steps away. With the weakness of [Snipe]es the other skill of the shotgun form, [Point-nk st]. A skill that allows the user to fire one bullet that will explode upon enemy contact that has a high damage scale if used at close range. It loses its effectiveness in long ranges but once you get close, one direct st from the skill is enough to break an enemy. Then, there is the machine gun skill [Bullet Hail], a skill that is good for both range attacks and short-range attacks, packs a punch like the [Snipe] and [Point-nk st], and deals immense damage to the enemies.I think you should take a look at A pretty good set of skills for the gunslinger but there is one more skill for the gunslinger that is not associated with those skills, but rather on the normal gun. [Dirty Larry] is the skill that allows the yer to guarantee to shoot an enemy in headshot during the duration of the skill. Although it sounds powerful, the duration onlysts for 5 seconds with a 20-minute cooldown. However, because headshots are pretty much lethal, 5 seconds is already quite good enough to deal against the enemies if all of them are hit in the head. It''s like some kind of homing bullet and will head there without fail. You can say it is best to use if I am sure the enemy will die if the bulletnds through the head without fail. Now, we go to the Ranger ss. Which is honestly not in need of any new skills. But I definitely see some passives I want to get and there are two of them. [Armor Pration Arrow] which, just like what the name suggests, allows the arrows fired from bow and arrow to prate armor now. Unleashing multiple arrows on an armored guy is now usible and easier to do nowpared to before where repeatedly hitting one spot is the technique to perform armor pration. The second passive is the [Mirage Arrow]. Although it sounded like an active skill, it was actually a passive skill. Basically, every time I shot a normal arrow to an enemy, there is a small chance that a double of mine will manifest and fire an arrow to the target I shot with. With every sessful hit, the more chances the double will appear, which in turn, increases DPS. It''s not troublesome but this was actually quite a great passive. Now here is my favorite part that I got when I started buying skills. Compared to the other skills I got, the Onmyoji skills have pretty much lots of skills that are very shy but very practical. But my favorite is the Yokai calls which are part of the skills that allow the user to summon a Yokai andmand them to their will. But before they can be done, I needed to summon them, ask for their cooperation, or beat them in a battle to gain their trust and their help. Right now, I unlocked all of them and just needed to summon them for usageter but I want to ask Queen Tori for guidance. After all, she is the one who has the expertise regarding which yokai is good for usage. Though I already have one yokai I can use on the go and that is the Yuki-Onna. The moment I bought the skill for Yuki-Onna''s summoning, it was immediately detected that I have an alternative way to summoning her so using the normal summoning from the skill is no longer necessary, therefore, it is now clear I can ask for her help now and get her to fight alongside with me. Aside from that, there are also a few more skills that I bought as well just as the [Evil Eye] which allows the user to cast Curse debuffs on enemies, [Talisman Binding] which binds enemies with the talismans and does damage to the enemy inflicted with it for the duration of the skill. There are plenty of skills I want to buy on the Onmyoji skill tree but after buying every single Yokai summoning skill and the two mentioned skills, it bled me dry from SP, leaving me with nothing to spend on. So if I wanted to earn more, I needed to earn more. I stood up from my seat. It''s gettingte, it''s time to get ready, we will be departing now to the Kamikaze Continent''s capital and challenge the shogun to a battle, which will in turn, ignite the war. But with my newly bought skills, I am confident we can win this. Chapter 827 To Taifu City ? I make a rundown on our supplies for we are going into a big war once we arrived in the capital of Kamikaze City. We don''t want to run out of essential supplies while we are in the middle of an important operation. That would spell a death sentence for all of us. "Are you ready... ah, I don''t think I have to ask, you have always been ready in big fights anyways," Queen Tanya chuckled a bit when she was about to ask me but stopped midway. "Looks like we will be done with our little mission once we are done with this trouble. We are asked to repair the wind artifact and look now, we are not even seeking the lost artifact anymore and go directly to the main source of the problem..." Queen Tori seems to be still disappointed. "What can you do? If the enemy who got the stolen artifact is most likely in the enemy territory, there is no point to search for them if we can just head there and meet with the guy immediately. "Good point. Saved us the hassle of going into the problem of looking for them." Ran appeared, carrying a bunch of food supplies and some other things, and handed them to us. "These are some of the spare goods that we can offer. Everyone already knows what you guys are about to do and we are just gonna hope that after what you guys are about to finish, everything around here returns to normal gradually. I also apologized that I dragged you all into our current problems even though we only asked for the Wind Artifact to be fixed," Ran bowed as she apologizes. "Nah, there''s no need to apologize. It''s not like the situation around here has been a good situation in the first ce and with the current troubleing in. And seeing how the army of the shogun seems to treat this situation as something they can benefit from, even if we have stuck ourselves to the fixing the artifact job, we will be still forced to face the army of the shogun with one of his generals currently holding what we needed to repair it. It''s just we took a different approach," Queen Tori sighed. "Wow, I thought you don''t like the direct confrontation stuff, sis?" Queen Tanya was surprised by Queen Tori''s response. "Hey, I am still not liking this one bit, but do I get to get out of this situation whileining? Not at all and I rather do something than wait." "Well, fair enough." We bid farewell to Ran and on our way out, the people of the city also bid farewell and gave us the best of luck in our quest to deal with the shogun. But I kind of think that they are giving us some boost of luck so that we can take revenge on all the people who have been corrupted by the power of the shogun and give the deceased some justice. The remaining soldiers who were still alive after the recent attack also bid us farewell and asked us the best of luck. We also apologized in advance since there is no way we can''t kill some of their subordinates in the process and they already epted that fact. It''s not just something we can avoid, to be honest. As to what happened to Saya who turned into a Jorogumo, I let the soldiers guard her frozen body. Although we nned on killing her to end her suffering, Queen Tori suggested that we leave her in that state for now and finish our battle against the Shogun. There might be some chances that she will return to normal once everything is over and I think I can agree with that as there is indeed a big chance that might happen, as the stuff that I remembered in the past has changed drastically now. ... With all the goodbyes we have done to everyone we needed to tell with, we departed from the city. We walked a bit further from the city before I summoned Leona. "It''s thanks to Leona that we can ess far ces without the need for us to get tired. I appreciate your luck in getting Leona, deheart and I think I am taking this matter for granted," Queen Tanya smiled seeing how convenient Leona Airlines is. "For real. Even though we can use our wings to fly, it''s much different for the kinds of Leona. With her flight speed, the distance is nothing for her and she does not even break a sweat on that matter as well, which I kinda get jealous a bit," Queen Tori also voiced her opinions. "What about using teleporters then? It''s instantaneous and I don''t think you needed to travel far while using teleport scrolls, yeah?" "Eh, not really. I admit that they are convenient but for the process to work, there should already be a teleport point on where you are going, or else you will be lost as you will be teleported somewhere else. Also, it doesn''t help much that you needed to be in that area you are going with at least once just to be able to activate that," Queen Tori tilted her head, "It''s kind of annoying with that kind of set up and although it is useful once everything is done, it''s kinda troublesome at first." "Oh well, we can just say we are indeed grateful. But look, we are now approaching the destination. What do you think our best course of action should be?" Queen Tanya asked. "I thought we would be immediately guns zing the moment we step in?" Queen Tori was surprised.I think you should take a look at "Idiot, sis. Even though I am a muscle-brain, I don''t want to die that early. We just enter the city normally. If they engage in a fight then, we start the all-out war. That way, we have some legal reasons for why we started fighting. We don''t want the public to think we are causing public disturbance now, yeah?" However, I interrupted their conversation. "I don''t think we can do that kind of stuff now. Look, there are some cannonballs alreadying at us," I pointed out to the iing cannonballs that were fired a few moments while the two are still arguing. Standing up, I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and activated one of the new skills that I leveled up. For testing purposes on how it feels though I have seen it being used by other yers before. SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH! It looks like I just slice the air while the cannonballs were still on the way but after using the skill, [Myriad sh], the iing cannonballs disappeared after the cannonballs went through a thousand sh from the skill [Myriad sh]. "Wow, what a wee huh? Guess peace was never an option." I looked at the two and seems like they already know what to do. Below us are a few groups of soldiers, armed and firing at us in the air. Without hesitation, the three of us jumped off Leona as I recalled thetter. Queen Tori opened her wings since she is not really abat-oriented fighter but a supporter therefore, she has to do the safending. As for us, it''s different as we didn''t open up our wings and instead fall down like a rock,nding on the ground via a superheronding. I always wanted to kind of do an entrance like that but who would have thought I would do that here? As soon as the two of usnded on the ground, we immediately dash through the enemies waiting for us and didn''t let them get any chances to react. We immediately pulled our weapons and began to fight. Now that they are pretty much hostile to us even before wended on the ground, we don''t have any reason to even y nice. Using my sword, I slice through the group which is then followed by Queen Tanya, dealing the finisher as I headed straight into the iing group waiting by the gates. "Kill the intruders!" the soldiers shouted, their eyes glowing red like they are in berserk mode. "Let''s dance, people!" I grinned as we started slicing our enemies. Queen Tori started applying buffs on us while asionally trapping enemies using her [Kekkai] and letting us finish them off. The soldiers are unfazed by our attack and continuously send out support to the squadron. As for us, we continue to fight. We didn''t exert ourselves too much as the enemies are still a bit easy but we made sure that we aren''t just going to make them feel pain, we will relieve them from it, by ending their lives. SWISH SWISH SWISH! As we continue to cut through the formation, a few soldiers appeared carrying rifles now. They are using single-loading rifles and so I can easily tell that they might try to use that as pressure on us especially since we didn''t have any shield-bearingpanion. "Fire!" The two already knew what I was thinking. The moment the bullets were fired, I deployed my shield and we hid from the barrage of bullets which immediately ended as they reload for another shot. "Amateurs, you should just go full auto instead, as I pull out the pistol and transformed it into a machine gun. Although I was hoping it would turn into a minigun, this is fine as well. "Come and eat lead!" Chapter 828 Battle Of Rebellion [I] ? The soldiers are relentless but we didn''t back down either. It''s either them or us. "Fire! Don''t let them enter Taifu City! Kill them all!" Themanders of each battalion are all givingmands and the situation is chaotic now. I even saw a few civilians fleeing as the battle ensued but I don''t have any kind of way to save them. In fact, I don''t think I can even save them. I have to focus on our survival and fight till everyone is gone. "deheart! More enemies iing!" Queen Tanya alerted me after finishing off one of the attacking soldiers. "Leave them to me!" I snap my fingers and summoned a few undead to stall the enemies a bit and we get enough time to deal with them. Once they are summoned, they immediately went feral and started attacking the soldiers, causing their main attention to redirect to the undead. As for me, I took this chance to eliminate amandermanding the rifle squad by using [Snipe] and the rifle form of the Versatile Weapon. I got quick scope into the head of themander and as soon as my eyes are set, I activated [Snipe]. BANG! With the gunshot,es the head of themander I sniped, exploding like a melon before falling over, dead. The moment themander who is giving themmands dies, the soldiers immediately went to panic and started to fire discriminately and even started killing each other, showing how themanders give absolute control to their subordinates and make the battle much more organized with them. But once they died, everything falls apart. Queen Tanya goes in for the kill and immediately eliminates the stragglers without even considering to even spare their lives. But there is no need to even spare their lives even. Since they are in berserk mode, it''s only best to kill them before they be troublesome. Even though there are only three of us, with just the addition of some summons helping in the fight, we are actually doing quite well and in a few minutes after the attack, even though we were crowded by enemies literally in the beginning, we managed to push through and break off their ranks and move into the city, past the big gates. "Let''s push through!" Queen Tanya shouted as she decimates a lot of enemies in one go using her scythe. I am also doing quite well in decimating the enemies as well, trying to charge through me. They might be armored but it was weak enough that the Versatile Weapon still cuts through them like butter in a hot knife. Queen Tori is behind us, riding her shikigamis and letting some of her battle-oriented shikigamis do the killing while she actively gives buffs to us. As we are now getting a bit farther from the city''s gates, we spotted anothermander andpared to themander that I just sted the head with, this one is not the same. She is leading a group of samurai soldiers, wielding katanas, except those katanas have already been embedded in their arms like they have reced their normal arms with des. Even the femalemander had her left arm reced with a katana de while her other arm remains normal. They also have some body modifications but it''s not so obvious in one look. She pointed her de arm at us with a stern look on her face. "You all shall not pass here alive." However, there is no need for us to stop. We continue charging forward while I ready my weapon. "Sorry, but the answer to that is no." We shed swords and she tried to overpower me by using her other sword, but I am not that hopeless in terms ofbat and since this is war, there''s no need to show chivalry and respect if the enemy is ready to go in for the kill. BANG! Before themander can even do any shy moves or any kind of killing moves, I made my first move and pulled the trigger of my Pain Delivery gun, always locked and loaded. One bullet is enough to put her out of her misery. As she fell down, I used her body as a way to block the attacks of her squadmates as they stab her body using their katanas. Even if she didn''t die from my gun, she is dead enough the moment countless des pierced through her body. Since they are all in stabbing together, it''s also perfect timing to deal with them in one go. "[Agni]!"I think you should take a look at A st of fire emerged beneath my feet as mes engulfed the soldiers who started screaming as the mes slowly consumes them. They can''t even escape as the mes take hold of them as they slowly eat them like food and turn them into burned flesh. The pungent smell of burnt flesh is disgusting but unavoidable. We continue forward and as we are about to reach the main street, cannonballs are raining down on us again and we are being bombarded again. We easily avoided the cannonball but the ces where the cannonballsnded didn''te with safetys that they would be spared. BOOM! Buildings after buildings copsed and who knows how many NPCs were left there, hiding for their lives? I can only offer a silent prayer for those who died from the cannonballs but there''s nothing I can do about it. We continue running as we evade the cannonballs raining down on us. Not only the buildings are destroyed, even the soldiers who are fighting with us are not spared and if they didn''t evade in time, they ended up being ttened to smithereens after the cannonball falls to the ground. Death is everywhere and people are fleeing more and more now. Those people near the gate are lucky, but those who are not would be very unlucky. We continue to move on our way but as we get closer to the city''s square, something seems to have been muted in our ears and I can tell it as the sounds in the surroundings have been slightly lowered. Based on how the enemies are showing signs of getting enraged, this must mean the Anti-Bard Earbuds I made have kicked in and started blocking the music the bard is using. "Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, be careful now. The bard is now using their music. Make sure the earbuds are carefully in ce in your ear!" "It''s good. Although I didn''t know the bard is now doing some work, hearing nothing from their music is enough to know that these works properly, and just like your prediction, deheart, it seems the bard is doing something to mess up with the soldier''s mind," Queen Tanya frowned on this as she clearly despises the way the bard is toying with the minds of the people around. Aside from the soldiers, even the civilians who can hear the sound are also going insane, as they started clutching their ears and they are either doing some murder spree, creating violence, or doing self-harm on themselves whileughing like a maniac. It looks really bad but we can only push on. "deheart, should we press on? Can''t we save these people?" Queen Tanya seems getting guilty now seeing various deaths of the popce. "There''s nothing we can do. Instead of worrying about them, we should be worried about ourselves. We needed to deal with the bard and the shogun, end this battle, and retrieve the artifact. Once that is done, we can go home and worry less about the situation here." "I agree with deheart here, Sister. The sooner we are done, the lesser the victims will be." We continue to make our way to reach the shogun''s castle where the majority of the soldiers are present. We will be overwhelmed there, but we will have to continue the fight and defeat them. The soldiers continue to swarm, differentmanders appearing and trying to stop our advance but we plow through them. I don''t even care about the style of kills anymore. As long as they die, then they die. It didn''t take us long enough to reach the destination. What awaits us is the army of the shogun, now deformed as monstrosities, feral and now drowned by their instincts, and are now using their primal force to fight. I can see the shogun is currently observing us on the stage and beside him is the bard who continues to y the flute. Based on her actions, she is indeed ying some music but since it is not passing through our ears, she looked like she was just swaying around in the wind. "Wee, rebels who just entered our humble Taifu City. Your works of exploits have already reached our ears and we have already prepared to wee you all with our valuable greetings to the likes of people like you! DEATH!" one of themanders beside the Shogun greeted us with a threat as the soldiers starts to repeat shouting death. But I hated provocations like that. If they wanted to care much, then they should immediately charge at us. BANG! One bullet and themander who threatened us started grasping his heart as blood flows from his wound. It didn''t take him long before he started gurgling blood and died, falling to the ground. "You wish for our death? Well, there you are, we granted you a swift death," Queen Tanya grinned, mocking everyone. Chapter 829 Battle Of Rebellion [II] ? Peace was never an option. I mutter to myself as I decimate the soldiers who didn''t anticipate my attack after killing the proudmander. After all, they thought we would cower in front of the shogun showing his authority and how he is high and mighty. But that has no such effect on us. Perhaps he is trying to instill fear in us and intimidate us by using the music the hooded bard is releasing from the flute that guy is using. I even saw his shock when he saw us immediately go into attack mode without even caring about his words. "What are you all doing?! Kill them all!" the shogun ordered and the soldiers entered berserk mode while some underwent beast transformation. After the order, he went inside the castle alongside the bard who keeps on using the flute as they continue inside. "As if I will let you escape!" I jumped into the air and changed my Versatile Weapon into a hook and chain before throwing the hook towards the shogun, trying to hook and pull him away from escaping. But before the hook can even reach the shogun, a big-bodied guy blocks the way and stops the hook from getting into the shogun, allowing the shogun to return to safety and disappear inside. "You shall not harm the shogun. You will be dying here." "Just shut up," I didn''t back down and immediately dash through the big-bodied guy I tried to slice him with my Versatile Weapon but the moment the de of the Versatile Weaponnded on him, he blocked it by using his hands. It was hard. It was like I am hitting concrete instead of flesh. Even with the armor pration passives I got, it didn''t even manage to graze the guy. He then tried to break my weapon as he grab the de but the moment he tried doing so, his hands starts to bleed and he groaned while trying to even bend it. Unfortunately for him, the Versatile cannot even be destroyed or even bend at will. His hands would break first before he can even put a dent in the Versatile Weapon. I took advantage of him grabbed the weapon''s de and changed it quickly into a spear. Because the shape changed, he didn''t anticipate the length of the de to suddenly go thin and extend, allowing me to use this chance to immediately push the spear straight to his eyes. STAB! "URGH!" He groaned in pain as I gouge out his eyes. His eyeball is hanging by the de of my spear but disappeared immediately when the shadow dragon stealthily devours the eyeball without my permission. But that''s okay since it''s a good riddance. While he is still stunned from being attacked by my spear, I changed the spear into a gauntlet and started punching him. If ded weapons don''t work then a blunt can totally wreck this guy down. "ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Repeated punches slowly make his hardened skin crumble. It''s not that hard to deal with but the sheer impact made by the Gauntlet of greed is enough to cause the hardened skin to fall. It''s not going tost long enough. Of course, it might be due to the [Weakness Destroyer] passive that I have that causes this to make the guy slowly lose his body parts. For the final blow, when he is about to recover, I immediately released one final punch, which is packed with the skill power of [Wallop]. And instead of the body, I aim it on his head. CRACK! A loud crack can be heard the moment I his head. It was like I hit a big rock and hit its weak point. Of course, it''s not a rock that has been broken but the head of the big guy. Like a squashed melon, it burst to pieces, leaving nothing behind, instantly killing him. But as a result of his death, everyone immediately went into a frenzy. Everyone started unleashing a killing intent. Funny, since their killing intent does not affect me at all. "I know you guys are angry at me for killing thismander, but is that really all you guys got?!" I immediately proceed to release my own killing intent. Something that I have in the past timeline. It''s a developed killing intent and it''s not just any kind of killing intent as it will actually cause anyone who can''t endure my killing intent to get paralyzed in fear. Of course, I don''t know whether they will be paralyzed in fear especially when they are enraged but it''s enough to intimidate them to have second thoughts in attacking me. Queen Tanya is doing quite well and is enjoying mowing down the soldiersing to her. She does not even need my help. Queen Tori is also brutal in her ways as she started to go offensive style and y aggressively, especially whenever the enemies get near her perimeter. No matter how near or far they are from her as long as they are within the range of her perimeter, they will not escape her ability to impale the enemies using her paper talisman that suddenly turns into spikes. She is relentless and as she is moving slowly, the enemies that tried to approach her are all dead.I think you should take a look at "deheart! What''s the n, should we just eliminate everyone here and be done with it?" Queen Tanya asked. "I don''t know, it will take some time before we will be done with this. Maybe I should just do something. Everyone, let''s go to that stage. I will be doing something." The three of us went on our way to the stage and the soldiers started to try and swarm us there but Queen Tori immediately deployed a [Kekkai] around us to stop them from progressing further. "What now?" Queen Tanya looked at me with a puzzled stare. I pulled out the crystal that Yuki-Onna gave me. After charging it with mana, a cold wind suddenly appeared around us and the soldiers who are enraged halted their movements due to the cold. Their armor is not equipped with any cold resistance. Then, a few secondster, snow appeared and slowly swirled around before revealing Yuki-Onna materializing in the air. "A Yuki-Onna?!" Queen Tori was totally surprised to see Yuki-Onna materialized right before us. Yuki-Onna looked around and her eyes soonnded in my direction, which made her giggle. "Hehe, who would have thought you would summon me this soon? Are you in a tight spot right now? Because from what I can see, you guys are in that spot." "Eh, not really. It''s just that we needed to finish the battle sooner and stop them from chasing us. We needed to get rid of them before they can even be a big problemter. Can you perhaps freeze them?" "Freezing them huh? Just so you know, if we freeze them, those who can''t endure the cold will die. Are you still going to proceed?" Although I am not in favor of killing them, there is no choice here. If we let them remain as is, then there is a chance they will just block our way and stop us from getting close to the shogun. "Do it." Yuki-Onna smiled before she floats above the air, summoning a hailstorm. An ice barrier appeared where we are standing and the rest are bombarded by the hailstorm. "One freezing Hailstorm,ing right up." With one wave of her hand and the surroundings immediately got covered in snow, and the soldiers who tried to escape were slowly freezing from feet up to their upper bodies. They started wailing in despair before their whole body has been encased in ice. Even for those who tried to escape, the ice just didn''t let them do so. Their screams were eventually muffled as the ice covers their bodies and their heads. "And with that, everything is done. Good luck!" Yuki-Onna waved goodbye before disappearing, just like how she appeared, she disappeared just as quickly as before. The ice barrier surrounding us also melted and left us with the soldiers, frozen and can no longer initiatebat, or even move. I don''t know who is still alive and who is now dead, the important thing is that they are now stopped in their tracks. "...Let''s go." I urged the two. The two nodded in silence as we proceed straight into the shogun''s castle. Since the castle is still very big, I can tell that those leaders are currently inside, waiting and serving as the final blockade of enemies before we reach the shogun. After all, we didn''t see the guy who has the stolen wind artifact. And I don''t think we will bebeled as heroes in this situation after the battle against the shogun. There is no way the popce will just ept us from liberating them from the rule of the tyrant shogun. With how we instigated everything, they will eventuallye to hate us. However, it doesn''t matter. We will just have to deal with the aftermath once it is all over. Chapter 830 Battle Of Rebellion [III] ? The coldness of the blizzard spell that Yuki-Onna conjured can be felt inside the castle and we can even feel it seep into our skins. "I wouldn''t have expected you to gain the favor of a Yuki-Onna! She is one of the hardest to talk into and ask for favors as a yokai! Howe you managed to get her to help you though?" Queen Tori started to bombard me with questions. "I just happened to get into her good graces. As a result, she allowed me to call her anytime but with limited uses only." "That''s still amazing though even with limited calls. Seeing how she just froze over the whole area alongside all of the soldiers there, getting her help was already something of a big boon for us," Even Queen Tanya who don''t have much knowledge regarding yokai agrees how tremendous the help of Yuki-Onna earlier. "We should save the conversation forter, we should focus on what is up ahead. I can feel a powerful presence up ahead, waiting for us. Get ready," Queen Tanya interrupted us as we approach the next area. It''s kind of strange that the castle is pretty barren and pretty much empty. No servants, no retainers, and no other people are present at all. It''s like they are abandoned for quite a while now seeing how it looks like the castle has been unmaintained due to the signs of wear and tear plus the cobwebs hanging around the ceiling and corners of the castle. Focusing on what''s ahead, we continue to push through, maintaining vignce in case there are traps or enemies lying in ambush but so far, no surprises have been encountered. It took a bit of navigation before we arrived at the next area where someone is waiting for us. We entered therge room of the castle and before us is someone who exudes a huge amount of dark powers in her body. She doesn''t have many weapons in her body but she is currently smoking and from what I can tell, it''s either this woman is some kind of an assassin or she might be one of the new sses in the game that will be released in the future, Hexer. "I was tired of waiting for you dear guests. However, it is time for you all to stop your journey right here, right now. You all will noty a finger against the shogun." We were about to confront the enemy but Queen Tori stopped us. "I feel like it''s time for me to handle this, deheart, Sis. You guys go on ahead. From the looks of it, we still have a few enemies waiting for us upstairs. It''s better we confront them one by one. And I can also feel that I needed to test my mettle against this woman right now." "Hoho, a brave soul decides to sacrifice herself to let the others proceed? How interesting, however, I am not going to let you all pass." She then blows her smoke and all of a sudden, her smoke started to move like it was being blown by the wind but with many different strokes of blows. It''s pretty irregr in movement. But Queen Tori didn''t flinch and deployed a massive [Kekkai] and contained the smoke using it. "Try me. I am not some pushover. Sis, deheart, go. I will take care of this." Hearing this, we both nodded and went on up ahead and headed to the stairs to reach the next floor. "Hey! You won''t escape from me!" the woman tried to use her abilities on us again but Queen Tori, stopped her again by wrapping her body with talismans.I think you should take a look at "I already told you, try me before you can harm them." The woman tears apart the talisman binding her but she is now angry. "Now, you make me mad. Fine, if death is what you want, then death is what you get!" I can hear the fight happening below but I couldn''t see it now as we now climb the stairs to reach the next floor. Just like on the ground floor, the second floor is pretty barren. But this time, there are lots of scattered toys present in the area and the constantughter of some kids can be heard, making it a bit creepy. However, since we are not in a horror story or anything, this leads much to nothing horrifying. There''s only an enemy trying to instill fear in us, and failing as we have close to immunity against fear. "Another presence. It seems we will be facing enemies on every floor," Queen Tanya guessed. "Are you going to also do something simr to Queen Tori?" I asked Queen Tanya. "Heh, I didn''t expect her to do that. I was more expecting myself to be the first one to actually be doing something simr to what she did and yet, she easily stole my thunder right there and looked badass like a natural. Guess even if we are sisters, it''s still in our blood to show off like a badass." I chuckled a bit as we entered a room simr to the room where someone is waiting for us. And just like what happened below, someone is indeed waiting for us. This time, it''s a kid, carrying two life-sized dolls beside him. Behind him are two maids who have their heads hung low. One look would make anyone think that the maids are human but there''s no denying that they are not human. Although concealed in their clothing, I can see the pivotal joints sticking out. "I see, so this guy is a puppeteer." "Puppeteer?" Queen Tanya frowned. "People who can control dolls andmand them with control in their hands. They act simr to shikigamis of Onmyojis like Queen Tori but this time, it''s direct control, and depending on the doll they are controlling, they vary in danger. It''s not the puppeteer that is dangerous, it''s the puppet themselves that the puppeteer controls. "Oho, looks like someone is knowledgeable in my profession. Doesn''t change the fact that you all will die here." SNAP! As he snap his fingers, the room lit up, revealing variety of dolls present in the room. "Wee intruders. Today, I will show you what kind of show that will entertain the masses will be. Be my audience and witness the spectacle of my performance!" Chapter 831 Battle Of Rebellion [IV] ? The young boyughed like a maniac. Although he looked like an innocent young man from the outside, I don''t see any form of "innocence" from him right now. More like he is filled with malice and he is very, very dangerous right now. I can say that I have had bad experiences with puppeteers due to how cunning they are with their usage of their puppets. It''s like fighting multiple people at once even though you will only be fighting one person and everything else was just a tool. "deheart, it seems we should also part ways temporarily here. Seeing how this guy is someone who uses powers that I have yet to see in my life, I can say that I am interested in what he is about to do. Fighting against people who have weird ways of fighting seems like a good experience rather than fighting big monsters." Hearing theparison Queen Tanya made to him, he fumed in anger. "You! How dare youpare to mindless beasts?! I will make sure you suffer enough that your mouth will no longer be able to spout such nonsense!" He then sends off his puppet into attack mode. A puppet that looks like a normal girl puppet but the moment it got close, it revealed the multiple des on her body, embedded in her wooden mainframe. Queen Tanya is adept at dealing with weapons like this and easily blocked them with her scythe. She then looks back at me and gave me a thumbs up. "Go, deheart. We will meet youter once we are done with these guys." I believe in Queen Tanya and so, I nodded at her suggestion and immediately started running for the stairs. "Who said you can ascend?!" he then waved his other arm and the puppet that looked like an old man butler flies in my direction. However, a ck shadowy hand suddenly appeared and gripped the butler puppet tight, causing it to stop midair. "Oy, you little sh*t. You are facing me here. I am enough alone to be your opponent. It''s overkill enough for you if the two of us will deal with you," Queen Tanya grinned as she started taunting the puppeteer. "Grr. You will pay for this!" The puppeteer returned his focus to Queen Tanya and forgot about me, this allows me to go and proceed to the next floor without any problems. I can also tell that I am going to meet someone that I have to battle next on this floor as well. I better prepare myself for the uing battle. --------- As deheart ascended to the next floor, the puppeteer grinned. "Heh, it''s a mistake you decided to remain alone instead of letting yourpanion go," the boy grinned with a twisted expression on his face. "Oh yeah? And why is that?" "Because you will be food for my beloved darlings soon." SNAP! Compared to thest time he revealed his puppets, it turned out the whole room is filled with them. The others were just hiding in the walls and some are in invisible forms. All of them have different forms but one thing ismon for them, they possess lethal weaponry in their arsenal. "Heh, scared now? I bet you are." However, contrary to the puppeteer''s expected reaction, he didn''t expect Queen Tanya to startughing like she is so amused. "Why are youughing?!" "Hahaha, I couldn''t believe I amughing at your joke. This? EAT ME?! HAHAHAHAHAHA! BEST JOKE I EVER HEARD!" "What?!" "Oh, you were not joking? Pah, you should do better, these many puppets are not enough." Queen Tanya dropped put away her scythe and started cracking her knuckles.I think you should take a look at "Why did you put away your weapon?! Are you retreating?" "Retreating? What are you talking about? I am just preparing to see whether your beloved puppets are enough to properly entertain me." Queen Tanya grinned and her aura suddenly exploded in power. What she was earlier is clearly a far cry from what she was now. "Now, let''s see how you intend to devour me." ----------- I can hear several shaking underneath which means, Queen Tanya has already started her usual treatment to those she thinks are interesting. If the guy didn''t try to show off before the fight, then perhaps he can still have had a decent battle against Queen Tanya but if he did try to show off, well, RIP to him as I can''t even tell whether he will survive her or not. Anyways, let''s forget about that puppeteer and climb a bit further upstairs. I was expecting to fight someone on the next floor but I was bummed to see no one was waiting for me there. I tried searching but the third floor has no enemies and so I proceed to the fourth floor. This time around, I can feel the strong gusts of wind blowing all over the ce. However, despite the strong winds that seems to be enough to blow someone away, it also felt like the wind was just an imaginary pressure and was actually not happening. I have a hunch on the next enemy but I have to make sure it was the same guy I am guessing. I keep myself ready for the next enemy as I am quite sure I am going to be in a hell of a fight. As soon as I get into the same area simr to the floors below, I see someone currently sitting still on the floor, with winds swirling all over him. Just like my prediction, the person before me is indeed the one who we have encountered during our search for the wind artifact. It seems he has yet to notice my presence and has been staying in meditation form. The wind swirling around him is violent, but not that violent that it will tear anything that it touches into shreds. It''s like it is a form that can only blow anything off into the air. I pull out my Pain Delivery and point the muzzle at the man. I thought it would be great to kill him immediately without a fight. The faster I am done, the better. "It seems you have arrived, young man. Although I am tired of waiting, it seems you have finally decided to fight. Well, I am quite sure that-" Before he can finish talking, I fired the Pain Delivery bullet at him. The first thing he did is to deflect it with his wind, but the bullet is fired faster than the wind can blow to redirect its trajectory so the moment the wind blows, the bullet already passed through it. Seeing how it is toote to use the wind, he decided to catch it, very confident in his ability to tank attacks. However, we are talking about Pain Delivery here. When he is about to catch the bullet, the bullet didn''t stop and instead pierces through his skin and immediately strikes his shoulder, piercing through and giving him an injury and perhaps [Bleeding] as well, but I can''t tell as the human enemies have no HP bar present. Unless he transforms into a monster, then the HP bar will remain hidden. "What the? Howe?!" the guy is startled and started to clutch his wounded shoulder. Perhaps he thought the bullet of the Pain Delivery is still possible to be blocked but it seems he was not prepared for it to just pierce through his body. Perhaps if I have fired the Pain Delivery to him during our first confrontation, he might have not been surprised and be more wary about the situation. However, I don''t really care. With how effective the bullet ended up, I am now satisfied that the enemy is now wounded. Before he can act again, I fired another bullet into him multiple times, both on his hands and one on his other shoulder, I shot his two knees and I also shot his two feet and one on the abdomen. All are not enough to kill him since they didn''t hit his fatal spots but are enough to disable his movements. "P-please spare me!" "Spare you? I doubt it. If the situation is reversed, I doubt you wouldply either. The sooner you are gone, the faster I can get into the shogun and that damned bard. Now close your eyes and perhaps you will find peace in the afterlife." BANG! One bullet to the head, and now, he is dead. However, I am not convinced he is dead with just one bullet. They might be tricking me. Just to be sure, one more bullet into the head and one more into the heart. And he really died. Looks like he managed to survive the first shot. He thought if he yed dead, perhaps he can use that chance to leave. But I don''t take my chances. The sooner the guy is gone, the better. Looks like the Double Tap works properly. I checked his body to see whether he is still alive but his body has turned cold and he stopped breathing. His bodily functions also stopped and his dted eyes, remained open, still not believing his death. The wind that is swirling all over the room also stopped functioning and the wind artifact that he was holding fell into the floor. I picked it up and confirmed it to be the wind artifact that we are looking for before. If we still prioritize our first task, then this alone is enough and we would have left by now. But we are now ready to deal with everything. We will not just stop here. "That''s a bit of a boring fight, I guess. Perhaps the Pain Delivery is still troublesome to deal with." Chapter 832 Battle Of Rebellion [V] ? The wind artifact is now in my hands, safe and sound while the one who stole it is now dead. There was barely any battle as I dominated him while he was speaking his dialogue. The sooner we are done with this, the better, and I skipped through the entire fight by stopping him mid-dialogue using a gun and killing him in the process. It''s a bit disrespectful if I have value of chivalry but I don''t value it as I prefer to win over anything. I only respect them if they are worthy to be respected or during friendly matches, otherwise, it''s kill or be killed. My survival matters more than this. I checked his body for any loot. Aside from his armor that I am not going to take it, the other items are not that worthy as well. But despite my disinterest in the items I got from his body, my Versatile Weapon seems to have a different idea. "Seriously? You want to eat this?" The shadow dragon nodded with a salivating mouth while staring at the items I got. "Ugh, well, nothing wrong with it, go and eat some, I guess. Devour it." On cue with mymand, the shadow dragon extended itself from the Versatile Weapon, opened its big mouth, and devours the items as well as the dead body of themanding officer who I just stripped down some of the items on his body. "Wha?! Hey, I didn''t evenmand you to eat even the body! Seriously..." I scratch my head seeing the guy happily devour the whole thing like it was nothing. I seriously have no idea how this guy manages to devour everything that he eats without even having some kind of constipation. I kind of envy this guy as he can just eat almost everything as long as he desires. I checked the Versatile Weapon stats and to my surprise, the guy is "digesting" the food, which means he received something from eating those stuff. It''s only 2 hours before he digested it fully but once he does digest it, the Versatile Weapon will receive at least one or two new stats increase and if lucky enough, a new skill. But I am hoping for increased stats. Right now, I am swimming in skills and I don''t even know whether I can use the skills I already have right now as some of them are pretty much situational in usage. Anyways, I reload the bullets of the Pain Delivery and made sure that there are no enemies left lurking. After all, I easily surpassed everything without any problems. Just as I was about to ascend to the next floor, a few explosions can be heard below me and the building shook a few times, showing how the battles happening below have been destructivepared to mine. How are they faring though? Perhaps I should wait for them. It won''t be long before they are done with what they are doing. ----------- While deheart is waiting for the two princesses to be done with their battles, the two are still in a heated battle. Queen Tori, blocking and dodging all the curses and spells being hurled in her direction by the enemy Hexer. "What now? I thought you would defeat me, then why are you even dodging? Just so you know that making me exhausted won''t be possible as I can do this all day!" the Hexer grinned as she released another curse ability. Queen Tori blocked her though. Queen Tori didn''t say anything and just focused on defending and dodging. She didn''t even make some sneak attacks here and there, she just remained dodging and to block without even showing signs that she will be fighting back. As a result, the Hexer is now a bit angry at the current situation. "Grrrr, you b*tch, you are toying with me, aren''t you? You are just trying to keep me like this so that you can taunt me?" "I never said anything like that, whatever you think of it, then it''s none of my business." The Hexer didn''t like what she heard. "That''s it, you will be dying here then. I have had enough of your sh*t. DIE!" She unleashes a spell and below Queen Tori''s feet is a ck fiveyer Magic Circle rotating very fast. However, instead of fear and surprise, Queen Tori only grinned and stared at the magic circle with fascination. "Interesting." Soon, the spell erupted and a ck me erupted inside the magic circle that even the surrounding area seems to have burned as a result. A me that is born from a curse and is made from a curse. One that burns from the hatred and power of the resentment the caster had toward the world. A very strong ability that can instantly turn everything that it touches to ash.I think you should take a look at The Hexer grinned, seeing how the mes are burning brightly, which should be enough to burn the wretched woman who is clearly mocking her just by using her own actions. She grinned as she watches the mes dance as she imagined the final moments of the woman she just fought. However, her imagination and her glee at the sight have turned to a frown and she didn''t like what she sees. The mes that should have burned for quite a while stopped burning, revealing the woman she just fought with. No wounds, no curses, and most of all, she is not burned to a crisp. She is alive as if she didn''t even get affected by it. "What? What is going on? Howe you are still alive?! My spell should have destroyed you the moment the mes erupted!" "Sure, if you have fought anyone who doesn''t have any way to understand your curse. However, it seems today is your unlucky day, Hexer," Queen Tori pulled a ceremonial bell out of nowhere and shook it once. TING! "GAH!" the Hexer coughed out blood and frowned. What just happened? She just heard a bell sound and then... TING! A painful pain registered on her body once more and she started to bleed. "What is happening... GUHK!" she coughed out blood once more. Her body has gotten weaker all of a sudden and she felt her vision dim. TING! CRACK! "GAHHHHH!" Her screams resounded as her left arm suddenly got twisted in a very disturbing way. It seems like she got her arm dislocated all of a sudden. TING! CRACK! Her other arm twisted and suddenly got squeezed like cloth and all the bones present on her other arm had been crushed to dust and her flesh has been twisted beyondprehension while the blood on her arm squeezes out of it. "Interesting. So those are the curses you tried to throw at me. I can still do more but I didn''t want to just end your suffering there." "H-Howe..." "Howe I managed to use your curses against you? No, I didn''t use your curses and I don''t have the capabilities to use curses as well to inflict harm to my enemies. However, I have the ability to reflect the spells you used against me and fire them back to the one who used them. You can say that I have just given it back to you." "GUHK, UGH..." the Hexer couldn''t even properly talk as her body has been too battered at this point. She might even die soon enough. "Just so you know, a Hexer shouldn''t have challenged an Onmyoji against a battle. It''s a clear one-sided battle. After all, curses don''t have any effect on us." TING! That''s thest sound the Hexer heard as her body was immediately engulfed in the dark mes. The mes that she has used earlier against the woman who is standing right before her. Chapter 833 Battle Of Rebellion [VI] ? While Queen Tori is dealing with the Hexer, Queen Tanya is dealing with the puppeteer. Contrary to the expected win of the person who has the most numbers, it seems the situation was reversed. Queen Tanya who is fighting alone is pulverizing all of the puppets thate her way. One after another, she didn''t spare a single one of them. She brutally punches most of them, destroying them to pieces and most of them are already severed from the strings that the Puppeteer used to control them. The room is littered with puppet parts that once belonged to a puppet. Now, they are just a bunch of junk parts. The puppeteer is trying his best to send his best puppets to deal with Queen Tanya and defeat her. However, he is more likely to lose these puppets he sends out rather than having a good result produced. Queen Tanya, on the other hand, is enjoying her time crushing all of the puppetsing right at her. "More! MORE! BRING IT ON! Don''t just stop with one puppet at a time, bring them all together!" Queen Tanya happily danced as she hit every puppet with extreme precision, destroying pieces and pieces of them. "Damn it! What the hell is wrong with this gori woman?! Howe my attacks are not working at all?! I have the advantage in numbers, why am I losing?!" "Oy, string guy,e on and dish out more of this sh*t, I am liking this method of sending these punching bags to their deaths. Give me more variety! Come on!" "GAH?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING STRING GUY!? I WILL KILL YOU!" "Yeah, yeah, you keep saying "I will kill you" and stuff, but are you honestly trying? I mean, I am having fun but no way this is your best shot already. This is disappointing..." Queen Tanya continues to break puppets down, not even showing signs of stopping. The number of puppets destroyed is alreadyrge in number and the sheer number of destroyed puppets is already quite staggeringpared to the functional puppets left. The puppeteer is panicking. He has already assumed the enemy is quite a pushover and he decided to reveal his puppet collection to collect the fear emotion that the target should feel. But the main w of that is that he used that effect on the wrong person. If it was other people, sure, but for Queen Tanya who likes to feel the challenge, this is nothing to her. In fact, this made her more excited and dangerous than she should have been. And if she got off her kiddie gloves in battle which is by stopping the usage of her scythe then that means she is ready to unleash whatever she was storing. It didn''t take long for all the puppets the puppeteer is using to be reduced to junk after engaging in a fight against Queen Tanya, now, she is itching for more but what does the puppeteer can do if all the puppets he had now gone? He is basically useless without the puppets he wields. "What the... are you out of fuel already? Awe on, I thought you would be better than that. If you are just this weak, you should have said so. This is just a waste of time and you barely gave me any challenge." The puppeteer slumped from where he stood as he looked at the junk left behind his puppets. The puppets that he cared for and adored, are now gone, destroyed, and are now pieces of junk now piled on the floor. "My precious puppets... now gone..." as he grabs pieces of the puppets that once were part of his collection. "Are we done here? Because if you are not even gonna attack me, then there is no point killing you. You are nothing without these piles of junk." "How dare you... how dare you!" Anger swells up within the puppeteer. It might be something that he has been keeping inside him but now that all of the puppets he has are gone, he decided that it''s time to deal with this and take his revenge once and for all. The puppet junk left from the battle started to move. Queen Tanya watches as the situation unfolds. She thought all of the puppets that she destroyed would restore themselves and the battle continues but she was wrong as the puppeteer does not possess that kind of ability. I think you should take a look at Instead, the junk parts of the puppets started to attach themselves to the puppeteer. It''s not the same kind of attached where they just stick on them and can be peeled off anytime, the parts embedded themselves to his body, all being while the puppeteer continues to pull over the junk parts and attach them to his body. Queen Tanya only watches. Sure, the guy is using it for his own but at the end of the day, it was his way of fighting and if he is using this method to fight back, then Queen Tanya doesn''t care, she waited for the situation to reveal what it was all about. The parts continue to pierce through the puppeteer''s body. Piece by piece, it breaks through his skin, and with every single piece attaching to him, the more the body of the puppeteer turns into that of a puppet. His screams are not in agony but in anger. It was a scream full of hatred and something that can only be done when someone is at the peak of their anger. It didn''t take long for the parts to finish attaching themselves to him. Queen Tanya doesn''t know if he died, but it is sure enough that the new enemy is now standing right next to her. It is enough for Queen Tanya to have her blood pumping once more. "Yes, YES! Give in to that desire. Give in to that power!" Queen Tanya grips her fist tight. The enemy has gotten bigger and tougher. However, it doesn''t matter, as it is still an enemy. An enemy that needed to be suppressed. "Let''s do this!" The two shed and explosive punches urred all over the ce, not one second can see the speed of the battle as both are fighting with all their might, trying to kill each other in the hopes of felling down the foe before them. The puppet might have excelled in size and power, but Queen Tanya excelled in all parts except the size. However, bigger doesn''t mean better after all. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The building shook multiple times as the two continued to fight back. But in every battle, there always needed to be a victor unless both have toppled over. In this current battle, only one survived. The puppet released a barrage of punches and even used a variety of tools to fight Queen Tanya who remained to fight him barehanded. It might be an overkill in terms of visuals alone but honestly, the puppet needed it as the enemy was not just something that can be felled with just gadgets and items. They are all just a nuisance to her. As Queen Tanya dodges the strikes, Queen Tanya closes the gap between him and her and unleashed her wrecking punch. BANG! A hole has been formed as one fist passes through. Of course, it belonged to the puppeteer who became a puppet. He lost the fight. And even if he can fight still, Queen Tanya will just pulverize him. "And now, you are dead," Queen Tanya grinned as the puppeteer exploded to pieces. Chapter 834 Battle Of Rebellion [VII] ? I am almost done eating the food I was eating when both Queen Tanya and Queen Tori climb the stairs. They both look fine and they didn''t look like they came from fighting their respective enemies. "Oh? You are done already deheart? That''s good. We can head up now." "Looks like you guys are done as well. Are they dead?" I asked. "Yep. Mine died because all the curses she used backfired on her and she suffered her own curses in the end, which soon made her sumb and died. She didn''t do too hard enough that it''s bad for her who specializes in using curses to fight against an onmyoji like me." Oh yeah, no wonder Queen Tori decided to step up on that battle. Since she is an Onmyoji, she is capable of nullifying or rebounding the curses used on her. A hexer would be in so much trouble against an Onmyoji if they don''t know who their enemy is. Sure, the Onmyoji can still have trouble for them especially if a very capable Hexer decided to fight back, but since the enemy was immediately defeated, perhaps she was a subpar Hexer and didn''t have much of a power that was capable of harming her. "Well, for me, the final fight was a bit subpar. I thought he would have managed to give me some challenging fight but he ended up dying shortly after, it''s pretty useless, to be honest, and I am still not satisfied. I needed to fight a stronger enemy." "I think we can find out more once we climb up, yeah?" I looked at them with a nod and they responded with a nod as well in agreement. And so we climb up to the next floor, expecting the same floors as below, but our expectation was betrayed when we saw an elevator that leads to the top floor. There was no other way up except for it as we explored this floor and all this floor had was this elevator. "I refuse to believe they only have three high-ranking officers and all of them died so fast. Are we expecting too much for this? Or we are just being lied upon thinking this is just easy?" Queen Tori frowned. "Yeah, I do agree. It''s a bit disappointing that we will be facing the main boss this time." "Are we even gonna face the main boss now?" Queen Tori looked at me with surprise. "Well, judging from theyout of this elevator and how we don''t have any other floors besides the very top which I also assume is the final floor of this building, then that was the only thing that I could think of," I exined. Although this was true, I didn''t tell that the reason why there were so few floors here on this tower is due to the fact that this tower only gets new floors every time a new shogun is appointed. Once thest shogun gives his title to the new shogun, a new floor is added to keep the counting. There were only 6 floors, 3 were upied by the enemies that we defeated, one was empty, this floor we are in is the fifth, and the final floor is the top floor which means the current shogun is the sixth in-line shogun. No one knows why this was a thing but it was the tradition and ording to the tradition, once the tower is filled with floors, the tower will be extended. Eventually, they n to keep on expanding the tower until it reaches the skies. However, I think that will be a bad idea. If only they heard about the tower of Babel and what happened to it, then perhaps they might have decided to stop this custom. "Who cares about that, we shall see and find out then. Let''s ride this elevator and see who is waiting for us at the top." We entered the elevator and it automatically carried us to the top slowly. We can see the surroundings and see how high we are already. It didn''t take us that long to reach the very top though as the elevator stops as we arrived at the location.I think you should take a look at Entering the new floor, we are weed by a view of five people currently meditating in front of a golden throne where the shogun sits, and beside him is the hooded bard who is still blowing the flute. We still can''t hear the music so we are still not affected at all. "I underestimated you all. To think the three of my incredible soldiers are gone in a sh. Looks like you all are not just some minor nobodies who are not really a concern. Seeing that they have lost all their lives, then perhaps it is time to take you three seriously." "Incredible soldiers? Are you serious? I don''t even feel they are incredible. They are even subpar inparison to what I faced before," Queen Tanya shrugged. "How dare you talk like that to the shogun!" one of the meditating soldiers opened his eyes and pulled out his sword ready to attack Queen Tanya but the shogun stopped him. "There''s no need to attack her just yet. We are speaking." "I-I apologize, dear Shogun," he lowered his head and returned to his meditation form. "Why are you all angry? I am just stating the truth, you guys should just ept the bitter truth," Queen Tori frowned. "I agree that they are not that strong, but they are also not that weak either. They just ended up facing someone they shouldn''t have faced yet. However, who cares about it? They are now dead and you all are here. If the situation is reversed, we would not be talking here like this, right?" "So, you n to use your subordinates to fight back again? We are all ready to go and fight," I immediately assumed a battle stance, and the other two also prepared as well. "Indeed. Because they are my best of the best. They are the strongest soldiers that are here in this world and I will make sure they will prosper in the fight. We will conquer this world and using their power, we will be ruling this world with my power." "Strongest huh? Guess we are in for a treat," Queen Tanya grinned as she punches her palm. "Make sure this won''t be a disappointing mess. Even for someone like me who doesn''t like to fight, your soldiers are weak," Queen Tori sighed. "We will see then." And as the shogun smiled, the five stood up and revealed their abilities one by one, showing off their true power that has been hidden. However, I can only frown on them. For some unknown reason, they all look pathetic right now and I don''t know why. Chapter 835 Battle Of Rebellion [VIII] ? All five of them stood up, but none felt threatening, which I am aware of. Perhaps because I have faced much more troublesome foes but they are a bit...weaker than I thought. I have fought their monster variants before in the past timeline and they are very strong. Right now, I don''t think they have their monster variants just yet. After all, back when they have their monster variants, they are already transformed from their human forms and ording to them, they cannot go back to being a human after throwing those identities away a few months ago. These guys have yet to perform the ritual as this is an attack much earlier before the official date the battle should have begun. I thought only I realized this. But it seems Queen Tori and Queen Tanya also did. "Hey, I thought they were the strongest, why does it seem like they are weaker than the people we fought downstairs? You think you can fool us by sending cannon fodders like these? You mocking us?!" The samurai guy didn''t like how Queen Tanya is mocking the shogun. He make a swift sh and teleported behind Queen Tanya before sheathing his katana back to the sword sheath. I was expecting Queen Tanya to be wounded by that...but nothing... It didn''t do anything and we are left wondering what happened. Seeing no reaction, he looked behind and saw Queen Tanya rubbing her neck. "Was that it? Are you sure you have maintained that katana as sharp as possible? Because this is not even something that can pierce my skin," Queen Tanya faces the samurai while holding the broken de of his katana which he just put back on the sheath. "What?!" the samurai was surprised and pulled out his katana, which is now broken as half part of the de now missing and only a little bit of it remains. "I don''t know how you got so confident in trying to cut me when even your sword is not enough to harm me." Queen Tanya then throws the de back to the samurai, but it was fast enough that it acted like a knife being thrown that the samurai who is still shocked from the broken sword was immediately killed when the katana de embedded itself into his neck, causing him to choke on his blood and die while bleeding on his wound. The other four were shocked but they immediately assumed a battle stance, seeing how theirrade died so fast. "See? This is pretty odd. I don''t know whether you are telling us that this is your real powerhouse but I am disappointed since you still think we are weak. These guys do not pose any kind of threat to us." The shogun is clearly pissed but he decided to be calm to show to his followers that he is not afraid of us but it was clear he''s already panicking. "Hmph, then show me whether you all are bluffing. Attack them!" he ordered the remaining four before looking at the bard beside him and nodding. The bard also nodded before ying a song. Automatically, the song immediately got silenced and the remaining sounds we can hear are the voices of us and the sounds of the weapons nging.I think you should take a look at "We should finish this as soon as possible. I don''t want to make this battle take too long to be done. And we fought... or so we thought as we just immediately yed the four without much problem like they were ordinary civilians given some weapon and they are wielding it for the first time. No, scratch that. Even the civilians are more dangerous and troublesome than them. It was like they got so powered down they lost their power as a result. I am not expecting them to fall like twigs. I didn''t even use the Pain Delivery to kill them immediately, they were like, too weakened to do anything dangerous. The result was not something the shogun expect and he is so furious seeing all of the people he considers as the "elite" of his squadron to die just like that. "Damn, even the normal soldiers outside are more of a threat than this. Are you sure you didn''t instead bring back and keep them to safety because they are the weakest? This is kind of disappointing and I hated it, Shogun," Queen Tanya then points her scythe at him. "I see. It seems I have indeed made a mistake. Since they all failed, then, I, as a Shogun will see it through to deliver the appropriate punishment necessary for all of you." He stood up from his seat and the robe he was wearing started to flutter and melt, showing his body. It wasn''t muscr or anything, but it is filled with dangerous aura and power that anyone would never think of using. But for me who have seen this before, this is the power of the Shogun in his first phase, which also means this is going to be the final battle. "Get ready guys, this is the real deal. I can feel we will be dealing with a real baddie this time," I read my Versatile Weapon into its Magic sword form. "Well, that is great. If that is the case, I will go ahead and fight!" Queen Tori kept herself silent but she is already readying her talismans and binding seals ready as well. The Shogun slowly unleashes his power as he walks towards us. His name appeared before us but his HP bar is nowhere to be seen, meaning we will have to fight him without the HP bar visible to us. The energy on his back started to morph and change into different weapons shapes. Then, he fired them at us like projectiles. I immediately deflected one of them and the moment I did, I felt the heaviness of the weapon trying to overpower me as I sessfully removed it out of my way. I can confirm, this power level is just the beginning. The shogun is the true challenge here and we have yet to see the full extent of his power. "This act of rebellion will never be forgiven. Die for your sins and die for the people of Kamikaze!" Chapter 836 The Shogun [I] ? His aura has changed, and yet, he still retains that little form that is his first phase. Once we have destroyed a lot of his health bars, then the next phase will begin, a total of 3 phases. "Damn, be careful. Although he doesn''t look like it, he is much more dangerous than hisckeys. Definitely the challenge we are looking for," even Queen Tanya who wanted to rush forward immediately didn''t do so and waited for a good opportunity to strike. "What now? Are we just going to stare at each other, doing nothing?" the shogun chuckled. His voice seems to have gone a lot deeper than it used to be and it seems like it produces some sort of echo. He hurl a dark ball and I immediately recognized that one. "DODGE!" The two didn''t think twice and dodged away from it. I also dodge away from it, causing it to hit the nearby pir. The moment itnded on the pir, the pir didn''t explode to pieces or has been blown by smithereens. Instead, it melted like stic melting from the heat. "Holy sh*t... corrosive magic?! Tsk, this isn''t good," Queen Tori clicks her tongue the moment she realized the enemy has corrosive attacks. "Nice, it seems this f*cker is not just all talk after all," Queen Tanya grinned and immediatelyunched herself to fight and released a volley of punches. But all of those punches were immediately blocked by the shogun by matching up the speed of Queen Tanya''s punches and blocking all of them using his palm. All of Queen Tanya''s punches are not evennding at all, making her attacks close to useless. While the shogun is busy defending the punches of Queen Tanya, I snap my fingers and a streak of lightning appeared above the Shogun before it struck him causing him to fall over. However, it barely damaged him seeing he stood up immediately. Still, that is enough proof that he can still be attacked properly and not all attacks can be blocked by him. "BARD! PLAY IT!" The hooded bard nodded before she started blowing her flute. Although we couldn''t hear anything from the music that she is ying, it is easily seen that she is indeed ying some music as the flute is releasing a physical form of music notes, indicating she is currently using a bard spell. I am not too familiar with the Bard ss. I have seen them fight before but I barely have info on them. In thest timeline, the Bard ss is released alongside Hexer and Reaper sses but if youpare the usage of thetter twopared to the former, it is clear that many of those who want to change sses would rather pick either of thetter two and ignore the former. From what I heard, the big reason why there are so few Bard yers is due to the amount of offensive and better support sses. Existing yers are not that incited to also change ss as they have already ustomed to theirtest ystyle while those who decided to change ss, just choose the Hexer or the popr Reaper ss. Those who choose the Bard ss are either musicians, yers who want to hone their abilities in ying instruments and ying music, or those who have zero knowledge of music but wanted to learn. In short, they are a very rare sight back then. The bard right now continuously yed whatever music she was ying. Soon, I can feel the danger levels of the Shogun increase and the threat he bares from us is also increasing as well. It seems whatever the bard is ying right now, it must be a buffing song.I think you should take a look at I didn''t wait for the buff to take full effect and immediately tried to attack the bard by shooting the Pain Delivery in her direction. I was expecting her to immediately die or the Shogun blocks it but to my surprise, the bullet stopped midair. It didn''t manage tond on anything and it didn''tnd to the intended target. It just stopped midair, got crushed by some solid, invisible wall, and fell to the floor. "Damn, so she had some kind of barrier that prevents attacks from passing through huh? Very ssic," I shook my head before returning my focus to the Shogun. I swing my sword to the Shogun, intending to cut him down, but the shogun immediately blocked the sword with his hands. I immediately realized he just solidified his hand and made some sort of solid spike on his hands, making an alternative weapon simr fashion to a dagger. I have seen him use that and it was hard to deal with as it is as fast as a dagger swing but as strong as a greatsword in power. Queen Tanya and I tagged the team together andunch abined attack at him. Queen Tanya uses her [Dark Shadow] ability and attacked the Shogun while also releasing a punch I took his blind spot and attack him from behind which is sessful as he got wounded. "Nice, deheart!" Queen Tori cheered. "Don''t let your guard down, this guy has yet to show his very all! He is just toying with us! Keep attacking!" Queen Tanya continues her assault with thebination of both her punches and her magic spells of shadows while Queen Tori fired multiple talismans and used some shikigamis to fight back though most of what she released is immediately destroyed. As for me, I am taking advantage that he is barely able to get his attention to me as I phase in and phase out of the way while in battle, letting Queen Tanya take the most aggro on him while I do the damage. Soon enough, his body is now covered in wounds. Quite full of them and his upper kimono garb has been destroyed by my slices. Yet he still remained standing. "I see, I see. No wonder you all are arrogant in the battle. I can see that you all have promising talents in battle. Too bad, you decided to use that against me! Now, witness my power. The power that will break and destroy the very soul of the rebels. I am the Shogun, and my words are the absolute rule in this world!" Shadow form appeared and materialized around the Shogun, lifting him up into the air, and revealing the smog-like monster. The ceiling was destroyed and copsed. Queen Tanya enveloped us in [Kekkai], allowing us to evade the falling debris. The bard also managed to evade, with the help of whatever was stopping the bard from getting damaged, it manages to protect the musician pretty well. As for the Shogun, he is now fused together with the monster who is now towering thisrge tower, looking down on us, while we fight. The phase two has begun. Chapter 837 The Shogun [II] ? Phase two is very hard and troublesome. Since he became a smog monster, he is now big enough to hit all of us with one attack. The reason this phase is troublesome is not because he is pretty tough but because his gimmick is rted to his smog-like body. All physical attacks will miss even the physical skills that have an effect that can guarantee to hit the enemy and magic attacks have a 50 percent chance tond. Not as troublesome as it sounds right? But in reality, he is too troublesome to deal with as he will have total evade of all attacks. The 50 percent chance tond may be as well zero percent due to how low the chances odds of you actuallynding the attack very close to none. The real mechanic of dealing with this guy is to find its little core. It''s a tiny core blending in color with the dark smog body of the Shogun, hitting it is a literal challenge but not impossible. I even suspect that the reason some magic attacks managed to hurt this guy in the past timeline is that they identally hit the core during their attacks. Aside from that weakness, there is also the weakness of hitting the main body of the shogun who just floated up in the sky and is now the main brain of this body. It is not just a rmended approach as any attackers who will try to do that is just too vulnerable to attacks. Queen Tanya and Queen Tori immediately attacked without even waiting for me and tried to hit the smog body, only for Queen Tanya''s punches to notnd on anything and Queen Tori''s shikigamis and talismans have no effect on the smog body. "What the? My attacks all missed?!" Queen Tanya did not expect this and frowned. As for Queen Tori, she repeated the process once more but it never get any sess. It''s better if I know it in advance. I already have a n on how to tackle this guy but I have to ensure that he does indeed possess that weakness here in this world. After all, there must be some changes and my n might not work at all. Approaching the gaseous body of the Shogun, he raised his fist and m it down in our direction. The three of us dodge while the boss spreads gas all over the ce, making it hard to breathe. "Tch, cheap tricks!" Queen Tori produced a few of her talismans and immediately throws them to the ground, releasing a strong gust of wind blowing all over the ce. The poison smog immediately lifted and removed the smog that might poison us if inhaled for prolonged periods of time. Queen Tanya continued to randomly punch the smog body, even using her shadow hands but there are no changes. Either the attacks miss or the attacks just phase through the enemy. The enemy is not stationary either, he moves around and keeps himself dangerous for us. The bard on the other hand remained on keeping up the song and still retain the invincibility power since earlier. But the bard is not the main problem here, it''s the way of how to defeat him. I have released a few skills here and there to check anything that might be good to use and it took me a bit before I managed to find a way to deal with it. After the tests, I soon got a good way of dealing with the guy himself and taking advantage of it, before the Shogun can realize what we are doing. I pulled out a scroll that I have in my inventory and used a spell that I don''t have as this is a high-rank skill, [Hurricane]. "Queen Tanya, Queen Tori! Brace yourselves!" before ripping the scroll into two and activating the spell. The moment I tore it out, a giant magic circle appeared beneath the tower. It was a high-rank skill which is why the magic circle is big but the damage it can cause is quite destructive. I needed to cheese out the second phase so that we can proceed to the final phase as fast as we can, we don''t have all day to deal with the Shogun''s smog body after all. The magic circles rotated so fast and soon, they spring out strong winds very strong that they even released tornadoes as well. Naturally, the smog body of the shogun has been dispersed away, revealing the core of its body, exposed to everyone. "Queen Tanya, Queen Tori, attack that core!" When attacking the core, all of the things I describe as the smog body of the Shogun will not apply to the core and will receive a hundred percent hit rate attacks on both physical and magic attacks, allowing the previous monster body that cannot be attacked to be vulnerable on attacks once more. The shogun noticed this and tried to allocate the smog around him to the core but the [Hurricane] is just making things harder for him to distribute the smog at all. Queen Tanya didn''t hold back and repeatedly released her punches. I didn''t go up to the core as I might be also punched by Queen Tanya but instead, I changed the Versatile Weapon and started firing at the core while Queen Tanya is repositioning herself as she released a volley of attacks.I think you should take a look at Queen Tori is releasing a few talismans that seem to be for the weakening process of the boss. The boss isn''t liking this idea and started to rampage in hopes that he might crush us but every time he tries to fight us, the hurricane just blows off his body, causing him to have difficulties in even making a decent move using his smog body. We might not be seeing the HP but the core''s look is looking bad right now as we continue to batter it up withplete force. We didn''t hold back and we continue to release our powers into the core. The core started to create some cracks. Little by little, those cracks increased, and as Queen Tanya continuously attack the core, the cracks continued to show up and even some bullet holes from the gunshot starts to show up on the core as well. We continue to attack the core continuously but we are soon stopped when the [Hurricane]''s duration ended and the boss has recovered most of the smog and started rebuilding his body, immediately hiding off his core. "Gah! I didn''t get to destroy it!" Queen Tanya grumbled. "The smog ising back together once more." I didn''t hesitate and pulled out another [Hurricane] scroll but this is thest scroll I have with the [Hurricane] spell as the engraved spell. "Listen, we needed to defeat this smog body of his but to do that, we needed to remove the smog body and expose that core we are attacking. I still have that spell I was using earlier but I am down to thest scroll. We needed to do this as fast as possible." The two nodded and I positioned myself again before tearing the scroll apart and releasing another [Hurricane] once more. The wind blows hard and the smog body is once again blown away, releasing the core back to its exposure. "Let''s deal with this shall we?" And so, I pull out the Pain Delivery gun and pointed the gun form of the Versatile weapons aiming at the core. There''s no need for me to wait for the shogun to recover. I fired off the two guns and repeated it, causing the core to slowly continue to reveal cracks. It didn''t take long and the core''s slowly degrading status disappeared as it breaks to pieces the moment a few bullets from the Pain Delivery and Versatile Weapon has been released. "URGGGGGHHHHHHAAAAAAAA!" The shogun''s smog body slowly dissolved mid-air and the towering smog giant disappeared. The [Hurricane] also stopped, leaving the boss slowly descending in the sky. Queen Tanya couldn''t wait for him to slowly descend and fly up in the air before she released a good punch in the gut. "DORRRYAAAAAAA!" BOOM! I can hear the surrounding area release a booming sound the moment Queen Tanya punched the guy. It was strong enough to cause the slow descend to a quick descent,nding face down to the tower''s floor, creating a small crater from the impact of the battle. "Sis! Get away from him. It seems he still has some tricks up on his sleeve, his power seems to have not gone down. He is still getting stronger as we speak!" Queen Tanya might not understand that and wanted to beat up the guy but decided to stop as she also noticed something odd. The shogun stood up from where hended and is releasing a blood lust. His body is leaking a ck liquid instead of blood and his scent changed. He is now in Phase three. Chapter 838 The Shogun [III] ? It''s quite a miracle that we managed to reach the third phase without much of a hasslepared to the past timeline even though back then, we have the numbers to deal with him. The difference is huge since it was considered as a boss raid back then but now, only three of us are present and two of mypanions in battle are not even yers but the local inhabitants of this world. Perhaps the main reason for the quick depletion of his health that forced him to go to the third phase immediately was the main reason. My attacks hit hard, the Pain Delivery and the Versatile Weapon are dealing big damage very fast already. Queen Tanya is a very strong DPS and although I have no idea how much damage she does using her fists if the total serious mode of Queen Tanya is getting rid of her scythe and just pummeling through her enemies using her bare hands, then perhaps it must be much stronger than the scythe. Kind of something like a Fighter ss would be capable of. Queen Tori is also using mystic arts spells, which is abination of both Offensive skills and DoT effects due to her debuff stacking like bleed and poison on her talismans. With us three attacking together, it''s not a wonder it allowed us to skip the annoying fight and went straight to the straightforward but the hardest part of the boss fight. He is now in front of us. His garb before is tattered and torn, but he still contains the strong power back when he fused with the smog-like body earlier. His power is getting stronger as well, and even Queen Tanya and Queen Tori who are usually unfazed by the change of aura can feel it. "Looks like he is done ying house with us. It seems he will go all out now," Queen Tori wiped off the sweat on her brows as she readies her talismans. "Heh, looks like I will not be disappointed in this fight then!" Queen Tanya is pumped up. I remained quiet and observed the enemy. He is doing a bit differentpared to what I remember but he still retained what ferocity he had back then. However, that changed when he started grasping his head like he is having a headache and the bard behind him started to y aggressively, as the physical notesing out from the flute are no longer ck normal flying notes but red, ragged, and big notes, showing that the music might be something very dangerous enough. We are still wary of the shogun as he started screaming and clutches his head hard enough that his nails dug through his skin and he started bleeding. His screams are harrowingbined with the abnormal-sounding voice that seems to be like he was possessed by something(which is true since he possessed the parasite). The more he screams, the stronger the bloodlust he is releasing. I have seen stronger bloodlust from the other enemies but this is still quite a lot of bloodlust, to be honest. It didn''t take too long before he started to bulk up or should I say expand since he is not trying to show off his muscles. His body is just growing in size. I thought he would transform into a giant monster again which would derail me from what I should have known but I am grateful that he just grow in size around the same size he was in the other timeline. He is hulking and his blood vessels are close to bursting from his skin, and his stomach seems to be having a wild rave party as it is currently moving like something is trying to get out of there, just like the tentacle I saw on some NSFW animations with tentacles, looking very disgusting. I didn''t notice that detail before because we are busy healing up back then during the time we reach this phase but now that I get to see and observe it, it''s pretty disgusting minus the squelching sounds. "ARGGHHHHHH!" He screamed like he was from the depths of hell and even that underestimates how strong the power of his scream is just now. "Damn, howe he is getting fiercer as time goes by?" Queen Tori frowned.I think you should take a look at Queen Tanya is impatient enough. She seemed to cannot wait long enough before the shogun is done with his transformation. She jumped right through the shogun and used her [Shadow Arm] attack to interrupt the transformation sequence but what happened next made me ready my weapon immediately. The attack that Queen Tanya used immediately shot through the Shogun but he didn''t dodge it, instead, he grab the [Shadow Arm] and forcefully break it. Queen Tanya who is still using the spell felt a sharp pain in her head and grits her teeth. It seems the act of destroying an ongoing spell caused some damage to her. She even puked a bit of blood. I didn''t waste my time and headed to Queen Tanya and grabbed her away from the Shogun and moved away from him for a bit. I then cast a [Healing Ray] to also potentially cure any kind of debuffs present on her while her health is also healed up. "Thanks, deheart. I think I underestimated the man," Queen Tanya wiped off the blood on her mouth and stood up once again. I changed my Versatile Weapon back into its gun form and started to shoot the shogun but all of my bullets were immediately blocked and crushed by the shogun who is still screaming in pain and his transformation is slowly showing his inhuman form. His back has grown some tubr membranes that seem to circte some liquid that I don''t know due to its green color. His head also starts to deform and he had some kind of horn growing on his forehead as well but not the same as those demonic kind of horn that has pointy tips, his looks like it was cut off from the very beginning as the tip was t. His face also slowly sank inside his face and I don''t know how that works but it did and soon, his face is gone and his head is now faceless with the only biggest distinction of his head being the chopped horn present on his forehead. Then, his mouth area suddenly splits open and soon revealed a new mouth. A mouth full of razor-sharp teeth that is very simr to how a shark does but the difference is that his whole mouth is full of those razor-sharp teeth. His tongue also extended in length, and now, looks like a monstrosity usually found in dungeons. However, this is a different lookpared to the past timeline. Back then, his body has turned ck like he was bathing in some kind of oil. His body is much more nightmarish than this one as this form of his still retains his human body form, just a little bit bigger and much more buff. From the looks of it, the parasite that is inside his body has yet to fully merge into the Shogun''s body due to how fast we have arrived. It isn''t that long before the Shogun has been holding the parasite so it makes sense that he still has this body that has yet to sumb fully to the enemy. The problem is that he is no longer possible to be saved. Since the Shogun has already reached the point where he can merge forms with the parasite, that only means the parasite has already won and the real shogun is gone. The new monster''s abomination roared and charges at us like a big tank. He is fast and big, making us immediately evade him while he was still far. Queen Tori immediately tried to stop the movements of the shogun but her talismans were immediately ripped to shreds before they can activate properly. Queen Tanya is also distancing herself from the guy while hurling [Shadow Ball] to the new shogun, but I don''t think it does anything to the guy. We started to run around and evade his attacks. I even used the Pain Delivery to him but he just crushed the bullet like nothing and I think I finally found the first enemy who is not vulnerable to the bullets of the Pain Delivery. His tongue suddenly extended then turned to some kind of a whip and tried to grab anyone of us. The other two were farther from the shogun and based on the distance, I am the nearest one as I am not keeping my distance from him. I am trying to find an opportunity to melee attack him without getting attacked. He hits hard and he can easily unleash abo that can easily kill me in the process. The tongue shoots itself in my direction. I didn''t dodge and instead faces it head-on and blocked it using the Versatile Weapon sword form. The tongue wrapped itself on the de, pretty confident that his tongue will not be ripped. Unfortunately, he underestimated the Versatile Weapon. After all, one big eater is currently lying still and waiting inside the de. Chapter 839 The Shogun [IV] ? The transformed Shogun''s tongue is challenging and troublesome. It can bind yers and slowly corrode their defenses and reduce the durability of their equipped armors as well. If in case the weapon got caught instead of the yer''s body, the same will happen except the power of the current weapon wrapped from the tongue will slowly diminish while the durability also reduces every second. My Versatile Weapon is currently wrapped by the Shogun''s Tongue. Sticky and wet, it is getting disgusting as time goes on. But there were no changes to it. It''s not getting worn down and it''s not even showing signs that its attack is decreasing. I also noticed that the wetness caused by the Shogun''s tongue is slowly drying, though it''s not that apparent due to how it is still receiving more saliva. I am keeping my grip on my weapon and tugged the tongue of the Shogun a few times while he also did the same thing, trying to disarm me. This is troublesome so I decided to have the Shadow Dragon deal with the tongue/ "[DEVOUR] the tongue!" The Shadow dragon is more than happy to do that and immediately appeared as it wraps up on the tongue, before cutting it short. "ARGH!" the shogun flinches as his tongue was severed. He saw his remaining tongue get devoured by the Shadow Dragon before he can even recover it. Still, in shock from that, Queen Tanya and Queen Tori took advantage of that and simultaneously catch the Shogun off guard. Queen Tori used a talisman seal, sealing all of his movements, while Queen Tanya reinforced that seal with her [Shadow Hands] before she unleashed her fury. "You know? You are a huge pain in the ass, but since you are now bound, then let me have a taste of how punchable your face is!" Then, a series of strong punches that every punch sends a shockwave into the air. I know Queen Tanya''s punches are lethal if it was done to a human or any weak monsters but does it work well against this guy? Queen Tanya continues pummeling the Shogun a few times but when she noticed that the seal and the shadow hands are disappearing, Queen Tanya didn''t bother to overstay pinning the Shogun and retreated. I took advantage that the Shogun is still down and changed my Versatile Weapon into a bow and arrow and fired a [Legshot] skill to cripple the guy and slow his movements. That way, his footwork will be slower than usual. It might be still fast after this, but it will definitely have a small impact and a small impact is enough to turn the tides against a speedy bastard. He stood up immediately after I fired off the [Legshot] and thankfully, it was sessful and it didn''t miss. I just don''t know whether it will be a big effect or not but even a small one would help. The Shogun started running to attack us. Without its long tongue, the only way for the Shogun to do some lethal attacks is by pummeling us with his huge arms and perhaps some other skills that I might not know of. And one thing that happened to the Shogun is that he almost tripped over and almost fell to the floor. His foot movement is also slower and he is now possible to be evaded immediately even for slow yers. His speed is now standard. Queen Tori pulled out a talisman. "Summoning, Creatures of Myths Vol. 1, [Ubagabi]!" A new skill that I don''t know of? She sends it up in the air and shot a mana st to the talisman, burning it up. But the moment the mes appeared to the talisman, the [Ubagabi] that Queen Tori summoned manifested from the mes. Arge face of an old woman appeared within and stopped the Shogun from attacking. The old woman''s face immediately blow a breath of fire like a dragon, but simr to a methrower, and fired it at the Shogun, slowly burning up the guy. "This might be your first time seeing my sister use something else other than summoning a yokai right?" "But that looks like a Yokai..." "Although it looks like one, it''s actually not a real yokai and is one of the creatures from the myths collections. My sis collects them and manifests them as if they are real to aid her inbat. Ubagami is just one of them." "Then, isn''t this strong?" "Although it''s an effective skill, my sister rarely uses this skill due to how time-consuming the making of the talisman is and the materials needed to make one is just troublesome to get therefore, she limits her usage to one and only use the talisman if necessary. The shogun backs off as the mes prevent the shogun from moving. It tries to evade the Ubagami but the Ubagami gives chase. "Don''t let that man get away, Ubagami!" The Ubagami followed the Shogun and started firing mes at the Shogun. We thought it was trying to run away but in reality...I think you should take a look at BOOM! The shogun was running away to make momentum and use it to his advantage to strike the Ubagami that is chasing him. In one moment, the shogun used the wall nearby to flip and blindside the Ubagami and he immediately grab that chance to punch it hard so that the Ubagami exploded to pieces. However, while in midair, I found a perfect time that I shouldn''t miss. I dash in the direction of the Ubagami and activated [Myriad sh] before hends on the ground. With [Myriad sh] fast enough, I doubt the Shogun is fast enough to deal with the series of shes done in a different manner. And as expected, the Shogun wasn''t expecting that as he thought we will continue the attacks onnd. He didn''t think I can go ahead and strike him with the [Myriad sh] which also affects flying or just airborne enemies as long as they are considered targets. Due to the severe cuts from the [Myriad sh], the Shogun wasn''t able tond properly and fell to the floor. I took advantage of that again by changing my Versatile Weapon once more into a cannon. The shogun realized the danger of the cannon and decided to retreat for a bit in a distance but because of one trick that I learned, I took that as a way to get a lot closer to the Shogun. BANG! The cannon released a cannonball to the floor, ejecting me and the cannon in the direction, opposite to where the cannonball was shot. Because of that recoil, the distance was immediately closed very quickly. And as a quick thinker, I immediately changed my Versatile Weapon''s form again and this time, it''s a cannon. Landing on the floor with a slide, I took a little bit of force from thending to charge up a bit of my strike and... "Your Majesty Tanya! Catch!" A swing sent the Shogun''s body straight to Queen Tanya. "Thanks for the pass deheart!" Queen Tanya closed her fists, before she throws a punch, straight to the iing Shogun, straight to the guts. CRACK! I heard a loud crack as the body of the Shogunnds on Queen Tanya''s fist. I don''t know how strong the impact was but if there was something that cracked, only one thing would crack from his current body, and that is his bones. The shogun pukes blood and started to convulse on the floor as he started puking blood on his mouth. "GAME OVER." Queen Tanya then delivers the final punch and the shogun suddenly pukes out a ck organism that looks like a slug slime. We were still wondering what it was when the Shadow Dragon whom I thought was not doing much suddenly appeared and ck spikes pierces through the ck slug slime. It was moving before it was stabbed but the moment the ck spikes pierces it, the slug slime died. Like a kid that has found a treat on the refrigerator left by their mother or father, the Shadow Dragon didn''t waste its time and devoured the creature. Chomp on it like it was food, and returned to the Versatile Weapon just like that. Queen Tori went to the motionless body of the shogun and checked his pulse for a bit but after a few times of doing so, she sighed and shook his head. "From the looks of it, we are toote, this guy has died. We have seeded in the battle against the shogun." The shogun is finally defeated. It was much easier this time around due to the ck creature having yet to fully blend into its host and control the whole body. If it managed to merge, then this battle would take a lot longer and everyone might potentially die. As we are contemting our victory, someone started pping. That''s when we remembered, the Bard. Although I didn''t forget about her presence, we are mostly focusing on the Shogun and we barely see any chances to keep an eye on her. She didn''t die during the battle due to the barrier but now that the Shogun is dead, the bard also stopped making music. "Impressive, adventurers," then the bard removes her hoodie and revealed herself. And as I expected, the wife of the Shogun is here." Chapter 840 The Bard ? In the past timeline, after we defeated the shogun, she became the next ruler of the Kamikaze Continent. Due to the shogun''s previous actions of killing the potential rulers that might usurp his ruling, Kamikaze Continent ended up losing all the people who are in the knows of the ruling. And since the only one who was left behind who knows much of the situation and ultimately the key factor to the shogun''s ultimate defeat was his wife, the decision was entirely decided after that. But right now, things have changed and I didn''t even manage to do what I nned to do. The things I have cooked might not be wasted but I made a lot of it just so I can persuade her to join the faction of the rebelster only to see this twist of a development. Did I perhaps screw up the storyline in the past? NO. As far as I know, nothing should have changed except for the total plot of the situation here which was the overall power of the shogun and his army and the destruction of the various ns has yet to happen as well though they are currently being done right now, they are not yet fully gone in the first ce, meaning, the shogun''s wife''s role shouldn''t have changed this much. However, there is one thing that I can think of that might be the reason why it turned out like this. Thest timeline''s Shogun''s Wife manipted us all. Since many years have passed since the Shogun''s possession happened, it''s kinda odd that the only one who is not being controlled is the shogun''s wife. Aside from the fact that she is a bard, she doesn''t have much use for the rule of the shogun. And even if we use the reason that she was spared because the shogun still thinks she is his precious wife, it''s not a good reason either due to the fact that the shogun has disappeared from his body and has been taken over by the parasite. Also, all of the retainers, maids, and even the servants of the pce have been controlled as well. So, why is the wife still herself? There is no way she will be spared...unless she was behind it from the very beginning. She manipted everything and during the past timeline, it all came to fruition after the rebellion force attacked. The main reason she decided to join the rebellion is to ensure she remains alive after the battle and she will not be shown as the main reason for all of this. She deceived everyone and with her "efforts" of intel to the rebels, and without any rivals after the war, she basically ends up ruling the Kamikaze Continent as a whole, basically conquering it without much effort. How cunning indeed. But since things have not worked so well in this timeline and the execution of the Shogun is much earlier than expected, the n was a failure. Since the rebel army has yet to be formed and the union of the shogun and the parasite did not bloom further, and yet someone who can stop the effects of her abilities appeared, she feared the rebellion group has already been formed in Soyokaze City which made it harder for her to follow her original n. Her n was good, if not for our arrival. If we didn''t arrive much earlier than she expected, then she might have a chance and the situation in the past timeline might have urred again. But because it changed, she also have to change tactics to ensure that things follow her n. This is why the attack from Soyokaze City happened. To dispose of the early transgressors that will mess up the n entirely. And she failed. Now, we are here standing in front of her. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Queen Tanya readies her fists. "Who am I? I see... so the rebels that managed to free some soldiers from my control are outsiders. No wonder the n failed. But I guess there is no need to keep up any kind of facade here any longer. I am Suzune Uramuto, the wife of the shogun and the great bard of the Kamikaze Continent." "W-Wife? So that means..." "Yes. The one you all just killed is my husband indeed." "What?! Did you make your husband like this? I can''t believe his wife will even use him for this and make him a monster!" Queen Tori grit her teeth in anger. "Hehehe, oh, he was a good tool for a short time. He managed to do some things that I needed him to do. But in the end, time was not on my side and you three ruined all of my ns. If you all have arrived muchter... or perhaps you all have just left after the deal of what you all are doing here after, then perhaps my n had seeded. But s, you little sh*ts are making my n worse!" She held up her flute again, ready to y music once and for all. "From the looks of it, we are not yet done with the battle, huh?" Queen Tanya readies herself. "Hah, so the Shogun was not the final enemy but this woman? I am tired of this... I would rather deal with the beasts in the frozen region than keep on track with this crap..." Queen Tori muttered with a tired voice. "I will make sure to let you all taste the pain that everyone experienced. Listen to my music and let the music flow through you!" She started ying her flute. The notes started to appear on her flute and this time, in an attempt to corrupt us.I think you should take a look at However... "deheart, why are we just standing here? We should just go and kick her *ss." "I can''t believe this but I agree with my sister, this time deheart. The sooner she is gone, the better!" I didn''t expect that Queen Tori who doesn''t like how much Queen Tanya likes violence agreed to her once. Suzune, the bard who is currently ying her flute frowned when she saw us remain fine. She stopped ying her flute when she saw us still talking. She is still pissed. "I am quite sure I yed the notes correctly and I am sure that I am making it loud as much as possible...and yet, you three are not affected?! No wonder you all didn''t suffer any after-effects from my songs, you all are not even affected!" I can see in Queen Tanya and Queen Tori''s faces that they really want to say that they can''t even hear a single note from her music and mock her for it but keep themselves quiet. Still, as I said during the making of the earbuds, bards are useless if the listener can''t hear anything. With the specialty in using music to capture the hearts of the people, the bard is also capable of maniption which is why, Bards are pretty strong in terms of debuffs and creating buffs, plus they also have curses on their skills that make them more dangerous, so when your sense of hearing is blocked or even rendered useless, a bard is nothing but a voiceless fool who can''t do anything. Queen Tanya didn''t care much now what Suzune was talking about. She disappeared right behind Suzune like she just used a blink and hit her with an elbow blow on her back before Queen Tanya followed it up with a sweep kick. "GAH!" She was stunned and in pain, after Queen Tanya dealt with her while the flute she was using rolled to the ground. We were not yet able to do anything but the Versatile Weapon started reacting on the flute. "Huh?" I didn''t understand it at first but as soon as the flute rolled beneath my feet, the Versatile Weapon seems to vibrate a lot. That''s when it urred to me. After it has drank a few bits of the Pendragon''s blood and has eaten a lot of the Seven Deadly Sins Weapons, it gained the ability to sense the other weapons nearby. Does that mean, this flute is one of them? "Let me go! Give back my flute! Give it back to me!" Suzune tried her best to scamper away and get the flute back but Queen Tanya pinned her downpletely, stopping her advance to the flute. "No chance woman. Because I don''t know what will happen to you if you do approach it now." "Let me go!" Perhaps Queen Tanya''s grip was not strong enough, but she managed to free herself and she dive right into the flute. Her face was full of delight when she got it back and raised her hands. "I got it back!" But... GWARK! Her hands disappear in a sh the moment the fangs of the shadow dragon snapped shut. Both her hands and the flute are now devoured by the Shadow Dragon in split seconds. Chapter 841 Rebuild The Land ? The Shadow Dragon''s greediness exceeded what I can fathom as it swallowed the flute alongside the hands of Suzune that was currently holding the flute tightly. When the Shadow Dragon snapped shut its big mouth, the hands were among the swallowed items by the dragon, causing Suzune to lose her hands in the process. "AGGGGHHHH! MY HANDS! MY HANDS!" Suzune cried as she stares at her arm with blood spraying all over after her hands were devoured. She went into a frenzy as she continues to scream and shout all over the ce with her hands still spraying blood all over. "deheart, what should we do?" Queen Tanya is not sure what to do next seeing the situation. "W-we needed to stop her from getting more violent than this!" Queen Tori heard that and she tried to use [Kekkai] to contain her in a single ce. However, the moment the [Kekkai] contained her, she easily break the [Kekkai] like it was nothing. She didn''t even use any abilities, just pure rage and frenzy. Queen Tanya tried to grab her but she just easily removed her and sent Queen Tanya flying only to be stopped by the nearby pir. She continues to go into a frenzy until she reaches the edge of the room we are in. Due to the smog-like body transformation of the Shogun earlier, the edges of the building are gone, not able to stop anyone who strays to the edge. When I saw her about to fall, I immediately used my Versatile Weapon''s Hook and Chain form, to save her from falling... but I failed. The hook arrived toote to her and she fell. The three of us rushes to the edge and saw her plummeting to her death. Only a few secondster and she fell to the ground and a huge st of blood with her body in the middle ended all of the problems in the Kamikaze Continent. We still don''t know why she went into a frenzy but I can guess it a bit. Without her flute, thest bit of her mind that holds her sanity has copsed and without it, she went insane. Just like most of the human owners of the weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins Series, they all went crazy. Still, without anyone left to defeat, we can finally dere that we won and the tyrannical end of the Shogun''s Parasite rule hase to an abrupt end. ... ... ... ... Compared to thest continents, we are not hailed as heroes here. Instead, we are basically being condemned by the people of the capital due to the tragedy that urred that caused the Shogun''s army to unleash their destructive attack that soon involved the countless deaths of the citizens. Still, the remaining ns appreciate us for finishing up the rule of the Shogun and revealing the truth. Still, due to the stigma of the people, they didn''t reward us with any titles of heroism as this will create a huge bacsh to the families who have lost a lot during the battle. The other vige and cities of the Kamikaze City who was not involved in the direct confrontation, are happy that someone has ended the rule of the Shogun and freed them from his rule. And although they can sympathize with the families who lost their families in the battle, they still can''t say that we are at fault as the one who ultimately attacked and killed them were the shogun''s army and his weapons and we are just there as the target. The ns who became the temporary rulers of the continent until they can find a recement for thest shogun were the ones who decided to continue our activities. However, we didn''t get to scot away free from all the happenings, after all, if we didn''t attack then the situation wouldn''t have happened as well. Thankfully, due to our contributions and the way we removed the Shogun''s threat, they decided to make it a light punishment for us so that the people would at least agree.I think you should take a look at Our punishment was to help rebuild what was lost in the capital and help it stand back up to its feet until it was good to go. Thankfully, Queen Tori and Queen Tanya were rulers who knows what they had to do to resolve this and easily dealt with it. Instead of spending a long time to do the punishment, we ended up finishing the punishment in 5 days. After that, we decided to return to Soyokaze City. Since the Teleport circle was not used at all, we decided to use it immediately return, and there, we are weed back by the people of Soyokaze City who thanked us for our contributions. They didn''t me us for the situation and they understand that we did our best. They can sympathize with us that even though we are outsiders, we ended up resolving the problems of the continent in one go. Oh, and for the Wind Artifact, we also repaired it back. However, the ns decided that the wind barrier that is blocking anything and anyone from entering the continent is no longer necessary. Keeping a closed custom was abolished and they decided to open up their doors to the outside world, allowing any of the people outside toe into the continent. As for the soldiers, they eventually returned to their senses. The ice melted after I asked Yuki-Onna to revert the freeze power she did to keep them intact. It was a miracle that they managed to stay alive until then. However, one thing has changed. Those who have survived and gained an abnormality part in their body were no longer able to revert back to their original form. As for those who transformed into full monsters, they managed to revert back to their human form but they retained a few parts of their bodies of what they were once as a monster. Even Saya returned as a human once more but her one arm and her forehead still had some of the signs of when she was a Jorogumo. As for the soldiers who died, they were sent to their families and due to the circumstances, the families left can only cry seeing their loved ones dead after the situation. And so, the situation and the problem of the Kamikaze Continent came to a close. After saying goodbye to the people of Soyokaze City, we board the Argo once more to return to the continent that we came from. The two went to their rooms and started resting. From the looks of it, both are exhausted from all of the stuff we have done for the whole week. It''s troublesome and annoying and we are even branded by some people as the cause of the catastrophe. However, if not for our efforts, the number of bodies littered all over the Kamikaze Continent might be much more than the current body count. I sat down on the side of the bed and pulled out the Versatile Weapon because I was too busy with all the stuff that happened and during the night, I am too exhausted to do anything but sleep, I didn''t get a chance to even look at what is the flute''s associated sin is. So far, I got three out of the seven sins which were Greed, Gluttony, and Pride. This is the fourth weapon I have gotten and I don''t know what it was until now. It takes a long time before the weapon is digested so I can still see what it was in the status screen. --------------- [Digesting the Flute of Acedia, The Weapon of Sloth] Time Remaining: 15 days left ------------------------ The Weapon of Sloth. A weapon I didn''t see in thest timeline. To think it was a flute. But I can see how this would be associated with the Sloth sin. This flute is capable of inducing various debuffs and even can control others using its melody. My guess is that it is used by someone of high power to control his vassals and used it to bezy, leaving all the work to the people. This resulted in bad management and it didn''t take too long for the people to form a rebellion, or perhaps someone waged war, and they lost. As a result, the ruler died, leaving the flute to take the power of the sin of sloth. It''s a self-destructive weapon and without proper control, this can be dangerous. With the Weapon of Sloth devoured, the only weapons left are the Envy, Wrath, and Lust. But still, who would have thought I would be collecting the weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins series? I intended to just find some of them and sell them, but it ended up like this. Still, I doubt this is just a fluke. Perhaps this is indeed my destiny to collect all of them. But who cares about that, for now, I think I deserved my long-time rest. Chapter 842 Epilogue Of Arc 10 ? While the Argo is still traveling, I decided to log out since it''s been a while since I logged out and returned to the real world. I am not worried about the others as they treat this as a vacation to Nagoya and with my parents as the guide, they would enjoy the sceneries and whatever stuff happening much easier. Returning to the real world, he realized that it is currently raining outside, which means everyone are back home and didn''t travel for today. Checking his phone, he saw a few missed calls from someone. Checking it revealed that the one who is calling him is Janus. There are no messages from him and only a few missed calls so I am not sure what is going on. I dialed back Janus''s number but... "The number you have dialed cannot be reached. Please try againter." This made me confused. Although the call was around 7 hours ago, I doubt he won''t pick up his call and answer. After all, Janus always keeps the phone in his pocket. And I don''t think he is going anywhere that will render the signal on his phone useless. I dialed it once more but it just didn''t get connected at all so after trying and trying, I gave up and decided to check on the others. As I went down the stairs, I only saw the others currently ying in the console they brought with them. It seems they are having fun ying console games while raining. To my surprise, even the elves are engaging in the game and I didn''t expect them to y games right now. Perhaps everything is done? "Oh, hey there, Manato. Looks like you are finally done with what you are doing huh?" Riko was the first to notice me going down the staircase. Currently, she is watching the game while eating chips with Rika. "Come here, Manato! These guys are pretty good at the game, I can''t believe they just started learning it!" Rika was excited as she points out the television where the game was currently showing. They are currently ying Tekk*n. "KO!" I heard the announcer in the game dere the end of the match and Alena sulked as she lost the game while Labo grinned with pride after the defeat of her wife. Then, Alena cracked her knuckles and grab the controller once more before leaning a bit with fire in her eyes. "One more round." I sat down to the vacant spot on the sofa and grab one pack of chips lying on the table and opened it up. "You guys didn''t go into the Alternate World?" "Nah, we are a bit tired from all the vacations we have done and we just wanted to rx for a bit instead of going there. Besides, we have decided to postpone it until we are actually there," Riko answered while chewing the chips she had just eaten. "Is that so? Where''s Mom and Dad?" I asked. "Ah, they told us that they would be backter as they needed to prepare some stuff before we leave. You know, the "n"? They needed to take care of the business to keep on running while they are gone for a while, they said and I think they might use the excuse of "getting a vacation with my wife" to get away from that," Riko exined. That''s good enough. That way, once we return, they can continue their job forter. We don''t know how long we will be going to remain in Alternate World but I can easily assume that it will take a long time, perhaps a few years even. "By the way, did Janus call you guys?" I asked. I needed to know whether he contacted them and learn why he tried to make some calls. He knows everyone''s contact info so there is a possibility he contacted them. "Janus? Nope. My phone has been silent since this morning. I check it multiple times and I didn''t receive any," Riko frowned as she pulled out her phone from her pocket and revealed that she didn''t have any calls since earlier. "I didn''t receive any messages from him either, nor a call present as well. Here, take a look at my phone and check," Rika handed me her phone and like she just said, there are no signs that Janus has called. "What''s the problem? Why you suddenly asked that all of a sudden?" Riko asked. "Well, when I returned to the real world, I checked my phone and received dozens of calls from him a few hours ago. I tried calling him on the phone but he cannot be contacted at all," I exined. "Did you call the siblings? They are still at home so they might know whether Janus returned home." Rika suggested. "Ah, good idea," I nodded before dialing the number of Akira. A few ringster, the other line picked up. "Hello? Big bro?" Akira''s voice registered in my ears. "Ah, is this you, Akira? How are you guys there? Is everything alright?" "No worries, Big bro. Everything is fine and dandy here. Are you still noting back just yet?" he asked. "Soon enough but not yet today. But anyway, we have a different question this time."I think you should take a look at "A question? Sure go ahead and ask away," Akira listened. "Did Janus go back there already?" "Big brother Janus? Oh, he came backst night but he was not here today. He left early in the morning and seems to be in a rush. I was even not sure why he looked like he was on the edge. I wanted to ask but he was always busy and so I didn''t get to know the reason." "I see. Then, call me if hees back, yeah? Tell him it was me calling." "Okay, sure." "Be careful while we are still here, alright? We will be back soon." "Okay!" After that, the call ended. "So, is he there?" Riko asked. "Nope. Akira said he left early in the morning. He was therest night." "It''s getting weird, don''t you think so, Manato? He is barely home nowadays and I don''t think that he needed so much overtime in his work. I don''t know what is happening but he didn''t say anything," Rikoined. "You also noticed that, Riko? He started acting strange so I don''t even know what is happening either. He was acting suspiciously and yet I don''t have an inkling either on what he is doing," Rika agreed. "Let me try calling him. Perhaps he will talk? Isn''t he the only one we have yet told the n, right?" "Yeah. With him always out of the house and barely in the Alternate World, I don''t have chances to even talk properly with him nowadays," I answered. Riko dialed his number. Just like the result on mine, the call didn''t connect. Riko continued dialing in case one of those calls connects. But nothing has connected just yet and all ended up without any connection. After a few more tries, she stopped doing it after failing. "I don''t understand. Is he just in a ce where the signal cannot reach him? Or did he turn off his phone? He didn''t even contact or talk to us at all which makes this even weirder. Janus is quite a talkative person and whenever he has problems, he never hides it from us and we are the first people to even know," Riko shook her head and rubbed her temple. "There must be something currently happening to Janus. There is no way he is just like this without any reason. Also, I think he is just hiding his problems from you guys because he didn''t want to trouble the two of you or any of us," Rika tried to calm Riko down. "No way. Friends help each other and making secrets like this just makes us doubt him further." "But there''s nothing we can do. We don''t know where he is right now and his phone cannot be contacted. The only thing we can do is wait. Akira has already informed us that if Januses back while we have yet returned, he will be calling us and let us talk to him. We shouldn''t stress ourselves too much. Who knows, maybe we don''t need to be this sensitive," I suggested. "Manato is right, Riko. Just making a fuss over it will just be troublesome for us. We should be focusing on what to do next." As we continue to discuss, Rennata approached us. "Are you guys done discussing stuff now?" she asked. "Oh, please speak. What''s going on?" I looked at her and she smiled. "I was meant to talk to this the moment you came down to the stairs but because I was busy watching the game, I got distracted. Anyways, I can proudly say that we havepleted the task now. We will now be able to perform our n." I was surprised but also excited. Looks like it''s time. "We should start preparing then." End of Arc 10 Chapter 843 Prologue Of Arc 11 ? Beep...beep...beep The sound of the heart monitor is the only sound that echoes inside the room, connected to an unconscious little girl lying still on a hospital bed. Across the bed is Janus, watching over this little girl. The little girl is Janus''s little sister. Although she lives in America, she and Janus''s family went on a vacation in Japan to check out tourist spots and to also check on Janus as well. But fun times were short-lived when his little sister, Jane suddenly suffers her long-time illness that has yet to worsen. Jane has epilepsy and she has been suffering this for a long time. But she hasn''t had a seizure for a long time until now, that is. They were thankful that Jane didn''t suffer a worse condition but she still fell into aa shortly after her seizure. This is the main reason Janus has barely been ying Alternate World nowadays and is barely at home due to how he has to watch over his sister. He even has to quit his job at the convenience store in the meantime to dedicate his time to watching over his sister whom he treasures. The seizure that happened to her system was almost fatal but a miracle that she managed to survive without suffering long-term injuries. The only bad thing that happened after her seizure is that she fell into a deep sleep, which ording to her doctors might be the result of her sudden seizures acting up after being dormant for a long time. Janus''s parents decided that they will stay in Japan for now until Jane recovers from her illness and Janus is happy that his family is near and he can visit them anytime. But he doesn''t like the circumstances that made them stay. Although Janus lives a frugal life in Japan, his family is quite rich and they own their mansion here in Japan and some businesses as well. The reason Janus is not living like a king in Japan is that he decides to learn how to be independent and manage himself without the help of his parents'' wealth which was approved by his parents. Still, even though he was trying to live an independent life, his parents still sends money to him monthly, just to help him even for a little bit. However, right now, Janus has to stop working as he needed to watch over his sister. His parents are busy with work and can onlye during the evening after they are done with their work while his big sister is currently away abroad and busy with her studies. Although there is a maid that helps out, having a real guardian helps a lot better for her sister and that''s why Janus is doing this. After the nurse finished checking her vitals and her current condition, Janus has no other stuff to do but rx now. Although he wanted to dive back to Alternate World, he doesn''t want to leave his sister while he is enjoying the game. He cannot enjoy ying if he is in the middle of watching over his sister. Sighing, he grab his phone and realized that his phone has run out of battery. "Ugh... seriously? Looks like I forgot to check whether I have charged my phone. I think I am too stressed these days." As Janus was busy charging his phone, he heard a few knocks on the door. Janus don''t know who it was and if it was his parents, they wouldn''t bother to knock at all and the same goes for the nurses as well. The only ones who would be knocking are guests whom he has told about his current situation and where the room of his sister was located, in fact, they should even know which hospital first before they can locate the room. Janus thought it would be Manato and the others but he shook the idea as he didn''t even have any contact with them. He tried contacting Manato the other day but he can''t reach him at all since his phone just keeps on ringing and no one is picking it up. The others would be unlikely as well so who is this person knocking on the door? He didn''t think much and decided to open it up. Revealing an old man in formal attire. Beside him is a girl that looks like a secretary. Although these two people are someone that Janus doesn''t know, Manato clearly knows who these two people are. ---------------------- "The final preparations are underway, and we can start anytime." After Renatta, Alena, and Labo confirmed the ns, it is now safe to proceed to the next n and go to the Alternate World to find the Tree of Life before Nobuhiko can get a grasp on its location first. Knowing his ns, it is clear that Nobuhiko is trying to use it to his own advantage. Who would have thought I would even forget my initial n of returning in the past and decide to prevent something that has been nned for a lot of times? I don''t even care about the revenge n I have anymore, to be honest. And I think that is for the best. The guy I have to take my revenge on didn''t even know me much and has been in the dumps ever since I did some parts of my revenge. Perhaps I have matured and have realized that revenge usually doesn''t bear fruits at all. However, I think having this goal is much better than doing what I initially wanted to do. Once I finish my revenge, what next? I don''t even have ns forter after I have done the job. Perhaps I have been acting too rashly and I think I also gave in so easily to Nobuhiko''s attempt to use me. Anyways, the n can''t proceed just yet. Janus has yet to know the n. Almost all of us are ready to proceed and execute the n to fruition but we still have yet to discuss this matter with Janus. As much as I needed to discuss this matter with him, it was also time that he became elusive. I don''t know what happened to him and even if I try to contact him, I can''t even connect to his phone which is odd since he keeps his phone in full charge to ensure someone can contact him anytime. So why now? However, I think I have to think about thatter on. For now, we have to discuss this matter with everyone.I think you should take a look at That evening, we gathered together, including my parents. As usual, we have the elves do the blocking of the surveince. "Alright, we should start that little meeting we have on the n that we will be conducting regarding the matter of going to Alternate World and living there for quite some time in search of the Tree of Life. We will be going there for the sake of finding it first and protecting it from the Nobuhiko who ns to use it for his own agenda that is enough and warranted for him to erase and modify memories. We have already discussed this matter before but we are happy to inform everyone that the n is now ready tounch and everyone is ready to go to Alternate World whenever we wanted without the constraints and bindings that Nexus put on their spells." Everyone started pping after hearing that. They have already agreed to join in this revolution that only us knows and now, the final preparations are in order. I then handed the exnations to Renatta. "[As I told you all, we will be staying in Alternate World for a long time. We don''t know how long but we will be staying there as much as we can and exploring the ces that might be the ce where the Tree of Life is currently located. And to avoid the detection of the Nexus, we will have to get rid of the Nexus systems that are embedded in your body.]" "Get rid of the system?" everyone looked confused. "[Yes. In short, we will be resetting everyone''s level back to level 1.]" Everyone''s eyes went wide. I also frowned when I heard that as well. This is the first time I heard of it. "[Everyone. Do not worry about this matter. Resetting back to level 1 is not the only thing we can do. In fact, we will have to start with a clean te. In your terms, you guys will be starting a new game." "Wait, so that means, all of our achievements, weapons, and gear will disappear?" Riko asked. "Yes. All of them will disappear. However, that only applies to the items in your inventory that were currently bound to the system of the Nexus. As I said before, we have recreated the same system in a new form that only we can use." Pandora raised her hands and showed her sketchbook. "(What about our summoned creatures or tamed pets?)" "Ah, don''t worry about them. Tamed pets and summoned allies are part of you and are never considered bound on the Nexus system. If you have any of them, then you don''t have to worry as they are connected to you, not the system. Oh, and I forgot to mention this, but items that are considered "BOUND" to their owner will remain bound to their owner. So even when the reset happens, those things that are bound to the user will remain with you even after the reset." I sighed in relief when I heard that every contract I made and my pets will remain even after the reset. Although the system of the Nexus considered them aspanions, they never get to hold the contract between the owner and the pets orpanions. "We will be giving you all a chance to save all of your items and put them in containers. I also suggest that you guys store the money that you guys earned in a bank or anywhere you can store it. That way, we all can start big even when starting again." "I see, so this is like New Game Plus? That''s great!" So that means we can start strong early. Then, I think we have a new job to do before the reset. I looked at everyone and it seems they also have the same idea. "Do our belongings like our ownership in houses andnd reset as well?" I asked. "No. Ownership of buildings is printed as you and they don''t need the Nexus system to identify you as the owner. As long as you own it, even after the reset, you will still own it after." I grinned and nodded. "Looks like our next stop is already decided." And so, we have started to n for our rebellion and search for the Tree of Life. Chapter 844 Preparation For The New Game Plus ? After the lengthy exnation, everyone went back to their own ounts to secure their items. I propose to use my mansion and put every belongings they have there. Since all of our bought items and properties will remain ours even after the reset, we will still get them once we go there. Before I went in, I returned to the mansion with Renatta and exined the matter to the siblings on what urred. Although they are sad that their progress will be reset, they are also happy since they can start over with their skills. Now that they know what to do next, they can now choose their ideal path forter. Like the others, I also suggested to put store their important items in the mansion and keep them there. We can''t afford to lose some of our important items after all. Progress can be earned again but items and weapons we earned are not. With that in the n, we started to put all of our belongings inside our storage chests. Almira was confused as to why we are storing the items we keep on using and weapons as well, only equipping those items that are not worth much or are just weapons and armor used by beginners. "You guys, I know you all are entric and unique individuals but are you guys trying to nerf yourselves and challenge enemies with that gear? Moreover, you guys are also putting the recovery items as well. What are you guys thinking?" "It''s a long story but we are just putting them in here for safekeeping in the meantime. We are notpletely abandoning them." "I don''t know what is going on with this but I am getting curious as time goes on." "You will knowter on." I didn''t want to exin this matter to Almira just yet. Until we are out of the bindings from the Nexus, then we will have to keep our mouths shut on this n. Storing all of my items is now good to go. The only thing that I can''t put into the storage is the Versatile Weapon. No matter how much I unequip the weapon, it couldn''t even be unequipped at all, leaving me with no choice but to keep it equipped. "Really? You really don''t wanna let go, huh?" Although the Versatile Weapon cannot speak, I can feel its weight considerably heavier than usual. Guess it''s just something I didn''t consider much but this weapon has been with me ever since. Anyways, after I stored the items I don''t want to get deletedter on aside from the Versatile Weapon, I logged out from the system. Perhaps this is even the veryst time I will be using this ount as well. However, since it is necessary for me to do so, then that''s the only way we can go. -------- Returning to the real world, I went back to Nagoya. I don''t see any signs of Janus back at home so there is no point staying there for now. When I went down to go grab some grub, the elves were on the edge and are on their battle stance as they ready themselves for some unknown reason. "Hey, what is going on?" I asked. Pixie flew in my direction and started exining what is happening. "You are here! It seems some intruders are currently lingering in the house. We are still trying to determine their current location but there are indeed intruders walking around outside." When I hear that there are intruders outside, I also went intobat stance and ready myself. No one dares to mess us up like this and get away safely. "You guys stay here and defend this ce, I will take a look outside and check who these f*ckers are." I am proficient in closebat and even hand-to-handbat now as well. There is no way these guys will just go away once I show myself to them. Using my senses to try and detect them, I detected multiple men surrounding the ce. I am not too sure who they are but all of them are armed with guns. Not only that but it seems they aren''t the ordinary thugs either. They wear formal suits and they looked more like bodyguards or something simr. I think the proper term would be agents. Seeing that they are not just ordinary thugs lurking, they are not here to do some quick home heists but something else. Since I can tell that this will escte a lot, I didn''t bother to waste my time and pulled out the Versatile Weapon and changed it to a gun. It doesn''t use gunpowder and they use mana. In case they try something funny then they will also get to experience firsthand how a mana bullet feels. They are closing in faster and seem to be in a coordinated n. And without nearby neighbors to ask for help with, it''s a perfect ce for them to do things not possible to do in a popted neighborhood. I activated my stealth and slowly creep to the nearest enemy and there they are. Still looking for a way to silently break into the house.I think you should take a look at Since they decided to break in and has the intention to harm anyone inside, I decided that I can''t tolerate them anymore and started sting. BANG BANG BANG! The gunshots are loud but no one can hear them. Three gunshots, three down. I didn''t kill them just yet. I needed to extract information from them and the more I capture, the better. "Sh*t, fire!" The men realized that they are under fire and started firing gunshots on us as well. Compared to mine which just used mana bullets and do not leave any holes on surfaces that got shot, the guns they are using are the real deal therefore, some of the windows in the house have been shot and broken. I am still under stealth and no one knows who shot them, making them bewildered about what is happening. But that is good to know. Without them knowing who shot them, I can use that chance to silently pick on them. BANG! BANG! BANG! Every shot I make, I made sure one falls down. In terms of dealing with intruders, I am not that merciful with them, especially with what happened in thest timeline. If they try to do something to me and everyone important to me, they will meet hell and I am not going to sugarcoat it. The men in suits started to panic and look around for the perpetrator but they couldn''t detect anyone. That''s good. Slowly blending with them, I didn''t hesitate and started shooting at their legs one by one as well as their hands before breaking their guns to pieces. In terms of speed, I am not going to just slow myself on that. They started groaning in pain as the mana bullet pierces their flesh. They might act like normal bullets but they were much more painful than the normal bullets due to the mana bullets burn the flesh or surface they were shot at, and without any bullets to detect, they are perfect assassination weapon to lethaly kill someone while remaining anonymous. Not only is it hard to determine whether it is from mana or not. "Search for the shooter! Whoever they are, don''t let them escape! Capture them if necessary!" Capture huh? So their main attempt is not by killing people but capturing us alive? Then, there is one possibility. "Nobuhiko." It seems the cat is out of the bag and they are now after us. Sending people on us, they are determined to bring us back with them. But I think they clearly underestimated me and I will use that to my advantage to get to their weak spot. I think it is necessary now to deal with this matter. I saw one of themanding officers over there and are ordering matters this time around. I am not just going to leave them be like this. Changing the Versatile Weapon''s gun form into a sniper rifle form, I aimed into themanding officer and did not hesitate to shoot them in the head. BANG! One shot and they are down. However, contrary to my expectation of bloody explosion of flesh, they started to get corrupted and their bodies turned static before disappearing. "AI servants..." I muttered to myself. AI servants are servants that are made from AI consciousness and despite looking like a person, they were in fact more of a robot than a human. Once they die, they are terminated like a program and they die, which then will result to their parts recycled and passed on. One thing is for sure, this is the work of Nobuhiko. No one else. However, how does he know this ce? Is it due to the surveince? Or perhaps due to the fact that he is nearby that this happened? But whatever his n is, I am not just going to let him do it. You mess with my family then you will meet God early. Chapter 845 Intruders ? I am not happy that things have reached this point. Seeing intruders like them trying to raid the house of my parents since we are currently here means they are trying to hold us captive and use our chances to find the Tree of Life while we are captive. I can see it from miles away why they can do this. It seems Nobuhiko will do anything in his power to get what he wanted to get. But if he goes to this kind of extreme, then there is no point in helping him at all. No one else aside from Nobuhiko has the way to use these guys as a way to capture us. Not only they are produced by the Nexus, but they are also sold in the future as well for AIpanions. They are efficient and they don''t leave a corpse when damaged and killed, making them easily disposable servants that can be used for any job. However, the moment I knew what they are, the easier I have time with them and I don''t need to worry about leaving any kind of evidence. Like many technologies, they run using electricity. However, when they are overloaded to the point that the energy reserves they have couldn''t handle them all, then they will naturally malfunction and break. My element specialty in the real world is the affinity to use electricity and I have been practicing it ever since. I may not be that familiar with using various forms of it, but I know how to make use of them to their fullest. I sneak into their group. They still have yet to know that I am there. Even if they are AI, they seemed to have yet to develop a way to detect anyone who is in stealth mode, making them perfect targets for my idea. Without breaking the Stealth mode, I grab their necks and unload voltage to their bodies that flow directly into their systems. They started convulsing and their electric charges starts to leak out. After a few seconds, parts of their bodies are exploding, and soon enough, their bodies flicker before they fall to the ground, "dead" and slowly disappear. The other AI started to gather and immediately try to check what happened and are running diagnostics on what happened. Although they are AI they are not built smart. They still think like machines and they think of the best logical actions. Things that would cause their otherpanions to break down will cause them to check and analyze them. Seeing how they all came and analyze the area means they are not built in one single hive mind, but separate minds, otherwise, they would just send one to analyze and the others will continue with the job. "Seriously, Nobuhiko. I don''t know whether you are an idiot or a genius." Still standing behind the AI, I immediately doused them with water magic, exposing my location. "There he is!" Even though they are basically machines, they don''t get affected by water due to their waterproof capabilities like real humans. But that doesn''t mean they are invulnerable to the power of water, and electricitybined. They might not malfunction with just water alone and their electricponents, but outside power is still fatal. "To those who are watching the eyes of these AI, perhaps you should all think twice about what you all are doing," before shing them with a middle finger. "NOW, DIE!" I then aimed down my middle finger to the ground and sent arge electricity voltage. "AGGGGGHHHHHH!!" All of the AI started shaking and convulsing before they began to explode one by one, eliminating all intruders in one go. That''s when everyone went out of the house to check on what happened and they saw the scene of the AI exploding. As for me, I am currently scanning the surroundings. I don''t want anyone who is lingering in the area escapes. As I was scanning, a ck car not too far started to move in a hurry. Inside are a few men and one woman who seems to be the onemanding the situation earlier. "Running away huh?" I didn''t even exin to everyone what happened and immediately jumped off the ground, and chases the fleeing car. If they think the car is fast enough to outrun me, then they are wrong. There''s no need for me to run, jumping from obstacle to obstacle is much faster, and using them to give me an eleration option, it''s easy for me to catch up to them. When I was close enough, I took advantage of the surroundings and hid before jumping straight to the car and using the Versatile Weapon to grab a hold of a moving car. "Shoot him!" thedy inside panics the moment Inded in the car. The men started shooting at the car''s roof and I have a hard time trying to dodge all of them. I even got a few slight wounds from the passing bullets but thankfully, not fatal but a pretty close call. I think you should take a look at I didn''t want to take too long in this car and decided to send arge volt of electricity to them. Who cares if the car is running, if they are trying to trouble my family, then this one is not even enough. I am just giving them mercy since I can''t go full ham of violence or else, it might track me and might trouble my family more. BZZZZZZTTTTT! The high-voltage shockwave I released inside the car traveled to the passengers and I can hear their screams before they died out. The car didn''t stop running though and I have to eject myself by using the Hook and Chain and dangle on one of the streetlights. The car on the other hand, without a driver to drive, crashes into a nearby tree. It started smoking and I think oil is already flowing out of the tank, so I just ripped off arge part of the roof of the car and check the inside of it. The only person left inside is the woman I detected before and the one screaming as well. The rest are gone which means all of them are AIpanions. There''s no way I will leave her there to die. She is needed for me to know what Nobuhiko is nning to do and I will have to interrogate her to learn more on this. Grabbing her out of the car, I immediately escape with her in tow. A few minutester while I am already far from the distance, the car exploded. Thankfully, there are no witnesses at that time therefore, I don''t have to worry about it that much if authorities are ever getting hold of the car wreck, they will think it just crashed there, and without any bodies there, they might think the people inside have escaped. There are also guns left behind there so they might also think some crime happened and they are just escaping. The woman I am carrying is unconscious but she is necessary for me to capture. Whoever she is, she is connected to Nobuhiko and she must have known some things on why they are out here and trying to abduct us in the first ce. When I arrived, everyone is worried including my parents. "Manato! Where have you been?! We are so worried about you, are you hurt?" Mom immediately checks me, totally worried about me. "A little injuries here and there but not too major, can be healed by normal heal, no worries." "Next time, be sure to tell us first. We can''t afford you to dive into danger just like that and leave us in hanging. You make us totally worried." Then, their attention went to the woman I am carrying. "Who is this, Manato?" Riko asked with a frown on her face. "Someone involved by the mastermind who sent us the people who are nning to abduct us." "Abduct us?!" Rika was surprised. "I have a few theories on whose orders was it but I am quite sure the one who sent them out and tried to abduct us was none other than Nobuhiko himself. This might seem farfetched but the moment he used those AI people, I knew it was him immediately." "AI people? Like robots?" Riko tilted her head. "Close, but they are more like android holograms. They act like robots but when killed, they don''t leave a body and disappear like a hologram program. They were recently advertised by Nexuspany as their new product for assisting people and I remembered them being developed during thest time I went there so I am sure it was them." "Then why are they doing this? Why are they trying to abduct us in the first ce?" Father asked. "There is one thing I know. It must have been involved with the search for the Tree of Life. And to ensure cooperation, abducting us and making us look for it while being strapped in a chair or any apparatus would be ideal than making us roam free. They want us to be their tracker, whether we like it or not." Chapter 846 Letter ? Because of the incident happening, everyone is on guard. Seeing the situation unfold, they clearly know now that things will not be the same anymore. I asked the elves to make protection spells and detection spells around the mansion to ensure no more intruders enters the proximity and try to harm us. I also had to do this in my mansion in Tokyo as well or else, the siblings might be in danger. Akira and Sora noticed some people around the area lingering in the mansion as well but they left after a while. Hearing this, I fear for their safety and decided to bring them along to Nagoya for a while. At least, if they are there, then they will be with everyone and the elves will be able to defend them while I am out. "It seems the situation is getting worse than ever," Rika shook her head after we recount all of the things happening. "For real. I thought I would only see this in movies but apparently, this also happens in real life as well," Riko nodded while scrolling on her phone. I overheard the two of them speaking and I decided to join in the conversation. "Oh, hey there, deheart. You are back. How are the siblings?" "They are here. I brought them to their current rooms as I can''t really trust the mansion anymore." "What about Pandora''s brother?" Rika asked. "No worries. ording to the siblings, he will not be home for quite a while due to some business meetings abroad. Since his sister will be with us for a long time, he isn''t worried too much and he can go freely to other ces without the need of dragging his sister far and wide even though she is frail. She already knows this as well so no need to tell her again. Anyways, how is the woman we captured faring?" "She is still unconscious but we are keeping an eye on her. Alena and Labo are all keeping an eye on her and once she is conscious, they will restrain her before we will interrogate her forter," Riko answered. "Yeah, don''t worry about her, Manato. We will take care of her." "Then that''s good. I needed to go out for a while and I can''t go and interrogate her at the moment." "You are going out despite the hunting of other people?" "I needed to contact Janus. You still can''t contact him, right Riko?" "His phone has been ringing but he isn''t answering. I don''t know what is happening either. But I received a phone call from his parents and told us to not look for him anymore which made me a bit hesitant to ask why. I even asked them to let me talk to him onest time but I didn''t get the chance. However, I used my hearing to determine where their location, and based on the sounds of the background, they are currently in one of the hospitals in Tokyo. I overhear a few sounds that indicate it was a Tokyo hospital but because there are lots of hospitals in Tokyo, I don''t know which one," Riko answered. "A hospital huh..." Right, the moment I heard hospital, that''s when I remembered his sister. Janus has a sister who he has said to be frail and has been sick for quite a while. Although he told me she have gotten healthier, if she was sick, there is a chance that it was her who is in the hospital instead of Janus himself since the guy is as fit as a fiddle. The reason I don''t know what happened to his sister in the past timeline is that he was already dead by this time around due to the ident and death of Riko. Since I am not that close to Janus''s family, naturally, all news regarding his family after his death is something I don''t know so the only thing I can do is get the assumption that his sister is the one currently undergoing something in one of the hospitals in Tokyo. There are a handful of hospitals in Tokyo but I think I should eliminate the smaller hospitals which means they are in a big hospital. I just needed to do a process of elimination to locate him. "Thanks for the info, Riko. Now I have a lead on where that guy is." Just like I said before, I left Nagoya and returned to Tokyo to look for Janus. Although I am trying to recruit him, I can tell this will not be a fruitful one and I am guessing that I won''t be able to recruit him to our cause at all. One, Janus loves his sister so much that he will not just leave just for the sake of finding something that is said to be a mythical ce that no one knows whether they exist or not.I think you should take a look at Two, with his sister being sick, that also means he will not join us as he will be watching over his sister rather than joining this task. Three, his parents forbid him from doing so. Unlike Pandora''s brother, Janus''s parents are not that nice and they are a bit strict with him. And Janus is a loyal child to them, so he would rather obey them rather than obey his friends. But it doesn''t hurt to try. Maybe I have to believe in the power of friendship this time even though that ispletely bullcrap, to be honest. ... Once I arrived in Tokyo once more, I was about to depart when I hear some noises in the yard. I am quite sensitive to noises nowadays because I am trying to keep an eye out for intruders but seeing someone is indeed here, I am not just going to let this go. First, I track down the source of the noises. I don''t want to assume that it was immediately a human. It must be a small critter or something. But my assumption is wrong as it was indeed an intruder and based on how the guy looks, it''s another AIpanion and I don''t think I will just let this matter go. Because I am in a hurry, I immediately take the shortest possible way to defeat the intruder. I tried to detect the other AIpanions but it was a bit of a surprise since I don''t detect them at all. It was only this snooping guy. AIpanions sent by Nobuhiko would not send one guy alone in a foreign territory like this. I then went into stealth mode and subdue the guy. Grabbing his neck, I tried to disable him when he started speaking. "Wait, wait, wait! Don''t kill me! I am sorry for snooping, whoever you are but I needed to send the message to the owner of this house!" Message? That''s odd, and this guy is warm and sweating too. I must have thought this guy was an AIpanion but he was actually a real human, just in the suit outfit, very simr to an AIpanion. When he shows his face, that''s when I realized who this guy was. He was the butler and bodyguard of Janus and his family. "Huh? It''s you. What are you doing here, and why are you sneaking around like that? If I haven''t restrained myself, then you might have been seriously injured." "I am sorry. I don''t want to be seen by some people who are making surveince on your house and delivering this message might cause big trouble if revealed which is why I wanted to send this by entering the mansion and putting it somewhere discreet enough for you to see so that you can immediately get the message before it is on the hands of the unknown people." Activating my detection sense, I indeed detected multiple unknown people currently maintaining distance from the mansion but are too obvious to be doing some surveince mission on the mansion. "Then what is this message? I am the owner of this mansion. You are talking to him." "Ah, thank goodness. But please, can you let me go first?" I then realize I am still holding at him. I immediately let go of him and apologized which he immediately disregard as he pulled out a letter. "The young miss didn''t want to use the digital message to send it to you as it is easy to track therefore, she used a letter instead and entrusted me with the task of delivering it." I grab the letter and I can tell it was made in a hurry. There''s even some ink stter on the paper and it wasn''t ced in an envelope like a normal formal letter. "Well then, my task here is done, don''t worry about sending a response either. It''s necessary to know that you keep this a confidential matter as even the young miss''s parents do not know about this." After that, he left in a hurry while keeping himself in cover. I went back inside and opened the letter that is clearly done as soon as possible. The reason for that is unknown but perhaps it might be included in this letter. "To whoever is reading this, I hope it is the intended recipient. To whoever reading this, do not respond to this letter, and just think of it as something between us. Please, save my brother, Janus, and save him from the people who are holding him captive. He sacrificed himself in exchange for my full recovery. However, he is tasked to find the thing that they are looking for in this ce called Alternate World. I don''t know what they were doing but if they are trying something that we don''t know, then perhaps some of my brother''s friends have an idea on how to solve this. Please save my brother from this predicament." Chapter 847 Saving Janus First Half ? The letter was short but precise, and I immediately understood it. Janus has been captured before we can say anything to him. And based on the words on why he readily agreed, Nobuhiko must have used one of the Cure All medicine they have developed and used it on Janus''s sister, curing her problem in the process and causing Janus to own a favor for Nobuhiko which thetter immediately used for his advantage. And since his sister is writing this letter, I can also tell that they are either under surveince by the security of Nobuhiko and he is held somewhere where he will not be able to ask for any kind of help. Basically, a forcedbor. As to why he choose Janus, it''s because Janus has been with me in many battles and they are using me as a basis to get more covered ground in finding the Tree of Life. They are gathering those who are skilled enough to find it. Knowing this, his sister immediately asked me, the only one she knows that can help his brother out of this predicament. Due to this, I have an idea of where to find Janus. The Main Branch of the Nexus Company. But first, I needed to go back and tell the situation to everyone. I can''t just go and head straight to danger without asking everyone''s opinion. ... ... ... When I returned to Nagoya, I saw that everyone only Father, Labo, Akira, and Mr. Teddy are left currently chilling on the sofa. "Where are the girls?" I asked. "Down the basement, currently interrogating thedy you captured before. Everyone told us to stay here on guard while they do their jobs at the interrogation. We wanted to join in the interrogation but we are shooed away by them, saying that we will need to stay put so that they can be at least useful," my Father sighed. "Well, just let them have their fun. I do indeed suggest we stay away from the problem with them involved. It can get pretty violent and hairy at times, that you will not see them in the same way again," I shook my head. "You seem to speak like you experienced it," Labo was amazed. "Eh...plenty of times. You can say experience is speaking for itself." Since the girls are busy, I started to cook up food since I know everyone would get hungry once they are done. I know them very much that I already memorized what will happen after. They are efficient interrogators but they get to be a big glutton once they are done. After around an hourter, they went out, pretty bushed, and sweaty and all seems groaning aside from Pandora who keep herself fine despite the chaos that happened downstairs. I took a peak inside and saw the tied woman currently copsed, her hair is disheveled and her mouth is currently muttering something even though she was unconscious. It makes me wonder what the heck did the girls do for them to reduce this woman like this. Did they destroy her with words? I returned to the kitchen and started serving the food to them. "You guys worked hard. Here. have some food to refuel your energy." "Ah...just what we needed, son. Thanks," Mom happily eats the food alongside everyone. I can easily guess who made the most work out of everyone already but I don''t want toment on that. That''s a big no-no to discuss. "I didn''t expect you toe back so fast, Manato. Where is Janus now?" Riko asked. "Here, have a read. It''s from his little sis," I then slide off the letter in her direction. She caught the letter and started reading. Since it was short, she immediately finished it, before she frowned. "Does that mean, Janus is currently in captivity right now?" I nodded. "Yep. It seems the "proper escorting" process worked so well on him that he is now in Nobuhiko''s hands. "Looks like we are toote. What are we going to do?" Rika started to ponder. "I will rescue him of course. I am not just going to let him be there and be used by the organization that does something shady behind every customer who has ess to their products. If his sister asked for help, then that means the situation must be grave enough for her to warrant that help." "But how does this work? I know Janus to be not someone who readily agrees on anything so easily. Howe he didn''t even discuss it with us?" "Because Nobuhiko has cured his sisterpletely from her sickness. And with that favor alone, Janus owns Nobuhiko enough favor for thetter to exploit. Knowing Janus is one of ourrades, he thinks that he will be a good asset as well in finding the Tree of Life."I think you should take a look at "I see. Something that is rted to Cure All Magic huh? You have demonstrated it before on us with Sora''s eye," Rika immediately deduced it. I nodded. Just like what Rika said, I used [Cure All] magic on Sora, allowing her to regain her eyesight normally. Janus knows this as well, which must be why he decided to jump into the cure already for his sister. "But then, why would he agree to him if you already knew the same thing as Nobuhiko then? Isn''t it much better if he asked you for a favor instead of a random old man offering help?" Riko angrily ms the table. "That''s what I wanted to know which is why I am going to ask you all if I should go and find Janus and rescue him from the hands of the one who took him or should we go straight to the Alternate World and find the Tree of Life, saving him in the process?" Riko shook her head. "Thetter is basically saying we will abandon him. The only thing we can do is go rescue him." "Although I agree with you Riko, that matter is dangerous. Do you know how many of those men Nobuhiko sent here are currently guarding the Nexus Company right now. Not only that, since they are not human, he can easily continue producing them until we are overwhelmed, foiling our n to save him in the process." This is not an ideal route, Riko," Rika immediately disagreed. "Then what, leave him there, all alone, without any exnation from his friends? I am not going to abandon a friend! It''s like we betrayed and abandoned him in the process!" Those words resonated with me. Riko''s words hit me like a truck. Betrayed and abandoned, both happened to me. And just like what Riko said, it''s like we are betraying him in the process. I stood up from the chair and decided to make a decision. "Alright. Everyone, we will have to head to the Alternate World as soon as possible. In fact, today is the ideal day." Riko was furious and stood up. "What are you saying Manato?!" However, I stopped her and pursed her lips. "The reason we will need to go soon is because the surveince has been very tight already. I can see what they are doing now would be to force us to go to them. I can even see some things that they might be doing to coerce us to join them just like how Janus has been coerced as well." As I was talking, Riko''s phone rang and the number that registers was on her mother. Although hesitant, she answered it but she made the call in loudspeaker. "Hello, Riko? Dear? Aren''t you going back to us? It''s been so long since you left us and we are missing you already. Your Father will forgive you and will forget about what you have done before, juste home and we will wee you." It sounds sincere but Riko immediately heard the voice of her father in the background. "Just order her toe back or we are screwed! This is the biggest partnership we will get and if we secure this, we will get a big haul! She just needed to help them do their task and we will be good to go! She can''t disobey us if we threaten her friends in the process." Because the voice was loud enough, Riko is so angry that her current fury has erupted already, and due to her extreme anger, she started shouting on the phone. "GO TO HELL! I CAN''T BELIEVE YOU TWO ARE MY PARENTS! YOU TWO DON''T DESERVE TO BE CALLED ONE IF YOU ALL ARE ACTING LIKE THAT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY! THAT''S IT! I AM DONE WITH ALL OF YOU!" Before we can even quell her anger, she throws the phone across the room. Thankfully, the phone case I gifted on her birthday protected the phone from the shock and keep it intact. I shook my head after what happened. "See what I mean? It seems they also coerced Riko''s parents as well. We will need to go before they can even corner us. Renatta, is it ready?" "Yep, anytime!" Renatta nodded. "Then, we will be deleting this tattoo of ours today, however, you guys will go first. I will stay behind but will follow you allter." Everyone was stunned when they heard me. "Wait, what are you going to do?" Father frowned. "I will rescue Janus first. I will be taking him from the ws of the eagle." Chapter 848 Saving Janus Second Half ? "That''s insane, Manato. You are going to get yourself killed in the process!" Mother disagrees. "Yeah. I know I am always a reckless girl, but I am not that kind of reckless on that level, Manato! Don''t be ridiculous!" Riko also disagrees. "Then what do you think we should even do? There''s no way I will let everyone participate in this matter as this is a dangerous matter. Not everyone is more proficient inbat in the real world than me at the moment. We will just be asking to get captured if we all went there. So it''s better if I go myself, alone. You all should go ahead and go straight to the Alternate World and begin to recover your levels." "Ugh, we really have no other choice here, huh?" Rika scratches her head. "Then, in that case, you better be able to get Janus saved," Riko pointed her finger at me, ordering me to do something that is a bit harder to do. "No promises, Riko. I don''t even know whether I will seed on this one or not. However, I will take my chances and try. I needed to ensure myself that I will seed." Renatta approached me and handed me two stamps. "If that is the case, I prepared two stamps that will delete that Nexus tattoo and rece it with the tattoo ours, free from all of the stuff included there. The other one is for your friend. I think you should use yours now to ensure that the tattoo will work." I nodded and checked how it should be used. Renatta assisted me and checked the location of my tattoo before she stab it with the stamp. The stamp suddenly pierces through my skin, my body felt terrible and all of the pain in my body suddenly courses through my body. "Urgh!" I groaned in pain. It''s painful but bearable enough. It took a few minutes before I felt something disappeared in my body. It was like something was missing the moment it was done. "Looks like all of the control mechanisms they put in your body using the spells are gone. Good thing it works," Renatta happily nodded. Riko turned to look at the location of my tattoo and saw that it wasn''t there anymore. Instead, it was another tattoo but this time, it has the logo of a scythe. Renatta also handed the others the same stamp that I receive and they also put them in their bodies as well, removing the grasp of the Nexus to them. Renatta, Labo, and Alena also have their own stamp and they also stabbed themselves with it as well. "Does that mean, the surveince is gone?" Riko asked. "Yes. This is now a new system that we created. Although it is simr to you all, this is a separate database for everyone. You guys can say that this ount of yours is illegal." "It doesn''t matter, since the official ones seem to be more invasive than the rebuild version," Rika then stab herself using the stamp, erasing the Nexus tattoo and recing it with the new one. "Wow, it really does feel different. It was like something heavy has been lifted from my body the moment I removed the Nexus tattoo!" ''''That''s because every single spell that made the Nexus connected and allowed the person capable to control you are gone. All of the stuff that is injected has been removedpletely." I looked at the time and it was indeed gettingte. It''s almost nighttime. "I think I needed to go. Since it''s almost time for all employees of Nexus Company to go home, I think it is also the best time to go and perform the rescue operation. By the way Renatta, where will we meet once we go to the Alternate World?" "I programmed it to transport us to a nearby starting area where all beginners of the first-time users of the Nexus ount. Because everyone has their levels reset, I made sure that it is a ce where everyone can level up safely, away from every new user of Nexus. Not only does it separates us but it also avoids the detection of the Nexus to us," Renatta exined. "You really took this matter seriously," I chuckled. "Of course. We will do whatever it takes for everyone to be safe to go to the Alternate World. I don''t want some mishap to happen while everyone is just transitioning from the real world to Alternate World." "Alright, thanks. So how do we use it?" "It''s just like how you use the usual, but the difference this time is that you can use it anywhere. Since it acts like some kind of teleporting, it does not leave any sort of waypoint back to this world, which is why, we can''t "log out" until you guys needed to return to this world for real." So that is why she said before that we cannot return to this world for quite a while if we decided to use the Rebuild version. Because of that, it somehow made more sense now. After all of the information I received is now on my head, I went back to Tokyo once more, this time, to do something I didn''t even do in thest timeline. ... ...I think you should take a look at ... ... 6:47 P.M I just arrived at the Nexus Company''s main building. I currently have the phone of the woman whom we have captured. Pandora cracked the password of the phone and inside are some of theyout of thepany building including the secret areas. Her phone also acts as an ID as well, which might be useful if there are gates that can only be unlocked by employees and cardholders with high standing. All employees have left and yet there are still plenty of people inside, which means all of the people I detect are either normal people or AIpanions. Because of the reset, I don''t have ess to any kind of weapons in my inventory in the Alternate World anymore. Perhaps I will be able to have ess to it once I go back there but right now, no. I went under stealth, and slowly sneak in. Thankfully, the security of the Nexuspany seems to be still bad as they can''t detect me at all while under stealth. If they can detect me, then it''s already chaotic. I continue to silent move while currently tracking the secret areas. Using the scan ability, I can also see different areas behind walls, and other secret areas are also revealed to my eyes, allowing me to move with precision. Using the information I got from the phone of the woman, I used the elevator used only by employees. No one detected me and so I continue to move silently. Soon enough, I reached the underground. It''s a huge underground space and even I was not aware this existed before. And based on the work done here, it seems to be a factory to produce the AIpanions. But to think it is being done underground, this is indeed arge scale of business. Still, I continue to move. And after continuously moving deeper, I soon reached a gate that needed a gate pass. It cannot be opened without one so the woman''s gate pass to the rescue. And I am thankful enough since it managed to work and I can bypass the gates just fine. Although I am under stealth, I didn''t slow my movement and continued to move deeper and deeper. It didn''t take me long to locate Janus. He is deep underground and he is currently eating dinner. He is wearing clothes simr to a hospital gown. It was like he is a patient in a hospital with his current outfit. It means he is now under the jurisdiction of the Nexus Company. Seeing the security is prettyx, I took advantage of it to sneak in. And just like that, I managed to enter without hassle. Janus continues eating since he still can''t detect me. However, I removed my stealth as soon as I am near him. "Janus!" Janus who was currently busy with his te was startled when he saw me currently crouching. "Manato?! What are you doing here? I didn''t see you enter! Did you also ept the offer of Nobuhiko-san as well?" "No, I am not here due to that. I am here to help you escape." "Huh? What do you mean?" Janus is confused. "This is a trap. Your sister also sent me a letter to save you from this predicament as well." "Wait, wait, why am I in need of saving?" "Because Nobuhiko is just using you for the sake of his own goals. He will make you a ve and he will be causing trouble in the world due to that." "I am not understanding what you are saying," Janus still felt confused. "I will exinter. But first, we will have to go out before we are detected." "NO." I frowned and looked at him. "What did you say?" I frowned. "I will not be going, Manato. I owe Nobuhiko a favor, and I will fulfill it." Chapter 849 Separate Ways ? I couldn''t believe what I heard from him. He is denying my efforts to rescue him as he wanted to repay Nobuhiko. "You made a hasty decision of curing your sister in exchange for very? That''s a bit of unfair trade, Janus. I thought you are smarter than that. You should even know that I can cure your sister if you have just said so. Have you forgotten that I have cured Sora''s blind eye without the need of undergoing an operation? Surely you have forgotten that as you have hastily decided to ept the offer without even any discussion with us. If you have asked me, you wouldn''t be doing this kind of stuff in the first ce!" Janus sighed. "Even so, I needed to repay the favor from him. He healed my sister, so in turn, I will do everything to ensure that I can repay it back to him. Anything." I clench my fist and although I feel angry right now, I don''t thinkshing it out on him would change anything. "I see. Since you decided to ally with him, then you will be our enemy. The next time you will see us, Janus, we will be enemies on the battlefield." "What? What do you mean by the enemy? What is going on?!" Before I can exin, someone entered and started pping. I immediately went into offensive mode as I turned around to see Nobuhiko pping. "Manato, Manato, it seems I was wrong about you. I thought that you would readily agree with me about my ns. But I guess all of them were just flushed on the drain. Hearing your words, it seems you are already aware of my ns?" "Always have been. Ever since you decided to delete my memories before I can do my decision. I respected you before but the moment you pulled something like that to me, my respect melted and disappeared. And based on what I heard about the Tree of Life, it seems you have a sinister n while using the power of the Tree of Life." Nobuhiko frowned when he realized my words. "Your memory has not been erased?" "Hmph, fortunately, I didn''t have my memories erased. If they were, I would be blindly believing all your lies. I wouldn''t bother even trying to convince me as I am already dead set on dealing with this matter." Nobuhiko chuckled. "I see, if your memory is not erased, then you are in luck because I will fully erase them right now." He snap his fingers and we waited on what will happen next... ... ... But nothing happened. "Guess it was a big failure after all," I grinned and conjured lightning spells. "What is going on? Howe you are not affected at all?" "And why do I have to tell you that?" I fired off the lightning spell and Nobuhiko immediately controlled one AIpanion and jumped on the way, blocking the attack that was intended for Nobuhiko. I turned to look at Janus. "So, are you convinced about what he was doing now?" "What are you saying Manato?! You just attacked him! Of course, he will defend himself!" I clench my fist and was ready to punch Janus but then, I think I immediately realized why Janus seems more adamant than usual even though he is easily persuaded by anything. "Tch, guess I arrived toote." My realization was toote and persuading Janus is futile. I sighed and entered Stealth Mode once more. "Don''t worry, Janus. Once everything is over, we will rescue you. And this time, we will seed." And with that, I released a fire st on the floor, releasing arge st that covers the entire area with smoke. Using the confusion, I took advantage of it and left the ce. As to why I am leaving Janus behind? Janus is no longer in his right mind. The moment he entered Nexus Company, or perhaps during the time Nobuhiko cured his sister, Janus is already under the mind control powers of Nobuhiko. He is no longer working as a normal person. He is now under the hive mind of control that cannot disobey or act negatively on Nobuhiko. Aplete submission. "DON''T LET HIM ESCAPE THE FACILITY! INITIATE TOTAL LOCKDOWN!" The facility started to close down and every door started to lock. Seeing this, I have no other choice but to conjure more mes and started sting on the lock doors with it, melting them in the process. If it wouldn''t work, I overload the gates with electricity, forcing them to open up. It''s mana taxing sure, but it forces the doors open without causing too much ruckus and damage. But not only the locking doors are my problems, the AIpanions are also swarming as well. This ce being the factory of the AIpanions doesn''t help in my case either. I could have blown this ce apart but I am refraining from doing so as this might cause a copse of the building and that might also kill anyone inside, alongside Janus who is still under Nobuhiko''s control. If Janus isn''t here, I would be going wild with the chaos here, and tomorrow, the headlines would be the destruction of the main headquarters of the Nexus Company. Sadly, I needed some restraint.I think you should take a look at sting and electrocuting the enemies thate to block my way, I soon arrived at the elevator. While waiting for the elevator toe down, I started to make a stand and fight off the iing AIpanions. They are considerably weakpared to the AIpanions I fought back home but even then, they are still weak. The only thing that makes them hard is their overwhelming numbers and my limited amount of mana to supply my firepower to deal with them. But I think I underestimated the number of AIpanions in the area. The moment the elevator opened, a lot of them were waiting to ambush me inside. "Gah, f*ck!" they grabbed me in my hands and legs, stopping me from moving. But I am not going to just let myself be captured by these f*ckers. "GRAAAAHHHHHH!" Using the remaining mana in my body, I unloaded all of my remaining mana reserves as a discharge of electricity, overloading every single piece of machinery in the area. And because I discharge my mana reserves, I only have a small amount left, enough to keep me moving, yet leaving me with pain in my head. The headache is a total problem, especially with the amount of mana I just used up, the headache is also intense as hell. But thanks to the discharge, all of the AIpanions trying to pin me down are deep fried and disappeared, allowing me to escape. But I also realized I malfunctioned the elevator as well. When I overloaded every single piece of electric device in the vicinity, it includes the elevator as well, leaving me with no choice. "Damn it, guess I have no choice..." As I was channeling my power to activate the tattoo to transfer myself to the Alternate World, Nobuhiko and Janus caught up to me alongside countless AIpanions behind them. "Stop right there and surrender! You have nowhere to run," Nobuhiko grinned while slowly approaching. "Oh yeah? Then perhaps you should have this instead," then I shed him my middle finger." "Ha, you think you can catch me? Perhaps never!" My whole body shed andpared to the Nexus Version, it seems my body is currently undergoing the teleportation process. My whole body slowly disappears and before I knew it, my whole surroundings have changed. I blink a few times and soon, I saw myself in a familiar setting. Something that I thought I have forgotten. But the moment I saw it again, I realized that this was the ce where the girl and the big tree is located. "This ce..." The voice of the girl resounded all over the ce. "It seems you have finally broken through the restraints that are currently stopping you. You are now free from everything that is currently stopping you from what you wanted to do." "What is going on? Why am I here?" "No need to be worried. I just called you here to congratte you on freeing yourself. Now, you can do whatever you wanted to do." "I needed to find the Tree of Life first before Nobuhiko does find it. I can''t afford to have him take it and exploit the usage of it!" "But do you really need to do so? Shouldn''t you prefer to live a life away from trouble instead of diving straight to it?" she asked, confused. "If I could have done that, then perhaps, I might have already achieved peace of my mind. But no. If no one will do it, then I will do it. I am not trying to save the world but harming the world that I am living in and harming the people that I care about, then that''s a different subject. And if doing this is the right thing, then I will have to do it." The voice chuckled. "I see. Then, perhaps we will meet again next time. Until then, good luck with your endeavors. I will be giving you a gift alongside everyone to aid you. That way, you all can begin a new life. Farewell." Before I can ask a question, my surroundings turned white and I soon got engulfed by a blinding light. I kept my eyes closed until... "Hey, it seems he is now here..." Someone started patting my shoulder. "Hey, wake up." As I opened my eyes, I saw everyone standing before me, wearing their standard clothes. Renatta and Labo and Alena are also there grinning. "I told you right? There''s nothing to worry about!" Renatta gives me a thumbs up. I clenched my fists. I am officially now in Alternate World and starting today, my new life begins. Chapter 850 New Beginnings ? The very first thing I did is move around. Compared to my deheart body, this body is more like my real body. And unlike before, I felt much weaker. Still, I tried casting magic and all of it is still present. "Don''t worry. All of the skills you can use back then are still usable here as well." "Woah, Master, so this is the world that you keep on diving in and out of every day? I can''t believe it, the mana here is so purepared to Earth!" Pixie started flying around me and I was surprised by her sudden appearance. "You also came along?" "What are you saying, Master? I am bound to you so of course, I would being as well. Renatta was nice enough to give me one of those stamps as well. Lookie here. See?" She then showed me the stamp located on her forehead. It''s hidden on her bangs but if she removes the bangs, the tattoo is revealed. I also checked mine and it seems they were there as well. "Then howe you are not here earlier?" "Well, because I am bound to Master, the moment when I also activated this tattoo, it didn''t transport me immediately since you still haven''t arrived here, I was staying still for a while in an empty space, waiting for the time for you toe. The moment you arrived, I also got some foothold here as well, and now, I am here as well!" Pixie became smug after that. "Wait, so does that mean even Pixie can level up as well?" I asked Renatta. "Yes. Since she also got the tattoo, that means she also will gain experience like everyone would. Oh, and by the way. It seems our levels have disappeared as well. My original level should have been level 146 but now, I am back to level 1," Renatta revealed. "Oh? So you guys also have levels too?" Riko was surprised. "But isn''t thatmon sense, Riko? When we are still thinking this was a game, everyone had levels including the normal soldiers. Of course, they have experience points. They even know the status panels as well," Rika immediately corrected Riko. Indeed. Just like what Rika said, everyone here in the Alternate World knows the status panel, even though they are not in the game, causing other yers to think they are in a game, which in reality, was something normal for the inhabitants of Alternate World. "So that means even you guys will be grinding for levels with us as well?" Mother asked. "Yes. However, I am not too sad. I consider this a blessing as now I can choose my abilities once more and avoid choosing skills that are useless or just not worth taking instead. It''s a big win!" Renatta gives a thumbs up. Now that we are here, I decided to see how replicated the system of Nexus ispared to the status panel in this world. Swiping my hand in the air, the status panel I have appeared. Butpared to the Nexus, this one iscking many things that the Nexus has before. Many of thecking features are those that should only exist on the other side like the money conversion, HoloPhone connection, and live streams are now missing. The only remaining panels left are stats, skills, life skills, equipment, inventory, teams, andpanions. The rest are all gone. "Wait, howe there are some skills here that I don''t recognize?" Akira who was currently fiddling with his stat panel frowned. "Oh, that might be because that is how things here in the Alternate World work. Based on the info given to us, you guys start by choosing a ss right? In reality, everyone can choose which skills they can use and although they are divided into different masteries and specialized in a certain ss, they can be learned by anyone. In short, they can be a hybrid mage that can heal and defend, or they can be a ruthless swordsman that can cure and heal wounds. All skills depend on your own choice." When I heard the exnation, that''s when I realized how Queen Tanya was capable of dealing more damage despite being a Reaper ss. It''s because she can use skills from the Fighter ss without the need to be restricted by the skills. She can freely choose it depending on what she wanted to be. "Ho? So that means I can choose whatever skills I wanted to learn?" That''s interesting," Father nodded with interest.I think you should take a look at "Isn''t this just the same as Manato''s ss before we reset? The Versatile ss?" Everyone looked at me, knowing that I live that kind of life in the Alternate World before. "Oh, now that you mention it, isn''t the Versatile ss the hardest ss to level up? I heard it takes double the effort to even level it uppared to a normal ss. But looking at Manato, he seems to be doing fine. Howe?" "I think I have an exnation for that. It seems the way this world works for the Nexus is somethingplicated and so made the ss system. This was fine but they couldn''t get rid of the original concept which we have right now and decided to make it a new ss to make sure that everyone who pick this ss struggled, they decided to make it difficult to progress easily, making it impossible to be used. This is why, more ss-oriented people are more popr than a Jack of All Trades ss. It''s far easier for Nexus to calcte things with only one branching skill treepared to the Versatile ss and to keep up with the calctions, they ensured that the leveling will almost take forever to do so," Labo who was just listening on the side exined. "Or perhaps they just think this kind of ss system is too OP and they didn''t want everyone to be strong enough to rebel against the system?" Riko had her eyes shine after thinking about something simple like that. "I can''tment on that, my words earlier were just a theory and it might be wrong. Only the Nexus and the people behind it knows," Labo shrugged. "Well, whatever the case, the limitation is not present right now. And everyone can choose freely what skills they want once they earn enough points. So, with that said, we should start grinding points yeah?" Everyone nodded and we opened our inventory. Inside it are the items for beginners, armor, and weapons. However, for me, when I opened my Inventory, the first things that were present inside are two of the items that are bound to me. The Versatile Weapon, and the gift the Yuki-Onna has given to me. I grab the Versatile Weapon out of the inventory and my whole body suddenly got overwhelmed by the sudden influx of power surging through me. However, it doesn''t hurt, in fact, it feels good for some reason. "Ah?! What the? Manato, isn''t that the weapon you keep on using during your "deheart" days?" Rika asked as she pointed it out. "Yeah. It was an item that is bound to me. An item that cannot be separated to me." Renatta approached me and started to investigate the Versatile Weapon. "I can feel the power of the Goddess of Death in this weapon but it''s pretty faint. However, the power of this weapon is overwhelming. I advise that you take caution in using this weapon, Manato-kun. This weapon might end up taking your life without you knowing." I gripped the weapon tightly. I know that much. But this is a weapon that I have been holding for long. And has been with me since then. Then, I immediately remembered. Isn''t this weapon part of the "gift" that was given to me by Nobuhiko in the beginning? Shouldn''t this be something bad? "Heh, you thought that was the main case? You think I would serve someone of that caliber of a human?" A sinister voice suddenly started speaking. "Who was that?" I looked around but everyone looked at me with a confused expression. "Don''t bother looking. I am directly speaking to you using your mind, contractor. If you are thinking about the gift of the man that has been given to you, unfortunately, that one has been digested before you had been able to wield me. Therefore, you don''t need to worry about that, as I alone, am perfect enough to be your weapon, hehehehe," the mysterious voice startedughing like an imp. Something I didn''t expect to hear on my mind. That''s when I looked at the Versatile Weapon. On the hilt is the sinister eye of the Shadow Dragon, the devourer that resides inside the weapon. "You might be wondering how I was able to speak right? The answer is simple. I can speak like this without problem before however, I don''t have any need tomunicate with you who uses a body that is connected to the vile human and the vile goddess of creation and life. Now that you have severed contact with both of them, we can now speak to our heart''s content! Looking forward to you, partner. Give me more treats and perhaps I will not devour you, hehehehe..." Chapter 851 My Pets And Companions ? The Versatile Weapon. A weapon that devours and mindlessly eats anything it fancies. Something that I have slowly gotten mastered as time goes on is now back in my hands even though it was only separated for me for a short time, I also felt like I lost something very important part of me. I thought it would just remain like a passive-aggressive creature that will never learn to speak, only eat and sleep, but now I have learned that it can nowmunicate with me. The main reason he can start speaking freely now is due to my severance of connection to the Nexus and the so-called vile goddess of creation that the shadow dragon mentioned. Based on the way he describes this goddess, the only goddess I know that is involved with creation in this world is none other than the Goddess of Life. No other god or goddess other than the Goddess of Life is rted to the creation of living beings. "What is going on Manato? It seems you are just staring off into space. Are you thinking somethin''? Riko waved her hands in front of me. "Ah...not really. I was just amazed that this weapon survived the wipe." "Well, it''s not just yours that managed to survive as well, look at Pandora and her Holy Armor," Riko pointed to Pandora who was currently putting the armor on her body. Although it looked out of ce as this was her only armor on top of her regr clothes, it is undeniably her armor back when she was still Sigma. Then, my eyesnded on someone helping Pandora put on the armor. "Is that..." I pointed it out to the stranger. "Oh, you mean him? That''s Mr. Teddy. Even I was surprised. I didn''t know Mr. Teddy is quite a hottie with a hot bod topliment that face of his!" Rika nodded while also singing praises on Mr. Teddy''s body and looks. But I agree with Rika on her statements about Mr. Teddy. Since we don''t see him out of his armor and mask before, we couldn''t see what he looked like. And in the real world, it doesn''t help either that he is possessing a teddy bear. But now that all of our equipment is back from scratch, Mr. Teddy has no cover on his face and body. You can really say, that he is a definition of an ideal man most girls would find attractive. Then, I just remembered something. I tried to open the Summon''s Area while opening the Companions tab. There, everyone who I have agreed to be mypanion and my pets are present. "As? Leona? Lina? Everyone?" "Eh? Was that the voice of Master?" a familiar gruff voice echoed inside and it didn''t take too long for someone toe out from the Summon''s Area. The very first one to appear is As, while the rest followed suit, stretching like they just woke up. "Huh? Master? Is that really you? What happened? Why did you suddenly be weak all of a sudden?" Tina stretched her arm a bit then looked around and noticed everyone else. "Huh? You guys..." Lina who have seen and helped the others before immediately recognized the others as well. I scratched my head and nervouslyughed. "It''s a bit of a long story." And so, I begin exining the situation to everyone. ... ... ... "I understand. No wonder you seemed different. No wonder it seems like the very strong power that seems to bind me to you seems to have disappeared as well," As nodded. "Don''t tell me you will attack us, As?" "No way, Master. Without you epting my offer forpanionship, I wouldn''t even get this strong in the first ce. All of my achievements have been fulfilled due to your help. I am not going to try and do something like that to my benefactor and I consider you as a friend as well as my Master. Even if you have reverted to your weaker self, I can easily tell you will, get back in shape and power sooner orter especially now that the aura that seems to surround you is now gone." "Aura?" I tilted my head. "Yes. This aura seems to emit something holy for some reason but I don''t feel safe on it. In fact, everyone you guys call "yers" including you all have this. It seems to restrain us a lot from using our abilities before and it was something that keeps us on edge for some reason. Now that it''s gone, we can now fully unleash our full potential. If Master wanted, we can help you guys raise your levels back to normal."I think you should take a look at "Thanks, As, but I think I will only call you and the others if something threatens us. Now that we got into our real bodies, we needed to make our bodies adapt to this world''s abilities and train them. Thanks to our experience in our previous identities, we will slowly adapt again to this life." As nodded. "Makes sense. Thank goodness you remained the same, Master. Since you have returned and will be staying with us for a long while, we wee you again as our Master. Now, we will not disturb any longer. I think you all should begin leveling up now. If what you guys said is true, then you better raise your level and recover all of your lost abilities as well." "Thanks again. Also, everyone, I am back." ... ... ... Renatta and the others couldn''t believe their eyes after my pets and familiars disappeared back to the Summon''s Area. "Wow...even in my wildest dreams, I wouldn''t consider finding someone of their caliber this easily, and yet, you just pulled them out and let them obey you without any consequences! Just how many surprises are you storing actually, Manato-san?!" Renatta was totally shocked. I can onlyugh a bit at Renatta''s shock. Maybe because I am so used to them, I don''t think it was weird to have them. "Still, I think the big guy''s words are true. We needed to recover our levels again. Therefore, we needed to start hunting now," Alena immediately shifted the topic back to our original n. "You are right. Well then, we should go and find ourselves a monster to kill, get materials, then earn some money to buy a piece of better equipment," Father nodded. "Then, should we team up?" "Yes. I think the fastest way for us to level up immediately should be heading into a dungeon." "Indeed. I think a dungeon does help with our initial problem. A single dungeon run can us plenty of monsters to kill and experiences will also flow properly to us. And since beginner dungeons are not even crowded due to them being beginner dungeons, I doubt they are being held by any yers." I nodded. Beginner dungeons are always barren and are always forgotten, making them overflowing with monsters. Therefore, it is a perfect ce for us to farm experience and level up without the need of us to head into the wilderness and search for monsters that might or might not appear whichpared to a dungeon, a monster will naturally spawn without a mistake. I know it since it was also one of my methods in leveling up in the past as well. "Alright. Let''s head to a dungeon. I know a ce where a dungeon is currently present and we can have an easy time finishing and gaining levels there as well." And so, we headed straight to the first dungeon in the beginner levels. Due to it being too obscured, it was always empty and beginner yers do not even know the existence of this ce especially with how low leveled the monsters here, they are not even caring about this dungeon and would just head straight to the next town''s dungeon. When we arrived there, it was indeed barren from yers and everyone was surprised to see this dungeon for the first time. "Wow, I didn''t know a dungeon like this existed here! We grinded a lot of times in this area before but to think a hidden dungeon like this existed..." Sora eximed. "Indeed. I didn''t even know this ce until now," Riko nodded as well. We tried entering the dungeon entrance but just like how in the past, we just can''t willy-nilly enter it. "So the system still works the same way as the Nexus huh?" "Yes. Just like I told you before, the Nexus is just replicating the real system here and since we are not affiliated with the Nexus''s system at all, everyone has gained them in the process." I nodded. Alright, we should clear this dungeon and reim our levels. Our aim is to clear this in Abyss Mode in the end. We train our bodies here, gather materials and grow strong enough that we don''t need to stay here any longer than usual." Our battles might have restarted, but we are never going to give up. Our n needed to seed. And I have to make sure of it. Chapter 852 Our Beginner Dungeon Run Once More ? We entered the dungeon. Just like before, we have to clear the first difficulty first, progress through every difficulty, then reach the final difficulty which would be the Abyss difficulty. "Just so you know, although we can safely die just like how you guys mentioned, we will bear a very heavy penalty after death. Unlike the Nexus where all of your deaths might have been trivial especially due to the Goddess of Life immediately creating a new body every death, if we die, we will have to endure the excruciating pain of revival as the difference between the Goddess of Life and Goddess of Death''s revival powers are different. Thetter would revive us by reconstructing back our dead bodies, but as a result, we will suffer all the pain and suffering our bodies would suffer during the repair period. Plus, the return is also a bit painful as well." "I think it is fine. In fact, I expected that we shouldn''t even consider dying here as we are now using our real bodies without any sort of protection from death. If we wanted to avoid getting to feel the pain, then we will just have to avoid death as much as we can," Pandora firmly said, giving others their confirmation as well. "Well said, Pandora. We needed to avoid death as much as possible. Let''s keep it in our mind that if we die, it''s game over, that way, we don''t rely on that we can get ourselves to be revived once we die," Rika added. "Heh, if we haven''t died for long when we were still using the virtual bodies, then we would also never die with our own bodies," Riko put both her hands on her waist and act confident. "Ha, don''t be too easygoing on this. Until we get our proper gear, we needed to be careful, alright? Now, let''s get inside." We entered the beginner dungeon. Unlike the Nexus system, we do not receive any indication of name that we are in a dungeon or just a new area. But I can tell that this is the same dungeon as in the past timeline. "What kind of dungeon this is, Manato?" "This is called the Treasure Dungeon. It''s designed for beginner practice levels for dungeon exploration. Treasure chests are plenty in this dungeon and drops of small HP potions and small MP potions are good here and we can sometimes find some sack of bronze and silver coins here though that is pretty low chances. There are also some trinkets that are valuable to traders so it''s also quite amazing for a beginner dungeon. The only problem with the dungeon is that, due to the ce being filled with treasure chests, Mimics resides here and disguises itself as a normal treasure chest, ready to attack any unsuspecting treasure hunters. Slimes are also present here as well, making them perfect targets and their cores sell for quite a bit of money as well. But the enemies change every time the difficulty is ramped up." "Mimics huh? That''s good. Mimics give a hefty amount of money and experience when killed. We should hurry and find one first!" Riko happily leads the way. Just like what Riko said, the mimics here offer a fair bit of danger but they offer big experience points for beginners with the money drop being pretty great as well. And so, we fought the first difficulty of the dungeon and cleared it in a few minutes. Because the enemies are not even that many in the beginning and we only got one mimic, we got more loot than monsters instead. Since there were not many highlights in battle, I couldn''t tell much except we just walk through the whole dungeon and mopped the first boss which didn''t feel much. So after the dissatisfaction everyone had, we went to the next difficulty. As I said before, the difficulty ramps up so when we entered, the monsters are not as casual as before and the drop significantly increased as well. Not only that but we also saw significant danger on the mimics as well. But due to the number of monsters present in the area as well as the number of mimics we encountered, we have managed to level up to level 2. As I said before, due to the low number of monsters present in the first difficulty, it wasn''t enough to level up in the first ce. The best difficulty to level up properly would be in Abyss Difficulty as the number of monsters is enough for all of us to gain at least 10 levels before we head to another area. "Damn, I think I underestimated the enemies. I think the monsters are much more dangerous than before," Riko is catching her breath after ourst encounter with the current dungeon boss. "Come on, Riko. I know you are not used to using normal attacks since you specialize in magic before but I think you have to get used to it before you learn magic spells," Rika gives advice to Riko. We have yet to learn our skills after our level-up. Unlike during the first system, we don''t have the free SP points that we get for the first time to learn at least 4 1-point skills to help with our progression making the second difficulty a bit harder to deal with to those who are more skill-rted sses user before, namely Riko and Sora. But that will change now that we have our first SP after we level up.I think you should take a look at We didn''t immediately choose our new skills because we will have to think hard about what we will grab as a skill. Whether we first get a passive skill. Since the next difficulty will be really difficult due to our low level and we will have to rely on our new skills to get by and we will have to stay there for a while before we tackle the next difficulty. "Should we get a passive first or should we get an active skill first?" Akira is pondering over what he should get. "Are you still going to the route of going into a pdin?" Rika asked. "Yes. It''s the only y style I am morefortable with and I promised to be my sister''s shield while she will be the one to attack the enemies, so to fulfill that, I will be her shield like always." "It''s a tough decision to learn new skills and even though we also have this problem before but I didn''t think we will be experiencing this again," Labo smiled as he picked one skill he wanted to use. "True, but I suggest that we pick the skills that you guys are morefortable with for the first time. Don''t take the skills that you don''t know the effects of or you don''t know how to use. We only go to other skills that we have not learned if we are sure that we can now defend ourselves properly and we could now experiment," Renatta suggested. I also nodded as well. After all, what we needed is something of utility and not just for fun usage. I opened my skill tree as well and just like what I expected, all 1 SP skill can be selected to learn and due to the number of skills that are scattered in all skill trees present in my skill tree, I wanted to check where are the skills that are pretty easy for me right now. But then, I suddenly stumbled on the skills that are rted to Necromancy. I know I have these skills in my deheart character but to see it here, I wasn''t expecting it. Not only that, but they are all learned skills. They are not greyed out like the rest and they are not glowing like the other skills that I have yet to learn, they only have still color on them and I can use them. "[Summon: Skeleton]" The moment I uttered those words, a simr portal that looked like the portal to the Summon''s Area appeared but it is clearly different and I have seen this before. The portal where all of the Skeletons I summoned before currently appeared before me. And to my surprise, a familiar Skeleton Knight appeared before me. "Woah, woah Manato! Necromancy? And a Skeleton Knight to boot?! Isn''t that a tier 4 Necromancy skill?!" Rika frowned. "I agree. I have seen this skill before as some people I know have this skill as well. But I remember it clearly that you need a corpse of a monster to summon a skeleton or a skeleton knight first. Howe Manato can summon one without the need for a catalyst?" Alena frowned. "Eh? Did it need a catalyst when using these skills? Then howe Manato summons skeletons like nothing? I have seen him use it multiple times without the need for any corpses," Pandora frowned as she recalled the times I summoned skeletons to fight for us before so she knew about it. Still, does that mean the Necromancy Book that I have before still has an effect on me? And it wasn''t bound on my deheart character but on me instead? Chapter 853 The Reappearance of the Titles 853 The Reappearance of the Titles Necromancy. It is one of the Alternate World''s normal sses and is said to be connected to the Goddess of Death. Although not sure whether it is true or not, the ability to control the dead to your bidding is something that is not just considered to be in the teachings of the goddess of life, but also quite frowned upon by many who believed the goddess of life. I have gained a skill book rted to the Necromancy ss tree and it unlocks many stuff rted to it that was not present in the original Necromancer tree. And one of them is retaining the summoned skeletons and any summoned ghouls and zombies at their disposal anytime they want and reusing them in any fight, allowing the summoned monsters to actually gain a level and get strong if they survived long enough. But that should have stayed in my deheart persona and not on this current one. So getting actually having the skill tree unlock and the abilities from the skill book retained, that only means, the skill tree was not character-bound but locked to myself. But learning this, also means the majority of my skills learned right now are all about necromancy. "Manato, what is happening?" Riko asked me and everyone looked at me with a questioning look. "Look, let me exin." ... ... ... "So in short, a book detailing how to properly utilize the power of the Necromancer skills? That''s pretty neat. And the fact that it does not need to use corpses to summon one is also a lot more convenient. And since this skeleton of yours is strong enough, we can easily breeze through hard content easily," Riko nodded in understanding. "I can''t believe that you have this kind of convenient skills already present in your arsenal. Does that mean you will go full necromancer this time?" Mother asked. "No. I will still continue to do a Versatile ss. I won''t master any skill tree but I will utilize all of the skills avable in my disposal." Because weck a dedicated healer for us right now, I decided to grab the [Heal] skill. "Alright, let''s go and do the dungeon run once more." And so, we continue to do another dungeon run and proceed on it again and again. It took a bit of time since the monsters are not consistent. We just ensured that everyone reaches level 5 before we head to the next dungeon. It''s long and arduous but I continue to do so. Once every one of us reaches level 5, we started learning new skills once again. Everyone has finally shaped up their preferred ystyle. Riko and Sora have also regained their control in the battle as well since they also learned offensive skills rted to magic now, allowing them to be more functional as well. We are still not that strong but we are getting there. However, something was suddenly added to the panel after we hit level 5. And that is the Titles tab. Like before, this button is going to lead my panel to the ce where all of the earned titles of a person will appear. "Oh, I forgot about this, but it does unlock at level 5. However, what does this actually do? I don''t have any idea what it does and I never actually unlocked anything that seems to affect me entirely," Renatta tilted her head and then turned to Labo and Alena. "We have these as well, and unlike Renatta, we do have some titles present in ours here. It seems to have stayed even though we have our levels reset." And as the two smiled, their titles appeared above their names which is disyed whenever they wanted their status to be seen by others. "[His Dear Wife]" "[Her Dear Husband]" Seeing this, Renatta couldn''t believe it and started sulking. "Seriously? Am I the only one who didn''t get any sort of title at all?" While everyone is checking out if they have their titles as well, I opened up the title tab as well and the moment I opened it up, the titles that I earned that were considered Unique titles all are present in there as well. Although I see a few missing titles did not make it, most of the titles that were considered to be more valuable are present as well. And since the effects do not just get limited to me, these will be a valuable feature at our disposal for us to immediately level up. I stood up and looked at everyone. "Alright, I think that''s enough talk, we should go ahead and go to the next difficulty. I think we are all ready." This is where the dungeon gets interesting. As I said before, most enemies present are just slimes and mimics. But this time, we will be able to ess the hidden area in this difficulty. And it''s vital for our making the experience points of everyone shot up straight to level 10 once we are on the way to the Abyss Difficulty. ... ... ... And so, we continue to fight the dungeon monsters. With the expertise of everyone and the defensive maneuvers done by Akira followed by the aggressive approach of my father, Pandora, and Mr. Teddy, and with the constant fire of magic by everyone, it didn''t take us long to partially clear the dungeon. While we are proceeding like usual, I stopped everyone when we arrived at the intersection of the dungeon that leads to two separate areas with one being a dead end and the other one being the real road toward the final boss. Generally, we would have continued on our way to the final boss, but not this time. After all, this will be vital in our quick experience n and also one of the reasons why we have to rack up a lot of money from the Mimics and treasures along the way, to prepare for this encounter. "Let''s head into the dead end first," I grinned and pointed into the way where it was considered to be empty in the first few difficulties. "Is there anything special here, Master? It seems you have some kind of n in here," Pixie tilted her head as she rest on my shoulders. "Yes. And it''s only essible in Hard difficulty and above. Which is why I didn''t say anything during our previous dungeon runs. But this time, we will be taking some shortcuts on our experience gain which we needed immediately so that we can head to the Capital City as soon as possible." "Is it some secret area, Son?" Father got curious. I nodded in response as we soon get on a view of someone currently carrying a few boxes while some pile of gold and treasure is currently sitting behind a chair and a table. "A goblin?" Sora who got really good eyesight after her eyes were cured immediately identifies the individual we will be meeting. "Oya, oya. It seems I have some dear customers. Wee, wee. Are you all there to purchase something? My goods are all top quality ones. Have a look! Have a look!" the goblin smiled like a merchant with both his hands rubbing together, a sign of a typical merchant. His stall is not adorned much but due to the gold and treasures behind him, everyone''s eyes are not focused on his dingy store but more on the treasure behind him. I step up and decided to deal with this. Because if we are not careful, we will be taken advantage of by this guy and scam us with our money. "We wanted to take all of your wares. Don''t worry, we will pay." The goblin raised his eyebrow before he put down a few stuff. I grab a few of the items on the table before leaning a bit and giving off a bloodlust aura. For a goblin like him who does not know how to fight, a little bit of aura is enough to intimidate him. "Didn''t I say all of your stuff? Bring it out, now!" "Aah! Yes, yes! Right away, right away, good sir!" The goblin started panicking and opened one of the boxes he has with various items, weapons, some essories plus various scrolls as well. "Here are your selections dear customers. All the best quality. You won''t regret every coin spent here, yes, yes!" I grab the weapons and tossed them in the direction of everyone who needed them. I also handed a few essories and some items as well. Of course, I took a look at the various scrolls as well. After all, what I am currently looking for is a scroll. "You got more of these scrolls in your stock?" "Yes, yes!" the goblin is still intimidated by my previous bloodlust release and didn''t hesitate to bring out all scrolls he has avable. The moment I saw the shining scroll, I immediately grab it without a second thought and look into it. And that''s when I grinned. I got the jackpot. Chapter 854 The Abyss Difficulty [I] ?An error urred while reading the file: Could not find file ''/data//panda_novel_py/used_emails.txt''. When we finished the shopping, the goblin is almost out of stuff to sell but he didn''tin as he got a lot of money in the end as we got many treasures and money paid as well. Thanks to our previous runs, we rack up a lot of money in the end, allowing us to be able to afford stuff. And since we pooled all of our money in one ce, we can share all of the expenses during the buyout. As a result of our shopping, we got multiple scrolls plus the scroll that I am looking forward to getting as well. We also got better gearpared to our beginner items as well, allowing us to be better equipped for the next difficulty. "Should we use some of the scrolls we have right now?" Mother asked as we are marching to the final boss of the dungeon. "No, Mom. We save it up in the Abyss Difficulty. That way, we won''t be at a loss in the end and we can take advantage of it to save some mana as well. It''s beneficial for us to clear the Abyss Difficulty with little trouble. It''ll make the run much easier and faster as well." Hearing my exnation, everyone agreed as well. Knowing the experience in the Abyss Dungeon, everyone can agree that the faster the clear in the Abyss Dungeon, the less headache you will get in the process. We still making good progress on our battles and our battles has been progressively smooth. Might be because most of the enemies I killed have died so fast due to the Versatile Weapon''s stats. My power is higher than everyone else due to this weapon''s insane stats making me feel like a few levels higher than them. And because they don''t like me destroying every enemy in one go like nothing, and they barely get any contribution and they can barely fight, I only do the bare minimum most of the time and only assist in healing them. I do agree with them though as it is a bit boring indeed to one-shot enemies without much trouble even though our reason for keeping on fighting in dungeons is to get used to the fighting once more using our real bodies in the process. Oh, and by the way, due to the reappearance of the titles, the effects of the title, [Death''s Favorite] also took effect which increased our experience points quite faster than expected as well. After we cleared Very Hard and Hell Mode, we shot up to level 10 pretty easily. And once we reached level 10, the stat distribution management was unlocked. "I don''t know what is happening but why is the stat management locked at level 10? Shouldn''t we have this stuff already during the very beginning?" Riko scratches her head as she looked at Renatta for an exnation. "Don''t me me, I am just using how the original system works for us. I didn''t know this thing is already possible in level 1," Renatta shrugged. The other elves shrugged as well as they also think it is normal to unlock that feature at level 10. "Wow, seriously? I think I was totally taking it for granted when Nexus was still the system we had. You guys have it hard," Riko was surprised but she didn''t further the discussion instead, trying to ensure the three elves are not offended in any manner. "Well, it''s still a bit better system than the Nexus one. These stat panels are less in clutter and are more organized. The Nexus one is packed in one go so it''s pretty much a lot of stuff," Rika immediately defended the current system instead. "In any case, we should start distributing our points properly. We don''t want ourselves in a bad situationter on." Everyone nodded and we opened our stat panels and fiddle on them. As for me, I just put down two points in each parameter. I am a jack of all trades so being bnced on everything will help me out. Besides, most of my stats are reliant on the Versatile Weapon''s stat increases anyways so it doesn''t really matter. "Everyone ready? We will now head to the final difficulty. We would have stopped going here once we reached level 10 but we already hit level 10 before we can even enter Abyss Mode. It''s a waste not pushing through this, leaving after everything," I looked at everyone while I am fiddling with the dungeon settings. "We should just finish it up. I don''t want to leave things half-assed anyways," my Father who liked toplete everything is now pumped up. "Alright then. Looks like all are ready to go. Now, we shall dive to the Abyss!" The eerie-looking portal appeared, showing us the dungeon''s abyss floor. Once it fully formed, everyone jumped inside the portal and entered the final difficulty.I think you should take a look at ... ... ... Landing on the ground, everyone stood up as we ready our weapons since the slimes has already gathered around. "It would have been much better if we don''t drop from the sky if we entered the Abyss Mode difficulty but sad that it is a mechanic of the Abyss Mode," Riko sighed as she wipe off the dust on her butt. "We can worry about thatter. Ready up your weapons! The slimes are closing in!" Pandora alerted everyone as the slimes are now encroaching on us inrge numbers. Compared to the increase in previous difficulties, the increase in Abyss Mode is much more noticeable. We just spawned in and dozens of slimes are alreadying in. I pulled out the scroll that I bought before from the goblin merchant and immediately tear it to pieces, allowing me and the others to receive the effects the scroll have. "Son, what was that scroll that you just tear to pieces?" Father asked. "EXP multiplier effect. During our entire time in this dungeon, all of our experience gains will increase significantly. If webine it with my title effects, we can potentially reach level 15 or even 20 if we are lucky after this battle!" Hearing that, everyone gained vigor as everyone enters battle stance. Who wouldn''t be happy if their level is now ready to reach a higher state? Because the number of slimes present is now muchrgerpared to before, everyone has no more qualms about me attacking and killing slimes instantly. After all, everyone has now their fair share of enemies to kill while I also have the same amount as them. The slimes are vulnerable to magic so sting them with [Fireball] a few times destroys all of them. Like always, I still managed to one-shot them just like before but with their numbers, it doesn''t even matter. We continue moving while we also continue killing slimes. We are moving slowerpared to before since we have to y slimes while moving around. Due to the slimes swarming all over, it''s taking time to deal with all of them. Continuously killing the slimes over and over, everyone started glowing signifying we have increased in one level. We still continue to fight the slimes and deal with them as we go. We even reached the point that we barely grab any of the [Slime Balls] that they dropped as loot as our inventory is already overflowing with them. Everyone is having fun killing slimes now though so I guess it is fine. I can also notice that they are slowly getting back on their track as well since Riko and Rika are now back to their maniacal states of sting everything using fire. My parents became quite a duo in dealing with the slimes, Mr. Teddy being a total martial artist by releasing countless punches on the enemies, the siblings with the brother being a perfect shield while the sister wiping out enemies harming her brother, while Pandora returned slowly to her original y style. If she regains back the [Chains of the Heavens] soon, she will surely be back to her groove and a way to fight. As for the new fighters on our side, the elves are what I call quite amazing in what they can do. Renatta and Alena are both quite capable of using archery. Seeing them precisely striking the slime''s weak points in quick session, I can only say I am jealous of how quick they are in using bows as they can even rival someone who wields a gun in a gunfight. Labo on the other hand utilizes nature as a Druid and is extremely capable of dealing damage to enemies like a real druid. I am even taking notes on my mind on how he was doing things using the Druid ss. It didn''t take us long to reach level 12 but we barely moved from our spot as we continue to fight tons of slimes. Despite my one-shot capabilities, the amount of slime is much higher than I thought it should have. I am quite sure they aren''t this many and the number of slimes present I originally thought the Abyss Mode have have already exceeded with my kills and I am still killing them with no end in sight. I don''t know what is the case and I think we are holding fine. But this isn''t what I have in mind when dealing with Abyss Mode. Does that mean, this is the real Abyss Mode now that the safety gears from Nexus Company was released? Chapter 855 The Abyss Difficulty [II] ?An error urred while reading the file: Could not find file ''/data//panda_novel_py/used_emails.txt''. "There are lesser slimes now further into the dungeon but that doesn''t mean they are totally gone after they have all swarmed us all like that. Still much betterpared to swarming since we can properly move now without being cornered with the slime''s corrosive liquids," Akira sighed as he flicks away the excess slime goo off his shield. "Yeah. It''s a bit tiresome indeed. But are all Abyss Dungeons like this before? I don''t think I have experienced any sort of simr nature in the past. We surely have cleared multiple Abyss Dungeons before so there''s no way we will be mistaken," Rika also noticed the changes. "I think so too as well. I could understand the increase of the enemies but the amount of enemies we have been encountering so far is just exceeding far more than what I thought this dungeon can contain. The number of we have killed slimes made me think we have already found the habitat of slimes," Riko also flicks off the slime goo on her staff and her clothes too. "So I was not the only one who noticed their abnormal increase huh?" my words immediately caused them to ask me about it. "It wasn''t just our imagination about the increase?" "Yep. The number is definitely higher than the estimate I have. I have cleared this Abyss Dungeon a few times in the past so I know how many slimes and other monsters are usually present on average every time I enter a dungeon. But today, the number clearly surpassed the average amount, and it made me totally surprised as welL," I told everyone and even though I didn''t clear this dungeon before in this current lifetime, I did indeed clear this dungeon multiple times in the other timeline, so it''s still technically not a lie that I cleared this ce. We continue to push forward and find a few more slimes. Just like before, we have killed the slimes before they can be much of a problem. And as we continue to move, we soon found one Mimic present in the area. "Guys, don''t approach the chest. That was a mimic," I warned everyone before they rush themselves toward the trap. "Eh? How did you know?" Riko frowned. It seems she hasn''t noticed the difference. "Look. That chest is unusually big and look at that red appendage that looks like a cloth hanging out on the chest opening part, that''s clearly its tongue. Besides, I saw it move a bit earlier before we got near. That''s definitely a mimic." "Wah, what a cunning guy," Riko shook her head before she started casting [Fireball] and immediately fired off multiple of them in the process straight to the Mimic. The moment the [Fireball] hits the mimic pretending to be a treasure chest, the disguise was off and the mimic started to move. "Get ready! Riko, get ready to st this thing to pieces!" "Of course!" And all of us started to attack the Mimic. Because a mimic is tougher than average, it took us a few more hits before the mimic is gone. But the moment it died, everyone including me started glowing up thrice, showing that we have leveled up to level 15 in the process. "Wow, holy crap. We just leveled up to level 15 all of a sudden! Are the experience gained on killing slimes increased this much?" Rika was surprised as well. "Not only that, look, the items dropped from the Mimic''s corpse are also quite a treat as well! Look at this stuff and money! It''s a pretty loaded f*cker!" Riko then showed the amount of good stuff the monster dropped including one of the Magician Robes that has some decent good stats. Sora examined the robe to see if it was good enough for her but after seeing the stats, she sighed and walked away in disappointment. "It''s a good robe, but its stats are not that noteworthypared to the robe we are currently wearing already," Sora sighed. "Yeah, I know that, But this thing has some extra stats. Selling this to the market will us a good amount of coins as well. It might not be useful for us in terms ofbat-rted stuff but the amount of good stuff we can get if they keep dropping stuff like this. We will be loaded enough once we go back to the Capital City and retrieve our stuffter on," Riko grinned. "Wow, seriously, Riko? We don''t really need that much stuff in the end, as we have already stored up all our money in the mansion. There''s no need for that much excess of money," I tried to keep Riko cool but Riko just grinned and startedughing. "Heh, you are naive Manato. Money makes us motivated to go on. So this thing is nothing much. Besides, we should keep earning money and not rely on our old money stash. The more money we have, the better now that we are living here in this world." My mother and father also gave their thumbs up as well, agreeing with Riko''s words. "Alright, fine. You guys should have it I guess. Anyways, don''t be too greedy alright?" We continue to move when the Versatile Weapon suddenly gave me another sudden surge of power. Then, the shadow dragon started speaking to me in my mind once more. "Yo, owner. The weapon of the sin [Sloth] is fully digested now. Check out my stats, you will like the increase so much." Compared to the stats and panel announcements, I was surprised that the Shadow Dragon is the one who started interacting with me, revealing the digested food was finally done. I thought the weapon wouldn''t be done digesting that weapon just yet, but it seems the metabolism of this guy has increased for the weapon to digest so fast. --------------------------------- [Blood Covered and Sinful Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 49,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +2000 AGI: +2000 DEX: +2000 END: +2000I think you should take a look at INT: +2000 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. It can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. It can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. 16. Song of the Sloth: (Sloth''s Exclusive Skill): ys music that calms the nerves of the enemies who can hear the melody. Allies will be buffed in various effects depending on how long the song has been ying while enemies will get debuffed more the longer the song ys. The enemies will enter a passive state that even normal attacks will not cause them to activate their lethal phase, allowing for a safe attack process. However, ying this song will make the user vulnerable to attacks and the music cannot be stopped until the piece that has been ying has ended. Ensure the user has a backup when fighting. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Special Note: After the restrictions have been lifted, its true power has been slowly unleashed. Even the creature sleeping inside is starting to grow stronger as well. No one knows whether it is a bad thing or a good thing. One thing is for sure, the weapon is getting stronger before we know it. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: Manato Tsukasa Durability: Null ------------------------------- My eyes went wide. The name that this weapon should be bound with has changed. If I remember it correctly, it should be bound to my Nexus character, deheart. But now, the name has changed and it is now bound to my own name. "[But of course, you are still the rightful owner, so naturally, I will update it as well. deheart and you, Manato are the same person after all.]" the shadow dragon spoke as he proudly exined the change. It''s a minor change but that only made it clear, that this weapon will never go away from me even if I changed characters. It''s mine and mine alone. Chapter 856 The Abyss Difficulty [III] ? I didn''t realize the changes in the Versatile Weapon. In fact, the weapon''s name has changed and is now disyed as Blood Covered and Sinful Versatile Weapon. I think I can see why it got a new name just like that. With this weapon devouring at least 3 weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series, I can say that it''s very close topleting the weapon series ending up on its bottomless stomach. Checking on the new skill of the weapon, it seems the Sloth exclusive skill was a buffing skill. I thought it would be control but it was more of a beneficial continuous buff. It''s a very good skill as it buffs the party members while giving debuffs to enemies who can hear the song. It''s a little too good. And the caveat on this skill is not much of a problem as well even though it leaves me vulnerable while the skill is active and even though it cannot be canceled, this skill is considerably quite powerful in teamy, and in case I don''t want to fight much and prefer to go full support. I want to keep on looking at the new features of the weapon but I don''t have much time and we are currently on the move so I will just wait untilter. We make a move on to the next set of slimes as they ambush us near the final boss room. They are like mucus of phlegm stuck on the walls as they continue to divide themselves from the big mucus on the wall and attack us, making a seemingly infinite slime. "Riko, Sora, focus your fire on the big slime mucus on the wall, we will handle the ones that attack us. If we don''t destroy that thing on the wall, we will not be done with this." "Roger that!" the two then started sting their me magic to the mucus. Although it''s not as strong as their previous spells, they are still proficient in dealing damage using their magic spells and I must say they are basically more adept at using magic than me. We continue to st through all of the slimes attacking and although it''s a bit annoying that they keep on attacking, we don''t feel bad much about killing them. Not only do they supply our experience bar but they also drop money and that''s all good. I didn''t notice how many attacks Sora and Riko did to destroy the mucus but in a few moments after I ordered them to do so, the mucus on the wall starts to dry up and every slime that was attacking us also dried out before dying. "Damn, although all of them are just slimes, they are still pretty annoying. My mana has been drained for quite a bit and I don''t think I am liking it," Riko shakes her head. "Ugh...I feel a bit lightheaded..." Sora shakes her head, looks like they run out of mana and are feeling bad in the head. "Drink some MP potions guys. Just bear with us a little longer and we will be done with this soon." "Ugh...I miss those potions of yours, Manato. These generic Mp potions are very disgusting to drink. I don''t know why the original makers of the MP potions did not even bother to give it a slight change of vor for at least a little bit so that the consumer does not feel bad drinking one," Riko sighed and gulped down in one go the MP potion despite her protest of drinking it. "Well, we just needed to endure. Once we are done leveling, we can go and reim those stuff we had back home and we will be good to go." The two nodded and although they have already recovered, they still hated the aftertaste. "Son, we are done gathering the materials. Should I hold them for now?" my mother asked. "Yes. Just keep it still for now. We will use those after we are done with the dungeon." Since we have done all of the stuff we needed to do, everyone started to inspect their armor and weapons in case they are on the verge of breaking. We also begin began drinking a few drinks that give us slight buffs and also heal us to ensure the next boss battle will be a smooth one. We also give instructions to the elves on how to do the preparations before the boss room so that they don''t get overwhelmed. ording to Renatta, they have not done any kind of stuff like this before so this is a new experience even for them. "Alright. Is everyone ready? Are potions ready? Are all weapons ready? Skills already good to go?" "Yep, we just needed to blitz through all of this and we will be done!" Riko is excited. "Then, I will be exining the boss room. Although we have defeated the boss countless times in previous difficulties, the boss in the Abyss Difficulty changed, and it''s no longer the Great Mimic. This time, we will be dealing with a boss called Mummy of the King of Treasures. Although he is not a troublesome boss, this guy summons multiple Great Mimics at his disposal, making him annoying to fight as we have to kill the boss while also killing multiple Great Mimics. It''s straightforward but will take a bit of time. Still, it''s not going to be too bad as everyone has dealt with enemies before like him, yeah?" "Another annoying boss again? Well, I am used to the enemies in the dungeons but there should be some bosses that have no annoying mechanics at least," Rika sighed. "Does the Great Mimic still gives experience if killed?" Akira asked. "As far as I can remember, no. This is counted as a summon from the boss so unless the boss is killed, we won''t receive any experience points from killing the Great Mimics." "Ugh, great. Those kinds of bosses huh? Then, we should head in now. I don''t like it if we stay longer than usual with these kinds of bosses," even my father who is usually patient sighed after hearing it. Since everyone is ready, I slowly push the door open that will lead us to the boss''s room.I think you should take a look at The boss room is the same as the rooms we entered before. The only difference is that instead of a big treasure chest sitting in the middle of the room, a big sarcophagus is sitting there, giving an ominous vibe to the surroundings. "Alright, get everyone ready to attack. I will be opening the sarcophagus and once the boss is awake, don''t hesitate to start releasing your skills that can deal all strong damages. We needed to ensure the boss will immediately be damaged before it summons Great Mimics in session. I then ordered everyone to move to their respective positions so that when they deal their strongest attacks, they can easily maneuver close, and then move out of the way once they are done. "Get ready, I will open it in three, two, one!" I started pushing the cover of the Sarcophagus. It''s not heavy like most coffins which is why, I have a smoother time opening it up. WOOOSH! A ck smoke immediately got released as the Sarcophagus is fully open. I also pulled out my weapon and ready myself. "It''sing! Ready to attack!" The ck smoke slowly formed into a solid form and soon, revealed the mummified boss. ---------------------- [Mummy of the King of Treasures] Level 15 HP: 20,000/20,000 Type: Undead ------------------------ "Attack!" All of us simultaneously attacked. None of us just stood still, we attacked it to ensure everyone got to hit it. And as soon as everyone has dealt their attacks with little damage to the boss, I swing my Versatile Weapon, down to the mummy, ending its career before it can even properly do anything thanks to my high attack. One single swing is enough for the boss to die. The boss screamed in agony before its body disappeared into the mist. As soon as he died, everyone including myself glows signifying that we have leveled up. Looking at my level, we have achieved the level 20 threshold that I nned to reach. "Wow, so the main purpose of our pep talk earlier is just to introduce us to this boss and not for the preparation for the fight?" Riko scratches her head. "Sorry to disappoint, Riko but the faster the boss dies, the sooner we will be done in here. That way, we can move to the more difficult dungeonster on. We don''t need to waste a little time here with that boss." "Well, at least everything is done then. We should collect our loot and we should head to the Capital as soon as possible," Rika stretches her body and put her Magic Sword on her hip. In the end, the Abyss Dungeon difficulty wasn''t that difficult due to how I killed the boss in one hit. But hey, at least we can now head to the Capital without the problem of being taken advantage of once we are now in there. Next stop, to the Capital. Chapter 857 Nobuhikos Chagrin ? Back in the Nexus Company, Nobuhiko sat down on his office chair and snap his fingers, allowing his servant, Zero, to pour wine on a wine ss and hand it over to him. "Can you give me a definite status on Tsukasa Manato, Zero?" Nobuhiko leans on his office chair to rx his head after the frustrating oue. "His ount named "deheart" has been fully terminated and any records detailing his movements or even remnants of the user are all gone like they were deleted in the database without any sort of way to recover them. Even the backup data we have on him is also deleted as well, which means we have no more ess and connection to him at all." "Fully terminated I see. No wonder my ability didn''t work. It seems he already deleted it beforehand before he raided this ce. What about the bound weapon that should be with him? I heard he still uses it during the time when he was still called deheart. I am sure that thing won''t be deleted immediately as I made use of that thing as ast resort in case things failed again this time." Zero sighed and ryed another piece of information to Nobuhiko. "The weapon that should be bound on him was also cut off the moment the ount deletion also happened. And based on our records, it seems the weapon he was wielding the entire time was not even the weapon you gave to him due to some kind of error. When the system processed it, the weapon was no longer the same weapon you prepared but it seems the weapon he was using is mimicking the same properties as the bound weapon and that is the main reason we have no problems with it. It is revealed now that something caused the previous weapon you prepare to be reced by something." "Reced? I am quite sure that the weapon will not be deleted no matter what and it will remain to the user. That is also the main reason I allowed him to inject that damn thing into his body so that it will remain in his body for years toe as insurance since this is ourst time loop!" Zero went quiet with that and didn''t say anything to Nobuhiko fuming in anger. "Fine. Then, what about the otherpanions of Manato? I am quite sure he has a few people in him that he maintains a close rtionship with within the game and in the real world. We can use them and we can take advantage of their abilities as well." Zero shook her head and ryed the new information as well. "Just like the data of deheart, all of the other data rted to the people who are a close acquaintance of Manato in the real world and in the Alternate World has been deleted without a means to be recovered at all. We even have their families on the leash to ensure that they will be obeying our whims in the process but it seems those things were useless as the parents and their family members seem to be heavily disliked by those individuals, making our n a failure as well." "What about Manato''s parents? We already sent out a team to take them, where are they now?" "ording to the intel we got, it seems the team that we have sent has been annihted and the only one who survived the ordeal was the operator of that team at that time and she was found tied up inside the basement of the house that Manato''s parents owned. We got her testimony on how they were annihted and she said that a young man obliterated everything and has taken her hostage as a result. She was tortured for information and although she managed to withhold most information, it seems something was done to her while she was gone cold which is most likely mind-reading. Nobuhiko can no longer hold himself and throw the wine ss into the wall, destroying it in the process. His anger made him facepalm in the end, gritting his teeth. "Hey, Zero. Is it really impossible to repair or make another time looping device again?" Nobuhiko asked, seemingly defeated and tired. "Yes. The source of the time looping activities we have done so far is already exhausted and the device cannot be repaired or replicated, making this ourst and final time loop. Our final destination and our final conclusion. In short, this is yourst chance to find the Tree of Life." "Ugh! F*CK! WHY DOES ALL OF MY PLANS KEEP FAILING?! I EVEN CAUSED SOMEONE TO TIMELOOP SOMEONE WHO CAN DIRECTLY OPPOSE ON MY PLANS! WAS I WRONG ABOUT MY JUDGEMENT?" "No, all of your ns are wless and your judgment is spot on. Manato is indeed the right person you have chosen, but it seems he encountered something in the process that caused him to break the chains and rebel. It must be the one interfering and stopping you from finding that Tree of Life in the process as well," Zero exined. "So you are saying that the main reason why things got f*cked up in the current situation is because of the fateful encounter that Manato encountered?" "Possible. And my first suspect of all of this is none other than the goddess of death. After all, she was the only one who directly defies and stop the rule of the Goddess of Life. Her interference is the most likely cause of why Manato is now rebelling and is ruining your ns." "The Goddess of Death again? Even though she was already sealed, she still managed to make things worse for me. How can I even let the Goddess of Life recover if she keeps interfering with the situation again and again? Things are looking hopeless right now. If only I could time loop once more..." "I don''t think it is that bad just yet. The situation might be in a bad situation right now but it is still salvageable and things can still be set properly in your favor. You shouldn''t give up right away. And besides, you have the blessings of the Goddess of Life. Believe in her and perhaps a miracle will be bestowed to you. After all, you are her disciple and I doubt she will put an inconvenience for you and will instead help you. Be sure to do things that can stop whatever Manato Tsukasa is nning." "I see. Indeed, things have yet gone south and I can still do things that Manato didn''t know I was capable of. Perhaps, it is time to ensure that we will find the damnable tree and revive the Goddess of Life back to her splendor once more." "Yes. And I believe you can do it. I have been your assistant ever since the very first loop and I believe that you have the power to change the situation pretty easily, you just made bad decisions before but since you have a lot of knowledge from all the time loop that has happened, I don''t think you will be having a hard time with the situation. Compared to a guy who experienced the loop once against you who experienced it multiple times? I can say that your advantage is big enough. Just use it properly and you will win this." Hearing this, Nobuhiko grinned. "Thanks Zero. Even though I just made you a prototype and slowly improved you as time goes on every loop, you have been there for me, and thanks to your words, I think I am now set on what I should do next. They might be ahead of the game for now, but I will soon catch up. Alright Zero, prepare the guy who we managed to recruit. Although he is not the same as deheart, I can see his potential and his usefulness. Make sure he will obey and make sure that he will never disobey us. After all, sess is needed to be done as soon as possible." ... ... ... While Nobuhiko and Zero continue their discussion, Janus who was left behind ever since the incident has been confused. Just what does Manato mean in his words? And what does he mean Nobuhiko is a dangerous man? For Janus, Nobuhiko helped his sister recover and that alone is worth getting a repayment from him, whether it is a job or anything, as long as he can repay the services of healing his sister is done, then he will make sure that it is carried out. Still, Janus felt something is wrong but he couldn''t properly pinpoint what it was, making him anxious about what is going on. But then, Zero entered the room and gave him a helmet to wear. "Well then, Mr. Janus. Since you have fully been ustomed here, you will need to prepare for it. Now, wear the helmet and wait for a bit." As Janus puts on the helmet, Janus didn''t see the hand of Zero push a button and soon an incident urred. "AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!" The screams of Janus are ominous. However, it seems the situation will be much more ominous than it ever be. Chapter 858 Reclamation Of The Mansion ? Using the pets of Pandora, Alpha, and Beta, we have pushed through the path toward the Capital City. Thankfully, we didn''t encounter the Gate Guardian as that would make us waste more time. It''s good that it''s gone now, though. When we are almost at the gates, we immediately have to avoid contact with the other yers. Not only do they have some surveince in Nexus, we just don''t want the Nexus to catch the wind on us. Luckily for us, there are barely any yers exiting and entering the gates. I still warned everyone to at least take caution in case some people take notice of us. Since we didn''t have much baggage and we paid for the toll, we were able to enter safely without the need for any kind of trouble. It''s nice that things are not that troublesome for us. The moment we passed through the checkpoint, we immediately rush towards the mansion without hesitation. The elves followed us as well as they don''t know where we are going except for the destination''s name which is my mansion. When we arrived, we can still hear the tinkering of the hammer in the smithy. Compared to the smell back when I was still deheart, the smell of the ironworks is much stronger than before. I grab the handle of the gate of the mansion. Since I put a protection spell before that will deflect any intruders in the process if they try to enter in any way without my permission, I was a bit afraid the gate will reject me. But the moment I held the gate...nothing happened. I even tried to do it again and again in case things were not working well. Seeing that it allowed my presence in, it seems the ownership remained to be mine. I opened the gate, allowing everyone to enter the mansion grounds. The hammering also stopped, which means Almira who was busy earlier has stopped working. When everyone is inside the gate and I have closed it again, the door on Almira''s workshop opened and it revealed Almira wearing a sweatshirt and baggy pants. The apron she used and the gloves she was wearing are all in her left hand, as she went outside to check the people who went in. As soon as her eyesnded on us, she frowned and she immediately went an offensive stance. "Who are you, people? How did you all get in without the owner''s permission?!" Almira is ready to go and smack some heads if necessary. "Woah there, calm down Master. It''s us, we just returned. Don''t get hostile on us, please." Almira was startled after hearing my voice and approached me, with a big frown on her face. "deheart? Is that you?" "The very same, though I abandoned the name deheart already as that was my alias. I am now called Manato. We are back now." "Really? Wait, you guys might be impostors, show me something that will convince me that you are indeed deheart before." I nodded and pulled out the Versatile Weapon. "Here, check it out. You have seen my weapon before, I doubt you will still suspect me as an impostor with that," then I handed her the Versatile Weapon. She inspected the weapon from its intricates and also on its status panel as well. "Can you show me the main ability that is unique to this weapon?" I grab the Versatile Weapon and freely changed its form to any weapon I wish it would be which then solidifies that I am indeed deheart. "It''s indeed you. But...I am quite sure you are quite strong before, howe you seemed like you have gotten a lot weaker than you use to be? Also, your face has changed as well. I saw your face before, it''s not like this. What is going on? Can you go ahead and exin everything to me?" "Yes, yes. But first, let''s get inside the mansion for now. We have to avoid the prying eyes of the public for now. ... ... ... Almira closed down her shop before she decided to talk with us. Currently, I am handing them new weapons and armor appropriate for their levels and equipping them. I have plenty of them stored in the mansion as a means to recycle them forter but soon scrapped the idea as I go on and produce more high-level quality items. They might not have worn theirst outfits which helps determine who they were before right now, but with their new looks, it is clear that they have been carrying the same demeanor as they were before when they used theirst bodies. And besides, she noticed Riko immediately since Riko didn''t change her face that much when she was still using her avatar as Dolly. I also started exining stuff, to Almira so that she is not out of the loop as well and well, she didn''t expect the situation as well. "Crazy. I thought only the stories in literary works and fiction would something like this happen but it is happening right now to the people like you. As someone who has seen many crazy things, this one is more crazier than I thought." "See, which is why I didn''t expect you to believe us right away," Rika chuckled. "But I will. You, people, have been my customer in some repairs and stuff and you can say that you all are my patrons even though you barely use any of my works due to how frequently this guy makes stuff that I am not opposed to, but knowing you all, I know you guys are not the type to lie on their situation and to also power down just to escape something like that, that takes real dedication as well, which is why, I can see you all making a decision as well." Almira then turned to look at the elves with a slight nce at Pixie sitting on Renatta''s hair. "You three are elves huh? It''s been some time since I have seen one before. I bet you all are also looking for the people you guys have separated from, yes? I think I can tell you some information I got but I am not sure if it was real news or not and you guys might need to take it with just a grain of salt. ording to the info, I heard some elves are currently seen before due to the recent war they have been having with the Lycanthrope tribe. Right now, I heard they are currently going to ask for help with the Dark Elves as the situation is a bit harder to deal with as well." "Huh?! Where? Can you tell me the location?" Renatta stood up, surprised but intrigued at the information. "Just wait a minute as well, you guys will have to be careful as well. ording to my sources, it seems the Lycanthrope tribe has fallen under the bewitching stance and I think I have also got a theory on what is happening there as well. Manato is your real name, right? Yeah, seeing the Versatile Weapon''s state and the weapons you guys have swallowed, I think this will give you quite an interest." "What do you mean? I frowned." "Check the Versatile Weapon''s skills that are gained from devouring, I think I have info on something that will change the state ofpleteness to the skill number 14." I turned to look at the skill 14 that she was talking about. I wasn''t paying attention to their numbering which is why I wasn''t aware much of what skill was she talking about. ---------------------------------- [Blood Covered and Sinful Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 40 [EXP: 49,000/150,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +2000 AGI: +2000 DEX: +2000 END: +2000 INT: +2000 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. It can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. It can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. 16. Song of the Sloth: (Sloth''s Exclusive Skill): ys music that calms the nerves of the enemies who can hear the melody. Allies will be buffed in various effects depending on how long the song has been ying while enemies will get debuffed more the longer the song ys. The enemies will enter a passive state that even normal attacks will not cause them to activate their lethal phase, allowing for a safe attack process. However, ying this song will make the user vulnerable to attacks and the music cannot be stopped until the piece that has been ying has ended. Ensure the user has a backup when fighting. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Special Note: After the restrictions have been lifted, its true power has been slowly unleashed. Even the creature sleeping inside is starting to grow stronger as well. No one knows whether it is a bad thing or a good thing. One thing is for sure, the weapon is getting stronger before we know it. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: Manato Tsukasa Durability: Null ------------------------------ "The [Devouring Hunger]? What of it?" I turned to look at her. "I think there is something simr to that weapon currently being used by the chieftain of the tribe since I heard the guy has started to devour anything gourmet nowadays and it was pretty sudden. After all, he wasn''t like that before. Not only that, but it seems his wife has changed as well." "So you are saying..." "Yep. A new weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins series has fallen into the wrong hands once again. I think you should reim it while it hasn''t bare its fangs too much." Chapter 859 Relocation Planning ? Aside from the information she gave me about my weapon''s way of collecting the Seven Deadly Sins weapons, Almira also ryed an important bit of information. "Although I am not too sure about this bit of information, ording to some people, someone from the Dark Elves tribe has the information regarding the location of the Tree of Life. Although the Dark Elves are much more elusivepared to the normal elves, having the elves with you will solve your problems as they are capable of knowing whether an area is tampered with by elven magic. Since Dark Elves still use normal Elf Magic, they are easily noticed and detected by normal elves." "Is it that worse of a situation that the elves have to seek cooperation with the dark elves in a battle against the Lycanthrope tribe? The elfmunity is strong enough to not even ask for help from allies for a long time since I was with ourmunity," Renatta asked. "The answer is yes. If it is indeed easy, then the situation would''ve been solved by the elves themselves since like you just said, they are a strong race that is capable of doing extraordinary things normal humans are not that capable of doing. But due to the circumstances and some hidden factors, I don''t know, there might be more reasons as to why the situation is happening," Almira shrugged, not knowing the rest of the answers. "That''s good info. I thought we wouldn''t even get any kind of information for quite some time. It''s a good start, to begin with." "As I said before, take that information with a grain of salt. There''s no guarantee the information is indeed a real deal. Just so you know, although the Tree of Life is known to exist in this world, its something that has been hidden and cannot be located that easily since ording to those who have been able to visit the ce in ident, it changes ces and it never stays in one ce, making the tree so hard to even find in the first ce. Only lucky people or should I say, the chosen ones can even find it, so this is a close to impossible mission, Manato." "Yes. I know that. However, we have to find it first and defend it to the one who ns to use it for his own good and harms the world in the process. Even if I don''t know the main reason for his actions, he is clearly wanting of doing something to cause chaos in the first ce." "Indeed. Which is why, I will propose something." "Huh?" I was surprised. Almira is very much a pessimistic person so seeing her suggest something that we didn''t suggest quite a bit of a big surprise. "This proposal is something I have thought of making but I don''t have your permission, though I was going to ask you for permission to do it." "What''s this all about?" "You see, after I saw your mansion, I got the urge to create it a walking mansion. The design of this ce is perfect for that. It''s like the same legend of the walking castle in one children''s storybook but this time, I wanted to make it a reality. Seeing as you guys are always gonna be on the move always, how about we convert this ce into a walking mansion?" Hearing this idea, the one who likes crazy ideas, Riko seems to have already agreed to the n as she immediately joined in the discussion. "A walking mansion? Hey, I like that crazy idea! If it is you, Almira-chan, you can really do it if you want to!" "Heh, thanks for agreeing with me. But stop adding chan to my name, I am older than you." "Eh, don''t be shy. Besides, our ages are not that far apart, and you are not that old yet, it''s a big fine O-K!" Riko grinned with her hand gesturing to the Ok sign. Almira can only shake her head and returned her attention to me once more. "So, how about it? Of course, I won''t force you but I want to at least hear your decision." Iughed at the proposal, but it was not something funny in the slightest. In fact, it is an absurd but brilliant idea. After all, since Alternate World is a big ce, we will have to jump from ce to ce just to find the traces of the tree which will naturally cause me to abandon this ce in the process. With Almira''s proposal, not only will it allow me to keep using the mansion in the process, but we also have a home to go back into once we are done with the search, and with it walking around, this will allow us to reach ces we have not even visited before. "It''s an absurd idea, but I didn''t dislike it. In fact, I like this idea a lot. But, there is one w." "A w?" Almira frowned. "If we n to use this mansion as a walking mansion that can traverse into different areas, that must also mean it will garner attention to many people and that will also include the attention of the enemy that we are trying to hide from as well." "Oh, you mean the visibility... Well, you have a point with that but it''s not that big of a problem as that can be easily solved with some magic, right?" she then turned to look at the elves. Alena nodded in response. "Yes. The elves are capable of making things disappear and make an illusion for those who cannot see them or even hear them. This is why it is hard to find the Elves unless they are invited or are apanied by an elf. If what you needed is an illusion to hide it, consulting the elves in our formermunity is the best way to get a hold of it." "There you go. So, how about it? Do you still feel it''s not worth it?" Hearing that exnation and solution, I am impressed as I didn''t think Almira would immediately get a solution to a problem I pointed out. Not only that, but this will also make our purpose of looking for the elves more important as well aside from finding out whether there is indeed someone who knows the location of the tree or the traces of the weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series. "Alright, it seems you convinced me well this time around. With that said, does that mean you will be getting a lot of materials to make the stuff?" "Yes. But I have an idea already and I think it will be enough to cover all of the costs. It''s not much but it will be good enough as well. But if you and the others are all willing to help out, I will not reject it. After all, materials are materials no matter where they came from and with you all who know how to hoard materials, I can see that you would just start mining here and there and gather up the materials before we know it." I wasn''t expecting this level of nning from Almira. I know she can do things beyond weapons and armor, but to this extent, I think she knows more than I just thought. As expected of my mentor, she is not someone to be trifled with. "Anyways, you guys should have a good rest. You all went in some fights, right? Just call for Gobu''s wife to do some of the tasks and she will be doing it. As for me, I will be starting the n as soon as possible." And with that, Almira left as she started to draw some ns for the mansion''s upgrade. I also told everyone to rx now and also get some good rest. We have recovered most of the stuff we got and we are no longer broke. We might have started again and we are back to square one but we will continue to improve our chances to win. Since the elves are in need of help, this will be a good chance to repay all of the things Renatta, Labo, and Alena have done for us. Without them, we will still be stuck in the n of Nobuhiko and we will be constantly on the run form. I might not have expected much on this but I think I will have to ensure that the Nexus monitoring system will not be able to spot us. I went back to my belongings and soon stumbled on the wolf mask. The first item that remained in my head after so long. And although I don''t need to keep my face hidden anymore, I think this is something I also wanted as well. After all, this mask has been something of a signature to me. A mask I used to hide my face and what was hidden beneath. But I think it is a pretty rad kind of a mask. Chapter 860 Recovering The Lost Levels [I] ? It still feels surreal that we are now living here in Alternate World, not as a yer but as a denizen here for the time being. It felt like we just got isekaied on purpose. But this is for the safety of everyone and to also prevent whatever Nobuhiko is nning. If he is willing to resort to any unconventional means just to make sure that he can obtain his goal, it''s clear that he just wanted to do something for himself that would potentially harm the world. But this is just hurting my brain even more. I decided to just rest and have some good sleep. Since this world is going to be the world we will be living in until the time we will reach the end of our journey, then, I will have to ensure that I enjoy my life here. "Ha, you keep thinking things that are moreplicated than the world''s problems yet from the looks of it, it''s just a simple problem that anyone can easily solve. Why would you rather suffer more then?" Cath Palug appeared as he exited the Summon''s Area. "Hey, who said that you can just go out freely like this?" I frowned. "Ha, and who said I can''t? I may have been sealed by the damnable Merlin in this form but I can still do what I wanted to do so don''t be too quick on judging things like that. Besides, I just came out and didn''t do anything. Don''t assume I will immediately do something troublesome. I also like to rx as well." I only shook my head. Even though this guy is pretty tame, the moment he will go back to his tendencies, I will not hesitate to let the Shadow Dragon eat this guy. "You are looking for the Tree of Life huh? I didn''t know that tree wille to action once again after all the years have passed. You, humans, are still primeval people back then and don''t know jack sh*t yet but this tree seems to be the one causing troubles back then that even the two gods start to fight each other for it." "Two gods?" I frowned. This is new information for me. "Yep. The goddess of life and the goddess of death. Both tried to fight each other but for different reasons." "Wait, wait, I thought the tree was made by the Goddess of Life?" "She made it? Ha, as if. All that I know is that the tree existed even before the Primordial times, it''s even older than me. And it existed before the two goddesses as well." "Tell me more!" I urged Cath Palug to tell me more information. "Nah, toozy. I will go and sleep for now. If you want to know more, then wait until I am good to narrate once more. For now, that information stays in me until then." After that, Cath Palug left the room, possibly to find a better ce to sleep, leaving me pondering on the new situation. ... ... ... ... ... The next morning, I felt my whole body refreshed. It was like I slept much betterpared to before. I stretch around and went down to go to the kitchen. I don''t know how big the impact on me is, losing the high-level ex-job that helps me in cooking. There are a few ingredients that Gobu''s wife collected and bought from the market so the container is pretty much full of good stuff. And so, I started cooking without the need for those Ex-Jobs. But it turns out to bepletely fine. Even without it, the food I made came out fine and delicious. As a result of my cooking that morning, everyone came down to eat breakfast as well. Even Almira who usually sleeps prettyte and wakes up prettyte as well woke up and joined us for the meal. I didn''t forget to also feed everyone in the Summon''s Area. Aside from my pets who went outside to eat, the rest are eating the food I made. Even the Cult Leader that I defeated before is eating with her brother now and I am fine with that. While eating, I decided to discuss the matter with our levels. "Alright, time to address this now. Everyone seems to have gotten used to their bodies in fighting right? Then, I think we should earn back our levels once more and reach level 300 once again." "It''s going to be an arduous task, Manato. Just remember that we have spent 4 years before we reached those levels," Pandora who is quiet before started to discuss things with us now. "Yes, I know. But we are not going to just fight somewhere and level up. We will be recovering all of them without wasting 4 years." "Don''t tell me, we will be farming on the dark sea then?" Riko guessed. "Yep. With the monsters there is pretty much an experience trove and also a treasure trove as well, farming there will allow us to quickly climb back up on our previous selves." "But Manato, Dark Sea is pretty much a dangerous ce for us, especially in our levels, we will die in one hit there!" Father objects. "I know, which is why we will be utilizing the power of all of my followers and pets. With them, we can rx and farm until we get to a high level enough for us to do it ourselves." "So boosting? We will have to level boosting to finish it?" Riko asked. "That''s the best way. We will level fast enough with our current levels so it won''t take us long to reach level 200 or more in a few hours." Plus, due to my title, all of my party members will get the effects as well and will be able to quickly level up soon. "It''s not a bad n. Not only will this allow us to be strong, but we will also be able to have an easy time with our people as well. Elves only recognize people and humans who are capable or stronger than them. If not for our experiences back in your homeworld, we wouldn''t be this open-minded and we will remain as the elves who only acknowledge the strong," Labo added. "Elves were like that? You guys seemed nice to us, howe I only knew after this?" Rika asked and nces at Renatta whom she has been the longest out of the three. "Well, Labo is indeed right. We acknowledge the strong. Even for me as well. Though it all changed as that was a very unhealthy mindset after realizing it." "Wow, seriously, Renatta-chan? I didn''t know that. Is it because of Manato you guys were fine?" "Yes. Because Manato showed prowess and capability, I believed and agreed to get help from him. If not, I might have left after you guys rescued me, which would have been a very bad decision for us. If I have done that, I might not even be able to return to my homeworld." I was surprised at Renatta''s revtion but knowing this is good enough to know. Since we are still weak right now, we will indeed need the operation to recover our strength and abilities. "So, now that we have discussed this matter, is anyone who doesn''t want to do this and decline? After breakfast, we will be heading to the dark sea soon." Everyone stayed quiet and everyone agreed. "Then, let''s finish eating so that we can go and finish our situation as soon as possible. We have a quest to finish." ... ... ... ... ... Just like our n, we are going to power boost our levels so that we reach level 200 and above so that we can recover our former strength. With Leona as our "vehicle", we entered the Luminous Continent and headed to the secret area where the Dark Sea is located and the ce where the enemies are strong and the drops and experience points gained from killing one monster are enough to level fast. Almira left since she is already past level 300 already which is why she has no interest in leveling up. Instead, she gave us a task to gather materials to use for the uing project. With the monsters dropping various materials here, she just asked the right people who will gather these materials for free. "Everyone, we will be counting on you all." "We will not disappoint Master. We will ensure the safety of everyone while you all will regain the levels that you all lost," As bowed down. "You will not be disappointed, Master! We will repay all the effort you have given to us to reach these heights," Lina also bowed down as well. I then turned to everyone. "Alright, for this to work, everyone has to attack the monsters once using the stones that you guys pick on the ground. They deal 0 to 1 damage to enemies so they don''t cause much trouble for you all like being targeted. Once you guys have thrown the rocks at the enemies, the rest will do their jobs." Everyone picked up rocks for them to use. Now, we will begin our job at recovering our levels. Chapter 861 Recovering The Lost Levels [II] ? The first wave started and the monsters started to climb up from the water to the shore. "Ugh, even though they are supposed to be sea monsters, they still looked like spiders which is pretty disgusting..." Riko throws off a rock to a nearby monster before it was sliced by As''s sword. "Just think of them as things that needed to be killed and you won''t think too much of them being disgusting. Instead, you should be happy that something you hate is being destroyed," Rika shook her head before she throws her rocks as well. That''s how everyone is doing it casually, while my followers are doing the work. I know I am giving them a lot of work but this still helps them gain some levels slowly as well. And while mypanions are relying on my followers to get experience points, I, on the other hand, am killing monsters without the help of my followers or pets. Although I am lower leveled like the others, my attack power remained the same as most of my stats areing from the Versatile Weapon itself. Even if I am on level 1, I can still beat enemies in one shot due to the Versatile Weapon alone, allowing me to level up a lot faster. I just killed 5 of these monsters and my level just jumped straight from level 20 to level 105 already. Quite fast, right? Indeed, it is fast. But that is a necessary speed. The faster I regained all of my levels lost, the better. Aside from me, everyone is also getting their levels slowly. They are slowly regaining the power they lost and everyone continued to take advantage of the protection from my Followers to fight the enemies. The monsters are dying left and right, even the desert wolves are having so much fun toying the monsters around, making this seemingly like a fun beach episode, though the difference is that, we are killing monsters instead of swimming in the waters. Besides, who would want to swim in the waters full of monsters ready to devour and invade? We continue to fight more of the monsters one by one and soon, the first wave was over. "How are the levels, everyone? Anyone who has yet to reach the level 100 threshold yet?" Seeing that no one is answering, it means everyone broke the level 100 threshold. "Alright. Seeing no one is below level 100, then for the next 9 waves, let''s aim to level 200." We only got a few minutes of break every wave and since I let the setting of the waves temporarily stop after 10 waves, this is basically going to be a survival battle until the end of the 10th wave. Pandora seems to have bought a few skills already and when the next wave started, the usual gold chains appeared and she gave the rocks she was holding to Riko and the Rika as she decided to resort to her gold chains. "Ooh, looks like Pandora is getting back on her groove. She is already turning into her old self once again!" Rika happily pointed it out to Riko who was focused on throwing rocks. "That''s why we have to hurry up and regain our levels. Once I hit past level 150, I can now learn my explosives spells once again," Riko grinned, not determined to regain her spells. My parents are also doing great as well. With how the two are sharing their rocks, I can tell, they are currently betting who will hit the most enemies using the rocks my father was carrying. The siblings are also doing fine. They both have steady precision, though I would give it to Sora as she was hitting those monsters squarely in the face every time and the monsters get momentarily stunned before attacking once again, showing that she had been precisely hitting the enemy''s weak point. Mr. Teddy is also doing great. Although his attacks were the same as Sora''s and stunning every monster that gets hit squarely on their weak points, the way Mr. Teddy is throwing the rocks is very close to how someone throws a ball with malicious intent. And every rock he throws gives out a whirring sound that I can hear every time he throws it. The elves are adapting fine but from the looks of it, they weren''t expecting so many enemies in one go in one area like this as they were pretty much shocked to see the monsters washing to the shore for quite a while now. Thankfully, they seemed to still think properly as they are using their arrows to rain it down on the enemies they kill. I thought Pixie would begging behind due to her small size and but no. She took advantage of her size, attached herself to As who does closebat attacks, and fire magic bullets on enemies that are close to As''s kill zone. Hitting them with her magic bullets, she gains enough experience points every time her targets from the magic bullets die from the hands of As. Soon, the second wave ended, then the third, and the fourth. Because most enemies from those waves are weak, they were easily killed. And from those challenges, we also got lots of loot. Most of them drop a lot of materials and they are easily gathered by us for fulfilling the request of Almira for materials for her big project. The metal drops are still the best here even though most enemies we are killing are basically hybrids of fishes and other sea creatures. But due to how they die quickly, they were a great source of material acquisition. But herees the next challenge. In wave 5, elite monsters appear and they drop lots of treasures when killed. But unlike the normal monsters, they don''t die just that easily. They are much more resilient and dangerous as well. However, everyone also has changed. Since we have leveled up, our powers are returning, and those skills we lost? It''s getting there. Because we have a bit more rxing preparation time before wave 5, everyone took advantage of this and bought all of their passives and skills that have been lost. I still didn''t waste my skill points at the moment and since this isn''t my nerfed version, I don''t know whether I have gained a lot of points to gain some new skills forter. For now, I decided to keep the passives and skills untilter and rely on the Versatile Weapon to fight and see how long the resilience of the weaponsts. "Prepare everyone, wave 5 is here..." Lina alerted everyone as big crab monsters climb up to the shore. We have defeated them beforest time so we are not that surprised but the elves who have yet to see these kinds of monstrosities were a bit shocked at the new monsters. Compared to everyone who is clearly excited about a crab hunt, the three were not sure about what they are seeing. "Let''s go!" Five of the crab monsters arrived on shore and everyone rush towards them. They are, after all, well sought after due to the fact that they are big crabs, and aside from materials, they also drop food ingredients that everyone wanted to obtain forter. They might be fearsome monsters from the eyes of the elves who have yet to see these spectacles before but for us who have seen these monsters over and over, we only see them as food sources or just materials in need of urgent harvesting. "Let''s cook these crabs in mes and let''s see whether we receive a cooked ingredient dropped!" Riko then throws offrge explosive attacks on the crabs. "I think you got something there, Riko-chan. I shall contribute as well and perhaps we might get some crab parts cooked!" Rika seems to be salivating as well while she charges up mes on her sword before waving it to the crabs. Because of everyone''s view of the crabs as food instead of an enemy, the shortest amount of time we spent in wave 5 was very fast to the point that I doubt whether what we just fought are normal monsters instead of elite monsters. I even saw the crabs start running away instead of attacking after seeing everyone eyeing up for them and instead of killing, the crabs left before they can do anything dangerous. And so, everyone continued to raise their levels and the monsters are progressively getting harder and more challenging while everyone is also getting stronger as well. They are also starting to equip their equipment as well. All of them are already returning to their old looks and with their armor and weapons equipped, everyone has joined in the battle and are now using their own weapons and skills instead of relying on the help of my followers. Just like that, we are almost back to level 200. Chapter 862 Recovering The Lost Levels [III] ? The Dark Sea is never a peaceful ce. Not once did this ce have been quiet and even when it didn''t have any monsters, it is clear that the peace here is just a fake facade below the dark ocean full of monsters. Right now, the monsters continue their attack. Like before, the monsters are countless in numbers and just looking at them will make you fear they would soon climb up from the barrier, break through it, then escape and destroy the world. We might just be destroying them without any problems right now but knowing that this is no longer a game, does that make the situation possible to happen? Still, I don''t know whether that will indeed happen. What I decided to do is to continue recovering the levels I lost. We already passed the 10th level not too long ago and right now, we are just clearing up the remnants of the monsters left after the 10th wave while the rest are resting. It was a hard fight and without everyone''s help, things would have been pretty bad. I toss the bottle of water to everyone after the battle, even my followers and pets included. "How''s everyone''s level? Is everyone in the level 200 threshold now?" I asked. "Looks like it. After we killed thest monster during the 10th wave, we received a lot of experience points in the process and that allowed us to reach level 200 as well." The desert wolves came back carrying the loot that the monsters dropped including the enhancement materials and the metals we needed for the upgrade. Compared to before when we almost had unlimited inventory space and infinite weight, right now, our inventory is pretty limited, weight limit is present and we have to n out whether we take the important stuff or leave things out. Thankfully, we have Leona, with whom I have fitted an inventory container with a pocket dimension inside. If not for Almira lending us the inventory container for us to carry the metals, we will have no chance of carrying these from her. After putting the items in the container, I noticed the elves are much quieter than usual. I don''t even think they are on their best behavior either. Curious as to why they seemed to have been down, I decided to check on them. I don''t want them to suddenly space out in the middle of the battle. It can be fatal. "You guys alright? You three seemed like you all are not okay right now," I asked as I sat down with them. "Ah, no worries, Manato. I just didn''t expect things to be this bad even here. Who would have thought something hellish like this exist in the corner of the world? I was quite sure they were just stories from our childhood but never thought it would be a real deal," Renatta answered as she sips her water bit by bit. "A real deal?" I frowned. "Well, some of the elves have made some tales about deep sea monsters and how most of the seas out in the world have hidden dangers of these monsters. They even gave some vivid descriptions which soon evolved as something to be used to scare kids. We didn''t think all of those tales were actually true and most of the descriptions they have done are a lot more tamer than how the monsters looked," Alena exined. So there were elves who explored outside their home as well and have returned bearing the tales of their journey. No wonder the elves might hold the information we needed and although it is still not pretty much a guarantee, it only gives us a little bit of hope that we have indeed managed to get something good on this one. "Are you guys sure you all are okay? You guys can sit this one out for a bit if you guys are notfortable?" "No, don''t worry about us. We just didn''t think things were this horrifying in the first ce. We can manage. Also, we don''t want to bete and be left behind from the leveling process." Then, Tina approached us. "Master, the tides are receding, it''s time for the 11th wave to begin." "Alright, we will being. Inform the others as well and prepare forbat." The three stood up as well, checking their bows if they are still fine. "You guys shouldn''t push yourselves too hard. It''s okay to take a break if you guys can''t stand the unspeakable horrors of the sea. Besides, it will only get much worseter on, so be prepared as those things will get much worse as time goes on." I am not joking since the waves of monsters climbing up would be stronger, they also get weirder and weirder as the waves of monsters progress. Much weirder than what we have right now. And so, I stood up and ready my weapons. This will be a troublesome fight until we reach level 300 soon. ... ... ... ... Wave 11 has started. And as I expected, the boss of Wave 10, a starfish-looking monster that has its arms as tentacles like an octopus became a normal mob in Wave 11. Hermit crabs started to appear as well and they are much tougher as well, making the situation really bad even for us. Even while fighting, I am also paying attention to everyone. "Akira! Block the left, Sora watch out from above and st it with your magic! Father, to your right! Mother, throw a few [Slow Agent Bottles] to Father''s left and slow down the enemies on their advance! Rika, take advantage of the enemies taking their aggro on both Father and Akira to wipe down a few of them. I will take care of the stragglers, Riko, conserve your mana, just because you have recovered your spell doesn''t mean your stats have caught up. Pixie, heal the wounded! Alena-san, Labo-san, Renatta, cover me, I will strike down the leader!" Everyone immediately followed my instructions and although it''s pretty chaotic, we are doing fine. Thanks to my followers, who have fought these monsters again and again before, they have basically memorized the movements of the monsters, allowing everyone to have a much easier time dealing with them. And due to their major help, we cleared wave 11 fast. But our rest are clearly not yet present as the moment wave 11 was done, wave 12 revs up, and throws over their monsters as well. "Wave 12 is starting! Don''t start rxing guys! We have yet to go out of the tide just yet!" "SH*T, SH*T, I HATE THIS WAVE SO MUCH! AAAAAAHHHH!" Riko, who hated spiders so much started releasing a st of magic to the monsters causing them to explode on contact. "Hey, keep it low, will ya?! They are flying all over the ce due to the explosion!" Rika angrily squeezes Riko''s cheeks to make her calm down from panicking. Well, I can''t me Riko who has arachnophobia to be truly afraid of enemies. They looked like spiders but they are more crabs that are hairy, making them look like giant spiders. And because they are spewing out some sticky stuff to enemies as well, they might as well be spiders in the sea. But officially, they are called [Corrupted Hairy Crab] and due to their numbers, they are considered to be pretty dangerous if not known early. "Riko, back off a bit and just support once you have calmed down. If possible, just remain in the back and just support us there so that you don''t have to be so near them during their attacks." "I understand. Sorry about this, Manato," Riko can only shake her head and as much as Riko felt bad, I don''t think Riko needed to apologize for her fears. Since we have reached the threshold of 200, the levels are a lot slower nowpared to before. The monster''s difficulty also served as a basis for whether they will offer big rewards or not. But thanks to the multiplier of my title that has its effects shared with everyone, we can safely say that the experience gained isn''t as bad as before. We just needed to defeat the enemies one by one and deal with them ordingly, gain momentum in battle, and ensure everyone does not necessarily have many problems either. After Wave 12, everyone is looking tired now, and even my followers are also showing signs of fatigue as well. But I can''t me them as wave 12 is a bit brutal for them. "Everyone back off, Leona, go and blow them away." Leona ps her wings and flies above the sky. Everyone went back to the area. "What are you doing, Manato?" my father asked, questioning about why I let Leona take over. "Wave 13 is a bit brutal and long. Everyone is tired, take advantage of this time to rest up and heal up your wounds. Stay healthy and make sure no one dies." Chapter 863 Recovering The Lost Levels [III] ? When Wave 12 ended, wave 13 immediately followed suit. Just like Wave 12, the monsters areing in groups, with the difference being that they are more numerous than before. I know I have defeated these waves multiple times, back in thest timeline, and in this timeline as well before the reset, but for some reason, I can''t shake the feeling that something is different. I can''t think too much about what it was but I am certain that there is something entirely new that I still can''t put my finger about. But it''s pointless to think what it was. We will have to survive this and take the long shortest time to level up. We don''t have much time and this is the only way. Wave 13 consists of more of the bigger variants of the starfish octopus monsters. The reason we call them that is because I can''t understand their names in the panels. They are distorted and it was like they got corrupted in the process so we decided to call them that. And besides, they are indeed like starfish but with tentacles like octopuses and can move like one, but the difference between the two is that this one is a star-shaped monster, the head is missing and seems to be grasping on the location of the ruckus and sounds,pared to the much cunning and smarter octopus monsters that can be troublesome if left alone. Thankfully, they are not together in battle, or else, this will be a bit troublesome. The Dark Sea is wide and multiple yers are also here, but they are mostly divided in ces to defend themselves. I don''t know what magic the guardian of this ce has done for he was able to do this, but this made our life easier without seeing the other yers who are also leveling up in the Dark Sea. "Manato! Catch!" my father tosses a big octopus-like monster in my direction that has lost two limbs already which might be my father''s doing. Without a second thought, I sliced the monster in half and destroyed it before it can regenerate its body parts. My father gave me a thumbs up before he tosses another one in my direction but before my sword can even slice it up, a golden chain pierces through the monster and tears it apart. I then saw Pandora smiling next to me which I didn''t notice as I am very focused on the battle. "Chill out, deheart, or should I keep calling you Manato-san?" Pandora smiled, which is pretty a bit uncanny for me especially with her voice being the voice of Sigma who I view to be a bit more masculinepared to Pandora who still remained as her frail self, only with the fragility of her body disappearing the moment she came to the Alternate World. "Manato is fine. My old name should remain as the relic of the Nexus past." "Nah, I suggest you don''t get rid of it. You are still deheart when I see you to be honest and how I still feel as Sigma even though I no longer resemble her." "I am not saying that I am getting rid of my deheart identity. But I am more of my own self right now rather than my online personality. You can say this is my true self now." "Hmm, is that so?" Pandora smiled before she waved her hand and two golden chains shot toward an iing monster, killing it in the process. "I still don''t see much difference between you and deheart, but we will see. Doesn''t make any difference that I like you just like before." She then moved away from me and continue her ughter spree. As for me, I was a bit stunned as that was very sudden. Was that an indirect confession or is it something else? I don''t know what to think about it but I am not sure whether she likes me as a friend or as a guy. Although I am confused, perhaps I should think about thatter. Now that wave 13 is almost over, wave 14 will being in soon and I have to ensure no one is totally injured or currently in need of immediate help. ... ... ... We soon passed the threshold of Wave 19 and the 20th wave is upon us. Almost everyone is exhausted as there are only a few resting times before we fight monsters once more. And aside from that, I also realized what this feeling I am getting at earlier was that the enemies were a lot tougher than they should be and a lot more numerous than I thought they should be. It''s not a big change that can affect us but it made the battles harder and now that we are using our real bodies and we finally cave in to our needs, keeping on fighting leads to fatigue which is why I decided that we will stop on the wave 20 and we go back to the surface. "Everyone, please hang in there if you are tired already. We are almost done. We will be stopping on wave 20 this time around." "Is that right? Looks like we will be getting a bit more of a good rest soon, let''s do this everyone!" Riko raised her staff which is followed by everyone cheering on as well. "But son, we still haven''t broken through level 300? We are still around the average of 210. Shouldn''t theter levels be much more rewarding?" my mother tilted her head. "Although that is true, our bodies have yet to fully give in to our previous bodies'' capabilities. Even right now, I am feeling a bit tired and sore in my body. Everyone might be the same right now. I don''t want everyone to suffer from those side effectster on just because we are rushing too much. We can stille back another day." "Now that you mention it, I feel a bit more tired than I used to be. I usually go wild most of the time but now, I feel a bit tired and I can''t fully properly do my usual way of doing things," Rika wiped off the sweat on her forehead. "Which is why we will stop at wave 20. As much as we have to level up, we should also rest up and also organize our statster on. We should go back in hereter on." "I agree. The more we are prepared and energized, the more things we can doter on," Pandora nodded in agreement. Then, Lina alongside As came alerted us of the arrival of wave 20 which is a boss. However, it seems what we faced before had changed. "Master, I don''t know what to say but this boss is a bit different than we should have faced before. I am just seeing it now!" As then points to the boss that is slowly surfacing from the water. "Lina, As, tell everyone to go far from the water, let theme here in safety. That thing is f*cking new..." I ordered as I stare at the monster. It is slowly rising up above the water to the surface, it would have been fine if it was big and if it was the same boss which was supposed to be the Shell Hermit. But the thing is...the monster appearing in front of us right now does not even resemble a Shell Hermit. In fact, it''s not even the same family. A monster with a glutinous body texture yet it looked like a big ball that ismon for kids to y with during their early childhood. It looked smooth but seeing the transparency of it reveals that it was a big creature. Its intestines are in full view like it was from some kind of anatomical model. Below this transparent ball, are the countless legs that look like frills from a dress, but with continuous lightning voltage running around them as they slowly move out of the water. At first, those lightning voltages looked like it was some kind of Christmas lights but upon closer inspection, they are just rapid electric current rapidly moving around causing light to show around them. It''s not a crab, and it''s not an octopus. Of course, it''s not a starfish as well but this is something that has yet to appear here in the Dark Sea as an enemy. "Oh sh*t...is that a jellyfish?" Riko couldn''t believe her eyes. Yes, a jellyfish. It doesn''t look threatening but due to its towering stature that is very simr to the tripods seen in the War of the Worlds movies and described in the books. The elves are already backing away seeing the monstrosity before them while the rest are just as baffled as me. However, I don''t have time to be amazed and mesmerized by the view of the new monster. It''s pretty clear that it wasn''t there just to reveal itself. Just like the monsters before, it came here to fight. "Ready your weapons. We are going to take this one down." Chapter 864 Man O War ? It''s a f*cking jellyfish. In my whole time in the Dark Sea, a jellyfish monster is thest creature in the ocean I would think that would be a boss here. Although there was a chance, I didn''t see any of it even when I reached the highest waves of monsters back then. Even the supposed wave 20 is not a jellyfish monster. But seeing our wave 20 jellyfish monster, made me wonder whether the enemies spawned here in the Dark Sea were notpletely scripted by thews of nature. "Manato, I am quite sure wave 20 is not a jellyfish... Should we engage or should we retreat?" Pandora asked, ready to ept the decision I will make. "Although I am not entirely sure about this guy, we will have to try it out. Check things out and see whether we can defeat it. If not, we retreat. That is our only option." Everyone nodded and put their weapons ready. We didn''t engage immediately but waited for the tentacle jellyfish to move. I also recalled my pets but kept the followers out in case things get dicey. I can just recall them if they are on the verge of dying. The jellyfish is a slow mover. It''s like it is moving one tentacle per 3 minutes, but I can also tell that this guy will be a huge pain in the *ss to beat up. Slow monsters have one thing inmon, they are pretty tanky, and in some rare cases, they are also pretty strong and their attacks hit like a truck. I don''t have any idea what attacks this guy can do but we will have to see whether everyone can defeat it or not. We also cannot see its status and name besides being big due to our distance. But it would be a bit hard for us as well to fight in close quarters as well so I have an idea to check out its name and its HP. "It''s moving a lot slower than expected, we should go and do the offensive first. Magicians, Rangers, and anyone who can deal with a ranged attack, use your strongest range attacks while keeping in distance. Akira, you deal with the iing attacks meant for the range attackers. Mom, Pixie, heal anyone who will get damaged if necessary. Ensure no one had their health drop to zero." The elves nodded and nock their bows ready and aimed the arrows at the jellyfish, then they started chanting an elvish chant which made the mana around us gather at the tip of their arrows. Sora and Riko started chanting as well while aiming their palms at the walking jellyfish with their strongest spells since those strong spells needed to use some chants to release. Akira readies his shield, keeping his [Attack Redirection] skill ready as well while Mother prepares the [Bottle of Goodness] to heal and buff while Pixie is waiting for injuries to appear as well. Tina alongside Cotton who also is learning to use some buff casting are currently releasing their powders to everyone, putting their buffs in enhanced mode to ensure the attacks of everyone who is going to fight will have a better impact on damage upon hit. I read my Versatile Weapon''s cannon form. The gun can be fired far but I doubt the bullet is able to reach that high if fired from where I stand right now toward the boss so a cannon is the best possible projectile I can use at the moment while I still have no skills that are actually meant for range attacks. As for everyone else who relies on melee attacks, they will be focusing on the tentacles and hope to at least damage them and cause the towering giant to fall down to the ground. "On my signal, 3, 2, 1! FIRE!" I then fired off the cannonball from my Versatile Weapon which is then followed by the arrows and magic spells fired off,nding straight into the blob of the jellyfish. As soon as it hits, the name and its panel appeared right before us. ---------------- [Man O'' War] Level: ????? HP: 1/1 Traits: ???, Invulnerable -------------------------------- My eyes went wide, after all, I have never expected the HP of this boss to be sitting in a single digit and it is the lowest digit aside from zero which is 1. Since it has a single HP, then it must be easily killed with one attack right? Nope. One of its traits is Invulnerable, a traitmon to bosses that has some kind of buff present in them during the first few hours but that is only present during quests and main bosses. During those times, they have some conditions that get them to be removed as a result but bosses who have this trait in the overworld are not something to be trifled with. Unless we know its weakness, then this boss is something that we cannot attack and fight normally. All of our attacks will not be showing any sort of damage to this boss. And seeing it with this trait alongside the fact that it has a single-digit HP, it''s clear that this boss cannot be killed by any normal means. "Manato... this isn''t good. Our attacks are not working!" I can totally see that. Seeing the boss just ignore all of our attacks, it was like the boss did not see us at all. I don''t know what to do about it but seeing its trait, there is no way we will defeat it. Well, aside from attacks that inflict instant death mechanics. I have a chance to deal instant death on an enemy but I don''t even see that working. "I think we should retreat." The boss is not showing any signs of aggression. In fact, it just ignored us, the attacks we used did not even faze the big monster. Even if it only has one HP, that only further cemented my theory that this boss cannot be killed by any means. If it can die in just one flick of a hand, then that would be some weak monster. Seeing it alive and well, I can see this monster remain strong and well even if it is literally bombarded with skills. "Are you sure about this? I mean, it only has 1 HP..." Riko tried to convince me to fight it but I insisted. "No. This boss is not something we can''t beat right now. Maybe in the future but now? Not possible, even with all of us ganging up on it. Let''s get back. It''s fortunate that this boss just shrugged off our attacks like nothing because if it responded, then we will be totally dead right now." Because of my decision, everyone has no choice but to retreat. They can only watch as we move away from the towering monster as we returned to the surface. ... ... ... ... "Ah, you mean the Man O'' War? Yeah, that thing is not something you guys can kill. Not even the strongest being in the world can''t beat it. It''s basically an immortal being. Don''t worry about it, it appears from time to time but it''s pretty docile and no one dies from it or has been reported to have died from engaging against it. But you guys should be the first people in this generation to have seen the ascension of the Man O'' War on the surface," The Automaton that I named Jim who watches and helps adventurers descend and ascend to the Dark Sea answered nonchntly, not even caring the presence of the towering monster. "Is it a regr urrence for this monster to go up to the surface?" "Not that regr but it does go up once in a while. It''s not prettymon but it''s something I see from time to time. Myst sighting of this big guy was 200 days ago." "So it''s not something we should be worried about then?" "Yep. And since you guys have seen it ignore your attacks and just remained in its neutral state, it''s best you guys should not bother fighting it if you meet it once more while fighting there. We have no records of its attacking, but there might be some chances that it will change and we will get the first few casualties from some people which might be you guys if you continue to fight it even though you guys can''t kill it." After our discussion with Jim, I sighed and watches as the towering monster Man O'' War slowly disappear on the horizon and slowly returned to the deepest parts of the waters. "I think it was a good decision that we didn''t fully engage in it. If it cannot be killed, then there is no way wasting our time there can actually do anything on it," my father approved of my decision of pulling off from the battle. I can only shrug at it. As much as I want to see it as nothing but a harmless creature, there must be a reason why it appeared before us all of a sudden. However, I don''t have much idea of what it does other than being a menacing guy. "Ugh, I am tired. Enough farming for the day, let''s go home." Yep, we should go back home for now, enough monster hunting for today. Chapter 865 Ruckus In The Capital ? After we retreated from the Dark Sea after our encounter with the Man O'' War, we returned to the mansion by riding on Leona''s back. Leona has a big back but it''s not enough for us to ride in one go so Imissioned Almira to create a little room that can be ced or removed from Leona''s back for us to stay while Leona is flying in the sky. Leona Airlines, in short. Everyone including myself now feels the fatigue building up in our bodies. It seems thatpared to our avatars, our natural bodies are having a bit more difficulty in things. "I think we f*cked up on this one. Not only do I feel sh*tty right now, but I also feel like I can''t move a muscle starting tomorrow...Ugh..." Riko leans on the wall and had an extensive tired look on her face. "Honestly, this is something we took for granted. We don''t use our bodies back then so we can do whatever we wanted a lot without feeling too fatigued. Even if we get the fatigue debuff, just a bit of rest would remove it immediately. That feeling before is different now. This is a real deal of fatigue from all the movements we did," Pandora tried to exin our circumstances. "Aren''t our avatars and real bodies connected before? Then howe our bodies seem to have not yet been ustomed to the situation? Shouldn''t we have adapted well to that?" Rika wondered and looked at the fairies. "Despite your avatars back then having more actions done for the past years, it still dependent on the system that regtes the feelings of tiredness, allowing you all to only feel a slight burden even if you guys have been wounded or are just tired and sleepy. That system is gone so even though your bodies are doing things like what you all have done before, you all will still feel the fatigue. All I can say is that we all should train ourselves and reorganize our bodies so that we don''t feel troubled like this in the future," Renatta answered the inquiries of Rika. "Then, this matter can be solved once we do some morning exercise routines then? Like daily dungeon dives and whatnot?" Father throws a suggestion to the elves. "Very possible. Our training back then was to explore and hunt in the forest before which is why we are able to properly use our bows with mastery. We can also properly move around forests without the need for guides. So perhaps that will work as well. And since all of your bodies are slowly adapting from the usual stuff, it won''t take long for everyone to fully use your bodies again just like before," Renatta concluded. "Ugh, I hated exercise, but if it means having fewer incidents like this in the future, I will do it. Can we do it now?" Riko tried moving but soon groaned in pain and slump back on her seat. "Does my healing helps relieve fatigue?" Pixie asked. "Doubt it, it only heals wounds and removes pain from the wounds themselves but fatigue can only be recovered by sleeping. Don''t bother doing it, you will just be wasting energy and mana in the process," Mother immediately interjects. Pixie floated back to Renatta''s shoulder with a disappointed look on her face. We continue a few discussions here and there including the appearance of the Man O'' War and some theories about it, but most of what we came out with are weird or just pure joke theories so there''s nothing too important to that. We just wanted to spend the rest of the trip a bit fun. But that was immediately interrupted when an explosion urred and that explosion came from the Capital''s centermost area. We can even see it while we are up in the sky and we are still seeing it in the distance. "What happened?" Riko was startled from her light nap after the explosion and checked out the scenery outside. "Someone or somebody is making some ruckus in the Capital. Perhaps a guild war or something?" I tried guessing. "Very likely. Guild wars are chaotic and remember the time you solo the guild wars before? You did it twice in fact," Rika recalled thest incidents when I was still deheart regarding some conflicts with some guilds. "Eh, I think what he did during the second one is not solo since he has to ask for help with Lina and As before," Riko is not convinced about my second solo guild war. "Doesn''t really matter much. Still, we needed to hurry and check out what is happening in the Capital. The mansion might be far from the main district of the Capital but if there is trouble, we needed to ensure it is protected. Not only that but we will also have to fetch back Lina''s mother as well," Rika suggested. "Agreed. It might be some kind of invasion. If things get bad, we will have to protect our precious home, no matter what it takes. Leona, go full speed ahead! Everyone, grab tight!" Leona ps her wings and elerated towards the Capital, as we try to know what happened. When we arrived at the mansion, Almira is currently standing in front of the mansion while staring at the explosion site. We can still see the smoke rising so we know that ce was the area the explosion earlier happened. "Master, what just happened? We were still on the way when that huge explosion urred," I rush to Almira''s side to ask her about the current situation. "No clue. I was busy hammering inside the workshop when that huge *ss explosion urred and shook the items hanging in the workshop. That''s why I am trying to figure out what happened while not leaving the mansion. Still, it must be some kind of battle happening as there are still some explosions happening from time to time and I can hear the cheers of some people. Not sure if that was real or not. How about you check it out?" Looks like checking the situation out is much better than asking someone who only sees the explosion in the distance. I checked with the others if they wanted to check the explosion site. I thought Riko woulde but she didn''t even though she wanted to do so because she is too pooped and would rather go and lie down on the bed rather than move. The only people who are willing to go with me are Father, Renatta, and Pandora with Pixie tagging along on Renatta''s shoulder. We rushed to the location and I can hear the noises of the people. It''s not the sound of cheering but the sound of panic and fear. It is totally clear that it''s not just normal violence guild wars that people watch are currently happening here but something else. "I am getting a bad vibe in this..." my father frowned as we go through the shortcuts to reach the center. Soon, we arrived and what we saw there is the wake of destruction. A few of the buildings have been destroyed. Dead bodies of yers and NPCs are lying around there as well. But that wasn''t the main center of the current situation. Before us are the yers challenging a man who looked like he was some kind of a mecha suit man. I am not sure what he was but he very much looked like he was going to show off his powers. I wanted to move forward and see the situation carefully but Pandora stopped me. "Let''s keep quiet in here and just observe in the distance. There is no point in looking at this situation. We are not yers here anymore. We are now considered inhabitants here, control yourself." Father nodded. "She is right, son. We better avoid trouble instead of inviting them to our doorstep. Let''s just continue to observe for now and retreat once we gathered enough info or if it gets dangerous." Although I wanted to check it out, I followed their advice and watched the situation unfold. The yers attacked the guy and the guy started fighting back. I can see that he is a yer and above his head is the indicator that he has been doing some yer Killings. As the crowd pulled away, I then noticed the big armor on the site of the explosion. I wasn''t expecting to see it as I never have seen it defeated but for the first time, someone killed the guardian who stops yer killings or any sort of crimes happening in the city or any neutral areas. If that was the case, this guy is very strong for him to be able to defeat the guardian himself. Does the explosion before was the reason the guardian is now dead? I don''t know myself. Then, one of the members of the opposing party shouted. "Kaisar! Stop it now! What are you doing?!" Kaisar? That''s actually Kaisar? Are they saying that guy was Kazuki himself? Chapter 866 First Leg ? I am quite sure Kazuki didn''t obtain any sort of armor in that kind in thest timeline so seeing him in a full mecha suit just didn''t look right to me. And for him to be wreaking havoc right now, I don''t like where this is going. "I needed to stop him." "Then what? Expose ourselves to the Nexus users? As much as you wanted to do so, we can''t afford to expose ourselves to dangers like this. We barely have been here in this world and have yet to fully ustom ourselves and yet you want to start jeopardizing ourselves here? Manato, think for a bit. If you stop him right now, you will be seen by the people, and Nexus will also notice you due to yourbat style. I know you want to do the right thing but right now, it''s better to turn a blind eye for now. Besides, the guy might be too overpowered at the moment, and perhaps that armor has had some hacks in them, and with you who just recently recovered partial of his lost levels, I doubt you will have any sort of ways to properly beat his hacks," Pandora berated me. "As much as I agree with you, Son. Pandora is right. With Nexus being part of this, we can''t afford to get revealed immediately. It''s best we go back to the mansion. It''s not our fight, Manato." Despite my protests, I decided to just let it go. I thought I have forgotten all of the atrocities that Kazuki did to me but I guess I am just keeping it deep in me but didn''t fully let it go. And today ignited my desire to break Kazuki. However, Father and Pandora are both right, I needed to prioritize the safety of everyone. After all, we are like fugitives in the Alternate World with every yer as the enemy''s surveince camera. I can only shake my head in disappointment and anger but for now, we will have to hide and make ourselves scarce. But until then, I will keep this anger within me before I let it all out in the future. And because we don''t have any more business there and we have a high risk of being spotted, we left the area and returned to the mansion. There, we saw Mr. Teddy and Akira helping each other carry the boxes of metal ore that Almira needed for her project. "Oh, you guys are back. So what was it? Is it something spectacr or what?" Almira asked. "Nothing much. Just someone I didn''t want to see." I am a bit tired and I didn''t bother to entertain everyone. I just went inside the mansion and headed to my room. The situation is pretty much something I want to mull over for a bit and as much as I want to beat up Kazuki right now, I have to keep myself a bit restrained on it. He might be the guy who ruined myst timeline future, but I must keep everyone safe from the Nexus and find the tree. Because of how tired I was, the moment I closed my eyes, I immediately fell asleep. ... ... ... ... When I woke up, its already afternoon. I am not sure how much time passed when I fell asleep. I stood up and put on my gear before going out of my room. I was expecting everyone has been up, but I guess most are too tired to even interrupt their sleep. Only a few are currently present here. I guess everyone who is not here is still sleeping soundly in their rooms. Anyways, I am hearing some loud noises happening outside and so I decided to check it out. There, I saw my Father, Mr. Teddy, Renatta, Labo, and Pandora currently gathered while not too far from them is Almira currently assembling a few stuff on the table she set up outside. "Oh, Apprentice, you are finally awake. Come, you have reset all of your masteries, right? I think it''s time you learn metalworking again. I will be teaching you while you help me with this. The faster we finish this, the better." "Eh? You still will teach me stuff?" I was surprised since Almira is usually too busy to even teach. I just lucked out before that I managed to be her student in the first ce. "Of course. With you here, not only my workload is lessened by a lot, but also I will gain a handy apprentice that can help me with smithing and metalworking in the future. I don''t want to deal with all the repairs and creation of armor and weapons for you all, I would rather spend my days hammering bit by bit and honing my skills rather than waste my time making weapons and armor for you all." Oh, so that was what she meant. Well, she is not wrong. With my help, her workload immediately gets pretty light. And besides, I also wanted to regain all of my skills as well so her personally teaching me is already a big win. Almira then looked at everyone as well. "You guys also wanted to learn stuff from me?" Father scratches his head. "Although I like to learn, I don''t think I have the creativity and patience to maintain this knowledge and put it to good use. I would just remain as a bystander for now." Mr. Teddy only shook his head. Pandora rubs her chin and seems to contemte her next choices. "I am interested in working with metals but I don''t n to specialize in it. So I will just be watching things," Renatta exined. "Is that so? Then feel free to watch and listen. Anyways, we should start assembling this. You should still learn a few skills that I didn''t previously teach you. Here are some of these. Now handle that part and we will start." I know this isn''t smithing rted and it''s more on metalworking but metalworking helps as well since some stuff that is needed to be made in some armor needed some decent knowledge in metalworking. I have decent knowledge about it due to my smithing profession before but I never actually got any EX Jobs rted to that so maybe getting Almira to teach me metalworking might allow me to increase my repertoire of expertise in the future. Almira''s work is the best even in metalworking. She has a knack for making different things in different items and in metals, this is honestly kind of amazing. With some of the instructions from Almira, I soon got a new mastery of Metalworking. "You already got the mastery? That''s good. That means you were actually learning from my teaching even though it was pretty half-*ssed. Anyways, now that you got the mastery, let''s finish assembling this leg, shall we?" As a result, we spent the whole night finishing up the leg. It was a massive leg and even I was surprised that only two people, me and Master, are the only people who made this. No one else helped, although they watched, they definitely didn''t help so I wasn''t expecting the end product to be this big. "Next up, we will have to dig up deep underground and attach this leg at the bottom of the mansion and ensure that they will work well when installed. But since this will be the first leg, we will have to repeat the work." "Since we used up all of the metal deposits and ores we got, that means we will have to gather more?" "Yep. That''s right. However, I won''t pressure you guys. I know you all are still adjusting so keep it cool for now. However, the sooner it is done, the better. So once you guys have gathered enough metal ore or more metals to use, give them to me and we will continue the production. Now, go and rest. You earned it." After that, Almira went inside the mansion and went inside her room. I also didn''t realize that everyone else is also back in their rooms as well. The only one who was left outside was Pandora who was currently drinking coffee and watching the moon in the sky. "You really work so hard today, I thought you would copse in the middle of working," Pandora smiled as she gave me a space to sit beside her on the bench. "Heh, I am not that frail to immediately copse. Anyways, why are you still here? Are you not tired from all the stuff we have finished doing today?" I asked. "Not really. In fact, I am happy that I am experiencing something pretty new to me. You can say that I tasted my freedom too much and that I am enjoying it too much as well." "Is that so? Like being able to properly speak and properly walk?" I asked. "Yes. Not only do I get to do many things I cannot do before, but I can now freely have a good chat with you as well and not just be limited to a sketchbook." She smiled at me before she watches the sky. Then, her expression gets serious. "Manato, are you perhaps hiding something from us?" Chapter 867 New Work In The New World ? Pandora''s question caught me off guard and was speechless after asking it to me. "Looks like I did hit something. You are indeed hiding something. I was just guessing but it seems you do have something you are hiding," Pandora furrowed her eyebrows. "I..." I can''t even say something to her about this. "It''s fine. People have secrets. And I think that is fine and all since everyone else, including me, also has some secrets we are hiding. But somehow, it seems like the secret you seemed to have been nervous about was rted to the Alternate World." I don''t know what to say. These secrets I have are something that I will have to carry until the end of my life and into the grave. I don''t want anyone else to know that the timeline has been changed and reveal it to everyone else. "I''m sorry, but these secrets of mine cannot be shared by anyone and I prefer it stays as my secret. Perhaps once everything is over and we have reached the end of our journey, perhaps, I might have the courage to reveal it someday. But for now, I like to just keep this secret with me for now." Pandora looked at me with a stare that seems to burn straight into my soul. It''s affecting me but not I will prevail and will remain my lips sealed. Then, she smiled and chuckled. "Is that so? Then I will not pry any longer. From the looks of it, you are notfortable opening it up and I don''t want to pressure you into revealing it. I am just curious but if you don''t want to do that, no need to tell me." Hearing that, I sighed in relief. "Thanks, Pandora. As much as I don''t want to keep secrets from everyone, this secret is something that I can''t share with anyone so easily. It''s a knowledge that I prefer no one else would know aside from the ones who do know. So please, understand." "Hehe, no wonder you seemed troubled. It seems it has burdened you too much now. But like you just said, I will not pry on your situation. I am not going to care whether it is a big secret or not. If you want to tell it, then tell it, if you want to keep it private then just say so." She then finishes the cup of coffee she was drinking before she stood up. "It''s gettingte and I am getting hungry as well. Let''s go inside now." I nodded in response and went inside the mansion. Pandora, I am sorry about this, but let''s prefer it that way. ... ... ... ... And so, we started a new regimen of workouts for us tobat the fatigue in our bodies that will slowly build up every time we fight. We decided to make some stretches and exercises that will benefit us in the long term and also increase our endurance and stamina. Not only that but we decided to do 10 waves of hunting in the Dark Sea as well since we needed to gather materials. It was a tiresome experience but we didn''t regret it one bit. Slowly but surely, we feel the changes and we are slowly progressing. The materials we gathered have also managed to slowly build up the materials and items needed for our n to remodel the mansion into a walking one and make it work properly thanks to Almira''s genius mind. Due to her teachings and how frequently we are at creating stuff, my Metalworking skill has increased a lot and I am not even expecting to see things like this. I don''t have prior experience regarding metalworking aside from the smithing side but seeing this, perhaps I can remodel the Pain Delivery and a few weapons that I can use as a sidearm in battle. After all, there are times that even with the Versatile Weapon, there are times that I needed to use another type of weapon, and with my Metalworking skills increasing day by day, doesn''t that mean it would be useful in the future? A few days passed by and my father and Rika decided to join us for the work. "Huh? Dad, I thought you wouldn''t bother since you don''t want to reduce your rxation time now?" I asked. "Ha, I have enough rxing. After quite some time of being idle aside from hunting monsters, I felt that I needed to change my work. I don''t want to waste my time and rely on you to make items. I also wanted to increase my proficiency in it too." "Well, it''s a valid reason. And I see you tinker with a few stuff before back then so I think you will be good at this. However, as for you, Rika, I thought you are more into a household choir and some other stuff rted to life skills?" I asked Rika who is ncing at our work. "I know this might sound stupid but I find it fascinating and intriguing to work in metals before. However, I barely have much talent regarding this kind of thing so I was afraid of trying out. But because I also wanted to do something new that I haven''t done in my whole life, I was thinking of taking my chances in this. Besides, the more, the better, right?" Almira who was just listening on the sidelines, chimed in. "There''s nothing wrong with trying out things. But in my days when I was still a weed and my master is still a bit younger, he was busy with tinkering stuff. When I came in, he didn''t teach me anything as he said that I don''t have the talent to do it at the moment but because I was also interested in things regarding tinkering, I decided to learn by myself and look at me now, doing things I couldn''t have made before. But of course, I have worked hard on it. So even if you don''t have talent, just trying won''t hurt you. Now, you two are total beginners so you guys should start here. Manato, take care on that side since you already know some things already." I nodded in response. While working, I took a nce at how they were doing. Father is quite natural. After a few instructions, he started to tinker on his own and soon managed to do something that I have a few bit of struggles with during the beginning of the training while my father was already able to do it. Rika on the other hand is a bit behindpared to my father. Compared to him, Rika is learning but she still hasn''t caught the basics here and there. She can do a few stuff that Almira taught her and she was slowly learning. She was slow but I already expected that as I was also slow as well. It''s expected. Still, I didn''t see any disappointment or boredom in Rika''s face which means she was enjoying the experience. Almira soon dismissed them after we ran out of materials to use. And I can see Almira''s big grin. "Seeing two additional people join in for the work is making me happy. Perhaps we can finish this a lot faster than expected. And I must say, I am impressed with you Sir. You have the talent for this and you are good at doing it." Father became bashful as he was praised. He is usually like this whenever someone praises him. "Ah, no it''s nothing. It''s just that I do it sometimes which might be the reason I managed to do better. "I still see promise in your ability though. If you want to do it again, we are always open to your help. Anyways, as for you Rika-chan, you might just be starting but I can see the spark of motivation and a bit little talent peeking through you. Although you don''t seem to have much talent for it, it seems you are not that bad at it. I can understand that as you are just starting. But if you keep this up, you will be able to do much better in no time. Don''t worry as you didn''t do anything bad, in fact, you did good. Makes me remember my younger days." Rika was surprised but she smiled and nodded. "I will work hard once moreter, please take care of me." Due to this, Father and Rika both learned Metalworking skills. Father immediately leveled his metalworking skills to level 2 while Rika is still at level 1 but she is halfway to level 2. "Looks like I didn''t make a mistake trying it out, thanks, Son, you inspired me to also do something as well." "Yes, seeing you able to do something, we also thought that it would be best if we could also help out as well. Without our technologies present here, doing this will slowly rece my interests in things that I couldn''t do in real life," Riko added. In the end, the two became the new metalworking apprentices of Almira. Perhaps the two of them would be more capable in metalworking than me, but who knows? We are just beginning. And we have yet to move from that point just yet. Chapter 868 Completion Of The Walking Mansion ? A month has passed by since we started our work for the mansion. Although we barely did much except for making the preparations for the mansion and collecting materials, we didn''t garner attention at all from yers. Almira also announced the closure of her shop as well which disappointed a lot of yers but they can understand that Almira isn''t going to keep herself permanently in the area. Due to that, Almira managed to focus on the job without her need of tending her shop as a result. As for us, we continued our small routine though we also added a few things we did while waiting for the mansion to be done. Instead of just idling by, we instead used this chance to gather intel, especially on the movement of the elves. However, we didn''t have any good intel regarding that especially if every one of us is stuck in the Capital until and in the Dark Sea most of the time. Still, we tried our best to gather more intel than necessary. To ensure no one knows us, I decided to make some masks. I have to master the Tailoring skill once again though to perfectly do it. I also made some slight alterations to the [Wolf Mask] that I use as well since it''s a well-known trademark of deheart. Not only does it involves my identity but it is also exposing me and everyone to great risk if I continued using it just as is. Aside from that, the continuous production and assembly of the mansion''s legs continue. Not only that but Almira also started testing the capacity of the mansion as well. Not only the assembly of the legs are being done right now, but Almira is also measuring and using some stuff as well that she was doing to ensure the mansion will work properly. She ordered us to make an underground tunnel so that we can create the necessaryponents to move the mansion around. And after a month of these tasks happening every day, we finallypleted everything. The legs are now ready to function and we can now prepare for the testing. "Master, thest leg has now been attached properly!" I shouted for Almira to hear it. "Good! Is it properly attached now? Then move away from there and we can start our testing right away." "Master, when you meant testing, we will leave immediately from here and nevere back?" I asked. "There is no pointing back in here once we started moving. Besides, if wee back again, doesn''t that mean we will get more attention to the people that you guys don''t want to alert in the first ce?" "But the mansion will make much ruckus once it starts moving on its right? Isn''t that gonna garner attention as well?" "Hey, who do you think I am to not think about that? I already ensured that magic circles are operating for the house to not make any noise during the movements and to also conceal the presence of the house during that time." "Eh? You didn''t mention this to us during the initial assembly of the legs and the house support." "Well, I just put it there recently. After Rika-chan and I worked on it for a few weeks, the item wasplete. You guys were not here during that time so when we installed it, we nned on telling you all about it. I guess we just kind of forgotten about telling you and your father about it." I scratch my head after hearing it. Well, she is a bit forgetful and since I know her about this, I can understand why I never knew immediately. At least she told me now and knowing that there was such a thing present, then that would allow me to sigh in relief as well. "So what next?" I asked. "Alert everyone upstairs. Although I ensured that the things inside the mansion will remain stable, I can''t guarantee it to be not shaky enough and just in case this fails, I already put a protection spell on the whole mansion as well to ensure that if the legs will fall, the whole mansion will not be destroyed in the process. Now go and tell them to brace since we will now be starting our operation to move out." I nodded and immediately climb up back to the surface. Father and Rika are just finishing some work and noticed me go out from the underground tunnel. "Is everything done, Son?" Father asked as he wipes off the grease from his hands. "Yes. And ording to Master, she wanted everyone to brace themselves as we will be moving out soon. Once everyone is ready, we will be departing soon." "So soon? I thought it was a testing phase?" "Well, we can''t go back here anymore so I guess once we are done with the testing phase, the mansion will have to find a better ce to remain for a while like an open field or a tnd away from civilization for a bit to tinker out things if something will go crazy," I exined. "If that is the case, we should tell everyone to hold on properly." With that, we immediately alerted everyone about the imminentunch of operations for the mansion. I also told them about the dangers as well. Thankfully, they are calm about it and didn''t get too worried about the potential dangers. Once we alerted everyone, I returned to the underground. Because someone has to operate the legs, we extended the basement and made a separate room for the control panels for the legs to function. And Almira will act as the temporary pilot for now. Still, I can''t believe it. Seeing the work of Almira, I can say that if she is back in the real world, she would be a famous inventor and a robotics engineer as she managed to make things that are pretty much resembling a mecha. Who would have thought that Almira was able to make something like this? She was more of a cksmith to me and I never knew she had much more talent in creating things like this as well as being a gifted cksmith. If any of us have more capabilities in making technologies back in the real world added to this, then it would have been ideal. For now, I think what Almira made, for now, is the more sufficient way. "Master, everyone is already ready to go." "Good. Now, assist me with this. That way, we will have no problemter on." As soon as she said that, holograms appeared before us showing the current situation outside in four different directions and one screen is currently dark. "What''s with this one? Why is it dark?" I asked. "You will seeter. But first, let''s do this!" And Almira pushed one button. The house shook and we can feel things seems to start moving. I looked at the screens and the altitude of the house is rising and the view of the ground disappeared on the screen. Not only that but the dark screen from earlier revealed to be some kind of surveince camera ced beneath the mansion, which is meant for viewing the situation on the ground and to ensure that we will not be stepping anything like a carriage or a house by ident. "Hmm, it seems we are sessful. Have a look outside, Manato. Then once you do finish surveying the situation as well as the thoughts of everyone, return to me." I nodded and head back to the surface. To my surprise, not only the mansion was carried over, but the soil as well. Our little garden was included in the mansion relocation process. I looked back on thest location of the mansion and what remained there is a big crater where the mansion was once located and a chunk of soil was also gone since the garden was also included. No wonder Almira made the foundation a bit tadrger than usual, it was for the sake of also including the garden as well. Seeing the process of moving is proceeding smoothly, I went inside the mansion to look for everyone. I asked them to remain inside the house so that if things works wrong, the protection spell will keep them safe. Seeing it was safe to go out, it should be fine for everyone to know it. "Hey, guys. We are now departing. Also, it''s safe to go out now. Just make sure you don''t lean too much on the edge. But everyone should be fine now." Hearing that, everyone went out of the mansion and looked at the situation outside. Not only the scenery is magnificent, but it truly feels like we are now in some sort of futuristic aspect of the future where houses walk now. Knowing this, I returned to Almira. "Looks like everything is stable and good to go Master. No signs of problems as well." Almira smiled and gave a long sigh with a big wipe of sweat on her face. "Phew, mission aplished. Now, we should find a good ce tond, we will begin the checkup to see whether there are things we will have to improveter on for a smooth journey soon." Chapter 869 Journey With The Mansion As Your Mount ? Almira took a bit of time to find an empty field tond the mansion and put it on aplete stop temporarily to ensure that the legs works well and will not break down after the initial walk. But the field is currently popted with monsters, and so Almira ordered me. "Manato, it seems our currentnding area is full of monsters. How about cleaning it up while I find a good ce to fullynd our mansion?" "Alright. On it." I left the basement and went back up to the surface. I asked anyone who wanted to join in for the cleanup below the ground and Labo decided to apany me. Since the monsters are low levels, they are weak and not at all dangerous. So after a bit of killing the monsters, they are gone in a sh. And as we finished cleaning up the monsters in the vicinity, the mansion came to a full stop, and soon descended to the ground and retracted the metal legs, andnded to the ground, integrating itself into the field. "I still can''t believe I am currently riding in a mansion like this. If I was still with the elvesmunity right now, I wouldn''t even experience this kind of luxury at all," Labo chuckled. "Ha, neither am I. After all, we can only see things like this in fiction back in my world so this is also a fresh experience as well." "Indeed. But I am d as this is a better experience rather than staying in our hidden vige. Having to travel around using your house is just something I wouldn''t even expect. Anyways, let''s go back. Everyone would be delighted that we will be bringing these carcasses back with us." "Yes. Let''s go." We returned bringing the corpses of the monsters. Because they are edible monsters, we just butcher them and use their meat as our food for source forter. I left the butchering process to everyone as they are already in the know about what to do with it. As for me, I returned to the basement and check up on Almira. When I arrived, Almira is already inspecting the machine and the legs, checking every nook and cranny to ensure that not a single damage was present after the initial test. "How''s the result?" I asked as I approached Almira. "So far, so good. Not a single error and not a single fault have urred and not a single damage was present as well, which means we don''t need to change anything. We can add a few upgrades here and there but so far, no need to do so, and those upgrades are just optional. We can continue our journey using these as well." "How about crossing bodies of water? Are there some ns on that?" I asked since most of the borders of the continents are either separated from each other due to the sea or deep rivers flowing in between. "There are some ns for that but for now, I am still in the nning stages and I needed to experiment with a few more stuff rted to the buoyancy of the materials and how to keep the mansion and the soil that we carry afloat without being eroded and washed away from the waves. It''s gonna be a long process but the progress is there, so don''t worry. But for now, we will have to stay clear of them and will have to think of ways to cross the border without the need of using a teleporter for the time being." So technically, there are ns for the mansion to act like a ship but because it was not part of the first n due to itsplicated ways and structure, it was not yet implemented. But knowing that Almira is already testing things out to see whether it is possible or not is something else. Sooner orter, we might even be able to cross Aquagius without many problems in the future. "Anyways, we will be departing in a few hours. Since we are in a clearing and there are some monsters roaming around, it''s best we stock up some supplies and food as there might be times we will have a shortage of food especially since there are many of us and your followers and pets also have huge appetites as well. We can''t keep on relying on the marketce to buy food most of the time and I suggest you limit the usage of Leona as well. You were pretty well known to own Leona before when you were deheart so it''s best you limit on using her as a way of transport, like only using her when going to the Dark Sea to gather supplies." Almira has a point. Since deheart owns Leona, it would be weird that someone else owns her in the process. Her suggestion is pretty helpful. Due to this, I discussed this matter with everyone. "Looks like this will be a proper adventure then, not just fulfilling quests left and right alongside endless monster ughter then. It''s like pure survival now," Riko is excited. "Nah, for me, it feels like we are now more of a fugitive. Not only do we have to wear masks to not get discovered but also to avoid using the signature ways that made us well known to the public. And the fact that we also have to act carefully when shopping and mostly rely on our own ways to find food, it''s going to be tough in the future," Sora expressed her own opinion. "A fugitive huh? It does feel like we are escaping thew and are trying hard to not get caught indeed. I only saw these plots on TV but now that we are experiencing it, I think I kinda like this kind of living. It''s pure adventure and besides, not only does this make a good journey for us, but it feels like we are also on a tour without money with us so we have to rely on good old ways to gather our means to eat and drink," Mother who is clearly on board with the idea was more excited by this matter. "Haha, you still don''t change at all, dear wife. But I do indeed think that this is a nice experience to enjoy and I strongly believe that this will be something that we can only experience once in our life. Compared to our life back in our world, this isn''t bad at all and it''s more exciting than the vacations we done back then as well," Father grinned and give a thumbs up to my mother and the two made a fist bump like they were some kind ofrades agreeing with each other. I guess this is due to them being buddies back then that Father and Mother find itfortable to be doing this. Even others agree as well that despite the situation looking like a bad thing, it seems the new ways of our life are some kind of excitement that everyone is excited about. "If that is the case, our survival expertise will be a tremendous help. We might not have done these much since we were transported on Earth but now that we are back here, we can use that as an advantage for all of us," Alena happily dered. "Oh yes. Our survivalist experiences are going to be a valuable asset indeed. We will help in any way we can, you can count on us!" Renatta nodded vigorously. "That''s reassuring! Then, we will be in your care, guys!" Mother happily said, clearly excited about the days toe. "Alrighty then. Since we are tasked to gather items right now before we depart, we should scout the nearby clearing and perhaps the nearest forests as well for fruits, herbs, and wild vegetables we might see. This will be a great way to finish things up!" Renatta excitedly raised her hand which was then followed by everyone cheering. I am quite d that everyone is happy right now. And since we are limited in time, we immediately performed our duties. Those who prefer to search for food in the forest decided to form a group with a few focused on searching while some will focus on defending themselves while they are busy searching. The others including myself are more a hunter so instead of searching anywhere, we instead went and hunt for monsters. As Almira noted, we have to hunt a lot to ensure our pets are satisfied. With Pandora''s two pet snakes and my two pets as well as my followers, it''s clear that we will have a lot of food intake in the future. In the end, we gathered lots of monster carcasses and we butchered them. We stopped hunting when the other group returned carrying sacks of different herbs, wild vegetables, and fruits. What Labo and Renatta said about being good survivalists is not just a brag. As night slowly falls, Almira announced that we will be moving once more. That night, a feast urred outside the mansion and everyone started to happily eat and party for the night. Without any neighbors to worry about, weughed and danced to our heart''s content. After all, things like this will be something of a rarity in the future. So while we can, we will enjoy the simple things that we have. Chapter 870 Signs Of The Demons ? We departed from our usual spot after our party. Although it is still night time, Almira said it is the best time to move as it will be much less conspicuous and it will also allow us to keep moving while we are sleeping so when the time we wake up, we will be in new ce. But since we are moving, we have to ensure there is someone who will remain awake before the sun in up to ensure the safety of the mansion while everyone is asleep. I decided to take this offer to remain awake as I am used to staying awake while everyone will sleep but Pandora also insisted that she will also stay awake as well so in the end, the two of us will be the watchguard for the night. Almira just put the machine in auto mode as she is also exhausted from the party earlier and went to sleep as well. She just asked me to watch it from time to time to ensure it is working properly while she is asleep and wake her up if a problem arises. "Are you sure you would be fine staying up for the night? Aren''t you not used to staying up thiste?" I asked Pandora. "Nah, I have my fair share of staying up all night in the past. Today is not the first rodeo of this kind so it''s not a bother. I also would love to do this kind since this is going to be my first time to remain awake in the purpose of being a security. It''s a new experience if I would say." "Oh, so you like to be adventurous as well?" "Of course. I might look serious at times but I also want to have fun like this. I can''t do anything like this in the real world anyways." I smiled knowing she can now experience something without being bound to her wheelchair and that is something I kind of admire to Pandora. However, the peaceful nights have been disrupted when Lucia suddenly alerted me. "Master, I detect a few signs of demons in the surrounding area. I still can''t pinpoint where but they should be around below!" "Huh?! Are you sure?!" I frowned. "Yes. These feelings is the same as those demons back then that we defeated before. I suggest we eliminate them before they be a big troubleter on," Lucia insisted. I summoned Lucia out of the Summon''s Area. "Are you sure about this? Isn''t it a good time to have a questioning with them about your current situation? Its already a few years since you have much clues about them." "I do have desire to look for them...but now that I have been with you and with everyone else, I already have forgotten the longing I felt back then. But if you insist Master. But aside from my family and friends back then, if they are still the same troublesome demons like before, I would rather remain disassociated from them rather than feel that I am the same as them." Pandora pat her shoulder and smiled. "Don''t worry too much, Lucia. Although you are a demon, that doesn''t change that you are our friend and also part of this family. If you needed anything, we are here to support. So don''t force yourself to hate your kind." Lucia went silent for a bit but then she clenched her fist and steeled herself. "Don''t worry, Pandora-san. I am not forcing myself. Since I am the princess of the demons, it''s best to do what I think is right and with their atrocities they have been doing and tainting the reputation of the demon race, I have to bring down the judgement hammer myself." Hearing that, I can feel her determination that she have right now. Perhaps she has found her willingness to do what she can as the princess of her the demon race. "If that is the case, then we will do it. Still, we would like to capture a few to question them. And you can decide on what will happen to them. Is that fine for you?" Lucia nodded in response. "I am ready. I will help as well." With Lucia''s confirmation to help, she then activated her ability to detect the demons. She was able to properly control it nowpared to before and she slowly tried to detect the power of the demons that has been leaking for a while. "There! On the north from here, I detect a few movements of the demons!" "Alright, let''s go! Pandora, would you stay in here and protect the mansion while we are gone?" "No worries. Even if I am here, I can just use my chains to kill them in the distance and support as well." "I will stay here as well. Aside from detection, I would also try guiding Pandora-chan if there are demons around. I can trust you to deal with the demons in the distance just fine, right Master?" I nodded and jump off the walking mansion to rush towards the location of the demons. I am not that far when the signs of demons are immediately present. Knowing the signs of the demons is real, I took my chance and tried blending in the shadows. There, I saw three of them currently gathered in a bonfire. All of them are male demons and are currently drinking and happily celebrating. I thought they would be peaceful demons but then, I saw a few girls currently inside a cage. ''Are they abducting girls in nearby towns?!'' I murmured to myself as I try to listen near them. "Ha, looks like our haul is quiterge today. The girls this time is quite pure and great as well. Good harvest I must say. The leader would be pretty happy once we give them to him." "Yep. Still, I really wanted to try and taste them at least. It would have been a great treat before we give them to them. It''s quite unfair for us to not taste any of them even though we took the liberty to capture them with great effort." "I agree with you on this one but I also wanted more money. You already know that the money we will receive is much lowerpared to untainted females. So you should just hold off your libido for a while and soon enough, we can just use our earning to get a few of them to service us." The three continued their discussions and based on their conversation, they kidnapped the girls and it seems they are part of some syndicate and are earning money from abduction process. Which also means they are not worth to spare. However, since they are demons, perhaps they have some idea of what happened before the primordial times and if they know anything about Lucia. Using the Hook and Chain, I throw off therge hook and hooked in one of the demons. Once hooked, I immediately knock him out of consciousness before he can even say or react. The other two were immediately alerted when someone pulled theirrades and they immediately grab their chances to take their weapons but because I don''t need multiple hostages, loud gunshots can be heard in the forest as I put two bullets in their heads, killing them instantly. As for the girls, they were stunned and was reawakened from the gunshots and started huddling with each other, fearing for their lives. I approach the cage and looked at them one by one. Although I am not sure about them, it seems they are vigers. But one is different from them. Although she looked like a human, she had some different features that humansck. A beastman. I didn''t expect a beastman but because she is inside the cage, that also means she was captured by the demons as well. I don''t have prejudice against them so even if they are beastman, there is no need to exclude them in the rescue. Destroying the lock of the cage, I then summoned Leona. To ensure that they are going to obey and follow, I decided to use authorative voice to keep them with me which will prevent them from escaping. Not only do my mask helps cover my face but it also adds a bit of intimidation to them as well. "Come with me if you don''t want to die here all alone." Fearing for their lives, they followed me and let them enter the little room that was attached on Leona''s back. I ordered them to climb up on Leona''s back as I carry the first demon I pulled using Hook and Chain that knocked him out. Because of the usual fear, theyplied and followed me, afraid of offending me and so on. While I was there, I took a look at the camp of the demons and not only they left stuff there but some of those items present are something intriguing and a bit interesting as well. It''s going to spark interest on Lucia waiting for our return. Chapter 871 Demon Confession ? With one of the demons captured and the rest killed, I returned with the demon tied up and all the girls who are also captured by the demons. Right now, I wanted to ensure that they won''t run away so I have to resort in intimidation to ensure that they won''t just leave. When I returned with Leona, Lucia and Pandora are just finishing up as well, using the golden chains that Pandora controls to pierce and kill the demons who are discovered by Lucia. The corpses of the demons are currently piled on the side and it outnumbers the demons I just killed earlier. "Wow, you guys just outpaced me from defeating demons." "Well, it''s not that bad and because the forest was dark, our position is ideal for ambush and with the golden chains and their speed to strike, the demons have no time to react. You can say we are in a perfect spot for making ambushes. Easy win, I must say," Pandora proudly puffed her chest, making pride on her aplishments. "Hey, good job though. Even while you are staying here, I can say that you have more stronger capabilities to defeat any enemies without my help." Then, I pulled over the guy I knocked out and put him in front of the two girls. "By the way, this guy is someone I captured so that we can extract information about the demons. You can even ask some personal questions on him as well, Lucia. Perhaps he holds a good piece of information with him." Lucia nodded and then she looked at the carriage of Leona''s back. "Humans?" Lucia questioned and pointed on the carriage. "Yes. I didn''t know there are lots of them captured. And not only that but they are not all humans there. One is a beastwoman." I then let Leona lower herself a bit for the girls to go down from the carriage. Although they are still scared and are still shaking from going down from Leona and from my presence, they still slowly descended from her. After I recalled Leona after giving her a big chunk of meat as a reward, the captured girls just then realized that they are on a moving tform with a mansion on top of it and they didn''t expect anything about it. "Hey, don''t be too scared. You guys are safe now. I just intimidate you all just to make sure you guys don''t run around and get killed by a wild beast in the area. I just took advantage of all of your fears to ensure you guys follow me but I am ensuring you all that it will be fine." I look at Pandora and she immediately understood what I meant. She then led the girls on her side and with her calming voice, she reassured them. "Don''t worry everyone. The one who saved you might be a grumpy guy but don''t worry as he is not a bad person. Anyways,e inside the mansion. It''s cold and you guys have wounds with you. Better treat them before they get infected." Although still hesitant, a few of the captured girls opened up on Pandora and I left it to her to handle the situation. "I will have to survey the surrounding areas again seeing there are multiple demon groups that Pandora killed just now. There might be a chance that there are more captured individuals nearby. I just needed to make sure of it." Lucia directed me where are the locations of the demons that Pandora hunted the dead bodies to look for any signs and although she does not detect anyone else, it wouldn''t hurt to try and check the cespletely as they might be escaping Lucia''s radar. Once the locations are given to me, I went and checked them. I was aware where they are once I am on the area due to their campfires and thankfully, not a single cage full of captured vigers are present which is a good sign that not every group of the demons that are there have some hostages kept with them. I managed to get a few valuables left in their camps but they are not that fancy in my eyes that would consider me to get attracted to them. Nevertheless, I took them with me as they are still valuables. They might have some useful things I have first missed. Without anything else to take note or even a point of interest left, I returned to the mansion. There, I saw Lucia tying up the demon guy I captured on one of the trees left behind from our little yard that was included in the journey. "Ah, master. Perfect timing. I am going to begin extracting information from the demon guy. With you here, we might have an increase sess that we will receive more information than what I can earn myself." "Good. Let''s give him a ssh, shall we?" I then grab a bucket of water in the garden that we use to water the nts to wake the unconscious guy up. It would have been more convenient to use water magic to just squirt it on the face of the demon guy but I don''t have any of those skills right now as I have yet to organize my skill trees while Lucia has fire based spells on her. I don''t think it will help on waking the guy up. What if he was immune to mes in the first ce? SPLASH! "BWUUUH?!" The demon was startled and shook his head as the water drip down on his face. He blinked a few times and looked at his surroundings before he tried to move only to realize that he was tied up. "W-who are you?! Why am I bound by something?! What is happening?!" he still tried to break free from his bindings but Lucia ensured he will not be able to escape properly. I also just realized that Lucia also tied up the hands and feet of this guy, totally ensuring his incapability to escape without any help. "Give it up. Now that you are captured by us, you will answer our questions," Lucia stepped up and revealed herself to the demon. P-princess Lucia?! You were alive!?" the demon seems to look happy seeing Lucia standing in front of him. "Yes. I am still alive and kicking. I don''t think I am going to kick the bucket anytime soon anyways," Lucia then crouched to level herself on the demon guy. "Then why are you doing this?! Shouldn''t you would be saving me from this predicament? Howe you are standing beside a human?!" "You might be the same race as me but I don''t even think you are someone I will be saving. I don''t recall demons doing heinous things to humans. Your actions is contradicting the words and teachings of our ancestors who are a great friend to the humans." "What?! That''s impossible! The king said that shouldn''t be the case and things should be the opposite of what you are saying! We are at constant war with the humans ording to the records and they will be hunted by us, no matter what it takes! Even you should know this due to the abuse the humans given to you! So why are you allying with them in the first ce?!" the demon angrily exined and then questioned Lucia on her choice. "It seems this king you were talking about was talking nonsense and it seems he was also spitting lies abouty experiences. Besides, I don''t think I receive any improper treatment from the humans in any single way even back in the past so I don''t know what you are talking about. Just who is this king you were talking about anyways? And why does it seems like he was some kind of f*cking idiot?!" "Why, it''s none other than your fiancee and soon to be husband, Alfredo Lambiere, the one appointed by your father to be the next king and the one who was supposed to rescue you from your long lost slumber." "What?! That bastard?!" Lucia who was usually calm andposed most of the time suddenly erupted in rage, showing her temper in a frightening manner. "Who is this Alfredo guy he was talking about?" I asked Lucia. "He was my childhood friend and one of the suitors that were constantly courting for my hand in marriage. I am quite sure that he wasn''t even my fiancee before I went in deep sleep and now, the first news I knew about him is him dering himself as king and me as his fiancee and wife?! The nerve of this f*cker?!" "Huh? Why are you denying it? He even told everyone that you two are both lovey dovey before you were sealed and you fell in deep sleep which separated you two. You two were supposed to be inseparable before!" "Those are all lies!" Lucia angrily shouted. "Ah, perhaps the reason you were denying this is because you are being brainwashed by the guy beside you! Despicable humans, being a menace as always! All of them should-" before he can even say another word, his head was lopped off and his headless body started to catch in fire, only burning down the corpse. "That f*cker! How dare he taint my name like that!" Chapter 872 The Fate Of The Village Attacked By Demons ? Lucia''s anger could not be easily contained by just killing the demon but I still managed to keep her calm despite her fiery anger almost burning the surroundings. "Lucia! Keep your calm down. The demon is dead and I can''t afford you going berserk all of a sudden due to the things being done by your fian-" Before I could even finish, Lucia corrected me. "Master, Alberto is not my fiancee. I would rather sink into the sea than get engaged to that bastard ever¡ªno wonder the demons are nowbeled in a bad light. It was due to that guy. My intuition about him was not wrong but how did Dad even make that mistake and pass the throne to him? I am quite sure other demons out there are more reliable candidates than him!" Lucia couldn''t believe the new knowledge she got from. "So that means this Alberto guy is now the king of the demons. Then what happened to your dad?" I asked. "Well, that''s what I am trying to learn too but now that I have killed the guy, I don''t think I will have any chances to ask him any more questions. I am sorry about that, Master. It would have been a helpful asset for us to get more information about the demons but then I ruined it." I shook my head and pat Lucia''s head. "It''s fine. You just got too angry and you have yet to control your temper which is why you did something like that earlier. You shouldn''t be afraid of doing that again, Lucia. But make sure to at least control that temper of yours. There are times when having better control of your anger can yield good results. Getting yourself angry to the point you can''t think straight can even drive you crazy." Lucia bowed down, totally feeling regret for her actions," I apologize, Master. My anger has clouded my intention to help and it only cause you trouble. I will try to do better judgments in the future." I nodded in response. And not only should control the same anger issues as well, but also myself. And I needed to control the impulsiveness I can feel as well. But for now, let''s forget all about that. With the demon gone, the only remains of the demon that wasn''t burned were his head. To ensure that it won''t rise up as a vengeful monster in the future, we have to burn it and cleanse it from the mortal realm, destroying all signs of the head and turning it into ashes. We immediately went and joined with Pandora who was currently helping the girls get some proper clothes and clean up their wounds to ensure that they won''t get infected. Seeing that most of their wounds and gashes are big and a bit painful to look at, I grab a few Ssh HP potions and doused them with it, curing them from the wounds that they got in the process. "You all are safe now, don''t worry too much and be at ease. How are you all feeling right now?" Pandora asked while channeling her voice using the skill [Holy Voice], a skill that reduces Panic and Confusion debuffs, allowing users to fully recover from them and think straight in the process. As a result of Pandora''s skill, the girls cried. Only the beast woman didn''t cry but I can tell that she was holding back her tears, she is just keeping it all in. As for the others, they didn''t hold back and continued to cry out their feelings. "Please, help us! The vige has been attacked by demons!" Lucia frowned and grit her teeth in anger. But she controlled her anger and kept it with her instead of allowing her temper to beat her emotions. "Calm down and tell us what happened. We will listen. There is no rush. Please, we are here to help." And so, the girls started retelling the incident of the recent attack. The vige was a bit far from the Capital but they can still be considered as a part of the Capital''s jurisdiction. However, because this vige is a bit smaller, it''s not that much of important to the Capital whether the vige exists or not. It might be due to that reason that the demons decided that this vige is something they can attack. One night, when the whole vige has fallen asleep, the demons took advantage of it and attacked. The teenage girls were captured in the process. The beast girl helped to fight back but was overwhelmed by the demons so in the end, she was also among the captured girls. They didn''t know what happened in the end to the vige and now they are begging us to help out and find out the fate of the vige. Pandora looked at me and Lucia. Lucia sighed and although she wasn''t responsible for the actions of the demons, Lucia decided to show herself properly to the girls. When the girls saw Lucia, they shuddered in fear, and the beast woman who is just listening to everyone immediately leaped up in front of them and bore her fangs to Lucia, ready to attack while keeping to observing Lucia''s actions. "Calm down everyone, she is not one of the demons that captured you. In fact, if not for her, we would not be able to help you all. Please don''t fear her, she is on your side," Pandora continued to use her [Holy Voice], allowing them to calm down a bit. But it didn''t fully calm them down. Still, it does help out. "I am the Princess of the Demons, Lucia, however, I didn''t know that the demons have decided to abandon the path of righteousness and decided to destroy the humans. Although I am not part of the people who captured, orchestrated, and cause everyone''s grief, I am here to apologize for all of the transgressions and violence that the Demon Race that has done to you all." "Are you sure that you are not just deceiving us? Demons are all natural liars and we don''t want to be fooled by a demon again," the beast woman still had her guard up. "I know. I know that even if I apologize, that won''t give you the necessary trust you all wanted to have. However, we will be helping you all return to your vige. We will hunt down the enemies who decided to ruin the vige and destroy what they are trying to do. And as the princess and the one who has seen all of the violence the demons have, I will ensure that the demons will no longer make this kind of work again." ... ... ... ... As a result of that night''s situation, the next morning, I asked Almira to head to the nearest vige to the northeast. After seeing the female vigers who were with us the whole night, Almira decided to control the mansion to walk straight to the vige. When we arrived, we escorted the girls down the walking mansion and we head to the vige which still smells like it was still burning. Contrary to our expectations, the vige didn''t get fully destroyed. Some of the vigers managed to hide and trick the demons that they are dead, escaping from the wrath that demons bring. The vigers started to cry when all of the captured girls returned. However, their reactions when ites to the Beast woman started to sour and all of the remaining vigers started to be a mob. "You filthy beast woman! If not for you staying here, we wouldn''t have been attacked! Due to your stay here, all of the misfortunes started to pile up on us! You don''t belong here!" "That''s right! Get out of here, you monster!" I was surprised when this is happening. I thought the girls that we rescued would help the girl as it was clearly shown before that she was too protective of the girls during the appearance of Lucia but seeing the treatment she was getting, I felt something bad. Like a bit of anger? Was it the sense of betrayal from the people? I don''t know. Then, one of the girls who we rescued suddenly shouted at us. "Those guys are also colluding with the demons as well!" After hearing this, the people started to get angry and they started to flock with their weapons held in their hands, they are ready to drive us out of there. Not only the beastwoman was betrayed but also us. Although we saved them from the demons? They paid us with contempt. I wasn''t sure what to do as the vigers are now aiming their weapons at us when all of a sudden, Pandora who was keeping herself quiet the entire time pulled down her sword and a holy ray appeared before her, which then revealed multiple golden chains shining up in the air. Even without moving, Pandora controlled the chains in a quick manner and attacked... the weapons. She didn''t fight the vigers but she disarmed them by crushing all their weapons in a split second. She is still smiling but she is clearly not happy right now. "I am calm enough right now but who would have thought that our kindness would have been paid with malice instead? It seems the demons were right of raiding you all when all of your behavior is like this." She then turned her back and pat the beast woman''s back while turning back on them who were stunned by the sudden chain attack. "May karma give justice to those who are wronged." After saying those grim words, she left with the Beast woman. I followed her while looking at them. Although it would have been fine if we did some violent actions in the process, I guess their karma would be the one who will handle the rest. Chapter 873 Beast Woman Chapter 873 Beast Woman I never saw Pandora that fierce before. Perhaps the words and actions of the vigers caused Pandora to be irritable. But I don''t have much idea how Pandora acts. She has some cute moments and somewhere she acts like ady and sometimes, like a warrior, but that stuff earlier she did is something I didn''t expect her to do. It was like she just started cursing the vigers. I turned back to look at the vige that we left and thankfully, it seems the vigers are not even following us. But the way they betrayed us almost sparked another fuse in me. If not for the surprising actions of Pandora earlier, I might havemitted something much more brutal than expected. Anyways, Pandora is escorting the beast woman with us. Although she was not speaking, the beast woman is clearly sad at the events that happened. Even I would also be sad if the people whom you have trusted and be friends with would suddenly turn their backs on you, throw insults at you and dub you as some kind of menace. "You will be staying with us for now, okay? Staying with those people who do not even know how to repay kindness are people that shouldn''t even be bothered to be saved. We will let you stay with us for a while." The beast woman didn''t say anything but she seems to agree with Pandora''s words. As for me, I am not against her staying with us, but what was her story? And why is a beast woman living here? If she was a mercenary then that would have been a different story as I would understand her enough, but she is not and she seemed to be living alone in that vige without anypanions as well. Just what the heck is she doing in the middle of nowhere? ------- Once we returned to the mansion, Pandora immediately told Almira to move while Pandora started to council talk the beast woman. Seeing that it was a girl talking at the moment, I left them to talk. As for Lucia, she was puzzled a bit after our return and when she saw the beast woman with us with a glum face, she immediately knew something was wrong. She didn''te with us as she wanted to remain in the mansion and remain on guard. "Master? Did something happen? Why did the beast woman return? I thought she would be back to the vige?" "It was a long story. Let me exin what happened." Then, I started retelling Lucia on what happened. I didn''t hide any sort of details from Lucia and even included the insult they gave us, especially the part where we are used of colluding with the demons and who told them of that. After hearing everything, Lucia is a bit sad. Although she is also furious, she is sad. "I didn''t expect that to happen. Looks like staying here was the best decision I have done. Who would have thought that those girls we saved have the nerve to even badmouth the people who saved them? It seems they do indeed have deserved to be attacked. But still, this is the first time I have ever encountered this type of treatment." Almira appeared behind us after she climb up from the basement. It seems she heard what Lucia said. "That''s how it is, Lucia. Humans are fickle creatures and they are more evil than the devils and demons themselves. They won''t even hesitate to ruin someone''s life as long as they think they were in the right. And their behavior is something simr to following the leader. They follow the ones who incited everything. You can say they have a hive mind and one suggestion that will provoke their minds will just make them receive more me in the process." "Almira-san..." "Humans are also quite capable of discriminating and can be quite brutalpared to other species. Elves are capable of showing this in front of everyone but they are clearly capable of changing especially with our elf friends here. But humans? They can deceive you with lies and hearing how the girls you all saved have decided tobel us all as colluders of the demons, it is clear that they bear hatred to you the moment you appeared in from of them. Don''t be too surprised." Almira''s words are true. Based on Almira''s words, I can feel this was from the experience she was talking about. However, I didn''t bother to say much. It''s best I will keep the thoughts on my own. "Anyways, I suggest we do less charity work. I am not suggesting we fully stop it, but we first judge the situation before helping first. Because if I have known those girls would be like that, I wouldn''t hesitate to push them off thend, while the mansion is walking. I don''t care if they have died or have been injured." While Almira was talking, Pandora and the beast woman appeared before us. Pandora looked at me and at Almira before she looked at the beast woman and nodded. "Manato, you already heard me before but I want Zena to remain here for a while until she is ready to leave. I know this is what you call charity work, Almira-san but I know that Zena is a good person. fight and also does some work as well. She will not be a burden." "I didn''t know you would be so attached to her immediately," I told She might be different from us but she does not mean any harm and the situation that happened in the vige was just a coincidence. She won''t be just freeloading either. She knows how to fight and also does some work as well. She will not be a burden." "I didn''t know you would be so attached to her immediately," I told Pandora. "Well...I can sympathize with her. I can say that I feel her pain and when hearing all of the words the vigers said before, I feel sad for her situation." At that moment, the beast woman named Zena, prostrate herself on the floor which shocked us. "Please, just this once. I needed a ce to stay. I know you all are suspicious of me but I will ensure that I am a trustworthy beast woman. Don''t worry, I will leave once I have achieved what I needed to do for myself. I am not going to bezy and will ept any orders, work, and anything hardbor for you all if that means staying here. So please, grant me permission. I swear on my life I will be useful!" Because it is getting awkward, I helped her stand up. "Alright fine. Stop prostrating there. We are not that kind of extreme for you to do that. Since Pandora can vouch for you, we will ept you to stay here. Although it''s not necessary for you to do anything around here, if you really wanted to help then you are free to do so. However, I have a question. Why are you here in the human territory? Shouldn''t you be with your family and tribe?" Zena looked away from me and sighed, "...I apologize but I still can''t tell you all what it was. I am still notfortable with it." Almira looked at her and nodded for a bit, before puffing out one smoke in her mouth. "Fine. But if you do want to gain more power, then train up. Don''t wait for things to go your way." Almira then turned to look at me and pat me on my shoulder. "She would be fine. Don''t worry too much about her. She is not a danger to us. And if you are still not convinced, I can vouch for her. How about that?" I scratch my head and look at Almira with a "Care for an exnation" look but she just gave me a "Later" look. I sighed but since two people already vouched for her, I don''t need to deny her here. "Fine. Wee to the mansion." And so, we started to introduce ourselves. As for her, she is Zena and she is traveling to fulfill her goal for the future. She stayed in that vige for 3 days until the attack happened because she still hasn''t found a good ce to stay in. Although the vige epted her, she can feel the situation is not good for her and the people there seem to despise her secretly though she still doesn''t know whether they truly do or not. She helped defend the vige from demons but she was hurt when it turned out that the vigers hated her since she arrived. She don''t know what she will do until Pandora came to her rescue. And since she was kicked out, she is now going to remain here for the time being until her goal is achieved. I don''t know what was her goal but if she needed it to the point of hiding what it was, perhaps it was really important. But right now, I guess she needed time to open up a bit more for us. Chapter 874 Into the Misty Land of Tall Trees Chapter 874 Into the Misty Land of Tall Trees After our kerfuffle with a vige, Almira decided that it was best to avoid some viges for now. Knowing the circumstances and how fast news and gossips fly, we will have to head straight to our destination, which is towards the camp of the elves where they arest seen. Despite the information being a little more vague than usual, we decided to take advantage of it especially since it is in Resurgia Continent. I also just realized that the Resurgia Continent is much bigger than I thought it would be. Since most yers barely do any kind of exploration into deeper areas due to the monsters being low level, most of the yers who have explored one continent fully are either born explorers or just someone who was dragged to a long quest that involves them interacting with someone from one ce to another which in turn would let them explore the world unwillingly just to track down one guy who lives in between 5 mountains or something simr. So now that we are traveling to find the Tree of Life, I can already see it deviate from the game that I know to a new world that I am eager to explore. Right now, Almira decided to let us scout ahead to ensure that we will not run into the territory of a monster or we enter a vige area. Despite having the invisibility spell present, it''s best to stay clear from them for some time to avoid further trouble. The current party right now is Akira, Sora, and I. Although surveying the area isn''t that hard, mapping and finding out secrets is a bit troublesome. And with my Ex Skill for Cartography disappearing, I am back to square one as well. I know my skills are "Brother! It seems up ahead is a ravine, we should tell Almira about this," Akira alerted me. still here, but it''s a lot harderpared to the time I have the Ex Job. "Brother! It seems up ahead is a ravine, we should tell Almira about this," Akira alerted me. I headed to where Akira and Sora is standing and right behind them is a deep ravine. It''s kind of a rocky type of ravine and the slope is quite full of rocks, making it difficult for us to cross if we wanted to do so. "Guess we will have to look for a longer way then. This ce is too dangerous to proceed on." I took note of the ravine for a bit and took a good close look by descending to it and checking anything at the bottom. Seeing not a single noteworthy aside from the fact that it is wider than expected and in the ravine, I returned to the surface. "Yep, nothing important here, just a deep ravine. Let''s steer clear here and find an alternative route." We traced the ravine''s end to find a good ce to cross it and soon, we arrived on a misty area. It''s a bit hard to see due to the fog but it''s a bit of a different ce and the ravine ends before reaching the ce. We scouted the area but the ce is a bit more troublesome due to the mist. Although we can''t see much beyond the mist, the ground is stable and the ravine is nowhere to be found, allowing us to cross from it. "Looks like we found our way out," I marked the map properly to ensure that we won''t be lost. "A-are you sure about this? This ce is giving me some bad vibes and not only that but I can''t see anything past the mist. What if there are much stronger enemies hiding there? What if we get lost?" Sora looked worried. "Nothing to worry about, dear sister. With the walking mansion''s height, perhaps we will even surpass the area of mist and walk over it in the process. We just needed a t solid ground for the mansion to properly walk and seeing that the ravine ends here, it is fine," Akira shrugged. I nodded and stood up after finishing the final sketch. "Alright, let''s head back. Let''s report to Almira our findings." The two nodded. Little did we know that we will be plunged into a little trouble that will allow us to get a vital clue about our ultimate destination. ... ... ... ... ... "A misty area huh? Have you guys gone deeper inside or you just went near the entrance?" Almira asked. "We didn''t want to get lost inside the mist so we didn''t proceed further but we do know that the ravine ended there, which will allow us to safely travel to the other side without anyplications. Besides, we can''t use the other side of the ravine as well since that was the location where the vige that was attacked by the demons was located," I exined. "Hah...Alright fine. Since the legs of the walking mansion are much bigger and higher than usual, we should be fine. We can also try blowing off the mist if we find it annoying." As a result, Almira directed the direction of the walking mansion towards the mistynd area. We went outside, watching as we soon entered the misty area. [You have discovered the Misty Land of Tall Trees] Tall trees? I frowned as I don''t see a single tree. The others also saw the name of the location so every one of us are looking at the surroundings and trying to locate the said tree. The only problem is that... I don''t see a single tree in the vicinity. Only the endless mist seems to extend beyond the area. "Did the system just say "tall trees" as part of the ce''s name? But why does it feel like we don''t have any way to see these trees?" Riko asked, seemingly confused as well. "I am pretty sure I also saw what you just saw. But if that is the case, where are the trees that were being presented here?" Rika is also confused and is looking as well. Akira and Sora peered below to check if there were any trees present as we may have just passed them due to how tall the walking mansion''s legs but there are no trees present as well. "That''s strange. Are our vision so clouded by the mist that the trees are practically invisible in our eyes then?" Mother spected. Just then, Almira came out from the underground tunnel and met up with all of us. "Nope, the trees are not invisible. They are totally visible and anyone including those who don''t have sixth sense can detect them without any problem. You guys just have not seen the trees. But perhaps you guys will see it now. After a few whiles of walking, we soon realized why we couldn''t see any trees in the vicinity. The trees are moving. Or more urately say that they are currently walking under the cover of the mist. And it makes sense considering that everyone cannot even see any trees. "The trees that were mentioned in the name of the ce were not actually real trees. But like the description, they are pretty tall. And although they looked like trees, they are not made of wood and does not belong to the trees. They can mimic the trees but they are not going to rece the forest," Almira exined. I soon realized what are these "trees" were. These are indeed not the normal trees but a monster called Treant. In this case, though, they are not the normal ones but the ones called Giant Treant. They are big tree-like monsters that mimic trees to lure in some wondering adventurers using their fruit-like tentacles they use to capture and kill unsuspecting prey. "What the hell? Did we just walk into danger?" I ready myself and grab the Versatile Weapon''s handle. "Chill, my apprentice. Although they are treants, they don''t consume humans. In fact, they are friendly treants," Almira grab my hand holding the Versatile Weapon, and calmed me down. "But these are monsters, how can you say they are not dangerous at all?" I frowned. "Because I have passed here a long time ago. Even Zena should be able to confirm this as well, right?" Almira then turned to look at Zena who was just standing at the back. "Yes. These Treants are indeed not the same as the Treants you would normally fight. They don''t eat humans and in fact, they act like real trees. I can testify as I have passed through here before when I was still on the run." These guys are not hostile so just like what Almira said, let''s all calm down." "If they are Treants, why are they moving away? It seems like they are running away." Almira shrugged. "Of course, they will run away. With all of the ruckus, our mansion does while walking, they will also try to flee as well." "Shouldn''t we be not discovered at all by them due to the spell?" Mother immediately recalled. "Normally, yes. But because these Treants are capable of seeing through lies and illusions, I doubt the spells can even cover our tracks. They are pretty sensitive to anything so it is useless. Which is why they are also present here in this mist." Chapter 875 Elder Treant Chapter 875 Elder Treant "They can see through illusions?" "Indeed. See these mists? It''s an illusion that a monster produces to hide its presence from its predators and aggressors. I haven''t seen it personally, but most of the adventurers who have traveled deep into this ce told them it was a weak monster and herbivore that lives in a colony allowing them to create a massive mist that covers the whole ce as a result... You can say that this ce is the perfect ce for these Treants to live in as they can use the mist to hide and live peacefully without being attacked and killed by adventurers as they would be more busy trying to find the right way and avoid getting lost from the mist," Zena exined. "So that''s why the mist seems pretty much feels abnormal. It isn''t cold enough for the mist to form and roll in and trees are not in sight yet the ce is filled with this foggy mist. But if that is the case, these mist shouldn''t be real right?" "Yes. It''s only present in the eyes of those vulnerable to illusions and has no way of knowing whether they were under an illusion or not. All beastmen and beastwomen like me have the slight advantage of being able to determine an illusion or not so when I passed here, I am not too affected by the mist though it''s still a bit troublesome sometimes. I am notpletely immune to it after all," Zena quickly exined. "Then, all we needed to do is keep calm and watch the surroundings for any irregrity then? With all the mist all around us, it will be dangerous if we don''t keep vignt and open our eyes to immediate changes in the surroundings," Father suggested. "Yes. I suggest everyone will stay here and be alert. I will go back to the basement and keep the controls to make sure we pass this ce properly. Although the Tall Treants don''t care much about our presence and they are more like fleeing from us, there are still a few monsters out here that are more troublesome and can cause major annoyance and problems if we let them remain. Besides, no one is busy, right? Unless anyone is busy, just stay here outside for a while. You can go back to idling or whatever you are doing after we get out of this ce." Everyone seems to be in favor and no one seems to object and so Almira returned to the basement and we remained there, observing the mist. Although the mist seems normal at first, I then realized something. Compared to the scentless mist we usually know, the mist is somewhat simr to a faint scent of honey. It''s not ufortable to smell but to someone like me who gets sensitive to smelling sweet things for long periods of time, I can''t help but think that the mist doesn''t just serve as an illusion but also as a way to keep anyone who likes the scent remain in thisnd. Perhaps the food source of the one who produces the mist. The sky remains the same as usual. Although there are clouds present, it seems it won''t be raining but it is thanks to the bright sky that even if we are in the middle of the mist, the light in the sky is clear enough for us to not feel gloomy. The asional sounds of ''thuds'' and creaking tree branches despite theck of trees in sight are sometimes echoing in the surroundings. I don''t know whether they were done by the Treants that are in the mist or something else, but for now, I don''t even think too much about whatever is happening. We spent a few hours watching the endless mist and somehow, it was oddly peaceful. Aside from the asional noises, there are no strange urrences that happened so far. I thought at first that remaining exposed to the mist would cause some problems like headaches and other stuff, but so far, everything is normal and fine to us. No one seems to be suffering any sort of after-effect from smelling or being in the mist for long. Most have been bored already and are already talking with each other about some topics while some are currently engaging in some card game that is popr in the Alternate World back when we are still yers. I don''t think I have engaged in that activity so I didn''t really have much idea what they were doing. I continue to just remain passive while keeping my guard up. Despite the eventless situation, we are in while the mansion continues to traverse thend of the mist, my intuition is telling me that something is going to happen, it''s just that I have no idea what it was. Just when everything was peaceful, the surroundings suddenly shook, and everyone was also shocked and some who didn''t get to hold something to keep their bnce fell to the ground. It''s noting from the mansion, clearly, it wasing from the ground. "What is happening?" Riko pulled out her staff, ready to fight. "Monsters?" Renatta readies her bow, looking at the surroundings while squinting in every corner. Everyone went on high alert. Then, the silence was broken when Pixie who was sitting at Renatta''s shoulder alerted everyone. "Something is approaching!" Although we can''t see or detect anything, there is a vague feeling indeed that something is currently walking with the mansion beside us. "Fascinating... to see humans utilizing a golem as their mount." A deep voice of an old man reverberated in the surroundings. Although it''s not that loud enough for us to bleed in our ears, the voice is still loud enough for us to know that the owner is something big. And the fact that it is walking with us while utilizing the mist to hide its presence, we can''t help but ready our weapons. "Rx, small ones. I am not here to harm everyone. I am just here to talk to everyone especially since the road out of here is still far enough with the pace of the golem''s walking speed." "Who are you?! What do you want from us? If you don''t want to harm us, why are you hiding your presence under the mist?" I shouted to the owner of the voice. "Oh, I apologize. It''s a force of habit. But don''t be too surprised alright?" Just then, something seems to have disappeared and a tall tree appeared beside the mansion. It''s a massive tree, very simr to the Ygdrassil tree that I keep seeing in my dreams though a little bit smallerpared to thetter. Ever since I left the real world and have been freed from the Nexus''s grasp, I have been remembering all of the things that happened back in the dream world which is why I can vividlypare the two right now. Still, this isn''t a real tree. The moment we saw its big eyes and nose, I can already see that this is a Treant. Seeing how old it looks, it seems this is an Elder Treant. "Holy sh*t, that''s a big *ss tree!" Akira who was the nearest of the Elder Treant''s location was amazed at the sight. "Brother,nguage!" Sora reprimanded her brother who just grinned, whispering "sorry" to her. "It''s a Treant. I only saw Treants in books and movies but seeing one up close and personal, I didn''t expect them to really look like a tree despite their facial features..." Rika marveled at the sight of the Elder Treant. "Now, is it possible that everyone is fine with my presence? Hope I didn''t scare any of you in the process. I don''t harm anyone and I am looking for peace." "Why are youmunicating with us? Do you perhaps have something you want to tell or ask us?" Pandora asked, keeping herself calm and collected. "Indeed. Based on how you all have weapons and are fully equipped, it seems you all are not just casual travelers. Not only that but using a golem as a mount is clearly unusual as well. Which is why I wanted to discuss you all about something. This is a matter of importance to us Treants to remain at peace in thisnd." Then, as if on cue, Almira who was previously in the basement appeared behind us, grinning. "Well, you are in luck, gramps. With me here, you can say that I will make sure you will have your wishes fulfilled." Everyone, including myself and the Elder Treant looked at Almira with a surprise. After all, she suddenly proposed something we have not even know about and without our consent. "You know this guy, Almira?" Mother asked. "Yes indeed. We had quite an interesting rtionship of being Master and Disciple. You can say that without him, most of what I learned wouldn''t be as advanced as it was due to him." aa7b5e4a913f698f2f85f05ec8699ff287d581d1fb0678555d462be31d6cebaa7e1732d2b99d78218b51b230323b5e3f92f3dd9da96c418517ca6c3831a0fc43 Chapter 876 Elder Treant Asking for Help Chapter 876 Elder Treant Asking for Help It was a surprise revtion from Almira that I didn''t know even back in thest timeline. The master who taught everything was actually an Elder Treant? "Wait, seriously? How? I mean, this guy is a Treant. How did this guy manage to impart knowledge to you?" Riko was so confused that she decided to bombard Almira with a few questions without waiting for her answer. "HOHO, pretty simple. Here, this is how I usually teach this young apprentice of mine." And in a split second, a big round thingnded on ournd. It''s like a small boulder but has the texture of wood. I can even say that it very much resembles wood. Then, it suddenly cracked open and some kind of sprout appeared before slowly forming into a person. Then, a few more minutester, an old man appeared looking like a cksmith now standing right where the big round thingnded a few seconds ago. Everyone including myself was baffled. That wasn''t just a random transformation, the ck thing earlier became a human! "This is my ability, Human Mimicry Seed. And as you can see, this form is something that I used to impart knowledge to my apprentice. After all, my old appearance is something I can''t even hold a hammer and properly light the forge''s fire." Riko was so curious that he touched the arm of the Treant''s mimic seed. "Wow, you can''t really tell if he is a real human or not! He resembles one so much!" "Then, does your seed gets a mind of his own or are you still controlling him, and your brain is still connected?" Pandora asked. "Although we appeared disconnected by the main body, I can still operate it as I gave it a new brain. We are connected and I can use a small side of my brain to fully control him as our brain is much biggerpared to humans, allowing me to still be able to properly control this body and my original body simultaneously. The only downside of this is that it is now incapable of staying in form for a whole day, it can now onlyst for an hour before the seed returns back to its previous form and decays." Hearing this, Almira frowned. "Master, shouldn''t your ability be capable tost for at least 3 days at most before you, returns to its former form? Howe it suddenly changed?" Almira is concerned, perhaps because Almira had been so close with this Elder Treant before that she was not liking what she was hearing. "Haha, well that is why I am here to ask for help. As much as my old body is still formidable, they are not fit for fighting and you guys are much more capable of doing this request of mine. Not only will you help me in the process, but you will also help everyone affected by the problem as well." Hearing something that we are the only ones who can solve, I decided that it is worth to listen what his concerns are all about. "Alright, you got my attention. Let''s hear it." ... ... ... ... Because the seed has limited time, Almira just decided that it''s best that the Elder Treant would talk to us with his original body instead of using the seed mimicry ability. "Let''s continue moving instead of stopping, that way, you all can see what I am talking about as well. If you see it, then you will immediately understand what was the problem in the first ce." Almira turned to me and tap my shoulder and also looked at everyone. "Alright, you guys should listen to his problem as I will personally control the machine and follow the old man to the destination. I can''t listen while I am there so please do it on my behalf, alright?" I nodded in response. The others also nodded as well, before we returned our focus on the Elder Treant speaking. "The problem isn''t located at this misty ce but a bit outside of it. It started 3 years ago when I noticed this happening. Before, like what my apprentice said, the Mimicry ability is capable ofsting for a maximum of 3 days, in fact, it can even reach 4 days if pushed hard enough but now, I can''t even keep it stable for a whole day. It''s also pretty exhausting and hard to even produce one seed to use as well." "If it was too hard to do, then why did you even show us how it was done?" Father asked a reasonable question. "My guess is that he showed it to us because we are doubting his legitimacy as Master''s Master. He wanted us to show how he did it," I answered. I noticed it before since he immediately show it when Riko started to ask Almira how. Riko also realized this and scratch her head. "I''m sorry... I got too curious, I didn''t know." "HAHA, don''t worry. If it can prove my words by showing it all, then that is enough, no?" "My guess is that your body is deteriorating for some reason which resulted in this ability of yours to weaken a lot then?" Pandora guessed. "Not only this ability but a few more others as well as my body too. I first thought it was due to how long I was living in this world which resulted in me showing signs of deterioration which I thought would signify the close end to my life but it turned out to be wrong. I find out I was sicker rather than dying." "So it was an illness then?" I asked. "I thought so, at first. But soon, I realized it wasn''t. This is when I discovered what is causing me to feel this way. Three years ago, I discovered that the water supply that has been running all over the ins and the misty forest has been contaminated by something and I was consuming that liquid on a regr basis without knowing of it. As a result of my gradual intake of the contaminated water, I am now showing signs of incurable poison in my body." Water contamination! So that is what he means that he needed our help. If it''s water contamination, then that means, something is currently doing some kind of stuff that is causing the water to get contaminated by poison. And for him to just noticed it after trying to find out what was happening to his body, means it was a recent contamination and during that time he didn''t know about it, the contamination slowly spread. Then, all of a sudden, we slowly emerged from the mist and revealed to us grand ins nearby. But that is not what is eye-catching to me. In the middle of that is a bigke that has a few rivers connected to it, supplying water. One of those rivers is channeling towards the area where the mist is which might be the ce where the Elder Treant is getting his supply of water. On thatke is something else, living there. "I concluded that the water has poisoned me in the process which is why I decided to trace the river. Then when I checked the Grand Lake, in the middle of it, there stays a dragon. I have seen plenty of dragons in my life, I even used some of their body parts as materials for making weapons so there is no way I am ignorant of what it was. The Grand Lake is also looking kind of different as well which is for making weapons so there is no way I am ignorant of what it was. The Grand Lake is also looking kind of different as well which is why I found it a bit strange. The water is looking too blue like how most oceans do, however, the Grand Lake should produce transparent colorless water, not blue if I remember correctly." I went down the walking mansion after it stopped at our destination and went to the nearest river. I wasn''t even far and I can smell the putrid rotten smelling from the water itself. It doesn''t smell like rotten corpses, but it does smell something really bad I can only describe it as something of a health hazard smell. "I immediately realized that it was poison after the water changed. I didn''t know about this since I usually consume water by just extending my "roots" and drinking the water. Who would have thought that I have been drinking it right now and almost killed me in the process." "I think I have an idea now of what you are trying to ask us based on the information we hold," I got the gist of it now after seeing everything. "Indeed. My request is for you to all kill the dragon that is infesting the Grand Lake and remove the poison from it. I don''t know what was its reason for staying there but his stay is causing other life to suffer as a result. I don''t want the nature and the waters of the Grand Lake totally die due to something that is selfishly iming the waters for itself." Chapter 877 Grand Lake ? The dragon staying in theke is big. It''s twice the size of most dragons we fought back then and even the dragon in Luminous Continent is half of the size of the dragon we are seeing right now. If it was still being considered as a game, this is going to be a field boss or a Raid boss depending on how dangerous it was. Based on its appearance alone, it is indeed simr to a poison wyrm the only difference between the two creatures is that the former is much smaller and looks more like a flying violet snake rather than a dragon and usually is missing hind legs. As for this one in theke, even if we are a distance away, I can clearly see the prominent features of the dragon. It''s a huge jewel on its chest and forehead, four folded wings growing on its back, back sails that are very simr to a poisonous fish, and glowing violet color skin of the dragon that attracts the attention of anyone nearby. Butpared to the size of this dragon, the Grand Lake is just something much bigger than the dragon itself. In fact, the Grand Lake looks like the sea. If not for the fact that it was surrounded bynd in an enclosed space rather than a big body of water, I would immediately assume the Grand Lake was a sea. The Grand Lake looks amazing and something that I can say is more like a tourist spot if it exists on Earth. But seeing all the poison in the water contaminating it, its beautiful image is ruined. "So our task this time is to eliminate or just shoo away that dragon?" Riko seems is not looking confident about the task and tried to reconfirm again the task that we have been given. "The best possible oue would be to y it, as it may juste back if you drive it away or it may terrorize another ce. But if it''s not that easy in the slightest, I am not going to force you all to do the impossible. Just do what you can." If that is the case, we have to prepare a lot like we are going on a raid. That thing is huge and although my guess is that it''s not that strongpared to some of the monsters I have beaten before, there is still a chance that this dragon might be simr to the beasts present in the Frozen Regions. I just hope it''s not the same case as when Cath Palug did his rampage before as well. "Is it safe to go near the Grand Lake without alerting the dragon?" Pandora asked. "Although I have not personally gone there, I tested it by using my seed mimics to test out whether it will react or not but I found out that this dragon is blind." "Blind?" Pandora seems to get some interest in the dragon. "Yes. Both of its eyes are missing and it was like it got gouged out for some unknown reason. There are signs that the eyes have been gouged out just recently when I visited it. That was three years ago though so perhaps the wound has healed already." A blind dragon. It does sound like it wasn''t gonna be hard but even if the dragon is blind, it is not going to be something easy to kill by just sneaking on it. Its senses are still going to be a problem. But since the seed mimic didn''t die due to the disturbance and didn''t awaken the dragon when they approached it, that must mean the dragon is too weak right now. And if possible, it is trying to heal by resting in that ce. "Does the Grand Lake has any healing capabilities?" "Not that I am awareof," the Elder Treant answered. If that is the case, then why does this dragon stay in the Grand Lake? Is there a hidden reason? We will have to find this out. ... ... ... Because Almira is eager to make the Elder Treant healthy once more, we epted the request. Also, there is something the Elder Treant needed to tell us once we have done the request or at least, have driven the dragon away from that ce. I don''t know what it was but it seems that it is a bit serious. Although the Dragon is far, we have to put the mansion where it was currently and stop it from descending to the Grand Lake. Aside from the fact that the mansion has minimal defenses, we don''t even know whether the dragon will be violent or not. We just needed to descend there personally instead and camp out nearby. But first, we will have to scout out the area. With the Grand Lake on the way, we will have to find a way to fight the dragon without going directly into the water. Not only the water is poisonous, but there is a chance that it also has be corrosive as well, making the matter troublesome. With the dragon staying in the center of theke, we have to find a way to lure it off there and attack it onnd, or else, we will have to find a way to fight the dragon on the water without getting exposed to the contaminated water. First, is to scout the area and map it out. Since no one else aside from me has the capability of making a map, I took the job by myself. To make the map a lot easier to make, I have to fly into the sky to check it out. I also have to fly a lot higher than usual and be under [Stealth] to ensure that I won''t be detected. Despite what Elder Treant said, I still don''t think I want to risk it by lowering my guard. As for the others, they will be scouting the surrounding areas and eliminating threats present as well so that once we are ready to engage in a fight with the dragon, we will have more advantage and also lessen our worries due to the prowling monsters that might join due to the dragon''s beck and call. As for the Elder Treant, he decided to retreat back from the mist though he is nearby to ensure the safety of the surroundings of the mansion. Since the mansion''s location is mist-free, the Elder Treant said that it would be strange if both the mansion and a big tree suddenly appeared out of nowhere here. Then, we started the operation. I carried my mapping materials with me and although my mapping skills are no longer tied to my Cartography Ex job, I am still doing fairly well. I started with the nearest surroundings and then made some rough sketches for the final product. Not only that but I am also checking every nook and cranny of the Grand Lake as well. Compared when looking at the distance, looking above the Grand Lake shows the damage the poison has done to the surroundings. It''s not only the Grand Lake looking dead but also the nt life surrounding theke. The nearest trees are all corroded, the grass that should be growing theke is gone, and I can see a few bones of monsters littered all over the area. "Damn, the damage is very bad..." I muttered. "Indeed. After all, that''s not just normal poison." I was surprised when Cath Palug appeared on my shoulder. "Looks like you know something, huh?" I frowned and look at Cath Palug. "Eh, not really. But I do recognize the poison. The damage it has done is pretty big but all I can say is that this is pretty normal. Who would have guessed that this poison would appear once more in the future." "Wait, this poison has appeared in the past?" "Yes. And looking at that dragon, it seems the dragon is suffering on it so badly. Not only that but based on his scales, the poison is spreading slowly but surely on its body. What the Elder Treant said is right, you needed to get the dragon away to cleanse the water but the poison will not disappear once the dragon is defeated. You needed something else as well. Since this happened recently, it seems someone found the poison and started utilizing it once more," Cath Palug exined but his exnation give little answer to my question. "Wait, wait, wait. Don''t tell me this poison that has already mixed into the water is an ancient poison..." "Didn''t I tell you that? Oh wait, I didn''t. Yes, that abominable thing is an ancient poison. You can even say that it''s part of the tools used during the Primordial Goddesses War Era. Seeing it here means someone or something decided to utilize it again to wreak havoc again in this world," Cath Palug looked concerned. "Why are you looking concerned that this is happening? Shouldn''t you be happy that the surroundings are getting destroyed?" "Kid. I enjoy watching things getting destroyed if it was me who was doing it. This? I am not enjoying someone else''s work. I would rather do it than watch someone else do it." Still, a primordial poison. If that were the case, then this will be hard. After all, everything that is rted to the Primordial wars are either lost or no longer present in this world and seeing this, I have a bad feeling. Chapter 878 Operation Poison Drain [I] ? Cath Palug''s revtion made me think about what kind of poison the dragon was producing for it to contaminate theke, but then it turns out, the dragon is not intentionally trying to poison theke, it was trying to wash off the poison by submerging into theke. The problem is that the poison has now mixed with the water and turned the water into lethal poison. And since this is a Primordial Poison, it''s going to be impossible to remove, or if it is not, it''s going to be a big work to do. If that is the case, this will be a really hard job for all of us. But I have a n to do and although this will be the first time I will be doing this, I needed to employ everyone''s help. But first, we will have to remove the dragon from the water and ensure this particr dragon either get the help it needs or if possible, mercy kill it. Either solution is fine but I have to ask for ideas on how to do this. The dragon is going to be the huge obstacle we will have in terms ofpleting this request. After all, with its size, hauling it out of the water will be a difficult thing. We either try to provoke it, or find a way for it to awaken and move out of the water voluntarily. Thankfully, after mapping theke, the dragon didn''t wake up. It seems the dragon is in a very deep sleep that dulls its senses to the point that even if something is near it, it can''t sense the presence of anything or anyone at all. And with its eyes being blind as well, this dragon is in a very bad predicament. Returning to the mansion, I saw the others are also returning as well. Some are not yet back, while the others are already here and they are hauling some carcasses of the beasts they killed. We will have a feast once those bodies get butchered and processedter. "Looks like you are back, Manato. How''s theke looking?" Almira asked. "To be honest, it''s not a good thing. The wholeke is contaminated, the surrounding flora and fauna are either dead or have been dissolved from the corrosion of the poison and I don''t see any ideal position we can use tounch an attack on the dragon or even get close to it without relying on our wings. The location of the dragon is currently in the very center of theke, and since theke is circr, all of the existingnds that surround the dragon are all in equal distance to the dragon." Almira frowned at hearing this. "Looks like we will have a bad time on this one then, huh? Guess we have to ask for the opinion of the others on this as they might have some good idea on how to do this. Let''s wait for everyone to arrive before we start our meeting." Since not everyone has arrived, I helped out Akira and Sora who arrived first to butcher the monster carcass they gathered while the others arrive one by one. The others returned one by one after an hourter. It turns out, there are more monsters in the vicinity than usual. My Father and Mother also returned after getting a water sample from theke as we will need it forter. With Mother having her focused ss, Alchemist capable of analyzing some stuff like a scientist, she decided it''s worth looking at the water and finding out a way to neutralize it fully forter. As for the others, they are tired after the extermination. Riko and Rika didn''t bother to bring any monster carcasses as all of them are either burnt to a crisp or contaminated with some poison. Mr. Teddy and Pandora returned as well, carrying a few butchered monster meat as well, though she apologized for the small haul since some of the monsters are not fit for consumption. On the other hand, the elves have ensured every route in the forest near theke is safe for all of uster on. We let everyone have a rest and a change of clothes first before we went to do the meeting. We held it outside as we will be cramped up if we do the meeting inside the mansion with all of our paraphernalia we needed to exin the ns. "Alright, since everyone is here, we will begin our nning. Take a look at the map that Manato made while everyone is doing their jobs," Almira then put the machine she made that acts very simr to a projector, but the only difference is that it isn''t connected to aptop or desktop but more on magnifying the item that was ced in. The map is in full disy after the final touches I made after the prototype. I made sure to make it as detailed as possible while keeping it more of a map that can be exined easily. "After the mapping and scouting process, we soon realized a big problem here. We don''t have a goodnd we can stand to get near the dragon on theke as theke has no inds or any littlendforms we cannd on. It''s just pure water full of poison so the only way to get near the sleeping dragon is by flying there," Almira then turned to look at everyone else to hear their sentiments. "Just full poison? No safe ce aside from flying?" Riko frowned. "How about we create something like a raft or a boat? Maybe a floatation tform for us to fight on?" Akira suggested. Almira then pointed out Akira''s suggestion. "It''s a great suggestion but it''s not a good idea to do. How do you n to keep the tforms stay afloat without drifting away? Not only that but if the dragon goes on a rampage, the tforms get either destroyed or sink into the water. Besides, the water is corrosive, so there is a chance the tforms will just break to pieces and sink." "Ugh..." Akira shook his head in disappointment. "Is the distance onnd and on the dragon quite far for us tofortably use?" Sora asked. "Not necessarily far, but not necessarily near either. One thing is for sure, if we decided to use thend, we will have to rely on ranged attacks and put down our melee attacks on the drain as that will be useless here." "But most of us in here are melee users and only a few are long-ranged attackers," Rika protested. "Yeah, that''s why I also scrapped that idea as well. There''s no way the melee attackers will have to switch to range attacks due to this." "How aboutnding directly into the dragon and attacking it there? We can just fly away back to the maind and lure it there..." Pandora suggested but Almira immediately shook her head. "Although it''s a good n, it''s not a good idea either. But luring the dragon onnd is a much more usible idea. But this one has a big risk and we have to be prepared for it." "A big risk?" Pandora tilted her head. "Apprentice, tell them," Almira then gestured to me. "Yes. During the investigation, I soon realized that the dragon is blind, and based on further investigations, the dragon has less sensitivity to its surroundings, which means any attacks that barely do anything to it will not make the dragon move, which is why if we wanted to make the dragon move or get angry, we will have to do a very big move. But that is not the only problem. One of my followers stated that the poison is not being produced by the dragon but the dragon has it on its body as a foreign substance. In short, it was used as a thing to harm the dragon. The poison it got is also the reason for its current color as well and if my assumption is correct, the poison might flow out of its body while we fight it, which will then be spilled into thend. This will result in the destruction of thends the poison gets a small drop into and kills the flora and fauna that get in its way." "You mean, the poison was noting from the dragon as its natural substance?" my mother was shocked. "Yes. It is not a natural substance from the dragon." "Then the calctions I got after checking the water samples indicate that this is from the dragon itself." Almira shook her head, "My guess is that the dragon''s blood spilled out of the water after so long. Its injuries are causing those spills and with the poison dripping out of its body, everyone will assume that will be what will happen. But if we take Manato''s statement, then the water of the Grand Lake has been either reced with blood and poison, or the water has blended together with the blood of the dragon and the poison itself, causing the current situation and also the findings we found." Chapter 879 Operation Poison Drain [II] ? "So that means, when I checked the water substances, I also got a few samples of the dragon''s blood mixed in the water as well?" Mother looked at the vial containing the water of theke. "Yes. With how long the dragon soaked in, if the wound got big, then the blood and poison that is secreted out of the wound will mix into the water. This might also be the main reason why the poison became so corrosive. With dragon''s blood being a corrosive material on its own, if it is mixed into something, that thing bes simr to acid." What Almira said is indeed correct. Dragon blood is extremely vtile. Something will go wrong if you are in contact with it for long that sometimes, you either receive a curse or if you are lucky, you receive a buff that powers yourself up. This is just like the time I fought and killed the Pendragon. If I was soaked in its blood, I might have received something from it, either a debuff or a buff, whichever it was but since the Versatile Weapon devoured it, perhaps there is a chance... ... ... ... Wait... How could I even not think about that? I have been holding on to something that has the potential to be our solution, I didn''t think it would be that simple either. So I decided to mentally talk to the Versatile Weapon''s resident, the shadow dragon. "Hey, are you there?" As I tried tomunicate to the weapon, the Versatile weapon grows an eye and opens up, then stares back at me. "Yep, just woke up after you suddenly talked to me which is something I didn''t think you would do." "I apologize but I have a question. Can you consume poison and anything vtile inrge quantities?" "Consume poison? That''s a first but yeah, of course I can. I can devour anything I wanted to devour. I don''t think I have any problems consuming one. I have consumed a few great deals of poison before so it''s nothing new to me. And as forrge quantities, yep, pretty sure I can do that as well. As long as I can devour it, I can consume it just fine." "Then perhaps you will be feasting today and the next few days because I will need that bottomless stomach of yours to devour poison and corrosive blood mixed into the water." "Oh, a feast eh? I am always ready for that. Good thing I am always hungry. Just do the usual thing and you can make sure I wille and take the feast." "Won''t you have any side effects when devouring something dangerous like poison?" "Poison does nothing to me. In fact, it nurtures me. Whatever poison it is, it fills me without getting harmed. No poison has ever harmed me before, normal poison, deadly poison, and even some poisons back during the age of gods where it can practically kill the gods, I can devour them just fine." Hearing that bit, my eyes lit up. If what he said is true, then the poison that we are struggling to remove is nothing but food for the shadow dragon! "Alright, if nothing else, I will go back to sleep. Give me a holler if you want me to devour anything. I am always up and ready to swallow anything that blocks your path." After themunication I have mentally with the Shadow Dragon, I sighed in relief. Not only do I find a way to cleanse this troublesome poison but I can also remove the dragon away from theke if that poison is gone for good. Almira seemed to have noticed something changed in me and frowned. "Something wrong Manato? You seemed to have gone into a trance just now?" "Nothing, I just found a way to drain the water full of poison without a big problem on our side. Our only way goal right now is to beat up that dragon or cure it with its poison and let it hibernate for many years in the future somewhere if it isn''t a violent and dangerous dragon." "A solution, son?" Mother frowned. "Yes," then I pulled the Versatile Weapon out of its sheath and presented it to everyone. "Okay...so what does your weapon can even do? Does it have any purifying magic spell in it?" Almira asked. "Nope, but it can devour the poison and the water that has been corruptedpletely. We are going to have this drain off all of the harmful substance in the water and remove itpletely." Almira couldn''t believe her ears. "Are you sure your weapon can devour that amount of water, poison, and corrosive blood in one go? Wouldn''t your weapon get destroyed in the process?" I chuckled a bit at hearing that. This weapon? Get destroyed? Even if it wishes to be destroyed, this thing will remain indestructible. "Don''t worry about it." Almira sighed but she seemed to have been convinced about it. "If I have not seen the absurdity your weapon can do, then you would have to convince me harder than that. But since there are some unexinable acts I have seen in your weapon done before, I think I also wanted to see how this weapon can fix that problem of ours." "So that means, our problem with the poison is gone right? All we needed to do is either haul out the dragon out there or provoke it to fly off and perhaps fight us onnd?" Pandora asked. "Yes. Although I thought our meeting could be longer due to brainstorming about the methods of dealing with the poison after dealing with the dragon, Manato immediatelyid out a solution to our biggest problem then we should begin our literal nning on how to get rid of the dragon from the Grand Lake." Because the water is now out of the question, we focused all of our ns on how to provoke the dragon and forcefully remove it from its slumber. We have plenty of ideas but the one we settled with is to attack the dragon with ourrge-scale magic spells. If it didn''t work, then we will have to settle for damaging the reverse scale of the dragon, one of its weak points. ording to Almira, it is a surefire way to provoke a dragon in action as that will endanger their life and whatever happens, that is their first priority to be protected no matter what. Because of the other rmendations, Almira decided only on these two suggestions to make our lives much easier. Since Mother no longer needed to study the water of the Grand Lake to find a way to destroy and eliminate the poison, she went back to creating some vtile potions and some intricate items that can deal big damage and Almira supported it as there might be a chance that if we only rely on our normal spells, there is a chance it won''t work. Almira then gave us one night to prepare. One good night''s rest for the big day. Although it''s unsure if we can finish it in one day, there is a chance we will do so. "Good job for pitching the ideas everyone. Now that we have finished our meeting, we will end our "Operation Poison Drain" meeting and prepare for tomorrow. Rest and eat well everyone. Be sure to gear up properly as well." ... ... ... ... Instead of sleeping, I went outside and watched the Grand Lake. The sun is about to set and the night is slowly creeping up, creating the glowing in the darkke in the process. I don''t know if it was due to the poison or it is from the water itself but the glowing of the poison makes theke so ominous at night. It looks like it was being corrupted and something will rise there all of a sudden. "So that was the poison you people were talking about? The Grand Lake itself?" The Versatile Weapon started speaking. Perhaps it got curious how big the amount of poison and feast he was about to do. "Are you not confident about doing so?" I asked. "Heh, I am still confident, in fact, I can drain all of that without any problem to me. Prepare to be amazed tomorrow as I will perform the best way to consume all of that poison in one go." I can only shake my head hearing thatment. Although this shadow dragon sounded arrogant, what he said isn''t a lie either. If he said he can, he will do it. And since he knows how bottomless his stomach is, I can easily see him draining theke to itsst drop but still feel not enough. Though I wonder, once the Shadow Dragon devours the poison, will it gain something important? After all, its a poison back when the gods still roam the world. There is only one way to find that out. Chapter 880 Operation Poison Drain [III] ? Before the sun rises, we are all awake and moving around to prepare for the battle. Almira also made the final tuning on our equipment since I am not in my usual gear of being the cksmith making the weapons and armor of my friends. My mother also finished packing up the items needed as well and is currently resting. She will not participate in the battle as she has stayed up all night but she will be helping with the resupply in case things go wrong during our battles. As for us, we are stretching around, nning for our next move, and observing the dragon in case things are not gonna work. The elves are also doing a scouting process in case there are still some stray monsters that are wandering near the battlefield. As for me, I am selecting the necessary skills I will be using in this battle. After leveling up a lot, I decided that it doesn''t matter which of my stat goes where since all I am relying on are more on the stat bonus given to my Versatile Weapon. So instead of manually appointing on all points for my stats, I hit the automatic button, and every umted SP I have been passed down to my stat points. When pressing the auto allocation, it gave me an option on which stat has more focus in terms of stat allocation. Because I keep using more physical attacks and magical attacks than support and healing, as well as protection attacks, I let it allocate to a physical-magic hybrid this time around. Hitting the confirmation, all of my SP is drained and my current stats were increased, which are mostly spent on STR and INT. I also have a few stats in END, DEX, and AGI but not a lot. But I am satisfied. So I keep the setting that will automatically allocate those stats once I gain SP. As for the skills, I have a few skills in mind and since most of the skills are no longer tied up in tiers but more on levels, I choose those magic spells that are going to bring a lot of damage and some physical skills that can destroy enemies in one go. I already have a taste of which skills are worth taking and not worth taking so I acquired all of them and spent all of my points. I bnced out both passive and active skills though so the passive skills are now working properly and I am getting closer to my previous self, just a little tad stronger in magic and physical but a lot less agile and tough. After that, I grab most of the items I created before and stock them up in my inventory. Since we can''t carry multiple items in our inventory without getting encumbered, I only carried a small number of items with me and a bunch of scrolls containing high-end support skills and high-end magic and physical skills. I also carry a few MP potions and HP potions as well but only a limited numberpared to how I can bring them out all the time. With all the preparations done, I heard Almira call out for all of us to go outside. The elves havee back after scouting and everyone is also wearing their weapons and armor as well. The stacks of crates with all of the items we needed are also there as well, which will be carried by Leona once we give off the signal that we needed them. "Based on your looks, you all look ready. Although this isn''t your first rodeo in some sort of big nning operation like this, this will be the first while using your real bodies. And since we don''t want anyone to die while on the battlefield, don''t hesitate to retreat and recover your health in case things went wrong. Support each other and fight together and once again, don''t die." "When you said it like that, I am getting a bit nervous though..." Riko shivered. "Heh, that''s all good. Don''t dare underestimate the enemies. So go and fight and win this. We will be delivering the goods if you guys needed them, don''t hesitate to shoot out the signals, I gave you all plenty before we started." "No worries. We will return home alive and sessful. We will not disappoint everyone," Pandora gives off her confidence which made Almira smile. "Good. Now go to your positions. Remember what you all are going to do during the process and don''t lose your way." Every one of us opened up our wings, and we fly over to where we will be fighting and what we will be doing. The main members that will wake the dragon up, isposed of Sora, Riko, Pixie, Lucia, and myself. Although Pixie is not there to contribute to waking up the dragon, she is there in case the dragon attacks and anyone of us get attacked, she will immediately heal us. Once we have arrived at our appointed locations, we will attract the dragon''s attention since it is blind and keep it lured until we reach the area where the rest of the teamid out the trap I made and make the dragon immobile and prevent it from flying. Once that is done, we will do our best to fight back against it and if possible, keep it alive in case things will reveal that this dragon can bemunicated with but if not, we will be fighting it to death. This is a very big risk fight and we will have to ensure that we will survive this one without fully damaging the whole ecosystem in the process. No one is speaking and I can feel the tension of everyone''s nerves. Who wouldn''t be? This will be their first-ever battle against a monster very simr to a giant raid boss that scales a lot higherpared to the raid boss we tackled back during the Sandurk expedition. We didn''t take long to arrive at our appointed location. We waited for the rest to fire off their signal to ensure that we don''t start early while they are still preparing. It took a few minutes before the signal was fired. I looked at everyone and they all nodded. "Let''s do this!" I pulled out the scroll containing the skill, [Megido], one of the heavy skills that strike down an enemy with severe damage and has a very wide coverage of spell impact. This one is a strong spell but that is not enough to deal with the dragon in one blow. Then, I turned to look at the others. Sora is chanting the spell called [Ice Age], a spell that freezes enemies and then causes severe ice damage to enemies in range. As for both Riko and Lucia, both specialize in me magic so the moment they used started chanting, I immediately knew they will use the strongest spell they know which is [Inferno]. They have a long chant time so I waited for them to be on the timing that they are ready to finish. When they are in thest line of their chants, I tear up the scroll and target the sleeping dragon currently sleeping. As soon as the spell I was using appeared, the spells the three are chanting also appeared as well,bining our attacks into one huge hurl of powers, ready to fight. BOOOOOOOOOMMMM! A huge explosion urred to the dragon the moment the spells released collided with each other. Pixie even has to cast [Domain of the Protectors] to keep us protected from the attack and yet, we can feel the damage even with the domain that keeps us safe from the attack. "Did we seed?" Riko who was wiping off her sweat looked at the situation. I don''t see any movements at all and we are just waiting for the signs of it awakening. "Still no sign. We will see once the smoke dissipates," Sora added, still staring at the st zone. We waited for a few seconds more and when we thought that the intended monster we wanted to wake up remain asleep, we sighed and ready ourselves once more when all of a sudden, the smoke dissipated and a loud dragon suddenly roared out of the smoke. One p and the smoke covering the st area disappeared, revealing the unscathed dragon, roaring. I pulled out our portable transceiver since we don''t have party members chat like we used to, so we will be using the transceiver to ry the situation to everyone who has the radio. "First operation, Waking the Dragon isplete! We will bemencing the second part of the operation, so be ready for the traps and everyone else! The dragon is a big guy, and the spell we used didn''t have any effect so ensure that everyone has to be ready. Over and out!" And with that, we will be luring the dragon to the appointed location. The dragon is indeed blind. With both of its eyes missing, our mission is to let this dragon follow us while we are not hit by any of its attacks. Although not sure how this will work, we will have to win this. Chapter 881 Operation Poison Drain [IV] ? The dragon is indeed blind and no longer can see. Itshes everywhere even though there are no enemies in the area it was attacking. But its hearing seems sharper as it is attracted to loud sounds and attacks whenever it hears something. "Lucia, Riko, try using explosions to attract the dragon and lure it, Sora and I will try to cripple it down on the way. Pixie, go to Lucia and Riko and assist them in healing in case they get hit by the dragon''s attack." "Roger that!" Riko nodded enthusiastically. "No worries, Master, we will get this done," Lucia confidently nodded as well. Pixie headed to the two andnded on Riko''s hat before they headed back to their job. "Sora, we need to attack the dragon as fast as we can and move away as fast as we can as well. There''s no telling where the dragon will attack or it will try to trace down where the attackers areing in." "Then, we should shoot it down with lightning magic. They don''t bring noises much unless they are apanied by thunder. They are fast and can cripple enemies in quick session with some chances to even paralyze enemies." "I didn''t think of that, alright let''s do that." As soon as Lucia and Riko started producing sts, the dragon''s attention immediately shifted to their direction. Roaring, it flies straight to them, intending to smash through and kill them. "Attack!" Sora and I immediately fired off our spells. I have a lightning spell spent so I do have something silent but crippling enough for the dragon. The dragon might have sensed the attack, but since it seems toe out of nowhere, its senses are more focused on the explosions, thinking the attacks were alling from that direction. Since the n is working, we continue the process to at least whittle down the dragon to a manageable health and we can take it down once itnds. Now that we were almost to the area where we will be fighting the dragon, I pulled back the transceiver and alerted everyone there. "We are almost there, ready for the trap. The dragon ising in!" We continue to st the enemy without stopping until the dragon is finally in the area where Iid down the traps and everyone else is waiting for the dragon to fall in. "NOW!" Lucia and Riko immediately dodge away and let the dragon dive straight to the trap which is aplicated wiring trap simr to a spider web. The more the dragon struggles, the more the wires entangle the dragon''s body. "Alright! It''s a sess! Now pump up that electric trap all the way up! Everyone else, get the dragon drenched in water!" As soon as I ordered them, everyone pulled out the water guns that I made before. It''s one of the items I was nning to sell during my time as deheart once a summer eventes rolling in. Who knows if this will be something that we will be using for an operation? Everyone fired the water inside the water gun and slowly drench the dragon with water. The dragon tried struggling but the wire continues to bind all of the dragon''s limbs. Even the wings are not able to move freely as well, making a mess for the dragon. "Charge up the voltage!" Pandora who I entrusted to release the voltage immediately pulled the crank to the highest level, causing a surge of electricity towards the wet dragon. Everyone stops firing the water gun as well as they might be at risk of catching the electricity while it was just intended for the dragon. ROAAAAAAAARRR! The dragon roared in pain as thousands worth of voltage discharges through its body. I can even see some parts of the dragon''s body began to turn ck and the smell of the burnt flesh can be smelled as well. It didn''t take long for the discharge to run out of electricity. It didn''t matter much though as that was the most necessary thing. The moment the electricity runs out, the whole trap breaks down and the dragon fell to the ground with blood and its scales falling from its body. "Did we win?" Rika tried to approach but I immediately stopped her. "Most likely not. This dragon might be dying but it is still holding up on what it can do. It''s more likely that it is still alive. Keep your distance." We kept our distance. Not because the dragon is going to attack but to ensure that it will not go on a rampage. And I was right. It didn''t take long for the dragon to stand back up. Despite being totally weakened and its body in bad shape, the dragon is still standing back up. No wonder it manages to survive the poison it received back then but it''s already in its dying state. I can feel its suffering from the poison and all of the injuries it acquired from our recent attack. It''s not begging for us to spare its life. It''s begging for us to kill it. "I don''t know what happened to you and how you received that poison in your body but now your suffering shall stop here. Whether you like it or not, you will have to rest in piece! Everyone, attack!" I don''t know if it was just my imagination or not but the dragon smiled. It does look like a smile from my perspective but I don''t know whether it was just an illusion of view or the dragon actually did that. That day, the dragon didn''t bother to fight back. It weed all of the attacks it received and one fatal blow from my Versatile Weapon ended the dragon''s life once and for all. When we killed it, we didn''t feel like we won, it was like a one-sided massacre. However, it seems the dragon felt that it was fine. And I think it was more than happy that it died at our hands. As soon as the dragon drew itsst breath, the huge body of the dragon disintegrated to pieces, like dust and dirt piled together but lost its final foundation and copsed. "It''s over..." ... ... ... After the dragon''s death, every part of the dragon''s body disappeared, not even leaving a single bone or scale for us to salvage. However, not everything disintegrated. One lump of suspicious things fell after we killed the dragon. The moment it fell into the grass, all of the surrounding grass immediately died and wilted. I got some suspicions on what this is but I still don''t know if I am right. I warned everyone to not touch it as this might be the item that caused the dragon to die a horrible death. And so I called out Cath Palug. "For the first time, you called me out for once. I can''t believe my ears!" "Oy, don''t be mistaken. I called you here to identify whether this thing is the one you meant to be the primordial poison you are talking about." Cath Palug stopped his antics and approached the lump of something and started sniffing it. One sniff and his face turned to disgust. "Ugh. Smell so bad. This sh*t is just so disgusting I can immediately tell I don''t like it." "So, is this the poison you are talking about?" I asked. "Yes. The primordial poison. It might not look like the one I saw before but this thing is indeed the primordial poison that I know." "Primordial Poison?" Father approached the lump and tried to poke it with a branch. "Don''t touch it directly or you will slowly rot and slowly die while this thing keeps you alive while you suffer from it. Would you like that?" Cath Palug grinned and when my father heard that, Father immediately retracts from poking the lump. "Are there any other uses for this thing?" Pandora asked as she looked at it with a curious nce. "Aside from bearing a very deadly poison that can slowly put the one poisoned to slowly suffer a painful but imminent death, it doesn''t do anything and I doubt you can use it for something especially if it has a byproduct of producing poison. Anyways, I will go back to sleep. After sniffing this thing, I would rather have some good rest for a while." After that, Cath Palug returned. Although he does not feel poisoned, it seems he is a bit lethargic by this thing and the moment he felt it, he decided it''s not worth it. "So if this is the poison, how do we remove it here? We can''t afford to have another case of that poisoning once more." Just as we are trying to figure things out, the Versatile Weapon awakened and appeared. "Yummy looking piece of garbage! If no one wanted this, I will dly devour this thing!" Before any of us can say anything, the shadow dragon devoured the Primordial Poison. Chapter 882 Operation Poison Drain [V] ? I was a bit worried that the Shadow Dragon would suddenly die from the poison. After all, it''s not just poison that the dragon has eaten but the entire essence and origin of all the poison currently mixed in the pool of water on theke. However, my worries seem to be all for naught as the dragon not only enjoys it, the dragon even gained a bit of benefit, albeit that it''s still in the process of being applied as the core of the Primordial Poison that the Versatile Weapon has eaten is currently being digested. "Uh... Manato? Is your sword fine? Eating poison just like that... are you sure it won''t die?" Riko asked, worried that the Shadow dragon will suddenly copse and die after a while. "So far, no. In fact, it seems this guy is getting hungrier the moment it has eaten that thing," I then started swinging the Versatile Weapon to show that it is still fine. "Wow, this guy''s stomach must be too resilient. I have seen it eat but who would have thought even the items that should not be eaten can be consumed by this weapon of yours, son," Father is amazed by the Versatile Weapon''s functionality. "Well, it does seem like a good thing but sometimes, it''s something I am worried about, what if one day, I wouldn''t be able to provide anything for this thing to eat anymore? Will it devour me someday?" "Very possible, but not if you show the weapon that you are in control. Don''t let it take advantage of you," Pandora suggested. "Anyways, enough chit-chat. Now that the trouble is gone and the primordial poison is nowhere to be found and no longer a threat, it''s time to drain the poison of theke." I nodded and I look at my Versatile Weapon. Since it didn''t go into hibernation, it will be devouring more than usual today. But since this dragon is looking forward to devouring theke, it should be fine. All of us made sure there are no more things left on the battlefield and we ensured that the dragon left no traces there that might corrupt the surroundings in the process. Once everything is in ce, we headed to theke, and with the dragon no longer resting in the middle of theke, it felt like theke has be empty all of a sudden. However, if the dragon didn''tnd here in the first ce theke wouldn''t even look this empty in the first ce. "I am going to start this now, okay?" I looked at everyone as I pointed the tip of the Versatile weapon into the poisonous and corrosive water of theke. Everyone nodded and are watching at what will happen next. As for me, I waited for a bit before I put the de into the water and then released themand. "[DEVOUR!]" The moment I gave themand, the Shadow Dragon went out with a big mouth and drained the water in the blink of an eye. It was like the plug for the drainage of the pool has been pulled out causing all of the stagnating water to get itself drained. All of the water that possessed poison as well as on the rivers has been devoured, fully draining everything and leaving it without any water. Everyone was surprised at how rapidly the water disappeared. Not only in theke but even in the rivers. We can even see the bottom of theke as well which somehow, reveals some kind of shrine there but it seems no one has noticed it yet as everyone marveled at how the water disappeared in one go. "Wow, Manato. You really did drain the water without a sweat. Is your weapon fine? Did it feel bloated after drinking so much water in the process?" Riko asked. I looked at my Versatile Weapon and it seems to be doing just fine. I checked its status and it seems that the digestion process of everything the Versatile Weapon devoured willst for a whole 2 months. I was expecting it to be a bit longer considering it devoured so much in one go but perhaps this will not take long enough. And considering that it didn''t hibernate after devouring everything, I can still let it devour anything except the Seven Deadly Sins weapons which might be the ones that will cause the Shadow Dragon to enter a hibernation phase. "Alright, our only remaining task is to get rid of all the remnants of corpses in theke that has been sticking around after they all died and sink into the water. That way, the new water that will fill theke back will be much cleaner and will be purified as well. It will also avoid forming a temporary summoning site for zombies and ghouls as well." Everyone is eager to help. But before that, we decided to go back to the mansion and deliver the good news. I also took a secret note to myself on the ruins I spotted as well. We might be able to explore that ceter on. But for now, we will have to celebrate that our problem has been dealt with without too much of a problem. ... ... ... As soon as we returned, Almira and Mother are currently waiting for us. They weed us after our sessful endeavor in the end. "Looks like the process is sessful then? We heard strong noises earlier but it ended rather quickly. Just what happened?" Mother asked as she inspected me for wounds or injuries. "Come on dear, he is fine. Don''t worry too much..." Before Father can continue what he was saying, Mother switches her target and also started inspecting my father. "Don''t struggle too much, I am in the middle of an inspection. This is payback for keeping me worried." I can only facepalm myself when the two started flirting but I don''t really mind them doing that. Anyways, we immediately tell Mother and Almira the events that happened after we lured the dragon. We also told them the dragon disintegrated after it died so we didn''t even get any sort of material we can use for making new weapons, tools, or anything dragon-rted equipment. "Ugh...I knew it. Although I am expecting it to happen, I was still having some small hope that even at least a little will remain after it died that you guys can salvage then perhaps, the process would have been more rewarding in the process." "Yeah. It felt a bit more nd that we ended up without much problem in the process. It''s a huge stake of a battle and we get nothing much in return. It''s pretty much a one-sided thing to us. And we are in a disadvantageous state," Rika voiced out her disappointment. "I think not all hope is lost though," I started so that their attention will shift to me. "And why is that?" Almira frowned. "Because earlier after draining the water of theke, something was revealed to us that seems to look like some kind of shrine or ruin door present. It''s covered in multiple rubbles but I am sure it was some kind of shrine or ruin entrance. I must say it is worth investigating, yeah?" "An entrance?" ... ... ... ... Because everyone seems to not believe me, I escorted them to the ce where the entrance I spotted. I cleared away the rubble a bit and soon revealed an entrance that leads deeper. "A hidden ruin? And under theke for how long?" Almira''s eyes lit up when she inspected the ce. "Indeed. This ce looks like a ruin, Seeing the totems and some structures here and there, it seems to be something that existed way beyond in the past. And since its entrance has been submerged from water for how long and has never been explored or even dived on, it safe to say this ce is not yet looted and is ready to be explored while the water has been drained," Renatta added. "So that means there might be treasure?" Riko''s eyes lit up. "Don''t be too excited just yet. Considering this ce is submerged underwater and the water became corrosive, there is a high chance some of the items present in this ce are either too poor quality or are all ready to copse any minute," Labo shut her down, causing Riko to get disappointed. "But that is only a chance. We have no idea how long the corrosion has been there and how deep has the corrosion gone deep before. If that is the case, anything inside might be either unharmed or broken. It''s just a chance so don''t think too much that this ce is a bit useless," Renatta reassured Riko. Almira grinned widely while staring at this ce. "I can smell treasure beyond this ce. I guess it was indeed worth it after all." Now, we are nning for the next target, exploration to this unknown ce. Chapter 883 The Ruins Under The Lake ? I thought Almira would stay on the sideline but this time, she wanted to join and learn what the ruins are all about. It was something I didn''t expect her to do as she mostly stay where she would be rather than go exploring around. The only time she has gone out of her way to do something aside from her regr work is during the exploration we did in the Frozen Region where I asked her to help in making weapons for the army. After that, I don''t think I have seen her do much outside and most of the time, she would be more of a ve driver than someone who goes out of her way to discover new things. So for her to go on the initiative and proceed with this is a first for me. Anyways, Almira has to go back to the mansion to prepare her own gear. Mother came back with her as she wanted to also join. As for us, we remained in the entrance as we are still pretty loaded due to the previous battle ending quite early than expected so all of our supplies that we thought we will have used for a grueling battle ended up not being used. While waiting for the two, every one of us started to scour the area of the dried-upke. The water flowing to fill theke is a bit slow in filling theke back up so we have the time to check the ce without worrying about theke suddenly getting flooded. But still, just to ensure ourselves, I put a Teleporter Point onnd to ensure that we have a way out in case the ce gets flooded and we have no way out. "There are some interesting things present here huh? Look, I found a coin," Rika pulled out a gold coin from the mud and showed it to us. It''s not the same gold coin used nowadays but it looks pretty old and although it looked like it has been there for a long, it didn''t lose the luster it had which means it''s either a real gold coin or perhaps it has something else. "It''s expected to find that kind of thing here. I even found a rusty sword here. Someone might have lost it or thrown this one off," Akira then pulled out the rusty sword which immediately crumbles after he fully pulled it out. Everyone is busy looking for the trinkets they found in the mud but as for me, those are not what I want to check out. I instead went and check the entrance of the temple or ruins or whatever this ce is properly. There are no signs of monsters going in and out of the way but I am quite sure there will be more troubleing in if we go in forter. Perhaps the monsters living in theke who managed to survive decided to live in this ce and escape the dangers present from the corrosive water. "We are back!" Almira shouted as she jumped into the dried-upke followed by my Mother. Both of them are now equipped with their battle attires and Almira is carrying the rent which she used to kill King Arthur before. Looks like she will just keep on using that sword for the longest time and in the future as well. Now that we are assembled, I registered everyone on the teleport point so that everyone can use that in case we needed to get out. If they are not registered on the teleport point, when teleporting, they might randomlynd in a random area especially if there is no specific destination. "Is everyone set to go? Looks like it, then let''s proceed and check this ce out!" Almira is more excited than everyone is which is pretty rare for her. She is always serious and sometimes stoic at times but she has never shown so much excitement before like this. Sora is quicker than me since the moment we entered, she immediately cast out [Light] and illuminated our way. But that is expected from one of the two best mercenaries who help yers in exchange for money as payment to have these habits engrained in their brains. When we fully entered, I was expecting a notification from the system that we discovered a secret area or a hidden area but it seems it wasn''t the case as I don''t have any sort of messages like that received. Now that we entered here, I can fully say this isn''t a temple but more of a ruin. The walls are fully built and the road is properlyid out as well. The only difference is that the ce looked grimy due to the fact that this ce has been submerged for long that different algae and underwater nts would start growing on them, making them look pretty dirty. Still, when we continue our explorations, I didn''t expect to find treasure chests here and there. Just like the rest of the ce, the treasure chests are still a bit wet and covered in algae, which made some of the girls to be a bit icky about interacting with one. At first, I thought the contents of the treasure chests would be garbage and useless but I was proven wrong. The first chest I got was a few bottles of Elixirs and a few scrolls containing high-tiered spells. Getting this loot first try is something that we can''t get in dungeons and ruins at the very first treasure. Usually, we only find them if we head to the final boss room or if there is a dedicated treasure room we have to unlock. But getting these treasures in the first treasure chest that looks so unremarkable it is sad is a bit suspicious and a bit troubling. "Getting these kinds of treasures is suspicious, I would say. Is this ce generous or is it baiting us to go deeper only to meet our untimely end?" Almira shook her head. I can only smile silently after hearing what Almira said, looks like I am not alone in my assumption as well. We continue to move around and although there are no monsters, we keep on running a few treasure chests here and there, and all of them are pretty worn out that if you are not very capable of looking for treasure, the treasure chest is easily missable. "I am not liking the heavy feeling I have been getting since we have gotten deeper here. Is it just me or do I feel more exhausted than ever?" Riko asked. "Not only you, dear. I also felt it," my Mother tapped on Riko''s shoulder to also voice out what she feels at the moment. We continue to venture out on the ruins and we still didn''t meet a single monster. But I feel suspicious. Not only do I feel a presence but it feels like it was just there, watching our every move. Perhaps this is the heavy feeling everyone is noticing. As we continue on our way, we already noticed that the water that is only a bit low on our shoes had risen and soaked our feet already. It does make sense though as we have been moving for a few hours already. Then, when we reach a big clearing, Akira on our vanguard stopped us from proceeding. We also noticed that our way forward is divided into 4 different forks of the road. Akira steps forward, carrying his shield then ms it down to the ground. "Everyone, I will have to ensure there are no enemies waiting for us on these roads that we will be choosing. Please get ready, if I did it right things might go bad at us anytime get everyone battle ready." After saying that, he pulled out his mace and thumps the shield using his mace multiple times, which was one of his skills as the tank, [Provoke and Attract]. Abination of [Provoke] and [Scream] with the former causes enemies to only attack the user who used [Provoke] and [Scream] which attracts enemies in the surrounding areas. But for Akira to use it here, he might''ve sensed an enemy nearby. It didn''t take long for some loud footsteps to suddenly echo throughout the chamber. And our senses for enemies suddenly started getting strong made me prepare for the worst. "Pixie, get ready to heal up Akira immediately after my signal." As the loud noises get stronger and stronger, I also ready myself to attack. No matter what it is, I am ready tounch an attack. And as expected, enemies started jumping out from the pathways and attacked Akira. "Pixie, Now!" Pixie waiting for my signal immediately cast a high-level healing spell, restoring him to health. And with that, everyone sprang up in action to attack the unknown enemies which turned out to be walking Piranhas with legs. "Don''t let these freaky fishes attack us, toast them with fire!" As a result, the hallway immediately exploded with mes as everyone dunked on to the monsters without letting them even getting a break. Chapter 884 Path To The Middle World, Agartha ? I thought normal piranhas were scary enough, it looks like I have not seen enough of them. I have seen plenty of freaky monsters here and there but these monsters are so quick that they almost overwhelm Akira in one go. If not for Sora who immediately fired off a st of ice at the Piranhas, then perhaps Akira''s armor would have been pierced by the armor. "Fend them off!" I ordered as the monsters keeps on pouring in. It doesn''t seem they are going to just stop attacking soon. Everyone immediately started fighting them. They are quick and tough but they are not that strong if alone. But they became a bit of a problem once they attack in groups. It''s easy to iste and kill them but they are quick at going groups so the only thing making things hard is that they are not just going to die alone. With our numbers and strength, the horde of walking piranhas are dealt with. I thought it would take a bit of time to kill them all but thankfully, there''s no more of theming out from the forks of the road. "Damn, these fishes were persistent," Akira swiped off his sweat as he checks the damage done to his armor and shield. Based on the dealt damages, it seems it is still in working condition. Almira who helped kill the fishes as well crouch down and checked the dead bodies of the walking piranhas we killed. "These are ancient monsters... I heard they were hunted to extinction back in the day due to their danger as they easily popte and they can live in both water andnd, making them very dangerous creatures if left alone. Howe they are here?" Almira frowned. "You know these kind of monsters, Miss Almira?" Pandora asked. "Not really. I have seen them in archives before but I have not seen one in my entire life as they only exist in records nowadays as this species of piranhas are considered to be extinct already. Seeing one here means they are either living in hiding, waiting for the time they can go back out of the world or this is now their new sanctuary and we just intruded on it." "But if they are dangerous, then shouldn''t we cull them instead of letting them remain alive?" My Mother suggested. "Indeed. They should be culled before they be a real pain to deal with and we don''t want them to be running amok around now that we have removed the barrier that stopped them from going to the surface. It will be our big responsibility if we caused an outbreak of these monsters." Almira conjures a big ball of me and burned all of the monster remains without even letting me harvest them remains. "Why did you burn it? We could have gotten some valuable materials out of their bodies!" Iined. "It''s best we don''t bother with them. They should remain extinct and anything made from them will just reveal that they are still there somewhere. We n to end their line of ancestors. We shouldn''t be keeping them as materials. Keep them buried in the history books." Although I don''t understand the logic of Almira, if she thinks that is the best, then that should be it. Now back to our situation. Since there are four ways, we have to decide where to go. Although we n on visiting the others as well, we wanted to check out every individual path as all of the paths have these monsters emerge back when Akira called for them, therefore, all paths have those monsters present. "We should head inside in chronological order. That is the best way to get there and besides, we will be scouring the other pathster on so why not just stick to the first, second, third thenstly, the fourth?" Renatta suggested. "Yes, that should be the best. It wouldn''t make us confused about which of the paths we have not taken as wellpared to alternating on different paths," Pandora nodded. "Then, it''s decided. Although I wanted to divide our forces so that we can have a much more efficient time of exploration, seeing those monsters appear here, is no longer a good option. Who knows what is waiting for us there? Dividing ourselves would just cause us to weaken our ranks and defenses, making us easy to pick for monsters." We then proceed to go to the first path. I thought it would be a big path but it was a bit tighter than expected. We can only proceed one by one lined up together due to how tight the tunnel is. But thankfully, it didn''tst long enough as the tunnel was short and we emerge after walking out. As soon as we emerge from that tight tunnel, we just realized that all four pathways lead to the same destination seeing the other tunnel exits on the side of the tunnel we just went out from. "Well, we don''t need to go and check out the other pathway seeing how they all lead to the same ce anyways," Almira shrugged. Some of us are not convinced like Riko and decided to go back using the other tunnels. She dragged me along and as expected, the other tunnels were the same pathway and nothing are different from them. "See? There''s nothing new. We should move on. Come on, we are wasting daylight here," Almira grinned as she looked at Riko''s disappointed face. We continue our way in without expecting much. We even thought at first that we will be entering a big nest of monsters but soon enough, we realized we aren''t going to some sort of nest but more of a ce that looks simr to a city. The ce is big and is very massive to the point that there is a big chance that what we are seeing is an underground city. I wouldn''t be surprised if we would see a different world here. If that were true, I will not be surprised at all. I think this was also a thing in the real world as well. I think they call it Agartha though I am not too sure about it, I only saw it once. Almira was not expecting the scenery and pulled out a journal from the bag that has a pocket dimension capable of storing multiple items in one go. She pulled it out and started reading the contents of it. I peek at her journal as I am curious. I thought Almira would be angry but she didn''t mind and let us see what it was. "I didn''t know this at all... I couldn''t believe it. So the path we used was the path to reach Agartha?!" Almira couldn''t believe her eyes as shepares the illustration in the journal and what we are seeing. The simrities are very uncanny like it was photographed despite the photo on the journal being clearly made by hand and pencil. "Agartha?" Riko''s eyes lit up. "You know Agartha, Riko?" Rika asked seeing how excited the former was. "Yes, of course! I have been researching this topic many times before as I like to learn if these kinds of mysteries were real before! Agartha was one of those theories that were said to be real and some people have already reached it. But since no one told the people how to reach that ce and due to how it was a hidden world, it was never been proven to be real. I didn''t expect an Agartha was also present in Alternate World!" Riko is just as pumped as Almira. "Almira, do you know the presence of Agartha before?" I asked Almira who also marveled at the view. "No. Actually, this is the first time I heard the name. But I didn''t know this would be the case here." I turned back and looked at the ce. It looked like some kind of cyberpunk world. There are some futuristic-looking things there and I even noticed some sort of Neon Lights as well. Although I am not sure whether they are really neon lights, there is a chance they are one. "Should we push on?" I asked. "Yes. Now that we reached this ce, there is no way we will waste this chance to visit this ce and never see it again." I looked at the others to see their reaction and based on their response, it seems they are in favor of Almira and no one is objecting to her. "Almira is right, it''s going to be a big waste if we don''t visit or check out this newly discovered ce. Looking at everyone, most of them are in favor as well." I don''t know much but seeing how everyone is in favor of us visiting the ce, I have to agree that this ce is going to be a newnd for us to venture out. We should check it out first. Little did we know this will be the ce that will change our destiny the most. Chapter 885 Returning to the Surface

Chapter 885 Returning to the Surface

Almira is totally happy that she found the ce that was in the journal she was holding that she urged us to go as well. Though I also admit that I am a bit curious about this ce. After all, this is the first time I heard of the Middle Earth as well. But just as we are nearing the ce where the futuristic stuff was happening, we are suddenly blocked by some sort of invisible wall. "What? What... what, what, what?!" Almira started fumbling on the invisible wall and tried to look for a way to pass through but the invisible wall seems to be there to block anyone who wants to go further. "It seems this is as far as we can go. Not with a barrier like this," Father then knocks on the invisible wall and I can see it show some movements but other than that, it''s just invisible and we have no way to continue on. "No way I will just let this happen! I needed to see the ce with my own eyes!" Almira refuses to give up and pulled out her rent. She charges up her attack and once the de started glowing, she swings it to the invisible wall. BANG! Like how hard she hit the wall, it was also that hard she was sent flying by the wall. The invisible was unscathed but Almira who should be tough enough to handle that kind of strike was out ofmission already when I rush towards her and check up on her. Aside from some bruises and some broken armor parts, nothing much was off. However, she was totally knocked out, so we have no other choice but to let her rest for a bit. Since Almira has been knocked out, I decided to see whether I can see a way for us to proceed as I was also a bit curious about this so-called Agartha as well. I tried probing the wall and feeling it a bit slowly in case there is a hidden mechanic present that we just didn''t notice. But as I keep on probing, a mechanical voice suddenly spoke. "Intruders of Agartha, please go back where you came from. Unless you bear the seal of our Invitation, we can''t let you all in." We looked around where the voice came from as it was echoing the whole ce but we didn''t find where it came from. Hearing that, I can tell that we are not going to be able to move forward here, and even if we try to go further, I think it will just cause us to be unable to go further. "We don''t have any way to go in there or any reason to further proceed. We don''t have the invitation the mechanical voice said as well. Furthermore, Almira is out of themission to move. We will have to go back next time." I went to the side and put down a teleporter point so that we cane back here anytime we wanted even if the water from theke is flooding back in. With how dry this area is, I could guess the water does not reach this part. "Are we really just gonna go back just like that?" Riko is disappointed as she looked back at the invisible wall. "There''s no point to keep arguing anyways to the mechanical voice. Not only that but we are like intruders to them. It''s more likely we will be treated as criminals there if we even managed to get inside," Rika reasoned with Riko. "Still..." Riko pouted. Renatta pat Riko''s shoulder and smiled. "No worries Riko-chan. Now that we have found this ce, we will have to search for a way to get in there in the future. Even after many years of my life, I never even learned about that ce before so knowing there is a ce like that existing underground made me curious as well." "I think we barely see anything about what the Agartha really is. Seeing how they have this... invitation-only stuff, we needed to find a way to bypass that wall in the future. But for now, let''s head back. We don''t have much business here anyways." Although it''s a bit disappointing that we didn''t have a way to go further, I think there will be a chance to get in there in the future. Not now, though. ... ... ... ... We backtracked on our way and as we did, the water has already risen and reached already on our knees. Although it didn''t fill up immediately, I can say the water is quickly filling up the missing water of theke once more. Compared to before when we had to search around, we just went ahead and go straight to the exit instead and we didn''t take a few minutes to go back outside. Before we fully left, we decided to seal up the entrance for now. We don''t know if that walking Piranhas are still there but if they are, we have to prevent them from going up here so, sealing it is the only way. We will just destroy the rock once we needed to go back inside once more. Returning to the mansion, we let Almira rest. I let Gobu''s wife do the rest so that her armor is removed. As for us, we will have to eat some lunch as we didn''t eat just yet. After all of the things we have done before the battle against the dragon, I guess a good feast wouldn''t hurt. "Alright. With all of our tasks done, guess we will have to go and have some rxation time. Let''s go barbecue meat! A good reward for a job well done, I must say," I announced to everyone. "Barbecue eh? Not a bad idea. Let''s get all the tools ready. We do need a way to say we did a good job and this should do the trick," Father grinned. Everyone started discussing and feeling excited as Father pulled out the equipment for the barbecue. Mother also appeared with Lina carrying a few tes of ingredients for the barbecue as well. "Everyone,e in,e all, our barbecue celebration party begins now!" And everyone started to gather around as I and my father manage the crowd while also putting the ingredients in the skewer, putting them on the grill, and then handing them to the customer. It''s an exhausting task but nevertheless, fun and amazing. We spent our whole afternoon and evening partying without a care in the world. After all, there will be a chance in the future when we will no longer be able to do something like this again. By the time it''s almost midnight, theke has fully filled back like the water has been there for many years. But this time, it''s pure water with no more signs of impurity and poison. In short, we have saved the whole ce. Although the dead nts and animals won''te back, it doesn''t need any more help from us. They will be capable of reviving themselves in the future and maybe by the time everything ends, theke will be back, flourishing with new wildlife living freely once more. ... ... ... ... The Elder Treant was so thankful when he decided toe and visit us to check the progress. Seeing that the dragon that was previously there was no longer sleeping in theke and the water flowing in the rivers and streams are pure and clean once more, the Elder Treant couldn''t stop thanking us. "I couldn''t believe what I am seeing and due to that, I thank you all for all the efforts you have done so far. Even to this day, I wouldn''t think theke would return to its former beauty once again. Although it has yet to fully go back to the way it was once, it will surelye back sooner orter and these wouldn''t happen if not for the effort you all have done. And with that, is my sincere appreciation to all of you." "Well, it wasn''t that hard to begin with. The dragon is almost dying already when we were fighting against it so when the time we hit the final blow, the dragon immediately died and turned to dust. He was too weak to even fight seriously too. But if that dragon was at its peak, we wouldn''t be done fighting that dragon until now." "It''s good that you all are safe. Anyways, I heard that you all are looking for something right? The Tree of Life, if I remember correctly?" "Indeed," I nodded. Before the Elder Treant respond, he sent out a seed mimic to form his human form and talk to us. "This form is much better to use rather than using my real body as that voice of mine is very loud. What I will be telling is gonna be something of a secret. I will tell you a hint of how to locate the Tree of Life, but for now, stop looking for it. The Tree of Life will not show up until then. However, when the time is right, those who wish to find the tree with pure intentions in mind will be guided by the light. But beware as those with malicious minds will try to find it as well, so be careful." Chapter 886 Once In A Blue Moon

Chapter 886 Once In A Blue Moon

"Let me start by saying that the Tree of Life is something that cannot be found so easily. But it is indeed real and I am one of those blessed enough to see and experience the grand beauty and power of the Tree of Life to its fullest extent. If not for the Tree of Life, I wouldn''t be evolving into an Elder Treant and I wouldn''t be able to also gain the power to think rationally." "You mean, all of these traits of yours were due to you being able to see the Tree of Life in person?" I asked the Elder Treant. "Just being in its presence is enough for me to gain the benefits that are usually bestowed to those blessed by the Tree of Life. I don''t know if I was blessed by the tree myself but just being there is something of a blessing already." So this might be one of the reasons why Nobuhiko wanted to get a hold of the Tree of Life to the point that he would revert back the time just to get the Tree of Life in his grasp. "But what is the connection between this information and why we can''t ess it now?" I asked. "As you can see, during the time when I was hoping for something to change in my life, I happened to have seen the emergence of the Tree of Life which allowed me to see and view it personally. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but I soon found out that it wasn''t and the Tree of Life only appeared on some particr dates and only during a certain time as well." "Certain time?" "Indeed. Although I have no idea the very specific time humans use, the Tree of Life only appears and can be essed by select individuals "once in a blue moon." Once it happens, the Tree of Life emerges in response, and anyone who longed for a change or is pure-hearted people who wanted to search for the tree and seek its blessings, the tree will appear and guide them to its ce. Although I don''t know if you guys can be qualified as pure-hearted by the Tree of Life I just wanted to let you know that the Tree of Life won''t be here anytime soon." I frowned and tried to recall what this "Blue Moon" was. Although I haven''t crossed this phenomenon before, not even once, I read it before in the library as one of themon knowledge of the world where the full moon bes blue in color and the world will stay still for a few hours while the moon is up. It''s also the time when the world is at peace. On the other hand, this is also the opposite of the "Red Moon" or Crimson Moon, where the monsters and all evil beings will start going rampant all of a sudden. But I never seen these phenomenon happen before. "If that was the case, when is the next Blue Moon to appear?" Pandora who was listening on the side asked. "The next Blue Moon would ur in the next 10 months in human time. I am not too sure when it will exactly happen but that is going to be the next time the Blue Moon will appear." The next 10 months... should be in December. But since the date is not determined, that means we have to watch out for December for the signs of the Tree of Life to appear. However, did the Blue Moon even happen before? I don''t think it ever happened at all. A few years passed by and I don''t think the Tree of Life appeared at all. Because if it did, it should have happened and Nobuhiko would have already known about this incident. He would also be already controlling the tree already if that was the case as well. This leads me to my personal question. Does the Elder Treant made a lie to us? I don''t think so. Therefore, there must be some other reason. Since I don''t have anything to ask, I wanted to end the rest of the discussion by telling us this "One final question though. Where does the Tree of Life exactly appear once the Blue Moon appears?" I asked. "That is what I don''t know. It randomly appears and if you are determined and are considered by the Tree of Life as a qualified person to see it, then you will see and you will be guided by it." ... ... ... Soon, the conversation regarding the matter of the Tree of Life ended. Although we have little clue about it right now, we also have the month we needed to check the "Blue Moon" from appearing. Once it appears, we will have to find the Tree of Life and prevent Nobuhiko from using it for his own agenda. After telling us the information, the Elder Treant left and said his regards to Almira who is still sleeping. As for us who have heard the details, we looked at each other. "It was going to take a lot shorter than expected huh? 10 months... that''s just going to pass by in the blink of an eye," Renatta is worried after learning about it. "Yes. And finding that tree is also going to be reliant on whether any of us will be qualified as a "good person" by the Tree of Life. But what makes a good person? I don''t think I am a good person at all..." Pandora shook her head, immediately iming its impossible for her to be called a good person. "Being a good person is subjective and we can''t say any of us are genuinely good so it''s all up to the Tree of Life to measure whether we will be worthy of the Tree of Life''s blessings," Labo gave his piece. "Wait, then does that mean Nobuhiko is someone who can''t see this tree no matter what?" Riko seems to have realized something. "I see now. This must be the reason why he decided to use everyone as this is something of a big chance for him to locate the tree. Someone who has a pure heart will obviously see the tree and that must mean he is using every one of the gamers as part of his n to spot and find the tree for his own convenience." "Does he know that the Tree of Life appears only during the Blue Moon though?" I asked her as I don''t think Nobuhiko knows it yet. "There''s a chance he knows but there is a bigger chance that he didn''t. So I have no idea whether he does know about it or not. I am just specting here," Riko shook her head. "Still, it''s a bit better that we have an idea of what to do next and when it will ur. We are no longer blindly treading on an unknown road," Renatta happily pointed out the little fact. "Which means we are free until then?" Riko immediately shifted to her happy tone. "Not really, Riko. Just so you know, we will have to prepare for this as well. Just because we have a time on when it will actually ur doesn''t mean we can just go ahead without preparation, We might even get defeated by Nobuhiko and the others due to this. We shouldn''t becent. Remember Janus? He will be our enemy now so the next time we will meet him, it will be during the search for the Tree of Life." Riko sighed but she nodded in response. "Yes. I didn''t forget about it. I just don''t want to think about it. His betrayal. I know he meant well, but why did he not discuss it with us back then?" Rikoments the situation. Rika pats Riko on her shoulder and tries tofort her. "Guess that should be it. All we have to do now is keep on gathering more information about the Tree of Life. It might have not appeared just yet but we will have to find it first before our enemies do. The more intel we have, the better we will be going forward. Now, let''s adjourn the meeting." ... ... ... ... I slowly open my eyes and I am back again on the realm where the Ygdrassil was. I am quite sure I went to sleep immediately due to how tired I am currently but seeing that I am here, that must mean I was either summoned there or the situation has escted and someone must have done it. The tree didn''t change. The woman d in white kimono is still embedded in the Tree''s trunk. I don''t know who she is but she is the one who saved my life multiple times. Although I don know whether she was a real thing or not, there is a chance of even saving her. I want to try to save her but there is something that is stopping me from progressing. However, no matter what. If I needed it to be, I will find a way to let her get out of her own predicament this time around. Chapter 887 Departure from the Lake

Chapter 887 Departure from the Lake

It was alreadyte in the afternoon when Almira woke up from her slumber. The first thing she tried asking when she woke up was if we had seeded at entering the Argatha. I was there currently helping Gobu''s wife change some of the bedding. During the time I carried her off the bed when she jolted awake and that''s the reason why I am the one answering her questions. I just happened to be there. "We are back? Have you all entered Agartha? What happened? I remembered I was suddenly knocked out but other than that, I don''t have any recollection of what happened next." "Ah, during that time. After you tried to destroy the invisible wall, the invisible wall fired what you inflicted on it in full force which caused you to pass out. As for our entry, we were told by a mechanical voice that we don''t have the qualifications to enter Agartha. ording to the voice, we needed some sort of qualifications and invitation or some sort of proof that we are "worthy" of entering Agartha. Because we are missing what they needed, we have no choice but to retreat. It''s not like we can even force ourselves there, we just don''t have any way to get into that ce." "But..." "No worries. I installed a Teleport Point there before we left in case we needed to go back. All we have to do is find this "proof" and "invitation" they are asking for so that we can go inside without any problems. We can''t do that just yet and so we are not going to be able to even move there. We just needed to be a bit more patient." Almira sighed hearing it and shook her head. "Is that so? What about my equipment? You said I was hit by a power equivalent to what I have thrown to the invisible wall. That must mean my equipment is in a big mess, yes?" "Yep. Your sword, the rent is fine though there are some scratches here and there but they are fine, butpared to the armor you wore that time, it wasn''t able to handle the power it released. It''s broken and is now more like scrap since the armor lost all of its durability. I tried to salvage it but it''s no longer possible. It''s inside your workshop and you can do what you want with it once you are good to work again." "Eh, if it''s that bad, I would just scrap it and make a new one entirely then. It should be fine." Almira stood up from the bed and started stretching. "Thankfully, I don''t feel bad in my body. After hearing what happened to me, I thought I was going to feel a bit more in pain but it seems I am fine for now." "Well, your armor took all the brunt of the force so it''s understandable you are fine now. Anyways, we also received the reward from the Elder Treant this morning, and it''s a piece of vital information regarding the Tree of Life and how to find it." "Eh, really? Tell me more about it." And so, I ryed all the information to her. She was shocked at the information about her master but she didn''t let it bother her and soon, recovered from it. "Looks like what the Tree of Life does has something more with what the person desires the most. Seeing that it seeks those that desire it and yet only qualifies those who have pure hearts means it''s not gonna be an easy task. And with the time it is scheduled to appear would be a few more months away, it is more imperative for us to do another task rather than wait for the appearance of the tree." "Yes. I also agree with that notion. However, what are we going to do? We no longer needed to ask the elves the question we needed, and from the looks of the other elves with us, they seemed to be more in favor of not associating with them for a while. What are we gonna do?" "We will still go to that ce and assist the elves. Even if they don''t like it or not, we still have to get there. Remember what I said before? Two of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series are spotted there on our next destination. I am aware of you looking for those weapons so that the Versatile Weapon can devour them. If you wanted toplete all seven of them devoured inside the Versatile Weapon, then finding them will be the best thing to do." She pulled the coat hanging on the hanger and put them on. "Tell everyone to be ready. We will be departing soon. If they still have some important business to do, make sure it is done so that we don''t need to stop by in here." I sighed in relief seeing Almira return to her usual self. Although there is a hint of her disappointment, I can see that was due to our failure of entering Agatha, and since there''s nothing we can do about that, she decided to let go of that matterpletely. She went back straight to the basement to control the mansion once more. As for me, I told everyone if they needed to do something more, they will have to finish what they were doing as we will be departing soon. After around 30 minutes, the mansion stood up from resting for so long and now, it is back to continue its journey. The scenery of theke remains the same but now, it has slowly returned back to life now that we are seeing a few beasts and some new wildlife calmly drinking water on theke. Without a trace of poison left in those waters, theke will no longer remain dead as well. Time for us to move on. Next stop, the territory of the beasts. If what the rumors said is true, then we will have almost no time to rest here. But whatever they n on throwing at us, we will wee it all, head-on. ... ... ... ... While Manato and the gang have resolved the matter of the poisonedke, a certain shield user picks up his new shield and dons his new armor, gifted to him by the person he is working with now. "Congrattions. Today will be the beginning of your work. Although you are still weak, we can just amp your levels and stats to a certain degree so that it will help you with your work much easier. Remember, we prioritize work progress and results. We don''t want failures to fill up our ranks again, understood?" "Yes, sir." After the video call, the young man sat down on the bed and looked at his reflection in the mirror adjacent to the side of the bed. "This is for the sake of my sister. Nothing more, nothing less. I am not going to betray the trust given to me by the one who saved my sister from the brink of death. Even if I trample the friends I have before, I will do what it takes to repay what he has given to me to reach this far." Although he said that to convince himself, a small part of him is stinging him, seemingly contradicting what he was talking to himself. It''s something that has been on his mind and has been constantly bugging him since then. However, he wanted to forget about it. All of the things that happened and the things he has done to achieve his goals. But in turn, causes grief and anger to the person who was there before Nobuhiko. He still remembers the face of the person who asked for his cooperation and stop what he was doing. However, due to his firm decision, that decision ended up making something that has be something unrepairable. Ever since the incident, he no longer receives any sort of messages from his friends. When he returned to the mansion, everyone is missing and Suhei, Pandora''s brother, looked disappointed in him. He asked where is everyone at first to him but he only shook his head before leaving, seemingly giving him the cold shoulder. But one thing is certain. After the incident of Manato escaping the undergroundb that day, everyone is on high alert for him. They even tried looking for his rtives and even our friends in the process. It turns out, everyone else is missing as well. Riko''s parents do not know her whereabouts. Rika''s rtives also have no idea where she went. Even traces of Manato''s presence and the siblings that Manato took under his wing also disappeared without a trace. One thing is for sure, the decision he made that fateful night, was something that has torn their friendship apart. Now, both of them are enemies. The next time they both will see each other again, it''s on the battlefield and both will fight to the death. Chapter 888 Land of Beasts

Chapter 888 Land of Beasts

3 days have passed by ever since the incident of dealing with the dragon in the Grand Lake. Everything is now back to normal and things have been more peaceful than ever. Aside from the monster killing from time to time and some power leveling, we do in the Dark Sea whenever it isn''t that busy of a time, the extra levels we gain are helping enough as there is a chance our enemies get tougher and tougher. Aside from those things, nothing much is happening so most of the time, we took any kind of time-consuming work that could pass the time during our time in idle hours. For me, I am trying to earn back all of my masteries in cksmithing and Cartography once more. The cksmithing process is easier since I just needed to have Almira reissue me the apprenticeship to her. The problem was with the Cartography mastery. Back when I was still a yer, it was one of the mastery manuals sold in the Auction so I managed to nab it knowing its function and without going to a real Cartography Master, I still managed to master the ways of the Cartography. Right now is a different story as I don''t have any idea where to find one again Cartography experts are counted by hand and are pretty much always on the move so finding one Cartography master will sometimes take almost forever. Of course, I could just self-learn and wait until I get the Ex Job once again as this Ex Job can be learned if it is being self-learned by anyone. It takes time, but it is possible. So I decided to take the longer route. Not only will it allow me to learn from some of my mistakes in creating maps, but this might also allow me to get some epiphany as well. Right now, we just entered the [Land of Beasts] area. It''s a dense rainforest area that I didn''t know exists. Much likemon rainforests, this ce is very thick in vegetation and the trees are tall and huge. Our mansion is not even something that can evenpare to the trees here. The ground is also full of dead leaves and some critters that flee the moment the mansion legs start to step on the ground. It was like going to a ce that was only previously avable in pictures in books and on the inte. Seeing the ce up close is marvelous and quite amazing of an experience. I never heard of this ce in thest timeline and I also don''t have much knowledge of this ce as well. Is this even an essible area before? No idea but I am quite sure this ce is a ce that has barely any documentation. Seeing how it has less modernization done and most of the areas are forests with no signs of civilization, it''s either an unchartednd, or it has not been fully explored. I took advantage of this to create a map by surveying the surroundings. Flying around the mansion''s area of vicinity while keeping an eye on newndmarks. As I was going on about my survey, the radio I am carrying buzzed and Almira''s voice sprang up. "Manato, are you out there currently surveying the area?" I pulled out the radio and responded to the question. "Yes, I am. Is there something wrong? "Ah, no. I was just reminding you that we will be stopping for a bit to allow the core of the mansion to cool down. It''s also a way for the core to recharge its lost energy as well." "Oh, thanks for the heads up. I will be going back soon once I am done with what I am doing." "Alright. Just head back soon. Your mother just finished baking a pie earlier. If you get a littleter than usual, you might lose your chance to nab a piece." I justughed it off but I do understand what she meant. After ending the transmission, I started working on the survey as fast as I could so that I won''t have to worry about losing the share I have with the pie. As I was putting the final finishing touches on what I was doing, I suddenly noticed something peeking behind the trees. I don''t know what that was but I didn''t notice the presence of that peeper until I noticed it in the corner of my eye. "Hey, wait!" I didn''t hesitate and followed the one who was peeping earlier. I thought I would be able to catch up to that person but he was quite fast. After chasing it till I got a lot farther from the mansion, I lost the one I am chasing and realized that I have went deep into the forest without knowing it. I also realized that a few people started to gather around. I enhanced my senses and tried to check whether they are yers or not. They were still hiding but I am quite capable of determining how many of them were there. And I think the person from earlier was just there to lure me deep into the forest and away from the mansion, away from the safe haven. I look around and soon saw the hiding people and realized that they are not yers. More like they are more like natives due to how they wear their clothes. Is this somehow simr to those movies I saw about cannibals and stuff where the natives would hunt unsuspecting visitors, capture them and try to eat them? I don''t know what is their deal but I am not someone who is easily intimidated by them and easily felt threatened. They started to circle around me, trying to get a good angle on how to attack. Seeing how they are circling me around and taking their time, I decided to just do it myself instead of waiting for them to do it in my stead. Picking up a rock by kicking it up in the air, the people suddenly got defensive and backed away but they are toote. Catching the stone, I throw it to the person on the left before dashing straight to the person on my side and striking his abdomen with my elbow before pulling an uppercut and knocking the guy out. The others were agitated and tried to attack as well but since they lost their tempo already after the attack, I easily defended myself and knocked them out before they can even do something else. After the attack, a few of the other natives realized that they cannot hope to defeat me and decided to escape. They left and leave behind the others who are now curling in pain from my attacks or either passed out after receiving some of my punches. No one died though as there is a chance they will try to get some sort of revenge if I did kill them. Once I ensured no one else is present there, I tied up the natives I defeated and tied them up on the trees. I tried searching on some of their belongings but I don''t see much of it rather than some primitive tools and stuff. Not only that but these guys are humans. I thought they would be some sort of beast with human appearance or something but they were real humans. I even knocked down a few women as well. I just can''t tell as most of them are wearing the armor that hides their femininity. If not for the fact that I searched for their belongings, I wouldn''t even discover that some of the people I knocked down are girls. Most of them are boys though but I don''t really care. When all of them are tied up, I didn''t bother to interrogate them and left. I don''t have time to spend on their drivel and I don''t have the time to interrogate them. I left them there and just let theirrades take them back, I doubt they will be waking up soon enough with how strong my strike was on them. Anyways, I have to tell everyone what I discovered when all of a sudden, an arrow suddenly pass through my cheek. I managed to dodge it at thest second but earlier, I didn''t notice it just now. Looking around, I saw someone standing in one of the tree branches, aiming an arrow at me. Based on how fast they were and how stealthy they were at using arrows, this person is pretty skilled. As skilled as Renatta and the others or maybe much more skilled than them? I am ready to attack if she shoots another arrow at me but she didn''t shoot and decided to speak. "Who are you, invader? What are you and that huge golem you are using doing on our sacred grounds?" I was surprised since the one speaking to me was quite fluent in the universalnguage despite how I heard some of them speak some incoherentnguage. "If you don''t answer my questions, we will be drilling arrows into your body. State your business here or die!" And before I knew it, the? whole branches emerges multiple archers aiming their bows and arrows at me. Chapter 889 The Natives [I]

Chapter 889 The Natives [I]

Although it sounded threatening, I am not afraid of them. In fact, I was a bit surprised that she managed to have so many people target me to assert dominance. Still, I didn''t dare to say anything. If they are willing to attack someone without even warning them, then there is a bigger chance that they won''t even bother to listen to what I will be saying either. I would rather not get bothered by it in the end. Seeing theck of fear and reaction to her threat, she fired one arrow. And based on the trajectory, she is missing it on purpose. So, I didn''t dodge. Even if I get hit by it, it''s just going to bounce off with my armor as it is an attack that isn''t powered up or anything. Just a normal arrow shot. The arrow flew by,nding right beside me, but I didn''t bother to move. Of course, if she tried anything funny, I would immediately retaliate. After seeing myck of reaction, it seems she got threatened by it and she decided to ignore her previous threats and directly attack me. "Attack!" The natives immediately fired off their arrows straight at me. However, I am not just going to engage in all of them. I needed to end it as fast as I can. I grab the hilt of my Versatile Weapon, dashed forward to dodge all iing arrows and jump off in the air and aim straight at the one who was leading the assault. Changing my Versatile Weapon into a hook and chain, I caught her off guard by my way of attacking and she tried to escape. But for the hook and chain? That is not possible. Before she can even flee, the hook trapped her movements, and wrapped her body with the chain, allowing me to pull her. As soon as I pull the hook and chain, she was dragged along with it, allowing me to catch her and held her hostage. Since the Versatile Weapon is still wrapped around her, I grabbed the Pain Delivery on my holster and fired one warning shot in the air, causing all attacks to stop, once they calmed down, I aimed the muzzle of the Pain Delivery to her head. "One wrong move and this woman here is dead. Try anything funny and she will be dead, you hear me?" Everyone stopped, but they didn''t drop their weapons, they just held their breaths and waited for the orders of the leader who was currently struggling in my hands. "Unhand me, you barbarian! How dare you do this to us?" I pulled her closer to myself and whispered. "You should be grateful that I didn''t kill anyone in here in one fell swoop and waited to see whether you all have reasons for suddenly attacking me. I am still quite a rationale myself and if I was a psychopath who doesn''t care about the lives of everyone here, everyone should be already dead by now." "As if you can do that..." "Would you like to see me try? Because I can fully demonstrate to you how I massacre everyone here, just say the word." Intimidated by what I said, she relented and decided to order everyone to stop and retreat. "Retreat. Don''t worry about me, retreat and protect our home! Tell Father all about this matter!" As soon as she gave out the orders, everyone left and retreated, leaving herself alone, currently trapped on the Hook and Chain and growling at me in anger. "Release me, now!" "As if. If you dare attack me, then you will also be needed to pay responsibility. Come with me. I have a few questions for you and if I am satisfied, perhaps you will be able to go back to everyone alive." She can only grit her teeth as I carried her like a princess before returning to the mansion. I didn''t bother to run and just head there by flying. She was surprised when she saw me fly but because she was a hostage, she held her question and curiosity. When we arrived, the others are currently outside and are busy eating the pie that my mother baked. When they saw me carrying a girl arrived, they were a bit surprised. But what surprised them the most was when I just dropped her to the ground without even caring about her well-being. "Wah, Manato, that''s so ungentlemanlike of you! Howe you are so cruel to her?" Riko immediately tried to approach her but I stopped Riko since she might break free from the Versatile Weapon even though there is no sign she managed to find a way to get the hook and chain off on her body. "Hey, she is an enemy. Don''t just go and approach her willy-nally like that." "What? Enemy?" Rika who was trailing behind Riko frowned. "Yep. She attacked me earlier alongside her tribe or whatever group she was in while I was busy finishing the final parts of the survey. I managed to stop her assault and let the others of her group retreat by keeping her as hostage but I think they are just going to call for reinforcements." "Heh, just wait. Once my father gets to hear that her lovely daughter was currently held by barbarians, they will tear you all down without mercy. He is much stronger than me, so he will not be defeated like me." I can only shake my head in disappointment at her. If this person she was calling was her father and he is strong, is he strong enough to handle every one of us here? I don''t know but we will see. "I don''t even see you as a strong individual so that means your father is not that weak to be defeated with one move. Makes a bit sense but I don''t think your father will be even capable of dealing with anyone on us here." "That''s not nice Manato. I know you like to roast people and show them the reality but sometimes, it''s best to show restraint, will you?" Rikoughed awkwardly. "Anyways, can you all tie her up? I needed to go and eat my share of the pie, I am starving already. Besides, she might calm down if you girls will do the job. She might be morefortable to talk with if you all do so. If I was the one who will try to talk to her, I might just end up roasting her antics left and right." Riko and Rika sighed andughed awkwardly and nodded. You are right. If it was you, she might be murdered by words by you, it''s better we talk this out. Go and grab your share there. Almira has been eyeing your share since the pie was baked. Go and get it before it is gone." Hearing that, I didn''t bother to wait and left for my share. If Almira is eyeing my share, I hope she has not yet grabbed it just yet. I will have to make sure of it. ... ... ... "Alright, that should do it, nice and tight," Riko nodded in satisfaction after tying the native with a metal rope that they usually use to tie up enemies to ensure they won''t be able to use the usual trick of cutting them with a hidden knife. "Hey, can you remove these shackles from me? I can see that you two are sane individuals and can be reasoned. Please? I will make sure that my Father won''t harm the two of you once he starts to attack. You don''t need to follow that man anymore and be free of what you needed to do. In fact our tribe offers freedom to all, you guys won''t need to be his ves at all. " Riko and Rika looked at each other before they startedughing. "Girl, I think you are misunderstanding something. Just because we followed what he ordered to us, doesn''t mean we are his ves. In fact, you seemed to have misunderstood. We are not in danger here. If your Father decided to attack us, he will be dead before he knew it. And besides, I don''t think Manato will attack anyone outright without any reason. I would be more surprised if he even does so with his own volition," Riko grinned. "Right. If it was someone who would immediately attack, without listening to reason, it would either be me or her who will do it. If during that time you have confronted us instead of him, perhaps you and your tribe would have been gone from this world by now," Rika smiled but with a tone of authority and gives off an intimidating feeling. The girl who didn''t understand what they meant suddenly understood the moment she saw the smile of the second girl. The reason she was still alive right now and her tribe members are still walking and are able to retreat was because the guy they fought against didn''t like to cause bloodshed, whereas if they were the ones who they engaged in battle with, these two would never stop looking to annihte anything or anyone that moves. It seems she has done something real bad just now. Chapter 890 The Natives [II]

Chapter 890 The Natives [II]

While the captive princess just realized what kind of people her captors are, the tribesmen who escaped after their princess was taken hostage rushed back to their tribe, carrying the news of the captive princess as well as the message that the princess wanted to ry to her father. One of the higher-ranking soldiers in the tribe went to the chieftain''s house, to immediately ry the news. "Chief! Bad news!" The chieftain who was currently wiping his armor raised his head, revealing his bushy beard, rough-looking face filled with scars that seems toe from fighting monsters, and a stern-looking face that intimidates anyone who looks at him. "Bad news? Aren''t you one of the people who my daughter brought with her to repel the invaders? What is going on?" "We underestimated the invaders, chief. When we tried to lure the invader, he easily defeated the ambushers and when the princess decided to attack him, the ambusher ends up taking the princess and taking her as hostage. Right now, the princess calls for help as she sends a few of us back here to ry the message." Hearing the news, the chieftain rises up on his seat, filled with anger as he pulls out the axe he was using out of the wall. "I see. Where are they now?" "We have a few scouts who followed them on where they came from. They should be waiting for you. We will escort you to where the princess was held but I doubt we will have a peaceful meeting with the invaders." The chieftain dons his armor and put his axes on his back. "Of course, there will be no peaceful meeting. Until they give back my daughter, I will make sure to let them taste the wrath of the strongest chieftain." ... ... ... ... "So, did she say anything?" I asked the two girls who are still chewing the pie that they got from Mother. Can''t believe they are really relishing the pie as slowly as possible. Wouldn''t the taste get bad if it gets colder? "Nah, she just keeps on saying her father wille and rescue her. She even tried to recruit us to join the tribe or something," Riko sighed as she chomped another piece of the slice of pie. "If what she was saying is true, then her father will surelye. What are we going to do, Manato? I doubt that guy would make a peaceful negotiation especially with her daughter being hostage with us," Rika is a bit worried. "I will face him, sure but I will ensure that he will understand that we are just passing by. Since the girl keeps on saying we are some sort of invaders, we will have to ensure that we are not and we are just going to move in this forest without taking over this forest." Just then, Zena joined in our conversation. "Oh, if you want to talk to them, you needed to defeat them in a one-on-one fight. They prefer to discuss things using their fists and weapons. Unless you defeat them, they will not listen to a thing that you will say." "Zena? You know their tribe?" "Yes. I passed by their tribe. They allowed me on their tribe if I defeated any of them in a battle. That''s how I knew them," Zena exined. "Huh. So that''s how it is? I didn''t expect to learn that, but that will also allow us to take advantage of what they do. So how strong are they?" I asked. "They are quite strong but they mostly rely on their strength more than using strategies on dealing with their enemy. Although I have not fought against the chieftain of the tribe, I heard that he was the strongest person in their tribe and only those who are deemed to be strong have the right to challenge him to battle." "Deemed to be strong?" "It means defeating those elites of the elite members of the tribe. I am not a battle maniac and I am fine fighting one of them to gain the opportunity to stay in their tribe for a bit. After hearing that kind of rules for them, I can say that they are total battle maniacs to set up a rule like that." "Is that so? That''s good to know. Since they will try to reim this girl off on our hands, that must mean they will being here in full force." "Are you going to fight them, Manato? If you don''t want to, I can go ahead and beat them up!" Riko is excited. "Oy, I know you would like to do that, but I want to keep them alive, Riko. Do not burn them to a crisp. If I let you do so, I don''t think we will be able to talk to them properly. It''s best if we can still keep them alive." Riko pouted but she didn''t argue with me as she knows that she will exactly do what I just said. "I am not in the mood to fight enemies right now. I had enough of dealing with the monsters on the sea to deal with them right now," Rika scratches her head. "Eh? I thought you like to fight as well, Rika-chan." "Hey, I also have my limit on being a battle maniac alright? I may like fighting enemies but I don''t have the endless appetite for battle like you do." The two continued to argue when Almira appeared rushing. "Hey, Manato! There are multiple human hostilesing near, what is happening?" Riko''s eyes lit up hearing Almira''s words. "Oh, it seems they are here, Manato." "Huh? Care to exin?" Almira frowned. "I should exin them to Almira, Manato. Go with Riko on weing those "guests" of ours then," Rika smiled. I nodded and headed to the edge of the ground to look below. The girl that I held hostage is still keeping on trying to break free from the metal rope to no avail. "Hey, it seems your rescue has already arrived. Care to join in and see them?" Hearing me say those words, the girl started to get wild while being tied up. It was like she was trying her best to remove the bindings on her hands and yet failing to do so. "Why are you acting like some sort of a viin, Manato? You don''t suit it at all." "Aw,e on, it''s just a few instances that I like to be a viin, just let me feel it once in a while, alright?" I grinned. As I peek below, I saw those guys that ran away after getting the girl my captive gathered with someone who has a big body and is quite muscr. He looks like some sort of biking soldier but with less armor and more like a Tribe Warrior. He must be the chieftain and I must say, he does look like one. "What do you say we wee them?" I looked at Riko. "Should I carry the girl as well?" "Can you protect her from getting caught by them though?" "Who do you think you are talking to, huh? It''s me, ya know?" "Yeah, yeah. I know you are good at it. Go ahead. I will wee them first." After that, I jumped off andnded on the ground with a superheronding. I always wanted to do that in front of many spectators and I managed to do so. As soon as Inded, a big fist came down, immediately trying to punch me. Of course, I immediately stopped it by pulling out the Versatile Weapon, changing it to a gauntlet, and blocking itpletely. "Hey, hey, Old man. Be careful with your punches alright? You can injure innocent people like that if you just throw it willy-nally." "There are no innocent people nearby. Just a scum who dares to kidnap and keep my daughter hostage." "Just so you know, I wouldn''t even keep her hostage if she just didn''t attack me without warning alright? I am a reasonable person and for someone who suddenly attacks without listening to the words of the other party, that is just quite annoying, you know?" He increased the pressure on his fist but I also increased my force as well to counter his. He is really angry, but I didn''t mind. "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?" "You will see her soon, oh, speak of the devil, there she is." Riko slowly went down with the girl by using a skill [Levitation] to slowly descend. "Mako!" "Father! Help!" "Don''t worry, my daughter! I wille and save you from them! Men, grab her away from that woman!" Riko grinned and snap her fingers, creating a ring of fire around her. "Heh, try me and get burned then." As the soldiers tried to get near, the mes fired off to every men trying to attack, causing them to scream in pain as the mes burn them. "Give it up, old man. If you want to get back your daughter, be sure to defeat me in battle. Isn''t that how it works in your tribe? Then, let''s do just that and perhaps you will be able to win back your daughter from us." Chapter 891 The Natives [III]

Chapter 891 The Natives [III]

The chieftain got angry at the proposal I made but he didn''tsh out and say anything. He retreated and pulled out his axes from his back. "If that is the only way for me to get my daughter back safely, then I will be fighting against you indeed." I thought I would be engaging in a fight against the chieftain immediately but a few of the soldiers seem to be not in favor of it. "Chief. We should follow our customs, whether we need to or not. This guy here might hold your daughter captive, but we just needed to defeat him right? That means you don''t need to fight to get her back. The elite team will just take him down!" "Yeah! What he said!" "I agree!" The soldiers are quite adamant on this and the chieftain grits his teeth. He then looked at me and decided to say what the others just said. "We will have to follow the rules of our tribe or else, we will not tolerate this matter and we will close off all of our negotiations, are you fine with that?" "It doesn''t matter to me whether you go all into me, fight me one by one with your whole tribe, or you yourself will fight with me. If you win, you get her back." "Then what will you do if you win?" "I am not going to say much about that as that will jinx my win." The chieftain sighed before he whistled loudly. One muscr young man with a bit of armor on his body appeared before me. "I am one of the strongest in our tribe. I will challenge you and defeat you! For I will free the princess!" "Just shut up and fight enough talk!" He pulled out his machete and started charging like a berserker. I ready myself and didn''t bother to change my Versatile Weapon into any other weapon, the gauntlet form is fine. He started swinging it all over me, trying to hit me with his weapon. As for me, I keep on dodging. I thought he would have some kind of strongeback and was just trying to fight like a fool so I kept my guard up. As soon as an opening presented itself, I didn''t take any second chances and performed a roundhouse kick at him. I thought he would just easily dodge it but he didn''t. And I did a full power roundhouse kick that when it hit, the kick hit his face squarely. BANG! He flew a few meters from where he was standing before being physically stopped by a tree. One of the soldiers rushed to where he was and soon made a sign that he was knocked out and could no longer fight. "Huh?" I was a bit shocked since I just did a simple roundhouse kick. How weak are you to be knocked out by one kick? "Woah there, Manato. Hold your strength a bit. You just wrecked one man to oblivion! I thought you would try and hold back the attack. You are no better than me!" Riko protested. "Hey, I just did a normal kick. I didn''t even know he would be sent flying to a distance by a normal kick!" I frowned. The chieftain looks pissed seeing the young man who just fought being carried by the others unconscious. "Next!" he shouted and another young man appeared. This time, he is fitter than the other guy but he looks a bit stronger than the previous guy. "I won''t go down so easily as you did to the previous guy, because I am..." "Okay, f*ck it, you are going down," I didn''t wait for him to finish his monologue and attacked him with a surprise uppercut. He didn''t expect my attack and before he knew it, my punchnded on his chin and he was sent flying. And before I knew it, he was knocked out once more, no longer moving like I thought he would. "Damn, Manato. I didn''t know you would be this savage. You just one hit kill a guy in a single punch at that." The chieftain calls another guy and just like the others, he is a bit of an improvement to the other guy. But there is no change. Either one hit or they survive a few attacks before getting knocked out. In short, pretty boring and the fight didn''t show any signs of improving. "Hey, are you sure you guys are trying, or are you all just hoping you all get wiped out as a result? Because if you all are trying to tire me out by throwing me a few mobs like them, I can do this all day without getting tired." "I think I agree. There''s no need for them to fight. You are strong enough to fight against me. Therefore, I will be fighting against you and free my daughter from your grasp." He grips his two axes ready and assumes his battle stance. "Looks like I won''t be disappointed after all," I grinned. I thought he would go on a monologue that he was stronger than any one of the people I fought but he didn''t. Instead, he readied himself before he attacked. Compared to the other guys I fought, he has fewer openings. He attacked and swung down his axes to my direction which I immediately parried with my gauntlet. He is strong and capable and he is not just all talk. He does have something to show for his strength. PENG PENG PENG! Our attacks shed, his axes tried to cut me down, but I immediately blocked them with the Versatile Weapon with good precision. Every time I did, I also tried to target his weak points. I thought he would be easily attacked with it, but he isn''t and every time I tried doing so, he will immediately block my attack, parry it, then tries to counter it. "Ooh, interesting!" The longer our fight goes, the faster he suddenly gets. Which is quite a surprise. It''s like every hit he does to me, he gets a boost to his speed. I am not imagining it, he is getting quicker with his moves every time he does an attack, and every time I sh against him, he tries to overpower me with speed. To ensure he loses his tempo, I decided to stagger him. A quick release of a few punches, causes him to defend and cross his axes in front of him. This makes him vulnerable to his feet. I took advantage of it and made a leg sweep on him. He almost fell, but he didn''t and managed to keep his bnce up. I then shot him with an elbow jab which he didn''t expect, causing him to fall back a bit, and lose his tempo. I don''t want this to keep on going so instead of making the battles longer, I decided to make it short. As he was still recovering from being staggered, I took advantage of it and released a volley of punches that he was forced to defend. He tried to defend but I just increased the release of the punches that soon enough, he lost his grip on his axes and they fell from his hands. I took a chance and caught both of them and then used it to put them on his neck. "I win." "Not yet kid," he calmly said to me as he charged through me with his body. I still managed to defend but I totally got caught off guard from that. Both of his weapons were still in my hands but he didn''t flinch and he just assumed a battle stance without his weapons. "Just because I lost both of my weapons doesn''t mean the battle is over, yeah?" "Damn right, if you can still fight, then the battle is not yet over!" Our fists collided and even though I was hitting his bare hands, it felt like I was punching concrete. His hands were pretty hard, it was like he was wearing a brass knuckle to counter my gauntlet. We exchanged punches and just like before, he was getting faster the longer he went on a sh with me. It was like he was getting more tempo the more we shed. It''s a unique way of fighting and I can say I am liking the way he is fighting. However, I don''t n on losing here. The battle has dragged on for too long. Time to end this. Breaking through his defense, I grabbed his neck and kicked his abdomen before mming his face down to the ground in full force without any kind of restraint. BANG! As a result, he stopped moving and he lost all of his energy as a result. I pulled him out of the ground and revealed that he passed out. His mouth is even releasing bubbles as a result. "Well, would you look at that, I win." Chapter 892 The Natives [IV] ? I expected the result, but the tribe members didn''t expect it to be so sudden. After all, they always thought their chieftain was invincible and could not be defeated. It was so quick in their eyes that they didn''t even get to follow the speed of how I used a set of movements to quickly end the battle. The faces of everyone are filled with utter shock and disbelief. Perhaps I shouldn''t have done it so quickly so that they at least felt that their chieftain did his best and let him do some hits to me as well. Guess I ended up just overkilling the situation. He is still alive, just unconscious from my attacks. If not for what I did, he might have not passed out as a result. "Well, the results are in. What do you guys think? The chieftain is down. What are you all gonna do?" The men didn''t know what to do and looked at each other for a few seconds. I thought they would send out another guy to fight but they just nodded to each other and carried off the chieftain. They left quietly and disappeared from the trees, leaving us there standing as we watched them go. The girl that I held hostage couldn''t help but fall to her knees after seeing the result. It was like she was robbed of all of the remaining hope she had left in her system that her father would bring her out of our grasp wlessly. "Well, didn''t I tell you, girl? Your father might be strong but he will have a hard time defeating us. Manato''s fighting earlier wasn''t even his serious mode seeing he didn''t use the sword form of his weapon and instead used the gauntlet which he only uses asionally," Riko not caring for the girl''s feelings decided to rub more salt to the wound which is pretty typical for her. "..." I don''t know if I was just imagining it but the girl seems to lost all color after Riko roasted her. "That''s enough, Riko. Look at her being broken-hearted, don''t break her too much. Anyways, we should go back, I doubt those guys woulde back here for a few days. "Haha, it''s just that this is a good opportunity to roast others without care and it''s been some time since I did it, which is why I like to try doing so while I am able to do so." "I know but just so you know this is not a yer. Unlike real yers who can take those roasting messages as nothing, these guys might get a severe taste of despair and depression as a result. Don''t bother, alright?" "Yeah, yeah, fine," Riko scratched her head, disappointed but decided to ept it. We returned to the mansion still carrying the hostage with us as the tribesmen lost and didn''t get to have the privilege of reiming her from us. Riko put her back under the tree and tied her back there once more. Almira is waiting for our news after the encounter. "Looks like you two drive them all away. Did something happen?" Almira asked. "They challenged us to a fight. I epted their challenge and they threw me their best fighters. I beat them all up as a result. After losing consecutively, the chieftain stepped in and fought against me. He lost and everyone retreated, leaving behind the hostage. That''s how it happened and why they retreated immediately." "Well, since you clearly overwhelm them in terms of strength, it is natural for them to lose. Anyways, did you ask them the main reason why they attacked you in the first ce?" Almira asked. "Nope. I thought we would have a discussion after I defeated the Chieftain but since he was knocked out cold, I don''t know when we will have a proper discussion with them." "I see. But still, I didn''t expect to see a tribe in the middle of nowhere all of a sudden. Have they always existed here in this forest for quite some time or have they just appeared recently?" "You are familiar with this ce, Master?" I asked. "Of course. How would I know the path to the Elves'' encampment if I didn''t know this ce? I passed here multiple times in the past which is why I know where to go as I familiarize myself with this ce to avoid getting lost as a result." Well, this is natural. With Almira getting her apprenticeship from an Elder Treant living in the Mistynds of Tall Trees, she clearly has been here before. I just didn''t connect the dots immediately. "Anyways, what will you do to the hostage? Her saviors were defeated by you, so shouldn''t you get to do something to her?" Almira asked. "Hey, I may be a scoundrel at times and show some evil tendencies a few times but I don''t have that kind of motive to her. We will return her back to the tribe once we get to have a proper talk. Think of her as some sort of bargaining chip. With her here, those men will have less motive to attack us as they don''t want this girl''s safety to get jeopardized as a result." "Makes sense. Well, since you guys are already doing how to counter them, I will leave them to you. I don''t know about the others as they are quite busy leveling their own stuff but maybe they will join if they find what you were doing to be amusing or a good time waster. Anyways, make sure she doesn''t starve or get in a difficult situation alright? It''s a bad thing if we suddenly get attacked by them as a result. We don''t want to massacre innocent people just because we neglected the hostage we were holding." "No worries. We will do our utmost best to keep her safe." Almira nodded before she left us. I went to check on the hostage who is currently being talked to by Riko. I don''t know if she was still in function but she seemed to be out of herself. "Looks like she broke down after seeing her dad get defeated by you." I scratch my head a bit after seeing this. Looking at her right now seems like looking at someone who is slowly descending into madness. If we don''t intervene soon, she might go crazy or something close. I don''t want to make matters worse so I decided to be the one to fix this as I am the one who caused her to break down. "Hey, snap out of it. Are you trying to kill yourself and drown in despair? Your father is still alive and when he wakes up to pick you up, he might end up ming himself if something happened to you." She looks at me but her stare is just nk. It was like she wasn''t seeing anything. "Haha, Manato. You suck at encouraging someone. Don''t bother too much on it. I know she looks depressed right now but she will cheer up in no time. Trust me," Riko grinned. "Eh...how can you be so sure about that? Are you some kind of therapist for her?" "Nope, just a hunch. I can feel that she will recover soon enough. It''s not that troublesome and she will be back in no time. I promise that if she doesn''t return to her usual self after a while then I will use all my power to make her snap out of it." I sighed and decided to give this matter to her. "Fine, if you are so confident on this, then go ahead and go wild. Also, try to talk to her once she recovers. We need to know why she attacked me and why they called us invaders for some unknown reason. That way, once we get to talk properly with the chieftain once hees back for another negotiation, it would be easier to talk to him and to also exin the things that he thought were wrong." "Alright. Don''t worry about it, I got it all covered. Leave it to me," Riko puts a thumbs up and grinned, seemingly confident. With the matters on the hostage settled, I decided to scout the matters of the natives and to see what happened to them after I defeated them. Conjuring a Paper Talisman to act as my familiar, I controlled it to fly and spy on the camp of the natives. At first, I didn''t know where the location of the camp was as the forest is quite vast and massive and my talisman is small and doesn''t have that much coverage to cover surveince but I was thankful when I immediately noticed the signs of the tribe nearby. I took advantage of it and it didn''t take me long to find the hidden camp or should I say, a hidden vige. I was weed by a small vige with lots of people moving around. I thought I was wrong at first but after seeing the men that had been there earlier when I fought their elite men and the chieftain currently scattered around the vige. Now that I have reached their ce, it''s time to see them and snoop at what was happening to them after their defeat. Chapter 893 Village of the Natives

Chapter 893 Vige of the Natives

Using my shikigami familiar, I traversed the vige carefully. They might not be that sensitive to magic but they might have shamans here that can detect faint hints of magic. If I don''t tread carefully, the shikigami I was using might get destroyed before I can even get my task of snooping around. After ensuring no one is around, I slowly check the huts or houses you call them one by one, starting with the biggest one as it might be the house of the chief. Checking the first house, I don''t see that it is a sign of the chief''s house. There are some signs that this is a house of a shaman though due to the tools and some essories hanging around that only shamans usually use or believe in, so I was right that there might be a shaman in the vige. Seeing it void of people, I left before that shaman noticed my presence. The next ce I checked is the house that is a little less big than the previous house. Entering it, I immediately hit the jackpot of spotting the house of the chieftain. I was certain because of the big signs of someone like him living there and a few signs of where he put those two axes he usedst battle. But he was not ced there as the ce was empty which means he was carried somewhere else. Perhaps a little clinic? A healer''s house is always present in ces like this as there are many times a hunter gets wounded from hunting therefore, that must be the ce where they have gone into and where they sent the unconscious chieftain. So I have to look for the ce once more. The healer''s house might be the third biggest house here so I looked for the third biggest house in the area and it took me a while to find it as it was not too apparent. I only found it when someone sick was being sent there allowing me to silently follow and infiltrate the clinic itself. No wonder I couldn''t find it, it was hidden in between two houses and it wasn''t a big ce either. And I was right in my assumption that the chieftain was there because he was indeed lying in one of the beds there and was being taken care of by someone who seemed to be his wife as the doctor of the ce was an old woman who is currently busy mixing herbs in one of the cauldrons. Aside from them, there are also a few soldiers who were there earlier as well. I thought he would step up to fight as one of the elite men the chieftain had but he didn''t and seems to be more of a right-hand man of the chief. I inched the shikigami a bit and then listened to the conversation as he was talking to the wife of the chieftain. "Yes, Madam. Your daughter is still left behind and is still tied up. We tried to rescue her in attempts but the one who held her was capable of using strange magic that even our shaman could not hope to aplish. As for the guy who challenged the chief, he wasn''t even injured during the battles and he easily knocked out our strongest men before defeating the chief before he could even unleash his strongest ability." I thought at first that the woman would side with her husband but she wasn''t and shook her head. "Aish, you guys have provoked someone who is not on your level and someone who knows how to fight. I already told you all before that some people outside of the tribe are more of a monster than what monsters we fight every day. And besides, I think I can understand why they would retaliate as well. You said my daughter and everyone else attacked the guy who beat up my husband without warning before he took my daughter right? Then that must mean he won''t even do this kind of thing if you guys haven''t provoked them." "But..." "No buts,ter once my husband is awake, we will return to that ce and ask for forgiveness for doing something like that. This is why we always get dragged into trouble." The soldier couldn''t say anything and just bowed his head as he silently exited the clinic. As for the chieftain''s wife, she sighed and grumbled. "This is why the impulsiveness of my husband was something I feared my daughter inherited. They didn''t think about their actions and instead went ahead and did their thing." The doctor who just finished with her concoction chuckled. "That''s fine. Now they learned their lesson in the harshest way possible. Based on how he describes the one who kidnapped your daughter, he doesn''t seem like a bad man for them to attack immediately. Do you know why they would suddenly do so?" "Perhaps my daughter has mistaken this guy who took her as the "invader" that was supposed to destroy our tribe. And since my daughter has been concerned on that matter for quite a while now, it makes sense that every single new face she sees who is in the forest would be the invader they described," the woman sighed and had a look of worry on her face. "Well, your daughter might be suspicious about them as they said that they are riding some kind of big steed that has a big house on top of it and are walking on many legs. That alone is terrifying to see and I can see why she would easily think that he was one of the invaders." "It doesn''t matter now. Since this matter hase to my ears, I will personally go and plead for them to release my daughter. If they demand anything, I will do everything in my power to fulfill it as long my daughter is safe." After listening for a bit, I can say I am satisfied with what I hear. But now I am curious about the "invaders" they keep on talking about. Just what was that exactly? Is it perhaps an enemy? I still don''t know. However, since she ns toe and negotiate, then I will have to try and ask her about it. Now that I am done with the surveince, I snap my fingers and let the shikigami burn to ashes. Now, all we have to do is wait. Chapter 894 Chieftain鈥檚 Wife

Chapter 894 Chieftain''s Wife

I am quite certain that the wife of the Chieftain wille to us once the chieftain is awake from his little slumber. Based on what she was saying earlier, she is ready to apologize on the matter with her husband and daughter just so we don''t get angry at them and cause trouble. Thankfully, I am not some bloody killer who would want them annihted. I am not that bloodthirsty, to begin with. But I find it a bit funny that the mother is the most sane person of them and that even the tribemates seem to be on the same wavelength as the father and daughter. After finishing the surveince team, I went out and went back to where Riko and the chieftain''s daughter were currently tied up to see how it was going. It took a bit long for me to finish up the surveince after all. When I arrived, Riko was chatting with Rika and Pandora at the nearby table while the chieftain''s daughter was sleeping soundly from where she was tied up. "Huh? What happened to her?" I asked the three on what happened. "Oh, Manato. You came back. Don''t worry too much about her. We have no other choice but to put her to sleep to ensure she won''t descend to madness any further while she is awake. I have trouble keeping her on track so I asked Pixie to do some sleeping spells on her and it worked. Now, she is sleeping soundly," Riko exined. "Was it that bad that you have to resort to lulling her to sleep like this?" I asked and checked up on her condition. Thankfully, she is fine. "Yeah, it was that bad. It was like everything we wanted to tell her seemed to just increase her stress and worry a lot more than usual so we ended up with this solution. The best option I would say and it wasn''t that troublesome, especially with Pixie capable of doing it." After hearing the reason, I also admit that it was the best course of action to do as well. To stop her slow descent to madness, letting her fall asleep helped a lot in this situation as it did stop her from thinking too much about the situation. Until her mother and father appear, she might continue to feel bad for herself so it is best to dy it until her motheres. "I see. Then please monitor her condition from time to time. I will go around and hunt for some monsters nearby for a bit and also scout for some ingredients present in this forest as well." "Are you going alone, Manato?" Pandora asked. "Yeah. We can''t afford to keep the defenses low on our surroundings as you know it, I will also try to tread carefully as well to ensure things go smoothly as well." Everyone nodded and I left the mansion to go and hunt some monsters I would like to use as an appeasement and a sign of respect for the tribe forter by offering them meat from monsters I hunted. It would make sense to offer them a game I hunted myself as they were clearly a hunter tribe and they would appreciate it if I do it like that. And so, I started hunting. Using my ability to track down enemies in the surroundings, I tracked down a few signs of monster movements in the surroundings and followed their signs to locate their location and hunt them. If not for this ability, looking for monsters would take me quite some time to even hunt for them as the monsters were quite capable of hiding and keeping themselves hidden for a while. Walking for a bit, I immediately noticed a big sign of a monster nearby. It wasn''t there before but when I kept looking around, I realized that something big was nearby so I immediately checked and followed it around. It soon allowed me to reach an area in the forest where I witnessed a big monster that looked like a lion with the head of a dog currently eating the monster that I was formerly tracking down before I noticed the big sign of the monster. It hasn''t noticed me yet and is currently busy eating the monster it hunted down. Based on its size, I can say that this monster would yield lots of materials and meat once butchered seeing how big its size was. Not only was it very big, but it looked ferocious enough as well. Hunting this monster would also help the tribe feel a bit safer with this thing going on in the surroundings. "Alright then, since you presented yourself to me, it is your unlucky day that you have shown yourself to me this way. Now, let''s see you survive." Readying all of my equipment, I went ahead and ambushed it. While it was busy dealing with the food it was eating, I fired off a single arrow coated with the Paralyzing Liquid on its tip and squarely hit off one of its hind legs with it. The Paralyzing Liquid was so potent the moment the arrow hit, the monster copsed and roared out in pain as the effects immediately followed suit. With it unable to move, I changed my weapon into a dagger which is the Carnwennan, and took care of the huge beast by quickly locating its jugr before stabbing it multiple times with the Carnwennan. The reason I used a dagger instead of a sword is because there is a chance it would ruin the pelt of the monster if I used a long sword to deal damage against it. A dagger enough to kill it is already efficient enough to deal with it so it is fine. The Carnwennan was very effective and effectively ended the life of the monster before it could even potentially cause problems for me. "Alright, now that the hunt is over, time to bring this back to the mansion and wait for the wife of the chieftain toe over." ... ... ... ... The chieftain slowly opened his eyes after feeling pained in his body. His head hurt and even his abdomen felt a bit sore as well, like it just suffered severe pain. He rubbed his head and eyes for a bit then immediately remembered what happened to him. "My daughter!" he immediately tried to get up to find her only to feel a bit pained as a result. "Take it easy, you fool. If not for your enemy taking it easy for you, you would have ended up dead." He looked at his wife who was busy preparing for a set of wipes for him to use. "Mimiko? Wait...I am quite sure that I was still fighting that young man from earlier," he rubbed his head and felt a throbbing pain. "Looks like your sudden defeat left you unable to register what happened before you passed out. Anyways, you are back home but are currently staying in the clinic for healing. With how you were defeated, it''s a bit of a wonder how you managed to stay alive when you were defeated so quickly. But thankfully, you were done in a quick manner that you wouldn''t be in a bad situation." "Wait...so I lost?" "Yes. You lost so badly as the enemy you challenged didn''t even get scathed as a result. It was a one-sided beat down and you were defeated before you could even unleash your usual ways of fighting to win a battle." That''s when the chieftain remembered the battle. The way he was unable to use his ultimate move as the guy easily predicted prevented him from using it by forcing him to reset his movements. At that moment, the enemy immediately took advantage of him losing his momentum, and the next thing he knew, he was now lying in the clinic. "Remembered everything now?" his wife wiped off the sweat on his forehead. "How... how was he that strong?" "That''s why I already told you before that you and your daughter should quit doing things like this anymore. If not for the fact that the guy who defeated you let you go safely, then perhaps you and your daughter would have been dead a long time ago." "Ugh..." he couldn''t say any rebuttal as his wife had a point. "Anyways, if you are now good to go, we should go and return to the ce where you challenge him. We will apologize and offer our sincerest apologies." "What? Why?!" the chieftain was confused. "Why? Do you think fighting him again would improve our chances of getting back our daughter safely? Don''t think selfishly and think about the safety of your daughter. Since he defeated you, he has a big chance to do something for our daughter. And since you all f*cked it up and instead of apologizing, you just challenged him to a fight, he can use this chance to decimate our tribe before we can even take care of the "invaders". Now go and get ready, we will be bringing back our daughter home." Chapter 895 Meeting

Chapter 895 Meeting

With the beast I hunted already prepared and stored inside the containers that I brought along to carry it easily back home, I return to the mansion before the meeting with the chieftain''s wife happens. I don''t want to bete and then let the others handle the negotiations. It will end up badly and poorly as a result. There are monsters on the way to the mansion after they smell the meat on the containers I carry but they aren''t a big deal, to begin with, and it also helps me gather resources as well as they naturallye to me instead of me searching for them. It took me some time before I arrived and when I did, I already spotted the iing tribe members arriving in the distance. I immediately returned while carrying the supplies and the gift that I n on giving them once our discussion ends in a good way. When I arrived, Almira once again startedining again. "Manato, those guys are back again. Go deal with them, we can''t keep on entertaining them for long like this. You better have this stuff wrapped up nicely sooner orter." "Ah, don''t worry about it, I already n on doing so as it is indeed annoying to keep on dealing with them when we have our own sh*t to worry about." Soon enough, we hear a voice below the walking mansion. "We desire to speak again to the one who challenged our chieftain and won. We are here to discuss the matter regarding our loss and the safety of the princess!" I leaned over to see them currently looking up at us, waiting for an answer. "Uwahhh, you really are not kidding Riko, they''re numerous indeed!" Rika was amazed as she peered down as well. "Right? I held all my thoughts in attacking them for quite a while even though they felt like hostiles to me. Thankfully, I have my full self-control," Riko nodded in satisfaction. I can only say if I am not there, you wouldn''t have that self-control you are talking about though. I scanned the people below and I saw the chieftain with the woman I saw during the surveince looking up at us, waiting for my answer. "How is the girl that is currently tied up?" I asked. "She is still sleeping but we can wake her up anytime you want us to do so," Riko answered. "That''s good. Wait for my signal and bring her down once I give it out. I will talk to them by myself." After that, I dived down andnded simrly before once more but I didn''t make any attempt to look cool this time. I just stood up afternding and walked up to them who were waiting for my arrival. "Looks like you woke up a lotter than usual, chief. Still amazing that you did though as most of the people who suffered the same fate as you remained asleep for about a week or two." "..." the chieftain was silent and didn''t give an angry rebuttal. Just a disappointed grunt, showing his frustration for his weakness. Then, I looked at the woman beside him who immediately bowed down respectfully. "You must be the one who defeated my husband and has my daughter captive." "Are you the wife of this guy and the mother of that girl up there? Because if you are, then I am indeed the one who beat the living sh*t out of your husband and has your girl captive." "Yes, indeed." "So what is your deal? If you want to fight ask for another challenge and battle, I won''t hesitate to fight again," I tried provoking them to see whether she would get angry or remain in a neutral stance. I needed to make sure she came on friendly terms and not just to save face. The guy who talked with the wife earlier while the chieftain was unconscious seemed to get angry and was about to attack when the chieftain''s wife raised her hand to stop the angry guy. "Calm down, Raul, you will cause us to lose our chance to negotiate. Don''t do this." "I am sorry," the guy reluctantly backed off though he remained to show his hostility to me. Not that I mind a small hostility like that. It''s cool. She returned her attention to me and bowed down again. "I am very sorry for what my husband and my daughter have done to inconvenience you in some way. Please forgive us and we offer our peaceful negotiations. We will offer offerings in return for peaceful negotiation and to allow us to retrieve our daughter safely as well." I sighed and looked at her before making my decision. "We will have to discuss this matter. As much as I want to take pity on you due to your plea, your daughter caused me big trouble and even nned to kill me if not for me, triumphantly winning from her attack. I don''t want to make things harder for you but it''s best for you and your husband toe with me back there and we will discuss it there." "What about our soldiers?" the chieftain asked. "They don''t need to be there to help with the discussion. In fact, they are more of a distraction. It''s best we exclude them and let them wait for you two to finish what we discussed." But then, the guy angrily refused and this time, he decided to show his ferocity to us. "I refuse this! We just needed to attack this guy and finish him off with all of us attacking at the same time!" The wife facepalmed and shook her head for a bit before facing the soldiers. "Didn''t I tell your Raul to step down and let us handle this? Just because you are the trusted young man of my husband doesn''t mean you can just cause trouble like this. We are trying to offer peaceful negotiations and here you are, trying to ruin things and making things harder for us." "But Ma''am, we can''t afford to trust the invaders. Even if we act friendly with them, once we show our back, they will show their true colors and betray us! It''s better to nip the bud before we get destroyed in the process." I thought the wife would be the only one who would try to appease the guy but the chieftain decided to intervene as well. "So Raul, are you saying what my wife said is a bad idea?" "I..." Raul seems to be ready to proudly say yes, but then he realizes that the one who is questioning him is none other than the chieftain himself. "I think my wife has a point. Therefore, stand down and wait for us until the discussions are over. Wait for this matter to be resolved instead of disagreeing with us. We will have to proceed with what my wife wanted," the chieftain dered. "But chief...your safety..." "Is there any problem?" the chieftain gives off a menacing aura and Raul has to gulp his saliva a few times. "But what about the safety of both of you?" I then joined in the conversation and answered the question myself. "Just because I attacked the chieftain and caused him to get knocked out, I don''t have a reason to fight him and attack him out of nowhere just like that. And besides, we will just talk, nothing out of the ordinary there unless you try to give meaning to it." "Khhh," the guy is angry but he has no choice about it. "Now that we don''t have anyone who will disturb us, please order your soldiers to move a bit further away. That way, we can allow you all to go up there without the need to fly. Do you guys know how to fly though?" I asked. The chieftain shook his head. "Humans don''t fly." While the wife shook her head. "Just like what my husband said, we humans don''t have the ability to fly. Based on that conversation, it''s clear they don''t know that humans are capable of flying in the sky. No wonder they are behind in many areas. "If that is the case, then you guys will definitely need this." I snap my fingers and the Summon''s Area portal opened up and I called Leona out. As soon as Leona appeared, everyone was stunned at Leona herself. "A-a gryphon!" everyone eximed and some were ready to even move away in fear. "A gryphon?! Howe there is still one alive? Aren''t they wiped out during the primordial era of the gods?" "We will answer your questionster. Anyways, go inside the carriage at Leona''s back and we will have to send you up there." Although reluctant, the chief and his wife climb up to the little carriage on Leona''s back. "Alright, now that we are ready to go, brace yourselves. Once we arrive there, you will meet your daughter once more but we will be discussing thingster. So be prepared." Chapter 896 The Invaders Part 1 of 3

Chapter 896 The Invaders Part 1 of 3

Although the two were reluctant to climb and go to the little room on Leona''s back, they soon stepped in when the Chieftain bravely stepped forward to do it. Once her husband decided to do it, she also followed suit. The soldiers wanted toe along but like I just said, I don''t want them toe and join in the meeting. I needed a clear discussion with both of them without the soldiers trying to manipte their leaders to do their thing. Once the two were settled, I returned to the top, followed by Leona carrying the two as well. After the two of usnded, I tossed a big chunk of meat to Leona which my pet happily grabbed and devoured. The two went out of the carriage and marveled after seeing Leona chew her food like a big cat. I went to Riko first and signaled her toe along with the unconscious girl which she immediately understood. I then returned my focus on the two. "Follow me." The two are still confused about what will happen to them but they push on and continue their way, steeling themselves for the inevitable thing that will happen even though I am sure nothing will happen to them unless they do something that can cause me to get angry at them. They looked around for a bit and then saw Riko carrying their unconscious daughter behind her causing them to stop and approach their daughter. "I would refrain from approaching her for now. Unless you want our negotiation to fail immediately" "But..." the chieftain''s wife was hesitant at first. "No worries. We won''t do anything to her as long as we get along with this negotiation. If wee to an agreement, I will also agree to release her as well." Hearing that, the two decided to hold the urge to approach their daughter and followed me to the mansion. Inside, the elves were rxing for a cup of coffee in the living room when we entered, causing them to turn and look towards us, causing the two to stiffen seeing three elves with us. "Calm down and sit down on the free seats. Don''t worry though, no harm will happen to the two of you as well as your daughter." The two looked at Riko who put down their daughter on the sofa, still sleeping without a care in the world and not knowing her parents were already talking with us. But even though she is sleeping, the bindings on her arms and legs are still present, as I can''t risk her waking up and running away. I asked Gobu''s wife to get us some snacks for the guests to eat while we discussed things before we began our meeting. "Alright. Now, let''s hear it. First, introductions. I am Manato Tsukasa and the others here are mypanions. Don''t be surprised with the elves as well, they are ourpanions who apanied us from thick and thin. I don''t need to introduce the others as we will have to do this thing as soon as possible so that we are finished here. Now, the two of you should tell us your name and your current status, whether you are the leader of the tribe or just a bystander. I don''t want to keep talking to saying "hey" and "you" to address both of you. The one who took the initiative was the wife as she looked at his husband who was ready to say something and red at him, causing him to stop midway and cancel what he was about to say in the end. "My name is Mimiko, wife of the chieftain and the sub-leader of our camp. I am what you call the rationale and most of the time, the one who manages the camp while my husband is away and not around to do the task. On the other hand, this is my husband, Ragga, also known as the leader of the camp and the one who is the strongest among the soldiers in our camp, which allowed him to be the leader and the one leading us." "Mimiko and Ragga, got it. Good to know you all." Mimiko nodded while Ragga stiffened. I guess he still doesn''t feel good about my presence. "Alright then, let''s head down to business. I know you all are apologizing but I should ask why you would apologize instead of heading to the violent route. Based on how your soldiers liked to do, you guys seem to like violence a lot." "I..." Ragga seems to be at a loss for words as he can''t deny being a warmonger. Seeing Ragga at a loss for words, Mimiko decided to save him by giving me a piece of her thoughts. "As much as they love to solve things with violence, in terms of strength, they are no match for you and that is where Ie in to do the diplomacy and convince you. We will try to find a good deal that both of us would be happy with the deal while fixing our rtionship from being hostile back to neutral. Seeing how you didn''t kill my husband and daughter immediately means you all have full control over how things work here." "Not really. If your daughter provoked others other than me and my mother, then perhaps you and the remaining people in your tribe who didn''t participate would be mourning for their dead bodies by now." "Monsters...they are absolutely monsters. There''s no doubt about it, they are the invaders that were told by the prophecies!" Ragga clutched his head and shivered uncontrobly. Perhaps he is remembering the time I brought him down so hard he didn''t get to react to what happened next and got sent to the clinic of his tribe. But I have been curious about these invaders for quite a while now. "Invaders? What is he talking about?" Mimiko sighed and decided to tell me what it was. "It''s something that was told in a prophecy that is being told to us by our shaman every time a full moon appears. She usually gives off normal and positive oracles most of the time but two months ago, our shaman suddenly changed her oracle and an oracle that wasn''t positive for the first time has been told on us which was what was supposed to be the invaders." "Can you tell me properly what this prophecy is entailing exactly? I know we are foreigners but we don''t n to upy or take over a camp of other people as we are on a journey and doing that kind of thing just doesn''t serve a big purpose for us." "Ah, yes. ording to the oracle, "On a peaceful day during the peak of spring and the uing summer drawing to close, the invaders will arrive carrying their weapons and ravage the camp, destroying and piging both women and treasures that we have. Only the one who bears the Glutton pacifies the Wrath and saves the camp from our imminent destruction." That''s what the oracle words. I remembered it clearly as this was one of the first oracles that were not about our good hunt or bad hunt, but a future event that would happen in our camp so I made the effort to remember everything." I nodded in response as I tried to understand the oracle. It''s not as cryptic as I thought it would but there is one thing that made me think for a bit on this matter and that is the line with the "The Glutton pacifies Wrath" that made me stop and think about the situation. I am not too sure about it yet, but there is a huge chance that "The one who bears Glutton" was me as I currently hold one thing that has an insatiable appetite and is the only one who can hold their all with eating. "Alright, I think I can see it now and I must say that we are not the invaders at all. We don''t seek to capture your camp right now as we have bigger matters to deal with than conquering one camp and one thing that will definitely not happen is plundering women and treasures. Although we love to take treasures, we only do this in dungeons and ces where the treasures are present and are more valuable." "What about the women? Just like how you captured my daughter..." Ragga muttered. I scratched my head and shook my head. "We have many females here in our group our male-to-female ratio is pretty unfair for us as we are outnumbered by the females. We don''t want to add more females in our group than our initial numbers and besides, what are we even gonna do with them in the first ce? So, it''s a big no. We are not the invaders. I don''t even see any chances that the prophecy is connected to us." I don''t want to say that we might be connected with the Glutton stuff but I have to keep it for myself for now. For now, the only thing they have to absolutely know is that we are not the one who will be invading their camp. Chapter 897 The Invaders Part 2 of 3

Chapter 897 The Invaders Part 2 of 3

Somehow, this oracle that has been told to them is somewhat rted to me or perhaps to everyone who is with me as the one who bears the sign of Glutton. I may not be the one who is the one who officially bears the sign of the Gluttony sin, but the Versatile Weapon surely does. So learning this matter made me a bit more curious about what the invaders are. Unfortunately, the tribe members and their leaders have no idea who they are what they are going to do, and why they would try to pige the camp. Are they bandits or bad guys? No idea. Perhaps they are, perhaps they aren''t. "Um, I know that you are still a bit angry that my daughter attacked you out of nowhere and I know you must be upset that we allbeled you and yourpanions as the invaders but please forgive us for this transgression. We are calmly asking for us to get our daughter back, but in exchange, we will be doing whatever you want us to do or we will try to offer you our riches in exchange for her safety." I shook my head. "We don''t need your riches as we have everything we wanted to have at our disposal. However, since you are offering us that you all will do whatever we want you all to do, I think I am starting to see some kind of interest in epting this proposal." Although she was the one who gave the proposal, I could see that she was nervous as she involuntarily gulped her saliva as she looked at me. Perhaps her uncertainty about what I would ask them to do made her feel a bit of fear. "Let''s head outside. I will give you the task. Your husband should also do this as well. The more, the better but for now, the two of you should do just fine." They reluctantly nodded and I led them out, as for their daughter, I asked Riko to let her sleep on the sofa for now. The elves didn''t engage in our conversation and just looked at us with interest. I guess it''s not that interesting enough or participate to join them without them forcing me at all. Once we arrived, I led them to the crate of the monster I defeated earlier then patted it repeatedly for the two to see. "There is currently meat inside the container there but if you want to do anything I told you, then do just that and prepare the meat." "P-prepare the meat?" she looked at me with a confused look. "Yes. If I am satisfied with how your work looks, then you guys will earn her freedom back. That simple and easy, now begin." After giving her the task, the parents started trying to triumph over the job I gave them and proceeded to work diligently. Based on how they move, they do show that they are very capable of doing things that are fit for them who are in the business of hunting monsters. "Wait...isn''t this...?" Ragga seems to recognize the monster I killed and inspected the monster parts thoroughly. "Are you sure it was "that" monster? Maybe you are just mistaken or something?" Mimiko continues to process the monster parts, thoroughly skin the unskinned parts and separate the unprocessed leather from the meat. She was quite quick that I was catching a few pointers while they were actually doing it, making it bit of a great thing to apply in the next chances I do something the same. "Yeah, these body parts, they sure do look like the ones I know. I am 90 percent sure about it." "What about the 10 percent?" "I do still have my reservations that maybe I was wrong. But I am plenty sure that this monster was that monster I know." I listened to their banter while they continue to do the work. While doing so, I keep on thinking back on the oracle. Just what was this invaders that was on the oracle? And why is it that the bearer of the Glutton sign is the one who will resolve all the matter involving the invaders? Perhaps it was due to our involvement that made the invaders invade in the first ce? Or do they already are predetermined and we are just there conveniently when it happened? As such, I keep on imagining what kind of enemies the invaders are. From the sounds of the oracle, they sounded like a bunch of ouws that appeared all of a sudden, then started piging for the sake of obtaining riches. And since they also gather the girls as well, it must mean they are also involved in dealing with very as well. But then, something clicked in to me. In terms of that happeningtely that is very simr to what the oracle entails, there is one that is very identical to the description itself. In fact, if they are the ones in the list, shouldn''t they be the main candidate as the invaders? Who am I talking about? It was the demons. Perhaps it wasn''t a coincidence that I happen to defeat a few of them piging viges and kidnapping women in the process. Perhaps it was all connected in the first ce and an attack will soon happen? It is just too coincidental and the uncanny resemnce of the oracle itself and the deeds the demons doing right now is very close it''s no longer funny. Perhaps I was onto something and maybe I have hit the right answer. I shook my head and just decided that it''s still to early for my spection. But since I have an idea on who it was, perhaps trapping those invaders will be a good idea to deal with them before they be a big problem that I have to solve forter? Nipping the bud of the problem will be the best option I have right now and even the camp of the tribe will benefit as well even if my assumption on who the invader is wrong. Once they are done, maybe I should share my thoughts to Mimiko and Ragga. As they continue to process the parts, they soon finished half of the parts and are proceeding very quickly into the other parts. The leather produced was also quite well done that ifpared to how I do the process would pale inparison. Then, they reached out on the next piece and they soon removed the head that I included as well. When they saw that, Ragga almost staggered after seeing the beast itself. Even Mimiko was pretty much surprised as well even though they seemed to have an idea on what kind of beast they were currently processing. Despite their initial surprise, the moment they looked at my direction and saw me watching them work, they immediately returned to their work without question. In fact they looked like they are in a hurry after seeing me look at them. Did I perhaps cast a scary look in my face? Perhaps, but they needed to be done as soon as they should be. If they speed up due to that, then that is great. It took a few minutes until they were done with the processing and dismantling of the items. As expected of the people who specialize in dealing with hunter monsters, even if they have only seen the monster and done a dismantling process on this monster for the first time, they still did it faster than if we are the one who do it. "Sir, we are done with what you have asked." I headed to the table to look at the monster parts cleanly separated from each materials. Every single meat, bones and skin has been separated from each other, clean and precise, not a sight of badly done dismantling process that I am impressed. "Looks good. I think you guys have really done what you can really do for your daughter eh?" "Sir, are you sure this is the only task you want us to do to free our daughter?" Mimiko asked. It seems she is in doubt as to why we have let them done something that they can do splendidly and easily. "Are you guys thinking that I would let you two do something so difficult that you two would have no choice but to give up on doing it?" The two nodded. At least they are honest. "First of all, I am not here to harm others and we are not here to invade the people of your tribe. If I have done something like an impossible task for the two of you to do, that in the first ce means I am totally angry with you and your tribe that I am not willing to forgive. Seeing that you two are sincere and wanted to do everything just for their daughter, a simple challenge like this is enough." I snap my fingers and Riko brought over the sleeping girl. Riko unties the bindings of the girl''s arms and legs and handed her to the two of them. "Take her back and make sure she won''t do something like what she did to others ever again. Maybe next time, she will meet someone more ruthless than me and the next thing you know, your daughter is already torn apart by the beasts in the forests." Chapter 898 The Invaders Part 3 of 3

Chapter 898 The Invaders Part 3 of 3

Mimiko and Ragga can''t believe what they have witnessed they don''t even think that I have given their daughter just like that. "Wait, wait, are you serious about this? You are just giving our daughter without doing anything except to dismantle a monster''s carcass?!" Ragga is in disbelief. "What''s wrong? Shouldn''t you guys be happy that I have given back your daughter without any problems? What more do you guys want to do? Do you want me to tie her up again?" "No, no. We are just confused about why you handed her to us so quickly. Of course, we appreciate you for giving back our daughter without giving us too much headache to deal with but I am also curious as to why you didn''t give us harder tasks. What we got didn''t feel like a punishment but more of a task suitable for us..." Mimiko voiced out her reason. I chuckled and gave out my answer. "But as we said before, we are not your enemy. Causing you all with more trouble will bring more trouble for us. In fact, you guys might even bear a grudge against me or on us for that reason. Besides, I have a proposal to the two of you that will solve all your worries about these invaders." "Really?!" Ragga''s eyes lit up hearing something about the situation with the invaders. "Yes. I have my suspicion on who these invaders you guys are talking about and we have dealt with a few of them before. However, knowing how troublesome they can be, we might have missed a few or some have survived our search and destroy operation the other night. If possible, we would like to conduct a search and destroy within your camp and identify a mole in your tribe." "A mole?" Mimiko frowned. "A traitor in other words. If my suspicions are correct, someone else decided to infiltrate the tribe by shape-shifting into someone in your tribe and using the new face, lived among your people. We might be able to deal with these invaders if we have dealt with the traitor." "So these invaders can shapeshift into other people now?" I nodded in response. Demons have gained quite some power ever since they have awakened. I asked Lucia if she could shapeshift like them as well but she said she couldn''t and she didn''t even know how to do it, which solidifies my assumption that the demons have been given power by someone who has woken them up. "Although I still don''t have much trust in you, I will ept this offer and just treat it as if this was our punishment for our actions instead." "Well, you can also think of that as well. It doesn''t matter much to me." With the two agreeing on the matter, I called on Rika this time around to help out with this matter. Riko will apany us as well and we will have to eventually deal with a traitor with the two of them there to strike the nail, they were basically walking torture machines themselves and that is something that would be totally necessary to deal with the demons themselves who won''t talk in normal means. Ragga carried his daughter on his big back and Mimiko followed suit. I turned to look at the processed items of that monster I killed let the couple do their job, and ced them in crates. There are many items that look useful and are going to be something that might be useful someday as well as the meat that is so plump of fat that it would be a great meat to add for barbecue. However, they are not meant for me in the first ce. "Hold up, before we go, take these crates of the processed materials with you.? You can say that this is something of an apology gift for taking your daughter hostage. Take it all and use it at your own discretion. You have more use for them than us." "Wait, are you serious? These stuff are extremely rare and even we will not be able to obtain them on our own!" "I am pretty serious. Besides, I already hunted that monster with that n on my mind so please don''t decline this." Mimiko was still adamant about declining my offer but Ragga stopped her. "Then, we gratefully ept it. We promise that we will put these to good use and we will not put it to waste." I nodded at his response. He at least epted my offer and although he still didn''t trust me or every one of mypanions, he at least been thinking wisely right there. "Alright, first, we should check your soldiers first. The first part a demon can easily use to infiltrate is by bing a soldier and disguising as one. If we saw none of the demons hiding there, then that means they are brighter than I thought and would choose to be harmless vigers instead." Ragga seemed hesitant but he nodded. "If that is the first step in checking for the traitors hiding in my ruling, then they should be punished immediately. If they are the instigators that would lead my camp and tribe to ruins and harm everyone, then there''s no need for some mercy." Because he had a hard time carrying both the heavy crate and his daughter, he whispered to his wife to carry their daughter. I was about to offer some help when all of a sudden, Mimiko carried their daughter like a princess like she was not heavy. I didn''t know she would be this strong considering her short and petite stature. As for Ragga, he carried the crate by himself and we descended to the ground after saying our little mission to Almira. Then, I was surprised when Zena appeared as well to join in on our way to check for signs of traitors and shapeshifters. Mimiko and Ragga immediately recognized her. "Wait, aren''t you the beast woman who fought with one of my men, won, and got to live with us for a while?" Ragga tries to find confirmation for Zena after seeing here with us. "Yes. That''s me. It has been a while but I didn''t think I would meet you again like this in these circumstances," Zena nodded, responding to Ragga''s question. "Wow, so you have traveled and found somewhere to stay once more huh?" Mimiko smiled at Zena while thetter scratched her head, unable to say what really happened to her. "Alright, that should be enough, no? How about we proceed to the n?" Ragga nodded. "Yes, we shouldn''t waste our time." Before we descended, I gave out a bit of an instruction to Ragga and Mimiko to ensure that we would find the demons. Since Lucia can detect them, she will remain in the Summon''s Area while monitoring the outside world inside, to ensure that demons don''t detect her. I also added that Ragga should not confront the demon immediately until all of the traitors are singled out. Once they are separated from the innocent, that''s the time to judge them and with them being captured, they will have a hard time escaping. We descended to the ground by using the little road that goes down to the lowest point of the ground and since it was on the rest mode, thend wasn''t that high if we took this road, allowing us to go down without jumping off andnding on the ground with a superheronding. The soldiers who were currently waiting noticed the return of their leader and his wife while carrying their princess made them happy and they started pping their hands. The guy who was the right-hand man of Ragga appeared as well, seemingly too happy with them. I have my suspicions about him due to his behavior but I didn''t think too much about it until I came up with the conspiracy theory. "Lucia, can you check whether this guy right here is a demon currently hiding his scent and his face?" "Please wait for a... wait a minute Master, I think your assumption about him being a demon was correct. Because this wasn''t a human but a demon under the guise of a human. In fact, he was using an illusion as well that made him look like this soldier, he was a demon in disguise!" I shook my head and clicked my tongue. I didn''t expect that my assumption was actually correct and the guy was actually one of the demons who were in hiding. He was happily congratting the couple very enthusiastically, it was a bit annoying to see. But it''s time to end his little facade and let everyone know his real identity. Since I was able to guess it right, that only means this guy is one of the "moles". "Master, not only him but I detect four more of them from the soldiers. They are currently there at the back." "Alright, it seems we will have to begin the purge now." I snap my fingers and Ragga heard it, meaning, we will now be starting on our elimination round. Chapter 899 Rounding Up Demons

Chapter 899 Rounding Up Demons

The guard who was just called didn''t suspect a thing that coincided with the n. Still, we have to be careful. After giving the signs about the number of demons present and lurking, I immediately asked Lucia to mark the demons currently hiding among the group. And as for how we will single them out... ---- "How should we remove them from the group without them getting notice of our scheme?" Ragga asked. He is worried that chaos will break out as a result. "Since they have been nning to plunder your camp, that means they wanted to rob your camp of all your resources. Then what if we lure them with the same notion? Materials and treasure? You willmand the suspected invaders to pick up the items that were left behind that were said to be gifts and show them what I gave you. If this stuff is valuable, they will know that this is good stuff as well which means if they knew something else was also up here, they will be willing to go and get them. Without suspecting things." "Oh, it makes sense. If they have found a good ce to find more materials, not only will they try to scout out themselves, but they can also scour for new ces they can plunder forter as well," Mimiko understood immediately what I meant. "But if that is the case, wouldn''t that endanger you all as well?" Ragga frowned. "Don''t panic. In fact, if theye in full squadron, we will be lucky enough as we also hunt them out. Besides, I don''t think they are even cut out to defeat any of us in the first ce, more like they will be begging for mercy." "Then, we will stick to that n then?" I nodded. "Let''s do this thing then." ---- Lucia was quick at marking everyone who had the demon signature hidden on them. Lucia has already found out about them and with her so familiar with the demons, she has already found the disguised demons without any sort of problem. "We still left a few stuff back there and we needed some help to carry them. Raul, can you help?" Ragga asked. "Yes sir, but what are we even getting up there?" the attendant asked. I already gave Ragga the sign that this Raul guy is one of them so he immediately set the trap. "Here, have a look at these," Ragga then put down the crate and showed them the items that were present there. "Wait...isn''t this..." Raul seems to recognize the items. "Yes. And there are still some left. They even gave out some jewels and some expensive stuff as well. I wanted you to carry it out. This guy right here will be picking the soldiers who will help out. "What about you sir?" Raul asked. "I will sort these out then will follow back as we will need a few hands to carry it out. "We can just send everyone to help out there." I immediately stepped in to ensure that the method did not win. "Hey, I may be generous but I am not someone who would let multiple groups of people barge into our home like that. Just because we are giving you all some gifts doesn''t mean you can abuse your authority like that. Remember that I can just retract the agreement and take back what I originally handed over." Ragga also stepped in. "He is right. We should be grateful we got this stuff here for free after our discussion. So get your whining in control. This stuff is not originally ours." Raul couldn''t retaliate and went silent. And since I got the permission, I started picking a few people. We already agreed that we would bring a few normal soldiers as well to ensure that there is an eyewitness and to also make sure the demons don''t detect our n. I also added a hand gesture to identify the demons. I will only point to the person if they are a demon while I will point and beckon the normal people. Ragga and Mimiko already know those signs so they will know immediately who were enemies and the allies. And so, I started picking the people who would join. I have chosen all demons and two muscr soldiers as well, which means we will have 8 people return to the top. I asked Riko to levitate them up as we followed behind as well. They were afraid at first but since it was fast, they didn''t panic immediately. Riko remained below to levitate Ragga a few moments after them. I went up to the top and everyone marveled at what they saw. Of course, the demons are not in awe but in greed. It is clear they are already seeing a potential ce to raid while the two human soldiers are just in awe of the ce and realize there was a mansion at the top of the towering soil. "Where is the package?" Raul asked as he broke off from looking around to finish what they were sent here for. "Ah, the package, here, take it with you,"? I pulled out a crate from the inventory I prepared in advance before releasing the spell, [Kekkai]. I relearned this skill as it is very useful in trapping enemies easily and catching them off guard. With the [Kekkai] cast on the demons, they realized something was wrong. Raul started banging on the [Kekkai] and demanded what was happening. "What the heck is going on? What is happening and what is this?!" The two soldiers who are not demons and have not been on the loop pulled out their weapons. "I knew it, this is all just a ruse of peace!" "Stand down men, and sheath back your weapons," Ragga''s voice echoed behind the two guys as he slowly levitated. "Huh? But boss..." "I was the one who ordered that to happen." Raul frowned and the others were also banging the [Kekkai] in frustration. "Boss, what is happening? What do you mean you ordered it to happen?!" Raul frowned. "Don''t ask me why. You and these other guys already know why I did it." "We don''t understand?" Raul keeps on banging the [Kekkai]. One of the human soldiers frowned and asked Ragga, "Boss, what is going on?" "Remember the oracle about the invaders?" "Yeah? What about it?" "This is it." "Huh?" Ragga then turned to look at me and nodded. I nodded in response as well and pulled out a scroll. A scroll that reveals anything illusion in an area. A stationary skill that is a downgraded version of the [Eye of Unveiling Truth] as this is only applied on a ce and not engraved to the caster and its potential targets. It''s the [Domain of Unveiling Truth] scroll. Setting the scroll effects to activate, I tear the scroll into two, casting the skill in the process and activating it to the area I set it in which was the ce the demons are currently standing. Light engulfed the people inside the [Kekkai] and they briefly screamed. But in a few seconds, the illusion that the wear has been removed, revealing their real identities. Initially, Ragga didn''t believe that his men would be the invaders but the moment the spell that I used revealed their true form, Ragga''s initial distrust turned to believing my words after seeing their hidden forms. His rage started to boil up. "I can''t believe it, I thought I was pretty certain that you and the others are not the impostor and whatever this guy has done to you will not cause anything that will sway me in his favor. But seeing all of your appearances now, I am now inclined to agree." He pulled out his two axes. Raul and the others frowned and turned to look at the others only to see their true forms were now out. "W-what? But how? Our spells shouldn''t have disappeared! "You have to thank me for that, invaders," I pulled out the Versatile Weapon and ready myself as well. "F*ck, we are screwed! Break free before we are killed!" "Ha, if you can!" I snapped my fingers and ice built up on their legs, preventing them from moving. "Sh*t, I can''t move!" Raul gritted his teeth. The others also tried to thrash the ice I made but to no avail. "No wonder you guys seem to have changed. Because you all were not the real deal." I snap my fingers and the [Kekkai] wear off, allowing Ragga toe close. I snap my fingers again and the arms of the demons are cast in ice as well, preventing their movement and any way for them to attack. "How?! How did our disguise get easily blown off?! No one from these dumb people should have known who we are until our n goes off!" Hearing those words from Raul who is already panicking from what happened, he lost all control of himself and he started thrashing the demons. Although the demons were strong and could withstand the attacks of strong weapons and enemies, the wrath of Ragga didn''t make their protection a bit worthwhile. After all, he immediately squashed everyone to death before they could even understand what was happening. Chapter 900 To the Tribe Camp

Chapter 900 To the Tribe Camp

Ragga wiped off the blood that sshed on his cheek. The dead bodies of the demons were scattered on the grass, totally broken to the point that they looked more like they had been mauled by a bear in an ident. I didn''t expect Ragga to go wild so much the demons have died brutally like this. "Uh...I am sorry that I soiled the green grass here with their dirty blood." I shook my head. "It''s fine, one can sweep up the blood around here with a bit of magic." I pulled out another scroll in my inventory and tore it, conjuring the [Water Bubble] and encasing the dead bodies in the water bubble. That also includes the blood that sshed on the grass, cleaning the mess instantly. After the bubble encased the dead bodies, they swirled around like they were inside the washing machine, washing off all of their blood and causing the blue water bubble to turn red after a while, the dead bodies were dropped back to the grass, devoid from the blood which then results for the bubble to burst for a bit. Ragga and the two soldiers thought it would rain with blood but the water disappeared whichpleted the cleanup. "And done. Simple and easy. Now, only we needed to do is bring these dead bodies below and let the others see the fate of the moles that tried to invade your tribe." Ragga can only shake his head in disbelief after everything. "To think the invaders that we are gonna deal with would be demons." "Are you surprised?" "A little bit. Who wouldn''t be surprised if the people they have known for so long were actually demons?" "Remember that we are not yet done. Let''s go to your camp. Now that we are positive about them blending in with the people, there will be a big chance that they are also inside the tribe and are just feigning their innocence, waiting for their time to strike." "But what if they are good demons and are just disguising to avoid the prejudice of other people?" one of the soldiers who witnessed everything tried to reason it out. Hearing that, Lucia seems to not be able to hold back her words. "If they are good demons, then they are not afraid to show their true colors as demons. They shouldn''t have hidden their true form. Besides, to acquire their form, they have to kill the original owners of their disguises. If that is the case, they have already killed them and assumed their identities." Ragga was a bit stunned to see Lucia appear out of nowhere. "Wait, isn''t she a demon? She has horns..." Ragga frowned and unconsciously gripped on his axes. "Calm down Ragga, she is not one of them. She is trying to eliminate all of the demons who stopped acting as a demon and instead embraced evil ways. She is one of the demons I saved back then so I can assure you of her loyalty. Lucia bowed down as well to show she was different from the others. "I am Lucia, the former princess of the demons back in the primordial times when the gods have walked alongside the humans and all beings in this world. After I have awakened in my slumber, I have seen what my race is currently doing while I am asleep. So as their princess, it''s my duty to exterminate and tear out the problem from the roots." Ragga almost staggered when he heard that. "Primordial times?!" "Is it that shocking?" "N-no..." Ragga slowly backs off, showing that he fears Lucia now. It seems he knows how strong anyone who has lived during those times is after he backs off involuntarily." "Alright, I think that''s enough talk, we should head to your tribe and lure out the demons hiding. With Lucia who can detect who is a demon and not a demon, you can effectively find them before they can find us plotting it." "Y-yeah, good idea." ... ... ... ... When we returned to the ground, the soldiers were shocked when they saw the dead bodies of their formerrades, now in the form of demons. Ragga exined the situation to them while we just remained on the sideline, waiting for Ragga to finish talking. After the discussion, everyone started to return to the tribe camp. Ragga and Mimiko allowed us to follow them. While on the way, Riko who was following behind asked something to me. "Manato, how many demons do you think we will be able to pick out from the tribe?" "Why are you asking?" I looked at her and I think I can guess why though she immediately confirmed it in the next sentence. "Because it would be boring if there were only a few of them. I wanted to have a lot of them in there so that we can have some "fun" with them." I don''t know whether I would be amused by her way of "fun" or I would be a bit worried about how she likes to do war crimes instead. Still, we continued to move. Zena is more helpful in directions here as she has been in the camp before because sometimes, the thick foliage and the tall trees sometimes cause us to lose track of the natives. Thankfully, we managed to keep up with them and it didn''t take too long before we arrived at their tribe. I have seen this ce using the Shikigami familiar, but it''s different if you go personally there. Not only that. Now that I have reached the ce personally, I can see that this "camp" is more of a small vige than a camp. Although most houses are tent, some of the important houses like the healer''s house and the house of the chieftain is made of wood. "Alright boys, gather up everyone and escort them to the clearing. You already know what to do." Everyone nodded and they started to talk to the vigers one by one. As for me, I conjured two shikigamis and used them to monitor the surroundings. After all, there is a big chance they already know what our purpose is there and they might try to escape. However, escape is not an option here. Of course, they might not have noticed but I just have to make sure as I don''t want mistakes to happen. Thankfully, it seems my worries did not happen. No one escaped and everyone was escorted to the clearing, an area around the forest that is specifically cleared by the tribe to act as their own town square. Ragga then climbed on top of a rock that seemed to act as the podium for him to talk to everyone. "Alright. You all might have been wondering why I let you all gather here all of a sudden. But there were some circumstances that we discovered after my daughter was abducted and held hostage by what we suspected were the "invaders". However, upon our closer inspection and also discussing matters with them, we found out that we just assaulted people who were just passing by and were currently resting as they took their bearings to find their way to their destination. Thankfully, they were reasonable people and we managed to make amends with them peacefully. However, thanks to their help, we also have discovered the identities of our "invaders" in the process and we have, in fact, executed them after we found out they were traitors." As soon as Ragga delivered the word, everyone started whispering and discussing with each other. "Lucia, are there demons in the crowd?" I asked. "Yes, Master. A lot of them. There are even a few who are still in the form of a child but seeing through their disguise, they were already old people." I can only shake my head. This is a pretty troublesome camp they have for the demons to be able to invade and rece their inhabitants slowly but surely. "How many are we talking about here?" "Based on what I am seeing, they upied almost half of the people gathered here." Half?! I almost choked when I heard that. Does that mean the majority of them here are demons then? Well, this seems like Riko''s lucky day. She wished for a lot of enemies to be defeated. There we go, we have a lot of demons to defeat indeed. The soldiers are now on mymand as well since they believed me now after the two soldiers who had seen everything told them what I did earlier. I silentlymanded them to encircle the whole ce and make sure that the group remained neutral for the time being but once the situation began, they could immediately close in. As Ragga continued to talk, I talked to Mimiko about the situation since she noticed memand the soldiers. "Does that mean, there are also those invaders here as well?" Mimiko asked." "Yes. And it''s very bad as I thought they would be. I suggest you back away for a bit as I can see this will get very nasty a bitter on. Chapter 901 Capture ? As Ragga continues his little speech, I slowly let everyone move on to their positions. Zena, Riko, and Rika are also in their positions as well. Ragga had already noticed us doing the work but he continued talking as he already knew what was happening and talking was the best way for him to keep the attention of all the vigers away from what was happening behind. When we were now in position, Ragga then nodded to one of the soldiers and carried the bodies of the dead demons that Ragga killed earlier. The shock of all the people was totally normal, but the people who were shocked the most were the demons hiding in their human skin. "Earlier, we realized why some people in our tribe suddenly changed but since we thought it was just some of their development or they were like that in the first ce, we didn''t take the matters seriously. But now, we now have an idea of why they are like that." Ragga then turned to look at me and gave me the signal that I was waiting for. RIPPPPP! The moment the scroll of the [Domain of Unveiling Truth] was ripped to pieces, the area was engulfed in light and every demon who was hiding their form was soon revealed. The moment they were revealed, even Ragga was surprised to see all of the demons appear. This caused panic and every human who was in there was terrified and started to run away. Leaving with no choice, the demons immediately grabbed the nearby humans they could grab in a hurry. "Don''t you all dare do anything or these guys'' heads will separate from their bodies!" "These bastards!" Ragga was ready to attack but he stopped after the warning. The demons thought they were already out in the woods when... CRACK CRACK! The ice suddenly enveloped their heads and limbs, preventing them from moving. And it wasn''t me who did it but Riko herself which greatly surprised me since she only uses the fire element in her skill tree. Seeing another element she uses, it''s quite a surprise. "Wait... you use another element besides fire?!" "Why are you so surprised? Even though I like using me magic, there''s only so much a me can do. So I branch out to other skills as well." After that, all the demons that tried to escape were captured by the guards. Despite the guards not being as strong as Ragga, they do pose a threat to the demons as they manage to pin all of them down. Zena and Rika knocked out a few of the demons who slipped through the soldier''s attacks. As a result, all of the demons were captured. There are some civilians who got some wounds and suffered a few brutal scratches here and there but it''s nothing serious in front of my potions. In the end, we managed to round all of them up. All of the demons were captured which has a total of 30 demons in total who have been disguising themselves as humans. Ragga is very mad and wants to kill the demons already but I stopped him from doing so and just made a remark "Keep your citizens in priority first. We will handle them. If you don''t trust us, keep some of the soldiers on surveince for us while we do our usual thing to the demons." And due to that, he decided to check up on them. With the help of the nurse and his wife, they haveforted the injured people. As for the demons, they are struggling to escape and are still trying to fight back. Zena casually punches one of the demons who tried to stand up and fight back. It seems her punch packs more punch than it looks as the demon who received it lost a tooth and his nose crooked plus with the bleeding and it all happened after receiving one casual punch from Zena. "Just so you know, even if you have captured us, you all cannot stop what will befall to this vige. We have already made some preparations so that we will seed before the bearer of Gluttony can do anything!" the demon tried his best to be as threatening as possible but failed on doing so after what he just said. "If that was the case, then thanks for sharing the info. After all, we bear the signs of Gluttony indeed." And before he can respond, the Versatile Weapon transformed into the Shadow Dragon, opened its mouth and swallowed the demon who screamed as he fell inside the bottomless stomach of the Shadow Dragon. Seeing what happened to their fellowpatriot, every demon who was tied up huddled up together as they tried to escape but of course, they cannot as they have been tied up. Even the guards were surprised by the sudden transformation of the Versatile Weapon. Not that I am new to that. But showing it off to reveal it makes the demons stop their brashness and their smugness. "Master, don''t kill them just yet. If they have used their previous bodies as disguises, that must mean they either killed the real people or perhaps held them somewhere else. It''s best if you ask them for information and take you to them. Even if they are dead, we can just let them rest in their final ce and let their families mourn for them," Lucia suggested. "I see. You make a good point," I nodded and turned to look at the demons then to Riko, Rika and Zena. "Girls, you guys have a job and I think you all will like it." Zena didn''t understand what I meant but Riko and Rika are different. Hearing that they got the permission, the two grinned and looked at the demons as they started cracking their knuckles. "I hope you guys won''t break so easily," Riko grinned as she grabbed one of the demons in the cor. "Indeed. Thest one barely managed to even hold back their life that they begged for us. Pretty pathetic I would say." And they soon started giving them the smacks that they can receive. Zena soon understood what I meant as well and she followed suit as well. As for the demons, I can only say they have a bit of chance of living only because I wanted them to share information. If not, well, good luck to them. Chapter 902 Crisis Averted?

Chapter 902 Crisis Averted?

While the girls were busy "asking" the demons for the whereabouts of the real people they had copied their faces on, I went around the camp, checking the defenses of the camp. Although they only use wood as their main defensive walls, they are made from tough wood, and knocking on them allowed me to see their durability speaking for itself. I am pretty sure it won''t be knocked down so easily. But even with the toughest defenses, there are bound to be some mishaps, especially since the demons who disguised as vigers might have already tampered with a few defenses in the camp. Checking around, I found a few hiddendders scattered and hidden, covered with fake grass to blend into the grassy ground and allow it to safely hide away from me and from the real vigers. Lifting it up, it''s clearly pretty high enough to reach the wall and allow its climber to breach through the wall itself. And since the area I was in is far from the entrance, and checking from the drop area of the wall, it''s clear it is nned already for them to use it. With multipledders located in different locations, they are definitely nning on infiltrating the camp without passing the entrance with the guards. With manydders scattered, it is meant to be an all-out attackter on. Not only that but some of the wood on the walls has been modified as well to allow entry by pushing a part of it that will reveal a hidden entrance as well. "It seems they have already made some adjustments in case the others fail or are discovered." I even have a theory that somewhere in the forest would be a tunnel that extends up to the camp and the exit is just hidden inside. I will have to examine the inside of the camp as well to ensure there will be no ce here that will be used for illegal entry. After my check, I found 5dders hidden and 3 hidden entrances from the wall, all situated to fill all the gaps in the camp and overwhelm everyone before help arrived. I took some notes on the locations of the hidden entrances to show them to Ragga. I also gathered thedders in one ce to let Ragga know about it. But I am not done. After discovering those things, I went around the camp once more but a little bit farther in the perimeter to check for anything that seemed a little off. But it seems the demons have not gotten too smart to think of anything aside from those obvious traps I discovered, which is fine but I am a little bit disappointed. Afterward, I returned to the camp and checked the surroundings. I asked a few of the soldiers who were also around the camp to help me look around for any suspicious areas as well and it didn''t take long for us to indeed find a tunnel. It was located near the storage room, hidden under a barrel that looked full but was actually empty, allowing for easy lifting for intruders toe in. We entered the tunnel to trace back where it came from and we realized they made a very long tunnel. There are even some of the tools used for digging as well left around the ce, meaning the tunnel was just recently done. When we reached the very end of the tunnel, we emerged from the forest, near a brook. We looked for traces around and it seemed that nothing was around aside from some of the tools clearly used for the digging process. Because we can''t fill it back up with soil, the soldiers just rolled over a big stone and blocked off the entrance with it. I don''t know if it was a good idea knowing demons can actually remove them if they have someone with abilities but I guess if they have indeed destroyed the rock, every guard in the vicinity will notice it. All of the stuff that I noticed was immediately reported to Ragga and he immediately demanded his soldiers to repair the walls immediately. He also took thedders I found and proceeded to destroy a few of them, only leaving onedder as he wanted to have one he could use. Other than that, nothing much aside from him cursing the demons on their work. I returned to the girls and I saw that most of the demons were either cradling their bodies with extreme pain registered on their faces, or they had been mentally scarred for life. I don''t know what happened to them but knowing the girls, I would rather not know about it. But thanks to their ways of "asking", they got what I was looking for. "Still, to think that none of the copied people survived... It''s a bit sad that they are now dead," Rika sighed. "They needed the people who got their face copied by the demons dead to make the ability work right? That''s a bit of an inconvenient ability for sure," Zena shook her head. "Not really, I can see it as a way to also silence the original and keep them from ruining the situation and the disguise having close to none being revealed. You can say that it is an ability they deemed to be totally useful indeed," Riko shook her head in sadness. We went to Ragga who was currently in the healer''s house with Mimiko and his daughter. Their daughter is still asleep due to how potent the sleeping powder Pixie caused her to sleep. But she will wake up soon enough. As for what was discovered by the "asking" method that Riko and the others did, Ragga didn''t waste any more time and gathered a few of his soldiers to apany him and us to find the dead bodies. Ragga was silent throughout the whole thing as we found the dead bodies one by one. Some of them are still fresh and the flies have not yet gathered on some corpses while some are already rotten and some have already been dposed to the point that we cannot even bring them back due to the intense smell. Because some of the dead bodies can no longer possibly be retrieved, we have to perform a cremation to get rid of the smell, the dead body, and the contamination, while also giving down a prayer to ensure that even if they have been burned, they won''t be vengeful spirits in the future. As for the rest, the soldiers have gathered them and wrapped them in leather skin. A mass grave will be made for the dead bodiester and to also let the people who lost their families know the fate of the people who were copied by the demons. In the end, we wrapped up everything smoothly. So smoothly that I can guess that the crisis mentioned in the prophecy will no longer happen due to my interference. Perhaps the biggest thing is that the predicted crisis has now been averted. Or is it? Chapter 903 Funeral and Execution

Chapter 903 Funeral and Execution

That afternoon was a sad day for many of the vigers. After the revtion that most of their family members that they thought to be alive were revealed to be dead and the ones they had spent their time with for quite some time were impostors and were the ones who caused their deaths. The soldiers carried the dead bodies of the vigers who were used as the base to copy their faces. Since they were rotting and their bodies were releasing a foul stench, I suggested freezing their dead bodies so that they could be transported and they can be buried properly without their bodies decaying on the spot. Ragga and Mimiko thanked me for the help and asked me to be the one who would sound the bell that they would ring once the corpses were buried so that their souls and bodies separate and they would be able to go to the afterlife. It''s a way for them to send their dead to their final destination. Although I initially declined as I am not part of their culture, Mimiko insisted as she felt that if not for me and my party, they wouldn''t even know the true fates of their people in the first ce. My party and I gained the right to send the dead to the afterlife just like that and so I epted. And so, right now, we are gathered with the remaining people. In front of us are the coffins that I made for everyone and although it was made in a hurry and in materials avable, they already appreciate that their families are inside a coffin. As for the people that we can''t carry due to how rotten their bodies have be and the transport was impossible, the only way we can do is to gather their ashes and put them in a pot that will serve as their coffin and will be buried along with the others. Ragga stood in front of the dead and started to say something. As much as I try to understand what he is saying, it seems it''s more of a prayer exclusive to them. Afterward, he stopped what he was saying and as the sun set and the darkness started to nket the whole area, Ragga nodded to one of the soldiers and thetter moved and grabbed the bell that was just sitting nearby and put it on front. Ragga then gave us a sign to ring the bell so I went to the front of the bell and shook the bell twice before I handed it to Riko. I also sent a silent prayer as well and after the bell rang a few times, the families of the deceased started crying. As for coffins, they are being carried and put inside the hole in the ground, specifically for all coffins and the pots containing the ashes of individual corpses. With all of them ced in, the soldiers started to pour back the soil that was dug out and fill the holes back in which made the families start crying harder. Riko and the others are sad but for me, I felt indifferent. I don''t know why but perhaps, I have grown desensitized to this kind of event. Perhaps. After all, I have attended the funerals of different important people in my life back in the past timeline. It was like all of my tears had dried up and is no longer something I can use to express my grief again. After burying the dead, Ragga went ahead and proceeded to the next event which was the punishment of the demons. They received a lot of wounds from the "asking" method that the girls did to them and although the girls were satisfied after doing their job, Ragga and the vigers were not yet satisfied with the situation so, they were put into another situation that will allow the vigers to judge them for their actions. "Lucia, is it alright that you are going to witness their suffering and death? Even if they are not your family, they are still part of the demons of your race..." I asked Lucia who still continued to hide in the Summon''s Area. "I am fine. And I havee to ept everything that the people I love and know are either dead or missing. These demons might be in the same race as I am but I am not going to say they are also family. For me, they have stained and soiled the name of the demon race by bing evil. I nodded at Lucia''s response. Though I wondered how she knew that the people she loved had already died, did she finish the mountain of papers she had to read that were rted to the situation in the primordial times? Perhaps she did, perhaps she didn''t. But it doesn''t really matter. The demons will have to face this judgment. As the demons are being lined up while tied up on the metal poles, the vigers who saw them start to throw insults at them. Insults after insults are being thrown at them and yet I don''t see anything wrong with what they said. After all, they have killed people for the sake of disguise and do more violence. "Because of you all, my daughter is dead and I won''t be able to see or hug her anymore!" one mother grabbed a stone on the ground and started throwing it at the demons. The others saw this and followed suit, which then made most of the vigers throw rocks at them. The demons are clearly irritated and seeing their looks, no one is even showing any remorse or feeling sorry at all. Everyone is just annoyed at the situation they are in. And perhaps since the demons are tougher than humans, the rocks thatnd on them are not that significant and barely do anything to thempared to humans being under this treatment. Ragga saw all of these but he didn''t stop them. He just watched them as the vigers proceeded to throw their frustrations at them. "Are you fine with them throwing stones at them?" I asked. "Yes. In fact, if were in their position, I would also do the same thing. The demons have crossed a border that shouldn''t be crossed and their actions only facilitate they don''t care in any way about what they did. They might have been living with their false families using the persona of their victims but even still, they are not even showing signs of repentance is clear that these demons are nothing but danger. However, I should be asking yourpanion demon girl instead. She can see through what was happening right? Shouldn''t she be a bit angry at us doing this?" "Nah, she even rmended us to get angry. She even wanted them dead instead of letting them live as she thinks they are no longer something that can be salvaged by mere talking and imprisonment. They needed to be put down." Ragga was surprised but he didn''t say anything and just watched as the chaos continued. It didn''t take long for the people to stop what they were doing. They might have gained satisfaction in doing the attack, but the demons were not likely happy with the situation. In fact, they are more irritated than ever. If not for the cloth tied on their mouths to prevent them from speaking anything, they would be already cursing as well. "So what is next?" I asked Ragga. "Just like what yourpanion said, the demons cannot be let out, and even imprisonment, I doubt they can be held long enough. Perhaps it is best to execute them instead. There is no way I will keep the demons alive like this. I would rather they die instead and avenge all of the fallen vigers that I failed to protect." "If that is the case, how about we assist you on this one?" "Assist?" Ragga frowned. ... ... ... As the vigers were too exhausted from throwing rocks, we slowly approached the demons. They are clearly not exhausted but because Riko and Rika did a splendid job at tying them up, they can''t do anything but squirm. Still, I think it is time for them to end their journey give the justice hammer, and deliver their rightful punishments. I faced the vigers and started talking to them. "Good eveningdies and gents. Today, I will be asking a question whether we let these demons remain and be imprisoned, or do they need to go and die? Whichever answers are fine but the majority will win and that is what we will do." As soon as I said those, the people started to scream. "KILL THEM!" "KILL THEM ALL!" Despite something that I should be fine with, I can''t help but think about the times this happened in human history. Is this how people who were treated as heretics also faced theirst moments as well? I don''t know, but since these people are not innocent of crimes and showed no signs of repentance, then perhaps a swift delivery from death and pain is all they ever needed. I grabbed the gun in my holster and turned to look at the girls beside me. "Hey girls, how about some target shooting practice? We have the perfect dummies we can use here," I said as I turned to look at the demons who had no idea what was gonna happen next. One thing they were sure of is that it''s not going to be something great for them. Chapter 904 Demon Rescue Team

Chapter 904 Demon Rescue Team

"Target practice?" Zena frowned. "He means shooting a gun by aiming and shooting at a dummy or target," Rika exined to Zena. "Oh, it''s about guns. But I don''t know how to shoot." "Don''t worry, it''s pretty simple. Here, let me demonstrate." I positioned myself on one of the tied demons squirming as I aimed the Pain Delivery at the squirming demon. I can tell the demon has something to say but because of the gag that was currently hampering his way of talking. "Just position yourself like this, then aim it on any part of the target, then pull the trigger." CLICK! BANG! The gunshot out a bullet and sent it to the demon who was still squirming to break free. The moment the bullet made contact with the demon, his head exploded which made his blood and brain matter scatter to the other demons who were beside him. They stopped squirming and the moment they realized theirrade had its brain exploded to pieces causing them to squirm in fear and despair as I rack the gun. "Huh? That''s strange, I am quite sure I didn''t use an exploding bullet. How did that happen?" "Wow, that''s pretty brutal, Manato. I didn''t know you were into violence. I was totally surprised by this thing you just pulled off!" Riko was quite surprised and happy at the same time seeing what I just did. Is this girl a secret psychopath or something? Anyway, after checking, I am quite sure that the gun is not loaded with explosive rounds as that is something that I didn''t make. Perhaps I identally made one and it looks like a normal one instead. But all of my bullets are normal rounds. Not a single one is an explosive round so howe? Eh, who cares, as long as they kill, it doesn''t matter. I handed it to Riko to try it out. "Riko, you can try. Perhaps you might find some joy in using guns. Perhaps I can find some time to make one for you if you like it. Riko grabbed it and seemed to have awakened something inside and aimed it at one of the demons. The demon started to squirm, clearly fearing for his life seeing the fate of the previous guy. Of course, his fate was already sealed. CLICK! BANG! Compared to the other guy, the guy that Riko shot didn''t have his head explode to pieces, but he still died as the bullet prated his skull. "Let me try as well!" Rika and Zena find the situation a bit entertaining and they start taking turns executing the demons. It''s a bit morbid but I am the one who started it. I don''t feel much about killing the demons like this. In fact, they deserved it for killing innocent people. I know we are going to be sinners but it doesn''t matter, justice needs to be served. Everything was currently fine until a guard started running towards Ragga, panting for breath as he immediately gave out a report. "Sir! A huge pack of demonic dogs is currently closing in! We have closed the gates but knowing those dogs, I doubt they canst long!" "Demonic Dogs? Don''t they hunt alone and never travel in packs? What is happening?" Another soldier appeared and this time, he held more information. "Sir Ragga! Countless demons areing in! They are currently riding demonic beasts as well! It seems they are here to rescue their people!" Ragga''s face went serious and then turned to look at one of his soldiers. "Secure every viger somewhere safe. Have a few groups of soldiers as well to defend them. The rest, we will defend this ce. Ready your crossbows and arrows. Once theye to the gates, don''t hesitate to kill them on sight!" Hearing the situation, I turned to look at the girls. They also heard it and nodded and although the execution had yet to be done, everyone stopped what they were doing and decided to also help out. As for the prisoners, I decided to have the Desert Wolves stand guard. Since the enemies are demonic dogs, if ever they breach, the desert wolves will do their job at dealing with them. I left half of them to guard as I doubt the main force is the only demons attacking, I bet they alsounched some sneak attack and will try to break the remaining demons free. As for the other half, I brought them along with me to help with the fight. All of us rushed to the gates and saw that the soldiers were having a hard time blocking the gates. The gates seem to be getting pounded by whoever is outside while the soldiers are doing their best to keep the door from copsing or even opening. The rest of the soldiers are on the top of the walls firing their crossbows and arrows at the attackers. "Let''s get this party going girls and guys," I nodded at everyone and approached the soldiers at the gates. "Open the gates." "Huh?" "Don''t worry, we got this," Riko grinned, as she started chanting her spell. "You guys are gonna help?" "Of course. Since the enemies are so brazen to attack at night, then it''s no longer something we can ignore. We will be fighting against them." They looked at Ragga who was currently observing the situation and seeing the guards hesitate, he gave an order. "Let them help! We will need all the help we can get here!" "Alright, but it''s gonna get crazy out there." Riko was almost done with her spell and the guards all nodded as they opened the gates, releasing the demonic dogs that were thumping the gates. "Water that flows in the world,e to me and drown my enemies underwater! [sh Flood]!" Water gushed out as Riko released her spell to the iing demonic dogs. The demonic dogs didn''t expect this and the moment they entered, a torrent of water immediately washed them all away. "The gates are free! Move!" We went out of the gates and immediately pulled out our weapons. [sh Flood] managed to drown a few demonic dogs but not all of them died. And counting from them, they are still increasing in numbers. "Let''s go boys!" I ordered the Desert wolves and every single one of them howled as we rushed head-on to the demons. I changed my Versatile Weapon into a gauntlet form and as one demonic dog came in ready to bite, I delivered a direct hit to the demonic dog a full-force punch, causing its jaws that were trying to bite to crack, perhaps breaking to pieces. Another two demonic dogs tried to attack as well but I immediately caught both of them and smashed their heads together, killing them instantly. I continue my rampage by punching, grabbing dogs on their necks, and mming them to the trees and ground. But even with my quick killings, the number of demonic dogs keeps on increasing. In fact, they started to get bigger and bigger. They are no problems, to be honest, and I like challenges but it''s getting kind of odd that there are so many demonic dogs suddenly appearing out of nowhere and demons are currently with them. It''s impossible for the demons to be with so many dogs in one attack. I didn''t think too much of it and continued my ughter. The others are also busy as well, which allows for quick battles against the monsters. After a few minutes of fighting, soon, the number of the demonic dogs decreased significantly but it soon started to get troublesome as the demons that were currently hiding and waiting for the dogs to finish the job decided to join the fray seeing how their pets are being killed left and right. "Don''t let any of them leave alive! Kill anyone who tries to fight back, prioritize the women, and capture them while the men shall be disposed of. Don''t forget to plunder and save the brethren of ours trapped here as well!" It seems the demons seem to be underestimating us huh? I guess it''s time to let them show that trying to mess around while I am around will be dealt with immediately. Changing my Versatile Weapon into my sword form, I weed the demons who were ready for the kill. They tried to attack, but their weapons have barely done any damage to me due to the difference in our levels. "You f*ckers seem to have a death sentence." Grabbing the demon on his head, I stab my sword into his abdomen and pierce it through him before slicing it sideways, cutting down his flesh and killing him. The demon who ordered is currently overseeing the attack using a magic tool that allows him to see the situation even when he is far away. It was meant as a way to start the plunder in a forceful manner after they heard that their moles had been discovered. The only way to salvage the situation was to attack and rescue the demons who were captured. He thought that the attack was going to be sessful due to the fact that he brought a lot of the demonic dogs and the most skillful demons in the group. If they seed, not only will they get more loot, but they will also get women as well.? It''s a big win. However, he soon felt a bit different. In fact, he can feel that the demonic dogs have slowly disappeared one by one. Even the auras of hisrades started to disappear as well.? The assault was clearly working at first but he soon frowned seeing a few of his demonrades start to die one by one and soon realized why. "F*ck! FALL BACK! We are going to die here!" But before he can do so, a kicknded on his head, causing him to fall over. He felt a bit of pain in his head and tried to get up but the one who gave him the kick stomped his head into his temple. His hard boots are causing him more headache. "Where are you guys going? The party is not yet over." Chapter 905 Black Dog Barghest

Chapter 905 ck Dog Barghest

At the current temporary outpost of the demons, themanding officer of the demons, Lakius is trying to ascertain whether he should unleash the beast he was currently holding in a cell to stir up danger in the tribe. However, this monster is different. Aside from its ability to produce demonic dogs by devouring something, its violent nature that Lakius has keeping its eyes off as this monster can either benefit him or something that would be the cause of his death. However, there are times when he has to make a choice. And perhaps right now was something he had to make sure he had to do it. With the enemies slowly closing in, there is a chance that he might fall today. However, if he does, he wants to ensure that not only falls today. He grabs an iron chair, holds the keychain in his belt tightly, and waits. There is only one answer to this once the enemies have arrived but right now, all he can do is wait. ... ... ... Themanding demon pleaded for his life after beating him ck and blue, but I don''t think I will even need to think twice about sparing him because he ismanding the demons and might be one of the brains who instigated the attack as well. Grabbing his head and slowly crushing it, the demon started convulsing as he tried his best to remove my hand from crushing his head. However, he has no strength to keep it and the gauntlet is just slowly dealing his skull continuous damage. He tries to kick but fails as he squirms for his life. Until the very end, he tried his best to get out of my grasp but my grip was much stronger than his own strength and before he could even break free, his skull caved in and his head exploded in my hands which also ended his life as his body limped and stopped moving. The moment he died, I threw the dead body of themander to the attacking demons and saw theirmanding officer with a head that exploded to pieces. "Themander is dead! Run!" Riko fired multiple fireballs in their direction. "You won''t escape from us!" But I stopped Riko from chasing and killing them. "Why are you stopping me?" Riko frowned. "Because we needed them alive to follow them," I answered as I sent Shikigamis and attached them to the demons, allowing me to keep the location of where the demons were going." Then I turned back to the girls. "But before we go and chase them, we will have to see the damage done by the demons and the demonic dogs. We might have killed them but there might be some damages done as a result." Hearing that, the three nodded and we returned to the camp. Arriving there, the countless bodies of the demonic dogs that were killed were all sprawled out on the ground alongside the dead bodies of some demons that were killed by Riko, Rika, and Zena. I didn''t personally see Zena do her kills but based on how Rika was praising Zena''s abilities in battle, she must be pretty intense and leveled. She might have not been captured by demons back then if not for her sacrificing herself just so her friend would not be killed and captured. The soldiers are gathering back the arrows that they fired off from the dead bodies while Ragga is assessing the situation and the condition of the walls and gates closely. "How is everyone?" I asked as we approached Ragga. "Oh, Manato. Thanks to you and yourpanions, we avoided the brutal result of their attack. Without your help, we might have incurred lots of losses and everyone might have been dead or captured by now." Rika approached the gate and assessed the gate for a bit. "The gate needed some recement. This is no longer going to provide any defenses if the demons attack again. I suggest you use a thicker and sturdier wood, or if possible, use iron gates instead of wood. They canst longer if that is the case." Ragga nodded at the suggestion. "Indeed. But we will have to prioritize healing the wounded first and once everything is back to normal, we will change the gates to a much sturdier material." "Ragga, we will be chasing the fleeing demons right now. We will not be able to defend against any attacks while we are away and only some of my Desert Wolves can help fend off the attack in case theye back for more. I will hand back the rights for the execution of the demon prisoners to you instead." "Is that so? Then, we will have to do that. If you are sure that you can track down the enemy and stop them, then I hope you seed." I nodded in response. "Of course. We will not disappoint. And we will bring back the peace you all had before the prophecy was given out. We will end them once and for all." Once we told Ragga that, we began chasing the demons. I left the remaining Desert Wolves in the care of Ragga for now until we are back as I am quite sure that the demons are going to find an opportunity to fight back. Meanwhile, we will being to the base of the demons. It seems I was right about them running back to their outpost camp. Thanks to them, now I can go straight to their camp and fight. "Lucia, I think you should also participate in this battle." Lucia then appeared from the Summon''s Area. "Then, at your service, Master. I am here to provide help." We continue to move and Zena who was ahead of us while using her super speed ability that seems to be simr to the speed of a wolf, sniffs in the air and growls. "We are almost there." I can say that she is correct as we are indeed closing into the camp. There are lots of demons in the outpost so we will have to push through them or y them all. Based on how mypanions do the work, they are more on ying them all. But then, as we got close, I suddenly lost contact with all of my Shikigamis deployed. They all happened at the same time. It''s not removed but it is also clear that they didn''t disappear either. As I can still feel them, I think I know why. DEATH. The death of the person or monster or even demon that I attached a Shikigami with will also kill the shikigami, which will result in me losing any control and sight of the shikigami. However, even though I lost contact or severed contact with it, I can still feel its presence which means the shikigami was not destroyed but the one I attached it with did. Arriving at the outpost, the smell of putrid blood can be smelled from the fort. The ce was totally quiet as well. Blood was sttered all over the ce and I don''t think this stter from the bloodes from anything other than being attacked by a violent monster. Weapon attacks are not capable of doing this kind of stter. Lucia and Zena immediately went alert and we looked at them as they seemed to have detected something. "Something ising," Lucia readies her spells. "I can sense a very dangerous bloodlusting inside this ce. Everyone, we needed to be careful." Hearing this, we slowly enter the outpost while we look around. Then, we heard a very loud scream inside. However, his screams didn''tst long as they soon started to sound incoherent like he was gargling some water. I think he was vomiting blood and his screams were muffled by it as a result. Perhaps the guy was even dead. We didn''t rush inside. We can''t afford to rush into the scene only for us to get attacked as well. As we approached the innermost area of the outpost, we saw different body parts of demons scattered around the ce. Arms, legs, and even some torsos are present as well. Blood littered the ground and vandalized the walls as well. Seeing everything in detail, I ready my Versatile Weapon. As we turned around, we saw a huge ck beast that was currently feasting on the demon remains, probably the ones who screamed earlier. We didn''t make a sound at all, but it seemed the monster was already aware of our presence as it stopped eating and faced us, revealing itself as a big ck dog. Although the beast looks like a hairy ck dog, the size is very big, to the point that it is twice the size of thergestnd animal currently alive on Earth. As its eyes lit up, I immediately recognized the beast. And I never expected it to be here, currently feasting on demons. The ck Dog Barghest, the walking cmity, and ording to the lore, if it was left alone without defeating it, ck Dog Barghest would be the second Cath Palug and will be the next beast that will endanger destroying the world. Chapter 906 Against The Walking Calamity ? ck Dog Barghest, also known as the Walking Cmity, is not something that has to be taken lightly. Aside from its violent nature, its insane appetite can also be considered a symbol of Gluttony as well. Now I realize why the symbol of Gluttony is going to save the camp. It is because the one who is considered the symbol of Gluttony itself was the one who wiped out the demons in one go. It isn''t me who was considered the symbol of Gluttony, but the ck Dog Barghest. "Master, be careful, there is no way we can avoidbat against this monster!" Just as we are about to fight ck Dog Barghest, one demon emerges behind the cage, holding a key holder, and casually swinging it around. "It seems you all have finally arrived." I was surprised. He wasn''t eaten? That''s a first. After all, ck Dog Barghest is known to attack and eat its victims once it overpowers them. No one has ever managed to control its hunger and getting very close to the ck Dog Barghest without any sort of weapon or protection to stop its attacks is only what you call suicide. But this demon who just appeared was not even bothered by the presence of the walking cmity. In fact, it seems the ck Cmity does not even attack him. "Impossible, did he manage to tame the ck Dog Barghest?!" I frowned. "Pretty close, but not that close. I didn''t tame it. I, Lakius, became its worshipper and as a result, the great ck Dog Barghest is now akin to a demi-god. Beings like humans are no longer a threat to it. And since the great being holds me as an important being, it does not harm me in the slightest." "But aren''t demons value the life of other demons? Which is why they are rescuing theirrades?" Lucia frowned. She does not understand the actions of Lakius and neither do I. "Value? For me, valuing the life of others is a weakness. You only value your life and that is the only thing that is going to get rid of that weakness. And with that, things are not just going to be the same." "Enough of this nonsense, Manato, everyone, why should we keep listening to this guy? Let''s beat this guy and this dog and let''s get this business end already!" I nodded. "Couldn''t agree with you more," I pulled out my gun and immediately released a gunshot toward Lakius. Lakius tried to dodge but his dodging skills were pretty much nonexistent and before he could avoid the bullet, his left arm exploded and he gripped the ce where his left arm was supposed to be to control the bleeding. "Urgh...I see... Khhh...No wonder you are allcking in terms of understanding. Since you all are trying to die anyway, then let the feast begin!" ck Dog Barghest howled into the air and a shockwave was generated from his howl. We braced ourselves to not get blown away from the pressure released. Once the howl ended, we immediately went to position. Zena immediately rushed forward and skillfully dodged the attacks of ck Dog Barghest beforeunching a series of punches to its face. But the dog is clearly not even affected by it and tried to bite on Zena. BOOM! But before the ck dog can even take a single bite, arge fireball explodes on its chin, and the ck Dog Barghest is interrupted in its attack. An attack that Riko shot. Zena immediately retreated and caught her breath. "Thanks for the save." "Be careful. One bite from that day and we will be torn to pieces," Rika immediately switched from Zena and continued the momentum as she released a flurry of attacks from her ming sword. I also attacked as well in conjunction with Rika''s attacks. While Rika was attacking the big guy and taking his aggro, I took advantage of it and stabbed the ck Dog Barghest in its abdomen before running to the side to slice its body open. SWISH! ck blood pours down on its big wound as the ck Dog Barghest staggered. However, a few secondster, the attack that I did close like it got stitched by an invisible needle and thread and stopped its gaping wound. I don''t know how strong my attack earlier was. After all, even though the ck Dog Barghest has an HP bar, it is pretty much broken as we cannot even see its name or its stats. It seems to have kind of bugged. My guess though is due to how Lakius decided to worship this monster which allowed the monster to ascend to demi-godhood. ck Dog Barghest released another howl but as soon as the monster did, two big heads made from some sort of demonic aura appeared and started chomping towards Rika and me. "Don''t block it, run away and dodge it!" Hearing that, Rika didn''t waste her time and started running away. I also started to run away as fast as I can as well. Both Riko and Zena also started running while Lucia went to high ground by going to the top of the walls when the demonic heads tried to attack. Unfortunately, Riko was a bit slow and she didn''t get to dodge in time. CRUNCH! "GAAAAAHHH!" Riko screamed in pain as the demonic head bite on her. Her health went critical as a result and shended on the ground. "F*CK! Riko!" I immediately rushed towards Riko and checked on her. Lucia, Zena, and Rika also rush towards Riko who is still squirming in pain. Thankfully, it seems the attack didn''t change which I am grateful, but Riko is currently debilitated after being bitten by the demonic head. She didn''t receive any wounds or her body was torn apart, but a red aura of bite marks was present on her body and she couldn''t move. A red aura is also pouring out of her as well. I grab a Full Restore ssh potion and pour down its contents to Riko, restoring her health. However, her debilitated debuff didn''t disappear which is a normal thing but this will hamper us a lot. "Riko!" Rika rushed towards Riko and looked at me and Zena. "Is she fine? What happened to her?!" "Yeah, she is still fine. But she will be unable to fight for a few minutes. We will have to make do without a mage for now. Also, we have to keep our distance to the f*cker right now." We turned to look at the ck Dog Barghest that started howling and a ck aura seeped into it the moment the Demonic Head that bitten Riko returned to its owner. Its abilities have doubled and the danger level of the monster has increased twofold. "Did the monster just be a lot stronger?!" Rika frowned. "No. It seems she sucked out the life force of Riko forcefully causing her to be like this and as a result, the monster dog has powered up a lot. This is not looking good," Lucia frowned and her face got serious. "Zena, you are strong and quite fast, right? Please take Riko a little bit farther right now but don''t stray too far from the battlefield. It seems the ck Dog Barghest will not let you out alive if you try to escape. Our main priority is to keep the ck Dog Barghest far from Riko while also keeping ourselves alive and defeating the ck Dog as soon as possible. "Alright," Zena grabbed Riko, put her on her back, and retreated a little far from us. "What are we going to do? It''s much faster nowpared to before," Rika frowned. "We will have to oust this monster until his buffs are gone. From the looks of it, this is just a temporary buff. I looked at Riko''s status and her debilitated status is not permanent but has a timer. My guess is that this monster will remain in that form for a few minutes until the effects disappear which will also allow the recovery of Riko from the attack. But before that, we will have to dodge this...!" We immediately dodged away as the ck Dog Barghest immediately dashed in our direction in the blink of an eye. We still didn''t get to properlynd when the ck Dog Barghest suddenly changed its direction to my direction and suddenly zoomed in. I opened my wings and temporarily flew in the air and if I was one secondte, my body would have been torn apart by this guy. I pulled out the Pain Delivery and started sting on the beast. But as expected of a monster who has undergone physical and magical enhancements temporarily, the bullets that should have been pretty dangerous and can sometimes instakill, didn''t even breach its fur. All of my bullets bounced from its body. Lakius who was dying startedughing seeing our situation. "Haha...you all won''t be able to escape. Death will soon awaits all of you..." Chapter 907 Second Phase?! ? I have defeated the ck Dog Barghest before, but its attacks have never been this unpredictable. I never even find the ck Dog Barghest this agile as well. Is it because of the ck dog''s ascendance to demi-god? It attacked us in a zigzag pattern and in the final zigzag, it lunged towards us. We managed to avoid it, fortunately. The ck Dog Barghest stopped moving for a bit after the series of attacks. It was like it got exhausted from doing so. "Now!" We dash toward the ck Dog Bargehest and deliver multiple attacks on its body. The monster roared in pain as our attacksnded on its body. We managed to inflict some wounds but it seems to be not that deep as the ck dog seems to be looking fine even after all of those attacks. Soon, the aura that was overflowing on its body disappeared and Riko who was bitten earlier recovered, and the markings on her body caused by the bite faded too. "Ugh, that hurts like hell..." Riko slowly got her energy back flowing to her. Zena noticed this andnded in a safe area before she put down Riko who was still trying to recover her bearings. Rika wanted to go and check on Riko but I stopped her. "Focus more on the ck Dog Barghest. Defeating it is our main priority." Rika nodded and she returned her attention back to the monster who suddenly fired off mes all over the ce. Lucia held her hands forward and a swirling vortex appeared on her hand. "[me Absorption!]" The mes were immediately absorbed by Lucia''s hands but then... "GAAAAHHHHH!" Lucia screamed in pain as she deactivated her ability to absorb the mes spewed out by the ck Dog Barghest. "What happened Lucia?!" Then I looked at her right hand which she used to absorb the mes. Not only was it burned, but it was like she roasted her hand on a barbecue spit. The burn has consumed her entire forearm as a result. I can even smell the burnt flesh on her hands as well. Not even the sleeves of her clothes were safe as well. I immediately grab another bottle of Full Restore Ssh Potion and pour it on her burn. But it didn''t work. Not only her burn was too severe, but it was like her hand was still rotting as well. Furthermore, it seems to be spreading to her unharmed arm as well. I cast a water spell as well but the burn didn''t stop and has climbed already from her elbow pit. "Master! Cut off my arm!" Lucia then extended her arm as the invisible mes seemed to be consuming her whole arm as the burn was also climbing. Seeing that it cannot be cured by a potion or even water magic, then cutting it was the only option. I didn''t hesitate and pulled out my Versatile Weapon swung it fast on her burned hand and severed it to stop it from spreading further. "AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH!" Lucia screamed as her burned arm plopped lifelessly on the ground which then slowly turned to fleshy mess, then to bones, before it turned to ashes. Seeing the bleeding on her hands, I grab the potion I used earlier and pour the remaining contents on her severed arm to close off the wound. Rika and Zena decided to distract the ck Dog so that I could attend to Lucia. "Are you fine now, Lucia?" "Don''t worry about me, Master. That was a big mistake but it''s not fatal, I still have my other hand and I can still fight. I can still do this." "I am against letting you back to the fight again after you lost an arm, but if you still insist on fighting, then don''t push yourself too much. And don''t bother doing the same tactic earlier again." "Y-yes..." Although Lucia is struggling with the pain, she stands up and ready herself. The mes released by the ck Dog Barghest do not totally burn you like how it happened to Lucia but they still hurt when theynd. The only reason why Lucia''s hand was burned as a result was because she decided to absorb some of the mes that the ck Dog released. If she hadn''t absorbed it, perhaps she would have her arm remain until now. Zena and Rika did a good job at stalling the ck Dog as they managed to keep the monster away from us. Riko also recovered as well and she returned to battle too. "You alright, Riko? No broken bones or something?" I asked. "Thankfully, there''s none. But my strength has been reduced slightly and my body feels a little heavy as well. Perhaps it was the after-effect of those attacks from the monster before." Riko rubbed her head for a bit before making a serious face. "Don''t push yourself too hard. And if that attack happens again, don''t hesitate to fly away. Don''t force yourself to get killed." "Yeah." We returned to our focus on the ck Dog Barghest. Lucia also rejoins the battle and even though she lost an arm, her abilities remained. Due to the abnormal behavior of the ck Dog Barghest a lot of times, we decided to use this chance to switch attacks from time to time while switching to defensive maneuvers as well. It took a bit of effort though and during my attack, I suddenly found a weak point. The jugr point of the ck Dog Barghest. It is also the weak point of the beast back then. It was hard to attack that part but back then, Pandora finished it off using her golden chains, targeting its jugr and piercing it with those chains. Although fast and hard to beat up and make it expose its jugr naturally, the ck Dog Barghest has the habit of raising its head after an attack, which also reveals the jugr. So I mentally formted an attack on it to bring it down once and for all. Although the ck Dog Barghest is still as strong as ever, it seems like this guy is also nearing its limits as its very fast movements started to slow down for a little bit. It''s a sign that the big guy is also nearing its limits. We did the same thing and ganged up on the ck Dog. The monster is pretty agile and can sometimes dodge our attacks but it gets pretty easy to see the attacks if we team up together where one will do the feint attack while the others willnd the attack and make abo to it. This time, Rika and Zena are the feints and I am the one who will deal with the attack. Rika ignites her magic sword and swings multiple times on the ck Dog where thetter easily evades. Then, Zena tries tond a punch while her hand has transformed into a beast to increase the power of the attack. But she missed, creating a little crater on the ground as a result. All of it was dodged by the ck Dog Barghest but when the ck Dog stopped on its tracks, I appeared beside it and without a word, I stabbed the ck Dog''s throat. Blood drips down on me as I pierce through its throat. The blood of the ck Dog Barghest seems corrosive. Not only it felt painful when its bloodnded on my skin but some parts of my armor had been burned as well. However, I am more confident about finishing this boss right here and now. Rather than letting it live for a few more minutes, I would rather suffer a little bit of pain to kill it than continue fighting it where we will risk dying. "COME OOOON! SLICE THROUGH THIS F*CKER!" I forcefully push the Versatile Weapon to its throat and the pain in my hands and arm is already too painful even for my tolerance but I don''t stop as I continue to slice through the skin. The Beast tried to move but I only kept the sword deeper into its throat, stopping its movements further. I don''t know who is firing off ranged magic attacks to the boss while I continue to slice through but it''s clearly causing more pain to the ck Dog which means it is almost done now. Despite the numbing sensation in my hands while the blood of the ck Dog continued to slide down to my skin, I gathered all of my strength and pushed through my limit. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" SWISH! The wound widened and the blood of the ck Dog poured out of the neck. The ck Dog Barghest staggered. It''s trying its best to recover but it is having a hard time supporting itself. I thought everything was over as I washed off the blood of the ck Dog Barghest using the Ssh Potion when all of a sudden, the unmoving Lakius who we thought to have died suddenly moved. "Lord Barghest! I can''t allow you to die just yet! You still have so much left to do. Therefore, I will be offering a quarter of my life force! Take it! Recover your power and y the opposing people who are trying to y you!" I don''t know if the boss heard what the guy is saying but the ck Dog Barghest took a few more steps. I thought it would just sniff and consume its life force but then... "Lord Barghest? P-please wait, I was offering my life force, not my whole-AAAAAAHHHHH!" CHOMP! The ck Dog Barghest devoured the demon before it could even finish, leaving behind the severed half of the demon named Lakius. Then, ck Dog Barghest stood up, releasing another quarter of its power. It''s big wound slowly closing as well. It''s ck fur has slowly turned into shadowy ck and its body turned into an incorporeal entity. I didn''t expect to see this especially to the ck Dog Barghest. "Sh*t, is it transitioning to the Second Phase?!" Chapter 908 The Black Calamity

Chapter 908 The ck Cmity

Eating Lakius triggered the regeneration capabilities of the ck Dog Barghest. Not only that but its name also changed and its HP bar disy has turned from a normal HP bar for bosses to a Raid Boss HP bar. Normal Boss HP bars appear much bigger than normal HP bars but raid bosses have their HP bars appear twice as big and have a stylized border depending on what kind of monsters they are, whether they are monsters from fierynds or if they are monsters that control nature. The ck Dog Barghest, now turned to its new name "The ck Cmity" has a misty ck HP bar border. It''s kind of simr to what the monster is in right now. Despite the name and its transformation to a Raid Boss, it isn''t getting bigger. Perhaps, it was due to the fact that it had just transformed that it hadn''t turned big. But that doesn''t change the fact that it has turned into a raid boss. Now, we have to kill it before it gets more troublesome to eradicate. "Quick, although it just transformed into a stronger boss, it hasn''t been that long since it did. Let''s go!" I rushed forward holding the Versatile Weapon in its gun form and holding the Pain Delivery on the other hand and started sting them both to it. BANG BANG BANG However, I saw most of my bullets just phase through the body of the ck Cmity. They all hit the nearby wall made of wood. Lucia also rushes forward while using her remaining hand to fire sts after sts of magic. Still, those attacks seem to barely or not even affect the boss at all. It was like all of our attacks just phased in and out from its body and then got absorbed. Riko also did the same thing with Lucia and even added some other elements but like what happened to Lucia''s attacks, they don''t seem to connect to the monster at all. More like all of it just entered its body and that''s it. Lucia who was sensitive to the fluctuations of power in the surroundings experiences a headache and falls on her knees as she clutches her head in pain. "E-everyone... B-be careful... it seems...to be up to s-something!" Lucia grits her teeth, fighting off the pain in her head. I also stopped since the pressure was also getting strong as well. As Lucia said, it''s not worth getting too close. The others stopped moving as well and we observed the ck Cmity. Its body phases back and forth like a fading smoke but it''s clear it''s not fading like I thought it would. It is just like it''s his body turning into one.? Just then, it started to howl into the air and dead body parts of demons that had been scattered around floated and started to gather into the mouth of the ck Cmity. Even the remaining severed half of the demon that was once known as Lakius also floated and they soon got sucked into its mouth. Lucia and Riko started firing their magic spells to interrupt what the ck Cmity was about to do but everything was useless as all of them didn''t do anything to stop the ck Cmity. The moment it swallowed everything that floated into its mouth, the ck Cmity snapped its mouth, and its body grew a little bigger. Along with that, a few ck auras from its body separated from it, forming multiple demonic wolves that we have fought before but with more prominent, and menacing looks apanied by their bodies also made like they are made of aura. All of them appeared one by one and they soon popted the area where the ck Cmity is currently standing. "This is really bad..." I frowned. Rika keeps her sword ready but she is clearly faltering. "What now, Manato? This is clearly too troublesome for us to do and the boss is very dangerous as well. Are we going to give up here?" "To hell with giving up. If we let this thing remain alive, we will have to deal with it sooner orter and we will still suffer as a result. If this guy is trying to overwhelm us in number, then we will also overwhelm this f*cker as well!" I faced the ck Cmity who seemed like smirking and gloating at our helplessness. "If you think you have won because of sheer numbers, then we will alsopete in sheer numbers as well!" Raising my fingers into the air, I snapped it and the surroundings seemed to have gone quiet. Before everyone can react, multiple glows of light appear beneath the surrounding area as skeletons wearing armor and weapons emerge from them. "I may not be using this ability much, but since this f*cker thinks that it''s already won, then we will make sure this guy will regret trying to f*ck with us!" Snapping my fingers again, the skeletons immediately got covered in aura. Being led by the skeleton that has grown stronger over the past years, we face against the ck Cmity with my army of skeletons. "Get ready, boys and ... ... ... ... Back in the mansion, everyone also felt the strange aura of the surroundings. Manato''s mother seems to have noticed something and she felt a bit nervous all of a sudden. "What''s wrong madam? You seem to be out of it?" Lina asked as she grabbed the pizza being cooked in the oven. "I don''t know. Something felt wrong and ominous. It just suddenly happened and I don''t know what is causing it." "Are you alright, madam? Perhaps you needed some rest?" "Must be." They continue their work and although she feels something is about to happen, she has no idea what it is to begin with. ... ... ... ... The sh between the two forces started and although the skeleton had massive numbers, the dogs were tearing through the pile of bones like bits of paper. "Manato, this is not looking good. Even if you keep summoning those skeletons, they are clearly no match against the boss and the minions at all!" Riko wipes off her sweat as she drinks all the contents of the bottle of MP Potion. "No, this is fine. As long as we can keep them busy, we will use this chance to break the boss and attack it. We are not just going to keep this boss linger anymore." The ck Cmity supplies the demonic dogs every time one dies, it creates another and the cycle repeats. It''s troublesome but this time around, I have to use the assurance skills that my weapon had. If I want to bring this monster down and kill it, we will have to use all of our all to defeat it. As for me, I have to use the limited use skills I possess. "Everyone, back me up. I will have to sacrifice a bit of my health to increase every stats I have. I will be totally vulnerable at this time so give me support and defend me from attackers while I duel the boss." "Are you going to use the skill you used before? The one that turns your weapon into blood red? That one?" Rika asked. She saw me use that one before. "Yes. I will be easily killed if I don''t get careful." "Don''t worry, Manato. Bring that monster down and make sure it will no longer move after!" I nodded and ready my weapon. I control all of the skeletons to deal with the demonic dogs and make way for me. As soon as I did, they immediately isted all of the demonic dogs away from me and my team. Once the demonic dogs were out of the picture, I started to add all the buffs I could use in myself. I know one of my skills can do that, but I needed more than just that. I needed to ensure this boss is going down once and for all or else, we will be in big danger. "[Haste]! [Attack Up]! [Defense Up]! [Concentration]! [Critical Chance]!" I chanted multiple buffs and kept them active as I continued to run toward the ck Cmity. Seeing my charge, the ck Cmity stood up and howled. Although it does not see me as a potential threat, it seems to hate the fact that I am still challenging it. "[FIRE!]" Lucia released multiple fireballs into the ck Cmity, followed by Riko who also continued to fire off multiple blue sts that I don''t know what was. Rika and Zena are just behind me, making sure that there are no demonic dogs that get close. After myst buff cast on myself, I read the Versatile Weapon and wake the Shadow Dragon up. "Hey, you awake?" "I have always been awake. What is it?" "We will have to power up big time today, so please, don''t mess this up." "Ha, is that all, partner? Of course, let''s do this thing then!" Gripping the Versatile Weapon, I leap into the air and raise the Versatile Weapon up pointing the sharp point of the weapon down to the ck Cmity. "[Blood Weapon]!" My health rapidly decreased and I felt pain all over my body. However, I persevered and kept going even if it pains me a lot. As the ck Cmity opened its massive mouth, I also initiated one of the skills I have. I have only one use left of it and this is the time I will have to use it. "Let''s see which of you two are the symbol of Gluttony! [Devouring Hunger]!" The Versatile Weapon changed into a ck being and a massive mouth opened up as I closed into the ck Cmity. "DEVOUR IT WHOLE!" CHOMP! Chapter 909 Symbol Of Gluttony Landing on top of the ck Cmity, the Versatile Weapon''s Shadow Dragon firmly closes itsrge mouth to the neck of the ck Cmity. The ck Cmity seems to have felt the danger that it immediately started thrashing around just to get rid of me. But I held my ground firmly into the Versatile Weapon and let the Versatile Weapon do its job. While absorbing its stats to convert it as mine, the Versatile Weapon''s passive started to activate as well, allowing me to perform a Lifesteal and slowly heal my HP. I lost a lot of my HP and only have 1 HP remaining after activating [Blood Weapon] but thanks to the Lifesteal, I can recover it slowly while still focusing all of my all on bringing the ck Cmity down. The ck Cmity continues to thrash around, trying to shake me off. It''s not easy to keep holding to the Versatile Weapon but I keep on gripping the hilt as tight as I can. It didn''t take too long for the Shadow Dragon to finish its absorption. It tried to chomp off a little bit more to the ck Cmity but this time around, the ck Cmity is sessful at throwing us into the distance. "Ah crap, I wanna eat this b*stard, but hell... he is one tough cookie! Wielder, do your thing. Soften up this guy then I will devour him!" I didn''t respond just yet. The pain in my body barely left and I am still trying to recover even though all of the stats in my body have risen up as a temporary boost. It is still pretty painful now that I used it on my body and underestimated the pressure it can deal in just doing that. Rika and Zena immediately spring to action as I slowly recover my HP by drinking HP potions. Riko and Lucia also keep the ck Cmity busy as well by annoying it with range attacks. My skeletons are doing a good job of keeping the demonic dogs at bay and that is good enough. With the temporary stat boost, I stood up and ready my weapon. "Time for round 2, you little sh*t..." As soon as Rika and Zena saw me running towards the annoyed ck Cmity, the two also started running beside me. This is a tactic we developed when we were trying to deal with big monsters back in the Dark Sea and it works most of the time. Zena just recently learned it but based on how she is doing now, it seems she is adapting quite well. Riko and Lucia also saw our actions and they also understood what we were about to do and decided to continue firing their strongest spells one after another. It is something that they have to do to keep the boss from attacking us so early. And since it is now totally annoyed, it keeps on stopping all of its attacks and has failed to see us rapidly approaching. I looked at Zena and Rika and nodded to give the signal which the two immediately received. As the ck Cmity tried to swat off the fireball attacks that were hitting it, I immediately went to its front left paw which I noticed to be what the ck Cmity always uses. The moment the ck Cmity put down its front paw to the ground, I immediately sliced it in rapid, consecutive cuts. They might not be that deep but they definitely made the ck Cmity roar in pain. Adding the stronger weapon form and the enhanced stats of mine, the attack was too effective for the boss to like. While I was busy attacking its left paw, Rika went to its right paw which it doesn''t use much, lessening the danger of her current task. She immediately stabbed its right paw before activating the sword''s me and electricity and then charging it straight into the ck Cmity through the stab. The ck Cmity didn''t notice the attack that happened when it was stabbed but the moment the electricity and mes started to run wild, it immediately roared in pain and raised both of its paws up into the air to get rid of both of us at the same time. That''s when Zena decided to move. Using her momentum, she charged forward and then leaps towards the ck Cmity charging up her punch for a stronger punch. Just when the ck Cmity is about to go back down, that''s when Zena transforms her entire arm that is about to punch into her beast form to add more power to her punch. "GRAAAAAAHHHHH!" Unleashing her inner beast, Zena punches the ck Cmity and sends it flying to the nearby wall. It''s not really a sessful attack, but it did send the monster packing and injured. Seeing that it is now staggered, I didn''t waste my time and rush forward. Now that the ck Cmity is staggered, I have to attack. "Shadow Dragon, you want to eat this guy right? Then how about slowly nibbling through this guy and devouring it piece by piece while I am attacking? Not only will you get to eat this guy but it will alsost long enough for you to keep on eating it." The shadow dragon frowned but it didn''t reject my idea. "Although I like to eat them whole, if this going to make this b*stard a lot softer and easier to swallow, then I will notin in this method." Knowing the Shadow Dragon would now assist me, I took advantage of the staggered boss and attacked it relentlessly on its abdomen. While I am doing that, every swing of the Versatile Weapon, the Shadow Dragon gives the ck Cmity a bite and devours a small portion of the boss slowly and opens big wounds from it. The ck Cmity noticed this and tried to stop me from doing so but I swung my sword once more to the paws that I sliced before. It wasn''t that injured but it is shown to have a few slice marks on it. If I tried my hardest, I could cut off its left paw entirely but since I am just doing my best way to keep the boss from using its paws properly, I couldn''t easily deal with it. However, the Shadow Dragon has already decided to deal with that matter. One of my swingsnded on its paw and before I knew it, the left paw disappeared all of a sudden. It was so quick that the blood of the ck Cmity was also dyed after the disappearance of its paw. But when it did, blood spurted out of the ck Cmity, and the Shadow Dragonughed like a maniac. "HAHAHAHAHA! Damn, that was a good piece! Too bad I already swallowed it, but this is indeed a lot more fun than I thought." I didn''t stop my attack and stab its abdomen with the Versatile Weapon and the Shadow dragon bites into the flesh and cuts off arge portion of its flesh as a result. The ck Cmity is helpless as its body parts are slowly disappearing as the Shadow Dragon devours its body piece by piece. Seeing that it is now unable to stop the Shadow Dragon, the ck Cmity opened up its mouth and the demonic dogs that were attacking the skeletons I control are being absorbed by the ck Cmity, devouring them all without any restraints. "Looks like it is trying to heal itself by using its authority to heal every time it devours. Wielder, don''t let this b*stard do anything unfunny. Now that it is on itsst legs, and you are on your final minute of a burst of power, take advantage of all of that. We will perform a big finale to put this guy to a stop. I grip the hilt of the Versatile Weapon before I charge forward to the devouring ck Cmity. There is only one way to bring this monster down before it does itsplete reversal and recovery. If it tries to be the embodiment of Gluttony, then we will devour it all. "[DEVOUR]!" The Shadow Dragon appeared and turned a lot bigger, big enough to contain all of the ck Cmity into its mouth, and before the ck Cmity could even react, a huge void of endless pit appeared before it, howling before it was fully devoured by the Shadow Dragon. CHOMP! Thergemouth fell onto the ground as the figure of the ck Cmity disappeared and the Shadow Dragon slowly chewed its food before gulping it down in one go. The demonic dogs that are being swallowed also fall from the air andnd on the ground. The skeletons tried to attack the monsters that fell but before they could do so, the demonic dogs fell and died before they turned into a mist of smoke and mixed into the air, disappearing like dust. I sighed in relief and fell to the ground as everything came back to bite me. All of the fatigue that umted during thebat decided to rush into my body and now I am totally exhausted. The Shadow Dragon also went silent as well, which might be due to its newly devoured monster. My bet is that it is now in slumber once more as it tries to digest what it has eaten. But now that it''s over, I think its for me to take a good nap. Chapter 910 Remnant of Calamity

Chapter 910 Remnant of Cmity

Manato has copsed, the skeletons have disappeared and everyone else is exhausted to the point that everyone can no longer fight. It''s also a rare chance that Lucia and the wolves are the only Followers that Manato has at the moment since As and the others are currently in the mansion. As is helping Manato''s father, Gobu is currently with his family and spending family time with his wife and kids, Lina helping out with Manato''s mother in the kitchen, and Cotton and Tina currently training to enhance their mastery of magic spells that they can use, and both Manato''s pets are currently staying in the care of Pandora who is also training her two pet snakes to be as docile and obedient as Manato''s pets so its pretty natural that he didn''t have the chance to even ask for their help. The wolves are assigned to the vige to defend it in case things get bad while they are out and they act as insurance, leaving only Lucia as abatant that Manato can ask for help. "Now that we are done, I didn''t expect to feel a little light-headed and pained in the head. Is this perhaps the side effect of being bitten?" Riko asked as she slumped to the ground while holding her head. "Are you in great pain right now?" Rika asked, trying to assess if Riko was in danger. "I don''t know. My head hurts a bit plus I feel my body is also in pain, I can''t tell whether that mark from before is still affecting me." Lucia then approached them and shook her head as she carried Manato to the side andy him down. "You are safe, Riko-san. You shouldn''t be worried about your headache since it seems like it is just due to fatigue that you are feeling that way. I don''t sense any of that monster''s residual power left on you." Riko''s eyes thennded on Lucia''s missing arm. "But what about you Lucia? Are you alright? Your whole arm has been cut off, are you okay now?" "Haha, no need to worry about me. I am a demon and I have a much stronger physique than humans. Besides, I still have my arm and it does not affect me too much in my movements aside from I have fewer hands but it''s fine really." "Perhaps Almira can help with making a new arm for you. If she can make legs for the mansion, then there is also a chance that she can make a prosthetic arm for you." Lucia only smiled but she didn''t say anything else. "How about Manato? Is he fine? He copsed after his sword devoured the boss," Riko turned to look at Manato who was unconscious. "He is fine. I checked and he was still breathing. He just copsed from exhaustion or perhaps due to the bacsh from devouring a boss. You know how he is quite connected to his weapon. Perhaps it is a consequence for devouring such a monster," Rika guessed. "We should go back to the vige and ask Ragga-san to allow us to rest there for a while. I don''t think we can let everyone get tired for long." Zena who was also on standby helped out by carrying Manato on her back while the rest was going to move out of there when Lucia felt something. "Wait... there''s something else out here!" Lucia puts up her guard and readies herself for any potential enemies. "What''s going on Lucia?" Everyone else is also on guard. "I felt the presence of the boss just now!" Lucia looked around but couldn''t see anything that was suspicious. "What? Are you sure about it, Lucia?!" Rika asked. "I am not mistaking it. It''s definitely the power of that monster before. It''s a bit faint but since I am sensitive to demonic powers, even if this is pretty much too light and undetectable in normal circumstances, this is not something that would escape my sights." Lucia returns to the area and readies herself. The others were also about to follow but Lucia stopped them. "Stand back girls, I don''t know what is happening and why I detected that aura but I can''t afford you all to fall in trouble. Be ready to run if things go wrong." "No way we will leave you behind, Lucia!" Riko adamantly dered. "What she said. Don''t just do this alone, despite being tired, we are still capable of fighting. If that monster is still alive even after Manato had it devoured, then we have to solve this problem ourselves. While they were discussing things, a ck mass of aura appeared, crawling on the ground. Lucia immediately noticed it and she didn''t hesitate and fired some mes to the remnant. But she underestimated it and thought it wouldn''t move fast. She was wrong. The moment she fired fireballs at the remnant, it started jumping around, like some sort of slime that is very agile. It jumped around a few times and Lucia continued to fire on it. The others also came along and saw what was Lucia shooting. Before they could help out and shoot, the remnant leaped into the air, straight to Lucia. Lucia wasn''t expecting it and tried to block it with her body but before she could even block it, the ck mass of aura and some sort of flesh suddenly gripped her remaining arm and tried to attach itself to her arm. "Lucia!" Riko and Rika immediately helped out to remove the thing. Even Zena decided to put down Manato to also help out but when they tried to touch it, a piercing hot sensation traveled to their arms and they screamed in pain as the pain totally stung even them. Zena is now hesitant to touch it as well but when she decided to touch it, Lucia stopped her. "N-NO! D- DON''T TOUCH IT! GAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Lucia screamed in pain as the remnant slowly settled to her arm and seemingly attached itself to her. Lucia continues to scream even after the remnant has settled in her hands. Turns out, things are not yet done and it was just about to begin. Lucia bit her lower lip as she tried to silence herself and endure the pain while she grabbed the remnant in her hands. She could feel the pain in her other hand but she didn''t care and tried to pull it out of her hands. But the more she tried to pull, the more painful it got, and not only that but it is getting harder and harder to pull out as well. Zena was trying to help but Lucia just turned her away and tried her best to pull it out but after a while, she stopped as tears flowed down her eyes and blood already flowed on her lower lip as she kept on biting it to endure the pain. "Zena! Here, grab the potions in the bag! Pour them on Lucia since they are ssh potions!" Rika tossed a bag full of potions. Not hesitating at all, Zena grabbed the bag took the potion from the bag, and pulled out the cap. "Lucia-san, this might hurt a lot." Lucia didn''t respond but she clearly braced herself as she shuts her eyes. When the potionnded on her arm with the ck mass of matter, Lucia convulsed and her scream could no longer be endured as she screamed in pain. But a few secondster, Lucia copsed on the sand and she stopped screaming. As for the thing that attached to her arm, it stopped moving and it looked like an extension of Lucia''s severed arm with only the difference being it''s a pitch-ck thing with some ck wavy aura. "LUCIA!" Riko and Rika rush to Lucia who is unconscious as well and they look at Zena who then exins the things that happened. Although reluctant at first, Riko who was more adventurous than Rika tried to touch the ck mass on Lucia''s arm. She already braced herself but she was surprised when nothing happened and she didn''t feel the pain she thought would suddenlye. "Ah, I can now touch it..." Riko frowned and looked at it. "Wah? Wait, I am quite sure we were hurt touching it before..." Riko immediately snapped out of it. "Ah, this is enough, let''s go back to the vige and bring them back to safety. We don''t know what this thing is but we can''t remove it. Perhaps we can ask Ragga and the others about this matter. Let''s go back and let them rest in a proper bed." "Are you sure? This thing that is attached to Lucia might be the remnant of that monster earlier you know? What if it suddenly detached itself once we are in the camp and it will suddenly wreak havoc? Wouldn''t this be a problem?" "Don''t worry. If that really happens, we will just have to beat it up again. Right now, the safety of both Manato and Lucia is needed. Let''s go back." Chapter 911 It鈥檚 Turning Into An Arm

Chapter 911 It''s Turning Into An Arm

With extreme effort from everyone, they managed to return to the camp. The Desert wolves were waiting and when they saw their Master currently unconscious, they started to flock around them. Ragga and the others followed behind after seeing the wolves run towards them. "What happened?" Ragga frowned seeing the state of everyone, especially Lucia and Manato who were both unconscious. "We will exinter, are there still any spare beds avable in the clinic?" Riko asked. "There''s no avable bed for both of them, bute to my house, I have free beds there, please bring them there." The Desert Wolves barked a few times and Zena who could understand their words immediately nodded and handed them their master and Lucia. "Please lead the way," Rika nodded at Ragga and he led everyone to his house. Inside the house is a normal cabin made of wood that can shield anyone living inside the weather outside. It is pretty spacious and everything is organized. "Here put her there, while put him over there," Ragga pointed at two beds made of simple materials that can be found around their surroundings. It''s not as soft andfortable as the beds they usually use, but since it is made of wool from a sheep, the bed is still pretty smooth. "Alright, now that they are already secured, can you exin what happened? Why are they copsed? Why are you people so ragged and full of injuries?" "It''s a bit of a long story but would you like apressed one or should we tell everything?" "Tell me in detail. I want to hear everything. We have all the time today anyway. Let''s talk outside, let''s not disturb them." Everyone went back out and Ragga gave them their wooden chairs to sit on. "Here is the story..." Riko then began her story about the battle. She didn''t leave out every detail and during the time when she nked out, Rika and Zena were the ones who pitched in to narrate. The more the story progresses, the more Ragga''s face frowns. "So you mean, the so-called Symbol of Gluttony was actually a monster that wiped out the demons who attacked and it was also the cause of the appearances of the demonic dogs? No wonder their dead bodies disappeared all of a sudden and faded into white orbs. We still didn''t understand what happened but hearing what happened, I can take a guess on why it was gone already now that the monster is dead. But what do you mean by some remnant has now attached to that demon girl?" "Just like what we said. That thing is attached to her and we don''t have any means of removing it. We hope the healer or even someone can remove it from her severed arm." Ragga scratches his head. "Can you let me see it first? I needed to know whether we can remove it by force or we have to resort to doing mystics." Everyone returned to the room where Lucia was sleeping. Lucia remained calm and collected, still looking peaceful even after the pain that caused her to copse might still be in her arm, only she is not conscious due to her losing consciousness. Rika helped keep a slow movement on her arm and revealed it to Ragga who leaned in closer to inspect the substance. On closer inspection, the thing is color ck, pitch ck to be more urate. It''s a bit soft and looks like a ck slime. It is currently wriggling from time to time but there is no sign that it will detach from Lucia''s severed arm anytime soon. "Can I try pulling that thing off? Maybe it needed more grip and strength to do so?" Ragga asked. "Go ahead. We would be more than d if this thing is removed. I mean, it is from a demonic monster boss, we wouldn''t want anything from it unless we have confirmed to do the kill," Rika is more determined to remove the remnant than ever. "Indeed. I still can''t forgive that monster for almost turning me into a dinner meal. If I can at least take advantage of this small thing and beat it up, perhaps my frustration might disappear," Riko is also determined. On the other hand, Zena watches in the corner. She just wanted to see whether the process would be sessful or not. "Alright. You guys just said this might be hot to touch right? Let me grab a leather to wrap it on, then we try to pull it out." Ragga went out of the room and grabbed something from the outside, then returned with a piece of cloth that seemed to be processed leather. He wrapped it on the ck matter on Lucia''s severed arm with Rika assisting him and helping put the leather cloth. "Alright, support her arm so that I don''t identally injure her or wake her up. We just needed to remove this and not increase her injuries." "Alright, ready when you are good to go." "Okay, I will pull it in three...two...one... HUPPPP!" Ragga immediately tried pulling the stuff off Lucia''s arm. He is clearly using all of his strength as the veins in both hands and forehead are now appearing and he is also gritting his teeth as he pulls his best to remove the ck substance. But even after pulling so hard, it didn''t budge and the leather was pulled out instead. Nothing was changed and the ck matter continues to be attached to Lucia. "Damn, even with Ragga pulling it, it just doesn''t have any way to be pulled off?" Ragga wiped off the sweat on his forehead and tried to catch his breath. He shook his head as he looked at the remnant. "There''s no other way for us to even remove this thing by brute force. It seems we have to rely on mystics to remove it." "But do they have a chance to remove this when we can''t even do that?" Riko asked. "I am not familiar with the mystics but we still can only hope that is the case. If not, then this thing will have to remain here until it is removed. Unless you all would have to resort to a more violent way to remove it." "Violent way?" Rika looked curious. "Yep. Her arm has been severed right? Then, to remove this arm attachment, we will have to remove her arm up to the part where this thing has not upied for us to totally remove it." "What? No way. She already suffered losing her arm earlier and now we have to shorten her remaining arm once more just to remove it?" Riko is totally against it. "Although I am just listening from the sidelines, even I agree that it is excessive to do that just to remove this thing. It''s much better to find a better way than to hurt her more," Zena agreed to Riko''s words. "That''s why I said it is a violent way. However, that is indeed an option. We can''t keep it attached to her either way and if there is no chance to remove it her life will be in danger then we either cut that arm of hers a lot shorter, or we will have to prepare for the worst." Just as they continued to discuss, the ck remnant matter on Lucia''s arm started to move. Everyone saw it and everyone went on guard as the movement was not just some little twitch or a slight shake, it literally moving like it was alive. "Ready your weapons and spells, whatever happens, we have to stay calm," Rika said as she readied her de with mes already crackling on it. As the ck matter continued to move, everyone also felt nervous looking at it. After all, the monster it originates from can devour them if they are not careful. Then what will this thing do to them if they are not careful? Then, the thing slowly elongated. It moved and slowly increased in size, but not that big. It increased in length, in about an arm''s reach. It didn''t take long for the size to be simr to an arm itself. In fact, it is indeed turning into one. "Are you guys seeing what I am seeing? Am I having an illusion?" Riko asked. "Nope, I am seeing it too. What is going on? Why is it turning into an arm all of a sudden?" Everyone couldn''t believe their eyes. The ck matter that appeared earlier as a normal blob attached to Lucia''s severed arm is now turning into a hand. In fact, it slowly turns into an identical form that Lucia''s former arm looks like. "W-wait...is it bing Lucia''s prosthetics?!" A few minutes passed and when they looked at it again, it turned into a ck arm withplete hands and fingers, not just its elongated arm but it isplete in features. The Remnant of the Symbol of Gluttony has turned into an arm. Chapter 912 Devils Arm Chapter 912 Devil''s Arm The result of the attempts of both the girls and Ragga ended up fruitless. The thing attached to Lucia''s severed arm has turned into an arm instead. Although it does look identical to her previous hand, the only difference this time is that it is missing the bones and her porcin skin. It was now reced by a ck, metallic skin. Tough and hard that it looks like a prosthetic attached to her but to those who know, it is far from the truth. "Looks like we have to give up on physical removal. I will call our shaman and also the Elder to see this. If it is about mystics, perhaps they have some idea of how to remove this thing. In the meantime, please keep on watching for the changes in that arm. We can''t be too sure if that thing will act or not while the girl is still asleep. Don''t hesitate to cut it off if it bes hostile." The girls nodded and Ragga went out of the room to fetch the people he mentioned. "Do you guys think Lucia''s arm can still be removed? Riko asked Rika and Zena who were also watching the status of the "arm" that Lucia got. "Honestly, I doubt it. If physical means cannot remove this thing, then magic and anything rted to that whether it''s mystics or whatever, I don''t think it will be that easily removed. If we also are pretty sessful with the removal though, there is a chance that this thing wille back alive and perhaps, attach to others or attack other people. There are plenty of possibilities that will be possible to happen," Zena immediately answered. "Damn, so this is not going to be an easy task and you all think that it is best to leave it be?" Riko scratches her head. "Honestly, I kinda agree with Zena on this one. If we do seed, what is the percentage that this will move and attach to any of us? What if it instead turns back into the beast we fought? This isn''t going to be a simple matter indeed." Everyone turned to look at the arm once more and inspected it closely. Riko''s curiosity got the best of her and she started poking Lucia''s "arm". "Hey, what are you doing?!" Rika frowned seeing Riko messing up with Lucia''s new "arm" and poking it. "Just a little bit, I am just curious." Riko smiled and poked at it again. Zena looked at the "arm" and observed its movements. Despite Riko''s poking, it didn''t move at all. "...So? How is it in the feel?" Rika asked. "How does it feel?" Riko frowned, seemingly not understanding what Rika asked. "You know, how does it feel touching that thing?" "Ooh, you are also curious eh? Come on, touch it as well! I promise nothing will happen." Riko then pulled Rika''s arm and moved her forefinger to touch the skin of the "arm" of Lucia. "Eh? This is..." "Right? It''s pretty dull and I thought there was something that would happen but I guess it''s just not it?" Riko tilted her head. "Ah, seriously, I don''t know Riko. We shouldn''t mess with it anymore." Zena turned to look at Rika and asked, "Is it rough and hard?" Rika shook her head. "Yep. I thought I was touching a metal bar but I was wrong. It is hard and rough to the touch though." Then, while they were still talking, Ragga returned with two people in tow. Both of them are old women but one is a bit younger than the other as thetter is more of a grandma. The other one is a bit around the 50s but she is pretty. The girls even thought about how she would look like during her younger years. "Is this the girl you mentioned Ragga?" the older one asked. Based on her clothes, it seems she is the Elder. "Yes. Although she is a demon, she is not among the demons who fought us, in fact, she is the reason why we found out about the demons hiding among us. Without her, we might still be fooled by them." "I see. Well, since she helped us, then it is also our turn to help her now that she is in the big debacle. Anyways, where is the thing you called the "problem" on her?" the elder asked. "Look at her arm. That was the problem." The one who the girls think is the shaman approaches Lucia''s new "arm" and inspects it. She didn''t touch it immediately but she observed it first. "Oh, looks like we are dealing with a much more serious thing here." "Serious thing?" Ragga asked. "Although this is clearly not her arm, after sensing a bit with my ability, [Mystic Eye], I can make sure you that this is no longer something that we can even detach." "Eh? What do you mean?" Riko looked worried after hearing the shaman. "Whatever this thing is, it haspletely assimted on her severed arm. It is like putting paste on it and then attaching it to her body to "repair" her. However, this has been doing more intricate process. As we speak, this thing is currently attaching itself and remaking the bones and flesh that were lost to this arm. So in short, she will gain back her lost arm and hand this way." "Wait...ording to the girls'' testimony about this thing, it is not something that can be dealt with and is pretty dangerous. Should we just cut it off?" "Idiot. If we cut that thing off, she will bleed a lot and you might endanger her life. If that thing is indeed the dangerous remnant of the beast that killed the demons, then if we remove this thing from her hands, that thing might go on a rampage if it started to attack. If the guy who saved us is unconscious and the only ones in here are the ones who helped deal with it, we will still have a hard time now especially since they are also not in a tip-top shape to fight. Understand my thoughts here?" The Elder frowned. "UH..." Ragga was at a loss. "I suggest we postpone that or rather, just let her make the decision once she wakes up. We shouldn''t make the decisions that she should be doing instead, yeah?" The shaman then looked at the arm again. "Can you tell us why it has be an arm for her?" Riko asked the shaman. "I don''t have an idea. But I can guess that it finds the girl to be verypatible with itself and since she was there during the time and saw the missing hand of your friend, it decided to be one with you. In fact, this might be also one of the reasons that it is attached to her. "The reason?" Rika frowned. "This aura is clearly not as demonic as you guys describe a demon and even the patient herself, a demon has a different aura, she is not looking like a demon that would be capable of doing that. It''s like a malevolent being. Perhaps it was even evil though I doubt it." "So it is some kind of devilish arm now?" "Yeah. It''s now a devil''s arm. You guys better be careful and let her know as well. If my theory is correct, this will be her new arm from now on. I don''t know if she can control it though so you guys also needed to assist as well." "So we will be giving up on removing that arm then?" the elder asked. "Indeed. But first, you needed to tend to her wounds. She has wounds in her body and some needed some stitching. Please make sure she is safe after all the ruckus is done," the shaman suggested. "If that is the case, then we will have to move thing things around first" Riko nodded in response. "Yes. She is our friend. We will make sure that will be able to wake back up and we do not feel in danger all the time." After the discussion, the Elder approached Lucia and tended to her wounds which were not that serious and big enough that they could be healed by potions. It didn''t take her that long before she stopped tending to her. "Alright. She is now fully tended. She will be fine now," the elder told everyone and stood up. "When will she wake up?" Riko asked. "No idea when. But let her rest for a while. It will also help on her body as well. She badly needed it." After talking, the elder and the shaman left. Because they will not be removing the new arm anymore, they left it in ce instead. The girls also decided to have some rest as well. After all, it''s not a good thing to keep themselves working to the bone and letting themselves die from it. Besides, they also felt exhausted as well. They also deserve a good rest. Chapter 913 Glimpse of Someone鈥檚 Memories

Chapter 913 Glimpse of Someone''s Memories

While the girls are all troubled over Lucia''s new arm, Manato is thrown to a different ce. It wasn''t the same ce as he usually appeared during his dreams which was where he always ended up but in some kind of cave this time around. Not only that but he appears to be spectating over rather than be the one moving around. And he couldn''t move his body at all. Due to this, he is forced to just stay still and never move. "What is happening? I am quite sure that I copsed after fighting the ck Dog Barghest but for some reason, this dream feels too realistic." Manato has no idea what is happening and why he can''t move. He just remained there, staying still. The only thing he can deduce about where he was is that it is a dry cave that seems to be present somewhere in the mountains. It''s not the same caves they usually explore where it''s damp and slippery, this one seems more akin to a "hole" made in the mountain to act as a temporary shelter from the rain. It''s just that it is indeed a cave and has a bigger area deeper as well. It''s just that the ce he was in is currently a bigger "room" which seems to be some sort of nest. Also, he can also safely assume that it is some kind of creature that he is currently fusing with and uses its sight as what it currently sees. Right now, this creature is resting on some sort of nest and is always looking at the entrance for quite a while. It''s been a while and although this thing moves from time to time like eating and drinking water from a nearby pool in the cave, other than that, the little thing does not move away from the nest and just stares at the entrance nkly. But a few hourster, Manato was startled and was troubled to see a big ck dragon enter the cave. The cave has a big entrance so the dragon entered without problem. The thing that Manato is using to spectate seems to be excited as it raises its head and makes some kind of sound that he just heard. But seeing the dragon and the thing he was spectating from''s reaction, he can assume this was a baby dragon. The baby dragon is making some cute noises and is hopping around in front of the ck dragon. However, after a few moments, the ck dragon copsed on the cave''s floor. The baby dragon looked at its mother and tilted its head. While the baby dragon is wondering what is happening, Manato already knows what happened and why the dragon copsed. "There is blood. Missing horns, too many wounds on its body especially around the neck and face. Some of its scales are evening off. This dragon is definitely in itsst line. Though this dragon has too many severe wounds and based on their wounds, they don''t seem toe from weapons at all..." The baby dragon snuggled to the ck dragon and it seemed the ck dragon acknowledged the presence of her child. It also snuggled to the baby dragon weakly as well. Manato can still hear it breathing but after a while, it stopped. He can only shake his head and close his eyes. The dragon is now dead and although he felt sad about it since he saw it in the eyes of the baby dragon, the baby dragon is totally oblivious about it. Thissted a few days of the baby dragon sleeping and ying around the dead body of its mother, totally oblivious to its mother''s death. It even left some food to it from time to time but since the ck dragon will no longer move, it cannot eat at all. But then, another surprise appeared. He wasn''t expecting it in the slightest and it came out as a big surprise for him. "So this is where it wasing from... the aura of someone''s death..." The baby dragon perked up its head and looked at the source of the voice. Based on what Manato heard, it''s from a girl''s voice. It sounded so mellow and yet he felt like he heard the voice from before. The baby dragon walked to the source of the voice and tried to climb up from its mother when all of a sudden, the mother dragon turned to ash, disappeared, and turned into sparkling sand that was slowly blown into the wind. Seeing this, the baby dragon was stunned and looked around the cave, trying to find its mother. It''s a sad scene and even though it is normal for Manato to kill monsters left and right especially dragons, he learns to appreciate the life of these monsters as well and after he befriended one, he has to ask for a conversation with them first before fighting against them to see whether they are good or bad. Now this scene just made him a lot sadder. "The offspring of the Mother?" the familiar voice sounded once again and although Manato wanted to look at the source of the voice to confirm his suspicion, the dragon was too busy trying to find its mother, squeaking with some cute voice. "I am sorry, but the truth is, your mother is no longer here." Although the baby dragon did not understand what the voice was saying, it turned around and looked at the girl speaking to it. Manato''s suspicion of the identity of the girl''s voice was immediately confirmed. The girl speaking was none other than the girl in his dreams in the ce with the Ygdrassil. But her features were different and her clothes were also different as well. Compared to her teenage looks in the dream, here, she is more of a young adult woman in her 20s. The girl in his dreams has white hair and wears a white kimono but here, she has very long ck hair that reaches her waist and she wears a ck kimono with a floral pattern on it. Despite those inconsistencies, Manato can easily confirm that she and the one in the dreams that he met are the same person. After spending much time talking to that girl in his dreams, he already memorized the slightest movements she does and those slight habits and movements are present in this girl as well. The baby dragon started growling, making itself aggressive toward the girl but the girl smiled and only held her hand. This startled the baby dragon at first but it soon recovered and slowly approached her. Then it started rubbing its head on her hand. As for Manato, he saw the sad look on her face and he also heard her slight whisper, "I am sorry for using the scent of your Mother". After that, the girl picked up the baby dragon and hugged her. The baby dragon looked at the young girl and she smiled at it. "Although your Mother is gone, I will raise you as mypanion from now on. It''s not your fault that your mother is gone, and your mother would like you to survive. As one of the two goddesses and the one responsible for sending your mother to its eternal rest peacefully, I will raise you as a dragon that will be proud to protect the people and the world from danger." Manato didn''t expect the reveal and was shocked. The girl currently holding the baby dragon and the person that he was talking with in his dreams and saved him from the memory wipe was actually the Goddess of Death herself. This is a big shock for Manato as he didn''t connect the Goddess of Death and the girl in the kimono as the same person. Then, some kind of fast-forward things happened. Although Manato seems to see a sh-forward scene before him, he sees a lot of the important events that seem to be unforgettable for the dragon and are shared in his eyes as well. Everything else moved at a fast-forward pace. When the fast-forward stops, the dragon is now an adult. He slowly understands the role of the dragon now to the Goddess of Death. This dragon is the one they called thepanion of the Goddess of Death that disappeared alongside the goddess herself. Not many records of this dragon have appeared in the history books that Manato had read before due to most of the records left that tell the truth about the story are either destroyed or just not present at all. Most of the records were all the achievements and all of the things the Goddess of Life does along with her war against the Goddess of Death. Right now, he is seeing the Goddess of Death leaning in a big tree. The dragon safeguarded the tree and the goddess, it wrapped itself around the surroundings of the tree and remained in a vignt mode. Now, it is waiting. Chapter 914 The Primordial War in Another鈥檚 Eyes

Chapter 914 The Primordial War in Another''s Eyes

Manato sat there, watching everything unfold. Everything to the point where they arrived at the familiar tree and the dragon awaits. Everything happened so fast that he didn''t expect things to end that way. It was like he watched a movie, and then everything went to a dark ending. Also, seeing the Goddess of Death lie down weakly on the tree made him feel the urge to protect her. Although Manato did not know her personally and only learned and experienced her actions via the eyes of the baby dragon which has grown to be a majestic ck dragon, he can still feel that the Goddess of Death doesn''t deserve all of the hatred she rued. Yes, she handles the deaths of people all over the world and she takes their souls to their final ground, but isn''t that much better than letting their souls wander in the world without getting the peace they deserve? Not even the Goddess of Life can solve that and in fact, the way the Goddess of Life just gives life willy-nilly and ignores the pleas of the people is somewhat troublesome. Now, the dragon is once again waiting. Although Manato has no idea why it was waiting while guarding the Goddess of Death, it remained steadfast and stationary, keeping the Goddess of Death away from harm. And the dragon waited for hours. Nights and days passed by and Manato lost count of it. Despite that, the dragon is capable of protecting the Goddess and even gives her some food to eat from time to time. Manato thought things would stay like that for long but it changed when someone came along. A hooded man pulling a cart full of tools that Manato immediately recognized as tools for weapon smithing. Due to the size of the dragon, he cannot really see much on the face of the man who arrived but it seems that he was the one that the dragon and the Goddess of Death were waiting for as the dragon was totally on guard earlier has lowered it and revealed the Goddess of Death, lying weakly. "My Goddess, it seems that the inevitable war that the Goddess of Life waged against you cannot be stopped. Your followers have stalled you enough time to retreat and find you a way to safely escape," the hooded man spoke with a hoarse voice. Low enough but understandable. Hearing his words allowed Manato to know that the current timeline is during the climax of the Primordial War. "No... just escape. Don''t bother to provoke the Goddess of Life anymore. There is no point in losing your life to a goddess like me who only governs the authority of the dead," the Goddess of Death weakly coughed. "I didn''t know you suffered too much from the surprise attack the Goddess of Life did to you. But thanks to your immediate action, the Goddess of Life is also injured and has retreated to treat her wounds. But due to that, everything is now in chaos and all the followers of the Goddess of Life are now trying to hunt you and your followers down." "Don''t battle them any longer. There is no point in denying this battle. It is a battle they want, then they will have to receive the battle as well." The Goddess of Death did not respond and only looked at the Hooded Man quietly. "My Goddess. As your loyal knight, the sole reason why I exist is to protect you and your legacy. You might be retreating to a world where no one will reach you except only you, but we will have to remain here so that you will not be forgotten. The Goddess of Life might have given us breath and life to move, but she isn''t someone who can dictate what we will do and what we should do. We are free people and her rule is constraining and only shackles us to her own set of rules. She does not understand the concept of your power and why it is important." "I am but a goddess who only relieves the pain of those who are suffering and dying to reach their final resting ce. I am just a minor goddess andparing myself to my sister is something she wouldn''t even like to hear." "Ha, I can''t believe that you and the Goddess of Life are both sisters. You two are nothing alike." The Goddess of Death chuckled. "But it''s time, my goddess. You might be departing from the world of mortals but we, your followers will always remember you. Please remember us once we are gone." "You guys might die someday, but you will not be gone and forgotten. You all will just arrive at your final destination and your eternal rest. Live your life to the fullest." The hooded man nodded pulled something in his cart and revealed a box. The same box that she was carrying when I saw her in my dreams. The moment she held the box in her hands, her ck kimono turned white and her hair also turned white, erasing the traces of ck in her clothes and hair. "Farewell, my Goddess. I hope I get the chance to serve you again." The Goddess of Death smiled as she slowly faded into existence. Whatever that box was, it is the reason she has now disappeared from the mortal realm. When the goddess disappeared, the dragon lying still and waiting for everything roared. "Looks like you are itching for a little fight buddy, but honestly, I am the same. Let''s show those bastards that messing with us was not a good idea. Let the Goddess of Life know that we are not her machines and that she can just create andmand as she pleases. We are the followers of the Goddess of Death and we will protect her legacy." After that, everything begins to fast forward once more. It''s fast but it stops in some important scenes and based on the scenes that I have seen, the battle has been brutal and dangerous. This is not just some random war, this is a war between people who refuse to yield. The Dragon became a menace and became the symbol for the people who believed in the Goddess of Death and the battlested for several years. However, despite all the wins that the faction of the Goddess of Death did, the Goddess of Life became stronger than ever and the faction of the former slowly and steadily declined. The hooded man is now old and his body is feeble. The dragon is also getting weaker as well. It has lots of injuries that it rued and it even lost some ws as well. "It seems we are on ourst legs, aren''t we, my friend?" the hooded guy chuckled as he leaned to the body of the dragon. The dragon responded with a light growl which made the guy chuckle. "I don''t know why you keep on growling when you can clearly speak the humannguage. Perhaps to ensure that you won''t stray to yourself that you are a dragon and not a human?" The dragon looked at him and shook its head. And to my surprise, the dragon spoke. A voice that I wasn''t even expecting to hear. "No. I just refused to speak the humannguage as it doesn''t suit me to talk like that for long. I prefer my usual mannerisms as a dragon to do the talking." "Haha, can''t believe it, you really are quite something. However, what are we going to do? Are we just going to end our crusade now? Everything is now on its final preparations, what are you gonna do?" "I will fulfill what role was given to me. Now that it hase to this, then I will have to do this." The hooded old man chuckled. "I see. Who would have thought you would soon agree to fuse with a weapon, huh?" "This is my fate and my obligation to fulfill. I have no regrets." "But are you sure about dividing yourself into multiple parts? Shouldn''t you be made in a whole weapon instead of being used in multiple weapons?" "This is a way for me to evade the eyes of the Goddess of Life. One day, I will be whole again and I can deliver all of the promises that I failed to deliver to the Goddess of Death one day." The old man sighed and nodded. "Alright, it''s time to forge the weapon that will end this long war. I will exhaust all of my remaining life force to activate my Forge and release the weapons in different directions. Your wielder wille and one day, you will be returning to a single entity again. Now, fall asleep, my friend. Your journey will be long and hard, and you will have to wait for a very long time until then. May we meet again, farewell." And soon, the sound of the hammer can be heard and I soon lost the sight that allows me to spectate the things. Chapter 915 Waking in a Long Dream 915 Waking in a Long Dream My eyes slowly adapted and soon, only the surroundings were filled with light and nothing else. But this time around, I can now feel my body and I can move againpared to before when I am forced to watch inside the dragon''s body. "I am able to move again but where is this ce?" I murmured to myself as I tried to walk around. "You are in my consciousness, wielder." I looked around and saw the ck dragon that I possessed just now. It is as big as I thought it would be and seeing the dragon in person is just something. And the fact that it is calling me a wielder nails the confirmation of my assumption earlier. "Looks like you are the pet dragon of the Goddess of Death." "I see. So you managed to peek into my memories and saw what I experienced? Well, it''s toote to deny so I will only say that it is indeed a yes. I am the one who they called the ck Dragon that ruined the world during the war. But since I have been with you for how long, I already know that my existence has also been erased after the war. I am not even surprised knowing how the people who allied with the Goddess of Life used their position to manipte history and paint the people who believe in the Goddess of Death the traitors who abandoned humanity. Can''t believe they try to use that to us who are merely defending their antics from their goddess who caused all of this." "So you didn''t end up seeing the end of the Primordial War?" "Nope. I bet you saw thest moments before my death, yeah? My consciousness has been divided into Seven Parts. After the division of my body into several pieces, you can say all I have left is my ability to devour and absorb. Even my whole body wasn''t that solid back then and that''s why you are calling me the Shadow Dragon as well." Indeed. In the beginning. The Shadow Dragon is basically just a ck shadow so greedy in devouring things. I didn''t expect that was the main reason why the Shadow Dragon was being like that at first. The only time he changed drastically in both body and mannerisms was during the first time I let the Versatile Weapon devour a Seven Deadly Sin weapon, the Weapon of Pride. That''s when it hit me. "Does that mean all seven deadly sins weapon series were all the seven weapons that were scattered around?" "I don''t know what it was called but whatever weapons you have been feeding me that slowlypleting me are indeed the weapons I need to beplete again and my abilities will slowly return as well. Based on what I receive every time I devour those kinds of weapons, it seems those seven were my main abilities back when I was still a dragon, and they just manifested into the weapon. No one who is tough in their minds canpletely wield those weapons unless they are totallypatible or if they have been absorbed by myself which is why you can freely wield them as you please." "Does that mean you will leave the Versatile Weapon once you devoured all seven weapons?" I asked. "No. My body has disappeared and I have be material in this weapon now. Even if I devoured all of them, I wouldn''t manifest again as a dragon once more. The only time I can physically manifest is during the time you allowed me to fight during battles and during times you want me to eat something. Other than that, I don''t have any means to move around anymore. My soul is bound in this weapon forever." "Isn''t that pretty sad? Being dead but remaining conscious and remaining alive in a sword?" "Nope. If I lived as a dragon, I might be as well as an immortal as well. If not for the sacrifice I made, I would be still alive and well today as long as I don''t fight against enemies, especially on that goddess herself." "You mean the goddess of life?" "Yes. If not for her, then the peace in this world would remain and the bnce and evil in this world wouldn''t be too prevalent. Now, I don''t think that is the main case. This world has be more dangerous as time goes on. Even the demons that worship the Goddess of Death before have be mindless evil that seems to be dancing from the palm of the Goddess of Life." "What about the guy? The one who helped to forge the Versatile Weapon and the seven deadly sins weapons?" "He said before that he will have to use his life to fuel the forge and build the weapons right? Then that means that guy has already died. He used his soul to power up that forge that holds the will of the Elder Gods to forge the weapons and allow them to materialize as something out of this world." "Elder Gods... I first heard it in your memories but I don''t think I know any info on them. Is there anything you can tell me about it?" "Even I don''t have any idea who they are. However, ording to my knowledge, they are the ones who created the world and the ones who created both the Goddess of Life and Death. In short, they are the True Gods that have made this world, and only the goddesses flourished them. However, they don''t seem to interfere in the affairs of the world. They are just bystanders. Only during thatst time in my life that they decide to interfere and move to make the Versatile Weapon. It seems they found it pretty entertaining what we will have to do next." I grit my teeth hearing that. Even though they are the ones responsible for making the weapon that I keep on using, I still can''t believe that they would just remain as bystanders as one is hellbent on eliminating her sister while the other is currently hiding and is making sure that she won''t be seen. We are just the ythings of these gods. "But why did I see all of this? I may have fought too hard during the battle against the Barghest, but that doesn''t mean I have died right?" "Nope, you are still alive. You just synchronized with me which resulted in you receiving my memories. You can even say that you are my human incarnation now, hahaha!" I scratch my head hearing that. Even though I have basically lived through the whole life of the Shadow Dragon, it doesn''t mean I am basically the dragon himself. "Anyways, wielder. I think it is time for you to wake up. Leaving your consciousness for too long by staying here won''t be good for your body and also for me as well. Don''t worry, you can talk to me again. But for now, let''s get you back to your body. You need to wake up." "Will I forget everything that happened here?" "Unlike my Master who knows how to do that, I don''t have that ability. Even if you wish to forget about it, you can''t forget about it, understood? Now, go back." And before I can say anything, I was pulled by a sudden great force that eventually sucked me in. Then, everything went ck. ... ... ... ... I slowly opened my eyes. I don''t know how long I was out but I felt like a few years have passed since then. Must be the side-effects of watching the memories of the dragon and simting him during the process. I can''t even say I don''t feel old now. Everything felt so different as well. But my body remains the same. I guess only my consciousness has advanced but my body remained the same. Once I got my stretches, I checked around the surroundings and realized that I seemed to be ced in a room. The bed is a bit primitive but it felt soft so it''s fine to sleep on. I checked the surroundings and soon realized why I felt so familiar with this ce. It was Ragga''s house that I investigated using my Shikigami. Who would have thought I would be back here but physically this time? It seems everything went all in control and all in my favor and we won." I have a few scars on my body after the battle as well but thankfully, they are not that big. It''s fine now. I grabbed all of my equipment and reequiped them all. Now that I am good to go, I have to go and look for everyone else. I can hear their voices next door. Perhaps they are currently there. As for the information I have obtained from the Memories of the Shadow Dragon, all of them are for me for now. Until then, those things will remain a secret between myself and the Shadow Dragon. The right time wille in the future. Chapter 916 Lucias Arm 916 Lucia''s Arm Fully equipped and ready to return, I peeked into the next room. The voices of the girls areing from there so there''s no way that they have returned to the mansion and left me here. There, I saw that everyone was discussing something while someone was on the bed. I couldn''t properly see who were the ones sitting and currently lying down due to the door not properly turning ajar for me to peek. Because of this, I gave up peeking and decided to go inside the room. I am quite sure it''s the girls and they aren''t changing clothes for me to be embarrassed to open it up. CREAK... The door slowly opened and everyone inside turned around to look at me. "Manato! You are awake!" Riko stood up and rushed towards my location. "Are you hurt? Is anywhere fine for you? I think you need more rest to recover a bit more..." "I am fine, Riko. By the way, how are you all, and how long was I passed out?" "Only a few hours passed by after your copse after we returned from the battle. It should bete afternoon now outside. We are fine, somewhat. Though we felt the pain from the battle. I can still feel the sting from the bite that I suffered before as well and I don''t think it will disappear soon." I looked at everyone and they are currently patched up after that battle. However, my surprise came to Lucia who is currently sleeping in bed, covered in a nket. I know Lucia lost an arm but did she suffer so much damage after the battle? Perhaps, but since I also copsed after the battle, I don''t have any idea what urred and why Lucia is full of injuries. "Is Lucia fine?" Rika who was currently sitting beside her bed scratched her head and looked at me again. "Manato, I don''t know what to say. Perhaps you can take a look at Lucia and maybe you can understand something about what was currently happening on her?" "What do you mean?" I frowned. "Take a look at this," Rika then proceeded to remove the nket covering Lucia and revealed that her body was fine. There is nothing wrong with her right now...except there is one thing changed and I immediately noticed it. "A prosthetic arm?" I frowned and examined the new ck metallic arm of Lucia. "I don''t think we can call it a prosthetic arm if it was made from a monster," Zena who was quiet since the time I entered said. "What do you mean?" "That arm is not made of metal. That was a remnant from a monster that you defeated and attached to Lucia at thest minute before our departure which resulted in her having that new arm now. Lucia has yet to wake up after the attachment of the new arm to her." I turned to look at the others and they both nodded. "That thing was from the remnant of the boss we fought and it was one of its remnants after you let your weapon devour the main body. It might have escaped your sight since you copsed after the battle so when the weapon has devoured the boss, it split something out to escape, allowing it to evacuate and use the severed arm of Lucia as a temporary ce to attach in." "I see, so it''s like a parasite. Can we remove this?" I asked and tried to pull it off, but it was not easy. "Nope. We tried a handful of tricks to no avail. When someone who has a bit of knowledge in mystics examined it, they said that it best to leave it alone for now and let the one who got it attached decide whether it would be removed or not since the only way to remove it is by cutting it off like how you did to her previous arm." "Cutting it off..." I immediately remembered when I had to cut off the arm of Lucia as a way to save her from the burn that was trying to destroy her. It''s brutal but it''s the only way and now, if we want to remove it, we will have to cut it off again. Even I don''t think that is the best solution to this one. I don''t want Lucia to suffer another pain once more. "I think I agree with the one who said those. She will have to decide whether to remove it or not. It''s not something I will have to choose as I have been the one to cut her previous arm before. Now, I don''t want to do that kind of thing again." "Pretty understandable. Even we gave up on doing that as well since Lucia already lost one arm, we couldn''t afford for her to experience that pain again of her own volition," Riko sighed. "But while we are at it, does this thing harm Lucia in any way?" I asked. I have to ensure that Lucia''s life is not in danger of leaving the remnant of the ck Cmity on Lucia''s body. "So far, we don''t see any signs but we have to be always careful. I am not familiar with this thing and I don''t want to be the one toote for the situation that we found out toote. We have to further examine this thing once she wakes up," Rika can only specte after the assessment of the guy and ryed it to me. I can only nod since even they have no idea. Looks like we will be doing the waiting game for a bit. I left the girls there and let them rest. After all, the battle from the ck Dog Barghest is something that we needed the deserved rest for. That thing would have killed us if I hadn''t used up all of my trump cards. It only strengthened the fact that we are still pitifully weak. I went out of the Ragga''s house and saw the Desert wolves resting outside. The kids are currently ying with some of them while the other desert wolves just watch over them as they remain there guarding the premises. It seems the battle was over and there''s no need to guard the demons. I also think Ragga has already finished the job that we were supposed to carry out before the attack. I didn''t want to disturb their rest so I returned inside and sat down on one of the chairs made of wood with intricate carving carefully crafted to make a good seat like this. I didn''t fully examine the ce back when I used the shikigami to scout this ce but seeing this ce up close is pretty different. You can feel it was like some kind of hunter cabin found somewhere around the woods. Despite being native, there are some books here and there on some shelves but most of the stuff here is made from the bones, pelts, and some monster parts that are obviously hunted by Ragga. It''s a typical, cozy house you want to rest in the middle of nowhere, enjoying your time with nature. Now that I have time to rx, I recalled every single info I learned about the Goddess of Death and also the Goddess of Life. Unlike what the books have stated it started due to the argument between the followers of both the Goddess of Death and Goddess of Life, the real truth was actually the Goddess of Life trying to find a way to kill the Goddess of Death and take her authority for her to be capable of dictating the people all over. Since the Goddess of Life couldn''t grant those who needed punishment or someone she wanted to die their deaths due to her being the being who breathed life into thend, she thought that if she had the authority over the dead that was controlled by the Goddess of Death as her power, she can then do what she was supposed to do. It''s kind of scary knowing that the Goddess of Life is someone who is totally fine at handling death despite the Goddess of Death wasn''t technically happy with that idea of hers. After all, the Goddess of Death only wanted to use her power to those who had already died or those who wanted to go to their final resting ce. As a result of the disagreement between the two, the Goddess of Life decided to use her own followers to order and destroy the followers of the Goddess of Death after she dered war and wounded the Goddess of Death by using someone to attack her as she couldn''t physically do it. She cannot kill someone who holds the authority of life so a follower will do just fine. But the n failed and the Goddess of Death managed to escape and retreated somewhere she couldn''t be essed into which was where I was visiting whenever I dreamed. As for the Goddess of Life, due to her hunt for her sister, the Primordial war begun, thrusting the world into chaos as a result. Chapter 917 Returning to the Mansion 917 Returning to the Mansion We decided to spend a day there for a good rest. Lucia didn''t wake up the next morning so we decided to bring her back to the Mansion. That way, we can ask Almira for the new prosthetic arm of Lucia. We can''t have to know whether it is safe for her to keep that arm for her. When we were about to leave, Ragga returned to us to see whether we were okay and if Lucia was awake. "You guys are leaving already?" Ragga asked as he saw us fixing the beds and carrying the unconscious Lucia. "Yeah. We don''t want to burden you by staying in your house any longer. And besides, we are still going to continue in our way and continue our little journey." "Oh no, it''s no trouble at all and I don''t see you guys as a bother. In fact, I am very grateful to all of you for solving a problem that should be our problem to face. I even have my daughter cause trouble for you and your group. If we had known that you lot would be the ones who would help us solve our problem and also ultimately discover the hidden secrets those enemies were hiding for us, all of our dead friends andpatriots would have never felt rested enough, to begin with. I can''t thank you all." "Haha, not all. You guys did nothing to cause more problems for us anyway. In fact, we should be grateful that we were able to meet up with you all. If not, we wouldn''t know the actions of the demons are quite rampant and their actions would have been devastating if it was fully realized." "Is that so? Well, I don''t truly realize the situation but if that is what you guys are doing then so be it, I will have to ensure those things don''t go under again in our noses. We lost many great people in the process and we would like to avoid incurring more losses in the future." "I am sure you guys will recover soon, you guys are resilient enough and I can trust you all that you will continue to strive for the best." "Yes. But are you guys really leaving so soon? We nned to have a party for the sessful job and the sess of vanquishing the invaders. You guys are the ones who ultimately solved it, maybe at least stay for quite a while?" Ragga tried to convince us. "Haha, thanks for the invitation but unfortunately, we will have to decline this matter. We still have other matters to attend to and our captain there would be scolding us for leaving without a word for a few days. You guys should party and celebrate instead. You guys did great," I looked at mypanions and all of them agreed with my decision thankfully. "That''s unfortunate. But I can understand. You guys are going to chase clues about the works of the demons yeah? I can see that and I must say, you guys will have a long work due to you all." "Yep. Good luck and have fun with the celebrationter. We will be leaving. Hope you guys will be safe." "Yeah. Thanks for the unexpected help, everyone. Hope we will meet you all again in the future." We all nodded before we all spread out our wings and flew away from the camp. Zena who cannot fly carried Lucia behind her back and used her agility to jump away from the camp without even alerting the camp guards. As for us, we left flying while leading Zena in the process so that she wouldn''t get lost as well. It was still early in the morning so only a few people had seen us fly away at that time but someone seemed to have seen us have decided to craft a story about us and our heroic exploits that eventually saved their lives and the camp. He then used it as a way to inspire the hearts of the kids to be protectors of their vige soon enough but that will be another entire story. In the meantime, we have returned to the mansion. Almira was indeed pretty furious when we arrived. She clearly wasn''t happy that we left without updating our status for a few days and I admit that it''s our fault. "You little sh*theads. You guys only mentioned you all will be gone for just a day out but it''s been three days already. You guys aren''t even updating on us and everyone is also worried something might have happened to you all," Almira is totally angry. She puffed off smoke from her cigarette while she was ring at us. "Although it''s fun to have an adventure once in a while, don''t forget that we are here as well, waiting for some news. I felt nervous when you guys didn''t return yesterday and we didn''t receive any single news from you all, especially from you, Manato," My mother stood beside Almira and was also staring daggers at me. I can feel the intense gaze and I don''t think I like to remain under that intense gaze for long. "We are sorry about everything, Master, Mother. Just some unexpected things happened and we have been forced to remain for a while to recuperate. In fact, one of us has yet to recover. Don''t worry, we will ry all of what happened during those days." "You better be. Get inside. We will thoroughly treat your wounds." Thankfully, Almira and Mother did not really press on the matter. Perhaps due to the injuries we have, we are currently under that mercy for now. Riko and Rika both followed Zena who carried the unconscious Lucia to her own room andy her down. Almira and Mother came in. Lina and Tina alongside Cotton also entered the room after they saw Lucia was unconscious. "Now, care to exin why she was unconscious when you guys arrived?" Almira looked at us sternly. "Allow me to retell the story then," Rika volunteered. "Go on," Almira nodded. Rika started to retell the situation we were caught in starting when we departed from the mansion and about the oracle. She didn''t stop talking about the situation we got in and what were our suspicions. She also told us the n we did that seeded and allowed us to learn about the actions of the demons. She didn''t omit the battle against the ck Dog Barghest and the situation about Lucia''s arm. Everyone was shocked after learning that Lucia was now missing one arm and the current arm she had was not her real one. Rika also told me the events that happened after I copsed as well and I got to fully listen to what totally happened after the events even though I felt a bit annoyed that something escaped. But what could I have done if I was unconscious? It''s not like we can do anything for that either. After an hour of retelling what happened, Almira leaned on her chair and frowned. "I didn''t expect to learn about the ck Dog Barghest here and I mustmend you all as you have even bested it in the process even after it became the ck cmity." "You know the ck Cmity, Master?" I asked. "You bet I do. I fought it once." "Really? Howe you managed to survive the encounter? We barely even survived if not for Manato''s sword," Riko frowned. "Have you forgotten that even though I am a normal smithy, I still wield my weapons like normal and can fight head-to-head against enemies? The ck Dog Barghest wasn''t that dangerous back then but it was still a tough enemy. And even then, we only managed to keep it on a tie as the f*cker escaped before I could even fight it to its fullest. I was also quite wounded and was bitten by the same ability that bit you, Riko. Don''t think I didn''t experience the pain you felt when I was also in the same boat as you." "If that is the case, after the battle, this thing attached to Lucia''s arm then?" Tina inspected the arm and she could feel the demonic presence on it. She frowned and slowly backed away after. Even Cotton does not dare to get close either. Almira approached and checked the new arm of Lucia and frowned. "Indeed. The aura of that f*cking monster is indeed present in this new arm. To think the monster that I fought back then would end up as someone''s arm." "Do you think we should remove it?" Rika asked Almira for her opinion. Almira shakes her head. "Like what the oracle advised you all, it''s the decision of Lucia instead of ours. This is now going to be her new arm and no one knows what will be her decision. Removing the hand is feasible but we also have to ensure that this will not affect Lucia in the long term and if we tried to remove it. I would wait until Lucia is awake." After the exnation, I decided that everyone should also learn the real truth of the Primordial War. After all, there is a chance that the Goddess of Life is involved with the problem of the Tree of Life. "Guys...I have something to share..." Chapter 918 The Real Reasons 918 The Real Reasons "Something to share?" everyone looked at me with a curious expression. I then started retelling the new information I learned regarding the real tale of the Primordial War and how the situation might have been much worse than we expected. I also told them how the situation might be rted to us due to how the Goddess of Life seems to be on a hunt for something that can cure her and how the Goddess of Death seems to be hiding something from the former for safekeeping which caused her to disappear from the world. "That''s kind of an amazing coincidence that the one who got the pet dragon of the Goddess of Death was actually you. However, I do indeed recall that the books about the Goddess of Death were all revised and far from the truth but after hearing the story you told us, it seems that the people who believe in the Goddess of Life decided to wipe out the ws of their goddess so that the followers of the Goddess of Life remains strong while the Goddess of Death would be slowly weakening, it kinda makes senses now," Almira nodded as if she learned a valuable piece of info. "How so?" Mother asked. "You see, after the Primordial War, the Goddess of Life retreated to her holy sanctuary and was said to be recuperating her lost power after the battle and has nevere out ever since. If the book is what was telling the truth, it kind of doesn''t make sense since she should have won in the book and she emerged with aplete victory so even when she ran out of power, she could be fine showing off her win and celebrating but she immediately hides and ordered her followers to rewrite the history. Plus, since your weapon clearly exists, that also means that they intentionally erased the Dragon''s existence as well. And if she has indeed won the battle, that also means she should have the authority of the dead that the Goddess of Death holds right? She still doesn''t hold that ability which also means what you just said might be the hidden truth." Almira then turned to me and immediately dropped a theory that seemed more usible than ever. "You also mentioned the Elder Gods right? Since the two goddesses are both not the only gods, that means these Elder Gods made the whole world themselves which also means that some things are made without the influence of the two goddesses." "And that would be?" Riko tilted her head. "The tree of life and the Ygdrassil. Manato mentioned that the area that the Goddess of Death has retreated into has arge tree that she calls the Ygdrassil and based on my spection, this is the World Tree, the one that holds the worlds and alternate Worlds afloat and this might be also the main reason why we can cross this world and gain the ability to view system panels as well. We never questioned why we have panels like these but these are all natural things but now that I think about it, these might be due to the effect of the World Tree." Almira then snapped her fingers and a book appeared on her hand. "This book was given to me by the Elder Treant and ording to him, it was an old book he found back then and it was also one of the old relics in some ruins. He discovered it when he was exploring by using his human form and was able to study some of the concepts as well. It mentioned that the world''s power and vitality is noting from the Goddesses but from another source. That is also true of the power of authority that the goddesses both hold. Although it is a concept, they view it as a tree as it grows in the world and its roots spread all over, making the concept of a "World Tree" in the process. I might be wrong but it might be closer than I think it will be. Besides, it is a concept that most people tend to see as a sphemy to the Goddess of Life as they all think that she is the one who created everything but now that the presence of the Elder Gods is there, it only strengthens the World Tree concept." Although I didn''t tell Almira about the Ygdrassil''s role on Earth, Almira immediately connected it as 18:45 the World Tree itself is something of an amazing thing. She is capable of creating a spot-on theory on Although I didn''t tell Almira about the Ygdrassil''s role on Earth, Almira immediately connected it as the World Tree itself is something of an amazing thing. She is capable of creating a spot-on theory on the spot and knowing how smart she is, I kind of understand how she was so capable of connecting the dots. Perhaps the influence of the Elder Treant who helped her before might be the main case. Almira continued, "On the other hand, the Tree of Life is something that every person in this world has heard about and even some creatures seek from it. Its ability to make a miracle is something that even the goddesses seek out. One legend tells the Goddess of Life seeking out the Tree of Life and using its power to give her blessings to the world and remove the effects of the war after the Primordial War. The fact that she has to seek it out instead of directly using its power in one go means she didn''t create the Tree of Life nor she is the one supplying it for power. It only means that this tree was already here even before the beginning of times. Since the Tree of Life hasn''t shown itself for many years already and many have only gotten to see it due to its will, it only means there is a chance that the Goddess of Life is going to look for it to remove the injury she received after the battle from the Goddess of Death. But all of this is just going to be spection. Until then, it won''t be something we would immediately know." I didn''t expect Almira to even include the Tree of Life as well. And honestly, I didn''t know either that the Goddess of Life wasn''t even connected to the Tree of Life itself. That is something that I just learned today. "But is this info totally relevant to us?" Rika frowned. Almira shook her head. "Not yet. Not until the Goddess of Life butts in. Since we will be looking for the Tree of Life, there is a chance that she might be already using her influence around and gathering info about the Tree of Life. We have to be very careful about it especially since we have someone who has the weapon that might be relevant to the defeat of the Goddess of Life. Perhaps, this is also the weapon that might have caused her to retreat. If that is the case, there is a chance that we will have big troubles." "If that is the case, restoring its power is our only option then?" Mother took a nce at my weapon. "Yes. Since the Seven Deadly Sins series weapons will be the weapons he needs to restore himself, the stronger he bes, the more powerful and effective he is if we ever get to have a fight against the Goddess. This means our next stop is to get into the Land of the Elves as soon as possible. Renatta and the others would be delighted to return to their homnd soon enough as well if they ever n to return." But as we discussed, the three elves arrived and butts into the conversation. "We still don''t know yet if we even n to return to our camp after everything that we have experienced. We are free and are now out of our responsibilities that I prefer to travel around and do whatever we want than to be with the other elves and get our every action dictated," Renatta shook her head and looked at us. "So please don''t force us toe back over there if we ever wanted to stay with everyone." "Of course, we won''t do that. We are practically a big family here, and even with all the things that happened, if not for the three of you, we wouldn''t have discovered many things as well plus we wouldn''t even be starting this journey without everyone''s influence," Riko grinned. "Heh, d to hear that. Still, if we are going to the Land of the Elves, we will be grateful to be your tour guide to the ce. After all, we lived there before all of the things that happened. Our knowledge and experience would be valuable in walking and talking with the local elves as well. We will ensure that we willplete our objective there without any trouble." Almira smiled and nodded. "That is reassuring to hear. Then, I think we already have our next destination ready. Next stop, to the Land of the Elves. Until then, everyone should rx and have a good rest." Chapter 919 To the Land of the Elves 919 To the Land of the Elves It''s been 5 days since we have been tracking down the direction to the Land of the Elves. Almira has not gone there and she is just trying to use the remaining clues she has learned from her sources to reach the ce. The three elves are also there to help whenever we are about to lose our way but other than that, the journey is smooth so far. The mansion rests for a single day before we start moving again. During those times, we go to the Dark Sea and hunt monsters there to increase our levels and to also gather items we will need. So far, everyone has reached the max level currently avable in the "game" but since we have already been freed from that, the Max Level cap has been lifted. So far, no one from us knows what the max level is since during thest life I had, the max level was capped at level 500. I won''t be even surprised if the level will be beyond 1000. So far, the leveling beyond our previous level cap has been a bit harder to proceed, but we are not worried too much. Now that we are back to our former strength, all we have to do is to improve our weapons and our armor. After the incident of the ck Dog Barghest, our armor, and weapons are close to useless and are easily destroyed if not for me using all of the buffs I can get. Speaking of the ck Dog Barghest, Lucia is still unconscious, and the arm seems to be stable and has not moved at all. It was like Lucia had always had her arm and hands looking like that in the first ce. Thankfully, her breathing is stable and she is far from danger. That''s all we could ask for. I asked As if he knew anything about it before but he only shook his head saying this was the first time he had seen something like this happen. We continued to move and we were just rxing when the mansion stopped moving and rested. We looked around for a bit but we were just in the middle of the forest without any signs that we were actually there. I thought we would be just resting again but Almira and the elves went out from the mansion alongside everyone who was also wondering why we suddenly stopped. "Almira-san? What''s happening? Why did we stop? Are we going to make another pitstop again?" Sora asked. "Nope. Wait for a bit, you guys will see." Renatta, Alena, and Labo stood at the edge of thend that the mansion had and they started to perform some magic that I just saw. However, Akira and Sora seem to be familiar with it. "Ritual Magic?" Akira frowned. "You know what they were doing, Akira-kun?" Pandora asked. "Yes. You know that we did mercenary tasks before when we thought this was still a game, yeah? A few of our clients were druids and the way they use Ritual Magic is the same way the elves are doing right now. It''s just that their moves seem to be somewhat different, the way they do it in the beginning is just the same." The elves continued doing their ritual. They looked like they were dancing but with every move they made, they were inscribing runes in the air and honestly, those were quite mesmerizing to watch. But before we could enjoy what they were doing, they stopped and stood still watching in the sky. After a few seconds, I realized why they were staring, they had done something to allow us to see the real deal. CRACK CRACK CRACK! The sky and thend started to crack like a mirror and this caused the others to also go on defensive seeing the cracks. "Oy, calm down folks. Nothing bad is happening. We are just going into a new area that we couldn''t ess by normal means. Don''t panic," Almira said calmly while watching the situation unfold. The cracks continue to spread until... BOOM! All of the shards exploded and the illusion was broken and everyone finally understood why we stopped in the middle of nowhere. We didn''t actually stop in the middle of nowhere, we were just entering the hidden entrance to reach the Land of the Elves. [You have discovered an undiscovered area: Land of the Elves] The three elves areughing as they return to the group, clearly happy that they are back from where they were from. "I can''t believe the silly dance we always knew since childhood would actually do something good for us in the future," Labo chuckled. "Yeah. I always thought that was a silly ritual as well but that was actually something that I have memorized and is already ingrained in my mind for so long," Alena nodded in agreement with Labo. "Well, we shouldn''t make fun of it now, even though it is silly, the elders would be furious if they knew you guys were calling the ritual silly," Renatta shook her head and only sighed. "But you do agree it was silly, yeah?" Labo grinned. Renatta only smiled but she didn''t say anything. "So that is why it seemed like we have been circling around for some reason, this was the main reason why we seemed to be not moving around at all," Almira looked around our new surroundings that suddenly transformed. It was like we got transported from another world to another fantasy world again. "Yes. It''s one of the rituals used by the elves so that the intruders have no other way to find the ce and they can''t have any way to ess it. It is also the main reason why it is not easy for anyone to even locate the ce unless they got a guide to allow for passage or someone who knows how to break the illusion," Renatta exined. "Is the illusion totally broken? Do we need to fix it?" "No. The illusion is only broken to us as we have removed it from our senses but those who have not been under the effects of the dance would be lost in the illusion. We did remove the effects of the illusion to everyone who was in here. That includes the pets and followers of Manato and Pandora so no need to worry about it." "Wait, are you guys sure we are good to go here? I mean, we are basically "intruders" in thisnd of the elves," Riko points it out and she has indeed a valid point. "No worries. Since we vouched for you all, you guys don''t have to worry about entering this ce. Besides, even if they have something to say, they can''t chase us out without any sort of reason that is valid enough," Alena shook her head. "Well, I can see the top of the elders blowing off but I doubt they can do anything if we just go in. Besides, I doubt they have even improved at allpared to us who have improved both physically and mentally, plus in magic mastery as well." "It doesn''t matter what they think about. We should do our best to escort everyone properly. Don''t worry everyone, despite the views of the people in our vige, they can''t do anything to us even if they try so don''t worry about it," Renatta smiled. "Then, are we going to walk from here?" Almira asked. "No, it should be fine to continue on our journey using our mansion. And besides, there are some monsters that attack anything that is moving that is not them so be sure to be ready at all times alright?" Renatta reminded us. "Don''t worry. You know that we always go for the kill if there are enemies trying to threaten us, alright?" Almira nodded. "Alright, since that is the case, then I will be going back to the control room. Sit tight guys, we will move again into this new ce that we will be exploring. By the way, how far are we from the camp?" "A lot farther in. It''s very deep into the forest but we will know that we are approaching once we get into a nearby brook flowing by, that is a sign that we are almost there." "Then, you guys enjoy yourselves there, alright? But don''t forget to defend if those monsters attack. We can''t afford to have many broken stuff here. We have to be efficient in repairs," Almira reminded us. "Yes ma''am!" Who would have thought that in this timeline, I would be able to visit a ce that was only mentioned in quest lines and lore? One of the ces that yers considered as just part of the legends or perhaps totally hidden or there is some other way to find ess to it. No one knows what we will be happening soon, but sooner orter, I think a huge battle ising from the horizon, and we will be swept in to it again." Chapter 920 Welcome or Not Welcome? Chapter 920 Wee or Not Wee? THUD THUD THUD The peculiar sound of the mansion walking in the middle of the forest continues to move forward. Aside from its ability to walk, Almira stealthily added a new function into the mansion that allowed it to walk and phase through the trees without hitting them. It was a cool feature that we were shocked by when we just started phasing into the trees like nothing. "Of course, you guys didn''t notice it at first but I added it during the time you guys were busy helping the natives back then. I have thought long and hard about how to deal with trees blocking our path so I came up with this idea and it seems it is properly working. Now, we don''t have to worry about the trees crashing straight at us," Almira exined. "Does it have any limitation? Like can we phase through a rock or a wall?" "Nonsense. If we do, then we don''t have to go through forests like these to go through and just walk through the walls. Besides, how do you even breathe if we phase through a mountain rock? We would die in suffocation before we can even get out of those rocks in the process. Now get what I mean?" I see how it is. I didn''t bother to argue anymore with Almira as she knew better what to do. And we just decided to marvel at the Land of the Elves for the time being until we reach the destination... or at least we hope so. "Iing beast attacks! Get ready to fight!" The monsters started to pour and jump from the trees straight to the patch ofnd of our mansion. They also attack in groups so instead of having to rx, we have to fight them and get rid of them before they can destroy anything or harm everyone. "They are here!" Then, the monsters started to reveal themselves. They are simr to a monkey in form but they also look like they are yetis as they are full of coats of fur in their bodies. Aside from that, their faces looked like they were wearing a mask but as soon as I got close and made a closebat with one revealed that those masks were actually their actual faces and they only had eyes and big mouths in their faces, making them look weird and freaky to see. They are fast and agile in movement, making magic attacks useless as they can just jump and dodge them. However, their main weakness is that they don''t like to engage in closebat. So whenever we attacked after they dodged away, they couldn''t even fight back and they could be easily killed in the process. "Another batch iing!" And so, our entire afternoon was currently spent disposing of them. I thought the progress wouldn''t end but after a while, the monsters stopped their attacks and whenever they were about to attack, they stopped and would just remain in their trees and would just watch as we walked past them. "It seems the monsters are feeling the sense of fear seeing how many of theirrades are now dead and piled up. Guess it''s kind of useful that they are now no longer attacking in the process," Pandora sighed in relief as she sat down on the bench. "Yeah, I am pooped. Their attackssted until the afternoon. I want to rest now. My n to just appreciate the view of the area is now ruined with these monsters..." Riko shook her head and sat down on the grass. "What are we gonna do with the carcasses of these monsters?" Rika asked seeing the huge pile left in the battle''s wake. "Leave them there for now as a way to keep those monsters in the distance and let them see what will happen to them if they try another kind of stunt like earlier." Since the battle made everyone tired, I went inside to look for food and cook it for everyone but Mother and Lina were already doing their best and had already cooked quite a lot for us. "You want food for everyone? Don''t worry about that, we have food iing. Just prepare the table, will you? We will feast tonight. With all the meat in our storage, they would just go bad if we don''t use them and instead of wasting them, it is best we use them and eat them instead, yeah?" I nodded and immediately picked up the table that was currently leaning on the wall and set it up. Seeing me preparing the table, everyone has their moods increased significantly. After a while, Lina, Mother, and Gobu''s wife and children started bringing the food to the table outside. I was tasked to call everyone to eat and Almira stopped the mansion from walking for a bit as she could not miss the food. After she tasted the food my mother makes, she seemed to have be addicted to it and even if she is busy with her work, she is more easygoing and would stop her work if it is time to eat. "Let''s have a feast!" Everyone cheered for the food. Even the elves who are usually calm andposed do not even hold back and start eating their fill as well. Compared to their habits in the past, they havepletely changed for the better. As we continued to eat, I suddenly felt that we were currently being watched. I looked around the surroundings but I didn''t see anyone. "You noticed it as well, my apprentice?" Almira asked while she looked around as well, stopping her actions of shoving food in her mouth. "Yes. I don''t know what is going on but it seems we are being watched. It''s noting from the beasts that have been already watching us since the beginning. It''s another presence." "I can tell. It seems that our presence here is not wee here. I am quite sure they are using some cloaking items or magic to conceal themselves. I don''t think anyone else aside from us and the elves has already noticed their presence though." I turned to look at Renatta, Labo, and Alena and both of them were on high alert as well. They just didn''t say anything as no one seems to be alerted as well. "Do you think it was the elves currently watching us?" I asked. "Most likely yes. I don''t know how far we were from them but since they rule the forest, they are more capable of using the forest to their advantage against us. They don''t like outsiders much, which is why we have to always be careful about this matter with them. I know the elves we have here are helping us with protection but we also needed to ensure that we don''t just rely on them." still keeping their attention to the enemy who is currently watching us. I don''t know where the presence is but they are clearly not happy with our presence there. Still, they made no action and everyone continued to feast. The elves also let their guard down a bit while still keeping their attention to the enemy who is currently watching us. When the party was over, most of the people who finished eating returned inside the mansion to rest while those of us who could still do more things and did not want to rx remained outside. I thought the presence watching us would stop us but it seems they are not that aggressive. Guess they are just doing a surveince for now but I am also sure that is not thest time we will see them. ... ... ... Back in the forests, one cloaked elf appeared from the shadows as he entered the highest tree growing in the middle of the town where all elves live. His features are clearly very defined and he is what women consider to be the perfect-looking guy. His body is quite well-toned and he is like a model who decided to do some cosy. His long, blonde hair is so eye-catching that anyone on Earth might mistake him for a shampoo endorser or something due to his silky smooth hair. Landing on the balcony that is made on the tree, he knocked on the ss window three times before he bowed down. A few secondster, a voluptuous woman emerged, wearing her own nightgown that one would consider very sultry, and yet this woman was not even bothered wearing it in front of the male elf. Of course, the sight is something that is barely new to the guy as he has seen it multiple times already to the point that he is already desensitized from seeing her in that attire. "Glory to the Elder. Good evening," the guy removed his cloak and revealed himself to her. "Glory to the Goddess of Life. Good evening as well, what caused you to knock on my window thiste at night?" "Elder, we have iing unweed guests. Along with them is your sister who seemed to have changed a lot since her disappearance." Chapter 921 Sneaking Elves Chapter 921 Sneaking Elves Night has fallen and today, I am one of the people who are standing guard alongside the three elves, Renatta, Alena, and Labo. The others went to bed much earlier than expected. I wanted to have Father at least stay on guard duty as well but because of the party we did and the fact that Father got drunk from drinking cold beer Mother and Lina made, there is nothing much I can do about it. Now I don''t really mind the three elves being with me on guard duty but I only have the closest interaction with Renatta while Alena and Labo are not that much of a talker and they only talk to me whenever they have something to do. So having them with me during guard duty is a bit awkward at times. But since we were on guard duty, I decided to survey the surroundings. Since we are in a newnd, I am a bit anxious about the surroundings and the fact that we had a few antagonistic stares earlier today, I am not sure whether these guys will try to do something to us. It''s much better if they don''t but there''s no harm done if they do. So to ensure that such attacks would not happen, I started nting traps all over the ce around the surroundings of the big walking mansion. I also added a few traps here and there designed from the [Blueprint] skill of Saboteur and ced them all over the ce. No matter which area they will try to climb on, once they trigger my trap, then that only means I caught them in the act. While cing those traps, I also started looking around, trying to see whether someone was hiding in the bushes or was actively hiding in the shadows. So far, I haven''t seen anyone just yet but there will always be someone who will appear out of nowhere and I have to ensure that I am not going to be blindsided and get my *ss kicked in the future. It took me a few minutes to finish the final preparations and all of the traps Iid down are now ready and operating. They won''t trigger on animals and will work only on intruders, allowing me to easily see what or who triggered them. I returned to the mansion grounds to rx while watching and saw the three of them currently sitting in front of the campfire. The campfire is something new that my father made the other night when it was his turn for the guard duty. Since it helps keep the surroundings cold for the people who are on guard duty, everyone agreed that this is the ce we will hang out with during the guard duty. Renatta saw me return and she smiled as she beckoned me to join them. "Come here with us, Manato. We just finished our patrol and so far, nothing seems to be off." I approached them and sat on the log seat that was ced on the campfire and everyone was currently putting mushrooms in the campfire and snacking on them. It''s kind of weird seeing elves who usually only eat fruits and vegetables from the wild are now eating food like marshmallows. The fact they have already felt more free to eat what they want in our world and awakening their desires to eat things that weren''t part of their culture is something else. "You know, I kind of reminisce about the time when I was still in the elf vige, I kind of remember how tough it has been. And always the life of eating food that we either farmed or searched around, I wouldn''t thought that we would stop doing that so soon," Labo chuckled. "Yeah. Guess we just got too limated with the customs of everyone else in your world, Manato. Though I am kind of thankful that you showed us that our way of eating is a bit more reserved and we could just be freer in eating." Alena grabbed one of the sticks that had its marshmallow a bit melted already and swallowed it down in one gulp. "All thanks to me that you guys would be ustomed to the taste and how it tasted like," Renatta grinned and grabbed one of the marshmallows that were about to melt. "Oh yeah, Renatta, I am always curious about how you were rescued. Were you also sold like a ve like us when you arrived in Manato-Kun''s world?" Alena asked. "Me? Not really. In fact, I avoided that path entirely and jumped straight from being rescued. Although I didn''t learn the specifics, Manato here can tell you all about it since the only thing I remembered was when I just woke up from sleep and found out I was no longer in the forest." Alena and even Labo shifted their attention to me. "You guys wanted to know? I guess you guys are also curious about how she arrived here as well." The two nodded. I shook my head for a bit before I answered. "I am sorry that I also don''t know how she did arrived here. When I saw her, she was not wearing anything and she was lying on the dump of garbage nearby. I even thought of her as a dead body at first until I realized she wasn''t and she was still alive. I tried to rescue Renatta first and was nning to bring her to the hospital to see whether she was okay until I saw her elf ears and that''s when I knew that she shouldn''t be brought there or else, the people might try to take her captive. Looks like I was right whenter on, I would meet you two on that faithful night." "Hmm, looks like the situation on both Renatta and our situation during our arrival in your world were different. Renatta was a bit lucky since the one who saw her was someone like Manato who immediately thought of what would happen to her in the process. We just got unlucky as someone who works in selling contraband and ck market items dude found us and decided to sell us as unique goods," Labo shook his head. "I wonder if there are any other people aside from us back there huh? Who was fortunate enough to be rescued by a nice person? Who was unfortunate enough to meet someone who sold them? I hope they are safe though," Renatta can only sigh. We were having a casual talk when I saw a notice appeared in my eyes. [Your trap has been disarmed.] [Your trap has been disarmed.] [Your trap has been disarmed.] A string of messages involving the trap being disarmed suddenly made me stand up and ready my weapon. Although I thought I would catch them using traps, seeing them disarm my traps still allowed me to discover them either way. "Huh? What is happening Manato-kun? Why did you stand up?" Alena asked. "I prepared a few traps for the intruders to get caught on but they instead disarmed it. Someone is approaching." Hearing that, the three also stood up and ready their bows and arrows. The strings of my traps being disarmed means they are very skilled at disarming them or there are groups of them disarming the traps Iid out and are moving towards us. "It seems the elves out there have already detected our presence and based on their surveince earlier the way they are sending someone for us means they don''t approve our arrival. Get ready. We should ensure that no one would dare try to enter and attack anyone in the mansion," Renatta sternly said. "I''m on it!" Alena then mmed her hands to the ground and a green sh of light scanned through the ce and a green barrier appeared on the mansion, surrounding it. "What was that?" I asked. "Barrier. Anyone will be safe from any intruders trying to enter the mansion. They won''t be able to remove or force themselves in unless I allow them to do so. That way, if they ever try to fight us, they can''t use the people sleeping inside as hostages. Of course, I trust everyone''s skills but it''s better if we deal with them rather than let the people sleeping do what we should be doing." "You guys fine with the elves attacking? I mean, wouldn''t you guys be happy that you all will be meeting with them again?" I asked. "If I managed to return the same day as when I arrived, sure. But now that I have spent long enough time with you and the others, I don''t think I would be that happy. In fact, I would prefer if they just kept it nice instead of showing off their hostility immediately, just like now." PENG! A dagger appeared but was immediately blocked by Renatta using her bow. Someone else also tried to attack me, but I just countered it and knocked the one who did. We managed to fend it off but now, there are currently 7 cloaked elves who recovered themselves after our counterattack. Then, one male elf appeared in front of us and stared straight at Renatta. "Wee back, princess. Now, let''s return to the vige. The elders are waiting for you." Chapter 922 Princess Renatta ? I creased my eyebrows when I heard the male elf say "Princess" while looking at Renatta. As for Renatta, she didn''t say anything but she remained inbat mode. "Don''t be stubborn princess. Your duties as the princess of the Elves are still in effect, even if you have disappeared. Now that you have returned, you need to go back and fulfill them. Your sister will be much more delighted to see you return." "I am not going back to be a princess. I am already happy with my current lifestyle and I am tired of acting as a good princess. I wanted to be free and be like the other free elves and not duty-bound for their responsibilities. Besides, being a princess is more like a prisoner than a princess. I would rather be treated like an outcast than return to that lifestyle. Just rece me with other willing elves that wish to be one instead of forcing that duty on me." "Princess, stop acting like a spoiled brat. You are not supposed to be like the other lowly elves like them as you and us here have the superior bloodline that is granted by the Goddess of Life and that alone makes us different from them. Being normal is something that we shouldn''t even dream of as we can even go higher than normal." "Bullsh*t, if you keep on insisting, I would rather defeat you all here and now rather than return to my post as a princess. You either have to defeat me and everyone here or surrender instead and leave us," Renatta readies herself. "Doesn''t matter. Your sister ordered us to subdue and bring you back. Even if you refuse, we will have to take you by force whether you like it or not." The hooded elves immediately went hostile and readied their weapons. "Manato, Labo, Alena, this is my fight. I will prove to them that I am not going to just let myself be tied by something like duties. This is my liberation from thosews keeping me chained." "Foolish. No surrender!" The elves immediately attacked and quickly came close to Renatta. Renatta didn''t panic and just remained calm as they attacked, waving their daggers. Renatta immediately blocked their attacks using her bow and defended herself by kicking and punching any of them who got close. She is clearly holding back since if she does not hold back, a few attacks of hers would be immediately fatal to the attackers, and worse, they will immediately die. Renatta obviously toys with them and clearly enjoys beating them up. Although I have seen Renatta fight before, I have never seen her fight hostile humans or humanoids before so this is the first time I have seen her like this. "Is she always like this?" I asked Alena and Labo. "Uh...I don''t know. This is the first time I have seen her act like this..." Alena shook her head,pletely baffled by how Renatta acted to the hostile elves. "Well, I heard being a princess was actually tiring stuff and she usually avoids the topic most of the time so we never knew much about it," Labo shrugged. "Have you always known her as the Princess ever since you guys have seen her?" "Yes. But we didn''t want to reveal her identity since she seemed to be hiding it from you and the others. Guess she really hates that identity as she is more on denying her role as one." I have the itch to fight against them as this will be the first time I have seen some hostile elves but considering how weak they are, I wouldn''t be able to hold back at allpared to Renatta who has the self-control. After a while, the hostile elves turned from better to worse. Most of them are injured, their faces are no longer pretty and they all have a bleeding nose, ck eye patches, or bruised faces. Some even have their mouths bleeding. The leader also suffered several injuries as well and is struggling to stand up as well. As for Renatta, she remained calm and collected, not even a single injury can be found on her person, showing how one-sided the battle was, to begin with. "H-how? Howe you got so strong all of a sudden?" "Why am I supposed to answer that? And you lot are even bragging of bringing me back and yet you all here seem to barely have barely even done anything to me. What if I didn''t hold back? Perhaps you lot would be dead by now." "W-what?" "Anyways, it''s time for you all to sleep. Next time we meet again and you lot would threaten me or anyone else here, then I will no longer keep my mercy to all of you." Renatta then snapped her fingers and everyone fell asleep. Renatta shook her head and returned sitting on the log with a tired look on her face. "Ugh...I hate this," Renatta shook her head. "Well, good work there. I didn''t think you would hold back," I said to her and handed her a bottle of water that was inside my inventory. "I would need to do so as they are my former guards. Even if I don''t want to go back, I don''t want them to die in my hands for my selfish reason." "Well, that is understandable, but I didn''t understand why you have to hide the fact that you are an elven princess," I frowned. After all, if not for this revtion, I wouldn''t even know that she is an elven princess in the first ce." "Well, it''s not that I am intentionally hiding it, I just didn''t want to remind myself that I am a princess of the Elves. I just wanted to be a normal elf that has no need to be tied by responsibilities that have been forced on me ever since my birth." I look at Alena and Labo. "Is it that bad?" "Based on how I see it, the role of a princess is one of the tiresome roles in ourmunity. Not only are they the symbol of royalty to the elves, but they also are the secondary leaders of themunity and will have to be constantly in demand of many things. They also have no free time as they will have to do many duties that involve getting the other elves better. They also cannot have any fun and cannot interact casually with other people. In fact, they cannot even act friendly to their attendants as it was one of the rules. If a servant disobeys this, they will be punished and worse, they are exiled," Alena exined. "That''s a little bit excessive. Even human princesses are not that strict in their movements and have some free time for themselves," I frowned. That is very controlling and very strict in my opinion and even I wouldn''t want to experience it or I would have rebelled immediately. "Right? Ugh, who in their right mind would treat their princess like a ve? Not only that, they are more controlling of my actions. I even wanted to have friends and they even prohibited me from that as the one who carries the bloodline that was granted by the Goddess of Life personally, I am far too important to be talking and getting friendly with elves that are not blessed." I looked at the guards that are sleeping. "So what are we going to do to them?" "Just let them go back to the ground. The spell I used would let them sleep for a day. They won''t wake up until tomorrow. Of course, I will not be merciful to them if they still try to fight against me and forcefully bring me back to perform the duties I ran away from." "But are you sure about returning? Shouldn''t you hide yourself instead of going with us to meet your people?" "I am not guilty of anything. Why would I hide? And besides, I am not going to just let them do something to me. I can choose for myself what I should do. I am not some machine that would agree to all themands they wanted me to do." I grinned at hearing that and nodded. "If you are so sure about that, then let''s put them down. Help me with this before anyone wakes up from their sleep. The three nodded and the four of us carried the elves down to the base. Now that they are no longer going to be a threat to us, we continue our guard duty. Thankfully, they didn''t send any reinforcements until the morning came. We just spent our entire night talking especially about Renatta''s circumstances. Bu hearing her grumbling and getting upset, showed that even she still has some anxiety in some things. However, one thing was given light to our current situation. It seems Renatta''s sister would be weing uster on if she had practically sent the guards to take back Renatta. For her, she will have to face her eventually. And so, the next morning light hase and we are going to be moving again. This time, to the ce where Renatta once called it her home. Chapter 923 The Village that Leads to the Kingdom of Elves

Chapter 923 The Vige that Leads to the Kingdom of Elves

Before we arrived at our destination, I decided to convince Renatta to reveal the matter of her being a princess to everyone since we were going to where she lived. That way, everyone would not be confused as to why they call Renatta a princess. Of course, we will also tell that she is no longer a princess and she ns to be a normal elf instead of bing a royalty. At first, Renatta is clearly not sure about that notion and is very hesitant. But she eventually agreed. So I went ahead and exined it to everyone with Renatta finishing it so that she won''t get totally embarrassed. When we actually did, the reaction was pretty tame and everyone immediately understood. Of course, Riko, Rika, Sora, and Pandora all started talking and discussing the matter of her princesshood. I think that is natural for girls but I don''t think I can understand it much. I mean, if I had a friend who was actually a prince, I wouldn''t even bother to ask him how it was to be a prince, or how it feels to be a normal citizen or something like that. Anyway, we also exined the matter of the elves attacking and what was going to be the expected reaction from the elves once we arrived. We are not going to receive a very warm wee there for sure. So we will have to divide our forces that will enter again. This time, Sora and Akira are interested in joining the group. Mother is also interested at first but when she hears the circumstances, she decides she will cop out on this one as she doesn''t want tosh out her harsh tongue if they try to criticize or belittle them. I haven''t seen Mom do that but ording to Father, she can weaponize her mouth by just that and if she gets serious, the person getting all the insults might even be in despair as a result. Pandora also wanted to join as well. Pixie will be apanying us as she is also curious about the world of elves who can see spirits like her naturally and perceive them easily. As for both Riko and Rika, they also decided to not join the group that will venture out as they wanted to rest. After the battle against the ck Dog Barghest, I can understand why they would want to rest. They also gave out a reason that they wanted to help Lucia once she wakes up from her new arm problem and since she might wake up while we are away, then it makes more sense to remain. Zena is not that particrly interested in joining as well but she does give out the "If you wanted me toe, then I will do it" move but since I don''t want to force her, she will also remain. Father wanted to join in but because wecked a proper man left in the house, he decided to remain as well. Renatta, Alena, and Labo will be joining of course as they are thepanions that will be helping us travel the ce safely and also know their traditions and their customs. My followers, Tina and Cotton decided to join in. As didn''t want to join as he is also worried about Lucia and he will remain as well to help the girls in case the problem with Lucia''s arm bes dangerous. Lina will remain as well to continue her training with my Mother to be a good cook. My pets, Mizuchi and Leona will being as well. The rest remain in the summoning areas and do not say a peep at all. Guess it''s not yet time. Then, as we were finishing the division of groups, Almira''s voice rang out for us to hear. "Hey, I am seeing a visual of a vige. not too far from our current direction. With our current speed, 5 minutes we will reach there." We turned to look at the vige and it was there indeed. A vige made from wood and treehouses. Some houses are grand and some are small and modest. Even in the distance, you can say the vige looks like an ordinary fantasy vige but I can tell that something seems to be off. But because I couldn''t detect what it was, I decided to not bother. "Yep, that is the vige alright," Labo nodded. "Looks like it hasn''t changed even after we left. Guess I was too positive with my expectations." "Told you so, right? If they haven''t changed their ways, there is little doubt that they also didn''t change in behavior as well," Renatta clicked her tongue in distaste. "True. Guess being too close-minded is just something we always think about huh?" Alena sighed. "Whatever the case, we will be going there. We should prepare resources first and make sure to stock up on some potions as well. If they decide to be trouble, we will be in big trouble." So we started to restock our supplies immediately and made sure we had enough supplies for everyone. I also put a few supplies inside the inventories of both Tina and Cotton. I also used the room that Leona had to store a few stuff inside as well, just in case we will have to. It is what Renatta rmended. ... ... ... Like what Almira said, we arrived before 5 minutes passed by. We didn''t directly stop in front of the vige but a little farther from there. Our mansion already made the elves aware of our arrival so we can be also sure that there are soldiers and other people waiting for us as well. "Guys. I don''t know what will happen but predicting the nature of the elves, you guys needed to steel yourselves because they will start insulting you even if you are listening." "That is totally serious huh?" Sora shook her head. "Yes. Totally. Which is why it is not a good idea for me either. It''d be best that we remain in a neutral stance with the people there. Don''t get too friendly with kids as well. They are not kids, in fact, they are much older than any of you." "Yikes, I think I am changing my perception of the elves now," Akira frowned. Labo smiled. "Right? After reading and watching movies and shows that involve elves, we are sometimes portrayed as very noble beings that it kind of a shame that this kind of mindset is something that is discouraged here in this ce." As the mansion stoppedpletely, everyone including myself went down from the mansion and slowly approached the vige. We are still in the distance but everyone in the vige is already watching us. The guards are also waiting for us as well. Renatta shook her head as we approached. "Damn, I am not liking this at all..." Akira is sweating bullets. "That''s why I told you all to be prepared as they are not the same elves you grow to love in shows and movies. It''s better to lower your expectations on them," Renatta sighed. As we reached the entrance of the vige, the guards stopped us and Renatta stepped forward. "Wee back princess. We are already expecting your return...but who are these people? Where are the guards that were sent to bring you?" one of the guards asked. "Why would I join with them? And besides, you must be mistaken. We are not here to return, we are here on a task, and that includes visiting this ce. If not for that reason, we will not even go and check this ce out. And don''t worry, they are mypanions. If you all dare disrespect me and mypanions, just go and prepare yourselves." Intimidated by Renatta''s behavior, the guards decided to let us enter the vige. Of course, I can see how they have resentment and anger in their eyes while looking at us. What Renatta said is true, these guys are more of a sh*tty bastards that decided to be high and mighty all of a sudden. As for the vigers, they looked at us with strange frowns and disgust on their faces but whenever they saw Renatta''s re, their faces would start to change and they would start smiling. Pretty uncanny and unnerving. "Wow, I am not really picky in ces we go and explore but this kind of treatment is not a really fascinating and interesting one." "Haha, even as an elf, I didn''t realize that we were like this before. Guess going into your world and being influenced by the situation made us think of our wrongs huh? Also, this is really exhausting indeed. Didn''t think this was something done badly before...but here we are..." "So where are we going exactly, Renatta?" Pandora asked. "We will have to go to the portal in this vige that will transport us to the kingdom of the elves. There, we will meet the king and queen ruling the elves, in short, my parents. If anyone has the weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins, it''s either from them or someone else." "A kingdom? Then what about this vige?" "It''s a facade in terms of hiding the real kingdom of the elves, to make the people who stumble in this ce think there is nothing much here." Looks like we are still in for many surprises after all. Chapter 924 Renattas Sister ? While we are following Renatta, Alena, and Labo, all the elves are looking at us with a bad re. I don''t know what their deal is but they sure made it feel like we are some sort of enemy forcing ourselves in. "Don''t mind their stares. They are like that to strangers. Ignore them and focus on where we are going. Also, don''t listen to them. They will only hurt you emotionally if you listen," Renatta advised. Labo and Alena are all ring at the elves looking at us with funny looks while the rest of the group is looking at those elves with nervousness. After all, this is the first time that we are subjected to something with an intense dislike for us. No one has done that to us unless we did something. It''s very simr to the vige where we rescued their captured girls and repaid us with contempt. Guess there are just some people out there that have this kind of view. "Here we are. It''s the teleporter that will allow us to reach the hidden kingdom where the king and queen are currently living and most of the upper-ss elves are all living." We arrived at a little temple that seemed to be extravagant in terms of elves'' standards. The tree design is so entric that you would think it was made from some unique engineering but it''s not thatplicated. More like this ce is made by natural magic or it just grows like this. Inside is a teleporter that only one person can go in one at a time. It seemed to be designed to ensure that mass teleportation does not work. "What is this ce then? It felt like this is also a ce where elves will worship their gods," Sora looked around the whole ce. "Not really. This is a little tree building created to house the teleporter. Other than that, it didn''t serve many purposes at all." "Really? Then, are all elves that are living in the hidden kingdom the upper-ss people? Are the people here on the surface not big shots? They don''t look poor to me," Pandora said as she observed a few elves walking around wearing fancy clothes that seemed to be for nobles of the elves. "They are still upper-ss people despite living on the surface. In fact, only upper-ss people are allowed here. Middle-ss and low-ss elves are not even allowed to step out of the hidden kingdom and explore the world. The reason is due to the fact that only those upper-ss people are certified to guard this ce. However, their main job is to protect the entrance of the Hidden Kingdom to ensure that no intruders will enter. Aside from people who have the qualifications to enter, royalties are also able to enter without further process as well." "Then what about us?" Akira asked. "We don''t have the qualifications to enter and we are not part of the royalty as well. There''s no way we can get there." "No worries. I already have a way to enter it without even getting a qualification. You can say it is a bug or something in the system. Of course, no one knows about it unless I reveal it. You can see why no one seemed to care that we were going there even though we were going to ess the hidden kingdom. Because they believe the system is wless. Of course, it is not. Here, let me show you." Renatta steps one of her feet into the teleporter and the teleporter activates, lighting up brightly. "Labo, you don''t have the certification right?" "Yes. I am just part of the middle ss people so it was natural that I am not part of the people granted ess to it." "Great. Now, stand there on the teleporter. Don''t worry. Nothing will happen aside from you getting teleported to the hidden kingdom." "Alright." Labo steps into the teleporter. Renatta still didn''t remove her foot that is in the teleporter for some reason. "Now, activate the teleporter. It will automatically teleport you to the hidden kingdom. It works the same way as the teleporters we used toe back here in this world." "Ah, then that will make things easier, but isn''t it dangerous to keep your foot on the teleporter while someone is teleporting?" Labo asked but he still activated the teleporter. "Don''t ask too many questions. Just get right to it, I will exin once we are all there." The teleporter continues to shine brightly before Labo is engulfed in the light alongside the foot of Renatta which is still there. We didn''t focus on how the teleportation works, we stared at the foot that she put on the teleporter. After a few while, the teleporter returned to its former state while Labo was gone. We thought the foot that Renatta put on the teleporter would disappear but for some reason, she still had it stepped on the teleporter. Although it seemed vague, I think I got the exploit that Renatta was talking about. "Now, line up and get inside the teleporter. We don''t have much time to spare. Go!" Pandora decided to follow next and just like what Labo did, the teleporter lit up and activated. Then she got teleported as well. The others followed suit and despite the nervousness they had, it disappeared once they got into the teleporter. I left myselfst for a bit and was about to enter when someone stopped us. "I didn''t think you would head straight to the hidden kingdom without even my permission, dear sister," a voice that seemed to being from some older woman who you can categorize as a "Milf". I turned to look at her and I was surprised to see someone who looked like she didn''t have many clothes in her wardrobe but a little piece of clothing draped on her body then added some jewels here and there before putting a belt to ensure it wouldn''te off. Then she immediately called it clothes. But despite her questionable clothes, you can say that she does look good on it. Her voluptuous body is something that many men would like to see. And from the way she unts it, it seems she is intentionally doing it. "Sister..." Renatta''s face darkened as she turned to look at her. "Oh my~ Why are you looking at me like that, dear sis? Aren''t you d that we are reunited again? Oh, how I miss you for how many years..." her sister tried to hug her but she evaded and stopped her from doing so. "Cut the crap, sis. Elves don''t even bother to care about the passing years. The amount of time I disappeared is only a matter of time for the elves and not a few years is something that would make us be nostalgic beings." "I didn''t know you have be quite rebellious now, Sis. Is it because of your interaction with the humans you came along with?" "Heh, if you thought that my interaction changed me, yes it did. But they changed me for the better. And I must admit, it''s a much better mindset than the mindset of everyone here." "Is that how it is? So all of the lost time is just something that allowed you to change for something vulgar?" "Haahhh...look who is talking. What a joke." Renatta''s sister turned to look at me and frowned. Her stare is clearly glowering and she isn''t liking my presence there." Just then...my Versatile Weapon vibrated and the voice of the shadow dragon rang in my head. "Hey, wielder. The person before you seemed to be in contact with one of the seven deadly sins weapons that we are seeking. It is not in her person but it seems she is afflicted by the power of the weapon." "A wielder of your weapon?" "Yes. I don''t know why but she doesn''t have it with her. But I am positive that she is in contact with it. The aura and smell in the air made me not mistake it. It''s different and it''s something that is clearly from those weapons." "Looks like what Almira''s intel said is true." "Indeed. However, since she doesn''t have it on her person, I think she is not holding it every time. And despite feeling it, I can''t detect what weapon was currently putting her on hold." I looked at her from head to toe and I can say that I can roughly guess what weapon she holds. Although not sure yet, seeing her behavior alone, I can easily tell that it involves sexual response and anything that involves the facet of sexual activity. "Regardless of what weapon is currently on her person, we needed to obtain that toplete you." The sister of Renatta looked at me with disgust. "What have you seen with this man, Renatta? Humans are disgusting beings! I can''t believe you are influenced by them easily." Renatta then startedughing like she heard something funny. "What is so funny?" "Ha, I don''t know sis. Perhaps your humor? After all, what you just said is far from the truth. Sure, they are sometimes not likable due to some of them are bad apples, but I can''t say for sure on the elve''s sides. At least on the humans, there are actual good people. As for us elves? Nothing at all." Chapter 925 Welcome To The Hidden Kingdom ? The words of Renatta seemed to have hit a nerve with her sister and the guards. It seems that what Renatta said is true but since they don''t want to admit it, they just disregard the matter and just continue on like a real sh*tty person. "So what if that is the case? We are born to look down on anyone who is not blessed by the goddess. Our bloodline is superior to them." However, Renatta stopped listening to her sister and instead turned her attention to me. "Manato, go into the teleporter, I will followter." I nodded as I was quite sure that Renatta was more than capable of handling matters without my help anyway. I stepped into the teleporter. "Hey,moner! How dare you step there with your filthy feet! Get off there!" One thing I hated in some characters, especially condescending f*ckers like her, is the way they unt their authority like it was some kind of a big deal. But to be honest, it''s not. Whenever I encounter a character or someone else who is like that, my whole body cannot resist dealing with the troublemaker and provoking them a lot more than usual. Seeing her angry at me stepping into the teleporter, I shed my middle finger at her and insulted her. "As if I give a f*ck at your opinion. Here is my finger, see if I give any." This made her totally angry. I could have said b*tch on her but I don''t want to offend Renatta since this is still her sister. I might be just overstepping my bounds if I said that myself. "Get down there!" The guards tried to attack but I immediately activated the teleporter before they could catch me, leaving behind Renatta to fend for herself. But I am not worried about her. I am more worried that Renatta would not hold back and kill her sister in the process. ... ... ... As Manato teleported away, the sister of Renatta started to fume in anger as the guy in a wolf mask insulted her. She has not received an insult her whole life, even from other people who she just met. In fact, most of them adore her to the point that she would feel good hearing it. But for the first time, an insult came in and she is not taking it too well. "Heh, Sister. It must be your first time receiving an insult huh? How does it feel? Feel old yet? It''s a bit sad that he didn''t insult you more, probably as a restraint since I was listening and to at least give respect but it would have been better if he called you b*tch or sl*t in the process." Renatta grinned as she mocked her sister and added more insult that Manato did not deliver. "Sister! This is going too far from respect! I have my limits but I am now filled with it! And now that you added more, you have just spilled it... Guards! Apprehend her, and bring her to me! Don''t worry about her hurting her, I permitted you to do so! Just bring her to me!" The guards sprang to action. But instead of getting afraid, Renattaughed and grinned. "Catch me if you can, sis." She darted straight to the first iing elf and smacked him in his jaws. The impact was strong enough to dislocate his jaws and knock him out in one shot. Renatta followed it up to the other guys and with a palm strike this time around, causing the other guard to puke out what he had just eaten before and then copse to the floor and into his puke. Renatta repeated this to the other guards and they didn''t even get to retaliate. Renatta was too fast for them to even get a hold of. It didn''t take long for her to finish the job and defeat all the guards that were supposed to catch her. "I don''t know if you guys are just too weak or I was just too strong that even holding back a lot of what I can do would still knock you all out. If I didn''t hold back, perhaps you all are dead by now." Even Renatta''s sister is not able toprehend what happened as she takes a nce at the copsed people and stares at Renatta who now steps into the teleporter. "I don''t have time to entertain your useless and stupid games, sis. Bye sis, I knew you wanted to bring me back now that you are elected as an Elder. But I am not going to go back. Now, bye-bye, I will have to join mypanions. As for you, you should be able to do something with them. You are royalty right? Now go, and do it. I don''t care about them." After saying those words, Renatta also shed her middle finger to her sister. Her sister does not understand what it means but since she does, she can only grin at making her confused. With that, the teleporter shes, and Renatta disappears before her sister who is left behind raging at her.I think you should take a look at "Just you wait, Sister. I will make sure that you will be facing and feeling the humiliation I felt. You will no longer be able to keep your head high next time!" ... ... ... When I came out from the teleporter, everyone was waiting for me and Renatta. They still haven''t moved or scouted the ce just yet. "Manato? Where is Renatta?" "She still has something to deal with but I know she will be fine. She will join us soon enough. We should wait for a bit. Everyone sat down once more in the seats that were empty. I looked around and realized it was a church. There is a statue of the Goddess of Life there raising her hand holding a branch of a tree into the air. She looks so elegant but this is totally different from what I have seen before from the Shadow Dragon''s memories. Guess these people are believers of the goddess of life. We waited for Renatta to pop out from the teleporter and a few secondster, she appeared before us. She didn''t have any sort of signs that she was fighting anyone. She still looked the same as before but one thing changed and that is she was smiling contrary to her looking angry earlier. "You alright now, Renatta-chan?" Sora asked. "Hehe, sorry about that. I just wrapped up something real quick before I left, hence, it took a bit of time before I arrived. So, is everyone safe and sound?" Renatta asked. "Yep. No one is missing here. We still didn''t venture out as there might be trouble brewing immediately before we got to properly explore this ce," Akira confirmed. "Since that is the case, are we now allowed to go out there, Renatta? Or do we need to do something more?" I asked. "We don''t need to do anything extra anymore. Let''s go to my previous residence here first. I needed to see whether they had confiscated my ce while I was away or not. We can use that ce as a temporary base of operations while we are here," Renatta revealed. "I see. But what if what you were expecting has indeed happened? What if your mansion is indeed confiscated?" Pandora asked. "Well, we either stay in the outskirts for now, or we find a new ce to stay. There is no way an inn will try to help us and if they did, they would be scrutinized by their patrons which would hamper their business as a result," Renatta scratches her head. "Then we can go to our house. It might not be a mansion but it is decent enough for all of us to stay. I doubt anyone would upy it in the first ce since it was private property and we own it," Labo proposed and looked at Alena who nodded in response. "Guess that is our n then. Let''s hit the road. And once we are settled, we should try to get an audience to the king and queen and reveal our intentions," I stood up and stretched myself for a bit. Renatta turned to look at the Goddess of Life''s statue before she shook her head and led the way as she opened the door of the church. [You have discovered an undiscoverednd: Hidden Kingdom of the Elves] Compared to my expectations of the kingdom of the elves where they will be surrounded by nature and they are conservative in their lifestyle, what I have seen is far from what I thought. Like in the human kingdoms, the ce is very simr in lifestyle and their houses are more of a mansion rather than a normal house. All of the elves walking by are also quite rich-looking. They don''t just look like random peeps in the surroundings, they are more of a noble people and are mostly aristocrats in their movements. Even the others who also expected what they thought the kingdom of the elves would look like had their expectations crushed by this unknown variable. Renatta chuckled seeing our baffled looks. "Sorry to disappoint you guys, but this is the reality. I hope it would have at leaste close to what you guys expected, but still, wee to the Hidden Kingdom." Chapter 926 Renattas Mansion ? Walking on the streets with our ragtag group attracted various reactions to the elves. But not all reactions are negative, some are even looking at them with curiosity and some are just friendly. Some would just make a small nod before evading from their path. "At least not all elves are hostile to us," Akira nced around. "Don''t bother talking to them and don''t trust them just yet. They might be friendly just now, but they are not that trustworthy. Unless they are someone who has been with us for so long like Alena and Labo, we can''t trust them," Renatta reminded them. "Indeed. They are not trustworthy enough. Most of them would more than likely think of how to exploit us and try to see our usage. That''s how they are and they are pretty calctive. We also think like that before but after seeing the truth and how narrow we think, we abandoned those kinds of thoughts and embraced what we believed in now," Alena exined. "Damn, and here I thought we would be able to find a friendly elf like you guys. Guess it''s just some sort of a dream then..." Akira sighed. As for me, I continue to nce around, trying to determine the surroundings and taking a mental note of some interesting spots I have spotted. If this was still a game, he could still put some objective markers on the spots he found unusual or worth looking into but since the system that was currently with him is no longer as good as before, that thing is no longer possible and he can only mentally take note of those. As we kept walking, I saw two elves that looked so thin and their disheveled looks only amplified their hopelessness they looked like they were being persecuted and had lost all of the signs of life in their eyes. They looked so young and ording to Renatta, what can be considered young for the elves are elves with ages from 1 to 100. Once they pass that threshold, they will look like human teenagers once they reach 101 to 200. 201 and beyond will only give them the looks of a mature human look but they won''t look old enough. Only elves that will pass the 1000-year mark would look like a grandma or grandpa who is still capable of moving like a teenager. After all, age doesn''t matter to the elves. That means these two poor elves who are huddling in the corner of the streets are still considered children. "Renatta, there are also many poor people in this kingdom?" "Yes. Beggars are still plenty in here. Of course, not all beggars are that bad. The only poor beggars that I can think of are children as they have yet to experience hardships and are more likely to suffer from the harshness the elves do to their brethren. In short, if you see an adult beggar, don''t take pity on them as they can handle themselves just fine. They just prefer to be a beggar but they remain totally normal. The ones we should take pity on are children. They either die in the streets or they would just find a big hole they can lie in and wait there to die. That''s what life here in the kingdom is like." "There''s no people helping them at all?" Sora asked. "Elves are proud people and they are more likely to not help anyone if they look miserable. Even the adults will justify the deaths of the elven children who are abandoned or persecuted that they were just not capable or creative enough to survive or the goddess has abandoned them. They would not care if we help any or if we ignore them." "Then, can we help them?" I asked and pointed to the two elves that we have seen." "Not now. We will attract unnecessary attention if we decide to help them right now. If you want to help them, we wille backter once the coast is clear. During the night, we can go and help them. Looking at them, they are almost too weak to even move and I can tell they are only waiting for their turns to die." "Can''t we help them much sooner?" Pandora tried to see whether it was possible for us to extend our help to them sooner than expected. "Unless we wanted the unnecessary attention and we are indeed giving invite for trouble, we should stay clear from them for now. It might be a pity but that''s just how sh*tty this ce is." I turned my attention to them again but what Renatta said was indeed correct. If we decided to attract the attention of these people, we would indeed need to help them. But if we wanted to lessen them, helping them secretlyter would be more usible. The fact that they will not move there and no one will help them cemented the idea that we can still help themter on with lesser chances that we attract the crowd while also undercover the darkness. "...Alright. If that is the best option, then we will just do thatter." I nced at them onest time before we moved on. ... ...I think you should take a look at ... After a few minutes of enduring the attention of the elves staring at us, we soon arrived in a centralized area of the kingdom but less crowded and more surrounded by nature as it is near a forested area. I assumed that we would have a mansion simr to my mansion here in Alternate World or perhaps closely resembling my mansion back in the real world but when we arrived, we were greeted with a big gate and big walls. Beyond the gate is a big garden with a single road that leads straight to the mansion which can only be slightly seen in the distance due to the trees blocking the view of the entire mansion. Renatta looked at the gates and seeing it locked, she touched it and it opened up. "Looks like my family didn''t confiscate it. Seeing that I still have ess to it, that means we can settle here until things in this ce are done." "Can Ie out now?" the voice of Pixie who is still hiding in Renatta''s breast pocket can be heard muffled. "Yes. It''s safe to go out now." Hearing that Pixie flew up into the air and looked around the ce. "Wow! There''s a lot of activity in this area! I can feel the presence of fellow spirits here as well!" Pixie was delighted. "So they are still here huh? I guess even without me, they still decided to stay and keep the ce clean and functioning then?" Renatta seemed happy after hearing Pixie say those. "Are there other beings like Pixie existing here?" I asked. "Yes. Instead of servants, spirits like Pixie are present here, allowing me to have the freedom to keep the ce clean, loyal followers, and less likely traitors from the elves. As a royalty, having traitors in your household is something I wouldn''t like to see at all." After Renatta closed the gates, we continued towards the mansion, and being there made me feel the abundance of mana in the air. It''s very amazing and I must say that it is the best and ideal ce to train my magic spells as well. Although it doesn''t do much now that I am herepared to the obvious changes on Earth, there might be some significant change if I try it in here. As we get close to the mansion, a few beings simr to Pixie appear before us. They vary from different color and they look like miniature humans that know how to fly. "What the... Who are you people?! How did you all enter this ce? This is only essible by Renatta-sama!" a spirit with a green color motif on his clothes and hair appeared. The others are also inbat stance, ready to fight against us "intruders" "Calm down guys, they are not intruders, they are my friends. Calm down and stop your aggression," Renatta stepped forward to calm them all down. The moment they saw Renatta, the spirits flocked towards her. "Renatta-sama!" "Is it really, really, you? Am I not dreaming right?" one of the spirits rubbed her eyes. "Quick and call the others! Renatta-sama has returned!" The spirits scrambled in different directions as they started calling the others. Only one spirit was left behind and her outfit is very simr to how butlers would wear their suits, with the only difference being she is very small. Otherwise, she does look like a butler, even her mannerisms are those of a butler as well. "You look well, Renatta-sama. Wee back, we have retained the status of your mansion to its usual state as well as we wait for your return. As for Renatta-sama''s guests, we also wee you to her estate. Pleasee in, we are pleased to make your acquaintances." Chapter 927 Feasting On Ancient Relic Weapons ? Renatta''s mansion is grand. The current mansion we use for transport around the Alternate world that Almira modified to have legs with couldn''t bepared to this as mine is clearly a big inferior. Her mansion is what you call a noble''s mansion. Complete with all of the natural cliches seen in many typical aristocratic mansions. It''s more of a design perspective instead and it is typically used to unt their riches to others. Even the others couldn''t believe what they were seeing. Who would instantly recover from that when they see things like this? "Wee everyone. I will be assigning everyone to their respective rooms and will be receiving their own rooms to sleep in unless you want to stay with someone in a room because that will be possible as well." "We will decide thatter but for now, you should gather every spirit for a bit as I will be discussing important matters regarding my return." The butler spirit nodded and bowed down before moving away to perform the task given. As for us, we sat down on the sofa and are still marveling at the whole ce. Its resemnce to the aristocratic households is just so uncanny that I am not sure whether this is really an aristocratic household copy-paste or this is its own ce. "You guys might be thinking about why I have a very big mansion that seems to be too good to be true right?" Renatta smirked seeing our shocked faces. "Yeah. You didn''t mention your house to be a certified mansion that even humans would find pleasant to live in. And besides, this is much bigger than Manato''s mansion on Earth and in this world as well even if youbine both of them!" Alena eximed, showing how amazed she was with the situation. "That is one of the main reasons I am not really that enthusiastic at this ce is due to how close tie it was to the aristocratic lineage and style that I hated staying here. I would usually stay in the cabin situated in theke behind the mansion as that ce is more like my homepared to here." Hmm, no wonder she easily adapted when she lived with me in the Alternate World and she didn''t have much problem with my mansion as well despite not being as aristocratic as hers. She prefers a much simpler ce rather than a ce that she can unt to others. Then, the spirits came. I underestimated the number of spirits gathering as there was a literal whole group of them that looked like a miniature group of fireflies gathered together and were excited at Renatta''s arrival. "Miss Renatta!" "Miss Renatta, we miss you so much!" "Boss Renatta! Don''t leave us without saying anything again, alright?" Many voices of the spirits came in as they continued to praise the situation and happily enjoyed the presence of Renatta. Renatta waved her hand and almost every spirit started celebrating seeing their boss acknowledge their presence. "Wow, I know there are lots of others like me around the world and in this world but to see them in one ce like this, it is a freaky feeling..." Pixie was amazed and shocked seeing the situation. "Are you not happy seeing so many of them together like this?" I asked. "Uh...Not really Master. I thought I would be happy but seeing it like this, I am more nervous and not sure about it. It was like things were not even that great after seeing them. I feel like being the odd one out." I can see why Pixie would think of that. Not only is she the only one summoned from my abilities but she is not someone who got a contract with Renatta in the first ce. She is more of a product of a human than an elf, which makes her a bit inferior. "No, Pixie. Even if you think you don''t matter, you are a unique being that cannot be reced. Don''t worry too much about it." Then, Renatta begins her meeting. It was quite long but it was not that important as most of what she discussed were her experience in the human world how she felt more at home there and how she would no longer stay here in the mansion in the future. A lot of the spirits felt that this was quite a big news and were saddened but there were more that felt happy about Renatta''s decision. After Renatta decided to relinquish the contract of the spirits, everyone was a bit unwilling, but Renatta only promised to relinquish the contract once the spirit forest was restored once more. Hearing that, the spirits soon became content about relinquishing the contract. It turns out that the reason why there are so many spirits here in the first ce is because Renatta decided to help them in the meantime while the spirit forest is still undergoing its repair to recover from the damage that was caused. Based on what I heard, there might be something that we will do here and Renatta might be using this chance to also ask us to see whether we can determine the reason for the destruction of the Spirit Forest. That will be a good task to take advantage of while we wait for the king and queen of the elves to invite us to the pce and get a chance to meet them and solve another problem. Once Renatta dispersed the spirits, she let the Butler Spirit escort everyone to their respective rooms while Renatta dragged me somewhere else. One of the spirits that looks like a cksmith is also following us. "Is this thed that you were talking about?" the spirit asked. "Yes. He holds the weapon that contains the power of the ancient dragon that was present during the Primordial Wars and recently, he received the real truth as well which coincides with all of the experiences you and your family had during the Primordial Wars." "Oh? Oh?! Do you mean the ck Dragon of Death? So this is where his soul disappeared into the moment the situation became bleak? I couldn''t believe that you would be able to dodge away the eyes of that goddess for so long!" the cksmith spiritughed learning this matter. "Which is why we are here to ask if it is better if we just get rid of all the junk relics that are currently gathered in our storage." "Oho, does that mean I will see the famous "Dvour" that the ck dragon does in every battle? If that is the case, I would be more than happy to give them all. Besides, we don''t have uses for those relics. Feel free to take them all." We went to a small storage and the moment the cksmith spirit opened the door, it revealed a wide variety of relics that were too precious to see and I wasn''t prepared at all. I almost staggered seeing so many great weapons in the area. The Versatile Weapon seems to have noticed it and also decided to show its interest in them. "Woah, boy. Calm down." I turned around on Renatta to understand what I was going to do next. "What do you mean, Manato? All you have to do is let your weapon devour these things and digest them all. If these relics are the real deal, then this will be a very good ce to fuel up your weapon." Before I can even say much, the shadow dragon immediately extends its body and devours a mouthful. "Oy, Shadow Dragon! Control your hunger and greed for once!" I checked the status fo the Versatile Weapon and I was shocked. It wasn''t even the entirety of the relics that were devoured but the new stats of the Versatile Weapon suddenly changed my viewpoint. ---- [Blood-Covered and Sinful Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 60 [EXP: 150,000/700,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: VersatileI think you should take a look at STR: +4543 AGI: +3190 DEX: +5360 END: +3670 INT: +6528 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy is killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. It can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and apply [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. It can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increase the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. 16. Song of the Sloth: (Sloth''s Exclusive Skill): ys music that calms the nerves of the enemies who can hear the melody. Allies will be buffed in various effects depending on how long the song has been ying while enemies will get debuffed more the longer the song ys. The enemies will enter a passive state that even normal attacks will not cause them to activate their lethal phase, allowing for a safe attack process. However, ying this song will make the user vulnerable to attacks and the music cannot be stopped until the piece that has been ying has ended. Ensure the user has a backup when fighting. 17. (Still digesting, please wait) 18. (Still digesting, please wait) 19. (Still digesting, please wait) [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Special Note: After the restrictions have been lifted, its true power has been slowly unleashed. Even the creature sleeping inside is starting to grow stronger as well. No one knows whether it is a bad thing or a good thing. One thing is for sure, the weapon is getting stronger before we know it. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: Manato Tsukasa Durability: Null ---- Aside from the weapon stats, additional weapon skills are also being added though they have yet to reveal themselves, I now realized what was happening. Knowing the situation, I think there is only one right answer here. Chapter 928 Feeding the Insatiable Chapter 928 Feeding the Insatiable "More! More!" I wasn''t even finished checking the new stats of the Versatile Weapon when the shadow dragon immediately devoured another pile of weapons, armor, and essories in one gulp. I couldn''t even stop the dragon from eating them. "Wow, I heard of the tales that the dragon has an insatiable appetite for weapons and armor but seeing it in person is kinda amazing and terrifying at the same time," the cksmith spirit marveled at how gluttonous the Shadow Dragon has be. The stats of the Versatile Weapon continue to increase but I didn''t bother to check it until the Shadow Dragon is done with it''s feast. If it continues to eat, the more it will have its stats increase. Instead, I looked at both Renatta and the spirit and asked. "You guys sure about this? I mean, these relics might be totally useful forter. They might be in a dump pile for now but they might find some usageter." "Nah, these relics might be relics but they have already lost all of their usage as they have already exhausted their possibilities to be a stronger weapon. They cannot be dismantled as well as they are somewhat unique types, making them hard to dispose... until you guys arrive. Now that we have a way to get rid of them, we can now convert this ce into another facility we can use forter." "Wait, are you sure? You mean all of them?!" "Is there a problem?" the cksmith spirit seemed to be not even the slightest affected as he seemed more confused as to why I was hesitating. But it seems Renatta understood what I meant. "Haha, no need to worry about it. To be honest they look like they are precious artifacts but no, they are just useless junk and although they are indeed artifacts, they barely have much usage anymore and if they did, there are better alternatives. It''s best the Versatile Weapon of yours gets nourished on these instead, not only we will benefit from their increased power, but this space will also be free from junk. So feel free to clean this whole dump and do not worry about not leaving anything here." Hearing that, I nodded and sighed in relief. It would be disastrous if something precious was also added here and then the shadow dragon devoured it as well. I don''t want to be med for it at least. The shadow dragon continued its feast. It''s not stopping at all and I don''t think it will be done until everything is gone on the floor. I don''t even see it stopping anytime soon. As the Versatile Weapon continues its feast, I can see the changes in my Versatile Weapon''s look now. Even the de seems a bit longer and sharper. I thought I was imagining things but it seems not the main case. It is indeed happening and it is doing quite some kind of evolution as it continues to eat. The pile of artifacts slowly but surely disappears right before my eye as the Shadow Dragon devours them one by one. I am not even sure if the weapon will be too strong already or even if the weapon stopped its absorption to the weapons, like how it did on some of my failed weapons and armor that I let it devour. Perhaps it might even hit its main limit as well. But until it is done with its feast, I will just wait until it is satisfied. Around the afternoon, the pile of weapons is gone and the Versatile Weapon has finally finished its feast I can also feel the Versatile Weapon gets a bit heavier. I can''t be sure whether it is due to it eating a lot or perhaps due to the fact that it now currently changing forms. I opened its status to check its new stats but I was greeted with a big error. I can''t even look at what it is now. I tried calling the Shadow Dragon but it is not responding as well. Perhaps it fell asleep to digest all of what it had eaten. Despite being heavy, it is not that much different from most weapons I handle. In fact, it felt as heavy as a normal Greatsword in terms of weight despite being a normal sword length. "Alright, now everything is gone and the room is in need of cleaning. I am happy to see it getting cleared out now," Renatta smiled as she looked at the surroundings already empty. "Indeed. I will be calling the cleaning spirits and dealing with the cleaning of this ce. We will convert it to the room you just mentioned to us so please rest assured," the cksmith spirit said. "How long does it take to finish?" "Since this massive project you proposed to us is a bit big, it cannot be done in a single day. Most likely, this will be finished in around 3 days starting today. Depending on the situation, it can even go longer or shorter as well." "That''s good to know. Then, we will leave it all to you and to everyone." "You can leave it to us!" "Manato, let''s go. Let''s not keep everyone waiting alright?" Although I still had no idea what was happening, I nodded and followed Renatta back to the living room. Now that everyone had settled into their own rooms, they returned to the living room to discuss our next move. "You have some n to do on that room full of artifacts before?" I asked Renatta. "Yes. It will be crucial to our n if we need to ensure that we will seed in our task here in the Elvennds. Knowing them, we will have to be 5 steps ahead of them, and doing this n will be necessary if we want to ensure they will not trick us. My mother and father might look nice and easy to get along with once you all meet them but don''t be tricked by them once we go and talk to them. They are showing only a facade that would allow them to look good to anyone. Trust me, I know," Renatta firmly said. I can only nod at her statement. We will see it at the actual meeting soon. We arrived at the living room and everyone was already eating food prepared by the spirits. One of the spirits that wears a chef suit approached Renatta. "Renatta-sama! We have made food for everyone based on your orders earlier. I don''t know if it is to your pte''s satisfaction but if it is, then we will do our best to keep the quality of the cooking!" "Thank you. You may go back to your station. I will call againter if we want something to be cooked. For now, just prepare food for dinnerter. Make it more than usual, I miss the food you make, to be honest, especially your signature dish." The spirit looks delighted. "Don''t worry, Renatta-sama. After your disappearance, I honed my cooking to the best of my abilities so that once you return, you will enjoy more of what you will eat!" Then the spirit chef returned to the kitchen. We sat down and while everyone was eating, Renatta began her nning process with everyone. "Now that I have discussed things with the spirits, we will now begin what we should do forter once we meet the king and queen. Our task here is to aid them in their troubles with the beastmen tribe and retrieve whatever caused the Beastment to be violent which is being theorized by Almira that it might be due to the effects of the weapon the chief was holding and as a result, it turned the whole tribe as well. If what the weapons that the Seven Deadly Sins series offers to its users is its own brand of sin, there is a chance that the weapon he wields is indeed one, and from my guess, it must be the wrath sin." "I guess it is indeed the Wrath Sin. The beastmen started going berserk and getting dangerous now right? They even begin their campaign by attacking other people and iming theirnds by force which soonnd in the war with the elves. It is a big chance indeed and I don''t think it was even wrong to say that they nned this too well," Pandora frowned. "Precisely. However, ording to the intel, my father and mother seem to also possess a weapon of sin and are utilizing it which means we have to take it from them as well but this will brand us traitors in the process which is why we have to n things out on how we handle things and keep the situation neutral butplete the task that Almira gave us." "Is there even a chance we can do that?" I asked. "Yes. Remember the n that I was brewing in that room I brought you in? That''s where it wille along. However, it will spoil the surprise before it is done so unless it is done, the n is still not going to be revealed soon. However, we will have to do something else and this involves you all guys. Are you all ready?" Renatta grinned as sheid out a detailed n on the tablebeled "Operation Exploit the Gap" Chapter 929 The Unfortunate Ones Chapter 929 The Unfortunate Ones Because the n that Renatta gave us is pretty vague and she only gave the name of the operation, it''s hard to decide whether her n is feasible or if we will not be able to rely on it. But since she kept on insisting that we would knowter, we didn''t bother to insist. If the n really works, then it will work. Until then, we will have to wait and see what it was. For now, everyone is resting in their own rooms, as for me, I am wiping the de of the Versatile Weapon. Despite not needing to be cleaned up, I tend to find myself tending to it like I usually do and inspecting its little changes. After leaving the weapon for quite some time, I noticed the difference has changed the sword a bit too much now. It hasn''t eaten any decent sword that it can use as a decent weapon skin for quite some time which is why it remained on its normal sword skin for quite some time even until now. But after its feast earlier, the changes appeared and I am not sure if this was due to the artifacts it has eaten. Does the shadow dragon devour something that would allow it to change its form this way? Perhaps, but since I didn''t even check it, perhaps it did. The changes have yet to be finished its change as it is still digesting stuff and I still get the error message every time I ess its little UI but I will just wait for it for now. While I continued to maintain and wipe the Versatile Weapon for quite some time already, Renatta appeared while wearing a coat that covered the mouth and face with a hoodie to also cover the head. "Manato, it''s already nighttime. Here, wear this," Renatta then throws the same coat that she was wearing. "Eh? Where are we going?" I frowned. "Have you forgotten already? Guess the matter slipped on your mindpletely. But you should remember that we are nning on helping the little kids alright?" That''s when I understood what Renatta said. It is about the kids that we saw earlier. I thought we wouldn''t do anything about it so I just left it without even remembering what it was until Renatta decided to let me remember it. Seeing my reaction after hearing her words, she understood already that I remembered it and nodded. "Good. Wear it, we will go and see if we can do things our way in the cover of the night. Since elves tend to sleep much earlier than humans, there will be fewer elves walking around the streets. Besides, the streets get cold at night, making it annoying to walk at night. Oh, and remove your mask for now. If you have other masks to wear, wear those instead. The masks you have worn earlier are already imprinted in the minds of the elves that saw us earlier. It''s best that they don''t see the association between yourself and ourselves tonight." "Are we the only one to go tonight?" I asked. "The fewer people we have, the better. Only three of us will go right now." "Three?" I frowned. Then Pixie pops out of her from inside the hoodie of Renatta. "Sup! That includes me!" "Pixie?" I frowned. "We needed Pixie''s healing abilities to heal up the unfortunate ones. I saw earlier that they have big bruises on their bodies and their wounds are quite severe. There is a chance that we can''t let them drink potion either since they might have raptured throats as well. Therefore, we will need Pixie to heal them up with her spell and the leftover wounds that cannot be healed with normal healing magic will be healed using the potions." "I see. But wait, raptured throat? Isn''t that pretty bad? It''s fatal if we don''t even do something!" I frowned. "Yes, I know it was fatal but that is amon tactic on the elves. That kind of wound will be hard to heal properly and they do this to ensure that these kids will either lose their voicepletely or they will be unable to say anything conclusive for quite a while. Now,e on. We don''t have much time to waste idling around." I remove my mask and wear the coat. It didn''t feel bad to use but it wasn''t that amazing to use either. It felt like it was used only for sneaking purposes but for clothing purposes, this drip is not even necessary. "Alright. Let''s get moving." Renatta nodded and we left the mansion without informing everyone. The less who knows, the lessmotion it brings in. While walking into the cold streets, Renatta started speaking to me. "Manato. I think we have some traitors at my mansion. I assumed spirits wouldn''t be easily branded as one due to how their loyalty remains on their contractors. But I think I underestimated the craftiness of some elves." "What do you mean?" I frowned. "I suspect some of my spirits are no longer loyal to me and are already ready to switch sides or have already switched some sides but are just keeping their facades that they are still loyal to me." "Wait, wait, really? That was possible? I thought the spirits would remain loyal to you?" "I underestimated it since I realized it earlier. Some of the spirits working on the mansion have less connection to me for some unknown reason. They still have it but they are not that goodpared to before allowing me to immediately know their connection to me is weakening. And yet, they don''t even mind that their connection is weakening from me." "Is there any significance in their connection with you?" I asked. "Yes. The stronger their connections to you, the more loyal they are to you. As for those who have a weaker connection, they are already having a hard time materializing by themselves and they should be only holding tight on the anchor which is me and I will have to fix the connection so that they don''t get terminated in contract." Pixie chimed in as well. "During this time around, Master. If a spirit like me has lost some of the connection to the master, we will try to find a way to replenish that or we try to cling on thest rope that holds us in. In short, our connection is very weak, it is possible for an outsider to interfere on this matter, and save the spirit from connection lost." That''s when I understood what she meant by a traitor. But is it really that enough to call a spirit a traitor? "I am still trying to see whether someone else tried to hijack the connection and fix them by allowing them to connect with them. Until then, I will assume the traitors are still there. So don''t trust any of them just yet. Aside from the cksmith spirit and the butler who maintained their connection to me stable, the rest have some shady connections so until then, they will be traitors in my eyes until proven that they are not." As we continued our little discussion, we didn''t realize that we were already at the location where the elves who were huddled together were located. Just like what Renatta said before, they remained in ce, hugging each other and shivering, only their ragged clothes as their way of mitigating the coldness. It would have been manageable for me to see them a little bit healthy and have no wounds in their bodies but these guys have the biggest wounds I have ever seen. "This is pretty brutal. Staying here in the cold will be the death of them..." I frowned. "Yes. Now, help me. I will cover them with a piece of cloth to cover them and carry them." We cover the two of them with it. It seems one of them is awake but due to the injuries that she has suffered, even opening her eyes is close to impossible due to the big bumps on her face that stop her from keeping her eyes open, forcing them to remain close for a bit. "These injuries are horrible. We should hurry them back to my ce to help them get cured of their injuries...wait...someone is approaching..." I looked around and spotted an elf that looked like a supermodel walking towards our location. We immediately hid as quickly as possible in the nearby area while our surveince remained enhanced as we continued to look at the elves roaming. "Huh? Those kids here are missing..." The supermodel-looking elf frowned after he realized that the kids were gone from their usual ce. Then, one female who looks like a beautiful actress suddenly arrives as well. "Where are the kids? I thought they were here and are waiting for their deaths?" "I am quite sure they were here before. There is no way they would be able to move after the injuries they hold. If they are here, then they should be here." "Sh*t. We were already tasked to execute them as they might be a thornter in the current regiment but we have to look around and find them. Even if they managed to escape, they shouldn''t be too far just yet. I doubt anyone would help them so they must have not gone far." "Then, let''s split." the guy suggested. "Guess we have no other choice." After that, the two disappeared. However, Renatta is now frowning at the current situation. "It seems we have involved ourselves into something bigger than we expected." Chapter 930 More Cruel Than Humans Chapter 930 More Cruel Than Humans I wasn''t expecting elves toe around at night like this in search of the two kids. Who are they and what do they want? They are clearly looking for the two kids now that they are gone from where they were staying but is there a reason for them to hunt for them? "Should I deal with them? They might be a problemter on..." I asked Renatta. "No, we should leave them for now. They are not a high priority but if they ever track us down and they start bothering us on the way, then we act and fight back." I nodded in response. What Renatta said is a good choice. We don''t want to attract more attention than on purpose. We musty low and help the two before they die from their wounds. "But Renatta, what about the traitors you mentioned? If they are there it might be possible to be connected to the people searching for them, isn''t it going to get troublesome?" Renatta stopped after hearing what I just said. It seems she didn''t n along the fact that she was suspecting some traitors from her spirits. "You are right, there might be traitors but I think it''s fine. If the enemies do track us, that only means there are indeed at least one or more traitors hiding and are wearing sheep''s clothing. You can say we can sift through the loyal and the traitors this way." "But how do you even get to identify the traitor that way?" I asked. "I have my ways." I decided not to bother asking more. I am not sure how she was doing it but she knows it best so I will not bother to dig deeper. Anyway, we continue to move away from our usual path. "We should circle around the ce before we circle back to the mansion. That way, they will not assume the kids hide there." Nodding in response, we continue to move while evading other elves walking. "Right, Pixie, please give them some light heals. Don''t make a burst heal right away as that would give out our position." "Right away!" Pixie then held her two small hands on both unconscious kids and started healing them. We continued to move and made sure we evade properly. I was the one who times when to evade and hide and Renatta carried the two. She didn''t want to give me even one of the kids as we would need someone who could fight freely while she defended them. We managed to return to the mansion without any problems arising. It''s going to be really bad if we did but we somehow evaded all of them. When we arrived, theplexion of the two kids was already better but their wounds were too big and deep for the light healing to work correctly on them. Only a few of their wounds have closed and disappearedpletely while the rest remained the same. The butler spirit weed us back but when he noticed the two kids, he immediately stopped and let us enter and checked outside before closing the door. "Master, you brought back more kids again?" the butler spirit frowned. "Again?" I looked at the spirit tilting my head. "You see, Master likes to help out elves who are treated like this and treat their wounds. She was always trying to ensure they were saved properly which is why she brought them here and treated them." "Isn''t that a great thing?" "No. Elves'' customs are different than humans. Although some people can say that kids being treated and left on the streets is not a good thing, for elves, it''s not something that is practiced and is thoroughly discouraged to be done. There are things that shouldn''t be just done like that. But this matter is different. Master''s reputation is already at rock bottom due to the things she has done before but if things get out of hand, she will have to face the ire of the aristocrats and her reputation will sink lower than before." "Butler, you already know I don''t need a reputation like that in this kingdom. If they have a problem with what I am doing then that means they have a problem with what I am currently doing. These guys will not die on my watch. Elves are more cruel than humans can actually do. If we just leave them be, they will be more troublesome to deal with." "Doesn''t really matter. Anyways, prepare a room for both of them to be in. We can''t put them on the sofa and leave them be." "Sigh, alright, Master. Come this way, I already have one room cleaned that is ready to be used." Renatta carried them all while I continued to observe the surroundings. And based on what I have seen, there are some spirits spying on us. They were quite well hidden which is why they cannot be seen easily while everyone is currently in discussion but there are some spirits who are indeed lurking and watching us secretly. I just couldn''t pinpoint from them who was the real deal traitor and who was who. But I just took note of things in mind before they disappearedpletely. After that, I followed Renatta as the butler escorted her to the room and helped with the two kids. Since both are now in a safe area, Pixie used the [High Heal] to fully heal their wounds. The process was slow and a bit boring but the situation slowly removed the wounds on their bodies. Even the big deep wounds are being healed and are slowly closing as well. And as Pixie continued to cure the two, men from the outside started to make a ruckus outside the gates. Renatta and I peeked into the windows and saw the menining outside were indeed the two men who were looking for the kids earlier before we disappeared and left. "Those guys..." I frowned. "Manato, when we arrived, have you seen other spirits checking on us aside from the Butler?" Renatta asked. "Yes, I did. Those guys were indeed there and were looking at us when we arrived. They must have also seen the two kids and immediately reported to their higher-ups which resulted in those men''s attack. "Shall we deal with them?" I asked. "Yes, we should do it. If they think their ways would allow us to give the two kids to them, then we should teach them proper lessons on how to be less troublesome." I pulled out my Versatile Weapon and ready them. "Can I kill them?" I asked. "If necessary, go ahead. But if possible, don''t bother. Just beat them up and send them packing." "Alright, that''s what I am talking about." I went downstairs and went outside of the mansion, ready to wee them. Arriving at the gate, I thought we would only have two guysining but there are other elves as well. And all of them have very good faces that you can say that they would be more handsome or pretty model work. But is saddening because their faces are wasted for they have such a bad personality. "Hey, what are you guys doing here? It''s nighttime and you are disturbing people in their sleep." "Who cares about their sleep, we needed the two kids who are brought in here." "Kids? What are you all babbling about?" I made sure to sound myself clueless. "Don''t y dumb, bastard. We got a tip that this is the ce currently holding those two brats. Shouldn''t you all have known that helping those pieces of sh*ts is something that you lot should never do? Take them out or we will force ourselves in and search the ce ourselves." "The tip you received might be just wrong. Why would we bring them in in the first ce? What would we even benefit them from?" The elf who was talking was ready to back off seeing that I was adamant in proving that no one else was there aside from us but then, one guy approached him and whispered something in his ears. As soon as he was done whispering, the guy suddenly went angry and pulled out his sword. "Bastard! You liar! We have no choice then. Boys, raid this ce and retrieve the kids!" Looks like someone tipped them again and this only solidified the traitor theory of Renatta. Someone is indeed a traitor. As the elves tried to enter the gate, I pulled out my gun and shot the legs of the men who tried to step inside. BANG BANG BANG! They fell over and groaned in pain causing the others to stop moving and get wary of what I was holding. Based on their looks, it seems they have yet to see a gun before. "Take one more step into this property and you will see what you were looking for. Since you lot seems to be pretty adamant about meeting the Goddess of Death, then I will personally send you all to them if you would be all so kind to let me do the honors of doing so." Chapter 931 Ill Beat Your *ss Chapter 931 I''ll Beat Your *ss Elves, the legendary beings of the forest and known as blessed beings of the Goddess of Life, are renowned for their unyielding pride and warrior spirit. Even when faced with dire circumstances, they refuse to retreat from danger or back down from any challenge. It is said that unless they have been definitively defeated in battle, they will stand their ground no matter the odds stacked against them. The elves before me are not an exception to that, however, they held a deep aversion to the sight of my firearm. ustomed to the elegance of bows and arrows as their primary weapons, the introduction of a novel instrument like my gun was met with disdain. This disdain reflected the elves'' rtively traditional approach to weaponry, which contrasted sharply with the ever-advancing world beyond their forest borders and their hidden kingdom. As the tension in the mansion''s atmosphere grew palpable, a rallying cry pierced through the silence. The leader rallied his men, "Beat him!" With thatmand, the elves surged forward, brandishing swords and daggers, their eyes fixed on me with unwavering determination. Some amongst them retrieved their bows and swiftly nocked arrows, their aim steadily focused on my heart. The figure who appeared to be their leader regarded me with malice, his intent to kill me radiating from his piercing gaze. But I stood apart from them, equipped with a unique weapon ¨C the Versatile Weapon at my side. As arrows sped toward me, I fluidly transformed it, elongating its form and reshaping its de into a staff. The iing arrows, swift and unerring, were met with my quick swings and precise blocks, ensuring they veered away from their intended targets. As sword-wielding elves closed in on me, I drove the staff into the ground, causing it to shift into a sturdy shield. This abrupt transformation caught the elves off guard; they had not anticipated such adaptability. Nevertheless, they pressed forward, toomitted to halt their advance. Yet, I harbored no inclination to allow them to assail me without consequences. As their des shed toward me, I deftly evaded their strikes, executing a graceful bow and sliding to the side before plunging my weapon into the side of one of the elves. Though not a fatal blow, I ensured the wound was grievous enough to pose a life-threatening threat. The others followed suit,unching their assaults, but with a few well-ced sidesteps and crouches, I nimbly dodged their attacks before swiftly countering with my own lethal strikes. In the midst of my skirmish with the knife and sword-wielding elves, those with bows and arrowsunched another volley of enchanted projectiles at me. The telltale glow of these arrows signaled their magical nature, suggesting they were likely homing in on their target. Recognizing the imminent threat, I seized one of the elves, restrained his hands behind him, and secured his neck before turning to face the iing arrows. "GAAHH!" The hapless elf became an unwitting shield, absorbing the impact of all the homing arrows and bing the first casualty of the confrontation. Though I was technically responsible for his death, it was not by my hand alone, absolving me of direct me, or so I reasoned. "Bastard!" "Oy, little sh*ts, just because you think you have the right to attack us, doesn''t mean we will stand idly by and let you have your way. Stay still, for I am not finished with you yet. I will teach you a lesson you won''t soon forget, and you will learn it well." Now, with most of the knife and sword-wielding elves either bleeding profusely or struggling to move due to their injuries, it was time to address the persistent ranged attackers. With a deliberate motion, I spun the dagger in my hand, gradually altering its form into a substantial hook that fits snugly in my palm, its chain trailing to the ground. Swinging it in a graceful arc, I hurled the hook toward one of the archers on my left, ensnaring him and drawing him toward me. At thest moment, I extended my leg, capitalizing on the hook''s momentum, and sent the elf hurtling through the air, where hended with an ominous thud and ceased moving. I don''t know if he died or just lost consciousness but that is not going to be my problem. "Wha?!" The leader stood bewildered as I vanished from his line of sight, reappearing behind him with a resounding, non-lethal blow to thest archer in the group, rendering him unconscious. Then, I faced him and aimed the gun into his face, causing him to freeze seeing how this weapon managed to make two of the elves unable to battle. "I am showing you mercy," I dered. "If you wish to leave here without further harm, take yourrades and depart. You are well aware of the consequences should you choose otherwise." But contrary to my expectation of him surrendering, he angrily bellowed and raised his weapon, "As if we would surrender so easily! DIE!" I shook my head, resigned to the inevitable, and greeted his defiant charge with a punch delivered via the gauntlet form of the Versatile Weapon. Whether he perished from the impact was of little concern to me. He was sent flying into the distance,nded on the ground, and like the guy who was sent flying with the kick I did, he also ceased moving. Of course, its none of my concern whether he died or not. At that moment, the butler spirit and Renatta emerged from the mansion. The butler''s expression reflected shock and incredulity at the one-sided battle, while Renatta offered a triumphant thumbs-up in my direction. "Good work," Renattamended. Then she turned to the Butler spirit. "Butler, escort them outside and seal the gates. Given their audacity to resist, they shall learn their lesson by remaining outside, with no prospect of assistance." Though visibly hesitant, the butler spirit nodded. "Yes, Master." As we reentered the mansion, Renatta inquired further. "So, what have you concluded regarding the theory of a traitor within our midst while you are fighting? Are they involved?" she asked. "What theory?" I queried, puzzled. "You know, the suspicion that there might be a traitor among us," Renatta rified. "Ah, that," I replied, recalling the topic at hand. "I can confirm that there is indeed a traitor who is leaking information about us. Judging from the battle we just witnessed, it appears this traitor canmunicate with the adversaries outside the mansion while remaining inside the mansion''s premises and providing them with ''tips'' that expose our actions and recent movements. If not for them, then they wouldn''t know that we brought the kids here. We made sure we were not followed or being watched. Renatta clenched her fists in response. The gravity of the situation was not lost on her, and her displeasure was evident. "It''s good to have confirmation," Renatta said, her voice tinged with frustration. "While I''m patient and understanding of their motives, tant betrayal such as this, right under my nose, is uneptable. Perhaps it is time to purge the source and deal with the traitors directly?" "Oy, Renatta. I know you are angry with your spirits under yourmand but don''t just use your emotions and let them control you. This is not going to end very well." Renatta calmed down and sighed as she shook her head. "Ha... these f*ckers definitely are making me totally disappointed that our hideout is littered with fakes and traitors..." We returned to the room where the kids were currently sleeping. Pixie is still healing them but now slowly as they only need the energy to at least increase their effectiveness and letting the kids recover much quicker. "How are they now?" I asked Pixie. "Ah, Master. Don''t worry too much, they have already entered the stable condition. Now that their surroundings are much warmer and they are now in a clean ce, the recovery is faster and better. It won''t take long before all of their wounds will disappear and they will regain their consciousness." I looked at them and like what Pixie said, the wounds and bruises that were previously present were not that apparent though it is still big. But if they continue to rest, and receive healing magic, they will recover eventually and perhaps return to their previous glow. "Manato, you managed to kill one of the invaders right?" Renatta asked. "Yes. I managed to y one of them but it wasn''t my doing though I directly caused his death, it''s not my fault he died in the first ce." "Well, now that one of them has died, we will need to expect more people who will try to deal with us in the process. I doubt those elves that attacked us will be thest of them." "Yes. But like always, I won''t even care if they bring more people, that only means they are increasing the bodies of people I will be trashing soon." Chapter 932 One of the Traitors Chapter 932 One of the Traitors "Renatta, please, take a moment to reconsider," I implored, my voiceced with concern. "I understand the pain of betrayal runs deep, but perhaps it''s worth hearing them out, especially since they are your own spirits." She turned to me with a fiery determination in her eyes, her voice resolute. "Manato, you know my stance on trust and betrayal. It''s a line I''ve drawn in the sand, not just for people but for my spirits too. I''ve given them a good life, and they turned their backs on me the moment I disappeared." Her words hit a chord within me, a reminder of my own past betrayal. I knew all too well the anguish that came with such treachery. As I struggled to find the right words, Renatta continued, her resolve unyielding. "I appreciate your empathy, but I''m not as forgiving as you are, Manato. I''ve faced devious plots during my time as the elven princess, and I''ve learned that second chances are reserved for those who truly deserve them. Traitors, with their intentions to harm, don''t fall into that category. They''ve chosen this path, and I won''t be merciful to those who seek to harm us." I could only shake my head in quiet understanding. Renatta''s decision was one I couldn''t change, even if I wanted her to see reason. In silence, I nodded as she made her way into the living room after checking the two kids. "When do you n to confront the traitors?" I inquired. She cast me a determined nce, her jaw set. "Later, once everyone is awake. It''s essential to set an example, to make it clear that betraying me is a grave mistake." Listening to her resolve, I could only nod in agreement. Renatta''s anger and determination were palpable, and it was clear that she already had a good idea of the traitors'' identities. After all, she knew who among her circle had the audacity to plot against her in the shadows. ... ... ... The first rays of morning sunlight gently caressed my face, a wee respite after the earlier scuffle. Despite only catching a brief nap, I felt surprisingly rejuvenated, a testament to the restorative power of rest. It was a moment of quiet reflection, one that left asting impact on me. After donning fresh attire and ensuring my gear was in order, I ventured out of the room Renatta had graciously provided for my stay. It was a privilege I never expected to experience in my lifetime. Mansions like Renatta''s were typically regarded as relics of a bygone era, often protected as heritage sites and frequented only by curious tourists. The idea of sleeping within these historic walls was nothing short of extraordinary. Upon emerging from my quarters, I found the rest of the group already gathered in the living room, engrossed in a lively tabletop game. Akira and Sora formed one team, locked in strategicbat against Labo and Alena. Pandora and Pixie, on the other hand, watched the game unfold with keen interest. As I observed the proceedings, I realized that this was a tactical minigame reminiscent of those I''d seen in Alternate World games before. It was the sort of pastime typically enjoyed in guild halls and Adventurer Halls. Though intrigued, Imented myck of knowledge about the game''s rules. Choosing not to disturb the ongoing battle, I decided to explore Renatta''s mansion. It was an impressive edifice, even if it paled inparison to Queen Tanya''s grand castle. Speaking of Queen Tanya, I knew I needed to pay her a visit once we resolved the issue with the Elves. Keeping her informed was crucial, and I also hoped to glean information from her about the Goddess of Death and the history of the Primordial War. As the bearer of the Goddess''s blessings, she was undoubtedly the most knowledgeable source I could consult. The grand halls of this ce exude an undeniable air of opulence and luxury. While they may not be adorned in thevish golden embellishments seen in Queen Tanya''s castle, these halls boast marble pirs, meticulously shaped and crafted to withstand the test of time, all the while maintaining an aura of elegance and grandeur that captivates anyone who ventures within. As I wandered through this splendid abode, I couldn''t help but notice the spirits that roamed freely throughout. They bustled about, engrossed in their various tasks, seemingly indifferent to my presence. I couldn''t help but wonder which of these spectral beings would soon incur the wrath of Renatta. However,cking any clues, I chose not to hazard a guess. Continuing my exploration, I was suddenly enveloped in the tantalizing aroma of sumptuous cuisine being prepared. Though I couldn''t spot the kitchen, the fragrance led me closer. Yet, as I followed the scent, it took an abrupt and unpleasant turn. The once delightful fragrance transformed into a foul stench that made my stomach churn. Had it not been for my past encounters with even more noxious odors, I might have revealed my presence and regurgitated myst meal. Confounded, I muttered to myself, "What on earth is happening here? Where did that noxious odore from? Could it be from the dish that initially led me with such an enticing aroma? How could the scent shift so dramatically?" Determined to uncover the source of this foul smell, I pressed on, despite the overwhelming difort. I had quite the adventure locating the kitchen, and navigating itsbyrinthineyout which I internally cursed as this is such a wack design. Why would someone make the kitchen quite a ce to find in the first ce? Just as I approached its threshold, a curious sound beckoned my attention ¨C voices murmuring in hushed tones. Not recognizing the speaker, I instinctively cloaked myself in [Stealth], bing an unseen observer in the shadows, eager to eavesdrop on their ndestine conversation. My stealthy approach was marked by caution; any hint of my presence could spell disaster. Peering through the slight crack in the door, I could barely make out the figures within. There, in the dimly lit kitchen, the Chef Spirit was engaged in a conversation with a mysterious character shrouded in a foreboding ck cloak, concealing their identity. Though I couldn''t glimpse the cloaked figure''s visage, their voice reverberated through the room, resonating with an ominous gravity that sent shivers down my spine. But I can tell that guy is an elf. His ear is peering from the cloak, allowing me to know that he is also one of Renatta''s elvenpatriots. I strained to listen,mitting every word to memory, aware that each utterance could hold the key to unraveling their sinister plot. The cloaked stranger''s words pierced the air, casting a sinister pall over the chef''s cooking endeavors. "This vile concoction you intend to serve to your former summoner and her guests¡ªhow do you intend to mask its foul odor and execute your n?" The chef''s reply sent a chill down my spine. "Fear not. Since they consumed myst creationst night, they''ve be exceedingly susceptible to poisons. Once they ingest this dish, the effects will intensify, rendering them incapacitated, writhing in agony until they draw theirst breath. The worst case scenario for them would be the fact that it can melt their digestive systems and like an acid, they will die with their stomach totally ruined. And as for the scent..." The chef deftly demonstrated, expertly neutralizing the noxious odor, transforming it into an inviting aroma with a flick of his spectral hand. My mind reeled at this revtion. The chef, a traitor? The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on my conscience. It seemed the snacks servedst night had rendered Pandora, Renatta, and the others vulnerable to this insidious plot. I, fortunately, had skipped the previous night''s repast, sparing myself from their fate. However, the urgency of the situation demanded that I share this perilous knowledge with the others, especially Renatta. In light of the malevolent scheme unfolding before me, I couldn''t help but empathize with Renatta''s impending actions. There was no room for mercy when it came to traitors who would stop at nothing to see us undone. I listened for a bit but they were now discussing about the scuffle from earlier and how the tip of the Chef''s friend was useless against me who wiped out the men. Their talk finally came to an end without many things I learned aside from the fact that there is another traitor aside from the chef and he is one of the reasons the men who attackedst night got information about the two kids. After that, the cloaked man snapped his fingers and disappeared, which I saw as him teleporting away. As for the meal, it is now being loaded to the cart that the chef usedst night to deliver the food. Knowing his scheme, I retreated and returned to the Living Room. I was relieved when I saw Renatta among the group this time around. Before the sinister plot will be delivered, I will have to reveal all I have learned so far. Chapter 933 Nullification of the Contract Chapter 933 Nullification of the Contract I was caught in a whirlwind of urgency, a storm of unsettling information racing through my mind. There was no time for idle chitchat, and I knew I had to pull Renatta away from the group''s lighthearted activities, despite her being engrossed in their revelry. "Renatta!" I eximed, with a hint of desperationcing my voice. "I need to talk to you urgently. Sorry, everyone, but you''ll want to hear this too." A cloud of confusion descended upon the others, their expressions a mixture of curiosity and concern. However, Renatta, ever perceptive, sensed the gravity of the situation and agreed to lend me her ear. "Is something amiss?" she asked, her brows furrowing in genuine concern. "Remember the snacks you all devouredst night?" I asked, prompting Sora to join the conversation. "You mean those munchies?" Sora chimed in, curiosity etching her features. "Yes," I replied solemnly. "I''ve stumbled upon something unsettling. You''re all currently under the influence of a rather potent debuff, intricately designed to align with their ongoing scheme." A puzzled look crept onto Renatta''s face. "I''m sorry, a debuff?" "The breakfast they''re about to serve," I continued. "It''s poisoned, cleverly masked as a harmless meal. Once you ingest it, the effects ofst night''s snacks will kick in, and, horrifyingly, it will lead to dire consequences." As the words left my lips, the Spirit Chef made his entrance, nonchntly humming as he wheeled in a trolleyden with treacherous food. It seemed he hadn''t caught wind of my warning earlier. Renatta cast a quick, concerned nce in my direction before fixating her gaze on the ominous pot concealing the deadly fare the chef had brought with him. "Master Renatta! Everyone! Breakfast is ready to be served. Please gather around and take a bowl!" The Spirit Chef exuded an unmistakable air of enthusiasm, his confidence practically radiating. It was as if he believed his cunning n was foolproof, and the grand reveal was poised to leave us all stunned and what our expressions would look like after ingesting his devious food. Renatta, despite her reservations, led the charge, and the chef began todle a mysterious concoction into her bowl that appeared to look like a regr soup of meat and vegetables. The dish seemed to be delectable, but I couldn''t ignore the lingering scent that had previously assailed my senses. There was no way this culinary masterpiece was anywhere close to normal. Renatta wore an expression of trepidation as she gazed down at her bowl. The others cautiously gathered around, their eyes fixed on Renatta, awaiting her verdict. Personally, I had no intention of joining this gastronomic adventure. It would have been eptable if the chef were simply a terrible cook, but the possibility of intentional poisoning left me with no appetite. Renatta prodded the soup with her spoon, scrutinizing its contents. The anticipation was palpable, and the chef watched with bated breath. However, Pandora decided to take matters into her own hands. "[Purify]!" In a spontaneous move, Pandora invoked her skill, and the once-enticing aroma instantly gave way to a putrid stench, reminiscent of my initial encounter with the dish. "Ugh! WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT AWFUL ODOR?!" Akira, positioned closest to Pandora, received the full brunt of the noxious fumes. He hurriedly pinched his nose, determined to avoid inhaling the offensive scent. Even Pandora, renowned for herposure, disyed visible revulsion as she gingerly set her contaminated meal back on the table. The rest of us wasted no time distancing ourselves from the ghastly scene. The revtion hit like a thunderbolt, sending shockwaves through everyone gathered around the table. Without hesitation, they reluctantly set down their forks, though the aroma still tantalized their senses and the dish remained visually irresistible. The uncertainty of whether they should indulge in the delectable-looking feast was palpable. It was as if the very essence of temptation danced before them, beckoning them to take a bite. In the midst of this culinary turmoil, Renatta''s expression soured. Her gaze shifted towards the perplexed chef, whose disbelief mirrored the confusion of everyone else. Her calm facade hid a seething anger and contempt that simmered just beneath the surface. Her re alone could scorch the chef''s soul if such a thing were possible. "What is this, chef?" Her voice remained steady and solemn, yet the venom beneath it was unmistakable. The chef stammered, beads of sweat forming on their spectral brow. "M-master! I don''t know what''s happening! I prepared this dish just like any other. It should be perfectly normal. That woman over there must have tampered with her bowl and used some sort of trick to make it appear as if my cooking has gone awry!" Renatta raised an eyebrow, considering the chef''s words. She approached the pot, a sense of foreboding hanging in the air. As she lifted the lid, a tantalizing disy greeted her eyes. But Renatta wasn''t convinced. With a swift, practiced motion, she extended her hand over the contents and chanted an incantation. "BREAK!" The air crackled with magic, and the pot seemed to shatter like ss. Multiple fractures appeared, leaving the chef utterly perplexed. As the illusion unraveled, the once-enticing aroma transformed into a noxious, repugnant odor that filled the room. The food in the pot, previously a mouthwatering delight, had been reced by an abominable concoction of unidentifiable substances. "Let''s dissect this, Chef. I vividly recall not adding anything remotely close to what you''re using my friend of, and yet, the dish before us defies all expectations. Are you truly innocent in this culinary disaster? Because, frankly, I''m not buying it. This is hardly fit for consumption, and it bears no resemnce to the fare I once relished during my time here. Have things taken a nosedive in my absence, or is there more to this culinary catastrophe than meets the eye?" As tensions rise, the enigmatic chef''s facade begins to crumble. With a forceful shove of his trolley, he sends the scalding ''dish'' hurtling towards Renatta. In a sh, Akira springs into action, using his shield as a formidable barricade. Upon impact, an rming sizzle reverberates through the air, as though the very metal of the shield is sumbing to the sinister brew. Without hesitation, Alena weaves her magic, drenching Akira''s beleaguered shield with water. The remnants of the concoction dissolve, revealing a shocking truth ¨C the shield appears to have been subjected to an acid capable of eroding even the sturdiest of metals. A sense of betrayal washes over Renatta, her disappointment was palpable. She nonchntly conjures a sinister, ebony thread, which snakes around her fingers with an eerie grace. Two pointed fingers take aim at the fleeing, spectral chef, and the sentient string springs to life, relentlessly pursuing its target. Despite the considerable distance, the inky strand captures the chef in its clutches, instantly constricting when it secures its prey. A symphony of agonized cries fills the room as Renatta tightens her grip on the ebony thread, dragging the ensnared chef along with it. With a weary sigh, Renatta wrenches the string once more, evoking another tortured wail from the captured chef. "You know, Chef, I ced my trust in you as one of my dearest spirit friends, someone I''d hoped to share my twilight years with. Never did I anticipate a day woulde when your treachery would beid bare like this." "Master, I beg your forgiveness! I swear upon all that''s holy, I''ll never tread down this dark path again! Grant me but one more opportunity," the desperate chef cried out, his life hanging by a thread held in Renatta''s unyielding grasp. Renatta''s eyes bore into the trembling chef, her voice dripping with disappointment. "In an ideal world, my dear friend, a mere prank or oversight might warrant a second chance. But your calcted actions, executed with full awareness of the consequences, are beyond redemption. Understand that second chances are not charity; they must be earned. And your deeds fall far short of that mark." Terror coursed through the chef as he struggled to free himself from the inky bindings that ensnared him. "NO... PLEASE!" he pleaded, desperation in his eyes. "Today, the contract binding your spirit to me is null and void," Renatta dered, her voice unwavering. "I shall reim every ounce of energy I have provided over the years. Your soul, tainted by malevolence, will crumble, rendering you incapable of ever being summoned again, by me or anyone else." The chef''s eyes widened in horror as the contract Renatta spoke of materialized before him. He reached out, but it disintegrated into ash, and even if he could grab it, there was no way the ck thread would allow him to do so. Blue mes engulfed him, their fiery grasp unrelenting. He writhed in agony, futilely attempting to extinguish the relentless ze. His screams echoed, unheard by any, as his very existence unraveled and his soul was consumed by the inferno. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!" With one final, anguished cry, the traitorous spirit vanished, erased from existence. In that fleeting moment, Renatta had rid herself of a treacherous ally, ensuring her path remained clear. "That should set an example to all the traitors." Chapter 934 Punish the Deceivers Chapter 934 Punish the Deceivers The banishment process wasn''t just a show for us; it unfolded as a grand spectacle in the eyes of the spirits themselves. They bore witness to the intense energy that surged forth when the Chef Spirit was stripped of all its rights. Initially, I had anticipated a routine punishment from Renatta, something within the ordinary realm of spirit discipline. Little did I expect that she would opt for the ultimate verdict ¨C sentencing the spirits to the metaphorical "death penalty." This was no ordinary banishment; it was a process sealing their existence for all eternity, barring any chance of a return to our world. Renatta, in the midst of this, seemed to radiate with newfound vitality. It was evident that she had been channeling copious amounts of power into the spirit. However, following the banishment, she effortlessly reimed every ounce of energy she had bestowed upon the Chef Spirit, reasserting her dominion over it once more. After the chaotic episode caused by the Chef Spirit, the living room began to return to its usual state, albeit without the culinary carnage. In the aftermath, the Spirit Butler emerged, fully aware of the recent debacle, and with a simple wave of his hand, he conjured magic that effortlessly tidied up the mess. The hazardous spige of soup that had coated the floor and furniture vanished under the cleansing magic''s touch. The toppled pot and trolley were swiftly restored to their proper ces. "Butler," Renatta called. "Yes, Master?" "Summon all the spirits to the gathering hall after breakfast. Spare no one; I want them all there." The Butlerprehended Renatta''s intentions without a word and nodded. "As you wish, Master." Uponpleting the cleanup, the Butler took it upon himself to return the trolley to its original location. However, before doing so, he sought Renatta''s approval once more. "Master, would you like me to arrange for another spirit to prepare breakfast? I can rece the spirit chef." Considering the potential risks, especially given that the others were still affected by the debuff, I decided it would be safer for me to take charge of breakfast preparation and address the debuff simultaneously. Uncertainty loomed about which spirit might act out next. I raised my hand, drawing everyone''s attention, including the Spirit Butler''s. "I volunteer to handle the cooking. I have ample experience in the kitchen, and we should exercise caution for the time being," I dered with confidence. Renatta nodded in agreement. "Yes, I trust Manato to handle the cooking. His culinary skills are impable." The consensus of agreement resonated throughout the room. The Butler,prehending my intentions, nodded as well. "Very well, follow me to the kitchen. Allowing the Master and her guests to go hungry is not part of the service in this mansion. If you wish to volunteer, your assistance is most wee." I followed the butler to the kitchen, where a lingering, noxious odor hung in the air, forcing even the Spirit Butler to shield his nose. "This is no ordinary food," he fumed. "It''s a lethal concoction of tainted meat from a decaying zombie dragon. The putrid stench gives it away. That scoundrel..." I inquired about the possibility of salvaging the kitchen without the poison''s taint. "Is there a way to cleanse it, remove the poison contamination? If they used zombie dragon meat, the utensils may still be contaminated." "A standard [Purify] spell should do the trick," the butler replied, his hands tied. "Unfortunately, Ick the means." "No worries," I reassured him, casting [Purify] myself. The noxious odor vanished, and the dark energies swirling around dissipated. Gradually, the kitchen transformed from its ominous state into a brighter, cleaner space. "That scoundrel tried to corrupt this ce slowly," the butler muttered, self-critical. "I should''ve noticed, considering how often I''m here. My service has fallen short." I couldn''t help but shake my head in disbelief at his words. Sure, he might excel at his assigned tasks, but there were limits to his observations. After the effects of [Purify] had spread throughout the area, I began inspecting the ingredients. Unfortunately, most of the vegetables andponents were tainted, rendering any attempt to cook a decent meal impossible without risking poisoning. "Dispose of all these ingredients, Butler," I instructed firmly. "They''re all contaminated, and cooking with them would only result in toxic food. I''ll use my own ingredients." "Understood," came the butler''s prompt reply. While the butler swiftly handled the disposal, I focused on gathering the necessary ingredients for a mood-lifting dish: curry. I also made sure that some cleansing herbs that will aid in removing harmful effects on the body are added as well. This way, the debuff the spirit chef has given to them would be dispelled the moment they eat the curry. With the ingredients at hand, I began the cooking process, knowing that it would soon lift everyone''s spirits. A few minutester, the pot was ready to serve. The butler returned from his task of discarding the tainted ingredients just as I finished. Lifting the lid and stirring the curry with mydle, I could tell it was safe for consumption. "It''s done!" I dered. The spirit butler noticed and joined me, ready to assist. "You''ve finished. Let''s take it to the living room. Load it onto the trolley." The butler efficiently gathered kitchenware and utensils. Together, we delivered the meal to everyone, and the process went smoothly. After a joyful breakfast, Renatta kept her word and headed to the Gathering Hall. I apanied her to witness the unfolding situation, with others following suit, eager to see what would happen next. "Brother," Sora queried, leaning in with a curious glint in her eyes, "do you think Renatta-san will repeat her earlier actions?" "Perhaps," I replied, contemting the uncertainty of the situation. "I can''t say for sure if she''ll resort to the same banishment process for the proven traitorster, but if she does, it wouldn''te as a surprise." It didn''t take long for the spirits to congregate. Among them were the very spirits who had weed us into the mansion on our first visit, alongside the Spirit Butler and the cksmith spirit. A range of expressions yed on their spectral faces¡ªsome bore worry, some exuded confidence, and many remained stoically indifferent. Renatta took the podium, her presencemanding attention. "You may already have an inkling of why I''ve summoned you all, despite your demanding daily routines," she began, scanning the assembly. Most spirits wore anxious expressions. "Why the concern? If you''ve done nothing wrong, your existence remains untouched. Only the guilty need fret." As Renatta''s aura permeated the room, it weighed heavily on the spirits. "Now, let me address the primary reason for convening you today. I''ve formted a theory suggesting there are traitors among my trusted spirits. This theory was swiftly confirmed by the recent actions of the Spirit Chef, who now resides in banishment, forever beyond resummoning. However, I doubt he''s the sole traitor. I''ve identified others I suspect of disloyalty, just as I''ve discerned the steadfast ones. To maintain impartiality in my judgment, I''ve decided that even those I know to be loyal will undergo scrutiny. Bnce, not favoritism, shall guide my decisions." A colossal magic circle suddenly materialized above the gathered spirits, igniting a cacophony of startled murmurs and hushed whispers. "Don''t fret, dear ones," Renatta assured, her voice steady amid the growing tension. "This spell became possible through the remation of my powers, wrested back from the banished Chef Spirit. It will only affect those with a guilty conscience, leaving the innocent untouched." As Renatta''s words hung in the air, a few spirits began to writhe in agonizing pain, copsing to the floor in torment. A ripple of fear spread through the surrounding spirits, who quickly distanced themselves from the writhing figures. To my astonishment, a significant number of spirits were caught in the throes of suffering, nearly half of them sumbing to the spell''s effects. "I see," Renatta''s countenance underwent a dramatic transformation. Gone was the sereneposure, reced by palpable anger. Her aura surged, a tangible force radiating from her being, leaving no doubt as to the gravity of the situation. "While the results don''te as a shock, the sheer number of you schemers ready to betray me when the time is ripe is truly disheartening," Renatta dered as she descended from the podium, approaching the distressed spirits. Their pleas for innocence echoed around her. "R-renatta-sama! We would never betray you!" "M-master! This is a mistake! I am not one of the traitors!" Despite their protests, the damning spell had already exposed their disloyalty. "Do you take me for a fool?" Renatta''s aura surged, and even those of us on the podium felt the mounting tension. Alena couldn''t help but remark, "I''d heard rumors about the princess'' powers, but witnessing them firsthand is something else; it''s undeniably impactful." The situation was deteriorating rapidly. "As you writhe in agony, it seems only fitting for me to deliver the verdict. Deceivers have no ce in this mansion, and their treacherous ways muste to an end." Raising her hand, she bestows the final verdict on the sinners. Chapter 935 Renattas Enemies Chapter 935 Renatta''s Enemies A single wave from Renatta''s hand triggered the disintegration of all the spirits ensnared by the spell''s potent grip. Those unaffected were spared from the harrowing exodus suffered by the traitors. The disintegration process unfolded slowly and agonizingly, bearing witness to the spirits'' anguished cries and desperate pleas for mercy as their ethereal forms dissolved, resembling a nightmarish descent into a corrosive abyss. While some of the unaffected spirits appeared disturbed by the unfolding spectacle, not all shared in their disquiet. "Hah, there they go. I warned them that betraying Master woulde at a grave cost, but they turned a deaf ear. Now, they pay the ultimate price for their folly." "Indeed. Renatta-sama ced her trust in us, a rare gift given her struggle to trust others. It is truly disheartening to witness such treacherous behavior among those she deemed trustworthy." Even from our vantage point on the podium, the pained voices of the spirits carried to our ears. It''s hard to deny the truth in their words. Those who had betrayed Renatta would never have found themselves in this dire predicament if only they had clung to their Master''s trust and unwavering belief in her. After the dust had settled, the aftermath was clear. The spirits that had defected were no more than puddles of liquid residue, evidence of their swift elimination. Renatta, with a casual snap of her fingers, made those remnants vanish into thin air, leaving behind a pristine floor and a handful of spirits who remained steadfastly loyal to her. Their anxiety from witnessing the earlier events still lingered, but their unwavering allegiance to Renatta brought a sense of assurance that they were safe from a simr fate as long as they remained faithful. "I''ve dealt with the traitors and, in doing so, rid myself of nearly half my spirit workforce. It''s a stark reminder that even those bound by contracts can turn on me. It takes time and trusts to fortify these bonds. I''ve learned who I can truly rely on," Renatta stated, her tone serious and contemtive. "The ones who remain are my trusted subjects and will continue to enjoy my protection. Loyalty doesn''t go unnoticed; those who work hard will be generously rewarded. I appreciate your unwavering support, even in my absence." The remaining spirits bowed, their loyalty unwavering. "Master, without you, we''d have no purpose in this existence. Your enemies are our enemies, and we''re willing to cooperate if you seek to uncover those targeting you," one of them dered. Renatta''s eyebrow arched at the revtion. "What did you say?" "As you heard, Master. Some of us were approached and tempted to betray you, though we refused. We also know who''s behind this treachery. We''re willing to help expose those who intend to harm you," the spirit exined. Renatta couldn''t help but chuckle. "I see. They''re getting bolder, huh? Very well, since they''re so eager to cause me harm, I''ll be grateful for any contributions all of you can make in this matter." The atmosphere remained tense as the spirits huddled together, pondering their imminent challenges and adversaries. "Considering the traumatic nature of this incident for some of you, I think it''s only fair to grant you all a well-deserved break today. You''ve been tirelessly dedicated to our cause, and you''ve earned this respite. Make the most of it," Renatta dered, her voice carrying an air of gravitas. The spirits couldn''t hide their delight upon hearing these words. They began to rejoice and quickly started plotting how to make the most of their impending downtime. Yet, amid the celebration, there were those who resisted the idea of resting. "Renatta-sama, would it be eptable if I continued my work? The thought of unfinished tasks is causing me great stress," a cksmith spirit inquired, maintaining a nonchnt demeanor. Renatta raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Aren''t you supposed to be taking a break?" The cksmith shrugged, his response filled with a sense of stoicism. "I''m no fan of excessive rxation. Work is my purpose, and I value it more than leisure. Let the others rest, but I''d prefer to finish my tasks first." Renatta nodded in understanding. "Very well, if that''s your preference, you may continue." With that, Renatta dismissed the spirits, and the once jubnt room once again settled into a solemn silence. We approached Renatta, who seemed visibly fatigued following the recent incident. There was a noticeable shift in her demeanor, an air of newfound strength. Though the reasons behind this transformation eluded us, we couldn''t help but appreciate her resilience. Renatta had proven to be an invaluable ally. "Renatta, do you have any leads on those individuals attempting to target you and manipte your subordinates?" Pandora inquired. Renatta nodded. "I have some suspicions, but until we have concrete evidence, I won''t dwell on it. Our immediate focus is the task at hand. Lingering here is not an option. My request to my parents may yield results soon. Our mission remains unchanged." Concern painted Alena''s face as she posed her question. "Renatta-sama, your adversaries still regard you as a contender for the throne. How do you intend to address this?" Renatta''s response held a resolute tone. "As I''ve stated before, I''ve shed my role as the elven princess. I yearn for freedom and cherish thepanionship of those who''ve stood by me. I''d dly embrace this life over returning to the one I abhor. Rest assured, they wille to understand my decision." After those words, she turned toward us, her face lit up with excitement. "Now that everything''s settled, how about we switch things up a bit and take on a dungeon raid? There''s one nearby that nobody seems to have tackled yet, and everyone here, apart from us elves, seems to be seasoned dungeon raiders. It might just be the perfect opportunity for all of us to give it a shot." I was taken aback by her suggestion. "An unexplored dungeon nearby?" "I can''t say for certain if it''s been conquered or not, but considering howidback the elves tend to be and the fact that there have been no reports of dungeon breaches, the odds are in favor of it remaining untouched. I''d love to try my hand at spelunking something like this once in a while and see how it all works." Akira shed Renatta a cheeky grin and shot her a thumbs-up. "Well, well, you''vee to the right gang for this job! It''s been ages since we''ve had some action like this, and we''re itching for it! No need to fret about us taking care of the heavy lifting. We''ll keep those pesky monsters off your back while you work your magic. My trusty shield and I are your personal bodyguards!" Sora couldn''t help but yfully jab her brother in the side. "Come on, bro, did you really have to go all cheesy on us? But don''t think you can slip that past me," she teased, shooting him a mischievous grin that had him breaking into a nervous sweat. I nodded in agreement. "Honestly, I think taking some action is a good idea. Going on a dungeon raid might just cure our boredom. So, when do we kick things off?" Renatta shed a grin and turned to the group. "How about right now?" ... ... ... With our decision made, we wasted no time and began our preparations. I took charge of gathering the necessary supplies for our uing dungeon dive, making sure everyone had what they needed. I also mapped out some practical instructions and tactical ns, which we could adapt depending on the cave''s conditions. I couldn''t deny the excitement building within me. It had been too long since ourst adventure like this. Once our preparations wereplete, we congregated outside the mansion, waiting for the rest of the team to finish getting ready. I arrived first, followed by the siblings, with Pandora trailing behind them. The elves had donned theirbat gear, a transformation that showcased Alena and Labo''s ranger-like attire while Renatta sported a more Druid-inspired outfit. I couldn''t help but notice how stunning Renatta looked in her ensemble. While it revealed a bit of skin, including her midriff and legs, it still remained practical and suitable forbat, allowing her freedom of movement withoutpromising her defense. "Alright, everyone, it seems we''re all set for the dungeon raid. Here are some provisions I''ve put together for us. Keep them close and don''t hesitate to ask if you run low." I distributed various potions to everyone, including the elves. "You''ve certainly made thorough preparations," Renatta remarked, her surprise evident. "Absolutely. We''re about to plunge into a dangerous situation, and having these supplies can mean the difference between life and death. We won''t risk being unprepared and jeopardizing the safety of the whole group with one wrong move." "It seems like the level of discipline required for dungeon raids is a world apart from our regr hunting expeditions," Labo noted as he secured the potions in his inventory. "Indeed. In the dungeons, we''re not just dealing with monsters; we also have to navigate theyout and face numerous hazards. We need to be ready to adapt and ovee whatever challenges arise." Renatta nodded, taking the lead. "Alright, since we''re all geared up now, I''ll lead the way. Stay close and follow my lead closely, okay?" Chapter 936 Dungeon of the Corrupted Elves Chapter 936 Dungeon of the Corrupted Elves Renatta guided us away from the mansion, leading us to a less-traveled corner of the kingdom. We followed a narrow path that wound through a dense forest, asionally navigating aroundrge, scattered rocks. Renatta led the way, using her BO staff to clear the overgrown path. "I must apologize; it''s been quite some time since anyone tended to this pathway. As you can see, the tall grass has taken over." I voiced my concern, "Shouldn''t they maintain this ce better? If the road to the dungeon is neglected, one would think they might overlook the dungeon itself, leading to potential monster escapes or dungeon breaches." Renatta nodded, her expression serious. "That''s the puzzling aspect of this dungeon. My grandfather discovered it when he was just a child, and it has always been this way. They''ve made sure that the dungeon remains essible and the road is passable to prevent any mishaps or dungeon breaches." Dungeon Break ¨C a troubling phenomenon that urs when dungeons be overrun with monsters. When a dungeon can no longer contain the horde within, chaos ensues as these creatures spill out into the surrounding areas. To preemptively tackle this issue, any newly discovered dungeon is promptly recorded at the Adventurers'' Guild Headquarters. This ensures that if a Dungeon Break urs, adventurers can swiftly step in to quell the threat. Addressing a Dungeon Break and preventing its recurrence demands regr maintenance and exploration of the dungeons. Achieving permanent closure, however, is a formidable challenge. It involves reaching the heart of the dungeon, the most heavily guarded and inessible region, typically requiring a guild-sanctioned quest to neutralize it. Most of the time, dungeons remain untouched, serving as an ever-flowing source of materials and items. These subterraneanbyrinths are even considered treasure troves, thanks to their propensity to generate valuable artifacts. As a result, dungeons continue to exist, meeting their end only when they pose a significant, irrevocable menace that warrants their destruction. Encountering an abandoned dungeon, seemingly untouched by raiders and devoid of any Dungeon Break incidents, raised a perplexing question. I couldn''t ascertain how long it had eluded exploration, but the prolonged absence of Dungeon Breaks struck me as profoundly unusual. Ordinarily, dungeons left untended and unassaulted for any substantial duration are liable to experience a Dungeon Break within a mere five days. This phenomenon is particrlymon in lower-level dungeons, especially when the majority of adventurers have surpassed the need for such rudimentary quests. Turning to Renatta, I inquired, "Could this dungeon be in a state of dormancy, perhaps?" Her quizzical expression suggested that she was unfamiliar with the concept of Dormant Dungeons. "Dormant Dungeons," I exined, "are those that have yet to be activated, remaining unexplored and unraided. Consequently, they remain immune to the usual cycle of Dungeon Breaks until their activation." Renatta pondered for a moment before responding, "No, this one isn''t dormant. However, it''s not in a state ofplete ruin either. We continue to witness regr monster spawns within its depths. In contrast, destroyed dungeons cease to produce new monsters; only the remaining ones persist. Moreover, this dungeon has endured multiple raids, disqualifying it from dormancy." "Well, enough of the chatter; we''ve arrived! Behold, the dungeon!" Renatta proudly unveiled the looming entrance she had spoken of. We found ourselves before a dpidated structure in the heart of the forest, resembling ancient ruins. It appeared to be a single edifice, but its structure hinted at an undergroundbyrinth. To explore it, raiders would need to delve deep into the dungeon, confronting formidable challenges until they reached the final boss. Adjacent to the ruinsy an aged and neglected Teleport Station. I cautiously stepped onto its tform, watching as it emitted a faint glow, signaling that it still functioned. "My grandfather constructed this Teleport Station after conquering this very dungeon. However, it''s only operational once you''ve cleared the entire dungeon and defeated the final boss. In essence, it''s a useless relic until you achieve that," Renatta rified. Akira''s eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Your grandpa must have been quite the powerhouse." Renatta nodded solemnly. "Indeed, he was. Much stronger than most elves. ording to his stories, before he settled down, he was an adventurer. He and his party were renowned for their expertise in dungeon raiding. I''ve heard that many of Resurgia''s Teleport Stations owe their existence to my grandfather''s efforts." Hearing that revtion caught me off guard. While I rarely utilize it, the Teleport Stations y a crucial role, especially when you consider the alternative: a tedious backtrack through the dungeon. It was unexpected that Renatta''s grandfather was behind this innovation. With this newfound knowledge, our first instinct was to scour the surroundings for any additional hints or clues the dungeon might offer about its denizens. Unfortunately, our efforts yielded no insights. Consequently, we had no choice but to venture deeper into the dungeon. Like many dungeons, we had the option to select our desired difficulty level. Although the mechanics behind this feature remained shrouded in mystery despite the fact that the Alternate World has be a reality for all of us instead of a game, my assumption was that the dungeon''s core adjusted the number of adversaries based on the raiders'' chosen difficulty setting. Renatta began by inquiring about the specifics of the difficulty settings. As veterans of such challenges, we readily provided her with an overview of each difficulty level. We made it clear that the more demanding settings would only be essible once we conquered the easier ones, with Easy and Normal modes being readily avable from the outset. Curiously, this particr dungeon defied convention by presenting us with the option to activate the Hard Difficulty immediately upon entry, a departure from the norm. Upon crossing the dungeon''s threshold, we found ourselves in a dusty mausoleum that could easily have been mistaken for a desert hideaway. This struck us as peculiar, considering it was a far cry from the typical dungeons we encountered in Sandurk. The resemnce was uncanny. Our initial steps into the dungeon''s depths led us to an unsettling sight: shadowy figures lurking about, seemingly indifferent until we invaded their territory. Abruptly, their eerie heads twisted towards us, and their haunting wails pierced the air, creating an ominous ambiance. ----- [Corrupted Elves] Level: 300 HP: 30,000/30,000 MP: ????/????? Traits: Corrupted, Undead, Elf, Corrosion ----- "Corrupted Elves? How the heck did they end up here?!" Alena''s brows furrowed as she swiftly drew her bow, unleashing a volley of arrows at the sinister figures. "First time I''ve seen so many Corrupted Elves packed together!" Labo joined the fray, arrow after arrow finding its mark before the enemy could react. "No time for chitchat, folks. Let''s focus on the brawl and chatter!" Renatta twirled her Bo staff, knocking out shadowy foes with rapid, precise strikes. Akira and Sora were right in the thick of it, with Akira expertly shielding their rangedpanions and pummeling any foes that dared to approach, while Sora relentlessly unleashed her magic spells without a break. Pandora held the rear line, her [Chains of the Heavens] slicing through enemies one by one. Pixie''s unwavering attention was on keeping everyone patched up, with a special focus on Akira, who bore the brunt of the enemy''s onught. Her healing powers ensured Akira''s health remained full and bolstered the entire team with useful buffs. As for me, I joined the relentless onught, cutting down Corrupted Elves left and right. Their numbers weren''t a concern, and their health levels were manageable. But it was their substantial MP reserves that gave me pause. Could they unleash devastating spells if we didn''t act swiftly? It was a possibility we couldn''t afford to risk. With our collective strength, we wiped them out before they could cast any troublesome incantations. After the intense battle, we found ourselves sifting through the spoils left behind by our fallen foes. Among the treasures we gathered were an array of essories, potent potions, and a substantial amount of coinage. It was, by all ounts, a bountiful haul. However, any semnce of celebration was eclipsed by the disquiet that had settled upon Renatta and the elves in our party. It was evident that they were deeply troubled by our encounter with the Corrupted Elves. "I always wondered why the elves steered clear of this ce," mused Labo as he retrieved his arrows from the remnants of the fallen monsters. "Now I understand why." Sora, seeking rity, inquired, "Are these Corrupted Elves really that much of a threat?" "For us, yes," replied Alena with a gravitas that conveyed the seriousness of the matter. "Corrupted Elves are our own kin who have sumbed to death and then been resurrected to serve as instruments of destruction, targeting their living brethren. Engaging them inbat is deeply unsettling, for they bear a disconcerting resemnce to our own kind. It feels like we are pitted against our own flesh and blood." Pandora chimed in, "So, they''re like undead or zombies, just with a different twist?" "Indeed," Renatta affirmed. "They share simrities with the undead, but there''s a crucial difference. While zombies are mindless, driven solely by their insatiable hunger for flesh, Corrupted Elves retain their intelligence. They continue to wield the powers of elves, with a particr affinity for manipting mana. This makes them formidable adversaries, capable of casting powerful and devastating spells that we should never underestimate." Sora, still processing this information, raised a valid concern. "But they seem rather weakpared to us. Should we really fear them?" Renatta''s response was a stark reminder of the true danger they posed. "Yes, you may have noticed the peculiar question mark on their mana. That symbolizes their unparalleled connection to the Ether, granting them the ability to tap into mana without significant depletion. This allows them to unleash potent spells and wreak havoc in ways we cannot afford to underestimate." Chapter 937 Tomb of the Elves Chapter 937 Tomb of the Elves After a few more minutes of searching, we stumbled upon a path leading downstairs, not too far from the room where we had our unsettling encounter with those corrupted elves. It beckoned us to venture deeper into the dungeon. "This ce is massive. I wonder how it came to be," Akira marveled as we pressed on through thebyrinthine corridors of the second floor. "Probably formed in the usual mysterious dungeon way, I suppose? Dungeons have this knack for appearing out of nowhere; it''s impossible to predict," Soramented with a casual shrug. "Indeed," Renatta chimed in. "My grandfather mentioned that this dungeon just sprouted up one day, out of the blue. If he hadn''t been exploring, we''d have never known it existed." As we continued, Renatta abruptly halted and signaled for us to keep quiet and stay low. "What did you spot, Renatta?" I inquired. "Take a look to your left," she whispered. We turned slowly, our eyes fixed on the direction Renatta had indicated. There, weid eyes on yet another corrupted elf, different in appearance from the ones we''d encountered earlier. "That''s definitely a hybrid," I remarked, furrowing my brow as I watched it move on all fours. "Yeah, it''s a hybrid for sure. Let''s handle this quietly with a bow and arrow. Alena, Labo, you''re up," Renatta said, her tone serious butposed. "Got it," Alena and Labo responded in unison, sliding into position and readying their bows. With synchronized precision, they notched their arrows and waited for the perfect moment. The Corrupted Elf continued its oblivious stride,pletely unaware of the impending danger. Then, in a swift and coordinated move, Alena and Labo released their arrows. The projectiles streaked through the air, hitting their mark with lightning speed. The Corrupted Elf had no time to react. An arrow struck its body with lethal force, and it crumpled to the ground, life extinguished in an instant. "Let''s tread carefully. There might be more lurking nearby," I cautioned, my toneced with seriousness. With caution in mind, we advanced slowly, our guard levels at their peak. We hadn''t ventured far from our first encounter with a monster when we spotted four more in the distance. "I''ve got eyes on four more of them," Akira reported with a hint of concern in his voice. Taking charge this time, I stepped forward confidently. "Let me handle this, folks," I announced before slipping into [Stealth] mode and quietly closing the gap on the quartet. My experience with stealth kills wasn''t extensive, but I had a decent grasp of the technique. As I drew nearer, my Versatile Weapon morphed into a dagger, ready for action. I patiently waited for the right moment as the monster shifted slightly to the side. Seizing the opportunity, I sprang into action, seizing the Corrupted Elf by the neck and swiftly executing my tactic: a lethal stab to the jugr, followed by a touch of [Heal]. The Corrupted Elf dropped lifeless, and I vanished into hiding once again, concealing myself from the others'' watchful eyes. Seconds passed, and another opening presented itself. With swift precision, I repeated the process, ensuring that the Corrupted Elf had no chance to defend itself. The kills were quick and efficient. And then came the fourth, following the third, giving me the chance to eliminate them all without raising any rms. "Whoa, I had no idea you could pull that off, Bro. I always thought you were more of a hands-on fighter, not the stealthy type," Sora eximed in astonishment. "I just haven''t had the right moment to show off my stealth skills, but I''ve got ''em," I replied casually. As we kept moving, Akira''s keen senses kicked in, and he quickly raised his shield in front of him. THUNK! A muffled sound resonated through the area as an arrow lodged itself into Akira''s shield. "Well, it looks like we can forget about stealth now," Pandora said, nodding towards the two sentry towers where Corrupted Elves were acting as snipers, taking potshots at us. Labo and Alena sprang into action as the Corrupted Elves reloaded their bows and arrows. They wasted no time, swiftly releasing their arrows, effectively neutralizing the threat and putting a stop to the enemy''s attacks. Yet, even as they picked off the Corrupted Elves in the sentry tower, it seemed like a never-ending cycle, with a fresh enemy stepping in for each one that fell. Meanwhile, down below, an onught of Corrupted Elves descended upon us. "Prepare for battle!" Renatta called upon her druidic powers, transforming herself into a formidable white tiger, and charging headfirst into the horde of monsters. Witnessing her transformation, I too tapped into my druidic abilities, morphing into a massive bear, and harnessing the Druid''s knack for shape-shifting. With the two of us leading the charge, the rest of ourrades swiftly followed suit. Alena and Labo held their ground beside Akira, expertly deflecting iing arrows while simultaneously unleashing a barrage of their own. It was a relentless game of cat and mouse with the snipers, as every time one was taken out, another swiftly took their ce. Pandora and Sora unleashed their abilities, swiftly taking down the Corrupted elves. Meanwhile, Renatta and I relied on our brute force and primal instincts to deal with the threat. After a few intense minutes, we managed to defeat every single Corrupted Elf attacking us. They dissolved into nothingness, leaving us to ensure there were no reinforcements. With a collective sigh of relief, we reverted to our normal forms and regrouped. Pixie wasted no time in tending to our wounds as we remained on high alert. "This is strange... this dungeon seems to be exclusively popted by Corrupted Elves. Could it be some kind of tomb or crypt?" Alena pondered, scanning our surroundings. "It''s a possibility. These Corrupted Elves can''t just spawn randomly in a dungeon. It''s likely that this ce has a dungeon core located within a tomb, using the deceased to create an endless supply of monsters for us to fight. I''ve never felt such unease before..." Renatta shook her head. "Are you suggesting we find and destroy the dungeon core?" I asked. "For now, let''s keep exploring. Until we have concrete proof, we should continue clearing this ce, even though it gives me the creeps," Renatta replied, examining our surroundings. I could only nod before deciding to inspect the sentry towers. The two sentry towers were solid stone structures, so demolishing them without explosives wasn''t an option. Additionally, there were rooms inside both towers that piqued our curiosity. Alena and Labo ventured inside to recover their arrows and assess their usability. Meanwhile, I took it upon myself to explore the small room within one of the sentry towers, and to my amazement, I stumbled upon a treasure chest. I approached the treasure chest cautiously, wary of any potential traps. Thankfully, it seemed that the creators hadn''t rigged it with any nasty surprises. With a sigh of relief, I gingerly opened it to reveal its contents: a collection of coins, an elegant garment that appeared to be of elven origin, and a peculiar piece of paper. As I examined the elven garb for any clues, I was met with frustration as an error message shed on the disy panel. It seemed this particr attire held no discernible information. "Manato-kun, have you found something?" Alena, who had just descended from the upper floor after retrieving her arrows, spotted me inspecting the mysterious garb. "Take a look at this, Alena. Doesn''t this garment resemble what the elves wear? I remember seeing a few elves in simr attire when we first arrived." Alena''s eyes widened in surprise. "Manato, hold on a moment. I need to get Renatta. She absolutely has to see this." Alena bolted out the door, urgently calling for Renatta. I couldn''t fathom why she was so keen on reaching out to Renatta. Did she share some mysterious connection with that peculiar garment that had thus far eluded my understanding? My gaze shifted to a small piece of paper nestled within the treasure chest. It had been there all along, but my initial curiosity had fixated on the enigmatic garment. Now, however, my focus shifted to the paper; it was high time I deciphered its contents. A sigh of disappointment escaped me as I scanned the unfamiliar letters adorning the paper. It was a sentenceposed of characters from anguage I couldn''t fathom. While I had a grasp of severalnguages used within the game and could decipher their words, this one remained an enigma, stubbornly resisting my efforts to unravel its meaning. Alena had just returned, and this time she had Renatta in tow. "Why the rush for me to see whatever it is?" Renatta was puzzled by Alena''s urgency. "Take a look at what Manato had in his hands. Isn''t that the same robe your grandmother used to wear before she vanished? I remember it vividly from the days when she was just as famous as your grandfather, before her sudden disappearance." Renatta''s gaze fell upon the garment in my hand. When sheid eyes on it, her expression shifted from confusion to sheer astonishment. Without a word, she reached out and snatched the garment from my grasp. "No way... this is my grandma''s robe, the one she wore before she disappeared! How on earth did it end up here?!" Chapter 938 Secrets Down Under Chapter 938 Secrets Down Under Renatta tightly clung to her grandmother''s old garment, as if it held the weight of the world in its fabric. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cradled the cherished item. "Grandma..." Renatta''s voice quivered with emotion. Curiosity piqued, I turned to Alena, who had been silently observing the scene beside me. I whispered, "Why do you think Renatta''s so emotional?" Alena shrugged, her gaze never leaving Renatta. "I don''t have all the details, just bits and pieces about her grandma. If you want to know, you''ll have to ask her yourself. But maybe it''s best to give her some space for now." Nodding in agreement, I suggested, "Yeah, let''s not interrupt her. We can talk about it outside." Alena and I quietly exited the room, leaving Renatta alone with her memories. As we walked away, Alena began filling me in on what she knew about Renatta''s grandmother. "Take it with a grain of salt, folks. Most of this is just publicly avable info, so I can''t vouch for its total uracy. Renatta-sama''s grandmother was one of the founders of the Elven Kingdom, alongside her husband, Renatta''s grandfather. These two are legends, known to all as the elves who kickstarted this whole elf kingdom gig." "Sounds like they were pretty big shots," I remarked, impressed by Renatta''s grandparents. "Oh, they were, and still are. They''re considered the rightful rulers of the Elven Kingdom, almost like living symbols blessed by the Goddess. Everyone knows them as such. However, here''s the twist: Renatta''s grandmother and her hubby, were more into adventures than building up the kingdom, much to the annoyance of some of the older folks," Alena continued. "So, did they just carry on with their adventures and keep going on their journey?" I ventured a guess. "Pretty much, but not quite. They stuck around to help build the kingdom, but they passed up the chance to be the rulers. Instead, they preferred to be the founders and support the kingdom''s growth without sitting on the throne. The ones who ruled were their son and his wife, who became the king and queen. They''re still the king and queen, by the way. As for Renatta''s grandparents, they continued their adventurous ways, clearing dungeons and setting up those Teleport Stations. But then, one day, it all came to a halt." "Did something happen to them?" "No one knows. They just vanished without a word. No one could figure out where they went, and they didn''t drop any hints that they''d be gone for long. They simply disappeared, and their tales of building a kingdom out of thin air are all that remains." They just vanished into thin air? That''s rather unsettling, especially considering the clothing I found in that chest. Then, I just remembered something. I turned to Alena once more, holding out the unreadable paper. "Alena, can you make sense of this?" Alena looked at the paper in my hands and she frowned. "Isn''t this Elven Language? Where did you get this?" "Elven Language?" I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it''s Elven Language. And I can understand it perfectly. It had a single sentence that said, ''I will be waiting at the bottom.'' That''s the whole message." "I will be waiting at the bottom?" I pondered. Did that mean Renatta''s grandmother was inviting us to go deeper? "So, where did you find this?" Alena inquired once more. "It was among the things in the treasure chest where I found Renatta''s grandma''s garment." "What? So, this note could be something her grandmother left behind?" Alena eximed. "It''s possible. How about we show it to her?" I suggested. At that moment, Renatta emerged and overheard our conversation. "What are you going to show me?" Renatta asked, still clutching her grandmother''s garment. "Take a look at this, Renatta-sama. Manato found it inside the chest along with the garment you''re holding," Alena exined. "Wait, what?" Renatta immediately snatched the note from Alena''s hand and read the words. Then, tears welled up in her eyes once more. "Grandmother, she must still be alive! She left this for me, or for any elves, to find her! She''s down there, waiting for a rescue! Maybe she''s with Grandpa!" "Rx, Renatta. I get your excitement, but charging headlong into a dungeon isn''t the smartest move, especially with these Corrupted Elves lurking about. We can''t just assume this will be a cakewalk," I cautioned Renatta, hoping to keep her from doing anything reckless. "You''re right, my bad. I just got carried away knowing this belonged to my grandmother. Time''s ticking, though, Manato. We need to let the others know and find our way down ASAP." We grabbed all of the loot we could get on this floor. The other sentry tower also had a chest as well but it was only containing a few bottles of potions of the lesser kind that we carry and more gold coins. We divided the gold coins into everyone''s coin purses. ... ... We pressed on through the dungeon, stumbling upon another room infested with Corrupted Elves. This time, Renatta effortlessly dispatched them, her earlier hesitationpletely gone. Thanks to her, we swiftly cleared the room, revealing a set of stairs leading deeper into the abyss. As we descended, the surroundings grew darker, making navigation a real challenge. If it weren''t for Sora''s [Light] spell, we''d be fumbling around in the pitch-ck. "This ce is giving me the creeps. We''ve faced dungeons with undead and eerie themes before, but this is the first time I''ve felt genuine dread," Sora admitted, rubbing her arms to chase away the goosebumps. "It''s not that bad," Pandora countered. Perhaps she''d braved even scarier dungeons, given her nonchnt demeanor in this foreboding ce. "Should we take a breather?" Renatta inquired, concerned for the group. "Don''t worry about us. We''re used to this, so fatigue isn''t an issue unless you guys need a break," Sora reassured. "We''re good to go," Labo chimed in, flexing his arm to show his readiness. "Same here," Alena added. "Alright, but if any of you start feeling drained, don''t hesitate to speak up. I''d love to rush to the dungeon''s depths, but I can''t do that if mypanions are running on empty. Don''t be shy; just let me know," Renatta emphasized as we continued toward the next chamber. As we pressed on through the dungeon''s winding corridors, we stumbled upon a curious sight ¨C a series of rooms secured by doors. Now, these weren''t like anything we''d encountered on the first and second floors. Sure, there were those Sentry towers, but they hardly qualified as proper rooms with doors; they were more like mechanical guard posts. Whaty before us was an actual room,plete with a bona fide door. Instinctively, I approached the door, my eyes narrowing with suspicion. One thing you learn in dungeons is to never take anything at face value, especially when ites to doors. Dungeons have a knack for rigging them to trigger all sorts of traps. So, with caution, we deliberated our next move. "Is it booby-trapped?" Akira inquired. "Nah," I replied after a thorough examination. "This one seems safe. But it''s locked tight. Hold on a sec; I''ll work my lock-picking magic." With the finesse that only an Assassin ss member possessed, I set to work, employing my trusty lockpicks and my trustier [Lockpicking] skill. It took a bit of jiggling, and a smidge of timing, but finally, the door yielded with a satisfying click. With a sense of aplishment, I nudged the door open, revealing whaty beyond. But the moment it cracked open, an overwhelming wave of putrid stench assaulted our senses. It was so bad that every one of us, including yours truly, recoiled in disgust. I knew that smell immediately. "This ce reeks of a decaying corpse..." I wrinkled my nose, trying to ward off the unpleasant odor as I cautiously approached the room once more. "A dead body?" The expressions on everyone''s faces mirrored my disgust. "Yeah, but before we deal with that, let''s clear out this stench," I said, extending my right hand while the other mped my nose shut. "[Cleanse]!" The magic started working, gradually dispelling the putrid smell that had hung in the air. After a few moments, we could finally breathe freely again. I swung the door open wider and motioned for Sora to step closer, her [Light] skill illuminating the dark room perfectly. Just as I suspected, therey a lifeless body sprawled on the floor, with a treasure chest resting on itsp. We inspected the chest for traps or any signs of the bodying back to life, but there was nothing of the sort; it was just a lifeless corpse. As for the chest, it contains another set of gold coins and a few supplies as well but this time, there is a note among them like the other note we found in the second floor. Renatta and the others joined us to take a closer look, and when Renatta caught sight of the coat draped over the deceased, she eximed, "I can''t be mistaken. This coat belonged to my Grandfather, worn during his adventures with Grandmother!" Chapter 939 Descent into the Dungeon Chapter 939 Descent into the Dungeon The coat presumed to have been worn by Renatta''s grandfather now drapes over the decaying body in the small room. After thoroughly cleaning the coat with magic to eliminate any odors or traces of rot, Renatta decided to keep it alongside her grandmother''s garment. Akira, Labo, and I examined the corpse carefully, trying to discern any clues about the body''s identity, including its gender and whether it belonged to a human or an elf. Sora and Pandora wanted to assist but couldn''t bear the sight of the body, so they opted to sit this one out. As for Alena and Pixie, they were busy examining the fine particles of hair found near the deceased. Initially, it appeared to be elf hair, but after a closer inspection by Alena with Pixie''s help, that assumption was disproven. At first nce, it appears as though the corpse stumbled into the room and remained there until it reached its final moments. However, upon closer inspection, we discovered a chain attached to one of the corpse''s hands, with the other end secured to the wall behind it. We hadn''t initially noticed this detail because the hand chained to the wall had already be detached from the deceased body, which eluded our initial observation. "If this person is chained, does that imply they were a prisoner who met their end here?" Akira scratched his head in contemtion. "It''s a possibility, but it doesn''t entirely exin how the treasure chest, currently resting on the corpse''sp, came to be here. Was it ced there by someone, or was it already present before the person''s demise? And why did we find Renatta''s grandfather''s coat draped over this corpse?" I pondered aloud. Alena approached, holding the remaining strands of hair we had collected from the floor near the corpse. "My assumption is that Renatta-sama''s grandfather passed through here and came across this deceased individual. Since the body had no clothing, perhaps as a sign of respect, he chose to cover it before continuing on his way. As for the treasure chest, I suspect it was positioned after Renatta-sama''s grandpa had ced his coat. I can only assume that Renatta''s grandfather himself is the one responsible for cing these chests." "I see. Since we found a note inside a chest, they are using the treasure chests to lure and encourage anyone who enters to continue descending the dungeon. Since we couldn''t find any good loot aside from these treasure chests, many dungeon divers won''t have any sort of incentive to dive deeper without getting any chests," I immediately understood his mindset. "Is that how most adventurers think when diving inside a dungeon and not because they want to get rid of the monsters living inside?" Labo was surprised by what I had said and how the mindset of adventurers works. "Pretty much. Adventurers and yers are not doing free work, and if they do, they are just grinding for levels, which is why they work without getting many physical rewards. That is also one of the main reasons they dive into a dungeon in the first ce, to find treasures that will allow them to improve their gear. It''s a perpetual grind for everyone," Akira further exined, knowing how the work of being a mercenary for yers works. In the end, we don''t have much information to go on with just this many clues. We couldn''t determine the identity of the corpse either, as we are not experts in human anatomy. Therefore, we decided it''s best not to dwell on it too much. However, we do know that the corpse is not an elf, which brings a sense of relief to Renatta. At first, she had thought it might be her grandfather, but after the investigation, we confirmed that neither her grandmother nor her grandfather was the deceased person. All that remained was the coat covering the body which is one of the reasons she assumed the dead person as him. We naturally took the avable supplies and continued on our way. The same corrupted elves, now more numerous, began to appear more frequently. While they were not a significant threat, they did prove to be a rather annoying waste of time, to be honest. Renatta''s newfound determination transformed our descent into the dungeon into a seemingly effortless endeavor. With a pace reminiscent of speedrunners striving for record-breakingpletions in their games, she moved swiftly and efficiently. I found myself utterly astonished by her skill in dispatching adversaries. However, considering that Renatta was well aware of the person awaiting her at the dungeon''s depths, it came as no surprise that she would go to such lengths. After all, what wouldn''t Renatta do to reunite with the individuals she sought? I couldn''t help but empathize with her determination, as I had once embarked on a simr mission to rescue my traitorous fiancee from a different timeline. I understood firsthand the driving force behind Renatta''s resolve. As a result, we managed to descend floor after floor. What''s interesting is that on every floor, we only encountered Corrupted elves. They have be entirely predictable, and we can defeat them without any trouble, whether it''s ambushes or normal attacks. Despite their increasing numbers, they remain trivial obstacles in our descent. Now, as for the clues, we continued to collect multiple clues from the treasure chests scattered throughout the dungeon. Each floor yields one chest for us to discover, and the deeper we go, the more luxurious the contents of the chests be. This is what I was referring to when I mentioned it luring us deeper into the dungeon. Apart from the asional notes we find, which always carry the same message as before, the treasure chests keep providing us with incentives to venture further down into the dungeon. Currently, we''ve reached floor 35, and we still have no idea how deep this dungeon goes. One thing I''ve noticed is that as we continue to descend, the feeling of dread and the sense of corruption continue to envelop us. This feeling has grown even heavier now that we''re on floor 35, and exhaustion has taken hold of everyone. It''s also toote to turn back, as the ascent would require hours of climbingpared to our descent. "How deep does this dungeon go? This is the first time I''ve ventured into such a deep dungeon, but despite its depth, the monsters here haven''t changed. It''s as if the difficulty level remains constant," Pandora frowned as she tried to analyze our situation while we took a brief rest. "Indeed. Most dungeons usually be more challenging the deeper we delve, but we''re already quite deep, and yet, the dungeon remains unchanged. It''s almost as if it''s trying to lull us intocency, and I don''t like it," Akira said as he tightly gripped his shield. "We should rest here for the time being, replenish our strength until we are ready to continue moving. We can also have a few people scout ahead to see if the next floor remains a problem," Sora suggested. "Then I will scout the next floor. I''m not that tired right now," I offered. "Let me apany you," Pandora volunteered. "Are you sure? You looked a bit tired." "I''m fine. Besides, I haven''t done much right now, so it would be great to do something aside from fighting. A recon task would help alleviate my boredom as well." We took a brief rest before embarking on our recon mission. We descended to the next floor, and since we wanted to avoid conflict, we activated stealth mode. Since Pandora couldn''t enter stealth mode without the skill [Stealth], and she hadn''t purchased it, I helped by lending her a magic scroll of [Stealth]. I had plenty of them on hand in case situations like running out of mana arose, and I needed a quick getaway. A scroll like this would be helpful in the long run. There are plenty of Corrupted Elves here as well, but we didn''t engage in battle against them. We are on a recon mission and not to annihte them unless we really have to. As we continued to move, we soon arrived on a single road that led us to a big room. It was arge dome-like room, and there was no other way forward, only the road from which we came. "This is the boss room..." Pandora guessed. "Which means this is also the final floor, then?" I frowned. We didn''t know if this is thest boss, but seeing that we didn''t have any areas that would let us proceed further meant we had reached the final floor after descending. No wonder Floor 35 is not as tedious as the previous floors; it is the floor that will let us prepare for the next battle. "How about we take a sneak peek at the boss?" Pandora asked. "Isn''t that dangerous?" I frowned. Even in [Stealth] mode, there is a chance we might trigger the boss and awaken it. "It is, but we need to ensure we can learn what our enemy is. We are doing this casually from time to time, right? We should also do this for this dungeon as well," Pandora suggested. "Fine, let''s check it out." But as the saying goes, "Curiosity kills the cat," it seems we shouldn''t have done that and should have waited for everyone to be there before we checked. '' Chapter 940 Duo Chapter 940 Duo Our [Stealth] was still in effect as we cautiously entered the boss room. No signs of movement from the enemy, but the overwhelming sense of foreboding had only grown stronger. It was bing suffocating, to be honest. We kept scanning our surroundings when, out of nowhere, our [Stealth] vanished prematurely. "Aw, crap! We''ve been made," I muttered as I swiftly armed myself with my trusty Versatile Weapon. Pandora, not missing a beat, gripped her greatsword and replied, "Looks like we don''t have a choice, do we?" The entire room suddenly zed with light, and the entrance we''de through erupted in mes. "Well, it seems like we won''t be making a hasty escape," I observed, my back against Pandora''s to cover any blind spots, in case the enemy decided to make a surprise entrance. The sense of dread I felt earlier? It''s gotten a whole lot worse, like gravity''s turned to mean and wants to squash us t. The floor''s even giving in, showing just how destructive this situation''s be. "Hey, Pandora, you holding up okay?" Pandora shed a quick nod and a half-smile. "Yeah, I''m good. This ain''t no biggie for me." She didn''t seem bothered at all by the pressure. Before we knew it, this massive, shadowy figure emerged right in front of us. Its form was all wavy and undefined like it couldn''t quite make up its mind about what it wanted to be. But one thing was certain ¨C this dude was responsible for that gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of our stomachs. ---- [Soul Eater] Level: 500 HP: 30,000,000/30,000,000 MP: ?????/????? Trait: Dark, Specter, Necromancer ----- A Soul Eater... and like the Corrupted Elves, this guy has full question marks on the mana bar too. That is concerning especially since this guy is also a Necromancer. If this guy has a lot of mana then summoning minions wouldn''t be a big bother to this guy at all. It would have been fine if this is a ghost but a Specter is the upgraded version of ghosts and the weaknesses of normal ghosts are the resistance of the Specters. "Do you think you''ve got what it takes to take on this guy, Pandora?" I asked, my gaze fixed on her. Pandora smirked and replied, "Well, don''t doubt me. I used to be the big shot in my previous party before joining this one." She waved her hand, summoning golden chains that lunged at the Soul Eater with casual confidence. We''ve got no other option here, thanks to the Soul Eater blocking our path, our only way out is to take it down ande out on top. But you know what? I''m not sweating it. "If you''re that sure of yourself, how about we settle this mano-a-mano? Let''s see who can deal the most damage between us two. What do you say?" I transformed my Versatile Weapon into its magic sword form and struck a fighting pose. "Haha, I dig your confidence. But don''t assume you''ll outshine me just because you''ve got all those skills up your sleeve. I''m not going down without a fight!" Pandora unshackled more golden chains and got her massive greatsword ready for action. Watching her abandon her usual stand-and-let-the-[Chains of the Heavens]-handle-it style, it was clear she meant business. "Heh, if you''re going all in, then count me in!" I set my Versatile Weapon aze and leaped into the air, brandishing it to the Soul Eater. While Pandora''s attacks were impressive, I''d learned that the Soul Eater, despite its smoky appearance, had a solid, tangible form underneath all that smoke. It was a bona fide monster with a real body. It just seems to be using the smoky appearance to scare its enemies. FWOOOM! My de sliced through the air, erupting into mes that singed the sinister Soul Eater. It was like dishing out a minor scratch, and the big bad creature barely flinched. But hey, no one said this fight was going to be a walk in the park. The Soul Eater didn''t seem too bothered by my attacks, but its health bar was taking a slow nosedive. It''s funny how something can look so nonchnt while slowly crumbling on the inside. I hit the ground and sprung right back up, refusing to let up on the assault. My trusty Versatile Weapon descended upon the Soul Eater once more, and this time, I decided it was time to whip out one of those special moves I''d been neglecting. "[Eruption]!" [Eruption] is a Magic Knight''s 4th-tier skill that evolved from [Lava Fountain], a 3rd-tier skill that also evolved from [Lava Geyser]. Converting my mana into mes, the moment itnded straight on the boss, the mes turned to liquid and exploded into pieces, causing mes to spread all over the Soul Eater, which, as a result, started inflicting fixed damage at 2-second intervals. Just as I was ready to unleash my attacks again, a golden chain zoomed into my side andnded directly on the Soul Eater''s body, firmly staying there. Then, Pandora came running to the chain with the greatsword she was holding, using only one hand to grip and carry it while her free hand was busy conjuring bright magic. The Soul Eater wasn''t just sitting there, taking our attacks without a care. It let out a deafening roar, and out of nowhere, a bunch of ghostly figures materialized, filling the skies and ground. It was like a ghost invasion. Suddenly, as if they''d all received a memo, these spectral beings made a beeline straight into the Soul Eater''s gaping maw, disappearing in one gulp. In the blink of an eye, all the Health Points we had managed to chip away from the Soul Eater were replenished. It should have been disheartening, but I couldn''t help but burst intoughter. Pandora was taken aback by my sudden outburst, but once she witnessed the bizarre spectacle, she couldn''t help but grin, herpetitive spirit ring up. "It seems that the Soul Eater''s ying nice today, patching up all the bruises we''ve given it," I mused, getting ready for another round. Now I get why they call this guy ''Soul Eater'' and why it''s tagged as a Necromancer. The reason? Well, it''s not summoning its creepy critters to take us down; it''s using "True that. More opportunities for us to prove who''s the real boss in this showdown," Pandora grinned, her massive sword lighting up like it''s had a divine makeover. The Soul Eater probably expected us to be a bit more shocked by its recovery, but we''re just here, cool as cucumbers, not fazed one bit. Now I get why they call this guy ''Soul Eater'' and why it''s tagged as a Necromancer. The reason? Well, it''s not summoning its creepy critters to take us down; it''s using them like a sort of supernatural first aid kit. It''s a pretty slick move, I have to admit. But here''s the thing: it''s also what makes Soul Eater our go-to punching bag. See, it''s not just patching up its wounds with those monster buddies; it''s also making sure it sticks around a lot longer. It''s got a hefty 30 million health points, which might sound intimidating, but honestly, it''s not that big of a deal. We''ve already chipped away 3 million of those just with some casual hits and a few skills before it patched itself up. "Hey, Pandora, how about we go all out and not give this guy a chance to recover? What do you think?" Pandora shrugged, "Ending the match quickly might not be as much fun, you know." "Hmm, true. But wouldn''t it be better to wipe this guy out before it even has a chance to retaliate? It seems more focused on healing itself and keeping us at bay with pressure. We just need to unleash our full power after its attacks," I argued. "Got it, so we''re looking to prevent it from healing whilepeting to see who can deal the most damage. You doe up with some crazy ideas, don''t you? Alright, but no holding back, deal?" "Haha, why would I hold back? that''s no fun. Of course, it''s a deal!" I can feel the Soul Eater shudder but I don''t know if it understood what we just said but we don''t care. Since it decided to show its power, then we will also do our best as well. We are not here to give mercy to this guy after all. .... .... .... .... Not too far from the ongoing battle, two figures stood in the shadows, keeping their cool as they observed the sh between the warriors and the colossal soul eater. "Check this out. Instead of running scared from the Soul Eater, those two are turning it into apetition to see who can deal the most damage. They''ve figured out that the beast regains health by using its abilities," the person on the left said, a sly grin on their face, their fan discreetly hiding a smirk. "Brutal, but I can''t deny it''s effective. Even in our day, we never left monsters suffering endlessly like this. These two don''t seem bothered by the pressure the Soul Eater''s dishing out," the person on the right remarked, their expression marked with disapproval. "Could these be the ones we''re after?" "Who''s to say? If they are, it''s about time. I''m sick of hanging around here indefinitely. At least, they''re not elves; otherwise, they''d have joined us already. Once that guy bites the dust, we can finally pack up and leave." Chapter 941 Beat it Until It Drops Chapter 941 Beat it Until It Drops SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! BOOM! KACHA! KACHA! KACHA! SWOOSH! Pandora and I kept up our relentless assault on the Soul Eater, showing no mercy as we quickly dispatched its healing ghosts, preventing it from regaining any strength. "This fe''s a bit of a walk in the park, don''t you think? It''s like it''s not even putting up a fight. Is it just lurking around for the sake of lurking?" Pandoramented with a casual shrug as she sent more chains toward the Soul Eater. "You should cut it some ck. It''s trying to look scary, but it''s not exactly nailing the whole menacing thing. It didn''t sign up to be a walk in the park for us," I advised Pandora, all while keeping the pressure on the poor guy. "You''ve got a point there. The more it squirms, the more satisfying it is." Pandora and I kept unleashing our arsenal of spells and attacks on the Soul Eater. Fortunately, it was vulnerable to both physical and magical assaults, so it didn''t matter which type of damage we dealt ¨C we weren''t exactly running low on options. Facing a major setback, the Soul Eater opted for a tactical retreat. Pandora wasn''t about to let it off the hook that easily. "You''re not slipping away that effortlessly!" She chucked a little ball of light that clung to the Soul Eater before vanishing into thin air. The sneaky Soul Eater disappeared into the shadows, presumably to patch itself up, but Pandora''s light ball had other ns. Even as it melted into the darkness, it cast a gleam that betrayed the Soul Eater''s hideout, ultimately exposing its secret sanctuary. "That''s an interesting move, Pandora." "Of course, it''s me we''re discussing here, and you know I''m pretty good at this," Pandora replied with a yful grin. "Hmm, well, I''ll give you credit for that one. But let''s focus on getting that guy out of hiding. I''ve got an idea," I said, reaching into my inventory and producing a scroll then tearing it into two. A sudden gust of wind materialized in front of us, slowly enveloping everything in its path, though it left us unaffected. "[Swallowing Gale]? That''s quite a rare scroll. It''s a tier 6 spell!" Pandora raised an eyebrow. "Of course, it''s me we''re discussing here, and you know I''m pretty good at this," I said, yfully echoing her words from earlier. Pandora gave me a yful nudge, chuckling, "You''re being quite cheeky, aren''t you?" The [Swallowing Gale] continued its relentless onught, devouring every ghost in its path. The ghosts that had just been spawned were wiped out, and the lurking Soul Eater was rudely ejected from the shadows by the relentless spell''s suction, making it scramble to escape and ultimately dissipate. As soon as it resurfaced, we wasted no time inunching another assault. The Soul Eater tried to shake us off, but we pressed on without breaking a sweat, both of us vying to see who could deal the most damage. Before long, the Soul Eater''s HP dropped to a critical level. "Check it out, my spells and sword swings are hitting harder," I grin at Pandora, giving my bicep a yful flex. "Hmm, you wish! I''m pretty sure I did most of the damage earlier. Even if you just out-damaged me this time, it doesn''t necessarily mean you''ve out-damaged me overall against this guy." We kept pounding on the Soul Eater like it owed us money, not breaking a sweat. It was almostical how we were locked in this unspokenpetition to see who could dish out the most damage. The Soul Eater? Well, it must''ve been questioning its life choices right about then. I mean, it tried to flex its healing powers, but it couldn''t even patch up a paper cut. And when it attempted to summon a bunch of hostile ghosts to gang up on us, we didn''t even break a sweat, taking them all down one by one. Then we just got right back to our little beatdown on the poor Soul Eater. We made it suffer, no doubt about that. Maybe, in a final desperate move to slow us down and give itself a fighting chance, the dungeon boss decided to throw some heavy hitters our way. It conjured up some towering ghosts and a bunch of Corrupted Elves. Pandora''s eyes lit up when she spotted the Corrupted Elves. "Well, well, it seems we''ve stumbled upon the source of those pesky elves from the upper floors," she remarked with a grin. I nodded knowingly. "No surprise there, it''s the dungeon boss, after all." With that, I dove into the battle against the Corrupted Elves and the big ghosts. The Soul Eater, in all its sinister grandeur, met its demise even before it got a chance to lift a finger. Those wayward ghosts and those misfit Corrupted Elves that it spawned? Well, they hardly had a chance to cause any trouble. The instant they showed up, we pounced on ''em, hitting ''em hard and fast to ensure our damage-per-second was more than enough to wipe ''em out. After it finally croaked, a bunch of loot plopped onto the floor, right next to four gleaming treasure chests that were practically dripping with gold. Honestly, I couldn''t believe our luck, especially since the boss was basically a waste of time ¨C just a glorified punching bag. "Whoa, check out those treasure chests. It''s not every day a boss coughs up four of them," Pandora chimed in, rushing over to inspect the loot. As for me, I checked the materials dropped instead and met disappointment. "I''m not too thrilled about these drops, to be honest. Most of them seem prettyckluster, and I can''t really see a use for them. Maybe Almira will find them more appealing?" I went through the loot carefully, and either they''re just not up to par in terms of quality or they''re not really fitting for my specialty in crafting. It''s a bit disappointing, considering we took down that boss and all, but the loot isn''t all that impressive. Pandora made her way to the treasure chests. She opened one of them, and while I was still engrossed in sifting through the loot, she nudged me on the shoulder. "Hey, Manato, check this out. This little booklet, it feels like I have seen this before." I shifted my attention to what Pandora had discovered. When my eyes met the booklet she held, I couldn''t believe my eyes. The booklet she stumbled upon in that chest? It''s a piece of the long-lost Necromancer legacy. I snatched it up, but as soon as my fingers made contact, it vanished into thin air. A notification popped up, announcing the restoration of yet another part of the Necromancer''s legacy. Pandora couldn''t help but be curious, "Have you been gathering these for a while?" I replied casually, "Oh, yeah. I''ve had this thing since the days of my deheart character. It just carried over even after we reset to level 1 and changed characters. So whenever Ie across it, I make sure to snag it. I''ll give it a closer lookter." Pandora gave a nod and turned her attention back to the treasure chests. This time, her gaze fixed on the second one. She popped it open, and inside, there was just one ring. The ring had a skull with eerie, glowing eyes. It was reminiscent of the kind of bling you''d see on a biker''s hand. "This ring''s got some serious spook factor," Pandoramented nonchntly, pushing it in my direction as if to say she wasn''t too keen on it. "I actually think it''s pretty cool," I said, plucking the ring out of the chest. It was a bit perplexing that a colossal treasure chest like this would only contain a single ring. I mean, does this ring have its own VIP section in there, or what? In any case, I checked the ring''s description. ---- [Ring of The Reaper] Type: Ring Equipment Equippable at Level: 300 Equippable by: All sses Stats: AGI: 179 (That''s some fancy fingerwork!) INT: 230 (Because brains are just as important as brawn!) Special Skill: 1. (Soul Converter) - allows the user to convert the lifeforce of the monsters killed into a source of power, source of healing, or store it forter use. So, monsters beware, your lifeforce might end up as someone''s power snack! 2. (Soul Bank) - a special chamber to contain the converted souls before it can be used forter purposes. It''s like a secure vault for those ghostly investments! Description: A ring used by a necromancer once to store a bunch of souls to use as fuel for his Necromancer activities. It can carry multiple harvested souls in one go wherever the user goes. However, he failed to conquer one ghost and attacked him, freeing the other ghosts in the process which then proceeded to attack him and brutally kill him in the process. (Moral of the story: Don''t mess with ghosts or bite more than you can chew... literally!) Note: Although the note has a scary background, it no longer does that as someone has rewritten or remade the whole item. Guess you would be happy to at least use it without turning into a ghost chow huh? (Phew, no more ghostly surprises, we promise!) Durability: 10,000/10,000 Chapter 942 The Founders of the Elven Kingdom 942 The Founders of the Elven Kingdom As the duo focused on meticulously inspecting their current loot, a short distance away, two figures were experiencing a miraculous transformation. Having recently broken free from their petrified state, their once stony visages now bore the supple flesh of life once more. They eagerly brushed away the remnants of dust and stone that clung to their rejuvenated forms. "By the stars, it worked! We''ve escaped the clutches of petrification," the young man jubntly dered, stretching his limbs, which had been rigid for what felt like an eternity. Hispanion, a young woman, chuckled softly while wiping away thest remnants of stone from her body. "True, I didn''t have high hopes for those two, but they made quick work of the creature we struggled to vanquish." Gazing back at the pair who remained engrossed in their activities, the man mused, "These individuals possess considerable strength. Could our son have enlisted their aid? It seems unlikely they were merely hired for this mission." "Perhaps," the woman replied, skepticism evident in her tone. "Our son is cunning, but it seems a bit too straightforward for his taste to hire two strangers outright." "They may not beplete strangers. It''s possible they''ve been allies of the kingdom for quite some time. After all, we don''t even know how many years have passed since we were petrified. The world may have changed significantly during our slumber. When I saw them effortlessly defeat the monster, it sparked a glimmer of hope," the young man shook his head, sweeping away thest stone fragments from his long hair, now unbraided. "You''re right," she agreed, straightening her attire and adjusting her weapons. "Once this is over, we should introduce ourselves. Without their intervention, we might have remained as statues indefinitely." "It''s humbling to admit that we''re far behind in power, but forming a connection with them could be our saving grace. Witnessing their ability to vanquish a threat beyond our current strength, aligning with them could tip the scales in our favor," the young man said as they cautiously approached the two individuals engrossed in their task. ... ... ... "Pandora, do you sense it?" I inquired. "Yes, I do," Pandora responded, her gaze unwavering on the loot we were meticulously appraising. "Are they friend or foe? You possess the passive ability to discern their intent," I reminded her. "No sign of hostility," she replied. "Seems like a neutral party approaching." "Even so, caution is still paramount," I remarked, unsheathing my weapon and preparing to defend. Pandora halted her examination of the loot, mirroring my actions in readiness. In the shroud of shadows, mysterious figures drew near, gradually unveiling themselves as they crossed into the well-lit portion of the area. Pandora and I exchanged startled nces,pletely caught off guard by the presence of these unexpected visitors. efforts against the Soul Eater," the "young" woman curtsied gracefully. 18:33 "Good evening to both of you. No need for weapons; wee in peace," the "young" man extended an open palm in a calming gesture. "Indeed, we harbor no ill intent. Our purpose is to express our heartfelt gratitude for your valiant efforts against the Soul Eater," the "young" woman curtsied gracefully. Though they bore the appearance of youth, their elven heritage meant that their true ages surpassed the century mark. It was a subtle reminder that appearances could be deceiving, much like Renatta, Alena, and Labo who, despite their youthful looks, had lived through many more years than anyone else in our group. Suspicion arose from their distinct features. The "youthful" woman bore an uncanny resemnce to Renatta, with the only difference being her hair, which was a striking shade of white. If Renatta also had white hair rather than blonde, the two would be indistinguishable. The "young" man disyed subtle hints of Renatta''s features, though it wasn''t quite convincing. The one undeniable trait shared with Renatta was their lustrous, golden hair. Pandora''s inquiry cut short my contemtion of the two and Renatta. "Did we rescue you two?" she asked. "Yes, after defeating the Soul Eater, its malevolent curse was finally lifted, and our bodies gradually returned to our normal, natural state. We owe a profound debt of gratitude to both of you forpleting this arduous task," the young man exined. "Truly? That creature was capable of such devastation?" I asked, my brow furrowed in contemtion. It had seemed far less menacing than we had initially imagined, ending up more like a mere punching bag for the two of us. "Perhaps you both didn''t realize the extent of its menace, given that you are both human. The Soul Eater you confronted was a true master in hunting down and exploiting elves for its sinister purposes, which made it a dire threat to our elven kind." "Is that the main reason why we encountered so many Corrupted Elves on our journey?" Pandora inquired. "Indeed," replied the "young" man elf, his eyes heavy with the weight of history. "This ce serves as a crypt for our kind, a resting ce for elves on the brink of death, whether from war or the final moments of their long lives. But when the ursed Dungeon Core suddenly manifested, the malevolent Soul Eater emerged, plunging us deeper into peril. It was not always like this; when we first set foot here, the denizens were ordinary monsters¡ªgoblins and orcs. After we purged them, we thought the threat had vanished. However, our pursuit of the Dungeon Core triggered the appearance of the Soul Eater, and with it, hordes of Corrupted Elves. The Soul Eater''s insidious influence rendered us powerless, turning us to stone, and we remained trapped on this level until your arrival when you vanquished the vile creature." "So, these special abilities exclusively target the elves, right? It''s quite the conundrum, especially since the dungeon has materialized in the elven territory. In essence, it bes unbeatable if the elves decide to confront it," Pandora inquired. "Indeed. However, we never anticipated that these abilities would be ineffective against humans," the "young" elven woman replied. "I see. That''s why the individual we encountered seemed like a walk in the park. Despite its formidable shimmering Teleportation Portal materialized, promising a safe return to the surface. 18:34 The "young" elven man extended a gracious invitation. "We should return and properly reward both of strength, it was only a threat to a specific race. It''s an intriguing adversary," I remarked, nodding inprehension. Observing a boss with such unique abilities, I decided to make a mental note, just in case simr situations arise. A boss capable of rendering humans powerless would be a dire challenge indeed. Pandora swiftly gathered the remaining loot, stowing them away in her inventory. Just as she did, a shimmering Teleportation Portal materialized, promising a safe return to the surface. The "young" elven man extended a gracious invitation. "We should return and properly reward both of you," he urged. "We appreciate the offer," I replied, "but we can''t ept. Our mission was to scout this floor, and we still hadrades on the previous floor. Unexpectedly, this room turned out to be the boss floor, and we got trapped there. We must report back to them. If you two like, we will bring you along with us since we have elvenpanions with us, one of whom eagerly anticipates meeting you both, perhaps you''d like to join us on our journey. That way, we can also escort you two out of here safely. You two have juste out from the petrification spell so you two must still be weak and a bit tired." I couldn''t help but feel that these two elves held the key to Renatta''s missing grandparents. The two elves exchanged surprised nces, clearly taken aback. It was evident from their expressions that they had initially assumed we intended to defeat the boss with just the two of us. Yet, Renatta and I were indifferent to their assumptions, for our true mission was more important than appearances. But their expressions returned from shock to tion. "If you''re willing to escort us, we''ll dly ept yourpany. Our bodies still ache, possibly a lingering effect from our long petrification. If it''s alright with the two of you, we''d be grateful to tag along." I nodded in agreement, and the two elves joined us as we made our way back to the previous floor. Upon our return, a sense of relief washed over everyone who had grown concerned in our absence. They were on the verge of descending to the next floor when they saw us approaching. Among the familiar faces stood Renatta, who initially froze in shock when she noticed the two elves apanying us. She couldn''t believe her eyes, as if she''d stumbled into a dream. To reassure herself, she pinched her arm, making sure this wasn''t some illusion. The two elves, too, were taken aback by the sight of Renatta. After all, they shared an uncanny resemnce with slight differences in their physical features. It''s been so long since they saw their granddaughter and this is their first time seeing her matured and in her teenage years for the elves. "Grandma? Grandpa?" Renatta''s voice quivered as she took hesitant steps toward them. "Is that really you, Renatta?" the "young" woman asked, her eyes brimming with tears. "Yes, Grandma. It''s me, Renatta," Renatta eximed, running to embrace her long-lost rtives. "Our granddaughter!" The three of them shared a heartfelt reunion after so many years, leaving the rest of us standing in the background, witnessing their emotional moment. Chapter 943 Dungeon Core 943 Dungeon Core "I can''t believe it... my granddaughter has grown so much," the tears welled up in Renatta''s grandfather''s eyes as he embraced his granddaughter, who held him just as tightly. "I''ve missed both of you so much. I never lost hope that you were still out there. You''re both too resilient to simply vanish," Renatta held them closer, as though afraid to let them slip away again. Renatta turned towards us, her smile radiating happiness, as she began to introduce her grandparents. "Everyone, I''d like you to meet my wonderful grandparents. This is my grandmother, M, and my grandfather, Avos. They are the very people I''ve been searching for, and now, we''re finally reunited. Grandma and Grandpa, these are my dear friends who have not only supported me but have also been steadfast allies during my toughest moments ¨C Manato, Pandora, Sora, Akira, Labo, and Alena." Avos, her grandfather, beamed at us and replied, "Is that so? We''re truly grateful to have such wonderful friends and allies for our granddaughter. You''ve not only aided us, but you''ve also been instrumental in her endeavors." "Indeed, but we owe our return to your friends here. Without them, we wouldn''t be standing here, sharing this precious moment with you," her grandmother whose name is M has her gaze shifted towards me and Pandora, who had been standing quietly to the side. "Eh? Brother and Pandora-san? Is that why you''ve been spending more time on the next floor?" Akira inquired. "Indeed, the next floor marks the final stage of our journey through this dungeon," I affirmed. Sora chimed in with enthusiasm. "Let me guess, you two didn''t just linger there for scouting, did you? You''ve cleared the dungeon, haven''t you?" Pandora chuckled as Sora hit the mark. "Haha, can''t believe you guessed it right. Yes, we identally cleared the next floor, but I think it turned out for the best. With Renatta, Labo, and Alena with us, the boss fight would have been a much greater challenge than the average dungeon boss." "Eh? We would make the battle harder?" Alena frowned. "We didn''t mean it in a bad way. It''s just that the boss has an ability that only works against a race which is in this case, the elves. Due to that reason, Renatta''s grandparents weren''t able to escape this dungeon until we had defeated the boss ourselves." Renatta was surprised and released the two from the hug, "Is that true, Grandma? Grandpa?" The two nodded in unison. "Thest boss is capable of affecting and controlling the minds of elves, whether dead or alive and it can also petrify elves which was what happened to the two of them. When we defeated it, their petrification came off and the bad vibesing from this ce disappeared. Notice it?" I exined and let them realize the dread that I felt earlier. After we defeated the Soul Eater, the dread that I kept on feeling before disappeared," I briefly exined. Sora nodded, her brow furrowed in contemtion. "You''re right. I never really noticed it before. I thought the heavy atmosphere in this dungeon was just the norm. Is it really because of the boss?" I added again with a thoughtful expression, "Yes, it''s the boss''s doing. It employs an oppressive force to slow down and weaken anyone attempting to challenge it. However, since the boss is honestly a big pushover rather than it is so powerful, I''m not sure what exactly makes it so troublesome for the elves." I shifted my gaze toward the elven couple, who were still savoring their reunion with their granddaughter. "Earlier, you mentioned that you both came here to destroy the Dungeon Core, right? Should we proceed with that n? As long as the dungeon core remains intact, the boss will keep reappearing. Without getting rid of it, this ce will never knowsting peace, and the deceased will continue to be resurrected," I reminded them. The grandmother of Renatta, M, met our eyes with a determined look. "You''re absolutely right. I nearly forgot our original mission. With the boss defeated, locating the dungeon core should be much easier now that the dungeon is in recovery mode." The others in the group were eager to see what this dungeon core everyone had been talking about actually looked like. For most yers, the core was a source of excitement, as it powered the entire dungeon. However, I couldn''t muster the same enthusiasm. Dungeon cores might be fascinating, but once you''ve encountered a few, they tend to lose their appeal. "If everyone is ready to go, we should go before the dungeon gets to fully recover. Destroying the core is necessary before we leave," Renatta''s grandfather, Avos remarked. "Alright, Grandpa, let''s gather our belongings first, and then we can head to the final destination." As we had nned to camp here for a while, everyone had already prepared for some much-needed rest. It took a little time to clear and gather all our things. "We''re all set," Renatta dered, ncing at her grandparents and giving a reassuring nod. They returned our gaze, and we signaled our readiness to follow them. "Excellent, follow us. We''ve located the dungeon core before, and it''s unlikely to have moved. Now that the final boss is defeated, the barrier preventing us from reaching it should have vanished, allowing us to destroy it once and for all," Avos exined. As we descended once more to the next floor, we continued to follow Avos and M. The dusty halls seemed never-ending as we trailed behind the mysterious duo. It wasn''t until we approached the boss room where we had battled the fearsome Soul Eater that Avos and M made an unexpected turn. With a subtle motion, they dislodged a single brick from the wall, unveiling a hidden pathway. The two vanished into the opening, and we eagerly followed suit, discovering a concealed passage we had never known existed. Pandora couldn''t hide her surprise. "We missed this part, Manato!" stretching throughout its depths. Once we destroy the core, all of this will wither away and vanish," 18:36 Avos exined. "I never expected a secret passage here as well," even I didn''t know there was one hidden here as well. M exined with a mischievous grin, "This passage is known only to the tomb''s creators and those who assisted in its construction. It''s deliberately concealed to evade casual discovery." As we ventured deeper into the seemingly endless corridor, our surroundings transformed dramatically. The once-solid walls had metamorphosed into grotesque, living, and pulsating muscles, writhing in unsettling rhythms. "W-what in the world is this ce?" Renatta gasped in shock at the surreal metamorphosis that had taken ce around us. With each step we took, the fleshy walls pulsed as though in agony. The sight was enough to repulse everyone except for Avos, M, and me. The visceral, living corridor was a disconcerting anomaly amidst the ordinary halls we just passed by which made everyone else totally caught off guard. "I won''t me any of you for feeling disgusted, but every dungeon core is bound to offer this kind of environment. These walls and floors beneath our feet, they''re extensions of the dungeon''s core, stretching throughout its depths. Once we destroy the core, all of this will wither away and vanish," Avos exined. M couldn''t help but notice my unflinching demeanor as a first-timer in this dungeon. I didn''t share the same unease as the others, confidently navigating the eerie walls and floors. "You seem awfully fine for someone who just entered a dungeon core environment, Manato." "I''ve seen far worse than this," I replied, trying to reassure mypanions. "These grotesque walls and floors are actually quite tamepared to what I''ve encountered before. Trust me, this is nothing to be disturbed by, considering what I''ve faced in the past." We pressed on down the squishy hallway. While the others might have found the unsettling textures of the walls and floors disconcerting, they demonstrated remarkable determination, especially considering they were experiencing this for the first time. I couldn''t help but admire their courage. We reached the heart of the dungeon rather swiftly. The chamber before us was vast, with fleshy tendrils extending and linking to a colossal floating sphere resembling the crystal orbs used by fortune tellers. The only divergence was the malevolent aura it radiated. It pulsed like a living heart, making it clear that it was the true lifeblood of the dungeon. "Is that the Dungeon Core?" Renatta eximed, her surprise evident. "Yes, my granddaughter," M replied, "it''s quite magical yet disconcerting, isn''t it? But let''s not get too entranced by its appearance. If we linger too long, it mayplete its repairs and begin resurrecting monsters." Renatta turned to us with determination in her eyes. "Allow me to destroy it. Without this dungeon, you two wouldn''t have been trapped here for so long. I want to exact some revenge. Do you mind?" Pandora nonchntly shrugged. "Go ahead. If you''re willing to do it, we won''t stop you." The others silently concurred, and Renatta began to prepare. She flexed her bo staff slightly, causing a hidden string to materialize, revealing its transformation into a bow. With unwavering focus, she drew the string, conjuring three mana arrows and taking aim at the floating core. "It''s time to put an end to this ce once and for all," she dered resolutely. Chapter 944 Return of the Founders Chapter 944 Return of the Founders As Renatta released the Mana Arrows, they homed in on the vulnerable core, each striking with precision, causing it to slowly develop cracks. "It''s not enough," Renatta muttered, drawing the bowstring once more and conjuring another three arrows. She released them in rapid session. SU! SU! SU! Before the first trio could even reach the core, three more arrows materialized on Renatta''s bowstring, leaving Avos and M astounded by her rapid-fire shots. We, on the other hand, were no longer surprised, having witnessed her mastery during our countless hours in the Dark Sea. Avos and M''s shocked expressions were a delight to behold. If only Renatta had noticed, but her unwavering focus remained fixed on the core''s destruction. With a few more arrows, the core finally shattered, triggering a violent explosion. Pandora swiftly cast her defensive spells, while Akira and I deployed our shields and extended the protection to everyone from the st, shielding everyone from the destructive explosion of the core. The flesh clinging to the dungeon core wilted slowly, as though it had been severed from its source of sustenance. Its rapid decay left no doubt that it could no longer nourish the dungeon''s inhabitants, preventing the spawning of the Corrupted Elves. But it wasn''t just the flesh directly attached to the core that withered; the walls and floor had suffered the same fate. With each step, the flesh beneath our feet crumbled into ash, revealing its newfound fragility. It disintegrated at the slightest touch, a stark departure from its former vitality. The pulsating life it once held had now faded, and its once-reddish hue had darkened, with some portions turning even cker than before. M wasted no time. "We need to leave. Staying here could lead to trouble, and we can''t afford that." We promptly obeyed hermand. We raced down the corridor, the once grotesque, fleshy floor had reverted to its original structure. Though the situation appeared stable, I sensed the underlying dread that had gripped Avos and M after the core''s destruction. The impending copse of the dungeon. Thankfully, as we emerged from the corridor, the dungeon remained intact, shunning its imminent demise. It had reimed its deste, somber atmosphere. The ethereal, floating lights that had guided our way had vanished, reced by the steady glow of conventional torches. "Looks like the dungeon has returned to its former state before it was infested with the Corrupted Elves. It''s a relief that we''ve destroyed the core," M said, exhaling with relief. "Finally, it seems those tormented souls can rest in peace," Labo sped his hands together and offered a silent prayer. Alena and Renatta followed suit. Avos and M exchanged smiles as they observed the quiet moment. "It appears we should return to the surface now. I wonder how much time has passed? Has the kingdom progressed in our absence?" Avos brimmed with excitement. Renatta''s face paled at Avos''s questions, drawing the attention of M and Avos. Alena and Labo averted their eyes, clearly avoiding the topic. "Did I say something wrong?" Avos''s brow furrowed. "Don''t worry; you didn''t say anything wrong. But it''s aplicated matter, and I doubt they''re in the mood to discuss it," I chuckled dryly. "Just what happened while we were away? How many years have we been petrified?" "Let''s head back to the surface, Grandpa, Grandma. I''ll exin everything once we''re back," Renatta urged them, leaving them utterly bewildered. ... ... ... After emerging from the Teleport Station and re-emerging on the surface, Avos and M sealed the entrance to the dungeon. It was now off-limits to anyone, including yers and even themselves, unless they chose to reopen it. The Teleport Station operated solely as a one-way portal, rendering it impossible to ess the dungeon through it. Avos and M persisted in their inquiries to Renatta, seeking answers for the ongoing silence surrounding the situation. Meanwhile, we hurried back to the mansion, eager to learn more from Renatta''s forting, and likely lengthy, exnation. ... ... ... In front of Renatta''s grand mansion, a formidable gathering awaited her arrival. A group of men, including the very elves whom Manato had vanquished previously, mingled amidst several vignt guards. These guards stood resolute, weapons at the ready, forming a formidable barrier at the mansion''s front gate to shield the only maiden in their group who turns out to be Renatta''s sister. Renatta''s sister, her brow furrowed in frustration, shared in the tension as she surveyed the impervious gate. "Why do you all struggle so mightily to breach this gate? Has none among you attempted to negotiate with the spirits, beseeching them to grant us passage?" Renatta''s sister inquired through clenched teeth, her vexation palpable at the ineptitude of her guards in failing to unlock the gate. "We deeply regret our inability, but our pleas remain unanswered, and the spirits we once relied upon to aid our cause appear to have eluded us," the guard replied, the frustration in their voice matching that of Renatta''s sister. As their heated discussion on how to open the enigmatic gate continued, a figure of remarkable stature approached. The Spirit Butler, a paragon of etiquette and poise, couldn''t help but knit his brows upon witnessing the discord in front of the gate. It was his solemn duty to safeguard the house, acting as its de facto leader in Renatta''s absence. "Good day," he began with a hint of concern, "what brings you all..." But then, a realization dawned upon him, causing a subtle shift in his tone. "My sincere apologies, your highness. I failed to recognize you. What brings you to this humble sanctuary of Renatta-sama?" The butler inquired, adopting a more respectful demeanor. Renatta''s sister, a formidable presence in her own right, responded with a chilling blend of civility and coercion, "Allow us entry, for we seek the children who have been brought to this ce, as imed by these men. Under elvenw, taking another''s property without consent is a grave offense, punishable by the strictest of measures." She maintained herposure, her smile a facade for her underlying resolve. "I''m sorry, but I can''t allow that," the Spirit Butler apologized, his voice unwavering. "Even if you''re Renatta-sama''s sister, I can''t grant you ess without her permission. She''s made it clear that anyone without a prior appointment won''t be allowed in unless my Master gives the go-ahead." A defiant smirk yed on the sister''s lips as she replied, "Do I look like I care? I can bring this gate down, and there''s nothing you can do to stop me. Guards!" With a swift motion, her guards readied their ramming shields and began relentlessly assaulting the gates. An invisible barrier thwarted their efforts, but with every impact, it seemed as though the barrier was on the verge of yielding. The Spirit Butler sensed the increasing intensity of their force, and even he, in his ethereal form, readied himself to rush inside at a moment''s notice, should the need arise. However, a profound sense of duty overcame him as he recalled Renatta''s unwavering trust in his ability to safeguard the mansion and its upants. Even the estate''s dedicated workers could be ced in peril if he failed to take action. Despite being Renatta''s sister, she and his Master had a strained rtionship, making it all the more logical that she should not gain entry. "Entry is forbidden without the Master''s consent!" With a flicker of his limited mystical abilities, he hastily reinforced the protective barrier, shoring it up with an additionalyer, blocking the relentless onught of the men attempting to breach the gate. This tant obstruction by the Butler left Renatta''s sister brimming with rage. She clenched her fist, sparks of electricity crackling up her arm. "You''re nothing more than a spectral servant, and you have no authority to bar our way. Let us through, or you''lle to regret this," she seethed, her palm radiating electric energy. "I won''t yield, no matter what you threaten," the butler responded with unwavering resolve, fortifying the barrier further. "It appears you''ve embraced your own demise. Very well, if that''s your desire, I''ll kindly extend an invitation for you to meet that vile goddess of yours on the other side!" Renatta''s sister hurled a crackling bolt of electricity toward the butler, and his eyes widened in horror as he anticipated the impending shock. Yet, before the electric bolt could make contact, a mystical circle materialized around Renatta''s sister, its intricate patterns weaving around her hands. In an instant, the bolt of energy disintegrated, and the overwhelming magical aura that had surrounded her moments ago abruptly faded, as if sealed by an unseen force. "I can''t believe it," Renatta muttered, frustration tingeing her voice as she slowly approached the group. "We''ve only been gone for a few hours, and trouble has already found its way to our doorstep." Turning on her heels, Renatta''s sister saw her friends and grandparents approaching, their expressions a mix of confusion and concern. Manato, with an imposing stance, his hands extended as he was casting a spell, held the magical power of Renatta''s sister in check using his Magic Spell skill known as the [Magic Jammer]. Renatta leveled a stern gaze at her sister. "Sister, back down now, before things spiral out of control, and while I still have an ounce of pity for you. Leave while I''m feeling generous." Chapter 945 Izmir Vs. Renatta Chapter 945 Izmir Vs. Renatta "Sister, I''m sure you''re well aware of the family rules set by Mom and Dad. You understand the consequences our society imposes for breaking them, and yet, you''ve chosen to defy those rules and are preventing us from carrying out the necessary action. Such actions are already grounds for a severe penalty," Renatta''s sister continued to struggle against my [Magic Jammer], determined to break free. "Izmir, sis. I didn''t think you''d show such little empathy for the people of our realm. And why are you making it sound like I''m attempting theft? I assure you, that''s not my intention," Renatta shifted her bow back into its Bo Staff form, poised for action. The other elven men, who were serving Renatta''s sister¡ªwhom I had only just learned was named Izmir¡ªswiftly formed a protective barrier in front of her. Witnessing the valiant soldiers steadfastly defending Izmir behind their protective weapons and shields, Renatta''s fury ignited, her gaze burning with anger. "You pitiful excuses for warriors! Do not dare intercede in our battle!" Renatta raised her Bo staff, ready to confront the men who, too, braced for the impending sh. "We are sworn to protect and follow the orders of the princess, but we are not obliged to follow, obey, and, answer to your orders even if you are also a princess," one of the guards defiantly retorted which also made Izmir smirked like she won. With that revtion, I exchanged a knowing look with mypanions, and they swiftly grasped the n. Pandora nonchntly crossed her arms, causing golden chains to pierce through the metal shields as if they were mere parchment. Sora, on the other hand, unleashed a barrage of spells that vanquished the men in a single, devastating strike. One more misstep and their lives would be forfeit in an instant. Our strength far surpassed theirs; there was no room for error in this perilous dance. Even the men who had once challenged me returned to the fray, yet, as expected, they proved no match for ourbined might. Their defeat came effortlessly. While they still drew breath, theyy immobilized, drained of any ability to support Izmir''s cause. In the end, only Izmir remained to confront Renatta, a matter that no longer held our concern. This had be their With that revtion, I exchanged a knowing look with mypanions, and causing golden chains to pierce through the metal shields as if they were they swiftly grasped the n. Pandora nonchntly crossed her arms, mere parchment. Sora, on the other hand, unleashed a barrage of spells that battle, and it was time for us to step back and let them settle it on their own. Avos and M wanted to intervene especially since the ones involved were both their granddaughters but Labo and Alena stopped them from even intervening. "Why are you stopping us from intervening? The two will start fighting now and we have to stop it!" "No, please just stay out of this you two. You guys wouldn''t understand just yet," Alena reasoned. "That is why we needed to learn the reason for this! We didn''t leave thisnd to be like this!" Seeing the bewilderment on their faces, Alena let out a resigned sigh, realizing it fell upon her to provide an exnation. "Let''s step inside the Mansion and discuss things, shall we? Renatta-sama will have to handle this on her own, just as she wished." With the Spirit Butler''s familiarity with us, they silently granted us entry. However, Izmir, who initially sought to enter with a different intent, now seemed more inclined to confront Renatta directly. The others proceeded into the mansion, while I lingered nearby, keenly observing the unfolding confrontation between the two sisters. "Aren''t youing in, Manato?" Pandora inquired. "Nah, go ahead. I''d like to keep an eye on how things develop," I replied. My other motive for staying behind was to intervene if Renatta unleashed her destructive power, potentially endangering her sister in the process. I stood ready to act if either of them veered off the path of reason. Although I am worried about what will happen to Renatta, I am more worried that Izmir will be totally defeated and Renatta will decide to deal with her sister by doing more brutal things to her. Despite the viiny of her sister, if she dies like that, I don''t know what will happen next. ... ... ... Manato watched from the sidelines as Renatta and Izmir prepared for their impending battle. Tension filled the air as the twobatants made their silent preparations, their magic crackling with energy. Izmir''s hands zed with thebined power of fire and electricity, ready to unleash her spells, while Renatta underwent a dramatic transformation. She morphed into a formidable, armored bear, radiating an overwhelming aura of mana. With a deafening growl, Renatta swung her massive paw towards Izmir''s location, but the agile mage evaded the attack with lightning speed. Without hesitation, Izmir retaliated, sending a searing bolt of lightning hurtling towards her formidable foe. Renatta''s eyes narrowed, a low growl escaping her lips as she deftly swatted away the oing lightning bolt as if it were nothing more than a pesky insect. With a sudden, graceful transformation, she morphed into the majestic form of an eagle, soaring directly towards her unsuspecting sister, Izmir. In an instant, she reverted to her human self, twirling her Bo Staff skillfully through the air before bringing it crashing down towards her sibling. Izmir''s reflexes kicked in just in time, narrowly avoiding the Bo Staff as it whizzed past her, the weapon''s impact missing her by mere inches. But Renatta wasn''t finished yet. With remarkable agility, she used the staff to sweep it across the floor, propelling herself forward in a fluid motion, all while maintaining her relentless assault. A thunderous "BANG!" resonated through the air. However, just before Renatta''s weapon could connect with her intended target, a formidable barrier materialized, halting the Bo Staff''s advance. Undeterred, Izmir retaliated swiftly, hurling a volley of fiery projectiles towards her sister. Renatta leaped and darted to evade the fiery onught, regaining some distance between them. Renatta''s nimble form leaped into the air, her body shifting seamlessly into that of a lithe feline. With astonishing agility, she darted toward Izmir, who reacted with a frenzied flurry of magic spells, each cast in rapid session. Despite Izmir''s best efforts, her spells missed their mark as Renatta closed the gap between them. As the two adversaries drew dangerously near, Renatta underwent yet another transformation, morphing into a formidable gori. With her immense strength, she brought her colossal fists crashing down toward Izmir, who found herself unable to escape in time. Her spells were still on cooldown from the previous engagement, leaving her without the ability to evade Renatta''s relentless assault. In the midst of their intense battle, the scene unfolded with electrifying tension. Izmir, trapped in the formidable grip of Renatta''s gori form, began to discharge arcs of crackling electricity. Her desperate n was to shock Renatta into letting go, but the unexpected happened. Renatta, instead of releasing her captive, suddenly hurled Izmir into the air. Panic surged through Izmir; she possessed no spells for flight or levitation, leaving her helpless as gravity swiftly took hold, forcing her downward. Renatta, it seemed, had more surprises in store. With Izmir hurtling towards the unforgiving ground, Renatta transformed yet again, this time into a massive buffalo. In a blur of motion, the buffalo''s powerful horns embraced Izmir in a bone-jarring collision,unching her through the air once more before descending at a much faster pace and rolling into the streets. "AH!" Izmir''s anguished cry echoed through the streets as she tumbled, colliding with unforgiving rocks and hard pavement. The relentless barrage of attacks had taken its toll on Izmir, making it agonizingly difficult for her to move. Her body throbbed from Renatta''s relentless assault, and the pain had left her struggling to regain her footing. She does not even know whether she gained some broken bones in the process due to the pain in her body, she doesn''t want to know anymore. Renatta reverted to her human form, a confident smile ying on her lips as she slowly approached Izmir, her Bo staff held firmly in her grasp. With a subtle, almost theatrical gesture, she pointed the end of the staff at her struggling sibling and shook her head, as if to emphasize the point. "See the difference, Sis? I understand your determination to defeat me, but I''m not overly concerned with it. Elvenws and conventions seem rather absurd to me, in all honesty." Izmir, though defeated, couldn''t help but maintain a sly grin as she replied, "Just wait and see, Sister. Mom and Dad won''t stand idly by and tolerate your actions for much longer." Just as Izmir began to feel like hereback was rather spectacr, two unmistakable voices suddenly resounded beside her. "I suppose the state of this kingdom has shifted from promising to disappointing, hasn''t it?" Avosmented, shaking his head as he gazed upon his granddaughter. Izmir turned her attention to the speaker, expecting a sensible conversation, only to be jolted by the reality of who she was facing. "Grandpa?!" "That''s right, it''s me. Your grandmother and I have returned. We had hoped for a warm wee, but instead, we find ourselves confronted with all this chaos you all have created. Now that we''re back, it''s high time you all recognized the consequences of your actions," Avos dered, his gaze unwavering as he confronted his granddaughter''s foolishness. Chapter 946 Prophecized Savior of the Elven Kingdom Chapter 946 Prophecized Savior of the Elven Kingdom While the intense confrontation between Avos, M, and Izmir unfolded, inside the grand Elven Castle, a new character materialized. He was apanied by a group of priests from the Elven Kingdom, and his attire closely resembled that of the holy servants dedicated to the church. But in reality, he was no priest, nor did he aspire to attain the status of the holiest man. He was simply an ordinary yer who had followed a trail of quest markers, eventually leading him to this pivotal moment. Unperturbed by his surroundings, he proceeded casually, adhering to the quest markers thoughtfully provided to him in his new role. This enigmatic figure was none other than Janus, who still bore his in-game name, Hagane. Ever since the life-changingst encounter he had with Manato, he had dedicated his existence to fulfilling the wishes of Nobuhiko, the man who had given his sister a chance at recovery from her debilitating illness. As time passed and his sister''s health improved, she learned of Janus''s sacrifices. However, rather than expressing gratitude, she grew distant, harboring an inexplicable resentment toward him. Even his closest friends tried to dissuade him from his single-minded pursuit but driven by an unshakable sense of duty, Janus remained resolute, believing that as long as his sister lived, every sacrifice would be justified. Janus currently works under the employment of Nobuhiko. As he diligently carried out his duties for his employer, he also had a personal mission in mind. He aimed to restore the strained bonds of friendship that had frayed following a regrettable incident involving his friends. However, time had passed, and none of his friends had logged back into the game. Even his attempts to visit the mansion proved futile, as they appeared to have vanished without a trace. With no leads on the whereabouts of his missing friends, Janus found himself at a loss. Yet, he remainedmitted to fulfilling a prior agreement he had made with Nobuhiko. "Sir, we''ve reached the location of the King and Queen. We''ve established a means for them to acknowledge our presence and grant us an audience," reported one of the priests apanying him. Although an elven priest by nature, this particr individual had already determined that following Janus and fulfilling his destiny was the right course of action. "Thank you for the update, Sven. Let''s move forward andplete this quest so we can finally take some respite." Sven bowed respectfully and led the way, opening the door to the grand throne room where the King and Queen held court. The sheer authority and gravitas of the royal couple were palpable, but Janus, now known as Hagane, remained poised and unruffled. This demeanor filled Sven with admiration as he watched Hagane stand confidently before the King and Queen. For Sven, confronting the monarchs head-on was a feat that demanded courage, and witnessing Hagane do so effortlessly left him awestruck. "Wee to the Elven Kingdom, esteemed envoy of the Goddess of Life. Your presence here, despite the great distance you''ve traversed, is a testament to the widespread acim of your valiant deeds, which have even reached our secluded realm within the Resurgia Continent. Your mastery of the shield as your chosen weapon has piqued our interest," the King greeted, a gleam of curiosity in his eyes as he observed Hagane and his legendary exploits. Hagane bowed respectfully before kneeling in acknowledgment of the royal presence. "I am humbled by your recognition, your Majesty." The Queen''s curiosity brimmed over as she inquired, "What brings you to our modest kingdom, servant of the Goddess?" Through numerous quests and experiences, Hagane developed a unique ability to cleverly manipte the objectives presented to him by the system and twist tales involving it to get what he wanted.Even though most of it sounded like some random bullsh*t he got from somewhere, the NPCs seemed to believe it wholeheartedly. He''d learned to use these altered tasks to convince people that they were divine mandates from the Goddess herself. Recognizing the advantage of this skill, he had honed it to perfection, utilizing it to his benefit on multiple asions. And now, he intended to employ it once more. "Divine revtions from the Goddess herself have assigned me the task of aiding the Elven Kingdom in resolving any issues that may be currently guing it. While I''m unaware of the specific troubles the kingdom faces, I trust in the Goddess''s guidance and ammitted to carrying out her will. I implore both of you to grant me the opportunity to assist and address whatever challenges the kingdom may be encountering." When the king heard his words, a spark of excitement ignited in his eyes. He rose from his throne, hands stretching high into the air, and a radiant, otherworldly light enveloped his face. "PRAISE THE GODDESS FOR SENDING HER ENVOY TO AID OUR NOBLE CAUSE!" Instantly, the entire assembly of elves ced their hands over their hearts, a chorus of devotion and praise echoing through the courtroom. "PRAISE THE GODDESS!" "PRAISE THE GODDESS!" "PRAISE THE GODDESS!" Even Hagane, who had always thought of Renatta, Alena, and Labo as level-headed and not particrly inclined towards the Goddess of Life, was taken aback. He nced at Sven, who participated fervently, radiating a sense of pride. ''Perhaps I shouldn''t have spoken those words,'' Hagane pondered, second-guessing his decision. The Queen rose gracefully from her throne, her apuse ringing through the hall as her eyes fixed on Hagane, a mixture of admiration and respect in her gaze. "In light of your noble decision to aid our cause," she dered, her voice carrying regal authority, "we have chosen to entrust you with a position of great importance within the Church of the Goddess. You shall be one of our esteemed leaders, and your primary duty will be to protect our kingdom from the encroaching savages. If the ancient prophecy holds true, you are destined to be the savior of the Elven Kingdom. Once these perilous events conclude, we shall shower you with riches befitting your valor and bestow upon you the coveted title of [The Savior]." ... ... The reception held in honor of Hagane''s audience with the King and Queen had surpassed all expectations, leaving him pleasantly surprised. Even the elves, typically reserved and discerning in their admiration, couldn''t help but be won over by his presence. With the royal deration came a new set of responsibilities, as Hagane was thrust into a leadership role to address an impending problem. Now, he found himself enjoying privileges that rivalled the luxuries of aristocrats, including sumptuous meals and avish room in the pce for the duration of his stay, which wouldst until the issue was resolved. As he contemted his situation, Hagane couldn''t help but have second thoughts about invoking the Goddess of Life. He frequently found himself uttering her name, but this was just one of the peculiar stiptions set by Nobuhiko, forcing Hagane''s reluctant eptance. Stepping out onto the veranda through the expansive window of his VIP room, everyone else? Where is Riko? Her parents have been searching for her tirelessly, but she''s vanished. Even Pandora is gone, and when I question Suhei-san, he remains Hagane couldn''t shake off his lingering sense of bewilderment. Until now, whenever he is alone, he remembers everything that Manato has done for him until the very end when he leaves the facility with a disappointed look on his face. Years had passed since the incident, yet the mysteries surrounding it continued to haunt him, leaving him in perpetual confusion. "I still can''t fathom why you made those choices, Manato. What happened to you and everyone else? Where is Riko? Her parents have been searching for her tirelessly, but she''s vanished. Even Pandora is gone, and when I question Suhei-san, he remains silent, leaving me utterly bewildered and in need of answers." Hagane could only heave a sigh. He initially started ying the game for fun and to make some extra cash, and it was a way to grow closer to Riko and strengthen his friendship with both Manato and Riko. Now, it had be a job¡ªa job that had cost him dearly. "Is this really the right path? I suppose it is. After all, my sister''s life depends on it." He began to bolster his resolve. Despite the relentless confusion that gued his thoughts, he decided that all he''d sacrificed was not in vain, and it was all essential to ensure the safety of his loved one. Even if it meant blindly following orders, he was prepared to do so. "It doesn''t matter anymore. Now that I''m employed by Nobuhiko, I only need to follow his lead. That''s all that counts now." Hagane returned to his bed and shut his eyes. There was an early job awaiting him tomorrow. ... ... ... Nobuhiko''s grin widened as he watched the surveince feed of Janus. Things were proceeding better than he had anticipated, and he could see tangible growth in the results. "It appears I''ve found an exceptional recement to execute my ns and achieve my goals," Nobuhiko mused, a self-satisfied smile ying on his lips. His android assistant, ever dutiful, nodded before presenting her report to him. "Master, it appears Akisame Tojiro has officially retired and left Nexus Company." Nobuhiko raised an eyebrow. "The old man has finally thrown in the towel? It seems he''s given up hope, clinging to the belief that those he thought were the linchpin of his ambitions were still among us." "So, what should we do with him? Dispose of him to eliminate any threat to our ns?" Nobuhiko contemted for a moment. "I believe that''s an excellent suggestion. Now that our n is progressing smoothly, he''s be superfluous to my cause." With a mischievous glint in his eye, Nobuhiko plucked a dart from his table. Without so much as a nce at the target, he expertly threw it, and the dart found its mark,nding dead center on the photograph where Tojiro''s face was prominently disyed. Chapter 947 Confrontation Chapter 947 Confrontation Izmir was well aware of her grandparents'' mysterious disappearance when they were just kids, alongside her sister, during the early days of the Elf Kingdom''s growth. She also understood that the kingdom owed its existence to them. For the longest time, Izmir believed her grandparents to be deceased, considering that no news of their whereabouts had ever surfaced. They had vanished without a trace, leaving no clues about their fate. So, when she finally saw them in person, it brought a mix of emotions - the longing for their presence and a tinge of resentment. Why the resentment? Because their return couldn''t have happened at a more inconvenient moment. They were unaware of the strained rtionship between Izmir and her sister, Renatta, which had been simmering since the beginning. The two siblings had a tacit agreement to avoid the very situation they now found themselves in, as they didn''t want their grandparents to discover the truth. However, with their grandparents witnessing everything, there was no turning back. They had no choice but to face the consequences head-on. Renatta ceased her attack and shifted her attention to her grandparents. She had momentarily forgotten their presence, but faced with Izmir''s actions, she had no other choice. "Renatta, we''ll talkter. Izmir, you better exin what''s going on and why you two were fighting," M said, casting a stern nce at Renatta before urging Izmir to speak. Izmir hesitated, too frightened to converse with her grandparents. Though she might have grown stronger since their disappearance, it was evident that they still possessed their peak strength, which she couldn''t hope to match for many years. Avos decided to let the matter rest for the moment. "Never mind. We can make her exinter. Renatta, I understand there''s a history of conflict between you and your sister, but for now, we''ll allow her toe inside. If she causes any trouble, we''ll handle it, and Manato can manage her, right?" Avos turned to nce at Manato, who nodded in agreement. Izmir swiftly got to her feet and bolted from the area before her grandparents could intervene. She needed to escape, and she needed to do it quickly. "Why are you running?" Avos furiously pointed a finger at Izmir and cast a spell, "[Paralyze Shot]!" ZAAAP! Manato agreed with a nod and approached Izmir. She shot him a stern look as if Izmir, who had been sprinting, abruptly froze as an electric shock coursed through her body. She stopped in her tracks and copsed,pletely paralyzed. M asked, "Manato-kun, can you carry her inside?" Manato agreed with a nod and approached Izmir. She shot him a stern look as if warning him not to touch her. Ignoring her re, Manato scooped her up in a princess-style carry and headed into the mansion with the other three. The Spirit Butler then bowed and restored the protective barrier at the gates before following the group inside. As for the unconscious men outside, it remained uncertain whether they would recover enough to leave or choose to remain in their half-dead state. ... ... ... Once they were all inside, Manato gently lowered the still-stiff Izmir onto the sofa. Avos and M took their seats opposite her and prepared to address the situation. It didn''t take much time for Izmir to recover from the paralysis. She still felt a lingering tingling sensation throughout her body, a side effect of the shock, but she was otherwise fine. Sheposed herself, fearing that her grandparents might unleash their strongest abilities and dispose of her on the spot. "Alright, now can you please exin why the state of the Elven Kingdom has deviated so far from our initial vision? This is not what we had hoped for. Your recent actions and demands are in direct vition of what we once forbade," Avos sternly questioned Izmir, who couldn''t meet their gaze. "Thisw was enacted a century ago, during the same period when the two of you mysteriously disappeared without a trace. It''s understandable that you were unaware of its existence," Izmir hesitated before continuing. "Whatw are you referring to?" M inquired. Izmir was stumped by the question, so Renatta stepped in to exin. "It''s a rule that elves who can''t afford to pay their yearly taxes are treated asmoners, exposed to threats like very and abduction. These unfortunate people suffer daily and are exploited by those who can pay their taxes. They''re coerced into working, and their possessions, including their homes and clothes, are forcibly taken away. Their Elven rights are stripped from them, and they can only regain them when they manage to pay off the umting taxes. Unfortunately, it bes nearly impossible to pay off these taxes in full unless you''re already wealthy." Upon hearing this, Avos and M were seething with anger, but they managed to restrain themselves from taking rash actions. "Did both of your parents enact thisw? What were their reasons for doing so?" Avos inquired, eager to understand the motivations behind his daughter and her husband''s actions. "I honestly don''t know. I simply followed thews because of our royal status. We''re exempt from taxes, but we have to ensure that the popce obeys, and evading taxes is considered a serious crime," Izmir confessed, her voice trembling. She felt torn, fearing she might betray her parents'' trust in the process. "This is absurd. I can''t fathom how many people have suffered due to thisw. Did your parents never consider the plight of those who couldn''t pay?" M questioned. "I can''t say for sure what they felt," Izmir replied, reluctant to stoke the anger of herpanions. Renatta, however, had a different perspective and was determined to set things right. "If you won''t reveal the truth about our family''s wrongdoing, then I will. Grandpa, and Grandma, as you can see, my parents don''t care about others. They believe it''s for a better future, a way to weed out those they see as ipetent and potentially detrimental to the kingdom. They''ve even suggested they''ve been abandoned by the Goddess of Life because of it." Avos couldn''t contain his anger upon hearing this revtion. His fury surged, causing the cups on the table to shatter. M could only shake her head in response. "That reasoning is senseless. I agree. It''s time we confront them and demand an exnation by storming the castle." Manato, who had been silent during the confrontation, decided to speak up. "I suggest we don''t go ahead with this n right now. It would be better for both of you to rest instead of pushing yourselves to confront them in your current state. You just broke free from that curse, so it''s important to let your bodies recover first." M nodded and gently tapped her husband to calm him down. "He''s right. We''ve only just escaped, and we''re already pushing ourselves too hard. Our anger got the best of us." Although Avos was reluctant to stop, he decided to abandon the n to storm the castle when his wife advocated for them to dy their initial n. "Alright, let''s follow their advice. Izmir, you can leave. Maybe take some time to reflect on your actions. While you share some guilt with your parents, we''ll let it slide for now. Perhaps you''re afraid of disappointing them. Go, while we''re still feeling merciful." Izmir wasted no time and left. She missed her grandparents but felt it was best to give them some time to cool off. The Spirit Butler escorted her out, and she left before the two could change their minds. Avos and M sighed once Izmir was gone. Their hostility dissipated, lightening the mood in the room. Renatta took a seat and addressed her grandparents. "Grandma, Grandpa, I''m sorry for our actions and the fighting. I can''t ept the family''s ways, especially after witnessing them firsthand. I don''t like how they go about it as if it''s not a bad thing. If you''re upset, please forgive me. And don''t be too hard on Izmir; she''s just following our parents'' wishes, even if it seems questionable. Try to understand her actions." Avos and M smiled, and they moved over to Renatta, giving her a warm hug, something she had missed. "We''re not angry with you. In fact, we''re grateful for your efforts to stand up against the family''s oppressive rules, even when the odds are stacked against you and them. But things will change soon. Once we''ve had some rest, those two will have to exin themselves properly, and they better have a good reason for what they''re doing." The three shared a tender moment with each other quietly. Manato who was standing there smiled underneath his mask before silently moving away from the three and leaving them there. Since something will definitely happen for tomorrow, he is gonna prepare some things. While he is not particrly against the charge of the two to the pce for tomorrow, he felt that something big is going to ur for tomorrow, not only for the family of Renatta but even for them. He is still not sure but he can feel it. Chapter 948 Night Time Talk Chapter 948 Night Time Talk It was the dead of night, and sleep eluded me. My body felt fatigued, but the embrace of slumber remained elusive. Despite my earnest attempts to find rest, the sandman seemed to have deserted me, and I hadn''t even consumed any coffee. "What''s wrong with me? I used to sleep so easily," I muttered, rising from my bed. Since drowsiness refused to grace me with its presence, I decided to step outside for a breath of fresh air. The resident Spirit servants had concluded their duties for the night, leaving only the vignt Spirit Guards, poised to respond to any nocturnal emergencies. "Can''t sleep?" one of the Spirit Guards inquired as I descended the stairs. "No, I''m going to give rxation outside a try, and see if it induces drowsiness," I replied. "How about apanying the boss? She''s also outside the mansion, attempting to find a remedy for her sleeplessness." Renatta couldn''t sleep? Well, that was unusual. She used to sleep like a log back on Earth. "Alright, I''ll try to find her," I decided. Stepping outside, the chill of the alien air brushed against my skin. It felt different, not as bone-chilling as Earth''s cold, but rather a soothing sensation. It didn''t induce shivers but gently raised my body temperature to a morefortable level. As I wandered around, I spotted Renatta sitting on a garden bench, her gaze fixed on the bright white moon above. She was sipping from a mug, perhaps milk or tea to calm her nerves. She noticed me and called out, "Hey, Manato! Over here!" I joined her, taking a seat. She extended a thermos filled with the same drink she was enjoying, which turned out to be hot milk, offering me some. "Do you want a drink?" she inquired. I shook my head. "No, I''m not a fan of milk." "What a shame," she sighed, taking another sip from her mug. "Can''t sleep?" I asked. "Yeah," she admitted. "It''s still taking some time for me to adjust to sleeping in my own quarters. It doesn''t feel quite like home yet." "Miss thefort of Earth?" I inquired. "Yeah," Renatta replied. "The contrast is staggering, Manato. Even though I only spent a few years with you and the others on Earth, it''s a stark contrast to the security and peace I find there, unlike the unease that gues my slumber in this world. It''s like that feeling has grown alien, making sleep ufortable. Maybe I just miss having someone beside me, like Rika. Without her, it''s hard to catch a wink." "You''ve grown too ustomed to Earth''sfort, and now, the return feels different," I mused. "I can rte; the contrast is undeniable. But it seems there''s more on your mind that''s keeping you awake." Renatta chuckled nervously. "What do you mean?" "Let me guess, you''re anxious about tomorrow''s raid, right?" As I uttered those words, Renatta involuntarily gulped, sipping thest of her milk. "I suppose I hit the mark." "Hah, you''re sharper than I thought. Who wouldn''t be nervous? We''re about to confront my parents and rectify their actions in this kingdom. If not for them, this ce wouldn''t be in such turmoil, and I might not despise being a princess as much." "It seems your nerves are getting to you, and it''s probably because you''re unsure about what might happen during tomorrow''s raid, right?" "That''s one concern. Given my parents'' nature, things could get messy if they decide to act up. Even with my grandparents leading the way, our raid won''t be a smooth ride. They might even escte to the point where they no longer care, despite my grandparents trying to reason with them." Although it may not be directly rted to tomorrow''s raid, I wanted Renatta to be informed about the knowledge I had regarding one of the weapons I''ve been searching for. "Hey, there''s some information I''ve gathered, but I haven''t had a chance to share it with you or anyone else." "Huh? Information?" She appeared puzzled. "It''s about the weapons I''ve been hunting, you know, the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series. I''ve mentioned it before." "Oh, right. Wasn''t that one of the reasons we came here? To find those weapons that seem to be in possession of the Beastmen tribe?" "Yes, but I''ve picked up signs of another weapon from the same series, unrted to what we''ve found before. And those signs point to your sister." When she received the information I shared, a look of concern crossed her face. "Didn''t you mention that this weapon''s use by someone else could have dire consequences due to its ability to manipte the wielder''s emotions and amplify their associated sin?" Renatta inquired, seeking confirmation. "Yes. However, we can''t be certain if she hase into contact with it or if she is the wielder herself. What we do know is that she has been in contact with me for many years. My intuition points to it being the weapon of lust." "Lust..." Renatta''s expression turned grave. "If the information is urate, we might have to forcibly retrieve the weapon from her possession. It could also exin why her behavior has taken a nosedive." "So, you''re saying her altered behavior is because she acquired this weapon?" "Yes. While you haven''t witnessed the true power of these weapons, they possess immense control over and even enhance the abilities of their users. What''s more, the sin tied to the weapon also affects the user, intensifying their desires and their pre-existing sins beyond their normal bounds." Renatta pondered for a moment before she faced me with a serious look on her face. "It seems I know which weapon you are talking about Manato and I think you are right about your suspicions." "Eh? You know about it?" I frowned. "Yes. It is one of the weapons that she bought before from a traveling merchant. It was a whip with a pink color. It has a il at the very end of its wire which is shaped like a heart which makes it pretty painful to the one being hit by the whip. Despite being a good weapon, she immediately changed and her behavior suddenly became something I no longer know." "That means that was the reason you two have started fighting each other now?" "Yes. I didn''t think that it was due to that weapon that she has changed too much. Izmir..." Renatta couldn''t help to feel sad. I immediately consoled her, knowing full well that I will have to defeat her sister to get it. "Don''t worry. I will ensure that your sister goes back to normal once the curse has been lifted from her." Chapter 949 Raid Chapter 949 Raid After our casual conversation, Renatta decided to head back to her room, fatigue tugging at her. As for me, I chose to linger, wide awake and gazing at the night sky, contemting the course of events since my return. I felt disconnected from my initial purpose, my intent to seek revenge against Kazuki now seeming insignificant amidst the myriad incidents that had unfolded. In hindsight, I''vee to realize the superficiality of my initial motivations when I epted the opportunity to revisit the past. My primary goal, it appears, wasn''t mere vengeance but rather the chance to alter the fate of all involved. Even though I hated betrayals and almost died because of that, the enduring presence of Janus, despite his betrayal, doesn''t invoke resentment within me. It''s my fault for failing to forewarn him. I wonder about his current circumstances, but he seems to have forsaken any concern for us. We must press forward, yet there''s a lingering sense that our paths may cross again, sooner orter. Before I knew it, morning had arrived. The sun''s light spilled into the room, and the Spirit Servants began their daily tasks, stirring me from my restless night. "Didn''t get a wink of sleep..." I massaged my temple, rising from the bench to return to my quarters. It didn''t seem like sleep was in the cards for me right now. "Time to gear up for the raid..." ... ... One by one, myrades began to stir. Akira and Sora were the early risers, followed by Pandora. Alena and Labo apanied by Pixie, were up soon after. It was a bit disheartening to see Pixie bonding more with them than with me, her supposed Master, but I guess fairies like her weren''tmonly seen around humans. A bit disappointing, though. Avos and M emerged next, with Renatta trailing behind, being thest to join the group. Meanwhile, I kept busy preparing breakfast. Since the Spirit Butler had awoken earlier, I''d asked for the role of a temporary cook until a recement was found. He''d agreed, and now I was diligently making use of the leftover ingredients. By the time everyone was up, I''d finished cooking a nourishing meal. Avos and M were still on the mend, and the rest needed sustenance to shake off any lingering debuffs. I couldn''t say how long those effects would linger, but I hoped they''d be gone by now. I instructed the butler to have the servants serve the food promptly, letting them know that their meals were prepared as well, which caught him off guard. "We don''t require sustenance like humans and elves," the Spirit Butler admitted after I mentioned sharing the food among the workers. "But you can eat, right? So, there''s no harm in enjoying a meal. Please, go ahead." Eventually, the Spirit Butlerplied. As for thest dish, a braised chicken, I carried it myself, expressing gratitude to the butler and the other Spirit Servants for their hard work. Upon my arrival, everyone had already taken their seats in the dining room, and even Avos and M were astonished. "It''s been ages since ourst meal, and this is our first breakfast since we gained our freedom!" Avos excitedly surveyed the spread on the table. "I had no idea you could cook, Manato-kun. All these dishes look mouthwatering!" M''s gaze lingered on the food, and I even noticed a hint of drool at the corner of her mouth. "Haha, I dabble in cooking from time to time. It may notpare to my mother''s culinary skills, but it''s enough to satisfy our hunger. Please, dig in, everyone. We''ll need the energy for the uing operation," I encouraged them to eat. "Right. To make sure they understand our perspective, we should savor our meal until we''re full," Avos chimed in before eagerly digging into his food. All I can say is that the breakfast passed without any noteworthy events aside from the fact that they bulldozed all of the food I cooked and I didn''t get to eat any. ... A few hourster, everyone was ready. As usual, Renatta entrusted the Spirit Servants with taking care of the two unconscious kids and staying vignt. She emphasized sending an SOS signal if things took a turn for the worse or if the gate attackers returned, so we could respond swiftly. I also established a Teleport Point for immediate return in case we received an SOS signal or needed a quick escape route. Avos and M wore stern expressions, while Renatta appeared nervous, her concerns still apparent. I offered a reassuring pat on her shoulder, and she returned it with a smile. "Thanks, Manato, but I''m okay. Don''t worry about me." "All right, it''s time to show those guys the error of their ways. I don''t care about their justifications; everything they''re doing is wrong," Avos expressed his frustration. "Stayposed, dear. We''ll let out our anger when we confront them," M advised Avos. Taking a deep breath, Avos regained control over his emotions. "You''re right. Let''s go. They might already anticipate our arrival, but let''s see how they react." ... ... ... In the castle, the royal couple were enjoying their breakfast when a group of guards suddenly entered, disrupting the tranquil atmosphere of the dining room. "My apologies for the intrusion during your meal, Your Highness and Your Majesty, but we have intruders causing amotion. They are currently shing with our royal guards," the guards reported. The king furrowed his brow as he wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Why do you feel the need to inform us? Shouldn''t you be capable of handling intruders and preventing any inconvenience?" "I''m sorry, Your Majesty, but these intruders are not ordinary. It''s a mix of humans and a few elves," one guard exined. "Elves coborating with humans? What an affront! Aren''t you capable of dealing with them? As for the elves, capture and interrogate them. Their actions bring shame to the entire elven race," the king sternly replied. The guard hesitated before saying, "Your Highness, the elves among the attackers include your missing daughter and the Kingdom''s Founders, your inws." ... Upon hearing this, the king was momentarily taken aback but quickly regained hisposure. "I find that hard to believe. They must be impostors manipted by those humans. Deal with them and these impostors, and do not disrupt us any further." Although hesitant to carry out the order, the guard obliged and saluted before leaving. "What was that all about?" the Queen asked as she took a bite from the cake on her fork. "Nothing, my dear. Just some nuisance." ... ... As the two royals peacefully enjoyed their meal, the kingdom''s gates fell into turmoil. Countless guardsy unconscious on the ground. "This is getting annoying. Can''t we just subdue them?" M''s fist swiftly silenced an approaching guard, rendering him unconscious. Her fighting style showcased the prowess of a Fighter, promoted to Martial God ss, as she incapacitated her foes with precision, refraining from lethal blows. "I feel the same, but (BZZZT), it''s our granddaughter''s wish to spare their lives," Avosmented as he fired an electric charge attack on the next guard, incapacitating him in the process. "Ugh... Holding back is harder than I thought. I might''ve already broken a few of their bones," M grumbled as she dispatched another guard, her palm crushing his armor-d face. The guards were relentless, leaving me no choice but to wield my double-wired swords, an arsenal of the Saboteur ss. The wires between the short des allowed me to incapacitate them, although, as Avos and M said, it proved challenging to avoid lethal harm given the guards'' murderous intent. Sora and Akira skillfully delivered nonlethal blows, effectively neutralizing the guards. Pandora opted for her golden chains, using them more as a makeshift whip rather than a lethal weapon, demonstrating remarkable control. Alena and Labo switched from archery to their spellcasting abilities, unleashing a flurry of non-lethal magical attacks in rapid session. Renatta is using her bo staff with extreme precision as she dispatched the guards left and right as well. "You have mastered the Bo staff so well, Renatta," Avosplimented Renatta who was surprised at his sudden praise. "Thanks, Grandpa but I know I still can improve." As we defeat the guards one by one, a few more guards appear and they are already looking like stronger versions of the guards we just fought. "Never in my life I would beat up fellow elves like this," Avos grinned as he gave a nce to the guards before shaking his head. "Same," M nodded. "Still, those f*ckers really didn''t have the gall to even face us? I doubt they didn''t know we were here. I bet a few guards are already reporting on them." Renatta who just finished defeating one of the soldiers chimed in. "Perhaps they are not convinced you two are already back." Hearing this, Avos grinned. "If that is the case, it is more reason to show them that we are so finally back." Chapter 950 Hostile Reunion Chapter 950 Hostile Reunion The raid presses on as we take down the iing elf guards attempting to block our path to the castle gates. Some magicians also try their luck with magic, but I swiftly neutralize their spells using [Magic Jammer], leaving them powerless. "Clear here," Avos informs M and the rest of us. "Same here," M confirms. "No stragglers left. Everyone''s down," I report. "Let''s head into the castle, then," Avos and M stride side by side, and we follow them through the gates. It appears all the castle''s defenders have fallen outside, leaving the castle grounds unguarded. "Stay alert, everyone. Even if we can''t spot them yet, they could be lurking nearby, ready to spring a surprise attack. There''s no way this ce relies solely on those guards at the gate. They''ve stationed knights here to ward off trespassers and any protesting elves," Renatta cautioned. "Campers, huh? Well, that might just work in our favor," Avos said with a grin, snapping his fingers. *SNAP* In an instant, our vision sharpened, allowing us to see through walls. "Grandpa? What''s going on?" Renatta inquired. "It''s one of my abilities, [True Sight]. I can extend this power to all of you, ensuring we don''t have any hidden ambushers waiting in the shadows." After blinking a few times, we spotted the guards. They were indeed nearby, some concealed by stealth spells, waiting for the perfect moment. Crafty, I must admit. M whispered to us, "Let''s take them by surprise." M seems to have a n to outwit them, but I''ve got a strategy in mind too. I reached into my backpack and retrieved a scroll. It''s one of the earliest ones I created when I first learned how to craft them. I made it as a precaution against yers who might try to PK me while I''m busy or I suspect some people are trailing not too far from me and are under [Stealth]. This skill targets individuals under the [Stealth] effect or simr, turning the tables on them. I typically deploy it when I''m confident I''m alone and have just defeated a formidable foe or valuable monster. It''s a convenient way to handle such situations. This scroll is known as [Hidden One''s Punishment], exclusive to scrolls, and avable for anyone to use. Originally, it fetched a high price in the ck market, but because I''d memorized and studied it in the past, I could replicate it for personal use with ease. Now, I don''t need to purchase new scrolls; I can simply craft more. With a swift motion, I activated it. Tearing it apart, the scroll became two after it was torn before the paper disintegrated as the spell activated. With a swift motion, I tore the scroll, and a sudden cascade of lightning bolts rained upon the castle grounds, leaving mypanions bewildered as electric currents surged through the hidden elves. While it wasn''t lethal, it could instantly incapacitate anyone under [Stealth], be they friend or foe. "GAH!" "Ugh!" "Fuc-" A chorus of groans filled the air as stealth was shattered, and bodies fell one after another. Those who had remained hidden on the walls but not under the [Stealth] spell were the sole survivors, untouched by the electric onught. "What?! The enemy''s onto us!" eximed the guards emerging from their concealment. "Manato, was that your doing?" M inquired, clearly astonished. "Sorry, I acted a bit prematurely," I confessed, scratching the back of my head. "Ahaha, no worries. I had no idea you had a trick like that up your sleeve. Since you''ve taken care of most of them, we''ll handle the rest," she said with a smile. The men wasted no time,unching their attacks, and M swiftly sprang into action. We could only observe as she skillfully incapacitated them, pinpointing their vulnerable spots without causing any fatalities. Soon, every one of our opponentsy unconscious. "I''d only heard stories about M-san''s prowess, but witnessing it firsthand is pretty intimidating," Alenaplimented M''s effortless takedown of the guards. "Haha, you''ll get the hang of it soon enough. But don''t underestimate yourselves; each one of you has got potential. We might be more seasoned, but we''re pushing our limits as well," Avos reassured. "Really? I still think you guys are ahead of us," Labo scratched his head. "Don''t sweat it too much. You''re all young; sooner orter, you''ll catch up to us," Avos encouraged. While they conversed, M finished her work. "Looks like M is wrapping things up," Avos greeted his wife. M clenched her fist as she rejoined us. "What were you all chatting about while I was busy?" M inquired. "Oh, not much. Just a casual discussion," Avos replied. "Seriously? I thought we were supposed to tackle this together and yet you guys were just idling here? Ugh...e on," M sighed, shaking her head. As they engaged in their discussion, a new presence caught my attention. It wasn''t the ordinary vignce of a guard; it felt different, more like... lights¦­¦Ïvel "There''s a yer," I whispered. Before anyone could react, I swiftly drew my Versatile Weapon and charged forward, my sword slicing through the air. CLANG! My assault met a formidable defense, a sturdy shield. It was a potent obstacle, but I was up for the challenge. "Easy there, young man. You might hurt someone with that wild swing," the shield''s owner remarked as he effortlessly pushed me aside. Yet, the voice was unmistakable. "I see. You''ve chosen to work for that scoundrel." The individual behind the shield was taken aback, studying me and my Versatile Weapon. It became evident that he recognized me, just as I recognized him. "Wait... is that you, Manato?" "Heh, in the flesh, Janus. Or should I say, Hagane." Upon hearing me address Janus standing before me, everyone was visibly stunned. Pandora, Sora, Akira, and Renatta stepped forward, surprised by the revtion. Labo and Alena, though taken aback, also recognized him, despite their limited interactions with him. The others were clearly familiar with Janus. "Who is that? Do you guys know him?" M asked, clearly bewildered by our reactions. No one answered. As for me, I remained fixated on him, clearly taken aback by the unexpected reunion. "Manato... What''s going on? Why...?" He tried to approach, but I swiftly drew my gun and fired a warning shot into the ground, blocking his path. "Don''t even think about getting friendly, Hagane. You betrayed us the moment you started working for that guy." I leveled my gun at him. "What''s happening, Manato? Aren''t we still friends? Why are we fighting?" I clenched my teeth, restraining myself from attacking. "Just because we''re friends doesn''t mean I can let you disregard us and keep this n of yours a secret." "What? But I did it for my sister!" "And what? You ignored us and didn''t even talk to us about it? I could have helped her, you know! Why strike a deal with that jerk?!" "Don''t you dare badmouth my benefactor!" "..." I fell silent. Seeing how deeply he''d be entwined with Nobuhiko, it was clear I needed to deal with him. "Pandora, everyone. This is our fight. Go ahead, and I''ll catch up when we''re done here." "But, Manato..." Pandora was about to object, but Renatta shook her head. "No, Pandora. Don''t interfere. This is a duel between the two of them." Pandora frowned but eventually sighed, ncing at Avos and M, who nodded. "Alright, Manato. Good luck. And don''t take too long, okay?" The others began to run, and noticing their departure, Hagane attempted to halt their escape. "Hey! None of you can just run past me like that! I won''t allow it!" Hagane gave chase, but I swiftly intervened, diverting his attention back towards me and forcing him to address my attacks. "Don''t think for a second you can stop me, Manato! I must protect the Queen and King!" "As if I''d let you." I unleashed a flurry of rapid spells in his direction, which he deftly parried with his shield. His proficiency with the heavy shields had markedly improved since ourst encounter. He now wielded them with finesse. As I sliced toward him, Hagane adeptly blocked my attacks once more before transforming his shield, causing spikes to emerge. It seemed he had incorporated an offensive technique into his defensive repertoire, a skill he named [Spike Shield]. "Manato, I''m not the same person you remember. You can''t handle me now." "Is that so? Not convinced, I suppose," I shook my head as I converted my Versatile Weapon into a gun, firing bullets at his shield. As he raised the shield, I swiftly slid beneath it and transformed my weapon into a hook and chain. With a deft spin, I hurled the chain at his feet and snared the hook around his legs, yanking it with force. "Ah!" He was taken aback, stumbling and losing his grip on his shield. "It''s done, Hagane." "Don''t, Manato. You''ll regret opposing my patron." "I couldn''t care less. That person already knows I''m here. I can tell they''ve been watching your every move, and they''ve finally spotted me. I''m not as naive as you think, Hagane." Chapter 951 Manato vs. Hagane Chapter 951 Manato vs. Hagane Despite having already knocked him down, he refused to give in. With a quick, agile twist of his body, he managed to free his legs from the chain. I was taken aback by his newfound agility, but perhaps he had grown during our time apart ¨C or rather, circumstances had forced him to gain more battle experience. Once the chains were removed from his feet, he executed two somersaults, dragging his shields with him, and then took up his defensive position once more. "Manato, let''s put an end to this. I don''t want to fight," Hagane implored. "I''m sorry, but that''s not an option," I replied resolutely. I lunged forward and transformed my Versatile Weapon into a hammer, bringing it down forcefully on his shield. "CRACK!" His shield began to splinter, but Hagane remained undeterred. Realizing I had no intention of backing down, he decided to take the offensive as well. Pushing his shield in my direction, he attempted to use it to make me step back. But I''m no stranger to facing opponents who rely on defense as their primary tactic. I wasn''t one to back down easily. Quickly transforming my weapon into a Magic Sword, I sidestepped his shield and harnessed the momentum to thrust forward, targeting the crack I''d created moments earlier. "[Shield Bash]!" Without retreating, I met the attack head-on, leveraging my Versatile Weapon against the fissure and pushing it back toward him. While it required some effort, I managed to thwart his [Shield Bash]. It might not have been an invincible force, but it certainly possessed substantial strength. "Manato! I''d rather not do this!" "Neither would I, but you''re as obstinate as ever, and you might not realize whose cause you''re inadvertently aiding." I sent the shield flying with a well-ced kick, withdrawing my Versatile Weapon''s de from the crack before switching to Pain Delivery and firing at his battered shield. I wasn''t actively seeking to defeat Hagane, but I certainly wasn''t making it a walk in the park for him either. Repeatedly targeting the shield''s weakened spot, it was only a matter of time before it crumbled under the pressure, even if he hadn''t yet noticed the extent of the damage. "I don''t get it, Manato! Why can''t you just exin things to me right now?" Hagane''s face contorted with desperation and confusion. "Why bother? That guy''s probably monitoring our every move, and did you honestly think you could convince me to join his cause? Not a chance!" I shot back, my eyes locked onto him with a fierce re. Hagane was on the verge of speaking up, but then his body froze. It was like he''d been hit by some invisible force or suffered ag in real life, which was just in impossible. Despite his predicament, I kept my distance, my guard up. I might be a caring friend, but I wasn''t foolish enough to rush to his aid while our unseen adversary likely plotted behind the scenes, a sly grin on their face. Suddenly, Hagane''s voice changed, no longer his own but that of an old man. "I''m quite disappointed you didn''t help your old friend. Shouldn''t you be rescuing him from his torment?" That voice... I''d only heard it a few times, but there was no mistaking it. It was Nobuhiko. "Already figured out how to control someone like a puppet with your tech, huh? Looks like you''ve crossed a line that''s way past moral when ites to people''s freedom." Unbelievable. I almost got roped into his twisted game. If I''d been as trusting as Hagane, I could''ve ended up in his shoes, scheming to save my parents. Maybe that was part of his n. He''s manipting Hagane''s body to intimidate me, and his shield''s damage is slowly healing. It''s not surprising, really. He has control over the system that''s turned this world into a game, even though it never was one. "You look surprised. Don''t underestimate my ability to bend the rules ande out on top. I''m the ''god'' of this world, and everything''s within my grasp. You really think you can stop me?" I swing my Versatile Weapon, transforming it into a katana. If he''s nning to use that recovery trick again, I''ll fight fire with fire. "You''re underestimating me, old man. You might think I''ve grown weaker, but I haven''t. And you, a god? Ha, that''s a f*cking joke, you know? If you want it to be funny, at least make it actually amusing." "Heh, then let''s see how amusing it is to challenge me to a fight." He charges at me, unleashing a [Shield Bash], but something about it seems different. Instead of facing it head-on, I sidestep and dart behind him, thrusting my katana at his back. But his HP doesn''t budge. "What did I tell you? You can''t beat me!" Hagane''s grin contorted, a sinister expression I never thought he''d reveal. Swiftly, he pivoted and struck me with his shield using [Shield Bash],unching me into the distance. It dawned on me why he exuded such confidence in his invincibility. He''d resorted to cheating, making Hagane impervious to harm. He''d granted himself an unfair advantage, ensuring there was no cooldown for skills like [Shield Bash]. "So, you''ve embraced the cheater''s way," I readied my katana once more. "Finally grasping the situation, are you? I''m untouchable, unstoppable. You''re simply courting death." "Pitiful. What a pathetic excuse of a human." Observing his erratic control over Hagane, I saw an opportunity. He might mitigate damage, but I understood the limits of the human body. After all, he wasn''t pure data; he''d transformed his physical form into digital existence. "I''m sorry, Hagane, but since you chose to be controlled by this guy, forgive me for being ruthless. I won''t relent, even if you''ve be immortal." I rushed forward, activating one of the Versatile Weapon''s existing skills. I intended to rely on basic attacks instead of using a skill to ensure its effectiveness. "[Devouring Hunger]!" Closing the gap between us, Hagane squinted as my sword immediately transformed into a beastly form. It retained a katana''s appearance but had taken on an eerie, infected quality. I swung at Hagane, and he blocked me with a grin. However, my weapon''s "creature" elongated, its jaws snapping down on his shield. It caught Hagane off guard. "[DEVOUR]!" The shield he held was consumed before it could serve as a defense. With one less shield, he only had one left. He could reequip another, but I paid no mind. I struck Hagane with the Versatile Weapon, and he received it as if it were a regr blow. Unharmed, he seemed confident. But then... "SHAAAAA!" The Versatile Weapon''s mawtched onto Hagane''s neck, biting down hard. "AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Despite his immortality, he was not immune to the Shadow Dragon''s damage. "Try to survive this, you f*cker." I had no doubt that Hagane would respawn at the shrine. The system treated him as a regr character, and even if he lost all his HP, death only meant revival. "No one is truly invincible, Nobuhiko. If you think you''ll achieve your goals, I''ll be there to oppose you." "You..." "[Devour]!" The Versatile Weapon obeyed mymand. The Shadow Dragon opened its maw wide. Before Nobuhiko could react, it chomped off Hagane''s head. It was an instant kill, and there was no escape. With his head gone, Hagane''s lifeless body knelt before copsing, lifeless. "Just to be sure, [Devour] the entire body." The Versatile Weapon wasted no time, swallowing the remains of Hagane. "You''re not as unkible as you thought." Swinging my weapon from side to side, the Versatile Weapon reverted to its regr state. "Are you alright, wielder? This is the first time you''ve let me consume a human," the shadow dragon spoke to me. "He can stille back, so I''m not overly concerned. However, I''m uncertain about how he''ll be handled from now on. Revealing his invincibility hints at his intentions for the future," I sighed and scanned the area for any remaining enemies. "Yeah, I think you''re right. But there''s something I observed during our encounter with the man I devoured." "Observed something? What is it?" I inquired. "That fellow carries the scent and blessing of the Goddess of Life. It seems the person you just shed with was directly affiliated with the Goddess herself. And from our conversation, it appears that the entity controlling the body I consumed is a devout follower of the goddess, carrying out her will," the shadow dragon exined. "So, he''s got some connection to the goddess herself? And if that''s the case, his pursuit of the Tree of Life is..." I furrowed my brows. "Your guess is as good as mine. I believe you''re right about it. If that sly goddess is involved in this, he could use it to track down the Tree of Life and aid in her recovery from the injuries she sustained in the final battle. They must be truly severe if she''s seeking the Tree of Life," the Shadow dragon clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Would it be a problem if she finds the tree on her own?" I inquired. "Yes, indeed. Considering the Goddess canmunicate between dimensions, her return to full power could potentially allow her to dominate not only this realm but also your world. And judging by her track record, it''s unlikely to bode well for either dimension." Chapter 952 Audience to the Elven Royalty Chapter 952 Audience to the Elven Royalty The battle totally wore me out. It''s frustrating that I''m still not that great with the skill [Devouring Hunger]. Maybe it''s ''cause the skill''s not fully there yet, unlike the other ones I got from devouring their weapons. It''s a bit like the [Iplete Rhongomyniad]. Even though I don''t see any side effects from the Versatile Weapon, I sense it lingering. Plus, I pushed that skill way beyond its limits. "You holding up, wielder? That skill really takes a toll on you the longer you use it in a fight, you know." "I get it, but I had to use it to stop Nobuhiko from making Hagane immortal. I''m okay... I might look a bit beat, but I''m not about to copse." "That''s good to hear. My wielder can''t afford to go down easily. But next time, go easy on that skill until it''s fully developed. Even with me in control, there''s a risk my hunger could get the best of you. Don''t rely on it like you did in that battle." "Yeah, got it," I muttered, straightening up. I might not be super fresh right now, but I can keep going and head to the throne room. The others are probably already there, facing the King and Queen. ... ... ... Manato''s still catching his breath and trying to stay on his feet, while the gang''s made their way into the castle. They had a few scuffles with the guards, but they were no match and went down pretty easily, no big deal. In the throne room now, they burst in with weapons at the ready, but it was a letdown. The ce was empty. "No sign of ''em," Avos grumbled, scanning the room. "Yeah, I''m not feeling any vibes either. You think they made a run for it?" M asked Renatta. "Nah, those two are too stubborn to bail out, even with all this chaos. My bet is they''re hiding somewhere around the castle, maybe chowing down in the dining area," Renatta guessed. "In that case, we better haul it. Sitting around won''t do us any good. Let''s track ''em down and deal with this pronto," Akira was all for action. "Brother, calm down, we are not here to fight them remember?" Sora keeps her brother in check. "Sorry about that..." Akira sighed as he scratched his head in disappointment. Renatta, having a better grasp of the castle''s newyout, led the way in search of the King and Queen. The dining area was conveniently close to the throne room, and they reached it in a sprint without encountering any guards. "I can feel them through those doors. It''s either the security here is too rxed or they''re overly confident in their defenses," M remarked, shaking her head. "I never taught them to be thiscent, but it seems they''ve forgotten," Avos sighed. Renatta pushed open the doors, revealing the opulent dining room where the King and Queen were leisurely enjoying their meal. "You guards are disturbing our mealtime. What''s themotion once more?! Shouldn''t you have dealt with it?" The King''s tone shifted from annoyance to surprise as he saw Renatta and herpanions. "Seems like security is prettyx around here. They didn''t even pay heed to the guards'' warnings," Avos said, disappointed. "Father?! How...shouldn''t you and Mother be missing, even now? How did you return so soon?" The Queen stammered, struggling to make sense of the situation while feeling the ominous auras emanating from Avos and M. "Rx, my dear wife. They shouldn''t be here, right? They might just be illusions trying to scare us," the King attempted to dismiss the threat. Avos smirked and conjured a spell thatbined mes and electricity. It engulfed the King, causing him intense pain and agony, though his clothes remained unscathed. His cries echoed in the room, making it clear that this was no illusion, and he would soon regret hiscency. "Not real, huh? How ''bout now? Does it feel real yet?" Avos sported his trademark grin. "Father! Please, forgive my husband! We had no clue, we thought you weren''t real." "Enough of that nonsense. You two seem pretty convinced we''re all illusions, so why would I break the spell? If I''m not real and everyone here''s just a mirage, the spell''s just as fake, right?" "AAAAAHHHHHH, MAKE IT STOPPPPPP!" the king screamed, though he showed no physical damage, the mental torture was unbearable. "Sheesh, too much noise. Here, have a bucket of water," Avos snapped his fingers, and a bucket of water drenched the king. The fire went out, but the electricity lingered, causing the king to convulse. "DEAR!" The Queen was hysterical, watching her husband teeter on the brink. "Alright, Avos, that''s enough. We''re here to talk, not torment," M lightly punched Avos on the arm, and he grinned. "Haha, what do you mean? It''s fun giving this guy a reality check." Avos snapped his fingers once more, everything returning to normal, except the king, who continued convulsing, seemingly trapped in the aftermath of the spell. "Now, how ''bout we have that chat, hmm?" ... ... ... The king was in rough shape, lookingpletely out of it after everything he''d been through. That left only the Queen to face her parents and her daughter, who was sitting across from her with the rest of the group standing nearby. "Now, let''s get straight to the point. We need to talk about how things have gone to hell in this kingdom since we''ve returned," the Queen began, a hint of nervousness in her voice. "What are you even saying, Father?" she stammered, her eyes filled with fear. M, her mother, let out her frustration with a loud bang on the table. The durable elven craftsmanship gave in, leaving a big crack and a deep crater on the table. "Don''t y dumb, La. You''re the queen; you can''t act like you have no idea what''s happening," M snapped, clearly angry. La, the Queen, had no choice but to respond, "I... It''s for the sake of the Elven people. We need to maintain our status and protect our kind." lights¦­¦Ïvel M''s smile turned sinister, and her aura grew menacing. Even Pandora, who was standing behind her, was taken aback by the ominous vibe in the air. "For the sake of the Elven people? It seems like the royal title has made you blind to reality. Have you even stepped outside this kingdom to see how your subjects are suffering? Based on your reaction, it''s clear you haven''t. All you care about are the wealthy nobles who can afford the taxes you impose. I don''t know where you got this twisted idea but mark my words, sooner orter, those you im to ''protect'' will turn against you," Avos taunted La with a hostile re. At this point, the king had just woken up, still looking a bit dazed. He responded to Avos and M''s questions. "You guys don''t get it. It''s all for the greater good. Getting rid of potential troublemakers is the key to securing our kingdom''s future. Everyone will thank us in the end." Avos clenched his fists, trying to control his anger, not wanting to let his wife down. But before he could react, M leaped onto the table, charged at the king, and grabbed his neck, mming him to the ground. "Listen up, you little f*cker. We risked our lives to save every single elf when our race was in danger. EVERY. SINGLE. LIFE. We didn''t leave anyone behind or make excuses to let them die. We went to great lengths to ensure everyone''s safety, even those who couldn''t walk. And now, what have you done? You''ve ughtered the very lives we fought to protect, lives that should have been under your care." M''s grip on the king''s neck tightened, making it hard for him to breathe, and her aura of rage filled the room. "Mother! Stop!" La is on the verge of tears, trying to stop her mother from choking the king who is starting to turn violet as he is getting depraved in air. "Fine," M lessened the grip on his neck. However, she didn''t let the king go so easily and mmed his head to the floor, causing the floor to crack and causing the King to pass out for real this time. "The responses we hear between the two of you are too disappointing. I might have tried to listen to your thoughts when nning up the ursedw of yours and how you two havee up with this idea to solve it but seeing how trashy you two have be, I don''t think you two are even serious about it and instead thought more on the profit the two of you could make," Avos is looking more and more disappointed. La couldn''t say much but then she turned to look at Renatta. She decided that it might be a good way to stop the two in their little wrath. "Renatta! You understand ourws right? Please convince your grandparents that this is not okay at all!" But Renatta shook her head in denial. "No. I refuse to join in and agree to your bullsh*try, Mother." Chapter 953 Room of Lust? Chapter 953 Room of Lust? The castleyout is seriously frustrating. It''s massive, and the hallways seem to be all over the ce. I''vee across unconscious guards, indicating they''ve been through here. I''ve been tracking their path for a while, but now I can''t find any more soldiers. Am I lost? I can''t believe it, but I might be. I''ve never had trouble navigating mazes before. I usually remember if I''ve circled back or found a new path, but for the first time, I''m utterly confused as f*ck. Even the soldiers I was using as guides have disappeared down different corridors. So, I took a chance, and this is where itnded me, feeling disoriented and not sure where to go. "This is strange. I can''t believe I''m lost," I muttered, scratching my head in bewilderment. Even though I''m not in the best shape right now, I know I''m not delirious; I usually have a good sense of direction and I still have it now. Despite my confusion, I pressed on, hoping to find my way back. If all else fails, I could always use the teleport point I''d set up to return to the mansion. As I continued through the deste castle, I stumbled upon arge room with double doors. A sweet, enticing fragrance wafted from within, piquing my curiosity. Without hesitation, I decided to sneak a peek to see if I''d found the throne room I''d been searching for. The door swung open without resistance, and as I peered inside, the overpowering scent enveloped my senses. I fought the urge to sneeze, finding the fragrance both irritating and bothersome. Oveing the stench, I squinted, attempting to discern the situation within the shadows. The room was even darker than expected, a clear sign that it wasn''t the throne room. But, my curiosity now fully awakened, and I couldn''t resist further investigation. As I strained to make out the scene, the Versatile Weapon suddenly trembled. I was taken aback, nearly letting out an exmation. It had vibrated before, and such an urrence meant just one thing. A member of the infamous Seven Deadly Sins Weapon series was in close proximity. If that were the case, it signaled the presence of the weapon or some kind of clue right here. Amidst my efforts to pierce the room''s obscurity, I heard a sharp cracking sound, like the snap of a whip. It was so distinct that a primal fear coursed through my entire being. Having encountered whip-wielders in the Alternate World before, I was no stranger to that sound. I didn''t have the luxury of daydreaming as I heard the sharp crack of a whip again, apanied by a distinct, unsettling moan. I couldn''t be entirely sure, but that moan had an unmistakably masculine quality. Just as I began to doubt my ears, the whip cracked once more, and the moan grew even louder and more distinct, sending shivers down my spine. "What the f*ck is this room, and what''s going on in here that I just stumbled upon!?" I cautiously scanned the area outside the room to ensure I was still within the castle''s walls and hadn''t inadvertently strayed into uncharted territory. Upon confirming my location, a sigh of relief escaped my lips. Yet, my bewilderment persisted as the disconcerting sounds from within continued unabated. The moans persistently reached my ears, threatening to draw out a few cursed words from my lips. I''m almost ready to make my move, eager to barge in and locate the nearby Seven Deadly Sin weapon. However, my resolve wavers as I contemte whether it''s a good idea. My inner turmoil continues, weighing the pros and cons, when suddenly, a familiar voice resonates from within the room. The tone of her voice suggests she''s in the midst of some intense enjoyment. "Yes! DO IT! MORE! Harder!" Recognition dawns upon me as the voice repeats its enthusiastic plea. I now know without a doubt who it is, and it all falls into ce regarding the Versatile Weapon''s reaction to this room. The wielder of the weapon and the weapon itself are right in that room, and my hunch tells me the weapon in her arsenal is the Weapon of Lust, a whip-like equipment. As for who is the wielder? It''s none other than Izmir herself. I am quite sure of it. That voice of hers can be heard and I don''t think I am mistaken on her voice. It might sound sultry and a bit seductive but that voice is something that I cannot be mistaken as it was just yesterday that she was nearby and has spoken so it''s natural that I have already imprinted her voice in my head. Although I am quite sure she was doing unspeakable things there and probably having a sensual moment with the man in the room, I decided that it was time to take the weapon from her hands. Even if she does not do anything harmful, that weapon is still part of the Deadly Sins series and it needs to be recovered and reunited with the Versatile Weapon. Despite my initial hesitation of breaking inside, I was resolute about this decision and immediately kicked the door open and threw in a ball of light to engulf the whole room into brightness. The moment the brightness spread all over the room, I saw multiple elves in the room. All of them are men tied in ropes in a bondage way. The only female in the room was none other than Izmir which I guessed correctly. As for the whip on her hands, I am indeed quite sure that was the one indeed. I have seen it before when one of the top yers used a whip as a weapon and this weapon appeared as the one she wielded. Perhaps in the past timeline, Izmir became a boss and she was defeated which resulted in the winner taking the weapon and wielding it just fine. But seeing the scene of Izmir doing the procreation of another elf in a somewhat perverted and totally degenerate kind of way, I wasn''t ready to see it. "Hey, hey. It was the boy with the wolf mask on his head. I don''t know how you found this ce but if you are liking what you see, you are wee to join in and have some fun with me~" She stood up and revealed her sexy body, totally naked for all of the people in the room to see. However, despite her sexiness, I didn''t feel a bit excited. For some reason, I can feel more excitement when seeing Queen Tanya naked than Izmir despite not having much reaction when Queen Tanya showed me her naked body before. Instead of feeling horny and ready to indulge in my desires, I felt turned off. First, I am not into bondage, and second, being hit by a whip while doing the deed is also not part of my fetish. I would be fine if a girl dominated me but not in a totally violent way like this. She started to approach me while walking in a sultry way but I didn''t flinch and changed the Versatile Weapon''s form into a gun and immediately pulled the trigger, missing her in a width''s length. The mana bullet whizzed right through her cheeks and she stopped in her tracks the moment that happened. "Huh? Why? Why aren''t you affected?" I didn''t say anything and just continued to aim the gun at her face. Then she suddenly snapped. "Why, why, why, why! WHY!" Aura burst into the room, a chilly aura covering the entire room and every elves who were under bondage started shivering but because they were in that situation, they can''t move away anyway. I can feel it, despite not knowing what the whip can do, there is a chance something will happen that involves the power of lust and I am not sure what it will be but I will keep myself ready. Time to take that weapon off of her hands. Chapter 954 Have a Taste of My B*tch Slap Chapter 954 Have a Taste of My B*tch p Izmir began to exude a pink aura, something I rarely witnessed when people had auras. Except for the fact that she was entirely naked, her presence within this aura was far from ideal. Inparison to the auras of bloodlust and rage, this one was unique. It radiated an intense heat, scalding like it was awakening my desires. "Is this... the power of lust?" I pondered. The men, tied up on the ground, began to convulse, and, well, they reached a climax. It was abundantly clear that her aura possessed a distinct influence that rage couldn''t replicate. It weakened those in its vicinity,pelling them to unleash their burgeoning desires. I am even having a very hard time dealing with it. "Sh*t...Damn it... I''m ready for any bloodlust or rage aura, but this aura of lust? It''s throwing me off," I clenched my teeth, struggling to resist the overwhelming temptation. "What if I absorb the effects of the aura? After all, it''s essentially my power, so I can handle it," my Versatile Weapon''s shadow dragon suggested confidently. "No, I''ve got this. If I can''t ovee this on my own, I''m not cut out for true strength. Mastering this challenge will make me unstoppable in the future," I replied, determination burning in my eyes. "Alright, just don''t push yourself too hard. If you can''t help getting... excited, it''s normal. But can you still fight effectively?" The Shadow Dragon taunted, clearly amused by my predicament. "I can still fight, and thanks to this wild surge of libido, I''ve found a new surge of energy. I''m ready to face this head-on," I dered, doing my best to control my overwhelming desires. I rose to my feet, clutching my weapon, just as Izmir advanced with her aura growing more intense by the second. "You believe you can resist me? Well, if you won''t surrender willingly, I''ll just have to make you sumb to my charms," she said with a sly smile. With a swift motion, she cracked her whip against the floor, sending shivers through my entire body. My instincts screamed at me to stay away, but I couldn''t tear my gaze from her. As she dashed towards me with the whip in her hand, I managed to evade her strike just in the nick of time, gracefully sliding past her. Her nudity no longer held any appeal for me; my focus had shifted entirely to disarming her and putting an end to this bizarre situation. "Could I simply let you perform the [Devour] to the Weapon of Lust as it was about to attack me? Would that make things easier?" I inquired of the Shadow Dragon as I dodged her whip strikes. "If you have no qualms about the wielder''s well-being and seek her demise, I can certainly assist in that. However, I strongly advise against it. Their minds are intricately linked to the weapon. Once they grasp it, the only way to wrest it from their control is to wait for them to relinquish it or to defeat them here and now. The former is no longer an option, now that you''ve disrupted her. Thetter remains your safest course of action." The Shadow Dragon''s words carried a sense of urgency, urging me to take decisive action. "Damn it, why didn''t you tell me before I rushed into the room?" I scowled, my frustration mounting. "Well, you didn''t say anything, so I let you handle it," the Shadow Dragon replied casually. I could only let out a resigned sigh as I locked eyes with her. My only path to reiming that weapon was to defeat her. "Looks like we have no choice but to give her a serious beating." Her movements were swift before when she had fought Renatta, but now she was even faster. Perhaps it was because she wasn''t burdened by the weight of clothing, allowing her to move with ease. She unleashed a barrage of icicles in my direction, her whip dancing through the air like a venomous serpent, making it nearly impossible for me to get close. Her defense and stance were formidable, but that didn''t mean she was invulnerable. For a brief moment, she paused all her attacks, creating a slim opening. It was a tiny window of opportunity, but it was all I needed. "Why are you dodging, my dear?" Izmir purred, her voice dripping with seduction. She sensually caressed her own body with her free hand, all the while swirling the Weapon of Lust through the air. "Don''t you yearn to taste and indulge in this exquisite form of mine?" It would have been fine if I had a kink for this sort of thing, but no. I don''t even have the slightest inkling of attraction to it. "THOT BEGONE!" "Hmph, let''s see how you feel once you''ve embraced this body of mine," she purred before vanishing right before my eyes and reappearing behind me. "CRAP!" I hadn''t expected her to be that quick, and I was caught off guard. Before I could react, she hugged me from behind, her chest pressing against my back. Some might argue it was tempting, but considering the bizarre situation and the very real possibility that she could end me before I knew it, I didn''t feel the least bit lucky. "How about it, want to explore uncharted territory with me and savor the experience?" she whispered in my ear, her tone dripping with seduction. For the first time in my life, I felt the need to suppress the intense libido in my body. It''s screaming for me to do it. Or even to try it out. However, I still hold my consciousness and the desire to reject her. I struggled a bit. But I managed to fight back the power that was trying to tempt me. "If you want to have a taste..." I turned around and before she could respond... PA! I pped her face which in return, stunned her for a bit, shocked at what I was doing. She held the cheek that I pped hard and was not able to process what just happened. "You still good to go? Good, cause I still have more. Have a taste of my b*tch p!" PA! I continued to p her multiple times in both cheeks multiple times. I didn''t even care if she was hurting or not. She will taste it until she starts to retaliate. "How dare-" Before she could speak, a p weed her face and she almost staggered. "W-wielder...what is this kind of method you are doing?" Shadow Dragon was stunned at what I was doing. "What I am doing? I am disciplining her. If she thinks she can just do what she wants then she is wrong. PA! Another crisp p on the face was received. "W-wait!" PA! "I surr-" PA! "You saying something?" I asked. "I will sur-" PA! ... ... ... After a few more minutes of my relentless onught, her face bore the telltale signs of bruising and distress. I couldn''t help but wonder if I had gone too far, but the consequences of her retaliating were far worse. Surprisingly, it appeared that my actions had the unintended effect of momentarily disabling her spellcasting. She looked thoroughly traumatized, her weapon slipping from her hands as she continued to caress her swollen face. "Wielder... I never imagined you had it in you to push her this far." I smirked, "Just because she''s pretty and alluring doesn''t mean she''s attractive to me. If she breathes, she''s nothing more than a mere thot." I reached down to pick up the whip from the ground, feeling the palpable aura of Lust emanating from it. "Hey, I''ve got it. Open wide," I directed the Shadow Dragon. "Alright, give themand." I obliged,manding, "Here, [Devour]!" as I tossed the whip into the air. The Versatile Weapon trembled, and the Shadow Dragon materialized. Saliva dripped from its maw as it fixated on the whip. With a swift, sinuous motion, the Shadow Dragon extended its neck, engulfing the whip in a single gulp. The strong power of lust that had been lingering around the castle has disappeared. Izmir, who was still conscious, fell to the floor and lost consciousness. The elves also began to awaken one by one. Seeing the situation, I immediately extinguished the light in the room and quietly slipped away. I carried Izmir with me, despite the fact that she was an enemy. However, that was the only time I would assist her. I retrieved the [Cape of Hiding] from my backpack and draped it over her before leaving her in one of the nearby vacant rooms. Despite her questionable past, she is still Renatta''s sister. Perhaps her personality might change now that the controlling powers of the weapon are gone. I hoped for the best and I hope she does carry it. I sighed and escaped before she woke and confronted me about what she was doing. As for the Versatile Weapon, it has gone into hibernation. The same amount of time it needed to digest the weapons that are rted to the Seven Deadly Sins. Although I am not sure what kind of new skill will be unlocked, I hoped that I won''t be experiencing the way Izmir has been while the weapon was in her hands. Chapter 955 Attack of the Beastmen Chapter 955 Attack of the Beastmen I hurriedly left the castle and returned to the area where I had fought Hagane, deciding to stay there. As I allowed my body to calm down and my libido to return to normal, the energy surge that had overtaken me before vanished, and fatigue settled in once again. I sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, and let out a weary sigh. "It would have been fine if that surge of energy had remained. That way, I could still go and fight. Damn, I feel like I''m about to copse," I grumbled. I wondered if anyone had already arrived at the current destination, as I was very curious about how they were handling things there. While I rested, Tina, Lina, and Cotton exited the Summon''s Area and approached me. Initially, I thought they were here to keep mepany as I waited, but it turned out they had another reason. "Master," Tina began, holding Cotton in her arms. "Cotton said something. It seems she''s sensing that something bad is on the horizon." Tina gently ced Cotton on the ground. I noticed that her eyes were currently glowing brightly, resembling shlights or disco balls. Her eyes were all white, and her usual green pupils were nowhere to be seen. "She''s been like this for a while now. Just a few minutes ago, she mentioned the fall of the Elf Kingdom. We tried to shake her and snap her out of it, but she didn''t respond at all," Lina said, sounding worried. "The fall?" I furrowed my brow. As I turned to look at Cotton, just as I was about to try shaking her as well, she started speaking. However, her voice was much deeper and more authoritative, almost as if she had been possessed or something. "Behold, the prophecy of ages past, whispered through the winds of destiny: The Elven Kingdom''s impending descent is etched in the celestial scrolls. A war god, fierce and unrelenting, shall descend from the heavens, reducing our cherished realm to naught but ruins. Though thend festers from within, hope shall not be forsaken, for within this turmoil lies the harbinger of transformation. The kingdom''s fall is but a precursor to the ascent of a nascent dominion. A rebirth awaits, like the phoenix rising from the ashes of the past. To stand guard and shield the witheringnd is futile, for its decay is an irrevocable verdict. But in the crucible of destruction, a new realm shall take root. In the shadows of impending chaos, one truth remains: To sunder the very fabric of this war god''s existence is the sole key to salvation. Harness a mightier force, one that devours the very essence of the deity, and from this alchemy, emerge as the catalyst for the dawn of a new era. Embrace the prophecy, for the tides of destiny shall forever be altered by the brave and the resolute. The time is nigh to vanquish the war god and reim the kingdom''s legacy." Her voice did not sound like that of a child, but rather like that of a deity, thundering throughout the surroundings. It was as if Cotton had be some kind of prophet, and what she had just uttered undeniably seemed like a prophecy. Although I couldn''t grasp half of what she had said, there was something in her words that made me furrow my brows. It seemed she was discussing the fall of the Elven Kingdom and the mention of the "war god" as well. While I was not well-acquainted with it, the mention of the war god term reminded me of the figure I had crossed paths with some time ago. Yes, it was King Arthur. Even though he had met his demise at the hands of Almira, among all the adversaries we had confronted, he was the only one I could confidently refer to as the War God. Witnessing his ability to engage inbat without weapons and yet emerge unscathed from a perilous environment teeming with colossal monsters was an impressive feat. While he may have perished due to a weapon designed to end him, the emergence of a new war god now begs the question: was there a new individual deserving of the title "war god"? I don''t know but there is a chance that he or she is indeed someone who can surpass or even rival King Arthur. Just as we were trying to snap Cotton out of her daze, she suddenly copsed and fell into Tina''s arms, unconscious. We also noticed something emanating from her body, a strange amalgamation of smoke and light dissipating into the air. "Gotcha," Tina wiped the sweat from Cotton''s forehead as she caught her in her arms. "Is she okay now?" Lina inquired. "Yeah, her mana fluctuations have significantly decreased, and the words she just spoke are identical to what she said earlier. I''m certain of it," Tina affirmed as she cradled Cotton in her arms. Tina then turned to me and bowed down to apologize. "Sorry about this Master. I thought it would have been best for you to see and hear what she just said," Tina apologizes to me. "No worries. But now that I hear what she just said just now felt like something big is going to happen soon enough." Lina and Tina along with the unconscious Cotton returned to the Summon''s Area. They will be on standby in case I will call them. "F*ck man, just what is happening now? Is something going to ur that I don''t know?" Just as I thought things were calm, an explosion urred on the castle walls. It shook a bit and even though the st was far from where I was sitting, the st was strong enough to shake the surroundings. This made me jolt back and stand up as I ready my weapon. Something is attacking the castle from the outside. But wait... does that mean the fall of the Elven Kingdom is drawing near? ... ... ... While Manato was already guessing the connection between what was happening and the prophecy that he heard not too long ago, the gang and the two royalties had to duck down as the surroundings shook after an explosion urred not too far from their location. Since the explosive was a lot stronger and some of the wine sses and bottles exploded as well upon the explosion means that it was a lot nearer than expected. "What the f*ck just happened?" Avos scratches his head after several rocks fell on his head. Thankfully, they were a lot smaller so they are not that painful but that was enough to make Avos annoyed. "What is happening, care to exin?" M turned to look at the Queen who looked like she was not going to be in a good feeling. "No...no... they are attacking so soon. They shouldn''t be attacking this fast!" the queen got hysterical. "What attacking?" Avos frowned. "The Beastmen... they are going to invade the whole kingdom. ording to the intel, they will be attacking 5 days from now but this is way too soon!" the king was also stupefied by the situation as well. When Renatta heard this, she frowned and readied her weapon. "F*ckers. Looks like Almira-san''s intel was right. These beastmen are wrong in the head." She then started walking away from the dining room with the others following her. "Renatta? Where are you going?" M catches up on Renatta. "We have an initial task to help the kingdom against the beastmen attacks and deal with them to retrieve something that Manato rightfully owns. Now that they decided to knock on our borders, then we will wee them with open arms." Chapter 956 Welcoming the Threat Chapter 956 Weing the Threat I was uncertain whether I should leave or wait for everyone to return as the situation became far more dire than I initially expected when I saw Renatta and the others return, rushing out. "Manato, did you stay behind and decide to rest here?" Pandora inquired upon spotting me in the same area as before the battle. "Yeah, after the fight against Hagane, I needed some rest. That guy had some serious backup, and I had to use some of my abilities as well," I replied. "But what''s happening? I heard an explosion just now," I asked. "We are under attack. I will be facing the assault of the beastmen right now. Would you like to join, Manato? Your help would be greatly appreciated," Renatta asked. "Well, I don''t want to remain idle here, and even though I''m still tired, I don''t want to be unproductive, so I''ll join. Why not?" I shrugged. "That''s good. We''re going to confront them right now." Behind us, Avos and M rushed in, apanied by two elves who bore a striking resemnce to Renatta and appeared to be of royal descent. "We wille as well, Renatta. This battle is not only yours and your friends'' duty, so we will lend our assistance," Avos assured Renatta. "Thank you for offering..." the queen-like figure began, but Renatta immediately interrupted her. "Don''t think we''re defending this ce out of duty, but because we care about the innocent lives that will be in danger. If you two are not here to help, then please step aside and stay out of our way." With those parting words, Renatta walked off, her weapon gripped tightly in her hands. As for Avos and M, they silently turned their backs on the two royalty members, who were too stunned to speak. Whatever they discussed back there, I didn''t really care, and I couldn''t care less, I guess. The rest of us left as well, following the three who had gone off on their own. They disappeared so quickly, but thankfully, Labo and Alena were there. "It looks like they rushed ahead. Follow us, guys; we know the way to where they will be meeting the Beastmen attacking," Alena said as they started running away from the castle. We followed them, and we saw the elves scrambling around the ce. Chaos had ensued, and many were panicking. "I didn''t expect to see the day when these elves would be afraid of something. But seeing their reactions now actually makes me feel a bit relieved that they do have something to fear. Otherwise, I would assume that they have been hardened so much that even things like this would no longer provoke a reaction from them, given their unwavering loyalty to the royalty," Labo grinned as he looked at the running elves. "Well, they are still the same people who have remained in this state for quite some time. If they had seen the state of the world outside this kingdom, I would say they might get a wake-up call about how backward their thinking is," Alena chuckled as well. Although I don''t understand much about what the elves really think about the state of their kingdom, it''s not my concern to dig into the details. We are here to help resolve things, but Renatta has to deal with these matters the most, as she knows what''s going on. It didn''t take us long to arrive at the gates where Renatta, Avos, and M were engaged in a battle against multiple Beastmen trying to breach the defenses. "Prepare to fight!" Everyone sprang into action and joined the battle. Now I realized why the elves were struggling. I checked their stats and saw that they were all around level 200 and above, which exined why the elves were having a tough time. The average level of the elves here is around 150+. The only ones with levels of 200 and above were Avos, M, the spirits in Renatta''s mansion, and Izmir as well. As for the guards, I didn''t see them making much of an impact against these foes. It made me wonder how they managed to hold off the Beastmen while trying to protect themselves from being overrun. Perhaps this is the first time the Beastmen decided to take advantage of the castle. Avos and M were having difficulty fighting the beastmen, but their experience in battles eventually secured their victory. However, they knew that if the beastmen ganged up on them, they would be vulnerable. The beastmen held the advantage due to their physical strength, greater numbers, and proximity to the skill level of Avos and M. Without our assistance, it seemed unlikely that they could defend against the beastmen. Renatta, in her Bear form, effortlessly dispatched the beastmen, tearing through them and surprising Avos and M with her strength. We joined the battle as well, with Akira and I drawing the beastmen''s attention and engaging them inbat, allowing the ranged attackers to eliminate them quickly. Pandora nonchntly dealt with the beastmen using her chains, while Sora used magic spells to st multiple foes. Alena and Labo focused on sniping any beastmen who managed to slip through the defenses. I also allowed Lina to participate in the fight, though Tina was busy tending to Cotton at the moment. We swiftly eliminated many of the beastmen and cleared the area around the gates. Afterward, we pushed the remaining beastmen back and sealed the gates. Now, we faced the distant beastmen who had siege equipment ready. Realizing the dire situation, the remaining beastmen, seeing theirrades fall and their siege weapons undamaged, activated their beast forms and charged at us. I assessed the situation and noticed that the siege equipment posed a significant threat to the castle walls. Without any hesitation, I transformed my Versatile Weapon into a cannon and aimed it at the siege weapons. These structures might be sturdy, but they were made of wood, and my [Grapeshot] would make quick work of them. It might not be the most efficient method, but it was the fastest way to eliminate both the siege weapons and any beastmen operating them. "Defeat the one with the cannon! He''s targeting our siege equipment!" the beastmen urgently pointed at me as I fired my second volley of grapeshots. I signaled mypanions to unleash their full abilities while the beastmen were distracted by my actions. "It''s time to face the threat head-on," I said with a grin as I aimed my cannon at the approaching beastmen while loading another [Grapeshot]. BOOM! Multiple of them got injured as a result. Seeing that they were not capable of dealing with us, the one in the distance shouted to the attacking beastmen, "RETREAT!" Hearing this, they immediately started running. Although we continued to fight them while they were fleeing, they were fast and they disappeared before we could do anything about it. However, no one of us knew that the beastmen never fully retreated. It was that everything was just the beginning. After all, this is the first raid of the group. Chapter 957 Respite Before the Second Wave Chapter 957 Respite Before the Second Wave "Are we finished?" Avos looked around to ensure there were no more enemies waiting nearby. "I doubt they''re done. They might have retreated, but ording to my spirits, when I asked them about the situation regarding the Beastmen, those guys won''t just back away easily unless they think it''s nearly impossible. Right now, though, I think they''re just going to regroup and return," Renatta wiped off the blood that had sshed on her cheek. "So, are you suggesting we follow them?" Sora asked. "No. If we assume the fastest they can gather reinforcements and devise strategies to stop us, we can expect a second battle tomorrow. We''ll need to rest for half a day and prepare for their next assault," Renatta calcted. "What if your calction is wrong? What if they don''t need to prepare and can just send their men straight to us?" "Then all we can do is prevent the downfall of the kingdom and protect the innocent elves. Despite them being troublesome individuals who don''t care about others, without them, this kingdom would struggle to thrive," Renatta sighed. "But honestly, I don''t care if this kingdom falls apart. That way, these elves will learn how harsh the world''s reality can be, and they can step out of their safety bubble for once." I nced at Avos and M, and I could see sadness in their eyes at Renatta''s way of thinking. I think she has grown too tired of the kingdom. She''s had enough, and if she continues like this, she will eventually break. But I can''t me her though. Seeing no signs of them, we decided to return. Avos decided to put a sentry ward in the area to ensure that we can at least use this chance to get our surveince to the area and we can also respond fast enough in case they do attack. I set up another teleport point near the sentry ward as well as that will allow us to return here immediately before the enemies arrive. Once all were done, we decided to return to the mansion and rest for the rest of the day and prepare as well for their return. The moment we did, the elves started to return to their houses and their residences. Of course, some of them turned to look at us with disdainful nces and some were even whispering vulgar words, directly aimed at us before leaving. Avos and M are ready to unleash their anger but Renatta shakes her head as she doesn''t want things to get more troublesome and she doesn''t want her grandparents to bother with them in any way. Thankfully, no one from the elves who seemed to be hostile to us decided to do anything and allowed us to go back without much fuss. When we returned, everyone went their separate ways. Some sought rest, while others searched for entertainment or anything that caught their fancy. As for me, I had ns to enhance everyone''s offensive capabilities, including Avos and M. They required new weapons to effectivelybat their foes. Despite their simr levels, it was evident that dealing with them was more challenging due to the reputation of their race as beastmen. Creating weapons for M would be straightforward, but for Avos, it presented a more intricate challenge. Avos was clearly proficient in using magic spells and demonstrated versatilityparable to a magician. Yet, he possessed unique spells not found in the Magician ss or its ascended jobs. Consequently, Avos seemed to represent a ss of his own or perhaps a blend of various sses. Although he carried a staff, I rarely saw him use it. However, observing him use it anyway confirmed that the staff was the right choice for him. The cksmith Spirit appeared surprised by my visit but nodded in acknowledgment. He was busy sharpening tools used by the spirits and regrly checked their condition to ensure they remained in optimal shape. I requested permission to use the forge and the smithy, and to my relief, he was generous and had no other pressing tasks since the forge was currently inactive. Utilizing my own materials, I began crafting the weapons. As the Spirit cksmith recognized the recipients were Avos and M, he joined in, significantly speeding up the production process. With the workpleted, I returned to my room for a brief nap, allowing me to alleviate some umted fatigue. After a few minutes of sleep, I awoke and began organizing the items in my inventory. Since Cotton''s earlier revtion, I was determined to ensure a favorable resolution to the situation. If what she had conveyed was urate, it meant that the kingdom''s downfall was still inevitable. "All right. Now, it''s time to wait and observe the next course of action." ... ... ... ... Janus woke up after he died in the battle against Manato. He was totally surprised by what just happened and although he couldn''t control his senses, he somehow still managed to feel what happened. Thest thing he knew was the feeling of darkness before countless teeth started to grind his body. He felt like he was plunged into an endless nightmare before he woke up and returned to reality. Going out of his room, he saw Nobuhiko drinking in his office. He is clearly not sure what is happening to him but he approached him. He can smell the strong smell of beer from him even when he is approaching. "Huh, so you are out now huh? That f*cking bastard, how the f*ck did he bypass the systems? That shouldn''t have been possible!" Nobuhiko drank another mouthful of beer before he started coughing. "We tried to prevent his attacks but it seems like it was meant to defy logic there. Our systems calctions do not work and all of them seem to have gone haywire after we tried to analyze his attacks. Moreover, it seems Tsukasa Manato has no longer been using his "deheart" ount. As much as we try to manipte his ount, it seems he is using something to still use the system and continue to fight. Not only that but all of his abilities seems to have remained intact as well based on the battle calctions done earlier." "If I had known that he would be a pain in the *ss, I wouldn''t have chosen him as the one to bring back from the past! That f*cker ended up running my ns! If not for the fact that this is myst chance and I can rewind back the time again, I would have done it again and would rather find someone who is loyal and enough to not betray and stab you in the foot." Janus who was just hearing everything frowned. "Did they just say "Back from the past?" Does that mean, Manato was from the future and returned to the past?" Chapter 958 Second Wave Chapter 958 Second Wave I was still sorting out the potions when Akira rushed into my room. "Brother, it seems the second wave is about to start. Avos-san said that his sentry wards detected the next wave iing." "That soon?! I haven''t even made much preparation, and they''ve already returned? Geez,e on then," I gathered up all of the potions I had already sorted out, along with those that hadn''t been sorted, and pushed them inside my inventory before leaving with Akira. In the living room, everyone was already watching the scene disyed on the sentry ward that Avos had cast. It functioned like the best surveince spell and acted as a surveince camera in the location where it was ced. On the disy, the beastmen could be seen walking in the distance, approaching the area where we had fought them earlier. They were carrying torches with them, indicating their intention to attack once night fell. "Looks like they n to attack at night," Imented. "Right. They''ve prepared for this second wave. It seems the earlier wave was just a test to gauge how the Elven Kingdom would respond. Since that attack didn''t work, they''ve moved on to the next stage of their n, which is what we''re seeing now," Avos said, shaking his head as he clicked his tongue. "By now, the guards should have noticed them, right? I doubt they''d just let them be, especially since they almost breached the defenses during the earlier battle," Alena spected. "I don''t think so. Considering we didn''t receive any assistance from the elven guards during the previous attack, it''s either they''re toocent or we incapacitated all of them during our assault on the castle, although I highly doubt thetter," M said, shaking her head. "If they are nning a nighttime attack, we will have to fight them during the night, which could be disadvantageous for us, as we are not beastmen. Beastmen can see well in the dark and pose a significant threat if we don''t address them promptly. Let''s go, M. Guys, I won''t force any of you to join us in defending the kingdom. This is our issue, but we would greatly appreciate any help you can provide," Avos said, looking at us. "Don''t worry, we''ll help. We have some unfinished business with the beastmen, and we don''t mind engaging inbat. We''re trained to fight enemies like them all day," Akira said with a determined grin. "Yes, you can count on us. We may be outsiders at the moment, and there''s no obligation for you to ask us, but we''re willing to offer our assistance," Pandora nodded. I stood up and looked at both Avos and M. "Avos-san, M-san, I have something to show you both before we proceed to battle the beastmen. It''s something essential that may aid both of you." Avos and M appeared a bit puzzled by what I was saying, so I pulled out the weapons and armor I had crafted with the assistance of the Spirit cksmith. "These are the armor and weapons that the Spirit cksmith and I created when we returned from the raid in the pce. I designed them, and the Spirit cksmith helped me with the process of making and designing the intricate details of the armor. You can say that these are joint projects between the two of us cksmiths, aimed at creating gear that can maximize the power of their wielders and armor that will protect them from the most dangerous attacks their enemies might use. Withstanding an attack has never been easier." Both Avos and M''s eyes lit up as they picked up the armor and weapons I had ced on the table. The armor Iid down is lightweight armor and a robe, designed for magicians and martial artists to maintain their mobility and ease of movement. After all, what''s the point of making heavy armor if the wearer can''t fully utilize its strength? They went inside their rooms for a while and began to change into the gear I had crafted. It took them some time, but when they emerged, they were donning their new outfits and equipped with the weapons I had created for them. "These fit my body perfectly. I can''t believe it," M eximed, moving around to see how seamlessly her armor integrated with her body. "The Spirit cksmith used the measurements he took when you requested the armor before, and I designed and added the necessaryponents. He then worked on the overall look of the armor to make it both functional and aesthetically pleasing." "My old staff doesn''t evenpare to this new one. I felt energized just by holding it, and I believe I can unleash my power if I desire," Avos said, swinging his new staff with clear delight. "That''s because the crystal embedded in the staff has a passive mana-recovery effect, which is why you felt energized. It''s also quite durable, making it suitable for close-quartersbat." "Wow, this is incredible! How much do we owe you for all of this? We insist on paying," M said, clearly delighted with her new items. "No need for payment. This is a goodwill gesture, and it will help us achieve victory in the uing battle without any casualties." The two smiled and nodded, expressing their satisfaction with their new gear. As for the others, I only provided them with supplies. After all, the equipment I''ve given them is currently the best avable. That''s why they won''t be receiving anything new, except for M and Avos. As night began to creep into the sky, the spirits in the mansion turned on the lights. "It looks like it''s time. Shall we get going?" Avos asked the group. "We''re always ready," Labo nodded, turning to Alena, who also smiled and nodded. "No one dares to mess with the kingdom, not on my watch," Renatta dered with determination in her expression. I snapped my fingers, and a Teleport Portal appeared, connecting us to the field. "Then, let''s get in there before they start their assault. The sooner we arrive, the better." ... ... ... ... ... In just a few seconds, everyone had arrived on the battlefield. Sure enough, there wasn''t a single guard or soldier in sight and no surveince of the movements of the beastmen. They were far toocent. "Ugh... If we''re not here, does that mean this kingdom will perish? This is a truly disastrous situation," Avos expressed his discontent with how the kingdom was seemingly ignoring the beastmen. I spread my wings and activated [Stealth] before taking flight. "I''ll scout the number of enemies attacking. This way, we can prepare in case there are too many for us to handle." "Be careful up there, young man," Avos cautioned. I nodded before flying straight toward the enemies'' location. As expected, they were more numerous than I had anticipated, and they had gathered a significant number of siege weapons. It was evident that they were preparing for a full frontal assault. Looking further into the distance, I noticed a small camp that seemed to hold more significance than the rest. Upon closer inspection, I saw a beastman sitting on a throne made of bones, being carried by servants. He had arge ax beside his bone throne, and as I observed it, the Versatile Weapon I carried started to vibrate. Although the Shadow Dragon was currently dormant, its ability remained in effect, indicating that the individual sitting on the bone throne was another Weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins. It seemed that Almira''s intuition was correct. While hovering, I sensed an overwhelming and malevolent presence approaching me. I nced around and realized that the source of the bloodlust was none other than the beastman on the bone throne. "Sh*t..." I didn''t want to get into trouble, and more importantly, I didn''t want the entire army of beastmen on my tail. So, instead of staying any longer, I immediately returned to the group. "Damn, it seems the beastmen''s senses are no joke. Even when I was in [Stealth], he managed to detect me." I needed to discuss this matter with everyone. I wasn''t sure how dire the situation might be, but we needed to be prepared. After all, the leader of the beastmen was present and ready to engage. Swiftly flying back to the group, Inded, and everyone looked at me, waiting for the news I brought. "We are at a total disadvantage. Not only the beastmen are currently equipped with stronger equipment, but they also have more siege equipment that they can use. Their numbers are also numerous, much more numerous than before." "I was right. The attack earlier is to gauge the preparedness of the kingdom. Now there are already more of them..." Avos shook his head. "I am not done. I am also someone who I assumed to be the leader of the Beastmen. He is leading the group and he is stationed at the veryst part of the lineup. I didn''t finish scouting as he immediately noticed me flying even when I was under the [Stealth] effects. "The chieftain..." Renatta frowned. M noticed the glum look on our faces and immediately motivated us. No worries guys. If they attack, then we will do what we can do. Believe in what you can do. We will win this." Then, an unexpected voice came behind us. "Grandma is right. We will win this. We will defend the kingdom and defeat everyone who tries to conquer and destroy it." Renatta was surprised when she looked at the figure who arrived. "Izmir?" The one who arrived was none other than Izmir. Butpared to before, she is now wearing modestbat dress that seems to resemble snow and ice. Although it still exudes sexiness, it does not exude a very lewd feeling anymore like it is trying to seduce anyone who looks. "What are you doing here Izmir?" M frowned. "I will be assisting in this battle. I didn''t know the Beastmen are gonna be attacking so as one of the people who should be defending the Kingdom, I am here to offer my help." "So you actually cared now? I didn''t know you can change," Renatta said, still with the same tone of contempt. "I know that you don''t like me here, Sister. But I am not here to make amends with you. I am here to defend my home, so you can''t make me leave." "That''s enough. We don''t want internal conflict. If Izmir is going to help, then we will ept all the help we can get. So get ready. Once they start moving, we will strike them first. Now, time to deal with them and protect the kingdom," Avos said as he raise his staff. Now, the second wave is upon us. Time to fight. Chapter 959 The Siege Chapter 959 The Siege We waited within the castle walls for a while and established a surveince point at its highest vantage point. We harnessed Sora''s exceptional ability to see long distances from our location and leveraged Avos''s skills to enhance our vision beyond the range of our natural eyesight. Since it was nighttime, it was safer to remain indoors rather than expose ourselves outside. ording to Renatta, there might be a few beastmen with the ability to camouge themselves in the darkness or skilled hunters who excel during nighttime. It was possible that some stealthy beastmen could sneak in the dark and remain hidden, potentially ambushing us. Thus, it made more sense to shelter inside and wait for an attack, instead of braving the cold and remaining exposed. However, even before the war had officially begun, conflicts had already arisen within our group. Renatta and Izmir were clearly not on good terms, especially Renatta, who openly disyed her hostility towards her sister. In contrast, Izmir remainedposed and did not back down, despite Renatta''s obvious resentment. "Why the sudden change? You sounded prouder and more arrogant before, so seeing you like this now makes me uncertain about why you seem to have changed," M asked as she sat beside Izmir. "I...I don''t know. I just woke up one day and realized that everything I had been doing was wrong. I know I am in the wrong, which is why I want to fix it before it''s toote." "So your first attempt is to help defend the kingdom from the threat? How noble of you," Renattamented with a sarcastic tone as she spoke to Izmir. "No, my primary goal is to ask for forgiveness from you, Sister. Defending the kingdom became a secondary issue that was added to my list after discovering the threat. I know it won''t be easy, but I want to ask for forgiveness..." Izmir calmly stated. "..." Renatta said nothing and only sighed deeply as she gazed into the horizon. As for me, I discreetly stole a nce at Izmir. Thankfully, my gaze could be concealed by the mask I was wearing, but I was trying to ascertain her sincerity. Perhaps she was, or perhaps she wasn''t. However, after the incident involving her relinquishing the weapon of lust, this could be one of the oues. It was still too early to pass judgment, so I decided to withhold my assessment untilter. Just then, Sora, who was responsible for using her abilities to see into the distance, reported to us. "It looks like they''re on the move, folks. Get ready, a battle is imminent." We stood up from our seats upon hearing that. This indicates that the battle will soon take a turn for the absurd. We were still in the midst of preparing when all of a sudden... BOOOM! BOOOOM! Multiple explosions rocked the walls of the castle, and the force was so powerful that we nearly tumbled to the ground the moment the explosions urred. "Looks like they''ve employed catapults or cannons to make a grand entrance," Labo said as he prepared his bow and arrow. "Let''s move out!" Before we officially set out, I tossed a small package in Izmir''s direction, which she deftly caught. "Huh?" Izmir looked puzzled. "It''s a potion ration for you. Since you mentioned you''d be joining us, consider these as your emergency supplies. We''re bound to get wounded or run low on mana out there," I exined. Before she could respond, I joined the others, and we prepared ourselves for battle. With the enemy appearing in suchrge numbers this time, there was no longer any room for non-lethal tactics. We had to adopt a more aggressive and lethal approach this time around. As the enemy''s massive siege equipment relentlessly bombarded the castle, the urgency of the situation couldn''t be clearer. With a quick transformation of my Versatile Weapon into a formidable cannon, I secured a skill from the [Cannoneer] ss: [Rapid Barrage of Iron Balls]. This choice was driven by the inadequacy of a standard [Grapeshot] against the hulking behemoths of siege equipment they fielded. "[FIRE]!" BOOM BOOM BOOM The cannon roared to life, unleashing deafening explosions, as a relentless stream of cannonballs shot into the sky, targeting the oing attackers. This rapid, simultaneous fire meant there was no hope for anyone caught within the st radius. As I felt the fierce recoil of the cannon and the thunderous echoes reverberating through the battlefield, my heart raced. The stakes were high, and seeing how the cannon barrage decimated the enemies, the determination of everyone to defend the castle burned brighter than ever. Each cannonball unleashed was a testament to our resolve, and in the face of the enemy''s relentless assault, I knew we would stand strong if we continued to keep at it. I can hear in the distance the screams of the dying Beastmen as they are struck by the cannon''s st. This is enough to prompt everyone to rush to the defense of the castle as soon as the Beastmen begin their charge. Renatta transformed into her Enhanced Bear form andmenced demolishing every Beastman that attacked. While the Beastmen possess innate strength due to their race, Renatta wields significantly greater raw firepower and a level advantage. Even though her adversaries are inherently robust, they are still no match for her, as she has surpassed them in terms of levels alone. Alena and Labo excel at their job, executing it with remarkable precision. They consistently unleash a barrage of rapid arrows, exhibiting a level of uracy that surpasses that of a sniper rifle, even when targeting foes miles away. Pandora, on the other hand, is employing her signature golden chains to great effect. In an impressive disy of her abilities, she has incorporated the [Holy Sword Rain] technique into her arsenal, periodically summoning torrents of gleaming golden swords crafted from mana. This strategic move allows her to swiftly eliminate multiple beastmen simultaneously. Sora and Akira are also proving to be formidable in their roles. Akira valiantly draws the attention of all attacks directed towards his sister, disying unwavering courage in his protective stance. Meanwhile, Sora unleashes a relentless onught of spells, wreaking havoc upon any enemies that dare to approach, leaving devastation in their wake. Izmir was not slouching either. With a few graceful waves of her hands, multiple icicle spikes materialized in thin air, and sheunched them with rapid intensity. Every unfortunate beastman who encountered Izmir found themselves immediately impaled by the icy spikes. Avos maintained a relentless spellcasting barrage, continuously decimating the group of beastmen attacking him. His face bore an unmistakable expression of delight as he effortlessly crushed the beastmen into the ground. M, too, relished the battle. Not only were her strikes significantly more powerful, but she moved with a newfound agility. She effortlessly dispatched beastmen, no longer hindered by them as she had been in her previous encounters where she came close to defeat. But, as usual, despite my efforts to eliminate them all, they proved to be more resilient than expected. Although I had sessfully thwarted several attempts to breach the castle with their siege equipment, I had vastly underestimated the quantity of siege machinery they had brought with them. The relentless barrage of attacks eventually led to the castle walls copsing and turning into rubble. "SH*T! THE WALLS ARE DOWN!" Avos shouted, quickly retreating and hastily erecting a makeshift barrier. The beastmen, who appeared to be lycanthropes, began transforming into their beastly forms and charged inside at an rming speed. Dealing with them individually would be a time-consuming challenge. Instead of doing so, I converted my Versatile Weapon into its magic sword form and activated one of my Magic Knight''s skills, specifically [Earthquake], a tier 5 ability that had evolved from thebination of [Earth Fissure] and [Earth Splitter]. The sudden tremor in the ground using my skill was enough for the beastmen to start tumbling down as they struggled to recover. Seeing the opportunity for both Alena and Labo, they aimed and fired their bows and arrows to swiftly defeat the beastmen who had transformed into beasts who were slumped from the previous tremors. However, this method wasn''t efficient enough. Despite our best efforts, the beastmen easily tore down the remaining defenses and began to disregard our presence as they made their way inside. "NO!" Avos couldn''tpletely contain all of them. Realizing the urgency of the situation, I decided to deploy both Lina and Tina. "Lina, Tina, do whatever it takes to eliminate the attacking beastmen. Protect the elves who might get caught in the crossfire. This time, focus on eradicating the beastmen as a top priority." "Roger that!" Lina nodded, offering a salute. "What about the civilians who might be caught in the crossfire?" Tina inquired. "If possible, keep them out of harm''s way, but don''t let it slow you down in dealing with the primary threat. Eliminate the beastmen first, as they can cause more casualties if left unchecked, while others can attend to the civilians in need." Tina nodded, and the two of them headed inside, their mission to clean up the invaders who had decided to enter and disrupt the situation. "The enemies are getting closer. We need to prevent more of the beastmen from getting in!" Izmir had just arrived and, upon seeing her grandfather struggling to maintain the barrier, she decided to help. Using her unique ability, she conjured a massive ice wall that swiftly froze up the damaged section, effectively sealing off the area once again. "Izmir!" Avos hadn''t anticipated her quick response. "Don''t worry about me, Grandpa. Focus on recovering your mana, and I''ll assist in holding back the enemies." Avos nodded and swiftly pulled out a mana potion, downing it in one gulp. "Now that the defense is restored, I''ll personally take care of those siege weapons before they can wreak any more havoc." I dashed back to the battlefield. Realizing that my Versatile Weapon''s cannon form was too slow to deal with all the threats, I decided it was time to enlist the help of my trusty pet. "MIZUCHI!" Mizuchi, whom I had rarely called upon for assistance before, aside from leveling up, eagerly emerged from the Summon''s Area with an excited hiss. "Time to unleash some mayhem, Mizuchi." I mounted Mizuchi''s back, ready for a spectacreback. Chapter 960 The Beastmens Leader Chapter 960 The Beastmen''s Leader The beastmen remain relentless in their attacks. Even when Mizuchi appeared as a massive hulking beast, a sight they had only beheld today, they did not waver and continued their relentless assault. While their attention is fixed on attacking Mizuchi, I am unfazed by his being targeted. His formidable defense allows him to absorb their blows like a sponge, rendering their attacks inconsequential. Furthermore, his passive health recovery, triggered every time he''s struck, virtually nullifies the damage. And besides, Mizuchi seemed to have quite the appetite today. Now that I had unleashed him, I was willing to let him indulge in as much as he desired this time. As I watched the unstoppable force that Mizuchi had be, bulldozing through all of the enemies and their siege equipment in one powerful sweep, the beastmen started to panic. "Go, Mizuchi! Crush them all!" I wasn''t afraid of Mizuchi destroying all of the beastmen in the process. Since they wished to fight in an overwhelming manner, it was only fair for us to respond in kind. It took some time and extensive destruction for the beastmen toe to terms with their dire situation. "F*ck, I''d rather meet my end at the hands of a weapon than be devoured or crushed by a monstrosity like that!" "Ah, damn it all! I never agreed to any of this! F*CK!" The desperate cries of numerous beastmen reverberated throughout the area. "Mizuchi, if you encounter an adversary you believe is beyond your capabilities, do not hesitate to retreat. Otherwise, proceed with your mission of annihtion without second thoughts." Mizuchi let out an ted roar before I dismounted from his back. As much as I wanted to observe the destruction from above, I also desired to be an active participant in the chaos, rather than merely an onlooker. M, who had been on the frontline with the others, waspletely taken aback. "What is that beast?! It''s so massive that we could easily be crushed if we don''t get out of its path!" M couldn''t believe her eyes. "It''s one of my two pets. I recently tamed it, but its size prevented me from unleashing it until now. With this vast battlefield, I''ve decided to give it a test run." Renatta, who is nearby, just gave her grandmother a thumbs up. "Don''t worry about it, grandma. This is totally normal." As the number of beastmen starts to dwindle, a sense of heaviness pervades the area. It''s not the same as the pressure I''ve encountered with bosses and on many asions, but it''s somewhat reminiscent of the intense bloodlust exuded by others. Mizuchi continued its attacks, but as soon as the intense feeling of pressure appeared, Mizuchi stiffened and retreated. That only means one thing; even if Mizuchi is strong, he is not confident in dealing with the enemy before him. I can see him retreating. Since Mizuchi seemed to be retreating fast, I snapped my fingers and opened up my Summon''s Area. Seeing the massive portal, Mizuchi dived in and disappeared, leaving the bloody mess he made. "He returned?" Pandora was surprised. "I issued amand that if he felt unable to defeat something or someone in his path of destruction, he needed to retreat. Seeing him retreat just now indicates that someone is causing this to happen," I exined as I gripped my Versatile Weapon and transformed it into a double-hand gun. "An enemy that even something as fearsome as that beast fears? We''re in a tough situation, aren''t we?" M frowned as he punched a beastman, rendering him unconscious. "Then all we can do is defend and fight until the very end." Inparison to earlier, the number of beastmen has significantly decreased, with most of them either killed or retreating from the battle, thanks inrge part to Mizuchi. Even the siege weapons have been destroyed, so our main concern now is the remaining beastmen themselves. Seeing how Mizuchi retreated, only one guy remains a big threat. "Guys, I will deal with the leader himself. Take down everyone else who is still trying to breach the ice that Izmir made. We are almost done." As I uttered those words, I unfurled my wings and flew directly toward the leader. Just as I had observed when I first saw him, he appeared as tired as ever, waiting for results. I wasted no time. Even though he sat nonchntly on his throne constructed of bones, I showed no hesitation and began firing at him with my handgun. BANG BANG BANG! But as quickly as I fired mana bullets at him, he deftly deflected all of them with his axe. PENG! PENG! PENG! Seeing that guns were ineffective against him, I transformed my weapon into a Magic Sword, and we engaged in a fierce weapon sh. PENG! He effortlessly blocked the Versatile Weapon with a single hand while maintaining his seated position on the throne. "A human wearing a beast mask... Interesting." With a swift swing, he sent me hurtling through the air. It wasn''t entirely unexpected, and I managed to brace myself as he smirked, his wolf-like visage bearing striking resemnces to my own. The only notable difference was the color of his fur, which was a deep gray, contrasting with the pristine white fur on my mask. "You are undeniably strong, and Imend your courage in attacking me without any backup." As soon as he finished speaking, five beastmen suddenly materialized from all directions, their weapons poised to strike in my direction. With a swift motion, I transformed my Versatile Weapon into a katana and managed to block three of their attacks, while the other two were thwarted when I deflected the initial three strikes and swiftly countered, dispatching the remaining two. After dealing with the pair, I turned my attention back to the adversaries I had initially shed with, disarming them before ultimately defeating them. "Interesting. I''ve never encountered a human with your level of agility and skill. It seems you''re about to sate my appetite tonight," he grinned, then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, two identical figures, brandishing axes like his, manifested before me. They appeared nearly indistinguishable from him. "[Doppelganger]," I muttered as I assumed my battle stance and observed the movements of the two. "It doesn''t matter much whether you know what I just did or not. Let''s see if you''re truly worth my time." The two beasts, who looked exactly like him,unched their attack. Despite wielding axes, they moved with surprising speed, behaving like berserkers. It was as if I were facing an assassin, nimble on their feet but armed with heavy weapons simr to his. The two adversaries wasted no time andunched into an aggressive assault, bombarding me with a relentless flurry of axe swings. Each strike carried formidable strength and posed a significant threat. As I engaged in these shes with their weapons, my hands trembled as if attempting to equalize the opposing force. Amidst the intensebat and after sessfully parrying numerous strikes, I seized a momentary opening. Swiftly, I ducked and executed a low swing aimed at severing their knees, a decisive move to incapacitate them. To my surprise, the attack didn''t cleanly sever their limbs; instead, it inflicted a deep, grievous wound on their legs. My de, despite my best efforts, failed to entirely sever the limbs. "I see. It appears that this [Doppelganger] closely resembles your body''s defense mechanism." "Scared now?" he grinned. "Ha, why should I be?" PENG! Realizing their increased resilience, I swiftly adapted my approach. Capitalizing on their slower leg wound recovery, I drew the Pain Delivery device and shot both of their legs. This led to the amputation of the doppelgangers'' legs as I promptly severed them with my katana following the gunshot, intensifying the damage inflicted on that area. A rapid calction enabled me to determine the optimal depth of the cuts, making the task surprisingly manageable. Without hesitation, as they tumbled to the ground following the severance of their legs, I took aim for the kill. Swiftly, I unleashed one of my instant-kill techniques: [Decapitation]. SWISH! The moment their heads were sent flying, they disintegrated into thin air, vanishing as though they were mere wisps of smoke. I spat on the ground and cast a disdainful re toward the beastman leader seated upon the imposing throne. "What, is that it? Are you mocking me for thinking that I can''t win against such a pathetic copy of yours?" It appears this statement provoked him. The skill [Doppelganger] creates an identical copy of you on a 1-to-1 basis, essentially making a replicated version of yourself. So, when I effortlessly defeated two of his copies that were virtually indistinguishable from him, it was clear he didn''t appreciate it one bit. PENG! Suddenly, he materialized right in front of me, dual-wielding axes, andunched an unrelenting assault, forcing me to swiftly begin parrying his attacks. PENG! His attack is stronger than the clones and I can tell that he is indeed not joking that he is capable of defeating me if I let my guard down for a second. "Oh, if you believe my clones are pitiful, let''s see how you fare against the genuine article this time." He brought his face perilously close to mine and seemed to trigger something, as his eyes ignited in a crimson hue, and his power surged as if amplified. "I understand. Give it your all then." Chapter 961 Dance Between Two Wolves Chapter 961 Dance Between Two Wolves PENG PENG PENG Both the katana and the axes sh multiple times as the two wolves, one false and one who is closely rted, continue their battle. Both sides refuse to yield and both sides refuse to lose. The false one is me, and the other one is the leader of the beastmen. "Yes, fight! Fight to the fullest. You said before that I am just not giving my all, now, how about now?" I couldn''t say anything, or more urately say, I didn''t have anything to say as he continued to fight like a madman. His attacks are heavy and they are not easy. He continues to move like a tornado due to his flurry of attacks andpared to his clones, he is much tougher. Although I am capable of handling him just fine, his attacks are just not easy to deal with. He moves quite quickly. One attack is followed by another and they are all chaining in quick instances which results in me having a hard time dealing with them. It was a very fast-paced attack with heavy blows, kind of simr to how fast a dagger can be when swung around and the heaviness is like a heavy hammer being used against you. The feeling of bothbined is how I feel about this guy''s attacks. As time went on, his attacks were increasing in momentum and it was also like his attacks were getting heavier as well. I don''t know what his deal is but I think I am getting the gist of his tactics. Blocking one of his attacks, I fired an ice st on the ground, freezing it in the process. Before he could continue to attack, he slipped and was about to fall. To avoid fallingpletely and mming his face to the ground, he ms down one of his axes into the ground and this allows him to recover from almost slipping. "Hmph," he pulled out his axe and once again started to attack. But this time, it isn''t the same anymore. He started swinging both axes like he was trying to cut a stump of a tree. Every time he swings, he swings it down and every time he does so allows me to feel the air getting cut. It was hard to parry as he just swings the axes downwards so instead of attacking, I started dodging his attacks. They were fast butpared to the increasing intensity before, this one remained constant and all attacks do not have any sort of special ways to fight. Still, while we are fighting, I am wondering. Is this guy the one who wields the next weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins? The Versatile Weapon has been moving like crazy already every time it shes with the axe which also means the axe he is holding right now must be the one. But he is not as dangerous as I thought. It was like he was holding back on purpose and he was trying his best not to do anything big. I am not too sure about this, but he is clearly struggling. Is this part of the struggle to use the weapon? Perhaps. It didn''t take him long to stop at what he was doing but this time around, he started spinning like a top, with both his axes swinging hard like a fan. Seeing how he spun around like he was trying to cut me down with just that, I wasn''t expecting it. As he spins around and I try to dodge, it is inevitable that even if I manage to deal with his attacks, I still can''t fully dodge all of the attacks. On one of the swings he sliced through my skin in the face and it started bleeding. It was nothing serious but my blood flowed through the wound. I wouldn''t have said anything when all of a sudden, the leader of the beastmen roared and his grey fur started to glow crimson. The axes he was wielding are also getting stronger as well, now that it is glowing red as well. "AUGGGGGHHHHHHH AWWOOOOOOOOO!" A sudden surge of energy started to flow through his body and his body became bigger all of a sudden and I wasn''t ready to see a giant version of the enemy I was facing just now. Did it somehow react to my blood? Or perhaps the catalyst for the effects of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon is rted to blood? I don''t know what it was but based on my observations and also my guess, the weapon I am facing is the Weapon of Wrath. And the state this guy is in is simr to [Berserk] skill. But the only difference is that instead of getting all attack parameters high while having the downside of lowered defense, seeing how he seems to be still the same, it means he retained the defensive properties while still being more dangerous than before. But there is one thing that is getting more prominent now. Compared to earlier, the beastman looks fine, but now, he looks like his body has been deteriorating and it looks like he has not eaten for a very long time. I also noticed it but his eyes started to bleed. The only difference is that instead of red, the blood trickling down his eyes is ck. "KGH! ARRRRGGGHHHH! GRAAAHHH!" He started roaring loudly and even I felt it. That power is strong and I can feel it. That is not something that should be easily handled like that. I think this is the influence of the weapon itself. The leader of the beastmen started to charge. Compared to before, his actions are erratic and pretty hard to discern. Not only that, but his speed has increased and every time I parried, it was like I was trying to parry a cannonball forcefully. This guy is getting stronger as time goes on. His attacks are so fast that not all attacks he did are something I managed to block and he managed to wound me a few times and sent my HP to critical levels. It was fast and I was not happy at all as not only did this guy get stronger the more I got myself damaged but all attacks seemed to be getting stronger and stronger as well. Now I slowly understand its mechanics. The more the axes damage the enemy, the more they will increase their power by a lot. So, the more you deplete an enemy''s HP, the stronger the wielder will be which would make battle against bosses that have a gimmick of getting stronger the longer the fight goes. But why is he bleeding? He was trying to talk for quite a while but the only thing he could say was a garbled moan. We continue to sh our des and although I am using the Katana once again, I am slowly regaining back the mastery I have with this weapon. It''s just that this guy is getting stronger with every attack he does. He spins again and another wound on my body has been created once again. This time, it stings and I am bleeding. But as he did, I also managed to do something and lopped off one of his hands, reducing his attacks with only one axe left. "GRRRR....AAAAUUGGGHHH!" I thought he would only keep using one axe now that he only has one arm left but no. Picking up the other axe, he puts that axe in his mouth and continues to fight. "F*CKING SH*T, YOU ARE CAPABLE OF THAT?" I grinned seeing how he fights. I wasn''t expecting something like this. As his severed arm starts to bleed, the aura of bloodlust has increased significantly. He started attacking once again and this time, I had trouble dealing with him. Every attack he made felt like I was getting run over by a dump truck. It''s very heavy and it is hard to handle. "Seems like it is getting dangerous. I don''t want to keep the battle for long." I took advantage of his attack patterns and memorized them for a bit. It was totally fast and I apud him for being capable of doing so that I even have a hard time blocking. But as soon as he started to do something of a big swing, I took advantage of it, by firing a simple ice attack on the ground and freezing it. I didn''t use it for the beastman leader to slip, I used it for myself. Using the ice, I slid myself down under him and dodged his attack before focusing all of my attack power straight into the Versatile Weapon and activating one of the attack powers of the Samurai ss, [Severance], a tier 3 skill, one of the skills I bought before. ------ [Severance] Type: Active Skill Tier 3 Cooldown: 40 seconds Info: Cuts through opponents using the katana that specifically targets joint points of the body. There is a 70% chance of severing the target''s body part if done on a limb. If not done on a limb, increases the attack power and increases the chance to deal critical damage by 50%. Note: To be a professional butcher, this skill is a mandatory skill to have. Using it with the katana is just for stylish points. ------- This skill can sever limbs very fast. It is like [Decapitation] skill but it focuses more on the limbs than the neck. It is best used for disabling an enemy or to just use a very high chance critical attack skill to deal massive damage. In a single sh, blood spurts as both legs were immediately severed by the katana. "GRAAAAAAHHHH!" Falling over after both legs are gone, the beastman leader can no longer fight. But honestly, I felt like I had it a bit easy. I didn''t feel much challenge against him which I expected it to be one. Pointing the tip of my katana to the leader, I announced my victory to him. "I win." He smirked, his eyes were still bleeding and his mouth also bled. "Heh, that''s great. Now you can remove us from our suffering, human." "What?" I frowned. "Kill me and free me from the grasp of this curse. I shouldn''t be alive anymore." As he said those words, I noticed that his severed arm and both legs had disintegrated before they were reduced to bones then it crumbled to dust. "See what I mean? I am already dead. The only reason I am still alive is due to these axes that I wield. The same goes for all the beastmen. Tell yourrades there is no need to hunt the beastmen tribe. They had been wiped out long ago and the only ones who survived were those beastmen who weren''t present during that time." "What? Exin!" "Haha, the War God. He is the cause of all of this. If not for him and this ursed weapon... I might be still alive alongside my family." He is trying to hold back himself. I think what he was doing earlier is trying to hold back which is why he is not that strong. He is trying his best to control himself but he can only do so little by himself. Seeing his struggles, I sighed and raise my Katana up in the air. "You are a good warrior and I hope you get reborn in your next life." "Ha, I doubt it. If you see my daughter somewhere, be sure to give my best regards for her and tell her that his family is now in peace." "Can you tell me her name?" I asked. "Her name...heh, her name is Zena." "...I see. Alright, I will make sure she gets the word. Now, have a well-earned rest." "Thank you." I can tell the Weapon of Wrath is trying its best to do something but as the leader of the beastmen is resisting, it is not working well. "Goodbye." And with a swift slice, the battle hase to an end. Chapter 962 Descent of the War God Chapter 962 Descent of the War God The beastmen''s leader is dead. The two axes fell to the ground after his death. I can feel the two axes are now the ones releasing the aura that I have been feeling so far so the reason he was exuding it earlier is because of the Axe itself. Getting a hold of the Axe, I felt an overwhelming surge of hatred and wrath flowing through me. I know it wasn''t my emotions but the feelings of the Shadow Dragon that has been divided into multiple weapons but honestly, I didn''t expect his wrath to be this bad. No wonder the Beastmen''s leader lost control even though he managed to tame the emotions quelled within it. Even if you think you have controlled it, the feeling is not fully utilized for him to fully embrace it all. I was thankful that I could hold the weapons of the Seven Deadly Sins without sumbing through the feelings released by the weapons themselves but I think my mental power was just stronger than usual which allowed me to do so. Or maybe the Versatile Weapon''s enough to hold on to the feelings it once had and absorb some of it to ensure that I won''t be sumbing through it. As the corpse of the leader of the Beastmen starts to disintegrate, the attacking beastmen also lose their consciousness, which means the control of the Weapon of Wrath on them has dissipated and they have reverted to their dead states. It''s quite sad really that they have died due to the effects of the weapon but I guess that was the main reason why they suddenly became hostile. I don''t know what happened to them but I hope they can now finally find eternal peace. There is nothing we can do about them. As their bodies started to fade like dust, I sighed in relief as this was enough to say that the invasion of the Beastmen had been thwarted and the fall of the Elven Kingdom had now disappeared... But why do I feel like it''s not yet over? Is it because of what he said before he died? All of this was due to the War God? M and Avos sat down on the ground, exhausted. Alena and Labo do so as well, they close their eyes which means they have overused their ability so much that it is like straining them. As for the others, Pandora and the siblings have remained standing while looking around for enemies whom they need to fight or are just vignt in case more enemies are present. As for Izmir, she finally stopped reinforcing the ice barrier on the copsed castle walls and sat on the ground in exhaustion. The battle against the beastmen is over at longst. After resting for a bit, we gathered up once again. Tina and Lina also returned after killing the remaining beastmen though they have not done much after the deaths of the beastmen automatically after I retrieved the weapon of wrath. "It''s finally over..." Renatta has been shaking her hands for a while now and sighed. "This was the first time I had to fight this long and this much in my entire life and I must say that I am not that thrilled with it," Avos can only just shake his hand. He can still feel his mana slowly recovering after using a lot of it. "I feel you dear, but honestly, that was the best. I don''t mind doing something like that again," M grinned and although she felt sore after fighting, it seemed she liked it. "Ha, easy for you since you barely used mana but it''s tough for someone like me who has to rely on my mana for every magic spell I need to use," Avos can only sigh. Izmir remained quiet after the battle. It seems that is the first time she has used up all of her abilities to the fullest. As a result, she is exhausted. "So, everything is finally over?" Labo looked around after the strain in his eyes had finally recovered for a bit. "So it seems," I shrugged. "Still, I can''t believe that there are no guards that helped at all during the battle. I thought it would have been fine at first but after the battle had escted, I expected them to at least respond. But seeing that no one, not a single one, even appeared, I think there is something weird happening," Alena was the first to discover. That caught the attention of everyone. Well, it''s understandable that they have not overthought about it during the battle as they are more upied with the enemies than checking if there are backups. But it is indeed strange that not a single guard appeared. Sure we defeated many of them during our raid but that doesn''t mean they have died and they are no longer capable of fighting. Compared to humans, elves are quick to recover from injuries which would allow them to at least fight again once they rested in a single day. "You know what? It is indeed strange. Howe no one responded after all that ruckus?" Avos also thought it was strange. Then, Tina and Lina talked to us and it seems they noticed something strange as well. "Well, I don''t know if it is somewhat connected but when we fought inside for the enemies that leaked inside, we noticed that not a single elf came out of their homes. It was like they are not aware at all that trouble is happening," Tina reported. "Oh yes, I do indeed notice that they are not there at all, not even a singlemotion. I remember they panicked during the first attack, but now, not one of them is present. I doubt they have been sleeping as it is still pretty early in the night and even then, they would still get awakened during the battle since themotion is boisterous and the siege machinery should be enough to make the whole ce awake," Lina added. What Lina said makes sense. Back then, a single explosion was enough to cause all the elves to panic. The noises made today are much stronger than what happened earlier so I doubt it. So howe the civilians are not even panicking or are leaving their homes for evacuation? "I have a bad feeling about this," Avos stood up even though he was still trying to recover most of his mana that was lost. "Sit down, Avos. You are still weak from consuming so many magic spells!" M dragged down Avos to sit back down again. "Ugh...but!" Avos wanted to stand back up but M lightly punched Avos on his shoulders. "Have a good rest first. Don''t go without us. And resting will help in case something happens. Don''t just go and do it on your own, you idiot," M is a bit angry with Avos but it is anger mixed with worries. "Alright, fine. I turned back my attention to Lina and Tina and asked a question. "You guys checked inside the homes? Are there still people awake?" "Now that you mention it, Master, the houses felt empty and deste. It''s still pretty early but the homes are dark and a bit weird since no one is even moving. It was like everyone had gone to sleep early," Lina described. Izmir who was listening to our conversations objects to what Lina just said and stood up. "No, that''s impossible. Elves shouldn''t be asleep this hour and the castle grounds should be bustling with life! That is not just possible!" "But why would I lie? You can even go and check out the situation there and see for yourself what I was describing." "Of course. I will prove it to you all!" Izmir stood up and before M could stop her, she already bolted inside. "Ah f*cking hell, Izmir. You are just making things worse here," Renatta can only facepalm before following her. "I think we have rested enough for now. Let''s follow her. I have a bad feeling about this," I ordered everyone who all started to stand back up one by one. We followed Izmir inside and just like what Lina and Tina described, the whole ce was deste. It was like the ce had been abandoned for many years. Aside from the signs of battle which I assume should be from the fight that Lina and Tina did against the beastmen who got inside, there are no other traces around. "How is this possible!" Izmir couldn''t believe her eyes as she stared at the ce that she said to be one of the busiest streets at night in the Elven Kingdom. Just as everyone is still not sure what is happening, someone starts to run in the opposite direction and is running straight to us. "Run away! Aaaaaaah!" His face is bloody and one of his hands is missing as he runs away. "What?! What is going on?!" Renatta frowned as she stared straight into the fleeing guy. But in just a few seconds, not too far from where we were, he stopped, and he started to stagger. He held his head using his remaining hand and screamed in agony before... POP! Right before our eyes, the man exploded to pieces, leaving only several pieces of him on the street. The scene caused us to immediately pull our weapons and assume a battle stance. "I didn''t expect to see someone familiar while I am here doing business..." a voice started speaking out of nowhere. For some reason, his voice sounded totally familiar but I couldn''t pinpoint where I heard it before. Then, someonended in the distance. It shook the surroundings and the pavement was destroyed in the process. I deployed the Shield right in front of everyone and blocked the attack. In the distance, the dust cleared and a familiar guy appeared before us while also carrying a sack on his shoulder. I was totally shocked and not sure if I was just seeing things, but right before me was someone that I knew. Someone who has died. "Hello there, especially to you, wolf mask boy. Or should I say, Manato, the wielder of the Versatile Weapon? It''s been some time since ourst meeting." The man before me is someone who should have been dead. But right before me, he is alive and well, wearing his smug smile. "King Arthur..." Chapter 963 The Fall of a Kingdom Chapter 963 The Fall of a Kingdom (Warning: The following chapter contains disturbing scenes that might be too "detailed" for you to read. Feel free to skip this if you hated extreme violence.) I don''t know what is going on and why King Arthur is alive and well. I clearly saw him die at the hands of Almira using the rent but now, King Arthur is back and he is alive in the flesh. He even looks bulkier than before and based on the smelling from him, that''s clearly the scent of blood. He might have killed a few before the elf man. As soon as I said "King Arthur", he grinned and startedughing like a maniac. Everyone is on the edge of their shoes as we ready our weapons against him. "You look well, Manato. Not as well as me, though but, I can say that you have grown more strongerpared to before. I can''t wait to fight against you once again, and kill you this time," King Arthur grinned, clearly out for blood. But he started shaking his head. "But unfortunately, I don''t have time for you. I am not going to waste more time with you and yourpanions as I have already done what I came here for and thanks to the ruckus that the beastmen did, my n was indeed a great sess.Anyway, I am not gonna bother you all, as I will be going now, enjoy the gift I left behind. It''s best enjoyed if you all check inside the houses of the elves right now. Alright, bye-bye for now." "Wait!" I changed my Versatile Weapon to its gun form and quickly shot it in his direction. However, King Arthur is faster and he disappeared before the bullet could even touch him. Instead, the sack he was carrying before is the one who received the bullet shot. When the bullet pierces the sack, blood spurts out from it and it slowly trickles on the road. Pandora heightened her senses for a bit before she stopped after she confirmed it. "He is gone." Akira and Sora immediately approached the sack. Sora starts poking it a bit while Akira is waiting for anything to happen and is ready to protect his sister in case it is dangerous. "This thing is a bit hard, and it feels like I am poking on some circle things?" Akira seems to already have an idea of what it was. He steeled himself and grabbed the sack and opened it up, Sora wanted to peek but Akira stopped her from doing so. The moment he peeked, his face turned to full disgust before he closed it up again and threw up. "Akira, are you okay?!" Sora quickly rubbed the back of her brother who continued to puke. "What is it Akira?" I asked to confirm my guess. "H-heads...URP..." Akira shortly answered before puking once again. I knew it. But I am not truly sure of it at first. Now that Akira confirmed it, then that is enough for me to know that King Arthur just straight up did something inhumane. Approaching the sack and peering inside, I immediately realized why Akira started puking. What he saw inside are indeed heads. Severed heads of the elves. I didn''t bother to check anymore as I had already confirmed what King Arthur left behind. "What''s inside, Kazuma-kun?" Renatta asked. "I suggest that you don''t peer inside and check the contents for the sake of your stomach and your mental health. But I am not gonna stop you from checking inside." Hearing that, Renatta approached the sack, alongside M, Avos, and Izmir. The moment they opened it up and peeked inside, Renatta started to puke as well. Izmir has a bad look on her face while M and Avos are not looking good but manage to hold on. Avos immediately tied up the sack and ignited it to mes. One of the houses'' doors opened and Pandora came out from the house and shook her head. "I see what he meant by a gift for us. I just checked inside the house and realized now why the people living here are not present. It wasn''t because they were gone but because they had died." "Died?" Alena frowned. "Yes. All of the people living inside the house have been executed brutally and used their body parts and innards to decorate the walls. I don''t want to fully describe it in detail but you guys can go inside and see it for yourselves." I can see in Pandora''s face that she is holding back her disgust and her desire to puke. Her stoic and emotionless face gave it away immediately. Avos decided to check on the house inside and a few secondster, the house lit up in mes before Avos went out with only a shake of his head. "Let''s check up on the houses. Anyone who can withstand watching anything brutal and disgusting, help me out in here." In the end, the only people who can go are Avos, M, Labo, Lina, Tina, and Me since the others are not that strong in the stomach. Even Pandora who seemed to be fine decided that she had enough seeing those scenes for today. And so, we spent the whole day checking the houses one by one. And when the breaking dawn arrived, we explored the whole ce and discovered that all of the residents of the kingdom are all gone and dead. Not a single one survived, even a child was not spared at all. Every single one has been brutally killed. I got desensitized from what I have seen but it was totally not in someone''s right mind doing all of those heinous crimes. Upon realizing the situation, Izmir who just recovered from the news, stood up and looked in the direction of the castle. "No...there''s no way right?" Izmir then started running towards the castle. "Izmir?" Renatta frowned as she followed her sister to go there as well. Avos and M had no more energy to move and decided to rest. Even me and Labo are no longer in the mood to go and explore seeing all of the grotesque and disturbing things we have seen in one go. Avos sighed and looked at the burning houses after we burned them to destroy everything and also send away the dead by creating their bodies. He had a sad expression on his face. "What are we going to do now?" Avos looked at M who also had a sad look on her face. "I don''t know anymore. After everything that we have seen so far, I am not sure if proceeding will matter much now," M sighed. "I can''t believe it, all of our hard work, all of the effort we did to rebuild the kingdom, has disappeared in one night. We didn''t even get to defend it from the true enemy as we faced the one invading. It seems that the Elven Kingdom has truly fallen and has no other way to stand back up again..." When Avos said those words, I was reminded of the prediction that Cotton had made before. I wasn''t expecting it at all. The descent of the war god will mark the end of the Elven Kingdom. And that has been fully realized. ... ... While the group is left sullen by the sudden events, Renatta and Izmir track their way back to the castle. This time, they have seen nothing more horrible than what they have seen so far. All of the guards that were previously stationed there have been killed. Their bodies are torn apart like some monster decided to go berserk and they were there during the time it went wild. It is also evident that they decided to fight back since their weapons are drawn but seeing not a single survivor, things are looking grim. Renatta has already puked out what she can puke earlier and has already gotten sick at puking that she can''t do it anymore while Izmir is holding herself a bit more but she is also ready to give in as well. For the first time in so many years, the two siblings decided to help each other. Renatta helped Izmir and patted her back as they traversed the bloody corridors. "Don''t give up sis, we are not yet done. Let''s go," Renatta helped Izmir up. Izmir nodded and the two continued to move toward their current destination. Like the rest of the ces, the whole area is littered with torn-up corpses of the guards. It''s not something that they would be seeing every day for sure. Seeing the situation, the two hurried to the throne room. Both are hoping that the ce won''t show them anything. It was one of their hopes that nothing would be seen once they decided to go inside. But those expectations and their hopes are all shattered as they open the massive door to the throne room. The throne room isn''t bloody in the whole area, except for one ce and that is where both the thrones were previously present. What is present to them right now is none other than a throne made from the bodies of the king and queen, with their heads, sitting at the "seat" itself, and their face filled with shock. It was a clean cut since they were not seen with any battered appearance. As a result, the two siblings started to cry together once more, hugging and consoling each other. Now is the time they needed themselves more than ever. Chapter 964 What Was Left Behind Chapter 964 What Was Left Behind An hourter, Renatta and Izmir returned, their eyes were red and wet, presumably from crying a lot. Izmir is still crying while Renatta has already recovered she is still not totally fine, but she is stable enough to exin what happened to us. We soon found out that both the King and Queen had died in a horrific way. The two couldn''t bear to look at the bodies of their parents so they left despite them being vandalized like a local artwork. In the end, even Avos and M couldn''t help but cry as well. At the end of the day, we have no other rights from the situation as we are practically outsiders. We can only observe as they mourn the dead. Due to the situation, we returned to the mansion. We are hoping that King Arthur didn''t find Renatta''s mansion since it was one of the isted ces in the entire kingdom. Thankfully, we are indeed right as the mansion was indeed intact and everyone was currently safe even the spirits. The situation of the Elven Kingdom was in total disaster. Due to the deaths of almost everyone inside the kingdom, the only thing we can do is call for backup. We also wanted to check on the surface vige if they got culled as well though we hope they aren''t part of the purge. We let Renatta and the elves rest for the time being. The only ones who will return to the surface will be me and Pandora. The rest will have to either help the ones who will remain and to also defend the ce while we go back up again. I even left Lina and Tina as well to ensure the situation was much safer. "You think the surface vige is fine from the attack?" I asked Pandora as we made our way back to the portal. "Not too sure but I hope they do. There is a high chance that they are safe from his attack but we can just wait and see for ourselves." Avos and M gave us ess to the portal to freely use it anytime before we left so we don''t need to use the same trick Renatta did to allow us inside. We easily returned to the vige the moment we entered the teleport station. We were totally hoping for the vige to be safe even if their treatment of us was not good. But our hopes were crushed when we saw the deste ce. I can also smell the distinct bloody smell as well which means even this ce was not safe from the wrath of King Arthur who proimed himself as the war god. On our way out, we soon saw my Father, As, and Almira digging nearby. When we got closer, I just realized why they were digging. They are currently digging graves. Lots of graves. Not too far from them is a pile of mummified bodies that are wrapped in some ck material of some sort. "Hey everyone, we have returned to check up on the situation here but seeing you guys digging graves, I assume something happened?" I asked although I already could guess what happened. "Yeah. The f*cking bastard has returned and he didn''t just returned but also ughtered a whole vige in a matter of minutes right under our noses," Almira is totally pissed and I can see why she was pissed. Seeing the rent behind her back means she fought against King Arthur. "So that guy havee here when he left, that means we are toote..." Pandora shakes her head. "Did something happen?" Father asked after listening a bit. "He also came into the Elven Kingdom and ughtered the elves there while we were busy defending the kingdom after the owner of the weapon of wrath appeared to invade. After we defeated them, we soon met up with King Arthur again before leaving us with his so-called "gift". Everyone remained there for the time being after seeing the disturbing sceneries in the end," I exined. "...I see. So what brings you two here? We are still busy burying the ughtered vigers. If As didn''t have a useful ability called [Body Maniption], we would be having a hard time reconstructing the dead bodies of the elves to their proper selves before they died. Still, it wasn''t enough to deal with most bodies so we ended up wrapping them all up with the ck leather that I don''t use much." "I was just doing what I can do. After all, I felt useless that even in my power and stature, I can''t even fight properly that guy," Asmented. It seems he crossed swords with the War God himself this time around. "It''s not your fault big guy. That f*cker was just too strong for everyone to handle right now and even if you are on equal terms, there is no way you can fight back against him without suffering too much problems." "Don''t worry As. That guy was just on another level of beast. There''s nothing we can do about it. Anyways, about your question as to why we are here with Pandora, our task was to check the surface vige and see if there''s anyone around but seeing the state and why you guys are digging mass graves, we can already surmise what happened, and since we also reported what happened back in the elven kingdom, we can now return with ease," I answered. "Are you guys going back now?" Almira asked. "Yeah. With both of our objectives in this ce fulfilled, that only means we are going back again with the others as we will be leaving soon." "I see. Then be sure to tell whoever was there with you to tell that the vige was also wiped out as well. With the return of King Arthur, it would be only a matter of time before that guy would start to be a problem again." "Alright. Please say my regards to everyone back in the mansion alright?" "You got it," Almira nodded. We returned to the portal. Pandora smiled at me and tapped my shoulder. "We can still win this, Manato. The death of every elf will be remembered and they will not be for naught. Make that your motivation, Manato. And remember, you are not alone in this world. We are also here to give support." "Heh, thanks for the pep talk, Pandora. That helped out. Alright, lets get moving and hear their answers. We will be departing soon." Chapter 965 Epilogue of Arc 11 Chapter 965 Epilogue of Arc 11 ? Just like what we discussed with Almira and the others, we also discussed what happened to the surface vige and Izmir broke down. Well, I can already see why since she was there when we first met her. Perhaps that ce was her domain and the reason she was here in the first ce was because of Renatta. Now that both the surface and the hidden one are gone, Izmir has nowhere to return to. Even Avos and M have nowhere else to go as well. Both are all gone and there is nowhere for them to rule for. "Looks like the end of the elven bloodline will soon disappear. I didn''t know what caused us to be punished like this but this is something even I haven''t dreamed of," Avos has been looking glum since then. Right, with most of the elven race dead and only a few of them left, this isn''t going to be a good thing. Not only will they be dying off in the future, but rebuilding the elven kingdom will take a lot of time to be rebuilt once more from scratch with only a few elves considered to be real elves. "I am going to take my revenge. That bastard...I won''t forgive him for killing everyone including my parents. I know my parents are in the wrong but killing them is not enough of a warrant to end everything." "Izmir! Being fueled by revenge will just drown you! Don''t do it!" M immediately discourages her granddaughter. "Grandma, even if I am not going to be fueled by revenge, I would still drown in loneliness and guilt, knowing that I would have done something that might have altered the course of what happened today. If I was there, I might have stopped this incident or anything. In the end, I failed my role as a princess of the elves. If that is the main case, I will find him and return all the pain and suffering of everyone he killed back at him," Izmir is resolute on her decision. "If that is the case, join us. If you really n to kill that man and exact revenge, then joining us will allow you to find him again," Renatta extends her hands to Izmir. "What?" "Based on our course of action and based on the various tales that happened in the group that I am in right now, it only means that we will be meeting with that guy sooner orter as she has a personal vendetta with that guy as well. Maybe working together with her might allow you to gain the chance to do your revenge." "Why? Don''t you want to have some revenge as well?" Izmir is looking confused. "No, and I have no right to do such a thing. In the first ce, I don''t even have the need to do such a thing. Perhaps you can call me an unfilial daughter or anything like that but in the back of my mind, I always think that they deserved what happened to them and there''s no denying here that I think that they deserved that fate for causing more suffering to their fellow elves in the process which killed and persecuted thousands of elves in the process. So instead of me doing that, you who loved our parents more than I did should do it. I will let all of our conflicts be bygones instead." Avos and M did not say anything. They know the hatred that Renatta had for her parents after she told everything to them so it''s not like they can change her view on this. Izmir on the other hand seems to be a bit shocked by the revtion. It seems she didn''t anticipate Renatta to feel like that. "Then...why did you cry when we saw their corpses?" Izmir asked. Renatta sighed. "Even if I hate them, I am still their daughter and even my cold heart still had some little love left for them. Seeing them in that state, I am already hating myself for thinking they deserved it even if I lost both parents at the same time. A little bit pathetic right?" "Not at all, sister. But if I join, what will happen to this ce?" This time M answered her question. "We will be sealing this ce up. Until the time that we are ready to rebuild this ce, we will keep this ce sealed until the very end. We will be joining the journey as well, we might not be in our prime but we might be able to provide some things that you all might find useful." "I see, in that case, can we ask for your help in the future as we try to locate the Tree of Life the moment it sends signs?" Pandora asked. The moment Pandora asked this, Avos and M were totally surprised. "You lot are looking for the Tree of Life? What for? You guys have a wish on it or something?" M asked. "No. We don''t have a wish for it nor any desire to actually use it. We are just there to ensure that the Tree of Life will not be found by someone who is also searching for the Tree of Life but is in the middle of brewing something that might change the whole world in the process." "Then, that is more reason we needed to find the Tree of Life as soon as possible. Count us in," Avos is now determined more than ever. "If the world will be in danger if this individual is seeking its power, then it will spell the doom of this world. We will assist you all to prevent that from happening." Although Izmir is reluctant at first, she soon steeled herself. "Alright, I will be joining but in exchange, can we bury my parents first? As for the rest, we can just proceed with the cremation as they are hard to be recovered." "Then, as final farewells to this ce, we will assist in burying everyone and sending them peacefully to wherever they are going." ... ... ... For a whole month, we decided to help out with the process of burying and cleaning up the whole ce from the dead elves. It took us some time since we also decided to recover the remains of the other dead elves that Avos burned before. As a way for us to bury them properly, I asked for permission from Izmir, Avos, M, and Renatta the use necromancy to do the deed and easily recover them. Thankfully, they saw it in a positive light and allowed me to do so and summoned the dead elves using the necromancy power. As a result, I managed to resummon them as undead. Once I did, I controlled them to be buried in the graves we dug out and let themy down there before putting them to their final resting grounds and deactivating my abilities. Since the undead I control won''t disintegrate once they die, they will only leave their remains there and they can be buried properly. In the end, we managed to send them all off. Izmir and her family said their final parting wishes to the King and Queen who died before we finally finished the cleanup process. During that process, the two elves who also survive the ordeal and have been recovering under the care of Pixie who is constantly working day and night to heal them have finally awakened from their slumber. When they learned that the whole elven kingdom had been annihted overnight, they couldn''t believe it at first but they soon realized it was real when they saw us in the process of burying the dead. The two couldn''t speak and for some unknown reason, no matter how much we try to heal their throats, it seems their ability to speak has disappeared though they know how to write. In the end, Avos and M suggested that while we go on the journey, we should find the Grass of Healing. If we find it, there is a chance that we will be able to heal the two. And so, now we are in the final process. After packing up all of the stuff inside the mansion, the remaining spirits that are contracted to Renatta returned to her and are now part of her followers which as a result, allowed her to gain a Summon''s Area for herself which allowed the spirits to use as their new ce to live while also remaining to serve Renatta. "This is the final task we have left," Avos stood at the main entrance of the kingdom with Renatta, M, and Izmir. As for us, we were just spectating as the royal family performed the ritual to seal up the whole ce. They started speaking some weirdnguage which I soon found out to be olden elfnguage which is why it is not automatically tranted to us by the system. In just a blink of an eye, the whole kingdom disappeared, leaving us with the portal standing in the middle of nowhere, the only proof that once, there was a hidden kingdom beyond here. "It''s time to depart," I said to them. As the little sidequest we had toplete has finally reached its end, it''s time for us to continue to the main quest. ... ... ... In the distance, King Arthur grinned as he stood up from where he was sitting. "Looks like it''s time for me to start my move eh?" One man d in a ck cloak appeared before King Arthur. This man is none other than the same man who was d in the ck hood who tempted the chef of Renatta to poison everyone which unfortunately got thwarted by Manato himself. "Are you sure about letting them leave this easily?" he asked. "Of course, after all, things are just getting started. It would be boring if everything had ended so soon. But soon enough we will be close to attaining what we needed and what we wanted. Until then, be patient." Chapter 966 Prologue of Arc 12 Chapter 966 Prologue of Arc 12 Rustles of fallen leaves apany every step. The surroundings appear barren and isted, cut off from the rest of the world. While it may give the impression of being a suspicious and potentially perilous location, for the man journeying through this deste ce, it is the safest refuge, a sanctuary from the dangers of the world. In due time, he reached his destination after an uncertain period of walking,ing to a halt before the colossal tree, where Death was currently enshrouded within the trunk. "Hey there, long time no see, yeah?" He waved at Death, who remained motionless. "Seeing you in this position means that the situation is now dire. You even used up some of your abilities to prevent something from happening, huh? I guess it would be totally worth it if you ever did that for real." "Still, I can''t believe that even now, the war has yet to conclude, huh? Despite the fact that the war no longer poses a significant threat to anyone, after the other world has been drawn into our problem, it seems we are no longer capable of slowing it down. I tried my best and even received some help from the son of our enemy to ensure that his father''s ns wouldn''t seed. Yet, it seems our efforts are somewhat futile now." "Anyway, since I have nowhere else to go anymore, I believe it''s time to serve you once again. Perhaps we can, at the very least, keep each otherpany in this lonely world for quite some time. My time is limited now, and I am old. I can only be somewhat helpfulpared to when I served you before. But, could you spare me some ck? I''ve be rusty after spending all day facingputers. If it weren''t for the experiences ingrained in my body, I wouldn''t even have a clue about what to do next." However, the person he''s addressing remains silent, her eyes still closed. No one can tell if she''s listening, not even the man himself. As he gazed at the sky, he sensed the changes urring in the air. This isn''t just an ordinary change; a turbulent shift is on the horizon, and it''s not a solitary transformation. Numerous things are poised to change, and there''s no apparent way to prevent it. "It seems like we''re also running out of time, don''t you think?" Deathy still, her eyes closed, and her white hair swaying in the wind. Despite the cacophony of noises emanating from the other party, she remained undisturbed in her slumber. "I don''t know how long it will take for the situation to return to normal, but I hope that once we reach a conclusion, everything will revert to the way it was." He sat beneath the tree, setting down the bag he had carried since entering this space. As he unzipped it, he retrieved several tools, including a pickaxe, an axe, and a saw. "But even though we only have a limited time left in our hands, that doesn''t mean it''s the end of the world. Until then, it''s time to start something and upy myself. After all, we''ll be here for quite a while. But I hope you don''t mind me being a bit noisy, alright?" Putting on his ck hoodie, he began gathering the necessary materials for the final phase, understanding that his role is crucial for its sess. In the meantime, he needs to create something to wee those he''s waiting for, no matter how long it takes, even though he''s hoping they''ll arrive before the deadline. ... ... ... Hot weather, apanied by scorching winds, enveloped the group as they traversed the deste, barrennds of the Sandurk Continent. Almost nothing grew in this unforgiving terrain, and the very earth beneath their feet seemed to radiate heat. Beneath the relentless sun, thendscape was marked by more than just the sweltering climate. The sands concealed the haunting remnants of long-deceased creatures, their skeletal remains interred beneath the shifting dunes. This unrelenting heatwave had persisted ever since their party had passed through the Sandurk Continent. A full month had psed since the sealing of the Elven Kingdom, and the remaining elves had be integral members of their group on their quest to locate the fabled Tree of Life. Among their newfoundpanions were Izmir, Avos, M, and the two young children named Shaon and Renee, as christened by M. Thankfully, the mansion''s spacious interior provided ample room for everyone. Even Renatta, the newest addition to their group, had taken charge of managing the workers, significantly reducing the daily chores within the mansion. Now, we are focused on locating the estimated location where the Tree of Life might emerge. ording to the estimates left before the Tree of Life emits its signals to those seeking it, there are only two months remaining. So, we are trying to gather more information in Sandurk because the Resurgia region doesn''t possess significant knowledge about this matter. However, we do have ess back to the Continent in case the tree appears there. As for our current situation, we have recently crossed the borders and find ourselves traversing the deserts of Sandurk. Following a previous incident where I had a confrontation with Hagane, we have be some of the most wanted individuals, hunted by other yers. As soon as we left the borders of the fallen Elven Kingdom, yers began to track us down. It appears that I have a high bounty on my head and I am tasked to be captured, dead or alive. The others in our group also have bounties, but I am somewhat relieved that only us former yers have bounties, sparing mypanions and those who joined us from this ordeal. Our goal for this journey is to reunite with Queen Tanya. Ever since the time we ventured into the Alternate World, leaving our virtual bodies behind to escape from Nobuhiko, we''ve had no contact with her. I''m uncertain if she attempted to locate us before, but this time, Almira suggested that we make an effort to reach out to Queen Tanya. She might have valuable information about the matter at hand. Even with the assistance of the elves, we''re still uncertain about the precise location where the Tree of Life will appear. However, we underestimated the scorching conditions of the desert. The situation was quite challenging, particrly because our walking mansion isn''t very swift when traversing sand. While it can manage, it encounters difficulties navigating certain sections of the desert, which has resulted in a somewhat prolonged journey. In response to the intense heat, Izmir took it upon herself to craft a few ice sculptures in an attempt to cool the surroundings. Working in tandem with Avos, they erected a small barrier that could generate sufficient cold to counteract the heat. Nevertheless, it didn''t have a significant impact beyond a slight reduction in temperature; the climate remained ufortably hot. "I never realized Sandurk would be this hot...I think I am taking for granted that I lived in a moderately warm area of the world. To think there is a ce like this to exist..." Renatta lies down on the sofa while fanning herself. "Agreed...I was so used to having an AC back then and justzing around doing nothing, I didn''t expect to suffer this kind of heat this time around...Maybe it is a punishment for stayingzy while enjoying the cold AC wind?" Alena drinks a bit of water before pouring the water to her face and head which immediately gets dry after getting wet. All the elves are looking exhausted from the heat while for us, things are fine and we have gotten used to the heat so after feeling the heat for a few hours, we are good to work and do something again. They might recover once we reach the city but until then, they would remain in this position for a few while. As everyone was rxing, Father came in and with a big smile on his face, he pointed outside. "We got a Sand Dragon outside guys! Time to hunt it down!" When we heard it, every one of us besides the elves came running out. It is one of the bosses that appear in the game but since it only appears randomly, they are not consistently found in the desert. Seeing one walking around would be a good deal for us as this guy not only has a very valuable material to get when defeated, but the meat it has is also quite good as well. As we rushed in to hunt down the Sand Dragon, before we could reach it, someone suddenly stole our kill and lopped off the monster''s head in one single swipe. I didn''t exactly see who it was but the moment that person killed the Sand Dragon, the person rushes straight to us, brandishing a scythe at us. "Manato! Watch out!" Riko shouted who was just behind my back. I ready my weapon and meet this person''s weapon head-on. "It''s been a few years, boy. Howe you didn''t even initiate any contact with me?" I was a bit shocked as I realized who it was. "Queen Tanya?" The person before me grinned before she pulled over the hoodie that covers her face. "In the flesh!" Chapter 967 Reunion with Queen Tanya Chapter 967 Reunion with Queen Tanya With a swift swing of her scythe, I adeptly countered the attack using my Versatile Weapon, initiating a rapid session of swings and shes. "As expected, you haven''t changed a bit, deheart!" Queen Tanya''s relentless assault with her scythe aimed for the vulnerable spots of my body. However, my agile dodges and instinctive blocks shielded me from harm. It was evident that she wasn''t merely toying with me; each of her strikes bore the intent to inflict serious wounds or even end my life. Her assaults exhibited a marked increase in both strength and speedpared to our previous encounters. I mention this not as a casualpliment but as an objective observation of the formidable challenge she presented. "Even during your prolonged absence, it seems you didn''t neglect your training. Admirable!" I acknowledged her relentlessmitment to honing her skills. To my surprise, Queen Tanya unveiled yet another weapon¡ªa thin rapier¡ªin her other hand. Unaware of her proficiency with this weapon, I spected that she must have diversified herbat repertoire. "Just so you know, deheart, even though you have improved, I didn''t dawdle behind either. In fact, I decided to hone one more weapon in my arsenal. Now let''s see you survive this!" When she swung the scythe, I instinctively blocked it with my Versatile Weapon. However, she swiftly transitioned to her rapier, catching me with rapid stabs. The attack was quick, leaving me with barely enough time to react. In response, I immediately ducked and somersaulted backward, skillfully evading both the scythe and the rapier''s deadly range. Queen Tanya seemed determined to test my skills'' limits with her newly refinedbat techniques. Anticipating her relentless approach, I transformed my Versatile Weapon into a katana. Now well-acquainted and proficient with the katana, I lunged at Queen Tanya once again. Despite my efforts, she gracefully evaded my attacks, finally blocking my final swing with her rapier. Mypanions struggled to follow our lightning-fast movements, attempting to keep up as we exchanged blows. Theplexity of our engagement made it challenging for them to sync with our actions. Nevertheless, I had explicitly instructed them not to interfere, so their role remained as attentive observers. "Heh, if you think you''re the only one who''s improved, you''re mistaken," I retorted with a smirk. With a swift motion, I nted my katana and executed a sweeping kick towards her legs. Caught off guard, she stumbled, but to my surprise, she swiftly recovered, biting her rapier and seamlessly transitioning into a handstand. With impressive agility, she somersaulted away, weapons in hand. Closing the distance, I deftly switched my katana to a Bo staff, its flexibility providing a new advantage. Expertly twirling it around my hands, I advanced toward Queen Tanya, preventing her from utilizing her scythe or rapier. Queen Tanya, realizing she was now confined to meleebat, grinned defiantly. However, her forced shift in strategy didn''t equate to surrender. Dropping both of her weapons, she started to attack and defend using both her legs and arms in hand-to-handbat. Changing my Bo Staff to Knuckles, the two of us exchanged punches and kicks. With every punch she makes, the air where she punches seems to disappear in an instant and they are quick. One punch from her fist is very simr to a cannonball. Being hit by it, you would also experience the feeling of being sted by a cannonball but smaller and in a direct pinpoint. It''s pretty awful. But it didn''t take long for us to reach a stalemate. After a series of punches and kicks, both our fists are already at the side of each other''s cheeks while the other fists have collided with each other. Without the Versatile Weapon catching all the impact from her punch, my fingers might have been turned to dust as a result. "Congrats, deheart, you still qualify to be my rival even though I trained hard enough to at least beat you to submission. Seems like I still can''t do it unless we go to the route of killing each other." "Heh, maybe if we did try to do so, you would just straight up beat me ck and blue." "Don''t underestimate yourself." We then stopped attacking each other and we turned to look at the dead Sand Dragon that Queen Tanya killed. "You guys nning on hunting this one?" I nodded. "Yes, for dinner." "Cool. Let me help out in dismantling this. I have been on the run for quite a while, I am hungry for real food. Mind if I join in and hunker down the fort?" Although I am not sure why she is on the run, I decided to just ask her about itter. "Sure, we could use your help." I then gave a sign to everyone to help out and we spent the rest of the day dismantling the huge body of the Sand Dragon. ... ... ... Night has finally settled out in the sky and the heat that permeates in the surroundings has finally disappeared, reced by the bone-chilling coldness of the ce. Right now, we are cooking the meat that we salvaged from the Sand Dragon with Mother and Lina doing the lead cooking. As for me, I decided to do a little barbecue party and everyone is enjoying it. Even Izmir who was once abstain from eating meat is now one of the fanatics at eating meat. Perhaps Renatta has influenced her more than I thought. Queen Tanya is with us and has been drinking with the heavy drinkers in our group, Labo, Father, Alena, and As. Although I know Queen Tanya does not get drunk, Father and Labo challenged her to this and both are now totally drunk. Alena and As knew their limits so they drink moderately while Queen Tanya has been downing more alcohol than both Father and Labobined. The coldness of the night is enough for every one of us to have a fun little party in the desert. After dinner, Queen Tanya remained outside, while lying on the grass outside, staring at the stars above the sky. "You sober now?" I asked as I handed her a mug of warm cocoa. "Heh, I am not drunk at all. Thanks for this," Queen Tanya grinned as she took the mug off of my hands. "Now that we are both alone, care to exin what you mean you are on the run right now?" "Basically what I said. I am on the run. I am escaping from my pursuers. My kingdom has thwarted me from my throne and now I am escaping from them." "What just happened? There is no way you would be defeated so easily?" "Yeah, I shouldn''t even be defeated so fast but for some unknown reason, a penalty has been given to me and I was almost killed by the rebellion that urred thanks to my ability to warp from ce to ce, I managed to jump off somewhere and escape. If not for Tezach helping me cover my tracks and escape, I wouldn''t be able to properly escape at all." "Do you know who was leading this rebellion?" I asked. I have a feeling the reason why Queen Tanya was nerfed was due to the system itself. "Yeah. A yer named Hagane rallied and joined forces with the Goddess of Light church among other yers as part of what they call "Quest" to thwart me on my throne. I think I somewhat remember him but I can''t pinpoint where since I didn''t closely talk to anyone who would be very close to the Goddess of Light herself like that." "I see, so it was Hagane." "You know him?" "Yes. You have worked with him before during the expedition to the Freezing Region.He is one of our shielders back then. He was also once our friend until the time he decided to join one individual who seemed to work for the Goddess of Light and now, he is our enemy." "I see. So he was a friend of yours. I never expected in my life that I would soon abdicate my throne and hand it over to the corrupt people of the church. I don''t know what is happening now in my city but I hope that they didn''t do anything troubling at all to my people." "Just how many years has it been since you have left your throne? I doubt it just happened recently," I asked. "It''s been four years. After you and the others lostmunication with me, they attacked and I lost everything. The only thing left with me is my weapon and the clothes Tezach has given to me after I lost everything to the attackers." Four years... that time, we just arrived in Alternate World and were busy either building the walking mansion or leveling back up to our previous level. "I see, you have it rough huh? We have it rough as well but we still persevere. Looks like our situation is simr to you as well, Queen Tanya." "Heh, Tanya is fine, I am no longer a queen." "No. We will reim the throne that was once yours. But for now, we will have to do something else." "I asked for help back then to you guys, just what happened and you guys disappeared all of a sudden, deheart?" Queen Tanya asked. "There are various reasons, but I will exin things. Also, I am no longer deheart. Call me by my real name now. I am Manato." Chapter 968 Attack of the Players Chapter 968 Attack of the yers "Huh? Your real name?" Queen Tanya was confused. "Ah, yes. I will have to exin things to you in the beginning. This involves Hagane and this world''s fate, so please listen for a bit." I started to ry the information to her and how we were actually people from another world. We were just there to fix the situation and stop Nobuhiko from fulfilling his wish. Since she was also a believer of the Goddess of Death, I also told her about the story of the Goddess of Death how my Versatile Weapon is also part of it, and why we are looking toplete it before the final confrontation. It took me some time to tell her everything and I just summarized some of it to shorten my time exining and it still took a few hours to exin all of them to her fully. "So in short, you guys discovered that the game you guys y was actually a real world and thanks to the elves that drifted to your world and you guys rescued, you guys are now able toe here and are now using your real bodies instead of the previous immortal bodies and now you guys don''t know whether you guys can still get resurrected? And your weapon was actually the ck dragon pet of the Goddess of Death? Wow, so things are moreplicated than I thought? And now, there is even someone who wishes to do something to the Tree of Life that serves the Goddess of Life. That sounds like bad news." "Yes, and that is why we are trying to collect the remnants of the Versatile Weapon and let it gain enough power before we go and find the Tree. The only problem is that we have not yet found the remaining remnants." "How many of them are missing?" Queen Tanya asked. "I already obtained the Pride, Greed, Lust, Wrath, and Envy. The only ones I have not obtained are the gluttony and sloth sins." "That is pretty close to the goal," Queen Tanya is impressed. "Doesn''t matter much since there is a chance it will take a lot of time to even find the remaining two. The weapons are not that easily found. I just got lucky that both the Lust and Wrath were present in one location so I obtained both immediately." "I see. But after hearing all of the things you said, now I understand why you guys are on the move and why you guys decided to do something like this. It''s like a moving caravan but with a walking mansion and a plot ofnd. Still, this is going to be a monumental task. My situation is very bad right now, so how about I join in this journey then? I have some connections here and there even if I am not a queen of Sandurk anymore but I can still provide aid," Queen Tanya offered. "Your cooperation is much appreciated. We will have a hard time nowadays but since both of us are now wanted people by the yers, we might as well band together and repel both of them to ensure that we survive." While we are speaking, my guard dog, the desert wolf pack is barking which means there is something out there or there are enemies. I made them guard the walking mansion as they are excellent guards and I didn''t regret that they are doing work as now that the yers are attacking us, having an rm for any intruders or attackers is necessary for us. "Intruders," I stood up and grabbed the handle of my Versatile Weapon. "Intruders eh? Then how about I tag along and kick some yer''s butt?" "Heh, it''s good to have you watching my back," I grinned. "Of course. Likewise!" We immediately responded to the barks of my Desert Wolves and there, they were already fighting multiple yers who were trying to beat them. Of course, they are having a hard time, especially with the levels of my followers, they are not easily defeated and they pack a lot of HP and their damage is not to be underestimated as well. "F*CK! We were never told there are Desert Wolves that are pretty tanky here!" "Ahhh! My weapon! They break it apart! Monsters!" "Idiot! They are monsters! Keep in distance and don''t let them mob you in groups! Deal with them one by one!" As they were struggling, I converted my Versatile Weapon''s form into the dual pistol and started sting. BANG BANG BANG And one of them is down. Queen Tanya didn''t even bother to use her weapon and headed straight to the nearby yer who was being bitten by multiple Desert Wolves and immediately grabbed her neck. Before the yer can say anything, Queen Tanya then proceeds to toss her up in the air, causing the yer to scream in fright. She was tossed high up in the air and she plummeted down to the ground but before she was even reaching the ground, a very strong kick weed her face and she was sent flying into the distance. Queen Tanya is still very efficient in her techniques and she just bashed a few skulls and ended them without any problem. I also downed a few of them and in the end, no one survived, immediately dropping their weapons and items they had after death. "These things are useless but I can at least repurpose them as new weapons or materials." Queen Tanya wipes off her hands after finishing one yer off and smiles. "You guys are fortunate enough to have a ce to live while traversing the ce and with loyal guard wolves like these, you would be set in life already," Queen Tanya patted the guard Desert Wolves and they loved it. "Thanks to Almira, we have this as a good ce to stay." "So, how about my work? Pretty fast huh?" "I don''t doubt your ability. Wee aboard." And so, we got a newpanion once more. .... .... .... The next day, we were forced to deal with another group of yers once again. Seeing the fluctuations of yers attacking, Almira decided that it was time to go and deter our route, and instead of heading to the city, we would instead head on somewhere else. That''s when Queen Tanya gave the suggestion. "How about we go and travel back into the Frozen Region once again? Sure there are lots of giant monsters there but that doesn''t mean you guys can''t defeat them yes? Besides, I heard that yers barely stay there due to the eternal winter and the brutal weather that most yers didn''t like to endure." Hearing this, Almira''s eyes lit up. "The Frozen Region huh? Good idea. This is a good opportunity to talk to your sister about the belongings of King Arthur there as well." "Eh? You guys needed something to use on those weapons and artifacts?" Queen Tanya asked. "Oh yes, I didn''t mention this but remember King Arthur?" "Yeah? He is dead, I remember him. What about him though?" "Well, he wasn''t actually dead, he was alive and he is back. The first thing he did when he returned and we met was to ughter the whole elf race, only sparing those who were mypanions. The rest of the kingdom''s residents? Killed and resulted in the Elven Kingdom getting wiped out. "That f*cker was not dead?!" Queen Tanya was totally surprised. "Yes. And that is why we wanted to check on the relics and artifacts that King Arthur once owned. There is a chance we will find a reason why he was able toe back from the dead despite being killed by the weapon that is designed to kill him," Almira is determined. "Then our next course is indeed The Frozen Region. But first, we needed to stock up some supplies to ignite mes and warm ourselvester once we arrived in the region. Manato, go and farm some wood and bring them here. We needed tons of them, so it would be great if you transport lots of them." I nodded in response. For preparation, time to perform deforestation. ... ... ... I didn''t bother to bring the others this time around, me alone is enough to do this work. Since Sandurk has barely any trees to cut, I have to return to Resurgia this time around so I teleported there once again. I changed my get-up this time around. Instead of wearing the usual wolf mask, I used the mask that I created. It only covers my mouth and looks like a gas mask meant to protect myself from harmful gases. It is one of the masks I created to use forter but because I didn''t have time to use it especially since I liked my Wolf Mask, I didn''t use it much. But now, I needed it. I also changed my equipment that would make me look like an armored tank. I have this equipment designed for Hagane and Akira before but since Hagane is nowhere right now and is not part of our group, Akira immediately gets it, but why does he need two pairs? So he only epted one. My new look is now a good face that will allow me to go back to Resurgia without being hunted again. Chapter 969 Journey to the Frozen Region Once Again Chapter 969 Journey to the Frozen Region Once Again The next morning came once again. The sun once again started to spread the heat into the desert and everyone started to melt again in the heat. Even I can feel it and I have to remove some of my armor to alleviate the heat in my body. In fact, I am craving to have an ice-cold bath right now. "Morning guys...huh? What''s gotten to all of you?" Queen Tanya who just got out of her room was shocked to see everyone including me exhausted and lying around. "It''s... so hoootttt..." Riko sighed as she fanned herself with her hands. "Yeah...I really want to swim in a cold pool..." Riko said as she poured water on her head. "Oh? Really? Then, let me try something." Queen Tanya snapped her fingers and suddenly, the area became colder, we were surprised since even Izmir''s ice doesn''t help but Queen Tanya easily bypassed it like nothing. It was like we were having an air conditioner installed inside the mansion. "I converted the hot weather into colder temperatures in the surroundings of this walking mansion, including outside to allow us to not feel the desert heat. Of course, we will still feel the heat once we move away from here so in case you are going to move away because you need to fight or something, then be prepared to take the heat once again once you go." "Is this how you change the temperature in your castle?" I asked Queen Tanya. "Yes. Although this spell is something that all people in Sandurk learned to adapt from life in the desert and it is mandatory for everyone to have." "Wow, that is totally convenient. I can feel my whole body cooling down once again," Renatta can feel again the normal temperature. "We have a long way to the Frozen Region so we will stay in the heat for a long time. To ensure we are not tired due to the heat, then having the change of temperature to our surroundings is already good," Queen Tanya reasoned. "You have a good point. We can''t afford to feel tired because the way to the Frozen Region without flying is perilous and annoying." As I said the sentence to educate the others about it, we suddenly felt a rumbling in the surroundings. Then, the inte came to life and Almira''s voice could be heard. "Everyone, brace yourselves, I am not sure where the enemy is but this is not an earthquake, a nearby Great Sandworm is nearby!" After hearing our enemy''s name, Queen Tanya frowned. "Great Sandworm?! They shouldn''t be in this area just yet!" "Well, I don''t have any idea why they are here but they are definitely present and are causing the shaking of the ground. Prepare as this walking mansion is not equipped to handle a Great Sandworm just yet! Best you guys beat it up or lure it far from our mansion!" I grab my weapon put on my old mask, the White Fur Wolf Mask, and equip my other gear that I removed earlier. "Alright guys, those who wanted to fight a sandworm and beat it up,e with me. We will make sure this f*cker won''t make our home be food they don''t even realize they have eaten!" "Do you even know how to lure them out Manato? Those things are elusive unless we totally disturb them!" Riko frowned. "No worries. I know how to pull them out from the sand. We just needed to lure them away. Quick, grab the blood of the Sand Dragon," I ordered. "Here it is!" my Mother appeared with her apron on her while holding the container where the blood of the Sand Dragon is contained. "Mother? Why are you holding it?" I asked. "I n to check on what uses I can make on this with Alchemy but since you want to use it, here you go!" I smiled and took the container containing the blood from her hands. "Thanks, Mom," "No problem dear. Go get them, tiger!" Mom grinned while putting her fist into the air. I nodded and I carried the container with me. "Alright, let''s do this. We have the item we need to lure those squiggly worms out of our way and kill them! Anyone who is willing toe with me, let''s go!" ... ... ... Many of our battle-maniacpanions came with me. I know I can defeat them but it will take a bit of time and time is not something we can afford to keep on losing so having multiple of us dealing with the Sandworm will be faster than killing it by myself. Even Queen Tanya joined with the reason that she didn''t want us to hog all the fun. As we left the mansion, the heat once again can be felt but since we are now moving, it doesn''t feel that much hotter than before. "What are we going to do next?" Father asked. "The blood will smell good for the Great Sandworm so first, we will lure them with this. Just pour the blood into the sand and we start running away. Soon enough, the sandworm will follow. Anyways, you guys should wait in the distance. We will ambush the sandworm there so that the battle is far from the mansion. Everyone started running into the distance I looked behind me and felt the vibrations on the ground. "Come here, squiggly, here is some tasty blood just for you!" I pour the blood slowly into the soil as I started moving. I made a slight jog until full jog. As soon as I felt the tremors on the guard stronger, I started running. The tremors got stronger and then... "GRAAAAAAAAA!" A very big mouth and elongated body jumped out of the ground, revealing the Great Sandworm before us. It is much bigger than the sandworm that contains Tina and the weapon of Greed before but since I am not only with Lina fighting this time, even if this guy is big, it doesn''t mean it is hard. ----- [Great Sandworm] (Elite Monster) Level 300 HP: 20,000,000/ 20,000,000 Trait: Monster, Ground ----- Soon, it revealed its big mouth full of sharp teeth. They look threatening and even though I only saw them in movies, seeing one for real like this is still a bit intimidating. "Magicians! FIRE!" As soon as I gave mymand, Izmir, Avos, Riko, and Sora started to bombard the Great Sandworm with the magic of different elements. "Akira, protect the magicians! This guy will try to target the magicians every chance they get! Pixie, heal whenever Akira''s HP gets low or any of the magicians!" I ordered. "Roger!" both simultaneously positioned themselves. "Melee fighters! With me!" I rallied the rest of the group. As soon as we reached its body, I only gave one order. "Hit its body as hard as you can!" As soon as I said it, I immediately pierce my Versatile Weapon to its skin. Green blood spurts out on the monster''s belly. Everyone followed suit and started releasing their attacks. Father and M are in sync with their movements as they proceed to pummel the Great Sandorm''s belly. Pandora releases her gold chain and lets it bury deep into the Great Sandworm''s body. "GRAAAAAH!" I tore off the skin that I stabbed my weapon with, and another green blood came out from the body. It was then followed up by Rika who ignited her sword in mes as soon as she pushed the de to the open gash of a wound. "BURN!" The heat from her weapon can be felt outside as her attack increases the me''s attack. "GRAAAAAA!" the Great Sandworm tried to hide underground but Pandora immediately controlled her chains. "As if I will let you escape! Hup!" she pulled the chains on the Great Sandworm. The sandworm''s descent suddenly got halted by the chains that Pandora buried deep into its body. Pandora then begins pulling the chains and stops the Great Sandworm from moving away. "Attackers! NOW!" Everyone immediately piled on to the Great Sandworm. Even when it is using its body to swipe us around, the magic spells that were bombarding its body are always stopping and canceling its attacks. Perhaps it is getting annoyed by our attacks, the Great Sandworm stopped trying to escape and roared before shooting multiple corrosive projectiles at the Magicians. "Akira!" "You got it! [Attack Recipient]![Iron Will]! [Castle of Steel]!" Multiple buffs were immediately in effect on Akira as the projectiles started to rain straight to Akira who immediately blocked them in the shield. PSSSSS! The attacks were corrosive but Akira endured and Pixie started healing him as soon as he got continuous damage from the attack. "Attackers go and attack the Great Sandworm while its attention is still focused on Akira!" We continue to attack the Sandorm and Queen Tanya is dealing big damage against this guy alone andpared to what damage we can do, our damage output looks pathetic. But it doesn''t matter. We will beat it before it gets really annoying right now. Chapter 970 Swarm of Sandworms Chapter 970 Swarm of Sandworms "Its HP is at critical levels!" I shouted. "Leave it to me!" Queen Tanya leaped into the air. As the Great Sandworm extended its body upward, Queen Tanya descended with a powerful punch. "HRAAAA!" I couldn''t discern the specific form of her fist, whether it was clenched or formed into a chopping motion, but the impact was tremendous. The swift attack concluded so abruptly that it seemed as if Queen Tanya had effortlessly passed through the Great Sandworm''s body as though it were nothing. Due to Queen Tanya''s attack, the Great Sandworm wobbled before its body was split in half. The battle was finally over. "Wow, monsters as colossal as these are apparently regr urrences here!" Avos marveled at the lifeless form of the Great Sandworm. After all, Resurgia doesn''t have any Great Sandworms. "You''re right. Despite my many years of spelunking and dungeon diving, this is the first time I''ve seen a sandworm up close!" M poked the deceased sandworm a few times. "Surprisingly, the skin is quite hard even for a worm!" "Looks like this is the first time you have seen a sandworm, huh? Well, this is amon monster in the desert, and although they look intimidating and dangerous, dealing with them bes less troublesome once you understand their movement and behavior. I''ve defeated many of these creatures before. The more you ovee them, the more they be trivial annoyances," Queen Tanya patted the carcass of the Great Sandworm. "Does this thing have any uses?" Renatta asked. "Not really. They are somewhat useless in terms of materials, aside from their teeth and a bit of their tough shell. Their flesh can be eaten, but it isn''t that vorful unless you''re skilled at cooking or can incorporate it into soups. They can be consumed, but on their own, they are rather nd." While we continued our conversation, the ground began to shake once more, but this time the tremors surrounded us. The intensity was significantly greater than the earlier disturbance. "What the...another sandworm?!" Queen Tanya frowned. "Could they be drawn by our battle?" I inquired. "I doubt it. Once a single sandworm is in the area, they usually avoid it unless it''s mating season, which isn''t currently underway!" Queen Tanya scanned the surroundings, still uncertain of their origin. "Crap, it''s not just one sandworm; there are multiple! Be prepared¡ªthey''re close! Get ready to dodge!" Everyone immediately went on guard, including myself. Without the blood left among us, we couldn''t predict its location urately unless we relied on the tremors and sensed them. Queen Tanya''s eyebrows furrowed, and she shouted, "Dodge! Now!" Upon hearing hermand, the ground erupted, prompting swift dodges from everyone. Unfortunately, Izmir was a tadte in reacting and found herself tossed into the air. "AH!" Izmir''s eyes widened as she stared below and saw the endless maw of teeth within the new sandworm''s mouth. "HUP!" Pandora, who had justnded nearby, quickly manipted her chains and ensnared Izmir before deftly pulling her away from the jaws of death. I immediately caught her and fired multiple rounds of my Pain Delivery at the Sandworm attacking. Since I used the Pain Delivery, the sandworm immediately perished. I still don''tprehend how this weapon manages to work, but if it can deliver a one-hit kill, it doesn''t matter much to me. "T-thanks..." Izmir blushed, perhaps because I was holding her, or maybe she recalled what happened back then when I retrieved the weapon of lust from her. However, I didn''t have time to dwell on her feelings right now; the danger before us remained considerably annoying. I reloaded the Pain Delivery once again before turning to look in the direction of the sandworm I had just killed. The sandworms that were attacking earlier were now cannibalizing the deceased creature, ripping its flesh like hungry piranhas. Just observing them was enough to make me feel a bit troubled. After all, sandworms don''t typically tear flesh like that; they usually swallow things whole. "What is happening?" Rika frowned as we all observed the carnage unfolding. "No idea either. This is the first time I have seen the sandworms act like this!" Queen Tanya was also speechless. "Pixie, could you check how many of the sandworms are devouring the dead one?" I inquired. "Okay!" Pixie soared into the air, gaining a vantage point to assess the situation below. After a few minutes, she descended with a noticeable frown on her face. "There are at least 5-6 sandworms feasting on the recently deceased one, and around 7 on the great sandworm''s location," Pixie reported. "What? There are even more on the Great Sandworm as well?" Queen Tanya couldn''t believe her ears. "Yes. They are consuming the carcasses at an rming rate. It felt like I was watching a fast-forward movie in the air." "Fast-forward movie...?" Queen Tanya looked confused. "It means she is witnessing it happen so rapidly that a process that usually takes a long time appears to bepleted in seconds," I exined. "Oh. I see. This is really bad. If those sandworms linger here, we''ll either have to take a detour for safe travels or confront them here and now," Queen Tanya shook her head. "Let''s confront them here and now," Avos and M simultaneously decided. "We agree as well. Defeating them here and now will not only reduce our problems with the Sandworms attackingter on," Pandora affirmed, supported by the others. I also nodded in agreement. "Defeating them here and now is necessary. It will diminish the threat they pose. Allowing them to roam freely after they finish feeding will only cause trouble for uster." I anticipated Queen Tanya might suggest finding an alternate route, but then I noticed her sudden grin. That''s when I realized she didn''t consider that as an option; she merely mentioned it for our sake. "Heh, yeah. I''m d you all agree, as that is the best course of action right now." "But then, how do we even lure them?" Sora asked. "One thing they didn''t like is a cold environment. The moment they do, their bodies rapidly deteriorate which is also one of the main reasons that they don''t cross the icy fields of the Frozen Region," Queen Tanya exined. "How did you know that?" I asked. After all, this is the first time I have heard about this. "Of course, we tested it with my sister. We captured one Sandworm and threw it to the Frozen Region to see whether it could still thrive in the cold weather and let it terrorize the monsters there but it ended in a failure when the sandworm froze to death even though it was not that cold to begin with. Anyway, that''s enough chit-chat. Let''s beat the sandworms now. So, anyone of you guys who can use magic that is pure ice?" Our eyes thennded on Izmir and she looked at everyone with a frown. "Wait...me?" Renatta then tapped Izmir''s shoulder and grinned. "Who else from us here is proficient enough to summon a huge block of ice or control ice expertly as you do?" Izmir looked at us and realized that what Renatta said was correct and aside from her, no one from us is totally focused on using ice magic. "No worries. We will be here, you just need to freeze the area where the enemies are," Renatta added. "If that is the case, I needed the area full of water. Using Ice Magic in this drynd would just dry my whole mana in one go. If there is water to freeze, it will lower my usage of mana and I can also strengthen it enough that it will be much harder for them to escape." I then step beside her. "If that is the case, let me do it," I grab one of the scrolls in my inventory and spread it. "A scroll?" M frowned. "You will get used to it, M-san. This isn''t the first time, to be honest. Don''t think too much about it." I looked at Izmir and asked her. "Are you ready?" She nodded as she readied her hands to cast magic. It seems she doesn''t need to use any sort of chant to cast the spell this time around. "Alright, let''s get this party started." RIP! Tearing the scroll to two, the magic circle appeared on the area I specifically targeted. At first, nothing happened but then... a gushing water suddenly flows around the sandworms causing the sandworms to squirm. But because the water I used was different, there was no way they would be able to squirm away. ---- [(Whirlpool) Scroll] Tier 6 Usage: One time Information: A scroll containing the spell, [Whirlpool]. Summons arge pool of water regardless of whether the area has a water source or not. Encasing the targeted area with water before spinning to create the fabled tornado underwater. Note: Get ROTATED! ----- With the spell in action and trapping all the Sandworms on the whirlpool, Izmir started casting her spell. "FREEZE!" As soon as she shouted those words, the cascading surge of the whirlpool stopped as the ice slowly solidified the water until no water was left. All the sandworms caught in the whirlpool has been frozen and are now slowly dying to their final breathes. Chapter 971 Frozen Wind and March of the Monsters Chapter 971 Frozen Wind and March of the Monsters "How long does it take for these sandworms to sumb to freezing temperatures?" I inquired. "In a cold environment, they gradually freeze, initially building up in their bodies. However, this freezing process swiftly extends throughout their entire internal system. Within a few minutes, their bodies copse, and they meet their demise. It''s a rapid demise," exined Queen Tanya. Approaching the frozen whirlpool, I peered into the crystal-clear ice, affording a glimpse of the unfolding spectacle within. Many Sandworms still writhed within the frozen medium, their movements gradually diminishing. Momentster, their contortions ceased entirely, and their once lively bodies took on a darkened hue¡ªindicating the irreversible stillness of death. "Looks like they have finally died. Izmir, are you still good to go and can still use the same spell?" I turned to look at Izmir. "Yes, I still have mana to spare," she nodded, flexing her mana in her palm. "Alright, prepare first, and let''s head to the next sandworms." We moved a little closer to the carcass of the Great Sandworm we had just in. Observing it being devoured by its fellow sandworms, I could see they were still struggling to finish the carcass. Since they were huddled together while eating, the same spell should be sufficient to contain and restrain them. Pulling out the Scroll of [Whirlpool], I looked at Izmir. Confirming that her spell was ready, I positioned myself and mentally designated the target of the attack before tearing the scroll. ZIP! As the scroll was torn into two pieces, the magic circle materialized around the sandworms. Simr to the previous encounter, they were ensnared without any chance to escape. "Now, do it!" I ordered Izmir. Izmir waved her hands and aimed her attack at the whirlpool containing squiggling sandworms. As expected, the whirlpool froze, capturing the sandworms within. However, one crafty sandworm managed to evade the icy trap, leaping off the whirlpool with its gaping mouth, intent on swallowing both Izmir and me. I was ready to strike the sandworm, but Queen Tanya swiftly intervened. Stepping in front of us, she delivered a powerful punch straight to the oing threat. "What a nuisance!" BANG! In a single devastating blow, the sandworm exploded into pieces. Queen Tanya casually snapped her fingers, turning the falling flesh into ash. I observed the astonishment on Izmir''s face, marveling at how effortlessly Queen Tanya dispatched the sandworm with a single hit. Achieving such a feat would require a myriad of buffs for me, yet Queen Tanya executed it effortlessly. She was indeed a formidable force. Considering the difficulty she had defeating me earlier, it is a wonder how I am able to deal with and defeat her in the first ce. With the immediate threat eliminated, we lingered for a moment in case more danger lurked. The absence of any further sounds confirmed that we had sessfully dealt with the problem. "The issue has been resolved. Let''s head back. We''re already close to the Frozen Region, so let''s continue," I gestured toward the horizon, where giant white mountains and a distinct atmosphere marked our proximity to the destination in the west. ... ... ... After confirming the elimination of the threat, we continued on our way to the Frozen Region. Observing that the temperature was dropping rapidly, Queen Tanya dispelled the cooling enchantment surrounding us and reced it with a warmer one. "Huh? Why is the temperature rising?" Izmir asked, noticing the sudden change in temperature. "It''s necessary; otherwise, this entire ce will freeze, and everyone will be shivering from the cold," I exined. "Is it really that cold?" Alena inquired. "Absolutely! We''ve been there before, and it was bone-chilling, much colder than the lowest temperature settings on the AC back on Earth," Rika responded. "Wow, seriously? Then it''s going to be too cold... but I don''t have any clothes that can withstand that level of cold," Alena frowned. "No worries. I had them prepared in advance. I made sure they were ready for our journey. I also have spares for everyone," I assured, snapping my fingers to distribute cold-resistant gear, including custom-sized jackets for Queen Tanya and even Pixie. While the gear could block the cold, it wasn''t entirely resistant, allowing a bit of cold air to seep in without causing freezing difort. Renatta inquired about Almira-san, to which I responded, "She''s already prepared. Honestly, I doubt she needed what I made; her protective jacket is far more capable." "Damn straight, my disciple. You''re still far from surpassing me, so don''t dream of outdoing me anytime soon," Almiramented over the inte, herpetitive spirit intact. As we approached the border, everyone, including the elves, donned the jackets I crafted. The temperature swiftly dropped despite the warm spell from Queen Tanya, and the cold air enveloped the surroundings. "We have officially entered the Frozen Region. Anyone who is not capable of dealing with the cold, please head to Manato and ask for any coat for everyone to wear while we are here," the voice of Almira on the inte red, letting everyone in the mansion and outside of the mansion knows where we are right now. As soon as we arrived, multiple tremors could be felt. Things have not changed at all. "Woah there, what is happening? Another sandworm? Enemy attack?" M frowned. "Rx, guys. This ismonce here," Riko casually drinks a cup of juice from her cup. "What? What do you mean?" Renatta frowned. Queen Tanya grinned. "Just look outside and see for yourselves what they are talking about, and you all will soon understand as well." Since no one said anything at all and was not worried, the elves went out on the balcony outside, and soon the sight revealed itself to them. "Woah, woah, woah, what the hell? What is happening? Are my eyes getting bad?!" Avos frowned and even wiped his eyesses for a few minutes before wearing them again. The scenery is the how the giant monsters are walking in front of us. Towering giants that even the bosses that are considered giants failed inparison to them. They looked like dinosaurs with a much bigger size. I have seen these guys before but only in the distance and not up this close. They do look like dinosaurs to me walking side by side with their families and in a migration though they differ any sizes and looks. Some have those rocky-looking things simr to a stegosaurus, while some have just in skin in their bodies. They have plenty of varieties. "Don''t worry about them. Unless they are a total big threat, they aren''t worth concern. These guys are just doing their own march to the frozen region. "What? Seriously? Those guys are bloody giants! How the heck can we even just ignore them and think it''s fine?!" Avos seems to be getting troubled. "Unless they are hostile and actively trying to kill us, those guys will not do anything nasty," Queen Tanya exined as she joined everyone on the balcony. "These monsters are a regr urrence here in the frozen region?" Izmir asked. "Yes. They are totally present every day and anyone living here will not be surprised when they see them moving. The site has be stale for everyone to see that they are not even actively watching the phenomenon anymore. For first-timers, everyone would think this is dangerous but not really. These things are a daily urrence," Queen Tanya grinned as she exined the monsters. "So these things are always here?" M frowned. "Nope. Although this is amon and almost daily urrence due to how slow these monsters walk, these guys are not here always. Manato and the others could testify that these guys were not here when they first arrived in this region." I nodded in response. "Yes. These guys were deeper into the mountains when we were here the first time around. I heard they have a term with this phenomenon?" I turned to look at Queen Tanya since I didn''t actually know about it, they just said they had called it something. "It was the March of the Monsters. Some called it March of the Titans but since these guys are not the biggest buggers here, they ditched the Titans part and changed it to Monsters instead. "You mean these towering monsters are not the biggest monsters here?!" the elves looked at Queen Tanya with a shocked look on their faces. "Hahaha, yeah. These buggers are not the biggest monsters here, there are more of them deeper in the unexplored and uninhabitable areas of the Frozen Region and they are more dangerous than these guys. But since they are content in where they are, I doubt they will be a big threat," Queen Tanya shrugged. "But what if they became one?" Avos has still doubts about the towering monsters we are seeing. "Then my sister will be the one who will deal with the problem and will be tasked to deal with the enemies. After all, they are the guardians that act as the final barrier for monsters to fully cross the entire world and wreak havoc. "Your sister? Someone is living here?" Izmir was surprised. "Yes. She will be the one we will meet right now in here." Chapter 972 Visiting Queen Tori Chapter 972 Visiting Queen Tori There aren''t that many dangers in the Frozen Region when arriving at the border aside from the cold weather. You don''t even need to worry about giant monsters stomping you unless you really get close to where they are walking. The sand has been reced by the white snow that is the product of the falling snow that keeps on pouring all year round with only asional sunny days that onlyst for an hour or two. During our visit, it seems a blizzard is currently underway. Although the mansion is fine, the yard is slowly umting snow already, and the wind is a bit stronger. It''s manageable but it is not the ideal weather here. "Is it always like this in here? This is quite a big contrast from the desert we just passed by," Avos wondered as he observed the blizzard outside the window. "Yeah, this is always like this. Although many would say that Sandurk Continent is not a pure desert continent due to the snowy biome here in the Frozen Region, it is not true as this ce is still considered a desert due to how water is a big scarcity here even with all the snow present. Without intense heat magic to rely on, the water here will freeze immediately, and just like the hot desert, both sides arecking water that can be essed immediately. Sure you can get them if you are resourceful but unlike normal areas where rain is abundant, rain doesn''t fall in both regions. It''s just that this region and the hot region are pr opposites," Queen Tanya exined. "But is it true that people live here? This ce looks too unhospitable coupled with multiple monsters in the vicinity, safety seems to be a totallycking thing here. Even myself who mastered the arts and magic of using ice doesn''t like to live here for the long term," Izmir voiced her thoughts about the ce. "Yes. Look outside. You can see that even in this harsh and unhospitable weather, humans still thrive and survive out here." Everyone looked outside and in the distance was the kingdom of the Frozen Region that is being ruled by Queen Tori. Compared to thest time we visited here, this ce has been very developed now and the walls and machinery in the area for defense have increased. In fact, it seems they even increased their borders. I don''t know if it was just my imagination or not but I am sure that the kingdom has increased in size. Despite the harsh blizzard, the ce still looks like they are not sleeping. I can hear the steam engines ring in the distance and the chugging of different machinery that generates heat and makes the ce lively. They are looking more and more like a steampunk kingdom the more you look closely. As our mansion approached, multiple soldiers appeared on the towers and aimed at our mansion while a few of them were even stationed below and were ready to attack us anytime. Our mansion stopped and one of the guards used a spell that enhanced his voice to increase his volume as he spoke, simr to a megaphone. "State your business visitors. We will notply kindly to any violent attempts to breach the gates, tell us why you all are here." Queen Tanya stood up and grinned. "This is my cue to talk to them." She went outside and seemed to use the same skill the man who shouted used. "Lower down your weapons, soldiers. I am with them so don''t worry about it. I needed to visit my sister." As soon as the guards saw Queen Tanya, they were shocked and immediately brought down their weapons and made a salute. "We are sorry for the transgression, Your Majesty Queen Tanya! We didn''t know it was you there!" "It is fine and I am d you guys are still taking your job seriously. Please open the gates and can you all please escort us to a warm area where we can put this mansion of ours safely?" "Sure, we will just give a heads up to the control to open up a path.Our soldiers will escort you in. Please wait for a while." One thing I noticed in the kingdom upon closer look is that there are now big "tank" looking vehicles nearby. I am not sure if they are even a tank in the first ce but I am quite sure that those things are big and seemingly looking like a vehicle used to engage wars. It didn''t take long for the gates to open and to my surprise, the buildings suddenly moved out of their way and gave us a bigger passage to walk into without trying to slowly move in an attempt to not step into the buildings. One soldier is holding a card with a "THIS WAY" to escort the mansion. The mansion is now following the soldier and soon we arrive at what we can consider as a parking lot. It has a very big space to the point that I consider it to be much bigger than an airport. Now I understand why they got a bigger ce, it is to ce this parking lot and upy it. As for what was being parked there, the "tanks" that I saw before are parked here and now we can take a closer look as well. We descended the mansion and we got a close look at the big tankers before us. "Holy sh*t... are those tanks?" Akira was not expecting to see one. "Although they looked like tanks, they also looked like a giant humvee with a big cannon mounted above it," my father who likes to y games rted to wars and stuff before is looking at it in the nitty gritty. Though what Father said is true. This looks like a giant Humvee with a big cannon mounted on it. It might look like a tank at first look but it isn''t really a tank. "How are the production of the vehicles?" Queen Tanya asked. "It''s going as nned. Although we had some setbacks here and there, we still managed to pull through. It is thanks to you and Her Majesty Queen Tori''s work that we are able to make these kinds of advances." "Eh? Queen Tori and you are part of creating these big tank vehicles?" I frowned. "Yes. Over thest years that we didn''t see each other, we made drastic progress in exploring the Frozen Region''s inhospitable areas and we discovered a few mines that we managed to use which resulted in us creating stuff that was something we wouldn''t expect to make. And some of those ideas are based on what you talk to me about whenever we have casual talks and stuff. Although I am not sure if we got the design just right, it proved to be quite a bit of a big thing for our exploration progress." I then remembered that I indeed talked to her about those things before but because they were casual talks and I never thought too much about that, I babbled about it on Queen Tanya. Never thought that the siblings would soon incorporate those little talks we have over a ss of wine or a mug of beer into something like this. "Is my sister here?" Queen Tanya asked. "Yes. She just returned so you can directly go to the castle and meet her. However, we needed someone to stay behind this walking mansion of yours, Queen Tanya. There are chances that some of the vehicles will need to move from time to time so we would like you all to at least have someone who can remain there to manage it." Then, the voice of Almira can be heard on the speaker that she installed outside. "Don''t worry about it. I am not going anywhere so if you ever wanted to make this mansion move, just give me a holler." Queen Tanya nodded and grinned. "What she said." The guard chuckled beforeposing himself and saluting. "It''s good that you are back Queen Tanya. Please enjoy your visit with Queen Tori. She is a bit depressed right now so it is best to talk to her about it." After that, the soldier went off and did something else. "She is depressed? What happened?" Riko asked. "I don''t know. But I am going to talk to her to learn about it." ... ... ... As usual, we didn''t go in a big group. Father and Mother didn''te with us as Mother wanted to focus back in the mansion on cooking some of the concoctions she was studying while Father wanted to stay to look at the tanks. He asked permission from the guards and they were happy for him to discuss or take a look around it after showing interest and knowledge regarding the tanks. Avos stayed behind as well as he is also fascinated by the tanks. The elves'' siblings wanted to stay behind. As much as they have grown more, they aren''t that happy to walk into an unfamiliarnd so they want to stay behind. Sora and Akira are staying as well, but based on my assumption, Akira wanted to stay and listen to the discussion as well, as for Sora, perhaps she wanted to rest or maybe just apany her brother. This time around though, most of the girls are ready to apany me and Queen Tanya this time around so as to not be totally out of ce, I also asked As to join in as my buddy. Never would we thought that this series of events that are about to happen would eventually be linked to our main task of finding the Tree of Life a lot sooner than we thought. Chapter 973 Unearthed Relics Chapter 973 Unearthed Relics The Frozen Region Kingdom where Queen Tori ruled has changed so much that even Queen Tanya felt lost after navigating a bit. Thankfully, another soldier is kind enough to escort all of us to the castle. Due to the changes of both the roads and buildings, the way to the castle has also changed making it confusing and difficult to navigate. Around 3 minutester, after twists and turns from the buildings and streets, we arrived at the castle. The castle still looks the same as before but since I was never personally inside of this ce, this is my first time entering the ce. "Is my sister inside her chambers?" "She should be, Your Majesty. If you don''t find her, ask her maids since they know where she currently is. I am just a humble guard who is off limits from entering the castle itself unless there is some kind of emergency or we are called personally there. Anyway, I will excuse myself. I fulfilled my duty," the guard saluted, and Queen Tanya followed the gesture with a salute as well. "Thank you, soldier," Queen Tanya replied before the soldier left. We gaze into the castle. It was color white not because it was painted white but because of the eternal freeze that has been happening nonstop. It has withstood multiple cold conditions and still remains intact. "Sheesh, although the castle back in the Elven Kingdom is really big, I don''t think it canpare to this. This castle is massive and just the snow and ice covering its walls is a big sign of its longevity of staying in cold weather without being in any sort of wear and tear," M admired the castle. "This castle is built using the mineral naturally mined and obtained in this region, making it able to withstand the cold weather for so long. Marble and concrete aren''t capable of withstanding this kind of weather conditions for long. Anyways, let''s get inside. The more we stand here outside, the more we will start freezing," Queen Tanya then allowed us inside as she opened the castle doors. "No guards?"Renatta frowned. "Nope. The guards are not necessary here and they are more needed elsewhere in their own work at protecting the walls of the kingdom instead of staying and guarding this castle that doesn''t need protection," Queen Tanya grinned. "This queen here must be pretty powerful for her to be that confident," Izmir randomly thought. "She is quite powerful in her own right but she barely does any sort of fights unless she wants or needs to do so which is why no one knows her real abilities just yet. She only revealed quite a few of them," Riko said as she had seen Queen Tori a few times using some powers but since she does not do much, it was fairly unknown for them. As we continued to walk, one of the maids appeared before us and with a graceful bow, she spoke to us. "Wee back Your Majesty, Queen Tanya, and to all of you as well. Queen Tori already heard of your arrival and is eagerly awaiting all of you in her office. Please follow me." We all followed her and we were directly escorted into a room with two big doors. It was like a hall to be honest but the moment it was opened, it was soon revealed to be like a study. The whole room is full of shelves containing books on different topics and different knowledge that has beenpiled and created. Although a library would be an overstatement, it can still be considered an office that every bookworm dreams of having. The smell of the book lingered in our noses the moment we entered the room. Despite the amount of shelves and books, it wasn''t even enough to cover the whole room. The second floor is directly essible by climbing the stairs on both sides that anyone can see the moment they enter the room. It was adorned by gold intricate designs and some statues that looked like they were some sort of a dog or a cat. It was full of shelves and it was like the second floor was stuffed to the brim with books and shelves with only a few paths that allowed anyone to properly walk in between those shelves. While the second floor is very library-like, the ground floor is full of shelves and books but there are some tables here and there, simr fashion to library desks. It is more spacious and the shelves are not there for the sake of filling up space, it was like it was purposely put there to make the ce look good to see in the eyes of visitors, coupled with a few nts that I didn''t know would grow in cold weather like this. On the very end is a long desk with someone sitting on the chair while drinking coffee. She looked at us and smiled before standing up. "Sister, seeing that you are looking good and great means you are fine," Queen Tori weed Queen Tanya and the two hugged each other. "Looks like you heard the news?" Queen Tanya then removed herself from the embrace of her sister. "Of course. Although it is unfortunate I couldn''te and help you during that time, I know that you would be fine." "You seemed busy with everything so I am not even assuming that you would be there to help me at that time so it''s understandable. You also have your fair share of troubles here so I am not here toin. "Yeah, it''s a big pain in the neck, and it would have been great if you were here to help but after I heard the news of your escape, the monsters up in the north started to get riled up for some unknown reason which is why I have to personally oversee a few operations to deal with those things. Anyways, am I seeing these right? Aren''t these guys the ones who participated on the big exploration team we did during thest expedition? And you, although you have changed, I am quite certain that it is you deheart," Queen Tori looked at us and then stared directly at me. "It is indeed me, deheart. But I am now using the name Manato." "Eh? What is happening? I heard from my sister that you are missing and she can''t even contact you..." Queen Tori frowned. "It''s a long story Sis, anyways, we didn''te here to actually visit. We have something to actually inquire on you," Queen Tanya shifted the topic straight to the reason we were there. "Something to inquire me?" Queen Tori frowned. Queen Tanya looked at me and seemed to be mentally saying that it was my turn to exin. So I decided to say our main goal there. "Your men have excavated the relics and weapons that thete King Arthur left behind during thest expedition that we helped out right?" "Uhuh? Is this about it?" Queen Tori asked. "Indeed. We are here to take a look at what was unearthed back then and take a closer look at them." "We did take a lot of them which made our armory full due to the amount of things present there but why though? If you guys wanted to use an artifact, I am willing to either lend it or give it to you as we have no uses for them as of right now," Queen Tori readily agreed to even give us those relics without any effort. "Uh, no. Actually, we are not here to borrow or use any of them. We are actually trying to trace back if those artifacts can detect or even determine where the location of King Arthur is even if he was far from them." "Huh? But King Arthur died right? I saw him die with my two eyes after he was killed by the sword that was... what was called again?" "rent." Queen Tanya answered. "Yeah, yeah! The rent! He was torn asunder by that sword before." "That''s what we thought so as well until he emerged again and decided tomit some violence and wipe out an entire kingdom in a single night." Hearing this, Queen Tori''s face grows serious. "Follow me." She walked to a nearby shelf and grabbed one of the books there with the name "King Arthur and the Round Table" on its title. As soon as she removes that, one of the shelves starts to move, revealing a big room that is glittering. "Let''s go downstairs." We followed Queen Tori and we were led downstairs where the moment we descended, a golden glow of weapons and relics appeared before us. Multiple things glow even in the dark and some are even giving off an entirely different power that I didn''t expect to feel on a weapon without a wielder alone. "Search around, perhaps one of these relics are bound to be connected still to that guy." Chapter 974 Branch Chapter 974 Branch The relics filled the entire room, and just being there allowed one to feel the potent energy emanating from each artifact. "Wow! What the hell are all of these?!" Alena eximed, stupefied by the golden sparkles emanating from the items before her. "Indeed, even with just a nce, you can sense that these items hold immeasurable value. They are not merely treasures; they are natural wonders that transcend the capabilities of this current timeline!" Renatta seized one of the relics, only to be immediately overwhelmed. She fumbled, dropping it back to the floor before she could even begin to inspect it. "Absolutely. These items were crafted during an era when the Gods freely moved and interacted with both the people and creations of this world. You could consider them as Pre-War artifacts that endure even now," Queen Tori exined. The room was a testament to the ancient era, with relics echoing the divine touch of beings long gone. The golden sparkles danced, encapsting a legacy that surpassed the limits of time. Alena''s astonishment was palpable, mirrored in the glittering artifacts that seemed to whisper tales of an age forgotten. Renatta''s impromptu attempt to handle one of the relics underscored the reverence theymanded, even in the hands of those who understood their significance. The mention of these items being Pre-War relics added ayer of historical depth, emphasizing their rarity and the bygone era they represented. "That means even during the time the Goddess of Life and the Goddess of Death were still present in the world? Then these things are super old now! They''re much older than me!" M couldn''t believe it. "Yes, they predate most of the things and people here nowadays. And just so you know, these items are all belongings of the person who wiped out the Elven Kingdom," Queen Tanya revealed. Hearing that, the elves wore grim expressions. Queen Tori was taken aback by the sudden revtion from Queen Tanya. "Wait, what? This is the first time I''ve heard about this!" Queen Tori frowned and nced at the other elves with us. "It''s true. We witnessed the entire kingdom being massacred, and they are the only ones who remain alive. They are nning to help us hunt down the killer himself. Our first attempt to get closer to finding him is by using his relics and weapons to see if there are still any connections to him," I exined. "Howe no one has informed me of this news? This is a significant piece of information I haven''t heard!" Queen Tori frowned and scratched her head. "We hid the fact that the elven race was destroyed in one night. We can''t afford to let the world know that someone destroyed the kingdom in a single night and give us pity. We will ensure that guy will never be able to return once we exact our revenge," Izmir clenched her fist. "Now, now, Izmir, let''s first focus on finding a relic or weapon that is still connected to that guy. Hold back your desire for violence and concentrate on searching," M patted Izmir on her shoulder. So, we decided to start examining them one by one. I can still discern the nature of these items using the system descriptions. With this, we can check whether anything unusual is currently happening. I began by picking up one of the daggers on the ground. While not on par with the Carnwennan in terms of weapon abilities and strength, they can still be considered valuable and powerful items. "Anything yet?" Renatta asked. "Nope, nothing here," Riko shrugged. "Nothing here as well," Rika chimed in. "Don''t rush, guys. Take all the time you need. With all the items present, it could take hours, even days, to find something. It''s not like those things are forbidden. Just go ahead and explore," Queen Tori said. "Thanks, Tori," Queen Tanya smiled. "No problem at all. Anyways, we should talk first, sis. We need to make a n on how to reim your throne. Those bastards from the ursed church of the goddess of life can''t just take it without any reason and snatch it away by force." The two continued to talk as they left the room, leaving us to search. We continued to sift through all of his items, and honestly, all of them are really remarkable. Even the little trinkets have some very unusual history. If sold at auctions or in museums, these items could fetch a substantial amount of money. Still, I don''t see anything that can be considered connected to him at all. All of the things I have investigated are either too casual or mere collectibles. Nothing that could be deemed a significant relic, one of King Arthur''s "valuables" linking directly to him. While I was still busy digging, As, who was also rummaging through the trinkets, seemed to have noticed something. "Huh? There''s something in here." "What?" I frowned and looked at where As was pointing. But there was nothing visible. "I don''t see it, As. What are you seeing?" I inquired, puzzled. "There is a stronger energy buried in these trinkets. I can feel it underneath here; I just need to dig it up and see it." "Let me help." The two of us started removing the relics and trinkets from the spot that As had identified. Although I couldn''t see whatever he imed to be seeing, I did sense something weighty beneath. As I continued to dig, I soon uncovered something¡ªan emerald green object. "Is that it?" I dug faster, and soon, something was revealed beneath all the trinkets: a branch of a tree. "Master, this is the one emitting that feeling! I''m sure of it!" As dered. I returned my attention to the branch and frowned. This was the first time I had seen a branch like this. I referred to it as a branch because that''s precisely what it was¡ªa literal branch with a leaf, made of wood, an item that could be cut off from a tree. Finding nothing extraordinary about it, I opened the description of the item using the system. [Branch of the Tree of Life]. After reading the words, I rubbed my eyes for a moment before looking at the name once more to ensure I wasn''t mistaken. [Branch of the Tree of Life]. "What the heck? The branch of the tree of life?!" Upon uttering those words, everyone turned in my direction and focused on the item in my hands. "Wait, wait. Are you sure about what you''re holding, Manato?!" Riko frowned as she approached the branch. "Why would I lie? Here, take a look at its description." The group huddled and checked the system description and everyone was shocked. "No way...King Arthur has been blessed by the Tree of Life before?!" Riko frowned. I haven''t read the entirety of the description of the thing so when I heard those words from Riko, I checked it out. .... [Branch of the Tree of Life] Type: Misceneous Item Information: A branch thates from the Tree of Life. Getting this branch is something close to a miracle itself. This thing is said to bless the person who owns this for many years toe. Because it was a symbol of light itself, it is believed that being around this branch will be beneficial to anyone around, except that no one knows if this is true or not. The branch is also bound to the one who got the gift, so even if it was dropped, it cannot be imed by others and the blessings will remain to be given to its owner. Not only that but this branch can also help the owner locate the location of the Tree of Life again even before it will reappear once more to the world. Bound to: Arthur Pendragon ---- Seeing the item and its description, we found what we are looking for, and not only that but it is an item that will allow us to find the Tree of Life faster than we should have. "We finally found it!" Rika is excited. "But Master, how are we even gonna use it?" As asked. "That''s the problem, I don''t know," I shook my head. "No worries, Manato. Leave this to us," M smiled. "Yeah. Have you forgotten? We can do things like tracking and locating stuff using anything that has a connection to them. It doesn''t matter if they currently don''t have it in their possession as long as their connection is still connected and seeing that it is still connected to that guy, we can locate him. And once we are done, we can even use this to locate the tree of life as well," Renatta exined. "What if the effects will disappear? We are not its true owners of this thing after all," Rika frowned. "We have a n to counter that if that happens. Don''t worry, we can do it." Still, knowing that we have something that can potentially shorten our search, we might even find the tree before the deadline arrives. Chapter 975 Digestion Complete

Chapter 975 Digestion Complete

After we got what we came for, we revealed the branch to Queen Tori and Queen Tanya who were still talking. "We have found the items that are still connected to King Arthur," I revealed as I raised the branch of the Tree of Life before them. "A branch?" Queen Tanya frowned. "It''s the branch of the Tree of Life. It was one of the things that King Arthur left. I was the one who found it among the trinkets so I managed to hide it from my soldiers and to the officials. Those guys might be tempted to steal and do something unspeakable acts using this alone and there might be trouble brewing if this was shown to the public which is why I hid it. But you said this thing is bound to King Arthur?" Queen Tori inspected the branch. "The branch is unusable and its blessing effects are not usable if it is being used by someone other than the owner. And even if the owner of the branch throws the branch away or it gets separated from the real owner, it will form an invisible connection to the owner so that the two will be reunited once more." "I see. Then take it. That thing is a potential trouble bearer anyway and I would''ve preferred for it to be gone in the relic room. It''s one of the things that I would be more happy to dispose of, rather than to keep it," Queen Tori shook her head. "Are you still thinking about the time when our parents were killed as a result of greed that was due to the blessings of the Tree of Life?" Queen Tanya looked at her sister with a solemn look on her face. "How could I forget? If not for the fact that the Tree of Life decided to randomly bless our parents, then the greed of some people wouldn''t have activated and they wouldn''t have been killed by it as a result. I know you have already forgotten or decided to forget about it but I refuse to forget, sis. So please, keep that thing away. I am just gonna be reminded by it anyways." "Sis..." Queen Tanya felt sad for her sister. "I think this is enough for the day, Sis. If you guys want to stay here, go ahead. You guys are wee to stay here in this city as long as you like, you as well sis. If you need help from me on getting your throne back, I will not hesitate to lend a hand as well." "Don''t worry, Queen Tori. Although we appreciate the offer, we will have to go and depart as we will have to trace back the guy. We can stay the night, but we will depart as soon as we can," I answered Queen Tori. "Me too, Sis. Although I appreciate your concerns and also giving me a chance to regain my throne with your help, I think I am fine. I will be fine on my own for now. Besides, I can''t let you busy yourself more than you should be," Queen Tanya patted her shoulder. Queen Tori sighed but she smiled after. "Alright. d that I could offer some help even though I barely did anything aside from allowing you all ess to the relic room." "No, no. This is more than enough, actually. With this branch, we will now have a chance to track them down," Izmir clenches her fist. Queen Tori nodded and smiled after seeing Izmir''s reaction. My guess is that she finds Izmir''s behavior simr to hers based on what she revealed to us. earlier. Queen Tanya discussed things with Queen Tori for a while before she left with us. We offered Queen Tori some help in exchange for the branch but she insisted that she didn''t need it. We left after bidding farewell to her but we will stay for one night here before leaving. She then gave us a seal of approval to buy things for free while we were here but we refused to get it. This is a chance for us to spend the gold we have been hoarding for quite a while, we can also get rid of items and things that we don''t need while we can also resupply our stocks like food and other utilities. I also find it rare to see yers around and even if there are yers, they are more busy finishing a quest and getting out of there, rather than keeping their eye on anything. The reputation of this ce is enough to deter the yers from staying. ... ... ... After the long day of resupplying with the girls, the elves immediately went to action as they started fiddling with the new stuff. They are clearly here to find the location of King Arthur as soon as possible. As for me, I returned to my quarters. I thanked As for his work and for assisting with finding the branch before resting on my bed. It is a long day but it feels like we are now finally close to the final stop of our journey. I am still rxing a bit when a notification appeared, notifying me that the digestion of the Versatile Weapon to the weapon of Lust had finally concluded. I was surprised at the fact that the Weapon of Lust would take this long for the Versatile Weapon to digest. It doesn''t take that long for the Versatile Weapon to digest it before but now, it seems he slows down in his digestion more. "Looks like you are finally back, eh?" I talked to the Shadow Dragon. "[Indeed. It took me quite a while to digest it as I didn''t expect absorbing all of the essence of the power of that weapon would be a lot harder than I expected.]" "Is it because it involves the lewd side and it invokes your feelings or something?" I tilted my head. "[No. I can handle those fine and I am not that easily influenced by something this minor to begin with. This is just something that is harder to absorb. It was like all of the new weapons that are part of my power would take a lot of time to be digested now. Even now, I am still exhausted.]" "That means you cannot eat the other weapon for now." "[For the first time, I will decline eating for now. It left me exhausted from absorbing the Weapon of Lust and I am not liking it one bit. Hold on to that weapon for now, alright? Maybe a few days or so and I might be able to go back to my hunger and eat it.]" "I see. Then, have a good rest." "[Thanks. Don''t worry, I can still assist you in a fight and devour other weapons but don''t let me devour anything rted to my powers for now.]" I nodded in response and the Shadow Dragon went back to his slumber. As for me, I decided to open up the Versatile Weapon and check the new effects. After surveying it, it seems to have changed quite a bit after its digestion. Not only that but the skill exclusive for the Weapon of Lust has been unlocked. The only weird thing is that the unlocked skills are not only one, but two this time around which was weird as mostly, most exclusive skills are only unlocked one by one and this one suddenly unlocks two. The stats of the Versatile Weapon have also been significantly increased as well which is not a surprise but the jump was big. For a single weapon digested, multiple things have been unlocked in one go. Is this the reason why the Shadow Dragon felt overwhelmed? Nheless, I still checked the new stats of the weapon and its new function. ----- [Blood Covered and Sinful Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 55 [EXP: 1,000/250,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +3500 AGI: +3500 DEX: +3500 END: +3500 INT: +3500 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. It can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. It can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. 16. Song of the Sloth: (Sloth''s Exclusive Skill): ys music that calms the nerves of the enemies who can hear the melody. Allies will be buffed in various effects depending on how long the song has been ying while enemies will get debuffed more the longer the song ys. The enemies will enter a passive state that even normal attacks will not cause them to activate their lethal phase, allowing for a safe attack process. However, ying this song will make the user vulnerable to attacks and the music cannot be stopped until the piece that has been ying has ended. Ensure the user has a backup when fighting. 17. The Pain of Love: (Lust''s Exclusive Skill): Every damage dealt to an enemy will inflict a special status called "Love Stack" that can be stacked up to 20. Various effects will be applied depending on how many stacks are currently present to the enemy. Can be activated and deactivated at will. Can bypass immunity to special conditions against monsters once the "Love Stack" has been properly stacked. 18. Love is a Beautiful Pain: (Lust''s Exclusive Skill): Aprehensive list of effects that can be triggered depending on how many "Love Stack" has been umted to an enemy. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Special Note: After the restrictions have been lifted, its true power has been slowly unleashed. Even the creature sleeping inside is starting to grow stronger as well. No one knows whether it is a bad thing or a good thing. One thing is for sure, the weapon is getting stronger before we know it. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: Manato Tsukasa Durability: Null Chapter 976 Love Stacks And Another Visit to Another Dimension

Chapter 976 Love Stacks And Another Visit to Another Dimension

So this so-called "Love Stack" is the thing that the skill [The Pain of Love] gives which would be working side by side with the other skill [Love is a Beautiful Pain] that will generate effects as the "Love Stack" umtes to an enemy. Seeing that I still needed to click on the skill to see it, I opened it up and another window appeared containing all of the effects each stack has on the enemy reading its effects, it seems it is more focused on inflicting debilitating effects to the enemy like debuffs and DOT effects in one attack. This is a bit overpowered and this would be totally game-breaking if this is still in a game since it bypasses Debuff Immunity. I started checking each effect and can see why it would be troublesome now if this was still a game. ------ [Love Is a Beautiful Pain] List of Effects: 1 Stack: Inflicts Defense Down that can be stacked with another Defense Down debuff. Inflict 1% of increased damage every minute. Can be cleared with debuff cleansing spells and potions. 2 Stack: Inflicts Attack Down that can be stacked with another Attack Down debuff. Has a chance to inflict stun. The effect can still be cleared with cleansing spells and potions. 3 stack: Debuffs cannot be cleansed anymore and damage from any DOT effects is increased by double. 4 stack: Stuns are now inflicted at regr intervals. As long as the stack is at 4, the stun will continue to be inflicted every 5 seconds. 5 stack: Light poison debuff will be inflicted. The effect will be clearable with cleansing spells and potions but will continue to persist as long as the stack remains. 6 Stack: Stun and Poison will be working together, forcing the one inflicted by it to suffer crippling pain that will stop them from moving and receiving 2000 damage every time they try to move. 7 stack- 13 stack: Poison''s effect will be increased significantly the more stack is umted. With the 6th stack effect, every movement will have the damage multiplied by 2. 14 stack: Burn is now being added to the effects. Effects cannot be cleansed and cannot be removed by any means unless the stack is reduced. 15 stacks: Corrosion will be inflicted and defense will corrode. Defense can be reduced to zero at this point. 16 stacks: Confusion will be inflicted. They will now target other allies and they cannot be snapped out by it anymore. They will remain stationary if there are no allies. 17 stacks: Their attack power increases but their health will continue to decrease. They will proceed to attack allies with increased damage but if they are alone, they will instead proceed to do self-harm and increased attack will be applied to their self-harm. 18 stacks-20 stacks: All effects from previous stacks will bebined into one debuff that cannot be removed in any form while the stacks will be reset to zero. Another stack will inflict another set of debuff once more and the cycle continues. ----- I wasn''t prepared when I read the final stacks. Seeing how all effects from previous stacks arebined into one and then proceed to make it unremovable is very troublesome. And the fact that once another stack is added, the cycle continues again. It''s a perpetual cycle of suffering. Thankfully, this can be turned off and on at will, which is a good thing since I can''t afford to use this on enemies, I don''t want to kill. Seeing how it cannot be removed, this is a very debilitating effect that will persist until the very end. "This is too strong..." I mumbled to myself. I decided to turn off its effects for now. This is too much. I stood up and looked out the window. The blizzard is getting stronger and the effects of Queen Tanya''s spell are barely doing it''s work. Opening the heater and operating it, the room starts to get warmer. Although the effect is cruel, I will use it on all enemies who deserve to die. But I wonder, does this include the deities as well? Putting the Versatile Weapon to the side, Iy down on the bed and decided to sleep. I might need to calm down for a bit. If the Versatile Weapon devours the Weapon of Wrath, will it have more effects that will be more dangerous than this? I don''t know. I guess a good night''s sleep will help. ... ... ... All of a sudden, I opened my eyes... I know I just literally closed my eyes and yet, I was not in my room anymore. I was transported to another ce. A ce I am more familiar with than I should have. "I am back here again?" The ce I was in was the ce where the Goddess of Death was present and the ce I kept on visiting in my dreams. "I am sure that this ce is the same as the one I dreamed of before, but..." TANG! "There is something new here. The smell of metal..." TANG! "...And the sound of metal being hammered." TANG TANG TANG The sound gets louder as I slowly walk toward where the sound ising from. As I slowly reached the area, I saw therge tree, and the Goddess of Death was still on the tree''s trunk. But this time, something is new. A man is currently hammering on an anvil, creating something. As I got closer, I soon realized who this guy was. I know him as I have seen him many times before. Not my personal experience but when the memories of the Shadow Dragon synchronized with me. The cksmith that is always with the Goddess of Death, and the one who forged the Versatile Weapon and the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series. The man who wears the ck hoodie. The one where his face is hidden. The one who sacrificed his life. I didn''t expect to see him again but this time, with my own eyes. "Hey there, young man. It is nice to see you personally now." "You know me?" "Of course, you are "Death''s Favorite" and I know that first hand." "But we just met..." "Indeed young man, we just met, but I have already met you before, just not yet personally. And I follow your achievements and things that you have done in the Alternate World while still using the body of the avatar you named "deheart." "Wait...you also know that?" I frowned. "Oh, yes I do, young man. More than you could think of." TANG TANG TANG He resumed hammering the metal ingot and slowly tried to form it. Once the ingot had cooled down, he put it back into the mes and increased the intensity of the mes inside the forge. "But why are you still alive? Shouldn''t you be dead right now?" "Indeed. The question does linger in my mind sometimes. Why am I still alive? That fact is something that I can''t answer and even if I wanted answers for it, I can''t get anything that would give a satisfying answer." "Why?" "Because I don''t know. Maybe it was God''s will? Who knows? Maybe I have an unfinished purpose left to be done? Perhaps. The possibilities are endless young man and even I don''t know which are the right parts." He continues to hammer down the metal once he removes it from the forge. Compared to Almira''s way of hitting the metal, this guy has a more refined way of doing it. He is precise and he is skillfully doing it. He is already surpassing what Almira is capable of doing. The ember of every strike on his hammer is giving off the same heat that the forge is giving to melt the fire. It is literally forged in fire. "Why are you just standing there, young man? If you want to observe, have a seat." SNAP. A chair appeared out of nowhere and the hooded guy offered it to me. "Just standing there and waiting spoils the mood yeah? Have a good seat. We can continue talking in the meantime. You have a longer time herepared to before in your previous visits." I decided to sit down. Since I am not going to be able to leave here until my time here is up, I decided toply and observe his methods. "You still doing your cksmithing?" he asked. "Yes." "Good. That will aid you in the future. Don''t neglect it and continue to hone your skills. It won''t be long before you will need the mastery of cksmithing to forge your path forward." "Is it vital to be me who should be in here?" I asked. "Whether you like it or not, it is your destiny. The moment you decided to return back in time, you decided to hold onto that destiny. There is no saving you for it." I was stunned and turned to look at him. "How did you know that I returned?" He smiled. "Noment." Chapter 977 Guiding Light Chapter 977 Guiding Light After hearing his response, I find myself increasinglypelled to press him for an exnation regarding his awareness of how I seeded in returning to the past. "Old man, I''m perplexed about how you came by that particr piece of information. I must insist on understanding the source of your knowledge. As far as I''m aware, only Nobuhiko and I are privy to the fact that I''ve returned." "Why, though? What prompts me to disclose such information to you? Do you have any intention of rewarding me for divulging the details of how I came to know? I highly doubt it. Therefore, there seems to be no incentive for me to provide you with any answer that would satisfy your curiosity. Moreover, what purpose would this information serve once you possess it? Nothing, I presume." I heard him chuckle under his hood. If not for the fact that his entire face is obscured by that oversized hoodie, I might catch a glimpse of his smirking expression. Due to this, all I can discern is a looming shadow over his visage. Still, his argument is valid, and Ick any rebuttal to his answer. What he said holds true. I won''t derive any practical use from the information once I acquire it; only my curiosity will be satisfied. "Considering the work you''ve undertaken, your journey is far from over, young man. I doubt you''ll be halting your pursuits anytime soon," he remarked in a low tone. "I don''t mind. I am willing to see it through to the very end, even if it takes longer than it should," I sighed. "Is that so? Well, that means you''re ready for the troubles that wille your way. Now that you''re actively working against the Goddess of Life, I doubt she''ll be letting you off easily." "Heh, she''s already using her pawns to try and deal with us left and right, which is annoying as hell, but we''ve still managed. She won''t be able to take us down, even if she wanted to." The hooded man chuckled. "Good. Don''t let her have her way. She already got what she wanted before; giving her more would just spoil her. Keep at it." Before I could utter another word, my body felt sluggish, and my consciousness seemed to grow heavier once again. "I see. Your time here has finally run its course. Not to worry; you will return, but it might be a while before you find yourself back in this realm." "Uh..." "Until then, this weapon will take its time to be forged. Perhaps by the time you receive the final piece toplete the Versatile Weapon, you''ll find your way back here." I desired to continue the conversation, to probe him with more questions, but the weight in my eyes hindered me. "Good night, young man. We''ll meet again in due time." Before I could articte a response, my consciousness faded. .... .... .... I gradually opened my eyes once more, finding myself back in the Alternate World, within the confines of my room. Despite my sojourn into dreand, instead of feeling refreshed, fatigue lingered. And the feeling is frustrating. Fortunately, I think I have returned with the knowledge to that ce. That man, the hooded man...the secrets surrounding him are too big. He knows me and anything surrounding me. And the fact that he was also part of the reason why the Versatile Weapon has existed, just made me want to know his main role here. His role should have ended the moment the Versatile Weapon came to conception but now that he is back and he is more alive than I thought he should be... just what was his new role this time around? And that weapon he was forging...he said that the moment I get to get the final piece toplete the Versatile Weapon, that weapon will also bepleted. Just what was it? Is it another weapon? I don''t know and even if I have the answer to that question, I don''t think it is the right answer. But as much as I want to know the answer, I don''t have any concrete answer. I stood up from my bed and stared outside the window. I was just going to see whether the weather has returned to normal but what I saw is a very big light piercing through the air and through the buildings. It ising from this mansion and it is the same feeling I saw when I found the Tree of Life''s branch. "Did they seed this time around?" Going out of my room, I saw the light that I witnessed outside the window and it was the same light. It came out where the elves should be staying right now. Outside, the others are also there as well and they are observing the light as well. They were also there dying to know what was going on in the room where the elves were. "What is happening now," I approached Riko and Rika who were discussing while watching the light. "Oh, you are awake now, Manato. Look, it seems the things that the elves are doing seem to be a sess. It seems they are now able to make the branch give out its light and connect it to its owner," Riko said as she pointed out the light that pierces through concrete. At that moment, the light went out and disappeared before the door from the elves'' room opened up. "It''s finally a sess!" Renatta happily said as she reported the results to us. "Was that light we saw outside part of it?" I asked. "Yes. It is the guiding light that will allow us to connect and find the location of the owner of the Tree of Life''s branch. It took some time but it was easy enough after a few calctions here and there before we managed to make it properly work. But it took some time and brain power to fully make sure it won''t deny us on our work," Alena fully exined. I looked inside the room and the rest of the elves were lying on the floor with their chests, huffing and puffing, seemingly out of breath. "You guys seem to be very exhausted," Imented. "Yeah, that thing was crazy. I didn''t expect we have to expend a lot of energy just to let that power appear," Renatta sighed. "Still, won''t this be a big problem?" Rika interjected. "What problem?" Renatta turned to look at Rika. "That light...if that light connects to King Arthur, that must mean he also noticed it and he knows that something is currently connecting his location right now. If that is the case, he might be already fleeing right now." Rika has a good point. The fact that it was so eye-catching is enough to lead the one we are searching for to know that he was being tracked. Then it will start a game of cat and mouse as a result. "Ahhh...don''t worry about it. We already made sure that it will not be discovered by the target himself. And also, the light will not be visible to anyone else other than the people who are near the source, meaning, only those who are inside and in the yard of the mansion can see the light emitted by the branch. We wouldn''t try to make a mistake of that happening and let that guy escape from our grasp." "Ooh, so you guys already have a contingency in case of things that might happen," Rika was impressed. "Yes. After hearing and learning about that guy, we know not to take him lightly. He is an incredible human and the fact that he needed to be killed by a specialized weapon back then just to end his life is already enough for us to know why he is more dangerous than we should have known. And the fact that he managed to return back from the dead means that he has some means to return back to life. We can''t just do a sloppy job at tracking him down." As we discussed those things, Almira appeared behind us. "So the light earlier was the key to finding that slippery b*stard. Is it ready?" Almira asked. "We have already got a way to make the light reappear again but we will have to recharge our energy reserves first after most of it is drained earlier." "I see. Then you guys should have some rest first. Let me know if you guys are ready to go cause now that we have a way to know his location, we should move out as soon as possible without any dy." After saying those words, Almira returned to where she came from, leaving us back there again. "So Almira-san is also set in stone to kill that guy as well..." Renatta nodded after seeing the back of the leaving Almira. I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Perhaps she felt that she needed to end this once and for all after finding out that the one she was destined to kill in the first ce was still alive and survived his supposed death. For her, the job is not yet done." Chapter 978 Follow the Trail Chapter 978 Follow the Trail "So about the trail we just saw just now, even with the light being too conspicuous to see around us, no one else besides the people inside the mansion and outside the yard can see them?" "Yep. We took these precautions as having a guiding light like that would surely attract so much attention and we don''t want things to be a big hassle and time-consuming for us. Things get tooplicated if the public knows that we have the branch of the tree of life with us," Renatta exined. Yeah, it is true. With the tree of life involved, those who know the true value of the branch will be really dangerous indeed. Not only will they cause trouble for us but they could potentially bring harm to us and even report us to other troublesome people. That''s how the people and their envy and greed do their work to annoy and inconvenience the people. "So, are we leaving immediately?" I asked. "We should stay for a few more hours here. We should take this chance to go and shop for any essentials forter on." "Ah, yes. Shopping! My favorite word!" Riko grinned and started to cheer all of a sudden. "Woah there, Riko, I know you liked shopping but it''s a different way of shopping and we are not going to do the same way as we shop back in the real world..." Although I also know that Rika shares the trait of Riko who enjoys shopping, right now, it seems she doesn''t share the same enthusiasm as Riko. "Nah, although this isn''t the same thing as we do during shopping, don''t you think shopping for essentials and other stuff does make you feel good at spending your hard-saved gold?" I can only scratch my head from both their antics. But what they are doing is necessary. Since they needed to shop, we needed those two to help us shop for our necessities and let them do the job they were good at. "Alright girls, go ask Mom and the others if they want to apany you two. Mom might join the two of you in shopping so don''t leave while leaving them out of the loop, alright?" I reminded them. Riko turned to look at the tired-looking Renatta and Alena. "Girls, would you join us in our shopping escapade?" Alena smiled but started to shake her head. "As much as that sounds kind of fun, I think we will pass. We will have to go and rest for a bit to recover all of the energy that we have expended for quite some time. I don''t think we have the leisure to enjoy the activity with us totally tired from the job." "Yeah, me too as well, girls. We apologize..." Renatta regretfully said. The two nodded before groggily returning to their room. They looked like they were deprived of sleep and rest so it is indeed a much better way for them to get a lot of good sleep instead of giving them another activity to engage in while they are in that state. "Alright, Manato. We will see you allter, we will ask the others to shop with us," Rika smiled before the two left, leaving me there alone as I waved goodbye. Now that the matter is back to normal, I sighed and stretched a bit. Like the elves, I still do feel a little groggy. "Perhaps a few more hours of sleep will do the trick..." ... ... ... Inside the control room, which has now turned to be one of Almira''s personal rooms, Almira is smoking as she rxes on her chair. She had seen what happened earlier that was triggered by the elves and already knew the effects of the purpose of the light and their uses. She puff another smoke on her cigar before she extinguishes the mes using her bare fingers without batting an eye. "Wow, this ce smells so bad... the cigarette smell is lingering around the room," Queen Tanya who suddenly appeared out of nowhereined as she started coughing as she entered the control room. "You don''t smoke?" Almira looked at Queen Tanya before offering one cigarette on her. "I quit a long time ago. Whenever I try to smoke again, my body feels bad all of a sudden, it is like a withdrawal or something but with the opposite effect." "Such a shame, anyways, what brings you all the way here? Shouldn''t you be sleeping and taking a good rest like everyone else?" Almira asked while she stashed her cigarette pack back into her breast pocket. "I am just here to inquire how you are doing," Queen Tanya smiled. "How I am doing?" Almira seems to not fully understand what Queen Tanya just meant to say. "Yeah, the fact that you failed to properly end the life of the man who ruined your life and the one who became a bane of your existence?" "Ah, so that is what you meant..." Almira scratches her head and puts another cigarette in her mouth. "As much as I want to be pissed, I became calmer nowpared to before. Perhaps, the feeling disappeared after I defeated him back then which is why when he returned, it felt like a big gut punch to me, and yet I don''t feel as much hatred as him as beforepared before." "You no longer feel the desire to pursue and deal with him?" Queen Tanya was surprised. "I do think it is still my job to deal with it. But right now? I didn''t feel the active need to deal with him and kill him the moment I saw him. Sure, I do feel the bloodlust in me appear whenever I see him or hear his name but it''s not the same feeling as before." Queen Tanya nodded and creased her eyebrows. "That is an interesting take. I thought you would go totally nuts when you heard about his revival." "Oh, I still do. In fact, the time when I saw him and learned that he was still alive and had already massacred an entire vige without us knowing caused me to enter a state of rage and try to chase him only for him to properly escape and slip through my fingers. I still feel regretful that I didn''t know about the situation beforehand, otherwise, we might have saved a lot of the elves who were massacred in the process. "It must''ve been painful knowing that some elves have died in the process while you guys are on the watch." "Not really. In fact, the elves were totally hostile to us, but they didn''t deserve to die in such a horrific way that only those notorious and nefarious criminals with such a very bad mind canmit." "What are your next ns?" Queen Tanya asked. "I will do my job as usual. As the group''s new navigator, I think I found my new job in this life andpared to cksmithing, tinkering with things like this felt a lot more amazing and fulfilling to do. Although I am not going to abandon my job as a cksmith, I will continue to navigate thisnd using the modified mansion and lead them to the path where the resurrected bastard has decided to stay. I shall pass the baton at ying the motherf*cker to the ones who thirst for his death as I have already passed that chance before." The two chuckled briefly before Almira decided to ask a question pertaining to Queen Tanya. "So, when are you going to take back your Kingdom?" Queen Tanya smiled," Good Question." ... ... ... ... I thought sleeping again would be impossible as I had already done so, but perhaps because my body still felt tired, I fell asleep once again when Iy down on the bed once more after talking to the elves and both Riko and Rika. Right now, I just fully awakened from my slumber andpared to before, my body is now energized and is fully good to go once more. Checking the weather outside, I was relieved to say that it was just a normal snowfall and although it is chilly, it does feel fine after a whilepared to the time when the area just felt so cold and the snowstorm outside just felt the worst. It seems the weather has finally decided to be calm right now. When I got out of my room to check out on the others if they had woken up, I was greeted with tons of items being piled from one another in the living room. I wasn''t expecting to see it and I was totally not prepared to see the amount of boxes there. "What is happening?" I asked as I navigated myself downstairs and asked for anyone who caused this. "Oh, don''t worry about it, Manato. We just splurged a bit on shopping and we bought a bit much..." Riko appeared from another room while carrying a box from the pile. "What the hell, this isn''t something you can just say "a bit much"! This is clearly frigging a mountain of goods!" It seems they have decided to go and have a shopping spree for a bit which went out of control which is now resulting in this. I guess this is what happens when you make an impulse buyer go loose on a shopping spree. Chapter 979 Follow the Trail Second Part

Chapter 979 Follow the Trail Second Part

"What are all these things? I know you guys shopped for the essentials but I didn''t expect you all to rob a whole store..." I frowned. "Woah there, son. Although this amount is not small, it doesn''t mean we robbed a whole store and hauled all of them here. These stuff are necessary for the future and I don''t think these purchases we did are not worth it," Mother defended their number of purchases with a proud look on her face. The other girls who came along with my Mother to shopping nodded in unison, in agreement with what my Mother said. "Aw sh*t...you guys..." I couldn''t say anything else as I didn''t even have another way to respond to what they were saying. Shopping in bulk like this is something that I would not be capable of doing even when I am purchasing essential items I need. I can only resign to my fate and help them out in sorting and cleaning up the things they purchased before the others awaken andin about the mess that is currently here in the living room. ... ... ... Morning has once again arrived and although the sun is not present, it is significantly warmerpared to the nighttime this time, Queen Tori personally visited us while she was getting ready for another expedition up north. "Looks like you guys did manage to get things working based on the look of your faces," Queen Tori smiled as she looked at the faces of the elves who were now filled with determination. "We are not just going to sit down and wait for that man to continue what he was doing. Who knows who is getting killed by his hands by now," Izmir is the most eager of all of them in regards to doing the revenge. "If not for the fact that he decided to ughter and wipe out the whole kingdom in one night, we wouldn''t be trying to hunt him down in the first ce. Now that he decided to do violence and forced us to this point, then it is his fault to begin with and we are not just going to let him go with his crimes," Avos clenches his fist. Queen Tori smiled and nodded," Then I wish you all the best. Although King Arthur was bested soon enoughst time, I don''t think he will go down so easily right now so you all should take care when facing against him. And I hope that we meet again next time as well." "Heh, why doubt us, Sis? I am here so I will ensure that he will no longer be capable of living again." "I know, Sis. But be careful all the same. Knowing that he is one of the strongest people to ever exist in this world''s conception, then that tells how strong he really is." Then, Queen Tori looked at the mansion and she even looked at the legs sticking out from our walking mansion. "But I must say, you guys really got a good vehicle and home in one thing. Having this in travels must be convenient and cozy all the same," Queen Tori nodded in satisfaction. That''s when Almira came out and leaned on the doorway. "Of course. I made this from scratch using my genius and the hard work of my apprentices plus the high-quality materials that I selected from the best of the best. Combining all of them would create this thing and it will never be the same again. But I will admit that it has some ws that I have yet to fully solve, but they are negligible which is why, this is one of the works I can proudly say I am very proud creating." We then bid farewell to Queen Tori after that and the soldiers escorted us out with a salute. "You guys are wee toe back again anytime. Our gates are open whenever you guys decide to swing by," one of the soldiers shouted. We waved goodbye as our walking mansion made its long trek out of the Freezing Region. Everyone else goes back inside with only Queen Tanya being the exception who continues to stare at the kingdom we just left by. "Something on your mind?" I asked. "Nothing really," Queen Tanya smiled. "Nothing? You seemed to be thinking a bit more than nothing..." "Guess I am that easy to read huh? Yeah, I think you are right. This is beyond nothing." "What''s on your mind? If you don''t mind to share..." "It''s nothing really, I am just thinking about what my sister told me during the time you guys were busy with the relic hunting back in the relic room." "Something she said to you that keeps you thinking about it?" "Yes. Actually, she mentioned that the demons have started to make their moves and start to infiltrate multiple governments now. Even in her kingdom, a few demons managed to get in and if not for the soldiers'' apt observations on them, then they would have not been caught so fast." The demons... yeah, I know they have had a problem since the beginning but since they don''t make open conflict, I don''t have much of an idea on what to do about them. Besides, Lucia has been still unconscious for quite a long time now and I am getting worried. Knowing that she is the demon princess, she is the only one who can fully feel the demons and know their ways properly. But with her out of themission, we don''t have any kind of way to fully know what the demons are nning. "So that means you have a hunch that the demons are part of the reason why you got chased out of the kingdom then?" "It''s not my hunch but from my sister. Since most of the officials in my kingdom are somewhat corrupt and they have ulterior motives, I bet they decided to collude with them and perhaps even the church has some of their men to do their bidding as well. It is a possibility I can''t just disconnect as a mere coincidence." "Then, wanna ask us for help?" I tried. "Right now, I don''t want to confront them yet. And I bet that if my sister''s hunch was true, then I needed to prepare amply. It has been a few years since I left the kingdom and they should have already gotten the kingdom a strong grip right now that trying to attack them right now would be a suicidal attempt on my part. So while I am preparing to take back my kingdom, I will first aid you all in your quest. It''s not like this will take long, right?" As we continued to speak, the light appeared once again. This time, it is controlled and it isn''t as bright as before. However, it is still pretty much leading us in one direction ahead of us. "To the south huh? Then that means he is a lot farther from where we are. Perhaps it points out to the city situated in the south?" Queen Tanya tried guessing. "We don''t know yet but seeing that it pierces through, then that means the location of that guy is further up to the south," I guessed. The mansion made its direction clear and continued to move towards the direction of the light trail. We entered the mansion and M and Avos were the ones doing the ritual for the Tree Branch to emit that light. "I guess you guys have optimized it this way for two elves to continue to do the spells? Do we have anything we can help?" "For now, not really. Besides, humans can''t handle the pressure of the Tree Branch right now and no one from our magician friends is a total master of their magic spells which would make trying this out would be far more dangerouspared to us," Renatta exined. "Then all we have to do is rx and sit tight?" I asked. "I think you guys should continue what you all do the best and that is to fight the monsters and anyone who tries to attack us. While we are in this state, we can''t do anything to move unless we are out of mana and we copse as a result, therefore, we also need someone who can protect us from those dangers," Izmir answered my question. "Pretty simple enough. But if that is the case, who will fight King Arthur once we locate him if you guys would continue to power this branch up to locate him?" Queen Tanya asked. "Once we are a bit of a distance away from his location, we will begin tracking him down without the need for the light trail. A manual search is the only thing we can do and hope that we get unlucky enough to meet him." Although the elves are confident in their n, all I can say is that this n is a totally reckless thing even for them. This will end up with them being killed if they are not careful enough. Chapter 980 Lucia Awakens

Chapter 980 Lucia Awakens

The desert heat once again permeated the entire mansion as we shed our jackets upon crossing the border between regions, finally stepping into the scorching desert. Queen Tanya adjusted her warming spell to counteract the intense heat, ensuring ourfort in the arid surroundings. Meanwhile, the elves diligently tended to the branch of the Tree of Life, ensuring it remained active for Almira to navigate. In this perilous desert, our options were limited; we had to either eliminate nearby enemies or employ sniper tactics from a distance. Fortunately, the sandworms that initially greeted us upon arrival were conspicuously absent, perhaps dormant or satiated from their meals. Right now, they aren''t part of the threats in the desert. Our current threats this time around are involving in monsters that threaten to trip the bnce of the mansion from walking properly and also bandits. Since the desert is one of the ces where travelers can be either seen with fewer people or have one or two people apanying them, bandits took these chances to at least fatten up their purses. They aren''t a problem though, however. The walking mansion continues on our way to the location when Avos and M give up after spending their time fueling the branch to make a light trail. Seeing this, Alena and Labo took over the job and continued supplying the tree branch with some mana. So far, the desert was peaceful and we only met a few monsters and a few bandits along the way which we obviously eliminated and took their loot. The bandits are so unlucky at trying their hands at robbing us because instead of looting from us, we ended up looting their corpses. Either way, nothing much is happening so we are either just idling around or practicing ourbat stance but nothing worthwhile as the mansion continues to its trail. While I am taking a nap in the hammock that was just installed earlier by me after Mother and the girls bought it when they went "shopping" for essentials, I am repeatedly being pped in the face by someone though it''s not a painful p since it was just like being tapped. Small palms kept on hitting my cheek causing me to open my eyes and that''s when I realized who it was. "Ah, finally, Master. I can''t believe it is tough for you to wake up even when I shouted in your ear a few times. Thankfully, pping your cheek works." The one pping me with her small palms was actually Pixie who was trying to wake me up. I put Pixie on my palm as I sat up from the hammock and rubbed my eyes as I asked Pixie what was happening. "What is going on? Why did you wake me up?" "Master! Good news! Lucia-san has awakened from her slumber!" Upon hearing the news, my groggy self who should still feel sleepy from the nap that I did suddenly cleared up after hearing the news. "How is she?!" "Rx, Master. She is fine and she is currently recovering at the moment. She is currently being examined by Lina and Rika-sama since we still have no idea what is gonna happen to her while her arm is like that." "Did her arm move erratically or something?" I asked. "Not really, it didn''t seem to be much different from a normal one. Aside from the fact that it looks like it was wearing an armor piece, it does still function like a normal arm for Lucia. Lina-san gave her a reflex and sensory test and they all passed without any mishaps." I pondered a bit after Pixie described what is the state of Lucia''s hand after it was cut off and got attached to a part of the ck Cmity. On one hand, I am happy that Lucia has recovered, but there is something nagging in my mind that keeps oning back the more and that is the question: If she is fine, then does that new hand also remain as a hand?" Standing up from my hammock, I went ahead and headed straight to Lucia''s room where she woke up. One thing I needed to check up is to confirm whether that arm is not a danger at all or if it is just faking it and is trying to deceive us while it is trying to recover by being attached to Lucia. As I went through the hallways and headed to Lucia''s room, Cath Palug jumped out from the Summon''s Portal andnded on my head. "You came out without warning again..." I frowned at Cath Palug. "I heard the one who got possessed by the remnants of the ck Cmity has awakened atst so I came to tag along and see if the famous ck Cmity is still alive and kicking." "As if you get any benefit from knowing the difference..." "Sure, I won''t get any sort of difference from it but it is enough to satisfy my curiosity. After all, the ck Cmity is a very dangerous cmity that is said that be very close to rivaling my power back in the day so seeing its remnant personally would allow me to at least mock or even gloat at its misfortune that it has died and was reduced to a parasite or something." I don''t get why Cath Palug has this kind of mindset sometimes but I don''t really care. At least, with this guy here, I can at least learn whether or not that thing was a real danger or it was just feigning innocence. We arrived at her room and not only Lina and Rika were there but even Pandora, Akira, and Riko alongside my parents. All of them are checking the condition of Lucia. "Ah, speak of the devil, here he is, Lucia-san!" Riko grinned as the others made way for me to go inside her room and see Lucia who was sitting on her bed. Her arm remained like it was when she returned. The only thing is that no one can tell whether her arm has been cut or if she is just wearing metal armor on her hand. It does look like she wasn''t missing an arm entirely and more like getting a prosthetic to me. It does fit too much from her arm now. "Lucia, how are you? It''s been months since you have remained unconscious. Does your body hurt or anything?" Lucia shook her head. "No, I am fine. In fact, I never felt this way before. It was like I feel energetic and revitalized to the brim." "Well, that is good to hear." Then, my eyes shifted to her arm. "Do you still feel anything with this new arm of yours, Lucia?" "Y-yes. For some unknown reason, it felt like this thing had be my arm and while moving it, it didn''t feel odd or anything. It was like this new arm had been with me ever since I was born due to how natural it felt and how I could still feel and touch anything I wanted to touch using this hand." "It doesn''t feel weird or anything?" I frowned. "No...I was weirded out as to why it felt so natural yet unnatural at the same time. I am confused as well." "Has anyone tried to "remove" that arm and checked whether it can be removed or not?" I asked. "We tried earlier but there''s no chance we can remove it. It was like it was fixed there until when this happened," Lina exined before we focused again on Lucia''s arm. Lucia extended her new arm before holding it like she was removing armor. She slowly pulled it out and as soon as she pulled it out, it revealed her healed severed arm, fully healed and no longer looking as bad as it was before. As for her new "arm", she managed to detach it without any sort of problem. In fact, it looks like a prosthetic this time around. When Lucia fully removed her new "arm" from her shoulder, that''s when Cath Palugnded on Lucia''s bed and sniffed on the arm. "I see. Now I know the main reason now," Cath Palug nodded as if he knew it all along from the very beginning. "What do you mean?" "The ck Cmity is truly dead, as you guys have in the beast itself. This thing is just a remnant power of the ck Cmity and it doesn''t have the power on its own. It is something that is unique to this guy and I just discovered it just now." "How the heck did you even discover that by just a sniff?!" "Don''tpare me to you, lowly mortals, my nose knows what it smells. Anyways, you little f*ckers should celebrate as this thing will never be able to do any harm again. As this has be a symbiote to this young girl and it will try to do all of its power to keep her alive as both their lives have be one and the same." Chapter 981 The Power of the New "Arm"

Chapter 981 The Power of the New "Arm"

The arm appeared metallic in nature, though in reality, itcked any metalposition. Despite its robust exterior, it consisted of a unique, fleshy substance. A mere poke would affirm Lucia''s ability to sense tactile stimuli, adding an element of enchantment that could easily mislead observers into deeming it an essory. Echoing the words of Cath Palug, Lucia and this mysterious appendage were now inseparable, existing in a state of symbiosis. Lucia actively defended herself, while the mysterious "hand" yed a pivotal role in supporting her endeavors. I find myself reflecting on Cath Palug''s earlier statements, contemting the profound impact this newfound connection will have on Lucia''s life, altering it in ways she may have never anticipated. ... ... "What do you mean by ''symbiote''? Does that imply that this thing will now be permanently attached to her?" I frowned. "I don''t know what ns this entity has, as it possesses only a simple mind focused on ''survival.'' Reduced to its primal instinct, its sole purpose is to keep itself alive, guarding against potential threats. Despite its seemingly simplistic nature, I doubt this entitycks some form of cognitive function. Nevertheless, its goal remains true and straightforward. Don''t expect anything more or less from it," Cath Palug exined, grooming himself as he spoke. "Then, this thing won''t be a harm to her?" Rika confirmed once more. "Yes. The health of its ''host'' will be its main priority, and whenever it senses the host is in danger, it will proceed to protect the host, based on the host''s feelings. I believe it has already formed a connection to her brain, enabling it to sense her emotions. In fact, if she wills it, she might even be able to control this entity as she desires. Though I''m not entirely certain about its workings, I can assure you that this entity will not pose a significant hindrance in any way." "I don''t believe you; you''re quite a schemer," I shook my head. "Hmph. I don''t care. Suit yourself and believe what you want. I''m telling the truth based on what I know, and I don''t see any benefit for myself here. While it is interesting to some extent, I lost interest after experiencing it firsthand. So, f*ck to all of you sh*tty mortals, I''m going back to sleep. Smell y''all, lousy people." After saying that, Cath Palug opened the Summon''s Area''s portal and entered there willingly before leaving us all there still absorbing the new information that we got from him. ... ... ... After recalling that part, I keep on ncing at the arm of Lucia who is now currently practicing and stretching outside. Because she had been sleeping for so long, she decided to have a good stretch and also to have a better feel and control in her new arm. From the looks of it, she has already gotten used to it or just has no other choice but to live with it now living with her. Then, something came to me and I decided to see how it does affect Lucia. "Lucia, can you still use your magic using that new arm? It might affect you if you use your usual fire magic with that new arm," I inquired Lucia. "Hmm, you are right, Master. Let me try and see," Lucia then focused on her new arm and tried to see whether it would actually be a bad idea to use her new arm in casting spells. FWOOOOM! mes start to re up from her new arm''s palm. I was expecting it to make some sort of reaction, like writhing or repulsing from the mes, but those things didn''t happen. In fact, there is no reaction at all. Lucia managed to cast and manipte her mes without incident and there''s nothing to see after that. Lucia then extinguishes the mes in her hands after a few while. "Does it feel anything odd after you have done that? Anything weird on your new arm?" I inquired. "Nothing whatsoever. It feels very normal and I even thought my real arm was back since I could feel the same way as my real arm on this one. I don''t feel any different about it or anything at all. No enhancements of my abilities or something simr either. The new arm...just works." I take note of that and remember what it can do. I even made her do a few tests like pain receptors and other things. Interestingly enough, the only thing that has a very different reaction than normal is the pain reception test. Compared to the other tests I let Lucia take, the pain test is the only one where the "arm" makes a new reaction and that is by actively defending Lucia from getting wounded or even feeling any sort of pain on her arm. It made a thick coating on her new arm that would prevent anything that would cause any wound from appearing or even make her feel pain like pinching or being bumped into a hard object. But aside from those tests, there''s nothing to see on it. It remains for us to see what it can actually do or anything and with theck of any danger, Lucia''s new arm doesn''t see any sort of usage of sort for now. "It still feels surreal. This arm feels like my real arm but with some sort of mind that I still can''tprehend," Lucia flexed her arm open and closed a few times, still not sure how this new arm seemed like it was hers from the very beginning yet very different all the same. "You don''t feel like removing that arm off of your shoulders now?" I asked her. "At first when it attached to me, I felt like I have the urge to pull it off no matter what it takes. But after I fell unconscious I don''t know if it was due to this one slowly worming its way into my body but I slowly feel neutral on it that I no longer feel this is a threat and more like a part of my body that decided to rece a part that has been lost. It doesn''t feel real right?" Lucia sighed. "It does sound crazy but if that is the result of you falling into aa for months then perhaps that is the main reason you did fall into aa. But what can you do about it? This is your new arm now and ording to that fluffy foul-mouth beast, it won''t harm you as long as you are living as you are the only lifeline it has," Rika examined Lucia''s arm closely. "I still don''t understand that part much but if what he said is indeed true, then I will take this chance to take advantage of it and make sure that I will be using it to its fullest potential." Then, we suddenly heard the howls of the Desert Wolves. Since they are howling, that must mean they spotted monsters. "Looks like this is the perfect opportunity to see the power and abilities of your new hand, Lucia. How about we try to see how it works right now?" I asked. "Yeah. I think so as well, Master. Let''s get into the fray of the battle." I nodded and the two of us went ahead. Rika and the others are going to observe in the distance so that Lucia and I are currently there which will allow Lucia to be more active inbat and also activate the stimulus of danger in Lucia''s mind and trigger whatever power is hidden in her new arm. As wended, a group of Sand Crawlers were currently present and were ready to attack the walking mansion. They are annoying and they can climb and jump really high, making them pretty annoying. Despite their name as Sand Crawlers, they don''t seem to even crawl and more like they run. They look like dogs that have been reduced to a malnourished state and walk with their hind legs only. The real danger they have is that they are pretty intelligent and can fight with tactics making them tricky to fight with. "Master, I count 30 hostiles on sight. Should we engage them immediately?" Lucia asked. "No time to waste. Let''s go!" Even with Lucia just waking from hera, she is already ready to go back to the front lines and fight again. But I can''tin as Lucia herself is the one who begs to fight again. As we descended from the mansion straight into the desert sands, Lucia''s new arm suddenly started aching and Lucia felt it the moment theynded. The Sand Crawlers didn''t wait for us to get into an advantage and started attacking, forcing me to go into the defensive while Lucia''s arm hurt. "UGHHHH... AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!" Lucia screamed and as she did, the form of her new arm changed. I didn''t expect it to change and it was rather quick. After the pain she felt, it seems she slowly recovered as she slowly nce at her new arm. I wasn''t expecting but seeing it personally, I now see that the reason her arm is hurting, is because it is morphing. And this time, it is morphing in response to Lucia jumping to danger voluntarily. "My arm...it turned into a weapon?" Chapter 982 Instrument of Slaughter Chapter 982 Instrument of ughter Lucia gasped for breath, her chest rising and falling rapidly as her arm underwent a surreal transformation. No longer bound by the familiar contours of human anatomy, her limb now bore an uncanny resemnce to the iconic Buster Sword wielded by a mysterious individual. Yet, unlike a mere imitation, this otherworldly appendage seemed imbued with a vitality of its own, giving the impression of a living, breathing weapon. The sword-shaped limb, pulsating with life, bore an eerie semnce to reality. However, its true peculiarityy in thework of throbbing veins that wrapped around its metallic surface. These pulsating veins, emerging from the de itself, lent the otherwise lifelike sword a demonic and sinister appearance. It was as though the very essence of malevolence coursed through the veins, casting a dark shadow over the once familiar appendage. "Lucia? What''s happening to your arm?" The concern in my question was palpable, as I tried to make sense of the grotesque metamorphosis of her new arm. "I don''t know... ugh..." Lucia''s response, punctuated by a grimace of pain, revealed her ongoing struggle with the difort. Despite the agony, she remained acutely aware of the profound changes manifesting within her arm. Seeing that the Sand Walkers weren''t merely sitting and waiting but alreadyunching an attack, I took on the fight solo. Lucia, still catching her breath, struggled to move properly. The Sand Walkers, aware of their disadvantage, called for reinforcements. In no time, the area swarmed with more monsters. Although I could handle them alone, I realized I wasn''t fast enough to protect Lucia. ncing back at her, I saw a Sand Walker leaping into the air, poised to strike Lucia''s vulnerable back. "Lucia!" I swiftly dispatched the nearest Sand Walker, intending to rush to her rescue, but before I could reach her... SWISH! The Sand Walker attacking Lucia was abruptly split in two. Lucia, now standing properly after recovering a bit, then casually waved off the blood on her de, revealing a newfound strength. "I am fine Master...I am fine..." "Are you hurt or anything?" I asked Lucia. "I still feel a slight pain but I am fine for the most part...I just needed to adapt to the pain for a bit," Lucia answered as she looked at her new arm. "But it does feel like it is new. I can''t even feel the fingers that it once had." "Seeing that you can cut things using it, maybe it was now in its weapon form?" "I guess, Master." Our conversation is interrupted when the Sand Walkers continue their assault. "Let''s talk againter once these f*ckers are dead, alright?" Lucia nodded and although she looked awkward with her new weapon, she imitated my stance. "Master, to use a sword, you just needed to swing it around, yes?" Lucia asked. "Most of the time, yes... but..." Before I can say more, Lucia rushes forward to the Sand Walkers in front of her and starts slicing them. She is killing them at a fast pace as she can easily pierce through their hard shell without problem, making me sigh in relief seeing she can just do fine right now. I also began clearing with the other Sand Walkers as well and it took us a few minutes to clear them all. Not a single one of the Sand Walkers is alive and all of them are minced to pieces. As soon as thest Sand Walker is dead, Lucia''s arm returns to what it once was, back to its form as her arm. "It''s back to normal..." Lucia nced at her bloody arm, drenched by the blood of the Sand Walkers she had in. "I guess that is one of the functions that Cath Palug meant earlier when he said that it will now be capable of protecting you from danger. Seeing as it can morph into a weapon, I assume it will also transform into a shield if you are in danger as well." "Is that how it is?" "We require to further test that theory, Lucia, and as much as I don''t know what it can really do, we also don''t know how much strain it can do to you as well. All we know is that this is an instrument that is capable of ughter depending on your actions and feelings." Lucia nodded and was soon forced to kneel on the sand and start huffing. I quickly helped her stand straight. "Looks like what happened to you earlier has taken your body to a big toll. You should rest for a bit. You just recovered from youra and I think your body has yet to fully recover. We should go back to the mansion and rest there for now." She couldn''t say much and could only nod as I helped her back to the mansion by flying. ... ... ... Lucia returned to sleep again, but this time, she wasn''t in aa. This was a huge relief, especially considering that she had fallen into aa after the new arm was attached. I feared she might slip back into aa if she decided to rest. However, Pixie shook her head after a thorough examination. "She just needed rest, Master. Her body has been pushed to its limits, which is why she ran out of stamina so quickly earlier. It''s not a significant concern, so don''t worry. She won''t slip back into aa again unless there is a bigger injury that she gets to experience which should not happen now that her new arm is protecting her." "That''s a big relief. I hoped things wouldn''t be so bad for her considering that a new arm of hers is the one who caused her to fall asleep for a long," Rika sighed in relief after hearing the diagnostics as well. I shook my head as I nced at her new arm. "Still, her new arm is a double-edged sword. Considering that it acts only depending on the situation and how she feels currently, it might be a bad thing for her to be in extreme emotions. We still don''t know if she can control that arm properly but it also has a mind of its own so we should also take this chance to keep an eye on that as well." ... ... ... The journey continued and we only stopped when the night came. The elves also get a chance to finally get some rest as well. Even though we asked them to not overdo it, because they wanted to reach King Arthur as soon as possible, they would continue doing it until they tracked him down. Thankfully, Almira managed to talk sense to them and they agreed to take a break at night from tracking him which is also why we are now stopping. Queen Tanya wanted to scout ahead for a while to ensure that our night would be safe and not full of trouble for a while. While she was doing that, Lucia woke up which fully erased our doubts of Lucia falling back into aa once more. She is feeling energized again after a full rest and joins me and Pandora on our guard watch as the two of us are the ones tasked to be the night watchers. "Evening, Master, Pandora-san. How long was I out?" Lucia asked while still rubbing her eyes. "5 hours. We thought you had returned to aa state once again but thankfully, you have not." "Sorry if you are worried, Master. I didn''t expect I would feel that exhausted after the transformation of my hand." I shook my head and patted her head. "No worries. As long as you are fine, then everything is okay." Pandora smiled and she nced at Lucia''s new arm. "Maybe because the two of them are now considered as one, perhaps the reason why Lucia easily got tired is because the arm decided to use the power of Lucia this time around to transform and didn''t use its innate energy that would allow it to transform freely. Since it fuels itself using your emotions, Lucia, there is a chance that any impulsive behavior that you exhibit based on the level of danger you are in, the more energy gets used at you as a result. Might be why you would feel pain after the arm transformed because it forcibly drained every energy you have," Pandora theorizes. "I feel this one as well. When it transformed earlier, something seems to be ''sucked'' out of me and I felt like my whole body felt drained. Although I can still move and do something, it doesn''t do much after everything is done and the fatigue hits very fast the moment the power that the transformation of the arm gets undone." "Then, the only way for you to properly control it is to perhaps control your emotions. Since it fuels itself based on how you feel during battle, then perhaps if you are calm, then perhaps the amount of energy it needs to transform is lesser and you can fight like normal again and maybe you can even control whether to use the transformation skills it has or use your mana instead," Pandora suggested. As we continue to suggest Lucia on how to control her power, Queen Tanya returns but from the look on her face, the news she carries doesn''t look so good. "Prepare. It seems a huge bandit-infested city took notice of our little walking hideout. Let''s get ready to wee them." Chapter 983 Bandits

Chapter 983 Bandits

It isn''t thatte yet and ording to Queen Tanya, the enemies have yet to fully reach halfway of our location but because they have already spotted us from the distance, they are now eager to plunder our belongings to the veryst scrap as well as to take the mansion by themselves. "Just how dangerous are we talking about in here? They might just be aughingstock and we are just wasting time preparing when we can defeat from a distance easily." "A lot more dangerous than the bandits we encountered along the way. There are even magic users and some high-level guys present there as well. I can''t take this matter lightly, to be honest. And the leader seems to be a level 400 guy as well." The moment Queen Tanya mentioned a level 400 bandit, I immediately knew who she was talking about. At first, I was not connecting the bandit camp that Queen Tanya discovered and the one I am thinking of due to the fact that the bandit camp I have known is considered a boss area. The level 400 boss is considered a boss that changes every time it is defeated. The enemies are always not identical to each other and they always differ in the patterns of their attacks, making the ce a unique boss experience every time the boss is in. Now that I don''t consider this world as a game, I can see why the boss changes every time. Because the old one is killed, they will have to rece the ones ruling the bandits which results in a new boss. And since they don''t just casually change bosses, the new bosses take time to respawn before they are back as a level 400 boss, which is most likely being trained for their position. Seeing how the boss is still alive, it''s either the yers have yet to discover this ce or they have already done so, but since the boss is dead, they are not here. But if that is the case, then perhaps this new boss just recently became the new boss and as the new big boss, for his first deed, he wanted to snag a big haul to impress his subordinates which is why they are targeting us right now. I grabbed my Versatile Weapon and changed it to a sniper rifle. Since I can change the form of the Versatile Weapon into different guns, this gun is more suited to snipe the boss from ahead or even deal with those enemies that are totally dangerous if not dealt with immediately. "Are you going to pick them one by one from here?" Queen Tanya asked. "It''s a good way for target practice. Besides, they are still far from us. It''s best to reduce their numbers while they are still far here. Once they get close, a cannon should further reduce their numbers." I lie down in my stomach as I aim the sniper rifle towards the direction where Queen Tanya spotted the bandits and sure enough, a lot of them are indeed marching towards us. They only use a few lights that are enough to light up the way. Seeing that those lights are just balls of light floating in the air, they do have a mage in their ranks. It''s hard to see in the dark while sniping for them so I opened up my inventory and grabbed one vial of eye drops called "[Owl''s Vision]" that will allow me to see in the dark without the need for lights. After the drops are now in effect, I look back at the scope and the view is much clearer now and I can see the enemies now, regardless of whether the area they are in is well-lit or not. "Let''s see...ah gotcha!" I took a few breaths to rx before I fully aimed it at the enemy far away. As I exhaled my breath, I squeezed the trigger, and the mana bullet shot off into the distance where the guy that I aimed the gun with fell. The log revealed that I killed the guy in one shot, so I am happy about that. As for why I decided to deal with the mage first, the mages are more troublesome in terms of unpredictability due to how they can sometimes be capable of turning the tides in battle and sometimes capable of doing some abilities that can be annoying to deal with. As a result of shooting one of the bandits, one of the balls of lights disintegrated after the caster died. The bandits are now confused and are looking around them for enemies. Since they didn''t know where the attack came from, every one of them was now on high alert as they looked all over who attacked them. Scoping for the next I looked for the other mage in their group. Since there are only two balls of floating light, there are only two mages, with one of them already dead. I repeated what I did before by calming my nerves and shooting them again which caused the marching bandits to have lost their only source of light. "Oh? You seem to know what you are doing, Manato," Queen Tanya looked impressed. "Haha, really? I was just following some instructions I learned before in shooting sniper rifles. Also, I just imitated how it works in games and honestly, I am not sure I am doing things correctly. But hey, if it works, it works." With Japan being strict in gun and swordws, there is no way for me to even see or touch a gun without searching the inte. The closest I have to a real gun are only some police officers I have seen around before and most of them uses pistol instead of rifles so unless I decided to go as a soldier, I don''t think I will be able to touch or use a gun at all. As for the instructions that I found for using a sniper rifle, I remembered that one as I searched before if real snipers hold their breath when sniping since that was the case in games, turns out, that it is half true and half lie. They only hold their breath if they are inexperienced or need the extra momentum that holding their breath gives which is useful duringpetitions of some sort. With two mages down, the bandits decided to use torches to proceed. They are still going at us without stopping which means they are more inclined to proceed. Now that two mages are down, I decided to look for lesser-equipped people and those who carry equipment for the group. Without anyone to carry their equipment, the bandits will be forced to either carry their own equipment or perhaps retreat preemptively.?Either way is fine for me. The bandits are too tense and are now looking around their surroundings where the enemies areing from. They don''t suspect anything else that the one who killed their mages currently is watching them from far away. After a few more scopes, I soon found one of my targets. He is busy giving the bandits torches and lighting up every one of them while also managing the inventory of the whole group. "I don''t have any grudges on you but since you are one of the backbones for this group raid, I am afraid you will have to go this time." Pulling the trigger, another bullet shoots through and the guy falls down, dead. Another one tries to go and rescue the guy that I just shot but I stopped him by shooting him as well. BANG! A single bullet is enough for most of these bandits. As for the boss, I doubt one bullet is enough for him to die. Once I got all of the mana bullets loaded shot, I reloaded it with a new set, and this time, I aimed it at the more well-armored bandits. Because the bandits were still in panic due to the multiple bandits dying one by one from an unknown assant, the leader stopped everyone from going further and decided to retreat. But because I am not some easily fooled guy, I am not just going to let them go like this and think that they are done falling one by one. Because if I do fall for that trap, then they will know that someone else is currently attacking us from a distance. I aimed and then squeezed the trigger and one guy fell over to the ground. I didn''t stop and another one fell over. Seeing that the tactic of false retreat is not working, the bandit leader screamed to his otherpanions to retreat for real this time. Hearing this, the bandits started running from where they came from. I still shoot those I can shoot but most of them are far from the scope and range of my gun so I stopped doing so and sighed in relief. "Alright... those guys are gone although I am not sure whether they wille back, but I am quite sure they are not going to be around for a while." Queen Tanya gazed at the location of the bandit camp and grinned. It seems she got some idea on what to do. "Hey, how about we raid that ce and deal with them after their massive losses?" Chapter 984 Bandit Camp Elimination

Chapter 984 Bandit Camp Elimination

"Raid the bandit camp? Thiste at night?" I frowned. "Yeah, it''s not like the bandits needed any reason to be here to begin with and eliminating the bandit camp as a whole is a much better deal to remove the threat in this ce," Queen Tanya grinned. "I think it is a good idea, Manato. It''s not like we can avoid the confrontation against them to begin with. Once we are close to their location, they are sure to attack still so maybe a preemptive attack is a good thing," Pandora agreed to Queen Tanya''s suggestion. Well, she is not wrong. Those guys will attack us once we get near their base which is in the way. Their perimeter is also quite guarded as well with other bandits so even if we look for another way, they would either just start attacking us or ambush us along the way instead. Pretty annoying by the way. "If that is the case, who will be watching the mansion while everyone else are resting?" I scratch my head. "Don''t worry, Manato. I will remain guarding the mansion and you guys should go ahead and infiltrate their camp. I would rather rest and enjoy the cold air rather than fight for now. Besides, you guys will just make a short work on those guys so I don''t think my presence there is needed anyways." "But you will be alone in guarding the mansion! Two is better than one, you know?" I tried as I can''t just leave Pandora alone guarding the whole mansion. "I will be staying behind as well, Master. I can still feel my hand is too unstable to be good enough to use in a fight and I am still too fatigued to do anything else so I would just be apanying Pandora at this task instead," Lucia nced at Pandora who smiled after hearing her words. Hearing that, I felt relieved that there is someone else who is apanying Pandora in this and not only by herself. With Lucia staying behind as well, Pandora has apany for the entire night while we are gone. "Looks like your worries are now gone. So, how about it? Are you good at the n or nah?" I nodded and grab my weapon ready. "Then let''s get ready for we will be deleting a bandit camp for the night." ... ... ... After a little preparation, the two of us left the mansion, leaving the care to Pandora and Lucia to guard the ce. Queen Tanya wears herbat outfit while I wear my usual gear. But with less metallicponents that aremon on my gear since we are going for stealth. Although it won''t be much of a big problem if I went to stealth, I just liked the gear I am wearing being much lightweight and easy to move around. Queen Tanya and I sprinted from the mansion straight to the area near the bandits are camping. On the way, we spotted the areas where the men I eliminated have been killed. Although the bodies are not there, I can tell they carried them along with their retreat and didn''t leave anyone behind. "Those dead bandits are brought back along with them? Guess they do still care about the others even if they are dead," Queen Tanyamented after seeing the bloodstained sands that clearly indicates the area they have died in. "Nah, I doubt those guys would carry the dead just for the sake of grieving for them. More like they needed to recover their belongings and stash them away instead of letting the dead keeping them," I answered, knowing well how the bandits behave. After all, I have defeated and interacted with many bandits in the past timeline. I have met and greeted them more times than I can think of. We hid near the giant rock nearby and observed the surroundings first. A few men are spotted walking around the area, patrolling the perimeter for any enemies. "Despite being bandits, they are quite thorough with their security," Imented. "They are indeed quite disciplined for being mere bandits. But still, even if they are, there are still no denying that they are still a menace to the world and ensuring that they are gone is the best course of action to ensure the safety of the innocent people." "Then, let''s get to work, yeah?" "Sure, here, let me do the opening act. Don''t worry, it is a silent ability so they won''t be able to do anything." Queen Tanya extend her left hand and form it like she was about to grab or choke something. Then, the bandits suddenly held their necks like they were being choked or something. "[Phantom Hand]?" I frowned. "Yep. I don''t use it much but it is a useful ability that will definitely be good in either grabbing something in the distance or doing something like this." The bandits keep on struggling as they were being choked by the invisible hand. It seems both are already struggling to breathe and are trying to do something on it. But it didn''t take long for them to lose their life. They have breathed theirst. "Looks like they are dead," I said. "Let''s keep it for a bit in case they are still alive, just to make sure." She held them up for a few more seconds before she m them down to the sand, without a single life lingering in their bodies. "Good. The coast is clear. Let''s get into the camp." We cautiously enter the perimeter of the camp. There are plenty of bandits inside as I have visited this ce before and defeated them multiple times. I am quite familiar with the interior and exterior of the camp that I don''t even need any map to look at this ce. During the first intersection of the camp, there will be an area where the bandits will be either resting or chatting in the area. It is the lounge or the area. I grab one of the vials of Poison Gas Bottle in my inventory and ready it. Although I didn''t made it, this is a superb product made by my mother, a result of hardbor and several experiments. You can say that her ways to make different things just made her more fascinated in making more stuff like this to be used in battle. "What is that, Manato?" Queen Tanya pointed on the circr?bottle in my hands. "Poison gas bottle. It is a quick poison that will envelop a small area filled with deadly poison that anyone inside the poison will rapidly lose health that even holding their breath will not work. This will be a good bottle of potion to deal with them silently." I throw the bottle into the intersection and a few secondster, green fumes appeared from where I have thrown the poison bottle. It didn''t take long for the confused and coughing bandits toin and are having a hard time inside it. It didn''t take them that long for them to die as the ce slowly went from making a small ruckus then slowly went quiet. They have perished from inhaling poison. "Wow, that was a very fatal poison. They immediately died after a few while. Is it safe to go now?" Queen Tanya asked. "Once the green smoke dissipated, the poison is gone and it is now safe to venture into the area where the poison was thrown or released. No need to worry about it." We continue to move sneakily and checked the area we just throw in the poison in and we saw five guys who were drinking beer fallen off their couches and some are just holding their necks and mouth like they are trying to exhale all of the poison they inhaled. All of them are dead. "How many bottles of poison do you have in your arsenal, Manato?" Queen Tanya asked. "I brought 10 of them since that is the maximum I can carry. I used one just now so I only have 9 bottles left," I answered. "Then let''s use them strategically. We don''t want to lose all of our potions in one go, don''t we?" And so, we proceed with caution and continue toy waste to the camp. Not a single one managed to know what is happening inside the camp as most of the bandits there have died before they know what is happening. Our methods of dispatching the enemies are either using the [Phantom Hand] of Queen Tanya or using the poison bottles I have. All of them are effective ways to deal with them and none of the bandits have survived either attacks. So we have ventured deep into the camp with just both ways of elimination. It took a few more twist and turns before we have reached the area where the Boss of the bandits and the treasury where the stolen goods are being kept by the bandits. "Do you think the boss will die if the poison is used or not?" Queen Tanya frowned. "Not sure but only one way to find out," I pulled out myst bottle of poison as we stare at the room where the bandit boss is currently staying in. Chapter 985 Sandstorm

Chapter 985 Sandstorm

Queen Tanya and I silently erased the whole bandit camp like nothing. The bandits were defeated and killed before they could even do anything. In fact, even the leader himself was so weak that thest poison bottle that I had thrown inside his room instantly killed him. I was expecting some resistance or problems once we provoked the big guy, but we soon realized why he immediately died without triggering any problems. And there is only one reason why. He was asleep. The leader decided to go to his room and sleep as his subordinates became his guards. When I threw the poison gas bottle inside his room, he fully exhaled everything without even getting to fully know what was happening or what he was inhaling, he was sleeping so soundly that the moment the poison contaminated the air, he didn''t notice and breathed hisst while he was sleeping. Even Queen Tanya was stunned to know this as she expected the bandit leader to make a fuss or wake up to realize he was being poisoned. But here we are, finding out that he had died in his sleep. Currently, we are inside his room. The bandit camp is already cleared out and there are no more bandits in this area. Starting today, bandits will no longer "spawn" in this area. As for the boss, he is now gone and breathed hisst a few moments ago. "Yep, confirmed. This guy is gone for good. No more resistance to the enemies that we have hoped to happen," Queen Tanya sounded disappointed. "Well, it is a good thing he is gone. We don''t need any problems here anymore." Now that the danger are all dead and gone, we started to search on the ce and look for any scraps or good loot for us to take. Queen Tanya also suggested that we rake in the other loot as well. Despite them being stolen goods, we don''t really have much choice over there as things wouldn''t change much. Even if we leave the loot here, yers would just dig up through their ruin pile and loot them instead so instead of letting the yers get the loot, why not take it for ourselves? "I feel bad getting all this stuff even though we are not bandits in any way or form..." Queen Tanya shook her head as she packed a few of the "treasures" inside a small bag. "As much as that is true, we don''t have much choice there. Others will just plunder these things and will end up being a waste. Although it does feel like we are not doing anything wrong, we have no choice but to keep this instead of leaving it behind. New bandits will just take over in here and take all of this stuff instead. Maybe even the yers will plunder them instead of us so there is literally no difference in who will take these all. Besides, can we even return them to their rightful owners in the first ce?" "Hmm, you are right about that. Guess there''s always a first to everything." I agree with Queen Tanya''s point but there is really no reason why we should not take them. Besides, what I said can happen as well. So instead of that happening, taking these all and plundering everything is a much better way to keep things in a better order than not letting more bandits take this ce over. Queen Tanya has a Spatial Storage ring that she wears, allowing her to put all of the things inside. She just packs it inside any container to ensure that it won''t scatter around. Since it was still essentially a storage ring, anything inside would still move around during any of her movements. She has lots of stuff inside but they are kept in storage so she is not worried if they mess around. After helping me with the storage problem, we escaped the little base of the bandits, and using Queen Tanya''s magic, she copsed the whole ce and buried the dead bandits along with it. We took all the valuables from the corpses as well so if their spirits were still there, they might be cursing at us for not even sparing them anything after we plundered their corpses as well and only leaving them barren. We returned to the mansion as soon as we finished our job. At the same time, when we arrived, a huge sandstorm suddenly brewed up and we immediately rushed inside the mansion. We quickly had to wake everyone up to close all the windows and any entry point of the mansion that would cause the sand to enter the mansion''s premises. Thankfully, we warned everyone in time before the sandstorm fully got worse and the whole area was ravaged by the sandstorm''s dangerous nature. Every one of us is now gathered in the living room along with Renatta''s spirits as we observe the sandstorm that is getting stronger. Almira is the only one who isn''t present as she was observing the situation whether we move away or to remain. "Damn, it''s been a while since I have seen a sandstorm with this kind of intensity..." Queen Tanya shakes her head as she observes the strong sandstorm blurring the view outside the windows. "Are sandstormsmon in Sandurk?" M asked. "Not reallymon but they do happen from time to time. Although it wasn''t that troubling, the sandstorms are not easy to deal with especially the aftermath, and if you are not prepared for theing of the sandstorm at all." "We can just weather the sandstorm right?" my mother is concerned seeing how all of our outside view is filled with sand. "Depends. Sometimes, the problem isn''t the sand but the monsters thate from the sandstorm. We either get a peaceful sandstorm, or worse, we will get a sandstorm and a monster attack." As soon as Queen Tanya said those words, we heard the speakere to life and Almira started speaking in an agitated voice. "You guys should hold tight. I will be making a good run out of this sandstorm right now. Don''t ask why. Hold on tight in the count of 5." Since Almira didn''t say anything else other than when she started counting down, we didn''t hesitate and started holding to ces where we could get stable footing or we would be safe in any kind of movement. We can still hear Almira count and the moment when she said "5" The whole mansion suddenly spins in a very bad way that when it happened, I was so shocked and I wasn''t fully feeling it immediately since I felt like my soul was separated from my body. It was so quick that everyone was shaken and couldn''t speak. Even Queen Tanya was shocked. But that first spin was just the first hurdle we had to take. Before we can even do anything else, the mansion erratically moves again which makes all of us grab tight on whatever we are holding tightly just to avoid getting hurled around. WOOOOSHHHH! Every one of us screamed in fright as the whole ce started to move at an unimaginable speed and asionally spun so that after repeated attempts, I felt so sick that I wanted to vomit. But we couldn''t even do that simple thing as we were continuously been hurled all around to the point that whatever things we were about to vomit were forcefully "returned" to our bodies and we couldn''t do anything about it. Almira didn''t say anything but we just couldn''t say anything either while suffering the severe dizzy activities happening all over us. We continued to observe the situation even though it felt like we were going to be on the verge of dying just from how we were feeling. It took some time before the mansion didn''t have any weird movements like spinning all over the ce. We thought we would be passed out but we managed to remain awake but it wasn''t done just yet. Just when we thought things wouldn''t get any worse, we were suddenly hurled again that we almost felt like the whole mansion was rolling around. Even the items were being tossed all over the ce. Without saying any word, every one of us is holding on for our dear life on where we are holding in, even to the point of gripping onto them just to make sure we won''t identally let go and get hurled over the ce. After a while, the situation calmed down but everyone was not that ready to let go of where they were holding on, including myself. We continue to grip on where we are holding all around the mansion when the voice of Almira once again gives life to the speaker. "Hello? Hello? Everyone? Are you guys still alive there? Things are good now, you guys can now let yourself go from where you all are holding on. We have passed through the danger." Chapter 986 Ant Lion Attack

Chapter 986 Ant Lion Attack

"Hey, Almira, what the heck is happening?! We are almost hurled all over the ce due to the thing you have been doing!" Riko angrily growled at her. "Don''t be angry at me. You guys should be grateful. Look outside, we are now free from the sandstorm so you guys should be fine going out and see for yourselves what I am currently avoiding. Maybe climbing to the roof is a much better way to get a clear view of the threat that we are running away from." Heeding the advice of Almira, every one of us went outside to see the things we were fleeing from. There are traces of sand on the field but since we moved a lot earlier, most of it has been shaken off. Of course, not all sand were thrown off so there are still a few more pile of sand around. But that wasn''t the point we went out. We checked what we just left behind and we saw the sandstorm we managed to shake off. However, something is wrong but I can''t pinpoint what it was. Not until Queen Tanya pointed out what it was we were currently fleeing from. "Crap, no wonder Almira fled and used every possible tactic to move the mansion as far as possible," Queen Tanyamented as we looked at the situation. "Eh? I don''t see anything though aside from the swirling sands in the air," Rika squinted her eyes but she still couldn''t see what Queen Tanya was seeing. "Don''t look at the air and swirling sands, look below the sand in the air. That''s what we are fleeing from." Since Queen Tanya said so, I put my attention to the direction she wanted us to look at and just like what she said, I also saw the things that we are currently fleeing from. ------ [Ant Lion] [Epic Monster] Level 400 HP: 50,000,000/50,000,000 Type: Insect, Metal, Ground ------- "What the hell? Fifty million?!" Akira couldn''t believe his eyes. "Woah there, this is the first time I have seen this monster ever..." Sora was also not expecting to see these new monsters. "Not only that but they are numerous. They are like ants," Pandora was also surprised but she held her awe from it. Then the speaker starts to re up to life once again with Almira''s voice in it. "Come back in. Those f*ckers are fast so you guys should close the doors and windows if you guys don''t want to be caught up by the sandstorm they always bring." Since we didn''t want to be in the middle of the sandstorm, instead of staying outside, we did what Almira said. "You guys have seen what we are fleeing from?" Almira''s voice asked us. "Yeah. Ant lions with fifty million hp," I answered. "Good. Now you guys know what we are all dealing with." "Well, despite that, shouldn''t they be dealt easily with a freezing spell or even a fire spell?" Izmirmented. "Ask Queen Tanya. She clearly knows what it was more than I do. I would rather focus my mind on keeping the walking mansion stable while we are fleeing." Since Almira Baton passed the exnation to Queen Tanya, she decided to exin what those guys were. Because even I who have yed and stayed in the Alternate World for so long have only encountered Ant Lions in this current timeline. "Alright, since she passed it to me, I will exin it to you guys. Ant lions are native monsters in this continent and they only exist where sand exists. They can''t live anywhere else so they only exist in this hot region and they can''t exist in the frozen region." "Howe they are carrying a sandstorm with them?" Avos asked. It seems he is fascinated after seeing those creatures. "Because that is one of their passive skills. Although I am not totally sure if they are racial passive skills they have or not these critters are known to cause unnatural sandstorms but because they are totally umon, it was hard to find any of them and many would even say that they have not encountered one just yet. However, there is one thing that people warn whenever they are present and that is to run." "Why?" every one of us asked at the same time. "At first, I also found it weird but I soon found out why. One time, an unnatural sandstorm was brewed outside and ording to my scouts, it was made by the Ant lions that were passing by. Knowing this, we decided to go and try to deal with it before it got troublesome to deal with. That''s when we know why it was being advised to escape once they were present. These things are too strong for mere insects. No wonder they are part of the epic monsters despite being like normal mobs." "Huh? You mean..." "Yes. All magic attacks that you deal with will either be nullified or be resisted by them." Magic attacks are not effective against them? That is not a new concept, but for monsters with HP that is fifty million, these guys are indeed not gonna be easy to kill. "So how does one kill it? Don''t tell me melee users have to dive into their sandstorm and deal with them?" "Nope, that is a suicidal attempt. Antlions are pretty capable hunters and the sandstorm they are making is something we call their "pit". They use that to trap unsuspecting prey and since movement and vision are limited inside the sandstorm, it is a perfect ce for the monsters to take advantage of before trying to kill them. And since magic is not possible, most melee fighters would try to attack them in melee but because this was nothing but trouble, the only way to properly deal with them is to deal physical damage on them in the distance. But even that is bothersome to do as well as they knew how to work together and those that have been attacked will heal and the others will take over the vanguard, making them annoying to deal with." When I heard it, I suddenly got an idea. "Your Majesty, you said they are vulnerable to physical attacks instead, yeah?" "Yep." "And they will use tactics to protect their group against attackers who use range attacks, yes?" "Yes again," Queen Tanya nodded. "Then the trouble is not that big. We have a solution to that." Grabbing the Versatile Weapon, I opened up the door once more and went to the edge. Then, I put down the Versatile Weapon to the ground and transformed?it into a Cannon. "If they decided to try hiding, then having them all get sted would solve all our worries yeah?" I loaded one round into my cannon and aimed it at the chasing antlions. "EAT THIS!" BOOM! Chapter 987 Blood Morgan

Chapter 987 Blood Morgan

Using the cannon form of the Versatile Weapon, I relentlessly fired upon my adversaries, reloading with ammunition crafted from mana. Despite the ethereal nature of the ammunition, the cannonballs emanating from the Versatile Weapon''s cannon form inflicted tangible, physical damage upon the relentless Ant lions. These creatures, although formidable, proved vulnerable to the relentless barrage of cannonballs. Their resilience crumbled under the repeated bombardment, leaving them unable to heal their wounds in time for the next assault. "Feeling less invincible now, are we? How about a bit more punishment!" BOOM! Several attacks caused a fragmentation of the ant lions, leading to their demise and concurrently slowing the menacing Sandstorm they carried, mitigating its ferocity. The relentless onught not only shattered the insectoid assants but also disrupted the harmony of the Sandstorm they unleashed upon the battleground. And that is a good thing knowing how dangerous the sandstorm brings. The ant lions still didn''t retreat and even though they were not catching up so soon, I didn''t stop the attacks. I can see a lot of them are breaking under the bombardment of the attacks. Still, I didn''t bother to stop. As long as they continue to attack, then my assault will not stop as well. But it didn''t take long for the attack to cease. After myst cannonball assault, the sandstorm dissipated, and the movement from the ant lions vanished. Simultaneously, the mansion ceased its motion. "The assault is over, and the pursuers are gone, Master!" I shouted, ensuring Almira could hear my words. "I know. I observed on the camera that you obliterated the chasing ant lions. That''s advantageous; we won''t need to deplete our energy reserves for an extended period." "Are there any more threats nearby?" I inquired. "Nothing more. I doubt those monsters would willingly associate themselves with Ant Lions. If there''s one monster that doesn''t mind their presence, it''s likely the sandworm. Since there''s no sign of even a single sandworm nearby, we can assume we are safe now." My Versatile Weapon returned to its sword form, and I surveyed the area where the Ant Lions met their demise before turning to Queen Tanya. "Have you ever in an Ant Lion before, your Majesty?" "Yes. I managed to kill a few, but I couldn''t wipe them out due to the sandstorm. Nevertheless, I did seed in eliminating some. Why do you ask?" Queen Tanya''s eyebrows furrowed. "I was nning on obtaining loot from the carcasses of those Ant Lions and wondered if they yield valuable materials or not." "One thing is certain¡ªthey aren''t valuable. While their shells may possess properties to resist or nullify magic attacks, they be useless once harvested. They disintegrate the moment you remove their shells from their bodies." Hearing that, I abandoned my initial intention. However, as my mind pondered the possibility of utilizing the Ant Lions'' shells as armor materials, the elves seemed to have stumbled upon something. Upon re-entering the scene, I understood why the elves appeared startled. Others present also shared the same surprised expressions, their reactions seemingly normal considering the radiant light emanating from the branch of the Tree of Life. "Huh? What is going on? Why is it glowing so brightly?" I inquired, my brow furrowed. "We don''t know either! We just activated the branch again since we couldn''t sleep, but all of a sudden, it suddenly became like this!" Renatta exined. The light was intense, different from its usual direction towards a distant point. Instead, the line connecting to King Arthur''s location was thicker and smallerpared to its typical long and thin emission. "Is it because the target is near?" Pandora spected. "Could that be the case?" Avos frowned, following the direction of the light. In the distance, a discernible figure emerged. Although slightly blurred due to the prevailing darkness, the surroundings merging with the obscurity, there indeed appeared to be something. The substantial light radiated and pointed directly to that area. Something significant lurked over there. King Arthur might even be there. "I rmend we wait until morning to go there. There''s only a few more hours before the sun rises, if King Arthur is indeed there, fighting that guy in the dark will just be asking for trouble. We will prepare and ensure we will be ready." Izmir seemed to be disagreeing with my choice but M stopped her. "You are right. If that guy is indeed very strong, then we will need ample preparation rather than just going ahead and dealing with him." "But Grandma! The guy who killed our parents is already there, we can just go ahead and kill him!" Izmirshes out. "Calm down, Izmir. Rushing to your death is not an ideal way to die. Before you decide to do something crazy, be sure that you have been prepared. How can you even exact your revenge if you died meaninglessly against him? That''s just throwing your life to waste," I scolded her. "But he is right there! If we wait a few more hours, then he might escape!" "If he does escape, then we will give chase. Just because he is right there, doesn''t mean we will have to jump straight without ample preparation. Calm down and think of what you should do instead of letting your emotions take over." Izmir went quiet after getting scolded. Although she is scowling, it seems she knows that she is wrong. I can''t me her but she doesn''t really need to be that impulsive to begin with. Then, the speaker once again res up to life. "As much as I agree with you, Izmir, my disciple is indeed correct. If you at least wanted to exact revenge against that guy, you better be pretty well prepared. He can adapt so quickly that I can tell he is quite a monster. And my disciple is not stopping you for no reason. He is stopping you from causing severe trouble that might affect even your grandparents and your sister. So follow his advice, you will totally need it indeed." ... ... ... Since we decided to prepare, I helped everyone prepare their gear and repair them. I put all the strongest armor and weapons I could craft into the elves as they needed it to ensure they would be helping with the battle and they could withstand him and his heavy attacks. My mother also supplied us with potions as well. Still, I kind of miss the infinite stacks of items we had before in our old inventory, but I can''t say much aside from the fact that I am a bit sad about this, after all, we don''t need to bothering back to resupply with the stacks being a lot more than it should be. We made sure to be overprepared knowing how dangerous King Arthur would be if faced while we waited for the morning toe. It took a few more hours before the first daylight peeks through the clouds. The moment the light pours around the sky, everyone is ready to move. I left As and a few of my Desert Wolves to protect the mansion since Mother and Almira remained to guard the mansion. As for the rest of us, we are now ready to go and fight and explore what is up ahead. Even Queen Tanya didn''t want to miss this and decided to join in. While we are about to leave, Almira appears while carrying a new weapon simr to the rent that she usually uses. "Manato!" "Huh?" She then threw the weapon in my direction and I caught the weapon. It''s a heavy long sword, butpared to the rent it has red edges that seem to signify its bloodthirsty desire to kill King Arthur, this new sword has a dark violet color. It''s usually the color seen in most darkness abilities used like when summoning skeletons using the Necromancy. "Take that weapon with you and use that weapon to deal with King Arthur. If that f*cker tries something else, then there is a chance that he will do it if it ensures his survival. Use that weapon to ensure he can''t use that skill whatever it was." "But I have the Versatile Weapon with me." "It doesn''t matter much to me, heck, I am fine if the Versatile Weapon of yours devours that weapon. Just ensure to use it to y that king." I nced at the sword and looked at Almira before nodding in agreement. "But what is this weapon''s name?" Almira thought for a while but then shook her head for a bit. "Although it''s not necessary, I will bestow that weapon the name, Blood Morgan. Now go forth and beat him. Make sure he won''t be able toe back again." I raised the weapon into the air and nodded. "Then, just wait for the good news. We are off." And so, we are now heading to the location of the guy who was revered as the strongest king, now considered one of the most dangerous people living in this world. And we seek his death. Chapter 988 Mirage of the Ruins

Chapter 988 Mirage of the Ruins

After we embarked on our little journey, we soon realized that the thing we were looking at was not something near, but rather far in distance. "Although I lived in this region for quite some time, I didn''t expect to encounter a mirage like this," Queen Tanya shook her head seeing that the ruins that we just saw seemed to remain in the same distance even though we had walked far. We thought we just needed to walk more but we have covered quite a distance already and the distance between us and the ce we are looking at seems not to have shortened even for a bit. "A mirage?! Then, it must mean..." Alena frowned. "It might be either closer than we thought or much farther than we hoped. We don''t even know if our eyes are just being yed tricks at seeing how this mirage is looking clearer than normal. There is a chance that the ruins we are looking at are either too far from us or they were not ruins at all and were just illusions." "Then we are just walking for nothing?" Izmir frowned. I shook my head. "No, this isn''t a waste. Remember that you guys have used the branch right? What was the reaction it had?" "The light that it emits is much brighter, and the line that connects us from King Arthur is also much thicker but shorter. That alone means we are a distance away from the location but we are indeed close. We just needed to continue walking. Or maybe you guys are tired already?" "No...we shall continue," Renatta shook her head. I sighed and shook my head. "No, let''s have some rest. There''s no way we can continue to proceed like this with our morale so low." Despite the grumblings, Avos and M agreed that we all need to rest for a bit. Since we prepared beforehand, we set up a temporary camp that allows us to have a little shade that will allow us to at least cover ourselves from the heat. With Queen Tanya''s spell, the heat is bearable. Of course, we didn''t wait there for long. Once everyone has rested for a bit, we continue to move once more. As for the mirage, we have already passed by the mirage and it was indeed an illusion due to the heat which made Renatta and Izmir pretty angry. But since we passed by the mirage, one this is certain, the ce which the mirage is reflecting is rather close, or perhaps we are only a few more steps away. Because it is not easy to travel without anything to follow, I decided to use some Shikigamis and use them to track down the area and see whether there are enemies nearby or if the ce that we are looking for is just around the corner. As we continued to move, I soon detected in one of my controlled Shikigamis the ce that we were looking for. And it wasn''t that far. "Guys...I found the ce we are looking for. Let''s go, follow me." Hearing this, everyone started to follow me. It was not that far so it didn''t take long for us to arrive to where I spotted the ruins. It took us all a few minutes before we arrived into the ruins that I saw using the Shikigami. "This ce..." Queen Tanya seems to recognize the ce. "Are you familiar with this ce, Queen Tanya?" I asked. "I am not sure but I sure remember something but I couldn''t properly remember where or how I feel familiar about this ce." Father marveled on the ruins andpared to the normal ruins we have encountered in the past, this one is pretty much still intact. "Wow, for a ruins, this ce looks more stable than most ruins we have explored before. In fact, this is the most intact ruins I have seen in my life. I think it is more appropriate to call this ce "abandoned" rather than a ruins. Look at this ce, it is more intact than what we call ruins look!" Father nodded as he rub his beard. "I agree with you there, this ce looks like it was just recently vacated instead of being abandoned for a very long time already. But there is still no denial that this ce is a ruins. Based on how some of the signs of wear and tear here, these are not recent and is looking more and more like a piece of ancient history," Avos said as he pointed out on some of the signage and some posters ced on the walls. Then, M interjected, "It still didn''t matter whether it was that long or not. We should confirm if this ce is indeed the right ce where that guy is holed up. It doesn''t matter much to us if this ce is part of the ruins in the first ce." Alena and Labo pulled out the branch and poured out their mana on it which then resulted to a burst of light that covers the whole ce. It was quite bright that we are thinking that it might have caused the entire facility to lit up. Checking up on the connection however, the light is indeed here seeing how it pierces through the ce and the line is much thicker nowpared to before. "Looks like it is confirmed. This is the right ce to look for," Queen Tanya got serious as we looked at the light emitted. I slowly grip the Blood Morgan that Almira has given to me and knowing the circumstances, it is much better for us to deal with the situation as soon as possible. "Should we start splitting up and search the ruins? This ce is big," Riko asked. "No, splitting up is a big no. We all stick together and that will be the best way to navigate this ce and find him. Splitting up is the recipe for disaster and there is no way anyone will want to be the unlucky person to meet and greet King Arthur by themselves, yeah?" Hearing my exnations, even the elves involuntarily swallowed their saliva in nervousness. "I-I think you got a point. The only people who might even hold a proper fight against that guy would be either you, Queen Tanya or Pandora. The rest of us would be a nuisance or just a punching bag against that guy..." Riko gloomily said. As much as I want to joke around on Riko''s words, she does have a point. Only I, Queen Tanya and Pandora would be Able to hold a candle against the bastard. Even my father, Avos and M are strong guys, they are not even considered someone who can go one on one against the guy and survive to live the tale. After all, the enemy we are facing is one dangerous son of a b*tch. We didn''t dawdle long enough and started moving inside the ruins and explore it. The sooner we are done with it, the sooner we can get rid of that problem. Currently, the whole ce looks like a former castle. It does look like it was an old castle base on itsyout inside but due to some dpidated structures left behind, it''s hard to determine the way the area is fully structured. And although we keep saying it looks more abandoned than being a ruins, the deeper we go, the more we can see that it is indeed right to call it ruins. Not only the dpidated things present are making the whole ce dated, it looks like it is even the whole floor we are looking is very old that we can see a few bricks slowly rising up from the floor and walls. One way or another can cause them to copse. "What do you guys think as to why the guy is staying here?" Renatta asked. "Maybe this is his new base operation?" Sora tried guessing. "Or maybe this ce has something that he needed?" Rika also added her guess. "That is indeed a big possibility. From the looks of it, he looks like he is searching for something. It must be one of the reasons why he was present in the Elven Kingdom and to receive the thing he was looking for, he has to either eliminate the people there or maybe there is other reason," Pandora added her theory as well. I didn''t add anything to the theory they had as all of their theories do have a possibility to be true. As we continue to explore, I suddenly felt the strong feeling of dread. This feeling is identical when I met King Arthur once again in the Elven Kingdom. Based on the looks of everyone, no one seems to have realized or felt the dread I am feeling right now. "Let''s go this way," I pointed to the direction where I felt the dread. "You felt something, son?" My father asked. "Yeah. It is faint but I felt it." Queen Tanya frowned. "I didn''t felt it at first but now that you mention it, there''s this weird feeling indeed." Without any other clue other than the feeling of dread as the only other thing we can use to move, we plunge deeper into the ruins. Chapter 989 Rematch (I)

Chapter 989 Rematch (I)

We found ourselves on a long and dark passageway. I tried to remember the direction the light was pointing from when the branch was used earlier. Of course, we didn''t keep using it as it is very eye-catching and any enemy will take sight of it just by looking at the direction of the branch and that alone is enough for the enemy to know there are other people besides him. "Are you sure this is the right path, Manato? I am not doubting your good memory but this path is long and narrow. Is it the path we are looking for?" Riko frowned as she tried to look at the end of the passage fully. "Yeah. I am sure of it. Besides, there is no other path aside from this area that we can pass through unless we decide to make our path and break the walls which would make a big stir. This is the only path that makes sense." Lucia tried to detect any enemies on the path or even some traps that might cause us to be in trouble. After a while she shook her head, allowing us to know that the passage was safe. As the only one who wields a shield from our group, Akira takes the vanguard. I followed him behind to immediately react in case things got troublesome and to also help him if things got really bad. As for the rearguard, Pandora volunteered to be the one to protect everyone''s back since she has one of the highest defenses, second only to Akira out of all of us and she can hit real hard against enemies, making her a good guard against any enemies. Since we can only enter one at a time, our position is much easier to defend with both ends. The only downside is that we are vulnerable above, below, and from side to side. However, we can only do it like this as we cannot move together aside from lining up. Thankfully, like Lucia''s detection result, the passageway was safe and it wasn''t as long as we thought. We managed to get out of that ce after walking for 2 minutes straight. "Where are we now?" Father looked around after we managed to get out of the narrow passageway. "Not sure either. This ce is giving me the creeps," Rika readies her magic sword while she continues to look around. "Be careful everyone. Although invisible to eyes of everyone, the darkness power seems to be getting stronger and stronger," Lucia warns. Her arm even transformed into the same sword. However, it seems she has a bit of good control on itpared before, she doesn''t look as tired as well. There''s still no sign of King Arthur or anything but the feeling of dread is much stronger herepared earlier. There is only one thing clear, he is nearby. As we continue to enter the deepest area of the ruins, we soon realized that the ce we are walking in resembles a throne room. The only thing that makes it less like one is the overgrown grasses everywhere, the broken pieces of furniture that are scattered all over, and even the curtains and red carpet looks more moldy than ever. "A throne room?" M frowned. "It makes sense there is a throne since he is a king, yeah?" Akira nonchntly said. "You got a point there, kid. Because he is a king, he might have decided to make a throne," Queen Tanya said as she materialized her scythe. Izmir and Renatta seems to have also noticed the irregrity of the ce and the danger before us that they started switch into theirbat stance. Before us, the torches that has not been lit up suddenly res up in mes, giving light to the surroundings. And at the very end of the lights is a single throne made of bones, and a man silently sitting there, watching us approach. I instinctively pulled out my Versatile Weapon while my other hand grip the handle of the Blood Morgan. The indescribable feeling lingering over my hand clearlyes from the Blood Morgan itself and if not for the fact that I am holding on to the weapon tightly, the weapon might have decided to do it''s job and fly straight to him. The king slowly grin as he ps at us, slowly. Like a guy mocking our arrival. "Well, well. I never would''ve guessed that you people would find me this soon. And here I thought that remaining here until the judgement dayes will allow me to at least rx for a bit while waiting for both the demons and the Goddess of Life do their deeds." Izmir who is gritting her teeth in anger tried to lunge and attack but M immediately stops her. "Grandma! Don''t stop me from killing this bastard!" "Hold your horses! Are you nning on dying instead?!" M angrily pulls Izmir and yet Izmir clearly wants to push forward and fight against him. King Arthur startedughing after he spotted the elves with us. "Ah... I wonder who it was. It was the elves I didn''t kill since you lot are with deheart himself but to think you lot would decide and deliver your lives here for me. I am touched," he grinned with a mocking smile. I step forward with the Versatile Weapon in hand, "You should have been dead since Almira has killed you with the rent. You shouldn''t have been able to survive that and yet you are here talking to us. Howe you are still alive? Are you perhaps a ghoul or an impostor trying to imitate thete king?" King Arthur looked at me and shokk his head while the smile on his face never fades away. "Oh deheart, how can you not know that I am not just an impostor? Do I look like those measly impostors who doesn''t hold a candle from my power and couldn''t be more of a fool than a jester? I am sorry to say that I am not just gonna die so fast like you all thought of. After all, it is ame way to die ao fast just like that." "Then..." "Yes! In the flesh and bones! Dying is just not part of my repertoire so why would I die?" "Then, there is no point talking here. Dead men shouldn''t talk and they should remain dead instead." I rush forward and attacked with the Versatile Weapon in hand. PENG! A de appeared before my face as he managed to block my Versatile Weapon. "Good, deheart, although our battle has ended prematurely due to the unnecessary meddling that woman made during our battle, without her with you means we can fight to our heart''s content. Wouldn''t you agree with that?" he grinned. "I don''t. The sooner you die, the faster it is for me to solve this sh*t." I then deflected my Versatile Weapon with his weapon before changing it to a gun and fired multiple barrage of bullets. He easily sliced and destroyed the bullets I fired off which made me a bit angry. Then, volleys of arrows suddenly came raining down followed by multiple magic spells behind the arrowsing down to King Arthur. "Too slow..." With a single snap, all arrows that should be heading straight to him, lost their momentum and fell to the floor while the magic spells that was being shot disintegrated into the air. Then Izmir appeared again and fired multiple volleys of ice spikes straight to King Arthur. She didn''t even make any sort of fancy methods of firing it, she is doing it with pure intention of killing King Arthur. Still, those are not working. The moment the ice spikes are about to reach him, all of them melts which results to only water reaching him which is not even making any damages to him. He even brushed his hair with his fingers and grinned. "Even if you all try to gang me up and try to fight me, you lot are just powerless against me." Father and M joined together as the two tried to get close to him. They managed to get close andunch a series of punches and kicks but strange enough, King Arthur dodges all of them without even standing in his throne. "Weaklings, begone." A shockwave urs and before they would hit Father and M, Akira immediately came to cover them from it. That''s when Queen Tanya, Pandora, Lucia and. Lina came to attack him simultaneously. It was a switch in attacking him that allowed them to jump in to attack. Even King Arthur was surprised by their coordination. I don''t know if he felt the danger or not but he immediately jump off his throne the moment the four simultaneously attacked him with their strongest attacks. Lucia''s new arm singlehandedly destroyed his throne without any sort of power up. More like one swift attack. "I see. Interesting. Very curious indeed." Hended nearby as he looked at the remains of his throne broken to pieces. "I apud to you all for being able to make me stand up from my throne. After all, I can just beat you all up without any need for me to stand up. But to force me to abandon the throne and escape? That is the first time in this body." I heard that and frowned. "This body?" "Of course. My first body has already been a rotting corpse now so why would I decide to use that anyways? Instead, when I resurrected, I decided to use a body as my vessel and convert their body as mine. However, now that I am standing and has no longer any throne left to sit on, guess I should put up my game on." With the sword in hand, his presence started to increase and his power started surging. "Let me see you all squirm." Chapter 990 Rematch (II)

Chapter 990 Rematch (II)

Everyone is on guard now that he is standing. His menacing aura just ys a big factor on his behavior now. In fact, it felt like he can actually kill us all if he tried enough." "Now, how about you lot entertain me properly? Now that I have my throne gone, maybe killing you all would be a little worthwhile?" he grinned as a sword slowly materialize on his hands. "This f*cker is underestimating us!" Izmir is ready to rush in but she was stopped again but this time, by Akira. "Don''t be too rash! Get ready and don''t just let your anger get the better of you!" Akira angrily snap Izmir out of it. Alena and Labo prepares their bow with Renatta charging her bow for a [Focused Shot]. Once she has fully charged the attack, the two released their arrows simultaneously which then immediately followed by multiple more arrows. King Arthur saw the arrows raining down on him and immediately used his sword to destroy or block the arrows. As he was doing so, Renatta took advantage of this attack and fired her [Focused Shot]. However, this was also a way to fool King Arthur. The moment Renatta fired her [Focused Shot], King Arthur already knew what she was thinking. Even though the [Focused Shot] is as fast as a bullet, King Arthur easily parried the arrow with a single attack. "You thought that is enough? Petty tricks." But before he can react, Izmir who was waiting for an advantage reappeared silently behind him and a big ice spike appeared on the ground, piercing through King Arthur. "Guh!" "We got him!" Izmir happily said as she saw King Arthur getting impaled by her spell. "Don''t celebrate to early! Attack!" I shouted as I rush to him and proceed to barrage him with attacks of my Versatile Weapon. The others also did the same thing but then, a shockwave destroys the ice spike that impaled him and the force is enough to send us off into the distance. Hended to the floor as he grip the wound that impaled his stomach. "Huh...I didn''t expect that. Guess I was underestimating you lot about your capabilities." He rub the gaping hole in his stomach for a bit and the hole in his stomach starts to close up on it''s own like it has been patched up. Soon, it disappeared it looked like he didn''t even get injured in the first ce. "Aaah...that feels much better. It''s been forever since Ist got a severe wound like that. And even though it has been this long, it felt good. Too bad that it onlyst that long before ai heal up. It won''t be good to have my body die just to experience that, isn''t it?" The elves are not liking the situation especially on how abnormal King Arthur''s way of healing. It was like he just healed every single damaged cell in his body and they repaired it without any problem. For the elves, they have not fought against an enemy like that. But to us, this is nothing new. "Riko, Lucia, support us at the back, Pandora, Rika, nk him in both sides. Father, Lina, Queen Tanya and I will attack him simultaneously. The rest, fire at will! Akira, protect anyone who are going to get attacked and Pixie, heal up anyone who has been wounded!" Everyone went ahead to attack him and King Arthur proceeds to defend himself from our attacks. Despite the fact that he is alone, he still managed to dodge or block all attacks and doesn''t leave any other way for him to be touched by our attacks. "Is that all you can do?" I am honestly not liking it. If only I cannd a few hits, then I might be able tond him multiple stacks of Love Stacks and that would be great at whittling his health slowly but surely. Even if he heals fast, the debuffs alone would make him suffer more than he can imagine. "I am honestly disappointed. And here I thought you lot would be capable of doing much to me, especially you, Manato. But it seems I overestimated you all." He then proceeds to switch his style into his offensive stance and proceed to pummel everyone up. In a single punch, he sent Father flying. "Father!" Then, he shed towards Lina causing her to get wounded and forcing her to retreat. Then, he yanked the gold chains of Pandora before whipping them back to her which destroyed her Immovable Holy Knight title. Rika was also about to be attacked but Akira immediately forced himself in front of King Arthur and the attack that was meant for Rika has been redirected to him and his shield that he used to block the attack immediately shattered to pieces. The impact is enough to send both Rika and Akira flying and unconscious. "Queen Tanya!" I shouted. "Yeah!" The two of us leaped straight to him with Queen Tanya brandishing her scythe to King Arthur who immediately blocked the attack. With him being distracted from Queen Tanya, I took this chance to sneak an attack using the?Versatile Weapon trying to make him get a Love Stack. "Ha! As if!" King Arthur switly attacked Queen Tanya by sliding his sword down which the made Queen Tanya''s weapon lowers a bit. When that happened, King Arthur swiftly kicked her legs causing her to trip and fall. But before she can fall down, a knee kick weed her face and she was smacked with a kick from the knee. I was in the middle of sneaking an attack at him but he used the momentum of kicking Queen Tanya to kick me in the abdomen and send me flying. Even though I am fully armored and I am quite confident in my armor''s durability, in one single kick, the armor crumbled, the force prated through theyers of defense in my body that the attack felt more like being hit by a truck head-on instead of a kick. My health is even reduced in half and is almost ready to hit the critical levels. He then proceeds to release his pressure of aura to cause every single one of mypanions who are still standing forced to kneel. "So, how does it feel to be in this situation, deheart? I thought you would be stronger than this but what is this! You seemed to be not doing much after all. Are you all really here to dispose of me or are you all here trying to show how weak you all are and are just better if dying?" I cast [Area Heal] to heal the others immediately. Even with Pixie helping, the wounds of everyone are much bigger and severe to deal with. Then, proceed to change my weapon into a gun and proceed to shoot him. I know most of it will notnd but I will still continue doing this and hope that at least even one will be good enough to hit him. Even when I healed myself, the impact alone is enough for me to feel the pain in my body that leaves me unable to stand properly. King Arthur grinned and decided to walk forward. It seems he felt invincible now that instead of blocking my gunshots, he decided to receive them. "As if these bullets are enough to beat me." All of my bullets started tond on his body. As bulletsnd, the Love Stacks activates. With all the bullets hitting his body, the stacks quickly umte. King Arthur also noticed something wrong with his body. Although the damage done was being healed immediately it seems things are not the same. It didn''t take long for me to stack the maximum amount of stacks to his body. The moment the max stack umted, all stacks disappeared and a new stack reappeared again on his status. Not only that but all of the debuffs inflicted are now permanent in his body. Although King Arthur didn''t notice it at first, he soon realized it and it was toote for him to actually get to realize it the true purpose of the attacks. "Wait...what is happening to my body?" I grinned and answered his question. "It''s a moral lesson to not be so arrogant and think no one can beat you. Because no matter how strong you are, you are not meant to live forever. Now try and survive that." King Arthur soon realized the effects and is now frowning in anger. "You tricked me!" I burst outughing hearing him say that. "Huh? Trick you? Are you really sure about that? Who else decided to catch all of my bullets without blocking them, thinking that these bullets wouldn''t do anything? Well, would you look at that, a person suffering from the consequences of his actions." Pixie managed to heal up everyone enough to be able to drink Full Restore Potions. Not only that but the pressure he was releasing earlier starts to weaken, allowing everyone to break free from its leash. "Ngh!" King Arthur grab his head, seemingly in pain. "Alright, King Arthur. Let''s see which wins first, your body''s self healing capabilities, or the debuffs slowly chipping off your health as you face us? Let''s see who willst long enough!" Chapter 991 Rematch (III) Chapter 991 Rematch (III) "Me? Defeated? Never!" Despite struggling from the debuffs inflicted, King Arthur can still move. But because his self-healing ability is not working on clearing the debuffs inflicted by the Love Stack, despite healing over and over again, the debuffs remain constant, hurting King Arthur more than he is healed. He is regenerating endlessly to remove the debuffs and yet those things persist. Due to this, it made King Arthur less threatening than he should have been. He is still a big threat but not as threatening as earlier. "This is our chance, everyone! Let''s go!" I continue firing my gun at him and although he is now blocking my attacks, due to his agility getting hampered by constant stun and sometimes the paralysis kicks in, he is sometimes not able to do so which allowed me to stack more Love Stack at him. The more Love Stack he gets, the worse his body will be. "Don''t let him get another chance to recover! Attack!" Pandora shouted as she unleashed her chains and herself, wrapping King Arthur with it. She then proceeded to pierce his body with her greatsword and used her chains to attack various parts of his body. But because it was healing faster than she could damage, it still didn''t work much. The others also did the same thing. Lucia, Avos, Riko, and Sora are attacking King Arthur with multiple magic spells and King Arthur is no longer capable of blocking everything. Queen Tanya angrily attacks King Arthur and proceeds to use her scythe to rip off his head. However, it seems the scythe can''t even cut through his neck. "So that is how it is huh? It seems you won''t die with decapitation at all." "Ha! Even if I am struggling to move here, do you think that scythe of yours is enough to cut off my head? Perhaps I can help you cut off yours," King Arthur responded despite being under a barrage of attacks. Despite struggling, he breaks off Pandora''s chains and proceeds to grab the scythe of Queen Tanya. But Queen Tanya is quick at manipting her scythe and before King Arthur can even disarm her, she easily spins around with her scythe and pulls it over, dragging King Arthur before punching him in the face which then sends him flying in the distance. "Freeze, murderer!" Izmir floats in the air and proceeds to fire a freezing spell towards King Arthur. He was frozen from the spell but he managed to break free immediately in which an arrow came out of nowhere and pierced through his skull. I looked in the direction where the arrow came from and in the distance was Renatta who was aiming and was looking for the right opportunity to kill King Arthur. It was a big bull''s eye. But even that is not enough to kill him. After getting pierced by an arrow, he pulls the arrow off of his head and the big hole on his head starts to return to normal. "You guys are getting annoying now. And these debuffs won''t get cleared no matter how I heal. I hate this feeling." He stood up and although he was suffering from the effects of the debuffs that were inflicted by the Love Stacks he still managed to continue walking. "I may be suffering from whatever things you inflicted on me, but I will never die, no matter how hard you try!" "F*ck this, enough of your high horse Arthur!" I flipped my Versatile Weapon from its gun form into its sword form and attacked King Arthur. He should be not parrying but he catches my de with his weapon and shes with it. Although I am certain that he does not wield any of his signature weapons, the sword that he uses in battle right now resembles the Caliburn so much. ording to his tales, the Caliburn is the sword that was stuck in the stone and the sword that King Arthur pulled out from it. When he became a king, another sword appeared from the rock where the Caliburn was stuck, and like usual, he pulled the sword again which is what was the fully well-known weapon of his, the Excalibur. During the early years before King Arthur became the king, the Calibur was his main weapon and I have seen it in the past timeline. Although I have not seen it in this lifetime, the sword of his resembles too much on that weapon. One thing different about this is that it doesn''t bring out the usual brilliance that the Caliburn carries. The weapon when being swung around by anyone would make it glow with a bright light. But the sword he is using does not, instead, it is not glowing at all. The more I look at it, the more dread I can feel. Is this perhaps the reason why he is always carrying something that would cause me to feel dread? "What''s wrong? Don''t tell me that you are not even capable of killing someone who is getting weaker due to the debuffs I am getting?" King Arthur proceeded to increase his strength and started to overpower me, although I was still able to hold my ground. "I don''t know what happened to you for you to go down the path of this madness but we will have to put a stop to it. You already died once, we can do it again," I dered as I increased my pressure on his attempt to power me down. "Heh, a blessed person like me cannot die. I am a destined person for greatness!" Sparks start to fly in the air as both of us continue the sh. Both weapons grind their edges in an attempt to overpower the other and bring them down. Then, I saw a gap in his attempt and used that to my advantage as I tilted my sword for a bit before proceeding to hit his sword once and then proceeded to stab his abdomen with the Blood Morgan. "GUH! King Arthur is shocked and blood starts to flow out of his body. That''s when I suddenly realized something wrong with King Arthur. At first, when we are fighting, he is attacked a lot and he receives a lot of wounds, wounds that are considered fatal for him and some that even pierce through his body and yet there is one thing missing that I didn''t notice until now. He doesn''t bleed. Yes, one crucial thing that should be present every time he is wounded should be blood. Whether he got the normal red blood, or maybe he got a weird blood color, it doesn''t matter as he should have at least some blood. And yet, he didn''t have any blood before...until now. "Guhuk! W-what? Howe...?" King Arthur''s blood bubbles up with his blood. ck blood. He coughs a lot of it as he staggers backward. The gaping hole in his abdomen is enough to tell the story that King Arthur is not really immortal and even if he was, he is not invulnerable to anything. "Howe...another weapon is causing me to bleed like this...? I should have made sure that I won''t be killed by it again..." I nced at the sword that Almira had given to me and King Arthur once again. Whatever she has done to this sword, it is working properly for King Arthur, and for once, his wounds are not healing at all. Or should I say, they refuse to heal at all. Although the sword stab isn''t that deep and fatal for him, it is enough for King Arthur to bleed. "King Arthur... it''s time to put you back to your eternal rest." "I refuse. Seeing as you lot are already on your way to kill me, then I shouldn''t bother holding back." He raised his sword into the air, before stabbing himself multiple times in his heart. He didn''t die from it but he instead slowly transformed into a grotesque beast that I wasn''t expecting to see. He only got bigger and bigger and soon, his size is now reaching the roof. I thought he would continue to grow but he stopped when his height reaches the roof. One thing is certain. Despite seeing it first hand, I didn''t expect to see it again this time albeit in a smaller formpared to what I have seen before. As King Arthur''s new form roared, the summon''s portal opened and Cath Palug angrilyes out of it,nding on my shoulder. "F*CKER! THAT F*CKER! HOW IN THE F*CK IS HE USING MY FORM?! HOW DARE YOU!" Cath Palug angrily growled. The others are also in awe at the new scene we are seeing. We have driven King Arthur to hisst phase like some kind of multi-phased enemy. One thing that made me not like it is the fact that I am seeing one monster that I have a few nightmares in. And it is also the reason why Cath Palug is angry. Because the form that King Arthur uses is the form that Cath Palug had if he wasn''t under Merlin''s spell and one of the raid bosses that will cause the grief ofmany NPCs and deaths of many yers and NPCs alike. The Whie Cmity, Cath Palug. Chapter 992 White Calamity

Chapter 992 White Cmity

Cath Palug is angry. I have never seen this guy get angry at all and not to the extent that he would growl. Not even when Merlin sealed him. "You! You f*cking sh*t! How dare you rob me of my original form and title! I AM THE WHITE CALAMITY AND YOU ARE USING IT AS YOU PLEASE?! That''s it, you are dead meat! I was waiting for this guy here to kill you but you know what? Thanks for ruining my day, now I am going to ruin your life!" I could feel the surge of power rushing to the body of Cath Palug and I didn''t like it. The energy he was using was the same energy that he was using back when he was still the original White Cmity. Seeing him trying to gather his power, I am now fearing that this guy will try to forcefully break his seals. But contrary to my expectations, he didn''t break off his seals and instead, his power was just leaking and some of that power started to leak straight to me. I was surprised by this and turned to look at this guy. "Why are you surprised? Did you really think I could afford to break the seal and die? All I can do is provide you and yourpanions a temporary boost to fight against this bastard. If he is the same as me, then this f*cker is going to be a menace. With your numbers, killing him would take a long time so here is my power. Use it to your advantage instead. With that power, you guys have the power to deal with him. I would have loved to personally knock him out of his high horse of using my form but I am too weak to even fight and this body is not something I can use to fight big boys like him. So, instead, I will being back to your special area and watch everything unfold there instead," then the Summon''s Area opened and jump straight there. As for us, we are overflowing with power now. It felt strange like we are buffed by multiple potions and multiple yers casting multiple buffs at us even though no one is doing so. But it was a good feeling that I am liking. In fact, I can feel that I can beat that big guy. "Let''s go. It''s not like this is our first time at killing a big guy like this. Another one does not change that!" Alena, Labo and Renatta aimed their bows and arrows and started firing to the White Cmity. They might not do much but they are doing their job. As for me, I change my weapon into a gun once again and since this time, the new King Arthur''s form is not going to be dodging or blocking any attacks from me real soon. If that is the main case, then stacking debuffs at this guy will allow me to continue dealing damage on him passively. This is a good way to constantly reduce his HP even when we are not attacking. The others started to attack as well and they are doing quite well since the form of King Arthur seems to be trying it''s best to adjust itself from its new form. Based on how he is doing it, it seems King Arthur has yet to even properly do it. Which is why, Izmir decided to abuse this chance to vent her anger at him. "You piece of sh*t! You might not die just yet but I will take advantage of that to keep on hurting and wounding you. You have to die slowly and painfully in our hands in the name of all the people you have killed. You are not going to rest in piece but in pieces!" Although she is doing her best, the body of this White Cmity continues to regenerate just like before. The only one that actually deals proper damage against him is the same weapon I use to make a gaping hole on his stomach. The Blood Morgan. Still, it didn''t matter much to me. As long as I can stack the Love Stack at him and continuously stack more and more debuffs at him, then it doesn''t matter how much health he got or how much he can regenerate his body. As long as the rapid decay of his HP continues, then it only is a matter of time before he die and the Blood Morgan will deal the final blow. It didn''t take long for King Arthur to slowly get used to what he is going to do. It wasn''t something I wasn''t expecting but he is indeed starting to adapt. I thought I would have felt more trauma seeing this guy again but from the looks of it, the real Cath Palug is much more dangerous. What King Arthur is doing right now is just imitating the real deal that is not evening close. He started roaring and thumping his big paws to us which are easily dodgeable. As he did that, the White Cmity breathes fire, a signature attack of Cath Palug as well but the mes of the real deal is much more dangerous due to how its mes are able to damage any users in the area even if they are not directly attacked by the fire or even standing at the fire itself. Just being near a patch of fire is like being in the fire itself already. Yet this guy is not even close. Not even his mes are that strong, his attacks are slow and not so threatening. As I was thinking those things, Cath Palug''s voice echoes in my mind. "Don''t be toocent you little sh*t. Just because you felt stronger right now doesn''t mean that guy won''t be capable of killing all of you. The reason you all feel like he is feeling a little weaker is due to my buffs that I bestowed upon you all. Without them, I doubt yourpanions will remain alive right now. I bet you will be the only one left after the battle without my buffs. Now quit dilly dallying. It''s best if you kill that guy immediately using the weapon that can kill him. It might take a bit of time but that is enough to bring him down. Now go and do it." So that was the case. But that doesn''t change that the White Cmity is not doing anything much to us. In fact, this guy is too slow. However, I don''t want to be the one who will deal the final blow to this guy. I look at Renatta who is firing her arrows at King Arthur. Although she is determined to also kill King Arthur, she is not that bloodthirsty and driven from her revenge as she is not even that angry from their deaths. Avos and M are also not that angry at him as well though they are indeed furious on what he has done, they too, are not in a rush to kill him as well. The only one who does have the tendencies. So I decided that the one who should deal the final blow, should be Izmir. However, I didn''t hand her the sword immediately. Because King Arthur is still trying to attack us, I decided that to fully make sure he will be easily killed, I equipped the Versatile Weapon and the Blood Morgan together. I may have not used a dual sword style before, but I do have some idea on how to do it. Opening my wings, I fly straight to the limbs of the White Cmity. With the Blood Morgan as the first weapon to strike, it stops the regeneration abilities of it''s flesh which I then followed up with the slice of the Versatile Weapon to reinforce the attack and to also cut off the flesh that the Blood Morgan didn''t cut offpletely. "GRAAAAAAHHHH!" In a grueling way to slice one of the limbs off, I poured all of my strength to do it. Thanks to the corrosion debuff the White Cmity is currently suffering, it didn''t take too much effort for me to cut off it''s fleshpletely. As one of the limbs were cut off, the White Cmity fell into the floor which prompted everyone to pour all of their attacks to the White Cmity. It is struggling to stand back up. "This isn''t what I saw in my vision! This isn''t supposed to happen!" King Arthur roared while in his White Cmity form. Vision? So this f*cker saw a vision of us dying, is that why he is so confident we will not survive this? From the looks of it, there is something more on this. But if we waited for too long to beat him, then he might recover again. "Izmir! Catch!" Izmir saw this and the Blood Morgan is now flying towards her direction. Using her magic, she capture the handle of the Blood Morgan and in a quick session, she bring the de of the sword down straight to the White Cmity''s forehead. Chapter 993 Path to the Light of the Tree

Chapter 993 Path to the Light of the Tree

With full of anger and vengeance in mind, Izmir buries deep the Blood Morgan into the head of White Cmity. Izmir screams a scream that is clear enough for everyone to hear as she buries the Blood Morgan deep within its forehead, pulling it out, then stabbing it back again. Even from below, I can see her crying while doing it. She is killing the monster who killed both her parents. Even as the White Cmity''s health points are brought down to zero, she doesn''t stop doing it M has to climb to the head of the White Cmity and bring back Izmir from her sanity. "Izmir! Stop now! That thing is dead!" "This is not enough, Grandma! This monster should die multiple times for killing everyone in the Elven Kingdom! Even if he is dead, I won''t stop killing him!" M looked at Avos to silently ask for help but thetter shook his head and seemed to silently agree to let Izmir do her thing. As much as Izmir is concerned about her, she can''t do anything and decides to let her keep what she is doing. As for us, we sat down on the broken-down floor. Although the battle ended faster than expected and not as grueling as most battles we did, dealing with King Arthur was a huge pain in the arse. And if not for Cath Palug himself buffing us to quickly kill this guy, then we will not even be budging at all here. All of a sudden, my Summon''s Area portal opened up and Cath Palug once again emerged. He looked at the corpse of the White Cmity and nodded with a smug look on his face. "Good, good. You didn''t disappoint me, cretins. Though I can only say that if not for my buffs, then you little sh*ts wouldn''t even be capable of bringing this f*cker down so I guess most of the credits still go to me. Still, I know where credit is due and you little?sh*ts do have the skill to do so." "So what are we going to do next? I doubt leaving the corpse of this guy here will have no consequences, what if he revives again after we leave?" "Let me do the trick. Banishing the power that guy used into another realm is the only way to get rid of that permanently and make sure it cannot be used again. Lucky for you, I can do that myself." "You can do that even in that form of yours?" I frowned. "Heh, even if that bastard Merlin did seal me up like this, some of my basic functions like banishing this form of power is nothing even in this form. I am not as useless as you may think I am. Besides, I don''t want to see even my own copy look dead like this. It is a disgrace even for someone like me." Cath Palug then approached the dead body of the White Cmity. He looked up and saw Izmir still stabbing the dead body a few more times. "Oy, slutty elf, get off there and let me do whatever I am here to do. Get in my way and you will be dragged as well." "Who are you calling ''Slutty?!'' And I am not yet done so leave me alone." "You little sh*t, continue what you were doingter on once I am done with this. You can stab a whole lot of sh*t for the whole day and I won''t care once this is done. So get the f*ck off this fake body and get the f*ck out of here before I send your *ss somewhere that cannot be recovered anymore." "Ugh! F*CK YOU!" Izmir angrily pulled the Blood Morgan off of the White Cmity''s forehead and jumped back to the ground. As for Cath Palug, he just stood in front of the dead body and had energy simr to when he gave all of us a buff from his power and distinctively simr to how he was when he was in the giant form but a little calmer and weaker. His body glowed red and the body of the White Cmity is covered in the red color as well. Then, a surge of energy suddenly shook the surroundings. It felt like we were experiencing a very strong earthquake all of a sudden. Without warning, the whole body of the White Cmity exploded in light and it spread all over the ce. But as fast as it appeared, it is also as fast as it disappeared as well. Then, the body of the White Cmity disappeared and one body of a person returned. It was King Arthur''s body. Then, Cath Palug turned to look at Izmir standing nearby. "My task here is done. If you want to continue what you were doing, then do it on this body. It is a good idea to make sure that guy is dead. Who knows he might have just been pretending to be dead." After that the Summon''s Area portal opened again and Cath Palug looked at us one more time with a smug look on his face, he entered the portal with a snark remark as his sign of an exit. "Bye, f*cking losers." And with that, the portal closed. As for Izmir, she returned to the dead body of King Arthur and proceeded to stab it with the Blood Morgan without a single hesitation. The moment the Blood Morgan pierces through his body, his body undergoes a big change. One that we didn''t expect. His body shape changed and his face also changed as well which soon reformed to a different face that Riko, Pandora, and I knew. I wasn''t expecting it in the slightest and even the other two were surprised as well. After all, thest time we saw him was during the rebellion arc of Luminous Continent and how we rebelled against the church and destroyed it in the process. During the end of the war, he disappeared without a trace, and from thest time I heard, he was branded as the one who led the rebellion and the one who exposed the lies and deception the church imposed on people and the whole popce of Luminous Continent. However, why is he here and howe he transitioned from King Arthur into him now? And the fact that he is now dead just confused me a lot more. "Isn''t that in?" Pandora frowned. "Yeah, I can''t mistake that face, that''s in alright. But howe he is here? Thest time I saw him was during the rebellion of the Luminous Continent and then, he disappeared. Couldn''t believe he was dead now. But why is he here instead of King Arthur, don''t tell me King Arthur managed to slip off again?" That''s when Queen Tanya approached and inspected the corpse. "No. This feeling is familiar and I can''t mistake it. This is a dark resurrection magic." "Dark Resurrection Magic?" I frowned. This is the first time I heard of this term. "Yes. It is a forbidden spell used to revive someone or maybe even someone else who knows the spell has died can use it as well. Although different from necromancy, it doesn''t change that it is reviving the dead. The only difference is that this spell will instead revive the one who should be revived by taking over an avable body as its vessel instead of using its own body and rising up from the dead which would result in the creation of the undead." "Then..." "Yes. Based on the magic alone, maybe this guy knows this spell and used it, or maybe King Arthur used it when he died and was resurrected and this guy was caught up in the spell and as a result, his body was used as the vessel itself. It''s not a wonder he would be the dead body now." "Then...we just killed someone innocent?" Riko was shocked. Queen Tanya can only shake her head. "The only thing we can do is bury his body. As for King Arthur, I don''t know about him but ording to the tales, those who have been revived by the spell or used the spell cannot use it again to revive the same person again so if the revived person dies again, then he or she will no longer live again which also means King Arthur is forever dead now." Izmir slumped to the floor and started crying. "Mom...Dad...I finally avenged the two of you, and all of the people of the kingdom. Not only by me but with everyone else as well... we have avenged your deaths. Now please rest in peace everyone and may your souls depart to a better ce." Izmir sent her prayers to the souls of the deceased and M and Avos hugged Izmir while Renatta went close to her but didn''t join the family hug. She only smiled with a tear in her eye. But then, Alena and Labo suddenly caught our attention when they started calling us. "Everyone, we are sorry to interrupt but look!" We turned to look at what they were talking about and we saw the branch of the Tree of Life glowing with a path of light that extends over like a road. It looks simr to when we are tracking King Arthur but this time around, it is different. Even without the intervention of both Alena and Labo, the branch continues to grow brightly. "What is happening?!" Renatta frowned. That''s when I followed the path of the lighting from the branch and decided to follow it. The others seem to have also noticed this and decided to follow as well which leads us back outside the ruins though the path does not end there. Not only that but a spectacle appeared before us. For the first time in my life, a giant tree appeared on the horizon, glowing from the dark sky, illuminating the whole ce like a giant sun, soaking the world in light. It isn''t just towering tree height, but it is something that was so big, it seemed like it was growing at the center of the Earth. As all of us marveled at the tree, the Walking Mansion arrived briefly and stopped when it was near us. Then, Almira started screaming at the speaker. " Whatever you guys are nning to do right now, postpone it and use this chance to go! Get in now! We can''t afford to lose this race! We have to go and race to the Tree of Life as soon as possible!" Chapter 994 Race to the Tree

Chapter 994 Race to the Tree

All of us went aboard the mansion immediately. It seems Mother and Zena, alongside the two elven siblings, As and the spirits, are helping Almira with something as they are busy carrying different stuff. Most of them looked heavy and big and seemed to be part of the Mansion''s legs but I don''t think I have seen those parts during the instation so maybe they are new? Although Zena is doing well at carrying some of them, Mother and the siblings are having a hard time so when we saw them, we immediately helped. "What''s all of these?" Father asked Mother. "Almira-san has decided to use this chance to install something she has been making during her free time. She couldn''t find time to install it since most of us are always busy, but this time, she finally got to ask us to help her with the instation project. And since no one else but us is here, she has no choice but to ask us. But since all of you are here, the burden of us carrying all of these can be lessened for a bit." All of us agreed to help. Those of us who can easily carry heavy ones carried the bigger stuff. All of them are being put outside the yard. I didn''t expect the basement to have all of these without being released outside for long. After a few hours of carrying all of them, Almira came outside and has been carrying her tools. "Looks like everything is good. Now, help me with the instation. It won''t take long but the faster we set these up to the legs, then the faster we can race up on the tree." "Race?" I frowned. "Yes. I will exinter but first, just move away from your fatigue and carry these out. We can''t afford to bete to the race or we won''t get there immediately. Now, go, go! Double time everyone!" We quickly began carrying all of the stuff below and Almira went to work. She is doing all of the work in installing it and we all just carried the parts to where they are going to be ced per the instructions of Almira. She briskly installed one after the other and as soon as she was done, she moved to another once all of the instation parts were already in ce. The more the legs are being installed with stuff, the more it looks like its legs are suitable for all-terrain, both water andnd. Not only that but it looks like thrusters are being installed as well and although I am not sure if that is really thrusters, they do look like they will be helping with the movement of the mansion. Despite these questions lingering in my mind, we continued to do it until all of the parts that Almira wanted to install in the legs of the mansion were installed. Still, magic sure is convenient. With it, we are able to do all of the stuff that should have the needed big pieces of machinery to finish and yet after all of this, we managed to finish all of it without them in just a few hours. "Alright. With all the upgrades done, let''s go back to the mansion. Time is of the essence. I will exinter on once we start moving. We needed to move faster than ever before." We returned to the mansion and finally got to rest. Mother and the spirits put down snacks for us to eat after grueling work done back to back. On the other hand, the speaker that Almira always uses to speak to us whenever she is in the control room, res up to life. "Now, while we are going to participate in this race towards the tree, I will start exining things." We listened to Almira as we continued to chew our food. The mansion moves but this time, it is running. And it is faster than before. Maybe this is the result of the upgrades she put on the mansion? "Remember the time when we met the treant that became my master in cksmithing and other stuff? Well, he contacted me using one of his abilities that he stuck into the yard as a way to contact us. He then exined that something happened to the Tree of Life and now it is appearing much earlier than expected. I thought it was a joke until I saw the Tree materializing in the distance. And because it was a very sudden appearance, all of those who were anticipating the tree would need to race and gather to the farthest root of the tree. Andpared to the other times when it only revealed itself to those it invited or those qualified to see it, this time, everyone can see it." I wasn''t expecting that to be the case. No wonder the Tree of Life suddenly appeared and the branch that King Arthur owned before is glowing. And the fact that the tree has appeared before us, it is clear that something else just happened. But what is it? Did a yer trigger something that caused the tree to appear? Or the calctions of its reappearance was wrong and that is the main reason? I can''t say either reason is impossible. But if a yer triggered it, then that only means we lost in the race with Nobuhiko to locate the tree itself. However, it seems not all hope is lost. "So the reason you installed those parts is to participate in this race?" Pandora munches one of the cookies to rify the intention of Almira. "Indeed. I am already developing them in my free time and during the times when you guys would be busy with the grind back in the Dark Sea or during the missionsst time. I had plenty of time to finish things which allowed me to create them. At first, those are intentionally created so that this mansion can fly into the sky and reach the Luminous Continent if necessary without the need to use the teleporter." "You mean, those thrusters?" Riko frowned. "Is that what they were called? Yeah, probably is. Anyways, those were intentional for the sake of using them to send the mansion into the air fly straight into the clouds, and fly to the flying continent. But now, we will be using that to get a good headstartter once we get to the group where we are going to race with the others. Anyways, you guys should rest. I don''t know what happened back there in the ruins but you guys should rest, it will be going to be a huge trouble iing for us." ... ... ... After we all had eaten, most of us went to look at the tree while the others decided to go to sleep. Izmir doesn''t care about the tree and decides to go to sleep. Lucia and Lina also wanted to have some rest as well. Since they knew they would see the tree again, they wanted to have a good rest and recharge all of their energy again to ensure that they would have full energy once I needed their help or service. As for me, I went to look at the tree in the distance. Queen Tanya is sitting on the bench while looking at the towering golden tree that seems to be much bigger the more we get closer. "Looks like your journey is about to end," Queen Tanya nced at me as she returned her eyes to the tree again. "I am not sure just yet. Maybe this will be the beginning of something though I don''t really know. However, we will face this head-on and finish all of this sh*t and bring back the bnce of both worlds." Queen Tanya then frowned. "If that is the case, then why do you look so down? I sighed and looked at the giant tree, still observing the brilliance it was giving even in this dark sky like a giant Christmas tree lit up for Christmas Eve. "Will that tree be the key to everything and end all of this chaos? Will it be the only way to fix everything and return everything to what it was once before?" Queen Tanya leaned to the bench and closed her eyes while sighing deeply. "I doubt it. All I can say this is not yet thest thing that you and your group will be doing. Everything is just a prelude and you are just going to begin for real. I bitterly smiled. Perhaps she is indeed correct. ... ... ... The next morning, we were awakened by Almira''s voice when we got out, we realized why she had awakened us. We are still inside the mansion and yet several noises can be heard all around us. "Almira-san? What is going on? Why is it so noisy outside?" Riko frowned. "We have entered officially to the race. Look outside and see the view. The one who is ready to head to the tree is now moving towards the root to gather. And the reason I woke you all up is to ensure that you lot are all buckled up. So you guys who are now in the living room or those people and spirits who can hear me, grab something. Although I am not sure if it will be a chaotic one, we will be heading there immediately. Hold tight, things will get messy." Almira started counting down from 5 down to 1. The rest of us grabbed on the ces we grabbed before and before we knew it, the whole mansion was sent flying up into the sky. The walking mansion is now flying in the air. Chapter 995 The Gathering of the Guided Ones

Chapter 995 The Gathering of the Guided Ones

The speed of the thrusters is very fast that the pressure of the wind is much more troublesome to handlepared to the time we are fleeing from the Antlions and the Sandstorm they carry with them. I don''t even dare think or breathe while we are in this speed for a bit and I don''t know how far we have been but I am pretty sure the mansion fly into the air and forces the whole mansion to shoot forward. Thankfully, it was in a short while and the situation has calmed down. "You guys, it''s all good now. You lot can now take your grip from where you all are holding on." We all sighed in relief hearing this. The others all went outside as well after the incident. Since we don''t know how far we have been sent from the thrusters, we went outside and looked at the distance we travelled. We are now nearing the tree thanks to the help of Almira''s new thrusters that she installed to the legs of the Mansion. Not only that but the ones who are racing with us are also gathering. Countless of people, whether ordinary people, royalty, or even those mercenaries and yers are all trying their best to reach the tree''s location. If this is still viewed by me as an event, then this is a very wide scale event. Most of the people and yers are not even caring about our walking mansion as their eyes are more on focusing their sights on the glowing tree. "Wow, seeing all of the people and different other racesing together to gather to the Tree of Life is outstanding. I didn''t even know what to say about this..." Queen Tanyamented as she look all over the ground with all the people on the way. "Perhaps because of the legend of this tree and the fact that it appeared all of a sudden to all peoplepared to it''s previous appearances that caused the influx of people. And with the ability of this tree to give blessings, that alone is enough for the whole popce to gather and try their chances in getting bestowed with the blessing of the tree," Rika rubs her chin as she has been fascinated by the number of people gathering. "Yeah. Even myself wouldn''t pass this chance to get a good chance to receive its blessings as well if I was in their situation as well. I wouldn''t hesitate to join them even if it is very dangerous," Rikomented as she munches on some cookies left over earlier that she stashed for herself. "But if that is the case, will everyone starts fighting each other just to get to the tree a lot faster once we arrive on its root?" Rika is now worried. "That is indeed possible. There is no way there will be no violence while this happening all over the world who can see the massive tree. Anyone would try to make sure they get into the tree with as littlepetition as possible. I doubt they would just let things be once we get near. But for now, we should just enjoy the calm before the storm. In fact, we should get more prepared as well. Problems will start risingter on and I don''t think we will be able to properly handle it if we just let things be," Queen Tanya is pretty certain about what she just said. The calm of the storm. Yes, this is indeed the calmest time before troublees. In fact, we are just getting started and the main menace of all has yet to appear and get troublesome to deal with. Now that the tree is now out in the open, it is only a matter of time before the Goddess of Life and Nobuhiko either get their hands on the tree. However, there is only a nothing much we can do. The question is...are we even prepared to face her? Especially since the Versatile Weapon is not yetplete? I don''t know, but there is one thing I am keeping positive for and that is I will give it my all to prevent her from doing what she wanted. ... ... ... While the Alternate World has been in chaos since the appearance of the tree, the other world where Manato and the others came from are also in their simr situation. After all, the sudden appearance of a giant tree that seems to extend until at the very end of the skies has appeared overnight. Not only does it glows even during the morning, it causes all sorts of talks to the people all over the world. Governments around the world are now trying to investigate the tree and what it''s real purpose but until now, no one seems to be able to pinpoint the main location of the tree while others are either marvelled by the appearance of the tree or are getting paranoid. There are many hearsays scattering all over that also adds fuel to the fire about this incident despite most of them are just pure bullsh*t and just fake news that are product of gossips and theories from the popce. Not only that but it also started spawning the doomsayers and cults that started to create their "religions" and recruiting their believers?pertaining about the Tree of Life. News has been reporting the updates and info about the tree that the the government decided to call it the Everlight Tree and although nothing of a concrete info has been released so far, many believed that this might be somewhat connected to the Alternate World game as the game is also featuring an event that also spawns a giant tree which causes the forums of the game to be popted by multiple people talking about the tree itself. Of course, since there is no solid information to lean on, everyone can only wait for what it was while those curious enough are now trying to locate the main location of the tree and find it Although not many are happy about the appearance of the tree due to its unknown nature, one person is ecstatic seeing the tree on all of its glory "That...that is the Tree of Life! It has finally appeared!" Nobuhiko couldn''t contain his happiness seeing the tree for the first time in his life. "Master, it seems your goal is one step closer topletion," the android servant of Nobuhiko said while standing behind Nobuhiko looking at the giant tree in the distance. "Of course, if not for my effort, the appearance of the tree will not be forcefully revealed. It''s all thanks to the Goddess of Life for giving me a chance to do the n and finish it up. Now, it''s only a matter of time before we will get the chance to obtain the power of the Tree of Life." "But master, is it really necessary to do this? Won''t there be any repercussions to your actions?" Nobuhiko turned around, revealing his sinister smile to the android before him. "I don''t need to worry about the details. After all, a literal god is on my side!" ... ... ... The distance between the mansion and the location of the great tree is closing in. Although no one knows where the tree is currently situated in, everyone is getting nervous as the distance gets closer and closer. In fact, it''s been a while since they have been using the thrusters to move full speed ahead and yet there are people trying to get rid of our mansion. "GAH!" One of the yers who attacked us fell to the grass after I shed his throat and reduced his HP to zero. "That''s already 20 since these yers are attacking. Looks like Queen Tanya is correct, the people and yers are now trying to score a kill just so that they can reduce theirpetition," Mr.Teddy said as he gather the items of the yers who attacked and stack them to the side. "It''s good that you are now helping again inbat, Mr. Teddy," Riko said as she nce at the stack of loot from the yers. "Yeah. I am thankful for Almira taking me in as her assistant but now that the upgrades for the legs has been finished, I have nothing else left to do so I am going back into helping again." Mr. Teddy has been with Almira as her assistant and he was busy with his work with her that he doesn''t have any time to even join us in the usual fights making only Father and M as our fighters. But now that he is back again, his help is going to be needed again." "Don''t you think Almira will still ask you to do more work for her?" Riko tilted her head. "She will still ask me more stuff to do but since we will be a little bit free this time around, I don''t think there are many big projects for now. Of course, there is a possibility for her to suddenly call me but I think it will be after a while or during some repairs." "Still, I can''t believe only the two of you managed to craft those parts. Those things are massive!" "Haha, I spent countless of days making them with less sleep and rest I was even close to stopping but Almira continued to help me so I am not that tired or anything." As we continue to talk with each other, the voice of Almira red up again on the speaker. "It seems we are almost there. An hour from now, hold again to where you all arefortable to hold on again as we will advance again forward for a bit more. We will be breaking through here and force our way to the tree''s trunk. We are almost there." Chapter 996 The Tree of Life Chapter 996 The Tree of Life "Are we always going to keep on doing this?! I don''t know if you love to make us hurl after doing that!" Riko protested. "If you don''t want to do it, then don''t bother with following my instructions, Riko. Of course, it is not my fault if you get tossed off the mansion after. But hey, who would stop you?" Almira sarcastically said. Riko can only smile wryly after that. We waited as usual for signs of Almira doing it again and thankfully, Almira didn''t immediately do it without warning us. She announced that she would be doing it again so the moment she said so, we prepared to go into position again and when she started counting down, we were already prepared for the same treatment as before. And just like that... WOOOSHHHHH! BOOOM! BLAG! BOOOM! Multiple sounds that seem like explosions can be heard in my ear but because we are under the pressure of the movement that Almira is doing to the mansion it takes us a bit of time to properly get a proper listen on what those sounds were. And before we knew it, it was finally over. I felt like I got dizzy after all of those happened. Once we got to get our proper bearings, we took a good look outside and we just saw that we are very close now. Based on the location we are in now...I don''t have any idea. I was surprised that I didn''t recognize the ce we were in. "Where are we now, Almira? This ce is nowhere we have seen before..." I asked while trying to figure out whether I was just remembering things or maybe I was right that I hadn''t visited this ce before. Queen Tanya then approached while tapping her head. "Based on the surroundings, I can only guess this is the Hidden Valley." "Hidden Valley? Where is that?" Riko also frowned. "It''s the middle area that divides of Kamikaze Continent and Sandurk Continent. It''s a ce that can only be properly essed if you have visited the ce before or you have a guide to lead you here. I heard if you follow through this valley and push through, then you will reach another ce where it is still undiscovered and even imed by man. Although I totally doubt it but never properly confirmed it." Almira then chimed in, "You are half right, Your Majesty. We are indeed heading to the ce where it was indeed unimed by man but that didn''t mean it wasn''t imed by others." "Wait, what do you mean?" Queen Tanya tilted her head in confusion. "Although it is true that it wasn''t imed by man as a territory, it was imed by others." "Others?" "Just wait and see and you guys will see what I am talking about." We continue moving. Although I didn''t see anyone else other than us, Almira assured us that we were still moving toward the tree and I could see that as well. In fact, we are even getting near it. All of a sudden, we got a sudden influx of monsters. Different kinds suddenly appeared and started attacking. As a result, we started dealing with them once they reached us, or we attacked and eliminated them first. For a ce that is unknown in the eyes of adventurers and people, this ce is teeming with monsters. After forcing ourselves to reach the ce against the other creatures and ying monsters for quite some time, we suddenly found ourselves in an area enveloped by light. It was brighter than anything and we didn''t expect to reach this ce. The mansion also stopped moving as well which made me frown. "Why did we stop?" No one answered but it didn''t take long for me to know why no one answered because Almira left the room and went up to talk to us directly. "We have arrived at one of the areas of the Tree of Life that we can wait safely until the Tree will acknowledge us to pass through." "Eh? Then where are the others? Didn''t we overtake a few people and creaturesing to the Tree of Life as well?" I asked. "This is a special ce. And one where no one will easily find or be able to enter. Most people will focus on reaching the main area where it will be harder for us to navigate and the danger of being attacked by them is very high which is why we will stay here and wait until the tree recognizes and acknowledges us to bypass through the barrier stopping anyone from entering which is why we stopped in here. This is the golden root of the Tree of Life." "How did you know all of this Almira? I know that you are mysterious but I didn''t know you would be this mystical. I thought you were weird at first but for some reason, you seemed more and more different than I thought?" Almira shook her head and didn''t properly answer Queen Tanya. "It''s not yet the proper time to fully say so. All I can say is that I am doing this to ensure that these kids do fulfill what they are tasked to do." Queen Tanya can only scratch her head after not getting the answer she was hoping to hear. "Anyways, this is thest time you guys will have a proper gearing up and rest. Might as well eat something hearty as well while we wait, it will take a while," Almira said. "Wow, I felt the pressure in this man, it feels like we are going to face something big soon. Are we going into a boss fight or something?" Riko for some reason looks excited. Almira left to tell the others what she knew and Queen Tanya decided that she wanted to go and rest.As for Riko, she wanted to get some good rest as well as she still felt a bit doozy after the incident. As for me, I was still trying to think of what I should do next when the Versatile Weapon buzzed a bit and the Shadow Dragon appeared. "Hey, wielder. I think it is time for me to consume and devour the Weapon of Wrath now that I am feeling slightly better now." Hearing that, I went to my room and pulled out the Versatile Weapon and the Weapon of Wrath. "Are you sure you are good now?" "Yep. As fit as a fiddle. Also, this will be necessary forter. Take a good look and memorize all of it alright? Everything on this will change the moment I swallow the Weapon of Wrath as I am nearingpletion now." Then, as he said, the popup of the stat panel appeared before me. ------------------ [Blood Covered and Sinful Versatile Weapon] Weapon Level: 55 [EXP: 1,000/250,000] Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: God Tier Series: Seven Deadly Sins'' Weapon Series Equippable at Level 0 Equippable By: Versatile STR: +3500 AGI: +3500 DEX: +3500 END: +3500 INT: +3500 Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy will be killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded Skills: 1. Regeneration Level 1(Max: 10) - Every Basic Attack will recover 1% of your mana. The recovery rate will increase at every level. 2. Sharpness Enhancement Level 5(Max:20) - Basic Attacks will have an additional 500 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 3. Physical Pration Level 4(Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 40% chance to ignore defense. The probability will increase at every level. 4. Defense Reduction Level 3( Max: 5) - Basic Attacks will have a 30% chance to inflict Defense Reduction debuff on the enemies. The probability will increase at every level. 5. Double Pain Level 1(Max: 10) -Physical Attack Skills will have an additional 100 damage. The damage will increase at every level. 6. Berserk Enhancement Level 6(Max: 10) - Damage dealt during the status "Berserk" is active increases by 60% and decreases the defense harshly to 60%. 7. Mana Conservation Level 10(Max 10) - Magic and Physical skills that need mana to activate will have a 95% mana consumption reduction and cooldown decreases by 1 second for all skills. The effect will increase at every level. Special Skills 1. Devour - can devour weapons and armor to level the weapon. It can change its appearance depending on what weapon is previously devoured. Some items and soul artifacts can also be devoured. Devouring the weapon counts as Amalgamating. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Skill Extraction: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. There is no limit to skills that can be extracted and learned but you can only extract one skill from one weapon. 5. Scale of Defense: Every 1000 mana used by the user will generate one stack of Shield that can block 2 physical and magical attacks. Can stack up to 10 stacks. 6. Electric Defense Reduction: Normal attacks can trigger reduced defense to the enemy for 2 seconds with a 1% chance to activate. It can stack up to 5 times. 7. Curse of the Dead: 0.1% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 8. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. 9. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal] 10. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad after certain conditions are met) 11. Weapon Attraction: When a weapon from the Seven Deadly Sins series is detected, the Versatile Weapon will resonate and signal the user of the presence of the weapon. 12. Vanagloria: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and applies [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility for 3 minutes but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. It can only be used once every 48 hours. (If conditions are met, will transform to The Fallen Star''s Pride) 13. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increases the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 14. Devouring Hunger(Iplete): (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon the iplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 35% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. Since it was in an iplete state, the user can only use this skill 5 times a month. (Once conditions are met, will transform into Hunger of Beelzebub) 15. Mammon''s Curse: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. You can gain the devoured stats once every month. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. 16. Song of the Sloth: (Sloth''s Exclusive Skill): ys music that calms the nerves of the enemies who can hear the melody. Allies will be buffed in various effects depending on how long the song has been ying while enemies will get debuffed more the longer the song ys. The enemies will enter a passive state that even normal attacks will not cause them to activate their lethal phase, allowing for a safe attack process. However, ying this song will make the user vulnerable to attacks and the music cannot be stopped until the piece that has been ying has ended. Ensure the user has a backup when fighting. 17. The Pain of Love: (Lust''s Exclusive Skill): Every damage dealt to an enemy will inflict a special status called "Love Stack" that can be stacked up to 20. Various effects will be applied depending on how many stacks are currently present to the enemy. Can be activated and deactivated at will. Can bypass immunity to special conditions against monsters once the "Love Stack" has been properly stacked. 18. Love is a Beautiful Pain: (Lust''s Exclusive Skill): Aprehensive list of effects that can be triggered depending on how many "Love Stack" has been umted to an enemy. [Further special skills are not yet discovered, please let the weapon devour a few weapons with abilities] Note: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Second Note: Because it has devoured and digested a weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins, the Versatile Weapon can now be considered to be part of the Seven Deadly Sins'' weapon series. The sleeping beast of the weapon has now partially awakened. Third Note: After devouring and imprinting itself from the blood of the Pendragon, the weapon has partially unlocked the sealed powers hiding deep beneath. Fourth Note: Devouring another weapon that belonged to the Seven Deadly Sins increased its power. The Sleeping Beast is getting developed and it''s already recovering a partial amount of its powers. Fifth Note: Requirements not met. Will reveal it once the requirements are fulfilled. Special Note: After the restrictions have been lifted, its true power has been slowly unleashed. Even the creature sleeping inside is starting to grow stronger as well. No one knows whether it is a bad thing or a good thing. One thing is for sure, the weapon is getting stronger before we know it. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: Manato Tsukasa Durability: Null --------- "Uh...I already knew all of this though?" I frowned. Nothing changed whatsoever for me to remember anything here? Why did the shadow dragon opened this panel up? "Be patient. As long as you have that panel remembered, then good. Now, let me devour the weapon. Time to change things up." Chapter 997 The Devourer of Seven Sins Chapter 997 The Devourer of Seven Sins Even though I was confused about what the Shadow Dragon was trying to do, I let myself remember every detail of the stat panel. I ensured that all of them were in there and I didn''t miss any despite it already ingrained in my brain. "Alright, I memorized the whole thing. Let''s get this started." I put the Weapon of Wrath to the table and aimed the tip of the Versatile Weapon. As for the Shadow Dragon, his appetite is back and it seems he is now drooling more than ever. "[Devour]!" With my prompt, the Shadow Dragon extends itself outside the Versatile Weapon and in a swift motion, devours the whole weapon in one gulp. Instead of swallowing it whole, the Shadow Dragon chomps the Weapon of Wrath and it shatters to pieces inside its mouth, he chewed it a few times like a tough jerky before he swallowed the shards. "That''s the first time you''ve chewed a weapon and the Weapon of Wrath at that..." I was perplexed by the Shadow Dragon''s behavior. "The Weapon of Wrath is not something I have to devourpletely. I learned that lesson when I devoured the Weapon of Lust. Compared to the other weapons, the Weapon of Lust, Weapon of Envy, and Weapon of Wrath are the hardest weapons to devour. Without doing it, I wouldn''t be able to function for long and I will be digesting the weapon for long. But knowing that this will be a crucial time, letting me devour the weapon this way allows me to consume the weapon,bine with it, and be one." As the Shadow Dragon said those words, the Versatile Weapon floated in the air. It started glowing darker and darker. I wouldn''t even say it was glowing that bad but even though it is a dark light, its light is as ring as a white light. Soon, it spread through my whole room and I closed my eyes to shield myself from the intense light for a bit. That''s when I realized the Versatile Weapon had changed its looks and form. It slowly returned to my hands and slowlynded like it was being controlled by something softly. "It did transform?!" The Versatile Weapon''s new look is pretty differentpared to most changes it had in years. It has a ck and red color on its body spread throughout the whole form. It has some intricate designs that look like they were carved to look like a dragon. They carry a heavy aura if you stare long enough at them that I couldn''t believe my eyes either. Not only that but when I tried to change its form, the form it had on its sword form has also been transferred like it had fully adapted to the new look it. Even the ck and red pattern doesn''t look repetitive in each weapon form, making them unique to each weapon type. "How about it, I look different right?" the Shadow Dragon popped out again and grinned like it was a proud little guy. "Hey, this ispletely new and I wasn''t expecting you to digest your food anymore!" I stress all of my new surprises on him. "Of course. If not for the fact that I have prepared for this for the entire time, then I wouldn''t havee up to do this kind of thing. It''s not something I usually do just to appease my wielder. But since you are my wielder, I decided to make a surprise at you on this one." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Open up the stats panel of mine and see for yourself. That way, you can understand why I let you memorize the old stuff." Although a bit confused, I opened up the Versatile Weapon''s stats panel and checked it out, expecting a minor change. However, what greeted me was a change that was not expected even for me. -------- [The Devourer of Seven Sins] Weapon Level: ??? Type: Weapon Equipment Rarity: Cannot be measured Series: Cannot be Identified Equippable by: Only the One and Only Wielder Stats: Undefined, cannot be measured. Please try again. Special Trait: Blood Mark: Every 20 hits, a Blood Mark will be imprinted on the enemy that cannot be cleansed unless the marked enemy is killed or 5 minutes have passed without attacking that marked enemy. Marked enemies will lose HP based on the damage done when the mark was inflicted and will heal the user''s HP by 100 per stack. Blood Mark will stack 20 times. Embedded skills: Power of the Destined One:All previously acquired amalgamation effects arebined into one and will take effect in the battle and will be amplified every time you have killed or devoured something while fighting. All effects will remain even after the battle. One with the Wielder: The wielder will synchronize with the weapon, allowing for a smoother battle to ur. The longer a fight goes, the stronger one will get. The possibility of growing further is endless. Special Skills: 1. Predator: the evolved form of Devour. After being reinforced by the power of the new effects, its abilities have increased by twofold. The usual effects that allow this weapon to devour anything remain unchanged. However, anything it devours no longer will cause the Versatile Weapon to undergo a "digesting" process and will immediately dissolve the swallowed item. It has two forms, the Predator form and the Feast Form. Predator form allows the wielder to fully use the ability of the Devourer in battle and will assist anytime. Feast Form will cause the Devourer to attack and continuously devour the target without stopping which will allow the user to feel satiated and recover health in the process. 2. Change Form - can change to different forms of weapons currently avable. 3. Vampiric Lifesteal -normal attacksing from this weapon can heal the user''s HP by 10 every hit. This skill won''t activate if it was a skill used, only normal attacks are counted. It can be used in all forms. 4. Predatory Evolution: all the devoured weapons with embedded skills on them can be extracted if devoured by the Versatile Weapon. Whenever a new skill is extracted, it will be added to the pool of skills the weapon possesses. Due to the list being high, the user can check the skill lists of the weapons it has devoured and manually set up all of the skills that can be used. Duplicate skills extracted will enhance and further evolve the skill that was extracted before and make it stronger. 5. Curse of the Dead: 100% chance to cast the debuff [Corrode] to the enemy. It willst for 4 seconds. 6. Mana Regeneration: Normal attacks will increase the mana regeneration to 1% and will stack to 10. Has a 1% chance to regenerate all mana. 7. Russian Roullete: In gun form, shoot a random bullet that will inflict one debuff from the following list of debuffs [Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Bleed, Blindness, Skill Seal]. Although one special bullet can sometimes appear and once fired, will inflict the one that has been shot by it an [Instant Death]. 8. Iplete Rhongomyniad: Fires off a beam of light that inflicts true damage in exchange for half of the HP of the user. (Will change to Rhongomyniad once the weapon "Rhongomyniad, Spear of the World''s End" has been devoured) 9. Weapon Assimtion: All previous powers of the Seven Deadly Sins weapons will bebined into one and the user will be capable of using the (Sin Exclusive skills) without any restrictions or limited number of uses. 10. The Fallen Star''s Superbia: (Pride Exclusive Skill): the user will forcefully transform its weapon into a Shield and Spear form and apply [Taunt] to self. Once attacks are received, the user will receive Invincibility but cannot move from where they activated the skill and will be forced to remain in position. Once the damage that has been received has been umted, it can be used to fire back to the enemy with a 2x multiplier on damage dealt. 11. Blood Weapon: The weapon will be covered in Blood that willst for 5 minutes. It has no cooldown but it will consume 99% of the user''s HP. Double the weapon''s current stats and increase the weapon''s [Devour] damage. 12. Belphegor''s G: (Gluttony Exclusive skill): Summon theplete Devourer of the Abyss that will allow the user to utilize and fight using the Devourer of the Abyss. Has a 50% chance to devour the target whole while fighting a low HP enemy which will result in either a permanent increase of the Versatile Weapon''s stats or heal the user''s HP. 13. Mammon''s Avaritia: (Greed''s Exclusive Skill): Absorb the enemy''s permanent stats and convert them as temporary buffs to the user. The stronger the enemy, the bigger stats can be devoured. Some of the devoured stats will be permanently lost to the enemy and the user will gain the devoured stats permanently. The other effect will remain the same. Additionally, every kill will now double the bronze, silver, and gold gained from killing enemies. 14. Abbadon''s Song of the Acedia: (Sloth''s Exclusive Skill): ys music that calms the nerves of the enemies who can hear the melody. Allies will be buffed in various effects depending on how long the song has been ying while enemies will get debuffed more the longer the song ys. The enemies will enter a passive state that even normal attacks will not cause them to activate their lethal phase, allowing for a safe attack process. Can now be used while in the middle of fighting enemies and while ying the melody, all enemies in the area who can hear the melody will receive continuous damage that will increase in intensity the longer the enemies are hearing the melody. 14. Asmodeus''s Luxuria: (Lust''s Exclusive Skill): Every damage dealt to an enemy will inflict a special status called "Love Stack" that can be stacked up to 20. Various effects will be applied depending on how many stacks are currently present to the enemy. Can be activated and deactivated at will. Can bypass immunity to special conditions against monsters once the "Love Stack" has been properly stacked. 15. Love is a Beautiful Pain, Porneia: (Lust''s Exclusive Skill): Aprehensive list of effects that can be triggered depending on how many "Love Stack" has been umted to an enemy. 16. The Tempter''s Ira: (Wrath''s Exclusive Skill): Every time the user loses a partial amount of HP in battle, the amount of HP lost will be converted into power and will fuel the user with the ability to increase the power of physical and magical attacks. All buffs will not be lost even if the user regains the HP lost. The more HP the user will lose, the stronger the user will be. The effects onlyst until the end of the battle current battle. Info: A weapon forged by an unknown material from an unknown civilization. Can devour and change form depending on the wielder''s will. Said to be a weapon made for the gods that hold tremendous power but it ends up in the hands of the mortal. Note: Due to the missing weapon of Envy, the full capacity of the weapon is not yet unleashed. However, once the weapon devours the missing weapon, its true power will be unshackled. Restriction: Cannot be dropped, cannot be sold, cannot be traded. Bound to the Owner Bound: Manato Tsukasa Durability: Cannot Be Destroyed Chapter 998 Entering the Divine Land Chapter 998 Entering the Divine Land These stuff are new. And the fact that the Versatile Weapon has changed to a new name, it seems devouring the Weapon of Wrath triggered the change. Not only that but it also influenced the skills. The amalgamation skills are nowbined to one skill. And some of the minor skills are missing as well. It was like they are eliminated since I barely use them. As for the remaining skills, what made me shocked is that most of the skills that I acquired by letting the Shadow Dragon consume the other seven deadly sins weapon series, is that they have now minor changes. Although their effects remained the same, most of them have some performance change that are enough to say that they have changed for the better. And to top it off, the names of the skills that came from the Seven Deadly Sins weapons are now changed to a demon''s name or title. I remembered a few of them and I am quite sure that they do hold the significance and authority with those particr sins they represent, which seems to be the main case here. It was indeed a huge upgrade and I wasn''t expecting it to be this way. Seeing the note as well, maybe there is still some other things that will be unlocked if I find thest weapon of the Seven Deadly Sins weapon series? "Although the stats of the weapon has been removedpletely, you don''t need to worry about that anymore as the current power of this weapon surpasses twofold the former stats. There is no need for you to keep looking at it anymore," the shadow dragon confidently said. "Are you actually expecting the skills to actually change before eating the weapon of wrath?" I asked. "You mean those new skill names? Yes. It was something that has been passively uring in my body the more Iplete myself. You can say that due to mepleting myself that those skills that are iplete has finally found their missing pieces and they are now showing their powers. However, although these abilities have been looking quite promising, they are still not the final form of those skills. Expect more to change once the weapon of envy has been found and consumed." Only one weapon left and it is one of the weapons that I have no idea about. It never appeared before but they are one of the most sought weapon of the yers toplete the Seven sins together. I don''t even know if that weapon does exist. "Oh yeah. The [Iplete Rhongomyniad] also stated that I needed to let you devour the weapon with the same name to fullyplete it? How did you know?" I frowned. "It was one of my memories back when I am still alive. I am certain enough to say that it is the only weapon that I needed to devour toplete the skill. Although I don''t have any idea of the skill itself will remove it''s inconveniences when being used, it would be indeed a good idea to see a chance to find and devour it myself and repair the skill to it''spletion." I admit, the [Iplete Rhongomyniad] is one of the strongest skills I had and one of the most punishing skills the weapon possess. Although it''s punishment is very simr to the [Blood Weapon] skill, thetter skill is not that hard to deal withpared to this skill which not only drains my vitality but my energy as well. One use of the skill and I will pass out immediately and that is enough to know how troublesome the skill is. If fixing the skill is by only devouring that weapon, then finding it would be a great idea. However, I doubt I have the time to do that. Now that the battle is finallying to a final close, finding the weapon without knowing where it would be is something. I tried swinging the Devourer and I admit, it was much better in terms of being handled and how it can be a great one to use as well. It took me some time to get used to the new feel but all I can say is that I am feeling great with it. Next, I changed its forms and they do feel a lot better to be usedpared to before. "I admit, this is a lot better than I thought." "Heh, of course. If you thought I am just a simple weapon, I am not. However, since we both have the same enemy, there is no need for us to not work together." ... ... ... Darkness has started to scatter around the sky but the fact that we are in a ce where a giant tree is giving off an unnatural radiance, I don''t think we need to worry about light as the tree is enough to give us light like we are still in daytime. We also have done our preparations as well. I wear all of my best gear, packed all potions, stock up some bullets for the Pain Delivery and other resources, I can say I have never felt so overgeared than ever before. The others are also preparing as well. Renatta is also going to join in on the battle with Alena and Labo. M and Avos wanted to rest and decided that they wanted to sit this one out instead of joining the battle if it ever happened. Izmir is not in the mood to join. Even the Blood Morgan is still in her hands and she is not nning on handing it back to me. As for the others, they are clearly eager to join. The only one who will not join us Mother, the elf siblings, and Almira. They will be with staying in the mansion and watch out progress. As for Queen Almira, all I can say is that she is more eager than us in this prospect. She decided that she will join us till the very end and she wanted to see what will happen next to our journey once we are nearing it''s very end. Almira is staying outside, looking at the Tree of life, watching for it''s changes like she was waiting for the right moment. She disregard us whenever we try to talk to her and she just remains silent as she continues her observation. I thought she would just remain like that but when the Tree''s bright light intensified, she stopped observing it and entered back the mansion. When she saw us gathered in the living room, she immediately gave an order. "Get ready people, we are going to enter thend now that it is now possible to fully push ourselves further into this tree." After that, she rush back to the control room and it didn''t take a few seconds before the mansion started to walk once more. It is now walking towards the tree a lot more closer than ever. The moment we entered, the elves perked up. "This is..." Avos was stunned. "Wow, what an abundant holy energy! This is nothing to scoff at!" M was also surprised. "It is true...this is even more abundant than what we felt before as well. Is this due to the fact that we are nearing the tree that it was like this?" Renatta frowned. Queen Tanya observed them for a bit then looked outside the mansion straight to the tree and concluded her thoughts. "Based on my observation, it seems due to the connection of the elves to the nature and how they are sensitive to manapared to humans that they can feel the absolute state of the power surrounding thisnd. Although I am not sure what is the effect of you guys being under this harsh area, it''s beat you guys should be pretty careful in doing something. It might be bad for you all to do something rted to magic while still in this area." "You are right. Ever since we stepped in this area, my mana seems to be going wild. We should indeed need to be careful," Avos agreed. As we continue to move deeper, the more we can hear the chaos on the other side. We can hear explosions and screams alongside the weapons nging and banging each other. It''s a pretty chaotic ce that I am not sure if it is indeed worth it to kill each other just to eliminate thepetition. I don''t even think the tree would acknowledge someone who would willingly fight and murder others just to receive a blessing. Almira knew about this and she went to the other side and continues to dive deeper into the Tree of Life''s roots. The tree is totally huge and it''s not just some kind of big tree,pared to our size, we looked like we are ants. We continue to move with the mansion and I was totally surprised at Almira''s movements. Not only is she very sure on which path to take, it was like she knew this ce already. Did she perhaps have visited this ce before? That, I don''t know. One thing is for sure, I am both nervous and excited at the prospect at knowing the Tree of Life properly. Chapter 999 Against a Goddess Chapter 999 Against a Goddess Almira is making strides on the Tree of Life with the. After we went under one of its huge roots, Almira made the mansion enter one of the holes that is currently present on one of the roots of.the Tree of Life. It was very bright like it is daytime inside when we entered and even the surroundings inside the mansion is filled with lights. It feels serene and the holy power currently present in the area is overflowing that even humans who are not sensitive to it can feel its effects. One thing is for sure, the tree is mystical enough that it upholds it''s reputation as one of the trees that are being sought out by everyone. But I am skeptical. Is the tree of life really a wish granter? Or perhaps it is only something else and the people and creatures who have experienced the effects of the tree misunderstand the real power of the tree and interpret it as a wish granter? But despite those doubts, I do hope those things being spread are real things and not just something that are being made. After all, if it turns out to be fake, then what will we even do against the Goddess of Life after that? We continue to move and since the interior of the tree is still extending quite far. And although Almira is leading the mansion to the tree''s deepest ce, we don''t know whether we are ascending or are we just circling around. With the bright surroundings not helping with our case, it is hard to even know which area is which and where we came from. "Almira-san, where are we anyways?" Riko asked. "Yeah, I apologize for not saying anything. I will tell you all guys, this is the interior of the Tree of Life. It is the rite of passage to all the ones who should be guided and the ones who should be blessed by the tree to use this passage to seek ess to the power of the Tree of Life." "A passage?" Pandora tilted her head. "That''s right. Most people who have been chosen by the tree of life will need to pass through this ce and aplish the trials it presents that will hinder the progress of everyone to the final objective." "Wait, wait. Howe you know all of this, Almira? You are also quite clueless like us before. Howe you suddenly have some idea on where to go?" Renatta started to get suspicious. "That is something I cannot answer at the moment. The only thing I can say is that, my task is to safely deliver all of you to thest destination and see all of you seed on this endeavor." After saying those words, she went silent once again and no matter how much we try to talk, she does not respond. We can only give up in the end. ... ... ... Due to how long it is taking us, we started to have some leisure time with everyone by doing some tabletop games and some other things that would allow us to stave off boredom while we are being transported. It didn''t take long for the surroundings to get a lot more brighter than usual. It was like additional pieces of lights are installed inside the mansion and every single light has a very bright light in them scattered all over. We couldn''t even get to continue our game as bright light res too much in the eyes. The situation take a few more while until all of sudden, we can now see the sky above. Although the bright light is still there, only the small portion of the ce brights up and the ceiling is no more as we are now under the sky. "We are here." The speaker res up to life and everyone of us went out of the mansion to look at the ce we are in. It took us only a short time to realize why we are seeing the sky... Is because we are now at the very top of the tree''s trunk. "Where are we?" Rika frowned as we observe the stadium at the bottom that is brighter than all the stadiums I have seen before. "This is the final ce where the guided ones and the one who can be blessed by the Tree of life be gathered. That means, all of you are going to go there and finish this task. Now go, and do what you all needed to do." "What about you, Almira? Come out as well!" Riko invited Almira but only the speaker res up. "No. All I did is guide you all here. I have no such task to join in with all of you. All I know is that you lot will now need to proceed without me." Despite not knowing much, we decided to go down and went to the altar at the very stage of the stadium. Everyone is clearly not sure what is happening nor they know about the situation, all wee can do is move and go to where we are supposed to go. The altar. It took a bit of walk towards the altar but now we are getting near. As we are now almost at the final touch all of a sudden, someone sudden materializes in front of us. We quickly went into offensive stance as we observe the materializing person before us. "Yes...yes... YES! Finally... The tree of life is now within my ess! The final time that my wish finallyes true!" "Who is that?!" I frowned. "No idea. She looks like a ghost after she materializes but she doesn''t look like she is one. However, I am not liking her presence..." Pandora instinctively backs off with her chains still retaining their pop position of ready to attack. "No.. no way...that woman in the altar... There''s no doubt about it, she is the goddess of life!" M blurted out. This made everyone except for both Avos and M to get shocked by the revtion. "No doubt about it, that woman is indeed the Goddess of life. It might not have been long since we havest seen her. But we don''t easily forget the faces of people. And the Goddess of Life herself is one of the faces we do remember without the need of thinking too much." Hearing that, there is no way I can afford to let her get the chance to use that power to do what she wants to do. Whatever she is nning, I am stopping it. I changed the Devourer''s form into a dual handgun and proceed to shoot the woman before us. It doesn''t matter if she is the valuable and deep personality goddess that everyone is worshipping of. "Get off the altar now!" BANG BANG BANG! The goddess of life felt the bullets piercing through her. She looked behind her and saw us gathered and ready to die to deal with her. She looked at us for a few minutes until her eyes went wide after seeing me. She grinned after that and startedughing. She then red at us with the sinister smile on her face. "I see now. The Death''s Favorite and the final priestess of the Death. I never expected that you lot would manage to get here despite being useless." Queen Tanya frowned and got angry as she readies her scythe and pointed it to the grinning Goddess of Life. "How did you know I was the final priestess of death? Are you the reason why everyone has disappeared?My parents and my former friends?" The Goddess of Life smiled. "How should I know? With how insignificant the life of humans who decided to worship death herself, why would I try top remember their names even?" Queen Tanya is ready to attack but I stop her from doing so. "Don''t stop me, Manato. If not for her, things wouldn''t be this hard for me and my sister." She didn''t wait for us to attack and Queen Tanya took the initiative to fight against the Goddess of Life. Leaping into the stage, Queen Tanya swings her scythe to the Goddess of Life who didn''t even bother to dodge but instead, let her do so. Queen Tanya didn''t hesitate to swing her weapon and cut the Goddess of Life. Swish! "Guhk! Hak!" Queen Tanya stopped as she throws up blood. Not only that but there is a huge gash of sliced wound on her chest area...like she got sliced by her own scythe. "Nice try priestess. However, you are not ready to fight me which is fortunate for me as that is enough for me to easily deal with you and yourpanions." With a single snap on her fingers, everyone we t down and copsed. No one moved and everyone has gone silent. The only one who remained standing is me which caused the Goddess of Life to get shocked by the result. "Wow, so you are unaffected by my soul harvest? No wonder you didn''t die." Chapter 1000 End of Arc 12

Chapter 1000 End of Arc 12

Everyone was knocked out except for me who managed to remain standing. It was instantaneous and I didn''t know why that suddenly happened. But I am not hearing it wrong, the Goddess of Life...killed everyone. "Wielder! Don''t falter! If you die here and now, everything will be for naught and whatever you and everyone else are doing will only fail if you give up now!" Anger suddenly burst into my being after the realization. It''s not because I have a slow realization of it, but rather, I refuse to believe that the people before me are now dead and gone. No, no. I refuse to believe that. On the other hand, The Goddess of Life has remained confused seeing me still standing. Whatever she did earlier caused everyone''s death. They have been killed by none other than the Goddess herself. I pulled out the Devourer and pointed it at her. Despite my feelings ready to burst while being surrounded by everyone lying and lifeless, I held back my whole power. I can''t afford to let their bodies get damaged or anything. Even if they were dead, I still needed to protect them! Darting forward toward the confused goddess, I thrust the Devourer in her direction. I know she would try to stop it but she effortlessly swiped me away so that I didn''t even get to close my Devourer to her. "If you didn''t die, just quietly squirm over there instead of throwing away your life. I can kill you right now, but it would also be boring for you to die after you didn''t die from my [Soul Harvest]." "Bring back everyone, motherf*cker!" "Oooh...what a vulgar way of talking! But if you wish, then I will grant it!" She snaps her fingers and everyone who copsed rises back up again. However, I can easily tell that these people before me are no longer the people I once knew. But there is one person who didn''t wake up immediately Queen Tanya. She looked up and frowned seeing that it was not the thing she had been hoping to happen. "Oh, so even thest priestess of Death did not die. I guess the blessing of my sister is too potent to both of you that dying with my abilities is not an optional thing." "Tch...and here I thought I could use this chance to fool a goddess and fight her when she thought I was dead. What a cursed way to do it," Queen Tanya wiped away the dust in her body before she red at the Goddess of Life. "I guess only two flies are being annoying right now. Well, doesn''t matter to me. Anyways, you lot should kill each other instead." She snapped her fingers once again and the others who have risen from the dead looked at us with their dead eyes. "Damn this goddess. She is even pitting us against everyone." "Your Majesty! Don''t kill them. Incapacitate them instead if possible." "I know. If she thinks she can use everyone''s bodies as she wants to, then she will have to try again. Manato, I will deal with them, I will be gentle. You should take care of her and prevent her from gaining ess to the altar itself. Whatever happens, she cannot have ess to that altar whatever happens!" "You don''t need to tell me!" I darted back toward the Goddess of Life once again and attempted to attack her again. "Persistent! Die!" Seeing that she was about to use something fast, I immediately changed the Devourer into the Weapon of Pride form and formed a shield to protect myself from whatever she was doing and as I did, I activated [Shield Bash] as well to attack the Goddess herself. The Goddess of Life didn''t even look in my direction as her eyes wereid on the altar. Golden Chains that were once used by Pandora are now being used against me. Also, a few obelisks suddenly dropped in the sky dropping all around me. Before I can do anything, a torrent of lightes down in the sky whichnds in my direction. I bathed in the light as I screamed in pain. The light thatnded with the obelisks is like a vtile acid. The endless stream of light suddenlyes down to my direction and everything starts to feel like I am burning apart. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The pain is unimaginable. It was the most painful pain I experienced in my whole life even counting the pain I experienced back in the previous life as well. It was like melting my whole being to the point that I was ready to copse. I don''t even hear anything else anymore. I felt like my whole body had been scorched by mes that were not mes. A me meant to extinguish life itself. After what I felt to be an eternity of pain, the light stopped shining above me and the obelisks that fell have disintegrated. As for me, I fell to the floor and knelt as I could feel my flesh had been burnt to the point that I was ready to give up and die. However, I refuse to give up. As my eyesnd on what the Goddess of Life is trying to touch, I have made a decision. If I can''t protect it from her, then there is no need to protect it. Although struggling, I aim the point of the Devourer to the location of the shrine. Without thinking too much, the Devourer changed into a cannon form, a cannon form that resembles the cannons used in ships to blow holes into the other ships. "I leave the shot to you," I said as I steadied my arm. Despite the pain I was feeling, I made sure that she would not be able to touch it. BOOM! The Goddess of Life was about to touch the altar when a big cannonball whizzed past her. It seems the defense mechanism she had didn''t activate since the target wasn''t her to begin with. Instead, the cannonball that was shot immediately just went straight to the altar. The altar that wasn''t even holding any sort of defense to stop anything from destroying it couldn''t stop the cannonball''s full power. As the two objects collide, the altar shatters into pieces. The Goddess of Life was shocked and petrified on the spot when she saw the altar that she had been seeking for quite some time shatter before her eyes. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" I grinned as Iy still ring at her seething in rage. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO? YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH*T!" She kicked my body up into the air. I could not move anymore after pouring all of my remaining energy into the shot I did earlier so even dodging her kick was not possible. Receiving her kick was like being hit by a truck with all the impact focused on my stomach. It was like my whole body would be broken beyond repair with the abuse I was getting right now. "ARRRGH! You will pay for everything, you little sh*t!" She snapped her fingers and multiple chains appeared from the ground and bound me up in the sky. The chains were so tight that I didn''t know if my flesh could even hold on. Blood starts to pour out of my body and I can even taste the blooding in my mouth as well. Before I could say anything to mock her, multiple swords made of light materialized and rained down on my whole body. I couldn''t dodge it with my pained body and with the chains tying me down, that was enough to pin me in ce. Pain is now multiplied by how many times the pain has already felt like all of it has been piled to my whole being. "Manato!" Queen Tanya shouted as she finished knocking everyone unconscious. Perhaps, this is how I will die. Perhaps everything I did for these past years was all for nothing. Even the goddess that is the final hurdle of my troubles is something that I can''t even defeat. "THIS IS THE FINAL NAIL FOR CAUSING DISTURBANCE TO WHAT I AM ABOUT TO DO. FOR BEING A NUISANCE, YOUR EXECUTION WILL BE PAINFUL AND LONG-LASTING TO ENSURE THAT YOU WILL NOT FORGET ME EVEN IF YOU ARE NOW DEAD." The materialization of the Iron Maiden appeared before me and I was tossed inside the Iron Maiden. I couldn''t even move when straps of iron put me in ce. "I may be the Goddess of Life but that doesn''t mean I have no ability to kill. Don''t think too much about what I am about to do." She snapped her fingers and tried to make the Iron Maiden close. And yet... it didn''t happen. "Huh?" the Goddess of Life frowned when the doors didn''t close at all. "ytime''s over, sis. I am taking my disciple back." In a snap of a finger, I disappeared and in a blink of an eye, I was in the hands of someone I know. The smell of coal and smoke is present in her body and yet it doesn''t smell bad. The Goddess of Life had a very bad look on her face, incredulous even after seeing Almira. "Long time no see, Sis. It seems even though many years have passed, you have not changed a thing," Almira grinned, as she mocked the Goddess. End of Arc 12. Chapter 1001 End of Arc 12- SIDE

Chapter 1001 End of Arc 12- SIDE

While the situation on the Tree of Life has been chaotic, Janus nces at his window after he gets home that day. After he triggered a way to make the Tree of Life appear for a small period of time, he didn''t expect that the effects of his actions would also be causing effects in the real world like how the Alternate World has been under fuzz. "Is this what Manato is warning me about back then?" Janus looks at the shimmering golden tree that is currently being investigated by many people and is one of the headlines on TV stations and is being livestreamed by people all around the world on how they can see the tree even if they are so far from it. Even for him, this is something that he didn''t expect to see. It is a big scale that he wasn''t even expecting to see at all. He lies down on his bed as he reminisces the time when everyone was still there and they are ying the game to pass the time and also earn some money. Never would he thought that his decisions would affect both the friendships he treasured the most and the little sister he cares about the most would worsen instead of getting better. He is still trying his best to repair his rtionship with his younger sister after the incident. Of course, to no avail. She doesn''t even want to talk to him and if they ever meet, she would act like she doesn''t know him. It was painful for him that she started to shun him like that. Even though he decided to sacrifice everything just to save her. "Perhaps betraying my friends and selling my soul to a corporation like the Nexus Company was never the real way and now...I am suffering the consequences of my actions." As much as Janus wants to cry and start over again, he doesn''t have much conviction to do so. Despite that, he felt like he needed to do this to ensure that he would be forgiven in the future. One thing is for certain. It will be a long time before he will be forgiven. ... ... ... Back in the Frozen Region... While Queen Tori is celebrating with her soldiers the sessful hunt, the Tree of Life that was present in the legends has appeared and is currently on the horizon. It was so big, that it towers even the tallest mountains in the frozen region. It was one of the things that she wasn''t expecting to happen before but seeing it first hand just made her frown over on this, knowing that her sister will be currently in a war to reach this. "Your Majesty, ording to the officials from the Sandurk Arid Region where your sister''s previously ruled, they require your assistance to reach the Tree of Life and contribute to the greatness of the..." the messenger who holds the message from the elders of the kingdom that once ruled by her sister, now ruled by the one who rebelled against her sister had his words cut off by Queen Tori herself. "Shush. Tell those old fogeys that I don''t give a damn about that damnable tree. If they want to ess that tree and get the blessings it gives, then they should go and do it instead of asking me to bother. I am not generous enough to help someone who caused my sister to suffer a few setbacks due to their selfish desire to get the throne from my sister. "But..." The messenger was about to give a reason but she stopped him again. "No means no, alright? They should be grateful that I am in a good mood right now and that I am not invading their kingdom and breaking their rule. Don''t force me to do something I don''t want to do so if you think they are such a big deal, tell them to go and deal it themselves. Like I give a f*ck." The messenger is flustered enough to speak that he immediately leaves without saying anything, as he carries the message that Queen Tori ryed. "Your Majesty...are you sure about this? I heard about the legends of the Tree of Life and its wish-granting ability. Isn''t this a good chance for us to take a chance to see if we can use this to improve our kingdom?" one of the soldiers asked. "Heh, as much as that tree has a big relevance of power, I don''t think I am going to use that. I don''t even think we would be significant enough to go there. A big war will be happening there and staying here with these monsters would be a much more ideal environment than going to the tree itself. I am not forbidding anyone to go to that tree and try their luck but I am not responsible for what would happen and how disappointing it would be to not be chosen by that tree. We should just enjoy what we have rather than chase something that we wouldn''t receive or even get our hands on," Queen Tori smiled as she emptied her mug of beer. "I think you are right your Majesty. Need to refill?" Queen Tori smiled. "Sure." ... ... ... Kazuki is totally livid after his father bes obsessed with the new tree. He didn''t even get the time to log back into the Alternate World as he had to deal with the businesses that were left by his father after he had gone to join a cult that is seemingly praying to the Tree of Life. He has no choice but to assume the role of his father take the businesses seriously and ask for help from some of the people that his father worked with. Due to the problems that arose after his father left, he was left to fend off himself and he had to make up for it before the clients of their businesses lost their trust which would then result in their lost partnerships and their business going under. Despite being a wasteful guy and thinking of money as nothing, he does know the value of money and having a business otherwise, he wouldn''t be in this role now if he was ever good for nothing and doesn''t know how to run a business. "Just where the heck is my father at this current time when thepany is so busy?!" Kazuki groaned as he signed one paper after another. "I am sorry, Young Master, but your father won''t be back anytime soon due to his obsession with that new gold tree that appearedtely," the butler said as he looked at the annoyed expression of the grumpy Kazuki, buried in his work. "Gah, f*ck this! F*ck that tree! I don''t care if it was some sort of magical thing or something. I don''t care. Ha! This is giving me so much headache. Do your best to persuade him to return here. I don''t mind taking over the business but f*ck this amount of stuff that he left me unattended. At the very least, he should have at least fixed things here before leaving it like this, damn." The butler secretly smiled as he saw how hard at work the young master was. For him, seeing the effort this kid has made to salvage thepany and stop it from going under was nothing short of a miracle. If not for his quick thinking, things might have been much worse than he could have expected. "Guess he does have a knack of it." --- --- --- TANG! TANG! TANG! The sound of the hammer continues to ring all over the ce as the ancient cksmith continues his work. It is now shaping well although it still didn''t seem to be the final product he was hoping for. As he put back the weapon into the forge, he noticed that the surroundings had turned grey. The nts nearby have also started to wilt and some have even turned to ashes. The wind that was blowing on that realm has disappeared and the feeling of life in that ce has disappeared. The only thing left is the one where the Ygdrassil was currently standing and the ce where he was currently forging the weapon. He might have no idea what is happening, but he does have an inkling of what it is. He can only shake his head as he pops a cigarette into his mouth and ignites the tip with his magic. "Things are getting heated up, huh? Didn''t expect this event woulde sooner than I expected. But I guess there are some circumstances that happen beyond anyone''s predictions huh?" He puff a mouthful of smoke and grab the weapon again from the forge before resuming his work and shaping the weapon into something he was nning in the beginning. It wasn''t even finished just yet but he is willing to continue due to his role in this task. "I see... Looks like his presence is here. I guess it is time to draw the final curtain." He nces at his sides where on both sides of his hips are two holsters currently holding pistols with an intricate pattern that looks like it woulde from the time when the pistols woulde to life. However, he didn''t greet the new presence that arrived. Instead, he continues to hammer the weapon. After all, his task is not to wee the new presence but to give him a trial. Chapter 1002 Prologue of The Final Act Chapter 1002 Prologue of The Final Act Manato''s consciousness is fading while he is being carried by Almira. Queen Tanya rushes to her side and Almira hands over the young man to the former. "Take care of him for now. Also, drag the others a little far from here, better if you bring them back to the mansion for safety purposes. They might be dead right now but they can still be brought back." "What are you..." Queen Tanya is confused. "No time to exin. I will handle it here. Take care and heal up Manato, his mother should be there to help." Despite Queen Tanya''s questions still lingering in her mind, she decided that it was not the time to talk about it. She carries Manato to the area where everyone has copsed after she knocks all of them out and activates a Mass Teleportation before disappearing from the battlefield. As for Almira, after she sees that the rest have already escaped, looks at the goddess who is now looking unsightly more than ever. "It''s been a while, Sis." "You...why are you a human now... You should have been mortally wounded by me back then..." "Yes. You did happen to do that to me and I suffered a lot because of that. But that doesn''t mean I would just give up and die there." "Heh...you survived but you became a human now? Pathetic...as if being a human is enough to fight against me." A sword materializes behind Almira, revealing that it is her sword, the rent. She then extends her right hand, and another weapon materializes which is also revealed to be the sword that was currently in Izmir''s possession before, the Blood Morgan. "Even as a human, I have no trouble defeating you, sister. You shouldn''t underestimate a human''s potential of felling down gods like you," Almira then points her weapon. "Really? Then why does the person who is supposed to defeat me doesn''t even have the slightest ability to stop me?" Almira smirked. "Because he is not yet ready to fight you. The appearance of the tree is something that we haven''t even considered as part of the n toplete the recipe to defeat you. But since it seems something has happened, it is enough to say that our n was almost broken due to you." As she speaks, Almira disappears from where she is standing reappears above the Goddess of Life, and swings down her rent downwards. The Goddess of Life blocked it with her chains but Almira casually spins quickly to force the destruction of the chains and stop blocking them. "Your style of fighting is the same as ever, Sister. Pretty predictable," Almira shatters the chains appearing and tries to slice down the Goddess of Life. Of course, the Goddess of Life dodges her attack but Almira is not yet done with just that attack, her other sword, the Blood Morgan is trusted by the Goddess of Life, and since the Goddess of Life just dodged the first attack, she barely managed to block the second attack, causing her to bleed. The Goddess of Life then tried to repel Almira by sending a shockwave that forced Almira to take a bit of distance. "Where are your powers now, Sis? And here I thought you were going to defeat me?" The Goddess of Life is pissed but she is also having trouble breathing as well. As for Almira, she looked at the Goddess of Life with contempt and after a while, she shook her head and darted straight to her as she shed multiple times to the Goddess of Life. "You...!" the Goddess of Life didn''t anticipate the actions of Almira. "Compared to you who has been stuck with your body as a goddess, I am here able to understand what being a human is and how fragile they are. Understanding them allowed me to adapt and expand my ways of viewing anyone who is a human. You don''t know that even if we are not the strongest race in this world doesn''t mean that we are the weakest people who exist." Almira then performed multiple quick shes that were so quick that even the Goddess of Life couldn''t properly see and started wounding her with every sh. She couldn''t fight back and she decided to retreat. "I will retreat for now...I can''t even activate what I needed due to the destruction of the altar but it won''t take long before I will acquire that power I desire. Just you wait, Sister. You won''t be able to stop me." As soon as she said those words, her body faded, and she disappeared before Almira. As soon as she disappeared, Almira slumped to the ground and huffed as blood started to flow all over her body and wounds started to appear one by one. Not only that but all of them are made from sword cuts. "Huh...that curse is still active even like this huh, damn it..." Almira took a nce at the shattered altar for a bit before she limped away back to the mansion to get her wounds treated. ... ... ... Queen Tanya, Izmir, and Manato''s Mother helped settle everyone on the floor. Because there is no big bed that is capable of moving the bodies of everyone, they can only line them up on the floor. All of them are dead. "I don''t know what to say and I don''t know if what Almira said is true but she said they can still be brought back to life?" Queen Tanya scratches her head as she nces at everyone whoy cold on the floor. "By what? Necromancy? Even though I hate my sister, I am not so heartless for me to convert her into a walking undead and let her remain as a zombie for the rest of her life!" Izmir angrily said but she promptly stopped when she saw Manato''s mother crying over her husband''s death. She silently weeps and Izmir can only stay quiet. The two elven children hugged Manato''s mother and she weeps harder as a result. Izmir is now devoid of emotion, but she still felt sad and wanted to also cry after seeing both her grandparents and sister die but she can''t do anything as she felt powerless. Then...Almira opened the door to the mansion as she limped entering the room. "Don''t weep and grieve just yet. They might be dead but they can still be revived." "How? This is the first time I have heard that a dead can be revived aside from what you people call "yers" who can resurrect themselves after being killed." "Since they didn''t die from natural causes and died due to The Goddess of Life, their death isn''t something that cannot be reversed. They died because their souls have left their bodies due to one of the Goddess of Life''s skills, [Soul Harvest]." "Is that the reason why my soul seems to be about to be pulled by an unknown force when everyone copses?" "Perhaps. But if that is the case, then you almost fell victim to it as well. Souls who have a very strong grip on their bodies are one of the only ones who can resist the attack orpletely nullify the effect. Both Manato and you, Your Majesty have a strong grip on your bodies so the spell didn''t have any troublesome effects and you two didn''t die immediately. It must be also due to the blessings that you two got from the Goddess of Death which allowed you two to escape the attack as well." "So...what does all of that supposed to mean?" Izmir is looking confused. "Since the Goddess of Life has stolen their souls, we needed something that can allow us to forcefully recall their souls back to their bodies. Confronting the Goddess of Life is not an option here as she will just proceed to crush their souls if she desires which is why we will have to resurrect them our way instead of begging the goddess herself." Queen Tanya then stood up from the sofa and turned to look at Almira. "Wait just a moment, before you exin further. How about you tell us who you are first?" Izmir and Manato''s Mother frowned at Queen Tanya''s question. "What are you talking about, Your Majesty?" Manato''s Mother frowned. "Earlier when the Goddess of Life is close to killing Manato in the process, she appeared and stopped the Goddess of Life in the process. Not only that but I also heard she called the Goddess of Life, her sister." "Sister?" Izmir frowned and her gaze turned to Almira who looked at them and sighed. "Huh...guess things are not as I thought they would be and I wouldn''t even be introducing myself for a while. Alright...let me reintroduce myself to you lot. I am Almira. A cksmith that is being trained by the Elder Treant, and also one of the fragments of the Goddess of Death. Technically, the Goddess of Life is my sister." Chapter 1003 Fragment

Chapter 1003 Fragment

The three couldn''t believe what they just heard from Almira. It was a sudden revtion which is why the three were shocked after hearing it. Queen Tanya has a little idea about Almira''s real identity but after the confirmation, it was now clear as day for her. "You heard everything correctly. I am one of the fragments that the Goddess of Death divided from herself to ensure that she will be able to fulfill what she failed to do during her time as a goddess. I am one of the shards that became a human version of her that still has the power of the former goddess of death. It''s a minor magic and it is enough for me to use basic ones at that allowing me to understand the limitation of having less magic." "What about the others? Since you said you are a fragment, that must mean there are other parts of her, right?" Izmir asked. "Indeed. However, I am not sure who and where they are right now. The only thing I know is that the main body or in other words, the original body is currently residing in a realm, protecting and recovering all of the wounds that the main body sustained during the Primordial wars." "How long have you known this? Based on how you act around the mention of the Goddess of Death, you looked like you are fine with discussing it." "I have known this since the very beginning. After all, I still have all the memories of the original. You can say that I was born again with all of my memories intact but with my powers gone. It has been like that since the previous loops of this world." Queen Tanya frowned and looked at Almira with a confused look on her face. "What do you mean previous loops?" "Oh yeah...I forgot that you all have no idea about the previous regressions of this world and how many times it has been reset. But yes, it has been undergoing several resets and loops on multiple asions. Every loop caused the world to return to the way it was before everything urred. But the future progressed differently before." "Everything has been undergoing this cycle until it reached the final loop which is this current timeline we have." "Final loop...then that means there is no more possibility for us to reset the timeline and fix everything again?" Manato''s Mother asked. "Indeed. This is the final chance to fix everything or put a stop to the Goddess of Life''s ns. Thanks to what Manato did earlier, our deadline has been extended for a bit more. However, that is not the final solution to all of this, it only gave us a bit more time before the Goddess of Life resumes her initial ns." "A little bit of time is plenty of time. Seeing how the Goddess of Life demolishes Manato in the process just speaks to how useless Manato is against her right now. Even though his weapon is almostplete, it is not enough to fight against the goddess and stop her ns. Thanks to the extension, we will need all the efforts toplete his weapon and ensure that the next time we face her again, we don''t need to rely on the same tactic as that will no longer work again," Queen Tanya nces at Manato who is currently being healed by Pixie who managed to survive the onught earlier. "Excuse me for asking this, Almira-san but howe you are not able to defeat your sister? I saw your battle from the mansion and yet you didn''t inflict any fatal attacks against her. It was like you are specifically avoiding damaging her..." Queen Tanya asked. "See this?" Almira pointed at her wounds that are healing slowly. "These wounds are supposed to be the same wounds that I inflicted on my sister. If I wound her, those wounds will then be inflicted on my body as if I received those wounds in the first ce. So what would happen if I kill her?" "You die," Izmir answered. "Indeed. Although I am fine sacrificing myself, we can''t get rid of both of us in the process and we needed at least one goddess to make this world remain bnced. If both of us die, then this world will be destroyed in the process and the elder gods will not even bother to care to rece us," Almira exined properly. "Then why is your sister more inclined to kill you in the process? Shouldn''t she be the same as you? Can''t kill each other?" "Unlike my sister, she can kill me anytime without any sort of problem like mine. This is a curse that she cast on me back then when I thought it was a harmless prank from her only to learn it was a real curse that I have to suffer until she dies. As for the reason why she is inclined to kill me even though we are siblings? That is something that I can''t tell right now. The time is not yet right and I am bound by this curse as well." "If killing the Goddess of Life is out of the question for now. Then...is our next n to find a way to revive everyone?" Izmir asked Almira. "Yes. But like I said, the ce that has the ingredients we needed is somewhere else and someone has to go and fetch them there. However, none of us are qualified to reach there except for one." Almira''s gaze thennded on the unconscious Manato. "My son is the one who will be capable of reviving everyone? Just where is it?" Manato''s mother asked, worried for her son who was lying unconscious. "The ce...is somewhere that we have found before but due to the restrictions, even I couldn''t enter it. But since Manato had a small reaction to it before, he has the potential and he is the one we can rely on for this task.?He needed to be the one who would get the material we needed for him to revive everyone. As for us, our only task is to remain here and keep an eye on the condition of everyone who died. But for now, our only choice right now is to heal Manato and undertake the task of doing this once he is awake." Everyone turned to look at Manato sleeping quietly as his wounds were being healed. His breathing is slow but they are steady. He might have suffered severe wounds but he will survive. One thing is for sure, his journey has yet to end. ... ... ... Nobuhiko nced at the Goddess of Life now currently on her soul form. She is currently healing after suffering some wounds from the attacks that her sister inflicted on her during the conflict and to acquire the power of the Tree of Life. "So you are saying that we have to wait another month again to return to that tree?" Nobuhiko asked. "The Altar of the Life present at the very top of the Tree of Life is broken and will take approximately 1 month before it will return to its former glory. Until then, we can''t do anything. And without it, healing my injuries will also take some time. That ursed sister of mine...even when she became a human, she still managed to injure me like this..." The Goddess of Life couldn''t hide her anger. "Goddess, I know you must feel frustrated but how about we get rid of them right now? Since you killed many of their people in one go, shouldn''t we be fine killing them all while they are down?" "Ha, if even myself can''t defeat my sister, then even your helpers won''t even be capable of fighting that monstrosity that is my sister. She is in a league of her own. If not for the curse that I gave her back when we were still kids, then she would be killing me now. I am fortunate that I made her get those curses or else, I am a goner by now." As the two are currently discussing things, Janus listens on the side. Although he is not sure what the goddess said, he clearly heard that she killed most of the allies of Manato which means some people have died in the process when fighting against the Goddess of Life. He clenches his fist, not knowing what to do. Although he betrayed his friends to serve the Goddess of Life, this is not part of what he had in mind. He wasn''t on board in killing his friends for this sort of job at all. But what can he do? He is only a young man without anything that can influence his actions and even if he tries to defy the goddess, there is only death awaiting for him. He is torn in this choice but there is nothing much he can do about it. The only thing he can do after hearing this news is toment and despair, knowing that he also contributed to their deaths. Chapter 1004 The Ancient Blacksmith is... 1004 The Ancient cksmith is... I opened my eyes and realized that I was somewhere now. I can still feel the pain in my body and it feels like I have some of my bones broken as well. Thankfully, I won''t be dying anytime soon but remembering the battle against the Goddess of Life, was not a good way to die since I didn''t immediately get killed in the process. I stood up and wiped off the dust in my body. As I looked around, I realized that the ce I got transported to was none other than the dreamscape world once more. Compared to before, the atmosphere of the ce seems different. The surroundings are now color gray and for some reason, the wind that I feel every time it blows there is missing. In short, the ce became lifeless all of a sudden. It was like some disaster had fallen over the ce. I started walking towards the tree that was still in the distance. As I continued to walk, I noticed that whenever I touched a few leaves whenever I pass through them, they instantly got reduced to ashes. It''s not like this before so what just happened while I was away? Fearing the worst, I decided to jog towards the tree. I still can''t do a full sprint as I can still feel the pain in my body pestering me. Although I still feel the pain while jogging, it''s not as painful as full running hence I just jog to get to my destination faster. The peculiar surroundings make the eerie ce a lot more eerie than before. The magical properties of this ce seem to have "dried" and now, all that is left is the barren wastnd. It didn''t take me long before I reached the Yggdrasil tree where the same colors are still present but it is the only ce that still has its colors remaining and the nt life there is still alive as well. Not only that but the cksmith I metst time in this dream is still there, hammering his hammer for quite some time already. Is he not even tired of doing that? As I approached, the cksmith who was still busy hammering whatever he had forged a few seconds ago stopped and looked in my direction. "It seems you have arrived at a very convenient time, Manato," the cksmith chuckled. "I wouldn''t be here if not for the fact that I was demolished by the Goddess of Life without any way to fight back against her," I grumbled. "Is that so? Why do you think you are capable of killing her in any way though? She is a goddess and you are a human, killing her is not in your realm of possibility is there?" the cksmith doesn''t seem surprised by the result of the battle. "I needed to defeat her to ensure that she won''ty a hand to my original world and ensure that she does her job properly for once instead of being a troublesome woman who seems to be more obsessed with power than doing whatever task she is supposed to do," I firmly pushed on what I needed to do. "Is that right? Even if you are going to be wiped on the floor again if you try once more?" "She might be a goddess but that doesn''t mean she can interfere with the life of the people and toy them as she sees fit. I am going to end her even if it takes a long time to do so." The cksmith nced at me with a curious look in his eyes. I don''t know if he was just sizing me up or if he was just finding a good way to make fun of my conviction. "Hmmm, I can see that you are not trying to make yourself brave and have no motivation whatsoever. You are indeed willing to risk your life just to do the impossible and that is quite impressive. Well, if that is the case, it seems the time hase for you toplete the weapon you have and unleash its power." "Huh? You mean my Versa- I mean, my Devourer?" "Devourer huh? So that is now its name? Guess that is indeed the main case. And yes, the Devourer is what I am talking about. You are still missing the Weapon of Envy right?" "Yes. That is the weapon that has been missing and I have no idea how to find it." "Good. Since that weapon is actually in my possession." He pulled out behind his back two guns and aimed it at me. "However, I don''t n to give this weapon without any problems. I am not so charitable as to part ways with this weapon to you. If you want it, then you''ll have to take it." He then proceeded to start shooting me with bullets that caused me to be surprised and had to hide in a few rocks nearby. "Wait! I don''t have the Devourer with me! How the hell can I even fight back?!" "Perhaps that is a skill issue, Manato. You should probably fix that." He didn''t stop shooting. And I never felt like he reloaded the gun. He keeps firing it like it has unlimited bullets. Not only that but the rock that I was hiding in is getting chipped to pieces in every shot. I am now not sure what to do next. I do have the ability to fight using magic but that is limited and I can''t fire them continuously. I am a sitting duck here and I am not liking it. "What''s wrong, young man? I thought you were ready to fight the Goddess of Life but if all you could do was hide behind a rock, that wouldn''t kill the goddess at all." BANG! The whole rock that Manato was taking cover off breaks to pieces. As it breaks to pieces, I take this chance to use the debris from the rocks as a distraction and cover as I lunge myself to the cksmith. He wasn''t expecting my actions so when I jumped straight at him the two of us wrestled at each other. The two of us are in a big mess as I try to take the guns in his hands while he prevents me from getting them. Before I could even have a good chance at grabbing both, he managed to find a good way to stop me kicked me in the abdomen, and sent me flying. Because I am still injured, a single kick is enough for me to feel so bad about myself. It is so bad that I want to curl up in pain but that is not possible, especially with danger in just a few meters away. Despite the struggle to get up, I didn''t let my injuries weigh me down. Since I don''t have the weapons in my hands, then my hands will be the weapon and even if it is a risky attempt, I will make sure to grab that weapon from him. Clenching my fists, I ignited both of them into mes, ready to fight. I might not have an effective way to fight him with guns, but heck this unfair matchup, I will survive this. "Huff...huff...Round two, old man!" The cksmith didn''t hesitate and fired his gun multiple times in my direction. Because some of the bullets are not easy to dodge, instead of dodging them, I just decided to break them by firing the mes in my hands and the bullets, exploding and melting them in the process. It''s not an ideal way to fight someone who can fire bullets but I need to do what I can. I keep trying to move closer and closer as I dodge the bullets he fires but he is quite quick and dealing with him is not an easy task. The only way to do this is to brute force my way and ensure he will not be able to fight back by taking those guns away from him. Heck, even taking one of the guns is a good way to go as well. "What''s wrong? Why are you too slow now?" "F*ck you!" I throw a fireball at him and he immediately dodges that fireball. However, as he dodges to the right, my fist is just on the other side, ready to wee his face. BANG! I punched him hard and although the impact was not as strong as I would have hoped for, Inded a good enough time to stun him for a bit, allowing me to quickly kick away one of his guns and catch it. I then aimed the gun that I got from him and he immediately aimed his remaining gun in my face as well. One thing that I realized is that the punch I did before, caused his hoodie to fall and reveal the face underneath it. Who would have thought that I would see someone who shouldn''t be present in this world and someone I have only seen in the news and pictures on social media? "Who would have thought that the main developer and the only person who does not appear in many public meetings would be the ancient cksmith? Or are you just faking it and assuming that identity? Mr. Tojiro Akisame?" He grinned and the gun made a "ck" sound, "How about you guess?" Chapter 1005 Weapon of Envy 1005 Weapon of Envy "I apud you for getting one of my guns just like that but that doesn''t mean you have won. Taking both is what I should count as the win condition that I give to you." "I knew you would say that, old man. But that doesn''t exin why you are here. I know you developed the Alternate World but howe you are here and is posing as the Ancient cksmith?" "Posing? Huh, I never thought someone would doubt my credibility as the Ancient cksmith but I guess your doubt is unavoidable. But that is where you are wrong. Since the beginning and today, the Ancient cksmith is my title and I have forged the weapon before." "Then why did you make the Alternate World? If you didn''t make it, perhaps the trouble brewing the Earth and this world wouldn''t happen." "That''s where you are wrong. The Goddess of Life has already set her sights on making something like this to ensure that she will have her entertainment while she is recovering from the wounds that she received during the Primordial Wars and also to monitor the situation happening in the Alternate World and see the time where the Tree of Life will appear." "So even without you, this would still eventually happen?" I frowned as I gripped the pistol harder while still aiming it at him. "Indeed. So to counter her n, I decided to mess with the n, however, she decided to make a new loop which resulted in the first world regression." "Wait... first...world regression?" "You didn''t know? The world has been regressed a few times now and your case is the final case of the regression. As the world regresses, my ns are also reset to the beginning. And if not for me, the Devourer would also not be in your hands as well." "Huh? Then..." "Yes. I was part of the people who were supposed to develop something that would make you controble by Nobuhiko in case you betrayed his ns. However, I sabotaged it and used my form that I swapped from the original allowing you to get the Versatile Weapon in the beginning as a gift." He then begins to put the muzzle of the gun closer to my head. "But before answering these questions and exining myself, how about we continue?" "No. Let''s end this." BANG! Gunshots rang in the surroundings as bullets whizzed past me. Of course, I managed to dodge it a few seconds earlier before he fired the gun. One secondte and my head would have been destroyed. I opened fire as well by firing the gun in my hand and as I fired them, my vision blurred a few times. I don''t know what is happening but maybe this is the aftereffect of the weapon of Envy? Perhaps it is indeed part of its debuffs. But I have to do this if I want to win. I hid in another rock and checked the magazine of the weapon. If this gun does have infinite bullets, then there must be something that causes that. As I removed the magazine from the gun, I realized that the gun had no bullets. Not one, or two, not a single bullet is inside. "Did I just run out of bullets?" I frowned as I returned the magazine inside the gun. I peeked at the rock and I was weed by bullets again, making me hide behind the rock once more. I know the gun has no bullets inside but I decided to aim and pull the trigger again. BANG BANG BANG! My head hurts after the three shots, but I am quite sure that was a gunshot. I didn''t hit Tojiro in the process but I did hit a rock that was blown to pieces so it is an indication that the attack did happen. Still, this is not an ideal weapon. If I keep getting pain in my head every time I fire the gun, this is going to be more of a problem than a solution. After a bit of contemtion, I emerged from where I was hiding and rushed forward to Tojiro. It seemed he had already anticipated me emerging and he fired his gun multiple times. Some of the bullets graze my skin and some of them are even so close to hitting my head. However, I didn''t stop. I don''t have the element of surprise and I am in a disadvantageous situation so instead of trying to surprise him, facing him head-on is the only option and I needed to end this as soon as possible or else, my body would kill me faster than the bullets would kill me. As I charged through and went full run to him, he thought I would tackle him again so he was ready to brace himself to grapple against me but I didn''t do that. Instead, I pulled out the gun while running and aimed it at his right hand I was holding the remaining gun the moment I got really near him and pulled the trigger. BANG! The pain in my head triggers once again but because the gun that he was holding fell from his hands, I immediately kicked it away from his direction and straight to me. Gritting the pain in my head, I grab the other gun, pair it with its partner, and aim both of them at his head with both fingers on the trigger. "The game is over, Tojiro." Tojiro chuckled as he raised both his hands and shook his head. "Fine, fine. I know you are still a weak guy but even though that was a very risky move, I must say that it takes a lot of guts to charge straight to a gunfire and live without getting his skull blown off in the process." I sighed deeply as I fell to the ground andy down. My legs were killing me and the injuries that I still feel pain started to increase the intensity of the pain it was inflicting on me. "Hah, guess I overstretched your injuries after our battle, I apologize for that..." "Don''t be. If I needed to suffer just to make sure that I get these weapons, then I would have to do so." "That''s a good conviction but that is also a poor way of doing things. You don''t have to suffer just to get it, if your effort is more than enough, then that is much better than suffering." "Yes, the Agartha''s passage will now allow you to enter its ce. Find the Excalibur though it is much better if you grabbed the Rhongomyniad instead. After all, that weapon is one of the only weapons capable to y one of the divine beings. With that weapon, taking down a divine god will not be as hard as before." 09:32 "It doesn''t matter. With these, the Devourer will beplete, and facing against the Goddess of Life will be much easier now." Tojiro chuckled. "As if that would be as easy as counting numbers from zero to ten. Just because the Devourer is nowplete doesn''t mean you will have an easier time now. It will indeed aid you from the battle, but that will not make her totally vulnerable. In fact, she will still be as troublesome as before but you will have a smoother experiencepared to before." "Then, she can still defeat me if I mess up?" "Indeed, she can. If she could be easily defeated by the Devourer, she would have died a long time ago since the Devourer was used before it was divided into multiple pieces. But if you really want to fight against her and deal with her, then I guess I can give you a chance, Manato. After all, I also wanted her to disappear in this world and give up on her role." "What do you mean?" "I bet you have already heard of the weapon called Excalibur and Rhongomyniad, yes?" "Indeed. What about those weapons?" "Although they were weapons that were wielded by the guy named Arthur and became a king due to those weapons, what he wielded are weapons that are just mere replicas of the original. What I am tasking you to do is find a way to head into the Agartha and retrieve the weapons in their respective ces, let the devourer devour both of them and perhaps the battle will be much easier in the process." Agartha? Wait...isn''t that the ce where we found ourselves underground where Almira wanted to enter but she couldn''t and none of us could even ess it due to the fact that it needed some sort of necessary reason? "From the looks on your face, it seems you have already gotten an inkling of this ce I am talking about," he rubs his beard after observing my face. "Yeah, I didn''t expect it but I do know where this Agartha ce you were talking about but it stopped us from entering saying that we are not worthy of entering the ce." "Now you guys can enter it. The only reason you guys have not gained ess to it is because it detects whether you have stepped into the domain of the Tree of Life. If you have set foot in the ce, that must mean the Tree of Life acknowledges you and that also means the Agartha''s barrier will also acknowledge your worth now." "Then..." "Yes, the Agartha''s passage will now allow you to enter its ce. Find the Excalibur though it is much better if you grabbed the Rhongomyniad instead. After all, that weapon is one of the only weapons capable to y one of the divine beings. With that weapon, taking down a divine god will not be as hard as before." Chapter 1006 Final Task 1006 Final Task The weapons that can y and put down a god for good. The real weapons based on the replicas that King Arthur wielded are all located in Agartha. This isn''t just something that I have expected but to think that ce that we can''t essst time was very significant in this final attempt to defeat the Goddess of Life. Both weapons contain devastating power that getting a hold of even one of them is more than enough to injure the Goddess of Life to an extent and if both weapons are in my possession, it can outright bring her down for good. Tojiro fixes his coat and puts back the hoodie that got removed by me during our initial scuffle before he returns to his forge. I sat up after feeling a little bit better and saw him finishing the weapon he was making and carrying it over to me. "Remember thest time you were here, Manato? I promised you about the weapon that I was keeping from you. And like I said, I will give you this once you are nearing your journey''s end. Since you are close to the very end and you are on a quest to take the weapons that can bring down a god, having this be devoured by your Devourer would be the most ideal thing as this will stabilize your weapon and allow that dragon to eat the Excalibur and Rhongomyniad without anyplications. After all, those weapons are not something that a human should acquire and be devoured by the Devourer. This weapon is also necessary for you to expel both weapons out of the Devourer once their tasks are over." "Huh? So they are not permanently devoured?" "No. Even the bottomless stomach of that dragon does not digest the two weapons and can only acquire their power. Once their purpose is over, bring them back to their previous locations. They are not meant to be used for a long time or this world, the alternate world, and the world you originally reside in will be destroyed in the process. Therefore, this will allow the two weapons to be expelled from the Devourerter on." "That powerful?!" I frowned. "You underestimate the power of the ancient relics of the olden past. Both weapons are weapons that existed even before the two goddesses were born and before the gods ascended to their realm. You can say that those two weapons bring the world into bnce and they are the weapons that keep this world safe from dangers." If it is that dangerous...then that must mean, those weapons will not be an easy picking either. That will be troublesome. Tojiro handed the weapon to me and as I received it, I could feel the heaviness of it like I was carrying a chunk of metal in the form of a sword. Although I can carry it just fine, this is indeed very heavy to my liking and I don''t think I can use it as a weapon properly. That''s when I suddenly hit a question after getting the sword. "By the way, how do I carry this sword and the two guns back to the Alternate World? I am quite sure this is a dreamscape of mine, shouldn''t that make these weapons remain here once I wake up?" "Hahaha, don''t worry. Although this dreamscape of yours can only be visited while you are asleep or unconscious, this ce exists in the Alternate World but since it has limits on who will be able to enter the ce, no one can enter this realm except those who are allowed, and that includes you. As for those weapons, they can be brought out here and to your current location just fine once you wake up. Even if it does not get carried once you wake up, I will send it to you instead. Now, go. Open your eyes and get started on your task. Your time is limited, you need to work fast." As soon as he answered me and said those parting words, I was kicked out of the dreamscape. ... ... ... Tojiro sat down in his chair and sighed as he wrapped his hand that was shot with the Weapon of Envy earlier. Although it was not damaged much, the pain was dulling his senses on his hand which is why he wanted to let it heal for a bit. "That kid is still pretty much immature but this uing trial he will be doing will force him to maturity. He also needed to sacrifice a lot in exchange for the peace he was looking for. It''s kind of sad but this is the fate of those who oppose the Divine Intervention. However, this might be one of the things that the gods enjoy." Tojiro chuckled as he popped it in his mouth a cigarette and lit it up using his finger. He snapped his fingers and all of the things he used for forging the weapon he handed to Manato were cleared up and disappeared. The next thing happened and all of them were now neatly arranged in his cart. "Hah...this lifetime is finally about to fulfill the final purpose I should have fulfilled during the time of the primordial wars. I guess it is time for me to have a well-deserved rest and observe the rest of the things to happen. Whatever happens, it doesn''t matter to me anymore." He nces at the surroundings that are slowly being destroyed. With only the great tree remaining and a bit of patches ofnd remaining, it is clear that the end is about to reach the world. His eyes set to the unconscious Goddess of Death still embedded in the Yggdrasil and sighed. "Your time to wake up and open the Pandora Box is also ready as well, my goddess. Your eternal wait is finally going to reach its conclusion." ... ... ... I opened my eyes and sat up on my bed, startling Pixie who was currently healing me. "Master! You are finally awake!" "Ugh...my head is still painful...where am I now?" I asked with my head feeling really groggy. It was like my head was being submerged underwater and filled up with water. It totally is making me feel very bad that I have to shake my head a few times to shake off the feeling. "Master, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" Pixie is totally worried about me. "Hah...don''t worry Pixie, I am fine. Just that this feeling in my head does feel a bit excessive. I don''t like the feeling at all." Pixie was about to heal me again but I stopped her. "Go and rest. I am fine. This feeling will disappearter. I can manage just fine." "Are you sure, Master? You look pale..." "Yeah, I am fine. What about the others?" I asked as my head felt groggy and I don''t recall much with this feeling. "Master..." Pixie couldn''t say much and was hesitant to talk. That''s when I remembered everything properly and now I realize why Pixie is hesitant. "...I see. So they have died..." I felt a pain in my heart after failing to save everyone in the process. "But Master! They can still be saved! ording to Almira, they are not yet dead fully and can still be revived before confronting the Goddess of Life again!" I was jolted in shock after hearing what Pixie just said. "Wait, what? "Almira said that they can still be revived as long as you retrieve an item that can only be retrieved by you, Master. Although I haven''t gotten the full details, you can go ask either your Mother, Queen Tanya, Izmir, or maybe Almira herself for the information you seek." Hearing that I was about to stand up but then all the pain in my body started to enter all at once. "Gah! F*CK!" I cursed as I fell to the floor, groaning in pain. "Get more rest, Manato. It is not yet time for you to stand up and do some work," the voice of Almira can be heard in the doorway. I can''t see her since I am slumped on the floor still trying to endure the feeling of intense pain in my body. It was like thousands of des had cut me to pieces. The bruises on my arms and body seem to escte the pain as well. "N-no...I needed to...ugh..." "Get some rest before you head out to fight. What can you even do with that injured body of yours? How can you even save them if you are already in that form that can''t even stand properly? Get a grip and ensure that you are healed before you even think of venturing out," Almira''s voice is authoritative now and even I can feel that need toply with her. But I can''t. Especially since the lives of everyone are at stake. If I can''t do this, it might be toote. "I really don''t want to do this. But you leave me no choice, Manato." Before I can even react, a thud in my neck causes me to copse and lose my consciousness once more. "This is for your sake and for everyone else as well. Get well." Chapter 1007 Recovery 1007 Recovery Waking up again in my bed, I realized that I had just been knocked down again earlier. I didn''t know this at first but now that I have awakened, it seems Almira seeded in keeping me asleep. I shook my head for a bit as I still felt a bit groggy from awakening from my slumber. Thankfully, it''s not as bad as earlier. The pain in my body is also gone although the wounds are still there. But at least, I can say that the feeling is much betterpared to before. I stood up from my bed and realized that on my hip were two guns in their respective holsters. Not only that but beside my Devourer is the sword that was given to me by Tojiro. It looks just like the Beginner Greatsword yers who have chosen the ss Holy Knight would receive as their starting weapon. The only difference in its looks is that the de is pitch ck. Other than that, it doesn''t differ much from the original weapon I mentioned. "You finally up and about, wielder. What is the deal with this sword beside me? It just appeared the first time you have awakened." "It is one thing I acquired a few hours ago when I awakened from my slumber after being almost killed by the Goddess of Life. It is called something that we will need forter and I was tasked that you devour this one so that the weapon I am going to feed youter will be easy to removeter as you cannot digest it sessfully." "Weapons that I can''t digest? That is ridiculous, I am quite sure I can devour all of them without any problem," the shadow dragon bragged. "Not these two weapons as they are something that would kill you in the process if you decided to digest them. They are also the weapons that will be bncing the world so we can only borrow their powers before putting them back to where they belong," I exined. "Huh? Who told you that? And what are these weapons that I can''t even devour without dying?" "The ancient cksmith, the one who forged you into a weapon and divided your body into the Seven Deadly Sins weapons. As for the weapons, it was the real Excalibur and the Rhongomyniad. Not the replica that was wielded by King Arthur but the real weapons that reside where humans cannot reach unless you are the one who is allowed to go in." "Wait...wait, wait, the ancient cksmith, you mean that old man?! Isn''t he dead after he forged me? He used his life to fuel and make me a real weapon in the process. I saw him die with my own eyes right before I was dismantled to multiple weapons!" the shadow dragon couldn''t believe what he heard. "I couldn''t even believe it either but ording to him, his purpose was not yet done and to ensure that he would deliver the final purpose of his life, he decided to return." The Shadow Dragon went silent for a bit. But he talked again a bit. "But if he is the one who said that, then that must mean it was a real deal. It wasn''t something he would say without knowing the truth. And let me guess, the Ancient cksmith is also the one who made this one as well, yes?" "Yes. And oh, he also has a final present for you aside from that sword." As I revealed the news, I pulled out the Weapon of Envy from the holsters and held it out to the Shadow Dragon. As I did so, the Devourer started to react violently like how it should be when detecting anything rted to the Seven Deadly Sins weapons. "The Weapon of Envy?! You managed to get it?! How? And why I wasn''t aware that it was here?" Shadow Dragon''s voice was shocked that his head appeared without memanding him to go out. "Just like the weapon that is beside you, this one is also one of the weapons given to me by the ancient cksmith. Of course, I have to fight for my life with this as he wanted me to prove to myself that I am worth it to have to be reunited with you. It wasn''t easy." "Wielder...I know you are a reckless guy but didn''t expect you to challenge the old man. It was a good thing he didn''t manage to kill you in the process." "I made sure to not die there as I saw the power of this weapon when fired. I don''t want to be blown to pieces by just one bullet. It is a terrifying weapon. It is like a cannon but was disguised as a pistol." "So that was the main cause of my Envy huh?" the shadow dragon contemted the weapon before him. "So, are you going to eat it now?" I asked him. "Nope. Not yet. Let''s do that for another day. If I devour it, we don''t know what will happen to you in the process. And you have many wounds that were inflicted by the Goddess of Life. You needed to be at your peak to be able to properly withstand my new power once I devour this." "Things would be more different than usual if you devour this now? Not unlike before?" "I don''t know but I can tell something will happen if I devour it now. So for the time being, let''s just keep it for now and devour it at the right time so that you can handle the huge surge of powers. Right now, I doubt it. Let''s just do with that. But for this weapon beside me, I can devour it just fine right now." "Then, let''s get you devouring that then." I grabbed the weapon given to me by the Ancient cksmith and opened up its stats but I didn''t know it wasn''t even an actual weapon but a relic in the shape of a sword. ----- [Pandora''s Weapon Box] Type: Relic Information: A weapon that was created based on the legends of the "Pandora''s Box". It was made to contain the "hope" that is needed in the time of need but will be the greatest "misfortune" if unleashed without thinking. Cannot be used on its own and one weapon can only make any use of this thing. ----- "It wasn''t a weapon...it was a relic that was designed for you." "A relic or a weapon doesn''t change anything for me. I can eat both," the Shadow Dragon said with confidence. "In that case, let''s begin." I put the relic sword on the bed and aimed the Devourer at it. "[Devour]!" With mymand, the Shadow Dragon emerged and extended its body as it devoured the relic in one gulp like how it did to all weapons it came across. Compared to other weapons, the Shadow Dragon didn''t react or have any sort of reaction after devouring it. "How do you feel?" I asked. "It tastes funny but other than that? Nothing. I don''t think I feel anything aside from the fact that it is a bit weird." I tried asking for more if the dragon felt a little bit more but just like the Shadow Dragon said, it felt nothing. "Hmm, perhaps it can only have an immediate effect if you devour both the Excalibur and Rhongomyniad?" "No idea. Perhaps you are right." ... ... ... After we were done with it, I wore my clothes and a new set of armor that I kept as an extra in case the other one I wore was destroyed. And since the case of the old armor I used was no longer possible to use, it became the Shadow Dragon''s food in the process. The only thing that was not destroyed from the battle against the Goddess of Life, was the White Wolf Mask which is surprising since this is the only thing that I still wear even when I reached my level this high. I also wear the holsters with the two guns in it, of course, the holster that holds the Pain Delivery is still on as well, which means I have three pistols in my hip. Although I am not yet in tip-top shape, I am good to go now and I am short of time. Resting for more days won''t be ideal especially if I want to revive the others who are dead. As I went out of my room, Almira, Mother, Izmir, and Queen Tanya were gathered in the living room, while on the floor were everyone who fought alongside me. I can tell that all of them are dead. "Looks like you have regained a bit of vitality at least, Manato," Queen Tanya grinned. "Thanks to Almira, I am now back and ready to tackle the new task. So, what is the next thing to do?" I asked. Almira who has her eyes closed when I arrived opened them slowly. "There''s nothing we can do in this situation. Only you, Manato. Starting now, this journey is yours alone. As for us, we will keep on guard of the tree and watch over everyone and the altar that you destroyed. After all, that thing will be restored in a few more days. This is a solo mission, Manato. A mission that hangs the bnce of the world and the life of everyone here who is now dead." Chapter 1008 To Agartha 1008 To Agartha Almira is quite serious with her expression and I can feel the pressure she was releasing while she was just there sitting in front of me. Perhaps because I needed to learn the weight of my mission this time around or maybe just to make sure I am intimidated by it. But I am more inclined to lean to the former reason instead of thetter, knowing Almira and how she does her things. "Only me? No one else?" I frowned. "If you count your followers then they can be with you. However, for us, we are only stuck here until your task is over. We are not worthy enough to reach the ce you are heading in." "So which ce is it that you guys are saying that I can find the item that can help the others get their lives back?" "Remember the ce under theke where we couldn''t enter it? If I remember correctly, it was the ce called Agartha. That ce is where you will find what you are looking for. It is one of the forbidden treasures that shouldn''t be obtained by humans due to how dangerous it will be if it is handed to the wrong people," Almira revealed. I wasn''t expecting to hear the location of my destination. After all, no one would believe that my original destination to get the two weapons that are needed topletely y the Goddess of Life is also inside the Agartha. Isn''t that too much of a coincidence? "Can you describe what this item is?" I asked. "That is the big problem. Because I don''t know. The only thing I know is that it does exist in Agartha and it cannot be taken out without knowing its consequence. You will have to know it by yourself once you get there," Almira exined. "That is going to be vague as f*ck, Almira, and finding it before everything will be back to the Goddess of Life attacking again is not a good deadline." "I know but what choice do you even have, Manato? We can''t afford to waste any time and we can''t dy the repair power of the Tree of Life with a little prayer at all. So all you can do is find it and return here as soon as you can before she prevents you from resurrecting anyone." "F*ck...then I can''t afford to remain idle here. I needed to go and find them as soon as possible." I pull out a waypoint for me to use forter and drop it on the floor near the waypoints we use to teleport to and from the Dark Sea. Since that ce has already got a Teleport waypoint installed, I can go back there anytime. Mother hugged me without saying a word. She just quietly saw me off. Queen Tanya and I fistbump together. She didn''t say anything as well but I can already see she is also sending me with best regards. Izmir didn''t say anything, but she only made a light nod at me as I went while Almira didn''t do anything but stay where she was sitting and just waited there. Pixie wanted to join me on my journey however, I stopped her. "Pixie, you better stay. I know that I barely bring you in battles and only ask you to heal us every time but this time, I beg of you to help me guard everyone while I am gone." "Master. I know that you will seed. Pleasee back safe alright?" I smiled and patted her head with my finger before I stopped in front of the teleport waypoint. "I better get going." As I waved, I snapped my fingers and I immediately got teleported directly to the ce where I put the teleporter to the entrance of the Agartha. ... I have all of what I need for my travels today. Mother already packed it in a container that she had given to me after we embraced each other. Potions and food, water, and every necessity that I needed were packed. Now I don''t know how long I will be on this journey but I will try my best to finish the task as short as possible. The first thing I did was to look around and check the surroundings. After all, this is underneath theke where we already filled back in after defeating the dragon that polluted the wholeke. I was half expecting to teleport underwater but I was happy that I didn''t teleport then get submerged underwater. It would have been a very bad thing even for me. Checking the way out that we used back when it wasn''t submerged, I immediately saw water not too far from my current location. The underwater cavern under theke has already been submerged and it would be impossible to visit the ce without swimming into the water teeming with monsters. I am so d I put a teleport waypoint in here back then when we visited, otherwise, I would have to swim underneath the caverns and have to make sure I didn''t run out of breath before I left. Knowing that my only way of exit from this ce was to return to the mansion, I steeled myself to approach the gate that once stopped me from entering the ce. I was expecting myself that I would get stopped again by that invisible barrier back then when I first approached it but as soon as I did, I was surprised since no invisible barrier stopped me from going further. I managed to enter without any sort of problem at all. "Well, that was interesting...I didn''t know I could just enter without even getting blocked now." I continue to walk inside the ce. The road leads downwards to the "futuristic city" that I saw back then. Although the ce looks very much like it came from a cyberpunk city scenario, I don''t know how it existed here underground and underwater as well. As I further descended, I soon saw the ce closer in my eyes and what I assumed to be the futuristic buildings I saw. It was indeed futuristic...but they are in ruins. The ce is broken and is not even something that can be usually seen in cyberpunk scenarios unless the scenarios I have seen would then be resolved in the post-apocalyptic setting and the ce would be abandoned or will be under ruins due to theck of maintenance or something. There are indeed big buildings and it looks like a former metropolis underground. I can say that this ce looks like it was abandoned years ago. Seeing the nt overgrowth on buildings and the roads, it is clear that it hasn''t been seeing any inhabitants for a long time. Trash is littered all over the ce and the neon billboards and signs that I saw back then still flickered, inviting curious travelers to pursue the mystery in Agartha. "Wow, and to think I would be expecting this ce to be teeming with futuristic people with cybeics and android bodies...guess I was expecting too much." As I slowly walked and explored ce to ce in the streets, I suddenly heard noises not too far from my direction. It was sudden and noisy and I knew that I was not alone out here. I instinctively grab my Devourer and ready as I can hear the noisesing close. The enemy is not being subtle about its presence and is more trying to make its presence known. But that changes things as I like my enemies to show themselves rather than go and ambush as I am not a big fan of those kinds of stuff. It didn''t take long for the enemy tounch its attack, jumping straight into my direction. BANG! THUNK A single bullet prated the body of whatever attacked me, causing it to get hit by the impact of the bullet. It was killed instantly though it is already an expected oue from the Pain Delivery. As soon as I confirmed the kill, I checked into the enemy that tried to attack. I was expecting it to be a wild animal or something but it wasn''t an animal, nor it was a living monster that I have seen in the surface either. No, it wasn''t a hybrid or golem either... It''s a f*cking robot. I kicked it and it produced a metallic sound. Yep, this thing is a fricking robot indeed. The body itself is all metal and all of its body parts are made of various parts that woulde from junk and garbage. It is a literal walking junk robot. "That was something..." I frowned as I checked the dead chunk of robot "flesh" that was now sprawling on the ground. "Wielder. I can feel more in the surroundings. Don''t let your guard down, alright," the shadow dragon warned me. "Yes. Didn''t expect to see them but I guess if it is a futuristic ce like this, I guess I have to expect enemies like this one." As I get myself ready, it seems the local inhabitants in the area are not so happy about my arrival. Chapter 1009 Junk Denizens 1009 Junk Denizens I don''t know what to call them, are they robots? Monsters? Or maybe they are just mere denizens of Agartha? No idea. One thing is for sure. They are hostile and don''tmunicate with me in any other way. Based on their behavior alone, it is more precise to say that they are actively hunting me down instead of stumbling upon me. And because all of them are hostile, I have no choice but to kill every single one of them as I move into this ruined cityscape. It was like it came out of a movie about a futuristic city that was suddenly invaded by robots and killed every person which then resulted in this apocalypse or something. It is very close, to be honest. "The ce has an uncanny resemnce to my world though this one is a bit more advanced," I mumbled. I continued to explore the cityscape carefully, checking every nook and cranny for whatever I needed to do. As I continued to move around, I soon spotted something intriguing in one of the buildings. It was covered in vines and some dirt but I am sure of what I saw. "You saw something interesting, wielder?" the shadow dragon asked. "Something interesting indeed. If what I saw is correct, then I can use it here. Still hope it works." After approaching the building that houses the item that I spotted earlier, I hacked away all of the vines and branches that started to form on the doorway with the help of the Devourer, allowing me to clear it out and allow me to ess and enter the building. Entering the building, it looks like a showroom of some sort. And what I saw earlier is indeed what I was expecting when I got close. "Damn...I didn''t know these things would exist here..." I smiled as Iy my eyes on a ck futuristic motorcycle. I say futuristic because it resembles so much to the ck Trike, the three-wheeled motorcycle a certain girl with blue eyes that carries arge cannon as her primary weapon to ride around. The design and the color, resemble so much of the ck Trike that if I say that this was the ck Trike, then I would believe it. "Just what this thing is?" the shadow dragon is wondering seeing it for the first time. "A vehicle. And a powerful one at that. Although it doesn''t look too simr to the one I owned back in my world, it does function and work the same thing. Now, let''s see if this thing still works. If it does, then we can save our time using this instead of walking." I checked on the engine and everything else. Although it doesn''t have any fuel tank, based on some of the machinations present in the engine, instead of fuel, it takes mana instead which means the fuel I needed is something I can provide. And based on the engines themselves, it still works fine and it doesn''t seem to be under wear and tear which means it should still work. The only real problem is that this one does need a key. The key is not present here. And I don''t even know if there are still spares present on the drawers. So I decided to search around. But before I can even do so, hostiles appear. 09:09 "Hostiles!" The monsters that appeared this time looked like they were dogs but they were filled with various junk but with the shape of a dog. It was kind of amazing that despite being made of junk parts, they still looked like real dogs. Butpared to real dogs, these junk dogs are not fluffy nor cute in the eyes. At least even beast monsters do look fluffy with their fur. These things though? Not a chance. Transforming the Devourer into its dual axe form, I didn''t hesitate to smash one of the junk dogs to pieces with my axe. It wasn''t hard and the junk dogs are pretty brittle. One smack with my axe and they die. They break into pieces like they are just stuck with a bit of tight glue and with an attack, they would immediately shatter. However, despite being brittle, they are fast and if I don''t make myself careful, I would be overwhelmed by them immediately. Andpared to real monsters and animals, these monsters don''t feel fear. They are literal machines that do not know the meaning of fear. They might be numerous but they are easy to defeat so it didn''t take me a few minutes to eliminate them all. The axe also helped tremendously in breaking them into pieces. "That''s annoying as hell but how the hell did they even know I was here?" I frowned as I broke thest junk dog to pieces. "Maybe even if they are just junk, they do possess the same behavior and senses a real dog or wolf possesses. They might have heard of what you are doing in here." "Very possible indeed but pretty annoying," I clicked my tongue as I moved straight to the drawers and proceeded to look for the keys that I was looking for. There are papers and stuff here and there, I even found a few repair tools as well which I took as I would need them in case this bad boy breaks down. It took me a bit of rummaging to finally find the keys. There are plenty of keys present but I only took those that look like they would look unusual and fit to the aesthetic of the motorcycle that looks like the ck Trike. "Hope this works..." I push the key into the keyhole before twisting it. The bike then started to function and its lights turned on, meaning, it is the right key, and the bike still works. "Yes! Now, for the next step, refueling this bad boy." I saw one manual on how to refuel it and looking at the handle, there was one button where I needed to put my palm on it. This was the one where it would take the mana I injected into it. Without hesitation, I put my palm and injected mana into it. The fuel gauge started to fill and with my massive mana pool, it only took a few minutes of injecting mana to fully fill the tank. "Just how does this work? Does this work like a snowmobile?" the shadow dragon asked while still wondering how it works. After all, there is still no vehicle like this back on the surface. "Just watch and see." Turning the engine on, I start to rev it, causing massive noise echoing all over the ce. "Oy, what are you doing?! Hostile inbound! Enemies areing left and right!" the shadow dragon frowned. "That''s good, we can test the speed of this trike and see if this works well." And just like what the Shadow dragon said, the enemies came looking at us, now, rushing over the store. "Let''s roll!" In full throttle, the trike moved forward at a speed that is not possible to be achieved by a regr motorcycle. And in just one m, the enemies that areing in start to crash into the trike. I pulled the Devourer changed it to a gun and began to shoot while I focused my eyes on the road. BANG! BANG! BANG! Multiple junk monsters explode to pieces as I shoot them and run them over using the trike. It is a very satisfying way to deal with and outrun the monsters. Not only that, but I also felt like I was a protagonist from a zombie apocalypse story who was cruising the road with a motorcycle while shooting the zombies in my other free hand. Due to how brittle the junk monsters were, they were easy to kill and a few shots on them would instantly shatter them to pieces. "Heh, I miss the feeling of riding the road with a motorcycle man, this is not just nostalgia feels, this is something that I was looking forward to doing!" As I cruise the road with the trike, the monsters that are appearing are all over the ce, attracted to the noise of the trike. I am quite pleased that I managed to attract them all over the ce and yet, they can''t even chase after me with this. Now that most of them were chasing behind me, I changed the Devourer''s form into a cannon and proceeded to shoot [Grapeshot] and [Cannon Fire] at the enemies while also firing multiple normal basic shots. "Are you doing this on purpose? To gather the monsters and kill them all while doing so?" the shadow dragon asked. "Not really? I am just trying my best to lure them all out and see which areas are infested by enemies and which areas are not. After all, we are looking for tools that can destroy our enemies with ease, that only means it was feared and is something that is not going to be approached. Or maybe they are being protected. Any area that would have less or no enemies emerging might be a ce that we will need to be wary about." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Yes, although I might not doing this seriously, I already thought of how to find the ce I needed to find by using this method. I just hope my assumption is indeed correct. Chapter 1010 Guardians of Excalibur 1010 Guardians of Excalibur I continue to cruise around the ruined Agartha with the monsters behind me currently following and chasing me. They are not a big threat as I asionally st them with the cannon and they would die before they can even be a real nuisance. The ones that are left chasing me are those remnants of the group that are behind those that were sted earlier and just managed to move to the front after most of the junk monsters have been killed, allowing them to get into space. "I can sense an intense power northwest here. Although I am not sure if that is the ce we are going to head, it seems that is one of the ces that has a high concentration of power." the shadow dragon alerted me. "So there are other concentrations of power like this one you just detected?" I asked. "Indeed but they are far from our location so I didn''t add them to the locations that are possible for us to reach. This one I detected is much closer." Northwest huh? That is also where fewer monsters appear on the road, meaning there is indeed something over there that we have not seen. This also means there is a high chance that the ce we are heading is either the location of the Excalibur, the location of the item that we will need to revive everyone, or maybe even the Rhongomyniad. Now that the Junk denizens have lessened significantly after shooting cannonballs at them every chance I get, I can now safely go Northwest where the location of the high power concentration is currently gathering. ... ... ... As I arrived there, I was surprised to see a big cathedral. It wasn''t a futuristic cathedral or anything. It still resembles the same cathedral seen in the Vatican or even in some ces where they have a big church. I will just say that it does look much bigger than the ones I saw in the pictures of the Vatican''s cathedrals. "The energy is up ahead, wielder. It''s quite strong and I don''t think we can reach it by using your vehicle to get inside." Like the shadow dragon said, the energy does start to pick up in strength. It wasn''t bad in the distance but the power indeed picked up after getting close. As for the junk denizens that were on my tail earlier, they started to flee once I got close to this ce which also means even though they are not that intelligent and they move based on their instincts, they still know to steer clear in this ce. Parking the trike into the side, I read the Devourer and we continue onwards to the cathedral. "This ce has pure mana revolving around the ce. I have not felt this kind of pureness of mana ever since the Primordial times ended. You won''t find this pure mana anymore on the surface." 09:11 Pure mana...I heard before that Earth also had pure mana but since it was underutilized, it didn''t make any big changes on Earth, and only those who developed the sensitivity of mana that people managed to use thetent mana present on Earth. I continue to head inside and am soon greeted by the ce littered with armor stands of various knights. I recognize some of them as they are some of the armors used by some Pdins and Holy Knights. Heck, some swordsman armor are also present there. They are evenpletely armed as well with spears and swords along with some that carries a mace and shield. At first, I didn''t pay much attention to them as they are toomon and thought they were just mere decorations of the ce, but as soon as I started to get to enter the ce fully, the door that was open before suddenly shut close, trapping me inside. "It''s a trap!" The shadow dragon eximed as I look at the armors started moving from their posts and moving erratically with weapons they carry in their hands. "No wonder there are so many armor stands here. These f*ckers move on their own." I don''t sense any sort of thread that makes them move on their own via puppeteer skills, nor they are being controlled by a monster inside their armor. They are just pure armor and weapon equipped together and are moving like a real person. To stop them from moving, destroying them fully is the only way as we don''t think there are any sort of ways to kill them. Changing the Devourer''s form into a hammer, I entered into battle with the enemies. Despite being made of armor, they are quite agile and adept at their powers. They even block my attacks as I try to hit them. But for the armor to fully block a big hammer''s attack with a sword, they needed an equal force to counter mine and parry my attack. Sadly, their powers are not as strong as the strike of my hammer and even though they attempt to block the attacks of the Devourer, they are not that capable of doing so . ng ng ng! N?v(el)B\\jnn As soon as their bodies got hit by the hammer they immediately break to pieces. They don''t disintegrate but their armor pieces just scatter to pieces. "Hey, wanna eat those parts? I can let you devour them." "Ugh, no thank you. You can have it. I know I like to eat weapons and such, but these guys are disgusting. I might be greedy and gluttonous, but I also have some things I don''t want to eat and one of them are these weapons and armor pieces." "Huh, that''s actually new. Didn''t know you would be disgusted by it." "I have some likes and dislikes as well. Just go and destroy them to get rid of them properly. You don''t want them rising back from the dead, ya know." Instead of moving to the next target, I continue to smash the broken pieces of armor on the ground per the instruction of the Shadow Dragon. ttening them and breaking them to pieces causes the armor that I have destroyed to disintegrate and disappear. As one holding a sword approaches, I immediately kicked to the direction of the living armor but the living armor immediately blocked the my kick, grab the leg that was about to kick and attempted top slice my leg. "As if you would get a leg from me." With a quick twist, I immediately freed myself from the living armor which then allowed me to follow up with a swing with the hammer and breaking the attacking armor to pieces. Just like the Junk denizens, these things are also easy to break to pieces, making them not so annoying to deal with. They tried to be unpredictable but the hammer was so effective that they don''t even get to perform being unpredictable. It didn''t take long for me to dispose all of them and breaking them to pieces. "These guys are pretty annoying like those junk monsters" the shadow dragon voiced his annoyance to the living armor. "They are like protecting something," I frowned as I noticed their movement that they seemed to be stopping my attempt to head to the next area." "They surely does. Since they are living armor, it is clear as day that they are the recements for human guards. Living Armor can guard this ce alone from any invaders which means there is something in here deep inside. We should hurry and head there as fast as we can." I nodded in agreement and we started to make our way to the hallways and to the next floor. Just like what we expected, they are all littered all over the ce, making them waste our time. They are easy to deal with but they are annoying as hell so I am pissed as I clear them one by one. After an hour or maybe two, we soon arrived to the top ce of this cathedral and what weed us there is a very big round table, chairs encircling the table with every chair being upied with a living armor. But at the center of that table is a disy stand where a golden sword is floating at the top of it. I may have not seen him wield the sword personally, but seeing that weapon before allowed me to immediately recognize it. I am not mistaken about it, that is indeed the Excalibur. But there is something different from the Excalibur I saw and this Excalibur. The fact that it glows brightly like the sun, yet exudes the power oftent darkness in it, it was like both of them are coexisting in one ce. As we are getting near the round table, the living armors that are sitting on the chairs stood up and pulled out their respective weapons. What makes me shocked is that all of them are holding weapons that can be considered the weapons used by the knights of the Round Table. "I see now. These living armors are the recreation to the real knights of the Round Table. Maybe even the weapons they are holding are their real deal weapons as well. They might be guarding that weapon from intruders. Which means, we are not going to get the Excalibur as easily as we thought." I enteredbat stance and held the Devourer tightly in my hands as I face the iing Living Armors. "It doesn''t matter. They are not gonna stop us here." Chapter 1011 Living Armor Knights of the Round Table 1011 Living Armor Knights of the Round Table The moment those living armor stood up from their chair, I noticed a few of the weapons those living armor were wielding. I am not too much of an expert in the legend of King Arthur nor am I too familiar with most of the weapons but I do recognize a few of them. "I see now, these f*ckers are the imitation of the knights of the round table and these guys who are sitting in these chairs represent every single knight. They even wield the weapons those knights possess. That one has the Gtine on its hands, the other even has the Arondnight, and heck, isn''t that looking like the rent that Almira usually uses asionally?" "Enough with the observations, wielder, deal with them. Based on how they move, they are the one-to-one recreations of those knights they are currently basing on," the shadow dragon is agitated and he releases a bit of power to the Devourer even without me asking for it. Despite being living armor, they are like living humans. They act like a real warrior and they coordinate like real people. I have to be careful as they are in the middle of trying to nk me on the corner. Then, one of the living armor, came close, charging with the de in its hands, straight to me. Dodging to the side, I swing the hammer form of the Devourer to the iing living armor but instead of hitting it, the living armor dodges it by sliding underneath my swing, missing him in just a few inches. And before I can recover, the one who holds the Gtine is already up in the air with the Gtine currently ignited in mes as it tries to aim down on me. I can''t dodge or the other living armor will attack so instead I immediately changed the Devourer''s form from a hammer into a sword and quickly blocked it. PENG! The mes tried to overwhelm the Devourer and burn it in the process. "Ha, look at this f*cker, thinks it can melt me. Wielder, show this guy how you can deal with this guy yourself!" "Don''t tell me twice!" I pull the Pain Delivery and shoot the guy with the Gtine. BANG BANG BANG! Hitting the living armor with the gun causes pieces of its armor to fly. As a result, the living armor abandoned attacking me and instead scuffled to retrieve the armor that flew from the gunshot. "The Pain Delivery can''t pierce through its armor huh?" I nced at my Pain Delivery before putting it back on my holster and changed the Devourer into Shield and Spear. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "[Shield Bash]!" mming down the shield in the direction of the majority of the knights, I started to charge with a [Shield Bash] to bulldoze the knights and scatter them. But before my nes to fruition, another one of the knights brings his shield and blocks my way, shing with my [Shield Bash] in the process. It didn''t take a few seconds before my attack was fully stopped. As soon as I was stopped, the knight with the Gtine attacked simultaneously with the one with the Arondnight. But I am not going to just let them kill me in the process. I am not gonna fall here. Changing the Devourer into a cannon, I shoot the shield of the living armor holding a shield with it, and eject me in the distance, allowing me to dodge their attacks. I can continue to fight against them for hours but I don''t want to linger in this ce any longer. Instead of wasting my time, I have to quickly end this battle as soon as possible. "Activating the [Tempter''s Ira]!" I raised the Devourer in the air and my whole body suddenly felt hot. Very hot to the point that I felt like I was being burned alive. Not only that but I felt my vision starts to blur in anger. But I didn''t fall into its power. Biting my lip, I activate another power. "Activate the [Blood Weapon]!" As soon as I utter the words, the Devourer absorbs all of my health and blood starts to w out of my body as they all head straight to it. Not only that but the power in my body suddenly increased, perhaps due to the effect of the [Tempter''s Ira]. Not only that but the blurry vision I had earlier seems to have disappeared, perhaps my blood was enough to fuel the power to remove those effects. With the effects stacking together, the Living Armor in the surroundings starts to back off. "You all thought that you lot could back off now? Not in a million years,e!" As the living armor felt the threat in me, they didn''t hesitate to try and run away instead. Changing my Devourer''s weapon form into twin axes, I chase towards the fleeing living armor. "HRAAAAHHHHH! Activate [Predator]!" The two axes reveal two big mouths that are clearly from the Shadow Dragon but they look different. They look like fleshy masses of ck tissue appearing to be attached to my weapon as they extend with a greedy look on their faces. Perhaps that was the [Feast Form]? Swinging the axes straight to the Living Armors, the Shadow Dragon''s [Feast Form] started devouring the living armor one by one, chewing and eating their armor. Like a cracker, they break the moment the Shadow Dragon devours the Living Armor. But knowing the effect of the new skill, [Predator], it won''t end in just that. As I swing both axes again and again, the living armor that gets to be attacked is all chewed, destroyed, and killed in the process. Seeing that they can''t escape, the other Living Armor seems to have realized the inevitability of escaping and decided to face against me once more. Butpared to earlier, they started to feel sloppy now. "Where are the living armors that are trying to kill me earlier? And here I thought you lot would be a harder opponent but the moment I started to power up, you lot would start shaking?!" I am a bit disappointed. I thought they would end up as a good challenge, but they didn''t. Although my task is indeed to end the battle as fast as I can, the enemies that show some potential are killed before I can properly feel the enjoyment in battle. Guess thebination of [Tempter''s Ira], [Blood Weapon], and [Predator] is just too much. At the end of the battle, the remains of the living armor are nowhere to be found as the Shadow Dragon devoured all of them. It even restored my health to full health as well. Once the enemies were gone, I deactivated the effects of every skill and the extreme fatigue that I should have been feeling after the activation was gone. "Wow, so all of the downsides that I would feel from the previous effects of these skills are now gone? That is good to know." "Eh, wielder? What happened? Where are the enemies?" shadow dragon seemed to be shocked. "Huh? You didn''t know? You devoured all of them and are all now in your stomach." "What? How? I didn''t remember doing any of that?" "After activating the effects of [Predator], you appeared and you started to devour them as I attacked them. You even destroyed them in the process but you wouldn''t let go." "Huh...I just nked out? Wait, does that mean that was the reason I felt like something happened but I can''t remember?" the shadow dragon is confused. I was surprised. No wonder the Shadow Dragon was silent as it mindlessly devoured all of the Living Armor despite saying before that it hates eating those armor due to the taste. "Well, it doesn''t matter much now. Thanks to your help, all of the living armor that was supposed to be a big threat is now gone for good." "Ugh...although I was not sure myself, I guess it was indeed much better to not care much. If I remember eating those living armor myself, I might start puking. I would rather not remember." The two of us just let the matter of the shadow dragon nk out the moment I activated the [Predator] skill. Instead, we decided to focus on our next objective. Returning to the round table, the Excalibur floats aimlessly into the air, giving off a bright light of shine that is so pure that I can even say that this weapon might be capable of wiping out the darkness in this world. Aiming the Devourer into the Excalibur, the shadow dragon emerges. "Are you not going to try and hold the weapon yourself? See if you are the rightful owner of the Excalibur now that King Arthur is dead?" "Ha, no. I would rather not do that and instead, we should focus on finishing the task. Besides, I don''t want to wield this sword and be associated with its legends." With the help of the Relic that the Tojiro crafted for the Devourer, we sessfully retrieved the Excalibur. Chapter 1012 Agarthas Night Time 1012 Agartha''s Night Time With the sessful acquisition of the Excalibur, the next thing I did was to get out of there. With Excalibur out of the picture, there is a chance that the monsters that were previously evading the area might start to linger and even take over the ce. I know I am going back here in the future to return the Excalibur once everything is over but for now, I will have to borrow it for the sake of fulfilling one selfish wish of mine and to also save my world from the impending world order that the Goddess of Life had nned. "How are you doing? You swallowed the Excalibur just fine right now. Are you okay? Anywhere painful?" I asked to the Shadow Dragon. "So far it was ufortable. Compared to the other weapons I have devoured, this one can indeed not be digested by me. It does burn in my body and if not for the relic that I swallowed beforehand, this thing might have destroyed my insides in no time." "But you can still utilize the power of that sword yes?" "Yes. I can do that, but since I didn''t devour and assimte the power to my body, my control and the number of times I can use it is limited. If you try to do so, it takes a lot of toll on my body, so if you want to practice the power that Excalibur possesses, you need to be calctive on using its power and practicing it so that it also doesn''t ruin me in the process," the Shadow Dragon exined. "If that is the case, let''s practiceter. For now, we should get out of here and find a safe ce we can camp out. I am getting tired and although I can''t tell whether it is nighttime or morning on the surface, I can somewhat feel it for some reason." We left the cathedral and just like what I expected, the junk monsters started to get near the area. They do still look like they are not going to try their luck approaching but they are not proceeding much just yet. I ignored them and we left the area with the trike. Compared to before, the junk monsters are no longer chasing me, in fact, they are now actively evading me. From the looks of it, the Devourer that devoured Excalibur has now taken the role of repelling the monsters passively. But that is a good thing for us, with the monsters now actively avoiding us, also means fewer battles that I need to take and I can finally rest without the need to keep my other eye open at all times for danger. As I started cruising on the streets of the ruined streets of Agartha, I noticed that even though there was no nighttime, the buildings were now lit up in lights. The previous establishments that don''t have their lights on are now bright and the signboards of some ces have finally shown their signs of life as well. This might be their way of telling that nighttime has arrived in this sunless world. Since I also felt tired from the battles, I think finding a good ce to rest is a good move. Since this ce is very simr to Earth, that also means ces like hotels should be present in the same areas. I circled the streets and looked for a simr ce that I suspected to be the hotels of Agartha and it didn''t take me too long to find one. It is currently present in one of the skyscrapers. If not for the signboard that has the bed on it, I wouldn''t even recognize it as one. 09:58 I circled the streets and looked for a simr ce that I suspected to be the hotels of Agartha and it didn''t take me too long to find one. It is currently present in one of the skyscrapers. If not for the signboard that has the bed on it, I wouldn''t even recognize it as one. Stopping and parking the trike, I walk towards the entrance of the hotel. The ce looks like it is still in a good situation, only that it is abandoned and no more people or former residents are working in this ce. "Why are we here, wielder?" the shadow dragon asked. "I am looking for a ce to sleep for the night. This ce should be the same as back in my world where they make this ce a business. You can think of it like inns in this world." N?v(el)B\\jnn "Oh, is that how it is?" "Yeah. Anyways, can you detect any enemies in the area?" "It''s faint but I can sense an enemy indeed. However, I can''t pinpoint it properly so I can''t say for certain which ce. You shouldn''t let your guard down." I nodded and started to move around and opened room to room. I opened some rooms and although I could see that they were indeed hotel rooms, some of them smelled bad so I didn''t use those rooms and closed them back. There are plenty of rooms in the area so I didn''t just settle into one room and instead look for the room that has less or no odor at all. After checking for quite some time, I soon found the room I was looking for. Not only was it clean but it was also odorless, making it an ideal room to stay for the night and recuperate my energy. "This is much different than the inns we have previously used. It is even more different than the room you have back in the mansion," the shadow dragon is currently appraising the room. "Yeah, of course, it was different. This ce does seem to be more on the side of looking like a modern hotel room than its traditional inn. Still, this is good." I checked the bed and it is still in good condition without any sort of damage. The other room is a bathroom, althoughcking the necessities like shampoo and soap, the ce is equipped with a functioning toilet, shower, and bathtub. Too bad the hot water option on the shower and bathtub is not working but the cold shower and water are working just fine. There''s also a small living room present in the room as well where people can take their time musing about their day while staring at the window. Seeing how it looks like the modern world''s hotel, I kind of wonder why it was like this in Agartha. However, I didn''t have any sort of idea why it was like this in the first ce. I took this chance to get some good rest. After locking the door and securing any ces that enemies might get in, I ce the Devourer beside me andy on the bed. I checked the bed for any sort of traps or trouble hiding on it, but since the result was negative, it is safe to use. "Have a good rest, wielder. I will take over the way of guarding you while you sleep," the shadow dragon offered. "Don''t worry, I am still not going to full sleep. I am taking my guard up in case enemies start to show their presence." After doing so, I went to sleep. I made sure to keep my consciousness still active while I rest my body. After many years of bing used to this kind of lifestyle, I no longer felt bad that I didn''t get enough sleep. Even in this state, I can rest properly like normal. The only difference is that I am half awake and half asleep. The night slowly passes on as I sleep properly. So far, nothing has appeared or has shown any sort of problems and that is good. However, that assumption broke down when I felt some presence not too far from this room. It is not inside, but something or someone is wandering around the halls. "Wielder, are you awake, by chance?" the shadow dragon asked. "I have been awake for quite a while." "So you felt it as well?" "Yeah. It is getting close but it still hasn''t detected us or anything just yet." "It is kinda big, don''t you think?" I whispered. "It''s kind of hazy but it was indeed a bit big." We continue to feel the movements of the entity outside. It is getting closer like it was indeed roaming the hallways. But for this entity that felt so big, howe it was able to roam around in this area just fine without destroying the walls? Is it some sort of spirit or it has an undefined shape that it can fit in any space it moves in? I slowly reach out to the handle of the Devourer. It is getting real close and I can''t afford to risk myself in danger even if it isn''t a dangerous monster. We continued to observe the movements of the monster and waited. Then, it stopped just in front of the room. All of its movements are halted and it was like it wasn''t moving at all. I didn''t dare do any movement and I even urged myself to hold my breath as I continued to detect its movements. After what I thought to be an eternity, the entity started to move again and passed the room. I sighed in relief after it passed but I was mistaken. As soon as I started moving, the entity outside the room barged inside the room, destroying the wall that divides the room and the hallway. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!